S Club Mama

via Flickr   The ESV version of the Bible translates Proverbs 22:9 like this: "Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor."   I thought of Christ when I read this. He had a bountiful eye. He saw his bounty in his relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He did not keep that to himself but saw us in our sin and came for us - to share his heirship with us (Romans 8:17).   What do we do with this knowledge, this privilege? Do we store up our bounty for ourselves? Yesterday, I shared the verse about not storing for ourselves treasures on earth. This is along the same lines. We cannot keep this to ourselves - this love, this amazing grace!   Are we hoarders? Do we hoard our time? Do we hoard our stuff? Do we hoard our talents? What does that look like, in this season of social distancing, to use those things for our neighbors?   A friend of mine shared a video on Facebook about how to motivate children. As...

  My grandma recently was admitted to a rehab/assisted living/nursing home. I was on the phone with her the other day and she was telling me how she would probably be there the rest of her life. She, of course, was upset by this but understands that it's safer for her to be in the nursing home. She told me of a sign in the entrance of the home that says to the workers arriving, "this is not just your workplace, this is their home." I love that sentiment to remind them to help the residents be at home.   Last weekend, one of our pastors gave a sermon about this world not being the home of Christians. Our home is in heaven. It got me to thinking about my own home here on earth. I want it to be a place that we love to be (hence why I painted the walls colors I love instead of maintaining neutral walls), that my family feels safe and secure.   Right now, our world doesn't feel safe or secure. It's changing every day with regulations and the availability of product...

  Last week, I was reading in Acts 24:22-27. Paul is under house arrest under the authority of Felix, the governor (I won't pretend to understand their government back then). If you read, Felix heard the truth from Paul's lips many times for TWO YEARS. He was "alarmed" after "reason[ing] about righteousness and self-control the coming judgment."   Did that alarm lead him to repent of his sin's or even reflect upon them? Nope. He told Paul, "Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you." THIS WAS AN OPPORTUNITY!   This was also not his only opportunity as Felix "sent for [Paul] often and conversed with him."   People, we cannot be blind to opportunity set right in front of us! Jesus is coming back - the Bible says "soon." And, granted that God's eternal "soon" is different than my own, it doesn't change the fact that none of us know the hour He will return. We cannot delay a l...

via Biblia.com   Mario Andretti (NASCAR driver) has been quoted as saying, "Don't look at the wall. Your car goes where your eyes go." I remember hearing this first during driver's ed the summer I was 15. I honestly think of it each time I pass someone on the road, especially semis. I definitely do not want my eyes to go there! Emily P. Freeman has a podcast episode about this very thing.    In my every day life, my focus is too often on my comfort. I knuckle it through to naptime/bedtime/the weekend/vacation/date night/retirement. I look to just make it to my next break - to quiet time, to rest, to doing what I want to do.    Are we as Christians called to just make it in this life? Is that what we see in Jesus' life on earth? No. He was focused on his mission - the cross and ultimately, the resurrection. But he did not rush. Often times he did things that others with him thought away from his mission. Think of when Jairus came to him and wanted him to...

    I went to bed last night with the song "Take Heart" from Seeds Family Worship in my head. It's from John 1 16:33, "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."   And don't we find ourselves in troubles right now? Our lives have been affected in various ways. Some of you have canceled plans to go visit relatives or get away for awhile on spring break. You may now be working remotely or your job may be gone. Maybe you're out of toilet paper or eggs or milk. Your gym classes or your prom has been canceled.   What will next week look like? What will tomorrow look like? We don't know. But we know that in this life, we who are believers have been promised troubles. Not the same troubles, not to the same degree troubles, but troubles.   Some of you may be bitter about your troubles. And your troubles look bigger and more overwhelming than your ne...

  Time together gives us ample time to overflow our mouths. Even just a few hours can reveal so much about what we have been putting into our hearts. I always have at least one child home with me, so this is not a new norm for me, but for many of us, it's just a different time. Even if I'm used to it, I'm not used to my children being home under these uncertain circumstances.    And so what do we do when our mouths overflow isn't what we want it to be?    Prayer. Too often this is not my default as it should be. Only the Holy Spirit can help me overcome my mouth...ultimately, my heart. James says that no man can tame the tongue, so why do I always look to my own effort?    Flee. 2 Timothy 2:22 says to "flee the evil desires of youth." While it may not specifically be talking about this type of sin, I believe it's wise to flee from evil in all forms. This may mean fleeing the room when your child isn't listening and you're going to ...

I saw this meme and I thought it fitting:   Now, I'll be honest, my weekdays aren't looking much different than they normally do. We were already on Spring Break so I was already planning to have all four kids home with me. I usually have a plan, including quiet time stations/rotation stations during nap time.    But many things have been canceled for us as well: piano lessons (we did opt out of virtual lessons for now, but may if this is extended), 4H everything (including regional club days which my boys were super bummed about not getting to perform their skit), a lot of ministry things for me, and Wednesday night ministry things for my kids. Honestly, even having people over for supper will be an issue with our family of 6. Any 4 or less families want to come over? The hardest thing for me was that we were planning to visit my grandma this weekend, whom I haven't seen since last Easter.   For the most part, this is not going to disrupt our lives. We stay ...

I used a random number generator to pick the winner of the two (2) Fandango movie tickets. The winner is  Kim said "We saw 1917 a few weeks ago. Good movie." Kim has been notified and will receive her tickets soon. Thank you to all of you who entered. Hopefully, there will be more in the future!