26 Year History

This time 26 years ago, I was not blogging. I was in the throes of childbirth. My first child was about to make his entrance into this world - my world.

My dad had told me on my wedding day that there were two days when "your life changes just like that!" And he snapped his fingers. One is when you get married, and the other is when you have a baby.

That second milestone came to pass on July 24, 1989 at 2:17 am when Luke's little lungs (or big lungs - he weighed 9 lbs 9.5 oz) moved his chest up and down for the first time.

That boy.

What a beautiful, rich, challenging gift he was...and is! Aren't all children that? We can't possibly know what we are getting ourselves into - especially with our first one. Sometimes it blows me away to remember that God had him to be born at this time in this place. That's not small.

It certainly hasn't been in my life.

Through the years, we've enjoyed many activities together. There's nothing like long history with someone, is there? We enjoy many of the same things - sports, hiking, reading, peaches, music, carrot cake, and long discussions over deep topics - to name a few.

And, we both like to write.

He probably likes Legos more than me

The love of writing is a relatively new discovery for me, but not for him. He's been writing since Primary school - as these examples can attest. The spelling struggle was real on this poem, so below, I've typed it out.

Winter mostly cold. 

The snow is white as sheep's wool. 

The trees are brown as a bear. 

It sometimes makes you wonder, is there magic in the air?

Because I sometime wonder about those things.

Don't you?

I love that one so much.

And this Super Bowl one? Clever. To say Luke lived and breathed sports growing up is an understatement, so he would write about them often. The Night Before Christmas had just the right rhythm to parody, too.

While Luke praised John Elway in the previous one, Dennis Rodman didn't fare so well in my eldest's

"If I Were in Charge of the World."

Those were a long time ago, and I had a blast digging through old stuff to find them.

Since those days - and college days - Luke has flipped around a bit, as we all do. He's figuring out who he is and what his place is in this world.

Currently, he's living on the West Coast, and, among other things, he is still doing some writing.

A few weeks ago, he posted this on Instagram.

That one made me stop and think; something all writers hope their writing does to people. And, because I liked it so much, it also prompted me to text him and encourage him to keep writing. #moreplease

And, milestones - like birthdays - prompt us to reflect on the life we've lived and who we've been blessed to live it with.

I've been blessed to live mine with our Luke.
I love him. Always and forever, no matter what.
I am thankful for our 26 year history.

1990

2013

Morning Thoughts

The other morning, I was writing in my Journible the first few verses of Luke 5. 

The simple act of writing words in longhand makes me slow down and notice them a bit more. Not only do I see and read them, I feel them.

Catching my eye and stopping my pen first were the words at the beginning of verse 1:

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God... 

I noticed "pressing in" because one of the pastors I listen to, Matt Chandler, from The Village Church, once used a phrase that carries the same idea. He talked about "leaning hard into Jesus." (He was talking about hard times when he used it, but that word picture of leaning hard into Jesus spoke to me. If our soul can have a posture, that's the one I want.)

The crowd was pressing in. I tried to picture what that must have looked like - the crowd of bodies pushing, jostling, manuevering - doing whatever it took to get close to Jesus so they could hear life giving words. 

Don't we all want to hear lasting, life giving words?

I immediately asked myself if I was pressing in to hear the word of God.

Am I hungry for it?

Am I taking steps to make sure I'm getting fed the word of God?

There's not too many things that are lasting, but we are told that God's word is.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

                                                                                Isaiah 40:8

It's worth pressing in for.

I continued Journibling, and shortly wrote the words found in verse 3:

 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land.

When I wrote "put out" I couldn't help but wonder if Simon Peter was just a little "put out" that Jesus asked him to do that. 

The fishermen were coming off a long night of work with nothing to show for it - and they still had to clean up. Cleaning up was what Simon was doing when Jesus made this request. Simon does as Jesus asks, and apparently with no grumbling. I guess letting a guy sit in your boat is not that big a deal.

But then we are told (verse 4) that Jesus makes another request of Simon - and this one requires more than a seat from the tired, just finished working all night and just cleaned his nets, fisherman.

And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

Another invitation to "put out." 

Another opportunity for Simon to be "put out." 

And this request does elicit some vexation on Simon's part. Verse 5 records it.

 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”

Was Jesus serious? Simon had just cleaned the nets. Couldn't Jesus have said something about going back to put out before he'd spent all that time cleaning up?

But Simon did what I hope I would've done.

He stated the obvious and then stated what he was staking his life on.

Simon did an immediate compare and contrast and thankfully, chose well!  

Simon didn't sugar coat reality. They'd had a lousy night of fishing. But because he trusted Jesus and his word, he chose to not be put out (and eventually, lose out). The tired fisherman chose to take the clean nets back out and put out in the deep. He didn't know it when he cast those nets over the side of the boat, but he was in for the catch of his life with the man who would continue to change his life.

It was all so worth being put out for.

Pressing in to Jesus, putting out into the deep with Jesus - time with Jesus - is always worth it.