I was thinking today about an incident that happened a few years ago. We lived in Wisconsin at the time and our house was in the middle of quite a few very old, very large trees. Maple, Oak, and… oh who am I kidding? Big old trees, I have no idea what kind. I do know that those trees grew a lot of leaves and in the Fall, much to our chagrin, they would drop their leaves. Everywhere. I bet you didn’t think you were going to get such an in-depth science lesson here today, did you?

As I was saying, leaves. Leaves! We were covered in leaves every Fall. So of course we had no choice but to burn those leaves, which is what Kyle and I chose to do one day. My husband Julian, in preparation, had made an impressive pile of leaves, sticks, and twigs in the fire pit in the backyard. Although we still had mounds surrounding the fire pit that were two and three feet high.

Because we could not find the lighter fluid anywhere my sweet son suggested what most fifteen year-olds would suggest, “I’ll use gasoline.”

I couldn’t think of an alternative quickly enough so that is exactly what he used. But no worries because I was standing by to limit the amount. When I said enough, he stopped. Then as he put the gas can down, I thought about its location and told him to put it a little farther away from the fire. Again he obeyed. We’re nothing if not cautious, you see.

I bet you have no idea where I’m going with this little tale.

Within seconds of tossing the lit match into the fire pit, flames had completely engulfed my son. With one foot still in the fire pit, the flames were literally surrounding him to the point that I couldn’t see him for what seemed forever but in reality was probably a second or two. The burn marks on the ground afterwards were three feet past where he had stood at the time. I screamed and could do little else. The explosion rocked the house which made Niko, my oldest son who had been inside filling out college applications, come running outside. He later said he was just sure his family had been killed in the explosion. I managed to turn my eyes toward the back door but that was the extent of my abilities. I could not move one muscle in my body. I just stood there frozen.

A screaming, frozen woman is really not a lot of help when the back yard is on fire.

Kyle was completely unharmed. Thank you, Jesus. Not a hair on his head, not his clothes, nothing was touched by those flames that had completely overtaken him. The mounds of leaves around the fire pit went up in flames quickly though and those flames ran in different directions even quicker.

As I stood frozen, Kyle yelled to get the hose. Niko turned on the water and like the tin man who had finally been oiled I was able to move again in time to get the hose to Kyle. Niko grabbed a bucket and hurriedly filled it inside the house then ran with it to the flames. Back and forth he ran while Kyle sprayed the flames with the hose. And all the while he kept looking back at me with a beautiful smile on his face saying, “I could be a firefighter! I could!”

God is so good!

And composting didn’t sound too bad to me after that little episode either.

The point of this tale, you ask?

Fire showed me its power that day. Raging flames from just a spark and how rapidly it spreads overtaking everything in its path. And so it is with love.

When we come to know the love of God, when we become completely engulfed by it, His love overtakes everything in our path. Everyone we come in contact with is touched by that love.

At least this, I believe, is as He meant it to be. His love as a fire burning in each of us:  lighting our path, filling our lives with warmth, even removing the dry, lifeless brush that hinders the beauty of life.

May His love burn brightly in each of us today just as He meant it to.

It’s been quite a while since I sat down at this computer and wrote a blog post. Even longer since I wrote a really good post so don’t expect much. What? You never do? Well that’s a good thing.

Life has changed dramatically since summer vacation ended a few short months ago.

Both of the older boys have moved away to college which was extremely rough at first. Although now I am able to look at either of their empty bedrooms without breaking down in tears, I still can’t say I like it. Because I don’t and I don’t plan on liking it any time soon.

Niko has transferred up to Dallas Baptist University which is about 4 hours away. It’s a great school with caring professors where he is building wonderful friendships. Friendships that are formed from the common ground of a solid foundation, faith in Christ. I’m happy for him.

Kyle almost went the same direction, which would have given his parents much peace, but instead someone, who shall remain nameless except in my prayers, talked him into attending Blinn College and transferring to A&M next year. Whether Kyle will continue on with this plan or end up somewhere else [DBU, DBU] next year [DBU, DBU] is not yet clear. What is clear to him is that his parents are wiser than he thought and not everyone has his best interest at heart. I just want to see him love his school like Niko does whichever one he decides on.

Chloe is still being homeschooled which was not the original plan for high school. Not our original plan anyway. God knew all along that this is what we’d be doing. She’s working her way through a tough 9th grade curriculum and making this mama proud.

Texas in October is heavenly. Enough said about that.

Julian is in the process of changing jobs. So his hours and our routine will change too.

And finally the last change we are experiencing in our lives is, after two years we find ourselves being lead of God to attend a different church. This new church in the area is everything I always said I didn’t like. It’s an half hour from the house which has always seemed too far. It’s going to be a mega-church, of this I am sure. As a church plant we have no permanent meeting place and worse yet we all know the dreaded building campaign will be in our future. It sounds pretty awful, huh? And yet I am thrilled to be a part of it. So it must be God.

OneChapel is a church plant from New Life Church in Colorado. Pastor Ross said Sunday that there are thousands of people up in Colorado who love all of us. They love us already because they love him. There was something incredibly comforting in knowing this. I can’t wait until we’re planting churches and loving new communities of fellowships too.

