teach them

I just want to share a link to a blog that I read often. I know you will be blessed if you read it. It relates to what I talked about in my last post as well! It's from the blog A Holy Experience. CLICK HERE

And let me just say that this woman inspires me to be the mom that God has called me to be! I want to make the gospel real to our children daily and in every circumstance.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

Deuteronomy 6.4-9

brotherly love

It's been too long... A lot has happened in our lives since my last post. But more on that later. I want to share with you something that I've been thinking a lot about lately.

If I could sum up what our time in Louisville, Kentucky impressed upon me, it would be brotherly love. We spent a little over a year in Louisville while Chad was going to seminary at SBTS, and it was the first time since I have known Chad that he wasn't working as a minister in a church. As much as I love being a minister's wife, I was really excited to experience being "lay people" in a church together. We found our church family at Ninth & O Baptist Church. We got involved in a Bible Fellowship Group (BFG) at the church that consisted of couples around our age, most of whom had young children. We sat under some wonderful and challenging teaching by Dr. Wellum and later Joshua Whetstine. I cannot tell you how blessed we were by this group of people! Looking back over the time we spent with these Brothers and Sisters, all I can think about is the wonderful fellowship (and I don't mean food), deep theological discussions, serious prayer, sharing of burdens, compassion, brotherly love, laughter and at times... tears. Being with this group of people from NAOBC and some amazing people we were blessed to know at Southern Seminary, I learned something so valuable - what true Christian brotherly love is meant to be. I pray that this will remain impressed upon my mind and my heart as we move on and serve in another church, no longer as "lay people".

I remember one or two weeks while we were in L'ville just being so overwhelmed with burden for so many people in our lives. We had heard about several friends (not just in L'ville) going through things like divorce, dealing with unbelieving family members, sickness, death etc. There was a couple in our BFG who had been going through the international adoption process for many months to adopt two little boys from the Congo and had just found out that one of these boys had died from meningitis. Oh man... I can't tell you how heartbreaking it was, and to imagine what it was like for this couple. It's the kind of burden you have that drives you to pray. That's all you can do at times. Trust in the Sovereignty of God when nothing else makes sense.

As Christians we are called to LOVE our Brother and Sister in Christ. We experienced that kind of love while living in Louisville and I am so blessed. I think this is what Peter was talking about in 1 Peter 3.8-12:

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For

“Whoever desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
let him turn away from evil and do good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” [ESV]

There are also times in life when it is hard to have this kind of love (just like this passage speaks of - the desire to "repay evil for evil")... we all know that. When someone wrongs you, our natural sinful desire is to "punish" them in whatever form. Oh how damaging this can be! When I see this happening in someone's life, especially in a believer's life, I realize it's like spitting the face of Christ! He didn't hold bitterness in His heart because He had to take on the sins of the world and die for undeserving, selfish people... He prayed for them, He loved them, He died for them. How can we as Christians choose to hold on to bitterness (no matter how badly you've been wronged) when Christ died for our wrongdoings? Brotherly love isn't just carrying eachother's burdens, but it's also forgiving their wrongdoings. And it brings about blessings!

How many times have I kept a "record of wrongs" [1 Cor 13.5 NIV] against someone? How many times have I listened to the burdens of others and not truly listened, to the point of carrying their burdens? It breaks my heart to think of it.

I pray that these amazing truths I learned while we were living in Louisville will stay with me as we serve our new church family at FBC in Willow Springs, MO. I pray that I would learn to love this wonderful group of Believers with the Brotherly love found only in Christ. And I pray that we would truly carry their burdens with them, rejoice with them, and that I would learn to immediately forgive when someone in my life wrongs me. For we are all called to this; and how can we do anything less when we have been given such a wonderful gift in Christ?

Little Huggies Swimmers & The Trail

Day after tomorrow, Chad and I are headed for the Appalacian trail! 30 miles of it starting in Gatlinburg, TN and heading south-west, ending at Fontana Damn in North Carolina... this is a view we might possibly see from Fontana Damn area:

Seriously so excited! But as I'm typing, I'm about to cry because this little guy...  

...obviously can't go with us. It will be the first time we've been without him, but I know he will be in good hands with his Nana and Aunt Kristen and it will be good for all of us.

So, while Chad and I are doing this...

Caleb's going to be doing this (he's stocked up on Little Huggies Swimmers and SPF 50!)...

And it will be SO good to see him when we get back! =)

I'll blog sometime after the trip, but hopefully there won't be any exciting stories to share!

Taking God for Granted

My last post mentioned that Caleb took his first steps... to emphasize my infrequency of posting, Caleb is now running everywhere and daily our house is hit by Hurricane Caleb! He is such a huge blessing in our lives that we totally don't deserve, and I praise God daily for giving him to us.

I'm reading Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper currently, which has quickly moved into my "favorite books" list! She talks about the importance of repitition when it comes to speaking of God to your children, referencing Deuteronomy 11.19:

You shall teach [God's words] to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

She says: "[A] sign of God's wisdom is that, with enough repetition, the very activites, no matter how mundane they are, will trigger thoughts of God in our minds (p.35)." Even if you are single, or married without children, this totally applies to every one of us! And for me, I want this so badly! I want it to become so natural in our home to talk about God, in EVERYTHING we do. Even when I'm not at home and with my family (say at work or out shopping), I want it to be natural to talk with people I meet about the God I love. And I always want to exhibit that kind of lifestyle for Caleb any any future children. Noel shares this excerpt from one of her husband's sermons:

God does not like to be taken for granted. It flies in the face of his eternal purposes-that he be known and loved and praised and enjoyed. And it makes us superficial people... When the main thing is missing, what's left is distorted and superficial, whatever it is. If someone says, "Oh, that's just religion. You can't expect everything to be religion," I answer,"It's not religion. It's reality. God mde the world and everything in it. He owns the erth and everyone on it. He is the main actor in the world. He is guiding the history of every people and nation to their appointed goal. Everything, without exception, has to do with God and gets its main meaning from God. And not to show this, but to take this for granted, is to be superficial..." It is simply impossible to overstate the importance of God. And he does not like being taken for granted. The psalm does not say, "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be taken for granted." It says, "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised." (Ps 96.4)
-John Piper

I don't know about you, but I don't want to be superficial and take God for granted. However I know that I too often do. This book has just been a great reminder of where I'm at right now and where I really need to be. I highly recommend you read it!

