Through the Fog

God never promised that life would be easy, did He?

He never promised financial wealth. He never promised health. He never promised peace and safety, as we would define it. He never promised us that people would like us - even our own friends and co-laborers in ministry. He never promised that things would go according to plan.

He promised joy found in Him. He promised to work things together for His good and for His glory. He promised safety in His will - even if things are chaos around us. He promised peace in Him.

He promised that He would be with us.

When we "sign-up" for ministry, the truth is we are entirely aware of the problems ahead. No guarantee of financial security. No guarantee that the community will like us as people. Certainty that people will be alienated or angered by the truth of God's Word. Perhaps He called you to an area that we would not consider particularly safe. We knew that times would be hard and we wouldn't always understand and all we could do was follow God.

You just hope that all of the "worst-case scenario" stuff never happens. You wait for God to show you the next step. You hope that things go according to the plan that you trust He has laid before you.

Then sometimes God does the unthinkable, and He asks you to take a leap of faith into the darkness. A mysterious, unknown, invisible future. It's foggy. You can't see what's ahead. You can barely see the future from day to day. Maybe you are packing up your home with no future home to speak of. The moving truck is in the driveway and you literally do not know where you are taking it. {Ding, ding, ding!}

God knows. He knew from the beginning. From the moment you took that first step, following Him, that lead you to take that scary leap. He knew. And He still knows. All He wants is a little faith. Enough trust to know that He is going to work things out according to His plan. To bring glory to Him.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, 

and to them who are the called according to his purpose. 

~Romans 8:28~

What I Did That I Said I Would Never Do

Yesterday I did something totally crazy... something that I had never done in my entire life... something that you would not expect someone like me to do.

I went to a movie theater!

Now before you <gasp> in horror or shock, hear me out.

I was raised in a conservative Christian home and attended a conservative private Christian school and went to a wonderful conservative Baptist church. Never once did I or my parents (or most of my friends and their parents) darken the door of a movie theater. Students in the school and leaders in the church were not permitted to go to the theater. And it wasn't a bad thing. It was the preference of those who were above us and we chose to be under those restrictions.

Well, here is the thing. My well-meaning teachers taught us that it was sin to go to the movie theaters. Looking back I would say that they taught it that way because it was sin for me to go to a theater because it was disobedience to my authority, but the way that it came across was that the sin was to darken the door of a theater.

So most of my friends and I grew up with the idea that movie theaters are bad. Even when I was no longer under the authority of my school or my parents, I chose not to go to the theater. Just because I figured if there was a reason I shouldn't go as a kid, the reason probably hadn't changed as an adult. But eventually my logic kicked in, and I couldn't come up with a Biblical reason that it would be sinful for me to go to a theater. So here were the reasons I didn't go:

1. Example - I am a leader in my church and I want to set a good example. Some people think it is sinful to go to the movies and I don't want to offend them. And for those who are ok with movies, what I do in moderation, those who follow me will do in excess. 
2. Obedience - On top of it, many of the churches that I would hang with or work for don't want their leadership going to the movies. 
3. Not the best use of my money - It is really expensive for even two people to go to the movies. For the price of 2 movie tickets, I could buy the Blu-ray in a few months and watch it as many times as I want. Or I could rent it for a dollar. Not to mention the added price of snacks and beverages. [I would say this is my #1 reason!]
4. Temptation - I could see the temptation to watch a movie in the theater that I would not watch at home. But I wouldn't spend the money. Also, I check all of my movies through the parental guides on websites like Plugged In and IMDB. 

Some things that I observed going to the theater:

1. It is much smaller than it looks in the movies. I went to a large, popular theater, and the room was smaller than I thought it would be. The screen was smaller than I thought it would be. 
2. It wasn't as crowded as it is in the movies. I went to an after-work hours showing of the movie and there were thirteen people in the theater. It felt more like sitting in someone's living room with surround sound than anything. I guess I thought it would be more like seeing a Broadway show.
3. I wasn't knocked to the ground for walking through the doors or suddenly overwhelmed with guilt. 
4. In fact, sitting in that theater sure was a lot like sitting in the theaters at museums watching educational films. (Hmmm....) Or sitting in a Broadway show, but smaller, less-crowded, cheaper, and filmed instead of live. 

What I liked:

1. It was a really fun date night for my husband & I. 
2. The surround sound!!
3. There were no distractions - like my phone ringing, someone knocking on the front door, the air conditioner kicking on so I can no longer hear the tv, feeling the need to multi-task, etc.
4. The popcorn - now I understand the hype about movie theater popcorn :)

What I didn't like:

1. The price, especially considering I can purchase or rent it cheaper. 
2. All the previews - I really like fast-forwarding or just skipping right over those, especially since I want to watch the movie, not the previews. 
3. The possibility for disruptive guests - I assume that can be circumvented by choosing a family-friendly time to attend
4. Being reclined on my couch in my pajamas with a blanket is more comfy than sitting in those only fairly comfortable seats. 

