More Than a Wildflower ~ Life Lessons from Hand-Me-Downs

I have a lot of nieces. That has translated to having a lot of clothes passed down.

And I do mean a lot. Three of my nieces are near the same size, so when they out grow those clothes, they filter down to my kids. That's three wardrobes worth of clothes. Believe me - it's a bit overwhelming, but it's a wonderful problem to have to figure what to do with all those clothes. I haven't had to buy much.

As my oldest child grows, the hand-me-downs become a little less. When kids get older they actually wear out some of their clothes, so there's less to pass down.

I had to go buy a pair of jeans the other day because several of the previously-loved pairs chose to become trendy and rip holes in the knees, thereby relegating themselves to the play-clothes drawer. As I bought the jeans, it occurred to me that when we moved up the next size, I was going to have to buy more jeans. There weren't many in the box in the closet.

Having to plan on buying more jeans meant having to plan for an adjustment in the budget for kids clothes. Right now, our budget is tight (who's isn't?) so that wasn't a happy thought.

But you know what is a happy thought? My God loves me.

San Carlos Wildflowers, via Wikimedia Commons

I posted a few weeks ago about realizing the connection between the verses Jesus spoke about God caring for the sparrows and the verses about seeking first the Kingdom of God. That connection floored me and adjusted my thinking and prayer life since.

And God came through.

I'll be honest, it didn't occur to me to start praying for jeans when she's still several months from needing that next size. There were problems that seemed much closer that needed my prayer and focus more than my daughter's wardrobe.

But God is so big that He can hear me on all of those looming issues and still take care of the little ones that I've forgotten.

Romans 8:26 says, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."

I've always considered this passage as dealing with more spiritual things. Like when we don't realize what we really need to pray for is boldness or humility or something like that. But I think now that the Spirit also prays for jeans. Or a sunny day. Or a flat tire so that you miss getting caught in that big pile up on the way to work. He knows exactly what we need in our lives even when we forget or don't know in the first place.

Photo: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We have a friend at church that occasionally gives us dresses her granddaughter has outgrown. Last week she gave us a huge box of clothes. Inside were six pairs of jeans in the exact size my daughter will need next. It's not a size that is all that easy to find either.

I am humbled by this tangible example of Jesus' promise in Luke 12:22-34. As my family has made a very conscious effort lately to seek more of the Kingdom of God, He has seen our need before it even arrives and He has provided. He has demonstrated that He loves me more than the wildflowers. And when it comes time to put those jeans in the drawer, I will remember His provision and tear up all over again.

God loves us. More than we can ever know. He loves you. Run to Him. Seek His kingdom and His righteousness and you will not be disappointed. He doesn't promise everyone a big box of hand-me-downs. Your miracle will look different than mine. But never fear, He will show up with exactly what you need, even if you don't know what that something is.

We Should All Be Hypocrites

I'm a hypocrite.

More to the point, I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm hypocrite.

To start this conversation, we all need to be on the same page about what we're talking about when I say "hypocrite". I don't go by the straight dictionary definition, because I don't think people mean the actual dictionary definition when they use this word.

According to dictionary.com, a hypocrite is a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.  The only problem I have with that definition is the word "pretends".  What is the word for someone who actually has principles and beliefs but their actions go against the stated beliefs? I believe this person would still be called a hypocrite in the English language.

So, the simple definition to be used for the rest of this article for hypocrite is: a person who says one thing and does another.

And by that definition, I am a hypocrite. All Christians should be hypocrites.

Here's why: we're broken. I don't care how diligent, prayerful, and dedicated you are as a follower of Christ, you will sin. It is inevitable. That does not mean we just go about sinning, but it is a fact of life that we must accept. (Read Romans 6, and probably a few commentaries and Bible studies for the full import of this sentiment.)

What this means is that even though I stand on the Word of God as truth and perfect guidance, you will occasionally see me mess up. I may take out my bad mood on someone and yell at them. For that matter, I may be in a bad mood and just complain about life. (Philippians 2:14 if you want to reference that wrongdoing.)

My screw-up makes me human, not wrong. But, if I have spoken the truth of God and stated that I believe we should go through life without complaining or arguing, it also makes me a hypocrite.

I teach teenagers. When I teach them, I do my best to tell them what the Word of God says, what He wants them to do, how He wants them to live, and ways that they can live according to His desires. I believe what I am saying to them 100%.

They have seen me screw up. They have called me on it and together we've discussed what went wrong, how I could have done things differently, and what God says about it.

But what if you're not  a hypocrite. What does that mean? Well, it means one of two things.

1. Your life is perfect, or at least appears to be. If you have gotten so close to God that you truly do not sin anymore, I would seriously like to meet you and have you teach me some things. If you have managed to build the appearance of perfection, beware because that house of cards is going to fall down in shambles one day.

OR

2. You aren't speaking the truths of the Bible. This is more likely the reason you aren't a hypocrite. Because in order to be a hypocrite you have to say one thing is true and then do something that belies that statement.

Often it's fear of being labeled a hypocrite that makes us hold our tongue and not tell people about the wonders of Jesus. But look at the opportunities you miss. Every time someone labels you "the H word" you have the opportunity to say, "Yes, you're right, and God loves me anyway. Isn't that amazing?"

Don't be afraid to be a hypocrite. Look at Peter. He was the ultimate hypocrite - denying Jesus three times only hours after committing to stand with him to the death. And yet Jesus said the church would be built on Peter's confession of faith.

Let me close with this. God isn't happy that we're hypocrites. He would prefer we live upright, blameless lives with no blemish on our souls. I would prefer that, too, and I try for it every day. But when I fall, I'm glad His grace is there to catch me, put me back on my feet, and tell me that His love never fails. And I'm glad I get to share that truth, too.

The Dangers of Personal Museums ~ Life Lessons from Louis Giglio

On Monday President Obama will be sworn into office for another four years.

Louis Giglio will not be praying at the event.

In case you've missed this turn of events, or missed some of the brouhaha that followed, here's a quick recap.

