So Very Thankful

So very thankful for friends and family
For my precious twins and my soul-mate husband
For healthy parents who live nearby
For Diet Coke
For Charmin Ultra
For the Sunday Star read on the velvet chaise lounge in my kitchen
For deodorant and Always
For throaty V-8 engines with killer stereos that blare Van Halen 1984
For rag tops thrown back on sunny summer days
For this great country
So thankful for bosses who do not micromanage
For indoor plumbing and steamy hot showers
For electric blankets and toasty fires
For peptides and hyaluronic filling spheres
For skilled hair stylists and Kenra 25
For cameras
For great shoes
For the trailblazing women who’ve gone before me
For strong men
For Carol Anderson and Ann Taylor
So thankful for El Jaripeo
For electricity
For mascara and lipstick
For Glee and The Office
For Cousin Eddie and Clark and Ruby Sue
For cards mailed with stamps
For photos and scrapbooks and memories that grip your soul
For time spent and tears shed
For howling laughter and deep mourning
So very thankful for opportunities not missed
For lessons learned
For mountains climbed and valleys survived
For knowing the value of a hard day’s work
For loving well and being well loved
For baseball and pianos and songs sung with your whole heart
For trumpets and jokes and paintings and stories
For prayers and goodnight kisses
For fresh cookies and warm bread with real butter
For foot massages and snugly boys
So thankful for passion that burns deep
For hurts and healing and fear and nudges
For life lived and not missed
And for Christ’s blood shed for both you and me

Happy Thanksgiving

Question: What are you thankful for?

35 Minutes Anywhere, Frankly

I really love Rascal Flatts!...I mean luuuuv them…Have seen ‘em several times live & have even been back stage (super cool). I love so many of their songs… (I interrupt this blog to suggest a really great Christmas present for anyone looking to buy me something life-changing: I want them to come over for dinner, I’ll make whatever Gary wants, and then we will all sit around my living room and I get to sing with them…every single song! Heaven.) …Anyway, one of their songs that really makes me think is Mayberry.

What they sing? I agree.

The world spins way too fast.
We need to slow down.
Take some time.
Connect.

I’d like to add another verse, too. Something about turning off the technology and actually looking each other in the eye, talking – deeply. Embracing. Sitting. Abiding…

I recently attended a leadership conference at my church that was filled with outstanding points. One of them was that we have to connect with God. I agree.
Daily. I agree.
The next point was new…and freeing:
Some of us love to read the bible and journal, in the morning, for the oft-proposed 35 minute block of uninterrupted time, and if you love it, absolutely do it. But this point was also made:
That’s not how all of us connect to God.
That’s not how all of us connect and it’s OK.
And in scripture, Jesus connected with His own Father in all kinds of ways, at all kinds of times. Jesus was not boxed into 35 minutes of journal writing every morning. And we are certainly not meant to close that journal after 35 minutes and say, “OK, God…great talk! See you tomorrow!”

WOW!

In fact, some people have been made to feel guilty and inadequate because they find journaling to be a chore…and they’re not morning people…and if they’ve got 7 kids under the age of 5, they don’t have 35 minutes in a row. Ever.

The speaker asked us to concentrate on our times of most powerful connection with God.
Mine?
I do love to read and ponder scripture.
Journaling…not so much.
In the morning…rarely.
But 35 minutes, when I gotta get out the door…That’s a laugh.
(I know some of you are thinking, “Just set your alarm for earlier, sister!”…Apparently, you don’t know me well enough. Night owl…God wired me like that…Hmmmm…)

Maybe it’s just that I can’t be that boxed in.
Maybe it’s because I don’t like other people telling me the best way for me to connect with God.
Maybe it’s because this life-long goody-two-shoes has a rebellious streak when someone wants me to do it like everyone else.

But this much I know to be true:
God wants us to connect with Him. Daily.
He wants a deep, abiding, rich, personal relationship with us.
He cares about every little detail of our lives.
And how about this radical thought? He wants us jotting down the insights he sends to us, running to look up a verse in scripture, sending up prayers right and left, talking and joking (yes, I really did say that!) all day long.
All. Day. Long.
I really doubt that He is concerned with all of the other stuff surrounding how we get there…just as long as we do get there.

Some of my most powerful moments and deepest connections have been late, late at night. Some have been while witnessing some spectacular aesthetic in nature. Some have been while witnessing to another person. Some have been while serving another person. Some have been while realizing how small and insignificant I really am. Some have been in the shower, where streams of tears join a river of steamy water. Many have occurred in the car. Many more have involved music.

