Early Christmas for Knox

Becca and Keri, in their usual style, have abundantly blessed us with gifts for baby Knox! I took a picture of my favorites...you can see those below:

Please note the little rain boots. After unwrapping them, Justin set them next to all twelve of his pairs in the foyer. He was very proud! Knox' (I'm guessing that's how I will make my son's name plural...it would be good if I checked on that.) Anyway his middle name will be "Mack." This is after the Mack truck. Their mascot is the bulldog, hence all the little bulldogs on the shirts.

This is what my son will be named after. That's Justin, in a Mack truck. Secretly I love it, but I like to pick on Justin for naming our son after a piece of equipment. Now, for the one piece Becca and Keri sent that my son can never wear...."Bachelor" would be false advertisement. He is already married to his Mommy.

A Boy

I realized, I have not even written about the most exciting news our little family has heard in a while. Our baby is a boy, a son. My fingers are just now recovering (bones healing) from the squeeze Justin gave when they identified the proper equipment necessary to be a little man child. We are very happy. I will miss bows, glitter, ruffles, and lace, but there is still hope. Not of my boy wearing any of that, but of another baby one day.

After the announcement of the gender, we had to return to the waiting room until our doctor could see us for his appointment. Justin was talking 90 to nothing about all the experiences they were going to have, all the machines they were going to destroy, just so they could rebuild, all the forts he had intentions of building, and about all the "treasures" they would bring home to park in my yard. He was so happy. When I saw how happy he was and how much excitement he felt, bows and ribbons left my mind, ok, not completely, but miniature Cinch shirts and cowboy boots will be cute too!

My family is full of girls. Between my brothers and sisters, there are 6 granddaughters, and 0 grandsons. So, Justin knew the risk of running with me, before we got married. But come to find out the gender is completely determined by the Father. That works well for him, because his family is boy heavy. As the nurse explained how this works I thought about our heavenly Father. The Bible says we are made in the image of God, as a people, as a whole. How interesting that He modeled even this, after himself. Our identity is found in our earthly Father as a mirror to the way our identity is ultimately and truly found in our eternal Father.  Who He says we are, is who we are. Regardless of what we feel like, or act like. He's the authority not our feelings or the world or our friends or our family. No one else.

Galatians 1:10 says, " Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."

This verse can be troublesome for those of us who are people- pleasers, want everyone to be happy, or just desire to be liked. I think sometimes as a Christian it's a temptation to desire to "fit in" yet still be God's girl. Sometimes that coincidences well, because the world does still respect morals, general kindness and goodwill towards others. Yet, sometimes the world and the Word differ so radically there is a definite fork in the road and a decision must be made.Those are the moments that tend to be either extremely easy or extremely hard. Sometimes the world's way is so disgusting we don't think twice. Yet, others, it seems so easy that it beckons as a huge temptation. God knows. God understands. 

May your encouragement be, that you are His. And who He says you are, is ultimately who you are, even if you do not believe it. Strive to please Him alone. Even when you fail, He gets to say you are loved, cherished, redeemed, and forgiven-because you are His, and He decides who you are.

Now, back to browsing cowboy nursery decor. :)  

No longer 16

Today at lunch duty, a girl and a boy were fighting over a bag of Funions (those chips that taste like onions) and I dutifully asked them to stop. I threw in my own opinion and said, "Why would you want those things anyway, they are gross!" They immediately defended their position of complete devotion to their chip of choice. I told them that I had eaten so many as a young girl that I got burnt out on them. One turned to me dead serious shocked, "They've made Funions for that long?" First I said, "Huh??" Then I had to walk away.I guess even though I still feel 16. I am not. Ha. (I guess.)

Accepting Grace and "Coffee"

A couple of days ago, I needed a latte. Not just wanted one, needed one. Let me take that back, I needed a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Now, Hamilton is fresh out of pumpkin spice lattes (like forever).  To "get a latte" means you run down to the Cefco, grab your cup, choose your flavor and go for it. You get about a half cup of water before the latte wakes up and shows its beautiful face. But nonetheless, I knew it would satisfy my craving and be a special treat for that particular morning.

I ran in, grabbed my cup, chose my flavor, and headed to the cashier. She rang me up, and I swiped my card. The machine didn't read the card, so I swiped again, and again, and again. Then I switched sides and swiped again, and again, and again. (This latte was a need.) Then she tried the old plastic sack trick. Nothing. I was freaking out, because I knew I had no cash and had nothing to purchase the latte, which I needed, with.

Just as the last attempt failed, an older gentleman took his place in line behind me. I didn't want to keep him waiting, so I started to tell the clerk, "I'm so sorry I ruined a cup and made a latte, but I've got nothing to purchase it with" and then quickly leave my latte and the store. But just as I started, he said, "Put her coffee on mine." My first thought was "Oh no. He thinks it's a coffee, but it's a latte. That's a difference of at least seventy-five cents! I'm so embarrassed. Why did I HAVE to have the latte?!?" But what I said was, "Oh no, you don't have to do that." Without skipping a beat, he smiled and said, "Well you need that coffee, and you can't pay for it. So, I will. There have been times the machine wouldn't read my card either."

