From the Mouths of Children

"From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength Because of Your adversaries, To make the enemy and the revengeful cease."  Psalm 8:2

One of the greatest things about living with toddlers is getting to hear what they have to say.  Sometimes I think they need muzzles because they say too much.  But sometimes their innocent brilliance shines forth when pearls of wisdom or genius statements of fact come from their mouths.  These are the days when I do a double take and ask, "How did you know that?"

I just finished reading a book entitled, Heaven is For Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back.  The book is written by a small-town preacher whose son had an emergency surgery at the age of three.  During this surgery, this little boy says he went to heaven and visited Jesus.  As a result, he describes "God's son" as wonderful and loving.  During the next 4-5 years of this little boy's life, he shares various stories and descriptions of heaven.  He never once contradicts himself.  Every description is consistent with the Bible.  And the little boy consistently reveals facts to his parents that he could have never known about them and their lives.

Now I'm typically a skeptic when I hear about out-of-body experiences.  This story, however, just seems real.  This child and his family have an amazing testimony and are using this experience to impact the world.  For some reason I'm not skeptical about this story, because reading this book changed me.  I feel like I suddenly have some peace about some questions that I've had about heaven.  Of course, we'll never know exactly what heaven is like until we get there, but hearing a 4 year old describe, in detail, the same description that John writes about in Revelation is pretty amazing.  And it makes me even more confident that John's writing was a literal description of heaven and not allegorical.

In addition, this book also gave me a new perspective on children.  I love children.  As a nurse, they were my favorite patients.  As a nurse in law, children are the clients that really tug at my heart the most and cause me to work extra hard.  As a mom, my children make me happier than any career or personal success I could have.  But this book made me realize that I can never love children enough.  They are special.  And Jesus loves the children very much.  Specifically, Jesus loves MY children very much.  As Psalm 8:2 says, God uses the mouths of children to "make the enemy and the revengeful cease." I believe that's what God is doing through the little boy in this book.

I don't want to spoil the "amazings" of this story, so I'm not going to tell you about all the jaw dropping statements that this little guy makes.  I heard him tell his story on one of the morning shows a few months back, but I didn't realize then how incredible the story really is. This book was so captivating that I read it in 2 days.  My husband read it in even less time.  If you have a spare afternoon this holiday season, please read it.

Football Pick 'Em Week 11: Better Luck Next Time

I think I actually lost our head-to-head picks this week.  No, actually, I know that I lost this week.  College football hurt me. But come on, college football should have hurt everyone.  If this weekend's crazy upsets hasn't convinced die-hard football fans that the NCAA needs to ditch the BCS and needs their own winter madness playoffs, then fans need to pull their heads out of the sand.  College football is really messed up. 

I'll admit that even though I picked both Oklahoma schools to win this week, I also cheered against them.  As much as I'm not a Baylor fan, the idea of Baylor beating Oklahoma just made me giggle.  Something about losing my college picks really didn't make me feel bad.  As I said before, college football is a mess.

On the other hand, I still think professional football is mostly predictable.  I think my husband and I ended up with identical picks this week, meaning that I couldn't have lost or added points in the pro pick 'em even if my teams won.

That said, I have decided that for the sake of the rest of my season, I need to take an interest in at least one player.  Maybe caring about an individual will make football more interesting.  I decided to choose Denver's own superhero.  I am completely fascinated by the phenomenon also known as Tim Tebow.  Everybody keeps calling him the worst professional quarterback, yet he keeps winning.  Plus, the fans and players love him.  Something tells me that if our eyes were really open, we'd be able to see Tebow's angels in the end zone.  That guy truly has some divine purpose and power behind him.  Go Timmy boy!

And just so you don't think that I've truly given up trying to be a good football fan, I also want you to know that I intentionally listened to sports radio this week.  I thought that maybe hearing a bunch of guys drooling over professional athletes might make me enjoy the NFL a bit more.  It kind of worked.  Those guys taught me an interesting football fact. Can you guess what quarterback has the winningest and best record in November?  Think about it.  You'll get to see him at his best on Thursday afternoon!  It's America's own Tony Romo!!!!   (Funny statistic, right?)

Sunday School Lessons

"As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." 1 Peter 4:10

On the way home from church this morning, my son informed my husband and me that he learned something in Sunday school.  He said that he learned about being a servant leader.  My husband and I were pretty impressed at this sophisticated terminology.  It's not very often that you hear a 3 year old talking about servant leadership.  So naturally, we were curious to know what he learned about being a servant leader.  He was a little stumped by this question, but he said he knew he was supposed to be a servant leader.  He said he just wasn't sure how.  I almost giggled when he said that, because I know plenty of adults who don't get this concept either.

