The Transfiguration of Christ

So. My title for this post is "The Transfiguration of Christ". As a kid, I never knew what the heck it even meant or was about. Since being saved at age 25, I know what the story is about and generally what it is referring to. But now....

I read devotion to my boys tonight, and this was the topic of discussion. Somehow, God opened up my understanding a little bit more, and I want to share what I discovered. This may be old hat to you, but I think it's neat.

First... when you look at what happened right before this, Jesus just got done calling Peter Satan because Jesus had just told him he would be killed, and Peter didn't want to hear that. So Peter said, basically, NO WAY! Six days later, up on the mountain, when he sees Jesus transformed and talking to Moses and Elijah, he thinks it's so awesome to be here in this place, in this moment, that he says the craziest thing... Lord, let's build three tabernacles (booths) here, one for each of you. This is further proof that Peter didn't want to go back to life's real circumstances... he didn't want to face the awful truth that Christ had to die. I have to admit that I have been guilty of wanting to "set up a tabernacle" to avoid having to face things in my walk with God. For example... we are headed to church camp this Saturday. Who in their right mind wants to LEAVE that type of atmosphere and rejoin the real world? Last year, we immersed ourselves in the very powerful presence of God for six days, we tore up Satan's kingdom, we had many healings take place, young children receiving the Holy Ghost, a lady get up out of her wheelchair... it was awesome! The day we left, I turned on the radio in my car only to hear the news that there had been a horrible terrorist bombing in the London subway system. YUCK! I wanted to turn around, go back to camp, and set up a tabernacle and STAY THERE! But if we do that, then the lost souls of our country and world will remain lost. We need to go into the real world and TELL THEM about this awesome Jesus we love and serve!

Second, I saw a foreshadow of the rapture of the church in this story. The two people that Jesus was talking to on the mount were Moses and Elijah. Standing there in their "glorified" condition. My boys were able to point this out to me! They told me that Moses had died, and Elijah had not. Adam said, "The ones who die go in the rapture first." Wow. HE connected this to the rapture for me. This vision that Jesus gave to his disciples was meant to encourage them in the dark days to come, but it was also a small glimpse of what it will be like on THAT DAY... the day the Lord returns for His church. The dead in Christ (Moses) shall rise first, and those who are alive and remain (Elijah) shall be caught up with them in the air to be with the Lord (yep, they were both standing there on the mount WITH THE LORD). How cool is that?

The story of the transfiguration has never really meant much of anything to me. It almost seemed kind of Catholic sounding (I don't mean that in an offensive way, either). That is just the image I got when I heard the word "transfiguration". But now, it holds so much more meaning and depth for me. Thank you Lord for this small but excellent revelation! Thanks Adam and Nick for helping it happen!

In other news, our friends Petrina and Christine came over this evening to interview my husband and I as "Adam and Eve" for a lesson they are teaching the juniors at camp next week. Needless to say, it was pretty hilarious! I have a feeling she will be "sharing" this video with our Pastor, so I am sure it will be seen by many in the church before all is said and done! It was fun, though!

Well, it is treacherously late, and I so need to be in bed. But before I go, check out this fantastic article. Remember my last post about the book I was reading? The one about Joel Sonnenberg, the baby that got burned nearly to death at age 22 months? This article, published at the 25th anniversary of the tragic accident, is fantastic, with awesome pictures! Check it out!

Can't sleep because I'm THINKING....

You know... it is far too late for me to be up blogging. I'm exhausted. I built two palm trees and 4 pier logs today (for church camp props),
and had a house full of children to boot (one is still here sleeping over!), not to mention all the excitement and drama of the fire trucks across the street. But I can't sleep. I am reading a book, an autobiography of Joel Sonnenberg, and it is amazing. He is an incredible miracle of God. And he has me thinking (which is never good at this time of night). It has me thinking about what I have contributed to this world in my life, and what God's ultimate purpose for my life really is. My pastor preached an EXCELLENT message Sunday morning about THORNS. Yep, the cares of this life... the busy-ness that distracts us from doing what God's will is for our life. Now, I don't deny that God's will for me right now is to raise up our sons to be Godly men who will serve the Lord with their life, and also to be a helpmeet to my wonderful husband. But what else? What is He preparing me for? I feel like I have been incredibly slack in my service to Him, having won only one soul to the Lord in 14 years, and that person is not serving God today. I feel like something in my Christian life is not quite right... but I don't know how to pinpoint it. Hmmm. Maybe some sleep will do my brain good. And prayer. In that order. My pastor says sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is sleep. Amen. I'll go give it a try.

