I love this verse because it is what I truly hope to have accomplished in my life – although much of the time I am far from it!


For several months now, I have been on a mission to find a big beautiful rendition of this verse to hang on my wall. I have searched all over the World Wide Web and have come up with nothing but little photographs and word art. Finally I decided to just print out some of those things and frame them. I have enjoyed (is that the right word?) seeing those words in my house, being reminded of them every day.



I was thinking about a post that I wrote years ago when I first discovered that verse, and looked it up again yesterday. “I wouldn’t change a thing about that post,” I thought to myself, “except for the list.”



There are a whole lot of “Whatever Happens” going on in our world today, so I made a new list for right now:


If the whole world is turned upside down by a virus

If all of my daughters have to cancel their Graduation and Birthday parties

If I lose all my money in the stock market

If I get laid off, furloughed or have my hours cut at my job

If I cannot go to church

If I have to try to figure out what is going on with multiple teachers in multiple classes for multiple grades

If I cannot hang out with friends, go out to eat, go on the boat or go to the beach

If I cannot find essential items like eggs, flour and toilet paper at the grocery store

If I have to spend one more minute trapped in my house with my whole family when they all have cabin fever

If every time I look at Facebook or watch the news, I see something that makes me angry

If I go out in public, and people look at me with suspicion



And on and on and on…



The first Sunday that we had to miss church, our pastor preached from the book of Habakkuk. That week, I got out my Bible and re-read that obsure little book in it’s entirety. It could have been written for our time! The part that really meant the most to me was the last three verses of the entire book.







He names a lot of very bad "Even Ifs" that may have been happening in his time...

But then he gives us the key for how to endure it - how to "conduct [myself] in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ"  through all of this.

It is simply this:
               
 Rejoicing in God

           Being thankful

                     Understanding that HE is the one who enables us to rise above everything -

                                   and tapping in to that strength.

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One morning on the Today Show (March 4th), they had a segment in which they showed how some businesses are doing an extreme type of team building exercise. They send them into a simulator for an airplane crash into the ocean. The co-workers must then follow a series of survival techniques which they have been taught prior to entering the simulator, and must work together to ensure that all lives on their team are saved. It is a unique bonding experience, to say the least.

In a "healthy living" class that I am taking at the hospital in which I work, the topic turned to "emotional eating" (the idea that if I am feeling sad, lonely, depressed, etc., food will make me feel better just as it does when I am hungry).
One of the things that the teacher said was that we live in a culture of "instant gratification" to the point that we are unwilling to endure any discomfort (including uncomfortable feelings) so we attempt to get immediate relief any way that we can - including ways that are not helpful for solving the problem.

For the past few days, my mind has been applying those words to the sad state of marriages in our society today.

Around Valentine's Day, my husband and I attended a one day marriage conference that one of our pastors and his wife teach in our church every year. At the outset he read a story about making our lives "beautiful-er" instead of "better." The author defines "better" as a check list, so to speak, of accomplishments. He then admonished the readers to make our lives "beautiful-er." Not just "playing the right notes," but playing them with life, sensitivity to the nuances of the piece, with feeling!

For the past three weeks this has been in my mind, and has governed all of my interactions with my husband.

I love him.

I LIKE him.

He is a precious treasure to me...

Therefore, I want to treat him as though he were valued.

It seems so obvious, and yet, throughout our churches, and all across our culture, marriages and families are disintegrating.  Why? It comes back to the philosophy of instant gratification and the inability to tolerate any kind of discomfort.

We all want a beautiful marriage, but we think that "if it is true love, then it should be easy." That is a lie from hell, but I cannot tell you haw many times I have heard those exact words or similar phrases from the mouths of those in difficult marriages.

If you have ever read this blog before, you know that I define love as "doing what is best for another person at my own expense." I get this definition directly from scripture:

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 NIV

Or in the words of an elderly gentleman to my friend when asked the secret of his long marriage, "Love them the most when they deserve it the least."

And:

13 NIV

When we say our wedding vows, we are so happy with each other that somehow we delude ourselves into thinking that there won't be any "sickness, poorer, and worse." Laying down my life does not mean saying, "I would die for you." It means actually living my life for someone.

So...

What does all of this "enduring" and "laying down my life" have to do with having a more beautiful marriage?

