Caps and Gowns not Required!

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.”

1 Corinthians 13:12

We are great, we are fun, and we’re the class of ’81!

Cheesy, yes. But thirty-one years ago, it was a cool thing to yell.

Back then, I walked across a stage and accepted a diploma as a member of the Van Horn High School class of 1981. I believe we were 35 strong. Yesterday, I watched as my nephew Hunter walked across a stage in the middle of a football field. He comes from a class of 378.

Vast are the differences between the two experiences, but similarities exist, too. A group of eighteen-year-olds who don’t really know what they want in life celebrate a milestone, sit through endless speakers and restlessly tap their feet to leave and attend parties.

The songs the seniors performed today inspired me as did the student speakers. Two did a tag team speech in which they talked about how the four years had changed them. Both started high school in difficult health and family situations, but yesterday they stood healthy, determined and headed for college. I thought of Hunter who battles diabetes and has not let it stop him from being a football player, wrestler, musician, leader and all around great guy. Yep, I’m a proud aunt.

So as my vivid imagination absorbed the day’s events, I thought, “I wonder how God sees graduations?” I have a feeling that if God showed up in bodily form at a graduation, he’d look like a proud parent, video camera in one hand, tissues in the other. When one of his kids’ names were called, He’d stand up and cheer and pull the trigger on one of those blaring air-horns, so his children know He’s there.

Graduations don’t happen every day for any of us, but milestones in the kingdom of God occur often. A friend of mine is standing up to an abusive ex-husband and guarding her heart. There goes the air-horn! My husband attended a meeting at work yesterday in which someone irritated him to his breaking point. He held his tongue. God claps His hands and whistles! An innocent child, a rebellious teenager and a discouraged adult each bow their heads and whisper, “Help me, God.” The heavens go crazy and God reaches for His camera and the tissues.

I wish you and I could grasp how much the Father cheers for us. Always. Not just in that big moment when we achieve a goal or make a major move in our lives. But also in those instances when we make the choices that define who we are. We take an extra moment to say thank you. We give a little time and effort to someone who needs it. We are alone and decide to forgive instead of build a grudge. Heavenly air-horns go off even if we hear nothing.

Someday I think we will see and hear as we can’t today. Imagine with me: we will each move our tassels from left to right, throw up our worldly caps in the air and celebrate. Oh, what a party that will be! The first one through the crowd to give hugs and congratulate us will be Him…face to face. Woot!! Air-horn!

4 Ways my Dogs Teach me about God!

“But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you;

And the birds of the air, and they will tell you;” Job 12:7

The other day it occurred to me that God, who wants to be a part of every aspect of our lives, gave our dogs Scooby and Thor to us for all sorts of reasons. One of which was to teach us about His character. Sound silly? Read on.

1) God is our number one fan! No matter if I’ve been gone 20 minutes or 3 days, when I walk in the door, Scooby and Thor rush to meet me, greet me and clamber to sit with me. No matter how long we don’t focus on God, He always RUSHES to meet us, greet us and sit with us. I see His unconditional love in my puggle and my chug.

2) God is a patient forgiver. My boy, Noah, often torments our dogs. Now before you jump and think he is destined to be a serial killer (the thought has crossed my mind :0) ) know that Scooby and Thor adore him. He might do something awful and I will yell at him and tell him that the dogs will eventually bite his face off. He then calls one of them and they run to him. Stupid dogs? Maybe. But I see the grace of God in them. No matter how we treat ourselves, each other, or God Himself, He comes when we call. Always. That is GRACE.

3) God senses our hurt and wants to comfort. After I had gall bladder surgery, Scooby sat with me every day on the couch, cuddling with gentleness. A few weeks ago, after I came home from being in the ICU for three days with an intestinal infection, both of my dogs were gentle and loving. Even Thor, who has ADD. :0) John says when we are sick we probably smell like bacon to them. :0) Whatever the reason, their little doggie behavior shows me the heart of God. When we hurt, the Creator of our hearts, the one who knows our pain like no other, wants to curl up with us on the couch and just be.

4) God wants to run free in our lives. Scooby and Thor are happiest when they are off the leash. The other day a bunny came out of a bush in front of Scooby and he lost his little doggie mind, jerking on the leash so hard it broke. I stood there with the handle in my hand and Scooby ran free, the leash trailing him. I caught up with him about 5 minutes later. He looked at me as if to say, “Mom, wasn’t that fun?” Often you and I try to keep God on a leash, putting Him into a box we create out of our comforts or insecurities. Letting God off the leash in your life is the key to freedom and adventure! When Scooby or Thor has the chance to chase the local wildlife, I’m reminded of the freedom God dearly wants for me.

Last week, Thor took my Jesus Calling devotional and chewed the corners off. This has absolutely nothing to do with God’s character. Just ticked me off. :0)

But if I ask our Lord to show me Himself, He does it, even in the most unlikely places.

