Tag Archives: Jesus

Once Upon a Time…

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I’ve always loved a good story.  My dad used to make them up for us at bedtime, we read scores of them growing up and traveled to far away worlds in our hearts and minds, we’ve made them up for each other on long road trips.  Sometimes we played that game where each person makes one part of a story and you end up with a bunch of weird, funny nonsense.  This morning in church, I was reminded by the pastor’s message that we’re all living a story.

In a good story you’ll find a character, or characters, facing and doing what they can to overcome obstacles to achieve something, to reach a desired outcome.  You know, protagonist, antagonist, plot, setting, climax, resolution of conflict, and more.

What type of story are you living in?  How about me? Continue reading →

Processing

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The cold I’ve been fighting is of the obstinate, lingering kind and so I’ve not felt like blogging or doing much conversing for the last week or so.  That is definitely NOT usually my nature.  I’m a verbal processor to the core.  I need to talk to people when I’m working through thoughts, making decisions, questioning and trying to figure something out, brainstorming -you name it, I need to talk about it.  Continue reading →

God is love

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Having spent the weekend with a bunch of other pastors’ wives at a retreat, listening to Beth Moore study about God’s love and loving others, love was on my mind more than usual this week.  I learned so much and got plenty of things to ponder out of watching the messages and talking with the other ladies.

One of the things Beth shared that stuck with me is that God’s love doesn’t change with His mood like ours does.  Sometimes the love we show is based on an emotion or feeling, but God IS love.  The love we feel and experience is an expression of who He is at the core, through and through.  We only love because He loved us first.  He cannot NOT love.  What an awesome, mind-boggling thought!  I will never fully understand it.  I have been trying to unlearn for years the idea that I have to perform well for God to really love me and accept the notion that He just loves me.  Why would he do that? Continue reading →

You can be sure

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Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind, “Pooh!”, he whispered.

“Yes, Piglet?” “Nothing.”, said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw. “I just wanted to be sure of you “.

– A. A. Milne

Today I find myself wanting to sidle up next to Jesus and take His hand, just to be sure of Him. The blahs invaded and I find myself feeling like I don’t really care about anything today. I’ve been thinking this afternoon about why I might be feeling like this, kind of drifting a little too far from God, far enough to disconnect from that lovely peace I have when I’m in close fellowship with Him.

I think part of the reason is fatigue – tiredness from not knowing what or when or where or how the next phase of our family’s life is going to unfold. At the same time I realize that I’m supposed to live in this day, Continue reading →

Body Parts

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Need some practical ways to live following God’s heart?  Read Romans 12 in The Message.  I love it!  Today I was reading slowly and really only got through the first six verses or so.  I was trying to digest what each verse was really saying and I had a new realization.  Now it may not be new to you but it’s worth pondering anyway. Continue reading →

Following Jesus is like Super Mario Bros.

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I was talking to a really good friend today, a mom of teenagers.  She shared something awful they’ve discovered happened to one of her kids when they were really little that probably influenced some of the not-so-good choices made by her child as a teen.  It’s a heavy burden on all of them right now – there’s anger, hurt, and weariness.  You see, this young person just weathered a lot of hard times and made tremendous growth.  He may have thought, “Whew!  That was rough.  Glad that’s over.  Glad God is with me and I’m closer to Him.”  Then this memory surfaced and the pieces of past abuse by a relative fall into place.  It feels like a set-back.  It might even feel to him like he’s back to square one.

As my friend and I talked about her son, I had a thought:  growing as a Christian and following Jesus is like Super Mario Bros.  Bear with me here.  Continue reading →

The Courage of Christ

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My family and I decided to attend the “Journey to the Cross” Good Friday event at our church, not fully knowing what to expect.

In the last few years, this type of observance seems to be becoming popular, replacing services in which we just sit, sing songs and pray.  Those are good things to do but I’m glad people have used their creativity to come up with ways for people to physically walk through, smell, taste, hear and feel the story.  The story of Jesus’ death and resurrection can become benign to those of us who have heard or read it year after year.  It may even cease to really affect us or make us think harder about the gravity of what Jesus did and experienced.

The “Journey to the Cross” is the first experiential-type setting we’ve been through in first person as if walking in Jesus’ place, sensing a tiny bit of what it must have been like for him.  We began by entering a room set up as the last supper, Continue reading →

But it’s hard!

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I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for talent reality shows, especially American Idol and Dancing with the Stars.  Some of my favorite parts are the “behind the scenes” moments when we see what really happens as the contestants prepare for the night of competition.  Last night on DWTS, several of the celebrities were complaining (and whining) to their pros/teachers that what they were trying to learn was too difficult saying things like “I can’t do it”, “It’s too much to learn” and more.  Shannen Doherty had asked her teacher to simplify the routine this week because last week the judges said she had not so deftly attempted a challenging routine for her first week out.  Her teacher, Mark, refused, saying, “No risk, no reward.  I’m not dumbing this down for you.  You can do it.”   Len, one of the judges, eventually said after hearing several of these stories that the celebrities needed to “Show up, Keep up and Shut up.”  They almost had to call the “waaaaaambulance.”

There were conflicts to be smoothed out, tempers to cool, moments to try patience, threats to quit, Continue reading →

Notes from the last few days of class

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I’ve been learning a lot the last few days, thought I’d share from my mental “notes”:

Fasting from facebook has been good for me, but is sometimes difficult.  It’s just so fun to catch up on everybody and, I have to admit, play a few games in free time.  My 10-year-old niece added me as a friend (I got an email telling me) so I went on facebook JUST to add her.  I didn’t want her to think I was ignoring her – she doesn’t know I’m not using facebook right now.  My middle girl came downstairs while I was on the facebook page and asked me with hands on her hips, “Mom, what are you doing?”  Continue reading →

Which Direction?

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My girls think I overreact when they drive recklessly or make a mistake on the road but they don’t realize that in those split seconds my brain immediately recalls the dumb stuff I did as a teenage driver.   I guess I could see how my sudden gasps while clutching the dashboard for dear life might appear as overreacting.  One memory of my early driving years in particular that makes me laugh now but then scared the stuffing out of me was when my sister and I were attempting to navigate the one way street maze that is downtown Indianapolis – at night.  I don’t remember what we were doing down there but at one point we turned left onto a street and started to head to the next intersection, only to look and see cars parked on the curb facing the opposite direction and a lady in the crosswalk waving her arms and pointing.  Continue reading →