Awesome weekend

We did not get to do the Seder meal like I had hoped, for a variety of reasons and I was a little bummed about that, but thanks to the wonderful staff at our church, we attended an amazing Good Friday service and Sunday morning celebration.  Major kudos to the staff and production volunteers at Browns Bridge Community Church for going the extra mile(s) to make this a worshipful weekend.  Friday night the focus was on remembering the incredible sacrifice Jesus made for us.  The music, communion, and Lane's talk really set the tone for the weekend.  This morning our family attended the 1:00 service together after Rachel and I volunteered in Waumba Land, our preschool environment, during the 11:00 service.  

Dinner was at home with the family, quiet, but nice.  I am so grateful for family, church, and most of all a resurrected Savior!!  I hope your weekend was awesome!

Preparing for Easter

As we are preparing for Easter (in the middle of March!!) I am excited to share the Passover Seder with Ryan.  For years we did a small Seder in all the preschools I directed or classes I taught, then when we were homeschooling Rachel we did a full blown dinner with all the families. But we haven't done it for Ryan and actually I really miss it too, so this Friday, after we go to our Good Friday service at church, we will come home and have Passover.  If you have never done a Christian Passover meal with your family, I strongly encourage you to consider it.  Not only is it a great review of some OT history but I assure you that you will never celebrate the Lord's Supper the same.  When you contemplate the vast amount of symbolism in the Seder and see God's handiwork in redemption from the beginning of time, it will bless you and deepen your faith.  When we first started doing this some 20 years ago, I really had to dig to learn what to do and what everything means.  Now all you need to do is Google "Christian Seder" and you will have enough information to get you well on your way.  If you don't want to do a Seder, this year, then I encourage you to at least go back and read the Exodus story, descriptions of the Feasts in Leviticus, and meditate on redemption.

Another interesting read is that of Good Friday.   I realize that traditionally we accept that Jesus died on Friday and we honor that, but many scholars disagree and feel that He actually died on Wednesday or Thursday.  Again, about 24 years ago my Sunday School teacher, Phil Plemmons, introduced the thought of a Wednesday crucifixion.   I have enjoyed researching that idea, and tend to agree with him.  With another Google search I found some well researched articles and one of my favorites is brotherjosh.blogspot.com/2006/04/good-friday-what-day-did-jesus-die-on.html.  

What ever you are doing to prepare for this most important day of the year, I pray that your Easter is a joyous celebration of the Gospel and you can rejoice in your salvation.

Getting ready for spring

You may have heard about the storms we had in Atlanta, thankfully are were spared, as were our friends ad family, but we did get some much needed rain.  Unfortunately for the second week in a row our soccer game was cancelled.

  We did have an adventure Saturday, though.  We drove down to Buckhead because Rachel has started here 12 week course with Barbizon, a talent and modeling agency.  We will repeat this journey every other Saturday for the next 6 months, but she is really excited about these classes and we think it will be a great experience for her.  After the classes we stopped at the mall to eat and she and I got her prom dress.  Boy it is a good thing she is working and earning some money!!

The sun has come out and today Edgar is digging a hole in the front yard to add a small pond for the turtles.  We are ready to move them from the very noisy, gurgling, aquarium upstairs to their own environment outside--yeah!  Spring will officially be here in a week, but we are jumping the gun a few days.  Hope your week is a great one!

Child Like Faith

So Edgar is out of town again--this is the second trip this week, but that means business is good, so although we don't particularly like it, we appreciate the income.  This morning the kids and I all had to be up and out of the house before 8:00, which was a little challenging with the time change but we made it.  

We went in early because I had an appointment to do a baptism interview with a little boy.  When I met him and his mom I was struck by the fact that he was really little--I mean young, small, and short.  When I ask him how old he was and he said "five", my first thought was 'he is too young to understand this very important decision'.  Boy was I wrong!

This precious little guy told me the day and the time he asked Jesus to come live in his heart.  He then went on to describe, in his limited vocabulary, the concept of sin and how it applied to him.  When I asked him why he wanted to be baptized, he said, "because I sinned and Jesus died for me, and I want to make Him happy."  Wow, pretty good don't you think?  I looked at his mom who had been careful to keep her back to us so as to not influence his answers to my questions.   She said, "I know he is young, but he has been asking for months when he can be baptized, and we kept thinking about what Jesus said about child-like faith, so here we are."

This got me thinking  about the concept of 'making Him happy'.  I know what to do to make my kids happy, to make my husband happy, to even make my dog happy.  But making God happy is a big order.   I mean, He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, He doesn't need anything, and He already knows everything.  There is nothing I can do to make Him love me more, or less, than He already does because His love is perfect.  

I know that we can bring sacrifices to God which are pleasing, and the psalmist refers to mediating on His word in a manner that is pleasing to God.  I think it will be interesting to study the Bible and see how many things we can do to actually make God happy.  I want to live my life in a way that is pleasing to Him.  As we preparing to celebrate Easter many Christians choose to 'give up' some of their favorite things as a sacrifice; I would like to discover specific things I can actually do to 'make Him happy'.  If I am successful, I think both God and I will be blessed.  

