Tag: Observations

Oh Beloved S’mores

For me, summer officially starts with an evening of family and friends gathered around the fire pit with sticks a-ready for toasting marshmallows. I’m happy to provide graham crackers and chocolate to go along with the marshmallows.  I’m even willing to “go gourmet” and get fancy with cookies, peanut butter cups, or york peppermint patties.  More than once, I’ve initiated a conversation about the toasting methods and preferences (for the record, Erin’s burning of marshmallows is wrong).

As you imagine that perfectly toasted, gooey mess, melting into a perfect square of chocolate placed onto a crispy vessel for eating…remember this; there is no polite way to eat a s’more.  You can’t delicately eat it with a pinky finger up expecting that the entire bite will go nicely into your mouth. No, indeed, you will make a mess.  On your mouth, on your fingers, and maybe even on your shirt.  You have to go all in so that you can enjoy the fullness of the s’mores experience.

Like eating a s’more, you have to go all in when following Christ. It’s all or nothing.  It’s all-encompassing for your life…and at times, it will get messy.  But the reward of being a Christ follower is worth it.  The closeness of a personal relationship with God will produce infinite benefits to your life, not to mention your assurances for eternity. 

We are to love as Christ loved, as dictated in John 13:34 (NIV), “A new command I give you; Love one another, as I have loved you, so you must love one another.”  

As we love others, our hands will get dirty.  In the world, human relationship is hard. It’s messy. So to show kindness to the homeless may require being dirty.  To tend to the ill or infirm, it may be distasteful.  Caring for widows or orphans may be hard and mentally taxing.  All types of love and service require us to get into the trenches and get dirty. 

When we get dirty when loving others, we are serving the Lord.  And He is pleased way more than we are when we get messy eating s’mores. 

Eat the s’mores.  Enjoy them.  Get messy.

But remember to love, serve, enjoy one another…and get messy being the hands and feet of Christ.

~Emily

Snack Money & A Mother’s Love

I recently gave my son $5 as he left for school.  He said, “What’s this for?” as he looked at the bill in his hand.  I told him to get something he wanted for school snack time.  It was a treat…not something I would normally fund for his daily school activities.

The moment I explained he could get anything he wanted for snack time, I had a flashback to my own Middle School experiences when my Dad handed me extra money for a treat from the lunchroom.  I had forgotten he did that until I did it with my own child.

It was a small gesture of love.  Much like praying over their sleeping bodies, running your hand over their head as they pass by, cheering for them during a home run hit, or simply making their favorite meal.  A small gesture of a mother’s love.

One of the first gestures we see of a mother’s love is the gentle caress of a pregnant belly. You know exactly the gesture I’m talking about.  The one where a pregnant woman runs her hand over her baby bump. Doesn’t matter if it’s small, medium, or large…that pregnancy belly gets a lot of hands running over it!

The Bible doesn’t specifically speak of mothers running their hands over a pregnant stomach, but I can only imagine that it’s a universal sign of impending motherhood.

When Elizabeth found out she was pregnant, she went into five months of seclusion (Luke 1:24).  In her sixth month, Elizabeth was visited by her cousin, Mary, who had just been told by the angel that she was also going to have a baby. 

“At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” ~Luke 1:39-41 (NIV)

While scripture does not say this, I have a visual of Elizabeth running a soothing hand over her unborn child while he was “leaping” in her womb over being near the mother of Jesus. 

As much as a mom loves her child, imagine how much more the Father loves us.  An unimaginable amount more than we can fathom…that’s how much more He loves us.  It’s more than a pat or some extra snack money.  God’s love for us is so big, He took steps to ensure that we could accept the gift of His mercy and forgiveness, through the death of Christ. 

1 John 4:9-10 states, “This is love, it is not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins.”

No matter how much I love my child…no matter how much snack money I give him.  No matter how much Elizabeth loved John the Baptist as he was leaping in her tummy.  No matter how much Mary loved Jesus…in the stable and at the cross.   None of it holds a candle to the amount of love our Lord has for us. 

I pray each of us has a week of maternal love, but more importantly the Father’s love.  If you don’t know the love that God has provided through our personal Savior, Jesus Christ, please contact us at the Iron Porch.  Erin and I would love to chat with you about what your salvation looks like. 

