Think Before You Speak

"Think before you speak."

That's something I've said to my almost 7-year-old son many times lately, but I'm thinking these words may have been a good piece of advice for a super-polite bank teller I encountered this morning: My friend and I have a small handmade jewelry business, and I was at the bank's drive-in making a deposit from last week's craft show sales. The deposit slip said Eliza Jane Jewelry, the name of our business. After processing my deposit, she sent the receipt back to me and said, ever-so-politely, "Thank you, Ms. Jewelry."

In case you're wondering, I didn't have the heart to alert her to her mistake, so I just said, "Thank you, " and laughed hysterically as I pulled out of the parking lot.

Common Sense: Use It, or Lose It

A few weeks back I listened to an interview with noted British evolutionary biologist and author of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins, who persistently claimed the supremacy of science and the empirical search for answers over religious faith in a Creator. The interviewer kept insisting that although the existence of God could not be proven, believing in a Creator just made more sense than believing there is no God. Dawkins, admitting he couldn't explain how the universe came to exist or that he could prove there is no God, continued to put his faith (oh, yes, it's faith) in his belief (because there's absolutely no proof) that one day (somewhere, somehow) science would be able to explain the spontaneous, "God-less" beginnings of the universe.

Frankly, to use a popular phrase, it seemed Mr. Dawkins couldn't see the forest through the trees. Now, I'm not trying to put him down or to pretend that I'm all-wise and all-knowing. Don't get me wrong. Obviously, Mr. Dawkins is a very intelligent guy, but with all his knowledge, experience, faith and belief, he seems to be missing a little common sense. I'm totally convinced that common sense, which would lead a person to acknowledge the existence of a Creator, is something with which we are all born. But like all skills, if we don't use it, we lose it, and it seems Mr. Dawkins has spent so many years denying the common sense truth of a Creator, that he can't see his faith in science isn't really an empirical search for the truth, but is in fact a belief which ignores reason.

Contrast the Dawkins interview with a discussion I had with my 6-year-old son a couple of weeks ago during our science lesson. We were discussing the formation of fossils and how fossils give us clues to the Earth's beginning. We talked about how we believe God created all things and flooded the Earth in the days of Noah and that causes us to view fossil evidence differently than a person who believes all matter formed spontaneously and lifeforms evolved. I asked my son what he thought about the idea that God didn't create the Earth, but that it just "happened". He said something like this: "That's ridiculous! Look at that beautiful painting up there," pointing to a painting by my husband's grandmother, which hangs above our mantle. "That painting didn't just happen. Grampy's mom painted it. It can't happen all by itself!"

And there's the common sense - out of the mouth of a child.

That's my boy.

"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."

Matthew 18:3-4 -The Message Paraphrase

Beauty That Will Turn Your World Upside-Down

I've been pretty slack lately when it comes to writing down my thoughts. My apologies to anyone out there who may actually read my blog from time to time. Writing helps me to process my thoughts, and that's mainly why I keep this blog. I'm aware that God is constantly teaching me new things about the person he wants me to be, but I know if I don't record these truths somewhere, I'm likely to forget the new insights and stagnate in my journey as I follow after Jesus. In the past two months, there have been quite a few moments where I thought, "I need to write this down (on my blog)," but busyness kept me away, and now many of those nuggets of wisdom are buried in the recesses of my cluttered brain. Perhaps they will make their way to the surface once again...

Well, to end my blogging hiatus, here's a snippet from a book I recently finished after about 9 months of reading it. I know. Pathetic. (Seriously, the life of a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom leaves very little time for extra reading - except for late at night, when I fall asleep after reading a page and a half. Hence the 9 month completion rate!) Here are a few quotes from Tim Keller's The Reason For God. These excerpts come from a chapter he titled, "The Dance of God". When I read it, two truths stood out to me: 1. God is beautiful. The Holy Trinity of the Father, Son and Spirit - although mind-boggling - is absolute sheer beauty. 2. If we truly embrace this beauty, it will turn our lives and our world upside-down.

