Category Archives: Sacred Mundane

Hi, friends!  God is so good and has so much going on!  I feel like in my heart I have four big pots on the burner simmering but none are quite ready to serve. 🙂  So, for now I’ll say that the Food Stamp Challenge is amazing me–I actually think it is cheaper to eat that way (whole, local, organic, seasonal).  It’s changing the way I see a lot of things.  I’ll also say simplicity seems to be a huge theme in my life right now, and the idea that less is more.

So, I think the pots are almost done, but I’ll let them simmer a tad longer. 🙂 What’s simmering in your life? What are you talking to God about, learning about, challenged about? What’s breaking your heart lately?  I’d love to hear.  Thanks, friends.  Talk to you soon.

Kari

I don’t even know where to start; God is SO amazing.  Of course this story doesn’t start with me, it starts with God, but how fun is it when He decides to write us into His story in just a tiny little way!  As you know, God has been rocking my world through several things–mostly through reading The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns the president of World Vision (now available on paperback here). And also, in a related way, through a couple documentaries which revolutionized the way I see food production, genetic engineering, and its impact on developing countries. It’s amazing how everything is related. Now, I certainly do not claim to be an expert on poverty, food production, or on anything for that matter other than my own selfishness–I’m pretty much the expert on that.  But I feel like God has opened my eyes to a world of hurt and need and pain and sorrow that, I am ashamed to admit, I simply did not see.

Tonight at church we watched a video, and in the background Brooke Fraser’s song about Rwanda, “Now that I have seen, I am responsible.”  And here is the cool thing about God–He only reveals to us what we can handle, and He only calls us to what we’re capable of doing.  He doesn’t ask us to give what we don’t have, just what we have. He doesn’t call us to change the world, He just calls us to obey when we hear His voice.  Just to obey when we hear His voice.

So we heard His voice.

All week, for whatever reason, Jeff and I just felt discouraged.  The kids were both sick, Jeff was swamped with work to do, I had a 3-day migraine that just wouldn’t leave me alone–it was just one of those weeks. Friday came and it rained, so Jeff and Dutch spent the afternoon playing trains, and I ignored the dirty house and curled up with The Hole in our Gospel. Well, thankfully I have a wonderful husband who took the initiative to bathe our children and put them to bed, because I didn’t put it down until 8pm that night when I read the final page.  Jeff came into our room. “Have you been crying?” He asked.  “Of course I have,” I responded.  I held up the book, closed my eyes and shook my head.  Of course I had been crying.  How can we read the horrors of poverty, disease, exploitation, and not weep? I know you all have been there. When the reality of the sorrow in this world is revealed, for what it really is, all we can do sometimes is grieve.

“What are we doing?”

I took some time to pray and think and Jeff went ahead (he wasn’t quite finished with the book), and read some more.  Then we met back up to talk about what we would do. Now that we have seen we are responsible.

Here’s what shook me. Really shook me.   I’ve always thought of myself as a faithful giver.  I mean, I’ve been tithing since I was old enough to hold a quarter in my hand (thanks to my parents who put the quarter there!).  We do sponsor children, we do support missionaries, we do make special gifts for different causes.  But what Richard Stearns points out from Scripture, from David’s example and the widow’s two mites, is that it doesn’t matter how much we give, what matters is what it costs.  What matters is our faith.

Our current giving costs us nothing.  The bottom line is our current giving does not require us to live by faith. Now, please hear me that God calls all of us to different things.  This is why we CANNOT COMPARE our giving with someone else’s. All we can do is look at ourselves and ask, Does my current giving cost me anything? Does my current giving require me to life by faith? And, it’s worth noting, that this is true of all giving–our time, our talents, and our treasure.  It’s so much bigger than money, but where our treasure is there our heart will be too.

