"Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." 

"Lord, if it is you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."

"Come," he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

(Matthew 14:27-31)

Maybe YOU are Peter. I am Peter. I say, "LORD, tell me to come to you." And then I panic at the slightest breeze. My faith fails me and I begin to sink. As I read his words I know what he wants from me: "Come follow me...and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19), "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16), "freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8). "Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for your journey, or extra tunic, or sandals, or staff" (Matthew 10:9). I am actually not even as faithful as Peter. I fail to climb out of the boat entirely and feel the cool water on my toes with unfailing faith that I will not drown. Did you know that there are between 147 and 148 million orphans in the world? 148 million little Treys and Lukes without Garys or Lindsays. People are starving to death right now!!!! Dying of diseases that can be cured for less than the cost of a Starbucks coffee!!! Yeah, well what am I supposed to do about it:

"You give them something to eat." (Matt 14:16)

"Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons" (Matt 10:8)

"Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." (Matt 28:19-20)

People ask, "if there is a God, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?" Look in the mirror and ask again. I have, and I am disgusted!!!!! I always thought I was a pretty good person: well then why do I feel so dirty? God commanded the things above, He should be asking us, "I gave you plenty. Why are there starving people? Why are there orphans? Why are there people dying of disease?" I am as guilty as anyone, so don't read this as an accusation against yourself. Read it as an agent of change. I want to give my time, talents, and treasures to find God's lost sheep, and I'm in the process of transforming my life to make it look the way Jesus tells me it should. It won't be an easy journey, and it won't happen overnight, but won't you join me and step on to the water?

Funny Stories

Trey was recently chasing Gary around the house with a stuffed Shamu given to him by his friend, Brandon. Trey has no idea who Shamu is.

Gary: "Are you chasing me with Shamu?"

Trey: "Daddy, this isn't shampoo. It's a whale."

Trey wants to know, "what kind of animal gives us snacks?"

And he thinks, "rice comes from cows."

When he was acting goofy, Gary asked him, "why are you so silly?" He said, "that's how God made me."

But the sweetest thing of all was when, one night while sick he ended up in our bed. I looked at him and said, "I love you, Trey". His reply: "I love you too, mommy. I love ALL my family."

Luke loves his brother. He laughs at everything Trey does. I told the boys some stories in the car to keep them quiet, and when I finished Trey began telling a story. "Once upon a time there were 3 ducks..." Luke laughed and laughed. He now has 11 teeth with one more working it's way through. Here are some pics of a recent trip to the botanical gardens.

"Crazy Love" Lessons

I have been reading the book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. I'm only 2 chapters in, so don't ask me how it is yet...AWESOME!!! Here are 2 of my early lessons from it:

"Colossians 1:16 tells us that everything was created for God: "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him." Don't we live instead as though God is created for us, to do our bidding, to bless us, and to take care of our loved ones?" My thoughts: I know I do. I forget that I am God's NOT the other way around. I act like He should work around my schedule and submit to my timetable. I always thought, (perpetuated by a lie unknowingly told by many Christians), that Jesus was just pleased when I gave Him any little part of me or my time. Hello!!!! Not even close!!! God requires ALL. I had heard that before too, but I always felt pretty good about what I gave to Him, and figured He understands that I am a busy wife and mother. Life revolves around me. Which brings me to another stand-out point in the book. "There is that perplexing command: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Phil. 4:4). You'll notice that it doesn't end with "...unless you're doing something extremely important."... When I am consumed by my problems-stressed out about my life, my family, and my job - I actually convey the belief that I think the circumstances are more important than God's command to always rejoice. In other words, that I have a "right" to disobey God because of the magnitude of my responsibilities." My thoughts: Okay, I read this and laughed. It sounded so silly to me when I actually thought about it. My life is nothing more than a "2/5 of a second long scene" in the movie of life. The reality is that 50 years (give or take) after my death, nobody will remember me! This really isn't as depressing as it might seem. So long as Jesus knows me and I have brought Him glory, I could care less.  "The point of your life is to point to Him. Whatever you are doing, God wants to be glorified, because this whole thing is His. It is His movie, His world, His gift." ... I know that you all are waiting for more pictures of the kids and more stories. They will be coming, but I'm trying to take them in and not disrupt our giggles with the camera. Just to give you a feel for how they are doing, here are some brief updates: Luke has pretty much stopped talking. He babbles, and continues to say mama and dada, but mostly he tries to get away with pointing, waving, signing "please", and throwing tantrums :) They are quite silly. He rolls back and forth on the floor, cries, kicks his feet and hits a lot. His favorite game is peek-a-boo/hide and seek. He loves to hide behind Trey's long curtains, and he won't let me fold a blanket or make a bed without running and diving into the blanket to hide his face for peek-a-boo. His dimples are enough to melt my heart. Trey is on the verge of reading/spelling. He constantly wants to know what letters different words start with or what things say. He will randomly tell me something like, "mommy, turtle starts with "T" just like Trey". He can spell his name, "Luke", "Mom", "Dad", and "Hot". He is great at spelling words with a little help from us. I knew that English was hard, but try explaining to a 3 year old that "C" says Car and Ceiling, but "K" makes the same sound as "C", and so does "S". "G" says grass and giant, but "J" says jump even though the "J" and "G" sound the same. How weird! I'll try harder for pictures soon. Love, Lindsay

