I Learned All I Need to Know About Faith at VBS

Posted on by Wendy

Jesus Loves Me.

Worship takes many forms including singing and dancing.

There’s a time for everything; a time to listen, a time to share, a time to pray, a time to create, a time to snack, a time to sing and dance and a time for worship. 

Community is important.

Friendships are to be treasured.

God is creative and He made me to be creative too.

We are all beautiful and unique just like the tie dye shirts we make every year.

My art is beautiful.

My singing voice is beautiful to God.

Jesus died for my sins, but God brought him back to life and He always forgives me if I ask.

The Bible is God’s book and we are supposed to read it daily.

I can talk to God anytime I want to through prayer.

I should watch for God everywhere I go because He is everywhere.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

It All Came From a Tree.

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This is the tree that inspired me to create!
This is the tree that inspired me to create!

My brother-in-law died very suddenly last year. We got a call in the middle of the night from my nephew telling us he had a massive heart attack. We were stunned. It was the last thing we ever expected. Tim was larger than life and had survived so much trauma in his life. He seemed invincible to me.

My husband and I have not been involved in an adult Sunday school class in several years because we have been teaching a middle school class. This can sometimes leave us a little lonely for adult companionship at church. But, when we got to the funeral home and were looking at the flowers there was a tree sent from our Sunday school class. They had come together and not only sent something; it was a four-feet tall tree. I was so moved at the gesture. While we weren’t communing with them regularly, they still considered us family. The outpouring of cards and letters from church members of all ages, was unbelievably uplifting. There’s nothing more comforting in times of great pain than being a part of a loving community of believers. I still thank God for their support and I try to remember it when others experience the same kind of loss.

When we got ready to leave the funeral home, my sister-in-law insisted that we take the tree with us. There were so many plants and flowers; she said she had nowhere to put them all. So, we took the tree along with a few other plants. I moved the tree to several rooms to try to find the perfect spot for it and didn’t have much luck. It needed space and a lot of light. Then I found the perfect pot. After that, I actually rearranged an entire room so it could sit in front of the windows. Next, I decided the room needed to be painted the same shade as the pot, a kind of blue-green color. Then, I found myself a memo board where I put up pictures that truly inspire me like the Gulf of Mexico and the Mission Nombre de Dios in St. Augustine. There’s also a picture on it of a statue of Jesus with open arms. I didn’t know why I was putting all of these things together; I just felt inspired to do so. It was a kind of nesting.

On my desk underneath the memo board, there is a cross made from olive trees from Gethsemane in the Holy Land that my friend Anne brought me. On the desk, is my laptop where I conceived the idea of my blog. All of this creativity, all of the painting and reorganizing and putting pictures together that I have taken over many years, the notes that I take, the words that I write, all were triggered by a tree. A tree that was a heartfelt gift from those who cared about my family in our time of sorrow. Who would have thought that gift would have triggered so much?

We never know what a simple act of kindness can lead to, but lately I have become very diligent in extending kindness whenever or wherever I can, because even as I write this, I sit in awe if what it can lead to. The Bible tells us in Galatians 6:10, “Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone-especially to those in the family of faith.”  I am so thankful that the Discovery Sunday School Class sent that tree and the creativity that got switched on in me because of it. What can I do today to extend kindness to someone who needs it? What can you do? If we pray about it, I have no doubt, God will tell us.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

It’s time to write the Christmas play.

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It’s time to write the Christmas play. I know, you may be rolling your eyes thinking it’s not even Halloween yet, but we have to start practicing in November and October is quickly coming to an end. For the past five years, I have been involved in writing my church’s Christmas play. My husband and I helped with the play for several years and then we became concerned that the true story of the birth of Christ has somehow gotten lost. While the yearly plays were entertaining, they seemed to revolve around the music and a child star and not around the scripture. After discussing this with our children’s pastor, I went in search of a traditional Christmas play. I couldn’t find one.

