I Look Like Who?

Recently, I have experienced an interesting, if not disturbing phenomena. Several times, more than I would care to admit, while talking to our children and church family my dear husband and I have said the same things at the same time…verbatim. Now don’t get me wrong. I love my husband and have the deepest respect for him. But I never expected that we would be merging into the same personality!

I am quite sure that you, my dear readers have heard of or even seen people that after being married for a long time seem to begin to look alike. Or even more drastic, pet owners who look like their pets. Admittedly this is both amusing and frightening.

Not long ago, as I was doing my Bible study I came across this passage:

2 Corinthians 3: 12-18

^{"Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."} 

When Moses spent time alone with God on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments the Bible says that “he was not aware that his face was radiant (reflecting divine glory) because he had spoken with the Lord.”

Exodus 34:29

Though this was a fading glory it returned each time that he spent time alone with God. In verse 18 of 2 Corinthians 3 the Bible says that we reflect God’s glory because “we are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

This is not fading glory because the Spirit of God resides in us. It is ever-increasing so that we, you and I, are becoming more and more like Christ every day.

In his book, Just like Jesus Max Lucado puts it this way:

“As we walk with God, we take on His thoughts, His principles, His attitudes. We take on His heart.”

This is amazing, incredible news for all of us!

Maybe this means that Gene has not done a “mind-meld” on me, but that as we are growing in our faith and relationship with Jesus Christ, we are both becoming more like Christ and reflecting Him. We are both starting to think, look, and talk like Him.

I certainly hope that is the case for many reasons. One being, I just don’t think that Gene’s head on my body is going to work!

Who do you look like?

A Barn, a '55 Chevy Truck and a Corn Field

I am sitting in our car riding through the mountains of Virginia. I know that there are many people who love to go on vacation with their families but detest the car ride to get to their destination. Not me. I love it. It is actually my favorite part of vacation. I love getting to see the mountains, rolling hills, fields, animals, churches, houses, and old barns. (I have a thing for old barns!) I like seeing Christmas trees, peanuts, corn, tomatoes and all variety of vegetables growing in neat rows. Some big farms and some small, some the size of the row or two that grow in my yard. I love seeing architecture from years past or months past. I like seeing old tractors, old cars, beat up old dump trucks and if I happen to see a ’55 Chevy truck, oh my! (I have a thing for those, too!)

All of these things make it nice to travel by car, but they are not my favorite reason for our trips.

The best part of traveling this way is time. Time with my husband. Time with my children. Time to think and reflect and pray where there are no other things demanding my attention. Time to talk and plan and dream. Time to laugh. Time for listening to “Adventures in Odyssey” and book recordings. 

Our vacations offer something else that we let get squeezed out in our day to day living… quiet. There are sometimes hours of no one speaking at all. We are just being together. Breathing together. Being family. I love that!

I would like to recommend this for every family.  Yes, there are times when we get grouchy and get on each other’s nerves, but it is funny how even those times make the fondest of memories.

No Covert Christianity Here

Several weeks ago our family was invited to have dinner at  one of our church member's home. We started the evening as many dinners do, chatting, laughing and waiting for the meal to be completed. However, soon Gene and I began to notice that we quickly exited normal conversation. As we sat around the table each person began to talk of Jesus. About how their relationship with Him has altered the projection of their lives. They spoke of details of life before God broke through and offered a full, meaningful life. I sat in awe and, though not normally given to public emotion, found tears filling my eyes. There were no grand proclamations of revival in the invitation to dinner, but as the evening progressed from one story of God's grace to the next, I felt the Holy Spirit beginning a symphony of praise and worship that surely was reviving my love and adoration for Jesus. I wondered at the openness, the soul level honesty of these dear people. Then it struck both Gene and myself. We were in the midst of people from other cultures that knew none of our American "political correctness". These amazing believers were just doing what came natural to them. Telling their stories of Christ redeeming love for them. 
As we left to return home that evening, we realized that we were the only two Caucasian people there. We were and are honored at the privilege of being in their presence.
How much we could learn from people of other cultures if we allowed ourselves! Open conversations about our love for Jesus, our indebtedness to His grace, our gratitude for His suffering, our awe at His choosing! 
Oh, Father may it be so! 

"I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High."  Psalm 9:1-2

On Missing Church

Today I am at home.

