Category Archives: Sacred Mundane

“Bob who?” 

When Bob Goff visited a local church recently, and facebook exploded with excitement over his appearance, I was a little embarrassed that I had no idea who he was.

So I figured I’d better get with the times and read his book. One of the first stories in it was of him making a phone call to Washington DC and leaving his name for a return call. The secretary replied, “Bob who?” I had to laugh. I’m glad I wasn’t the only person on earth who didn’t know who this dude was.

Love Does, now a NY Times Bestseller, is a humorous collection of stories from Goff’s life, stories that highlight and celebrate engaging life, taking risk, and loving people with reckless, enthusiastic, “whimsy” love. It’s a quick read, but very fun, as his stories leave you shaking your head wondering if this guy is for real. He is. It was a great for a poolside read on our vacation. It was also a great book to shake me out of my stupor a little bit and remind me to lighten up, risk, laugh, and enjoy living out God’s love and compassion for people instead of stressing about whether or not I’m doing it right. 

The great nuggets gleaned from Goff’s stories included:

• Saying yes to opportunities rather than fretting and fussing in indecision
• Embracing and engaging each day rather than looking ahead for the “next thing”
• Dreaming big and attempting ridiculously audacious things for God’s glory rather than just always opting for the safe option
• Believing God for what I believe He wants me to do rather than giving up
• Embracing failure as a beautiful, acceptable, and even beneficial part of life rather than fearing it and avoiding it at all cost
• Just loving people NOW rather than sitting around creating mission statements and plans for doing great things

My only other frustration with the book was that all the examples and stories felt so far removed from my life. That’s not a criticism–the author is simply writing from his own life experience and I’m sure the distance I feel is my own fault, my own limited perception of what I’m “able” to do. But stories of a man, with plenty of money, traveling around the world and letting people use his sailing boat and vacation home on the water, made me feel even more limited in my being a woman, a stay-at-home mom with two little kids who need me all the time, living on 1/3 of a normal salary (not complaining, these are choices we’ve made!). I know that I can still embrace the nuggets listed above, but as I read the stories I admit I struggled with feeling like the life described was just so far removed from my own. Maybe we’ve all struggled with that as we look up to and admire people in different life-circumstances than our own.

But please don’t get me wrong, great book!  And it made me think–wouldn’t it be awesome if there was a book about embracing life, giving extravagantly, and living out God’s crazy-love mission on this earth as a woman, even as a stay-at-home-mom? What if there was a book about embracing this amazing sacred existence in the midst of the mundane. Maybe Goff’s wife, Sweet Maria, will write one.

Or maybe I will. Hey, why not?

I’m learning how to dream. 🙂

Thanks so much to Bob Goff for writing this great book and shaking me up a little. I hope this didn’t come off too critical, as it was a great read and I’m thankful for it. And I’m glad I finally know who he is now! Thanks to all of you, for reading.

“[The false teachers] make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.” Galatians 4:17 (emphasis mine)

In Galatia the false teachers “made much of them.” The phrase translated “make much of” has the idea of a man seeking a woman. False teachers were pursuing them, almost lustfully. They fawned on them and fussed over them. That is, they flattered them. Why would the false teachers “make much of” the Galatians? So that the Galatians would “make much of” the false teachers.

Flattery is always a form of manipulation in order to draw people after yourself. To win their approval, popularity. To make them your fans. And this is huge:

One of the primary marks of false teachers is that they try to draw converts to themselves away from others, and not to Christ or God’s Word. A true servant of Jesus Christ does not “use people” to build himself up or his work. He ministers in love to help people know Christ better.

Proverbs 27:6: “Profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”

False teachers always use kisses, flattery, smooth talk. Paul said in Romans 16:17-20,

“I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery deceive the hearts of the naive.”

False teachers serve their own appetites, their own desires, their own egos. And they use smooth talk and flattery to deceive the hearts of the naïve. And Paul makes it clear that he writes these words because he wants us to be WISE. (“I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.”) That is, he wants us to be women who are discerning.

Consider: A “teacher” who names her show after herself, who names her magazine after herself, who builds an entire business empire based on exalting her own name and her own self: Those are the marks of a false teacher.

Some questions to consider:

Does this teacher draw people to him or herself? Do they promote their own name or Christ’s name? Do they insist that they alone have the secret knowledge or only path to God? Do they somehow elevate their status in such a way that people depend on them as their source of spiritual sustenance?

