Just Do It

Nike commercial? Nope just my son. Every morning my kids have their stations that complete before going to school. The usual stuff: get dressed, brush teeth, eat breakfast, make bed, and bible time. The one that gets my youngest son (Case, 3) is making his bed. Every morning he says, "Mom, can you help make my bed?" I will say yes and begin to help him. He, in turns, starts playing catch with himself, kicking the ball, anything except help make the bed. I say, "Case, you need to help me make your bed." And he replies, "Mom, can you Just Do It?"

You see, in my son's mind helping him means just doing it for him. We live in a world where we want God to just do it...come down to the world, live a perfect life, die a painful death on the cross, and raise 3 days later from the dead. That's all...just do it. We want to do nothing, give nothing, sacrifice nothing. Although he did do what we couldn't do for ourselves, he died a death we should of died, he did do all that needed to be done for us to be saved from an eternity without him...He still asks us to do one thing: Give Him US!

 Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.

I am reading a book right now that is so awesome and rocking my world. It's called Not a Fan.
I highly recommend it! It talks about how so many people are simply just fans of Jesus, but not really followers. They want just enough to Jesus to save them from hell, but not too much where they have to change their lifestyle or mess with their daily living. In other words, want Jesus just to do it and we say thanks...we will see you in heaven. No! Jesus said we take up our cross and follow him every day. We turn from our selfish ways and follow him every day.

James 2:26 says it this way, "Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works." We can not have a faith in Jesus without doing something. We don't do great things to get to heaven, we do great things because we get to go to heaven.

Living in the house of a coach, I know there are so many kids out there who have so much God-given talent, but never reach their full potential because they want someone else Just to do it. They want someone else to run the sprints, lift the weights, learn the plays, do the sacrifice so that they can just play football. They don't understand....they have been given a gift now go use it, exercise it, sacrifice for it!!

We have been given a God-given gift through Jesus...now my challenge is to go use it, exercise it, and sacrifice it! When you accepted Christ as your savior the Bible says, "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

What will you do in the name of Christ today?

Put me in Coach...

I am going to need everyone to sing along....Put me in Coach, I am ready to play (clap clap) today (clap clap). Look at me..I can be center field. Oh how I love this song because it is about a kid who wants to play so bad, he would rather play the worst position on the field (when it comes to little league) just so He can be in the game.  Whatever it takes, whatever you need  I will do it because that's what you need, coach. I have been married to a coach long enough to know that every coach wants the heart of this little leaguer to be in every kid that he coaches. Why is Rudy one of the greatest sports movies of all time? Because Rudy had this kind of heart, the heart that said "I will get my face pounded every week to make the team better just so I can be on the team." We serve our head coach, God himself,  that is searching for these hearts to be on His Team. He searching for the hearts not the talented. He searching for the hearts not the gifted. He searching for the hearts not the experienced.

We learn from Isaiah how it works...
"And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Who should I send and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am! Send me."

Just like our little baseball player, I can see Isaiah jumping up and down saying "Put me in coach! I am ready to play, I will do whatever you need. Wherever there is a need I will serve. Wherever there is a need I will pray, wherever there is a need I will encourage. Look at me...I can even play center field.
The first thing we learn from Isaiah is we have to be in the presence of God to overhear the desires of God.  We must be in seeking God through His Word, through His Church, and through prayer.
The second thing we learn from Isaiah is there is no "But" after He says, Yes!
He doesn't say, "Yes I will but I wont say that. Yes I will but I wont go there. Yes I will but just not now. He just wants us to say Yes and then trust Him with the Rest.

God is still roaming the earth asking and searching "who will go into the schools and share my son?, who will go into their homes and share my son?, who will go into the hospitals and share my son? who will go into the restaurants and share my son?, who will go? Who has the heart I am looking for?

