The Known vs. The Unknown

(My Dad and Mom with Shelby and Cambry- Sept. 2009)

In a few hours, some of the unknown of these past few days will be finally known. But with cancer, what's known only leads to more of the unknown. Does that make sense?


During my crun (crying out to the Lord + running) this morning, God spoke so gently to my heart.

"Dear One, focus on the Known, not on what you don't know. Keep your mind fixed on what you know to be true of Me."

So I, this day, choose to focus on...

Isaiah 6 "I saw the LORD high and exalted and the train of his robe filled the temple."

As I sit here in this hospital room, looking at my precious mother in pain with the uncertainity looming and the darkness attempting to chase away hope, I choose to believe...

Romans 8 "I am convinced that neither death nor LIFE, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

What do you know to be true of the LORD?

Exception to the Rule

"I didn't know there were Christians that really care. That really love you," a young man said after being encouraged and prayed for by his new small group.

"You know, you give a prayer request, but you never expect anyone to really do anything to help you," a young woman responded when helped out after visiting a Sunday school class and giving a prayer request regarding her housing situation.

When I first heard these 2 statements (2 different people, 2 different situation, 2 different times) I was moved. But now I am plain disturbed. When did acting like Christ become the exception to the rule?

If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Philippians 2:1-4 (The Message)

Worthy

As I was on the treadmill watching the inauguration coverage. I found myself so in awe of all the majesty and stateliness to it all...the respect and reverence that is shown to our new leaders and rightfully so. I kinda got choked up even. I began to pray for our new president and his family. But somewhere in my prayer, God began to take it to another place or person. His son enter this world with no respect or reverence. There were no traditions that showed the world his positition of power. No church services, no coffees with important people, no balls, no parties. Just a dirty stable greeted him.

Isaiah 53:1-3
1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

It is no different today. Some try to make Jesus a footnote in history...irrelevant to our modern culture. But he is not. The sad commentary to this today is that even in the lives of believers this can be said. This past Sunday our youth minister lead the service (and did an excellent job). He gave us a statistic that frightened me and will not leave me alone. In a survey of 40 year old people, 84% said that they knew a Christian, but only 15% of them said that they saw it making a difference in their lives. I felt like falling to my knees in repentance of the mediocre life I live in the name of Christ. I am now challenged to let my faith make a difference in me, a real difference. I am now challenged to allow the Spirit of God examine my life and show me where I really am.

One day, Jesus will return. He will return will all the glory, majesty, respect, reverence that has never been seen before and it will not cost 150 million dollars. His name will be known to all whether they have professed him as Lord or not. In the meantime, what are we as believers, as followers of Christ, doing now to pave the way for his return?

Philippians 2:5-10

5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God is Sovereign

Shelby has been quite intrigued with the political process. In fact I told Tracy that we have an Alex Keaton (80's reference for you young 'uns!) on our hands. She has told me over and over again who she is voting for and why, some valid reasons and some not. She repeatedly asks me who I am voting for and I usually avoid answering the question. Why you may ask? That is for another post. Anyway, she told me at the dinner table a few days ago that if she were president she would make it where 7 year olds could vote because she thinks they would pick the right man or woman. I ask her that would be dangerous because a lot of 7 year olds don't follow politics like she does and they might pick Spongebob Squarepants for president. She agreed.

Yesterday afternoon when I picked her from school she asked me if I voted and I said yes. She told she had voted too. And then proceeded to tell me AGAIN why she voted the way she did. I told her good for you. Voting is an important part of being an American citizen.

Fast forward to last night at dinner, Shelby asked how we would know who won. Tracy said it would be on T.V. for hours and hours. I might add he said this very unenthusiastically. (I think there was some football game on.) I told her that no matter who won this was going to be historic because either way we were going to have the first black president or the first woman vice- president.

As we watched the returns, she became a little down. Now you probably can guess who she was rooting for. I told her not to be because we had prayed that who God wanted to win would. I then explained that God is sovereign. He is control of the universe whether a man/woman recognizes that or not. Does that mean things will be easy? Maybe. Or hard? Maybe. But the point is to trust in God's plans, not man. I told her we would pray for our new president regardless of whether we voted for him or not. And then she went to bed.

Did she understand what I was saying? I don't know. But I do know that we, as a body of believers, need to understand that. God is sovereign. God is faithful. God is good. He is the One who turns the hearts of kings!

I now have a 4 year old!

Yesterday was Cambry's ( or I like to call her Boo Radley, don't ask me why, couldn't tell you) 4th birthday. Where has the time gone is what I would like to know.
She was so excited from the time she woke up until the time that sweet little head hit the pillow. On birthdays in our family, we have their favorite meal and cake of their choice for dinner then open presents with family. Yesterday was no different. For her meal she wanted potato soup and chocolate cake.

When I asked her what present she would like she told me "a transformer." I had to laugh. I asked her several times the last few days what she would like and everytime she told me "a transformer." When she opened it up, boy, was she ever excited. Out of sheer delight, she wanted to know who got it for her and repeated over and over again how she had always wanted one. It was a sight to behold.



I will leave you with a little pearl of wisdom that Cambry imparted to me a few days ago....

"It's hard to give kisses when you are laughing."

Hot Passion

No don't run away this is not an obscene post! But if you came here with that intent, then sorry mister or missy.

Today at lunch I decided to make some herbal tea to have with my spinach goat cheese flatbread pizza because diet coke was simply not sophisticated enough. So, I brew myself a few bags of TAZO passion fruit tea. Not one for hot teas when it is ninety degrees outside, I, of course, ice it down. Cambry, seeing the dark pink color, asks for some.

"Yum, this is good," she exclaims, "What is it called?"

"Passion fruit tea."

"I like this stuff," she replies as she goes on her merry way.

After some hard playing outside, she comes in to drink what is left of her tea. I hear her running up to her father and, with all the excitement that a nearly 4 year old can muster when it comes to herbal teas, relays to Tracy, "I just drank my hot passion tea and it is spicy." I laugh when I see the questionable glance I receive from my husband. I can read his mind..."whatever are you teaching them now?"

I try my best to correct her because who wants their sweet little girl to go to her Sunday school teacher or mother-in-law and tell them that her how much she likes hot passion tea. The closest we are now is hot fashion tea which is a little better.

Shelby's post

The Storm by Shelby

One day in Sulfer Springs when it was storming very bad all of a sudden lightning came down the chimney. Everyone was there. We were right beside the fireplace. And it hit the satellite. It was weird.

(Shelby wanted to write a story for my blog. This is her handiwork right down to the spelling and typing.)