A Home That Says Welcome

One day, I want to have the type of household that makes people feel welcome. The type that has an open door policy, with people in and out, coming to sit and talk, or coming to find the answer to questions in their hearts.

I want the hospitality that says, "come live with me for a while," and means it. If it means a few minutes, or a few months.

I want to share the warmth of knowing that everyone is welcome to come with you whether its your best friend, or your aunt's second cousin twice removed always with long stories on his mind that just has to be shared. I want many people, of many colors and many accents and many languages and many backgrounds to gather under my roof, to share bread together, laughter echoing off the walls. I want my family to spontaneously invite random strangers home for a meal, warm soup filling cold stomachs after a hard day.

I have a dream of a home that welcomes folks in, drawing them in irresistibly. Lamps in the windows, warm lights streaming out. Delicious, comforting food causing folks to sniff the air hungrily, and gather around the table willingly. Hands held as prayers are said, and hearts are lifted. I want the home that sings, and laughs. That long, quiet discussions are held in, that stimulating ideas are formed in, that people leave, feeling they encountered Someone unexpectedly, but blessedly.

I want the home that says, "walk in and become one of us for a while. Join our lives, our activities, our way of living, and become one with us."

One of my favorite things to do is to make people feel welcome and important and special. I want to find ways to connect with people, and to somehow express Christ's love to them, even if only through a smile or cheery hello. I want to use this gift in my own home.

I love to talk to people and find out how they think. I like to read their hearts, hear their stories, and find kinship with people. Its amazing how this works across language and cultural barriers.

One day, this will be the home that I will have. One day, my welcome mat will be swept and ready, the lamps lit, the bread baking in the oven.
And a smile and cheery hello to welcome.

A Step By Step Guide To Directing A Wedding

Steps to directing a wedding.

1. A week before, create detailed schedule of events and include info on who, what, and where. 
2. Begin packing and making lists of everything to take with you to the wedding site.
3. Rise early and attack the shopping for all the wedding food on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  Stop for coffee with Mom.
4. Prepare and organize the last details of various decor projects and pack car.
5. Stop and have Thanksgiving dinner with family!
6. Rise early on Friday and go to three different places to cut greenery for decorating the church. Bag, and somehow fit everything into the car, with space remaining for three people. Be sure the Ipod has some battery life!
7. Pack a lunch, or grab all the Thanksgiving leftovers.
8. Drive two hours to the wedding site, jamming out to various musical selections by your 16 year old sister. Including headbanging at a stoplight. Never going to see those folks again, anyway.
9. Arrive the wedding site, collect the key, and eat lunch. 
10. Move tables and arrange seating and serving areas in the reception hall. Do some massive cleaning.
11. Iron tablecloths on a makeshift ironing board. Listening to the Beatles helps. 
12. Sort out table decorations and start putting together what goes where. Meanwhile, more folks arrive and start decorating cupcakes and cutting veggies and working on food. Party time!
13. Get sisters started on decorating the sanctuary. Delegation and letting go is a beautiful thing.
14. Direct traffic for where things are going and what needs to be done. Find various bits and pieces needed, and an extension cord for the kitchen.
15. Keep an eye on the time so everyone will have a break to rest before rehearsal.
16. Finish all tablescapes and check bathrooms.
17. Call a break for everyone and begin dressing for rehearsal. Remember that you forgot to bring shoes. 
18. Go over ceremony seating with the ushers. Work with Dad on directing the flow.
19. Shut things down and help lock up so everyone can go to dinner. 
20. Play musical chairs at dinner as you try to talk to everyone there. Discover you feel a cold coming on.
21. Back to the church with a couple of sweet helpers to finish cleaning up and put finishing touches on things. No stopping till its all done, but with help it doesn't take long!
22. Back to the hotel, only to find that an important document was left at the church. Back to the church to search for that, only to find it was in my suitcase all along, in my car. Back to the hotel, where I went to bed.
23. Wake early and roll over and go back to sleep.
24. Wake again, and give letters to the bride that everyone wrote to her as a wedding day surprise.
25. Begin dressing.
26. Go get breakfast for my sister and grab some for me, too.
27. Begin the hair and nail operation for the bride. Turned out great!
28. Pack up the luggage to check out of the hotel, and head to the church.
29. Arrive at the church and double check lots of odds and ends, take a few pictures with my camera.
30. Help bride dress and prepare for photography time.
31. Corral all the appropriate people in the sanctuary for photos. With two big families, that can be quite the feat!
32. Eat a quick lunch.
33. Start keeping an eye on the time as people start coming. Freshen up hair and makeup for the bride.
34. Reassure kid brother usher that he knows what to do and where people go.
35. (More pictures)
36. Cue the grandparents to be seated.
37. Cue the music and candle lighting.
38. Cue the mothers to be seated.
39. Cue the groom to enter.
40. Sit and be thankful for a kind soul who thoughtfully put kleenex on my pew.
41. And they're married! Let the party begin!
42. Greet everyone at the reception and circulate, answering questions and making people feel welcome. Meanwhile, eat a cupcake.
43. Gather grandparents in the sanctuary for more photos.
44. Laugh and talk with people you haven't seen in way too long.
45. Coordinate the bouquet toss! Hooray!
46. Direct folks outside for the bride and grooms exit. Everyone has bubbles to blow, and with three hip hip hoorays, the bride and groom prepare to leave.
47. Watch as dozens of balloons are emptied from the truck and then popped by eager children. 
48. Announce for everyone to take cupcakes home with them!
49. Eat a cupcake.
50. Say goodbyes.
51. Begin directing clean up. Everything back in place, ready for Sunday. 
52. Make sure key is turned back in.
53. Drive my brother to the hotel to pick up his wife and daughter. 
54. Go to dinner.
55. Drive home.
56. Unpack cars and van.
57. Collapse into bed. 