Will you say, "Put me in coach, I am tired of being on the sidelines, I am ready to play!"
If there is something God is laying on your heart...I wan to pray for you as my teammate:)

Yes I'm still here....barely:)

I am back from a summer of softball, speaking, and FCA camps! And it is great be home:) I need to start off this school year by sharing what God has been teaching me over the past 3 months. God has given me some amazing opportunities over the past few months to be a part of some great things for His Kingdom.  I had the privilege of going to Minnesota and speaking to 2 different womens groups, be the chaplain of the OU softball team who went to the college world series and played for a national championship, went to Kansas City to help write the FCA camp curriculum for next year, and serve at 4 FCA camps we do here in Oklahoma. To people on the outside these may sound like great, fun, exciting, neat experiences... although they were, I had to deal with little things called fear, worry, anxiety, doubt every step of the way.  I was living in a little world my friend calls "double minded." It describes it best in James 1:5-8
"If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything fro the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do" 

Wow! Talk about spit on your face, kick you in the crotch fantastic. This was me "unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind and "unstable in everything they do." I would freak out at the thought of what I was getting ready to have to do because I wasn't good enough yet worthy enough to be doing it. I would cry and some times puke...Then go out on stage or field and tell everyone how to strengthen THEIR faith and trust in God. I was wavering between my faith and my insecurities. Can you relate? May be you have been called to be a mom and you are flooded with insecurities about the job you are doing. May be you have started a new job and you are flooded with insecurities that you can't do this.
When we pray and still worry...when we pray and still fear..when we pray and still doubt...our loyalty has been divided between God and the world.
We become just like the Israelites (Exodus 16-32) We rely on God when things are going our way but the moment we are faced with the fear of the unknown we build ourselves a golden calf and ask God "Where are you?" This kind of faith will not do the impossibles, this kind of faith will not move mountains, the kind of faith does not give you life to the full, and this kind of faith does not let you enter into the promised land...and Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1), died and rose again so that we could have a faith like His....solid, unwavering, and immovable.
I learned from my awesome high school Sunday school teacher that faith can be described as Action Based on Belief sustained by Confidence. For my faith to be complete I am still learning the "sustained by Confidence" part.  "He alone is my Rock and my Salvation. He is my fortress. I will not be shaken." Psalm 62:6

Be encouraged that today could be the day that God wants to start growing your faith where He and He alone gets your undivided attention!

Faith like a child

Let me set this up for you...we live in tornado alley. Last night we had crazy storms with tornadoes, baseball size hail, and winds up to 80 mph. It was nuts....living in Oklahoma my entire life you get pretty used to the drill...sirens going off, power goes out, you take cover, and you wait. The only difference last night was my husband, my rock, my security, the one that keeps me calm wasn't there. He was 4 1/2 hours away at my parents house working harvest. I was extremely calm on the outside and completely freaking out on the inside. I was like a duck paddling like crazy underneath, but calm on top of the water. My three kids (7,5,3) and I were in our closet, with our helmets on, with our flashlights and waiting. Waiting for the storm to hit. Waiting to see what aftermath the storm would live behind. Waiting to see if I could keep it together for the family. Then the storm hit..the hail was so loud that my sweet baby boy Case began to cry and tremble while clinging to me for dear life. As I tried to console him, wishing Chris was here to console me, I hear the sweetest voice say the sweetest thing,"Case, Jesus says we are not suppose to have fear, but He will take care of us." Then I heard a voice that took charge of the closet, "Case, with God all things are possible."
And at that moment I understood what Jesus meant when he said "Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." Mark 10:15
They got it! My two oldest stepped up...Heck, I was ready to accept Christ again right there in their closet, I was so moved by their faith. They believed what Jesus said over what was going on in the world. They believed Jesus and not in their situation. They believed Jesus in the midst of a great storm. I couldn't help but ask, "Where has my faith like a child been"....honestly, focused on the storm. When something broke, I focused on how we were going to pay for this instead of believing Jesus, "I will meet your needs." When things were stressful at work, I focused on how to fix it instead of looking to the "author and perfector of our faith." I have been so focused on telling God how big my storms were, when I should have been telling my storms how big my God is. BA BAM!!!!!
To grow spiritually, sometimes we don't need to know more, but just do what we already know...."like do not fear, God will take care of me or With God all things are possible" My children's faith strengthened my own! Oh I hope they never lose that "in your face, Satan" or "Whatever world, I love Jesus" or "Storms? Bring it"......kinda faith!
As we sat in that closet, and my children spoke Truth to calm Case (and momma), we turned on Jamie Grace and Toby Mac's song "Hold Me" as loud as we could and sang it as loud as we could. The crazy thing, when we focused on God, we couldn't hear the storm any more. What storm do you need to straight up speak Truth into?

