loving when you don't want to

I'll go ahead and get the things I have no trouble loving out of the way, because that's the fun stuff:

 

• Jeremy.  Obviously I have to list my husband, but I really think he is truly my soul mate.  I feel like it's been so easy loving him these past 9 years and it's hard to remember my life before him.  It's the little stuff: making me coffee everyday, turning over in the middle of the night and putting his arm over me, the ease of our many conversations throughout the day, how gentle he is as a father, silly jokes that only I get, and playing with my hair when we sit together. 
• My three munchkins.  Oh how easy it is to love M, A, and J.  I have only ever had foster children, but having had these children from birth, I now have no doubt that I love them as much as I would if they were my own biological children.  If you doubt me, become a foster parent! You'll see :)
• My family.  I know we all like to brag on our families as being the greatest, but I'm sorry, I win.  But seriously, I love how tightknit mine and my husbands families are, and consider ourselves uniquely blessed to have such great relationships and support. 
• Friends.  It's so true, that good friends are hard to find.  We've got just a handful of people from here to Miami that have loved us through thick and thin, laughed with us, prayed with us, and continue to be a foundation in our lives. 
• God.  Saved the best for last.  It's easy to love the creator of all things, well...most of the time.  Unless things are not going well and I find myself saying, "really?  you can't just fix that for me this once?"  How selfish I am!

 

On to the hard stuff.  I don't have any insightful commentary on loving your enemies.  I really wish I did because I need it right now.  I really feel God telling me to show love and kindness to those who have wronged me in some way shape or form, but it's really just not that easy.  So, I rely on the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. taken from one of his sermons back in 1957.  Now, HERE is a man, that knows the meaning of love. 

 

Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. That's why Jesus says, "Love your enemies." Because if you hate your enemies, you have no way to redeem and to transform your enemies. But if you love your enemies, you will discover that at the very root of love is the power of redemption. You just keep loving people and keep loving them, even though they're mistreating you. Here's the person who is a neighbor, and this person is doing something wrong to you and all of that. Just keep being friendly to that person. Keep loving them. Don't do anything to embarrass them. Just keep loving them, and they can't stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with bitterness because they're mad because you love them like that. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they'll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That's love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There's something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies.

 

Feel free to read the full transcript here. 

 

 

truth of the day: "I don't know what I'm doing"

It has finally happened.  Or maybe it did months ago and I was too proud too acknowledge it. 

 

All my experience from babysitting, nannying, etc. has finally run out and I am realizing that in fact I don't know what I'm doing afterall.  Watching someone else's children 20+ hours a week may give you a great headstart to parenting, but it's just not the same as being with a child 24-7, or three for that matter!  Why the sudden questioning of my own awesome parenting?  Oh, I don't know, maybe it was the nightmare hours between dinner and bed last night, the random tantrums, throwing things, stealing toys and pinching.  Maybe it's just that I think children deserve all our love and energy because God gave us this awesome priviledge of raising them for a brief time and we shouldn't take it for granted. 

 

Bring on the parenting books!  Yep, I'm doing it.  I'm delving into some Christian parenting books, determined to not look back years down the road and think "If only I had known that then!".

 

So, help me out.  I've got a short list, but I'm open to suggestions! 

mommy adventures: sunday school edition

Ok, so our kids are finally adjusting to the Sunday School drop off, but sometimes our church going experience reads more like an adventure novel than a soul renewing worship experience. 

 

Take a few weeks ago for example:

 

We decided to go to the Saturday evening service at Grace Fellowship because a friend of mine was singing and on Sunday we were going to Christ Church because Jeremy was playing (double points for church twice?!).  Anyhow, it all starts after nap time around 4pm.  As if waking them all, dressing them, giving them bottles and changing diapers wasn't enough to accomplish in a half hour, add to it that every single one of them likes to messy their diaper AFTER they are fully dressed with coats and shoes and ready to head out the door.  Anyone else with me on this one?