Louis Giglio is the pastor of Passion City Church in Atlanta and one of the men behind the Passion conference which recently completed in Atlanta. If any of your friends went to Passion 2013, you've probably seen the End It links on Facebook and twitter because one of the focuses of this year's conference. as well as a focus of Louis' work recently, is ending slavery.

Just after the first of the year, it was announced that Louis had been chosen to pray at Obama's inauguration. It wasn't long before some people started complaining of the choice. Eventually Louis withdrew because of gay support groups making a fuss over a 15-year old sermon in which he spoke out against homosexuality.

Louis' post on his church's blog. 

The article on Fox News and the article on CNN depending on how you like to read your news.

Social media lit up with people both supporting and criticizing Giglio. While some people are holding Giglio up as an example of how those pushing the homosexual agenda will turn anything into a discussion about gay rights, others are nearly trashing him because the group used a sermon 15 years old.

I would like to take a moment to say both of those groups are wrong.

For the record, I support Louis and his decision. He is my brother in Christ and I completely understand his desire to keep his focus on the passion and ministry God has currently given him. I do not think Louis is perfect, above reproach, or incapable of making a bad decision.

That is where I think the problem has arisen for those who are polarizing the situation. People love to hold others, particularly celebrities, up on pedestals. We have personal museums of personalities that we have decided are the perfect examples of who we want to be or what we believe in.

Photo Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The problem is that these pedestals are rickety, built like a child's tower of blocks. When these people, who mostly have never asked or claimed the spot we've given them, do something against the image we've created, they fall. We either knock them down ourselves and try to bury them beneath the rubble or someone else comes in a gleefully sends them crashing to the floor, scarring and bruising us in the process.

It is so dangerous to put fallible humans above reproach. They will always, ALWAYS fail us.

In this case, Louis never asked to be the posterboy for the conservative stance on homosexuality. In fact, by his own words he pulled out so that he wouldn't be in that position. He also never said he was perfect. In fact, in the sermon snippet used by the ruckus-raising group, he says he is s a sinner just like everyone else listening to his sermon.

Go through your personal museum. Who rests uncomfortably high on your homemade towers? They aren't always distant celebrities. Parents, friends, pastors, and others in our daily lives are sometimes exalted as well.

Do yourself and them a favor. Dismantle your pedestals. Don't ram them down and crush everything you admire. Take them down piece by piece, block by block, and build an altar with them. Use it to remember that the only One capable of living up to every expectation without failure is Jesus Christ.

Author's notes: I did not include the links to the social media that I saw because most of them were personal discussions on Facebook. You can find many, many blog posts on both sides through Google. Also, for the record, Louis Giglio spoke out against homosexuality during a series on marriage and dating less than a year ago. His choices and situation were not the main point of this article, simply a recent example used to illustrate my point. Do not lay undue praise or censure at his door. 

Getting Past the Cliche ~ Life Lessons from Another Blog

I read several other blogs, though admittedly there I days when I just skim the titles in my RSS feed on my Google Reader.

The other day, I read a post at Seekerville that was really interesting. The whole post is interesting, particularly if you are an author, but there was one piece in particular that struck me.

The article is a collection of reader feedback about things they like or don't like in their novels. One reader said this about things she didn't like in her Christian fiction: "Over use of of Jeremiah 29:11 and similar verses."

First, let me say I understand what this reader was talking about and I agree. Often times it seems that writers must have the most edited Bibles in the world, containing only about thirty verses. So I get that the reader is looking for more originality, more use of the entire word of God, more depth in her book's theology. I even agree with her.

But what about outside of books?

Photo Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Have certain stories and verses from the Bible become so cliche that they don't mean anything anymore?

How many of you can quote John 3:16? Jeremiah 29:11? Philippians 4:13? Psalm 23?

Some of you, I'm sure, rattled at least two of those off just now. But did you think about what they really said? Cliched and overused verses usually get that way for a reason - their meaning is vastly important to God and to us.

But somewhere down the line these important verses stopped being the cornerstone to a greater truth and started getting used as isolated nuggets of comfort and teaching.

When I work with students, I love to ask them what John 3:17 says. Only once have I had one know the answer. But they are all intimately familiar with John 3:16.

A Bible study I attend recently spent two weeks walking through the Lord's Prayer, or the model prayer as the teacher liked to call it. We walked through every line, examining what it meant, why Jesus included it, and how it applied today. How often do we take the time to do that? Do you have a life verse or a favorite verse that you pull out all the time? When was the last time you looked at the context around that verse to really know what it was talking about.

Photo Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Just last week I realized what the "these things" were in the verse I'd learned as a child, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you."

That verse comes immediately after the passage where Jesus talks about God taking care of the birds and the fields and the clothes and food needed for each. Look it up in Luke 12:22-31. I couldn't believe it. I had heard these two snippets of scripture my entire life and never realized they went together.

What made me even sadder what that I had never stopped to ask what "these things" were that God was going to give me if I sought His kingdom. Now, both of those passages have a greater impact.

So when a verse, thought, or Biblical truth starts to feel a bit tired and overused, ask yourself what it means. Read the verses around it. You might be surprised at what the verses you think you know actually mean.

Is Christmas Part of Thanksgiving?

I have heard a lot of people lately complaining about the fact that town Christmas lights are already going up and Christmas decorations are already in the stores. This is something I personally have never had an issue with because, to me, Christmas and Thanksgiving are part of each other. The more I get to talking to people about it, the more I realize how intertwined it is for a lot of other people, even if they don't realize it.

Photo by Diliff, through WikiCommons. 

I've had several conversations lately that go something like this:

John Doe: Christmas is getting so commercial. It's not even Thanksgiving and it's taking over the stores. They shouldn't have the Christmas decorations out yet.

Me: When does your family put up your tree?

John Doe: Oh it's this great tradition. After we eat Thanksgiving dinner we all go out and cut the tree and we decorate it and stuff. It's great.

At this point I stand there dumbfounded. How in the world can someone expect to put their tree up on Thanksgiving if they can't go buy the stuff to do it before then? And yes, I had someone say "We store it all from the year before." The problem is that you had to buy it some time.

For many Christians, the top thing on their Thanksgiving thankfulness list is the gift we receive from Jesus Christ. Our eternal life assurity, guidance from the Holy Spirit, and the sacrifice He made in order to allow all of that to happen. That means Christmas (and Easter) are embedded in a Christian's Thanksgiving celebration.

