Just His flawless Words today, friends:

“For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”

Ephesians 6:12 NLT

Help me to remember in my impatience that the end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.

Ecclesiastes. 7:8

To the faithful You show Yourself faithful,

To the blameless You show Yourself blameless,

To the pure You show Yourself pure,

But to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd.

Psalm 18:25-26

Gird Your sword upon Your side, O Mighty One; clothe Yourself with splendor and majesty.  In Your majesty ride forth victoriously in behalf of truth, humility, and righteousness…

Psalm 45:3-4

You are the King of all the earth…You reign over all, and You are seated on Your holy throne.

Psalm 47:7,8

I extol You who rides on the clouds…

Psalm 68:4a

Your chariots are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands!  Our God is a God who saves…

Psalm 68:17a, 20a

You reign!  You are robed in majesty and You are armed with strength!  Your throne was established long ago: You are from all eternity.  

Psalm 93:1-2

Week One of Media Fast is in the books.  However, henceforth I will be writing it like this: “Media Fast.”  We can talk about it in a minute.

But first, a few Halloween 2014 photos:

Chiefs Player on the way to Preschool!

Swamp Monster for the school parade and party.

I love that I caught this look between them on camera while they carved the pumpkin.  I feel like I can picture Caden at 17 in this photo.

Fun friends.  For your reference, Caden’s request was to be Toxic Peashooter from the game Plants vs. Zombies (which he isn’t allowed to play).  This was the goal:

So we got somewhere in the vicinity.

The next morning, Media Fast started out with a bang.  The above photo was the boys’ choice for wake up time: Lord of the Rings Risk game characters set up in battle mode, then acted out in real life.  I love them.

Later we headed to the library.  Dan rarely gets to go with us so it was a treat. Caden wanted to get World War I/II and Civil War books.  I promptly asked a lady shelving books where they were located.  My man? He took Caden to the reference computer, showed him how to look up the topic in which he’s interested, and taught him all about the Dewey Decimal System.  I love him.

And from the other day:

Twister is much less dramatic when only one person moves and the other person spins!

Here’s the honest truth: While Wii and iPad have been nonexistent, I have not done well at limiting the boys’ video and TV time.

There I said it.

It hasn’t been a horrible breach of the original boundaries, but I’m still feeling bummed about it.

My husband always puts a practical spin on issues.  He said something along the lines of, “Maybe we just limit the gaming right now instead of everything all at once.”

I contemplated whether or not he even knows who I am, but then realized he was right.  TV hadn’t been out of control with the boys.  However, asking to play games had been to a high annoyance level, and the asking has been waaay reduced.  So we have a victory.  And if I’m not always letting them replace that time with TV, I think we won’t miss the point of this month.

Now for other “Media Fast” news: I am not timing myself, but I’m pretty sure that even though it’s interspersed throughout the day, I’m on here more than an hour a day.  So I think this fast is more accurately put like this: No Wii, iPad games, Facebook and Pinterest.

I can live with it.

In wholesome family fun news, we’ve done one million drawings/paintings/colored pencil sketches. We’ve played many of the board games and card games we own.  (Including homemade Pictionary last night with a friend…after which she forced me to watch a show.  Forced.)  We have stacks of books from the library we are slowly working through.  Dress up has played a starring role.  We’ve done play-doh and made home movies with the camera and hung out with friends.

So there is more to life than gaming and Facebook stalking.

I have been writing and writing on a personal project.  But I miss blogging (mostly) daily.  It makes events more cemented in my brain.

So that’s week one in a nut shell.

Hope you’re having a good one!

Well, November = Media Fast.

Frankly, I loved this fast this summer when my man was around and it was happy family time.

But for this next month, I will have a very busy hubs.  (We are two classes away from his Master’s Degree.  Two.  This can happen.)

So this will mostly be my circus.

I will be deactivating Facebook, which is somewhat of a relief.  I love people, but I get too many stories and events swirling in my brain sometimes.  Pinterest will be only for recipes/crafts I’ve already pinned and now want to actually execute.  I won’t be watching TV or movies, although this is rare for me these days anyway.  I have lots of books I have been itching to read.  The boys can watch 30 minutes of PBS or videos in the morning and 30 in the evening. But we’re gonna pack up the Wii and iPad for them this month.  I’m going to limit the radio in the car, too, mostly to encourage more conversation.

