The Earth is Full of His Glory!

I remember it like it was yesterday! Oh, it was! What a wonderful weekend spent basking in the glory of God! The whole purpose of my weekend was to awaken my heart

and soul from this terrible slump I've been in. I took this time away from the real world so I could really focus and spend time getting know God more. I had so many things

on my heart and planned on spending alot of time praying about these things. Instead, I ended up spending most of my time worshipping. The weather, the colors of the

leaves, the lake the breeze...it was all so perfect. It was as if my environment was sympathizing with me the entire weekend. I will spend the next few days sharing some of my journal entries from the moments I was there.


DAY ONE 11/04/05

Well, finally, here I am sitting on some steps at dusk. I'm finally here writing about my day so far. I would have been here much sooner but I locked the keys in my trunk

when I first got here. The ranger (lady) came and rescued me! She asked me to pray for her son to find a friend (or two or three). So, I will add that to my prayer list this

weekend. The trip out here was peaceful and wonderful and as I listened to God speake to me through Pastor Sipes, well, that with the beauty and all the brilliant fall colors...moved me to tears a few times. It's getting too dark to write so I'm going to have dinner then head to my room for some quiet time. It's 5:20 pm.

(8:00 pm) Well, plans changed. This weekend is about God so my schedule and time belong to Him. Instead of spending ite in my room, I had dinner (seafood night...is
every Friday night seafood night...EVERYWHERE???) Anyhow, fish on Friday...how fitting!

.....I'm outside, downstairs on the patio under the stars and pines. The night sky is beautiful and the temperature is comfortably cool. I want to praise God now for the beauty of this day. What a beautiful gift He has given me.

(9:19 pm) God led me to Psalm 119 tonight. I began praying certain parts of the Psalm as I read it. The one I prayed last before moving to another Bible study was 119:40,

"Behold, I long for Your precepts, revive me in Your righteousness." Then, I began reading the introduction to Kay Arthurs "Lord, I Want to Know You" .....she says that the

Lord's book contains everything we need to know and apply to our lives. "These are precepts for life; through them we will gain understanding and as the psalmist says,

'Hate every false way.'" (Psalm 119:104).

(9:39 pm) Father, show me what you want me to do, Your will. I know You will show me because it is in accordance to that will. I know that if I step out in faith, You will give me an avenue of ministry, person by person or group by group, that will not only stagger my mind, but absolutely delight my soul.

This was the theme of the entire weekend. God set the ball rolling on Friday night and it just kept building from there all weekend.

Before I arrived at Natchez Trace, I asked God for something special just for me. I asked Him for lots of peachy and red foliage to be there for me to enjoy. It was everywhere!

On day one, God spoke to my heart almost immediately. He told me to stop doubting, that the reason I believe that there's got to be something more to life than this is because THERE IS! He told me once again to DREAM BIG! It's my calling!!!

Note: Today 11/07'05, a new friend, Gina, expressed her concerns to me regarding women's ministry and the lack thereof at my church. She told me she wanted to meet with me and pray about it at least once a week. We will also be doing Bible study together. We'll be using Kay Arthur's "Lord I want to Know You" as a study guide....an avenue of ministry, person by person. Amen.

Whaaaaaaa?

So Jesus is tired after a hard day of healing and teaching and he needs rest. He went to a quiet place and just wanted to be alone to rest and relax.

A woman barges in on him and pleads for him to free her daughter from demon possession.

At first he says nothing and the disciples note to him their irritation with this woman who keeps bugging them to see Jesus. They urge Jesus to send her away.

Jesus finally responds to the woman but what he says to her puzzles me.

What he didn't say puzzles me too. He didn't say with gentleness "your faith has healed your daughter", or "your sins are forgiven, go and sin no more", or "bring the child to me".

He said

"It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." (Matthew 15:21-28)

First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."(Mark 7:24-30)

Whaaaaaa?

I just don't understand that.

I think I'm missing something.

Then, I am very puzzled by the woman's response which was NOT "whaaaaaaa?". No, she replied,

"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." (Matthew 15:27)

"Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." (Mark 7:28)

I don't understand why Jesus responded like he did to this desperate woman. It seems so out of character, but then again, maybe not. As usual he used the encounter to say "I was only sent to the lost sheep of Isreal." (Matthew 15:24) to "affirm" what the disciples were thinking...then he did just the opposite for this Gentile...he freed the woman's daughter from demon possession. He showed the disciples listening to this dialogue that he was NOT only sent to the lost sheep of Isreal.

What I can't understand is the whole "bread, children, dog" thing? And how did the woman know to respond with the "crumb" thing? I really think I'm missing something.

I asked about it in SaLT with WaLT and attempts were made to help me understand, and while I understand the point of the story, I'm having trouble grasping how the whole conversation between Jesus and the woman took place, the whole "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs" remark is so out of the blue to me. Katie says I'm trying to make something more of it than there is.

Katie's Retreat

Katie has returned from her retreat to Natchez Trace State Park. I can't wait to hear about how God moved in her life this weekend and what she may have discovered about His plans for her.

I love this picture that she captured of herself sitting near the lake, leaning on a tree, pondering the beauty of creation. I chose it for the desktop background picture.