Photo from WikiCommons, work of the US Government.

So now I'm wondering why. Why do we get mad that they put up the city Christmas decorations (even if they don't turn them on yet) before Thanksgiving, but Friday when we go shopping (another tie in of Christmas to Thanksgiving for many people) we expect to see all the Christmas decorations?

Maybe it's because I love Christmas so much, but the blending of the holidays doesn't bother me at all. I feel like it heightens both. If I join Thanksgiving and Christmas, then I enter the Christmas season with a spirit of thankfulness and giving, focused on the blessing God has given me.

If we fight to separate the two completely, I'm afraid we'll start seeing Christmas as more of the hustle and bustle and presents and lights, instead of a celebration of the most precious gift of all.

The other thing is, that while Christmas Day doesn't occur for a whole month, the Advent season starts, usually, within a week of Thanksgiving. This year it will be a week and a half before the official start of the Christian Christmas season. That's still a very short time in the grand scheme of things.

How do you see it? Do the opening notes of Jingle Bells turn you into a Grinch if you hear them before the turkey is relegated to sandwich meat? (By the way, if you're looking for a few different songs for your Christmas playlist, check out my posts from last year on the Best Christmas Songs You've Never Heard.)

Do you hold off everything Christmas-y until after Thanksgiving? Does it bother you when others don't?

Background Stress ~ Life Lessons from a Mobile Phone Battery

Mobile phones have become essential to many people's daily lives. Many people have even stopped home phone service because their mobiles have become the only phone they use. Now, smartphones and expansive data packages have increased the amount of attention we pay to our phones.

See how far phones have come in this
display of Ericson cellphone.
Picture from Wikimedia Commons

The first cell phone my family got was actually a car phone. It was semi-permanently mounted in the car. Taking it out required a large battery compartment that you carried around in a bag. Now my phone is semi-permanently attached to my body.

It's caused me to notice something recently.

The battery life has suddenly decreased dramatically.

Phones are so much more than phones now. I play games, check email, text, control my computer remotely, listen to music, use it as an alarm clock, read books, and, oh yeah, make phone calls. All of that means my phone is, or at least feels, essential to me. When it dies, I feel very lost, so this shortened battery life is very concerning.

I set out to discover why my battery was suddenly dying in the middle of the afternoon instead of making it well into the evening. It turned out two applications I had recently loaded were doing some extensive work in the background. Even when I wasn't using them, they were sucking up my phone's resources.

Life is like a phone. When we're young, life seems so much simpler. Most of the time there was only one thing to focus on. Our most difficult decision in a day might be whether Barbie wanted to ride her horse or drive in her car. The older we get, the more hats we put into our repertoire.

I look around now and realize I'm a wife, a mother, a writer, a minister, a daughter... the list goes on and on. I'm not sure I could even make a comprehensive list of all the roles I play sometimes.

Wikimedia Commons

What I've noticed is that sometimes these roles will drain my strength and energy even when I'm not focusing on them. I could be playing a game with my children and part of my mind is thinking about an upcoming church event. Or I'm working on my book and have to stop to write an email to a family member that just keeps niggling at my mind.

A game I play once every other day or so was taking up so much of my phone that at times I couldn't make a phone call or take a picture because the battery had gotten so low. Stress, worry, and a host of other issues related with stretching yourself through life can pull at you until there's nothing left to give whatever is in front of you at that moment.

In 1 Peter 5:7 God commands us to cast all our cares upon Him. God's battery is unlimited. He is uniquely able to carry all of your issues without losing strength, hope, or focus.

What is it for you? Are you thinking about work instead of focusing on a conversation with your spouse? Is waiting for test results (whether your own or a family member's) affecting your ability to worship?

I've changed the settings on that game so that it only runs when I'm actually playing it. What settings do you need to change in your life?

The God Box ~ Jacob's Journal

New column! Starting this month, I'll be welcoming a regular visitor to my blog every month - my darling husband, Jacob. I love discussing theology with my husband and frequently marvel at his ability to explain things. I hope you enjoy his bits of wisdom as much as I do. 

As a side note, sometimes he likes to use the "big words". If I looked up a word or concept while reading his article, I added a link in case you need to look it up as well. 

Luke 10:27 HCSBLove the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.

Too many Christians today tend to live their lives compartmentalized. Our lives are divided up into little sections or rooms, like a house. There’s the living room, the kitchen, the school room, the playroom, the music room, the TV room, the bathroom, and the somewhere in the house they have a God room.

For some people the God Room is a tiny closet where they have to duck under the coats just to close the door. For others it is a grand an elaborately decorated space, kept pristine and perfect and separated from everything else. 

We go to the God Room on Wednesdays or Sundays or whatever day it is convenient for us to get a god fix. Some even visit the room every morning and then firmly shut the door before going to the next room. We go through life thinking we can carry God around in a little God box.

Our lives have become compartmentalized to the point that church, work, school, God, family, and every other aspect has its own little space and we do not let them mingle.

God did not intend for us to live with our lives divided in such a way, particularly when it comes to a relationship with Him. He wants us to live holistically with Him.

At times divisions are good and even important. There is some merit to having different personas for different circumstances as different situations have varying expectations. For instance, my father-in-law (we'll call him FIL) has two very distinct personas. Business FIL and Family FIL.

I have had the opportunity to work in business with him before and there is a distinct difference in the way he deals with people in both modes. It is quite funny to be hanging out with Family FIL, laughing and joking and playing jokes on each other, only to have the phone ring. When he receives a business call, Business FIL magically appears.

I learned early on that my wife inherited this gene. She has Business Kristi, Family Kristi, and a special adaptation I have named Phone Call Kristi. Author/Blogging Kristi is a strange combination of all of them. It's pretty fun to watch.   

But back to FIL. Business FIL is a great guy. His employees and bosses alike love him. Family FIL is a great father/father-in-law/granddad. But no matter what mode FIL is in, there’s one thing everyone knows about him: He’s a Christian. It is a part of who he is holistically, no matter what personality he puts on the outside.

