Election

With the Presidential election looming we hear so much about abortion vs anti-abortion and gay marriage. It seems that more and more people don't feel too strongly about these issues anymore. They are more worried about the economy or the war, but I wonder what the most important issues are to God. I happen to be reading in the Old Testament in Kings and there is story after story of kings who would do things that would anger God and then God punishing that kingdom and the King especially. I wish that our potential leaders would read through the Old Testament and see what God thought of the different leaders. All of the leaders at least claim to be Christians of some nature, but I hope they let God rule their hearts instead of the people. Lead this country with prayer! Ask God for direction, I beg of you!
And on the subject of the economy, my preacher said something that I just loved. If you are really hurting financially, are you giving to God? If he can't trust you with the money you have, why would he give you anymore? God said give as you have received and you will be blessed. He said "Test me on this!"

Plant A Seed

I just happened to stumble upon a website that belonged to the little sister of a guy a used to date in high school. I had dated her brother for a year and a half and was so disappointed because he never became a Christian. I always felt like I should have somehow been a better steward of Christ to him because a year and a half is a long time to be in someone's life like that and not make a difference.

At any rate, I think God had me stumble upon this website for a reason. Her website had so many references to Jesus and how he was at work in her life. She talked about her faith and how much she loves God. I was amazed because she did not grow up in a Christian family! She mentioned on her website that she left home because her father was verbally abusive and she went to live with family that loved her in NC. That "family" was her brother and his family.

So, I am reminded that sometimes all you can do is "plant the seed" of Christ in someone's heart and eventually that seed can blossom and grow.

A Real Friend

I remember back when I was in the 4th grade there was a girl named Mary. She was a bit odd. She was always doing crazy things like eating her crayons and such. I think she just did it for the negative attention, but the other kids all thought she was so weird. Many of them teased her and made fun of her a lot. Others just shunned her completely and didn't want to be seen associated with her. I was always nice to her though. I thought she was strange too, but I didn't feel the need to be mean to her because of it.
One day Mary told me that I was her only friend. I was the only person who was nice to her. That seemed to sad to me. I had a lot of friends and didn't even consider her to be a close friend. She asked me to go home with her after school one day to play at her house and I said, "Sure."
After school when I got to her house I was amazed! There were video games everywhere! Not like Nintendo games, this was years before that. These were like pinball machine sized games. She had Frogger, Asteroids, Ms Pacman, and tons of others! It was amazing! It was the coolest house I had ever been in by a long shot! It turns out her father was a video game repair man. They had buckets of quarters just sitting out all around and I could play for free for hours!
When I left I couldn't help but wonder why Mary had never told anyone about her house. If the other kids knew they would be so nice to her all in hopes of being invited over to her awesome house, but then I think I figured out why. Who wants fake friends? Who wants to reward people who in their hearts are cold and mean? She wanted a real friend.

A Time To Dance

As soon as my son could walk. He started dancing. I didn't teach him to do it. He just heard music and thought, "I've got to move!" Both of my sons did this. I wanted to think they had some special musical talent and rhythm, but no, all kids seem to inately know to dance when they hear music. Their dances are pretty hilarious. The oldest is 4 and he kicks his legs out and jumps up and down. The youngest is 1 and he just spins in a circle flapping his arms. In Ecclesiasiastes it says there is a time for everything, "A time to mourn and a time to dance." I pray that my kids will have many many more times to dance.

Imagine No Religion

I huge billboard has appeared in downtown Denver near the capitol, that says "Imagine No Religion". It is sponsored by the freedom from religion foundation. My first reaction was "If 85% of Americans believe in some sort of religion, then why do we let such a minority constantly have such a big voice?" I thought we should put 8 billboards around their billboard that are "Pro Religion". Then as I was sitting in church on Sunday I was thinking about those people who put up that billboard. Most likely they had a negative experience with Christianity or people who claimed to be Christians at any rate. You don't just take up a fight with someone who hasn't done anything to you. If we as Christians treat them with love and show that we love them no matter what they do maybe that will trun their hearts. I think putting up other billboards would just fuel their fire and hate and make them want to do even more.

I hear that today there is a call to have Christians go and take communiion on the steps of all the capitol buildings. I have mixed feelings about that. Won't it just make the anti-religion people more angry? Doesn't it just say, "Here's what I think about your separation of church and state, I'm practicing religion at this state government building." Yet, don't we need to let the government officials know how we feel. Maybe we could do so less publicly though.

