"WHAT! you drink coffee during church?"

My pastor is going to love this one. I was sitting in the break room today, having a discussion about our move to the civic center. I am really not sure how we got into the discussion, but the a comment was made, " I suppose you eat donuts during church as well." I said, "We do have crystal light, coffee, and nutrigrain bars, and the occaisional muffins." The person replied, "WHAT! you drink coffee during church?" I replied, "yes, is that a problem? Is there a scripture in the bible that states Thou Shalt Not Drink Coffee while the Pastor Preaches?" They laughed and said no, but drinking coffee during church just isn't right. Once again, I began to search for the reasoning behind his statement and of course demanded scripture to back that up. My pastor has taught me well, demand scripture reference to any unreasonable answer someone may give. Surprisingly enough, no scripture was quoted.

Next question that came about, I suppose you drink alcohol at church as well. I said we are not Catholic, Alcohol is not permitted during church or fuel cells.

Next question that came about, What is a Fuel Cell? Bible Study groups at home, I replied.

It simply amazed me how many questions came about from the

concerns

that we drink coffee during church. Our concerns should be whether or not Johnny and Sally have food in their cabinets, does that co-worker know Christ, not whether or not we drink coffee during church. It's not like we are smoking Marijuana and handling snakes. Gee Whiz.... :)

The problem with todays society is that we spend more time on crap like whether or not it is OK to drink a cup of coffee while the pastor preaches, and not enough time asking what can we do to win more souls for Christ. I say, if we can drink coffee and win souls for Christ at once, all the more better.

To my amazing church family....

I want to thank all of you for your concerns about me. I know more than one person this past week has asked if I am doing OK. I want to thank you for your love and concern. I know I have not been myself lately, and my poor husband surely knows I have not been myself lately, and I want to apologize.
Life has changed so much for us in the last 4 months. My husband is now a pastor, and taking on the role of being a pastor's wife is far greater than I thought. I am by no means complaining, because I am truly blessed to have a husband that is following God's will and working diligently to MAN UP, and do what God is calling him to do. Along with the new found commitments of a new church, and if you have read my blogs, you will know that some personal family things have come about, I think I have been emotionally tired and physically drained. But we are fully committed to this ministry and what ever role that God is calling us to take on in this ministry.
What I want to thank you all mostly for, is realizing that I needed your thoughts and prayers, and you have lifted me up without anyone asking you to do so. It is simply amazing to be in a church full of people that show so much care and concern for one another. You will never know how much every one of you mean to me. Yes I know that I still have not learned all of your names, but that makes it all the more meaningful to me, because even though I may not "yet" have your names down, your care for me is still the same. I feel your prayers, and I have felt completely uplifted today.
I was so amazed and blessed by everyone that showed up Saturday Night and stayed until 12:30 or 1 am to help set up and then got up and came to church and stayed to take everything back down. That is so awesome and totally what it means to MAN UP. There are so many roles that need to be filled, and as we grow and new ministry area's start to form, we will need even more worker's. I pray for each of you as grow strong in the Lord, that you seek his will and that you will fulfill your role.
I was just talking to a friend on the phone, and God has revealed so much to her and her husband this weekend. They are so excited about what God is showing them, and what their role will be in Fuel Church. I love the fire that God is placing in this home, and everything that he is restoring within them. I shared with her a story that I read in the bible about how something that needed to be rebuilt, and they chose some Godly people who were not quite living their Godly ways to do the rebuilding. Isn't that awesome, that God still has plans for you even when you are completely screwed up. That he can still share those plans with you, cradle you in his arms and say, OK, it's time to start doing things right again. The bible is full of imperfect people that God used often. To my friends, I want to say that I am so excited to see how you both have grown and that you can hear God speaking to you audibly. Be patient, and know that God will show you the time those things will happen in your family.
The song that inspired my husband while we were hanging out and not living the way God wanted us to, is "Move Along" by All American Rejects. It's time to forget about the past, and just get up and move forward. We can't erase the past, but we can start building a better future. I don't know about you, but the devil can have my past, and I want to lay my future in God's hands. I stand amazed everyday to see what God is doing in Fuel Church.
Everyday you wake up, you get a chance to witness to someone, you get a chance to love your kids, you get a chance to do something for the cause of Christ, you get another chance to show your spouse how much you love them. The only past we need to focus on, is the fact that Christ died on the cross to erase our sin. Grace is good. Gods grace is the most amazing thing ever. Quit letting the Devil tell you that you are not worthy, quit letting the Devil tell you that God can't use you. He used Noah to save every living creature on the earth, knowing that Noah was going to screw up when it was all over. He called his disciples, knowing that they would not all be faithful and committed to him. Why would you think he cannot use you?
Something my husband has been reminding me of all week, is the fact that you do not feel worthy, probably confirms the fact that you are the man for the job. Because if we ever felt worthy of anything Christ has for us, we would make it about ourselves and not about the cause of Christ. Christ loves you as much as your parents love you or you love your kids. Actually his love is far greater than that. I know that if my kids mess up, I still encourage them to get back up and do better.
I love all of you at Fuel Church, I appreciate every e-mail, text, phone call, fixing our car, inviting us over for dinner, watching our kids, fixing our bikes, and for all of your prayers and overall love you show to our family.
Ryan and Christy, you might as well be a part of Fuel Church, you totally have put forth so many prayers for our church and listened to my husband on a weekly basis. You guys are awesome and I know you both will never know how much your friendship means to us.
To my husband, I thank you for putting up with me, even when I'm moody and completely wrong. You are my Boaz. You love me and respect me more than anyone ever has in my entire life. I am so proud of you, and your commitment to our family and to this church. You truly live a life that our kids can mimic. Also, to our kids who sometimes must stay up late and wake up early while we are taking care of church things, they are awesome. I love them very much and theexcitement they have for church and the people in the church.

