The Spirit at Work

Below is an excerpt from a commentary on Galatians 6 from this website.  It is very powerful and moving.  It is long, but so worth the time it takes to read it:

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure" (Jer 17:9). Our capacity for self-deception is frightening. It is amazing how blind otherwise brilliant people can be to their own spiritual direction in life. In fact, the more brilliant people are, the more skilled they are at developing rationalizations to deceive themselves and to hide from God. The story of Adam and Eve's hiding from God behind their skimpy clothes and even skimpier excuses is our common human experience. Paul's warning needs to be heard, and to be heard often, to warn us against our most brilliant self-delusions.


Paul then applies the agricultural principle of reaping what is sown: The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life (v. 8). Here we are faced with a decision, a decision that determines our destiny. We are not victims of fate, bad luck or even predestination. Our destiny is determined by our decision: shall we sow to the sinful nature or to the Spirit? The old proverb is true: "Sow a thought, reap an act; sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny."


Those who are sowing to please the sinful nature are destroying relationships with others: they are biting, devouring, provoking and envying others (5:15, 26). In their arrogance they are seeking to pressure everyone to conform to the same ethnic customs and traditions. Churches are being torn apart and destroyed by ethnic rivalries and social competition. Sowing to please the sinful nature will always result in a harvest of destruction, a destruction of relationships with others and with God.


Sowing to please the Spirit means "serving one another in love" (5:13), restoring one who has been caught in sin (6:1), carrying the burdens of others (6:2), giving generously to those who teach in the church (6:6) and doing good to all (6:9). Sometimes sowing to the Spirit has been defined in terms of private, personal holiness, as if it were something done in a closet by oneself. But sowing to the Spirit in the context of Paul's teaching here involves building love relationships with others. Sowing to the Spirit cannot be done in isolation or separation from others. Carrying the burdens of others requires in-depth participation in their pain and sorrow. As we see in verse 9, sowing to the Spirit means doing good to others. If sowing to the sinful nature means selfish indulgence, then sowing to the Spirit means selfless service. The harvest of sowing to the Spirit is eternal life. The meaning of eternal life must be understood within the "already-not yet" structure of Paul's thought in this letter. From Paul's perspective, Christians have already been delivered from the present evil age (1:4) and are already in the new creation (6:15). But the battle between the Spirit and the sinful nature is not yet over (5:17). In Christ we already have new relationships with God and with one another: we now relate not as slaves but as children who call God Father (4:6-7); and we relate to one another not as people divided by racial, social and gender barriers but as people united in Christ (3:28). But since the battle between the Spirit and the sinful nature continues, we do not yet experience total harmony in these relationships. Those who continue to grow in these relationships by the power of the Spirit will ultimately experience the fullness of eternal life--perfect harmony in relationship with God and others.Doing Good (6:9-10)


Growth in our relationships does not happen automatically; growth takes effort. Hard work is required if broken relationships are to be rebuilt. In these two verses Paul simply encourages Christians to keep on working at building their relationships: Let us not become weary in doing good (v. 9). To say that Paul's emphasis on faith means that he was against works is obviously an inaccurate interpretation. Although he warned against relying on the works of the law as the basis of blessing (3:10-14), he clearly taught that true faith expresses itself through love (5:6) and in the hard work of serving one another (5:13) and carrying each other's burdens (6:2).

One of the greatest obstacles to rebuilding broken relationships is simply fatigue. We can easily lose heart and run out of strength when we come up against the same problems over and over again as we deal with others. Even Paul sounds discouraged when he talks about his efforts to rebuild his relationship with the Galatian believers: "I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you" (4:11). Paul recognized that fatigue and discouragement might cause Christians to throw in the servant's towel and quit. So he presents two incentives to keep us from giving up when we grow weary of serving others in love. First, he assures us of a reward for doing good: at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up (v. 9). Sometimes the harvest is experienced in this life. When we sow acts of love, we reap a harvest of love in return. When we give generously and sacrificially to the needs of others, we reap a harvest of gratitude as those needs are met. When we sow the seed of God's Word in needy lives, we experience the joy of response. But we must remember that reaping a harvest almost never happens on the same day as sowing the seed. We may not even see a harvest in this life from what we have sown. Nevertheless, we must never give up, because we know that at the proper time our Master will return and reward those who have been faithful servants.

