We are studying the minor prophets in our ABF (Adult Bible Fellowship) this quarter. Our lesson today was from the book of Habakkuk. As I studied last week to teach today, I was captivated by the book. Habakkuk was a prophet to Judah at a time of rebellion. Habakkuk cried out to God, "Why?" He obviously had been praying about the situation for a while and it seemed as though God was not answering.
Waiting on God. That's hard stuff. Things happening that you just do not like or agree with and God seems to be silent. Even harder. I went to listen to our Student Pastor last Wednesday night and he preached on Mark 3. In verse 5, God's Word says Jesus looked with anger, but he was grieved at the heart condition of the people. Our Student Pastor, Josh, said He was mad/sad. Josh recounted a time when a friend died and he was mad and sad at the same time. I can relate to mad/sad -- something is going on right now and there's no other way to describe it but to say I am mad/sad.
Why do You let things happen and the heavens seem to be silent?
God said, "Hey, Habakkuk, you're answer is coming, but you're not going to believe it." (my paraphrase, obviously, and following...)
Habakkuk responds with words about the holiness and eternalness of God. Then he says, "I know Your people of Judah have been disobedient, but the Chaldeans? The Chaldeans are way worse than we are." You see, God would allow the Chaldeans to conquer the people of Judah. Then Habakkuk says that he will stop, wait and watch until God answers. Sometimes we need to stop talking and be quiet before a Holy God. We can't hear God's answer over the sound of our own voice...
God's perspective is not ours. His timing is not ours. He has the advantage of past, present, and future. He sees all aspects equally well when we can only see our past and present. He sees the big picture.
The book of Habakkuk ends with Habakkuk's praise. God told him what he was coming and now he had to wait and watch for it to happen. It scared him. However, when it's all said and done, no matter what happens, when everything is falling apart, when there's danger of ruin or hunger or devastation...no matter what..."Yet, I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation." (Hab. 3:18,NASB) I will praise Him despite my circumstances, in the midst of my circumstances. He alone is my strength...even when I am mad/sad, when I don't understand, when I ache inside because of a circumstance I have no control over...when there's injustice and hurt and evil seems to triumph over good, when the innocent are hurt as a biproduct of other people's actions...
Yet, I will praise the God Most High and I will wait and watch for His answer in His time.
Because He's God and I'm not, I will praise Him.
In humble service to the King,
Jeanette
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
The Lake House
I've stopped by our abode to start some laundry & run some kids around, but I've been spending the week at our "lake house." Ok, it's really just our travel trailer, "The Wildwood," parked at a nearby lake, but lake house sounds so much better. I have to admit, however, I am not the one to start it. Two other families have their mobile lake house out there & Mary is the one who started calling it that! I like it! Last night was hilarious! We left church with our youngest son & 2 friends. We told the boys they had to sleep in a tent because our beds were full. Jess had a friend and then we had 2 other teenage girls there -- the girlfriends of our other son & his friend. At about 1:00 a.m., the 3 tweenage boys decided it was too hot and sticky and they could not sleep. Being the pushover that I am, I decided to let them come in to the airconditioning. That meant that girls had to double up in beds & a couple of boys in another and one on a pool float on the floor. There were 9 people in the Wildwood last night! I'd say that was a full house! I only wish I had taken a picture! I told my husband this morning -- as he left the lake house to go in to work -- we made a memory that we will laugh about for years.
The more the merrier....Jeanette
The more the merrier....Jeanette
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Jacob, Me, and Fiesta Texas
Jacob and I went to the big Fiesta Texas on Tuesday. We were there before they opened the gates and, when they were open, we went directly to one of Jacob's favorite rides, the Roadrunner Express. We were the first people there and sat in the first seat. Not too many people had arrived by the time the ride was over, so we rode again -- this time on the back seat. It was a fun day! Jacob got to do whatever he wanted with me tagging along. We usually are budget conscious when we go places like that with 3 kids, but on Tuesday Jacob had 2 Icees, 2 DipnDots, and a charro (sp?). It wasn't too crowded so we got to ride everything we wanted to with hardly any wait at all.
