Excess

Several months ago, one of my faves started talking about The 7 Experiment by Jen Hatmaker. 

She told me about this woman who determined areas of excess in her life and fasted from those areas to be more like Christ. She was excited to start reading the book and the concept certainly seemed interesting, if not completely foreign, not only to me, but to America as a whole.

I listened to her pre-summary, then walked away thinking, "That's not me. Not only is my life okay, but I'm not sure I'm willing to give up some of these pieces of daily life that this book is going to call me to."

She read the book and began sharing with me the burden God put in her heart for the poor, lowly, and deprived people, not only in this country, but throughout the world. She talked about what God taught her and convicted her of through 7 and I was intrigued,  but still couldn't help but think- "She's more Godly than me and is so much further along in how we are truly supposed to love others. This isn't the book for me. I'm just not there yet."

Then Granny died and I saw the body of Christ at work in an awesome, comforting, and real way. I saw that many of past my responses to hurt or death had not mirrored this perfect grace God has shown me and my family. 

Then we had probably the thousandth conversation about our budget and how much of our money is spent on things we never see.

Then we cleaned out for EA's big girl room and threw/ gave away tons of stuff. More stuff than we ever or could need. Hundreds of dollars of items that have sat in a room for 4+ years and been useless.

Then we spent several days barely speaking to each other, not because we were angry or fighting, but because we couldn't seem to put down our phones with Twitter or Pinterest or Instagram long enough to look each other in the face and have a conversation.

Then we had another conversation about our health and the junk we put in our body under the rouge of time saving or fellowship or simple cravings to have something "different" to eat or to just get out of the house.

Then I completely stressed out over our schedule, which I set, because it was too full and didn't allow time for me to spend with my sweet child or for us to spend with each other.

And I realized- God was prepping me for a change. The timeliness of this response from my friend and these "outside" elements were not an accident.

Because as a believer in Jesus Christ, each of these things matter:

-How we care for others, both known and unknown, Americans and Internationals. 

-How we spend our money

-How we hold on to the things of this world

-How we invest in things unseen rather than the relationships that are necessary for spreading the Gospel

-How our bodies are a Temple of the Holy Spirit, not just a waste zone for the latest cravings

-How we are called to rest and to focus on God and our families through the Sabbath

So I caved and I read the book.

And I must say, it was excellent. 

As an avid blog reader, I adored her "blog" format. I found myself rolling on the floor with laughter in one section and completely convicted in the next. It was the perfect mix for a girl who could not finish a non-fiction book if her life depended on it.

But though I was convicted and brimming to change, I was still unsure how this was going to look for the Johnson's. The couple who are desperately trying to live on a budget, pregnant with gestational diabetes, way over extended in commitments that are truly commitments, not just one week deals, and about to squeeze another big change into their lives in about 10 weeks. How on earth do we make these changes when so much of our life in planned and ingrained by our habits?

Honestly, the timing and facts of the next few steps is kind of fuzzy, but somehow, I ended up with The 7 Experiment: Staging Your Own Mutiny Against Excess. Not only is this the original 7 in Bible study format, it also includes each of the 7 fasts, at 5 days a piece.

Perfect. 

What an excellent way to begin refocusing, to see which parts of these truly need change in our lives, and to see what God has in store. 

I am pumped.

I will officially begin the Bible study tomorrow with a group of about 12-15 women from our church, including homegirl who started this whole charade months ago,  and it's going to be awesome.

^1-6 It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

^7-10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

Ephesians 2:1-20 The Message (Emphasis by me :) )

I know that right now I am still letting "that old stagnant life of sin" creep in, but I am excited and ready for change, because He has work ready for us to do and we would be useless not to do it.

Comparison- the Enemy's favorite game

Source

I love being a mom. Adore it. It is unlike anything I have ever experienced and it is the most magnificent thing. I remember asking my friend Rebecca right after I had EA- why didn't you tell me it was this good??

But something came with it that has the potential to be equally as life shaking- comparison. For me, it started during pregnancy- why do some people get pregnant so fast while others take so long? Why does their baby move more than our baby?- and progressed right on into her little life- Why can some people bfeed and I can't? Is my daughter's life going to somehow be less because I physically could not give her the milk she needed? How much does she weigh? How tall is she? Is she sitting/ rolling over/ crawling/ creeping/ walking/ talking? 