Smart Test

I hope Kaylee doesn't find this embarrassing, but I found in her notebook a test that she had written and it was just too hilarious not to post!  She's got such a great sense of humor!

sick Smart test



You think You're going to be sick.  What do you do first?

A  go to the tolit (toilet)

b  look around then go to the tolit

c  pace around for a little bit then barf

d  just barf in the mittle (middle) of the flor (floor)

Then she wrote down the results for whichever choice you picked:

A  very smart

b  smart

c  kind a smart but dum(b)

d  dum(b)

She has one about farting too.  It's called the emberrising (embarrassing) test.  She's so funny!  Ok, I can't resist, here's that one too.

emberrising test

You fart in the middle of class when the teacher is talking.  What do you do?

A  nothing

b  say it wasin't (wasn't) me!

c  exus (excuse) me?

d  I FARTED

results:

A  not emderrising (embarrassing)

b not very emberising (embarrassing)

c kind of emberising

d defenetley (definitely) emberising

Phone Call from Kaylee's Teacher!!!

Last night the girls and I were sitting and relaxing (Kaylee's been so worried that she'll catch the stomach virus that she has made her stomach hurt, silly girl) when my phone rang.  I recognized the number as Kaylee's school so I answered it (sometimes, when the girls and I are having 'special' time, I don't answer because I feel they deserve my complete attention).  It was Kaylee's teacher, Mrs. Harmon.  Mrs. Harmon was also Alexis's 1st grade teacher and we loved her!  I had sent Mrs. Harmon an email yesterday morning to let her know that Alexis had come down with the stomach flu and asked her to keep an extra eye on Kaylee (I'm sure she didn't want to clean up a mess!).  She thanked me for the heads up...but anyway back to the call.  She said she was trying to call all of the parents to touch base before Parent/Teacher conferences in a few weeks.  But she asked how Kaylee was feeling since she had gone to the nurse at school that day.  Kaylee has frequent tummy aches...the girl needs more fiber and most of the time I am on top of it, but not recently and that coupled with worrying about catching the stomach flu...she spent part of her recess in the nurses office.  So, I let Mrs. H know that Kaylee was fine and that her tummy aches are frequent.  I also mentioned that Kaylee just loves school.  That brought on many, many compliments about Kaylee and her performance in school.  She said she is a very well behaved girl, always doing what she should be doing.  She said that she uses Kaylee quite a bit as an example for the rest of the class.  "Class.  Look at what Kaylee is doing.  Let's all do it like she is."  I could not be more proud of that little girl!  It's always so wonderful to hear other adults praising your children.  It's like an affirmation that all the hardwork is beginning to pay off.  Not that the hardwork has ended, but to know that we've built a good foundation is very satisfying. 
Kaylee's a wonderful child and we are so blessed to have the responsibility of raising her.

Had to Share

A little back story:  Everyday, I read several devotionals due to a great android app called "YouVersion".  One of the 'plans' I read is called "Parenting by Design" and it relates Bible verses to different parenting situations.  I just loved today's.  So here it is:
Titled:  Accountable to God
Based on the verse Luke 12:42 - And the Lord replied, "A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them."
The devotion:  God gave you children, and you are expected to raise them for His glory.  You are a steward of God's children and, as a steward, you must answer to your Master for your efforts.  Fortunately, you don't have to account for other masters, other stewards, or to those under your care.  Ultimately, only God has the authority to judge your work.  That's great news!  You don't have to answer to other parents or the culture you live in.  The competition is over!  You are not required to conform to the world's view of success because the world is not your master.  And when your kids are upset with you for restricting or disciplining them, you can take comfort that their approval is not your goal.  That doesn't mean you have carte blanche to treat your kids any way you want; your Master had provided instructions about your relationships with your kids (Eph 6:4-Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them.  Rather, bring them up with discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.), but it does mean that you should be seeking to please Him first.  Be a faithful and sensible steward of your kids.

I just loved it!  Seek pleasing God in your parenting....NO ONE ELSE!  I don't know about you, but I find that very comforting.  I hope He is pleased with my performance to date....

Home Improvements: Basement Plumbing and Drywall and Concrete Edging

It has been flurry of activities here!  We opted to hire Stern Construction again to run our water lines and run a line of duct work to the back of the house for our bathroom vent.  Here are some pictures of their handywork:

Bathroom plumbing.  Toilet on the left, sink on the right.

The shower.  The shower valve still needs added.

The wetbar sink.

Bathroom vent (with the pink) with the hose running to the back of the house.

