When I came home from Cambodia, I wouldn’t have thought for one second that I was a Pharisee.  If anything, I was the one that had it together.  I’d been away for five months and not once during that time did I butt heads with someone.  I got along with people.  I liked people.  And they seemed to like me.  So if anyone was in the wrong, it had be my parents.  And I couldn’t wait for them to see it.  I couldn’t wait for them to start treating me like I deserved to be treated.

Tags: family, hard love, Jesus, loving when it hurts, Pharisees, real love, tough love, worthwhile

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. -Jesus’ words to the Pharisees, Matthew 23:27

Because the name “Pharisee” sounds so old and out-dated and old-fashioned, I never thought much about the prospect of such people being alive today.  Weren’t those the kind of people who wore long robes and tried to fulfill long lists of religious rules and regulations?  I didn’t personally know anyone like that.  Maybe those people existed in dusty old Catholic cathedrals, but I was charismatic.  I had to be the furthest thing from a Pharisee.  There was no tradition in my church.  No list of rules to fulfill.  We just loved Jesus and wanted to be like Him.  What was Pharisaical about that?

Tags: God, hyprocrite, Jesus, love, Matthew 23:27, Pharisee, real love, whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones

Do you want to hear a story that has nothing to do with anything I post on here?

Yes?

Ok, good.

Daniel can wait, right?  Hopefully tomorrow we can pick up where we left off with him.

Have you ever seen those parents at the grocery story who are hovering over their flailing toddler with a beet-red face?  All the toddler wanted was some M & M’s.  And some Skittles.  And five bouncy balls.  And Cocoa Puffs.  But Mom said no.  And the child protested.  Loudly, wildly, their screams piercing through all the hustle and bustle of the busy store and reaching me on aisle nine, where I would say things in my head like: “I would never let my child act like that!” and “Don’t they know what discipline is?”

Tags: aunt, children, difficult children, discipline, kids, nephew, parenting

I wonder what goes through God’s mind when He sees one of His kids mess up.

Tags: God, Jesus, learning to love, love, real love, sandbox

Women are strong creatures.  God made us with a strength that is so much different than the strength He’s given to men.  Today, I want to celebrate that strength by introducing you to one of the strongest women I know.

Do you recognize this picture?  Possibly from all of my unnecessary posts on the messiness of my desk?  Well, today I want to introduce you to that beautiful woman in the frame.  She is my Grandma, Madeline.  The above picture was taken when my Grandma was still a teenager, living on the farm in Missouri and attending a sort-of dance/Prom at school.

Tags: Grandma, Proverbs 31, strong women