truth in love

All the comments, posts, pics, blogs, etc about Chick-fil-a CEO, Dan Cathy, this past couple of weeks has spurred on this blog.  
Let me start by saying, just in case you don't know, that I am a born again believer in Christ.  He is my LORD, my boss, my everything.  


This week I have seen post after post, comment after comment, about how, because I am a Christian, I am a hypocrite, a bigot, and that I hate gays.  I will readily, and humbly, admit that I have acted in hypocritical ways on several occasions.  Everyone has.  We're human.  It's in our nature.  It's not something I am proud of nor intentionally do.  Ever.
I do not, nor have I ever, hated gays, or any other person.  Not only do I have friends who are gay, my brother-in-law is as well.  I love them all dearly and completely.  
The only thing I hate is sin.  I hate my sin, because I sin on a regular basis.  I hate all sin.  I have to because sin is in opposition to God and if I love God I have to hate all things against Him.  


I am no better than anyone else.  Jake often says, "there are 2 types of people in this world-sinners and sinners- the only difference is one has been forgiven of those sins."  That's the only difference.  Every single person on this planet has sinned.  If you're breathing, then you've sinned.  Young, old and in between.  All of us.
And Christ died for everyone, but not everyone accepts it.  


So often I hear quoted, "Let he who has no sin cast the 1st stone."  However, people neglect to go on with 'the rest of the story' (as Paul Harvey would say).  After the religious leaders dropped their stones and walked away Jesus turned to the prostitute and said, "Go, and sin no more."  He loved her in-spite of her sin, but He didn't say, "continue on with the way you're living..it's all good."  No, He told her to walk away from her life of sin.


Jesus did hang out with "sinners", because He wanted to change them.  In every single encounter with Jesus, people walked away changed.  Prostitutes walked away from prostitution, tax collectors paid back what they had stolen, adulterers left that life. That's what happens when you have an encounter with Jesus.  You will never be the same again.  You may choose to walk away from Him, but the choice is all yours, as are the consequences.  Either way, once you've truly met Jesus, your life will be different.


Something that has rung in my head all week is that we, as followers of Christ, are so afraid of offending people--so afraid that if we speak out against sin, that people are going to call us haters, bigots, close-minded hypocrites--that we are going to wind up "not offending" and "loving" people right into hell.




The thing is, if I truly believe there is a real hell, full of unimaginable torture, if I truly believe that people who haven't turned their lives over to Christ and accepted Him as their Lord and Savior are going to die and spend eternity there, and I don't tell them how to change their destiny, then maybe I don't truly believe it.
Because if I really believe it, I would be shouting it from the rooftops.  I would be telling every person I came across what I believe.
If I believed I had found the cure to cancer but chose not to share it with anyone I would be wrong.  If I saw a multitude of people blinding walking toward a huge cliff and said nothing, I would be wrong.
How much more so should I share the only way to avoid an eternity--something we can't even comprehend--of burning agony, of unending pain and torture.  Why wouldn't I share that?


I am commanded to speak the truth in love.  And it is because I love--not hate--that I share Christ.  If I hated, then I would say nothing at all.

It amazes me still to this day how great, how marvelous, how wonderful my God is.  On one hand I think, "Why does this surprise me?", on the other hand I think, "His wonders never cease to amaze me".  

What amazes me most, I think, is that the Creator of the entire universe, and any others that may exist, stills cares about insignificant me!  The God who has existed from eternity past into eternity future sees me, sees you!  If that doesn't give you chills, well, I don't know what to tell you.

Just in the past week I've been concerned about something.  Concerned nothing, I was out-right worried and stressed.  Yes, I realize we are not to worry.  Yes, I realize God is in control and works everything to His good for those who love Him.  Yes, I realize I was not fully trusting in Him because of my worrying.  But, alas, I am human and I tend to do things I'm not supposed to do, even when I know better.

What I was "concerned" about doesn't really matter for this post.  The point was, I was worried.  I had mentioned it to Jake and perhaps one or two friends, but I hadn't even prayed about it yet.

(Again, I know I need to take all things to God in prayer.  I just hadn't gotten that far in my worrying and thinking process yet.  I would have gotten to that, eventually.)

The really cool thing is, even though I didn't respond in the appropriate way, I didn't give it over to God, or even acknowledge the problem to Him yet, He heard me and answered.
It reminds me of a time in Exodus where the Israelites were groaning because they were in slavery.  It doesn't say they were crying out to God, or even acknowledging Him, it just says they were groaning.  But is says God heard them and was concerned about them.  I love that!  They didn't have the appropriate response, they were caught up in their own self-pity, but God heard them anyway and took care of them.

He did that for me as well.

He heard me in my 'groaning' and had concern for me.  He answered my prayer before I even asked it.