Parenting

When does a parent finally get to feel like they don't have to be a parent anymore? The answer to that question is "never". But there comes a time in all parents lives that we must let our kids spread their wings and fly. My son is only 8 and my daughter is 6, and I have already experienced times when I have had to say, "you are going to have to deal with this on your own. If I do it for you it is only going to make the problem worse, and you will not learn how to fight your own battles." Is it hard having to say that to your kid, of course it is. One of the most difficult things about being a parent is watching your kid suffer. But when you can see them stand up for themselves and fight back, while momma and daddy are doing some serious praying at home, it is the most amazing feeling in the world.
I believe in teaching my kids how to live a christian life, in a world that is going to hell. Yeah, I could shelter them and keep them tied up in my house for 18 years, but I feel that I would have done a huge disservice to my kids. I can't suddenly shove them into a world at the age of 18 that they have never been in. Will they have tempations and things thrown up in their face, of course they will. But that is where my job as a parent comes in.
I have to teach them what is right and wrong. I have to live the right, and throw out the wrong in my own life. So if I feel it is important to go to church every Sunday and read my bible and pray, I must make sure that my children are following my life examples. My kids are not allowed to stay the night at someone's house on Saturday Night, unless they are going to church on Sunday morning. One of the 10 commandments is to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. We choose to honor the Sabbath on Sunday, and our kids will honor it with us. We can't let them think that anything else is OK.
We are the parents, we only have 18 years to teach our children how to live the rest of their lives. When they get married, they then belong to their spouse. I look at my son and realize that we have already gone through almost 9 of those 18 years. What have I done that teaches him to live for Christ? What things do I do that hinders him from living for Christ?
Are we faithful to Church, faithful to tithes, faithful to God, faithful to each other, faithful in reaching souls for Christ? Do you know the older your child gets, the harder it becomes to instill Christ in their lives. It kind of goes along with the saying, you can't teach an old dog new tricks. I'm not saying that a person cannot get saved once they have reached adulthood, but if they have never been taught the love of Christ and what it means to live a christian life, the road to coming to Christ is going to be much harder.
A few last things to add, parents you have to quit bailing your kids out at sometime or another. Sometimes it is going to take some hard life lessons to get your kid on the right track. Sometimes a child has to touch that hot stove, before they realize why you are telling them not to touch it. Does that mean you don't love your kids, of course not. I love my kids with all of my heart. If kids think there are no consequences to their actions, they will probably continue their actions. I am not a firm believer in time out. Do I spank my kids all of the time, of course not. But if I feel that a spanking is what it takes to make them realize they cannot act out, then that's what it takes.

Its 1 a.m.

Matt and I were lying in bed, resting after a very relaxing day at home. The day was simply amazing. We started out by sleeping in, then we hung out in the living room eating lunch and watching TV. Matt worked in the yard, and I did some deep house cleaning while the kids played. Around 4:30 it was time for dinner, we warmed up left overs, and watched a movie called "Four Brothers", it's an awesome movie. We retired to the patio, for strawberry shortcake, yum yum, and a few games of Go Fish with the kids, after they played in the water. We played cards under the patio lights until 9:30. It was just a good day. Easy going, we enjoyed just hanging out. We didn't spend any money, not even on gas. We just hung out together enjoying life. At one point in the day, the kids were playing on the computer. Zach and Abby were sitting in the computer chair together. Matt was telling Abby he was going to throw her in the shower with her clothes on, we kept razzing her and finally we picked her and put her in the shower with her clothes on. Not wanting Zach to feel left out, we drug him to the shower as well. I know it was silly, but it made us all laugh. It was great fun.
Then we all went to bed. We know we will have a long day tomorrow, so we went to bed rather early. We apparently missed the 5 phone calls that were made on our cell phones, but they were followed up with our door bell ringing at 1 am. My heart dropped and I was so scared to answer that door. So scared that someone had died or hurt terribly bad. At that point and time I was too scared to cry, too scared to answer the door, but the door bell kept ringing. It was my dad, he told Matt to get his shoes on, he needed him to go with him. He still had not told us why, and I wasn't sure I wanted to know. Fortunately it had nothing to do with someone dying or being in the hospital. But it's really not much better.
It is going to be a long night. I am going to ask that you pray for this situation. I know that I didn't tell you what it is, but God knows what it is. Pray for my parents, because I know they are dealing with a lot of emotions right now, and they really don't deserve any of this. I am sitting here crying, it's now 2 am. I have been on the phone with Matt and my mom, trying to keep each other updated on the situation. My heart is heavy, and I wish I had the words to say that would make this better. But the truth is, this person needs God in their life. I'm afraid that until then, that this won't be the last time we go through this.
Here's to 1 am phone calls, and ringing door bells. May God touch the lives of anyone else who is receiving those very same things. Inevitably, it's not happening because of something good. I pray for peace amongst the lives of everyone who is receiving phone calls and ringing door bells in the middle of the night. I pray that God will begin to break the sin in people's lives, that he will break them down spiritually, emotionally, financially, or whatever it takes to get them to turn their lives around. How low must a person go, before they feel like they hit rock bottom and finally look up to see that God loves them?
I hope all of you had a much more peaceful sleep. God bless you all.

