So, today is the official last day of school before summer. Obviously, I have mixed feelings. I love summer break, so I’m excited for that, but this is also my last day with some of my students and fellow teachers here, so I’m also feeling a bit sad. I will be teaching summer school here (it’s only 18 days) which is a huge blessing because I haven’t found a job yet in our new hometown. So, God’s given me a bit of breathing room, which is really all you need. I feel confident that God has something in mind for me in our new place, I just don’t know yet what that is.

I heard a great quote from singer David Crowder this morning about life which really spoke to my heart. He said that he’s learned from all of life’s unexpected twists and turns that the only thing he can say is, “God, give me the light to see the path ahead of me and the courage to take the next step.”

I feel like I am living that prayer right now. So, today is good, and a little sad, but God is faithful always.

Blessings and Peace,
Sara

When you live with two toddlers, running around in circles is an everyday occurrence. Take this morning, for instance. It was time to go, so I told Garrett to come on. And again, and again, and AGAIN! As he was walking out the door he suddenly told me he was wet and needed a new Pull-Up. Ten minutes later the Pull-Up was changed and we were right back where we started; me telling Garrett to come on again. And again, and again and AGAIN!!

Lately, I’ve noticed that not only are we running in circles, we’ve started talking in circles, too. Take this conversation on the drive home yesterday:

Garrett: “Did Alex try to kill the lady?”
Me: “What?!”
Garrett: “Did Alex try to kill the lady?”
Me: “What?!”
Garrett: “Alex, in Madagascar. Did he try to kill the lady?”
Me: “No, he didn’t try to kill her. She was fighting with him.”
Garrett: “Was Alex mean to her?”
Me: “Not really. She was being mean to him and he was trying to stop her.”
Garrett: “Why was she being mean to him? Did she not like him?”
Me: “No.”
Garrett: “Why did she not like him?”
Me: “She didn’t like cats.”
Garrett: “What?”
Me: “She didn’t like lions.”
Garrett: “She didn’t like lions?”
Me: “No.”
Garrett: “Why did she not like lions?”
Me: “Garrett, I don’t know! She just didn’t like them.”
Garrett: “So, she was being mean to him.”
Me: “Yes, she was being mean to him.”
Garrett: “Who?”
Me: “What!?”
Garrett: “Who was being mean to him?”
Me: “The lady was being mean to him!”
Garrett: “The lady was being mean to who?”
Me: “GARRETT!!”
Garrett: “Are you done?”
Me: “Yes, I’m done!”

Truly, I couldn’t make this stuff up. It’s a good thing we don’t really keep liquor in the house. I might end up on the next episode of Dr. Phil!!

Blessings and Peace,
Sara

When Spring arrives, so do our family’s seasonal allergy. All four of us are taking some form of Zyrtec to get through the season. My almost two-year old takes this medicine taking very seriously. He actually threw a 45 minute fit earlier this week because I wouldn’t give him a second dose of his generic Zyrtec! This taking of the medicine, or “meh-cin” as he refers to it, has taken on a very reverential air.

He stands very quietly beside me while I carefully pour 1/2 teaspoon of the liquid into the little plastic dosage cup. He then reaches up with both hands and carefully takes the cup from my hands, his big brown eyes solemn and round. He brings the cup down to his lips and bows his head. Softly, he whispers “meh-cin” to the cup and, with both hands, slowly raises the cup to his lips and drinks.

He then sticks his tongue into the cup and tries to lick up any remaining drops! 🙂

I have no idea where this communion-like allergy medicine consumption comes from. It reminds me of when my sister and I used to pretend to take the Lord’s Supper using Smarties candy. Wherever he got it from, it cracks me up!! Although, I’m hoping this is not something he carries with him for the rest of his life. 🙂

Blessings and Peace,
Sara

Wow! I didn’t think a one hundredth post would be a big deal, but I have to say, it’s pretty cool seeing triple digits up there! It only took me three years to reach 100. I’m on a role!!

