Temptations.

On a car ride to work today something was stirring inside of me that got me thinking about temptation. I was very confused as to why I was thinking about this topic because I feel like there hasn't been anything or anyone seriously tempting me in my life right now. Well the more I thought about it the more I realized I was wrong.

The ever so popular story about Jesus being tempted by Satan in the desert began to play in my head. I could not figure out why in the world I was thinking about such things. Once again, NOTHING has been tempting me. Let's recap this story together:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'" Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
-Matthew 4:1-11

After analyzing each verse I was only more confused, thinking to myself: "Why would God want me to focus on such things, I already know not to be tempted by Satan over things like this." I would never test God by jumping off a building or worshiping Satan. Duh, God (with all do respect of course!) Then after my little sarcastic fit that I was throwing out of frustration, it hit me: I am being tempted by Satan at this very moment. God: Five hundred billion points, Traci: Zero.

In our life we may never come face to face with Satan and he may never directly tell us to follow him but he is way more clever than that. He has many many different ways that he tempts us without even hearing his voice. So I began to see how exactly this temptation has been sinking into my day, and it was only 9AM! I woke up feeling sick, but I knew it was allergies and whenever I have allergies I try to just blow it off. I try not to let allergies over take my day, since in Austin, TX allergies are just as common around here as the cyclists and longhorn t-shirts. Well this morning I got to thinking, my 55 hour work week is right around the corner, I should just rest today, I don't have to go to church. Well, there began temptation #1, self absorption...wanting to be lazy and lay around. Once that temptation began to be more clear, I realized the other things that could be considered temptation by the devil. A couple of examples could include:
1. Falling asleep during my prayer time at night because I don't set aside time while I am not laying in my bed.
2. Putting off my nightly devotional because I am just too tired.
3. Not wanting to invite a certain person to church because I am scared of what they might think of me.
4. Not participating in service projects because I don't know anyone else in the group.
5. Not being willing to serve because after all I do work two jobs and I am just too tired.

Do you struggle with some of these things as well? Have you ever viewed them as temptations from the devil or do you just see them as daily struggles? I have seen them just as daily struggles, like little speed bumps that just slow us down on the road trip of christianity. I think God was trying to teach me to view these things as temptations, things that have power to ruin our relationship with him. When we skip out on our quality time with the Lord we become weak, and our well runs dry. We may never encounter the devil speaking to us and demanding us to reject the name of Jesus, but we will encounter him on a daily basis telling us that we are just too tired, too scared or not enough! We are enough to do the will of God, we just need to get over the tiredness in our life to see that. We may be physically tired and want to skip over those things but when we take the time to become spiritually renewed it begins to replace our physical discomfort.

Mocha Club: Traci's Coffee Crew

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"Need Not Apply."

Have you ever been stuck in a place in your life that you know is just not right? You know with out a shadow of a doubt that you weren't created to be at that job, or in that financial situation, or in that marriage. You pray and pray every night and ask God to free you from that place but it just doesn't happen. God is keeping you there, he won't move you and he won't listen to you. It drives me crazy when he does that, when he doesn't listen to ME...because after all I am the creator of the universe and I am all knowing, right? Wrong. I can't even be a 100% sure of what is going to happen to tomorrow, much less how the rest of my life will play out, so why am I so adamant to prove to God that where I am is not where I belong. How do I know where I belong?? How do I know what I am supposed to be doing when I can't even foresee what needs to be done?

I am stuck in a job that I don't feel successful in, and when I say successful I am referring to the worlds definition of the word. Successful: Job status, Black American Express cards, Mercedes Benz, rollin' in dough. I have tried to seek comfort in another job but it just isn't happening. God will not let me out of my current work place. It is like he has his giant hand on my forehead pushing me back while I try to run forward, and his loud voice is saying NO! Maybe I am running with my iPod on and can't hear him? Why can't I see that where I am is successful in a completely different way? Am I a fan of running with a blindfold on too and I just didn't know it?

