A Healthy Addiction

1 Corinthians 16:15  I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)  (emphasis mine)

The Bible truly is a living Book!  No matter how many times you may read a certain passage, something fresh will always pop out!  I admit that I am often guilty of skimming the last several verses of the epistles where Paul closes with his greetings.  That may be why I’ve never noticed this particular phrase: “they have addicted themselves to the ministry.”

This morning that phrase struck a chord within me.  Being in a ministry family, I am very involved with our church, and make no mistake- I love it!  There’s no doubt in my mind that the Lord has called us there, and I enjoy the people and the work that I do there, yet I had to ask myself, “Have I addicted myself to the ministry?”

Today, when we hear the word “addict,” it’s never a favorable term.  It brings to mind an uncontrollable urge, desire, or need for something physically, emotionally, or spiritually unhealthy.  However, we know that God would not have us controlled by anything other than the Holy Spirit! 

Notice that the verse says they “addicted themselves to” not “they were addicted to.”  They made a conscious and deliberate choice here!  When the house of Stephanas addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints, they appointed or devoted themselves to a position of service.  I believe that if the apostles or someone in the church needed help, Stephanas’ house felt it was their responsibility to make sure the need was met.

So am I devoted in the same way?  If a brother or sister in Christ has a need, whether physical or spiritual, do I feel it’s my job to meet it or to make sure someone else does?  Or do I sometimes slough it off, thinking that I’m too busy and someone else can handle it?  There’s no doubt that with seven children and a household to run, I’m pretty busy in my day-to-day life, but that doesn’t negate my responsibilities to my fellow Christians. 

I want to make the same decision that the house of Stephanas did.  I want to addict myself to my fellow saints.  I want their burdens to be my burdens, their needs to be my needs.  Addiction can be a good thing!

A Baby Shower Devotional

Tonight, the ladies of our church will be getting together to have a baby shower for a young woman expecting her second child!  I love baby showers!  (Big surprise huh?!)

