TN Johnsons Blogs

I have a friend who is probably on a plane right now.  She is taking a much needed trip with her husband.  A trip full of hopes for rest, relaxation, and an intimate reconnecting.

Their marriage was, is broken.  They have gone through things I don't know about, for she is a new friend and I don't know their story.

And I don't need to know, really...all I need to know is that they need my prayer for this time and I will be there for her in prayer.

I thought to myself this morning- really, every marriage is broken. 
How can I say such a difficult statement?

Well, who spends more time with a spouse...than the other spouse?  You live together, you sleep together, you share a bathroom...
Two flawed sinful people who are selfish...married.

Flawed?  Sinful?  Yes.  We all are.  And we are all selfish.  If we took a microscope, a powerful microscope and held it to ourselves, we would see that we don't love our spouses the way God does, the way God wants us to.

If you don't believe me, spend some time in the Word of God- James alone is a great book that exposes our hearts.  But it's all over the place.

We are unable-physically, emotionally incapable of doing it alone.

And so it points us to THE source of everything we NEED.  Jesus.

And so every marriage is broken...b/c we aren't Jesus.  We aren't perfect and we break those promises all the time

"Do you promise to  love, for better or worse, in sickness and health, for rich or for poor..."
yadda yadda....you know the tune...

We can't keep those promises...we THINK we do, but if you really examined yourself closely to the standard of excellence...which is the standard of perfection...you'd see we all fall short.

We all have broken marriages and we all need healing.

And so I pray that whoever reads this- that their marriage gets a spiritual "nudge"- maybe "lift" of tender joy from the only One that can give it purely.

Oh Perfect Healer, mend our marriages- thank you for helping us see how broken we are...because that is the arrow we need to point us in the direction to come to You.  Help us to love one another the way You  love us.

It sometimes is easier to be married...in bed.

Think about it, in our moment of intimacy, do we hurl accusations at each other?  Are words misinterpreted?
No, sweet, sweet loving takes place.  Not just sexually.

Every person has that moment where we miss the mark in loving our spouse...outside the sheets- speaking here.

We get angry, we misinterpret what the other has said.
We get hurt. 

That's really the bottom line, isn't it?

We get hurt.

And the finger pointing blame game makes it worse.
Does it really matter?
Someone is hurting.  Period. 
A relationship has been wounded.

So how do we avoid missing the mark?
Well, I think it starts by knowing the truth.
We will miss the mark.     Our spouse will miss the mark.
We can never be perfect, we can never love our spouse the way God does.
And our spouse will never love us the way God does.
But if we fix our eyes on Jesus and his steadfast love for us, perhaps we will miss the mark LESS.  And so will our spouse.

And in fixing our eyes on Jesus, perhaps we can connect in different areas... on levels that have the same intimacy as our bodies do when marriage is celebrated sexually...
What would our marriage look like?

So let us love well...outside the sheets as well.

The other day I received an email from our neighborhood emails asking if anyone had a bed.  They said it was for a woman friend who needs a bed to lay on beside her husband.

You see, the husband has cancer and is now in hospice and will be coming home to ...well...start the process of truly going home.  He is a believer.  He will have a hospital bed and she wants to be able to be beside him.

I didn't even blink.  I quickly responded saying yes we had a bed (we do have an extra twin that eventually will need to do something with.) And the lady was so thankful and they would come on Friday to pick it up.

Our plan is to bring over Walter's double bed and have a double and a twin in his room.  Perhaps a bunk bed or something.

Well, that was yesterday.  This morning I looked at the size of the double mattress in Carrie's room and thought, "How in the world are we going to move a double bed?"  Our van is too small and the truck is probably too small as well.

I asked God about it.  I knew He had a plan.

Just now I got a call from the friend of the woman saying they were taking a bed from another offer, that it had sheets and mattress cover and a headboard (we didn't have a headboard) and asked if that was okay.  I told her, "Of course!"

She said it was no coincidence that I was brought to her, b/c as I told her before, that I would be a prayer warrior for her.

And so I am amazed- at how God works.
Was He just testing me to see if I would respond to the need?
Was He showing me that I do have a serving heart and when it's time to serve, that He'd show me and not to feel guilty about focusing on my family for a little bit?
Was it just to add a prayer warrior to this journey of death and pain?