So overall, I don't think that it is a sin to attend a movie theater. If it is a sin to go, shouldn't it also be a sin to rent a movie at Redbox? go to Blockbuster (if you can find it!)? watch things on Netflix? have a television? God wants us to be careful of what we place before our eyes, and we do that at home and outside the home. 

I am not anymore godly or holy or "Christian" because I watched a movie on Blu-ray in September 2013, than I would be if I watched the movie a few months earlier. 

Going to a movie theater was actually pretty fun. I have no intention of making it a regular habit (I would go broke!), but maybe every once in a while for a date with my husband. But it is up to you. 

Obey the requirements of those in authority over you. Wisely choose what you place before your eyes. Remember that you are a representative of Christ wherever you go and whatever you do. 

And remember, this is the girl who would have never darkened the door of a movie theater a year ago. 

~Kay

Gifts for Missionaries, Part 1

Missionaries strive to do something that many of us, sitting comfortably in the United States, are unable or lack the courage to try. They leave their families, their friends, their comforts, to live in a foreign country with a foreign language, different food, transportation, living styles. And on top of that, they choose to lead people to the Lord and establish churches. That alone is difficult when everything else is going well.

Missionaries are among the heroes of our day. It is our responsibility to love them, pray for them, and care for them as much as we can. I personally love the idea of treating the missionaries like royalty or celebrities. They are the heroes and we should make it clear that we really feel that way about them!

How can we be a blessing to the missionaries, especially as they travel on the road for deputation or furlough?

The Missions Closet
A fun way to be a blessing to the missionaries is to set up a little closet or place for them to "go shopping" for supplies that they need on the road. Now let me stress a few things... The missionaries are on the road a lot. So when you are thinking of supplies, consider things that are useful on the road. (I heard of one church that asked for donations for their missions closet and received items such as lamps, large picture frames, and curtains.) Also many times the missionary families are living out of their cars, so you want to provide items that won't take up valuable real estate in the vehicle. A wholesale club-size bottle of body lotion would not be appropriate in most situations.

One church that has a missions closet determines that they are only going to supply things that they can get for free. This is a good idea. Free is always a great price. So they solicit local companies to donate items. The local companies give generously, but the reality is the church ends up with expired products and dollar store cast-offs. Not really a great way to honor our missionaries or make them feel special.

With the idea of "living out of the car," here are some generic items that you can purchase at a range of prices.

• Car maintenance items - window washer fluid, Armor-all, Rainex spray
• Coloring books, crayons, colored pencils, pencil sharpeners (the kind that catches the pencil shavings until you can empty it in a trash can)
• Pens & pencils, various sizes of notepads 
• Crossword puzzles, word search, sudoku books
• Fresh set of quality earbuds - You can probably skip the cheap ones that you will often find at the dollar store or the check out aisles. Apple earbuds can be expensive, although they are quality and often preferred. There is an abundance of nice earbuds that range from $7-15. 
• $5-10 Itunes or Amazon gift cards for portable devices, so they stock up on some reading material or music
• Pocket hand sanitizers and lotions, Wet Wipes (in the individual packages)
• First aid kits or loose medical items that typically go in them, like bandaids and neosporin 
• Diapers and wipes
• Rolls of quarters - I personally have had missionaries request this!! Great for toll booths, car washes, and the laundry mat!
• Selection of snack items, gum, mints, and 6 or 12-packs of water

I would also like to suggest travel size or small toiletries items, but with this note: Toiletry items are personal products. Some people can only use certain brands for health reasons; some people will only use particular brands; and other people don't care at all. The travel size items would be helpful just to hold a family over until they are able to get to the store in a few days. So if you are going to have these items available, make sure they are decent brands and a reasonable size. 

Whenever you are choosing items for your own "store," be selective. Choose items that you would want to receive. Remember that these missionaries are special people, and they should be treated as such. 

How do you stock your closet if the church budget cannot afford it? Share your vision with the church family, then once a year ask the church family to donate these specific items or designate their offering to the "Missions Closet." For those who are donating items, you could ask them to bring them in those fun reusable shopping bags. Then you could use the bags as shopping bags for the missionaries. 

Additional ideas for gift baskets will come in Part 2, coming soon!!

Getting Out of the Sunday School Mindset

For those who you who teach classes teenagers through adults...

