A Thought in the Life of a Pastor's Kid

This year, one of my gifts to Jesus is to read the whole New Testament. I have read it many times before, but this time I wanted to take my time reading it and really study out some things. This is my second time reading through the NT this year and it is absolutely amazing all of the new things that God has showed me! I can't tell you how many times I have stopped and said, "I never noticed that before!" or, "I love that verse!"  Well, this morning, I was reading in the book of Matthew. In fact, I was in the very first chapter where it traces the geneology of Jesus from Abraham. I don't know about you, but sometimes (okay...maybe a lot of times) I just skim through the geneolgies and don't really pay attention to who begat who and so forth. But this time, three names stuck out in particular to me. These names can be found in verses 5-6.... "And Salmon begat Bo-oz of Rachab; and Bo-oz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; And Jesse begat Davi...

As you have probably figured out by now, I grew up in a Christian home. Ever since I was a little girl, my parents taught me all about the Bible and how God says that I should live. They taught me to set up standards in my life. Standards for dress...for music...for movies...you name it! Of course, when I was little, I didn't really understand why, I just did what I was told.  But as I grew older, they sat down with me and showed me, from the Bible, what God says about standards. They taught me to not just believe what they say, but to prove it from the Bible. After I proved it for myself, I realized that standards are so vital and important in the Christian's life.  When we were missionaries, we traveled around to different churches trying to raise support. I met a lot of pastor's kids and missionary kids. These families had standards just like my family and it was amazing to see other young people serving the Lord. A couple of days ago, I got to thinking about my frie...

Hey y’all! So I recently read this short story written by a young missionary girl and I thought I would share it. It’s a little long, but bear with me here…..it’s worth it….trust me! (and there might be a little surprise at the end too) "I grew up in a Christian home. I guess you could say that I was riding a church bus since before I was born. Church and ministry were my life and I loved it! I wanted to use my life for God’s glory and I surrendered myself for whatever the Lord had planned for me. But that’s when the Lord called my family to the mission field.  I was so excited about serving the Lord in another country and being a witness for Him. (plus, I got the title of “Missionary Kid”….how cool is that, right?!). This was going to be a piece of cake. I mean, all the books I read talked about all the people flocking to hear about Jesus, so it would be the same where we were going, right?  After being on deputation for three years, and then language school for another ...

I was listening to a message today by Bob Gray 2. He is one of my favorite preachers and I highly recommend listening to some of his messages (there are a lot on Youtube)! As I was listening to one of his messages called "Proactive Christianity", he said this quote, "Is your life a life of mirrors? Or windows?" If you are anything like me, you would stop here and say, "Huh? What is he talking about? Windows and mirrors.....I have no idea." I had those same exact questions too...don't worry :) But as I listened to him explain this, it was like one of the "light-bulb" moments! It's actually makes a lot of sense (or it did to me at least :). If you're a pastor's kid (like me!) or even if you're not, but you serve in the ministry at your church, you  have one of two attitudes. You are either serving in the ministry and having a "performance" attitude. Or you are serving in the ministry and having a "Spirit-filled...

So I think I have a new favorite song! It seems like every couple of months I have a new favorite song and then I listen to it on repeat all day. (is there anybody else like that or is it just me? ;) Normally it's a song that applies to my life at that moment, or it might be one that I just love because the words are so good! Let me just stop and say....I have a very high music standard set in my life. I choose not to listen to the world's music or anything that sounds like the world. I don't listen to contemporary Christian (because honestly, that's no different than what the world has to offer). I listen to music that glorifies God not only in the words, but in the background music as well. I like listening to colleges a lot (like Hyles-Anderson or Heartland or Golden State). There are a couple of other groups I like to listen to as well...but for sake of time, I won't list all of them here. If you'd like to hear some more about what music I listen to, then ...

When some people think of Easter, they think of egg hunts and the Easter bunny. Some people think of ham and the big Easter dinner. Some people think of Easter as the only day that they can eat candy and chocolate for breakfast ( not mentioning any names.....but I might just happen to be on that list ;)  Yes, I definitely enjoy all of the Easter festivities and candy just like anybody else. Who doesn't, right? But when I stop and think of Easter Sunday, ( and hopefully you do too ) I think of our risen Savior! Matthew 28:6 says, "He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see where the Lord lay." Sometimes it can be so easy to miss what Easter is truly about. Yes, we think about Jesus' Resurrection in services on Sunday when the preacher talks about the empty tomb. But do we really stop and consider this amazing, true story throughout the Easter season?? Jesus is risen! He is alive!! We don't serve a God who is dead and still in the grave! I don...

I realized that in my last post, I never truly defined the difference between dating and courting. Yes, we found out that dating is the world's way and courting is God's way....but what is the difference? There is a book called The 7 Royal Laws of Courtship (that is where my brother got the main theme for his message) and this book gives an amazing definition for both. Let's take a look at them, shall we? ;) "Courting is developing a relationship with an individual in the safety of a group. Dating involves a couple isolating themselves from others and thus leaving themselves open to temptation." So let's move on to rule number 2...... 2) By the grace of almighty God, I will arrive at the marriage altar morally pure. If you were like me, you were asking yourself the question, "What does it mean to be morally pure??" I'm glad you asked! :) Morally pure means to be pure physically, emotionally, and mentally. There are a lot of sub-points t...