I have to say (or write) that it was fun to spend the day with Jacob. I feel sure he would have rather been in Florida at camp with his brother and sister, though. Next year they all will go to camp together...
As for the SBC -- I didn't get to very much of it. I did get to see a live address by President Bush via satellite (or however they do it -- he wasn't there in person, but he obviously could see a video feed of us as we could of him). He spoke of all the good things we are doing as So. Baptists. It's something to be proud of, actually. We are involved in so many great endeavors to help people in practical and physical ways. I read some information about Mother Teresa recently. Her mission to help the poor, sick, dying, and outcast of society began in Calcutta, India, but her name is known worldwide because of her selfless life of giving. Unfortunately, I don't think that's what So. Baptists are known for but we are accomplishing so much in the name of Jesus. In truth, we can do more when we are working together than each individual or church could do separately, even though there are individuals and churches doing great things. That's the beauty of our convention...our cooperative works together.
Well, I am procrastinating on a project that I must finish today so I guess that's it for now...
Proud to be a Southern Baptist,
Jeanette
I have to say (or write) that it was fun to spend the day with Jacob. I feel sure he would have rather been in Florida at camp with his brother and sister, though. Next year they all will go to camp together...
As for the SBC -- I didn't get to very much of it. I did get to see a live address by President Bush via satellite (or however they do it -- he wasn't there in person, but he obviously could see a video feed of us as we could of him). He spoke of all the good things we are doing as So. Baptists. It's something to be proud of, actually. We are involved in so many great endeavors to help people in practical and physical ways. I read some information about Mother Teresa recently. Her mission to help the poor, sick, dying, and outcast of society began in Calcutta, India, but her name is known worldwide because of her selfless life of giving. Unfortunately, I don't think that's what So. Baptists are known for but we are accomplishing so much in the name of Jesus. In truth, we can do more when we are working together than each individual or church could do separately, even though there are individuals and churches doing great things. That's the beauty of our convention...our cooperative works together.
Well, I am procrastinating on a project that I must finish today so I guess that's it for now...
Proud to be a Southern Baptist,
Jeanette
Sunday, June 10, 2007
The Southern Baptist Convention
Tomorrow Johnny, Jacob, and I will head down to San Antonio for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. I will not attend all the meetings with Johnny as I will be entertaining Jacob. I can't decide if I will be sad to miss all the fireworks or glad to not be a witness to it. You see, there's some disharmony in the SBC (gasp!) . I've been perusing blogs from a broad spectrum of people in SBC life and I've been rather disappointed in most. It occurred to me as I listened to Johnny's sermon this morning that some So. Bapt. have forgotten whom our real enemy is -- it's not "us" vs. "them" within our convention but it's us vs. the world. Have you heard how people like Rosie talk about Christians? How in the world do we (a general we speaking of SBC people) have the guts to utter one negative breath about people in our own belief system when THE WORLD IS OPPOSED TO US AND TALKING BAD ABOUT US AS CHRISTIANS? How do we do it???? Did you see the news where an actor was fired from a tv show (not one that I watch) for saying a negative comment about a gay person but any bad thing can be said about Christians and it is AOK. (Please don't read anything into that statement about gay people -- I am not saying it was or was not ok for the actor to say a negative comment about gay people, I am just saying some things are tolerated and some are not.) Johnny talked about this morning that when people don't get what they want, when they want it, exactly the way they want it, that's when Satan starts whispering in their ear so they justify their sin. Judas Iscariot was one example...Jesus didn't turn out to be who Judas thought He was so when Judas was tempted by Satan, he gave in and betrayed Jesus. Does everything have to be our way? Can we just tolerate our brothers and sisters for the sake of the Gospel? "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth (or your fingertips, if you are a blogger), but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear." (Eph. 4:29 with my own addition and emphasis)
Whew, with that off my chest, let me just add that Josh & Jess will be off to Centrifuge at Panama City Beach tonight. Johnny and I met while working Centrifuge exactly 20 years ago this summer. I attended Centrifuge as a student, as a chaperone, and as an employee. The summer I went as a chaperone, God got a hold of me and completely altered the course of my life. As an employee, I met Johnny and my life was changed again. I am praying for God to do something awesome in the life of Josh and Jess this week as well.
