Category Archives: Experiences

You know, stuff I’ve experienced.

High Points

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When I was a youth leader years ago, we used to open our time together, after playing a silly game, by sitting in a circle and taking turns telling our high and low points from the day.  It was a neat way to get a glimpse into what was on each other’s hearts, good and not so good.  Well, I’d like to share a few high points.   No need to talk about low ones – I think if I don’t give them any attention they’ll fade from my memory anyway, right?

When my youngest and I walked in to the church tonight we were surprised to see twice as many kids in the student auditorium as usual and the buzz was electric.  Energy was practically resonating out of the doorway.  High points ahead, I could tell.  I decided to stick around and see what was going to happen.  Continue reading →

Not sure I wanna go there again

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She stood there for what seemed like an hour, hesitating, looking at the guy at the bottom of the ramp urging her to go for it, then back at me, then down at the skateboard she stood on perched on the edge.  I could tell her heart and mind were working at 100 mph trying to decide what to do.  She wanted to be a skater and had pretty much mastered the horizontal, flat ground skating. Now she was trying to learn to “drop in”: when the skater presses their front foot down on the board and rides down the steep curvy ramp. The idea is to stay on the skateboard of course and keep going once you’re on level ground.  She had attempted dropping in on the smaller ramp at least 15 times, each time wiping out and landing flat on her tailbone – the one place with no protective padding. Now she was perched on the big ramp but not so sure.  Continue reading →

The joy of no plans

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My sister arrived today from Phoenix to visit for a few days.  I was able to take those days off of work and so now we can do whatever our little hearts desire.  We have no big set agenda and we love it that way.  Well, Five Guys is definitely going to happen somewhere in the mix.  We might take a walk or two or three, might sit by the lake and watch the sun reflect on the water while we visit, might eat some ice cream, might just drive around through the open countryside and listen to music, will most definitely have some good laughs and heart-to-hearts.

She’s not much of a shopper so I asked her if she would still enjoy walking around the downtown square of Noblesville sometime this weekend.  She asked me, “Will you be there?”  I said, “Well yeah!”  She said, “Then I want to do that.”

I love my sister.

Fighter

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I’ve talked so much about Zumba class and how much I love it that my friends and family are probably tired of hearing it.  Let me just say that God brought it to me when I needed an outlet, some fun, some community, and of course some exercise.

Right now one of the songs we dance/exercise to is Christina Aguilera’s song “Fighter.”  We do some kickboxing during the chorus:

It makes me that much stronger
Makes me work a little bit harder
It makes me that much wiser
So thanks for making me a fighter
Made me learn a little bit faster
Made my skin a little bit thicker
Makes me that much smarter
So thanks for making me a fighter

Christina Aguilera “Fighter” ©2003

She’s singing about someone who cheated on her and did her wrong, but I when I hear those words I usually think of something I’m struggling with (or friends and family are facing) like temptation, feeling down, disappointment, challenges, etc.  Yesterday I was thinking about cancer.  Continue reading →

Loving Mr. Johnson

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I’d seen him working in his yard or heading to his truck, almost always dressed in camo, fishing rod in hand.  He never smiled and barely looked up.  I saw his wife even less often.  A little reclusive, these neighbors of ours.  They were obviously retired.  We had moved in a few months ago and I was looking for an opportunity to say “hi” and extend a neighborly hand of friendship.

One afternoon I saw him out back.  They lived right next door and he was repairing his fence that stood between our two backyards.  I ventured outside, my doggy Sunny following me, and walked over to where he stood with his back to me, hammering away on the old planks of the fence.  Continue reading →

Myth Buster

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Have you ever seen the show “Myth Busters”?  The crew on the show takes something that’s been shown in a movie or TV show and tries it out in real life to see if it could really happen.  For instance, one time they tried using a single sword swipe to cut a pole in half as seen in a ninja flick.  Another time they tried shooting a circle of holes in a second-story floor with guns to see if the circle of wood the gunman was standing on would fall to the story underneath.  It’s a lot of fun to watch.  Sometimes the amazing feat proves to be actually doable, other times not even close.

