Find out Which Lost Character Are You at LiquidGeneration.com!
ok- i retook it with jer and i came up with this. i feel good about it!
(jer is kate, hahaha!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
hmmm?
Find out Which Lost Character Are You at LiquidGeneration.com!
ok- i retook it with jer and i came up with this. i feel good about it!
(jer is kate, hahaha!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Am I the only one?
I am sure many of you have read or heard of the story of the prodigal son. If by chance you haven’t read it the story is in Luke 15:11-32. Read it or this blog will make no sense. Every time I have heard this story I have always felt bad for the older son. (Which is weird because if I should be able to relate to anyone in the story it’s the younger, screw up brother. I have a sweet and beautiful older sister that was pretty obedient to our parents and never seemed to get in nears as much trouble as I did! But for some reason I always read this story and found myself taking sides with the older brother against the father.) Yes, why ARE you rewarding the younger when it’s the OLDER that has been so obedient? Where IS the sense of Justice?!!
But I always shoved this out of my mind and tried to take from the story what I thought I was supposed to take; that we are all prodigal sons and should be thankful for the forgiveness offered and move on to the next parable.
Well while reading my “Anger” book Jones talks about this parable and says something that I had never really picked up on. Jones looks deeper into the exchange between the older son and the father and I was amazed at what I had been missing. He describes the older brother’s anger as ‘sinful concealing’ opposite from ‘ sinful revealing’. (Sinful revealing is those of us that get angry and explode at others, sinful concealing is those of us that turn inward and withdraw from others.) He describes the older brother this way because in his anger about his younger brother’s warm welcome, he refuses to go into the party. “He did not blow up; he simply withdrew and clamed up. The father, however, did not." Which is interesting but what really got me was the kindness of the father next to the anger of the older son which i had never really seen as wrong. "The father wisely approached his son to initiate conversation and draw out his thoughts. He exposed the man’s resentment toward his father and jealousy toward his brother.”
This may seem small but I had never seen it like that! I had never seen the tenderness of the father reaching out to his first son! So, this lead me to reread the story in Luke and I was again amazed at another big chunk I had been missing.
So the son responds to his father’s initiation by arguing, “All these many years I have served you. I have always obeyed what you said. But you never gave me a young goat so I could have a supper and a good time with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came back, you killed the fat calf. And yet he wasted your money with bad women."
This is where I usually would say to myself, “Yes! What do you say to that?!” But this time I really understood the father’s response. “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”
Somehow I had always ignored the first sentence, “My son you are always with me.” Not that the father was saying, 'Big deal about you! You are hear all the time.' But he was saying, 'YOU are always with ME. You always have my presence! I am always here, you are always with me!' Isn’t that what we really want?!
On top of that he says, “All I have is yours!” Second to giving him his presence he gives his son all that he has! It's like the father is saying, 'a calf and a party? That's all you want?! But you are with me!? This is all yours!'
How much like the older brother am I that I didn’t hear the father correctly either! So natural it is for me to complain, demand, compare and condemn. Oh, how I want to realize the depth of those words, “My daughter you are always with me” and realize I have everything that I need.
I never knew how much the story of the prodigal son was really about the father.
But I always shoved this out of my mind and tried to take from the story what I thought I was supposed to take; that we are all prodigal sons and should be thankful for the forgiveness offered and move on to the next parable.
Well while reading my “Anger” book Jones talks about this parable and says something that I had never really picked up on. Jones looks deeper into the exchange between the older son and the father and I was amazed at what I had been missing. He describes the older brother’s anger as ‘sinful concealing’ opposite from ‘ sinful revealing’. (Sinful revealing is those of us that get angry and explode at others, sinful concealing is those of us that turn inward and withdraw from others.) He describes the older brother this way because in his anger about his younger brother’s warm welcome, he refuses to go into the party. “He did not blow up; he simply withdrew and clamed up. The father, however, did not." Which is interesting but what really got me was the kindness of the father next to the anger of the older son which i had never really seen as wrong. "The father wisely approached his son to initiate conversation and draw out his thoughts. He exposed the man’s resentment toward his father and jealousy toward his brother.”
This may seem small but I had never seen it like that! I had never seen the tenderness of the father reaching out to his first son! So, this lead me to reread the story in Luke and I was again amazed at another big chunk I had been missing.
So the son responds to his father’s initiation by arguing, “All these many years I have served you. I have always obeyed what you said. But you never gave me a young goat so I could have a supper and a good time with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came back, you killed the fat calf. And yet he wasted your money with bad women."
This is where I usually would say to myself, “Yes! What do you say to that?!” But this time I really understood the father’s response. “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”
Somehow I had always ignored the first sentence, “My son you are always with me.” Not that the father was saying, 'Big deal about you! You are hear all the time.' But he was saying, 'YOU are always with ME. You always have my presence! I am always here, you are always with me!' Isn’t that what we really want?!