Too many times we teach a lesson with the memories of our childhood Sunday school classes in mind. Let me explain - as a kid, most of us were taught the most basic information about a Bible story. The main characters, what they did, and a lesson. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because it was instilling the facts into the heart of a child. It is on their level.

Side note: I have to warn though, from over-simplifying. Sometimes a story is so simplified that it is no longer accurate. A couple of weeks ago, an upper-elementary child was retelling me the story of Job - what they had just learned in Sunday school, but this version was so simplified and so dramatic, it was completely inaccurate. Other stories that come to mind are Hosea and the passage about the tower of Babel. (Rehash the stories in your own mind as you would tell them to a child, then go and read the passages in the Bible. A little different, huh?)

Now I totally understand that the way we teach children and the way we teach those who are more mature adults, is different. But it is our responsibility to teach a "story" Biblically and accurately - not in accordance with the traditional Sunday school lesson that we have heard our entire lives.

Here is an example: the Tower of Babel.

This is the story we hear and teach - Nimrod and his men built a tower to reach to heaven, to get to God, so they could be like God or overtake God. God got angry at their sinfulness and mixed up the languages, forcing the people to spread out.

But let's take a look at what the verses say.

Genesis 11:1-4

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

When I am reading the Bible, I like to reiterate what I just read, so that I can understand in layman's terms. Basically what we just read in this passage was that everyone on the earth spoke the same language. A group of them were traveling together, and decided to settle in the land of Shinar - which we know historically to be a very fertile and fruitful land. A good choice for a permanent home. Then they got together and decided to build a city and tower. This tower would be very tall, distinguished tower that would stand out as a landmark on the plain. (Like the Sears tower in Chicago and the Empire State Building in NY) Why? They wanted to be remembered for their unique and unsurpassable feat, because they were concerned that they would be scattered across the planet. 

Don't take my word for it! You just read it in the verses above. So moving on...

Genesis 11:5-9

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

While they were building, God can down from heaven to check it. But He noticed a problem - the people were unified in a central location. This was in disobedience to His command to populate the earth, not just the plain of Shinar. As a punishment for their disobedience, God confused their language, creating multiple languages, so that those who were once unified could no longer understand each other, and they now had to scatter. 

The sin in this act was not the building of a tremendously tall building. The sin was in their failure to populate the whole earth as God had commanded. This is evidenced in their reason for building in verse 4 and in God's reason for punishment in verses 8-9. 

God doesn't reprimand or punish them for trying to access Him through man's ways or for establishing a new religion or worshipping inappropriately. 

Surely there is an argument for prideful behavior, and it is likely that Nimrod was not a godly man. But the fact is what we traditionally teach is not what actually occurred in this passage. 

The moral of the story here is to teach the Bible biblically. Use the Bible as your source, not your memory, not someone else's material. Be careful to keep the truth in all that you teach. 

Graduation Gift Ideas

It is that time of year! The most wonderful month of a high school senior's life - graduation!

The projects are turned in, senior trips are enjoyed, the finals are complete, the cap and gown is pinned into place, and the graduation gifts start rolling in! Let me tell you, the entire month of May the year that I graduated from high school was BY FAR the BEST month of my entire high school career. 

Great for the graduate. Less great for the person who has to come up with a creative gift idea on the cheap.

Here are six different gift ideas. Everyone is going to either give them a 2013 graduation frame/photo album or money. Since everyone has those covered, why not get them something useful? 

1. Mattress pad - Those college mattresses are tough, like miserable tough. Like wake up with a kink in your neck every day tough. While the typical college student gets "used to it," it would really go a long way to get a good night's sleep every night. 
2. Blanket - Think of those cheap seasonal flannel blankets that you can get at Kohls for $5 by the end of the Christmas season. They are great for cold nights when you can't control the thermostat, quick naps, comfort studying on the floor on you bed in your friend's room. Pair with a bag of candy and you have a great (and affordable) gift.
3. Electric Hot pot - Not all colleges or dorms offer the convenience of a kitchen, or they do not come with appliances. A hot pot is great because it heats
   
   liquid in about two minutes flat. Many meals of ramen noodles, Mac & cheese, soups of all varieties, even tea and hot chocolate were made in that hot pot. It was easy to clean and store. You can usually find these for about $10 at Walmart or Target, but they can be hard to find because they are rarely in stock (usually sold out or called by other names by region). 
4. Flatware & Utensils - this is my go-to gift every year. Think plates, bowls, cups, plastic or metal utensils. I have bought this for almost every graduate since I graduated from college. At the end of the summer season, stock up on plastic picnic items when they go on clearance. If you buy them during graduation season, this would cost a fortune, but stores all but give the picnic-ware away at the end of the season. They usually come in packs of four in fun colors, so you can purchase gifts for four people for $10-15. Give each graduate one (even two) of each item. I like to throw in a package of coordinating party napkins and a small bottle of dish soap (CVS often has this for $0.99, combined with a $0.99 coupon = FREE!). And know you now
   