I don't know the why...but I know that NOTHING is coincidence with our God.  Nothing.

And He loves us and He wants us to be open to serve Him whenever He calls.

I just hope I have eyes to see next time He calls.

Joy to the World- have we become so comfortable with the words from memory that we forget to really pay close attention to what we are singing?

I love that it says, "Let every heart prepare Him room" and also
"and heaven and nature sing"

Let every heart get ready to accept and fully embrace this Son of God for ALL that He is!  And ALL that He has done and will do!

When I stop to think about this baby, fully GOD coming to earth....leaving His comfortable spot on high to then be born in a smelly barn/cave...and yet amongst the sheep dung and most quiet place He fills the earth with His glory!! 

We are saved, we are saved!  Our Messiah has come!
Oh joy to the world indeed!

"Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns"

"He:
rules the world with truth and grace,
And
makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness and wonders of His love"

Yikes.  He rules with truth- stand back, we should feel so unworthy and our sins exposed against His truth of Who He is, yet...BECAUSE of WHO He IS, His grace, His unfailing love takes away every mistake we know (and even the ones we don't know about) and covers us with His love to where we are as white and pure as snow.

But if that's not all, because of WHO He is, He also makes the nations prove the glory of who He is and the wonders of His love

That's some heavy lyrics, if I do say so myself.

So Joy to the world, indeed.
Let the Truth, the I AM, reign in our hearts and bring us to our knees when we consider all the majesty, all the awesomeness that our LORD is.

I have been listening to the rough draft version of my song, "You Are Here."  Presently it is being fine tuned for the listening ear by the amazing producer, John Nanni.

This morning I was reading in Job while listening to the song.

You see, the song is about a time in our lives - may it be a long, long season or a short season, when life is...well, tough.  Where happiness is a difficult place to get to and you have to really work hard on embracing the joy.
It makes me think of Job, where God allowed Satan to inflict many sufferings on this man. 

The entire book of Job (42 chapters) is this scene of suffering and pain.  In the first chapter alone he loses his property and children.  One person runs in to tell him the bad news and another runs in interrupting to give more bad news and then another comes in interrupting to give more bad news.  And yet a FOURTH comes in to tell him about a house falling on his children. 

Bam!  Bam!  Bam!  BAM!   All at once.  I can't imagine.

And then God allows boils on his skin.

So after all this Job's three friends come over with their "new age" wisdom and they aren't much help.  They tell Job his suffering is because he has sinned- and if he was innocent these things would not have happened.
Bad things don't happen to good people.  Which was the "wisdom" of that day.
So sorry, but you brought this upon yourself, you bad bad person.
So helpful and so comforting, right?  Geez!

Back and forth the friends speak and Job speaks and near the end God speaks putting Job in his rightful place reminding Job of the majesty of who He is.  Were you there are creation?  Can you tame the Leviathan, the sea serpent?

But at the end of the book, Job is restored.
BUT, here is where it is interesting (thanks for staying with me to this conclusion)

Job 42
verse 10
"And the LORD restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends.  Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before."

When was Job restored?
After he prayed for his friends.
The very friends that were quick to tell Job he was such a sinner after he lost everything.

Wow.

By the way, I am absolutely amazed at Job's first response after he lost so much including his children at the very begininng- chapter 1
Do you know what he did?
He tore his robe, shaved his head...but he also
fell to the ground and worshiped!!!

He worshiped the LORD!

"Blessed be the name of the LORD" he says in verse 21.

If this doesn't put us in our place and make us feel like complete whiners, when we look at our own lives at times and think "poor poor pitiful me"...we are really blind.
May we have the ability to keep our focus even when life seems to be at its worst.

And may we have a better support group than Job's depressing, cruel and spiritually incorrect friends.

Fall to winter.

Sometimes we have a string of cold and wet days and man can that hamper your peppy mood!

It's amazing how quickly our mood can change, too, isn't it?  I have found myself very moody the last month or so. 

