Chismville

I was forwarded a quote from my home group leader this morning that I thought I would post for my friends. This is a quote from Pastor Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill. He is known for saying things that sound weird and in your face. I think I understand what he is saying:

“You have been told that God is a loving, gracious, merciful, kind, compassionate, wonderful, and good sky fairy who runs a daycare in the sky and has a bucket of suckers for everyone because we’re all good people. That is a lie. God looks down and says ‘I hate you, you are my enemy, and I will crush you,’ and we say that is deserved, right and just, and then God says, ‘Because of Jesus I will love you and forgive you.’ This is a miracle.” – Mark Driscoll

So many times we do view God or Jesus as our “best friend.” We view God as a vending machine that always has available what we want. Do we view our Lord as a Mighty King and the Creator of all things? Do we tremble when we read His Word and seek His face? If we don’t, we should. What I am trying to grasp is to change my thinking about our God by viewing Him as so much greater than myself! John the Baptist said, “He must increase, and I must decrease!” It is a miracle that God is so merciful with us! That is something to be thankful for today! I think Mark is trying to defend the Holiness of God instead of allowing people to walk confidently with little thought of just how awesome and Great God really is to all!

p.s. I am not agreeing with Mark’s quote about God “hating” us. I am not sure why he used those words. I know the Scripture says, “God is angry with the wicked everyday.” He does not tolerate evil and cannot fellowship with evil and sin. When Adam and Eve sinned, they had to leave the Garden and the presence of God because of their sins. God hates sin, and I think the quote is referring to how God hates sin and hates hypocrites, not that he HATES people!

Brian Regan is one of the funniest and clean comedians  I currently know of. This short video on gyms is a must watch if you need a good laugh and have a gym experience!

 View Here

Let me know what you think in my comment section.

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

cut in: 1/3 cup butter

swirl together:

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup honey

1 egg

Stir honey mixture into the flour mixture and  roll out to 1/8 inch thickness with a little extra wheat flour. Cut in animal shapes and bake at 350 for 11 or 12 minutes.

Joel and Chalice used to inhale graham crackers. I haven’t bought them in a while. My dear friend, Dana, gave us some animal cookie cutters for Christmas that I’ve been wanting to use. Today I promised Joel that we could make some graham crackers after our walk and after his nap. Joel loves helping me bake. A 5 gallon wheat bucket makes a great little stool for him. He poured in most of the dry ingredients and then went to town cutting out camels, elephants, pigs, giraffes, donkeys, and kangaroos. I dusted them with a little cinnamon before baking them. Yum yum!

Chalice is Joel’s devoted little disciple…some of the time. Henry’s health food store kindly bestowed balloons upon my children this morning when I was grocery shopping and Joel saw to it that his sister kept her purple balloon and didn’t “drop” it. He alternately asked me to tie and untie his yellow balloon to his sandal. The balloons safe inside our house late this afternoon, I was fixing dinner around the 5 o’clock hour with happy music blasting to dissuade the kids from remembering their hungry little stomachs and their duty to fuss the hour away before their daddy arrived home. They glued themselves to my ankles while I chopped and prepared the components of chicken pot pie. It was then that Joel let go of his yellow balloon and much to his dismay it floated swiftly to the top of our new skylight. I tried unsuccessfully to retrieve it for him and told him that when daddy arrived home, he would get the balloon for him. Joel fixated on that point of Daddy getting his balloon for him. When the kids temporarily left me to dinner preparations, I hardly noticed. A few moments later, I left the kitchen to check on the kids and noticed both doors were wide open. Joel knew how to spring the child safety door handle from the screen door with the larger door. He also knew how to unbolt all three of the locks and had obviously done so quite effectively. Joel and Chalice were nowhere to be seen. I rushed down the sidewalk to the left. A few neighbors asked if I was looking for someone. Two lone toddlers would certainly have drawn some attention I would have thought. Another neighbor from her balcony informed me that they had gone around the corner. As I rushed the opposite direction she explained that they’d said something about finding daddy. Great, I thought. So she took a baby’s word for it! They were nowhere to be seen around the corner either. They’d both passed four neighboring doors walked down several stairs to where David’s truck would have been parked had he been home. As I rounded the corner of our garage I saw the two miniature people. Chalice’s purple balloon was tied to her pink corduroy overall dress. She held the two halves of the child safety doorknob thing. Joel was by her side as they ventured onward. They were nearly outside of our complex and in rush-hour traffic on the street. In fact, another 20 seconds in the direction they were headed and hopefully God’s mercy would have spared them from the rush of cars heading home. Is mothering worth the near heart-attacks it so frequently affords? Is there insurance to cover the fees for the number of guardian angels my little ones could use?

I’ve always had the mindset that I should not raise my children to grow up to be just like me. I think that is a humble and wise concept, don’t you? How many times have you heard this saying on the movies, “Young man, someday you will grow up to be just like your father!” Well, my Dad never encouraged me to be a painter, and I won’t be encouraging Joel to be a salesman. However, sometimes, I can’t help it. I haven’t done a thing and yet the kid is just a natural born salesman.

