Pinterest Makes Me Mean

I have always been a magazine lover. On any given day, you might find a Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray, Real Simple or Oprah magazine peeping out of my mailbox. I love to read through them, get ideas, recipes and make plans. Admittedly, I rarely, if ever actually do anything with those plans and I can probably count on one hand the times I have actually used a recipe found in one of my magazines. But it’s ok. Because magazines are just entertainment. They are produced by people who get paid to be creative and crafty. They aren’t real.

Enter Pinterest.

I was an early adopter of Pinterest. I jumped on the bandwagon fairly quickly because I loved the concept of endless creative sharing and evolution. And to my surprise, I find that I actually use quite a few of the ideas I come across on Pinterest. They seem a little more within reach. It’s a “if she can do that, I can do that,” type of thing.

But …

Pinterest also makes me mean. Or maybe it’s jealous or maybe sometimes after a perusing I feel like a big old loser.

I mean, who really has the time to wax seal monogram children’s birthday invitations or who, when at a dollar store, sees a pot scrubby and thinks: “I could make a gorgeous wreath out of that?” And then on top of that, who has the time, in between their homeschooling and making all of their own organic vegan baby food to blog about it with gorgeous layouts and pictures?

Who does that?

It’s the plight of women isn’t it. The constant comparing. The constant feeling like we’re not doing enough.

I love what Galatians 6:4 says to me about this very topic:

Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.

This hit me like a ton of bricks last night as my sister and I set out for our annual McCall Sister Christmas Cookie Baking Extravaganza. She’s a super busy ER Nurse with a little side business that is growing like a weed. You can see that HERE! I am coming off of the busiest week of my year and gearing up for another busy weekend ahead and then of course there’s Christmas.

Anyways … let’s just say we were ambitious. We had plans to make 5 or 6 kinds of cookies to share with all of our friends but after our first batch of peanut blossoms we looked at each other and said: “that’s it … we ain’t got no more to give.”

We popped our last blossom onto the cooling rack and then plopped ourselves right on the couch. And there we stayed for about two hours.

There was nothing Pinterest-worthy about it. But we had a wonderful time there on the couch and I left feeling recharged after a good long talk with my sis and lots of laughs instead of exhausted and cookie’d – out.

As we head into the Christmas homestretch, I challenge you to write out that verse in Galatians and post it somewhere where you can see it each day.  And then when your sister-in-law shows up to your family Christmas with home-made soaps wrapped in paper she pressed out of fresh pine leaves and organic wild oats, you won’t be quite as tempted to think bad thoughts about her in your pretty little head.

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The Mondays – Normal Isn’t Working PT 3

Of Jesus’ many guarantees, there is one I never like to be reminded of:

John 16:33 – In this world you WILL have trouble. 

You only have to be alive for about 3.2 seconds before you realize the truth to this blunt statement. I wish He would have said “you might have trouble,” or “you will have trouble if you are a really horrible person.” But no, He does not. This is a one size fits all promise. No matter who you are, how much money you have, how much you pray, how much faith you have, you WILL have trouble.

Thankfully, He does not end the thought with that depressing statement.

John 16:33 – In this world you WILL have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

I had the extreme privilege of spending several hours last week with a woman who has fully owned and received this promise from our Savior.

Lori found a lump on her breast 3 years ago as she was nursing her second child. After several false diagnoses, a biopsy revealed an extremely rare form of cancer that was in stage 4. The thought of hearing those words given to me by a doctor is, honestly, beyond my ability to comprehend. At the time, Lori had two young children, a flourishing career as a physician and a husband who adored her.

Three years later the cancer has spread throughout her entire body. She has traveled the country visiting the world’s most prominent doctors, lost her hair, gone through every treatment known to man and has basically been given just months to live.

As she shared her medical story with us, I just kept thinking: “How in the world is this woman even here right now? How could she possibly have the physical and emotional strength to recap with a group of complete strangers all that she has been through?”

After her medical story, she got to talking about her sweet children. What it has been like to come to the realization that she may not be here to watch them grow up. She shared how she has written birthday cards for each of their birthdays for years to come, bought them gifts for their wedding days that are to be given to them from her.

