What a Difference a Day Makes

Last week the weather here was so pretty. I wore shorts and t-shirts every day (did I mention that I heart t-shirts? I have a problem - pray that I will overcome my t-shirt buying/wearing addiction - I also have a similar addiction with flip flops/sandals - pray hard). Saturday, we played outside all day until about 5 pm when it was time for Lake's t-ball practice.

Here is a picture of Kaden watching his brother play t-ball

Here is a picture of Kaden pouting because he isn't the one playing

Actually, Kaden is old enough to play, but we thought that at 4 (just turned 4) it might be a little soon to expect him to actually be a productive member of a t-ball team. In other words, we are too busy this year to spend all day at the ball park with 2 kids playing t-ball. We thought he needed another year to 'mature' (at this point he would be playing in the dirt the whole time). I know what you are thinking: 'they are terrible parents', but I say "Judge not" people "lest ye be judged". Rest assured, he WILL be on a team next year and he will be ready to play (and we will hopefully not still be building a house at that time, but anything is possible).

Anyway, back to the difference a day makes.......after our week of wonderfully tropical weather (okay maybe tropical is a little strong, but humor me here) we woke up Sunday to freezing temperatures similar to Antarctica (again maybe a little exaggeration,but it IS my blog). My mood is directly affected by the weather, can ya tell?

Today is another cold one........I am sooooo ready for summer. Ready to eat popcylces outside while my kids play in the sandbox, ready to get out the Old Navy flip flops in every color, ready to go to Dairy Queen after church on Sunday nights and eat ice cream cones on their picnic tables, ready for play dates with church friends that involve little swimming pools and sprinklers, ready to smell freshly cut grass, ready for vacation, ready to wear my sleeveless tops (even though my upper arms are less than toned), ready to wear my shorts (even though they are all old and I have cellulite dimples on my thighs), ready to fire up the grill, ready to stay outside until it gets dark at 9"30 catching lightning bugs, ready to break out the slip n slide (hey, we dont have a pool, ready to don the capris, ready to move into this house

Too bad this house isnt ready for us...............

In other lame and boring news, I thought about doing a "100 things about me" post, but I was coming up with stupid facts like "I get paper clip and safety pin confused so I call them paper pins and safety clips" (it's true). I could think of some intriguing things about me, but they would mostly be lies, so in light of what the Bible says in Matthew 5:29 ("If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell"), its best for me just to forget that idea.

Last week on Mari's blog, she posted a blog readablity test. It tells what grade level someone needs to have completed to read your blog. Mine came up Junior High. Posts like this are probably why. That and the fact I use words like YAY! and phrases like "cause that's how I roll". So, the good thing is you can be stupid and/or 11 yrs old and still enjoy my blog. YAY!

I have a meeting at church tonight. The email said "You don't have to bring anything. We will provide food and chocolate". Happiness is the hubs watching the kids while I go eat food and chocolate with some girls from church.

Yesterday at church, our pastor (who is hilarious without meaning to be) said something that cracked me up. He is preaching on heavenly rewards (so far I think I might be in line for the 'loves the idea of the return of Jesus' award, but I guess I will have to keep workin' on the others). He was talking about the subject of death for a minute and he said "People dont like to talk about death and dying. When was the last time you invited somebody over to your house for dinner and said 'okay, while were eatin' let's talk about death and dying'". I found it so funny (you had to be there). The funny part is that when I was little, the preacher at our church preached a series of sermons and the title of the series was "On Death and Dying" - it lasted for weeks and weeks (yeah, real fun times). Yesterday when he said that, I couldnt help but wonder if that old preacher didnt do exactly that....invite people over to dinner and talk about death. I know, its not really funny to you, but picturing that has made me smile ever since yesterday morning.

Oh well, I suppose that is enough boredom for you today. Feel free to move on to more exciting blogs - I dont blame you. Go ahead, move on,

nothing here to see, folks,

move along............

What Would You Have Done?

Okay, I have a question for you.

Is it easier for us to believe in Jesus as Savior today or was it easier for people who lived while He was on earth?

