How to Road Trip...Part II

The drive hasn't been too bad, right? From Lancaster to Clarks Summit, PA is only about three hours, and a stop at Starbucks will cure just about anything that lasts three hours! Unless you're Gilligan...you'll need something a bit stronger for that three-hour tour!

We have arrived at Baptist Bible College for the LYFE Women's Conference. LYFE stands for Living Your Faith Everyday; this year's theme is "Simply Living: It's More!" and we are getting a good dose of the Word of God in order to do just that.

Sherrie Holloway, keynote speaker has been bringing such needed truth to the table this weekend. This morning we were in Romans. A quick synopsis of Romans, Holloway style, goes something like this:

Romans chapters 1-11—"This is the gospel."
Romans chapters 12-16—"This is your life on the gospel."

Yep, that's pretty much it.

Today she reminded us from Romans 12 that God's great love and mercy evoke a response of gratitude (worship) and full surrender. The gospel is the reason to do the next right thing.

In fact, Sherrie has just published a book about that very thing—God's love and the gospel. It's called For the Love of God. I'm honored and grateful to have been a part of this project...and I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty cool. The book is available on Amazon...check it out here!

[I will also have a limited number of copies available when I get home to the great state of Michigan. Let me know!]

Tomorrow, we will attend more workshops and sessions, and soak in more of the truth of God's Word. It has been rejuvenating to sit under clear, powerful Bible teaching, as well as reconnecting with dear friends. This is truly one of the best ways to spend time on this side of Heaven!

Are you tired out yet? Hang on—the road trip isn't over yet!

[Sherrie Holloway is a gifted communicator who loves the Lord and His Word. Learn more about Sherrie at her website, wellspringoverflow.com Don't forget to check out For the Love of God here!]

How to Road Trip Without Leaving Your Home

When was the last time you went on a road trip?  

Want to come on one with me? Don't worry-you don't have to drive, ride, pay for gas, eat junk food or try to sleep in a cramped car without enough legroom. You can tag along and I'll tell you all about it.  Ready? 

Most of the driving has already been done, but we are only getting started on the cool stuff! 

But why, you wonder?  I'm so glad you asked. My mom and I are enjoying a trip together in the eastern hills of America...The Appalachian mountains, to be exact. And no, we are definitely not hiking the Appalachian Trail. But we can almost see it from here!

Yesterday we were in West Virginia, where I met a new culture. Uh...we may not be in Kansas anymore, Toto. Okay, it's really not as bad as us northerners make it out to be. :) We spent some time with my mom's cousins who are sweet, sweet people. They were a blessing. 

Today, we drove to Lancaster, PA. It smells a bit different down here. But the food is good! We went to the Sight and Sound theatre to see "Noah," which was...uh, pretty spectacular.  A great reminder to trust God...He always keeps His promises!  

[if you're not familiar with Sight and Sound, check out their stage plays of the biblical accounts of Noah, Jonah, Moses, Ruth, and many others. They are legit!]

The real reason we are traveling begins tomorrow. Our final destination is Clarks Summit, PA, at the LYFE conference at Baptist Bible College. LYFE stands for Living Your Faith Everyday. I've helped Sherrie Holloway, keynote speaker, write her first book (I was the ghostwriter), and it will be released at the LYFE conference this weekend and next. So...I decided it was time for a road trip—The last year of my life is coming to fruition...and I want to be there to see it! 

So that's what I'm up to this week. Stay tuned...we've got more road tripping to do!

How to Dress Bullies

Last week there was some hubbub about some statements that Mike Jeffries, CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch made a while back. He explained the fact that they only wanted “cool kids” wearing A&F clothes, and that’s why they don’t sell larger sizes.

Admittedly, the company is using a smart marketing strategy, and it’s working for their business. However, the longer-term effects of Jeffries’ attitude and his example to the next generation is a bit disheartening. He’s leading the pack for bullies. Instead of throwing water on the bullying fire, he’s handing each one a can of gasoline. 

Read about Jeffries and the backlash here.

Now I’m not one to jump on the anti-bullying, politically correct bandwagon; I think school culture, of which bullying is a part, can be important for the formative years (if handled correctly by parents), developing morals and character. But I also won’t encourage it.

So when I see a mom like Ally from Murray, Utah, being a parent and teaching her daughter Kaylee about bullying, I do a little happy dance. 

When she found out her daughter was making fun of a classmate’s wardrobe, Ally decided to give Kaylee a taste of her own medicine. So she went to the thrift store and bought Kaylee a few “new” outfits. Watch what happened next here.

I wouldn’t call this cruel and unusual punishment. I call it parenting. And maybe we need  some more parents like Ally so that the Mike Jeffries of the world are kept to an absolute minimum...like, zero. Make that the maximum, too. 

