New School Year...Run your Race!

Last Sunday in church I heard a familiar verse; however, I did not just hear it, I heard it and it spoke to me in a new way. (Yes, the Word of God is living and does actually speak to those who take the time to listen.) I adopted it as my verse for the 2014-2015 school year. Drumroll please….my verse for the school year is Hebrews 12:1-2. It says “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” I wrote it in my journal using my own words and it was like the Lord spoke to me and said this: Run YOUR race, kid. Run it well. Do not quit running when you are tired. Get rid of the sin. It will slow you down. Run your best race, do your best. Put on blinders, the world will try to distract you. We have come too far, even when you are tired, don’t turn back. Don’t dare look behind, right or left, but look forward at Me. Keep your eyes on Me and RUN YOUR RACE, KID. For those of you who know I am 41 years old, you may think it is funny that I felt like the Lord said to me “Run your race, KID” since 41 is not the age of a kid. Relatively speaking though, I still am a kid in the Kingdom of God. I invited Jesus into my heart only 11 years ago, so all of this is still new to me. I also feel better than I did in my twenties, so I still answer to and identify with the title of kid. Let’s get back to Hebrews 12: 1-2. I want to share this verse with Moms and Dads who begin the race this week of getting kids up and out on time, helping with homework, and playing taxi driver even when you may be worn slap out. Run your race! I share this verse with the home school mommas, whom I admire and greatly respect, because they are both Mom and teacher all day and night long. Run your race! I share this with recent graduates from high school who now are running an unfamiliar race at college or in the workforce. Oh, my heart goes out to you and I plead with you to hear this…Jesus says “Run your race, kid, and keep your eyes on me. You may be all grown up and independent, but spend some time with me every day so I can help you. Run to adulthood and know I am running with you.” I share this verse with the brave men and women who work in the school system. With changes, cuts, and increased pressure from this test and that, Jesus says to you…”Run your race and run it with love because there is a whole classroom full of kids who look up to you. Lead them to the content, but love them on the way.” I share this verse with students of any and every age who are tempted to compare themselves to someone else and feel like they just don’t add up…Jesus says “Run your race, kid, and there is an emphasis on YOUR, run YOUR race and don’t compare.” With the help of Jesus Christ, I am going to try and run my race this year with a smile. We are only given one life, one race here on this earth, so we better run hard, run with purpose, and most of all, run with love.

The Tomatoes

This morning began with “Operation: Free the Tomatoes.” I procrastinated weeding our small garden for long enough, and it was suddenly more weeds than tomatoes. I glanced at it last week and grabbed a few easy pieces of grass I could snatch up without gloves. Today though, I knew I had to really get to work. I suited up and immediately knew I had a problem. I asked my son to help me identify the weeds because everything looked green to me. He separated the tomato vines from the weeds and showed me how even though they were tangled up, they were easy to divide and pull up. I got a quick warning from him to be careful with what I was pulling up so I did not kill the tomatoes before he took off on his four-wheeler. I put on my gloves and got to work. I squatted down eye level with the plants to figure out what needed to stay and what needed to go. The weeds seemed to have an agenda. They wanted to blend in and take over. They had succeeded. Luckily, there were only two or three tomatoes lost in the battle when I plunged in and started pulling. They ended up on the ground more flat than round. When I finished, the garden looked small and sparse. It was kind of puny. It did not look full anymore; however, anyone with even the slightest green thumb knows that nearly naked and bare is better than crowded and cluttered with weeds. When I was down on my hands and knees right in the middle of the mess, I drew a line like a dot to dot in my mind from weeds to sin. I had seen the analogy before in my head many times, but it was even clearer than before. First of all, temptation in life that leads to sin is not clearly marked SIN and it does not have a sign that flashes in bright colors DANGER. (The weeds were not marked weeds.) Sin looks okay at first. It blends in with what we are already accustomed to. It does not present itself as sin, but as an adventure, a way out, fun, or even just way too much of a good thing. Secondly, when one wrong turn grows into more and eventually leads to devastating consequences, I do not think anyone ever said that they knowingly signed up for it. It starts small and grows, just like the weeds in the garden. Once it starts growing and the conditions are right, it can get out of control fast. Next, I had to look really closely to even decipher what was a good from bad. In fact, someone else had to help me. I was forced to physically get in the middle of the garden and separate the green mass with my gloves all the way down to the root. When we find ourselves in a mess, that is what we have to do. We must identify the root cause because unconfessed sin will not just go away. It will stay, remain, and grow. Lastly, the tomatoes that got crushed were damaged beyond repair. I tossed them over the fence. What a contrast that is to a life in Christ because when Jesus lives in our heart, we are never beyond repair. Even though we will have consequences for our sin, there is always forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Just like I cleaned out the garden and freed up the tomatoes to thrive, maybe this is a good week for us to clean up our lives and throw out some sin. We can thrive too and be free because Jesus forgives.

