Hammer on Anvil '

My youngest, Bug, has always given me the hardest time about sleeping. He is a snuggle Bug and requires either his Daddy or myself to lie down with him, a full bottle of milk, white noise machine and all the planets in the universe to align. He will toss and turn and wiggle and wriggle until he has wedged himself perfectly between my back and the pillow. Sometimes he will babble “play ball” and swing his arms as if to hit a baseball. While all of this is quite precious and noteworthy for future storytelling, it gets old being a twice a day requirement.  This process can take anywhere from 5-40 minutes. Some days I have endless patience with the process and soak up every last snuggle. Other days it is so maddening that I want to stab myself in the eyeball. Meanwhile, the four year old is unsupervised in the house doing God knows what. (Thank you, Jesus, for NickJr)

Yesterday naptime was a 35 minute process. The Bug wiggled and flipped and babbled and oh my Jesus. “Be still!” I said again and again.  As I felt myself growing impatient, God spoke to me.

God: “Yes, Dear One, be still.”
Me: “But I don’t have time for this today, Lord.
God: “Child, be still and…”
Me: “Did I send that email?”
God: “Daughter, be still and know…”
Me: “Ugh, this is so annoying. I’m going to blow my top. Will I ever conquer the giant of rage?”
God: “…Know that…”
Me: “How will my children describe me? Do they know I love them?”
God: “…know that I am…”
Me: “Dude, seriously? How hard is it to be still?”
God: “Ahem! Beloved, be still and know that I am God.”
Me: “Oh…whoops.”

Be still –a nearly impossible request for this modern day American woman. Have you seen my schedule? Have you met my two boys? Don’t you know I’m repelled by idleness? Who can rest with a to-do list like mine?

The Lord knows how busy my life is. He gave me those kids. He knows how rowdy they are. He sort of knows everything right? Why then is he commanding me to be still?

Oh yeah…to know Him.

Just like this Momma knows it’s best for Bug (ok, for everyone) to take a nap, my Lord knows when I need rest.

Where are you? Let me encourage you today to be still before the Lord. I know if you are anything like me every bone in your body will fight against you. Just do it anyway. Lie there until His stillness finds you. Find rest for your weary soul.

Growing up in evangelical churches, I can tell you a thing or twelve about "testimonial" services. I loved listening to different people get up and testify about how God was renewing, redeeming and renovating their hearts and lives. Sure, every now and then there was a loon talking about how her cat was born again and now has begun to prophesy to the neighbors, but for the most part it was just real, normal people excited to share what God has done.

Psalm 30:11-12 says, "You did it: you changed wild lament into whirling dance; You ripped off my black mourning band and decked me with wildflowers. I’m about to burst with song; I can’t keep quiet about you. God, my God, I can’t thank you enough" (The Message).

Believers, we claim to have keys to eternal peace, joy and hope; what kind of jerks are we to keep it to ourselves?!?!

In 1 Samuel 17, we read the Sunday School favorite about David and Goliath. Who doesn't love the classic underdog victory for the Lord? We've probably all read it a few times, but I encourage you to read it again. Uh, now. I'll wait. Go read.

Did you catch 17:54? After slaying the gigantic bully, David chops off the head AND CARRIES it around. He carries a decapitated head of a nine-foot giant around with him! That horrific thing had a gaping slingshot wound right in the middle too. It was gore-o-plenty. And here this red-faced little guy is excitedly toting it around, showing it to anyone who will look. "Look what the living God did!!!"

Friends, I am not saying you need to carry your gross baggage around for all to see, but I am asking why you wouldn't want to? God helped you get out of the nasty and with His grace you have defeated the giants we all face! Why wouldn't we want to scream about it?

"Oh, well, Hannah, I've struggle with some real nasty things and I just don't think it's a good place to share it." Ugh, again: David carried a decapitated head around with him! Friend, what you got can't be anymore creepy. Quit being so prideful and start getting 3D. Get high definition, all sorts of gross, all up in peoples' faces. Let them know what God can and has redeemed. "You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people" (Genesis 50:20).

