My Day of Solitude

I was excited and nervous and anxious and fearful all at the same time. This was a school assignment that I had to do and thought how great it would be to get away from everything for just a day by myself to think and meditate on things. Anxious as I was to start the day, I was delayed by normal Mom things in the morning, but once I got in my car to go I started to wonder where God was going to take me today. I was certainly looking for direction but I seemed to be only thinking of past mistakes that felt as if they were new all over. If you know me at all, I got lost trying to find the beach, which again took me to the whole thought of direction and me being directionally challenged. I finally found where I wanted to be and then was nervous about venturing out by myself, so I went to the Nature Center...my comfort zone.

I tought about the paths each of our decisions take us and also thought about the narrow path to God and the distractions, the ups and downs, the temporary road blocks and even the times where we go down the path in faith. I took one path in particular that reminded me of the importance of water. Even when we don't see the water it is still there somewhere...sometimes underground, sometimes waiting in the sky to bring life and to feed those things around it. I associated that thought with Jesus and even when we don't see him or feel him, we know he is there by the beauty that is constantly around us. This may be in our children, or our friends, the love of our spouse, or in the natural beauty of our surroundings. I could go on, but let me wrap it up showing you the sign that I came across after I made this analogy in my mind.

There is no purer water than the living water of Jesus Christ and the existence he offers us is eternal life. What a day!

Can Bacon Really Be MEAT?

Well, almost messed up my fast with, of all things, BACON! Man, it smelled soooo good. I didn't think I was going to make it through my dinner. I have been able to make and watch my family eat: chicken, taco's, and have even had pizza, minus the pepperoni, but of all things that I thought was going to do me in....BACON! Turkey bacon, no less!!! So, I will tell you that even when I am cooking eggs, or pancakes, or french toast or waffles...we will NOT be having BACON for the next 2 weeks.

Jordan or Lily?

If I ever thought my kids didn't look alike, well I have had a rethink...Who do you think this one is? Jordan or Lily??? Let me know...

The 21 Day Fast

I have prayed about this and what to give up and what I came up with seems so weird, but I have decided to give up meat for 21 days. I can skip a meal and sometimes I don't even realize it, so I wanted it to be something more than that which would draw me to think more about Jesus. I know that I will be cooking meat for my whole family, so I think it will make me very conscious of why I am giving it up in the first place! Why am I doing it? Well, I would like my relationship with Christ to be clearer to me. I want to know without a doubt when I hear God's call to action. I don't want it to be about me, but about HIM. I want to leave a legacy for my children and their children that will be eternal.
With all that being said, I had an area of my life that was hit with a bit of confrontation...I do not like confrontation but really prayed about it for a couple weeks, sought counsel on it and knew I had to make the call. Wow, it was rough and not sure how it was taken on the other end. I really wanted to get across to this person that I wish I had had an accountability partner in some way when I was making decisions that were not healthy for me or for my family. I wanted it to be about Christian love and not about one person knowing what is wrong in someone else's life. Does this make sense? We all stumble and fall and I just wanted to let her know that with God, we can work together to keep the path clear for her. At this point, all I can do is to continue to pray about it and feel confident that I did the part God wanted me to do and now the rest is up to her.
Temptation gets in the smallest crack of your armor! I pray for each person who is fasting in the next 21 days that they hang tight to the power of God.

Change, please?

When is that time that we ask for a change? Is it when we are in a rutt? Or in a place we would not want to be? Don't we usually fear the whole idea of change? Yet, that is exactly where Jesus leads us, isn't it? I am trying to be obedient to what God wants for me and that seems to be a whole lot of change.
Uncomfortable? Absolutely!
Trying? Could you call it anything less!
Stretching me? As if you could!
Exciting? As all get out!
Beautiful? In it's own way!
Worthwhile? It is what He wants, who I am to question that!
Fulfilling? In so many ways and on so many different levels!
Everything that Jesus wants for us is all these things, but the first step is usually change. Take that first step and watch how Jesus not only transforms you, but also the ideals you hold close, like change. Do I fear the next change? No way because through all the change he has me going through, I am feeling His promises for me more and more each and every day that I walk in change! Even though I do not know where I am heading in this change, God is leading me and I know that means it has got to be good! Jesus said to his first disciples, "Come Follow Me." Stop and think what changes they had to make to do that? Job? Family? Home? Friends? Travel? Clothes? Food? Water? Could you do it?

It's been a MONTH already?

Okay, so usually when I am saying that, it's not because I didn't realize I haven't blogged in that long, but regardless, I am shocked that I haven't had the time just to jot down some random thoughts, so here they are...I did mention "random" didn't I?

• I have started my seminary classes...still laughing at the fact that on the first day of classes I forgot my BIBLE. Yes, my bible...probably the most essential thing to bring, but hey, I'm human, right?
• Kevin and I have decided to homeschool Brandon for the last part of 8th grade.
  