The thing is, God shouldn't just have a room in your house, even if it is the best room in your house. He should be the foundation of the entire thing.

“The Christian faith isn’t a compartment or room in a house to be kept secret or hid away. It is the foundation on which the house should sit. It is the foundation by which you build your entire life, and every compartment must sit on your faith.
 That means you let your faith bleed through every single area of your life. You should be a Christian at work, with friends and enemies, with your spouse, on your Myspace or Twitter, behind closed doors, and every living and breathing second of your life.
You should live for God, breathe for God, sing for God, read about God, pray to God, fear God, strive to be Godly.” (Are You A Compartmentalized Christian? Judge Yourself!, Revelation.co, September 18, 2009)

Compartmentalization of our faith is one of the biggest issues with Christianity in America today. It makes us look like hypocrites... well, I guess it makes us hypocrites. We want our spiritual void filled, but we don’t want to have to live with it all the time.

God calls us to love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. When you give it all, there’s nothing left to divide.

Do you have difficulty letting God into every room in your life? What do you try to keep separate? 

God Provides ~ Life Lessons from a Barbie Doll

We're filling shoeboxes at my house this week. If you haven't heard of Operation Christmas Child, it is a ministry of Samaritan's Purse. They collect shoeboxes filled with toys, hygiene items, school supplies, and other goodies and distribute them to children in poor countries. Children that have likely never seen a Christmas present before.

As a lover of everything Christmas, I adore this ministry. I love that I can be a part of bringing a piece of Christmas to a child that otherwise would not see any of it. And with each shoebox, they distribute the Gospel message, bringing hope that lasts far longer than the boxes contents.

This year, we are having each of our kids fill a shoebox for a child their own age. My oldest, Bean, is so excited about it that she's about to bust at the seams.

Earlier this week we went shopping. We hit the discount store and the dollar store, snagging some great stuff to put in our boxes. Bean wanted to put a Barbie in her box. I told her we would get one at the dollar store, since the recipient wasn't likely to know or care about the brand of the doll.

I didn't know that the dollar store doesn't carry Barbie-like dolls anymore.

When we left the dollar store it was too late to go back to the discount store. We told Bean we'd pick the doll up later in the week.

She started to cry.

Now it's always hard to listen to your child cry, but it's especially hard when she's crying because she wants to do something for someone else and doesn't think she's going to get to. (As a side note, she has also cried when we forget to bring our food bank donation to the church. I love this girl's heart.) Between sobs, she choked out phrases like, "But I want to get it for her." and "I know that little girl would love the doll!"

As we drove home, I remembered something. Several months ago I received a coupon in the mail for Kohl's. I used it to buy a Barbie doll to stick in the gift closet for Bean's next birthday party invite. There was a doll - a nicer one than Bean wanted to buy - waiting at home.

My husband was talking to my daughter, telling her that God would make sure the little girl got everything she was supposed to get. Finally, my daughter calmed down and remembered the faithfulness of the God she loved. She said that God could do anything. He could even make her a Barbie.

At home I went to hunt down the Barbie doll and Bean hit her knees by her bed, praying that God would make sure that the little girl got the doll she was supposed to have and could He please bring it soon because Bean was really worried about it.

I'll never forget the look on her face when I laid the doll in front of her on the bed.

It's a ballerina with brown hair. Just like my daughter. It's like she's sending herself in the box to that little girl on the other side of the world.

As I sit here, recalling the evening, I am struck again at how God works. He had a plan for that doll. What I thought was just an act of frugality and forethought, He was going to use to teach my daughter, and me, about His faithfulness and love.

Our church is collecting the shoeboxes this weekend. When I see it packed away, I know a piece of my heart will go with it. And I'm okay with that. There's a little girl somewhere in the world that could use that extra dose of love so that she can learn about the God that never fails to provide what His children need most.

Even when it's a Barbie doll.

Moving On ~ Life Lessons from a Bandaid

My middle child has sensitive skin. She also has a tendency to scratch and pick at her scabs. Disgusting, I know, but she is three so I try to cut her some slack.

She had one boo-boo on her forehead that she wouldn't leave alone, so I put a little square Band-aid over it. (Yes, it was an actual brand name Band-aid. :) ) Because I didn't want her to keep re-opening the wound, I left the Band-aid on for a couple of days.

When it did come off, the skin underneath the sticky part was all broken out. We had left the bandage on far longer than it really needed to be there.

Life is like that a lot.

We take certain measures because circumstances at the time require it. These things are intended to be temporary measures to solve a temporary problem. Unfortunately they become permanent fixtures in our life and those temporary measures eat away at our mental, emotional, and sometimes even physical health.

Some things, like a family having to move into their parents' basement, are harder to accept long term. Small, and sometimes big, things keep the fact that the situation is far from ideal at the forefront of our minds. At the same time you get into a routine and eventually things don't seem so bad. Instead of looking for an apartment as soon as its feasible, the family may decide to delay a few more months so they can save some extra money, or put a down payment on a house.

Other things, especially emotional bandages, also tend to stick around far longer than they should. Perhaps you are feeling wounded and raw from a fight with a friend. Sunday morning comes along and you feel like you both just need some time to cool off before you talk it out, so you skip church.

Wednesday comes along and you figure that a week's sabbatical will really help your equilibrium.

There are times and situations where a respite, a cooling off period, could be needed. But it is all too easy to let this temporary fix become an ingrained habit. The next Sunday you might be too embarrassed to go to church. Everyone will ask where you were all week and then you might have to explain the fight. So you skip again. In another week everyone will forget about it.

The next thing you know you haven't been to church in five months.

Habits are hard to break, especially when they were created out of necessity.

I could have taken my daughter's bandage off the next day, knowing the bleeding had stopped and the wound was nearly healed. Instead I left it on because it seemed easier than teaching her not to pick at it. Now I'm having to medicate the entire area as the skin heals.

Are there things in your life that were supposed to be temporary but became permanent fixtures? Do you need to work on getting they out?

Or maybe you've already ripped off your bandages. Did you have some mess to clean up from your fix? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.

