Still Waiting!

Our church is still waiting on a definite answer from the bank, on a final cost estimate, and on dirt work to be at the point where we can get ready to pour concrete...as a little doubt and frustration began to creep in, God gave me another timely verse in my quiet time.

Psalm 39:7, "Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you."

How perfect! My hope is not in banks, contractors or any other thing. My hope is in You, Lord. You alone have brought us here, and You alone will complete this in Your perfect timing! I'm excited to see exactly how He works everything out in order for His glory to be revealed in the most amazing and powerful way!

2008 Titans Caravan!

Monday afternoon the Tennessee Titans caravan rolled through Paris! Corey remembered just in time, and we loaded up the boys and headed to Ace's Pizza to meet the Titans pro-bowler defensive end, Kyle Vanden Bosch. (He was HUGE, by the way!) Caleb was so excited to meet a real football player. Bennett didn't really get excited until we saw T-Rac come off the bus, but at that point his excitement grew also. There is an article about it with our picture on the Henry Countian website http://www.henrycountian.com/news.php?viewStory=1849

Here are a few pictures we took. And a friend happened to be there when we met him and took a picture of all four of us with Kyle. I'll post that once I get it! Caleb is making his tough football player face in the second picture :)

BOYS + MUD= FUN!!!

It's a simple mathematical equation: BOYS + MUD=FUN! Corey has been out of town all week working on one of his doctoral seminars in Kansas City. I knew that my boys would miss the rough housing and "guy time" with dad while he was gone. Last time he went to his seminar, I ended up with lots of bumps and bruises from trying to play rough with them like Corey does. Women and men were definitely created differently! So this time, as the need for boyish fun had reached its peak, I had a wonderful alternative. Thanks to the large amount of rain we've had in recent weeks and a part of our backyard that doesn't drain very well, they had "mud time." They LOVED it! Corey if you read this before you get home, sorry about the mud all over the side of the shop, but it needed to be pressure washed anyhow :)

Fun Weekend with Friends

This weekend we had the privilege of having three of our former youth from Bemis and a friend from our Honduras trip last year coming to stay with us. They arrived Friday night and were able to stay through church Sunday morning! We had such a great time, and the boys absolutely loved it! Saturday night, they watched the boys so Corey and I could enjoy a nice quiet dinner date...thanks so much! It is a blessing to Corey and me to see these young women who have grown so much in their spiritual walks. When you invest your lives in people, it is wonderful to see spiritual fruit in their lives. I think one of the most exciting moments for us in this respect was last year when we went to Honduras and these girls, along with a few of our other youth, were serving, ministering and witnessing to the Honduran people. It brought us such great joy to see them following Jesus! Here are a few fun pictures from our weekend.

Through the Fire

This is a song that I've loved from the first time I heard it at the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Englewood Baptist Church's praise team sang it. They shared a testimony before hand...one of the ladies had lost her teenage son recently, and their music minister's wife had cancer (she has since passed away). Despite these circumstances, they chose to trust God to take them through the fire. I hope this video is an encouragement to you in whatever circumstance you may face as you listen!



Through the Fire
So many times I've questioned those certain circumstances
And things I could not understand
And many times in trials, weakness blurs my vision
That's when my frustration seems to get to out of hand
Its then I am reminded, I've never been forsaken
I've never had to stand one test alone
That's when I look at all the victories
The Spirit rises up in me
And its through the fire my weakness is made strong

He never promised that the cross would not get heavy
And the hill would not be hard to climb
He never offered our victories without fighting
But He said help would always come in time
Just remember when your standing in the valley of decision
And the adversary says give in
Just hold on, our Lord will show up
And He will take you through the fire again

I know within myself that I would surely perish
But if I trust the mighty hand of God, He'll shield the flames again, again

He never promised that the cross would not get heavy
And the hill would not be hard to climb
He never offered our victories without fighting
But He said help would always come in time
Just remember when your standing in the valley of decision
And the adversary says give in
Just hold on, our Lord will show up
And He will take you through the fire again

Obstacle or Opportunity for Faith?

Our church has reached it's first supposed "obstacle" in our relocation process. We are seeking financing with a different bank, because of some issues with the first one we had been dealing with. Initially, I have to be honest...it knocked the wind out of me. Everything had gone perfectly, without any barriers. My first thought was that this was an obstacle in our path. Corey assured me that this would happen, and that we would just trust God through each step.

Today as I was reading my quiet time, I was encouraged by a story I have heard many times before...isn't it amazing how the Living Word does that, teaches us something new from something we've heard many times before?!! I was reading in Numbers where the Israelite spies were sent into the "land flowing with milk and honey." This was the PROMISE LAND...God had already promised it to them!!! And yet, when they saw the people of the land, all but two of them were paralyzed by fear and gave a negative report back to the people that it couldn't be done. Caleb tried to convince the people, "The land we passed through and explored is an extremely good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, He will bring us into this land...and give it to us. Only don't rebel against the Lord, and don't be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them!" He had faith that these people weren't an obstacle to keep them from God's promises. Unfortunately, the Israelites didn't listen to the men of faith, but to the men who told them to look at all the difficult challenges we'll face. Through human eyes, these were perfectly legitimate concerns, definitely reasons to not go into the new land. However, we aren't called to look at our situations and circumstances through human eyes, but through eyes of faith. Remember, these were the same people God had led out of Egypt. They had seen the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, and the destruction of the Egyptian army; and yet they didn't have the faith to possess the promise land. And so, because of their unbelief, none of them ever experienced the joy of this blessing God had promised to them. When they realized their sin, they decided to go possess the land, but Moses warned them, "The Lord won't be with you, since you have turned from following Him."

