God’s waiting room

All those out there who like to sit in a waiting room please stand up…what? No one is standing? I think we can all agree that sitting in a waiting room stinks, be it for a doctor visit, or waiting for you car to be ready or just waiting for a table at a restaurant. It’s not fun, it tests our patience, it makes us angry, and then we tend to take that anger out on the receptionist, the children we brought with us or other people waiting. We humans don’t wait well.
So, last night before I went to bed I was surfing on the world wide interweb (my husband’s favorite term for the internet he stole from a movie)…anyhoo, I was surfing for statistics about the unreached, the unsaved, the poor, the less fortunate…why, you ask…for a slide show presentation on Mission Sunday at church…SOOooo,  I went to sleep last night with all these things in my head, numbers of unsaved people, massive parts of the world where there are ZERO missionaries, human trafficking, toddlers sold into sex rings (TODDLERS!?!) It was heart wrenching, and some of it nauseating…and CERTAILY CONVICTING!   And,  this morning, with all this still on my mind, in a half sleep/half wake state the thought came to me…what if when we died we find out that we have to sit in a waiting room and wait to get into heaven, wait for that door to open and a friendly angel call our name and lead us back to the room where we would wait some more to see the face of Jesus, sitting in the room, posters of heavenly mansions on the wall, hoping one might be ours, nervous about bad news, that we may not get the “well done, good and faithful servant” when He comes in the room–AND here’s the kicker– all of this waiting that we have to do is directly proportional to how much time we made God wait for our service on earth…! (I told you in my last blog that God talks to me in ways that my simple brain can understand)…but wow, this thought jolted me awake–how long would I be waiting??????  I immediately thanked God for His truly amazing GRACE…and for a glimpse of the pain we cause Him with our short-sightedness about the world around us. I realize that many of us are unable to pick up at a moment’s notice and go to the far reaches of the world…but there is much pain all around us, and we need (what I need to do) is to ask God to see the world through His eyes, with His compassion, and His urgency!  The bible tells us to go, it doesn’t say wait to go,  go if your family thinks it’s alright, go if you have some extra money…it just say to GO…it says we are to feed the hungry, heal the sick, sell our possessions and give to the poor…AND WE CAN DO THESE THINGS IN OUR OWN BACKYARD, IN OUR OWN TOWNS…!!  Lord, make me more aware, burden my heart with Your burdens for Your people…few quotes on this subject that struck me today are:

Here are a few quotes from missionaries that struck me today:

“Let my heart be broken with the things that break God’s heart. –Bob Pierce (founder of World Vision)

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” –Mother Teresa
“This generation of Christians is responsible for this generation of souls on Earth.” –Keith Green

 

Randomness..Neosporin, proud moment, & ancient history!

So Sunday at church during a prayer, we were asked to ask God to reveal himself to us that day, to show us who He really was…and I did..and what came to my mind was Neosporin (I promise I really was praying–I think God reveals Himself to me in ways that my simple mind can understand) but as I was feeling silly for thinking “Neosporin–what?!?” I realized that God is a healing ointment that soothes pain, kills bacteria, & helps heal faster than other ointments we might try…He is maximum strength!

Another random and proud moment for me this week was yesterday, my sweet son (and clearly goofy son, as the picture is proof) and I got to spend some time alone while I took him to the dermatolgist and then to run and errand…I took him home after and left him there alone (his Dad & sisters were playing golf) while I ran to Goodwill, and Target…anyway, we have a rule in our house, TV stays off til 5pm…so here this 13 year old teenage boy is alone at home…and he calls me before I get to the end of our street and said, “Hey, Mom it’s 4:45…do you mind if I go ahead and watch TV?” It thrilled my soul to see the true character of my son come through…I know as a 13 year old girl, my thought would have been “Mom’ll never know…I’m watching TV”…but my son is a better person than I was at that age…It makes me so proud and filled with so much joy to see what a fine man that God is turning him into, I can’t wait to see what plans God has planned…someone once said “character is what you do when no one is looking,” …I’m glad…no, pleased as punch that my son is showing such strong character!

And finally homeschooling is not always easy, not always fun, it certainly isn’t the cheaper alternative…but I love love love that I can pick what my children are learning (and that’s just one of the things I love about it)…the history that we are using this year is “The Mystery of History”…it’s awesome…it’s fun, interesting, bible based cirriculum…It works for multiple age groups, and I can’t say enough good about it…I’m grateful for the precious new friend that introduced it to me and super dooper glad I bought it…AND it’s affordable, especially when you divide the amount by however many children you’re using it with…LOVE LOVE it!! My children are acutally learning history…ancient history…and it’s not boring them…Thanks Mystery of History and it FAB author, Linda Lacour Hobar! (She rocks!)

