Thanksgiving

Whoa! Whoa! Stop! Cut the music! Hang on-I’m not ready for Christmas music just yet. Are you guys ready for Christmas music? Now don’t get me wrong I love Christmas. I usually start my Christmas shopping early; say in January so that I can enjoy the excitement of the season w/out fighting the crowds at the mall. However, this year I haven’t even started my shopping yet & Thanksgiving is next week. So we can’t start celebrating the Christmas season just yet. You see, I’m focusing on Thanksgiving because I’m nowhere near ready for Christmas. And I’ve been thinking about how this little holiday is stuck between the fun of Halloween & the super-mega excitement of Christmas. Poor Thanksgiving often gets overlooked, bypassed as we hurry to prepare for Christmas. If it weren’t for turkey dinners & pumpkin pie we might just skip Thanksgiving all together. But Thanksgiving is an important holiday & so I am going to talk about Thanksgiving tonight. I’m sure most of you know the reason we celebrate Thanksgiving has to do w/the Pilgrims & Indians & the first meal they shared together. Well, good because that’s not what I’m going to talk about. I’m going to share w/you a different way of looking at Thanksgiving.
One of the reasons I don’t have any Christmas shopping done is because I broke my leg three weeks ago. I was bummed that I didn’t have a great story to explain how I broke my leg. I didn’t break it while skateboarding with my kids or snow skiing in Colorado or anything exciting. No, I broke it in my front yard. I slipped on some wet leaves and fell. My right leg twisted underneath me & I sat on it. What a plain, boring story. However, that’s not the whole story. It turns out my fall was the result of a bad choice I made. God has convinced me that I need to share the whole story of what happened that night. I am hesitant to share this w/you because I come out looking bad in this story & nobody likes to share a story where they look bad. But here goes-the truth, the whole truth & nothing but the truth. First, let me tell you that I am a very stubborn, independent perfectionist. (I’ll pause long enough for my husband & children to say AMEN to that!) I like things to be done a certain way, my way. And I expect things to be done on my timeline. I have high standards. Okay, having said that let’s get back to my story. Sunday night at our house is trash night & for some reason trash duty is a big dramatic ordeal. My pre-teen daughters are responsible for this chore, which is probably part of the reason it is such a dramatic ordeal. Well this particular Sunday my daughter was rather sloppy with her trash duty. She had missed some of the trash and some of the trash bags hadn’t been tied shut before she took them out to the curb. Feeling frustrated I went into my “should have done it myself” mode. I know that I have high standards that are hard to reach so I have this theory that if I want it done right I have to do it myself. But I know that is not a healthy attitude so I have been working on that, for at least ten years now. So I am frustrated w/my daughter & frustrated w/myself and now I have to go out in the pouring rain to take out the rest of the trash & take care of the open trash bags. A temper tantrum begins to emerge out of the frustration. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I am really good at throwing a temper tantrum. So as a way of expressing my frustration I stomp to the front door and slam it behind me. I am stomping across the yard too full of anger & rage to notice the wet leaves underfoot until my left foot slides forward & I lose my balance. Suddenly I find myself twisted on the wet, muddy ground in great pain. So that’s the truth of what happened, my fall was the result of my choice to stomp off angry. And now I get to wear this ugly, heavy boot for at least 4 weeks. And God is using this broken leg & this ugly boot to teach me some important lessons. Some of which I am going to share w/you tonight.
The 1st lesson he taught me is that life is not about “ME”! Three things that can destroy a person are anger, pride & unforgiveness. 2 of those 3 things led me to break my leg. If I hadn’t been so full of self-pride then I wouldn’t have been angry w/my daughter & felt the need to take care of the trash myself & then I wouldn’t have stomped across the yard. Instead of focusing on myself I should have focused on teaching my daughter in a patient & loving manner. But I was more concerned w/getting the job done quickly & correctly. How many times do we think we can do it all by ourself w/out any help from anyone? And of course we can do it better than anyone else. You see this attitude is wrapped up in the idea that it’s all about me & focuses on self but that’s not what God wants us to focus on. I am learning the hard way that I can’t do it alone. I can’t drive myself to the store, I can’t carry the laundry downstairs to the washer, I can’t do a lot of things I usually do. I don’t like this. I am a self-sufficient person. But this broken leg has reduced me to a person dependent on others. I have had to rely on others to get my son to school, to take my daughter to viola lessons, to drive me to the grocery store, and so on. There are so many things that have been taken out of my control. And that is the big issue for me-control. I want to be able to control things & right now I have control over very little. God is teaching me that I am not in control of everything & I don’t need to be in control of everything. I need to trust that God is in control. I need to have faith that God knows what is best for me & will take care of me. God has tried to teach me this lesson many times, with many methods. But remember, I said I am stubborn & I don’t want to give up that control. So God found a way that would make it nearly impossible for me to ignore the fact that I must allow Him to be in control. I am reminded of that fact every time I look at this ugly boot.