I remembered all of the church plays from my childhood. They weren’t some big musical extravaganza. They were simple with shepherds wearing robes and other homemade costumes. We sang Silent Night and Away in a Manger. These humble church plays have stayed with me throughout my life and when I mention them to other people my age, they feel the same way. They were simply children telling the story of the birth of Jesus.

After an exhaustive internet search, I decided to write my own. I mean, the majority of the work was done for me in the Book of Luke. It was a lot of fun and we got a good response. The only negative comments were, “It wasn’t long enough”. The next year we added a modern scene where the grandmother was telling her grandchildren the Christmas story and we would flashback to the Bible scenes still remaining true to the Christmas story found in the Bible. The next year, we had travelers stranded in a hotel on Christmas Eve and a missionary told the Christmas story. My daughter co-wrote that one and last year, she wrote it on her own.

The question we seem to get year after year from a select few is, “Is it the same play as last year?” This really troubles my daughter because she has put so much work in putting it together. The answer of course is “yes”. While we change-up some modern scenes each year, the story remains the same. A virgin named Mary is visited by and angel and told she will give birth to the son of God. Her husband to be, is visited by an angel and told to stand by her. They go to Bethlehem and have to give birth to their baby in a stable. There are shepherds who are visited by angels and told of the miraculous birth. There are wise men who follow a star and bring gifts to the Baby Jesus.

The core of the play doesn’t change because the story doesn’t change. We are teaching our children to pay respects to their savior in a way that is unique to children, in a way that I was taught as a child, in a way that my mother was taught as a child and that never has to change. Every year as I see the little angels sing “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” to the shepherds, I get teary and I thank God for the birth of his son and for the ability to tell the story through little ones.

I am simply passing on what was passed to me. New and improved is not necessarily better. What about you? What beautiful gifts and traditions would you like to pass on to the little ones in your life?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Sunday morning chaos

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One of my dear friends came to church yesterday with just one of her two girls with her. She was late and I could tell from across the parking lot, not happy. I said a little prayer for her sense of peace. I know she has close to never-ending battles with her middle child and if that “said child” wasn’t in church with her mom, then this morning’s battle must have been epic. To top it off, my friend is in charge of the children’s Sunday school program so it wasn’t like she could just go sit somewhere and zone out for an hour.

It seems like in many if not most families, this Sunday morning scenario is familiar. We try to get up on Sunday mornings, get or children and ourselves dressed and fed and get to church on time. But inevitably, there is chaos. From shoes that fit last week that for some unknown reason won’t fit this week, to lost socks, to the inevitable whining about being too tired to go; the assault on our ability to get to a worship service on time and in peace is an ongoing struggle from the baby years to the teen years. The reasons for all of the morning rushing, fighting and chaos may change, but the chaos itself never seems to end. I had the same conversation with another friend of mine when we were raising two and four-year olds as I had today with my friend who has pre-teens. Children who can get to school five days a week with no problem at all, can’t get out the door on Sunday morning without causing mommy to have a migraine.

I have to ask myself, why it is always this way? I remember Sunday mornings being the same way at my house when I was growing up. If we are trying to raise our children to know and love God and trying to get to a weekly worship service, why does it have to be so difficult? The answer is of course, that we are fighting a battle against evil and evil doesn’t like to lose.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:10-12, “A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you may be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities in the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”

What is he talking about? He’s telling us that as Christians, we are in an ongoing war with Satan. When you are in a war, you have to fight and you have to expect to be attacked. Satan may know that he can’t have our souls, but if he can get us as rattled and angry as possible before we get to church, maybe he can keep us from opening our hearts up to what God is trying to tell us or keep us closed off to the Holy Spirit’s nudging. You can’t really hear the message when you’re seething about something  that happened thirty minutes before you arrived. Of course his true goal would be for us to give up altogether and just stop taking our children to church period. Who wins then?

