Sunday, February 9, 2014
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
I've never been good at math but...
I do like the trend from pious self-righteous Christian, but some of the "hot" Christian bloggers tend to just get down on themselves... I mean, it's pithy and funny and oh, so relate-able... but goodness, I just want to turn away from the battle royale sometimes. When my hubby and I were first talking, I made some self-depreciating comment and he said, "are you fishin' for a compliment? Well, I won't take the bait." LOL... and I think about that with every self-depreciating comment...
Well, I say all that to say this: going too far with the self-depreciation gets to a point where... well... couldn't you be kind of telling God what a crappy job He did of creating you?
I mean, we're a piece of artwork to God... and if we stop and saw the wonder in each other... well, maybe we'd treat each other nice... and wouldn't that be nice?
Friday, January 10, 2014
2014 forecast -or- "Come to me like a child"
Matthew 18: 1-10
The Message (MSG)
At about the same time, the disciples came to Jesus asking, “Who gets the highest rank in God’s kingdom?”For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, “I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom. What’s more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it’s the same as receiving me. “But if you give them a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you’ll soon wish you hadn’t. You’d be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck. Doom to the world for giving these God-believing children a hard time! Hard times are inevitable, but you don’t have to make it worse—and it’s doomsday to you if you do. “If your hand or your foot gets in the way of God, chop it off and throw it away. You’re better off maimed or lame and alive than the proud owners of two hands and two feet, godless in a furnace of eternal fire. And if your eye distracts you from God, pull it out and throw it away. You’re better off one-eyed and alive than exercising your twenty-twenty vision from inside the fire of hell. “Watch that you don’t treat a single one of these childlike believers arrogantly. You realize, don’t you, that their personal angels are constantly in touch with my Father in heaven?
I love to read the words of Jesus... He was always so straight-forward and so passionate... He always fought for the "least of these"- for the innocent- for the children- for the widows- for the orphans.
It's been interesting these past few months as I have had to put down my "Martha" hat- giving up several jobs at church. It's been hard... because I've loved what I was doing at my church- singing on the worship team, hosting community group and yet knowing that I could not ask my body to do so much while it's housing another human being. And I have always found my identity in work.
As I am being called to lay my jobs down and focus on household, the Lord has reprimanded me on complicating my relationship with Him. Heath, Avery and Hero filmed a new episode of Heath & the Checker Shoe Band the other night. During editing, Heath called me over to the computer to watch a segment that Hero does. There was my little 6 year old on the computer screen shouting, "Do you want Jesus in your heart? Well, say this with me! 'Jesus come into my heart!!' Yea! Welcome to the family!!!"
I teared up, but immediately felt that Heath just add something more to it- to encourage discipleship and reading your Bible... stuff like that. After thinking about it for a few days, Heath said to me, "I think that just complicates it. For a kid, it really is that simple to ask Jesus into your heart and He's there. We make Christianity so complicated."
Well, that'll preach. Why do we adults need to make things so cerebral and so complicated? We work so hard at so many church programs that we miss out on just being with Jesus and that He's with us. All He wants is you.
So while I am being forced into laying down my jobs, I pray that this lesson stays with me after my body allows me to pick those jobs up again... if that's even the Lord's will for me. In my inability to trust Him, I get busy like an ant trying to store up for winter months... just in case He doesn't pull through.
And yet He always does.
I find a lot of freedom in this passage of scripture... that all Jesus wants is for me to come to Him like a child... the implications is that He will protect me and provide for me. 2013 was the Year of the Fishes and Loaves. I think for us, 2014 will be the Year of the Child- learning what true child-like faith and trust is and the freedom in that knowledge.
I hope that you find that kind of freedom and re-assurance in your relationship with Him.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Praying for Boys: Book Review
For as long as I can remember, I enjoyed hanging out with
boys… they were straight forward and I really appreciated that. As a speech-language pathologist, my caseload
is mostly comprised of boys. I worked
for 7 years in the field before having my own.
