Washing the Feet

Sunday was the final night of our relationship study with the students and Korey did an amazing job the last four weeks of showing the kids the picture of Jesus as the groom and the church as His bride. Instead of telling them not to have sex before marriage we told them why and how to keep that purity for the Lord.

This last night we had wedding cake and punch and tables set up like a wedding reception. There was someone we set up before hand to help us show the kids that we have to make ourselves ready to be part of the bride of Christ (Rev.19: 7-8). Lisa was sitting there when Korey went over and asked her to leave because although she looked dressed up on the outside, on the inside she wasn't what she appeared to be at church. She was screaming as she was being escorted out of the room. I knew it was an act but it killed me to hear her screaming to stay.

Korey then told about the wedding banquet then reminded them of the skit the first week when a young couple, Leighton and Malllary helped show the kids a picture of Jesus and His bride through a wedding ceremony. Leighton was waiting when Mallary started down the aisle. Instead of the beautiful dress, she was wearing rags, carrying bags and suitcases. Dropping them and eventually falling down, her groom ran to help. He picked up the bags and carried them the rest of the way. He picked her up, told her how much he loved her and promised to protect and provide and love her. He then took her and washed her feet before he left, promising to come back for her as soon as he got their house built. The next time we saw her she came out in her wedding dress looking for her groom. She saw him coming and ran for Him. They embraced and held each other.

After recapping the four weeks Korey invited the kids to sit in a circle and began to wash their feet. It wasn't long before Heath and Leighton also began washing the feet of these kids. Leighton is an art teacher and a former college baseball player. He and Mallary have helped us get kids to concerts and other things when they are needed. Heath is a former champion bull rider and now has a ministry called "Spurrin' for Christ" teaching these boys how to ride bulls. Korey left a career to come teach the students here, and loves them so much. To see these three men on their knees showing servanthood, but even more than that, showing these kids that they will help them keep the dirtiness of the world out of their lives so they can present pure hearts to Jesus, was priceless.

He is Worthy of our Gaze

Psalm 123:1-2

"To You I lift up my eyes, O You Who are enthroned in the heavens!
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so
our eyes look to the Lord our God, till He has mercy upon us."

So beautiful. Can you see the maidservant standing in the corner waiting, watching for the mistress to look her way or ask for her assistance? She keeps her eyes fixed on her so she won't miss a gesture, a nod of the head, a whisper.

Can you see her sitting at the feet of her mistress? Can you see the servant looking to the hand of his Master?

The Master's hand provides, protects, guides, and rewards. We just have to keep our eyes fixed on Him. We tell Him what we feel and how we hurt. We ask Him what to do and how to serve. I read something from Charles Spurgeon the other day that truly spoke to my heart:

Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye
When none but God is near.

Sometime my heart is so heavy I can't come up with the words to say. But I know where to look; and as the sigh slips from my lips or the tears from my eye, I know the One Who is worthy of my gaze is listening.

To You I lift up my eyes, O You Who are enthroned in the heavens!

Changing Hats

The last few Sundays the youth of our church have been doing a relationship study. Korey's desire was not just to tell them to wait until marriage to give themselves away, but to tell them why and how to keep from giving themselves away. I've helped him with the teaching as we split up the boys and girls at certain times. Tonight I have the boys. Yikes!

I started thinking about what kind of man I used to dream about as a young girl. What kind of man I wanted to marry when I grew up. My mind went back to the Montgomery Wards store in Denver City. Mom and Dad were the managers of the store and built us a little play area in the back. My best friend Gale and I used to pretend we were married to Green Berets. We played mom's album over and over again and would make ourselves cry when he sang about the soldier dying. This guy laid his life down for his country. We would hold our dolls and cry because their daddies weren't coming home. So sad.

I found the video and watched it. Glad I didn't marry him. I did get a little emotional when he got to the dying part though.

Our dreams sometimes do come true. Michael doesn't wear a green hat but he pastors a church where men care more about hat etiquette than women do about shoe etiquette. Is it time for the black felt or are we still in wearing the white straw? He doesn't physically lay down his life but he lives his life for the people here every day. But I know he would physically give his life for them. He goes to battle spiritually for folks on a daily, sometimes hourly basis. So yeah, I kinda knew back then, rocking those baby dolls, what kind of man I wanted to marry. I have a pretty good hunch that God Himself was putting that desire in my heart to prepare me for my life now.

Glad He doesn't make mistakes.

Planting Trees

Trees were donated to the church a couple of weeks back and the girls and I were going to plant them. Our youth minister, Korey, was with some of the guys so they came out to help. I'm so glad they did. We would have still been digging!

Slowly but surely we are fixing up the front of the building. We just try not to get ahead of God and keep the important things important. In a couple of weeks we will be planting several trees out at the arena in memory of some of the dear people we have lost in the last few months.

Thanks for the help guys!

God is Enough

What do you say to a weeping mother who just hugged her 30 year old firstborn one last time before they zipped up the bag? Or to the sister who can't make sense of it all?