I have been thinking a lot about it. I even asked the question in my Wednesday night class and it seemed to stump a few people. I'm not saying that it is difficult for me to believe that Jesus Christ came to earth, God made man, and died to save me of my sins. It isn't hard for me to believe that at all - today. But, I wonder if I would have been so quick to believe if I had grown up in Nazareth. Let me set the scene and maybe you will see what I am talking about.

Go back in time with me for a minute:

It was hot outside in Nazareth that day. We got up even earlier than usual that morning so we could get to the synagogue before it got too crowded. My husband likes to get there early to talk to the men before the service starts and I love to fellowship with the women -- we are all so busy with our everyday chores we rarely get to visit with one another.

I was sitting with the ladies in the balcony when I heard the priest call everyone to order. The priest said a prayer and then he introduced Jesus. I looked down and saw Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph. He adjusted his prayer shawl and began walking to the front. I hadn't seen him in a while. Some people say he has gone crazy, but I don't believe it, after all, I have known him since he was 2 years old. I've know Mary even longer - we grew up together. I even remember when Mary and Joseph left Nazareth. They said they were leaving because of the census, but we all knew why they really left.

Someone handed Jesus the scroll of Isaiah and he began to read:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on ME, because he has anointed ME to preach good news to the poor. He has sent ME to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

We all sat there dumbfounded. What did he mean that the scripture was fulfilled in our hearing that day? Surely he, Jesus of Nazareth, illegitimate son of Mary and Joseph, is not implying that he is the Messiah we have waited for so long! How could he mock us and our God this way? After that, the men drove him out of town. It's a terrible shame, but he had to be stopped. Poor Mary, I know she must be so embarrassed by him.

Okay, that was my feeble attempt to explain my question. At first thought, it would seem that it would have been easier to believe that Jesus was the Messiah if you could see Him in person. But when you take into account that these people knew Him from childhood and knew His family, maybe it would not have been so easy to believe.

My point here is that we read our Bible and think that the people who lived during Jesus' day had it much easier than we do today. They could see Him and touch Him. After all, don't most of us have a little Thomas in us (we need to see to believe)? People from Jesus' day would probably say that we have it much better because of the Holy Spirit. Sure, the people in Jesus' day could hear Him speak, but they didn't have the Holy Spirit living inside them. Today, we have the benefit of the complete Bible AND the Holy Spirit.

I think it's a blessing that I live today and not back then in Nazareth. Why? Because I would have probably never been saved. I like to think that I would have been the lone person to stand beside Mary in that crowd that and defend Jesus, but in reality, I would have probably been behind the mob that drove Him out of town. -- "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him." John 11:11

I wonder what would you have done?

Randomness and a Meme

I have a few Godly thoughts stirring in my head, but I need to flesh them out a bit before actually typing them here. So, I thought it might be okay to do a random post (you know I am all about updating the blog ;-). You guys know I'm always good for a little random nothingness. So here goes:

~I am not sure when, but at some point recently, our friend Jennyhope, wrote a post called "The This is a Tunic Not a Dress Memo" or something like that. If I had time I would link you to it (cause I'm linky like that, ya know). Anyway, her post mentioned how many women and teenage girls have mistakenly (or accidentally on purpose) worn tunics as dresses. I am seeing more and more of this as the weather gets warmer here in east TN. Let me reiterate Jenny's point. Apparently and quite unfortunately, tunics and leggings have come back into style. There are many versions of tunics in the stores now - THEY ARE NOT TO BE WORN ALONE! REPEAT: THEY ARE NOT TO BE WORN WITHOUT LEGGINGS! If you have a great body, that is wonderful, but the rest of us do not want to see all of said body when you bend over. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

~They start insulating our house today. We may actually meet our goal of moving in before Jesus comes back. (Just kidding, when Jesus comes back, I'll have a much better house than the one we are building - and I won't have to be concerned with decorating that one! Praise the Lord for He is good)

~All my shorts from last year (which were from years before) are completely 'unwearable' - is that a word? what word would you use there? This is probably for the best since the pasty whiteness of my skin and the unsightly cellulite could offend those who look at me.

