I Found God in "That Parent..."

Today I became "That Parent."

Sometimes at the bus stops, I see a Mom who has loaded her elementary-age kids into her minivan, driven down the driveway (or up the street 3 houses away), and waited for the school bus. Maybe it was raining, or snowing, or cold, but I always laughed to myself because it seemed so insane that an adult just couldn't get out an umbrella (or boots... or a coat!) and WALK the 50 feet to the bus stop with their child. It's not like we are going to melt, you know?!

But, like with all things that I've rolled my "superior" eyes at, it came back to bite me.

Today is was raining sideways. And the only umbrellas I could unearth were the kid-sized ones with Diego or Spiderman (both snatched out of my hands by my kids with a whiney "THAT'S MINE!"). We did attempt to walk 4 houses up to the official bus stop, but before I even got out of my driveway, I stopped the kids, returned them to the garage, and grabbed my car keys.

And yes... we DROVE up the street, parked, and waited for the bus!

Matthew 7:1 says "Judge not, that ye be not judged."

The Message (7:1-5) version phrases it a little differently:

"Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor."

Ouch! Painful words... but so true! In "Maggie's World," it'd be phrased like this:

"Everytime you judge someone else, it will always comes back to bite you in the arse!"

Just as quickly as I might jump upon my "high horse," I will inevitably be knocked off by the realization that I have (or soon will) do the very same behavior! God reminds us not to judge others because we are full of flaws ourselves. I sure felt that lesson today as I sat in my car peeking at the amused glances of three of my neighbors standing nearby... with their umbrellas, of course! :)

I Found God in Flip-Flops...

--> This post is part of a series on God & Shoes... to read the first in the series, CLICK HERE. To read ALL of the posts in this series, CLICK HERE.

GOD & FLIP-FLOPS

Matthew 7:24-27 (NIV)

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

Is your spiritual foundation strong? Or is it as flimsy as your pair of flip-flops? There are thousands of things that chip away at faith all of the time – you need to have a strong foundation in your mind, body, and soul to keep your eyes on God.

I Found God In Gym Shoes...

Wednesday night, our church had a Women's Event: If The Shoe Fits. It included a catered dinner, some fun entertainment, four testimonies of people who had walked unusual life paths, and a TON of unique and interesting shoes! I was the go-to gal for this event -working with the Women's Ministry team to plan out the evening, hustle up the shoes, the table hosts, etc.

If you google "women's ministry" and "shoes," you will get hundreds of websites from churches or groups who have worked with this theme before, so when I was trying to match different types of shoes with a Godly message, I didn't always have to reinvent the wheel! Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting the Shoe-spirations one step at a time - Some I wrote myself, others were re-vamped by my friend Kay, still others were borrowed from other sites who had so eloquently written a devotional already.* I hope it will cause you to look at your own Christian walk a little bit differently!

GOD AND GYM SHOES...

Luke 15:20-24 (The Message)
When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.' "But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!'

God wears running shoes. He is always eager & willing to RUN to his lost children. He has no pride in being “right” nor does He gloat over our failures or mistakes. He always rejoices and celebrates our return to His flock – no matter the circumstances.

*Most of the text for the gym shoe table was found HERE.

I Found God In Fortune-Telling...

Have you ever wondered about those carnival fortune-tellers? Or remember playing with a Magic 8 ball in your childhood? Do you just shake your head at the 1-900-numbers flashed on TV urging you to connect with a psychic who will "see" your future?

Those aren't going to give you authentic prophecies. But for those yearning to find out more about Jesus as God's Son and our Savior, you can look to the Bible for your answers.

Personally, wading through the entire Bible is a bit daunting. Several posts back, I commented that I was starting to read the Bible start-to-finish. Just FYI, I'm beginning Exodus. So I can't just pop out all of the prophecy information, and lay it out for you.

BUT... with the miracles of the Internet, I don't have to do all of the work!
I found this fantastic Bible verse site while I was looking for links between "God" and "shoes" (for an upcoming Women's Event at my church... soon to be blogged about, of course!), and it sets up the Old Testament Prophecies with the New Testament fruition in an easy to read table!

Here is the link:
http://encouragingbiblequotes.com/versesmessiaha.html

While you're there, you may want to pop by other pages on Encouraging Bible Quotes.com - a great resource!

Happy reading!
:) Mags

I Found God In An Online Quiz...