Read Keller's description for yourself:

The life of the Trinity is characterized not by self-centeredness but by mutually self-giving love. When we delight and serve someone else, we enter into a dynamic orbit around him or her, we center on the interests and desires of the other. That creates a dance, particularly if there are three persons, each of whom move around the other two... Each person of the Trinity, loves, adores, defers to, and rejoices in the others. That creates a dynamic, pulsating dance of joy and love.

If God is unipersonal, then until God created other beings there was no love, since love is something one person has for another. This means that a unipersonal God was power, sovereignty, and greatness from all eternity, but not love. Love then is not of the essence of God, nor is it at the heart of the universe. Power is primary.

However, if God is triune, then loving relationships in community are the "great fountain... at the center of reality." When people say, "God is love, " I think they mean that love is extremely important, or that God really wants us to love. But in the Christian conception, God really has love as his essence. If he was just one person, he couldn't have been loving for all eternity. If he was the impersonal all-soul of Eastern thought, he couldn't have been loving, for love is something persons do.

Sheer beauty. Now, here's another excerpt. This is what happens when we decide to embrace that beauty.

Ultimate reality is a community of persons who know and love one another. That is what the universe, God, history, and life is all about. If you favor money, power, and accomplishment over human relationships, you will dash yourself on the rocks of reality. When Jesus said you must lose yourself in service to find yourself (Mark 8:35), he was recounting what the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have been doing throughout eternity. You will then never get a sense of self by standing still, as it were, and making everything revolve around your needs and interests. Unless you are willing to experience the loss of options and the individual limitation that comes from being in committed relationships, you will remain out of touch with your own nature and the nature of things.

When "first" becomes "last", and "last" becomes "first, it seems upside-down, but as Keller aptly describes it, it really means we're seeing things right-side-up for the first time.

Jerry's Thinking About Religion

Jerry is a guy who loves Jesus and loves his wife and kids, but he's not so in love with "religion". Check out his thought-provoking post here.

Three Days

Three days.

For three days the Pharisees thought they had eliminated Jesus.
For three days Jesus' followers despaired.
For three days Mary mourned for her firstborn.
For three days the disciples hid in fear.
For three days Jesus, the Son of God who had healed the sick and calmed the sea, was dead.
For three days hope was lost.

Then Sunday came.

³⁹ “And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a cross, ⁴⁰ but God raised him to life on the third day."

Acts 10:39-41 (New Living Translation)

Beautiful Hands

Sometimes the beauty of music and drama can speak more powerfully than the most eloquent of sermons. This video is such - a powerful mime illustration performed with a blacklight and accompanied by the Casting Crowns song "Who Am I". Words simply cannot do it justice. I've watched it many times over and over.

Take a look for yourself below.

(FYI: A group of middle school students performed this same illustration in my own church this morning. It was so powerful and moving. After searching, I found this video made by another church's youth group.)

Ready, Set, Go!

Well, in two days I will run my first race ever - a 1ok. That's 6.2 miles for all of you metrically challenged people out there. It's taken seven weeks of training to get to this point, and I've spent much time reflecting on the similarities between running a race and following Jesus. Just to be fair, I'm not the first person to come up with this great analogy. All you need to do is read the passage in Hebrews from my previous post, and you'll see the idea's not a new one. In fact, I've read that passage in Hebrews numerous times in my life, but since I started training for this race, the analogy has become so much more powerful in my heart and mind.

Here's one thing I've learned about running a long race: it is hard and painful at times, and you will want to give up. If I want to have any hope of finishing this race on Saturday, I must be committed to finishing. Crossing the starting line doesn't guarantee I'm going to cross the finish line. If I start to envy those on the sidelines, and say to myself, "It's so much easier to just watch the race," then I'll suddenly find myself right beside them and out of the race. I have to stay focused on the prize at the end (in this case bottled water and snacks because there's no way I'm winning the cash prize!) and stay on the course. I may have to battle the weather, side cramps, knee pain and fatigue. If I trip and fall, I need to pick myself up and keep running to the finish line.

