Do as I do.....not as I say....

Psalm 19:14 (New Living Translation)

14 May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

"Actions speak louder than words." this popular phrase is one of the most honest phrases I have ever heard. When did that happen? When did words lose their importance? When did actions become loud? In a society where well choreographed press attended official apologies are analyzed word by word, I really wonder if anybody really believes words anymore. We hear lies all the time. We are surrounded by people who say one thing but do something completely different. We are manipulated by politicians, ministers, family members and friends. With all of these words that we are confronted with on a second by second basis, no wonder actions speak louder than words for most.

This scripture reminds us that our words mean something. I never really think about how pleasing (or let's just be honest, displeasing) my words can be. When our pleasing words mirror our pleasing actions we might just experience a glimpse of what "Christlikeness” looks and feels like. I want to live a life where my words speak just as loud as my actions. This scripture helps me to focus on the power of words and the intentions behind my words.

This is my prayer today.

Finding strength

Joshua 1:9 (New Living Translation)

9 This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

I can't believe I am about to admit this, but I am heavy lifting impaired. For many of you who know me, I know that this completely shocks you. The truth is I always think I am stronger in my head than I really am. I think I can move a huge piece of furnature by myself and then I go to move it and it won't even budge. Pair this infomation with the next secret I try to keep (I hate asking for help) and you can see the predicament I am in.

I am the same way in my relationship with Christ. I think I am stronger in my head than I actually am. When push comes to shove I think I can do everything on my own. When I am faced with a conflict or major problem I automatically think I can solve it on my own. This scripture reminds us that we are never alone. It tells us to be strong and courageous in the Lord. The scripture does not say be strong and courageous in Amanda. Instead of offering advice to friends I am going to offer them this scripture. I want to be strong in the Lord not stay week within myself. This is my prayer for today.

Day 2: pews full of sheep

John 10:14-18 (New Living Translation)

14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, 15 just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.

17 “The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. 18 No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”


Most youth ministers would agree with me that there are some moments in youth ministry that you want to freeze in your memory. Last night was one of those moments. I had the honor of sitting with the youth last night at the Ash Wednesday service. As I sat there waiting for the service to start, I looked around at all the youth surrounding me and instantly I thought about their journey to the service that night. Some had walked to our church right after school got out, some were dropped off early to help serve our Wonderful Wednesday meal, most had come specifically for the Ash Wednesday service. One girl sent me a text message that was full of panic saying that she had a ton of homework and she was trying to finish it all so she could make it to the service. Not only did she make it to the service... but she brought her younger brother too.

It was overwhelming to be surrounded by all of these youth who weren't even members of the church. Most of these youth have life stories that would either bring you to tears or inspire you to be a better person. All of us had been on a journey leading up to the service last night. Our Christian Journey is made up of many choices. The pews filled last night who chose to come to the service. with people last night were full of choices. This scripture reminds us that we are all sheep in search of a shepherd. There is one flock with one shepherd.

Many times we follow our calendars, friends, and teams rather than our Shepherd. Many times laziness, guilt, and selfishness stand in between the sheep and the shepherd. Last Wednesday the youth and I talked about words like guilt, shame, broken relationships, bad choices, drugs, food, sex... all of which stand in the way of having a true relationship with our Shepherd. Then words were written by the youth. Words that are only known by the youth and the Shepherd. Those slips of paper were burned. No longer could we hold onto those words. Those choices that we made were no longer ours. They were in the form of ashes. Ashes that symbolized forgiveness. We had put to death those choices so that new life could come.

Last night those ashes were combined with the ashes created by our Palm Sunday palms. One by one those words formed a cross on the foreheads of the congregation as a symbol of the everlasting life and forgiveness given to us by our Shepherd. Choir members, ministers, committee chairs, children, and youth alike all had the ultimate symbol of love placed on their foreheads. All of us took a step on our journey together.