A Heap of Blessings

My blog has been silent for quite some time. The aventura de la vida has been taking up every moment, with no time for writing the past couple of weeks. But now I have a chance to catch my breath and think again. And write.

Through all the busy times, there have been so many things for which to give thanks. Here are a few of them:

• My brother who lives in Canada flew down with my niece for a surprise visit! His wife has joined us now, so we get to enjoy catching up after not seeing them for 2 years, and not at home for 5!
• My niece, Ella, laughing and playing with Papa (my Dad). 
• A weekend in Georgia with my best friends, going to a fantastic party and hanging out with some wonderful people.
• A crazy Thanksgiving with sudden out of town guests, pulling together a Thanksgiving meal, and laughing at the table with my grandparents who were giving wedding advice. 
• Decorating and preparing for The Wedding with my sister and brother and listening to the Beatles. 
• The fun of two families who joined together to make a memorable and sweet wedding. Working together, laughing together, and eating together!
• A precious moment or two with my sister, right before the wedding ceremony. 

Family is one of the most important things to me. These moments with family are the moments I will always remember. 

A Lesson From My Best Friend

This is a nice memory from Bolivia. Cisia was one of my best friends there, and so sweet. She and I had a special relationship and I miss her very much. My hermanita and I could get into a lot of trouble together, believe me!

Cisia taught me to ride motorbikes the Bolivian way, whistling for a taxi, and hopping aboard side saddle, with my groceries in my lap.

One thing that Cisia taught me, was that mission is beyond evangelism and holding Bible schools and building buildings. She helped me see that it is discipleship, and that a relationship is much more important. No one can measure the relationship between Cisia and I, and what may come of it in the future. But the time spent with her was invaluable, and she taught me a lot, without even realizing she was doing so.

My first lesson in discipleship.

Something I am pondering, for sure.

Coffee Time

Today I had coffee time with friends.

It was so lovely.

I'm learning about the importance of community, and of sharing time and food and conversation over a table. No cell phones or other electronic devices between us, just face time.

Jesus spent a lot of face time with his disciples. The disciples spent a lot of time in houses with other people, eating together and talking. And Hebrews tells us to not forsake the gathering of ourselves together. (Heb. 10:25)

I was thinking today about some conversations I've had with folks and how iron sharpens iron. We talk and we don't necessarily agree, but we discuss things and it gives me new things to think about and new ideas to examine. I have so much to learn, and discussing and talking with others helps me stay grounded and on the right track. 

It's lonely off on my own. My mind can go in a billion different directions and it develops thought patterns that I get stuck in. I have an idea and my brain thinks about it in the same pattern over and over again. But when I talk to another person about it, it helps my brain develop new pathways of thinking and I'm not carried off into my own little world. The idea has to enlarge to encompass reality.