So here I am, sitting in bed, praying, thinking of our budget and our life and I just don’t know what to do.  I’ve laid everything out before the Lord and basically said, “Take it, whatever you want, show us what needs to go. We’ll move to Zambia, we’ll sell our house, we’ll sell a car.  Just show us your will.”  And very clearly I know that we are right where God wants us to be.  We know He’s called us to West Linn.    We know He’s called us to Willamette Christian Church.  We know He’s called us even to our specific house in our specific neighborhood, in the middle of this specific community.  We clearly felt that to leave any portion of that was outside His will. We even clearly sensed to keep our cars and the belongings that we have–as all of it is used for the work that God wants us to do here.  Ok, so, we’re talking and I just keep saying how hard it is to live within this specific culture that God has called us to, without it costing so much that there’s nothing left to give!  We can’t just not have utilities and not buy car insurance–that’s just life in the United States!  And I kept thinking what’s the biggest expense/priority in our life.  By a landslide it’s our house.  In comparison to the rest of our spending, we spend a large portion on our house. More than any other single item.  In fact, it’s 41% of our take home pay (30% of our gross income).  So we’re sitting there and in a moment of silence Jeff says, “What if we determined to give away the same amount we spend on our home? You know, if giving was, even by a penny, the single largest portion of our income.” For a moment I felt like everything stood still.  Then I laughed, “Yeah, that would cost us! That would require faith.  We’d basically be living on less than 18% of a single income.” I calculated the number and laughed some more. It was impossible.  Then shrugged my shoulders, “Well we can work toward it. That really would be cool.”   Jeff rolled over and went to sleep.

Of course I could not sleep. Of course I couldn’t get Jeff’s words out of my head.  Of course I could not get Scripture out of my head, images of children out of my head, stories of people who had given up everything they owned to help people in the name of Christ–of course none of that would get out of my head! I flipped on the light and started writing numbers.  To my amazement I realized that if we only spent on life’s absolute essentials–food, gas (significantly limited amount), insurance, utilities (with some conservation), prescriptions and co-pays, and Jeff’s monthly haircut (please do not laugh, this is a necessity if you know how hard it is to cut his hair), then, to my astonishment, it actually was possible.  It would require some cost, and some faith, but I got that unmistakable feeling when you know God is up to something that will change your life.  Then, I crunched a few numbers to see what we could actually do with that money. If we continued to give the exact same amount to our church, without taking a dime away from the work God’s doing there, we’d be able to (are you ready?), sponsor THIRTY-FIVE children. THIRTY FIVE!!!  Through some programs, that’s two whole orphanages!  I about fell out of bed.  Now I don’t know for sure if that’s how God’s leading us, but that helped me to understand the amazing potential!  That is so exciting to me!  Seeing faces–real individual lives made in the image of God, helped me get this all in perspective.

So, then I wrote out a list of the things that didn’t make the cut–savings, house repairs, vacations, retirement, car repairs.  Obviously these things are truly wise and we would consider necessary expenditures.  However, this is so cool.  IF we gave in this way, and because of tax laws for clergy’s housing expenses, we would literally, at the end of the year have ZERO taxable income.  That means that, Lord willing, we would get a sizable tax refund. We could simply commit to tucking that  away for retirement and use for the year’s house repairs, car repairs, emergencies, etc.  Thankfully we already have a Dave Ramsey-inspired emergency savings account, so it’s not as if we were being foolish, failing to have a back-up plan in case of emergency. I don’t believe that’s faith as much as poor planning.

But here is where the story gets fun because it gets personal. We have such a personal God!  Three items I wrote down with question marks were–kids clothes (I certainly don’t need clothes but my kids actually grow out of theirs), toys (yes, I still want my children to have fun things to play with!), and learning/homeschooling materials/books for the kids.  Bottom line? God loves our children more than we do, right?  Well…

