Yesterday we spent much of the afternoon outside in our backyard, relishing the beautiful sunshine and dry ground beneath our feet, instead of the muddy squishiness it has been. We had the privilege of discovering some interesting “experiments” our son had made and left out in the rain. One of them was particularly rank, and as my husband emptied it out we curiously asked our son what he had put in it?

His little five-year old face lit up. “Oh, some leaves, acorns, water, Dr. Pepper, some food, rocks, and um… and some other weird things.”

I couldn’t help but smile to myself. Clearly those “other weird things” held special significance. They made it uniquely his creation, but at the same time could be a potential source of trouble. My mind briefly wandered to all kinds of disturbing thoughts, filled with bacteria and House episodes on TV where kids get deathly ill from the sandbox. But it wasn’t a day for worrying, so I thought instead about the human heart.

There are things we freely tell others about ourselves. But we too often keep those other weird things — the things that make us both unique and potentially troublesome — under close lock and key behind our lips, perhaps even buried in our subconscious minds forever.

I wonder what those things would tell us about our Creator, if only we would share them with each other?

A while back I heard a news program about a group of Las Vegas prostitutes who found salvation through Jesus and went into ministry helping other hookers to do the same. When asked why she felt called into that ministry, one of women said something to the effect of: “I escaped a burning building but others were still trapped. I had to go back and help them out.”

Have you ever been trapped in darkness? I have. It’s a terrible feeling — lost, lonely, condemned, sad, hopeless. And then when I met Jesus, the opposite feelings — found, loved, free, full of joy and hope.

Did you know that the enemy can take us back to those feelings of being trapped in darkness? He can’t take our salvation of course, but he can deceive us. And it’s happening everywhere — we’re just going to church to feel better about ourselves. Because inside we’re as lost as ever before, or at least it feels that way. It’s time to be real with each other and ourselves.
Church isn’t a stage rehearsal for heaven.

Lord let your sleeping giant rise / Catch the demons by surprise / Holy nation sanctified / Let this be our battlecry ~ Casting Crowns, “Until the Whole World Hears”

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 3:10-11

You know how you can feel change coming spiritually, before it actually arrives? I wrote about this several weeks ago in my post Family and Career. Here is what I said “Like the cool breeze coming through my window — so different from the summer heat – I know my season is changing. May God direct my steps.” And then in my last post Whether to Weather I talked about how “like the wind, the Holy Spirit is a free agent. It can be a hurricane or a gentle breeze… I don’t know about you, but that’s a bit scary to me. A bit dangerous.”

Last week the gentle breeze in my life  had a nip to it. Something was about to change. I had no idea what — and generally thought that it would be a positive thing. But let me tell you that right now, that in this week it does not feel positive and I’m doing everything I can do to remain pliable as dust in God’s wind as He molds me into His image.

Scary and dangerous — not in a fun adventurous way as I have experienced from God before, but in a deeply vulnerable and threatening way, rife with temptation and obstacles. I do not know where the Spirit is taking me right now, but I do know this: God is at work. He is everywhere on and in this, and like Larry Who said in a comment to last week’s post: “the Spirit just shows up and takes over.”

“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” John 3:8

I like to have a fair amount of control over my environment, don’t you? We use our air conditioners in the summer, and the heater in the winter. We wear sunscreen, sunglasses, coats, mittens and rain jackets — depending on the forecast. Because our relative affluence allows us to control our exposure to weather, we often forget how it can affect us.

But weather holds tremendous power. The wind is especially powerful — depending on its speed, it can fly a kite, disturb a picnic, bring in a thunderstorm, or flatten an entire town. It can howl in the night, or gently rustle the leaves on a fall day. For all of our advances, we cannot control it. And I find it oddly inspiring that Jesus uses wind to describe the spiritually born-again.

Like the wind, the Holy Spirit is a free agent. It can be a hurricane or a gentle breeze. And even more than that — I’m supposed to be “led” by the Spirit! By something I can’t direct, that may choose to soothe or upheave depending on God’s plan.

I don’t know about you, but that’s a bit scary to me. A bit dangerous. Part of me wants to hide in my church pew as a good, church-going mother. “I’m doing my part down here, God. I take the kids to church, I pray for people around me. I help others every now and then. I said a swear word the other day but that was only after a large board fell on my foot. I’m sorry about that, but it really hurt! You see, just being human takes quite a bit of my energy. How am I supposed to make room for the unpredictable, uncontrollable wind of the Spirit?”

And no sooner do those thoughts enter my mind that another one rushes in: Choose Jesus or choose self — there is no in-between.

I must literally become dust in the wind, going wherever the Spirit leads. Otherwise what’s the point?

Monday morning, and one glance at the headlines tells me we’re at war. Bill Clinton says it’s the vast right-wing conspiracy; FoxNews says its the liberal left. A preacher in Orlando thinks it’s all Bill Maher’s fault, and Bill Maher agrees with Sam Harris that it’s all religion’s fault. The gay and lesbian community blames centuries of prejudice and oppression on religious fundamentalism, while Christian conservatives blame those gays for the moral breakdown of our nation. And don’t even get me started on Iran.

