A Season of Harvest

Looking Forward

2012-01-26T20:16:00.000-08:00

Love this couple. "Adore" might not even be an understatement. Pete and Jane Beck. Pete will be - even at his age - getting into his car tomorrow and making the drive to Knoxville. He'll be dining in my home tomorrow evening, and ministering at Harvest Church this Sunday.

I'm looking forward to it all. Though our Pete is an Alabama fan, we still love him.

Kindle Fire Happiness

2012-01-25T20:39:00.000-08:00

It isn't mine. The Kindle Fire isn't mine. It was a gift that came this past Monday to The Preacher.

But I wish it were mine. Because I'm on my second episode of the original Julia Child cooking show, The French Chef. Streaming free via The Preacher's Kindle Fire.

He's letting me play with his new Fire tonight, and I'm impressed, both with the Kindle and Julia. I learned more basic cooking tips in one episode with black-and-white old school Julia Child than in two or three episodes of any modern Food Network show. I would not lie to you.

In other news, my master bedroom is getting a huge makeover. It may take till summer to complete, but we got some furniture moved today.

I've come to a very difficult conclusion: I am sick. Or rather, I have a sickness.

I have way, way, way too many books. And I have to dispense with more than a few. More like a hundred, no lie. They lay stacked on top of the painted wardrobe - the one that belonged to my grandma. Books are stuffed in two large sets of floor to ceiling shelves, they stack on my bedside table, in my bedside table, stuffed in a small reading table purchased as a Levenger knock off, and there are even books in my bathroom.

I also have a few furniture items that will have to go to new homes, or perhaps I can find some kind soul who can store them for me until I get the luxury of a guest room and a studio back. I'm in no hurry for said guest room or studio, but I want to be ready when the time comes, and I have some right fine pieces that it would be better to keep than to donate to Goodwill.

But for this new design and color palette to work, I must spare, spare, and spare back again. Ah, what the hey? I'll go through everything while watching Julia do her thing, and all will be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.

Can you tell it stresses me...just a little? I have too-few days to conceive of what this space needs to become, now that seasons have changed and grandchildren are such a part of our daily living here at the Cottage, and our Monkey toddles back here every day to visit us and snuggle and "wrestle" and sit by the fire and be rocked in the antique rocking chair, and be loved and chased and read to.

And our next monkey will be here in July and we want her (he?) to have a lovely antique wood cradle at the foot of our bed. When my brain needs a break from coming up with fresh design ideas, I'll watch Julia do her Masterful Thing on that gorgeous Kindle Fire.

Did I tell you? It's my Preacher's. I wish so much it was mine. I would use it more, I'm just sure of it!

A Peek - My Email

2012-01-22T19:02:00.000-08:00

I didn't send this little note...I checked my email via my Droid just now, and read this. It was written by a lady who is a part of our ladies only email group we lovingly call "The Cafe". It made me smile. Because I very much agreed with her.

Had to share it with you. Had to. Local church life rocks...it really does. And it rocks to be me.

Just sayin'.

I'm Good With Suburbia...

2012-01-20T20:39:00.001-08:00

Now...don't get me wrong. My Preacher and I have been doing a version of "urban homesteading" for many years now. We plant (small) gardens. We've planted berry bushes - they didn't make it. We are trying again. We have an apple tree. Well, it is our neighbor's apple tree, but trust me...it's ours. The beauty of suburban living at its best, see. You get to know your neighbors and actually love them. You end up sharing apple trees and hydrangea blossoms. We have a tiny fish pond. We burn outdoor fires in our firepit almost twelve months of the year. Our outdoor square footing on our porches and decks equals the square footing inside our house.

We expand the garden a little each year. We even drive a truck, now. We also have friends with totally suburban acreage (a couple after my own heart! They are far more involved with people than vegetables or animals, though they do own several dogs) they grow an incredible garden, right in the middle of a subdivision...and they have very, very green thumbs. We can grow stuff there, if we had to, if we needed even more space - and then swim in their pool. They live minutes away.

But we don't need to do that yet. I want to experiment with suburban gardening - the kind that weaves the vegetables in with the flowers and landscaping...whole books written about this, and there's big possibilities here yet to be explored.

We are considering building a cute, tiny coop and run for three laying hens...just for fun and grandkids. Our pastor friend Bo from Virginia has some way cool breeds and has offered us chicks and his decades of expertise for free. We may even get one nanny goat. Same reason. Fun and grandchildren. Same way...free from a friend.

We might. We might not.

One thing is for sure. As you can tell, we are good...really good...with suburban living. See, we value time. Time for people.

My good friend Wendy, over at Hope Springs, and I were talking about the whole yuppie farming/simple living movement that has been going on for YEARS. (In other words, this is nothing new. This post isn't a reaction to anyone who just so happens to have suddenly taken up farming...home schoolers have migrated to the countryside and taken up farming for decades now. I know a bunch of 'em.)

She said something I thought was so wise. She said, "There's many ways to live simply. I don't want to get up and have to tend chickens every day. It is simpler for me to go to Food City and get free range eggs for three bucks." Like me, she has pretty much rejected the idea that you must live in the country to be earthy, wise, or even to eat "from farm to table".

We already live beautifully and simply, we eat healthily, and we enjoy not smelling the poop.

God bless Mary Jane Butters...but I don't want to live like her. I can take and adapt some of her ideas, making them work for me right where I live...because I am content to live in what's known as a neighborhood, and I tend to think a modicum of neighborly dealings is necessary and even healthy for our emotional and spiritual balance. The teenage boys who live on this street have challenged our patience and even our Christian faith. We've had to take strong stands instead of move to the country. Single dad Bobby, Eric and Darlene (who sold us the truck), our precious Earl, Foxy and his ...er...amazing wife, my other neighbors, and sweet Nanny down the way - these are real people who keep me well rounded and grounded.

It's a very simple and satisfying life, mine. My lettuces will get planted in a few weeks, and I can make a killer chicken soup from the thighs of free ranged chickens bought cheap. Not a big deal.

I don't need views or solitude or chickens to feel creative. I see the same sunrise and sunset, the same cloud formations, and constellations. Don't need the busy-ness of poultry or pastures to be busy doing what is most important in the Kingdom of God. I'm glad for those Real Farmers (like the Voskamps over at Holy Experience) who can integrate their country life with a life of missions and outreach. But for this Preacher's Wife, more than three chickens, and I might look like an older version of that picture up there. Gah.

Besides. I sort of like putting on yoga pants, a cute T-shirt, and blinding white tennis shoes when I decide to take a walk. No dungarees and boots, thanks.

Instructional Video For My Trip to France

2012-01-19T11:31:00.000-08:00

PS. I'm not really going to France. That I know of. Serving God is a wild adventure however, and He could send me this year!

I'd so go. Armed with this instructional video, I feel prepared.

On This Cloudy Day

2012-01-18T12:32:00.000-08:00

...the results of my second Photoshop class...playing with "adding" white, black, and neutral pixels to a picture.

This shot is a classic "through the window" snap of an antique wooden toolbox, a gift from my neighbor Earl. I planted pansies in it last November, for the holidays, hoping they last into spring.

Took this picture just yesterday - lighting was a challenge. We're having quite a stretch of gray days here in east Tennessee!

"One of These Things Is Not Like The Others..."

2012-01-17T20:11:00.000-08:00

Guess which one is our son?

::sigh:: Yeah. The one covering the "Amb" and then the "adors" in the team name "Ambassadors".

I don't know where he gets it.

Help me, Rhonda. Jesus, take the wheel. God, grant me the serenity.

Another Grace-Song

2012-01-15T18:11:00.000-08:00

Here is the sort of music a woman writes when the Gospel gets deep down into her bones...these lyrics resonate with me, so much. If you'll indulge me, please turn up your speakers, because it's the first song.

::smile::

These lyrics wonderfully describe the journey of my own heart out of law, and into grace - a choice I made deliberately and consistently and with abandon and not without alienating a few.

And I'd do it again. And again.

Because when lives are at stake, see, I can't play patty-cake or politics or pretend. And in many ways, the life at stake was...

...my own.

I truly have, in recent years, shown up for my own life. And I have to admit - as a result, a few more have shown up for their own. Once I have a key...any key...I will be found unlocking more prison doors than just my own. Be sure of it. That could be why the devil has it in for me.

Showed Up For My Own Life

~Sara Groves

Spending my time sleep walking
Moving my mouth but not saying a thing
Hoping the changes would take by working their way from the outside in
I was in love with an idea
Preoccupied with how a life should appear
Spending my time at the surface repairing the holes in the shiny veneer

There are so many ways to hide
There are so many ways not to feel
There are so many ways to deny what is real

And I just showed up for my own life
And I'm standing here taking it in and it sure looks bright
I'm going to live my life inspired
Look for the holy in the common place
Open the windows and feel all that's honest and real until I'm truly amazed
I'm going to feel all my emotions
I'm going to look you in the eyes
I'm going to listen and hear until it's finally clear and it changes our lives

There are so many ways to hide
There are so many ways not to feel
There are so many ways to deny what is real

And I just showed up for my own life
And I'm standing here taking it in and it sure looks bright

Oh the glory of God is man fully alive!
Oh the glory of God is man fully alive!

There are so many ways to hide
There are so many ways not to feel
There are so many ways to deny what is real

And I just showed up for my own life
And I'm standing here taking it in and it sure looks bright...

2012 Focus - "Cultivate"

2012-01-14T13:14:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a Photoshop class. Because, in this year of 2012, I have determined to cultivate the seeds planted in 2011.

...the results of my first class...

Sweet Friend

2012-01-13T19:44:00.001-08:00

I am so blessed to love and be loved by this beautiful lady...here she is, dancing with her husband. She is a fellow Jesus Freak, a lover of Jesus and a lover of children....and she has a definite flair for the dramatic. (She leads our church's drama team, along with her assistant Lisa Privetts.)

The Team...at the close of an incredible group-dance!

She and her husband and two daughters also minister to our school-aged children as children's pastors. Is there a higher calling? A more difficult, yet rewarding job?

...her daughter Kate...(these pictures were taken the night of our church's Christmas Play - which Cheryl wrote!)

...her other daughter Christina...

...Kate and Christina...

If children are the heritage of the Lord (and they are!) this sweet friend of mine has a fine, fine, fine inheritance, a great reward in heaven - she, and her husband and family. I'm privileged to call her friend.

Just wanted to give you a glimpse into what is my sweet friend, and even sweeter church life. People's lives in Harvest are so intertwined, and this family have touched each and every person in meaningful and sacrificial ways.

Precious!

"My" Baby...

2012-01-11T15:06:00.000-08:00

It is with great pride and pleasure I introduce you to either baby girl Howe, or baby boy Howe - we don't know which one yet:

I'm already smitten. I warned you that these sorts of posts would be coming. There is no blessing like the blessing of grandbabies (as my friend Cyndy R. can also attest - her granddaughter Molly was born yesterday!) ...

...nothing compares. Go on!  TRY to make me jealous of your Hummer/castle in Spain/baubles/seven figure income/vacation plans/Nubian goats/Arabian steeds/fill-in-the-blank. You'll see a flicker of interest, if you are an interesting person. But after too much of it...I yawn, and then I yawn. Then I yawn again. I mean, if it blows your skirt up, I get that. I will always track with you, up to a certain point.

I mean, I find a measure of whoopity-do in things that money can buy, too. I can enjoy your hobby with you, and my interests vary far and wide. And I love it when you share with me. But I can't bring myself to admire you for it...I'm impressed by the likes of Amy Carmichael and missionaries to Cambodia.  I'm a Jesus Freak, what can I say?

Just sayin'. I like stuff, too...but you won't find me dedicating a whole blog to My Fabulous Estate, nor will you find me going out of my way to, through any means possible, oh-so-obviously make sure you hear about my latest purchases - even when I pay cash on the barrel for every bit of it! (...as opposed to leveraging assets for the tax break that gives me...)

I find it to be bad manners to flaunt stuff, be it animal, vegetable, or mineral. You can safely flaunt your man and you can always flaunt your grandbaby. That's really about all you can happily flaunt, and still be in good taste. Other than that, no one really cares or wants to hear about it, unless she's your Bestest Friend Forever. Certainly not if they haven't spoken to you in years. I can't tell you how often it happens, when someone (who imagines that I will be slightly impressed) will stretch to find any means possible to insure that I know what is their latest "thing"...their newest, non-human acquisition in which they find joy.

All the power-planning in the world can't insure you snuggle up tonight with a man you are crazy about.  My hobbies don't give good backrubs and they sure as heck won't slow dance with me. Money can't buy you one single healthy relationship.

I can't take my Nikon out for breakfast at Mimi's Cafe and talk about its day. I've tried. My poodle is a decent snuggler, but he can't call and check in on me. My diamond ring never sends me one email telling me how much I've blessed it.  But my girlfriends do, and I do the same for them.

And I can't take out a loan to finance a single kiss from a grandbaby.  Those are priceless.

I know. I'm so old-school. I sound like a granny.

Think With Me

2012-01-10T18:48:00.000-08:00

Think with me.

To refuse - even to the smallest degree - the message of the Gospel of the Finished Work of Christ is to refuse God. To try to add anything of our own performance (or "righteousness") to the revelation of Jesus is to be under a curse, so says Galatians and Revelations.

The Gospel really is that radical. You are either all in, or all out. If you want to rely on trying to keep less than one percent of the Law (10 Commandments) to merit God's blessing, you must keep the whole She-Bang. To choose to rely on Christ's obedience to said law as being the only thing that merits God's smile of favor towards you, is to refuse to trust in anything else. Nothing of yourself you bring, only to His Word you cling.

Funny thing. Once you are "all in", and you kick your law addiction cold turkey...you will find yourself living in such a way that "against such there is no law".

I know, right?  God is so weird and powerful like that.

Don't add to the message (Revelation) of Jesus by adding Jewish law or religious ritual or the arm of the flesh. ("Sacrifice and offering You refuse.  Rather, a body You have prepared...") Don't take away from the Revelation of Jesus by diminishing the grandeur of grace. For from Him and through Him and to Him is everything.  God, at this very moment in time, right now, watches over His Word (the Person and message of Christ) to perform it.

Today, if you hear His voice, don't harden your heart.  Your one choice? Choose to live entirely, with abandon, under the New Covenant - Jesus plus nothing.You can't have it both ways - Jesus, plus Everything I Can Muster. On your best days, your own efforts to earn and deserve the blessings of God are like so many dirty tampons in a gas station trash can.

Why would you refuse to let God wreak His limitless power to do you and your family good? Why would you refuse to let God wreak His limitless overflow of ability to meet you in any and every area where you have fallen short?

For fallen short you have. Today.Oh sure, you have.

That's why today is the time to receive The Message of the Gospel, and submit yourself to the gift of righteousness which is completely and only and singularly by faith, not by works...

Not. By. Your. Effort.

...just in case you're ever tempted to boast. Which you would never be tempted to do, right??

Yeah, right. Me neither.  (And if you can believe that, I have some swamp land to sell you...)

Random Firing of Neurons

2012-01-08T18:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I've come down with a headcold. And you know what that means. It means I get random. And I use flowery unnecessary adjectives On Purpose, which is Not Good Writing At All.

And I capitalize all the Terribly Important Words. It's an A.A. Milne thing.

Go Tim Tebow.

Revelations 3:20 could not have been written to the lost man or woman. It had to have been written to those of us who are alive in Christ Jesus. Dead guys don't answer the door. But oh, what a powerful promise we are given! "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and will intimately fellowship with him, and he with me."

Present tense - ongoing, present tense. God is standing at my heart's door. He is knocking...right now...on my heart's door. And if I answer His knock and open that door, I get to hear and be heard by the God of the Universe.

I lovelovelove the local church. I love the concept, and I love the flesh-and-blood reality of people with names and histories with me and I with them. I love the Merry Madness, the tedious sameness, the fresh newness of koininia with people with whom I share the gift of forgiveness and a timeline. I love the continuity of fellowshipping with one local church.

Notice I didn't say "one local church at a time" - I said "one local church".

Nothing like it. Nothing in this earth like it. I love My People. They'd have to kill me to get rid of me. Some have clearly considered it. But all I have to do is holla for my homegirls...like Jame...or Angel...or Vickie...or Wendy...or Maria...or Cheryl...but especially Jame and Angel. Nobody kills me without Jame and Angel raising me from the dead, and then hunting my killer down.

Like a dog.

I'm telling you, do not mess with me. I have People. I've stuck and stayed, and as my Harvest and Reward, God has given me people. I feel sorry for church hoppers. They got no people to kill people for them.

Nobody's a church hopper when they hop a church. Have you noticed that? It's funny - even as they do it (hop like the Easter Bunny), even as they hop right up the front steps and in the front door of a church, they say, "I'm. not. a. church. hopper. ya. know."

But. It. is. so. hard. to. focus. on. their. face....all that bouncing up and down. Oh the power of our own mind to conceal the Very Truth from ourselves. If we knew we were being deceived, we would no longer be deceived.

Last but not least, my "baby" ~

Yeah. We were the guests.

Mad Skillz. The child hoops. Where that exists in his DNA, I do not know.

Sometimes he's a downright Fancy Pants about it. That is, when he's not unselfishly dishing the ball to his team mates, which, as Point Guard, is often. He eats The Press for breakfast...when he's not helping up a fallen player from the opposing team, after breaking his ankles. (read: homeboy crosses them over in a split second. And he has good sportsmanship. #lovemyboy) He has been contacted by several small colleges. We have no idea what will happen, but we will never regret giving him the extra year. Exciting times!

Josh Garrels

2012-01-07T11:49:00.000-08:00

Friends, I am sitting in a gym in Nashville Tennessee, even as we speak. (It's about 3 PM central time, on this cloudy Saturday). I am waiting to see my youngest son play in a basketball tournament, but I had to go to lots of trouble to log onto the World Wide Web, to tell you something important.

(my man is being my hot spot, and that might not mean what you think it does...it's pretty complicated.)

Josh Garrels. He is my latest discovery, and I have to admit he's better than Audible.com poetry.

Read about him here, in Christianity Today.

Then run. I repeat, run, do not walk. Run here, to download his newest album...for free.
Then burn it to CD, and give it to every teen and college kid you know.

This guy is the real deal. Trust me, I wouldn't go to all this trouble of getting a hot spot from my Preacher, if it weren't going to rock your world. (And if you don't understand what I just said, give it time and get a smart phone.) Listen to each song. Really listen to the lyrics.

A voice to this generation. A man who has sacrificed his own personal finances for the Kingdom of God, to get the message of the Kingdom out there.

Do what we did, and after downloading the free album, purchase his old stuff. It is excellent too!

A New Love

2012-01-04T19:16:00.000-08:00

I've long loved audible.com. So why has it never occurred to me that I could purchase (and very cheaply I might add) my favorite poets and poetry...and listen to them, whilst walking in the woods or sitting in my jammies, tucked up in bed with a hot cuppa - and guess which one I am doing right now??

Oh, bliss! Oh, heaven shall be somewhat like this! Words, words, beautiful words! For a mere five dollars and change, I have, at my fingertips, one hour and nine minutes of art for my ears and stuff for my thoughts to longlinger over.

Don't worry. I won't start assaulting you with made-up words just because they tumble tipsydrunk off the tongue. I would never.

I. can't. stand. it. It makes me so stinkin' happy, I can't stand it.

Poor Tim. He came rushing into our bedroom to see what all the vocalizing was about, and found me jumping violently up and down on the bed in my jammies, pumping my fist, gleefully yelling at the top of my lungs:

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle !
Be a hero in the strife !

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant !
Let the dead Past bury its dead !
Act,— act in the living Present !
Heart within, and God o'erhead !

Just kiddin'. But I wanted to.

::sigh::

And now, I'm jacked up on Audible-poetry-crack.

(I don't have an addictive personality.)

Re-Post from 2008, 'The Four "Sights" of a Local Church'

2012-01-03T20:27:00.000-08:00

This is a re-post from 2008, with some very, very light post-editing. This post is about the question: what constitutes a "Local Church"? What takes a group of people beyond a creed, a livingroom, and their own insecurities? What takes them to the next level?

I think God gave me a few answers, one day back in 2008 - and in a climate where autonomous "house churches" are flourishing, and many of them trouble me - the ones who are "anti established church"...the ones who get wild-eyed when you say the words "organized church". Yet these very people would intelligently expect any other establishment they frequent to be organized and established. Could you imagine a disorganized, unestablished Pediatric office? Medicine is ministry, too. We want what is important to be organized and functioning well, and within a visible chain of authority.

Here are my 2008 thoughts on this issue:

Immediately after hitting "publish post" on my last blog, the Spirit of God spoke to me. I was thinking about our beginnings as a church. My husband and I were an integral part of a large interdenominational church, Trinity Chapel.

But our church, Harvest Church, began in a livingroom.

Someone else's livingroom...(Post edit, by the author of this blog, editing unnecessary details that are sadly obsolete)... That small group grew to the point that we needed to divide it and create another, and so we did just that. Then that group also grew so large it needed to divide, and that is when we ended up with a church in our livingroom. Then that group also divided...or multiplied. However you want to look at it. We were over four groups.

About a year later, we were approached by the leadership of Trinity Chapel, and asked to plant a church. A handful of families went out with us, and then some of them went right back - we all quickly discovered that church planting is the hardest thing you will ever do. The few families who have gone the distance with us can tell you....church planting ain't for sissies.