Serving the King,
Jeanette
Whew, with that off my chest, let me just add that Josh & Jess will be off to Centrifuge at Panama City Beach tonight. Johnny and I met while working Centrifuge exactly 20 years ago this summer. I attended Centrifuge as a student, as a chaperone, and as an employee. The summer I went as a chaperone, God got a hold of me and completely altered the course of my life. As an employee, I met Johnny and my life was changed again. I am praying for God to do something awesome in the life of Josh and Jess this week as well.
Serving the King,
Jeanette
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Book Review Part 1
Ok, I'm only a few more pages into the book Revolutionary Parenting by George Barna that I mentioned in my last post, but I'm already under conviction. I think I'm a fairly decent parent and I really want and pray for my children to love God and follow Him. Since they were brought up in church, they know all the "Sunday School" answers. They've heard the Bible stories. My prayer for years has been that it would be heart knowledge and not just head knowledge.
In part one of the book, Barna gives a sort of checklist of parents just like me. A few of the items listed are: provide basic needs, successful in school, good home life, involved in church & church activities, not doing drugs or alcohol, not promiscuous, and without criminal activity. (Barna, 5) That would describe our situation. Here's the kicker -- those are fine standards, but they are as measured by the world's standards. As compared to the world those are really great standards, but they are not God's standards. Our job, as Christian parents, is not to raise our children to "be all they can be" by the world's standards, but to aspire to godly and biblical standards.
Barna goes on to write that we are to raise "spiritual champions." We don't do that by neglecting physical or intellectual or emotional needs, however. Those aspects are vital to the development of our children, but how often do we place those areas above the spiritual aspect? Guilty! Sending our children to church and activities and Christian camps (one of mine went last week & two will go next week) is simply not enough. It's our job, our job primarily, as Christian parents to be the spiritual nurturer of our children.
I'm moving on to part 2 of the book which is the research section. If you are at all familiar with George Barna, you know that's what he does. He researches all sorts of topics as related to ministry and Christianity and then evaluates. I'll be back with more later...
Jeanette
*Barna, George. Revolutionary Parenting. BarnaBooks & Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2007.
In part one of the book, Barna gives a sort of checklist of parents just like me. A few of the items listed are: provide basic needs, successful in school, good home life, involved in church & church activities, not doing drugs or alcohol, not promiscuous, and without criminal activity. (Barna, 5) That would describe our situation. Here's the kicker -- those are fine standards, but they are as measured by the world's standards. As compared to the world those are really great standards, but they are not God's standards. Our job, as Christian parents, is not to raise our children to "be all they can be" by the world's standards, but to aspire to godly and biblical standards.
Barna goes on to write that we are to raise "spiritual champions." We don't do that by neglecting physical or intellectual or emotional needs, however. Those aspects are vital to the development of our children, but how often do we place those areas above the spiritual aspect? Guilty! Sending our children to church and activities and Christian camps (one of mine went last week & two will go next week) is simply not enough. It's our job, our job primarily, as Christian parents to be the spiritual nurturer of our children.
I'm moving on to part 2 of the book which is the research section. If you are at all familiar with George Barna, you know that's what he does. He researches all sorts of topics as related to ministry and Christianity and then evaluates. I'll be back with more later...
Jeanette
*Barna, George. Revolutionary Parenting. BarnaBooks & Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2007.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Jogging in the park...
...and I use the word jogging very loosely! I used to jog/run a lot but have just needed a little push to get my feet moving from a walk to a jog. My friend has been encouraging me and met me today for a jog. It went pretty well, I guess. You've got to start somewhere. The best part, though, besides the motivation, is the conversation. Isn't great to know that other people, specifically other women, have the same struggles as you? Not that they are struggling, but that you're not alone...or crazy...