God is good and so is change.

When I was in my twenties, I had a saying that went something like this, “I’m always happy, just never satisfied.” I proclaimed it often and at the time I considered it to be a rather profound statement. I imagined that it made me sound like a real go-getter; a determined, self-motivated, high achiever, if you will.

When discussing such things as my home, wardrobe, car or most any material object, I would interject this saying, my motto. I had a nice life but I knew things could always be better and the “better” was what I wanted. Although I was a cheerful person I didn’t truly enjoy the stage I was in. I was constantly looking ahead to the future, planning for the time when life would be perfect.

And then I met Jesus and satisfaction soon followed. Quickly I realized that repeating that statement as a Christian reflected on the Lord I claimed to trust in and rely upon. That it seemed to sound as if God wasn’t enough or maybe His grace wasn’t sufficient. I banned it from my lips, which was no easy task. Slowly my motto slipped from my memory never to return again.

Or so I thought.

The other day, as I was taking clothes out of the dryer that looked like they could fit the Hulk, I began to wonder when my children got so big. Wasn’t it just a few years ago when I was needed to tie their shoes, kill the spider on their bedroom floor or turn the kitchen faucet on because it was just beyond their reach?

Now here they are, grown in size, driving, working, and constantly eating. It seems as though there just wasn’t enough time in between. Then it dawned on me that maybe, just maybe, even though my motto hadn’t crossed my lips in years it still may have affected my mindset. There have been many times throughout these years of being at home with my children that I have failed to soak up all this particular stage of life had to offer. Rather than delight in my little ones and the trouble du jour, I wasted way too much time focusing on the future when life would be perfect. Looking towards my tomorrows, I have attempted to shape and mold what I was never in control of in the first place.

I revel in being a mother, I always have but time is what taught me that each stage of a child’s life is very temporary and very precious.

These days I reminisce fondly and even miss the years when I was wanted to wipe a nose or even a dirty derriere; when night after night and year after year one of my little ones  would crawl into bed with us only to keep me awake with their tossing and turning.

There was many a time that my husband and I would stay up late discussing the latest child rearing difficulty at hand. Seeing no light at the end of the tunnel we fell victim to the belief that there wasn’t one. But there was; His light was always there to guide us even when we didn’t know it.

Time is fleeting. Everything will, whether I want it to or not, eventually change. It has taken years but I finally realize that today, right now, is the perfection I’ve been chasing. And tomorrow will take care of itself.

I’m not sure if I ever told you this but if so you’re just going to have to hear it again.

My kids are THE best.

God was so good to Julian and me when He chose these three to be ours.

For the last two months we’ve been staying with friends while we attempted to make the state of Texas our new home. Our kids are intimately acquainted with all that a cross-country move entails. They know that it takes a while before you feel like where you now live is home. They know the feeling of shifting allegiances from your old school, sports teams, and burger joint to the new. This moving thing, they’ve done it before. A few times, in fact. And I have to say, they’ve done it well.

This move though was the first time they had to wait months before they even began to settle in. We had no idea exactly where we would end up. Our search for a house took us as far as even a few hours from where we are staying. Hours would have meant a different life than the one they were already beginning to get used to here. They didn’t complain though. Instead we heard from them, “Just go where God leads you.”

They’ve accomplished something else they’ve never done before. For the last two months they’ve managed to live, nearly complaint-free, in a 12 x 14 foot room. All.Three.Of.Them! Think about that for a minute or twelve. Niko is eighteen, Kyle is 16, and Chloe is 12 and they have been nothing but patient and hopeful as they lived together in that one small room. They actually get along better today than they did when this adventure began oh so many weeks ago.

The moral of this story is the same one I’ve told countless times before. Pulling the rug out from underneath our children is an invaluable tool for the parent who will dare to use it.

I’ve seen this happen each time we’ve moved.

They grown, people. They grow up a bit and they grow closer too.

And that my friends is just one of things we as parents are supposed to be helping them do.

A few years ago, when my boys were young and MySpace and Facebook were just becoming popular, I signed up for both in order to keep an eye on them. I needed to know how they worked so that I would be able to protect my children online.

It wasn’t just about getting all up in their business, I never even got involved in using them. Really, I just made sure I was acquainted enough with the new technology that I could setup guidelines for them to follow.

Eventually I deleted those accounts.

Now I’ve been hearing a lot more about Facebook use by old people like me. With the recent move, I started thinking I should give it a try in order to reconnect with old friends. I’ve moved quite a bit in my life. Texas is the fourth ( and final!) state in which I’ve lived. There must tons of people out there in the world missing me, right?

I signed up for a new Facebook account last month and quickly began thinking of old friends’ names and plugging them in the search bar.

Nothing. Seems that old people who know me do not yet know Facebook.

And so my account sits, void of friends and looking pretty much like the account I had years ago that I never used. In an attempt to garner a bit of mercy from my two boys who have acquired hundreds of friends on this stupid website, I sent each a simple message. Here’s Niko’s response:

So I did what any self-respecting, fully in charge mother would do, I grounded him. It only took two days for him to become my friend.

Now I have to work on Kyle.

And it just might be time for Chloe to get a Facebook too.