Thursday, April 19, 2012

tangled

the following took place before/during our 10:00 showing of Tangled this morning...


"Mommy, can we just skip the beginning and go to the song when she’s cleaning?"

Ow! That’s why you don’t do that in the house!  (Commentary on Rapunzel swinging her frying pan)

After Mother Gothel left for her trip… “Now we need to see what Eugene is up to in that closet.”

Good thing he’s kind to everyone he meets. (when Eugene is flirting with Rapunzel)


(If you are familiar with the movie, you know we didn't get too far into it before she had finished her cereal and headed up to her room to play)

Sunday, April 15, 2012

God Loves Broken People {Book Review}

God Loves Broken People
(and those who pretend they're not)
by Sheila Wash



About the Book
Readers encounter a new message about God's redemptive plan for their failures and shortcomings.

One bite of forbidden fruit is all it took to send humanity reeling from God. What Sheila Walsh unveils in God Loves Broken People is that God had a divine plan even then that is hidden underneath our pain and mistakes. God intends to wield our failures, our wanderings, and the deep hurt of our lives not only to drive us toward him but also to give us a deeper experience of his grace and healing power.

So many people, Christians and non-Christians alike, look at their wounds and sense that they are somehow beyond repair, that their moments of weakness make them spiritually defective. In this powerful book full of deep biblical teaching, Walsh encourages readers with God's truth that he is not done with them yet, that he can and will redeem their failures to create a deeper intimacy with him and accomplish his kingdom purposes.

Everyone has messed up somehow, sometime. For anyone who is not able to move beyond and experience the deep love and grace of God, they need God Loves Broken People.

My Thoughts
The last six months God has been bringing up this topic or theme of brokenness in my life.  Over and over again.  Brokenness--a gift to be stewarded.  It can either bring us to a place of authentic humility and complete dependence on God, or we can use it as a means to rationalize/justify our sin.  Well, that's about as far as I've been able to articulate it.  Then I read this book.

Sheila Walsh was able to put into words--into sentences on a page--many thoughts, truths, and realities that I've not yet been able to accomplish on my own.  She includes many Scripture references, book excerpts, and personal illustrations that for the most part I found very helpful in the overall flow of the book.  On page 106 she states, "God wants to bring rare, unexpected treasures out of your days of suffering, things that the easy way simply cannot bring."  So true.

BookSneeze® has provided you with a complimentary copy of this book

Friday, April 13, 2012

house rules

At our house we have a rule:  Daddy always wins.

Jackson was fighting Daddy while getting his diaper changed.  John succeeded and asked, "Jackson, who always wins?"  To which he responded, "Mama?"

Daddy glared at Jackson, who had a blank look on his face while muttering, "Da-da."

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

aspiring...

emma just tucked a crayon behind her ear and said, "huh, now you know that i'm an artist!"

Sunday, April 8, 2012

the bestest

Mama:  Emma, do you know that you have the best daddy you could ever have?

Emma:  Well, actually.... I have the best daddy anyone could have!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

A good Friday

Recently, I was asked to fill out a survey. I was to ask three friends what they thought my "passion" or my desire was and record their answers. So I did. And they answered. And I pasted their answers into the text field. No big deal.

We had friends over tonight to kind of rehash our trip from the past weekend. They are about 85% supported and will soon enough be on their way to Madrid, Spain. (sidenote: I can give you their contact info if you or your church would be interested in supporting them overseas!) Anywho, we spent a good portion of the evening talking about this certain opportunity that's been placed in front of us and really just trying to discern what the "call" of God is all about and if that's where we are with this. We are very much seeking God's leading in all of this, but I find that even sometimes in our conversation we lose sight of that and it becomes all about us. Not "what might God do through John and Marissa" but rather "What can John and Marissa do in God's name." Maybe you don't see the distinction, but I think even in those two phrases there is a difference.

Anyway... our friends have this tradition of watching The Passion of the Christ each year on Good Friday. It's been roughly 10 years since I've last seen this film. I quickly remembered why. Watching a man be beaten mercilessly and spat on and mocked and jeered over is not a welcomed sight. This man whose skin was being torn in two with whips of glass and stone imbedded, only to come to the point where it seems he can bear no more, only to be unchained and scourged on his front side as well.

Why, Jesus? Why are you letting them do this to you?

I really don't get it. Humanly, I cannot fully grasp what He endured. In reading through the gospels this year, I hardly remember even reading those parts--HE WAS BROUGHT TO THE POINT WHERE HE WAS UNRECOGNIZABLE!

How do I just skim over this stuff?

I want to get past it. I want to get to the resurrection. The happy part. But before Christ can make all things new, He must suffer--not for what He's done, but for me...for you.

I don't think we need to stay at the crucifixion permanently, but we definitely need to park there for a while and let it soak in. Imagine the real blood dripping from the man who was guiltless.

It's not easy to think on these things. That's probably why we need days like Good Friday--time set aside to reflect and admire the work finished on the cross. And that's why we need communion--Christ's command to "do this in remembrance of Me". Without those reminders, I hate to admit that I'd probably never take a second look. Read it quickly just as words on a page, but not bring the scene to life in my mind.

2 Corinthians talks about how in this world we (Christians) suffer this "light, momentary affliction." I would scoff at this verse. Are you kidding me? I sat by my son's hospital bed day in and day out for almost SEVEN months watching him fight for his life day in and day out... LIGHT momentary affliction?

Yeah, in the face of what Christ suffered on the cross, my affliction is light. It is momentary. I trust my Savior when He tells me He will make ALL things new.

For now, I will endure...

For now, I will find strength in my refuge...

For now, I will rejoice in the day that the Lord has made... just as He did at the Last Supper, fully knowing what was about to take place.

Lord, Jesus. May this Easter be a turning point in my walk with you. I look at our world and I still see the mocking faces. People around me disgrace your name every day in their thoughts and their actions. Help me to love them, Lord. Help me to show them You. Help me to be willing to sacrifice for the sake of spreading Your precious gospel. Amen.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

in the spirit of sharing...


So Jackson has been up for a little while from his nap.  He had been playing in our room (my office) while I kept typing. He picked up Emma's crayon box and I said, "no, no buddy, those are Emma's"... He kind of made this "yeah" sound, and I got back to typing.  Next thing I know, I look up and he's not in our room anymore!  He had walked all the way to Emma's room, trying to wake her up from her nap to give her the crayon box!

I had to apologize to a sleepy emma and bring him back, slowly walking out of her bedroom!