I thought for my hundredth post I would write a little bit about transitions. It seemed appropriate, given that we seem to be in the midst of many. This week is the last week of school for our seniors, and it’s interesting to see how reluctant they are to leave, now that the time to go has finally arrived. At the beginning of the year, it was all they could talk about. Now, I’ve had several say to me they don’t feel ready anymore to go. One of my senior girls came in to my third hour already crying. “It’s so hard!” she told me. “Yes,” I replied. “It is. It’s hard now. It’s hard at college. It’s hard when you get married. It’s hard when you move.” Transitions are just hard. There are so many emotions involved. On the one hand, there’s the excitement around the adventure to come. For high school seniors, the whole world is spread out before them. They get to move out on their own, eat what they want, when they want, stay up or out as long as they want, travel where they want, etc… For those going to college, they get to put their foot into the “real world”, but still have the safety net of a school and studies.

Yet, in every transition, the possibility of what is to come is tempered by the reality loss. Namely, saying goodbye. Each transition carries with it both a hello and goodbye. It’s in the makeup of the word. And, for most of us, saying goodbye is difficult. As human beings, we are made to be in relationship with others. It is that essence of God within us, I think, that makes us seek out others with whom we can share our lives. And even though no goodbye is ever final, it often feels like it in the moment. Goodbye indicates change, and most of us do not respond well to change. Change feeds insecurity within us so that when it comes, as my seniors are demonstrating, we want to push it away, even if it’s something we’ve looked forward to for a long time.

However, I would argue it is in our times of transition that we learn to trust most in God. When we have to say goodbye, when we have to leave the certain and known, when everything around us changes, God remains the same. He is our stability and security when we enter into a new place in our lives. One of my favorite verses in the Bible has always been Deuteronomy 31:6–

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear! The Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave nor forsake you.”

Blessings and Peace in All of your Transitions!
Sara

I like to listen to K-Love on my way to and from work, and Mondays on K-Love are always “Make a Difference Monday.” This morning, one of the dj’s offered up a challenge to pray this morning for God to use you to make a difference in someone else’s life without spending a dime.

Having no money, I thought this was a great idea, so I decided to put God up to the challenge. Can you use me to make a difference in the life of someone else without spending money?

So far, not so great. I told my Seniors this morning to shut up and stop being jerks, and I’ve virtually ignored my Juniors trying to get my Senior gift bags organized for our English IV “celebration” on Wednesday (we don’t do parties) which probably mean a lot more to me than they will to them seeing as how they consist of heart stickers, Hershey’s Hugs, a band-aid, kleenex and life-saver and which they’ll probably toss in the trash on their way out the room.

However, the day is still young and God is capable of much more than most of us ever give him credit for, so I’m still looking to make a difference. How about you?

Blessings and Peace,
Sara

I’ve been thinking about prayer a lot this week. It was a key focus of our Revelation lesson. I don’t know about you, but sometimes my prayer life becomes like a task on my to-do list. I shoot something off in the morning while I’m getting ready for the day to check it off my list and then give a quick “Thanks” at the end of the day. I’m afraid between work, kids, church, dogs and cats, I don’t always take the time to cultivate the relationship that keeps everything I’m juggling up in the air. And, when I’m not truly centered on God, I don’t seem to be centered on anything else.

In Revelation chapters 4 and 5, the throne room of God is described. The floor is made of precious jewels, there are heavenly beings crowned sitting all around. Heavenly creatures proclaim in booming voices the glory of God. It is resplendent. Majestic. Awesome. And those biblical characters who have seen it have fallen at the feet of the one who sits enthroned, surrounded by light that fills the room.

There is a lake, as smooth as glass, in front of the throne of the Most High where all of our iniquities, all of our sins, are thrown away forever. And there are bowls of amber incense sitting on each side of The King. The incense, a fragrant offering of prayer lifted up to the Creator by his created. When we pray, it is into this throne room we enter. And our prayers rise up as incense before God. He keeps them beside him–gifts from his beloved children.

I’m suddenly feeling convicted of all of those morning prayers offered up on the porcelain throne:-) Or the time last week when I prayed that I could actually get the carseat clip hooked to the seat latch. (Although, I have to say, God did answer that prayer!) In a culture where flippancy has become a well-practiced form through Twitter and Facebook, I think we should take more care with our prayers. Not that praying for timeliness in the mad dash to work is bad, but it needs to be countered with some serious down on our knees at the feet of the great I AM time. When we pray, we are standing on holy ground, and if our bodies can’t reflect that, then our spirits should.