Could it be that God thinks that the salvation of other people is far more important than the limit on a Black AMEX card? I have a feeling he favors the first one a lot more. So here I am in a job that wears me out, I am talking pains in my legs and taking 3 hour naps in the middle of the day...and all for what? Serving people coffee, waking up at 4AM to make sure that important guy in the business suit starts his day off right. Well that's not all, I have built relationships with people that are the complete opposite of myself, ones that don't believe in God and ones that don't care to follow Him. And how is that successful, they don't even like God, well at least they can see that they might not like my God but I still like them. I won't treat you any different because you don't love him, I will only love you more because you don't love him. Wanna know the biggest success of them all? The big one that beats out any feeling a Mercedes Benz can give you: Seeing a person that you work with, one who didn't have a personal relationship with Jesus when you first met them, sitting next to you at church singing along to worship songs. That my friends is AMAZING!!!

So at the end of the day, I have to remind myself that I might not have a desk, I might not have a name tag or a company credit card but I have the joy of seeing people curiously seek after God and that is far better than any job promotion or paycheck. God won't let me out of my job, he won't take down his hand and let me take off running but he also won't ever make me do this alone. One of his hands may be tightly fastened to me keeping me where I am, but I can bet that his other hand is tightly fastened to those around me at work that don't love Him.

Keeping Up With The "Kardashians"...I mean "Cobbs"

Our family gets compared to the Kardashians on a regular basis. I do realize that some may view that as a bad thing but I do believe that they possess some qualities of a good family. For example: 1. They are a tight knit group that are always there for each other. 2. They are always hanging out with one another. 3. They always got each others backs. 4. A family full of girls and only one boy. I don't know about you, but I think it is cool that some people can see that in our family as well. Need more evidence? Well here you go:

Bruce Jenner/Clay Cobb
They are both conservative and strict fathers who keep the family in line. They are never apart of the drama and try to give the girls the best advice on how to keep their lives on track. Sounds about right. (Just want to make a note that they look nothing alike! Haha.)



Kris Jenner/Alice Cobb
Oh man, I could go on for days about the similarities between these two ladies! In addition to their matching haircuts, these two are identical twins when it comes to their maternal instincts! When Sarah Palin made a reference to a mom is a pitbull in lipstick, she was talking about these two. People not only know better than to mess with them, they know better than to mess with their daughters...and their one and only son. However, when the children do something bad, somehow it is all about Kris...and Alice...and then come the tears. "It's all about me" tends to be their favorite thing to say!



Kourtney Kardashian/Brandi Barrera
Fortunately for the Cobb family one similarity that these two do not share is that Brandi is not pregnant. Praise the Lord! However, they are both the oldest and the tiniest of the family. How does that work out anyway? Aside from having the same body type, they do share the same type of style when it comes to clothes. They also share the same desire to own a clothing boutique. Jackpot!



Kim Kardashian/Traci Barrera
Let's just make it clear that we do not share the public scandal aspect of Kim's life...and for that I am grateful. However, my family thinks that I have a shopping addiction just like her...I don't object either. I enjoy trying different styles and always spending money, an unfortunate downfall in my life. Like Kim, I am the second to the oldest and I am somehow much curvier than my older sister as well. I think our similarities stop there. Oh wait...neither one of us are drinkers...there we go!



Rob Kardashian/Matthew Cobb
Here we go, the greatest of them all, the only sons! They are both surrounded by girls all the time, unfortunately for them they are their sisters. These two can do nothing wrong, and it is because they are moms pride and joy...and the only boys, a nice break from all the estrogen. Rob went to USC because of his dad and Matthew wants to go to Georgia because of Grandpa. They can always count on their sisters to be their for them. Awww.



Kendall Jenner/Haley Cobb
The youngest of the family. They both seem to be the more quieter ones of the bunch. As you can see they are both naturally pretty and enjoy some of the same things. For example: Kendall rides horses and Haley talks with a country accent. That is kinda the same thing, right? I don't know much about Kendall, so sorry Haley that's all I got! :)



So, what do you think? Think we could score our own reality TV show on E! ? Well...Clay would never go for that anyway! ;)