General 9:29 pm
Here’s a secret message for you to decode:
Eethray Underay Eethray!!!
Whichever sleuth can solve this mystery first gets ”Honors for a Day” on our blog (trust us, that’s cool). Everyone needs to guess. We’ll even give a reward for the most creative answer. Have fun!
Courtney (with Bill)
General 5:27 am
We love you and pray your day is filled with God’s grace. It’s amazing to think that before you were born God had already called you, had chosen me for you, knew your children, and had begun forming you into the passionate man full of wisdom and a love for the gospel that you are today (not to mention He made you a hunk!). I fall in love with you more each day as I watch you lead and point our family to Christ and watch your tender affection and care for our kids. What a blessing you are to so many! Happy Birthday, Beebs!
General and Spiritual Growth and Thoughts 8:49 am
Bill and I are in such a wonderful place right now. He is only working one full-time job. He’s home by 3:45 four days a week and by 10:15 on Fridays. He makes good money and has good benefits. And we hope to buy a house in the fall. We also have two beautiful, fun children and we’re debt free. All we’ve known during our marriage is working constantly (weekends included), being in debt, moving around a lot, being tired, and not seeing each other often. We should be on cloud nine, right? Not exactly. Actually, we’re both very discontent.
Don’t get me wrong, we are almost always discontent because of our sinful hearts, but this seems different. I think it is coming from the Holy Spirit. Maybe I should instead call what we’re feeling conviction or a stirring. When Bill stepped down from vocational ministry, we were sure we were doing the right thing (and we still believe stepping down for a season is good), but we have gotten too comfortable. God is exposing our hearts, showing us that we were seeking after peace and comfort and prosperity apart from him. Instead of seeing financial stability and daily regularity as a means to serve God, we see them as an end in themselves. We have the easy life now with everything we ever thought we would want. Yet, we are both going through a huge spiritual drought that we sincerely hope God is using to draw us back to him.
For a few months now, we have both been impacted greatly by things we’ve studied during our morning quiet time, sermons we’ve heard, books we’ve read, and things people have said, but for some reason we’re having a hard time feeling passion for God in all his glory. God doesn’t seem like a reality to us. I have to be honest in saying that we are scared. We earnestly want to desire God, but though we pray for it so, so, so often, God has not given exactly what we thought he would give. This is definitely causing us to cautiously evaluate our lives. I say cautiously because there are examples in Scripture when God took blessings away even though the subject had done nothing wrong (as with Job, for example), so it’s dangerous to automatically assume we’re being disciplined. However, I’ve never had a heart like Job is descibed to have, and I certainly don’t feel bold enough to claim I am righteous. We both see our sinfulness everywhere.
Here are two things we see as possibilities. They go hand in hand. One, we are not serving enough. Or perhaps it would be better to say that we’re not serving anyone at all other than ourselves with our selfish desires. We are not helping those who are hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison (Matt. 25: 31-46). We are not earnestly seeking to tell others about salvation found only in Christ. The Bible constantly and consistently calls God’s people to a life that is filled with outward actions that verify and testify about the inward realities of changed hearts. How can we understand Jesus’ love if we don’t daily display that love and go out of our way to reach people? Our lack of service shows our unwillingness to humble ourselves and become like Jesus in every way.
The other possibility is that we are being like Jonah, running from the calling God has given us. We like the easy life. We don’t really care about the path we’ve been called to as long as we make good money, have a mini-van, and live in a house with a half-acre lot (preferably bigger) and playground in the backyard. We know the giftings and the calling Bill has received, yet we’re not following them. In the name of “taking some time off to mature and grow in godliness,” we’ve firmly planted our feet in the American dream, slowly drifting toward the frivolity and futility of the world and away from the God who saved us.
It has been suggested to us that we should just be content with where we are, because God placed us there; we should understand that he is pleased with us and loves us. It’s certainly true that he loves us and is pleased with us because we’re clothed with Christ. But we are still disobedient children living in the flesh, “prone to wander…prone to leave the God we love.” And we think we’ve wandered. We may be totally off the mark with all of this, but we do know we need prayer from those of you who love us. We are afraid and discouraged, and we need as much support and encouragement we can get from all of you. Also, please feel free to point out tendencies you see in our lives that might be getting in the way of a rich spiritual life. We want our Jesus and the purity He calls us to!
Courtney (with Bill)
Cute Kid Stuff 8:27 am
1. Liam’s new thing is to point to every member of the family and say their name. When asked who he is, though, he says, “Wiam, Wiam, Wiam, Wiam, Wiam!” I think he’s heard me freak out too many times when he’s about to have a disaster. I tend to say his name several times in a row quickly with a big exclamation mark at the end.
2. Any time he points to Bill he says, “Daddy,” but if he’s calling for him it’s, “Biiiill!”
3. This past weekend, Bill and I sang a duet in a wedding. Liam almost has the songs memorized himself since he often heard us practice. The next to last line in one song is high and loud and then has a dramatic pause before the softer last line. Liam (who was sitting with Bill’s family) had been quiet so far but decided he needed his moment during the dramatic pause. As soon as we stopped, we heard a little voice that resembled Junior Asparagus faithfully bellowing out his own tune.
4. This one isn’t Liam, but I thought it was hilarious. Our 5 year old nephew, Ethan, played Bill in Foosball during the wedding reception and “won.” Afterward, he went up to Liam and said, “I beat your Dad.”
Spiritual Growth 7:48 am
The other day when I was praying for God’s grace in raising our children, I was deeply convicted about how often I fail them. I was struck by how many times I have neglected them to do other less important things, or have been quick to anger, or wished I could leave it all for a while, or been unwilling to show patience with them. Going farther, I also saw how often I have failed to submit to Bill in front of them, showed laziness when there was work to be done, been critical of others in front of them, or neglected pointing them toward Christ when I have opportunities. What a horrid abomination!
