Happy Memorial Day!

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Today is a day to ponder the power of a life lived on behalf of others. May we all be inspired by the men & women who gave everything for another. To all who have given their lives - Thank You. To those who have lost loved ones - Thank You. 

The Ministry Of Armpits

Here I am with Erika & Kendall. ( Yes I am blonde in this pic ). They are two of my armpit buddies.

I know you are all wondering what in the world this post will be about. I'll cut to the chase. I got to talk to one of my best friends today. Her name is Erika & she lives in Haiti. It was so nice to catch up and really let her in to all the things going on in deep inside.

Amazing how powerful the simple act of letting people in is. Sharing with them the unimpressive, broken and humiliating parts of you. Not just telling them, but allowing them to get in there with you & hold you up. Much like Aaron & Moses. Moses was tired, but Aaron held his arms up until the battle was won.

That is what true community does. They get in there & support you when the battle feels like too much. We love the idea of being vulnerable and supporting each other. It is an idea often talked about but rarely done. The reason for that is quite simple. For someone to hold me up, really hold me up, they would have to support me under my arms. In the armpits.

For someone to support me I will have to be incredibly vulnerable. If I want to support someone else, I will have to be selfless and get in there. Into the sticky, smelly, and gross parts.

I have to let go of hiding my weakness. I have to let go of feeling impressive and embrace my need.

My guess is that most of us have lost battles. Perhaps a battle with sin, fear, discouragement, a battle in marriage... In my life I can tell you a key to whether I won or lost a fight was directly related to my allowing someone to hold me up.

If you are in a fight, let someone in. They can't hold you up by your smile or your manicured nails. Let them hold you up under your arms. Tell them the ugly bits. Confess the sin you are embarrassed by. Admit the failures that haunt you. Be unimpressive. Need God more than you need an image.

Loose your shame & win your battles.

There Is A God...So, You Never Know.

Welcome to Throwback Thursday. This one is an oldie but a goodie.

Yep, there I am in Paris. I'm the one in the middle of the human pyramid. That baby is my eldest when she was 10 months old.

There is a God...so, you never know. You could do a human pyramid at the Louvre Museum in Paris with a few friends...and your baby...You just never know.

Here is what brings this post about. Tonight at dinner Jady and I were talking about how we are 30 and we are in the middle of this great adventure where anything could happen at any moment. After dinner we were watching this video on Martin Smith & Delirious. They were this little nobody band who used to just play in schools. Then they got an invited to play at a prayer conference & God launched them into being a massively influential band. Fast forward a few hours...I was watching a Hillsong promo for a conference (shocker) and one of the guys said " I don't think I can make it, but there is a God so, you never know."

Hmm...I thought. So very true. We really never know. Anything can happen with God. At any time. I loved living in Seattle and the thought of leaving Mosaic had me crying for a year and a half. God had amazing things for me there and there are still amazing things continuing to happen. But now I am here. In a field where God can plant anything. Although the season of transition was so painful, God had things for me in a new season. In Seattle, I was too busy to write. Now I have time & I'm really enjoying it...and people read it...who knew. Other things are starting to emerge that didn't have room before. There is a God, so I just never know.

If you ached on Mother's Day because you long for children. There is a God...so, you never know.

You have a heart for reforming education, but you have taught the same first grade class for 20 years now. Maybe one of the kids you invested in will go on to become the Secretary of Education . There is a God, so you never know.

You lost your job, and can't seem to get another one. Could be that God wants to take you in a completely new direction. There is a whole new arena you never thought you could enter with your life, but He is about to invite you in. You never know.

You follow God to a remote place. Nothing seems to be there. But He is about to plant a garden in a desert. And He wanted you to have a front row seat. What seemed like exile is now honor. There is a God, so you never know.

Keep hope fresh. Keep dreams alive. And keep your soul full.

There is a God...so, you never know. He may surprise you.

Have You Met My Sister Sarah?

No, that's not Sarah. That's my daughter & I after an Easter confetti fight.

I have a sister.

Sarah is her name.

Okay, I don't have a sister. I'm lying. I'm afraid of what you would do if you knew my story - my real & unedited story. The truth about who I really am & what makes me tick. The truth about who & what I love. If I am completely honest, I think you will respond in a way that would crush me. 

Kinda like Abraham did. He told a lie about Sarah. Saying she was his sister when she was his wife. Genesis 20 if you don't know the story. Basically, Abraham's insecurity got the better of him. He told the king that Sarah was his sister. Sarah must have been a looker because the king took her to be his wife. 

Fast forward. King finds out Sarah is Abraham's wife. When Abraham is confronted with his lie he tells the king that he assumed the king's response would be envy. Instead, the king gave Sarah back & blessed Abraham. 

His fear of being attacked was proved wrong. He was blessed & provided for. 

