Life Lessons!!!

Whew...it was a busy weekend!

I was honored to be able to help out at our friend Kate's wedding shower on Sat and Kirsten had the prom that same night!

There were LOTS of preparation for both events but this is what has stood out the most from this weekend....

Kirsten had a rather traumatic experience at work the other night. She was closing and the person she was working with DITCHED her and left her to finish up around midnight (even though we have made it QUITE clear that Kirsten is NEVER to be left alone to close up!)Anyway...when the other girl left she did not tell Kirsten that she locked the door. So when Kirsten took the trash out.... ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE END OF THE COMPLEX....IN THE DARK....she got locked out of the shop!

The alarms weren't set, some of the lights were still on and all of her belongings....including her phone, jacket and her car keys were INSIDE the shop. I realized about 12:30 that she had not called to tell us she was leaving and started calling both her cell phone AND the shop phone. She managed to catch the VERY last person leaving the parking lot just as he was driving away. Luckily she knew him and he let her use his cell phone and gave her his coat because it was freezing.....for which we are very grateful....and she called us JUST as Jeff was getting ready to go find her.

Kirsten never cries and she was just SOBBING on the phone and Jeff rushed right over to get her. She couldn't even call they manager or anyone because all of the numbers were in her phone...in the shop!!

When they got home. Kirsten came up and sat on the bed while I rocked her...which she also never does. She cried and said..."I could hear my phone ringing through the door Mom and I KNEW it was you trying to find me."

She has made such a big deal about being an adult recently....I think it was a good lesson for her to realized that she ISN'T quite grown up yet....and that we all need help on occasion.

Yesterday she once again, jokingly, launched into her "I'm an adult now" speech...and as she continued talking she kind of trailed off into....."except when I lock myself out of the shop and dad has to come get me...." and she just smiled.

For some reason....as I relayed this story to a friend of mine.....I was struck that there is a spiritual lesson here for ALL of us. No matter what our age.

I can't quite put my finger on it and the words aren't coming together as I would like but it goes something like this......

1. We all need help sometimes and we should never be embarrassed because me might need a helping hand.

AND...

2. More importantly..... In the dark, cold night....when we need him....our Heavenly Father heeds our call for help....and then will hold us in his arms and comfort us....IF WE ALLOW HIM!!! No matter how old we think we are.

The picture of our heavenly father acting not only as our "rescuer" but also as our "comforter" is also a wonderful example of the physical relationship between a man and wife as we serve our children together.

I love you Kirsten. You are a blessing to your father and I and we are so grateful that we were able to serve you in your time of need. We understand that you would rather not have had to ask for help. You want to do things on your own. We all do! Needing help doesn't mean that you aren't an adult...it just means that you are human. You have been a wonderful help this past year and have never hesitated to step up and serve your family in any way necessary.

And thanks for understanding that your mother has an uncontrollable need to share your life with our friends and family!!!

Love this prayer!!

"Lord, give us faith so that we may overcome, and then grant us grace to remain unharmed though sin and Satan dog our heels!"

C.H. Spurgeon

Is Satan dogging your heels today? Sin?

Let's not be afraid to call it what it is people. Be it of our own making....sin....or the hounding of Satan that often comes simply because we are choosing to live our lives as God would have us live....figure it out and DEAL WITH IT!

And as a side note....is there something you might be doing today that would lift some of the burden of those around you.... be it physical or spiritual? Think about it...pray about it...and then act if you feel that is what the Lord is calling you to do.

Saved at 14...still stumped at 41....

I am beginning to think that I know NOTHING about what it means to live life as an adult and a "believer". Well...maybe not "beginning", I know that I have felt this way before. The thought seems more insistent to me this time though.

I know I AM a believer...and what brought me to this place. I know that as a believer I am not only saved from "the pits of hell" but also guaranteed a place beside my Heavenly Father for all of eternity.

What I do not fully grasp, after nearly 30 years, is what I am to be about AS a believer.

I am not looking for formulas...."take one daily devotional washed down with a glass of today's entry of "read through the Bible in a year".

What I am searching for is the peace that is supposed to come with the saving knowledge of Christ. NOT the peace that comes from the knowledge of an eternity spent with my creator.... Like I stated before, THAT I get!

