GO LOOK OUT THE WINDOW!

When Steve and I lived in Nashville, we attended a small church plant in the Old Hickory area. Although I had been a Christian for many years, it was here, under the pastoral care of Larry Ferris and his wife Lisa, that the gospel was first given "flesh". Eighteen years later, I still think of Lisa asking me, on several occasions, "What are the practical implications of the gospel in this situation?" These two, whom I affectionately think of as my Mother and Father in the faith, were active, aggressive, and deliberate about translating what they believed into what they did, in every area of life.

Larry had a gift for coming up with great sermon illustrations. He could make seemingly far-off, abstract concepts suddenly clear and relevant. This particular illustration still comes to my mind often, and always brings with it a thrill of excitement....

You remember how when you were a kid, and the evening weather forecast predicted snow? You hoped against all hope that it would snow and snow and snow all night, maybe even a foot, and that school would be cancelled the next day. You went to bed anxious with anticipation, finding it nearly impossible to sleep. Your ears strained for the faintest sound that would indicate the coveted snow had finally arrived. You snuck out of bed, peeped out the window - nothing. Finally, exhausted and fearing morning would bring only disappointment, you dozed fitfully off to sleep. And slept, and slept, and slept. Until...

The next morning, Mom came into your room, same as she always did, to wake you up so that you could begin getting ready for school. Only this morning, as she shook you gently from your sleep, she didn't say, "Wake up - time to get ready for school." She simply whispered, "Go look out the window!"

Instantly, you were wide awake, your heart pounding! Throwing off your blankets, you planted your feet on the cold floor and bolted for the window, a jubilant smile plastered across your face. "Go look out the window!" Those words elicited a spasm of pure joy! You danced! You squealed! It was absolutely impossible to conceal the excitement you felt.

Dear Reader - after a long and dreadful night, God, in Christ, has whispered to us, "Go look out the window!"

HOT COCOA

Snow is cause of celebration where I live - we don't get the white stuff very often! During the cold winter months, my kids drink lots of hot chocolate. We keep a canister of instant hot chocolate mix in the pantry, and usually have a kettle of water simmering on the stove. But when it SNOWS? That's a whole nother ball of wax. Then we make the REAL stuff, the GOOD stuff. Because here in northwest Tennessee, snow is a reason to celebrate!

I found this recipe on a box of Hershey's cocoa several years ago, and it's our traditional snow day libation. Delicious!

HOT COCOA
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. cocoa
dash salt
1/3 c. hot water
4 c. milk
3/4 tsp. vanilla

Mix sugar, cocoa, and salt in a saucepan; stir in water. Cook and stir over medium heat unitl mixture boils. Boil and stir 2 minutes. Stir in milk and heat. DO NOT BOIL. Remove from heat; add vanilla.

We serve this topped with whipped cream. If you're feeling fancy, you can add a sprinkle of cinnamon!

BABY SHOWER DEVOTION FOR AN UNWED MOTHER

In my first baby shower post, I mentioned having been encouraged to write on the topic by a friend. This "Josiah sister" has consistently challenged me over the years to look for opportunities to apply the truths of Scripture and the power of the Gospel to the business of daily life. When our little church plant began to include among its numbers several pregnant women, I nervously followed Jenny's example and offered to present a devotion as part of any upcoming shower festivities. It seemed that the near arrival of a baby was such a ripe moment for considering the implications of our faith!

God - in His wisdom and goodness - didn't want me to have any occasion to speak in my own strength. Already nervous and feeling incompetent about leading any kind of a study, I was slapped with a totally unforeseen circumstance - our very first baby shower was for a beautiful young highschool girl, pregnant out of wedlock. God, couldn't you have made this a little easier on me? I wondered. What do You want me to say?

Well, God provided the message for that morning's devotion - amazing how Scripture speaks to EVERY situation in life! And in due time, God provided safe delivery of a sweet baby girl, a precious addition to our fellowship of faith. Here are my notes from that very first baby shower (with names changed) - perhaps they can be used in some way to encourage a young woman you know.

BABY SHOWER DEVOTION FOR AN UNWED MOTHER

WHY are we having this devotional?

