Thanksgiving 2009

What would be the holiday season without a good blog post dedicated to each holiday? This year we did family Thanksgiving with my mom's family at her house. We were missing a lot of people, but still managed to get 19 people there. As is tradition, the men retreated to the closest television to watch any football game they could find, while all the women stirred around the kitchen trying to decide how best to arrange the food so there would be a line that flowed. And true to custom, all the arranging went out the window as soon as the line started. Everyone assembled in a line, and stayed that way as far as getting through the food line went, but there was much reaching across back and forth to fill each plate with what looked good. 

  We rounded the day out with good company, conversation and food. Most everyone left and those who remained decided to hit the movie theaters. We split into two groups with most seeing "The Blind Side" and the remainder of us seeing Disney's "A Christmas Carol" in 3D at the IMAX. Props to the cousin who offered to pay for the five of us that went to see "A Christmas Carol" otherwise, we'd have spent the evening in playing board games. I understand now after seeing the movie why a good friend told me it's absolutely worth the money. Someday I will be able to repay that blessing and take some other people to a movie that's that expensive. 

I spent a good part of the weekend teaching my sister and a couple of my friends how to play Dutch Blitz. I think I've created some addicts, but I love it because secretly I'm one as well. My youngest sister and I went on a shopping frenzy with a friend of ours Friday morning. Bear in mind that I am not a shopper, and I do not have any desire to deal with crazy Black Friday people who will tackle you for the gift they want. But she had it all mapped out and we shopped at eight stores between midnight and 8 AM. By the time we were done, we were tired, slap happy, had sore feet, and had considered only harming five other people. We had waved good-bye to some people who were overly rude in one store while we managed to check-out before them when they were in line ahead of us to start with; conquered nearly all of our necessary Christmas shopping, and a little for ourselves, and decided that McDonald's needs a letter this week. 

The weekend wrapped up with good services at church yesterday and time spent reflecting on the weekend and year as a whole. All in all it was a wonderful time spent with family and friends that selfishly I wish could last longer than it did. 

How about you? What was your holiday weekend like?

Where is Jesus in our lives?

This was a question given to us during our revival services this week. We have had R.T. Kendall and Dr. Dan Boone as our speakers and they have been phenomenal.  It is this question that Dr. Boone raised to us that made me sit and smile while he was speaking. He used a passage from the book of Revelation as his text and that alone will raise more than a few eyebrows in the room. He talked about how many people, Christians included have an enormous misconception about Revelation and what is spoken of in it, and how we must come to a point of understanding where Jesus is in our lives in order to be more effective to those around us. (There is a lot more that he discussed that I will omit from here, but still found insightful) His main point was that the theme of Revelation is Jesus and it's that simple.
He made emphasis that in Revelation, John is not grammatically correct. Big whoop a lot of you say, but in this case it is enlightening. John most often refers to the name of Jesus as "the one who is, and was, and is to come." For John, Jesus is 'the one who is to come'. He referenced Abraham and Moses, the disciples and Saul/Paul, and showed how  Jesus was the same for them as He was for John. 
Dr. Boone used the illustration of teaching a child to walk and how we put the child against something sturdy while we walk a few grown-up steps away and then we crouch down and beckon the child to come to us. Jesus does the same thing for all of us. He pursues us by going before us in everything we do and He stands there and simply says, "Come." If we will trust Him enough to go, then everything will work out, and as R.T. Kendall pointed out in one of his messages; "Just remember that when all things work out for the good, it doesn't always mean they were right." For me it was confirmation to how I have felt for quite some time.
I thought this whole message to be uplifting. I'm a strange bird in that I know that God is in complete control of everything and I have no trouble trusting Him with my life and the details that concern it. Don't ask me how I am capable of doing this with someone whom I can't see face to face, but struggle greatly with the ones around me who have skin on. All I know for certain is that God has never left me alone, or abandoned and He has pursued me as a lion pursues it's prey. The same can not be said of people, they forget, or are selfish, or simply don't know how to. Suffice it to say, I have no trouble trusting God with everything. My difficulty tends to be more of a contentment and having peace that I am really behaving as Christ would have behaved.
We must remember that above all, Christ loves us and would do anything for us, but that we must still experience life on this fallen Earth and have the opportunity to make choices for ourselves that have the potential to cause us or those around us much pain and hardship; but that in that pain, Christ is right there with us crouched down and waiting for us to run to His arms where He will keep us and everything will work for the good to His glory. 

Climbin' the mountain

Update: The situation with the kids seems to be beginning to come to a resolution. The dad did not do the things the mom accused him of, and after speaking to and hiring a lawyer and spending a day in court; the dad currently has the oldest child with him and the youngest is with the mom's parents pending a custody hearing. Continue to keep this whole situation in prayer as there are many details that I won't post publicly but I will say that things are looking up.


After my week and a little more spent trying to surface in the valley, this week feels like a mountain top. It isn't actually, but it is a start back up the mountain at least. Beginning with myself seeking God's will in what to do with James and his apparent hatred/extreme dislike of Christians as a whole and of church as an institution. It came to a point during the last week where in my spirit I was done fighting with it. This scared me because I don't want to get to a point where I give up. So I had a lot of searching and seeking to do and finally felt like I should just leave it alone. So I did. At least until Sunday morning when he brought it up yet again. He finally acknowledged that he is a bitter and angry person and that he needs to find out why. He made some suggestions about events that have happened recently and blamed the people who caused them for his bitterness. I simply told him he was bitter long before they came on the scene. During the church service, the message couldn't have been any better if the pastor had known everything going on. James leaned over at the end and asked me if I'd go with him to the altar. You bet I would!! We did and I just kept praying that God would take his anger and his bitterness away and that he would be a new person and never look back. Unknown to me at the time, he was praying for the same thing. Pastor Alan came over and prayed with us and I finally felt the peace I needed. Later in the day I found out what James had been praying for and thought about how great God is that He works all the details out. James told me that this was the first time he can remember actually leaving from a prayer time like that where he truly felt different. As excited as I am about that, I am a little leary and feel like if he can make it two weeks under this new pattern, then no matter it's going to stick. Sure there will be things that will make him fall back a little, we all deal with that, but as a whole I can already tell a difference. I can't express my excitement effectively enough here, but know that I am ecstatic!!!! 
I am so thankful to those of you who continue to hold us up in prayer when you know something isn't right. Your prayers matter more than you may ever realize. 
Other than all that, the seasons here have officially turned and the leaves have been beautiful. There is a chill in the air that lets us all know that winter is a lot closer than we thought and people are beginning to use their fireplaces at night. The smells of this time of year make the chilly air worth it.