Part of the Team

"Who said that?" Ball bat pointed out across the field, the coach eyed his players. "Fine! No one wants to tell me, Fine!"

A dozen seven and eight year olds stood wide eyed, shocked ... the coach rarely raised his voice. They knew he meant business. For once, the team didn't move ... the entire group of squirmy kids ... stood frozen.

"I better NEVER hear that again! If I do, I'll find out who said it and you'll be done. No more play time!"

I watched from my seat in the car. I sat with the windows down, watching my almost eight year old practicing catch. Whoever it was ... it wasn't him (thank goodness!). He was too far away from the coach to be the guilty one.

From my spot beside the field, it sounded like one of the players was poking fun at a team mate. I could've been wrong but I was pretty sure. The coach's voice was lowered again ... I couldn't make out everything he said ... but, one thing was clear, someone had disappointed him. Someone wasn't acting like a part of the team. They were too busy picking out the wrongs of their team to even notice what they might be doing wrong.

In that moment, I gained a new respect for my son's coach. I saw a part of him I did not see during last season. I liked this part ... this firm respect for each player. For the rest of practice, encouragement came for and from each member of my son's team. The coach let that moment go and moved on to playing ball with his team.

We could use more of that coach in our world. The businesses in our communities need more of that coach.

Unfortunately there are a lot of companies that need someone like that ... someone who will command respect for co-workers. Someone who will lead by example and guide their team to respect each player. Rather than picking out each players faults ... they need someone who will point out the strengths and gently guide the players to improve. Somewhere along the way, that's been lost ... I don't want to be like that ... I want to be someone like my son's baseball coach.

As Christians, we are blessed to be lead by a Coach guiding us with encouragement. And ... He tolerates no judgement or condemnation. Within the field of His team, there is room to fail and encouragement to do better. There is acceptance and appreciation for the strength of each player. A game can not be won by the coach ... it can not be won by one good player ... you need the entire team.

Romans 12:3-8 "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

Out the Window

"Where'd my other paper go?" My seven year old was frustrated! He shoved book bags, school papers and a ball mitt across the car seat.



"You just had it. Look on the floor." I watched him through the rear view mirror. We were on our way home from school. It was my half day at work ... meaning, I got to pick my boys up from school and spend the rest of the afternoon ... just us. That's the highlight of my early day off from work. I look forward to being there for them .. spending time with them.



"It's not there!" His voice was loud and full frustration. "Oh man! What am I gonna do? That's my homework! This is just great!" He stomped his feet on the floor board, arms crossed over his chest and lower lip poked out as far as humanly possible.



It didn't stop there. The attitude went well into the evening. Nothing seemed to lift his spirits. After much talk and more talk and even more talk ... we figured it must have gone out the open car window. It was warm and breezy ... the perfect afternoon for open car windows ... the worst afternoon for homework to be out in the car.



And, now I have to admit, I lost my temper. I yelled at him. Why? Because, even after all the talking and trying to persuade him it would be OK ... he was still in a terrible mood. It was my afternoon off work ... and we spent that afternoon arguing. All because he couldn't get his mind off the homework ... lost somewhere in a field between home and school. I knew we could fix it. I knew we could talk with his teacher, get another homework page and turn it in. None of that mattered. All he could focus on was ... what went out the window ... his homework and my afternoon off right behind it.



And ... I do that to God all the time. He has plans, perfect plans. He looks forward to spending time with me, being there for me. I let the frustrations of my everyday life get in the way. I know He can fix everything ... He can find what's missing (maybe what's missing is time alone with my husband, money to pay all the bills, quiet time), help me get it done ... but, I don't let Him. All my frustrations cause His plans to "go out the window". He gave us free will and a part of that free will is allowing Him to work His magic.

And, even when I don't let Him, He doesn't get mad. He doesn't loose His temper. He waits ... patiently.

Psalm 62:5 "My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him."

1st Corinthians 13:4 "Love is patient, Love is kind."

Past the Fog

Sometimes, our vision gets blurred by the every day. We have to try harder, look longer and push past the fog to see what really matters.

The every day can be beautiful. For me, a foggy morning ... mist hanging over the corn fields in my back yard ... dew settled on the grass ... that's beautiful. But, when it's foggy, I can't see what's behind the mist ... what's hidden beneath.

Enjoying the beauty around me, that's a blessing. Enjoying what lies beneath ... well, that's just ... God.

Vinny found something beneath the surface ... and, in finding it ... seeing it ... he blessed me.

Vinny is married to one of my very dear friends. He and his wife are a blessing to me and my family. The picture with this blog was taken by her. She has an incredible gift for photographing nature from a different perspective.

Yesterday was one of those days when a simple comment Vinny made ... touched my heart.