Maybe it's because we have moved and I just don't feel like I belong yet.  A very lonely feeling.
Maybe it's because my kids are 6 and 8 and I am beginning to feel more like a maid some days than a mom.  Exhausting.
And the "maybe list" goes on and on.

I can point the finger in a lot of possible directions- but truly, it all boils down to my lack of focus on the Lord.  I forget all that He has done for me and all that He has given me.  (And that's exactly what the enemy wants.)

What I did about 4 weeks ago- after God did a spiritual check on my heart and showed me the test results...(yikes!)

I prayed that God would open my eyes and see the wonderful things He has given me.  I asked that He would help me see the nice things others would do for me, even something so small.  A stranger opening a door for me.

And that leads me to this place today, this place of thankfulness and joy-- and I can see His hand working on my heart.

My day started and ended with encouraging friends.
And it was such an awesome day!  And so now at the end of the day, I am thinking to myself:

Even on the days where the cold and wet seem to drown out the sun and drown out the "fun," I need to keep a joyful heart, keep the positive attitude - so that I may be that blessing to someone else.
It is a mentality, to guard my thoughts, my attitude and be aware when it's far from joyful.

I think about all the days when I forsake my quiet time to "do"

And it should be no surprise to me that when it progressively becomes almost habitual to neglect my spiritual health, the rest of me becomes undone.
And I fail to recognize what is actually going on in my everyday life.

And that's exactly where Satan wants me to be.
I am no threat to him when I am disconnected from my Father.
And Satan can manipulate my world under my radar b/c I simply can't see it.
Whispering what needs to be done: websites that are behind, camping trip to prepare for…blah blah blah…and I listen.


I can't do this life on my own.  I can't.
No one can.

We have to be totally and completely dependent on Jesus.  For everything.  Every day.

I can see a pattern of times when life gets nuts and I get so caught up with "stuff" and I fail to see the real problem- I am not connected to my "lifeline", and I lose power.
Not my power, but the power that flows through me from the Holy Spirit.

A lamp does not have power and cannot light a room unless it is connected to it's power source.  Not only connected, but turned ON so that the power can flow successfully in order to make it work.

And  I can look back and easily connect the dots.  My 6 year old daughter could do that dot-to-dot picture. 
Out of touch with my Savior and out of control.

Who am I to think that I can do this on my own?
I can’t.  I have to depend on Jesus to give me patience, to give me the wisdom to parent these gifts of children, to give me the clarity to see things the way they truly ARE and not what they APPEAR to be- in my marriage, in my friendships, in my day to day drama,  etc.

And who suffers the most?
Certainly not me, I think the kids and my husband do.
Because I fail to give them the best of me- because JESUS is the best of me.
And I can’t give them JESUS when I am not connected to Him.

I'm reading Luke chapter 9

verse 1-2

"When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick."

And later on in the chapter, the Twelve could not drive out the demon in a boy.  They had the power to do so, but I think they forgot where the power came from.  They stopped being dependent on Jesus and so they were unable to do what Jesus sent them out to do.

Let us remember to be dependent on Jesus so we can do what He has called us to do.

I love Peter in the Bible.  I love how he can open his mouth and say something without being afraid of others or Jesus will think or say.  He can be himself.

He is open and bold and at times we mentally give him a "high five"
Yes!  Way to go Peter!
Like in Matthew 16:16
Jesus asks his disciples who the people say that he is.  They respond with Elijah, Jeremiah or some other prophet.

Then Jesus asks his disciples who THEY think he is.  And Peter says, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

Jesus says in verse 17
"Good for you, Simon son of John!"

Yay Peter, woohoo!  He got it!  (well that's what I was thinking)
(By the way, Jesus orders his disciples not to tell anyone that He was the Messiah- not time for that yet)

And then 7 verses later....
D'oh!

Jesus tells his disciples the plan
1.  must go to Jerusalem
2.  must suffer much from religious leaders
3.  must be put to death
4.  WILL be raised to life in three days (how do they MISS #4!!!)

Then Peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes him saying, "God forbid it, Lord!  That must never happen!"

I am thinking here that Peter maybe put his arm around Jesus or something to privately say this- and not looking face to face at Jesus b/c in verse 23 it says

"Jesus turned around and said to Peter, 'Get away from me, Satan!  You are an obstacle in my way, because these thoughts of yours don't come from God, but from man.'"

