2 Blessings in Rascal disguises

What is going on?

S.I.N.

One of the hardest things about forming a viewpoint on this topic (same-sex marriage) is that I’m probably subjecting myself to alienation within the Church from people who think I’m compromising the truth, and with non-believers (especially those who have strong feelings about same sex marriage).  

 

I want people to know the truth about Jesus Christ, encounter him in a way that they are confronted with the truth that he was more than just a good teacher, or a good example, but fully God while being fully man, and sent here for the sacrifice and atonement for the sins of all mankind.  The truth that He is the ONLY way to God (spoken by Jesus himself) and His eternal Kingdom (John 14:6), and that without him, everlasting destruction is a person’s choice (Matthew 13:42, Luke 17:19-31).  And that he was a God who came speaking truth AND grace.  Not one or the other.  The problem is, people are not going to make their way to a church to hear this message, or spend time with a professing Christian, when they feel as though they face immediate human judgment when in the presence of these people.

I’m really having a hard time understanding why some Christian brothers and sisters feel like gay marriage is the be-all end-all sin issue that will destroy this world as we know it.  Isn’t God still on the throne?  Can’t he still redeem anyone?  Yes, it will change the landscape of things, yes it will quite likely require that Christians become very unpopular if they hold to what they believe. (1 Peter 2:11 Dear Friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your souls) Following Jesus may become more costly.  Jesus never promised that following Him would be easy and awesome in this lifetime. “I have told you these things so that in me, you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”(John 16:33)

It’s not “Us vs. Them”.  “They” (insert whatever group of people you are classifying by a certain sin) are sinful people yes, but so are YOU. So am I.  We all need the cross of Christ, and it excludes no one!  The only exclusion is the proud heart of a person unwilling to receive it in a state of humility, and accepting the fact that they cannot do anything to repay God for a life lived in open rebellion since the day they entered the world.  Gay or Straight, Jesus came to save all people.

Matthew 2: 13-17:

13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

 

Jesus didn’t have a picket sign.  He didn’t have a special logo on his facebook page.  He simply went to sinful people, told them the truth about God, graciously showed them their need for repentance, and then let the people decide if they wanted to take him up on His offer or not.

 

We cannot argue, or legislate people into the Kingdom of God.  We can pray that people meet Jesus, accept His atoning work on the cross on behalf of all of humanity, and then God gets to work out the details of their life.  We are to lovingly come alongside people in truth and love, proclaiming the good news of Jesus and loving people right where they are.  The Holy Spirit is the one who does the work in people's lives.  Not a court, not a facebook post (which, is it ironic that I just wrote that in a blog post?...oh well), not a picket line.

 

I’m also troubled that we seem to have ignored a big theme of Scripture that would quickly convict many people in our country if they read ALL of Scripture, and what God has to say about what it means to live out our faith in him.

Isaiah 1:17 “Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”

Isaiah 58:6-7 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter– when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”

Jeremiah 22:16 “‘He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the LORD.”

Malachi 3:5 ” So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,’ says the LORD Almighty.”

Matthew 25:35 “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.”

Luke 12:33 “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.”

When are we going to start yelling about no one taking these verses seriously?  I thank God that He has been raising up prophetic voices in the church who are bringing this to light (and they usually get accused of trying to subversively introduce socialism into the church), but I think it’s something that we will need to hear preached repeatedly, because let’s face it, inside and outside of the church, this country WORSHIPS money.  It drives everything.  It’s so subtle that we worship it without even realizing it.  We can’t “afford” to give money away to people in need because we’ve crafted a lifestyle that exceeds our income.  I know this seriously makes people uncomfortable.  Again, it’s because we LOVE our money!

 

I  know some of you are screaming “She’s talking about poverty theology!!!!!”  I would encourage you to do a survey of all of the Scriptures and see if the bible has more to say about God’s judgment of homosexuality, or His judgment of His people forsaking and oppressing the poor, alien, widow, and orphan.  Again, to be clear, it is my belief that all of the aforementioned things are sinful, but I think American Christendom has sort of winked at each other pulling up to church in Cadillacs for many decades, while simultaneously yelling and screaming about things “out there” that are going to “ruin our country”.

