Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a joyful Christmas and

good times with family and friends.

The people walking in darkness

have seen a great light;

on those living in the land

of the shadow of death

a light has dawned...

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be

on his shoulders.

And He will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:2,6

What I'm thinking about today...

God is not disillusioned with you, because He had no illusions about you in the first place.

- quoted from "He Loves Me" by Wayne Jacobsen

21 Years

You know, I can remember saying more than once that I would NEVER get married around Christmas. It's just too crazy of a time and then you never get to celebrate your anniversary because it gets lost in the busyness of the season. Kinda like those people who have birthdays right around Christmas. I always feel sorry for them -- all your presents coming at one time of the year. ;-)

So, what did I end up doing? I got married a week before Christmas. And I had green (ok, teal) bridesmaids dresses and red roses -- and poinsettias for decorations. So much for shunning the idea of getting married at Christmas. ha So ever since then, it's definitely been a struggle to find time to actually do anything for our anniversaries through the years. To illustrate this fact, when I told Mackenzie that her dad and I were going out for our anniversary on Friday night, she said, "Wow, last year was your 20th Anniversary -- did y'all ever even do anything for that?" Uh.... well, no. We meant to -- and kept saying we were going to... but like I said, the time comes and goes so fast, sometimes it just doesn't happen. So, the good news is that we had a very nice night out last night, so maybe this is a good sign for future anniversary celebrations. :-)

Anyway, I just thought I'd take a moment and share a couple of "Then" and "Now" pictures - one of my favorites from our wedding and then a picture of us before we went out Friday night. It seems hard for me to believe that we've been married for 21 years -- in just 3 more years, we'll have reached that point of being married as long as we haven't been married... wow. But I'm very grateful to have shared these years with such a generous, kind, patient and forgiving man as my husband is. I'm truly blessed. :-)

Every Year It's Something....

...and I can only hope that this year's 'something' is done and nothing else unexpected is going to happen. I'm talking about 'Fruit Sale Stories.' My friend who helps me with this crazy fundraiser reminded me last night that I told her last year that some fiasco happens every year with fruit sales so that I always have stories to tell. :-)

So here's my story.... I was called on Friday of last week and told that our fruit would be arriving first thing Wed. morning -- at 8:30am. "You are the first delivery of the day, so the truck should be right on time!" Well, that's what they told us last year and it was 2 hours late... that should have made me suspect, but no, ever the eternal optimist about these sorts of things, I was sure we'd being seeing a fruit delivery truck at 8:30am on Wed. So I started sending emails and making calls for volunteers to help unload -- making pleas to strong men to please come and help us unload these boxes of fruit! People were emailing back and calling to say they'd be there.... all was right with the world. ;-)

So Sunday afternoon, my mother-in-law, Louise, arrived for a visit to see both Anna and Mackenzie's Christmas band concerts. Well, most of Monday she spent watching me field phone calls about band uniforms and getting things organized for Anna's concert on Monday night and baking goodies to bring for the reception afterwards... then the night was spent at the concert. Tuesday, we planned to spend some fun time shopping and just enjoying the day before Mackenzie's concert on Tuesday night. Well.... we started over the mountain on our shopping trip and just about as we got to Target, my phone rang. It was the school. Our very sweet and helpful and always cheerful receptionist at school (Pam) was calling to tell me that the fruit truck was in Albertville and would be at the school within the hour, ready to unload. WHAT!?!?!?!?!

So I turned the car around, ran home and ate a quick sandwich, changed clothes, apoligized to Louise for having to abandon her and our plans for the afternoon, and ran to school. And then spent the next 2 hours unloading a truck full of fruit with the band director and several very eager (and sometimes even helpful - ha) middle school boys. They were happy to get out of class and the principal rewarded them with a soda for their efforts. :-) There was no time to get any other help -- the one mom I called didn't get my message until 4:30. But why ruin anyone else's day, right? And it all got done... it always does somehow. We even managed to get the big 18-wheeler that was blocking the path of the school busses out of the way and back on the road, just in time for school to let out. Whew.

