I have also been working hard on school. Later this spring I will begin my Masters of Divinity in Theology and Apologetics. I took some time off for the holidays and to be hostess to company but I am looking forward to starting school again in a couple of weeks.

Of course my husband and kids have been at their usual busy schedules. Between music lessons, sports and clubs they keep us busy. I am so grateful for the way they have blossomed in school.

The last two months I've been off from school have given me time to count my blessings, evaluate the future and reflect on priorities. Often this time of year we think through new goals and plans for the year. God was gracious to give me the luxury of time to pray through these. One of the things I have been reminded of is the importance of time and priorities. There are so many things I want to do and of course there are all the things I have to do. So many of the things I want to do are all great opportunities. However, I also guard my family time and many of these things would intrude on that. I can't tell you how much I enjoy playing Scrabble or the Wii with the kids, reading a family book together and of course, praying together.

So as we start the new year, what are your priorities in life? Not every opportunity or event that comes along is presented as a calling by God - even when it is an opportunity to serve. However, the flip side is also true. Are you doing enough for the Lord? Sometimes we can so protect our family that we end up doing nothing for the Lord outside of our family. There must be balance.

Now is a great time to evaluate balance in service to the Lord.

Happy New Year!

Now I know that most of this garbage comes through by "bots" crawling the website. Thus why it can be difficult to blacklist them since they change their subject lines, ISP's and emails daily. But yesterday it really got me to thinking - do we do this to God?

When we pray, do we go through our list of wants and ask God help us transfer money to a bank account, "buy" into our latest and greatest idea, or to look the other way at our sinful minds and hearts. We spam Him day after day with mindless prayer requests, hoping He is reading our prayer-mail but never really looking for a substantive response. We never actually communicate with Him, listen for Him or ask what He wants us to do.

And what about His word. The Bible is God's true word, but sometimes we treat it like a blog. We can comment randomly on verses and expound on "what it means to me" rather than ask, "What is God saying here?" Then we expect God to approve our comments without any argument. We think that getting together in a group and discussing our viewpoints without anyone ever giving the real meaning of the passage as small group or Bible study. It's not! Studying God's word is work and it's about discovering God's meaning not ours.

So as much as spammers annoy me, I want to make sure that I don't "annoy" or disappoint God by praying like a spammer.

Have you ever been asked by God to move forward and not know exactly how He was planning to use you? For instance, you sense God's calling to a new job, but it's not like your current job and you're not sure what He has planned. Or maybe you have experienced a loss and you think things will never be the same again.

It has been a little over a year since I lead worship in my home church. When God called us to New Hampshire, I once again was faced with a dilemma. Was I going to trust Him that He has a plan or was I going to lament my losses and not move forward. After facing numerous challenges to finding a church home, Kevin and I finally found one. After visiting for some time, we decided that this was the church God wanted us to join in fellowship. We didn't have any idea where God was going to use us, but we had fallen in love with the church. When we attended the Membership Class, we were asked our gifts, talents and experience. This question from the Pastor opened up several interesting needs. As a result I joined the music ministry in April and will lead worship next Sunday! From the outside, it didn't look like the team needed anything. But God knew differently. We also learned that the church had formed an Evangelism Team, something Kevin and I are passionate about, and we have joined this team. Kevin is helping revamp the website (it does need work) and has really connected with the Associate Pastor responsible for this team.

Has it been an easy road. No. I spent most of the last six months working on my Biblical Studies degree, which resulted in innumerable hours in my office and home, not really connecting with the outside world. 19 weeks down, 19 to go! Often I felt like I didn't have anything to offer. Surrounded by music and instruments my heart longed to make them useful again. Yet, God was filling my heart with contentment and so I was not in desperation. But the little boy in John 6 didn't have much to offer either. 5000+ people were in need and Andrew, the disciple always bringing people to Jesus, brought this boy and his lunch. And what a lunch it was. Pickled fish, often considered food for animals, and barley loaves, the least nutritious and cheapest bread available. But he was willing and gave it to Jesus. Then Jesus gave thanks, broke it, and 5000 people were fed.

All Jesus asks of us is to make ourselves available and let Him handle the details. I want to make it clear here that I am not talking about self-promotion. There is a significant difference. The latter requires work, manipulation and selfish desires. The former is simply saying, "Hey, this is what I have. It's not much. Do with it what you will." Jesus not only fed the multitude, but 12 baskets of food were left over. He takes what we have, uses it and always makes sure there is enough left over for us. How awesome. When we surrender, with no expectation - He blesses!

So when you wonder what your little can do, or how He might use you again, trust Him. Rest in His peace and know He has a plan.

He brings up the point that too often there is a polarization between the two camps - those who keep the rules of theology and slam those who don't and those who focus so much on being "culturally relevant" that they miss the depth of the Gospel. I pose that there is a third group in this mix - the "Shape Sorters". This group can fall into either of the first two, but instead of focusing on their own platform, they obsess with sorting out Christians into one of these two groups. Unfortunately this has the result of further polarizing Christians as many feel like they have to defend themselves.