So today we talk about this plan, and though we’re 99% sure we want to do it, we commit to pray about it.  We’d start on the 15th, so we have a few weeks to really pray and find out for sure God’s will in this.  So today there’s a clean-up day scheduled and church so Jeff goes to that.  Just as he’s leaving, some people pull in from church and say, “Hey! We have something for you.” They hand him a big bin FULL of kids toy Geotrax (train set), and another FULL of hot wheels cars, trucks, race ramps.  Jeff and I are just laughing, “Um…there’s Christmas!”  Guess I don’t have to worry about toys for my kids.  God knows their favorite kind. Then, I got to church tonight, and as I’m leaving a friend says, “Hey, can you wait? I have something for you.” So I follow her out to the car and she hands me 2 HUGE boxes full of hand-me-down girl clothes from her daughter who is a year older than Heidi.  We’re talking a ton of clothes. So much that I had to call a friend and ask if she wanted to take half because there’s more than I can use.  Guess I don’t have to worry about clothes for my kids. 🙂  Then, this girl hands me a brand new set of books, shrink wrapped, and she says that they are the reading curriculum that her son uses at his Montessori school.  She knew I was “homeschooling” for preschool and bought me a set for Dutch.  WHAT?!!  Um, I guess I don’t have to worry about books and educational materials for my kids. God knows the best kind out there.

So that was tonight.  I am now sitting in bed, overwhelmed at God’s goodness.  Tonight at church Joel preached the good news of the Gospel:

¹As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ²in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. ⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Phil 2:1-10)

God. Has. Been. So. Good.  God’s grace is astounding. We who were dead in our transgressions He has made alive. He has saved us by grace, and that not of ourselves.  We have done nothing to do deserve His kindness, but He lavishes it on us be His kindness.  And He we are His, created for good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. That is the good news! We are loved beyond comprehension. And God has marvelous things in store for us.

I do not know all that God has in store, and I don’t share this story to claim to have the answers on giving or to say that anyone else needs to do the same, etc. etc. I am simply sharing one God story, of a gracious God and how He’s leading us right now.  I know that your lives are full of the adventures of following a missional God who is out to share the world His power and glory.  And, if this is all new to you, I invite you to embrace the truth of God’s grace, His finished work on the cross. We can add nothing to it. It is done. Now we simply can slip our hand in His and ask Him what He wants us to do.  I don’t know exactly what that will be, but we’ll do our best, by grace, to obey.

(From WCC Women’s Fall Bible Study)

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James 1:1-18: Personal Faith Challenge (PFC)

Trials:  James 1:1-4. We know we’re in for a challenging epistle when the very first sentence of the letter is this: Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds.

I’ll tell you, no matter how many times I’ve read these words I still find that this is never my automatic response to trials.  I know this verse, I can quote this verse, but the minute I’m slighted, or I hear bad news or all my plans are frustrated, I do not automatically think, Oh! God’s special favor is upon me!

And we’re going to camp here for a bit because I actually believe that getting this is the key to everything else.  How we respond to the difficulties in life is what divides our world into two.  People either get bitter or better, right? That’s why you can have two people who are abused as children—one goes on to become an advocate or counselor or social worker and changes lives for good. One sinks into themselves and ends up perpetuating a life of abuse or violence.  The difference? One’s response to trials. Have you ever know two people who go through virtually the same trial? One becomes stronger, reaches out to others more.  The other wallows in self-pity, is bitter, and becomes rendered useless for God’s kingdom.  So, please tell me how do we rejoice in trials?

First, to clear up the misconception that we are religious masochists, remember: Our response to trials.

1. 1. P: We rejoice in the process and the product, not the pain.

We do not rejoice in the pain.  When I go running, it is painful to some extent.  My legs burn.  But I keep running, and gladly and voluntarily running, because I know the process and the product.  The process is the tearing down of muscle tissue, and the rebuilding of new, stronger muscle tissue, so I rejoice in this process even though it involves pain.  I especially rejoice in the product, or results. The results are a healthy body, better endurance, more energy, and being able to eat dessert.  Now when we practice this process enough, we can actually find ourselves in some sense enjoying the pain of a long run because we’ve trained our minds to so connect the pain with the process and the product, that we no longer even think of the pain in a negative light.  I can’t say that I’m completely there yet, but I’m much closer than I once was!  But professional, Olympic, real athletes know this, don’t they? And I would say that they likely do not associate the pain of a good workout with negative feelings or suffering.