And you absolutely have to be in relationship with the Father and with each other. If you don't love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and then love each other as you love yourself, if you cannot commit to continuity in relationships, you will never make it in a new church plant.

There were many Sundays in which our peak attendance was 10 or 15 people. Tim and I were stunned. It was as if that "gathering gift" we'd enjoyed while members of our parent church....was gone. We truly thought that if we planted a church, it would grow just like our small groups did.

Um....not necessarily. In fact, we are still considered a "small church",years later. Trust me, if we are "small" in number today, we were minuscule when we began - and we stayed minuscule in size for years. Up to the day we began Harvest Church, the only sort of church I had ever known, really, was "big church". I grew up in our parent church Trinity Chapel, in the days when attendance topped 600+.

I was used to worship with a full band, complete with percussion and a piece of brass or two, and a grand piano, with a salaried worship leader. Suddenly, our worship was reduced to one acoustic guitar. Suddenly, my husband was trouble shooting sound equipment each Sunday, playing worship, preaching, counseling, and doing construction work on our facilities - all while working overtime on his "day job".

So at what point did we become a valid "local church"? Was it when we reached a membership of 20? 30? When we finally put together a worship band?

We were a valid local church from day one. Because, from day one, we already had the "four sights of a local church" in place and functioning.

That is what the Lord spoke to me, after publishing my last blog. He said to me, "A local church of any number of people can function as the church, if they have Insight, Hindsight, Foresight, and Oversight." That bowled me over.

I knew it didn't come from me - not all at once like that. When good things come to you, full blown, it is a God-thing. I hope to elaborate on each of the four "sights" of the local church in future blogs - I find them fascinating. For now, here is an overview:

Insight - into the plan of salvation and the mystery of grace. A group of people, particularly their leader or leaders, must have a firm insight into the gospel, and be able to simply and easily share their insight with anyone and everyone.

Hindsight - a people must be sent. There are those few exceptions, but they are not, and should not be the norm. Biblically, church planting is all about being sent or ordained or affirmed by another established spiritual leader or leaders. This gives every local church, even the one meeting in a livingroom, a history. On the first day they meet as a newly planted church, there is hindsight - a story of ministry that came before them, and is even now sending and affirming their efforts to plant another church. (God is way into church planting, in case no one else has told you.)

Foresight - a people must have a vision, and it needs to be as simple and specific as possible. A group of people, meeting as a newly planted church, need to know where they are going. Our vision is, "Love God, Love Each Other, Love Your Neighbor". That's it. But it is a vision so compelling and consuming that it keeps the entire church body very busy - not with programs, but with people. Love is our vision. Love is our direction. Every church needs foresight, to be able to "see" where they are headed.

Oversight - both in-house, and out-of-house general oversight. In other words, our church members have oversight in the form of my husband, their pastor. We also have a leadership team of gifted men (post edit - we now have two elders and several deacons) who look after the flock of God, willingly, and not by compulsion....men who are selfless and who have not sought a position....men who simply "are" leaders, they don't have to try to be. They have good marriages, and good reputations outside our church.

Then we have oversight to whom the pastor can turn. This is our Masterbuilder's network of churches. Masterbuilder's is led by a group of men, all of whom have recognized apostolic, teaching, and pastoral anointings, and these men oversee the churches in our network. They have never one time been heavy handed or domineering, and they don't make a salary for doing it.

I have never seen a more selfless group of men, always nursing and tending to the various churches who are blessed enough to be part of our network. (And no - my husband is not on this team. He gladly answers to these men, has turned to them during times of crisis and trouble, and they have never failed to come through for us, often at their own expense. We are deeply indebted to them.)

However. As selfless and low-key as they are in their leadership of the churches, if my husband became some sort of renegade, we could count on them to step in. First, they would try to restore us, if we have gotten off-message. If we refused to hear, they would prayerfully take whatever steps necessary after that. It is such a precious safety net for the flock of God. Their pastor oversees them. And their pastor has oversight.

It is all based on relationships. Tim is in consistent, ongoing relationship with the Masterbuilder's oversight team. He welcomes it.

Any group of people, to be a viable expression of the church, needs to have oversight.

Any group of people, when they have functioning within them, all four "sights" ~ Insight, Hindsight, Foresight, and Oversight ~ they are a local church, no matter how small or large or where they gather. Without these four "sights", they are just a "Bible study". Without these four "sights", a group may have only a creed and a livingroom and their own insecurities to build on.

With all four "sights", keenly and clearly operating in their midst, they are the church...the local church.

My 2011 Top Three

2012-01-01T13:41:00.000-08:00

Here's the requisite blog post...my "top three for 2011" in books,apps, products, and whatever else I feel like talking about. 'Cause I can. My top three books, here in no particular order:

"Give Them Grace" by Elyse Fitzpatrick. Next time a mother asks me, "I am learning to let go of law and performance in my spiritual life. But how do I apply these truths to my parenting without being permissive?" I'll hand her this book.

"One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. This book should come with a warning: "Read at the risk of losing your jaded cynicism."

This book is a classic. "Sundial of the Seasons" by Hal Borland. I just discovered it this past year, and what a treasure! A day by day almanac of luminous nature-writing.

In late 2010, I inherited my husband's old smart phone - a Droid. Since then, I've become a junkie. Have a sweet new one, now. Cannot quit the crack-Droid. Here are my top three apps:

Twitter. Of course. And here's a category within a category - my top three people I follow via Twitter: Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond), Lynn Bruce, and journalizmgirl (Liz Overton). These three always give me something to deeply consider or they make me smile.

Astrid. It's a task manager. A list-junkie's dream come true. I'm in love! I think I might date Astrid.

Evernote. Obviously. I can save everything and its mother and its poodle to the cloud, baby! Every image, every note, every-everything, even voice reminders or audio files can be stored, filed, and retrieved at a moment's notice. A writer's Nirvana. Caveat: I'm still learning how to use it. I'm checking out a "how to" book I've recently discovered for Evernote - I'll let you know what book it is and who wrote it - if it makes me grow in my Evernote Wisdom by leaps and bounds. Jury's still out on the book. No time to read it much, yet.

Top three products:

L'Oreal's Eversleek products. 2011 has been a good hair year, thanks to this line of sulfate-free products. Seriously. You have no idea what a big deal this is. My whole hair mojo has been set free.

Hands down, the best product for cleaning and polishing wood furniture. Method's "Wood for Good". Get some. Everybody won't do it, but everybody should.

I got this Jeanne Oliver dress in 2011. Only I wear it as a top, with boot cut jeans. Love! Her designs absolutely rock.

Next, my personal top three "New Blog Discoveries" - blogs I've stumbled upon in 2011, and have added to my list of all time favorites:

Modern Country Style - such a great design blog!

Flower Patch Farmgirl - Shannan, Shannan, Shannan. I heart you. I discovered you in January of 2011.

The "Flower Patch Farmgirl" has done the very reverse of so many others - she and her family moved AWAY from the country and from the idea of "farm life", TO a small house in the city, and in the midst of it all they have great peace..because she and her husband want to make their lives count. They want to be about the business of loving God by loving people, not just, or merely or even mostly livery and livestock and acreage. She writes movingly about adoption, and about their coming out of law and into grace. She writes about being ambushed by God, who has pulled her out of her Country House/Anthro-Shopping/Self Sufficiency quasi-life, and thrust her into true abundant living. All this, AND she's hilarious. A permanent favorite.

Kudos, Shannan for going against the current tide of saccharine pseudo-farmy "I Heart the Country" blogs.

Michael Hyatt's Intentional Leadership - has impacted me in measurable ways in 2011.

Last but not least, these are my top three most visited/requested/read posts of 2011:

Mountain Moving Faith - this one has suddenly taken off in the last three or four months, passing up my previous top post by just a few hits, but doing it very quickly - nearly two thousand views!

A Wedding Designer's Challenge - From Concept to Completion

The Refreshing Signs of a Gracious Woman - still hanging in there near the top of the list!

My Monkey

2011-12-30T19:54:00.000-08:00

I know, right? You can't even stand it, can you?

Me, neither.

He's way too cute. And he's been ~~walking~~ running for a few weeks, already. Before he turned one.

Word For 2012

2011-12-29T09:42:00.000-08:00

image by Tiffany Kirchner Dixon

I'll never forget the first time I heard the Lord say, "Name this." It hadn't dawned on me yet that to name a thing was our original mandate, dating back to the beginning of man and time. Ever since Adam named the animals, if we are wise, we too have assigned specific meaning to the various things that are significant in our lives.

There have been times, when I've been on my way to participate in something that feels meaningless to me, the Holy Spirit has whispered to me to "name it" - to assign it a meaning and purpose. When I have been obedient, that very outcome, or meaning I assigned to the activity comes to pass without fail. Not because "my" words have power....no. Rather, I believe this is because I searched out the purposes and plan and heart of God, then agreed with it by faith, then named accordingly.

At the beginning of 2010, I again heard the Lord say, "Name the year." So I did. My word for 2010 was "Create". And create I did. Things and events, big and small, flowed out of my life that year, from concept to completion. The word gave me a focus, and so I taught myself new skills that are still with me today, and will always be with me. Did I accomplish everything I wanted to create? No, of course not. But I created a whole lot more than I ever would have without a focus.

Same for 2011. The word I heard in my spirit for the year 2011 was "Sow!" With the exclamation point (!). There was an urgency to it.

Sow I have. In the past year, I've planted seed in myself and others. I've sown "beside all waters", in all circumstances. I sowed in places and people I didn't expect, and not in expected places or people who expected me to. There were places in my life that didn't seem ready for seed - but I scattered it anyway. In the morning, I sowed my seed, in the evening I did not withhold my hand, because the Lord had said that there was no way for my finite brain to know whether this patch or that patch, or both alike would flourish.  Have I sown everything I'd hoped to sow? Nah. But I've sowed far, far more than I ever would have without that focused effort.

I have to say - as big as the results from my 2010 focus were, the results from 2011's "Sow!" have been even greater. Let me choose my description carefully, without overstating or understating:

Life changing. That's what focusing on the one word "Sow!" was for me in 2011.

The word "sow" denotes the very beginning stages of any enterprise, be it a plant or a person. The seed first has to be planted. In 2011, I planted seeds for the future. Who knows which seed will flourish? I planted for my own health. I sowed into my own destiny first. God said to do it that way.  At the same time, I began a fresh and different process of planting into others - and this will continue into 2012 and beyond.

Every year that I assign to it a name, there ends up a fulfillment of the name. The year lives up to its name. There is always a harvest at the end of it - a "gathering in" that carries over into the following year, and even into the rest of my life.

And so, as I say goodbye to 2011, still holding my tools for creation, and my bags of seed (I get to keep what I name, you see) I have prayerfully asked the Lord what the word for my life for 2012 should be...and faithfully, He has answered:

CULTIVATE.

Now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense. First you sow, and then you....yeah. Cultivate. And I'm beyond excited at the prospects for the coming year. I know I will be working even harder than last year, because I will be creating the environment for the growth of what ever else sprouts from 2011. What if every bit of it sprouts? Oh. Mah. Werd. I'll be working twelve hour days. Cultivation is a bit more involved than sowing, but the rewards are...

...a flourishing harvest.

Will Someone Please Love Me For Who I'm Not??

2011-12-27T19:40:00.000-08:00

I don't need you to love me for who I am. Well, I do, but I mostly need you to love me for who I am not.

Who I am is essentially understood, once you get to know me: I am a believer in Christ Jesus. I am a preacher's wife. I am a communicator - a speaker and writer and blogger. I am a mother to four grown children. I am a grandmother to two - a one-year-old, and one on the way - WOOT!

I am deeply loyal, deeply spiritual. I am so intense that I need my closest friends to be not intense at all. I have enough intensity...so much intensity, I nauseate and overwhelm myself. I don't need more from anyone else. I don't need a dose of hyper spirituality over lunch at Wild Wings.

I need you to love me for who I am not. I need you to love me when I take a break from myself, which is often. When, instead of primly stating that "I am a Christian", I flatly say:

I am a jacked-up Jesus Freak!

Or when I lovingly call my family, "The Freak Show".

When I am so broken I don't want deep conversation or even companionship. (Know that "this too shall pass", and give me some room to be who I'm not!)

When I confess to being addicted to Red Band peppermint "crack sticks", or Dr. Pepper. I'm really not addicted to anything but Jack Daniels - and there I go again. Just kiddin'.

See, I'm a living, breathing hyperbole. I hyperbolate to blow off steam...all that intensity about the Gospel, it boils like a fire shut up in my bones, and occasionally I absolutely must act silly and say shocking things and adopt pretend personas to relieve the pressure of being inside my own head.

You should've been there when I played milk-pong at a church party, and pretended to get smashed on tiny Dixie cup after Dixie cup of milk. I did make myself feel a little sick...but I had myself, and everyone around me, laughing until the tears ran down.

Yes, I hyperbolate occasionally. It is my own signature coping mechanism, and I shan't give it up.

It's why I listen to the occasional country song. ("Red solo cup! I fill you up! Let's have a party...let's have a partaaaaaay!")

It's why I sometimes use replacement vocabulary. Dingdangdadgummit. Shut. The. Front. Door.

It's why I can blog about boots and scarves and nail polish one day, and the Ecclesia the next.

It's why I can think deep thoughts about pneumatology, but last week I couldn't properly signal a right turn while driving....instead, I honked my horn. (??! I have yet to figure it out. You'll never do it in a million years, either, so don't try.)

The deep thinker is the real me. The idiot-me is comic relief. The hyperbolic mess is just for fun.

Love me...accept me...for who I am not. Who I am won't scare you. The other girl might.

This Day Marks a Beginning

2011-12-25T19:36:00.000-08:00

I love myself a bit of liturgy. There. I said it.

Part of why this is for me, is I dislike the headlong, breathless rush of one thing into the next thing, with no room in between to pause and reflect. In the liturgical church, there is found within the comforting (and yes, some would say "mind numbing") continuity and ritual, a built-in opportunity to pause and prepare.

I'm not at all an advocate of liturgical church. But I do believe there are truths to be gleaned and gained from liturgy - centuries of spiritual practices cannot be glibly dismissed as having nothing to say to us.

Here is what I am getting at, and it really is as pragmatic as this: Are there any loose ends in your celebration of Christmas? Have you, like me, gotten to the evening of December 25 with something (or some things) undone?

I have. And since I love you, and since I'm wired that way, here's a bit of full disclosure:

I haven't yet watched The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

I never did truly decorate my fireplace mantel. I stacked prettily wrapped presents on it, and pretended I did it all on purpose. No, wait. Actually, Hannah arranged the presents on the mantel for me, I didn't even do that part.

Christmas cards never made it out this year. Never even bought 'em.

There are significant things I've left (as yet) unsaid - letters of encouragement to be written, verbal expressions of thanks, words of love not yet communicated. I've felt these things, oh-so-deeply, but two or three people still don't know how I feel, and this is the perfect season to let them know.

I haven't stopped to feel the quiet mystery. Not yet.

I still have a Christmas package to put in the mail.

I only made one batch of Ginger Snap cookies. And I never even iced them.

And I still have not gone back to that department store, to pray with the cashier who tearfully told me that she'd buried her grown daughter shortly after Thanksgiving. (Three times in the past month, total strangers have swung wide the door of their heart to me in ways I knew were supernatural. I need to go back to the one door I didn't walk through. And I will. I know right where to find her.)

If you are anything like me, you don't feel like this Christmas is ready to be packed away, just yet. It isn't quite "one for the history books". It feels not finished.

Maybe its as simple as you haven't sat down to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" yet. Maybe its as complicated as you haven't let someone know that you are sorry and you miss their smile.

There is still time.

In the liturgical church, the Christmas season is sort of just beginning. You have twelve more days, between sundown December 25th, and sundown January 6th, to bake cookies, reconcile relationships, watch that movie, or knit that scarf.

Let's lengthen the time we celebrate. Let's not try to cram it all in precisely between the first Sunday of Advent (late November) and December 25th.

Breathe deeply. Find the mystery of life lived at perfect peace between being okay with the girl you are, and reaching for the girl you want to be. (Hint: GRACE.)

Remember - even the days themselves are now lengthening. Ever since December 21st, you have been getting moments more daylight, followed by moments more - with each passing day, your days are lengthening.

There's yet time for the important things. There's always time for the important things. Begin your celebration of Christmas tonight. Though I am not liturgical myself (except privately) I - and centuries of church tradition - give you permission.

God Rest Ye Merry

2011-12-24T21:35:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted to greet people I care about in this way at Christmas time: "God rest ye merry, my friend."

For many years, I never understood that old carol, "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen". It originates all the way back to the middle ages, and was written in old English. In those days, "merry" didn't mean "happy" as it does now. In those days, "merry" meant "mighty". A great and powerful king was a "merry" king, and a great and terrible army was a "merry" army.

"Rest" didn't mean to put your feet up, nor did it mean that you took a nap. "Rest" meant, in old English, "to keep in a continual state of".

"God keep you in a continual state of might and strength, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay. Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day, to save us all from satan's power when we had gone astray.

Oh, tidings of comfort and joy! Comfort and joy! Oh tidings of comfort and joy!"

This Christmas, I've been smitten over and over with the simple statement of a great heavenly host. There...filling the heavens...Jehovah Sabaoth, Lord of the Hosts, sent His great host to break centuries and centuries of silence between God and men. God could have commissioned them to say anything. These ministers of His, this great, innumerable host, are as flames of fire, carrying out His Word, down to the smallest detail. They've declared war before, down throughout human history - lots of times.

Would this be that sort of message?

God could have instructed His hosts to give only the facts: "Messiah is here."

He could have sent a message of judgement.

God dropped a bomb, to be sure. He dropped a bomb that would forever make that field in Bethlehem the greatest, most utterly meaningful, most famous "ground zero" of all time. But it was an explosion of joy.

The Grace Message was finally detonated.

A blast of mercy, engulfing the planet. Into the black of the night, into the darkness of our human spirit, came the bright light of Good News. It was tidings of comfort and joy. Jehovah Sabaoth utilized His great host, He sent the mightiest, "merriest" troops in the universe to tell us, "YEAY!" and to promptly throw a party amongst the stars, in full view of a few shepherds.

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, Peace....Goodwill....to men."

Peace.

Goodwill.

Let it sink in. Let those two words be the good news they were meant to be. Your very own tidings of comfort and joy.

Merry Christmas, dear ones. God rest ye merry...

Addicted to Crack Sticks

2011-12-21T19:56:00.000-08:00

Hide your kids, hide your wife. Because I am a bad, bad example.

I am completely overdosing on Red Band Peppermint Sugar Sticks. Crack Sticks, I tell ya, they are Crack! People, you canNOT eat just one. Take it from me. Don't ever eat (or smoke) the first one. It ain't worth it.

I need some 12-Step Program that hasn't been invented yet. God, grant me the serenity! Help me, Rhonda! Jesus take the wheel! I'm so jacked up on The Sticks I don't know what I will do if I ever run out of them.

Get. Out. Of. My. Dreams. Get. Into. My. Mouth.

Save yourselves, friends. Leave me. Run...run for your lives and never look back. I've fallen, and I can't get up.

Red Band Sugar Sticks done gone and made me a crack-stick-head.

Fisheye Lenses, and Grandson's Fishy-Face

2011-12-19T19:53:00.000-08:00

Hannah and I were experimenting with my fisheye lens today...can you see the slight distortion in the center of this picture? (Can you even stand those blue eyes - unretouched, unphotoshopped! All I did was crop out some ugly background stuff, and bump up the contrast in this pic...since it is purely experimental, we let the flash do its thing. Ordinarily, I find any and every possible way to never, never, never use a flash.)

And Timothy's "fishy-face" here, was totally by chance - hilarious!

You can't tell by this shot, since it is cropped, but fisheye lenses capture 180 degree, wide-angle field of vision, with anywhere from slight to very exaggerated distortion in the center. They are fun for slightly whacky family or group portraits, great for shooting flowers in macro, and photographers more skilled than I use fisheye lenses so they can capture close-up sports/action shots while also capturing context with that 180 degree field.

Here is a silly shot, but it will give you an idea of the wide angle of this lens:

Me, in my jogging pants. Sitting on my bed. In my very messy bedroom, with guitar amps, guitar, my treadmill, all sorts of stuff that needs to be put away. Unfortunately, it has been a busy week last week, and you can see the whole mess, left to right, top to bottom...you can even see my ugly jogging pants.

I hate that for you.

But fisheye lenses are fun.

Amen.

I Now Present to You - Mr. and Mrs. Jin Park

2011-12-17T17:21:00.000-08:00

::happy sigh::

It was a lovely wedding. The wedding itself was held at the bride and groom's church...a beautiful venue, beautiful saints...but I gotta say...

...Harvest Church, you rock. You did it AGAIN. Your hard work behind the scenes has pulled off yet another once-in-a-lifetime event for a young bride, and you helped make her special day magical...from directing the whole event, to photography, from decorating the entire huuuuuuge ceremony and reception space, to food, from serving the food to cleaning up afterward...Harvest Church members embodied servant-leadership. I know Emily's parents (who are part of Harvest Church) are blessed and proud to be connected with such a giving, loving church family.