   why this is my favorite gift. :) 
5. Carry-on suitcase or overnight bag - These kids are going to have a lot of overnight trips in their near future. Traveling home for the weekend, visiting friends, going on a college trip. They will already have the big suitcases, but not always the smaller bags for shorter trips. I personally like the oversized beach bags (not the mesh or light-weight kind though). It's so easy to toss all of your overnight things into the beach bag and you are ready to go. They also store easily. Again this would be an easy end-of-season clearance item to get really cheap. Bonus ideas: luggage tags. For girls, a nice makeup case set. They will have to tote that stuff around, you know. 
6. Gift cards - this will always make my list of gifts because they are so wonderful. Walmart & Target are obvious choices because they carry almost everything. But Amazon would be a good option as well. Your graduate will probably end up buying some used books for many of their classes from Amazon. Another good option is Shutterfly. The books are fun to make and awesome to have, but the price tag can be daunting when the alternative is store photos on your hard drive. But a gift card coupled with Shutterfly's never ending sales would make a photo book an amazing graduation gift. 

Quick note from a graduate, there are a few gifts you want to avoid. Journals, photo albums, frames, and anything graduation related. Why? Because when July rolls around, you no longer think of yourself as a graduate but as a freshman. And everybody else, who isn't creative with their gifts, is going to buy the standard dated graduation gift. 

Oh... And money is always a great gift! 

Have fun shopping! 

A Favorite

Perhaps one of my favorite passages in the Bible, Isaiah 55:8-13 are always an encouragement to my soul. My God is in control of everything. He knows far better than I. His plan is already in progress. He knew before I even thought about it. Above all, His plans and His purposes and His thoughts will bring total glory to Him.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Burden

Recently I have noticed a common theme in the Christian circles that I run in - at the ladies retreats, events, and Bible studies, on Facebook and Pinterest, in personal conversations, and far more blogs than I even knew were out there. So much of it revolves around being a housewife. Cooking organic meals from scratch, storing a months worth of food in the freezer, decorating to perfection, never spending more than [$20] on any purchase ever, getting married, having children, homeschooling, and doing everything just so. This whole idea is lauded and praised - and for good reason! To do all of these things successfully with the Lord's help is nothing short of an incredible accomplishment.

But I have been burdened by it, because it seems like I, as a Christian woman, have to fit into this mold or I am not fulling God's will for my life by being the Christian woman that He intended for me to be. That I am not fulfilling God's highest calling for my life. That's a lot of pressure!


It seems so trivial. Am I a better Christian than you because of gifts and talents that God gave me, but not you? Are you a better Christian because you have children and I don't? You know that doesn't make any sense.


When did my homemaking skills and child-birthing record determine my spirituality? I mean really - cooking organic meals from scratch - not everyone has time for that. It really doesn't fit into my schedule. I try to make healthy homemade meals as often as I can, but if I can save a few minutes by using a ready-made product, why not? Decorating my house: I try, I really do. I think my home looks better than average, but I only have so much of an eye for that kind of think. Truth: I like shopping. Spending money doesn't scare me (as long as it is in the bank account). God happened to bring a wonderful, godly, handsome man into my life when I was 19. One of my dearest friends is 25 and still waiting patiently for God to bring a man into her life. In the meantime, she is totally focused on God, growing spiritually, and blessing others. She is a strong person and I look up to her. God was completely of our lives. I am not more spiritual because I am married and my friend is not. I don't have children. I haven't been married long - long enough to have at least two children, but I don't. Does that mean that I am not spiritual? No! That means that God has chosen to lead my life in a different direction at this time, and I am totally ok with that.

So when did we forget that our "godliness" is determined by our personal, private relationships with our Savior? Our personal upward spiritual growth, our prayer life, our testimony to others, our efforts in bringing more people to Christ, and living overall according to the principles of the Bible.

To all of you women out there like me: Don't be discouraged if you can't live up to the seeming expectations of others. Don't be disappointed if you aren't married yet or don't have children. Enjoy this chapter of your life. You may never get to experience it again! Always remember that God is in control of everything, not you. You don't have to live up somebody else's ideas (if they don't come from the Bible!). Be the person that God intended you to be. He called you to be someone special. Be that person.

~Kay