JOSIAH

* Became king of Judah when he was 8 years old

* Came after a long line of evil kings who had abandoned God and served idols

* Began repair of the Temple, which had been neglected and was in terrible disrepair

* Hilkiah, the high priest, FOUND the book of the Law and delivered it to Josiah (2 Kings 22:8)

* Upon reading God's word, Josiah tore his clothes and wept: "Great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book." (2 Kings 22:13)

* Began reforms in Judah; destroyed idols, prophets, and temples to false gods

* Josiah "did what was right in the eyes of the Lord" (2 Kings 22:2)

Note: The people were held accountable for their disobedience, even though the generations before them hadn't told them about the Law of God. God's demands on us (and on all of mankind) in Scripture are in force, whether we accept them or believe in Him or not. Our generation, like Josiah's, urgently needs to re-discover the Word of God, and to then respond to the truths presented in Scripture in repentance, submission, obedience, and gratitude.

TITUS 2 MANDATE - Older women are to be sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness; to teach what is good; and to train the young women....to love their children. Like Josiah, I'm beginning without having been mentored by an older generation. Still, I'm accountable for responding obediently to what Scripture teaches. Therefore, I feel a great deal of trepidation, and need MUCH GRACE, as I seek to be an obedient "older woman". I've been blessed by the example and encouragement of fellow (not older!) sisters: Example of Linda - Zechariah 8:21 - "The inhabitants of one city shall go to another and say, 'Let's go at once and entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts; I myself am going!'" I need Christ - and you need Christ - Come, let us go to Him together.

OPENING PRAYER

DEVOTIONAL:
Lara, I don't know the details and circumstances surrounding Hannah's conception, beyond that her father is a man who is not your husband. I do know that you are an active member of the visible body of Christ, professing faith in His substitutionary work on your behalf, and that Hannah, as your child, is a covenant member of this family of believers.

I think I can safely speculate that you have already been advised - perhaps by classmates or others - that you would have been better off to have killed this baby instead of keeping her, and I think the fact that you have chosen to keep her is a testimony to the working of God's grace in your life. You have already demonstrated courage in the face of adversity. The reactions of friends, classmates, and relatives to your pregnancy has no doubt been mixed and sometimes surprising. Being pregnant is a confusing, physically draining, emotional time, even under the best of circumstances. Given that, I hope to communicate this morning some of the truths of Scripture concerning baby Hannah, to counter the lies the world will be telling you.

LIE - This baby was an "accident".
Movie - My Sister's Keeper (book by Jodi Picoult) Note: This movie was playing locally.

Anna: "I'm telling you, if aliens landed on earth today and took a good hard look at why babies get born, they'd conclude that most people have children by accident, or because they drink too much on a certain night, or because birth control isn't one hundred percent, or for a thousand other reasons that aren't very flattering....On the other hand, I was born for a very specific purpose. I wasn't the result of a cheap bottle of wine or a full moon or the heat of the moment. I was born because a scientist managed to hook up my mother's eggs and my father's sperm to create a specific combination of precious genetic material....See, unlike the rest of the free world, I didn't get here by accident."
(Note: Sara, Anna's mother, concludes at the end of the book, "I realized then that we never have children, we receive them." Sadly, the movie gives viewers no such hope, no "gospel".)

TRUTH - Every child - even those conceived because of our sinful behavior - every child is created by the will and purpose of God, although we may not understand His purpose or timing.

*Jeremiah 1:5 - Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you... (Note: Jeremiah lived during Josiah's reign.)

* Psalm 139:13-14, 16 - For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well....Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book are written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Lara, God knew this baby - and YOU - before He even began creating the earth. He has a plan and a purpose for Hannah, and for you. From a human, wordly perspective, this baby may seem like an "accident" - but she is NOT an accident according to God's creative plan and purpose.

LIE - Babies are a burden and a liability, something you don't want to have. They are nothing but work, work, work, and trouble. They rob you of sleep, drain your finances, and put a complete end to your freedom.