How to Stop Listening

I know two words that can bring a tear to almost any woman’s eye. Want to hear them?

Swimsuit shopping. 

Ladies, am I right? 

I had to do this yesterday. Well, okay, I didn’t HAVE to, but they were a good price AND my mom had a 30% off coupon at Kohl’s. If you shop at Kohl’s, you know that it’s like gold when you get a 30% off coupon. Because you never buy anything full price at Kohl’s. 

Anyways, I’ll spare you the gory details (trust me, I don’t want to relive those); just take my word for it...swimsuit shopping is not fun, and I’ve not met many women who jump for joy about it. 

But why is it so painful? Because we listen too much.

We listen to the racks that tell us what size we should be. We listen to the ad pages that tell us what’s in, and if you can’t wear it, then you won’t be. We listen to that voice that keeps reminding us of everything we are and everything we aren’t.

Why is it that we listen to all the wrong stuff about ourselves? We dismiss genuine—and probably true—compliments, but then listen to and believe all the wrong things!

Ladies, listen to the truth about you:

“For you are God’s masterpiece. He has created you anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10

So...what are you listening to? Are you listening to truth?

Because the only thing that’s going to make it easier—or at least bearable—in the fitting room is the truth. Not the nonsense you keep listening to. 

Approach the 3-way mirror with confidence this swimsuit season...just make sure you're listening to the right thing!

How to Be a High School Graduate...Again

Open house season is upon us! Went to my first one of the year this weekend. You can’t go wrong with open houses. Free food, cake, and laughing at the graduate’s hilarious baby pictures. And if you look like me, a side of sunburn to go.

It’s an interesting cultural custom when you think about it. The graduate completes 12 years of school, so we throw them a big party (that costs a lot of money), invite a million people (even the ones you don’t like), and ask the guests for more money. I’m not sure who this is more painful for: the guests, the graduate, or the parents. 

At any rate, I enjoy open houses for the most part. I always get excited for the graduate, who will be experiencing many new things in the coming months. Celebrating with the grads throws me into ambition mode—It’s fun to think about the future...you know, in that dream kind of way. 

(When I think about the future in the practical kind of way, I kind of freak out. The intensity of freaking and the amount of sleep I get are usually directly related.)

Do you remember when you graduated from high school? Can you recall the moments of excitement and I-can’t-wait-to-get-started? 

So here’s the big question...have you started? 

I don’t know about you, but my dreams and goals are completely different now than they were when I graduated from high school. There are similar threads, but the overall 5- and 10-year pictures I paint in my head are pretty different. And I'm still painting new elements into those pictures. Which is kind of cool, because I don’t feel like I’m locked into one dream for my life.

You aren’t either. You know that, right?

No matter how long ago high school graduation was for you, it’s never too late to dream new dreams...or start working on old ones. 

When you start your 2013 open house tour, dream some things for yourself, along with the grads. And then...just do it! 

How to Be a Hero

If you’ve been paying any attention to the news at all, you know that last week, three women were pulled from a decade-long imprisonment. A Cleveland man kidnapped the  girls ten years ago and had been holding them in his house, not allowing them to leave for any reason. The horrors those girls know from the last ten years are too hideous to even imagine. 

How they were rescued, though, is what is so interesting to me.

The house sat in a regular neighborhood, with a regular lawn and regular neighbors. But none of the surrounding residents knew anything of the nightmare. 

Until last week, when Charles Ramsey heard a commotion next door. What he heard was the voice of Amanda Berry, one of the captive girls, yelling for help from the front door. So he went over to see what he could do.

Ramsey, a dishwasher at a local restaurant, wasn’t planning on being a hero that day. In fact, he was on suspension from work, which allowed him to be home to hear Amanda Berry’s scream. 

He did something simple. He opened a door—actually, he kicked it open—and freed the women from their ten-year long real nightmare. When he started walking to his neighbor’s house, he wasn’t expecting the following events.

It was small, it was simple, it was just opening the door. Surely he couldn’t have predicted that this act of kindness would make him a hero or overnight celebrity. He took the opportunity set before him, regardless of the outcome. 

What if we all did that? What if we all took the small opportunities we see to help other people? Now I’m not saying that you can or should expect fame from opening a door for someone. But I am saying that you never know how much an act of kindness could mean to someone.

It sure meant a lot to Amanda Berry. 

[Watch an interview with Charles from ABC News here; read a Washington Post article about the whole story here.]

How to Not Make Your Mom Cry

Dear Mom,

Yesterday was Mother's Day and I didn't get you a nice card like I probably should have. So I thought today's blog post should be dedicated to you. Besides, you deserve to be celebrated more than just once a year! (Er...make that twice a year, including your birthday.)