"Oh, but Hannah, I still struggle with the ..." Shhh. Just stop right there. Friend, Darth Vader and I both "find your lack of faith disturbing." Maybe you don't feel you've overcome the big giant just yet, but think about all God has done in your life so far. Now, talk about it! We are a forgetful people. We need reminders. Think of all the altars, stones and sacrifices that the Lord calls for in the Old Testament. Being transparent about where you are on this long walk is often a testimony to others and reminder to you that God is still the living God. Dump your burdens and carry your reminders. Show others what God is doing in your life. Tell people what God has done!

Believers, I think it's time you share your testimony. Tell your story, in your language. Here, I'll start. You can read my story here: http://awfulappealing.blogspot.com/2012/08/august-and-everything-after_29.html Or you can read this: God is redeeming heartache into healing. He has turned my sad song into a disco party. God has taken that once unrelenting hurt, my story of rape, rejection and real crazy and turned it into a story that I can share to help others heal. The past year has been nothing short of a miracle. I once felt used, abused, forgotten and unforgivable and I'm here telling you today, God wants to take those falls, fails, hurts, horrors and real big defeats and turn them into a life lived like a warrior. I fall short on so much, but look what God has done! Believers, we have not arrived, but the battle is already won.

Carry that victory with you. Show that gross thing to anyone willing to look and listen and then encourage them to share their story, too!

 Today, I am giving you a challenge: Write down, speak out, record a video, paint a picture -- I don't care how you choose to tell your story, but tell your story! Share what God has done and what He continues to do! Break out the old hand fans and tambourines; we are going to have our own, old school testimonial service ... via the web. Share that dead thing you've been carrying around. You carry it for a reason. I'm excited to hear what God is doing in your life.

Summer is here, or at least summer events. This means many things.

Baseball (pee-wee as well as MLB)

Warmer weather

Days at the pool

BBQs

Tanning (although that's not really kept to one season anymore)

Burning

Mosquitoes

and

The end of regular church events.

It's true that many churches stop their regularly scheduled Bible studies during the summer. I've heard a few reasons for the break: spotty attendance, break for volunteers, or conflicting schedules with baseball.

The point of this post is not to discuss whether or not taking the break is good or bad. Instead I want to encourage your to keep growing. Here are a few ideas on how to keep it up.

Quiet Time: Alright, this may seem like a given, but it is so important. If we are not spending regular time with God, we will not be growing. Make sure that even during your busy summer schedule, you set time aside to keep God as your everything.

Attend Service: The church may be cutting back on the amount of services they are having this summer but I can guarantee they are still having at least one a week. Go to it. The early Christians thought it was super important to gather together regularly and they did awesome things. Since we may just be down to holding the one Service on Sunday morning, take a stand. It's the only 2 hour (give or take) block we have to weekly meet together. Don't let other summer events get in the way of it.

Attend While Traveling: Even while on the road, you can still attend church. While planning your vacation, find where you plan to be on Sunday and find a church close by. It's often interesting to see how other groups of people worship. It will also reinforce to your family how important it is to attend a service.

Have Meals With Other Christians: Most Christian groups like to joke about how we like to eat. But it is true. Get a hold of one or two friends, or a couple families and decide once a week or once every other week you are going to do a meal together. It will give you a chance to keep up the fellowship and stay active in each other's lives.

These may seem like small ideas but they can really help keep your Christian walk going, even when the hectic schedule or summer comes knocking. Just because the church isn't organizing events, doesn't mean we can't hold a few of our own. Let's continue with all perseverance and run this race.

Does your church cut out events for the summer? What do you do to keep your walk with Christ going strong?

In my recent studies and prayer time, I have been meditating about Caleb in Numbers 13. You may remember the story: God tells the Israelites they are to possess the land of Canaan, and Moses selects 12 men who are commissioned to "see what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak," among other things (Numbers 13:18).

Wait a minute. God tells you to go take possession of a land He is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, and you send men to go before you to see if it's okay? Yes, that's exactly what Moses did. But Deuteronomy 1 tells us this was not Moses' idea. In this chapter, Moses recaps what the Israelites have been through. After he told them to take possession of the land and exhorted them to not be afraid or discouraged, "Then all of you came to me and said, 'Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to'" (Deuteronomy 1:22).

Apparently they forgot that God had led them with a pillar of cloud and they had no need to inquire about the route they were going to take. Instead of reminding them of that fact, though, Moses says, "The idea seemed good to me," and it went south from there. The outcome is not generally good when you listen to men rather than God.

