spiritual stuff

Sunday on Monday

April 27, 2009 by Amy 3 Comments

The last 3 weeks we spent time watching Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ. We had seen it years ago when it first came out. I cried like a baby when we saw it. In particular, watching the relationship between Jesus and his mother affected me as a young mother. How could she watch him suffer so?

Most of us in the class had watched it before but yesterday. We discussed the things we had missed the first time and there are two things that I knew but just hit me hard.

One, in the movie and in most arenas, Satan is portrayed as someone dark and ugly with hands that need a manicure and an evil sidekick. Sometimes he has horns and tail. Certainly we’d know to stay away. But isn’t that exactly opposite to Satan in our lives? He and his temptations are beautiful. Like Bella to Edward in Twilight (oh yes I did) she was his own brand of heroin. That’s what Satan does. He makes sin gorgeous. That one specific sin we could fall to. You think you’d love it. You’d think it’d be fun. You think you HAVE to do it. Never does Satan make sin look like the horrible thing that it is. Only when you’ve said yes and you’re miles down the road does he show his true nature. Then, he looks ugly. Then you see the consequences of what you’ve done. Then you see the hurt and the regret and the pain. Never doubt that Satan can be beautiful. The Bible says Satan is like a lion prowling for us. It also says we like sheep have gone away. It is when we close our eyes and go blindly into sin that we are entrapped. Let us be wise to the nature of Satan and have our eyes wide open to what we are being drawn into. And not saying that the things of God are not beautiful but that’s just it…we need to be discerning!

The second eye opener was realizing why Jesus says “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” on the cross. Why indeed? Can God forsake his Son? Did Jesus regret what he had done? No, in fact, that is the moment that Jesus, fully man, took on the sins of the world. God, in his holiness, could not look on him in his sin and for a split second in history had to turn his face from him. For me, even more proof that Jesus took on MY sin on the cross.

We went on from Sunday School to a church service yesterday where God showed up and we actually had church instead of playing church. Can’t tell you how much I needed that.

Wilmington Report and How Awesome God Is

March 15, 2009 by Amy 8 Comments

Our 48 hours in Wilmington was for lack of a better word, insane. If you want detailed reports of filming and such go to Thursday filming report or Friday’s filming report.

If you want the short of it basically the entire cast ended up filming on Thursday including guest star Nick Lachey. And I FINALLY got a picture with Chad Michael Murray. We stayed outside standing on a sidewalk freezing for hours on end both Thursday and Friday waiting on them each to have a break in filming to come speak to us. We didn’t get to go to the reunion dinners as planned but ended up talking to several people at filming (including Carolyn who reads this blog and her two children!). Like I said there, it was nice to hang out with people who knew as much or more than I did about OTH. Thursday night we went out downtown hoping to run into cast members but didn’t find anything. We did however hang out with 3 other fans that were really cool.

Friday evening we stayed in. Heather slept and I caught up on all my posting and pictures and Grey’s Anatomy. I finally went to sleep around 1 I think. Heather had the weirdest allergy reaction around 2. Her eyeball turned red and swelled until it was bulging. It was WEIRD. We went out to CVS and got her some drops and Benadryl which helped enough that we didn’t rush to the ER.

Saturday we slept in as much as we could until time for the studio tour. Which was great because we saw some sets we didn’t see last year AND we were able to peek at the call sheet for next week and got to see that one of the biggest scenes of the series was being filmed next week.

That Part About God

Most would call us lucky, but I have to say I think God blessed us this weekend. I think this is where that “peculiar people” label will come into play but I have to say Heather and I literally prayed God would grant us favor this weekend and we’d get to see filming and meet some cast members. And wow, did he deliver. Just go take a look at all these pictures and you’ll see that we got pictures with or at least saw almost every single cast member. But even more than that, I wrote in a post on OTHBlog that I really wanted to meet the creator of OTH. I heard he was in town and it was one of few chances. Here’s what I wrote:

Honestly, I’m dying because Mark is in town. I REALLY want to meet him.

MARK, COME FIND US IN WILMINGTON!!