Stuck

We just got back from Schlitterbahn. There were lots of laughs, lines, more laughs and more lines. There is a certain ambiance that comes with the largest waterpark in the world. Today I thought I saw smoke and realized that it was a mom at a picnic table spraying sunscreen on her kids. I also thought I witnessed a drowning baby until a fellow “Dragon Slayer” waiting in line explained to me that it was a fake baby being thrown in the river to make sure that the closest lifeguard was doing his job. He was! I heard a whistle and he yanked the baby out by one leg from the river before I could even climb under the rope to go help. I was on my way! I still may need counseling to get over it. Thank God it was a training maneuver. I told my kids early this morning as I slowly slipped down into the icy water never to doubt my love for them because I was freezing. That first ride today marked the pinnacle of my laughter. I got caught up in a whirlpool current that would not let me move on down the chute! It was crazy. I was going around and around and could not get out of the whirlpool no matter how hard I tried. I started laughing. I was hysterical. Everyone scooted effortlessly by me and floated right on down. I got so tickled that I could not even ask for help. The sad thing was that right about the time I could not breathe and my stomach was cramping from cackling so hard, I saw a familiar purple shirt coming way my. It was Bosque. I just knew he would help me; however, he got stuck too. There we were together doing a “do-si-do” like we were square dancing in the water going around and around. Bosque got mad at me for chuckling and yelled loud enough to be heard over the rushing waves, “MOM, it is not funny…get me out of here.” He splashed me too as if that was going to punish me. I could not possibly have been more wet or cold. Finally, we worked the current over on the right hand side and got out! Twelve hours later, I still laugh so hard that I cry when I think about our predicament. That is my lesson of the week or my “note to self.” Sometimes when you are stuck and going around and around in life, just laugh. I mean, just sit back in your chair, relax in your tube, or wherever the LORD has you, and laugh. Stop trying to fight your way out and getting mad that the world is passing you by. Do not worry about who momentarily scoots right past you without any effort at all because maybe God will send you someone to hang out with you, thus my Bosque today. Maybe too you are meant to be stuck for a while, just where you are, so be content. I was so content today after I stopped fighting. I had a blast! I settled in. It reminds me of the verse in Philippians 4:12 that says “I know what it is to be in need, and 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.” I agree with Paul. I know the secret too of contentment. It begins with Jesus in your life.

Coming Home

My family was divided in two the past week. If you do the math, that would be six divided by two, and I was here at home with only two kids for the first time ever. My husband took off across the country with two kids to Georgia. I had time to clean out a few cabinets, volunteer at VBS, have friends over to swim in the lake, and even take a trip to Urban Jump and IHOP on a date with my two kids. The traveling three left Atlanta in the middle of the night when my husband could no longer sleep and headed home. They pulled into the driveway this morning after twelve hours on the road allowing only restroom and coffee stops. I could tell they were here because our lab, Belle, stood up from her usual napping position in the carport, and headed down the rock road to meet them. I abruptly ended a phone conversation with a friend and something happened that I never expected. I started crying! I did not stop until I hugged all three of them and got them, along with the first load of junk in the house. If I am honest though, I really did not miss them that much. I know really too that they had not missed us either. We all had our own things going on. Why the tears then? It was just an overwhelming feeling that I had my family back home and really more of an overwhelming feeling of love. (I hope that doesn’t sound too cheesy.) I often find myself working so hard to take care of them and keep us all one step ahead of the next day, the next meal, the next activity, that I forget how much I really love them. It hit me like a ton of bricks! I witnessed another episode of love yesterday that was similar to my emotional meeting with my crew in a way. A precious young man at VBS asked Jesus into his heart. When my pastor visited with him about what was in his heart and on his mind, it was so evident to me that Jesus Christ himself had another child who was coming home to Him through salvation. It was priceless! To hear him say that he was a sinner and wanted Jesus in his heart reminded me that salvation is so simple and so free. It is love. I had to explain to him that my tears were happy tears so I did not freak him out! I thought of the passage in Matthew 18: 12-14 that says “What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go search for the one that straying? If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety nine which have not gone astray. So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish. “ I believe with all of my heart that these words spoken by Jesus are true and if you are lost, He is looking for you. You are never too lost, messed up, or too far gone for Him to bring you home to Him, so stop running the wrong way, and turn to Jesus.

Camp

Today has been an awesome day. I went to church with all four of my kids, laughed all the way to Dallas with my daughter, ran in Target for a few summer essentials, fit in a quick run, visited with a dear friend for over an hour, and came home to delicious ribs cooked by my hubby and a clean house. Even though today was a picture perfect day, all I could think was…I miss camp! I had the privilege last week of going to Latham Springs with 29 kids from Fairfield and three other adults who were game for an adventure. And…I miss camp! I would go back this week if I could. I would trade in my king size bed for my twin bottom bunk in a heartbeat. I miss the laughter, tears of joy, Bible Study, great music, crazy kick ball games, and my unofficial post as shower monitor reminding the girls to get washed up quickly and keep up with their personal belongings. I miss organizing a search party several times a day to find a missing sock, misplaced brush, or bag. I miss our area of the cafeteria where we ate being serenaded by kazoos and a constant beat made by newly purchased drumsticks on the table. Why do I miss it so much? What could be so wonderful about averaging six hours of sleep a night in a cabin full of forty or so girls and spending the hottest three hours of the day outside in the heat? It was amazing because without the constant distraction of television, cell phones, housework, and cooking for me, the presence of the Lord was very real. After about two days at camp and sensing that the kids loved it too, I began telling them that we had to find a way to take the “feeling” we were having at camp home. The theme of camp was “Duct Dynasty.” The last day during Bible Study we did a cool activity where we were each given a piece of duct tape and asked to write one thing on it that we wanted to stick and take home. There were so many truths I wanted to take home with me from camp like: God will always take you back. This book, the Bible, will keep me from sin. Sin will keep me from this book. Everything we say should honor God and encourage others. You can’t have Jesus in your heart and do nothing! How will you know you had a good week at camp? You will know it was good if you go home different. Those are a few of my notes that I really wanted to stick, and did I miss that I really miss camp? However, I am home now. All of my extra kids, who I really miss, are home now and back in their own set of circumstances. I know for a fact that the only way I will make it on this earth and experience joy is to read my Bible and spend time with the Lord daily. The only way my campers will make it on this earth is to read their Bibles daily and try to apply God’s truths to every situation that comes their way. So, join us. Whether it has been a day, a week, a year, or your quiet time with Jesus Christ has yet to begin, start today. Psalm 16:11 explains it all. “You have made known to me the path of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence.”