Patches

When I graduated from high school one of our volunteer staff members that helped in the youth group made me a patchwork quilt. It was made of beautiful, bright colors and I absolutely LOVED her! I took her everywhere.



I took her to the hospital when I delivered Cola.



Dalen took his 1st nap with me under this blanket.



In the summer when I was pregnant and entirely too hot for her to lay on top of me, I laid on top of her...and waited and waited for Dalen to come.



We took her outside when we used to have our dogs and watched them run.

This blanket left the bed with me in the morning and came to the living room with me while I put on my make up, watched TV, talked with my husband. I think you get the point, we did everything with this blanket. When we moved she disappeared. We think she got left on the UHAUL but after calling and calling trying to track her down we gave up.

I constantly complained about not having her. I wondered who had her now at night, I always wished out loud she was still here. Little did I know Mario had contacted the same woman who made my old one and got her to make me a new one!



There she is! Isn't she pretty! I was literally moved to tears when I saw her! I am excited to make new memories with this quilt and hope to never lose her!

Q&A

Last night Mario decided to do a Question & Answer service where basically our students are allowed to ask him and selected staff members anything they want. If you are a youth pastor or a youth pastor's wife this is such an eye opener! If you want to know what your students are really struggling with and what their minds are really fighting against, do this! It will really give you direction in what you need to cover in small groups and give you sermon ideas.

This is the second time we have done one and we get some really serious and disturbing questions and then of course an occasional funny. I am sure you will get a kick out of the anonymous student who asked, "Does your wife smoke?" and "Do you and Pastor Megan fight a lot?" And then your heart is moved by the student who asked, "Why do people cut and how do they stop?" and "How do you treat your friends who are homosexual?" and "Are people involved in devil worship if they wear all black?"

Great questions, huh?! I wasn't on the panel this time just because we think it's important for our other staff members to have a voice as well. Any questions that came in about marriage and parenting I did help answer because Mario and I were the only two married and parents last night. One particular question came in that I answered and really have been thinking about since. The question was..."When I get married will I stop wanting to have sex with so many different people?"

There are always a lot of questions about sex. To be honest, I am glad they feel comfortable enough to ask us about such an "embarrassing" (not for me or my husband) topic. I am starting to realize how messed up some of the concepts are that the church teaches about sex and waiting.

God made us sexual beings with sexual desires and that is NORMAL but addictions to fornication, pornography, intercourse and like things is NOT. That is a STRONGHOLD. And I am sorry pastors but a chastity ring or true love waits t-shirt isn't going to stop these addictions. NEITHER WILL MARRIAGE. Marriage does not break strongholds, the blood of Jesus does. Therefore, "wait until your married", is not going to break the habitual sexual behaviors of our youth. Marriage does not need to occur, DELIVERANCE needs to occur.

So I answered the student, "No". It was a little disturbing to see that so many young people were surprised that I said no. That lets me know we have misled our young people into thinking that marriage fixes these addictions. It doesn't. We spent some time speaking about the difference between sexual temptations and sexual addictions but we also elaborated on the plans God has for marriage and how the enemy wants to destroy marriages because it's God's plan. You watch the expressions on their faces as your answers settle in and you feel an overwhelming weight of responsibility to answer correctly and of course our rule is, "If we don't know the answer, we will find out."

Put Your Guns Up!

Ladies and Fellas this is a post all about a challenege my husband and I took several years ago. I am not only encouraging you to take this challenge, I am using this post to testify about some things I believe wisdom and boundaries have spared us from.

When one talks about boundaries, many people rebel at the very mention of the word. We have redefined this term to be a reference of deprivation or restriction but when boundaries are established without corrpution they provide one thing; protection. Just for this post (or forever) let's redefine the word boundary.

Boundary-a strong border which encircles everything of importance in our lives to protect and preserve

Wow, I almost sounded like Webster for a moment and yes, I just totally redefined that word on my own...is that legal??