All I know is boys. And I love
what God’s designed them to be.
But raising my own boys is daunting and overwhelming. Seriously.
I’ve been charged to raise future household spiritual leaders. I believe that you’ve been charged with the
same, Boy Momma. After I read “Wild at
Heart” by John Eldredge, I promised myself and my sons that I would not inflict
the mother wound on them willingly… that I would pray for the Lord to help me
and to be cognizant of what exactly my role would be in raising warriors for
Christ. It’s scary. I am scared out of my mind. That’s where prayer comes
in. Because I know that I have a God who
is bigger than my mistakes and my hang ups and my issues. I know that when I dedicated by boys at the
altar of my church, He stepped in.
Intro “Praying for Boys” by Brooke McGlothlin. I am honored to be able to write a review of
this book and it couldn’t come at a better time. I am weak and weary in the third trimester of
my third pregnancy with my third boy.
But I know what God’s called me to do and that’s changing who I am… in a
good way. My passion for advocating for
the “least of these” was honed in graduate school as I earned my master’s
degree in Speech-Language Pathology… my passion for making sure my boys don’t
choke on my apron strings, well, it’s kind of fierce.
By the end of the first chapter, Brooke asks, “ready to
fight?” As straight forward as the first
chapter is, it’s got a lot of truth in it: our culture tries to snuff out the
essence of manhood. As scary as the battle might be, you don’t have to re-invent the wheel! Brooke’s got it all laid out for us! I don't know about you, but I'm so sick of the enemy trying to tell me that I am gonna fail at this mothering thing... that I don't have what it takes... that my mistakes will scar my boys forever...
This book reminds us that God is with us and that prayer
changes us… And Brooke provides specific prayers to get us focused on virtues of Christian men. My religious upbringing balks at prayers
provided to me, but the neurons of my brain are often robbed of a cohesive
thought process… which makes it hard for me to articulate what I need and to
hear from the Lord. I’ve come to love
prayer prompts, as I call them.
Brooke gives us a safe place to be real with ourselves: we
are weak and human and we need God to help us through this season of
parenting. Too often religion expects us
to have it all together. We don’t, girls.
This book helps us be okay with that reality.
“God hasn’t asked me to win [this battle]… He’s only asked
me… asked you… to be faithful in the battle,”
Brooke writes. “The battle
belongs to the Lord…” Scriptures remind us.
Praying for Boys gives us tools and suggestions to
get you through these years when your sons demand your full attention…
which interferes with your previous precious planned alone time with God!
We have the influence to set heroes on the path to victory
or the power to decapitate our sons with our apron strings... this reality just
keeps driving me to my knees in prayer... while my weakness is more and more
exposed, His strength is all the more evident.
When we were growing up, my mom used to say all the time, “I gave you
two to the Lord when you were first born… His Word does not return void… I
trust that you two will be alright…” She reminded me of this when I shared with her the prayers of this book... "The Lord has those boys," she said.
Praying for Boys:
- Empowers us through the power of Jesus Christ in us
- Encourages us to be transparent and honest with our own needs and weaknesses
- Discussion questions are fantastic!
- The prayer prompts are spot on to training up a child in the way he should go!
Brooke also introduces the concept of fighting FOR our boys
and not AGAINST them… let’s face it… Men are not allowed to be men in our
society. I hear comments about how
stupid men are and how they don’t listen or don’t contribute or don’t clean
up. It makes me so mad. There are so many forces fighting AGAINST
them… they don’t need to fight us too.
This book gives so many tips and prayers to fight FOR our boys – for their
salvation and for their calling. I am
really thankful that this book came to me during this season of my life during
I feel my most weak and weary…
After today's sermon (yeah, I edited this during response time at church) and the events of this morning (loads of obstacles that just makes me mad), I am convicted that I react often before I just stop and pray... My nature is to get angry first... My hope for 2014 is to stop and pray before I react... Handing the situation to God... Depending on Him to help out.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Prayers
A newsletter from the MOB Society today encouraged us to blog about a scripture we were praying over our sons.
