A to Z He He

A few weeks ago I asked my husband what I should write about. "Me" he answered. So, I decided to come up with a "He He" instead of a "Me Me". Mike is up there at the top of my list of "things" I'm thankful for and it wasn't too difficult to come up with 26 reasons why. "X" did pose a bit of a problem-but I managed to come up with something. So, without further ado, here's to Mikey!

A=Accepting. He has always loved me unconditionally and accepted me no matter what frame of mind (or body) I've been in.

B= Bible. Mike loves the bible and its Author. He continually points me to the truths found there whenever I'm struggling with anything.

C=Comforting. His hugs, snuggles, and words of encouragement comfort me continually.

D=Deserve. When we were engaged and newly married my mom kept saying, "Judy, you deserve better than "that". (Meaning Mike.) By the time she died, she'd reversed her judgement. "Mike deserves better than you. He could've done better...." I agree with her, to a point. Although, there are times when I think we deserve each other. (You can take that any way you'd like)

E=Easy to be with. No explanation necessary. (Well, there is allergy season. He is most definitely NOT easy to be with during allergy season. He's grumpy, defensive, tired, spacey....but that's only for a quarter of the year, which leaves 3/4 of a year where he is easy to be with.)

F=Funny. I love his sense of humor. He's pretty quiet, and sometimes I don't even think he's listening, but then he'll pop out with something unexpected, sarcastic and hilarious.

G=Gentle. My husband is one of the most gentle people I know. He treats me with respect and great care. He's taught our sons to treat girls the same way.

H=Handy. Mike can fix just about anything. As far as I can remember, we've never had to call a repair man to fix anything around here.

I=Incredible. I still find it incredible that Mike chose to marry me. I was such a mess as a young girl. He saw my potential and gave me a chance. I should put "Risk Taker" for the letter "R".

J=Journey. Our life together, marriage, raising 4 boys, the ups and downs of life-it's all been an amazing, God blessed journey.

K=Keeping On. I'm so thankful Mike does that. He keeps on keeping on-no matter what difficult thing we've gone through his trust in the Lord and love for me are consistent.

L=Loves the Lord. See "K"

M=Murder. I'm so thankful he hasn't murdered me yet. Even though I've given him plenty of chances: nagging, niggling, hen pecking, criticizing him, misunderstanding him, 4 pregnancies, etc. etc.

N=Nidification (to build a nest). Mike has been the perfect partner in building a safe nest for our sons. (Isn't "nidification" a cool word? I just found it in the dictionary yesterday. I think it's my new favorite word. Nidification. Nidification....It tickles my funny bone for some reason....)

Overtime=As a husband and father, my husband puts in plenty of hours. He is ALWAYS available to us, willing to go above and beyond the call of duty to meet a need any one of us has.

Patient=People talk about the patience of Job. Well, Mike has almost as much patience as that old saint did. He's put up with so much from me....

Q=Quiet. I'm sooooooooo thankful for that. I've met some men who just talk and talk and talk. Mike is restful. He doesn't need sound to constantly fill the airwaves......

R=Rock. While Jesus is my anchor and Rock, Mike is also my rock. I tend to be very fearful and emotional. I have a picture in my head of a rock the size of a bus, just sitting in the forest. Coming out from under the rock is a leash. Attached to the leash is me. A hiper-active poodle yipping and having nervous breakdowns over every noise in the woods. Mike keeps me from running pell mell into the neverworld.

S=Supportive. That is what he excels at.....

T=Tender hearted. My husband is tender hearted toward his family and the Lord.

U=Understanding. My goodness, is he understanding! He tries very hard to put himself in either my shoes or the shoes of one of our sons to see what life looks like from their perspective.

V=Voice. I love, love, love my husband's voice. Many's the time I've begged him to remember to read to me when I'm on my death bed. It would mean so much to me to go to my maker listening to his voice reading the Psalms.

W=Wise. (See "B")

X=eXtra sweet. eXtra nice. eXtra giving. eXtra helpful. (Get the point?)

Y=Yell. I can't recall one time Mike yelled at me. Or shouted at me. Or shrieked, screamed, or squawked. He hasn't even barked, bellowed, hooted, hollered, or roared in my direction. What a guy!

Z=Zillion. I could come up with a zillion more things to say about him....

My Brain is Going to Pop

Here are some thoughts and discussions that have been floating around our house in the last 2 weeks. If you're sick and tired of changing diapers and making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, come on over. I'll gladly change places with you for a day!

• What is a Carnal Christian and can there be such a thing?
• Quantum physics
• Calvinism vs. Armenian ism
• Limited Atonement vs. Unlimited Atonement
• "Churchy" Christian vs. Real, honest Christian
• Existentialism
• Glorifying God
• Prayer
• Can you be saved if you just "Say the right words"? What about the verses that talk about "My sheep know My voice...." and "You shall know them by their fruit..."
• The Metaphysics of Jesus

As if all that weren't enough, we're still discussing the "debate" our son had with the "Free Thinkers" last week. The non-believers in the room raised some good questions and also showed some inconsistencies in saying they were atheists. Things like: God doesn't exist, but He is: and then filled in the blank with a cuss word.

I'm still overwhelmed with projects and am worried about a couple things my kids are going through as well. So, if anyone knows how to stop a brainal ( a great word I just made up) explosion, PLEASE let me know! I could use a good laugh.

Plagiarism

I've been trying to figure out how to summarize the events of Wednesday night when our son spoke at the "Free Thinkers" meeting. (See the post from October 25th.) My son just sent an email to our church which I'm going to copy and paste here. He explains it very well!