Things that go bump in the night

At 5:30am this morning I heard a Thump, Thump noise. I ignored it at first, but I kept hearing it, so I sat up. Anthony said "It must be Tyler". So I got up prepared to tell Tyler to go back to bed. I stood over the stair railing and listening and kept hearing the thumping, so I walked into Tyler's room to see if Tyler was up. Tyler was sound asleep in his bed! I panicked! Was someone in the house? I told Anthony it's not Tyler and grabbed the phone! We walked back out to the stairwell and I realized that someone was trying to get in the front door! Anthony walked down to the door and peered out the window and saw a young guy, maybe 21. Anthony said "Can I help you? I think you have the wrong house." The guy just glanced at him with a glazed over look and continued to try to get in! By this time Anthony had realized this guy was pretty drunk. He only had one shoe on and the other one was nowhere to be seen. His zipper was down and he could barely stand upright. The guy wasn't very big, maybe 5'9" and 170 lbs. Anthony finally opened the door and said "Do you know who you are or where you are going?" He got a blank stare in return. Anthony said "Do I need to call someone to come get you?" The guy stared at him for the longest time and finally said No, and walked off. There was no car around and the guy obviously couldn't opeate a vehicle so we figured he must have just walked to a different house, hopefully the correct one. Well, then we tried to go back to bed, but of course we couldn't so we just laid there. Then about a half an hour later I hear another thump and someone saying "Let me in!" I couldn't believe it! We both head back downstairs and this time I don't see him at the front door. I say, "Hmmm, maybe he is at the neighbors now," but no, he's at the back door! He went around the house, through the gate and climbed our deck stairs and was standing at the back door. He said something like "Greg, let me in, it's cold out here." Crazy! Anthony said "Call the cops." So I dialed 911 while Anthony again tried to talk to the guy. He said "Where do you live?" The guy said "Denver Colorado". Anthony said, "Addresses typically have numbers and street names and such, so where do you live?" The guy again said "Denver Colorado". So Anthony is like "Look dude, you've got to go. This isn't where you need to be." So the guy walks off back to the front of the house and Anthony watches him leave. The police are on their way though. They get here and don't see the guy anywhere at first, so they go to look around. Apparently they find him across the street at another house. That was apparently the house he was supposed to be at, so they let him go. The guy wasn't very old, so I hope they left him in the care of his parents or something. We have no idea who he was. That was pretty scary. Things like that aren't supposed to happen in nice neighborhoods. Anthony says "Things like that happen everywhere." Well, I can't go back to bed now, so I'm up typing at 6am. Anthony went to work, but before he left he said, "Don't let any drunk guys in while I'm gone."

Evan's Birthday

Evan turned one today. We got him a cupcake cake. He had icing from ear to ear of course. He needed a lot of help opening his presents. He didn't really seem to get the concept, or maybe was just a bit overwhelmed. He got a school bus that has alphabet letters and sounds on it and he got a pull around train from Grandma and Grandpa. He likes to play with that. Things with strings go over well. Tyler is learning to respect Evan's toys and not try to hog them. He plays with them, but only if Evan is playing with something else. When Tyler saw the gift from Grandpa and Grandma all wrapped he said "That's a train!" He knew it before it was opened! He couldn't wait to have Evan's birthday party.

Bizarro World

I'm pretty sure I've entered some sort of bizarro world. My 4 year old son, Tyler has started to put himself down for naps! All of a sudden, I'll think, "Where did Tyler go?" Then I'll find him curled up in his bed with his blanket (or what's left of it). How did this happen? What did I do to deserve such a wonderful phenomenon? He used to cry and whine when I suggested a nap. It was torture everyday! Then we finally gave up on them and just decided he should go to bed earlier instead. But now, he has decided he would like to go back to taking naps all on his own. It's a wonderful thing! Although, it could be a bizarro world I've stumbled into where nothing is really as it seems right? Oh wait, no, Evan is still sleeping very poorly. I guess it's not a bizarro backwards world. It's a blessing from God! Praise Him! Praise Him! (insert halleuiah chorus here)!

Father's Day

It's Father's Day again,but I'll never top last year's gift. My son Evan was born on Father's Day last year. What a special gift for Daddy! So every year on Father's Day I'll think about my son and how he is growing up so fast. Evan has been a Daddy's boy since day one. How fitting for a Father's Day baby. As soon as Daddy walks in the door when he comes home from work he better pick up Evan or he will cry until he does. Daddy is his hero. He barely says Mama, but he talks about Dada all day long. Since I have another son who is a Mama's boy, I don't mind having one be a Daddy's boy. It's really something special. I asked my husband if he was glad I didn't get him the same thing as last year. Ha! As much as we love little Evan, I think having another baby again already would be a little bit too much for us.