I am longing for the peace that comes from the KNOWING that I am living in HIS will.

I do not wish to be "blown about" by the "winds of change" or "social consciousness". anymore.

What I believe is..... "social consciousness" born out of anything but the leading of the Holy Spirit(which comes only from a one on one relationship with Christ..which comes only through salvation)....is just WORKS....CHAFF...and WILL be "burned up".

SOOO...back to my original thoughts! How do I come to a place in my relationship with my Heavenly Father where I have peace that I am living in HIS will?....WITH THE KNOWLEDGE that I WILL make mistakes because I am human.

I DO NOT wish to continue to follow Peter Cottontail halfway down the rabbit trail before I realize that I have missed "it" ANY MORE.

I am getting to old for this crap! I NEED to about HIS work...Kingdom work...the work of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God thus stated.....

The kingdom of God is the rule of an eternal sovereign God over all creatures and things (Psalms 103:19; Daniel 4:3). The kingdom of God is also the designation for the sphere of salvation entered into at the new birth (John 3:5-7), and is synonymous with the “kingdom of heaven.”

The kingdom of God embraces all created intelligence, both in heaven and earth that are willingly subject to the Lord and are in fellowship with him. The kingdom of God is therefore, universal in that it includes created angels and men. It is eternal, as God is eternal, and it is spiritual—found within all born-again believers. We enter the kingdom of God when we are born again, and we are then part of that kingdom for eternity. It is a relationship "born of the spirit" (John 3:5) and we have confident assurance that it is so because the Spirit bears witness with our spirits (Romans 8:16).

God is sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient and the ruler over all of His creation. However, the designation "the kingdom of God" compasses that realm which is subject to God and will be for eternity. The rest of creation will be destroyed. Only that which is part of the "kingdom of God" will remain.

AND...just for the record....I believe the Kingdom is "at hand"...AND...for all of eternity. We need to be working by and through the PROMPTING of the Holy Spirit NOW and not just sitting around on our butts.

AARRGG!! Which brings me around the the original topic YET AGAIN.....

What am I supposed to be about as a believer?

P.S. All Scripture and/or text references that may lead me to answers to the last question would be greatly appreciated.

4/14/08

Jeff gave me a really nice leather journal for Christmas and after three months since my last entry this is what I wrote.....

"I really want to journal. It's just easier to blog. Typing is faster and it has spellcheck.

I wonder which is more telling though....AND....if I ever have grandchildren who read this...or my blog...if it is still out there in cyberspace...which will they find more interesting? I don't USUALLY list the details of my daily life in my blog...or my spiritual frustrations...or my daily hiccoughs with my children...well....not DAILY.

So how best to approach "The Journal" after three months of not writing in it?

I'll start with why, after so long, I picked it up in the first place.

I felt compelled to list the desires of my heart.

Well, let me back up a bit. I was reading Oswald Chambers and I didn't like it!! It begins.... "Whom the Lord loves He chastens . . ." Hebrews 12:6 How petty our complaining is!"

ARRRGGGG!!!!

I just told Jeff the other day, "I can't believe God's STINKING plan is for us to stay in Colorado so that we can live in poverty!"

Yes, I said "stinking"...and as I look back....sitting in the bottom of the shower, soaking wet, was probably NOT the best place to risk being struck by lightning.

ANYWAY...OC goes on to say, "Where do the saints get their joy? If we did not know some Christians well, we might think from just observing them that they have no burdens at all to bear. But we must lift the veil from our eyes. The fact that the peace, light, and joy of God is in them is proof that a burden is there as well. The burden that God places on us squeezes the grapes in our lives and produces the wine, but most of us see only the wine and not the burden. No power on earth or in hell can conquer the Spirit of God living within the human spirit; it creates an inner invincibility."

So now...if God's plan ISN'T for us to live in poverty...which my wonderful husband ASSURES me is NOT the case....and He truly DOES care about the desires of my heart I will now list them here. Not as some spiritual "wish" list...but as a reminder to ME as to what is REALLY in my heart...because I am fairly sure that God already knows...and I believe that if they are there, HE PROBABLY placed them there before I was born."