And anytime the answer is no, I obsess over it. Why isn't she doing these things? and often times- What I am doing wrong? 

This ugly thing called comparison can eat away all of the joy that being a mom can give- it makes me see my precious, wonderful daughter as not enough. I HATE IT. 

What it comes to is simple- pride. Greedy, ugly pride.

And what Satan wants me to think is that it's okay. It's normal. 

The thing is, just because other mom's or just other people in general deal with it, doesn't mean it's okay. My daughter is never going to be just like someone else's daughter, just like my pregnancies will never be like anyone else's. God has a story that is perfect for us- it will not always have "happy endings" or always be easy, but it is perfect because God knows every step of it. Every time I start comparing, I am telling God that I am not happy with the incredible blessing He has given me- that I expected more, better, different. Where what I really got was the most amazing gift I have ever received.

EA will develop all of the skills that she is supposed to in her own time- and I don't want her to develop them in any other way- she is unique and special. That's one of the things that I love so much about her. 

Praise Jesus that He made her exactly like she is. 

Because that's exactly how she should be.

*Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you.*

Isaiah 43:4

Controversial.

This fall, our church has started a Sunday night series for parents on how to raise their children to love the Lord. It is fantastic. They have discussed so many things- from statistics on the churched/unchurched from today's twenty somethings, to ideas for teaching the Bible to your kids, to prayer, to purity. It is such an encouragement to not only know that I am responsible for leading EA and #2 in their walks with Jesus, but to have the support of our church. I think people have placed the responsibility on the church for far too long and that in so many cases, the church is beginning to believe that it is their responsibility alone to raise Godly children. That's not true.

Last night's message was on purity. When I hear that word, I think about high school, when I committed to God (and to my parents) that I wouldn't have sex before marriage. Boom. Pure.

Cue annoying buzzer- wrong.

Not only did it hit raising our children to be pure, it hit pornography. It hit modesty. It hit the sins that men and women alike struggle with. 

Y'all. This is something I am passionate about. This is something that scares the pants off me (though not literally... because that would be another set of purity problems.) Technology today is stinking ridiculous and the opportunities kids and adults have to view inappropriate things without "anyone ever knowing" are growing in multitudes daily. The things that were inappropriate when I was in high school barely touch the scales of what's happening in high schools today. I am desperate to know how to raise my little girl to have a faith and love for Jesus that she KNOWS she is better than that, because God made her that way, because she can talk to me and Brian about what she is struggling with, because she is more than just a butt and some boobs. She is a child of The King.

Pornography weighs incredibly heavy on my heart. In the past 5 years Brian and I have seen marriages end on this issue. We have seen God use struggles and temptations from porn, turn them around, and work for His glory. We have seen marriages, including our own, that have grown from open and honest conversations about this topic. We have built lifelong relationships with other men and women to create accountability to protect our marriages from this terrible thing. It's a problem. People are struggling with it. It is there and is not going away. The question is- how can we, as married couples, as moms and dads, turn this problem into knowledge? How can we take what we know is truth and allow it to help us grow as believers in Christ? How can we use it to strengthen our marriages and build walls against Satan? Those are the questions we should focus on.

Thank you Shades Mountain for being open about the fact that this is a problem and it's hurting our churches, our homes, and our lives.

Okay so this is my soapbox. And y'all didn't even do anything to get me started. *Sorry.*

If you have a little time, if this topic intrigues you, or if you are like me and are scared sick over what your children will be facing, here's the link to the sermon from last night. Our pastor opened with Biblical facts on purity, then another couple from our church took over with detailed and statistical information, including take home strategies on helping your kids. Most of it doesn't touch pornography and marriage... that was just a freebie from me. 

Purity/ Technology- D6 Shades Mountain Baptist Church

Discipleship.

Discipleship.

Kind of a buzz word around churches these days. 

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..."

Matthew 28:19

But what does that really mean? My awesome friend Maegan said it like this- 

You just live life with them, showing them how you live life with Jesus each day.

I love that. 

God had been laying discipleship on my heart for awhile before He showed me who I should disciple.

