The Opposition of the Natural

December 9th's reading in My Utmost for His Highest was based on Galatians 5:24. I always begin reading the section the verse is in wherever it starts, so I was reading Galatians 5:19-21 which says:

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. (NLT)

I found it SO interesting that "the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group" was included in that list! I'm not sure I ever "saw" that before. In the NIV, this phrase is replaced by the word "factions". That's probably why I'd skipped over it before. I have certainly had experience with this kind of legalism lately. Why do people think that just because they are convicted of something that everyone else should be as well? Someone I love very much is under the influence of a person/group like this.

Chambers writes:

The things that are right, noble, and good from the natural standpoint are the very things that keep us from being God's best. Once we come to understand that natural moral excellence opposes or counteracts surrender to God, we bring our soul into the center of its greatest battle. Very few of us would debate over what is filthy, evil, and wrong, but we do debate over what is good. It is the good that opposes the best. The higher up the scale of moral excellence a person goes, the more intense the opposition to Jesus Christ. 'Those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh...' [Gal. 5:24a]

I just love that! Dear God, keep me from imposing my idea of natural moral excellence on myself or anyone else.

Poor Neglected Blog

I really needed to change the background of this poor blog from the fall motif to Christmas! Lots has been happening here. Things are always busy in December.

We went to Raleigh, NC, for Thanksgiving with our friends the Miskiewicz's. I didn't take many pictures. Kim did, and I'll get them from her eventually. But Dave's dad passed away last Monday, so life has been more hectic than usual for them.

Also last Monday, we found out that the house we've been living in has sold. Cloosing will be January 28, so we have to be out by then. We've been looking at houses in Ocala. However, Greg has a very slight possibility of a job in Illinois. We are praying that we don't buy a house in Ocala just to find out he has a job in Illinois. He also has a job possibility in Ocala. Although I have really wanted to move closer to my parents, if Landon ends up going to school at UCF, I'd prefer to stay in Florida. I just don't want him to live 1000 miles away from home.

We'd appreciate any prayers you can send up on our behalf, for direction and wisdom and clarity of God's perfect plan for us.

The Fast Pace of Fall

The pace of life started to pick up last week, and it promises to continue through Christmas. Last Thursday, the kids marched in the Inverness Veteran's Day Parade with their CAP squadron, the West Citrus Cadet Squadron, SER-FL-445.



Cadet Commander C/Maj Landon Meahl led the squadron behind the color guard and to the right (left in the picture) of the guidon bearer.


C/CMSgt Gerren Meahl is actually the squadron's First Sergeant. He led the Alpha Flight, however, because the Alpha Flight Sergeant was part of the Color Guard (saluting in the picture).


C/AB Chase Meahl marched in her BDUs as she doesn't have her blues yet (front row, closest to the camera).


Tomorrow, we are going on a field trip with our homeschool group to a local hydroponic farm. Saturday, we're helping our church deliver Thanksgiving baskets, then having some friends over for dinner.

We'll have one day of school next week to make up for the day we're taking off tomorrow for the field trip, then we'll take the rest of the week off. We'll leave as soon as Landon finishes his Physics test on Wednesday for North Carolina to spend Thanksgiving with our friends, Dave, Kim, Matt, and Erin Miskiewicz. We can't wait!

November Already?

Why do the years seem to go by faster and faster? I can't believe it's already November. We had the 10th Annual Meahl Family Scavenger Hunt last night. This is the 3rd house we've had the hunt in. We had pizza out with our friends the Pillsburys first. We've done several years (unless we've been out of town or helping at a carnival or something). It was so fun this year because we hadn't had much of a chance to visit with them in awhile! Here are some pictures from the hunt.

Gerren looks up a Bible verse (the clues).


Chase found a clue taped to the sword in Landon's room.


This clue was "teeth".


This was what Carys did during the hunt (this and ask "When do we get the pumpkins?").


This is what Landon did during the hunt (he's on a Skype conference call for Winter Encampment).


They were required to tell Carys the answer to the last clue so she could find the pumpkins.


You had to take them out of the washing machine VERY carefully or everything would roll!


The girls get their terrible sweet teeth from their mother!


It was worth all the trouble in the end.

Nothing New Under the Sun

Well, that's not completely true, except that I have ignored this blog for the past 2-3 weeks. We've basically been doing normal life stuff during that time.

This past week was crazier than usual, though. Greg and I went out for a date night (of hanging out at Lowe's then getting coffee) last Sunday night, when we received a call that his mom had fallen at church and couldn't get back up. We were in the ER until 12:30am to find out she had a compression fracture of her L1 vertebrae. We brought her home with us, after getting a prescription filled, and managed to get to bed by 2:00am. I had to wake up Landon so he could go sleep in Gerren's room and give Gran his bed. He thought it was time to go to school and was making his bed, etc. It was so funny! Poor kid! He and Greg had to get back up at 6:30am.

The next morning, the ER called and wanted to do another CT scan. So, back we went. After 2 more hours in the ER, there was no change of treatment (follow-up with your GP). It was simply the T12 vertebrae that was fractured rather than the L1. Gran spent another night with us and hung out with Gerren, Chase, and Carys while Greg and I accompanied Landon on a tour of UCF Tuesday.

UCF has a very nice package for National Merit Finalists. Between their scholarship and Florida's Bright Futures Scholarship, Landon will have everything paid for and then some if he decides to go there next year. We were extremely impressed with their Engineering College as well as the Honors College. There are great opportunities for study aboard, internships, accelerated master's programs, etc. We have a lot of praying and thinking to do. :)

Hopefully, this week will be a little more normal!

Three Meahls a Day

You can now get a full day's worth of Meahl cadets at the West Citrus Cadet Squadron, part of the Florida Wing's Civil Air Patrol program.


Yes, Chase decided out of the blue last week to join her brothers in CAP. Fortunately, we were able to outfit her in BDUs without purchasing a single thing since Gerren has grown out of his original CAP uniform. We may need to get a new BDU blouse before long, but we can put it off for awhile. She will get a free blues uniform from the AF. We'll just have to purchase her shoes (the boys may have some of those as well) and the cap device (which is a pin that goes on the cap). Much less expensive than when the boys joined. :)

She decided to join CAP to become a meteorologist (I have no idea how those two things connect). Carys and I have the house to ourselves on Monday nights now. Ahhh!

Promised Moving Pictures

These pictures are more of the packing than the moving, but I promised pictures so here they are.

We started piling boxes in the dining room since it really isn't used much.


We quickly outgrew that into the front hallway.


When we couldn't walk in the front hallway, we started moving boxes into the garage.


It took me an entire week to pack up the school room. I couldn't believe there was so much stuff in one room!


The closet in the master bedroom was probably the next worse place. Thankfully, we just threw our clothes in the back of the van and brought them over. What do people do who move across country? The last time I did that I owned next to nothing!


We're finally getting settled and actually accomplished a full week of school!