HA...and that is where I will leave off sharing with you my lame attempt at WRITING...WITH A PEN...ON PAPER. You don't need to know the desires of my heart. I will tell you there were three...

and then it did kinda turn into a wish list ending with wanting chickens and my desire to lose 100 lbs.

God knows the difference between my desires and my wishes though. And I know which is which because the important ones have NUMBERS in front of them!!

Simply stated....

The Gateway to Christianity is not through an intricate labyrinth of dogma, but by a simple belief in the person of Christ. -
Norman Vincent Peale

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.
Dr. Seuss It is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple.
Rabindranath Tagore

I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.
Laura Ingalls Wilder

After all, life is really simple; we ourselves create the circumstances that complicate it.

When I was about 16, my Sunday school teacher gave our class a daily devotional called, "Our Daily Bread". I have read this devotional off and on in the MANY years since then. I used to get the little booklet...now like almost everything else...I read it online at http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml

It is a very simple devotional which at times I am frustrated with....BECAUSE of it's simpleness...and at other times I am moved to tears...because of it's SIMPLENESS.

Crazy huh?

Today's devotional was no different....

That the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. —2 Corinthians 4:7

In the days of John Wesley, lay preachers with limited education would sometimes conduct the church services. One man used Luke 19:21 as his text: "Lord, I feared Thee, because Thou art an austere man" (KJV). Not knowing the word austere, he thought the text spoke of "an oyster man."
He explained how a diver must grope in dark, freezing water to retrieve oysters. In his attempt, he cuts his hands on the sharp edges of the shells. After he obtains an oyster, he rises to the surface, clutching it "in his torn and bleeding hands." The preacher added, "Christ descended from the glory of heaven into . . . sinful human society, in order to retrieve humans and bring them back up with Him to the glory of heaven. His torn and bleeding hands are a sign of the value He has placed on the object of His quest."
Afterward, 12 men received Christ. Later that night someone came to Wesley to complain about unschooled preachers who were too ignorant even to know the meaning of the texts they were preaching on. The Oxford-educated Wesley simply said, "Never mind. The Lord got a dozen oysters tonight."

I LOVE THAT....."Never mind. The Lord got a dozen oysters tonight." !!!!

We should NEVER underestimate the power of the simple things....or folks in life.......

A simple prayer, the first I learned from my father...Now I lay me....a simple painting....The Mona Lisa....a simple song, accompanied for the first time by simple instrument, the guitar.....Silent Night....a simple flower, used to play a simple game of love or to fashion a simple crown....daisies....a simple man....Jesus.

BTW...That Sunday School teacher was Christine McDonald.

Christine is one of the finest examples of the "simple", yet life changing, love of Christ I have ever witnessed. She also happens to be the mother of my first true friend, she was the church secretary at the first church we ever attended, a chaperon on the first youth trip I ever went on, she helped me get my fist job, she made my wedding cake, she was there when my first child was born .....

and I have often said of her... that in heaven..... if I can live in a cardboard box in the alley behind her mansion and help her carry her many crowns....then I will be forever happy.

Live simply.

Home Again Home Again....

So today begins a new chapter in the lives of the Pyle family.

After a long drive home from Washington, Jeff and Kirsten made it home safely around lunchtime on Saturday. They were exhausted but other than some snow and the dust storm Kirsten had to drive through in Oregon....the trip went well. We spent the remainder of the weekend sleeping, watching movies and just spending time together.

BUT TODAY......Jeff started his new job!! He called me at lunchtime and said that everyone was excited to have him there. HE was excited too because he got a bunch of new toys! A new desk, chair, computer, monitors....all of that geek stuff he likes so much. ;)

I have gotten so used to Jeff working a couple of states away....or in our living room. Now he is just 20 minutes down the road! I can go have lunch with him if I want!!!

It's so odd. I read the blogs of our friends and everyone seems to be in such defined times in their lives. Dann is single and touring with his band, Kate and Noah are about to be wed, Nick and Brittney have a brand new baby and Kath is in that MOPS stage of her life. Even our kids are in VERY definite stages with Kirsten graduating, Kaitlyn driving on her own and Keaton getting ready to start High School next semester.

AND although Jeff and I could be tempted to feel like we are moving backwards....I don't feel that way at all. We are DEFINITELY in a new phase of our lives....the problem MAY be that we have SO MANY options it could be difficult to decide which way we should be moving. Hence the need for lots of prayer.