Like a puggle and a chug.

Today, Let God Treat You!

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;

I have drawn you with unfailing kindness will I draw you to me. “Jeremiah 31:3

“Robbie, let me treat you.” Five of my favorite words! :0)

Don’t you just love it when you are having coffee with someone and they say that? And what a kick it is to be the one surprising your friend. It’s not a huge thing, but the moment always brings me a smile and a little warm-up to the heart just as satisfying as morning coffee.

The other day, a friend of mine surprised me by treating me to a cup of hot ginger peach tea. As I sat to drink it, I felt the Spirit in me whisper, “I am FOR you, Robbie.” It was as if God treated me to the coffee, through my friend.

God wants to treat you and me. He is FOR us and He adores us. Last week I was in a three day funk, surrounded by negative thoughts and a pity party. God treated me to moments of hope and gave me a hand out of the pit I dug for myself.

TODAY, why don’t you and I allow God to treat us! Watch for what happens and see that He loves you, no matter your circumstances or your emotional state. He is FOR you! This morning God put the following words in my heart. For me and I hope and pray, for you.

Let Him Treat You


To a Taste of His Goodness,

To a Cup of Joy.

Let Him Treat You

To Peace during Anxiety,

To a Breath of Life during Smothering Pain.

Let Him Treat You

With Tenderness ‘cause you are Worth it.

With Gentle Humor ‘cause He Loves your Laugh.

Let Him Treat You

As Who You Are,

As Who You’re Meant to Be,

As Who You’re Becoming.

Let Him Treat You with His Infinite, Unconditional and Unrelenting LOVE.

Today, God’s Buying! :0)

Let's Have a Tupperware Party!

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things

will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33

If you come over to my house for dinner, John will cook something scrumptious and I will attempt to entertain you with conversation. That’s our usual M.O. since John creates dishes like a professional chef and I, well, I can talk. :0)

But we won’t ask you to clean up or serve yourself. Probably not because of the reason you think. It’s not to be a servant or because I want to pamper you and make you feel like royalty. I just don’t want you to look in my cupboards.

However, today I’ve put a picture abover of my Tupperware cupboard.
I’ll give you a second to either judge me or relate to me. Tupperware cabinets are pretty polarizing. Either you have it organized like a finely tuned compartment with everything in its place or, it looks like mine – a box of mish-mashed toys, waiting for something to cause it to all fall out.

One of Noah’s chores is to empty out the dishwasher and put everything up. Just by listening I can tell when he is putting up Tupperware. Grunts of frustration and sentences like “You’ve got to be kidding me!” reach my Mom ears as do the noises of plastic hitting the kitchen floor.

Our church’s youth director used a picture of his Tupperware cabinet (it looked like mine) to make an analogy: Don’t our lives sometime look like this?

I relate. We keep putting dishes in of all sizes into our lives without taking the time to sort or organize anything. We don’t throw away the ones that are old or have lost their lids. We just keep shoving in more and more, promising that one day, we’ll clean it up and sort it out. But that day only happens after the cabinet explodes and all our Tupperware falls out.

The parallels are clear. The way I see it, life without direction, without The Director of our Hearts, is a messy Tupperware cabinet.

God is for YOU! He doesn’t want your life to be marked by disorder or destruction, confusion or consumption. God loves us so much He yearns for our hearts to desire Him, first and foremost, and then amazingly everything else falls into place.

When we seek success first, we are jamming a bowl into that cabinet. When we seek busy-ness or fun first, we are trying to fit those two square containers into the large bowl unsuccessfully. Eventually, we reach for that little round container, the one in the center back, and everything falls to the floor.

But when we seek God first, and relax in His arms and purpose for us each day, we find ourselves taking the time to fit in the bowls into the bigger bowls and throw away that silly popsicle thing we never use anymore.

On my list to do TODAY:

1) Seek Him First

2) Maybe actually clean out that cabinet? :0)

Look Around and Cheer, "Go God!"

"You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." Isaiah 55:12

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Luke 19: 38-40

Three rows ahead and to the left. That’s where he sat with his grandson. During worship, he stood holding onto his grandson with one arm, while the other arm rose with a hand lifted up, surrendering to the Father. When he sang, his lips moved ever so slightly, but I could tell every word meant something.

God’s beauty comes in all forms. This past week, I’ve been overwhelmed by it.

My stepdaughter Sarah put up a picture on Facebook of my granddaughter Lucy Ophelia on Easter. She’s hundreds of miles away, and in that moment I felt her on my lap with her smooth nine-month-old skin and sweet smile that communicates the innocence of childhood right along with the gorgeous love of God.

I went to the Botanic Gardens with some of my Bible Study friends. I couldn’t believe the different colors and types of tulips! From flowers that looked like Dr. Seuss drew them, to a purple cactus with yellow buds, the garden displays the creativity, the wonder of God.

