Aliens

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 1 Peter 2:11 (NIV)

Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. 1 Peter 2:11 (The Message)

Aliens. I am one. If you are a follower of Christ, then you are one too. Webster's dictionary defines aliens like this: a) belonging or relating to another person, place, or thing; b) differing in nature or character typically to the point of incompatibility.

This world is not my real home. I am here temporarily, and I am not supposed to fit into it. But, that very statement goes against my humanness. I get up every morning and am tempted to live in a way that appears that I think I will be here forever. I work hard to fit into the environments where I find myself, and I desire nothing less for my children. I want to "fit" here. I want my children to "fit" here... with our peers, with the clothes we wear, the activities we do. Most of us can easily remember times when we knew for sure we didn't fit in somewhere... and we hated that feeling. So, we either choose to never put ourselves in those places again, or we try to change and become a person who will most definitely fit there the next time.

But, the Bible calls us "aliens and strangers in the world". I am not supposed to fit here. I am not supposed to spend my days dwelling on everything that is temporary... too busy for God because I'm trying to build up something here on earth. Life is not about stuff. It's not about success. It's not about fitting in. I am supposed to be uncomfortable on this planet. As soon as I start to get real cozy here, I will indulge my ego at the expense of my soul, as The Message says. I will begin to think that being here is all about me, and I will sell my soul to whatever fleeting, temporary pleasure that is placed in front me, and lose out on the REAL life that Jesus came to bring.

When I have visited foreign countries in the past, I have never once tried to pretend I was from there, because I would quickly look like an idiot. I am clearly American, with a hick accent they could barely discern, and I stood out as different. I didn't try to speak the language, because that would be beyond embarrassing. I struggled with the food because it wasn't what I was used to or I was afraid it would make me sick. I looked around my environment in child-like wonder because it was so different from what I call home. I didn't know what anyone around me was saying. I couldn't read anything. I knew I was different. And I was OK with it. I knew I was there temporarily, so I didn't feel pressure to become like them. Isn't that how the believer’s life should be?

Based on Webster's, I live in this world, but in reality, my heart and soul belong to another... to Jesus and to life with Him. My nature should be so different from the world around me that there should be glaring incompatibilities between me and my surroundings. I fear that most of us who believe in Christ, myself included, are not willing to be exposed as incompatible to the world. We so desperately want to belong, that the life we desire eludes us because we are holding onto a life that can never fulfill us. But we're too afraid to let go. What if people think we're weird? What if God wants to use my money for things other than pleasing myself? What if God wants me to share my story with others and people will know the real me? The “what ifs” could go on and on. Christ came to earth to give us vibrant, fulfilling life. But we only get to taste parts of that here. For the fullness of life will come when we are in His physical presence in eternity, where there is no more pain, no more tears, no more fear. But, with Him as our daily companion, abundant life is available to us here on planet earth, but ONLY if we are submitted to Him, and embrace the alien-like nature of our existence here. Jesus himself said it in John 10:10 “I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full.”

I wrestle with the reality of my temporary and eternal existences daily. Sometimes it is clearly in front of my face, other times it's not. But, I'm always wrestling. Always struggling to focus on what really matters. I don’t have all of the answers… my questions continue to mount. But, I want to embrace my status as an Alien. God has placed us here for great purpose…but we can only fulfill that purpose when we view life here as temporary, fight with His power against the draw of our flesh, and pursue a calling greater than ourselves to bring Christ glory.

I am an alien. I hope you are one too. I am so glad that we have each other during our temporary visit here…

Water Weight

I am convinced I have a problem with water weight. On any given day I am certain that I am retaining 5 to 7 pounds of it. I have a love/hate relationship with the scale, as most women do. If it says what I want it to (which is never), then I love it. If it says what I don't want it to say (which is always), I hate it.

Recently, when I weigh myself, I conclude my time on the scale by mentally deducting 5-7 pounds for the water weight that I am convinced is the problem, which leaves me with a final weight that I can live with. I used to think that this problem only occurred at certain times of the month, but I have changed my thinking on that. Because no matter what time of the month it is, I am having this same problem with the 5-7 pounds. Thus, water weight is a month-long, and year-long problem. There's no way to trace the 5-7 pounds back to the fried food I ate last night, the cookies I ate the last two nights, or the giant blobs of cool whip that I put in the top of every cup of coffee that I drink. Because the cool whip is fat free - so that can't be the problem! (I have to laugh out loud as I type this because it cracks me up that I really do find reasons to deduct weight when I weigh myself in the morning - there's always several things that I am sure are the problem that I will deduct pounds for. How much can underwear weigh????)

In all seriousness, though, or a little seriousness, I guess, I was thinking this morning in the shower about how much that stupid scale can dictate how I feel about myself on any given day. I can get up, look forward to my day, have a positive attitude and good interaction with my family, and then jump on the scale (in hopes that those few pounds I'm tired of seeing are gone), and boom, there goes my happy outlook on life. I am then in a funk, frustrated with myself, analyzing whatever I can remember eating, and then beating myself up all day about it. So silly, yet so true.

