Silent Retreat

On a whim, at the last minute, I began searching for a retreat center to run off to by myself. It had been 5 years since the last silent retreat I attended...yes, I know, Kathryn and silence is rarely found in the same paragraph, let alone the same sentence! I found this sweet little place run by nuns in Pt. Loma. It was only a block from the cliffs and sooo amazing. Such peace and quiet!

I spent three days walking the beaches, the cliffs, the rocks, and just sitting. Watching the surfers catch the waves, little boys on the rocky beach tossing rocks into the sea, pelicans picking unsuspecting fish from the crest of the waves, and a plethera of dogs on the dog beach. It doesn't sound deep or revelatory, but spiritual it was. In the quiet, my mind stopped racing. The lists began to go by the wayside. Soon it was just me, the Lord, and the breeze. Spiritual, intimate, serene.

How often are we quiet, truly at rest within. It was amazing how God began to teach me and reveal himself to me through my surroundings. I wasn't searching, pleading, confessing, striving...just resting...Be still and know that He is God. What is your experience as you are still before His throne?

Divine Detective

So lately, I admit it, I have lost my mind! No really, it's true...along with my credit card, my cell phone, and other assorted items. In one week my entire world began to crumble as one thing after another began to disappear. I don't believe in ghosts, so I guess I can't attribute it to the paranormal! It all began with my cell phone. Gone. Then I got the flu, so for days I didn't care who sent me a text! After I was well I began to search for it again... I had my husband searching, my daughter, my friend, my assistant, and even in a moment of desperation I asked our dog Bella. No one could find it. Ok, so I teach on prayer ALL the time, so it was time to ask for Divine intervention...God, where IS my cell phone? I kept getting the word "car" in my head. I checked the car even though I had checked it a couple of times already...no phone. A few days later... "God, where IS my CELL PHONE?", again the word "car"...again NO phone! A few days later... Ok, you get the idea.
The weekend came around and my friend Debbie walked in the door asking if I had found my phone. She said she knew where it was. She went out to my car which I emphatically let her know was thoroughly searched MANY times... I let her go, eat your heart out girl and search my car if you want to! A few SECONDS later she marches back in and says, "Here!" and yes, she hands me the phone!
Of course I wanted to know where she found it and how she knew! Under the seat, where I already looked, and God showed her!
So glad God cares about every detail of my life...even my cell phone! Have you lost anything? I bet Debbie would be willing to rent out her Divine Detective Services!

Make a fashion statement...come dressed as the plates!

Ok, so I'm going to start telling my ridiculous stories, which you all seem to want to hear...
Yesterday, was sick all week...felt a little better, took everything I had to get it all together...shower, hair, make-up and a very cute outfit. My daughter Sarah took me shopping a few weeks back and brought in this really cute black and white sweater jacket...large fun buttons in the front and a cute damask print. I never would have brought this in for myself, but I have to admit...I could pull it off! It was my close friend's daughter's bridal shower and I couldn't miss it. I was ready, suck it up, you aren't feeling that bad...
It was pouring, did I mention that... but... I went, and felt good about my appearance...
Then I walked into the front door, they had tables set up with beautiful centerpieces on mirrored glass with votives lit and beautiful black and white plates. We all commented on the place settings and people commented on my jactet, then the plates, then the jacket...then...
Oh, my gosh, your jacket matches the plates! Oh yes, my damask design on my jacket in black and white was the same damask design on the plates! No, exactly! Now, I am not sure what deep meaning is behind all of this, but, I matched the dishes! And, no, it wasn't planned!

Blogging, I don't get it...

Ok, so I have a blog, because everyone has one. I have a blog, because the pastor's on staff with me all have one. I don't really think anyone cares what I have to say. My latest antics are usually an embarassment to my family so why would I publish those. I am not a great thinker, so my verbage will most likely not engage you, so why blog?

What do you all want to read about? What makes you turn to a blog and follow it? Are you sure I would have anything worth sharing? Any insight would be helpful...I figure I need a direction and perhaps I will get some focus! Maybe then, I will have something insightful to share!

Help...I really want to do this thing!