PLEASE DO THIS!!!!!

I want to thank my sister-in-law, Sara, for two things:

1. Always encouraging me and building me up. I struggle with the changes that the Holy Spirit is making inside of me (just as I imagine most people do). I feel, at times, awkward and clumsy when it comes to sharing my heart for Jesus. But Sara always manages to make me feel like I have just the right words and like my light is shining brighter than I even know.

2. Sending me the link to the blog that is really changing me. Please, go to the link below to see the amazing things that God is doing in this world: to see the brightest light shining in the darkest place. 

NOTE: Reading these blog posts will require some time, a box of tissues, and a good long look at your own life. And I would encourage you to bookmark the blog, so you can routinely keep up with the journey that Katie is on.

The Journey

Enjoy!

God Bless,

Lindsay 

3 going on 30!

Adult-like attitude is creeping in on my 3 year old. Here are a few of my recent encounters with this ugly monster:

After telling Trey something he clearly didn't want to hear, he looked at me and said, "I'm walking away now"...and he did!  (Just as a side note: I don't do this! The only way that I can imagine that he came up with that is from me telling Luke to walk away from things when he is about to get into trouble - like touching the stereo or the blinds.)

That same night, Trey was having a hard time when bedtime rolled around (I think he was missing daddy). He was being painfully slow about eating his snack, because it would mean he had to brush his teeth and go to bed. I told him to hurry up, and he said, "you are really making me angry today!"

God help us!

Tuesday Morning Sunday School

Well, the Lord has been speaking, the Holy Spirit has been translating, and I have actually been listening for once, so here are more of my recent meditations.

I have been reading in Jeremiah, where many of us are very familiar with verse 29:11 ("For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"). But there is a verse before that that I have never seen given any attention before. 

Imagine a time and place full of sin. People who have turned from God and who worship their idols never imagining that God's wrath would be poured out on them (Oh, I tricked you, because I'm actually not talking about modern day - even thought I could be). The LORD, through His prophet, Jeremiah, told the people of Jerusalem that he would spare them from His fierce anger if they gave themselves over as captives of the Babylonians and turned from their wicked ways. Some listened, but others did not. To those who DID listen and became captives of King Nebuchadnezzar, the LORD sent this message:

"Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have CARRIED you into EXILE. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper" (29:7) (emphasis mine)

Can you imagine being handed over to someone else and being told this is the best thing for you. We are everyday. We are handed over to sickness, disease, heartache, the stress of everyday life. You have a choice, you can seek the peace and prosperity of your situation into which God has CARRIED YOU! And you can get to know Him better through it (which was His intent for the exile's of Jeremiah's day), OR you can kick, scream, whine, cry, and fight it, and never find peace and prosperity. 

Decision time.

Happy Groundhog's Day!!!!

My little groundhog popping out of his hole

Here are some of my favorite things my kids have said in the past day:

Trey-

I told him he had crazy hair one day. He replied, "that's because I'm gonna be a drummer at Church of the Highlands". (The drummer at our church is affectionately known in our neighborhood as "the curly-haired drummer".)

While pretending that we were taking a trip, Trey packed a phone in his suitcase (a big phone, not a cell phone). I said that I thought we didn't need it because the hotel would have a phone, but he assured me that we would need it by saying, "I called the hotel, and they said they don't have one".

We built a tent, and he said we needed a fire in it to "toasty us up".

He refers to adults as "growing ups" (I think this is so he can be included in this category since he technically is growing up)

He told me that he was going to have an adventure at school tomorrow and he was going to fight the bad guy at school. I asked who the bad guy was, and he promptly gave me the name of a classmate whom he not so affectionately used to refer to as the "bad boy".

Luke-

I love everything he says! These are his few words, and translations:

Mama - "mama" and "milk"

Dada -  "Dada"

Na-na - "I want that"

Tease - "Cheese" when he has a camera in his hands. He also does this big smile where he closes his eyes and scrunches up his face.

Awo - "hello" when holding a phone