We looked at 1 Peter 4:12 in our homework… “Do not be surprised when you face trials…”

Now, can you imagine this. I go for a run, and I get home to Jeff and burst into tears and say, “I’m so depressed. You wouldn’t believe what happened to me out there!  I was running up this long hill and, I couldn’t believe it, my quads started burning.  Like, the hurt!  And my heart was racing and I felt short of breath and my face was flushed!  And it lasted all the way up the hill, and it was  long hill. And I can’t believe it.   I’m never doing that again.”  Of course that’s ridiculous, right? We expect those types of symptoms because we’re running up a hill. We’re training.

BUT, if I were sitting on the couch, resting, and i had those same symptoms–pain in legs, shortness of breath, racing heart. Then I’d have cause for concern, right?!  Of course! The reason that we are often so surprised by trials, by pain, is that we forget that we are running a race. We forget we’re running up a hill by faith. We forget that we are training. When we say yes to Jesus, we are put in a race whether we like it or not. As long as we are on this earth we are training. We must remember that. We’re not sitting on the couch.

But in the middle of the hill there is pain, right? Remember:

We rejoice in the process and the product, not the pain.

:: What is the process? You studied this in your homework, right?  Romans 5:3-4 spells it out for us, in almost a formulaic manner.  SufferingàEnduranceàCharacteràHope  (Like an oyster making a pearl)

::What is the product? The product, then, would be hope.  1 Peter 1:7 also told us the product is the proving our faith, which results in praise, glory, and honor. That sounds really neat, but those are pretty abstract words.  I don’t know about you but when I’m in the middle of a tangible trial, I often need a real tangible goal.

Glory: 2 Corinthians 4:17 (KJV) For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;  It works for us. It produces glory.

Good: Romans 8:28  In all things God works for the good of those who love Him. When we are in Christ, all things work for good. Suffering works for good. Pleasures can work for good. All things work for good.  All things are Father-Filtered.  So what is the “good” that is worked? V. 29 tells us “to be conformed to the image of His Son.”  The good that is worked is our patience, our endurance, our perseverance—this leads to godly character, wisdom, steadfastness, integrity, strength.  And this leads to hope.

So how do we endure?  How do we rejoice when the pain is real?  The same way Jesus did. The second key is to

1. 2. F: Focus on the Future.

In Hebrews 12: 1-2 we’re exhorted to run with endurance in this life of faith, verse 2 “Looking unto Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  What does Jesus show us here?

:: Jesus didn’t enjoy the cross.  He endured the cross.  He despised the shame. We endure the pain of suffering because we know the end result. We don’t have to enjoy the pain. We can still despise the humiliation, the hurt, the betrayal, the loss, the grieving.  Those are, indeed, bad things.  Things God will someday eradicate. We can endure the pain and despise the loss, but still rejoice because…

:: Jesus looked to the joy before Him. It was the joy that enabled Christ to endure. He knew He would be seated with the Father. He knew He would accomplish our salvation.  He had his eyes fixed on the future.  The good that would be accomplished.  This is what we must understand about Christianity. Our faith is founded on the reality that good is accomplished through suffering.  That is our faith.  We would not be here if were not for One person being willing to suffer for our good.  Without suffering there is no Christianity.  Without this key concept it is pointless for us to be here. If we really believe this, it will change the way we live. If we don’t believe it, then we cannot call ourselves Christians—or literally “little Christs”.  If we are Christians, then we must be little representations of what He did. Thus, if He suffered and died on a cross so that others might benefit, we must choose to, for the joy set before us, endure our little tiny crosses that we are called to endure each and every day of our lives.

Hebrews 12:11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

:: Trials/Suffering/Discipline is painful. Again, you don’t have to rejoice in the pain. Pain is the result of a fall. The two curses of the fall: To the woman pain in childbearing/rearing, to the man pain in work.  Pain is part of the curse.  Pain itself is not good. So we are not to rejoice in the pain but in the future result of pain, which is the yielding of fruit of righteousness.