I so love my church. I am so very proud of my Harvest family.

Congratulations, Jin and Emily. Thanks for allowing Tim and I to be a part of your lives, past, present, and future.

Timothy's First Birthday, in Pictures

2011-12-15T20:36:00.000-08:00

Lots of presents...

...a display of Timothy's favorite books from the past year...some pictures...and his animal crackers...

...cupcakes and his Curious George birthday cake...

Mmmmmm-mmmmm...

Grandson's first bite of birthday cake - ever, in his whole life!

When we all sang "Happy Birthday" to him, he looked a little suspicious...

...a guitar from Unker Jonathan and Auntie Sarah...

...who were both taking video...

Timothy really "gets" this whole opening presents thing...

In the foreground, this is Birthday Buddy Ethan, also born last year on December 14th.

Auntie Wendy and Ethan - also the birthday boy!

Bethy and the Band of Birthday Brothers...Timothy on the left, Ethan on the right. CUTE!

Changing of the Guard

2011-12-15T20:17:00.000-08:00

“To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty;
to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Matt and Kelly, who are expecting the arrival of their fifth child, as well as looking to buy their first house, have made the decision to tend to those enormous life-responsibilities, and step back from pastoring our teenagers. They did an incredible job, with years and years of faithfulness. They are still very much an integral part of Harvest Church - aren't leaving Harvest and wouldn't dream of leaving unless God was sending them into ministry somewhere else. I have a feeling this isn't the end of anything, but a continuation of their story, and even a new ministry-chapter, once they get to the other side of transition...

....and now, we at Harvest Church covet your prayers for this next couple, as they, along with a team of two other strong, single women, take over the leadership of our teenagers:

Yeah, not only are they expecting our next grandson or granddaughter, our son-in-law and daughter have taken on the profound responsibility of pastoring young people. Harvest's single super-mom Angel Ewing, and our television producer Liz Overton will be working right alongside them..."the dream team".

The Preacher and his Trust Issues (and by the way, this is my 800th post!)

2011-12-14T06:40:00.000-08:00

The UPS man (I so heart him...have I told you that before?) dropped a small package by my front door today. The Preacher made a mad, panicked dash for the box, and disappeared into our bedroom.

A half an hour later, he came out, put on his trusty brown jacket, and left for an appointment. I sneaked to his desk, to "just look" at the box. I swear. I was just going to look. ::cough::

This is what I found:

All. Taped. Shut.

The man has trust issues. And I don't know why.

Some Things Should Mean "Forever"

2011-12-13T19:50:00.000-08:00

I get hand made cards from a little friend of mine almost every week. Here is the back of my card from this past Sunday:

"I love you. The end."

Doesn't that just say it all?

I love you too, Judah.

Grace Versus Law - How About a Little Visual Evidence?

2011-12-12T20:26:00.000-08:00

Tim and I have been grace teachers and preachers for many years - probably a decade or so. But it was just over three years ago when the Holy Spirit led my Preacher to preach it straight up, hard, and exclusively. Golly. Is there another way to preach the Gospel? (I know...Paul was so sweet and professional about it, and he mixed it with law like crazy, right??)

Out went the mini behavior modification seminars. Performance based Christian living was dealt a death blow in our church. Mixture of any sort was put on a shelf. We took a chance, baby! After all, people might throw sin parties, or become do-nothings.

Oh well. It was pure grace, pure New Covenant, or it didn't get taught. A few literally didn't know what had hit them. Therein lies the sad truth: they didn't know. As in, had not heard it preached quite that way. As a church we were told, week in and week out, that our salvation was a Holy Thing, an act of the grace of God...plus nothing. The writings of dead moralists were examined respectfully. (Gasp! I know, right? "Who has the courage to touch the 'holy Oswald'?!", as a dear Jewish friend of ours joked this past week...)

Yeah. "Oswald chapter 7 verses 11 through 15", Wesley 3:16, and Bonhoeffer 1:1 was challenged, held up to the light of Scripture, and parts of it found to be slightly less than the inspired word of God. That messes with the juju of some people's universe. And make no mistake - Oswald is one of our very favorite dead guys. We read him daily - but read him with a firm New Covenant foundation built under us.

We were accused of seeing things in Scripture that were "fringe" at best. After all, the ones upset were not familiar with the big picture, or even with a lot of historic Bible teachers that fell outside their doctrinal performance confines. I do not fault them for that, whatsoever. Such is the case with most of the modern church. We did our best to defend the Gospel and not ourselves, not always succeeding, but refusing to name-drop in some misguided effort to convince the critics, who by that point were even hurling words like "cultish" around. (Whew...a word I would tremble before using against a church. I fear God and love the Bride too much...) But we knew we could name drop.

Fast forward. Harvest is still not a mega church. Or even a big church. But we have been a faithful church. And we are a joyful church...a relating church...a healthy church. Tim is still preaching the Gospel. I think he preaches it with even more bliss and passion than ever. A young man approached him in a Starbucks recently, and asked him to sit in on a men's small group (in another church) which he is facilitating, one that is exploring the issues of New Covenant grace. He asked because, in his words, "You are kind of becoming known as one of the foremost grace teachers in the city." My Tim said he would do it if he could clear his schedule, and have the blessing and permission of that church's pastor. Permission was given - we'll see what comes of it.

Which brings me to my next point. Why do I re-tell our story from time to time, here on this blog? Why not let it lay where it is...in the dusty annals of history, long since moved on from? Because I get new visitors to this blog every week, and based on their search words, they are just now becoming clued in on issues of law versus grace. Some are coming out of Jewish mysticism. A few email me. They visit this blog, and some weep as they read. Some of them could be in the exact same place in their respective churches as Harvest was a few years back - feeling a bit persecuted, needing someone to come alongside and encourage them. (Thank God for our Master Builders oversight!)

Encouragement is a profound thing. I plan on encouraging you, and every visitor to this blog, in the grace of God. Sometimes, that will involve some context...some background...some personal "war stories"...and the resulting "victory stories".

Fringe movement? Are you kidding me? I went to my local Christian bookstore last week, and spent a mere five minutes snapping pictures with my smart phone...I didn't even dig! Here is what I saw:

New book. "Freedom From Performing - Grace in an Applause-Driven World"

Sort of new book. Its author? Billy Graham's grandson, and current senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian...as in THE Coral Ridge Presbyterian mega church.

new book, "...the tired supergirl's search for grace". Wow. This girl might be my BFF.

new-ish book - note the author. Mmmmmm-hmmmmm. Not quite your "cult" material.

Still not convinced? Still worried your grace-preaching pastor, in your small midwestern or east coast or west coast church might be dabbling in dorky doctrine?

Yeah. Good old Chuck. "Believing in Grace is One Thing, Living it is Another". When Tim and I said the exact same thing, a few years back, there was talk of burning us at the stake. (Just kidding....but I'm not far from the truth.)

I saved the best for last:

There's Billy Graham's grandson again. Grace-boy don't know how to shut up.

This book sounds much like the title of the book Tim and I have been discipling people out of for over ten years, "Grace Plus Nothing". (The title of which was scorned and excoriated and darn near spat upon by a very, very few...perhaps it would have been better received if it had been titled "Jesus Plus Nothing", but that is an exercise in word semantics. The law was given....Grace came. Grace is a person, and His name is Jesus. Search this blog - been saying it for years.)

One time, it was either Tim or me who remarked how many times the word "grace" is written in the New Testament. I remember a worried someone astutely pointed out that, though "grace" was mentioned "X" amount of times in the New Testament, "Jesus" was mentioned "X" amount of times more.

That's the sort of thing that makes a Bible teacher want to drop an anvil on his own foot, or smack his own head against a brick wall.

Friends, this New Covenant, Jesus-centric Grace-Gospel is well on its way to being preached with a purity we have not seen in over a hundred years. I am excited to be part of a REAL move of God.

Join me?

Another Way A Woman Can Be Dead While She Lives

2011-12-11T16:54:00.000-08:00

"Your...daughters will prophesy..."

I wrote a short piece recently, about how a woman who delights in luxury for the sake of luxury is dead while she lives. Have you ever seen a woman who lives in the lap of luxury, yet does not open her heart or hands to the needy, does not have healthy relationships, does not have an agenda beyond negativity and acquisition. A life so small and narrow in scope, its impact cannot be felt. Hmmmm..."The Real Housewives of _________ " comes to mind.

There's another way to be dead while you live. That way is simply...to be silent.

The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence. (Ps. 115:17)

I remember a time, about three years ago, when I began to write with clarity and courage on the doctrines of grace, the temptation became strong to be intimidated into silence. Note: I was not writing as a renegade. I was following the lead of my Preacher (who happens to be my husband, if you are new to my blog). I was celebrating in, and yes, sometimes even developing on his teaching and preaching. He was proud of me for doing so. I was doing so in the full context of flowing with the direction of my local church, and supporting its leadership - a character trait which has defined me since the days of my youth. What's more, I often solicited Tim's permission before sending an email, or hitting "publish" to my blog.

Like a lioness, I began to roar and proclaim and defend and protect what was the embryonic beginning of what has become a real move of God in our church....and in the world. (More on that in a few days...I have proof - even visual proof - of this world-wide tsunami of New Covenant preaching that has developed in just the last year to two years.)

It was this very Psalm 115:17, along with several prophetic words to my spirit, that kept me from becoming a woman who was dead while she lived. It truly would have been a fatal mistake for me.

I was designed for declaration, and positioned for proclamation. If I am alive, I will be heard praising Him.

Here is what I want you to hear, beautiful girlfriend: proclamation is not gender exclusive.

Do not allow anyone to intimidate you into silence, or label you as insubordinate or manipulative or somehow "wrong" simply because you lift up your voice to declare the wonders of the Finished Work of Christ. To "lift up" your voice is indeed even to shout!

O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard. (Ps. 66:8)

Incidentally, I would not be part of a church where shouting "just isn't done". You don't hear shouting in my church every single Sunday, but you do hear it often enough. Aaaaand my tangent alert is going off....telling me this is another blog post for another day. Suffice it to say, our voices matter. We don't praise Him in prim and proper silence, sisters! That is not our heritage as women.

It is not our history. It should not be our legacy.

Around the glorious throne, the words "Holy...holy...holy" are not telepathically communicated. No, the words are cried out, night and day. Um...as in, you can hear them. And it is loud.

If ever there was a reason to speak up, this precious gospel, this thoroughly New Covenant good news we have been entrusted with is the reason. Proclaiming the grace of God is not the sole domain of the men, it is our job as well. Church government is, in my opinion, a man-thing, though vibrant churches all throughout Africa and the Far East could be proving my opinions to be a bit Fundamentalist-Western. History will tell the tale, and I am content to have it so.

To hold a governing position is one thing. But to lift up your woman-voice with courage and strength? To support and verify New Covenant truth with your voices, pens, keyboards, emails, blogs, and tweets? To roar and proclaim that the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing of a Better Hope did?

Girls, if you are alive, you must proclaim. The dead can no longer do it. And those who don't do it might as well be dead.

Daughter, I say to you, prophesy!

Perhaps I Shall Never Grow Old?

2011-12-09T19:55:00.000-08:00

She who dies, having truly cared for the most people (wisely and well, not resorting to cheap sentimentality or crossing legitimate boundaries)....wins. Can I provoke you to love and good deeds with me?

On your mark....get set....GO!

Beat ya to the finish line, sister!

Another Dream Come True

2011-12-08T19:26:00.001-08:00

Long before our grandson was a twinkle in any one's eye, The Preacher and I have dreamed of watching one of the Christmas stop-action animated movies with a grandchild snuggled between us. (The first dream was taking a grandchild to Cracker Barrel, but the stop-action animated Christmas movie was a very, very close second.)

As fate would have it, tonight was the night. The rest of the family had worship practice, and after a long day (that included a basketball tournament game) we were home, exhausted, just the two of us, with Little Britches.

We tried putting him to bed at his usual bedtime, which is about 7pm. He flat-out would have none of it. So Pop-pop got him back up, and we sat in the living room and turned on the TV.

There it was. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town!

We looked at each other, and I said, "I'm so glad he doesn't want to go to bed!"

And so it was. We passed him back and forth between us, took turns rocking him and bouncing him, through the whole show. He watched a remarkable amount of it...truly watched....usually while sitting on Pop-pop's lap. We were in sequel-parenting-heaven.

Then, towards the very end of the movie, Timothy turned to face his Poppy, snuggled in to be rocked to sleep....and murmured, "Pop Pop Pop"....

...and then blew Poppy a sleepy kiss.

We. Were. Solid. Gone.

Talk about your Christmas Magic Moment.

Quotable Quote

2011-12-06T20:40:00.001-08:00

"Better trust all, and be deceived,
And weep that trust, and that deceiving;
Than doubt one heart, that, if believed,
Had blessed one's life with true believing."

~Fanny Kemble

The Preacher and I have had friends whom we chose to love and trust, in spite of our "better judgement". In spite of their track record of broken relationships. In spite of the sense that our trust would be violated, that we would not be loved in return - not for the long haul.

We don't regret it.

Because we have many more friends who have blessed our lives, by proving that our trust is valid, that continuity of years...decades...of relationship is possible...and beautiful.

We still will trust all. We still will believe. We've been blessed far more than we've been deceived.

Big, BIG Announcement!

2011-12-04T20:00:00.001-08:00

The Preacher and I are going to be grandparents again!

(drumroll please.....)

Our Sarah and her Jonathan are expecting their very first!

There are no words...truly, there are no words to adequately convey our complete delight and sense of blessedness and wealth and undeniable prosperity. Another wee one on its way!

Due Date?

Boy?

Girl?

We don't know any of this yet. Stay tuned. I ask ahead of time - please forgive and indulge the more-than-occasional post with grandmotherly musings and ramblings and ultrasound pictures and such. I'm ga-ga again. Useless. Hopelessly in love with this child, for whom I have waited (it seems to me) almost all my life.

Unless you are a grandmother, or long to be, you can't begin to know the depth of the truth of what I am about to say:

"For this child, I have prayed."

My Magnificent Obsession

2011-12-03T19:38:00.000-08:00

I do not think about teaching this Gospel...I just teach it. Everyone else can decide if they agree or disagree, like or dislike me. While they are deciding...while they shake their head or wag their tongue...

...I teach it again.

Don't think for a moment that forces have not arrayed themselves in opposition against me, in years past, to shut me up. They almost succeeded. If I'd only kept quiet...just kept it to myself. Kept a lower profile. If only I were not so convinced. If only I were not so persuaded, that I could not help but persuade.

But I know Him. I know in Whom I have believed.

Oh, the glory of the New Covenant. Oh, the finished work of Christ!

Can You Stand It?

2011-12-02T20:59:00.000-08:00

( I know, right? This pic should be a stock photo that you have to pay to use...but this is my grandson and his model-handsome father. My daughter took this pic with a Nikon - don't have the numbers on the stop-down or the shutter speed or ISO...)

For those of you who are twenty-something, and having a baby isn't even on your radar...get busy. You want to get to my season of life as soon as possible. Children are wonderful...yet grandchildren are heart-enlargingly and alarmingly precious. You love your children with your whole heart.

You love your grandchildren with your whole, enlarged heart.

Trust me - by the time you've done the years of livin' I've done, raising four of your own, personally seeing them through absolutely each and every stage of their young lives, joyful and painful - your heart will be stretched even larger than your womb. Your womb returns to normal (or a semblance of it) but your heart? It never goes back. It never recovers. It was meant to be enlarged.

Just in time for the next generation to tumble into your heart-space and fill it with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

To all who are, and ever will be grandmothers - I congratulate you with the largest bouquet of whatever flower is your very favorite. Most women either are, or will be mothers someday. Therefore, most women are, or will be grandmothers one day. I hope you begin to look forward to grandchildren the day your first child is born. I did. I can't explain it, but I did. I have lived to hold and love grand-ones, by holding and loving their parents, and teaching them as well as I knew how. Somehow, I knew every thing I'd sacrificed would be worth it if my grandchildren could be well loved.

And when your enlarged heart holds that very first grandchild for the very first time, and that big, womanly, motherly heart of yours begins to wring itself out, raining down torrents of love through your happy tears -

Remember me. Remember I told you that it would be all this, and more.

Come here, always, and leave inspired to live your legacy one day at a time, whether you are twenty-five, or fifty-two. The day of your crowning glory will come...those grandbabies will come. The days are long, but the years are startlingly short.

Significance In The Gospel

2011-11-30T19:18:00.000-08:00

Rather than filling my life with things that make me feel significant, I'd rather fill my life with significant things. Nothing is more significant than the Gospel - the precious, life giving truths of justification by faith in Christ.

God is not punishing you, if you are in Christ Jesus. If you are in Christ Jesus, you have been removed from "first Adam" (oh, how I wish I had more time and space to unpack it!) and God will never punish you. He already poured His wrath out on Christ.

Punishment is just that...punishment. You pay for your sin. Jesus paid it ALL.

Discipline is designed to make you great, girlfriend. It is an indication of His great love for you, and the potential of Christ in you bringing God GREAT glory.

The more you delve into the grace-gospel, the more you better get prepared for greatness. The more you understand the Gospel, the more your life becomes filled with significant things..and the more discipline you will encounter. (Read: "the more you will be held accountable for having right relationships with those in authority in your life, with those who are your peers, and with those under your authority.")

I Am Defined by My Delights

2011-11-29T20:22:00.000-08:00

"She who delights in luxury is dead while she lives." I Timothy 5:6 - my paraphrase, but it is accurate - as in "study the Greek" accurate. Go ahead and check it out for yourself. (Yes, the context of this passage applies to "widows indeed" in the church, but use your sanctified logic...why wouldn't it be applicable to any woman who calls herself a believer in Christ?)

I am defined by what delights me. I pray I am found choosing relationships over money. I pray I am found delighting in family more than what finances can purchase for me. (No amount of assets or acreage can get you even one healthy relationship!) I pray I am found putting the priority and emphasis on being a faithful friend, over acquiring social status through strutting my luxurious stuff. I pray I am found valuing people over "personal peace and affluence" - a phrase originally coined by Francis Schaeffer.

Want to really live? As a woman, do you want to really have a full life? Find delight in loving God and loving others - be busy, every day, doing both. The latest automobile or appliance, the loveliest acreage or apparel just won't do it for you. To value "stuff" is the best way to be dead while you live.

Another Great Example of Granny Chic

2011-11-28T20:09:00.000-08:00

(This image from the blog Sofie's Haus)

What a great example of "Granny Chic"! I love the mix of color and even pattern. The blog, "Sofie's Haus" is one of the very best photography blogs I've run across - featuring lots of fashion and interior design. I swear, I love me a good Sofie outfit. Every one she puts together and then photographs is a study in style.

Note the large leather bag, the mix of fabric pattern, the boots, which are a nice wedge heel, but not too high. The cute cardi just tops it all off, pulling together an adorable outfit that would look becoming on any woman from 50 years old, down to 25 years old.

Sofie may not be specifically attempting to define "Granny Chic" for us (she is in her late 20's I believe) but she sure does nail the look, almost every time. Her fashion aesthetic transcends generations.

I often copy her, and I am a 45 year old grandmommy. And I would love to have her manicurist as my own, but I probably couldn't afford her manicurist. Sofie's nails ... even her nails .... tell a fashion/style story. Spend a little time looking over her blog, and you will easily see. Sofie uses various colors on her nails - all of them Chanel - and manages to put together a beautiful style post that is a study in color theory.

From fingertips to toes, and the pretty clothes worn between, this blog is almost always a great example of the eclectic, intelligent, yet sensual style that is becoming known as "Granny Chic".

The Exquisite Writing of Hal Borland

2011-11-27T17:34:00.000-08:00

"November is the evening of the year, the bedtime of the green and flowering world. Now comes the time for rest, for sleep. So the coverlet is spread, the tucking in begun. Next should come the lullaby, but the lullaby singers have all gone south. The pines and the hemlocks will whisper good night instead."

Relationships Can Be Restored

2011-11-25T19:41:00.000-08:00

Maybe this winter can be your spring and mine? God is able! Do the right thing, say the right thing, to the right person. Don't do the wrong thing, and say the wrong thing. Don't say the right thing to anyone and everyone but the right person. Relationships are worth it. Someone, somewhere is waiting on you to fix it. They are missing you. Fix it soon. Love is alive...

In Which Sheila Declares

2011-11-25T18:36:00.000-08:00

...that she is thankful for:

her girlfriends...and her best friend, The Preacher...and her children, her four plus two more sons in law...

for Snoopy cartoons...
and birthday presents that are still coming in...
for 25 years, this year, with her Renaissance Man - preacher, builder, musician, auto mechanic, handy man, world traveler, computer techie, Bible student, and sous chef...

