From our house to yours

A Thanksgiving Prayer.......

"Dear Lord, we've been asked, nay commanded, to thank Thee for the Thanksgiving turkey before us - a turkey which was no doubt a lively, intelligent bird, a social being, capable of affection, nuzzling its young with almost human-like compassion. Anyway, it's dead and we're gonna eat it. Please give our respects to its family...Amen."

John 4

Scripture: John 4:1-26

She sits in the parking lot, eye on the clock, waiting until she’s sure services have started before she hurries in. Eyes are raised barely enough to scan the room for an available seat – one that isn’t too close to anyone else. One more week she’s been able to avoid speaking to anyone – or even worse, risk that no one will speak to her. She knows intuitively that healing is here; yet most often she’s experienced the very rejection she fears. Consequently, the walls are high and the armor is on as she circles the outer edges of hope.

The Samaritan Woman was such a woman. An outcast in her own world, she was even more of one in the Jewish realm. Jesus broke the silence. He crossed the divide. He provided her with acceptance – the one longing she tried to hide. She responds with questions of her own. They were a lot more about testing him than they were about securing answers. “Here’s who I am --- will you stay?” Through the years my daughter has played a game with me called “Would you still love me if_____” filling in the blank with increasingly worse scenarios. I think that is what the woman was doing too.

What can we learn from Jesus? He made the first move. Her questions didn’t frighten him or disgust him. He knew it wasn’t about finding answers – it was about finding acceptance. It was about finding God with skin on. When you see that person come in after services are started and sit all alone you make the first move. You speak. You draw them out. You show them that no matter what is in their blank, you will still love them. Finding a safe place where you aren’t defined by the mistakes you’ve made is what people are dying to find. I know. I was that woman in the first paragraph.

True friend

Money:

It can buy a House............... But not a Home
It can buy a Bed................... But not Sleep
It can buy a Clock................ But not Time
It can buy you a Book......... But not knowledge
It can buy you a Position.... But not Respect
It can buy you Medicine......But not Health
It can buy you Blood............But not Life
It can buy you Sex...............But not Love

So you see money isn't everything.
And it often causes pain and suffering.
I tell you all this because...........

I am your Friend, and as your Friend I want to take away your
pain and suffering. So send me all your money and I will suffer for you.
CASH ONLY PLEASE No checks!

Thought this was going be one of those "inspirational" ones, didn't you???

100% Texan

I have a "somebody just kill me" headache that's nearing migraine stage. So I'm taking the easy way out tonight and sharing something that tickles me no end but not created by me. Enjoy.

You are 100% Texan if...

1. It doesn't bother you to use an airport named for a man who died in an airplane crash.


2. You use the phrase "fixin' to" almost daily.


3. Someone you know has used a football schedule to plan their wedding date.


4. You've ever been excused from school because "the cows got out."


5. You can properly pronounce the town Mexia and Mesquite. (note to readers: MuHAYuh and Muskeet)


6. You can remember the name of the last state legislator to introduce a bill involving castration and he didn't mean farm animals.


7. You know exactly what calf fries are, and eat them anyway.


8. You can recall hot summers by the year they happened easier than you can remember your mother's birthday.


9. You think that people who complain about the wind in their states are sissies.


10. You know that the true value of a parking space is not determined by the distance to the door but by the availability of shade.


11. You have owned at least one belt buckle bigger than your fist.


12. A bad traffic jam involves two cars staring each other down at four way stop, each determined to be the most polite and let the other one go first.


13. When you hear a tornado siren, you go out and look for a funnel.


14. Your "place at the lake" has wheels under it.


15. You aren't surprised to find movie rental, ammunition, and bait all in the same store.


16. A Mercedes Benz is not a status symbol. A Ford F150 4x4 is.


17. You know that everything goes better with Ranch.


18. You learned how to shoot a gun before you learned how to multiply.


19. You are 100% Texan if you have ever had this conversation:
    "You wanna Coke?"
    "Yeah."
    "What kind?"
    "Dr. Pepper."

I wasn't born in Texas but I got here as quick as I could. My husband and all three kids are natives--a fact that dismayed my dear Daddy no end. We were, after all, from the most beautiful and perfect state in the Union -- Colorado. He would be thrilled to know that one of his grandkids has gone back there and settled -- probably for good.

What's it all about?

I've spent the last eight years at a job I have loved. Oh, I didn't go into it thinking I would love it. I went into it terrified as could be. I had driven by the compound that was the company that this man built. Imposing, impressive...IMPOSSIBLE that I, middle aged stay at home wife & mom could belong there! There was a part of me that was delighted at the prospect - but for the most part I really, really didn't want to go to work. Unfortunately, we had given up pretty much everything extra that we could and we all had an affinity for eating so mamma finding a job was pretty much a have-to thing.