Were those any less significant because they were not from 6:00 to 6:35am with a pen and a journal? Of course not.

So be free to experience God in your way. In your time. Throughout the day. All day. But every day. With no guilt about how. At least 35 minutes total, anywhere, frankly…just me and the power of God…just you and the power of God.

The point about connecting with Him is this: Just find a way to do it!

This Old House

A few days ago I had to run an errand that caused me to drive past the house we moved out of almost 3 years ago.

It looked nice…well cared for… But it was mine for seven years and yet it didn’t look like me at all. I’m glad I didn’t see the inside. I’m sure it’s clean. I’m sure they’re taking good care of it. But I’m sure it would be even less recognizable to me than the outside is.

We built that house. We poured our hearts and souls into it, we nurtured every bit of it, and we painstakingly chose every interior and exterior detail from finishing the basement to adding molding in every last spot, from the landscaping to the back porch we added on.

It’s strange to drive by a house you once lived in…like you know it like the back of your hand and find it completely unrecognizable all at the same time. It creates this strange disconnected connection that I can barely explain.

I drove away feeling grateful for that house…it was perfect for us at the time…but grateful to not live there now since it doesn’t seem to fit me anymore. I felt even more grateful, though, for our current house…it is perfect for us right here, right now…and I think it looks like me & it certainly feels like me.

It made me think about our lives as we grow in relationship with Jesus. As we move from “unbeliever” to “believer” we change in some big ways. Our old selves are as unrecognizable as the house I describe. We can look back on our time before having a personal relationship with Jesus and not even relate to that person we were before. It’s still the same “house”, but what inhabits it – or WHO inhabits it - has changed significantly!

Because of Jesus we are changed.
Because of Him we are made new.
And when we pursue Him daily, we continually grow and evolve into the people that He created us to be.

And just like I felt about our old house, we can be grateful for who we were, where we were at the time, but even more grateful for what we’ve become in Christ, having grown to fit His image of us.

May Christ forever dwell within you!

Question: How have you changed as you’ve grown in relationship with Christ? Do you even recognize your previous self?

To 6th Grade Boys Everywhere…

Dear 6th Grade Boys,

We, your mothers, want to remind you of a few very important life lessons. These are lessons that you just have to accept, so don’t argue with us (you won’t win anyway). This is just how it is, and the sooner you learn and accept the following, the easier your lives will be.

1.) Deodorant DOES NOT help stink that you already have! It’s as simple as right & wrong, up & down:
Soap is for stink you already have.
Deod is for stink you don’t want to get.
We simply can’t explain this anymore! So, every time you take a shower and rid yourself of your previous stink, you MUST reapply new deod as a stink-preventing measure! End of story!

2.) Wrinkly shirts make you look like you don’t care. And maybe you don’t. But like it or not, you’re now at the age when it will serve you well to at least act like you do!

3.) You have to wash your face! We don’t care if you don’t want to or you don’t like it. When you don’t, you get pimples. Yes, we mothers do love you enough to pop them…for 12 years now we’ve run the gamut of blood, puke, snot, & urine. Trust us, a little pimple poppin’ ain’t gonna scare us away! So you have a choice to make: us chasin’ you down with toner-laden cotton balls or you can take care of it yourselves.

4.) We’re not expecting you to be like some of those adorable, charming, melt-a-mother’s heart 12-year olds that we see on TV sometimes, but we do expect you to master and use 3 or 4 social phrases such as “nice to meet you”, “great to see you again”, “I _______ (play baseball, play the trumpet, am interested in U.S. History…) – thanks for asking.”, and “I’m fine, thank you. How are you?”

5.) Think something and know why you think it. Even if you don’t agree with your brilliant mothers on everything, take a stand and be able to defend it! We want you to be leaders, not followers.

6.) We’ve taught you manners. Could you at least use them sometimes so we know you “got it”? Whether you’re the President or simply invited to the White House someday (as we know you will be – you’re just that fabulous!), you’ll need to know which fork is for salad, which spoon is for dessert, and to chew with your mouths closed!

7.) We know you love bathroom words…words that describe bodily functions…words that gross a mother out. We know it, even though we don’t like or understand it. But there IS a time and place, for the love of Pete…and the dining room table at Grandma’s is not it!