Think about this: we often talk about how we want a closer relationship with God. But HOW do I get closer to Him?

I guarantee that the surest way is through PAIN.

Wait a  minute!!

Through PAIN!?!?!

Who wants to go through pain to get closer to God?

No one does. Yet when we are forced into a place of pain, and we can find no way of escape..

We run to God...

Cling to Him....

Know that we NEED Him.

We discover that the only place we can find rest from our troubled soul - is with Him...

THAT is the point at which we begin to truly have a relationship with Him.

It forces a closer bond with Him - just like those co-workers relying on each other to survive the simulated place crash.

When things are going well in my life... When I feel in control... Comfortable... When I am not feeling pressed on all sides...
I am sad to say that I do not run to Him.
I do not press myself right up against Him. My relationship with Him is, well,

PALE

compared to times when I have felt desperate. The time in my life when I felt the closest to God was right after my baby died. And, even though I would not wish the experience on anyone, I would not take it back for myself because that closeness to God - that absolute confidence that He was with me - was worth the pain!

It's the same way with marriage. The hardships that we endure force a stronger bond between us.

This year I read the book that my Aunt and Uncle wrote about him being the only survivor of a plane crash, the many-months-long struggle through rehabilitation, and the emotional trauma that followed. Walking through this traumatic experience fused their hearts together.

I think of many other long-lasting marriages in my family.

An Aunt who patiently cares for my Uncle at home as he has struggled for many years with Alzheimer's.

 My own parents who have pressed through my Mom's cancer, my Dad's stroke and heart attack, and many other things over the years.

My inlaws, both sets of grandparents, Aunts and Uncles on both sides of our family...
All 40, 50, and 60 year marriages that are in different stages of becoming "more beautiful-er."

This is the kind of beautiful-er marriage that I want...

This past week is an interesting week in history. If you have watched the news or listened to the radio at all, your ears would have been filled with reminders of the civil rights movement in our country years ago - a necessary and  positive change.

You would also have been reminded of the legalization of abortion for any and every reason - a crime against the lives of millions of American children over the last 44 years.

I had a bit of ironing to do, so this afternoon I drug everything out and put on one of my favorite movies to accompany the task.


Amazing Grace is a movie that should be in the viewing library of every Christian family. It is the true story of William Wilberforce, a British parliamentarian who made it his life's work to improve conditions in his country. Over the course of time, he made life better for poor people and animals, but his greatest accomplishment was the abolition of the slave trade in Great Britain - which led the way for the eventual abolition in the United States as well.

In light of the events of the news, the movie seemed more poignant to me than usual. Not long ago, I wrote about how it seems that we as Christians have gone soft, blended in to the culture, become powerless...

This has been on my mind a lot lately, and these verses came to mind:

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:13-16 NKJV

Salt is an amazing thing! It is used for more than just a kitchen seasoning, it's uses begin with food preservation, such is in "cured" meats and range through medical uses like fluid IVs and catheter cleansing.


But our Purity is just one side of the coin.



Just like Salt represents our purity, Light represents our influence.

God did not place us here to sit in our houses and not allow our lives to touch anybody else, or to keep our faith "private" and not share Hope with people at work, at the grocery store, at the gym, or any place other that we frequent. He put us here to SHINE!


I think about the life of William Wilberforce. In the movie you can see the struggle he has in his desire to sit quietly with God or to answer the call on his life to action. I've gotten the same impression about Martin Luther King Jr. from documentaries I've seen about his life. He was content to pastor a small church - yet the call to action was simply too great to ignore.







*Quotes from the movie Amazing Grace

  

I had appointments in town yesterday and, though I don't usually stop anywhere to eat when I am out and about, I was so hungry that I took the time to sit down in a café and grab a salad.

The two women in the booth next to mine were discussing their husbands. Since I was alone, and had no one to converse with, I could not avoid overhearing their many complaints. One of them was especially disparaging.

Her husband did not plan his next business trip the way she would have done it. She has to rag on him to do the most menial tasks. After they had moved in together, she had to cajole him to finish his degree. He does not eat often enough, or at the right times. He does appreciate exercise the way she does....