~Gas prices are freakin' outrageous. Don't even get me started! I keep hearing people say things like "If everyone would just stay home for one day, they would have more oil than they would know what to do with and prices would have to drop". Can we all just do it already? Let's start a blogger's gas revolution - everyone stay home - stop buying gas and lets see if the theory is correct or not.

~I did not like "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" as sung by the dude with the unfortunate hair last night on Idol. And what is up with playing a ukulele? I thought his performance was 'abysmal' as Simon would say and as Randy would say "I just wasn't feelin' it dawg, that wasn't good for me".

~ In other Idol news, did anyone notice that Paula had a little issue with her dress last night. Someone needs to send her the "That Dress is Way Too Tight for You to Wear in Public" memo. She was extremely uncomfortable in that awful garb. How do I know? She looked like me squeezing into the "girdle" (for lack of better explanation) that I wear with certain outfits. I've been there and it ain't comfy or pretty!

~Did you see the footage of the women and children they rescued from the polygamist compound in TX? I felt so sad for those girls boarding that bus in their homespun dresses. I hate to think what they have been through in the name of "religion". I wonder how people get that far away from reality. The moral of the story with these people is :When you add to the Word of God, you make a big mess. (yes, feel free to quote me on that - just be sure to give credit where credit is due ;-) hahaha To read about the false doctrine of the mormon church click here.

~Went to Mahoney's, local sporting/clothing/cool boot-shoe store yesterday to order some of these (ya'll I have feet problems) and I found a pair of Perlina heels that had been $90 on sale for $14. Have I mentioned that I love a good deal? And they are sooooo comfortable!

Okay, my friend Stephanie tagged me to do this meme - she loves me and she is my biggest fan, so she was eager to hear my answers to all these questions. Okay, that's really a lie, Stephanie IS my blog friend and we read each other's blogs, but the rest is pretty much false. The truth is that since I don't have a lot of time to work on a more spiritual post today, I thought it would be a great thing to do. Have ya'll noticed that I don't do Wordless Wednesday, I do "Wordy" Wednesday.

*What I was doing 10 years ago: (1998)
1. I was single and working for Sullivan County
2. I was dating different people - hubs and I went on our first date January 12, 1999 - got married June 26th, 1999
3. I was finishing my Bachelor's degree and went to the gym 5 days a week - I know hard to believe - people, this is what happens when you let yourself go!
4. I was getting my hair and nails done - massages - I had no children
5. I was living in a one bedroom apartment with little responsibility

5 things on my to-do list today:
1. Mop my kitchen floors
2. Paint my toenails - I am in serious need of a mani/pedi
3. Give Kaden a bath
4. Wash all the clothes in my laundry basket
5. Keep my sanity

5 snacks I enjoy:

1. Umm, Hello? I enjoy ALL snacks!
2. Claussen Dill pickles, popcorn, crackers, chips, all things salty
3. Dove dark chocolate - all other chocolate
4. Is pizza and breadsticks a snack?
5. Graeter's ice cream - Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Pay off my church's debt and pay for more expansion
2. Give to Life Today to drill as many water wells as they need
3. Call in to WCQR (local Christian station) during share-a-thon with a $5 million pledge
4. Pay off our new house and hire a decorator to do the whole thing
5. Give everyone in our families lots of money to use however they wish

5 bad habits:
1. I do not eat what I should
2. I can be judgemental at times
3. I have bad posture
4. I have little will-power
5. I am a little opinionated ;-)

5 jobs I've had:
1. Lenscrafters -sold glasses
2. Sears Telecatalog (Thank you for calling Sears Telecatalog, my name is Beth, how may I help you today?"
3. Sullivan County Engineers Office
4. Local High School - truancy
5. Mother/wife/taxi driver/referee/teacher/prison warden/carpenter/plumber---you get the idea. My degree, however, is in Organizational Management...........although I am not always organized and I get tired of managing.......such is life.

For the two of you who are still reading this (mom and dad), I thank you for your undivided attention!