TRUTH - Babies are a blessing! Yes, caring for a baby/child seems to take all your energy and resources and will sometimes leave you hanging "at the end of your rope," but a child is a valuable gift, a treasure of infinite worth, an image-bearer of God Himself.

* Genesis 1: 26,27 - Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.

* Psalm 127:3-5 - Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man (or woman!) who fills his quiver with them!

When the stress and demands of being a mother drive you to look at this baby as a burden or a curse, remember the Word of God and affirm this truth - this baby is a blessing!

LIE - This baby will ruin your life. Having a baby out of wedlock, and when you're so young, will ruin all your plans. Your life will never be what you want it to be after this.

TRUTH - You have plans for your life; God has plans for your life. Sometimes, those plans coincide. But when they don't, and God takes you in a direction you haven't planned, you can be assured that God's plans will always be better for you than the plans you came up with yourself. Everything that God brings into your life - everything - is for your good and His glory. God is using even this pregnancy and this baby to conform you to Christ. Plus, the Holy Spirit and Christ Himself are interceding on your behalf as you mother this child!

* Romans 8:26-28 - The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

LIE - There's no way you could be a Christian. You are obviously a sinner, and God's love and promises are not for you.

TRUTH - Christians are sinners, but we are reconciled to God, once for all, by the blood of Christ. God's love for us - and faithfulness to us - is not based on our righteousness (or lack of righteousness), but on the perfect righteousness of Jesus.

* 1 John 3:1 - See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are!

* 1 John 2:1b - If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins....

* Romans 8:31-39 - What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword, (or unplanned pregnancies?)....NO! I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

CONCLUSION
* John Owen -"There is a traitor residing in our hearts, waiting to betray us."
* Justin Westmoreland - "Satan wants to destroy our relationship with God by mercilessly loading guilt on our backs."

When you are inclined to believe the world's lies, Lara, when you are accused or devalued by Satan, or by your conscience, or by your peers....counter the lies with the truth of God. Nothing can separate you from the love of God (Rom. 8:31). It is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9). Wear your Bible out - drive the Gospel of Grace H-A-R-D!

ARMED WITH THE TRUTH OF GOD'S WORD, EMBRACE THIS BABY...
You have been given charge of parenting an eternal being, created in the image of God. This is a HUGE calling. You will need to turn to God daily for strength and wisdom.

G.K. Chesterton - "Anyone who makes himself responsible for one small baby as a whole, will soon find that he is wrestling with gigantic angels and demons."

Charge to motherhood:
* Seek to live by these truths, and to teach them to Hannah.
* This is not a call to perfection, but to live honestly and by faith.
* In your failures and weakness, run to Christ - teach Hannah by example that your strength and hope and security, and hers, lie in Christ. "I need Jesus - You need Jesus. Come, let's go to Him together."
* You are not alone in this labor. Call your older sisters in Christ into account regarding the Titus 2 mandate. Do not hesitate to bless us with the opportunity to serve you.

PRAYER FOR LARA AND HANNAH

TORTELLINI VEGETABLE SOUP

Soup recipe #4. This is Thomas's favorite soup!

TORTELLINI VEGETABLE SOUP

2 T. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
5 1/2 c. chicken stock
1 t. dried basil (more if fresh)
1 bay leaf
1/2 c. canned crushed tomatoes
1/2 t. salt
8 oz. fresh or frozen tortellini (cheese or meat filled)
2-3 T. chopped fresh parsley
pepper to taste


Heat the oil in a soup pot; add onion, zucchini, and carrot. Saute over medium heat, 8-10 minutes, until onion is translucent. Add the stock, basil, bay leaf, tomatoes, and salt. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Add tortellini and bring soup back to a low boil. Cook 2 minutes, then reduce heat and let simmer for 5-6 minutes longer. Gently stir in parsley and pepper during last few minutes of cooking. Serves 4-5.


I like this recipe because it doubles (or triples!) easily and can be prepared quickly - doesn't need a long simmer time to be delicious. It is a fairly "light" soup, so we enjoy this even during the summer months.