I think it’s really important for us to be aware that we are under assault. I don’t think we need to dwell on it, but if we can keep it in mind on Sunday mornings, maybe we can take some deep breaths, and refuse to give into the anger that the chaos causes. In the end, as I am standing before my heavenly father will it matter that my daughter didn’t have her hair washed or that my son wore flip-flops in December or will it matter that I took them to church, (in peace)? I need to spend some time pondering and praying about this. How about you?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

God is Always Full of Surprises.

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IMG_3798 I was working on dinner yesterday when a big bird flying across the backyard caught my eye. Quite certain it was a hawk, I ran and got my camera and eased outside. While hawks are fairly common in my area, they are rather tricky to capture in pictures. They don’t stay in one place for very long and they don’t allow you to get very close. There was a time when I would have just kept on cooking, believing dinner had to be on the table at 6:00 no matter what. But, lately I have tried diligently to “watch for God” in all my surroundings and I thought just maybe I could get a glimpse of this majestic bird and possibly some photos. Imagine my surprise as I zoomed in and started clicking.

It wasn’t a hawk. It was an owl! This really was a special treat. Owls like hawks are very common in our area. We often hear them, but since they are nocturnal, we never get to see them; yet there he was in broad daylight. I would snap pictures and edge a little closer and snap some more and edge a little closer. He didn’t seem the least bit nervous about my presence and I got some great shots.

I was struck by the wonder and surprise that always come with following God when we trust and obey him. Think of the surprise the Israelites must have had when the Red Sea miraculously parted. Think of the wonder Joshua and company must have had when they followed God’s directions, marched around the city and simply blew their horns and shouted and the walls of a mighty city crumbled. What about the surprise Jairus must have experienced when Jesus touched his daughter and resurrected her from the dead? Think about the wonder and joy that Mary Magdalene and friends must have felt that first Easter morning when a risen Jesus stood before them.

The Bible is full of these stories; stories of wonders, surprises and miracles that come from following God as closely as possible. How do we do that? I think we can sum it up in three easy steps: read, pray, obey. Read the Bible to figure out where we came from and where we are supposed to go. It’s like a road map of sorts. Pray about God’s will for our lives. The more we read, the more we want to pray and the louder his voice becomes telling us which way to go. It’s like a spiritual GPS. Then we obey and hold on tight and wait expectantly for the surprises. Because life with God is never boring. Just ask the wise old owl!

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Who Do We Worship?

Posted on by Wendy
A nice reminder!
A nice reminder!

These stickers usually amuse me; I admit to having a couple myself. But, I started wondering, why do we feel the need to advertise to everyone on the road what our hobbies are or where we like to vacation. I suppose it’s the same force that has some folks putting on Facebook or Twitter every fleeting thought they have or telling the entire cyber world that they are going to the grocery store or are standing in line at the DMV. Some people even feel the need to post pictures of the dinner that they just made. While all of this seems perfectly harmless, it makes me wonder why do we so desperately want the world to take notice of us? Are we that lacking in attention from our immediate family and our friends and loved ones or have we become that narcissistic?

We seem to have the constant need to compare ourselves to others. This bad habit usually begins in early childhood and never really entirely goes away. We can tame it with lots of work and a change of focus from self to God, but it takes a lot of discipline.  Social media has put this innate need to compete and compare on steroids. Who has the bigger house? Whose kids are the smartest or most athletic or most attractive? Who goes on the nicest vacations? Who is running the most marathons? Who has the best life? The car stickers are another advertisement for our fantastic existence. But is it really fantastic?

The very first two commandments are “You shall have no other gods before me and worship only me.” While no one is running around worshiping a golden calf, how are we doing with “the having the no other gods deal?” Do we wake up every morning and thank God for one more day on this planet to help spread his message? Do we read the Bible as enthusiastically as a People Magazine at the doctor’s office? Do we proudly place a Jesus fish on that back window among all of the vacation and 5k stickers?