 

So after changing six diapers, we finally race out the door to beat THE CLOCK.  Yes, the clock.  Why?  Because exactly 15 minutes after service starts, at 5:15pm, the doors to the nursery are locked, and our church going experience turns into us trying to catch Rex's message on the screens in the lobby inbetween chasing kids and feeding hungry mouths.  Not fun, we've tried :).  Thankfully, on this occasion we pull into the parking lot and notice that the little light on the door is still GREEN!  That means go!  Dodging churchgoers in the parking lot, we screatch to a halt in front of the doors and I quickly prop it open with one foot while waiting for Jeremy to hand me babies one by one.  As I'm propping, a lovely volunteer comes to the door, locks it, but lets me remain there propping it as we unload our tiny entourage. 

 

So we get in, drop the kids off to their respective classes with minimal fuss, and head into the service.  Now this is where it gets exciting.  All parents get these little sign in stickers that match the kids you dropped off, mine end in 46, 47, and 48.  The mission is to NOT see your little number flash on the big screen indicating that one of your children is screaming so loud the choir can hear them.  Crossing my fingers I stuff the little stickers in my pocket and hope for the best.  I think we made it through about 10 minutes before I see the first number.  I dash back through the sanctuary with that guilty/embarrased nod of "yes, that is my number up there" and darn, Jada just wasnt' having it in the nursery.  So I pick her up, and bring her into the service with a large amount of random chew things, straws, cups, etc.  Ten minutes later, another number flashes,  so I hand off Jada to Jeremy, do the embarrased/guilty dash again, which is doubled because this number is ALSO mine,and run out to pick up Michael, who apparently never settled down from the initial drop off but they were holding out hope.  We now have two toddlers in the service with us, ripping up bulletins and chucking straws.  I expend so much energy into entertaining them so they don't become the loud kid, that I pretty much miss the entire message.  

 

But hey, two out of three, not too bad!

 

P.S.  Special thanks to all the nursery volunteers that love on our little guys every week - you are the best!

 

 

Update from Jer

Jeremy posted an update on our church planting on his blog. Check it out!

Enjoy the weekend!

church planting!

So we are diving head first into this church planting thing, whether we know what we are getting ourselves into or not is still unclear, but imagine my excitement when one of my favorite bloggers, featured a list of do's and don'ts on church planting today!  Also psyched that they name dropped a guy we actually know, who I won't name drop here because I refuse to be like that :)   But as if that wasn't enough, Pastor Rex is ALSO doing a feature on HIS blog about church planting!  My state of joy almost matches what it did earlier this week when some potentially huge doors may have opened for us as far as church planting goes - more on that later. 

 

Without further ado, here's are some highlights from Katdish, who wrote a guest post for my favorite blog:

 

So, why should you be part of a church plant? My simple answer is that you have exhausted every other option and prayed about it A LOT. If you're still up for it, then brace yourself. If you don't come by humility naturally (like I do), God will humble you like the 360 degree mirror on "What Not to Wear" (with Clinton and Stacey in the background as your accountability partners).

So, what are some dos and don'ts I can share with you based upon my vast year and a half experience with church planting? I've got roughly 197, but I'll try to keep it brief:

Do choose a pastor that has an absolutely sound, biblically based theology and a Christ-like attitude. If, say your pastor (we'll call him Steve) would like to name the church "TheHolyandDivineSpiritualHouseofStevePointe," he may lack the necessary humility to pull off leading a successful church plant. (Especially if his last name happens to be Pointe.)

Don't get bogged down with things that are more about tradition and personal preference such as using a worship eagle as opposed to an interpretive pop and lock dance set to Toby Mac's "Feelin' So Fly". Keep the main thing the main thing, but don't sweat the small stuff.

Do have a plan and a timeline for at least the first two years of your church. If you are receiving support from outside backers and other churches, it really bugs them when you say stuff like, "Que sera sera, Whatever will be will be", and then make a sweeping, full body twirl whist holding a flowing scarf in your hand. (Yeah, they really hate it when you do that.)

 Read the rest at http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com

 

Ah, so there you have it.  If you haven't caught the church planting bug, you should.