Protection Unseen...

In a slight panic, although he would never admit it, The Hub was charging through the house looking for his laptop. I was just trying to get some peace and quiet and some church work done so I must admit I wasn't being all that helpful. I hadn't seen it since Sunday when we packed up the church equipment at the school we rent for services.

After several searches The Hub decides it has to have been forgotten at the school. We travel the long mile to the school and speak with our friendly janitors about it. They make the experience of renting the school worth it. They are always helpful, courteous and friendly. They searched with us but the laptop was nowhere to be found. We tried retracing our steps and we gleefully ignored Oldest as he clowned his dad for losing something. "You never lose anything, dad. This is amazing. You really need to get yourself together. How could you misplace that?" I am sure he was pleased to have the opportunity to shoot some of his dad's own lecturing back at him. When it comes to losing things Oldest has that program mastered.

Unfortunately, we just couldn't figure out where that laptop could have gone. We traveled the long mile back home and searched some more. Well, The Hub searched. I can't say that I was being very helpful at the time either. It then occurred to The Hub that perhaps we should have checked the school office. Logic being that if it had been seen, perhaps it had been turned into the office. Why we didn't do that with the first school search go-round, I can't tell you. So back down the long mile to the school we go. We enter the dark office (it is after 5pm) and The Hub hollers "helloooo???" The assistant principal pops out and shares some enlightening info.

Turns out that the night before, somewhere around 3am, the school's security alarm went off. The police responded and found the roof hatch on the school ajar, whatever that means. When they arrived they noticed a black laptop bag propped up against the door...outside the school. Immediately identified as a suspicious package. They carried that suspicious laptop bag to the police station and gave the school the police report which we now stood in the darkened office and read with the assistant principal.

Well, great news is it had been found. Not so great news would have been that we now get to conquer the Fairfax County Police Department's suspicious package processing techniques. Poor Hub. He spent way too long speaking with an officer on the phone, who it seemed wanted to be doing anything other than retracing a recently admitted laptop bag. Finally, it was discovered that the laptop was there at the police station, in holding, in preparation for travels to the "Main Stock Room." Sounded scary. And far away.

We rushed to visit our fine ladies and gentleman in blue and grey. After a slight, inexplicable delay we were reunited with the laptop. Everything in tact, found outside the school propped up against the building near the door. Definitely a suspicious package. Shoot, if I was the police officer responding I don't think I would have ventured to open that thing. Could have been a bomb, friends!

As we pondered on how this event unfolded both The Hub and I were in awe at the protection and goodness of God. I don't believe in coincidence but I do believe God watches over us and our things even when we forget to. In our hustle and bustle of leaving the church The Hub had inadvertently put the bag down and in a rare instance, forgot it there. Yet, God allowed that laptop to sit untouched by the front door of a school on a well-traveled street. No one stole it, no one touched it. Then the alarm "happened" to go off in the middle of the night. Prompting the police to come and find the laptop bomb bag and take it on over to the station for safe keeping.

Thank God that He is watching when we are not. No one wants to lose a laptop. We can rest easy knowing that He never rests, sleeps or slumbers. My final thought, friends, is to share with you my travel in to work this morning. As I drove and thought about the best way to share this story, I was listening to WTOP, news radio. The graduation song comes on as they relay a story about high school graduation rates around the DC/Maryland/Virginia area. Friends, you know by the second note of that song I was all tears and no good. Oldest graduates in less than 2 weeks. We're getting excited with the graduation party-planning and good-food having and awesome celebration time ahead.

Winning, duh

What a happy weekend full of win, wins and wins. We're winning, friends. Thanks to my friend Charlie Sheen for that oh-so-clever catch phrase.