Well, I received my second-worst beating in two years on Wednesday night. Three graduate students (two philosophy, one physics) tag-teamed and not only managed to rebut three of my five arguments, but they raised an objection that I had no answer for (never even heard of it in fact). I must say that two of them were quite nice about it though, and five of us - including the President - went out to dinner afterwards.The hatred for Christ and His gospel was so apparent on so many of the other faces and in so many of their comments and questions that it nearly broke my heart. Even some of the ones who contributed nothing to the debate chose to voice their anger and contempt, partly for me but mainly for my Lord. Of all the groups on earth, the angry intellectuals who mock and scorn Christ and our faith are the ones I love the most, please continue to pray for them.The sting of being inadequate never loses its bitterness, but after three years I've learned how to deal with it. Fall back, repent (for any pride that becomes apparent with wanting to be "right" and "smart" all the time), pray, regroup, rebuild, return, return, return. Undergraduates don't pose much of a problem, but my failure rate is still around 80% at the graduate/PhD level, so I've had lots of practice at this process :)Those emotions which always follow a debate (win or lose) over Christianity are also being felt:
1. Relief at watching my faith stand strong, even when my delivery of some of the strongest arguments for believing is demolished. (PLEASE NOTE: The *most* important thing that I have learned is that the Truth is always True, and that with more prayer, thought and study it will return to triumph. There is no such thing as a failure for the truth, only a setback due to the ignorance of the messenger (ie myself). I have seen it happen dozens of times, and my confidence in the ability of our Faith to hold its own on any ground is firm.)
2. Relief that the salvation of those around me does not rest on my ability to defend the gospel, but upon the Sovereignty of God. Apologetics has purchased the right for me to tell the gospel to hundreds on campus, and it is useful for clearing away objections to the faith and for strengthening believers - but God is quite capable of saving people without my help, thank you very much.
3. Looking forward with excitement to see how the Truth will prove to be true as I continue to study. After watching it happen so many times I no longer suffer the anxiety of my first year, wondering if Christianity can hold its own on intellectual grounds.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support, they were priceless. I should have been asking all along.
Cookie: Thanks for the note, it expressed something I have long felt but have been unable to put into words.
John Burkhardt: Thanks for coming. Since Bailey transferred I usually stand or fall all alone, so it was a comfort to have you there, standing with me.
Blessings,Ben

The Front Lines

Well, I'm back. At least for today. My mind and heart are so full I don't know how to begin.
It's been quite a week around here. I feel like a tea kettle on full boil with no one to turn my brain off.
I'll start with last night. My husband, our 15 year old son, and myself all went to a meeting at IUPUI. It was a meeting for a club called "The Free Thinkers". Most were atheists. Our 21 year old son was there to discuss Christianity with them. He gave a half hour talk and then opened it up to questions for the next hour.
I cried on the way home. It was a fascinating evening. Intense. Heartbreaking. So very many lost, hurting people. (At least in my opinion they were.) I cried because:

• My sons are on the front line of a battle every single day and I have not prayed for them as much as I should. I had NO idea the battle was as intense as it is. There are people out there searching for answers but refusing to believe the truth when they hear it.
  
• I live a very sheltered life. Comfortable, cozy. And there are hurting, confused, lost people out there, while I wonder whether the bittersweet on my kitchen window is crooked.



• I am so frustrated-the bottom line is that it's a spiritual battle and most of us, Christians or not, have blinders on to that fact.



• I'm so incredibly impressed with our sons. I cannot say proud because I honestly don't feel that what we did in raising them prepared them for the things they're doing now.



• I felt/feel soooooooo blessed and humbled. When my husband and I met, we were both interested in missions. However, the Lord had other plans. He gave us 4 sons and told us to homeschool them. We knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that those 4 boys were/are our mission field. It reminds me of a garden. You plant one bean seed and out of the ground comes a plant that gives you a whole basket of bean pods. Our oldest son was able to sit in a room with about 23 atheists last night and tell them that Jesus died for them. That Jesus did it because of love.



• Our second son, just 19 years old, is on the front line of a battle every bit as intense, and I haven't prayed for him like I should either. He works with 5 and 6 year old little boys at a mission downtown, but is also involved with other kids down there-boys and girls of all ages. In the last few weeks he's come home from work with the following stories:



• a boy whose daddy sexually molested him



• 2 little girls taken away from home because their momma was either prostituting them, or getting ready to.



• a little boy whose parent was using him for a punching bag



• Tuesday night our son was driving the mission van, taking a bunch of kids home from kids' club when they saw a man lying on the ground being supported by 2 friends. The man had 4 bullet holes in his chest. The police hadn't even arrived yet.



• I cried because I have absolutely no clue how to help our sons when they come home weary and drained. I can't hold them on my lap and kiss away their pain or fatigue. They're grown men for crying out loud. They don't need a mommy. But they do need something. Cookies and milk? I feel so foolish sometimes when I talk to them at the end of a long day. Foolish because my thoughts and ideas and words of comfort sound so lame.



• I cried because my heart is overflowing with thankfulness. Our sons know what to do and who to go to. They know that Jesus is the only one who can truly comfort their weary, drained hearts and minds-He can do a WAY better job than mommy ever could.

If you love Jesus, and are raising children, please prepare them for the battle ahead. They need to know the One who loves them, who died for them, and who longs to be there along side them every minute they're on the planet. Our oldest son is a senior in college this year-in the last 3 1/2 years he's seen countless peers who started college believing they knew and loved Jesus give up their faith and walk away. Pray, pray, pray for your kids. Pray the scriptures for them. Some good verses to pray are:

Eph. 1:16-21

Col.1:9-12

Jer. 17:5-8

Col.2:6-8

Phil.1:9-11

There are some very good materials available to teach your kids about world views and how to defend or share their faith with others. You can find them at: http://www.summit.org/