Blog

September 30, 2009

DIFFERENT MIRACLE -PREPARATION

Well, no epiphanies today, I don’t think. Just a blog about life in general on the road. I really need to make more time for updates because so many of you are emailing us to find out what we’re up to!! We are great and still enjoying this life. We are parked in KY right now (as we have been off and on for awhile), but will be leaving for another small town 30 minutes away, to bring a miracle to a local family in need. We, in conjunction with local churches, friends, businesses and another road family (www.share5.org) are doing an extreme makeover of sorts on a home.  She is now a single mother with 2 of her own girls and 2 nephews she has taken in. They are living in a home in disrepair and have lost 90% of their income. She is making ends meet the best way she can and has attempted to make some repairs on the home, but there is still a lot of exposed wiring, beams, and walls.

We have had such an outpouring from the local community and businesses to help make this happen. “Different Miracle” begins tomorrow at 5pm with demo and we will run 24 hour shifts for several days with numerous volunteers. Services and materials have either been donated entirely or drastically reduced in price. God is so good! I can’t wait to post pics of before and after for you to see. You will be amazed at what the Lord has provided for this family. During demo and reno, the family will be in Nashville enjoying an almost compensated stay and meals at a luxury resort. Other families from a church in Nashville will be providing dinners and entertainment.

I could go on and on about how the Lord is bringing all this together, but it is late and we are running full speed at the crack of dawn tomorrow! We have been busy today loading the semi truck sitting outside, with donated materials, paint, appliances, nails, etc. It will be picked up tomorrow morning and delivered to the site of the makeover and staging area. We are so grateful to the United Methodist Church in Dawson Springs, for allowing us to park our RV’s in their parking lot and use their location as a staging area and check-in point. They have also pledged to serve lunch each day for all the volunteers. We continue to be amazed and humbled by everyone’s participation and generosity to this family and this project. It is not restricted to any one denomination and there are even secular businesses that have committed to contribute something and it has been touching to see ALL people working and serving together.  After all the organizing, budgeting and scheduling this last couple of weeks, we are very excited to be less than 12 hours away from kickoff!!

Please pray for everything to fall into place, that the volunteers be strengthened to do their tasks, and we achieve an inviting, welcoming home for a family to make new memories in. This will be a fresh start for them after so many obstacles the last few months and she and her children are so very grateful. Pray that we will be able to complete what we are setting out to do and that we will supernaturally make it thru until reveal day!

Thank you for your prayers and thank you to every business, donor (private and commercial), volunteer, and church that is making this possible. We appreciate your emails and phone calls and love to hear from all of you. I will try to update as often as I can, especially by Facebook these next few days, so that all of you can be a part of it too. Look for pictures in the coming weeks of a miracle taking place before our very eyes!

Until His Return…

Jenn

August 28, 2009

SPINNING THE WEB…OR BEING CAUGHT IN IT?

RADIANT.

TERRIFIC.

HUMBLE.

Recognize these words?  What is so significant about them in all caps? I was about to find out. I’ve been secluded in the RV for most of this week with Avery who’s been a little under the weather. Seems that God knew exactly what he was doing. It has provided many opportunities for good conversation and a lot of DVD watching.  I have also been able to catch up on some writing and store away more ideas for later. If you guessed Charlotte’s Web, you’d be correct. I didn’t realize how profound these three words are.

It struck me later, days later, and I began to resonate on this.  All three of these words illustrate a contrast – a very large one in fact. But as I looked closer, thought deeper and pondered the meanings in terms of Jesus and His commands, how really different are they? Let’s look together…

RADIANT… shining above all else, magnetic, a breath of fresh air in the room. Am I that? Do I shine?  Do I draw people in and do they think I exhibit something different than everyone else? When I am in a room, does the atmosphere change? Am I befriending people first and really interested in their needs? Do I serve them first before ever mentioning Jesus? (People over principle – more on that coming soon).

TERRIFIC…patient, loving, motivated. Have I kept the ones that I have served or drawn in?  Do they still think I’m terrific after some time has passed?  If they measured me some time later, would I pass the test?  Would I still be radiant – loving them, serving them, inspiring them? Would my attitude still be that of a magnet?  Would people still see something different? Often times, anything, even being a follower of Jesus can become mundane. For various reasons we become disheartened.  We believe our efforts are in vein.  We get used or taken advantage of.  We become self-absorbed in our own problems… and the list does go on.  In short, we lose our luster.  Bottom line – after awhile, do people still see Jesus in us and the evidence of Him in our behavior?  

WOW… I had to take a moment, a few actually, and examine myself.

HUMBLE… serving, quiet, accepting, a recognition of blessings and a need for a Savior.  These are words that come to my mind when I think of humble.  I have no idea what Webster’s definition is, but by Christ’s standards – am I humble?  Do I exhibit humility?  Am I accepting of others? Do I love them right where they are, in their mess, and meet a genuine need? (More on our mess and how Christ sees it, later J). Am I aware of the gifts, talents, and blessings that God has given me? Am I thankful? Grateful?

Do I put others before myself…and MEAN it? Or do I resent it later, resent myself later wishing I had made my desires and convictions known? 

Am I able to lay things at His feet and then LEAVE them there, not to pick them up again? Do I let Him be sovereign and am I humble enough to allow Him to be in control without revisiting the very things which I have said I am going to let Him handle?

Am I at a place where I can admit some things?

Shock and awe, friends. Shock and awe….  I felt like I had just been in a UFC ring.  And lost.  Beat up, bloody, and tossed around. Questions like these will do it to you. They will remind you that you just might not be as RADIANT as you thought. That you might be like fish – after a short time, you stink. That’s not so TERRIFIC.  That, frankly you need to eat some HUMBLE pie.