The 12 men go to spy out the land, and after 40 days return to report to Moses. They agree that the land is flowing with milk and honey as God had promised, but then the fear kicks in, and they tell Moses "the people in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there" (Numbers 13:28). Apparently the descendants of Anak are gigantic, and the Israelite men seemed like grasshoppers in comparison.

Before it goes any further, Caleb steps up boldly and says, "Let us go up at once and occupy it, because we are well able to overcome it." Then all the wailing begins, about how these giants will devour them and there's no way they can take the land. God's judgment quickly ensues. He says none of the men will see the promised land except Caleb, "because he has a different spirit and has followed Me fully" (Numbers 14:24).

So instead of possessing the land and beginning to enjoy its fruit, the Israelites were plunged into 40 years of wilderness wandering. All because they took their eyes off of God when circumstances loomed a little too large for their comfort.

Has this ever happened to you, my friends? Has God ever spoken to you about something specific He wanted you to do? You were excited about it at first, and you could see the way ahead, but then some big nasty hurdle showed up in the road and blocked your vision. Though you knew you were following God, you just couldn't seem to see beyond that hurdle. Frustration and fear got the best of you, and you may have even determined that it wasn't really God speaking to you after all. Have you been there?

Brothers and sisters, when you begin to seriously take God at His Word, I can guarantee hurdles in the road and giants in the land. Satan has no reason to mess with you if you are a nominal Christian who does nothing to threaten him. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit of the living God, and you offer your body as a living sacrifice to Him on a daily basis, Satan gets ouchy. Prayer makes him particularly nervous, as Samuel Chadwick observes:

Satan dreads nothing but prayer. His one concern is to keep the saints from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, he mocks our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.

This is why we are told to "be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer" (Romans 12:12). It is why James encourages us to count it all joy when we meet trials, because the testing of our faith will produce the perseverance it takes for us to be "mature and complete, not lacking anything" (James 1:4). Our lives are not supposed to be easy, my friends. But if we keep our focus on God, rather than being deterred by the giants in the land, we will reap a harvest of joy and blessing that we cannot even imagine.

If giants are haunting you right now, I pray that you will be able to see beyond them. Isaiah 45:22 says, "Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other." Turn to Him today, and ask Him to give you a fresh revelation of himself. As you watch this video, may you become, as John Mark McMillan sings, "unaware of these afflictions, eclipsed by [His] glory."

Hey, there. My name is Sarah. I'm a graduate of Missouri State University. I have two brothers, one sister, and a stepbrother and stepsister. I also have two nieces and three nephews, so far. I like to knit and crochet, go to concerts, collect Pez dispensers, and watch TV and movies. Watching bad movies with my best friends is one of my favorite things to do. Most of what I write is short and sweet, like me. I also make bad jokes.

As most are aware, it is tornado season. There have been some terrible storms already in both Texas and Oklahoma. Towns leveled...homes destroyed...lives lost. It's tragic. People question, "Where was God? Why did he allow this to happen?"

The simple answer is that God is where He always is...everywhere. He wasn't just not paying attention or daydreaming or busy when the storms hit. He remained seated on his throne loving, caring and drawing all creation to himself. The difficult answer is that we live in a broken, fallen world where the consequences of sin had been unleashed long. Now that is another post for another day. Read Genesis for the history.

"...for the wages of sin is death." --Romans 6:23

Honestly, tornadoes freak me out. They are too unpredictable, fast forming and powerful. I come from Southeast Louisiana where we have hurricanes...predictable, slow-moving, hurricanes. I know it's coming and have time for a hurricane party with all my podna's before I get the heck out of Dodge. What fascinates me are the folks who stick around a tornado to take pictures and video. Or those loony storm chasers. What the what? You can find me hunkered down in our safe room equipped with bottled water and canned Spam (ok, maybe not the Spam. That's just gross. If I'm ever that desperate for food just use the can to club me in the head and end it.).

Both of these responses to storms are a bit extreme...the crazy and the crippled by fear.

So I'm just going to say it...What would Jesus do?

The first example from the life of Jesus that pops into mind when thinking about a storm is found in several of the Gospels -- my favorite Luke 8. Jesus and his friends, the disciples, get into a boat to sail to the other side of the lake. Midway, a terrible storm hits. Water is pouring into the boat and the disciples are scared for their lives.