I found a link to this quiz on The Broken Man's blog and had to give it a try. It's on the 7 Deadly Sins; these are my results:

Greed:	Medium
Gluttony:	High
Wrath:	Medium
Sloth:	Medium
Envy:	Low
Lust:	Very Low
Pride:	High

Discover Your Sins - Click Here

Now isn't that interesting... Considering that I'd be MUCH healthier if I lost about 50 lbs. not to mention I could stop taking blood pressure medine, I wasn't too surprised at the pitiful gluttony score. I also wasn't surprised by the "sloth" score - A sloth is actually my favorite animal... just because it IS so lazy. While I feel like I'm constantly busy, I could, happily, be a completely bum and couch potato all day long (which undoubtedly would raise the gluttony score even higher! LOL!). I also hate to put things away... another slothlike tendency!

The wrath score was surprising - I always considered "WRATH" to be BIG, YELLING, AGONIZING, ANGER - like a tornado of evil - and that's not me, fortunately. But I know myself - and I have lots of small, tiny, grumblings that probably, over time, could add up to a "wrathful feeling." I have a low tolerance for ineptness or stupidity, and in my mind, when I'm annoyed, I'm usually thinking "dumb*ss"... I only hope that I really am thinking it IN my mind and not muttering it aloud where kids could hear!

The greed score was probably accurate if not rated a little low. I'm a scrapbooker - digital now - but when I scrapped with paper, I HAD to have all of the latest toys, gadgets, and products. The Sizzix die-cutter with 4 alphabet sets and other assorted dies, a self-sharpening 12" cutter, the Wishblade personal die-cutter that connects with my laptop computer to cut out any title I desire, plus a ton of other little tools that filled my 5 (FIVE!) scrappin' bags. If someone asked for something, I could usually whip it out of one of my bags. I had too much. I still have too much. And I always wanted more.

Likewise with diaper bags. I have two kids. They are now 7 and 4. Over the course of their toddler years, I bought 17 (SEVENTEEN!!!) diaper bags. This one was too small... that one was too large... maybe a backpack would work... that one didn't have an insolated area... this one didn't have a place for my cell phone... etc. I've sold many at various garage sales, but our hall closet is still home to about 3 of them and the boys' closets still have another half-dozen stored! Who really needs 17 diaper bags?! :(

I also have been known to say that "sharing is an over-rated concept" (not Christian, I know... I'm a work-in-progress, remember?!). I can be very generous, but I can also be quite stingy when people want to borrow something of mine. If it's a dvd, cd, or scrappin' tool, I will invariably attach a label with my last name on it so there can be no mistaken it's ownership. I don't like to lose things - and probably over-compensate because of it!

I'm proud that envy and lust scored low. I find envy to be a useless cycle. I figure that if you want something bad enough, either work for it or make the appropriate choices so you can buy it/obtain it. Often if you save up for something long enough, you find that you no longer want to spend that much money on whatever anyway. And because I'm apparently greedy, chances are I already own it anyway... *sigh* As for lust, I'm married to my college sweetheart, a 6'7" beautiful man who is a wonderful Dad to our two children and who can still make me laugh. WHY in the world I look elsewhere?!


Which brings me to the big shocker... pride.
Wow... that was my worst fault? Really?

It's probably my pride that has me stumped on this one... Probably my pride that had this result coming out of left field for me... Probably my pride that is an undercurrent in all of the other areas too.

I remember in high school, I was in the highest tracks of classes. Not just "college-prep" - that was the 3rd highest in my high school - I was in I.B. (International Baccalaureate) and I remember feeling like that qualified me to be treated differently... better. I remember being stopped by a hallway security guard when I came late after a doctor's appointment. I had a note, but I distintly remember being annoyed that I would be stopped at all. Didn't he know who I was? I wasn't one of those hoods from the lower tracks - I was in I.B....

*sigh* What an obnoxious attitude to have!

The Bible says a lot about pride... here are some nuggets of wisdom:

Psalm 10:4

In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

Proverbs 16:18

First pride, then the crash— the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.

Proverbs 18:12

Pride first, then the crash, but humility is precursor to honor.

Proverbs 21:4

Arrogance and pride—distinguishing marks in the wicked— are just plain sin.

Proverbs 29:23

Pride lands you flat on your face; humility prepares you for honors.

OUCH!

There are many other verses that come when you do a search for "pride" in the Bible... and unless they are talking about a "pride of lions," I'm not thinking I'm going to find many positive verses on the subject! There aren't any that say, "Please... Do be full-of-yourself - that, truly, is the way of the Lord," is there?!