:: Training is not a one-time thing. If you’ve ever trained for something, answer this.  Do you do one workout and call it quits? By very nature, to train means to do something over and over and over and over and over.  When we train our children, we don’t just tell them one thing and be done with it. We must be trained by trials.  Just as 1 Peter 4:12 tells us not to be surprised by trials, don’t be surprised when they continue!  It’s not a one-time event. Trials will come again and again and again because we are to produce fruit that comes by means of being trained by trials.

We never know what good God might be working in any given situation.  The story of Paul the apostle in Philippi is also such a clear example to us.  He and Silas were seized (for preaching the gospel and setting people free from evil spirits). Acts 16:22-24 Read.  Then, v. 25-35. Talk about accomplishing something! The salvation of a whole household!

Finally, Hebrews 10:32-36 paints a picture of what this might look like in us: (esp. v. 34)

What if that were us?  We have need of endurance/patience/perseverance. We all have need of it. It’s interesting that while we’re suffering, we need patience, and it is suffering that produces patience. Sort of like when you’re in a scary situation, you need adrenaline in order to overcome the situation and it is the scary situation which produces the adrenalin.  In other words, God uses the suffering to produce the very patience that we need in order to endure the suffering and enjoy what it produces at the end.

If we skip down to verses 12-15 we see a bit more on this topic.  V. 12: Again, we read that we are blessed when we remain steadfast in a trial.  And another reward is promised, a crown of life. That is God’s promise. I don’t know exactly what a crown of life is, but it must be amazing! If everything in this life is simply a shadow of things to come, then the most amazing extravagant luxuries we imagine are nothing compared to what God has in store for those of us who love Him.

But here’s another key in the midst of trials. We are to rejoice not in the pain, but in the process and product, we are to Focus on the Future, and we are to

V. 13-15

1. 3. Concede Culpability. Admit where you are to blame.  We’ve talked before that some suffering is caused by external trials, natural effects of a fallen world, etc. But often, probably more often than we care to admit, our suffering is a direct or indirect results of our own choices.  The concept of culpability is intimately tied up with notions of agency, freedom and free will. We have been given the gift of freedom, which brings with it the freedom to be responsible for our choices.

So, James is saying, don’t blame God. God has no evil in him, so He cannot tempt with evil.  We are tempted through a process which is most clearly illustrated in the garden of Eden.  We don’t have time for a complete study of it today, but I have teaching notes on Genesis 3 online if you are ever interested.  Essentially Eve demonstrates the progression of temptation and sin.  In short, we all follow this progression. DiscontentàDoubtàDesireàDeath.  Beware if you see one of those in your life. The good news is that when God shows us where we are guilty, when we feel that conviction, we simple confess our sins, because He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse of of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).  Repent and move forward! Amazing grace!

We’ll close by looking briefly back at verses 5-8.  We’re going to leave verses 9-11 for now, because we’re going to do a more in-depth look at wealth and poverty in a few weeks.  For now, let’s look at 5-8 and we’ll see our first glimpse of one of James’ main themes.  We’ll see it pop up again throughout the entire book, so I’ll just briefly look at it as we close—the Danger of Dipsychos. (Don’t be Dipscycho)

James 1:5-8. When we are in trials, we do need wisdom. Lord, what kind of treatment do you want me to pursue. What steps should I take when I’m out of work? Lord, what on earth do you want me to do about this wayward child?  It is when we are suffering that we need wisdom.  The good news is that God promises to give it, 1)liberally—all that we need! 2)without reproach (he doesn’t say, well you made your bed now lie in it).  Even when we are the ones who got ourselves into the mess, He still gives us wisdom for how to get out!  Amazing grace!!

But, there is a condition. It’s possible to ask and not receive because something is amiss.  We are to ask without doubting Him. Without doubting His faithfulness, without doubting His goodness, without doubting His love.  Paying lipservice without any intention of doing what He says to do.

