Last night at youth group, I get up to preach.
Me - "Guys, we're gonna do things a little different tonight...."
The Witty Kid - "we ARE different."

Afterwards, I'm having a conversation with someone and all of the sudden the room seems to get louder. Like alot louder than the normal state of loudness. I turn around and there's the youth guys holding The Crazy Kid and putting him in a huge trash can!!!
"What are you doing?!"
The guys stop and try to look innocent.
"Put him down!" I demand.
Instantly, they drop The Crazy Kid on the floor.

And don't think the girls are devoid of craziness...
Yesterday happened to be the Wednesday that we celebrate birthdays for the month. The girls just had to find out how long it would take to burn the birthday candles down to nothing. I don't know the exact timing, but afterwards, there were three bluish puddles on a brownie. They all were like, "Cooool!" (it's the simple things...)

My confession: I did laugh at all of the above. Youth ministry is fun!! Especially because through it all, we managed to pray for personal revival, our brothers & sisters in the Body, and the salvation of souls. We worshipped Christ with singing. We testified about God's revelation to us and His working in our daily lives, were a little convicted and a little encouraged, and answered the question, "What is it about anyway?"

I hate ice. I hate it with a hatred normally reserved for fish eyes, horror movies and the teachings of Calvinism. Black ice, grey ice, clear ice-it doesn't matter. I hate it all!! Yesterday I chipped ice off of the windshield of my car, thinking, "this is annoying." And then I started on my merry way in my journey to work. Most of you know that I drive to work in the early morning hours, when it's still pitch black outside. Reality set in quickly.... this was not gonna be a fun drive. Inching ever-so-slowly, I made my way down the mountain. I stopped several times to consider walking back up the mountain and getting The Little Bro to help, but I didn't think he could do anything and even stepping out of the car was treacherous. The road was solid ice. I drove hugging the right side, praying fervently for God's protection. As I came to the steepest and most dangerous part of the road, my neighbor walked up the beside my car. Just to clue you in on the intensity of this drive, she was crying and shaking. There wasn't anything she could do to help, as the chains from her SUV wouldn't fit on my car. But she did walk beside the car as I drove down the remainder of the mountain. It is true-God is "a very present help in time of trouble." The drive that usually takes 5 minutes had taken 35 minutes. But I was alive! Praise the Lord!

When I came home last night, The Little Bro was waiting at the bottom of the mountain to escort me on the 4-wheeler. In the driving rain. That was SCARY. (mostly because he was driving and I couldn't see the road in the rain, so I had to trust him completely!) But at least, he brought me coveralls so I wasn't too soaked by the time I got home. Woohoo!

I know, I know---now I have completely ruined any chance of my friends coming to visit Hidden Haven in the wintertime. But really, it's usually not the bad! Even the snow is lovely and nice for driving (most of the time). But the ice. Wow, I hate ice.


PS-Many thanks to my friends who offered me a place to stay last night and called to make sure I got home okay. I really, really appreciate your love & concern!!!

"Where we most often sin in our desire for marriage is not in worshiping marriage itself, but in doubting God's ability to bring it about."
-Candice Watters

“If I had my way, I would declare a moratorium on public preaching of ‘the plan of salvation’ in America for one to two years. Then I would call on everyone who has use of the airways and the pulpits to preach the holiness of God, the righteousness of God and the law of God, until sinners would cry out, ‘What must we do to be saved?’ Then I would take them off in a corner and whisper the gospel to them. Such drastic action is needed because we have gospel-hardened a generation of sinners by telling them how to be saved before they have any understanding why they need to be saved.”
-Paris Reidhead

"Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God."
-Jim Elliot

On Sunday, I had the pleasure of spending time with extended family. Except they're not really *my* extended family. They are my sis's in-laws. What that means to me, I have no idea! But anyway, there's two adorable little boys that I'm going to call The Nephews-In-Law. :) They romp and smile and run and jump and just look angelic through it all. It was like DOUBLE the family, double the fun! :)

Good times:
-Reading the "moon book" (book with a light-up moon) 7 times!
-Making a salad and offering the older Nephew-In-Law a carrot. "I only like the red ones."
-The sweet smile of the little Nephew-In-Law.
-Sitting by the blazing fire and the older Nephew-In-Law's very-serious comment, "They need to turn the lightning off!"
-"Drinking" countless imaginary smoothies from the play kitchen.
-The Nephews-In-Law's hilarious romping. Only boys have the innate drive to do painful things and laugh about them. What a rough-and-tumble bunch!
-Sharing my salad during lunch.
-The Little Lady Baby falling asleep in my arms.
-Laughing at thrown utensils. (I can do that because I'm an auntie, not a mommy!)