Whether it was actually discipleship or more focused accountability or even just quality hang out time, I had the incredible opportunity to spend some time with Kelsey this summer. Kelsey and I already knew and loved each other, but were able to step it up a notch in our time together. 

It is amazing how God uses opportunities to serve in a way you would never imagine. I truly believe that I got wayyy more out of our time together than Kelsey did, but I am so thankful for our summer together.

Kelsey just got back from China where she went with several people from her church in Auburn and worked with some children in an orphanage. Her posts about her work there brought me to tears and our conversation over lunch almost made me make plane reservations. God is working in this girl and it's such a glorious joy that I could be in even a teeny tiny part of it.

Check out her posts my friends, I promise you'll be blessed.

Happy Tuesday!

Powerful.

I came across the passage during my time in the Word this afternoon.

Our God is incredibly huge. His magnificence is so well described in these brief words. He is above all earthly power and He is able to do incredibly more than we can hope for or deserve.

What an awesome God we serve.

10 years.

Brian and I spent a lot of time watching coverage of the World Trade Center memorial this morning. I was taken back to that day 10 years ago and have realized again what an amazing country we live in.

I get tired of politics. I do have views and opinions that I have no intention of sharing on my blog, but overall, I believe that politics (not government) can sometimes hurt the integrity of our country. This said, as I watched President Obama walk with President Bush this morning at the memorial ceremony, I was thankful for the sense of togetherness.. that we as a country can put aside politics for a day and remember   people who were sacrificed for the sake of our freedom. 

Both President Bush and President Obama's speeches at the memorial were great- both respectful and historical, but I was truly impressed with Obama's tribute. It was simple and to the point. It gave glory where glory was due.

The entirety of his speech is followed:

^"1 God is our refuge and strength,
   an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
   and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
   and the mountains quake with their surging.
 ⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
   the holy place where the Most High dwells.
⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;
   God will help her at break of day.
⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
   he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
 ⁷ The LORD Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.
 ⁸ Come and see what the LORD has done,
   the desolations he has brought on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease
   to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
   he burns the shields with fire.
¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
   I will be exalted among the nations,
   I will be exalted in the earth.”
 ¹¹ The LORD Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress."
Psalm 46

As I listened to the president speak, it made me so thankful to live in this country. Praise the Lord that God is our Ever-Present Help and that He knows the destiny of our country and of the people effected by September 11 far before the attacks happened. Praise the Lord that our country gives us a freedom of religion that allows us to stand bold and say "He is God." Even in this day of great sadness and remembrance, praise the Lord that He is "our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble."

Gifts

It is amazing when I see people follow God's call for their lives. It is incredible that He gives us specific gifts that are intended to glorify Him. Our talents are not by accident- they are "divinely designed." What a blessing.

This morning at church, I was struck again by how intentional God is not only with His plans, but with the gifts He has given us. Brian and I have a wonderful Sunday School class. This morning, our normal teachers were out, so our good friend Rob taught the lesson. It is so clear his gift is teaching. He KNOWS the Bible and conveys the truths from the Bible with confidence, clarity, and depth that can only be found in God. His lesson was excellent- he talked about the importance in finding Christ throughout scripture, rather than making scripture fit us and our needs. He then tied that relationship in with how we are to view marriage and a Christ-like marriage. He made a lot of great points I had not considered and I was excited about what he shared. It was so good.

Fast forward about an hour. Brian's brother Kevin has recently joined our church's staff. He is also a very gifted speaker and has a great ability to draw people in. He begins seminary in the fall (actually maybe this week?) and I can't wait to see how God uses him and his talents and gifts to enhance His kingdom. This morning, Kevin led his first baptism in the church service. Maybe it is the psycho-emotional 9-month pregnant Ashley coming out, but as I watched him, I clung to Brian's hand and just cried. He is doing what God has gifted him with and what he has been called to do. He is intentional and is growing closer to the Lord through His obedience. It is such a cool thing to watch and to be part of.

Though these Godly men are such fabulous examples of God using His gifts to enhance His kingdom, I am thankful that He was just as intentional in choosing my gifts. I love that it might not be something as big as speaking or teaching, but that each gift comes directly from Him and can be used to glorify our creator. What a faithful God to serve.

