Planted on the ROCK

 Her bright smile and exuberant personality rushed toward me with arms outstretched.  I braced myself for the inevitable hug. I am hugged every time she sees me coming and going.  I am hugged before and after a prayer.  I am hugged at the beginning and the end of meetings.  Her hugs surround me. The problem you ask? I am NOT a hugger.  I do not have a strong desire for physical touch.  My first thought is not to squeeze someone in love.  Nor is it my second thought.  It's not that my parents didn't lovingly embrace me as a child or that my husband is not attentive.  It's not that all my physical love is doled out to the kids during the day and I haven't any hugs left in reserve.  Outside of my immediate family, I am just not a touchy-feely kind of person. Is my discomfort with friendly hugs a result of keeping people at a distance?  Of controlling who and what I let get close to my heart?  Is it an attempt at protec...

 November brings on a refreshing attitude of thankfulness.  People recognize the Lord in the smallest of places, among the spectacular and the everyday.  It's exciting to see exclamations of thankfulness over parents, spouses, children, veterans, and even the Internet.  Some are super sweet and others bring a tear to the eye.  Regardless of the actual object of thankfulness, our Provider, the Lord, is the origin of all things given.  He alone desires our praise and thanksgiving. Skip Thanksgiving?  My kids think it would be OK! I'm not sure of the atmosphere of your home but in mine, my children anxiously await the arrival of Halloween with its costumes and treats.  They want to skate through November and dive right into the revelry and celebration of Christ's birth.  They begin to circle their fifteen or twenty most favorite items in the toy catalog on November 1.  These kids have already begun to countdown the number of Sundays remain...

McDonald's.  A plastic playground crawling in germs and swimming in carbs.  The originator of happiness in a cardboard box and plastic toys that are neatly placed in the circular file as soon as you hit the door. It's also the place I spent an hour on my knees completely relying on the Lord on Saturday. Let me back up. Our family is enjoying watching 5 year old soccer Saturday morning.  My hubby's phone rings and he answers it. "Mr. Carbajal?  This is Captain E calling from Alaska.  Your son, Jade, is in ICU." "Excuse me?  Who is this?  What did you say?" "Your son has some broken bones around his right eye.  He is in ICU and we are unaware of the severity of his injuries.  Depending on the severity, the Army will fly you and his mom to Alaska.  I'll call you in an hour." "Huh?! OK, I'll wait to hear from you." I got the gist of the entire conversation as I watched my husband's coffee-colored, ...

The root of all sin - PRIDE - can reduce each of us to eating grass.  Grass? you ask.  GRASS . King Nebuchadnezzar ate some serious grass.  He was one of the most powerful rulers in all of the world.  God gave him control of Babylon in 605 B.C.  The king was responsible for the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, conquering of other nations, and a prosperous, imposing kingdom.  In Daniel 5:18-19, Daniel reminds King Darius of King Nebuchadnezzar's status:  . . . the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor.  Because of the high position He gave him, all the peoples and nations and men of every language dreaded and feared him.  Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. Nebbie was a powerful man but only through God's hand.  Daniel 1:2 says t...

Obedience training around my house has slipped.  Oh, let me be honest - it has fallen off the map.  My half-hearted efforts at first-time obedience and joyful obedience have resulted in a grumbling, delayed, questioning, bargaining, group of uprisers.  It's a full-fledged revolt of the "Disobedient vs. the Disenchanted" .  Sometimes it is easier to let them grumble and complain rather than correct and discipline. I know, I know.  I am doing them a disservice by allowing them to skate by.  I know the Bible tells us:    Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Colossians 3:20 Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord Titus 3:1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work I know too, that whenever I allow disobedience to plant a seed it will grow into a sequoia.  Qui...

That sweet child of mine that God gave me as a constant reminder of a need for mercy and grace?  That girl that exposes my every weakness and strength?  That 6 year old fire cracker that has struggled with an "appropriate attitude"?  I witnessed a bending in her spirit of self today.  Picture an afternoon of a tired and cranky mom trying to juggle kindergarten with an almost 5 year old and the book of Daniel with the girls.  And, the kicker - trying to be joyful and not tired or cranky - in my own strength.  As I am being pulled this way and that for attention, all I can think of is wanting to indulge in a giant spoonful of chocolate frosting cooling in the icebox.  I know, I know.  Some of you are disgusted by the thought of that chocolate treat.  For me, it is a creamy, rich sampling of manna God sends me as a daily fortifier. Sorry for the bunny trail.  Chocolate frosting can have that affect on me. Anyway, the stress is mo...

My husband and I have a guilty pleasure to confess.  It is not anything that is detrimental to our spirits or disastrous for our physical bodies.  It is just wasted minutes spent watching a program where we learn pretty much nil except the value of someone else's junk.  We love to spend late nights peering into other people's garages, basements, and store rooms via "American Pickers".  The hosts, Frank and Mike, travel around the country in a van looking for valuable recyclables - Rusty Gold .  Their eyes light up and sweat begins to roll off their foreheads when they spy something they can transform from junk to treasure.  Rare bicycles and tin toys or porcelain cafeteria signs and oil pumps incite giddiness between them.  Mike likes to say "I'm just an ordinary guy looking for extraordinary things". Rusty gold, huh?  Their finds are covered in dust and cobwebs and years of grime, neglected  under a bottom shelf at the bac...