The Beginning of the Letting Go

Well, it's been a week since we took Drew to Word of Life Island for the summer. Here he is in his cabin (w/Ben). Pretty small (and stinky) for 10 boys to share, but I think he's gotten used to it.

It was a rough week for me imagining how I would handle Drew being gone for 8 weeks. But by the time Friday came and we took that boat over to the Island, I was pretty excited for him. He will be in a God-saturated environment, working hard and being stimulated and challenged spiritually all summer! Here at home he'd probably just play video games, sleep in and want to go golfing every day. Nah - this is better. Even though we miss him terribly. I'm thankful for the gift of email, texting, cell phones and IM. It means we stay in touch everyday.

Below is the letter I wrote Drew and gave him the night before he left. I am amazed at God's plan for this family. Twenty two years ago I went to WOL for the summer and God got hold of my heart forever - and now my son is there. Amen!!


Hey Drew,
I was thinking about you as I just finished the "Do Hard Things" book that I bought for Ben for his birthday. Thank you for agreeing to read it before you go to Word of Life for the summer.

I'm quite excited about this "rebelution" among teenagers spreading the globe. I'm praying you'll be a part of it and that you'll even lead something in your school and youth group. For years your teachers have described you as a leader. Which means there are "peeps" following behind you. They are watching and like what they see. I like what I see in you. You have made Dad and me so proud with your good decisions and ever-growing godly character. (not to mention fun personality!!) To quote some of your old friends "God made you special - and He loves you very much!" (remember who that is? - hint they are green and red.)

But, the thing about leadership is that you can never remain the same. Godly leadership requires changing - all the time. Becoming more Christ-like. Learning more about Jesus and adjusting your life to it. We must never stay the same because then we quit growing. God has His hand on your life and it is no coincidence that you are a part of the Core, attend NSBC, go to Faith Heritage and belong to this family. It's all part of your shaping.

Additionally, I've been praying about your upcoming summer at Word of Life. Excitement and anticipation of what you will experience hardly covers all my feelings. I get mixed reactions (particularly from mothers) when they find out that we are letting you be gone for 8 weeks. Some say "that's cool - he's going to love it.” Most, though, get out a sad voice and say, "The whole summer? That's a long time. What will you do without him? That's going to be hard." Indeed. It will be hard on all of us - Dad, Ben, Ally and me. Why? Because we love you so much. You are an integral and important part of this family. Your presence will be missed. Days without being the first and last one to see you each day will be hard for me. Wondering if you're sick or sad and wanting to hug you. Tough. I know it's coming.

But, like the title of the book says - Dad and I are doing "the hard thing" by letting you go. There are 2 BIG reasons why. 1. I, personally, know from experience that Word of Life is a life-changing place. Most of my defining moments happened the summer I spent up there. I was even a rebellious 18-year-old and yet God got hold of my heart and has never let go. And I've never been the same since. Thankfully, you don't have that obstacle to overcome. So just think what a great BIG vision God can give you for your life as a teenager and beyond. That is what Dad and I are praying for. That you will hear God's voice all summer long as you meet and listen to one dynamic speaker after the next, week after week. And that He would whisper dreams into your heart. Dreams of what He can do through you in your lifetime. We pray that you will meet young men older than you who will inspire you to be Godly now. And we even pray that you will influence those your age or younger. Showing them what it looks like to live for God now. Solidly doing your best for God. He may even reveal sin or complacency in your life and give you the opportunity to leave it behind. Do it.

Reason #2. And this is where I gulp over the large lump in my throat. As I consider that we only have you in our home in this capacity for 2 more years and then you're off to college, I would be crazy to lose these summer weeks without you. As your departure date nears, my heart wants to selfishly keep you here with us. However, God has been good to remind me that you are His. He bought you with a price. And, most importantly, Drew, you were created for God's pleasure. Not mine. Not Dad's. Ironically, though, because God is so gracious and kind, we have received immeasurable pleasure and blessing during these first 16 years with you. So, instead of hogging you to myself for the summer - which would be the easy thing to do, I release you to strategically be in a place where you will meet God and head more purposefully in the direction He has for you.

