Christmas shopping can be stressful!

Everything takes longer. Long traffic lines. Long lines at the check out, and long faces on people waiting in line. People are often grouchy and it feels as if they expect everyone else to be the same way. However, I have a “secret decision” regarding this pervading attitude of irritability.

When faced with Christmas shopping — especially as it grows closer to the actual date — I try to make a conscious decision NOT to be a grouchy, stressed person. Instead I try to smile at the people around me, be friendly and especially try to be PATIENT — even when the lines are long!

Recently, I was in line at a busy store. Things were moving along smoothly when the lady in front of me asked the teenage clerk to put some tape on her box so it wouldn’t fall open. Wordlessly, the young clerk stopped checking, walked away from the check out area and began marching quickly across the front of the store. The lady checking out turned to me with the most bewildered look on her face and instantly began apologizing!

However, the sight of that young clerk silently exiting the check out and moving in a stiff stride, struck me as funny and I began to laugh! I told the woman it was no problem and I wasn’t in any hurry. My comment seemed to help her relax and then she began to give me the play-by-play of the clerks actions.

“She looks like she’s marching!”

“Surely she could have just checked with one of the other clerks around her?”

“I’m so sorry!”

“I had no idea she would take off like that or I never would have said anything!” (I began to laugh even more)

“I think she’s coming back and carrying one piece of tape in her hand!” (This brought on laughter that produced tears in my eyes)

“Yes, she only has one piece of tape in her hand.” (More laughter from me — and then she started to laugh too)

“Can you believe this?”

“I’m so sorry!”

“Who would have thought she would take off like that!”

The girl returned to her check-out area and finished up, while I tried to contain my laughter. With her bags in hand, the woman turned to me, smiled widely and thanked me one more time for being so patient! I laughed and waved goodbye!

As I moved up to check out I glanced over my shoulder to find a line of people who had obviously become amused by the crazy situation the two of us had just encountered. It was then I realized that my “secret decision” had become visible and had resulted in turning a negative into a positive! This made me further realize…..

….Christmas shopping wasn’t the only time I needed to live out my “secret decision”! How about all day every day!

at sunset

a big red barn

dear friends

precious family

guitar music floating on the breeze

prayer

vows

the presence of God

our son Drew

the love of his life, Kate

their “sweetest day”

You may kiss your bride!

Congratulations Drew & Kate!

Small vases filled with beautiful flowers, trays laden with towels, bath oils, lotions, and the lovely scent of lavender greeted us as we entered our overnight guest room. I knew our friend had taken great time and care to create this inviting atmosphere, and in an instant it ushered us into such warmth and welcome! Within moments the years melted away and our hearts connected as if we had never been apart. My sister and I had come to spend time with dear friends who recently re-located from a distant city to a cozy university town not far from our city! What a wonderful start to our visit!

We talked….oh how wonderful it was to sit and talk! We caught up on each others families, our loved ones activities and especially our spiritual journeys. We laughed and we cried, but most of all we loved! Loved how God had worked in each others lives over these many years apart, and loved each other more as we shared the good times and the bad! I found it to be a small taste of heaven on earth!

Our visit was short, but oh-so-sweet! As we drove away, I watched as she and her husband stood arm and arm and waved good bye to us. An overwhelming sense of gratitude filled my heart as I realized ……. though many years had passed, we were still deeply connected and our friendship had remained strong. Who would have thought one lovely day together could bring such refreshing to our souls!

Throughout our time together one thought continued to bombard my mind…….friendships are a treasure! They are gifts to our lives and are to be honored ……for they reflect the very heart of God!

As I write this post I find myself hoping you, who read my blog, have friends such as this in your life. True friendships really are gifts given to us by God.

Please take a moment and share what you enjoy about your own friendships! I would love to know…..because I want to learn from you, and cultivate this area in my life!!

Our dear friend Betina seated on the deck of her apartment in "The House"

We are presently traveling in Denmark and Sweden and loving it!

Copenhagen was our first stop and we found it to be a “magical” city! A beautiful old city, where people prefer to walk to work or ride their bikes, and where mothers have their babies out in strollers for at least an hour a day — rain or shine!

One afternoon we sat with our friends, Frank and Betina, above the busy streets of Copenhagen at Cafe Norden and enjoyed Danish pastries and coffee while watching the continuous movement below. As we watched we felt a great sense of wonder. Where were they going… what cheered them.. or what troubled them? We sat silently for a while pondering the continual motion of humanity below with a great awareness of God’s amazing love for every nation, tribe and tongue.

The majority of our time in Copenhagen was spent with Frank and Betina, and a group of 22 amazing believers who live together in one very large house. At 7:00 each morning they met to worship Jesus and pray together for half an hour before they left for their respective jobs and obligations. One family has a six month old baby named Esther, and even little Esther loved being in the midst of their early morning worship and prayer! No one who mentioned this early gathering spoke of it with dread or a sense of obligation, but with anticipation and a desire to start their day together with God and one another.

