Not Ashamed.

Like many parents that have come before us, we have entered the eye-roll phase.  Truthfully there are a lot of eye-roll phases in parenting.  

"You can't climb on the fence." (eye-roll)

"Eat your vegetables." (eye-roll)

"That shirt doesn't match those shorts." (stomp, eye-roll, stomp, stomp)

In later years there's actually kind of a role-reversal eye-roll phase where you, as an adult, hear something from your grown parents and roll your eyes.

"Your father and I read this article last week...." (eye-roll)

But I'm talking about the phase of eye-rolling that communicates a general dissatisfaction with the fact that you're related.  We've all been there.  Our parents say something and we know we'll get grounded if we say we wish we belonged to a different family so we just roll our eyes and wait for the moment to pass.  Your reward for having endured so many of these situations as a youth is that you get to do the same thing to your own kids when you get older.  Sometimes I have know idea that what I'm about to say will embarrass them.  Other times I've become tired of reminding them to hang up their towels and am just straight up looking for an opportunity.  In either case, it is a firm assurance that they will one day grow up, move out and become their own eye-roll worthy human beings.  In the dance of parental guidance and developing independence, if you aren't embarrassing your kids you aren't doing it right!

But in the dance of salvation and adoption in Jesus Christ it's a much different story.  

"Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.  So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters."  Hebrews 2:11

Y'all this is huge!  Early followers of Christ gave up a lot to belong to a Christian community.  They were often shunned by their family and society, losing their ties to the economy and giving up the support of kinship.  The writer of Hebrews is writing to remind fellow believers that they are not cast aside and forgotten.  Quite the opposite!  Belonging to Christ meant finding a different kind of family where members supported each other and encouraged one another regardless of birth or social status.  In a world that sought then to divide and label and scrutinize (and still does) in Christ there is no shame.  Let me say that again for the people in the back....

In Christ There Is No Shame.

We endure the eye-rolls of our children because this is part of the tension we experience in parenting but in Christ there is nothing to endure.  There is simply acceptance.  We are called to embrace this, for ourselves and for those around us.  I know this is not always easy.  I struggle both accepting Jesus' love for me AND remembering the same unconditional love is there for others.  Yes, the Lord knows how many times you have completely lost your cool during this time of quarantine.  He loves you anyway.  Do you?  Repent and believe.  And yes, the Lord knows the guy with the all the tigers and husbands is not perfect.  He loves him anyway.  Do you?  Repent and believe.  

We're family, folks, in the purest and most everlasting way.  We have Jesus.  He calls us his own.  And He is not ashamed.  

XOXO....Kelly

(Speaking of endurance, I feel like I endure a fair amount of ridiculousness from the various eye-rollers in this house.  Just sayin'.)  

It's Palm Sunday and there are no stinkin' palm leaves.

I'm not good with tradition...just ask my very traditional father and my equally as traditional sister, both of whom I frustrate on an annual basis.  I don't put up the same Christmas decorations each year.  I never learned my alma mater's fight song.  And I think Thanksgiving without turkey is just fine.  But even I find myself feeling a little empty this morning, as we stare into the Holy Week ahead knowing the events we are used to won't be as we like to find them, beginning with Palm Sunday.

For the last several years I have served as a Director of Children's Ministry at our church.  Like most churches, we celebrate Palm Sunday by leading the children through the worship services, waving palm branches and shouting "Hosanna!" along the way.  It's actually a bit of a marathon because on our campus we have a total of 5 worship services on any given Sunday morning, 2 happening at once during one service hour and 3 happening at once during the other service hour.  And everything is a separate building.  It goes a little something like this....

At 9am children start arriving.  Our volunteers have become superstars at greeting, checking in and lining the children up all at once, all the while keeping their clothes clean and shoes on.  This is not as easy as it sounds (HA!) but the Lord goes before us....  We do this for about 10-15 minutes until we look up and suddenly realize we should be heading into the service.  We pass out palm branches--1 per child--answering questions like, "Why can't I have two branches?" and "Do you want to hear about my pet turtle?" and nearly jog to the sanctuary (yes, sometimes we run in church).

In each service we walk the children in, in one or two or six "lines", and try not to lose anyone.  The worship venues have the most magical power of silencing even the most boisterous child even when (ESPECIALLY WHEN) you want them to sing or say something out loud.  The Bible says that in Jesus' day the people cried out on Palm Sunday.  In our day we stare with wide eyes and sometimes run into the person in front of us because we're not paying attention.  And someone always falls over.  And breaks their palm branch.  And pokes their neighbor.  We do this five times so that by the end of the morning I feel like I have just run a circus.  I am exhausted, hungry, hoarse.  But also my heart is incredibly full.

Tradition can bind us together.  It links one year to the next, fills us with nostalgia and remembrance and helps us to make sense of time and space.  But watch what happens when I remove the last word of my sentence:  Tradition can bind us together.  To an activity.  To a ritual.  To sometimes missing the point.  In its absence we feel empty, like we are missing out.  We might even feel a little lost.

On this Palm Sunday I am missing all of my little friends.  I am missing the chaos and calamity and unspeakable joy.  I know that God sees me in my grief.  I know that He meets me in this absence.  He sees the emptiness, the gaps where I am missing something, the void where I'm floating a little lost....
...And He fills all of it.

We are missing our tradition today, but we are not missing our King.  And all the emptiness we feel when the world does not look the way we want it to is simply more space for our Savior to occupy.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest. 