The following was some Old Testament scripture that Rob mentioned in his lesson this morning- I am adding a bit more than he talked about because it is just so good! Enjoy!

Fearfully and wonderfully made...

With Emily Ann's birth coming so soon, this verse has been on my mind a good bit. The verse is so good and sweet and has held with all my hopes and expectations for my little girl- that she recognize who she is in Christ and that she has value in the eyes of God. 

But in all my reading of this verse recently, I have put aside the truth that stands in the fact that this verse applies to me as well. I am not perfect. I have so many insecurities. I am lacking in my relationship with God, with my husband, with my family, and with my friends and those things are something that I must always work on. I am not finished with the tasks God has for me and I must continue to work as for the Lord. But He knew what He was doing when He created me and He alone can complete me. My insecurities can only be "cured" by Christ. What a blessing that we have a Savior who allows us to put our hope in Him.

Check out Emily's post from today. Such a great reminder of a great God.

Happy Monday!

The last day, a new beginning

When Brian and I met almost 8 years ago, we really liked each other, but we didn't always agree on the way we wanted to do things in the future. One of the major things was me being a stay at home mom or a working mom. We had been raised in different situations and therefore definitely held different opinions. As I progressed through Auburn, my opinion slowly changed, helping me to choose education as a major. By the time I graduated from Auburn, not only was I engaged to this wonderful man, I also held a whole new opinion of working versus not. Praise the Lord that He changes the hearts of those that are ready to change- I can't imagine the stress if we still held differing opinions. Then came the job search of 2007.... and 2008..... and 2009. Last year, I completed what should have been my tenure year with two more years to go until tenure. My dreams of teaching glory had been replaced with my dreams of being a mommy. We began the school year in hopes of getting pregnant and He gave us this precious life inside of me. I am so so excited.

But with this excitement comes a whole different feeling. Today is my last day of school. I love my students, I love my school, I love my faculty. Today, when I walk out the doors, I will not be returning as a 2nd grade teacher, but as an outsider. My experience at my two other schools tells me that many of these relationships will not last and certainly won't remain the same and it breaks my heart. I know that staying home is what the Lord has called me to do for a time and I know it will be hard work and wonderful work, but today, I am truly struggling with the adjustment.

So today, I am clinging to God's promises and looking toward the future...

*For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.*

Jeremiah 29:11

Happy Friday!

A day of prayer

Our governor, Robert Bentley, has declared today a day of prayer throughout the state of Alabama. Praise the Lord that we have a governor who fears the Lord and recognizes His fullness and perfect plan.  The news continues to be consumed with stories of the number of people who did not survive, the vast damage, and the number of people who are still missing, today, four days later. It is heart breaking to hear of students at the University of Alabama who have lost their lives, co-workers whose homes and worldly possessions are destroyed, and communities that no longer exist because of this storm. 

Please join the state of Alabama as we pray for our people today.

This post is from the wife of our local weather man. It gives just a small picture of the destruction and a clear picture of our God who is able to do incredibly more than we can hope or imagine.

Have a good Sunday my friends.

Feed My Starving Children

Last night, Brian and I had the opportunity to serve alongside several members of our Sunday School class to package and prepare foods for starving children around the world. Feed My Starving Children is a nonprofit organization based out of Minnesota. The organization began when several people went on a mission trip to South America. They brought granola bars and other nonperishable foods that we commonly eat here in the United States, but realized that these highly processed foods only made the children more sick because their weak bodies could not handle them. From that opportunity, Feed My Starving Children began, creating a combination of various dietary elements that would benefit the children, not hurt them. These things include rice, chicken seasoning, soy, and dried veggies. They chose rice because it was a staple food in countries throughout the world. They chose chicken seasoning rather than actual chicken because of the various cultural beliefs about meats. With this formula, the company began the task of seeking to feed the world's poor and starving children. 

This is where we come in. We are beyond blessed by the opportunities that are presented for us at our church. Shades partnered with Feed My Starving Children to prepare and package 300,000 meals to send to 70 different countries throughout the world. Feed My Starving Children brought the dry rice, soy, chicken seasoning, and dehydrated veggies and the members of our church have worked to package them over the course of the week. The process is like a well oiled machine! In less than two hours last night, the 80 people at the event packaged over 27,000 meals. It was incredible!