He is  El Roi, the LORD Who Sees!  But He goes further, He is Jehovah Jireh, the LORD Will Provide! He saw my concern, my stress, my groaning, He had pity on me and He provided!  He didn't have to, He didn't owe it to me, I didn't deserve it, but He did it anyway.  My God is so completely awesome!

It wasn't aliens....

Okay, so this post is going to seem a little strange to most people.  You may think I've gone around the loony bend, never to return.  And that's okay.  I'll risk forever being labeled as a loony to get this across.  God has laid something on my heart, urging me to act upon it, and I can ignore Him no longer.

Our small group at church has been studying the book of Revelation.  I've studied it several times before, but never with such interest and fascination, comparing it to the current world around me.

It is amazing, seeing prophecies play out in front of my very eyes.  Some people would say this is a scary time we live in, and I agree that it could be...But not for me!  I'm excited, amazed, expectant!

However, in light of everything happening in the world, it has been pressed upon my heart to write this blog.  It may never come to pass in our lifetime, but if it does, I don't want to leave anyone guessing.

You see, the Bible says there will come a time when Jesus will return for His people, those who have given their lives to Him.  It will happen "in the twinkling of an eye".  No one knows the day or hour, but it will happen.  Luke tells us,  ^"34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. ³⁵ Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left."
When Jesus returns for His bride, it will be in an instant.  Those who belong to Christ will immediately disappear.  There will be no warning.  

People will try to explain it away.  Aliens.  Nuclear fallout.  Spontaneous combustion.  These and many more will be discussed.  Complete chaos will ensue as people all over the world try to figure out what happened to their loved ones, their friends, their neighbors.

Now, it is my ultimate prayer that those reading this who do not already know Christ as their personal Lord and boss would seek Him immediately.  However, I know for many that just won't happen.  That is why I feel the need for this post.  

If the "rapture" (when Christ returns for those belonging to Him) happens in my lifetime, I will be gone, instantaneously.  Most of my extended family will be as well.  My husband and children will be gone, because they have accepted Christ's forgiveness, they have acknowledged Him as the only begotten Son of God, but not only that, God Himself.  John 1 tells us,  ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  ¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  Jesus IS God!  He is part of the Holy Trinity.

If someday my family and I suddenly disappear, we were not abducted by aliens.  We did not spontaneously combust.  We heard the trumpet of the LORD and were called into the air to meet our Savior.

There is hope, however, for those left behind.  You have a second chance.  You may still call on the name of the LORD.  
God wants NO ONE to perish!  2 Peter 3 says,  ⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
It is the desire of God that everyone would come to Him and accept His gift of grace.  However, He is a gentleman, and He did not create robots.  The decision is ours alone.  We must chose to accept the gift.  Those who chose to ignore it will be eternally separated from God.  Those who accept His forgiveness can never lose this precious gift.

I feel an urgency in sharing this.  Whether Jesus returns tomorrow, in 10 years, or after I'm already dead, I still feel the need to share this with you.
If I had the for-sure cure for cancer and kept it to myself that would be wrong.  Well, I have the for-sure cure for something far worse than cancer:  Eternal damnation.  The answer is Jesus.  He alone can rescue you.  He is the only way to heaven.  Call me closed minded.  Say I have a crutch.  That's okay.  I'll risk that in order to have the opportunity to share with you something that will change not only your life, but your eternity.

I pray for those reading this.  I pray the words are not mine but that I am only a vessel used of the Holy Spirit to speak truth.  There are so many in my life for whom I have an overwhelming burden.  If you truly seek Him, Jesus will reveal Himself to you.
 

My Daddy is 5 today

My daddy, Douglas Haynie, turned 5 today.  Yes, you read that correctly.  If he were still here on earth he would actually be turning 73 week after next, but he's not.  He's in Heaven.  5 years ago today.
It's become tradition for me to write about my daddy on this day each year.  I wouldn't be the person I am today without him.  He impacted everyone with whom he came into contact.  He had his faults, but he really was a great daddy, husband, friend...man.
There's not a day of the year that goes by that I'm not thinking about him, wishing he were still here, wanting to talk to him, but that wasn't my decision.  Ultimately, he had finished what God had put him in this world to do and he was taken home.


My daddy's home wasn't this earth, after all.  It was just a temporary place of residence.  A "rental", so to speak.  The reason for that is not because of anything daddy did.  If being a good daddy could get you to Heaven, he would have been 1st on the list.  If helping those in need could have gotten him there, it would have.  If going to church, tithing, supporting the building program, being a deacon, a Sunday School teacher, a church planter could get you to Heaven, he'd be there because of all of that.  But it doesn't.
Nothing my daddy did earned him the right to be in Heaven.  Nothing I do while I'm here on earth can earn me that right.  Nothing you do can either.  It's not what you do....