I was shocked, blessed, and getting a spiritual analogy all at the same time. I quickly said, "Thank you so much!"- then ran out the door with my latte so I didn't have to experience the shame of my $1.50 "coffee." The older generation can't seem to fathom paying more than thirty cents for a cup. Or maybe that's just my Daddy. I was so glad he wasn't covering me at Starbucks.

So, I got in my truck and thought about the perfect parallel between he and my Father. I needed restoration from sin, and there was no possible way I could pay it. No matter how many times I tried/swiped, my actions/card weren't enough. God had to pay it, or else it wasn't gonna get paid. I was so blessed by that man buying my coffee, I couldn't get over it. I made sure I took a mental snap shot of his pick-up so I could describe it to Justin, and see if he happened to know him. All this, over a buck fifty coffee. It was a wonderful gesture, but how minuet it was compared to the sacrifice of His Son. I couldn't thank the man enough, but there are days I forget to thank God. Yet, no condemnation, because He already paid for even my selfishness/lack of gratitude. I just want to be better at being thankful and grasping what He gave and paid for. Honestly, it is hard to grasp an eternal reality when you can not see, touch, or experience it immediately, as you can a cup of coffee. But one day, when we do...Oh the joy!

The flip side, is how easily I accepted the coffee, but struggle with accepting His gift of grace. I enjoyed my coffee, and didn't worry for the remainder of the day, "Gosh, how am I going to ever pay for this coffee." I knew it had been paid for and was good with that. I long to accept grace in this way, but my sense of pride encourages me to find something I can do, even if it is just a small payment. But Truth says, I am incapable of even a payment, because the payer must be totally perfect, and I can't help myself one bit on that one! The fact I struggle with the acceptance of grace, gives me hope, that maybe to some degree, I do recognize the magnitude of the sacrifice.

If any of this makes any sense to you at all, I am glad. Look for Him, trying to reveal Himself to you, in everyday experiences. It is His good pleasure to do so, and our unmeasurable gain.

The Benefit of Doubt

I did not write this, but found it on a blog a couple days ago. I loved it and sent it on to several of my friends. It is powerfully written and true to the heart. A bit convicting as well- but even conviction is beautiful, right?? It's communication with our Father. At least we know He is still speaking to us in our spirit.

The Benefit of Doubt

If there were ever a group of people who should second guess their impulsive judgments about others it should be Christ followers. We know what forgiveness is. We know we are not enemies. We know all of us have something to learn. We know all of us are flawed. We know the "ideal self" is myth. We know none of us sees things clearly. We know everyone is a critic and everyone has a critic. We know people love to talk about everyone's failures but their own. We know pride is nothing more than an elaborate cover-up for our insecurities. We know evil runs through every single one of us. We know God will finish what He started. And, most of all, we know Christ.

Of course, it's hard to extend the benefit of the doubt when you're licking your wounds. I'd rather operate with the assurance that I know what I saw, I know what I heard, I know what I felt. It's hard to argue with me when I'm talking about myself. But, then, I think of him. And, how he said, "father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing." The ultimate benefit of the doubt.

Maybe next time I'll say to myself, "he didn't mean it, and, even if he did, I don't know." Sure will save me a lot of grief. Rummaging through past hurts and sorting out possible motives only contributes to my delusion of certainty. Instead, I should live with the benefit of doubt.

Posted by Rodney Reeves at 2:32 PM

Readings

I have not written lately, but I have been obssessed with reading. I think because it is an activity I can complete from my bed or the bath tub, while sipping 7-Up. Those have been my two favorite hot spots lately. I have read several pieces that spoke so loudly to my heart, that it seemed the Lord was leaning down into my ear. I want to share several of them with you over the next couple of days.

 

The first writing I wanted to share comes from Streams in the Desert, which is one of my most favorite books for times you need a little encouragement. This  speaks so much to me, because it is reinforcement encouraging us to be us, in Christ. It frees us up to realize that who we were created to be in Him, is exactly who He wanted. We can release ourselves from pressure to be anyone but us. That is, afterall, how and where we will be the most effective.

 

                                                 Learning to be Content-Streams in the Desert

 

A story is told of a king who went into his garden one morning, and founde vertyhing withered and dying. He asked the oak that stood near the gate what the trouble was. He found it was sick oflife and etermined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine.

 

The pine was all out of heart because it could not bear grapes, like the vine. The vine was going to throw its life aways because it could not stand erect and have as fine fruit as the peach tree. The geranium was fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac; and so on all through the garden.

 

Coming to a heart's-ease, he found its bright face lifted as cheery as ever. "Well, heart's-ease, I'm glad amidst all this discouragement, to find one brave little flower. You do not seem to be the least disheartened." "No, I am not of much account, but I thought that if you wanted an oak, or a pine, or a peach tree, or a lilac, you would have planted one; but as I knew you wanted a heart's-ease, I am determined to be the best little heart's-ease that I can be."

Baby On the Way!

Justin and I have exciting news. Most of you have heard, and actually we are still procesing it ourselves, but we are Pregnant! We are very excited and feel so blessed. We realize what a divine opportunity this is, and what a charge from God we have been given. We accept it with arms wide open and can not wait to see what the Lord does in our little family. We are due April 22nd, and should find out around the first of December whether we will buy pink boots or blue. We ask for and so appreciate your prayers for our family as we make these preparations, and of course for a healthy and strong baby!