WOW!  Hard words to hear for Peter!

And then, again...in chapter 17...another fine "Peter Moment"
not really
Jesus takes Peter and James and John with him up a high mountain and in Luke it says they prayed.  Then Jesus was transfigured into some major gloriousness, if you will.
His face was shining like the sun, and his clothes were dazzling white (verse 2)

Peter then opens his mouth, again
"Lord, how good it is that we are here!  If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

And while Peter was talking a shining cloud came over them and God speaks
"This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased- listen to him!"

POW!

Wow!  Peter, Peter, Peter.  Poor Peter.  He probably wished at that moment that he would have kept his mouth shut.

I am like Peter.  Sometimes I feel so excited b/c God reveals more of himself to me and I feel great that I start to "get it!"
And then I go and do/say something silly or stupid and I feel more human with my mistakes.

But the great thing is that I can be myself.  I love that Peter is so exposed in the scriptures so we can see ourselves.  It's like looking in a mirror.
And oh how the Lord loves Peter!  Jesus chooses Peter to go on special missions- like praying on the hillside...like going in to the room and watch the daughter of Jairus be raised from the dead...(Luke 8:40-56) with ONLY two others- James and John.

So yes, Peter looks silly sometimes.  So do we!
But I think that's one of the things the Lord loves about his character. 
Can we trust Jesus enough to be so open with Him---when we get it and when we don't... so He can teach us His ways?
Will Jesus choose us for special missions?

I pray Lord that I am bold enough to bring everything to you- even when I know it's embarrassing and not pretty, and oh so silly.
Thank you for Peter, thank you for loving him even when he was a goofball.
Thank you for loving me in such a way!

Hebrews 11:1

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don't see"

What do we put our faith in?  If you don't have faith in Jesus Christ and WHO He is, and WHAT He has done for you, then your faith is dead.  Nonexistent.  And you are a dead man walking.  There is no life without Jesus Christ, He IS life...and so life without him is void.

Okay, so what about hope?
Hope in this passage is not the wishy-washy "I wish for" kind of hope...it's not "I hope I get to heaven someday"...that type of wish is for something that may or may not happen-
"I hope to be married,"  "I hope to one day have children"
NO!  This hope is secure, it's concrete. 
This hope is the promise of something better, something greater on the other side of heaven when we are done with this world.  It's not the hope of something that MIGHT happen, it's the promise of something that ALREADY HAPPENED!
Hallelujah!

Certain of what we don't see is not only "things to come" later, it's also NOW.  I am certain that Christ dwells within me.  I am CERTAIN that God still has authority over this world and that He is still in control.  I KNOW with all of me that He has authority over me and that my eternal place is secure because He secured it for me.  So, I am certain, I know, I put my faith in something I don't "see."  My life should reflect that certainty, true mark of a believer, when people can "see" what "we can't see" within me.  (Still working on that, a lifelong process, and praise God that He continues to work with me.)

So Faith, true faith, faith in Jesus Christ and His righteousness - means we are sure, we KNOW- every fiber in our being KNOWS  that there is something better to come, and that His authority is past, PRESENT and future--JESUS is in the middle of it all.  That gives me a "spiritual lift" when I can embrace that security that we have, and helps me with my fears of this world when I can embrace that Christ's authority over the storms, over diseases, over DEATH is no less powerful than when His sandals touched the sand two thousand years ago.

Hallelujah!

Walter said something pretty profound at dinner tonight.
Carrie was talking about wanting a baby in our family.
"I'll just tell God to give us a baby," she said.

I know what she meant, she meant she'd ask.

But Walter jumped right on that one.  "We can't tell God what to do....he's GOD."

And Walter goes on to explain that God certainly doesn't need us to tell Him what to do, that if we say "do this" instead of ASKING, it's trying to boss God around.

And, it hit me...how many times do we try to tell God that some other way, something else is better?  How many times do we try to convince God of something when we should really take the time and energy into listening to what God would have for us? 

There is NOTHING in this world that goes on without His authority.  He could stop it from happening.  We will never understand the mind of God.  How we forget that He is everywhere, knows everything and controls everything. 

