Where is the line?

May we all remember the true meaning of Christmas.

This song does a great job of reminding us.

About the Song

While at the mall a couple of years ago, a four year old named Spencer, saw kids lined up to see Santa Claus. Having been taught as a toddler that Christmas is the holiday that Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, he asked his mom, "where's the line to see Jesus"?

His grandfather upon hearing the news immediately became inspired and jotted words down to a song in just a few minutes. After putting music to the words, and doing a quick recording at home, he received a great response from friends. He sent the song off to Nashville without much response, except for a Christian song writer who suggested adding a bridge at the end of the first chorus. My dad then asked if I wanted to record the song to see what we could do with it. I listened to the song, made a few changes to the words to make it flow better, and we headed to Shock City Studios.

It was at the studio where Chris, owner and producer, rewrote the 2nd verse and part of the chorus... with goose bumps and emotions high, we were all hopeful and felt like we had something special. The demo was recorded in just under 2 hours and sent off again to Nashville... still no response.

Then 2 weeks before Christmas last year, my cousins Greg and Robbie decided to do a video to see what we could accomplish on YouTube. The first day we had 3000 hits and it soared from there. We received e-mails, phone calls, Facebook messages from people all over asking for the music, CD's, iTunes, anything... we had nothing. After a couple of meetings with Chris following the amazing response, we got serious. We headed back into the studio this past spring... this time with guitars, drums, bass, pianos, choirs... the real deal.... and here we are today.

Getting iTunes set up, a website put together, and loving that thousands upon thousands of Christians have come together... remembering the true meaning of Christmas. Out of the mouths of babes come profound truths that many adults can not understand. Hopefully Spencer's observation will cause people all over to reflect on the love of Jesus, and that one day we will all stand in line to see Him. We are most thankful to our Heavenly Father to have this chance to share our music with you. Merry Christmas everyone.

Christmas time was approaching
Snow was starting to fall
Shoppers choosing their presents
People filling the mall

Children waiting for Santa
With excitement and glee
A little boy tugged my sweater
Looked up and asked me

Where's the line to see Jesus?
Is He here at the store?
If Christmas time is His birthday
Why don't we see Him more?

As I stood in amazement
At this message profound
I looked down to thank him
He was no where around

The little boy at the mall
Might as well have had wings
As the tears filled my eyes
Thought I heard him sing

Where's the line to see Jesus?
Is He here at the store?
If Christmas time is His birthday
Why don't we see Him more?

Where's the line to see Jesus?
He was born for me
Santa Claus brought me presents
But Christ gave His life for me

In the blink of an eye
At the sound of His trump
We'll all stand in line at His throne
Every knee shall bow down
Every tongue will confess
That Jesus Christ is Lord

Doxology

Tonight, I sat and listened to Kay Arthur teaching from:

Ephesians Chapter 5:18-21
18 And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit;
19 speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
20 giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;
21 subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ.

We are given a command from the Lord to be filled with the Spirit, speaking in psalms, hymns, and songs.

Over three hundred years ago - WOW! - THOMAS KEN wrote this hymn at a time when the established church believed only Scripture should be sung as hymns - with an emphasis on the Psalms. Some considered it sinful to write new lyrics for church music. Ken wrote this and several other hymns for the boys at Winchester College in 1674, with strict instructions that they use them only in their rooms for private devotions. The last stanza "below" has come into widespread use as the Doxology.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav'nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

its never about...

It is never about where you go SERVE ... just go !!!
It is never about how much you GIVE ... just give !!!
It is never about how you LOVE ... just love !!!
It is never about the kind of TALENT you have ... just use your talent !!!
It is never about ONE people group ... it is about all God's children !!!

The serving, giving, loving, using your talent, or helping people is ALWAYS ABOUT YOUR HEART! GOD measures our hearts and how we use all HE has given us to the glory of HIS KINGDOM !!!

God is Perfect & Amazing

Fascinating, I've never given most of this a thought!!!!

God's accuracy may be observed in the hatching of eggs!

-the eggs of the potato bug hatch in 7 days;

-those of the canary in 14 days;

-those of the barnyard hen in 21 days;

-the eggs of ducks and geese hatch in 28 days;

-those of the mallard in 35 days;

-the eggs of the parrot and the ostrich hatch in 42 days

The numbers are all divisible by seven - the number of days in a week - Perfect

God's wisdom and perfection is seen in the making of an elephant!

-the four legs of this great beast all bend forward in the same direction;

-God planned a huge body, too large to live on two legs;

-He gave it four fulcrums so that it can rise from the ground easily.

