Time out!

So...we had one of those moments...you know, those moments where your life could have been in the "Calgone take me away" commercials. The kids and I had met one of the college athletes I mentor at Braums for ice cream. Everyone had their icecream and we are all sitting in the booth chatting and having a good time. My youngest, Case (3), crawls up into my lap and just whines a little bit. He then begins to start coughing and  as I reach for the cup of water, he pukes all over him, me, table, booth, floor, and I am pretty sure I saw some on the ceiling. I had never seen so much throw up come out of a little body. The college girl, Brianna, gets me some paper towels and i could tell she could go at anytime, and then my Chloe starts gagging too. I had Brianna take Chloe out of the way while I am trying to calm a very sad and scared little boy and clean us up in some way. It was crazy...and about that time...something is hitting me in the face...its my 8 year old spitting spit wads at me through his straw. "Really??!!, do you really think this is a good time for that?" came out of my mouth and Oh how I wanted a timeout...a timeout from life at that moment.
Can you relate?
I find myself asking God this same question..."Really?!, do you really think this is a good time for that?" What I am really saying in that question is, "God I don't think there is a good time for bad times.
Oh, but His ways are not our ways...His wisdom is not our wisdom...His thinking is not our thinking.
One of my favorite women of the Bible is Esther. Esther was a Jewish woman who was chosen to be the Queen to King Xerxes right after the King had banished the first Queen from the Palace because she refused to come to him when He sent for her. Dang, that would be a hard role to fill...talk about walking on egg shells with the hubby. Well, there was an evil guy who was the King's most powerful official named Haman. Haman came up with an evil plan to kill all the Jews because he didn't like Mordecai, a Jew who refused to bow down to Haman and who also happened to be Esther's cousin. Are you still with me? This IS in the Bible and not an episode of Days of Our Lives...promise.
Mordecai asked his cousin, the new Queen to help him and their people..."Don't think for a moment that because you're in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for such a time as this?" Esther 4:13-14
Um... we are put into certain positions or circumstances for such a time this...time to show my children how to act in a stressful situation, time to show the patience that I had been praying for, time to show the character of Christ, time to see the goodness of God even in the worst of times.
What we learn is that Esther didn't ask for a timeout from this time in her life...she used the position and the time she was given to bravely ask the King for help and he did! Esther and her people were saved.
May be you would like a time out from your marriage and God wants to use this time to bring you both closer to Him. May be you would like a time out from your job and God wants to use this time for you to trust HIM.
What if we looked at life through the same eyes as Mordecai and Esther and ask ourselves "What if God has placed is in this season of life for such a time as this?" There is always a good time for God to teach us life lessons and some times he uses bad times to do it.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, "For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven."
There are times to win and there are times to lose
There are times to be with loved ones and there are times to be alone
There are times to have icecream and there are times to throw up icecream
And Yes, there is a good time for bad times...just ask Esther
Afterall, "God has made everything beautiful for its own time." Ecclesiastes 3:11

Truth or Trash

After a message from church one day, my family started playing a game that we play often...it's called Truth or Trash. We will ask the kid squestions like: "if you mess up, God loves you less..truth or trash?" or "you have been created by God, for God, to do great things because of God...truth or trash?" They love it and are learning the difference between the truth of who God says they are and the trash the World says they are. As a wife of a coach and person in ministry, I play this game all the time...it just happens to be random people saying the statements and I have to ask myself is this truth or trash. Paul could relate...

In the book of Acts 27 and 28 we read that Paul was on his way to Rome, as a prisoner, and the ship he was on wrecked and the sailors found themselves on the island of Malta. It was cold, rainy, and they decided to build a fire. This is where we pick up the story in Acts 28:3-6, "As Paul gathered an wood for the fire, a poisonous snake bit him on the hand. The people of the island saw the snake hanging from his hand and said to each other, 'A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live."'But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. The people waited for him to swell up and drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn't harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god."

