I heard Gabe say the cutest thing today. He and two of the other munchkins were playing hide and "sink". As I helped him count while the others hid, he showed off his counting skills. I was duly impressed until my pride melted into laughter. As he finished counting he yelled out, "You're not ready! Here I come!" Instead of the normal, "Ready or not, here I come."
I love little kid language.
Although I laughed earlier, tonight as I sit writing this, I feel like life has said that to me today. "You're not ready, but I'm coming anyway!" Today was a tough day for several reasons. I wasn't ready for today. I thought I was, but I wasn't. And yet the seconds keep on ticking: one, two, three, four .... where can I hide from this day?
As Anne of Green Gables would say though, "Tomorrow is fresh with no mistakes in it yet." Thank the Lord for that! Perhaps I'll be ready for life tomorrow.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Raven
God often shows me who to pray for in my dreams. I'll dream of someone again and again until I realize that God is pushing me to pray for them. Once I do, the dreaming stops.
Last night I dreamed of someone from my past. I only knew her for six days, but she touched my life and taught me some important lessons.
Her name was Raven. Actually, Raven was not her real name, but that's what everyone called her. Her real name was something much more girly-sounding like Maysie or Margaret.
Raven stalked into my life one August during my late teen years. She had jet black hair cut extremely short and spiked on the top. She wore all black - a black tank top, black leather pants and loud, clunky, black boots. She had piercings in several places, wore chains on her clothing and a spiked dog collar around her neck. Raven's appearance screamed, "I don't care about you or anything else. I'm tough!"
It was a Sunday afternoon when I met Raven. We were both at a camp. She was a camper and I was her terrified counselor. How in the world would I survive a week with a girl who looked like she was going to murder me as I slept at night? And what about the safety of the other girls in my cabin? A girl like Raven didn't belong at the sweet little Christian camp that I called home. Or did she?
That week was hands down the hardest week in my 5 years on staff at camp. Raven wasn't the only girl in my cabin that had me stumped. That week, my cabin of 8 high school girls had lots of issues to work through. One was being pressured by her boyfriend to have sex. One thought she was pregnant. One had an eating disorder and was encouraged in it by her mother. One was lonely. One was under pressure to use drugs. All had the regular social issues and hurts that go along with the teen years.
How does a young and fairly innocent girl tackle issues like that? I was in over my head. And thankfully I recognized that. The only thing that I could give these girls was the hope and restoration that comes through Christ. My heart broke as their stories unfolded over the week. One would talk to me during free time as we sat on our beds in the cabin. One would open up on the front porch steps after lights out. One during chapel time. And some during our evening devotions - which were always my favorite part of the day.
Raven shared some of her story one night during devotions. She came to the camp directly from 2 months of drug rehab. I got the impression that her parents weren't ready to have her home yet and so they sent her to camp. Unfortunately, that 2 month stint was not Raven's first time in rehab. Raven wore her hair so short because she had shaved her head to support her boyfriend who had cancer. He had died. And her pain was obvious.
Raven had been pregnant twice. Both times she had miscarried. The second time she miscarried she was 6 months along and had the baby beaten out of her. Her brother stood and watched. When I met Raven, she was 16 years old.
My heart broke for this girl. There was so much more to her than her tough exterior. Several of the camp leaders held her at arms length, expecting that she would cause problems. For the first couple of days, she tried to live up to their expectations. I can vividly remember sitting with the other counselors at our morning meeting mid way through the week and passionately begging them to give her a chance. To see beyond the exterior. To look at her as Christ did. To notice the changes I was beginning to see.
Raven changed a whole lot that week. She began to smile. She had fun! She made some friends at camp. And most importantly, she recognized how desperate her life was without the Lord. In the day and a half before camp ended, she repeatedly shared with me her fear of going home. Her parents were good to her. But her friends were not. She knew just how difficult it would be to avoid the temptations to slip back into her old ways. She knew that it would be impossible to retreat from the relationships that dragged her down.