Sisters, it is hugely important that we are discerning women. And this is not meant as a knock on our gender, but women are, in general, more susceptible to false teachers than men. Paul warns in 2 Timothy 3:1-7.

¹But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. ²For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,⁴treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. ⁶For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, ⁷always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

Women, we are susceptible to deception. We tend to be more emotional, more subjective, we’re far more compassionate so we tend to be more warm and open. We aren’t as confrontational, and we’re WAY more easily swayed by relational temptation and flattery.

But creeping into our households?! Well, of course we wouldn’t let false teachers creep into our households! We’d close the door to those false teachers and not let them in! But here’s the thing:

The front door isn’t the only place where people creep into your house. We have many portals! Every time we turn on a TV or “open” our home things are creeping into our household.

We “let false teachers creep into our household” every time we “entertain” people who teach things that are contrary to the word of God. And, it’s worth noting, that not all “false teaching” is in the form of religious “-isms.” There are world systems of materialism, humanism, consumerism – everything preaches something and it flatters us in order to draw us after it.

Are we to live in fear and never open our homes to anything or anyone? No. Are we to bediscerning women who are cautious about what we let creep into our households?

Absolutely.

{Revisiting these thoughts from last year; Thanks for reading.}

Courage has never been my strong point.

As a little girl, I was so shy I would hide under my mom’s skirt every Sunday at church. I still remember the one time I got crazy-brave and rode in a small inflatable raft, pulled behind my dad’s boat. It got pulled under water and I was absolutely convinced I would drown. That pretty much put an end to my risk-taking ventures.

We have home videos of me recording one of my commonplace childhood tricks. I can still remember doing this.

I would stand in the middle of the living room, in front of my parents (the “audience”) and say, “You want to see something really hard for me?” And then I would throw myself around in strange contortions and gyrations, limbs flinging and head waving around. Then I would pull myself back together, standing tall with wide eyes and panting as if out of breath, and say, “That was really hard for me.” 

Now I look back at my 4-year-old self and just shake my head. Oh baby-girl…

Of course now it’s just a joke, and Jeff loves to tease me about it. But the truth is, that silly bit reveals a lot about who I was–and who I am.

I know that I really wanted to be brave. From 4-years-old I wanted to do hard things. I wanted to risk, to try, to do something courageous.

But I really struggled to be brave. 

On the one hand, it kept me out of trouble. I never did crazy things. I never got in trouble. I didn’t smoke or drink or party.  I never jumped off bridges. I’ve never even broken a bone. It certainly kept me safe.

But I don’t know that “safe” is the word I want to describe my life when all is said and done. I do know I don’t want the “hard things” I did in life to be nothing more than a lot of hopping up and down and throwing myself around in strange gyrations and contortions.

But sometimes it is.

Sometimes, if I’m really honest, the “hard things” I attempt are just a lot of ridiculous gyrations and not a lot of actual risk. I haven’t done much except jump up and down and ask people to watch. 

Ouch. 

So I sit here, right now, on a patio in Phoenix, Arizona, and I ask God what that means for me right now. What does the real “hard for me” look like? The real stuff of risk? Things like selling our home, living on 1/3 of our last income, starting a church, those were precious baby steps–like me no longer hiding under my mom’s skirt–but deep down I know they didn’t take that much courage. In other words, I’m still standing in front of my mom and dad gyrating ridiculously and pretending to be brave.

So I asked Him what it meant. His answer surprised me.

Dream.

Why is it that as I type that word I begin to cry? Is it because I feel like my life has been so peppered with failure that I’m terrified to dream again? Because the enemy seems to spin every situation so that it reads failure?

But here’s what gets me. I see that same cycle in my kids. I see their caution. Their fear of failure. And I see that if I do not break the cycle, its stranglehold will keep them living the same cautious existence. So how do I break it? How do we break it?

By ditching the “something hard for me” bit.

As long as pursue merely the appearance of courage, we will not become courageous. Appearing brave and being brave are two entirely different things. So it means asking the Father, every day, What is true courage in this situation?

It will be different for each of us.

Honestly, I don’t know what it looks like yet. I just know I’m supposed to give up the “something hard for me” bit and begin to dream instead. 

{Thanks for reading.}

I often get comments about “that post about milkshakes.” It seems that we as women are always bombarded by the needs around us and constantly need wisdom on how to navigate it all. So, for all of us, here is “that post about milkshakes.” I need to read it again too… 

~

I didn’t mean for it happen, the dates just all fell together. Four speaking engagements for me in just eight days.  Sprinkled among these was the aftermath of our move, a funeral Jeff officiated (those things aren’t planned!), a baptism, a membership class, and a Sunday morning speaking engagement for Jeff. Truly, we don’t usually live like that, and now I’m reminded all over again why.