Next up is the drywall.  We hired Stern Construction again (these guys are great) and the drywall expert has a day job, but this was his week of vacation.  They were here everyday this week, including the weekend and just have a few finishing touches left.

This is the entertainment area.  Straight ahead will be a built-in entertainment center.

The doorway on the far left is Ryan's future wine cellar.  The doorway in the middle is the utility closet and on the far right is the entrance to the gym.



This is the bar/game area.  The bar will be on the right and on the left is the electrical closet.




This is the hall that leads to the guestroom.  Far right is the stairs and just next to that is the entrance to the full bathroom.



Lovely green board in the bathroom.

The shower seat that Mom and I built.

This is the guest room.

And finally, the best room in the house, the gym!

 I think my favorite part is the columns.  They have done a great job creating my vision of our basement!

Next and last on the list is our concrete edging in the front yard.  Just two pictures, but I think it's so pretty!

They missed the bed on the right but are coming back to complete it today or tomorrow.

Rebuilding

No, it's not a post about construction this time.  When I say rebuilding, I'm talking about our family.  I feel like we are finally in a position to do just that (sidenote:  Those of you who have been my core support system will probably not read anything new.  Thank you so much for guiding, listening, and praying for me and my family!).  Ryan has made his final trip to Barcelona and back and has started his new LOCAL position with the company.  And even though, to me, it seems that he has stepped into a hornet's nest because he is working long and tiring hours, he is still here; coming home every night to be home with us.  There is no better feeling!  The world could be crumbling around us, but we are all physically together for the first time in a long, long time. 

Father's day weekend, the movers came to move Dale and Chris's big furniture pieces and all the things I had boxed up for them.  We then continued to take loads over to their new condo (Which is really nice and really close).  That was the first weekend we could begin to regroup as a family of four.  We are so extremely thankful that Dale and Chris lived in our home while we were away.  And their flexibility in letting us move back in at the last moment at Christmas time was incredible!  I don't know what we would have done if we had rented out our home instead. 

So here we are now.  The four of us all alone in our home (well, plus two dogs and a cat) and it feels so good.  Sure we have been fighting the feeling of a dream that has died.  We had high hopes and big plans for our time in Spain.  But God obviously has something else in mind for us.  We have already learned so much and grown so much through this experience.  The world is so much bigger than Indiana; even bigger than the USA.  We all have a broader view of this world that God has created.  Now that we see a bigger picture, things that used to bother us in the past seem miniscule.  Have we learned all we need to learn from this trial?  Maybe.  But my suspicion is that the answer to that question is 'No.'  There have been little signs and signals that have been telling me, "Don't relax yet.  There's still much more to come."  And I'm ok with that...I say "Bring it!"  There have already been so many things that have happened to open my eyes just in the last few months.  I am still growing and learning and leaning heavily on God and his Word.  I am excited and apprehensive but at peace with whatever God has in store for us. 

There is a lot of other news for our family...end of the school year type things, summer type things, etc.  But my focus is our 'construction zone.'  So, don't be surprised if it is a long, long time before another post.



First Annual Celebration of Success

Last night, we had our first "Celebration of Success"  which is part of Operation Summer that we are participating in.  I made the girls a yummy 'kid friendly' dinner (HG's triple cheesy pepperoni poppers-DELISH, a few pieces of raw cauliflower, and Mac n' Cheez) and we had a nice family chat.  Side Note-I found that the girls eat their veggies a lot easier if I serve them to them raw!  Lots more vitamins that way too!

After we were done eating, we had each of the girls in turn stand on their chairs and both Ryan and I presented them with medal certificates.  Below are the pictures of the girls with their awards.

Kaylee got the medal of Joyfulness for her positive attitude and the medal of Friendliness for her outreach to others.



Alexis got the medal of Responsibility for her dependability at all times and the medal of Courage for standing up for what is right.

 Ryan and I had each picked a medal for the girls and when we presented them with their awards we explained why we chose that specific award for them.  It was a lot of fun!
After we cleaned up from dinner we went to Frost Bite and had some Celebration ice cream.

First Piano Recital

Once I knew that the girls and I would not be going back to our home in Spain after our Christmas visit, I decided it was time for them to start piano lessons.  It all started because Kaylee kept saying she wanted to learn how to play the piano.  It took us a couple of weeks to find a piano teacher, but with the help of a friend, we found our teacher and she only lives 2 minutes away!  So the girls began their lessons (never having taken any lessons before) in March.  They had their first recital last night.  I don't know what you will think, but after only 3 months of lessons, I am extremely impressed with their ability!

