A Lovely Lovey Couple of Days

So this weekend Nathan & I had the chance to drive to Clarksville & stay with my family! We were excited to see them, it also was our first time to stay at my parent's house since we have been married because we always had our own place there until a couple of months ago. We all attended a Mercy & Grace Gala at the Country Club. If you have never heard of Mercy Ministries then I suggest checking them out. I am reading Nancy Alcorn's book about how she started it right now! Okay anyways so there was a silent auction, speaker, dinner, & dancing. It was a lot of fun & great to see some friends. Once we got home we played some speed scrabble until all hours of the night. The next day we celebrated my sister-in-law's birthday and then had to head back to the boro.

AND then a we had valentine's day! Nathan brought me breakfast in bed & then we played some disc golf before I had to head to work. When I got home from work I had a outfit laying out for me with some new earrings to wear with it. By the time I was finished getting changed I had homemade pasta waiting on me plus more presents! I got a really cute owl shirt, necklace, & djembe! Didn't my husband do good? I think so! I have been telling Nathan that I always thought it would be cool to be able to play a djembe so he bought me one. It was a wonderful night that we enjoyed together. Nathan's present hasn't come in yet but he knows what he is getting, a remote control helicopter that he has been wanting since his grandfather got one for Christmas!

P.S. Thank you to Sarah for sharing this link. It is kids answers to the question "What is love?". Go Check it out!

Marvelous Martes!

Sunset at Foster Falls. MMMM MMMM.

A Lesson From The Lion King

The Lion King is one of our all-time favorite movies. In fact, it comes in at number 4 on my list of best movies ever made. It's that good. And if you've seen it, you're sure to agree that there are a ton of life lessons to be learned (not to mention tons of tears to be shed when Mufasa dies). If you haven't seen it you need to stop what you are doing immediately and go watch it on YouTube or find one of your many friends that has seen and owns this movie and borrow it from them. Or just go ahead and buy the thing. Seriously, you don't know when you might be called from this earth. It could be any moment and you certainly do not want to roll a 7 and die without having seen The Lion King.

We were talking recently at a youth gathering about how many of us live in denial and the above scene from The Lion King popped up in the ol' noggin' (there are many life lessons to be learned from the movie after all, remember?). So we were talking about how many of us live in denial and that we may be in denial over many different things, perhaps something we did in our past or something that was done to us or even something we are doing now. One of the first things Simba says in this clip is "you can't change the past". If you will recall, earlier in the movie Simba is framed by his conniving uncle Scar for Mufasa's death. Scar told Simba that the only thing he could do was to run away from his home and never come back, which Simba did. For years Simba has considered himself responsible for the death of his father and has been carrying around this immense guilt. His childhood friend Nala has just found him and confronted him for not returning home and taking his rightful place as king from his tyrannical uncle Scar.

We can take so many things from the above scene. Simba has been running from his past for so long that he has completely forgotten who he is. We talked at the youth gathering about how denial exhausts us and makes us live a life God never intended for us. I love what Mufasa says to Simba when he appears to him: "You have forgotten me. You have forgotten who you are and so have forgotten me. Look inside yourself Simba. You are more than what you have become. Remember who you are. You are my son and the one true king. Remember who you are..."

Wow. That had to be a smack in the face. I mean wouldn't it be enough to have to carry around the belief that you had killed your own father? But then for him to come to you and tell you that you had totally forgotten him? Man, that would be heavy. But think about it. Don't you and I do the same thing with God? I love how Mufasa tells Simba that he is more than he has become. Man, I wonder how many of us fit in that category with Simba? I wonder how many of us God is trying to tell that we are more than we have become? Think about it. Simba was created to be the King of Pride Rock. He was created to be royalty but instead he ends up out in the middle of the jungle, away from his family and home eating bugs for food. And you know what the crazy part about denial is? Simba had settled for a life he was never meant to live but in his own mind it was the best he could ask for. He thought he was having the time of his life. And it's the same with us. We can run from our pain and the cause of it into a life that God never meant for us to live just like Simba did. Or, we can face our past and our pain and hurt and move forward into the freedom and truth God intends for us to live in.