It occurred to me that leadership is a valued concept in our society.  Go-getter, bossy people are often praised for their leadership abilities.  And this seems to be something that we promote in our children.  We want them to be the team captain, the drum major, the doctor (as opposed to the nurse), or the lawyer (as opposed to the paralegal).  This emphasis on leadership, however, seems to do a disservice to all of the people who don't know how to be led.  Very few people are actually taught followership (a.k.a. servant-hood.)

Becoming a follower has not been easy for me.  I had to learn this concept pretty quickly working in a hospital though.  It didn't matter how horrible the doctors treated the nurses, we were still supposed to follow and obey.  And it especially didn't matter how nasty the patients and their families were, because our job was to ease and please our patients.  I am thoroughly convinced that anyone who can handle working with surgeons and nasty patients can learn to work under anyone (even lawyers.)  Yet, I must say, that working in the hospital taught me what it meant to be a servant leader.

I once worked with a surgeon who was fantastic.  He called me at all hours of the night shift to check on his patients.  He would make rounds on Saturday mornings where he would spend a good half hour with each patient.  He also made it his own personal policy to be the person who changed his patient's dressings and to help them up to the chair on their first day post-op.  All I had to do as the nurse was to get his supplies and be his back-up.  He literally did my job for me.  But he did it because he cared about providing the best possible surgical care for his patients.  As a result, all the nurses wanted his patients.  We would have jumped through hoops for his patients, because we knew that he had our backs as well.  This surgeon was the epitome of  a servant leader.  He went above and beyond for everyone, even though he didn't have to.

I want to be able to teach my son to be like that surgeon and to go above and beyond for everyone else as well.  I can already see that he is smart and gifted and is a natural leader (he is first-born after all.)  But I want him to see that God has given him these gifts and abilities to use for other people.  God makes leaders out of those who are willing to do whatever it takes to be the best for others.  Those who are willing to work and "employ" the gifts God has given them for the sake of others can be a witness of God's grace to the world--even if that means doing grunt work.

Wouldn't it change the world if we really could instill the servant-leadership mentality into our children at the age of 3?  Thanks New Life Kids for the lessons you've taught my family this week.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the way--The song I was struggling with so much last week went pretty well today.  Praise and worship was really awesome this morning! As the words of the song state, "Oh magnify the Lord together, exalt His name forever!"

Nothing Scary at Our House This Year

On October 31st, I couldn't resist letting my 3 year old live out his fantasy of being a shark.  We really lived it up that day.  We  didn't go trick or treating.  Instead, he lived in full costume all day long, and he shared his shark face with everyone he encountered.  Then, we had our own backyard party where the shark could roam free. My in-laws arrived with Halloween goodies and bubble guns.  (Who doesn't love glow in the dark bubble guns?)  Then my parents showed up with an amazingly carved pumpkin, pumpkin cookies, a smoking cauldron, and their camera.  Fun night!

Let me introduce you to my favorite shark and his astronaut buddy.

 

 

Ok. It wasn't your typical Halloween.  We had nothing scary.  But my little guys did have a blast with their bubbles, candy, pumpkin cookies, costumes, and all the attention that they had.  Maybe next year our party will be a little more elaborate.  Regardless, we're definitely doing it again.  Sometimes I think holidays are more fun when we add our own spin.  Even though I nixed the trick or treating and the scariness from our Halloween, my kiddos had a blast.

Oh, and yes, in that last picture my little guys is attempting to fill up his lawn mower with gas, courtesy of our air pump.

Loose Lips

"A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends. " Proverbs 16:28

I heard a rumor about myself today that was so absurd it almost made me laugh.  I'm not sure how the rumor got started, but someone apparently has a very negative opinion of me.  And I really don't think that the someone who instigated the rumor knows me as well as they think they do.  Let's just say that this person is from my past, like a decade ago in high school. 

Part of me wants to tell you the rumor that was said about me (and my husband) and to clarify the facts for you.  But if the facts really mattered, people wouldn't be saying bad things about me.  So I'm not going to waste your time.  Let's just say that the rumor painted a nasty picture of my husband and me as parents and as lawyers (even though I'm not actually a lawyer yet).  None of of the rumor was true, and the people who know us would immediately know that the rumor was untrue.  So, what was actually said doesn't really matter.