XOXO...Kelly

 

   

         

Well, it's been a while.

Well, it’s been a while.  For those who are keeping track (or are now! 😊) I have answered a call to vocational ministry, become a local licensed pastor of the United Methodist Church appointed to the Foundry and started classes at Perkins Theological Seminary through their Houston-Galveston Extension Program.  That’s a whole lot of words to say that as God speaks, I am doing my best to obey.  All of this on top of life as a wife and mother has left very little room in my head to write here as I have so enjoyed doing in the past.  My words come out as either mush or a shopping list with very little in between.  (By the way, I'm out of milk.)  But this morning two things happened…  


1.  I realized what I haven’t been praying for. 


I started this phase of life 18 years removed from college.  That means I have slept A LOT since the last time I had to write a paper or read a textbook.  The old memory ain’t what she used to be, and I have been operating under the assumption that’s just how it’s going to have to be.  I will do school, check off the boxes and get on with it.  


But I have been wrong.


School is not easy and not just because of the brain power it takes to focus, learn and produce, but because of the ways God speaks to us when we are open to hearing him.  To put it frankly, in my own life driving carpool is far easier than tackling the issues of faith that sit on my heart, but this is not God’s will for me.  Yes, of course, I will drive the carpool but I cannot hide in it.  I believe that God has put issues on my heart because they reflect His heart.  I believe that God has gifted me to learn, search, discover, pray and preach because this reflects His heart for His people.  I believe that God knows how old and tired my brain is, but that won’t stop Him!   


Lord, you have given me a message, a path, a calling.  I may not see it all right now, but I can trust it.  You are not done yet.  Give me the courage to consider that I might be smart enough or capable enough to do this whole school thing in Your name and with Your strength.


2. Someone spoke truth to me.


About an hour after having this whole realization that I might actually be called for a reason I received a message from a friend encouraging me to write again.  (Seriously.  You can’t make this stuff up!)  She did not know that I have been praying for a long time to find my voice again.  She did not know that I had decided that maybe God had just decided He was done with that for me.    


Wrong again.


It is not my voice anyone needs to hear.  It’s God’s.  I don’t know how often and I don’t know how well I can manage it, but I believe in a God that won’t let my “I don’t know’s” stop Him!


Lord, I thank you for Pacquitta who spoke truth to me today in Your name.  You have given her a message, a path, a calling.  How grateful I am that she is on it. 


What are you not praying for today?  And who is God using to show you the way?  We are not alone in this, friends.  Brains—old and new!—are being stretched, hearts expanded and mountains moved EVERY. DAY. because our God is not done with us yet.  Not even close.  Praise God, indeed!  Praise Him for all of it.  


XOXO…Kelly

It was the Saturday before Easter....

It was the Saturday before Easter, 2004.  I drove up to my parents' end of town for the day to occupy myself while Kevin studied at our apartment.  My mom and I took a quick trip to Lowes where, in the parking lot, a family was selling a litter of puppies (you know, back in the day when people did that).  It was there that I met the wee furry dachshund angel that would become my very own Oscar Mayer Long.  

The story is legend in my family.  Almost all 4 boys can recite it, and do when we drive past that spot in the parking lot of our local Lowes store.  How I'd wanted a dachshund of my own for almost as long as I could remember.  How he nuzzled into my arms the minute I picked him up such that I never even looked at any of the others in the litter.  How I promised Kevin he could buy something electronic if I could only bring this puppy home.  It's almost the perfect story for this time of year.  Almost...

I can do you one better.

It's the story of a man.  A man wrongfully crucified.  A tomb wrongfully filled.  A day wrongfully dark.  But a morning...

Then came the morning that sealed the promise

Your buried body began to breathe

Out of the silence, the Roaring Lion

Declared the grave has no claim on me

Jesus yours is the victory!

….oh a morning full of Life!  A stone rolled away.  A tomb emptied.  A Savior Risen, risen indeed!  

That sweet puppy I brought home all those years ago would become a beloved family pet.  Not a perfect pet.  He barked at everyone, ate a hole in our couch, sometimes peed on things and snuck into our bed in the middle of the night to sleep under the blankets.  But he was ours.  And when he passed in September and I held him one last time and thought about everything good and everything hard in owning a pet, I knew if I had the chance to peer into that baby pool and pick him up again, I would do it.  I definitely would.  

It was the Saturday before Easter, in a garden long ago, and our God looked out onto His creation.  At the choices we'd made.  At the distance we'd wandered from His side.  At His children, not perfect, but His.  He handed His son over to death, and in death, gave way to victory.  And given the chance to watch His Son die at our hands, but rise again, He would do it.  He definitely would. 

It's the perfect story because it's the story that is lived over and over and over again.  Of a God who defeats the grave, who chooses you and me and everyone in between, no matter our state.  Whose Son died to build a bridge that we would not be swallowed up in death, but bound in life to Him eternally.  It's the story of love and hope, power and glory, salvation and life.  And we've got to tell it, friends. Tell it so that the whole world can recite it!  It's not just the stuff of legend, friends.  It is the stuff of life.  

Happy Easter

XOXO...Kelly   

Gus Long (aka "Not Max)

I don't believe I've written anything yet about our newest addition to the family, Gus Long.  