God created us to live in freedom and truth.

Psalm 25:7 - Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, Lord, are good. (NIV)

Romans 5:1-2 - By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. (The Message)

I was much like Simba for the longest time. I lived with the guilt of my sins and had forgotten that God created me to be a king, that through the death of his Son on the cross I was no longer a sinner but a saint. I lived in denial that I did not have to work off my forgiveness. Sure, I would have told you that God had completely forgiven me and cited the right verses but my actions would have proven otherwise. It wasn't until I had gone for so many days without committing a 'bad' sin and had read the Bible for at least five days and hadn't forgotten to pray at least 3 times a day that I would start to feel like God had forgiven me. To me, I had become "Nathan the Sinner" and that was my identity. And man, that's the definition of legalism. But God has been showing me more and more what it looks like to live in his truth and freedom. Because the truth is that God sees more in us than what we have become. He doesn't see our sins and rebellious ways but because of his mercy and goodness he sees us. Just like Mufasa sees the true king in Simba that he is instead of the runaway Simba has become, God sees the king or queen in us that He created us to be and not whatever else we think we have become.

And that's the beauty of God's love. We don't have to win it. We don't have to find it. We don't have to work for it. We don't have to do good things for it. We don't have to not do bad things for it. We don't have to read our Bibles and memorize verses to get it. We don't have to go to church every Sunday to gain it. We don't have to deserve it because we throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us and we find ourselves standing in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory. Wow.

Sure the past hurts. Maybe you've hurt yourself through decisions you've made or maybe someone else has hurt you. But just like Rafiki said, you can either run from it or learn from it. Even though Simba ran from it for years and became a slave to his guilt he was always a king. The truth is that if we have been justified by faith through Jesus Christ, we never actually became anything else. Our identity is secure in Christ. We are free to run through the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory.

Shoes in The Freezer - How To Detoxify Your Stinky Shoes

Take a look inside our freezer on any given day and you will see something like this:

Currently residing in our freezer are a pair of Salomons, three pairs of climbing shoes, some frozen chicken tenderloins, a box of frozen turkey patties, a couple boxes of Green Giant vegetables and one really old pair of New Balance tennis shoes. "Why", you ask? To kill that funky man shoe stank but of course! Carrie doesn't seem to have quite the odor problem with her shoes that I do with mine.

It all started on a dark and stormy night with my climbing shoes. They smelled horrific. Left to their own devices they could probably have taken out a small country within minutes. Seriously. So when first faced with this problem a number of years ago I came up with a solution: Dryer sheets. And this worked quite well. At least it masked the smell fairly decently. But as I continued to use this technique my feet started getting rashes on them from the dryer sheets (I have sensitive skin, cut me some slack).

And after some fiddling around on the 'net I learned a new trick. I read somewhere that the moisture and stench in shoes is caused by bacteria that grows in moist and warm conditions (i.e. sweaty shoes) and that putting your shoes in the freezer would kill the bacteria, unarming your them from their nostril-terrorizing powers. And it worked wonders. Now most all of my shoes visit the freezer on a weekly basis and my climbing shoes live in there. So if you gots some stanky shoes, throw them in the freezer overnight and see what happens. Plus they feel so good when you put them on. Kind of like a frosty mug for your feet.

I'm A Good Person. And I Deserve Good Things. Luke 15: The Lost Son.

I'm a good person. And I deserve good things.

Look! All these years I've been slaving for you, never giving you one moment of grief and never disobeying your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends!

- Luke 15: 29 (a mix of the NIV and the Message)

I've heard the Parable of The Lost Son preached dozens of times. And I really have always enjoyed it. I mean it is so cool to see how our God forgives us even though we squander all the blessings He has given us and we waste our inheritance on worldly things and just like the younger son in the parable find ourselves completely destitute, settling for pig slop when we could have some barbecue beef from a fatted calf. Seriously though, we serve a God that just doesn't care what kind of pig slop we are settling for or what we wasted our inheritance on. He just wants us to return home to Him. And He waits with His arms open, ready to party the moment we realize that we have nothing without Him and we come home. And think, He doesn't even yell at us, He doesn't punish us.