I once heard Joyce Meyer say that “God knows our hearts, but people see our actions.” She also said that we should be walking billboards for Christ. People should know who we belong to by our actions. While I totally agree with her, I’m going to throw in that I think our words go a long way too. What are we saying to others and about others and if I’m going to put my entire life story on my car window should I include a sticker for my Maker? I’m not saying we should all run out and buy a cross sticker for our cars. All I’m saying is if we try to objectively back up and look at our public image, cars, social media, how we talk to people at work, how we talk to our families and friends, etc… What would the casual observer see? Are we billboards for Jesus or billboards for self?

I’m going to spend some time praying about this one. I don’t think anyone means to put Jesus in the backseat, but sometimes that’s exactly where we put him and personally, I think he needs to not only be in the front seat with me, but he needs to be doing the driving. What do you think? Feel free to comment.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

The glass half-empty day

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I am a lifelong optimist. Some experts say nature causes optimism and some say nurture. I don’t know which is true; I just know I usually am able to see the good in most situations. That’s not to say that I don’t have my occasional down day. I think that because I usually am so optimistic, when I lose sight of the light, it’s a particularly dark time for me. When you are used to seeing the good in everything, seeing nothing, but the bad is very disheartening and even kind of frightening.

On those half-empty days, I really call on God for help. I try to think of all of the things I’m thankful for and I count the many blessings I have been given, (and I’ve been given a lot.) On this day, financial worries were closing in. It was the beginning of  a new school year and everyone seemed to have their hand out. There were regular expenses like new school supplies, new clothes, joining PTO and locker money, (Can you believe the kids have to pay for lockers?), agenda money; the list went on. Also, our car tag taxes were due. My hubby and I were trying valiantly not to use the credit card. We are a one income family, so when unexpected expenses pour in, that can be tricky. We thought we had it under control this year. I had a band function to attend that night where I was expected to pay $60.00 in band fees and $70.00 for a band uniform. To top it off, I was fighting a three-day headache. I ran into the pharmacy to pick a few things up and the pharmacist informed me that my husband’s auto-refill prescription was ready. When he rang me up, it came to a total of $74.00. I was crushed. $74.00 doesn’t sound like a lot, but when money is super tight, it’s a lot. That $70.00 was budgeted for a band uniform.

I went home and began praying about finances (again). Why wasn’t God listening to me? Why wasn’t he answering my prayers?  Weren’t we living the way we were called to? Weren’t we teaching our children to know and love him? Why was this so hard and would my head ever stop hurting? I was in tears as I checked my e-mail. I subscribe to a blog called http://www.incourage.me You’ll never guess what the topic was. “When your God-sized dream is to be a wife and mother.”

The hair literally stood up on the back of my neck. The entire post was about how being a wife and mother doesn’t pay very well and we won’t get famous doing it, but that God’s call is not to fame and fortune. As Christians, we are to seek the Kingdom of God first. Tears were streaming down my face as I was reminded once again by my heavenly father who never seems to run out of patience with me, that he was in fact listening and I was on the right path. Matthew 6:33 popped into my mind. “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

As I drove to the band meeting, I felt a renewed sense of peace. I wasn’t sure how we would cover the $70.00 uniform fee, but I knew God would provide. The band director greeted us at the door and when I asked him where we could purchase uniforms, he informed me that we were not purchasing uniforms that evening. The e-mail had specifically said that we would purchase uniforms. I could almost hear God in my ear whispering, “Why do you ever doubt me?” I got back into my car, overcome again by the love of God for me. As soon as I got home, I wrote it all down to remind myself that even when my glass looks half-empty, in reality my cup runneth over. God always provides.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Planting Seeds

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There's nothing like eating something you have grown.
There’s nothing like eating something you have grown.

I sometimes wonder if the reason that the Bible Belt is located in the south is because our roots here are tied so closely to agriculture. I am just one generation removed from farming. My dad grew up in a farming family. Most of the Southerners I know, still grow at the very least, their own tomatoes and many grow peppers and squash too. I know some people who still grow serious gardens that give them enough food to put away for the winter months.