 

How did I pray today?

At the prompting of my sweet friend Debi, I am writing once again on my blog…my so very neglected blog. Here’s hoping I’m more consistent with it!!

The kids and I are reading everyday from a series of books that I call the “10 boys” and “10 girls” books, they are fully titled things like “10 Boys Who Changed the World”, “10 Girls Who Didn’t Give In”, (along with several other titles) all about real people in history and telling their stories from childhood to adult, how they came to know Jesus and let God use them in some way in their life. Today’s story was from “10 Boys Who Used Their Talents”  about Samuel Morse (of Morse code fame)…what stuck with me from his story is not the fact the he invented a way of communicating that is used in such widespread ways today…that part is amazing enough…and I could write a lot on it…but what stuck with me today about this story was this paragraph…

“…Samuel took his faith seriously. He kept a diary and each day answered these questions: How did I pray? Did I feel weighed down with sin? Did I pray like the self-righteous Pharisee? Have I received blessings for which I’ve not been thankful?”

I thought…I need to post these questions somewhere that I can see them and be remind myself every day to ask these as well.  And then when I read them again I thought, if I’m NOT feeling weighed down with sin AM I praying like a Pharisee?  Shouldn’t I, as I focus on growing closer to Christ, feel more and more weighed down by my own sin?  I’m not saying I think we should all start self-loathing & flogging ourselves…but asking the question, as we grow closer to Christ shouldn’t we be more aware and weighed down by the sin in our lives…and if we pray ignoring that sin aren’t we acting like a self-righteous Pharisee?  Too deep?  Maybe, I’m still trying to wrap my head around it…as for the rest of the quote…how many blessings have I received and not given thanks for…I’m sure I am thankful for the bigs things…but how often do I forget to say thanks for the blessings I take for granted, for my car that works, and the job that helps pay for it, for the fact that I have been given the opportunity to stay at home with my children and watch them grow, that our pantry always has something in it…I would imagine if we thought about it we could all spend a little more prayer time every day just saying thanks, (remembering to be specific)…thanks for so many many blessings that we take for granted.  Hey, and you know what?   I bet after we’ve spent some time just expressing our gratitude to our Heavenly Father…our hearts will be a whole lot LESS likely to pray like a Pharisee…hmmm, what do you think?

 

Mission Fargo…

Sorry, I’ve been a bad blogger…life has been hectic recently…but a group from my church along with my son & myself leave Fri to go to Fargo ND…here is a copy of the blog I wrote for it…check out that blog at www.fargond09.wordpress.com

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We’re goin’ ta Fargo doncha know…I’m practicing my Farganese., been listening to Francis McDormond in the movie Fargo this past week so I’d be able to converse with the natives. I’m just joking they speak English there, maybe not MY version of English but it’s all good, Shivonne will help me communicate. Seriously, I’m pretty pumped about going to North Dakota, I haven’t been on a mission trip since the year 19– something or other…let’s just say I was much younger. I’m excited to see a part of the country I’ve never seen, I’m excited to share this experience with my son, and excited to get to know some fellow Bridgers better. But I am most excited to get to be the hands and feet of Jesus to people who even though they live here in the United States have never experienced my Savior on a personal level.

I read recently that non-believers must hear the gospel an average of 7.6 times before they receive it, and the bible says to GO & TELL…so that’s what we’re doing, we’re gonna go to Fargo, and tell people we meet about Jesus, about how much He loves them. If we are obedient to that, we may meet a person whose hearing the gospel the 7th time and we may get to be a part of the joy of a life changing experience for them or we may meet someone whose hearing it for the 1st time. The important thing to remember is that God’s word NEVER returns void, and the Holy Spirit will use people whose hearts are motivated by love. And if we share our faith with people in love we cannot fail.

How will we do this you ask? We will be walking around the city and neighborhoods, sharing with people about John & Abby Fisher and the work they are doing there, and letting them know that they have a place to go and people to go to for any need they have. We will be inviting them to a block party we’re hosting at the end of the week in a local park. We are hoping to be able to help people clean up their homes from the flood & generally doing whatever John & Abby might need us to do to help with their ministry.

