Happy 18th Birthday, Katie!

How in the world are you 18, Katie?!?!  You have grown up so fast, and we are so very proud of the young woman you have become.  No matter how old you are or how grown up you may be, you will always be our little Katie Boo!  Just remember that you are God's "SPECIAL POSSESSION" (1 Peter 2:9), God's "HANDIWORK" (Ephesians 2:10).  You were created to do "good works, which God prepared in advance for you to do."  We love your big smile and your loud laugh, but more than anything we just love you!  We hope you have an awesome day celebrating 18!  We know that God has awesome plans for you this year and beyond, and we can't wait to see how He will use you in His kingdom.  As Isaiah 26:4 says, "Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal."

Run..with a PLAN, with a PURPOSE!

 

November 6, 1996.  November 6, 2022.  26 years.  26 miles.  This morning, I woke up early for my daily run.  Today's run was called a "tempo" run for one hour.  It was not a random run.  It was a planned run.  It was a purposeful run.  I've always wanted to run a marathon.  I've dreamed about it and talked about it many times for several years now.  Earlier this year, I believe God showed me that it was my time.  On November 6, 1996, our four-month old daughter Hillary passed away from complications of a brain tumor.  As I was signing up to run in another event, I noticed that the Twin City Marathon in West Monroe/Monroe was scheduled for November 6, 2022.  The 26-mile run would take place 26 years to the day after our daughter passed away.  I was stunned at first, and then I realized that it was not just a coincidence; it was perfectly timed and planned.

I have never run a marathon before.  I have run several half-marathons and many 5k races and 10k races but never a marathon.  I had to sit down and think about it.  I had to have help planning and preparing, and, for me, I had to have a purpose.  The purpose was obvious: I will run in remembrance and in honor of our daughter Hillary.  The plan was simple: I will train over a four-month period.  And, Lord willing, I will run my first marathon on November 6, 2022!

As I have been training for a couple of months now, God has shown me and taught me so many things...not just about my body or about my physical running but also about life and His plans and purposes for me.  I love what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.  Paul says, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.  No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."  Just as I have developed physically into a better runner because of the plan and the purpose, I believe as Christ followers we should be growing and developing spiritually into the people God created us to be.  God has had a plan and a purpose for us even before we were born.  God told Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."  I believe God knew us and set us apart, as well.  I believe His plans and purposes for us are just as real for us today and just as available to us today!  Paul says in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."  I don't know what your race looks like in this life, but I do know that you have a path, a race.  RUN!  Run with the PLAN and with the PURPOSE God has given you.  You can know God through prayer and through His Word. You can know the plan and the purpose He has for you through prayer and through His Word.  It will take surrender; it will take belief; and it will take sacrifice.  RUN for the prize God has for you!  RUN for God's glory!

Happy 30th Anniversary, Marty!

I thank God for you, Marty!  I thank God for all the moments we have shared in this life, and there have been so many.  We have been blessed to walk together since we were 14 and 15 years old, and we are still walking together.  Our first date was back in October 1988.  We started calling it official in February 1989.  We were married on August 14, 1992, and we are celebrating our 30th August 14th together!  Wow!  I am thankful for our children, whom God has blessed us to love and to raise together.  I am thankful for you.  You love me deeply and unconditionally.  We are not perfect people, because there are no perfect people.  However, in this life, you are perfectly matched to me by God's great design, and I am so very thankful!  Happy 30th anniversary, Marty!  I love you so very much, and, the Lord willing, I look forward to loving you even more in our future!

 

Love One Another

LOVE ONE ANOTHER.  Those three words are powerful.  Those three words are repeated many times in the Bible.  Those three words are what we need desperately today...in our homes, in our schools, in our workplaces, and in our world!

John uses the phrase, "LOVE ONE ANOTHER," many times in his gospel and in his letters.  In 1 John 3:11, he says, "For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should LOVE ONE ANOTHER."  What kind of love is this?  John explains in 1 John 3:16, by saying, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters."  This is not superficial love; this is unconditional, everlasting, sacrificial love!  It is the love of Jesus.  In 1 John 3:1, John exclaims, "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!"  As children of God, we have the love of God in us!  He lavished us with His love!  It should be overflowing in our words and in our actions toward one another.   He says again in 1 John 4:7, "Dear friends, let us LOVE ONE ANOTHER, for love comes from God."  He says in verse 8, "God is love."  And he says again in 1 John 4:11, "Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to LOVE ONE ANOTHER."

How can we be found guilty of this?  I know that sounds contradictory, but if you were taken to court and a judge had to convict you of LOVING ONE ANOTHER, would there be enough evidence to convict?  Would the words you have spoken to others and would the actions you have taken toward others lead a judge to convict you of LOVING ONE ANOTHER?  That is what I have been thinking about a lot this week.  Am I living God's Word out loud?  Are these three words that I see and hear in John's gospel and letters, "LOVE ONE ANOTHER," a part of my life...in my home, in my school, in my workplace, in my world?  What can I do to be found guilty of LOVING ONE ANOTHER?  I can do what John says in 1 John 4:13-16, when he says, "This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us."  I can LOVE ONE ANOTHER because God is in me, and God is love.  I can know love and rely on God's love as I speak to others and as I serve others.  It's not my love; it's God's love in me, and it is the love I desperately need and the love our world desperately needs!  

Lord, help me today to be a vessel of Your great love...to my home, to my school, to my workplace, to my community, and to my world.  Help me walk in the knowledge and the experience of Your love.  Help me to rely on Your love all day long.  Amen!