Conformed or Transformed?

If you have ever seen a beauty pageant? What is the one thing that they frequently say that they are working for or wish for? World Peace! Everyone longs for peace. Have any of you been shopping this past week? If you were, did you walk out of the store saying “Wow, this season is full of peace on earth and goodwill to men!” Ha ha….probably not! Some of you may be thinking “Peace at Christmas? Is that possible?” This week I watched a t.v. program that had a woman on who HATES…and I mean…HATES Christmas. She hates how mean people get to get a good deal at the stores, she hates how rude people are to the store clerks. She hates all the obligation to get together with family and worse yet….feeling obligated to buy gifts. Now, I do agree with her that people can act exactly opposite of what they should be for the season and I do agree that people should make a point to get together other times of the year as well, but….HATEING Christmas? What she is ultimately saying is “There is no peace

Olivia is in the elementary choir at school and yesterday they went to the Pavillions, a nursing home. She was in the news last night and since I can't get the video to post here, you can watch it HERE. Olivia loves to sing and she blesses us with her gift. Thanks for sharing your gift with these people Olivia. You did a fantastic job and brought smiles to many faces! I love you, girly!

Wow...those are precious words from a sweet, 75 year old woman who was beaten and bound for 26 hours. The whole story is here http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/28250704/ This is an amazing woman. The teens involved in this were less than remorseful and yet this precious woman says "There aren't many people out there like that" We can learn a lot from this dear One. She made a CHOICE to be positive. She made a CHOICE to get back up again. She made a CHOICE to go forward. You see, it's a choice that we have each and every day as well. We can choose to look at the negative...cuz it's there. We can choose to be a victim and let it ruin us for the rest of our lives. We can choose to live our lives in fear, OR we can choose to trust in Christ and look for the positive in situations. What situation in your life has you down? What is it that persistently frustrates you? Take a few minutes to give that thing to the Lord and pray over it and then purposely think of three positi

On November 26, 2008, my Aunt found my Uncle "sleeping" on the couch....eternally. At this point, we still don't know his cause of death, but I have been processing over the last few weeks. We went down state early before Thanksgiving to be with my Mom and spent extended time there. He didn't want any type of service or fanfare, so the family didn't even get together.....besides, they are living in Florida for the winter. I have been mulling over a few things in my mind. Here are some random thoughts I'm having.... - I don't like the idea of people milling around my body when I'm gone, but I think it's a healthy thing to do, as it helps people to get together, talk, process and grieve together. - Life here on earth is short. We never know how long we have, so we need to be ready. - Comfort and peace are difficult when the person is "not ready". - Is my urgency to share the gospel when a crisis comes the same as when there isn't a

I run to You. When the waves around me are crashing from the storm.... When I'm in the stillness of the redwood forest and not a sound is heard... When I am in a crowd of people and feel all alone.... When I sit on the edge wondering where you are.... When I am filled with excitement that I cannot contain..... When I don't feel I can go on.... I run to You. Your love reaches. Your love touches. I run to You. Where it's always safe and I am held. I run to You. The One who never changes. I run to You. I run only to You. Jesus.

A science professor begins his school year with a lecture to the students, "Let me explain the problem science has with religion." The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand. "You're a Christian, aren't you, son?" "Yes sir," the student says. "So you believe in God?" "Absolutely." "Is God good?" "Sure! God's good." "Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?" "Yes." "Are you good or evil?" "The Bible says I'm evil." The professor grins knowingly. "Aha! The Bible!" He considers for a moment. "Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?" "Yes sir, I would." "So you're good...!" "I wouldn't say that." "But why not say that? You'd help a

The following article is from http://www.crosswalk.com/spirituallife/11595374/ (Answers with Bayless Conley) It really hit home in many ways for me. It is a great follow-up to yesterday's post about waiting. If you’re like me, there's been a time in your life when trusting God has been tough. Perhaps that time is right now! Maybe your marriage isn't where you would like it to be. Perhaps it's far from ideal… even very far from being happy… and you've been praying and trusting God to turn things around. Maybe you're trusting God for the healing of a physical affliction in your body. Maybe there's a difficult financial situation in which you're trusting God for favor. Maybe it has to do with your kids or some other situation in the home. Maybe it has to do with something that's going on at work and you're trusting God for something to change. Whatever it is, I want to encourage you with a word from the Lord today. I want to share with you one rea