Now here’s an excerpt from one of my filming report posts:

You guys know I was dying to meet Mark…it was on “the list” when we left. Heather and I decide to get some ice cream this afternoon at Kilwin’s. We’re sitting on Market in my car facing across to the RiverCourt and notice a white van. It doesn’t appear there is filming but it definitely meant something was up.

When we got there, there was a group of 5 or 6 people with some sort of lens/camera looking out over the RiverCourt and downtown Wilmington. And THEN a white van pulls up and out steps Mark. OMG. We do a little fangirl scream b/c omg, we were the only fans there and there stands MARK who we’ve been dying to see. So random!

He joins the group and they work on whatever scene they were working on. They walk down to the water line and face Market street and point and talk and do whatever they do. My gut said it was some sort of scene for the finale since we know Mark is directing. So Heather and I have squatted on the picnic bench there and when they move to go back towards the parking lot, we call him over and say we want a picture when he is done. He says he can do it right then. We tell him we’ve been wanting to get his picture the whole trip. We mention we run this site and he thanks us for our work. We tell him thanks for all their work on the show that we love it. And then Heather and I go scream in the car. LOL. Yes, we turn into fangirls when we arrive in Wilmington.

Now let me tell you why I know this was a direct and specific answer to prayer. While we were standing in the cold and wind on the sidewalk Friday afternoon, we were just about over it. We wanted to leave and get warm but couldn’t hardly tear ourselves away never knowing when one of the cast would come over. We were going back and forth, wanting to get some ice cream or something (they have this GREAT place called Kilwin’s!). I suddenly felt God saying “GO AND COME BACK!!” and it was just like that over and over GO AND COME BACK!! GO AND COME BACK!! So I said to Heather, Let’s Go! So we did. We got our ice cream and we went to sit in the car with it. Then Heather looks across the river where the river court is (If you don’t know the show, the River Court is one of the key filming locations from the show) and she says there are white vans over there (which means that is cast or crew traveling around town). So we start going back and forth whether to go over there (which didn’t look like anything was going on) or head back to filming. And then I heard “Go NOW”. I was about 3/4 the way through my ice cream and I said we’re going to the river court and handed Heather my cone so I could pull out. We pull into the river court and there are the few crew members there. We were sitting there literally less than a minute and another van pulls up and who but Mark Schwahn jumps out. The story above tells what happens but ya’ll?? That wasn’t an accident! I know it sounds dumb but I just know it’s true!

So when Heather and I prayed I said, “God, we’ll give you the glory and praise” so this it. God, thank you for caring about what I care about and helping us find that needle in a haystack. You are awesome and thank you!!

Tell Me the Story of Jesus

March 9, 2009 by Amy 4 Comments

Ever since Christmas I think Lexi has been fascinated with the birth, life and even death and resurrection of Jesus. Several times a week right before bed Lexi says “Tell me the story of Jesus”. And if you try to start anywhere in the story except “Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem” you’ll find yourself starting over again. I keep it simple and to the facts and don’t try to explain the whole thing of WHY Jesus came but we have to start somewhere right? So this is what I tell them:

Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem and tried to find a place to stay. All the hotels (LOL, we don’t use inns) were closed so they had to stay in a stable (at which time Lexi interjects “Mommy, that’s a baarrnnn.” in her little drawl). Jesus was born and put in a manger. Jesus grew up and did wonderful things but some people got mad that so many people liked him so they decided to kill him. They put him on a cross and nailed his hands and feet to the cross and he died (And don’t even think of skipping those details because Lexi will make you go back). They put him in a tomb and three days later, he came alive again. He stayed on earth for 40 days and then went back to heaven and one day He’s going to come back and get us.

And that’s almost verbatim what I repeat. In fact, I stopped about halfway through that paragraph to put them to bed and Lexi asked me to tell it.

Well, in Target Saturday I saw in their Easter display they had an animated version of the Passion of Christ and they asked to get it. They’ve watched it at least 3 times since then. And it’s awesome. It points out all the parts I just told except they really play up Judas and the Sanhedrin’s decision to crucify Christ. Mary, Martha, the soldiers, Pilate, the earthquake, it’s all in there. And they really get it.

