The New Year FO' REALZ

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.  I'm sure you're all busy preparing for the New Year now.  I'm preparing to go to bed early so I can get a jump start on all those resolutions I'm probably not going to keep.  With Christmas behind us and a new year ahead I thought I'd take a few minutes to reflect a bit on life this year....

#1...What the heck is a Hatchimal and how did it get to be so popular?  The distant cousin of Tickle Me Elmo, Furby and the Cabbage Patch Kids, the Hatchimals emerged this year as the must-have toy of the season and busily ruined Christmas for millions of kids everywhere.  The big excitement is that when you buy one you don't know what you're getting until it hatches.  And then it hatches.  After that I think it solves world hunger or cures cancer or something.  No?  Apparently it's just another electronic toy.  Hmmm....

#2...Why do everyone's Christmas cards photos look like they spend so much time laughing together in the woods?  And how do you get your hair to stay so nice when you're outside?  And how can you hike in those clothes?  For all the time everyone apparently spends outdoors together Target ought to be a lot less crowded.  You're not fooling anyone, you know, but you do look good!  Sun-kissed and full of fresh air and amazing.  So keep 'em coming.

#3...Can we stop saying "tweens"?  It's the new phrase to describe the period of adolescence right before the teen years, when kids aren't old enough to be really snarky and moody yet but are too old to be spanked.  I feel like most stages in life with kids are "tween" years, waiting for one difficult phase to end so you can enter another so let's just call them all what they are.  HARD.  Delightful, but hard.  :)

#4...2016 was not a tragedy.  There I said it.  Full of ups and downs, yes.  But not a tragedy.  I believe it because I believe God reigns over all of it.  CS Lewis wrote, "We believe the sun is in the sky at midday not because we can clearly see the sun (in fact, we cannot) but because we can see everything else." 

My prayer for the new year ahead is that we deal with the pains of the past and the unknowns of the future with an ever-fervent trust in the Lord and an ever-fixed eye on His hand.  Our faith does not always afford us a look at the bigger picture, but we can be assured that the pieces we do see are within His control. 

"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." Isaiah 26:3. 

Stay the course, dear friends.  We cannot clearly see the sun at midday, but oh what a thing is its light, shining on the pieces around us!  If you're spending these final days of the year staring back into the shadows then you are missing the point.  God is everywhere. 

Happy New Year!!
xoxo....Kelly

Kevin and me, New Year's Eve 2005. 

Last New Year's without babies.

The "tween years" if you will. 

   


   

The Holidays FO' REALZ

Happy Holidays, everyone!  Ready or not, it is upon us.  :)  I sat down this afternoon to tackle Christmas cards and drafted a very lovely letter with pictures for all of our family and friends.  It's full of updates and well wishes.  The font is extraordinary and the line spacing is a true work of art.  I am sure everyone who reads it will be so blessed!  But as I look over it I chuckle a little bit.  It is indeed a very true picture of our family and a reflection on the blessings from our year, but it is oh so clean!  Part of me really wants to just send out something like this.....

Dear Family and Friends,

2016 has been a busy year for our family!  Kevin did some stuff at work that was good and important but most notably he grew a beard last fall and has now had it for an entire calendar year!  He's really settled into the role of a bearded guy quite well and we couldn't be more thrilled.

Michael plays soccer and piano and is on student council.  All this and we still can't get him to stop talking about Pokémon.  I don't know about you guys, but it's time for all that to Pokémon GO AWAY.

Blake got braces.  That was expensive.

Zachary is doing really well in school, but he's terrible at making his bed.  We keep thinking he'll notice, but actually he thinks it looks pretty good.  Maybe he needs glasses.  Those sound expensive.

We've been working on getting Parker to wipe his own bottom now for about 6 months.  He did fine with potty training, but we think he finally figured out that we're going to make him move out some day so he's digging his feet in with this one last stronghold.  It can't possibly be that hard.  Of course, no one can be good at everything.  Have you seen Zachary make a bed??

Kelly (that's me!) learned how to order groceries online.  It's awesome!  I wouldn't even care if everything they gave me was past the expiration date.  I DON'T HAVE TO GO INSIDE THE STORE!!

Thanks for being our friends this year!  You mean a lot to us 'cause without you we'd only have each other to hang out with.  To our family, well, you're stuck with us. 