Wonder of Christmas

Snow bubbles floating through the air, fireworks lighting up the sky, music thrilling the ears and people all mesmerized by the wonder of it all. As we prepared to watch the Christmas Parade, I was surprised to find that others had already arrived curbside way before we had even considered it...blankets spread out saving valuable space, strollers parked with perfect view, food purchased and onlookers poised waiting for the moment that another wonder filled experience for the day would begin. The whole day I couldn't get the smile off of my face! My childlikeness was blooming all over the place...I was giggly! Disnyeland, the masters of wonder-making! Or are they?

An angel appears to young woman...in a glory filled atmosphere it is announced that a package was being delivered within her pure, virgin, belly! This baby was a long awaited promise from God, His Son, God/Man ready to burst onto the scene in the most powerful form He could come in...a baby! When baby's come, everything changes, everyone changes and life is never the same. Add to that the "God's Son" effect and you have one powerful little bundle! Throw in the brightest star ever recorded to shine leading wise men from afar, shepherds heralded by an angelic host, and an evil king seeking to destroy said baby and you have one incredible wonder filled event!

Christmas is filled with wonder and it is so easily captured as we take time to remember Christ. The wonder of His coming, His life, His love, His sacrifice...and His incredible gift of saving grace.
Oh the Wonder of it all!

Possibilities

This summer I have been down with illness for weeks. Often stuck in a hospital bed tied to IV's and poles and oxygen, etc. It has been confining at times and can easily get depressing unless we begin to look for the possibilities.

My first room-mate, Maria, became someone I was able to pray with, come back to visit, bring flowers to, and watch as girls that came to visit me also prayed with her and brought her gifts. I watched as a procedure that could have been detrimental to my health get stopped by a nurse that was determined to do the right thing and then find out she was a Believer. To meet nurse after nurse and a woman cardiologist that all communicated how they wished they had a woman pastor at their church to speak with. The stories continue as I watched little moments turn into possibilities for one person to connect with another.

How many moments in our day, or seasons in our lives do we miss the God opportunities? I am realizing more and more that it isn't in the big things that we see God, but in the daily little moments that we make ourselves aware of Him, invite Him in, be willing to be used by Him and watch the possibilities unfold before our very eyes.

Walking with God is not boring, even when we are in the trenches! What is possible in your life because of God's intervention?

Ask and keep on asking...

Jesus teaches that we are to ask and keep on asking, knock and keep on knocking, seek and keep on seeking...when did we stop? The last two weeks I have had three conversations, all with young women from 19 to late 20's, and they have asked a ton of questions. I have felt alive and awakened by their process of thought, their persistence in seeking, and their interpretation of life. It has been eye opening, stimulating and challenging. Simple questions that I take for granted like what is Good Friday and Easter, isn't it just a holiday? To actually simply deep questions, "What is all that singing in church about?" To the complex, "I heard preached at another church that we are made in Adam's likeness, is this true?"

Questions stir the thoughts and soul of the person we are asking. I was touched and moved that in my own circle of influence there are people that do not know the Gospel. I was challenged to theologically and scripturally explain that our identity is in Christ, for those that Believe...we no longer have the identity of "sinner", but are now children of God, co-heirs with Christ, adopted, sealed with the Holy Spirit, we are the Body of Christ...it is no longer we who live, but Christ alive within each of us!

Questions evoked passion in me as I realized the responsibility we have been given to truly spread the Gospel in our own back yard. I was jolted by the reality that the truths I take for granted are not even on the radar of this generation or world today. Have I fallen into the "cage" of Christian Country Clubs? (Listen to Pastor Tony Wood's sermon at Crossroads 4/19...awesome!)

As Jesus teaches us to ask and keep asking, do our questions also evoke and stir the heart and passion of God? What are you asking? So often we think of asking God for the things we need, or we ask Him why... But what questions could you or I ask Almighty God that would stir Him, move Him, and bring out something amazing in Him, just as these beautiful young women have brought out in me?

Lord...teach us to ask...You are the God of the universe, what would stir you, move you, impassion you, and excite you to be asked?