And so instead of, "God, wouldn't it be better if..."
we say, "God, I don't understand, but Your will be done."

If could accept His authority for our lives, if we truly trusted Him, we would be completely different.  Our lives would be completely different.

Here I am again
A very familiar place.
Sending my second (and God willing last) child to kindergarten feels like sending a child off to war.  Well, maybe not THAT extreme.

But to me it is a very fearful place of having to completely trust that she is going to be okay.  She is wiggly, she is stubborn, she has to work on self control.  She can be difficult.
And her very first teacher in school is...a first year teacher?!!!

Yikes!

God....are you sure...?

Let's take a look at four years ago.
With my son, it was a different fear.  He has always been a good listener, a good rule follower.  I had little concern of his ability to adapt to a classroom environment.
But he had a peanut allergy.
Taking my hands off the steering wheel- and not being in control of his environment scared me.
Four years later, I'm good with it.  He's doing fine, now in third grade.

So here I am again.  No peanut allergy, thank goodness.  But it feels- again- like I have to completely let go and trust that they are in better hands...God's hands.  And really, they have truly always been in His hands.

And my children belong to the Lord.  He gave them to me for a little while, a borrowed gift, if you will.  But they are not mine.  So who am I to take a gift wtih a note that says "I have a plan..." and NOT trust The One who gave it to me?  The one who gave it to me knows all along the path they will have to take.

And I am in a place where I feel like I don't have control.  I can't "fix" this.  I can't make it all better with a hug and a cookie.  I HAVE to allow her to go through this time.  As painful as it is, for both of us. 

But I don't think I'm alone.

I don't think God watches His children go through painful times of growth without a care.  If it's painful for me to watch, her earthly mother...how hard must it be for her Creator, her Heavenly Father to watch?

I HAVE to trust God.

"Fear not, for I am with you"  He tells us in his word.  (Isaiah 41:10)

We recently had a tough choice to make.  We were staring into the crossroads of staying at our house now or move to my parents' house, coexist with them for a while and the kids start school in a good school system.

What's so tough about that one?  On the surface it seems a no-brainer.  Better schools, better community, flat roads where I can run and not damage my knees, a flat backyard that I don't have to mow (common field), a community pool, tennis courts...the list goes on and on...and it should be a neon blinking sign that says "GO!"

What is the problem?  Why get all in a mess about this decision?

Well, we have lived here for almost 8 years now and we have served the Lord by ministering to our neighborhood.  We befriended an alcoholic neighbor, a great person bounded by the chains of addition.  We had Nashville Rescue Mission recovering addicts stay in our basement (two) after they graduated the recovery program.  (That is a story in itself, but trust me when I say the Lord guided us and protected us.)  For Walter's first two years of school I tutored two days a week and helped children that needed some reading help.  Kids who sometimes didn't always come from the greatest background.
We have ministered to a family from Iran- they live across the street. 

So looking back at the years spent here and how we have served and loved our neighbors (literally) I have questioned whether or not God would have us move.  Is there someone else that we are supposed to minister to-- that we won't be when we are gone?

But, we have served...and served.  And served.

A friend commented to me one time saying "It sounds like it's time to focus on the family and that's what the move will do for you."

We have given much of ourselves to others and we need to step back, regroup and focus in for a little while. 

But I had myself completely stressed out about the decision.  Stay where we are in an area of need...or go.

Here's what I know to be true:
No matter what path our family decided, we were still in the hands of our Creator.  God would still love us, bless us and use us.  He would never leave us. 

A few weeks ago I heard the Holy Spirit tell me to quit focusing on the choice and stressing out whether or not I was pleasing my Lord...and to focus on Him.  The rest would work out. 

And it was then that I realized I had myself so tangled up in a web of confusion and worry that I had lost the peace and joy.  I had worried so much about how and where to follow Christ that I actually pushed Him aside!  I realized that I listened, anxious for an answer.  Heard nothing.  And then worried. 
It was time to truly let go.  I knew we would be okay no matter what.  And so I let go.

And since then the Lord has blessed me.  The peace and joy that comes from Him has not been covered by distraction. 