Click the picture for a larger view. 

I've Lost the Kids

Katie is away on a retreat this weekend. I told her a few months ago...GO! I'll handle things, you need to do this.

So, yesterday she left.

Today, I've lost the kids.

It started last night. I picked up Justin from the football game and when I arrived he said to me "Stacy (a friend from church) is picking me up". Not good. I told him that I was there to take him home and he should call and tell her not to come. I also explained that he only needed the ride TO school...and he said "oh, I thought you were working tonight". As we have done all season, when I work on Friday nights, I pick him up from school afterward. I thought he understood this. Simple, no?

When he comes back out to the car he tells me that Bill, Stacy's husband, answered. Justin tells me that he asked Bill if Stacy had her cell phone and was told "probably not". That was that. (What I didn't realize at the time is that Justin only asked that one question of Bill...he didn't explain the situation!)

So Justin and I are sitting waiting for Stacy to arrive just to tell her to turn back around and go home. I'm feeling bad because this is an inconvenience for Bill and Stacy because the school is twenty minutes from their home. So, I'm thinking that it is very unfortunate that Stacy is on her way and I asked Justin again "Do we know if Stacy has her phone?" and he said "Bill didn't think so", and I asked Justin..."did you tell him the situation?" Justin said "uh...no". I told Justin to go (he has to use the band room phone because I don't carry a cell) try to call her anyway, and at least Bill, so we can catch her before she gets all the way here. He said "I don't know her number". Ugh! Boys! I said "Call her husband to tell her that I'm picking you up!" I started getting frustrated here because I couldn't figure out why Justin didn't tell that to Bill to begin with! Justin said "oh man, I didn't think of that!"

Justin comes back out to the car and says "ok, all settled, Stacy is turning around and going home." Yay.

As we pull out of the drive, Justin mentions something about Tiffany, his sister, not being home tonight. I'm thinking did I know this? So Justin tells me "Stacy brought Tif to the football game and then Tif left with another girl and said 'mom said it was okay'".

I asked Justin "Who is Tif with?" and he said he didn't know.

URGH!

"Who is Tiffany with? What girl? Where is she at?"

He had no idea! I was getting nervous and upset because now I have no idea where Tiffany is! I'm not doing a very good job as the not-the-mom!

Then Justin finally says "Ohhhhhhh....it's coming to me...(as he is coaxing it up from the recesses of his brain)...Emily! She's at Emily's!"

Yay, I could relax then. I trust Emily's parents...but, I wasn't sure if I could trust Justin's information! LOL

I explained to Justin that he is the older brother and needs to be responsible for knowing the whereabouts of his sister and making sure she is okay!

*sigh*

So, today I knew that the youth from church were working on a a roof for a member of Northbrook. (They became quite skilled at roofing during a mission trip in the early summer.) Justin had made arrangements for transportation there. When I left I let him know that I would be home around 5:30 and he said "Ok".

So...here I am...home at 5:30 and no kids.

I've lost the kids!

Again!

Ugh.

I called Stacy and left a message on her answering machine asking "where are my not-the-kids?"

She just this moment called back to tell me they just got back from roofing and are famished. She was going to feed the kids and then Bill would bring them home.

I said "you don't trust me to feed the kids?" LOL

She hesitantly said "ummmmmmmm...."

LOL

So, the lost have been found! (and are now being fed)

Being a not-the-mom is tough work and I'm missing my friend right now!

Internet Introductions

Katie and I met Gina yesterday. We met for coffee at Starbucks and had a good time learning a bit about each other.

Gina "found" us while Googling Northbrook Church. She happened by the Sisters' Weblog, and emailed us to inquire about our church. It was fun answering her questions about Northbrook and ourselves, and then eventually meeting in person.

Gina was even inspired to start up her own blog! Sisters' Weblog spawn!

We had a really good time talking with Gina and listening to her "Jesus Story" (testimony). I think a good new friendship is in the making! Yay! She shared with us that she has the gift of hospitality and invited us to Thanksgiving dinner with her family! We are so blessed! That is actually our THIRD this year, so we had to decline Gina's invitation, but maybe we can do that another time.

The Internet can really be useful in bringing together new friends, and we discovered we had many things in common! Places we've lived, past occupations we've shared, current activities we are involved with, it bloggles the mind!

Jennifer Knapp

Good news from CCM Magazine which says that Gotee will be releasing the first ever live recordings of Jennifer Knapp this coming January 24.



Where is Jennifer Knapp? I have no idea...just pray. When there is any JK news though, you'll most likely here it here first! jenniferknapp.net

I've Been Quoted!

I was contacted this week by a former employee, who is now a writer for the Jackson Today, a weekly paper in Jackson, TN. He remembered that I had talked about my experience playing Ring of Fire with the Johnny Cash Band, the Tennessee Three, at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame Festival in 2004 and wanted some info about that.

The Tennessee Three have an album that is up for possibly six grammy nominations! Huh, and I've played on stage with them! Woohooo! You can read the article about the grammy nods here and you will notice that I've been quoted! (yellow highlighted part that you can't miss!)