God is so Good

I was playing with my brother's dog Saturday night (running through the house playing "tag" and hide-and-seek) and I caught my middle toe on my right foot on a door. I broke my toe, at least that's what I think. I iced it, didn't take any meds, and slept fine that night. (I felt like a Dufflepud hopping around the house on one foot, except I don't have a huge foot.)  Sunday I hobbled around putting the least amount of pressure on that foot without having to hop on one leg. And, yes, I wore shoes--not flip flops. I taped the "broken' toe to another toe last night. The toe was swollen, but not bad. There is some bruising where the toe meets the foot, but not bad. And today I've sat on my butt playing a 10-year old friend's i-pod touch (she left a note for me when she left for school telling me to feel better and "Play my ipod"), reading a bit, played a game with cousins once they got home from school, watched only a bit of TV. I haven't sat for this long in a long time. I've been using a baseball bat as a cane to help not put much pressure on my foot. My toe doesn't even hurt that much.

God is so Good:
1. it's my middle toe and not my big toe or little toe
2. softball season is over
3. there's hardly any pain
4. I still have things I can do while sitting a lot
5. it doesn't stop me from going to church
6. He's already begun healing my toe, and I know in His time He'll complete the healing
7. He has a sense of humor

(Yes, it's kind of funny. :))

Finally...I get to blog again

Where did summer go in terms of my blog posts? Thanks to Labor Day and not having many pressing things to do, I was finally able to catch up reading friends' blog posts from the past few months. Seriously, I was reading blog posts from June. (Would these count as reading a book today?) I enjoyed reading about my family's adventures in Indonesia (Desjardines, Forneys) and the Philippines (Maxwells). I enjoyed reading about my brother's fast pitch softball season thus far (Robby). I enjoyed about book clubs, being good stewards of time, etc. on another brother's blog (Schindler). I enjoyed read the other blogs, as well. Okay, I simply enjoy reading friends' blogs.

There have been a few things I wanted to blog about during the summer, but at those instances I didn't get the opportunity, and now I don't remember what I wanted to say. Ah, well.

Now I'm trying to figure out how to prepare for next year's slow pitch softball season. I'm a decent hitter, and I'd like to get a bit more power in my swing. Lifting some weights, maybe?I should shed a few more pounds to be better in shape, in any case. I also want to work on running--more, better endurance. Hey, with school beginning tomorrow and most of the kids in school all day, I can begin Biggest Loser workouts on the Wii in our kitchen again during the day! Sweet! Hopefully I stick with it again. I'm thinking about jogging/brisk walking/bike riding around the lake on some of these cool mornings/evenings...yeah, we'll see how that goes.

No matter what I end up doing, I'm eager to see what my King will be doing in me this fall...we're coming into a new season...and the weather has been cooperating today, too. Beautiful and needing to wear a sweatshirt! Yes!

LifeWalk 2011

LifeWalk 2011

Info about the Niles LifeWalk to benefit the Pregnancy Care Center of Niles, and info about how you can donate if you'd like. I'm walking in it, and playing in the Softball Tournament for Life that afternoon.

No and Yes

No Mexico.

We're not going to Mexico for a missions trip. When Sister Pastor called me, she said she had bad news. Then she told me the bad news: no Mexico due to safety concerns. Oh, okay. No wonder why I hadn't been focused on the trip for the past two months. It makes total sense to me. Am I disappointed? Actually, no. Crazy, but true. My youth pastor was even concerned that I'd be really disappointed, but I'm not. And I can already see reasons why we're supposed to be here that 10 days instead of in Mexico. My King is Awesome and Amazing. I'm excited to see what He has planned next. (The D.R. with our choir maybe? Hint, hint, sweet, Jesus, can we go? And soon?)

Yes softball.

We've played two games so far, without any practice. We've won both, but we still need practice. The first game I played right field, and last night I had the opportunity to share being catcher. That was fun. And I'm so ready for practice on Saturday (followed by my Uncle and soon-to-be Aunt's wedding). When I played softball 5 years ago, I had fun at first, but was definitely ready for the season to be over. This year, even before the season began, I knew it was different. I'm so excited and thankful I get to play softball. Five years ago I was a little nervous before games, and even practice. This time, I'm just excited and ready to play. In both instances my King told me, "You're playing softball," when I wasn't even thinking about playing. And Saturday can't get here soon enough...we finally get to practice! During both seasons, though, I've been so blessed to play on an amazing team. That's at least half the reason why I enjoy playing so much. I get to hang out with 14 amazing people while having church in the dirt. I don't care that it's almost ten at night, I'm ready to practice or play a game right now. Let's go.

Yes choir.