First up is Kaylee:

I think the bench was too far away from the piano for her.  She made a few mistakes, but she kept right on going!  She did such a great job.  For the perfectionist that she is, I was very surprised that she didn't cry in frustration.  She's very much like her daddy!  But she was the perfect performer last night.

Now Alexis:

She also did an excellent job.  Of course she was nervous but it didn't show at all.  Alexis didn't want to take piano lessons at first, but I made her go to the first lesson and told her that I wanted her to finish out the school year of lessons.  If she didn't like it still after that, I wouldn't make her start up again in the fall.  But after the first lesson she was in love! 

I may be biased, but these girls are talented!

Romans Part Tres (I think)

Starting where I left off with Chapter 9.

9:19-20  Are you going to object, "So how can God blame us for anything since he's in charge of everything?  If the big decisions are already made, what say do we have in it?"  Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God?  Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question?  Clay doesn't talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, "Why did you shape me like this?"

9:31-32  And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it.  How could they miss it?  Because instead of trusting God, they took over.  They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing.  They were so absorbed in their "God projects" that they didn't notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road.  And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling.

10:9-14  Say the welcoming word to God--"Jesus is my Master"--embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead.  That's it.  You're not "doing" anything; you're simply trusting him to do it for you.  That's salvation.  With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: "God has set everything right between him and me!"  Scripture reassures us, "No one who trusts God like this--heart and soul--will ever regret it."  It's exactly the same no matter what a person's religious background may be:  the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help.  "Everyone who calls, 'Help God!'  gets help."  But how can people call for help if they don't know who to trust?  And how can they know who to trust if they haven't heard of the One who can be trusted?  And how can they hear if nobody tells them"

11:6  And since it is through God's kindness, then it is not by their good works.  For in that case, God's grace would not be what it really is--free and undeserved.

11:18  But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off.  You are just a branch, not the root.

I think that's good for today.  I am finished reading Romans, but I am re-reading the bookmarks I saved.  There are several from the last four chapters.

I Asked by Alexis

I asked the rose why it was red
And it danced and wilted to crunchy brown.
I asked the cloud why it was white
And it called its friends and darkened.
I asked the moon why it had craters
And it turned and walked away and the sun replaced it.
I asked the hawk to fly
And it unfolded its large wings and soared.
I asked the leaf to blow away
And it did and its friends joined it.
I asked the flowers why they bloomed
And they shriveled and wilted.
I asked myself why I was so curious
And the clouds got white
The flowers bloomed
The leaves came back
And I kept quiet
And everything was perfect.

More Romans (finally)

I left off with Chapter 5 last time.

6:11-13  From now on, think of it this way:  Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word.  You are dead to sin and alive to God.  That's what Jesus did.  That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives.  Don't give it the time of day.  Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life.  Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time--remember, you've been raised from the dead!--into God's way of doing things.

7:21-25  The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up.  I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight.  Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.  I've tried everything and nothing helps.  I'm at the end of my rope.  Is there no one who can do anything for me?  Isn't that the real question?  The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does.  He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

8:5-6  Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life.  Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them--living and breathing God!  Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life.

8:29-31  God knew what he was doing from the very beginning.  He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son.  The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored.  We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him.  After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name.  After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself.  And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.  So, what do you think?  With God on our side like this, how can we lose?

Perfect place to stop and reflect....

The Plans

Just for kicks (and online storage purposes) I thought I would post my original plans as well.

Basement floor plan:

There have been a lot of changes made to this plan.  But the basic wall structure is the same.

The bar plan:

Here you can see where I planned to cut out some of the stair wall.  We're not going to do that now because we wanted to have the space for a mini refrigerator as well as the kegerator.  So these plans are going to change too.

The Entertainment Center plan:

This one will probably change some as well.  That is the faux column on the right.  But this massive unit will take up that entire section of wall.

Framing and Beginning Electrical

So, the next time Stern Construction came out they worked so hard!  I was quite impressed.  They only stopped for lunch and then one other break after that.  They worked from 8:30 AM to 6:30 PM.  After that long work day, they only had to come out two more times to finish up.  I cannot express how happy I am with the work they did!  It is just how I envisioned it...these guys are good.