On top of that he says, “All I have is yours!” Second to giving him his presence he gives his son all that he has! It's like the father is saying, 'a calf and a party? That's all you want?! But you are with me!? This is all yours!'
How much like the older brother am I that I didn’t hear the father correctly either! So natural it is for me to complain, demand, compare and condemn. Oh, how I want to realize the depth of those words, “My daughter you are always with me” and realize I have everything that I need.
I never knew how much the story of the prodigal son was really about the father.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
a few pics
siblings on my side- Christmas day. (why on earth didn't i take more pictures??!)
tess and i at Mels bachlorette party- yes i had to chop off a little inappropriateness of the cookie we had been decorating.
this is the fun part!!
ah the old roomies! together for mel's bridal shower
mel's wedding day! notice chavon going to work on a tear in mel's dress! ekk! oh but these are the great stories after it's all over!
in the brides room waiting for the big moment
and this is what all those hours of waiting can do to you
tess and i at Mels bachlorette party- yes i had to chop off a little inappropriateness of the cookie we had been decorating.
this is the fun part!!
ah the old roomies! together for mel's bridal shower
mel's wedding day! notice chavon going to work on a tear in mel's dress! ekk! oh but these are the great stories after it's all over!
in the brides room waiting for the big moment
and this is what all those hours of waiting can do to you
Monday, January 7, 2008
Something Great
Then I heard something great
Like the voice of a multitude
Something Great
Peals of thunder
MIGHTY thunder
Like many waters
The sound of Great waters
Hallelujah!
Give praise to our God!
Something GREAT
Like the sound-
The sound of our LORD
Something GREAT.
From His mouth
Like deep waters
The Lord, mighty in battle
Something GREAT
The voice of a warrior!
I heard Him
Peals of thunder
HALLELUJAH!
A new song!
The sound of thunder
Terrific and mighty
I heard HIM!
The Lord
JESUS
Like the voice of a multitude
Something Great
Peals of thunder
MIGHTY thunder
Like many waters
The sound of Great waters
Hallelujah!
Give praise to our God!
Something GREAT
Like the sound-
The sound of our LORD
Something GREAT.
From His mouth
Like deep waters
The Lord, mighty in battle
Something GREAT
The voice of a warrior!
I heard Him
Peals of thunder
HALLELUJAH!
A new song!
The sound of thunder
Terrific and mighty
I heard HIM!
The Lord
JESUS
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Saturday, December 22, 2007
uprooting anger
I have never thought much about anger until about 6 months into marriage. Call me naïve but I was kind of shocked to see it coming out in me. It was probably just as prevalent during times living with roommates, but roommates are different; you know they are short term. You can sweep things under the rug and just grin-and-bear-it. But with marriage, it’s clearly different for one reason- the commitment is until God decides to kill me or until He returns to take me home.
Once married, I continued with my usual sweeping anger under rug and finally it dawned on me that I didn’t want to deal with a mountain of stale dust at the 5 year mark. (Especially if I have kids and ESPECIALLY if they are anything like me!)
One day Michael (who I work for) had me order some new books that we are going to start offering at Recovery. Really, I could do to read all of them but the first one that caught my eye was “Uprooting Anger” by Robert D. Jones.
The major draw for me in this book was that I didn’t really understand anger. I have heard people talk about righteous anger and refer to Jesus in the New Testament, and God through out, having anger, so I know that righteous anger is such a thing. I also know that when my husband agrees to return a blockbuster video and then forgets, I get angry! I think my original question was do I have an argument here?! Am I allowed to vent my “righteous anger” at my husband during these times? (I mean clearly, being timely with your rentals is the Right Thing to DO! Am I right or am I right?!)
Ok, obviously I am being a bit factious, but only a bit. I really wanted to understand my anger. If it’s ungodly then with all my heart I want to know.
Let me tell you; I picked up the right book. I have seen my wicked heart and, even more, God’s graciousness so clearly. Although there has been much conviction reading this book there has also been so much joy!! My poor husband has probably grown weary of my running to him to read aloud the newest paragraph that has brought light to my eyes. I can’t think of one person who should not read this.
This book is not merely for people that yell and scream but for the people that have anger in their heart- displayed or not.
I am only on chapter 6 but had to post a little more about the content.
Chapter 1- What is anger?
Chapter 2- Is your anger really righteous?
Chapter 3- Getting to the heart of anger
Chapter 4- Repentance- the road to uprooting heart anger
Chapter 5- Changing our angry behavior: Sinful reveling
Chapter 6- Changing our angry behavior: Sinful concealing
Chapter 7- Anger against God
Chapter 8- Anger against yourself
Chapter 9- Helping others deal with their anger
Chapter 10- Why you must deal with your sinful anger
In chapter 2 he gives three criteria for righteous anger.