Merry Christmas!
The Long's

....And the picture attached would look like this.

Oh that we might be so authentic!  Maybe it's not Christmas card material, but there is great freedom in cutting to the core of something, and I think from time to time we need to hear it from one another.  If for no other reason than to remember that we're all human.

I've said it once, I'll say it a million times.  HE meets us where we are.  On the top of a mountain, at the bottom of a valley.  Whether your holidays are shaping up to be a veritable wonderland of Christmas magic or Cousin Eddie's out emptying his sewage line into your storm drain...

GOD WAS.

GOD IS.

GOD WILL BE.

And what more can we celebrate than that???

MERRY CHRISTMAS, FRIENDS!

XOXO.....Kelly

When you burp, but no one's listening...

This afternoon Parker told me that when he burps and I'm not around, he doesn't say excuse me.  Awesome.  This parenting thing is going well.     

I told him I appreciated his honesty, but his manners still have a ways to go.  He said you don't have to have manners around your brothers 'cause they don't have any manners either. 

He makes a valid point.

But of course that's not the way it works, really.  Our character isn't something we get to turn on and off.  It's like when your Sunday school teacher tells you that God is always watching you, even when you go to the bathroom, and you get a little terrified and stop wanting to pee.

It's a common misconception that we can be different people in different circumstances.  Like the language you use around your friends is okay as long as you don't use it around your kids.  While there are certainly different levels of appropriate disclosure (you wouldn't tell the neighbor you just met that you've developed a nasty foot fungus or tell your children that you're having trouble with your spouse) who you are and what you're about as the person God has created you to be doesn't get to change based on who's around you. 

Be. Who. You. Are. 

Or better yet, be whose you are. 

"Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates"  Deuteronomy 11:18-20

Be who you are, be whose you are, wherever you are.  Whether at home or at work or at school or at church.  At play or at rest.  Bind the truth of God to your character so that it may not be separated from it in any circumstance.  Because God does not stop walking with us, even when we try to stop walking with Him.

XOXO...Kelly

I don't quite have it all together yet this year.

Hey, remember last year, when I had it all together?  No?  Well, this school year isn't looking much better.  New teachers, a new grade level we've never been through before.  New position on the PTO board.  Do not ask me which day is library day for any of my children.  I have NO idea.  Michael says we grounded him earlier in the week, but I have no recollection of what for or from what!  About the time I start acclimating to the newness of things going on around me it will be the holidays and then God help us all...

It's a good lesson in life to know your own limits.  For example, when I wake up at 2am and can't go back to sleep because the thought pops into my head that I should re-learn Spanish.....I'm getting close.  Such evenings usually inspire me to go to the calendar first thing the next morning and see what I can thin out or reschedule.  Or, better yet, say no to before I begin.  You know, like team photos at the YMCA and exercise classes. 

But then there are the challenges we have to face, the ones there are no getting around.  Homework, illness, job responsibilities, Halloween.  For these I take comfort in knowing that God is already on the other side of them.

"For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping.  But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance." Genesis 45:6-7

These are Joseph's words of forgiveness to his brothers when they were reunited years after he had been abandoned by them.  During the years in between Joseph endured slavery, prison and loneliness.  But the Lord was with Joseph not just in his present struggles, but in the future that lay ahead of him.  His trust in God not only allowed him to make it through the years of hardship, but helped him to forgive the family that betrayed him at the start of it all.  His story is one of redemption in its greatest form. 

So bring it on, I guess.  If Joseph can handle Egypt, I can handle the 4th grade. 

Heavenly Father, you are the God of my yesterday, my today and my tomorrow.  There is not an outcome that You don't already see, not a day You don't hold in your hand.  Help me to lean on Your assurances when the going gets tough, Lord.  For You are with us, now and always.

XOXO...Kelly

Here's one of our dogs, Miss Cordelia Drexel Biddle Long.  She doesn't quite have it all together yet either.  But her attitude is good.  :) 

Keep your yeast out of my dough.

Something's missing from all my photos this summer. Oh, yes. I neglected to take a single photo of my children complaining, fighting, arguing with me, whining, etc. You know, the stuff that was going on directly before and after I snapped the pic. Fortunately this photo required no actual smiles from anyone.  In fact, frowning was encouraged.  I think it works for us.