It's Who you know.  See, as a boy my daddy accepted Jesus as his personal savior.  He recognized he was a sinner (which we all are) and he needed forgiveness of those sins.  Not only that, but he needed someone to take the punishment for those sins for him.  See, there is a consequence for sin.  It's death.  Not just physical death, which we will all experience, but spiritual death.  Eternal separation from God in a real Hell.  He cried out to Jesus to take his place.  And He did!  The Bible tells us that, "everyone who calls on His name will be saved!"  He died for EVERYONE, not just those who have accepted Him or will accept Him.  Even if you choose to never accept His forgiveness, He still died for you.  The balls in our court now.  What will we do with that forgiveness?  Accept it, or throw it away?

We have plans for ourselves. Goals. We have a timetable we want to live by. I want to go to college, then I want to get married and have kids, I want to have a career...or what ever....
The thing is, God's plans, God's goals, His timetable is so much bigger, so much grander than ours could ever be. By not trusting Him, by trying to fit things into our set of criteria we are limiting God and His desires for our lives. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Does that mean we won't go through trials? Won't have pain? NO! Because His ultimate goal is for Him to be glorified, and whatever it takes for that to happen will happen. 

5 years ago today,  February 10, my daddy died. Did I expect to lose a parent so early in life? Absolutely not. Watching him suffer was excruciating. I was a daddy's girl, after all. I had the best daddy in the world! We don't always understand why these things happen. Why they are "allowed" to happen. But you know what? God was glorified through that! My daddy praised God through it all! He shared his faith with those around him by never losing sight of God, never wavering from his faith, never questioning why it had to happen. 
Because he knew he was going to die, daddy planned his funeral. He asked the pastors to use certain verses, to sing certain songs, and above all he wanted the gospel preached. Gospel, after all, just means "Good News". The Good News is Jesus! 
I found out afterwards a stranger walked into the church the day of daddy's funeral. One of the pastors asked him to come sit in the back of the sanctuary with him.  That man in the back, someone I had never met before and will probably never meet this side of heaven, heard the Good News that day. One more soul is saved because my daddy died. Would I have chosen it to happen that way? No. But it did, and for that, I am grateful.

God has huge plans for our lives. He has a will, and it will be carried out. The question is, will we be a part of it or will we miss out on it?


So, Happy 5th Birthday, daddy!  I love you more than mere words can express.  I await the day we are reunited in Heaven!  
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear daddy, happy birthday to you!!!

My daddy and me, Easter, 1982

Daddy, Thanksgiving 2006

With Mother and Daddy, Thanksgiving 2006

Our family, Thanksgiving 2006

It's me again...

Friday the 13th has always been one of my favorite days.  I know, I know, most people think of superstitions or bad luck, or whatever...But I've always loved this day.  Maybe it's because I was born on the 13th and always loved when it fell on a Friday.  It somehow made it more special to me.  I remember one year, as a very young teenager, my birthday fell on Friday the 13th.  My parents let me have 13 girlfriends spend the night (I'm a parent now...having that many girls sleepover in itself is a nightmare) and my dad rented every "Friday the 13th" movie out at the time (5 or 6 of them, I think).  We stayed up all night eating snacks and cake and watching those horrendous movies.  My brother happened to be visiting that weekend and reeked all sorts of havoc, sneaking in and scaring the living daylights out of us.  Good times, good times!


I know that's totally random, but it came to mind as I was looking at today's date.  It's funny the things we remember as we look back over the years.  Things that seemed so small at the time become the things we cling to later.  Those little moments with your parents, sometimes wanting to be somewhere else with friends, you would now give anything to have back.  The years pass by so quickly now.  Ha, remember as a child thinking the school year was NEVER going to end!??!  Remember your mom or dad telling you, "Just wait until you're older..."  Wow.  I mean, wow!  It's 2012!!!  We're getting close to Marty McFly stuff here, do you realize that!?!?  That's just crazy!  (And on that note, where are the flying cars or cool hover boards?  Just wondering?)


Just saying 2012 makes me chuckle and shake my head.  Didn't we just get into 2011?  So my thought right now is cherish the moment.  Don't be so inclined to rush on to the next goal, the next obstacle, the next .....  Those moments with my dad years ago that I would give anything for now, I need to be making those with my kids!  I know there will be times when they don't want to spend time with me, where they choose their friends over their dad and me, where we're not "cool", but someday, hopefully, they will look back and cherish these times. Prayerfully they will look back and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we loved them more than life itself and that our decisions were made for their spiritual, physical and mental well-being.  