I love how the Message Bible says in verse 21 that when the younger son met his father he "started his speech". You gotta think that this guy had been practicing and rehearsing what he would say to his father his whole trip back home. It reminds me of when I was a kid and had done something I knew I was going to be in trouble for, I would spend hours coming up with the best thing to say to my parents to try and lighten their anger towards me, in hopes that I might get my 5 day grounding knocked down to 3 days with good behavior. So the lost son practices and practices what he is going to say to his father when he gets home, and no sooner does he start his "I don't deserve to be called your son" spiel that he realizes his father isn't even listening to his plea bargains because he is too busy making sure his son's needs are taken care of, making sure he is dressed in the finest of clothes. His father doesn't want an explanation nor does he want to scold his son for wasting his inheritance. In fact, out of his compassion, he wants to continue giving to his son. He throws a huge party because his lost son has returned home!

But there is another element to this story that I guess I have always overlooked. We heard a sermon this last Sunday focusing on the older son. Somehow I have always managed to overlook his behavior and actions. And I'm realizing now that's because that older son represented me and the way I related to God for a long time. Now that's not to say that I haven't left home and settled for my fair share of pig slop because I certainly have. And that's also not to say that I haven't demanded my inheritance and wasted it because I have done that too. But really it is the story of the eldest son that I identify with most.

Two thoughts are going through my head about the older son. Matthew 15:8 comes to mind when Jesus, talking to the Pharisees, tells them that even though they praise him with their mouths and say the right things and show up to all the big worship services, their hearts were far removed from him. Even though the older son stayed with his father and obeyed all the rules and did everything his father asked, he shows us the condition of his heart in verses 28-30. He doesn't care that his brother has repented and come home. Instead of being filled with joy over his brother's return he is filled with anger and jealousy. But don't we do that sometimes? Ever had that thought of "Well I don't ever do ____, and I certainly have never _____, and I've never even thought _____. But old John over there, he has done all of that times 5, and his house is waaaay nicer than mine" or "he hasn't gone through half the struggles I have" or "he makes a lot more money than I do".

Another thought I had about the older son (and I think this is where I really identify with him) is that he is still demanding his inheritance, his right to nice things and a nice life and even a nice afterlife, just like his younger brother, but he is just doing it in a different way. He thinks he deserves his inheritance. It's his right. Because after all, he has always done what his father has asked of him. And beyond that, he had always not done what his father forbid him to. But none of it was from his heart. It wasn't because he was grateful that his father provided for him and met his needs. One commentary I read points out that the older brother even refers to his younger brother as "this son of yours" (Luke 15:30 - NIV). He wasn't even thankful that his father completely forgave his younger brother and was not going to give him the punishment he deserved. The older brother was just in it for himself.

Now how many of us can identify with that? I know I can. I guess sometimes we feel like we deserve for God to bless us. We deserve to be taken care of and to be given a spouse and a family and a nice job with a nice house. We deserve to be blessed with good health and to live happy lives. We even deserve to go to heaven. I mean if I read my Bible everyday and go to church every time the doors open and I raise my hands during worship and give 10% of my paycheck to God and I don't say things I shouldn't or talk bad about other people or have sex before I get married then I have been obedient to God, right? All these years I've been slaving for God and I haven't given Him one moment of grief or disobeyed any of His orders, so that makes me a good person, right? And good people deserve good things, don't they? And my father's other son, man he's not a good person. He took all of dad's money and went and completely wasted it on prostitutes and probably gambling and drugs and who knows what else. But me? I'm a good person. And I deserve good things. Happiness? Ya, I deserve to be happy. Good health? Yup, I deserve that. Wealth? Ya, I deserve wealth. Well at least enough to pay the bills and have a new car every couple of years and go on a vacation during the summer, because I for sure deserve a vacation. Heaven? An astounding yes. I have slaved for God and I have kept all his rules. I definitely deserve to go to Heaven.

