Happy Independence Day!

American or not, what is your favorite place in the United States?

I have several favorites.

I love Chicago, the beautiful California beaches, Yellowstone National Park, the Seattle area, the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, Central Park, the touristy part of Washington DC, Salt Lake City, the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, and of course, St. Louis, Missouri.

How about you?

Mother's Day

When I was in college, I worked at a Boys and Girls Club, tutoring reading. (surprise!)

I only went there a few days a week, but I became attached to one little girl. She was super cute and sure she had some behavioral problems, but she soaked in the attention spent with her. I felt she had potential and rejoiced over the little bits of progress she made. One day, a group from the local high school came to make Valentine's cards with the kids for their mothers. Those of us who worked there helped out. When it was over and we were cleaning up the scraps and scrubbing the glue off of the tables, she came up to me, held out the card and said "Would you be my pretend mother?"

I think my heart broke in that second. I said something terribly bright like, "sure!", gave her a hug and took the card. But what little girl doesn't want to give her mother a card she made for her? What rift was there that she would even consider giving a card made for mom to someone else? (she had a mother btw, in case you were thinking maybe she didn't)

So today I want to say thank you to all the good mothers who love their children and guard and tend to their precious little hearts. And I want to share that showing kindness and loving children doesn't go unnoticed even if you are not a mother.

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Happy Easter

"And life is worth the living just because He lives." The Gaithers

Happy Easter everyone! I hope life is just a little more precious for you today because of His life!

Happy Resurrection Weekend, All!

There is not room for Death,
Nor atom that his might could render void:
Thou - Thou art Being and Breath,
And what Thou art may never be destroyed.

--Emily Bronte

Love on the Day for Lovers

I've been spending this week reading about the trip in Uganda.

Everyday, I've felt my heart feel a little heavier. Every time I buy something, I think about how much this money could give someone else.

To top it off, I'm reading another excellent fiction book about a teen mission trip that goes very wrong in Indonesia. It explores all sorts of deep themes on justice, suffering, God's will, etc.

It's really hard to think about yourself when you're busy thinking about others.

I read that people will spend 17 billion dollars on Valentine's Day this year.

Reading that made my heart ache and I even felt a little guilty for the 20 dollars or so I spent on little Valentine gifts for my nieces which I didn't mail until yesterday. Since they're going to Costa Rica they probably won't get there until St. Patrick's Day.

It may be too late, you may have already spent your average of 123 dollars on Valentine's Day, but here are a few suggestions to show love in a different-than-normal way:

*write to your sponsored child.
*give freely to the next person who asks of you
*spend some extra time in prayer for the persecuted Christians of the world
*skip the romantic movie and look over photo albums and share memories with your loved one

What are your ideas?

O Christmas Tree

The pesky thing about artificial Christmas trees is that you have to bend the branches out to make it look beautiful. This takes some artistic skill. (if you do not think this requires artistic skill than you obviously have some) Have I ever mentioned that I couldn't possibly lack artistic skill any more than I already do? People have looked at my stick figures with great confusion.

Another thing that doesn't help is if your artificial Christmas tree came from the dollar store, is three years old, and when purchased had a curve to the spine.

This tree is the one I use to decorate my "office." It is truly dejected looking, but I love it all the same, as do the students.

When growing up, we always had real trees. I thought that was the best way to go. After all, real trees have the smell of Christmas. But now I have the pesky environmental conscience that thinks artificial trees may be the best way to go. Except that you have to have room to store them.

So what about you? Are you a real tree, artifical tree, or no tree sort of person?

Happy Thanksgiving!

"A thankful heart cannot be cynical."--A.W. Tozer

A Week to Give Thanks #3

I am thankful that I live in an internet age. I have friends from all over the world that I am able to keep in touch with because of the internet.

And I am better able to keep in touch with my sister and her family. I can't wait to see them in just a few weeks at Christmas!

A Week to Give Thanks #2

Today, I am thankful that I have a choice of what to eat. Not only do I have enough to eat, but I have a choice about it as well.

Not everyone in the world has that.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:8-11

Good Friday

Easter seems to get more and more ignored as the years pass. The majority of my students have to work on Saturday. I keep forgetting it's Easter. Of course, part of that could be that I no longer attend a traditional church. We don't meet on Sundays. My small group will meet tonight but we're converting our normal time of study into a 30th birthday party for our assistant pastor.

It could also be that we spend so much time and effort celebrating Christmas that we just sort of forget about Easter. After all, Christmas really covers it but in a nicer more palatable sort of way. Or maybe it's just Southern California. Or maybe it's because I don't have little kids that this is the way I perceive things.

In any case, I hope you have some time to reflect on the absolutely mind blowing phenomenal meaning of this day, when Jesus laid down the righteous life He lived in our place, and took the sin and death we earned.

"Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all." Isaac Watts

A President's Day Game

If America was a religion, Abraham Lincoln would be the Savior. After all, his greatest accomplishment, the one we remember him for, was saving the Union.
If America was a religion, the Constitution would be the Bible or holy Scripture. Constantly open to interpretation on how best to live and we are always seeking to understand what the founding fathers really intended. (sound familiar Bible school students?) In addition, if the times change, so does the "theology."
If America was a religion, the flag would be the cross. The absolute symbol of everything that matters.

Ok, your turn to play, I think you get the idea.......

Happy Year of the Pig!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
Martin Luther King Jr.

Christmas Miracles

Christmas is the time for miracles, for wonder and awe! Each Christmas a new assortment of books are released celebrating the wonder of this special time, a fresh flood of tv movies comes on encouraging us to find the good in life, and maybe we all also have a secret hope of a Christmas miracle for ourselves. Christmas does after all, fall at the end of the year, a natural time to reflect on our lives and place a marker in our journeys. A natural time to hope for something out of the ordinary to happen.

I have never had a huge Christmas miracle, but I had a little one. The year I moved back to the States from Japan, I had purchased all of my presents in Asia and shipped them. And then I waited for them to arrive. Everday, I waited anxiously for them to arrive and they did not. I started to worry about my lack of Christmas presents, especially since it was a rare Christmas with my nieces. And then...December 24th, the mailman arrives with all five large boxes of Christmas presents (and other belongings). To me, it was a little Christmas miracle.

Do you have a Christmas miracle story?

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

As has been stated many times previously on this blog, I love Christmas. It's the most wonderful time of the year. I love it all, and throw myself fully into the festivity of the season.

Some people don't like Christmas. They think it's too commericialized. They hate shopping. Or maybe they don't have anyone to spend Christmas with. Or something horrible happened at Christmas time that has forever tainted this time of year for them. Or perhaps they just hate their relatives and dread all the family togetherness the season entails.

So which side of the Christmas coin do you land on? Love it? Hate it? Like parts of it and wish others would forever disappear?

Oh by the way, sorry it has been awhile since I've posted, I was down South in Costa Rica visiting the three most adorable little girls ever! (my nieces!)

A Grateful Person

It's been awhile since I've had the chance to post, my mind has been occupied with other things I suppose. But I am alive and well.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope that as the year draws to a close and we take these few days out to celebrate life and express gratitude to God and others that you have something to be thankful for. I hope your heart is welling up and overflowing with gratitude for the gifts of the year, no matter what sort of package they came in.

I'm thankful for family, friends, my church, and that God's timetable is not mine, even when I can't quite understand His.

Much love to all!