~Emily

Mother’s Day Wind Chimes

A few years ago, my son got me wind chimes for Mother’s Day.  It’s a big one that rings loud and clear with just a whisper of a breeze. 

I love these wind chimes.  First because my then 8-year-old picked them out.  Second, they instantly make the noise of the world disappear.  I could be sitting on my back porch and hear the distant barking of a neighbor’s dog, or someone mowing their lawn, or even an airplane flying high overhead.  But those chimes take the place of any other distracting noises.

The sweet sound of bells tinkling instantly centers me.  I love the music of chimes.  The noise of the backyard is gone in a moment. 

Our daily lives are filled with distractions and noise that grab our attention.  These things vie for our attention in our hearts and heads…which makes it easy for us to lose focus.  Lose focus on what?  On the things that are important: our families, our marriages…our God. 

It’s important that we have distraction-free time with God so that we can focus on prayer, fellowship, and mediation with our Heavenly Father.  It’s one-on-one time with the Lord, where we draw closer to Him.  It’s during that time that we are able to “hear” His voice.  And it’s at that distraction-free moment that we grow as disciples.  Psalm 119:15 (NASB) says, “I will meditate on your precepts and regard your ways.”

I’m guilty of “squeezing” God in when I have free moments.  For instance, I have a prayer board in my bathroom so that I can pray over requests while I get ready for the day.  The prayer time is good and deliberate.  But if I’m brushing my teeth or doing my make-up, it’s not prayer that is distraction-free. 

The bigger issues that distract us from God are ones we need to take note of.  These are typically heart issues, which will reveal what we love.  Martha experienced this revelation of her heart.

Martha was busy in the kitchen, preparing for her guests, while Jesus was teaching in her home.  Martha began complaining that her sister, Mary was not assisting with the preparations. In fact, Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to His lessons.

In response to Martha’s complaint, Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.  Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42.

Martha had been distracted from Jesus.  How had she been distracted? Her tasks? Her entertaining agenda? By the guests?  No…Jesus reveals that she’s distracted by her own anxiousness.  What was she anxious about?  Entertaining? Her guests’ comfort?  The temperature of the food? More than likely, she was most anxious about how everyone would think about her and her household if she was not successful at serving the guests.

Martha didn’t acknowledge her distraction…not until Jesus pointed it out to help her see the heart issue of her distraction.  She thought she was doing the right thing…but her values were not on point because of her distractions.  She was then able to shift her attention to what was more important…the Lord. 

In our distracted lives, in our busyness, we should be asking ourselves about what is truly distracting us from our relationship with God.  Are we choosing the “good portion” or something less?

I’m praying this week that we each find the peace that wind chimes bring me and that we each have an undistracted experience with God. 

Happy Mother’s Day.

~Emily

Giving Up Titles

All of us have titles.  Professor. Mrs. Miss. Ms. Mom. Daughter. Sister. Friend. Ministry lead. Grandmother. Supervisor.  The list goes on and on.

Because I work on a military base at a military museum, I have two titles that cause confusion at work: Chief and Doctor. 

I’m a retired Chief Master Sergeant. In some circles, it is considered rare to see a female Chief.  Less than 8% of Americans have ever served in the military.  It’s less than 1.5% of female Americans who have served.  Within each branch of the service, the top 1% of the enlisted corps makes E-9…or in my case Chief Master Sergeant (aka Chief). I happened to retire after 25 years of active-duty service at the same location I now work as a civilian. As a result, some still call me Chief.

While I was near the end of my career in the military, I earned my Doctorate Degree.  It doesn’t matter if you are a Medical Doctor (MD), a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), or a Doctor of Education (EdD), you’re referred to as “Doctor.”   I happen to have a civil service job, where I am routinely referred to as Doctor Shade.

I joke that I worked really hard to make Chief and I worked really hard to finish my doctoral degree.  However, I happen to really like the name my parents gave me: “Emily.”

And yet, I will give all those earthly titles up for the one title that my heart desires most. 

“Child of the One True King.”