I know this quiz was created by a human - and probably subject to a LOT of error... but I found the results revealed a lot about myself (and sadly, not in a good way!). Why don't you give it a try too... feel free to leave me a comment with how you do! It may give you something to think about and work on... helping you be a better Christian tomorrow that you were today. I know I've got stuff on my personal To-Do List now!

God and Pants... Part 3

Considering I wrote two different posts on my cursed pants / Jesus pants, it would stand to reason that I would take a moment to write about another pair of pants... The Traveling Pants. :)

In 2001, Ann Brashares wrote The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants. What a cute story!! Four girls stumble upon a pair of well-loved blue jeans in a thrift store - and amazingly enough it fits all of them perfectly: the tall athlete, the curvy tempermental, the willowy beauty, and the small-boned rebel. That it fits all of their vastly different heights and frames AND makes them feel beautiful is no less than a miracle.

In the premier novel and the 3 books that follow, the girls share the pants each summer - mailing them back and forth across the places where they visit. From summer camps to visits with relatives... from digs in Turkey to movie internships, the girls use the pants to keep in touch with each other and keep their friendship connected. And the pants are there through all of their summer experiences: the divorce and remarrying (to other people) of Carmen' s parents, Lena's first love... and loss, Bridget's coping from mistakes she made with her boyfriend, Tibby's grief at the death of her friend, Bailey, plus various other family, social, or school issues. The pants are a constant comfort to each of them.

In the final book, the pants are lost - mirroring the feelings of loss the girls are going though as their individual lives push them farther and farther apart from each other. However, the girls come to realize that the pants were only a symbol of their everlasting friendship, and that the jeans, specifically, didn't have to be physcially present for their friendship to endure.

Now think of our Lord... a one-size-fits-all God who is with us through our hard times and our good times. He's with us when we succeed and when we make mistakes. He will comfort us when we are hurt and celebrate with us when we are happy.

When you meet other Christians, you have something instantly in common. No matter your size or weight or style, your faith links you together.

When Jesus died on the cross, the apostles were "lost" at first. How could they go on? How could their Lord continue if he had been crucified? But like the traveling pants, Jesus lived on in the hearts and minds of those who believed in Him. Tibby, Carmen, Bridget, and Lena discovered that they didn't need the actual pair of pants to remain best friends - even as miles and miles might physically separate them. Likewise, we don't need the physical body of Jesus to be there for us to be covered by His love.

For the girls, believing in the power of the pants was enough.

For Christians, believing in Jesus is a power in and of itself.

If you were to re-read this series of books with the parallel of God & Pants in your mind as you read, I think you'll look at this "humorous, light, fluffy, summer read" in a whole new way. But that's the fun of this blog... finding God in everyday, ordinary places... and what's more "ordinary" than a novel?! :)

If you'd like to read Parts 1 and 2 of God & Pants, follow these links:
Part I "I Found God In Some Cursed Pants"
Part 2 "Not Cursed After All... They're Jesus Pants!"

Karaoke Tuesday: "I Believe" by ZOEGirl

When I first started listening to Christian contemporary music, there was one song that I played over and over: ZOEGirl's "I Believe." Our first son was only a year or less, and my husband and I would giggle at him through the rearview mirror on our Blazer because as soon as this song would come on, his eyes would brighten, and he'd start bopping back and forth to the music... not unlike those Saturday Night Live, obnoxious, date guys who bounce their heads to music while cruisin' for chicks! :)

This is such a great "I'm-a-new-Christian" song; here are the lyrics.


Can you remember a time in your Christian walk when things changed for you?

When you finally, finally! felt God inside your heart?
When God breathed His life into you, and you were forever changed?
Do you remember when you stopped feeling self-concious when you talked about your faith?
Do you remember feeling like you could "shout it from the mountains" because suddenly, your faith had meaning and you felt like you understood, for the first time, what it meant to be Christian?

Sometimes, it's hard to be a Christian. People stereotype you into one of the pop-culture caricatures or set you on a clay pedestal- and then are aggravated when you fail to meet their expectations. Tempations strike the Christian just as it does the non-Christian. Being Christian will not exclude you from hardship, persecution, troubles, grief, sorrow, or pain. But BELIEVING does ensure that you will always have someone walking alongside you regardless of whatever trials comes your way. You are never alone. You always have a friend. You always have someone on your side.

