MMLACE'S MEDITATIONS...

Remember (Part 2)

2009-08-05T14:02:00.004-05:00

Of all the passages in the Old Testament that use the word "remember", I found 33 of them that are examples of people...not "characters" but people just like you and me...that call out to God in prayer, asking Him to remember something.

In Exodus 32, after the Israelites have created a golden calf to worship and God's anger burns against the Israelites and He is ready to destroy them all and make a great nation out of Moses...Moses asks God to remember His covenant that He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He asks God to remember the covenant and turn from His anger and not destroy His people.

In Exodus 33, Moses asks God for guidance in leading Israel. He says, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people."

In the Judges, one of the most intersting people to read about is Samson. He was a man who seemed to enjoy riddles. He was a man of incredible strength, which he received from the Lord. There was that time he tied the foxes' tails together (300 of them, btw!) and tied torches to their tails and set them loose in the grain fields. There was that other time that he killed 1,000 people with the jawbone of a donkey. And then there was that time when Delilah cut his hair, and thus, with his Nazirite vow being broken, his strength left him. He was captured by the Philistines, bound in shackles, and his eyes gouged out. But he prayed to God, "O Sovereign Lord, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes."

In I Samuel, Hannah prays fervently, asking God to remember her and give her a son.

In II Chronicles, as Solomon prays at the dedication of the Temple to the Lord, He says, "O Lord God, do not reject Your anointed one. Remember the great love promised to David, Your servant."

In II Kings, Hezekiah, who has been one of Judah's few faithful kings, becomes ill. He receives word from the prophet Isaiah to put his affairs in order--he is going to die. But Hezekiah pours out his heart to God, as he weeps bitterly, asking God to "Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in Your eyes."

Nehemiah was an incredible man of prayer, and all throughout his book, you will find him praying that God remember...that He remember His instruction to Moses saying that "If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to Me and obey My commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for My Name" (Neh. 1:8)...that He remember him with favor for all he has done for the people of Israel (Neh. 5:19; Neh. 13)...even that He remember the harm that his enemies have caused (Neh. 6:14; Neh. 13).

Job, as a man under great distress over the circumstances of his life, asks God to remember that his life is but a breath (Job 7:7). He also asks God to remember that He molded him like clay...and asks Him not to make him like dust again! (Job. 10:9) Job asks for God to wait until His anger is passed and then remember His servant Job.

The Psalms are peppered with statements from the psalmists, asking God to remember:

"Remember, O Lord, Your great mercy and love, for they are from of old..." (Ps. 25:6)
"Remember the people You purchased of old, the tribe of Your inheritiance, whom You redeemed..." (Ps. 74:2)
"Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O Lord, how foolish people have reviled Your name..." (Ps. 74:18)
"Rise up, O God, and defend Your cause; remember how fools mock you all day long..." (Ps. 74:22)
"Remember how fleeting is my life..." (Ps. 89:47)
"Remember, Lord, how Your servant has been mocked, how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the nations..." (Ps. 89:50)
"Remember me, O Lord, when You show favor to Your people, come to my aid when you save them..." (Ps. 106:4)
"Remember Your word to Your servant, for You have given me hope..." (Ps. 119:49)
"O Lord, remember David and all the hardships he endured..." (Ps. 132:1)
"Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell..." (Ps. 137:7)

The prophet Jeremiah is another one who, several times, asks the Lord to remember. He prays, "For the sake of Your name do not despise us; do not dishonor Your glorious throne. Remember Your covenant with us and do not break it." (Jer. 14:21) He also prays, "You understand, O Lord; remember me and care for me." (Jer. 15:15) He again pleads, "Remember that I stood before You and spoke in their behalf to turn Your wrath away from them." (Jer. 18:20) Finally, he laments, "Remember, O Lord, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace." (Lam. 5:1)

Finally, the prophet Habakkuk also prays, "Lord, I have heard of Your fame; I stand in awe of Your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy." (Hab. 3:2)

In the midst of all these prayers asking God to remember...there are even a couple asking God NOT to remember...NOT to remember the sins of our youth (Ps. 25:7)...NOT to remember our sins forever (Is. 64:9).

What impresses me most about this lengthy list of people in the Old Testament is that for so many of them...when they prayed asking God to remember...God answered their prayers.

With Moses, God didn't destory the Israelites. He allowed Moses to lead them. He renewed Samson's strength. He gave Hannah a child. He extended Hezekiah's life, made Nehemiah successful, and restored to Job more than he had before...

What about you? Can we add your name to this list? Is there something that you desperately want God to remember and act upon?

Or is there something that you'd rather He did NOT remember?

Why don't you tell Him about it?

He listens...and He answers...He REMEMBERS.

Remember (Part 1)

2009-07-26T12:44:00.001-05:00

I don’t know about you, but I like reminders. Without them, I forget. So I’ve got them all around me. At work, when there’s something I need to be certain that I don’t forget to do, I can set my Microsoft Outlook taskbar to pop up with a reminder. At home, my refrigerator is covered with pictures of my niece and nephew, and some Christmas pictures of some friends and their children. And in my bedroom, the walls are nearly covered with collages of photos…people and places that I love…things that I don’t want to forget. So I like reminders.

This week I was struck by the realization that God loves reminders, too! In my ladies Bible study on “Believing God” by Beth Moore, we studied Joshua 4, and Beth brought out a point and made a connection for me that I’d never made before. For me, the implications were incredible. I was in awe to think of my God that way.

In Joshua 3, the Israelites cross over the Jordan River and into their promised land. This is followed up by some instructions that the Lord gives to Joshua, beginning in chapter 4:
“When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.’ So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, ‘Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, “What do these stones mean?” tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.’”

After discussing this passage of scripture, we turned back to Genesis 15 and read of where God first made His covenant with Abraham. Starting in verse 9, it reads:
“So the Lord said to him, ‘Bring me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.’ Abram brought all these to Him, cut them in two, and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half…As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him…When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebushites.’”

Upon comparing these two passages of scripture, Beth pointed out that the Hebrew word describing the Jordan being “cut off” before the ark of the covenant of the Lord before the ark was carried through the Jordan was the same as that used to describe Abram cutting the pieces of the animals in two, before the Lord passed through them in establishing a covenant with Abraham. Now, Beth admitted that this is her own speculation or theory, simply based on the similarities of these words in these two passages, but she said, “I believe that God was having His own memorial right there, remembering, ‘Children, I made a covenant with you…I made a promise, and I’m about to deliver!’”

It had a drastic impact on me to think of my God making it a point to Himself to remember something. I guess I find that interesting because I’m not sure it’s possible for an omniscient, omnipotent God to forget anything! So it would seem to me that “remembering” is more than just “not forgetting”. I decided to look into this a little bit more.

According to Strong’s Concordance, the Hebrew word for “remember” used in the Old Testament is “zakar”. There are several very similar definitions given for this word:
1. to remember, recall
2. to be brought to remembrance, be remembered, be thought of, be brought to mind
3. to cause to remember, remind
4. to cause to be remembered, keep in remembrance
5. to mention
6. to record
7. to make a memorial, make remembrance
The last three really speak to me…the idea of mentioning, recording, and making it a point actually make a memorial to something or someone.

A biblegateway.com search of the NIV yields the word “remember” 233 times. One hundred eighty-two of those occurrences are in the Old Testament. Sometimes it is used to describe God “remembering” someone. Sometimes it is people crying out to God, asking that He “remember” someone or something. Most often, though, it is God commanding us to remember Him and what He’s done.

I’ll take a closer look at these passages over the next several days and cover some of them in a little more detail in some following blogs/notes. Feel free to leave your own thoughts/comments.

And in the meantime, take some time to purposefully remember what God has done for you today

My Current Song...

2009-06-18T23:38:00.002-05:00

I'm a lover of music! It speaks to me like nothing else.

I love listening to praise/worship music. It's playing very softly in the background on my computer as I type this. It's playing on my car radio approximately 85% of the time that I'm in the car...it's on either KLOVE or a local Christian station.

But asking me to pick a favorite song or artist would be next to impossible. Especially considering what an indecisive person I am. I can be pretty indecisive sometimes...or at least I think I can be...I'm not sure... ;)

Although I love most of the music I hear, sometimes there's a song or verse that really grabs hold of me, and really speaks to me or what I'm feeling at the time. It becomes my temporary favorite...the one that I gotta hear...the one that, if it is on, I'll sit in the car after I get where I'm going, just to hear it or the part of it that I like.

Right now that song is one that I didn't like at first...until I actually listened to the words. The second verse has really grabbed me. It's from Mark Harris' song, "One True God" and the second verse is as follows:

"I don't have a thing that I got on my own,
And I don't have a care that I carry alone.
But I have a God, He's carrying me.

And I don't have a sin that He doesn't forgive,
And I don't have a heart that is worthy of His.
But I have a God, He still loves me!"

Amen.

Just wanted to share that with you all. Be blessed. Thanks for reading. Much love.

God Is Love

2009-05-07T19:17:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, on a Wednesday night, our minister read to us the love passage from I John, which contains the statement that "God is love." When he posed the question, "What does that mean? What does that mean to you?" ...well, I've been thinking about it since then...and I couldn't help but remember something my mom once told me.

When I asked her what her favorite passage of scripture was, she said it varies, but one of her favorites is I John 4:8. She said that she loves it because in light of the fact that God is love, you can take the passage from I Cor. 13 and fill in that blank with God.

"God is patient. God is kind. He does not envy. He does not boast. He is not proud, He is not rude, He's not self-seeking......" and on it goes. This thought is just such a comfort to me, so I wanted to share it with all of you. We can sometimes tend to create God in our own image, imagining a God that is more like us, and that's not a good thing. I am not the most patient person in the world, and when I get irritated, I can be rude to others. Sometimes I look out for my own interests more than those of others. And sometimes I can think of God in those terms...I can imagine him becoming ever-increasingly impatient with me for all of the times that I mess up.

What a comfort it is to know that He is not like me, but that He's perfect. He's patient and kind towards all of us. He is Love. And He never fails.