I was overwhelmed with my sinfulness toward the beautiful miracles God has so graciously blessed us with. I was suddenly hit with the phrase, “Love them to death.” I’m sure this phrase was probably originated as a result of wedding vows or something like that and probably really means love them till death, but I thought about it in a different context that morning. Many times when I wrong my children I think, “At least I love them. So many parents don’t love their children.”
Many times if I neglect them I justify it by believing I’m teaching them to play alone (which is important BTW, just not when looking for a reason to put your own desires first), or I’ll nobly remind myself that there is a such thing as righteous anger, and since they sinned, it was O.K. to lose my temper. Right? Or I’ll think, “If I get a break, I’ll be a better Mommy to them.” What about skipping the discipline this time because I can’t stand to see my child upset? Each time I make lame excuses like this for my behavior, I am loving my children to death. In other words, I am leading them to eternal death instead of eternal life.
The phrase “Love them to life” got written at the top of my to-do list that day to be meditated on, and it has served as a great reminder to me since. In everything I do with my children now I try to tell myself this: “Love them to life. Point them to their sinfulness and need for a Savior, yes, but then point them to the grace shown by the ultimate sacrificial lamb, Jesus Christ. Constantly reflect Christ for them so they learn to adore Him through the adoration they feel for me. Then prayerfully, by God’s grace, someday they may want to be like the Christ they saw reflected, call upon His name, and enter joyfully into His kingdom.” Lord Jesus, may this be so!
This is one of our favorites and a recipe that is often requested.
Poppyseed Chicken:
4 chicken breasts, cooked (I like to cook it in the crockpot so it’s tender)
8 oz. low fat sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 tsp. galrlic salt
1 wrapper Ritz crackers
1 stick butter, melted
2 T. poppy seeds
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine chicken, sour cream, soup, and garlic salt and spread in 9 x 13″ baking dish.
3. Crush crackers and mix with butter and poppy seeds. Spread over chicken layer.
4. Bake 45 minutes or until bubbly. Serve over hot rice.
Spiritual Growth and Thoughts 8:52 am
As some of you know, I started running about a month ago using an interval training from a website called Cool Runnings. Last Monday was the first day I was supposed to run 20 minutes straight, and I was sure I wouldn’t make it. I usually listen to Bill’s MP3 player while I run, and “Grace Unmeasured” (Sovereign Grace) was playing when I was about 15 minutes in. I had one lap to go and said out loud, “I can’t do it anymore. I have to quit.” Almost before the words were out of my mouth, the lyrics of the song said, “Grace unending all my days to give me strength to run this race.” How awesome! God reminded me through that song that I’m right, I can’t do it. But it is He who gives me the strength to do all things, so in Him I found the strength to finish. Praise God that even the small things like running for 20 minutes are important to Him, and praise Him for His strength!
Funny Stuff 12:32 pm
We have a friend, Cindy, who is a preschool teacher. She’s had a multitude of health problems lately, and her doctor put her on a new antibiotic that, unknown to her, caused her blood pressure to become dangerously high.
She was working a few weeks ago and feeling no different than usual when she suddenly found herself lying flat on her back with the entire classroom of children looking down at her. The medicine had caused her to faint for the first time in her life and she had fallen backward banging the back of her head on one of the tables, and then proceeded to knock one of the children out of her chair.
What did the kids do? Well, they were in the middle of lunch, so they just kept eating. Then one of the little boys came over, gently patted her on the cheek and asked, “Miss Cindy, can I have more potatoes?” She was still a little stunned and just moved her head a little. He then cupped both of her cheeks in his hands and asked, “Is that a ‘Yes’?” BTW, Cindy was fine except for a bruise on the back of her head.
Preaching and Resources 8:06 am
I wanted to let you know about some wonderfule free resources that are available from the New Attitude website. New Attitude is a conference aimed at promoting a “humble orthodoxy” among my generation (roughly speaking, the twenty-somethings), though that doesn’t keep them from being extremely relevant to any age. They recently held their annual conference here in Louisville and they have made all of the messages available for free download. They are all excellent, but I would give my highest recommendation for the messages given by Eric Simmons, John Piper, and C.J. Mahaney.
Also, slightly down the page you’ll see two article downloads that C.J. recommended in his message “Discern Your Heart.” They are both by Christian author/counselor David Powlison. I believe Courtney used the first article called “Personal Reflection” on her retreat recently and found it extremely helpful. I’ve been reading over the second article entitled “X-Ray Questions” for the past few days and have found them already bringing to light the idols of my heart. Although this is from a book discussing how to biblically counsel others, I intend to keep examining myself in light of these probing questions over the next few weeks to see where I show faithlessness and idolatry without realizing it (or sometimes while realizing it, but being unwilling to let go of my sin). If I could be so bold, I would challenge you all to take some time to work your way through the article in the coming weeks, too. If you’re at all like me, I tend to think I’m “doing fine” in following Christ until someone comes along who raises the bar, exposing my “strong” faith for the unholy mess that I make of it. It is my prayer for me and for any of you that choose to take this challenge is that we’ll see our sinfulness for what it is, how small we’ve made God, and how truly demanding faith in Christ is when we’d like to think that it takes so little from us. I’m praying that the Holy Spirit will bring about God-glorifying change in us. Following our recent posts on humility, I also pray that we’ll be humbled by our weak faith in a great God, strengthened not by our own might, but by his promises and great faithfulness. May it be so, O God.
General 1:50 pm
Well, I finally decided to put an updated picture of the family in the blog header, which inspired a bit of a design change as well. Knowing me, this will probably happen fairly often, as I enjoy using Photoshop when I get a few spare moments. I hope you enjoy it!