I've got so many wonderful friends and two of those wonderful friends got me a job as the receptionist in the legal department. Oh my goodness! I could do it!! I was good at it! I loved it! Eighteen months later I got a promotion and began supporting a super guy who managed the contract professionals in commercial contracting. More responsiblity, new things to learn, new mountains to climb. Oh my goodness! I could do it! I was good at it! I loved it! Eighteen months later I got another promotion. I became an executive assistant to the manager of the entire commercial contracting department. There were 57 attorneys and paralegals in Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Michigan, Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo. BIG change in responsiblities---tall stretch for this stay at home wife & mom. It took me a good six months to feel like I even had my head above water, let alone that I was swimming. But then, oh my goodness! I could do it! I was good at it! I loved it! I was nervous about working for a woman -- unfortunately, we get a bad rap for darn good reasons. But she was fantastic. We didn't have a single solitary thing in common but the job. Night & day. But we grew to genuinely like, respect & enjoy each other. God wasn't a part of her life at all, He is my life. She knew that and respected it and I showed her that being a Christian didn't mean you had to be weird.

Then the big buy out or what I prefer to call a hostile takeover happened. She was assured she had a job so I felt safe. Then that promise was reneged on and she is gone. And now I don’t love work. But one of the by-products of the uncertainty is that I’ve spent a lot more time thinking about my “legacy” if you will – what will people know if I’m the next one getting the pink slip? Did I make my corner of the empire a better place because I was there? For the most part I work in a place that denies the deity of Jesus. Wonderful people – great friends but blind. Tonight in praise team practice the guy who led the closing prayer asked the Lord to help us show him to "people who don't know what Jesus looks like". I've been wondering every since then if the people I work with know what Jesus looks like now. So again, my favorite question from the Bible is ringing in my head "Who knows but what I was brought to this place for such a time as this?"

From the grace files...

It's been some time since I shared one for the grace files so today ends the dry spell. Not that I couldn't have submitted an entry before now but I like to wait until I have a really divine story --not just your ordinary klutz moment.

Today it was a little chilly when I went to work so I took a sweater coat that I bought last year. I got it after Christmas -- a Vera Wang marked down from $100 to $7!!!!! Oh I love good bargains. Anyway, ....I took my sweater to work. When I was ready to leave I grabbed my purse and headed out the door. I always take the escalator down to the first floor because of my little....ahem....claustrophobia issues. I had just stepped onto the escalator when I remembered my sweater. Since there were only 3 steps behind me it occurred to me that it would be a lot faster to go up the down escalator than it would be to ride it to the bottom and then walk around the atrium to get to the up escalator. I've seen people run up the down escalator before - doesn't look too hard. I have a 32 oz. glass of ice and water (we have that good Sonic kind of ice at work! ) and my purse. I make the first step and the second and I realize I'm going nowhere fast. And it's confusing to look down at the stairs when they are going the opposite direction you are used to them going. I misjudged the distance and got my toe caught and down I fell. Right to my knees. There I was praying on the escalator as it rode down. Of course I was facing the wrong direction to be going down so anyone watching would definitely have recognized there was something a bit odd. When I fell to my knees the water and ice went flying out of my glass. How it spilled out over the rail and to the second floor I'm not sure I can explain but spill it sure enough did. I imagine those people on the second floor who couldn't yet see me coming down the wrong way were puzzled by the sudden hailstorm indoors. My mind was set on getting up that staircase though and I jumped up took a flying leap and landed on the landing at the top. My knees were scraped up and hurting like fire. A quick glance around let me know that no one was around close and hope springs eternal -- perhaps no one witnessed the spectacle.

A word to the wise. Going up the down escalator is a whole lot harder than it looks and once you pass ....oh, 15, you're probably too old to try it. And that's all I have to say about that.

The Look

Life is hectic and crazy at times. At the very craziest times it's easy to be overwhelmed and lose the ability to see what's right in front of you. Many times I've been frantically looking for my keys and losing my cool only to discover the keys right there in my purse. The same purse I've torn through twice already looking. The same purse that I would have SWORN did not hold my keys. I was reading Mark 10 the other day and a verse struck me that hadn't before. It has always been there - but like my keys I missed seeing it.

The rich young man has come to Jesus with an important question. What must I do to get it? I've always zeroed in on the fact that the young man loved what he had more than that which he didn't -- even though what Jesus offered was far, far more than the balance in his bank account. Certainly I've exchanged that most precious of gifts for things of lesser value too often. But that's not the verse that stood out to me this time.

Get this picture. A young man who has everything money can buy. He's probably used to attention and respect - maybe even deference. Maybe he's already figured out that riches are lonely companions or maybe he's just not used to there being something he doesn't have, can't buy. Whatever the motivation he comes to Jesus and asks the question. Jesus knows he's going to ask. Jesus knows what he's going to choose.

