Observations, a list of 4

1. It's raining. Again. Another gray and dreary day with a threat of another gray and dreary mood to match.

2. Basketball season begins tonight for my number two boy. I can't believe it! He went to school today decked out in a shirt, tie and khakis, looking all grown up and leaving me to wonder where all my babies went?

3. In Tuesday's Nightstand post, I forgot to mention that I also recently finished reading The Swiss Courier by Trish Goyer and Mike Yorkey, a story of spies and double agents set in World War II. The plot was a little predictable but enjoyable nonetheless. In short, I liked it (and Lauren did too; check out her review here and enter to win a copy of your own!). Thanks to Litfuse Publicity Group for giving me the opportunity to read it!

4. I can't believe I haven't mentioned this yet but I am going to Nicaragua. Yes, I--me, Lisa--am going on a mission trip to another country, another culture, another world very different from my own, Nicaragua. Some of you know me well enough to know that an international mission trip has long been a dream and desire of mine. The dream is now reality and I am so overwhelmed I can hardly talk or write about it. We are going in February, 7 of us from my church. I'm not sure what my responsibilities will include but there is the possibility that my pastor's wife (and friend) and I will be leading a woman's conference. In Nicaragua. Did I mention I'm overwhelmed? I'm sure I will be blogging more in the future but for now, will you pray for us?

What's On My Nightstand, October

It's the fourth Tuesday of the month which means 5 Minutes for Books is once again asking: What's On Your Nightstand?

Books I recently finished:

The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism which confronts many of the common questions skeptics have about Christianity in addition to offering support and validation of a Biblical gospel-driven worldview--highly recommended.

First the Dead, a CSI-type novel set in post Katrina New Orleans. A very different take on your usual suspense type novel but I enjoyed it.

Books I am now reading:

Countering the Claims of Evangelical Feminism: Biblical Responses to the Key Questions by Wayne Grudem

Mere Christianity by CS Lewis

I am between books in the fiction department. I'm considering something by Hemingway, maybe A Farewell To Arms. To my knowledge, I've never read any of Hemingway's novels. Any feedback? What about Faulkner?

Other titles I'd like to read include The Chosen by Chaim Potok, The Secret Garden by Burnett or maybe Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther by Bainton. What I end up reading will be strongly influenced by what's available at the library!

So, what's on your nightstand? Link up at 5 Minutes for Books and let us know!

I wish I may, I wish I might

As a girl, I would often search the early night sky for that first star's light, chanting to myself the familiar refrain: "Star light, star bright / First star I see tonight / I wish I may / I wish I might / Have the wish I wish tonight." While I can't recall what childish dreams I sought so fervently, I well remember the secret hope that maybe, just maybe they might come true. I was smart enough to know that no star granted wishes; at the same time I was hopeful enough that perhaps I just might have the wish I wished if I wished it sincerely.

I'm older now (news flash, there) and while I no longer wish upon a star I do occasionally indulge in the hope that "I wish I may, I wish I might..."

I wish...I were more organized.

I wish...I enjoyed cleaning house.

I wish...for one day with nothing to do and nowhere to be.

I wish...I had a new pair of boots.

I wish...I could figure out how to do it "all" with ease and excellence.

I wish...my children would ________ .

I wish...I were funner and funnier.

I wish...I had a best girlfriend.

I wish...my house looked like the Pottery Barn catalog.

I wish...I were a better communicator/Bible teacher.

I wish...I were confident and bold instead of weak and insecure.

I wish...

These are all longings I've expressed at various points in my journey; it's an illustrative list and by no means exhaustive. Some are real regret; most are mere reflections of my discontent and my desire for the proverbial greener grass.

Just this morning I was indulging in a few "I wish I may, I wish I might" yearnings and the thought occurred to me: then what? If all my wishes came true and I got whatever I think I need and want--then what? Would I then be happy forever and forever amen? Satisfied and fulfilled for the rest of my days?

No, I wouldn't (though there is that small part of me that would sure like to try). You know it as well as I do: one wish inevitably gives way to another. We are never content, no matter what it is we wishing for. I am never satisfied. There was a time I wished for a new sofa only to then wish for a rug and curtains. I wished for the new sofa, I got it and then what? I wished for something else. And on and on it goes...