The View From The Pulpit

2009-04-09T22:23:00.012-05:00

Every day I discover new and exciting things in my Psalms study--I run across verses and passages that speak to me in an entirely new way! In this Beth Moore study, she spends two days per psalm...and at the end of the second day, she asks you to write the psalm in your own words. This is something that I'm not great at, because unfortunately, I am seriously deficient in the creativity department. But I've attempted to at least modify the psalms to fit me/my life/my current experiences. I may work up the nerve to post them here in the not-too-distant future.

But there's one in particular that I'd really like to share now...it's been on my heart ever since I read it/studied it/wrote my own version. It expresses the psalmist's desire for peace in the city of Jerusalem, their place of worship, the place where God's presence dwelt. It is found in Psalm 122, and Beth gives us two different verisons of it (she gives two different versions for each psalm studied):

A Prayer for Jerusalem
A Davidic song of ascents.

1 I rejoiced with those who said to me,
"Let us go to the house of the LORD."

2 Our feet are standing
within your gates, Jerusalem—

3 Jerusalem, built as a city [should be],
solidly joined together,

4 where the tribes, the tribes of the LORD, go up
to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
(This is an ordinance for Israel.)

5 There, thrones for judgment are placed,
thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
"May those who love you prosper;

7 may there be peace within your walls,
prosperity within your fortresses."

8 Because of my brothers and friends,
I will say, "Peace be with you."

9 Because of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your good.
--Psalm 122 (HCSB)

A song for the ascent to Jerusalem.

A psalm of David.

1 I was glad when they said to me,

“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

2 And now here we are,

standing inside your gates, O Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem is a well-built city;

its seamless walls cannot be breached.

4 All the tribes of Israel—the Lord’s people—

make their pilgrimage here. They come to give thanks to the name of the Lord,

as the law requires of Israel.

5 Here stand the thrones where judgment is given,

the thrones of the dynasty of David.
6 Pray for peace in Jerusalem.

May all who love this city prosper.

7 O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls

and prosperity in your palaces.

8 For the sake of my family and friends, I will say,

“May you have peace.”

9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

I will seek what is best for you, O Jerusalem.

--Psalm 122 (NLT)

As we studied this particular psalm, Beth had us consider it in the context of our own places of worship...our own churches and our own communities. I can feel the psalmists heart for the place of worship...as I have such a heart for mine.

This psalmist rejoiced at entering to worship in the place where God's presence dwelt. I rejoice both at entering my place of corporate worship, but also at the idea that the veil is torn and I can enter His presence for worship at any time.

This psalmist had an appreciation for the city of Jerusalem and the fact that it was well-built, knit together as one unit, as a city should be. I have an appreciation for the fact that we, as the body of Christ, are knit together as one unit, as His church should be.

This psalmist recognized the place where the thrones of judgment were established. I am able to recognize that our God is a holy and just God...and that though I've sinned, I've been justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ, who now sits enthroned above.

Finally, this psalmist prayed for peace for Jerusalem and prosperity for those who love her. My prayer is for peace, not only for my own place of corporate worship, but for Christ's body as a whole, and my prayer is for prosperity for those who love Him and His church.

I actually went last week to purposely take some time to appreciate my place of corporate worship. On Friday nights, I, along with some of the people in my singles group, are accustomed to spending a large portion of the evening at our church building, down in our singles room, playing games, watching TV/movies, eating, or just talking. Sometimes...when we are just sitting there, not really doing anything...and it gets late...and I start to get a little sleepy, but am not quite ready to go home...I will go wander around the church building. Not to do anything or mess with anything, but just to walk around. I'll walk through the hallways, perhaps stop in the library to flip through a good book. There's something fascinating to me anyway about being able to walk through a ginormously empty building...and because this building is a place of worship for me, it holds a special place in my heart.

This past Friday night, though, rather than walk down the hallway, I went into our dark, empty auditorium. I walked all the way down the aisle to the very front, and I took a seat on the steps of the stage, in front of the podium. I sat there, letting my mind be flooded with all the memories of experiences that I have worshiping there over the past ~3 years. It was interesting, because I'm almost certain that particular view of the room, that view from the pulpit, is one that I'll not ever really see, when the room is actually filled with people, at least not in my fellowship of believers. But still...I imagined the place filled with my brothers and sisters, and wondered what it must be like to lead them into the presence of our Father in worship in some way or form. I prayed for those who are blessed with that task. I prayed for our ministers who preach the Word...for those who lead singing...for all those who share scripture with us...for our Shepherds who lead us to the Father's throne in prayer...and for all those who guide our hearts/minds in communion. I looked up to the balcony and thought of all those who might sacrifice by having to work a little harder at being engaged in our worship as they run sound and a/v equipment during our worship times together. My prayer was one of extreme gratitude for those who lead us in worship and for those with whom I am privilged to worship.

I reached out and took a Bible off the front pew, turned to this, Psalm 122, and read it, by the light from my cell phone. Then I took a cue, both from a friend of mine that I've seen in worship, and from Beth Moore, who suggests that we spend some time in prayer each day actually face-down before the Lord. I was able to kneel in prayer and lay prostrate in my place of worship, thanking the Lord, not only for our worship there in that place, but thanking Him for now making His dwelling among us, as His Spirit lives in us. Thanking Him for sending His Immanuel to make that possible, though we were unworthy. And praying for His peace to be felt by all who are His.

Less than 24 hours later, I was experiencing one of the best nights of worship I've ever had there at Pleasant Valley, with brothers and sisters from all over the city, as we gathered for a Saturday Night of Praise. We were able to lift our voices to God, and have Him inhabit our praise!

With all of that in mind, here is MY version of Psalm 122:

I rejoice with those who say to me,

"Let us go to the house of the Lord."

We stand at the front of this church,

this church that is knit together,

with Christ as the unifying thread,

the way His church should be.

This is where His people come, the people of the Lord.

This is where they come to worship Him together,

to learn to act justly and to love mercy as Christ did.

Pray for the peace of His church:

"May all who love her be secure. May there be peace within."

"May the Lord be our peace and prosper each of us,

as He makes His dwelling among us!"

Thanks for reading, and much love!

An Answer to Prayer!!!

2009-03-23T06:43:00.002-05:00

I've written previously (here and here) about my brother Brent and the accident that he was involved in a little over a year ago. After a terrible dirt bike accident, he sustained numerous injuries, among which was a spinal cord that was almost completely severed. He was paralyzed from the waist down, and the doctors said he had almost no chance of ever walking again.

Check out the video Brent posted last night over on his own blog!

And PRAISE GOD!!!

This and That...

2009-03-22T14:53:00.004-05:00

Seems the time between my posts just keeps getting longer and longer. Will try to do better. Lots going on lately...

The Beth Moore study that we're doing in our Monday night ladies' Bible study continues to be a blessing. I truly enjoy it...I'd heard before that she was good...I just had no idea how good she really was! Listening to her lessons is helpful because they just seem so practical! With this lesson series, she spends a week of video on each of the three main Jewish feasts. Unfortunately, I had to miss the one a couple of weeks ago on the Passover. But my friend Jenn assured me it was incredible. She said she'd bring her notes for me to look over sometime soon. Also, I may try to see if I can borrow that DVD to watch that lesson that I missed.

This past week, however, was the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. She talked at length about how this feast was a time for remembering former bondage. We also discussed the idea that it was a time for great generosity. It's interesting to me how the two of those go hand-in-hand. The phrase that Beth used that stood out in my mind was "Once you 'get' it, you give it." Once you realize the bondage from which you've been delivered...the GRACE that you've been given...then can you show that grace to others. So this Jewish feast was a time for both generous grace and generous giving.

Generous giving is a discipline that's been on my mind for awhile now. This past January, my church did a month-long study on giving, using Randy Alcorn's book entitled "The Treasure Principle". The book is divided into a 4-week Bible study that we conducted church-wide in our Sunday morning classes. Our minister also preached on the topic for the four Sundays in January. Towards the end of 2008...before I found out that we were going to be studying this topic in January...I'd already kind-of decided that this was something I needed to work on.

I know that there is not a place in scripture that commands us to give a certain amount. It is up to each person to decide in his/her heart what they can willingly and cheerfully give. I had decided long ago what I, personally, felt that amount should be for me. Confession time: I have NEVER in my adult life been able (willing) to do so. Part of the difficulty for me in this, I believe, is that as a single person, there is no accountability in this discipline, except to myself and God. There are many spiritual disciplines that we, as Christians should work on, and many of them, we can do with each other. I've got Christian brothers and sisters that I can study the Bible with and that I can pray with. Giving, on the other hand, is one of those things that is considered a little bit more personal and private...we don't talk about the specifics of what we're doing...and rightfully so. After all, Jesus Himself said "Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." Even so...for those who are married, it's safe to assume that giving is something that you at least do with your spouse. For me...that's not the case. Not my parents nor my friends nor my family...nobody but GOD ALONE knows what I do with what He's given to me. So when the lack of accountability or any seemingly obvious consequences comes into play, the temptation becomes larger and larger to write that check for a little bit less....or to perhaps not put that check in there this week...it is a constant struggle.

But it's one that I've decided to tackle this year, with a lot of prayer and...well, giving! I've decided that being just a little bit more responsible with my budget will probably go a long way in helping me reach my goal. I started all of this at the very end of last year, when I made what I thought was going to be a small, one-time gift to a charitable organization of my choice. I followed that up in January by meeting my goal as far as what I wanted to give to my church. I've been able to do that...to give to my church what I've already purposed in my heart...every month so far this year. However, as I said, it's a constant struggle, and it's only March. So I continue to pray about this effort.

But also...above and beyond that...I've so far been able to continue to give a small monthly gift to that charitable organization of my choice. I'm not sure why, really. I just know that for me, there's an ever-increasing amount of respect for the godly people who run this organization and the work that they do. And there's an ever-increasing desire in my heart to help them accomplish their goals, which mainly involve reaching people who might need to hear God's message of hope in the midst of struggles. In all of this, I'm feeling an effect of what we talked about in Alcorn's "Treasure Principle" study. I was reminded of this last night, when I was watching the movie "Fireproof" with some of the girls from church. In one of the scenes, as Kirk Cameron's character is trying to save his marriage, the book his dad has written to him suggests to him that he buy something for his wife--spend some money on her. After all, "it's hard not to care about something you're investing in." Randy Alcorn would word it as such: "My heart always goes where I put God's money." This case with me would be no exception. I find myself visiting this organization's website a lot more frequently, just to see what's going on. I find myself praying for the success of this organization in accomplishing their goals. In short, my heart has followed where I've invested this money, and my desire is to do even more. There's something inside of me that is truly excited to be able to give to them and that can't wait to get that next paycheck in order to be able do so!