It is so hard to wait. We can get impatient. We can get down right mad at having to wait. We have gotten so used to instant gratification that I think we have lost the art of waiting. The "art of waiting"? What does that mean? There was a time when people prayed until they saw God moved. There was a time when people pleaded with God and stayed all day, all night, whatever it took to see God move. There was a time when people fasted and gave up everything just to wait on God. There was a time.....when was the last time for you? Has there been a time? I am convicted in my own spirit by this. So, what will I do about it? I find there are some things I have been praying about and I am waiting. Trying to be patient. Trying to be faithful. Trying to keep my face on the ground and not give up. Trying. Trying. Trying.....and yet....what are we supposed to do "in the waiting"? Here are some things God spoke to my heart about this morning: - Fast and keep a

"If we dont radiate the light of Christ around us, the sense of the darkness that prevails in the world will increase." -Mother Teresa

It is now time we set aside our feelings about the election and act. We can spend a lot of time speculating, fighting, talking about the election, but what if we were to spend that same amount of time in prayer for our president? I believe that God can change even the hardest of hearts. I believe that God can move mountains....truly. I believe that God is ABLE to do exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or imagine! Do YOU? PRAY....... The following was sent to me by a dear saint: The 10 Ways to Pray for Barack Obama Whether you are happy about this week’s election results or not, all Christians must unite in prayer for our new president. Please don’t forsake this responsibility. It’s over. We’ve reached the end of the longest, angriest and most nerve-wracking presidential campaign in American history. Finally the “I approved this message” ads have ceased. The endless robot phone calls have stopped ringing. The debates, and the annoying post-debate comments from “experts,”

This letter came across my email today and I found it quite funny, so I thought I would share it with you..... TOUGH LOVE VS. SPANKING............. Most people think it improper to spank children, so I have tried other methods to control kids when they have one of 'those moments.' One that I found effective is for me to just take the child for a car ride and talk. Some say it's the vibration from the car, others say it's the time away from any distractions such as TV, Video Games, Computer, IPod, etc. Either way, kids usually calm down and stop misbehaving after our car ride together. Eye to eye contact helps a lot too. I've included a photo below of one of my sessions with my son, in case you would like to use the technique. Sincerely, Your Friend

Last weekend Brian and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. It has been a difficult year in some ways for our marriage, so we thought it would be good to really focus on our marriage during our anniversary and how we can grow even more. Can you believe it? There was a Love and Respect Conference near Chicago on the exact weekend of our anniversary. So, last weekend, we went. Amazing! Love and Respect is based on Ephesians 5:33 that says "However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." How have we missed this verse in scripture. How many of us have heard the first part about husbands loving their wives, but the second part has been lost. It's not about the husband lording over the wife, but a mutual love and respect. Women long to be loved and men long to be respected....and go figure...that's how GOD created it to be. Most would say that we should love unconditionally. I probably wouldn'

I took a Missions Trip to Mexico back in 1990 and David Roller was the missionary there. Since then, he has changed positions a few times and is now one of the Bishops of the Free Methodist Church. He has posted an interesting concept he came up with on his blog and I wanted to share it with you.... I had a cool idea recently while studying Acts 15. As a part of their ruling on the Gentile Christians, the Council of Jerusalem said, "we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God." And I thought, "what a great principle!" I know that it's a time-honored tradition to make it difficult for people to decide to follow Jesus (and He sometimes did too, like the rich young ruler). But Jesus usually made it easy, made it attractive to follow Him (free fish, free healings, free kingdom of God). I thought about our traditional altar calls ("every head bowed, every eye closed...") and how they made it hard to come to Jesus. Then it came

This is the song of my heart today.

Life has been very hectic with the start of school this year. Andrew is in high school and just finished his driver's education. A lot of changes for us. I am finally finished with classes and tomorrow is my ordination ceremony down in Fremont, MI. It feels good to have reached that goal. I started this week with Pastor's Prayer and Fast Retreat down at camp. It was a good time to meet with other Pastors and get to know some of them, as well as the time of meeting with God. Betweeen the retreat and my ordination and my wedding anniversary this month, I have been in evaluation mode. I am evaluating each relationship I have: my marriage....both to Brian and to God, my relationship with my children and also my relationship in ministry. I have been overwhelmed this week by the deep responsibility I carry in each relationship. So, I am evaluating, setting goals and praying for each one. Here are some of the questions I am asking myself: 1. How much time do I spend on thi