Check out the website to learn more about Feed My Starving Children. This nonprofit organization is run by believers and is a great way to serve. And if you are interested, they come to you! 

Not to mention, you get to wear hairnets :)

Have a blessed night!

Same Kind of Different As Me

Last June, as we headed out for Israel, my sweet friend Sarah let me borrow the book Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. The trip ended up being MUCH more exhausting than I originally expected, so I didn't read... well.... anything. 

After we got home, the book sat on my bedside table, beckoning me to read it. 

Only, I wasn't  interested.

It wasn't that I thought it would be a bad book- several people in our Sunday School class had read it and talked about crying over it, men and women alike. It was just the fact that I couldn't find the time to make it a priority. In retrospect, it was really God preparing my heart for it.

This fall, our good friends Rob and Jared started working with a ministry called Urban Purpose. This ministry was started by a man in our church who had a heart for the homeless. As he was driving to work one morning, he stopped to help a homeless man. The man made a comment that he was just like the others- it would be the last time he saw him. This sparked an opportunity to serve differently. Since then, he has been working with Urban Trek to provide meals for the homeless each Sunday. Sunday school classes provide the food while different men (and women), like Rob and Jared, meet the people and build relationships.

Lucky for Brian and me, Rob and Jared are Brian's accountability group members. After several weeks of going to serve, Brian started to join them. He changed. The men on the street were no longer people who deserved it or people who made bad choices, now they were real people with real personalities. They were people with a story and people who needed Jesus.

Enter me. 

As Brian was going every Sunday afternoon to build relationships with these men, I was making excuses. Grad school was too much. I had just finished with the Women's Ministry event and needed a break. I needed to focus on my job. Excuse, excuse excuse.

At this point, my good friends Ashley and Jennifer had been going to The Village to lead Bible study with some of the women in the ministry since August. But my excuses kept me away. It was outside of my comfort zone. Then some things started happening with my family and the Lord began to draw me in. He began changing my heart and my desires. I started going to the Village and building relationships with the women and my life has been changing. Praise the Lord.

After going to the Village for a couple of weeks and hearing awesome stories from Brian, I looked at my nightstand and saw Same Kind of Different as Me. This time, I was excited about it.

I read the book and got a whole new perspective. God has changed my heart. The book is eye-opening, heart changing, and tear drawing. 

Check it out. Your will love it.

Have a blessed Tuesday my friends!

Miracle

Love this song. 

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas week!

Truth in the Word

Gifted

After several months of hard work, a tiny bit of frustration, and several AWESOME new friendships, the SMBC Gifted event went on without a hitch. Okay. Well, a couple of hitches, but I have heard that we are the only ones who know about them so they are no big deal. :)

The night was such a blessing. We had between 150 and 200 women gathered together for the event. Women with different backgrounds, from different families, from different church bodies, and on different paths in their lives with Christ. It was an awesome picture of outreach and of the body of Christ.

We began the evening with demonstrations and homemade desserts from ladies in the church. Each demonstration came with step by step instructions on how to do the demo at home using inexpensive supplies or supplies you may have lying around your house. Our demonstrations included snowman wreaths, cake pops, ornament wreaths, and peppermint/ hershey kisses trees. Each dessert included a recipe card to try the recipe at home. Several of the wonderful and incredible girls in my Sunday School class volunteered to bake for the event. We had cowgirl cookies, tiger butter, chocolate cake, pound cake, saltine taffee, Reese's peanut butter cookies and cookie dough cupcakes. Yum- I am wishing I had leftovers of pretty much all of it...

Next, we gather in the conference center for the main event. Taryn and Kristi were our speakers for the night. Both ladies spoke from God's Word and talked about how we as women as are gifted not only in crafts and in tangible things we can do, but are gifted to share the news of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection with others and gifted to be some part of the Proverbs 31 woman where we can glorify God through our servanthood and love. I knew both ladies would do a good job, but I was blessed by the Truth they presented and was amazed at their calmness in speaking openly and with love to such a large group of women. 