What was Jesus doing?
Snoozing.
Say what?

The God of creation, Yahweh, the Messiah was asleep.
Well then he must not have cared about what happened to his dearest friends.
Wrong.

Jesus was WITH the disciples IN the storm. He didn't tell the boys to load up and send them alone into a raging storm. No, Jesus said, "let us go over to the other side of the lake." (Luke 8:22) Let US go.

Word.

The Moore tornado not only devastated a town, it claimed lives. Yet in God's mercy the death toll dropped from 51 to 24 after many more were found among the rubble. That is nothing short of a miracle, people! See, Jesus knows all about the storm coming your way. While he doesn't always choose to prevent it, he promises to sit tight and ride it out with you. Don't get me wrong... 24 lives sounds like foolishness to me. My heart breaks for these families and the towns of Cleburne, TX, and Moore, OK.

Jesus come quickly.

The second example of Jesus facing a storm is also found in the Gospels -- Luke 22 -- the Lord's supper. Follow me here. I know you are thinking, "It wasn't raining on the Passover." I'm not talking about a thunderstorm, people. I'm talking about the Son of Man being crucified to once and for all atone for the sins of the world. Remember the verse from earlier...the wages of sin is death? All of history has been leading to the very moment when Jesus would reconcile a fallen world to the Father by paying the price for our sins. He would die on a cross for us. Alone.

Yet first, he observed the Passover meal with his beloved disciples. I love the glimpse into the heart of Jesus we get in verse 22 where it says, "Jesus and his disciples reclined at the table." Really? First he was snoozing and now he is reclining? This Jesus is a pretty laid back dude. Did he know what lie just ahead of him in the night? The religious leaders would have Jesus taken prisoner, wrongly accused, mocked, beaten, and sentenced to death by crucifixion. That was going to be incredible difficult. It was going to hurt. A lot.

And yes, Jesus knew it.

Yet what was his demeanor? He reclined and enjoyed the sacred Passover knowing that he would become the ultimate Passover lamb.

Behold the Prince of Peace. Amen?
Amen!

Is there a tornado headed your way, friend? Are you hunkered down in your safe room crippled with fear and frantic? I don't blame you.

My family and I are theoretically driving right into a storm. Like I said...there is something crazy about driving into a storm. My husband will have a major surgery this summer that will effect every aspect of our life. It will be the most difficult time our family has ever had to face together. It's a  whole different thing to be driving into a tornado... when you can see the beast in front you. We have run the gambit of emotions from anger to complete and utter terror.

But then there is Luke 8 and 22. We are reminded of Yahweh -- God with us. Yes, the Jesus who slept and reclined is in our boat. He's go this. And with a word, the winds die down. The waves calm. And just like Jesus promised, we will be on the other side.



 

man, we sure think highly of ourselves.

It should be no secret that I enjoy crime TV. I am fascinated with forensics and I love seeing a story's conclusion, even if it's not exactly a, well, good one.

One of my favorite crime series is called Behind Mansion Walls. It's not just a typical "who done it," but rather a dissection of how riches so often destroy. The show serves a poignant reminder to my greedy nature that riches can often be a curse in disguise.

Now, I absolutely believe God can and has blessed people with funds and fortune. Remember Solomon? "King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth" (1 Kings 10:23). I believe money can benefit many, but it's the love of money that is the door to debauchery and terrible. 1 Timothy 6:10 says,"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

And really, guys, how many times have we watched money turn decent, respectable people into walking F5 disasters? Five minutes into that tacky TMZ show and you'll see the world's wealthy elite acting like a bunch of fools. Yet, here we are celebrating their lavish lifestyles like it's something to awe. Yes, I understand why people want things, but I can't understand why anyone would want the life that comes with that much currency. Holy dollar billz, Batman, I will gladly take the peace that passes understanding over a life that looks like a cluttered vacancy.

Proverbs 30:8-9 says, "Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the LORD?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God."

 Notorious B.I.G told the the truth, y'all, Mo money, mo problems. And honestly, if you think a large sum of cash will solve your problems anyway, well sugar, you just got problems.