After listening to this "lovely" conversation for a while, she bowled me over by announcing to her friend that she had informed him that he had better not say anything [about her role in the struggles of their marriage?] to her because she is so desirable that she could find someone to replace him in no time flat. She could have someone new in her bed by that very night, in fact!

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I had heard more than enough. I wanted to lean over the partition and tell her that she is no great catch, and that any new man that she could hook would soon learn to regret it.

Instead, I disposed of the rest of my salad and left.

"What happened?" I wondered to myself as I walked to my car. There must have been a time when she thought the world began and ended with this man, yet now she had nothing but vitriol for him.

I continued to mull over it as I drove home. It occurred to me that this may be a fleeting emotion - maybe they'd just had a big fight and she was venting her frustrations to her friend without thinking about how powerful words are, and that they have a lasting effect on others.

I thought back to a time in my own marriage when I had to learn this lesson the very hardest way. We had hit a rough patch in our marriage and I blamed him. I had a good friend at the time whom I called nearly every day.

Each day, the conversation would deteriorate into a one-sided husband bashing, and each day she would try to encourage me to do what was right... to obey scripture... to try something new to make a difference.

I was full of excuses for why I could not improve my marriage - I had tried this or that (probably only for a minute) and it had not worked. Besides, it was all his fault anyway!

After weeks of listening to me count and recount my husband's many faults (how did she endure it?), she said, "Why don't you just leave him?"

I was shocked! That is not what I wanted to hear!
I still wanted my marriage, this man - but I was unwilling to take responsibility for MY part in the problem and fix it. She had made many good suggestions as she tried to help me understand that I can only control ME.

I could not change what my husband said or did, but I COULD change what I said or did.

How I would respond.

How I would love.

How I would serve (and with what attitude).

I had ALL of the power concerning whether or not I even LIKED him.

It took me a while to catch on to all of this - but one change I made right away: I stopped complaining.

Yep. That was it. The very first change.

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It was like a mirror had been held up to my heart with her question, and I finally saw all of the ugliness that had been lurking there, and understood that I needed to stop up the flow of these caustic words.

Most women do not marry men that we don't LIKE to begin with - yet somehow, along the way, we loose sight of the very things we liked about the man in the first place!
I think that is just one of the reasons we are exhorted in scripture to control our thoughts:

  "...we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5

 "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." Philippians 4:8(NLT)

So Ladies (and Gents, if you're prone to complaining), the next time you open your mouth to speak a word...
out loud...
that, once spoken, can never be retracted...
close your mouth quickly and think: 
 "Is what I am about to say really true?"
"Is what I am about to say going to bring honor or dishonor to my spouse (or to me by saying it)?"
"Is what I am about to say the right word to edify the hearers in this moment?"

"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 NIV

"Is what I am about to say going to paint a lovely word picture, or an ugly one?"


"Is what I am about to say going to cause the hearer to admire my spouse more? Or less?"
"Is what I am about to say excellent and full of praise?"
...
Years have passed (we are celebrating 19 years next month!), and we have hit several more rough patches, but one of the things that I have been learning is to zip my lip. I have tried to talk to other Godly women when we have struggled, but I continue to feel as though the speaking of negative words - even toward someone who is plugged in to God - casts a shadow over their perception of him later on.

The best thing that I'm discovering is this: when I talk only to God about it, often the frustrations are resolved within a few days, but without the lasting effect of the word spoken to another in a moment of anger.

It is paying off.

I am DEFINITELY much more in LIKE with my husband!

---

Wednesday I left work at 1:30 to head to a 2:00 appointment with the school guidance counselor and my high school senior about college stuff (Yikes! Not already!). As I walked around the back of my car, I noticed that my tire was flat. Rim-on-the-ground, not-getting-to-a-gas-station flat. I did what any competent, self-respecting adult female would do - - I called my husband.


"I'll just change it myself." I said to him (we'd had a car with chronic tire problems, so I have changed a few of them).

"No," he said, picturing me in office attire with heels and knit gloves crawling around on the ground on a 32 degree day. "Call the number on the back of the insurance card."

As soon as the arrangements were made, I called the school to let them know I would be missing the appointment. They patched me through to the guidance counselor who informed me that my son was already in her office and we could do the meeting over the phone. Oh, OK!