Gus joined the family in October when we adopted him from another family feeling a bit in over their heads with a growing lab puppy.  We apparently have no sense of where are heads are and welcomed him right in.  Gus spent the first few days with us afraid of the hardwood floors and being barked at my his dachshund sisters.  The girls still do not love him, but he's managed to cope with this by stealing the beds out of their kennel on a daily basis.  

Gus is, like many growing lab puppies, a hot mess.  He's a big oaf of a goober who doesn't know his own size or strength and often forgets that his tail is actually his own.  He starts everyday by whining until we let him out of his kennel.  Then he systematically grabs everything that isn't bolted down on his way to the back door....pillows, shoes, blankets, books, my purse, the jacket I've just put on.  When I walk him up to the school to pick up the boys he barks at the children and tries to take their backpacks.  Yesterday Kevin took him for a jeep ride and he jumped out the window of the moving jeep.  When Kevin finally caught up with him he was over at the school barking at a family playing ball.  They did not have backpacks.

Shortly after we were married, Kevin and I adopted a lab named Max.  She was a petite black lab who was gentle and patient, quick to please and excellent with training.  She did not chew.  Did not bark.  Some days Gus' nickname is "Not Max."  He doesn't know what we're talking about, of course, but the reference to our former pet reminds us that we are not entirely inept and we did manage to have one good dog before.  Perhaps there is hope for us again...

My biggest challenge with Gus are our walks.  He gets a walk usually every morning and every afternoon.  Pretty much everything on the sidewalk and bordering lawns are of great interest to him right now, and I am not much of a match for his super moose strength as his zig-zags back and forth, forward and back.  He sticks his nose in ant beds and eats wasps, whining he is stung and bit.  My favorite thing is when people drive by in their cars and light-heartedly holler out the windows, "Who's walking who?" as Gus takes off after a butterfly.  

To counter his erratic behavior I have started--upon the advice of our vet--walking with treats in my pocket.  When he wanders I call him back.  When he comes I give him a treat.  The exercise is meant to reinforce the idea that sticking close to me is better than chasing whatever squirrel/bird/cat/butterfly/piece of trash is moving past him on the sidewalk.  As we walked this morning I couldn't help but thinking of that dynamic in my own life....the things that pull my focus, that tempt me away from my own master.  

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight."

We have a hard time with the word "submit".  A culture of deviance, defiance and sin has made it into something negative, where submission is akin to weakness.  But the Greek root of the word as we see it used in scripture is closer to the idea of being in support of or identifying with its subject.   As one author puts it, to submit is to exercise "the Christian grace of voluntarily yielding one's preferences to another."  Individual rights don't have anything to do with it, in that submitting is not taking something away from you at all.  As we submit to the Lord we are not putting aside who we are or what makes us unique individuals.  We are not bowing in weakness or cowering in servitude.  Rather, we are accepting our identity in Christ and letting Him lead us.  Submitting to the Lord gives us the freedom to discern what is of God, that we may reflect the will of God and the grace of Jesus Christ in everything we do.  That others may come to know Him and that He may be glorified.

So two things to take away from all of this Gus-inspired submission talk....  

(1) Life is infinitely better when I am close to Christ.  It is not perfect.  It is not trouble-free.  But it is guarded, it is regarded, it is purposed when I am close to Christ.  On my own I am free to zig-zag back and forth, forward and back.  I can chase whatever squirrel I want to.  And, inevitably, I end up with my mouth full of wasp stings or my nose full of ants.  But, oh what Christ has to offer!  Grace!  Mercy!  A path not always clear, but always straight and sure.

And (2) Christ walks with me.  Not above me or beyond me.  Not without me.  With me.  That's the real idea of submission and identification, that we are not asked to serve someone who does not join us, who sits on a high and mighty throne somewhere and asks us to endure what He would not.  No, not at all!  Instead, Christ came to live among us.  He died for us.  He rose again, and through the power of His spirit, continues on in us and with us as very much alive as ever.  He sees our struggles as we see them, but with a power beyond our own understanding.  And in this power He works to make straight the paths this world threatens to undo every minute of every day.

We really do love Gus Long.  For all of his faults (can we really call them that?) he loves nothing more than to snuggle up next to you and put his head on your lap.  He is loyal and endearing and I do believe there is hope for him yet.  Hope for all of us, in fact.  Amen to that!

XOXO....Kelly

        

  

     

Girl, get that hand off your hip....

Do you remember the days before everyone had a camera on their phone?  When you took a photo and all you could do was hope because it would be a week or so before you got the film developed.  It was a time of unflattering angles, glowing red eyes and mid-sentence facial expressions.  It was not always pretty, but it was comfortingly human I think.

Nowadays everyone looks like a print ad for Abercrombie & Fitch all the time.  We've mastered the angles, the lighting.  We don't even need someone to take the shot for us.  Did you know that the average person will take around 25,000 selfies in their lifetime?  And don't even get me started on the hands on the hips.  You know what I'm talking about....the one where a bunch of women get together to line up for a picture and the people on the ends do that funny lean out thing with one hand on their hip.  Who stands like that?  Seriously, 1993 called and would like it's yearbook pose back....

Now I don't mean to pick on anyone.  The truth is I HATE unflattering pictures of myself.  When I see one something inside of me panics, as if that millisecond of time caught on camera is what I look like all the time.  I am the vainest of the vain when it comes to photos and (ironically) it's not pretty. 