In recent news someone won an asinine amount of money from the lottery. I've had lots of friends and family play those scratcher tickets, and although I don't think it's wrong or evil to simply play, I think the desire to gain such vast fortune is absolutely wackadoodles. To me, there is nothing appealing about having that much money. When the winner is announced, my first thought is never to congratulate or envy them, but rather to pity them and pray for them. It might sound silly to you, but to me, that much of a good thing is terrifying.

All in all, I want to be thankful with the portion God has provided me. Let what I have be perfect and my heart ready to give it away. That's a life to celebrate. Ya'll  rich and famous can keep your lifestyles.

Believers, instead of glorifying the wealthy and lavish, let's glorify the Lord. Let's show this greedy, broken world that we desire the fruits of the Spirit more than the fruits of our labor. (Or in the lottery's case, everyone else's labor.)  Let's be thankful for what God has provided, because we need our daily bread, not a fabulous feast that we could never finish.

Pray with me today and ask God to make you honest and content, wanting neither poverty nor wealth, but simply your daily bread. After all, that is how Jesus taught us to pray, right? (Matthew 6:9-13).

 
The title of this blog is taken from Gungor's wonderful "You Have Me." Please click on the link and listen to it before you continue reading.



Many of us can relate to some of these lyrics. Has your faith ever been "torn to shreds"? Have you ever felt as though your heart was "in the balance"? I have been there. And yes, I have wandered at heaven's gates, but I have also made my bed in hell. The amazing thing is that God never left me.

This past weekend I was reminded of the humbling truth of this song. A couple in our church owns a rental house, and their most recent tenants left abruptly. And oh my goodness -- WHAT they left! I have never seen a house so trashed. As we walked through to assess the damage, I couldn't imagine a family actually living in such conditions.

Several friends and family members came to help clean up the colossal mess. Dirty diapers littered the back porch. Mice scattered when we opened the kitchen cabinets to begin cleaning. I actually had to use a broom to sweep out the cabinets before I could clean. Every time a piece of furniture was moved, we marveled at the amount of garbage underneath.

The tenants of this house couldn't even pay the rent, yet they left behind packages of diapers, two television sets, a laptop computer, a dozen pairs of children's shoes, and several pieces of furniture. What happened that they had to leave so suddenly, with seemingly most of their possessions left behind? It's one thing to live like that if you're an adult, but how can you live in such squalor when you have small children?

The owners of the home had provided cleaning supplies for the tenants, thinking perhaps they couldn't afford them, so it's not that they didn't have the necessary things to keep the house clean. They simply had no respect for the property. Not only did they not pay rent on a regular basis, but they left the house in such a state that the owners will have to spend thousands of dollars fixing it up before it is inhabitable.

I spent most of my time there cleaning the bathroom. The venetian blinds were too grimy to salvage, and when I took them down, I discovered the window had been broken out. My husband went outside and spent a fair amount of time picking up the shattered glass.

When I got down on my hands and knees to clean the linoleum floor, I discovered that two brown spots that I thought were rotted flooring were actually petrified excrement. That's right, folks -- I don't know if it was human or cat dung, but it was dried on so hard that I spent an hour scraping it off with a knife. I would scrape some, spray on some cleaner, scrape some more, spray some more.

That's when God reminded me of this Gungor song. He reminded me of the times in my life when I have made my bed in hell. As I scraped excrement from the floor until I could see the clean flooring, He said to me, "This is what I did for you. I found you wallowing in filth, and I picked you up and washed you with the blood of My Son." I realized then and there that what I was doing was a sacrament -- a symbol of a divine grace and a stupendous spiritual reality. What I started out thinking was a pretty unsavory task turned out to be a wondrous opportunity for God to reveal the depths of His love.

I occasionally have to repent of an arrogant attitude, of listening to Satan's lying voice saying, "This is beneath you." Friends, if God gives us the opportunity to serve Him in some capacity, NOTHING should be beneath us. On the contrary, whatever is done unto Him is a blessed sacrament.

On Monday my daughter, Missouri, and I walked home from school. We talked about the end of the year, projects and goals for summer and then Missouri suddenly looked somber.

"What's up, Buttercup?" I asked.
"Mom, my friend can't come over to play this summer. She says I am not welcome over at her house," she said with sad confusion.
Wanting to believe it was a misunderstanding, I asked, "Oh, well, why is that, Sweetie?"
"She says her dad does not like my parents," she mumbled.
"Honey, I've never even talked to the guy. He can't dislike me and Daddy. He doesn't know us."