Lexi was watching it today and in part of the movie it says Jesus died for peace and Lexi pipes up “and so we can go to heaven”. I love that she’s amending a DVD and that I taught her that.

Tonight in our youth small group, we talked about why knowing that God created a perfect world mattered. And I realized that Jesus is only half the story. You have to start at the beginning.

So one thing I added tonight was the question ‘Do you know WHY Jesus came to earth?’ They said no, so I said:

When God created everything it was perfect and you remember when he created Adam and Eve (which they know from church and were like Yesss!) and they disobeyed God? When we disobey God and do something bad it’s called sin and we can’t get into heaven with sin. So when Jesus came and died on the cross, he took our punishment for us. You know when you get in trouble and Mommy punishes you sometimes? Well, Jesus takes our punishment for all the times we sinned and if we believe in Jesus, he takes our sin away and we get to go to heaven.

And Emma said, “I believe in Jesus.” and Lexi says “me too”. And I said, “Me too because Jesus is awesome.”

Distant Memory or Instant Memory

December 22, 2008 by Amy 1 Comment

I jotted this down at 1am one night last week after my eyes had been closed for a good twenty minutes and I was just about ready to drift off to sleep. I wish I could stay in that state more often as it seems I get a lot of ideas just about the time I go to sleep. But for me, “Distant memory or Instant Memory” are two phrases that could describe a person’s relationship with God.
For many and I’m sure the majority, God is a distant memory. For some this distance could be measured in days, weeks, months or even years.
Maybe you attend church regularly and were in a Bible study recently and now without a strict schedule you’ve realized you’re not reading and praying every day. And all the sudden you’ve realized your Bible doesn’t move between Sundays. This distance isn’t as noticeable. You still think about God but it’s not a daily thing like it used to be.
Maybe you are a regular church attender and had a child get sick a week or two and you couldn’t go to church and then just got out of the habit. You look up and realize you haven’t been for weeks and you can feel yourself slipping from what you know you should be doing.
Maybe you moved in the past year and just never found a church. You think about God every once in awhile, maybe you even think to pray but generally, God is becoming more of a distant memory than you care to admit.
Or maybe the distance is measured in years. Your grandmother took you as a child but once you hit the teenage years you didn’t go and never looked back. Church and God could be just a distant memory from your childhood.

Whatever the reason distant isn’t what I’m striving for. I desire for God to be in my instant memory. I want church and/or a Bible study to be a regular thing for me. When I have a decision to make I want him and his opinion to be the first thing that pops in my head. When I’m tempted in a situation I want to care that He cares if I turn away. When I get bad news I want his peace and comfort to instantly come to me. When I can’t take another minute of my kids whining I want God’s compassion and patience to overtake me. When someone says something hurtful to me, I want to react with a soothing and kind word. I want Him and His qualities to instantly overtake me whatever I face. In everything I do, I want to remember Him.
But the thing is it’s all up to me whether He’s a distant or instant memory. I find that church attendance DOES matter to how close I am to God. Of course there are many people attending church that are leaving a completely hypocritical life and I’m aware there are some (very dedicated) people that can walk closely to God without attending church weekly. But there’s just something about being in a group of believers and talking together or hearing from a Christian leader that brings you back on track.
Consistent prayer and reading DOES make a difference. Surrounding ourselves with good friends and making sure all of our “inputs” (music, TV, movies, magazines, books) DO make a difference. The more we are dedicated to knowing Him, the more He makes Himself known. We get to the point where we naturally and instantly think about God’s opinion, we think like God would think, and we speak and act like God desires of us.
I’m talking to myself here as much as anyone. The choice is up to us…will He be distant or instant?

I thought of this song Everything by Tim Hughes while writing this. It’s a wonderful worship song.

Bob

December 18, 2008 by Amy 6 Comments

This is Bob. He says you can spell his name backwards if you want. We met Bob last night when our youth group had the opportunity to go visit at an assisted living center in Charlotte. The students talked to them, sang with them and handed out hand painted ornaments and a little bit of candy.