I have been watching some of the speeches this week from the Republican Convention. I was really impressed with Sarah Palin. She's got such personality! You could feel the people being drawn in by her speech and by the end, you could tell that they loved her! The commentators at the end of the speech were saying what an incredible job she did and then it immediately went to a clip about a lawsuit she is currently fighting in Alaska. I was really disappointed. It seemed they took her great moment and tried to squelch it. Every decision she has ever made, her family life, her job, everything is under scrutiny. It got me thinking, what if my life "went public" tomorrow? What if others evaluated my every decision? If they scrutized how I raised our family and spend my money, how would I hold up? Would they have a lot of "dirt" to proclaim to the press or would they see a life of integrity? 1 Peter 2:12 says to live such good lives among the pagans that,

Music amazes me. It can set the mood and tone for your day. It can change your day. It can lift you up. The flip side...it can bring you down, as well depending on what you are listening to. For the past couple of weeks, I have set my alarm to wake me up to the song "Trading My Sorrows". I have been amazed at how it has changed my view on the day. If I wake up with anything heavy on my heart, it is a reminder that I need to give that to the Lord and trade my frustration, anger, worry, sadness, ect.... for the joy of the Lord. Listen to the song....let it speak to your heart as it does every morning to mine...

I was outside pulling weeds in my garden and was reminded of the spiritual impact of "pullin' weeds". If the weeds are left to themselves in the garden, they will take over the beautiful flowers and vegetables that should be growing there. The garden was meant for beauty and producing fruit (or vegetables). We may think that now that we are a Christian that we have our ticket to heaven and that is enough. IT'S NOT! We have to pull the weeds, the sin, to be what God created us to be. He desires that we grow, flourish and bear fruit, but sin left untreated, will take over our life and choke us out. I can go out on any given day and pull at least ONE weed. Spiritually, I can go to prayer and seek my heart and almost always find at least ONE weed (sin, bad attitude, ect.) that needs to be removed. How about you? When was that last time you opened your heart up and let God reveal improper motives, attitudes and sin? Does your heart break over the sin or have you become in

Last week was an amazing week with Vacation Bible School. It was a long week and took an extra 40+ hours out of my week, but worth it. I trust that God is going to grow the seeds we have planted at VBS. This week I have been working diligently on the youth group plans. We are doing Alien Youth and I have been writing all the lessons for the next 6 weeks. I am very excited about it all. We are going to have a ton of fun and learn what it means to be a Christian in this world, but not of it. I have to save the details, so it will be a surprise for the youth, but I WILL be sharing as it unfolds. Looking forward to the last weekend of "freedom". School starts on Tuesday with Andrew in high school and Olivia in 3rd grade. We were going to go away for the weekend, but think we will just relax at home and maybe spend some time out on the boat and have a few friends over for a cookout.

For the past 24 hours, Olivia has had a fever and a headache. She woke up this morning and took some more Tylenol and was finally feeling like eating. She asked for a smoothie for breakfast and then said "Mom, I really want crabmeat cheese. Can we make some in our new deep fryer?" So, we cooked together this morning and made just that and enjoyed our cooking creation together for lunch. Since she was sick, I got the day off work. It's a blessing to spend the day home today. Thank You, Lord for knowing when we need to slow down and giving us opportunitites for that to happen. I feel blessed this day! TONIGHT STARTS VBS....gonna need this time! I am very excited about this week!

"making a difference with our time here on earth" This is the new youth group name. It should be a lot of fun starting up again this fall. I am working on writing some materials about how we are in this world, but not of it. What does it mean to be a Christian in this world? How are we aliens and strangers here on earth? How does that translate into the way I interact with the world? We are going to be looking at 1 Peter. I am excited about it. Do you have any ideas for me? Talk to me....

We spent a great week at Family Camp. It was so much fun seeing friends who we don't get to visit with often. I had 5 kids with me, so I didn't get to visit as much as I wanted to, but we did get to share a potluck on Sunday with our Midland friends and then the Schloemann's generously make a pancake breakfast for the Midland group (the sausage balls are the best!) We had numerous campfires with smores and cherry pies and whatever else kind of pie the kids could come up with.....smore pie, pizza pie, and grilled cheese. One friend made snowcones for all the kids in the area and I made a bit of homemade icecream. Let's not forget the endless trips to the beach. My niece, Cassandra, for the first time jumped off the blob (a tall platform that you jump off on to a big inflatable, which sends the person at the other end of the blog flying up into the air and into the water) Andrew had his friend, Brad, stay with us for the week, and they had fun pulling pranks on peopl

We are going camping at the Free Methodist Church Family Camp this week, so there will be no posts for a week.