Now I have been through a transformation of style and methodology in church over the last seven years. I see the benefits, based on where I live, of doing church a little different to reach those who don't like church. However, I also believe that the Gospel, in all of it's depth, is the end goal and hope for reaching people. Kevin and I can be described mostly as theologically conservative and we don't compromise the Bible to reach the others. However, if you visit the churches we have served at, on the surface, they could appear like the ones that do compromise the Gospel and Scripture. One of my pet peeves is for people who know me to assume we have crossed over to the "Dark Side" and have lost all theological grounding. Worse, some listen to authors/pastors and assume that the broad strokes used about contemporary churches applies to us personally.

So what are we to do. Ed Stetzer makes the claim that the two extremes need to learn from one another. I agree with this. But what about those of us that are somewhere in the middle. Well, first we need to stop "sorting" each other into the extremes. The truth is that most of us do not fit into either category. Secondly, we need to be careful to whom we listen. There are writers/preachers/consultants in both camps. We need to use discernment when we read/listen/watch anything and this includes Christian authors. Unfortunately we are not always right (don't tell Kevin, because I tell him I'm always right :)). Lastly we need to examine our motives. Are we working hard to prove we are theologically sound or show off how hip we are. Either way we have lost site of the mission - baptizing and making disciples.

So, where am I? I'm a theologically sound, culturally relevant, loving, truth proclaiming, God worshiping, Holy Spirit lead, missional minded, Christ following, Christian. More importantly, I am on my knees every day seeking to follow God's will faithfully and hoping I do it right.

God bless!

I am a planner. I like to plan things and do research and look at all the options when deciding to do something. Most of you that have read my blog know that I lived in Colorado where I was born and relatively close to my family. A couple of months ago, several events and circumstances occurred that made it extremely and painfully clear that our time Colorado is over. We have been back for two years. I won't go into all the details but suffice to say, we knew God was calling us back to New Hampshire.

So, Kevin looked for a job and received several offers. We accepted one with the company he had worked for previously. Then began my planning. We had less than three weeks from the time Kevin accepted an offer to when we needed to be driving out of Colorado. Yes, that is quick. But, I knew God was was telling us to step out on faith and "go", sort of like when he told Abram (who later became Abraham) to leave Ur. God didn't really give him a lot of direction or what to expect but Abram knew God would provide.

We have done the same. We left, including leaving our oldest son behind (he wants to make Colorado his home and he wanted to keep his residency for college in the state) without knowing what would happen on the journey. We even left without a house. We fortunately had in our relocation temporary housing for a month but that meant waiting to look for a house when we got here. Well what an adventure. We saw friends, Niagara Falls, drove four days, had a payday mixup, a wheel bearing on the van break, an SUV rental, a return trip to New York to pick up the van, and looking at more houses than I care to remember - all in the last 14 days!!!

Needless to say some things did not go according to the "plan". And yet God took care of us every step of the way. We even have a house! We have only been in New Hampshire 10 days and we can relax knowing where we will be living starting in September. Let me give you one example of how God took care of us. The wheel bearing has been making noise for several months. We have complained and had it looked at by two places where they said it was just the kind of tires we had. We left Albany, NY on Saturday morning when the ABS and BRAKE sensor lights came on. We immediately exited at the first place we could. After looking at the manual, both sensors required calling a dealer. I got on the phone and found out that a Toyota dealer was only a mile away. We drove it over and they were stunned by how bad the bearing was. We were told that somehow it damaged and broke the ABS and BRAKE sensors and that usually when a wheel bearing goes it just goes. We were blessed it didn't break at 65 miles an hour and have the wheel fall off. They said we were lucky we weren't seriously injured or killed.

Now I know that God could have miraculous fixed the wheel bearing, or kept it together until we got to New Hampshire, but He allowed this way so that we could see His glory - 1. We got off at the right exit, 2. The damaged sensors told us something was seriously wrong, 3. The dealership was incredible despite being in New York, 4. I had five hours to pray without ceasing while the kids played at the playground, 5. We weren't hurt or killed. Now I would rather have had the trip go without incident but God was so faithful and comforting and we once again had peace that we were headed in the right direction.

I could write on and on about how wonderful (and stressful) the last two weeks have been in the presence of the Lord. But here is the point - when we are asked to step out on faith, even without an airtight plan, and we obey, God is there. He is faithful and merciful and amazing and comforting....

So, we begin a new adventure in New Hampshire. I am excited to see why we are living in the town He placed us, what we will do for church and ministry (God's already moving in this area as well), what the kids are going to have in school and the joy Kevin already has in his new job.

So....you don't always need a plan. He's got one already worked out for us.