It is time for pastors and their husbands or wives to put their guns up and start to dominate the invading forces of the enemy. The very reason the enemy is at liberty to destroy our ministries through demolishing our marriages is because we have never told him where he can't go. Yes! We have the authority to do that! (Luke 10:19)

Do you want to preserve your ministry? Do you want to celebrate your 50th anniversary happily? You must establish boundaries! Several years ago, before Mario and I were even in a full time ministry position, Mario established some boundaries that we decided would never be compromised. I have done the same as well. These boundaries have kept us from the evil intent of man! Our marriage is going on 5 years strong because of the boundaries we have established.

It is not our job to establish boundaries for our comfort only but even for the esteem of others. The Bible says to flee the VERY APPEARANCE of evil. Get in God's word and read what evil looks like to Him. Protect your marriage, preserve your ministry! Any single peeps reading this establish these boundaries in advance and pray in faith your future spouse will be in agreement with them!

Keep in mind it is not enough to establish boundaries but you must maintain them as well! These boundaries should not be compromised in any situation. Here are a few of my boundaries I have established to protect my marriage and preserve our ministry.

1. I will NEVER ride in a car with someone of the opposite sex unless there are other individuals present.

2. My husband will always have access to my passwords for my social networking accounts, e-mail accounts and my code to check my voicemail.

3. I will never provide counsel to a member of the opposite sex unless my husband is present.

4. I will not text members of the opposite sex unless it is work/minisry related or my husband knows about it.

5. I will never room with members of our youth group on youth trips.

These are a few of the basics. As we progress in life more boundaries have to be added to accommodate the new responsibilities that come in addition to the blessings God entrusts us with.

There have been times where we have failed at maintaining these boundaries because it can place us in difficult situations but I would rather be uncomfortable for a moment than a lifetime living with regret and shame because I opened my front door to the enemy and allowed him to camp out in my living room.

How many of you will take this challenge to protect your marriage and preserve your ministry? What are some of the boundaries you established?

With a touch of sentiment...

Whew! What a week! The kids and me took off to visit Tennessee for my friend's wedding shower. We got to enjoy seeing our family as well. I've mentioned before my parents moved into a beautiful new house and before they moved they got went through sooo much stuff they had. My sisters and I always give my mom a hard time about how much "junk" she has and that she should throw more things away. This trip I really got to open my eyes and enjoy the touch of sentiment that is on so many things my kids enjoy at her house.






This table and benches used to be in my room. I got it when I was about 5 and my mom repainted it yellow to match her new breakfast room. She also had two cushions made that fit on it but they are removed when Dalen and Livi eat. When I was growing up it was always brown and I told my mom to sell it in a yard sale when they moved. I am so glad she didn't! Dalen and Livi eat there while all of the adult eat at the big table.



This was MY crib. Yep, you read right. I used to sleep in that crib. Don't worry when my mom reassembled it a few years ago she bought some new screws and parts but this is it! I must say I when I looked over and saw Cola sleeping sound in the same crib I used to snooze away in I was really moved. Does this mean I am getting old??



Dalen asked me to read this book to him and when he handed it to me I was literally taken back, taken back to like 4 years old! This book was MINE! I love that it still had the price tag on it which says it only cost $0.85!

So I have to give it to you mom the "junk" is now something a little more. It's peices of me and peices of you and now peices of my kids! Love it!

Dear Life

I am convinced SOMEONE sent my life a letter that must have read...

Dear Life,

Humor Megan for a day!

Sincerely,
Anonymous Sender

My life didn't write back it, just decided to let me live this day. It is only noon and I feel as thought its midnight. Mario had to go out of town today (which I usually don't tell b-c you never know what kind of freak is stalking your blog) but since he has blasted his Twitter and Facebook with updates about being in Georgia I guess it really doesn't matter.

Our day started at 6:45 a.m. to take him to the airport. I know most people get up WAAAAY earlier on a daily basis so I am NOT complaining. Dalen used potty, ate a piece of peanut butter bread and was ready to see planes. Cola....NOT so much. The princess who always has the royal smile was NOT smiling and woke up with a horribly stuffy nose. Darn teeth!

My husband then informs me we have a snake outside of our front door and it's "pretty long" but it's up high on the wall of our apartment so "it will be fine". Can I just assure you it would NOT have been "fine" or even slightly "ok" if he weren't traveling 9 hours away. I just kept telling myself it will slither away.