But not just our kids, what about friends and family?  We get so caught up in the business that is life that we forget to just stop and relax and laugh and enjoy others.  Vegas is so different from the South.  We hung out with our neighbors, we had neighborhood BBQs, we didn't worry if our kids were going down to the park to play.  Everyone is very reserved here, you come home, go in you house, close the blinds and lock the door behind you.  I felt awkward the other day when I had to go ask a neighbor for an egg...I wouldn't have thought 2ce about that in Rogers (of course we built a house and some of our best friends bought the house next to ours, so that helped...but that's beside the point).  What has happened to community?  It seems so non-existent here.


I've had the pleasure of going to lunch this week with some girlfriends.  It's been so nice to just stop the daily grind and sit and laugh.  I'm a much better person after those times.  I can get away from the never-ending laundry, the dishes, the laundry (oh, wait, I said that already), and just be a person.  I don't want to take those times for granted.  I want to treasure those moments.  I want to cultivate them.  When it's all said and done the laundry will still be there, the dishes will eventually get done, the dust...well, I'm in a desert.  Do I want to be the person who couldn't have people over for fear of what they will think, do I want to not enjoy my kids' youth because "I'll play with you after I'm done doing ......"  


I fear I'm becoming that person.  I don't want to be that person.  I don't want my kids, or my family, or my friends, to ever think I've put them below anything else worldly.  God has called my family to Vegas for a reason.  I say "in everything I do I want Him glorified above all."  But saying that and living it are two totally different things.  If I'm called to "go into all the world and make disciples", if I'm called to be "a light in the world", then I need to be out there, with people, I need to be with my children, guiding them, I need to live my life every day as if Jesus were coming back tomorrow... Unashamed of my faith, unafraid to share His love, unhindered by all the limitations I put on myself.  


People.  Relationships.  That's what matters to Jesus.  If it weren't, He wouldn't have left His throne in Heaven to come to a broken earth to die.  What matters to God should be what matters to me.  


So I know this post is completely random and rambling, but as I set down to write it just seems like this is what decided to come out.  Nothing earth-shattering, not that any of my blogs ever have been, just some off-the-wall thoughts of a possibly insane 30-something in Vegas...  So come on over, let's do lunch, or coffee, or tea, let's chat... Just don't run your finger over the table tops, you'll find dust, and don't look in the sink, there may be dishes.  My kids' toys may be scattered all over, and there's an extremely good chance there's a mountain of laundry needing to be done, but that's okay, because my resolve this year is to make my relationships a priority.  

It's been forever

I used to be so good at keeping this thing updated, I don't know what happened.
I can't believe we're already into November!  Where did the year go!?!  
I began my yearly "month of thankfulness" on Facebook yesterday.  As I'm doing I think, "Why is this just a once-a-year thing?" I said it today on FB and I'll say it again, I am so thankful God's faithfulness to me is not reliant on my faithfulness to Him.


Speaking of being grateful, I am really excited to see the fruition of a long-time dream;  I have started my own photography business.  I had my first official session a couple of weeks ago and have had several other sessions scheduled because of that one.  It feels SO amazing to be doing something that I absolutely love!  I know there is much to learn and things I will continue to develop with time, but getting here is awesome!   My website is a real work-in-progress, but it's up and running.


Halloween was good.  The kids' school parties were fun (Though helping prepare for and execute 2 parties was exhausting).  We went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with some friends and everyone really raked in the candy.

JD and BFF, Cade

We're really fortunate JD has made some really good friends with families we love and trust.  I always remember growing up it seemed like all the "cute boys" were friends...maybe it's just inherent because JD has 3-4 best friends and the group of them are some of the "cutest" boys in the school, lol.  Poor girls, they don't stand a chance!

Jungle Soldier

My handsome soldier

Cora and Hailey

 Cora was Wicked Witch of the EAST...Pre-house-dropped-on-my-head phase ;)

My beautiful Wicked Witch

My Wicked Witch and Soldier

Our Trick-or-Treating Group

My sweet little boy

Last night as I was going into the kids' rooms to tell them goodnight JD reached for me and said, "I need love."  I hesitated only a second, thinking of the things I needed to do.  I quickly came to my senses.  He won't ask for "love" forever, probably not even for much longer, so I pushed my busy mind aside and crawled into bed beside him.
As I lay there I started thinking of how his birthday is Tuesday.  He will be 10.  10 years old!  Double-digits!  Where did a decade go!?!?  As we cuddled I started mulling over a blog.  I would start very similarly to what I did here...I would talk about the 42 hours of labor, the c-section, seeing him for the 1st time...I would muse over my sweet boy, how fast he's growing up, what a great person he is turning out to be...you know, the usual "bragging mom" stuff.  I lay there pondering and then I was interrupted because he stole my phone.  As I tried tickling him to get it back he started yelling something, but I couldn't understand him because his face was buried in his pillow. And then it happened---He pooted.  Loudly.  Right on me!  He proceeded to laugh hysterically and say, "I tried to warn you!".

Yep, he may still be my sweet little boy, but he is definitely his father's son!