A little bit of this... and that.

A little bit of this: I finished reading The Shack this weekend. I absolutely loved it. It's a wonderful story of God's love through one of his servants. Some people told me repeatedly "You have to remind yourself it's just fiction, you have to remind yourself it's just fiction" and guess what - I in fact did not have to remind myself that it was just fiction. That part came easily. What was harder for me to deal with were the feelings it provoked in me (as I said in my last post).

Back in 2005, we went on our second mission trip to Portland, Oregon. There were some soldiers on that last plane ride with us, and as we were walking to baggage claim the soldiers were right in front of us. As we rounded the corner to the security gate, their families awaited - cheering, crying, celebrating their return. Then, as if on cue, one of the soldiers began running to his father, and his rather to him.

As our group passed this exchange of love, we all fell to our knees, weeping. I'm not talking about a tear here or there but from a deep place in our heart tears were flowing.

Where am I going with this? God used that moment in my life. He has used many things that seemed unconventional (to me) to draw me to a closer place with Him. Although The Shack is most certainly a work of fiction, I applaud the author's work - for provoking people to draw closer to the Lord.

A little bit of that...

We had a great discussion yesterday in Sunday School about the Christmas season. Isn't it amazing how children ask questions that you don't feel qualified to answer? Maybe it's just me. I'm praying for creativity and honesty as my T-Pup begins to search out the truth. I don't want to blow off his questions or give him some flippant answer. This is what our lives are about! Celebrating our King! I'm praying the Lord will help me to instill these foundational truths in our son (+daughter when the time comes!).

W's first semester of grad school is coming to a close. His finals are this week. Please pray for him if you think about it!

Also, I am absolutely looking forward to dreading Christmas shopping. I am going tomorrow while W is in one of his finals, so I'll have a good few hours to traipse around Nashville and shop. I'm trying to be excited... trying... trying...