I Didn’t Notice! August 24, 2008

This morning, Kelly (my husband) asked our middle son to clean up the kitchen and to do so before he left the house.  After making this request, we ourselves left for the morning.  We commented to each other, that neither of us had much hope that the job would get done.

We arrived back home just shortly after noon.  Walking through the garage and into our back door, we noticed immediately the kitchen was still a mess.  We were both disappointed, but as you likely guessed, not at all surprised.  

We began carrying in our groceries.  Making our way back and forth through the garage several times, we muttered beneath our breath.  On the last trip through, we both stopped short.  Neither one of us had noticed how clean the garage was.  You’ll never guess who cleaned it.

It made me sad to note how often we expect our children to fail, and then we fail ourselves by not noticing the good that they do. 

Follow the example of a wise parent;  Anticipate good things from your kids (you won’t be disappointed.) Our Heavenly Father does not anticipate failure ~ He knows the exact number of tries until we will get it right.  Neither does he miss it when any of us do something good.  

~dl 

Do I Know You? August 24, 2008

I was gripped with emotion today, as I sat listening to this weeks Sermon.  

Our Pastor gave a compelling message; To us who are believers in the Gospel of Christ, we are to “Love God with all our hearts and love each other as ourselves.” Our Pastor shared how we are so often wrapped up in our own lives, and that we fail to notice “people.”  Or worse;  We stereo type people and based on perception from a distance, we decide whether we want to know them or not.  YES, even in church.

Not a new message, however, I felt God impressing it on my heart with a bit of a different twist.

My passion is to share God’s good news with people.  I feel a sense of urgency to let them know that Jesus loves them and He wants to share in their lives.  Not a bad thing of course, however, what I don’t often do, is take the time to get to “Know” YOU! The person I’m sharing that good news with.  I mean really know you.  On a deeper level.

As much as we want you to know God’s message of hope and love ~ in this venue, it is easy for us to remain anonymous isn’t it?   

Do we know you?  If not, (or even if we do) email us, leave a comment on our podcasts or blogs, join our chats in the connection zONE, or join our Facebook group;  It would be an honor to get to know you!  

~dl

The Last Minute August 21, 2008

Well, it is done!  

On Tuesday morning, For the Sake of One released two new bible studies; “Adventure Awaits” and “Sabbath ~ A Gift from God.”  

We were working right down to the very last minute, in order to publish these online studies, on time!  As I drove to Kim’s house on Monday, I passed a sign that read; “If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would ever get done.” I chuckled because that is so typical in my life. I’m grateful this week for the last minute.  

Simultaneously;

I thought about how we often won’t know when the last minute has arrived.  There are somethings much too important to save for the last minute. Let’s take our decision for Christ as an example.  Sure, we know he’s there and he’s waited this long for us, what difference does it make if we wait awhile?  Or what about sharing Christ with a friend, or spending time with a loved one?  

Don’t save the important stuff for too long.  One day we will run out of last minutes.

~dl

Peace among the chaos August 15, 2008

Donna and I have been preparing like crazy to get our 2 on-line Bible studies ready for release on Tuesday (Aug 19th).  We are looking forward to being able to offer these unique and fun style of on-line learning courses.

As such, there has been just a bit more laundry piled up, a few more dishes in the sink, less toys in the toy bins because there are more toys on the floor, and more clutter that I am normally ok with.

I looked around my house this morning and rather than feeling that overwhelming sense of “how did it get to this point?” I felt completely at peace about my ‘mess.’  Those of you who know me well will understand that this is unusual for me!  Being at “peace among chaos” is not typical for me.  But I am.  And I am thrilled. 

May you find peace among the chaos of your day today!

~kp

That’s not a duck it’s a man! August 9, 2008

Yesterday Kim and I along with another friend,  (and all of our little ones) met at one of the local beaches in Kelowna.  We had an awesome day playing in the water, picnic lunch, rolling in the sand, playing with each others’ toys and building sand castles.

The weather was hot, hot, hot, there were six kids to watch closely in the water and while the sun beat down. There was a definite glare upon the water.  There was also a haze hanging over the whole valley from a nearby forest fire.  It could have been any one of those conditions that made it hard for my poor friend to focus, but at one point while Kim was looking out into the water she explained to me that she had just seen a duck dive under the water, and it had not yet resurfaced.  We watched closely for a few moments and then it dawned on her; what she had actually seen swimming in the water was a man not a duck.

Interesting I thought – to confuse those two things. It just seemed rather strange to me. Until I too saw the man dive in the water and his leg went up in the air.  We noticed he was wearing those plastic black flippers people sometimes wear while snorkeling in the water.  It was the flipper Kim had seen.  Up until then, my poor confused friend was certain she had seen a duck (and I was ready to commit her to professional medical care.)

The point to this story?  We often see things out of context.  What we see may appear very real to us. However, what we often see as bad, can turn out to be very good and what we see as good, often accomplishes the not so good. We just can’t trust our physical eyes to tell us the truth.

Maybe that is why Paul tells us to look with our spiritual eyes instead. 2 Corinthians 4:18 “fix our eyes not on what is seen but in what is unseen.”  The unseen is far more real than anything we will ever see with our physical eyes.

~dl

Walk in the Word August 9, 2008

This morning we went to the beach. On the way there, Bennie calls out from the back seat, “Mom, what does Walk in the word mean?” Now, I am a fan of the radio show “Walk in the Word” by James MacDonald, so it isn’t a surprise to me that he has heard that phrase. I thought a moment then answered, “It means that you try to live your life in a way that makes God happy. That you obey what His word tells us in the Bible.”

Then he asks, “What does Running in the word mean?” I chuckled, because now I am guessing he is making phrases up. So I answered, “Well, running in the word would mean that you follow God with lots of energy – like when you run.”

A few seconds later he asks, “So what does Hopping in the word mean?” I had to think a second how to creatively answer that one. So I said, “It means you decide to jump right in and learn what God’s word says.”

Then he says, “Oh yeah. Now I know.”

Now YOU know too! So walk, run and hop into God’s word today!

~kp