Off to Anaheim

Naomi and I are off to Anaheim this next week to spend some time with family and friends. The highlight of my week will be to see so many familiar and long missed faces at the Foursquare National Convention/Connection. The highlight of Naomi's week will be to see so many familiar Disney faces. I suppose Disney would be a highlight for me except that they may not let me on many rides (due to being pregnant... maybe I can suck in my belly and trick em'... doubt it) and I'll have to satisfy myself with walking, taking in shows, and guilting everyone else into buying me all you can eat churros and ice cream, mmmmmm. :-) All and all it should be a great time. We'll be returning to Denver Saturday, May 30th. Pray for safe travel!

My Lord's Prayer

The last few weeks at church we have been focusing on Luke chapter 11 and more specifically the Lord's prayer. The first week we studied the prayer itself and then the subsequent weeks we really broke it out into application. Today at church we actually wrote out a heartfelt personal rendition of the prayer. I would like to encourage anyone and everyone to try this exercise. With that said, here is my heart in the Lord's prayer:

"Our Heavenly Father, my head, my source, my creator, my authority, my stability, You who have begotten Christ in me; holy, righteous, unblemished, just and worthy of all praise is Your awe-inspiring and all powerful Name.

"May Your governing, comforting, and life-giving kingdom gain influence and power in our fallen earth so that we may come to know more intimately the perfect will You exercise in heaven. Bring Your purposes into our lives so that we may be instruments in ushering in the vast dimensions of Your reign more fully.

"Within this framework may I define my priorities and needs for today. May You infuse with passion those needs that contribute to my living and serving Your kingdom and may I have the strength to overcome and differentiate between what I truly need and what I merely desire. Provide for my needs today in the same manner a father would provide for, clothe, feed, and comfort those that belong to him; not desiring that any of his offspring go without or suffer unnecessarily.

"Search my heart, O God. Reveal to me through the conviction of Your Holy Spirit any sin that is within me. I confess this corruption in the divine nature You are attempting to form in me and I pray that You would cleanse and purge this unsightly blemish from my life. Through the power of the blood of Jesus Christ I ask for forgiveness for these sins. Refine me, O God, for Your intents and purposes.

"May I not then be hypocritical in my actions. May I display to others the character of Jesus Christ in forgiving them any wrong done to me just as You have forgiven me even though I was undeserving. May the effect You have on me emanate onto others.

"Help me to discern Your paths for my life, not stumbling in the wrong directions. Help me by the power of Your Word to overcome and pass by all temptations that may beset me along the way. Lead me past those temptations, O Father, and do not let me fall into them."

Go ahead and give it a try! I hope you end up being as blessed as I was by this endeavor in personalizing my relationship and communication with my Father.

Random Events... Sleep Walking, Sprained Feet, and Arrests!

Tuesday night of this week I was busy making dinner and watching the news when a tidbit of information irked me out of my wits. Drew Peterson was signing on for a reality TV show! What?! I wasn't sure whether to laugh or throw up. What man in his right mind would use his notoriety as most famous suspected wife killer to increase his social status and wealth? It made my stomach turn with disgust. The feeling didn't go away and so I just began to pray about the situation. I didn't pray for some misfortune to come to him; I just prayed that I would find peace of mind in the midst of this and that God would begin to reveal the truth of the situation. I prayed for truth above all else to prevail so that I could be at ease (not that I intended to watch his reality TV debut but just knowing he was innocent might make it easier to come to grips with). When the news announced yesterday that an arrest and indictment had been made I cannot adequately put into words the relief I felt. The relief wasn't so much for his demise but for resolution on an issue that had long been plaguing the wives of our nation. I will continue to pray for truth on this matter. I wouldn't want someone to be falsely convicted if they didn't do anything wrong but if these women were wronged then everything inside of me cries out for justice to be served.



In other news, Naomi went for a stroll the other night... in her sleep. She went all the way downstairs to the living room, turned on the TV, laid down on the couch and just kept right on snoozing. About 1:30 am she woke up and hollered up to me... 'Mom, I'm downstairs... how'd I get down here?' Of course I panicked since I had no idea what she was doing in the living room in the middle of the night and went racing to the rescue. Half asleep and stumbling I hit the first step a little over zealous and slipped right past landing on my rump... and foot. Ouch! Well we got everything settled and back in bed, foot throbbing and all and I tried to sleep off the pain. The next day I took one look at my foot and thought for sure it was done for. It looked like a puffy purple marshmallow. After 3 xrays and more lead aprons than any one person could possibly walk under, they informed me it was not broken but badly sprained and to give it a rest for a few days. Whew... I'll take sprained over broken any day.


What to expect in an upcoming blog... an assessment of "A Theology for the Social Gospel" by Walter Rauschenbushch. I started reading this book along with another commentary on the social gospel and am learning quite a bit about that entire movement. There are many good points made but also much a disagree with. I'm sure everyone who knows me saw that coming... it's not that I want to be disagreeable but I am a very holistic thinker and if I step back and look at a picture and there are pieces that do not fit together then I must assume that I have inaccurately placed some pieces. Fortunately I don't throw the puzzle away when that happens; I simply attempt to find the errors and fix the puzzle.

Well that's about it as far as new events go this week. More updating to come soon!