But as much as we obsess about it, the Bible shares shockingly little concern for our outward appearance.  In fact, it's quite the opposite.  In the book of 1 Samuel, God has sent Samuel to anoint a new king over His people.  "I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem.  I have chosen one of his sons to be king" (16:1).  Jesse and his sons appear before Samuel.  These are young men of great stature, confident and chiseled, I imagine.  (They'd be great in an Abercrombie & Fitch ad.)  Surely one of these will do, Samuel thinks to himself.  But the Lord says to Samuel....

Do not consider his appearance or his height, for have rejected him.  The Lord does not look at the things people look at.  People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.  16:7

The rest of the story is that it's David Samuel has been sent to anoint, the youngest, smallest and slightest brother.  David who slays the giant no one else can take down.  David who will become king and make probably as many mistakes as he will victories.  David who is--above all else--God's.

Psalm 33:15 reminds us that He has formed the hearts of all.  Did He form the rest of you, too?  Oh, you bet.  That nose you think is crooked, torso you think is short and hips you think are wide.  God has created that, too, and calls it--get this--GOOD.  Do you know why?  Because all of that is simply a vessel to that which He has formed, filled and tucked away inside of you.  Your heart.  Your heart which is--above all else--God's.  

Will you challenge yourself to rest in that truth today?  Will you challenge yourself to scrutinize your image not on what the outside says about you, but what the inside says?  Will you drop that hand off your hip and be confident that He who has started a good work in you has much more in store for you than a winning Instagram photo?

You have been looked upon today, friends.  And you look GOOD.

XOXO....Kelly

    

Things Unseen

I realized something about myself this past Christmas season.  As I was participating in one of those white elephant style gift exchanges I realized that I never take an unopened gift.  I always steal.  I'd rather choose something I already see than open something unknown.  For years I've picked out my own presents....I don't even pretend to be surprised when I open them.  I've told myself it's because I have very specific taste, but really I'd rather just look forward to the thing I know I will like than be surprised by something else.  I know....not very heart-warming, is it?  Now who wants to get me a present??  If I was a groundhog I'd most definitely be peaking out to find out about the weather....

(Don't drive angry.)

Scripture talks about the unseen a lot.  At Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."

And at 1 Corinthians 13:12, "For now we see only a reflection as we see in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."
 
The future is the unopened gift in the white elephant gift exchange.  It is unseen, a calculated guess at best.  It is the spring or winter coming for us, and really has nothing to do with the groundhog!  But it has everything to do with the Father.

For as much as we are asked to trust and walk and obey, we are not abandoned.  The assurance that makes all of this faith in the unseen possible is that we have a Father who loves us, knows us and desires far better for us than we can possibly ever imagine for ourselves.

"And why do you worry about clothes?  See how the flowers of the field grow?  They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you--you of little faith?" Matthew 6:28-30

We do our best to predict the future, lay plans that are good and smart and prosperous.  But the very best belongs to the Lord.  He who sees you sees the whole you, the whole picture of you, the world in which you live and the future on which you hope.  And His plan for your life has been rooted in His good and perfect will.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, since what is seen is eternal, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17-18), and embrace that sometimes the unexpected can be the biggest blessing of all.  

Except for those unopened white elephant presents.  Definitely leave those to the groundhogs....

XOXO....Kelly
   
   

Merry Christmas from the Long's 2018

Merry Christmas from the Long’s!

What a year it has been!  It feels like just yesterday that I was writing our last holiday letter.  Actually, that’s a lie.  I barely remember what actually happened yesterday let alone a year from now.  Kids kill brain cells you know….

Speaking of kids, ours are great!  Michael is in 6^th grade and handling middle school like a champ.  He’s in beginning band this year, playing percussion.  On top of soccer and piano lessons that means he makes a whole lot of noise and beats on stuff a bunch.  His other favorite hobby is asking for a phone.  Our favorite hobby is saying no. 

Blake is in 5^th grade and ready to move out of elementary school.  We can tell because of how often he refers to everyone around him as “idiots”.  He enjoys guitar lessons and also playing soccer.  His first love is hunting, though, and if we’d just let him move to the deer lease like he’s asked he could do it all the time.  And be around less idiots.

Zachary is in 3^rd grade, is teaching himself the ukulele (seriously) and still loves playing, well, anything with a ball.  Or without a ball.  Did you know you can even compete at blinking?  It’s true.  I bet you’re losing right now.  Zachary is smart and bright and funny and caring.  And currently beating you at blinking.

Parker is in 1^st grade.  He loves reading and not following directions at home.  This fall he played on a flag football team and did not love it.  We can’t blame him.  Have you seen some of those flag football parents?  They are crazy.  Lots of talent out there, but also lots that can’t tie their own shoes. 

Kevin (still bearded) is still with his firm, Oldenettel & Long.  He says and does lots of important lawyer-y stuff.  In his free time he scoops leaves and small snakes from the pool.  We celebrate 15 years of marriage this month!  The magic is still there, folks.  I mean, when I hear him argue with people on the internet he may or may not even know, well…..  I’ll just stop there.  This is a family letter after all.

I am still on staff at our church, Foundry UMC.  In my free time I’ve really committed to Netflix.  I don’t mean just watching an occasional show, but really connecting with several fictional and non-fictional characters I will never meet.  It’s a whole different kind of rewarding to lose yourself in the drama of Britain’s royal family when you’ve been listening to the sideline commentary of 1^st and 2^nd grade flag football parents for several weekends in a row.