I wonder what’s going to happen on Tuesday?

Whatever it is, let’s blame Oprah. Because it certainly won’t have anything to do with my own selfish heart, or the enemy who preys on it.

“So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to mankind.” 1 Corinthians 10:12-13

“Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written, Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” Matthew 4:10-11

I found a new release at the library the other day, called The Comeback: Seven Stories of Women who went from Career to Family and Back Again, by Emma Gilbey Keller. After reading one line of the inside cover, I immediately wanted to read more – ”An inspiring book that argues that women can have it all — just not all at once.”

This echoes what I have long felt — that life happens in seasons.

For seven years I have been a mother of preschoolers. Their needs have been constant and basic — food, clothes, diapers, potty-training, bathing, and so on. Early motherhood is physically and emotionally demanding, and it doesn’t have a definite end moment, it kind of tapers off like the waves on a beach. But it does end.

And now I’m (suddenly!) the mother of elementary-aged children. If I find myself doting over them too much, putting on their clothes for them or reminding them to put their library book in the backpack, then they quickly call me on it. They need to do those things for themselves and this is a good and healthy part of growing up.

Realizing this has been difficult for me. I’ve been restless. I thought about cleaning more, taking up helicopter parenting, or shopping. But none of those sounded appealing.

So I picked up some contract writing work that has been keeping me busy, but yesterday I sent in the invoice and today I’m reflecting on family and career. As I write this, the house is abnormally quiet and through the open window I hear a truck in the distance and birds chirping outside. It’s peaceful, and didn’t I yearn for this during those rowdy summer days?

Like the cool breeze coming through my window — so different from the summer heat – I know my season is changing. May God direct my steps.

Stay calm. Don’t panic! Focus. Easier said than done, right?

We’ve all “lost our heads” at some point. It’s not fun, and certainly wouldn’t be helpful in an emergency situation. So this brings me to the final point I want to make about biblical preparedness – cultivating a sound mind.

“Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:13

I’m tempted to skirt over this by rattling off a bunch of trivial examples of how my personal stress levels impact my spiritual effectiveness. But that would be avoiding the real issue that I want to address in these posts – preparation for some type of wide-scale disaster. The truth is, I don’t know how I will react in such an emergency and I therefore don’t feel qualified to give advice about it.

Instead I would rather let others tell you – others who have been through it.

After my last post, fellow blogger God’s Girl sent me a story about a Tennessee minister who lived through a tornado, largely because the Holy Spirit had been preparing him beforehand. Here is what he wrote, about the moment he realized that he was actually going to be inside the tornado:

“At this point, I feel like I should confess that I was terrified, but the truth is that I wasn’t really scared. Events were unfolding too quickly for me to feel much fear. Besides, I had been talking to God for forty minutes about my ability to survive in any circumstance. So, rather than fear, I felt this adrenaline rush and this intense sense of challenge…

The rumble was very loud by now, and I heard cars honking, metal screeching, and transformers exploding. Dude, I said jokingly to myself, you’re in a tornado. This is even bigger than Backpacker Magazine. You’re gonna be on Oprah.

It sounds flippant now, but at the time, humor was my way of staying in control of my emotions, and it worked. Panic is the number one killer in survival situations. Presence of mind, a sense of purpose, and even humor are often the very elements that determine who will live and who will die in the midst of a disaster. By talking to God, by looking for a lesson to be shared with others, and by kidding myself, I was able to stay calm and to act smart. By the grace of God, staying calm and acting smart probably kept me alive.” — David M. Young. Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

PREPAREDNESS TIP #3:  Get your head in the game. Being a Christian means that when bad things happen, we know where to turn and where to find real hope. What good can we do, if we’re running around panicking along with everyone else?

HELPFUL RESOURCE: Preparedness Now “Always strive to keep a cool head in an emergency. Remain alert and well-informed at all times. Do not allow your guard to drop unless you are in a secured environment. If properly harnessed, fear can serve you well during an emergency, but you must learn to control it.” Aton Edwards, Preparedness Now, p 43.

This is my last post in this series.

Besides Noah, the Old Testament provides many examples of Spirit-filled preparation, but I want to move into the New Testament because there’s one verse that gets me every time:

“Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.” Matthew 10:9.

Here Jesus sends out the 12 disciples with a direct command to NOT prepare physically ahead of time. They should be completely dependent on God’s ability to care for them.

This verse in combination with Matthew 6:25-34 (don’t worry, tomorrow will worry about itself) prevents many, many Christians from thinking seriously about preparedness. We say: when our time comes we will accept it. God will provide the solution, I just need to pray and trust.

Of course God will take care of your family! Definitely you should pray and trust! But here’s a question for you: HOW does God provide for his followers?

In the verse above, Jesus tells the apostles not to take extra things because “the worker is worth his keep.” They stayed in homes, ate food, and slept in beds provided by willing families. As a wife and mother I can easily imagine the preparation that went into housing one of Jesus’ apostles for a night, a week, a month, or longer.

