The last week of April, I went to the National Bible Quiz Meet in Missouri to watch/support our son, Jason, as he competed there! We had so much fun and the Quizzing was so inspiring, that on Saturday Night many of the parents that came with our teams were standing in the hallway of the Hotel and I came up with the bright idea of forming an adult team for the year end banquet! Sounded like a lot of fun!
A little background - Every year Teens For Christ sponsors the Bible Quizzing matches (you can check out their website here http://www.biblequizfellowship.org/ )here in Whatcom County, and at the end of the year, they host a dessert banquet where they pass out awards and prizes to the quizzers that memorized 100 verses! Then they have a quiz match for the top 15 quizzers of the year. They also have an "adult quiz match" - this is usually coaches, but sometime parents do this too. They usually narrow down the material to one chapter to go easy on the old brains!
So, after learning so much at nationals about team work and jumping styles and so for, we thought it would be fun to take that and try putting together an adult team (there's never been a team before - just individuals competing in the adult match). Well, I suggest we put together a ladies team and the men can put one together for the men! We got so excited about this!
Well, now I sit staring at my callendar with only 2 days to go, 1 really fun practice with my fellow "Prominent Women" teammates, and coming to grips with the fact that my brain is just not used to memorizing anymore - and when combining that with standing on a stage before many people (somewhere around 100 people from what I hear), and not only recalling the verses I've memorized, but being able to put the verse into action in the form of a question and an answer is becoming a daunting idea!
We had a blast at our practice today - one of our quizzers from nationals, Jaquiem, has stepped up to coach us, and my DD, Jessica, did score keeping, and another mom's DD, Hannah, did timing, and we did a couple of practice matches!
It was a lot of fun, but sometimes my brain felt like mush! I'd stand there repeating the question asked and NOTHING would come into my brain! ACK!
Then we were talking about how in the book we are memorizing from (Acts) there was something about God putting the words into their mouths that they were to speak, so I suggested that would be something for us to pray about - that God would put the right words in our mouth even when we are nervous and distracted!
Anyway, part of me can't wait as it will be a lot of fun (we have a secret chant and some fun things we are going to do that the quizzers will appreciate), so even if I bomb and my mind goes blank, we will have a great time - and nothing is wasted...I'm hiding God's word in my heart for the first time in years!
Here's my favorite from my section - Acts 5:29 "Peter and the other Apostles replied, "We must obey God, rather than men."
Funny that we are competing against a men's team! HAHA!
I'll let you know how it went next week!
Ruth
Thursday, May 17, 2007
I heard you...
When asked if he knew that Zak (he does our snapping for Snap-EZ and Snap-EZ 4 Life) had ridden his bike today, Daniel (age 5) said, "Of course, I heard you ride up...God gave us ears so we can hear."
Friday, May 4, 2007
God Is Good...
...even when things are going bad! I have been learning this lesson over and over again.
Tuesday was one of "THOSE" days - you know...where you begin to think, "what else can go wrong" or "can it get any worse" and then it does? But it was also one of those days that God was there by my side and teaching me to trust in Him even when it seems like everything is out of control.
Tuesday was my day to run all my errands before going away with my son Jason to the National Bible Quizzing tournament - you know, getting last minute things I neede for the trip and getting the things that the family would need while I was gone. I even carefull planned my day, in half hour increments, so that I could get everything done in time to take a long bath and get some sleep before we left! Right? ......WRONG!
My "check emails and tidy up the shop" went from the palnned 1 hour to over 2 hours - I realized that I needed to take care of the quarterly reports before I left! So instead of catching up on the dishes and packing, I spent the entire morning on the computer and putting some things together that I had forgotten to take care of! And the mail lady forgot to honk, so our orders didn't go out!
Jessica promised to take care of the dishes for me and help with the packing, so we left for shopping on time - but the car was out of gas and running really bad, like it was going to breakdown any time. I had an appointment that was supposed to take about an hour, but I was a little late (due to having to get gas and stop at the post office - which was CLOSED FOR LUNCH!), so and it took longer than planned. So we were now running about an hour behind my perfect schedule. So I'm telling the girls that we are going to RUN through Walmart, and then the car rattled and coughed and quit! Right at a busy intersection! ACK!
So we pushed the Camaro (not a light vehicle by any imagination) into the turn lane to keep from causing a traffic jam. Then 3 good samaritan's showed up (one from our church!) and pushed us out of the intersection. So I called Daryl and he came to "rescue" us - he and I went to get a gas can and gas - but my debit card wouldn't work - good thing Daryl was there - his did work (same account??). So we go back to the car and put the gas in - but it won't start! And by now we all had to use a restroom, so off to Fred Meyers - and Daryl used the opportunity to call the mechanic and he suggested kicking the gas tank while starting the car - we tried this and it worked! YEAH!
So we headed for Walmart - now 2 hours late! We ran through the store, came up to checkout, and my card still wouldn't work (I had called the bank in the meantime and there was no reason for it not to work!) - the card worked, but indicated that there was insufficient funds! So, off to the bank(s) to get cash! Back to Walmart, and arranged to meet Daryl there to have Jessica take the kids and groceries home so she could start dinner while Daryl and I finished shopping!
So Daryl and I went to Costco, and at checkout, his card worked and mine didn't - let me tell you, this is unsettling when you are about to go away from home for 6 days!
So we made it home, safe and sound, and I proceeded to pack and finish up the things that seemed really important and had to let go of some of the things I had wanted to do before leaving, and Jessica compassionately promised to do the dishes for me and fold the laundry! So now I was all set - last thing to do was to get some sleep, right?