I'm not sure what all of this means for me or where it will lead...or rather, where He will lead me...but hopefully it is on a journey to being a more disciplined giver of His blessings. I just share all of this so that you may pray for me as I continue to work on this...constantly. And the line from "Fireproof" last night was just an incredible reminder of this. It was a great movie, even for us single girls, who had a little bit of a girls' night last night! If you've not seen it, I'd highly recommend it. We had a blast watching it last night while doing girl stuff...such as manicures, pedicures, facials, and makeovers, and even a bridal fitting for one of our friends who will no longer be single in a matter of weeks! These girls are incredible and I love spending time with them...and really with all of my brothers and sisters in my community of believers at PV. They're an incredible family of believers that God has given me.

Speaking of the family of God...I had the opportunity on Friday night to go w/some more incredible people from my church to the Gaither Homecoming concert here at Alltel. Seems this friend of mine ended up with a few extra tickets. He asked me if i knew of any other singles that would be interested in joining them. I called around, but had trouble getting in touch w/some folks last minute. Some were outta town. A couple were interested but just unable to make it. But I figured, "I love music...of ALL kinds...and I love Jesus...and I love the McClanahans..." It was a no-brainer for me! I had a wonderful time, listening to some GREAT, GREAT music with this great family that I adore!

So it's been a great weekend for me, full of worship music, movies that remind me of the spiritual disciplines that I am practicing, time spent with brothers and sisters that I adore, excellent worship this morning, and a Bible study class this morning that I am ALWAYS blessed to learn something new from! And now I get to prepare to go back to worship this evening! Hope you have a blessed week as well! Much love in HIM!

Developing An Appreciation For The Psalms

2009-02-19T22:30:00.003-06:00

I don't like the Psalms.

It's no secret.

Really, though, I'm not a huge fan of...well, basically, the entire second half of the Old Testament.
You see, I'm very much NOT a creative person--I'm so left-brained it's ridiculous. It's not so much that I dislike the Old Testament. It's just that I don't enjoy poetry, in general. I've always felt this way, all the way through school--give me the chronological, historical facts all day long, thank you, but don't make me go through the artistic, poetic stuff--my eyes just automatically tend to glaze over sometimes. The Bible is no exception. Give me the history in the Books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Samuels, Kings, & Chronicles all day long, thank you. But don't make me go through all those poetry and prophecy books--my eyes just might accidentally glaze over.

Seriously...they're normally hard for me to study. I started reading Isaiah in January...as kind of a New Year's Resolution to read through and study the prophets this year. People read through the whole Bible in a year...surely I can make myself study the Old Testament prophets in a year, right?

It's kind of odd for me to say all of this, really, considering the fact that the verse that is my blog header above is from the Psalms.

HOWEVER...

I've taken a step towards overcoming this obstacle in the way I view scripture. I started attending a ladies' Bible study at my church on Monday evenings, which is currently studying Beth Moore's "Stepping Up...A Journey Through the Psalms of Ascent." When I was working through the very first day's lesson in the workbook, I discovered a way to be more moved by the Psalms.

You see, all though I don't enjoy poetry, I absolutely LOVE music! I'm a 100% bonafide band nerd who played all the way through college and loved every minute of it. Music speaks to me like nothing else. And after all, isn't that what the Psalms were intended to be....MUSIC! This was not necessarily a new discovery to me. It was just something perhaps I didn't realize the extent to which it was touching me already. In the activity at the end of the first day's lesson, Beth asks us to just skim through the Psalms and write down some words to describe the Psalmists feelings when approaching God. I very randomly flipped through my Bible, stopping and just taking in whatever happened to be on the page in front of me. Of the five verses that I turned to, THREE of them are songs that I've heard/sung before to music!

"The Lord Is My Shepherd" (Psalm 23)..."Your Love, Oh Lord" by Third Day (Psalm 36)..."Give Thanks To The Lord" (Psalm 136)...

But even on a second look at those 5 verses just now, a fourth one, Psalm 83 reminds me of an Acappella song, "Your Love Is Better Than Life". Even Ps. 121...one of our main Psalms of Ascent that we're looking at...the first two lines of it are in the Casting Crowns song, "Praise You In This Storm". I'm just realizing how MANY of my favorite songs are Psalms...straight from scripture!!! I've always been fond of songs that are pure Scripture...whether Psalms or not. I know a couple of cute little songs for both Gal. 2:20 and Phil. 3:10. LOVE the Mac Powell (and friends) song "By His Wounds" from Isaiah 53. "The Steadfast Love of the Lord" (Lam. 3) "Teach Me, Lord, To Wait" (Is. 40). Just to name a few. But then you dig into the Psalms for some songs that are common, or songs that I love...older ones like "Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah!" (Ps. 148)...or newer ones like "Create in Me a Clean Heart" (Ps. 51). "Come Let Us Sing" AND "Come, Let Us Worship and Bow Down" (BOTH from Ps. 95). "Thy Word (Ps. 119). "Psalm 40" by NewSong (Ps. 40, of course!). "As the Deer" (Ps. 42). "Better Is One Day" (Ps. 84). Even my verse up at the top here from Psalm 19--yep, you guessed it, there's a song for that! Folks, I could go on and on!

So it's as though I've been hit anew by a ton of bricks by this not so new realization last week. Imagine my excitement to go into the Beth Moore study for a video session this past Monday evening...and our entire topic that evening was focusing on the Psalms as songs!!! She made some very relevant points, that reminded me of just why I love music so much, and perhaps of how I can manage to get a little bit more out of the Psalms!
1. Song originated with God and accompanied creation. (Job. 38:7)
2. In Scripture, singing is attributed to both God the Father and Christ the Son (Zeph. 3:17; Matt. 26:30; Heb. 2:10-12)
3. Emotions and experiences can be expressed through song in ways that spoken words can never satisfy.
4. A song greatly enhances the ability of the human mind to memorize (Deut. 31:19-22)
5. We can think a song is beautiful and memorize its words yet remain completely unaffected by what it says. Consider the relevance of Paul's words in I Cor. 14:15 in this present context: "I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind."
6. A song can change our entire perspective (Acts 16:24-26)
7. A song can also greatly affect the heart of God
8. In ways beyond our comprehension, the gift of song is not limited to humans and angels. (Rev. 5:13; Luke 19:39-40; Ps. 150)

It's been an incredible week, for me to study through some of the Psalms this week and be reminded why I love so many of the songs that I do...because they are His inspired Word.

Perhaps I don't dislike the Psalms as much as I thought, after all...

For the Fans...

2009-02-09T06:18:00.004-06:00

About a week or so ago, I was told that "the fans were clamoring" for a new post from me.

I guess, more accurately, that would be "fan", singular. So for my dear friend, Ellen, here goes...

I've not written on here for awhile, mostly because I've been pretty busy since the beginning of the year. But, believe it or not, I've been wanting to catch up over here...so there's quite a bit to review over the past month or so.

I guess, first of all, with the coming of the new year, and a fresh beginning, is a chance to review the previous year's resolutions (or in my case, the ANTI-resolutions from last year!) You can find them here.

As for #1, I think I've strengthened my prayer life, at least a little bit. Unfortunately, I failed miserably at the possiblity of writing a prayer journal. Maybe I'll try that one again this year. Maybe not.

My #2 is fabulous! Although I still get nervous, I've truly LOVED every opportunity our singles group has had to host blood drives. The only time I didn't get to donate last year was in October. I sat in the room all morning watching/assisting others with their donating. I left for about 45 minutes to go to lunch, and when I came back, the nurses had already started taking everything down! :(

I'm still working on #3. Have had a couple of trims which, unfortunately, were a little bit more than I expected. So now, I'm hoping it'll be long enough by the end of THIS summer. We'll see.

#4--Wow. That's a big one for me. One that I've worked on for quite some time, and have gradually gotten a little bit better. But it wasn't until THIS year that I actually started going to Celebration, which is a singing class at our church on Sunday afternoons, where our worship minister gives out sheet music to some of the newer songs and teaches them! It is surprisingly fun, and I love it! It helps. As I've told a couple of others who have asked me about it, for someone who doesn't sing, it is relatively painless! :)

My #5 is one that I did okay on...for a little while. But it fizzled out in the end. I think I stopped sometime in September or October. But I've taken it up again, as kind of a New Year's resolution for 2009. So we'll see how it goes this year.

Number 6 was a piece of cake! I absolutely did not step on a scale at all last year. And when I got back on one on January 1, 2009--it was EXACTLY THE SAME as it had been the previous year.

I'm also desperately working on #7. I've discovered that I'm such an emotional/sentimental pack-rat. I've gone through the boxes in my closet, only to find little trinkets from a bunch of the trips that I took when I was in college. I can't think of any reason to keep these things, except for once every two years when I go through my closet, I can say, "Oh yeah, this was from the time I was in..." and then put it back in the box. So I'm gonna see what I can do about getting rid of some of that stuff. Here's another one that I just can't seem to throw away--church bulletins. "Hi, my name is Lacey, and I'm a bulletin hoarder..." I've got a drawer in my bedroom...every month or two, I will clean out my Bible and put the new bulletins in there. I don't have one for EVERY week, because we don't mail out our bulletin every week, so I don't have one for the weeks that I'm not there. (But if I really wanted to be OCD about it, I could go to our website and print out the ones I don't have!) But, seriously...I've got a stack of MOST of my church's bulletins from Feb. 2006 until now. I'm not sure why. But I'm not ready to throw them away either.

Finally, for #8--that's a hard one to measure. It's always a constant goal of mine to focus more and more on the things He would have me to, rather than on things of this world that don't really matter. I pray I can continue that in 2009.

That's all I'll bore you with for now.

Thanks for reading, and much love.

The View From The Top (Part III)

2008-12-31T16:23:00.002-06:00

Awhile back, I shared a mountaintop experience I had one Sunday afternoon several weeks ago, along with some of my closest in our Singles group at my church. We climbed Pinnacle Mountain, right here in Little Rock, together, on the last weekend in October.