The horse rises from the ground on its two front legs first.
A cow rises from the ground with its two hind legs first.

How wise the Lord is in all His works of creation!

God's wisdom is revealed in His arrangement of sections, segments & grains!

-each watermelon has an even number of stripes on the rind;

-each orange has an even number of segments;

-each ear of corn has an even number of rows;

-each stalk of wheat has an even number of grains;

-the waves of the sea roll on shore twenty-six to the minute in all kinds of weather;

-all grains are found in even numbers on the stalks;

and

-the Lord specified thirty fold, sixty fold and a hundred fold - all even numbers.

-God caused the flowers to blossom at certain specified times during the day;

The lives of each of you are ordered by the Lord in a beautiful way for His glory,

if you will only entrust Him with your life.

Only the One Who made the brain and the heart can successfully guide them.

Mitchell Family Bible Verse

deuteronomy 6:4-9

4 The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!

5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.

7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Do you have a family verse to teach to your children and grandchildren!

realization of time

Never look down on anybody, unless you're helping them up.

To realize the value of a sister/brother

Ask someone who doesn't have one

To realize the value of ten years

Ask a newly divorced couple

To realize the value of four years

Ask a graduate

To realize the value of nine months

Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn

To realize the value of one year

Ask a student who failed a final exam

To realize the value of one month:

Ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby

To realize the value of one minute

Ask a person who has missed the train, bus or plane

To realize the value of one second

Ask the person who survived an accident

To realize the value of a friend or family

Lose one

Time waits for no one

Treasure every breathe you take John 15:13 –

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends

~~author unknown~~

more important than furniture

Recently, I read some words (literally, just six words) from Keith Thompson, veteran foster parent, that sounded very familiar. Here's what he said:

"Children are more important than furniture."

I know this is not some huge, earth shattering truth. It's something that should have been pretty obvious to me already. But I'm sinful, and I'm fallen. And I admit it... We worked hard for our stuff and I like to take care of my stuff. And I want my stuff treated with respect and care.

If there is one area where I struggled with my new life as a global houseparent to twentysomethings -- this is it. I try not to care about my stuff -- my furniture, my house, my car, my things ... but my wicked little heart wants to fight for all of it.

Sure, I can lie to myself and slap a pretty Christian title on this love-of-stuff. Sometimes I call it "good stewardship." You know -- we take care of our stuff because God gave us our stuff and He wants us to be good stewards of the things He entrusts to us. And there is some good, biblical truth to this idea of stewardship... but stewardship should never come at all costs. It definitely shouldn't come at the cost of another's heart or spirit. Because children (Birthed, Adopted, Grandchildren, African, African-American, Ethiopian) are more important than things. Period.

I should back up and explain that before we became Houseparents, people told us to beware of all this. They told us to batten down the hatches in our home. To prepare for every thing in our house to be broken, cracked, stolen or destroyed. We have always responded, we understand, IT ALL belongs to our GOD. I do believe this and try each day to walk through showing and sharing everything in our home, but sometimes it gets the best of me.

We know that God has called us to share life daily and build relationships with those who were not raised with the blessings that I was afforded. But I have to say.........They weren't just kidding.

Logically, it makes perfect sense -- I mean why would a child/person who has never purchased or owned any personal possessions know how to care for things? Why would a child/person who is accustomed to living in day-to-day survival mode for food and other necessities suddenly grasp this crazy western concept of stewardship?

Over the last two years---I'll give you a glimpse. Knobs have been literally ripped off the cabinets, A fist has cracked and destroyed the soap pump on the cast iron sink. A whack to the wall has sent a glass gift from Rome sailing into pieces. A daisy yellow -cutesy fabric rocker now adorns black food stained arms. Ants now march through our bedrooms and mice hide under our refrigerator. Our washing machine has not stopped running like the energizer bunny. Four tires have been flat spotted and one car's undercarriage destroyed. Grease circles now reside on my high back chairs where their sweet black heads rested while playing wii. This list could go on and on, but I'll spare you the details. Almost all of this destruction is purely innocent -- it happens out of curiosity and honest ignorance. But it happens. A lot.

Everytime one of my boys displays one of these acts of "sinful and careless stewardship," I am tempted to display one of my own acts of sinful and careless anger. I am often tempted to scream "WHY would you do such a thing? How could you possibly think this was ok??"

And the Lord speaks to my heart and reminds me that I know perfectly well why they would do these things... They are broken and hurt and they've never had stuff before so they don't know how to take care of it. And frankly, it's just stuff.

For so many reasons, I am thankful to live a life that daily lends itself to these struggles. Each day I must intentionally choose... what's really important to me?