I pray that today you are reminded of God's greatness and His Sovereignty! 

pursue righteousness

I mentioned prayer in my last post...

Right around the new year, I was listening to the local Christian radio station on my way to work. Normally there are a lot of things that bother me about what the radio hosts talk about on Christian radio stations and I typically turn it off in-between songs. But this particular day, something that a caller was saying made me keep it on. She was sharing how the previous year, instead of a New Year's resolution, she had decided to choose a word that she would learn to live out through the year. Her word was "listen". She talked about what that had meant for her in various forms, like listening to others and listening to the world around her, but most importantly, learning to listen to God. She said that this past November her yearly mammogram was coming up and she decided to just skip it because she had been so faithful the years prior to get it done and it had always been fine. As soon as she decided to not have it done for 2010, she kept having this feeling that that was the wrong decision and every time she thought about it, her word "listen" kept running through her mind. She said she felt the Lord was really speaking to her to get it done. As you can guess, she finally gave in and the result was positive... they found cancer in its early stages. She went on to talk about how that one word had driven her so much closer to God over the past year and that she felt it had prepared her for the news she received at the end of 2010... her heart was filled with so much peace.

I've never been one to make a New Year's resolution, but this story really made me think about what word I would choose. Prayer has always been a huge struggle for me, so that's the word I finally decided on. The cool thing is that I had already signed up for a Seminary Wives class called "Lessons in Prayer" (which starts tonight!!), and for Christmas my in-laws gave me a devotional book on prayer. I've been going through that book since I chose the word "prayer" and the Lord has already spoken to me a ton. I know I have so much more to learn about this amazing gift that we have been given (being able to have that line of communication with God) and I'm so excited to see what happens!

"So flee youthful passions
and pursue righteousness,
faith, love and peace,
along with those who call
on the Lord
from a pure heart."
2 Timothy 2:22 [ESV]

...

Little Mr. Caleb took his first steps on 1.31.11!!! Here's the video (I'm so proud of him!):

seasons & prayer

Well, at the rate that I am posting, I will have one post for every season of the year! We finally have internet at our apartment now though, so hopefully they will become more frequent.

We stayed in Louisville for Thanksgiving, but Chad's parents and sister came to visit. I got to cook my first Thanksgiving meal and I didn't burn anything!

Caleb even had some turkey (from Gerber of course):

Caleb's first Christmas was so much fun! We were able to visit my family in Oklahoma and Chad's in Texas. It was a lot of flying and driving, but Caleb was a great traveler and it was so worth it! Watching Caleb "open" presents for the first time was so fun... although he was much more interested in the paper and bows than what was underneath them. :)

Caleb's first snow!

...:: we let him play in the snow with his nativity set to get some pictures ::...

...:: traveling to oklahoma and texas to see family ::...

...:: opening, eating and wearing gifts ::...

Caleb turns 10-months-old tomorrow: 1.26.11! I know everyone says it about their kids, but I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. He is 21 lbs and 28 inches tall now... he started standing on his own a few days ago (and he better take his first step when Chad and I both are there!)... he has 7 teeth... and he's discovering new things every day. I think the cutest discovery he has made recently is how to put a ball in a plastic container and how to reach in and take it out again (over and over and over)! :)

Chad has been in J-term classes over the last several weeks. He clepped out of Elementary Greek last week! I'm so proud of him!

I am truly blessed to have two amazing boys in my life! Chad is a wonderful husband and a great dad!

            Something that I'll blog about later that has been on my mind a lot lately is prayer... "What does it mean? How am I suppose to pray? Why do I not do it more often? How can I learn to pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:16-18)" 

If your heart has grown cold,

it is because you have moved away 

from the fire of His presence.

[Beth Moore]

autumn breeze and baby teeth

The leaves have changed colors here and they are gorgeous! That's one thing I love about Kentucky... they are very vibrant colors here. Someone told me that the leaves are normally brighter, but there was a drought this summer. I can't wait to see what they are like next fall! A lot of the roads here are blacktop, which makes the raining leaves even more gorgeous when they blow in the wind. Here's a few pictures I took at the seminary...

Caleb had his 6 month check up with his new Dr! He weighed 19.9lb and was 26 inches long (and it was actually closer to 7 months than 6). Dr Laney said he's right where he should be and that he's a very healthy baby. He said that by his 9 month check up that he will be crawling... I said "already there!" He said, "oh... well then by 9 months he should be pulling up on things!" It amazes me how fast he's changing and learning new things. He is such a blessing and brings so much happiness to our lives!

Caleb also has three teeth now... his two front bottom teeth and one to the right of those! So cute :) He's crawling everywhere (the "army crawl") and causing us to keep our house really clean and hazard free! Our big boy is also eating baby food now... his first one was bananas, then we moved to peas, and he is on applesauce now. I love watching him taste something for the first time. Here's a few more recent pictures of him:

Michalin Man took a bath

Helping mom do the laundry

Passed out!

"On that day it will be said, 'Look, this is our God; we have waited for Him,

and He has saved us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him.

Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."

...::Isaiah 25:9::...