The second weekend of November, we had yet another mountaintop experience together! We'd planned a camping trip to Petit Jean Mountain, near Morrillton, AR. It's a beautiful state park, with campgrounds, cabins, and a lodge at the top of the mountain, and beautiful trails to hike. The most popular one is the Cedar Falls Trail, which leads you on a hike of just over a mile, down the mountain, to a beautiful waterfall.

Over the past couple of years since I've been in my singles group, we've had a tradition of going on a type of camping retreat, where we stay in a nice lodge, and there are plenty of outdoor activities to do. We usually go the second weekend in February. But this is the first time we've ever gone any type of outdoor camping trip together! It was exciting and eventful, and once again, I had some opportunity to learn quite a bit about some of my favorite passages of scripture!!!

My friend Jennifer, who climbed with me to the top of Pinnacle, was also the one I was privileged to ride up to Petit Jean with! When we arrived on Friday evening, it was about 8:30 or 9:00, so it was already very dark out. A few others had arrived early and set up several tents, and several others had arrived later than that and were still gone to eat dinner at the lodge when we showed up. As Jennifer and I got there, the others arrived back from dinner, and one more guy showed up, we realized that we would need one more tent set up, in order to sleep everyone comfortably.

As we worked to put up this last tent, (did I mention that it was very dark?) several of us pitched in and helped, although each of us had different jobs. A few of the guys...Stephen, Shane, Don, Bill...they actually put the tent together. A few of us girls...Cynthia, Jennifer, and myself...we held onto the flashlights & directions. I can't speak for the rest of the girls, but I know that I, myself, would've had quite a time trying to actually put the tent up myself. Without the help of the guys, I wouldn't have had a tent to sleep in. The guys, on the other hand, would've had quite a time trying to put up a tent in the dark. Without the assistance of flashlight-holders, instruction-readers, and flashlight-holders for the instruction-readers (because it was windy enought that the person holding the directions needed both hands to hold them still!), the guys would not have been able to assemble the tent. As we accepted our roles and worked together to achieve a common goal, we were successful...together!

I couldn't help but be reminded of Paul's letter to the Corinthians, in which he describes the importance of diversity in the body. He writes, "But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'; or again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it."

When we had completed the task of assembling that last tent, we spent some time just sitting around a campfire, telling stories, laughing, and just enjoying each other's company. We sat out there till well past midnight...I believe it was closer to 1:00 a.m. when I went to sleep. Or, I guess, more accurately, it was closer to 1:00 a.m. when I went to my tent, for I had quite a bit of difficulty falling asleep. Let me remind you that we were camping out side in tents...in the middle of NOVEMBER!!! (However, I guess that doesn't always mean much...after all, two weeks ago last Tuesday, we had ice on the ground, then by the following Friday, it was a balmy 70 degrees. The following Tuesday, there was a tiny bit more ice on the ground...only to be followed this past Friday by temps that reached a balmy 75 degrees...and that in the middle of DECEMBER!!!) Regardless...we were a little bit late in planning a camping trip. We started talking about it in August, so by the time it was finalized and there was an available weekend, it had to be November. Unfortunately, a cold front moved in a little bit early, and the temps dropped down to about 34 degrees overnight, not to mention the fact that it was VERY windy all weekend. The next day it only warmed up to about 55 or so, before dropping back down to the mid 30s again.

As I lay in my tent, fully clothed in socks, pants, a couple of shirts, a hooded sweatshirt and gloves, underneath 3 large blankets, I had difficulty keeping warm. It was definitely a tossing-and-turning kind of night. One of the many times I woke up in the middle of the night, it was shortly after 5:00 a.m., and I needed to use the bathroom. I fought the need to go with the desire to stay in my tent, underneath my 3 blankets (what little good they were doing), rather than getting out into the cold, windy dark of night to walk to the restrooms. But my bladder won out, so I left my tent around 5:15 or so. I returned around 5:45. No, I did not fall in. There was just heat, blessed heat, in the restrooms! My tent was cold. The bathroom was warm. So I stayed in there awhile.

Needless to say, that evening I couldn't help but think of one of my favorite passages from Ecclesiastes, "Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?" This Teacher knew what he was talking about...because I am here to tell you that it was VERY cold, lying there alone.

The next morning, however, was when I had one of my favorite experiences, which reminded me, once again, of my favorite passage of scripture! It was such a small, seemingly meaningless moment, but I still think about this metaphor from time to time, and how it applies to my spiritual life. After eating a breakfast, we went over to the lodge, which is where most of the hiking trails branch off from. That morning, we hiked a shorter, easier trail. It was only about a half mile or so, I guess, over to the Bear Caves. There's no actual cave, but rather, some very large rock formations that could provide some sort of shelter. You can wander through them and even climb up them--though I preferred to keep my feet on the ground! It was a GREAT experience that morning, and a lot of fun, to stay on the ground and take pictures and cheer for my friends as they climbed to the top! However, as we were walking over there, it was still pretty early in the morning. The trail was pretty easy to follow, with some rocks as steps. But the ground was still wet, and since it was fall, there were leaves all over the ground. As we hiked, I tended to follow, staying close to the back of the group. It was easier for me, to be able to follow in someone else's footsteps...to be able to see from where they had been whether or not a rock was going to be wobbly, or if wet leaves would be slippery. At one point, even, there was a large step down off of a rock. As I approached it and hesitated, my friend Michael, who had just crossed this very tiny creek-like area of the path, offered his hand to help me down that large step. At that point, it hit me...

I've known for awhile now that Hebrews is my favorite book, and there are many reasons for that. However, even within that amazing book, my favorite passage of scripture is where the Faith Hall of Fame comes to an end at the beginning of chapter 12, with the instruction and encouragement to continue on, running with perseverance the race marked out for us, as we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.

At that point, it hit me...I was, in a way, living out this experience. I was getting to learn, first-hand, the comfort of being able to follow in the footsteps of one, just like me, who has gone on before. At the same time, I was able to be surrounded by people who were willing to help if necessary. There is an incredible amount of strength to persevere, that can be gained from just being able to see that someone else has been able to do it too...they've gone through the same things I'm going through, and they were successful, and I've got their example to follow to help me on my way. That's why I love Hebrews 11-12, and gain so much comfort and encouragement from it.

However, it leaves me with a question, as I close this series of mountain-top experiences. I think of people like Gideon, who asked the Lord for the signs with the fleece...he just wanted to see those things done. Or I think of people like Thomas, who just wanted to see the risen Lord, and put his hands in the scars, then he would believe. The Lord grants Gideon's requests. And He grants Thomas' request, but then He tells him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."

It just makes me wonder...by being that person that just wants to see...what blessing might I be missing out on?

Christmas Time!!!

2008-12-24T06:56:00.003-06:00

Christmas Time is HERE!!!

One of my favorite things about the season is all the Christmas music!

Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls are okay, but my FAVORITE songs, of course, are the ones that speak of the birth of our Lord, our Immanuel.

My absolute favorites are "O Come All Ye Faithful", "Joy to the World", and "O Holy Night"; however, this season, I'm also becoming a little partial to "Angels We Have Heard On High" and Casting Crowns' version of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."

In honor of the season, and my love for Christmas songs, I thought this little game was fun! Take a stab at it!

1. The apartment of 2 psychiatrists.

2. Sir Lancelot with laryngitis.

3. A B C D E F G H I J K M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.

4. Present me naught but dual incisors for this festive Yuletide.

5. The smog-less bewitching hour arrived.

6. 288 Yuletide hours.

7. Do you perceive the same longitudinal pressure which stimulates my auditory sense organs.

8. Stepping on the pad cover.

9. Uncouth dolt has his beezer in the booze and thinks he is a Dark Cloud's boyfriend.

10. Behold! I envisioned a trio of nautical vessels.

11. A joyful song relative to hollow metallic vessels which vibrate and bring forth a ringing sound
when struck.

12. As the guardians of little woolly animal's protected their charges in the shadows of the earth.

13. Frozen precipitation commence

14. Oh, member of the round table with missing areas

15. Boulder of the tinkling metal spheres

16. Vehicular homicide was committed on Dad's mom by a precipitous darling

17. Cup-shaped instruments fashioned of a whitish metallic element

18. Our fervent hope is that you thoroughly enjoy your yuletide season

19. Parent was observed osculating a red-coated unshaven teamster

20. Natal celebration devoid of color, rather albino, as a hallucinatory phenomenon for me.

21. Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of minute crystals.

22. Tranquiltiy upon the terrestrial sphere.

23. Have hitherward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief.

24. Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds.

25. An emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good given to the terrestrial sphere.

26. Embellish the entryways.

27. Twelve o'clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival.

28. The Christmas preceding all others.

29. Small municipality in Judea southeast of Jerusalem.

30. Diminutive, masculine master of skin covered percussionist cylinders.

31. Omnipotent supreme being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished males.

32. Tranquility upon the terrestrial sphere.

33. Expectation of arrival to populated areas by mythical, masculine perennial gift giver.

34. Natal celebration devoid of color, rather albino, as a hallucinatory phenomenon for me.

35. The first person nominative plural of far eastern heads of state.

36. Tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulous in inverted, metallic .

37. In distant location the existence of an improvised unit of newborn children's slumber furniture.

38. Proceed forth declaring upon a specific geological alpine formation

Post your answers in the comments--good luck!!! I might even throw in an Amazon gift card for the first person to get them all right...if you're still reading this now!!!!! But NO CHEATING!!! ;)

Oh come, let us adore Him...for He alone is worthy!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

"Ask and ye shall receive..."

2008-12-16T08:16:00.018-06:00

Or is it more like, "Be careful what you wish for!"???

Less than two days ago...on Sunday evening before church began, I was talking to the guy sitting in front of me, a friend of mine who is originally from Michigan. I told him I was disappointed that it didn't feel like December. It was 65 degrees outside, and although I'd brought my jacket with me to church, I didn't need it.

After what I woke up to this morning, you should've seen me trying to even get to the door of my car on the sheet of ice that was on the ground! I called in to work...they suggested that I wait a little while...and perhaps they can send someone to come get me, if I'm still not comfortable driving on that sheet of ice. Which I might not be...since I live on top of a freakin' mountain!!!.

I just hope I don't slide down the hill on my way in to work!