God uses His people to provide for others. His people – that’s you and me! We should be ready and willing to help whenever possible, and that includes unforeseen emergencies and disasters.

Another point from the New Testament: at the end of Acts Chapter 11, we hear about some prophets who came to Antioch, predicting that a severe famine would spread over Rome. I’m sure this led them to pray and trust that God would provide for His people. But they also put action to their prayers: “The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.” Keep in mind – the famine had not yet begun. All they had was the word of some prophets, and they acted in faith.

PREPAREDNESS TIP #2: Practice being aware of others and their needs. In the aftermath of a disaster, the people around you will be all you have for a while until help arrives. Are they hurt? Do they need shelter? Water? First aid? Could you help people that are trapped nearby?

And before a disaster, the Holy Spirit may urge you prepare something for them ahead of time, as in Acts 11. (Please note here that listening to the Holy Spirit is critical. We can’t plan for every possible disaster and provide for everybody in need — the list would be endless. But because our Lord knows what awaits us, He can impart wisdom and guidance to us through the Spirit.)

HELPFUL RESOURCE: Christian Emergency Network. Formed after 9/11, the CEN operates under the premise that Christians should “BE AWARE of the times, Be Ready and then rally all Christians to BE THERE praying for the victims, caring for them in sensitive ways, and then sharing the Hope found only in Christ.” The CEN believes that caring for others includes attending to their physical needs in an emergency.

In honor of National Preparedness Month (coming up in September), I’ve decided to write some posts about if/why Christians should prepare for potential emergencies. This topic has been on my heart for a while now, mainly because I have felt the urgent need to prepare for something. Over the summer I even conducted my own personal Bible study about preparedness and God’s people. Should we prepare? Or is preparation a waste of time that steals our spiritual focus?

For each post, I’ll write a few paragraphs or more highlighting biblical preparedness, and then conclude with a preparedness tip and a helpful website or book. I’m praying that the Lord will guide our hearts into His wisdom, as we all have different preparedness needs depending on geographical location and the nature of an unknown emergency.

And that brings me to the first major point: Without the Holy Spirit working among us, our preparation will be empty. Or put another way – the Holy Spirit makes our preparation efforts successful.

Noah is the ultimate example of Spirit-filled preparedness. In Genesis 6 we hear that Noah was a righteous man who walked with God. Then a few verses later we see these words, “So God said to Noah…” And then “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.”

Noah didn’t second-guess God or His instructions, even though it must have been difficult. He didn’t strike out on his own to build an underground shelter because he thought it would make more sense. He didn’t fall into a deep depression and do nothing, and he didn’t scoff at his imagination over a strong drink.

Noah heard God, and obeyed. When was the last time you heard God? Were you listening? Will you obey?

“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.” Hebrews 11:7

PREPAREDNESS TIP#1: If you do nothing else, get together a basic emergency kit for your family. It should include first aid supplies, flashlights with extra batteries, and enough water and non-perishable food to support your family for at least three days.

HELPFUL RESOURCE: emergency kit basics from READY.gov – the federal government’s emergency planning website.

I’ve been MIA from the blogging world lately, and while I’ve missed writing my own blog, commenting, and regularly reading others, this last part of summer has been a blast — mostly offline, if you can imagine such a thing. Here’s why:

1) Structured “free time” with the kids. We didn’t enroll our children in hundreds of camps this year, or plan activities for every day of the summer. I believe in the value of play! But anyone with kids knows that total free play can be a problem. Entire rolls of toilet paper stuck in the toilet, whole bottles of new hair product used for “experiments,” and so on. Yes, we’ve had some of that. But we’ve also been to the library, spent hours at the park and the pool, played with trucks and dolls, made crafts, and cooked together. We had some hard days, too. Some difficult lessons about being kind to each other, or doing for yourself what you can (and not always asking Mom or Dad), about respecting others. We’ve had tantrums (not just the kids), and were cross with each other. But important lessons come from those times, too. And I’m glad we took the time to both play and learn together.

2) Friends. Historically friendships can be difficult for me. I come across as a very social person, and in many ways I am. But I’m also fairly introspective and value personal space for both myself and our family. This summer God has blessed me with some great friendships and I pray that those continue to grow as we go back to our own routines.

3) A chance to participate in God’s story. Some totally unexpected ministry opportunities came our way this summer, and it’s always exciting to see God work and to be a part of it.

4) Time to build great family memories. Camping on our property in West Texas, the beach/boating with one set of grandparents, Oklahoma fun with another set, and a baseball game with yet another. Home birthday parties, church events, Six Flags, going to the movie theater on a hot summer afternoon. Riding bikes together at the school down the street, our youngest with no training wheels! Snow cones, countless popsicles, cookouts, fireworks…

It’s been a great summer, and I’m sad to see it go. But I’m also excited to see what God brings our way next, what adventure or discipline He has in store. 

(by the way, there’s a terrible ruckus in my house right now. I just asked them, “what are you doing?” Their response? “Fighting, but HAVING FUN!”)