It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Has anyone ever seen this movie? I watched it the other night with my girls. They loved it and I of course enjoyed it. It's a classic children's movie and so fun to watch! Well I started thinking that maybe Schulz was making fun of our culture a little bit in this movie.

Linus is one of my favorite characters in the Peanuts clan. He's cute and lovable and he carries his blanket everywhere he goes. I have to admit that he makes his security blanket look so useful that I have often thought I should start carrying one! So here is Linus and he is writing a letter to the Great Pumpkin. He believes that the Great Pumpkin rises out of the most sincere pumpkin patch and brings gifts to all the boys and girls. Hmmm...this is sounding similar to someone else I have heard of. At one point Charlie Brown is yelling at him trying to convince him the Great Pumpkin is not real. He says to Linus...
"Oh brother! When are you going to stop believing in something that isn't true?"
And I can't help but love Linus' response...
"When YOU stop believing in that fat guy in a red suit and a white beard who goes 'HO! HO! HO!'"
I heard him say this and I couldn't help but wonder if Schulz was just as confused as some of us as to why we spend so much time making sure I kids believe in things that aren't true. Hmmmm...

Then at one point my thoughts were pretty much confirmed when Linus and Sally had this discussion!

Linus: He'll come here because I have the most sincere pumpkin patch and he respects sincerity.
Sally: Do you really think he will come?
Linus: Tonight the Great Pumpkin will rise out of the pumpkin patch. He flies through the air and brings toys to all the children of the world.
Sally: That's a good story.
Linus: You don't believe the story of the Great Pumpkin? I thought little girls always believed everything that was told to them. I thought little girls were innocent and trusting.

Well Charles Schulz...you have made me think a little bit! Thank you!

You Are Here...Be Happy!

"It was spring, but it was summer I wanted,
the warm days, and the great outdoors.
It was summer, but it was fall I wanted,
the colorful leaves, and the cool, dry air.
It was autumn, but it was winter I wanted,
the beautiful snow, and the joy of the holiday season.
I was a child, but it was adulthood I wanted,
the freedom, and the respect.
I was twenty, but it was thirty I wanted,
to be mature, and sophisticated.
I was middle-aged, but it was thirty I wanted,
the youth, and the free spirit.
I was retired, but it was middle-age that I wanted,
the presence of mind, without limitations.
My life was over,
but I never got what I wanted."

Author Unknown

Seems like maybe God is teaching me something. First at Women of Faith Luci Swindoll recited this poem. I thought. WOW! That is truly me, always wanting what is next. Always waiting for the next thing to arrive. But never being happen where I am.

Then at a Bible study this week we talked about Hannah and surrendering in waiting. I had an interesting conversation with a couple of women at my table. They asked me if some of my kids were in school and I told them yes. They said "Doesn't it feel great?". My answer "Actually I feel conflicted about it. I don't really think they should be there." I was being honest with these women. I don't really know what I expected them to say, but I didn't expect what they said. "You should never feel conflicted about sending them to school. You have deserved it. You have worked hard and now you can breath easy." Woah. Really? I feel like having them in school is more work for me. I do extra work with them on top of what they learn at school. I visit their classrooms to see what they are learning. Otherwise I might never know. Constantly correcting the bad habits and attitudes they are picking up from other kids. Boy...this is so not a break. And I am not breathing easy.(That is another blog maybe for tomorrow.) So then the speaker of the day talked about how wait should be a four letter word put with the rest of them. I totally agreed with her. She talked about as women that is what we are always doing...waiting. Waiting to be older....waiting for bills to stop...waiting for the check to come to pay the bills...waiting to get married....waiting for kids....then waiting for the kids to grow up and leave the house. 

Have you ever been to a mall that you have never been to before? Say you just moved to the Twin Cities and you want to go to the Mall of America. Most people probably just walk around aimlessly. But how much better would your time be spent if you knew where you were? So you walk over to the directory to look at the list of stores and look at the map to find "You Are Here." How important to know we are here. How can we enjoy where we have come from or where we are or where we are going if we don't know we are here? Enjoying the moment we are in... The stage our kids are in... The house we are living in... The town God has placed us in. These at times are hard for me to do. How do I enjoy here if I want to be there so badly. The grass is always greener on the other side! I think I am going to enjoy the grass here for now. 