Wishing after the things of this world is a silly, disappointing venture, a vicious cycle of discontent and desire. When will I learn? What if I were to instead seek satisfaction in Christ and Him alone--then what? His Word promises I would never be disappointed; instead, by His grace He would reveal to me the breadth and length and height and depth of His love, this love that surpasses knowledge, even as He fills me with all the fullness of God. Who needs mere wishes? This is my hope, my confidence and my assurance--Christ alone! He is able to save and to satisfy! Nothing compares to Him!

Iron sharpening iron

One day last week my friend told me something I didn’t like hearing. In fact, I was embarrassed and a little hurt that she so readily agreed with my confessed shortcoming. I suppose I wanted her to dismiss it or, at the very least, make me feel better about it. Instead, she was honest enough—and enough of my friend—to acknowledge (what I perceived to be) the harsh truth.

I guess part of me would like to be mad about it but I’m not. Really. I’m not. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend,” the Bible tells me, and my friend’s gentle rebuke not only proves her friendship to me; it serves as a lesson in humility. As is so often the case, humility is sometimes best learned through humiliation.

As iron sharpens iron, so one friend encourages and corrects another. I am glad for friends who love me enough to speak Truth, however unpleasant it may be. I am thankful we do not walk this journey alone, that the Holy Spirit uses relationships to teach us, encourage us and sharpen us. We are interdependent rather than independent and, as such, we need each other. I am the better for the many friendships the Lord has granted me over the years, godly women who have modeled for me both by word and deed what it is to live for Jesus. To my friends--young, old, real, virtual, near, far--I think you know who you are and I pray you realize that the influence you’ve had on my life is nothing short of profound.

This morning I studied Hebrews 10 and the exhortation to "consider how to stir up one another to love and good works...encouraging one another." I want to be that kind of friend! Let us seek to encourage and exhort one another as friends and sisters in the Lord—even when it means we must sometimes say the hard thing. And let us be humble enough to accept the faithful exhortation of a good friend, even those that wound. May we be the kind of friends who love each other as Jesus has loved us and gave Himself up for us!

If I'd known then...

Our trip to Auburn Saturday for the football game--my first in many, many years--evoked many memories of our younger selves, mine and my husband's, and of our dating and newlywed days. I was young. In love. Full of the idealism and confidence of youth. Convinced the world was my stage and my dreams realities.

Today, well, I am not so very idealistic as that. My dreams have been replaced with reality and my confidence with something slightly less than.

Remembering the me I was, the us we were, brought my friend's question to mind: What would I tell myself when I was her age, a young newlywed on the brink of life as a grown up? I struggle with this because, well, I don't have to tell you this, but, get this, I'm somewhat of a cynic. Yeah, me. I've discovered that life is far more mundane and messy than I ever dreamed--and I wonder: is this what I tell her? Would it have been beneficial to me for someone to sit me down and break the news to me that I would not change the world, that the power suit and briefcase would never make it out of the closet and instead of the Wall Street Journal I would be more familiar with Good Night, Moon?

I think yes. I'd like to think that I would accept the ordinary life with humility and gratitude and an eagerness to serve the Lord in whatever He calls me to do. Maybe I would not have wasted so many years resenting the small life that is mine after all.

I posed the same question to you and your answers were full of the wisdom and insight I so desperately lacked at my friend's age. To acknowledge how quickly time passes--the good stuff and the difficult stuff, both. The humility to know that it's not all about me--yes and amen. To lose the pursuit of perfection and instead accept my limitations, even delighting in my weakness, absolutely. Letting go, receiving the Lord's grace as just that--grace, and throwing off the weight of condemnation. To choose to enjoy whatever stage of life I'm in and to not take myself so seriously. To cultivate deep, meaningful relationships, making the effort to love well.

To all of your comments I say "Amen!" I appreciate your honest confessions and I couldn't say it better myself. Like you, I wish I'd known all of those things and appropriated their truths accordingly.