Can you imagine?

And would you believe in all of that she did not shed a tear? Not one tear. I’ve never seen such strength and peace.

Only when she began talking about her Jesus did the tears come. It was as if they were reserved for Him. This God who had held her hand so tightly these last three years. This God who she knew more intimately now than ever before. This God whom she trusted completely and unreservedly.

When Chad read Revelation 21: 4 this weekend, I immediately thought of Lori. How she must feel reading these words and how she has embraced this promise as her life’s song.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. And He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” 

Yes, we can count on the trouble. We can count on the fact that life will NOT go according to our plan. We can count on it being MORE than we can bear.

I loved how Chad summed this up on Sunday:

In this life:

-SYSTEMS will be shaken, but in God’s power we will remain STABLE.
-RELATIONSHIPS will be shaken, but in God’s presence we will remain SECURE.
-HOPES will be shaken, but in God’s promises we will remain CONFIDENT.

Here’s a pic of Lori with my sweet Wednesday Morning group. What a gift she gave us all.

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Thank You Mable.

There are moments from your past that you look at and you think: “How in the world did we make it through that?” And there are triggers that take you back to those moments. Sometimes it’s a smell, or a song or a name or a city. For me, Asheville, NC is a trigger. When I hear the name of that city I am immediately taken back to our short time there.

I can so vividly picture the endless and winding roads through the Blue Ridge mountains, sweet little Macy cooing in the back seat, the look of stress on my husband’s face and the pit in my stomach telling me: “You are alone and you don’t know where you are going to go.”

We had traveled to Asheville on a whirlwind tour. For months we had been praying: “God, where do you want us to go?” We knew that God wanted us to start something new … perhaps even a church. But we didn’t know where. All roads were pointing to Atlanta, GA. We were ready to make the jump. There were people there, there was support there and there were people who believed in us there. Chad had visited several times but we hadn’t been there together. So, we packed up our sweet, little 6-week old Macy and made the 8 hour drive. Our first day there we knew … this isn’t it. Now what?

A dear friend in ministry had told us of the explosive growth happening in Asheville. Thousands of young people were relocating there. The majority of them were unchurched. We should check it out.

So we did. Atlanta to Asheville we went. Literally, within moments of us arriving there Chad and I looked at each other and laughed. This isn’t it either.

We decided to make the most of the few days we had there anyways. It was fall. The colors were beautiful. We drove and drove and drove. And it seems the further we drove, the more afraid I became. The majority of our closest friends had turned their backs on us. Our home was for sale. We had a newborn baby. We had no where to go. I had never felt so alone in my entire life. I remember looking out the window and thinking: “God, how could you just leave us here?” I had been putting on a game face up until that point for Chad and the girls. But the reality of our situation had finally set in. We were alone.

Several hours later, we stopped at an overlook. It was gorgeous and vast. It struck me in that moment that God had numbered every single leaf on every single tree. He knew when each leaf would fall and when each tree would bloom. He knew it all and He had known it since the beginning of time.

We got back in the car. Macy was clearly getting sick of being in the car seat and we knew it was time to head back to the hotel. We made small talk on the way and then we got back to talking about locations. “I just wonder if we ought to pray more about Ohio,” I said. “Maybe even a city like Columbus.”

It sounds completely irresponsible and strange. But we knew. Chad had literally traveled the country seeking God’s direction. He and I were in the middle of an extremely long trip with an extremely small baby. But somehow we knew. It was Columbus.

We made a stop at the Billy Graham Retreat Center on the way back to the hotel. It was breathtaking. The small museum there chronicling his life was inspiring and we could feel God’s presence as we walked through the sweet chapel his wife had designed. We were not alone. God was getting ready to do something. He had changed us.

This week we had the privilege of taking twelve of our amazing Rock City team members to benchmark a church in South Carolina. We spent 3 days there learning and growing. The person driving took an alternate way home that just happened to lead us through Asheville, NC. … TRIGGER.

We decided to make the stop and visit the Retreat Center with the team. Just a few short years ago, we had been there. Alone, scared and unsure. So much has happened since then. God has blessed us with an amazing team, an amazing church that has seen hundreds of people come to know Christ and a love for our city unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.