I am also learning that there are 3 things in life that are very valuable: Love, family & friends, & kindness. My children & husband could be angry at me for my temper tantrum; they could say I got what I deserved. They could refuse to help me & just watch me suffer. But they love me, even the stubborn, independent, perfectionist part of me. And that love won’t let them just watch me suffer & refuse to help me. My family & friends have shown love by going above & beyond to help me out the last couple weeks. My kids & husband have taken on extra chores around the house w/out grumbling & complaining. My mother has played chauffer & taken me to the bank, the store, the doctor. My church family brought meals to our home. I have really struggled w/accepting this help. I don’t want to be dependent on others but right now I don’t have a choice. So I found myself grumbling while accepting this help. And God said to me “How can you be so ungrateful when these people are showing you love? The least (and as it turns out the only) thing you can do is be grateful for their kindness. You should be thankful.” Here’s another lesson I am learning while suffering from this broken leg: God calls us to be thankful. I need to be a grateful recipient of help. Instead of grumbling & accepting help begrudgingly I should be rejoicing for the help & thanking the person that is helping me. You see God did not create us to be independent but a part of a community. And that community focuses on love, family & friends & kindness instead of self.
Which brings me back to this ugly boot. At first I hated this boot; I hated it w/a passion. It’s ugly. It cost me $150, I’ve never spent that on a pair of shoes, let alone 1 boot! It weighs a ton & it pulls on my back & hip. There are a lot of reasons to hate this boot. I was complaining about my boot and how I can’t wait to be rid of it when my mother reminded me that this boot is better than a plaster cast. That made me stop & think about the reasons I could be thankful for the boot. I can take the boot off to shower & sleep. I can take it off if my foot becomes sweaty or itchy. This boot makes it possible for me to walk. This boot is protecting my leg while the bone heals. It turns out there are a lot of reasons to love this boot! I am thankful for this boot & suddenly it doesn’t seem so ugly or so heavy.
Did you know that the word “thanksgiving” appears in the Bible 30 times? I think there is some significance to that. That means there is a reference to thanksgiving for each day of the month. I know, some months have 31 days, so those months you get one day to be ungrateful. But the other days you are called to be grateful & give thanks. That means we are to be appreciative, content, grateful, satisfied even pleased, no matter the situation we find ourselves in. According to the Bible our thanksgiving should be specific & is most meaningful when it is voluntary. The book of Philippians is full of Paul’s thanksgiving even though he is in prison. He says things like “I thank my God every time I remember you.” “I know what it is to be in need, & I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer & petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
The book of Psalms mentions “thanksgiving” the most. Psalm 116 tells us that our thanksgiving should be an offering to God. Psalm 95 says “Let us come before the Lord with thanksgiving.” And Psalm 100 encourages us to “Enter his gates w/thanksgiving and his courts w/praise; give thanks to him & praise his name.
I Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” We may not like our circumstances. I didn’t like this ugly boot, but I found one thing I could be grateful for & suddenly the boot didn’t seem so bad. I still have to wear the boot & it is still ugly & it still weighs a ton, but it’s really not so bad. When we give thanks in all circumstances our circumstances might not change but our attitude changes & that changes our perspective & as it turns out it’s really not as bad as we originally thought it was. I’m sure you would rather be somewhere else tonight. I doubt this is how you would choose to spend your Wednesday night if you could be somewhere else, doing something other than sitting here listening to me preach on thanksgiving. But the fact is you are here. You can choose to focus on the negatives or you can be thankful to be inside a dry, warm & safe building. You can be thankful for a good meal & a cot to sleep on. I challenge you to say a prayer of thanksgiving for just those small things & see if it doesn’t make a difference in your attitude. Let’s pause for just a second for each of us to say a word of THANKS.
In just a few minutes you are going to dinner. I don’t know what they are serving for dinner, but chances are I won’t like it. I am a very picky eater & I don’t eat vegetables (I tease my pastor & tell him that they are against my religion.) But God’s word challenges me to accept the food they are serving w/joy & thanksgiving, even if it is vegetables. There are volunteers & staff members that have worked hard to prepare that meal. You have the opportunity to thank those people for their hard work & for the food they have prepared for you. The 2nd challenge I have for you is to express thanks to someone here tonight, whether it is the person who prepared your meal, or the person that serves your meal, or the person who led our music tonight, or the person who was working at the front desk.
But I must warn you, once you start giving thanks it becomes a contagious habit, one that I hope I will never break.