Luke 6:46 says “”Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

We tend to think of doubting more as not sure whether something is a fact or not, but here doubting is not so much intellectual doubt as a basic conflict in loyalties.  In other words, if we ask for wisdom, but are still going to go off and do what the latest secular talk-show host says to do, we are double-minded.  This world in the Greek is literally “double-souled” or dipsychos. When our allegiance is divided between the world and the Lord, we are fractured beings with fragmented lives: we are double-souled.  And, as a result—we are unstable. Anyone ever feel unstable? Am I the only one?

It is the natural result of being double-souled, of having a conflict in loyalties.  When we have not firmly and resolutely decided that Jesus Christ is the One and Only Lord of our lives, that what He says goes, that His plan is the plan, that His will for my life is best, when that is not fixed, we will find ourselves double-minded, and the result will always be that we are unstable. The Psalmist prayed, “Unite my heart to fear your name” Ps. 86:11

When we ask God for wisdom, we’re simply asking Him to tell us what to do.

If we want God to tell us what to do, we must be prepared to do what He says.

If we study God’s Word, we must be prepared to do what it says.  When we are single-souled, we are whole.  We live in wholeness. We are no longer fragmented. We are no longer unstable.  We are complete, at peace, steadfast, able to stand firmly in the winds of adversity.  We are confident in God’s giving of wisdom, we are at rest knowing all things will work for my good and God’s glory.  We rejoice not in the pain but in the process and the product.  We fix our focus on the future, knowing our trials are working for us. We concede culpability where we need to.  We repent if need be and rejoice in knowing that when we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

Lord, show us how to rejoice in the process and the product. Show us how to endure the pain.  Help us to keep our eyes fixed on the future glory you are working for us. Reveal where we are guilty, Father, and help us to repent and turn from our sin.  Make us whole.  We confess Lord we believe, help our unbelief.  Unite our hearts to fear your name.  In Jesus name.

Welcome to Sacred Mundane, a little space to inspire us all to wholeness. As whole beings, created in the image of God, all of life is infused with sacred meaning and purpose. We refuse the divided and defeated life of a sacred/secular duality.  Instead, whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we do it all for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). Diapers or devotions, laundry or liturgy, weight loss or worship. The details of life are the whispers of a Savior. I invite you to wake up to this sacrament of living, for there’s an epic adventure waiting in the midst of your mundane. Bring your kids and car keys, your wounds and hopes and dreams. A quotidian revolution.  Because everything matters.

Today marks three years of investing time into this peculiar little sphere of space I call my blog.  I remember so vividly, one afternoon in July of 2007 when Jeff suggested starting a blog, so that I’d have the motivation to keep up the discipline of writing.  I was skeptical, to say the least.

“A blog?” I’m sure I said it like a dirty word.  I  hardly even knew what one was (I know, I’m slow in the technology world).   “You mean, like a website? I’d never write on a website.  I want to write real things, things that matter, like Bible studies and devotional thoughts, and stories of what God does in our lives.”  You can see where this is going.  He insisted, and even though I protested that I’d never be able to figure out this process of “posting”, he created the whole thing, walked me through how to click the “publish” button, and voila! this funny little space was birthed.  I had no idea what to do.

Of course I soon realized that this little blog would save my life.  That was a very hard season of life, in seminary full-time, living with my parents, experiencing a time of spiritual pruning by the Lord that was like nothing I’d ever experienced.  I felt as though my entire identity was being ripped from me.  And, it was.  My false identity.  I was, in so many ways, Swallowed Up. Everything I held onto up to that point was stripped way during that 14-month season.  It felt so hard, but, what was so amazing, was that God used this little outlet, this blog, to pour out my heart, to process my thoughts, to vent, to share, to reflect.  I’m really not trying to be dramatic, but I really feel like this blog saved me during that time.  Though it felt like He was taking everything away, He gave me this gift in return.

That is why I hold this blog so dear. Yes, it is just a little sphere of space. A gazillion people have them, so I know I’m not unique.  But it is God’s gift and He knew it would help me grow.  So I just wanted to thank God today and reflect on how blogging has betters me.  Perhaps you can relate.

