1 Corinthians 13 for Christmas

from Intentionally Katie by "Intentionally Katie"

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny glass balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in a nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing the choir's cantata, but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops cooking to huge a child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way.

Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who can't.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost and golf clubs will rust.

But giving the gift of love endures.
(author unknown)

Living Nativity Video: Come and See, The Peace that Endures

Church of the Open Door

Local Christmas Events

Here's just a couple of local Christmas Events still to come:

Polar Express Movie, Cookies & Milk - Glendora Public Library, Dec. 9 - 3pm

Glendora Christmas Parade - Dec. 11, 9am

Christian Credit Union Snow Day - Dec. 11, noon - 3pm

The Living Nativity: A Peace that Endures - Church of the Open Door, Dec. 17, 18, 19 - 6-9pm

What other events are you and your family attending??

Could we please study something else?

This last year I've spent some substantial time looking over my life story. Specifically connecting the dots to see God's Sovereignty. A lot of the time we can't see all the connections or any great significance to a current situation, but when I do see them, I love it. My heart is over-joyed! There's just something about seeing God's handiwork in my life that gives me the strength to endure today. Have you ever considered God's fingerprints in your own life?

I've also noticed that often the lessons you are learning most acutely are the ones which you are currently being equipped for. I often find re-occurring themes in my quiet time, through discipleship, during bible study and in sermons. Sometimes it feels like a quilt. Smaller broken pieces carefully woven together to create a beautiful blanket. The same biblical principle from different approaches, all coming together purposed for my heart.

Now I'm not sure where this fits on my quilt, maybe it's only a small piece appliqued on one section, but I know I see God's handiwork all over it.

The last two months have been abnormally emotionally and physically exhausting as relational, business, health, and fall schedule stresses mounted. And then last week I was in what officers called, "a minor single car accident". Clearly the word minor is relative. But let me back up a bit.

I was coming home just before 11pm, turning the corner at a familiar intersection. It was dark and wet after lightly raining all day. I lost control, the side airbags deployed and I found myself on the median facing the wrong direction. I called 911. "I lost control" doesn't really carry the same meaning, unless you've actually done it yourself. I had no idea what was happening, and I had no control over how to stop it. It wasn't until I was talking with the officers on scene that we sort of pieced together what had happened.

Apparently, I hydroplaned on the wet roads, fish-tailed, slammed into the median and then whipped back around and landed on the median facing the wrong direction.

I don't recommend it.

Despite the frightening experience, I have lots to be thankful for: I was alone in the car and wearing my seat belt. There was no one else around or involved in the accident. I didn't roll. I had side impact airbags, an option I insisted on when we bought the car 5 years ago, and which likely prevented a head injury. Police were on the scene in less than 2 minutes from my coming to a stop. The tow truck was there within 10 minutes, and so was my Dad, who waited with me, helped remove the kids car seats and drove me home. Although I was sore and stiff, after a few of days the pain subsided, and I seem to be fine.

So now we wait. Considering the airbags, a brief preliminary statement from the auto body shop & some friends, we are under the impression the car will be totaled. This wouldn't be that big a deal, but in six weeks we're driving to the Oregon coast for Thanksgiving. This 'minor' accident has caused some huge waves.

How much will the insurance company reimburse us? Will we be able to replace the car before our road trip north? What options do we have? The list goes on and on and is added to by all those other details of life, relationship and ministry. And I admit it, I'm worried.

It is no coincidence we decided months ago we'd be reading, Calm My Anxious Heart this year in Growing Up Mom. God's timing is perfect. I wouldn't have guessed my next life lessons would be about contentment, patience, or trusting in God's perfect and complete provision; in fact I would have graded myself pretty high in those areas. But then apparently life is relative too.

So here I am, asking God, "What are you teaching me?" Looking for the bigger picture on the quilt and waiting patiently (or not so patiently) for Him to point it out. Wishing I wasn't reading about contentment so my lessons could be in something else. And I just want to scream, "Could we please study something else? Something a little less painful, hard and exhausting?!"

My pastor once asked me if I thought the next sermon series should be, "5 reasons Jesus wants you to be rich, happy, and totally satisfied," or "40 days of irresponsible bliss on earth"? I had been lamenting that every series he'd done in the last 5 years, has pulled, stretched and grown me, despite my protesting. I was hoping he could preach some light fluffy sermons to give us a break. But I see his point. What would God be teaching me while my days were blissful? How many would His fingerprints be upon my soul if I was totally satisfied here on earth? Instead I long for him to teach me his ways.