If You're Going To Walk On Water, You Have To Get Out Of The Boat

I love water. It could be a small bubbling creek, a peaceful lake, a rushing river or the swell s of the ocean. And I love boating. My boating experience includes a paddleboat, a rubber raft, a canoe, a pontoon, a ski boat & a cruise liner. And I loved all of these experiences. Tonight I want to tell you a story about a recent boating adventure I had. I was riding along in my boat on the river of life and all was well. I was enjoying the boat & the quiet stillness of the water. It was a picture perfect boat ride. But how many times have we seen perfect boat rides go wrong? There was the Titanic that was supposed to be unsinkable, the Steamboat Arabia & the three hour tour on the SS Minnow. (Cue the theme song for Gilligan’s Island) All of the sudden, out of nowhere, a terrible storm was upon me & my boat. I found my boat being tossed in the waves; I saw bright flashes of lightening & heard roaring thunder. I was scared. This storm had appeared so quickly, without warning. But I know what to do when I am facing such a storm, I pray. I ask God to protect me, I ask God to calm the storm, & I ask God to send me help. A friend calls my cell phone & asks if I’m okay. I tell my friend I don’t have time to socialize. I’m so scared & caught up in the storm that I don’t even think of allowing my friend to help me. My husband comes by in a bigger boat & offers to help, but I decline his help because I have faith that God is going to help me. My pastor comes along in a helicopter & offers to assist me, but I’m stubborn & I refuse his help. I’m sure God is going to protect me & if he isn’t going to calm the storm then I’m sure he is going to save me! Fear takes over me & I begin to doubt God. The storm is getting worse, the waves are crashing over the top of the boat & I just spotted a hole in the bottom of the boat. I am feeling desperate. I cry out to God. “Where are you? Why don’t you calm this storm? How long will this storm last? Why did you allow my boat to get a hole? Are you really going to let my boat sink? Are you going to let me drown? Why aren’t you helping me? Where are you God?”
I hear God whisper, “My poor child, you are not listening, you are not paying attention. I sent 3 different people to help you, any of them could have saved you, but you refused their help. How long will you try to do things on your own? “
Oh! Uh-oh!!
“Okay, Lord. I’m sorry. I will listen. I will do what you ask. Send help & I will go with them. I promise I will obey.” You won’t believe what God told me to do next. He told me to get out of the boat. (Cue music from Jaws) “What? I must not have heard you right. Are you crazy? At least the boat offers some safety. If I turn the boat over I can still cling to the top of the boat. But step out of the boat? I don’t know how deep the water is & look at how big the waves are. And don’t forget the lightening. And you want me to get out of this boat?”
I am bewildered. Why does God want me to get out of the boat? I think about the Titanic. Remember how the people clung to the boat as it sunk into the ocean. The boat sucked those people under & they drown. I don’t want to go down with this sinking boat. God is telling me to get out of the boat before it sinks. My chances are better out on the water.
I try to stand up & get out of the boat. But something is weighing me down, pinning me to the bottom of the boat. I look down at my life vest. It appears that is the something that is keeping me down. The life vest is so heavy I can’t stand up. God tells me take off the vest. Doubt is there again, clouding my thinking, making me question what God is telling me. But I promised God I would obey. So I begin unfastening the life vest. Suddenly I see that it is really not a life preserver after all, it is a giant weight called fear. My resolution for this year was not to live my life in fear. I have been studying what the Bible says about fear. Verses that I have memorized come to mind: Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear for I am with you” & 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.” Because I know God is with me & he loves me & I love him I am able to strip off the fear. Now I can get out of the boat. I am able to stand up but I can’t get out of the boat. What is holding me in the boat? I’m not afraid. So what is this tied to my foot? Without the deception that fear brings I can see an anchor that I wasn’t able to see before. The anchor is labeled worth. I will have to examine this anchor a little more closely before I can figure out how to untie it & leave it behind. This is something I really struggle with in life. I have been taught that worth comes from formal education, a good upbringing, holding a respectable job, being a loyal wife, raising obedient children. In other words, you must work hard to deserve worthiness. I think that if I step out of the boat, then I have nothing & if I have nothing then I am nothing. And if I have nothing what will others think of me? But God asks me, “Am I not enough, am I not everything?”
