Come, Lord Jesus, Come

Of course, I was weeping this morning in worship as we sang this song. This is one that will just wash over your spirit. What a blessing to be given the ability to worship Him through song with His Body!

Less Than 24 Hours

A beautiful little wildflower bravely standing amidst a field of rocks

Kregg wanted me to go with him when he and the four youngest kids went to the deer lease on Thursday. Normally, that's not someplace I want to be. It's not an area I think of as "pretty," and I really don't want anything to do with the "hunting" part of the deer lease, so I usually stay home when they go hunting. But, when your husband expresses a desire for your presence, it is always best to honor that, even if you would rather not go. 



We left here on Thursday at about 1:00 after lots of preparation during the week. The new deer lease is just outside the town of Sonora, about 150 miles south of here. It always requires a great deal of work to set up a new deer lease. The plan was to take the three new blinds Kregg and the kids finished building and get them set up near the feeders they had already put out. We loaded them on the flat bed trailer and piled all the tools and luggage in the bed of the truck. 

Part of me thought about saying I just wanted to just stay home and meet them in Abilene for ACU's Homecoming that we had already made plans to attend. But the Lord reminded me that I should honor his desire and go even if it was "inconvenient."

It was quite a job to wrangle all the blinds onto the trailer, and then wrangle them off again.

This one had to be wrestled into the bed of the truck because there was no way to back the trailer up this hill with these rocks and cacti. 

Kregg adding windows

It's so nice to have so many helpers.

Filling the feeder

Raccoons have torn things up

It's a good thing Kregg has a strong back because it sure comes in handy sliding this blind up the ladder.

Josh and Ben worked to clear the shooting lanes.

Elizabeth atop the tripod blind

Hard to believe that's a deer blind in that box

As always, He was right! I was blessed by my time there, even if it was less than 24 hours. We arrived around 4 on Thursday and left by 1 on Friday on our way to Abilene. There was much laughter, much teamwork, much fun, and He showed me Wonder in His Creation that I would have missed had I not gone.

Only God can paint masterpieces using lichens.

Tiny little cacti

This cactus is no bigger than Rebekah's finger. 

How does He do it? It is as if He painted each of these limestone rocks using the lichens, in all kinds of shapes and patterns. Incredible! 


Wonder elicits Worship. 


Lord, may I always have eyes to see the wonder in everything You have made. Thank you for showing me Your Masterpieces! Thank you for always being so patient with me. I'm so glad I listened to Your prompting to go. 


This time that I "spent," which I had thought shouldn't be "spent" was such a blessing to my heart. My presence, which I thought didn't really matter, mattered a great deal to my husband and children. I am so thankful He reminded me how simply being together builds so much into each other's hearts. Yes, there are things that needed to be done at home, especially after being gone so much during the past two weeks. But none of that was as important as just "being." Once again, He shows me Truth and I am blessed. Blessed by being with my husband, my children, and by being in His Creation to cultivate Wonder.

And then there was this. 


Rebekah used the string from the deer corn bags along with an emptied bag to fashion a kite. May we always seek to keep our child-like wonder and imagination alive and well.

Raising Passionate Worshipers

I have big dreams for all these children. I want them, no matter what their vocations, to spend their lives in passionate pursuit of the Lord. 


I can spend all day everyday "telling" them they should believe certain things and act certain ways, and my words will make an impression. But all the words I can speak from now until they put these old bones in the ground cannot change the fact that my children learn as much or more from their exposure to my spirit as I can ever teach them through my words. 


Understanding this, how are we influencing our children in the area of worship?


Regardless of the style of worship where we attend church, what is our spirit teaching our children about how important worship is to us? 


Is the pew in a church building the only place they witness us in worship? 


Are the words to hymns or praise music we are being led to sing simply being parroted by hearts not fully engaged? 


Are the prayers we offer filled only with a list of requests? 


Is our spirit moved by an encounter with His Spirit in time dedicated to "corporate" worship with the Body of Christ? 


Do we really think about Who He Is? What He has done for us? 


Do our children see in our worship the posture of our hearts before Him? 


Does it even matter?


I am convinced it does. I believe it matters a great deal to our children. 


When our children witness us humbled and broken before Almighty God declaring to Him how very precious He is to us, how very desperately we need Him, how very thankful we are for everything He has done for us, how Holy and Worthy and Awesome He is, they learn to assume the same posture in their hearts. 


What a beautiful picture the Holy Spirit will paint in their young, impressionable spirits of their parents passionately worshiping Almighty God. 


Is our worship contagious? Yes, it is. For better or worse. 


Are we modeling for our children the kind of worshipers we long for them to become? 


If not, we must ask Him to help. He longs for us to seek Him. He longs for us to worship Him because it blesses Him and it blesses us. We were created for passionate Worship. How long has it been since we were moved to weeping as we declare our praise? 


What do our children see in us when we worship Him? It is what we want them to see? 


Do our children see us passionately worshiping He Who is Worthy of all praise?  


David, the one called "a man after God's own heart," knew about passionate worship. The Psalms are filled with page after page of his heart being poured out to Almighty God.