I wish I could say that I knew the rest of Raven's story. I wrote to her for several years, but never received a single word in reply. She didn't come back to camp. It's like she just disappeared.
Every once in awhile, God brings her to mind. And I stop and I pray for Raven.
I'm not the good one in this story. It took a week with someone who's appearance and demeanor scared me senseless to understand the truth. To see and finally really KNOW that God does not look at the outside. To Him, Raven was beautiful. He was showing her His love in a way she couldn't ignore. He knew of her pain, her vices, her struggles, but He also knew of her beautiful smile, her laughter, her desire to change. And I'm sad to say it took me so long to see it.
Sometimes I see people in the mall, or on the street or even at church and I look at the outside. It's then that God gently reminds me of Raven. He reminds me that every person is created by God, in His image and has beauty. He reminds me that my response can make a huge difference for good or for evil. What will my response be?
Last night I dreamed of someone from my past. I only knew her for six days, but she touched my life and taught me some important lessons.
Her name was Raven. Actually, Raven was not her real name, but that's what everyone called her. Her real name was something much more girly-sounding like Maysie or Margaret.
Raven stalked into my life one August during my late teen years. She had jet black hair cut extremely short and spiked on the top. She wore all black - a black tank top, black leather pants and loud, clunky, black boots. She had piercings in several places, wore chains on her clothing and a spiked dog collar around her neck. Raven's appearance screamed, "I don't care about you or anything else. I'm tough!"
It was a Sunday afternoon when I met Raven. We were both at a camp. She was a camper and I was her terrified counselor. How in the world would I survive a week with a girl who looked like she was going to murder me as I slept at night? And what about the safety of the other girls in my cabin? A girl like Raven didn't belong at the sweet little Christian camp that I called home. Or did she?
That week was hands down the hardest week in my 5 years on staff at camp. Raven wasn't the only girl in my cabin that had me stumped. That week, my cabin of 8 high school girls had lots of issues to work through. One was being pressured by her boyfriend to have sex. One thought she was pregnant. One had an eating disorder and was encouraged in it by her mother. One was lonely. One was under pressure to use drugs. All had the regular social issues and hurts that go along with the teen years.
How does a young and fairly innocent girl tackle issues like that? I was in over my head. And thankfully I recognized that. The only thing that I could give these girls was the hope and restoration that comes through Christ. My heart broke as their stories unfolded over the week. One would talk to me during free time as we sat on our beds in the cabin. One would open up on the front porch steps after lights out. One during chapel time. And some during our evening devotions - which were always my favorite part of the day.
Raven shared some of her story one night during devotions. She came to the camp directly from 2 months of drug rehab. I got the impression that her parents weren't ready to have her home yet and so they sent her to camp. Unfortunately, that 2 month stint was not Raven's first time in rehab. Raven wore her hair so short because she had shaved her head to support her boyfriend who had cancer. He had died. And her pain was obvious.
Raven had been pregnant twice. Both times she had miscarried. The second time she miscarried she was 6 months along and had the baby beaten out of her. Her brother stood and watched. When I met Raven, she was 16 years old.
My heart broke for this girl. There was so much more to her than her tough exterior. Several of the camp leaders held her at arms length, expecting that she would cause problems. For the first couple of days, she tried to live up to their expectations. I can vividly remember sitting with the other counselors at our morning meeting mid way through the week and passionately begging them to give her a chance. To see beyond the exterior. To look at her as Christ did. To notice the changes I was beginning to see.
Raven changed a whole lot that week. She began to smile. She had fun! She made some friends at camp. And most importantly, she recognized how desperate her life was without the Lord. In the day and a half before camp ended, she repeatedly shared with me her fear of going home. Her parents were good to her. But her friends were not. She knew just how difficult it would be to avoid the temptations to slip back into her old ways. She knew that it would be impossible to retreat from the relationships that dragged her down.