I’m giving a short devotional that I hope will be an encouragement to the new mother, and I thought I’d share it here.  Please be patient with some grammatical errors, as these are simply notes and not a complete, thought-out essay!

~~~~~~~~~

First some funnies:  These questions were asked of elementary-aged children.

How did God make mothers?

• “He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.”
• “Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.”
• “God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.”

What ingredients are mothers made of?

• “God makes mothers out of clouds, angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.”
• “They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string. I think.”

Why did God give you your mother and not some other Mom?

• “God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.”

What kind of little girl was your Mom?

• “I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.”
• “They say she used to be nice.”

What's the difference between moms and dads?

• “Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.”

What does your Mom do in her spare time?

• “Mothers don't do spare time.”
• “To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.”

What would it take to make your Mom perfect?

• “On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.”
• “Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.”

If you could change one thing about your Mom, what would it be?

• “She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.”
• “I'd make my Mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.”

A Mother’s Influence

Children are very observant! And sometimes we don’t realize what they are observing until we see it or hear it come out of their mouth! Oops!

As parents, we are the strongest influence in our child’s life. God gives parents the primary responsibility for the raising of a child!

Dueteronomy 6:5-7

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
(Deuteronomy 6:5-7)

Our children will have many people that will influence them over their lifetimes. Friends, Sunday School teachers, television, and so on, but we the parents, and more specifically tonight, the mothers, will wield a much stronger influence than any of these.

We can influence our child for good, but we can also use our influence for the bad. In Scripture we have examples of both.

Let’s start with the bad: 2 Chr. 22:2-3

Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri. He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.
(2 Chronicles 22:2-3)

Throughout the history of Israel’s and Judah’s kings, the mothers are rarely mentioned. But here we are told of King Ahaziah’s mother Athaliah. The Bible says she counseled him to do wickedly! We can read more about that in the chapter and in 2 Kings, and we find that Athaliah eventually kills the rest of the household to set herself up as queen, but the point here is that Athaliah, because of her own ambitions and priorities, was a wicked influence on her son.

I certainly hope that you (mother) will never counsel your children to do wickedly, but let Athaliah serve as a reminder to us that we can let our own plans and desires get in the way of the godly influence we are supposed to be. Watch your priorities!

Now the good: 2 Tim 1:5

When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
(2 Timothy 1:5)

Timothy’s mother Eunice (and grandmother) had a profound effect on Timothy’s life and future service! As best we can tell Timothy’s father was a Greek and unsaved, and therefore had very little positive influence on Timothy’s spiritual development, yet we read in 2 Tim 3:15 that Timothy knew the Scriptures from the time he was a child! And because of that, he was saved and followed God his whole life. He became very dear to the Apostle Paul.

(Mother), as you prepare to have your 2^nd child, remember that you will wield an incredible power! You will influence your children, make no mistake about that! But what kind of influence will you have? What will you teach them?

I strongly believe that parents are parents from Day 1, and parents are teachers from Day 1. Granted, in those early days, you are simply teaching them to eat and sleep, but you are teaching nonetheless. But as our children grow, we have an incredible responsibility to teach them to “love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”

So (mother), I encourage you tonight to renew that commitment within you to teach your children to love the Lord, and use your influence in a godly way! I know the ladies here will rally around you to help you in that journey! We love you, we love (first child), and we love this new little one. So ladies will you please join me in prayer as we ask the Lord’s blessing on (mother), her family, and the new baby?

Peace, Be Still

Mark 4:35-40  And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.  And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.  And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.  And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?  And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.  And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

This was the main text of a session that I recently attended at Spiritual Leadership Conference at Lancaster Baptist Church.  The topic was surviving the storms of life, and, as usual, I was reading the notes ahead while I waited for the class to start.  As I read this very familiar passage, something stood out to me that I had never seen before.

Jesus calmed the storm before He taught his disciples a lesson. 

No kidding, huh?!

But I believe God was teaching me a little parenting lesson at that moment.  As you can guess, with six young children in the house, there is no shortage of storms in our home.  Someone hurt, something broken, etc. and the kids are frantic.  I realized that far too often, I am trying to scold and/or teach while in the midst of the storm.  And, big surprise, that’s when my volume level rises!  Soon I’m nearly as frantic as the kids, and when everything finally does calm down, I have to repeat everything I just said because no one could focus before!

Maybe this is overly simple, but I’ve been trying to watch myself very carefully these past few weeks.  And I’m making a point to be very quiet, soothing when necessary, until the storm has calmed.  Then we can all focus on what needs to be said.

After all, God speaks to His children so often in that still, small voice.  Why shouldn’t I strive to do the same?

The First Christmas

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
                                       Luke 2:1-20

Merry Christmas

‘Twas the night before Jesus came and all through the house
Not a creature was praying not one in the house
Their Bibles were lain on the shelf without care
In hopes that Jesus would not come there.

The children were dressing to crawl into bed
Not once ever kneeling or bowing a head.
And mom in her rocker with baby on her lap
Was watching the Late Show while I took a nap.

When out of the east there arose such a clatter
I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter
Away to the window I flew like a flash
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash

When what to my wondering eyes should appear
But angels proclaiming that Jesus was here
With a light like the sun sending forth a bright ray
I knew in a moment this must be the day.