The Future Is Bright

I spent last week cut off from the world at camp with teenagers from my church. Yes, my blog still posted, but they were scheduled ahead of time. I spent the week with no internet or computer. No real contact at all except for a daily phone call to check on my children. 

When we got back in town Friday afternoon, it was to discover that tragedy had occurred while we were in our little bubble. The horror of the Colorado shootings clashed with the glow of returning from camp. 

If you ever went to church camp as a teen or have been around students at your church when they return, you know the glow I'm talking about. Like Moses after he conversed with God, these teens radiate the effects of their encounter with Christ. They have learned new truths, discovered new convictions, and faced fears and issues that the busyness of the real world has let them ignore for far too long. 

When you hear the stories of the shooter and everything that happened in that theater, it's so easy to wonder what has happened to the world. If we're not careful, we can fall into the trap of thinking that the future is bleak and God is not in it. 

What else are we to think when nowhere is sacred, nothing is guaranteed safe? Schools, movies, political speeches, all of them sources of horrific violence by young people. It's easy to look at the younger generation and be scared. 

But we shouldn't be. 

I spent the week with about sixty teenagers. 

Sixty teenagers that spent their week building Habitat for Humanity homes, painting fingernails at nursing homes, cleaning houses of the elderly, and eating lunch with the homeless. 

Sixty teenagers that gave up cell phones, mirrors, and air conditioning for a chance to get closer to Jesus.

Sixty teenagers that climbed the mountain, bowed before God and their fellow students, and vowed to be different, to be Daniels in this world. 

I watched teenage girls kneel and wash each other's feet in forgiveness. 

I saw tears as a young man stood before his peers and apologized for his "stupid teenage actions" and vowed to be a man. 

I witnessed young people encouraging and building one another up when they hardly knew each other, instead of tearing each other down and trying to impress everyone with the best insult or cutting remark. 

I've worked with teenagers for ten years. I am aware that many of these students will fall back in to a few of their old habits. The convictions of camp may not hold up to the pressure of school when it starts back in a few weeks. But some of it will. Pieces of it will hold fast and some will stand a little taller, speak a little louder, and change their little corner of the world. 

Don't fall into the trap of thinking our future is doomed, that God is forgotten by the younger generation. 

I have seen the face of the future and it is glorious. 

Would I Do This If.... ~ Life Lessons from Chemistry

High school had a lot of chemistry. Sometimes we even learned about it in the classroom.

Like most people, I took a chemistry class that had a classroom portion and a lab portion. One of the more interesting things I saw in lab was litmus paper. When litmus paper is dipped in acid it turns red, when it encounters a base it turns blue. It's a simple test to help you identify what you're working with.

Life Needs More Litmus

We need litmus tests in life. Ideally, we'll hold everything up to the Bible Sometimes that's easy. There are verses that pretty clearly speak out against going on a drunken bender or sleeping around. Other times is can be difficult. God didn't have Paul write a letter to the future church about how to drive or what books to read or what to watch on TV.

This is where I think litmus tests are valuable. Gauges that we use to keep us from crossing a line. These can be determined ahead of time, when our thinking is clear, instead of in the heat of the moment, when that movie looks really appealing and we have to decide whether or not to watch it.

Selecting A Test

When selecting your Life Litmus, it needs to meet the following criteria:

1. It needs to be important to you. If the test doesn't mean anything to you, it won't be strong enough to grab your attention when you need it to.

2. It needs to be simple. Litmus paper is either red or blue. Yes or No questions work best as litmus tests. If your test is too complicated, it's easy to justify your way around it.

3. It needs to hold you accountable. If your test includes consequences such as disappointing looks from (enter your chosen celebrity here) and you don't actually know that person, your test is pretty invalid. Because the potential consequences are never going to happen.

4. It needs to keep you holy.  Select a test that's going to keep you as close to Biblical principles as possible. Avoid the world's standards.

An Example

When I was in high school, I developed a litmus test for my television watching. If I couldn't sit with my parents and watch a show, then I didn't need to be watching it. I remember a distinct moment when this test forced me to drop a show I had been watching for years.

I used to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Several seasons in, I was watching an episode with my dad and all I wanted to do was change the channel. The show had degraded (or I had matured... probably a bit of both) to the point that it no longer passed the test. I gave it up.

Now my test is my husband. Can I watch the show while holding hands with my husband on the couch? Would I take him to see this movie with me?

Why We Need It

Life is easy to get caught up in. We get distracted by our friends or forget to stop and think things through. We need a gut check, a way to keep ourselves on the right path.

Because life doesn't have a rewind button.

Suggestions for Litmus Tests

There are a few tests I think everyone needs. Think about your life, consider your priorities, and make some tests for yourself in these areas.

1. Media Television, movies, music, and other forms of entertainment are really easy to get swept up in. And you can't unsee/unhear anything. Once it's in your head, Satan can remind you of it at the least convenient moments.

2. Social Media Cyberspace is forever. Have a test you consider before you update your status or post that picture. Job opportunities have been lost because of indiscreet postings on facebook. Mine is leftover from the corporate world. When I worked for a large company, we had the New York Times test. Would it be okay if that email you're about to send got published on the front page of the New York Times? If not, don't send it. That one has worked really well for me.

3. Hangouts This can include companions and locations. Falling in with the wrong crowd will get you in more trouble faster than anything else. Have a test to keep you from falling in the first place.


Do you have litmus tests? Are you creating some? I'd love for you to share them in the comments below.

Pictures courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Something is Better Than Nothing ~ Life Lessons from Sunscreen

One of my boyfriends in college loved The Sunscreen Song. If you've never heard it, it's a collection of advice to young people (couched as a commencement address) that starts with the admonition to wear sunscreen.

Sunscreen is one of those things that we all know we are supposed to use but rarely do. It wasn't that I was opposed to wearing sunscreen or had a burning (pun intended) desire to acquire a tan. I suppose it was sheer laziness and the avoidance of the yucky greasy feeling it left on my skin. Even after I washed my hands, my hot dog bore traces of artificial coconut and whatever other overbearing scent they put in to try to make the stuff more appealing.

I was delighted when spray sunscreen made an appearance on the market. I brought home of can of Coppertone Sport, telling my husband that it was one of the best inventions ever.