And you know what?  Christians need to serve not only the lost...but each other.  And so perhaps we are taking a break from the "lost" that are so prevalent around our old house and focus on serving each other, focus on our marriage, our family...and then serve other believers. 

I know I'm not the only one who has wrestled with decisions- and having the heart to please God but being distracted by whether or not we are truly following Him. 

Perhaps we don't need the whisper of "direction"...but the whisper of what He would have for us.  The direction, for us, meant family.  Our family.
It's not selfish, it's a much deserved and much needed time of rest and restoration.  Our year of jubilee, perhaps.

Watch your thoughts, they become words
Watch your words, they become actions
Watch your actions, they become habits
Watch your habits, they become character
Watch your character because it becomes your destiny

These are words I am going to embrace...and taking control of my actions means to slow down and let God help me think first.

I'll be a better wife, I'll be a better mom, I'll be a better daughter, I'll be a better follower and servant to My King if I can breathe in the Holy Spirit and breathe out my stress and frustrations.

We are at an interesting point in our lives as a family.  Walter is in second grade and he is beginning to be picked on more and more.  And so our parenting takes an interesting turn.  What to do?  How much should he endure, when to step in?

A boy after God's own heart at such a young and tender age, he is already a powerful warrior for the kingdom of heaven.  He has such a grasp on the spiritual realm and asks many questions with a desire to know more...should it surprise us that he is already under attack?  Satan is throwing his arrows already...trying to make Walter feel that he is ugly, not smart, not good at things...when indeed he is a beautiful kid with incredible intelligence and it's not just "mom" that sees it.  The teachers and staff at his school sing his praises, what a great kid he is, how smart, how much fun he is, etc.

I understand that we need to go through trials in order to deepen our faith and our depence on God.  I know that I can't come to his rescue all the time and that he needs to be strengthened by his life's experiences.  But when is enough...enough?
That is what we will have to pray about and seek the Lord's wisdom for.
Does he finally have enough and defend himself with a push back?  Do we homeschool him?  How much rescuing should a parent do?

It left me searching my heart for what I know is true.  Even God had to watch his Son go through trial after trial.  He SENT Jesus here to go through trials and be tortured, laughed at, ridiculed....for US!
How great the Father's love for us!

When I hear reports from Walter on how some of the kids are treating him, it makes me want to go kick some kid's butt.  A part of me is so angry, like a mother lioness about to pounch.

Then I think of God.  How God watched as men laughed at, bullied, killed the King of Kings!  They ridiculed the One who left his place in heaven to come down for THEM!  How God watched that and didn't scoop up his Son, embrace Jesus with loving arms and then pour out his wrath on the wicked earth with a huge flood again.  How amazing!

And so God knows my pain.  He knows it very well.  He knows it PERFECTLY.
And I believe He, as He did with his own Son Jesus, is sad to see it happen to Walter, to anyone.
We are strangers to this earth- this is not our home.  And we will have lives filled with difficulty, with pain.  But, right around the corner...is the finish line to our hard race. 
Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, at our finish line,  He was bullied, He's been through it all and then some.  And He is waiting for us to come home...excited to say "Welcome Home" ...where we truly belong.

Do you remember the story of Mary and Martha in the Bible? (Luke 10:38-42)

I have what I call "Martha Moments."  I had one just the other day.

It's where I forget the important things and get distracted. 
On this particular day I was distracted by household duties, although it doesn't always have to be the case.
Here's the play by play:

We were all in the basement.  I look around and see toys scattered...everywhere. 
The kids and Jeff were playing foosball and having a great time.  I cleaned, they played.  I cleaned, they played.  No one asked to help - they ignored me as I was bending over and laboriously picking up the pieces after what seemed a post tornado setting. 
Then they asked me to join and play. 
It irritated me to the point where I had had it.
"You know, none of you have offered to help, I'm doing all the cleaning, and that's pretty rude."

Now, I can guarantee you that if I did stop and drop everything to play, the cleaning would not have been done.  We, as a family, tend to be slobs.  We move on to the next fun thing and rarely stop to clean, and it is so frustrating for me.