So, this morning, after the water weight increased with my morning weigh, and I ran out of things to deduct for, I decided that I am going to put my scale in a place that is so inconvenient to get to, that I wouldn't make the effort. It's just ridiculous for that object made of plastic and metal to have that much power over my mood and my feelings about myself. I had this sweet older lady last week tell me that she weighs every morning... "because if it's good, you can have fun, and if it's not good, you can't have any fun", she said. As cute as she was telling me about it, I certainly don't want to spend the next 50 years of my life letting that object tell me what kind of day I am going to have!

So, I am going to continue eating healthy most of the time, continue exercising most of the time, and enjoy my life! I have decided that a monthly weigh-in is just right - that's only 12 days a year with the potential to be distressing - and a lot less mental calculation to make sure I deduct the right amount of water weight, etc.! Way better than 365 days of having to do all of that! And only once a month that Randy has to drag the ladder out to get to the scale! He'll be so happy.

Fluoride in the Potty

This past weekend, Brennan ventured into yet another interesting adventure of sorts. If you know my two boys, you know they're as different as can be. One is just like me, one is just like Randy. Brennan is our little wild man (you can guess which one he's like). He does things that Caleb has never even considered, usually leading to bizarre results. This weekend was one of those times.

Friday night Randy tried to convince both boys that Saturday was a school day. No matter how many mornings of the week we have to drag them out of bed to get to school on time, Saturday seems to send their bodies into a totally different dimension - and they pop out of bed with no help at all as the sun is rising. See Randy's blog for more info... So, this weekend, Randy thought if we could convince them that Saturday was a school day, surely they would sleep late. And we could sleep. Well, you have to take into account that Brennan is sick for the 4th time in 2008, so he woke up repeatedly through the night (which Randy missed due to his ability to sleep through anything.) So, 6:15am rolls around, and Brennan is awake, coughing his little head off. 7:00am rolls around and Caleb is awake, knowing it's not a school day, and raring to go!

Well, for some unknown reason, I got back in the bed, thinking they were busy reading in Caleb's room. I never go back to sleep when they're awake, but thought this morning I would just "rest my eyes" for a moment, as my mother always says. In my half awake-half asleep state, they sounded so sweet jibber-jabbering together. Every now and then Caleb would come ask me a random question, which I would sleepily answer "not now - when I get up" to, not sure what any of the questions really were.

All of a sudden, I awoke from my deep slumber, and realized I no longer heard the sweet sound of voices coming from Caleb's room, but I heard lots of banging around in the boys' bathroom. Hmmm... never a good sign. Then I realized Caleb was no longer upstairs. Another bad sign. So, I spring from the bed as if there is a fire to put out (because I know realistically there might be), and jolt to the bathroom. There stands little Brennan, on his stool, with the part of the miniature training potty that holds the peepee/poopoo stuff on the countertop, a bottle of kids' fluoride, and a big grin on his face. The potty is flowing with fluoride, and he's as happy as he can be with his little experiment.

I go into panic mode... because fluoride can be toxic in small children. So, Brennan (2 1/2 years old) and I enter into this conversation.

"Brennan, did you drink any of the fluoride?"

"No."

"Brennan, mommy really needs to know, did you drink any of the fluoride?"

"Yes."

More panic mode. Which do I believe? The No or the Yes???

Then he proceeds to show me how he's been using his hands to play in the fluoride in the little peepee container - with great joy I might add!

So, I run to the bedroom, showing Randy the fluoride bottle and asking him as he comes out of his coma-like state, "Do you know how much fluoride was in this bottle last night?!?!?!?!

He's not sure, but he doesn't think that it was much more than what is in there now.

I continue to get a mix of answers from Brennan as to what he's been doing with the fluoride other than dipping his hands in it, so I finally quit asking!!!

Fortunately, poison control was not needed, and Brennan is fine. The potty will not have any cavities any time soon, and Brennan's fingers are cavitiy-free as well. The fluoride bottle has a new home, far out of anyone's reach. We'll probably forget to use it now, and all of the boys' teeth will rot out! Oh, the dilemma...

In spite of my immediate "panic", I have to laugh about it now. Brennan doesn't see any dangers, just pleasure. He's not afraid of toxic fluoride poisoning, he's just enjoying putting some random things together and seeing what happens. No fear. I'm envious of Brennan's lack of fear. My life is often so driven by fear... but his isn't. While I want him to be cautious (and go overboard all of the time on that), I don't want his life to be plagued with fear. Life is about enjoying all that God has given us, not cowering in a corner because everything in front of us is unknown and scary.

So, today, I'm thinking about pouring some fluoride in the potty and playing for a little while. Maybe it will whiten my fingernails, and people will think I just got a french manicure or something! But, I'm not going to live in fear today! God pours his blessings out on me too much to cower in the corner...

...perfect love casts out fear... 1 John 4:18

You have His perfect love today... so go flush your fear down the potty...that's what I'm going to do!

A Fresh Start

Ah... Monday morning. The start of a new week, the start of a new day. It's always kind of exciting. I love how God gives us fresh starts. He knew we would need them! I know I need them! Some weeks just don't go well, and by the end of the week, I'm just feeling desperate for a new start - let's just skip a few days and get to a new week. Maybe that one will go better than this one did. Or sometimes we just want our day to end... hurry up and end, let me go to sleep, and pray that tomorrow will be different than today.