At the end I thought about the magnitude of this service. There was a sense of celebration coming from the youth. A sense of excitement as they asked if their ashes would last until baseball practice tomorrow. Excitement as they immediately took pictures and posted them on facebook. These crosses were symbols of hope, symbols of freedom, and symbols of the unconditional love that was sacrificed voluntarily for our sins.

I praise God that I can learn from the youth. I praise God that my excitement for Him is magnified by the excitement the youth have for their Creator. I praise God for moments in our journey that we can just freeze and remember always.

And so it begins....

Genesis 2:7 (New Living Translation)

7 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

Genesis 3:19 (New Living Translation)


 19 by the sweat of your brow
 will you have food to eat
 until you return to the ground
 from which you were made. 
 for you were made from dust, 
 and to dust you will return.”

I am GREAT at starting things… I have many projects lying around my house that I have started. My bookshelf is filled with wonderful captivating books that I started to read and then never finished. I have several snack bags that I started to eat but never finished.

Just this morning I started emptying the dishwasher… but then it came time to empty the silverware container (my least favorite dishwasher emptying tasks) and I decided it could wait until I get home from work tonight.

Starting new, starting fresh, starting anything is fun and exciting. For example, there is nothing line a brand new start to a tube of toothpaste. The first squirt is always the best one. But come the middle of the tube I forget about the first toothpaste squirt of the tube and I have to wait that tube out before starting a new one.

Today as many of you know is the starting line of Lent. I have struggled for a couple of days trying to figure out what I am going to add or take away for Lent. Today is the start of me adding on intentional scripture focus in my daily walk. I have decided to blog about it so that I am held somewhat accountable. J

For the past week I have really been thinking about life. Life is a precious and fragile thing. We are reminded of this every time we turn on the news, read the newspaper, or even log onto Facebook. Just this week I heard from a friend who almost lost a family member unexpectedly. Through countless prayers and medical attention she will be okay… but you can't help but think about how precious life is at a time like this.

These scriptures remind us that we are merely dust. We were formed from dust and God breathed life and His image into us. That was our start. We started from dust. We started with one breath. We are one breath away from life or death.

Our journey is not just about our start… it is about what we do with the breath that has been given to us each day.

Lent is not just about our start… it is about what we do with this time that we have been given.

Lent is a time of reflection. It's a time of renewal. It is intentionally slowing down enough to breath and thank God for the breath you have been given.

Tonight as I worship and have ashes placed on my head I want to be reminded of life that comes from death. I want to be reminded that I can start on this journey again tomorrow with the same excitement that I had today.

Please join me in thinking about life…. And the everlasting life we receive by the one who taught us how to truly live until the last breath.

Remember this day.

Several months ago I was eating at a Chinese food restaurant and when reading my fortune located in my cookie it said...... Remember the date 3 months from today. While I don't believe in horoscopes and fortunes, I decided to place "remember the date" on September 24th in my phone calendar and office calendar just to see if anything special happens on that day.

Every time I would look at September 24th I would think to myself... "I wonder why I need to remember that date.... maybe something big will happen".

Then September 24th arrived. I remember waking up last week and thinking "today will be different". I put on a "remember the date" outfit... and headed out to work. I treated this day differently I was open to new opportunities. I treated life differently because I was open and looking for something special.

A side note: my parents were in town for some doctors appointments for my dad who was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in April of 2008. As many of you who may have had your lives affected with cancer, you know that for several years after being in remission you have to have tests periodically done to make sure the cancer is not back. September 24th was one of those days for my dad. He had been cancer free since January 2009 but you always hold your breath when you get the results of those tests praying that his very progressive cancer does not come back.

On September 24th he was told that the cancer had not come back and that so far everything looked good.

This was great news! News we had been praying for.

-Was this the BIG news?

-Is this why I needed to remember the 24th of September?

Although it was great news I didn't feel any different. Nothing really changed inside of me. Was this it? I experienced a momentary let down even though we received this great news. I was anticipating something different.

What if all of that anticipation and excitement was the special thing? What if I needed to remember September 24th as just a day that God had set aside for me to remember that every day has the potential to be a special day.