Saturday we hosted our last regular season game for Soccer Chick. Coach, aka The Hub, didn't have a heart attack on the side, although friends it was touch and go there for awhile. For sure, a good thing that he wasn't preaching the next day because the voice was gone! The girls were sleep-playing for much of the game. Thus, contributing to the voice-be-gone struggles of The Hub. The girls pulled it together and struck a beautiful 1st goal. The other team made some worthy attempts but we had a surprise substitute goalie who made no less than 3 beautiful saves. No goals for those folks. We win 1-0. I do have to spend a minute sharing the great surprise of this goalie. She's a small girl, but tough. Built strong and not afraid to use her body. Surprisingly she hasn't gotten called by the refs yet, but she might be better served playing hockey. The girl will body check anyone and gets her foot around the ball no matter where it is. So, as a defensive player she is outstanding. Never misses and always dependable. The Hub decides to try her at goalie, which she is reluctant to do. However, the girl was awesome!!! Just as he suspected. So they end the regular season 4-3 and go into the playoff tournament on Saturday.

Our second win of the weekend was Oldest's basketball game. Wrapped up in chatting about graduation party excitement with our dear adopted daughter Camila, we lost track of time. Not a really big deal to be late arriving to a house league basketball game...EXCEPT that The Hub volunteered to serve as a stand-in coach. Please cue the eye-rolling and "OMG's" here. In addition, if they don't have 5 boys show up, they forfeit. Can you imagine? First round of playoff games and Oldest's team loses because we got there late and they had to forfeit. The embarrassment. So this chick right here prayed for God's favor the whole speedy drive over. We did arrive late...um...in the 2nd period with 4 minutes remaining. Ouch. BUT, they allowed the boys to start without a parent representative as coach and they had 6 boys already there.

Friends! the team was losing 19-32 when we walked in the door. Now, that's an ouch! We were playing my least favorite opponent with a very loud-mouth coach. Wouldn't it be nice to shut them down? They dominated, making stupid baskets as if we were handing the ball to them and telling them "go ahead, shoot it." The Hub was quietly reading the game from the bench, checking out their game technique and I could almost see him put his coaching face on. Somewhere between the third and the beginning of the fourth period I could see The Hub gesturing and guiding. I knew he was telling those boys something good. Mostly I knew because I could read the faces of the boys he was talking to. Houston, we DON'T have a problem. The boys went into the fourth trailing by 19. Gulp. 19. Who comes back from that? Coach/The Hub told the boys to play man-to-man. Each of our fellas pinned one of their guys and didn't let them so much as breathe. They couldn't handle the defense. Why weren't they playing like this all along? Not so sure, but they began to shut down this team's game, which was let's just say less than stellar to begin with.

Believe it or not, Oldest's team makes it to 66 to 67 with one minute to go. Friends! The nail-biting intensity was on! All of a sudden our quiet fan club, including me, was all about shouting for the team. As the energy increased we had steals, rebounds and made our shots. As we sat at 66, the other team with 67, 1 minute on the clock, other team has the ball. All we need is for them to miss or for us to gain possession. With some serious defensive pressure they miss and we have the ball. We call a time-out. The game plan is we have one shot. We're getting it to the star varsity high school basketball player and he is cool under pressure. He let's that clock wind down to about 20 seconds and takes his one layup. Its in!!! 68 to 67 with, no lie, .8 seconds on the clock. Friends, they shut it down. We win, 68 t0 67. A comeback from as much as 19 points down. Wow. What a game... Next round of playoffs Wednesday.

Our last win of the weekend was our church's 4 year anniversary. What a blessing. I preached a message on F.A.I.R.F.A.X. The Lord led me to bless the people with some encouragement on how to be "An Impacting Church & Influencing Christian." Using an acronym for Fairfax, we discovered that as a church and as individual Christians we are to be Faithful, Accepting, Instructing, Real, depend on a great Foundation, be Active and eXciting. I believe that the message was received and our people were encouraged. Our church has made it to four glorious years. We look forward to what God is going to do next!