Remember the Jim Elliott quote, “Live to the hilt every moment you believe to be the will of God.”? Drew, it is God’s will for you to be at Word of Life this summer. Grab every moment and live it to the fullest. As usual, you’ll have to be careful who you’re friends are because you’ll meet all kinds of kids. You know what to do. Remember that we are just a phone call and/or 3 hour drive away. We will be praying diligently for you each day and loving you every moment. Recognize that Satan doesn't want any good thing to happen in and through you this summer, will oppose every good thing God is doing, and will probably try to confuse you. Don’t fall for it. We'll pray you through.

It's going to be an awesome summer, Drew. We will miss you each and every day. We love you tons and tons.

What's God been teaching you lately? part 3

Well, here we are at the final installment. Review: I pretended you asked me what God’s been teaching me lately. I couldn’t answer it in one devotional. So here are the previous two bullet points.

1. Spend your life pursuing God and investing in people.

2. If we seek comfort from what this world has to offer and we build our life around that pursuit - trying to insulate ourselves from pain and discomfort – we’ll miss our calling.
Time for number three.

3. Deliberate mediocrity is a sin. I read this quote over a year ago but can’t get it out of my mind. Since then, it’s been confirmed and revisited in other books I’ve read and some songs I love.

Let me give you some definitions:
Mediocrity – a moderate degree of excellence; ordinary; indifferent
Complacency – contentment; a smug feeling of self-satisfaction (with who you are and what you’ve done).

Ok, so I have a new favorite book. I bought "Do Hard Things – A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations" by Alex and Brett Harris for my sons to read. Naturally, I read it first and I’m so jazzed about it that I’ve already bought 5 copies for every teenager I know who has an occasion coming up that I might need to give him/her a gift for. (It’s written by teens for teens and is really motivating.) Read on and see what I mean.

“The daily periodical Bits & Pieces shares this chilling picture of what's

really happening: (in our culture)

Complacency is a blight that saps energy, dulls attitudes and causes a drain

on the brain. The first symptom is satisfaction with things as they are.

The second is rejection of things as they might be.
"Good enough" becomes today's watchword and tomorrow's standard. Complacency makes people fear the unknown, mistrust the untried, and abhor the new. Like water, complacent people follow the easiest course - downhill. They draw false strength from looking back."

I think that truth-packed quote certainly could be applied to so many areas of life. How many of us could be characterized as fearful of the unknown, mistrusting the untried and abhorring the new? Do we have little energy and a dull attitude? Are we satisfied with things as they are and prone to reject what they might be? Gracious – how big do we think our God is…or isn’t? Do we believe He can only accomplish what we are able to explain or what we’ve already seen? Or is He waiting to unleash His Spirit in a new way in present and future generations?

Later the authors say, “Over time, refusing to reach higher, try harder and risk more robs us of the glorious purpose and wonderful future God has created us for.” What are we so afraid of? What other people think? That we’ll fail?

MercyMe puts it well in their song “Goodbye, Ordinary”.

I wonder when we first bought into this
So satisfied with status quo
Have we convinced ourselves that this is all there is?

We were never meant to compromise
Settle for mediocrity
This life was never made to be a waste of time
Well all that is within me says no more just existing

Live like there’s no tomorrow
Love extravagantly
Lead a life to be followed
Goodbye ordinary. Goodbye ordinary.

The Harris boys give three strategies for stepping higher. “We recommend that teens do three hard things that go above and beyond what our culture expects:
1. Do what’s hard for you.
2. Be known for what you do (more than what you don’t).
3. Pursue excellence, not excuses.”

Granted, I’m not a teenager anymore but what an awesome message for adults too. If we’re bored with life or bored with church, it’s not because God is boring. Perhaps it’s because we’ve settled for complacency, status quo or mediocrity. We’re comfortable with who we are and what our life looks like. We’ve got to break free from that lesser thinking! No more comfort zone living. Engage God. Ask Him to do something big through you. Tell Him you want an adventure. Then go do something hard for Him. He’ll give you everything you need to accomplish it because it’s for His glory!