For now....I think we will probably just spend some time enjoying a normal schedule and the time we have together. There aren't TOO many times in your life when you get to be in this position!!

All God's creatures great and small....

I'm sitting here working on a quilt and watching Oprah. Yeah...I know Kate....I told you yesterday that I almost never watch it....and I don't. BUT...when I WAS watching it yesterday I saw that they were doing a show today on puppy mills and I just had to watch again today.

Now....I have known about puppy mills since I was a child. And I am sure that most of YOU know about puppy mills....but if you don't let me just explain a few things.

According to the man on Oprah, who is dedicating his life to rescuing as many as 40 dogs a day from puppy mills, up to 99% of the puppies in pet shops...and many you find on line.... come from puppy mills. Now that is HIS statistic in PA, but I am sure that it is fairly accurate as far as the rest of the country too.

Even if you AREN'T a dog lover the footage shown on Oprah today would have broken your heart. Female dogs crammed into crates or cages so small they couldn't stand up while they were stepping all over their puppies. Animals whose feet had NEVER touched the ground although they were being bred on farms. Animals with open wounds and chains around their necks that had grown into their hair. Females with tumors in their breasts from nursing so many puppies. Dead dogs lying out in the open. And MOST of the dogs they showed rescued in this particular footage were either females to old to breed anymore or males that are not needed. If they are not rescued they are shot...or killed in some other way.

How do I know about puppy mills? Well, when I was a child my family showed dogs, my mother worked for a vet AND my mother owned her own grooming shop and boarding kennel.

SO, I learned from a very young age several things. One, if you want a full blooded dog, with papers or not, buy them ONLY from a reputable breeder...NEVER from a pet shop. I learned that female dogs are bred over and over until they can't be bred anymore. I learned that MOST puppies that come out of a puppy mill are sick, inbred or not properly socialized.

If you want FIRST hand experience. I personally have never been to a pet shop where at least HALF of the puppies didn't have diarrhea. Also, a few years ago the girls wanted to go to the mall with their friends. While there they wanted to go see the puppies. I of course was just following them around taking pictures of them as they laughed and window shopped. While we were standing in the pet shop the girls were cooing over the puppies and it was such a cute picture I moved in to take the shot. A young woman almost pounced on me and then very rudely kicked me out of the shop. It took me a couple of seconds to realized why she had done that...and then I remember that there had just been an expose about pet shops/puppy mills on the local news.

Okay....so I have said my piece. I have not even said anything about spaying and neutering your animals...or how you should save a dog from a shelter or rescue league instead of buying a puppy. You guys know all about that.

I do want to say two more things though.

1. The best pets we have EVER had have been mutts. Some rescued, some found or given to us. The only exception was Duke who was a retired greyhound from the track in Co. Springs. See, retired greyhounds, unless rescued are put to death. When we adopted Duke he had never ridden in a car, had never been bathed, had never eaten kibble,had never gone up and down the stairs and he was TERRIFIED of thunder because he had been raised in a cinder block kennel with a tin roof. We have NEVER owned a more loving dog though. He just CRAVED love.

AND....

2. If you live here in Castle Rock you might now that we have a new pet shop here. I won't say the name but I am sure that you have probably seen the sign spinners standing up and down Founders Pkwy. If you are reading this I hope that you don't know these people....because I am afraid I am about to say something to make you mad.

PLEASE DO NOT FREQUENT THIS PLACE....and tell everyone you know not to buy a puppy there. This place is a user of puppy mills if I have ever seen one. The puppies are VERY cute...but while I was in there with my mother we spotted several things. Puppies with diarrhea, uneducated staff and if NOTHING else, HORRIBLE over-pricing!!! You could adopt anywhere from 5 to 15 animals from a shelter for the same price as one of the puppies they were selling. What kills me is the lady running the counter said that the puppies were selling so fast she was going to have to contact her breeders for more puppies.

YOU CAN NOT JUST CALL YOUR BREEDER FOR MORE PUPPIES UNLESS YOU ARE CALLING A PUPPY MILL!

And IF you know these people...and you can prove me wrong...PLEASE DO!

(After posting this I got this response from a friend in regards to this VERY pet store......