God gives us new starts, but I believe if we short-circuit what's in our uncomfortable "present", we will miss what He's doing right now. I want to move forward, skip past the things that make me uncomfortable or frustrated or angry or whatever emotion I might feel, and jump to tomorrow. But what is God teaching me right now, in this moment, where everything feels wrong? I know He's wanting to use that moment to shape me more into His image, but I have to submit to Him in that moment. If I shut God out, and just try to survive until tomorrow, I'm going to miss it! I have missed it on so many of the moments in the past. I don't want to miss it this week.

So, in this week's fresh start, I choose to ask God what He wants out my Monday, and every other day of the week. I always have that little list in the back of my head of what I want, but the greater thing for me to focus on is what God has for me this week. What moments does He want to use to mold me and stretch me and conform me into the image of Christ? There will undoubtedly be moments that I don't like, that make me want tomorrow to come a little faster. How will I respond? In my flesh? In my selfishness?

As a new week starts... as this new Monday starts, I eagerly look forward to seeing God at work. I don't want to miss what He's doing! Will it be hard? Yes! Will He put things in my path this week that I don't like? Yes! Is it worth it to look a little more like Jesus when this week is over? Most definitely yes! I pray for a heart of faithfulness to trust Him in those times, and make the hard choices in choosing Him over me.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Father, bring on some new things this week! I can't wait to see what you have for me in my fresh start.

Happy Monday!

Compassion

So many thoughts going through my mind, but I wanted to share with you about a new member of our family, who comes to us through Compassion International. Several months ago, we felt led to sponsor a child with Compassion. We so desperately want our boys to have a world-view greater than the small little world they live in, so we chose to sponsor a little boy in Kenya. We chose him based on his birthday - it's only 4 days before Caleb's, so they are essentially the same age. His name is Raphael and he lives with his grandmother and 3 siblings. We had the joy of receiving a letter in the mail from him last week. Since he is so young, he had help filling out this sweet little paper about himself. We were beyond thrilled to have some personal information straight from his heart to go with the picture we have of him above our kitchen sink. The boys pray for him every night, and we look at him every day. We consider him a Hemphill now, and hope that one day our family can go to Kenya to meet him.

A funny story from when we first went online to do our sponsorship... I had been talking with Caleb for several weeks in December about this, trying to prepare him and get him as excited as I was. So, the big day arrived to go online and do it!! I told Caleb we were going to adopt a little boy from Kenya, and we would be helping his family with some of their needs, etc. Well, because I used the word "adopt" rather than "sponsor", Caleb immediately started asking questions about when we were going to go to Africa to get him and bring him home to live with us. I quickly started backtracking and trying to figure out a way to re-word what I had said. We talk frequently about adopting one day, so Caleb is aware that we hope that is in our future, and he was very disappointed to find out that we weren't going to be bringing Raphael home. He was so excited about having a brother his age! I love that he's so open to sharing his home and life with others that he doesn't even know. I also make sure I use the word "sponsor" now so as not to confuse him anymore. I look forward to the day when God gives us direction in regards to adoption, so I guess this is our practice run!

If you've read the news lately, you know that Kenya has been in horrible conflict since their recent elections, so I honestly am fearful that we will not get to sponsor him long-term. They have had to close many of the centers in Kenya that house Compassion employees because it's just too dangerous, and so many of the people have had to leave their homes. When that happens, those children are not able to continue to be sponsored. So, we continue to pray for his safety and for him to be a long-term member of our family. Our sponsorship helps with his education, tangible needs for his family, and his spiritual teaching.

Some fun facts our about our little Raphael...
He wants to be a Pastor when he grows up...
His favorite Bible story is about John the Baptist...
He loves football and math...
He asks that we pray for God to give him wisdom.

We have a lot to learn from this precious 5 year old on the other side of the world.

If you would like more information on sponsoring a child through Compassion, visit their website at www.compassion.com. There just may be a little Raphael out there waiting for you...

Writing: Take 1

Well, for several weeks I have been thinking about starting my own blog. We have one already related to our ministry, Encounter, but that has really become Randy's blog - basically because he's a great writer and I'm not - so I'm too intimidated to post anything on it now because I don't want it to sound poorly written compared to him! So, I'm branching out on my own. God's been teaching me some new things in my walk with Him, and I've had many things rolling around in my head lately that I feel led to share, so I'm gonna give this a whirl. The worst thing that can happen is that no one will read it or that those that do will be bored, but that's OK. I'll get all of these thoughts out of my head, and then I'll have room for something else to go on up there! And I certainly need the room!

So, I leave you with this thought for today...

It was for freedom that Christ set us free... Galatians 5:1

Christ set us free from sin and free from the pull of our flesh... free from fear and shame... that freedom is yours... today!!! I encourage to take hold of that freedom and live in it with everything you have. He wants nothing less for your life!! You are loved!!

I hope you'll come along for the ride with me...