I Give Up!

Thoughtful Thursdays

For today, I'm going to share an excerpt from an essay I wrote for NANC certification. This part still gets me excited...

When we have faith in God, we are choosing to not depend on ourselves for our salvation. As Grudem explains, we essentially say:

“I give up! 

I will not depend on myself or my own good works any longer.

I know that I can never make myself righteous before God.

Therefore, Jesus, I trust you and depend on you completely

to give me a righteous standing before God.” 

(Wayne Grudem p 730, Systematic Theology)

This is the beauty of the Gospel.  It is the beauty of the grace of God, and it should cause us to love Him all the more.

Getting Rid of My Stickers

Words for Wednesdays

When Madam Blueberry goes to Stuff Mart, the writers must have been thinking of my love for Super Target. So often, children's books and movies seem to apply to me more than my kids. It happened again today.

Keeping 56 first graders calm during check-out after a full day of VBS is quite the challenge! This afternoon, I read book after book, one of them being You Are Special by Max Lucado, a family favorite.

You Are Special is about a town of wooden people who put star stickers on the popular ones and gray dot stickers on those without any special talents. Punchinello is full of dots, and he goes to the Maker to learn how to rid himself of the unwanted spots.

The Maker asks: 

"Who are they to give you stars or dots?

They're Wemmicks, just like you. 

What they think doesn't matter, Punchinello. 

All that matters is what I think. 

And I think you are pretty special."

When Punchinello asks why he's special, the Maker explains:

"Because you're mine. That's why you matter to me." 

  
Pause.



I'll admit it - That was a hug that my grown up thirty-three year old heart needed to feel.

Why am I special? Because I'm His. I am covered in the righteousness of Christ.

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, 

a holy nation,  a people belonging to God, 

that you may declare the praises of Him 

who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

1 Peter 2:9

But how do we get rid of those pesky stickers? 

The Maker explains:

"The stickers only stick if you let them. If they matter to you. 

The more you trust in my love, the less you care about their stickers... 

Come and see me every day and I will remind you how much I care."

This is one book that I might need to move off of the children's shelf and onto my own.


What children's books have reached out to your heart?

VBS Memories

Mommy Mondays

Today starts my favorite week of the year:

Vacation Bible School!

The name brings back childhood memories of red Kool-Aid mustaches and sandwich cookies on napkins. I remember our church would have a contest between the boys and the girls: who brought in the most money. Kids came in with sandwich bags bulging with pennies, their hands smelling like spare change. One year there was a train in the front that moved across the stage on a string as the money came in.

I get to work in the 1st grade class tomorrow with my son. It's a nature park theme, and our room is called "The Foxes." I considered getting myself a red shirt and writing on it "Foxes," but then decided against it...

I've realized in this post that I really don't know how to spell the word "sandwich." Auto Correct is certainly my friend.

What about you? What comes to mind when you remember VBS as a child? What do your kids look forward to?

VBS 2011

getting our feet on

Foto Fridays

When my 3 year old can’t find his shoes, he’ll tell me:

“Mommy, I’m going outside with my feet on.” 

I laugh, “Good to know!”

  

Do you prefer to wear shoes or just feet?

Listening through the Bible

 Thoughtful Thursdays

Did you know that you can read the Bible out loud in 76 hours? 

At www.BibleGateway.com and http://www.audiobible.com, you can listen to the Bible online for free in a few different formats. What does that amount to a day?

12.5 Minutes

In just 12.5 minutes a day, I can listen to the Bible in a year. Now, that seems doable! What if we made it 30 minutes a day? We could listen to it twice. I might take this challenge with my kids this fall. Anyone want to join me?

Same Kind of Different as Me - Review

Words for Wednesdays

A poor homeless man. A rich art dealer. They wouldn’t score high on a friendship compatibility test. But in God’s eyes, they were a perfect match.

A true story, Same Kind of Different as Me inspired me in ways I hardly expected when I casually picked the book off of my brother’s shelf. His family had moved, and as I was helping them unpack a couple of boxes, the title intrigued me. I thought I had heard of it somewhere. When I saw it was a true story, that sparked my interest ever further.

What I found was an inspirational read that gave me eyes to see the world more as God sees it.

 

When Ron Hall, the wealthy businessman, approaches Denver, the poor component of the duo, about becoming friends, Denver makes a speech that I found to be personally soul-searching:

“I heard that when white folks go fishin they do something called ‘catch and release… That really bothers me,” Denver went on. “I just can’t figure it out. ‘Cause when we colored folks go fishin, we really proud of what we catch, and we take it and show it off to everybody that’ll look. Then we eat what we catch… in other words, we use it to sustain us. So it really bothers me that white folks would go to all that trouble to catch a fish then when they done caught it, just throw it back in the water… so Mr. Ron, it occurred to me: If you is fishin for a friend you just gon’ catch and release, then I ain’t got no desire to be your friend.. but if you’re lookin for a real friend, then I’ll be one. Forever.” 

Denver Moore,Same Kind of Different as Me. p107

I don't think there's anything I can add to that statement - it is what it is, and it is so true. Catch and release. Don’t get deep. If the fish gets too wiggly or you get tired of it, release it back in.

~*~*~*~*~

The closest I get to homelessness and poverty on a daily basis is the various man or woman holding a cardboard sign at the corner of a busy intersection. 

Since reading the book, I haven't run down to a shelter or befriended a homeless person off the street. But while grocery shopping this week, there was an older man hovering by the watermelons, and we sparked a conversation. He showed the kids and I how to pick out the best one, knowing just the right way to thump it to listen for juice. We had a little bongo moment as we watched him pretend the watermelon were drums. It only lasted a few minutes, but my heart was definitely softened to those who are usually invisible to me, as I go quickly through my day, checking items off my list. 

~*~*~*~*~

 

The book moves back and forth between the men, speaking in first person from their point of view. The events that happen are what they are. No theological explanation is given, which I appreciate, because some of the events were hard for my mind to comprehend. But that’s so often how life is. Stuff happens, some we can’t explain, and we keep walking by faith until our journey leads us home.

 

“The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or something in between, this earth ain’t no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless – just workin our way toward home.” 

Denver Moore, Same Kind of Different as Me, p235

Big Words, Big Laughs

Mommy Mondays

"Mommy, your phone is evaporating."

Memory Lane: At 3 Years Old

My 6 year old son has always had a way with words. For example, he hardly uses contractions. Especially when he was learning to talk, he'd say "cannot" and "did not." Even with songs, he'd replace contractions with the full words. "I am in a fight not physical. I am in a war, but not with this world."

His favorite adjective for years was steaming. He ran steaming fast. His Popsicle was steaming cold.

Lately, he's been using very large words, in the funniest way! He's told me a few times, "Mommy, your phone is evaporating" when he meant vibrating.

Recent, 2012

Just last week, he was looking in on the hermit crab and assured me, "Don't worry, mom, he's still dehydrating." Ummm... hibernating?

And after learning about WWI fighter pilots and the dangers they faced, he explained to my husband that they used "ketchup gas."

I hope he knows that when we laugh, it's because we think it's hysterical - and not that we're laughing at him. It's just so hard to hold it in sometimes. And he has the greatest laugh that causes his eyes to shine, and I love when he joins in with us on the fun.

Kids are so funny. What are some funny things that yours have said? Did you laugh, or hold it in?