Mandy’s Mondays – Fasten your Heartbelt
05
November
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This week I read an interesting verse in I Chronicles 22.  In this chapter David is charging his son, Solomon, who is becoming King with instructions for building the temple.  David had an idea to build God a permanent place of worship and set out to do so, only to be stopped by the Lord and told that his son was to do the task and not him.  So David obeyed and left the building to Solomon, but he provided the motivation, insight, casting of the vision and gathering of the supplies.   David was serious about this task and wanted to see his dream followed through.

In the above noted verse David moves from listing his provisions for Solomon to addressing the leaders of Israel and says “Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God.  Begin to build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the sacred articles belonging to God into the temple that will be built for the Name of the Lord.”  Here is what I found interesting:

Beth Moore explains in her book David that the “Hebrew word for devote is nathan.  It means “to give, place, add, send forth.  Nathan indicates fastening something in place” (she is quoting Warren Baker’s The Complete Word Study Old Testament here) She then explains that David tells Solomon and the leaders of Israel to fasten their hearts to seeking the Lord.

So I started thinking about what it means to fasten something in.

The first thought that came to my mind was the way I fasten my younger kids into their car seats!  I take time to make sure it is done well, they are important people to me and I want them riding in that car safely!!  I even take extra pains to making sure the car-seat itself is fastened in the car well (I do the knee in the seat-push real hard -pull on the seat belt forever thing – we do not have the newer car restraint system that changes this ritual)   And it is this picture that David says we should do with our hearts – fastening it in like a child in a car seat.

Now the second thing that came to mind was being fastened into a harness to repel or other rock climbing.  I once jumped off a bridge in Switzerland only because I felt sure I was fastened in well to the life line that was going to pendulum “catch” me   and swing me for a ride.  (I have to admit I was pretty nervous about this jump and made sure I did not look down before jumping!)  And here again we find David’s word – fasten that heart in like you would a rock climbing harness to your life line – as if your very life depended on it.

And I guess that is what is similar with both pictures the car seat and the rock climbing harness, it is life and death and therefore we consider the fastening very important.  It is true with my heart and soul as well!!  I should fasten my heart to seeking the Lord, strap it into the car seat, set the car on the course to God and enjoy the ride.  I should fasten my soul into seeking the Lord, harness it in with the best equipment so that I can take that leap of faith diving after the Lord :)   How great is that, and what a challenge!

I think I have some fastening to go do!

Category: Mandy, Mandy's Mondays, spiritual life  Leave a Comment
Theology Thursdays
01
November
2
written by: | 2 Comments

I would like to begin a new blogging series here…dedicated to considering how Christian theology works out in our lives and culture.
This is one of the things that I like to do…theology. I firmly believe, as do many, that theology isn’t theology if it is simply in the academic world. In fact, I think something that is very pastoral and life-on-life has been pushed off to those who read about it, have well sounding theories, or a systemitized box to hold it all in. It’s kinda like asking the former football player, turned commentator, about the game of football. He will have a lot of good information and necessary angles to look at things, but can he get out there and run the play or teach the team how to run it…will he see the struggles or simply demand that his ideas get done??

I am taking a theology class in seminary right now and our staff is reading a book about 5 emerging church leaders, so there is more than usual thoughts on my mind in this area. Let me share my professor, John Franke’s, definition of theology first (I did it from memory on the mid-term, but I’ll consult the notes just to make sure I get it):

“Theology is an ongoing, second-order, contextual discipline that engages in the task of critical and constructive reflection on the beliefs and practices of the Christian church for the purpose of assisting the community of Christ followers in their missional vocation to live as the people of God in the particular social-historical context in which they are situated.” (you can also find this in his book The Character of Theology)

With that as an introduction, my first theological post is going to be on something that has received much attention to date and will continue to receive more… The Emergent Church, Emerging Church, Emerging Conversation, Emergent Village, etc.

Wikipedia actually has a pretty good description, here is the beginning:

“…is a controversial 21st-century Protestant Christian movement whose participants seek to engage postmodern people, especially the unchurched and post-churched. To accomplish this, “emerging Christians” (also known as “emergents”) deconstruct and reconstruct Christian beliefs, standards, and methods to accommodate postmodern culture.” (you can read the rest here)

I have been following some of these discussions of “deconstructing and reconstructing” for at least 4 years here and like much of what I see! Surely there are some caution flags as with anything that we go into, but I believe that we in the North American Churches are going to need to be more like the missionaries that we send out to other countries… studying the culture, understanding how the truth of the gospel impacts that culture and communicating the good news in relevant 21st century ways!

Well, the definition said it was “controversial” and IT IS! Wow, is it ever, which is good to help process theology! But I do hope that we can be more characterized by what we stand for and support rather than what we are against. I came across some well done anti-emergent posters, themed like the traditional motivational posters, but jabbing fun at some of the perceived or real weaknesses or differences with those who are emergent minded. Below is one I enjoyed and a link to a whole lot more!

Emergent Bashing Poster

by Phil Johnson and the PyroManiacs

I’ll probably be using some more of these as I bring up other topics in Theology Thursdays!

Category: Brian, emergent, seminary, spiritual life, Theology  2 Comments
To Halloween or Not To Halloween
31
October
1
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Tonight we dressed our kids up in costumes and went trick or treating!!

Now some of you may find that offensive, and at one time I would have as well.  A few years ago Brian and I thought of Halloween and our involvement or non-involvement choosing what our family would do.  In the years before kids we thought that to be involved with Halloween was to celebrate evil.  If you think about it there is not much in the holiday that honors the Lord and most of it is quite the opposite!  So we would leave our house turning our lights out and be the sad house on the street that gave out no candy.  Then kids came along and we were a little older and more experienced in our living in a neighborhood/community and all of a sudden things looked a little different!