Growing up...

Wow... Adam went through a sort of "rite of passage" today. He went with his Dad and became "one of the guys" at the annual Father's Day target shoot. Last year, Adam earned his BB gun pin at Cub Scout camp. He's been wanting to take a hunter safety course, but we have waited an extra year (for maturity purposes... they tell us that the difference between 9 year olds and 10 year olds is amazing in hunter safety). But today, Adam got to hang with Daddy, Uncle Ben, Uncle George, and Mitch, and he had such an excellent time!!! Below are pictures of him shooting a 12 gauge rifle (ONE TIME ONLY... too much gun for him... it's longer than he is!!!) and a neat little .22 caliber pistol... just his size. I guess his marksmanship with it was pretty good!

Adam shooting a 12 gauge rifle


Adam with a .22 calibur pistol

Here is a copy of the email Ben sent out to us with the pictures....

Hey everyone!
Here are a couple pictures I took of Adam using my cell phone at his first day on the firing range. His favorite weapons of the day were the Phoenix .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol and the .410 shotgun! His least favorite was the 12 guage shotgun. Here are pictures of adam using both the Phonix and the 12 guage!!!!

Adam put 30 or more rounds through the Phoenix but only shot the 12 guage once! I can't imagine why... That one's got some KICK!!!

Great job today Adam! We're really proud of how you handled yourself and all of the guns safely!

Ben

*sniff* *sniff* My little man is growing up... guess it was bound to happen. Obviously, shooting guns is an extremely limited privilege, one that has to be earned with much respect, responsibility, and maturity. Not taken lightly, but we sure are proud of the young man Adam is becoming!!!!!!

Oh happy day!

Hello y'all! What a gorgeous SUNNY day! And a SATURDAY to boot! WOW! This is a rarity around here these days. Our youth group held a car wash today and made $175 in under 3 hours. Great job everyone! My boys and I pitched in, holding signs and scrubbing and rinsing cars. I burnt my forehead to a crisp. But it's all good. Now, it's off to clean the church! But before I go, I want to post a funny picture of my son Adam's best friend Josh, doing an excellent spiderman imitation in my living room the other day.


Yep... gotta love that kid! Well, time to head out. Will probably be after camp before I post again, and I will try to have lots of pictures and wonderful stories and testimonies for you as well! Bye!

Jamia Nash

Jamia Nash

Wow! This little nine year old girl will bless your socks off! You owe it to yourself to give her a listen.

Narnia

Hello! Just a quick post to share with you some great pictures of my boys. They attended a Narnia party at church today, and they had a great time! Stacy and Bekah did a fabulous job planning and carrying out the whole thing! Adam was dressed as Sir Peter, and Nick was Aslan.













It was such a great time! Be sure to watch our church website for ALL the pictures from this great gathering! www.lifeteaching.com . Click on ministries, and then on Kids, and check out the photo album section. Narnia pictures coming soon!

Baby birds about ready to fly the coop

It has been so much fun watching three baby robins hatch and grow before my eyes every day, from 200 miles away! First a funny picture she sent me this morning...

OPEN WIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!


Next, let's post a little comparison of these cuties from two weeks ago to now...



Wow, is all I can say.

Now, here are two more very cool pictures. My sons Adam and Nick were beside themselves with joy the other night, when Uncle Tim (my brother) came over to visit on his new Harley Davidson! They don't have motorcycle helmets, but Tim took them slowly around our parking lot with their bike helmets on. They were thrilled!



Yeah baby... I'm all that and a bag of chips... THANK YOU UNCLE TIM! Your nephews are still excited about it!

Let's see.... do I have anything spiritual to discuss tonight? Well, not really. I feel like I am still in my creative writing slump. Ehck!