MICHIGAN'S ADVENTURE!!! Bumper Cars....Mom vs. Dad and Olivia! Frog Hopper....this ride goes up and as it comes back down bounces up and down. The kids scream with excitement. It's so fun to watch! We went to a petting zoo that had this big jumping pillow: And what is camping without a little water time and a campfire? by the way...this stuff really makes a campfire fun! It sizzles when it burns (and supposedly helps with mosquitos).

When we were camping last week, one of our day trip excursions was for Olivia and I to go horseback riding. It is the first time Olivia has been on a horse and the first time in a loooonnnggg time since I have been on one. We took an hour long trail ride with a guide and another mother and daughter. We had such a good time. We each had our own horse. I was a little worried that Olivia wouldn't like the trotting part, but she did well with it all...and I must say, she had the cutest curls bouncing up and down when we did trot. These are great memories for her and I!

Today I turned 140-70/2. (For those of you not good at math, the answer is 35!) Thanks to those of you who sent birthday greetings. I worked this morning and then came home, took a shower and went to my birthday massage. I was going to get my hair cut, but I ended up doing that yesterday. After my massage, Brian and the kids took me to Outback for dinner. I love their steak and fresh broccoli. It was really tastey, especially since we finished the whole thing off with a hot pecan brownie with vanilla icecream, whipped cream and hot chocolate fudge sauce. MMMM!!!! Now we are going to watch a movie together.....the perfect ending to a beautiful day! I feel very blessed to have such a fantastic family!

Wow, summer has been a blast, but is flying by. We have kept very busy. I attended an open house this weekend and was reminded of how long it's been since I've posted. School was still in session on my last post. So, what's been happening??? NEW ARRIVAL: We have a new baby in the house. Her name is Callie. She was 4 weeks old when we got her. She is now 2 months old and is so playful and fun. Yes, a kitten! The kids both love her to death. She plays a lot and loves people. If she finds herself alone in a room, she cries. It is sooo cute. Welcome to the family, Callie! TUESDAYS: Olivia has been attending "Tuesdays at the Township". Every Tuesday she attends a different event. The first one was about what it's like to be a kid in El Salvador. She learned a little Spanish and wants to do more. She's excited about it. This week she learned kid safety. People from the local TaeKwonDo came and taught a few moves and talked a lot about how to

Yesterday was a beautiful day outside. It was just cool enough and the sun was shining to get some heavy outdoor work done. Brian was at work, so the kids and I spent the whole day outside. I THINK the kids ate lunch, but we came in around 8pm to eat dinner. I couldn't believe it was so late. We did some clean up of the trees in the front yard, picking up brush/sticks, ect.... and some flower planting/moving of plants. My Mom had given me some things that she decided to take out of her garden, so we planted them! It has been fun finally getting to the landscaping at our home. I keep saying that I am almost done, but then I had more gardens and clean more things out that need "help". Our grass is coming in pretty nicely and Andrew mowed it for the first time. I think that will be Andrew's job this year. All in all, it was a great day together, even though Brian couldn't join us. We will probably spend tonight around the campfire burning all that brush that we clean

You may have seen these before through the emails circulating, but many of them made me laugh out loud, so I thought I would share them here....enjoy!!! The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals. The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water." The sermon tonight: "Searching For Jesus." Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King. Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands. The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been cancelled due to a conflict. Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say "Hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you. Don't let worry kill you off -- let the Church help. Miss Charlene Mason sang "I Will Not Pass This Way Again," giving obvious pleasure to the

This last week part of what I preached was how we view our troubles. What if God allows troubles to come our way to grow us into the people that He wants us to be. What would happen if we viewed troubles as opportunities to see God work? I believe that miracles were not just for Bible times, but also for today. Mark Batterson says this "Too often our prayers revolve around asking god to reduce the odds in our lives. We want everything in our favor, but maybe God wants to stack the odds against us so we can experience a miracle of divine proportions. Maybe faith is trusting God no matter how impossible the odds are. Maybe our impossible situations are opportunities to experience a new dimension of God's glory." What trouble are you facing right now? Instead of praying to ask God to take the trouble away, try asking God for a miracle! What do you think? Talk to me.....

My friend, Mark Wilson , posted a video of the story I shared with you earlier. Just thought you might be interested in hearing more of the story....

I can only take so much of the news and then I get depressed. There is so much that they report that is negative, but HERE is a story of great proportions. It lifts your spirits and makes you wish they reported MORE stuff like this.....and that more people acted like this. Note who carried this girl around the bases.......Check it out!

