Archives for November 2006

VERY Grateful…

November 24, 2006 by Maren 5 Comments

On my way to work this morning, I was run off the road by some crazy driver who probably was up all night camping out for an on-sale Tickle Me Elmo. He kept creeping over in my lane until my tires were scraping the curb. Personally, I think honking is highly overrated and I RARELY ever honk. But in this case, when my life flashed before my eyes and visions of my car flipping and exploding like the movies, I honked. He got back over in his lane, and when I looked back the sinister man was laughing. Evil.

So, I’m at work. I’m not into the BLACK FRIDAY shopping experience, anyway. REALLY, I’ve never gone shopping on this day. I think that it, too, is overrated. What’s the hype with the 100’s of crazy people pushing and shoving their way to the check out? There are a select few people who I think of every year who have camped out at Best Buy and got REALLY GOOD deals. But otherwise, shopping today, is crazy! For Christmas this year with my family, we decided to save money, not buy any gifts, and then do something together over break. WHOOHOO. I’m looking forward to that!

So, perhaps in my ranting, you’re under the impression that I’m not grateful at a time of year when I really should be. On the contrary, friend, I’m very thankful–I have EVERYTHING to be thankful for…I’m so thankful to God for bringing us to Louisville, I know He wants us HERE…I’m so thankful for being surrounded by encouragers–both family and friends…I’m thankful for His provision–He’s supplied AMPLY for us down this church planting road and confirmed in our hearts every step of the way…I am thankful for discouragement that He has allowed to help us learn to rely on Him. He has proven Himself faithful many times throughout this journey. HE IS TRULY GOOD!

Yesterday, we had a Thanksgiving meal with our small church family who weren’t going anywhere for the holiday. We passed out flyers at a couple of apartment complexes inviting anyone to our Thanksgiving meal who might not have a place to go. Out of 600 flyers that we passed out, we received one guest. I really admire the guest who came. To come to a meal where you know NO ONE is brave. She is going through a difficult time in her life with family issues, and mentioned that she had no clue what she was going do to for the Holidays. She mentioned how she was grateful to receive the invitation to go somewhere and not be alone. You know, this church plant has been so difficult, but as I sit and think about it, it’s people like her that make what we’re doing in Louisville worth it….for the opportunity to reach out to hurting people, to show them a glimpse of Christ’s love, to plant seeds that you may never see come to fruition. It’s all worth it.

So, today, I’m grateful to have the opportunity to meet people along my journey with Christ—to help show others His love, as we’ve been commanded to do. Indeed, I am very grateful. May my thankfulness be unmistakable.

AND, it’d be wrong of me to leave this one out….Yet, a couple more “things” I’m thankful for…Michael put on our little friend’s Halloween costume when they came over. I couldn’t resist posting the pic! TOO CUTE!

O-H-I-O

November 20, 2006 by Maren 6 Comments

Fun times this weekend with Family and Friends!

My parents came Friday night to help with childcare for our Bunco night for our church. Mom brought me the “biggest birthday card I’ve ever received.” She spelled out a message in cans… Can you see it? “H B M” It’s hard to see, but it stands for Happy Birthday Maren. My mom is super creative. Michael and his dad fixed up my pantry, so my mom brought a ton of cans to fill it. Thanks, mom! For those of you who know me, I like to cook, but go to the grocery store ‘few and far between.’ 🙂 I have to get creative with the cooking. This will tide me over for a while. LOL

We all then got together to cheer our Buckeyes on to victory!

Here’s Michael and his siblings.

We set up a projector in our living room and in our “Buckeye” room. Fun times. I forgot to take pictures all throughout, so only the faithful remained at the end to capture the scene. You get the picture…

Startin’ ’em young. Cute Cute Cute!

PB183005

My 2 favorite younger siblings! God truly blessed me with a wonderful family!

I cut myself out of this one because I looked like my neck was permanently stuck. I loved the pic of them, though! Thanks for being the best!