I turned on the car and warmed up my frozen toes as we talked. Forty-five minutes later, assistance arrived and I watched as my rescuers struggled to get my Suburban to release the spare tire which is mounted on the underside of the vehicle where all of the salt used to make winter travel more safe here in the Great White North had managed to seize up the mechanism. After another forty minutes of struggling, now with frozen fingers and a bent screw driver, he gave up.

"You will have to call a tow truck," he said. "When you call the insurance company back, they will probably send me. It will take me 45 minutes to get back to the shop to get the tow truck, and another 45 minutes to get back." he explained as he described how insurance-initiated assistance works. I decided to call a closer place though it was not on the insurance list, knowing that I would have to pay the fee myself and wait for reimbursement from the insurance company.

"We are so busy with tires that we will be working until 8:00 tonight, but I will call my dad. He used to own this company, and retired 14 years ago." the local guy said. An hour later a delightful older gentleman arrived. "Where do you want to go?" he asked. "I can take you home or where ever you want."

I had been to my local mechanic for an oil change the day before and had mentioned that my husband wanted new tires on the Suburban. The mechanic looked at them and said that Hubby was right - he wouldn't haul kids around with those tires through the winter, either. "Everyone wants their tires done right now because bad weather is coming this week, but I can do it Monday." he had said, and he ordered the tires right then.

I named the mechanic's shop and said, "Bring me there. I have an appointment with him for tires on Monday, but he said that he might be able to do it as early as Friday afternoon."

I called the mechanic to let him know that we were coming, and he informed me that my tires had already arrived! He would bump another project and do it first thing in the morning. "I take good care of my regulars." he explained.

I told my husband where I was, and asked him to pick me up on the way home. FIVE HOURS after discovering the flat tire, I finally arrived at home.


 A while ago my Aunt told me that people stop praying because we think that God is not answering our prayers. I had been feeling that way because I don't see anything happening on my one big prayer (a story for another day). A few weeks ago, I decided that it was time to get out my One Thousand Gifts notebook again, and document the small ways that I can see God working in my life. It is an amazing discipline - it opens your eyes!

All through this inconvenient ordeal, I could see God:

219. The roadside assistance dispatcher asking first if I was in a safe place - yes! Yes I was.
220. I did not have to miss the school meeting.
221. I could not have changed that tire if I had tried!
222. A kind man called out of retirement just to help little me.
223. New tires already ordered, in, and ready to be put on.
224. The mechanic doing it the very next day - a day in which I had no where to go.
225. Proper tires JUST before the first snow of the season.
226. Being able to see, even while I was in the midst of the awkward situation, that this was God's will for me today.

As I went to pick up my newly-tired vehicle Thursday evening, Family Talk  was on the radio and I heard the testimony of Bobbie Wolgemuth's struggle with cancer. "Our Joy is on trial" she had said to her husband when she got the diagnosis. She understood that trials are sent for a purpose in our lives - and people watch how we respond to them.

A flat tire pales in comparison to stage four ovarian cancer, yet the principle is still the same: when we go through challenges in life, the way we respond to them shows people what we REALLY believe. If we have been even the slightest bit open about our faith, we are being watched. Our audience is wondering if Christ really makes a difference in our lives, or if it is just a bunch of empty words.

I passed this test, but how I wish that I would pass all of them  with my joy intact!



 What challenges have you been facing lately, and how has it caused you to grow? Feel free to comment on your Joy being on Trial.

No matter how old I get, I will always want my parents. In the past I have joked about how I knew that I was a real adult and ready to be on my own. - - It was when I realized that I could handle being sick without needing my mother!

A couple of months ago, some childhood friends lost their dad to heart problems, so when my own parents were scheduled to come out to Michigan in July, my sister and I (who live about 3 hours from each other) figured out a way for each of us to get more time with them. We had both been feeling that loss so poignantly that we just wanted as much time as we could get. Usually Mom and Dad spend a few days at each of our houses, but this time she brought her kids up here for several days so that we could all be together for part of that time.

I am glad that we did.



My Excellent Parents

Last Tuesday, my own wonderful father suffered a massive stroke. By the time my Mom was able to get ahold of me, he had been in treatment for about an hour and was responding well - the prognosis was good, yet I hung up the phone shaken by the near loss of this precious man.