I’ll still be texting (this is not a stronghold in my life) and emailing and using biblegateway.com and such during my daily hour allotment of internet.  And I won’t worry about media at friends’ houses or the Kid Zone at the Y.

My guess is I will be much more emotionally tired without an easy “out” of PBS or whatever when I need a break from talking or even sweet questions.  I’m going to have to be more creative in the mornings if they get up after the allowed time but before I’m finished reading.  They often jump into something media related, so that will have to change.

When we did this for a week as a small group…whenever ago…I realized the best thing to start the day on the right foot was to put out a toy or game or craft type item they haven’t seen in a while the night before. When it is prominently displayed on the living room floor, they are distracted by the shiny “new” object – instead of the fact they cannot play My Singing Monsters before they’ve even brushed their teeth.

My other saving grace will have to be to implement (and enforce) a Rest Time/Quiet Time during the afternoons.  This is to ensure I still have children surviving at the end of the month.

I can’t tell how much I’ll be on here.  I have so many things I want to work on and without the ability to numb the boys’ minds with technology easily work during the day, I doubt I’ll have much time to do it all.

So we will see.

For now, a quick insight from Jen in 7 :

“If I could go back to the Jen of 2004, surrounded by babies…I would tell her a few things:

First, I would stroke her hair and tell her I know how hard she is trying.  I know she genuinely loves Jesus and is trying to be obedient.  I would be far more gentle with her than she was with herself during those years…

I would tell [her]:

It’s okay to admit your worst struggles.  To actual people.

You don’t have to be awesome.  You can be ordinary.

Jesus warned against wealth for a reason.  Stop chasing it.

Then I would call forth the best in her, and I would say: Guess what?  You’re going to walk away from power and reputation, and you’ll break bread with the homeless and give away the shoes off your feet.  You’ll be free soon.  This nagging tension that things aren’t right, that life is more than blessing extremely blessed people…that’s all true…

Finally, I would hug 2004 Jen, understanding discipleship is a journey, and each stage is a necessary precursor to the following one.  God was right in Proverbs: our light is the dimmest at the beginning of salvation, but it grows brighter and brighter as we go.  There is no wasted scene, no futile season…

The wise responder humbly receives truth, allows it to supersede the version he or she is holding, and adjusts…I giggle to imagine what 2017 Jen would come back to teach me; I don’t even know what I don’t know.

So for now I’ll continue to reduce and simplify, fight and engage until I know what else to do.  What I know now is this: less.  I don’t need to have the most, be the best, or reach the top…It doesn’t matter what I own or how I’m perceived…

I’m just beginning to embrace the liberation that only exists at the bottom, where I have nothing to defend, nothing to protect.  Where it doesn’t matter if I’m right or esteemed or positioned well.  I wonder if that’s the freedom Jesus meant when He said,

‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt. 5:3).

In order for Jesus’ kingdom to come, my kingdom will have to go, and for the first time I think I’m okay with that.”

(7 an experimental mutiny against excess, pgs 107-109)

Source

I read something interesting in Colossians yesterday.  


“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.  These were a shadow of the things to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”


I knew I had one more Sabbath post in me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.  What is there left to say about obeying God by observing the Sabbath?  


Something that was mentioned in my interview with Mark was Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) as the High Sabbath.


Leviticus 16:29-33 says:

“This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work…because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins.  It is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance.  The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement.  He is to put on the sacred linen garments and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and for the priests and all the people of the community.”


And from 23:26-32a:


“The LORD said to Moses, 

‘The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement.  Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the LORD by fire.  Do no work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God…this is to b a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.  It is a sabbath of rest for you…'” 



Mark explained that Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) is the holiest of all holy days in the Jewish calendar.  Even those who don’t regularly go to temple will fast and go on Yom Kippur.  (It sounds a lot like Christmas in cultural Christianity.)


The 10-day period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are called the High Holy Days or the Days of Awe.  This is a time for you to attend synagogue and confess your sins – to God and to anyone you may have wronged – before the Day of Atonement.  Mark mentioned his Grandma lived 5 miles away from nearest synagogue, and since it is unlawful to drive on the Sabbath (and there is a Sabbath the 2nd day of these Holy Days) she would rent a room near the synagogue so she could walk instead of drive.

