LIFE PRAYER 5/8/02
On May 8, 2002 our family was seven months into what turned out to be over two years of unemployment/underemployment. God used many people and things to sustain me. One of those things is this poem by Amy Carmichael. Amy Carmichael was a missionary in India in the early 20th century. She never married. She began rescuing children from the horrid practice of temple prostitution and brought them to what became known as the Dohnavur Fellowship. She and others spent their lives clothing, feeding and teaching these little ones. I have to believe she was a bit melancholy like myself. That's why I love her poetry and this one I think has become my life prayer...
THY WAY IS PERFECT
Long is the way, and very steep the slope,
Strengthen me once again, O God of Hope.
Far, very far, the summit doth appear;
But Thou art near my God, but Thou art near.
And Thou wilt give me with my daily food,
Powers of endurance, courage, fortitude.
Thy way is perfect; only let that way
Be clear before my feet from day to day.
Thou art my Portion, saith my soul to Thee,
O what a Portion is my God to me.
Blessings.
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
CONFESSIONS OF A MELANCHOLY
Yes, I admit it - I am a melancholy. I tend towards the introspective. I like to delve into my subconscious. I like to be alone with myself and my thoughts. Don't get me wrong - I adore my family and love to spend time with them. But nothing recharges me more than being alone. I like bubble baths with a good book, having 2 hour quiet times, going off hiking by myself, sitting on a porch overlooking the ocean, etc. This can get me into trouble if I don't keep myself balanced. You see melancholies also love to throw parties -- for one. They are called pity parties. These parties can last a few minutes or a few days. For me they only end when I allow my Savior to pour His oil of grace down on my head and lift up my countenance to gaze upon His wonderful face. I have a nickname for this process. I call it Focus 101. I never pass this course and I don't think I ever will while I'm in this world.
You know, there are some good things about us melancholies. We are merciful, loyal friends. We love those brooding composers like Mahler and Bruckner. We like to have tea on the back porch while listening to a thunderstorm roll in.
I can't try to be someone I wasn't created to be. I'm a melancholy under construction, the final product not to be unveiled until I see Him as He is. This is my hope. This is what I fix my eyes upon.
And so without further adieu I bring you this melancholy's ...
50 FAVORITE THINGS
The smell of brand new Crayola crayons
Really good creme brulee
Deep theological discussions
Handwritten letters from old friends
A great reed (best understood if you play a woodwind instrument)
Uninterrupted practice time (on the clarinet of course)
Dairy Queen moolatte
Target
New insight into Scripture
Popsicles
Sense and Sensibility (the movie)
John Piper
Completely clean and vacuumed car
Brahms
Bach Cello Suites
The oboe (well played with a deep rich sound a la Ray Still not Heinz Holliger)
Purple
Canadian Rockies
A pint of Ben and Jerry's
Sound of the ocean
Perfectly manicured baseball field
The Hobbit
New car smell
Ripe, juicy Bartlett pear
Talbots
Puppies
Rich Mullins
Waterfalls
Having no overdue books
Smell of new books
Boys climbing trees
Amadeus (the movie)
My apple pie (with homemade crust)
First meal after giving birth (I didn't care what it was!)
Chicago Symphony recordings under Fritz Reiner
Romans 8
Lunch out with a friend
Aaron Copland
Roller coasters
Road trips
Amy Carmichael
Elisabeth Elliot
Tabletalk magazine
Pedicures
Lighthouses
Freshly fallen snow
Music from West Side Story (and practically any other music by Leonard Bernstein)
Michelle Kwan's spiral
Belgian waffles (from Belgium, eaten warm on the street with chocolate sauce and strawberries)
Finding out I'm pregnant (I'm not but hope to be soon!!)
Yes, I admit it - I am a melancholy. I tend towards the introspective. I like to delve into my subconscious. I like to be alone with myself and my thoughts. Don't get me wrong - I adore my family and love to spend time with them. But nothing recharges me more than being alone. I like bubble baths with a good book, having 2 hour quiet times, going off hiking by myself, sitting on a porch overlooking the ocean, etc. This can get me into trouble if I don't keep myself balanced. You see melancholies also love to throw parties -- for one. They are called pity parties. These parties can last a few minutes or a few days. For me they only end when I allow my Savior to pour His oil of grace down on my head and lift up my countenance to gaze upon His wonderful face. I have a nickname for this process. I call it Focus 101. I never pass this course and I don't think I ever will while I'm in this world.
You know, there are some good things about us melancholies. We are merciful, loyal friends. We love those brooding composers like Mahler and Bruckner. We like to have tea on the back porch while listening to a thunderstorm roll in.
I can't try to be someone I wasn't created to be. I'm a melancholy under construction, the final product not to be unveiled until I see Him as He is. This is my hope. This is what I fix my eyes upon.
And so without further adieu I bring you this melancholy's ...