I won't recount the rest of the day from there, but it didn't slow down any, at all... but as I settled from the initial frustration and adrenaline rush of the crisis that was now behind me, I realized that really we had a nice afternoon, as far as weather was concerned, to unload the truck. This morning wouldn't have been nearly so nice.... and several people no longer had to go out of their way (including me!) to be at school first thing this morning. So I said a little prayer and thanked God for the seeming 'inconvenient' things that happen that often times have a silver lining to them. :-)

Now I'm on my way BACK to school (actually, for the 3rd time today) to go and spend the rest of the day getting the fruit handed off to parents. Wonder if there are any more 'stories' to come of my afternoon? Uh.... hopefully nothing worth writing about. ;-)

Living Less Loved

I finished reading The Shack this past weekend and it is such a good book! The characterization of God has really helped my ‘imagination’ and how I think about God. It also did a lot to help me see how much God just wants to love me and how much He’s done to show me that. At the same time I ordered The Shack, I also got a book called “He Loves Me!” which was written by Wayne Jacobsen who helped with the writing of The Shack. The following excerpt, which is very long but I think worth reading, is from He Loves Me. The author is writing about the story of the Prodigal Son – which he really thinks should be titled the Parable of the Incredible Father! :-)

Living Less Loved

In this incredible story, when do you think the father loved his son the most?
Every time I share this story I ask people that question. Almost always the first answer is the moment where the father met the son on the road. After a bit more thought, however, some suggest it might be when the father gave him his inheritance and let him go. Only then does it become clear: there is no point in the story where the father loves his son more than at any other point. He loved him completely through the whole process. It is the only constant in the story.
The events in this story cannot be accounted for by the varying love of the father – only the varying perception of it by the son. Though he was not less loved at any point in the story, through most of it he lived as if he were.
When he took the money from his father and stormed off the farm, grateful to be out from under the clutches and free to pursue his own way, he lived less loved.
When he spent his money in a foreign land, wasting it on his own pleasures and thinking he’d finally fooled his father, he lived less loved.
Even when he started for home, practicing his plea of repentance, willing to be a slave, he lived less loved.
But finally, when he was home in the robe, the sandals, and the ring, sitting at his father’s table, sinking his teeth into the filet mignon, it finally sank in. He was loved. But he always was! It was just that then he could stop living as if he weren’t.
Most of our lives are spent living less loved.
When we worry that God will ask us for some horrible sacrifice, we live less loved.
When we indulge ourselves in sin, we live less loved.
When we give in to anxiety in the crush of our circumstances, we live less loved.
Even when we get caught up in religious obligations to make ourselves acceptable to Him, we live less loved.
That is the story of the older brother. At the end of the story he was so angry at his father for welcoming his wayward brother home, he refused to come to the house and join the celebrations. He had stayed with his father, never pursuing his own aims, but he still missed out on the relationship his father wanted with him. Though a son, he saw himself only as a slave and every request of his father as an onerous chore.
The first son represents those who run from God by indulging their own selfish pursuits; the older son represents those who work hard to impress God with their commitment. Fearful of the consequences of disappointing God, they slave away for him. But they never come to the depth of relationship the Father wants with them. The Pharisees in Jesus’ day were like that, as are many people today who are caught up in a host of religious activities but miss out on what it really means to live in the Father’s love.
In the long run it doesn’t matter whether rebellion or religion keeps you from a vibrant relationship with the Father; the result is still the same. He is cheated out of the relationship he wants with you, and you never come to know how he feels about you.
Jesus ended the story at an interesting point. The younger son was in the house enjoying his newfound relationship with his father. The older son was still outside weighing his options. Would he come to know just how much he was loved and join the celebration, or would he remain convinced of his father’s unfairness and stay angry and alone outside?
The choice was his – and it is yours! Everything about your life hinges on the answer to one simple question: Do you know how loved you really are?
Isn’t it about time you found out?

“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” EPH 3:17-19

One final thing: There’s a line in ‘The Shack’ that I really, really like that seems to me to show the attitude that the father had in this story – and that God has towards us when we’ve been in the ‘pig pen.’ This is “God” talking:

“I don’t need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It’s not my purpose to punish it; it’s my joy to cure it.”

And all I can say is, Amen to that. :-)