In the matter of about 5 minutes, based on the world's view of Paul he went from being a murderer to a god. The Truth was he was neither. The truth of who we are is not based on what people say we are, we are who God says we are...nothing more and nothing less. As a coach's family, we go through times where people will say that we walk on water (this is usually when we are winning) and then there are times when we will be told we are not a good role model. There will be times people will give you life with their words or try to give you death with their words. We have to learn that truth of who we are doesn't come from the mouths of people but from the mouth of God. Yes it is hard and yes I am tempted to believe the trash, but a wise man once told me "Just keep in mind that everyone has an opinion. Doesn't make them right. Live in truth not opinion."
There are 2 traps to listening to the world: 1) Those that say you are a god 2) Those that say you are a murderer. Paul addresses the first one in Romans 12:3, "...I give each of you this warning: Don't think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us."
It is kinda like when my son was playing football and we overheard him tell the coach, "coach, if you want to score, give me the ball." After the game, we talked about what humility is. The very next game we heard him say the same thing. We asked him, "Cale, we talked about this. What is humility?" He replied, "It is when you know that God made you this good." Dad gum it! That is it! He knew he was good, not because of what anybody said, but because he knew he was good because of God....he knew the Truth!

And for those who say that you are a murderer, Paul says in Romans 8:15, "So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now, we call him, "Abba, Father." For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children." You are a murderer...Trash. You are a slave to this world...Trash. You are not good enough....Trash. You don't measure up to other people....Trash. You are a daughter of the King of Kings....Truth. You are enough....Truth. You are a child of the living God...Truth!
The Truth is God and when we know the truth the truth will set us free. Set us free from pleasing people to pleasing God. Set us free from seeking peoples approval and seeking God's. Set us free from living for the world and living for God.
If there is anyone who understands this and can help us through these time is none other than Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. He was paraded through town with people shouting "Hosanna! Hosanna!" and one week later put on a cross by the same people shouting "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" And what did he do? He said, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do." Forgive them because what they say is trash, forgive them because they do not know the truth.
There are going to be times in our lives when we are getting told by the world that we are murderers or gods and we will have to look to God and ask "Is this Truth or Trash?" His opinion of us is the ONLY TRUTH!

What's your name

If you have been given a nickname in Sports you can bet its pretty stinkin cool. Everything from "The Rock", "Primetime", "Flo Jo"....you know you are awesome if you have been given an awesome nickname. Our family is no different....my kids love giving nicknames and love when we give them nicknames. It's like whatever name we give them they take on that persona. Here are some of the Roberts nicknames:  The Hulk, Speedy Gonzalez, Princess, Baby girl, Meal Ticket and we all fall under the nickname Team Roberts. It doesn't matter if we are referred to by our name, our nickname, or our family name we take pride in the identity we have been given. The crazy thing about our family is when someone comes over that they don't know very well, or we are out in public with people we don't know...its like they forget their identity and go crazy.  We had one of Chris' football players over for dinner this week and I thought "who are these children?" They are not doing any of the manners we taught them, they are not behaving in a way that we usually do at dinner time...its like they have totally forgotten who they are...where is my princess? Where is my Hulk?, where is my meal ticket?, Where is Team Roberts? Can you relate?
Jesus Can
Jesus had a great relationship with Peter. Peter was one of Jesus' closest friends, followers, and disciples. One day their relationship changed...The day that Peter got a new nickname.
In Matthew 16:13-20, Jesus asked Peter who he thinks Jesus is and without hesitation Peter says, "Messiah, Son of the Living God." And Jesus replies, "...Now I say to you that you are Peter (Which means 'rock') and upon the rock I will build my church and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven..."
Peter proclaims who Jesus is to Him and in turn Jesus proclaims who Peter is in Christ
The Rock! How would you like to be given that nickname by the Son of God? That is awesome! He gave him that name because He knew that Peter was going to live up to the nickname, live up to the identity that he has now found in Christ. What a great moment! Then it happens...
Peter finds himself among the world, among people who he doesn't know and is questioning him about this man named Jesus. And the "Rock" failed. "The Rock" failed 3 times when he denied even knowing Jesus. Where was the Rock who said he would never leave Jesus? Where was the Rock who said he would die for Jesus? Oh but Jesus remained faithful to Peters identity in Christ. Even though Peter was faithless at one point, God remained faithful. You see, God doesn't just forgive he restores. After Jesus rose from the dead and was walking and talking with Peter. He asked Peter 3 times "Do you love me Peter?" Peter may have forgotten who he was but Jesus never did. Peter asked for forgiveness and then fulfilled the identity in which Christ had given him.
We all have been given an identity in Christ. May be yours is Rock because it is your rock solid faith that is holding your family together. May be yours is Princess because you need to know that you are beautiful because you are the daughter of the King. May be yours is Leader because God is going to do great things through you for His Kingdom. Like Peter and my children, some have forgotten their identity and who they represent and need to return to it. Some  have no idea what it is because they have never met Christ. We need to learn from Peter that we have to know who we are in Christ before we can fulfill our purpose in Christ. Lose our identity-lose our purpose. Find our identity-find our purpose.
So....what's your name?