There’s something about having to depend on nature for food that makes one humble himself/herself before God. After all, it doesn’t matter how hard the farmer works in the planting; it eventually comes down to the weather. Are there enough hours of sunlight? Does it get too cold at night? Is there a late frost? Is there drought? Is there too much rain? Any seasoned farmer will tell you that watering from a hose just doesn’t seem to produce the same results as rain. I wonder how many prayers have gone heavenward over crops and weather. I’ll bet it’s close to infinity.

For the past fifty years or so, we have drifted away from growing our own food and relied on grocery stores. This has likely been mostly for convenience and the lack of time. Growing your own food takes a ton of time and work. Still, many of us like to grow something for food each summer. We may do it because our parents did it or our grandparents did it or maybe we have learned the cold hard fact that nothing tastes as good as something you grew yourself.

Jesus often found himself addressing crowds of farmers and he usually chose to relay his message to them using topics they could understand. He was really awesome that way. He could quote all of the law and have heated debates with all of the Jewish spiritual leaders of the day, but he could just as easily use stories that were meaningful to the everyday Joe to get his message across. One of my favorite parables is the one of the farmer who scatters seed. It’s found in Matthew, Mark and Luke. He talks about a farmer who spread his seeds all over a field. Some fell on a footpath and were stepped on or eaten by birds. Some fell among rocks and grew at first, but died because of lack of moisture. Some fell among thorns and grew, but got choked out. Some grew on fertile land and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been planted.

Without going into what each situation represents, I think the takeaway should be to scatter the seeds of the love and truth of Jesus every time we get the chance. Talk to your kids and grandkids about grace. Invite people to church. Take someone a meal. Pass on an inspirational e-mail. Send a card to a shut-in. Take a meal to someone recovering from something. Volunteer to help at Vacation Bible School. Share. Share. Share.

Sometimes when we share our faith with others, the seed won’t take for whatever reason, but while that is true, that shouldn’t factor in our decision to continue to share. Sometimes, when we share, we won’t see any results, but we are preparing the soil for the next farmer who will have better luck. But sometimes our seeds will hit fertile ground and the results will be more abundant than we can possibly imagine. Our fallen world needs hope and as Christians, we are just the ones to provide it. So let’s go out and sew some seeds of peace, hope, love and faith today and see what we can produce. The result may more abundance than we can imagine.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Transition

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This tree is an example of beautiful transition.
This tree is an example of beautiful transition.

Fall is a time of transition and transition can sometimes be messy. My driveway is covered in leaves and so is our yard and our trampoline. The dictionary defines transition as the process or period of changing  from one condition or state to another. During labor, the transition phase is the most intense, but so important to get to the next phase of actually getting a baby into the world.

We spend a large part of our lives in transition. We transition from middle school to high school, from high school to college and from college to a career. We transition from children to teenagers and this transition is so infamous, in recent years, it’s been given its own name, the tween years. Next, we transition from teens to adults, from single to married and sometimes back to single. We transition from full-time parents to empty nesters and from working daily to retirees. Sometimes transitions are smooth with little to no mess or worry and sometimes these periods can be incredibly painful. Sometimes we wonder if we will survive them.

In the Bible, almost the entire New Testament is dedicated to people in transition. The new church was growing and spreading, but there were all kinds of issues and disagreements like how much Jewish law did the new Gentile converts have to observe. There was a huge struggle over legalism versus grace. Happily, grace won. They argued over how to worship and about women’s roles in the church, about submitting to authority and who was actually in charge. The list is almost endless. Some churches like the ones in Corinth had all kinds of problems. The Thessalonians, on the other hand, seemed to have very little trouble getting along with one another and keeping the faith, although they were often persecuted. All of the early churches laid the groundwork for our faith today. Their early struggles and transitions were recorded and give us all faith, hope, and guidance.

The most important thing to remember about transition is that it’s temporary. It’s a process or period, not forever. The caterpillar has to transition to a butterfly. It doesn’t just wake up one day and fly, no, it has to create a cocoon a tight, restrictive place where it changes into something completely different, but beautiful. While we may feel like we are in the never-ending doldrums or a suffocating cocoon or we find ourselves wondering if life will ever slow down or be normal again, we need to have faith that God has something fabulous planned just up ahead if we persevere.

