How my daughter met Duke Ellington

You may have missed it but yesterday was World Book Night. Who knew?!? I love books and getting to share them with my children. Recently, I had the chance to share a very special book with my daughter.

As I am prone to do when we stop by the library, I pick books to read to her that often times are of interest to me as well. And so it was when I checked out "Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite."

Now the cool thing was my 8-year-old daughter didn't know who Duke Ellington was. So not only did I get to read a really cool book to her, but I also got the chance to introduce my daughter to jazz. And on top of that I learned something about Duke Ellington that he didn't know before.....he wrote a jazz version of the Nutcracker Suite. Many people are familiar with this Christmas classic.

Thanks to social media, we went online and found a video with Duke Ellington himself directing his orchestra. It was a great experience not only to read the book, but to get to see and hear him, as well as hear the music that we were just reading about.

When we started the video, my daughter asked, "Mama what kind of music is this?" I told her it was jazz. She liked it. So now instead of watching the news every night, while the kids are cleaning the kitchen, we put on some classic jazz or even some smooth jazz, and I have found that they all like it.

And it is a great, peaceful way to bring the night to a close. So read with your kids, and open up unknown worlds to them. It is great feeling as a parent to introduce them to new things that may stay with them the rest of their lives. That is a WOW Moment!

So turn off that TV...and put on a little jazz....or just curl up around a good book....may I suggest one...."Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite."

Abba Father

I almost pinch myself each day thinking of how blessed I am to get to do what I do each day. In my personal life, I get to serve a God who is faithful 100% of the time. And the added bonus is in my vocation I also get to serve Him by sharing His message of reconciliation.

The pinnacle of doing what I do is getting to be a part of leading a child to faith in Christ, helping them to make the most important decision they will ever make in their lives. And the icing on the cake is getting to see that child baptized into the faith, making a public profession of the personal commitment they have made in their hearts.

I had a chance to witness that not long ago, and I just about shouted out of my seat. Not only did I receive the blessing of seeing two children baptized, but the perfect picture of God was painted by the pastor who baptized them.

As I watched him hold these children, I could only imagine what he whispered into their ears as he calmed their fears and reassured them that everything would be okay.

When I am unsure of my place in the world, or fear seems to overtake me, God is there. He is my "Abba, Father." And He does the same thing. He holds me close to let me feel His presence. He whispers reassuring words that bring comfort to my racing heart. He calms me as He prepares to take me to a deeper relationship.

WOW! We serve a mighty God. I am so glad He allows me to abide under the shadow of His wings. May you know His peace and presence today.

Let grace abound

I love my drive to work because it takes me out of the city and into the less urban part of Kentucky. I have the most awesome view and I am grateful for the daily reminder that there is a God and He is wonderfully creative.

On my drive this morning I marveled at the rays of sun filtering through the clouds at just the right angle, and at any moment I was expecting to hear the Hallelujah Chorus. But instead, what I heard was God's still, soft voice prick my heart. You see, the other thing I love about my commute is it gives me quiet time to spend with God.

My heart was heavy as He reminded me that we should be about the ministry of reconciliation. Time is short and we don't have time to waste on things that happened in the past, building up our own agendas or kingdoms, or nursing old wounds. God is calling us to heal. He is calling us to forgive. The only important thing that we do in ministry is to make Christ known.

Second Corinthians 5: 17-21 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."

How can we win anyone to Christ, when we cannot serve in unity within the very group of people that we profess are our family--brothers and sisters in the faith!?

My brothers and my sisters....God implores us that as we have been reconciled to Him, let us be reconciled to one another. I implore you to take one moment and think about your own life. If a Holy God can approach you for reconciliation, how much more should you be willing to give grace to someone else? Can we try that this week? Just to cover each other....to extend an over abundance of grace. Not that they deserve it, but that is what grace is--something we don't deserve. But check this out....God did it first, He set the example. He gaves us grace. Something we don't deserve...that is what God lavishly pours out on us.

But this is the part in that verse that gets me..."as though God Himself were making His appeal through us." Is that a WOW! Moment or what? God wins people through us. They should see Him when they look at us.

So....today...let grace abound!

The Faith of a Child

I LOVE my job! There are so many things running through my head right now, that I will try to contain in all without writing a novel. First, for those who have read my blog for a while, you know that in January 2011, I wrote a blog about a job that I really wanted, but didn't get. I was devastated. Here is the thing about the job, it was a writing position that I really would have loved, but my heart was still in children's ministry and I couldn't see anything on the horizon that God was doing there.

And now, fast forward a year and see what God has done. I'm a children's ministry director. I live and breath this stuff. It is my heart's passion. And yes, I have had to confess my lack of faith to God, and thank Him for always giving me His best even when I nag Him to give me what I want, right now!

So I encourage you with the words that God has spoken to me throughout these 12 months. Trust Him. He is a good Father. He always seeks our good and does what is best for us, even when it may not be the easiest thing for us to deal with.

So every day I walk into work with a Kool-Aid smile, extremely grateful that God allows me to minister to children every day. And here is the super-whipped, double-chocolate frosting with extra sprinkles on top this week....after just 3 weeks on the job, I had the privilege of leading a child to Christ at First Baptist Church. Later yesterday, I had the great privilege of leading my own daughter to Christ as well. And that all capped off a service where at church a six-year old shared how God gave him a story in the wind. "The Lord is telling me not to forget Him." To see Mekai share his story and his song, CLICK HERE. [By the way, this is how I started my day...see the entire sermon CLICK HERE.]