However, my frustration got the best of me, which it did Martha.  I should have made a deal- discuss with them that I was frustrated, agree to play with my family asking that they help me clean after 5-10 minutes of play. 

Instead, I scolded them.  All of them. 
Did the room get clean?  Yep.
Did my family then help?  Yep.
Did I ever play foosball with them?  Nope.
There's the Mary part I missed.

Does that mean drop your priorities to having a clean house?  Forget cleaning and have fun fun fun?
Absolutely not. I don't think the Lord wants us to be slobs, I really don't.
I think He would like us to be responsible and pick up after ourselves, and I believe He wants me to teach this to my children.  However, in those moments, those valuable moments that need to be embraced, the house, the car, the work, the ...whatever can wait a minute while we choose the better part.
And then we can get back to the house, the car, the work, the...whatever later.
There is time for quality fun and there is time for cleaning.  We glorify God in our cleaning as well, let's not underestimate the value of that as well.  We absolutely should take care of the things He gives us. 
We need to be responsible with our time given so that we can have a healthy balance. 

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:38-42).

Our 7 year old son, Walter lied to me today.  We were listening to music and it was hip hop bouncy music and he got a little out of control with a soft squishy bat and banged it against the side of the couch.  I happened to be sitting at the moment on the couch so I knew it hit pretty hard.  When I asked him about it, he lied.  I showed him the mark on the couch and I was able to talk him into confessing that not only did he do it, but he lied about doing it as well.

Walter has hard time with disappointment.  He doesn't like to disappoint people and is very hard on himself when he does "stupid things." 

I told him tonight it wasn't the soft bat against the couch that made me so angry.  It was that he didn't love me enough to trust me with the truth.  He didn't love me enough to tell me the truth and it hurt.

He didn't fool me when he lied.  I felt that smack.  God sees when we do stupid things, THINK stupid things...and He wants us to love Him enough to be honest with Him.

Isn't He worth our trust and worth our honesty?

Jesus did not say this life would be easy.
In fact, He told us it would be hard. 

Sometimes, life gets difficult because people disappoint us.  Whether it's a failure to communicate or just the simple fact that people are humans and the human part of us makes mistakes.  Many mistakes.  And those mistakes can disappoint us.  They can, they have, and they will continue to do so.

But I think this is a part of who we are as sinners.  We hurt people and we get hurt.  Simply because we are not Christ.  As much as we can try to be like Him, we are still going to fall short and that's okay.  That's why there is such a thing called grace.  God's grace.

And God knew we would need to forgive each other.  He tells us many times in His word and Jesus tells us in the words that He spoke 2,000 years ago-and those are words for us TODAY.  Love.  Love another.  LOVE ANOTHER.

And so sometimes we need to remind each other to take the high road.  When we just want to let someone have it, when we want to lash out because someone wasn't thinking and hurt us, let us take the high road and be quick to turn to Jesus and lay it down at His feet. 
And loving someone when they are not exactly the easiest person to love is SO hard, isn't it?

Jeff and I recognize that we need to help each other by reminding each other to take the high road.  Whether it is a big ordeal or something as small and silly as someone cutting you off in traffic, we remind each other about the high road. 
Sure we could defend ourselves and get mad and say things or do things back b/c "they had it coming" or whatever...but what good does that do?  It only makes the matter worse.

So the high road it is.  Harder?  Absolutely.  Does it look like you are weaker?  Perhaps, but only to those in this world.  The One whose opinion about us really matters knows differently.

The higher road...seeking the applause of the nail-driven hands.

There is a book entitled "Good to Great."  We had a sermon series a few years ago called "Good to Great."

I was talking to God this morning about living in the "great" life and my eyes were opened to the understanding that God is so way way beyond the great. 

There are no words we could ever come up with to competely describe what it is like to live beyond the great life.  A life with our eyes focused on our Savior and living in obediance to Him who has called our name even before we were created.  To live moment to moment focused on  HIS plan for us.  A complete surrender, giving ownership of every aspect of our lives completely to HIM.
What would that look like? 