Though she was not a speaker, amazing Beth transitioned into the next part of the evening with a reminder of the opportunities we have to glorify God with how we buy gifts for Christmas. Our event had women from all different age groups selling their crafts. Some were selling international crafts to help believers in impoverished countries, some were using their money to go on a mission trip, some were using the money to pay off debt to become a career missionary, some were stay at home moms saving money to help support their home, and some were ladies who hope to one day be stay at home moms saving money to be better prepared for that day. These women all had one thing in common- they hoped to glorify God with the time they spent preparing and selling, they hoped to bless other women by offering their "gifts", and they hoped to glorify God with the money they earned during the evening. Beth's reminder was to simply be considerate of where you spend your money during the holidays and be mindful of the opportunities we have to give personal gifts that don't just come from a department store, but have thought and heart behind them.

The final event of the evening was shopping! We spent the last 2 hours browsing the tables and tables of wonderful crafts. There were women selling hairbows, knitted items, jewelry, Christmas ornaments, bags, stationary, painted items, children's clothing, picture frames... it was great.

Check out a few websites/ blogs from the event!

Freeset- Wonderful bags for a great cause!

World Crafts- Handmade crafts from all over the world. Wow.. there is so much.

Knit So Simple- Knitted scarves, hats, everything. She is so talented.

A Pig and Paintbrush- Amazing handpainted items.

Adrienne's Custom Canvas- More great handpainted items.

There were SO many more, but because I had a table as well, I didn't get to shop and grab cards as I would have liked.

I left the evening encouraged. God is consistently faithful. He will not give us more than we can handle. And He created the body of Christ to be just that, a body. This event taught me about follow-through and organization and so many other things that will help me in life. But the things I most valued were the sweet women I met along the way and the relationships I was able to build. I was shown once again the value of meeting with women to gain a better view of the world around us and to have a better understanding of who God is. God is faithful indeed.

Have a blessed evening my friends!

Gifted- A Women's Ministry Christmas Event

This fall, I have been blessed to work with several ladies from the women's ministry at my church to plan our holiday event. The theme is Gifted, focusing on the gifts God has given us and how we use them to glorify Him. We will have demonstrations with directions, provide desserts with recipes, and have vendors from our church selling homemade crafts. On top of that, we have two wonderful women speaking about the gifts God has given them specifically and share the Word. 

Basically, I can't wait. 

If you are from the Birmingham area, I would love for you to check it out! Shoot me an email or comment for more information!

Wisdom from a child

I was recently at a friend's house when her four year old daughter walked into the room. I was talking to her about the things I often talk to four year olds about- her day, her little brother, her favorite color.. and I casually mentioned that I LOVED the color pink.

She looked at me with her serious 4 year old eyes and said..

"We DON'T love things, we only love God and people."

Whoa, back up. At first I was shocked. Then I was amazed.

I can easily think of 10 times in the past week that I used the phrase *I love...* And not just with God or Brian or even my friends, but with things- the school's crispitos, Auburn football, a flip camera, or Harry Potter.

But when my exageration takes over everything, where does my *true love* come into play? Am I so focused on the things of the world that I don't even verbally differentiate between the worldly things that I like and the God that I love?

*This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.*

1 John 3:16

*We love because He first loved us.*

1 John 4:19

*By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.*

John 13:35

How incredible that God can speak through a 4-year old.

He is good, all the time.

Israel: Tuesday, June 29th

Tuesday was our final day in Israel. We left the Baptist Village in Petah Tiqua and drove to Jerusalem for shopping and touring!

During the morning, part of the group did the Rampart's Walk while the rest of the group went through the open air stores to bargain for sandals and scarves! I got a great pair of camel leather flip flops and several beautiful scarves. I can't wait for cold weather so I can use them!

After lunch, our group went to Hezekiah's Tunnel. Hezekiah's Tunnel is an underground aquaduct that Hezekiah's army dug so they could access Jerusalem's water supply outside the walls. The truly incredible part of tunnel is the fact that it is nearly a half a mile long, carved out of solid rock. Engineers started chiseling on each side of the tunnel and miraculously met in the middle. That was in 701 BC.

We went down to the tunnel, then hiked the half mile trek through water to the other side. It was so hot through our entire trip, so the cool water was an awesome relief. Sometimes the tunnel was very narrow and other times the rock was very low, but all in all it was such a fun adventure.