4. I am resolved, to find no task less important than another if God has required it of me, and to do each task for His glory. (Col. 3:23)

5. I am resolved to care for my body as the sacred temple of God. (1 Cor. 6:19-20)

The Good News: My tropical pet bird is still alive in spite of the crazy cold snap we just endured. We were not at home all day yesterday and I was really worried. But he's chirping and happy. The bird doesn't know how close he came to being a colorful skin on The Little Bro's wall.

The Bad News: My football team lost the NFC title game in overtime last night. Very sad, but nobody figured that Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers would make it so far this season. I will not cry about football... :)

We're going to the Dominican Republic this summer! That means *I* am going to the Dominican Republic! I am so excited that I almost can't stand it. I spent the last 2 weeks trying to pull together basic travel information for the missions team. That was fun! For me personally, it's a good thing my passport is updated. Onward to the doctor for immunizations (typhoid, oh yeah!). And emailing a hundred million questions to our missionaries... or it seems like that many. Haha.

I spent a little time tonight working on my Mexico scrapbook. It's been a year and a half since I went to Mexico. It feels like yesterday and eternity all at the same time. Yesterday because the memories come so clearly. And eternity because so much has happened and changed since then. *sigh* The Mexico trip was one of testing for me.

Today, I found a Filipino peso that an orphan gave me when we went to the Philippines in 2000. Now that was a trip that changed my life. Mission trips do have a way of doing something to people. Maybe it gives perspective, or pulls us out of our comfort zones, or shows us the Church is not limited by America's borders.

For me, I breathed deeply of the tropical breezes and looked in the dark Filipino faces... and I saw Christ. I saw His love through my fellow Christians. I held the babies with no mothers, and did not forbid the children to come to Him. I worshipped Jesus with ones who sang in a different language. I taught about Him in a hut with a dirt floor. And one hot July night, I looked out into a field filled with people and saw that Christ loved them... and so He died.

Amazing love,
How can it be?
That You, my King, would die for me.
Amazing love,
I know it's true
It's my joy to honor You
In all I do, I honor You.

1. I am resolved to treat each person I know as if they have never wronged me. (I Cor. 13:5)

2. I am resolved, when confronted by a difficult situation, to pray, rather than vent, ramble or be internally frustrated. (Phil. 4:6)

3. I am resolved to study the Word as if seeing Christ Himself, because I am! (John 1:1)

Alot of people make New Year's resolutions around this time. And it's usually a big joke. Because instead of "resolving" to do something, people wish for it. The resolutions are always ridiculous and implausible. Like "I'm gonna lose 50 pounds in 3 months! Or, this year I'm gonna be fluent in French!" (I'm pretty sure it's impossible to be fluent in a language in one year without complete immersion.) People make these resolutions without an action plan or a way to make that resolution occur. Then they are surprised when nothing happens. Hmmm.

I make New Year's goals. Not resolutions. GOALS. I'm not gonna write out my goals here because there's no reason to make them public. Those closest to me know what I'm striving to attain this year, and will undoubted remind me of it often. And that's a good thing!

However, I've been thinking about real, non-flippant resolutions. And I was reminded of the Resolutions of Jonathon Edwards. At age 19, over the course of one year, he wrote 70 resolutions by which he governed his life. Inspiring, convicting and amazingly thorough. They are far beyond anything I could write. So here they are:
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/2007/1924_The_Resolutions_of_Jonathan_Edwards/

More to come on this subject....

Vortex: A state of affairs likened to a whirlpool for violent activity, irresistible force, etc. Something regarded as drawing into its powerful current everything that surrounds it. And other irrelevant definitions.

See-if you read this blog, you get smarter! Carrots make you smarter, too. And chocolate. Well, maybe that's just wishful thinking...

Anyway, My vortex is Life. To help me deal with this vortex, I have Franklin. Franklin and I have regular meetings, in which I challenge myself with prioritized to-do lists, weekly tasks and monthly goals. Franklin is my trusty dayplanner. He's a book, not a person, which makes things easier since I carry him everywhere. Sometimes I ignore him, and then my accomplishments disappear into the endless sands of time. Usually though, I bring him out at lunchtime and we chat for a few minutes. I find slightly crumpled yellow post-it notes in my purse and transfer the information to the ever-increasing lists. Because I don't remember things very well (too much on the brain), we gotta write it all down. :) Franklin keeps me organized and relatively productive....

