Jesus Changes my world

Christmas - We are celebrating because of Jesus.

 I celebrate Jesus.

Jesus makes it possible for me to live the good life; the blessed life; the most amazing life; this is why I celebrate. Just thinking of how my life is because of him makes my heart want to burst and I overflow. He has such a powerful affect on me I want all people to know this, so everyone can have a blessed, amazing full life.

I know a lot of my readers know the power of Jesus, but some of you are sceptics and some rejecters. Please read on no matter what your thoughts on Jesus are. Sometimes I want to say something about Jesus and the amazing life he gives me and I mess it all up. The feelings and the experiences I want to tell about pour out into a pile of words that looks more like I vomit than blessing. Sorry if you have ever been a victim of that..... here is what I hope can bless you.

God's not finished with me yet, not even in these blessings below but these are the life changers I want to tell you about...

 - I carry no burden of guilt for my bads. I have done some bad stuff and when I accepted that Jesus had already paid the debt of my sin I was free to live without the guilt. Free from guilt! Amazing! Do you know it?
- I carry no burden of unforgiveness to those that have hurt me. Jesus can really take that bitterness and change it into love. Jesus makes it possible to forgive them. Burden lifted!
- I am free to be me; the person God created me to be. I don't need to seek acceptance in people because I am already accepted by the Creator of the universe! Jesus will always love me even when no one else does. I am accepted!
- I have purpose in life, even in the day to day stuff I feel something massive going on around me and Jesus includes me. Amazing! I just can't imagine a world where I am not sure about the point of all of this.
- I have fun because Jesus is just like that.
- I have a life coach for everything I do because Jesus speaks to me and he listens to me too.
- I have peace and I don't fear death -- really it would suck for my family and friends but for me I am not sure what's better, life or death when I know what's coming.

This is why I celebrate Christmas - Jesus changes my world!

Life Changer by Joelle

Joelle wrote this amazing poem for Jesus as part of our Advent. I am so proud of her as she helps me (all of us) celebrate Jesus during his celebration.

Life Changer

 

Jesus we love you with all and everything.

We give our lives to you today to take and make it new.

You give us hope and love to Cherish everyday.

I write this poem to you because I love you in every way.

You are the light we follow until our sorrowful death.

So please protect my family from every harmful thing;

from Satin's evil plans to slippery roads at night.

'Cause Jesus we love you in all and everything.

 

By Joelle Klassen

Give away 100 things

Born out of a realization that I have way too many things and some people have almost nothing. I am challenging myself first of all and then you to give away 100 things before Christmas. These are not things you go and buy to give away, these are things you already own and they are not garbage, they are still useful. They could be given to someone you know needs it or wants it or to a secondhand store. I am sure I will be surprised at how quickly I will be able to find 100 things to give away.

Want to accept the challenge?

I'd love to know who's taking the challenge and why.

T'is the season to give.

The Answer is a Question

This is the follow-up post to Jesus didn't skip.

"What do you think of Christmas trees?" I ask Jesus as a conversation starter. "They're nice." he says in a pleasant and agreeable way as if he hadn't challenged me the day before. Let's cut to the chase I think to myself and then I ask "So what message did you have for me about the Christmas drawing I did the other day?" He answers in a kind voice not an accusing voice:
"Do you just say you worship me or do you actually worship me?"
"Do you just say you'll humble yourself or will you actually humble yourself?"
"Do you just talk about celebrating me or do you actually celebrate me?"
I know it is Jesus speaking these words into my heart because they hit me profoundly. I am amazed at his wisdom and insight. Plus it has to be Jesus; he loves to answer a question with a question. I guess I have some more to chew on.

I hope you hear and ponder this message also if Jesus is speaking to you through this.

Jesus didn't skip

Every year for advent we do something creative for the count down. A lot of people use chocolate calenders or tree ornaments. In our count down I prepare 24 things that we can make or do with or for someone, that won't take too long but is fun; one per day.(On another day I will post ideas I've had over the years) For now I want to tell you what happened as I was preparing this years idea. This year I have a plan that the 24 tasks will be written on one side of the paper and on the other side will be a potion of a larger picture and when all 24 tasks are done and flipped over we will have pieced together a picture. I didn't have a picture the size I wanted so being the creative me that I am I decided to start drawing. I wasn't really sure what I wanted and I'm kinda in a time crunch, as tomorrow is Dec 1, so I thought if I just start drawing things of Christmas I will have something in the end. First I started with a tree, then I put typical manger scene next to it, just the stable to start with. Then I started drawing in each person in our family and of course Mary Joseph and baby Jesus in a pretty little feeding trough. Everyone was in, I drew some stars at the top and ....... I stopped and looked at the drawing....... by the way I was skipping my devotion time to do this since I was feeling in a rush. Funny thing is Jesus wasn't skipping because he revealed something to me right at this moment as I was taking stock of what I had just begun to draw. There it was, I had roughly sketched my family looking straight at the Christmas tree with Mary, Joseph and Jesus behind us.The stable was so close to the tree that some characters of our family had to be drawn inside the manger scene, but still faced the tree.  At this point I realize I am not happy with what I have just drawn. I am actually kind of stunned as I see it. I try to see how I can re imagine what I am drew... change this person's body and arms, re draw that...I can't. It is very clear; what's been drawn has been drawn. We are so into the Christmas tree that we are not even aware of the birth of our savior. The sentence seems to echo in my mind. It's true of the drawing but is this truly how it is for us? What does this all mean? Do we cancel the Christmas tree?.... I think my family will have mutiny if that is the outcome. Jesus has a message for me in this and I will be asking him to reveal more.

