The Devourer

We've been home for just about 24 hours and already there have been moments when it is tempting to forget the joy and blessing of the last weeks and focus on the moment.

The Bible calls both Satan and sin by the name of "the one who devours"...the reality is we live in a world that is decaying due to sin even as Satan attempts to devour the good that is beyond the reach of decay. Ok, that was my moment of theology... :-)

Already, we've been faced with a car that is missing horribly, a dryer that is dying rapidly, and several other items such as a broken paper shredder that aren't a big deal unless combined with the annoyances of the bigger things.

I'm rarely one to give satan credit for everything bad that happens (and won't give him credit for these mechanical pains in the butt), but he and his cronies definitely exploit opportunities like this to devour joy, memories of blessing, celebrations of God's amazing faithfulness, and every other good and perfect gift that have come from above. Mark (in chapter 4) shares Jesus' parable of how the enemy swoops in to steal seeds of God's Word spoken to us if we aren't careful to make sure our hearts stay cultivated and tender to His voice.

I fully expect other events, people, and moments to give me "opportunity" to harden my heart and allow my joy and the depth of what He has spoken to me recently to be stolen away. I am determined to stay focussed on my Provider...whether it's dryers, cars, electronics or people, I know that they are ultimately His and He will take care of each in an amazingly faithful manner. (Jere. 29:11, Malachi 10:11-12)

The most difficult challenge, and I hesitate to write this, will be people I think. Well meaning people who will want me to know all the things that have gone wrong while we were gone. Well meaning people who may be subconsciously (or consciously) bothered by us being gone for so long and they were not.

My prayer this week, based on Psalm 103, is that we would be a means of bringing joy, health, and freshness instead of the reverse.

Our last Evening

We spent our last evening officially on Sabbatical with our family and "extended" family, at least those who could attend around my folk's pool. It was a little too cold for the adults to dive in, but the rest of us gathered around the firepit and just enjoyed being together.

If there's one thing that I know has re-centered itself in my heart this summer it's that it really is all about relationships. Heard that somewhere before I know....

Arriving Home

I'm sure I'll have several post-dated posts of which this is the first. We arrived back at the house on Sunday night to rest and relax around home. We're trying to "fly low" under the radar so as not to re-engage quite yet. We have some local trips planned yet this week.

Ian was thrilled to be home...he's our home boy.

Brendon was in tears...he wanted to head out and keep traveling. "It's just not right that we have to be home!" He sniffed through tears.

We'll unload the camper and truck tomorrow and park it back at my folks' house for now.

Pool & Zoo

Spent some time yesterday at one of Ian's favorite places...the zoo!

Once done, we headed for a pool to cool down, and then had a special treat (have only had it once all summer, I was in withdrawals) pizza!

The verdict is almost in

We still have a couple days of gas, food, etc. but, as I crunched the numbers today, it looks like our 7 weeks cost less than 7 days of Disneyworld (and we do Disneyworld for a fraction of what most people do)!! And, as much as I hate to admit it because I love Disney, the memories from this trip are far more varied and far deeper than a Disney trip. Of course, I'll still do Disney any day. :-)

So, were we cheap? No, we never had the feeling that we were denying ourselves at all.

So, how do you do a seven week time away with a family of four and not break the bank? Here's a few of the principles that guided us:

• Camp - I know, for many this doesn't sound like fun, but with a good camper and the right equipment, this is more fun than spending thousands on hotels. Most modern campgrounds have all the same facilities as a hotel, plus you get the same bed every night (we put a memory foam topper on ours -- VERY comfortable).
  
