S Club Mama

Last week, one of my sons realized that he had turned in the wrong thing on two assignments, resulting in him having three assignments in one day. He had not even tried to turn in the correct thing, ignoring the directions. So I had the fun of re-learning statistics math for several hours on a very beautiful afternoon. It was good time with him; definitely our best time doing math together (and there have been many bad times prior lol), but I was astonished at how upset he was to ask for help. I asked why he just turned in whatever ("crap" was my word of choice just to keep it real) and asked why he didn't ask for help if he didn't understand the assignment. "I am supposed to be independent!" he cried. I explained to him that he will always need to ask for help - always. I told him I have to ask for help. We talked to his dad about how he has to ask for help at work. The thing is, I get it. I HATE to ask for help. Vehemently hate it. It's an inte...

A friend once said to me that she just wanted to "love her husband, not yell at her kids, and not lose her mind." Can I get a big "amen" to that?! Isn't that the truth? I've discovered over the past decade and more that the Bible really can help us in all of those areas! I'm learning to read my Bible - not just read it but understand it, apply it to my life! She has helped me dig deep, ask questions, cross reference between passages, look at the historical background. Who, what, when, where, why? And I want others to know this ability to read and understand the Bible can happen without a seminary degree! Theology is for everyone! Even me! I wanted to share some passages that have been meaningful to me the past few years. I don't have a "life verse" but this one may be pretty close, " But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content" (1 Timothy 6:8). I have a pretty envious streak and this reminds me that the Lor...

I am always on the lookout for books that can strengthen the faith of my children. What I've often found is that through strengthening their faith, mine is as well. "Can I Really Jnow Jesus?" by Carolyn Larsen is one of those books that is easily read but is full of the right material. image via me; I love how clearly the gospel is presented Too often and I find that children's books are not deep enough to take our children from drinking spiritual milk to eating spiritual meet. I think that this is a book that bridges that gap. It is split into three parts: questions and answers about Jesus, questions and answers about salvation, and questions and answers about prayer. I like this book is factual and when it can use history to cement the Bible, it does. One question is "how can we know Jesus really existed?" and the book says, "the Bible, of course, tells us that Jesus existed as a human on earth." Then it goes on to tell about a Jewish...

Woodlawn is this amazing story of how Jesus Christ helped a football team overcome racial tensions after their school was integrated in the 1970s. It's based on the true story of the Woodlawn High School football team whose teammate, Tony Nathan, became the first real African American superstar. Sean Astin (best known for Rudy ) plays Hank, a guy who went to a Billy Graham revival in Texas called the Jesus Revolution and just really felt lead to share Jesus in Birmingham, Alabama during one of the hardest times of racial tensions in the United States post-Civil War. Hank comes to the football coach, Tandy Gerelds (took me the whole movie to figure out they weren't calling him "Candy."), to ask about coming to share his faith with the team. The coach says no, this is a public school. Then a fight breaks out between races and the coach gives Hank five minutes. Those five minutes turn into an hour and after that, Hank asks if any of the team wants to start li...

My friend Evi has been so challenging, convicting, and heart-wrenching in my life. I love her so much and wish I saw her more. And now she's challenging me to be more grateful through her blog, Gratitude Gal . It's fabulous; she has a wonderful writing style that makes me jealous. Her post today was about how she's had a rough week but found some highlights, like Michael Keaton's Golden Globe acceptance speech (watch from 2:13). Then she put a few dares on her blog for us/me. I'll answer one today. Dare Choice 1:  Write down three things that have deep meaning in your life.  When something goes wrong today (as it probably will), shift your thoughts back to your list. Dare Choice 1: #1: Redemption: I could have nothing else and only have redemption from Christ's sacrifice on the cross. That would be enough. When I leave this world, I am going to heaven with my Father. When I truly let this sink in....truly, then what else can I complain about?  ...

As you are well aware, dear readers, my family likes superheroes. This goes hand in hand, then, that we love comic books. That may not always be the case but here at the S Club, this is truth. We read the first installment of Captain Sun, "Rescue Me," a few years ago (can it be so long ago?). What was there not to love: comic book, superhero, Jesus. Once again, Bryce Morgan has brought us a fabulous read by releasing the second installment for this hero. "Captain Sun and the Army of Fear" takes us back to Capital City and its hero: Captain Sun. In this volume (not sure on the terminology of comic books, though), our favorite hero finds himself up against a seemingly unbeatable villain: General Phobos and his Army of Fear. He plans to release sensor-type things to make Capital City residents into this army. Can Captain Sun fight back in time? image via Amazon I don't want to give too much away but let me just say, you won't be disappointed. I do want t...