It’s kind of exciting and a little bit scary to think that I may impact someone’s life—and that’s where you come in—you can help this team of people who are going to Fargo by committing to praying for us every day, as part of your morning or evening prayer time, praying. Pray for our safety, for God’s words to be ever present in our hearts and minds when talking to others, and for our boldness to truly be the hands and feet of Christ to this part of the world. Check out our blog during the week and hear about what we’re doing and what things you might be able to pray for leave comments for the team to encourage them. Also pray for John & Abby Fisher, they are brand new parents, and church planters…pray for the relationships they will build as they meet the needs of the people there. And pray that through all of this God will be glorified and Jesus will be made famous.

 

This story bugs me…

There are so many things about this story that bug me…I don’t understand why the public school needs the child to get permission from anyone other than his parents to go to prom, I don’t understand why the Christian school principal signed the permission slip with the condition of “there will be consequences”–why give permission to something you don’t agree with– and I don’t understand how the school’s board, as Christians, can say this child’s parents don’t have the ability alone to handle this situation, and that this child is taking a path that is against God’s will. It bothers me that the general public will read this story and assume all Christians are just that judgemental toward everyone and might also think “well I might believe in Christ but if I make one mistake I’ll be kicked out so it’s not worth it”…and it bugs me that stories like this one make it to the news everyday…but seldom do the stories of the good things Christians do make it to the news…not that we, as Christians, do things for our own glory…but it seems the media is only interested tearing down the church…am I way of base here?  Do you think this school is right in it’s declaration of suspension, should this student just follow the school’s policy?  When I was a junior in high school I was told I couldn’t be a cheerleader that year if I didn’t go to camp…camp that year happened to be the same time as my youth group’s youth revival…(the teacher in charge of the cheerleaders was the wife of a youth minister from another church by the way)…I chose to stay and help my youth group and missed being a cheerleader that year…I tell my kids all the time there are consequences to every action…which I think is true…but isn’t part of growing up learning to make those choices?  If the school believes this child should just obey…then why sign the permission slip for him to go and if we as adults are suppose to help children become responsible adults don’t we have to let them learn what it means to make their own decisions mistakes & all…what do  y’all think?

Ohio Christian school tells student to skip prom

FINDLAY, Ohio – A student at a fundamentalist Baptist school that forbids dancing, rock music, hand-holding and kissing will be suspended if he takes his girlfriend to her public high school prom, his principal said.

Despite the warning, 17-year-old Tyler Frost, who has never been to a dance before, said he plans to attend Findlay High School’s prom Saturday.

Frost, a senior at Heritage Christian School in northwest Ohio, agreed to the school’s rules when he signed a statement of cooperation at the beginning of the year, principal Tim England said.

The teen, who is scheduled to receive his diploma May 24, would be suspended from classes and receive an “incomplete” on remaining assignments, England said. Frost also would not be permitted to attend graduation but would get a diploma once he completes final exams. If Frost is involved with alcohol or sex at the prom, he will be expelled, England said.

Frost’s stepfather Stephan Johnson said the school’s rules should not apply outside the classroom.

“He deserves to wear that cap and gown,” Johnson said.

Frost said he thought he had handled the situation properly. Findlay requires students from other schools attending the prom to get a signature from their principal, which Frost did.

“I expected a short lecture about making the right decisions and not doing something stupid,” Frost said. “I thought I would get his signature and that would be the end.”

England acknowledged signing the form but warned Frost there would be consequences if he attended the dance. England then took the issue to a school committee made up of church members, who decided to threaten Frost with suspension.

“In life, we constantly make decisions whether we are going to please self or please God. (Frost) chose one path, and the school committee chose the other,” England said.

The handbook for the 84-student Christian school says rock music “is part of the counterculture which seeks to implant seeds of rebellion in young people’s hearts and minds.”

England said Frost’s family should not be surprised by the school’s position.

“For the parents to claim any injustice regarding this issue is at best forgetful and at worst disingenuous,” he said. “It is our hope that the student and his parents will abide by the policies they have already agreed to.”

The principal at Findlay High School, whose graduates include Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, said he respects, but does not agree with, Heritage Christian School’s view of prom.

“I don’t see (dancing and rock music) as immoral acts,” Craig Kupferberg said.

 

what a busy week!!

WARNING:  This blog may (read will probably) contain misspelled words and bad grammar…I’m just sayin…

Well this marks the 6th blog I’ve started in the last month…wonder if I’ll finish it? This past week was super full of events and friends and activities…on top of trying to finish the homeschooling year, keeping my house tidy…nay, not tidy decent would be the word…(currently there is a smell I can’t find, but you can walk in the living room without stepping on a toy or something else that would hurt so…decent)…the week started out on

Mon. with homeschooling in the car on the way to McKenna’s ballet/tap class…she has her recital on the 17th of May so we (the parents) got a preview rehearsal of the girls dance…at least I think there were other girls in there–all I could see was my little one…too sweet, can’t wait to see her in her little costume & I hope she doesn’t get stage fright!!