Something about milkshakes and straws. 

It was all wonderful. But oh as I flew home from Bend I ached for all those arms, both little and big. Their two little faces, dirty, smiled wide as I climbed into the car. Heidi had on a pajama shirt and old sweatpants. Dutch asked me to never leave again. They love their daddy, that’s not it, it’s just that if we’re all really honest, everyone in the family thrives on Mama’s milkshake.

Everyone’s got a straw and they all want me. 

And you know what? That’s perfect. I am the perfectly flavored milkshake for my family and I love that they all want a taste. I love that I can nourish their souls and care for their bodies. I love that God made me to feed these two little lambs and this one terrific man.

It only gets complicated when I start passing out straws to everyone else. 

Good people. They deserve a straw, right? Maybe …

A friend recently read me this quote, from Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s Gifts from the Sea:

With our pitchers, we attempt sometimes to water a field, not a garden.

God has graciously given us a pitcher that is just the right size for all that He intends us to water.  In truth, some of our pitchers are bigger or smaller than others. My friend with seven children has a bigger pitcher than me.  Her milkshake is just much bigger than mine. But whatever the size of our pitcher, we just have to be careful we’re only watering our garden, not the field next door.

We were made a milkshake just the right size.

Who gets a straw?

We have to use discretion, don’t we? Must hand out those straws with caution that takes courage.  

Whenever we say yes to someone we say no to someone else, true?

Looking back over our busy-season (which is over, by the way!), I don’t doubt that all our commitments were “of God.”  I do believe He called us to each and gave us the strength for each one. But I also believe that part of His purpose was to remind me to be so careful about to whom I hand a straw. 

Who is in your garden, the place you were meant to water?

And you, delicious milkshake that you are, who will get a straw today?

Might I suggest, to you and to myself, to hand them out with the caution that takes courage?

{Question for you: How do you remain disciplined and deliberate about who gets a straw in your life? Thanks for sharing your thoughts and wisdom, and as always, thanks for reading.}

• As I type this, my husband and brother taking the kids on a rocky hike to touch cacti and search for scorpions. Dutch & Jennika holding hands out the door. Those two love each other so much. Precious. 
• That as I type these words from a sunny porch in Arizona, RENEW church is gathering together in Oregon. So many saints pitching in, stepping up to lead, serve, care for each other. Praising God and so grateful that things do not depend on us. Every church is His church and I’m grateful. (Then, as I finished praying for them and typing this, a picture came through on my phone, all of them together, waving hello to us! How did we get so blessed with these precious saints?? Eyes and heart full.)
• Visiting the church of my dear cousin and his wife who were just baptized last week. Praising God with every ounce of my being for His faithful work in their lives! So full. Just so full. 
• Evening with Jeff’s brother and his wife, kids. Time with Nana. Relaxing on the back porch in the shade while kids play happily rowdy. 
• Laughing. So much laughing.
• The Garrisons.
• Debra. How we miss our roomie.
• Being with the Zyps.
• Four kids crawling around the condo, each a different jungle animal.
• Oma reading story after story to them on the couch.
• Swimming, swimming, more swimming.
• 13 hours in the car Friday, kids doing valiantly. 
• In-N-Out
• The cheap-gas app on Jeff’s iphone.
• Provision at every corner.
• My cousin’s frozen yogurt shop–opened for us for a special little family party and all-we-can-eat-yogurt and toppings. Pretty much my dream come true. 🙂
• That God so lavishly pours out His blessings on us.
• A great message from God’s Word at Christ Church of the Valley.
• That God uses all kinds of churches to do all kinds of work.
• Hearing from Him.
• That He is not limited.
• That He can even use me. Of all miracles, that He can use me. 
• Trusting.
• Relaxing.
• Letting go.
• Remembering to smile.
• Remembering to live now.
• Enjoying this day. This moment. 
• Beautiful opportunities.
• Now.
• An afternoon nap.
• A full stomach.
• Our God of reconciliation. 
• His peace. 

My real struggles with generosity usually involve embarrassing things. 

Why is it I can write checks and give lots of our income away, and yet I can still remember that time when God said to give all my chocolate chip cookies to the neighbor and I practically threw a fit in protest.

What on earth?

