It's That Time...

So we have a tradition at our house, my cousin and her husband come over on Thanksgiving night and we watch "Christmas Vacation." We have done this for so many years I have lost count. For us it's a great way to get in to the Christmas mood! We took this picture while on vacation in North Carolina this past June, my aunt bought us matching shirts to wear during our viewing of the movie. This tradition also extends into the summer because we watch this same movie on the 4th of July, I think it was hot one year and wanted a "cool" movie and we picked this one!

So what are your traditions? And how did they start, if you even remember! Traditions are fun things and make great memories for those involved!

A Quote for the Day

Life isn't a matter of milestones, but moments. -Rose Kennedy

A Long Way From Chicago

The kids just finished a week-end full of productions. They are part of the Center Stage Drama group. We (I get to help out with the drama group) have been working on a play this fall that was taken from Richard Peck's book, "A Long Way From Chicago." Richard Peck's books are wonderful, they are written for older kids through teen and are absolutely hilarious! A great family read! Our favorite is "The Teacher's Funeral."

Pictured are Joey, Mrs. Effie Wilcox, Mrs. Wiedenbach's father (that was his actual name in the play), and Mr. Cowgill. The story of the play centers around a brother and sister from the 1930's, who visit their grandmother every summer and always seem to get involved in her crazy antics. They learn an awful lot about her as she is a tough old lady on the outside but tender on the inside. The whole group did a wonderful job!

Way to break a leg!

Are You Missin' The Good Stuff?

It's starting already! It's hard to believe that we are moving into the Christmas season! What happened? Not along ago the kids were in the pool; now it's closed and all covered with fallen leaves. Walk into any store and you are bombarded with Christmas decorations and music! Did I miss Thanksgiving? I don't remember making the turkey! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, and everyone has jumped past it and moved on! Have we become a society that wants to forget about being thankful and move on to the "getting" of what Christmas has become?

Are we wishing our lives away? As the "great philosopher" Bon Jovi once sang, "Life is just what happened, while we were busy making plans." Are we so busy making our plans that we are missing life? I hope not! It seems like we are always looking ahead and missin' all the wonderful stuff that's right in front of us: watchin' the kids throw the football with dad, the boys working on plays to beat dad, grandpa and uncle at the annual Turkey Bowl game, making gingerbread houses with mom, realizing that the kids now "get" sarcastic humor (and are now using it), watching the kids form their own opinions about things and how they articulate those opinions (we've heard a lot about politics lately from our political analyst, love that she has taken an interest in such things), and there's many more.

I guess what I'm trying to say is. . . this Christmas season, or better yet the entire year, while we must plan for things, let's also be thankful for what we have right in front of us and not get so far ahead of ourselves that we miss the good stuff!

How Do You See It?

What's your prescription? What's your view? How do you see it? The world, that is! I'm talking about your worldview! It's how you see the world, your most basic beliefs that color everything you see in life and how you act because of them.

But where do they come from you might ask? Well, one illustration I read said that we get our worldview the same way we catch a cold...from those around us. How do those around us influence our view? We are a very persuasive people and very tolerant! We don't want to offend anyone, so we allow them to make choices that go against what we know is right saying nothing, and after a while we can start to believe it's ok too. So what's the "Vitamin C" to ward off this cold? It's God's Word! We need to be digging deep into His Word and when we see something that goes against it, we will know it's an impostor and put our guard up to protect our thinking. But it doesn't stop there...we must be willing to be "contagious." We must speak the truth with love. When we as Christians do not speak up, our light becomes dim; this world is awfully dark and we must be a beacon of light in this darkness.

So why am I telling you all of this? While I know that worldview has become a bit of a "buzz" word recently, it is a very important topic. Only 10% of professing Christians have a Biblical worldview! Are you shocked? Do you need a new prescription?

We are teaching our children Biblical Worldview or more simply, how to THINK Biblically. You can not teach something without first learning it yourself, and I am learning a lot right now, so you will be getting what's on my heart and what I personally am learning! It's not always comfortable but I won't apologize for what God's Word says. And I do pray that the Holy Spirit might use the words of this blog to stretch you and make your light shine brighter!

Romans 12:2 "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." (NLT)

And We're Off...

So this is a totally new experience for me, sharing my thoughts with anyone who cares to know them!

The title that I have chosen for the blog is taken from 1 Timothy 6:20-21, "...guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith." This is one of those verses that keeps coming to mind. God has given us so many things with which we need to be faithful--our relationships, His Word, our minds, our children, I could go on.

Our world, now more than ever it seems, has so many contrary views vying for our attention, it is so easy to be swept away by "godless chatter" and "opposing ideas" of what our culture thinks is knowledge or truth. If we are not thinking Biblically, we are in danger of wandering.

Ahhh, thinking Biblically, now that's a topic for discussion. And I promise that I will visit that exact topic along the way.

Thanks for visiting!