At a movie theatre on Friday night, I sat with a group of friends and family and watched Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz. Several times I heard my brother Phil’s full throated raucous laugh that is born of a belly full of Jesus. Beautiful.

John and Noah and I attended a concert in which the Denver Concert band played an eclectic range of songs, including Blue and Green Music by Samuel R. Hazo. That song whisked me away and I imagined myself in heaven, dancing and flying with Christ, my own personal soundtrack in the background.

And finally, the man in church. His white, thin hair reminded me of an old eagle’s feathers. A tuft of it stuck straight up at the top of his forehead. Wire glasses sat low on his nose and the wrinkles on his face told so many stories. Stories I’ll never know. But after watching this beautiful old man worship in church, I know every story was worth it. Each a puzzle piece in a portrait of God’s beauty.

We get busy and forget to look around at the beauty that God has for us. Yesterday I ate two of the best fish tacos I’ve ever eaten at the California Pizza Kitchen here in Denver. Go God! As I write this I’m listening to Forever a secular pop song by Chris Brown. It may not have been written to glorify the Father, but the joy in the music is originated in our God and in His beauty!

Look around! Taste His goodness and hear His joy. Watch for the splendor of the Father in the faces around you. We may not glorify God in all our choices, but His creations cannot help glorifying Him. Praise His Name for His beauty!

In Writing, His Flashlight is more important than a Laptop!

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth… “ John 16:13

“Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” Psalm 25:5

“The Lord will guide you always… “Isaiah 58:11

I’m in a battle in my writing right now. It’s a good thing, challenging me and causing me to think through priorities and motivations. My number one need is discernment.

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, discernment means to comprehend the obscure, or that which is hidden in darkness. Discernment isn’t easy. I asked God to guide me, but when I didn’t get the answer quickly, I asked other writers. Their opinions, all given with great intentions, were varied. Concerning my writing and my novel, I’ve heard:

Write for the Christian Market.
Write for the Secular Market.
Cut out the first 40 pages of your novel.
Write in third person instead of first.
Write in first person present, I love it!
Make your lead character more sympathetic.
I love your lead character, she is so real.
Self publish.
Wait for one of the main publishing houses.
You could be the next Christian Fanny Flagg.
Don’t quit your day job, Robbie. (Well, no one actually said this one.)

Now what I’m supposed to do with my writing seems more obscure than ever.

The answer, as always, is to get back to the basics with Christ.

1) Pray – “God, guide me,” is an excellent prayer.
2) Listen – We live in a noisy world. Get some place quiet, not quiet like the TV is still on in the background, but really quiet and just listen.
3) Believe that He will speak to you. If you don’t know if what you are sensing is God or not, test it against the Scriptures.
4) Wait. Don’t be in a hurry.
5) Walk into His blessings! When He shines His flashlight of discernment and you see the cobblestone path in front of you, don’t over think it. Just go.

What if we choose the “wrong” path? One of the really cool things about God is His grace and mercy which covers us. The choice I make may look wrong because it doesn’t live up to my expectations or someone else’s. We are told to walk by faith, not sight. It won’t always “look” right. But God is sovereign and His grace covers us no matter what road we walk down.

Are you going through a time where you need to make a choice and you just aren’t sure what to do? Getting advice from others is wise, but using discernment by listening to our Lord will bring you to the right choice for YOU. He loves you and me so much. No matter what I write, God is with me, drawing me to Him.

The journey is full of joy.

You Going to the Dance?

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

Each year April begins a little weird for me. My mother and my father both died in April and other relatives have passed this month, too. So when the calendar tells me it’s the fourth month of the year, I cringe a bit. I say to myself, “Who this time?” And then I shake off the superstition and I say a prayer.

Someone else, very special to me, died in April, too. Well, no one knows the specific day or month, but it is this day, Good Friday, when we remember the death of Jesus.

I’ve seen the Passion of the Christ and I’ve heard the sermons where they spare no gruesome detail in describing His torturous death on the cross.

But my heart doesn’t understand. I have no frame of reference to really “get” someone making the ultimate sacrifice for me in such a painful way. He became sin for me???

However, I can take today and say thank you. I can make time to meditate on the crucifixion, bend my knees, raise my hands and offer praise.

Of course, there is a huge difference between my parents’ death and Jesus’. (Besides the obvious humans vs. God thing.) And that, of course, is the resurrection.

Our faith as Christians is not founded on the cross. It is built on the fact that we serve a living, resurrected Christ.

Today I sit quietly and try to comprehend the incomprehensible. I whisper, “Thank you.”

But Sunday, well, Sunday I DANCE! I shake my ample booty (in the name of Jesus, of course :0) ) I kick up my heels, I two-step with John across the kitchen floor and I greet my friends with “He is RISEN! He is Risen, indeed!”

And that party takes the sting out of April and fills me with joy.