The Tower of Class of 2000

I don't like it when God convicts me. I hate to be wrong. I hate to admit that my ways are wrong and selfish and impure.

I love it when God convicts me. I pray that my heart will never be hardened against His wise correction. I love it that He loves me enough to drag me back to Him! I'm thankful that I can do nothing to deserve His mercy and grace and that He gives it abundantly.

This week I had the opportunity to study the Tower of Babel for our Wednesday Night Bible Study. I've never really read that scripture in depth. It's one of those stories that I heard as a child, so with every encounter with that specific scripture I just glanced over it without READing it!

This week God has brought a few things to my mind based on this story of a people who act just. like. me.

These people were concerned more about discussing their plans with the people around them, and not with the One who created them. They delighted in things that would make them feel better, make their name great, and put themselves on display.

Fast forward thousands of years to September 2010. I have the awesome opportunity to go hang out with a group of people that I spent Kindergarten through 12th grade with. Some of those people, I even went to a preschool with, as young as three. I haven't seen these people in ten years.

Enter sin.

I've been so overly concerned about impressing those people. I've been consumed with making sure my name is nice and shiny as I see them. I'm trying to dig up all the "amazing" things that I have done in the last 10 years, in their absence. I'm trying to think of the impressive places I've gone and insuring that I'll have my cute little family with me to prove my "worth".

Wow. Even reading back over this, I am totally ashamed that my focus has been so shallow.

But also, grateful for His mercy. Grateful for His grace. Grateful for His faithfulness. Grateful for His forgiveness.

"Delight yourself in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday." Psalm 37:4-6

As God has convicted me of my selfish and impure motives, I am praying that He will remove every ounce of sin and replace it with His righteousness! He is my righteousness.

If I have something to boast in, IT IS CHRIST!

Praying that God gives me an opportunity to put His name on display this weekend. Praying that He will find me faithful as I encounter people that I haven't seen in ten years. Praying that my obedience in Him will eliminate me from the whole equation!

Delighting in Him today!!!

Happy Birthday, Pop!

It's not too often that I have a week that goes by without thinking of my Grandpop. After his death, he filled most of my thoughts throughout my day. I often wondered if I would ever be able to forget that weak, feeble man who lay in that bed. I wondered if I would forget the frail shadow of the man who stood as a giant in my life for years. I wondered if I would ever forget the sound of his last breath.

Pop passed away in October 2007 as we sat by his bed and sang hymns with him. He was an incredible husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.

As we sat by his bed, singing together, we watched him as he tried to sing with us. His mouth was just moving so slightly. But in my mind, I could hear his strong voice ringing in the heavens.

We prayed with him and read the Bible to him. He could have preached sermons out of that Bible, but he just lay listening to God's word. (In that Bible, he had marked every time he read through a scripture. There were marks all the way through to show that he had read it four times, with five and six times on some chapters/books. Amazing. Even more...this Bible was copywrited 1976. So this isn't even the Bible he began reading after he became a Christian at 30 years old. It's one that he got very late in life.)

We were singing "Old Rugged Cross", one of his favorites, as he took his last breaths. He died peacefully and quickly.

As we sang that hymn with him, I realized for the first time in my life that he had truly lived a life to glorify God. And he not only lived it, he shared it. Now Pop wasn't the kind of man you'd find on the street with a "Christian" witnessing tract in his hand. He was the kind of man that brought you into his garage to work on something to make your house better, your car drive easier, or your wife happier! He shared Christ by loving Him outloud all the time. Every neighbor that came to the funeral (particularly the ones I never met before) continued to talk about how they met Pop in his garage! They talked about how he encouraged them and showed them who God really was. There were several neighbors who started following Christ because God allowed them to see how Pop had been so real with them. He probably never officially invited them to church. He just loved on God and became an aroma of Christ to others.

It was later that I realized how sweet that "The Old Rugged Cross" was the last song my Pop's earthly ears would ever hear. He had come to a moment that he would "lay his trophies down" and "exchange them for a crown". His trophies...He 96 years old and was married for almost 62 years. He left behind his wife, 3 children, 8 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren. He had lived life as a cowboy, army official, carpenter, mechanic, and so much more. He He was the most gentle and loving man! But as big as those trophies were, they compared nothing to that crown...to that thrown room...to that moment with Christ our Lord. The trophies and accomplishments of this world, as Paul stated, are RUBBISH in comparison to Christ.

As I sat with him before he died, I got to tell him that we wouldn't mourn his loss. We couldn't mourn because the life he lived could only end in rejoicing. He showed us how to glorify God in his life, and we will continue to glorify God in his death. As I said it, I know he could hear every word. He couldn't say anything, but just nodded. He knew that he was at the threshold of new life.