Another tale from Women's Encounter and what God told me there. Read Parts 1 and 2 if you missed them. My legalism lead to self-righteous judgmental hypocrisy. Well, that lead to pride (perhaps pride lead to all of those but it circled back around). One thing we were told before we left was to share our testimonies (not necessarily our conversion stories but what God has told us recently). A testimony is a witness of God - of His work. I have known for a looooooong time that I have troubles sharing with others about the Good News of Jesus Christ. I have prayed about it. I have read books on evangelism (which is fancy terms for telling that Christ died for your sins - and mine - upon a cross, paying our debt of sin so that we can reunite with God in Spirit and later in heaven). I do a great job in my head of playing out conversations. They get insane in there; things people would NEVER say to me come out in my head. I am my own worst condemner. Well, this affects my sharing t...

Bear with me as I share with you all that God showed me at Encounter . I don't know how many posts this will take! God also showed me that, spiraling from my legalism, I have become self-righteous and judgmental. I have become a hypocrite. Again, a Pharisee (so thankful for spell-check because I can never seem to get this right on the first typing). Those that the Lord and John the Baptist had some pretty strong words about. *sigh* I have looked down on those who have less. Romans 11:9-10 says, "Likewise, David said,    'Let their bountiful table become a snare,     a trap that makes them think all is well.   Let their blessings cause them to stumble,     and let them get what they deserve.'" I'm not even rich (in worldly standards), so imagine if I had more physical blessings how blinded I'd have been. Maybe you are rich and you are intimate with Christ, but beware your comforts. Sometimes in America we are so rich, we are blind to our ri...

I write a lot of book reviews on here. I know that may not interest most of you, but I love books and I love free books so that's why I do it. I read a LOT last year! 33 actual books, 9 audio books (add .5 to each of those numbers because I was halfway through a book and audio book when the year turned over). One of those .5 books was " Give Them Grace " by Elyse M. Fitzgerald and Jessica Thompson. I just finished this book yesterday. I hate when people say something "wrecked them." I pray this book wrecks me, ruins me, whatever. I pray this book is not just another book that I've read on parenting. That it's not just one that I loved loved loved that fades with time. I WANT this book to change my life. It has already...but for how long? I don't know and only time will tell. But this is powerful stuff. It's not a system of ABC and your kids will be perfect little darlings by Friday. It's not do XYZ and your kids will always follow Christ....

Yesterday, Anthony & I were baptized at church. To clarify a few things - Anthony was baptized as a baby, I in 8th grade. His was not his choice (of course) and mine was really out of fear of hell. In the denomination in which we were raised, it's believed that you must be baptized to be saved. We believe differently now. We believe that salvation comes from knowing that Jesus Christ paid for your sins on the cross with his own blood. Baptism is an outward confession of that faith. We have both been following the Lord for almost 10 years and were really convicted the past few weeks to be baptized. We were blessed to have our friend Cale baptize us; he's played such a large role in strengthening our faiths and has become one of our best friends. And then our boys were there to watch us (usually they'd be in children's church); that was really special to me. Squirt is still pretty young and may not have this as a long-term memory (but he kept talking about how ...

I know I wrote a few weeks ago about my New Year's Resolutions . Now, I like resolutions because it's just a new start to a new year. I love fresh starts. That is one thing I love so much about God is that He is the Lord of fresh starts! I failed to mention in my NYR that my biggest resolution, which is the same year after year, is to look more Christ like this year than last. Not physically - the beard isn't my thing. But inside. I want to rely on Him more in the every day. I want to be desperate for Him every day. I want have more patience, love more (without borders!), be more joyful (which is part of my counting my blessings in the Joy Dare ). Those are really hard resolutions. I've been working on that patience thing for...the good part of a decade. Yet I won't give up. Because I know that God will transform me "by the renewing of [my] mind" by the Spirit challenging me. A friend said "if you're tired of pulling yourself up by your boots...

Twenty-two days of thankfulness. Not enough. Twenty-four hours of day of thanks giving. Not enough. Daily minutes in repentant prayer. Not enough. Moments (even years) of good works. Not enough. Countless hours of striving. Not enough. Not enough. One God. One Trinity. Enough. One and Only Son. Enough. One cross (not any old cross but His). Enough. Hours of torture. Enough. Countless drops of blood, sweat, and tears. Enough. One final breath. Enough. Three days, then risen. Enough. One gift. Enough. One life. One eternity. Are you enough alone? No. But, believe, and He is. Enough. Happy Thanksgiving. May you count your blessings one by one. May you thank Him for those blessings, one by one. May you remember the one blessing that is enough.

I've been dwelling the past few days (after my stint in the complaint department), but it's not what you think. I have been dwelling on my blessings. I'm going through Lord, Change My Attitude in my Wednesday morning Bible study. The first two weeks were about replacing a complaining attitude with a thankful attitude. Which has been my exact week, this week. We have friends going through some tough times: some financial, some marital (one set of friends for one of their parents and one set of friends for themselves), and one tough time that is a blessing (a newborn baby - which is both a tough time- although they haven't said this is a tough time for them, I'm just assuming because newborns are a lot of work and just an adjustment- and a blessing). These tough times make me think back to our own tough times: numerous job losses, postpartum blues, moving so frequently, financial woes, lonesomeness, anger, envy/malcontent, autism diagnosis. I don't dwell on the ...