8.) You are now at the age when you must take personal responsibility for your own faith, your relationship with Jesus Christ. We’ve tried our best. We’ve taught you right. We’ve told you how it is. We’ve taken you to church. We hope you understand now that your actions and beliefs have consequences…eternal ones. Now it’s time for you to take the reigns. We want you to long outlive us, have decades of happy and productive lives. But if you die tomorrow, you’ll have to stand at the feet of Jesus and answer for yourselves. Be clear about what you believe…and if you’re not, talk to someone who knows biblical truth. We say this not to be harsh, but because we love you more than life itself. We know this is some heavy stuff, but our first and most important job is to love you. Our second is to tell it to you straight. We want you to spend your eternity in Heaven with Jesus…nothing matters more.

No matter how tall you grow, how much armpit hair you get, and how deep your voices become, you’ll always be our babies. Nothing you could ever do would change how much we love you…unconditionally…and for all time.
Love,
Your Mothers

Hungry…Starving, Actually

Do you know that feeling when you’re craving salt, so you eat some chips then think, “Nope. That wasn’t it”? So you eat some chocolate, thinking you must satisfy the need for sweet. “Nope. Not it, either.” …Back to the chips…

…You’re hungry, and you keep eating, but you sure can’t quite get full, you're never satisfied, cravings never cease, pangs don’t go away…

That’s how I am for God.

Starved. Famished. Ravenous.
Never enough.
My hunger is never satisfied, my thirst never quenched.

I seek Him daily in many places, in many ways. I nourish my soul with Christian books, Christian music, scripture, prayer, meditation…everything about Him that I can get my hands on to better know Him and to experience Him more, but it’s never enough.

These two unbelievably wonderful quotes are from Tozer:
“To have found God and still pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist, but justified in happy existence by the children of the burning heart.”

“We are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God.”

Psalm 42:1-2 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

James 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

The more I feed on the things of God, the hungrier I am. In seeking Him, He fills me daily, yet I’m starved for Him. And that is the same wish that I hold for each of you, my friends:
May you seek Him with all of your heart. May you be starving, famished, ravenous for God and never satisfied!

Question: How hungry are you for God? What difference do you think it makes?

40 and ????

Well, I’m almost a week in. The big 4-0 came and went last Sunday and the world did not stop turning. It’s not like I’m depressed or stressed or on the verge of a mid-life crises (though I can’t be sure…).

These questions loom for me:
40 and fabulous…or frumpy?
40 and fearless…or frightened?
40 and have it all figured out…or full of it (!) ?

Maybe I’ll never know. And maybe I’m a little of each of those, depending on the moment, depending on the day.
I really hope that at age 40 I am not at the half-way point, but that is not for me to know, and I think this is the underlying reality check that causes people to stop in their tracks at these milestone birthdays and contemplate:
What did I do in the first 40 years that really matters, and what had I better get moving on starting today, right now?

In some ways I think I’ve done OK.
Yet in some ways I think I have not begun to scratch the surface of becoming who God intends for me to be.
And I wonder…is that my fault, did I stunt my own progress? Or did God not only plot my path, but also my days in which to land at each marker?

I realize the introspective nature of these questions, even the heaviness at times, but if we don’t ask, evaluate, and analyze how will we have any sense of the continuum on which we travel?

In the first 40 years I know that I have done some important things.
I also did some stupid stuff.
And I literally thank God that it’s not too late to have some great big plans for the next 40 years…to make sure that the answers ARE fabulous, fearless, and figured out, to teach some more kids to read, bring some people to Jesus, change some lives, give away thousands (let’s get crazy and say millions here, God!), raise faithful boys who live out their passions and dreams, grow old with my soul mate, embrace my friends, inspire others, shake the system & rock the boat, leave a legacy, …and change the world.

Age has no relevance for God.
Look at Abraham and Sarah and Noah.
(Side bar: Hey God, by the way, it is A-OK if we skip the childbearing at 90 business! I can NOT imagine the stretch marks from that! Whew!)
Amazing things were done to further the Kingdom of God, things that we still very much feel the ripple effect of today, by them and many more.

I just want to make sure that in the next 40 years (and beyond), everyone I come in contact with is better for having known me, and that I am the hands and feet of Jesus in my community, the face of Jesus in the crowd every single chance I get.

Gotta go! The clock is ticking, and I have to do nothing short of changing the world for the Kingdom of God!

Question: What will YOU do in the next 40 years to change the world for the Kingdom of God?

Shock & Awe

I love to shock people.

Not in the “I just went and had my body completely pierced and sleeved” kind of way…
More in the “you think you have me totally figured out and you so do not, mister” kind of way.