THINK ON THESE THINGS

Before we moved to the hinterlands, I used to love attending the monthly dinners where area homeschool moms gathered for an evening of food and fellowship. (Hi, Fray-Mill Ladies!) We would enjoy a scrumptious pot-luck dinner, then have a brief meeting led by our intrepid leader, Liz. One month we might discuss favorite school resources, another month - gardening techniques, potty training, or favorite children's literature. Usually around 10:00, the "early crew" would begin packing up dishes and hitting the road for home. But the "late crew" - the really tenacious hanger-on-ers - would be just getting started. After a break to start a fresh pot of coffee and run to the bathroom, we would pull out the chocolate and settle in for a late night of serious sisterhood. Often, I didn't make it home after a Moms' dinner until one or two o'clock in the morning.

Steve asked me once what made these get-togethers so special. He knew that although I'd be bleary-eyed from lack of sleep the day after, I'd also be emotionally rejuvenated and refreshed in my calling as a wife and mother. So, just what went on during those late-night sofa sessions? In a nutshell, simply being around other women who loved their husbands and their children encouraged and challenged me to do likewise.

None of us had perfect lives. We all had very real, sometimes painful issues - financial issues, relationship issues, health issues, homeschool issues. Some of us were dealing with defiant children, some with chronic pain or debilitating medical disorders, some with disengaged husbands. But we all held in common a sincere and practical love for our husbands and our children, regardless of the struggles and frustrations that were part of these relationships. To sit among so many women who faced the messiness of life with grace, who in the midst of sometimes heart-breaking circumstances consistently verbalized their affection for and commitment to their spouses and families, provided such a refreshing contrast to the litany of complaints and offenses given by so many women who find life less than happily-ever-after.

Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." These ladies could've spent the evening in a contest of misery - whose husband was the least attentive? whose kids were the least compliant? whose in-laws were the least supportive of their decision to homeschool? whose last doctor's visit yielded the grimmest prognosis? Instead, we had more a contest of encouragement - How could we better celebrate our husbands? better enjoy our children? deal more graciously with the critical in-laws? minister to one another in the midst of physical suffering?

I always left those meetings with a renewed awareness that this calling of wife and mother, although huge and hard and sometimes overwhelming, is indeed very good and has eternal value. And I learned from these women a little of the practical discipline of thinking about - and speaking - what is true, honorable, and excellent pertaining to marriage and motherhood. Yes, I do have gray occasions when I brood over all that is less-than-perfect in life, when my thoughts and my words recite discontent like a song stuck on "re-play". Sometimes, instead of confronting the sin in my own heart, I fall into the lazy habit of confessing the sins of others.

What a waste, when there is so much good to enjoy and celebrate! I pray that, like these dear sisters, I strive to speak the beautiful language of practical grace with ever-increasing fluency. And I challenge you, Dear Reader, to think on what is lovely in your spouse, what is commendable in your children...and then verbalize those thoughts, both to your family and to your larger circle of friends and acquaintances. Perhaps by doing so, you will encourage another sister or brother to go and do likewise!

YOU MAY HAVE TEENAGE BOYS IF....

Speaking of raising boys, you may have teenage boys living in your house if:

1. ...much of your laundry has to be prewashed - outside with the garden hose -before it can go into the washing machine.

2. ...your grocery bill is the largest item in your monthly budget - and -

3. ...you are thinking it might be more efficient to have a Kroger (or Wal-mart or Sysco) semi just deliver groceries straight to your door.

4. ...you have multiple stacks of jeans in your bedroom, waiting for a new home - the jeans that fit last month but are now too small; the ones that fit three months ago, but are now too small; and the ones that, six months ago, you didn't think the boy would ever grow into.

5. ...when you try to start the grill, you frequently find your can of lighter fluid empty because it's been used up as propellant for a home-made cannon.

6. ...it sounds like a herd of rowdy buffaloes live upstairs, due to frequent spontaneous wrestling matches.


7. ...you're seriously considering getting a cow because of the amount of milk your family consumes each week.

8. ...you have to instruct someone to fill in the foxholes they dug out in the garden before time for spring planting.

9. ...when you start your car, the radio is ON, is LOUD, and (at least out here in the sticks), is COUNTRY.