What a joy and privilege it was to be his granddaughter. As a little girl, I always knew he was special. But as I have matured, I began to understand how he led this family to the foot of the cross. He fervently prayed for each of us and daily praised God for the life he was given. I am thankful for the legacy he has left us.

I haven't forgotten the frail figure he became in his last days, but I am more able to remember the other things too. I remember his stories. I remember his laugh. I remember his smile. I remember his song. I remember him.

And some days, I see someone at WalMart or on a tractor, that has some sort of feature that he had and I remember him again.

Last week would have been his 99th birthday. He was born in 1911. We really don't have a record of his birth, so we always celebrated it on September 1. Labor Day was ALWAYS Pop's birthday celebration!

Happy Birthday Pop! :)




The Old Rugged Cross
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross
The emblem of suff'ring and shame
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged cross
And exchange it some day for a crown.

What you eat is what you are...

I grew up eating unhealthy foods. My idea of a great, healthy snack in high school was an over-processed bar with fake fruit filling in it (Nutrigrain Bar)! (I'm not dogging Nutrigrain Bars...I think they taste great. I just don't think that they should be my idea of "healthy"!) Fruits and vegetables weren't absent from my childhood, I just rarely enjoyed them. I would eat fruits more than veggies, and only if they were super sweet. I couldn't even eat a strawberry without pouring sugar on it. A salad was ludicrous for people who were under 30! And if I did have to eat a salad, let me assure you that it needed to be covered in cheese and lathered in Ranch dressing. You probably aren't surprised to know that I was a very unhealthy, overweight child in late elementary school. Even though my metabolism kicked in high gear in early middle school, and I was a walking stick through mid-high school, I always thought I was "fat" and I continued to eat completely unhealthy foods.

Now fast forward to my first pregnancy. Somehow, in my mind pregnant women were allowed to eat anything they wanted. I don't know where that thought came from. I may have possibly deduced that if pregnant women were eating pickles and ice cream, that just meant that they were allowed to eat anything they wanted. Anything. So, I did. I ate and ate and ate all the comfort foods from my childhood...cheesecake, snickers bars, oatmeal cookies (the fake kind with cream in the middle), donuts, oreos, ...the list could go on and on. (As a side note, if you are a "salty dude" like my husband, you may have a stomach ache by just looking at this list. But those of us with a sugar tooth know that these are the best foods on the planet!) It shouldn't surprise you that when I went in for my 7 month check-up and had gained 10 pounds in one visit, the only words that came out of my doctor's mouth when he looked at my weight gain were "Oh dang." I didn't know what I should be eating. I didn't know how to be eating healthy foods.

So as I stepped into Mommy-hood, how could I be prepared to feed my children healthy foods. It was easy at first because the baby food was a given. But once Abbie started eating solid foods, I never considered to feed her healthy foods. It was always the same things I ate. This started a bad pattern. I watched as other children her age were eating really healthy fruits and veggies. I even "tried" to give her these foods, which she just pushed away. I was frustrated, but didn't know how to fix the problem!

When I walked into the grocery store, I walked up and down the aisles looking for "meals". My idea of a "dinner" was a casserole made which was generally a bunch of processed foods scrambled together with cheese on top. (Now, everyone can have even more appreciation for my sweet husband, who put up with this kind of cooking for a few years. He really has put up with so much without throwing a fit or making a big deal of it.)

With all this said, you can understand that I feel like I just opened my eyes. I had some friends go on a cleanse a couple months ago. I started researching what that was. Because I was running a 5K at the end of May, I knew that I couldn't start on a "cleanse" but I did start to eat healthy foods. I started eating all natural (non-processed) foods. If it was processed, I wasn't going to even sniff it! I realized the freedom of going into the grocery store and shopping in the outer edges. When I walk into the store now, my list consists of produce (fruits AND veggies), meat, and dairy! (We buy bread for sandwiches and stuff, but I hope to start making my own soon.) I'm not turning into a healthy eating food freak...yet. :) But I see such an importance to the foods I eat and the foods I give my kids.

I started a cleanse 7 days ago. I feel better. My complexion is so much better. I'm excited to feel the difference fresh, healthy food makes for me. I now know how to make fruit/veggie smoothies! I am learning how to cook different veggies that I never even considered buying! (I must admit this cleanse came to a screeching hault yesterday due to a friend's 30th birthday! But I am back on the cleanse starting today. We'll see how far I go this time! I'm hoping for no more parties!!!)

My kids are eating healthy! They eat carrots! They eat apples! They eat salads! They eat sweet potatoes! They try new things!!!!! Sometimes I laugh when I see what's on their plate for lunch or dinner. I laugh because I can't believe that MY kids are eating healthy foods!! :)

I'm thankful for new beginnings. I'm thankful for a chance to start over! I'm thankful that we're doing this now and giving our kids the chance that I never had at this early of an age!

