It's Just Plain Hard ... But Oh So Rewarding!

Just over a year ago, we learned that our lives would be changed for quite some time as we were going to need to care for Patty's mom who's husband chose to abandon her down in FL Where they were living and go off with another woman.  You see, Patty's mom is a cancer survivor but is unable to walk much more than a few steps and is not able to live alone without someone to help care for her needs.  For quite a few months, we thought we were moving to  Florida to move in with her but she lived in a 55+ park and we would not have been able to bring Becca with us.  So after much prayer and deliberation we decided to bring her back home to Kenosha to live with us.  What a blessing it has been for us to have her living with us and to have her as a part of our home and family!  With that, however, comes many challenges, especially for Patty and I.  My goodness, it takes a lot of work on both of our parts to find any kind of time to connect and spend some quality time just the two of us.  Our house is small and Joann's room door is always open.  Privacy is extremely difficult but we are still oh so blessed.

you see, I was spending the day with Joann today as Patty was out taking some time of to help her friend who just moved into their new home.  Patty has been not only caring for her mom but also working full time and she really just  needed some time to get out and relax and help her best friend for the day. So I chilled out with mom and spent the day with her

As we were sitting in her room having one of our lengthy conversations about life ... I began thinking about just how blessed I truly am.  She can hardly walk any more and is in constant pain.  She does get out now and then but it wares her out ... unless, of course, we're going to the casino ... then she perks right on up ... LOL ...But for most of the time she is in bed keeping her legs up to help with the circulation.  Day after day she does the same thing ... turns on the news and just sits there watching ... almost mindlessly hoping that soon, this day too will be done.  She's in her own prison within her body that refuses to give her much grace at all.

And so it was ... as we were sitting there talking, that I realized just how incredibly blessed I am.  First off, she's my mother in law and for the most part we get along just fine ... That in itself is a miracle ... LOL.  But more importantly, the Lord was showing me that Patty and I are obeying the 5th commandment found in both  Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 where it talks about us honoring our parents and by doing so we will live long lives blessed by the Lord.  I began to think about all of the seniors who live alone and have no one around them to love them. They are just forgotten.  Families don't have time for them any more so they get carted off to a nursing home to sit out the rest of their life and die! Thee is no way we would allow that to happen with either of our parents. Yes, we realized that even though these years are not going to be easy ... in fact they'll be hard ... but that's OK because the reward of having mom here with us is priceless.  I am honored and oh so blessed that we are in the position to be able to provide her with the best care possible.  I'm also thankful that my sweet wife Patty is getting some quality time with her mom which she hadn't had for so many years.  Yes, it is just plain hard ... that's true ... but the rewards way surpass any hardship.  Thank you Lord for giving us this opportunity to love Joann and to share your love with her in and through us.  Some day, I know we will look back on these years and will see them as some of the best years in our married lives.  We are blessed!!!

What Are We Doing?

I had an interesting experience at the YMCA a couple of days ago that has bugged me ever since!  A man that I know somewhat saw me and asked me where I had been as he hadn't seen me in awhile and I explained that I usually swam in the afternoon ... this happened to be an early morning visit ... way too early ... LOL.  In any case, I was amazed at how quickly the conversation turned to Kenosha First Assembly and all that the church isn't doing.  It really upset me and I interrupted the guy and told him that I was sick and tired of hearing all the negative crap that people had to say about church.  Doesn't the Bible tell us that we are to pray for our leaders?  Are we not supposed to pray for those in authority over us?  When things don't go the way we think they should go do we just get up and leave?  What kind of people have we become?  I see WE because in the past I have been just as guilty.  Negative comments and complaining is like a nasty cancer that just spreads all over and does absolutely no good.  You see, I think we forget that our pastors are accountable to the Lord for their choices and actions which include Sunday morning services.  Who are we to tell them how the morning services should be run?  Sure, there are things that have made me sad and certainly there are things I miss so much such as our musicals but I'm not a part of the leadership team.  Being a pastor or leader comes with incredible responsibility to make wise choices that will honor the Lord and win souls to  Christ.  What our leadership team needs more than anything else is a body of believers to have their backs and to hold them up in prayer ... asking that the Holy Spirit guide their every step.  That's our responsibility.

I say all this because I'm mainly talking to myself.  I will not engage in any more church bashing or negative comments about our church or  our leadership team ... I'm just going to walk away.  I love our church and  I'm going to make it a priority, with the Lord's help, to remember to pray every day that the fountainhead of blessing never runs dry ... and even though I'm just one person ... it only takes a spark to get a fire going!  I'm ready for revival ... and that revival starts in me!

A Vertical Relationship

Have you ever just felt utterly overwhelmed by all that's going on in our world today?  My goodness, some days I wish I could just tune it all out!


As I have been focusing on my life these past few months, and most recently these past few weeks, I have thought much about where my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ fits.  Ouch ... There are so many opinions from all kinds of different people ... read that, listen to this, do this devotional, pray for 30 minutes ... and on and on ... In fact just today there was a huge uproar about Ellen and her gay lifestyle being the spokesperson for JC Penny.  You're probably wondering how in the world I brought this rabbit trail into the middle of my thought but there's a reason behind it all.


It saddens my heart so much to see the hatred that "Christians" have for people who have a gay lifestyle.  I wonder what sin is in their life?  It amazes me that we can spend so much time judging others according to "our" standards but we don't bother to look at our own lives.  Do you really think the Lord categorizes sin?  I don't ... I think He hates it all.  I have had many gay friends in the past and have worked with many others and let me tell you ... they are some of the kindest people I have met.  Now wouldn't you think the kindest people would be those of us  who claim to be Christ followers.  In fact, in the Bible it tells us that the unbelievers will know we are Christians if we love one another ... shoot, we can't even do that in the church body because we are too busy looking at what others are doing.  It so saddens my heart.


So as I have been thinking through all of this and talking to Jesus about it I began to look at my own relationship with Him.  Am I looking around at all the folks around me and judging them as well because they don't fit into my box called "Christianity"?  Something like, "how could you even think God could love you and save you if you're gay?".  As I thought about my own sin in my life it made me sad to think how mean I can be to others without even realizing it.  Maybe if I would begin to look at my relationship with Jesus as a vertical one, I'd stop seeing what everyone else is doing are start learning to become more like him each day.  And what does He tell us to do ..... LOVE!  Love is weaved all over throughout God's Word. Hmmmm I wonder what He's trying to help us understand.


You know, our family watches Ellen's show every evening on our DVR .. Not only is she incredibly hilarious, but she's one of the most generous people I have seen.  Now think about this with me.  Why in the word would she want anything to do with Christianity when she is treated with such disrespect and hostility?  Why would she even have a desire to hear about this "loving" God who forgives us our sins and saves us?  Why?  It hurt me so much today watching her show and hearing what the million moms are doing because Ellen is a spokesperson for JC Penny.  Love that ... The Lord loves  Ellen ... In fact, He loves all of us sinners ... but the only way Ellen would ever truly understand God's incredible grace and mercy is if she experienced it from us!!! Remember, we are His hands and feet.  We are not here to judge but to love.  It's about respecting people where they're at.


And so with that, I'll close asking you all to pray for me as I focus each day on becoming more and more like Christ.  I pray that each day I will remember that my relationship with Christ is vertical and then from their it become horizontal to such a hurting world.