A few days ago I picked up some sort of virus that now has decided that it is rather happy and wants to stay and wreak havoc with my respiratory system. So here I am sitting in my bed instead of being in church.
Even though sleep was illusive last night, I got up early, got our four year old ready and sent her to church with her daddy.
After their departure, I decided to push through the fog of this annoying, unpleasant malady and get ready and go to church, too. I took a shower, put on make-up, and... that's it. By this point I am completely exhausted. Now I am very tired and sad as well.
I hate missing church. My four year old would be appalled to know that I used the word "hate", but in this instance it is true.
For my spiritual well-being I need the opportunity to worship corporately,to study the Bible with other people, to hear the Word of God preached by an anointed pastor, and have community with the family of Christ.
My heart is to be in fellowship with other believers. My soul needs the strong challenge of digging deep into the Word of God with accountability. I need to be involved in ministry with my church family reaching out with the Gospel to the world around us.
And my church needs me. Even though I am broken, messed up, and sinful, my church still needs me. Because I am a part of the body. I am needed or the body of my local church will not be whole. 
I love my church family because they know me and (for some crazy reason) they want to know me more. They love me.(Not completely sure about their sanity.) They laugh with me and some times, we all laugh at me. In my moments of grief since we have been here, they have loved me through it. They let me be me, but hopefully will not allow me to remain stagnant.

Hebrews 10:23-25

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,  not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another —and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

I need to be with my church family and they need me. But I'm guessing that for this one day, they will be glad that I am at home and not creating another hazardous material zone.

Who Am I?

This is an earlier post. I am doing a re-run to help new friends get to know me.

Not long ago I was ask to define what I believe to be my role as a Pastor/Elder's wife. The following is my answer to that question.

About 15 years ago I had a head injury that led to me having to reevaluate who I was and am.

What I discovered was that I had a wrong idea about who I was. I thought I was: Kat the wife, Kat the Mom, the Sunday School teacher, the worship leader, the choir member, etc…

When the injury happened I wasn’t able to do most of those things, and any of them very well. For Years!  I spent many days literally on my face in my kitchen floor crying out to God.  Through that experience God has taught me that I am NOT the things that I do.  And that MOST importantly who I am is His child.

I realized that even being Gene’s wife and my children's mom is all dependent on and greatly influenced by, my relationship as daughter to the King of Kings. When that relationship is progressing and good, all of the other relationships and roles in my life are more Kingdom honoring.  When I allow other things to get ahead of my relationship with Jesus Christ, everything else in my life suffers.

Ephesians 5:8-10

"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)  and find out what pleases the Lord."

I hope to live as a child of the Light who spends my life finding out what pleases my Father.

So in light of this, I see my role: to be an encourager out of the overflow of my relationship with Christ and to live as transparently as I know how. (You will never have to wonder what I think, just ask.) I believe that if I can encourage, extend grace, live with joy, live at peace (as much as it depends on me), be a faith-full woman and to love people to the best of my ability then I will be fulfilling my calling as a wife, mom, pastor's wife, AND for any other adventure that God may have for me.

Once Upon a Time

Years past

Young man, brown eyes, brown hair

Tall and handsome

You caught my attention

Time passes

Your gentleness, openness

Authenticity

You won my admiration

Your heart for God

You captured my heart

Infatuation grows to love

Love grows to commitment

Marriage begins

We become one

Learning to love

Leaving familiar

Excitement and wonder

Our Son

Oh the joy!

Tiny hands, dark eyes, dark hair

Watching you become Daddy

Family

Love grows

Arguments and walls

Forgiveness and maturity

Commitment grows

Virginia home

Church family

Ministry

Our daughter

Overwhelming joy!

Tiny feet, brown eyes, blonde hair

Daddy’s baby girl

Beautiful

Loving, living

Moments of pain

Of grief, heartache, loneliness

Lifetime of joy

Laughter, companionship, and adventure

Our daughter

Surprised and joy-full!

Waiting…Black eyes, black hair

Baba and baby

Grateful

Time marches

Giving, loving

Grief, pain

Living

Our daughter

Chosen by our son

Beauty and grace, brown eyes, black hair

Watching and learning from you

Blessed again with joy

Changes

Leaving

New vision, new place

Precious, peaceful

Loving and being loved

Growth

Fulfill calling, inner peace

Pastor, Elder

Hope, encourage, love

My husband

My friend, my love

My mentor, coach, counselor

Pastor, provider

My hero

Gene,

I am so grateful for you. God has blessed us far beyond our ability to imagine. I will thank God for you as long as there is breath in me.

I love you forever!

Kat

A Place of Peace

 The day we moved in to our new house, Gene and I took time to pray that God would bless our home.We also prayed that He would make it a place of peace and rest. That it would be a place where Jesus would honored and people would feel welcome.
A few weeks ago we had the privilege of helping a friend through a difficult time. From both our friend and the friend who brought her to us came the comment, "Your home feels so peaceful."
I have been thinking about what exactly makes any of us feel peace? Is it a nice house that smells new? Probably not. Is it getting away from the circumstances that rob us of peace? Maybe, but if that were really true then we would not continually rerun painful and hurtful conversations or events in our minds. I believe that perhaps it has more to do with each of us getting in a position to receive peace from God.
I just read a blog by a dear friend that speaks to this so well that I am hoping that you will continue reading at this site: http://www.raceandtask.com/
My continuing prayer is that God will use us and this home as a place where people can get in a position to comprehend and adhere to the "Stories of Peace."

Thank you, Rick Lin for your faithfulness in running the race and giving us a glimpse of all that God is doing in and through you.