I keep telling myself that I am going to be more consistent in my blogging, but it seems I can't seem to get into that groove. BUT...I will continue working on it. This week we have been getting ready for our garage sale. Yesterday was the first day of the sale and things went well. I had lots of traffic, despite the rainy weather. We did have to close early due to the rain. It is sunny so far this morning and I am hoping for a bright, sunny day today. Tonight we will have a new couple in the church over for dinner. We are excited to get to know some new friends. I am looking forward to a great day!

About 10 weeks ago, we started a new youth program and children's program on Wednesday nights. Every week we have seen growth. It has been so fun to watch. We decided that we would do 6-8 weeks and then have a family night, where we play games and give the updates as to where we have been and where we are going. I hoped that it would generate outreach and excitement for what we are doing. Last night was our first Family Fun Night and WOW! Was I surprised! We made about 20 hotdogs, thinking that should be about enough. As we brought the hotdogs in, we looked around and realized that we needed to quick get on the ball and get some more hotdogs and buns, as people were pouring through the doors. When we did the count, 47 people were present....over DOUBLE what we were expecting. We only had around 40 on Sunday morning. What's exciting about all this, is that only about 1/3 of the people were regular attenders. Most of them were people who either don't attend or don&#

Tonight was my LAST night of class. Not just for a semester, but for good. I have finished the ordination courses and just need to turn in my last set of supervised ministry papers and my ordination interview papers and I am completely done. I now can read a book because I want to read it and not because someone tells me what to read. It feels good to be done! Since I know that some of you will ask, my ordination should be on September 20, 2008 in Fremont, Michigan. If you want more details to attend, please email me and I would be glad to get them to you. Thank you to all of you who have supported me, encouraged me, prodded me, ect. in this journey. It has been incredible and I look forward to what God has in store for the next phase in this adventure.

It has been a really busy week and I have read Chapter 3, but haven't had a chance to post about it. When I got an email yesterday asking "Where is chapter 3?" I figured I had better get on that! I really appreciate those of you who faithfully read and comment. It encourages me to keep on sharing. Sometimes you wonder if what you have to say ever makes a hill of beans difference in anyone else's life. I pray that the words here on this blog will encourage and inspire your relationship with God in a new way. I know it hold me accountable to keep my relationship with God going strong. I pray that for all of us that we will "no longer be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of our minds". So, on that note....chapter THREE!!! First, I realized that I haven't really shared with you what "chasing lions" is all about. Beneniah killed a lion in 2 Samuel 23:20-23 . I am sure it was one of the scariest moments of his life, yet the m

We continue on today with highlights from chapter 2: 1. "God loves impossible odds.......Too often our prayers revolve around asking God to reduce the odds in our lives. We want everything in our favor. But maybe God wants to stack the odds against us so we can experience a mirile of divine proportions. Maybe faith is trusting God no matter how impossible the odds are. Maybe our impossible situations are opportunities to experience a new dimension of God's glory." (Think of the example of Gideon in Judges 7 and the army too large. God widdled it down to 300 men and then has them fight the opposing army with trumpets and jars. They knew in the end that it HAD to be God and not them that made them win.) 2. "How you think about God will determine who you become.....and that internal picture of God determines how you see everything else......The more we grow, the bigger God should get. And the bigger God gets, the smaller our lions will become." 3. "

I bought this book a while back that I really wanted to read and I am just now getting to it. It has a crazy title, but upon reading chapter 1, you totally get it. It's based on 2 Samuel 23:20-23 where Benaiah killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day. The book is about facing your fears to take the risks of the opportunities that God has given us. Over the next few days as I read this book, I want to share some of the highlights, as already in chapter one I have been challenged. Here are a few challenges from chapter 1: 1. "God is in the business of strategically positioning us in the right place at the right time. But the right place often seems like the wrong place, and the right time often seems like the wrong time." 2. "I recognize this simple truth: The greatest opportunities were the scariest lions. Part of me has wanted to play it safe, but I've learned that taking no risks is the greatest risk of all." 3. "I think the church has fixated on sins of

This week is SPRING break for the kids. Not so spring-like, as we have a lot of snow yet, but they are off anyhow. My sister's kids, Cassandra and Theo are here this week as well, as their Mom is a teacher in a different school district than they attend and have different breaks. Cassandra is a year older than Olivia and Theo is a year younger, so they fit in well here. I am still watching my sister and brother in law's children like I do every week, but they are coming to my house this week. Frank is 4, Evelyn is 2 1/2 and Audrey is 1. So, at any given time, we can have up to SEVEN kids here! I might get a picture of them all tomorrow. It gets kinda crazy at times, but all in all, it is going well. I am just thankful that I am blessed to have a job that is flexible and that I can stay home with my own kids this week, as well as help my sister out. God is good.