I try to be so tough
But I'm just not strong enough
I can't do this alone, God I need You to hold on to me
I try to be good enough
But I'm nothing without Your love
Savior, please keep saving me
God says I am worthy because He created me & He loves me. I am God’ child & I am complete in Christ. I have been established, anointed & sealed by God. He has made me worthy & I don’t need to look for acceptance elsewhere. I don’t need a title, or a specific job, or a distinguished family, or a big house, or a Nobel Peace Prize, I need God. And that is what I will find out there on the water.
I put words to the deception of self-worth. I will never be good enough or tough or anything that really matters on my own. My worth comes from God & I will keep declaring that until I truly believe it w/all of my heart & mind. As I am reaffirming who I am in Christ & the worth that he gives me I see the anchor is shrinking. I am now able to remove the anchor from my feet & throw it overboard. I watch as the anchor sinks to the bottom. I am filled w/such a sense of freedom & love.
You have probably figured out that my story is not about a real boat ride. That is just a metaphor that I am using. We all have boats & we all have anchors that keep us in the boat. For me, the boat was a church. And the anchor was a job w/a title. A job that I loved, a job that I feel called to do. God told me it was time to get out of that boat, but I didn’t’ want to let go of that anchor. My pride and my need to feel worthy convince me to hold tight to that anchor. The thing is that I had asked God to release me from that boat & He was doing just that, but I wasn’t willing to obey Him. I struggled with giving up that anchor & the sense of security that it gave me.
We all have boats that we are riding in that God doesn’t want us in. We all have anchors that we cling to that will drag us to the bottom if we don’t release them. What is your boat? What anchors are keeping you in the boat? I’m going to give you a few minutes to write down what your anchor is. While you listen to this song, think about how heavy that anchor is, think about how it keeps you from doing the things God wants you to do, think about how it could drag you down, and then think about what it would be like to release that anchor & watch it sink to the bottom of the ocean floor.
So, now I am out here walking on the water. I don’t know where I am going; maybe I’m not going anywhere in particular. Maybe the point of this exercise is for me to just enjoy being out here on the water, walking w/Jesus. It reminds me of when I took my lifeguard certification test at the age of 15. The hardest part for me wasn’t having to swim a mile in a certain amount of time or having to rescue a dummy from the bottom of the pool and drag it out & perform CPR, the hardest part for me was having to tread water for 20 minutes. We weren’t allowed to swim laps. We simply had to tread water and stay in one place, very hard for me to do. I want to go somewhere when I swim, even if it is just to the other side of the pool. I mean, who wants to swim in place? That’s a lot like walking on a treadmill. What’s the point? When you’ve finished walking a mile, you are still in the same place. I am a task oriented person, I need a beginning and an end & I need to get something accomplished. If I am walking, I want to go somewhere; a treadmill doesn’t offer that, neither does treading water. I feel like that is where I am w/this walking on water experience. I am walking but I’m not going anywhere. So I am trying to concentrate on Jesus & what is going on while we are walking. I don’t think this experience is about the destination, it is about the adventure itself. You’ve heard the saying “1/2 the fun is getting there.” I’ve never understood that phrase but I’m trying to. I am at peace out here walking on the water. I feel very close to God.