A Soft Place

I just realized that I am, in fact, an adult. I don't like being labeled as an adult. When I was 15 I longed to be an adult. At 35, not so much. I remember when my parents were 35, I thought they were old (no offense, mom and dad). I remember thinking how terrible it would be to be 35 and my life be over. Being an adult means you have lots of responsibilities and people depend on you (that is a scary thought -people depend on me? - yikes!). I had a moment recently when I realized just how much my kids depend on me. My husband and I are their "safe place". Someone can hurt their feelings and they come to me and they are safe and everything is okay. They can get hurt and mommy's love and attention will make them feel better. We are a soft place to fall for our children.

I have noticed that my oldest son tends to worry about things more than he used to. He worries that people may not like him or that he didn't win first place at field day. Small worries in comparison to what many people face, but they are big in his life. I used to worry. A lot. I used to worry about everything. Little things, big things, anything. I used to worry if I didn't have anything to worry about. "How can a Christian worry so much?", you ask. The answer is pretty simple - lack of trust. I didn't see the big picture. I didn't refer to the back of the Book to see how it ends. I didn't allow God to be God and do what only He can do.

One of the biggest tools satan uses against us is worry. Why is worry one of satan's favorite weapons? Because worry is born out of fear, and when we fear there is lack of trust, and when there is lack of trust there is lack of belief, and when there is lack of belief there is lack of relationship, and when there is lack of relationship there is lack of worship, and when there is lack of worship God is not glorified - satan is. (Attn English Teachers: How's that for a run-on sentence?) The devil loves it when God's people are not worshipping Him. When we aren't worshipping God, then we are in fact, worshipping something/someone else (ourselves, our stuff, this world maybe?). That, my friends, is called idolatry. The devil loves for us to buy into his idea that God is not big enough, not able to take care of all our problems and concerns, because it taints our witness and hinders our worship.

When we live in constant worry, others sense the spirit of fear in our lives. A life filled with worry and fear is life lived walking in the flesh. What better way to keep people from Christ than to let them see you (me), a Christian, paralyzed by worry and fear? After all, satan's goal is to keep unbelievers from believing and to make the witness of the believer completely ineffective. I cannot think of a better way to ruin your witness than to constantly give in to a spirit of fear. The two of you who are left reading this are probably thinking, "I have heard this all before, this is not news to me." And you are right, you have heard it before, but have you ever really taken it to heart? Can you say that you have given up your habitual worry and fear? Sometimes we need to hear something over and over before it really sinks in. Sometimes a fresh word brings about change, but other times we 'get it' when we hear it for the hundredth time.

Romans 8:15 says, "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." As you know, Abba means 'Daddy'. So, every time we feel that fear/worry creep in, we need to have a heart to heart talk with our "Daddy" so that He can remind us that we are not a slave to fear, He is in control, and He is our "Daddy" who loves us. We need to bring our rejection, fear, and bruised hearts to Him so He can put His arms around us and be our 'safe place'. We need to remember that, like our children, a soft place to fall and His name is Abba, Daddy.

The Power of a Word

A couple of days ago I posted a link to a video of Oprah that showed clips of her talking about her "spirituality" (or lack thereof). In that video, she mentions a time in her early twenties when she attended a church where the pastor was very charismatic. She recalls sitting in a service where the pastor was listing some characteristics of God - He is good, He is loving, He is omnipotent, He is jealous.......Oprah said that when she heard the pastor say God is jealous, a huge question came to her mind. In this video Oprah says that it was at that moment she said to herself, "God is jealous OF me?"


What Oprah didn't (and still does not) understand is that God is not jealous OF her but jealous FOR her. He is jealous for her to depend solely on Him. He is jealous for her heart to love only Him. He is jealous for her to give Him everything she has. He is jealous because He knows the other 'gods' or idols of this world can offer us nothing. But Oprah does not understand the difference between God being jealous FOR her and being jealous OF her. Although I am sure that there are many people who are jealous Of Oprah, God is not one of them.

