Life in the Spirit Leads to a Missional Home

Hopefully my title will hint to me—and any of the rest of you who read this crazy recording of events in the Whitmer household—that this entry isn't typical for this blog. Also, this is a long one. I do have to lay some of the blame squarely at the feet of Michael for insisting that I write this blog.

I've been praying for the salvation of my children since they were doing somersaults in amniotic fluid. I pray lots of other things for my children, but salvation was one of the first things I started praying. [I will include a couple resources on prayer at the end] Before this summer began, I was asking God for some goals for the summer, for him to direct our activities that would fill the long days of summer without school. During that time of prayer, I felt like I should pray specifically for Chase's salvation this year. So, I've been praying that.

Yesterday, I wanted to put everyone down for a nap, even though Chase doesn't really take naps anymore. We 'rest'; basically, that's so I can have 30 minutes of silence during the day! Anyway, I felt like the Holy Spirit told me to keep Chase up and chat with him about the Gospel. Now, I was tired. I wanted to nap! Nevertheless, I strongly felt the Holy Spirit saying, "Keep him up and talk with him."

So I did. We both settled into different books to read for a bit and then I asked him about his memory verse for VBS today. 1 Peter 3:18 "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." He recited it (the kid has an amazing memory!) and we talked about the different facets of the verse.
Who died? Jesus
For what? for our sins
For whom? all
Who's all? all people
What does righteous mean? being perfect to God
Who is righteous? Jesus
Who is unrighteous? Chase immediately said, "Me!" I had to bite my tongue to not say "amen!"
How many times did he die? just once
Why did he die? To bring us to God
Why does Jesus have to bring us to God? Because we have sinned and Jesus is the only one who is perfect. Chase remembered some verses he's memorized John 14:6 & Romans 3:23 He used their meanings in our chat!

Lest you have a Rockwellian vision of this discussion—the child is in his boxer briefs, squirming all over and I'm talking to his bum more that his face. He's got his books piled on a upside down laundry basket, kicking them off and then asking why they're are falling off. Yet, despite this body language, he listening and answering and engaged in the conversation!

So then I read him Romans 10:9-10 That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

We started talking about that verse. Basically we believe in our heart first and then say what we believe with our mouth. So I asked Chase if he'd like to do that. I would pray with you if you want to make Jesus Lord, the boss of your life. Do you want to do that?

I know you're all waiting with baited breath, but he said no. I told him that if you ever want to, Mommy & Daddy will pray with you anytime. And then once you do, you can be baptized. He got very excited about that and so then he had a lot of questions about baptism. I asked again, and he thought for a second and said, "No. Not yet." So then we went on with our day, reading and playing and stuff. And then went on to a very frustrating evening with Michael working late and a leadership meeting, but that's another story!

But here's the point. Jesus said in Acts 1:8 "You will receive power when the Spirit comes on you, to be my witness in Jerusalem..." My children are my closest 'Jerusalem'. My preaching to them is mostly with my life because I spend more time with them than anyone else. Yet, yesterday, I listened to the Spirit, and by His grace, obeyed, and I received power—not just in the form of energy, because remember, I wanted to nap—but in words to communicate the amazing truth of Justification & Salvation in Christ to a 5 year old boy whom God has given me the amazing privilege to care for. Our mission, the mission of the church, is to make disciples. I don't want to neglect a lost world for the sake of my children, but it is just as much of a shame to neglect my children for the sake of a lost world.

What now? I keep asking to be filled with the Spirit so that I will glorify Jesus in my life and I keep praying for God to open the eyes of my children's heart, that they will be connected to Jesus; then that they too, will be filled with the Spirit to connect people to Jesus.


Resources that I have found helpful and have influenced my thinking on prayer:
John Lanferman's Message on Prayer 27 July 08
Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian
The Most Important Place on Earth by Roger Wolgemuth

Long Day

Today was a long day with the kids. We just had a lot of testing.
Stuart, in particular, had a hard time. By then end of the day he just couldn't be still. This video is of him in time out (after pouring water on Michael). I could barely keep from laughing. So he went from shooting Spider Man webs to singing "Go home with Bonnie Jean".



Chase then wrote this note to Michael and slipped it underneath the door about an hour after bedtime.