And you might just find yourself satisfied and hungry for more. Deliberate mediocrity is a sin. Let’s be deliberate for God instead.

P.S. Jesus was far from mediocre. When He came, He changed modern-day ‘religion’ as it was known. Everything He did flew in the face of religious rituals. What if He tried that in the ‘church’ of 2008? Would He get the same response?

italics mine

What's God been teaching...Part 2

From last week’s devotion (scroll down): “We must know His Word thoroughly – so that we know the heart of our God – it’s all in there. We were made for heaven, not earth. It’s so easy to hold tightly to earthly pleasures and comfort, isn’t it, even if it means rejecting the sovereignty of God and choosing bitterness?”

This was bringing me to point #2 of how I would answer the title question.

If seeking comfort from what this world has to offer is our goal – and we build our life around that pursuit, trying to insulate ourselves from pain and discomfort – we’ll miss our calling. Now this is serious. Miss my calling? I surely don’t want to get to the end of my life, meet Jesus and have Him show me all I missed because I was all about me being comfortable here on earth. We are each created with a God-given need for comfort. It’s important! It shows up when we’re tired, bored, hurt, angry, and many other times. It’s our choice where we will seek the comfort we desperately desire. As women, I’m sure we can all relate to certain comforts we are drawn to – relationships (healthy and unhealthy), shopping, food, etc.

A few weeks ago, something happened that really put me in a bad mood. I mean, I knew my attitude for the day (and possibly upcoming days) was on the line. How would I handle the disappointment and frustration? Our enemy, Satan, wasted no time giving me options.

I thought a cute pair of sandals, especially if found on a clearance rack, would do the trick. Or would it be eating some really fattening foods that I know aren’t good for me – all day long? Yes! I liked this idea. Indulge! I knew I would feel better. At least for a few minutes. It didn’t take long before the other voice kicked in (see John 10). The Holy Spirit whispered a truth I had heard from a favorite speaker just a day or so before. Seek to the God of all Comforts in our time of need, not earthly comforts. He has everything we need.

Yes, that was the right answer. I took a moment right then to purpose in my heart that I would seek comfort from God and God alone that day. No chocolate, no shopping, no girlfriends. Just God.

Of course you know what I’m going to say next. He showed up. He always does. He reminded me of many, many attributes of God that are for me and for the situation. He sees. He knows. Nothing happens that He is not fully aware of. My job is to not throw a fit because I didn’t get my way. My responsibility is to accept both the good and the bad, the wanted and the dreaded, from God’s sovereign hand. To handle the negative with maturity and grace, trusting He knows what is best. Sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.

I didn’t say it was easy. But I want to be a Daniel – to decide to honor God in every area of my life with resolve. To trust Him without reservation or hesitation. Even if I don’t understand it. No turning back – even if it gets tough. One thing I know for sure is that God honors those decisions.

The situation still hasn’t changed – but my attitude has. Had I fallen for Satan’s temptation, I bet the outcome would have been different. It would have been a rotten day and I would have felt guilty for indulging. Chances are, I probably would have sinned with my mouth and heart as well by sharing my bad mood with everyone who came along my path. Likely I would have been confessing sin by the end of the day. “It” (life) really is all about Him. And I want Him more than I want anything else. The cool thing about that is that He will give us more and more of Himself as we seek Him with all of our hearts not just on good days, but on the hard ones too.

2 Cor. 1:3, 4 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

Did you notice the last part of the verse? It takes us right back to last week’s devotion. The challenge was to invest in others. God doesn’t waste a thing. When we go to Him for comfort and receive it, He expects us to turn around and give it to someone else.

This makes sense! Ask God to make you aware this week, girlfriends, of what earthly pleasures you might be depending on for your comfort. Now I’m not talking about air conditioning on a steamy day or sneaking a bite of chocolate before bed. I’m talking about subtle habits or even dangerous addictions that keep us satisfied enough to not go to God. Our world is full of people who don’t know any better than to seek comfort from “stuff”. We know better and can offer it to them. Don’t be satisfied enough. Want God more than you want anything else – and then go get Him! Be victorious!