• Bring your own food - this saved us, we figured, a couple thousand at the most, and several hundred dollars at the least. We rarely felt like we were trapped cooking all the time. Plus, it made eating out a special treat.
• Spend time with people you enjoy - we joked about "mooching" off of relatives, but we still purchased groceries, gave thank you gifts, etc. and we both enjoyed time together in a way that is a rarity.
• Stay away from shopping centers, malls and souvenir shops -- this isn't a bad rule when you're home. Don't go where it's tempting to spend money, instead, spend time at places that are fun, promote activity, and don't cost an arm and a leg. This doesn't mean we didn't go shopping and buy fun stuff. We did. In fact, about once a week, we'd go shopping and each boy would get some kind of treat or toy. When you allow yourself to go more often though, your costs skyrocket.
  
• Do your research - When we went searching for a place to stay at the last minute, it always bit us...both in cost and in quality. When we spent time finding places to stay and activities to do ahead of time we always came away having spent less and having found places where the quality was far better than others.
  

Exfoliating Shower Gel?

I've put off commenting on this for a while, but the time has come...Kiley purchased shower gel for us to use when we camped, so we didn't have to mess with the bar of soap getting all messy, etc. What she missed was the fact that this shower gel was exfoliating...

All I'm going to say is, exfoliating shower gel is not meant to be used on certain parts of the body....

I went to Wal-Mart and bought different shower gel.

Fireside Theology

One of the many places that the Holy Spirit has been renewing my heart and speaking to my soul has been sitting beside the fire. Which is what I’m doing right now…21st century though, journaling with my laptop. I’m sure the smoke can’t be good for the laptop. ☺

He’s used these times to renew my theology. As odd as that may sound, I think we all need to have our theology “renewed” from time to time. Each of us needs to reaffirm, in the far corners of our hearts and the deep crevices of our spirits, what we believe about who God is, how He is using us, what He’s doing with this world, why I really need Him, how He works inside of us, and what our responsibilities are.

This needs to be done separately from listening to great speakers, going to conferences, or in the busyness of life. This is done only, I believe, in reflection, with some space, with the volume turned down and our spiritual hearing turned up.

What has He renewed in my theology? I’m not ready to disclose it all outside of my journal. And some of it makes sense only in my thinking. But here are a few things, in my usual listing style:
• God is good, all the time. No matter what happens. No matter what doesn’t happen. He is good. Period.
• Scripture needs to be part of the constant thoughts of a believer. It’s the Word of their Master, Savior, friend, Father, Creator and Counselor. Why shouldn’t it be?
• The Church’s job is to introduce those within her influence to Christ and to grow them up IN Christ. Don’t get distracted by cool, big, egos, personal wants, or anything else.
• God has gifted each person for a specific place of service in the local Church. Scripture lifts no gifts significantly above others as being more important (if any, Paul says, “desire prophecy”). The church rises and falls on all of us using our gifts the way He intended.
• God wants to talk to us moment by moment. Be Quiet. We live with too much noise and at too high of a speed. We don’t have time to listen to Him.

Audio Books

One of the cool things we've done as we've travelled is listen to audio books and radio Theater. So far, we've listened to a bunch:

• The entire 7 book series of Chronicles of Narnia (This was a radio theater and done VERY WELL)
• James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
  
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
• The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
• Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary
• The Hobbit (unabridged and Radio Theater -- VERY good) by Jrr Tolkien
• The Emporer's New Clothes (Radio theater with an all star cast -- narrated by Jay Leno - very funny)
  
• The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl
• The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl

Happy Birthday Cynthia!

Almost forgot...tomorrow is my sisters' birthday!

Happy Birthday Cynthia...we won't mention how old you're getting 'cause I'm a few years ahead of you. :-)

Driving the Coast

Drove more of the California coast today. At one point, we were winding our way through a Redwood grove and it was almost a greeting card picture. The mist was hanging low through the trees and the sun broke through from above. There's no way our camera would have caught it, so it was just one of those moments that we all slowed down and said, "Wow, God is good...that's cool!"

Had dinner at Sonic. I love my Cherry Lime-ades. I'm noticing that Sonic is making their way South in California. I hope there's one in Natomas soon...happy hour here I come!