As a young college student madly in love with a future engineer from Auburn I could not have imagined all that awaited me over the next couple of decades. Really, who could have known? Hello, four priority blessings--all boys?

What I wish I had known: calling, vocation, house, stuff, expectations, frustrations, trials, clothes, shoes, and so on--all shift and sway and ultimately disappoint and none matter in the long run. The only thing that matters is Jesus. Seeking Him, knowing Him, following Him, proclaiming Him. Serving Him by serving my family with joy and contentment. Dying to me and living for Him. Being grateful for the blessings and trials He sovereignly bestows.

If I'd known then what I know now, I'd like to think I would spend my days, my money and my talents in pursuit of the glory of Jesus Christ in all things. I see but I forget that He alone satisfies. He alone sustains. He alone brings joy and peace, meaning and significance. His glory is the highest purpose and His kingdom the worthiest aim.

Christ alone my glory, my passion, and my desire. Let it be!

Kentucky-Auburn game, a pictorial review

We had a wonderful time on our trip to Auburn for the Kentucky-Auburn game. Of course, by now you know that Auburn lost so some of us didn't have as much fun as might have been possible otherwise but on the whole it was lots of fun, even for someone as non-committal as me! I have to tell you, though, Tiger Walk itself almost persuaded me: thousands (literally) of fans as far as the eye can see, cheering, slapping, high-fiving the players and coaches as they walked from their bus to the stadium. Pretty cool. I told my husband that I don't see how anyone could lose after that kind of frenzied excitement!

Oh yes, and for those of you who were curious: I did not wear anything blatantly partisan. My concession was to the color orange though, as you can see, it's more Texas than Auburn...

Me and my oldest and youngest boys before we left (ignore the dirty kitchen):

Numbers One, Two and Three, looking for an open spot at Tiger Walk:

My Auburn guys:

Yeah, it was C O L D ! ! !

Our view:

I'm back!

Hello, internet world! It's good to be back! Yes, after a few days' of wailing and gnashing of teeth, we are finally back online. Yes and amen. Hopefully we are the better for our (unwanted) hiatus. All things work together for our good, right?

No real post today but I did want to share a portion of a devotion written by Elizabeth Elliott, "Several Ways to Make Yourself Miserable." No, pouting over lack of internet access did not make the list (though #9 comes close) but thanks for asking...

1. Count your troubles, name them one by one--at the breakfast table, if anybody will listen, or as soon as possible thereafter.
2. Worry every day about something. Don't let yourself get out of practice. It won't add a cubit to your stature but it might burn a few calories.
3. Pity yourself. If you do enough of this, nobody else will have to do it for you.
4. Devise clever but decent ways to serve God and mammon. After all, a man's gotta live.
5. Make it your business to find out what the Joneses are buying this year and where they're going. Try to do them at least one better even if you have to take out another loan to do it.
6. Stay away from absolutes. It's what's right for you that matters. Be your own person and don't allow yourself to get hung up on what others expect of you.
7. Make sure you get your rights. Never mind other people's. You have your life to live, they have theirs.
8. Don't fall into any compassion traps--the sort of situation where people can walk all over you. If you get too involved in other people's troubles, you may neglect your own.
9. Don't let Bible reading and prayer get in the way of what's really relevant--things like TV and newspapers. Invisible things are eternal. You want to stick with the visible ones--they're where it's at now.

Yep, I could confess to one or more of those misery inducing practices! Rather than self absorbed, self induced misery let us press on to pursue joy in Christ! He is the only source of lasting, all satisfying joy!

And, if you're interested, you can subscribe to the Elizabeth Elliott devotions through Back to the Bible.

It's shameful, really...

1. It's raining. Perpetually.

2. We've been without internet since Tuesday.

3. #1 and #2 are driving me C R A Z Y.

I'm coming to you live from the public library, thanks to free wi fi--an excellent and worthy use of public funds in my humble opinion. I called before I came to make sure their internet was up and running, ready and available for junkies like me. I couldn't handle the disappointment otherwise. Seriously.

It's shameful, really, how dependent I am on the internet, email, blogger, accuweather, facebook, twitter, and on and on it goes... To do without for three whole days (and counting)? Oh, the horror!

