The baseball season is coming to a close, and we are so thankful they got to play all of their games.
This is Mack’s first real season of playing. He loves being with the guys and hanging out with them. And even though I get nervous for all the players every game, I’ve enjoyed watching Mack play.
At the banquet this evening, Mack received the Most Improved Player. I was so proud of him and so grateful for the opportunity he had to play and try hard to get better.
They had a cute little “signing ceremony” for the 8th graders; the Varsity coach wants the program to improve and wants their young players to stay! so it was his idea to hold this ceremony and encourage the guys to stay at Carmel and play at Carmel.
And then the younger boys on the middle school team gave a signed team photo to each of the 8th graders. It was so sweet.
The boys also did a service project together this morning and worked so hard!
So over all, this has been a fun time for Mack. He has been very challenged and overcome some fears and frustrations and made great friends along the way. I’m proud of him!
I started the morning, by the grace of God, like I usually do—with coffee in hand and Bible open on my lap. I humbly asked God to speak to me and help me hear and understand and apply His Word to my life today. And He did. Using Psalm 35 and 36, He spoke right to me.
I was reminded that He “fights against those who fight against me.” (v.1) In my soul He speaks to me and reminds me that He is my salvation (v.3). I was reminded that He sees everything and is not far from me (v.22). I was able to read and see the stark differences between the wickedness of man and the lovingkindness of God. In a world filled with wickedness, unrighteousness, and injustice, I needed the reminder: “Your lovingkindness, O LORD, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; Your judgments are like a great deep.” (v.5-6) Reading on in Psalm 36, I was encouraged to take refuge in God. He satisfies and clarifies as I walk this earth. “You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.” (v.9)
G.Campbell Morgan writes about Psalm 36: “To know God is to worship Him, and in His ways to find refuge, satisfaction, life, and light.”
If we ever needed a refuge, it’s now. If we ever needed the reminder that God is The Perfect Judge, it’s now. If we ever needed reminding that His presence gives life and light to show us the way to go, it’s now. We won’t find any of these things anywhere else. Where are you going for your satisfaction? Who is adding clarity to your walk today? I hope you go to God as a refuge. Read God’s Word and stay until you are satisfied. Stay until you get clarity on how to view your current circumstances. He is faithful. He is life and light.
We made our way back to the great state of Tennessee on Wednesday. After settling in to yet another Hampton Inn, we decided to head out amongst all the other Spring Breakers.
Around 9:00 we headed out to find some dinner. Alas, only McDonalds was open and had room for us. Yuck. Then, to bed we went to prepare for a day at DollyWood.
Josh and I considered ourselves officially old or maybe having officially “made it” in life. The kids ran off to ride rides. We sat and had coffee and shared a cinnamon roll and talked.
In addition to enjoying our cinnamon roll, we stood in line for the kids’ lunch, met them and gave them their pizza, then went and stood in line for ice cream and let them have that while they walked to their next ride. Then, as if we were putting an exclamation on our agedness, we rode the train. The train. We have been to DollyWood many times as a family and never rode the train with our kids. And now here we were, sitting and riding the train across DollyWood—just Josh and me. We were so content. Nothing more or less we wanted and just happy to be together. Then, as if God was saying, “I’m proud of you two and your attitudes and generosity to your kids so I’m going to reward you,” WE GOT TO SEE WOODSTOCK FRIENDS IN TENNESSEE!!!!!!! I just loved seeing each of them. These two picked right up solving the world’s problems and adding a little sarcasm along the way.
And then we got back in the car and drove home. So thankful for our own beds and showers and as much coffee as I wanted! DollyWood, once again, you were good to us. Though no where near as good as when we were homeschooling and came when most people couldn’t. We probably won’t ever try to see you over Spring Break again. 😬 It’s not you, it’s all those other people. 😂
Thank you for bearing with me as my blog is acting more as a scrapbook and memory keeper this week than as a reflection on life or scripture. This is life! Things are happening at break-neck speed, so this is my effort to keep up.
Boyce College is located in Louisville, Kentucky. The school is closely associated with Southern Seminary. Dr. Albert Mohler is the president. I appreciate their commitment to God’s Word and that they don’t accept federal funds and can operate according to God’s Word without fear.
Everyone was so friendly and kind and helpful. I loved it! But I’m not the one going to college. Sooo, this is just one step of many in this process. Where she lands, only God knows😊
We enjoyed a tour of Louisville Sluggers Museum. The tour guide seemed nice and knowledgeable, but we couldn’t understand a word he said with his mask on🤷🏼♀️
Fun day! We ended with Outback for dinner and back to the hotel to sleep. Next stop, Boyce College.
The Lord has graciously blessed us with long time friends, The Koesters. Ruby and Katherine were in nursery together from their very first months of life! As two year olds, they shared the bond of being the baldest two year olds in the group. Maybe that’s why they stuck together. Mary and I met some time during their toddler years and were fast friends. She is the most hospitable, generous, kind and thoughtful person you could encounter. I absolutely love this whole family. Her son, Ben, is graduating from UT this May and getting married in May as well! He and his fiancé, Bailee, are moving to North Carolina, so we have even more reasons to see each other. What a huge blessing.
They fed us, gave the kids UT apparel and then took them on a tour of the campus!
Ruby didn’t put her UT apparel on🤷🏼♀️🙃
Ruby spent the night with Katherine while we headed to the hotel for a great night’s sleep. We woke up the next day and made a stop at Waffle House, which happened to be Olivia’s first time eating there! Love introducing people to some of our favorites.
Ruby went to the Junior/Senior Prom last week. She had so much fun with her friends. I love that she has such strong, like-minded girls to hang out with!
I turned 44 years old on Tuesday. These years in my forties have been fruitful in a hidden, personal kind of way. In 2015, I had an impression of God picking me up and carrying me away. Sounds mystical and odd to some, but it was real to me and I journaled about it and told Josh about it and then moved on with life. Over the course of those next six months it became evident that we were going to be picking up our life in Georgia and planting ourselves in Charlotte, North Carolina. And now, from this point in life, I can look back over these almost five years and see how that impression of God carrying me has been so true of this season. Couple the growth and stress that come with a major move with raising teenagers, and I have a recipe for lots of prayer and an increasing realization that I don’t know much of anything. I mean, I hope we are doing this right, but doubts abound. Life is challenging and someone always needs a little extra attention, a little more instruction and training, and always more money.
There are some things I reflect on over the course of 44 years and feel as if they were wrong turns, bad decisions, seasons of floundering, suffering, mistakes, missteps, darkness, or meaninglessness. I know mentally that God always sees me, always knows the path I take, but I must acknowledge it sometimes feels like His eye is not on me or maybe He isn’t paying as much attention as I want Him to.
Deuteronomy 1:30-33 says, “The Lord your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place. But for all this, you did not trust the Lord your God, who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.”
About these verses, G.Campbell Morgan says, “…we learn that in the government of God nothing is haphazard. How often life is a wilderness way! As we journey, there seems no map, no plan, no time table. The truth is that our God is not only accompanying us on the march; He is ever going before us, selecting the places of our pausing. Wherever at night we pitch our tents, the place is chosen by God. That is all we need to know.”
I was challenged in remembering the faithfulness of God over my whole life, that He is fully trustworthy. Looking back on past seasons, I can say that I wish I had trusted Him more. Looking ahead, there is a list of things I am tempted to worry about or situations I might like to manipulate—but instead, I want to be carried into these future seasons in my strong Heavenly Father’s arms, trusting Him to go before me and show me the way in which I should go. He is faithful and will do it.