I have a friend that bought a puppy from there. NEVER AGAIN she said. The minute she got it home, she took it to the vet and was told it had some bacterial infection. They tell you that the first shots have already been given, but they couldn't come up w/ the records. This girl has spent hundreds on a BRAND NEW PUPPY.
We went there and the people are less than customer service oriented. And some guy was coming in as we were leaving with his own dog. Some girl, I'm sure not much over 16 or 17 said "you can't bring that dog in here", and the guy just stood there. (I"m not sure if he didn't hear or what) But she said it again very rudely. And he says "I though it said Pet Paradise" and walks out. She said "Yeah, for our pets not yours". NICE!!!!!!
Our dog came from the Denver Dumb Friends league. He is a very good dog. I would do it all over again.)

K....I'm stepping off of my soap box now. Those of you who know me know that I TOTALLY believe that PEOPLE come first but I also believe that we are to care and be responsible for the world around us.

Oh...our dog Benji....he's a mutt....and he was a stray...and he's running a very close second to Duke as the best dog we have ever owned. And as you can see from the photo above...he almost NEVER leaves Kaitlyn's side. She has said in the past if he was a human she would marry him. Why...because he is loyal and he loves her unconditionally.

The Time Travelers Daughter.....

AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

I just left my oldest child at the airport....by herself....cause she's gonna fly....by herself!! How can a child who at one time couldn't even wear shoes because her feet were too fat fly by herself!?!

Yes, I know that one thing has absolutely nothing to do with the other.....and she couldn't even WALK when her feet were too fat to wear shoes....but that's just one of the KOOKY things about being a parent....time seems to have no meaning.

The memory of Kirsten driving home through a snowstorm after taking her SATs a few months ago is just folded on top of the one from her first day of preschool,on top of the one when she used her Tinkerbell makeup set to make stage makeup and give her sister a perfect black eye, on top of the one from the day she met her first youth directer Pastor Mark, or when she was dedicated or when she drove me home after getting her drivers license or when she did imitations of Mick Jagger when she could barely walk or when she was baptized in the backyard by her daddy and her Uncle Ken when she was ten.

I love Sci-Fi...and my favorite sub-category of Sci-Fi is time travel. Maybe this has something to do with the fact that my memories are not exactly chronological. They are all just folded in and amongst themselves and the memory of seeing Kirsten for the first time is no less clear than the one of her watching her walking away at the curb of DIA just a few hours ago.

Keaton tried to explain to me the other day that Einstein theorized that time travel was not possible and why. The details escape me...as does MUCH of what he tries to tell me about science ;). Maybe I was was intentionally blocking it out because I love Einstein...and if he didn't think time travel was possible I don't want to know! I WANT to believe in time travel...and until the day when it becomes reality....

I'll just travel back and forth in time....in my memories.

Oh...and BTW.....Kirsten is flying to WA so that she can help her Dad drive all of of his stuff back here. Hmmm...flying by herself....helping her dad make a 24hr drive...I didn't have to give her any spending money because she has her own from working 3 days a week....guess I might have to admit she MIGHT...POSSIBLY....be close to being an adult. ;)

Highs and Lows...

In my friend Kath's blog she invited us all to post our highs and lows for the month of March. Here's mine....

Highs....

1. Jeff and I celebrating our 22 anniversary...on the 22nd.

2. Keaton and I flying to WA for his 14th birthday which was on the 6th.

3. The kids having Spring Break.

4. Shopping for and purchasing Kirsten's prom dress.

5. Kaitlyn getting her drivers license.

6. Having friends over the day before Easter.

7. Nick and Brittney bringing Connor into the world. CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HIM...he's gorgeous!

8. Jeff getting a job here and not having to move and leave our house or friends!!

Lows....

1. Jeff getting a job here and not getting to be near my family in WA.

2. Our financial situation and my inability to deal with it.

3. Re-injuring the STUPID ankle and ending up back in the STUPID cast.

4. My dad loosing his job.

*******************

K...so Kath had 5 highs and 5 lows. I had a 8 highs because this month was so full ....and only 4 lows. My lows were pretty low though so I didn't need any more than that.

All I can say is THANK THE LORD for the extra highs!

This is a pretty cool excersise. It kinda puts things in perspective.

Thanks Kath!!