So if you've missed my internet presence, been wondering why I haven't replied to email or commented on your blog, now you know why. Who knows when we will be restored back to the world wide web. Here's hoping it's sooner rather than later!

Football fervor, revisited

As many of you know, I live in Alabama, where our allegiance to God, country, and football is legendary and not necessarily in that order. In fact, the joke goes that once you cross the state line you must declare your loyalty: Alabama or Auburn, Roll Tide or War Eagle, the Crimson and White or the Orange and Blue.

For my part, I grew up chanting "Roll Tide, roll!" My dad was an alum, so choosing sides was a matter of tradition and family legacy.

That is, until we moved to Texas when I was in eighth grade. I find it interesting how much our surrounding culture shapes our passions. Living apart from the Tiger and Tide hotbed for a number of years, and then marrying a wonderful man who happens to be an Auburn man through and through led to a measure of indifference on my part.

We now live in Alabama, but despite the joke I referred to earlier, I don't declare loyalty one way or the other. My husband is raising four of the biggest Auburn fans you can imagine, and no doubt it would thrill his heart for his wife to also don the Orange and Blue. Instead, I now say I'm non-denominational when it comes to football in Alabama: I just want everyone to be happy.

But sometimes I wish I were one or the other as I have observed the very real sense of community and commaraderie that arises between fans of like persuasion. My boys will be out somewhere sporting some of their various Auburn paraphenalia and should we encounter another Tiger fan, here in town or in another state, there is immediately a sense of commonality and unity. "War Eagle" from one fan to another and instantly, a connection based on a common passion.

Not to mention a common enemy and common hatred. My friend whose husband is a purebred Auburn fan made the comment that if Alabama were playing water polo against the university of Osama, then her hubby would no doubt root for the bin-Ladens. Oh, many fans will claim they only cheer against the other when playing each other, but I never half believe them. To be an Alabama fan is to hate Auburn, zealously so, and vice versa.

Several months ago, our usual pest control man was replaced with a young guy who was--and I do not exaggerate in the least--an Auburn fan from head to toe. Literally. Auburn cap, Auburn shirt, Auburn pen, Auburn key chain, Auburn tattoo(s). I've never seen anything like it. His allegiance was more than obvious. He wore it literally on his sleeve.

While in no way condemning the football fan, Alabama or Auburn, I can't help but think in terms of our spiritual fervor. To consider that it is a game that inspires such fierceness of emotion--and in the end it is really only a game--in contrast, things of eternal value often engender only a vague indifference.

Oh, that I might have the same unwavering boldness in declaring my allegiance to Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Savior! How I pray for passion, zeal, and fervor that marks me as a follower of Christ! May we His church be united, may we know kinship and community with other blood bought believers, and may we be diligent in the fight against the enemy of our souls!

*Originally posted, December 2007

Author's note: We will be making a trip to the plains this weekend for the Kentucky/Auburn game, our first Auburn game to attend as a family. My longstanding indifference will be put to the test as my husband has indicated his belief in the necessity of me wearing something partisan. I'll let you know...

If you'd known then...

The Lord has seen fit to place me in a couple of mentoring relationships in this season of my life and, despite the occasional bout of insecurity (Who in the world do I think I am?), I am loving it. Interestingly enough, all three of the young women I (presumably) mentor are pastor's wives, two of which I meet with on Friday mornings. My other young friend and I meet on something of a less structured schedule; we've decided to both read a book (currently Crazy Love and prior to that Womanly Dominion) and then meet for lunch to discuss.

I say I presumably mentor these women but in reality it is a mutual iron-sharpening-iron. They are all godly young women passionate about living for Christ. Sometimes their maturity in the faith stands in sharp contrast to my own, particularly when I think back (way back) to when I was their age. For example, one of my presumed mentorees is a seminary student. How does one mentor someone studying Hebrew? I don't know either, but did I mention I'm loving it?

During our last lunch session, my friend asked me to think on the following question: What did I wish I had known when I was her age? In other words, what piece of advice would I offer to the me I was then? Bless her heart, she really does want to know.