Ford trucks, and most country music
the maxi dress, her big front porch, and smart phone

Sheila is fantastically grateful for her Grandson. The Cutest Ever. Even though he has already discovered biting. And squealing in rage. He's still perfect. Amen.

for her parents, sister, and brother

for petite blondes who drive Mustangs and make her smile and buy purple shirts especially for her son's basketball games. A better girlfriend a mother's son never had.

for nice girls from Minnesota, utterly brunette, visiting my home and family this Thanksgiving (Josiah, she's great!)

for the mighty, amazing, unending, unfathomable, better-than-we-know grace of God
and for the gospel of Jesus Christ, the effect of which is a true, unselfconscious, humble and durable holiness

that she serves a Joyful King

that she didn't earn and doesn't deserve, yet she is insanely and sloppily blessed

for the way her God breaks chains - even hers, even specifically hers. Those old bondages, so gone!

for the changes her God has made in her life this year - even this year, even specifically this year. Changes some would consider pretty near drastic. And beautiful.

for life-long, well weathered friendships...for the grace men and grace women who stick and stay...

for new friends...especially the outstandingly good looking and highly accomplished ones. They don't intimidate her, she's too busy taking notes and admiring them.

for new opportunities

for old friendships, rekindled...for uber talented friends who cook, garden, landscape, sew, love all my kids and spoil my grandson and blow up things on the fourth of July...

for friends with beautiful, kidney shaped swimming pools in their new party home...and for young college friends...

for a pastor with uncommon courage, a church family with uncommon love and faithfulness, a network of supportive apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers...

"In Which Sheila Declares" that she. is. blessed.

Where Does Your Hope Rest?

2011-11-21T18:43:00.000-08:00

Do you cherish hopes for yourself? You should. Are they big hopes? They ought to be huge - much bigger than you could ever accomplish. Super-sized hopes? Fuggetaboutit.

Take that hope, and GOD-SIZE IT, sisterfriend!

But know this: if the bedrock of those hopes is not the mighty grace of God, if you aren't building your dreams on His unmerited favor, you run a very great risk of obtaining every bit of what you've been hoping for, only to discover none of it satisfies.

Some have asked me, "What about my part? What about self discipline? What about setting high standards?" Mostly, they are entertaining a false choice to begin with. Shoot, people have left my church over that false choice, and it is truly a pity, because they are missing out. They couldn't understand that there is no choosing between God's grace and high personal achievement.

It's all in where your hope of glory lies, see.

Whatever made you imagine for a second that the grace of God, when activated in your life, would leave you to your own devices, or set the bar too low? It is God, after all, who is living on the inside of you! It is God, after all, at work in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. He provides the initiative, He infuses the self control, and He gives strength to the weak. In that context, set the bar as high as it'll go.

Your part is to harbor a great and massive hope, ever move towards that hope, and believe the Gospel as applied to your present situation. All of Him, none of you. He alone is Maker.

Maker of all.

It is He who hath made us, and not we ourselves.

And when we get to the end of this life, what will we find ourselves saying?

"It is He who hath made us, and not we ourselves," that's what. No self made men in God's kingdom. By the grace of God, I am what I am. Sola, sola, sola gracia!

I have quite a store of hopes and dreams for this, my second half of living. I have caught a right fine second wind. Sequel-mothering suits me to a "T", my heart is enlarged for the generation that follows behind me, and doors of opportunity are swinging wide. I yearn to bring God GREAT glory with my one, well-lived life, spent loving others. I actually think I can do great things. Because this life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

See here: "Christ in me, the hope of glory!"

That's where my God-sized hope of accomplishing big things comes from.

You Won't Find Perfection Here

2011-11-16T18:49:00.000-08:00

...because, to begin with, I have been fighting a stomach bug for two days. So I am in no mood to ply you with perfectly staged pictures of my sweet little life.

And I've just about had enough of some of the "Fundamentalista-blogs" out there, portraying life as though it were one big bubble blowing "we love Jesus, that's why everything's perfect" party. I've read through a couple tonight, and off the cuff...well, they are beginning to irk me. If I ever retract that statement, I shall blame my current state of nausea. I won't name names, though I could. I am half sorry I've recommended a couple of them in years past. I wasn't "onto" their game, then.

All those homemade dresses. And cooking. And knitting. And perfect children, both grown and not quite grown. And (here is the shame): no mention of even one struggle...I'm serious. Now that I have the luxury of looking over the body of work on these couple of blogs - I lie not - not a single struggle is mentioned beyond the death of elderly loved ones.

Meanwhile, here at The Cottage, you've heard me talk about how Waltonesque we are here - with three generations under one (small, middle income, not-hip-or-architecturally-interesting) roof. But how did I put it? "We are so Waltonesque, only Mama takes her half-an-Ambien at bedtime, and John Boy chews tobacco and can be mean sometimes."

We are trophies of grace - not a trophy family. And I am so daggum okay with that. Yes. I said daggum. Yes, I take a half an Ambien to get to sleep. If you had a crying grand baby in your house, if you had a less than perfect, sometimes noisy teenage son, and a husband who snored like a bulldog with a sinus issue, with no extra bedrooms to spare in your ordinary 60's tract home, you'd need a half an Ambien too. Deal with it.

We are in full time ministry. We home schooled each and every child from birth through high school graduation. (The youngest graduates this spring.) We never sewed our own dresses, we wore jeans. We did and we do bake bread, but only because we enjoy it. I knit because it keeps me sane.

We read CS Lewis, GK Chesterton, Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples, the Iliad and the Odyssey, and Semus Heaney's translation of Beowulf. We listen to classical music, worship music, and a bit of Eric Clapton. Everyone (but me) sings and plays a musical instrument, and plays it skillfully. I have enough material to pretend with. I have enough going on, I could only tell you the good parts, and conveniently leave out the struggle.

I could. But why would I?

Both daughters married well, saved themselves for marriage, and married strong Christian men. One of my daughters gave us our first grandson in December of last year. She and her husband and our grandson live with us, because my daughter's husband was in graduate school getting his Master's, interning at a local high school for free, and working part time when they found out she was pregnant.

To take a small bit of the pressure off of them, they chose to move in with us for a season. They are now at the point at which they are scouring the papers, looking for the perfect house on a teacher's meager salary. They'll move back out next year.

Our other daughter married an artist, and they spend all their time developing his art business, and helping out with various ministries in our church.

And our oldest son is no longer in the Marines. He is the tobacco chewer - a habit the whole family fervently prays he soon outgrows. And he will. I don't doubt that. He is back in town, attempting to get a fresh start. As a family, we are trying to help him do that...help him just enough, but not too much.

Our youngest son is also a work-in-progress. He left home last year, and after a great deal of heartbreak and prayer, willingly came back home. He repented and asked for a fresh start, and we gave that to him. Do we know how it will all turn out? Not really.

All I know is that grace will accomplish what the law could never do. The law can't make anything righteous, but the bringing of a better hope most certainly HAS and most certainly WILL.

Does that all seem so...so...so blue collar? So not-fundamentalist-homeschooler? So much less than perfect?

Thank you. Thank you, thank you for saying so. Somebody has to live this life honestly, and embrace it with true joy. Because the last thing I want you to find, when you visit me here, is the same old bubble blowing perfectly-faked-life crap.

Here's the point: I'm okay! I lived through the turmoil! I survived finding out that my family is less than perfect. Yet. Yet, there is so much beauty in my life these days, it often overwhelms me.

I am overflowing with joy. After wrestling through law and gospel issues, and actually applying the gospel to my private world (THUS "ordering it") I discovered that the good news is actually good news. And it brings health and beauty into lives. It mends people and hearts and relationships. I'm living proof.

Note: "beauty" and "perfection" have never been synonymous.

My "Granny Chic" Coffee Table

2011-11-15T16:14:00.000-08:00

I awoke the other day to fresh, hot coffee, made just the way I love it...and a cleaned-up livingroom. (We had had company the night before. I knew when I went to bed that my livingroom was a mess...)

My Preacher. He walks his talk. He makes every day feel like my birthday.

Anyhoo - I grabbed my Nikon, and let said coffee-with-turbinado-sugar-and-caramel-macchiato-cream get cold, while I snapped these pictures of my "Granny Chic coffee table" for you...after all, I did promise!

We do allow grandson to play with the pristine-condition antique typewriter. Will it be imperfect by the time he loses interest in it? Probably. But do we care? Nah...

Fresh flowers. I sit them in the very center of the table. As of this writing, his little arms and fingertips just can't quite get to the flowers. (We scoot the typewriter over to the edge for him, when he is playing with it...)

In the very-very foreground, you see the red and blue parts of a vintage style wooden toy that Timothy loves. Then you see a wooden drawer from an antique Singer sewing machine - filled with LED candles and fall baubles. Though the candles cannot hurt him, that is the one thing we don't let him play with. Some days he "gets it"...other days, he doesn't want to understand it at all.

See how the table legs are wrapped with padded ticking fabric? And as of today, we have little corner "bumpers" on all four corners...they hadn't yet been purchased when I took these photos.

He loves his sock monkey-in-the-box, his wooden puzzles, and his Pooh bear blocks. And I think all of it looks so perfectly imperfect AS the decor in my livingroom. You can google it, and see tons of pictures of coffee table vignettes - you'll find decorating philosophy specific to coffee tables - but I promise, you won't find ANYTHING like this.

I have gotten so many compliments on this happy arrangement. Very grandbaby-friendly, very vintage inspired....very "me".

Have I told you that I have wholly embraced the whole "Granny Chic" thing?

::smile::

I know. I have told you...a few times.

Playing With Photo Shop Actions

2011-11-13T18:30:00.000-08:00

Knoxville Unites 11.11.11 and Angelic Ministries of Knoxville

2011-11-11T20:45:00.001-08:00

Ever had an evening of your life that feels like something of destiny - but you can't quite put your finger on why?

I did, tonight.

My son-in-law, artist Jonathan Howe (married to my daughter Sarah)had this downtown art show on his schedule. Sarah and he got the idea, after reading my blog post about Angelic Ministries, to make his art show not just an art show, but also a fund raiser for this wonderful ministry. This decision was made, and cleared with the Art Show Powers That Be....oh, a little over a month ago.

In about six weeks, they came up with the name for the event - "Knoxville Unites 11.11.11"; they were able to meet with the leadership of Angelic Ministries, procure business sponsors from businesses in Harvest Church, plus television coverage (my friend Liz Overton rocks!), and radio spots. They sent out a mass mailing of invitations, secured a musician to play some live music, and put the word out on Facebook.

Huge amounts of food and drink were purchased and donated, and paintings (and paintings...and more paintings...) were hauled to the Emporium, in downtown Knoxville. Nametags were printed up for those of us helping out for the evening, and all that was left to do was to trust God for the results.

Jonathan, the "ar-teest" (the young guy in the middle), visiting with guests...

The paintings on display were a combination of breathtaking landscapes, and portraits of men and women. Beside each and every portrait was a story in that person's own words of their "faith journey" (read: their testimony of Jesus Christ).

Yeah. Art show turned fund raiser turned outreach for the Gospel. Totally my kind of evening. God multi-tasks so much better than I do.

The live music was incredible, if I do say so myself. (My son Josiah played acoustic guitar almost allllllll evening long...both solo, and with some duet acoustic help from a friend...)

My daughter Hannah was all dressed up, and professionally yet warmly greeted each one of the many guests that attended the art show.

Angelic Ministries had a table containing a display with very detailed print and visual information on their ministry.

Angelic Ministries needs both donations and volunteers. Right this moment, this comprehensive and important ministry needs about $130-150K to bring their warehouse-building up to code so they can keep doing what they do. They are 501C3, so your contributions are tax deductible.

Angelic's display, and behind it, you can see one of Jonathan's paintings...that painting of the little boy usually hangs in the foyer of our church.

My Preacher (on the right) who just got back from Cambodia last week and is still jet lagged - talking with Tony (left) - Tony is the leader of Angelic Ministries, working hard, six days a week, to train volunteers and to mend broken lives.

A big shout-out and thank you to my sister, Lynn Smith, and her friend Sabrina...they put hours and hours of work into the organizing and execution of this event. They rocked it. The food table was beautiful, the service was splendid, the organization was seamless.

I'm still not sure exactly what it was about tonight that whispered the words "Divine Appointment"
and "Destiny" in my spirit. I met lots of people. I reconnected with lots of people. I am sure God touched some hearts and lives in that place tonight...

Knoxville Unites. That was the name Sarah and Jonathan gave to this art event. They plan on doing it all again next year - uniting this community to get behind Angelic Ministries.

Maybe that is part of the destiny I am sensing...God is positioning His hand-picked ones, those who are serving, and will continue to serve, this city with integrity and love...

...for the Kingdom's sake.

Only He is Wonderful

2011-11-10T17:10:00.000-08:00

(by the way, I have this necklace!)

"Open my eyes, Lord, to behold wonderful things out of thy law."

"...and His name shall be called WONDERFUL..."

Jesus Christ was the plan of God from before the foundation of the world. The law was/is meant to point us to HIM. What do you think are the "wonderful things" we need a supernatural opening of our eyes to even be able to see?

Our own ability to keep said law, in order to be blessed? I think not.

If that was the wonderful thing we were to discover, "all the blessings that are ours IF we keep God's law"....well, we will never be blessed, friend. On our best day, living our "best life now", we are under a curse if we look to the law in any way, shape, form or fashion for our right standing with God. Read the covenant in force today.

The only wonderful things there are to behold in the law: the character and nature of God, as fully manifested in the face of Jesus Christ. The law was a temporary measure, to be fulfilled in the fulness of time, and meant to be our schoolmaster to point us to Christ, and to the fact that we NEED His obedience (righteousness) to be credited to us by faith.

The law as the standard of righteousness? Yes.

The law as a means of righteousness? No.

He Alone is Wonderful.

Granny Chic - Interior Design

2011-11-08T19:33:00.000-08:00

Did you know there is a style that is taking over the interior design and fashion worlds? I'm feeling quite validated, because this style is being dubbed "Granny Chic".

Basically, whether we're talking about an interior space or an outfit, Granny Chic is the age-old (pun intended) practice of mixing vintage (or vintage looking) with modern...but doing it right.

Here are a few of my favorite examples in interior design:

....yes, as you know, I am a big fan of LP's...my goal is to darn-near singlehandedly revive the art of LP record listening. This record player is a little too new for my tastes, but I like the LP collection. Love the vintage suitcase, too. Notice the plates on the walls. Mmmmm-hmmmm...that's called Granny You-Know-What. ("Chic")

(by Dreamy Whites)

in this little Granny Chic (some would say "Shabby Chic", but I like Granny Chic better) space, I am loving the nature study calendar. Grannies are big on taking walks and studying nature with their grands...also love the vintage linens. Be still my Granny Heart.

I love this so, so much. I think it is my favorite example of "Granny Chic". Color is important in Granny Chic. Neutral backdrop, with pops of color. Ecclectic, not all one single style. Someday, when we're looking at my very own creative space, my wall will be full of the grandchildren's art. Just you wait and see.

Color is important in Granny Chic decor - how much is up to the Granny. In this case, color is supplied by the single stems of flowers, each in its own bud vase. Very Granny.

This is one of my favorite examples of Granny Chic. I do imagine my someday-office to look a bit like this. My walls will be covered in the grandchildren's art, and Jonathan Howe originals...please note the fresh flowers. Always fresh flowers.

repurposed, restored, and slipcovered furniture is Granny Chic at its very best.

Somehow combine all the ingredients you've seen above, shake it and stir it and pop an olive in it, and you'll have the look I am going for...with one caveat: I'm hoping the only cluttered spaces will be our home office space, and my creative space. I would want all the public spaces of my home, and my bedroom, to be less cluttered. Everything with that neutral backdrop, pops of color, and an educated mix of vintage objects, antique furniture and modern fabric patterns.

And very grandchild friendly. Can't wait to show you my coffee table...it is my very first purposefully Granny Chic mini-design-project, since Little Britches is now holding onto it and walking around it all the time. I've designed it with vintage-looking toys, fabric blocks, my antique typewriter (which he is always free to play with), a trio of those LCD flickering light candles (no danger of burns!), and a ticking fabric runner. I am loving it!

Granny Chic

2011-11-06T21:00:00.000-08:00

I am feeling quite validated. Because there is a design trend taking over both the interior design and the fashion design world...that trend is being called "Granny Chic". Look it up. It is very real.

I fully embrace it. Amen.

Did you know that celebrities (not all of them, but some famous, and quite young ones) are having their hair dressers put gray streaks in their hair, if they don't have a cool gray streak of their own? Stacy London, of "What Not to Wear" fame - her gray streak is real.

I'm talking celebs putting fake gray streaks in their hair.

Granny Chic...

Been working on a post about Granny Chic in interior design - can't wait to share it with you!

It's a great day to be a Grandmother, friends. If you don't have a cutie-patootie grand yet....well, be jealous. Be very jealous. You can't rock the Granny Chic until you are a Grandmother.

"Granny" is no longer synonymous with "old". We sequel-mothers are rocking our homes and our outfits, and are living our lives with such intention and passion and success. We are abandoning status quo, and redefining the whole concept of grandmothering by unapologetically combining our modern youthful sense of beauty with our great-great grandmother's educated domesticity.

We're having fun doing it. Full-time, work-at-home grandmothers, or work-outside-the-home grandmothers, we are finding our hearts filled with a fresh love and tenacious commitment to the success of our littlest ones.

And we find ourselves the trend setters. Crazy-cool.

The Preacher in Cambodia - Pictures

2011-11-04T13:32:00.001-07:00

my sweet Preacher (in the white shirt, of course) teaching for hours...

Praying for a Cambodian woman who needed healing...

Enjoying his time with his interpreter...my Preacher has the most cheerful, compassionate countenance.

Every single pastor in the province (except for one) came out to the training sessions...please pray for these men.

I love this picture, because you can see our Jonathan Trentham (the young man on the left), then life-long friend Jeff Kear in blue, and my Preacher all praying for these women...

Jonathan (our missionary to Cambodia) is home for good now! Please also pray for him as he transitions from two years in Cambodia, to life here in the States. He is well-beloved at Harvest Church, and God has wonderful plans and ideas for his life, we are sure.

It is so good to have all three men home.

Today is My Birthday

2011-11-03T19:36:00.000-07:00

Grabbed the smartphone tonight, after cake and candles and the Birthday Song, and made sure to get a few pictures of my first birthday as a Grandmommy. This time last year, Little Britches was still "baking in the oven"...

I wonder if you can see the pure delight on my face.

Sorry for the blurry pictures. Thank you so much for the many well wishes via email and Facebook...my family spoils me rotten, and my friends are the best...the very best. I look forward to the next year - God's goodness to me is precious.

It has been a Grand Day.

My Grandson's Ten Month Pics...

2011-11-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe my baby (grandson, actually) is ten months old now. ::sniff::

Cute, or what?

My Little Honey Pot

2011-10-31T16:38:00.001-07:00

(Deep down, he's smiling. On the surface, home boy don't like the "lid" to his honey pot to be on toppa his head...)

There's nothing but pure sweetness in THIS honey pot.

Happy Hello-ween, y'all.

(That's what we do around here - Hello-ween. Fellow Harvester Wendy Cantrell, over at Hope Springs Blog, coined that phrase to describe what our church likes to do on Hello-ween, which is to stay home and meet our neighbors! So far, we've had one lone, tiny pirate come to our door...only to be roundly and loudly "attacked" by my daughter Sarah's itty bitty maltipoo, Amber.

This house is an epic fail for Hello-ween up to this point, but it is only 8 PM, so we shall see...)

Off to watch Terra Something-Or-Other on th' Tee Vee with my grown children...the Preacher comes home from Cambodia day after tomorrow!

Our Son is Coming Home Wednesday...

2011-10-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

...and we take delight in him...

"Pick Yourself Up"

Nothing's impossible, I have found
For when my chin is on the ground
I pick myself up, dust myself off, start all over again!

Don't lose your confidence, if you slip
Be grateful for a pleasant trip
And pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again

Work like a soul inspired till the battle of the day is won.
You may be sick and tired, but you'll be a man, my son!
Don't you remember the famous men who had to fall to rise again?
They picked themselves up, dust themselves off, and started all over again!

Jet Ski Afternoon

2011-10-27T17:26:00.000-07:00

Found this picture on my smartphone today. It makes me miss my Preacher. I snapped this last month - on a late afternoon when we decided to rent a jet ski! Note: it was not warm...it wasn't a cold day, but it wasn't warm, either. Silly couple that we are, we chose to do it anyway.

And. We. Loved. It. We got there almost at closing time - we were the last ones allowed to rent a jet ski that day. We tooled around for two hours, going up and down the Tennessee river.

I saluted Neyland Stadium as we jetted by it, because hope springs eternal in a Volunteer heart. Heaven knows, I need optimism. Two words:

Tusca-dang-loosa Ala-daggum-bama.

Such a great evening, this was. The best of all my favorite things - sunshine, river, downtown in my hometown, high speeds, and having to hold on tight to my Pastor.

Mexican Restaurant Man

2011-10-26T20:44:00.000-07:00

My Preacher and I have a favorite Mexican restaurant.

We go to it alot. I'm just sayin'. We like it, and if I have to buy bigger pants in the future, I will blame that on La Fiesta.

On the outside wall of the restaurant is a mural. This mural has always been there, I see it each and every time I pass through the hallowed double glass doors. Last week, there was a small difference. Some person with a sense of humor did something...and I swear, I think of my small but happy band of readers when I see things like this, and I always grab the smartphone because I have to share it with you:

I hope you feel blessed and enriched by your visit to this blog today.

That is all.

A Water Tower Cozy - Stop The Madness!

2011-10-25T20:22:00.001-07:00

I was in a craft store recently, browsing through a knitting magazine. I ran across a photo that so disturbed me, I brazenly grabbed my Droid and took a picture of the picture. I thought of all of you gentle readers, and felt you simply had to see...