50 FAVORITE THINGS
The smell of brand new Crayola crayons
Really good creme brulee
Deep theological discussions
Handwritten letters from old friends
A great reed (best understood if you play a woodwind instrument)
Uninterrupted practice time (on the clarinet of course)
Dairy Queen moolatte
Target
New insight into Scripture
Popsicles
Sense and Sensibility (the movie)
John Piper
Completely clean and vacuumed car
Brahms
Bach Cello Suites
The oboe (well played with a deep rich sound a la Ray Still not Heinz Holliger)
Purple
Canadian Rockies
A pint of Ben and Jerry's
Sound of the ocean
Perfectly manicured baseball field
The Hobbit
New car smell
Ripe, juicy Bartlett pear
Talbots
Puppies
Rich Mullins
Waterfalls
Having no overdue books
Smell of new books
Boys climbing trees
Amadeus (the movie)
My apple pie (with homemade crust)
First meal after giving birth (I didn't care what it was!)
Chicago Symphony recordings under Fritz Reiner
Romans 8
Lunch out with a friend
Aaron Copland
Roller coasters
Road trips
Amy Carmichael
Elisabeth Elliot
Tabletalk magazine
Pedicures
Lighthouses
Freshly fallen snow
Music from West Side Story (and practically any other music by Leonard Bernstein)
Michelle Kwan's spiral
Belgian waffles (from Belgium, eaten warm on the street with chocolate sauce and strawberries)
Finding out I'm pregnant (I'm not but hope to be soon!!)
Monday, September 27, 2004
WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON....
Before I tell you about DH's and my camping/whitewater trip this past weekend I have to mention something that's related to a previous post. A couple post ago I wrote about seeing a certain young woman dressed a certain inappropriate, to say the least, way. Well, a couple days after that I was in Target with my kids and guess who walks the opposite way down the aisle wearing the exact same outfit?? I couldn't believe it. If she recognized me she probably thought I was crazy because I just stared at her in disbelief. I guess God really wants me to pray for her.
And now onto the trip. DH and I drove about 2 hours north to Ocoee, TN, to camp and raft with some people from our church. We camped Friday night and then got ready to raft on Saturday. I had never done any whitewater rafting but my husband had and was very excited even though he's been suffering with whooping cough for the past 2 1/2 months. Now I'll ride almost any roller coaster out there but I was nervous about this whitewater experience. I think it has something to do with the fact that Hollywood has never made a movie about dying while riding a roller coaster but we own the movie River Wild and I could vividly recall the fantastic scenes where their raft would be plummeting over a 20 foot drop. Also, there are no seatbelts or shoulder harnesses on rafts as there are on roller coasters. Anyway, we get our gear and then sit as one of the guides explains where to sit and how to rescue your buddy if he/she gets thrown out of the boat. Two things were going against me here. One, I didn't sleep very well in the tent the night before so I was very tired and a little giddy. Two, this guy was very funny but he also had two nicknames sown onto his vest which were a little scary -- Psycho and terminally insane. I was really hoping we didn't get that guide. So we load up the buses with ourselves and about six rafts on top and head out for the 30 minute drive up to the top of the run. We are doing both sections of the river today, the Olympic section and the middle section. The Olympic section was making me nervous just thinking about it. Back in the '96 Olympics the top section of the river was redesigned to make it harder for the Olympic athletes. The first rapid we were to encounter would be a class V. Since they don't let amateurs on class VI and above, this was going to be the hardest rapid of the day and we were going to hit it first!! Once we unload we get assigned a guide. Ours is not Psycho but Chris, a young guy who looks competent and fun. We practice rowing a couple times and are instructed on how to sit and how to anchor our feet into the raft. This is supposed to keep us from falling out. Then off we launch. I'm not going to go into detail about every rapid because I just can't remember all of them. The Olympic section was a blast!! Sooner rather than later, we found out that we had one of the best guides. He pushed us really hard but we had the most fun of any boat out there. We saw a couple people fall out of other boats but no one fell out of our boat and no one got hurt. We spent a total of six hours on the river and we were absolutely dead at the end of our trip. One of many highlights was when our picture was taken while we were going through one of the rapids. Our guide had been down the river over 1,000 times so he knew exactly when the picture was to be taken. At just the right moment he leaps up in the air and proceeds to land on the guy in front of him. No one was expecting that and it was so funny. Our friend wasn't hurt by the way. When we got back to the camp we had a chance to look at all the pictures that were taken of our group. The one with Chris flying in the air was spectacular. I hope to scan it into my blog if I can ever figure that skill out. We are eagerly looking forward to next year's trip even though we were exhausted and sore the next day and all that exertion didn't bode well for my husband's recovery. If you ever have a chance to do this, go for it, especially on the Ocoee River with Highcountry Outfitters and Chris as your guide!!
Blessings.