Psalm 86 ¹ Hear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. ² Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. ³ Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long. ⁴ Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, lift up my soul. ⁵ You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you. ⁶ Hear my prayer, O LORD; listen to my cry for mercy. ⁷ In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me. ⁸ Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. ⁹ All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name. ¹⁰ For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. ¹¹ Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. ¹² I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. ¹³ For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.

How about you? Are you tired from the lessons? Encouraged by how He orchestrates the events of your life? I hope you're seeing how He's weaves it all together and finding strength for the day as you trust in his provision.

Fung Fu Anxiousness

Have you ever overheard your children's movie and thought, "wow - okay God. I hear you." No? Okay so maybe not that common if you're watching Caillou or Disney princesses. But this did happened to me the other day.

I was cooking dinner and the kids were watching Kung Fu Panda.
"Everybody was kung fu fighting..." Oh wait. That's not where I was going.

Okay, so I was cooking dinner and Oogway and Shifu were talking by the peach tree.

"My friend, [you] will never fulfill [your] destiny, until you let go of the illusion of control. ... I can plant the seed in the ground, cover it with soil, and nurture it with water and sunlight. But I cannot make the tree blossom when it suits me nor make it bear fruit before its time."

"Let go of the illusion of control." Immediately that still small voice said, "Who's in control? You?" And then gently and tenderly, "Certainly not." You can plant and nurture, but YOU can not make that tree bear fruit.

I can worry about my finances, or my kids education or social skills. I can plan and strategize about where we're going today, tomorrow and next month. I can micromanage the details until I'm sick of my own calendar and schedule. But it's still not going to put me in any more control over the un-controllable.

Those things I'm worried over, like my mother-in-laws aging health, I can't control one bit.

Anything sounding familiar here?

Sounds a lot like the monks story in Calm My Anxious Heart, "Thou hast made it and Thou dost know." God made all these things that weigh me down, these things which cause my anxious heart to spiral out of control, and feel completely overwhelmed. He knows exactly what's going on. Not only does he causes the peach tree to grow and bear fruit, but he does it for me too.

Who better to put my trust in than the one who knows me fully?

Psalm 139

1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. 5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

Sweet Sisters! Why do we worry so. He made us. He knows us. He is with us. His hand is upon us. He has ordained our days. What in the world is there to worry about?

So take whatever it is He's whispering to you about right now. And let Him handle it.

^{Phillipians 4:6-7} Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

May it be so for you and for me, today!

Fire Station Tour - Pint Sized Adventure

This morning we toured Fire Station 97 as a Pint Sized Adventure and was it ever! Some of us (perhaps more than others) got more than they bargained for!

I was so excited to be able to make this Fire Station Tour work. This was the third one I'd scheduled in 2010, and I'd been wanting to do it for about a year longer. The Captain's up at the station were very nice, friendly, accommodating and we just all had a blast!

Here's the link to all the pictures, you'll definitely want to click the picture to view them all! But you might want to read all the way to the end of this blog post before you do!


Of course, today's visit wasn't without calls either. We had only been there about 5 minutes when the alarm went off and they had to head out to a call! Kindly Fireman Chris stayed behind to get us started on the tour while we waited for the big truck and the firemen to return.

We saw the Captains office, the dormitory, the kitchen & lizzard lounge (think living room). All very interesting. Chris did a great job talking with us and the kids and answering all our questions.

When the Captain, the men and the truck returned they joined the group and finished out the tour with us.

Somewhere along the way I got pegged as Ms. Adventurous. Now, I won't lie. I do like me some adventure. And I don't mind being in front of a crowd (at least not that much! - anymore!) and so I agreed to be the volunteer. To do what you ask? Volunteer to race the rookie putting on his gear!! Um...wait, you want me to put what on?

In case you've never worn fireman's gear (I mean, I hadn't before) you start with your boots. Step in, pull those yellow pants up and get those suspenders over your shoulders. Then the head hood (which goes over your head and neck to make sure there isn't any exposed skin in a fire). Next the jacket, axe, oxygen tank pack, mask .... WHAT?!!

Hold on there one second. I'm good with boots, pants, jacket and a hat! What's this about a mask and tank?!

Here's where I let you in on my Kryptonite secret...I'm a little bit claustraphobic.

I mean, I don't mind most small spaces...unless its dark. Or scary. Or I'm locked in and seriously really can't get out. But things on my face, tight things on my face, things that involve a fireman repeating over and over, "You can still breathe. Just breathe normal." Um...no thank you.

Now for you mamas who were there, you'll have to let me know if you could tell. I mean I thought I put on a brave face. You know, for the kids. (Not that my kids wanted anything to do with me once I was in full gear, mind you!) Despite my calm, collected, exterior demeanor - I was about 30 seconds from panicking and passing out.

