Home Again

I'm posting right now by sheer willpower. I'm EXHAUSTED. I got home Sunday evening around 10:00, and my DSL was back up and running on Monday morning, but between hitting the ground running yesterday and being so tired today, I just haven't been able to bring myself to post until now. I'm hoping to catch up on my rest in the next couple of days because school starts on Friday. No sleeping until 8:00 then!

The NWC was excellent. I was convicted, exhorted, encouraged, and motivated. My prayer is that it won't be yet another temporary mountaintop experience, but that I would be truly changed as a result of what God taught me. In future posts I plan to share some of the things I learned.

I must say that Kay Arthur rocks. One of the speakers made a theologically/doctrinally unsound statement on the first day, and Kay dealt with it with great spirit and authority in her closing message. I may not agree with her eschatology, and I doubt she describes herself as Reformed, but she sure knows what the Bible says about unconditional election!

I spent a good bit of time in the bookstore, but I didn't buy much. There just wasn't much that interested me. Ten years ago I would have needed an additional suitcase for books, but at this phase in my walk, I'm primarly interested in simply studying the Bible or reading the classics—old and new.

Speaking of which, one of my purchases was Out of the Salt Shaker and into the World by Rebecca Manley Pippert. She was one of the speakers, and I really liked her. She is erudite and down to earth. I had her sign my book, and I asked her about her doctrinal leanings. I was correct in my guess that we are like-minded. It was interesting to me that her book table did not draw nearly the crowd the others did. Her books primarily focus on evangelism, and she has been endorsed by the likes of Charles Colson and J.I. Packer. I'm really tempted to begin a rant here, but I'll trust the Holy Spirit to teach others, as He did me, that studying the Word itself will enable women to deal with their problems and challenges—as an endless stream of "Christian self-help" books cannot do.

Now she's back.

Road Trip: Precept National Women's Convention

Tomorrow afternoon, I am heading to Chattanooga, Tennessee for the Precept Ministries National Women's Convention. I am not in the position to "live blog," so I plan to come home with plenty of blog fodder. In the rare event that someone out there reading this blog is also going to the NWC, be on the lookout for me in the bookstore.

I just found out that our DSL connection will not be operational until Friday, at the earliest. So after I post this, I will again be incommunicado until Sunday evening.

Have a great weekend!

Lessons from Orlando

Right now, it seems downright ridiculous to me that going into the trip to Orlando my primary concern was the weather. It never occurred to me that I would have to deal with a rebellious attitude in my firstborn son. His distressing behavior manifested itself in three areas: (1) Talking back. Constantly. (2) Questioning every directive. (3) Expecting all activities to revolve around his desires. Perhaps you’re thinking this behavior sounds normal? My son is five. Not yet in Kindergarten. I expected this at thirteen, not five.

This phase (I hope) in my son’s conduct is especially troubling to me for two reasons. First, my son has always been a very good child by anyone’s standard. His current conduct often seems that of a whole other person. He isn’t himself. I have on several occasions stopped what I was doing and prayed against the work of the enemy in him because he seemed downright possessed.

The second cause for distress is what my experience with my son is teaching me about myself. Observing his conduct and feeling my reaction to it have been an ongoing opportunity for the Holy Spirit to reveal to me my own rebellious tendencies, how my rebellion makes God feel, and why I need to be disciplined. For someone who already has a tendency to beat herself up over her sin (another vestige of my Arminian past), this has been very hard to take.

In addition to the trouble with my son, I severely underestimated the importance to my emotional well-being of the two hours to myself I usually have daily from around 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm. My husband is an early riser, and I am a night owl. I make myself go to bed around 11:00 because I know that is what I have to do to get adequate rest. The time I have to myself each night while the house is quiet and still is very important to me, but I had no idea how important it was until I went without it for four days straight. Four people in a standard hotel room—two of whom are five and two—does not a “vacation” make.

All of this emotional stress, and I had been concerned about the weather! It was very good, by the way. Lower nineties. Moderate humidity. Afternoon thundershowers to cool things off. Couldn’t have been better by July in Florida standards. Thank you for your prayers!

My husband spent some time researching the best strategy for tackling Disney World, and his work paid off. We arrived when the park opened at 9:00, and everyone was ready to go by 2:00 when the afternoon thunderstorms were approaching. We never stood in line for more than ten minutes. The kids enjoyed the Magic Kingdom, but I think they would have been just as happy to have spent the morning at the hotel pool. This is no ordinary pool—big shallow area for small children, slide, fountains, lazy river. I highly recommend the hotel. It’s not on the Disney property, but it takes ten minutes max to get to the Magic Kingdom parking lot.

As usual, I am glad to be home. Returning from traveling regardless of the circumstances always makes me thankful for my home. I still have a lot to think and pray about regarding what I learned, but for now, I must do laundry.

On Vacation…So to Speak

We are leaving Saturday to go to Orlando. Yes, I know. Orlando. In July. Sounds refreshing, doesn’t it? Especially since I already endure near 100 degree temperatures on a regular basis during the summer months.

My husband is participating in a yearly professional conference that caters to families, so we are going along. This is our summer vacation as well. At least we are staying in a hotel. Last year, we rented a condo at the beach, which still required a certain amount of cooking, laundry, and keeping things picked up. A hotel is more like it. Of course, as I said last year, at this phase in my life, vacation is just a change of scenery. Not that it isn’t welcomed or appreciated. I’m just trying to be realistic.

I’m the type of person who is affected greatly by my expectations. If I expect something to be great, and it isn’t, I am usually terribly disappointed. However, if I expect something to be unpleasant (such as Orlando in July), and it turns out to be fun… You understand.

Anyway, I will not be posting for at least a week. When I return, I expect to be able to post a treatise on how Orlando in July is evidence supporting unconditional election. If salvation were up to humans, surely such a foretaste of hell would send people running to Jesus.