Let me share a time with you when I got out of the boat & walked on water. Zac’s story. Mark & I had been parents for 2 ½ years & we decided (with much prodding from me) that we were ready to adopt another child. Mark agreed as long as we could adopt a boy & we wanted a baby this time. We talked to DFS & had them place us on the adoption waiting list. We knew that it could be a long wait, especially since we were asking for a baby boy. At the very same time that we were having our names added to the waiting list, a baby boy named Zakaria was born in Oklahoma City. His parents were very young, very immature, unemployed & homeless. The mother had not received prenatal care & had not taken very good care of herself or her unborn baby. She had also used various drugs during the pregnancy. This baby entered the world under dire circumstances. He had to be resuscitated at birth & put on a respirator. A priest was called in on 4 occasions to pray for the baby, but this little boy was a fighter. He began to grow stronger & was able to come off of the respirator. The doctors ran batteries of tests & could find nothing wrong with the baby. The nurses & doctors tried to arrange assistance for the parents, someone to help them find housing & jobs & money for food & baby necessities. But the parents refused the help. And at the end of the week the hospital had no choice but to release the baby to the parents. For 2 months the parents struggled with jobs, money, physical & emotional abuse, taking care of a newborn. The mother ran from her husband & ended up in a shelter for abused women in Independence, Missouri. The baby was taken from her & placed in protective custody due to neglect. One July afternoon, I received a call from DFS asking me to take in a 2 ½ month old baby boy who needed a foster home. I explained to the caseworker that I would have to call my husband & discuss it w/him & then one of us would get back w/her. I remember calling Mark at work & telling him the news. I was excited, scared, anxious & uncertain. The only thing we knew for sure was that this 2 month old baby boy needed a home immediately. We didn’t know the background on this baby. We didn’t know why he was being placed in a foster home. We didn’t know much. The caseworker had made it sound like the baby would probably be returned to his mother’s custody w/in 10 days but nothing would be decided until the court hearing on that 10th day. And we knew we had to make a decision quickly. If we weren’t going to take the baby then the caseworker needed to continue making calls until she found someone that would take the baby. Mark & I prayed & felt God wanted us to give this baby a home, our home. So, Mark called the caseworker & told her that we would be foster parents for the baby. He also told her that when the time came for the baby to be adopted we were to be at the top of the list for the adoption. The caseworker was taken aback by that comment. She explained to my husband that this was temporary custody & that the baby would probably go back to the mother in 10 days. Mark said he understood what she was saying but he felt God had different plans for that baby. The next day, the caseworker brought Zac to our home & he has been a part of our family ever since. Over the next year there were several court hearings and lots of paperwork but we were finally able to adopt Zacharia & make him an official part of our family. We learned a lot about the parents & Zac’s rough beginning over the course of that year. Today, I look at this healthy & happy boy & I am so thankful that Mark & I were able to step out of that boat & walk on water that day in July of 2002 & agree to take Zac into our home. We didn’t let the anchors of fear or uncertainties keep us in the boat.
If you’re going to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat. And I have to tell you the water is fine, so step out of the boat & come on in!

You are God's #1 Draft Pick

It’s football season! Okay, it may be pre-season, but still it’s football season! I love football. Now we get to see the draft picks & new recruits who made it thru training camp, where they were trained & conditioned & put thru tests of endurance & scrimmages. This is their opportunity to prove their worth before another round of cuts come along. The few that manage to impress the coaching staff will continue to play with the team in regular season games & might even make it to the Superbowl! But let’s back up about 6 months. Lets go back to the end of February. There is a 3 day showcase that is held in February called the NFL Scouting Combine. This is an invitation only opportunity for players to perform in front of coaches, GMS & scouts. They are put thru a series of physical & mental tests. Some of these tests include:
40 yard dash, bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, 20 & 60 yd shuttle & interviews.
This gives the coaches, GMs & scouts an advantage for the NFL draft. They begin to narrow down their choices for their rosters & decide which players they might want to conduct contract negotiations with.
NFL teams use the month of March to wine & dine their favorites. They do their best to sell their town & team, they put together an offer that can’t be refused.
Can you imagine what is is like to be wined & dined, to have teams compete for you, to anticipate being chosen by a Super Bowl Champion team?
Just for fun, I looked up some of the Chiefs first round draft picks. We find names like
Dwayne Bowe, Larry Johnson, Tony Gonzalez, Derrick Thomas, Neil Smith & Art Still ~I had to include Art’s name because his daughter is friends w/my daughter.
Now, how about some all time #1 draft picks:
Buck Buchanan, OJ Simpson, Terry Bradshaw, John Elway, Troy Aikman, Drew Bledsoe, Peyton Manning & brother Eli Manning.
And last year’s Jake Long~ who signed a 5 year, 57.75 million dollar deal w/Miami Dolphins & became the highest paid offensive lineman in the NFL.
Stop & think about that for a minute. This 1st round draft pick is a very wealthy man. But did his team win the Superbowl? Did Miami turn out to be all it was promised? Does he feel secure & happy to be a part of the Dolphins team? Are all of his physical, mental & emotional needs met by being a part of this team? The answer to all of these questions is probably NO!
So, what if I told you, you could be a part of a team that delivers what it promises. A team that will eventually win the greatest battle of all time. A team who’s GM created the entire universe & holds it in the palm of his hands. A GM who was willing to sacrifice His own son in order to have you as a part of His team for eternity.
Jesus was sent to earth a type of scout & recruiter. He put together a team of 12 disciples. And the Bible tells us the story of his 1st round draft picks.
They were fisherman named Simon & Andrew. Jesus said to them, “Come & follow me & I will make you fishers of men.” They followed Jesus & became a part of His team of disciples.
We could say that some of the disciples dropped a few passes & fumbled a few times, but eventually the disciples became scouts & recruiters. Jesus sent them out w/this command, “Go into the world & preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes & is baptized will be saved.” So the disciples went out & preached& many people were saved & became a part of God’s team.
There’s no 2 million dollar signing bonus for joining God’s team. But the treasures he offers are priceless. How about unconditional love, forgiveness, someone you can talk to 24/7 & He will listen when you are angry or sad or ramble on about nothing. He is a friend, a shield, a comforter & a savior. The Bible says “If God is for you who can be against you?”
You were created by God for His purpose & He considers you His #1 draft pick.
God is still scouting the hearts of men & Jesus Christ is recruiting still today.
Unlike the NFL Scouting Combine, this invitation is open to everyone & there’s only 1 test -
Will you accept Jesus Christ as your savior?
If you are willing to answer yes you can become a part of God’s team!

