God, my father

Thanks for your prayers. The phone business is over and everything seemed to have ironed itself out. WOO!
I came across an inspiring story which you may have heard about, team Hoyt. It's a story about a father and son duo, Rick and Dick. Rick was born with the umbilical chord around his neck and suffered traumatic brain injury. The doctor's told his parents he would be a vegetable, that they should institutionalize him. His parents kept him and valued him as part of the family and it turned out Rick was not much of a vegetable. He is a paraplegic but his brain is far from cucumber land.
He and his dad have finished I don't even know how many marathons and triathlons. Watch this video and be inspired. http://cjcphoto.com/can/
The thing that touched me the most, was watching his father push him across the finish line. To me it was a picture of Christ as our father and us the wheelchair bound child.
I completed my first marathon this January and it was grueling. The pain and agony those last few miles is "good". Your entire body is telling you to stop, it's okay you ran 23 miles, that's enough walk the rest, it' all good. So I know the pain.
Growing up my Dad left us to fend for ourselves, so sometimes it is easier for me to understand God as a judge, waiting for me to make it on my own, to endure the test. My head knows it's not like this, but that's how I see Him sometimes. But the truth is God is the father pushing the wheelchair, doing all the work, enduring all the pain, and we are nothing but a cripple boy unable to even push the wheels. All the while He is doing all this just like Dick Hoyt, to see his child smile. God is so good to us, and this video to me was a picture of our relationship to Christ. How far He will to take us if we just keep Him pushing.

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God not of works lest any man should boast.

Lost phone lesson

Jr High Drama!! Justin lost his cell phone two weeks ago, as this has happened before with him and we have found it in some obscure place (under the bed, in some old jeans etc.) Andy and I were not too excited, we figured it would turn up at some point. Well... we totally got schooled this week. Justin did loose his phone, he lost it at school. Some kid found it and decided to own it for a few weeks. We initially were monitoring the minutes, and as there were no big changes we figured... we'll find it.
To our surprise the minutes never changed because... they weren't using it for phone calls, they were using it to text. They texted over 3000 messages @ ten cents a pop. You can imagine the shock when our bill was more than quadrupuled (Over $500). We reported the phone stolen and called a few of the numbers to try to catch the little perp. As you can imagine his friends gave him up rather quickly once I mentioned that the police were involved. (We live in a small town and you can still scare kids with a police threat). So this boy is now in major trouble, and hopefully will learn his lesson.
What was really disturbing, was that the kids were texting starting @ 3 AM and every 15 minutes after that, non stop until 9PM. All thru school, breakfast, lunch, dinner and potty breaks. All the while parents and teachers were clueless.
Thankfully we are getting reimbursed by him and his parents for charges and a phone replacement.
Justin seems to be handling it o.k. We are a bit concerned over retaliation, which the principle of the school assured us will not be tolerated, but you never know. Keep him in your prayers as these next few days maybe rocky.

How do you see your glass?

I'd like to start by thanking anyone out there who has been praying for us, specifically our family in Fairfield Glade. I know you all have been praying as the spirit has led you.
I guess it really does takes a few months for reality to set. Things were going pretty good, we were riding high on cloud nine. And then out of the blue one morning I started to feel a little lost and out of place. Oh, Satan knew what he was doing, but it took me awhile to catch on.

It started as a headache on a sunday morning. I had just finished my shift, for those who do not know, I am an ER nurse in a busy trauma center. I work the night shift. I got home that morning with a splitting headache. Andy and the kids got up, got dressed and were off to church all happy and unassuming. And there it was, the new job, the sleepless nights, add the hormones, throw all that in a pot and start stirring and you've got a recipe for a sour and slimmy spirit. There I was in a terrilble "funk". I didn't want to be. The harder I tried to climb out the deeper I fell in. I'm sure you have been there. Anything anyone says or suggest... "well that won't work....that's not right". Every glass is "half empty". You know you are being the way you don't like other people to be. Half empty, half full, who cares I wanted to smash the glass. ( I can get so violent). So.... what now? Well that week my mother in law called and was telling us about how Ms. Cloe had me on her mind and had been praying for me over the weekend. Ms. Cloe is this sweet, little, saint who just lost her husband, who bearly knows me!! Wow! She was praying for me? What in the world? While I was trying to climb out of my hole, by myself... (I wasn't about to let anyone know about my hole)....the Spirit had stirred up Ms. Cloe's heart to pray for me. What a testimony to the love and care Jesus has for each one of us. He knew what I was going through and wanted to help.

We get so caught up... is the glass half empty or is it half full. As christians our glass is completely FULL. The part of the glass that seems empty, that we do not see, is the part were the spirit lives and operates. That's the part we have to tap into. I am happy to report I am officially out of my "funk", but it behooves me to prepare for the next "funk" that I will eventually fall into again. I hope you find this encouraging. The Lord is the lifter of my head!

But You, O Lord, are a shield about me,

My glory, and the One who lifts my head,

I was crying to the Lord with my voice,

And He answered me from His Holy mountain.

I lay down and slept;

I awoke, for the Lord sustains me.

Psalm 3:3-5