15 for 15

My babies are all catching their beauty rest right now, as they should be. It's late and it's sabbath. Time to rest: mind, body, soul. I am still awake and tending the coals of the interwebs since I feel impressed to share the following.

"Fifteen Lessons for Fifteen Years" is a reflection in three parts by Pastor David Asscherick. I could wax on about how moved I have been by God's word through the vessel of Pastor Asscherick's eloquent preaching. How he has perhaps had the most influence on my and my husband's conversion beyond any other pastor. And we've never really met Pastor Asscherick! That is a story for another day, however.

For now, this is a celebration of baptism and of forgetting the darkness in our past and looking to the sun-drenched horizon of our future in Christ.

If you have a moment this weekend to scan these, there is so much wisdom contained within these three posts. Even if you are not a Seventh-day Adventist Christian but have a heart for God's leading in your life or your family, I encourage you to read these. I've been blessed abundantly.

(Link to the first part in the series. You'll find a jump at the end of the linked post to the next parts.)

Achtung, mama

This morning my alarm was a perfume sample giver-outer standing in my path at Macy's. She did not want to be ignored. Wake up. Take the sample. Acknowledge me. Or I will not stop. I acknowledged her. I got up at an hour that rhymes with hix o'flock.

I got up and spent some time in Exodus, chapter 3. God was just hanging out...in some shrubbery...on fire...just having a deep and meaningful with Moses.

God was like the perfume giver-outer. The one who's got something to give does not want to be ignored. Can ya dig it?

***

No one with the exception of Little Man was in a jocund mood this morning. Baby Girl was flexing herself into some petrified scorpion position when we were trying to get her dressed and ready for school. Tears ensued. There was no time to put on my cosmetic face. I believe more tears ensued for my students because of this.

***

Class went well despite a student showing us a propaganda video about how textbooks are for cavepeople and soon every baby will come into the world, his parents having registered for a baby iPad with the Dr. Seuss I Can Read series locked and loaded. Not really but that's what one could project.

***

I hung out with Little Man at the campus cafe while Loverpants attended a networking event. Little Man yelled MAMAMAMAMMMMAMAMAMAM? MAMA? MAMA! MAMAMAMAMAMA! even though I was standing right next to him. One of my students said she admired how whenever she runs into my husband or me, we are always with our children. I explained that this was both intentional and incidental. They are, for better or for worse, very much a part of every fabric of our lives. I appreciated that she recognized this, however, since I spent four years of college reading Steinem and Woolf and thinking that children were a great idea. If you liked having a really lame life. And a purse full of crusty Kleenex.

***

I then got an e-mail from a person who holds our financial future in his pocket and that sent me into a tailspin.

*** I then got angry with my husband because of this e-mail from the person who is not my husband.

I then told my husband that he should leave me alone because I was about to say something really mean.

I then went for a run in the rain.

I then ran up a hill in the rain and rolled my bad ankle and fell on the ground and scraped up my knees.

A woman came running to see if I was ok and offered to drive me home which was so nice.

But I walked down the hill because frankly I like pain and crying and limping and walking downhill in the rain.

*** I am now typing here with a bag of frozen vegetables on my swollen ankle. I think this is where I need to be. I think I have been anxious for nothing lately. I think God really wants my attention right now.

Happy sabbath.

Forgetting Lance

Updated: Armstrong confesses to Oprah Winfrey about history of doping Photo - AFP/Getty Images

The news coming out of The International Cycling Union struck me this morning. I've been following Lance Armstrong's case closely (particularly as I become a "Tour de France widow" every year due to my husband's enthusiasm for cycling). A particular aspect of the story has been so spiritually stirring to me.

Many have called the investigation a waste or a witch hunt as periodic and spontaneous drug tests throughout the tours confirmed that Armstrong and company were in the clear. Yet, the investigation has found systematic deception and thus The Amaury Sport Organization, the company that organizes the Tour de France, "will erase Armstrong’s name from its record books," said today's New York Times.

We talked about this story in Newsreporting this morning and what history will recall about the years 1999-2005. Since Armstrong's victories will be expunged from the record book, there will effectively be no winner. Did you catch that? Because one man chose to involve his team in deception, there are no winners.

Whether or not you believe in a Book of Life that keeps Heaven's rollcall, the news still bears some spiritual application. We can do everything to win the esteem of men, we can rise to the highest ranks of establishments and receive accolades and adulation. But if it is all deception, if it is assisted in part by that which is corrupt or not of God, then our achievements ring hollow. Years of our lives can be as good as erased from the record.

Blessings to you all as you press forward this week--