Don't get me wrong. There were many, many good times. Soooooo many! But how do you know sweet if you don't have sour to compare it to?? Oh, we know sour around here.

As the boys get older I notice the challenges that come with parenting are shifting. And this summer the challenge was discontent. When you have four kids you know you can't make everyone happy all the time, but when the boys were a bit younger I felt like we managed that a good bit of the time. Ice cream? We're all in! Extra TV? Sure! Swimming? No one says no. But I'm not sure I pulled off a single event this summer that everyone was happy about. There was always at least one kid with a frown on his face, arms crossed in front of him. 

In doing church and volunteer work (or life in general!) there are plenty of happy, supportive voices, but it's the one or two disgruntled ones that tend to stand out at the end of the day.  Why do we always get hung up there?  Why do we give the negative voices the better part of our ears?  Galatians 5:7-10 says,

"You were running a good race.  Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.  'A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.' I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view.  The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be."

The right thing isn't always going to make everyone happy and the enemy is out there, knowing this, seeing this, and using this to tempt our focus away from Christ.  But do not be discouraged, because those voices do not come from the One who calls you. 

I've learned from multitudes of unhappy feedback at work, at home, at school to listen, learn, extend grace.  And sometimes to politely just say, "Please keep your yeast out of my dough."

XOXO....Kelly

When it's time to stock up on glue sticks....

And let everything be lost in the shadows
Of the light of your face.
From "Captivate Us" by Charlie Hall, Christy Nockels, Nathan Nockels

I work for our church, which is all at once a most rewarding and most challenging endeavor.  I'm surrounded by some of the most creative, intelligent, intuitive and inspirational people, truly gifted in many ways.  I love it!  But sometimes we tend to lose ourselves in all that creativity and intelligence and inspiration.  Sometimes we miss the point.  Driving to church one Sunday morning I found my mind wandering to craft supplies and snack cups when the song above came on the radio.  I've heard it a million times before, but this line spoke to me (nay....SCREAMED at me) for the first time ever.  I wanted the morning's curriculum to be successful, but I was focusing on the wrong way of going about that.  Sure, it's nice to come into a classroom of perfectly stocked glue sticks and construction paper, but if I'm doing my job the right way what I should really want those kiddos to experience has nothing to do with the supplies at all. 

It's not just in church work that we lose the forest for the trees.  We live in a Pinterest-board society that celebrates the details all over the place.  Themed birthday parties, accessorized clothing, culinary presentations.  Once I fussed at my own sister for bringing the wrong color of cupcakes to a baby shower.  (I've apologized, but she still brings it up sometimes.)  And while the details can be fun sometimes, they are never the point. 

When I make it about the details, I am in fact making it about me.  My success at pulling something off or my failure when it doesn't go right.  I am making WHAT I'm doing more important than WHY I'm doing it and I am leaving God out of it.  I am forgetting that the most rewarding part of any endeavor is what I allow Him to do through me, which doesn't have anything to do with me at all.  Or my glue sticks.

Lord, let the WHY drive me, not the WHAT.  Let the details of what I'm doing hardly stand out at all next to the glory of who You are and what You're doing.  And when details must be tended and to-do lists must be checked off, help me to do it joyfully, with patience and kindness.  Amen.  

XOXO...Kelly

They pee on you because they love you....

Our sweet Parker (almost 4) often comes down to our room in the middle of the night when something has woken him up.  I assume this is just a phase that he'll eventually grow out of and most nights I barely wake up when he climbs in between Kevin and I.  Last night he came down in his usual way and, snuggled and safe right where he wanted to be, he quickly fell back asleep.  He slept so deeply in fact that I woke up a short time later wet with urine.  And not my own.

I'd like to say this is the first time I've been peed on by a small child, but it's not.  Might not be the last.  There's also been vomit, poop, snot, ear wax and blood.  Not very glamorous, but I like to remind myself that to be so close to someone's grossness means you must also be in place of great importance to that person.  Because you don't just pee on anyone, you know.  You save that kind of stuff for the people you truly love and trust, the people you know will still love you in the morning.  (And also maybe ER personnel.)

