Kids Say The Darndest Things

At my church, we have four young boys who come to church without their parents. They don't all come every week but we usually have at least two. Well this week we had all four. Since they come without their parents they usually sit with me and I try to keep them in line. One of the little boys is only four so he has a really hard time staying focused through the sermon so I usually let him color. It works pretty well until he decides he wants to tell me something about his picture and he completely forgets he's in church so he speaks at full volume.
The message today in church was taken from Acts 15. This passage is the one about the Jews who started teaching that Christians must be circumcised in order to be saved. Then Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and James all testify to work that God has been doing among the uncircumcised gentiles disproving the claims of those Jews. Acts 15:1 says "And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." The speaker (an elder in our church not my dad, the pastor) said from the very beginning these Jews were wrong because the rules of circumcision were given not to Moses but to Abraham!

The little four-year-old looked up at me and I expected him to tell me something about fish being yellow or Jonah being all brown (his color choices). Instead, as he looked up at me his eyes got large and he said, "Abraham Lincoln?"

Sure Bud, God gave the rules of circumcision to Abraham Lincoln . . .

Transparency

Wow, it has been a week and a half since I posted anything! My dear little lappy, Miss Emma, was quite sick so I had to send her to California to be repaired, poor little thing (not that I actually think of my computer as anything more than an inanimate object, of course!). So I hooked up my old desktop so I would not get behind in schoolwork, and you know what?? That thing is slow! I ended up getting slightly behind in my schoolwork anyway, and there was no way I was getting a blog post up. Emma returned to me late afternoon on Monday, so my Monday evening and Tuesday were spent playing homework catch-up. Yesterday and today, I had classes and more homework. So anyway, that is why I have not posted anything . . . even though I have had several posts floating through my head these past several days.

So what does that have to do with transparency?? Nothing. Just a random picture of my life for your viewing - or, I should say, reading – pleasure.

So transparency. In church on Sundays, our ladies' Sunday School class has been doing Beth Moore's Bible study on Daniel. I did this study at the summer camp I work at back in 2007. It has been interesting to see the different things I pick up this time through, 3 years later. This week we were in Daniel 3; you know, the story of the 3 friends in the fiery furnace? Well the main point of her lesson was that there are three ways we can be delivered from "fiery trials." God can save us from the fire (avoiding it altogether), through the fire (bringing us safely to the other side), or He can use the fire to deliverer us from this world of sin right into His arms. This was the thing I noticed three years ago and it stuck with me. But this time something else struck me, and I think this will stick we me too.

Daniel 3:1a - Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its width six cubits (ninety feet high and nine feet wide). Now clearly, we are not going to go out and build a huge statue out of gold (though it would be impressive if we had the capability to, huh?). So Beth Moore posed the question, how are we image builders? I expected the cliché response that anytime we place some "thing" before God it becomes an idol for us. And while I believe that is true, that is not where she went with this. She took the stance that every time we present ourselves as something we are not, we are building an image.

Wow. Which one of us can say that we are completely real all the time? I do not think any of us could. Does that mean we should all spill are guts to everyone around us. No, I do not think it does. According to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, transparency means: the state of being free from pretense or deceit. Transparency does mean that we should not attempt to pretend we do not have flaws. We all have flaws, we all sin. Maybe that sin you have been hiding from the world, pretending does not exist, is exactly what one of your sisters is going through. Maybe they need to know they are not alone. Maybe they need to see you instead of the image of yourself you show to the world.

So, I am instating a "you ask (or share), I'll tell" policy for my life. Sure, I would like the whole world to think I am perfect –wouldn't we all? But I'm not. And I won't be this side of heaven. So wouldn't you join me in being just a little transparent?

101 Days

You remember when I blogged back in October about how my friend was getting married and I was the maid of honor?? Well, my friend is getting married and I'm the maid of honor!!! And she's getting married in 101 days! Crazy!
We (my mother, my friend and fellow bridesmaid, and I) met with Cherie and her mom to talk about planning her shower. It was kinda hard to do considering she was there, but we wanted her to know the date and things even if she didn't know the details, plus we rarely get to see each other any more, what with school taking up so much of our time and Justin taking up so much of hers :P
Anyway...... We. Are. Planning. Her. SHOWER! It's just now really sinking in that one of my best friends is getting married in a little over three months. Wow. I'm so happy for her :)

Feet to Wash and Shoes to Tie

Jesus washed the disciples' feet. We all know the story. We all say we know the meaning. But how do we, 21st "centurians," who don't live in middle eastern countries where people walk around in sandals and get their feet all dirty, incorporate this into our everyday lives? Certainly, even in America we have those people, myself being one of them, who wear flip-flops practically all year long which results in some pretty dirty feet. And yes, washing their feet would be pretty nasty. But in our modern world we don't really need people to wash our feet. We have showers for that, and they work just fine. So what is it that we're called to do? Because, while I appreciate the symbolism of foot washing (it's especially sweet in wedding ceremonies :P), I don't think God calls us to do something that is not needful to our world. I mean can you imagine the look on your neighbors face if you walked up to them and said you wanted to wash their feet?
So what can we do? How can we "foot wash" in the world surrounding us?
The Mennonite Confession of Faith says this in regards to foot washing "Those who follow Jesus are likewise called to let go of privilege and pride in order to love others more fully, even those who are hard to love. By this life of love, they show that they are cleansed and a part of Christ (John 13:8-10). Washing one another's feet is a way of expressing this commitment to follow Jesus in powerful, humble service."
Sometimes the way we express our "powerful, humble service" can make us feel just as dirty as we imagine the foot washing of Biblical times would. You know, those times we have to wash all the dishes from the church dinner, weed the church flowerbeds in the middle of summer, or *shudder* clean the puke off the church restroom floor.
But sometimes, the way we express this "powerful, humble service" is through something much simpler, much cleaner. Sometimes all we need to do is kneel down and tie a shoelace.
So maybe someday there will be a person in my life who needs their feet washed, literally. But until then, I have shoes to tie.

Be Inspired

*sigh* This makes me jealous, this make me drool, this makes me want to spend about $1,000 on organizing junk. Isn't that just sad!

For Real?

Are these people for real?? Would anyone actually do this????



I really hope you can all say that you would never do/have never done this!