Devotions of a High Heeled Warrior

Ever have one of those days?  You know the ones, when you wake up and things seem to almost instantaneously spiral downhill?  I've written about them before, but I had one the other day worthy of sharing.  I woke up and found myself running late for work.  This would not be a problem if parking were not an issue.  However, I work on a school campus where a parking spot is premium.  In college, I had this weird quirk where I had to get a good parking spot, and once found, I wouldn't move my car the whole week.  I still have this problem.  Alas, my running late cost me my prime parking spot.  This left me parking on the dirt median between the parking lot and the road.  I pulled under the trees and climbed out of my car.  At the exact point that I walked under the trees, a bird or maybe an avenging squirrel decided to shake the trees.  I was unwillingly drenched in an impromptu shower of left-over rain and dew on the branches....

Today, my husband and I celebrated ten years of ministry as pastors at Calvary Temple in Cotter, Arkansas.  So much has changed over the last ten years!  When we arrived at this little, rural church, my oldest son was in third grade.  Megan and Aimee were entering kindergarten, and Andrew was starting preschool at the age of three.  This year, that third grader started his first year of college.  My daughters are beautiful young women, and my youngest is a teenager who is taller than me!  Many have asked me what the hardest part of ministry might be.  My answer would be balancing family and ministry.   When you step out into ministry, your children step out also.  They may not sign up for this, but it happens anyway.  You no longer sleep in on a Sunday morning because you have to be the first ones at the church to unlock the doors.  There have been mornings that we had to drag small children out of the house kicking and screaming ...

School is starting and anxiety is rising!!  When asked if you are ready for school, you get differing answers.  From kids, you get resounding no's.  From parents, it's a different story.  Are you are a parent that's ready to dress your child, spoon feed them if it's quicker, and personally place them on the bus for school?   I think part of the reasoning is that once your children start back to school, you see a decrease in your house- a decrease in the electric bill (lights stay off when no one's in the room), a decrease in the grocery bill (all-day grazing comes to an end), and a decrease in toilet paper (I don't think I have to explain that one).  But for students, the dread of going back is partly because of the unknown- new teachers, new classes, and sometimes new friends.  One of my daughters has a best friend who will be attending a different school this year.  She is anxious about having a friend to talk to during the school day.  ...

My husband and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary this week!  In today's throw-away society, that's a long time. Many have asked me how do you stay together that long, so let me tell you a little story about celebrating our anniversary this week.  Because I'm a teacher, I returned to work last week.  My husband decided to bring me lunch and eat with me.  So he walked in with Wendy's burgers, and we sat down with our knees in our chins (I teach little kids, thus little chairs).  As I ate the hamburger he brought, I picked the pickles off the burger (Yuck!).  He proudly placed a cupcake box in front of me.  He said, "I bought you your favorite cupcake- salted caramel!"  Now you may be thinking, that is so romantic.  What you don't know is that I HATE salted caramel.  Nestled next to the salted caramel was a beautiful and lovely Reeses' Peanut Butter cupcake.  That one was my favorite, and he bought it all for him! GRRRR....