Next week....#3

What's God Been Teaching You Lately?

Ever had someone ask you that question and you just don’t have the time or well-crafted words to seize the opportunity to answer it justly? I have, and I thought, since I haven’t written in a while I’d pretend you just asked it of me.

Before I begin, keep in mind these are random thoughts. If they somehow connect as you read them, it will be the ministry of the Holy Spirit to you. For sure.

Spend your life pursuing God and investing in people. If you do this, when the dark days of grief and pain come (and they will), God will raise you up. He’ll do it through His Spirit and through the people you’ve invested in.

Since last Wednesday night when I learned of the tragic death of Steven Curtis Chapman’s youngest adopted daughter, I’ve been grieving. Back and forth between tears, prayers and wondering how they’re going to get through this. He and his family are experiencing crippling levels of pain and loss. God will get them through. How do I know this? Because they’ve built mountains of faith on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ and His Word. In my humble unsolicited opinion, I believe SCC to be the most godly, humble Christian artist with utmost integrity. (Just listen to any one of his songs or attend a concert to hear his heart and you’ll know what I mean. Each song reflects Steven’s deep and growing-deeper relationship w/the Savior and the truths he has discovered in God’s Word.) I’ve been reading updates on how they are doing from Steven’s manager, Jim Houser’s, blog. (http://www.stevencurtischapman.org/ - to read it all). Here’s one small excerpt:

“If you couldn't be here, the Chapmans have felt your love too. Yes, web stats are just numbers... but in this case they reflect love. In the first 24 hours after Maria's untimely death was confirmed, over 31,000 people shared their condolences; (now over 18,000) 225,000 people watched the Maria video; $100,000 donated to Maria's Miracle Fund, 715,000 people visited SCC.com's blog In Memory Of Maria; and Dale, our web guru, had to change the configuration of the site because traffic was so heavy it was literally crashing the server. 715k may not be a lot if you're U2, but in our music circles that looks a whole lot like 5 months of traffic in one day.” Not to mention hundreds who showed up at their church the first night and over 2,000 who attended the memorial service - italics mine.

Says a lot about a person, doesn’t it? Says a lot about how God has provided us love we can touch when we need it. Who says God isn’t here in the flesh? Oh yes He is.

Now that some of the hardest days have passed, I’m not worried about the Chapman family. I know they are going to make it. Long ago they put their faith and trust and HOPE in God. They’ve shaped their lives around a relentless pursuit of His Will for their lives. They will accept both blessing and pain from the hands of the Father. And, for sure, they will glorify God even in this.

Of course, the question has to be asked: Could that be said of me? Could it be said of you?

In order to secure the right answer, we have to believe God with reckless abandon. We must know His Word thoroughly – so that we know the heart of our God – it’s all in there. We were made for heaven, not earth. It’s so easy to hold tightly to earthly pleasures and comfort, isn’t it, even if it means rejecting the sovereignty of God and choosing bitterness?

This, of course, brings me to #2 (see the Holy Spirit really is connecting them) – but how much time do you really have today? And how much can we digest without forgetting what we’ve read? So, I’ve made an executive decision – this will be a 3-part series of devotions (as I still have 2 more big thoughts).

Lots to chew on today, ladies that I love. Don’t despair. Don’t lose heart. Your God loves you. Pursue Him all the way. Hold nothing back. He’ll show you that He’s worth it. And focus your life on sharing with others what He has taught you. The body of Christ – what an awesome thing!! We need each other in the triumphs and valleys. I’m grateful today for all those who have reached out the Chapman’s – and who have reached out to me in my times of need. I love you all. And I hope to be there for you when you need the arms of God wrapped around you.

And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him, too, for each day's problems; live in vital union with Him. See that you go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all He has done. Col. 2:6-7 TLB

Here's all our family w/ Mr. Chapman last fall here in Syracuse!