All in all, a weekend of wins. To sum it all up I'll share a Youngest delight with you. Crying hysterically because of some constructive criticism I had ever-so-kindly delivered to him, he sobs and sobs, looks up and says "Prius!" in between his cries. Have you played the Prius game? Sort of like the "yellow car" game. Shout when you see one. My family plays it all the time. How funny to be that upset, life in shambles, in his poor little 5 year old mind and see a Prius and have to shout it out so he can get the credit for seeing it. Life is just like that. There is always a second when we can pause from our bad times to shout out something good. Remember the good, friends. Its always there. Shout it out so you get credit for it.

FCFC Celebrates The Big "4"

This upcoming Sunday, our great little congregation will celebrate its 4 year anniversary. A lot has happened over 4 years. When we planted this church in little ole' Fairfax, Oldest was all of 14. Soccer Chick was 7, Bball Girl was 4 and Youngest was 1. The "Youngest was 1" thing is the hardest to comprehend. I don't even remember him waddling around when we were trying to start a new church. Head buried in the sand, overwhelmed maybe?

On Sunday we will have a special celebration service. I'm looking forward to it. I heard from a little bird the message will be "The Impacting Church & Influencing Christian." With the grace of God, FCFC and us Christians will be recognized as both.

Over the past four years, we've seen families come in and join us and families leave us. We've had some great joyous times, laughter and friendship. We've had some sad times, as people move on to other places and faces, and as we journey through life with our members. Let me tell you church planting is not for the weak at heart. Its different than taking on a pastorate with an established congregation. That ain't easy either but church planting is a whole other animal. Building from the ground up is tough work. Don't take it unless God tells you to.

God told us to and although it is hard work and can be filled with disappointments, it is a joy. Its a joy to see people grow. Its a joy to meet new people. Its a joy to see people accept Christ for the first time in their lives. Like this past Sunday. The Hub delivered a great sermon on Memorial Day. A visitor gave her life to Christ at the end of the service. No matter if we have 10 people seated or 1,000 people seated, that one life made the service worth it.

Each individual life is what gives us fuel to continue. If FCFC makes a difference in the life of just one soul then we are accomplishing God's plan. FCFC continues to be a community church for all people to come get to know God better. We hope we are open and welcoming and giving people the encouragement they need to embrace a life with God and grow closer to Him. We don't take the burden lightly. As I reflect on the past four years I see God's hand working in every situation that we have been through. We know God is beside us and His presence is in our worship services. Thank God for what He is doing in our lives as we continue to grow and thank God for what He is doing in the lives of our church members. May FCFC's church family continue to expand and multiply and be known in the community as a great little ole' place with some really great people where folks can come and get some Jesus.

On a closing note, here's a Youngest quip for you. Here's what Youngest looks like after a long pool-filled, grandma-hanging-with weekend. Middle of the day, the TV was watching him.

That evening I told him that I saw a picture of him sleeping. Told him his lovely daddy had snapped a picture and sent it to me.

"You were tired, huh buddy?" asked The Hub.

"Yea, dad. I didn't even know I was sleeping. I had no idea."

"Really buddy? You didn't tell yourself you were sleeping?"

"DAD! Really!?! That's crazy. How can my sleeping self tell my sleeping self that I am sleeping. Really!"

Power In The Name...

With all the news footage of devastation in Joplin, Missouri one story sticks out for me. Of course, the massive destruction for miles around is incredible. People are dumbfounded; nothing is left. Except hope. Last night The Hub and I watched "Deadly Impact" by Anderson Cooper on CNN. As I watched Anderson, straight-faced and composed, interviewing these families I knew this could not be my job. My heart is usually on the outside and my goodness, I wouldn't be able to ask them questions. I'd just hug 'em and cry...hug 'em and cry...move on down the line. Everyone I see we would just hug and cry. Not sure how much good I would be, so thank God for Anderson, able to get these people's stories out there. I can't imagine the shock and despair they are facing. Yet, they have hope. People who have lost everything haven't lost everything. As Anderson reflected, they rebuild by holding on to hope, one piece at a time.