This is probably close to my heart because I used to do the exact things I just said.  I assumed I was a Christian because I “believed in Jesus”, voted Republican, went to church at least 10 times per year, and I’d never killed anyone and I was a pretty good person.  All the while, I was a loud, cruel, awful voice against people I thought were “worse” sinners than me.  I had no idea who Jesus really was.  My God was money, and I was fiercely nationalistic and a die-hard conservative. 

 

Anyway, these are just some of my random thoughts that I felt compelled to share.  I have a hard time not talking about things, so if you made it through all of that, thanks for listening.

 

Bottom line?  Jesus is God. He loves you.  He died and was raised to life for you and whether or not you accept that is an eternal issue.  I hope you will take a hard look at Him and who he claimed to be, and what He has made available to you, and make a decision.  Don’t look to Christians.  We are sinful humans and sometimes we do a horrible job of representing Christ.  Take it up with Him, call out to Him, see what the bible has to say.  Please. If you don’t have a bible, here: http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/New-International-Version-NIV-Bible/

 

 

Boys, Boys.

I have been so neglectful to update this blog about the boys lately! I have barely picked up my camera the past few months, but today I did!

This is going to be a whole post gushing about all the latest and greatest with Milo and Nick. 

Like I've said before, I'm no longer keeping any kinds of journals/milestone books for them, other than their baby books, so everything I want to remember, needs to end up on this blog.  That being said, my posting lately has been far too infrequent!

So here goes!

Milo-You are 4 years old and always full of questions, sometimes questions that make your mommy's mind stretch and strain.  Like, the other day you were wrestling through trying to understand the trinity.  3 separate yet equal persons as one God.  It's hard trying to explain a mysterious truth like that, but you are helping me understand things more deeply, so it's great for all of us!

You already seem to be a hopeless romantic.  You like to see the wedding pictures I was editing on the computer, especially the one where the groom kisses the bride.  And you love the Disney love stories, like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Tangled.  You ask me about what life will be like when you have a wife.

You also asked me the other day, if I could ask God if he could make you and I die at the same time.  And you don't want to go to heaven too soon because you want to stay here on earth and help dad work in the orchard.  You started getting really curious about death and heaven about 2 years ago when Dad's grandma (Nana) died.   Your 4 year old mind seems to really think a lot about things.

On a lighter note (!) you like to ride your bike with no training wheels, and you are a daredevil! You ride up Grampy's hill and come flying down as fast as you can, and I really worry because half the time you are looking over at the house to see if I'm watching you out the window, instead of paying attention to where you are going!  You love to shoot your bb gun, and yesterday you were trying to take down some hawks.

You're up for anything outdoorsy, hiking, hunting, working with Dad, four wheeler rides, pretend play of all sorts....you have a great imagination, and you are so much fun.  I think you are going to be an awesome helper for Dad in the orchard as you get older!

And then there is Nicky! You are a rascal but I love you! You are so strong willed, inquisitive, and seem to have an uncanny ability to problem solve.  This makes you quite the challenge around the house.  You are not stopped by the safeguards and boundaries that contain most 2 year olds.  Needless to say this keeps me on my toes!  I've often found you standing on the back of a chair to get into cupboards, using drawers as stairs, letting yourself out of the fence by unlocking the pins that are in the gate latches to keep you in, unscrewing any light bulbs you can reach, ruining almost every dvd/cd player in the house by putting a disc in and out over and over.......Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!! Oh and you climb up and over the fence now, so having a fenced yard is basically useless. 

But, I see this stuff in you, and I think you have amazing potential to use these qualities for good as you get older! I keep praying that God will take all the things that make you difficult to parent, and use them in your more grown up life, to make you into a headstrong, bold, unswerving man of God.