"This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it" Psalm 118:24

THIS is the day the Lord has made, the Lord has set today, yesterday, and tomorrow apart as a special day. There is not a day that goes by with out it being special. I really believe that there is no such thing as a wasted day.

God sets each day apart for us to do something special with it.

Too many times I don't look for anything memorable in a day. I go from one day to another without a second thought.

Maybe I was supposed to "remember" September 24th just like I am supposed to "remember" September 23rd and September 25th.

We are given the opportunity to make ordinary days, extraordinary with our attitudes.

By the end of the night I tucked myself in with this thought:

September 24th will always be a date to remember because it was the day that God showed me that each day is different and special. Prayers had been answered. Diseases had been cured. Hearts were opened. Second chances were given. I need to celebrate the small things in life. Days are given to us to find blessings and bless others.

Remember this day as a day that the Lord has made. We are called to rejoice and be glad in it!

I will always remember September 24th because it reminded me to remember EVERY DAY... and to seek out small blessings.

Shampoo Glutton

I am a glutton.

I have come to terms that I am a glutton.

After reading an article in Relevant Magazine called Gluttony Its Not Just About Eating Too Much....I have come to terms with the fact that I am a glutton.

Jeff Cook explains Gluttony so well in his article when he says "Gluttony is not about obesity; gluttony is about what we unite ourselves to. Gluttons wed themselves to meals over and above what is good for them and by devouring more and more, they have less and less."

It is so much more than food. Its about being excessive.

A perfect example of this can be found in my shower.

As a single lady living by myself I have roughly 4 different bottles of shampoo in my shower right now. That doesn't count the other 3 or 4 I have in my bathroom closet.

I am a shampoo glutton.

I unite myself to things that are temporary and that gives me temporary satisfaction.

I can't be the only one either. Many of us probably find security in abundance. If we have a good job with good benefits and pay... then we have job security. If we have money in our savings accounts and secure investments then we have financial security. If we have a spouse then we have security that we will never be alone. If our pantries, refrigerators, and freezers are full of food then we have security in knowing where our next meal comes from. If we have 4 different kinds of shampoo... then we have security in the fact that our hair will never be dirty.

Although those are important things, nothing is more important than the security that we have in our relationship with Christ. We can have all of the money in the world, full pantries, a huge selection of shampoo and secure homes but all of those things could all fade away. I have been challenged to change my focus from my selfish satisfactions to being completely satisfied and secure in my relationship with Christ.

Plus the more I have the less others will have. We have limited resources in this world and we are called to share. This article has really made me look at what I have and what I give. I need to take invetory and be purposeful with what I fill myself up with.

I would love for you to check out this article! But be ready for it to convict you!!!

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/magazine/current-issue

A loaf of bread and dishes in the sink.

I have an observation to make.

Please bear with me as I make this observation and then go on for several paragraphs about this observation... apparently it has become a pet peeve of mine.

I have observed that we are living in the "it wasn't me" society. I am finding more and more that it is hard for people to take responsibility for their actions or finding their responsibility in any situation that might come up.

This is far beyond a teenager walking past a cookie on the floor because that cookie wasn't theirs therefore why should they pick it up...

This is far beyond a child saying "well they started it" when they are in a fight with a sibling....

On two separate occasions I witnessed ADULTS paralyzed with confusion or denial about two separate incidences.

1. Dishes: Let me set the scene for you... I had just spend the night with the youth at the church during a lock in after a busy Saturday retreat. I slept probably two hours total that night if you added all the time together that my eyes were actually closed. Needless to say I was a bit sleepy. I had the bright idea months earlier to have the youth sleep over at the church on Saturday night so we could all go to worship on Sunday morning together. Sunday morning came and I was so so tired. Right before worship started I had an adult come up to me paralyzed with the fact that there were dirty dishes in the sink. Seriously the words were uttered "There are dirty dishes in the sink and I don't know what to do with them". Assumptions were made that the youth must have dirtied up these dishes and therefore it was my responsibility to clean them. I was faced with a choice... do I utter the phrase "they weren't mine" or do I set a good example and just wash the dishes. I did neither... instead in an angry rage I stomped into the kitchen and cleaned the mysterious dishes that were in the sink.