Prayer is powerful. I think I could use a dose of that! 🙂

Blessings and Peace,
Sara

I’ve been job hunting recently in lieu of our upcoming move. I have to say, and forgive my lack of eloquence, job hunting SUCKS!! I’m not sure how much more my self-esteem can take!! I don’t know about other states, but the economic crisis is just now hitting the education system here in Missouri. Kansas City laid off over 300 teachers, and other districts in the surrounding area are having to get rid of positions as well. As we’re moving about an hour or so outside of Kansas City, this is not a good sign.

I’ve put in three applications for teaching positions and only had one interview. I’ve contacted principals within a forty mile radius of where we’re moving, only to find that there are just no English positions to be had out there. And, I’m also discovering that I’m not really qualified to do anything else–or so it seems to me. My Master’s degree is in Christian Education which prevents me from doing much other than teaching, but prevents me from getting teaching jobs because school districts would have to pay me more than a new teacher fresh out of undergrad.

God keeps speaking to me about faith through Bible study, friends and family. He must think I have a lot, or else something would have opened up by now. 🙂 It’s so hard to look into the future and see nothing coming together!! It’s not that I think things won’t work out, per se, because I know they will. It’s just the waiting and wondering that makes it hard to breathe sometimes. Jeremiah 29:11 keeps going through my mind–God has a plan and purpose and he will see it through.

God will also forgive me for snapping at my husband, yelling at my kids, and plopping my pretty red-headed with a temper to go with it boy down on the floor to scream for awhile while I went to lay down for a few minutes. 🙂 Luckily, he’s 22 months and won’t remember this incident at all, while I will take it with me to my grave, I am sure.

Anyway, the moral of all this is that, although God has been shutting a lot of doors lately, he will eventually open a window. The question is whether or not I will be able to fit through it!!

Blessings and Peace,
Sara

So, I’ve decided that Monday’s are going to be my Beth Moore “Revelation” re-cap days. Not that the rest of you signed up for this study, but it is my blog so you’ll have to bear with me. 🙂 God has been speaking to me so much through this study that I just can’t help but share!! Here are some of the key points from Beth’s discussion on Revelation chapters 2 and 3.

1. God cares about the local church. Whether you worship in a huge mega-church, small-town church, or are building a church-start–God is THERE and he CARES about what’s going on in your congregation. Even if you can’t see him, he is walking through the halls and aisles of your church. So, whatever you’re facing in your congregation, know that God sees it too.

2. The book of Revelation is about conquering. As children of God, we are conquerors. Yet, as Beth said, to be a conqueror, you have to have something to conquer. We all face challenges in life, yet the thing to remember is that we are not bent under those challenges, we are conquerors of them. We stand on our challenges, not under them. As Christians, we are called to overcome.

3. Like the church in Ephesus, we can forsake our first love-the God who created and sustains us. We forsake God by actively sending him away or by passively letting him slip away. The latter really convicted me!! Busy Mom syndrome hit anyone else recently? Loving God should be our first priority (see Mark 12:28-30). It is only in loving God that we are capable of loving others.

4. The antithesis of forsaking is forgiving. The same root word is used in each. In order to forgive, we have to send away what we are holding onto into the hands of God. And remember, God’s hands are both affectionate and avenging. Also, God does not just love, HE IS LOVE!! So when we love, we are closer to God. If we truly love God, who is love, we HAVE TO love others. I’ve blogged about the power of forgiveness in my own life recently, and I can tell you, it is truly a gift of God. Beth stated, “You will either hang onto unforgiveness or to your first love, but you cannot hang onto both.” We have to let go.

5. Finally, Christ called the church at Ephesus to do three things: remember, repent and return. Remember your calling, repent of your sins, and return to those first things.

Blessings and Peace,
Sara

I have a wonderful devotional book my mom gave me entitled, 10 Minute Time Outs for Moms, by Grace Fox. I cannot tell you how many times God has given me a Word through this book! This morning was no exception.

Over the past few weeks, since Chris and I were told we were being reappointed, our life has been less than stable. The most difficult part for me has been resigning my teaching position at a school I dearly love. This school has been my community for the past three years. I have built deep relationships with students and teachers, I have grown as a professional, and I have loved every minute (almost) of what I’ve done. Not only am I giving up a good job, which comes with the territory of being a United Methodist pastor’s wife, but I’m struggling to find a new job in an educational field that is just now feeling the full brunt of the economic down-turn. Our new home is about 45 minutes outside of Kansas City, where teachers are being laid-off left and right. People who have teaching positions are holding onto them and schools with open positions are looking for candidates who don’t cost a lot–not veteran teachers with graduate degrees.