You have the most hilarious facial expressions, and so much attitude.  You give us sort of a half glare sometimes, and then there is your super excited face with the wide eyes and wide open mouth, and the face you make when you are excited about something but trying to look like it's not really a big deal (um, you're 2, how do you already know that you're supposed to act cool?)

You have a love/hate relationship with Milo.  Sometimes you guys are in an all out brawl complete with pinching, hitting and biting, and other times you are gleefully saying "Watch this Wilo!" (yes you say Milo with a "W")

You also like to carry around the boy kitty (Smokey) and you call him "my girl", copycatting your brother when he calls Snowbell his girl.

You are all sorts of cute and difficult all wrapped up in a little fireball of a personality.  Life is never dull!

 We love you boys!

First day of.....yeah.

First day of Spring!  Spring was behaving like my heart today.  Started off cold and frozen, while according to the season, it should be manifesting warmth and light.

Then the sun came out and the light melting the cold was absolutely beautiful! God does the same thing with us! His light melts our frozen-ness  and it is a gorgeous sight to behold.  I'm always thankful when He does this to me, in his mercy, even though at the time it usually hurts and I want out of it as soon as possible.  

But if he didn't thaw the hard, frozen, prideful areas of me, new growth would not be possible.

1 John 2:16-"For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world."

This is such a constant sifting process for me.  My heart tends toward pride.  And pride is so tricky that it even masquerades as humility.  It's like a war inside.

It's easier to appreciate the beauty of it all in hindsight.  And in saying that, I know that I'm nowhere near done. I'll be in process until the day I die. 

 

 

 

 

Pinterest to the rescue!

Most of the time I loathe around feeling guilty that I rarely do anything awesome like the stuff I see moms doing on Pinterest.

 

Well.

 

Today I actually DID one of these long-ago pinned projects!  Bath paints.  Really simple, and a lot of fun.  They were probably in there for 20-30 minutes, which is an eternity for Nick to be focused on one thing.

It rained all day.  So we also did the standard fort, had lunch under there, and then baked some cookies this afternoon.

It felt good to get my camera out and snap a few pictures of the super messy fun.

Milo, 4 years 4 months and 28 days

Favorite books:  Jesus Storybook Bible

Best Friends: Hayden, Keller, Easton, Kolton, Haydin, Mackenna, Melodi, Kaleb

Favorite Activities: Imaginative play outside.  Right now he pretends that a couple of trees behind our house are his "house" complete with kitchen and bedroom.  He also pretends to fish in the creek.  He recently got his training wheels off his bike and rides very often! He likes one-on-one time as often as possible.  He likes to do crafts and painting together with me.  He also likes to do his "mystery box" (a box full of dry macaroni, and little objects that he finds just by feeling for them)

Favorite Songs: "Glory to God" "Kings and Queens"-Audio Adrenaline

Favorite TV shows: Shaun the Sheep, Any of the Disney Princess Movies. Yesterday he told us that The Little Mermaid is even beautiful-er than "Re-punzel" ("Tangled" was his favorite movie for quite awhile)

Favorite Food: Ice Cream

Clothing size: 6-7 Shoe Size-1

Height-46 inches 

Weight-60 pounds

 

Yesterday after church, Kevin took Milo on a "date".  They did lunch at McDonald's, and then went to the Sportsman's show.

While they were at the Sportsman's show, Milo got to see live bears, and he went fishing.  He caught a fish, brought it home, cleaned it with Kevin, and then they fried it for dinner.

After they had cleaned it, Kevin and I were talking in the other room, and then Milo came and told us that he had cut out the fish's eyeball.  Sure enough, we went to the kitchen and it was the cleanest extraction of an eyeball I had ever seen.  He had helped himself to a pair of scissors and a chopping knife (scary), and he was so proud of himself for his little fish surgery.

 

Cruisin'

Milo leaped into a new stage of little boyhood today.  No more training wheels! He asked Kevin to take them off when they were outside working on a tractor together.  It was pretty spur of the moment, but he was definitely ready!

 

I didn't even know it was happening, I just looked out the window and saw them going up and down the driveway, Kevin close behind while Milo made some pretty wobbly solo rides!  I grabbed my camera (the real one, I thought this event deserved more than my iPhone!) and ran outside to grab some pictures.  