A twinge of embarrassment swept across her precious little face and I felt completely helpless. There it was, the moment my daughter had to learn that sometimes people just don't like you, even if they don't know you.

 We stopped walking, I bent down, hugged my little one and told her I was so sorry.

What an awkward feeling it is to be disliked before you are ever known. I've been there before and I'm sure you have too. With one simple, "I don't like you," you feel like you are not welcome, can't fit in, and just don't belong.

Up until last year, I have never felt like I belonged anywhere really. I was uncomfortable even in my own skin, but God called me out and I let Him start healing all those hurty parts. Not too long after that healing process began, I saw that my "I don't belong" mentality was nothing more than pride. And friends, pride is your enemy. It turns you into a self-absorbed and isolated shell. God has called us to focus on Him and spur on others. God can turn the "Aw, I don't belong," sad face to life lived in celebration that says "Thank God I've been set apart."

Friends, I've prayed since I was five that God would make me different. Raised in church, I have seen a lot of people come, go and walk away from the Lord. I didn't, and still don't, want to fall away. I want to be set apart, rebelling against the normal, raised up and ready to glorify my Savior. I want to be different, but being who God called me to be is not always easy. I know not everyone one is going to like me.

And here's the lesson, folks: Sometimes people don't like you.

Accept that truth and let it radiate freedom in your life. Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing and perfect will."

God does not want us to conform and simply fit in. John 13 says we will be known by our love. Quit trying to sit at the cool kids' table, guys. You don't belong there and thank God for that. You've been called to be set apart and God is going to raise you up for something awesome.

It's like that Whack-A-Mole game. If you acknowledge the Lord in your life and trust in Him, He will call you out and raise you up and use you to glorify His name. And when you are raised up, don't think that you won't have opposition. People don't like change. Transition and differences make the masses cranky, so you better believe you will have people lined up to smack you down.

Baby-cakes, you can be the sweetest sweet tea this side of the Mississippi, but there will always be people who loathe sweet tea. Don't let that discourage you or stop you from loving those who knock you down. You get back and up and love even more. Let others see your Father and your faith are not fickle. You know what you signed up for and you are ready to play this game. Say to yourself, "Bring it, mallet-wielding foes. I can take it. I am set apart and strong in Christ and I will love you even when you don't like me and try to knock me down."

I pray, whereever you are in life, you know that our God is bigger and better than your boldest bully. Learn to be okay that someone doesn't like you, cause, sugar, you can't control that, but you can control how you react to it. I pray you react with joy and you can remember God. He has brought you up and out of the drama of trying to fit in. You were made to be different.

Friends, let's stop being "normal" for Jesus. We were chosen, separated and place here to be a peculiar people. We don't just go with the crowd. We stand firm in our faith and learn to live a life of service to others, even those who don't like us.

If you can grasp that and let it resonate with you, you just graduated spiritual middle school. Congratulations. Now show others it's okay to move on from cliques and crews. You grew up. Now keep growing.

Since Friday, my family and I have been on vacation. We spent some time with my wife's side of the family and now we are spending time with my side.

It has been nice to get away from the normal day to day events. It's fun to see the boys spending time with their grandparents (even when they act out a little more because Grandma or Grandpa will come to their rescue).

I've really enjoyed spending this extra time with my children as well. Most days I see them before work, maybe at lunch time, and then for a couple hours at the end of the day. It makes me really want to raise them right.

In Deuteronomy 6 we are told:

 Last week I blogged about what it means to be part of the Body of Christ. This week I would like to expand that by talking about how vital it is that we "keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3).

Acts 4:32 says, "All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had." A quick read through the Book of Acts gives us an accurate picture of what can be accomplished for the kingdom of God when we are unified. Paul's ministry was so extraordinary that we are told, "When handkerchiefs or aprons that had merely touched his skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their diseases, and evil spirits were expelled" (Acts19:12).

Is it any wonder, then, that the enemy of our souls perpetually pits us against each other and provokes disunity? Consider this quote by Charles Spurgeon:

Satan always hates Christian fellowship; it is his policy to keep Christians apart. Anything which can divide saints from one another he delights in. He attaches far more importance to godly intercourse than we do. Since union is strength, he does his best to promote separation.

