Following His Footsteps

Raise your hand if you get up two hours before work every morning to exercise. Raise your hand if your children or spouse do. Keep hands raised if both apply. Seeing no hands...

So this morning my lovely dog, Louie, woke me up at 6:20a to go outside and use the bathroom. Being the chirpy morning person I am, I jumped out of bed, brushed my teeth, fixed my hair, put on my contacts, and skipped him down the Main Street sidewalk in front of our house. Okay, okay, it didn't happen exactly like that. So maybe I grumbled at him, put on my (two-inch thick) glasses and stumbled down the stairs barefoot to walk him. It was still pretty dark outside (a clue to him that it was still sleepy time), and I'm pretty blind (glasses are old) so it shocked me to hear footfalls behind me on the sidewalk as we were turning back to my house. Paranoia, partly due to my reporting days, and partly because of my previously-blogged-about overactive imagination, immediately overtook me. I turned to see who was running fast at me and was surprised by the sweetness of what I saw.

My neighbor, father of two, out jogging, while his middle school aged son rode his bike behind him. When I used to host the morning radio show on the square I would see them, too, but this morning it really hit me as to how sweet that is. We all know how hard it is to get up in the mornings, and especially for middle schoolers! But, here they were, out bonding over the early-morning exercise.

Said Dad works hard, then I see him doing yard work, or playing with the kids in the yard, or grilling...pretty sure it's tempting for him to hit the snooze. But, maybe his motivation isn't just staying fit, it's spending that time with his baby boy. It may sound silly, but I bet this boosts his son's sense of self and will help him succeed in life. So, fellas, listen up, women look for men who will be good Dads. It's so important!

I remember when my Dad used to ask me to play catch with him in the front yard. I secretly dreaded that question because I just knew the ball would knock out one of my perfectly braced teeth or shatter one of my four eyes. I knew I would miss the ball or not have the strength to throw it far enough. He knew that, too. But, since he wasn't a cheerleader (picture that!), it was the only way he knew to bond with me. It was that time together that was important.

This all hit me this morning when I saw my neighbor (whose yard is Louie's favorite for pottying...shhh!) exercising, with his son literally following in his footsteps. What a great example!

Truth

My Bible study ladies and I frequently talk about Israel and what the Word predicts about Israel and the 'end times.' I subscribe to OneNewsNow, a Christian news organization, and get emails about political goings ons in the world. I love this one particular reporter, an African American man by the name of Ben Kinchlow. He speaks TRUTH in a way that everyone can understand. What he has to say about the Obama administration and the US/Israel is scary:

"Washington has stepped up pressure on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to move forward with the resumption of direct talks after 18 months of stalemate. Observers say President Obama is in a full-court press for purely political reasons and desperately needs some kind of foreign policy success before the mid-term elections in November, where the Democrats could take a sound thrashing.

Kinchlow says one only need look at countries throughout history that have either divided the land of Israel or persecuted the Jewish people.

"And you will find all the way from Egypt to Rome and all the way down to the last great empire, which was the British Empire which divided the land of Israel -- every one of those empires have fallen on the ash heap of history," he states.

"And I am deeply concerned that if America pursues this anti-Israel policy demonstrated by a current president we might find ourselves equally on the ash heap of history."

It is imperative, says Kinchlow, that the Christian community get out and vote en mass for someone who understands the real significance of Israel in God's plan."

This Kind of Love

"Mommy, do you love me more than anybody in the whole wide world?" My young mind fully expected the answer to be something like, 'Of course! You know you and your sister are the center of my universe!' Instead, I experienced a revelation so shocking that I still remember it today. "Actually no, I love your Daddy more," she said. Upon seeing my bottom lip poke out, she continued, "I love you and Tiff a lot in a different way, but God says I'm supposed to love Daddy more than anyone else. One day you'll get married and you'll love your husband more than you love me." To which I sulkily replied, "I will NOT!" "Yes, you will, and I'll be okay with that. That's how God says it should be."

I can still picture that-little-me sitting by myself in our den, thinking about this. My Mom had always been my go-to source for everything, so this was quite a big idea to take in. One day I would love a boy more?! No way. But then, amazingly, the light bulb turned on. I realized I actually felt more secure knowing that Momma loved Daddy more. And this is my first memory of thinking about my future husband, and being excited about loving him more than anybody in the whole world! (Yeah, I don't think I ever went through a 'boys are gross!' stage.)