Mark Klein spoke at our church this weekend about his near-death experiences surrounding his heart transplant a few years ago.  During his time in the hospital Mark says the Lord revealed glimpses of heaven to him on several occasions.  The most compelling, to me, was a glimpse of God himself from whom flowed "total and absolute acceptance".  Can you imagine that?  To be in the presence of someone who totally accepts you, loves you, takes pleasure in you just as you are?  It'd be enough to make me lose my bladder control all together.

Do you feel as confident in God's acceptance as that?  Because you should and so should the people around you.  If we're not witnessing in the kind of way that leads someone to anything but God's total and absolute acceptance and sovereignty then we are doing it wrong.  And if that's the message you're struggling to hear yourself, join me in prayer.  That God would continue to reveal His love for you, make His power known to you and His grace real for you.  And that you, being confident in all these things, would be changed forever. 

Love you, Parker.  Just the way you are.
   

XOXO....Kelly

The Wilderness

See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice.  Each will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.  Isaiah 32:1-2

This is "the wilderness"..... 

And during the lush season, mind you. 

This is the land through which David fled Saul, through which Christ fought temptation, the place where prophets trod.  This is where shepherd guard and lead their sheep. 

Do you know what the number one cause of death in the wilderness is?  Drowning from a flash flood.  The waters, when they come, rise and flow so quickly that if you don't know how to get up and out of the valley quick enough you drown.  That's if something doesn't eat you first.  It is a brutal, amazing thing to behold, the wilderness.

When I read these words from Isaiah last week I had a new appreciation for just what shelter, refuge, water and shadow meant to the prophet.  To endure in the reality of this landscape...these sort of things are like salvation.  It's no wonder this imagery is used so often in scripture.  Because when you round the top of a hill, the city behind you, and face this....

  

....you can imagine how good shelter would feel, how quenching water would be, how welcome would be the shade of a mighty rock.

But the words of Isaiah speak to more than just the terrain.  They speak so much to our calling as God's people. 

The world is a wilderness and the devil is everywhere.  Do you provide shelter?  Do your actions quench thirst?  Do your words provide shade?  In the glory and with the power of Christ in you, are you a refuge for His people?   

I think this is the point.  That the love of Christ dwells so deeply and fully within us that we, like a city on a hill, can not be unseen in it.  That the way we reach out to other people in His name is like a haven in the wilderness.  That we would stand out against the roughness instead of blend in as part of it. 

Let this be my prayer, Lord, that you would work in me and through me.  That I would help and not hinder.  Build up and not tear down.  Let me provide good things in your name and with the power of your Holy Spirit for those who need it most.  Remind me that we are in this wilderness together, God.  But with your power it will not overcome us. 

XOXO....Kelly

 

   

Life is like a chicken sandwich.....

When I drive by Chik-Fil-A on Sunday mornings I think, Way to go, Chik-Fil-A!  I'm proud of you.  A hugely successful and popular restaurant with delicious food.  No one would think twice about you being open on a Sunday, but someone did.  Putting people first, you put profits second.  Kudos!! 

And then I start to think about all the other things I like about Chik-Fil-A.  Like their sauces and sandwiches.  Well, that just makes me hungry and then a little resentful that I can't have Chik-Fil-A until tomorrow 'cause it's Sunday.  Am I now annoyed with Chik-Fil-A?  A little bit. 

So I guess it's a love-hate relationship.  Mostly love, of course.  The good way outweighs the bad, which, by the way, is all about me being selfish.  And yet, that's how the evil one works his way in, isn't it?  By finding a tiny crack in the logic of what is overwhelmingly good.  And once there's a crack....

Depending on my mood on any given morning I could stew about lack of a chicken sandwich all the way to dinnertime.  Or I can repent immediately and go back to being appreciative.  Option  B, of course, is almost always the best route.   

What's your chicken sandwich issue today?  Are you overlooking the good in a situation because something else is trying to worm its way in? 

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.  Philippians 4:8

Our lives become a reflection of the good we allow to live within us.  Like the story of the two dogs that are constantly fighting within you...the one that wins is the one you feed.  So feed the good one. 

(But not at Chik-Fil-A on a Sunday.  You'll get no help there.) 

XOXO...Kelly

You can take all this world.....

Sweet mother of mercy, one of my children needs new shoes.  This has caused a whole slew of problems in my household.  One kid's mad because the other kid is getting something new.  We've had to have the "life isn't fair" talk about a dozen times in the last several days.  Also none of the shoes in our size and price range have pleased us.  Where are the children who require $70 Nikes in 3rd grade???  Are their feet made of gold?  I'd like to meet them so I can understand this better.  Mostly this is just yet another reminder to me of how much stuff there is out there in the world and how little of it we really need.  (I'm starting to dread Christmas already.....)