I’ve found that when I disregard my titles, I think of myself more as a servant of God.  A servant does not try to glorify themselves or honor their own accomplishments, but they divert that glory and honor to their master.  In John 8:50, Jesus said, “And I seek not mine own glory.” Four verses later in John 8:54 He continued with, “…if I honor myself, my honor is nothing: it is my Father who honors me.”

We see the example of diverting attention to the master through the behavior of Jesus, who repeatedly was asked if he was the Messiah, and yet He continuously re-directed the conversation to the Father. 

Philippians 2:5 -11 (NASB) states, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bondservant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. For this reason, also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

This gives me pause on using my own titles.  Perhaps I should give them up…

The Bible is full of examples of others who don’t give themselves titles.  Moses doesn’t refer to himself as “Prophet Moses.”  We don’t see Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, or John the Baptist call themselves “Prophet.” Paul doesn’t refer to himself as “Apostle Paul.” 

When referring to myself with a title, am I elevating myself past “servant”?  Perhaps.  Maybe this is simply splitting hairs because we live in a society that uses titles to determine status.  However, I’ve truly given a lot of thought this week to my own titles…and how I can become more servant-like. 

What titles are you striving towards?  Which titles are you willing to give up?

~Emily

Longing for Brighter Days

In the past few weeks, I’ve received some emotional prayer requests from two families that likely feel like the dark clouds have rolled over their homes.  Sometimes, it feels as though our prayer requests are filled with details that seem to crush us…crush our hearts, crush our spirits & crush our outlook on life.  It’s not always easy to see where God is working during our feeling of being crushed.  The psalmist wrote, “He….guides them by the skillfulness of his hands.” (Psalm 78:72)

The blackened clouds do come.  And they will continue to come.  They become a part of our life, but through God’s grace, we don’t have to be discouraged by the presence of the dark clouds.  Just as physical clouds protect us from the bright sun or provide us with much-needed rain, the spiritual clouds provided by God protect us from things only God knows and help us see the faithfulness of the Lord.  We see this in the example of the children of Israel being led into the Promised Land.  As they travel through the wilderness the Bible tells us, “The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way.” (Exodus 13:21)

If you are feeling the despair and depression of clouds over your life, just know that God can turn those clouds into goodness. 

Sin may still hang over us, much like a cloud, but Christ has provided a brighter day with the forgiveness of those sins. 

Sickness and death may hang over our loved ones, but God provides a way to have eternal life.

Depression and mental health issues can hang over our households, but the Lord provides a glimpse at the heavenly happiness promised to each of us. 

The dark clouds of daily living can overtake us.  But the provision of our faithful and gracious God allows us to know that in our moments of darkness, there is hope that brighter days will be coming.  No matter the prayer request, God is already skillfully guiding the situation with His very own hands. 


We just have to have faith.  And patience.

~Emily

Danger at the Gas Pump

Growing up in Oregon, I never had to pump my own gas.  It’s illegal to pump your own gas in my home State.  An attendant comes out and does it for you.  Once I joined the military and moved to another State, I had to learn…and learn quickly if I wanted to keep driving. 

As I made the transition from having someone pump my gas to doing it myself, I developed a ridiculous fear that someday I would drive away from the pump with the hose still connected to my car.  I’ve seen videos where distracted drivers have done very thing I fear.  Yet, when I started being afraid of this, there wasn’t YouTube and social media to ‘fuel’ the fear. 

It’s an irrational fear.  It’s just one example.  Some of our irrational fears could involve health concerns, weather disasters, financial ruin, child raising, and tons more.  The reality is this…when we entertain an irrational fear, we are distracted from the goodness of God. 

I’ve often gone to scripture to overcome some of my irrational fears, such as driving away with the gas hose still attached to my gas tank.  How we feel and act is a product of our active thinking.  When we think godly thoughts, godly behavior follows.  In Proverbs 23:7 (NASB) we see, “As a person thinks within himself, so he is.”  We can replace the lies we believe with the truth of God.  This is a renewal of our minds as seen in Romans 12:1-2 and Ephesians 4:23.