Do you see the power of a word here? One word caused one of the most influential women in the world to question the God of the Bible. One word caused her focus to be shifted from God to what she wanted God to be in her mind. With one misunderstood word, satan has allowed millions to be misled through Oprah. There are people who will miss heaven because Oprah misunderstood the meaning of God's righteous jealousy.

That is how satan works. He uses the smallest, minute details to trip us up. He knows it doesn't take much for those who are weak in their faith to turn their backs on God. If Oprah had taken the time to study her Bible, she could have quickly learned the meaning of God being jealous FOR us. Instead of pulling out the Bibles, the concordances, and the commentaries and researching God's jealousy, she chose to conjure up a perfect god in her mind. Millions of people will be deceived because someone with huge influence did not study the word. Millions of people will bow down to Oprah's god because her god allows them to continue living the way they want to live. Millions of people have been and will be deceived by someone else's ignorance of God's word.

I know it sounds like I 'have it in' for Oprah, but actually I just wanted to use her as an example of how WE can be deceived and how WE can deceive others by not fully understanding God's word. I wonder how many of us have ever added to or taken away from God's word in order to fit our idea of 'a perfect god'.


Or how many of us have been deceived by pastors, friends, teachers, etc. that did not fully understand the Truth.


I have always wondered how the followers of David Koresh never realized that he was a false prophet. Did they not read the Bible for themselves? Or what about the followers of Jim Jones.....how did they not know that he was a liar? What would possess normal everyday people to throw common sense out the window and follow such people?

The simple truth of the matter is that people who do not know the word of God, who do not read the word of God for themselves are easily deceived. There are people who grow up in certain "Christian" denominations that refuse to acknowledge the false doctrine they have been taught all their lives. Or maybe it isn't that they refuse to see, but that it is easier to stick with what you know (even if what you 'know' is a lie).

There are so many different Christian denominations in our world that it would be difficult to even count them all much less decipher what each truly believes. There are denominations that claim the name of Jesus but deny His deity. Some churches call themselves Christian, yet say the Bible is filled with myths. Some churches claim to believe the Bible, yet ordain gay women as pastors. Others worship mere men over God. Some churches deny the Trinity while others say that Jesus was just a 'good man'. I could go on all day about false doctrine, but you get my point. This is why Bible study is so important to us. 2 Timothy 2:15 says it this way "Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth".

If we do not study the word of God, we can just as easily fall prey to false doctrine as the people in Waco or the people who drank the red Kool-aid. Oh, I am not suggesting that any of us would go to those extremes (although I am not saying we wouldn't either). But when we do not know what the Bible says, we will never be able to discern false doctrine from Truth. I know most of us think we are way too intelligent to be taken in, but in reality, some of us are just a word away from buying into the lies of a false prophet.

Okay, now for some fun.......my bother-in-law and sister showed me the funniest guy on youtube.com last night. His name is Tim Hawkins (you may know of him - I am always the last to get word of things) and he is hilarious. You can go to youtube and type a serch for Tim Hawkins, but be sure to watch this particular video!

Until I Have a Chance to Post.......

So, I have been on the go all day (this is unfortunately not unusual for me anymore) I havent been able to blog today, but hopefully I will be back at it late tonight or tomorrow morning sometime (after dropping Lake off at school, making my daily Wal-Mart run, getting my hair cut, running errands for my husband, going to the cleaners, paying some bills for the new house, etc. etc).
AND, since I severely dislike visiting blogs that ARE NOT FREQUENTLY UPDATED (uh hmm you know who you are ;-) I thought I would place a link here to my dads blog. He is new to the blog world, but is an expert in the area of stewardship and is asked to speak at churches/conferences all over the world. Just thought you might be interested to read his latest entries on Materialism. (Daddy, I hope you found the spell check!)

The Church of Oprah Exposed

Mike Mickey at RaptureAlert.com has posted this YuoTube video on his blog. I have posted about Oprah's new age doctrine before and I thought this video to be a 'must see' for all of us.

http://rapturealert.blogspot.com/2008/04/church-of-oprah.html