Spoiled America

I've had an opinion for a while regarding how this election would/should turn out. (I know that will surprise some of you...the fact that I have an opinion and all...:) And as much as I WANT McCain and Palin to win, I am not certain that is in our best interest. Really, when you think long and hard about it, what have we done to deserve God's favor? Cry, whine and pray for a few months when we see things start to heat up? Yes, I think God is pleased with the sudden turn to Him for mercy and help. So what? He gives us our own way, like a spoiled child who throws a temper tantrum or pleads incessantly for a short time without any real change in our behavior? Or might He go ahead and allow leadership that would KEEP us on our knees and REALLY cause us to change our attitudes and behaviors and truly draw us closer to Him? I will not be surprised one bit if it's the latter. And honestly, that's really what we deserve.

I had serious issues after 9-11 with all the signs and people saying, "God Bless America". Why? What had we done at that point to deserve His blessing? And I feel much the same way today. We have done NOTHING to deserve His blessing this time around except look out for self. And I'm as guilty as the next guy. God SPARE America. That is my prayer - but prayers don't always get answered right away.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with the words to the song that Tony and I sang as minister's of music the Sunday after the 9-11 attacks. It was a tough assignment finding a song that fit all that we were feeling and experiencing. But we felt clearly that this was the one God wanted. May it also be your encouragement in the days ahead. Notice the promise in the second verse, but notice also the condition FOR that promise.

WE SHALL STAND

We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but the powers of all darkness;
We fight battles everyday; it seems they'll never end;
As this war rages endlessly, our hearts start to falter;
We cling until His Holy Word and know WE SHALL STAND.

We shall stand in the face of tribulation;
We shall stand when the battle rages hot;
We've placed our faith in the King who reigns forever;
Let us rejoice, for we know we shall stand.

When we've done all we can, therefore we stand and wait upon the Savior;
We've learned from experience to place our trust in Him;
And when we give Him full control, He cannot be defeated;
The battle's His; the victory's ours; Praise God, we shall stand.

We shall stand in the face of tribulation;
We shall stand when the battle rages hot;
We've placed our faith in the King who reigns forever;
Let us rejoice, for we know we shall stand.

God's Goodness Proven Once Again

Last Friday was Fun Day at school. They were having a paper airplane contest with three different ways to win – 1. Best looking plane; 2. Farthest flying plane and 3. Most acrobatic plane. Since neither Tony nor I are experts in the paper airplane department, Janae did research on the internet for different ways to build them. She made several and tried them out. We thought we’d found a winner. The other two girls weren’t interested in competing. But Janae was so anxious for the contest on Friday.

I was taking photos while they did the Upper Learning Center. Some of their planes flew pretty far! But when the Middle Learning Center got their turn, I watched the first few and thought Janae certainly had a shot. She got up to launch and her plane only made it a couple of feet on both tries that she was allotted. I could see the disappointment and embarrassment on her face. I finished taking pictures and then went to the van to head across town for groceries while I waited for the rest of the day’s festivities to end. I sat there and cried and prayed. I remembered so well the excited little girl that took her neatly decorated Valentine box to school on February 14th and the sad little girl that got in my van at the end of that day because both of her sisters had placed and she hadn’t. I was frustrated because she does such an awesome job at what she does. She puts enthusiasm, effort and energy into each and every project that she tackles and to see her lose again and again just breaks my “mommy heart”.

So I prayed Friday and begged God to please give her something extra special that day. Something that would show her that He really does care for her and that she isn’t just a middle child with anonymity but someone special in the site of God and others. (Tony and I have been talking about this…that she is so awesome about caring for others and thinking of others and how we need to help her discover a more obvious talent- something that others will notice in her – because unfortunately character often goes unnoticed next to ability to perform.) My girls are well aware of the disappointments that life brings so I didn’t feel selfish to ask God for something for her this once.

I picked the girls up later than afternoon and there were no reports of anything fabulous. In fact, Janae was even more discouraged because not only didn’t she win the airplane contest, they weren’t able to do anything fun outdoors and the water fight was cancelled due to pouring rain. Fun Day hadn’t turned out to be quite as fun as she’d anticipated. I was bummed and a bit disappointed that God had chosen to answer my prayer with a “no”. But all was soon forgotten as we prepared to attend a surprise birthday party and for company to arrive the next afternoon.

When Janae brought up the fact on Saturday that she wondered if she would win the Missions award, Tony and I both tried to encourage her to plan on losing and then be completely surprised if she did end up winning. We’d heard rumor that the amount we turned in was close to one of the seniors who has babysat our girls over the last few years. So we tried to go at it from that angle…that this was Luci’s last chance to win since she was graduating and that if she did, we would try again next year.

Imagine our complete and utter surprise when Janae won the Highest Average in her Learning Center, then the Supervisor’s Award for her learning center. I was thrilled enough with those winnings. So when they said the person who’d won the Missions award had turned in $354 dollars, I thought, “Wow! Luci beat us out by $4!” So when the next words out of the Pastor Johnson’s mouth was, "Janae Derscheid," I was totally shocked.

I didn’t really think anything about it until later after all the congrats of the evening wore off. And then God whispered in my ear, “Remember that extra special blessing you asked for yesterday?” “Yes, Lord, I remember.” “I had it planned this way all along.” And I smiled to think that God knows exactly what’s best for His children – in His own time and His own way.