Through the renewal of our minds and alignment with the Word of God, we can put our beliefs into action.  No matter what I believe about an irrational fear or phobia, I must also know that God promises good results.  1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV) states, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

Each time I pump gas, I have the temptation to fall into fear about destroying the pump and my car.  When I turn that fear over to the Lord, I’ve found the escape provided by God.  He is allowing me an opportunity to focus more solely on him, rather than my fear.

Each one of us has a fear, like the danger of the gas pump.  How we address the fear is where potential growth in our Christian walk can occur.

I’m praying this week that each of us faces our fear with the knowledge that the Lord is providing an “escape.”

~Emily

God Has the Night Shift

I’ve never been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder  (OCD), but I know I’ve got some quirky tendencies.  For instance, I always turn the opening of a coffee cup lid to align with the seam of the cup.  I must look at the copyright date of every book before I can read anything within the book.  I also always turn my pillows so that the pillowcase openings face the outside of the bed.

Quirky traits.  Not necessarily OCD, but quirky, nonetheless.

Years ago, I watched a documentary on OCD and watched a woman who had to repeatedly check her locks every time she was home alone.  She checked dozens of times and the most unique part of her obsession was that she checked the locks in a pattern. 

I have had moments where I double-check that I locked the door.  Heck, there’s even been times I’ve triple-checked the locks.  Mostly out of fear because I’m home alone.  I watch too many crime-related tv shows for my own good.

Do you know what keeps you up at night worrying?  For me, it’s making sure that I’m safe and sound with locked doors.  For others, it might be finances, relationships, health issues, work, or countless other things that could be making your mind work on overdrive.

We’re told in Philippians 4:6 “Do not worry about anything…”

And yet, we worry.  Why do we do that?  God has promised to supply our every need (Philippians 4:19) so why do we continuously worry? 

Worrying creates several problems.  First, worry increases our stress.  Scripture tells us that we can overcome stress rather than becoming a victim of it.  Matthew 6:34 tells us “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”  A few verses before that in Matthew 6:27, we read, “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to your life?”

These two passages show us how stress impacts us physically and emotionally. 

Worrying creates another problem for us.  It makes a scenario where we could begin to doubt God’s promises.  Our own stress and worry often leads us to want to “fix” problems ourselves rather than rely on the promises of God that He will always care for us.

It’s a very human reaction to worry.  Yet, we should train ourselves to not worry…as much.  We need to give these worries to God.  It’s something I have to continuously remind myself of…I have to give my worries to the Lord.  And then let Him keep them. 

Trust Him.  Lock your doors and then go to bed.  Trust that the Lord will take the night shift.

~Emily

Sunday Afternoon Naps

I’m in the middle of menopause.  And it’s kicking my tail.  I’m unmotivated and cranky.  I’m achy in all the joints. I’m exhausted. I’m hot and sweaty. I’m moody and plump.  And I’m not sleeping well at night.

So there is a distinct desire to catch a cat nap throughout the day. 

The best chance for that cat nap?  It’s Sunday afternoon.  We’ve already attended to morning chores.  We’ve gone to worship at church.  I’ve got dinner cooking and 9/10 times my son and husband are out fishing in the afternoon.  A perfect time for a snooze.

This decadent treat of a mid-day sleep normally occurs on the couch.  But I’ve fallen asleep on my back porch chairs and even on the swing bench by the firepit.  It doesn’t matter where I fall asleep on a Sunday afternoon…what matters is my weary body readily accepts this gift of sweet sleep. 

In Proverbs, we can read about this type of sleep.  “If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.” ~Proverbs 3:24 (ESV)

Part of the sweetness of this type of sleep is giving God my worries which often leads to my troubled sleepless nights.  Worry and regret weigh heavily on our minds, which often makes it hard to relax into slumber.  Solomon is a great example of someone who rejects foolishness by asking God for wisdom.  Part of wisdom is allowing those worries to not weigh us down. 

The wise among us, make prayerful decisions, trust the Lord with outcomes, and can sleep through the night like it’s a glorious Sunday afternoon nap.

I’m praying this week that we are all wise, prayerful, and granted full nights of restful sleep (or maybe even the occasional nap)!