 

Milo was SOOO proud of himself.  I love seeing him feel accomplished.  His face is so cute when he is feeling good about something.  

 

He spent a lot of time outside riding bikes the rest of the day.  

 

I thought this was a good excuse to make "celebration cupcakes", so we did.  Dark chocolate cupcakes with green mint frosting.  Milo was super excited to have cupcakes for his special day.

I love that boy.

And of course Nick got to have a cupcake too, complete with a birthday candle because cupcakes and birthday candles are inextricable linked in this house.  We should have made up some sort of bike riding song, but we just sang "happy birthday to you" a few times and kept re-lighting their candles so they could have their fill of blowing them out.

It was a fun time! It's awesome to see the boys achieving milestones and even better when they are old enough to feel a sense of accomplishment.

An ordinary, blessed kind of day

Yesterday was great. We saw beautiful skies on the way to Wenatchee. Milo went to preschool and nick and I went to MOPS.

MOPS was extra wonderful.

We went and got some things at the dollar store and then came home. Later in the day we played outside and after Kevin got home, Milo and I ran up the canyon for some impromptu sledding. It was fun until I gave him a poorly advised sled run and he ended up in the brush!

Kevin got dinner ready and made a salad (he doesn't usually even eat salad!) and he even made a vinaigrette that was DELICIOUS.

The boys tried out painting with shaving cream during bath time. That was definitely a winner!

We finished the night with bible study with my sister Heather. Good times!

God is creative.

I was so blessed by the teaching we received at church today.  It was about spiritual pathways, and how God created us all so differently, and actually delights in the different ways we worship him and experience spiritual transformation!  This was so LIBERATING!  I have been struggling with this exact thing lately, and once again, it’s like God planted this message just for me.  He is so good!

Something I have been feeling, is that I just long for more and more of God’s presence all the time. The deep kind of soul intimacy that comes when I am quiet with Him in prayer, listening studying the Scriptures, or reading a book that grows me spiritually.  In preparation for a talk I gave at MOPS last week, I had spent the previous few weeks giving myself “permission” to use Nick’s naptime and Milo’s quiet time, as a time for doing this kind of quiet prayer/study/journaling time.  I wanted God’s spirit to move and reveal things to me that I felt like He wanted me to pass on to the other MOPS moms.  So I gave myself all the time I could in close communion with Him.  It’s super hard to get much of that these days, with the boys being 4 and 2 years old.  Just the amount of time it takes to be a good mom to them, keep the house in order, be a good wife, generally consumes almost all the time I have.  So it’s hard to find the margins that can be trimmed, and honestly, sometimes I have to give up on things that the world probably views as “essentials” but when I really listen to God, He tells me it’s okay to let those things go.  Like laundry.  I have a constant laundry issue going on, but we all have enough clean clothes to wear, and I’d rather have a few piles of unfolded clothes and get some quiet time with the Lord.  That’s just one example of many where I’ve been letting things go that used to (and sometimes still do) drive me nuts.  It’s a difficult process of God pruning away the things that I cling to that really don’t have eternal significance.  But it’s definitely not an easy process, and there are definitely days I feel like I’m losing my mind and I end up in tears.

So, earlier this week, after I laid Nick down for his nap and was preparing to go have some quiet time for myself, I sort of asked myself “Okay, is it maybe time for this little ‘spiritual vacation’ I’ve been allowing myself to have, to come to a close?”  I mean,  I can’t have a messy house forever right? I need to get STUFF done!  And then I felt a little guilty that I seem to require so much alone time with the Lord to stay spiritually healthy.  Like, why can’t I be one of those people who can read a psalm in the morning say a 30 second prayer and be good to go?  My weaknesses frustrate me.  I know though, that when I’m spiritually healthy, it’s good for the whole family.  Sort of like that saying…”When mama aint happy aint nobody happy!”