This photo says it is not a fake. Someone, somewhere (God bless them) took the time to knit a water tower cozy - I assume by machine.

Stop the madness!

I refer you to my recent post "Top 5 Indicators You Might Have Too Much Time on Your Hands"...

...and I amend it, as of this moment, to "Top 6 Indicators". Number 6 is "When you find yourself with the slightest urge to knit a water tower cozy."

Facing Our Fear - Women Equipped to Love and Lead

2011-10-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

We Girls So Rock!

Women feel the most inadequate in our relationships with other women, I think. Mothers and daughters, daughters and mothers, sisters, girlfriends...we women feel and fear our own falling short, we sense that we are not adequate for one another.

I look across the landscape of the body of Christ, and the topography is littered with the baggage of female friendship gone horribly wrong, and with the broken pieces of the hearts of mothers and daughters. It is time that judgment begin in the house of God, and that is not what you think.

Have you not heard? The house of God is the only safe place for judgment - because Christ carried our griefs and sorrows, He sits now on a throne of grace, beckoning to us to run to Him in our time of need. We can get our needs met by His satisfyingly durable lovingkindness, and then turn and freely give what we have freely received to our mothers, daughters, sisters and friends.

(...and FYI, when the Bible says, "And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" it is speaking of the afflictions and persecutions of this life, not of our position before God. Context, context! Salvation cannot be at the same time sure and unsure, secured by Christ, but subject to our inadequacy.)

Out there, in a world bereft of grace, you are written off for your inadequacy. At the throne of grace, you can find healing for every relationship. For what offense have you forsaken a friend? With what imperfection do you charge a mother? What daughter can bear up under the weight of propping up a mother's fragile sense of self? We must stop needing other daughters of Eve to be for us what only Christ can be.

Let us run to Him!

Every broken relationship, healed. Every loose thread, woven back into the tapestry. Every bond, strengthened. Every inadequacy, swallowed up in the vast overflowing overadequacy of the Finished Work of Christ.

Where you have fallen short in relationship, Christ can stand tall, as He stands strong to meet needs in others you cannot fill. Where others have fallen short towards you, Christ can stand tall, becoming your need-meeter. We can forgive others for their inadequacy, and we can forgive ourselves of the same.

Who can say she has been a perfectly adequate friend...sister...mother...daughter? That is much like saying, "Who can say she is without sin?"

Inadequacy is our lot in life until we are fully and finally changed to be just like Jesus. But the enemy of our soul has somehow made us fear facing up to the fact that we wound and are wounded. We hide in the bushes from each other because we are inadequate, fallen flesh, not yet glorified.

Come out, come out, wherever you are!

Come forgive, and be forgiven. Come begin again. Or again/again/again/again. If my mercies are new every morning, then yours are too. Who am I to withhold them from you?

When women naturally and freely nurture one another, releasing one another from our falling short, cheering one another on in this difficult journey of life, one in which even we the righteous are "scarcely saved" out of persecution and trouble...

...well, I think it will make an unbelieving, not-at-all saved watching world want to escape their judgment, and come be judged in The Father's House.

If God has declared me righteous, who can be against me? Certainly not you.

Face it...you just cannot be against me. I cannot be against you.

Looks like we are stuck with being for each other.

I'm so glad.

Underlined Bits - Oswald Chambers

2011-10-21T07:17:00.000-07:00

"This is the will of God, even your sanctification." 1Thessalonians 4:3

It is not a question of whether God is willing to sanctify me; is it my will? Am I willing to let God do in me all that has been made possible by the atonement? Am I willing to let Jesus be made sanctification to me, and to let the life of Jesus be manifested in my mortal flesh?

Beware of saying—Oh, I am longing to be sanctified. You are not, stop longing and make it a matter of transaction—"Nothing in my hands I bring." Receive Jesus Christ to be made sanctification to you in implicit faith, and the great marvel of the atonement of Jesus will be made real in you.

All that Jesus made possible is made mine by the free loving gift of God on the ground of what he performed, my attitude as a saved and sanctified soul is that of profound humble holiness (there is no such thing as proud holiness), a holiness based on agonizing repentance and a sense of unspeakable shame and degradation; and also on the amazing realization that the love of God commended itself to me in that while I cared nothing about him, he completed everything for my salvation and sanctification. {#Romans 5:8} No wonder Paul says nothing is "able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Sanctification makes me one with Jesus Christ, and in him one with God, and it is done only through the superb atonement of Christ. Never put the effect as the cause. The effect in me is obedience and service and prayer, and is the outcome of speechless thanks and adoration for the marvelous sanctification wrought out in me because of the atonement.

These words (from the devotional "My Utmost For His Highest", by Oswald Chambers) sound so much like the messages we've been hearing at Harvest of late. A Gospel-foundation has been faithfully and firmly laid, and thus, the outworking of the Gospel is being made evident in lives!

"Evidence". Our behavior isn't the reason we are righteous. It is evidence of having believed and gratefully accepted the fact that we have been made righteous.

Here is the thing about grace, and churches that "do the hard thing" and preach and teach a pure, New Covenant grace - these churches have the same sin and struggling people that legalistic churches do. But these struggling ones feel safe enough, in an atmosphere of true Gospel, to come out into the light, so that they can be restored. If you have ever "restored" anything, you know it takes time.

Law drives sin underground. Make no mistake. In a law-driven home or church, sin is there. Hidden. Grace will eradicate sin by creating a safe place for people to learn how to live in identification with Righteousness, without fear of being shamed.

Part of restoration is to teach about what sort of life best brings glory to God, for the grace we have been so lavishly given! When someone messed up, Paul put it this way, in the New Covenant:

"You have not so learned Christ..."

Random Beauty and Cuteness and Personal Opinions

2011-10-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

Oh, those wood counters! Simple and beautiful. Warm and unpretentious. Please don't take me the wrong way when I say that granite is so "last decade"....we all have things in our home we'd like to update or change, so if you already have granite countertops, it's cool. And if you just love granite, it's cool. Really. I don't. So please be cool with me, too, like I'm cool with you. If granite is your choice, I'm all for it. But, if you are just now renovating your kitchen, consider something other than. Designers the world over are saying that granite is one of those things that has been "done to death" - granite and that ubiquitous "great room design" in the center of the house...the one that now sort of reminds you of the gym in your local school. What were we all thinking, right?

There are so many other warmer and more interesting materials for your kitchen - investigate!

And if you ever are able to get your hands on a French bottle drying rack for a decent price - jump on the opportunity. I love mine. (This picture is not mine, not my kitchen, but I do have wood counters and a French bottle drying rack...)

Really study the simplicity of this party. The photo tells a story. This would be so easy to replicate, and looks so beautiful. Any bridal or baby shower...any birthday for any age....so, so appropriate!

I also love the story that this photo tells. Confession: we now drink from Mason jars. I fell for the whole idea of it...I downright swoon over the grainsack tablecloth thing, and Mason jar glasses. We love it. I want those jar tags, for when we are feeding a dozen people...which will probably be this week, knowing the way my life goes.

I could not resist tossing this photo in...because I love you. I know for a fact that this little guy (or girl) in his or her Halloween costume - cute little lobster in a pot - has absolutely made your day.

You're welcome.

Leadership 101 - 5 Indicators You Might Have Too Much Time On Your Hands

2011-10-17T18:40:00.000-07:00

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you... (I Thessalonians)

Doesn't that seem almost counter-intuitive? To "make it your ambition to lead a quiet life"?

How can ambition and quiet be related? Our flesh resists this. Aren't we supposed to want to be "world changers"?

The answer to that question is "Absolutely. Yes." But how we go about changing the world, as Christians, is a reflection of the upside-down Kingdom we are part of...that Kingdom where the weak are strong, and foolish things confound the wise. We change the world by being ambitious about being quietly busy. We can change the world by diffusing our own lives of all drama - and that takes a lot of work, of the "minding our own business" sort.

Read that last sentence again....please.

"Busy" has gotten a bad rap by all the quasi-spiritual whackos, who make doing very little seem like a worthy goal. They love to accuse the rest of us of substituting busy-ness for spirituality. But that is a false choice...no one has to choose between being busy and being meditative and reflective and thoughtful and spiritual. We are all to be very busy, working with our own hands - and very prayerful and meditative. I think the life of Jesus is the perfect example of busy, full days, and also rest and reflection.

My Preacher and I have over 20 years of pastoral ministry under our belt now. By far, we encounter more issues out of men and women who have too much time on their hands, than from those who stay busy in a healthy sense.

5 Signs That You Might Have Too Much Time On Your Hands

1. When others are under your scrutiny.

My husband has been taken to task over some of the silliest things, when he preaches a message. He has made some pretty big snafu's...but those get forgiven. He asks for forgiveness when he becomes aware of a large mistake. No, he has been taken to task by excruciatingly literal people, who strain at the nuance and meaning of a single sentence, a sub-topic of an aside. Those guys? Too much time on their hands.

If you find yourself analyzing others, you have too much time on your hands. If you or your teen know things about others you shouldn't know...you need to find other uses of your time. If there is more than a fraction of a small amount of discussion about the lives of others - your world is too small. If you find yourself offended more than once or twice a year....you have too much time on your hands.

2. An over attention to appearance.

Girlfriend, if you find yourself consistently late to church, or church functions, or work, because you are working with your hairstyle, or your outfit...you have too much time on your hands. If you are aware of how you walk or talk, or how you might look when you gesture...if you practice in front of a mirror....you have too much time on your hands. You need a different, more productive hobby.

3. An over attention to your child's offenses or drama.

All kids and teenagers and even college kids are going to encounter offense and/or drama. The best thing we can do for them is encourage them to get too busy to be so self focused. If we find that we become absorbed into the world of our child - we, as parents, must get a life. We have too much time on our hands.

If you find yourself joining in the gossip of your teenager - you better volunteer at a soup kitchen, get a part time job, do something. You have too much time on your hands.

If our sons or daughters keep having personal drama, I promise you....they have too much time on their hands. Take that to the bank. And get them productively busy....as in, right now.

4. Buying "things".

When people have too much time on their hands, they go on buying sprees, and find ways to spiritualize or justify it. "This outfit is for church!" (and you already have five good outfits - I'm guilty!) "This is so we can do more hospitality!" (and you don't do all that much with what you have right now) "God wants me to have this flock of Nubian Goats, so we can be self sufficient!" (what does He want you to give up?) If you find yourself doing a lot of shopping, online or in your car - you'd save a lot of money and time by planting a garden, or offering to clean a part of your church's building, or even ironing your twenty shirts.

Buying isn't wrong. Buying out of boredom or discontent isn't healthy, though. If you find you are often plotting and researching your next purchase...you have too much time on your hands.

5. Over-involvement in the lives of others.

There is a level of involvement with others that is healthy. Then, there is a level of involvement that is unhealthy - it is the direct result of boredom and discontent with our own life as God has given it. There is a level of involvement that becomes downright self serving. If "loving someone else" is meeting your own need for significance - watch out! You have too much time on your hands. It will backfire on you every. single. time.

If you find yourself consistently wanting to "write your name" on someone else...to be the important person in their lives....to do everything, or almost everything for them...finding reasons to drop in on them, or call them, or otherwise have a need to know what they are up to on most days....girlfriend, you have wayway too much time on your hands. You should not have enough time for unhealthy attachments. Not even to your kids.

And if you are a man, and you are that involved in the life of any woman other than your wife....no matter how much you try to spiritualize it, you should be punched. I'm not even kidding.

In closing, it is time that we become highly ambitious to have no time left over for Trivial Pursuit. If we do that one thing - get busy minding our own business, getting all the drama out of our lives, and out of the lives of our kids - being highly motivated to work with our own hands - finding ways to be productively busy - we will, almost by default, start changing the world.

I think it was Thomas Jefferson that said, "It is amazing what can be done, when one is always doing!"

Further Proof

2011-10-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

Google runs what is called an N-gram. It compiles the many hundreds of thousands of books written over many years - in this case, from the 1800's on up to present day - and analyzes how many times a particular word or words were written about in all the books published within a given time period.

The graph you see up there shows a surge of books containing the words "gospel" (in red) and "grace" (in blue) in the 1800's. Then, the mention of those words experienced a pretty dramatic drop off, followed by a near flat-line in modern times.

Friends, we and our parents and their parents before them, have lived through a dearth of gospel and grace. And that completely explains the condition of the church today.

But do you see the very end of this graph? That is what Tim and I are a part of! That is what you can be a part of, should you so choose! Do you see the little "uptick" at the end? I have said it before...Tim and I have long sensed that what we are preaching and teaching and standing for is of historic proportions for the modern church. "A great door of opportunity has opened to me, but there are many adversaries", in the words of Paul the Apostle.

Many, many others join us in that prophetic analysis. There is about to be a tsunami of New Covenant gospel, and a resurgence of the grace doctrines, as the church begins to experience a massive return to "first things".

THAT is what "returning to the old paths" will look like.

And I have even proved it to you via an impartial graph.

(many thanks to Jonathan Trentham for showing us Google N-gram searches...)

Leadership 101

2011-10-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

I'm going to ambitiously say that this post is the first in a series. How often I'll post on leadership (weekly? monthly?) depends on the time available to me, and on the timing of all the other wonderful, enticing ideas I have perculating in my mind to share with you.

But if you want to do a thing - you have to begin it. Just begin it. And so, I begin.

Leadership 101 - Take Your Concerns UP the "Ladder", Not Across the Ladder, and Not Down!

This is just good business - and it works like a charm for church business. If there is some sort of problem, don't vent, question, or otherwise seek to inform anyone who is "under you", for lack of a better way of putting it. Also, do not vent, question, or otherwise seek to inform anyone who is equal to you in the structure of accountability.

Take your concerns UP the ladder of your structure of authority. Better yet, take them to God, and let Him speak to you. Then leave them there.

Always. Always. Always up, not across, not down. To do otherwise is irresponsible at best, and could do irrepairable harm at worst. No leader is exempt from a huge snafu in this area...we each one would do well to take heed to ourselves in this area.

Those below you don't need to take up your offense. They simply don't need to be aware of what isn't their job to solve anyway. Those equal to you don't need your negativity. Your "yadda yadda" and your negative mood is usually temporary, right? (If it is continual, we have a problem of a whole other nature!) Your peers don't need the downer that comes with having to filter, absorb, or in any way feel responsible for your "concerns".

Take that stuff up the chain of command. Take it to someone who can either actually help solve the problem, offer you a perspective you were unaware of, or call you out about your attitude.

Are you actually looking to solve the problem? Are you truly open to a perspective you may not have been seeing up to this point? Or do you just want the cheap affirmation that comes with getting others to share your opinion? If you are of the latter mindset, you really shouldn't even lead a parade, much less an office, a church group, or any part of an organization.

Leaders lead. And great leaders lead in very direct, very positive, very effective ways. Leaders lead for the good of the whole, not for themselves.

The Sun Sets on Another Day in Paradise

2011-10-14T06:19:00.000-07:00

...where The Preacher fished...and fished...

...and then we got hungry. So we went to a restaurant that was a mere walk away from where we were sitting. I had grits from heaven with my seafood.

And then the sun went down.

I think, for today, we are planning to just press "repeat". Without the golf part, though. The Preacher wasn't happy with his game. I was very happy. I was sitting in the golf cart, getting sun on my legs, taking in the gorgeous scenery...palm trees, lagoons, glimpses of ocean, birds singing like the garden of Eden. I was soaking in the early morning, listening to Francis Chan's book "Crazy Love" on Audible, via Kindle, watching my Preacher throw a golf club to the ground once in awhile. I didn't mind the club tossing, because once he walked back to the cart where I was, he always had his happy face back on. He was genuinely and touchingly thrilled to have me with him, for those hours. I think my presence was the problem, in fact. He was so content to have me with him, he didn't care so much about his game. But then, that other part of him that DID care about his game would rise up in frustration, only to be quickly pushed aside whenever I would smile at him, and talk like I knew how to play: "This one's a double dog leg, Babe. Placement is critical...I'd tee up to the left. You'll be downwind here, and the greens are narrow and fast." (Which was silly talk...but it kept him entertained.)

(Did you know that Kindle can "play" all your Audible.com books?)

We Wish You Were Here!

2011-10-12T19:33:00.000-07:00

...grabbed a shot of this sailboat...from the boat we were on...as we were passing by.

It is almost 11pm, and we've only been back at our condo for a couple of hours. We've had such a great day - long, happy, lots of walking, shopping at a yarn shop that has been featured in magazines, lots of beautiful architecture, and lots of eating. The mixture of clouds and sun was perfect, making the temperatures hover in the low 80's, with the ever-present ocean breeze.

And I just got out of our hot tub, located in our own private sunroom, with its floors and walls lined in knotty pine, and its ceiling of glass.

Tomorrow looks like golf for my Preacher - 9 holes, since we are doing this on a budget. Then, it is rear-ends in chairs, chairs in sand, looking out over the ocean waves - sunglasses, magazines, and diet Coke for me, a fishing pole and a cooler of stinky shrimp bait for the Preacher...

for the whooooooooole afternoon.

Till the sun goes down, baby!

Where I Am, Day 3

2011-10-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

....beach in front of me...hundreds of these beauties beside me...my idea of heaven on earth.

How To Find Me On The Internet

2011-10-10T19:24:00.001-07:00

(Image by Emily Ley)

After a bit of research, I'm delighted to discover that, lately in the past few months, others are locating my blog by Googling this:

Sheila Atchley Grace

More than a few times, in an effort to locate my blog, others are Googling my name and one precious and powerful word - Grace.

Can I tell you? When you make grace the standard, you will ultimately live at a higher plane than the law could ever take you. You will out-do the legalistas. You end up out-performing the performers.

Every. Single. Time.

So yes, I'm blessed to say you can find me by Googling or Binging my name....and then the word "grace".

Where I Am

2011-10-09T17:11:00.001-07:00

Today, I fell asleep exactly here...

...and God is good.

Dining Room Mini Makeover

2011-10-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

Hints were hinted at, on yesterday's blog post. Here is what Hannah and I were up to:

...cutting and sewing...so that our old chairs could do justice to....

...a pair of oak corner cabinets! I was so excited to get them...

I enjoyed arranging the shelves - Hannah loved styling them, too. (Notice: I "arrange", she "styles".)

Love the ticking fabric, made into ruffles on the bottoms of the slipcovers!I think I managed to eke out two of them, Hannah sewed the rest. Also,notice the tablerunner. I designed it - choosing the fabrics, and telling Hannah what I wanted - she sewed it. Ticking with a graphic orange-and-cream colored print trim. Mitered corners, no less. Homegirl's got mad skillz.

Just playing with the soft focus in post-edit. Please excuse. I can't decide if it looks artistic or crap.

The final thing this room needs is a Jonathan Howe original, and a rug to give more texture, and warm up the floor. This floor is a battered old oak, and I love to have it so. We could refinish it whenever we want - we have access to all the tools, and The Preacher has the know-how. But I don't want shiny, perfect floors. So I'm not wanting a rug to cover them up...I just want to soften and add texture and brighten the overall feel of this room.

I took a ton of shots of the tablesetting - in RAW instead of JPEG. I think either my card totally rejected shooting in RAW (not me...the files)
or I did something when I uploaded to my laptop. Either way, the pictures have vanished.

Maybe I'll try again? I haven't put the dishes back away yet.

October Blessings

2011-10-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

(Image from the blog "A Holy Experience")

...Hannah and I have been up sewing all evening long. Both sewing machines, going strong. Hannah is faster and better than I am.

Hint: the dining room is changing!

Can't wait to show you!

PS. Enjoy the October nature calendar...click on it to enlarge it. These nature calendars have always brought me such joy!

The Exquisite Writing of Hal Borland

2011-10-03T18:03:00.000-07:00

"We who live in a land of seasonal change...have Autumn on our doorstep. Even now the sun rises east and sets west, so far as the eye can see, and one hears regret that another Summer is gone.

In a sense, this is so; and yet no season, nor even any year, either stands alone or vanishes completely. Summer is rooted in Spring, and Autumn is essentially Summer's maturity. The apple now reddened on the tree was a fragile blossom, a delight to the eye and a host to the bee, only a few months ago. The honey in the comb was pollen when June was at its height, and rains of April and hot July nights now come to ripeness in the cornfields. Even before the leaves come swirling down, buds are on the bough for another Summer's shade.

Summer ends, and Autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise would have high tide always and a full moon every night: and thus he would never know the rhythms that are at the heart of life. There is a time of sprouting, a time of growth, and a time of harvest, and all are a part of the greater whole. There comes the time now to savor the harvest, to pause and know another year not yet brought to full finality.

The rhythm of life and thought and change will be close around us now, and the restless energy of Summer...distilled into the stout brandy of another season. Change is ours to know and accept and build upon, even as the skies of Autumn clear and the leaves begin to fall. Fallen leaves open wider horizons to the seeing eye."

(Hal Borland, excerpt from the beautiful book Sundial of the Seasons)

May I add?

No season stands alone, nor does any choice we make. To have a harvest season, you first have to sow. Then you have to nurture the seed sown. Then you have to stay with it....stay with it...stay with it..."dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness".

Then. Then. Only then. Comes harvest.

If at any point you choose not to nurture the seeds of relationship, if you are harsh towards that living, growing thing called relationship, if you pluck up that which was planted, if you leave it...