Book Review: The Voice

Book Review

The Voice New Testament

Step Into the Story of Scripture

I was so excited that I got this in the mail right before I left for Women of Faith! So I opened it to John 1 to read. That is my go to book and chapter when I am looking at Bibles. This is what I read....

"Before time itself was measured, the Voice was speaking. The Voice was and is God. This celestial Word remained ever present with the Creator; his speech shaped the entire cosmos. Immersed in the practice of creating, all things that exist were birthed in Him."

Wow...what did I just read? Was that really the beginning of John 1? I was going into reading this expecting it to be like my basic Bible that I read. But it's not. It's so much more than just scripture written down in another translation. It's the Bible in more story form. 

At first I didn't like it. They had taken a chapter that I have read over and over again and changed it too much I thought. But the more I read that more I enjoyed it. Written like a story and like a play it was more than I had expected. I also love the intros to the books. They talk about who is believed to have written the books. Why they were written and when. Honestly I am looking forward to reading this with my girls. 

I love that this book is put together by scholars and writers. It's a great collaboration by so many wonderful people. 

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

Oh Women of Faith!

I feel blessed by the weekend I spent in St. Paul! I had such a great time with all the women and was so inspired by the words spoken by the ladies and excited by the wonderful music! 

I must point out Angie Smith. He testimony of Hope and Faith during a time of carrying a child they weren't going to be able to spend much time with was amazing. I have never felt so deeply for someone I never meet, but being a mom I was blessed by how her faith in God was strengthened through such a difficult time. Thank you Women of Faith for adding Angie to your list of speakers.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would see Mary Mary or Natalie Grant in concert....let alone together in the same weekend! It was awesome to see my mom grove out to Mary Mary who I listened to as a teenager! I danced I sang and I was so thrilled! Natalie Grant brought tears to my eyes. Her singing is so anointed by God and I was in awe that I was able to see her! 

Thank you Thomas Nelson for this wonderful opportunity! I was so blessed to have been able to share this time with my mom! 

Women of Faith!

Who is ready for Women of Faith? I AM!!! I am so excited to be leaving on a trip with my mom and when we get there we will be meeting my best friend and her mom! What a wonderful time it's going to be!

I love their caption for the the weekend:

Escape from the everyday at a Women of Faith weekend and be refreshed, encouraged and inspired, Because the God who loves you can do far more than you can ever Imagine.

Isn't that so true! God loves us and he can do far more than we can ever Imagine! I feel blessed to have been picked to experience this weekend! I know I will have so much to come back and talk to you guys about. 

The weekend has so many people such as; Sheila Walsh, Luci Swindoll, Lisa Harper, Nicole Johnson and Angie Smith. I can't wait for great music by Mary Mary....but who I am most looking forward to seeing Natalie Grant! She has been someone I look up to musically but have never had the opportunity to see her in person. But now I do! What a blessing!

I will be back after the weekend to write about all I learned and to write about  my wonderful experience! I will leave you with a video from Natalie Grant to enjoy!

My Broken Heart

My heart was broken yesterday while I was talking to a grandma. Her granddaughter was in The Inquisitor's class a couple of years ago. We were talking about a few different things and she was talking about how she really wanted her daughter to have faith instilled in her at a young age. There are a number of things that go into that actually happening, but then she shared with me that her granddaughter didn't want to go to AWANAS on Wednesday nights anymore. When I asked her why she said "There are a few little girls who tease her there." My heart ripped apart for this girl. I know how hard it is as a little girls to be teased because you don't fit in. It happened to me almost everyday at school. But church was the one place I fit in. It was the one place I was accepted for who I was. It was ok that I had a large amount of faith...no one made fun of me because this was the place to fit in. This is a place where no one should be treated with disrespect. 

I told her to talk to her granddaughter. I wanted her to come back to church and I wanted her to feel safe there and that no one would tease her. So I said...you tell her if she wants to come I will pick her up and I will make sure that she is treated well. I want to show this little girl the love of Christ and I can't stand that the teasing she has gotten has partially happened at a church. I want to show her that this is nothing of God. God would not want her to be teased at one of His places of worship. Wow...not only do we have to stand up against this at schools and parks...but now it's gotten into church. Sigh...and I can only imagine that part of it has to do with the problem of gossiping among people in the church. Whoa! I think that's a whole different blog post!