If you woke up this morning, God is still working with you and through you and while yesterday may look better than today, take heart at the words of Paul:  No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Jesus Christ is calling us up to heaven. Philippians 3:13-14 NLT

In other words, if we keep our eyes on the prize of Jesus and where we are going, where we are at this very moment doesn’t really matter. We just need to keep putting one foot in front of the other trusting in our loving father and knowing he has huge plans for us, plans better than anything we could imagine ourselves. Are you in some type of  transition today? Please feel free to comment.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

The Quiet Game

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My mom used to try without much success, to get my sister and me to play the Quiet Game. I must confess, I usually lost. I have always been a talker. I blame it on my dad’s side of the family. I come from a long line of talkers. My sister and I are only fifteen months apart, and looking back, I know my poor mom would have probably given just about anything for a few precious minutes of quiet when we were little. There’s wisdom in a well placed Quiet Game.

Some people seem to thrive on noise and chaos and some instinctively know that we all need some quiet time whether we want it or not. We are surrounded by noise just about every waking moment. We wake up to an alarm or radio or ipod. Many of us have the television on while we get ready for the day. Our time in the car involves talking with our kids or listening to the radio, audio books, ipods, etc… If we ever get a free moment during the day, we are likely to check Facebook or post or follow something on Twitter. We might use our smart phones to check sports scores, e-mail or the weather forecast.

After work is not much better. There’s usually helping with homework, kids’ sports practices or games. We have to make dinner and often watch television or talk to kids while we are accomplishing that task. Then there’s cleaning up dishes, working on laundry, ironing and maybe sitting down to watch Duck Dynasty. We may get out our smart phones again to check in with the cyber world before falling asleep in front of the television, dragging ourselves to bed and starting over again the next day. Does this routine sound familiar?

If it does, where in this typical day do we find time for God? I once asked my middle school Sunday school class to draw a pie chart of what percentage of time they spent at school a week. Next, I asked them to put in slices for homework, sports and other extracurricular activities. Lastly, I asked them to draw in how much time a week they spent with God. As you might expect, it was a puny slice. To be fair, I did my own pie chart and it didn’t look too good either. If you really want an introspective experience, try teaching middle schoolers. There’s no winging it. You have to do your homework and you have to be authentic.

As we discussed our individual pie charts, we all agreed that if you only spend and hour or two a week with God by going to church, you’re not spending enough time with God. We asked the kids how they would do at baseball or soccer if they practiced one day a week. Keep in mind, some of these kids are hard-core and are on travel teams. They all readily agreed they wouldn’t be very good players. Then, can we be good Christians if we only spend a couple of hours on Sunday with God? The answer from the kids was a resounding, “no.” We talked about possible solutions.

The first and foremost answers were time management and less noise. (From the mouths of babes!) God often speaks to me through my Sunday school kids, so I began examining my own time management and noise level. It turned out to be pretty loud. How could I hear God, if I was never quiet? Was it possible that what I perceived as God not answering my prayers was my inability to get quiet and listen?

One of my favorite Biblical illustrations of this is Elijah. In 1 Kings 19:11-13, God tells him to go to a mountain. There was a terrible wind that busted up rocks, but God was not in the wind. There was an earthquake, but God was not in that either. Then there was a fire, but God was not in the fire. At last, there was a gentle whisper and that’s where Elijah found God. What does that tell us?

I think maybe we need to be more intentional about carving out a few quiet moments for God each day. Find a quiet spot in the early morning or after dinner or after the kids go to bed; the time doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is we consistently seek some quiet time with God, time for spiritual things like: praying, reading the Bible, writing in a prayer journal, listening. No cell phones, televisions, ipads or laptops allowed. If we ever actually get quiet, we may be surprised at what we hear. What do you think about quiet time?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