I wish I could say that I knew the rest of Raven's story. I wrote to her for several years, but never received a single word in reply. She didn't come back to camp. It's like she just disappeared.
Every once in awhile, God brings her to mind. And I stop and I pray for Raven.
I'm not the good one in this story. It took a week with someone who's appearance and demeanor scared me senseless to understand the truth. To see and finally really KNOW that God does not look at the outside. To Him, Raven was beautiful. He was showing her His love in a way she couldn't ignore. He knew of her pain, her vices, her struggles, but He also knew of her beautiful smile, her laughter, her desire to change. And I'm sad to say it took me so long to see it.
Sometimes I see people in the mall, or on the street or even at church and I look at the outside. It's then that God gently reminds me of Raven. He reminds me that every person is created by God, in His image and has beauty. He reminds me that my response can make a huge difference for good or for evil. What will my response be?
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Book for Parents
Here's a great little book for teaching purity to your children. Josh and I are still discussing what the dating years will look like for our children, but teaching purity really can't start too young.
Here is the author's web page. Check it out!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Toyorama
This week I helped my daughter clean out her room.
Not just clean, but sort through all her stuff, toss the extra papers and broken toys, find places to put everything, insert a hook into the wall for her purses, vaccuum and fill a trash bag!
When did we accumulate this much junk?? Her room was so stuffed with toys that we couldn't even walk! I'm thankful that she was very willing to get rid of a good portion of the excess and now everything has a place. The room is tidy, I have a great feeling of accomplishment and all is well.
But Christmas is just around the corner. And after that we have three children with birthdays in January, February and March. Much more "stuff" will be coming into our house. Ugh.
I feel that I am not doing a good job of parenting in this area. We do have way too much stuff. I admit that. In the area of toys, we've failed at the "less is more" idea. We're reading the Little House series and I don't think my kids have yet realized the implications of Laura and Mary only having one doll and a string of paper dolls or beads to play with. My kids just can't fathom that! I'm glad we have more than that, but do we really need ALL of this? Must we keep the dolls, tinkertoys, blocks, legos, puzzles, cars, costumes, coloring books, ponies, stuffed animals, games, books, star wars stuff and K'nex?
On the flip side, there are some things on which we haven't compromised. Our kids don't play video games. We don't have a Wii or an XBox. They spend very little time on the computer and lots of time in imaginary play and reading books.
But that brings me back to my point. If they play so well with their imagination and we can continuously get books and videos from the library, is it even necessary to have most of these toys? Probably not. Definitely not.
Herein lies the rub ... how in the world do you get your kids to let go of their toys so that you can encourage their "imaginations"? Offering to send those toys to kids who have few or no toys doesn't always work. Snatching the toys when the kids are out of the house doesn't work. (Well it works, but you end up with tantrums and angry children who no longer trust you.) And how do you convince yourself that certain toys are good to get rid of? Some toys are great for the imagination and for learning.
I guess the only thing to do is to teach our children - beginning today - that stuff isn't what it's all about. We need to be on guard against continuously buying them what they desire.
And I suppose it would be good to review that lesson for myself while I'm at it. As I begin to clean my own room, I'm realizing that my children have likely just copied my own behavior. Ouch, that truth stings!
Not just clean, but sort through all her stuff, toss the extra papers and broken toys, find places to put everything, insert a hook into the wall for her purses, vaccuum and fill a trash bag!
When did we accumulate this much junk?? Her room was so stuffed with toys that we couldn't even walk! I'm thankful that she was very willing to get rid of a good portion of the excess and now everything has a place. The room is tidy, I have a great feeling of accomplishment and all is well.
But Christmas is just around the corner. And after that we have three children with birthdays in January, February and March. Much more "stuff" will be coming into our house. Ugh.