1.It reacts against actual sin (as defined in the bible).
2.It focuses on God and His kingdom, rights and concerns, not on me and my kingdom, rights and concerns
3. It’s accompanied by other godly qualities and expresses itself in godly ways.
Although human anger can be righteous, most is not (surprise). This book invites such opportunities to repent and drawn near to God who will provide us with grace in times of anger!
One funny story before I end this too long blog. If you haven’t picked up by now I am usually the clean freak between Jerry and I. He has this loving habit of buying a 6 pack of beer, putting it in the fridge, drinking it over a period of time and Leaving the Box in the Fridge! See, clearly the Right thing to do is to Throw Away the box. When I Lovingly Remind him to Kindly place his box in the trash he looks at me and says, “Babe, it’s my trademark move.”
Classic. :)
Once married, I continued with my usual sweeping anger under rug and finally it dawned on me that I didn’t want to deal with a mountain of stale dust at the 5 year mark. (Especially if I have kids and ESPECIALLY if they are anything like me!)
One day Michael (who I work for) had me order some new books that we are going to start offering at Recovery. Really, I could do to read all of them but the first one that caught my eye was “Uprooting Anger” by Robert D. Jones.
The major draw for me in this book was that I didn’t really understand anger. I have heard people talk about righteous anger and refer to Jesus in the New Testament, and God through out, having anger, so I know that righteous anger is such a thing. I also know that when my husband agrees to return a blockbuster video and then forgets, I get angry! I think my original question was do I have an argument here?! Am I allowed to vent my “righteous anger” at my husband during these times? (I mean clearly, being timely with your rentals is the Right Thing to DO! Am I right or am I right?!)
Ok, obviously I am being a bit factious, but only a bit. I really wanted to understand my anger. If it’s ungodly then with all my heart I want to know.
Let me tell you; I picked up the right book. I have seen my wicked heart and, even more, God’s graciousness so clearly. Although there has been much conviction reading this book there has also been so much joy!! My poor husband has probably grown weary of my running to him to read aloud the newest paragraph that has brought light to my eyes. I can’t think of one person who should not read this.
This book is not merely for people that yell and scream but for the people that have anger in their heart- displayed or not.
I am only on chapter 6 but had to post a little more about the content.
Chapter 1- What is anger?
Chapter 2- Is your anger really righteous?
Chapter 3- Getting to the heart of anger
Chapter 4- Repentance- the road to uprooting heart anger
Chapter 5- Changing our angry behavior: Sinful reveling
Chapter 6- Changing our angry behavior: Sinful concealing
Chapter 7- Anger against God
Chapter 8- Anger against yourself
Chapter 9- Helping others deal with their anger
Chapter 10- Why you must deal with your sinful anger
In chapter 2 he gives three criteria for righteous anger.
1.It reacts against actual sin (as defined in the bible).
2.It focuses on God and His kingdom, rights and concerns, not on me and my kingdom, rights and concerns
3. It’s accompanied by other godly qualities and expresses itself in godly ways.
Although human anger can be righteous, most is not (surprise). This book invites such opportunities to repent and drawn near to God who will provide us with grace in times of anger!
One funny story before I end this too long blog. If you haven’t picked up by now I am usually the clean freak between Jerry and I. He has this loving habit of buying a 6 pack of beer, putting it in the fridge, drinking it over a period of time and Leaving the Box in the Fridge! See, clearly the Right thing to do is to Throw Away the box. When I Lovingly Remind him to Kindly place his box in the trash he looks at me and says, “Babe, it’s my trademark move.”
Classic. :)
Friday, December 21, 2007
blah!
i know!! i am sick of looking at that old blog too! well this is not a good one now but i will hopefully be getting some good blog time over the holidays! i will say this though. this morning i was turning in my cube to return a hello and i spilt my Exxon coffee all over my jeans! PEOPLE, there is no feeling like wet jeans on your lap and legs. sick. (my sturdy Target thermal mug that i usually use would have never turned over. it's the greatest.)
then, i was helping Bex transport Bauer from fishbowl to Ziploc in the office kitchen. somehow Bauer must have tried to make a break for it cause he toppled the (large) bag off the counter! little Bauer and little Baur poop went all over and floor and... my jeans. so needless to say i can't type much right now cause all i can think about is my grossness! get me home!
then, i was helping Bex transport Bauer from fishbowl to Ziploc in the office kitchen. somehow Bauer must have tried to make a break for it cause he toppled the (large) bag off the counter! little Bauer and little Baur poop went all over and floor and... my jeans. so needless to say i can't type much right now cause all i can think about is my grossness! get me home!
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