How did you do that?

I impressed my 12 year old son the other evening! His mouth dropped open and he exclaimed, "Mom! How did you DO that???"

It made my day. It was not an impressive act..to a mom. It is just one of the many things we do!

What was it you ask? As I was watching tv with my husband and my son, my two year old slept on the couch on the other side of the room. As he began to roll off the couch, I dashed over and caught him in my arms. He remained asleep as I put him into his bed.



Picture from one of the kids' favorite books: "More More More," said the Baby! by Vera B. Williams

Do YOU remember?

As a little child, during the Vietnam War, there were folks who carried signs that said, "Make Love, Not War!" I thought they were soo right! I had no idea what those signs really meant, I just knew loving people was much better than killing people.


I still believe that love is a better way..Love conquers all things, right? Yes, Christ's love conquers sin, death and the devil for us and gives us forgiveness, life and salvation!

I also think that God give us leaders. He gives us leaders to keep us safe and protect us. I think we must never, never forget that the freedom we have in this country was bought with blood. Even our right to complain about how "bad" we have it..is a right purchased by the sacrifice of many.

I do not wish evil on anyone...but I do wish for justice, and protection.

The first time I heard this song, I was in the car. I had to pull over because I couldn't see the road through my tears.

One more thing. It makes me SICK to hear politicians rant and rave how our president should stop bringing up that fateful day. It was a horrible day. There ARE those who hate us in this world and wish to do us harm, HERE. We must never let our guard down for one minute. We must not be so naive as to think they are no longer plotting to hurt us.

I'll stop talking about 9/11 now.

My feelings exactly

Remember

I attended college about 30 minutes north of New York City. I loved that I could just hop on a train and go into the City whenever I wanted. Three visits stick out in my mind; going up the Empire State Building, spending New Year's Eve in the streets watching the ball drop in person and walking on the roof of one of the Twin Towers.

Seven years ago today, we lived in a parsonage in Kansas. My husband was at a monthly pastor's conference over an hour away and I was over at the church photocopying. One of the girls ran over and frantically said I need to come home someone was waging war against the US.

I sat in horror, like so many others, glued to Fox News. I called my husband to tell him what was going on and another pastor there, who used to be an engineer, assured us all that everything would be ok, those buildings were designed in such a way that they could not fall down. We all know the rest of the story.
At the time, my brother worked in that area and I was so worried about him! As horrible as it was, even for him, I am grateful that he was in the crowd running away.

I still cry every time I remember. I think of the generation before ours who lived through Pearl Harbor and the resolve our country had to stop the evil once it was directed our way. I think about how it touched EVERYONE'S life; both civilian and soldier. I think about how thousands lost their lives each day to protect us. Thousands.

We lost thousands that one day in September. We haven't yet lost that many lives fighting the terrorists who attacked us that day. Not to in anyway diminish those who lost their lives to protect us, but what has happened in America that we do not want to continue to pursue the enemy? I know their are many views on this matter, but I think we are not the country we once were. I truly think we take our blood bought freedom for granted. While I agree that war is never what any of us want, it serves a purpose this side of heaven. Bullies cannot be won over with words.

Generally speaking, John McCain is not the man I really want to vote for. I did not want him to be the one to represent the Republicans because I think he is too liberal.

That said, he is the one I trust the most with the safety of the American people. He knows the terror of the enemy first hand and has the resolve to keep them off our soil. This, I believe is the most important responsibility the Federal government has toward its citizens - to protect us from our enemies. It is not their job to run the schools, or to provide jobs or health care or retirement income. It is not their job to act as Robin Hood and arbitrarily take the money from the rich and redistribute it to the poor.

I will never forget that fateful day seven years ago. I pray that no one in my family or yours has to witness that, or something worse, again in our lifetimes. Our freedom came at great cost. We need to realize and understand that amidst apathy and by underestimating the enemy, it can be quickly lost.

The Great Awakening

When I was a young teen, I thought my emotional experiences in worship situations were the Holy Spirit speaking to me. That is what my college age Lutheran Camp Counselors told me and I believed them completely! Thus began my emotional walk with God - straight to Lutheran College where I could have a mountaintop experience every day!!! What could be better?

(Why didn't I remember Jesus telling his disciples at Transfiguration that it could not be so? But that He would be with them anyway?)

Fast forward to the years I was teaching my little girls a song from our history curriculum...that included the Great Awakening as a significant movement in America's historical timeline. Huh? What was the Great Awakening? What was the Second Great Awakening? I had no idea.



From http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/four.html:

"The Awakening reinterpreted the meaning of the covenant between God and his creature. In Puritan theology the focus was on what God has done for us. In the aftermath of the Awakening, the new emphasis was on what man can do in response to God's great gift. The responsibility for salvation is not God's but man's."