I feel that I am not doing a good job of parenting in this area. We do have way too much stuff. I admit that. In the area of toys, we've failed at the "less is more" idea. We're reading the Little House series and I don't think my kids have yet realized the implications of Laura and Mary only having one doll and a string of paper dolls or beads to play with. My kids just can't fathom that! I'm glad we have more than that, but do we really need ALL of this? Must we keep the dolls, tinkertoys, blocks, legos, puzzles, cars, costumes, coloring books, ponies, stuffed animals, games, books, star wars stuff and K'nex?
On the flip side, there are some things on which we haven't compromised. Our kids don't play video games. We don't have a Wii or an XBox. They spend very little time on the computer and lots of time in imaginary play and reading books.
But that brings me back to my point. If they play so well with their imagination and we can continuously get books and videos from the library, is it even necessary to have most of these toys? Probably not. Definitely not.
Herein lies the rub ... how in the world do you get your kids to let go of their toys so that you can encourage their "imaginations"? Offering to send those toys to kids who have few or no toys doesn't always work. Snatching the toys when the kids are out of the house doesn't work. (Well it works, but you end up with tantrums and angry children who no longer trust you.) And how do you convince yourself that certain toys are good to get rid of? Some toys are great for the imagination and for learning.
I guess the only thing to do is to teach our children - beginning today - that stuff isn't what it's all about. We need to be on guard against continuously buying them what they desire.
And I suppose it would be good to review that lesson for myself while I'm at it. As I begin to clean my own room, I'm realizing that my children have likely just copied my own behavior. Ouch, that truth stings!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Withered Trees and Drowned Mountains
This weekend will be my first real test with NaBloPoMo. We're headed out of town and I'm not sure if I'll have access to the internet. I've written my blog posts already, so I can just log on and post, but we'll see how it goes.
This morning during our devotions, Josh read from Matthew 21:18-22. It's the story of when Jesus causes the fig tree to wither and then explains to his disciples that if you just have faith and do not doubt, you can even move mountains.
As we talked over the passage with the kids, Josh had us each take a turn sharing what we would like to see God do and what we will seek to pray for in faith without doubt. Here are the requests. I think they are wonderful!
Z: That Haiti and Chile would recover from the earthquakes this past year. And that all orphans in the world would be adopted and find homes. (Incidentally, he prays this EVERY single day and has such a heart for the hurting and helpless!)
A: That her best friend Stevie (Stephanie) would come to church and learn about Jesus.
G: That Haiti would "cover" from the earthquake (of course he meant recover) and that Grandma and Grandpa Ron would be safe at their house.
D: That Charlie's family (a kid who bullied D for two years while in school) would know Jesus and that Christianity would be legal in China.
Josh: That God would convict young adults to marry instead of living in sin.
Me: That God would force Satan to loosen the grip he has on the teens in our town and that we as a family and church would know how to reach into their lives.
Boy, imagine what could happen if all believers were praying in faith without doubt, believing that in Christ, these things can happen! What are you praying for?
This morning during our devotions, Josh read from Matthew 21:18-22. It's the story of when Jesus causes the fig tree to wither and then explains to his disciples that if you just have faith and do not doubt, you can even move mountains.
As we talked over the passage with the kids, Josh had us each take a turn sharing what we would like to see God do and what we will seek to pray for in faith without doubt. Here are the requests. I think they are wonderful!
Z: That Haiti and Chile would recover from the earthquakes this past year. And that all orphans in the world would be adopted and find homes. (Incidentally, he prays this EVERY single day and has such a heart for the hurting and helpless!)
A: That her best friend Stevie (Stephanie) would come to church and learn about Jesus.
G: That Haiti would "cover" from the earthquake (of course he meant recover) and that Grandma and Grandpa Ron would be safe at their house.
D: That Charlie's family (a kid who bullied D for two years while in school) would know Jesus and that Christianity would be legal in China.
Josh: That God would convict young adults to marry instead of living in sin.
Me: That God would force Satan to loosen the grip he has on the teens in our town and that we as a family and church would know how to reach into their lives.
Boy, imagine what could happen if all believers were praying in faith without doubt, believing that in Christ, these things can happen! What are you praying for?
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