~Emily

I Hate You & Other Valentine’s Declarations

In the middle of a heated argument that had frankly gone way too far, I said, “I hate you!”  That phrase stopped us both in our tracks.  Literally pumped the breaks on the fight. 

A couple of slow blinks and my husband said, “do you mean that?”

Stuttering and blinking back tears I said, “No, of course, I don’t mean that…I’m just so frustrated and angry…I’m not even sure why I would even say that to you…I am sorry…I shouldn’t have said it.” 

As Christian women, we’re quick to remind ourselves about being a Proverbs 31 woman.  That woman is faithful and expresses reverence towards her husband.  She’s strong, charitable, well-rounded, cares for her family, and fears the Lord.  That woman does not actively argue in anger with her husband.

Often I think we focus solely on the Proverbs 31 woman and we forget the example in Chapter 2 of Titus.  The Titus 2 woman is also a reverent, self-controlled gal who is submissive to her husband.  She also trains young women and is a teacher of good things.  She is specifically not slanderous.  That woman does not tell her husband that she hates him.

My hate-filled declaration during an argument was neither an example of Proverbs 31 or Titus 2.  Here, I violated two separate examples that God has given us about how to behave within a marriage.  Yet, God gives us other examples of harnessing our anger.  In Ephesians 4:31 (NASB) scripture says, “All bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice.”

Why must anger and slander be removed from us?  Simply stated, it’s hard, if not impossible, to love as Christ did while harboring anger. 

Proverbs 10:12 (NASB) tells us, “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.”

Love covers all offenses.  Real ones and perceived ones.  During a marital spat, I need the reminder that I love this guy I’m married to.  He’s not my enemy, rather he’s my teammate and I should be treating him with the respect that is demanded in both Proverbs 31 and Titus 2. 

Obviously, this is specific to marriage, but it’s applicable to any relationship where we want to demonstrate the love of the Lord.  We would all be better if we could remember the lessons of releasing anger and approaching one another in love.

So on the Hallmark holiday of love, I’ll make the public declaration:

I love you, babe…thanks for putting up with me.

~Emily

Craving Watermelon

A few mornings ago, I announced to Erin that I wanted some juicy, super sweet, cold watermelon.  In fact, I used the phrase ‘craving watermelon.’ And trust me, it was a very random announcement in the middle of conversation that had nothing to do with food.

First, let me announce that it’s a random craving…and no, I’m not experiencing pregnancy hormones.  Second, it’s February…we’re pretty far away from anything even close to ‘watermelon season.’ Third, when I explained I wanted cold watermelon, I used the phrase “right out of the creek bed.”  Erin demanded an explanation as she laughed at me.  It was sparked by a childhood memory of my mom placing whole watermelons in a creek during our picnics to cool them off before we cut into them.

There is something about watermelon that sings ‘summer’ to me.  It’s the wonderful sight of juicy red fruit and the first inhale of its crisp promise of sweetness. 

However, it’s got one little problem. 

Actually, more than one problem…it’s dozens of problems.

Seeds.  Seeds are the problem.

We have to be careful when consuming watermelon to ensure that we aren’t swallowing large amounts of seeds.  It doesn’t matter if you believe it’s unhealthy or healthy to swallow them…the point is that the seeds can spoil the experience of eating a super sweet piece of fruit.

The same is true with Biblical teachings.  Some appear encouraging and true on the surface.  It’s what we want to hear…or it’s what we can accept at any given time in our lives.  Sometimes popular Christian authors aren’t actually who we should be reading…maybe there are people at church we shouldn’t be hanging out with…perhaps there’s Christian music we shouldn’t be listening to. 

The book of Acts provides us with an example of examining scriptures to see the truth of God’s word.  “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” ~Acts 17:11 (ESV)

All Biblical teachings should be compared to God’s Word.  All.  As in, the teachings of others, authors, musicians, and even the people we associate with.  All Biblical teachings should be compared to the Bible. 

If the teaching is true, ingest it. 

If the teaching is found to be false, spit it out…just like the watermelon seeds.

I pray this week that you can enjoy Biblical teachings with discernment to see what you should retain and reject.  And while I’m praying this, I’m still longing for the summer…with the promise of that first sweet bite of watermelon!

~Emily