"Dear Dad I Love You!
I HoPe You Have
A Nise [nice]
time
at wrok! [work]
Love
CHASE
P.S.
Write me a letter after you have reed [read] this one.

Summer Fun

Just some fun pictures from the last couple days

All Tied Up

Chase found Sabrina's hair ribbon on the floor of the living room and started trying to use it as a belt. I asked him to leave the ribbon alone, and I continued making supper.

A moment later, Chase asked me to untie him. He had tied the ribbon around a chair and to the drawstrings of his shorts. So, yes, he tied himself to the chair.

So in the name of logical consequences, he had to sit in time out for 6 minutes, tied to the chair! It was so hard not to laugh at him, tied to the chair with a hot pink hair ribbon.

Little Ears & Steel Traps

We have had a lot of work going on at our house the last few weeks. Roof, gutters, doors, railings, and the like.

The man doing the railing, Patrick, came last Friday to check it all out. He measured, did pre-work, and then said he would come back on Tuesday. Sabrina was in the yard with me when we said goodbye. I of course relayed this info to Michael and we discussed it a couple different times in our "scheduling committee meeting", the dinner table, etc.

When I went to get Sabrina from her nap on Monday afternoon, the first thing she said, "Mr. Patch coming today? He do the railings? We have breakfast first?"

How did she remember that? Also funny that she slept so hard she thought it was Tuesday morning!

So today she was very excited when "Mr. Patch" came and had to watch him at the window.


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Repetition Wins

I am constantly amazed at the human desire to simply be known. Just to have someone pay attention to you. My kids are no different. The problem is when you are together and awake 13 hours a day, I sometimes wish for a little less "pay attention to me". Nevertheless, I've found a little secret weapon in the daily patience battle. It's the age-old tool of reflective listening; however, I simplify that with the kids—I simply repeat what they say with an excited voice.

Chase with his friend Clay: "Mom, we both have super hero sunglasses!"
Me: "You have both have super hero sunglasses!"
Kids run & play.

Stu: "Mom, I'm doing this puzzle."
Me: "Stu, You are doing that puzzle."
Stuart does the puzzle.

Sabrina: "I'm cookin'. You stay here."
Me: "You are cooking. I'll stay here."
Sabrina goes off to cook, I stay in the kitchen making dinner.

This way, everyone is loved and I don't lose my sanity.

Overheard in the Backyard

8 July 08

Chase and Stuart playing in the backyard.

Chase: Let’s play baseball.
Stu: I’m not good at baseball.
Chase: that’s not true
Stu: You said I’m not good at baseball.
Chase: No, it’s just that I’m not very good at hitting it when you pitch.

11th hour plea bargaining

Our family life is finally getting back into a little bit of routine. Unfortunately that mean quite a bit of butting heads against the boundaries! Combine that with Stuart dropping his nap and it's all kinds of crazy...

Sabrina is really hitting the stage of testing the boundaries and if the consequence will really happen or not. Yesterday morning was a constant battle of "will I obey?" She was shouting no to me, whining just to whine, and being unkind to her brothers. We had to stop the van on Brentwood Blvd. for about 5 mins until she stopped screaming in the car.

By the time we got home, she could not practice any self control. I said, "Sabrina, if you don't follow Mommy's directions, you will go straight to nap without lunch." She decided to test that boundary by hitting Stuart (who actually didn't provoke her!) So I picked her up and said, "It's time for bed. You have to have your nap now because you hit Stuart." All the way to her room, "Yes, mama! Yes, mama! I don't say 'No, mama'. I habe a happy heart. I habe a happy heart!"
"Sabrina, it's too late now. You have to say 'Yes, Mama' when I give you the direction, not later."
"Yes, Mama! I don't say 'No, Mama'. Yes, Mama! I don't want to go to bed"
[So much funnier in her little, pleading toddler voice!]

When she woke up 3 hours later (!) She was much better. We sat down for lunch & snack and her behavior was much better the rest of the day.

At dinner, she kept telling Michael what happened. "Mama said, 'No, ma'am.' and I cried in my bed. But I habe happy heart now. I say, 'Yes, mama.' She said, 'No, ma'am.' I say,'Yes, mama.'"
She must have repeated the story 7 times! She was so cute, it was so hard not to laugh.
Hopefully, she started learning the lesson, not just the words!