Regardless, hearing what others have said about me does make me think.  What have I been saying about other people?  Is it possible that I've said something negative about someone else that got twisted and contorted until it turned into something ridiculous and foolish?  I hope not.  As Proverbs says, I don't want to be perverse or a separator of friends. Instead I want my words to be "only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." (Ephesians 4:29).

So the next time you hear a juicy secret about someone, don't repeat it.  Don't believe it unless you know it's true.  And whatever you do, don't add to the story and make it worse than it was before. 

No More Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Days

"But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, 'It would be better for me to die than to live.' But God said to Jonah, 'Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?' 'I do' he said. 'I am angry enough to die.' But the Lord said, 'You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Ninevah has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about this great city?'" Jonah 4:7-11

Something inside of me just went off on Sunday.  My inner, tortured musician soul flared up.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're not a musician.  Let's just say that when a musician gets frustrated, you should stay out of their path.  Band practice did not go well for me on Sunday, and I carried my frustration for the rest of the day.  Literally, I was a grouch all day.  I even went so far as to tell my husband that he needed to let me be in a bad mood for the rest of the day.  I promised I would let it go on Monday morning.

True to my word, when I woke up on Monday, life was happy again.  Tuesday I was a nice person.  And now that it's Wednesday, I'm actually feeling embarrassed and guilty about my attitude on Sunday.  It was no one else's fault that I was not feeling the music on Sunday.  And it really doesn't matter.  At some point I'm going to figure out this song (which happens to be a fabulous song), and we are going to sing it in praise and worship at the top of our lungs.  It's going to be great.  I had no right to allow that one song to turn in me into a complaining grouch for the rest of the day. 

I don't know why I feel entitled to have a bad day every so often.  Sometimes I think that it's ok to be a miserable person and to whine about everything going on.  I have even been known to justify a trip to Starbucks or to the mall, because of these "bad days." 

Today in my Bible study, I came across the story of Jonah.  In just four short chapters, Jonah has numerous bad days and a blatant bad attitude.  He doesn't want to do anything that God tells Him to do.  And as a result, God has a fish swallow him, sends him to minister to the people he most dislikes, and allows him to experience some physical misery.  In the end, however, God tells Jonah that he does NOT have the right to complain.  God called Jonah to minister to a particular people in a particular place.  That's all that mattered.  God really didn't care if Jonah wanted to be there or not.  God's plan was to use Jonah to influence the lives of many.  Jonah's momentary unhappiness and sunburn because of a dead vine did not give him the right to get angry or to be miserable.

What a great reminder.  God usually makes it clear when He wants us in a particular place with a particular people.  We don't have a right to be angry about where or how God is using us.  We just have to be willing to be used.  And when we start griping and complaining about little things in our lives, all we do is prevent ourselves from being useful for God's purposes.  As God reminded Jonah, we don't have the right to complain and be useless.

I'm going to try my hardest to stop having bad days.  I don't have that right.  I'm not entitled to unhappiness and misery.  I've been called to be useful and obedient for God's purposes.  So I guess if you hear me complaining, please remind me not to be a Jonah.

Stay on the Sidewalk

"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" Isaiah 55:8-9

We had a pleasant evening the other night as we wandered our local main street in search of photo ops.  And thanks to my brilliant mother, we ended up with some great family pictures--something that is rare with toddlers.  During our little outing, however, I almost went into heart failure a few times as a noticed my 3 year old bouncing around the sidewalk and occasionally veering into the road.  My husband and I repeatedly told him to calm down and to stay on the sidewalk, but he seemed unable to comprehend that the curb was his boundary line.  It was just so tempting to step over the line.

When we explained to our son that the road is dangerous, I could tell that there was a comprehension gap between our thinking and his.  He didn't really believe us.  He's never witnessed an accident or seen someone get hit by a car.  So I get that it's hard for him to grasp the concept.  That said, I expect him to stop immediately whenever I say, "stop."  I don't care if he doesn't understand my reasoning. I will reinforce the need for immediate obedience with discipline if necessary.  I'm not about to have my child get hit by a car because he doesn't take me seriously. 

I wonder how often God feels that way about us.  He clearly defines our boundaries in His Word, and we tiptoe all around them.  Sometimes we jump the curb for a couple seconds and think that we're ok.  Or we justify crossing the curb so that we can help others onto the sidewalk with us.  But we don't realize that God has a reason for commanding us to stay on His sidewalk.  We don't have to understand why.  We just have to obey.