What do you say to the young mother who was just served with divorce papers, wondering how she is going to do all this with little ones? How can she keep a sense of normalcy in such chaos?

What do you say to the family who is sideways with each other because of years of unhealthy behaviors? Family who doesn't realize they have the choice to stop those behaviors?

What do you say to the recovering addict, 137 days clean, after years and years of drug dependence? Who is desperate to stay clean?

"GOD IS ENOUGH!"

He is enough to fill up the huge hole in the heart of a grieving momma and hurting sister. He is enough to be the arms to hold a betrayed heart until she falls asleep in peace. He is enough to encourage family to step up and do the right thing by choosing to do what He would do. He is definitely enough to be what feeds the hunger inside when our bodies cry out for what is not best for us.

Monday night at Bible study we were in Psalm 121. Such a comforting place to be in the midst of all the loss and destruction going on in lives right now.

1) I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

I've seen several different interpretations of this. Some think the hills held danger and uncertainty in the journey and the psalmist knew he was needing help from the Lord. Some think the hills represent the holy place of God and the writer has his eyes set on his Deliverer. I've even heard from a La Leche Leage friend that this verse is proof that David was a breastfed baby. Sorry. Couldn't resist.

I personally lean to the hills being full of danger and uncertainty. When my big kids were small we moved to Houston. This small town girl from west Texas was ready to conquer the big city. One day I decided to load the kids up and we were going to see downtown Houston. So excited. There were several things though that I didn't take into consideration:

1. Our car was old and if you slowed down or stopped and the air conditioner was running, the car would die.
2. East Texas is stupid hot. And stupid humid.

We took off and got downtown to all the super tall buildings and people everywhere. All of the sudden we spotted a McDonalds in a building with a parking garage. We thought that was the coolest thing. Wait 'til the folks back home heard about this! I was a tad bit afraid of the garage because it seemed like all the murders that happened on Magnum P.I. were in parking garages. I decided I wouldn't rob the kids of their excitement because of my phobias, so we pulled in and took the ticket, then noticed how much it was going to cost to park. I barely had enough for the meal so I found the exit and came out on a different street than we went in.

Where I was raised, you could see the lights at night of several different towns from the roof of my house. When you are in the big city with tall buildings all around you, you can't even find the sun to know what direction you are going. I was starting to get a little panicy because everytime I would come to a red light in my search for familiar, the car would die. I would turn off the air conditioner but it was so hot the kids were starting to get sick. I didn't want to roll the windows down because I had heard stories of the big city. Yes, panic is a good word for what I was feeling. I've always had a little bit of fear of being lost in the woods and that was what was creeping in. So I fully identify with the interpretation of seeing those hills and crying out for help.

I don't know about you, where you are, or what you are walking through; but I do know this: there is great comfort in knowing that my help comes from the One Who spoke this world into existence. THE ONE WHO SPOKE THIS WORLD INTO EXISTENCE! He listens when I talk to Him. He holds me when my heart hurts. He laughs when I laugh and He comforts me when I am afraid.

I sometimes write down my prayers. Monday morning my prayer was this: "Lord, You know the needs of the ones You send our way. Meet those needs Father. Use our hands, our words, our smiles, and our eyes to show them You." When I prayed that prayer, I didn't know how many people were going to need to see Him in such a short period of time.

He's really my only answer. I'm amazed at His "enoughness".

Wrinkles in your Ear Lobes

There have been a few times in the past when I have shared some of the interesting things about the aging process. You gotta know that you can choose to cry about them, or in my case, make fun of them and live life instead of hole myself up in the farmhouse.

I remember when I was younger seeing older women who wore earrings alot. The holes in the earlobes got bigger and bigger. Then I noticed something else. A wrinkle in the earlobe. Now, my earlobes are really small. I don't have the hangy-down kind, they just kind of scoot over and attach straight to my head. I've been grateful for that except I recently discovered that even small earlobes can get a wrinkle. Darn. Surely that isn't what I saw in the 10x. Oh, but it was.

I'm not one for surgery to combat the aging process in the upper third region of my body. I know I qualify for all kinds of procedures and I'm sure not against anyone else doing it, but it just isn't for me. That is why I'm continually on the hunt for creams and lotions to thwart the aging process that is inevitable. The problem I have is how do you know how to do it all? Do you put the age spot eliminator on before or after the wrinkle reducer? Is the eye cream any different than the others, and is it okay if it overlaps? Will one mess up the active ingredient of the other? What about the skin tightening cream? Does it come with a roller?

I figured out that some of the facial wrinkle problems could be eliminated by how you sleep on your pillow. So at night I lay my face on my pillow then ever so slightly move it toward the edge. Pulling all that extra skin toward my ears should make for a pretty smooth face in the morning. Works if you can pull off sleeping in the same postion all night wtihout waking up with neck and shoulder pain the next morning. Just figured out that's probably where the ear lobe got it's wrinkle. Shoot.