Before I tell you about DH's and my camping/whitewater trip this past weekend I have to mention something that's related to a previous post. A couple post ago I wrote about seeing a certain young woman dressed a certain inappropriate, to say the least, way. Well, a couple days after that I was in Target with my kids and guess who walks the opposite way down the aisle wearing the exact same outfit?? I couldn't believe it. If she recognized me she probably thought I was crazy because I just stared at her in disbelief. I guess God really wants me to pray for her.
And now onto the trip. DH and I drove about 2 hours north to Ocoee, TN, to camp and raft with some people from our church. We camped Friday night and then got ready to raft on Saturday. I had never done any whitewater rafting but my husband had and was very excited even though he's been suffering with whooping cough for the past 2 1/2 months. Now I'll ride almost any roller coaster out there but I was nervous about this whitewater experience. I think it has something to do with the fact that Hollywood has never made a movie about dying while riding a roller coaster but we own the movie River Wild and I could vividly recall the fantastic scenes where their raft would be plummeting over a 20 foot drop. Also, there are no seatbelts or shoulder harnesses on rafts as there are on roller coasters. Anyway, we get our gear and then sit as one of the guides explains where to sit and how to rescue your buddy if he/she gets thrown out of the boat. Two things were going against me here. One, I didn't sleep very well in the tent the night before so I was very tired and a little giddy. Two, this guy was very funny but he also had two nicknames sown onto his vest which were a little scary -- Psycho and terminally insane. I was really hoping we didn't get that guide. So we load up the buses with ourselves and about six rafts on top and head out for the 30 minute drive up to the top of the run. We are doing both sections of the river today, the Olympic section and the middle section. The Olympic section was making me nervous just thinking about it. Back in the '96 Olympics the top section of the river was redesigned to make it harder for the Olympic athletes. The first rapid we were to encounter would be a class V. Since they don't let amateurs on class VI and above, this was going to be the hardest rapid of the day and we were going to hit it first!! Once we unload we get assigned a guide. Ours is not Psycho but Chris, a young guy who looks competent and fun. We practice rowing a couple times and are instructed on how to sit and how to anchor our feet into the raft. This is supposed to keep us from falling out. Then off we launch. I'm not going to go into detail about every rapid because I just can't remember all of them. The Olympic section was a blast!! Sooner rather than later, we found out that we had one of the best guides. He pushed us really hard but we had the most fun of any boat out there. We saw a couple people fall out of other boats but no one fell out of our boat and no one got hurt. We spent a total of six hours on the river and we were absolutely dead at the end of our trip. One of many highlights was when our picture was taken while we were going through one of the rapids. Our guide had been down the river over 1,000 times so he knew exactly when the picture was to be taken. At just the right moment he leaps up in the air and proceeds to land on the guy in front of him. No one was expecting that and it was so funny. Our friend wasn't hurt by the way. When we got back to the camp we had a chance to look at all the pictures that were taken of our group. The one with Chris flying in the air was spectacular. I hope to scan it into my blog if I can ever figure that skill out. We are eagerly looking forward to next year's trip even though we were exhausted and sore the next day and all that exertion didn't bode well for my husband's recovery. If you ever have a chance to do this, go for it, especially on the Ocoee River with Highcountry Outfitters and Chris as your guide!!
Blessings.
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
PRECIOUS MOMENTS
No, this isn't about those little ceramic figurines! Two days ago I got really depressed and went to bed that night overwhelmed. Maybe I'll write about that later. The good thing is that God was faithful to answer my cries and I was a lot better the next day. On top of that, He blessed me with two very precious moments concerning my children. One I observed and one I took part in.
The first one happened in the kitchen while I was in the den watching TV. My two sons age 7 and 4 were in the kitchen eating yogurt, their favorite food. All of a sudden I heard them speaking about God. This is sort of how the conversation went.
S4(son, 4) "But I can't see God."
S7(son, 7) "Well He's still there, He's everywhere." (That answer by the way is from a children's catechism he learned last year and that S4 is learning this year.)
S4 Makes a comment about how he still can't see God.
S7 "Do you believe in God?"
S4 "No." (He actually answers the same question yes sometimes so I don't know why he answered it no this time.)
S7 "Well I do. God created everything. He created us. He created the trees and the moon and the sun and everything."
That was pretty much the end of the conversation. I then proceeded to smother S7 with much affection and praise for witnessing to his brother.
The next moment happened later that night while we were getting ready for bed. S4 was in my daughter's room and we were talking about babies. I asked him if he wanted me to have another baby. (By the way, we want to have blessing #4 very badly right now.)
S4 "Yes."
Mommy "Do you want it to be a boy or a girl?"
S4 "A boyyy." (Emphasis on the last letter!)
Mommy "So you want to have another brother?"
S4 "No."
Mommy "Wait, don't you want mommy to have another baby?"
S4 "No I want a dog."
ROTFL Literally!!