Prayer For Brent...The Rest of the Story

2008-12-08T19:37:00.010-06:00

Right at a year ago, I left a post on my blog by that title, "Prayer for Brent"

It was a short post, not a lot of information...just a sincere plea for prayer on behalf of someone I knew from church.

Well, now, a year later, I'm here to tell you the rest of his story. (Before I get too far into this, I feel like it should be noted somewhere that I did not know Brent well before this accident. We were more like acquaintances rather than friends. I'm still not sure it's accurate to say that we know each other well. We FB chat occasionally now, and that's more interaction than I had with him before, when he was here in Little Rock. But that doesn't change the fact that he's my brother, and I've had the privilege of praying for him, lifting his name up to our Father, and that his circumstances have had an impact on me personally. That's why I feel the need to tell you the rest of his story.)

It was a year ago today, Saturday, December 8, 2007 that Brent had his motorcycle accident that landed him in the ICU at UAMS. His injuries were extensive. I guess we'll just go from head to toe: he had bleeding on his brain, a broken an eye socket, broken shoulder blades, a broken right shoulder, a completely shattered left shoulder (it had to be reconstructed), a broken sternum, 11 broken ribs, a lung that collapsed (more than once), a broken hand...you get the picture. The most difficult injury, though, was the fact that his back was broken.

For the first three days after Brent's accident, he was medically sedated. Doctors said that he needed to make it through those first critical 72 hours before surgery could be done to assess the damage to his spinal cord. Right about the time that Brent hit that 72-hour time frame, on Tuesday afternoon, an operating room opened up, and the surgeon and a team of nurses were available for the several hours necessary to perform the surgery.

Usually on Tuesday evenings, a small group of girls from my singles class meets for a time of Bible study and prayer. But that Tuesday evening we decided to go be with Brent's parents while he was still in surgery. There were several from my church gathered there that evening to pray for Brent. When there got to be about 20 or so of us, we decided to leave the waiting room and go downstairs to the chapel to pray for him. Two guys from our group volunteered to stay there in the waiting room in case the doctors came out of the surgery or anyone else came up to be with Brent's family, and the rest of us headed downstairs.

As we were standing out in the hallway, waiting on the elevators, the doctors came out of the surgery with the news. It wasn't good. Brent's parents stepped away to speak with the doctors. They stepped back over to us and his dad told us what the doctor said, that "For all practical purposes, Brent's spinal cord is severed. There are just a few small fibers at the front of it that are still attached. But for all intents and purposes, his spinal cord is severed and he will more than likely be paralyzed from the waist down." I think they said they'd asked the doctor if he'd ever seen anyone recover from an injury that extensive. He said never.

Then Brent's dad said one of the most amazing things. After delivering us that news, he continued with, "I think we need to go on down to the chapel. We need to pray to God, and we need to praise Him, and we need to thank Him that we still have Brent." And so we did, though it was not necessarily easy. We prayed, and we cried out to God, both in thanks that Brent was alive and yet in such hurt because of the news we'd received about his injuries.

When I got home that evening, I came across the blog of another member of my church, and the post he had written. In a blog entitled "What Isn't The Gospel?" brother Keith wrote,

"What isn't the gospel? What are the things that no one in his or her right mind and heart would be likely to put in the comments of the previous blog post as the gospel according to them; the good news of scripture; the core message of God's Word to man? Tonight, a young man from my church has found out that his spinal cord was severed in the dirt bike accident he had last weekend. That is not the gospel. Yet his church family continues to pray for and over this young man; will conduct a blood drive Sunday in his behalf; and some will fast and some will attend his bedside and some will plead with God on their knees, not knowing him well but loving him as if there were an empty place at their kitchen table that only he could fill. Why?"

Upon reading this post, I was once again filled with tears for my brother Brent and I commented to that effect on Keith's blog...that I was saddened by this news for him, but also, that I'd been blessed by the prayers that were offered up on his behalf that evening. I wrote,

"I'm sorry, Keith. As I read this blog through blurred, tear-filled eyes, I just don't have it in me tonight to go in that direction...I've had enough bad news for the evening...It can be scary to love the God who is love...to do so requires TRUST. It requires of us the same type of reaction to the things that we don't understand as I witnessed tonight from the father of that young man. We were standing in front of the elevators, waiting to go down to the chapel to petition God on his behalf, when the doctor came out of surgery w/the news. His dad said, "I think we need to go and pray; we need to praise God and thank Him that we still have him with us." It requires of us a trust and a faith that says, "God can see better than us," and, "I know there is going to be something good to come out of all of this. I don't know that it is yet, but I KNOW it," and, "We are concerned with the physical and the things that we want physically, but God is concerned with the spiritual," and, Lord, even though it's hard to comprehend, we know that you love him more than we do," and finally, "Lord, we don't know why all of this has happened...but we know that we love You."

Those were the prayers I heard and prayed that evening. There was also a prayer that I did not hear but only heard about. I was told that one of our Shepherds of our church, in a prayer he was leading at the hospital one night, said something to the effect of, "Lord, you knit him together in His mother's womb, and you can do it again."

That one's stayed with me a LONG time. There's no telling how many times I've prayed that for Brent and continue to do so, to this day. In fact, that's my favorite thing to pray for him, because it gives me so much hope by reminding of me of what my God can do and is doing for Brent.

That's right, I said what my God IS doing for Brent...because Brent IS recovering from this spinal cord injury. See...I'll tell you what Brent would tell you...the thing is, people recover from spinal cord injuries all the time.

But people recover from COMPLETE spinal cord injures...well, almost never...like, less than 1% of the time! Twice now, though, Brent's injury has been upgraded from being a complete injury (which is what he was first diagnosed as after that first surgery) to being an incomplete injury. Spinal cord injures are measured on a scale from A to E, A being completely injured and E being completely normal. Although originally diagnosed as an "A" injury, Brent very gradually began feeling some return in his hips and his legs, and he is now considered a "C"...so as he said, he's "halfway there!" He's gone to stay at his parents' home in Florida while he recovers, and has had the opportunity to spent some time in therapy at the Shepherds Institute in Atlanta, which specializes in spinal cord injuries. And despite the fact that doctors and therapists originally told him that he would never walk again, Brent is now walking in braces and with a walker, and he only continues to improve.

One of the things that makes Brent's story incredible is the impact that he's had on those around him and on those across the world. In a way, his accident brought a sense of revival to our singles group as a whole. It brought some of us together as friends who had not known each other previously. It gave us all a renewed dedication to the discipline of and the power of prayer. Also, after his accident, his parents started his blog, which Brent took over and began writing on as soon as he was able. People all over the nation and even from different parts of the world have read his blog and commented on it.

What makes his story the most incredible for me is just the fact that when I see him or talk to him, I get to see or talk to a living, breathing answer to prayers...an answer to my own prayers and the prayers of so many others. And I did get to see him this weekend, as Brent came to be in Little Rock and to speak to our Singles class on this, the anniversary weekend of his accident. As I see him, and as I pray for him, I can picture the Great Physician slowly working, slowly knitting and mending his spinal cord back together...for no other reason than because He loves us and because we've asked Him to. But He does it in His time. If He did it in my time, Brent would've walked out of UAMS months ago. But He is God and i am not. Nevertheless, Brent is slowly learning to walk again. It only broke my heart a little bit that I didn't get to see it this weekend--only because I want so desperately to see it. Soon!

So now, I once again ask you to join me in prayer for Brent. This time, though, I ask you to join me in continuous praise to our Almighty God and Great Physician, our Father and Friend, for the healing He has brought to and will bring to our brother Brent. Be sure, also, to thank Him for using Brent in such a powerful way to reach so many people.

I'll leave you with this passage of scripture--a passage that expresses the light of hope in the midst of suffering--which was posted to Brent's blog that Tuesday night after Brent's first surgery. The prophet Jeremiah wrote,

"For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love. For He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men." -Lamentations 3:31-33

The View From the Top (Part II)

2008-12-04T20:41:00.017-06:00

In my previous post, I took the privilege of telling you about the wonderful opportunites I have to spend with some of the greatest friends in the world. There have been a couple of experiences here lately, though, that I felt especially worth sharing.

One came just over a month ago, from a friend who actually is not even a member of my church. But she's young and single, and she was an acquaintance of one of the more active members of my singles group, who invited her to hang out with us one Friday night this past summer. Now, although she doesn't worship with us on Sundays, she comes to hang out with us on Fridays...and she comes to our Wednesday night class...and she comes to our Girls' Prayer Group on Tuesdays. She's an incredible person with a sincere desire to serve the Lord, and that's always refreshing! Well...several weeks ago, she sent out a casual Facebook invite to several people, "Who's up for climbing Pinnacle this coming Sunday afternoon???"

Pinnacle Mountain is an over-1,000 ft. peak just west of Little Rock, that overlooks the Arkansas River Valley. It's not an incredibly difficult climb, but I'd never done it before, and honestly didn't know much about it. That was okay, though, because this friend tried to describe the hike to me and reassured me with, "Oh, you won't, like, fall of the mountain or anything, I don't think." That thought was extremely comforting.

Early in the afternoon before we went, I took a moment to look up Brother Keith's old article, that I remembered he had written about taking his children there. I was just trying to find out as much info as possible before the hike. Besides being entertaining and some of his best writing, Keith's article was very helpful, by informing that there was a water fountain at the base of the trail, that the trail was 1-1/2 miles, that it was divided by 10 distance markers, and that at about the number 8, there was some hand & foot climbing that would be necessary.

We planned to meet at the mountain at 2:00 p.m. that afternoon. When I arrived, there were about eight other people from my singles group. As we walked from the parking lot to the base of the mountain, I found out that there were 3 or 4 others from my singles group, including my singles minister, who were already there and had been hiking for awhile already. Some in my group split off and went with some of them, others stayed with us but hiked a little bit faster. I preferred to go at a more leisurely pace. A couple of girls went all the way up to about the Number 8 distance marker, where the boulders (and hand & foot climbing) begin, before turning around and leaving. And at that point, you're actually high enough that you can have a pretty decent view from there. So I can't say that I blame them.