Sudden love takes the longest time to be cured...

My 12 year old daughter is at church camp this week and I am missing her. I am missing our sparring matches. There's no one around to question my every move. There's no one to remind me that I don't know it all and I haven't experienced life as a pre-teen in 2009. I find myself bored and wishing for a good squabble with her. I know many of you are saying to yourself, "That's just wrong." But you see, Arianna keeps me on my toes and challenges me. I really miss her.
This is the longest I've gone without having to remind Arianna to brush her teeth and make her bed. I wonder if she has done either one of those things this week. Will I recognize her when I pick her up at camp on Saturday? Will her hair be unruly and tangled? Will she have bathed in the past week (swimming in the lake doesn't count!) Will she have clean clothes on or will they be the same clothes shes worn all week? I've wondered and worried about these things all week. But on Saturday morning those things won't matter any more. When I see my daughter I am going to embrace her in the biggest and longest hug-no matter how stinky, sweaty or unkept she looks! And that's sure to ignite a squabble because pre-teen girls do not like to be hugged in public! But none of that will matter, because she has been gone a week and I have missed her and I want her to know I love her. I love the smart and sassy young lady she is. And love covers a multitude of wrongs; even stinky, sweaty kids.
As I'm sitting here thinking about how much I miss Ari and how I can't wait to hug her on Saturday, I'm hit with the thought that this is how Christ sees us. He loves us no matter how disgusting we are, no matter what we've done or what mess we've gotten ourself into. He still wants to embrace us with his unconditional love. He will keep calling us and reminding us how to live becuase he loves us. He will always take us back.
I'm writing this while eating lunch at a chinese restaurant and I just opened my fortune cookie to find the following message inside, "Sudden love takes the longest time to be cured." That sums up how I feel about my children. I fell in love with them the moment I heard about them-it was sudden and unconditional. That's how Christ works too! He loves you from the moment He creates you. And his love is sudden and unconditional and nothing will ever change that. Do you know Christ's love that way? Have you felt His loving embrace lately? It doesn't matter how dirty you are or how awful you look in other's eyes, Christ loves you and wants to embrace you with His love. And then He wants you to show that kind of love to others. So I must finish writing now so that I can go and embrace this world with the love of Christ!