We made it through I-4 morning rush hour traffic, go through the toll b-c we don't have exact change and no one was working, pulled into the terminal, kissed hubby good bye and then had to search for a gas station that would give me change for a dollar so I could make it through the toll. I have no clue where I am , where I am going, Dalen is singing at the top of his lungs and I accidentally go through the E Pass line. Am I going to get a ticket?

I get back to our exit realize I left the laptop, run up to the door, ignore snake STILL on our wall, go to the bank by the church and then get a text that my babysitter is in the ER and can't help. As always my spirit and flesh begin to duke it out pretty intensely and I decide my spirit wins and I successfully maintain my peace. I'm not sure how tomorrow's service will go but I do KNOW God will make a way for me to get everything done with the kids in tow. I drive to the mall (which isn't even open except for the old people that walk) let Dalen play on the playground, make a call to maintenance and kindly ask if they remove snakes from walls and I got a "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (yes he really held it out that long), hmmmm, well, ugh...I've never heard of a snake on the wall of one of our units." Then I inform him it's on the outside not inside and he acted as though I only asked him cut the grass. Of course I return home and HE'S still there! Just hanging on the wall! The wall right behind me! Yeah, if I let that thought linger long enough I get that "my skin is crawling off my bones" feeling.

Surprisingly enough I have kept my calm and my peace. God is good! But just in case my life is reading I'd like to leave her a message...

Dear Life,

I'm humored. You can clock out now and resume with your daily doings.

Sincerely,
Humored Hood

The OCD Christian

I've been thinking about this post for sometime now. I must admit I never intended to be writing it at 4 a.m. but I can't sleep and the house is quiet-great for thinking.

We have all heard of OCD, Obssessive-Compulsive Disorder, and you may have even seen interventions through therapy on televsion dealing with this anxiety related disorder. The character of OCD manifests itself through repiticious behaviors due to the invasive thoughts of anxiety related fears. Individuals who struggle to ward off these nagging thoughts or compulsions typically result in acting out nervous behaviors in hopes of decreasing anxiety. These habitual acts become routine in the lives of the affected.

I have hoarded thoughts of this issue for some time now and find myself guilty of being an OCD Christian at times. Unfortunately, at 26, there are many areas of my spirituality I am just taking ownership of. I was raised in an amazing, Godly home and attended the same church for nearly two decades. My parents are brilliant individuals of excellence who were wonderful displays of Godly Christians. My parents showed me what it looked like to be a Christian yet I feel a lot of what the church should have taught me about knowing what the actions meant were neglected. I feel a major weakness in the church I attended was that I was never taught what to believe but rather told what I believed. There is a MAJOR difference.

When you are told what you believe you find youself in ritualistic living on a daily basis. Everything you do is frantically built around perfecting a list of dos and don'ts. When you take ownership of your own spirituality and search the heart of God through intentional relationship you discover a man you never knew existed because for so long legalistic leaders were busy sheilding his true character with their egostistical opinions and interpretations rather than his perfect truth.

I remember knowing many other classmates in high school who appeared to hate God and love sin, yet they obtained more Biblical knowledge than I probably could today. They knew the Bible, scripture references, foundations of faith while I justified my Christianity on the grounds of holy indulgances and proud self-restraints. Dos and don'ts are not enough.

I will no longer restrain from exploring the whole truth of God. We are all ultimately responsible for our own spirituality and until we take ownership of our faith we never amount to anything more than an OCD Christian.

My Many Shadows

I am so thankful that I got about 30 minutes to myself before everyone else woke up this morning. I am CERTAIN it will be the only time I have for just me because Dalen woke up, came in the kitchen, grabbed a juice and just as I turned to leave he announced, "Mommy, I am going to follow you...everywhere today." It was kind of cute at first but once I realized he was in the bathroom with me I established some much needed boundaries with his new shadow game.

Not long after Dalen woke up, C woke up and because she is following him everywhere I now have three followers; my shadow, D and C. Wow, what a leader I am!