Is it a worthy substitute? 

Now, I know there's a lot of discussion around whether spray sunscreen is better than lotion sunscreen. When I looked it up, the basic answer seems to be no. Both sunscreens are capable of protecting your skin from most of the harmful spectrum of sunlight.

However, nothing in life is ever that simple. The many factors of spray sunscreen - such as wind carrying excessive amounts off and people being unsure of where they've put it or how much they've really put on - can effect it's usefulness. There's also the question of whether or not breathing in little particles of sunscreen stuff is bad for you. And you are going to breathe them in. Unless you hold your breath while you spray and then run away breathing heavily out of your nose and mouth. Wouldn't that be a fun sight on your next beach trip?

It certainly beats the alternative. 

Here's what I know about my sunscreen usage:

By Kelly Sue DeConnick via Wikimedia Commons

- I go through five or six bottles of spray sunscreen every summer. And I mean big bottles. Bought them at Costco in a multipack kind of bottles.

- I threw away my last bottle of lotion-type sunscreen during a cabinet clean out three years ago. At the time is was nearly seven years old. At that age it was utterly useless as a sunscreen, but it does indicate the change in my level of usage.

Some of that increased usage is due to maturity and realizing that if I put on sunscreen I can enjoy my outing and not be miserable for the next six days. Shocking isn't it? But a lot of it is related to the fact that it is now easy and not yucky to put on the sunscreen.

So if my option is to buy lotion and not put it on and burn or buy spray and miss a spot or two and just have a couple square inches of burn... I'll buy the spray.

Same goes for Spiritual Sonscreen

Wow. That subtitle is really sad, in a cutesy kind of way. Think I'll keep it.

photo by www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Anyway, the same is true in our spiritual life. Yes, it would be fabulous if you read through the Bible entirely every year and spent a full hour on your knees before you started your day so you and God could be set up to commune for the next twenty-four hours. That's the ideal and if you can do it - more power to you. Literally.

But what if you can't? What if, despite every good intention you have ever possessed you turn off the alarm clock in your sleep or hit snooze until you're rushing to the car and scarfing down coffee on your way to work, hoping there will be donuts and bagels at the morning meeting because you missed breakfast. Again.

What if you finally find time to sit down and crack open the Bible, but it doesn't happen until evening and the kids keep popping out of bed for water or bathroom trips or scary dreams and over the course of an hour you read seven verses and a prayer that God helps you not to kill your children?

Something is better that nothing. 

photo by www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It's okay. Some days you'll get more in than others, some days you won't. But if you don't get anything in, then there will never be days when you manage to get full coverage, so to speak. If you've been doing nothing and you start by listening to a devotional podcast (I have several I can recommend, by the way) then at least you've taken a step forward.

You can build up to studying the podcast passage on your own over lunch or maybe even discussing it with your roommate or spouse.

The point is, that it's better to get a little bit than nothing at all.

What about you? Do you wear sunscreen? Do you have an easy time getting that daily God connection in or do you scramble to get minimum exposure?

Today, you can have a double dose of my savvy blogging. I'm also over on Regency Reflections today! 

When Being Yourself Breaks the Rules ~ A Peek At A Writer's Life

I write this post with my tongue in my cheek. Figuratively speaking. If I actually stuck my tongue in my cheek I'd probably bite it and that would hurt.

Anyway, since I am as yet unpublished, everything I'm about to say could be a total load of bunk. A year or two from now I might be recanting this post. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to live dangerously.

The average reader would probably be surprised by the number of "rules" writers are forever being told to write by. I won't go into them because, frankly, they don't matter. If you like a book - great! If you don't, well, there could be a whole lot of reasons for it.

One "rule" is that you aren't supposed to use adverbs. You know, those pesky little -ly words that run rampant through all of my writing? Yeah, those.

I like adverbs. To me, they can change a sentence entirely. Now, I understand not peppering your book with things like this:

"I'm home from the market," she said cheerily. 

"Did you leave any for someone else?" he asked sarcastically.

"Of course not!" She smiled as she walked away jauntily.

There's so many things wrong with that little snippet of writing that I can't even begin to tell you. Rest assured, my book is better than that. But the point is that -ly words got a bad rep for being lazy writing because of examples like the above.

As I've started putting my writing out there in hopes of publication, I've gotten a lot of compliments on my "voice". (That's the general flow and feel of an author's writing.) I think -ly words are a large part of my voice because without them, I feel like a lot of my sentences get stilted.

Now, because -ly words can sometimes be an indication of lazy writing, God has blessed me with a critique partner that ruthlessly challenges every adverb I use, which means I'm left with only the ones that I am fully committed to. (Obviously, she doesn't edit my blog posts... )

But I've had to come to terms with the fact that part of who I am as a writer goes against some accepted notions. The feedback I've gotten around that seems to be working for me, even if I do break the rules.

So what do you do when who you are seems to go against the norm? I think you roll with it. Since the Bible doesn't outlaw adverbs, I'm good with using them. Everyone might not like my writing, but there's a lot of people that do.

Life is like that, too. There are "rules" about church, work, family, and everything else, but sometimes you just can't fit within the rules. I know pastors reaching hundred in churches that hold services on Saturday nights, or in a closed down bar, or with slamming rock and roll music playing.

I think some rules make fabulous guidelines and should never be broken just for the sake of being broken. But unless the Bible specifically speaks against it, don't be afraid to break those unofficial always-been-accepted rules.

Have you broken an unofficial rule? Did it work for you?


images by FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

Be Careful What You Wish For...

If you follow a lot of pre-published author blogs (such as this one) you've probably seen a scattering of posts about contest results and what they learned from them. Because it's that time of year, when the big contests start eliminating people from the running for those coveted awards.

Let me say that I had no intention of writing such an article until Saturday night.

If you haven't read Friday's post, take a moment and go look at it. In it I talk about how I want to shift my writing goal from being enormously popular to having someone fanatically like my writing. That was the essence of it anyway.

On Saturday, I got my scores back from the ACFW Genesis contest. I had advanced to the second round, which meant six sets of judge's marks and comments. They were everywhere. I ranged from pretty low to very high.