 

So that’s why I was absolutely elated to hear today’s message at church! I don’t have to be like everybody else! God made me with a natural bent towards spending contemplative solitary time with Him, and also with a thirst for more and more knowledge about Him!  I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.-Psalm 143:6

 

 I’m a Mary, not a Martha.  Sometimes.  Is it normal to have a heart divided between those two types of women? When I try to force Martha to show up here, it just doesn’t end well, but I keep trying to force it.  (Mary and Martha from Luke, Chapter 10)

Now obviously I just can’t lock myself in my room and read all day. God has given me some very practical assignments.  Raising a family is a lot of work!  I’m trying to have the goal of seeing God more and more in that work.  Honestly, I really haven’t found the balance yet, and if I know one thing it is this; I won’t find that balance in my own strength and wisdom.

James  1:5  If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

There it is.  I have no wisdom of my own.  God promises to give wisdom generously.  This is such a great promise, and I’m going to cling to it, because I know when I rely on my own strength and wisdom, I start looking for formulas.  The trouble with formulas is while they can be helpful, they are devised by man, and they usually end up frustrating me because I can’t execute them and get the results I want.  This is requiring so much trust from me! Some days I don’t know if I can do it.  I want tidy, mapped out, structured, how-to manuals for just about every aspect of life.  But God doesn’t work that way!  I think he doesn’t work that way because if He did, we would have no need for Him.  When I have no wisdom of my own, I’m constantly on my face before Him asking, “What in the world do you want me to do with this situation/child/task????????”  And then I receive the joy of Him giving me some sort of encouragement or revelation either through prayer or through His word, and that is so much sweeter than following a formula.  He is my Dad, and He wants to help me with everything.  All of it.

 

He has made so many promises to us, and He is good on them.  Like these ones:

O Lord, I call to you; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to you. –Psalm 141:1

Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need.-Psalm 142:6

 

 

I pray those a lot lately because I honestly have no idea what to do with my kids sometimes.  But God is faithful.  He’s not going to leave us here alone.  As long as I keep my eyes firmly focused on Him and what He is calling us to do with our family, I know His promises are sure for us.

Kids ARE here. Part II

I guess I was really tired last night when I posted this.  The whole point of that post was supposed to be that I'm trying to practice an attitude of thankfulness for the stuff I tend not to be so thankful for! Like mess after mess, sweeping that never ends, muddy boys, & toys everywhere!

 

If I can see those things and be thankful to God for every single bit of it, it drastically changes my perspective.  Our God is a God of grace!  He has given so much, and yet I get stuck in my selfish little mind with it's thirst for control and order, to the point that I can't even recognize the gifts I've been given that are all around me!

 

So these are some of the pictures I took as an intentional way to see things through the lens of gift.  Everything we have is a gift from the Lord.

 

I just forgot to post these last night when I was blogging, apparently I must have been really tired, since that was supposed to be the whole theme of the post?!  Ok, no more blogging from me after 10 pm, I promise!

I had just swept less than two hours prior. No joke!

The laundry monster is taking over our room!

and sometimes when we feel cooped up, it's good to get outside and see the divinely ordained beauty all around us!

This hillside was part of the backburn that was conducted during last year's fires.  It came really close to our house.  I'm so amazed at how quickly it's recovering! As soon as the snow began to melt, there was green showing through!

Psalm 18 v. 1-2

I love you, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.

He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Kids ARE here.

This blog post is my attempt to practice eucharisteo as Ann Voskamp writes about in her book 1000 Gifts.  Her book and her blog just speak to my heart on the deepest levels.  She is so real and honest about doing life, motherhood, and doing it all to glorify God and be wrapped in His love, even when we feel like we are drowning in the daily-ness of it all.

I spent a lot of time reading Psalms today.  They are so powerful.  I was reading ones written by King David, a man who had much sin in his life yet pursued God and longed to be in His presence.  He sounds like me.  Maybe that's why I find so much comfort in the Psalms.

Words are escaping me at this hour of the night, I had hoped to write something to go with these pictures, but I'm going to just have to go with pictures alone.