His assumption & vain imagination caused him to look foolish in front of a bunch of people. Plus, I'm pretty sure he had to do some serious damage control with Sarah. Flowers won't make up for giving your wife to another man because you got nervous. They didn't have Anthropologie back then, so I'm not really sure what he gave her to make up for it.

I read this story the other day and connected with it more than I would have liked. I get intimidated & assume I know what is going to happen. My defenses blast into full gear & I figure out how to solve my own problem. 

Usually I am wrong just like Abraham. I give my assumption the same value as knowledge. Maybe I will be met with blessing if I don't pretend. I think I'll give that a try.

Queen Victoria Would Hate Me

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Queen Victoria would have hated me. She wouldn't have liked you either. We have two opposing ways of thinking. Victoria once said this:

"...We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat..."

Sorry, old girl, I have to disagree. I am way too interested in the possibility of defeat. In fact, it is the thing I am most interested in.

If the girl in the photo were Queen Victoria, she would have been confident. I can't wait for this ship to come in! It is going to be a fantastic journey. Better than I imagined. I've got my picnic basket & I'm ready to go!


If I were the girl in the photo, I would have been getting all wound up. What if the ship doesn't come? Or what if it sinks? Then I'll be stranded & all I have is this stupid picnic basket. I can't survive on that. Do I have enough money? If this ship goes down, I'm gonna need some money to bribe a way into a lifeboat. I hope I bought travel insurance. Where is this stupid ship? Anybody have an Advil?


I think of the potential failure rather than the potential victory. So do most of my friends. What if I date this guy and it doesn't work out?  What if I move and I don't like it? If I risk and fail then everyone will know. I will be so humiliated. What if I have a baby & turn out to be a horrible mom?

The 'what ifs ' are endless. We so quickly focus on all that could go wrong. We dream in muted colors for fear that our boldness may be too much. We sing on silent in case we are off tune. We love in controlled spurts so that we don't get brokenhearted. Our obedience to God is in small increments because we are afraid of burning out.

Queen Victoria would not have invited me over for horseback riding & tea. She wouldn't have liked my thinking. To be honest, I don't like my thinking either. There is no joy in focusing on possible defeat.

Sure, I could step out and fall completely on my face. I could be a complete failure. My decisions could be all wrong. There is a large chance that I won't measure up.

Or maybe it could go the other way. I could have a victory. I might love it. I could be better than I thought I was.

Either way, I know this. God will be with me. If I face defeat, He will pick me up & carry me back into the race. If I see victory, He will celebrate with me. God is the one who sustains my heart.

When my eyes are fixed on Him, I am no longer interested in defeat.

Thanks for the reminder Vicki. I'd love to grab tea sometime.

Most Beautiful Woman I've Ever Seen

This might be the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Oh, the stories she must have to tell.

Global Warming. I Solved It.

Hey, its Throwback Thursday again.

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Okay, so we all know about global warming. We hear about it everywhere and it really freaks us out. I mean, is it the end of the earth? Honestly, some of you think so. Others of you believe its a hoax. But, here are a few facts:

• Temps have climbed 1.4 degrees since 1880. May not sound like much, but the polar bears beg to differ.
• In 1910 Montana's Glacier National Park had 150 glaciers. Now it has 27.
• At this rate of warming the arctic will have an ice-free season by 2040.

Now, maybe you are getting really stressed about the pending peril. Or perhaps you are getting mad at this massive political scheme that you think global warming is. Everyone calm down. I know what we can do. 

My solution to curb global warming involves lots of cars, lots of people and lots of beer. Or maybe I should say it involves stopping lots of cars, lots of people and lots of beer. That can only be one thing. NASCAR.

I hear all the time about how I need to avoid the drive through window at the bank. Or that walking is better than driving (which it actually is). But no one ever talks about all these cars driving around in circles for hours, burning gas , and tires.

Here are some NASCAR facts:

• 6 million people will attend NASCAR races this year. Thats a lot of cars driving from out of town.
• The Daytona race is 500 miles long. 
• Cars go up to 220mph
• The average race is: 250 miles. Cars get 2 miles to the gallon. That is 125 gallons per car and there can be 40 cars at a time. This is 5,000 gallons of gas used per race.
• On average there are 10 races per week. That is 50,000 gallons of gas that NASCAR uses each week. (this doesn't include practice laps)

All those tires, all that gas, all those emissions just to watch people drive really fast in circles. I think that we can come up with something better to do than watch other people drive around and around. I mean, thats a lot of waste.

So, next time someone criticizes you for driving a Tahoe tell them about NASCAR. When they pull the plug on auto racing, we will all buy a Prius. Even if you think global warming is a myth, you must admit this is a good point. And if you are sweating thinking of the earth completely shutting down, go recycle something. You will feel better.