It was rather discouraging. Having made it to the second round, I was expecting relatively high scores across the board. The comments were very constructive and helpful and I am truly grateful to every judge who gave it their time and attention. But I wanted better scores. I wanted them to like me. I wanted them to adore my writing.

Then God called me on the carpet. He made me go back and reread what I had written on Friday.

You see, there was one judge that really liked my entry. She loved my style, story, and characters. She thought it was fabulous. Interestingly enough, she had several improvement points in the comments despite the very high score, but at the end of the day she just liked it.

It hit me that I had gotten exactly what I asked for. Suddenly, everything was better. I was able to read the other judges' comments with a different viewpoint. With an eye toward improving what I write without losing what makes me uniquely me. (Interestingly enough, that was the core of the comments from the lowest scoring judge. Which is really pretty cool.)

But I touched one person in a major way, and that is what I felt God calling me to desire. What He wanted me to focus on. In less that twenty-four hours I had gotten caught back up in the obsession of status and across the board achievement.

Do my writing have a ways to go? Probably. Did I learn a lot from the judges notes? An incredible amount. But the main thing is, God told me what He wanted me to focus on and strive for. And then He gave me a taste of what that might look like in the real world. And I learned more from that then anything else.

Had God taught you a lesson lately? When was the last time you had to be reminded that you had gotten exactly what you asked for?


Free images from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Doing Things the Right Way ~ Life Lessons from Hand Weights

Part of my exercise routine involves hand weights. When I started I didn't own any, so I grabbed a couple of cans of pinto beans. Weak as I was, the one pound cans were about all I could handle. They were cumbersome, though. My hands are fairly small and they only wrap about two thirds of the way around the can.

Changing The Equipment

It was working, but I knew it was only a matter of time before it slipped out of my hand, crashed against the stone fireplace, and busted. The mental image of pinto beans splattered all over my living room sent me to the store for proper hand weights this week.

Have you ever shopped for hand weights? If you are really weak like me, you may have noticed something. One pound hand weights are rare and difficult to find. Eventually I gave in and bought two pound weights, dreading the next morning's workout before I even made it to the checkout line.

The next morning I wrapped my hands around the handles - my fingers touched! Amazing! I was able to grip the weights more securely which let me focus on the moves and correct positioning. When it got tough to keep going through the repetitions, I could squeeze the handles, feeling that much more determination to finish.

Noticing the Difference

After that first twenty minute workout a stunning thought occurred to me. It had actually been fairly easy to move up to two pound weights. Part of it was that I'm a lot stronger, but I was still struggling to lift the one pound cans through the entire motion, so it wasn't just that. I realized that having the right equipment let me execute the exercises more precisely, making it easier to lift the heavier weights.

Are we using the right equipment in our lives? What weighs you down? Some things weigh heavier on our spirit than other things and the biggest loads are different for every person. But the question remains the same - what are you using to lift it?

Thinking Bigger

By Rami Tarawneh via Wikimedia Commons

My husband uses a forklift occasionally at work. If he were to try to lift some of those barrels without the aid of machinery, well, he'd be unable to because they're bulky and weigh a couple hundred pounds. But if he tried, he'd likely hurt himself. (Since I know he's reading this, I'll tell him now - don't go move it without a forklift just to prove you can! I like your back in one piece, thanks.)

The right equipment makes such a difference in how much weight we can handle. When things weigh on our heart, are we handling them ourselves? Trying to fix them with advice from friends and family (or worse, Dr. Phil and Opera)? Or are we turning to the mega-forklift that can handle any weight at any time?

Turning It Over

When we use God to carry our burdens, He does all the heavy lifting. He teaches us how to drive the forklift, the right positions to use to avoid hurting ourselves, and spots us to hold the weight when we can't.

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, because He cares about you. 1 Peter 5:6,7

What about you? Can you think of a time when God carried your burden? Maybe there's a time when you tried to carry it yourself and ended up hurt. I'd love to hear your stories. Share them in the comments below.


As a side note, I am also blogging over at Regency Reflections today. It is a devotion about motherhood. 

Great Responsibility ~ Life Lessons from Jewelry

For those of you who joined the blog during April, Friday is when I post Life Lessons such as the ones I blogged on every day for the A to Z Challenge. Only I use the whole alphabet. 

While they are normally longer than the A to Z posts, they aren't always quite this long. I had a lot to say today. ;) Keep reading. It's worth it. 

Special Things

I like jewelry. I like it a lot. I have a lot of it.

Most of it stays in heaping piles on my dresser and I have to dig my way through it to find the matching earring. Every couple of months I take an hour and sort it all back into my various jewelry boxes, but it gets jumbled up again a couple weeks later.

My shell heart necklace.
First jewelry my hubby ever gave me.

But there are a few pieces that always get put back where they belong. Special pieces. A necklace and earring set of Mother-of-pearl and aquamarine flowers from my husband. An emerald ring from my parents. A watch and pair of gold earrings from my grandparents. A heart-shaped pendant made from shells that my now-husband gave me while we were dating. 

Because these were given with special care, with particular reasoning and motivations behind them, I take better care of them. I feel a greater responsibility with them. Not because they are monetarily valuable - I doubt the shell pendant is actually worth all that much - but because I would be devastated if something happened to them. They've been entrusted to my care and I take that seriously.  

Sometimes God gives us gifts like that. Gifts that He expects us to take extraordinary care of. Things we can't risk taking for granted because we'd be crushed if He took them away. 

Special Blessings

Over the past month I've been awestruck by the realization or how many of these gifts God has blessed me with recently. 

- Advancing to the Semi-Final round in the Genesis competition. (I mentioned that in Tuesday's Post)

- Tripling my blog subscribers over the course of the A to Z Challenge (Unbelievable! I'm so glad that all of you are here!)

- An exercise accountability partner and a plan that is making a huge difference for me. (Also details in Tuesday's Post)

- An amazing start to the group blog that I co-founded, Regency Reflections.

The list goes on and on, including several more personal blessings that deal with my family and the youth we work with at church.

I am truly awed by how much He's given me. And I'm also terrified.

Special Responsibilities

No, these are not my eyes. They're kinda creepy though.