Over the course of the next two days, bits and pieces of the miraculous story whirled around in my head. My mom had just spent a week at my sister's house, helping her recover with a newborn baby - the stroke did not happen while she was gone. He had returned from work later than usual that day - at the exact same moment my mom arrived from her volunteer work at a nearby children's camp. If he had come home earlier, he might have fallen asleep since he was not feeling well, and my mom would not have had the opportunity to observe the symptoms. Dozens of little tiny details that all led up to a happy outcome rather than a sad one.

I've had an especially busy week bussing the kids around and, though I keep the kitchen radio tuned to the local Christian radio station, let's face it - I'm not standing in the kitchen really listening to it all day. On Wednesday, the time in the car afforded me the unique privilege of actually listening. As I drove my son to work, a man was talking about how every person has a purpose EVERY. SINGLE. DAY of our lives. He said that people in their 60s, 70s and 80s come to him thinking that their time is past. That they are too old for God to use them. He mentioned how the scriptures say that when David had fulfilled all of God's purposes for him, he died.

A verse immediately popped into my head - probably written by David, himself:


I knew that was a message to me about my Dad. God still has purposes to fulfill in his life.

My husband (who works in the medical profession) keeps reminding me that my dad is not simply "back to normal" and that life will not go on for him business as usual. "This is a life changing event," he says.

I know.

It will likely affect his ability to continue doing his job. But it has the potential of being life-changing in other ways, as well:

God may be freeing up his time to fulfill his purposes.

On Thursday, I went grocery shopping in the evening and caught In The Market with Janet Parshall. She had Babbie Mason on the program talking about how her life had been spared from a car accident when someone ran a red light while she and her husband were crossing the intersection. They had not felt the impact of the car, but had felt the impact of the "what if," and that had inspired her to write her new devotional (complete with music) This I Know For Sure. One song especially stood out to me.


Click here to watch the first Bible study and listen to the song (beginning at minute 18:30).


One more thought danced around the corners of my mind.

What if instead of death or a near-full recovery, God had chosen to allow my father's body to be permanently disabled, or brain damage had occurred, as often happens to victims of stroke? I could not escape the thought of this realistic possibility, and choked back tears as my mind's eye created pictures of that outcome.

Joni Earekson Tada answered that for me on her 5 minute radio program when she read these words from a listener:

“From Joni and friends devotional this morning, ‘Satan schemed that a seventeen-year-old girl named Joni would break her neck, hoping to ruin her life; God sent the broken neck in answer to her prayer for a closer walk with Him.’” And then Katherine wrote “Now here is my version: ‘Satan schemed that a 26-year-old girl named Katherine would have a massive, near-fatal stroke and subsequently become severely handicapped, hoping to ruin her life and steal her joy, but God sent the brain-stem stroke and the handicapped body in answer to her prayer for a closer walk with Him.’”
(To read or listen to the entire program, click here.)

Even if that had been the outcome, my Dad's life would STILL have a purpose for each and every day.

What about you?

Have you wrapped your mind around this concept?
God has a purpose for YOU!
Every.
Single.
Day.

"The Lord will fulfill His purpose for ME;
Your love, O Lord, endures forever."


Photo Credit: B Inspired Photography

When I got up this morning and turned on the living room lamp, a sale flyer that had slipped to the floor caught my eye. It was upside down from where I was standing, but I could still read the words LOVE MOM printed in large type at the top of the page.

Obviously, they want you to buy something from their store to show love for your mother, but the words of John 14:15 immediately popped into my head, “If you love me, keep my commands."

I thought of some frustrating moments over the past few days, trying to get my children to follow through on what had been asked of them.

"If you love me, keep my commands." Just seven simple words, yet they sum it all up.

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My children are old enough now to understand Mother's Day, and they always want to do something special for me on that day. They give a gift, they make dinner so I don't have to cook (usually with a great deal of help from Dad), and they are extra sweet...

On THAT day.

I realized this morning that what I really want for Mother's Day is the essence of those seven simple words.

"If you love me, keep my commands."

I don't want a gift - I want obedience.

I don't want a special dinner - I want help with dinner each day.

I don't want platitudes on a special day - I want peaceful attitudes every day.

