Juicy Fruit

Charity

Charity is love, both of God and of one's neighbor. It is our love for God above all things for our own sake and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.

In addition, Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 13, that
Charity is the greatest gift from God.
Charity is about giving of oneself.
When Jesus died on the cross, it wasn't about anything other than Charity.

Joy

Joy is the happiness found in union with the Lord.
As C.S. Lewis described it, it is a glimpse
of the perfect happiness of heaven that leads us to desire heaven.

Peace

Peace refers to dealing justly with the world,
as well as remaining in good conscience before God.

Goodness

Goodness is the tendency to avoid sin and do good.

Generosity

Generosity is an openness to sharing
one's own gifts and goods with others.
It is the opposite of both gluttony and envy.

Gentleness

Gentleness, also known as mildness, is the tendency
to allow provocations to go unanswered.

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
1 Cor 13:4-7

Thanks to Wikipedia for its definition of the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

I wanna be that girl.

Secondhand Solos...

Last night I was going over some songs for the worship leader for our kids cg. We don't have one yet, but we have a prospect. Hopefully God is leading him to our little group. The thing is, he doesn't like to sing. So Court and I said, no problem! We'll totally belt out something if it means we'll have someone to play guitar for our little ones...

As I was going over the songs, picking and choosing age appropriate, fun songs we know, I came across my first adult solo I sang. It's called the Potter's Hand. I was helping with worship in the sunday morning overflow service in the gym. Extremely long story as to how I got roped into that. I had signed up to help as backup, not solos. Moving on...

I remember wearing flats cuz I knew I was going to shake. I'm like a leaf in the wind when I'm scared. I think its part of the reason God being steady is one of my favorite attributes of His. Haha. So silly. Anyways, my parents came to hear me. The music begins very softly, and then I chime in. O gosh. Just typing it takes me back. I remember thinking, ok, God, its just You and me here. I hope You like this, because its a very insufficient offering. (What can I say, my God is worth my best effort.) Deep breath, and sing...

I don't remember what I sounded like. After I was done, everyone chimed in and we sang the song through. I remember my dad being upset. He wanted me to sing the whole song alone, not have everyone else involved... My dad. He thinks I'm beautiful and can do pretty much anything. Thats one of the perks of being a dad I guess. You get to think your children are the most splendid little wonders. Which is fine. I fully believe he's a superhero.

Its very cool that God can have random things show up in your life that spark a memory, a face you love, or some blessing that came out of nowhere...

Storytelling and Solomon...

I help with our kids community group. Here's what I usually do with cg. I help with the crafts or games. Um, I sing during the worship part. Nothing much really. I don't think I'm used much at all. But this week we were going to talk about Solomon.

Every two weeks we have kids community group. We tell a bible story, play a game, color, etc. I help out with the wee little ones. Not babies, the K-2 group. As I was going over the material this week I kept thinking, wow I want to tell this story. I hope I get to tell this story. Do I have the courage to ask if I can tell this story? I don't usually tell the story. But this was different. This was the story of Solomon. I heart him. I love the book of Proverbs so I was itchin' to see if I could talk to the kids about the decision he made.

I asked Courtney if I could be the backup storyteller if our main storyteller doesn't show. We have someone who is a great storyteller. She's animated and excitable and just oozes fun. Court was going to text her that I was going to tell the bible story today. I told her HECK NO DON'T TELL HER! I'll just be backup and if she doesn't show, I'll do it.

Long story short, I got to do the story! I was totally praying through it. For 30 seconds to 4 minutes I'll be talking to those little ones about God. That's a big deal to me. I just kept asking that He talk through me. I mean, I can talk to a rock, but talking to children about God is such a bigger deal to me than shooting the bull with a rock.

So I take a deep breath and start talking to my audience. One boy and one girl. I begin talking about who Solomon's dad is (King David), what part of the bible Solomon's story is in (Old Testament), and then I get into his story. When I told them how he became a king, the little girl told me that kings take care of their people, and have to make decisions that would benefit and protect them. I tell her that is absolutely right, thinking inside, dang, she's spot on on the definition of a king. I then tell them both how he became king when he was just a few years older than they were, how God came to him in a dream and said because of his father's faithfulness He was going to give him whatever he asked for. Solomon didn't pick riches or strength or anything like that. He picked wisdom. And because of his desire to want to do the right thing, God gives him wealth, a large family, and a long reign. The little girl perks up again, looks at me earnestly with her little brow furrowed and says, So when God gave Solomon that extra stuff, its like a bonus round in a video game? My response, Absolutely! Solomon asked for one thing and God gave him a big bonus of riches, family, etc.

My story was finished and after a few minutes Courtney asked them what they had learned that night. Oh, my heart was pounding through my chest! If they said, I don't know, or I forgot, I might start crying. Do you know what they said? They told Solomon's story! I could barely believe it. Even my little guy who is here, there, and everywhere said he learned about wisdom and how wisdom is making a good choice. I don't think my feet were touching the ground afterwards...