I’ve spent the past few weeks spending hours online frantically looking for a position. I had an interview in the town we will be moving to and was feeling pretty hopeful. It was out of my content area, but nothing I couldn’t do. The high school in our new town is about two blocks from our parsonage, so I thought God was surely working everything out beautifully. That is, until I got an e-mail that thanked me for applying but told me they’d hired someone else. I think my heart fell to my feet at that moment. Not only did I discover I did not get the job, but that they’d had over 40 applicants for this one position! I can’t repeat the exact words that went through my head at that moment, but they definitely involved lots of variations of crap! I had one other option that didn’t pan out and all of a sudden I felt myself veering down that path of hopelessness. My husband and I asked each other: “What are we going to do?” “How are we going to live?” “God, what are you doing? Can’t you just make this work?”

And in the midst of that, this is what I heard…

“I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

“I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.” Job 42:2

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.” Isaiah 54:10

“Because of your great love we are not consumed, for Your compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Your faithfulness is great.” Lamentations 3:22-23

“Those who trust the Lord will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before them, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” Isaiah 55:12

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” Psalm 46:1-3

I hope these verses bring you as much peace of mind as they have me. God is immovable and steadfast, no matter how unstable and changing our lives can be.

Blessings and Peace,
Sara

Last night was week two of the Beth Moore Revelation lecture series. Needless to say, the woman did not disappoint. We discussed how to live lives that invite revelation from God, how that we have to be able to change our conceptions of Jesus in order for him to be revealed to us, and how God can be transfigured before us. One of our discussions centered around a statement Beth made regarding living lives that invite revelation.

Beth reminded us that as Christians, we have God dwelling within us. God is in our breath, our blood, our bones. As Christians we are, as Beth stated, “flesh of Christ’s flesh and bone of Christ’s bone.” In that sense, as believers, we are all related. We are true companions together with Christ. Beth’s phrase was that we are “sisters together with locked arms”. As Christians, we should be united, one body, not divided by differences in worship style, baptismal beliefs, religio-political tendencies, or petty squabbles about who should bring what casserole to church supper. We should be a force united!

The picture that immediately came to my mind when Beth was talking about sisters with locked arms was the early suffragettes, standing together in front of the White House, arms locked in solidarity with their “Votes for Women” sashes and picket signs. We have a proud tradition of standing in solidarity with one another in the U.S. Look at the Civil Rights movement, the early labor unions, the anti-war demonstrations. Each of these movements brought Americans from all different walks of life together to join arms and fight for the rights of others. And each time, in each instance, they won.

What is most interesting to me is that, in this country that has been born on the backs of people coming together for a righteous cause, we, as Christians, do not band together in solidarity to fight for our cause. We do not lock arms together to fight for the Kingdom of God, we lock arms against each other to fight about infant vs. adult baptism. We allow the Fred Phelps’ of the world to form picket lines at the funerals of soldiers yelling and chanting all sorts of unholy things. We allow self-righteous men to promise people healing of anything and everything if they make a sizable donation to their “ministry”. We complain to one another when the media gives a negative portrayal of Christians, when the government passes more legislation that makes “under God” a politically charged phrase, when prayer ceases to be a privilege at public functions.

I wonder what changes could come if we would truly join arms with one another and fight for Christ in this nation and this world. I’m not saying we should storm the steps of the Capitol demanding the Ten Commandments be posted in every school across the country. I don’t think that truly makes a difference in anyone’s faith. But what about fighting for causes of justice, and being unified about it? Why does Bono do a better job campaigning to end poverty than we do? And why are we not fighting to change our image for the better? Instead of separate denominational video commercials, how about an inter-denominational video that promotes and supports the diversity of Christianity? Imagine people of all different backgrounds and walks of life–a wizened older man, a young woman with a nose ring, a tattooed biker, a college basketball player, a doctor, a sanitation worker–coming onto the screen in your living room and simply saying, “I am a Christian.”

One of the things I’ve truly enjoyed about becoming part of the pastor’s wife blogosphere is seeing so many wonderful ladies from all sorts of religious backgrounds living their lives and facing the same challenges anyone else might face. I see so much more in common than I see differences, and I think there is such a power in that commonality, especially the commonality of our love and devotion to Jesus Christ. Just something to think about on a Monday morning. 🙂

Blessings and Peace,
Sara