It occurred to me that that is exactly what my Heavenly Father wants from me!

In 1 Samuel 15:22-23 God is speaking to King Saul through His prophet Samuel. Saul has willfully defied God, yet he believes that he can still just put on an aire of worship and everything will be fine. This is what God has to say about it:

But Samuel replied,
“What is more pleasing to the LORD:
your burnt offerings and sacrifices
or your obedience to his voice?
Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.
1 Samuel 15:22-23

God does not want me to sing praise to Him on Sunday and ignore Him on Monday.

He does not want me to say I trust Him, but stay awake at night worrying.

He does not want me to obey when I think that someone is watching,
but compromise when I think I am alone.

He wants me to LOVE Him

 - - and PROVE it by the way that I live...

In the same way that I want my children to love me.

"If you love me, keep my commands."

"It's OK," my husband reassured the choir members.  "My wife knows this song."

We had been at church all evening for the regular choir practice but I had been with the children's choir and had not realized what was going on with everyone else. The song scheduled for that Sunday was a solo by a young woman whose daughter had come down with pneumonia and was in a children's hospital two hours away. My husband had spent the evening throwing together a last minute substitution - one in which the choir only had to learn a few lines at the very end of the song.

I took the sound track and headed home. As I listened to it in the car, the realization hit me that I did not know the song! As Minister of Music, my husband spent hours listening to music and selecting appropriate (and doctrinally sound!) music for each service. The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir has always been some of our favorite music for that very reason. It occurred to me that this song was on an album which we had recently purchased, so I was not familiar with it yet.

I spent the next two days with it, listening again and again until I could nearly sing it in my sleep. On Sunday morning we did the final run-through - - which was really the one-and-only run-through. My husband read the scripture and I began to sing. Apparently, the choir had not heard the song in it's entirety up to that point, and the tears began to fall.

It has become one of my all-time favorites. Sometimes I pop the CD into my car and listen to it, then repeat it and listen again. I had it on in the car again the other day. When my little boy heard the mournful minor chords early in the song he said, "This is when Jesus died on the cross." He had been learning  about it in Sunday school as Easter was approaching.  In the middle of the song, as he listened to the music crescendo, he announced, "This is when Jesus rose from the dead!"

Yes, it is, my precious boy! Yes it is.

This is an interesting year in the film industry. I have heard it referred to as "the year of religious-themed movies." 

I am not the kind of person who goes out to see movies every week for reasons that you could easily guess. One of those reasons is the fact that I am particular about my film choices. I usually listen to what other Christian people have to say - even checking the opinion of Focus on the Family on their media review site pluggedin.com.

As a believer, I agree with the idea of "voting at the box office" to encourage the making of more family-friendly films (though I rarely am able to actually do this). But I also believe in the very opposite - to vote at the box office by NOT attending those films which are in opposition to everything connected with Christ. I rarely have trouble differentiating between the two and making a decision.

But the movie Noah has me stumped.

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I am well aware of the controversy surrounding this film.

One day as I listened to the Christian radio station, I heard a group of people discussing this movie. One of them said that the movie's producer had visited a pastor's convention and had shared how he felt that the movie would be true to the Biblical story. This pastor was not opposed to seeing it, nor was he inclined to discourage his congregation from watching. A woman mentioned how she had seen Jesus Christ Superstar as a young, unsaved woman and that movie, strange depiction of the Saviour though it was, opened the way in her heart to find the real Saviour.

It reminded me that God really can use anything to bring people to Him.

IN THE SAME DAY, I heard Ray Comfort discussing the reasons why Christians should NOT be inclined to see the movie.

Normally, this would not affect me, since we rarely attend movies, but the Noah movie showed up on the list of possible things for our church youth to attend, so I began to wonder whether I should allow my children to see it.

Some of the points of contention over this movie have been the obvious omission of God from the entire story (!) and the fact that the purpose of the flood has been changed from the judgment of said righteous God on the wickedness and depravity of humanity, to a resulting consequence of mismanagement of the environment.

My typical reaction would be to steer clear, but there has been one nagging thought in the back of my mind.

One of the objections to this movie had to do with the fact that this is the way in which many people (especially Christians) get their theology so muddled!