Well, I'm done for now. Have a good one!

"new" pictures

Thought I would take this brief moment in time to post a couple "new" pictures... they are of "new" things. First, our "new" deck complete with "new" deck table, as the children decided the legs to my OLD table were a toy and LOST them!




Doesn't it look great?!?!?!? You never realize how much you enjoy something until you DON'T have it. We really missed our evenings out on the deck, visiting with the neighbors, chatting or having tea by candlelight... watching the deer that occasionally show up in the back yard. It's SO nice to have it back, AND to know that it is totally safe!!!

My other "new" picture is from my sister of those cute little baby robins... check this out!


MAMA! FEED ME!!!! Is that adorable or what?
Well, time to go visit my sweet friend Christian and give him his birthday present! TTYL!

Movin' on up

Despite the rain, our pack held its annual cub scout picnic today. There was plenty of food, plenty of fun, plenty of emotion, and plenty of excitement! Here are the pictures of our two wonderful sons...

This is mom putting a WEBELOS neckerchief on Adam... can you believe it?? A Webelo! I remember when he was a little tiger cub!



And this is our little tiger cub Nick becoming a Wolf cub. The neckerchief is a magical thing! It is as if it does something to their self esteem... they say, "Wow... I'm a REAL cub scout now!" (as if they weren't before). This magical transformation also happened to Adam when he became a Wolf.

So, that was our excitement for the day. Tonight, there is NO mouse in my room, and my husband just HAPPENS to be running rescue again tonight (every 6th Saturday night). SO... my missed opportunity last night has re-presented itself, and I am headed to bed to take full advantage!!! Tomorrow is SUNDAY!!!!!!!! Going to church to worship JESUS!!!!!!!!! It is always the highlight of my week! I love Him! Peace!

PS... here is the latest picture of the baby birds on my sister's porch in Maine... she thinks they look like fish! I agree! LOL! Guess we can't call them totally feather-challenged anymore!

Calgon..... take me away!

Where do I start? Today has been a VERY unusual day, which, of course, causes a certain amount of stress to build in you. At school today, the schedule was totally rearranged as we had two school performances of the popular children's book "Where the Wild Things Are".



Also, we had the torch runners for the VT Special Olympics come by the school, and we all stood out in the parking lot with signs, clapping and encouraging all the runners. Then, to make things a little more interesting, at noontime, our septic system decided to overflow, and every toilet in the school backed up! True story! They called and had THREE... count 'em ... THREE porta potties delivered for 300 students and staff. It was hectic, but we got through it!

Fast forward to this moment in time.... I was sitting here just a few minutes ago, chatting on the phone and playing a game of sudoku on the computer, when suddenly I saw a furry little rodent run down my hallway FROM the boys room INTO my bedroom. AHHHHH! My husband is on duty at Rescue tonight until 6 am... so he's not here to protect and comfort me, AND... the one night I could have the whole bed to myself to sprawl out????? THERE'S A MOUSE IN THERE!!!! How unfair is that???? I hate mice! I do the classic stand on a chair and screech thing. I am therefore sleeping on my couch tonight. I'm so glad there are no mice in heaven! Or spiders, or snakes, or ....... OOOO! I just got a great idea! Have you seen those new commercials for MasterCard, where you can write your own "priceless" commercial?? Here's the one I would submit...

Pet Hamster: $8.00
Pet Tarantula: $50.00
Pet Boa Constrictor: : $300
Going to heaven where there are no mice, spiders, and snakes: PRICELESS!

Yep... that's the one I'd send in!

Well... I'm not sure how well I'll sleep knowing there is a mouse in my house, but I should at least TRY to go to sleep... on the couch... grrrr. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning....... me. Thank you Jesus.... I don't know WHY, but thank you. I know that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord and are the called according to HIS purpose... I'm not sure how this mouse thing works for the good or what His purpose is concerning it, but I just have to trust Him. Pray for me not to have a heart attack if that thing runs across my feet in the middle of the night!!!! If he does, I'll have the big one, and I'll be shouting on the hills of glory! TTYL.... maybe....