We made our way up to the prayer room above the chapel where we met Mable. She is an 84 year-old widow who spends the majority of her time praying for young people. I got the sense that even though she had never met us … she had been praying for us. Even though she had never been to Columbus … she had prayed for Columbus. She did not know our names or our story. But she had been praying for us.

Rock City is here because of people like Mable. Because God never leaves us and sometimes we have to feel alone to know that we are not alone.

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Bloody Knuckles: Best Day Ever!

It’s been a Luke kind of month for me. Not quite sure why, but I’ve been with Luke exclusively all month and I am loving it. Luke has a way of reminding me what is possible through Christ and at the same time humbling me to the point where I just have to close the Bible and say: “Ok, I’m a pretty big idiot. I’m going to need you to go ahead and help me fix that up.”

The other day I was reading in Luke 10 when Jesus sent out The Seventy. Basically, Jesus had been with his disciples and his followers for some time. They were seeing crazy things … crazy miracles and crazy life-transformation. He had been pouring into them. Preparing them. And then he says: GO.

Now keep in mind that he didn’t give them a big fat expense account, first-class airfare and deluxe accommodations (I noted this one in particular because I am admitted Hotel Snob … something I am trying to work on). On the contrary, He says: “don’t take any money, luggage or even any shoes.” And then He says: “whatever city you go; if they receive you, eat the things they give you. And then heal the sick there and say to them, The Kingdom of God has come near to you.”

The best part of the story in my mind is when the seventy return. They are pumped. They’re longer spectators. They are in the action. I can imagine them coming back together and sharing their stories with one another. It must have been crazy!

I remember one time my sister and I got separated at a Vera Bradley Warehouse sale. Don’t be fooled, this was no leisurely afternoon of shopping. On the contrary, we had arrived with our game face on. Ready to take by force. Molly had gone to the bathroom and while she was in there, I was swept away to the mile-long duffel bag arena. It was quite a while before we saw each other again, but when we did, we were both bursting with energy and I could not wait to tell her all that had transpired and the amazing deals I had found. She returned with bloody knuckles (not exaggerating) and a garbage bag full of hipster purses. Best day ever!

Anyway, imagine what these seventy people felt after seeing demons fall like lightning, sick people healed and limbs returned! And they probably didn’t even have a scratch on them!

Then you get to the part of the story where your heart just completely melts (at least mine did). Luke 10: 21 says

In that Hour (when they returned), Jesus rejoiced in the spirit and said. “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”

He is so grateful that the seventy experienced that. Now granted he still calls them “little children” so they don’t get a big head about the whole situation, but he rejoices … pure and passionately.  And more than “what” they had done, it seems to me that he was rejoicing in “who” had done it. He had been preparing a group of ordinary sinners to build His church and they were getting it!

As a church, I really want us to be the kind of people who get as close to Jesus as we can so that when he says GO … we are ready. The kind of church that Jesus rejoices in and says: “They are getting it!”

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The Mondays – Guardrails Week 1

We kicked off our new series GUARDRAILS this weekend. After 3 weeks of sitting on the sidelines and hearing from Dave Ramsey, Chad had a ton of pent up energy that he was itching to get out and he was so excited about what God had shown him in prayer about this series. Good thing he sits down when he teaches! The message this week framed up the series and we looked at the simple purpose of a Guardrail which is defined as:

A system designed to keep vehicles from straying into dangerous or off-limit areas.

The thing about guardrails is you hardly ever notice them … until you really need them.

A couple things that hit me as I was listening to the message this weekend as we studied EPHESIANS 5:

1. Guardrails are not placed in the most dangerous part of the road. They are placed in an area that will prevent you from ever going to the dangerous part.

2. Guardrails are personal. The things I put boundaries on in my life, may be different for you. Remembering this helps us, as a church, stay out of the ugliness of legalism and keeps us focused on what’s most important.

3. God is against ANYTHING in our life that baits us to the point of losing control. There are things in my life that I know are bait. For some it may be a guy who gives you attention. One compliment, and you are handing your heart over. For others it may be food … hello … anybody? Or for some it’s an unquenchable desire to acquire more and more stuff.