My Friend, Chadwick Walenga , shared this on his blog and I thought it was worth passing along. Make sure you read all the way to the end. Beauty of Math! 1 x 8 + 1 = 9 12 x 8 + 2 = 98 123 x 8 + 3 = 987 1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876 12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765 123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654 1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543 12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432 123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321 1 x 9 + 2 = 11 12 x 9 + 3 = 111 123 x 9 + 4 = 1111 1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111 12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111 123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111 1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111 12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111 123456789 x 9 +10= 1111111111 9 x 9 + 7 = 88 98 x 9 + 6 = 888 987 x 9 + 5 = 8888 9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888 98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888 987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888 9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888 98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888 Brilliant, isn't it? And look at this symmetry: 1 x 1 = 1 11 x 11 = 121 111 x 111 = 12321 1111 x 1111 = 1234321 11111 x 1 1111 = 123454321 111111 x 111111 = 12345654321 1111111 x 1111111 =1234567654321 1111111 1 x 11111111 = 123456787654321 111111111 x 1111111

He is risen! He is risen indeed!!! Today we celebrate our risen Lord! We started out our worship service this morning with the song "My Redeemer Lives". What a great way to start! We also sang "He Lives" and "Because He Lives".....see the theme? Then we ended with "Worthy is the Lamb/Crown Him with Many Crowns" set. Music is powerful and I know that the songs touched me today. We focus so much on the fact that Jesus died this time of year and on Sunday we always celebrate the fact that He has risen, but the thing that hit me today was the fact that we should be living our lives daily in light of the risen Lord. How does the risen Lord change who we are on a daily basis? Does it make a hill of beans difference to us? Why is it that we only celebrate once a year? Celebration. What would that look like if we celebrated the resurrection every day? When we celebrate a birthday or a birth of a new baby, we tell those around us. You Grandparents and som

On Sunday I went to church and it was "good" but it wasn't any great epiphany or anything, but I have had one of the songs on my heart since Sunday morning. It is pressed deep upon my heart today....... As I come into your presence past the gates of praise Into your sanctuary til we're standing face to face. I look upon your countenance and see the fullness of your grace. I can only bow down and say.... You are awesome in this place Mighty God. You are awesome in this place Abba Father. You are worthy of all praise. To YOU our lives we raise. You are awesome in this place Mighty God. "This place" is not referring to our church services. "This place" refers to my own soul. As I stand face to face with my Savior it truly is awesome. Easter has kinda sneaked up on me this year. All of a sudden it is here and I don't feel like I have prepared my heart properly. So, this morning, as I sit at the foot of the cross, I say..... You are awesome in

An amazing amount of time has passed since I posted last. I shared with you my trip to Cancun, Mexico and it seems life has been hectic and I haven't "felt" like writing much. There has been much going on with me personally and I just don't feel like I have had much to say at times. What possibly could I say that might make any type of difference? I don't wanna talk just to talk, so I have been pretty silent. So, what do you do when you don't FEEL God. What happens when you are in the valley and not the mountaintop? I know that sometimes when we don't feel God it's because of things in our life that shouldn't be there, but at other times, it's just a time when God seems silent. That doesn't mean that God is farther away. It doesn't mean that He isn't still in control or care about what is going on in your life. It's in these times when I don't FEEL God that I realize that this is where my faith comes in. As it is talked abou

We're BACK! We spent some time in Cancun, Mexico as part of our bi-annual Christmas trip with Brian's parents and Sister's family. It was beutiful there. We had good weather most the trip. If it rained, it would only rain for about 10 minutes and then the sun would come back out. It was a bit windy, but it was 85 degrees and sunny, so who cares about the wind, right? It was all inclusive, so we stayed here most of the time. It was an amazing time! This was our hotel... We were able to do some fun excursions. Here are some pictures of our once in a lifetime chance to swim with dolphins. It was amazing! We spent about an hour with them. We got to pet them, feel their tongue, make them do tricks for us, and learn some interesting facts about them. We were right there in the water with them, as you can see. We also did some parasailing. It was amazingly quiet up in the air, but it was a bit windy and with 400 feet of rope, it make me a bit nervous. Brian was able to go up with