Never take a play off

Never take a play off...never take a day off...never take a practice off....these are some of the things coaches tell their players every day. They can never take it easy because the moment they do somebody else is going to hit them square in the mouth. Always be on guard, always be on your toes, always be awake. Key points to a great practice and a great game...
A man by the name Eutychus could have really used that piece of advice the night he fell asleep listening to Paul preach. In Acts 20:7-12 we meet Eutychus and I am sure Eutychus was a great man in search of an even greater God which is why he was listening to Paul preach until after Midnight...but he fell asleep, he took a play off, he let his guard down for just a moment and what happened? "..He fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below." That's right he fell right out the window and died. 
So how do we fall? Just like Eutychus...we fall asleep.
-Life gets too busy and our time with Jesus goes out the window and we fall asleep
-We read the Word of God to finish not to change and we fall asleep
-We do things out of habit instead out of a pursuit for Holiness and we fall asleep
-We flirt with sin one step at a time and we fall sleep
-We put our love of this world over the our Love for Jesus and we fall asleep
If you are like me, you can relate to one or all of these scenarios. You are going along with life just listening to the preacher one minute and then you got lazy, let your guard down, and bam...you realize your relationship with Jesus is in survival mode and you realize you have fallen asleep.
Just like Eutychus...we too can wake up! That's right Paul rushed to him, healed him, and he woke up!
The message Jesus gives to the church of Sardis in Revelation 3:1-4 is the same message He wants to give to you today..."I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive-but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again." 
First, we need to realize nobody can fall too far that Jesus can not reach them. Wake up and realize you and your faith have fallen asleep.
Second, Turn back to God and ask God to draw near to you again. We must return to our first love, Jesus. We need to date Jesus and remember why we fell in love with Him.
Third, the Bible says Eutychus went home unhurt. I love this! He returned home without a scar, without a wheelchair, without any signs that he had fallen asleep and fell out of a window. We must go back to God, but not look back on our failures. We don't have to walk around with the scarlet letter on our chest that shows we fell asleep...we don't look back, we go on ,unhurt, not because of anything we did, but because of what Jesus did! He heals us when we are dead. He saves us when we fall. He wakes us up when we fall asleep.
If you have taken a play off its time to WAKE UP and get back into the game!!!!

Dont make me say it again...

My kids and I love to go and watch my husband's football practice. One of the things I have noticed is when my husband says something once you listen, but if he says it twice you better make sure and do it.  Much like when I am at home...when I something once it is important, but if I have to say it twice, the momma train is coming choo choo!
Therefore, if Jesus, the son of God, says something once it is important, but if He says it twice, you might want to put down all other things listen, take notes, and put what he says into action. Well, I was reading in Matthew at the different times Jesus was dealing with the Pharisees. In Matthew 9:13 Jesus is talking to the Pharisees after they asked the question, "why does your teacher eat with such scum?" Jesus replies with, "Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: 'I want you to show mercy not offer sacrifices.'
Then when the Pharisees questioned Jesus about picking grain on the Sabbath. He answered with, ..."But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: 'I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.'

Ok Jesus you have my attention: "show mercy not offer sacrifices." As I was trying to figure out what that scripture meant I was reminded of something Jesus said in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5-7. "Not everyone who calls out to me, 'Lord! Lord! will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgement day many will say to me, 'Lord! we prophesied in your name and performed many miracles in your name.' But I will reply 'I never knew you..."

Oh the things we do in His name. We do so many things in His name aka offer sacrifices...
-In His name I told that group of people they were going to hell because they were gay
-In His name I have never touched a drop of alcohol and condemn those who do
-In His name I told someone exactly what I thought of them
-In His name I picketed in front of the abortion clinic yelling at the girls going in
-In His name I voted Republican all across the board
-In His name I told someone they needed to get their act together before going to church

We do a lot of things IN HIS NAME....but doesn't reflect HIS HEART. We can speak truth, but Jesus says he came to speak Grace and Truth (John 1:14). You can speak truth but if you do not show love...it is worth nothing. You can stand up for the things of Christ but if you do not show love...it is worth nothing. You can offer sacrifices but if you do not show mercy and love...it is worth nothing.

Alright Jesus you have my attention, but knowing me...you may have to say it again:)

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:)