I've been pondering my answer for a couple of weeks now and plan to post my thoughts here in the next couple of day. But before then, I'd like to ask you the same thing. What do you wish you had known then, as a young wife and mom? Or, if you are currently a young wife and mom, what advice would you have given yourself as a teenager? Whatever stage of life you are currently in, if you'd known "back then" what you know now, what would you do differently? Or the same?

I'll be interested to read what you think!

Friday's Fave Five

It's Friday which means Susanne of Living to Tell the Story is hosting her weekly carnival, Friday's Fave Five! So, here are five of my favorite things from this past week:

1. Homecoming Parade. Class floats, the bands, the queen and her court propped on the back of convertibles, the football team on a flatbed trailer, all capped off with the big fire truck at the end. Love it.

2. Winning. Our football team (on which my oldest boy plays) won last Friday night, 28-0. My youngest two sons' team won their soccer match on Saturday 6-2; my second son won his 6-0. Winning isn't everything, you're absolutely right, but it sure is fun to see your boys play hard, do their best, and win. I'm just sayin'...

3. Rick Bragg's All Over but the Shoutin'. I don't think it's my favorite book and in fact I have mixed emotions upon finishing it. I think it has made me sad more than anything else which is something of a puzzling emotion to follow such an incredibly well written memoir. But still, I liked it. Bragg's story of his rise from dirt poor white trash to winning the Pulitzer is an amazing one indeed.

4. Bible study, Hoping for Something Better. Good stuff. A small group this week, only three of us, but still, the Lord was faithful to meet with us! Where two or three are gathered!

5. Meeting this morning with two young girlfriends. We had a great time as we chatted about real life, confessed our failures and boasted in the grace of God as our only hope (and even baked cupcakes--or one of us did!). I am so very thankful that the Lord in His sovereign plan brought the three of us together for such a time as this!

And, for a 6th favorite thing of the week: Returning to blogging. To be back, at least for a week, has been good. I've missed it. I'm glad to be back!

What about you? What are your five favorites of the week? Link up over at Susanne's and let us know!

A girl, a VHS tape and God's amazing grace

I've known Jesus, loved Him and wanted to belong to Him for as long as I can remember. In my earnest desire to be His, I repeated the "sinner's prayer" something like 357 times. Give or take. I so wanted to belong to Him and I so wanted to be sure I had done it "right." As to which one, if any, of those desperate prayers of salvation "took," I do not know. This may bother some, but I cannot point to the day or hour or even year of my salvation.

I may have grown up sure of my love for God, but I wasn't so sure of His love for me. I mean, I knew the Bible said that God so loved the world, and I was in the world so, by default, I figured God must love me because well, He has to, like out of some kind of obligation or something. Because I knew I messed up no matter how hard I tried to be good--and can I just say I tried really hard--I knew I didn't deserve His love, so I tried really, really hard to earn it.

I played by the rules my whole life. I did everything a good Christian should, and avoided everything she shouldn't. And I was miserable. Keeping a list of rules is exhausting. Not to mention impossible. Maintaining perfection, at least in image, is exhausting as well. Not to mention impossible.

I was caught on this treadmill of legalistic Christianity, thinking this walking with Jesus deal was all about the things I did. Or didn't. And instead of getting closer to Him, I only found myself feeling more and more condemned and more and more beat down and beat up.

Miserable.

I was also terribly, horribly insecure. I felt I failed in gaining His acceptance, so I looked for acceptance elsewhere, anywhere. I don't want you to think I was perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I wasn't. I'm not. I made some really foolish choices and some really bad mistakes.

I loved God. I wanted to be His. I wanted to live for Him. But I was trying so hard and failing so miserably.

One day as a young mom I read in our church newsletter that a lady in our church was beginning a video-based Bible study for women. I went. And it was like nothing I had ever experienced. I had no idea such a thing existed. I didn't know I could know my God like that. I didn't know I could know Him through His Word like that.

And God birthed in me a passion--a passion that will not die-- to know Him in the pages of His Word.