No Lie.

Passing out!

I mean it was hot in there! That gear is heavy. And HOT! Like seriously blazing hot. Remember the 115 degree weather we had a few days ago? This was worse.

I don't think that the panting and the profuse sweat dripping off my body (and into whomever's fire gear that was! - eew!! and I'm so so sorry!!) was helping.

So I concentrated on my breathing. And not passing out. And breathing. And telling myself this was not a good time to have a panic attack. Rinse and repeat.

And so as I concentrated on breathing, I put on a smile and bravely stood and took pictures with the kids for almost an entire millenium, before I turned and calmly tapped my closest man in blue to please. remove. the. mask. now.

I don't think I yelled, but maybe that's just cause no one could here me if I had tried.

With the mask removed it was like the heavens opened. Air. Fresh air! (Not like that crazy gas they were pumping in the mask to me!) Sweet beautiful, God created, fresh air. Exhale. End scene.

So you might be asking yourself, "what did Karen learn in this little exercise?" Hmm? Hmm. Me too. But here's my reflections. I learned I was not meant to be a fire woman. No way. No how. It. is. not. going. to. happen. Ever. I also learned that being the adventurous one can sometimes get you in a pickle - oh wait, I already knew that (thank you to everyone who has ever volunteered me for anything).

And more importantly, I learned I have no idea how those men do what they do. To all my firemen friends, past and current. My fire hat is tipped to you. Not only do you face real danger all the time, you do it under crazy circumstances and with huge amounts of gear on!! THANK YOU for what you do!

After I had recovered from my near death trauma (or slightly sooner) all the kids got to stand in the boots and pants and jacket and helmet too! (No claustrophobic mask for them - the wimps!)

And of course we climbed in and around the fire truck, and they even let us spray a hose!

Overall - GREAT Pint Sized Adventure!!

By the way. I totally blew rookie Tim out of the water. One minute, 20 seconds into full gear. (Ignore the other two firemen helping me gear up!) Beat that rookie man!

Anyone want to visit the Police Department?

Pint Sized Adventure - FIre Station #97

Take Two! (We're trying this again after last springs unsuccessful attempt.)

So, I scheduled a Pint Sized Adventure at Fire Station #97 (on Sierra Madre) for THURSDAY, SEPT. 30th at 10:30AM. Captain Steve and his crew will talk about fire safety but mostly we'll be hands on with the truck, water and fire hats!

Remember these are tricky tours to coordinate, these are working guys, but hopefully they'll be able to have us at the station!!

Please use the poll box to the right to let me know if you're planning to come or not.

My almost 13 (wow – where do those years go?) niece broke her hand catching a fly ball in her winter-ball game (softball in the off season) the other morning. She’s out for the season. As you can imagine by the mere fact that she plays softball year round, it’s a pretty big disappointment. She couldn’t finish the game, as it was quite apparent a trip to the ER was in order, much less come back and finish the season with her team. Her momentum has been thwarted.

Have you ever felt this way? Like you just can’t finish the game, much less make it through the season? I’ve had those moments. And my prayers sound something like this: Lord, I’m too tired to keep parenting these children. Lord, I’m too broken to show your love and grace to this difficult person. Lord, I’m hurting and upset and I just can’t do it anymore, I can’t take this suffering anymore.

Fortunately for me, this isn’t a permanent affliction. It won’t be for my niece either, though the road to health will require some doctor’s visits and maybe surgery, she will recover.

Sometime’s that is just what I need too, a visit with my maker, a mental break from momentary sufferings. As I turn to my Savior and cry out in the midst of my hurt and weakness, he meets me. He lovingly tends my wounds and gives me strength for the day.

2 Samuel 22:33 33 It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.

1 Chronicles 16: 8-11 8 Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. 9 Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. 10 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. 11 Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.

Isaiah 40:28-30 28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Sometimes all I (and maybe you) need is to do is re-frame my pain and suffering. Lord, you made the whole earth and you love me. You never tire of caring for my needs and you always give me the strength to carry on. Thank you for giving me your strength.

And he does.

Table Assignments

Here they are, enjoy those mentor moms ladies!!

Barb: Brenda, Sara, Amy, Katie, Abra, Janeen, Stacy

Judy: Amie, Karen, Michele, Breanne, Salpy, Sarah

Carol: Ashley, Emi, Elizabeth, Steffani, Olivia, Yvonne, Stephanie

Aileen: Kathy, Elizabeth G., Gillian, Lindsay, Celia, Tiffany

Pint Sized Park Day

Pint Sized Park Adventures have begun. Every 2nd Thursday of the month, hope to see you next month!

park pictures