Alright, I'm writing this on Wednesday, May 18 (for future reference). I feel I must address this Rapture Saturday. I consider this nonsense. I'm not saying that Christ's Second Coming CAN'T happen on Saturday, May 21. It could, it could come whenever God wanted it to come. However, I don't believe that humans can know this date. Scripture vehemently says (in numerous places...that I can find for you on request ) Revelation 3:3 (NIV) "Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief , and you will not know at what time I will come to you ." How this group of Christians came about to May 21 can be found on their website ; I will warn you that I found it all to be mumbo jumbo and that they've created mathematical equations to support their theory. The website doesn't specify how they know the date of the Crucifixion but just claims it to be proved prior to this...

I hope everyone enjoyed a family-filled Easter weekend. More importantly, I hope everyone took the time to really remember what the Lord did for us. Not only did he leave heaven to become a small human baby or teach us valuable lessons as an adult, but he died on the cross, bleeding pure blood to cover the multitude of sins of the earth. Of your sins. Of my sins. And not only did he die such a horrific death on the cross, but he went to hell and defeated death! Rising 3 days later, securing our salvation (if you so choose to believe in these miraculous things that our Savior did for us, and choosing to follow Him and become more like Him all your life). I was reading in TIME magazine last night, and was just sickened by the article about Rob Bell (by Jon Meacham). This issue of the magazine showcases 100 of the World's Most Influential People. Unfortunately, this Mr. Bell is on this list that includes freedom fighters, movie stars, royalty - all the people who do influence the wo...

Over the weekend, Japan was wrecked by an earthquake and a tsunami . So many are lost. Most are searching for dead, burying dead, or trying to avoid death. Something so many of us won't ever have to think about for ourselves. However, something that I've been thinking about is that on a normal day, 55,000 people die without hearing the gospel . Now, factor in all the natural disasters in the past month, year, decade. How many of those people died without hearing the Good News of Jesus Christ? I realize there isn't a lot that many of us can do about reaching people outside of our hometown, home state, home country (besides, of course, financial aid which is always a huge missionary outreach - don't underestimate the power of your dollars at work, especially if your heart is in the right place reaching out). So focus inward. Does your family know that Jesus died for them? Do your neighbors know that Jesus paid the price for their sins? What about your church? Is the...

We all know this time of the year can lead to stress and the blues due to the hustle, bustle, and preparations made for family festivities and other gatherings. There is a lot to do: buy gifts (after thinking of said gifts), go to Christmas programs, bake or make Christmas goodies, travel or prepare your home for guests. It really is astonishing how much we must accomplish this time of the year. However, I urge you to take some time and relax. Christmas is not about gifts, Santa Claus, or even getting together with family. The true meaning of Christmas is the miracle of a virgin birth and the baby boy who came of that union between Mary and the Holy Spirit. That baby boy who would grow to become the King of Kings. That baby boy who humbly became flesh after sitting on a throne in heaven. That baby boy who died for your sins (and mine) on a cross at Calvary. So, while you are preparing for the end of this week, please keep this in mind: C - Come      ...to the seas...

On this day 6 years ago my husband made a commitment not to me, but to the Lord. He promised to live his life for the Lord who died on the cross  for him and paid the ultimate price for his sins. image via Happy re-birthday, Big A! I love you so much and am so pleased to be able to see you in eternity! image via Father, As teens around the state of Nebraska gather this weekend for FCA Weekend of Champions , I ask that you humble their hearts to you. I ask that they, as Big A did years ago, give their lives completely to you and change their hearts. Soften their hearts to your will and lead them to the cross. I especially ask this as my sister leads a group of these teens. Speak to her heart and speak through her to them. Amen

Every week Mama Kat hosts Writer's Workshop. Every week many participate (and on occasion, I join them). You should check it out if you've never done so; there are some fantastic writer's in the blogosphere (including the adorable Mama Kat herself). The rules: Mama Kat posts the prompts a few days in advance. Pick a prompt (or two or three...) and write about it on your blog. On Thursday (that's today!) go link up at Mama Kat's & share the love by reading and commenting on other blogs who have joined in the fun. The Prompts: 1.) Write about an experience you have had with a celebrity. (inspired by Jenn from She Says… ) 2.) Who have you forgotten about until right now? Think hard and list five people from your past that you really should have written something about by now but haven’t. Circle the name of the person who stands out the strongest. Write a description or brief memoir of that person. 3.) List five things you would do different if you ...