I was struck the whole day by this basic fact--the Gospel message is simple. "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

Let's be about our Father's business. Take every opportunity to share the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit and leave the results to God. AMEN!

When a broken heart brings you joy

I will be starting on Monday as the children's ministry director at First Baptist Winchester. I'm so excited for the opporutunity to personally disciple children on a regular basis. There is a real reason why Jesus tells us "unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven." Matthew 18:3 Children can exemplify the gospel message in such a profound way. Ministering to them challenges me to live a life that pleases God daily. As adults we can learn a lot from the example of the children around us.

I was watching my youngest son one day and he was the perfect example of a contrite heart. Psalm 51:17 tells us, “The greatest sacrifice you want is a broken (contrite) spirit. God, you will gladly accept a heart that is broken (contrite) because of sadness over sin.” This is what I observed.

Our son had not been doing very well in school and we were discussing with him some of his behavior. I could see it on his face before he even said a word.

First, he agreed with us that the things he had been doing were wrong. He understood that those things were not what we expected of him, nor was he bringing honor to God or himself by his actions. For adults that means calling sin sin. Sometimes we try to dress it up to take the sting out. We use euphemisms and compare our actions to choices others have made. We have to learn to agree with God's definition of sin.

Second, I could see the tears forming in his eyes as he thought about the things he had done that day. He was truly sad because of his sin. He was not just trying to get out of punishment. And he readily agreed that he should be punished, but he took responsibility for what he had done, and he put into his own words what things he would try to work on.

This is not the first time I have my son visibly moved by something he has done and he knows in his heart that it is wrong. Our sin already grieves the heart of God. If we think of the abundance of grace He has freely lavished upon us, it should grieve our hearts too.

But here's the good news. God gladly receives us when we are sad because of our sin. He is looking for those who will be broken-hearted by their sin and will come to Him for grace to face another day. When we can own up to what we have done, that is the first step to show God that we are sorry and we want another chance to do better. Then the challenge is trusting Him to empower us to do better. Contrary to popular belief, we do not have it within us to be better, it is God in us that makes that possible.

I love His name....Immanuel...God with us. When you have a contrite heart, God will turn your sorrow into joy. May you know that joy this week.

Hope that does not disappoint

I ended 2011 with a lot of questions to God about the state of my life. Had I really heard His voice when I made certain decisions? What was He trying to teach me in the time that He was clearly telling me to wait?

I was frustrated with God's timing and felt far away from His presence. There were so many areas of my life that were filled with uncertainty and I wasn't sure what God was up to.

Then one day as I was crying out to the Lord, many times literally as well as figuratively, I looked up as I was driving my kids to school and I saw a rainbow....a sign of promise.

I cannot tell you how quickly God's peace came over me. And I was reminded of when we first came to Lexington to visit, to determine if we were going to move our family yet again. On our first morning here, there was a rainbow in the sky. I smiled then taking the promise that Lexington would be a blessing to us. And it has been in many ways.

So as 2012 began, some doors that had seemingly been nailed shut last year began to open slowly and God provided HOPE. This week I have thought a lot about hope and why without it we can become discouraged and begin to despair.

Romans 5:3-6 says, "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love." WOW!

Well, let me tell you, I wasn't doing a lot of rejoicing as the year came to an end. But when I started to think about HOPE, I could more clearly see why God told us not worry. We worry because we have no hope. We worry because we lack the faith that God can handle whatever situation we face. We worry because we can't control the outcome of our circumstances.

Throughout this time God had also been pressing on me the need to trust His work in my life. And I found myself repeatedly praying, "Lord help me to overcome my unbelief." I think many Christians would not like to admit that they too sometimes fall into that category of not totally trusting God. We say it with our mouths, but it is not evident in our actions.

So I am excited about 2012! I'm trusting in God because it truly is a hope that does not disappoint.

[PHOTO]-I was so awed that I ran in the house and grabbed my camera. This is the rainbow I saw that day over our house.

Home for Christmas

I loaded up my kids and made the 8 hour drive to my mom's house to bless her for Christmas. Not just with our presence, considering my grandmother passed in April. But with 10 helpful hands willing to help clean, move, organize, whatever was needed.

First, I had to push through the stuff that had accumulated in the few months since my niece and I had just cleaned, moved, and organized back in April. And though my husband had tried to warn me, and my sister had tried to advise me based on her own experience; I just knew I was different. I had a plan.

After my 7-year-old proclaimed that the room we were excavating to find some misplaced thing could be featured on TLC's "Buried Alive," I had no response. But I still had a plan. My son and I spent the day cleaning and organizing the kitchen, putting down shelf paper, and putting things in easy reach. We took an hour break to go eat, and when we returned, we discovered that in that short time, my mom had already started to cover the organized stuff with the clutter of the remaining stuff that we were still organizing. Surfaces and spaces that had just been cleaned, in just 60 minutes, looked like what it had before the hours we spent working on it.

And then came the teachable moment for me! I had come with my own agenda. But when you really want to bless someone, you find a way to meet them where they are and provide what they desire to receive, not what you plan to give. And I'm not talking in terms of money or material possessions. If you're going to bless someone, then do what they want to do, not what you think is best.

I spent the next two days making fruit cakes in the Christmas tradition of my grandmother, learning how to make caramel icing from scratch, and wrapping Christmas gifts for the senior citizens of our home church which we started doing when I was on the children's choir. We had a great time.

And in the end....that was the end goal. It wasn't about me. It was about her. I'm glad we came!