The culmination of these High Holy Days is Yom Kippur, a Sabbath, where you fast from sundown to sundown, attend synagogue, confess and receive cleansing from God.  In searching on the internet, I also found this little bit of info:

“On the day before Yom Kippur it is customary to have a literal transfer of sin from a person to a fowl or live fish.  The fowl or fish is waved over the head three times and a prayer is spoken:

‘This fowl should die and I should merit long life and peace.’

In this way atonement is made.”  (Source)




In this way atonement is made.





Ah, yes.  I’m starting to see how the Colossians verse fits in.  


“[The Sabbath Day is] a shadow of the things to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”



He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1Jn2:2)



Jesus did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.  The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.  How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished before God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!  (Heb 9:12-14)



Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices which can never take away sins.  But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God…because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.  (Heb 10:11-14)



And they sang a new song:

You are worthy to take the scroll and to open the seals,

Because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God

From every tribe and language and people and nation.  

(Rev 5:9)



The Sabbath is a shadow.  He is our Rest.


Even the High Sabbath is a shadow.  He is our atonement.




Traditionally, the Sabbath service of Yom Kippur is ended by blasting a ram’s horn, called a shofar. This is to “remind us of the hope of the re-gathering of all the scattered remnant to the Land of Israel.”

Source

Matthew 24:31:

And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.



Yes.




One day the trumpet will sound for His coming

One day the skies of his glory will shine

Wonderful Day my Beloved One bringing

My Savior, Jesus, is mine



Living He loved me

Dying He saved me

Buried He carried my sins far away

Rising He justified freely forever

And one day He’s coming

Oh Glorious Day!

(Casting Crowns)




A glorious day indeed.

Really good Sabbath.  I was going to tell you all about it last night, but I fell asleep when I put the boys to bed.

Saturday was quite full, but we ended with homemade stuffed crust pizza (cheese sticks sliced in half length-wise) and watching baseball.

My man’s birthday was on Friday, which was a crazy full day.  So we celebrated at P.F. Chang’s for lunch after church on Sunday.  The boys still had free meal coupons from the summer reading program!  We like free.

We had a calm afternoon, then celebrated with Treat Street at our church.  The youth group and leaders did so well putting it on!

Will jump for candy

Emmet = A-mazing

We like this family

Two Princesses (well, Elsa and Anna)

Yay!  Our friends came.

Thank You, Jesus, for a beautiful Sabbath!

Because we know that this extraordinary day is just ahead, we pray for you all the time—pray that our God will make you fit for what he’s called you to be, pray that he’ll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so that it all amounts to something. If your life honors the name of Jesus, he will honor you. Grace is behind and through all of this, our God giving himself freely, the Master, Jesus Christ, giving himself freely.

via Pinterest

This has been a weird week.

I won’t lie and say this is the only time I’ve had to sit and write.  But it has been a different busy the past couple of days.

The above photo is a blast from my past.  It is the high school football stadium on which I grew up.  I ran track here, wore a super cool 90’s polo shirt to football games in Junior High here, wore an oh-so-lovely band uniform and marched here. Lots of memories.

Do you like autumn?  Fall was never a favorite season of mine.  Mostly because I knew winter was next and I’m not a fan.  But my husband has taught me to love it.  He likes college football, leaves changing color, cooler temps, lighting fires and pumpkin carving.  Okay, there is a lot to love.

Seasons are like a built-in Sabbath.  There is only so much planting and reaping one can do through the year.  Winter is mandatory slow down.

The cycles of life are beautiful if we flow with them.

And the LORD built them into His laws.

When a Perfect King created a Perfect Constitution, He made sure the earth rested every seven years, with no planting or harvesting for a full year (Lev 25:2).

He had all debts canceled every 50 years, the Year of Jubilee.  Slaves were set free.  Land was returned to its original owners.  (Lev. 25)

Every three years the tithe was to be given to those unable to care for themselves: the Levites, the sojouners, the widows and orphans (Deut. 14:28-29).

Even animals were to be given a day of rest on the Sabbath (Ex 23:12).

What a kind, loving, compassionate Creator.

Dallas Willard said, “Hurry is the enemy of kindness.”

I think it’s true.  When we structure our lives in a way that allows us the time to be focused on the Spirit’s leading and others’ needs, we have time to be kind.

Time to be kind.

That’s what I want.

Don’t you?