As a church and as God's people, we must see this "obstacle" not as something to prevent us from receiving God's blessings, but as an opportunity for faith. Faith in the same God who has paved the way so far (brought us out of Egypt) and led us to this place. Let us not be guilty of doubting Him now! He has given us this vision, and that means that He has already promised victory as long as we follow Him.

What is Sin?

Today I was in the car with the boys, and Caleb asked me, "Mom, what is sin?" Wow! We've talked about sin before, but hadn't today. I'm not sure what made him ask that question, but I was so excited to have this conversation with him through his own prompting! I explained that sin is when we disobey God and the things He tells us in the Bible. I gave him a few 3 year old examples, disobeying your parents because the Bible says, "Children obey your parents..." And then Caleb said, I've sinned mommy...what do I do? It was so precious! I explained to him that when we sin we ask God to forgive us. He wanted me to tell him how, so I simply told him that he can pray to God and say, "God please forgive me for sinning..." Then I told him that it is good to be specific about what we're sorry for, "for disobeying my parents." So he prayed this little prayer. It was precious! I know he doesn't understand salvation yet, but what a blessing that his little heart is already becoming sensitive to this need to make our sin right before God! Then I told him that we all sin...me too. And he wanted me to pray also. It was such a special moment.

I think part of this came from Easter...we bought the boys some movies about Easter, Jesus' death and resurrection. What a wonderful reminder Easter is of our sin, our need to be made right with God and Jesus' loving sacrifice to make that possible. Beyond all that, our Savior is alive and speaks to our hears each day is special ways...He is Risen, what beautiful words to a sinner's ears!!!

Easter morning we woke up early and had a sunrise service for our church at the new property and then enjoyed a wonderful time of worship in our morning service! Also, for Easter we were invited to our good friends, the Shackelford's home for Easter lunch! Fred and Jennifer smoked a yummy ham, and we brought a few things to go with it...it was delicious! Jennifer had decorated the table with spring flowers and Easter verses from the Bible. Easter is such a wonderful day...It is sad to me that so many celebrate it with meaningless things like bunnies, new clothes and Easter eggs, but forget the true meaning. Thanks to Fred, Jennifer, Clayton and Jack for having us over for dinner and for keeping the focus-even during lunch- on Christ. Easter evening we were invited to our friends, the Dillard's home. The older children had hidden Easter eggs for the boys, and they rode around on the golf cart looking for them...talk about a fun way to hunt for Easter eggs!!! We have been so blessed with wonderful friends and family!

Here are a few pictures from our day, including the boys dying Easter eggs with Aunt Michele (this is their yearly tradition together!)

A Fun Weekend with Aunt Michele

This past weekend, we had a quick but fun trip to Florence to visit Michele, Corey's sister. We ended up cutting our trip short because of the weather, but we packed a lot of fun into a day and a half! We were able to go to the park, visit the lions at the University of Northern Alabama, eat at Chuck E Cheese and make curtains for Michele's dining room/den! Whew, it was lots of fun! Thanks Michele for being a great aunt! I've attached some cute pictures of our adventures!

Awe-inspiring

I have been wanting to write this blog for a while now and haven't had time to do it justice! I found this amazing verse a few weeks ago during my quiet time and it has stuck in my mind...I love it. It is so relevant for our lives and the life of our church at this time!

"All the people you live among will see the Lord's work, for what I am doing with you is awe-inspiring." Exodus 34:10c

This verse impacted me the moment I read it! Many of you know about our church, the relocation process we are in, and how we have gotten to this point, but some of you do not...I'll talk about some of that here, but it would take several blogs to share all the ways God has positioned and worked out all of the details. Every step of this process has been directed by God and it has been so obvious to those of us at Maplewood that this is His work. This has been awe-inspiring to Corey and me already, but God desires more...He desires for all to see His glory. We are amazed that He is allowing us to serve at Maplewood and be a part of His work here...part of "the people we live among" here in Paris and Henry County seeing the awe-inspiring work of God.

Over the next few weeks, dirt will begin moving at our new location. That will be incredibly exciting! Our church has been waiting for at least six years to begin building something. Only in the last few years did God make it clear that this relocation process was what He desires though. And now, in less than two years time, we have voted to relocate, purchased property, hired an architect, developed a five-phase master plan, finalized the plans for an initial 21,000 square foot facility and all of this with a sweet, loving, unified spirit among our church! That has no explanation other than God's leading.

Those details alone are amazing, but in addition to all that, God is sending the workers to build our church! Carpenters for Christ, a volunteer labor group that builds churches has partnered with us. We will have the dirt work, foundation, plumbing stubs and metal frame for the sanctuary ready when they begin arriving the first week of June, and at that point they will be sending teams throughout the summer for 10-17 weeks to complete the work. In the first two weeks alone, we will go from the foundation and metal sanctuary frame to completely dried in!!! We will most likely be in our new facility by late fall THIS YEAR!!! (I think I need more that 3 exclamation marks for that!)

So for us, God has been awe-inspiring all throughout this process. But we are so excited about the people around us beginning to see His awe-inspiring work. Tears come to my eyes as I think about an entire church building coming together in such a short period of time...it is going to be amazing to see! We are anxiously anticipating the testimony this will be to our community...that when God's people follow His leading, He will do wonders among us! On our own, I think everyone of us knows we aren't capable of such a task. But, "with God all things are possible." I think that is the most exciting part about this to me...who are we to be used by God? We aren't anything special. Just willing. It is humbling and wonderful to know that God is allowing us to be part of something bigger than we can accomplish on our own.

After a 2 1/2 week sabatical, we're back to blogging!

Things have been crazy around our home! We've had a birthday party, two of weekends out-of-town, and a couple of bugs that passed through our house, but everyone is feeling better now! So, hopefully we're back in the blogging business! Fred, aren't you proud...this one wasn't a dissertation!