We have become such a lazy society, so concerned with what people think of us, so enamored with ease and comfort, that we have allowed our theology to be shaped and formed by popular culture rather than truth. We do not put any effort into finding the truth, living in truth or defending the truth!

My husband and I are committed to teaching our children HOW to "be in the world, but not of it." I am more terrified of the alternative since I have seen so many families shelter their children from the world so entirely throughout their childhood, that when they do go out into this big, scary world, they are either completely unprepared, or they easily succumb to temptation and go full-tilt into a life of evil.

So this is what I have decided to do. We will "vote at the box-office" by NOT seeing the movie when it is out in theaters, but I WILL allow my children to see it later on television - with one caveat:

That they first seek out the truth.

My Mom always told me that when bankers teach their tellers about counterfeit currency, they do not show them all of the known versions of the counterfeit, they show them the real thing. They are expected to familiarize themselves completely with legitimate currency - - how it feels, how it looks, how it smells...  so that when something illegitimate passes through their hands, they can tell the difference.

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Think about how differently you view a movie made from a book you have read. If the producers stay very close to the original story and seem to depict it accurately, you are delighted (like the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice). But if they take too many creative liberties or veer off from the story line (like the Disney/Walden version of Prince Caspian), your stomach tightens and you find yourself correcting the movie. Out loud. To the dismay of everyone else in the room. (Am I the only one who does this?)

That is the reaction that I want my children to have. I want them to be so familiar with the truth that they can spot a lie a mile away.

How will I go about doing this?

By handing them The Book, then going back to middle school English class and asking the pertinent questions:

Who?
What?
Why?
When?
Where?
How?

I want them to know who so that they will spot the fact that God (a KEY player) has been omitted.

I want them to know why so they will not think that all of this "global warming" is going to produce a similar event - they will know that the great flood was a judgment of God on the wickedness of mankind.

I want them to know how so that they will see that, in His mercy and grace, God made a way of salvation for anyone who would believe and enter into that ark - just as He did for you and me through Jesus Christ who said, "I am the door, if anyone enters by ME, he will be saved." John 10:9

Maybe you, your children, or someone else that you know is planning to see the movie. If so, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the true facts of the story so that you will be prepared. It could be an excellent teachable moment, an interesting Bible study, or it could simply equip you to have an informed conversation with a co-worker or friend.

For a printable "cheat sheet" of these questions and answers, click here.

...And if you like to see a movies in the theaters, "vote at the box-office" with movies like Son of God and  God is not Dead.

No matter how old I get, I will NEVER be old enough to be the mother of teenagers.

It's not that I have a problem with my age. It's just that I never quite feel like my age has afforded me the wisdom needed in dealing with them.

Tuesday, my 5 year old decided to pull one over on me. We have allowed our small children what my husband refers to as "mental health days" - days in which they are not sick, but for whatever reason they need to stay home with mom. All of our children have required these days in their early school careers, but this one decided to abuse the privilege.

She used one of these days on Friday and went to school late on Monday after a doctor's appointment. On Tuesday morning I struggled to wake her. Wondering if she might be coming down with something, I allowed her to continue sleeping. As soon as the other children left, she got up and began to play.
"Get dressed so I can take you to school." I said.
"I have a headache." was her matter of fact reply.
"If you are too sick to go to school, you are too sick to play." I quickly informed her, and I sent her back to bed. She lay in her bed listening to Patch the Pirate CDs for a couple of hours until she could not sit there any longer and started begging to go to school.


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Her teacher laughed when I told her.
"Sometimes I ask God why he gave me this very strong willed child at the end of my family when I am old and tired." I added.
"You're not old!" She announced in surprise (she is about the same age I am).
"No. But I will be when she is a teenager!"


We attend a country church that is really more the size of a city church because the need is so great in this rural area. We have two young, energetic youth pastors who plan a plethora of activities that range from entertaining to thought provoking in order to cover the tastes and interests of the 100 - 200 youth that attend.

As you can probably guess, my teenagers want to do EVERYTHING.

In addition to the youth events at church, I am inundated with papers that come home from school encouraging them to be involved in sports, plays, music and many other activities.

 As you can probably guess, my kids want to do EVERYTHING.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to do everything!