There are a lot of things I could say here. I could say how thankful I am that God has blessed me a with you: a woman who exemplifies godliness, who is gracious, who is beautiful inside and out, who is teaching me that growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ is a life-long endeavor; One who forgives freely, loves profoundly, and gives the perfect hugs. Not sure what could be better.

I could say that I count it a privilege and an enormous blessing to call you both mom and friend. Best friend, in fact.

I could say that everything I know I learned from you...which would be pretty true. Except for those four years of college. Actually, now that I think about it, those college classes only confirmed everything you've ever told me! (Just wish it wasn't so expensive.)

You see, I could say all of those things here, but I don't want to make you cry. And some things are just better coming from 10-year-old Kid President. So I'll let him do the talking.

[Just for the record, I love your meatloaf. So, disregard that part.]

Thanks, Mom. I love you.

How to Survive Spring in Michigan

It wouldn’t be Michigan if it weren’t 80 degrees one day and a rainy 50 degrees the next.  Sounds about right! Yesterday was cold and rainy... and it was a long day. Sometimes I let the weather shape my mood more than I should. Guess I should work on that. 

But I was reading some notes I had written a few weeks ago, when I was having “one of those days.” I’m pretty sure it was raining that day, too—yep, gotta work on that.

Anyways, the remedy I found that day was in the Psalms. The Psalms have a unique way of reminding me that God is bigger than the rainy weather, and that He is worthy to be trusted amidst all of “those” days.

In my notes, I wrote down a few words from some of my favorite Psalms. And although they may be short, they sure pack a lot of heat. Take a look:

31:24 “Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord.”
18:46 “Blessed be the rock; The Lord lives! Exalted be the God of my salvation.”
34:8 “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”
62:1-2 “For God alone my soul waits in silence; form Him comes my salvation. He only is my Rock and my Salvation; I will not be shaken!”

That last one, Psalm 62, goes on for twelve verses, reminding me of God’s faithfulness, power, and protection. He is a safe place in which to wait. This song—taken from Psalm 62—is one of my favorites.  

Are you having “one of those days?” Look to the Word of God and find rest in God alone—even on the rainy days. 

How to Remember on Accident

In the movie Inception, a frustratingly clever piece of cinema, dreaming is explored and consequently exploited. Dreams are entered by uninvited guests, and ideas are stolen from and/or planted in the dreamer’s mind. It’s actually pretty creepy when you think about it too long. But nonetheless, it’s an incredibly fascinating movie. 

While it’s not actually possible to do this (at least I don’t think it is!), there are some true observations made about dreams. At one point, the main character points out that when you’re dreaming, you get thrown into a dream—there isn’t a beginning, and you never know how you got there. You’re just there, standing in the middle of your wedding ceremony, wearing the wrong dress, hair not done, the groomsmen aren’t wearing pants, and Smokey the Bear is officiating. But you have no idea how you got there. Right?

Have you ever noticed that it’s kind of like that with memories, too?

In my last post, I talked about the evolution of pants. Inside about 75 years, our culture has moved pants from mens’ closets to womens’ closets—tentatively, at first—and now we don’t think twice about women wearing pants. 

In response to that post, two of the four comments I got were from readers who remembered when they first were allowed to wear pants. [I know what you’re thinking—a whole four comments! Hey, that’s like a solid 20% of my readers, so don’t rob me of my blogging joy!]

My post about pants thrust them back into a memory without asking them first. They probably weren’t planning on remembering those days at that moment, but they didn’t have a choice—the memory just came.

I’ve experienced this many times, often when I smell something that is connected with a place or time. Like when my mom wears my grandma’s perfume, I get thrown back to my 5-year-old self, in the safe embrace of my grandma, who is with the Lord now. I can’t help it, and I don’t try, it just happens. Memories.

Thankfully, my memories are usually much less strange than my dreams. But I have noticed that memories come like dreams—unsolicited and sometimes fragmented. Like when you’re sitting around the table at a family gathering, and someone says, “hey, remember that time we...” and then that sparks a memory in your mind and you say, “yeah, and how about when we...” and it keeps going until your stomachs hurt from so much laughing. Chances are you’ll run out of stomach muscles before you’ll run out of memories. 

I’ve just always thought that to be really interesting. I never plan on remembering. It just happens...on accident!

Has this ever happened to you? What sparks memories for you?

How to Take a Cue from Pants

It all started with pants. 

Well, sort of. In the literature discussion class that I teach, we are reading the American Girl books of Kirsten Larson. The stories are set in Minnesota in 1854. We were talking about the fact that Kirsten wore dresses everyday, and she had to tuck her skirt into her apron when she went fishing. 

And then we started talking about pants. 

Yes, pants. Revolutionary, I know. But for a ten-year-old girl, imagining a time when girls only ever wore dresses is quite the concept. So then I asked them when women started wearing pants. 