Sometimes this separation comes from places you would least expect it. Like when your church is experiencing a crisis, and people bail instead of sticking it out. Or when a sister falls into sin, and you overhear another congregant gossiping about it to others. In this age of technology, Facebook seems to have become the weapon of choice for people to rail against anybody and everybody with whom they disagree. And yes, unfortunately I mean church people. Instead of handling differences in a godly manner, some take the cowardly way out and post inflammatory things on Facebook. Instead of building each other up, we fall right into Satan's trap and do his bidding.

Not taking our church responsibilities seriously also promotes disunity. When we are scheduled to serve in some capacity and don't bother to show up, others are left scrambling. Sometimes things happen and absence is unavoidable, but we should all be considerate enough to get someone to fill in for us if we can't make it. 

Common courtesy and consideration go a long way toward promoting unity. Think about how you would like to be treated, and make an effort to treat others in a like manner. If you see that the leadership in your church is burdened, do what you can to help out. Pray diligently for them. If you know a particular ministry is in dire need of people to fill positions, offer to help once in a while. If you notice that the bathroom is a bit untidy, grab a rag or a toilet brush or whatever is necessary and take a few minutes to clean it up yourself.

Something we can all do to help promote unity is to watch what we say. Before you open your mouth to complain, consider the brother or sister to whom you are speaking. Is your complaint really valid, or do you just want to vent? What is the condition of your brother or sister at the time? Are they harried and pressed for time? Proverbs 25:11 says, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver." Take time to consider if the timing is right and if what you want to say is really important, or is better left unsaid. The Holy Spirit will help you determine the appropriateness or inappropriateness of your speech.

Finally, meditate on this truth from Charles H. Brent:

The unity of Christendom is not a luxury, but a necessity. The World will go limping until Christ's prayer that all may be one is answered. We must have unity, not at all costs, but at all risks. A unified Church is the only offering we dare present to the coming Christ, for in it alone will He find room to dwell.

Blessings on you, my brothers and sisters.

^{While all these words are applicable, they don’t even come close to  the Biblical meaning of The Church. In Ephesians 1:22 Paul explains, “God placed all things under his (Jesus’) feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”}

Yep, that's Mama and Papa D and all seven of us.

At five years old I had life pretty figured out. I was going to be the world's first dinosaur-digging, award-winning writer/detective/historian/fashion designing/lounge singing/artist, stage and screen legend and obvious a Jedi that owned a coffee/bakery/comic shop. I was going to be a massive success and, of course, it all was going to happen before I turned the ancient age of 25.

When my mother was five, she would have practically told you the same thing, but when she lost her own mother at the age of 13, her priorities shifted. As tragedy hit her family, God illuminated her heart and sparked a ministry. She knew she was born to raise up others; she knew she was created to be a mother.

When she met and married my dad, they shared the same goal of being parents and hoped to raise a large family together. Months into their marriage, however, they found out that they were both unable to have children of their own. Devastated, they fasted and prayed, and yet still felt God was calling them to be parents. God opened a door and my parents moved to Alaska and ran a foster home to 13 Tlingit Tribe children.

My parents believed that the call of being a parent is more than just physically having children; it's a ministry of pouring a foundation and building others up.

Mom and Dad worked in Alaska for five challenging, yet joyful years. But when Mom discovered she was, in fact, pregnant, she was considered high-risk, and the doctors insisted she move to a more stable climate with better access to doctors. My parents were reluctant to leave the foster home, but God provided another loving couple to take their place. Knowing God was leading them into a new adventure, they moved back to Washington, and within that year my brother John was born. My parents then went on to have Elizabeth, Matthew, Andrew, Timothy, Rebekah and me.

Over the next 30 years, Mom and Dad became parents to hundreds. Not just to us, but our friends, and their friends and anyone who needed to be spurred on and encouraged. They loved, prayed and raised up anyone, because they believed they had that call.

My parents were created to be parents. They worked tirelessly, making sure they invested into each of our lives daily. They poured a foundation of faith and reassured us, always, that with God all things are possible. When I told them what I wanted to do with my life they encouraged me to "Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalms 37:4)

Several years ago I read Chuck Colson's book The Body. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it. Colson addresses what the Church is supposed to be in the world, and what its adherents are supposed to be to each other. The latter is what I would like to address in this blog.