Vinny and Cindi have a pool in their backyard. For a couple of summers, Cindi and I have been trying to make plans for me and my boys to come over and swim. It just never works out ... mostly because I'm crazy busy running the boys around for baseball practice. Or insane projects I start but somehow never finish.

Yesterday, Cindi told me that Vinny wanted to make plans for our entire family (My family, my sister's family, my parents) to come over and swim. She reminded him that wouldn't be possible ... not possible because my niece, Hope, can't swim. Because of her disability (Treacher Collins), she has a trech and can't be submersed in water.

Vinny knows our family inside and out ... He sees Hope on Sundays when she's able to come to church. He knows she's disabled and knows the limitations of her special needs. In knowing her, he forgot about those limitations. He just saw Hope ... He saw the depth of her personality. The Hope who would love to splash in the water and toss around with her cousins.

Without even realizing it, Vinny looked beyond Hope's beautiful foggy surface and saw what God sees in each of us. Vinny saw the special things behind Hope's special needs.

In the moment Cindi shared Vinny's comment with me, I was blessed ... and, I was reminded ...

There is a spirit and soul behind the face of each person I meet. The surface is a fog hiding the spirit from my human eyes. If I want to see the spirit ... I have to look with God's eyes.

Thank you, Vinny ... for seeing Hope and each of us through the fog.

Psalm 139:1 "O LORD, you have searched me and you know me."

Condemned

"Look at all those houses! They're all empty ... wow, some of the windows are broken in." I turned my head to look as close as possible while we drove past. Some type of sign or notice was posted on each door. All I could make out from the roadside ... Condemned.

"Probably has something to do with the flooding." My husband turned and looked at all the houses on the other side of the highway.

House after house ... home after home ... empty. Condemned.

My husband was most likely right. Several years ago, there was massive flooding in that area. The highway was covered in water and the houses on either side of the road sat in 3 feet of water. Weeks passed before the water began to diminish. At the time, everyone wondered what would become of those homes. Now, it seems the answer was ... they were deemed unfit to live in. Unfit to call home by families. Unfit to serve as a safe place to land at the end of a long work day.

We drove past those houses again last week. The windows were black holes into empty shells. The outside of each was unkempt and looked worn from the longer than desired winter. They lacked all evidence of life ... the things that tell you a home is taken, claimed. No bikes tossed at the garage door, no flowers poking up from pots on the porch ... no lights shining from inside and piercing the dusk.

At what point does one determine a home beyond repair, unfit to live in?

As we drove further, I thought about the families forced to leave the place they called home. I thought about the memories and safety each might have felt in the now vacant shells. I know how much I love my home ... how much did it hurt them to walk away? To leave a place they had worked hard to make safe, loving and comfortable? And then, I thought about the condition of my heart ... the home I've asked Christ to live in.

How often do I behave "unChristian"? How many times do I sin and cause damage to the shelter Christ calls home? Do I let the storms of this life, this earth alter the place I reserve for my Family? And, how much must it hurt Him to be removed ... removed because He cannot reside in a home tarnished with sin?

And ... how often does He repair the damage caused by my choices, caused by storms on this earth? There is never a point when He claims my heart or any other heart ... beyond repair... worthless or unfit to live in. Each heart, each life ... He sees the value ... a vision of that heart without sin. All that is required of me is to ask ... ask Him to take away the sin.

He puts His light in the windows of my soul and chases away the darkness left by floods of hurt and sin. He leaves evidence of a home claimed by Family.

How is the condition of your heart? Have you asked Him to take down the sign of condemnation?


Psalm 34:22 "The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him."

Romans 3:23-24 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

Tending the Fire

It's almost that time of year ... the time when Jerry and I look forward to weekend campfires. We don't go to any campground or lake for this retreat. We're blessed to have it right in our own backyard. And, this year ... I'm looking forward to it even more than in years past.

On nearly any summer weekend, you can find us gathered around a large fire ... roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. Sometimes there's a big pot of chili simmering or sometimes ... just our family ... no food.

As the fire begins to burn hot, the calls go out to family and friends ... "We've got the fire going, come on over." And soon there are more lawn chairs and smiles around the fire. The adults sit with feet stretched close to the warmth while the kids play games of "hide and seek" or catch.

This morning, I was praying for some young people in my life and even some acquaintances. These people are in my prayers for so many reasons. Some are loved ones going through difficult times. Others are names rather than faces. Names that have been mentioned in passing ... names of people who are in need of prayer. For each, this morning my prayer was that they would have a relationship with Christ.