I love this one of my parents! If you’re wondering why they weren’t watching the tv, they were watching the projection of the game.

Our house is TINY TINY, but we still had a blast on Saturday. It always helps when your team wins, though. GO BUCKS!

(R&L, when you read this, we missed you! You are in our ‘thoughts’! Love you guys. We’re thankful for you!)

Forgiveness? Maybe later.

November 17, 2006 by Maren 8 Comments

I’ve been challenged lately with the issue of true forgiveness and true love. I had a friend that challenged my heart a few weeks ago as she encouraged me in love. It’s always humbling to receive a kick in the pants, but sometimes needed. I ’m glad she did. One thing that she said that I’ve been thinking about is the following: (From 1 Cor 13:4, we know that) Love suffers long and is kind; God reached down and saved me when I was unlovely. He didn’t save me because I was rich, He didn’t save me because I was beautiful, He didn’t save me because I was worth it. He saved me because even though I was poor, ugly and unworthy, He loved me. My salvation says nothing about me, it says everything about God. He suffers my insults and hatred toward Him for long periods of time and yet continues to bless me with things I don’t deserve. If someone mistreats me and I don’t show kindness in return, then it’s not love. And I look just like them.”

I’ve been stewing on that for a few weeks now. It’s a challenge for me to love people who I’ve been hurt by in the past. It’s easy for the wound to reopen when I’m reminded of anything that randomly relates to that hurt. I wouldn’t be truthful to say that I instantly forget the wrongdoing. It’s something that has to be continually worked through in my life. But, when it comes to forgiveness, we don’t have a choice to forgive or not forgive. My husband one time asked forgiveness from someone. The response he received was, “I’ll think about it. It’ll take time.” Of course, it takes time to move past hurt, but forgiveness is NOT an option. We shouldn’t think we have any right to withhold forgiveness until the guilty party has amply proven themselves repentant. I think, however, that often times, as Christians we wrongly assume that and forget truth. The Bible is clear in the ramifications for those who don’t forgive. I was curious and looked the word “forgive” in the New Testament. There are 21 uses of the word.

8 of those instances show forgiveness as a two-way action. We forgive others as God forgives us…for example, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

7 of those are used to show God forgiving us.

4 of those are used to speak on us forgiving others.

(There are 2 that I didn’t classify because they didn’t fit as much in these categories.)

Not coincidence. We are required to offer forgiveness in as much as we want to receive it from God. I’ve been really challenged by these thoughts lately and am praying that He will help me to ABUNDANTLY love and ABUNDANTLY forgive…just as He has done for me.

It’s just a thought. I usually keep my blogs light. But it’s been on my mind and heart the past couple of weeks, so I’ve been itchin’ to share. Thanks to my friend for helping me grow.

One Stop Gossip Shop

November 15, 2006 by Maren 7 Comments

Ummm….yeah. That title about sums up the story of my life. Today, nothing is seeming to go right. I won’t bore you with all of the laborious details, but I will tell you this one…I have a very wise role model in my life that I really respect because she always chooses to say something positive or nothing at all. I try to do likewise, but I sometimes fail…okay, all too often, actually. So today, I had a question about a coworker and his children from a previous marriage. I im’ed another coworker to ask her (the entire company is on an im system.) YEP, hit the wrong name, emailed someone completely random my question and there you have it. I am thankful I wasn’t saying something negative about him, just asking a nosey, personal question. Still, I definitely learned my lesson. One more reason why I hate I.M.

On another note: Michael and I went to Cincinnati this past weekend. Of course, I forgot my camera until it wasn’t worth the trip back to retrieve it. So, pictures are at the mercy of our the friends we went there to meet. Don’t have any to share at this time, but will do so when I get them. Isn’t it great to relax and reconnect with old friends? Love it.

Here are some pics from my photography class “homework.” I was experimenting with light and shutter speeds. All were taken without a flash–so I’m learning to adjust the other settings to take in the light. Fun stuff.