I love how Chad closed the message. We have to be intentional about where we are NOT going to go.

“Nobody ever plans to mess up their life on purpose, but a lot of people have because they never planned NOT to.”

Where is God challenging you in your life NOT to go? Are there things that trip you up and lead you to a place you know you don’t want to go?

I am looking forward to the next few weeks of this series as we dive deeper and deeper into this topic.

Beyond the message … yesterday was simply awesome. We had a packed house, the band was amazing and our volunteers rocked. Here’s a pic I shot in between services of our most “behind the scenes volunteers.” Our tech guys and gals amaze me. Each week they turn a movie theater into a high-tech production. They are always thinking forward and they make our lives so much easier. Love them!

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Take A Bite

I have the privilege of meeting twice a month with a great group of women. We are a bit of a hodge podge group but we seem to gel quite nicely. Among us are philanthropists, doctors, gourmet chefs, pastor’s wives, volunteers and titans of toddlers. There’s not a subject that is off of the table and there is no real agenda to our gatherings other than to unload a bit, talk about what God is doing in our lives and pray for one another. There’s no gossiping or griping allowed but trust me when I say, we talk and laugh about everything.

This week, among other things, we got to talking about Eve. Eve is probably the most well-known female character in the bible. After all, it was her infamous CRUNCH that was heard around the world and can still be heard today out of the mouths of over-tired 2 year-olds that scream NO at you and then throw their Cheerios all over the floor (Not saying that’s ever happened in my house).

As a group, we often talk about our desire to be more content in our lives. It seems as women this is a constant struggle.

When you are single,  you long to be married.

When you are married, you would kill for a night out with the girls.

When you work full-time, you feel guilty about not being with your kids more.

When you stay-at-home, you feel like you are missing out on your career.

Are we ever happy with where we are? And why do we always feel like we are missing out on something?

Even Eve had this struggle, which to me is just shocking. I mean come on! She didn’t have to work, she had a HOT husband, she had a direct line to God and she did not have to cook, clean or change diapers!

Genesis 3:6 Says:
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of it’s fruit and ate.“

She thought she was missing out on something! Surely there must be more than this. I can have it all.

It’s amazing how clueless we are when God has us in the exact place that He knows we need to be.

We kick, scream (I’ve heard of this but never done this=), whine and complain about not having enough “me time,” not having enough money, not having the right house, or the right job, or the right family.

All the while God is saying: I have given you everything you need for this moment. Shut up and enjoy this beautiful garden!

This is an ongoing struggle in my life and something I have to take to God on a daily basis.

God, Help me see the beauty in where I am at right now.

Some days are better than others but He working Contentment into me and I am grateful for that.

The girls started ballet again today. How can I help but see the beauty in these two faces!

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Stand Still

Several weeks ago I was meeting with a woman from our church who was going through a very difficult time. She had suffered a great loss and had a lot of unanswered questions. As many of us do when we go through crisis, she was teetering between the undeniable fact that God loved her and the undeniable fact He was taking her through … well … Hell.  She desperately wanted answers. She desperately wanted to know what to do next. She desperately wanted God’s peace.

We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Something happens in our life that gives our view of God a run for it’s money. We start questioning ourselves … did we cause this to happen? We start questioning Him … how could He let this happen? And then, if we aren’t careful, we get a little frantic. We start seeking out advise from anyone who will listen and picking up self-help books from the clearance rack at Barnes and Nobles (don’t act like you’ve never done that!)

Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with seeking advise from friends and reading books on how to improve your life. But, I have found in my own life that these tend to become a crutch. A band-aid if you will. They, by themselves, do not bring answers, peace or direction.

Psalm 46:10 says: “Be Still and Know that I am God.”

As I sat across from the sweet woman at Panera, I found myself advising her to just STAND STILL. God knows. He knows the answers to those tough questions. He knew you would be in this moment and He knew you would need Him. He doesn’t want you to stay in this place forever. He is preparing you for where you are going. But for now, just stand still and know that He is God.

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