Not skin deep ... but soul deep. You know what I'm talking about ... the kind of relationship that seeps into your bones and into your spirit. And, as I prayed ... I thought about our campfires. How hard it is sometimes to get that small ember to become a bright, steady and hot flame. There are times when my husband has been down on his knees blowing a steady gentle breath on the ember hiding beneath the kindling. If he gets up too soon, walks away and doesn't tend to the fire ... it fizzles and dies out.

Each of us is born with that ember. The small place within our soul that knows a Greater power is out there. The question is ... who is willing to get down and look for that ember? Who is willing to spend time down on their knees, breathing life into that ember? Who is willing to stay and tend the fire once it starts?

Once the fire is burning steady, others draw near to its warmth and light. It brings calm ... comfort ... retreat.

My prayer this morning ... for these souls ... a breath of life on the ember.

Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. "

When I See Him Smile

My feet spinning circles in the water, I sat on the edge of the pool. I watched ... my family. The blessings God has given me ... playing in three feet of water ... the shallow end. Someday they'll all be in the deep end ... but for now, they stay in the shallow area where James and Kregg can reach the bottom and keep their chins above the water.

Just the five of us in the pool room. It was quiet and warm. Nine thirty at night. We were the only visitors out on Easter Eve. My husband has a key to his employer's pool house. We can go nearly anytime of day or night ... and play ... just us.

On this night, I watched each of my guys ... Jerry, Clay, James and Kregg. I didn't get in at all. Just dangled my feet in the warm water and enjoyed the view.

As I let my heart take in each sight and sound, I remembered a prayer from my youth. A prayer I whispered at 16 years old. I asked God to let me marry this boy ... then, I asked him to let me have children and to enjoy them.

In the chaos of my everyday life, I ask God to get me through the day. I ask Him to bless me with funds to meet each financial obligation. I ask for my home to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Sometimes, I selfishly ask for a "good day" ... one where all five of us get along, no fights or nasty words. I ask to have a date night with my husband ... worry free ... no car trouble, no family troubles ... no job worries.

And, at the end of each day, I fall asleep ... with the answer to my prayer from 19 years ago. I married that boy and we have three amazing children ... and, I'm enjoying them.

Jerry pulled our youngest boy off the pool edge and walked to the middle where our other two boys wrestled in the splashes. He looked over Kregg's shoulder and smiled. That smile ... the smile I fell for at 15 years old. The smile I asked God to bless the rest of my life with when I just 16. I read his lips ... "what?" ... because he saw a look on my face ... "nothing" I said ... because it would be impossible to tell him where my heart was and what I was remembering.


When I see him smile ... I'm thankful for God's yes to my 16 year old prayer.


Jeremiah 29:11-14 "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. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you."

Are You a Soldier?

I was standing in the kitchen ... no lights ... dark ... talking to my nearly 16 year old son. Talking about Passion ... Passion of the Christ. He had just come home from youth group where they had watched Passion. He'd seen it before and knows the story. He's in church nearly every Sunday, at youth group on Sunday nights and youth events scattered in between school days and Sundays. But something was different on this night.

He always has questions ... about everything ... movies, music, my day at work, his dad's workout at the Y ... everything. But, on this night ... the questions were ones I had not planned for. Ones I needed to slow down and think about.

"Mom is the scene with the crow or black bird biblical?", "What do you think the meaning is of the child Satan holds during Christ's beating?" ... and so many others. I slowed down from the pace of laundry and dishes. We stood in the kitchen leaning against the counter, covered in the darkness of a late March night.

I answered his questions. He told me his thoughts. Then, he asked me about the soldiers. The ones sitting at the foot of the cross as Christ died. In the Passion, those soldiers cast lots for Christ's belongings. They laugh and wipe Christ's blood from their faces. This touched my son ...

"Mom, when I saw that, I thought maybe we're like that sometimes. Like those soldiers."

"In what way?" I ask, arms wrapped around my fuzzy bathrobe.

"We sit at the foot of the cross and we laugh. We take His death and the reason for granted. We do things we know we shouldn't and take His forgiveness and the price of it for granted." Hands stuffed in his jeans pockets as he lets me see a little bit of the work God is doing on his heart.

"Wow, I've thought about how we take it for granted but never that I might be like one of those soldiers."

We talked a little more and then I let him go to his room to think. I've learned with having three boys ... they aren't as emotional and sharing as us girls. So, I take the moments like that night and tuck them away in my heart.

He's right ... we are sometimes like the soldiers.

I am sometimes like the soldiers.

I take His sacrifice for granted. I make poor choices without even thinking about how it hurts Him. I sit at the foot of the cross ... the place where forgiveness is free ... I sin and come to the cross ... the forgiveness is always there and I take it.

He gives it.

And, today ... I am grateful. I am at the foot of the cross as one who aches over the sacrifice of her Savior.