Those two little blessings from God yesterday really encouraged me. And to top THAT all off, I read this before I went to bed --
"O my strength, I will sing praises to Thee;
For God is my stronghold, the God who shows me lovingkindness." Psalm 59:17
The note in the margin of my Bible says that those last words literally mean, "God of my lovingkindness."
Blessings!
No, this isn't about those little ceramic figurines! Two days ago I got really depressed and went to bed that night overwhelmed. Maybe I'll write about that later. The good thing is that God was faithful to answer my cries and I was a lot better the next day. On top of that, He blessed me with two very precious moments concerning my children. One I observed and one I took part in.
The first one happened in the kitchen while I was in the den watching TV. My two sons age 7 and 4 were in the kitchen eating yogurt, their favorite food. All of a sudden I heard them speaking about God. This is sort of how the conversation went.
S4(son, 4) "But I can't see God."
S7(son, 7) "Well He's still there, He's everywhere." (That answer by the way is from a children's catechism he learned last year and that S4 is learning this year.)
S4 Makes a comment about how he still can't see God.
S7 "Do you believe in God?"
S4 "No." (He actually answers the same question yes sometimes so I don't know why he answered it no this time.)
S7 "Well I do. God created everything. He created us. He created the trees and the moon and the sun and everything."
That was pretty much the end of the conversation. I then proceeded to smother S7 with much affection and praise for witnessing to his brother.
The next moment happened later that night while we were getting ready for bed. S4 was in my daughter's room and we were talking about babies. I asked him if he wanted me to have another baby. (By the way, we want to have blessing #4 very badly right now.)
S4 "Yes."
Mommy "Do you want it to be a boy or a girl?"
S4 "A boyyy." (Emphasis on the last letter!)
Mommy "So you want to have another brother?"
S4 "No."
Mommy "Wait, don't you want mommy to have another baby?"
S4 "No I want a dog."
ROTFL Literally!!
Those two little blessings from God yesterday really encouraged me. And to top THAT all off, I read this before I went to bed --
"O my strength, I will sing praises to Thee;
For God is my stronghold, the God who shows me lovingkindness." Psalm 59:17
The note in the margin of my Bible says that those last words literally mean, "God of my lovingkindness."
Blessings!
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
LORD, FORGIVE THEM...
For these young women obviously don't know what they are doing when they go out in public dressed like hookers. The other day I went out shopping for shoes and I almost went apoplectic when I saw the way a certain young woman was dressed. I will not recount the details but needless to say I have never seen a young woman dressed this badly - she left nothing to the imagination. I literally struggled physically inside me everytime I caught sight of her in the store. What to do?? First I looked upon her and her friend with contempt, I had no mercy for them whatsoever. All I could do was try to think of ways in which I could go up to her and tell her how skankily she was dressed. I was wondering what the other patrons were thinking of her. But when I left the store I couldn't get this girl out of my thoughts. And then God convicted me of my pride and conceit. For it wasn't so long ago that I was just like her. No, no, I never dressed like that but I was just as blind. I was just as guilty before God. For about 13 years ago I was running around looking for some person, or some profession or some substance to fill the empty hole which was my soul. And for some reason, the Lord saw fit to take this sinner and draw her to Himself. To mercifully tear off those scales and show me my sin and grant me salvation by His Son. So after I saw the truth of who I used to be and how that wasn't much different compared to this girl, I repented and lifted up a prayer for this young woman's soul.
How do all of you handle these situations? You know, sometimes there are young women in our church that are dressed like hookers. How do we pray, what do we do??
If you wish to comment just click on my name at the end of the post.
Blessings!
For these young women obviously don't know what they are doing when they go out in public dressed like hookers. The other day I went out shopping for shoes and I almost went apoplectic when I saw the way a certain young woman was dressed. I will not recount the details but needless to say I have never seen a young woman dressed this badly - she left nothing to the imagination. I literally struggled physically inside me everytime I caught sight of her in the store. What to do?? First I looked upon her and her friend with contempt, I had no mercy for them whatsoever. All I could do was try to think of ways in which I could go up to her and tell her how skankily she was dressed. I was wondering what the other patrons were thinking of her. But when I left the store I couldn't get this girl out of my thoughts. And then God convicted me of my pride and conceit. For it wasn't so long ago that I was just like her. No, no, I never dressed like that but I was just as blind. I was just as guilty before God. For about 13 years ago I was running around looking for some person, or some profession or some substance to fill the empty hole which was my soul. And for some reason, the Lord saw fit to take this sinner and draw her to Himself. To mercifully tear off those scales and show me my sin and grant me salvation by His Son. So after I saw the truth of who I used to be and how that wasn't much different compared to this girl, I repented and lifted up a prayer for this young woman's soul.
How do all of you handle these situations? You know, sometimes there are young women in our church that are dressed like hookers. How do we pray, what do we do??
If you wish to comment just click on my name at the end of the post.
Blessings!