Aunt Mary Was Love

We just got home from the funeral of Mark's Aunt Mary.I can't remember the first time I met Aunt Mary, it's as if I've always known her. It's as if she was my own aunt and that's how she would want it.I have been pondering something the pastor said at the graveside service. He said, "When you think of Mary, you think of love. Mary was loved by many because she loved so many." The pastor was exactly right, you can't think of Aunt Mary without thinking of how much she loved you. How do you know Aunt Mary loved you? She told you everytime you talked to her. Aunt Mary talked on the phone to Linda, her sister and my mother-in-law, almost everyday. When Zac was little and Linda babysat him in the mornings, he would get to talk to Aunt Mary when she called and that was the highlight of his day. Aunt Mary knew how important it is to tell your loved ones that you love them as much as possible. It didn't matter that she had to call long distance or that there were other things that needed to be done, talking to her loved ones was top priority for her. I am feeling guilty because I live within miles of all of my family members, yet I can't remember the last time I told them I loved them. And I don't think I have ever called them just to say, "I love you." In memory of Aunt Mary, I will be doing this more often.
She also showed her love for you. She sent birthday cards and congratulations cards for graduations and weddings. I think she baked the best cookies in the world because you could taste the love she put into them. And she always hugged you before parting ways. For Aunt Mary, love became a verb. Her actions were love. She became love. The following is from the Bible, Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" I would say Aunt Mary fulfilled both of these commandments.
We have been studying Easter in children's church. The commercial world would have us to believe that Easter is about bunnies, chicks and chocolate eggs. I began our first lesson on Easter by asking the kids what they thought Easter was about. The first kid to answer said, "Easter is about love!" I was shocked to find out that a 7 year old knew exactly what Easter was about. I was expecting to hear that Easter is about the cross and Jesus' death. But this kid understood the reason for Jesus' death on the cross. He obviously understood John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Jesus was love.
Easter weekend will bring many families and friends together. There will be spcial church services, family dinners, and of course egg hunts. In honor of Aunt Mary, I challenge each of you to express love and show love and be love this Easter. Thank you Aunt Mary for being such a great example of LOVE!

P.S. Clark

P.S. Clark, that's me. I have a new title, a new job, a new path I am following. The P.S. stands for Pastor Sherry. I'm having a hard time accepting that title. If you knew how long it took for me to accept the call to ministry you might understand why I am struggling with the title. I was barely a teenager when I felt God calling me to ministry. I was able to ignore, hide & run from this calling for about 35 years! Last year I realized that ignoring God's calling was blatant disobedience. I took a leap of faith & accepted God's calling. I now have my local minister's license & I am a children's pastor at a new church plant in the Northland. I am researching my options for schooling: seminary or school of ministry or something online. However, I feel like I'm not a pastor yet. Maybe it's because we live in a world that labels us by what we do. I am a wife, you know that by looking at the wedding ring on my left hand & finding out that I have been married for 16 years. I am a mother, you know becuase I will tell you how proud I am to be their mother or when they yell "mom" to me from across the room. When I was a preschool director people knew that's what I was becuase they saw me doing that job. But how do you know that I am a pastor? The people at my church know because they see me functioning in that role every Sunday. But am I only a pastor on Sunday? I don't think so. Does being a pastor mean that I have to give up listening to my 80's music? Does it mean that everyone should address me as Pastor Sherry? Will people now hold me to a higher standard? Will people be afraid to talk openly to me, afraid that I may judge them? These are questions I am processing on all the time in my new role as pastor. This is why I am having a hard time accepting my new title. Maybe I will be able to accept it when I have a theology degree & become ordained. Maybe it will become real when I am asked to pray with someone that is very ill or dying. Maybe I will accept it when I perform a wedding or a baptism. I know I am not the same person I was a year ago, I'm not even the same person I was a month ago. My relationship with Christ is growing & I am maturing as a christian. I am changing in ways that I can't find the words to describe. But that doesn't mean I am becoming a completely new person. There will always be parts of the "old Sherry" still there & God will use those parts. And I am starting to understand that being a pastor is not about what I do but who I am, how I live my life. I am spending a lot of time meditating on this verse, "I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received", Ephesians 4:1 (NIV). This doesn't mean that I have to do certain things to be worthy of the calling, I have to live worthy. It is my prayer each morning that God will fill me with His Spirit & that everyone I meet that day will see His Spirit in me, that I will be Jesus to the people that I come in contact with & that I will be able to share my faith with somone. I believe that is what it means to be a pastor. That is how I live a life worthy of the calling to be a pastor. And somedays that will mean praying with the sick or dying, or performing religious ceremonies, or preaching from a pulpit, or teaching in a small group, or spending time in prayer, or studying the Bible, the list goes on & on. Being a pastor is more than what I do, it's who I am, everyday! I urge you not to get caught up on titles & what people do, instead focus on who they are & who you are to them & live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Pastor Sherry Clark, that's me, that's who I am.