This is not my home.

I keep thinking this is my home. These are my children. This is my stuff. This is my life. But, it's just not.

This is not my home. If I remembered that this is not my home, would I take care of it differently? Would I put less stuff in it? Would I use it for a different purpose...a purpose that would always remind me that it doesn't belong to me?

These are not my children. Would I treat them differently? Would I lavish the love of God on them more if I remembered that He is lavishing that on me? Would I speak to them more gently? Would I pay attention to them more closely? I think I would. God has so graciously given us these sweet blessings to raise up under His love.

This is not my stuff. Would I get rid of some of it? Would I cherish less of it? Would I give more of it? I think I would. If I remembered that this isn't what I live for, I think I would remember who I do live for and treat the things in my possession as His.

This is not my life. I didn't create this for myself. I didn't cause these things to happen so that I could live comfortably.

In fact, I didn't have anything to do with it. So seeking comfort in this life, this stuff, these children, this house all ends with myself.

I don't know why I constantly seek myself. But it has to end. I have to put this life into perspective. Once I recognize that this place should be like a foreign land to me, I begin to see outside of myself. I can see those around me whose only need is the love of the Father. Their true need is to find Christ. In the words of Edward T Welch, I need to love them more and need them less.

Gardens and Ladybugs and Springtime Showers

Oh, how I LOVE springtime! This morning we planted our small little garden! As we were digging, we began to notice all the ladybug pupae around us! They were on every hard surface in the backyard, changing slowly into the adult ladybug. Wow! We patiently watched one come out of its shell! We watched its slow progression into the adult life of a ladybug!

We dug the holes for our vegetable plants! And then we watered them! We may have gotten a little too carried away with the watering...

FARM!!!

Alright, so we sorta took a week off! I think we're ready to get back to it though! :) I LOVE teaching my kids and it brings an ability to share some really special moments together!

So here's what we've got this week...

Monday

Song: The Farmer in the Dell

Poem: Little Boy Blue

Discuss what animals live on a farm! Pull the "Barnyard Eggs" out of the bucket. (Use later to talk about baby animals!)

Read Noisy Animals and discuss the noises the animals make! (Sing "Old MacDonald")

Divide the animals into two groups on a t-chart: 4 legs and 2 legs

Tuesday

Read The Farmer in the Dell and discuss all the responsibilities of a farmer. Read Farm Chores!

Write a poem together - "Hello Farm"

Hello Farm!

Hello _____, _____, and ______.

Hello _____, _____

Hello _____, _____, and ______.

Hello Farm!

Pretend to be farmers and play with our animals!

Wednesday

Farm Visit - We're visiting a "farm" this week with a bunch of other homeschool families! We're going to Rehoboth Ranch here in Gville! Our tour will include collecting eggs, milking goats, and so much more! :) I think it will be AWESOME!

As we're visiting this farm, we'll think about using our five senses as we look around! When we get home, I have an awesome book called A Trip to the Farm that the kiddos will get to write and color about their trip!

Thursday

Discuss the things that come from farms! Read What Comes from the Farm? and How Do We Get the Milk We Drink?

Read At the Farm and wrap up the unit! Draw a picture of an animal inside a barn.

My "goal" (besides having a blast with my kiddos) is to capture some of this fun stuff on video!!! I make NO PROMISES! :)

Submission

My brother recently had a girl's retreat thing for the young ladies in his youth group. On Friday night, he hosted a father/daughter banquet. They had some pretty amazing food accompanied by some unique time for dads to try to spend themselves on their daughters. It was a very cool thing to see!

After the banquet, he had arranged for a father to come speak to the other dads about their responsibility to shepherd the young ladies. He also had arranged for someone to come teach the young ladies about their responses to their dads. I was merely an outsider UNTIL...

The young lady who he had scheduled to speak had to back out at the last minute. By that I mean that he found out the evening before the scheduled event. He was frantically looking for someone. So, I did too! I spent an entire evening devoted to emailing, calling, and facebooking close friends who were more than capable to teach young girls about their relationships with their parents!

I was sure that any one of my friends would step up to the plate because they were much more equipped than myself! I didn't volunteer to help out because, well, I stink at talking to anyone over the age of 8! While both of my brothers could stand before a crowd and speak, all I ever do is cry.

Here, let me introduce you to my most embarrassing epic fail...

"Hi. My name is Annie Witt and I'm Tommy's little sister. And, (insert crying here) I can't do this..."

So, in the end, no one stepped up. Ronnie was in a bind and suggested that I would do an awesome job. I told him no. I told him that I wasn't capable of speaking to young ladies. I knew that all I would do was cry. Plus, I couldn't think of any wisdom to share. I didn't feel capable to teach.

