Christianity in a Secular Workplace - Part 6

I am reading a pretty heavy read right now, "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. If you've ever read any John Piper you know his books require a lot of time and dedication to reading and understanding. So I've been reading this book for ages but it's so good. This is one point I feel like needs to be shared, and so I'm taking the time to paraphrase some things in this chapter for you. I hope it resonates with you and helps you.

Please note, he makes a point to say that some are called for "spiritual vocations" such as missionaries but that those people could not do their work without people in "secular vocations" working to support them. He does not at all have a condescending attitude towards secular work.

P.S. After writing this blog I have broken it into six parts so it's not as much heavy reading. Please read each different blog post, as it shouldn't take very long now that it's broken up.

6. We make much of Christ in our secular work by treating the web of relationships it creates as a gift of God to be loved by sharing the Gospel and by practical deeds of help. Personal evangelism is so important that it is easy to think of it as the only important thing in life. But we have seen that the Bible puts a lot of emphasis on adorning the Gospel, not merely saying the Gospel. But the speaking of the good news of Christ is part of why God put you in your job. He has woven you into the fabric of others' lives so that you will tell them the Gospel. Without this, all our adorning behavior may lack the one thing that could make it life-giving. The Christian's calling includes making his or her mouth a fountain of life.

Secular work is not a waste when we make much of Christ from 8 to 5. God's will in this age is that his people be scattered like salt and light in all legitimate vocations. His aim is to be known, because knowing him is life and joy. He does not call us out of the world. He does not remove the need to work. He does not destroy society and culture. Through his scattered saints he spreads a passion for his supremacy in all things for the joy of all peoples. If you work like the world, you will waste your life, no matter how rich you get. But if your work creates a web of redemptive relationships and becomes an adornment for the Gospel of the glory of Christ, your satisfaction will last forever and God will be exalted in your joy.

I hope you enjoyed this "series". If you want to read the book, I would highly recommend it. If nothing else, I at least encourage you to read each small section I have blogged about. It might make you happier in your vocation. I know I have struggled at times with "homemaker" being a vocation but it most definitely is - and I am always looking for ways to glorify God in the things I do at home. No matter what kind of job you have, it is possible to glorify God in it. Any comments - feel free to leave them here. :)

Christianity in a Secular Workplace - Part 5

I am reading a pretty heavy read right now, "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. If you've ever read any John Piper you know his books require a lot of time and dedication to reading and understanding. So I've been reading this book for ages but it's so good. This is one point I feel like needs to be shared, and so I'm taking the time to paraphrase some things in this chapter for you. I hope it resonates with you and helps you.

Please note, he makes a point to say that some are called for "spiritual vocations" such as missionaries but that those people could not do their work without people in "secular vocations" working to support them. He does not at all have a condescending attitude towards secular work.

P.S. After writing this blog I have broken it into six parts so it's not as much heavy reading. Please read each different blog post, as it shouldn't take very long now that it's broken up. You can find Part 1 here. You can find Part 2 here. You can find Part 3 here. You can find Part 4 here.

5. We make much of Christ in our secular work by earning money with the desire to use our money to make others glad in God. Our secular work can become a great God-exalting blessing to the world if we aim to take the earnings we don't need for ourselves (and we need far less than we think) and meet the needs of others in the name of Jesus. It is true that everyone should work if he can, and that, in general, if you work you will have what you need. But this general rule is not absolute. Drought may strike your farm; thieves may steal what you've earned; disability may end your earning power. But God, in his mercy, wills that the work of the able-bodied supply the needs of the helpless, especially in hard times. You can steal to have. Or you can work to have. Or you can work to have to give. When the third option comes from joy in God's goodness, it makes him look great in the world.

Christianity in a Secular Workplace - Part 4

I am reading a pretty heavy read right now, "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. If you've ever read any John Piper you know his books require a lot of time and dedication to reading and understanding. So I've been reading this book for ages but it's so good. This is one point I feel like needs to be shared, and so I'm taking the time to paraphrase some things in this chapter for you. I hope it resonates with you and helps you.

Please note, he makes a point to say that some are called for "spiritual vocations" such as missionaries but that those people could not do their work without people in "secular vocations" working to support them. He does not at all have a condescending attitude towards secular work.

P.S. After writing this blog I have broken it into six parts so it's not as much heavy reading. Please read each different blog post, as it shouldn't take very long now that it's broken up. You can find Part 1 here. You can find Part 2 here. You can find Part 3 here.

