Lamp Lit Learnings

It was a short night. For reasons that will go unnamed I only got about five hours of sleep last night. If you know me at all, that is not enough.  Today will be a very long day. It seems that things often go this way.     Yesterday was a very fulfilling, productive and relaxing day. I got the house cleaned, I made some important phone calls, and I prepped crock pot meals for our very busy evenings this week. So, of course, because yesterday was incredibly kind, today will show me my desperate need for Jesus (and coffee). Does this happen to you? Does this cycle repeat in your life as well? Sometimes it takes longer than 24 hours for my cycle to repeat. Sometimes it happens by season, but inevitably it happens. It happens because that is life. It's very cliche to say, but it's true. I look at the book of Ecclesiastes for my encouragement at times like this. It's so easy to cling to the lows and the statement of "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meani...

It's a typical home school morning. While the rest of the kids in our county get a snow day or a "late start", my kids sit at the table working on math. Our neighbor came with his bobcat to dig us out, dumping huge drifts of snow into our yard. The fire blazes, the coffee is brewed and I actually got a shower. My desk is beside our front window so my view is breathtaking. Remember the scene in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, when winter is finally starting to thaw? The snow covered trees hang heavy with melting snow and the sound of water dripping from the branches almost sound like a serene rain. That is my view. The sun is shining and all seems right with the world. 24 hours later there is another 18 inches of snow and the once warm scene is now a frozen wonderland. Still serene, just in a different way. The snow is no longer melting, but rather floating down from a frigid sky. It clings to everything weighing it down until the trees look like frosted pointed tow...

Luke 6:46 & 47 "Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice." These words hit me hard yesterday during our worship service. How many countless people do I know that call Jesus "Lord", and yet their lives are not bearing the fruit of the Christian life? It's very common in this day and age for people to say, "You can't judge me." when in fact God himself told us to judge a tree by its fruit. And if we, as Christians are living life by the Spirit what fruit should our lives be bearing? Love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Does your life show these fruits? Are you bearing good things? Am I? As a parent I look at Jesus' words and the weight of them hangs heavy on my shoulders. "Why do you call me Lord, and not do what I say?" How many times have I uttered similar words to...

I love my job. This afternoon as I ate lunch with my children I told them of one of our supporters who has a very painful and terminal type of cancer.  It's heart breaking. However as I was able to tell my kids about our job, our privilege, our joy in praying for her I was reminded of how much I love this "job". What greater task than supporting and loving a man who is dedicated to the Kingdom of God? What greater joy than to teach and train our children in loving and serving our Great God?  What greater task than to be prayer warriors for our brothers and sisters in Christ & to share His love with those around us? It's not a job with pay, or benefits, or any written contracts and expectations. It's a job I unknowingly accepted at the tender age of 13 when I was baptized into Christ. It's a job that many look at an shun for it's seemingly lowly position, or perceived naivety. However it is the hardest most difficult job anyone will undertake. The ete...

In February of 2013 my husband and I attended a conference on fund raising. Now you might be thinking, "Ugh! The dreaded fundraising". And to be honest, that was one of my initial thoughts too. We'd heard through a network of church planting friends that this was different.  That this so called, boot camp, was to change the way we thought about fund raising. We started off by reading the text book. I read it cover to cover. My husband and I did the extensive Bible study associated with the book and the upcoming seminar. I took the suggestion of the book and began praying for the people that would be on our "financial support team".  We kissed the kids goodbye and flew to our old stomping grounds near Portland, OR for a whirl-wind weekend  on fund raising! Little did I know that the time spent with Steve Shadrach would change our perspective as well as our lives. You see, it's almost one year since I heard him say that living on support would grow my fa...

I looked at this blog and realized that I wrote the last post exactly one year ago today. What a difference a year can make. We are not in San Jose. We are not in San Jose because God called us to a different home. Weed, California. "What? Weed?" you say! Yes, When we were but four short months from packing our home and moving to San Jose, God in his quiet way told us He had a different plan. Not the big city, but the small town.  Not the dense & diverse population, but the small & hurting population.  Not the grand plans of a church plant, but the grounded plans of a church revitalization. Not my will, but Thine. So one year later we are settled into the parsonage, next to the building nestled at the base of the beautiful Mount Shasta. We have chickens in our back yard and temperatures that drop below freezing. Though it is not the plan we had for ourselves, it is truly a plan laid out and blessed by God. I am affirmed in this every time a new person steps fo...