Tonight at the dinner table, I looked over at Joel, who was not eating his dinner once again, and gave him the evil eye. If you don’t know what I am referring to, wait until your a parent. I then said, “Jooooellll, let’s stop playing with your new balloon, using your chair as a merry go round, and writing your dirty fingers all over our clean chairs and start eating your wonderful plate of food!” He slowly began attempting to eat his food but did not finish before Joli and me. After I finished, I began doing the dishes when I noticed Joel was not quite done nor even trying to eat. I reminded him again to continue eating when he replied, “Help Daddy!” I thought he really wanted my help, so I walked over to “help” put the food in his mouth with the nifty fork. He then took the first bite and said, “Daddy take bite! Daddy take bite!” He grabbed the fork and held it out for me to eat. I quickly refused and said, “No Thank you!” He then took another bite and said, “Daddy take bite!” and gave me a big smile as if to say, “You know you want some of this healthy food!” After the 3rd or 4th sales attempt, he came to the conclusion that we were “All Done!” He tried so hard to help HIM finish the food by me eating it for him. He’s been trying this salesman approach to a lot of things that he doesn’t want to do the past few weeks thinking he might sell a few suckers on his concepts. It is quite an interesting technique.

Tuesday afternoon I completed the final exam for my bomdiggity course on terrorism. Two & a half hours of free-hand writing. I feel like Christian watching his burden fall off at the foot of the cross. Most of the courses I’ve taken since we’ve been married have been fulfilling and interesting. While I definitely learned a lot in this course, there were so many technical frustrations and correspondence problems with the professor. I wish I could get more than three credits for all the work I put into this particular course with its books of reading, eight 6-page papers, and two comprehensive exams–all free-hand writing. I’m now just about done with my degree. I have just two more courses left. I’m thankful for my patient husband who’s put up with the extra stress of my studies.

I have such a loving husband who thoroughly spoils me–but hopefully I’m not spoiled rotten.  Tonight we will be our third Valentine’s dinner date at a cute little Italian restaurant in El Cajon. Two years ago today, I made David a card letting him know that we were expecting little Baby number two–Chalice. I carefully built up to the news in my note, but David read the bottom line first, changing the climactic conclusion.

Today is a quiet and rainy day. Joel is with his Grammy Chism, so I plan to take Chalice out for a little outing after running errands. I’m enjoying a breather between courses and thought I’d do something besides studying for a nice change of pace.

Yesterday I received a call from Joli who stated that our water was completely turned off. I’ve never had that happen before without someone physically knowing where the shut off valve was located and warning us before shutting of the water. Yesterday was different. Someone or something caused our water just to stop working! If there is one Mr. Fix it thing I hate doing around the house, it has got to be plumbing. How would I know why the water just stopped working? I know we were having some hot and cold issues with the water, but boy…no water…no answer. This all was going through my head the moment Joli’s troubled voice said, “We have no water!”

For some crazy reason, I came up with these questions to solve the problem: “Joli? Has Joel been in the backyard today?” Joli responded, “Yes. But just for a minute.” I thought for a second and then responded, “Hmmm…do me a favor and look for a valve handle that is facing down near the back door. Once you find it, pull up or down on it and see if anything happens.” Joli found the lever, turned it one way and out came the water! Ha! Joel figured out a way to turn off our main water supply. Why was he the culprit? Because today, it happened again. Once Joel discovers something new, it takes him awhile to get bored with his discovery. Joli and I thought it was funny that me, Mr. NOT Plumber, who hates plumbing, who would never be a plumber, figured out how to solve our NO WATER problem without calling a plumber! In the past when I have tried fixing plumbing problems, I’ve called the plumber!  I felt like a real man today…especially when I hung up the phone and heard my coworker laughing, having heard the whole conversation!

The headline is referring to our marriage–David’s and mine and the missionary component would be on David’s part. Most people who know us have heard of our unconventional courtship across the many miles of the US. Who knows had David really known me, if he ever would have looked me up. He had only vague recollections of a certain Joli Howard (yes, he got my name right) who lived in Pennsylvania (uhm, make that Maryland!!). David had a definitive purpose in mind when he got on his trusty laptop and did a name search. It had been eighteen months since the last time our paths had crossed. Our families had maintained no contact since that time. The other detail David had incorrectly remembered about me pertained to my affinity for coffee. Chisms are adamant about their coffee. And I don’t think any Chism would compete for first place affection for good coffee over David. I, on the other hand, never touched the stuff. Busy schedule, sleepless college days made no difference. I chose to run on my own energy, thank you very much! It’s true, I even made snide remarks about it. It wasn’t long before I learned about my courter’s affection for coffee. As our relationship progressed, I didn’t really have any red flags pertaining to coffee. After all, my dad was a strong delighter in the black beverage, while my mom wouldn’t even touch decaf tea, so sensitive to the slightest quantity of caffeine she was. Well, as history attests, we were married, David and I. David drinking his black coffee, and not burnt Starbucks mind you, the real deal and strong! and I drinking tea or hot chocolate or water or nothing. Well, after two and a half children and three and a half years of marriage I’ve caved. I must admit it. I now drink coffee, fresh from David’s espresso machine (usually decaf) and doctored with just the right touch of cream and sugar–David knows just how much. So this missionary marriage has a happy ending after all. I am the reluctant–now joyful convert.