However, I'd promised myself that I was gonna make it to the top. I may not be the most optimistic person in the world, but I was determined. I had my bottle of water with me, so I could have a drink whenever necessary. (It turned out to be about 10 degrees warmer that afternoon than it was the day before. That made a little bit of a difference in the climb.) I would stop and rest whenever necessary. One part of the hand & foot climbing did actually make me a little bit nervous, because there was a very flat, smooth, slick rock that I was on, with no foothold for me to climb further. I had to wait for some of the folks coming down to pass on by, so that I could slowly move sideways to another rock that I could climb on.

One friendly passerby offered a couple of helpful pieces of advice. He said, "Just remember the '3 points of contact' rule. Always keep three points of contact with the mountain--two feet and a hand, or a hand, a foot, and a butt--whatever you gotta use!" and, "Head towards the mountain...if you start to fall, it's easier to fall into the mountain than away from it!" He seemed to be a nice guy; if nothing else, he made me laugh, and that was good!

By the time I made it to the top, most of the rest of our group was already headed back down. It finally ended up being just me and this new friend (whose idea the hike was, in the first place!) that made it to the top together. We sat up there for about 45 minutes, and the view was incredible!

But besides the outstanding vista, I was able to make some other, even more breathtaking observations. The first of which is that I did not climb this mountain by myself. Most likely, I could not have climbed this mountain by myself. As badly as I wanted to make it to the top, I'm afraid I might have stopped, had it not been for my friend with her constant "You can do it!" and "We're almost there!" At one point she said, "We're almost there....I know I've been saying that for, like, the past 45 minutes!" I said, "I know...and you're a LIAR!" She laughed and said, "Yeah, but this time, we really ARE almost there!"

Secondly, I learned the importance of a foothold. As I was on the flat rock, with no good foothold, I was in a little bit scary position. I had absolutely no hope of making forward progress from that point. I had to find somewhere else to go in order to continue the climb. In Ephesians, the Bible speaks of letting the sun go down on your anger and giving the devil a foothold. It's a comforting thought, to know that by following Paul's instructions to the church in Ephesus, that I can put Satan in such a position where he will not have anywhere to go. He will have absolutely no hope of making forward progress in my life, at least at that point.

Finally, my absolute favorite book of the Bible is Hebrews. (There are many reasons why I love it...but that's another post entirely!) And my absolute favorite passasge is where the faith "hall of fame" comes to an end with, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." If nothing else, this climb up this mountain was, for me, an exercise in perseverance. It enabled me to learn a little bit more about going on when it's difficult and I don't really feel like going on anymore.

As we walked down the mountain together, it was starting to get a little bit late, and I realized that I would not be able to make it to church in time for my minister's 373rd sermon in his never-ending series on the book of Proverbs. But I told her, "That's okay. I'm growing a little weary of the Proverbs series. And I'm sure I've learned more about a couple of my favorite passages of scripture here, today, on this mountian, than I would have learned at church tonight."

I now agree with everyone else who's experienced the climb up Pinnacle. The view from the top really is incredible!
Ps. 36:5-9

The View From the Top (Part I)

2008-11-21T23:07:00.004-06:00

You may or may not have noticed that I changed my profile picture on here. (That was an accomplishment, in and of itself, by the way.)

The new picture is one of me with a couple of "my closest", atop beautiful Petit Jean Mountain, near Morrillton, AR.

I thought that was a very interesting way to put it. Before we left for our camping trip up there a couple of weekends ago, a friend of mine sent me an e-mail wishing me "safe travel to you and your closest." It almost struck me as funny how accurate and appropriate that statement really was. In fact, I think that's one of the greatest blessings I've got in my life right now as a single person...the fact that they really are some of my closest.

If you are not single...if you are married...think about your life as a married person for a moment...what do you do on a daily basis? You wake up...greet your family...perhaps you see the kids off to school and a spouse off to work. You go to work yourself. But you come home in the evening to your family. You eat dinner with your family. Perhaps you put the kids to bed before spending some quality time with your spouse.

As a single person, I wake up alone. Get ready for work alone. Go off to work alone. Come home and have dinner, eventually go to bed alone. Not lonely, but alone. You know what keeps me from being lonely? Those people who, although not related to me, really are some of my closest. Although I don't have family members that I see every day, I've got these incredible people that I get to see and spend time with nearly every day.

Typically, in a week, there is Sunday morning church, perhaps Sunday lunch, and there is definitely Sunday dinner after evening worship. On Tuesday nights is our ladies' Bible study/prayer group, where we spend a couple of hours talking about whatever is on our hearts. Wednesday nights, of course, is our class, usually followed up by dinner somewhere. Thursday nights, I'll admit, is an off-night. Friday night is our chance to unwind from the week. We gather in our "Singles living room"--a corner of our Singles classroom that is furnished w/sofas, comfortable chairs, and a big-screen TV. In fact, as I type this right now, that's where we are gathered, with the movie Iron Man playing in the background. But, often times, the TV is never even turned on! We've spent many a Friday night just visiting...getting to know each other...being a part of each other's lives. Even on the days that we don't see each other, thanks to the blessed technology of the Internet, we are able to communicate through e-mail, messages, and, yes, Facebook!

And if that weren't enough, we make an effort to spend time with each other outside of our regular gathering times. For example...there's an art studio conveniently located across the street from our church. It is a pottery-painting shop, where you can go in, pay the price on that pottery, and that covers the cost to paint, glaze and fire the pottery. This shop usually closes at 6, but one night a month is "Ladies' night" where she will stay open till about 9 or so. So me and some of my closest girls have decided to take advantage of this the past couple of months and spend an evening painting pottery together.

Another example would be about a month ago, when a friend said, "Hey, let's go climb Pinnacle Mountain this Sunday afternoon!" Yet another example is when a couple of them said, "Hey, let's go camping at Petit Jean this weekend!" I guess those are the experiences that are really worth sharing with you guys, and I'll get around to writing that blog here pretty soon.

But for now, I just wanted to set the stage as far as who these people are that I experienced both of those mountain tops with. They are not just some folks I go to church with and see a couple of times a week. They are my closest.

Thanks for reading. Much love!

Short Answers

2008-10-30T06:45:00.003-05:00

Well, I've not been on here as much as I'd like to be lately, because my computer is pretty much dead (RIP). So right now I've borrowed a friend's computer for a few minutes to catch up. I've got at least one blog idea that I'd like to write, but it may take awhile. So for now, I'll just take a few minutes to complete this meme that JD tagged me in. These questions have to be answered in just one word. Here we go...

1. Where is your cell phone? Bed

2. Where is your significant other? Non-existent

3. Your hair color? Auburn

4. Your mother? Wise

5. Your father? Funny

6. Your favorite thing? Reading

7. Your dream last night? None

8. Your dream/goal? Success

9. The room you’re in? Bedroom

10. Your hobby? Facebook

11. Your fear? Lots

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here

13. Where were you last night? Church

14. What you’re not? Ready

15. One of your wish-list items? Computer

16. Where you grew up? Texarkana

17. The last thing you did? Sleep

18. What are you wearing? Clothes

19. Your TV? Cable

20. Your pet? Dachsund

21. Your computer? Dead

22. Your mood? Sleepy

23. Missing someone? Family

24. Your car? Sentra

25. Something you’re not wearing? Makeup

26. Favorite store? Walmart

27. Your summer? Short

28.Love someone? Alot

29. Your favorite color? Purple

30. When is the last time you laughed? Yesterday

31. Last time you cried? Sunday

Lessons Learned!

2008-10-15T20:46:00.006-05:00

If you ever asked me if I considered myself to be a risk-taker, the answer would be, generally, "No." In fact, once upon a time, in some online personality quiz that I took, the results that I was given said that I was seen as "dependable, cautious, careful, and practical." I thought that was frighteningly accurate.

Tonight, I remembered why I am that way.

My singles group meets at the church on Wednesday nights at 6:30 p.m. for what is always a WONDERFUL lesson and discussion. I'm privileged to live less than 2 miles from my church building, so I often don't leave for worship until just a few minutes before it starts. (This especially goes for Wednesday nights, when our singles minister: #1. Never starts on time and #2. Has about 15 minutes worth of announcements before we ever get started with class.) Still...I like to have a few minutes to socialize before class starts...so, when I left my place at 6:26 p.m. this evening, I made the risky decision to NOT stop and get gasoline, even though my gague had been on the "E" most of the afternoon. I rationalized, "It's not far AT ALL...it can't take up that much gasoline to get to the building...the needle's only on the "E", it's not below the "E" yet (after having my little Nissan Sentra for nearly 3 years, I'm usually pretty good at guesstimating how much farther I can go!)...and there's an Exxon across the street! I'll just go over there to fill up AFTER class!" In essence, folks, I took a risk, and it DID NOT pay!!!

Sure, I got to class on time! Even had a minute to chat w/our dear friend Bob, who stopped by to visit! (He's our ex-Sunday School teacher--he left us for another class! But he still comes to see us occasionally!) BUT...by the time class was over...and it was raining outside...and I was ready to leave...you guessed it...my car wouldn't start!

There just happened to be a couple with their kids, piling into their minivan a couple of spaces away and leaving, about the same time that my car wouldn't start. I tried a couple of times. I stopped...said a short prayer...tried again...still did not work. About that time, the mother, who was driving the minivan, walked over and said, "Do you think it's the battery?"

It was time to confess my sin...I knew...and I said, "No...I know, this will sound stupid...I'm pretty sure I'm out of gas...I KNEW it was low, but was trying to make it here on time and hoping that I could make it across the street afterwards!" She said, "Well we can go across the street and see if they've got a gas can you can borrow."

So I did, indeed, make it across the street to the Exxon after class, but only by the grace of my new friends, people that, although I recognized their names, I'd never met before. Seriously...as I climbed in their minivan, I said, "By the way, my name's Lacey." She laughed and said, "My name's Angela..." and her husband followed up with, "...and I'm Keith." They asked if I was a college student here. I told them no, that I was in the Singles group there at PV. That was about it...not much time for conversation during the drive across the street.

Once at the Exxon I was able to purchase a little gas can for about $5 and fill it up for another $3. Unfortunately, in the process, some of the gas spilled outta the can. We wiped it off as best we could before putting it in the minivan...but, bless their hearts, their minivan probably still smells like gasoline! (I know my hands certainly do right now...it is NOT pleasant smell.) I apologized for that...and thanked them profusely! As they dropped me off back across the street at my car, she gave me a hug, and they were off. A few moments later, so was I!