2. Bread: A week after the mysterious dishes I was faced with the same predicament of this social it wasn't me phenomenon. There I was in a grocery store on a Sunday afternoon (if you are looking for a definition of hell it might include a grocery store on a Sunday afternoon). After getting a few much needed items, I headed down the bread isle to get some bread. The isle was packed and between the noise of screaming children, a woman on a cell phone, and the Backstreet Boys playing over the stores loud system, I heard a noise that was familiar to many bread isles. The noise of a fallen loaf. There in the middle of the isle about ten feet in front of me, was a loaf of store brand wheat bread. I stood in a moment of silence and glanced at the loaf and then stood in observation as I watched everybody else in the isle roll their carts past the bread trying not to make any sort of eye contact with the fallen loaf. Are we too good to pick up the loaf of bread? I didn't do any fingerprint testing on the loaf and all of the busy shoppers in isle 7, and I didn't have a chance to look over the stores security cameras to determine who actually made contact with the loaf... but who is responsibility is it to tend to the fallen loaf? I took matters into my own hands and placed the loaf back on the shelf next to its shelf-mates.

This lack of attention and the development of the "it wasn't me" attitude intrigues me.... as well as how we react and respond during those times.

Why is taking responsibility for things so hard to do?

Two scriptures come to my mind when it comes to responsibility:

Genesis 3:8-13 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" 
 The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

• Both Adam and Eve had some sort of responsibility in this situation and yet they blamed one another and the serpent instead of taking responsibility for their actions. This really made me think about ways that I don’t take responsibility for my actions. It is so easy to pass the buck these days and blame things on busyness and stress than to actually take responsibility for my part of situations. The funny thing that this scripture points out is that even though God knows what we do…. we still lie about what we say and do. It is easier to tell partial truth to even ourselves than to tell the whole truth to the person who is the biggest example of truth.. our Creator.

Luke 10:30-37 In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.

• What would you have done if you passed this man on the street? (honestly). Do you think that the Levite and the Priest thought “I didn’t do it” “it wasn’t me” or “If I ignore this it will go away”? I have a hard time really thinking about what I would do in this situation. On one hand I would like to say that I would help... but it is hard to really know what I would do. What do you think the Levite and Priest were thinking? I tend to believe that there are more Levites and Priests in this world than Good Samaritans.

The difference between Adam and Eve and their actions and the actions of the Levite and Priest is that Adam and Eve had responsibility in their situation. They made a decision that was wrong and then suffered a consequence because of it. The Levite and Priest although they were not responsible for beating up this man… they decided to step over this man and walk the other way…. And therefore still made actions that were wrong. Although the robber was ultimately responsible for beating up this man… the Levite and Priest were just as responsible because they did nothing about it.

What is an example of things done in the world we live in today that is just like what happened in the Good Samaritan scripture? Who do we walk over and ignore instead of help? It can really be as simple as doing dishes or picking up a loaf of bread and as complex as finding a good home for an abandoned pet or standing up for something you believe in.

I have determined that although the world may be suffering from "it wasn't me" I don't have to suffer with it. I can step out of observation mode and take my pointed finger and put it to good use. I am now actively looking for dishes and loaves of bread to tend to. We are called to be Christ-like with our actions and our words.

Take time to listen to how many times you say "that isn't mine" or "it wasn't me" or "they started it" or "its their problem". I have to warn you this is a big eye opening experience. We all have responsibility over our reactions to each and every circumstance that we are in.

The way we react and respond to situations in our world is a direct reflection on how we react and respond to Christ's love in our lives.

My prayer is that we all learn to take responsibility for our actions and reactions and stop stepping over the blessings and opportunities that may be disguised in our path.