Also, Mom started coming up to help me with the electrical.  I love working with her.  It's great bonding time and she's teaching me a lot.  We're also going to do the plumbing together and she said that Grandpa Cook is even going to come and join the fun!  That is extremely exciting for me!!!  Anyway, on to the pictures:

This is the hallway at the bottom of the stairs.  On one end (pictured above) is the electrical closet.  The other end is the guest room and full bathroom.



Same hallway.  These are the three can lights we put up.  There are still all the original lights that the builders put in.  We are planning to take those down.

Bar area.  This wall will have the actual bar and is shared with the stairway.  I had originally thought about knocking out some of the stair wall to open it up a bit, but I think we're going to opt for more counter space instead.

Also the bar area.  On the right is the electrical closet.  The left is the entertainment area.

The five can lights in the bar area.  There will also be under cabinet lighting.

This column will be decorative like the ones we have upstairs.  That's still the bar area on the left.

Since I'm a nut for symmetry, I had a faux column framed out opposite the one next to the bar area.

These two pictures are of our monster bulk head.  Our main trunk line for our furnace runs right through the middle of the basement.  Now it will be nice and hidden by drywall.

This is our entertainment area.  The wall straight ahead is where my built-in entertainment center will be.  On the far right is the bar area and you can just make out the faux column.

These are the lights for the entertainment area.  8 of them.  One thing I love about our house is how bright it is and I want that to continue in the basement.  That is the entertainment wall at the bottom of the picture.

This is the area behind the entertainment area.  I'm not sure what we are going to do with this space yet; perhaps a pool table or something similar. 

This is the area under the stairway.  I was planning to leave it open, but have since decided to put a fancy door in and make that space Ryan's wine cellar.

 

At the back of the entertainment area is a nice wide hallway leading to our exercise room.  Here on the left is our utility closet.  A nice wide opening for some double doors.  Great for installing new water heaters and furnaces.



The hallway to the exercise room. 

Three can lights that will eventually light this hallway.



This was the only work left to do in the exercise room.  They enclosed the I beam and framed out the column.



Back to the stairway.  In the center of the picture is the doorway to the bathroom.  On the left is the doorway to the guest room.

A full view of the guest room entry.

Inside the guest room.  That is the closet on the right.

This is the shared wall with the bathroom.  On the top left is an electrical box and a cable box so we can mount a TV in here.

Three of the five lights in the guest room.  There will also be a ceiling fan in the center of the room.

The other two lights in the guest room.

So that's it.  We're still wiring and we have all the plumbing to do.  Then hopefully sometime around July (give or take) we'll be ready for drywall.







Moving Forward: Basement Work Beginning with Plates

April 3, 2009 is the last time Ryan and I did any work in our basement.  Once the girls and I figured out that we wouldn't be going back to Spain after Christmas (boo!) We decided it was time to get moving on this project again.  We need the space to expand!  So, from a recommendation from cousin Kyle, we hired Stern Construction to help us finish out the framing of our basement.  Let's face it...I love construction, but framing was just something I could not do by myself!  So, just over two years later, basement construction has begun again! 

This was the last section we completed ourselves.  We had also done the framing and wiring for the exercise room before this wall was constructed.

So, the new construction.  This post will be all the bottom plates that are made of treated lumber.

These are the plates for the guest room.  The opening at the bottom is the doorway, with the bathroom walls to the right.  The top right corner is a closet.

Also in the corner of the guest room is our main water shut off.  I asked the framers to build a bump out around it so I could put in an access panel if I ever need to get down there to shut off the water to the house.

This is a view standing in the guest room looking toward the bathroom and stairway.

Here is a view of the bathroom.  We had plumbing rough-ins put in when we had the house built.  The black square in the middle of the picture is the shower drain.  There will be a toilet then vanity to the right of that.

This is our electrical closet.  I asked them to build a 4x4 closet and it will just stay unfinished on the inside.  The sewer pipe will be in the closet as well.



This is our utility closet.  It will contain all of our major appliances like our furnace, water heater and water softener.  Our sump pump and sewage ejector pits are also in this closet.  It will probably stay unfinished on the inside.

They started framing once they got all the planning and plates done.  They decided to bump this wall out to accommodate the sewer pipe.  The wall on the left is where I plan to build my entertainment center.

I had drawn up our basement plans myself ages ago.  I also have plans drawn up for our built in entertainment center and our wet bar.  Stern Construction is awesome.  I definitely recommend Brent and his team!