4. We make much of Christ in our secular work by earning enough money to keep us from depending on others, while focusing on the helpfulness of our work rather than financial rewards. God intended from the beginning that satisfying work would provide for our needs. God worked in the beginning and the humans he created in his image would work. Before sin entered the world, that work would be without futility and frustration. When man and woman chose to be self-reliant and rejected God's fatherly guidance and provision, God subjected them to the very thing they chose: self-reliance. The curse under which we live today is not that we must work. The curse is that, in our work, we struggle with weariness and frustration and calamities and anxiety. But just as death will be a reality to the end of this age, so much we work in this fallen age against many obstacles that often make work hard. Not yet may we return to paradise and pick fruit in someone else's garden. Able-bodied people who choose to live in idleness and eat the fruit of another's sweat are in rebellion against God's design. If we can, we should earn our own living. We see throughout scripture that Jesus does not say it is wrong to earn your own living and eat your own bread, but he also says that we should not labor for food that perishes. Don't focus on mere material things in your work. Don't labor merely with a view to the perishable things you can buy with your earnings. Work with an eye not mainly to your money, but your usefulness. Labor to love people and honor God. Think of new ways that your work can bless people. Stop thinking mainly of profitability and think mainly of how helpful your product or service can become.

Finding Our Way Home Review

When I started reading "Finding Our Way Home" by Charlene Ann Baumbich, I felt that the story in the beginning was rather slow. I also didn't like the characters' personalities very much. There wasn't anyone in the story that I really related to. But the more I read in the story, the more I started to like the characters and wonder where the story was going.

I felt like the character of Sasha was not very realistic. She is a ballerina who has gotten a career-ending injury at the age of 38, but she acts like an 80-year old. This girl is just a few years older than I am, but she acted way older than her age. Although, I suppose her personality needs to be taken into account for that too. The other main character is a 19-year old named Evelyn, who is breezy and naive and brave and capable of doing anything! She seemed really overbearing in the beginning of the book, but by the end, I rather liked her.

The book is the story of the relationship between these two women. It was an easy read after the first few chapters, and I did enjoy it once I got into it.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

Christianity in a Secular Workplace - Part 3

I am reading a pretty heavy read right now, "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. If you've ever read any John Piper you know his books require a lot of time and dedication to reading and understanding. So I've been reading this book for ages but it's so good. This is one point I feel like needs to be shared, and so I'm taking the time to paraphrase some things in this chapter for you. I hope it resonates with you and helps you.

Please note, he makes a point to say that some are called for "spiritual vocations" such as missionaries but that those people could not do their work without people in "secular vocations" working to support them. He does not at all have a condescending attitude towards secular work.

P.S. After writing this blog I have broken it into six parts so it's not as much heavy reading. Please read each different blog post, as it shouldn't take very long now that it's broken up. You can find Part 1 here. You can find Part 2 here.

3. We make much of Christ in our secular work when it confirms and enhances the portrait of Christ's glory that people hear in the spoken Gospel. There is no point in overstating the case for the value of secular work. It is not the Gospel. By itself, it does not save anyone. In fact, with no spoken words about Jesus Christ, our secular work will not awaken wonder for the glory of Christ. That is why the New Testament modestly calls our work an adornment of the Gospel. In other words, our work is not a beautiful woman, but a necklace on her. The beautiful woman is the Gospel. So one crucial meaning of our secular work is that the way we do it will increase or decrease the attractiveness of the Gospel we profess before unbelievers. Of course, the great assumption is that they know we are Christians. Thinking that our work will glorify God when people do not know we are Christians is like admiring an effective ad on TV that never mentions the product. People may be impressed but won't know what to buy.

"And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing." 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12. Good, honest work is not the saving Gospel of God, but a crooked Christian car salesmen is a blemish on the Gospel and puts a roadblock in the way of seeing the beauty of Christ. And sloth may be a greater stumbling block than crime. The biblical mandate is Colossians 3:23 - "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;". So we make much of God in our secular work by having such high standards of excellence and such integrity and such manifest goodwill that we put no obstacles in the way of the Gospel but rather call attention to the all-satisfying beauty of Christ. When we adorn the Gospel with our work, we are not wasting our lives.

