THE BLESSING OF BEING INCLUDED

Doing what God tells you to do isn't always easy. If we say that we're followers of Jesus, then we have to be willing to do the kinds of things that Jesus did. That even includes leaving behind family and friends. He left His Heavenly home to come to earth and then when the time was right, he had to leave His carpenter's life in Nazareth to begin His public ministry.

I can only imagine that at times He missed home. After all, He is fully God but He is also fully human.

Sometimes, I miss my old life. I miss lazy Saturday mornings, my pets and chickens, the kids playing freely outside, and getting to spend time with my church girlfriends. Hear me out now, I am very, very thankful for our time here at We Will Go. I know God called us to move here and it has been the best training and transitioning for moving to Africa that I could even imagine.

But part of that transition has meant letting go of our old life. Because of our busy ministry schedule, I rarely get to see friends back at our old community or church friends outside of Sunday morning services.

Wednesday, a friend from church absolutely blessed me when she texted to see if I wanted to join her and the women from her Care Group at a local restaurant. It took some juggling with plans, but I was able to go. What a sweet, sweet time of fellowship it was.

I will follow Jesus no matter the cost, HE IS WORTH IT, but I am also so grateful that He allowed me a little bit of time with these women. He understands. He's made even greater sacrifices.

Supper at Babalu's.

Coffee at Cups.

A GOOD FRIEND

A good friend is sad that you're moving away, but helps you pack anyway.

Today I am thanking God for good friends like Rhonda, Betty, and all the others who are helping us take this next step on the journey towards serving God in Jackson and then on to Africa.  We couldn't do it without them.

LOOKING FOR A WAY?

Looking for a way to impact Jackson for Jesus? Join us Sunday afternoon at We Will Go Ministries. We will be worshipping the Lord (two of my kids, Betsie and David, are leading), hearing powerful teaching, serving a meal, praying for those in need, and just doing whatever else God brings our way to serve the least and the lost who come our way.

The service starts at 3:00. If it is your first time and you'd like to come early to learn about the ministry, get a tour, etc, then be there by 2:00. The service ends between 4:30 and 5:00 and then the fellowship meal comes afterward. That part is usually finished around 6 or 6:30. This is a really relaxed affair so if you need to get there late or leave early, that's totally cool. We realize that lots of folks have evening commitments at their home churches.

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions or need more details. The ministry's website is http://www.wewillgo.org/main.html

AFRICAN AARDVARK ADVOCATES

I wasn't sure what to blog about tonight so I posed that question on facebook.

In response to my query " Hmmm...what to blog about......?" I got several suggestions which finally culminated in someone combining suggestions to form the African Aardvark Advocates of America.

Oh my. I do have funny friends.

But in all honesty, it wasn't that I didn't have anything going on in my mind. I just have so much going on in my mind --- and heart --- that the thought of trying to put down into a not-too-long post just seemed a bit overwhelming.

I still don't know if I'm up to writing about it. So I guess I ramble a bit. I could even dress it up with a high falutin' literary term and call it stream of consciousness.

But mostly, I'm just feeling...gosh, what am I feeling? Sad? Excited? Unworthy? Blessed?

I guess all those things.

I see so many people who have woken up to their calling. I see missionaries and local folks who have realized that the purpose of their life is so much more than just getting by or striving for personal success and excellence. I read about people who have been willing to give it all to follow the will of God.

And that stirs up a slurry of emotions and thoughts.

I feel excitement and blessing over what God is doing in our family and how He is using us. I also feel conviction because sometimes people hold us up as an example of people who are willing to give it all yet I know I still hold so much back.

I'm often still so very selfish and lazy and mean-spirited. I often do not want to go out of my way to minister. I still worry about what other people will say and don't want to make waves. I often let mu fears of personal safety or even fear of messy people hold me back from radically following Him.

Part of me wants to be completely extravagant with my life, my gifts, my everything. Part of me just doesn't want to.

But I want to want to!

I read stories about heroes of the faith and missionaries who God has used in unimaginable ways and I want to be like them. I want to truly surrender it all for the sake of the call. But sometimes it is a lot more appealing to my flesh, my selfish desires, my "me-ness" to just play it safe. Do nice, non-scary things...like advocating for African aardvarks in America.

Today, Larry Pate preached at church about the call God is giving our church. We come together to worship and learn and fellowship. Those are all part of being church. But we're not supposed to get free and get better just so we can be free and be better. We're supposed to be about them.

We're supposed to be about those who are in need of love and truth and rescue.

We are not supposed to live our life so wrapped up in the mundane of every day life that we shut ourselves off from those God calls us to serve. We can't be so focused on "me and mine" that we forget to look for those God wants us to see.