Our First Soccer Game this Season

This morning was an historical occasion for us--Ryan played his first soccer game today without uncle Phillip being his coach--and he did it!  This is pretty significant for him and at the first practice I had to literally drag him onto the field and stand with him for about 5 minutes, so the fact that he willingly participated in the game was huge!  He remembered many of the skills he learned last year, thank you uncle Phillip for your leadership and patience, and he is improving!  He blocked a couple of goals from the opposing team and made two goals--one for his team and one for the other guys, but hey the ball went in the net!  Looking forward to a great season!! 

Okay someone please teach me how to add photos where I want them!!  The soccer picture is at the bottom of this page.

It's Gonna Get Messy

We have a local barbeque franchise whose tag line is: "It's gonna get messy" and the unspoken completion of that statement, is 'but it is so worth it.' I sometimes think that is the way it is on my journey of attempting to live my life as a fully devoted follower of Christ.  It can get messy.

In the second chapter of Mark we read the story of the four young men who were determined to get their paralyzed friend to Jesus.  When they could not get through to him, they undid the thatched roof and lowered him down to where Jesus was teaching.  I've studied this passage in Sunday school and heard many sermons about it, but they all focused on the determination of the friends and the mercy of Jesus to heal.  I read this again the other day and was struck by the thought of the roof.

I love to have company come over and I try to do my best to clean the house and make everything look presentable and comfortable for my guests.   My husband says he likes to have company because that's the only time I cook--which is not true!  I say I like to have his family come to visit so I can get some of the things on the 'honey do' list completed.  The kids usually moan when I mention guests because it means their rooms need to pass inspection.

 So I was thinking about the woman of this house.  Knowing that Jesus was coming over, I am sure she went to a lot of trouble to prepare for him.  Had I been in her place I am sure I would have been hysterical when those friends started tearing apart my roof!  Can you imagine the mess that would make, and she didn't even have a Dyson!  I am sure I would have done everything in my power to get those men to stop, and of course had I been successful I would have missed not only a  huge blessing, but I would have missed being an eye witness to a miracle.

I wonder how many blessings or miracles I have missed in my lifetime because I didn't want things to get messy.  I am comfortable with order and predictability.  I like to plan ahead and set short range and long range goals.  I need to remember that messes can be cleaned, and miracles sometimes come unexpectedly.  It sometimes is gonna get messy, but if God is in it, it will be so worth it!

Reflections

Sometimes I am so filled with gratitude I can hardly hold it in.  Today is one of those days.  The sun is shinning on a gorgeous, crisp, and clear Georgia day.  My precious little boy is in the back yard doing one of his favorite things--playing with his dog.  As I sit on the sofa in my bedroom, in a house this is far nicer than I ever thought I would own, I am grateful  Grateful for a fenced yard, grateful for a dog is lets her master tie her to a wagon and lead her all over the yard trying to convince her she really is a sled dog.  Grateful for a child who innocently plays in his imaginary world with seemingly not a care in the world.  Grateful for a husband who supports his family well and loves us despite all of our inadequacies.

And then there is our daughter.  I can hardly believe that she will soon be 17 years old and preparing for her senior year in high school.  She recently had pictures taken by a local photographer who made her some cards to distribute to her friends in school in hopes of acquiring more business.  One of the pictures was used in a magazine to advertise for the studio--she is stunning.  Of course I think so because she is mine, but several people who have seen the ad have called to tell me so; it is validated.  The pictures show her outward beauty; I am grateful to also know her inward beauty.  She is stunning because she has a contagious smile that can light up a room, and a heart as big as all outdoors.  But her love for others and her willingness to give of herself is what really makes her special.  Today I was so proud of her as I watched her go up on stage to pray for a sixth grade girl from the small group she co-leads at church who was baptized at our Family Birthday Celebration.  She is an amazing young woman that daughter of mine, and I am so grateful to be her mom.

Then there is our church.  I know there are many wonderful churches and I am not trying to suggest that ours is superior to any of them, but I am so grateful to worship with such an amazing group of people.   Today I was especially grateful for my 5th grade team.  We have two greeters who not only efficiently check in over 65 regular attenders each week, remembering most of them by name, but who also greet an average of 10 visitors each Sunday and make them feel welcome and safe.  I was also grateful for small group leaders who met with their students, engaged them in conversation, and opened the Bible and shared truth from their hearts.  It was an awesome day and I am so grateful to be a little part of that ministry.  Most of all today I was grateful for a small group leader who travelled many miles, at personal expense, to be there for the boy from his small group was baptized today--what commitment; I am awed at such dedication.

I guess most of all I am grateful for a loving, forgiving, and merciful Heavenly Father who loves me and showers me with incredible blessings.  I am grateful for His precious Word that gives meaning to my life and reminds me of all I have for which to be grateful.

I know there will be many days when I am frustrated by the many things in a day that make my life difficult, fail to meet my expectations, and generally tick me off.  But for right now, I am just feeling grateful--it's a great feeling!