That is something to celebrate.
Being a Christian is something to celebrate.

So celebrate it. Take a moment and just revel in the miracle of Jesus Christ, your personal Savior. That is something to smile about!

:) Mags

Song: I Believe
Artist: ZOEGirl
Album: ZOEGirl
Here it on Last.FM

I Found God In Email...

Normally, when I get one of those forwarded "Christian emails" it is some type of SPAM: Either it says to forward this to 287 people if you love Jesus and a little boy with cancer and two heads will be healed or a random prayer request for a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend's-cousin's-adopted-daughter's-neice's-half-uncle. They usually are loaded with those little "forward arrows" because so many people don't actually take the time to clean up an email before they sent it on, and the text is disjointed and spread across several lines. This drives me crazy, and all of those types of emails end up in the delete folder...!

BUT...

Everyone once in a while, I get a great Christian email that I actually want to share. This particular one came via my Scrappin'-With-Faith friend, Sharlotte:


One day God was looking down at Earth and saw all of the rascally behavior that was going on. So he called one of His angels and sent the angel to Earth for a time.

When he returned, he told God, 'Yes, it is bad on Earth: 95% are misbehaving and only 5% are not.

God thought for a moment and said, 'Maybe I had better send down a second angel to get another opinion.' So God called another angel and sent him to Earth for a time.

When the angel returned he went to God and said, 'Yes, it's true. The Earth is in decline; 95% are misbehaving, but 5% are being good.'

God was not pleased. So He decided to email the 5% that were good, because he wanted to encourage them, and give them a little something to help them keep going. Do you know what that e-mail said?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

No? Yeah...well...I didn't get one either. :(


I wanted to share it not just because it said "rascally" which gave me a giggle considering so much of human behavior can be summed up as "horrifying," "stomach-turning," "pitiful," or "depraved," -- not merely rascally, but also because it struck me as simple, yet poignant.

So many of us are quick to point the finger that "the other guy" - we are sure that WE are doing all of the right things... WE are acting Christian... WE aren't doing anything wrong...

But we forget that God doesn't divide sin into neat piles of "good," "bad," and "ugly." He doesn't put the murders and molesters in a different category than the ones who "borrow" office supplies or who gossip about their freaky neighbor, or who lie, or who cheat. It is sooooooo hard for us to comprehend that idea because humans DO weigh sin. We are quick to separate ourselves from the "criminals" or the "undesirables" - thinking that our minor transgressions aren't nearly as bad.

Jesus talks about this in John Chapter 8 (NIV translation):

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery.

They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."


No one was able to cast a stone at the woman because NO ONE was without some sin of their own. I did not get God's email because while I try to live my life in a Christian manner, I invariably screw up each and everyday. It might be "small" things... cursing, socially-acceptable-little-white-lies, watching garbage on TV... but it is sin nonetheless.

God knows this.
And He loves me just the same.

And because He loves me and all of my faults and sins, I am encouraged to try each day to think and behave just a little better than yesterday. In fact, I often end my prayers to Him with, "Thank you, Lord, for your blessings... and help me to be a better wife, mother, and Christian tomorrow than I was today."

How about you?

Did you get God's email? And what are you going to change in your life to make God proud of your choices?


Prayers for you this week... and your 2nd-cousin's-grandmother's-half-uncle's-step-son. *wink

♥Mags

I Found God In Google...

You just got to love Google...!

On the right-hand side of this blog is a Feedjit Widget that keeps a running tab of who is popping by the blog and in some cases how they arrived on this side. I love seeing the Google searches that bring people here. One from yesterday said this:

East Lansing, Michigan arrived from google.com

on "Everyday Places: I Found God In My Blackberry..."

When I followed the Google link I found this in the search box:

can i sync my blackberrys calendars to my boyfriends

I'm sure the searcher meant "Can I sync my Blackberry calendar to my boyfriend's Blackberry calendar" - but in just using the plural of boyfriend, it seems as if she is asking if she could sync her Blackberry to ALL of her boyfriends... and the result was God leading her to my Christian blog. :)

Here are some of the other Google searches from the last week that brought people to my blog:

karoake grace like rain

poem about homecoming with God

sweetly broken karaoke

in the gym i met son of god

jordan sparks "god loves ugly"

god & vegetables

laziness ignorance spelling

"to the cross i look" & "to the cross i cling" & "was bruised and crushed"

There were actually two searches for God & vegetables that brought people to my site in the last 5 days. Guess people will try anything to get their kids to eat those leafy greens! :) And I love that the last search listed above only had one result on the Google search... THIS blog! :)

This shows me that you never know how your words or actions will impact others.