...sorry, but no harvest.

Choose carefully. It matters. Tomorrow matters today. Today, I savor the fruit of weathering past winters, blizzards and frosts, rainy seasons, blasts of heat, and perfect seasons...all of it distilled into the fruit of sweet relationship.

You can't make wine without a harvest first. (And the Holy Spirit is a "latter rain" New Covenant reality...He is a Harvest Wine, as typified in Scripture!) You can't have a harvest without cultivating faithfulness. Plant first. Then cultivate continuity. Then comes the Harvest...then comes the wine....then comes the celebration. Real celebration, satisfying in a deep down durable sense.

You have to stick and stay through all parts of the process.

It's Chili Time in Tennessee!

2011-09-30T20:11:00.000-07:00

...I actually received email about our Atchley Family Tradition this past week. A couple of friends had checked the weather report, and wanted to make sure I knew that the temps were forecasted to dip down into the 40's tonight.

Here at Mayhem Cottage (not really, but it felt like it this week) we stop eating chili when the weather warms, come springtime. And we do not allow so much as a bite of the stuff to pass our lips before the following autumn - we wait for the first night the temperatures get down into the 40's. It's become a tenant of our faith.

You should believe as well. You should try it.

Full Disclosure: my daughter Sarah broke down and made chili last week. Note: there was not a forty-something degree forecast involved. She jumped the gun. It's her favorite food in the whole world. Still...I bet she wishes now she'd saved herself.

If I've told her once, I've told her three times: when you give into temptation, it cheapens the whole experience. I bet her next bowl of chili won't feel quite so special. Kids! Even if they are adults. Who are married. And moved out on their own. They should still listen to their mothers.

Signing off now...your homegirl is enjoying the fireplace in my bedroom, and an extra blanket at the moment, and I've blogs to surf before I sleep...and blogs to surf before I sleep.

"Exposing Major Blindspots of Homeschoolers" ...or, The Major Blindspots of Legalistic Parents, I Would Add

2011-09-29T06:18:00.000-07:00

Exposing Major Blind Spots of Homeschoolers by Reb Bradley

In the last couple of years, I have heard from multitudes of troubled homeschool parents around the country, a good many of whom were leaders. These parents have graduated their first batch of kids, only to discover that their children didn't turn out the way they thought they would. Many of these children were model homeschoolers while growing up, but sometime after their 18th birthday they began to reveal that they didn't hold to their parents' values.

Some of these young people grew up and left home in defiance of their parents. Others got married against their parents' wishes, and still others got involved with drugs, alcohol, and immorality. I have even heard of several exemplary young men who no longer even believe in God. My own adult children have gone through struggles I never guessed they would face.

Most of these parents remain stunned by their children's choices, because they were fully confident their approach to parenting was going to prevent any such rebellion.

After several years of examining what went wrong in our own home and in the homes of so many conscientious parents, God has opened our eyes to a number of critical blind spots common to homeschoolers and other family-minded people.

1. Having Self-Centered Dreams

The reason that our dreams for our children are so vulnerable to crashing is because they are our dreams, imposed on our own children. As homeschool parents we make great sacrifices and invest a great deal to influence how our children turn out. The problem is that love for children can be lost in love for personal success as a parent. Our concern for ourselves ends up overshadowing our love for our children.

When my oldest son was 18 he developed habits of disrespectful communication and I had to ask him to leave my home for a season. Needless to say, my wife and I were devastated by the discipline we imposed. In the first month he was gone we wept each day for him. We were grieved that he was now unprotected from the junk from which we had worked so hard to shelter him, but more than that, I was heartbroken that my dreams for him and our family would no longer come true. I remember speaking the words to him - "Son, you've ruined my dreams." You see, I had a dream for my family and it involved adult children who lived at home humbly under parental authority, and who would one day leave home to marry, after following my carefully orchestrated courtship process. But now, my son had gone and "messed up" my perfect dream. Nothing is wrong with dreaming of good things for your children, but the truth was, my dream for my son was mostly about me.

In hindsight, what was particularly grievous was that I was more worried about the failure of my dream of "success" than the fact that my son and I had a broken relationship. Although he did come back and was restored to us 4 months later, it still took me years to realize that I had contributed to the damaged relationship.

It is only natural for parents to have high hopes and dreams for their children. However, when we begin to see our children as a reflection or validation of us, we become the center of our dreams, and the children become our source of significance. When that happens in our home it affects the way we relate with our children, and subtly breaks down relationship.

2. Raising Family as an Idol

When we allow the success of our family to determine our security or sense of wellbeing we are seeking from it something God intends us to receive from Him. I am describing idolatry. If homeschoolers are not careful, family can easily become an idol.

At times in their history the Israelites worshipped idols. They didn't always forsake worship of the living God - they merely served other gods with Him. Sometimes they simply made an idol of something good. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees because they elevated issues of holiness higher than the very God who declared them holy (Mat 12:1-8; 23:24). An idol is anything other than God in which we seek security and fulfillment. It may be something biblical or good, but if it has the power to determine our wellbeing, we have elevated it higher than God meant for us. As those who are devoted to our families, and therefore invest a great deal of time, energy, and heart, it is easy to elevate the family too high.

A great problem with idolatry is that idols require sacrifice, and we end up sacrificing relationship with our children for the idol of the family. When we elevate the image of the family, we effectively trade our children's hearts for our reputation.

3. Emphasizing Outward Form

Preoccupation with results often leads to emphasis on outward form. When we are preoccupied with achieving results it is natural to admire the results others seem to have achieved with their children. We like the way the pastor's kids sit reverently in the front pew and take notes of their father's sermon, so we go home and begin to teach our children to sit reverently and to take notes. What we don't know is that the pastor's kids conduct themselves with reverence and attentiveness not because he "cleaned the outside of the cup" and simply drilled them to do so -- he lived a genuine love for Jesus that was contagious, and watched as the fruit was born (Matt 23:26). Parents are destined for disappointment when they admire fruit in others and seek to emulate merely that expression of fruit in their own children. Fruit is born from the inside -- not applied to the outside.

Imagine that the fruit you desired was the edible variety, so you went out into your yard and planted an apple tree. Just suppose that one day, while you were waiting for the apples to begin growing on your tree, you caught a glimpse of a neighbor's apple tree. You noticed in admiration that its branches were laden with big, luscious apples. What would you do? Would you run to the produce market to buy some apples, then go home, and in the dead of night, tie them onto your tree? If you did, the sight of your tree might really impress your neighbors. But that is not what you would do. You would likely go to the neighbor and ask how he cared for and fertilized his tree to produce such fruit. It is the same with our children - luscious fruit will be born from what we put into them - not from what we tie onto them. As a matter of fact, in no time, the fruit that we put onto our children will rot and fall off.

In the homeschool community I have observed that there can be a great emphasis on outward appearance, whether it is dressing for excellence, modesty, grooming, respectful manners, music style, or an attitude of sober reverence in worship. Some even take their children down a country path of humble fashions, raising food, and making bread. Nothing is wrong with any of these things, but we must be careful - we can model for our children outward changes and easily fall into molding their behavior and/or appearance, while missing their hearts. In some circles emphasis on the outward is epidemic.

A friend of mine, a homeschool mom, just passed away of cancer. In the week before she died, I asked her if she had any regrets in her life. She told me she wished she had baked less bread - she said if she had it to do over again she would buy bread and spend more time with her children. She had invested time and energy in pursuing the "path" because she thought it was part of the spiritual homeschool package.

Let us not forget that Jesus came against the Pharisees for their preoccupation with what they felt were legitimate expressions of spirituality. They measured holiness by what was avoided and by what would be seen by others (Mat 6:1-2, 5, 16; 23:5-6, 23-28; John 7:24). The Pharisees were earnest in their religion, but they were preoccupied with outward expressions of holiness rather than hearts of humility and love (Micah 6:8) that would bear genuine fruit. I find it fascinating that in the gospels there is not one mention of Jesus coming against immodesty, even though among his followers were prostitutes and the like. Jesus emphasized cleaning up the inside while the Pharisees were the ones preoccupied with cleaning up the outside. We must ask ourselves: Which are we more like - Jesus or the Pharisees? Even now do we justify ourselves, insisting we emphasize cleaning up both the inside and the outside?

I know that some react strongly to these assertions, so let me emphasize that I do want my wife and daughters to adorn themselves modestly. God did address it once in the New Testament (1Tim 2:9), but we must ask ourselves, is it possible that we have elevated modesty, or other issues of outward form, higher than Jesus did? If he only mentioned modesty once in the epistles and never mentioned it in his earthly ministry, but instead emphasized the importance of a changed heart bearing outward fruit, should we not follow his example and concentrate on reaching our children's hearts? Because He did address it in the first epistle to Timothy, let us teach our children the value of keeping private that which should be, but let us be careful of thinking that just because they look moral on the outside that they have God's values on the inside. Concurrently, let us also be careful of measuring everyone else's enlightenment by what we have decided is modest, spiritual, or holy.

4. Tending to Judge

In setting standards for our family, each of us must work through a process of evaluation and analysis to decide what is safe, wise, or permissible. Once we become convinced of our personal standards, not uncommonly, it follows that we believe they should apply to others as well.

The Pharisees belittled others who didn't hold to their standards. We have gone their way when we judge others. It is easy to miss this area of pride because we may not express our judgments "arrogantly"; we may instead wrap them in compassionate-sounding words. Arrogance wrapped in concerned tones is deceiving.

Pride is so deceptive that we won't know our judgments are even judgments. We will think we are just making observations and feeling pity, when in fact, we are looking down on others from our lofty place of confident enlightenment. It is a high view of ourselves that allows us to condescend to and belittle others in our mind. And if you already knew all this, be careful - pride will even cause us to be amazed that others didn't see what was so obvious to us.

Typically, when we belittle others who don't measure up to our standards, we will also imagine others are judging us. Consequently, we will find ourselves frequently being defensive. We assume that others will think lowly of us for some perceived inadequacy, so we offer unsolicited explanations and clarifications for us or our children. For example, let's say we walked past a TV at Sears and saw something of interest - when we tell others what we saw, we are careful to clarify that we saw it at Sears and weren't watching a TV at home. If we live under fear of judgment, not only will we tend to be on the defensive, but whenever we are in a public setting where our children might be "watched," we will put pressure on them.

When pride is working its work in us, we sincerely believe our personal opinions reflect God's utmost priorities and standards. What we believe to be our "enlightened" perspective becomes a filter by which we gauge others' spirituality, and therefore limits our options for fellowship. We develop a very narrow definition of what we call "likeminded" people, based on the outworkings of our values and opinions. Now we are on a path to exclusivity when we will no longer associate with those who will be with us in eternity. Is it possible we have lost sight of fellowship based on love and devotion to Jesus, and have substituted personal standards and a narrow view of Christian liberty?

There are several serious consequences of raising children in a home marked by pride and judgment. Children may grow up also judging others. Or, they may hide their real values, acting as though they embrace our values, when, in fact, they are simply seeking to avoid discipline and lectures at home. Or, they may see the shallowness of our legalistic faith that consists primarily of "avoid this, wear that, attend this," and not be attracted to it in the least.

5. Depending on Formulas

Homeschool parents often take a formulaic approach to parenting. Committed to achieving results with our children, we look for formulas and principles to ensure our success. Knowing the Bible is full of the wisdom and promises of God, we look to it for its self-working principles and promised methods. Yet, there's a problem with that. We are commanded to trust in God, not in formulas (John 14:1; Ps 37:5; 62:8). There is a monumental difference.

Trust in formulas is really dependence upon ourselves to carry out a procedure correctly. But anyone who really understands the grace of the gospel knows that we cannot take personal credit for any spiritual accomplishments. We are totally God's workmanship (Eph 2:10; Phil 2:13; 1:6) and everything good in our lives is a gift from Him (James 1:17). We can do absolutely nothing by ourselves for which we can take credit (Eph 2:8-9; Gal 6:14; Rom 4:2; 1 Cor 1:28-31; 2 Cor 11:30). Yet many of us lean toward a formulaic mentality, because our fallen natures are drawn toward self-reliance. We want to feel that by our own efforts (works) we have achieved something that will make us acceptable to God - by nature we are legalistic.

God doesn't want us to trust in principles, methods, or formulas, no matter how "biblical" they seem. God wants us to trust in HIM!

6. Over-Dependence on Authority and Control.
Fruitful training of children and roses require a goal, a plan, and diligence in labor. However, the difference is that roses have no mind of their own and only grow as they are allowed. Children are people--self-determining individuals--and they ultimately choose how they will respond to parental influence.

No amount of parental control or restriction will guarantee that a child will turn out exactly as directed. Obviously, our training increases the likelihood our children will cling to the faith when they reach maturity, or turn back to Christ if they do enter a season of rebellion, but our training does not guarantee the desired outcome.

I know that some will struggle with the assertion that parents do not have total control over the outcome of their parenting, because of Proverbs 22:6. And I would have struggled too, ten years ago, but upon examination of the passage in question, I am convinced that it is a verse meant as an admonition of wisdom, not as a promise and guarantee of outcome. Like many of the sayings in Proverbs it is written as a statement of probability and not as a promise.

Solomon set for us a great example of balanced parenting - he admonished his young adult children and gave them commandments, but he knew that for them to honor his commands he needed their hearts. That's why he said, "My son, give me your heart and let your eyes keep to my ways" (Prov 23:26). The apostle Paul knew how much he needed the hearts of those he exhorted, and therefore told them "... although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I appeal to you on the basis of love..." (Phile 1:8-9).

If we are to have significant influence of our teenage children we must have their hearts. Winning their hearts means gaining the opportunity to influence who they are, not just what they do.

7. Over-Reliance Upon Sheltering

An over-dependence on control in a family is often accompanied by an over-reliance on sheltering of children. It is not uncommon for homeschool parents to feel that since they filter whatever their children see and hear, they will control the results in their lives. That was me for many years. I remember saying to people, "I am controlling the influences in my children's lives, so I am going to control the outcome." I was absolutely certain that my children would be exempted from significant temptation and from developing particular bad habits because I was controlling what touched their lives.

In the last five years I have heard countless reports of highly sheltered homeschool children who grew up and abandoned their parents' values. Some of these children were never allowed out of their parents' sight and were not permitted to be in any kind of group setting, even with other "like-minded" kids, yet they still managed to develop an appetite for the world's pleasures. While I've seen sheltered children grow up and turn away from their parents' standards, conversely, I've known some Christian young people who went to public school, watched TV, attended youth groups, and dated, yet they walk in purity, have respectful, loving relationships with their parents, and now enjoy good marriages. Their parents broke the all the "rules of sheltering," yet these kids grew up close to their families and resilient in their walks with Christ.

Protecting from temptations and corrupting influences is part of raising children. Every parent shelters to one degree or another. All parents shelter - they just draw their lines in different places.Protecting our children is not only a natural response of paternal love, but fulfills the commands of God. The Scriptures are clear that we are to make no provision for our flesh (Rom 13:14) and are to avoid all corrupting influences (2 Cor 6:17-7:1). It warns us that bad company corrupts good morals (1 Cor 15:33) and that those who spend too much time with bad people may learn their ways (Prov 22:24-25) and suffer for it (Prov 13:20). Just as our Father in heaven will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear (1 Cor 10:13), we rightly keep our children out of situations they will lack the moral strength to handle. Young children are weak and we are to protect the weak (1 Thes 5:12).

God understood the vulnerability of human nature when he gave the Israelites instructions before they entered the Promised Land. He told them to chase out the idol-worshipping Pagans in the land, lest His people associate with them and be drawn into idolatry (Ex 23:32-33; Num 33:51-56; Josh 23:7-13). The Israelites disregarded God's protective warning and allowed some Pagans to remain in the land. Subsequently, each successive generation of young people was lost to idolatry. God instructed them to shelter their families, but their neglect of His warnings brought pain to their children and to their grandchildren for many generations.

However, we are imbalanced when sheltering from harm is the predominant expression of our parenting. Sheltering is a critical part of parenting, but if parents keep it their primary focus, the children will grow up ill equipped to handle the temptations in the world.A child isolated from disease may appear to be of the greatest health to his parents, but the health of the human body is only proven by how it withstands an attack. A weak constitution succumbs to every germ and virus - a strong one fights them off. Our spiritual and moral health is developed and proved in the same way.

If we isolate our kids from the world until they are adults they may appear to us to be spiritually minded and strong in character. However, it is how they ultimately engage the world that proves their spiritual resilience. This is because sheltering does not transform the human heart - it merely preserves it, temporarily.

It is true that a boxer trains without an opponent until his coach decides he is ready for an actual fight. And it is true that a farmer might raise plants in a greenhouse until they are mature enough to be transplanted and face the various elements of nature. So also, we keep our children away from bad influences when they are young and need to grow unhindered in character and spiritual wisdom. The problem is that sheltering without significant preparation to engage the world fails to equip them. In fact, it may insure that they will fall in their first solo encounters.

Growing up isolated from temptation can develop a child who appears spiritually strong, but the appearance is not reality. When I was in college I moved to northern California to live for a summer in a Christian commune. I was somewhat isolated from the world and surrounded by an amazing support system of my fellow "Jesus people." I remember feeling so full of faith, so committed to holiness, and so in love with God that summer. However, the "spirituality" I felt and the level of holiness I achieved was not real and could not endure testing. At the end of summer I returned to college in Southern California and discovered that I had not developed true spiritual muscles - when faced with temptation I fell flat on my face every time. The communal environment, isolated from significant temptation, had not prepared me for the battle I would face in the world. Valid spiritual growth required that I face temptation and develop the capacity to resist it, which eventually I did. My isolation from temptation had left me like a boxer who had shadow boxed, trained rigorously, and looked good in his trunks, but had never faced a sparring partner, let alone a true opponent.

I believe that a primary reason we over-rely on sheltering is because it is easy. It requires no planning or expenditure of energy. It takes minimal immediate brainpower. we simply assess that something might be harmful and say to our children, "No." I don't know if I would go so far as to call it lazy parenting, but I will say that investing in our children takes a lot more work and a lot more time.

8. Not Passing On a Pure Faith

We've all heard it said that faith is caught and not taught. The Galatian church polluted their faith by seeking to make themselves acceptable to God with what they did or didn't do" (Gal 3:3). In the same way, we may have started off years ago with a simple, undefiled faith, but the more we got caught up in all the "works" of intense parenting, the more we moved away from a simple faith contagious to our children. It is critical for our sake, let alone for our children, that we enjoy a life-giving faith in Christ with no religious trappings added to it.

As I look back, I see that with my older children I was too concerned with how they were perceived by others. I saw their behavior as a reflection on me, and I wanted to look good. They, therefore, sensed in me a measure of pretentiousness--not the genuineness of faith that would have drawn them to me or to the Jesus I spoke about. My sincere concern for their character was overshadowed by my concern for my reputation. I have discovered that, like me, multitudes of parents want their children's hearts but live a faith that fails to completely attract them.

9. Not Cultivating a Loving Relationship With Our Children

Relationships between parents and teens are weakest in control-oriented homes. Bev and I treated our children as if they were "projects." The more they became projects, the less we had significant relationship. The less we had relationship, the more we lost their hearts. Without their hearts, the less we were able to influence them or their values. We regularly spent hour coaching and admonishing them during the teen years, not realizing that without their hearts, the best we could do was make more rules and devise new consequences. The consequences affected the outside, but not the inside.

Our Story
When my oldest son was almost 16 we let him get his first job washing dishes at a restaurant managed by a Christian friend of ours. As diehard shelterers we wrestled with whether or not our son was ready to enter the world's workforce. We knew we couldn't shelter him forever, and so finally concluded that he should be old enough to send into the world two nights a week. What we didn't realize was that he would be working with drug-using, tattooed, partiers, and our Christian friend was never scheduled to work our son's shift.

Within a month it became apparent that our son's new work associates were having an effect on him. He came home one evening and asked, "Dad, can I dye my hair blue?" After my wife was finally able to peal me off the ceiling, I laid into him, reminding him whose son he was, and that I would not have people at church telling their children not to be like the pastor's son. I explained that just because he wanted to use washable dye, it didn't make me any happier. (Note that my intense reaction had to do with "outward appearances" and the impact on me.)

Of course, my wife and I immediately began to evaluate whether we had made a mistake by letting him take the job. After an intense discussion we decided to coach him more carefully and let him keep his job.

Two months later he came home from work and asked me if he could pierce his ear. Again, my wife had to peal me off the ceiling. He thought it might be okay since he wanted a cross earring -- like I was supposed to be happy, because it would be a "sanctified" piercing. If that wasn't enough, he also wanted to get a tattoo! But it was going to be okay, because it would be a Christian tattoo!

As I was looking back on this experience several years later, something my son said shortly after he started his job kept coming back to me. When I picked him up the second night of work, he got in the car with a big smile on his face and said "They like me!" As I dwelt on that comment, it suddenly came clear to me - my son had finally met someone who liked him for who he was. Few others in his entire life had shown him much acceptance, especially not his mother and I. It is no exaggeration - in our efforts to shape and improve him, all we did was find fault with everything he did. We loved him dearly, but he constantly heard from us that what he did (who he was) wasn't good enough. He craved our approval, but we couldn't be pleased. Years later, I realized he had given up trying to please us when he was 14, and from then on he was just patronizing us.

