More and Less

During my study of Samuel this morning , I think God has revealed a truth that may escort me through this new phase of parenting that I find myself in.

When Samuel died, there was no big event commemorating his life. Scripture just say "he died...he was buried". Some mourning is recorded, but for a man of God who loved his people all his life; who prayed for them, taught them, interceded for them, a simple "he died" seems, oh....so ordinary. But then the author of this study pointed me to
John 3: 22-36. Some of John the Baptist's disciples were questioning why people were now turning to Jesus for baptism instead of him. John's answer was simple and to the point: "He must become greater. I must become less."

That struck me since I just had a conversation with one of those 3 that I love, pray, teach and intercede for. In order for God to become to them what He is to me, I must decrease. There is a point where there can be no one standing between them and God. Not even me. Wow. And if you get to the bottom of my heart, my prayer for them is and has been that they would know God in the way that I know Him....with no one standing in the way.

I'm on it. Thanks, God, for your unending attention to the details.

It Happened on the Mound

Funny thing, LIFE.

As I spent the day in Kansas watching softball in 35 degree weather, maybe it was 40 but it was still cold. I wonder why I would do such a thing....drive 5 hours by myself to a rather, oh, dreary looking town from what I can see....to stay in a hotel that, well, let's just say isn't one I would have chosen myself, but then that is a whole new post. And then to sit outside for about 4 hours clothed in layers and wrapped from head to toe in a queen size very thick bedspread to watch what normal people would call a summer sport. The answer became very clear when I realized that I had watch the young woman on the mound grow up on the mound. I was astounded to realize what has happened to her over the years. Yes. She has grown up. So smart and so strong...both physically and spiritually, so full of and the desire to do the right things; wanting to grow up but knowing that means facing a lot of unknowns.

Funny thing, LIFE.

As I spent the day in Kansas watching softball in 35 degree weather, maybe it was 40 but it was still cold. I wonder why I would do such a thing....drive 5 hours by myself to a rather, oh, dreary looking town from what I can see....to stay in a hotel that, well, let's just say isn't one I would have chosen myself, but then that is a whole new post. And then to sit outside for about 4 hours clothed in layers and wrapped from head to toe. And in the same 24 hours I got a phone call from my first born as she and her fiancee were, if you can believe it, stealing hidden Easter eggs from an anticipated hunt...they were laughing and ribbing each other....it was the neatest thing to see her stepping into the next phase of her life with a young man that we could not have special ordered any better for her. (Not that I was necessarily proud of her for stealing Easter eggs....they did check out the hunt and it was for adults and they were going to pay the fee and join in legally.) In the same 24 hours I was praying for my son, who at 19 (well, he'll be 20 in a few weeks) was giving a message at our church service....WOW.

LIFE .

It seems to have passed so quickly. Not that it's over by any means. We still have college graduations and weddings and grandchildren to love if God wills it so. But I can't help but stop today and think about my life. The trials and the blessings. Hmmm...sometimes those have butted up next to each other.
I don't really know that I have any place to go with this. I'm sitting in dark hotel room. The tv is off. The air conditioner is on. Steph is asleep. Good friends are playing washers out in the atrium in front of my room. And oh, I just signed up for Facebook and had a tutorial from Steph on how to maneuver things there. Why? I guess it's just LIFE. Will I spend much time on Facebook? I seriously doubt it. But it did give me an hour or so of undivided time with my daughter. It did give us cause to laugh. And I did get to "poke" Zachary. I'm pretty sure that gave him a laugh. I got to post pictures in an album labeled "My Fam-the people I love most" for all my friends to see.

Is that what living life to the fullest is? Is that part of the abundant life Jesus promised me? Facebook? Washers? Softball? Friends? Laughter? Sons? Daughters? Spouses? Tonight I think so.

My LIFE is good. The blessing are too numerous to count.

A "Touchy" Subject

OK. so here's one for you.

For the past week or so, I've had...motivation to dive into the Word about sex. Outside of and in marriage. The authors have a strange way of talking about the same act in different contexts...with different words....then English translations have their own set of words for different accounts...it was all pretty confusing. I have spent hours doing word searches, verse comparisons, word comparisons....language comparisons, like Hebrew and Greek, then Hebrew and English, then Greek and English. And even English and English! My notebook is filled with definitions and random thoughts (some of them possibly not so random as they seemed). It's loaded with word searches and comparisons till I finally got to the place that if I had to try to find something in my notes I would need a GPS to find it!


After all my searching I would like to tell you that I had discovered THE verse that answered my questions but this is what I actually came away with. I hope readers will find it as interesting a thought as I did.

• First of all, Satan is crafty. Way craftier than we give him credit for, I'm afraid.


• Secondly, God, in His infinite wisdom created sex for not only our pleasure but as a binding agent. It's what makes two one...and mystery that we don't understand.


• third...that marriage, where 2 are mysteriously intertwined as one by the act of sexual intercourse, is in fact the intended reflection of Christ and His Church.

So my thoughts are this...Satan's attempt at disarming that which was intended to reflect God is his main focus. His main objective would then be to reduce sex to a base need of man...a menial part of our existence. Even a recreation.

I spoke earlier of Satan's craftiness. And here is where my winning thought of the day comes in. When we are young (especially today, in our society where the truth has been so whitewashed if not blotted out) Satan convinces us that our value is dependent on our attraction to and by the opposite sex, and it comes in various forms:

• you're not a man if you haven't had sex


• no boy is going to date you if you don't "put out"


• you must have sex with him if you intend to keep him


• you're value as "one of the guys" is how many girls you've slept with

I'm sure you could come up with some of your own.

Then as a married couple the lies come at us in these forms:

• she's says she has a headache because she's really not interested in you any longer


• the grass is greener on the other side of the fence


• if he really loved me he would care more about my needs


• all he wants me for is sex

Again, you could probably add to the list.

Then there are the lies that Satan aims at those who may have lived a particularly promiscuous life:

• You are used


• who would want to be with you


• you'll never find a man to love you with your past

and I think maybe those thoughts are aimed mainly at women....I haven't had much conversation with men about their sex lives. :)

so this is what I put together about Satan's craftiness that we just seem to miss.

He has convinced us that we aren't desirable if we don't have sex outside of marriage...the marriage bed sucks (pardon my language)...and if you've had sex outside of marriage you aren't worthy. Wow. Has he got the wool pulled over our eyes! I was dumbfounded with the level of darkness he has covered us in. Are we that stupid that we aren't putting the pieces together? How can a person be undesirable if they don't have sex and that same person be used if they do???? Think about it.