So why am I sharing this somewhat-embarrassing story with all of you? Well, there are a few lessons I was able to take away from it. Perhaps you can benefit from my...ahem...wisdom!

#1. Always be sure your tank is full. Or at least more than "not yet below the E"!

#2. Use extreme caution when filling up 1-gallon gas cans. They fill up quickly!

#3. Risk-taking is NOT always a good thing.

#4. I worship with some of the most incredible people in the world! People who genuinely try to be like Christ. It continues to amaze me, perhaps because I go to such a large church where it is easy to feel disconnected to so many people that you don't know well (or at all!) So it's exciting to realize that regardless of that fact, even if we don't know each other, we have at least one thing in common...that is the Lord that we serve and try to imitate.

#5. God doesn't always answer prayers the way you want Him to when you want Him to. That doesn't make Him any less God, and that doesn't make the bad things that happen His fault. I have no one to blame but myself and my own stupidity/risk-taking (whichever you prefer) for what happened. That is often the case in life. I have no doubt that it is within His power to do something as minute as make a car start. But if He had done that, sure, I would have been saved some embarrassment and hassle, but I would not have had the opportunity to meet this brother and sister of mine that I worship with, and they would not have had the opportunity to be like Jesus, showing compassion to someone in need.

That's probably enough wisdom for one night. Thanks for reading. Feel free to make fun in the comments. (But not too much fun!) Much love! ;)

In Case You Didn't Know...

2008-10-13T21:53:00.005-05:00

I've got the most GORGEOUS brand new tiny baby niece!!!

Whitlee Klaire was born on Sept. 23, 2008!!!

Now I have the most gorgeous niece to go along with her 4-year-old brother, who just happens to be the cutest nephew in the world!

Aren't they precious!?!?!

Bowling TOGETHER

2008-09-16T07:27:00.000-05:00

That is the opposite of the title of a book that our minister seems to keep referring to in teaching our Wednesday night class. Bowing Alone, by Robert D. Putnam is a book that explores the breakdown of community in our society today, using the metaphor that people who used to bowl in leagues now go bowling alone.

In our class, we’ve begun reading and discussing another book, entitled Everybody’s Normal Till You Get To Know Them, by John Ortberg. This is a book that discusses how important it is to build Christian community, to accept each other as we are, and to genuinely care for each other. We’re only three chapters into it, but so far it seems to be very good! Also, this past Sunday night, our minister preached one of what is becoming a very long series of lessons from Proverbs, entitled “Proverbially Speaking: Living in Relationship.” In his lesson the other night, he listed about eight different ways that we needed to work at living in relationship with one another, eight different practices in how we treat each other. Among them were being genuine, being concerned for others, being kind & hospitable, and being prayerful. His sermon seemed to go hand-in-hand with what we’ve been discussing in class so far, and as I was listening to it, I couldn’t help but think of how blessed I am to be in a group that takes this effort of community-building so seriously.

One of the things our minister mentioned Sunday night is that living in relationship with others requires an investment of time. He asked, “How many of you are going to leave this place and have NO contact with anyone from this church? You don’t see each other, don’t talk to each other, you don’t pray. But we come back next Sunday and do it again. That’s kinda like being in the Kiwanis club or something; you just show up to some meetings, pay your dues, and the rest of your time is yours, really. Friends, that’s not the church.” For some of us in our singles group, that thought, that idea of not spending time together, is unimaginable. There are some of us doing something together, I would say, at least four days out of the week…and that’s at a minimum…on a week when there’s not a lot of stuff going on.

Besides our regular Sunday and Wednesday worship and classes, I’m privileged to meet with a group of ladies from our singles group on Tuesday nights for what we call our Vespers group. It’s a combination of Bible reading and prayer time, but it is a very relaxed atmosphere, one where there is a lot of opening up as we not only share the Bible together, we share our lives together. There are the occasional tears shed, as we are not afraid to openly express our struggles. We cry together. We pray together. And that’s an incredible blessing, to be able to approach our Father, with each other on our hearts, and know that He hears us.

On Friday evenings, a group of us gathers again in our Singles room with a different purpose in mind, and that is to just have fun together. We may share some dinner, or each person may just bring their own. We play games…cards, dominoes, taboo, mad gab, whatever you can imagine. We may listen to music. Or we may watch a movie. We open up our Singles room at 7:00 p.m. and some people come and go, they’ll drop in to visit for a little while. Others will show up at 7:00 and not leave until the door is locked. That time varies, but is usually at some unreasonable, early-morning hour. Because after the movie is off, or the game has died down, we still spend time just sitting there…just talking. And, honestly, we’ve had some of our best conversations during those late-night hours. Since we’ve started these Friday night gatherings nearly a year ago, I can’t tell you how many weeks I’ve been there till 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. A serious investment of time, folks.

But I’ll confess something to you…it’s not enough for me! Because these singles that I spend time with are but a few of the nearly 2,000 people that I worship with. Earlier this year, I expressed to our singles minister and singles group my desire for us as a group to become more involved with the rest of the congregation. This is something I’ve felt for quite sometime, as I blogged about it here about a year ago. And yet, in the past year, I’ll also confess that I haven’t done much to become more involved.

Until now. After a discussion w/a guy in my singles group (at one of those late, late Friday nights, coincidentally) he suggested to just do it. Find something to do and just show up. About a week after that conversation, the opportunity arose for me to assist teaching the 1st graders on Sunday morning. This is not something I would’ve done myself, because I’m not a teacher and haven’t helped teach Sunday school in nearly a decade. But I knew the person that needed help and have been thrilled to be able to assist her! Also, around this same time was the start-up of a church-wide ladies’ Bible study. I started going to it on Monday nights and have had the opportunity to meet several ladies that I didn’t know before. Also, it looks to be a very in-depth study of the Old Testament, which I am very excited about! I know it will be incredible!

All of this to say that it’s worth the investment of time. This past Saturday was a most recent example of time that I had to spend with both singles and members of the rest of the congregation. We had a little bit of a girls’ afternoon outing. There were about 7 of us single girls, along with our singles minister’s wife and 11-year-old daughter, and the wife and 11-year-old daughter of our ex-Sunday School teacher (he’s left us to teach another class!), and we all went bowling! Together!

And you know what I learned a little bit more of on Saturday night? That I worship with some incredible people! Lousy bowlers…but INCREDIBLE people! So that’s my encouragement to you all! Go bowling...together. You just might discover a little bit more about how incredible your brothers and sisters are!

Rejoice With Me!!!

2008-08-25T22:03:00.002-05:00

"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

A couple of Sundays ago, our minister brought us an interesting lesson on "The Bible's Bad Math." Being the accountant that I am (and even former math major, before I switched to a business degree!) that topic grabbed my attention when I first saw it, and I wondered what it was going to be about.

If I recall correctly, he began his sermon in Luke 15, as he read to us the parable of The Lost Sheep, one of my favorites from when I was a little girl in Sunday School. I turned there in my Bible to read along, but after he was finished, I couldn't seem to keep my eyes from wandering down to the next passage of scripture, the parable of The Lost Coin, another favorite of mine from back in the day!

So often, we read passages of scripture that can jump out at you, as you realize how they apply to you TODAY. Well, TODAY, that parable of The Lost Coin was in my mind, as it applied to me, and quite literally! Normally, I NEVER carry cash. But this past weekend, my mom had reimbursed me $90.00 for a purchase that I made, something that she had ordered from a store up here and I picked it up for her. She also gave me an additional $15.00 for a pair of shoes I'd bought for her. Then my roommate gave me her portion of the bills that I'd paid, which amounted to $140.00. So by Saturday, I was walking around with $245.00 in my pocket. (Did I mention that I NEVER carry cash?)

This past weekend, I was at my parents' house, and before I went to bed Saturday evening, when I was changing into my sleep clothes, I emptied my pockets into my suitcase, threw the jeans on the bedroom floor, and went on to bed. The next morning, Sunday morning, as I was quickly getting ready for church and getting ready to get packed to come home afterwards, I picked up everything off the bedroom floor and threw it into the suitcase, made a very quick check through all the house to make sure I hadn't left anything important lying around (I always manage to forget something!) then headed out the door.

Fast-forward a couple of hours. I get home...unpack the suitcase to do the laundry...no money. I begin to second-guess myself...Am I sure I put that money in here? Am I sure I didn't put it in my purse? Am I sure it's not somewhere in the mess that is my car? Am I sure I didn't leave it lying in the bedroom? Am I sure I didn't leave it somewhere else in the house, like lying on the kitchen counter or some such??? I couldn't remember, and I had no idea! Folks, this is why I NEVER carry cash!

The scariest thought to me was when I noticed that the outside zipper pocket of my suitcase had some change in it, and it was unzipped. There was also some change in my pocket along w/the money, and I thought "Am I sure I didn't put the money in there, forget to zip it, and it fall out!!! Am I sure I'm not that stupid???" So I looked in all those places. I looked in the suitcase again. I emptied my purse. I looked in the car. I looked EVERYWHERE that I had been since I'd been home. I called my mom and asked her to check the bedroom down there. No luck.

Until this evening. I sat down front of the suitcase (which is still lying on my bedroom floor with a few items in it) and said, '"Sovereign Lord, You alone know' where that money is! Please help me find it!" I looked through the suitcase one more time. and noticed there is a little flap in the bottom of my suitcase that velcroes down and folds up. I held my breath...I lifted it up...and I FOUND THE MONEY!!!

So for a day, folks, I got to feel like the woman in Jesus' parable.

And I think the moral of His story is very clear...

NEVER carry cash!!!

"Just Call Me A Communist..."

2008-08-18T20:21:00.007-05:00

That was my friend Shane's comment regarding the fact that he hasn't watched any of the Olympic games so far this year. He very jokingly said, "Just call me a Communist...I don't support America."

I'm sorry, I didn't realize the Olympics were THAT serious. If that's the case, I must be a Communist too, because I haven't watched any of them either. If I were to watch any of the events, the one that would hold my attention the longest is the gymnastics, that can be a little fascinating. Unfortunately, when it comes to the summer games, I've always been the most bored by the swimming, which is where all the hype is at this summer. So it's true. I haven't watched. So sue me. It's America...you can do that.