We need to be intentional about our living. When we shop and when we party and when we work, we should always be not just open but looking for those around us who need the Lord.

Sometimes, that means that we might need to let go of some "good" stuff in our life so we have more time to open our lives up to those God sends our way. Sometimes that means we need to take a few unfamiliar paths so that we might meet those who would not normally touch our lives. Sometimes it might even mean some major life changes...even if just for a season.

It all starts with love, though. When we really, really grasp how much God loves us, then we're going to find ourselves loving others more and more. And as we start acting on that love, a spiritual snow ball begins to happen. The more we love, the more we give and the more we serve and the more we go. And the more we give and the more we serve and the more we go, the more we love. And on and on it goes.

David Sills, in the book “The Missionary Call”, says ---

"When you love the Lord, you long to glorify Him and see the nations fall at His feet in worship. When you love your neighbor as yourself, you share the gospel with him and seek to meet his needs in every way you can, which includes seeing him fall at Jesus' feet in thanksgiving for salvation."

I want to love the Lord that way. I want the desire to glorify Him and love others to be so great that I will freely give it all to Him, not seeing it as sacrifice, but as a blessed honor.

I'm not there yet, but I pray God gives me the grace to be there one day.

In the meantime, I'm so thankful that He chooses to use me despite my inadequacies anyway.

And He chooses to use you, too.

By the way, I guess that "stream of consciousness" thing worked.

RICE BOWLS IN THE RAIN

Sometimes all it takes is gaining a little perspective.

So was the case with my friend Betty.

Like many American moms, she's been busily making plans for Thanksgiving Day and doing lots of preparation, including the running of errands.

Betty's husband works for a company that gives turkeys to all of the employees every Thanksgiving. Originally, she was going to go pick it up from the Honeybaked Ham store today but decided to make the drive to the northern part of our metro area yesterday. When she got there, hoping to get a smoked turkey, she found a store that was insanely crowded which meant a 30 to 45 minute wait plus only had roasted turkeys left, no smoked ones.

Well, I'll let Betty tell you the rest of the story:

As soon as I started to leave [the store], a flood hit Jackson. I had to walk a good ways in the down pour to my jeep. As I was walking, slowly so I wouldn't fall in my flip flops, I said "Lord, I am just thankful for this blessing of a $40.00 Turkey". Then the rain turned ice cold & I thought about complaining but the images of little ones walking miles to get a bowl of rice made me even more grateful!

Wow. Something as simple, yet powerful, as images of little ones having to walk long distances just to eat a simple meal really puts things in perspective.

As we sit around our Thanksgiving tables tomorrow, whether it is a perfectly decorated, good-enough-for-Martha-Stewart, solid-wood table or a rickety, kitchen dinette set graced with crayon-colored placemats, let's remember that our feasts are truly that. Feasts.

When you think about how the majority of the rest of the world lives, it puts it all in perspective. We are so richly blessed here in America. Even the homeless here can find places that will freely serve them turkey, dressing, and all the trimmings on this day because America truly is the land of bounty.

Let's not forget that.

It is too easy to dwell on the rain storm in our life and what we didn't get instead of focusing with gratitude on the roasted turkey and the waiting jeep.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEKEND SO FAR & TO COME

I hope your weekend has been going as good as ours has been going so far.



This Monday, our 3rd daughter turns 10. Since this is a "landmark" year, she was able to have a party with friends invited. She had a sleepover complete with pizza, cheesecake, and her maiden viewing of FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. Watching some of their faces during the movie was priceless!



After pillow fighting and a little slumber in the living room, they woke up and I fixed them a big waffle and bacon breakfast. They left mid-morning and we spent the next few hours just doing typical stay-at-home-on-a-Saturday stuff. But then, around 3:30, another landmark event started.

Betty Hodge, of BY HIS GRACE PHOTOGRAPHY, came over to do a photo shoot for Anna's senior portraits. Back in my day, senior portraits were draped shots done in front of a back drop in some high school classroom. Now, they are professional photo shoots with wardrobe changes and a variety of locations. After an hour spent taking photos of Anna in our yard, out in the pasture with her horse, and in our barn, we loaded up and went into Jackson for some urban shots.


Betsie and I were the shoot assistants as Anna sat in a retro chair right in the middle of an abandoned train track, walked up fire escape stairs near our favorite burger place, and perched atop a granite counter in a hipster complex, along with many other vignettes. It was a fun time spent with my beautiful daughters and a very talented and easy to work with friend and photographer.



Now, Anna is at the 20th birthday party for a friend she's known since she was 6, the little ones are in bed, Jim's channel surfing, David and Betsie are hanging out upstairs as only the "twins" can hang out, Patrick is hoping his dad will fix on something of interest to watch, and I'm editing photos and, of course, blogging.