Triple Threat

We all know in the game of basketball, triple threat is the position you want to start before making any move such as dribbling, passing or shooting. It is the position that causes the most damage because you can make any basketball move from that position. Well, there is another triple threat that creeps its way into my life that will cause damage but not in a positive way. You know how people say they tend to take over God's job sometimes?...Well not me...I tend to take of the job of God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit...my triple threat. That's right...there are times in my life that I want to be the entire trinity...Can you relate?

First, God the father....I will pray for something or someone, but if my prayer isn't being answered in the timely manner in which I think it should or in the way I have prayed for....that's Ok I will be God and just take it back. Or there are those times when I believe in the promises that God has for me...but I will just help Him bring them to reality. There is one person that I look to when I decide that I can play God better than God can....Sarah. (Genesis 18-25) God had promised them children, but it just wasn't happening so Sarah decided to take it upon herself and have Abraham sleep with a servant girl and they would raise the baby. Yep that was her plan....she actually thought that was a good idea. The tragedy is: her plan, her playing God...nations are still at war (Muslim-Jews). Every time I feel like I want to help God out...I read Sarah's story and sit back and remember..."Be Still and Know that I Am God"....and you are not.

Then once I get that under control then I feel like I will just take over Jesus' role...the savior. It doesn't matter if it is my family, friends, or people I come across in the ministry...there are times I want to take over and save them from their troubles. I want to save them from themselves. I want to save them from any hurt or pain.  I want to save them from sin. I want to save them from hell. I want to SAVE THEM. Once again, I am reminded....that is not my job! The greatest pieces of advice I have ever received is "You are suppose to be faithful to the call, but you are not responsible for their answer." Your husband my be going through a difficult time right now....as much as you want to save him from it, God may be using this very thing to bring your husband closer to Him. Your children may be struggling in school....as much as you want to save them...God may be using it to clear the path to the plans HE has for them. The only Savior we need is Jesus Christ and Christ alone.

And it wouldn't be a triple threat if I didn't try to act as the Holy Spirit...convicting people for their wrong choices. Right? Don't we all do this? If people aren't living up to our standards (ours are so much higher than others...sarcasm) we feel like it is our job to convict them...that is why we have the billboards that say "Abortion is Murder" and "Gays are going to Hell." or may be it's a little closer to home...."I can't believe you let your kids watch that" or "dress like that." What we think is "ironing sharpening iron" is really looking at the plank in someone else's eye while we have a 2x4 hanging out of ours. The Holy Spirit raised Christ from the dead...I think it does it's job quite well....perfectly in fact.

As I am still growing every day in my walk with Christ...Jesus constantly reminds me that I am "fearfully and wonderfully made" as Sarah Louise Roberts...nothing else and nothing more. If God sent his son Jesus, to save me from death then the Holy Spirit wants to do something in my life....now that is an unstoppable team!