I've also realized how nice it is to have safe people - people who are healthy emotionally - and who understand some of my background and worldview to talk to and be friends with. I'm all for reaching out to people who may not look like me or think like me, but I think it's balanced to also have friends who do think alike. There's an ease of connection that can be a very good thing. 

I've never been one to think that friends were the most important thing to fill up my time with. I enjoy friends, it is true. But my life doesn't center around worrying about whether I've got a lot of friends, or if I'm in the 'in' crowd. I've been happy to develop deep friendships with my family members. But I think that even with those close friendships with my siblings and parents, it has also been good to have a few friends who I trust and can talk with. Friends who are there for me, who work for the friendship as much as I.

And so I made time to have coffee with friends. 

And it was so lovely.

We can laugh, and talk, and share. 

And it rests me, and sharpens me, and I feel Christ's love.

And I am reminded to be grateful for Christ's friendship. A friend that will not forsake me. A friend who always understands. 

And now to share that friendship with others.

Maybe during some coffee time. 

 

Living Water

John 7:3-38

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

Living Water.
It was raining today, and as I was driving to work I was thinking about living water. Water brings life. It makes plants green and vibrant. It makes it strong and healthy and causes it to grow almost before our eyes. Without water the plant would die, and would certainly not grow and bloom and spread seeds.
It would just die, brown and dry and dead. No plant, no blooms, no seeds, nothing to perpetuate the plant to continue on beyond it's natural life.

Living water is water that is fresh, and clean, and moving. It has oxygen added to it from movement. It is cleaned and made pure by movement as well.
Gurgling, splashing, dripping, cool, clear water. Without water, there is no life. Water is essential.
In my life, I know how dark and depressing and confusing it would be without the rivers of Living Water flowing from my heart. Living water that only Christ can bring.

Living water refreshes us, and cleans us, and causes us to grow.
Reminds me of the water of baptism. At baptism, water is used to represent the grace of God and the Holy Spirit as He cleanses us and makes us fresh and new. We make a new start, and have a clear conscience. It's life-giving water.
The love of God is Life-Giving Water.

Sometimes I get so thirsty. All I can think of is water, with ice clinking in the glass. And when I finally get some, it tastes so good. I can feel it trickling down, filling me with coolness, and quenching the dry thirst.
This happens with Living Water, too. I get dry and doubtful, and so thirsty for hope and forgiveness to wash down and pour all over me. Living Water never dries up, and is never stale.

I remember when I was in Israel, the temperatures were easily 100F during the days when we were digging. The soil was dry and dusty, and we were hot and sweaty and thirsty. After work one day we went to a spot on the Kinneret where an underwater spring made a waterfall. It was fresh, pure, clean, and cold. It refreshed us, and washed away the dust, and re-hydrated our bodies as it washed and poured and beat down on us.

Living Water bubbles up from our hearts, it fountains out and helps us to grow and then it helps us to spread. You can't hide Living Water. It shows where it is. It makes us green, healthy, and strong. It helps us to bloom and make seeds and spread.

I am thankful for Living Water. I am thankful that there is never an end to it, and it's always there, waiting for us. Living Water that never goes dry.

We need to share our Living Water. There are thirsty people who need it. They are drying up, and dying inside. Only Living Water can revive them.

John 4:10
Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."

Corporate Worship

There's something about gathering together to worship God as one.

There's something about praying in one voice- hundreds of voices, hundreds of ways of speaking, all praying together one prayer in unity. The prayers rise up powerfully to the roof and beyond to the heart of God.

There's something to singing beautifully together in worship of our Creator. Hundreds of voices, blending together in harmony.

There's something to everyone reading the same scripture out loud together. The power of so many voices adds to the power of the Word of God.

There's something about remembering our baptism together. Of remembering how we were washed clean from our sins.

There's something to quietly accepting together the one bread and one cup of redemption. Just as there's one loaf, there's one body of Christ. Hundreds of hands accepting the gift of Christ entering them and giving grace through the act of communion.

There's something about corporately, together, joining to acknowledge God. There's something about fellowshipping with other Christians. There's something about being reminded that there are hundreds of parts to the body of Christ.

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke until love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching. Hebrews 10:22-25

One body. One God. Many people. Joined together in one faith. All following the One True God.
Corporate Worship.