WRONG! Too excited, afraid I wouldn't wake up - 2 am is not a normal wake up time - or my alarm was set wrong. I felt bad for not being more motherly when tucking the kids into bed the night before I leave...etc...etc...etc! Satan was working overtime - I eventually became convince that I was going to die on this trip and leave my children motherless!
But then I realized that I was giving into fear. So I got out of bed, opened my Bible and looked up every reference I could find for trust - "trust in the Lord" "trust not on your own understanding" and the like - that was like water to a thirsty soul! That helped so much. After that I was able rest in the Lord, but I don't think I ever went completely asleep, so at 1:30 I got up and got completely ready to go and then just sat down and read from a light book until it was time to go!
We left ontime, arrived at the meeting point on time, the airport on time, but the flight was delayed 1 hour! But that was OK too. Time to relax!
Jason had never flown in a commercial plane before, so he had a blast when we had sever turbulence - I on the other hand, had difficulty eating anything once we landed - severe sleep deprivation combined with motion sickness is not pleasant!
Our ride to the resort was uneventful, and we enjoyed full days and fun nights - especially all the strange food - catfish, frog legs, hush puppies, white gravy, etc - my lasting question is where to they bury all those poor legless froggies - is there a cemetary somewhere!~
So to wrap this up, God is Good and sometimes He puts obsticals on our way to keep us away of our reliance on Him - I said many prayers that day for patience and He really came through - I even kept my sense of humor!
Now I'm home, safe and sound, and God is still Good!
Tuesday was one of "THOSE" days - you know...where you begin to think, "what else can go wrong" or "can it get any worse" and then it does? But it was also one of those days that God was there by my side and teaching me to trust in Him even when it seems like everything is out of control.
Tuesday was my day to run all my errands before going away with my son Jason to the National Bible Quizzing tournament - you know, getting last minute things I neede for the trip and getting the things that the family would need while I was gone. I even carefull planned my day, in half hour increments, so that I could get everything done in time to take a long bath and get some sleep before we left! Right? ......WRONG!
My "check emails and tidy up the shop" went from the palnned 1 hour to over 2 hours - I realized that I needed to take care of the quarterly reports before I left! So instead of catching up on the dishes and packing, I spent the entire morning on the computer and putting some things together that I had forgotten to take care of! And the mail lady forgot to honk, so our orders didn't go out!
Jessica promised to take care of the dishes for me and help with the packing, so we left for shopping on time - but the car was out of gas and running really bad, like it was going to breakdown any time. I had an appointment that was supposed to take about an hour, but I was a little late (due to having to get gas and stop at the post office - which was CLOSED FOR LUNCH!), so and it took longer than planned. So we were now running about an hour behind my perfect schedule. So I'm telling the girls that we are going to RUN through Walmart, and then the car rattled and coughed and quit! Right at a busy intersection! ACK!
So we pushed the Camaro (not a light vehicle by any imagination) into the turn lane to keep from causing a traffic jam. Then 3 good samaritan's showed up (one from our church!) and pushed us out of the intersection. So I called Daryl and he came to "rescue" us - he and I went to get a gas can and gas - but my debit card wouldn't work - good thing Daryl was there - his did work (same account??). So we go back to the car and put the gas in - but it won't start! And by now we all had to use a restroom, so off to Fred Meyers - and Daryl used the opportunity to call the mechanic and he suggested kicking the gas tank while starting the car - we tried this and it worked! YEAH!
So we headed for Walmart - now 2 hours late! We ran through the store, came up to checkout, and my card still wouldn't work (I had called the bank in the meantime and there was no reason for it not to work!) - the card worked, but indicated that there was insufficient funds! So, off to the bank(s) to get cash! Back to Walmart, and arranged to meet Daryl there to have Jessica take the kids and groceries home so she could start dinner while Daryl and I finished shopping!
So Daryl and I went to Costco, and at checkout, his card worked and mine didn't - let me tell you, this is unsettling when you are about to go away from home for 6 days!
So we made it home, safe and sound, and I proceeded to pack and finish up the things that seemed really important and had to let go of some of the things I had wanted to do before leaving, and Jessica compassionately promised to do the dishes for me and fold the laundry! So now I was all set - last thing to do was to get some sleep, right?
WRONG! Too excited, afraid I wouldn't wake up - 2 am is not a normal wake up time - or my alarm was set wrong. I felt bad for not being more motherly when tucking the kids into bed the night before I leave...etc...etc...etc! Satan was working overtime - I eventually became convince that I was going to die on this trip and leave my children motherless!
But then I realized that I was giving into fear. So I got out of bed, opened my Bible and looked up every reference I could find for trust - "trust in the Lord" "trust not on your own understanding" and the like - that was like water to a thirsty soul! That helped so much. After that I was able rest in the Lord, but I don't think I ever went completely asleep, so at 1:30 I got up and got completely ready to go and then just sat down and read from a light book until it was time to go!
We left ontime, arrived at the meeting point on time, the airport on time, but the flight was delayed 1 hour! But that was OK too. Time to relax!
Jason had never flown in a commercial plane before, so he had a blast when we had sever turbulence - I on the other hand, had difficulty eating anything once we landed - severe sleep deprivation combined with motion sickness is not pleasant!
Our ride to the resort was uneventful, and we enjoyed full days and fun nights - especially all the strange food - catfish, frog legs, hush puppies, white gravy, etc - my lasting question is where to they bury all those poor legless froggies - is there a cemetary somewhere!~
So to wrap this up, God is Good and sometimes He puts obsticals on our way to keep us away of our reliance on Him - I said many prayers that day for patience and He really came through - I even kept my sense of humor!
Now I'm home, safe and sound, and God is still Good!
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