We can't doubt God.  We shouldn't question His judgment.  And we certainly shouldn't gripe and complain about where He has placed us.  If He wants to lead us to another block, He will do that safely in His own way.  In the mean time, we're called to stay on the sidewalk and wait.  God has His reasons and His Word "will not return to [Him] empty, but will accomplish what [He] desires and achieve the purpose for which [He] sent it." (Isaiah 55:11)

It's amazing the lessons you can learn from parenting a child.  It's also amazing how much better it is for everyone when we obey.

Football Pick 'Em Week 10: No Glass Slippers in This Sport

OK.  It's official.  I prefer basketball over football.  This oh so great and exciting game is clearly way too predictable.  I now have a 33 point lead over my opponent.  I'm pretty sure I can avoid watching any more games this season and I'll probably still win.  You'd think at this point, you would know that some NFL teams aren't worth picking.

For example, one should NEVER pick Indianapolis or St. Louis. It's possible, they might win a game here or there, but odds are they're going to keep losing. Yes, I know that St. Louis did win in week 8, but that was clearly a fluke.  So if my dear hubby wants to keep picking Indy to win, that's fine with me. But really, these teams are reliable losers.

On the other hand, Green Bay and San Francisco are predictable winners.  Unless they're playing each other, it's likely that they're going to win.  So failing to pick these teams as winners is like handing me points too.  I honestly can't imagine the season getting any more interesting than it is at this point.  There's really no chance of a Cinderella story in football. 

I'm sure you're thinking, "What about college football?"  I suppose it's true that no one expected Texas Tech to beat Oklahoma or for TCU to beat Boise State.  And in some deep dark place in my heart I do take great joy in seeing what college teams are overrated.  But at this point when the season should be at a peak intensity level, we all know that the BCS has ruined our holiday season.  Without true playoffs, the teams who ought to be competing won't, while the teams who have better PR are going to be hoping for a good match-up.  This is an utter waste of a post season.  It's meaningless.  And it's about as dumb as handing out trophies to all children who participate in little league football, because this method ensures that there will never be winners.

So, I guess I prefer college basketball.  Anybody can win.  March Madness keeps it real.  Nobody goes on strike or sues over antitrust issues.  And at least in basketball, sometimes Cinderella finds her happily ever after.  Who wouldn't live happily ever after with a glass slipper like that?

Prayer for the Soldiers

I have always been in awe of the American Soldier.  Last week I finished reading Jeff Shaara's The Final Storm, which describes the culmination of the Pacific war in 1945.  This book provided an interesting portrayal of the American Soldier.  

The American soldier is honorable, proud, loyal, and committed to his cause.  He will give his life in order to save mine.  He will do everything in his power to ensure that war will stay far away from my home.  And he knows that his fate is in the hands of an Almighty God. 

This fact was portrayed in the book when Paul Tibbets asks a 25 year old chaplain to write a prayer for the men of the Enola Gay, men who have no idea if they'll survive their mission.  Below is the prayer that was read to the men of the Enola Gay by Chaplain William Downey prior to their atomic mission.

Let us not forget to pray for the American Soldiers around us--for those who have fought and are trying to get on with life, for those who are currently fighting to ensure our freedom, and for those who have yet to serve. 

I am so proud to be an American and to be represented by our men and women in uniform.

Pumpkin Pictures

So I had this brilliant idea that we could take my boys to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins.  (Ok, I'll admit that I cheated and took them to the Farmer's Market.)  While we were there, we would then take some amazing pictures.  Well, we got our pumpkins, but the pictures were a complete disaster.  I underestimated the adventurous spirits of little boys.  Who wants to take pictures when they can explore through the pumpkins and flowers? 

And who really wants to pick out a pumpkin when they could be pulling around a wagon?

Why wouldn't we want to march around the pumpkins with our own wagon train?

How do you expect us to pick out pumpkins when there are so many to choose from?

How can anyone be expected to smile and pose when he'd much rather be running around?

Who knew that wagons were large enough to carry boys and flowers?

 

Why didn't anyone tell us that it's easier to climb up hay than to get off ? (You probably can't see it, but the little one is hanging on for dear life because he can't touch the ground. He was scared to death.)

Why didn't Mommy realize that pumpkin patches are supposed to be out in the country where little boys can roam free?  Mommy might have to be a little more creative next fall in order to get her pumpkin pictures.  But Mommy had fun exploring the farmer's market with her little guys.  Everything is always an adventure.