Crumbs from a full plate...

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I just listened to one of my favorite preachers and wanted to share it. Check out this link and listen to part 1 of The Essential James.

http://www.elevationchurch.org/mediaPlayer.php?sermon=164 

View from above

We got invited to a 1st communion this weekend. The sweetest invitation came along with a personal ask from Megan's best-est friend Jessica. So, of course Megan and I went.

We got there too late to be seated with the family on the main floor and were directed to the balcony. Once we sat down and truly looked around, I was so glad we got to have a birds-eye view, cause it was really cool.  Not knowing what to expect, Megan was on the edge of her seat with a million questions. I was hard pressed at times to put into words symbolic acts that made sense to me, but my daughter wanted explained. Of course, isn't that the way of most religious instruction with our children?

The entire service was very meaningful. Ritual is certainly powerful and I was touched by many parts of the service. At one point, I grabbed my bible cause the passage they were reading was just after something I had been studying that week and wanted to read along. This drew a comment from the other woman beside me, and made me realize how much I just need to see the words.

Something has stayed with me this whole weekend. The priest mentioned several times to the parents, "7 or 8 years ago you stood here for the baptism of these children and today you are here taking the next step." What a great reminder as a parent. The commitments made when our children are young are meant to  be kept and the systematic manner in which the Catholic church marks growth allows for accountability. How cool is that?! I spent some time thinking of the commitments I have made with and for my own children, and have begun to evaluate where I am with those.

So, that is my thought for today...where am I with my children's religious education and where did I mean to be?

The message that goes with the previous video

Hi, my name is Shelley and I've never wanted to be a foreign missionary.

Sounds like some kind of 12 step intro right? And I say it like that cause while I have been surrounded by missionaries. Hi Tina! Hi Louise !  I've always listened with an air of detachment.

 And that used to make me feel a little guilty, like I loved Jesus a little less cause I wasn't willing to travel to foreign lands. But, I realized a few years ago that willing isn't the word - the word is interested. God hasn't laid foreign missions on my heart.

Which is a good thing, cause my heart is a little full right now. But, I have no doubt that was he to lay it on my heart I would be heading who knows where and taking lots of folks with me. Which is what I loved about the message that Jim Horne presented this weekend at FRCC. It was a message about missions, and a message specifically about Kenya people - but most of all it was a message about holy discontent.

Jim had 4 points and he had us write them on a brown paper lunch sack. He used this to illustrate his point, cause he preached from the story of the little boy with the fish and loaves that Jesus used to feed the 5000.

Here are the points he made regarding the things God lays before us...

1. Sacrifice is called for when there is an obvious need in the lives of others.
2. The need for sacrifice makes us confront our limitations and see His possibilities.
3. Our ssacrifice identifies us  with Jesus' sacrifice.
4. Sacrifice that is for the advancement of the kingdom leads to multiplies blessings.

At the end we opened our lunch sacks and were challenged to ask what God had put into our sacks that we were being asked to share, or do, or respond to. Very thought provoking for me...

Study versus use

My mind keeps going back to a conversation I had with my Daddy this summer. I was very frustrated with my sons fascination with guns and their constant badgering me to allow them to buy air soft guns to play with in the neighborhood. It seemed like every time I turned around they were begging for a gun, running through the yard playing a gun game or doing something that involved a gun.

Now, I am from a hunting world - and guns don't bother me. But, they are supposed to have purpose - not be just a toy. But,  because the boys don't see Joe and I as knowing anything about guns - they  have no respect on our opinion about guns. Lack of respect is a problem when you are the roadblock keeping them  from  buying one at Wal-Mart. So, I was talking to Grumpy about this. He was/is a hunter and I wanted him to speak to Guy. Maybe let him hear another voice.

Here is the wisdom he spoke to me..."I'll just tell him that a gun is a tool. You grab a tool when you need it - you don't carry it around all the time. We wouldn't carry our shovel around the neighborhood all the time, but we don't hesitate to grab it when we need to dig a hole."  He went on to say, "people get confused about tools, they use them too much or they take them places that are inappropriate or use them in the wrong way."

I agreed, but was glad when he offered an example. "Take this guy that works for me", he said. "He brings his Bible with him to work, he carries it around and takes every break or lunch to sit and read it intently. Now, a Bible is a tool - and it doesn't belong at your job at the John Deere store, keeping you tied up, not interacting with those around you. This guy is so focused on the tool that he forgot when and how to use it."

That conversation keeps coming back to me. I have this picture in my mind of a guy, hunched over his Bible reading intently in the break room, while all around him are people who could use the hope he has access to - but he is not using the tool. He's made study of the tool more important than application of the tool. And that is a problem.  

Steven Curtis Chapman

In today's world of instant media, tragedy affects us all quicker. We have ringside seats to what is happening in other's lives and when it is something we can imagine happening to us - we tend to stare harder. That is what has happened to the Chapman family when their daughter was killed in an accident at their home.  One of my immediate thoughts was "I don't know how I would handle that? What would that feel like?"

Over the last few months as I have heard SCC songs on the radio I have often wondered what it feels like to have to live out what you have said you believe. The world is watching to see if this tragedy will destroy this family; "how will they react? Will they turn their back on God?" "Will this change their message?" 

The redemption of the tragedy begins with Good Morning Americaon the week of August 4th, and  Larry King Live on August 7th. In addition, the Chapman's - Steven and his sons Will and Caleb returned to the stage last night here in WI. Glory to God!