And so in the middle of all this madness and joy we come to Christmas!  I love what my devotional said this morning….”Advent is an invitation to perceive. Christmas calls us to look again” (Matt LeRoy).  We look again at the year behind us—remembering the good with the bad!—and see Christ at work in so many ways.  And we look again to the future—always hoping & sometimes questioning—and are assured He will be there.  May you and your family rest in this same peace now, and in the New Year ahead!

XOXO….Kevin, Kelly, Michael, Blake, Zachary and Parker

Pictured from left to right:

Zachary (currently winning at picture-taking)

Parker (tied his own shoes...JK...they're velcro)

Michael (so much 6th grade swagger we don't even know where to begin)

Blake (solely responsible for the 15 shots it took us to get one decent picture together)

Kevin & Kelly (making a list of cocktails to try when the boys move out one day)

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter....

I'll admit that amid the joys of parenting there have--from time to time--been moments of frustration as well.  Moments that remind me of that line in the Christmas poem "when out on the lawn there arose such a clatter".  Literally.  Like the boys are actually fighting in the front yard.  Moments that have driven me to shut myself inside the laundry room (no one ever looks there) and eat a chocolate bar.  Sometimes when my kids call my name--"MOM!!!"--I reply, "She left!"  It doesn't work, just so you know.  They know too well the sound of my voice.

John 10:4-5 says, "When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice."

Ah, to know the voice of the Shepherd.

Can I be honest that I started the Christmas season this year a little grumpy?  I don't know why exactly.  The weather.  The traffic.  The calendar.  On December 1 I got down on my knees and poured it all out to God, that I desperately did not want to be this season's Grinch and I most certainly was not interested in a whole month of a fake-it-till-you-make-it attitude.  That evening we attended the Christmas party of some dear friends and there--amid the clatter--came the voice of Christ.  It wasn't anything huge or expensive or glittery.  It was simply His presence lived out in those around me, the reassurance in that time and place that He was there.  My head turned and I followed immediately.

That's my prayer for you this season, that you would hear the voice of Christ.  Beyond the lights that sparkle and the trees that gleam.  Among the crowds in the stores and above the joyful noise of each holiday party.  As you look over your calendar and plan your menu....

His voice.

Let us follow it, each and everyone of us.  Amen.

XOXO...Kelly
 

Like a fish out of water...

My Monday morning walk took a bizarre turn this week when a friend and I happened upon--of all things--a fish on the sidewalk near my home.  

We figured either Sharknado was 'bout to happen or a large bird had dropped it mid-flight.  At 1pm that afternoon the fish was still on the sidewalk and, we discovered, still alive!  Feeling slightly guilty for having let the poor thing suffer so long, Blake and I filled a bucket with water and transported it to a nearby creek where it swam away.

 

(He's a cute little wildlife conservationist, isn't he??)

That fish laid on the sidewalk for 5 hours, still and seemingly lifeless.  There's no telling how far down it fell when it landed there.  But you should have seen it when we dropped it in the water!  Its gills moved and fins fluttered.  It's head searched for the direction of the current and righted immediately.  That fish found life again.

In the book of John it's recorded that Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well and offers her living water.  

"Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”  The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”  John 4:4-15

Y'all, there are so many souls living in a fish-out-of-water state everyday.  If I'm honest even I find myself there on a pretty regular basis, where I am half-full of the life God wants for me and sorely out of place.  But friends, there is living water that can revive us the way the creek near my house revived that fish.  There is a Savior that not only quenches our thirst, but rejuvenates us completely, who removes us from the dry, cold ground and sets us free to swim again.

The most beautiful part of this passage in John is how Jesus goes on in this conversation to name this woman's sin.  He asks her to go and bring her husband back to him, knowing that she is not married, and she confesses the truth to him (verses 15-18).  At first glance maybe it looks like Jesus is being unkind, taunting her with a promise and then reminding her of her past.  But as the account continues "The woman said, "I know that Messiah (called Christ) is coming. When he comes he will explain everything to us."  Then Jesus declared, "I--the one speaking to you--I am He."  (verses 25-26)

Here Jesus declares who He is.  Not a prophet with limited wisdom or vision, but the One True God who sees her and knows her and offers her life.  In those times no man would have spoken so freely with a woman, let alone a Samaritan woman.  But the life that Christ offers is not limited by world says we can do, or what society says we deserve.  And her encounter with Jesus would not only change the course of her own life, but the lives of many more because of her testimony (verse 39).

Christ sees you.  He sees your struggle.  Your past.  Your present frustrations.  And He comes to you anyway.  Because the life He wants for you--for any of us--is not cold.  It is not misplaced.  It is not devoid of hope.  It is, rather, eternal.  And it is not just rescue, but it is rebirth.  For you, and for all those who will hear the Good Word He has put into your life.  

So swim, friends.  Swim.

XOXO....Kelly   

        

Bad gifts

The holiday season is just around the corner.  I overheard someone talking the other day about Christmas shopping.  Arg.  Let's just leave that right there for now....  But it did make me think.  Have you ever received a really terrible gift?  One year for Christmas I bought my mom a musical coffee mug.  Every time you lifted it up it played Christmas music.  This was a terrible gift because (a) my mom did not drink coffee and (b) every time you lifted it up it played Christmas music.  The dogs kept knocking it over while it was wrapped and under the tree and music would come from out of nowhere.