So Lord, our busy daily lives on this crazy chaotic temporary home called earth beg us to direct our own path.  It begs us to know what is coming next. 
It also begs us to live not just a good life, live a great life.  And a great life in You is...well, great.  But, I know there is more.  I know You are more.  So Lord, bring me to that place where I am beyond the great life.  Whatever that is, wherever that is, whatever that may look like.  It is difficult to say that without being a little scared of what You may call us to do when we surrender in such a way, so calm my fears and teach me to trust fully in YOU.

I think many times we overestimate ourselves and our ability to see the "darkness" that could pull us in.  Temptation, the silent deadly predator- the tool of the Devil, sits and waits...on the prowl. 

And many of us think of the "really bad stuff" when we think temptation.  We tend to think sex, drugs, alcohol, malicious greed, etc.  But do we ever think about the temptation of  "self?"  We, as human beings are selfish, proud, jealous, unsatisfied creatures.  If you don't think you are, you are fooling only yourself. 

We took the kids to see Narnia- The Dawn Treader tonight.  Great movie.  I was disappointed that it didn't follow the book more, but nonetheless a great movie.  The mist attacks the Dawn Treader, the Narnian ship.  It preys on the characters and their fears and feelings. 
Lucy doesn't feel good enough, not pretty enough.  Edmond doesn't feel enough like a man and they fall prey to the darkness.  Then they recognize it, snap out of it and in the end are victorious.

But as I watched the movie, I kept thinking about how we can look back at a situation, sometimes, and recognize the darkness that was in it. 
How perhaps I was a little angry at a- something out of my control, and b-something so ridiculously small
And unfortunately our fall to temptation usually drags someone else into it.  And many times, unfortunately, it's someone who deserves it the least...the ones who love us the most.

"So lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil..."
Jesus himself taught us to pray these words- not because we may gamble our homes and riches away in a casino, but because Jesus knew the Predator.  He faced him in the desert.  The Predator that knows our weaknesses, knows our fears and preys on them, ready to pounce like a roaring lion.

So let us lean not on our own understanding...but continue to live life in repentance - to Jesus and to the ones we unfortunately affect along the way.

I know that at Christmastime we like to focus our attention to the softer side of spiritual things...on the tender soft hands and feet of the most important infant in the history of creation.

And the story is amazingly beautiful, isn't it?  So many miracles included in the story. 

But this Christmas I am focused on the main reason why the baby even came.  To die.
Those precious soft hands will be pierced, the soft skin will be whipped, the most grusome torture will be the punishment this little one will eventually have to face. 

Why?  Simply said, because God loves us.  John 3:16 sums it up so nicely, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

My grandmother went home to her heavenly father a few weeks ago.  We gathered this past weekend to celebrate her.  It was sad, as any death brings a level of sadness because we are separated from that loved one for a while.  It was also gladness, my grandmother was 95, had lived a good life, but for the past few years she could not remember who anyone was.  I can't imagine being in a constant state of confusion, frustrated that you should know this person visiting you but you just can't.  Fear of the unknown.  Good thing her faith was strongly anchored- her life was one walk of faith, seeking to know her Father's heart.  Because when all else is lost, when you don't even know your own family, perhaps you still hold on to the most important thing in life to know.  Jesus.

Family gathered from multiple states to remember her.  All my extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc came to remember her.  I have not seen much of my family for 7 years.  Walter was a baby.  And for one day, one day we gathered at the church and then went to my Uncle Roger and Aunt Karen's house and spent the day together.  We spent the day doing what my Grandma and PapPap loved the most.  Being a family, lifting songs of praise to the Lord and that house was filled with love.  I am so blessed that I have a wonderful family.  And the cousins, I think caught up in the moment as well, decided we need to continue the legacy of family and plans are being made to gather together again soon, perhaps the summer.

And as we drove the 10 hours back home, I couldn't help but to think that in death we were given a gift.  In Grandma's death, we were somehow miraculously able to be there together.  No baseball games, no other schedule conflicts.  Amazing!

So Grandma's death was a gift to us, the gift that brought us together again.  And in Christ's death He is giving us the gift to be together, with each other and with him...for eternity. 
And of course that would only happen if we truly knew Jesus.
I believe we are a family of believers, and that, too is a gift passed down from Grandma and from the Lord.  A legacy of faith, hope and family.