Food

03 Dec 2011 2 Comments

by Lori in China, Missions, Prayer

Thanksgiving

I made a funny on my Facebook page today. My comment was that I now live in a house where there are hardly any uneaten leftovers, even if I eat them to survive. However, it is true. How many times have I told my family that we waste so much food? Of course I add that there are starving people all over the world who would love to eat what we throw out. Now, those people live at our house and eat our food. It is wonderful! They have become a tad picky, but just a tad. Our oldest has been venturing out and trying some different things (survival I think).

I thought bringing two new members into our family would change the family dynamic so much that we would have to struggle for a while. Nope. These guys have brought us even closer together. We are more careful about the money we spend eating out. We eat at home a lot. We sit down as a family to eat more often than not. These times lead into family discussions, reading of scripture (like from our Advent Devotional provided by our church), etc.

Matthew 4:4 ESV But He answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”

Oh, if I lived this way. Our church has started an outreach called No One Home Alone. We do not want anyone home alone for Christmas or any other time. We want everyone to know the love of Christ. With Him, we are never alone.

If you are struggling and need someone to pray for you or need someone to talk to, please let me know.

Lori

Perfection

02 Jul 2011 Leave a comment

by Lori in Missions

After purchasing 2 buggy’s worth of groceries/items at Sam’s Club yesterday, a thought hit me. So many of us have empty pantries, because we desire perfection in our cooking habits. The media is pounding us with diet and exercise routines. We are afraid we are exposing our kids and families to way too much trans fat and sugar. Perfection is what we desire. So what do we do? Spend money eating out. Hamburger Helper and Shake ‘n Bake Chicken is more than what the typical third-world family eats in a week.  

The American Dream is a beautiful meal, on a beautiful table, with a beautiful spouse, with beautiful clean children, in an organized house, and smiles all around. It is about time and not about perfection. I am a recovering perfectionist. I know.  You would think a perfectionist would have the beautiful house, the perfect word, all her ducks in a row, etc. Nope. A perfectionist has a cluttered house, a stack of unread books, a pile of unwashed laundry. Why start if the end result is not perfection?

Why exercise if I can’t look like Angelina Jolie in one week?

Why clean house when tomorrow it will look like a pig pen?

Why spend time with my spouse, when all they want to do is watch the ballgame?

Why spend time with my kids, when I do not have all the “right” activities lined up?

Why pray, when it will not come out all beautiful and poetic?

Why read my bible, because the commands in there are so overwhelming?

One reason I go on mission trips is to be able to unplug from the American Dream. No one expects me to be perfect. My job is to love people. My team. The Honduran people. That is it. Not saying I necessarily do that well. I don’t. But that is OK. All the trappings of the world are removed for a week. We work hard. We get dirty. We stink. We eat what we are given. We love each other unconditionally.

I am borrowing this verse from one of our missionary’s Facebook post this morning (Mike):

Romans 10:14-15 ESV How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”