Shoeleather Love

^Koolau Mountains, O'ahu, Hawaii^

My Dad used to teach a class at our co-op called Shoeleather Christianity.  He would explain it to me by saying he was trying to give Christianity shoes.  Walking the talk.  What does living this radicalness look like in "real life?"  He'd probably call it orthopraxy now... I should call him and ask.  Anyway, it got his students to think about how they should live their faith every day, hour and minute.


The class I find myself in now is "shoeleather love," if you will.  More and more I feel that love is all that matters.  Hear me out.  If you know me personally you know I could take or leave the romance bit.  I'm talking about real love.  Love that seeks the other person's best no matter what the cost to self.  Love is sacrifice.  Love is patience.  Love is for your enemies and those who hurt you as well as for your friends.  Love is a gift, a word, a back-rub at just the right moment.  Love is time. Love weeps with those who weep.  Love rejoices with those who rejoice.  Love is slow to anger.  Just read I Corinthians 13 folks.  Love never ends.

This is BIG.  So here's the deal.


I know from the Bible that life is short, heaven and eternity is real, and only what I do for Christ matters (forever!).  I also read in the Bible that Christ says the first and greatest commandment is to love God.  I'd say "first and greatest" is a good place to start, wouldn't you? Great.  So...loving God.

What does that look like?  How do I do this with every fiber of my being every minute of my life?

That's the question.  I don't have the answer yet, but I'm going to be sort of journalling through my meditations and conclusions here, and I'd love your help.

Let's put some shoeleather on this and wear it out!

In which I look at myself

^Sharing a leaf and rock taco with River^

I woke up this morning and looked in the mirror. 

Believe it or not, I don't usually do this.(look at myself that is). I'm usually looking at a piece of clothing I've made and inspecting the seams or checking the fit.  I just barely glance at my face when I wash it or I get so close I don't really see the whole thing.  

Anyways.

I realized a couple things.

-I have a sunburn (bummer.  I was determined to not get one and I didn't all summer.)

-My hair is pretending to be red. #almostaginger

-My Eyes are pretending to be green

-One of my eyes is bigger than the other and squints differently.

-My eyebrows are sorta bushy and darker than my hair.

The End.

Ups and Downs

One of the highest honors in this house is to have a "baby" or "honey" named after you.  Somebody named Steven had an incredible influence on the girls so probably 6 of their animals are named Steven.  Other popular names include Melissa, Kinoah, Kianu, and Sarah.

A Puppy dog got named after me yesterday. :-)

We have our ups and downs, the girls and I.  Sometimes I'm their best friend.  They sit next to me or want to hold my hand and play and read books.  Other times, I must look like big time competition.  They don't listen, don't look at, and plain aren't nice to me.  Those days are long.  Really long.  Today was one of those days.

 Life is full of bumps in the road, though.  It's important to learn to roll with the punches and pick up the pieces.  Keep pressing on.  Keep answering the plethora of questions even when you have a headache, keep reading when all you want to do is sleep, and keep quiet when you don't have anything nice to say.  It makes it harder when it's hot and sweaty and your feet are swollen from standing and walking all day.  Makes me appreciate what Dawn does every. single. day.

All I really want to do is chill on the couch with my brothers and chat about anything and everything.  Starting to miss you, Hud and Than! ;-)

Well, back to being a grown-up!  Tomorrow is Sunday, so that means a refreshing morning worshipping my savior and fellowshiping with the Christians!

People are awesome!

Over breakfast we were talking with the girls about Jesus having the name above all names and what that means.  The girls were thinking of their favorite names when river suddenly exclaims

"People are awesome!"

Yes River, yes they are.  Welcome to the Doctor Who fan club.  ;-)  That aside, we talked about one who is the most awesome and most important -- more than every other person: Jesus Christ.

It is so exciting to see little minds work and start to grasp truth.

Reading with Ellie

^love this little face!^

Hawaii Vlog 2: Slow Beginnings

In general, I say it is bad form to apologize when presenting in front of an audience.  Don't get up and do a lousy job.  You undercut your message and strip all credibility you may have had when you begin with "Sorry" and give an excuse, no matter how legitimate.  It is bad form.  Don't apologize unless you've offended someone.  (Then you should beg their forgiveness of course and make things right.)

Anyway...yeah, so nevermind. ;-)  Enjoy this awesome video.




Oh, how nervous I get as soon as I'm in front of a rolling camera by myself!

Sometimes

"We confuse ACTIVITY and ACCOMPLISHMENT"

 -Howard Hendricks

Sometimes we put off dishes a little longer to enjoy conversation around the table.

Sometimes we chase around the house two more times before we do our chores.

Sometimes we dance while we sweep the floor.

Sometimes we just snuggle in the rocking chair instead of starting school right away.

Sometimes we read books.

Sometimes we chase bubbles.

Sometimes we sing.

Sometimes we smile.

Sometimes we rest.

Sometimes we need to BE more than we need to DO.

Always, we trust.

Come, behold the works of the Lord,

how he has brought desolations on the earth.

 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

he burns the chariots with fire.

 “Be still, and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!”

 The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress. 

                                                     Selah

Psalm 46: 8-11esv, emphasis added

Practiced my free-lensing on some of the flowers in "my" yard here in Aiea.

We were discussing the Trinity over lunch today.  You know, one God in three persons?  Well, River always asks the best questions.  Always. :-)

M: Momma? I have two feet.  Does God have three feet?

Ellie's favorite question?  Why.

You don't realize how little you actually know until a child asks you "why?" or "how?"

What was it Einstein said?  "If you can't explain it simply, you don't know it well enough."

In a span of 60 seconds...

Mom went to use the bathroom, River slipped and hit her head(que tears), Jack started crying, the phone rang, the cheese sauce boiled and started burning, the noodle timer beeped, so they had to be strained, and the doorbell rang.

I thought this only happened in movies.

Hawaii Vlog 1 :: The Intro

Aloha!  

I arrived safely in Hawaii after a 9 hour flight from Chicago to Honolulu!  Note to future travelers: If you must buy a sandwich and water bottle in an airport for $11.63, at least get a sandwich on focaccia bread.  That stuff is incredible(my apologies to everyone who was raised to not call their food "stuff").

Learn to make Focaccia.

Dawn, Ellie, River and Jack came to pick me up at the airport and brought a Lei of fresh flowers.  It was just as exquisite and delicately perfumed as those dollar store ones are cheap and tacky. It hangs in my room still to make it smell nice.  :-)

Now, don't laugh, but the first thing I did when I went up stairs was to smell their front door.  Yup.  Smell it.  They are beautifully carved wood front doors and I felt they would smell a bit like I imagine Professor Digory's wardrobe would smell.  There is a slight scent, but not quite the pungent aroma I was imagining. :-)

On to the vlog!  A sad attempt, I admit, but with just 2 hours from shooting everything to being done, I'd say it's doable and improvable.  Still getting used to the sound of my own voice on tape and deciding how much of my personality and mistakes to seep through.  Probably more than I did this time. :-)  Anyway, enjoy!