"To whom much is given, much will be required."


No, I'm not quoting Spiderman or President Obama or anyone else you've heard say that phrase. I'm quoting Jesus. The whole verse, Luke 12:48, reads thus:

"But the one who did now know and did things deserving of blows will be beaten lightly. Much will be required of everyone who has been given much. And even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more." 
And this is why I'm terrified. 

Yeah... I want to go hide, too. 

This isn't like jewelry where all I have to do is make sure it doesn't fall off somewhere and that it gets back to its correct home in the jewelry box. 

This is God showing up and saying, "I have given you much because I have shown you my incredible power. I have displayed my presence in your life. Now you have the responsibility to do something with that."

I feel more compelled to raise the quality of my blog. (No more tossing out my draft the night before and saying "That'll work.") I have been charged to push forward with my writing. (No more saying, "It's not good enough yet to show to anyone who can actually do something with it.")

When God displays His glory in such magnificent ways, our excuses can't stand up to the evidence of his presence. 

Special You

When has someone given you something you felt a special burden to treat well?

Has God blessed you with an overwhelming gift that you are terrified you won't be worthy of?

 

Eyes and raccoon photo from MorgueFile.

Zany Z's ~ Life Lessons from Zambonis ~ A to Z Blog Challenge

For the A to Z Challenge, I’ve been doing my daily post without the letter of the day. Z doesn’t seem like much of a challenge, so I shall flip it and put as many ‘Z’ words as possible in today’s post. Get your dictionaries ready and remember that I am having to use some of these words with a very loose definition.

My zany husband told me to vocalize about Zambonis today. So I will.

By Calle Eklund/V-wolf via Wikimedia Commons

Zambonis are the zenith of resurfacing gizmos. Unlike bulldozers and road pavers, Zambonis blaze through the resurfacing task. Water freezing over the new glazed surface of the ice rink, removing the hazards of zigging grooves and zagging chinks.

Speed is essential since Zambonis must zip out and dazzle crowds several times at jazzy figure skating competitions and razzy hockey games.

Bozos that we are, people brazenly need God to be a Zamboni. Sin oozes across our lives with agonizing frequency. We can say Zippidy-do-dah because God can blitz in at any time to whizz over our life and zero out the sin scale with a fresh surface.

He is zealous to forgive those who ask.

Also like Zambonis, people use dozens of other names to attempt the same thing. There are real Zambonis and fake ones. And there is one Real God. 

Whew! What a crazy month! I have succeeded in the A to Z Challenge. Tomorrow my blog goes back to normal. Stick around – there are many great posts to come... just not quite as frequently. ;)

Check out other A to Z participants using the link below. 

Overlooked O's ~ Life Lessons from the Titanic ~ A to Z Blog Challenge

When I began thinking about the A to Z challenge, I thought for a long time about what I wanted to write. I tried to think of ways to find neat things about the English language with each letter. And then I thought, what if that letter didn’t exist? So I am doing an abbreviated version of my Life Lessons series that I normally do on Fridays, but without using the letter of the day. What would life be like without that letter? Let’s find out...

Sunday was a big anniversary in shipwreck-land. It was the Titanic’s sinking’s hundredth anniversary. There are many humans fascinated by this watery tragedy. Huge films, several educating TV displays, artifact exhibits, and things like that have made the giant ship’s sinking an intrinsic piece in yesteryear.

Why are we as humans fascinated by this tragedy? Because fascinated we are. Clive Cussler’s published manuscript, Raise the Titanic, while inaccurate, indicated interest in the sunken vessel. James... well, the Avatar guy has made many, many trips in a sub that let him see the wreck firsthand. He then made a little film that made a little cash and recently made a reappearance in theaters. RMS Titanic, Inc is a business that exists because its namesake crashed and sank.

I think it’s because we see, a little bit, human frailty against the Maker’s almighty strength. Titanic was an engineering feat. A marvel. The best attainable ship. Virtually unsinkable. A natural element marked its demise. Wealth didn’t (is that cheating?) have saving abilities. An individual can argue that wealth purchased first class tickets which increased survivability, but many wealthy died and many steerage passengers lived. There was a certain leveling. And in the water, class and purchased tickets mattered even less. They didn’t make individuals any warmer.

The iceberg likely hit by Titanic.
Taken 5 days after accident. 

Man always tries building things bigger and better, but naught built can withstand nature’s strength. Hurricanes, spinning winds, tidal waves, earthquakes. Natural events that bring man’s engineering flat. The Maker is the ultimate brawn in the universe. Nature is a reminder that He has greater muscle than we can ever imagine.

Check out other A to Z participants using the link below. 

Neglected N's ~ Life Lessons from An Explosive TV Show ~ A to Z Blog Challenge

When I began thinking about the A to Z challenge, I thought for a long time about what I wanted to write. I tried to think of ways to find neat things about the English language with each letter. And then I thought, what if that letter didn’t exist? So I am doing an abbreviated version of my Life Lessons series that I normally do on Fridays, but without using the letter of the day. What would life be like without that letter? Let’s find out...

We like to watch the MythBusters at my house.  Together with my spouse, I like to locate all the cracks with their methodology that make their trial become less accurate. My kids like to watch stuff blow up. I have to admit I like that part too.

Mostly, we watch old episodes with a service that has the blocked letter as part of  its sobriquet. (Oh yeah, big word. Look it up. hehe) We saw a particular episode last week that dealt with myths from movies. This is far from a solitary episode that looks at Hollywood. It is a familiar topic for the show.

photo courtesy of Morguefile

What zest we have to see the truth about our favorite movies! Yet how bored we get if asked to seek the truth of scripture. Why do we study our pastimes with so much more fervor? The Bible reveals truth about the very fabric of our souls, yet we declare it dull.

Over the years I have discovered that the Bible is hardly dull. The stories it holds easily compare to whatever Hollywood puts out. Here is your dare for the day: locate a story from the Bible that you allow to be a tale to pique curiosity.  Just the other day I came across where God had all Israel partake of gold.

What have you come across?

Check out other A to Z participants using the link below.

Side note: You can also find me over on Regency Reflections today. I'm talking about strange taxes in 19th century England.