That's a lot what it's like to follow Jesus, isn't it? He's the race leader, and I need to keep my eyes on him, so I can follow him to the finish. If I want to finish the race and receive the prize that awaits, I must be committed to staying the course because there will be times when I want to give up. If I'm not careful, I may be drawn into sin - greed, pride, lust, anger, selfishness - you name it - and find myself slowly entangled by it and no longer following Jesus, the race leader, but hanging out on the sidelines with the crowd instead. I'll certainly have to battle temptations and troubles while running this lifelong race, and I may even get tripped up by them at times, but I need to pick myself back up and fix my eyes on Jesus, the race leader.

He's leading the charge, and I'll win the prize if I just keep following him.

Endurance, Part 2

A scripture passage that should have been included with my previous post on endurance:

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. ² We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. ³ Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.

Hebrews 12: 1-3 (NLT)

Endurance

I have a friend, who a few years ago at the young age of 31, had to endure the physical and emotional pain of a breast cancer diagnosis (while pregnant with her second child) and the chemo, double mastectomy and reconstructive surgeries that followed her diagnosis. Throughout her treatment, she would regularly send out email updates on her progress and share her thoughts and feelings on her experience. Throughout her entire ordeal, she remained a true inspiration to me on how to handle adversity, and I remember one specific email she sent out, in particular. It was written a day or two after one her many surgeries - perhaps her mastectomy. She described the incredible and intense physical pain she felt when she awoke from her anesthesia and that she had to endure for a few days afterward. Instead of using her pain as a reason to give up or complain, she used her pain as reason to worship Jesus in the midst of it all. Her own physical pain served as a reminder to her of the agony Jesus willingly endured on the cross when he died for us. Ever since, I've begun to think in the same way. Whenever I have to endure physical pain - great or small, I'm reminded how much more my Savior suffered when he died for me.

Which brings me to my own little world as of late. I decided last month (at the urging of a friend - it wasn't even my idea) to run a 10k race at the end of March. This will be my first race ever, and let me be clear: I am a wimp when it comes to pain and exercise, so training for a race has not only been a challenge for me physically, but also mentally and spiritually. Everyone who runs knows there comes a point in the run when your body just begins to hurt - your legs, feet, back, everything. This is when the mental battle really begins - when you have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and endure until you reach your finish. I've been trying to use those few agonizing minutes at the end of my training runs to focus on Jesus, just as my friend worshiped through her pain. I just think about what Jesus endured on the cross for me, and it gives me the endurance I need to keep going.

At the end of a recent training run, where I was really struggling to cover my longest distance yet, the most amazing, God-inspired thing happened. I had been intensely focused on enduring to the end and thinking about the cross when a new song began to play on my iPod, which had been randomly shuffling songs throughout my workout. This particular song, though I've heard and sung it many times before, brought special meaning and tears to my eyes as it serenaded me through the last half mile of my run, when my pain was at it's greatest and I really wanted to quit. Singing along to the lyrics gave me the extra measure of strength I needed to endure the remainder of my run. What an amazing God we have!

The song is entitled "Here I Am To Worship" by Chris Tomlin, and below are some of the specific words that spoke so directly to me:

And here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that you're my God
You're altogether lovely.
altogether worthy,
altogether wonderful to me.

I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross
I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross
And I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross
No, I'll never know how much it cost

Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that you're my God
You're altogether lovely
Altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful to me

Wii Fatigue

Yesterday afternoon as I was straightening and vacuuming our family room, I asked my 6-year-old son, who had been playing Star Wars on the Wii, to take his toys upstairs. He looked at me (very seriously) and said, "But Mama, my hands are tireder than yours because I've been holding the Wii controller FOREVER!"

Really?!?

Let's just say after a brief reality check, he realized his hands really weren't so tired after all.

A Man and a Woman in the Making

Like most moms, I have my moments when I look longingly at my children and ask, "Why can't they stay little forever?" I know years down the road I will look back on these days and long to hold my 6 year old and 2 year old again. When I experience feelings like these, I try to remind myself how precious these days and years are and to simply savor each day - even the temper-tantrum filled and messy ones.

