Jesus Wept

I have been weeping a lot this week...random, ugly weeping. There is no warning that it is coming and there is no stopping it once it starts. Where there is deep loss, there is weeping.

In preparation for my Sunday School lesson, I have been studying the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead. I teach 4th-6th graders so, by now, most of them have heard this story only about a billion times! I was almost dreading teaching it. I wasn't sure that I could make it fresh and relevant (it's the Word of God...and I'm concerned that I can't make it fresh and relevant!).

This morning, I was reading it again. John 11. I was thinking of the passage in light of the other lessons we have had this month (we have been looking at Jesus' miracles in an effort to grow our faith in him). We began with His turning the water into wine at the wedding banquet. Only his mother, his disciples, and a few servants were even aware the miracle was taking place. He begins his ministry "behind the scenes." And, so through this first miracle, Jesus' disciples believe.

Now, here we are at Jesus' final miracle. He is no longer behind the scenes. In fact, there is a crowd of Jews who are there along with Mary and Martha and Jesus' disciples. To say the task is monumental is an extreme understatement. Here, death itself, the final enemy of humanity, is about the be successfully confronted by the One who is Himself the Resurrection and the Life. But as he is nearing this confrontation with Death, Jesus does something totally unexpected.

Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, 'Where have you laid him?' They said to him, 'Lord, come and see.' Jesus wept.

Now, this is where I wish the writer of the gospel of John could have been a woman. I realize that this would have changed the title...along with a few other things... but John gives me: Jesus wept. I WOULD LIKE A FEW MORE DETAILS, PLEASE! But, that's all I get. Jesus wept. Two little words. Two little words that had such a powerful impact on me this morning that as I read them, I stopped to do the same.

What an amazing picture. The Son of God is about to publicly defeat death foreshadowing his own triumph over death following his crucifixion; but, here, in his humanness, he is "deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled." So deeply moved that he begins to weep.

As I read those words, I pictured him weeping with me each and every time I have wept over the loss of my dad. Even knowing that through Himself, the Resurrection and the Life, my dad lives, He sees me weeping and is deeply moved in his spirit. Christ's humanity allowed him to struggle as we struggle, to feel as we feel, and to weep as we weep. Hebrews 4:15 says that we "do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses..." And, Jesus' weeping assures me that we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our grief.

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live...

There is great hope in this story that I have heard and read a billion times. I read it today as though I were hearing it for the first time. God met with me in John chapter 11. And he paused a moment to weep.

Potty Talk

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I get the privilege of working while our church's Mother's Day Out is in session. Today, I overheard the following 3 year old conversation while going to the bathroom:

Bossy girl washing hands: Miley, come on! We gotta wash our hands.

Miley: I'M NOT DONE YET!

Bossy girl washing hands: Miley, I said come on! We gotta wash our hands.

Miley: I SAID I'M NOT DONE YET!

Not so bossy and apparently more caring girl washing hands: Miley, are you ok in there?

Miley: Yea. I'm fine.

Bossy girl washing hands: (now kneeling on the floor looking under Miley's stall and seemingly disgruntled) I don't understand why you don't just go poo at home.

I hurriedly washed my hands and got out of there before bossy girl started yelling at me!

I may have found the proof...

Remember when my friend Emily was lamenting about a supposed running contest she "won" but had no proof? Well, since the end of that alleged competition, I haven't been back to the Nikeplus website (which is where you log your miles and check your standing if, in fact, you are in an alleged challenge). I have ran several times since then but for some reason, I haven't logged any of my miles.

Anyway, today, I went for a light jog trying to cleanse the nasal passages and earn some credit in the calories column and when I finished my run (that I really thought I was struggling through because I felt so stinkin' awful), Lance Armstrong told me "congratulaltions!" because, during the course of my run, I had run my fastest mile so far! "What? WOW!" (those were my thoughts in case you were wondering!)

So, I had to log on right away and sync up my miles so that I could see just how fast my fastest mile was! As I was browsing around checking out my fastest mile, my goals I had set, etc., I decided to take a peek into my trophy case! And there she was! A beautiful bright shining golden trophy with a nike swoosh right on the front! I couldn't believe my eyes!

I ran my cursor over the trophy to learn that I had run the most miles in 29 days...65.65 miles to be exact! And then, it hit me. If I was ever in an alleged challenge with a certain friend or two, then possibly, I have been awarded the trophy! The only problem was that IF I was in a running challenge somewhere between mid August to late August, then THAT challenge was supposed to last just over two weeks and IF I was in a challenge then when THAT challenge ended, my mileage was around 54-ish miles and IF I was in a challenge, THAT challenge may have found me finishing in second place by just over a mile...ish.

