Russia!

One thing about this blog that I like is that you can see what country your blog is being viewed. One question that some friends of mine and I want to know... who are you, Russia??

Just to make you feel at home...

Community

Christmas Party 2011

"Four Horsemen"
Wheelchair Football @ Lakeshore Foundation

Wanted to give a shout out to my small group! I love each and everyone one of you and just want to say thank you for the support. All of you are amazing people and I am honored to know you. Being surrounded by a community of Christ Followers is so important as Christ modeled this Himself with His disciples. Knowing that I will have these people praying for me as I continue to pray for them is such a great gift from God. Wouldn't trade you guys for the World. (I realize that my entire small group is not pictured here...love you guys too!)


The verses of Scripture that our small group has strived to follow is Hebrews 10:23-25. It says, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."


If you are not involved with a community of Christ Followers...join one!

Christmas in Dixie

Sitting here in the living room surrounded by family and "A Christmas Story" is on TV in the background. Presents unwrapped and my dad is in the kitchen playing with his new coffee maker. I love being home for the Holidays and will be home in enough time next year to spend Christmas with my nephew, Doss that will be born in April. Murray, my cocker spaniel sleeps soundly this year...not so much with a then 8 month old baby chasing him next year!

Our family is not very large but we do have some pretty funny traditions. One of them is going to eat Chinese food on Christmas Eve. While we were there last night, a gaggle of the employees sang "Happy Birthday" to a customer. I have to admit, part of me wanted them to sing "Deck the harrs with boughs of hurry, fa ra ra ra...." That is my favorite part at the end of "A Christmas Story" and it's about to come on right as I am typing this...

I love spending Christmas eve surrounded by my rather large Church family too. Our pastor, David Platt did a great job to usher in Christmas. Each year, the worship team puts together a CD for family time at home. It's got great music and some direction from David on spending this family time together. You can  download the music for free by pressing this link... http://www.brookhills.org/gathering/brook_hills_music.html . There is also music from past Christmas Eve services on the Church at Brook Hills there too. Hope you enjoy! Merry Christmas!

what is Christmas about?

6,607

Six thousand six hundred and seven...that was a foreign number to me the first time I saw it posted anywhere. There are plenty of familiar numbers that I can recite or recall if asked. For example, when you read the number 23 and think of basketball, who comes to mind? I can also get pretty close to telling you how many people fit inside Auburn's football stadium at a sold out game (87,451 for everyone keeping score at home).

Numbers are familiar and we can depend on them. Most of you know that I have ran a couple of marathons and several half marathons over the past few years. When you train for a race like this, there are many numbers that you have to become familiar with. For example, your running pace, distance ran and heart rate are some of the crucial numbers that are good to know for safety and to track process as you train. A marathon is 26.2 miles, for anyone that may want to run one... This is kind of a crazy number, and there is a reason for it. The distance of the race is the exact distance from two towns in Greece, Marathon and Athens. A greek runner was sent to Athens from Marathon to announce that the Persians had been defeated during the Battle of...you guessed it, Marathon. After he had ran the 26.2 miles, he collapsed and died... I wonder who was the first person to try this again after this man passed away? Smart, right?

Back to the number 6,607. If you haven't googled it by now...can you guess what this number represents? According to the International Mission Board (IMB), this is the number of people groups where less than 2% of the total population profess to be Evangelical Christians. The IMB considers that a people group is "the largest group through which the gospel can flow without encountering significant barriers of understand and acceptance." After letting that number sink in, please read Romans 10:14-15. My prayer is that this number starts to shrink as we go to the nations!

i like books

Growing up, I never saw the need or the joy found in reading a good book. My mom did and I always thought it to be a waste of time...and had mastered to get through High School and College without taking a foreign language course or really having to read an entire book all the way through. Talented, right? It's funny that now in my thirties I love to read and will soon start to learn a foreign language!

I think that reading good books is a part of growing spiritually as well as growing up physically. C.S. Lewis said that "Thirty was so strange for me. I've really had to come to terms with the fact that I am now a  walking and talking adult." You don't have to wait until you're 30 to read good books! Start with God's Word right now...please. These are some great books that have been instrumental as I continue to grow in Christ's likeness:

The Bible written by God Almighty
Knowing God written by J.I. Packer
What Is The Gospel? written by Greg Gilbert
Shadow Of The Almighty: The Life and Testimony of Jim Elliot written by Elizabeth Elliot
Radical & Radical Together both written by my pastor, David Platt

Soldiers

I have had the privilege of praying, walking and serving along side these soldiers in God's army over the past several months. K.P. Yohannan said that "Every Christian leader should have this engraved in his subconscious:  No matter what you do, never take yourself too seriously." I think as we have walked together along this training journey I can say that this has been lived out exceptionally well!

What an amazing training experience it has been and I will miss and be praying for all of you!

This is new for me...

Hey everyone! I am very excited about starting this blog and giving a closer look at what is going on in my life these days. As my blog title says, my "normal" these days is looking different. I started noticing this over a year ago when God opened my eyes to the needs of the world. There is a world out there in need of a Savior and His name is Jesus. When we start to grasp this truth, our "normal" cannot stay the same...

As I post, please let me know how I can be in prayer for you and also let me know what is going on in your life too. I covet your prayers as these transitions are happening all around me and it is such an amazing thing to watch God show off! It's better than watching sunsets and fireworks for sure!