Here I am just writing my random thoughts on finding God in everyday life to a small audience (anywhere from 9-20 people/day according to Stat Counter) hoping to make some sense of my place in this world, and some days, complete strangers might do a Google search and find their way to my story. Maybe something I type will impact them in a positive way... leading them close to God as they traverse their own faith path. Maybe something will spur a discussion with their families... or cause them to re-think some choice they've made.... or give them a good chuckle... or find them a new song for their iPod.

Regardless, my choices of what to write on this blog make small ripples that move outward affecting others. Similarly, this happens in our interactions with others day in and day out. With friends, aquantances, and even strangers, our words and behavior leave impressions.

And it's up to us to choose wisely the way we want be viewed by others and the messages we want to send.

Fortunately, when we live in a manner that is pleasing to God, our words and behaviors honor him. Like Simon Peter and Andrew, we do become "fishers of men:"

Walking along the beach of Lake Galilee,

Jesus saw two brothers: Simon (later called Peter) and Andrew.

They were fishing, throwing their nets into the lake. It was their regular work.

Jesus said to them, "Come with me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of you.

I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass."

They didn't ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed.

Matthew 4:18-20 (The Message)

I hope that in a small way, my words on The God Blog cast out into cyberspace like a net into the ocean... snaring individuals and giving them a few minutes to walk with God. I am honored to be used by Him - and so happy that God has chosen one of my favorite pasttimes (my computer!) to allow me to spread His message.

Thank you for stopping by my blog. I hope you'll be one of the ones listed under "returning visitors" in the future.

♥Mags

PS... Stat Counter cannot tell me "who" you are... just where you can from. If you enjoy posts on this blog, I love to read the comments that are posted. Just click below on the link that says "COMMENTS" and leave one. You can still remain "anonymous" when you do it - and I really love the feedback!! Thanks! :)

I Found God At The Bus Stop...

You know - it goes against a parent's very nature...

Let's walk our 5-year old to the bus stop. Sling an oversized backpack stuffed with school supplies on their little backs - throwing them completely off-balance. Put them on a giant vehicle with no seatbelts (let alone the Federal-approved, safety-tested carseat that has been a constant since the child was born!), driven by a complete stranger to a school with only 1 adult per 25 kids!

Yet every September, parents of kindergarteners gather at the bus stop with their cameras in one hand and the small fingers of their child in the other... waiting tearfully... and sometimes fearfully for the big, yellow bus to come around the corner. And every September, those cameras capture the brave 5-year olds who climb that first enormous step onto the school bus and turn around to flash a smile at the proud parents waiting at the curb.

The parents brains are swimming with
How in the world did my baby grow up so fast?!
What if they can't find their classroom?
What if they are scared?
What if the teacher won't let them go to the bathroom?
What if they cry all day long?
What if a kid picks on them?
What if they pick on someone else?


We're proud to see our smallest kids start that long journey of "SCHOOL" - yet fearful because this is a journey that we, ourselves, have traveled. We know what lays ahead on this road... the fun times, the hard times, the studying, the games, the tests (both academic and social), the angst, and the joy. We've seen and done it all. Some of us wouldn't go back and repeat school life even if we were paid a million dollars... yet we still have to send what is most precious to us - our children - through this journey because we know how important it is and that it is a necessary step in their life.

Did you ever wonder if this is the way God feels when a new baby is born?

Everyone one of us is a precious child of God - loved by Him before we were ever born:

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;

you formed me in my mother's womb.

I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!

Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

I worship in adoration—what a creation!

You know me inside and out,

you know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,

how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;

all the stages of my life were spread out before you,

The days of my life all prepared

before I'd even lived one day.

Psalm 139:13-16 (The Message)

God has marvelous plans for each of His children - but He also know how hard it can be on Earth - He lived it through His own son, Jesus. Yet God still places His children here to go through the journey of life... knowing that sin will tempt them, that tragedy might strike them, that hardships will try them. But knowing all along that the amazing experiences each child will have on Earth will be worth the trip.

So when you make that long walk to the bus stop and give up your child to the journey of school, remember that God is with you AND with your son or daughter. He is walking alongside you both, holding your hands, guiding you, and loving you. Just like always.