in the love of Christ

This is a hard one to write. I meant to sit down and do this one a few days ago but it is even harder to write today because I don't want to face exactly what I thought was so great and inspiring just a little bit ago.  I ask Billy to get me stuff all the time.  If I am sitting on the couch, I sometimes wait to see when he will get up and then ask him to grab something for me while he is "up anyway". I do this unknowingly most of the time but he always gets me what I ask for...then sets it down in front of me but just out of my reach.  I mean, I am laying in bed writing a paper and realize I need a book. I ask him to grab it since he is walking that way and he sets it on the edge of the bed just far enough away that I have to practically get up and get it.  This is very funny (or at least it is in hindsight) but very annoying as well. I figure, if he wants to take the trouble to bring me something, why put it just far enough away that I can't reach it without moving!?...

A couple of nights ago at work, I had a few moments where I realized that patient care is where I need to be and that God is going to use this career of mine for His Glory.  The story is the same nearly every time but uniquely different all at once. I walk into a room and there is a patient and that patient is hurting. In some way, shape or form, this person needs help. Whether it is vomiting without ceasing or curling up in pain, they need healing. And sometimes it is a stress response, like a seizure brought on by the traumas of life running around then. I do my tasks and chit chat and then I leave because, at this point, I am just a tech who assists the nurses. I do not have any profound right to be a part of that patients care.  So when I go in to clean up vomit and that patient starts to tell me about their situation, my heart leaps and I want to know. I cannot describe how much I truly want to listen to their problems (and I hope that never changes). I don't reassure them of ...

I have written before about how God is always teaching me that I can get by on just enough.  What has been running through my mind and heart recently is another point about having just enough. Today, Billy and I have just enough money to pay our bills, for school, and live comfortable in comparison to many people all over the world. As far as gadgets and toys go, we have probably a little more than just enough and that is just fine by me (still in the realm of no cable). We have cars that work and are paid off. We are joyfully in the process of finding a house.  But what about in ten years? In ten years will we have the standards for just enough? When we have children asking for stuff all the time and, hopefully, higher pay grades, will what we view as enough today be enough then?  Here is what I am thinking: I hope with all my heart and being that what we see as enough today is just enough then as well. Today, when I am writing checks and making payments, I find that I need God and am...

The other Sunday morning, I sat in bible study with some of our middle school girls.  We got to talking about other religions and how they seemed to view their gods.  We asked for examples that the girls had seen in their friends and schools.  One girl raised her hand and said "My friend is a different religion so she goes to a Lutheran school and this other girl is from a religion where she goes to Catholic church."  I thought to myself, Hmmmm. We then proceeded to discuss the existence of different denominations within Christianity and how they are also Christian though they may not be Baptist, which really seemed to clear some stuff up... I hope.  Keith Green, a worship leader from the 90's, discussed this topic in his personal journals where he expressed great distress at the thought of people disagreeing on some theology to a point that they could not all participate in the same congregation. At one point, he became very upset with a group of ministers from many diff...