Christianity in a Secular Workplace - Part 2

I am reading a pretty heavy read right now, "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. If you've ever read any John Piper you know his books require a lot of time and dedication to reading and understanding. So I've been reading this book for ages but it's so good. This is one point I feel like needs to be shared, and so I'm taking the time to paraphrase some things in this chapter for you. I hope it resonates with you and helps you.

Please note, he makes a point to say that some are called for "spiritual vocations" such as missionaries but that those people could not do their work without people in "secular vocations" working to support them. He does not at all have a condescending attitude towards secular work.

P.S. After writing this blog I have broken it into six parts so it's not as much heavy reading. Please read each different blog post, as it shouldn't take very long now that it's broken up. You can find Part 1 here.

2. We make much of Christ in our secular work by the joyful, trusting, God-exalting design of our creativity and industry. It is helpful to ask how humans are different from beavers and spiders and ants. It helps get at the essence of how humans honor God with their work. These creatures are very hard workers and make very intricate and amazing things. So there must be more to our God-honoring work than such creativity and industry - unless we are willing to say that we glorify God with our work no differently than the animals. We should be busy understanding and shaping and designing and using God's creation in a way that calls attention to his worth and wakens worship.

So how do we differ from the beaver? A beaver subdues his surroundings and shapes a dam for a good purpose, a house. He seems to enjoy his work; and even the diligence and skill of the beaver reflects the glory of God's wisdom. So what is the difference between a human being and a beaver at work? They all work hard; they subdue their surroundings and shape them into amazing structures that serve good purposes. The difference is that humans are morally self-conscious and make choices about their work on the basis of motives that may or may not honor God.

No beaver consciously relies on God. No beaver ponders the divine pattern of order and beauty and makes a moral choice to pursue excellence because God is excellent. No beaver ever pondered the preciousness and purpose of God and decided for God's sake to make a dam for another beaver and not for himself. But humans have all these potentials, because we are created in God's image.

When you work like that - no matter your vocation - you can have a sweet sense of peace at the end of the day. It has not been wasted. God has not created us to be idle. Therefore, those who abandon creative productivity lose the joy of God-dependent, world-shaping, God-reflecting purposeful work. Idleness does not grow in the soil of fellowship with God.

Christianity in a Secular Workplace - Part 1

I am reading a pretty heavy read right now, "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. If you've ever read any John Piper you know his books require a lot of time and dedication to reading and understanding. So I've been reading this book for ages but it's so good. This is one point I feel like needs to be shared, and so I'm taking the time to paraphrase some things in this chapter for you. I hope it resonates with you and helps you.

Please note, he makes a point to say that some are called for "spiritual vocations" such as missionaries but that those people could not do their work without people in "secular vocations" working to support them. He does not at all have a condescending attitude towards secular work.

P.S. After writing this blog I have broken it into six parts so it's not as much heavy reading. Please read each different blog post, as it shouldn't take very long now that it's broken up.

The burning question for most Christians should be: How can my life count for the glory of God in my secular vocation?


1. We can make much of God in our secular job through the fellowship that we enjoy with him throughout the day in all our work.  We enjoy God's being there for us as we listen to his voice, and talk to him, and cast all our burdens on him, and experience his guidance and care. 1 Corinthians 7:24 says "Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God." When you are converted, stay in your job and enjoy God's presence. Christians don't just go to work. They go to work "with God." They don't just do a job. They do their job "with God."

One way to enjoy God's presence and fellowship is through thankful awareness that your ability to do any work at all is owing to his grace. All your skills that make you good at this particular job - all these things are God's gifts. To know this can fill you with a sense of continual thankfulness offered up to God in prayer. There are promises of God that you can take to work every day. Reading your Bible or knowing scripture is how God speaks to you through the day. He encourages you ("Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Isaiah 41:10), he reminds you that the challenges of the afternoon are not too hard for him to manage ("Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?" Jeremiah 32:27), he tells you not to be anxious, but to ask him for whatever you need ("Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Philippians 4:6), and he promises to guide you through the day ("I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye." Psalm 32:8).

Frugal Stuff

I think there are some people who read this blog, and not my other one(s), and some who read my other one(s) and not this one, so if you're one of those who is missing out on my other one(s), allow me to show you some of the cool stuff we've been up to around here.

• Making a "Freezer Cooking" series
• Making homemade furniture polish
• Making paper towel butterflies
• Cleaning my stove
• Removing armpit stains
• Spraying down produce
• Making 4-leaf clovers
• And more...
• And TP roll shamrocks!
• Budgeting...
• And most recently, learning about The Lorax!