"As the deer pants for

streams of water,

so my soul pants for you,

O God.

Your love, O Lord, reaches

to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the 

skies.

Your righteousness is like

the mighty mountains,

your justice like the great deep.

I will extol the Lord at all

times;

his praise will always be 

on my lips.

My soul will boast in the

Lord;

let the afflicted hear and

rejoice.

Glorify the Lord with me;

let us exalt his name

together.

The Lord lives! Praise be to

my Rock!

Exalted be God my Savior!

I love you, O Lord, my 

strength.

The Lord is my rock, my

fortress and my deliverer;

my God is my rock, in

whom I take refuge.

I will sing to the Lord,

for he has been good to 

me.

O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name

in all the earth!

I will praise you, O Lord,

with all my heart;

I will tell of all your

wonders.

I will be glad and rejoice in 

you;

I will sing praise to your

name, O Most High."

When David was bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem:

"As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings . . .

 . . . When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, 'How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!'

David said to Michal, 'It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord's people Israel--I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes."

If our children see us enthusiastically cheering for a sports team, or singing along loudly with an old song we loved from our teen years, or cheering the virtuoso at a concert, shouldn't they see passion in our worship?

That doesn't mean you have to go dancing down the aisle Sunday morning. (Of course, if the Spirit moves you, go right ahead.) But we can each seek to be more engaged in worship and to intentionally take our worship outside the four walls of a church building. We can also choose to intentionally engage our children as we worship. Talk to them about what worship means and why we are called to participate as His children. Be willing to become "undignified" in passionate worship as David did and let your children watch. If this is completely foreign to your family, start by taking baby steps. Explain your motivation to them. Explain that you have asked Him to teach you to worship. Invite them to join you in the journey.

What a precious gift to give your children for them to learn to worship their Creator and Savior by watching you. 

Star Walk

Photo Credit

Kregg and the boys were gone last night, looking for hunting leases. A very manly pursuit, don't you think? Time for lots of testosterone and bonding.


That meant it was girls' night here. We spent the evening simply enjoying each other. And laughing. We did a lot of laughing. 


Late in the evening, I received an invitation from our youngest, Rebekah, to join her outside. She wanted to show me something. I finished up a conversation with Mackenzy and made my way to the backyard. Rebekah was on the trampoline using an app on my phone to look at the stars. She kept using the word, "awesome." The delight in her voice was contagious.

I've always loved the stars, but never spent much time doing anything but simply gazing at them in wonder. 


Rebekah was overcome by it all, as if she had just stepped into a grand, new space previously unknown to her. As she showed me each of the different constellations she had found and where they were in our night sky, the joy increased. We lay there on the trampoline giggling and gazing up at this incredible testimony to the Creator. 


It is so very dry here that the static electricity was alive! It felt like hairs standing straight up on the deck of the trampoline. Every time we moved, there was a small shower of sparks. When we brushed against each other as we looked at another constellation on the phone, another spark and a shock. And again, we'd giggle.


And in that quiet communing, we could hear the sound of everything around us, our senses acutely aware. I found myself gazing at her face and the wonder found there, as much as I did at the stars, both revealing the Glory of His Hand. Perfection. 


As we watched the crescent moon sink lower and lower on the horizon, our spirits feasted, along with our eyes. What a blessing it is to witness His Glory! And so we worship.

A Blessing For Your Family in This New School Year

As this "new year" begins for your children, whether you delegate their education or homeschool, may this season in the life of your family be filled with His richest blessings. 


May He continue to clarify your vision for your children as workers in His Kingdom. 


May He give you Wisdom to be "vision casters" for them, filling them with purpose in their tasks. 


May they see their studies as worship, finding Him as the Author of each content area. 


May they understand the importance of doing each and every job given them "as unto Him." 


May they understand the blessing of submitting to authority and the protection that affords them. 


May they delight in His Creation and how it causes us to cry out in praise. 


May they find joy in excellence, not for excellence's sake, but because we are those called by His Name and our influence on our world is profound. 


May He give them Understanding of the special talents and abilities He has Designed into their souls so that they may understand how to walk in the fullness of their gifts. 


May they learn daily how better to walk in His Strength, not theirs.


May we be their biggest cheerleaders, encouraging them always.


May He grant us Discernment so that we understand how best to speak blessings over them.


May your home be anointed with Joy.


May you delight in the presence of one another.


May He direct your ministry as a family and give you new opportunities to serve Him together.


May He call each of you to more devoted prayer, learning to take everything to Him.


May your family delight in His Word and partake together of It often.


May He draw your hearts ever closer and deepen the Love each of you has for the others. 


May you choose wisely the things to which you say, "Yes," knowing that a "yes" to one thing means a "no" to something else. May He show you which things should be on your list.


May your family be Salt and Light in a world desperately in need of godly examples of what a family looks like.


May your hearts overflow with gratitude for all His Blessings.


May you stand on the Truths that He IS Sufficient, He Is Faithful, His Grace Is Available for everything you face this year. 