Do you wanna guess how much history we covered in the next four minutes of class? We went from 1854 Little House on the Prairie to WWII Rosie the Riveter to 2013 and pants ruling the world!

All about pants. 

Interesting discussion though. Women wearing pants was a pretty radical thing when it first happened, and now we don’t give a second thought to it. Women’s pants have really only been on the scene for a little over 70 years. That’s not very long, when you think about it. 

Then I started thinking about how quickly our world and culture changes, and not just in the fashion industry. (That’s a wholly different ballpark!) 

Just in the last fifty years—one generation ago—gender roles were clear and distinctive (not so much now), you couldn’t talk on the telephone if you weren’t inside your house, and if you had a TV, you only had one. Children played outside, switchboards actually had switches, and you could actually buy something with a nickel. 

And when we talk about technology, you only have to go back about 8 years to find a drastically different world. 

I do appreciate all the amenities we have today when I think about how fast things change. But it also helps me slow down and enjoy the moments I have now.

When was the last time you slowed down? Don’t move too quickly that you forget to enjoy today. 

So thank you, pants, for the way you’ve made me appreciate today. 

How to Be Humbled by Ice Cream

“If I have to feed you your ice cream, how’m I gonna eat mine?”

I’m sitting in a McDonald’s somewhere in Ohio (not my first choice of location, just to be clear). My parents are picking up a car here, and I will drive the other one home. 

A few minutes ago, a woman walked in pushing a girl in a wheelchair; another wheelchair-bound girl followed behind. The girls are clearly physically disabled, but also have severe mental difficulties.

She gets them in and they sit by the windows while she buys the ice cream. “No screaming,” she instructs after one of the girls bursts out in what I can only assume is joy. “No ice cream if you’re gonna scream.” 

Observing these sweet people is always humbling for me. First, because God has given me an abundant life, complete with full thinking and moving capacities and I take this grace for granted way too often. Second, because I know the love and devotion of their TSS worker stretches way beyond what I could ever have for those girls. Her patience far exceeds mine in any given seven-day period with my own family. 

She sits with the girls, talking with them like there’s not a thing wrong. A bite for the girls, a bite for herself. She leans over and one of the girls kisses her on the forehead. They talk about school, weekend plans, and how much they like ice cream. Sounds like a pretty normal conversation to me. 

The woman doesn’t look fancy, successful, or prestigious. She wears grey sweatpants and a t-shirt, probably ideal for the physical maneuvering she must do each day. I’m sure her paycheck does not by any means appropriately reflect the amount of work she does to get it. But I’m guessing that kiss on her forehead from a few minutes ago probably compensates the missing digits, at least in her mind.

Yes, I am humbled. 

The ice cream is finished, and they start to pack up. They will be gone in a few minutes, unaware of the joy they’ve fed my soul. 

What is something in your life that you take for granted? Stop and thank God for it today!

How to Understand Revenge

This might not surprise you, but I am Pro-life. 

(I know, that last post kind of gave it away. I’m okay with that.)

I repeat that I don’t mean to make this blog a political platform, but it’s a platform nonetheless. And I’m not afraid to let you know that I am definitely for babies getting to be babies—living, that is. 

Last week I went to hear radio personality Bob Dutko speak about the right-to-life conversation. Mr. Dutko enjoys a good debate, and as a Christian apologist, it’s his job. He hosts a talk show on the Detroit radio station,103.5 WMUZ, each afternoon talking through a variety of issues from the biblical standpoint. 

I, however, do not enjoy debating, which has more to do with my personality than my convictions (which I can assure you are strong). But I do enjoy good logic. And Mr. Dutko uses excellent logic. 

In the talk I attended, (hosted by the Pregnancy Resource Center of Lapeer ) he outlined several arguments that are a part of the debate. He walked through the logic—or lack thereof—in both sides of the debate, and gave tips on how to use correct logic when talking about this issue.

At the end of his talk, Mr. Dutko set aside the debating to make a simple, fascinating observation...which I’m about to share with you.

Ever heard the phrase “Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth?” I’m sure you have. It’s a pretty widely accepted phrase; we hear it and/or use it. It’s an idiom that means you harm me, I harm you in the same way. In other words, your knock my tooth out, I get to knock yours out—it works at a hockey game, but not at the dentist (sorry). 

Turns out it’s more than just an idiom. Do you know where the phrase comes from?  It’s actually straight from Scripture. The portion of Scripture in Exodus 21:22-25 describes—in no uncertain terms—the laws for the act of harming the unborn. Read it for yourself:

“When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her child[ren] come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the women’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”
Exodus 21:22-25

I’d say that’s pretty clear: unborn life is precious. But isn’t it interesting that a phrase we know so well and use so often actually refers to protecting unborn life?

Interesting.

Now I’m wondering what other common ideas have deeper ties than we realize...what do you think?