The most moving story I heard was the story of the teenager traveling home with his father from his high school graduation. They found themselves on the edge of the storm with no time to take cover. They made it into a subdivision and in the middle of the road, the father and the son held on to each other with a permanent grip force. The teenager was literally taken up through the sunroof of the car and this family was interviewed as they continue to search for him. The sister and the aunt of the young boy were filmed telling what happened. The aunt relayed that her brother, the teenager's father, said when the storm hit them, sounding like 100 freight trains at once, the teenager started quoting scripture. Word after word, sentence after sentence began pouring out of his mouth. Totally out of character for him, said the aunt.

Friends, how blessed is that? In the moment of extreme crisis, this young man relied on a faith that sustains. He called on the Name of Jesus. He spoke words that held power. You know I was a hot mess watching this. Praying instantly that they would find him and that the Lord Almighty would bring peace to this family. Thanking God that the teen grasped onto something stronger than the tornado they were in the middle of. My God. In a moment of terror, what would you do?

This morning as I woke up, this was the first thing on my mind. What would I do? What would my children do? Those same children whom I've raised in the fear and admonition of the Lord, who don't always love God out loud as I would like for them to? Every Christian parent's prayer is that their child would call on the Name of the Lord when He is needed.

Do we truly understand the power in that Name? This young teenager did. These were the words that he chose to shout out in his time of desperate need. The power of God is the power that protects, guides, leads, encourages, sustains. What a blessing that this boy knew to call the One who saves, the One who is most concerned for his well-being.

I wish I had a happy ending to this story. I don't know the ending yet. I do know that I am blessed that all over the place God's presence is evident in these Joplin residents' lives. Pray for the families who are searching night and day. Pray specifically. Ask God to show them where their loved one is. Ask God to find those that are still alive, perhaps buried. Ask God to reveal the bodies of those who didn't survive. Ask God to continue His miracles day after day. Friends, our job here is to pray. Most of us can't jump in a car, leave our homes, jobs, responsibilities and head on down to Joplin to help. Let us not take for granted the power in speaking with Jesus on behalf of those we don't even know. Your prayers are heard and answered. Get to praying.

Faith That Sustains

As I drove into work today, working from a remote site, in a heavily congested area (that information will matter later), I was listening to wtop, news radio. I was so moved by the reported story of faith based organizations on the ground in Joplin, Missouri. A lady interviewed was there with her church distributing sandwiches and sodas. Something so simple, yet as she said, so basic and so needed at this very moment. "People are forgetting to eat," she said. Hundreds of people are searching through wreckage for lost loved ones and items that survived the storms. What a blessing to hear the voice of this one Christian lady sending the message of hope and love. As she said, its something so easy for us to do and we want to be here doing it. Before the federal aid can get processed and arrive on the scene, here are these soldiers for Jesus sustaining these folks.

This is the part of Christianity that I love. This the part that makes me stay a Christian even when my faith is shaken. When my prayers don't seem to be answered, when I am filled with anxiety and doubt and when trouble is rolling through like my own tornado. The fact that people who love God, love others. Christians are flawed people just like anyone else. But basic Christianity is loving and helping others. Reaching people in their time of need. Its not just helping, but wanting to help. This lady and her little old church was just one group of people handing out sandwich after sandwich. In times of despair we hear stories like this all the time. God's people helping people. Makes me proud to be a Christian. Makes me encouraged to see Him represented well.

I'm in the car, just feeling so overjoyed by the good of God in a terrible situation when WHAM! I clip the back of a car. Did I tell you how congested the area I was driving in today is? Try one intersection with seriously seven offshoots. No lie. If you've ever been to the seven corners area of Falls Church then you feel me. It really is like that. Here I am thinking both my lane and the other lane go down this one offshoot and apparently that was not so.

As I pulled over to the side I took a really deep breath and reached for my phone. No one was injured but you gotta report it to the police, right? I can see the dented in fender of this fella's car and to tell the truth I really don't want to see what has been done to my car. Or should I say The Hub's car. This would be the car I happen to be driving today. I do not want to go look at it. Not that anyone was inviting me to. It is a super busy intersection so over on the side of the road was a good place to sit and wait.