What's a person to do when they receive a bad gift?  If you're a mother and your wonderful middle daughter has spent her very own money on a musical mug I think you just accept it and wait for the day when said mug "mysteriously disappears".  But there are some bad gifts you don't have to accept...

I love what my good friend Jennifer Patrick says about not accepting bad gifts from others.  Comments, opinions and criticisms that we are all going to hear about ourselves at one point or another, from friends and enemies alike.  Jennifer says to think of this sort of feedback as a gift.  You either accept it or you don't.  Once you've accepted it you have to do something with it.  Do you believe in it?  Carry it around with you?  Let the words change you?  

Or do you recognize those words for what they are--a bad gift--and simply say, "No, thank you. I just don't have room something like that right now."

There is great freedom in accepting the grace Christ offers you, not because you are perfect.  Not because you may ever get to perfect!  But because He loves you, He died for you, and He has a purpose for you.  

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." Ephesians 4:29

Anything less is a musical coffee mug for someone who doesn't drink coffee.  And you, my friend, simply don't have to accept it.

XOXO....Kelly 

*Interested in more life-affirming words for yourself, your friends and family?  In a world full of misleading thoughts and "bad gifts" we all need a reminder about where our truth comes from.  Contact Jennifer Patrick at jpatrickcomm@sbcglobal.net about hosting a Soul Book Gathering, a unique experience in creating art from the heart and finding your truth!  

Jesus is my candidate....

It's nearing election time in Texas, which, as per usual, has left me feeling a little frustrated.  Candidates that fall short on each side.  Voter opinion that falls just as short.  Media in the middle mucking the whole thing up!  I may be prepared to back someone with my vote, but decidedly not with my hope.  Because in today's political climate (and social and financial) I fear we are really all just going to be swimming in circles until Jesus comes!!

Isaiah 26 says "We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts" (vs.1).  As I think about this country, my state, city and community, I know I fortunate to be where I am.  The history laid before us, of service and sacrifices made by so many.  Though we are far from perfect, we know how far we've come.  We must protect that.  And yet....

Our world is fragile.  The buildings in which we live and work and worship are just that.  Brick and mortar and stone built by man and just as easily undone.  In God alone do we have what outlasts.  In God alone do we find salvation.  In God alone do we find peace. 

"Lord, YOU establish peace for us, all that we have accomplished you have done for us" (vs. 12).  

I don't know who your candidate of choice is for the upcoming elections, but regardless of who you vote for, you have a God that outlasts.  You have a God that builds walls that do not come down, a God of salvation, order and peace.  You have a God that says politics be damned, do what is right.  Love your neighbor.  Serve your community.  Seek justice.  Live in peace.  For no man or woman in any place of power may take these away when God has given them to you.

Your vote counts, friends.  But your faith counts greater.  

XOXO....Kelly 

Snake pants, 5 years later...

In my first blog post here 5 1/2 years ago, I wrote about a pair of snake-printed skinny pants I had mustered up the courage to put on after 6 years of being pregnant and having babies.  The pants, for me, became kind of a symbol.  A moving on from one phase into another, as my oldest started kindergarten and our youngest was...well...the last.  And a reminder, that the clothes on the outside of us are nothing compared to the peace of God that dwells within.

Those pants are still in my drawer.  I got to thinking about them the other day, maybe because I haven't worn them in a while.  (The peace of God is still certainly hanging around, but the waistline doesn't look exactly the same.)  This year my oldest starts middle school, so onward we go, into a new phase with new challenges and new opportunities.  The more we move on, the more joy I receive from getting to know God's peace....

My peace I leave you, my peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  John 14:26

You see, God's peace is not always ideal.  Sometimes the soul is tired.  Sometimes the soul is angry.  Sometimes the soul cannot see the path in front of it.  But His peace is constant.  It is faithful.  And when all the world around me is screaming, it is the whisper that keeps me balanced.

God's peace is also a promise.  When we cannot see it, cannot feel it, are not sure it is there...it is in these moments that Christ invites us to call out to Him, that we might receive His peace not as we might expect the world to give us a gift, but as He might give one.

I pray you peace for the road ahead, friends.  I pray for ups and downs that bring you closer to God, that acquaint more with his sovereignty, his mercy, his grace.  I pray for my kiddos as they begin a new school year, and for each teacher and staff member that will cross their paths and shape their minds.  I pray for myself!  May I be equipped to handle the road ahead of me, both seen and unseen, with God's help.  May I be a instrument of His good and perfect will.  

And just in case it helps....may I also be able to get into those snake pants again some day soon.....

XOXO--Kelly

Blake's most recent snake encounter, a rattler he encountered at the deer lease.  Don't worry...no pants were harmed in the killing of this snake.  

    

We have a sink hole.

Not too long after we moved into our home two years ago, we discovered what appears to be a small-ish sink hole in our back yard.  It's about 4 feet deep and a foot wide at the top.  It's flagged, of course, so no boy falls in it, and we check it daily for any potentially curious dachshunds.  We've talked to the county, to plumbers, to the neighbor next door as we try to figure out what to do about it, and have attempted to fill it on two or three occasions only to have it slowly reappear again over time.  I fear until we figure out what's lacking in the ground underneath we will never successfully fill that hole.  

And so with our hearts....

As God did create us, He also created within us a need for Him, as the source of our salvation, as the wellspring of peace and guidance.  It's a "Jesus-shaped hole" as my good friend Craig likes to say, and it exists in each one of us.  You can feel it on any given day, the presence of that hole.  It's what twinges when we hear others hurl insults at one another.  It's what weeps when the news reports another tragic school shooting.  It's what keeps us from sleep at night when we are struggling at home or at work.