10. ...you are startled by the voices of strange men in your house, only to realize those are the voices of your children.

RAISING BOYS

The Women's Bible Study from church met at my house recently for our monthly brunch. My kids had instructions to "be invisible" for the morning, which the four boys accomplished by taking advantage of the nice weather outside. As I found a seat at the table with my cup of coffee and a helping of breakfast casserole, something outside caught my eye. Fire!

The day before, the boys had burned a big pile of brush out behind the house. Now, they had revived the fire and worked up a pretty good blaze. I could tell from the various tools and home-made pots gathered about that they were cooking up something exciting. Excusing myself from the table, I stepped to the back door. "Boys, please don't be blowing anything up while we have company!" I feared an explosion might unnerve some of my guests.

"No problem, Mom. We're just making fireballs." (In case you're wondering, blowing things up involves propelling something outward/upward with force. A fireball, on the other hand, is just an exciting ball or tower of flame - no propulsion. At least that's how my boys explain it.)

As I rejoined my friends around the breakfast table, it occurred to me that this little dialogue with my four male teenagers might have sounded a bit odd. Unless these ladies had boys themselves.

When my boys were still very young, our family went camping at Fall Creek Falls with several friends - who also had boys. One morning, the group hiked to the base of the falls. As I stepped carefully down the steep narrow path cut into the rock face, a voice piped out from a nearby evergreen. "Hi, Mrs. Camille!" When I finally located the voice, I discovered a boy among the greenery.

Now, although this fellow was eye-level to me, the base of the towering tree in which he perched was at the bottom of the cliff face. This young man had shimmied about 30 feet up the tree trunk, and now sat cheerfully greeting those of us still inching down the rocky trail. I froze, fighting off a full-blown panic attack. Oh, my goodness! How on earth can we get this child down without his getting injured!

His mother - a few steps behind me on the path - chirped, "Wow! Look how high you've climbed! That's awesome!" I looked from mother to son and back again. Couldn't she see what danger he was in?! Her smile and uninterrupted pace gave no indication of distress.

Later, I asked my friend, "Did that not scare you to death, seeing N--- so high up in that tree?"

"Not as much as it once would have. You get used to it. It's hard sometimes as a mother to resist the urge to say, 'Don't climb too high!' But boys need to climb...they need to climb high. And when they do, they need their mother's admiration."

I understand now the wisdom of my friend - what wise counsel! I wonder sometimes if all the mess we have today with gender and role confusion (especially among our sons) or with violent behavior in young males is caused at least in part by moms who insist, "Don't climb too high!" - or - "NO toy guns!" - or - "Don't go out in the deep water!" Or by school systems who force our sons to sit quietly at desks for hours each day. Our sons are not allowed to take risks, to face real danger, to suffer real and sometimes painful consequences, to conquer their surroundings. In short, they are not allowed to develop into men.

It is very hard as mothers to rein in a tendency to over-nurture, over-protect our boys. We want them to be fearless - but not foolish. We want them to be daring - but not irrational. Those distinctions aren't always easy to determine, for us or for our boys. It takes tremendous effort for a mother to let her sons "test the water" and learn to see those distinctions for themselves. This Mom job is hard work! But, I can testify that "letting boys be boys" does get easier with practice - and learning to greet their accomplishments and their feats of strength and courage with sincere admiration, instead of unmasked panic, also gets easier.

Last summer, when my sons used old Pringles potato chip cans to construct a home-made "cannon" that would launch a tennis ball all the way across our yard, I was genuinely impressed. "Cool, guys! Think it would shoot a ball all the way over the house?" Yep - cleared two stories with room to spare!

When they headed out the door last February to take a swim in the creek, I cringed. They are going to freeze to death! I thought. But I said, "Be back in time for lunch." And you know what? They did not freeze to death. Instead they had a grand adventure, lived boldly...and came home exclaiming that they would never do that again, at least not until next spring's thaw!

Being a mother to boys is not an easy calling, but it is a grand adventure. And maybe, as we free our sons to dare, to climb higher, we will have boys who grow not into momma's boys or thugs or hoodlums, but into men.