And when I get that I-want-to-hold-onto-you-and-never-let-you-go feeling that all moms experience, I also try to remind myself that my two children are really a man and a woman in the making. While my children are young, it is my responsibility to guide and protect them and hold them close, but if I decide to hold on to them for keeps, then I'm losing sight of my ultimate purpose as a parent.

What is my ultimate purpose? Fueled by God's wisdom and grace, I must direct them on their personal journeys to manhood and womanhood, teaching them to follow Jesus along the way.

His Name is MR. Potatohead

OK, I almost didn't post this.

It seems a bit crass, but if you're someone raising boys, you'll most certainly get a laugh out of this photo.

Below is a photo of my 6 year old son's recent creation when he got into his little sister's Mr. Potatohead collection.

By the way, it wasn't my idea to snap the photo. My husband decided it was a piece of art worth remembering (and email to a few friends at the same time!) Everyone got a laugh out of it, so here's yours.

Something Worth Writing Down

If you're ever cleaning up a poopy diaper for a 2-year-old, who's also fussing over a diaper rash "boo-boo", and then this bare-bottomed 2-year-old says, "Kiss it, Mama," you know you've got something worth writing down!

It happened to me last night.

In the Words of Flo From the Movie "Cars"...

"Ehhh... look at my husband, y'all!"

He's a grown-up skater, but he still has a few tricks up his sleeve. This stunt show went on for a few minutes until our 2-year-old daughter - completely unaware - sat down on the four-wheeler and drove off!

(The pictures are blurry because our camera stinks.)





That's our friend (fellow skater and Vans shoe lover), Archie - better known as "DJ Arch-Deluxe" - observing from afar. He was undoubtedly the inspiration for our mini X-Games.

That's My King!

Every time I watch this video, excerpted from a sermon by the late S.M. Lockridge, I get goose bumps. It just blesses my heart and soul.

Do you need a pick-me-up today? Play this video and crank up the volume.

You'll be glad you did.

Like a Moth to a Flame

Like a moth to a flame, I am always attracted to the slowest Wal-Mart checkout line. My experience yesterday, after waiting 25 minutes to check out (with only two shoppers in front of me) confirmed my suspicion. So, if you ever see me in the checkout line at Wal-Mart, do yourself a favor: Go to another line.

Church Ministry: Obligation or Blessing?

Let me just cut to the chase. I've attended several different churches throughout my life. I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to running and organizing a church and its various ministries. Sometimes it feels like the church's ministry machine is constantly seeking more and more fuel (i.e. volunteers), just so it can keep running. It often doesn't feel like there's much thought put into why a certain ministry/program exists or why the local church exists, for that matter. Sometimes it just feels like there are programs to be run, and we need people to run them. Period.

One area in churches where I feel this mindless assignment of tasks often occurs is in preschool ministry - i.e. nursery duty. [ Cringe ] Before I go any further, let me say I love the preschool director at my church. She's a joy! She also only takes volunteers for service in our preschool ministry. And lest I be prematurely judged, let me clarify I do not have an axe to grind when it comes to serving in the church nursery. In fact, for the past year and a half my husband and I have been the caregivers in our church's infant nursery every Sunday at 9 AM. (Okay, got that out of the way.)

My previous church had a nursery policy where everyone who had children in the preschool program had to serve one (sometimes two) Sundays per month. I remember feeling like an indentured servant with the birth of each child, which meant another 5 years of obligation to the church nursery. Basically, the church was assigning people to serve in the preschool ministry based purely on demographics - not on giftedness or calling. That's akin to asking all the men who use the church restrooms to rotate duties once a month to clean them, or it's like asking all the families who park cars in the parking lot to serve once a month as parking attendants. Sounds absurd, doesn't it? That, unfortunately, is the rationale behind many church preschool programs. Consequently, serving in the church nursery for many is an obligation - not a blessing.