So as only we know how we try to fill that hole.  Some fixes are good....vacation, home improvement, a new hair style, working out.  Some are not....alcohol, drugs, pornography.  None are permanent.  None are everlasting.  The only fix for our Jesus-shaped holes is Jesus himself.

It occurs to me as my kids get older how many things the world offers them to try to satisfy their longings.  It's a phone one week and a video game the next.  It's this activity and that one.  It's a test score, a pair of shoes, a sleepover with a friend.  And while--like I said--so many of these things are not all bad on the surface, if the foundation is not in Jesus Christ--a hole will always be there.  And the less Jesus they are offered the more they will try to fill that hole with something else.

Offer them Jesus.
Let Jesus be offered to us.

When I said, "My foot is slipping," your unfailing love, Lord, supported me.
When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy. Psalm 94:18-19

It is the joy of knowing that Christ dwells within us, the joy of salvation in Him, the joy of doing his will that supports us and sustains us.  Whatever else fills our days and our moments, if it is not His joy that is the foundation we'll be dumping dirt into that hole for years to come.

In the meantime, we'll keep checking our sink hole for dachshunds.  And neighborhood cats.  And eventually probably small automobiles if we can't get this thing figured out pretty quickly.....

XOXO....Kelly





 

   

The voices in my head sometimes call me "Mom".

I don't know about you, but there are A LOT of different voices in my head.  Some of the voices are work-related.  Some of them have to do with school.  Some have to do with how I look.

There are neighbor voices.  Church voices.  Family voices.  Voices that tell me I've failed.  Voices that tell me I've succeeded.  Voices that tell me we're out of milk.

There's one voice that sounds just like my husband.  That's something they never tell you when you're getting ready to walk down the aisle!

Four of the voices move around a lot and look like this....

Just because there's a voice in your head doesn't mean it's necessarily troublesome, of course, though there are those.  But the reality is that, whatever the source, there is a lot of competition for our thoughts, and who we are, what we do has a lot to do with how these voices manifest themselves in our daily lives.  I was recently asked to do an inventory of my spiritual disciplines.  In other words, how do I connect each day to God's voice?  (There's nothing like doing an inventory of your spiritual disciplines to reinforce how much you're lacking said discipline.)  What I found was that I have taken holiness for granted in a big way.

You see, holiness is living in devotion to God.  Aligning yourself with His will and seeking it over and over and over again, in every facet of your life.  Holiness is not a given.  It does not come to us just because we love the Lord.  It does not come to us because we attend church.  It does not come to us because we are nice to others and live a good life.  It comes because we take time--intentional moments--to be with Him and listen for His voice.  It takes effort.  Repeated effort.  Over and over and over again kind of effort.

We sang through a great hymn today....an oldie but a goodie, if you will.  Take Time to Be Holy

1. Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;
   Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.
   Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,
   Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.
2. Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;
   Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.
   By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
   Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
3. Take time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide;
   And run not before Him, whatever betide.
   In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,
   And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word.
4. Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,
   Each thought and each motive beneath His control.
   Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love,
   Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.

I love some of the voices in my head, I really do.  Others I can live without.  But of all the voices in my head God's needs to be the loudest.  It needs to be the strongest.  It needs to be the voice against which all other voices are measured.

I know this will take effort on my part.  I must take the time to seek it.  I must take the time to maintain it!  A relationship with the Living God means constant pursuit.  But what I know of this kind of effort is that God always honors it.  When we take the time to listen for God's voice we can be assured we will hear it!

….Well, the voices in my head are telling me to get some sleep now.  Not before I pray over my day today, of course, and what lies ahead for tomorrow.  Like buying milk.  And toilet paper.  And I think we're out of eggs.  And the bathroom needs cleaned.  Good grief, these voices are bossy....

XOXO....Kelly  

     

 

When home is not a resting place...

I remember a season in my life a few years ago.  We were moving into a new home--trying to fix, pack and clean one while moving into the other.  I had just returned from a two-week trip out of the country.  Spring Break and Easter were nuzzled somewhere in the middle of it all on top of all sorts of spring-time goodness at the kids' school and extracurricular activities.

It was one of those seasons when I would wake up in the morning and first thing have a little panic as I tried to remember which day it was.  Every facet of our lives was busy...work, school, church, even home.  I remember feeling there was absolutely no place to just rest.  I jokingly asked my friend if I could come take a nap on her couch for a while because I was not actually responsible for anything in her house!    

We build our homes in the hopes that they would be a haven for us.  Home should be sacred a place, where we can unwind.  Where we can be real.  Where we can air our dirty laundry (literally!).  But inevitably home fails us from time to time.  Family strife.  Difficult phases of parenting.  Everything on the news (it's been a doozy here lately, hasn't it?).  Mud on the floor!  What do you do when home is not a place to rest??

I love what Ruth Chou Simons writes in her book Gracelaced...."A tidy home and sometimes a calm and quiet environment has often been my comfort--my shelter in the midst of crazy--messy seasons.  It was never meant to be."