But the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure (Jeremiah 17:9). And besides that, all of my righteous acts are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). The 'good' I do on my own looks like filth before our Holy God. When I stand before God to account for everything I have done in this life, good (and my good being filth) or bad (I don't even know what my bad is going to look like), the only advocate I am going to have is Jesus Christ. My 'good' is not going to save me. All the Bible verses I memorized and all the church services and programs I went through and all the tithe I gave and all the times I said no to temptation and all the children overseas I sent money to on a monthly basis and all the times I invited my next door neighbors to go to church with me are not going to save me from an eternity of suffering.

But don't our actions say otherwise? Just like the older son in the parable don't we try to work off our salvation? Don't we sometimes fall to the belief that 'good' people don't really go to hell? Don't we sometimes get the idea in our head that we deserve better? That we are good people that do good things and we deserve all the 'good' stuff this life has to offer? And that that person over there isn't quite as good as we are so they don't deserve quite all the stuff that we deserve? And don't we sometimes feel like we have to earn God's approval? That we have to go for a month without sinning while reading at least 3 chapters of the Bible every day and memorizing 2 verses of scripture every week and not missing any church services in between before God will really love us or forgive us or be pleased with us? It almost sounds ridiculous I know but I'm telling you that has been my thought process before. And if you have grown up in the church I bet you have had those same thoughts.

If you are like me, you may need to check your heart before God. Forget about having to check off any of the boxes you have always checked off to try and win God's love, approval, or blessing. Because this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4:10). But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Quit trying to win God's love. He didn't send Jesus to die on a cross because of the 'good' things he knew you were going to do. He doesn't want us to perform for him, doing all the good things and not doing all the bad stuff. Let's just live daily in the grace he extends to us. Let's break open the Word because we want to know more about our God who has redeemed us and not because we feel like that's what 'good Christians' do. Let's spend time with him in prayer not so we can check off another box but because our whole being longs for him. Let's love our neighbors not to get a pat on the back or words of praise from our Christian friends but let's love them because we want them to experience truth and freedom in Christ.

Let's also check our hearts that we aren't jealous or angry when a lost brother or sister comes home. Let's look past all of their sins and rejoice with God and throw a party for them. And let's also make sure we don't have an "I deserve ____" attitude. Because in the end we are deserving of absolutely nothing outside of an eternity spent in hell. Our hearts are desperately wicked and when we move on from this life our only defense will be our faith in our advocate Jesus Christ. That's it and that's all. Thank God for Jesus!

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

- Colossians 1:13-14

Marvelous Martes!

We feel like Rex could make the front cover of the 2011 Labrador Retriever Calender with this picture. We certainly support him in his modeling endeavors.

And he could be Mr. February with this one.

Took this out at Foster Falls. I guess an icicle fell down from the top of the cliff line and impaled itself on that little tree?

How Common Is Your Name?

We ran across this pretty cool website that tells you where your first and last name ranks in popularity among the rest of the U.S. population. Check it out where your name ranks here. This is what we found out about our names:

"Chance" is the 2,441st most common last name in the United States out of about 49,000. It occurs in the U.S. population 13,586 times. The top 5 most common last names in order of most common to least are: Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown, and Jones. There's about 2,376,206 Smiths running around out there.

"Corinne" is the 554th most common name for a female out of over 4,000 and occurs 36,434 times in the U.S. population. "Carrie" is a little more common and ranks as the 129th most common female name, occurring 259,594 times. The top 5 most common female names are Mary, Patricia, Linda, Barbara, and Elizabeth.

"Nathan" comes in at 108 out of over 1200 male names on the list and occurs 269,908 times. The top 5 most common male names are James, John, Robert, Michael, and William.

There are almost enough Carrie's for all the Nathan's in the United States.

On an interesting side note, there are 32,097 Bert's in the U.S. but only 21,884 Ernie's.

On an even more interesting side note, there are 15,181 Berta's and 13,663 Erna's in the U.S.

On an even more interestingner side note, there are 338,534 Bonnie's and 138,601 Clyde's.

And just in case that wasn't interesting enough, the United States is home to 1,518 women named Claude.