Because we have so many children, we work very hard to be an "equal-opportunity" household - which means, for example,  that sometimes we have to reign in little miss wants-to-try-anything so that little miss happy-to-stay-at-home can do the one and only thing she has asked to do. My husband and I evaluate all of the possibilities, and narrow it down to what is practical for us because, not only are we committed to fairness, but we also are determined not to run ourselves and our children ragged trying to do everything.

Oh. And did I mention that most of these things cost money?

We are very blessed to have a good income in an area where the slogan is "half the pay for a look at the bay," but sometimes I think that my kids are so blessed that they begin to expect all of the blessings afforded to them, rather than to see each and every one as a blessing and be thankful for them.

This week we have a youth group event that happens to be one of the things that did not make its way onto the family calendar.

My husband has encouraged me to join the youth ministry since I enjoy being involved in ministry although half of the time I wonder if I am in the right place because I have no idea what to say - I was never a teenager myself.

Of course I was.

I just mean that my mom was diagnosed with cancer when I was 13. Understanding the brevity of the situation, I took on some of the adult responsibilities in the home. Over the course of a year or two, she became well and tried to give me back my childhood but by then I was too "sophisticated," and had decided that teenage antics were beneath me.

At any rate, I was there this Wednesday when I was approached by my one of my children, followed by both of our youth pastors asking if they could help to make arrangements for this child to attend the event. I felt like a deer in the headlights, though there was nothing particularly intimidating about these smiling young men.



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I fumbled for my "opt-out pass," with which my husband has authorized me to use his authority to not make an immediate decision when I am feeling pressured to do so, and said, "I need to talk to my husband first." which was an acceptable answer to the men, but my teen took as an invitation to keep prodding.

Soon the program started and my teenager joined the group. I was still shaken, and went to the quiet room and called my husband. I recounted the situation as he tried to calm me down, offering to explain the decision to the youth pastors if I was too flustered to do so. (While I would not go so far as to say that I avoid confrontation at all costs, I certainly do try to avoid it, and, though this was far removed from a truly confrontational moment, I felt just as intimidated by it).

I went back into the sanctuary and sat alone where I could pray about how to handle it and calm myself down. One of my best friends is also involved in the ministry and, seeing me alone, came over to talk to me. "Why can't teenagers take NO for an answer!?!" I agonized as I explained the situation.

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I have had the kids corner me with their friends nearby, hoping that the pressure of looking like a bad guy to their friends would entice me to give them what they wanted, but this was pitching for the big leagues. I HATED looking like a mean old mom in front of those youth pastors, but after this little bit of manipulation, I HAD to stick with the NO, even though it would have been much easier to cave.

 
This morning I realized that a chore that should have been done yesterday had been overlooked and asked the responsible child to complete the task before leaving for school. The response was neither cheerful, nor immediate. A few minutes later, I asked again and received a lovely retort to the effect of, "So you wait until Dad leaves, and THEN tell me!"



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"I asked you BEFORE he left. But what does Dad have to do with it?" I answered, only to discover that they had planned to pitch an overly dramatic fit in the hopes that their father, who cannot stand to start the day off with chaos and drama, would intervene. Faced with the option to calmly and quietly finish the task or take on additional responsibilities, the task was promptly completed.



As I made the beds this morning, a blog post I read on Wednesday came to mind. The author talks about having to say no to her teenagers because she is looking forward into their lives and making decisions not only for their immediate self, but also for their ultimate self - the person they will become. I was thinking about it Wednesday night when I realized that it was crucial to reinforce the "No," rather than to allow my child to use intimidation to pressure me.

Suddenly it occurred to me that it is not really age that gives wisdom. It is experience acquired with age, and the ability to learn along the way. I have all of these other children to teach me how to handle difficult moments and learn how to strengthen my resolve so that when my delightful little miss strong-willed is a teenager, I will have the wisdom to know how to parent her.

Maybe God knew what he was doing after all...

P.S. It occurred to me that this story could be misunderstood as a complaint. It is not. My strong willed five-year-old is completely delightful, the chore was completed promptly, and my child was vying for more time at CHURCH! I just know the temptation that we bloggers often have to portray ourselves in a better light than what is true. Our children are not perfect. Our parenting skills are not better than those of everyone else. We are all in the fray together. I just wanted to show how true this really is.