As I've seen a change in me in softball already this season, I've noticed a change in me in choir, too. I was in our church choir eight years ago. I enjoyed it. This year my King has said it's time to be back in choir, and I love it. That part hasn't changed. What has changed is that I don't hold back like I did eight years ago. Who cares if I don't get every note right. What matters is that I'm praising and worshiping my King, and that I'm giving my all and having fun. Our King is giving us so many opportunities to share Him through music--He's so amazing. I love my King.

Yes praise team.

I've thought about singing on a praise team before, and within the past few months my King has given me the green light and the opportunities. But why on a praise team instead of just singing with them during praise and worship? Number 1: My Creator King gave me a voice; I can sing. Not amazingly, but good enough. I should use what my King gave me for Him and not keep it for myself. Number 2: My King's giving me the opportunity, and I'm taking it. Now, singing on a praise team isn't much different than singing with the praise team as they lead during a church service. The small differences are that I have to be aware of what the others on the team are singing, what I'm singing, and where the lead vocalist is going. And it's a good thing to know the words. Other than that, there's no difference. I'm still praising and worshiping my King through song. It doesn't matter that I'm up on the platform instead of "in the pews". It doesn't matter that I'm holding a microphone. I can still lift my hands. I can still stop singing for a bit and simply stand in awe of my King. I can still praise and worship my King like I would "in the pews". I don't want the way I worship my King to be different just because I'm on a praise team. Because then it's about me. And it's NOT about me. It's ALL about CHRIST. If I lose sight of that, then I'd better kick myself off the the praise team. Because it's NOT about performing; it's ALL about praising and worshiping my King.

Let's see...any other NOs or YESes?

No mediocrity. Yes to kicking my own butt and adding more fuel to the fire.
No to the bear. Yes to slamming the door closed and bolting it shut and giving Christ the key.
No to wading in the shallows. Yes to jumping in...jump, cannonball, splash.

I love my King. Do you?

Thoughts from Yesterday (which was Sunday)

In Sunday School we are in 2 Peter chapter one. At one point we were talking about how we can forget that Christ has cleansed us from past sins (referencing verse 9) and how the "once saved, always saved" belief is false. Pastor Jeff told us about a time when he had a conversation with someone who believed that once we're saved, we're always saved -- that once we accept and acknowledge Christ as our personal Savior, then we're going to heaven no matter what. 

Pastor Jeff told the guy something like this, "Okay, let's say there's a man who has given his life to Christ, and he and his family are in church every Sunday. After a few years the pastor notices the guy has missed a couple Sundays in the past few months. The pastor decides not to say anything because he doesn't want to pry and he realizes people miss church sometimes. The man's church attendance becomes more sporadic, and soon he doesn't come to church at all. Later, the pastor finds out the man has divorced his wife, etc. So, where's the man going? Heaven or Hell? Is he saved?" The guy talking with Pastor Jeff said, "He was never saved." Pastor Jeff said something like, "Well, what are you going to do for the man?" The guy said, "Lead him to Christ." Pastor Jeff said, "So am I."

Me:  Pastor Jeff, you could have said something like this: "So the man was never married? He divorced his wife, so he was never married to her, right? Or, although he divorced his wife, was he still married to her? Christ compares His relationship with us like a marriage relationship. In a marriage, it's not always 'once married, always married'. People don't always keep the marriage covenant. Sometimes people get divorced. But, just because someone gets a divorce doesn't mean that person was never married. Staying married takes work from both sides, not just one. That's just like us with Jesus. Although once we accept and acknowledge Him as Savior and we are saved from death (the wages of sin is death Roman 6:23), we have the choice to cling to Christ or to walk away from Him. If we don't work at our relationship with Christ by reading His Word, talking with Him (praying), studying His Word...then we'll walk away from Him. He keeps His part of the covenant, but we are the ones who sometimes turn our backs on Him. (Ezekiel 16 and Hosea 2, for example.) We can divorce Christ, but He'll never divorce us. 

Pastor Jeff:  So, Christ keeps His covenant with Israel...

Me: We're grafted in...

Pastor Jeff: So all Jews are saved...

Me: No...Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...

I had fun in our little mock debate. It's amazing to see how the Holy Spirit brings His Word to memory at the right moments for the right reasons. 

Then, later on in the day I thought of another analogy regarding the "once saved, always saved" thing. You are swimming (pool, lake, ocean, large pond, river, wherever). You begin to drown (seaweed, shark, cramp, undertow, waves, whatever reason). As you're drowning, someone saves your life. Since then you've been swimming again many times. A few years later, you're swimming and for whatever reason you are again drowning. But you don't need help. You were saved years earlier. Once saved, always saved, right? WRONG! Without someone to save you from drowning, you will die. It doesn't matter that you were saved from drowning once before. Each time you're drowning, you still need saved. And just because you may be drowning for the 17th time and need saved, it doesn't mean you'd never been saved before.