The truth is some days it's really a struggle.  I want to give my kids the world, to delight and surprise them and treat them, but deep down I know that's not really giving them much at all.  For what do you benefit to gain the whole world but lose your soul?  I want them to know generosity and welcome love from others, but at the same time I want to post a sign outside our house that says "Please stop giving us stuff".  Where is the balance?  Somewhere along the aisles of Famous Footwear I was beginning to lose it. 

There are lots of reasons to give in to the world, especially when it comes to our children.  Fear of rejection, pride, a total lack of energy.  Standing in the sun, looking over Cesarea Philippi at the southwestern base of Mount Hermon, the words to Jeremy Camp's song came into my heart....

In the morning when I rise

Give me Jesus

You can take all this world

But give me Jesus

The area is an ancient Roman city alongside a spring which feeds the Jordan River.  The site paid tribute to the Greek god, Pan, and it was here that Jesus declared He would build His church. 

"And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it"  Matthew 16:18

And overcome it, it has not.  Christ's Kingdom has outlasted it all.  Those shrines, though preserved and amazing to look at, are empty now. 

That time has come and gone, but my Lord has not, neither in spirit or in word.  "Do you not know?  Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth!"  Isaiah 40:28  How to explain to my sweet boys that this time too shall pass?  These things that seem so big now are but specks of dust?  Little by little, I guess.  Shoe by shoe.

Yeah, this world, you can have it.  Give me Jesus.

XOXO....Kelly


 
 

 

 




 

Blessed are you....but not off the hook.

Just beyond the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, near Tabgha, sits a beautiful church surrounded by gardens and mosaics, a rememberance of the Mount of Beatitudes.  The hillside overlooks the Sea, the valley and mountains around it.  While it's not likely that this was the exact location of Jesus' teachings, standing atop it you get a sense of what His view would have been, how full His words would have been against the backdrop of scenery around Him. 

 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called Sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

I had never made the connection before I stood on that hilltop, reading through Jesus' words at Matthew 5, that the passage directly following this one is about being salt and light.  You know the one..."You are the salt of earth...you are the light of world."  I had always regarded the two passages as separate teachings.  First the Beatitudes, then the salt and light.  I had never read them together. 

At this point in Jesus' ministry the realities of what lies ahead are very clear to Him, and what lies ahead for His followers.  Here He invites those who will listen to embrace their lives in a new sort of way.  He is offering them something more than just what this world has to offer, something beyond the sorrows and struggles of earth.  He is blessing them in their humanness in a way that Rome does not. 

But He does not just leave it there.  Because blessed as we may be, we are not off the hook.

You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  Despite your spirit, your mourning, your meekness.  Despite hunger and persecution.  With all the mercy, peace and purity of your soul.  You have a job to do.

Just imagine that!  In the cradle of the valley, in the heartland of God's promised people, hearing that God's purpose for you extends beyond the limitations this world puts on us.  That the life He truly wants most for you not only blesses you beyond these limitations, but sets you up to be a blessing to others as well.  It's a message as pertinent today as it was then.

As I picture Jesus seated on the mountain, teaching those who stood around Him, I know that these passages were not meant to stand on their own.  As much as we need to know that God is in control, that we do not struggle in vain, we also need to know how important our lives are in His Kingdom.  May you feel His blessings today, friends.  And may others feel Him through you. 

XOXO...Kelly
 



 

 

In the Garden

“When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it.  Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples.  So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees.  They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.”  John 18:1-3

We know the rest.  Jesus is arrested, bound and led to Caiaphas to be questioned.  He never denied who he was.  Just over the top of the Mount of Olives, Jesus could have been into the wilderness and gone from sight in 20 minutes.  But He did not run.  He knew what was ahead of Him.  When Peter attacked the high priest’s servant in His defense, ‘Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away!  Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”’  John 18:11 

What stands today, at the base of the Mount of Olives, is a garden perhaps similar to the one Christ was arrested in that night.  Olive trees dating back to the crusades remind us that what was rooted so long ago still remains significant today. 