The light of His face made me cover my head
It was Jesus, returning just like he said
And though I possessed worldly wisdom and wealth
I cried when I saw Him, in spite of myself.

In The Book Of Life which He held in His hand
Was written the name of every saved man
He spoke not a word as he searched for my name
When He said "It's not here" my head hung in shame.

The people whose name had been written in love
He gathered to take to His Father above
With those who are ready He rose with out a sound
While all the rest were left standing around.

I fell to my knees but it was too late
I had waited too long and this sealed my fate
I stood and cried as they rose out of sight
Oh, if I had only been ready tonight.

In the words of the meaning is clear.
The coming of Jesus is drawing near.
There's only one life and when comes the last call
We'll find that the Bible was true after all.

                              ~Author Unknown

As we celebrate the birth of our Savior, let us not forget that He did not stay a baby in manger!  He grew to be the perfect Sacrifice for my sin and yours, and He will one day judge the world!

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.            Philippians 2:10-11 

A VERY Happy Father’s Day

Yes, I know we're almost two weeks past Father's Day, but it was a great one for our family, and I've been waiting on pictures to post about it.

Forgive me, but I'm going to pass over all the normal Father's Day stuff (love you, honey!), and talk about the two things that made this day extra special.

First, we had Twinkle’s Dedication.

A Baby’s Dedication is very different from infant baptism.  The Bible is very clear that baptism is an outward profession of one’s decision to trust Jesus as Savior.  It doesn’t ‘wash’ away any sin, only the blood of Jesus can do that!    A baby can not make any such decision.

Basically, a dedication is all about the parents!  Dad and Mom publicly declare before the church their promise to God that they will be faithful to raise that baby as a gift from the Lord, to rear him in the ‘nurture and admonition of the Lord,’ and to live as an example of a faithful Christian, so that when that baby is old enough to understand the gospel, he will decide to, by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), accept Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. 

Every Christian parent ought to dedicate their child to the Lord.  We have Hannah’s example in 1 Samuel, and we also see an example of this when Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the temple when he was eight days old.  Now, it may not be a big, public church event, but all parents ought to declare their intentions to the Lord in their hearts.

Baby Dedications have always been special events to me, wonderful memories tucked away in my mother’s heart.  Hero and McAwesome were both dedicated in South Carolina by the same pastor that dedicated my husband as a baby (Herp spit up on him!).  Sweetheart Girl was dedicated by our pastor in Sierra Vista, the same man who married us!  Our Associate Pastor Eli was licensed and ordained recently, and we’ve asked him to do the twin’s and now Twinkle’s dedications.

So that was the first exciting thing that happened.

We went out to lunch and did normal Father’s Day stuff.  The kids gave Dad their gifts, and he gave the appropriate ooos and aaahs.  We attended church that evening, then came home and got the kids into bed.  They were having a hard time falling asleep, and sure enough I heard Hero and McAwesome calling for me.  I went into the room, and McAwesome said something that I cannot for the life of me remember, but I know I didn’t quite understand what he was trying to say.  Then Hero asked if McAwesome was one of the kids that had gotten saved at VBS the previous week.  No, he wasn’t.  Hero was a bit incredulous- he’s been praying for McAwesome since he became a Christian two years ago.

McAwesome then cried out in frustration, “Well, how do I know if I’m saved!?” 

Well, now, I can hardly tell them they should be sleeping by now, so I told McAwesome to come with me, and I took him into my bedroom and we went through the Scriptures.  McAwesome understood everything.  He knew what sin is, and he readily admitted that he was a sinner.  We went through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and how only through Christ can we get to heaven.  McAwesome mentioned hell all by himself, and said that he deserved to go there.  Okay, long story short, when I asked McAwesome if he wanted to ask Jesus to be his Savior or if he wanted to wait, he said he wanted to do it then. 

I was blessed to be the one that led our oldest son Hero to the Lord- it was a Thursday night and Daddy-man wasn’t home.  But this night, Daddy-man was home, so I thought he should get to pray with McAwesome.  I brought McAwesome out to the dining room, and Daddy-man went over things one more time with him, then he helped McAwesome pray. 

My McAwesome is SAVED!! 

McAwesome is always willing to be vocal about not wanting to do something (he’s not a people-pleaser), so I didn’t worry too much about him praying just to make mom and dad happy.  Plus, this is hardly the first time it came up, but he’s just never seemed to fully understand and he’s never wanted to before.  But McAwesome’s also not a talker, so I wondered what type of evidence we might be able to see.  However, he’s told many people on his own that he’s a Christian now, and he’s already mentioned wanting to get baptized.

What a way to close out Father’s Day 2010!

LOVE- To a Four Year-Old

"What does love mean?"

This came from Sweetheart Girl tonight.  I think it came on the heels of our 'Good-bye, Daddy' and 'I love you!' routine as Daddy-man left this evening.  However it came about, it took me a tad off-guard.  Six children, and I've not heard that one before.


My first thought was, 'never having to say you're sorry.'  Obviously, soo not true, and she wouldn't get the joke. 

So what to say to a 4 year-old?  I think I said it was kind of the same as liking someone, being their friend, and treating them nicely no matter what the person does.  I was prepared to turn this into a 'teachable moment,' complete with God's perfect example of true love, but she said,

"Okay."

And she bounced out of the room.

So, I guess I missed my chance this time, but it got me thinking on what to tell her when she asks again.  Sweetheart Girl always asks again!

Love is kind, patient, always thinks the best of someone.
Love is service.  Giving, instead of taking.  Thinking of others first, yourself last.
Love is forgiving, whether or not the person deserves it, and whether or not you feel like it. 

So many things, but so far I can't even get these ones right! 


1 Corinthians 13:2  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understanding all mysteries, and all knowledge: and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

He's Able!

The following is stolen from my very smart hubby.  He preached on Ephesians 3:14-21 last night.  As it turns out, I was home with 2 sick kiddos so I didn't get to hear it.

God is able to do what we ask.
God is able to do what we ask or think.
God is able to do all that we ask or think.
God is able to do more than we ask or think.
God is able to do abundantly more than we ask or think.
God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think!!

Ephesians 3:20  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.