 Jesus I want to face you not the traditions we've made up.

What are you complaining about?

How can I complain about having a small kitchen when some families live in a house the same size?
Will I remember not to grumble the next time I am hungry because I saw what real hunger is?
How can I desire yet another pair of shoes when some people have no shoes at all?
Is it only because of the circumstances of my life that I praise God with such joy? Would I praise him with such enthusiasm if my circumstances even remotely resembled theirs?
How can I complain about slow Internet when I have the means to own a computer, a house, a car ....?
Will I still complain about slow service, bad drivers, not enough money or road conditions after the things I have seen?


In Zambia  I saw how I take so many things for granted, I realized I complain about things that would be a blessing to others. The complaints of the 1st world seem stupid once you have walked with someone who lives in a 3rd world. I appreciate how God is challenging me and I want to hang on to the things I learned in Zambia but I fear that as fresh as it is in my mind now; it will fade. Let's work together to end the complaining.

Need more convincing?

What are you complaining about?

A coffin

Children's hospital visit in Zambia

As we walked into the preemie ward I saw a tiny baby laying on a blanket being examined by the nurses. The nurses seemed rough as they handled the naked baby. The baby was so small and motionless almost like a doll. There was a woman sitting on a bench behind the nurses, she was sitting all alone and weeping. The nurses rolled the motionless baby back onto her back and continued to talk in their language. Was I seeing things or did the chest rise and fall? I was not certain. The woman on the bench must be the mother, it felt odd that she was sitting alone. I went to her and gave her a new baby blanket my mother had made, then I sat down not sure what to say or do so I put my arm around her and began to whisper prayers for her and her child. I wept  with her as I began to see that her baby was not alive. I felt helpless in the face of her immense pain. The nurses were done their examination quickly and the tiny body was wrapped up and carried out with the mother following; new blanket in-hand. It is the tradition of the Zambians to bury a baby in a new blanket. When the blanket gift was sewn, transported 1/2 way around the world and carried into the children's hospital the thought never crossed my mind that it would be a coffin for a baby. Some things you can't prepare for.

2 days till Zambia

So there are a few things I want to say before I leave.
If I die DO NOT serve raisin buns at the funeral and make it a PARTY 'cause I'll be in Heaven... ok so I don't plan on dieing, no more talking like that.

So in 2 days I leave for Zambia, Africa, I'll be with 9 other amazing people. We will either love each other or hate each other by the end of the 2 weeks we are together. I vote for love! After some 2 odd days of flying/waiting/flying/waiting/flying/busing we will arrive and be exhausted but we will recover and we will.....
-meet our sponsor kids
-tutor the kids at Grace Academy
-visit hospitals and bring care kits
-celebrate a big Christmas with the children
-go on ministry trips with the kids from Grace
-enjoy the children's company
-break for the things that God's heart breaks for
-rejoice with the things that bring joy to God
...and then we will return home with changed worldviews and Godviews and selfviews.

Pray for me that I will stay healthy, learn of God and be able tobe blessed and bless others as I go.

Parenting can be so muddally

My kids have made my life so interesting.
They do equal amounts of draining energy and inspiring energy but whichever it is it on each particular day it is the most amazing thing in life to be a parent. I can not imagine life without them as hard as it is some days.
They make me laugh. I have one daughter who has an opinion about everything(realistically -almost everything)--- hmmm I wonder where she picked that up??? She rants and her rants are hilarious, passionately spoken and very real to her. She comes up with several everyday and she has agreed to allow me to record some of them on video. I am very pleased about this. She has no idea how funny this will all be in a number of years... is that mean? Maybe but in that case I'm also terrible because I don't only record them but I kind of egg her on, it's kind of like cheering for the rant....  She says that after giving a good rant she feels energized, how can that be bad for her? Seems I am doing her a favor. There must be something that happens in the brain when she verbally releases all that's going on in her head. It's her way of managing the things she finds frustrating. I hope it's not some bad habit I am encouraging ... wow if that's the case then I am mean, terrible and bad...eekkk. Parenting can be so muddally(I am not even sure if muddally is a word.)