I DID, however, have the distinct privilege of watching, up-close, live, and in-person, an event nearly as serious as the Olympics!!! After evening worship services last night, a large group gathered in the gym of our Family Life Center for some serious, hard-core, no-mercy, head-shots only (okay, well maybe not, someone might have gotten hurt)....DODGEBALL!!!

There was a tournament consisting of 4 teams: Young Kids, Teens, Singles, and Young Couples (parents of the young kids). Unfortunately, I didn't exactly bring my dodgeball-playin clothes to church with me Sunday night, so I chose to stand on the sideline as a cheerleader (Go Singles!!! We DOMINATED, by the way!!!) rather than join in the fray.

As I stood there on the sideline of the gym, watching, laughing, cheering, enjoying the action, and actually dodging the occasional ball that came flying my direction, I couldn't help but think of a post that brother Mike Cope wrote a few weeks ago, describing his church's option for summertime Wednesday evenings this year, entitled, "The Church At Play." What they were doing is not all-that-different from what my church chose to do on Wednesday evenings this summer. We gathered for a shared meal. We shared a more casual devotional and praise time. The difference was where the Highland church in Abilene had various fun activities different nights such as movies, outdoor water activiites, games, etc. while we opened up a mini-coffee-shop and had live entertainment, where we sang, danced (gasp!), and karaoked all summer long!

Different activities...but the idea is the same. As Mike Cope said, "...there is a time to work...and a time to PLAY." There is a time to just spend fellowshipping with your brothers and sisters, having fun, and hopefully getting to know them on a little bit more personal level. And sometimes that time is even more important than the time you may spend together in other ways, doing other things. Because it's when you really get to know each other that you are able to build a real sense of community within your church "family."

On Wednesday nights, my Singles class is about to begin a study of the book Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them by John Ortberg. Our singles minister introduced the book last week, emphasizing that we would be learning how to better "live in community" with others. But to do so requires one to make an effort to really get to know others. It seems like it will be an incredible study, one that I can hardly wait to begin! I love this topic, because I love the idea, not only of building upon the sense of community I already have with others in my Singles group, but of building that same sense of community with the rest of my church "family." Because at my rather large church, I have no doubt that I worship with some of the most amazing people, most of whom I don't know, or at least not well. And we so often call ourselves a church "family" that sometimes I can't help but wonder what ways there are for us to continue to make it more and more so.

No, to tell you the truth, I'm not a Communist, but I absolutely LOVE the sense of community that I have with my brothers and sisters in the Lord!

Busy-ness

2008-08-09T23:07:00.002-05:00

That's what today was for me.

Right now is about the first time I've really stopped to catch my breath today.

Really, it started last night, when my wonderful friends in my Singles group at church threw me a birthday party! Well...we always generally hang out on Friday nights anyway, playing games, watching movies, or just sitting and talking. Last night was no different...but my friend Bill ordered pizza for everyone, and my friend Kimberly made us some cupcakes! (I've got the greatest friends!) We had a good time, and it was a late night...didn't leave till about 1:00, and didn't get to sleep till about 2:00.

Took basically a nap, then woke up at 6:30, because a couple of the girls at my party last night wanted to go to a garage sale this morning. We've got another friend of ours that was trying to get rid of some stuff before she gets married and moves to Brazil, so we wanted to go show our support and see what she had to offer!

I came home, went to Walmart and bought some paint and some fabric. Came home and got to work, painting a sofa table that I'd bought awhile back. Started reupholstering my dining room chairs. Went back to Walmart to get more fabric when I realized I didn't have enough. Cleaned my kitchen. Started some laundry. Cleaned my living room. Started back to work on the dining room chairs, then went back to Walmart a third time (they've got my #) when I ran out of staples. I had the presence of mind this THIRD time to go ahead and pick up the stuff I'd need to make the dish I'm taking to our brunch tomorrow morning. We'll be having a brunch during our Sunday morning Bible class, in honor of the guy that's been teaching us. He's done an amazing job, and he's technically done w/his material, but has ever-so-graciously agreed to stay with us through the end of the month, when he'll then be obligated to teach elsewhere.

In the midst of all this busy-ness and back-and-forth to Walmart, I did happen to stop and treat myself to a free "Love it!" size creation from Cold Stone Creamery. If you sign up w/them on their website and join their birthday club, they'll e-mail you a coupon on your birthday for free ice cream! I appreciate the fact that the good folks at Cold Stone try their best to make sure that you get your money's worth out of whatever size ice cream you order. I do not, however, appreciate the fact that in doing so, my ice cream was too big for the lid to fit on it, and they forgot to give me a napkin. So my ice cream dripped. By the time I'd made it 10 feet out to my car, it dripped all down the cup. It dripped on my hands. It dripped on my pants. It dripped in my car. It was very messy. Good...but messy.

I finally made it home and rinsed all the ice cream sticky-ness off of my hands and got back to work on the dining chairs. Then I made a delicious cream cheese danish-type dish for tomorrow morning.

That brings me to right now, where it's nearly midnight, and I'm sitting here with the rest of the ice cream from earlier, listening to the rain right outside my window, finally getting a moment to relax. I've had all this stuff to do, going constantly all day, when in reality I've been having sinus issues all week long and all I really felt like doing today was drinking some Nyquil and sleeping all day. Such is life.

But I'm not complaining. Because when I look at my life, I really couldn't ask for anything better. Late last night, one of my friends asked me about that. He asked me, "Are you happy here???" I wasn't sure what he meant...here at PV? Here in Little Rock? Turns out he just meant here in general...with my life...here, as a young, single person, living my life on my own. He mentioned that he would someday like to have a family. I agreed...I would love to have a family someday. But I also told him that I don't feel like I'm ready for that right now, I'm still working on me.

And until then, these Singles that I'm friends with...they are my family. True, we spend alot of our spare time together just hanging out. But we also get to spend alot of time together each week in Bible study, in prayer, and in service to others. That's why I couldn't ask for anything better--because despite all the busy-ness that I have going on, they help keep me focused on HIS business.

It's That Time Again!!!

2008-07-12T14:00:00.002-05:00

The car is loaded down and packed for camp!!!

Nearly every summer since I've been in college, I've had the privilege of counseling at the Jr. High week of a little church camp down on Lake Greeson, just outside of Daisy, AR. This year is no exception! We've got the same OUTSTANDING staff members that I am privileged to work with yet another year, and even more so, to call my brothers and sisters in Christ. We'll have some returning campers that I can't wait to see! And some new ones that I can't wait to meet!!!

I've been reading back over the blog I wrote about camp a little over a year ago, and the same sentiments still apply. I wrote, "Barton Bible Camp, owned by the Murfreesboro Church of Christ in Murfreesboro, AR, it is a rather small church camp down near Daisy, AR on the beautiful Lake Greeson. Not the most convenient place to be...it's pretty remotely located. Not the most relaxing place to be...if you know anything about junior high aged kiddos. Not the coolest place to be...and I mean "cool" in its more traditional usage...because last summer there was a thermometer that was in a shaded place and...no exaggeration...it read 104 degrees! Not the nicest campgrounds...I've been to much nicer facilities...you know, ones with air conditioning in all the buildings, not just the cabins; ones with swimming pools, rather than a lake which requires a 1/2 mile hike down a jagged, steep hill (which can be very dangerous in the dark, btw) just to baptize someone into Christ. And, frankly, now that I am no longer in college, my time is much more limited. There are no more summers off, and I could think of many other things I could be doing with my precious vacation time."

However, Barton Bible Camp is still absolutely my FAVORITE place to be, and this is still absolutely my FAVORITE week of the year!!! Our theme for the week is going to be "Live Above It" and which is taken from the verse Col. 3:2, "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." That's quite a challenge, to live in this world and not be of it, and I pray it's one that we can all strive to live up to as we try to set an example for these kiddos and try to teach them to press on toward that same goal.

Several prayers on my heart as I get ready for this year's camp:

I pray that God gives us all safe travel to and from our homes and camp.

I pray that it's not too insanely hot again, like it was two years ago.

I pray that God is glorified and that we are all brought closer to Him through praise, worship, fellowship, and helping to teach others more about Him.

Barton Bible Camp 2008 Here I Come!!!

Yes, I know...

2008-07-06T22:36:00.002-05:00

I know, it's been an ETERNITY since I've blogged.

Well, at least it feels like it to me, anyway.

See, the problem was, I had just finished reading William P. Young's The Shack in record time. It was just that good; I had difficulty putting it down. I really liked it, and planned on writing about it.

This was right before I read of the sad loss for our brother and Blog King, John Dobbs.

After that, I just didn't care much to continue with that course of action.

If you would like to read a good review of it, I recommend Patrick Mead's take on it. I pretty much agreed with his assessment of it--he didn't feel that it was very heavy-hitting in the area of dealing with tragedy. However, I will add that I did really like it for a different reason--I appreciated the way that it portrayed the Trinity, perhaps because that's just such a difficult concept for me to wrap my mathematical brain around. I understand that this book is fiction (which I normally don't read, actually) and I'm pretty sure that nobody (our author, included) really has a true grasp on the Trinity. Young, however, portrays our Godhead in a manner that requires one to think outside of the box. He definitely stretched my preconceived notions about Who God is, and that was good exercise for me.

A few weeks later, our own John Dobbs also reviewed The Shack. You can find his thoughts on it here.

That's all I've got for now. I leave this weekend to go counsel a week of church camp. Am TOTALLY EXCITED about that as always and will try to post more about that tomorrow.

Thanks for reading, much love!

Prayers for the Blog King

2008-05-21T22:38:00.002-05:00

Just a couple of weeks ago I posted on the one-year anniversary of my adventure in blogging. This adventure led me, just a couple of months ago, to the one that I am told is the Blog King, our brother John Dobbs.

It was a Sunday afternoon back in February when I happened by his blog, which I had probably visited only 5-10 times in the past year. But this Sunday afternoon, there was something different, a live video chat going on, that grabbed my attention.

That's how I "introduced" myself to John, and have been chatting/reading his blog since then.

Even after only "knowing" John these few short months, I can say that I am truly heartbroken after reading the tragic news that was posted on his blog this evening.

I have nothing else to say...only many tears and many prayers for my new friend John and his family.

If you read this, please do me a favor, and take a moment to lift up my friend John to our Father in prayer.