Book Review: Raised Right

Book Review

Raised Right

How I Untangled my Faith From Politics

By

Alisa Harris

This won't be the best book review I have ever done, because I still trying to figure out what I thought about this book. But I have had the book for sometime now and finished it awhile back and feel I need to post something. Alisa's book comes across as a bit more of just still working though and reflecting where she has been and where she's come to. She's not admitting that she has got it all figured out yet, and I appreciated that from her. 

She came from a very conservative family who often would picket abortion clinic and they were very involved with politics. First off I find this very hard and can't imagine coming from a family that would do this. Not saying that the family is bad, just that picketing and being deeply involved in politics is not something I think Christians should be involved in. 

I love how open Alisa was in her book. She shared so many thoughts and things that she was dealing with and was honest with how she felt about things. I just don't know if I agree a ton with her. For her faith cannot effect her politics. And she is now pretty left wing with her political views. Also she doesn't believe that politics should effect her faith. That I agree with. But here is my thought. Christ should effect everything you do in life and if my faith can't be apart of my political decisions...well then I don't want to have a part in politics. 

With this very strange book review, I don't think I would recommend this book...however once she has thought over it a bit more and writes with a bit more assurance of how she feels about things...then yes I would read again. 

I received this book free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group as part of their Blogging for Books program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 

Book Review: Our Last Great Hope

Book Review

Our Last Great Hope

By

Ronnie Floyd

Who was Jesus talking to when He gave the great commission? Was he just talking to those "higher up" such as missionaries, pastors or evangelist? How many of us actually know what the great commission is? Do we know where to find it? Sadly lots of Christians don't think it applies to them. They don't know what it is...and they don't know where to find it. 

This is what I love about Floyd's book. It talks about the urgency of the great commission and how it applies to everyone of us. One of my favorite sections was "Accept the Urgency". Many of us in the church today do not have a sense of urgency. We always think "We will have tomorrow." But there are many things to point us to the fact that we may not always have tomorrow. For example the 21 year old my husband worked with who just died. Everyday is a gift and everyday is an opportunity to share the love of Christ and to share the gift that he gave us. 

I also love how he hit different points in our lives. Transforming our families. That if we have a family life that isn't good but we go out and try to fulfill the great commission what good are we doing? He talks about the importance of being disciples to our children and evangelizing them. He talks about captivating our communities. Kind of goes along with something I said before...if you or your church were to leave the community you are in, would there be a difference? Would the community notice?

My favorite was Talk to Jesus Daily. Just the title alone makes me want more. Makes me want to make sure that I am talking that time each day to be with Jesus. He is the one who gave the great commission and so we should be tuned with him and talking to him daily to keep on track. 

Eve

Do you ever think about Eve? I am today simply because she was the topic of our Bible study. Our leader said something that I had never really thought of before. She had no Earthly parents! WOW! Can you imagine?

Everything that you do is complete trial and error. Well everything you do after the fall that is. It probably wouldn't have been a big issue for her before the fall. I mean she was living in perfect harmony with the world. She had God right by her side. He was there with them in the garden. He walked with them in a way we will never understand until we meet God in Heaven.

But after the fall. After she ate that fruit and handed it to Adam. She covered up her body with leaves and she felt so ashamed. Can you imagine that maybe she wanted someone to talk to? Do you think maybe she just wanted someone to understand what she was going through? The first time she was pregnant and had no idea what was going on. I wonder if she just wanted a mom to talk to...but she had no one to understand what she was going through. No one to lean on...

WOW! What a huge responsibility she had and the experiences and what people would do about them after her had a lot to do with what she probably did. I wonder if she ever longed for a mom?

Nothing Like a Good Boost!

This weekend was busy for me. I took newborn pictures and also did couple pictures. So I had a blast...but I was tired! We also did a bit of shopping and a trip to Chuck E. Cheese's since The Inquisitor has a birthday coming soon! So that added to the exhaustion!

But my highlight of the week was the couple pictures I took. Here is a little look at them....

They are a wonderful couple and I really understand them well. They got married young (like me!) which is not socially acceptable anymore...but I am totally on their side and so is God!

They almost had me in tears when they said they looked up to my husband and I on how we raise our girls. We honestly don't hear that a lot and more often we get criticism for somethings we choose to do. So not only was it a great time taking their pictures it was also a very uplifting time! God knows what you need when you need it! Thanks so much you two for letting God work though your lives!