• It helps me process. The way that I process things is by writing them down. Some people talk things through, some people draw or just sit quietly. Some people run or work or take on some task to think. I have to write. In fact, 9 times out of 10 I don’t know what I think about something (or what on earth the post will be about), until I start writing it all out.  It’s therapeutic.
• It helps me take thoughts captive. I actually prefer blogging to journalling. Why?  Because journaling I can get a bit too raw. It’s appropriate at times, and I do prayer journal to God, because He can take it all. But venting is rarely helpful, and though at times I may get on a rant here, the public nature of it reminds me to word things in a way (hopefully) that is helpful rather than negative or cynical. Left to my own attitude, it could get ugly.  And, when I make the effort to write things in a positive light, I’m always amazed at how my inner thoughts and perspective quickly follow.
• It holds me responsible spiritually. I’ve always joked that the real reason I love always leading or teaching Bible study in some capacity is that it holds me spiritually responsible. For 5 years through college and then after, I taught a small group Bible study to girls at OSU. I simply shared with them, each week, whatever the Lord had been teaching me that week, and turned it into a Bible study.  That was accountability!  I had to stay current with God, listen, study, process, plan.  This blog is like that, in a different way.  Perhaps I’m making too much of this, but I take seriously that there are precious people out there who actually read these words. I want something to share! I want God to work in me in such a way that hopefully others can benefit too.  So, this blog is constant reminder: What’s God doing in your life?
• It forces me to articulate. For those of us who minister and teach, being able to articulate the lessons in our lives is vitally important. How can we share what God’s doing if we can’t sum it up in an interesting way? I so want to grow in this.  I still err on the side of wordiness :), so learning to be succinct and articulate is something I’m praying and striving for. The blog helps.
• It’s introduced me to you. I cannot even begin to express how amazing it has been to meet some of the remarkable people out there, who I’ve had the privilege of meeting through this little avenue.  So many people, in the throws of unbelievable challenges, struggles, trials.  Women and men alike who are walking this walk of faith, who inspire me and encourage me with notes and comments.  Who call me on the carpet when I’m wrong. Who cheer when God’s victorious in a situation.  Together I believe we form a cloud of witnesses, cheering each other, praising God, and hopefully showing a world a tiny glimpse of the glory of God.

So I know it is only a tiny spot of space that is this blog. But I believe that even what is small can matter, when it is authentic. My prayer is, therefore, As AW Tozer wrote,

“If my fire is not large it is yet real, and there may be those who can light their candle at its flame.”

I just got home from the final session of a 3-week class my husband taught at church, entitled How to Study the Bible.  Ahh…it was fabulous on so many levels.  As a wife, it was thrilling for me to see my husband doing what he’s passionate about.  Teaching God’s Word, and specifically equipping people to study God’s Word on their own, is his foremost passion.  Especially tonight, I couldn’t help but fall in love with him all over again.  His love for the Savior is what made me attracted to him in the first place. It was great to see it again.

On another level, it was a refreshing reminder of the power of God’s Word.  I get absolutely silly with excitement at seeing people “get it”, seeing things click for people in such a way that they feel empowered to read and study the Scriptures on their own.  Tonight I could see light in people’s eyes. I could see that that little flicker had begun. Curiosity welled up, interest was piqued.  Heads nodding every so slightly, people lost in thought–they’re getting hungry, I thought.  Spiritual appetites were whetted.  That is a glorious thing,

So how do you study the Bible? When Jeff makes his resources available online I will link to them here.  For now, here’s how God got me hooked on His Word:

I grew up in a fabulous Christian home, and prayed to receive Christ when I was 5.  I stayed out of trouble, followed God, so on and so forth. But I never read my Bible. I had no idea. It’s sad when I think back. I think I knew the NT had Jesus in it and OT didn’t.  I knew the stories and I really did have a relationship with God, I just never read His Word.

Right before I started college, a huge life change made me desperate and I turned to God’s word for help.  It wasn’t Bible study, it was just sheer desperation, and I developed a hunger for it, but still not a discipline. I was amazed at its power and loved to spend my evenings just soaking in the Psalms, but still didn’t understand a lifestyle of steeping in God’s Word.