I had another surprising incident last week. This time for a ministry that provides pillowcases, lotions, make-up and toiletries for women rescued out of human trafficking.  I searched through my bathroom and pulled out every bottle of lotion, soap and toiletry item that was unused. But then I spotted two make-up powder compacts, and hesitated.

Can you believe I actually stood there in the bathroom and held those two powder compacts and could barely bring myself to give them away?? I reasoned: Well we don’t have much money anymore. So I hate to give these away and then have to buy more. 

 Rees Howells words floated through my mind: “First need, first claim.”

Rees Howells’ life philosophy was simple. Everything belonged to God.  So when a need arose, Howells would use his resources to meet that need. He refused to have any thought of saving it for later just in case he might need it. In his mind, God would provide for every single need whenever it arose, so he could give freely to whatever situation was at hand. He would not hold back from alleviating a need if he had the capacity at that time to do it.

I stood and looked at the make-up. I had already put a lot of stuff in the bag. That was plenty, right?  

“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
when it is in your power to act.” Proverbs 3:27

I still remember when Shawna shared this verse with me more than 12 years ago. She was attending a Bible Study and the speaker’s words had really ministered to her, encouraging her deeply. She thought about going up afterwards and sharing with the speaker, telling her what a gift she’d been in Shawna’s life. But then she hesitated. She didn’t want to be seen as flattering, and there were plenty of other people already talking to the speaker. No need to take the time and go up there, right?. But the Holy Spirit brought this verse to her mind. She sensed that she was not to withhold that encouraging, thankful word from the speaker when she had the power to go up and give it to her. In other words, if she had the gift of true, kind words, it was wrong to not share them honestly with the speaker.

What a powerful thought.

How often do I withhold some good from others? Whether it’s my un-opened make-up, warm chocolate chip cookies, or just a word of true grace-filled encouragement.

Why do we withhold good?

With our money, we know it’s because we’re afraid we won’t have enough. And sometimes it’s harder to give away stuff than it is money. The reason we love money is because we love stuff. As I stood there staring at these two ridiculous make-up compacts, I had to ask: Do I think that God can’t give me more powder? Good grief! Besides, I dare say the dear girl being rescued from SLAVERY deserves to be pampered more than me for crying out loud!  I had to shake my head at myself.

 But why do withhold other types of good? Love? Kind words? Compliments and affirmation? Encouragement and praise? Are we afraid that if we build others up then we’re somehow less? Is there not enough of God’s love and favor to abound to us all? There is. There absolutely is. We certainly don’t want to give people flattery or say things that are untrue, but when we have genuine words of encouragement for others, I believe we amiss when we withhold that good and do not share.

What is the “good” that you can either give or withhold today? Sometimes practical? Stuff? Money? Words of encouragement? A compliment? Kindness? I pray we would be generous today and give wherever there is a need, not withholding good from those to whom it is due. Bless you, and thank you so much for reading!

While I was giving Heidi a bath last night, apparently a sweet scene was unfolding in the living room here at the home of Jeff’s dad and step-mom. Jeff was trying–with no luck–to get my computer to work. He had it all taken apart, but still nothing. He asked Dutch to pray.

Dutch laid hands on my laptop and closed his eyes: “Dada God, please heal Mommy’s laptop.” 

A few more tweaks, screws back in. One more try.

It worked. 

I have absolutely no biblical evidence for the laying on of hands onto electronics, but all I know is that this little Dell I’m typing on was dead and now is alive. 

And I’m grateful for it.

I love that Dutch didn’t stop and think how silly it was to lay hands on a laptop. I love that his simple, childlike faith simply did what seemed natural to him. And now he’s asleep on the floor next to our bed, and I pray God grows his faith–and mine–to pray for more dead and malfunctioning things every day and see them come back to life. And I don’t just mean laptops, but lives, marriages, relationships.

Is there anything “not working” in your life right now? I have no idea what God is doing in your situation, but perhaps for a moment we can suspend our doubt and pray with childlike faith for whatever concerns us today? I pray for faith and peace as you lay hands on whatever concerns you today. Thanks, friends, for reading.

At 5am this morning we drove off for a road trip. 11 days, 2,708 miles and 19 family members we will visit as we trek down to Arizona and back. And last night as I packed everything into my dad’s truck, my laptop slid out of the cab, falling onto the concrete garage floor.

It doesn’t work anymore.

So. Here we are. As you know, my Sacred Mundane mantra is, Everything Matters. And because everything matters, some things don’t. Because every moment and every circumstance is an opportunity for our growth and sanctification, I can smile when my computer breaks as we leave on an 11-day road-trip and I have not a single post scheduled.