A few months later, we moved to another city and a year or so later, I was sitting at a picnic table with a dear friend in the park next to our library. I expressed to her a desire to study God's Word with other women, much like I had in our other church before we had moved to this city. "Sounds like God's calling you to lead a Bible study," she challenged me.

And so He was.

And so I said yes.

Now my passion to know Him through His Word has grown to a passion for other women to know Him in intimacy through the pages of His Word.

As I have studied the Truths of God's Word, I have finally realized my God does indeed love me, but not because of any worth in me. There is none. He loves me because He has chosen me before the foundation of the world to save and forgive and redeem and cleanse and set free. It's His grace, His glorious, amazing grace! I cannot earn His favor; He has bestowed it.

As I look back on my life, I see now God's sovereignty and His grace drawing me to Himself from the very beginning of my memory and all through the course of my journey. I am amazed at His faithfulness and mercy and grace. He's been faithful. Incredibly, amazingly so. I cannot comprehend such grace.

If I had to sum up my testimony of God's faithfulness to me in one single exhortation, this is what I would say: There's more. There's more than a list of rules. There's more than merely repeating a prayer. There's more than hell insurance. There's more than legalistic righteous behavior. There's more than accumulating the things of this world.

There is life. There is joy. There is mercy. There is grace. There is power. There is fullness.There is more. More than you can ever imagine. And the more is found in Jesus Christ. He is the more I longed for, the more you're longing for. Knowing Him. Saying Yes to Him. Laying down everything--yes, everything--before Him. Making Him not just part of your life, but your LIFE.

He is worth it all.

To God be the glory!

**Originally posted April, 2007**

A boy, some football players and God's amazing grace

He wasn't raised in church; in fact, he assumed that because he lived in the US of A, he was a Christian. He had no idea Easter could be about more than the Easter Bunny or Christmas more than Santa Claus. He never attended a Vacation Bible School and had never really heard the story of the cross of Jesus. That is, until…

Until some guys he respected and looked up to, athletes and believers in the Lord Jesus, fellow football players and dynamic leaders on and off the field, pointed him to the only source of Life. Through their example and influence, and through the ministry of Fellowship of Christian Athletes, this young fifteen year old boy repented of his sin and placed his hope and life in the power of Christ to save.

He was on fire with the zeal of the freshly forgiven. He sought to share his newfound faith with one of those he loved most: his mom. Despite being told he may have gotten in too deep into this religion stuff, he remained undaunted, waking her up on Sunday mornings to drive him to church until he had the means to drive himself. I don’t know if she resented it, his faith, I’m fairly certain she didn’t understand it, not at the time, yet I do know she would eventually share it.

This boy, he grew strong in the Lord, growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and today he humbly and faithfully serves the God who reached out to save him despite himself nearly three decades ago. Today, he is a husband and a father and today, just as every day for over 18 years now, I am profoundly grateful to be his wife.

I told him the other night how much I love his story, how it is so unlike my own. It reminds me of the grace of a sovereign God who works all things according to the counsel of his will, even saving a fifteen year old boy who had absolutely no spiritual context whatsoever, only to bring that same boy into my life many years later, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, til death do us part. Tears come to my eyes as I marvel at the amazing and mysterious grace of a good and merciful God. Who has understood the mind of the Lord? The wind of the Spirit blows where it wishes; who can know where it comes from or where it goes? It is by grace we are saved: me, my husband, any of us who know the Lord Jesus. Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that is greater than all our sin. Grace, and grace alone.

I am grateful for my husband's young friends and their bold proclamation of their faith. I am thankful for FCA and its commitment to reach young athletes with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Above all, I thank the God who graciously extends the free gift of salvation. He is great and He is good; He alone has the power to save. To God be the glory!

Status Report, October

Sitting...at my dining room table.

Drinking...coffee, black.

Feeling...lethargic. The gray, drizzly day doesn't help.

Thinking through...my to do list for the day. On the agenda: Making out a menu and grocery list. Grocery shopping. Bible study preparation. Various and sundry other duties including cleaning out the fridge, laundry and ironing. Pretty ambitious, especially given that at the moment I am doing none of those things.

