Run The Race

My 7 year old son Reese recently landed a pretty sweet deal on an Xbox 360.  He had been saving for quite some time, and he was just a few dollars shy of being able to buy a used system plus 1 controller - not even enough money to buy any games just yet.  While at a friend's house a few weeks ago, a young TU student heard Reese discussing his saving efforts for the system.  The student told Reese that he recently got a newer style system, and never plays his Xbox 360 any longer.  In the end, he GAVE his Xbox, 3 controllers, and a few games to Reese.  To say that Reese was elated would be an understatement.  After receiving the system, every word that came out of Reese's mouth was about the game.  Questions, thoughts, dreams...  all about the game. Then, just after reading our Bible and saying our prayers one evening, my 7 year old said one of the most profound things. "Mom, sometimes when I have stuff that I really like, I don't even care ab...

This adoption journey has been long.  I have recently started reading "Jesus Calling" again (a devotional that encouraged me so much during my deepest moments of grief after losing Elliot and my Mother), and it really spoke to my heart this morning.  "Waiting, trusting and hoping are intricately connected, like golden strands interwoven to form a strong chain.  Trusting is the central strand... waiting and hoping embellish the central strand and strengthen the chain that connects [me] to [Jesus]... If [I] mouth the words 'I trust You' while anxiously trying to make things go [my] way, [my] words ring hollow." Waiting, trusting, hoping...  Nope, that is the wrong order for me.  Trust, hope, wait.  I don't have the courage to hope or wait without the trust.  I don't have the courage to long for HC without the trust.  The devastation would be too much if I had to rely on my own strength and control if things don't go "our way". ...

"If I just get this done, then I will be able to relax." This is the lie I tell myself (or listen to Satan telling me) often.  Just be more organized and get more done - then I will "feel" better and less anxious about the many open ended circumstances in my life. After spending 3 days in the desert (and after multiple eye witness accounts of God doing amazing and astonishing miracles), God brought food and water to the Israelites.  God promised that He was going to bring the food daily, and that the people should only store up enough for that day - unless it was the 6th day; then they could store up enough for 2 days so they could rest on the following day (the Sabbath).  But... "It came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none." Exodus 16:27 Hmmm... I guess God does what He says He will do. "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructi...

 It's the story that just about every American child knows... the story of Noah's Ark.  How cute - the animals going in 2 at a time... there's no mention of years of outcast from Noah's community, poop having to be picked up, or anxiety felt by Noah's family once they had to board the ark and just sit and wait. As I was reading the account of Noah's Ark in Genesis this past week, a few things really struck me about this story.  First, had anyone asked me how Noah decided to get off the ark - I think I would have only recalled him sending the raven and the dove out; I have assumed that Noah decided for himself when to get off the boat.  That is not what scripture tells us in Genesis 8:15-16, God told Noah it was time to leave the ark, and He gave him some instructions regarding the animals. The second thing that deeply struck me was the amount of time between Noah knowing there was dry land and when God told him to leave the ark.  From Noah's first indica...