Oh no, what we gonna do?

I've always lived in a world of black and white; cut and dry; right and wrong. It's how I've structured my world, how I make sense of things, how I make judgments and decisions and how I discern and read situations. For the major things in my life, my faith, my marriage, my morals, this has not changed.

Because the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever, his ways and his words stand as the rock that I base my life on.

And yet, as I mature as a person, there are increasingly more things for which there are no right answers.

So, when decisions are weighed in the balance, when the score sheet is tied, when the scales don't tip one direction or another, what do I do?

I pray. I put out discerning feelers to the world around me and look for how the Lord will lead me. And still, the scales remain equal.

Are their times when the Lord won't tell me one way or another? When things are equally right, valid and good? I've never been as stumped as I am right now. I have fabulous counsel in more than one direction. I have the means and the ability to go two different directions. A decision has to be made within a couple days.

What would you do if you were me?

From the back seat on our road trip

It is silent for 30 seconds on our way to Idaho. I sigh. The silence looms heavy and I begin to wonder if there is mischief afoot. And then, out of the fertile depths of Nat's imagination, I hear,

"This is my friend, Mr. Austin Floppingsquash and this is his wife Tasha Floppingsquash who is very tiny. And this is their horse, Tootie Floppingsquash."

If that's not on par with "Call me Ishmael" I don't know what is.

By the way, this is already copy written material. I'm stealing it for my first book.
(The girl behind the genius. Doesn't she look the part with the goggles and the noodles.)

Annie turns three at the Dirty Shame

I don't know how many kids can say that they had their birthday party at a saloon, but Annie can boast just that. While "vacationing" in lovely Crouch Idaho, we drug our little ones to the Dirty Shame saloon. Before anyone gets their knickers in a pinch, they did not actually even go inside. "The Shame" as the locals call it, has a lovely and thus far unfinished outdoor patio where we ate mass quantities of pizza. So, shockingly enough, kids can have birthdays at saloons in Idaho. On a side note equally as shocking, did you guys know Idaho has NO recycling? That's right folks, just pitch it all in the trash. If I'd had more space we would have hauled it all home and recycled it here, it was absolutely phenomenal. Though I love Idaho in that you can go 75 mph on the freeway, their lack of recycling is totally 20th century. Get with the green Idaho, your trailer park undergarmets are showing!

I'm kind of curious...

So I'm slightly addicted to facebook. Don't ask, just go with it for the purpose of this post. On facebook, there is an application that allows one to rate movies and then compare movie ratings with friends. Pretty woman is one of those films. Across the board, my closest friends rate this movie very highly. Although I understand that their is some redemptive value in this film in that a once very active and probably contagious prostitute falls in love with a ruthless and evil business man who consequently learns to be better, and most likely catches some disease, I have a hard time understanding why this film is so popular. Ok, I'll take a breath from that last run-on sentance. So to my girlfriends who are of the same mindset as me in so many things, why is this a good film? Why is it worth watching and even owning? I'm just curious.

Well, here they are! Bunk Bed sisters.

They're cute, their loud, and now they're in the same room. I'm kind of afraid. :)

God helps those who help themselves...and other things the bible DOESN'T say

There's something that's been bothering me for a long time, and I've discussed it a little with close friends, but I know that many people who read my blog don't regularly read the bible, so I want to set something straight.

I've been reading a blog by a young woman who is going through infertility and miscarriage. Many MANY well wishing bloggers comment on her site saying, "Remember, God won't give you more than you can handle!" This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine mostly because that's just not true. The bible never says that. The bible does say that we will not be tempted beyond what we can bear, but that is an entirely different matter.

When it comes to trials and hardships, if it were the case that God never gives us more than we can handle, I would be failing miserably because I always seem to have more than I can handle. Even little things overwhelm me and at times I can fall into dispair. But here's the deal. It is in our very weakness and inability to cope and handle the hard times that befall us that we meet the Lord for who he is. It is in these times that we can have him take up our burden and carry it for us. Paul talks this way about a trial that he was given that he kept dealing with,

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:8-10)

The Christian life isn't without pain and suffering. Paul, who healed many people, even a man who'd fallen out a window and died, couldn't heal his own trial. He asked the Lord, and the Lord told him that his difficulty was allowed FOR A REASON. God's power is made perfect in our weakness and his grace us sufficient for us. In other words, he wants us to see that he is all we need. When we are weak, then we are strong.

Christ's kindom is an upside down kingdom, his ways are not our ways. But we can KNOW: when we are weak, he is strong. His power will rest on us if we lean on him. He DOES allow things that are more than we can handle because his grace alone is sufficient. (Please note: I am not saying he CAUSES our problems, but that he can work all things together for Good. Romans 8:28)

So, that's my peeve. When people misquote the bible, they are misconstrewing the message that God has for us. If you feel that you are weighted down by more than you can handle, you just might be, but you're not alone, and Jesus can handle it all.