Gesthmane means olive press, a reminder of the weight Jesus bore for us in that place and on the cross.  The garden looks out across the Kidron Valley and onto the temple in Jerusalem. 

There is a church detailed with stunning mosaics and glass.  The windows are constructed out of purple alabaster glass to give the constant feeling of midnight when you are inside. 

To be there is to feel a strange mix of beauty, weight and contemplation. 

At so many points along Christ’s path we can imagine what it would have been like to have walked beside Him then, in the days of His ministry on earth.  Praises and acclamation and miracles mixed with growing voices of doubt as He spoke the words and truth of God.  But at this point, more than any other, we feel the weight of what that meant, His willingness to say yes.  Because at this point there could be no other outcome for Jesus, and He knew it.  He knew where He was headed, what decisions would be made, what fate He would suffer. 

What midnights have you come to?  With a weight that seems too heavy to bear?  What fear, what anxiety, what doubt troubles you when it’s God’s voice you’re trying to hear? 

Amidst the sorrow that fills us in these gardens of midnight, when the weight of what we must carry seems to be crushing us, we are not alone.  Our willingness to say yes sometimes comes at a price.  But never without God’s glory. 

When we drink the cup the Father has given us, we say yes to His Kingdom, yes to His glory, yes to the sacrifice Christ made for us that night.  We might yearn for a way to turn back, but we won’t.  In the garden it is midnight, but hold fast, friends.  Because Sunday’s coming.

XOXO…Kelly

Everywhere

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says; "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men." (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher that all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)"  Ephesians 4:7-10

The whole universe.  Every corner, every crack.  Everywhere.

The other day I got on to Blake for saying something rude to his brother.  He was sitting in the farthest seat of the van, way in the back.  I, of course, was driving.  So instead of just obeying me, he continued on with whispers.  I have to hand it to him.  They were pretty soft whispers, but I knew what he was doing.  So again I fussed at him.  "Mom," he said, "How do you always hear me?  Do you have special ears or something?"

It's not at all unethical that I let my children believe I have extra special powers for hearing, detecting lies, etc.  After all, this is what I'm dealing with....

In actuality they are just terrible at sneaking things, but as they mature and grow I know that will change and they'll get better at deceiving me.  So I'm hoping a little awe-filled fear now might help to deter them later in life.  We'll see. 

But back to the story....

"Blake," I replied, "I'm everywhere."

It's one of the many things about God's nature that I find so comforting....his everywhere-ness.  That as my parent, as my comforter, as my deliverer, God is everywhere.  There is no corner of this earth that His spirit does not dwell, and not just because He created it, but because, through Jesus, he inhabited it. 

Do you believe that?  In God's everywhere-ness?  That no matter how far you've strayed or how dark the day, that He is there?  Do you see him in the office where you work, in the rooms of your children's school?  Do you feel him around you where you're sitting right now?  The everywhere-ness of God. 

Lord, let this earth feel your presence.  Where it is light, where it is dark.  Where it is wide, where it is narrow.  Soften the hearts of those who need to know you are there.  Let them turn to you.  And give courage to the rest of us to see you, proclaim you and serve you wherever we are.  Because you're there, God.  In every corner, every crack.  Everywhere.  Amen.
 

Greater.

1 John 4:4...."the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world"

Happy New Year!  That still counts, right?  I realize we're almost halfway through the month.  How are everyone's resolutions going?  This year I did in fact make a resolution, though most years I do not.  I feel like life is challenging enough day to day to add things like goals to it.  But in case you did set yourself up for improvement this year I will pray for you!  It's not always so easy to stick to your guns.  Sometimes we feel like we've been defeated before we even get out of the gate.  And in such times as these, it's helpful to remember the words of 1 John. 

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world....You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." 

False prophets come in all shapes and sizes, but the one thing they all have in common is getting between you and what God wants for you.  And you are worth far more than what they have to offer you.

Our worship leader shared today that his sister has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and will be at MD Anderson alongside his grandson, who is receiving treatment for a brain tumor.  It would be easy to despair at something like this, but Robert simply says, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, not the enemy, not the cancer.  Greater indeed.

Wherever you are, greater is He.

Whatever your struggle, greater is He.

Your anxiety, your worry, your doubt....greater is He.

Resolutions are hard, but keep the good work coming, friends.

XOXO...Kelly