It isn't really our choice

Tara Barthel talked about planning for kids in case of parents death and it made me think. Joe and I sat down and hammered that plan out when Guy was born and although we have sometimes wondered if we had made the right decisions, we have always been glad to have the decisions made. We asked my parents to be executors of our estate and take care of the kids with the understanding that exactly what that would look like could vary based on current circumstances at the time.

Our issue with our decisions is that really there isn't a great best choice to raise our kids if something happens to us - cause we really just want the plan to be for nothing to happen. But, we don't have those choices...sometimes parents die. That  is the reality of life and not facing that reality wouldn't help my kiddos in a time of crisis.

Often when I talk with people about this subject I hear that they are trying to micromanage exactly what it would like like for another person or family to raise their kids - and then they get upset. They will say things like "well, they use bad language in my in-laws house and I wouldn't want my kids exposed." Or "my sister and I have always disagreed on what TV shows are important - therefore she can't raise my kids." What they are really saying is "no one but me can make the best choices for my family".  And that is simply not true...cause God is ultimately in control of whether we live or die and He makes the best choices. Even when we don't like them!

So, based on that belief, we chose someone who loves us and loves our children and is a complete sinner saved by grace to make the decisions should God so decide. And that makes me feel secure.

Good Friday

The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
   a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
   nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
   a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
   We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
   our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
   that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
   that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
   Through his bruises we get healed.
We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost.
   We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong,
   on him, on him.          Isaiah 53:4-6 MSG

A few minutes into the Good Friday service tonight Sam leaned over and said "I don't know why they don't call it Awesome Friday instead of Good Friday - that would really be a better word don't you think momma?"

Have an awesome Good Friday!

Squirmy Kids and the work of God

My blog world friend Tara posted about a great article at Desiring God.org this morning. I followed the link, read the article and have continued to think on it all day. My comment I started to Tara got longer and longer so I decided to post here. The article is called The Family: Together in God and I highly recommend it.

But, I see both sides of this fence very clearly.

Mrs. Pipers article is about taking your kids to church both the why of doing it and some practical ideas to make it happen. I totally agree with her, especially about the part how children absorb a whole lot of material even when they say they are bored. Stuff still sticks! My childhood in the pew filled me with tons of theological knowledge that has provided me with a foundation I greatly appreciate. While I am not musical by talent, I am totally convinced you could start any hymn in the Baptist hymnal and I could join in. An odd skill, but still cool!

On the other hand, I am a part of a church that puts together some phenomenal children's programming. I have led teams of people who work hard to prepare lessons that are interesting and applicable to children. I have seen children greatly impacted by their time in UpStreet or Sunday school. I have even been one of those children and my kids constantly amaze me with the knowledge they bring home from their classes. 

I also work with my women who are just beginning their own religious journey and are so new to learning that being divided by the need to mentor their children during church would take away from their own learning. And much the same way we have to put on our own oxygen mask first - they need to learn in order to be able to teach their children. That hour of undivided time is very valuable in their journey.

So, what is exactly the right answer? While it would be nice if someone else could say "do this", we must make that decision for ourselves. But, those decisions are made based on scriptural principles. How we flesh out that principle will depend on many variables in our lives.  So, what would be a principle to follow here? Deuteronomy 6:5-6 says that we must teach our children the things of God while Hebrews 10 tells us that we shouldn't stop attending church or encouraging other believers. Combine that with Proverbs 22:6 which tells us that we should train up a child in the way he should go and we begin to see the importance of teaching our kids about God and taking them to church. "Big church" or children's church? That part will be decided by each Mommy and Daddy.

Why do we mess up?

I helped someone pick up their life today. That sounds really noble, but the truth of the matter is that I was frustrated, angry and upset about having to do it. In fact, I intended to go in, help them and make sure they understood exactly where they screwed up...tough love you might call it.

It was the tears that stopped me. Yeah, I know those of you who know me well are saying "Shelley isn't moved by tears" but, they stopped me cold in my tracks today. But, I forged ahead with a little more grace...still insisting that they "clean up their act" and "take responsibility" for their mess. And after I came down off my anger there was only a sense of hopelessness. It was just 7 months ago that we moved her out of another apartment - equally filthy. It was just 5 months ago that we discussed the need to be fiscally responsible. It was only 1 month ago that she breezily assured me that all was well and under control when it really wasn't. After I got over my anger - the only emotion left was sadness. How can I make her see?  Why should I continue to help when things aren't changing at the pace I had planned for?

A partner in this work called and shared her own frustration. But, then she said "you know, we didn't help her for any reason other than to serve Christ...and that has to be enough". So what that it didn't turn out the exact way we planned...we did what glorified God and we are going what glorifies God. We are serving him and that is what we have to focus on."

Wow, that was the perspective that I needed.  I don't know why people mess up their lives - isn't that funny that I would type that sentence, because I do know why people mess up their lives - it is all part of having a sin nature. Scripture tells us that we all sin and mess up...yet, I am just as quick to say "why do they (we) do that? Instead, if I could remember the why then I would remember the what...Christ's work on the cross.

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:    "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
      and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
      and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." Hebrews 12:2-6

So, that is what I must focus on - fixing my eyes on Jesus. Not on whether or not my help fixes someone, not whether or not people take my advice, not whether or not it turns out okay. I must extend grace and love every opportunity I have...all in an effort to glorify God. And if that is truly my focus...I think my frustration will ease.