From http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/grawaken.htm:

"What historians call “the first Great Awakening” can best be described as a revitalization of religious piety that swept through the American colonies between the 1730s and the 1770s. That revival was part of a much broader movement, an evangelical upsurge taking place simultaneously on the other side of the Atlantic, most notably in England, Scotland, and Germany. In all these Protestant cultures during the middle decades of the eighteenth century, a new Age of Faith rose to counter the currents of the Age of Enlightenment, to reaffirm the view that being truly religious meant trusting the heart rather than the head, prizing feeling more than thinking, and relying on biblical revelation rather than human reason."

hmmm. Valuing emotional experiences over God's Word.....uh oh.

Long story short, when we get to the part in the history song that goes "...the first Great Awakening..." I added this comment: "..The first Great Awakening-BOO!" so the kids would know it was NOT the good thing that many Christians of that time unfortunately, believed. AND the song was written by folks who to this day believe it was a wonderful blessing to God's people.

Emotions

Many years ago, someone I deeply cared about said, "Lauri, your feelings don't matter." For an emotional person like me, this was the ultimate insult. I leaned on my feelings for everything! My understanding of the workings of the world was directed by how I felt. Even my relationship with God was determined by my emotional experiences. I had many "heated" conversations with this person about this disparaging statement.

As the years have passed, I have revisited that statement many times.

Over those years, I have come to understand, even appreciate the statement that previously offended me. I have learned that feelings change with the wind (at least mine do). The person who said that to me did NOT mean; "Lauri, your feelings don't matter to me." This person meant that how I felt about something or someone did not have any bearing on the facts; that how I feel in a moment of anger or pain may not accurately reflect the truth of a situation.

Now that I have children, I can easily see what this person was talking about!

It is often true that when two or more of the children are arguing about something, the feelings of the participants color the perception of the truth.

Likewise, it came as a shock to me that whether or not *I* felt anything, God was with me in the Divine Service. God said that whenever two or three are gathered in HIS NAME, He would be there in the midst of them. Each Sunday we begin worship IN HIS NAME..He is there. His Word is there...where His Word is there He will be...even if I am in a horrible mood because my kids were fighting the whole 35 minute drive to church and I feel like I hate them. Even if I feel completely unworthy to come into His presence, He still wants to see me! He especially wants to see me then, in my weakness an in all humility.

I am ALWAYS unworthy to come into his presence..even when I feel good! I am always a sinner even when I am not sinning at that particular moment. These things are facts. Happy faces or not, pretty clothes or not, Bible reading or not, attend every Sunday no matter what or not, send my kids to Christian school or not, serve on 12 committees or not, am a Pastor's family or not...I am always a sinner in need of being in God's house to receive His Word of forgiveness. And even then, no matter if I cry with joy or not when receiving that Life-giving Word, that Word still does what God sent it to do...makes me right with Him.


"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Romans 5:8

NOW, I find great comfort in knowing that it doesn't matter how I feel!

image from: www.2heartsnetwork.org

Dentist visit..do I need to say more?

I don't need to, but I will anyway.

First, let me say that I am a faithful dental appointment keeper. I make sure we all go every six months no matter what. I am obsessed with my teeth not falling out. I have dreams of them all getting wiggly and falling out in my hand and then I try to stick them back in and it makes matters worse by making others fall out as well. Even though I loved losing my teeth as a child, I have become increasingly grossed out by my children losing theirs. Would you believe that I am even obsessed with other people's teeth, wondering if they have had this or that dental procedure?


Tuesday I got another filling. I did better than last time.. I did not need "assistance" to overcome my anxiety. The negative this time? They used a rubber dam. When I got a fearful expression on my face, the dental assistant was surprised to know I had never had one before (I have a mouthful of fillings). She said that I could choose to forgo it, but it is easier for them. I said I'd try. Let me just interject here that I do not like having new things popped on me like that.

So. The assistant starts putting this THING across my mouth. It was horrible! I felt like she was cutting off my airway..I felt my tongue swelling! I felt my heart racing and my forehead beading with sweat..I couldn't breathe! I started thinking about how EVERYONE has this thing on them and they do not die..they are not afraid..they are not a BABY about it. boohoo!

I had to figure out a way to get through this. I wish I could tell you that I prayed and God comforted me. That would have been the appropriate way to handle my anxiety. Instead "Put on your big girl panties and suck it up!" went through my mind. I do not know why! I don't even know where it came from...but it helped. I calmed down and just waited for it to be over.

It took 6 hours for the Novocaine to wear off. I should have eaten breakfast....boohoo some more! By 4pm, I had a raging headache...as I cannot go that long without protein with out suffering.

My next appointment is scheduled for February.