I had a friend tell me, when Addie was young, that when they went trick or treating it was one night they actually saw their neighbors and talked with them more than any other night.  So we decided to give it a try.  That year we dressed Addie and Emma up, and because they were so little we did not need to do a lot of explaining to them about what we were and were not celebrating, and we walked the street going from house to house.  To my amazement we were invited INTO not one but two houses where we chatted for a bit before moving on.  We met neighbors we had never talked with before.  We enjoyed seeing kids in costumes and enjoyed adults excitement over our own cute little costumers.  So after that night we decided it was something we wanted to continue!

Each year since we have enjoyed being out with everyone else on our street, the only time of the year when so many are out walking and talking.  Last year we came to a house where they were grilling hot dogs to give out free to the adults (and kids if they wanted – but they didn’t- they wanted candy!!) , and they had a Christian radio station playing.  What a great idea, just being out being a good neighbor.  This year we saw tons of the girl’s school friends and for awhile we walked along with one other family whose daughter is in Addie’s class.  We have found it to be a great way to be involved with the people in our neighborhood.

Now that A and E are older we have some interesting discussions about our involvement in Halloween and what we are and are not celebrating.  They seem to understand it well and  respect our convictions about things our family will not be doing – such as dressing as a witch or a devil for instance!  It has been a fun family tradition – and when the night is over and the girls are asleep Brian and I get to sneak some candy from their stashes :)

We will have fall pics up soon on the gallery, so check back if you would like to see the pumpkin patch pics, carving pumpkins and the costumes!

I love the fall!!

Category: Family Life, Mandy  One Comment
Mandy’s Mondays – How He Answers (part one)
29
October
3
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In a couple of weeks I will have the opportunity to teach on prayer again, and the topic will be “How He Answers”. Since the book we are using jumps from passage to passage there is not a specific passage of Scripture that I am to teach from. So that leaves me with seeking the Lord and the passage He lays on my heart. I am not sure on that area yet, but what I have been pondering is how to discuss when God answers our prayers with “no”. I personally know several people who have prayed very good things that you would think the Lord would long to answer with a yes and He did not. How does one handle that? How does one wrap their mind around and all knowing, all good God who does things differently than what we think is good? So that is rolling around in my head these days.

In Beth Moore’s book David, that I said I have been using for my personal time with the Lord, I found an encouraging approach to this subject. On day 80 Beth talks about a difficult event in David’s life when God responds differently than we would expect. She gives these two thoughts we sould consider when in these sittuations: 1. We do not know everything about the situation 2. We need to remember what we do know to be true about God. These seem simple enough to say and hard to actually do when faced with the hard stuff. It is true we do not know everything about every situation, even though we can think that we do. We can never know all the rippeling effects of things we ask of the Lord in our lives and in others! It is also true that we have to remember what we do know about the Lord. God describes himself over and over as being faithful, true, steadfast, holy, gracious, and merciful to name a few. In times when we do not understand what is going on we must cling to what we do know of God revealed to us in His word. That brings me back to one of my favorite things to think on – how thankful I am that we have the written word of God. It truly is amazing! We do not have to guess about God’s character!!! We can trust who He is and therefore find strength to live with His “no”s.

So ponder with me this wonderful, mysterious thing we have in prayer and answered prayer as well. I am looking forward to what the Lord will teach me as I prepare for this next lesson.

Have a great week trusting the one who knows it all and is faithful and true :)

Category: Mandy's Mondays, prayer, spiritual life  3 Comments
Mandy’s Mondays – Beth Moore’s David 90 Days With a Heart Like His
22
October
1
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david_cvr_lr.jpgOver the last several months I have been working through Beth Moore’s David 90 Days With a Heart Like His and I am excited because I am about to finish. I don’t know what it is but I get a thrill from finishing things :) There is just something about completion that is encouraging.

I have enjoyed working through this devotional on the life of David. I have always respected the way that Beth handles Scripture and she does the same great job with this book. I must say though that Brian mocked me greatly for carring this book with us on vacation and on our summer youth trips, due to the size of the thing. It is a large awkward book (it is designed to look like an old book with torn pages and lots of room on the pages – which does not make it a great traveling book)!

So why did I like it:

1. It was a great walk through David’s life. It was encouraging to see him in both his times of triumph and defeat. Beth has a great way of drawing applications out and referencing other areas of Scripture.

2. I loved the Scripture inspired pray at the end of each devotion. Most days this is where I found myself really challenged, and it was great to read and ponder some verses I was not as familiar with.

3. Each days devotion took me about 15 minutes. Now normally I would love to spend a lot more time, however with the current ages of my four children it is hard to find time!! So having a book that helped me go through Scripture and was doable while who knows what else is going on in the house is SUPER important!! So on those crazy days I could still do something, and on the relaxed I have an hour days it was a good way to get my time started.

And now on to something else I love – picking where and what I am going to read next for my personal time with God. I always get excited about this as well. Who knows what the Lord has in store to teach me. I have two thoughts in mind of what I will choose between but I am waiting to see and asking the Lord for direction.

Category: Mandy's Mondays, spiritual life  One Comment
Updated Family Pictures
22
October
1
written by: | One Comment

Just a quick note to say that we have updated some of our family photos. A few new albums…Owen at 7 months, Owen at 8 months, Addie’s Soccer Team Fall 2007. Enjoy

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Category: Family Life, photos  One Comment
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