"For where your treasure lies, there your heart will be also." -- Matt 6:21, NIV

join in

I am humbled each day as I realize that we are all a part of what our God is doing in the world. He is the GoD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The same God who parted the Red Sea, the same God who fed millions of people with manna from heaven, the same God who gave water from the rock, the same God who spoke this world into existence.

When we join God in His work, it is a guaranteed victory! It should cause us to put aside the trivial and live, not for this world, but for the world to come. It should cause us to spend our lives being obedient to Christ's command by taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Share the Gospel.....
by showing compassion to others
by building a relationship outside your box
by feeding the hungry
by giving clothes to those without
"whatever you did for the least of these brothers you did for Me! Many people are impoverished beyond our understanding, living in conditions that we are not able to comprehend, eating items we would not call food.

Share Jesus and your LIFE! with someone....anyone.....TODAY!

fight for your marriage

Many of you know our story. It was stressful to live, stressful to tell. But with great pain, there is an opportunity for great healing. And with healing there is testimony.

Through the process of nearly losing my marriage, I learned to fight for it.

With my 18 year marriage dangling by a thread, both of us broken, angry, afraid, not communicating, and many other adjectives that would require more processing, I remember declaring that I would not give up easily. I threw out all my preconceived ideas about marriage counseling, not having enough money in savings to afford “help” and I went to battle, not against my husband, but praying for him and for God to "change ME Lord".

The very fall of man, put husbands and wives at odds with each other. Marriage is not easy. At it’s best, it’s difficult. No bed of roses and the warm and fuzzy lasts a short period of time. But don’t be fooled: Satan wants your marriage to fail. He is a vicious opponent without mercy. If you won’t fight for your marriage, he will. I believe every marriage is worth fighting for and while some have Biblical reasons for divorce, I still believe God can rescue every marriage-
IF- there are two willing people and sadly, that’s often not the case.

But if you are married-whatever condition your marriage may be in today-you need to fight for it.

How to really fight: [there are so many ways you can do this, here's what has helped me]:

Ask hard questions-Is there intimacy in our marriage? Are there secrets? Are your expectations to high? Are you following God's design for marriage-and fulfilling your part of the design? Are you demanding? Does God come first and then your spouse or are your children given rank over your spouse?

Prepare yourself for unexpected answers-don’t rule out counseling. It’s not just for broken marriages, it can truly make your marriage better, especially Christian Counselors.

Trust -Believe in your spouse. Choose to trust. It is earned but Satan will temp you to read between the lines of truth.

Pray-simply said, hardly done. Pray for your marriage and your mate. If you need some direction - Stormie O'Martian's Power of a Praying Wife / Power of a Praying Husband it absolute Great!

Eliminate distractions-turn off cable if it’s unhealthy, throw out edgy movies, only accept purity in your marriage.

Don’t condemn-this only causes strife.

Submit your marriage and your life to God. We have found the closer we are to God, the closer we are to each other.

Forgive-some things seem unforgivable. But in the end, we must forgive. (This doesn’t mean we have to continue to live in abusive, dangerous or unfaithful marriages), but grudges have to go.

Let your husband lead your home, submit to him on the big stuff. If you doubt him, pray that God will speak to him.

If you have an unbelieving husband, practice I Cor. 7.

Our marriage is not perfect and it never will be, but it’s real and it’s good and it will last.

secret or not?

Desiring God Blog Post .... talked about a question that Rick and I have discussed many times over the past few years..... To tell or NOT to tell.... To share or NOT to Share......

Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16 ESV)

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:3-4 ESV)

A friend recently posed these two verses to me and asked, “So when do you tell others about your good deeds and when do you not?”

It’s a good question.

I believe the contexts of these verses give us the clues. Jesus is addressing the two-sided coin of human pride.

In Matthew 5:16, Jesus is addressing our fear of man. The context is that we are blessed when reviled and persecuted (v.11). The good works Jesus has in mind here are the kind that the prophets did (v.12). They testified to God’s word openly. In other words, don't be ashamed of the gospel (Romans 1:16) or any acts of love that testify to it, even when the threat of persecution is present.

In Matthew 6:3, Jesus is addressing our selfish ambition. The context is people (in this case, the rich) who were marketing their acts of charity to enhance their personal brand. In other words, they were seeking human admiration. That's not love of God or the poor. It's self-worship.

So a rule of thumb in shining and hiding: good works we are tempted to hide for fear of man’s disapproval are likely ones we should let shine. Good works we are tempted to do publicly for man’s approval are likely ones to keep secret. Both kinds of good works encourage humility and kill pride.