Mr. Friendly comes out of his car and barks at me some question that amounted to exactly what did I think I was doing! "I thought both lanes go this way," Second bark amounts to something like clearly, they do not! As he storms off to his car he lets off a large F-bomb. Now friends, I do not cuss. I think there are parts of the English language that God doesn't find pleasant or colorful so, many years ago I made the conscious choice to zap them. As you know, if you aren't used to being around something it seems more pronounced when it does happen. So Mr. Friendly's choice of word caught me off guard. As I watched him walk back to his car I literally asked myself if this guy was serious. I had seen his car and really didn't find it worthy of all that.

He comes back and looks at my car and shakes his pitiful head. "No damage. You essentially have no damage. How does that happen?" Well, dude. There is a reason people buy and drive Mercedes Benz vehicles. Its not just for the looks. Unlike him, I don't drive a Mitsubishu. I called 911 and me and my new bff waited 20 minutes until the operator called me back to inform me they didn't have an officer available now. We could continue to wait or exchange insurance and be on our way. I'm late to work, so if this guy is cool with it, so am I. I'll refrain from commenting on the police force availability. It is Falls Church so...

Mr. Friendly offers to buy me a coffee from the gas station we are parked in front of. Um. No thanks. I do get out and look at the front bumper and exhale for the first time. Not bad. The Hub won't be happy, but all in all, not bad. Mostly paint dust. Minimal scratches. The Hub might not see it that way, exactly, but that's what I'm going with.

Insurance exchanged, apologies exchanged. It needs to be noted the apology wasn't from me. Mr. Friendly apologized for his temper and language. Hadn't been in an accident in years and so he was mad, he says. As I walked back to my car to head to my office finally, and late, something dawned on me. The grace of God truly did keep this emotional girl calm. I think his choice of language helped. At that moment I knew I wasn't going to react like this guy. Not the language of course, but the reaction to a minor hiccup in the course of life. If you would have asked me about this in advance I would have told you I would be shaken up. I'm so delighted to say this was not the case. I could feel the presence of God surrounding me, keeping me calm and reminding me "you are in a Mercedes Benz girl."

I also have "Mercedes Benz" faith, friends. God's covering really is that more valuable vehicle. More reliable, more sturdy, less easily damaged, protective (I could go on and on)...Faith in God means I am sustained by the power of the One who covers me. Oooo God is so good. Another and I may walk away from an altercation and the hot-head fella may walk away scratched up, dented in and twisted out of shape. But this girl? Well, shoot. This girl got some Jesus and I walk away in shape, not twisted up and no dents. Hallelujah! Girlfriend bout to preach up in here. Friends, may I encourage you with something? See God in everything.

Congratulation Sadness

What an amazing time of our lives. Our sweet Oldest graduates in exactly 26 days. In less than a month he will be walking the walk of pride, accomplishment and satisfaction. In exactly 10 short days that same young man turns 18. I have been pondering which milestone hits us harder.

As he is our oldest child we get, or I should say he gets, to live all the emotions fresh. We, being me, are going to be a hot mess in less than a month. I will confess I am a particularly emotional person. I'm sane and all, but I do get attached to my TV shows. The characters bring me joy and sadness. I rejoice with them. I cry with them. And they are one dimensional. It doesn't stop there. I can evoke those tears faster than you can say "what happened?" A commercial or even a TV show preview has been known to get them rolling.

I say that as a proud basket case-crier. No shame in my game. I don't mind going there with my TV friends and so certainly, one can anticipate I am all in for these upcoming events in my real life. My baby boy is turning 18 and graduating high school. It's a joy and a success, but to be real with you, it's like adding insult to injury, as they say.