At the end of each day, they gathered again for the evening meal. The task of preparing the large family meal rotated from one person to another each day, until all had their turn — and then it would start over again. The family atmosphere around the table was filled with conversation and laughter! The depth of their relationships could be felt as they talked about their lives and their desire to see Jesus use them to reach their city! God has been preparing them and has been revealing His plan for this House. Before long, the work God has done in them will expand outward past the walls of the House and have a far-reaching effect in Copenhagen and beyond!

Our time with them refreshed us and at the same time, challenged us! We worshiped together, had several teaching sessions, opened our hearts and were deeply knit together with them. The best way of expressing what we experienced with them can be found in I Thessalonians 2:8.

“Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.”

Worshiping with our friends!

This year Good Friday held a deeper meaning for me than it has for quite some time!

I teach a Bible Class to the Jr. and Sr. High students in our school. They are precious kids, with hearts open to God and His Word. As the season of Lent approached we discussed fasting and and a desire to focus on God throughout this time. Each one made private decisions to fast in certain ways and we also did specific times of corporate fasting. Our commitments would continue until Easter. As we moved into the last week we decided (with parental approval) to watch The Passion of the Christ, by Mel Gibson.

I told them before the movie, they could leave at any time if it was too much for them, or they could listen with their eyes closed. They all stayed…. and watched….or listened. Their hearts were deeply moved by seeing the true price He paid.

As the movie ended, some sat silently with tears in their eyes, stunned by what they had seen. Some openly wept, some held each other and cried on each others shoulders, while others buried their faces in their hands.

Letting them sense the agony of what Jesus did for us, was difficult for me to watch. After what seemed like hours, but was only minutes, I gathered the girls in my arms and asked them what was happening in their hearts. One of them cried, “That was us doing that to Jesus!”

With that we talked of His amazing love and how He knew– even before He created us — He would have to die for our sins. And we wept some more as we realized how incredible and incomprehensible His great love was and is for each of us.

Those moments together brought gratitude to our hearts and connected us to Jesus and to one another in a very deep and living way! It was the perfect ending to a season of sacrifice. It changed us!

His sacrifice changed us!

“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13  NLT

Holly & Katie! Great friends!

Smiles and laughter!

Sometimes tears and sadness,

Love covers.

Each one celebrated.

Teenagers and elementary students together.

No peer pressure

Playing Hide ‘n Seek

Backyard Hide/n Seek

Prayers for friends in crisis.

Answered prayers.

Worship to our Jesus who is Good!

Teenage leaders!

Disciples in the making.

Austin, Sara & Julia leading worship on Honor's Night

Friendship with fellow teachers.

Birthday’s celebrated.

Hugs and more hugs!

Brooke, Jared & Sara

Songs created.

Little dancing girls.

Spring classes outside.

Lessons learned.

Grace for the hard days.

Silliness and pranks.

Austin! LOL!

Fun!

Holly

Sum it all up and it = LOVE!

Dave & Beth

Pat & Theresa

Have you ever experienced a moment when you were in the midst of a rather routine happening, yet you realized it was more significant than it would appear to anyone standing outside and looking in? Let me explain…

Over the past couple years, my husband and I have been privileged to host several couples in our home over a handful of days. Each pastor and wife came with expectant hearts! As a group, we were acutely aware of our need for the Lord’s refreshing and healing. We gathered as friends to spend time with God and one another.

We talked, listened, prayed, wept and found healing together. Through our openness we discovered the uniqueness of each individual, and we grew in our appreciation of our differences, likenesses, weaknesses and strengths. As a result of this kind of vulnerability, we knew God had indelibly linked our hearts together!

Following one of these remarkable sessions, I found myself seated beside two dear women as we took  some time out to simply talk, laugh and copy recipes. Suddenly, their laughter became like background noise, and I felt as if I had stepped outside the moment and was watching it occur. In that instant a powerful awareness of my two friends’ love and acceptance of me, swept through my emotions and made a direct hit in my heart! It took my breath away as I fully realized what true and faithful friends these women were to me, and how honestly they loved me regardless of my weaknesses and shortcomings. In that moment we weren’t doing anything exciting or important. We were just being ….. friends. I felt safe. Understood. Accepted. Healed! It completely overwhelmed me! And changed me!

This incredible experience revealed to me a very simple truth regarding friends:

“…the sweetest friendships of all are the unlikeliest, for they are founded in something even more precious than delight. They are founded on nothing less than the complete and perfect acceptance of one by another.” (Larkrise to Candleford)

While it was amazing for me to know the love of my friends that day, it also left me with a very deep desire to exhibit love and acceptance to the friends God has brought and will bring into my life, in order that together we might experience…. the sweetest friendships!

This is the kind of friend I desire to be! How about you?

Selah

Dave & Karen

Randy & Mary

Kathy & Wendell

Not all these couples were with us during those days of meetings in our home. However, I consider them “some of the sweetest friendships!”