Tues. we had a visit from our sweet friend Steve & Debi Ogle…it was so good to see them and visit with them…but it was TOO SHORT!! We had dinner with other friends that came to see the Ogle’s too…hmmm, I’m gonna have to steal pictures from Debi, as I forgot to take any…you know, I think we have friends that pass through our life and move on and as hard as it is to say goodbye, we know that we will get to spend eternity together…and I really feel like when we do have  those times when we all get a minute (read extra time) to sit around in a living room, on a deck, around a fire, and just tell stories, and laugh & just be together that those moments are little glimpses into the joy we will experience in heaven…at least that’s what I think.

Wednesday…small group…we host small group at our house, we started a new bible study on the gospel of John…it was a good discussion, and I’m looking forward to this week.

Thurs. hmmm, I think Thurs. was mainly school work and housework–and a little yard work…

Friday was when the rain started…I was tired, and kinda spent the day being lazy…which may have helped get me through the weekend…

Sat.–my wonderful church The Bridge had our One Great Day…we take the first Sat. in May every year to go out and serve the community however we can….this year our group had $300 in gas cards…and we were giving it away $5 at a time…would you take it? If you passed someone holding a sign in the rain that said FREE $5 GAS…would you take it? It was really hard to give away…people are conditioned by the world we live in to be suspicious about anything that says free…even when I put NO STRINGS on the back of my sign people would still question our motives…and found it hard to believe that we would just give away free gas for nothing…they were thankful…and always left still surprised and hopefully left understanding grace a little bit more…maybe like Susan said to us yesterday…we planted a seed in them that someone else will come and water…or maybe we were watering a seed…ONE THING I do know, giving to others blessed me more than I can express…

Sun. worshipping this morning, lunch with friends, then 3 new baptisms with my church family…and home to put my feet up…

ahhh…a wonderful week full of precious memories made…what does the Lord have in store for me this week…

 

A Good Shepherd

This came in my inbox from The Timberdoodle Company…they are a homeschool curriculum catalog for anyone who may not know…I thought it quite goo and thought I’d share…and check out Timberdoodle.com they have lots of cool stuff…even if you don’t homeschool!

Dear Friends,

Many months ago in our Sunday school class, a question arose: What are the duties of a shepherd? Most of the adults quickly flipped to favorite passages concerning shepherds; a slapdash discussion ensued both as to why the shepherd does what he does, as well as to the application of each of the shepherd’s duties in our lives today.

Both because we have previously owned sheep and because the discussion seemed to be heading down a somewhat predictable path, my mind ambled merrily away on its own. But instead of wandering toward thoughts of lunch and my Sunday afternoon novel, that day my mind stayed somewhat on topic as I considered what the ultimate duty of a shepherd is. Why does he work so hard to feed, water, shelter, and protect? In many cases, his goal is not merely to keep the sheep safe and contented; it is to prepare them to die.

We do our church and families a disservice when we end the discussion of a shepherd’s duties at his kindly provisions, with no mention of this additional objective. Much of what the shepherd does is in the end focused on a sheep being fully prepared to die. How much richer will our experience be, in those moments that we feel called by God to shepherd another, if we see beyond the temporal need for protection or nourishment and seize each occasion as an opportunity to prepare that child or adult for death, for eternity. If each moment of every day were considered in terms of how it is preparing us for eternity, instead of what fleeting pleasure it will allow us, would we use our time differently?

Jesus is not only our Good Shepherd; He was also the sacrificial Lamb. He knew, like we will never know, how to live in such a way that when death came He was wholly ready. This week, as we prepare to celebrate the wonder of what He did for us, we also look forward to the day when we will be united with the One who has lovingly shepherded us to the end.

He is risen indeed!