The reason our son wanted to adorn himself like his work associates, was because they accepted him for who he was. He wanted to fit in with those who made him feel significant. He wanted to be like those who gave him a sense of identity. The problem wasn't one that could be solved by extended sheltering - he could have been sheltered until he was 30 and he still would have been vulnerable. The problem was that we had sent our son into the world insecure in who he was. He went into the world with a hole in his heart that God had wanted to fill through his parents.

Whether believer or unbeliever, those young people who are least tempted to follow the crowd are those who are secure in themselves and don't need the approval of others. The Bible calls insecurity the fear of man - it is allowing other's opinions of us to affect our values and choices.

The Solution

In the Bible we see that people obeyed God for two reasons - fear and love. King David sang of his love for God (Ps 18:1; 116:1; 119:159) and he also sang of the fear of God (Ps 2:11; 22:25; 33:8). God wants His followers to be drawn to Him out of love (Jer 31:3), and that's why it is His kindness that leads us to repentance (Rom 2:4). But He also wants us to be kept on the path by fear of His authority (Luke 12:5; 1 Pet 2:17). That's why He told the Israelites He wanted both their fear and their love; "And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deut 10:12). With our children, it should be the same.

Those who have the most power to influence our hearts are those to whom we are drawn: those who succeed with our values (which is what a hero is), those who can benefit us, those who make us feel valuable, and those who have earned our respect.

If our children grow up motivated only by fear of consequence, they will eventually get away with what they can whenever we are not around (Eph 6:6). If we have their hearts they will seek to honor us whether we are present or not, and their hearts will remain open to our influence.

I refer you to the apostle Paul who modeled this approach to leadership perfectly, "Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love..." (Phile 1:8-9a). Paul's pattern with the churches suggests he understood that appeals to love were more powerful than commands and threats.

Conclusion

I am convinced that the most contagious parenting is living a heartfelt faith before your children. Fruitful interaction is not about what you do to your young people, but who you are with them. It's about having a real faith in God, and expressing it in a real relationship with a real person--not about methods and self-working principles. God intends that the side-effect of loving Jesus and enjoying the grace of the gospel will be that all people--including our children--will be touched by the Savior in us. I pray in Jesus' name that as you read these words you will experience the grace of God in a fresh and new way.

Reb Bradley is a writer and national conference speaker. Read the complete article from which this excerpt was taken here. Visit www.familyministries.com to order Reb's CD set Influencing Children's Hearts.

Grandsons Are Among Life's Best Blessings

2011-09-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

A slice of life from the cottage today...

I don't really need to say more, do I?

Nah. I didn't think so.

Morning and Evening

2011-09-26T18:55:00.000-07:00

...sounds like a CH Spurgeon devotional, but it's not. Well, it is - there is a devotional by that title - but this is my blog post, "Morning and Evening", and my post is way less interesting and epically less inspiring than the devotional. Do get the devotional. It'll ground you in grace. Definitely not the writings of a dead moralist.

This is morning, here at my cottage...

Timothy, making a "time to help Poppy and Mimi wake up" potta coffee with Poppy...

::waves hand:: "You only see cute baby and precious grandaddy...you do not see popcorn ceilings. You do not see popcorn ceilings."

The jammies slay me. They juuuuust slay me.

And now...evening, here at my cottage...

Tonight's dinner...recipe here...added zucchini to it this evening, for obvious reasons. (Doesn't everyone have zucchini right about now?)

I love this cast iron enamel dutch oven so much...he's an eight-quart big guy.

He is orange, and the color orange and I are good friends these days. Mr. Cast Iron Enamel Dutch Oven and I might even be something more like "more than friends". He's so hot.

::boo::

It was an Acker Bilk kind of evening...old, old record, from the 50's. In your imagination, hear that fun, scratchy sound of the vintage record player and it's equally vintage record...soft saxophone music, wafting in the air.

Love this perspective. Something about this shot brings you right into my kitchen, looking into the dining room. Do you mind setting the table for us? Cloth napkins are in the drawer, behind you.

Keep Reading!

2011-09-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

For heaven's sake, just keep reading. Taking a verse or two by itself is the equivelant of the spiritual "sound bite". It gets taken out of context more often than not. The real meaning is missed.

Philippians 2:12 is a good example. The last portion of it reads, "...work out your salvation with fear and trembling."

First of all, read evvvvvverything that comes before (Paul declaring the utter awesomeness of Jesus, "Christ Alone". Then, Paul speaks to the fact that these Philippians had eagerly received Paul's gospel of Christ Alone, while in his presence, and he hopes all the more in his absence... )

and now, for heaven's sake, keep reading.

"For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure."

Could it be that to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" means that you dare not touch the Glory? That you enter more and more and more and more into the realization that it is all Him, nothing of yourself?

Um, the correct answer here would be "Yes".

Keep reading. Always, keep reading. Resist the siren song of the Spiritual Sound Bite. Legalists tend to read whole passages of the Old Testament, and then they sound bite the New Testament. Just a heads up.

Books I Want

2011-09-23T19:41:00.000-07:00

I've decided to start a new blog post category: "Books I Want"

Because there are so many. So many books, so little time. Which means this topic will supply me with an endless variety of blog posts.

This one is available on Kindle, but...ahem...I've already bought one Kindle book this week, a Seth Godin classic, and that is all I allow myself. Oh wait. Make that two, but one was only $2, so it doesn't count, really, in the budget.

"Letting Go of the Try Hard Life". Me, too, Emily. Me too. You might be the BFF I haven't met yet. I let go too...and the funny thing is, I am accomplishing more than ever.

A quote from this book, as supplied by the lovely Ann Voskamp, who made me aware of this book on her blog...

“It was important for me to get to a place where I saw myself as a prodigal, because the weak recognize their need so much more quickly than the strong….

We already have the love and acceptance of our Father, so why do we try so hard to earn it?”

Oh. If ever a sentence or two succinctly expresses the grace journey that evolved in my life, about three years ago, the above words express it. I was brought so gloriously, painfully to the end of myself. Some, very dear to me, didn't understand. At all. Why?

This is a place most women are afraid to linger, this "end of myself". When you get to that place, aren't you supposed to pull yourself out?

Well...I lingered. I lingered with tenacity. Tears. Developing a passion for Christ Alone.

And was forever changed.

This author sounds like a kindred spirit.

Happy Fall

2011-09-23T19:18:00.003-07:00

Ministry That Mends - Angelic Ministries of Knoxville Tennessee

2011-09-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

It started out a rainy, dreary Wednesday today. I awoke to a crick in my neck, and a steady drizzle outside my window, and got my day started as best I could under such trying circumstances. At about 9 o'clock, I picked up my cell phone for the first time. (I turn my cell phone off at night, and don't turn it on the next day until I am good and ready...if I remember to at all. Don't judge. It's how I roll.)

I saw I had a message waiting for me from my friend Lynne B, so I listened. She was proposing that we meet up in...uh...thirty minutes.

Actually, she left the message last night, but my phone was already off by then. Don't judge her either...it's how she rolls. Do you sense a theme here? Let folks roll how they roll.

My rainy Wednesday was about to get a major infusion of Spiritual Sunshine. The planets must be lining up today, because all systems were actually "go" for me to run right out my front door and drive to Angelic Ministries of Knoxville, to help do some volunteer work. I couldn't believe it. I'm usually never that available on that short a notice...we're talkin' less than half an hour.

About twenty minutes and twelve seconds later, I was there. And I even had time to ingest a steaming hot cup of legal stimulant on the way. I know, right? You have one plan for your morning, and BOOM, you find yourself driving through a bad part of town, to a worse part of town, before you can even say "What The Heck?"

Well. If you're me.

So. I spent some time helping to mend broken people today...it wasn't hard to do. Two or three hours of my time was all it took, going to the building that houses Angelic Ministries of Knoxville, shadowing and assisting my friend Lynne B, who volunteers there regularly.

As I drove up to the building - again I tell you - in a part of town that isn't exactly upscale, I passed a man who was...ah..."relieving himself", right there in a little nook area of the outer brick wall, his back turned towards the highway.

Somehow, I knew right away that if helping people who actually need it is good for the soul, I was about to get a really happy soul today.

I parked my car, hid my purse, locked up, and headed inside. I was introduced briefly, and within five minutes, I had my first "client". That is what Angelic calls the people they minister to. Actually, Lynne ended up with two clients, sisters who came together, and I pretended one client was hers, and one was mine.

I was there to look and learn and help wherever needed...and bring all of you with me, via pictures. (Please do pour yourself a tall cuppa something - there's more than one or two pictures here...)

Angelic takes people in crisis situations, people who have been referred to them by other reputable agencies or churches, not off the street, and volunteers take them with a shopping buggy through the huge warehouse of donated items, and help them pick out what they need to get re-established. And I do mean whatever they need.

If Angelic Ministries has it to give. Which brings me to the first sight I was confronted with...

The toiletry shelves. Empty. Do you even know how expensive toiletries are? Very little along those lines could be given out by Angelic Ministries today, because toiletry donations are down. It just wasn't there to give.

If the next picture does not hurt your heart, not much will move you, ever...

What about this one:

The weather turned cooler recently. So for fun last weekend,I went out and got my grandbaby a new pair of shoes to keep his sweet feet warm (and to make him weep violently, but that's another story...home boy don't like shoes.)

What about the sweet feet of the babies who come here? With many, if not most, of the families that are helped through Angelic Ministries, there are babies and children involved. The sisters we helped this morning had two or three at home. Babies. They also have school aged children.

Here is a sign from God, if anyone needs a sign:

...and when they say they need men's pants...

...they really mean it. There were no men's pants at all...only shorts. If you were a man, who came to Angelic Ministries today, and you needed a pair of pants for your new job, the job that will help get you back on your feet - you better be a size 40 waist, because if you were anything less, there was nothing there.

Speaking of being back on your feet...

Almost nothing for you in that department, either. Angelic Ministries needs donations, friends!

We took our two sisters to pick out some linens. Towels, anyone?

It's a good thing there are a (very) few, (very) thin towels on these shelves. The two women we worked with were able to get some for each family member.

I'll leave you with just a few more images...

Those toiletry shelves haunt me to this moment...

Nope. Nothing on this shelf either. Such a basic, human-female need.

The school supplies.

The image that most lingers most with me, though, is that of two clients I saw who weren't even "my" clients. I saw a young Hispanic couple there with their baby, scanning those toiletry shelves. I'm a good judge of character, and the faces I saw were open. This was the sweetest, cleanest looking little family you'd ever want to see. They simply were in serious need.

And they had a baby. What growing baby couldn't use a pair of shoes this autumn?

And the man might could have used an extra pair of decent pants.

And they were standing in front of those darn toiletry shelves.

You might think that in the light of the stark needs, and those empty shelves, that I left feeling depressed. Nah. Our two sisters went home with a literal truck load of blessing - a twin bed, a queen sized bed, all bed linens, dishes, pots and pans, food for the whole family, baby clothes, baby food, a baby car seat, and I think even a small desk.

Needs are being met, and there are more needs that need to be met. (Say that ten times fast!) And I serve a God who is the Need Meeter. I'm praying that He'll use this small blog post to do something Big...a loaves and fishes kind of thing. God can take my small contribution, bless and break it, and do Amazing Things.

If you can help, and you live here in Knoxville, I have a name and number to hook you up with. If you want to help, and you live far, far away (I have tons of blog readers who live in other countries!) please email me, and let's see what creative brilliance we can come up with.

If you own or know of a business that could donate toiletries, email me right now. Don't wait.

Those empty toiletry shelves bug me.

Grandson's Nine Month Photos

2011-09-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

You can't keep him still. Can you see how his eyes glow with interest, as he systematically pulls all my yarn out?

This is "our boy"...our grandson, saying, "GO VOLS! TOUCHDOWN, TENNESSEE!" Or, he might be saying, "Praise the Lord." He gets the two confused.

Thinking Right About People

2011-09-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

(image from Tiffany Kirchner Dixon's blog)

I really, really want to enjoy the journey of life. For the love of chocolate and red wine, I just want to take joy.

I have a low tolerance for negativity. I have an even lower tolerance for negative talk about people. Ask my family. We aren't perfect, but on the average day, we just don't do it. We don't speak negatively of others. Once in awhile, this is because I can't take it, and after about two minutes of it I have to change the subject or interject something positive and redeeming. And I mean it. Let's not even think about picking up where we left off, and go back to criticizing. I'll get mad.

That. ain't. pretty.

This isn't because I am virtuous. I tend to push the limits of virtue in some areas of my life. I hate gossip simply because I have had a belly-full-enough of negative yah-yah to last a lifetime, and I am totally sick of it, I do not care how true it is, or how important it is that I should know this or that about so-and-so.

This might not be a virtue at all. This might be a survival mechanism I have developed. But for pity's sake, why say something bad about someone else?

Think about it. Ask yourself the same question I ask myself: What good can this possibly do? Truly. What good at all does it do to mentally or verbally criticize? Of what redeeming value is gossip?

That's all gossip is...a negative little chat about something or someone's shortcomings. Sometimes the chat takes place between your ears, between you, yourself, and you. Or it might take place between you and another person. In person or in writing. (We forget that a private Facebook message is still gossip, even though we didn't SAY it!) It might be veiled, it might be blatant, but the intention is always the same: to point out a perceived fault. Or a church's perceived faults. Or the short comings of the Adult Sunday School program, which always by implication leads to someONE'S failures, as you see it.

And sometimes you are exactly right.

Oh, yes, you might be right about precisely where the falling short line lies...and you do us all a smelly pile of good by talking about it. You rocket scientist, you! It takes a keen mind to decipher what is wrong with this world, doesn't it? You better not die, because we need you around forever and ever, amen, because all us mortals? Why, we'd never know there was a problem without your astute observations. At the very least, we'd miss out on all the petty fun of listening to you talk.

There. Now that you understand where I am coming from...

Seriously. How do we shift from negative yah-yah, to positive speech, seasoned with salt? By thinking right thoughts about others.

Because pointing out all the dings and scratches in your neighbor's car does not improve the innate quality of your car.

His car? Your car?

It is what it is, friend. Put your mind on higher things, why don't you? All this car-speak is metaphor, of course.

Do not let your mind dwell on such trivial matters as the shortcomings of others. The plans and purposes of God for your life transcend such things. Grasp this!

When you think negatively about someone, you end up speaking negatively about them. When you speak negatively about them, you diminish yourself and them. But when you speak only what is good for the use of building others up, you and they are increased.

Their faults? Your faults?

They are what they are. The real question is how much do you value relationships?

Your brain is a filing cabinet. You can't help but notice things you don't like, and you can't help but file that away.

But you don't have to pull it back out and refer to it constantly. You really can let the negative files gather dust, and choose to pull out what is good, and refer only to that.

You can, you can! Yes, you can!

And when others pull out their negative files on someone else, and hand them to you...you can do what I typically do...toss it in the circular file labeled T-R-A-S-H/C-A-N, and treat it accordingly. Mark the person who tends to pull only the negative files, and politely refuse the next one.

I understand there are instances where none of this applies. Sometimes we do have the unpleasant task of bringing to someone's attention something that is significant and of negative implication. But only...only...when this is for the greater good. The far. far. far. greater good.

And I understand that the actions of others can create a teachable moment...brief objective and private discussion is necessary, and so you try to keep it as redeeming as possible. I get that.

I understand that ideas must be examined and critiqued.

But people? Co-workers? Fellow church members? Someone you call "friend" to their face?

Come on. We are all smarter than that.

Cut the negativity. It does no good. It adds no joy to the journey.

Are You Teachable?

2011-09-18T18:36:00.000-07:00

There is a big difference between being a woman who is eager to learn...

...and a woman willing to be taught.

You can be eager to learn, because your ears prefer customized teaching that suits your strained sensibilities. The Bible calls it "itching ears", and we usually associate itching ears with the craving for teaching that promotes sin or some sort of ungodly ease.

I'm here to tell you, that is a no brainer. I get so weary of Christian women who have a firm grasp of little other than the obvious. Of course, teaching that encourages sin or laziness is so not cool. But I find most Christians instinctively know this. Or maybe I just run in the best circles, and there is a whole world out there, eager to sin and sit around and accumulate stuff instead of reach their generation for Christ. Um...I guess that would be a world that I am not intimately associated with.

What about the teachers who promote performance-based Christianity? The itchiest ears of all are found on those who prefer teachers of law-based, Christian-ized behavior modification. The itchiest ears of all are found on those who love to perform.

Exhibit A: the shelves and shelves of self-help books in bookstores both sacred and secular.

These people heap to themselves teachers, and you can find them on their bookshelves. Every book can be tossed into one of three heaps: the "fiction" heap, or the "writings of dead moralists" heap, or the "Christianized DIY" heap. You don't find much else on the shelves of a legalist.

Itching ears.

Paul told Timothy, "Preach the Word". The whole Bible, Old Testament and New, is given by inspiration of God, to make us mature and equipped for the work we are uniquely called to do.

So I'm asking: What is the central focus of "The Word"? And why does it need to be "rightly divided"? What is the application?

Christ. Everything from Genesis to Revelation and all points between is about Christ. When you read the Pentateuch, look for Jesus. When you read the Psalms and the Wisdom Books, look for the Gospel, for it is there. The very looking for it forces you to rightly divide this Word of Truth. The very effort of looking for the Gospel in all of the Old Testament forces you into a more accurate hermeneutic. When you read prophets major and minor, look for the wisdom hidden from the ages, now revealed: Jesus. He is there.

Paul was exhorting Timothy to preach the word of Christ. You aren't persecuted for living godly. A devout Morman or Muslim can manage that. You are persecuted for living godly in Christ Jesus. When the cross is the only way to salvation, when your godly living is because of His Finished Work, when your good works flow as a direct result of the revelation of your being made righteous...well, that is just weird. And very uncool. And out of step with the current thought in much of mainstream Christianity.

Again - Exhibit A. And the shelves of itchy-eared legalistas.

Which brings me back to the question: are you willing to be taught, or just eager to learn?

Knitting Machine

2011-09-17T19:39:00.000-07:00

Have I told you I now own a knitting machine? I do. Own a knitting machine. It is used, but no matter...it is a Mac Momma Machine. A Singer 700 (older model) with SPN60 ribber, with every doo-dad and attachment known to machine knit-dom. I have no idea how to use it yet, but I am armed with an instructional video. And tons of moxie.

I plan to get me down to some bidness heah in dis hood, and teach myself yet another skill...and machine knitting is its own skillset, please lemme tell you! It is not...I repeat, not..."cheating". It is as big a learning curve as learning to knit with your hands, maybe moreso. It is not easy, but it is not ridiculously hard, either, I'm told. It just takes a different approach, and (from what I have read) it takes approaching knitting projects in a completely different way than hand-knitting.

For one thing, it takes thinking big. Expanding my knit-and-purl-a-scarf horizons. As in...knitting a cozy for the earth, bay-bee! Or maybe just Tim's truck. Or maybe just designing and executing beautiful king-sized blankets. Or a blue-million intarsia scarves.

A machine is more for someone who wants to branch out into designing. And yes, once you surf the learning curve, the knitting part goes fast.

Here is a picture of a stripped-down model:

You can't buy my knitting machine at Hobby Lobby. This ain't no plastic toy, neither. Oh, and by the way, the one you see (above) isn't my new baby. This one is a picture I found on the internet of a basic machine. This machine does not have the SPN60 rib-knit-bed attached to it. That SPN60 doubles the capacity of what you see above, and opens all sorts of creative doors.

Mine is so big, it gets its own work-table, and came with its own upholstered bench. And I am going to learn this thing. Eventually.

I'm blessed.

Can complete world domination be far behind?

New Covenant Gospel - Immense Implications

2011-09-14T20:01:00.000-07:00

In a culture urgently in need of reformation, believers have to bear in mind that we are the change agents. We are the kindling for the fire...

...a thorough study of Western history will reveal that periods of renaissance and reformation follow on the heels of the church's return to first things. Great periods of Renaissance and Revival and Reformation come when the church perseveres in its return to the first things of New Covenant grace (versus any emphasis on the law as our means of righteousness), a Christocentric gospel (versus a program-centered, selfcentric message), and radical love for the community they fellowship with, otherwise known as their very own local church (versus floating from church to church).

When a believer puts all her emphasis on second things, she ends up losing first and second things. When she places all her emphasis on first things, trusting God for the second things, God gives and includes secondary things freely.

Stay with the New Covenant message, preach the Finished Work of Christ, plus nothing. Live a love that is tough...a far different lifestyle than attempting "tough love".

Don't think "tough love". Rather, think "Love is tough." And then get your rear-end out there and love those who are a bit unloveable...the ones that most resemble you. The love of God is rugged. Love is patient. It isn't easily offended. It does not leave. It believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. It never fails. You can't wear it out. You can't make it quit, because it always wins. Love wins because it is tough. Strong. Weathered. With relentlessly kind eyes, and ever open hands, ready to bless. It rejoices in the truth of the fact that all sin has, at the cross, been forgiven - past, present, and future.

Build your life around these first things: New Covenant Message, the Finished Work of Christ - plus nothing; and showing your community a love that is tough...love them relentlessly, delight in them without fail, and you will be used of God to bring Reformation to your church, your family, your business community.

History proves it.