But I’m betting the one thing they take away from that visit is something Bob shared with us. Bob had one of the workers go to his room and get the picture of him and his wife. He put it at his side, hiding it as much as he could until the worker announced Bob would share his story. I’m very sure Bob would be delighted that I’m retelling this as best I can remember.

They were married 62 and a half years and she passed away last February. She had Alzheimer’s and in her last weeks, they put her in a room across the hall from him so it was easy for him to go visit her. A few weeks before she died she got to the point she couldn’t talk but ten days before she passed she turned to him and spoke clearly. She told him what a wonderful and full life she had had with him and their three boys. For ten minutes she continued to talk to him about all their good memories. After that, she couldn’t speak again although she was able to squeeze his hand and did so when he prayed for her.

The Thursday before she died he was praying with her and said Lord, if it be your will, go ahead and take her if it would be best for her. He said the Lord spoke to him as clearly as he was speaking to us and said “It’s not her time, her day is Sunday”. Bob called the family and told them what the Lord had said and the family was gathered by 3pm on Sunday. He said he wasn’t even thinking about what the Lord had told him when his wife took a big gasp of air. He shushed the family in the room as everyone was lightly talking and they gathered in closely. She took one more gasp of air and that was her last. Bob finished his story by saying one day soon he’ll be with her. He raised his hands in victory and leaned his head back with his eyes closed and a closed smile. You could see the peace on his face.

That, my friends, is one of many reasons I believe in God and fully plan to see Bob and his wife whole, healed and reunited in Heaven one day. I can’t wait.

Notes from Saul’s Conversion

September 22, 2008 by Amy Leave a Comment

The Sunday School class we joined a few weeks ago is studying Acts. I spent one whole year teaching Acts two years ago. We jumped in right at Saul’s conversion in chapter 9 last week and I can say I still am able to learn from it. While I won’t go into a dissertation about each, I’ll leave you with just three things that got me thinking and may do the same for you:

Verse 2: Saul could pick out the Christians from a crowd in order to persecute them. Can people pick you out of a group of friends as a Christian?
Verse 5: God made him blind. Normally we think of God as being the one that heals the blind not makes people blind. To me this is validity for the idea God lets you go through trials in order to “see Him” in the end. When Saul was made to see again, he had converted and would then become one of Christ’s biggest ambassadors instead of persecutors. Sometimes it takes something tough to go through to come out following Him.
Verse 15: Saul was God’s chosen instrument. God DOES have a plan for us. For what are you a chosen instrument?

Confession

September 4, 2008 by Amy 4 Comments

There’s something so releasing about confession. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that the same action that starts our journey as a Christian (see ABC’s of becoming a Christian) is the same one that we have to perform over and over throughout our journey. And each time it’s as if the old passes away and the new begins…over and over.

I had to confess something to Scott today. The Holy Spirit wouldn’t let me get away with NOT confessing it. I tried to only confess it to God but I had wronged Scott even though he didn’t know it and I wasn’t getting away with it. I was stressed. My blood pressure was up. My stomach didn’t feel well. I wasn’t connecting with him like I should have. Unconfessed sin does that to a person.

I sat Scott down this morning after the kids were all to school and confessed. What it was doesn’t matter but the release of it is the same each time. It’s as if the weight of the world comes off your shoulders and you can breathe again. And the wonderful thing about having a Christian husband is just like God…they listen, they forgive, you learn and you both move on.

Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.

I’ve Got Jesus

August 5, 2008 by Amy Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago we had a black gospel group visit our church. Now I’m not a huge gospel fan to begin with but one of the crowd pleasers was an upbeat song “I’ve got Jesus”. Scott was playing it on his laptop and Lexi came in to my desk for me to put a dress on Polly Pocket. She started bouncing up and down to the song. As I put the dress on, I told her to clap and started to sing along. I then said, “Do you have Jesus?”

She points to her chest and pokes it a few times and says, “In my heart.”

She paused for a minute and said “Did Jesus die on the cross?”

I said, “Yep. For you and me.”

And she took her Polly Pocket and went back to the playroom.