A Holy Pursuit

As Jordan and I were growing up, my family incorporated many family traditions into our Holiday celebrations. My dad didn't let anyone put any presents under the tree until Christmas Eve night so that when we woke up Christmas morning we were really surprised. My parents put as much thought and care into our stockings as our regular presents. My dad always read the Christmas story from the book of Luke on Christmas morning before we opened gifts. Mom made a big, delicious Christmas brunch. We always did a gift exchange with our extended families. All of these were great Christmas traditions and memories, but they are not the ones that stand out to me the most. My favorite Christmas tradition was purchasing Christmas gifts for someone who otherwise wouldn't have any, or just giving to any kind of charity during the Christmas season. This tradition helped my brother and I, and  probably my parents, too, focus on what was really important during the Holidays and get our attitudes...

Reading isn't one of Jordan's hobbies, so I'm going to try and keep this short. Today is my big brother's 26th birthday. I've been blessed enough to know him 24 1/2 of those years. Ever since I can remember he's been one of my best friends.  We did everything together from building forts, swinging on our swingset (my favorite was the butterfly... If you don't know what that is, you really missed out), and playing some very realistic versions of "Cowboys and Indians". Those were the good days.  Then mom entered us in a speech class together. We both pretty much hated that together, but we got through it. As a result, I found something I really enjoyed, and Jordan found something he really did not enjoy.  Jordan has been one of the most influential people to teach me the value of hard work. We used to go play back in the woods with our cousins (who had a couple of 4-wheelers) and every evening when we would have to walk back ho...

I love taking my puppy for walks, and he probably loves it even more than I. Recently, we have started incorporating some jogging into our morning walks. Some day Riggins will be my running partner, so I thought I should start training him in that direction. Something I noticed early on in our training was that when he was running next to me and not trying to bite the leash, or chase something, I would praise him and tell him what a good puppy he was and he would speed up a little, bouncing along happily. As we jogged along together, that scenario happened again and again. Riggins would be running alongside me very well, so I would praise him and he would happily speed up a little, as he expressed his pleasure in my approval. His reaction got me thinking about the effect of praise in our lives. This brought three things to mind: 1) The book of Psalms is chock-full of examples of the psalmist praising the Lord. It is important in our Christian walk to not only express our...

A couple days ago the long-awaited, highly-anticipated birth of the British prince came to a culmination when he was introduced to the world outside of the hospital where he was born. Then, the world waited in anticipation for his name to be announced. He is already celebrated and appears to be well-loved. I, also, celebrated the birth of this little guy. At first, simply for the historical significance his birth provides; but more so for the simple fact that he is a baby, not only allowed to live, but joyously celebrated. His parents are joined by many other celebrators. As I observe on every news channel more updates on the "royal baby", I am, however, saddened. Maybe I am jaded by my career in a pregnancy help center where so many babies are unwanted. Maybe I am overly sensitive because of the large quantity of calls I get every day from young women devastated by the news that they are pregnant. Maybe I am cynical because I get phone calls from desperate young men wonderi...

I have recently been reminded and challenged of the importance of keeping our bodies healthy and pure, as a response to the message in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, which says, "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."  Someone put this into perspective for me again in the past few days, but for the life of me, I can’t remember who it was. Maybe it was Pastor Luke in his sermon? Regardless, they said the Lord no longer dwells in the temple as He did in the Old Testament. Rather, now our bodies act as His temple, where He lives and dwells. In the Old Testament (and much of the New Testament, I suppose) the temple was kept with utter respect and dignity. It was revered as a place of worship. Since the temple is now represented through our bodies (Paul says in Colossians 1:27 that Christ in us is our hope of glory), I think ...

One year ago I was a nervous, blushing bride. I was surrounded by my closest friends and family, but the one I was focusing on the most was my soon-to-be husband. The gown and suit were put on, the pictures were taken, and the heat was tolerated. Soon I was waiting at the back of the church with my dad, waiting to walk down that aisle to the strong, handsome young man waiting for me. That was the start of a wonderful, challenging, exciting, unpredictable, faith-building journey of our marriage. In just the first year we have lived in three different states, had a combined total of eight jobs, Bryan graduated from Moody, and we both started vocational ministry; he as a youth pastor and I as a Client Care Coordinator at a local pregnancy help center.  We have had so many different opportunities in our busy first year of marriage to witness the faithfulness and never-ending love of our Father, when He has sustained us through a variety of challenges; whether econo...

I have been very challenged lately with a couple different sermons/lessons that I think correlate. A few weeks ago Pastor Luke taught a sermon all about the mirage of self love. It seemed as though everything he said hit me square between the eyes. I realized so many different areas in my life that I exhibited this disgusting self love. I realized my selfishness, self preservation, and self promotion. These  realizations manifested themselves over the next few days and weeks and I'm still mulling over them. Then a couple days ago Bryan had Jason give the student ministries lesson concerning how the Gospel changes the way we think. When I was in eighth grade my youth pastor taught us all about our thoughts and it was the first time I was convicted about the things I was thinking about. It's obvious that sometimes our thoughts can be just downright evil; but, Jason made a fascinating remark regarding how our thoughts shape our worldview. This is where Luke's sermon ties ...

About a month ago, Bryan and I weren't sure how we were going to make ends meet. We had a variety of bills coming up, all due around the same time, and we felt like we were pinching pennies just to make it happen. A lot of it came from just moving to a new area, new bills, and me being without a job. Somehow we made it work with some very careful budgeting. A couple weeks ago we were blessed to find out that after thinking we were going to owe a hefty sum of taxes, we are actually getting back significantly more than we owed. We almost jumped up and ran around that desk to hug our tax preparer!  Beyond that, we were finally able to reach an agreement with our moving truck company to help pay for some damages done to some of our belongings on the trip to Columbus. That was a blessing to hear, as well.  So you all know that my beloved dog, Murphy, passed away last Sunday (on Bryan's birthday, nonetheless). That brought a whole new wave of emotions and memories and f...

Before I even got into showing dogs in 4-H I knew I was going to love it and I couldn't wait to start. However, my first dog, Buddy, was getting old and I knew he wasn't going to last as long as I wanted. So I started praying and looking for another dog. After a lot of research I decided on a golden retriever. I knew they were really expensive so I prayed more. I considered many different options and got a little discouraged, but one evening after one of my high school volleyball games my dad took a detour. I was really confused where we were going but soon we had stopped at a house and out of the garage came running three or four golden retrievers. I was beyond excited! Then my dad and the dog's owner (who happened to be a truck driver who delivered to my dad's work) started telling me about Murphy. He was a little over a year old and his owner said he had terrible behavior and chewing problems. He didn't know what else to do with Murphy and his wife had told him ...

As I look back at 2012 the one word that comes to mind to describe the year is "provision". God has been clearly showing me how He provided for all my needs in the past year, and I hope this look back at my year encourages you to count your blessings, as well. Beyond graduating from college last winter (which was a blessing in itself), Bryan and I had both been praying for me to find a good job to help save up money before the wedding. Once I got home and started applying, I ended up working 3 regular jobs, as well as occasional nannying. That was a huge answer to prayer!  Last spring planning our wedding was on the forefront of my mind. My parents offered me a budget and after many different considerations and decisions made, we ended up coming in under budget; which was a great blessing! On top of that, everything went very well with the wedding, despite the uncharacteristically hot May day.  Bryan and I had also been praying for months for a paid internship fo...