The 'F' word

"FIRE! FIRE!" ---this is the one thing you never want to hear your child yell as they run into the room.
We had a fire in the house yesterday; I was on the phone in the living room when some carelessly placed papers caught fire from a candle in the kitchen. Thank God the kids were at the table when it started on the counter and Joelle noticed the flames. She ran to get me and I dashed for the kitchen. I wapped it out with a tea towel. In the end no harm was done; just a huge lesson learned.
Be careful with candles and paper!!!
Then could hardly believe it while baking some cookies today I almost started another fire--- I found a stray receipt that had been caught in the oven door, it was almost charcoal!!! 

promises in John 15

Promises in John 15

• Remain in Jesus and Jesus will remain in me
• I can be epic if I remain in Jesus
• I will be epic if I remain in Jesus
• If I remain in Jesus he will give me whatever I ask for
• Jesus chose me to be epic
• The world will persecute me because it persecuted Jesus

Things that make you go hmmm...

As we were singing a song in church today a line in the song made me have a 'hmmm' moment.
The line was something like '.... Jesus just clothed in righteousness...." .... just righteousness? ..... hmmm ...... nothing else? A picture of heaven I've never thought of. But why not? Adam and Eve were naked in their perfect world until they sinned, before sin they had no shame..... will heaven be like the garden before sin? ..... this just seems so awkward.....Things that make you go hmmmm.

Promises

                     in John 14

• God has a place with many rooms
• Jesus is preparing this place for me
• Jesus will come back for me
• I will be with Jesus in that place
• I can go to God through Jesus
• I know God because I know Jesus
• I have seen God because I have seen Jesus
• I can do what Jesus did
• I can do greater things than Jesus did
• Jesus will do whatever I ask in his name
• God will give me the Spirit of truth as a counselor
• I know the counselor
• The counselor is with me
• The counselor is in me
• Jesus will not leave me as an orphan
• I will live after death
• I will realize that Jesus is with the Father
• I will realize that I am in Jesus
• I will realize that Jesus is in me
• Jesus will show himself to me as I love him
• The father will love me and make his home with me as I love him
• God will send the Holy Spirit
• The Holy Spirit will teach me all things
• The Holy Spirit will remind me of  things Jesus has said
• Jesus leaves peace with me
• Jesus gives peace to me

Travellers - Be ye warned and take heed - PACK

I'm not making any promises but who knows, I have good feelings about blogging again.

I’m going to Africa in 33 days! I’m so excited.

 I had my 2nd dream last night of how the departure may go down….. I think these are warning dreams. This is how it went - Like a good passenger I was good and early for my flight. Ben was waiting there with me to see me off and we were waiting in the lobby of the airport for the rest of the team to show up. The trouble was I hadn't packed yet, at first I sat there thinking about it and slowly letting the reality of this situation sink in. I showed up at the airport with nothing. Nothing! Early and waiting but I hadn't packed! I had one bag with me. I looked in the bag, Ben looked in the bag too. “You didn’t pack?!!”I had no clothes, none of the stuff we promised for the kid, no passport and no ticket! I saw we had just enough time to get home and get back before the flight left, so we took off for home; a 1 hour drive each way if you speed. I got home grabbed the ticket and the passport and got back to the airport. Upon arriving back at the airport it dawned on me that I forgot to get clothes while at home. DOH! But there was no time to go back home now so I quickly devise a plan. I'd go ask someone for their clothing. There was a hotel at the airport so I walk into a room were I saw a house keeper cleaning after a guest had left. The room conveniently had clothes scattered about. I begged her to let me take some of the clothing that the last woman left behind--- So weird, who leaves clothes behind?  I don’t know the answer to that but this is how my dream went; the room had clothing laying everywhere. The cleaning lady finally agreed that I could choose some of the items since they'd be going into the donation box anyway, so I started looking for the right clothing; I sized up a pare of jeans,  almost but too small. (They would have fit me last year).  Another and another, all the clothes were too small. Nothing was going right and by now I was very anxious that the team would be waiting for me. Everything was going wrong. I started to get suspicious at this point, do you know what I mean; the point in the dream where reality starts to knock on the dream door and even though it feels so real there is a niggle that it just might not be. The brain says “Wait a second hear. This is all too, too, whatever, it can't be real” While I was thinking this I started walking back to the airport were the team was waiting for me. I started imagining how I was going to face them and tell them what a loser I was for not packing…. But just then I was saved by "hey this is just a dream" real brain kicks in …. such relief......This is just a dream! Yeah!  I still have 33 days to pack!

Travellers - Be ye warned and take heed -PACK! 

Best photos of 2011

Yes, this is May 2012 and yes, the title is correct - this is the 2011 photo collection. Some people might think it is too late for me to post my annual best photo of the year contest but I don't think that, and it's my blog so that's that. Vote for your favorite or just marvel at these fantastic kids but either way leave a comment.

January - Where's Waldo

February - 80's Day

March - Seeding Preperations

April - What a Splash!

May - Tree Climing

June - Picnic Dancing

July - Junior Ranger

August - Demolition Team

September - Back to School

October(1) - Peace on the Water

October(2) - First Catch

November - All Smile

December(1) - Now that's an Advent Candle!

December(2) - Tree Day