A few months later, I went to a little Bible study that my brother and I and a couple of our friends put together.  I still remember the revolutionary moment. The guy leader said, “Ok we’re going to try something. It’s called 30-minutes-a-day-with-God.  That means that every day we spend 30 minutes a day with God, reading the Bible and praying. Every day.”

WHOA! This was revolutionary.  I had never heard of such a thing.  Yes! That made sense. If this Bible thing was so great, I should read it every single day. So I did.  It was that simple. I just did it. Every day.  We’d check back in each week.  People were hit and miss.  I just did it. Every day.

Then, a few months later, another revolutionary moment occurred. I was reading a book by Anne Ortland, who said that her habit, for decades, had been to simply read through the Bible every year. Cover to cover. Genesis to Revelation.  She just read it, every year. That simple. She figured that if she just did that, slow and steady, that by the end of her life she would have really steeped in it.  My response? Of course–I’ll do it. That simple. Right there, in that moment, I realized that if I did that (I was 19 at the time), then if God graciously gave me 75 or 80 years or so on this earth, I could actually have read the Bible like 55 or 60 times!! That just sounded remarkable to me. Why not do it?!

So I did. Just like that. Genesis to Revelation. Slow and steady.

That was almost 12 years ago–and in January it will be 12 times through the Bible.  Twelve isn’t a lot, but that’s 12 times more than if I hadn’t made that simple plan! I’m so thankful for her simple challenge to me, in the form of that book, that has literally changed the course of my life. I know I am a different person than I was 11 1/2 years ago, because of that simple commitment.

Now, I add other Bible study on top of it.  Sometimes, I’ll admit it does feel like a lot when adding church studies, studying for teaching, and trying to fit in the reading-through-the-Bible thing. But you know what? What a good problem!  I don’t think I’ll ever regret having read the Bible too much. You think?

So I share this because perhaps for someone, all you need is a little suggestion.  A little “this is what I do” moment, for you to embrace a plan and begin the slow and steady pace of growing with God. That’s all it took for me.  One day, one book, reading of one woman’s plan at reading through the Scriptures.  Your plan may look different, but do you have one?

I challenge you, today, to ask God what His plan is for you. A chapter a day?  (BTW, 4 chapters a day will get you through the whole Bible in a year. It’s actually really easy.)  Through the Bible every year?  However God leads you, do it. You’ll never regret a moment spent in the Scriptures, mark my words.  Or, better yet, mark His.

We are back from a whirlwind three-day road trip of sorts.  We’ve traveled to Federal Way, Washington for a Middle School fun day at Wild Waves theme park (with Dutch, which was a blast!), then quick few hours sleep at my parents’ place to pick up Heidi and a truck and trailer, then a 24 hour trip to Bend to help Jeff’s mom get ready to move and haul back some furniture she generously gave us.  We arrived back home last night, exhausted and sweaty. Jeff went to straight to work and the kids and I collapsed into bed.  Today after church we traveled back out to my parents’ to deliver the truck and trailer and get some rest and playtime before the week begins. It’s been exhausting but so fun to be together. Plus, road trips are the one time Jeff and I actually get to talk, as our children both love to “read” in the car.  It was great, but we’re glad to be home.

The only downside of the trip was that we were literally on the go from sun up to sun down, and I went three whole days without opening my Bible.  Finally this morning at 6:30am, with Jeff gone and the kids still sleeping, I was able to sit down and just soak in the Scriptures.  Anyone else experience that? I crave scripture. I do! Some of you understand this. It’s like a cold glass of water in the midst of this dry desert of life.  Just a few psalms this morning and I could almost feel my internal compass set astraight, my eyes back fixed on Jesus, my perspective broadened.  Yes, I’ve read those psalms probably a dozen times before. But that’s the wonder of God’s Word–it is living and active. It changes us from within.

Then I got to go to church.  The message was certainly nothing new, strictly speaking.  It was about  

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. – CS Lewis, Mere Christianity, pages 40-41.

Of course those of us who are Christians