Monday, September 20, 2004
LET THERE BE...COMMENTS
Hopefully at the end of this post there will be a place to post comments to this site. Thank you to Donna for telling me about Haloscan. They have a way to enable comments without even cutting and pasting code! My DH would probably say I cheated... but I don't care. Now I'm going to post this and see if I can comment on my own post. Bye.
Hopefully at the end of this post there will be a place to post comments to this site. Thank you to Donna for telling me about Haloscan. They have a way to enable comments without even cutting and pasting code! My DH would probably say I cheated... but I don't care. Now I'm going to post this and see if I can comment on my own post. Bye.
Sunday, September 19, 2004
THOUGHTS ON RELATIONSHIPS
Just got home from church and had lunch. Today's emphasis for the 40 days of purpose that we're going through was You Were Formed for God's Family. We talked about how we're supposed to relate in the body of Christ. On the way home, my DH and I had a good conversation about why our relationships with other families aren't as intimate as we'd like. I've whined about not finding anyone around here who's of like mind with us. I've whined about always seeming to be left out in groups of people. I've been pessimistic about relationships. Hey, I've just been a whiner and continually attended my own one woman pity party. Really, I'm not like that all the time, just when I've thought about my relationships.
Well my husband, bless him, made a really incisive analogy. He said that we're going about our relationships like he went about trying to find someone to marry. We didn't get married until he was 35. And the reason it took him so long he says was because he had this predetermined picture of what his spouse would be like in terms of age and interests. I said that it took him so long because he had to wait until I graduated high school (LOL, I'm 12 years his junior). Anyway because he thought that his spouse had to be no more than 5 years his junior, be an expert skier and love volleyball, he had a hard time finding that person. This, he says, is what we've been doing with relationships. This hit home with me especially. I've been pessimistic about any relationship because we are not like minded. It's great to be able to converse with those who have the same convictions about family and theology and education but let's face it - I don't live near many of them. And you know what? We as a body of believers are called to be in relationship with people who may not have the same convictions as we do. Paul speaks about this in Romans 14 and 15. So I've been convicted today of despising those relationships that I already have because I don't think they're good enough. Lord, thank You for showing me this conceit that's in my heart and thank You for cleansing me of it. Teach me to love as You do. I'm reminded of this line from a Rich Mullins song (who I love by the way) -
My friends aren't the way I wish they were,
They are just the way they are.
I will be my brother's keeper
Not the one who judges him
I won't despise him for his weakness
I won't regard him for his strength.
That's from the Brother's Keeper album, the last complete album he made before he died sadly in a car accident on the way to a concert.
So, my husband and I are going to try to be more diligent and intentional about growing our relationships with at least 2 or 3 other families. By the way, I'm not against people getting together with other people of like mind, a la HSC. I just know that I'm not living in a community like that right now. In fact, I believe God has called us to stay right where we are so we can influence others. Lord, I pray we will.
Just got home from church and had lunch. Today's emphasis for the 40 days of purpose that we're going through was You Were Formed for God's Family. We talked about how we're supposed to relate in the body of Christ. On the way home, my DH and I had a good conversation about why our relationships with other families aren't as intimate as we'd like. I've whined about not finding anyone around here who's of like mind with us. I've whined about always seeming to be left out in groups of people. I've been pessimistic about relationships. Hey, I've just been a whiner and continually attended my own one woman pity party. Really, I'm not like that all the time, just when I've thought about my relationships.
Well my husband, bless him, made a really incisive analogy. He said that we're going about our relationships like he went about trying to find someone to marry. We didn't get married until he was 35. And the reason it took him so long he says was because he had this predetermined picture of what his spouse would be like in terms of age and interests. I said that it took him so long because he had to wait until I graduated high school (LOL, I'm 12 years his junior). Anyway because he thought that his spouse had to be no more than 5 years his junior, be an expert skier and love volleyball, he had a hard time finding that person. This, he says, is what we've been doing with relationships. This hit home with me especially. I've been pessimistic about any relationship because we are not like minded. It's great to be able to converse with those who have the same convictions about family and theology and education but let's face it - I don't live near many of them. And you know what? We as a body of believers are called to be in relationship with people who may not have the same convictions as we do. Paul speaks about this in Romans 14 and 15. So I've been convicted today of despising those relationships that I already have because I don't think they're good enough. Lord, thank You for showing me this conceit that's in my heart and thank You for cleansing me of it. Teach me to love as You do. I'm reminded of this line from a Rich Mullins song (who I love by the way) -
My friends aren't the way I wish they were,
They are just the way they are.
I will be my brother's keeper
Not the one who judges him
I won't despise him for his weakness
I won't regard him for his strength.
That's from the Brother's Keeper album, the last complete album he made before he died sadly in a car accident on the way to a concert.