Suffering...from a total mental block on what to cook for supper. If you have any suggestions, by all means send them on. I need simple and easy and if it involves a crock pot, I am so there.

Enjoying...David Crowder Band's new cd, Church Music. Most particularly "How He Loves:" If His grace is an ocean we're all sinking...

Reading...All over but the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg, another memoir. My husband and I saw Bragg speak at a banquet a few months ago and I've been wanting to read his book ever since. He is a gifted and honest writer, no doubt about it, and his memoir is at turns funny and sad, poignant and painful. He grew up not too far from where I live which makes his recollections all the more intriguing. Really good.

Loving...fall. LOVE. FALL. Gray, drizzly days (and the corresponding lethargy) notwithstanding, the weather has been gorgeous, my windows have been open, and I've been loving every minute of it.

Dreading...sorting through the boys' clothes, a necessary evil each change of the seasons. I dread it so much that cooler (or warmer, as the case may be) weather always catches me digging madly through boxes of clothes seeking out a pair of long pants (or shorts) for one or more of the boys. This year, no different. Right now the boxes are lining the walls of our upstairs hallway awaiting to be sorted through and then repacked with the summer items. Yuck.

Convicted...by my aforementioned dread, especially as I consider how many in the world haven't hardly anything, much less four boxes' worth of clothes. We have so much and, sometimes, I am ashamed.

Counting...my blessings. If only I could count that high! The Lord has blessed me in immeasurable and incalculable ways, the greatest of which is the grace He has poured out on me through the cross. He demonstrates His love for me in that while I was yet a sinner, Christ died; how great a salvation!

Back in the groove, such as it is

So I'm walking out of the JV football game last Monday night and my friend Sherrie calls me over to where she is sitting in the warmth of her vehicle. As I lean in the open window, she proceeds to remind me that it is nearly October and time for my self imposed blog break to end--an adamant suggestion to get back with it already. Yes, ma'am, indeed. And, well, I suppose she's right, though it's taken me a week to get back in the groove, such as it is.

The break, it's been good. While I've certainly thought about blogging, and the days without me considering various post possibilities were few and far between, I never had to actually restrain myself from rushing the computer and madly composing all the smart and witty posts accumulating in my thought processes. Mostly I've been living life--however hectic, however chaotic--here in the real world.

Some highlights of the month:

I read a couple of really great books, most particularly Coop. Carrie reviewed it quite enthusiastically at 5 Minutes for Books and I have to tell you: she does not exaggerate. It's good. I love memoir and this guy can flat out write.

I'm loving football season. My boy is playing for the first time and, frankly, he has a lot of room of improvement, but, hey, football is one of the (many) reasons I love living in a smaller town. Who needs Target, Starbuck's or even PF Changs when you can dish on the new football coach with the senior gentleman carrying out your groceries or share a bag of peanuts with friends whose boy has been teammates with your boy since they were four and playing soccer for the first time? True, I'd love it a lot more if we were 6-0 instead of 3-3 (what can I say, I like to win), but Friday nights with the whole town turned out to cheer on the home team? Pretty cool.

Also loving Bible study, Hoping for Something Better by Nancy Guthrie. I know the summer hiatus is necessary and good--if for no other reason than to make resuming in the fall all the more sweet. We're gaining an immense vision of Jesus as we study the book of Hebrews, exalting in Him as the something better we long for. As Guthrie writes,

We don't have to spend our whole lives on an endless and unsatisfying search. There really is something better...better than living life with a merely sentimental, superficial spirituality. Better than going through life with a debilitating fear of death. Better than becoming bored and burdened by meaningless religious ritual; better than feeling like an unwelcome outsider or an unworthy hypocrite; better than being bound by shame and regret. There is something better than makes problems worth persevering through, something that makes heaven worth waiting for, something running toward and dreaming of.

That something better is actually someone better: Jesus.

Yes and amen.

Other September highlights include soccer games (my eleventh year as a soccer mom and still lovin' it), cooler temps (and open windows, totally lovin' it), and shuttling kids all over town (not exactly lovin' it but tolerating it just the same). In short, life is good. Immeasurably good, full to overflow with the blessings given by the Giver of all good things.