So, this begs the question: why do we need a church nursery in the first place? Well, the answer is obvious. The parents and the children both need a place where they can learn and be fed spiritually. Now, what is the ultimate purpose of your local church? Is it to have lots and lots of ministries and find people to fill them, just so they can keep running? I submit the primary purpose of the local church is to strengthen and equip the body of believers, so that they can, in turn, go out into the rest of world and shine the Light of Jesus for all to see. That means the church doesn't exist just to keep a multitude of programs afloat. It means that in addition to teaching, the church must assist believers in discovering their God-given gifts and their unique callings, so they can be effective ministers everywhere they go.

That kind of ministry is a blessing to everyone who is touched by it.

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11-13 (NASB)

God: The Playwright

Quoting an excerpt from Tim Keller's The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (pp. 122, 123):

When a Russian cosmonaut returned from space and reported he had not found God, C.S. Lewis responded that this was like Hamlet going into the attic of his castle looking for Shakespeare... If the God of the Bible exists, he is not a man in the attic, but the Playwright. That means we won't be able to find him like we would find a passive object with the powers of empirical investigation. Rather, we must find the clues to his reality that he has written into the universe, including into us. That is why, if God exists, we would expect to find that he appeals to our rational faculties. If we were made "in his image" as rational, personal beings, there should be some resonance between his mind and ours. It also means that reason alone won't be enough. The Playwright can only be known through personal revelation. That is why we have to take a look at what the Bible says about God and the human condition.

In the Christian view, however, the ultimate evidence for the existence of God is Jesus Christ himself. If there is a God, we characters in his play have to hope that he put some information about himself in the play. But Christians believe he did more than give us information, he wrote himself into the play as the main character in history, when Jesus was born in a manger and rose from the dead. He is the one with whom we have to do.

Sharing The Light of Christmas

Christmas Eve is always a busy and exciting day for our little family, and this year was no exception. First, we began the day with a much-anticipated brunch with my side of the family at my brother, Kirk's house - literally just around the corner from us. It's a wonderful tradition that my family began over a decade ago, and it truly is a time of fellowship for my family. No presents to open or wrapping paper to clean up. It's just about eating and being together. The adults always sit around the table long after the meal is over while the kids play in the other room. It's a wonderful way to start the day and the Christmas festivities. I highly recommend organizing a brunch (or other special meal) with your family and friends around Christmas without gift opening or any of the extra hub-bub. In fact, we always host a brunch at our house on Christmas morning for friends and family who have no other plans. But, I digress.

The clandestine assembly of a brand new trampoline in the backyard consumed our afternoon on Christmas Eve. Santa (my husband) and his helper (my brother, Kevin) were able to assemble the trampoline while I took the kids out for errands and to visit at my parents' house for the afternoon - returning after dark.

Ultimately, the busyness of the day led us to stay home that evening and not attend the service at our church, as we had intended. At first I felt a bit negligent, thinking my children might forget the true meaning of Christmas; however, it turned out to be a blessing that we stayed home. We were able to do something as a family that I believe was even more meaningful to my young children.

We gathered around the kitchen table, lights dimmed. The Christmas tree sparkled in the nearby family room, as I handed each family member a cupcake with a single, unlit birthday candle. There was barely enough light in the room for me to read a Christmas story aloud. Everyone listened intently, as I read aloud the children's picture book, The Light of Christmas. The book explains in a rhyming, poetic manner that our world was dark with sin, and we needed a light from Heaven, so God set forth a plan to send Jesus - the Light of the World. It's a beautiful and touching children's book. We began to read with our candles still unlit. At the appropriate moment in the story, we lit all of our candles to represent the Light of Jesus entering our world, and the glow of our candles illuminated the room. It was undoubtedly a very powerful and memorable visual for the kids.

Once the story was finished, we all sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, blew out our candles and enjoyed our cupcakes. Even the littlest of us learned a great deal through our homemade Christmas Eve service. Ever since, whenever I ask my 2 year old daughter to sing the birthday song, she says, "Happy Birthday, Jesus!"