So, my husband and I are going to try to be more diligent and intentional about growing our relationships with at least 2 or 3 other families. By the way, I'm not against people getting together with other people of like mind, a la HSC. I just know that I'm not living in a community like that right now. In fact, I believe God has called us to stay right where we are so we can influence others. Lord, I pray we will.
Friday, September 17, 2004
TROPICAL STORM PARTY!!
Last night as what was left of Ivan came through, we gathered in the den for a tropical storm party. The whole family (me, DH and three little munchkins age 7, 4 and 3) had cookies and watched Star Wars. Episode 4, mind you, the original. It's probably the 20 something time I've seen it. As we watched, DH and I kept announcing that a classic line was coming up. For example,
Han Solo - "Hoky religions and ancient weapons don't substitute for a good blaster at your side."
Luke Skywalker - "I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you."
Princess Leia - "Would somebody get this big walking carpet out of my way?"
Darth Vader - "I find your lack of faith disturbing."
I know there are more but I just can't think of them. Anyway, we had hoped to all sleep downstairs just in case the wind was really bad but it died down and DH and the 4 year old went to sleep upstairs. My oldest and youngest wanted to sleep downstairs though on the air mattresses and in the tent we had put up. So I ended up sleeping in the tent with my 3 year old daughter on an air mattress. Well, I wouldn't call it sleep though, more like tossing and turning. She kept draping her arms and legs on me and I could never get comfortable. Then I woke up at 6 to take a shower and she woke up and realized I wasn't there and started to cry. Poor thing.
Anyway, the aftermath wasn't as bad in our yard as it was with Frances. No big pine limbs in our backyard, thank God.
PURPOSE DRIVEN POST
Hey, do you think I need to pay Rick Warren for using this as my header? LOL
I've gotten through about 19 chapters of the book and have heard two sermons and been to one homegroup concerning the material. For all my previous annoyances with the book the principles are pretty sound. Right now we're on the part about being formed for God's family. His point is that the church is an important institution that should be loved and guarded. His points about fellowship have really hit home for me though. He says that being in a small group is vitally important for your growth. I have been in small groups the majority of my Christian life, that being almost 13 years now. I have experienced growth in these groups but I have always felt like the odd man out in most of them. For the past 10 years this has been the case. It always seems that the others in the group develop the intimate friendships that I so desperately desire. I never feel like "kindred spirits" with anyone. I never feel like-minded with most if not all of them. That's why the HSC and those up there in Bristol have so captured my imagination. I so agree with their decisions not to have programs and small group ministries. Sometimes I think these things produce a false superficial community but make you think that you're really relating to people. But as I read all the "one another" verses in the NT I realize that I don't have the kind of intimate relationships that allow you to practice those verses. We're in a Sunday school class that's pretty small but it doesn't allow for the type of relationships he's talking about in the book. I have always struggled with this and I really don't know what to do except pray. The homegroup we're in only lasts for six weeks and those in our homegroup are not in our Sunday school class. We wanted to get in a group with people from there but only a few were committing to it.
I think this is where the folks at HSC are right on. They fellowship with each other in one another's homes. They are intentional about their motto - Simple, Separate, Deliberate. I either haven't worked hard enough on relationships or haven't found those like minded families yet. There's probably one family I've met in our church who homeschools, doesn't use birth control and is fairly Reformed - but they live about 40 minutes away on the other side of Atlanta. Hey, if any of you out there who read this blog know of a family like this in the metro Atlanta area please let us know.
By the way, I realized that you probably can't find my email from this blog. It's beattym@bellsouth.net. Please email me if you read this blog. I'd sure like some encouragement and practical technical help with the layout of this blog.
Thanks
Last night as what was left of Ivan came through, we gathered in the den for a tropical storm party. The whole family (me, DH and three little munchkins age 7, 4 and 3) had cookies and watched Star Wars. Episode 4, mind you, the original. It's probably the 20 something time I've seen it. As we watched, DH and I kept announcing that a classic line was coming up. For example,
Han Solo - "Hoky religions and ancient weapons don't substitute for a good blaster at your side."
Luke Skywalker - "I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you."
Princess Leia - "Would somebody get this big walking carpet out of my way?"
Darth Vader - "I find your lack of faith disturbing."
I know there are more but I just can't think of them. Anyway, we had hoped to all sleep downstairs just in case the wind was really bad but it died down and DH and the 4 year old went to sleep upstairs. My oldest and youngest wanted to sleep downstairs though on the air mattresses and in the tent we had put up. So I ended up sleeping in the tent with my 3 year old daughter on an air mattress. Well, I wouldn't call it sleep though, more like tossing and turning. She kept draping her arms and legs on me and I could never get comfortable. Then I woke up at 6 to take a shower and she woke up and realized I wasn't there and started to cry. Poor thing.
Anyway, the aftermath wasn't as bad in our yard as it was with Frances. No big pine limbs in our backyard, thank God.