- All of us at Timberdoodle Co
www.timberdoodle.com
1510 E Spencer Lake Rd
Shelton, WA 98584
800-478-0672

 

Friends in Fargo

From my friend John & Abby Fisher who are in Fargo ND…please pray for the city of Fargo…here is the Fisher’s blog link…http://johnandabby.wordpress.com/

Well Friends and supporters we are in a tough situation here in Fargo.
A real quick update so I will be brief. First off baby Julia was born on March 14th and is healthy and doing great.
If you haven’t heard the Red river which cuts the FM (Fargo Moorhead Metro) in half is 23 feet above flood stage. The city is in am emergency and has evacuated different at risk spots but all in all we are still here fighting. Abby and Julia are in St Cloud for the weekend and maybe the beginning part of next week. My mother got here Thurs and is with them waiting all this out. I am still here, Abby and I had a long discussion and we thought it best for them to go but for me to stay and minister to the people and assist in fighting the flood waters back. The river is supposed to crest Sat around 1 and they have changed the crest stage from 41 to now on the higher side of 43. We have built almost 12 miles of sandbag dikes and it looks like they are going to be adding another foot to the dikes we have built. I have been out along with many other brothers from the area ministering, diking and sandbagging.
Please Pray for our city there are a lot of scared people and rightly so – this is scary.
Please pray that I and other would be diligent to not only helping but also sharing with people the one and only Savior, Christ
Please pass this along to whomever you would like, we are in a very dire situation and need all the prayers we can get. I will try to keep you updated check the websites below for updates. Also www.areavoices.com and click on flood 2009 on the page for up to date info.
For the supremacy of Christ
John Fisher

 

Starting my week with a little DTF…

Luke 9:23-26

The start of the week, lots of plans being scheduled, lots of list being made…people are looking at calendars, wondering where they can squeeze in this or that activity or luncheon, or meeting…I’m the same way, planning how I will work out the business of my family for the week, chores, schoolwork, laundry, yardwork, …However, this week (and every week after) I’ve decided to start my day’s differently by doing 3 things every day…Denying myself, Taking up my cross, and Following Jesus…

My pastor used a quote yesterday in his sermon from Ghandi’s autobiography, he said “I would have become a Christian if I had ever seen one.”   My prayer is that I become that ONE that someone sees…

 

His eye is on the goldfish…

So I have a little pond outside my back door…I love the sound of the water…and I love my fish…I love that they know my voice, I love that they would follow me around the pond, I love that they would gather in the same spot and want me to feed them, pretending to be ravenous…and I love that I was training them to eat out of my hand…and then one day they wouldn’t come to eat, for two days I didn’t see them, and was worried, my neighbor called and asked if I was missing fish, and I said I wasn’t sure I hadn’t seen them, she said she saw a heron in her pond that morning…what?!?  I thought the worst….but I did lose some of the babies and one beautiful fantail goldfish, named Clementine.  I named it that because it had a round body and was solid orange and if I found out it was a boy, Clem would work too…anyhoo…back to the evil heron…we saw him several times throughout the fall sitting on my car, on the roof, on the garage…in the tree behind my house…so I bought a net for the pond…and hoped that the fish would come around in the spring…and hoped that the heron would move to the coast!!  So, spring comes, I see some baby fish (small enough to have been born in the winter months–so cool) and start seeing all of my little friends that were left, and they are starting to come around, starting to act like they did before Mr. H came to town…Now, my pond is my favorite place to sit on a nice day and read my bible, and pray…and I was doing that the day before yesterday when I see a fish that makes me do a double take…it CLEMENTINE?!?  I can’t believe it…and…wow…what has happened…one half one of his double fins is missing, and a large chunk of one side of his body is missing…& there’s a scar covering most of that side…and the scar is in the shape of a heart!!  I don’t know what happened…but he apparently escaped the evil heron and went into hiding and began to try to heal…I can’t believe looking at the scaring that he survived…but he spent the winter hiding and healing…and has emerged this spring eating, swimming, and interacting with the others…and then it hit me…how small a speck is my little pond in the grand scheme of the universe…and yet, God knew that Clementine was there, God knew that Clementine needed healing, God was watching…and if God was watching over this little fish…then of course He is watching over me, and all the things I think are insignificant…and all the things that aren’t.  He is in control…OK…I know there might be someone saying that, God didn’t have anything to do with the fish healing, that it’s all about science and stuff…why would God be concerned with this little fish…to which I would reply…EXACTLY!  Why would He…but I believe with all my heart, that He saved this little fish for one reason…so I could understand on a personal and deeper level how much he watches and cares about me & you!!  I have a young, vibrant friend who is struggling with cancer…and I was praying for her at the time I saw Clem…and it was almost as if God was telling me, “See how I’m in control, see how I’ve taken care of this little one, how much more will I care for (insert name here)…and then I looked at Clemetine’s scar and how it was shaped like a heart…and I realized that there are things all the time that happen to us, life changing, life altering moments that take time to heal…but just like the heart-shaped scar, I am marked with the love of my Father…and His eye is on the sparrow, on the goldfish, and on me.  

I hope my little fish story encourages someone…

Hope you can see the heart shape…

 

Clementine's scar