I'm not sure how much God uses pop culture references, but I love that He let me talk to those little ones about Him tonight. The night continued to be good. We said goodbye to our worship leader for kids cg. The band was slammin'. As usual. I saw lots of faces I cherish and heard a sermon that made me think and ask myself some tough questions. All in all, it was a great night!

Happy beginnings...

I went to a wedding this weekend. And it was so lovely. The whole thing reminded you of the bride and groom everywhere you looked. It was great.

Courtney was my very lovely date. It was a bit far out of town so we left from work. She's putting on her makeup while I'm trying to figure out how to not get lost. But we made it to the church. Lots of little things brought a smile to my face that night...

The first was being escorted. Ok, in some things I'm confident as the day is long. Walking up an aisle by myself to a wedding is not exactly my idea of a good time. Court and I get to the beginning of the sanctuary. Court steps back cuz she doesn't want to be escorted. I lift my chin, smile with all the courage I can muster, and take the ushers arm...

He assumes we are on the grooms side. I gently reply that we are on the brides side, but appreciate the assumption that we'd be on the right hand side. The usher was the brides brother so we chitchatted up the aisle. Court disappears about halfway up the aisle. Um, ok. So he sits me down next to someone's mom. Not the brides. Just someones mom...

A little later Court comes to join me. Nothing like sitting there in a room full of people by yourself. A few strangers come sit with us. They were from Houston, he had taught in London, so we talked about Texas and London, etc. It was good times.

Then the wedding started. Everyone was beautiful. The women were lovely in a blushing pink strapless gown. The men very dashing in their tuxedos. And the bride was breathtaking...

Things that made me grin and tear up was when the groom came to meet his bride at the bottom of the few stairs the sanctuary had. He came bounding down the stairs. Not a goofy kind of run down the stairs. You could just see he was excited to be getting down to take her hand from her father and begin their life together. It was so great.

Then there was when they had just finished the ring part of the ceremony. They lowered their hands to listen to the officiant talk. But they kept them together. While the officiant is talking, he is rubbing her hand with his thumb. I don't even think he realized he was doing it. And that made it all the more sweet.

And of course their first kiss as husband and wife. Actually it wasn't even the kiss that made it stick out in my mind. I mean it was a wonderful kiss. But it was the second before it that made it special. She was literally glowing with happiness and smiling when the "I now pronounce..." part came up. She grinned into his eyes, kind of giggled a little, and he gently cupped her face and kissed her. Sigh... It was beautiful. Plain as that.

The reception was grand. There was a jazz band, food and lots of friends and family. There were a few antics of random dance moves from people as well as laugh out loud reactions to the garter toss and bouquet throw. Then a sendoff full of well wishes and bubbles...


All in all it was a wonderful way to watch a new beginning of something God had done. It was very cool to see that He had a hand in that night coming together...

Bake me a bug...

Today we had a garden party at our house for the kids in our kids' community group. I was sweating bullets. And that was hours before the kids even got here. I baked cupcakes this morning. I had a new bug pan I wanted to use...

My first batch was ok. I poured too much batter in the wells of the pan, so they kind of overflowed a smidge. By the third batch I was a pro at those bugs. Ok, not a pro. I don't think I'll ever be a pro in the kitchen, but I do give it my best effort.

Here is a picture of the ones I made for the kids. Yellow cake (my favorite) and a whipped strawberry icing with sprinkles. I like whipped cream icing, but I wasn't a fan of the strawberry flavoring. But hey, the kids didn't complain...

Of course as with my life, there was something comical about getting to the very unexpected finish line. The first hiccup was mixing. I don't have a mixer because I'm a budding baker. So I use a little elbow grease to mix everything. I mixed all the wet ingredients together. I was trying to get it to an even consistency. There was a yolk that was avoiding my most avid attempts to destroy it. A quick flip of my wrist and about half the bowl ended up on me, the countertop and the floor. Sigh. Ok, start over.

I get farther along this time. The batter is mixed as well as I'm going to be able to do it by hand. Its time to oil and flour the pan so the little bugs come out of the pan easily. The oil I pour on a paper towel and wipe into the pan. The flour I would get pinches of and blend them into the pan. Well. Too much flour. Ok, how do I get flour out of the wells? I know. Air. Air will get the flour out instead of me trying to wipe it out and mixing it even more into the oil I've just wiped on the pan. First attempt was too soft. Second blow was a bit too hard. Considering after my puff, a huge cloud of flour ends up all in my hair, the sink, and apparently in my lungs cuz I start coughing flour.

God and I laughed a lot this morning. It was just me in the house so I talked with Him while I baked. And yes, I totally prayed that those bug cakes wouldn't be a disaster. The frosting was a little tough. And the sprinkles are like food glitter. Grr. They went everywhere. But my favorite kinds were the ones where I had made a vanilla glaze for. I ended up using a paintbrush (brand new) to brush on the glaze...