I’ve been told I am a little high maintenance. A little complicated. A tough nut to crack.
Fine by me.
How boring would life be if we were each a Myers-Briggs ESFP? I enjoy being a complex INTJ. It is, after all, who God made me to be…for a reason. And if you know anything about Myers-Briggs and those 16 personality types, you know that my personality isn’t one known for enjoying shock value.

I am absolutely too straight-laced. Therefore, people don’t think I’m funny, so I love to surprise with an off-the-cuff funny remark.

I am extremely opinionated. I keep those opinions to myself a lot of the time so as not to cause too much eyebrow raising, but sometimes I love to listen long and hard, saying nothing, as though I might not care…or know…only to interject my opinion at the perfect moment backed by cold, hard fact.

I love to be an original and despise being copied. Just when someone thinks they have me figured out, I love to do something completely to the contrary just to keep them guessing. (For this I probably do need counseling, referrals welcome…)

But here’s my favorite: I love to shock people with the truth of Jesus, with the love of Jesus, with the heart of Jesus, and when they least expect it.

I love to shock people by doing things that are so far outside the lines of the secular world in which we live that the non-believer, or even the believer, on the receiving end is so stunned they don’t know how to respond.

Just today I had to call a company about a problem and speak to the customer service rep. I was really concerned about a breech of confidential information and the woman took care of it quickly and put my mind at ease. As we hung up I said, “You have no idea how you have helped me today. I hope God blesses you in return for how you have blessed me.”
Ya cudda heard a pin drop….
“Um, wow…thank you so much, ma’am!” was her response. Clearly she doesn’t get much of that blessing stuff at her job.
Jesus meets customer service…

A few days ago I had to call a credit card company that was trying to send me a card & all I had to do was activate it, except that I didn’t want it. I realized that they had us listed as a pending application, which “Mr. Chad McCool Envelope System” did not want on his credit. Good little Discover Card worker that she was just really wanted me to go ahead and open that account in case I ever needed it…even though I was telling her I didn’t need or want it.
I had no choice but to pull out the shock and awe!
Oh, to have seen her reaction would have been priceless when I said, “Well, we are trying hard to live by the rules of Kingdom Finance and part of that for us is following the methods of Dave Ramsey. We’re working hard to pay off all of our credit card debt and cut up our cards (!), and any other debt, so we can even start to work on the overwhelming task of paying off our mortgage in short order. It’s really going to take a lot of hard work and discipline to do all of that and continue to give like we want to. I know that your job is to extend credit, but I just really feel God laying it on my heart to be strict in this.” She laughed at me. (Hey, it ain’t the first time…and it won’t be the last!) Then she told me that she’s watched Dave Ramsey on TV a couple of times. I thanked her for helping me make sure that card didn’t become active and told her that God would bless her for helping me stay on track. I could feel the shock and awe reverberating through the phone line!
Jesus meets 1-800-discover.


Recently I made a call to a utility company. I explained that I bypassed all of the automated choices because none applied. I had to talk to a real person. I explained that I was calling so that I could pay both the current bill and the overdue bill of a family whom I knew could not pay their own. At first the man on the other end could not even understand what I was trying to do. He kept asking me who I was with, what company I was from. I kept responding with varying versions of “I’m not with any company. I’m one of a really small group of people who likes to go around paying other people’s bills.”
When he still seemed to have a bad case of shock and awe, I finally said, “I’m with Jesus.”
He very slowly answered, “We don’t get a lot of that.”
Jesus meets the utility company guy.

I hope that day that I was the vehicle for God to move for that family. I also hope I was a witness to Jesus being alive and active in this world to the guy on the other end of the phone. Very powerful stuff if I was able to do both.

Now these are some of those stories that I’ve mentioned I hesitate to share, but my dear friend Julie has convinced me that sharing it is where the real leadership is.

But here’s what you absolutely must know:
This is not about me! This is about God. Focus on God. Shock and Awe for God, by God, because of God. And it has nothing to do with me other than the fact that I am daily trying to be His hands and feet out there in my very own community, directly impacting one life at a time.

Jesus will show up anywhere that you take Him.
Oh, I know He can get there on His own, but He’s waiting to see how we’ll pack him up and carry Him with us everywhere we go.
For years I’ve been praying the prayer of Jabez. My territory IS being enlarged. But the world is full of noise and distraction and sometimes it takes more than a whisper to get people’s attention.
Sometimes it takes full-scale warfare.

Sometimes it takes shock and awe to shake the system, to sufficiently rock the boat…
…but WOW, the stories…the power of God in it…the legacy…the eternal significance…

WOW!

Question: Where have you taken Jesus today? How have you shocked and awed in His name?