And yet, sometimes I don't like him. He's so demanding and unyielding. Sometimes he forgets that people are more important that accomplishments. Sometimes he insists that time does not stop for me, and implies that empty time is wasted time. Sometimes he mocks me with the little arrow that must be written beside an unfinished or unstarted task. He's unfeeling when the unexpected visitor drops by. He's ignorant of time needed to build relationships without an agenda. He doesn't understand studying without finishing a book, walking without a destination or taking a nap. Sometimes he becomes my enemy, rather than my servant.

Then again, maybe I'm being a little harsh with my dayplanner. He's just a book after all. Maybe I'm really just fighting the tendencies of my flesh-when it wants to avoid that which the Word commands because these things don't give immediate gratification. You might not consider the little checkmark in a dayplanner as gratification, but I definitely do!

You see, my Dear Little Franklin doesn't give me recognition when I do the "non-negotiables" - things that I should do without planning, in obedience to God, because they're just that important. Things I don't put on the To Do list because the point is time spent, not things accomplished. Like time in prayer and study of the Word. And time with the family. And healthy food, adequate rest, moderate exercise. But Franklin only knows success based on external accomplishments.

Life is crazy. Wisdom is knowing how to use the DLF without losing sight of The Main Thing. Wisdom is planning with the purpose of pleasing God. Wisdom knows that if the non-negotiables are consistently my priority, I am a ready and willing vessel to be used by the Master. With non-negotiables (personal disciplines), the light of Christ can shine clearly through my life.

Last Thursday, I read an article about the Quadrantid meteor shower. If you're interested in particulars, you can see it here http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22488764/. I might consider myself an amateur star-gazer. Even "amateur" might be a stretch. Though I'm fascinated with a starry sky, I can only recognize three constellations and the moon!

On Thursday night, I determined that there was no way I was getting up in the middle of the night to look for shooting stars. Sleep is precious to me-what can I say? The thoughts must've got into my brain, because I had a rather violent dream about watching the meteor shower. It was so violent that in the morning (it's still dark when I get up), it took 5 minutes to convince myself that it was safe to leave the house. :) Haha, dreams are straaaaange!

Anyway, since it was an hour after moonrise and towards the end of the meteor shower, I really wasn't expecting much of a show. Imagine my surprise when the total shooting stars I observed were 7 in 10 minutes!! Rockin' awesome!

Now don't you wish you lived on a mountaintop? :)

Things I hate (in varying degrees):
Modern-style furnishings/decor
Redheads wearing pink
People telling the joke’s punchline instead of letting the joker tell it.
White chocolate
Stereotyping, especially the word "hick"
Divorce
Mayonnaise
Someone talking to me while I’m on the phone
Lies
All white rooms
Drunkenness
Being wrong
Vague conversations
Winter without snow
People who lack conviction
The horrors of hell

Things I love (in varying degrees):
Stacks and stacks of old books
A clear, starry sky
Flickering firelight
People who are passionate
Steaming hot cocoa on a cold evening
Reaching the mountaintop during a hike
Psalm 119
Silence
Matching clothes
"Supper" with the family
Brilliant-colored eyes
Moments on earth that remind me of paradise
The moment I step outside after 8 hours in an office
Summertime
Hilariously lame jokes
Dark chocolate
A debate without malice
The promise of Heaven

The thoughts assaulted my mind, like tiny arrows in my skin. Was it only yesterday that I cried out to the Lord for forgiveness? That I remembered His righteousness? That I spoke of His mercy? The storm of temptation rose again--a hurricane of fleshly desires rushing, rushing, rushing to beat on this temple of God. But I couldn't give in! There was too much to lose. Too much--His precious presence, His nearness. It was worth too much.

Waves of self-justification flooded my mind. It's not that bad. It's not really sin. Nobody knows. You'll feel better-just give in for a moment. No!! I just cannot sin against my God. Forcefully, I turn my thoughts to the prayers I prayed earlier. I had been crying out for grace to overcome. I had felt His presence and knew He was faithful to perform His promise.

Grace! My heart was desperate for that power to stand firm, to continue, to stay the path of holiness. And as quickly as my heart could speak, I realized-the grace of God was already upon me. The escape became obvious. Peace flooded this heart and I did not sin. Thanks be to the Lord!

"No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it."
I Cor. 10:13
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Temptation. Something that all face and few overcome. Temptation is the prelude to sin, but let me be clear, temptation is not sin. A pastor once told me that a bird could land on your head, and that is not your fault. But if that bird builds a nest on your head, it is your fault! Temptation is similar. Tempting thoughts are not wrong and not sinful. But we must flee from them and banish them from our minds! Otherwise, we will be led into sin. We must fight to win this inner war!

"Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Mark 14:38