My Easter Lesson

I am notorious for missing my exits...I will be driving along most days and then the words, "Oh crap, I missed my exit" comes out of my mouth which means I end up taking the long way around. Why does this always happen? Because I am doing anything and everything except concentrating on my driving. I am usually trying to impersonate Mariah Carey with my mad singing skills, listening to a pod cast sermon, playing Truth or Dare with my kids (which usually ends with me eating a month old french fry that the kids have found in their seat), or yes...talking on the phone. OK, OK...I realize you all may be thinking stay off the road in Oklahoma when she is driving, but I really am a good driver...except when it comes to finding my exit. Even though it is right in front of me...I miss it. Even though I know it is coming up because I have driven it a thousand times...I miss it.
Can someone really be that incompetent that they miss the obvious? Just Ask....Judas Iscariot.
Here is a guy who is a pretty big part of the Easter story, yet we don't talk about him much because he was also one of the most tragic characters of the story. Here is a man that missed it. He missed his exit. He missed the obvious. He missed what was right in front of him....the relationship he could have had with Jesus, His teacher. Judas walked with Jesus, he talked with Jesus, was witness first hand to many of his miracles but he missed it because he was so focused on what He thought the Messiah should be. He was focused on his needs, wants, and desires. He was with Jesus, but missed Jesus. He missed out on the love that Jesus had for him, the plans Jesus had for him, the friendship Jesus wanted with him.
The saddest part of the story is....
"Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed this mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood."...and throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself." Matthew 27:3-5
You see, he missed the biggest part of Jesus....His forgiveness. There were two people that day who betrayed Jesus...Peter and Judas Iscariot. Both were disciples. Both were with Jesus. Both betrayed Jesus. One came back and asked for forgiveness...the other didn't. One is known as Peter the Apostle...the other Judas the betrayer. He missed his exit...the gift of forgiveness and unconditional love that this man right in front of him had to offer.
My encouragement and challenge this Easter...don't miss it. Don't miss what Jesus has to offer you. Maybe its forgiveness, freedom from the shame you have carried around. Maybe its rest that you so desperately need right now. Maybe it's direction of where to go next. Maybe its love, someone to look at you and say "I love you."
This Easter season as you go to church, surrounded by crosses and lilies, surrounded by Jesus everywhere making dinner to celebrate Jesus, getting dressed up for Jesus... don't miss Jesus. I know I'm not gonna!

Hall of Fame of Faith

I had lunch with a sweet friend this week who is track/cross country coach as well. She barely got into my car when she burst out the awesome news....she was just inducted into the Oklahoma Coaches Hall of Fame!!! Believe me there is no one who deserves it more than Coach Clay! She will be only the 2nd female ever to be inducted...Oh I was so proud of her.
There are a lot of hall of fames out there: the Cowboy Hall of Fame, the Nascar Hall of Fame, the College Football hall of Fame and on and on....
Wouldn't that be so awesome to be in one of them? Your name written somewhere that says you were the best of the best at what you were called to do.
I am reading through the book of Hebrews right now and I came across the Hall of Fame of Faith (Hebrews 11).... That's right the Hall of Fame faith. These were the people that God picked out to honor in His hall of fame. Some of the names include...Noah, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, and Samson. These are some big names of the Bible....but believe it or not they were men and women just like you and me. They were ordinary people that served an amazing God. They were ordinary people that had faith in an awesome God. Here is the thing....just because they had great faith didn't mean they were without faults. Yes, Moses had great faith the choose "to be mistreated with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin."(Hebrews 11:24) But it wasn't without fault...he murdered an Egyptian Soldier. Yes, Rahab had great faith to go against her people and hide the spies of God...but she wasn't without fault...Her occupation was a prostitute.
What we learn from our ancestors is that having great faith doesn't mean we are perfect it means we put our full trust in the one who is....God.
My favorite person in the Hall of Fame of Faith is none other than the MVP....Jesus.
"Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking the Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2
Jesus is the "founder and perfecter of our faith." You see he is not asking us to have great faith in something that He himself was not willing to. It took the greatest faith for Jesus to trust God his Father when he said, "Father, if there is any other way please take this cup from me, But not as I will but as you will." He went through the ultimate rejection from man so that you and I would never have to go through rejection from God.....that is our MVP of faith.
You and I can have a great faith in God because of the faith of our God. What do you need to trust God with today?