Psalm 91:1-2 says, "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say to the Lord, 'My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'"

We look for shelter and refuge in all kinds of places, things and people, but God's word reminds us that it is the shelter of Him--who is Most High and Almighty--where we will truly find rest, where we truly find home.  We cannot rely on our physical surroundings to bring us peace, no matter how lovely the couch cushions are!  (Incidentally my couch cushions smell like socks)

That season eventually passed for us.  We got moved in and the other house sold.  Summer came and we all enjoyed the break from school.  I began to remember what day it was again!  Seasons come and seasons go.  Some stay longer than others, both in good and bad ways.  The only constant we can expect is the true and solid refuge of God.

Take shelter there, friends, and you will find rest.

Out with the old....

Well, I reached the point this week where it was either replace the tile in my bathroom....or clean it.  I weighed all the options.  Spent a good amount of time on Pinterest studying the latest tile trends.  Watched several YouTube videos on replacing tile DIY.  In the end I decided it was probably less wasteful (of both time and money) to just clean the tile I already have.  Sigh....

It strikes me how quick I am to just replace things.  Shoes, bags, furniture, cars.  The ease with which we can shop for and acquire new things these days makes it all too easy to avoid putting much effort into the upkeep of anything.  Out with the old--or slightly used--and in with the new!  Sometimes it's a lack of know how on repair or maintenance.  Sometimes I'm just plain lazy.  But either way, there's a danger sometimes to looking to something new so fast, to taking the easy way out.  Danger because this attitude can bleed into other areas of our lives...

Did you know that relationships are hard work?  Like really hard work sometimes.  Family, friends, co-workers, neighbors.  Y'all, there are all sorts of opportunities for someone to get under your skin.  And when you live in a city the size of Houston with a population of somewhere over 2.5 million people (y'all go home now....we full) wouldn't it just be easier to find someone else to talk to?

But that's not how it works.  Scripture is full of references to the fellowship of believers, the image of all people working together to form one body.  The idea that we belong to each other, and in that we've got to tend to our relationships with one another.  

"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." Romans 12:3-5

The foot cannot despise the hand and the body still make it.  There has to peace.  "Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14).  We have to invest, maintain, repair.  Even when it is hard.  Even when the world is saying it would be easier to walk away.  It goes beyond just forgiveness.  It speaks to God's design entire design for us, in community and in fellowship.

Are there relationships in your life need some maintenance?  Repair?  Complete restoration??

Father, we lift them up to you now.  Help us to see others with the same eyes and the same heart as you do.  When we are tempted to discard and walk away, give us the humility to turn instead to forgiveness.  Restore our friendships, marriages, families, communities, that we might live into the truth you have designed for us....that we belong to each other.  And, that in that, we would see you more clearly.  Amen.  

 

When you're good looking AND you know everything....

It starts at a young age, people professing authority on things they know nothing about.  Let me tell you, for example, some of the things that my own children (God bless them) are "experts" on....

1.  Former football players and team stats that occurred before they were born
2.  Wild animals
3.  Deadly diseases
4.  The automobile industry
5.  Foods from other countries
6.  President Trump's wall

They can't tell you how long they've been playing a video game, but they sure can weigh in on foreign affairs.  Yes, at the ripe ages of  11, 10, 8 and 5 my kids are seemingly experts on most everything.  Whether this comes from a place of great confidence, or simply the inability to say "I don't know" when asked a question, well...I don't know.  But to be sure, in this day and age of information overload and a less than objective media, add to your list of parenting do's the skill of pause and discernment.

Because you can be sure for every ounce of truth out there you're gonna have to wade through a whole bunch of poo to get to it.  And poo-wading is not easy.  It takes time and prayer and thoughtfulness.  And we do not live in a society that necessarily elevates those virtues.  We like answers that are quick and make us feel good and think less.  Who has time for more than that?  Best just to write/print/post/spout off/vote for whatever sounds good and convenient in the moment.  Right???

Christ spoke of false prophets.  "They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  By their fruit you will recognize them...every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit."  Matthew 7:15, 16.

Fruit takes time.  Apples don't grow overnight and neither does consequence.  See, this is the trick of the devil.  He knows our impatience, our willingness to fill in a gap, our uneasiness with time and effort and conviction.  But we can't play the game on Satan's terms, only God's. 

In the absence of immediacy we must rely of truth.  God's truth.  We have to teach our children, and ourselves, that God's truth is the lens through which we see the rest of the world.  That what falls outside of that lens cannot and will not bear good fruit, despite what the short-term promise is.  We have to teach them to say "I don't know why, but God does" and rest in that trust.  That the right answer is not always easy, but that it is right.  And that loving one another is always an option.  And when we cling to His idea of truth, though we change, God does not.

What your false prophets don't see is the end of the story.  What they haven't held in their hands is the world, and all of its creation.  What they can not possibly know is everything that He does.  What they can't give you.....salvation through Jesus Christ, His son.

Pause.  Think.  Pray.  And when you speak, speak Truth.

XOXO....Kelly

Who you are...

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.

You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”

even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  

Psalm 139

I was reminded about something very important recently.... 

What others say about you does not change who you are.

What others think about you does not change who you are.

Whatever shortcomings you think you have...
Whatever your bank account looks like...
Whatever your dress size is...

...God knows who you are.

He knows who He created you to be.  He knows exactly what His glory looks like working in you.  He has known you from the beginning of time, every fiber of your being.  No one has the power to forfeit that in you.  No one.

When we can walk forward without guilt or fear or shame we can honor God's creation in the very best way.  We can leave the power of who we are--and whose we are--in the hands of the Almighty Father.  And make no mistake about it--you are His.

XOXO...Kelly