But, I have a shiny golden trophy with a Nike swoosh. And you can only get those by winning challenges. And perhaps the reason there is "no proof" of Emily's alleged victory is because I have said shiny golden trophy with a Nike swoosh in MY trophy case.

I'm just sayin'!

Guess what's on my Christmas list this year?

Cool Cat...

Check out this super-cool caterpillar that Abbee, Emma, and Gabi found in Gab's back yard...

Leigh has a secret little habit...

Whenever she sees my camera laying around the house, she often sneaks a little self-portrait surprise for me. She never mentions it. She just waits for me to randomly look through my pictures one day and unexpectedly find something like this...
Or perhaps this...
And my favorite...

Seriously, these make me laugh out loud. This girl is a riot! Just wanted to take a moment to proclaim publicly...I love Leigh (and not in an Ellen DeGeneres/Portia de Rossi kind of way! Just in a "like a sister" sort of way! Because I did play college basketball, I just felt I needed to make that clear!) Thanks, Leigh, for always making me smile!

Sipapu

WARNING: THIS POST IS FULL OF PICTURES AND VACATION MEMORIES...READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

It's been so crazy with all the back to school buzz, I haven't had the chance to blog about our WONDERFUL vacation to the mountains. On Saturday, August 16, at approximately 4:30 a.m., our family (along with my brothers...James and Joe...and their families, and my Mom...AKA Nani) hopped into three cars and began what would be a 12 1/2 hour journey to Sipapu Ski Resort in New Mexico. This is the first time we have all vacationed together (not counting a few weekend trips to the lake to camp). We were all CRAZY EXCITED about the trip...especially since so many of our cousins were going too! Here we are at our first rest stop...

Those of you who know me know that when given the choice between beach and mountains, I will go with the beach 100% of the time. Unfortunately, Wes is the exact opposite. So every year when deciding where to vacation, we argue between the two! When he finally convinced me to spend a week in a cabin in the mountains, THIS is what I was thinking...
Yeah...not so much! I didn't think to photograph our less than quaint "cabin" (a term that can apparently be used as a synonym for 1964 mobile home complete with original appliances, squeaking could-give-way-at-any-minute floors, and a couple of add-ons that make up a living room and a prison style bunk room)but trust me, it looked ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like what my sweet little imagination had dreamed up as I thought of how nice the cool mountain air was going to be in August for a Texas girl!

But, we didn't let what would become affectionately know as our "glorified tent" hinder our dreams of having the best week ever! With ten kids in tow, we couldn't help but enjoy everything that nature had to offer! These six are patiently awaiting a fishing pole to be made ready for their little hands...
These two spent hours and hours trying to catch chipmonks!
We never knew when the showers were going to hit but it rained almost every afternoon we were there! Sometimes it caught us off guard...
Glory LOVED throwing things into the lake!
Here are James and Brandon with our first day's catch...
Notice the number of spoons Glory is using...she would take one spoon and dip the soup, pour it into the second spoon, then pick up the third spoon and repeat the process...THEN she would take a bite! There wasn't much soup left in the spoon by that point!! It was too cute!
We spent a great deal of our time fishing...



These girls and Glory LOVED picking flowers...

We asked some "locals" where there was an easy hike (for the sake of the kids of course, not because we were feeling a little out of shape in the higher altitude!) and they recommended trail #7...said there was a waterfall about a mile up. What they failed to mention was that the waterfall was about a mile STRAIGHT UP! It was a tiny little path straight up the mountain with no handrail, guardrail, or escalator! We stopped with Nani occassionally but we did all finally make it all the way up to the waterfall! The kids had a blast crawling in behind it (too bad I didn't get any good pictures of that...you'll have to watch for those on Leigh's blog.Here are some pictures from the hike...



One night, our s'more making got rained out so being the forward thinkers that we are, we just had s'mores for breakfast instead!!
Here's what I learned from our week in the mountains...if you take a bunch of kids and just stick them in the middle of God's beautiful creation with nothing but their imaginations and each other, they are guaranteed to have the time of their lives! These guys never whined, complained, or argued! And, I'm not even kidding! They spent hours and hours enjoying the great outdoors.






Spending time with the people you love the most in a place that screams to the glory of God...it just doesn't get much better than that!

Could someone get me my testosterone, please?