But God began to work on my heart. As I was thinking on "What do young ladies need to know about how to worship God in the midst of their relationship to their earthly daddy", my mind went to submission. See, God isn't holding a young lady responsible for the home that her daddy provides. He isn't holding her responsible for the shepherding her daddy does or does not do. However, she will be held accountable to God for the way she responds to him. God led me to Colossians 3 to teach. Here, we see a snapshot of God's design for the home.

Before we dive into scripture, I’d like to establish that you are either in obedience or disobedience to a sovereign God who has placed you under the authority of your parents. The God who spoke the galaxies into existence also formed you inside your mother’s womb. He knows the number of hairs on your head and He has placed you in Emory, Texas as the very person you are. He is quite aware the circumstance of each of your families. Not only is He aware of it, He has ordained it! He has established it! So let’s jump in to find out how we are to respond to God in light of our circumstance.

I’ve been in your shoes. I’ve sat where you sit. I can hear your thoughts. Is anyone sitting here thinking…Yes, that’s great if you don’t have a dad like mine!

I can understand you because I didn’t have a perfect dad either. Really, who does?! There were times where it wasn’t easy to obey. There were times where it was very difficult to take heed to the instruction of my dad.

But let’s make sure we understand God’s Word here. His Word does not make an if/then statement. God doesn’t set us up so that we can obey and submit under the authority because he has made it easy. In fact, more often than not, your submission will feel more like dying to yourself and it should bring you to the end of yourself.

I want to spend some time with Paul in the book of Colossians. This letter to the church of Colossae was probably written during Paul’s imprisonment in 62 AD and just before his death in 64-67 AD. Paul did not establish this church, but is writing to encourage them. They have had false teachers and need to be encouraged to cling to Christ. He wrote this to encourage them to pursue Godliness.

I wanted to bring Paul’s teaching into our context, because I think it is relevant here. I want to begin with the encouragement for the Christian home. Paul has some very specific directions for the Christian family and how they are to bear the fruit of submissiveness to one another.

Colossians 3:18-4:1

You have to see here that the call for the submission of a child is part of a larger call for submission from all Christians in different ways.

In 1 Peter 2 and 3, Peter addresses the same issue of submission. He encourages us to be subject to one another. Although he doesn’t speak to you as daughters in this text, let these words find purchase in you because Peter does encourage you as future wives. Listen to these words from 1 Peter.

In 1 Peter 2:13-17, Peter admonishes us all to be subject, for the Lord’s sake, to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as set by him. In other words, keep the speed limits, pay your taxes, and be respectful toward policemen and senators.

Then in 2:18-25, Peter addresses the household servants (oiketai) in the church and admonishes them to be submissive to their masters with all respect, both to the kind and to the overbearing.

Then, in 3:1-6, Peter instructs the wives to be submissive to their husbands, including the husbands who are unbelieving.

Then, in verse 7, he instructs husbands to live considerately with their wives as fellow heirs of the grace of life.

Finally, in 3:8-12, Peter tells the whole church to have unity and sympathy and love and tenderheartedness and humility toward one another, and not to return evil for evil. In other words, submit to each other and serve each other.

So, as we see in both 1 Peter 2-3 and in Colossians 3, submission is a wider Christian virtue for all of us to pursue, and it has its unique and fitting expressions in various relationships. Today we are focusing on the relationship of a daughter to her father, which will prepare you for the relationship of a wife to her husband.

Let’s jump back into Paul’s encouragement to the Colossians. The instructions for Christian Households are sandwiched between two very intricate details of God’s provision for obedience and submission.

Let’s look at the bottom crust of this submission/obedience issue.

Read Colossians 3:1-17

Do you see here that you HAVE to have put on the new things in Christ. You cannot submit to an imperfect dad if you don’t have these things of God.

What things does Paul encourage us to put on? (compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, bearing with one another, forgiveness, love, peace, be thankful, let the Word dwell in you)

Before you are able to submit under the authority that God has placed over you, in the person of your father, you must MUST MUST put off the old self and put on the new in Christ.

If you’re finding it hard to be submissive and obedient, climb back into this scripture. It is no accident that Paul preceded this text about being submissive with putting on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another! It is the provision for you to be able to submit to an imperfect man. Because whatever you do, you are doing in the name of Jesus Christ! As you submit to your dad, you are submitting to God!

So that’s the bottom crust! Let’s look at the top crust of this submission issue!

Colossians 4:2, 6

What is it we are to do as we submit to the authority God has placed in our lives? (pray, be gracious with our speech, seasoned with salt)

And guess what! I didn't cry!!!!!