PURPOSE DRIVEN POST
Hey, do you think I need to pay Rick Warren for using this as my header? LOL
I've gotten through about 19 chapters of the book and have heard two sermons and been to one homegroup concerning the material. For all my previous annoyances with the book the principles are pretty sound. Right now we're on the part about being formed for God's family. His point is that the church is an important institution that should be loved and guarded. His points about fellowship have really hit home for me though. He says that being in a small group is vitally important for your growth. I have been in small groups the majority of my Christian life, that being almost 13 years now. I have experienced growth in these groups but I have always felt like the odd man out in most of them. For the past 10 years this has been the case. It always seems that the others in the group develop the intimate friendships that I so desperately desire. I never feel like "kindred spirits" with anyone. I never feel like-minded with most if not all of them. That's why the HSC and those up there in Bristol have so captured my imagination. I so agree with their decisions not to have programs and small group ministries. Sometimes I think these things produce a false superficial community but make you think that you're really relating to people. But as I read all the "one another" verses in the NT I realize that I don't have the kind of intimate relationships that allow you to practice those verses. We're in a Sunday school class that's pretty small but it doesn't allow for the type of relationships he's talking about in the book. I have always struggled with this and I really don't know what to do except pray. The homegroup we're in only lasts for six weeks and those in our homegroup are not in our Sunday school class. We wanted to get in a group with people from there but only a few were committing to it.
I think this is where the folks at HSC are right on. They fellowship with each other in one another's homes. They are intentional about their motto - Simple, Separate, Deliberate. I either haven't worked hard enough on relationships or haven't found those like minded families yet. There's probably one family I've met in our church who homeschools, doesn't use birth control and is fairly Reformed - but they live about 40 minutes away on the other side of Atlanta. Hey, if any of you out there who read this blog know of a family like this in the metro Atlanta area please let us know.
By the way, I realized that you probably can't find my email from this blog. It's beattym@bellsouth.net. Please email me if you read this blog. I'd sure like some encouragement and practical technical help with the layout of this blog.
Thanks
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
HELP MY UNBELIEF
RCjr had a great squib the other day. I encourage you to go read it at www.gospelcom.net/hsc. He says that all our knowledge of the Bible and defense of the Bible's infallibility is useless unless we actually BELIEVE the Bible. This morning as I was thinking about this a hymn came to mind.
Spirit of God descend upon my heart:
Wean it from earth, thro' all its pulses move.
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art,
And make me love Thee as I ought to love.
Help my unbelief Lord.
RCjr had a great squib the other day. I encourage you to go read it at www.gospelcom.net/hsc. He says that all our knowledge of the Bible and defense of the Bible's infallibility is useless unless we actually BELIEVE the Bible. This morning as I was thinking about this a hymn came to mind.
Spirit of God descend upon my heart:
Wean it from earth, thro' all its pulses move.
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art,
And make me love Thee as I ought to love.
Help my unbelief Lord.
Friday, September 03, 2004
SOMEBODY READ MY BLOG!
I couldn't believe it when I saw and email from someone who had read my blog! Thank you Samantha. I thought I was all alone out here. Maybe there are some other lurkers out there. If so, don't be afraid to email me and let me know you're out there. I'm a total novice when it comes to blogging. I have no idea how to do anything but write. I'd love to be able to enable comments and put other things in the side column areas but I have no idea how to do it. Perhaps some of you can give me some pointers.
GOT PURPOSE?
Well it was inevitable. Our church is doing the 40 days of purpose with the accompanying book by Rick Warren. My husband and I have had the same concerns. Rick Warren's use of Scripture is often sloppy. He depends on poor translations and paraphrases too much. He prooftexts instead of properly exegeting. This one thing tells us that he doesn't handle the holy word of God with the proper humility and care. However, hardly anyone else we know of at church has had these same concerns. We are committed to reading the book and participating in the obligatory activities that go along with it. One of those things is the homegroup. Our church is trying to start a small group ministry and this is the one way they want to kick it off. But it seems a little artificial to me. Most people are being assigned to small groups where they may not know anyone else in the group. Some groups are including kids and some are meeting at church with childcare provided. I think though that I'd rather have people come together as families with other families they know. On one of the Basement Tapes, the gang discusses how when they finally build their own building one of them suggested that they don't have a fellowship hall because they already fellowship in various homes in the community. Somehow having a fellowship hall, library, kitchen, etc. in church creates a superficial version of community. People meet there but never really relate, they check out books but don't own them and share them, they eat there but never share home cooked meals in their home and so the depth never happens. I think this is the argument of the folks at the HSC. I tend to agree. We have semi close friends at church but it never seems like we have community. And I don't think creating another program is going to generate community either. A couple months ago I shared these thoughts with one of the pastors on staff who's responsible for this new small group ministry and it pretty much fell on deaf ears.
Anyway, I think I will keep blogging about my experience with the Purpose Driven Life book. By the way, did you know that the phrase Purpose Driven is a registered trademark? No comment from me on this one. I'll get myself in trouble. No, no, not gonna go there. Not gonna do it.