 As you can see, we are having a blast over here! I would love to hear the fun things you are doing too!

Sugar High

Tonight we had the opportunity to go out for dinner in an actual restaurant that was not fast food! I was called for a last-minute mystery shop and we jumped at the chance because we were allowed to take the kids. We usually eat out only when Stephen's family from Georgia is in town. It's just too expensive and too much hassle with the kids, but if it's going to be free, well then, yes please!

But we forgot that UNC was playing in the Sweet Sixteen tonight. I know, how could we forget? But I haven't been paying attention because I'm not doing a bracket this year, so we had no clue. (I just realized that means it's not accurate to say we "forgot" UNC was playing... we just didn't know.)  So after waiting about 40 minutes for a table, Stephen was giving me his "I'm-not-sure-this-is-going-to-be-worth-it" look! Within just a couple of minutes of sitting down, Hunter was tired of eating his blue crayon and decided it was time to check out the restaurant. I took him to the brick oven, which happened to be under a television set surrounded by golfers. One of the men started a conversation with me, and when I explained to him about Hunter's active personality, he glanced over to a bucket on the bar and said, "Oh, well, can he have Oreos?" Yes! Anything to keep him quiet!  A few minutes after that I was posting a status update on Facebook, saying, "Stuffing kids with sweet tea and oreos to keep them calm at the restaurant. Will pay for it later I'm sure."

And here are two videos from later at home... about five minutes after we walked in the door from said restaurant. Don't turn your volume up too much, just a warning.

P.S. They are jumping up and waving, "Bye!" to their reflections in our mirror, just in case you're wondering.






So, okay, sweet tea and Oreos turned into something that really made me giggle. You can see Hunter having a sugar high and then a low (i.e. thumb sucking, haha!!)  This is too funny to me.

Another video

Sorry for everyone except grandparents, here is another video of Brianna. I'm trying to unload my phone.

This was one night as she was getting ready for bed. It is when I first got my camera which is why the entire video is sideways... oops! Fortunately this is no 5-minute video, it's only about 1 1/2 minutes long. She is singing a song, which she tends to do, and she just improvises as she's singing. Don't worry if you can't understand her - we couldn't either. I think she was just making sounds to keep singing half of the time.

She starts off by singing "You are my favorite daughter, you are my angel."
00:27 - "You caaaan, you caaaan, you caaaan, I'm dooooone, I'm dooooone"
01:26 - "You are picking me UP!"

The rest is lost in translation.

Brianna Reads To You

This video is long, I'm just warning you now. It's actually almost six minutes long, so I almost feel like I shouldn't even put it up, but this is such a great show of Brianna's personality. She is reading a book to me before bedtime and you can see how OCD she is about how things are done!! You should be able to understand most of what she says.

I love the way she says "baNAna" around 3:40. It's one of those words that kids always say wrong so we always made sure to correct her and now she exaggerates the word!

At 5:06 I dropped my phone and when I picked it back up I didn't realize it was upside-down. Sorry. :) I'm obviously an amateur!


 

Sham Rock N Roll 2012

Well, it's March, so that means 5Ks are back in swing. I am LOVING the weather we have been having lately, and as an added bonus God blessed me with an immunity to pollen so I never have the allergy problems that most people have.

I ran the Sham Rock 'N' Roll race again this year. Last year I ran it and it was my first time ever running a 5K. I did several more throughout the year, but sadly I have not run since the Reindeer Run in December. Yes, that is correct, I have become that person paying for a gym membership and not using it. I hope to change that, because I still have something like 5 months left on my contract.

Anyway, so three months of zero exercise between my last race and yesterday - I am feeling it today! My legs are so sore!

My goal was basically to run it in under 33 minutes since I didn't want to kill myself, and now I can set goals for the rest of the year based on that time. I ended up running it in 32:23. Out of all females I placed 92nd out of 225, and out of my age group I placed 11th out of 29. So it wasn't too awful, not my best time by far, but now I have a goal for next month, and the month after. Also, ever since last October, I've been having to use my inhaler after my races, so I really don't want to push myself too much to improve on time, I really just want to keep running for the exercise factor.

I know I have so much to catch up on with life stuff, and I plan on getting to all of it soon. So much has been happening here! I'll get around to it, I promise.

Life As We Know It

 These pictures are all kinds of out of order, but I'd rather get them up here out of order than spend an hour trying to organize. So stick with me!