• We are celebrating Christmas on the 25th...all year long. Christmas is the celebration of CHRIST and I believe we should celebrate him not just on the 25th of December!
• My whole family has had the FLU! It sucked...
• I have started teaching at REFUEL on every other Wednesday. I absolutely LOVE doing this and am making sure that I am constantly learning how to improve on this!
• I love God for the life I have and am anxious for it not to pass me by. Which reminds me of this Math thing(I love Math too, just not as much as God)...KISS which stands for Keep it simple stupid. Maybe I should make that my motto for this year?!?!?!
• I miss Kevin when he is out of town...it makes me sad because I don't get to talk with him very much at all.
• I think my life group ROCKS! It makes me think about the feeling you get when you meet someone and you know they are going to mean something to you??? That is what is was like the first time we all got together...for me anyway.

Oops, need to go now and pick Jordan up from school, and the kids up from the sitters, Noah up from the bus stop, and take Brandon to his friends. Kevin comes home tonight! YEAH! And to all of you, let's make this a year of KISS!

From the Mouth of Mitch

If I had the floor at the auto rescue talks

BY MITCH ALBOM • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
• November 23, 2008
OK. It's a fantasy. But if I
had five minutes in front of Congress last week, here's what I would've
said:



Good morning. First of all, before you ask, I flew commercial. Northwest
Airlines. Had a bag of peanuts for breakfast. Of course, that's Northwest,
which just merged with Delta, a merger you, our government, approved --
and one which, inevitably, will lead to big bonuses for their executives
and higher costs for us. You seem to be OK with that kind of business.

Which makes me wonder why you're
so against our kind of business? The kind we do in Detroit. The kind that
gets your fingernails dirty. The kind where people use hammers and drills,
not keystrokes. The kind where you get paid for making something, not moving
money around a board and skimming a percentage.
You've already given hundreds of
billions to banking and finance companies -- and hardly demanded anything.
Yet you balk at the very idea of giving $25 billion to the Detroit
Three. Heck, you shoveled that exact amount to Citigroup -- $25 billion
-- just weeks ago, and that place is about to crumble anyhow.
Does the word "hypocrisy"
ring a bell?
Protecting the home turf?

Sen. Shelby. Yes. You. From Alabama.
You've been awfully vocal. You called the Detroit Three's leaders "failures."
You said loans to them would be "wasted money." You said they
should go bankrupt and "let the market work."
Why weren't you equally vocal when
your state handed out hundreds of millions in tax breaks to Mercedes-Benz,
Hyundai, Honda and others to open plants there? Why not "let the market
work"? Or is it better for Alabama if the Detroit Three fold so that
the foreign companies -- in your state -- can produce more?
Way to think of the nation first,
senator.
And you, Sen. Kyl of Arizona. You
told reporters: "There's no reason to throw money at a problem that's
not going to get solved."
That's funny, coming from such an
avid supporter of the Iraq war. You've been gung ho on that for years.
So how could you just sit there when, according to the New York Times,
an Iraqi former chief investigator told Congress that $13 billion in U.S.
reconstruction funds "had been lost to fraud, embezzlement, theft
and waste" by the Iraqi government?
That's 13 billion, senator.
More than half of what the auto industry is asking for. Thirteen billion?
Gone? Wasted?
Where was your "throwing money
at a problem that's not going to get solved" speech then?
Watching over the bankers?

And the rest of you lawmakers. The
ones who insist the auto companies show you a plan before you help them.
You've already handed over $150 billion of our tax money to AIG. How come
you never demanded a plan from it? How come when AIG blew through its first
$85 billion, you quickly gave it more? The car companies may be losing
money, but they can explain it: They're paying workers too much and selling
cars for too little.
AIG lost hundred of billions in
credit default swaps -- which no one can explain and which make nothing,
produce nothing, employ no one and are essentially bets on failure.
And you don't demand a paragraph
from it?
Look. Nobody is saying the auto
business is healthy. Its unions need to adjust more. Its models and dealerships
need to shrink. Its top executives have to downsize their own importance.

But this is a business that has
been around for more than a century. And some of its problems are because
of that, because people get used to certain wages, manufacturers get used
to certain business models. It's easy to point to foreign carmakers with
tax breaks, no union costs and a cleaner slate -- not to mention help from
their home countries -- and say "be more like them."
But if you let us die, you let our
national spine collapse. America can't be a country of lawyers and financial
analysts. We have to manufacture. We need that infrastructure. We need
those jobs. We need that security. Have you forgotten who built equipment
during the world wars?
Besides, let's be honest. When it
comes to blowing budgets, being grossly inefficient and wallowing in debt,
who's better than Congress?
So who are you to lecture anyone
on how to run a business?
Ask fair questions. Demand accountability.
But knock it off with the holier than thou crap, OK? You got us into this
mess with greed, a bad Fed policy and too little regulation. Don't kick
our tires to make yourselves look better.