After the tunnel, we went to the Museum of Israel. This musuem had a great scale model of the city of Jerusalem which gave us a great picture of all we had seen. The museum also held the Dead Sea Scrolls. These scrolls were found between 1947 and 1956 near the Dead Sea and are 2000 year old records of the Old Testament books. They had a portion of the book of Isaiah on display.

Once we left the museum, we packed the vans up and went to the airport. After returning the vans, we went through the incredibly lengthy process called Israeli security. They are very serious about who comes in and out of their country- we showed our passports at least 5 times.

We finally loaded the plane and headed home.

The trip was incredible. God blessed us so much and truly changed how we read His Word. God really changed our perspective on a lot of things. We are looking forward to going back there again one day with our family.

Hope you enjoyed reading about our trip! Have a blessed and wonderful week!

Israel: Monday, June 28th

Monday morning, our group loaded the vans to head to Bethlehem. After a short detour at a mechanic's shop, we drove to the West Bank.

I am not going to lie- the wall seperating the West Bank from Israel is pretty intimidating. You have to go through security to get into the territory, but because we looked very American we were ushered through.

We had lunch at a yummy cafe inside Bethlehem. They had amazing falafel and hummus. We did have a slight incident with a stolen backpack, but the backpack was recovered and the day proceeded happily.

After lunch, we walked to the Church of the Holy Nativity. In case the title isn't obvious, this is said to be the site where Christ was born.

Our tour guide was very enthusiastic and insisted that every day was Christmas in Bethlehem.

The doorway into the church was very low. The guide explained that in early days, when the Muslims invaded the church, they road their horses in and slashed and killed people. Because of this, they lowered the door so animals could not get in.

We saw the site where Jesus was born, then where He laid in the manger.

After leaving the church, our friend brought us to an amazing olive wood store that's wall's were lined with hand carved nativities. They gave us an awesome deal on carved wood and we, in turn, gave them huge amounts of business.

Our final stop in Bethlehem was at the home of some local believers. We hosted a followship with about a dozen Palestinian believers who truly knew the cost of having a relationship with Christ. Two people in the group's brother/husband was killed because of their stand for Jesus. This death forced them to move their ministry away from their home to a new place where they could share Jesus's life, death, and resurrection.

Their story was unbelievable. And convicting. My life is so comfortable and yet I am often unwilling to share the Truth with the people I come in contact with. These people have actually endured pain and suffering and threats to their family, yet they continue to seek Christ.

Wow.

Israel: Sunday, June 27th

We woke up Sunday morning and enjoyed a delicious breakfast of toast, boiled eggs, incredible fresh fruit, homemade granola, cereal, hot tea/ coffee, and juice. The fruit was really really good- grapes, cantelope, watermelon. Yum.

After breakfast, we loaded the vans to go to Nazareth for church with some believers in the community. Some of the songs were in both English and Arabic. It was really powerful to worship in a room of believers that did not let language get in the way. They also offered radios to translate the sermon into English making it much easier to understand :)

After church, we grabbed a quick lunch at a local mall. Brian had shwarma, but I must admit, very shamefully, that I had McDonald's. It was the largest beverage I had all week. And I can't deny, it was so good.

After lunch, we went back to the church to prepare Arabic materials for distribution, then split into groups. Part of our group went to a local market, while the other part went to an intersection to pass out literature. We had a much better reception at this market than we had at the one in Beer Sheba and Arad. People were anxious, open, and willing to recieve the Word, which was an encouragement from the beginning of the trip. We also had several conversations that were promising. The group that passed out literature in the intersection was also met with positive attitudes. One car drove through and got the information, then was so interested they drove back around to get a second set for the others in the car.

When we finished, both groups met back up at a local park to reflect on the afternoon's events. Just like every other park we had been to, the view was amazing.

Overall, our time in Nazareth was JOYFUL! God is moving through the people of Nazareth- they seem ready and waiting to be introduced to Christ. Though it is strange to me that the same city that is the home of Jesus (Matthew 2) needs to be introduced TO Jesus, the fruit of the believers working over there is incredible. We can only pray that the Lord will continue to work through His people and that this community will turn their hearts to God.