We have daughters the same age so there's a whole lotta conversations just about that. Swimsuit shopping, for instance. Our student pastor says our daughters need to have one-piece swimsuits for camp. I agree with him, in theory. However, have you been swimsuit shopping with a teen girl lately? It is practically impossible to find a suitable one-piece swimsuit for a teen girl that she will actually wear some other time besides camp that doesn't cost too much. A company could make a lot of money just making "camp appropriate" swimwear for girls that was reasonable in price and appearance -- if that's even possible.
Weight gain -- now there's another popular topic among women. A depressing one, however. I just can't go there right now...I've already talked too much about that topic for one day. Next subject...
Reading. My friend is not a big reader, but I love to read. When I'm in school I get to read lots and lots. This summer, however, I am reading Revolutionary Parenting by George Barna for an independent study I am doing for my degree. I've just read the introduction so far but I think it will be a really good book. The main theme of the book, I think, is that parents are really the #1 influencer of their children and, therefore, should be the #1 discipler of their children. Sometimes parents want to shift the responsibility of molding and teaching their children to some professional or institution. Perhaps I will give an update or book review when I actually finish the book. Look for that later... in the meantime, I need a good book to read on vacation so I am open to suggestions if you've read a fabulous book lately!
Mentoring. We talked about Titus 2 today. Older women are to mentor younger women. Older can mean in age or in spiritual maturity. I read an article recently that suggested that we, as believers, should always be looking for someone older to be mentored by, someone our age to walk beside us, and someone younger that we actually mentor. It's all about relationships. I guess that's the whole point of this blog today. Relationships are important. God never meant for us to live this Christian life on our own. In fact, sometimes it can be stinkin' hard and we really can't make it on our own. It's good to bounce ideas off one another, to talk about crazy parenting things, and what God is doing in our own lives.
So, thanks, friend, for a jog in the park...I'll see you tomorrow!
Serving the King,
Jeanette
We have daughters the same age so there's a whole lotta conversations just about that. Swimsuit shopping, for instance. Our student pastor says our daughters need to have one-piece swimsuits for camp. I agree with him, in theory. However, have you been swimsuit shopping with a teen girl lately? It is practically impossible to find a suitable one-piece swimsuit for a teen girl that she will actually wear some other time besides camp that doesn't cost too much. A company could make a lot of money just making "camp appropriate" swimwear for girls that was reasonable in price and appearance -- if that's even possible.
Weight gain -- now there's another popular topic among women. A depressing one, however. I just can't go there right now...I've already talked too much about that topic for one day. Next subject...
Reading. My friend is not a big reader, but I love to read. When I'm in school I get to read lots and lots. This summer, however, I am reading Revolutionary Parenting by George Barna for an independent study I am doing for my degree. I've just read the introduction so far but I think it will be a really good book. The main theme of the book, I think, is that parents are really the #1 influencer of their children and, therefore, should be the #1 discipler of their children. Sometimes parents want to shift the responsibility of molding and teaching their children to some professional or institution. Perhaps I will give an update or book review when I actually finish the book. Look for that later... in the meantime, I need a good book to read on vacation so I am open to suggestions if you've read a fabulous book lately!
Mentoring. We talked about Titus 2 today. Older women are to mentor younger women. Older can mean in age or in spiritual maturity. I read an article recently that suggested that we, as believers, should always be looking for someone older to be mentored by, someone our age to walk beside us, and someone younger that we actually mentor. It's all about relationships. I guess that's the whole point of this blog today. Relationships are important. God never meant for us to live this Christian life on our own. In fact, sometimes it can be stinkin' hard and we really can't make it on our own. It's good to bounce ideas off one another, to talk about crazy parenting things, and what God is doing in our own lives.
So, thanks, friend, for a jog in the park...I'll see you tomorrow!
Serving the King,
Jeanette
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