Most of us have no qualms about the Church being salt and light in the world. But some of us have no clue what it means to be part of a local body of believers. We have bought into the entertainment mentality that says if things aren't the way we want them to be, we can just leave and go somewhere else. Colson observes, "What many are looking for is a spiritual social club, an institution that offers convivial relationships but certainly does not influence how people live or what they believe." And he is absolutely right.

Surveys show that the number one thing people look for in a church is fellowship. But what most spoiled Westerners seek looks nothing like the Early Church. The New Testament Greek word for fellowship is koinonia, and describes a tight-knit community in which people enter into a covenant to submit to one another, support one another, bear one another's burdens, and "build each other up in their most holy faith" (Jude 1:20).

Biblical fellowship is not to be taken lightly. It involves serious commitment. And sometimes it means tough love, because we are called to hold each other accountable. Ah, there's the rub: as soon as someone suggests that we may have been irresponsible or unChristian in our actions or attitudes, we get our undies in a bunch and announce that we can simply go elsewhere. And we certainly can go elsewhere. Unfortunately a plethora of churches exist where you not only don't have to be accountable to anyone, but nobody even knows your name.

What J.I. Packer calls "hot tub religion" embraces anything that makes us feel better about ourselves. But Colson reminds us:

The gospel teaches that our hope is not in finding our true self but in losing our true self. That which defiles us is what is in us, Christ said. When we honestly look inside at our sin-scarred lives, we ought to be repulsed by our "true" selves. We then repent and die to ourselves so that Christ's atoning grace might cleanse us.

Are you in need of being cleansed by Christ's atoning grace today? Have you been whining about not getting your own way in the church you attend, or whining about how you're not "being fed"? Open your eyes and realize that YOU are not supposed to be the focus. Dust off your Bible and begin feeding yourself, instead of expecting someone at church to do it for you. Think about the Body of Christ, and the part you play in it. Are you serving, or simply warming the pew each week? You might be surprised at how little you think about yourself when you're being poured out in service to others.

I leave you with a precious reminder from Paul's letter to the Philippians:

When you do things, do not let selfishness or pride be your guide. Instead, be humble and give more honor to others than to yourselves. Do not be interested only in your own life, but be interested in the lives of others.

 In 2 Corinthians 6:14, Paul urges, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?"

Lately I've been running again. I absolutely enjoy running.

Once you get passed the achy body, being out of breath, knee injuries, people almost hitting your with their cars, heat exhaustion, freezing your lungs when it's cold out, or fighting the urge to throw up, it's really not so bad.

I encounter a problem when I start running again though. You see, in high school, I ran cross country and track. My best mile times were sub 5 mins and my best 5Ks were 17:13. I was 2 years all state and one of the best on our team. I don't say that to brag, I say that to say when I start back up now, that's what I expect.

I haven't run super consistently since high school. But when I start each time I expect myself to go out and run 6 or 7 miles at a 7 minute mile pace. I expect to have no injuries and to immediately slim down. Then I get frustrated when that is not the case.

So often, I stop for another couple months and try at it again, just to "fail" all over.

I think a lot of us treat our walk with Christ that way. We look at others and see how much time they spend in prayer or how much Bible reading they do and we get really excited. We think "Wow I can do that!" Then we jump right in and it's not as easy as we thought.

We fall asleep while praying.

We have trouble focusing on 6 chapters of Leviticus.

We miss a day here or there.

Then we think "I must not be cut out for this!" and we just stop doing it all together.

But just like exercise, we need to start out slowly. We can't go from eating potato chips every day while sitting in the office chair to running a marathon in a week. Neither can we go from not practicing spiritual disciplines to doing them all diligently right away.

Find an area of your life. Maybe it's Bible reading. Perhaps it's prayer. Maybe you feel you need to work on some of the Fruit of the Spirit. Whatever it may be, start out slow. Work on one fruit for a while til you get it down.

If we start out to quickly or expect too much, we will get frustrated and "fail." Don't do that to yourself. Growing in Christ is going to take practice and "exercise." So start working those muscles little by little.