May His Peace inhabit your hearts and your home.

Designed For Wonder

Our older three children were involved in 4H when they were younger. These chicks were one of their animal projects. It was a cold and dreary November day when we went to pick them up. Arriving home, we brought them in to the kitchen and turned on a heat lamp to try to warm them up.


Elizabeth was 5 or 6 months old and she was completely captivated. I love this picture of her watching them, that look of wonder on her face has long been one of my favorite pictures. The joy we all felt seeing her fascination makes me think how our Father must smile when the Glory of His Creation causes us to have that look on our face. No wonder He reveals Himself in the smallest details of Nature. Recognizing Him through His Designs puts us in the proper relationship with Him: the created humbled before Creator.


And what an incredible tool that sense of wonder is as we seek to train up our children to bring Him Glory and to become life-long-learners. We don't have to artificially create an environment that will stir up their curiosity. There is no need. All we have to do is fan into flame what He already programmed into their spirits. And one of the best ways for our children to learn this is to catch it from us!


We should be modeling a genuine sense of wonder for our children, marveling at all aspects of the world around us. We need to observe and ask questions about what we see. We need to slow down enough to notice details. We can't live our lives in such a hurry that there is no time to wonder and delve deeply into the things around us. It takes an intentional shift in our scheduling and priorities. If we are driving down the road and we see something interesting, have I planned our schedule well enough that we have a few minutes to stop and observe? Or am I always in such a hurry, because of poor planning, that there is not time to stop without being late to whatever we are on our way to do? 


Another way to help encourage wonder is to carry a camera around with us when we are out and about, even on the way to the dentist. You just never know when an "amazing bird" might be perched on a fence post along the road.  It's also helpful to keep a pair of binoculars in the car. The kids love to be able to grab a pair to better identify something that's a little too far away.  A nature journal is a great way to record their finds and encourage them to be observant the next time you are out. Past successes encourage future effort. 


There are so many ways to nurture their curiosity and imagination. How do you fan the flames of wonder in your kids?

From Me to You

I just have to stop a moment and tell you all how much I appreciate each of you. Your sweet encouragement means more than you can possibly know. He uses your kind words to minister to my heart. 

I sometimes wrestle with this Antbed, wondering why I am here, and why on earth you would be here with me. And then He uses you to touch the specific place in my heart that needed His Touch. And I praise Him. Or you tell me that the words here touched a place in your heart, and I PRAISE HIM because it is only He Who is Able. 

You pray for me. You make me laugh. And you show me His Love.

So from the deepest recesses of this broken, patched-together, broken-again heart, I thank you. 

And I thank Him for you. 

He receives much Glory when the Body functions as He desires.

And I pray He may be Glorified through the thoughts, words, and actions of every single one of us.

Beyond Us

"To admit that there is One who lies beyond us, who exists outside of all our categories, who will not be dismissed with a name, who will not appear before the bar of our reason, nor submit to our curious inquiries:  this requires a great deal of humility, more than most of us possess, so we save face by thinking God down to our level, or at least down to where we can manage Him. Yet how He eludes us! For He is everywhere while He is nowhere, for "where" has to do with matter and space, God is independent of both. He is unaffected by time or motion, is wholly self-dependent and owes nothing to the worlds His hands have made."          

A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy

The Mighty Intercessor

            

Make us intercessors, Lord! Please help me to be become a rescuer! Show us how to spend our lives for Your Glory.

Whisper "Mystery"

Secularism, materialism, and the intrusive presence of things have put out the light in our souls and turned us into a generation of zombies. We cover our deep ignorance with words, but we are ashamed to wonder, we are afraid to whisper "mystery."

 A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy 

The Most Important Thing About Us

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man's spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.  Worship is pure or base as the worshipper entertains high or low thoughts of God.

For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like."

The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer

A Feast for the Eyes

How could we ever doubt that we serve a Good God? When we stop to think about the Glory that surrounds us every day, He is revealing Himself to us. Everywhere we look, every inch of Creation screams to us of His Majesty, His Holiness, His Love. The infinite creativity displayed in nature speaks volumes of His Goodness to us. To think: My Father designed and crafted flowers and trees and birds for me to delight in. The wonder of it all causes my spirit to sing. Even in parched, dusty, dry West Texas, look at the incredible diversity of leaves. Each one, perfect. Perfection because they speak volumes about how He cares for the smallest details that frame our time here on Earth.

He could have simply created one kind of leaf. We would never have known. Instead, He created thousands and thousands and thousands of different kinds of leaves. Why? Because they reveal Him to us, in all His infinite Creativity. In His infinite Love and Provision, He is revealed to us.

I don't want to miss any of it! I don't want to walk by something that is whispering His Love to me without even noticing. May my eyes be truly open. May I walk in constant wonder. May I see Him everywhere. May I hear His quietest whisper. 

Lord,
We marvel at all You have made. We praise You for the wonder on display for us. We thank You for the incredible multitude of blessings. Help us to be so filled with gratitude that we cannot but declare Your praises!