I won't tell you how his mind checked out of school somewhere around January. Or what a tough road school has been for him. You probably already know that he came to live with the Hub and I when he was 4. And from the instant I met him, when he was just 1 year old, I fell in love with him. God truly does work in mysterious ways. This child won my heart without saying a word.

I will tell you he is excited about being finished with school. He's excited about heading to college in August (go Potomac State!). I will also tell you he's my baby and I'm not ready to let him go. Life is going to be so different without him here. None of us are ready to face that. I have figured out that a lot of what we are saying goodbye to is more than just Oldest, himself. Sure, not having him here with his amazing sense of humor, charm and frustrating bullheadedness, that will be different. But beyond that, life will be different. We are actually saying goodbye to the bumping into classmates he's known since kindergarten, remarking how much they've grown. It's goodbye to prom and homecoming. It's goodbye to Friday night football games. It's goodbye to the community of high schoolers and high school parents we've grown to be a part of. When we become attached to something we are literally sewn together and it hurts when it comes apart.

Although there is a tremendous amount of pain in making this life adjustment, we know that this is a part of life. We have to let him grow up and spread his wings. We have to give him space. You hear me talking myself into this, right? Graduation time I have taken two days of from work. It's going to take every bit of that to get myself together. I'm so not ready for this. Despite my doubts I know that God will take me through it and believe me I will be praying hard that He helps me to at least stay composed as much as possible. Who wants to be a sniffling, rambling, snotting mess? It's inevitable, I know. But lest you see me somewhere around that time frame, you've been given fair warning, don't so much as blow on me or I might fall to pieces. God is good friends, all the time and all the time God is good. His mercy carries us through gracefully.

Weakened Muscles

Friends, it truly is correct that if you don't use it you lose it. We hear this all the time and we see it played out over and over again throughout life. Yesterday my dear family decided to walk to a local shopping center to hit up the Baskin Robbins. I can tell you with a straight face that walking totally justifies the guilt of going. It's a one mile walk each way. So, Copelands trekking 2 miles is a big deal. From the looks on Youngest's face it was a long walk. He tried everything from telling me his legs were jelly to saying they were too wobbly to continue. Funny thing, as our house appeared in front of us, his complaints got louder. Isn't it supposed to work the opposite way? Once you can see the end, aren't you supposed to feel better? Not if you're five.

I can also tell you that I haven't embarked on exercise since my beginning of the year journey with Jillian Michaels, via her wonderful 20lbs in 30 days DVD. I worked my butt off for 30 days straight, up at 5:30am, and ungodly hour if ever there was one, and I lost 4 pounds. Okay, maybe 5. I know you are wondering if I changed my eating habits. Yes. I sure did. I certainly made sure I was eating lots of vegetables, drinking only water with just one cup of coffee in the morning, cut back on red meat. And still. Four pounds. After that I took a self-imposed hiatus from exercising. If thoughts count I did look at the hand weight the other day as I was plopped watching Grey's Anatomy. Even went so far as to think I should do some bicep curls while I'm sitting here. The feeling passed. All this sitting lately did make last night's two-miler a trip.

As we got near the end I could feel how tired my legs were. Its true. You don't use it you lose it. That include muscle strength. As I laid in the bed last night I said to the Hub, "my everything hurts." This morning, my everything still hurts. The valuable lesson in this is to examine what in your life you may have let go of. For way too many of us it is the exercise. For others, it might be prayer, motivation, energy, drive. Hope I can encourage you to get it back. Get it going. Use the muscle so you don't lose the strength. I'm sore today but that will wear off. The benefit of being in motion is way worth the cost of a little everything hurting.

Youngest logic for you to enjoy today: after his third or fourth trip into the kitchen to nose his way into a conversation, the Hub says "what are you doing back down here again?" Youngest responds, "I didn't come from upstairs, so I am not 'doing down'. I came from the basement so I 'doing up." The Hub, amused says, "okay, excuse me. What are you doing "up" here again?" To which my darling almost-kindergartner replies, "actually dad, this is the middle level of the house. You should say 'what are you doing middle again?"