A few weeks ago I felt like my eldest was just NOT listening to me. So I wrote a verse out on a sticky note and posted it to the door... I was about to lose it and I didnt want to lose it... After all a fruit of the Spirit is self control, right? Then I wrote out a verse for me... Ephesians 6:1 for him and John 14:27 for me
Then last night I laminated a piece of notebook paper to write out a prayer focus for the week: Nehemiah 8:10
Its's in a central location... It can be seen from the living room and the kitchen... Like Deuteronomy 6: 9 says to write the commandments on our doorframes and to impress them on your children's hearts. My eldest has already asked me what it says... I think this going to be encouraging and helpful to all of us.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
2013 in Review –or- “The year of the Fishes and Loaves”
I love New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. After Easter, it has to be my favorite
holiday. Just the whole ritual of
putting away the Christmas decorations is very symbolic of putting away the
previous year and striving to be better and do better in the coming year.
Heath and I have dubbed 2013 “The Year of the Fishes and
Loaves.”
We started the year with the hope that we would be able to
be at a financial point where we would be more freed from our regular jobs to
focus on the “Heath and the Checker Shoe Band Show.” That didn’t happen. At all.
We desperately wanted to be able to put more time into the show: the
writing, the filming, contacting more television stations, contacting churches… But instead the Lord looked at us and said, “What’s
that you have in your hand?”
“Not much, Lord… just some fishes and loaves…” And we handed those off to Him. We were at a place where there was nothing
left for us to do, but do what we could… which didn’t seem like much…
In the meantime, we went on a wonderful marriage retreat at
Callaway Gardens. We renewed our commitment
to each other and to the life that God’s called us to. We went to work… took
Hero to school… watched Brick grow into toddlerhood. Life could get mundane if we let it, but we
didn’t. We got attacked by the
enemy. We just kept looking to the Lord
for provision. Every day, I kept
praying, “here’s my fishes and loaves,
Lord. Give me strength to run the race
set before me.”
On May 25, while at work, I get this text message from my
husband, “DID YOU KNOW THAT WE HAVE BEEN ON DIRECT TV AND DISH FOR A FEW WEEKS
NOW?????”
“what was that?”
“The t.v. show has been on CTN’s satellite station for a FEW WEEKS NOW!!!! I just found out today”
“what???”
I burst into tears… we had no idea. We had done nothing much more than what we
had been doing. And suddenly, people all
over the nation now had the chance to be flipping through the channels to hear
the Gospel being preached by my husband and his puppets. Woh.
The weight of that has yet to be lost on us.
So Avery and Heath kept working. Kept filming.
And they are. Still working. Still planning. Avery’s going to a workshop at Seasame Street
in February. And they planned out new
shows. Nothing has happened as we had supposed. But everything's happened as it should.
2013 was also the year of surprises. I was completely surprised to find that we
are expecting our 3rd son in March 2014. Of course, this Much Afraid panicked at the
news at first, but then I remembered that the Lord would provide and take care
of him and of us. I am still leaning on
that promise of the Lord.
So as I am in the last few weeks of my pregnancy, I continue
to pray for His provision and strength… for a safe delivery and a healthy
newborn… for continued blessings on Hero and Brick… for strength and creative
inspiration for Heath… for protection for us all in our finances and in our
bodies…
I gave up resolutions a long time ago… but instead here’s
this:
When thinking of new years resolutions: "Resolution
One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still
will." -Jonathan Edwards
I have prayers this year instead of resolutions. I keep praying. Because as my weaknesses become more and more exposed to me, His strength and provision become more and more evident.
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"Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)"
You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand
And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine
Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand
Will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You've never failed and You won't start now
So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior
[x6]
I will call upon Your Name
Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
I am Yours and You are mine
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