Tomorrow promises to be a day full of worship, kids' friends over, afternoon naps, and family time. Sounds to me like pretty nice highlights to end the weekend and start a new week with.

I'm a blessed woman.

Hope your weekend has been full of plenty of highlights, too.

IT IS NOT FITTING...

... when one is in God's service, to have a gloomy face or a chilling look.

Francis of Assisi

And when you look at these faces, you see joy! Despite the extreme heat, the dirt, the physical effort, there is joy on the faces of my Restoration Church friends as they served the Lord and His precious ones at inner-city Jackson at WE WILL GO TODAY.



And I can guarantee you, that seeing them serve so gladly brought extreme joy to my heart and many, many smiles.

A TRULY HEROIC THING

Men have said that the cross of Christ was not a heroic thing, but I want to tell you that the cross of Jesus Christ has put more heroism in the souls of men than any other event in human history. –John G. Lake

I admit, raising sons is often a baffling task. Girls, even when they are crazy with hormones or silly beyond belief, are a gender I understand. After all, I also have been crazy with hormones or silly beyond belief a good generous helping of times in my life.

But boys?

I often am truly dumbfounded at the things they do and say.

And I often have to turn to my husband for answers and solutions. Calling Daddy in the middle of the day and having him handle a situation is not an unknown around here.

But despite the perplexing nature of raising them, I really do love my boys and I'm proud of how they are growing up. Because to be honest, I really do see all three of them growing in Christ-likeness.

It is more obvious in David as he is 14 and starting to look more and more like a man, but I see it, also, in the two younger boys. Whether it is Patrick sweetly helping a younger child at Vacation Bible School or my little Mr. T telling me the most precious encouragements that my mama heart really needs to hear, they are boys that I just don't love because I'm their mama, they are boys that I'm proud to call my sons.

In just a small handful of days, David will be leaving on an incredible journey. He, at only 14 years of age, will be going with a small team of teenagers and young adult leaders for Peru. There he'll be ministering along the Amazon River in the jungle to people who need to hear about Jesus, his life and death on the cross and resurrection. People who need to hear that God loves them and that what Jesus did means something for them.

Let me repeat that. My son David is going to be ministering to people in the Amazon! At 14!

Now to my way of thinking, that's pretty heroic! At 14, I was concerned about scoping out cute guys, what I was going to wear, and what shows were coming on t.v. that night. Sure, I thought about missions, but it was what grown-ups did. Not teenagers. Not 14 year olds.

But my first born son who hasn't even started high school yet, is going far from home, sleeping under mosquito nets, hiking thru dense jungle growth, and facing who knows what because of the call of Christ on his life. As a mama, I hope he is not in serious danger while there. But as a follower and lover of Jesus, I'm willing to let him go even if it does turn dangerous. Because that's what Christianity is supposed to be about.

True Christianity is supposed to be about living in relationship with Jesus and walking where he leads. It is supposed to be about following Him. And sometimes, just as His path while on this earth was a path of extreme sacrifice and eventual death on the cross, our life is also a path of extreme sacrifice and even death for the sake of telling others the story of the cross.

I will pray for my son's safety in Peru. I will pray that God's angels will be strong and mighty to keep him safe from harm and sickness.

But more than that, I will be praying that no matter what my son faces, he will stand strong in Jesus and proclaim the good news no matter the cost.

And in my eyes, that's true heroism.

*************************************************

We are still raising money for David's mission trip to Peru. Our dear friend Betty Hodge has created us another cross painting to auction off. This brown and aqua green beauty, that is at the top of this blog post, measures 9 X 13. If you would like to bid on it, please leave your name, someway for me to contact you, and the amount you are bidding in a comment. We will ship this anywhere in the Continental USA. The bidding will start at $8. The auction will end Thursday at 5:00. If you are unable to leave a comment, please contact me via fb or email at jimelm "at" windstream "dot" net. Thanks!

BEAUTIFUL BLUES and BROWNS for BIDDING

Behold this beautifully, handpainted cross. I just love it! It would actually look GREAT in my house but I've got to stop buying the donations and actually sell them!


This painting was done by Betty Hodge who attends church with us and is one of my daughter Betsie's best "grown-up" friends. Betty has a real heart for God and this is demonstrated by her lifestyle. She puts that love into action as she serves her family, her friends, her homeschool group, her Sunday School girls, and her church as a whole.


The bidding on this fabulous painting begins at $20. To bid on it, leave me a comment with your name, the amount you are bidding, and your contact information. The auction will end on the evening of Friday, April 8.

Thank you, Betty, for your donation and thanks to all of you for taking the time to visit Graceland and our online auction to raise money for my kids' mission trips. And if you would, we'd really appreciate you passing on the link to this auction to your contacts via facebook, twitter, and blogging.