*Smile*

Because really, people—it’s a blog. Right? It’s only a blog and it’s only a computer and God is doing glorious, beautiful, enormous things in this world, and perhaps just for this day—or 11 days—I will just have to set aside my normal and enter myself into His activity in a different way.

I wonder if sometimes the enemy’s job is so easy that all he has to do is convince us that every inconvenience is a really big deal. That we are a really big deal.

Thankfully, God is a really big deal. And so big that whatever inconvenience comes our way today, we are STILL able to tuck ourselves into God’s master plan and be used by Him for His glory and our good.

I do have some things I’m looking forward to writing about, looking forward to sharing. But for now, I will relax. Pray for you. Pray for Shawna. I’ll scribble down thoughts on napkins and spend extra time in His Word.

Is there some inconvenience thrown your way today? How might you smile and choose to tuck yourself into His plan for the day in a different way than you realized? How can the inconvenience alert you to His activity? Prompt you to pray? Bring you back to your knees? I pray grace for you today, for whatever comes your way. And perhaps, friends, you might pray for the 6 of us tucked into a pick-up for 12 hours today. :) Thank you so much for reading.

She knows nothing but shining.

She twirls, head back, her laugh a waterfall, cascading, filling the room. I laugh too, holding her damp starfish hands in my own, twirling with her, jumping, dancing.

Unencumbered. 

Right then, as I dance with Heidi, I feel how God intended us to feel. Wildly loved. Cherished. Beautiful. Uninhibited. Free. I listen to the song that’s playing, and a tear spills over, down my cheek, as I look at her and realize that her entire life will be filled with opportunities for that shining to be dimmed. Hidden. Shrouded.

Shrouded by shame.

After Eve sinned, she hid.

We’ve been hiding ever since.

She hid, rightly, because she had nothing but fig leaves to cover her marred image of God.

But we have the blood of Jesus Christ.

Shame was defeated at the cross. 

Because sin was defeated at the cross. 

Apart from sin we have nothing to be ashamed of.  “When we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) Meaning this: We need not walk in shame. 

My shining daughter knows nothing of shame. She knows nothing of the cruelty of 10-year-old girls (and 32-year-old girls!). She knows nothing of abuse. And even though I call her my little bunny, someday someone will call her a beaver because of those precious, beautiful teeth.

The world will sling mud at us, that we know.

So will we walk in shame? Or will we shine?

I remember a few years ago Jeff and I attended attended an art unveiling in Bend.  At the unveiling, we met the painter’s wife and two daughters.  One daughter, a freshman in high school, had some birth defect which had misshapen one side of her face.  However, when I met her, she just shined, beaming, welcoming me and oohing and ahing over Dutch, teasing that she wanted to be the president of his fan club, and wondering if she could marry him when he grew up.  She stood tall and looked me in the eye, a glowing, beautiful, shining, utterly confident girl.  She obviously knew this truth.

Whether or not we walk in shame depends entirely upon what we believe. About God. About ourselves. About the cross.

If the cross has covered all of our sin, we have nothing of which to be ashamed. 

We can shine.

As Heidi and I continued to spin, dance, laugh, I prayed God’s mercy on my little girl, that she would shine His glory all her days. The song we were listening to? You were made to shine by the Sonflowerz. The dear girls I had the joy of ministering with last weekend. They wrote this song after talking to a 12-year-old girl who had been bullied and ridiculed by other girls, who had been walking in shame. It goes like this:

I won’t repeat what they said
They tore you down and broke your heart
The words resound in your head
And make you feel like nothing
I know you’re chosen for great things
Child of God, a work of art
Fancy clothes and diamond rings
will never match what you are worth
Hold on to the beauty inside of you
No one can take that away

You were made to shine
A brilliant light to radiate His glory
You were made to shine
Its your life, its a new beginning
More than the stars in the night sky
You were made to shine

Now is the time to stand your ground
Be the spark you’re meant to be
Let the glow of love abound
Show the dark its remedy
God’s love is the fire inside of you
No one can take that away
You were made to shine

Oh You were made to shine His glory
Oh You were made to shine
Oh You were made to shine His glory
Oh You were made, You were made
God’s love is the fire inside of you
No one can take that away

I pray, sisters, you could believe Christ’s work on the cross to remove all shame, and walk in fullness and freedom today. Now, it’s time for you to go dance. Thanks, friends, for reading.