Standard of Living

2011-09-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

I realized today that I am an odd bird. I know I can lean to the "tad bit eccentric" side of the personality scale. What I mean is, I realized I am odder than even I first thought. (Okay, most of you already knew that, but I am just now catching on.)

I am listening to a business book from Audible.com (a site I can't recommend highly enough...a bibliophile's symphony of words!), and I heard the phrase "standard of living". My mind instantly thought of Shalom. Not the word "Shalom", but the whole thing...the whole idea of the word...the whole lifestyle of that word as it applies to relationships.

Yes. When I heard the phrase "standard of living", from a book on business, I naturally thought first of my relationships, not of how big my house is, or the level of our income. Weird, I know.

The relationship that is the most strained in our lives might be our relationship with our oldest son, the Marine. The relationship we have with him is better than it has been in recent years - we call it "strained" based on our standard of living. We are accustomed to lots of unity and joy in our relationships. We are accustomed to being close with friends and family.

He came all the way home from Camp Le Jeune, of his own volition, to surprise us over the past Labor Day weekend. He just wanted to be home. We weren't expecting him, and sometime after midnight on Friday night/Saturday morning, there he was, standing in our hallway. Sort of a Hallmark moment, only I was on Ambien. Think of the Waltons, only the momma is on drugs come bedtime, and John Boy chews tobacco and can be mean as a snake.

We were happy to see him, and we enjoyed a great weekend together, the whole family. Most families would take that in a heartbeat. We consider the relationship "strained" based on the depth of relationship and unity we are accustomed to having in our family. We are used to a higher standard of living. Because of past hurts and a few as-yet unresolved issues, things aren't quite Shalom....yet.

But dang. We are so rich. Honestly? We are a stinking well-off couple, my preacher and I. Our standard of living is high.

We are so in love. I'm talkin' the sort of love that cheers each others heart significantly, secretly squeezes each others glutes, goes out for walks and ice cream, and a gaze that still meets across a crowded room. Eyes that light up when we see each other...that kind of love. High, high standard of living. Lotsa Shalom.

And we like each one of our kids, and their spouses. In his sweet, funny, open, dinner-table moments, I take such great delight even in that "strained" relationship with my oldest son. I know it won't be strained forever. Strained...not estranged. That's the grace of God, in action.

And we have friends. Such friends, we have! Men and women who serve God with passion and purpose, and who love well, and who lavish grace on one another. My friends show me Jesus, all the time. We have friends new, and friends old. Friends young, and friends old. Friends who are mentors, and friends who are mentees.

Standard of living? Ours is off the charts. We don't eat ribeye steak very often, but we do have lots of grilled chicken - sometimes a bit dry, granted - but we live in good, healthy relationship, even though we had to wage a little war to make the peace.

Almost Undisturbed Shalom.

"Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife." Proverbs 17:1

A Change of Mind - A Daily Reality

2011-09-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

These are my actual notes from this past Sunday. As I was taking them, I suddenly was inspired to make it a blog post, so I whipped out my smart phone and snapped the picture. In front of God and all my rowdy friends.

They are so used to me. No one blinked, no one thought it odd at all. I think they all know that anything and everything can and will become Blog Fodder for the Preacher's Wife.

The Finished Work of the Cross? Utter perfection.

My attitude and belief structure? In need of change. Every day.

Repentance simply means to change your mind. When you first came to Christ, you changed your mind in regards to either 1) Your need to be right, or 2) Your need to be wrong. In coming to Christ, you chose to think differently. Through the foolishness of preaching, you were made to realize that to think less of yourself was not enough...you realized you weren't to think of yourself at all. You were led to believe that salvation was all about Jesus and not what you did or could do, right or wrong.

You were led to believe that, right? Because that would be the effect of the preaching of the cross. True belief, and true repentance - a change of mindset.

As you received Him, in the same way, you walk with Him. Twenty, thirty, forty years later, if you are a spiritual person, if you are maturing, you will be changing your mind. Your actions will always follow suit.

Another term for all this? "The Renewing of the Mind".

An Impromptu Trip to the Mountains...and an Impromptu Shooting Competition - Pictures, not Animals

2011-09-09T20:09:00.000-07:00

Tim gets credit for this one. ::sigh:: He saw this, and locked down on the brakes of his Ford truck. He jumped out the driver's side door with my camera, composed the shot (manual mode, all the way...shutter speed, apperture, zoom, and focus...he set it all!) and shot it. Darn him. The dappled sun was hitting the base of this tree like a spotlight.

...a Flycatcher...I got this shot, but nevermind. It pales in comparison to Tim's moss-on-the-base-of-the-tree shot. I feel a competition coming on. And I will win. He has no right to get better shots with my Nikon and new 55-200 mm lens than I get with my Nikon and 55-200 mm lens.

...fungus...again, spotlighted by dappled sunlight. Again, Tim. Incredible shot. This is exactly how it appeared - glowing. This shot is "SOOC"...that means "straight out of camera", no retouching, no photoshopping. In fact, not a single photo has been Photoshopped.

My mountains...

My beloved Smokies...can you see why they are called the "Smokey" mountains?

Side-lit splendor...golden autumn sun...no other time of year has this quality of light.

I got it! I got the shot! When you slllllllow down the shutter speed, you get that lovely sheeting action, when you shoot moving water. Fast shutter speed = seeing water more like the naked eye sees it, sometimes even freezing individual droplets in the picture. Slow shutter speed = that flow-ey, sheeting action. Love!

(Slowing your shutter speed, plus shooting in overcast conditions is not for the faint of heart, however. This shot best not attempted without a tripod...not without tears and swearing. Just kidding about the swearing. And the tears. But I was frustrated. I didn't bring my tripod. I asked Tim to bend over, and I planted my elbows in his back and shot for several minutes. Not kidding. He is so good to me. That man patiently watched me shoot scenes around the Smokey Mountains for three hours, until past dark.

In this shot above, notice how the surrounding, stationary non-water parts of this photo are not tack-sharp. No tripod. Tim's back helped, but next time, I am bringing my tripod.)

So proud of this shot. No tripod. No Tim's back, either. But I managed it. I set the camera to shutter mode, set the speed for a slow shutter, and compensated with apperture. ISO was 800.

Quotable Quote

2011-09-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

"Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry."

~Mark Twain

What do you want your husband, children, close friends, and other family members to be able to say about you when you die?

Live that way. Get to it. Now.

You never know...you know?

Fall Decorating

2011-09-07T19:26:00.000-07:00

I began the process of putting away most of my summer kitchen today. I plan to pack away the turquoise blue mugs, all the blue glass, and the particularly summer-ish turquoise blue tea towels. Then, I got out my packed-away spice-orange things.

Here is a sneak peek:

The weather here has been a bit fall-ish this week. This makes me feel poignant. I still love September, but I dislike seeing summer go away. So, to cheer myself, I've begun the switch-out to autumn...getting out the harvest wheat sheaves, the pottery and glass in varying shades of ivory and spice pumpkin.

Last year, the palette was white, orange, and brown...with shades of each between. This year, I am sticking with the same palette, but adding a small touch of turquoise, too. I've left out a few of my turquoise summer things, only now instead of there being a strong note of turquoise, it is just the barest of accent color.

I'll post more photos when I'm done. I hope your September is Blessed and Highly Favored...

...in Christ, there is no such thing as not Blessed and Highly Favored.

How God loves us!

Obvious and Simple

2011-09-05T09:50:00.000-07:00

"Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are." Romans 3: 19-20, NLT

Simply. "The law simply shows us". We human beings love to complicate the Gospel in an effort to justify our own existence. We want to make our good works the thing that the Gospel is all about, when the Gospel is way more scandalous than that. The Gospel is about blood sacrifice that speaks of a shouted grace, freely given, and vigorously appropriated by those who can see simple things clearly.

Our good works are the cosmetics...the adornment...the accessorizing, if you will, of the One Work that Matters...the finished work of Christ. Look up your Greek in Titus 2, where it says that we are to adorn the Gospel with our good behavior.

Kosmeo. Yeah...we get our English word "cosmetics" from that Greek word. I need nothing else, in the way of proof text, but there is a lot more than that...however, it is September, it is Labor Day, and I am feeling mellow.

So if you wanna keep believin' that your works are anything more than (beautiful, significant, because all that is truly beautiful is significant) adornments to beautify the message of Scandalous Grace...go right ahead. One of us is wrong, and it isn't me.

Obviously. How about that word? "Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given..." (um, and that would be Old Covenant Hebrew People...)

Unfortunately, that darn veil obscures the obvious for many believers. What should be obvious....ain't. It is satan's Grand Scheme. To obscure the obvious. He's very, very good at it. Every day, I uncover some small (or large) truth he has managed to minimize, distort, or obscure in my understanding. And I get to happily repent and change my mind.

"After all, repentance is a gift...an opportunity...an invitation to The Good Life." And, by the way, that is a quote from The Preacher's message in church yesterday. It was - no bull - the best message on repentance I have ever, ever heard. Foundational. In the context of the Gospel. You do not want to miss it. And "obviously", repentance is part of the Gospel, and has always been preached at Harvest Church.

(I know, right? We are so "imbalanced"...)

But it's September. It's Labor Day, and I am feeling really mellow, so I'll save the fullness of all the past weeks and months of Romans study for another post.

Summer's last gasp. I am enjoying it. I am loving these days of simple dinners and detailed desserts, and the four or so pounds I've gained be hanged, I truly do not care...

...of waiting for the green beans I planted late to come in...of grandsons and first football games of the season. Of breakfasts at Burger King with the goal if discipleship and the attainment of so much more. Days of ridin' with my baby in his Ford pickup, listening to a Kenny Chesney tune. Days of takin' the back roads. The long way home. Puttin' a little gravel in our travel.

All my ducklings are in the nest, for today. It is Labor Day, friends. Let us rock it together, shall we? Some things really are so simple and obvious.

Simply Rock This Day. With Obvious Grace.

Worship Gone Wrong

2011-09-04T20:31:00.001-07:00

Octavius Winslow

2011-09-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:12

"Let us inquire what is that which Satan desires to assault? It is the work of God in the soul. Against his own kingdom not a weapon is raised. It is his aim and his policy to keep all there undisturbed and peaceful. But against the work of the Holy Spirit in the renewed mind, his artillery is brought to bear; not a part of this work escapes him.

Every grace comes in for its share of malignant attack; but especially the grace of faith. When, for example, a repentant and believing soul approaches Christ with lowliness and hesitancy, and with the tremulous hand of faith attempts to touch the border of His garment, or with a tearful eye looks up to His cross, then comes the assault upon faith in the form of a suggestive doubt of Christ’s power and willingness to save. “Is Jesus able to save me? Has He power to rescue my soul from hell? Can He blot out my transgressions, and redeem my life from destruction? Will He receive a sinner, so vile, so unworthy, so poor as I? Has He compassion, has He love, has He mercy sufficient to meet my case?”

In this way Satan assails the earliest and the feeblest exercises of faith in the soul. Does this page address itself to any such? It is Satan’s great effort to keep you from Jesus. By holding up to your view a false picture of His character, from which everything loving, winning, inviting, and attractive is excluded, by suggesting wrong views of His work, in which everything gloomy, contracted, and repulsive is foisted upon the mind; by assailing the atonement, questioning the compassion, and limiting the grace of Christ, he would persuade you that in that heart which bled on Calvary there is no room for you, and that upon that work which received the Father’s seal there is not breadth sufficient for you to stand.

All his endeavors are directed, and all his assaults are shaped, with a view to keep your soul back from Christ. It is thus he seeks to vent his wrath upon the Savior, and his malignity upon you.

Nor does he less assail the more matured faith of the believer. Not infrequently the sharpest attacks and the fiercest onsets are made, and made successfully, upon the strongest believers. Seizing upon powerful corruptions, taking advantage of dark providences, and sometimes of bright ones, and never allowing any position of influence, any usefulness, gift, or grace, that would give force, success, and brilliance to his exploit, to escape his notice, he is perpetually on the alert to sift and winnow God’s precious wheat.

His implacable hatred of God, the deep revenge he cherishes against Jesus, his malignant opposition to the Holy Spirit, fit him for any dark design and work implicating the holiness and happiness of the believer. Therefore we find that the histories of the most eminent saints of God, as written by the faithful pen of the Holy Spirit, are histories of the severest temptations of faith, in the most of which there was a temporary triumph of the enemy; the giant oak bending before the storm. And even in instances where there was no defeat of faith, there yet was the sharp trial of faith.

The case of Joseph, and that of his illustrious antitype, the Lord Jesus, present examples of this. Fearful was the assault upon the faith of both, sharp the conflict through which both passed, yet both left the battlefield victorious. But still faith was not the less really or severely sifted."

~Octavius Winslow.org

Harvesting the Seeds of the Gospel

2011-09-01T17:38:00.000-07:00

Our entire church is beginning to experience a great harvest, on the seeds of the Gospel that have been faithfully sown from the pulpit for over two years running now.

Does that sound like I am giving the credit to my Preacher? If you think so, you still don't get how grace works...nor the apostolic gift. That isn't what I am doing at all.

Paul said, in a teaching about the apostolic gifting, that some plant, and some water. There is a "planting" apostolic man...and there is a "watering" apostolic man.

God alone gives the increase.

However, this is where you get into the concept of the believer's cooperation with grace. Had The Preacher not planted the Gospel seed courageously, in the face of much (and very personal) opposition, there would be no increase today. And had he not faithfully watered, lo' these two years straight, there would be no increase.

Someone else would have had to be brought in to re-plant, plow and re-plant, plow and re-plant...you get the idea. Without the watering, the planting has to be done over and over and over, because seeds die without water.

They just do.

So now...ask me again why my Preacher has stuck with the grace-Gospel like a dog on a bone. Or like a water hose on grace-seed. And heck yes, I am proud of him.

And without the saints eagerly receiving, being good Bereans, and tending the gospel-seed sown and watered in their hearts, there would be no increase.

But God alone gives the increase. Grace, grace.

And if one word could describe what is happening in Harvest Families, it is I-N-C-R-E-A-S-E.

Physically. (better health for many, and out-and-out supernatural healing for some!)

Financially. (Oh. Mah. Weeeeerd. Some serious increase going on. With more on the way.)

Um....."gynecologically". Need I say more? Harvest Church is the proud haven to seven new babies. Count 'em.

Spiritually. Harvest has increased and advanced spiritually by light-years. This means more to me than all the others put together. Because when people are increased, fat and flourishing in spirit, the rest comes in time, and when it comes, it usually stays. Because the roots run so deep into the love of God, you see. The blessing that comes with revelation comes to stay.

To stay.

Do you hear me Baileys? Kears? Howes? Buycks? McConnells? Cooks? Ewings? Jernecjics? Cantrells? Fanchers? Damrons?...and all the many others who have experienced great increase and miraculous blessing recently, some even just this week?

Your God establishes you. He makes your steps sure. He keeps you from falling. Which means you move forward, not backward. Forward, not backward. (Remember that word?)

Your blessings aren't going anywhere. Because you didn't earn them. Be glad you didn't earn them. What you earn, you have to maintain. Your blessings? They came by the grace of God, and remain by the same Power.

But you already know that.

Which brings me back to this post's very first sentence.

Preserving the Harvest - Drying Tomatoes

2011-08-30T19:47:00.000-07:00

Put some parchment paper on the bottom of a rimmed cookie sheet. Slice your tomatoes, about a half inch slices. Spread them in one layer on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse salt, some fresh ground pepper, and add some basil from the garden. (Basil not necessary, but it sure looks pretty and tastes amazing...)

Set your oven to a low temp...I did these tomatoes at 200 degrees.

200 degrees for "up to" twelve hours. It is the "up to" that will get you, if you aren't careful. This particular day, the humidity was very, very low for my area for this time of year. So this batch of tomatoes only took about three hours! But it can take up to twelve.

All the moisture will dry out, and the tomatoes will shrink and darken. By the time they are done, they will be akin to tomato "chips"...almost crispy. Their flavor is intense, but delicious. You want them to be quite dry, but not burnt. They should peel off the parchment paper pretty easily.

Store these dried tomatoes in a freezer bag, and put them in your freezer. They are great for pizza, for homemade herb breads like foccacia, and soups. They retain their intense flavor and all their vitamins for about six months.

And now, for your viewing delight, I toss in yet another totally unrelated, cute grandson picture:

Be. Still. My. Heart.

Words...Worn

2011-08-29T21:09:00.001-07:00

Most of you know - I am all about words. I decorate my home and I garnish my inner world with the best of them.

And now...I decorate myself and others with words!

This is my demo - my very first bracelet. Hannah has already claimed it as her own, and she says she'd buy more. I trust her fashion sixth sense. If Hannah loves it, others will too.

I will be designing different widths of bracelets, different words, different colorways, some with embellishment, some not.

This very first demo is a hand sewn bracelet, with antiqued metal closures on the other side (OOPS! I'll get a picture of the pretty clasp, when I put one like this up in my shop. When I finally get my shop up and running, that is.) The "Grace" bracelet is hand embroidered (by me) on burlap (burlap won't fray, because of the special sewing treatment I gave it) , and the embroidered burlap is attached securely to the fabric bracelet. The fabric for this bracelet is in a mustard yellow/teal blue colorway.

More ideas and designs are on the way....even a few collections are in the works - a "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter" collection of four, a Christmas holiday collection, a Good Word collection(based on a Scripture), a French collection, a Romantic collection, perfect for Valentines, and a colorway collection.

I am having such fun designing and creating these. I'll let you know when I have hand- sewn enough of these bracelets (and other things!) to put up a little online shop. I already own the domain I've chosen - I just wish very much that I had the computer skills to design a nice, marketable website...if anyone knows of a web designer who charges reasonable prices, do let me know!

Prodigals, and Mothers Who Love Them

2011-08-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

My name is Sheila Atchley, and I am the mother of a wanna-be Prodigal.

I call him a "wanna be", because he isn't quite the full blown Prodigal...he's tried to play the part, and that hurt me deep enough, and hurts me still, God knows. But I've always taught others that a Prodigal isn't a Prodigal until he or she will have nothing more to do with you.

Short of that, short of a severed relationship, what you have is a son or daughter in need of tough and tender love; tender love first, tender love last, with plenty of tough love in between. But without tender love, without a relationship, tough love has no context, because no one is listening. As long as there is an active relationship, you don't have a prodigal, you have someone in need of a lot of grace. Sort of like some other people you know, right?

Now. I believe every word I just said to you. I'd bet my life on the verity of all of it...but now, I want to get heartrendingly real with you. No one can lead or mentor until they are authentic with their pain, as well as their joy.

Nothing will mature or sanctify you (or age you) faster than staying in relationship with a child who hurts you, repeatedly. Well...nothing will mature you faster, if you are sticking and staying, if you are applying the Gospel to your every day life. Of course, you could espouse a pseudo-Gospel, and justify severing relationships to dull your pain.

But you don't grow that way. You don't fill up the sufferings of Christ that way.

Be honest. You aren't "coming out from among them and being separate". You aren't defending God's reputation. You aren't doing the "tough love" thing. You are laying your child in the bushes to die, and walking away.

Because you love her.

Because you think she's going to die spiritually anyway if she continues down the road she is on. And you think that walking away, allowing the distance between the two of you, is better than having to watch her die.

I know. I feel it too. I wrestle with the urge to detach. Because I love him. I love my son.

A woman of ancient times named Hagar felt it. Her son Ishmael was dying, no question about it. It was not a matter of "if he dies", it was a matter of "when". It was only a matter of time.

"When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob.

God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink."

I cannot even write this without tears. I sob, along with Hagar of old. If writing really is opening up a vein and bleeding on the page, then this page of my blog is a warm pool of bright red. When a child is not walking with God, you never stop feeling the pain of that. My tears will run rivulets, my wound will be fresh until my son is completely revived in his spirit...until he lives as one who has finally drank deeply from the well of salvation.

I know in whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him. Grace will accomplish what the law never could, I am still declaring it, even though sometimes I declare it through tears. This child will live and not die.

The wages of sin is death, that is true.

But the gift of God is eternal life, through Christ Jesus.

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, that is true. But never...never...never quote Romans 3:23 without 3:24...

... all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

God asked Hagar such piercing questions. In an earlier encounter, it was "Where have you come from? Where are you going?" and now, the question is, "What is the matter?"

Oh, dear friend and fellow mother - God is asking you and I the same thing. "What is the matter?" Or, in other words, "Why are you crying?" It is our job to search our hearts and answer honestly. It is only in the honest answer that we will discover the God Who Sees Us...which is one of the names for God that Hagar personally discovered...through her honest answers.

The honest answer? We aren't doing the "tough love" thing. We think our child is going to die. It seems that way. And so we want to walk away. "Let me not see the child die."

We need our eyes opened to see the well of salvation that has always been there, and is still there, available to our children...and to us.

Let's drink deeply, you and I...and pray that our sons and daughters will begin to cry as bitterly as we have. He will hear their cries and answer them with living water.

My Grandbay-bay is Eight Months Old

2011-08-26T18:47:00.000-07:00

...above, you see his seven month picture...and below, his picture from today:

He's been eight months old for some days, now, but his momma has been busy. Today was his eight month picture day, and we could. not. keep. him. still.

Those two up there? They are both my cuties. I love them beyond words.

I am sloppy blessed...or, in King James English, "my cup runneth over."