 Oma with Kaleb

 Juju gave Brianna some "juju hearts" for Valentine's Day!! So funny!

 Since this picture was taken at my parents' house, I'm assuming she is either hearing a train or sirens!

 Coming back from their walk in the woods

 Bri loves to swing on this. When I was a little girl, my best friend Sally and I called this the train.

 

 Hunter the copycat on Grandma's prayer swing:

 Brianna on a sugar high after her Valentine's Day party at school:

 Trying to take a sweet picture of the kids to send to Oma:

Take #1: Good but blurry.

 Take #2: Hunter is already over it.

 Take #3: Hunter is still over it and Bri is getting to her breaking point.

 Take #4: Brianna is about to use force to get Hunter to take this darn picture.

 Take #5: Hunter is totally distracted and even Brianna has resigned herself to the slide. Photo shoot over.

 Came to bed one night to see someone in my spot already:

 Hunter jams with a hair brush while Daddy and Juju rock out at Guitar Hero:

Pictures with the kids are always blurry!

 All three grandkids and three of the four of Oma's children!

 So sweet!!

Photo Session with Kaleb

 Went to Lauren's for dinner the other night and I spent half the night rolling around on the floor with Kaleb. It was a dream come true! He was a great subject for the camera. :)  I know a lot of these pictures are poor quality - blame it on the photographer, not the sweet children in the pictures!

 "Whaddya mean I can't roll through the bookcase?"

 Bri gets in her workout for the day:

Thursdays

I think Thursdays are my favorite days of the week.

Mondays - from preschool to quick lunch to (hopefully) nap to Kindermusik to dinnertime to bed.

Tuesdays - We meet my parents on Tuesdays to eat lunch and they watch the kids while I run errands and get stuff around the house done. By the time I pick the kids up and get home it's dinnertime and then bedtime.

Wednesdays - from preschool to quick lunch to (hopefully) nap to church to dinnertime to bed.

Fridays - from preschool to lunch to nap to couple of hours of playtime to dinnertime to bed.

So you see, Thursdays we do... NOTHING. Ahhhh, 'tis glorious! On Thursdays we don't leave the house except on rare occasions (like maybe meeting our favorite Kirbys for lunch!) and I love it.

Today is a great example of a normal Thursday for us. Normally I'd pull something from the freezer for the kids (homemade waffles or burritos are a crowd favorite) but this morning I played my lazy card and made my all-time favorite pancakes from a mix - Tenda-Bake maple burst pancakes! Oh yowza, they are so good!

 Thursdays are all about US so what is more important than making sure we are beautiful right off the bat!?

 Okay, fingernails and toenails are painted. Next it's time to think of others. This piece of art will be going to someone very special in the near future!

 
Uh-oh, time to start dinner! I have an audit to do tonight so that means my dinner that was planned (cube steak) is out the window. Gonna throw something in the crockpot instead! That's good news for Brianna because that means she gets to help me make Brown Sugar Chicken!

 Of course, we do have to do those yucky chores. But it's FUN to do chores when you make your own furniture polish and then use it for the first time! Seriously, our furniture looks so good now.

Alright, Hunter is down for his nap! That means it's craft time for Mommy and Bri! Today's craft was Paper Towel Butterflies and we loved it!

She got a kick out of the butterflies fluttering around her room! :)

Just as Brianna is going down for her nap, Hunter wakes up, so we all read together and then I have to hustle Hunter outside. He tends to sit on the bottom step and mournfully cry out, "Brrrriiiii! Brrrriiii!" It's awful. So outside we go, where we tend to the garden and basically just run back and forth for an hour or so.

I did get to tend to my seedlings... I need to blog about this sometime in the future. Someone remind me.

We got back inside, and shortly after, Brianna woke up from her nap. Of course, she knew how beautiful it was outside, so she really wanted to go out too! We got dressed and ready to go back out!

Hunter got a new outfit from Oma! He may not look thrilled about it, but it's just my camera flash blinding him. No biggie.

A lot of our outdoor time is spent picking up pine cones for Daddy, who is coming home late again tonight. We're going to surprise him by having the whole yard picked up!

Wait Hunter! That's not a basketball net!

Stephen was home just in time for me to go do my audit, and then I was home just in time to help get the kids ready for bed. What a wonderful day. I can only pray that God will allow us enough time on this earth that we can have thousands more of these days. I know that sounds corny but it's the truth. :)