It's War!

Can I just tell you that I hate Satan?! I hate the way his manipulative little mind works…the way he damages relationship and tears at friendships! It makes me crazy that he whispers in our ears and distorts things before we can “take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ”! And just when you think you’ve seen it all, he slips in and stirs things up in way you didn’t think was possible.
Now don’t get me wrong. I know who the Winner is. It’s just that it is so stinkin’ frustrating that he tries to taint everything! The thing is I see what he’s doing but others have to see it for themselves. It’s not like you can go, “By the way. Satan is really using you right now to tear up our friendship.” Because I tend to be a straight shooter I really resent the way he manipulates people. GRRRRRRR!!!! I am sooooo frustrated.
I guess the thing to remind myself is that he comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, and so I have to remember to look at the bigger picture.

Who is the ultimate winner & which side am I on?
What is he trying to steal, kill, or destroy?
Where does my focus need to be?
What do I need to do to be ready for the attacks of my enemy?

Of course, knowing these things is important it’s just that sometimes I need to rant a little bit! I think I’ll go read Ephesians 6:10-20 now and do a little work on my armor.

JESUS ROCKS!!!!!

The Birthday Boys! 

Happy Birthday!!!!

Well an amazing thing has happened in my life. My oldest son turned 10 on Saturday and my youngest son turned 5 yesterday. Okay, now for the corny part… “It seems like just yesterday that they were babies… Where has the time gone… How can they be so old already… My babies are growing up”
For the record My 10 year old would greatly resent being called a baby! You know it’s a funny thing, you get married and you’re so full of love for each other it just spills out to become a baby. Babies are so cute and cuddly. Mostly they smell great, their skin is so soft and they make these great little cooing noises when they sleep. Then they grow up.
I now have 2 children on the precipice of adolescence and I can’t decide whether to push them off and encourage them to fly or to hold on and drag them from the edge to keep them “safe”. Thank goodness Micah is still little. 5 year olds still cuddle and love to sit in your lap. They rarely understand “cool” and aren’t afraid of what others think.
I feel so ill equipped to shepherd Christian and Hannah thought their teenage years. I am convinced that you should have a do-over when it comes to kids. You have no idea what you’re doing when you have the first one. I have screwed Christian up so bad and I don’t even mean to! Hopefully I am teaching him to be full of grace since I will need it from him.
It’s amazing to watch your children grow. I have so much from them and I now understand God in so many ways that I don’t know if I could have with out them. Some days I know I have done a great job as a mom-other days I am filled with self-doubt and questioning. I wonder if that ever changes or if this is the lifelong state of motherhood.
Happy Birthday Christian! Happy Birthday Micah! I love you guys and love being your mom-for better or worse!

Heaven on my mind

“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set out on foot to convert the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English evangelicals who abolished the slave trade, all left their mark on earth precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth “thrown in.” Aim at earth and you will get neither.”
--C. S. Lewis

When I read this quote I was struck by the obvious reality of it. It is my prayer that I will learn how to aim for Heaven. That I would be able to maintain that as my focus, as I live and move here. And that I would be so affected by the reality of Kingdom life that the Kingdom Of God would overwhelm the mundane of my life.

I am going to have to figure this thing out. I have been encouraged that my thoughts are there to blog…its just that with 3 kids and a crazy life, the luxury of typing at the computer rarely happens.
That said, onward to deeper thoughts! Ha Ha!
Part of the challenge put before us by Danny is to personalize our Core Values. So tonight I am chewing on Valuing People. The basis for this value comes from Luke 5:30-6:32 and Matthew 18:14. (For anyone that reads this and is not familiar with what I am talking about, these are passages found in the Bible in the part called the New Testament.)The passage in Luke tells some very cool stories about Jesus and the way he puts others first.
Jesus and his followers were hounded by the Pharisees (who were the “most righteous” religious leaders of the day).Jesus invited Levi, a tax collector, to come and follow him. Levi was so happy that he threw a banquet and invited… SINNERS! Well this created no small uproar with the Pharisees who thought that they had to be pure and could not be around “sinners”. They could not understand how Jesus- a teacher with a great following would allow himself to be defiled by those who did not live the way the Pharisees thought was appropriate. Jesus response to them is so beautiful!
Jesus answered them saying, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Tax collectors and sinners were welcomed by Jesus. They knew they needed Jesus’ help. Pharisees on the other hand had the terrible self-imposed burden of having to appear righteous. To me this sounds a lot like the way many Christians view others. Although we are supposed to be a refuge for the “tax collectors and sinners” too often our self-imposed burden of right appearances keeps us from truly being Jesus to those who need him most.
The passage out of Matthew quotes a story told by Jesus about sheep being lost and that the master is not willing for even one to be lost. See we are the sheep- they tend to be stubborn animals that require much tending to make sure they don’t hurt themselves or fall prey to predators. God is like the shepherd who carefully tends the sheep so that not one will be lost. Like us sheep are destined to choose their will over that of the shepherd’s. Sometimes our choices bring us closer to the shepherd and sometimes they take us farther from him-just like sheep.
OK, what does all this mean to me about the core value of valuing people? I love to see how Jesus treated others! It is so important to me to be like him! What I understand out of these passages is that God loves us all so much that He wants us all to be with Him. His son loves us so much that he showed us the way to love others… spend time with them, be in their lives, be a part of what they do and at the same time love them and encourage them to a better way. I definitely agree that this should be one of the core values of “The Way”. We can’t expect to have anything to offer others if we don’t know who to look to, to model our behavior after.