Now that I'm older and know that a marriage symbolizes Jesus' (man) love for the church (and wife) I can't imagine a greater love than that. Last night in Bible study, my girls and I talked about how often nowadays this kind of love is distorted. We get it wrong all the time. We aren't supposed to love our kids more than our spouses. We aren't supposed to love our families more than God. And for goodness sakes we aren't supposed to love ourselves more than anything at all.

True security only comes from one love. This kind of love is humble, giving, unconditional...it's the love that God first gave to us, while we were yet sinners. It's an undeserved love. It's a love that cannot be rivaled by any earthly relationship, yet we try to replace it frequently with 'cheaper' loves. It's a love that is supposed to be symbolized in marriage. This kind of love is what my Mom was talking about (they've been married 40 years!!) and what I hope to share in a marriage. This kind of love is what saved me.


*Because ya'll know I love music...and this song is perfect for this. Love it!

It's all fun and games 'til someone gets hurt....

I have a vivid, crazy imagination. There are all kinds of funny stories from when I was little. This can be a great thing...I have all kinds of inventions floating around in my head! But, it can also be very annoying. Because of this imagination, I often have the most clear, seemingly real NIGHTMARES. Sometimes I wake up scared, or angry, and sometimes it takes me a few seconds to realize that I was only dreaming. I'm not sure if they're caused by sub-conscious worries or fears, but I frequently have these vividly cruel dreams. Not being a morning person by nature (as in do not talk to me, and for goodness sake please DO NOT ever sing 'rise and shine' or any of the like, to me until I've had a good 20 minutes to wake up) these nightmares frequently leave me feeling drained and grouchy in the mornings.

So, last week, after a few consecutive nights of tossing and turning and fighting off the bad guys in my head, I prayed that God would give me 'sweet sleep.' Ya'll, I didn't wake up once during the night, and when I woke up in the morning I was LAUGHING. It was the weirdest thing. (And no, I'm not insane. Well, maybe sometimes. A little.) I was dreaming that I was laughing and thoroughly enjoying it, and then woke up because I WAS laughing! Talk about waking up on the RIGHT side of the bed! It was so refreshing.

I LOVE to laugh. I LOVE to hear other people laugh. In middle school my friends ribbed me because when I laughed I would do so with my mouth wide open and suck in air. The only sound was when I breathed in and it sounded like a grating hiccup. You know the kind. Hard to describe in words, but it was AWFUL. Every once in awhile a snort would sneak out. People would stop and just stare at me. I literally had to retrain myself to laugh silently.

In college, one of my favorite sounds was when a friend, Margaret Harritt, laughed. It was like a machine gun firing out giggles. It sounded like peals of laughter in fast forward - they came out so fast that it was just HILARIOUS. If you ever meet this girl, you must tickle her (just don't tell her Lindsay Tyner said so)or tell her a joke so you can hear this.

Most of my friends know that my favorite thing to fall asleep to is America's Funniest Home Videos. I know some of those things hurt those folks, but I just can't help myself. My Dad and I will watch and afterwards my stomach will just ache from the laughing.

I'm going to go ahead and apologize.

I could seriously hurt your feelings here.

If you fall down...I WILL LAUGH.

Ya'll, I CANNOT HELP MYSELF. Hopefully, shortly thereafter I will ask if you're okay and help you up, but my first reflex is to giggle. It happened when my grandma fell! I felt awful, but it just slips out. When Robyn came to visit me in Florence once, she was literally running into my apartment as fast as she could when she tripped over her feet and face-planted into my apartment. It was GREAT! One of the greatest stumbles in recent history was when my friend Brandon Greene (who was home on a short vacation from his AirForce job in Germany) was walking backwards and fell into a planter. Legs akimbo, butt in the dirt, arms flailing in the air...I snicker just picturing it again. His pride was obviously wounded, but I could not stop laughing! If I ever fall, I will probably laugh at myself, so you can, too, and don't feel bad.

The Bible says, "He will fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy!" Job 8:21 What an awesome God! He loves it when we laugh and are filled with joy! I don't know about you, but to me, laughter can be like medicine. It's as good as any anti-depressant. So, if you have nightmares, pray for 'sweet sleep,' and maybe the Lord will wake you up with laughter like He did me. If you're having a bad day...these are some things that always make me laugh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMHaiMzgCNA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aemXgP-2xyg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IytNBm8WA1c

It's all fun and games 'til someone gets hurt...then it's hilarious! :)