In a loosely related way, sometimes I feel the need to search out the Scriptures to back up a claim about God – his character, the way He interacts with us, his promises, etc.   Yesterday I was thinking about how it’s often said God is interested in and involved in the details of our lives here on earth.  Is that true or just a myth? Continue reading →

A little story bout thanks

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I had missed getting on two flights before finally getting out of Phoenix and was now stuck in Nashville needing to get to Indianapolis. The only problem is you can’t fly from Nashville to Indy, at least not on Southwest. I was flying standby – a free but risky way to travel, especially when flights are fewer in number and typically full anymore. It’s first-come, first on the list at the gate when you’re standby. If they get cancellations or no shows they start down the list of names, for however many seats are available, while those of us on that list stand hopefully by holding our breath. Continue reading →

I actually don’t like running

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John and I were jogging down the path this morning right into a gusty spring wind.  The sunshine was marvelous and being able to jog without having to wear a jacket or hoodie also made me smile.  For a while last year we were jogging about four times a week in the early morning before work.  We built up a pretty good endurance.  Then this winter we went pretty regularly to the exercise room at our apartment complex and ran on treadmills to keep up.  My enthusiasm started to wane there.  Running on a treadmill is so boring, even when I was listening to good tunes on my iPod.

Well, I’ve been a lazy butt the last few weeks.  I fought off a lingering cold for a few weeks and felt puny, then having stayed up late quite a bit didn’t want to get up early this week, telling myself “I need my sleep.  I can work out later.”  Well sometimes “later” never happens.

Today as we started out I felt tired much quicker and panted more than usual.  We had to take frequent walk breaks.  I was so frustrated!  I didn’t think I’d lose so much endurance in such a short time of not jogging.  It took months to build up our endurance and only weeks to lose a lot of it!  Good grief.  I asked John, “Do you think that’s kind of like our spiritual growth, too?  It takes a long time and effort to grow but can take very little time to go backwards and lose endurance?”

I really don’t enjoy running, in and of itself, but I like how I feel afterward and I like how it burns a lot of calories in a shorter period of time.  I could walk – and I may start doing that more.  It just takes more time.

Do you notice after a short time of not spending time with God or not reading His Word or not hanging out in worship with other believers at church that you slide back, feel like you’re losing momentum spiritually?  I may not always like the discipline it takes to grow, or like growing through change and difficulty but the constant effort seems to be really important.  Otherwise I find myself taking two steps forward and a step back.  What do you think?

Arms of God

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In the past week or so, God has hugged us and made us feel less alone through the arms and hearts of some people at the church we’re attending right now.  It’s a beautiful reminder to me that God has not forgotten, He has not gone away, and He loves.  Oh how He loves.

Who are we that we’re deserving of His attention?  Why should He bother to provide those types of things for us?  Who are we that we’re deserving of people’s prayers and time when they have so many other people in their lives and in their care?  It’s humbling.  Evidently all the parts of who we are matter to God and He provides for every need, big or “small.”

Never take for granted how much it may mean to someone just to have a kind word or hug from you, an invitation to spend time together.  Those seemingly small things fill my heart…I’m pretty much overflowing right now.

Thank you, God.  Thank you, friends who are serving as the arms of God to me and my family.

God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it,

He throws caution to the winds,
giving to the needy in reckless abandon.
His right-living, right-giving ways
never run out, never wear out.

This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.                II Corinthians 9:8-11  The Message

No Fear

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They said three days.  So why was I still waiting to hear from them?  Granted, Monday happened to be Labor Day, and of course the lab was closed that day, so that didn’t help.  If it was nothing I would have heard by now.  The not knowing was so hard.  If only I knew the situation fully I could face it, but facing an unknown, invisible enemy was awful and seemed impossible.  I could hardly keep my mind from trying to figure out or imagine what it was, what the outcome would be.  During that time of waiting, the anxiety was so intense that my very nerve endings seemed on edge, all over my body, as if fear was continually pricking my skin. Continue reading →