I couldn't believe it when I saw and email from someone who had read my blog! Thank you Samantha. I thought I was all alone out here. Maybe there are some other lurkers out there. If so, don't be afraid to email me and let me know you're out there. I'm a total novice when it comes to blogging. I have no idea how to do anything but write. I'd love to be able to enable comments and put other things in the side column areas but I have no idea how to do it. Perhaps some of you can give me some pointers.
GOT PURPOSE?
Well it was inevitable. Our church is doing the 40 days of purpose with the accompanying book by Rick Warren. My husband and I have had the same concerns. Rick Warren's use of Scripture is often sloppy. He depends on poor translations and paraphrases too much. He prooftexts instead of properly exegeting. This one thing tells us that he doesn't handle the holy word of God with the proper humility and care. However, hardly anyone else we know of at church has had these same concerns. We are committed to reading the book and participating in the obligatory activities that go along with it. One of those things is the homegroup. Our church is trying to start a small group ministry and this is the one way they want to kick it off. But it seems a little artificial to me. Most people are being assigned to small groups where they may not know anyone else in the group. Some groups are including kids and some are meeting at church with childcare provided. I think though that I'd rather have people come together as families with other families they know. On one of the Basement Tapes, the gang discusses how when they finally build their own building one of them suggested that they don't have a fellowship hall because they already fellowship in various homes in the community. Somehow having a fellowship hall, library, kitchen, etc. in church creates a superficial version of community. People meet there but never really relate, they check out books but don't own them and share them, they eat there but never share home cooked meals in their home and so the depth never happens. I think this is the argument of the folks at the HSC. I tend to agree. We have semi close friends at church but it never seems like we have community. And I don't think creating another program is going to generate community either. A couple months ago I shared these thoughts with one of the pastors on staff who's responsible for this new small group ministry and it pretty much fell on deaf ears.
Anyway, I think I will keep blogging about my experience with the Purpose Driven Life book. By the way, did you know that the phrase Purpose Driven is a registered trademark? No comment from me on this one. I'll get myself in trouble. No, no, not gonna go there. Not gonna do it.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME
For some reason, I've been on a painting kick - house painting that is. It seems that I always forget how tiring and tedious it can be even though the results are usually worth it. Kind of like childbirth pains but those results are always worth it!!
Anyway, last week I painted our bedroom which was far easier than what I started yesterday. The flyaway corners of some wallpaper in the bathroom sucked me in and there I was last night (or this morning) at 3 am finally finishing up priming the walls and cleaning up the mess I'd made. My DH is out of town so I got real brave (translated as foolish). The whole project almost came to a screeching halt though when I realized that in order to paint behind the toilet I would have to take the tank off - something I'd never done and didn't know how to do. I thought of calling a couple neighbors who are general contractors but then I remembered that we owned a book called Home Improvement 1-2-3 produced by the Home Depot. Now this definitely is not a plug for that store. I don't think it's a bad place but I just prefer going to someplace smaller like the Ace Hardware across the street which is less busy and less intimidating. Anyway, I looked up in that book how to remove a toilet and guess what?? I DID IT!!!!! It really wasn't that hard. I would recommend this book. The instructions were very straightforward and the color pictures helped too. Today I have to paint the color and clean up and reinstall everything before DH comes home.
By the way, another thing I did for the first time a couple weeks ago was change a flat tire. Boy, did I feel She Woman after that! Hoo - ra!! (Marine exclamation).
For some reason, I've been on a painting kick - house painting that is. It seems that I always forget how tiring and tedious it can be even though the results are usually worth it. Kind of like childbirth pains but those results are always worth it!!
Anyway, last week I painted our bedroom which was far easier than what I started yesterday. The flyaway corners of some wallpaper in the bathroom sucked me in and there I was last night (or this morning) at 3 am finally finishing up priming the walls and cleaning up the mess I'd made. My DH is out of town so I got real brave (translated as foolish). The whole project almost came to a screeching halt though when I realized that in order to paint behind the toilet I would have to take the tank off - something I'd never done and didn't know how to do. I thought of calling a couple neighbors who are general contractors but then I remembered that we owned a book called Home Improvement 1-2-3 produced by the Home Depot. Now this definitely is not a plug for that store. I don't think it's a bad place but I just prefer going to someplace smaller like the Ace Hardware across the street which is less busy and less intimidating. Anyway, I looked up in that book how to remove a toilet and guess what?? I DID IT!!!!! It really wasn't that hard. I would recommend this book. The instructions were very straightforward and the color pictures helped too. Today I have to paint the color and clean up and reinstall everything before DH comes home.
By the way, another thing I did for the first time a couple weeks ago was change a flat tire. Boy, did I feel She Woman after that! Hoo - ra!! (Marine exclamation).
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