Here's the key verse -- Mark 10:21 -- "Jesus looked at him and loved him." I was convicted when I read that. What about the people I work with -- those that don't know Jesus. When I look at them do they see that I love them? What do they see? What do I see?

I need to be seeing what Jesus sees. And they need to be seeing that I love them.

It's Saturday!

Matt is on the high school retreat - "Going Deeper". Not sure what his assignment was -- and he wasn't either. So laid back, that kid. I would have needed to have every single detail - what was expected and when -- but not him. "They'll tell me when I need to know." God is going to do great things through that boy -- what a testimony he has. Can we say "Proud mama"????

I bought my first Christmas present this morning. I found a fun clock on Etsy that I'm going to give Tyler. I read a good idea yesterday from someone about Christmas presents. She said she bought gifts for her kids in 3's....something they wanted, something they needed and a book. I think I'll add a fourth - something fun that I want to buy. So there we have it -- four gifts each. Perfect! I'm such a sucker for Christmas that it's easy to overwhelm them and myself and totally lose track of the bigger picture. We are going to Colorado again the second week in December for our last big family gathering before Matt leaves for China. So many changes are coming in the new year. Not ready to blog about them all yet but suffice it to say my life is changing in bigger ways than I can imagine in 2009.

Katie got offered a job yesterday. We are proud of her. She hasn't finished her internship yet and her boss knows she doesn't even have her license yet but he wants to keep her and so she finishes her internship on Tuesday, has Wednesday off and starts her job on Thursday. He can only offer part-time which is perfect because she only wants to work part time. She is going to start working on her Associates Degree in January and working full time and going to school full time seemed a bit overwhelming. She thinks she would like to go ahead and get her Pharmacy degree and working as a Pharmacy Tech will give her a clearer picture on that. Tech built a brand new pharmacy school in Abilene and that would be wonderfully handy if she decides that is what she wants to do. She can enter with an Associates so that is the current plan.

I wish I had something delightfully clever but this is all she wrote.

It's over thank goodness

I am so thankful that the election is OVER. I was unbelievably tired of the dirt slinging and name calling that we call campaigns these days. I think we should totally re-vamp our entire electoral process. Each candidate should be given one dollar per U.S. citizen. That's it - no more, no less. All have the same amount. There should be two televised debates. Nothing can start before September 1 of the election year. All ads - television & print - would have to be approved by an ethics committee. The committee would be made up of 3 people from each political party.

Yeah, I'm dreamin'.

I didn't vote for our new president and I'm not particularly thrilled he is my new president. But I will honor the office and pray for his guidance. In the end, God is in control and that's enough.

On the job front, no news. Still no news. It is getting to be crazy. I've been doing special projects for anyone who has something to do. I miss Debbie and my old job. It's no fun anymore. But I'm still employed and that is a huge blessing in this time. On the home front Matt learned that he will be teaching in Wuhan next year. Wuhan is the largest city in the Hubei province of China. It's all becoming very real and I'm nervous, scared, excited and happy. I know he's looking forward to the adventure and I am unbelievably proud that he is giving a year of his life to do something that God laid on his heart.

That's all for the updates from this corner of the world. How boring I am. I'm going to work on that. As soon as I figure out how to be exciting.

I've got my bad days
And some are even worse
I can be a blessing
And you know, I can be a curse
This is the real me
Am I the girl that you want me to be
This is the real me
With flaws and fears of intimacy
This is the real me
So now you see that I am far from perfect
I will fall and I will make mistakes
But I am here and this has taken courage
Will you abandon me or will you stay.
--Jaci Velasquez

What a great song to depict the fears we all have inside us. Will you still like me if you really know who I am? I’m desperately afraid we, the church, have been ineffective at creating a safe place to let people be real. Whether trapped by pride or by fear, we march into the building with our own religious masks firmly in place – entering hurting, afraid and alone and an hour later leaving in the exact same shape. Where is the blessing in that? I am convinced that so many of the grave problems that face us today would be drastically reduced if we were brave enough to remove those masks. Marriages would be healed if you knew that you weren’t the only couple in the church who woke up one morning and wondered what on earth had ever possessed you to marry?!? Fear breeds isolation and isolation brings spiritual death, which is exactly what the enemy wants People are hungering for the connection – they just need someone brave enough to lower their masks first. Let me challenge you to have the courage and the faith to be that person. Sin thrives on secrecy and shame – and every time we give into those feelings we are allowing Satan to have a stronghold in our lives and the lives of the family of God. I have discovered that when I trust the Lord enough to remove my mask, people all around me race to get theirs off next. This world is hard and we need the strength gained by really knowing each other. The first step is believing God loves us. Not just mental assent, but the deep down emotional connection – God loves ME! When I begin to trust that fully, I can trust you with who I am…and you can trust me…and together we build a safe place for those who are seeking Jesus.

“There is no fear in love. Perfect love drives out fear” 1 John 4:18