Darn that Charlotte and her web!  It’s just a guess, but, I think underneath Charlotte’s disguise was the Holy Spirit himself bringing some:

Deep soul searching,

Revelation,

Exposure, and

Repentance.

If you are wondering about my oversight of Charlotte’s message in her first masterpiece: SOME PIG, well, I gave that some thought, too. I don’t want to be as a pig with a gold ring through it’s snout (Proverbs 11:22) and I hope that at the end of the day, and at the end of my life, the message of SOME WOMAN would have been spun instead- that my creator, my husband and children, parents, brother and friends, and those I have loved on or served would feel that badge is earned and deserved.

It is easy to examine ourselves and come to a conclusion that we like. But, what if we had a few days alone, in silence and solitude and God got ahold of us? Would we realize that maybe we gloss ourselves up too much, glorify who we think we are, and glamorize our works? (hhhmmm...the three G’s – good blog material) Indeed. Durrr…no brainer, it’s not rocket science. So why do we ‘smart’ humans have such thick skulls and act as if we are cave people with no thought process? Why does it take the Holy Spirit to whip up a really nasty tasting, hard to swallow HUMBLE pie? Because when the gloss is removed, the self-glory and glamour wear off, we are still the children created to serve and worship a holy, untarnished God who loves us and throws abandon aside to meet us where we are and draw us in. That, my friends is pretty RADIANT, TERRIFIC, and HUMBLE.

After all the self-exams this week, (and all women can identify that they aren’t exactly pleasant! J), the two questions I am left to marinate on are these: Have my actions and attitudes portrayed these three words? And would my creator agree?

Until His Return…

-Jennifer

August 27, 2009

WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN?

I have been asked recently, “Why do bad things happen”? My response was that we are not promised that bad things won’t happen, but that God’s promise to us is that He will be there in the midst of it with us when they do. It is so very easy to become discouraged or overwhelmed by life’s circumstances, especially those brought on by others, or one’s that are completely out of our control.

Already on this journey, we have come across so many precious people far worse off than we have ever been – sweet, genuine souls who have endured disease, ruin, abuse or defeat. It is Christ’s reminder to us that each and every blessing we have, has been given to us by Him. It is not by our own talents, gifts, or opportunities, because after all, those are God given too.

One thing I have learned over the course of the last 18 months is that God’s design is to bring us to a better realization and acknowledgment of Him and there’s nothing more effective than a crisis (crises) to remind us. If we endure the refining with an open heart and mind and come out on the other side a different person than when He started with us, than his mission is accomplished.

God reigns supreme and He wants nothing more than for us to also live in victory over things like addictions, or crises, or shortcomings, and if we were to examine who we are today, it is due in part to who we once were and the life experiences we have had up to this point.

So…my answer is yes, bad things might happen. Bad things do happen. Life sometimes does stink.

And it may even get worse. Yeah, you heard me right.

BUT, his mercies and grace are new EVERY morning and if we will lean on Jesus, talk with Him, and serve others in His name, victory is sure to come. I encourage you to find Him first, then find someone else who has a need you can meet. You may just be surprised with what happens.

Until His Return….

-Jennifer

August 26, 2009

WHAT IS THE CHURCH?

I read recently, “We don’t go to church, we are the church”. It fueled a blog in my head almost faster than I could write it!

Church is…us. Church is…people. Imperfect people. For those that have issue with the “church” or organized religion, isn’t the real issue with the people within the “church”: the church-goers? We all know the type and at one time have probably been that type – the type of person that will walk by and ignore a homeless person on the corner, or the “Christian” who won’t make eye contact out of fear of feeling required to meet a need, or the “believer” who condemns and criticizes those with lifestyle choices and beliefs different from their own, causing the one on the receiving end to nearly choke from the spewed doctrine forced down his/her throat.

For anyone reading this who has been hurt, disappointed, or rejected from the church or by the church, I am sorry by proxy. Church buildings consist of humans, who although made in His image, are not God. We will mess up, disappoint, and even reject, but our natural tendency is to look at man or leadership instead. Our hope and expectation should not be set on man, for our hope is in Christ alone.

The Bible is clear. His mandates are clear. We humans will fail to carry out his message (sometimes actively and accurately), but thank God that His grace applies to the “churched” as well and He can still use us as vessels to show His love.

His grace.

His mercy.

His acceptance.

People may fail you, leave you, reject you or ignore you, but there is One who will never leave.

One who will never reject.

One who will never ignore.

I encourage you, anyone, myself included, to continue to search Christ, not man, for our answers, for our comfort and our deliverance. Man will fall short, and the “church” consists of man. So our real issue is with church-goers who have misinterpreted or ignored Christ’s instructions, not with Christ himself. Search His word, search Him, begin a relationship with him. Forgive those who have hurt, shunned or condemned you.

Then pass that goodness on.

I challenge you to insatiate yourself with His scriptures and promises. Let Him begin to melt away and soften the layers of doubt and disappointment that surround your heart. Let Jesus heal the wounds of rejection. Allow Him to begin a new journey with you-with your thinking, with your actions and reactions to everyday situations. He will take you to places you never though possible.

Is it possible that even us “church folk” need to be reminded from time to time what being a follower of Jesus really means – to reach out, actively, to the hurting and hungry; to simply meet a practical need for someone?

Indeed, I think so. Absolutely. Because, after all we are just mere people who need God too.

Until His Return…

-Jennifer