What does it take?

What does it take to win the Stanley Cup? According to the coach of the Redwings, after winning the first 2 out of seven games in the Stanley Cup Finals, he says that playing the game sometimes seems a bit redundant. You get out their week after week with the exact same goal of winning the game. You never feel as though you are so good that you do not have to practice. When I ask what it does it take to win the Stanley Cup finals,
1. Practice, everyday you must practice.
(In our Christian life we call this prayer and reading. Everyday you must read and pray, no matter how redundant it seems. These are the tools in which Christ has given us, and unless we use them daily, we will fail. Our marriages will fail, our church will fail, and you have just given the devil the ability to inch his way into your life and take over. The less you have of God in your life, the easier it is for the devil to come and take over. If the Redwings didn't practice everyday, do you think they would have taken home the Stanley Cup? This is the number one team in NHL and they know they must never feel they have it right. Never get to the point where you feel you have everything completely figured out. If you are trying to figure it out without prayer and reading your bible, the answers you are getting are not coming from God.)
2. You must strive to win
(What are your goals in your christian life? Some of you, right now are thinking, are we suppose to have goals? You should have goals in your christian life. Maybe it is a goal of reaching someone at work, or the person next door. Write down your vision for your church, where do you see it going, how do you see yourself getting involved in your church. If your answer is that you do not see yourself getting involved in your church, then you are not doing the first thing. I promise you, if you are praying and truly seeking God's will in your life, you will know that you must become a servant to the people. God is not going to tell you to sit on your rear and do nothing. God is first, and he is always first. If work, sports, going to the lake, your family, paying bills, is coming before God, then don't be surprised when that ton of bricks falls on your head. If your kid spends more time playing sports than they do in church, don't be surprised what becomes of their life. What you put into a life is what comes out of it. It's kind of like eating, I can feed myself with nothing but crappy food such as pizza, chocolate cake, fried chicken, gravy. It tastes good while I'm consuming it, but it makes me fat and unhealthy. If I eat baked fish, vegetables, and fruit, not only have I fulfilled my hunger but I have also made my body feel better. I have more energy, no high blood pressure, no high cholesterol. Those other foods are great, but they are slowly killing you. Start filling your life up with God and not worldly stuff. That person you witnessed to at work is going to heaven with you, that brand new motorcycle you just bought and want to ride instead of going to church or reading your bible is staying here. The bible says that we should store up heavenly treasures, not earthly ones. Strive to store up heavenly treasure.That bible verse you read today, it stays with you. God will use them in your life, and will use them to touch the lives of others.)

3. Never Give Up
4 games into the Stanley Cup Finals, Redwings has won 3, Penguins 1. The Redwings only had to win one more game to take home the cup. Game 5, Penguins win in 3 overtimes. Talk about not quitting. They kept fighting until the end. We will be in heaven forever, we only have a few numbered days on this earth to reach people. Can you imagine being able to look into the window of hell. Oh, there is that kid next door, there is that lady that sat next to me in my office for 15 years, there is my kid brother, my aunt, my uncle, my cousin, there is my son or my daughter, there is that girl who needed money on the side of the road, there is that guy who works the cash register at the store, there is my spouse, my best friend, my teacher, my boss, that poor girl that got pregnant when she was 16 and I turned my head --I didn't talk about her but I didn't help her either. Who will you see? Ask yourself this question, pretend you are looking in the window of hell, how many people do you see that you had an opportunity to witness to and didn't. I pray that when you look in that window, you don't see yourself. Never give up. God wants to use you to save someone from going to hell. Quit thinking that it is not your responsibility and that Gods will is for you to do nothing. Living a good life does not save people. If your child was drowning, would you want someone to jump in and save them or simply walk on by and hope the next person will get them out before they drown.

I know I do not do enough for Christ, I know I am not reaching every soul that I can reach. I know that I am not helping every person in need that I can help. But my goal is to allow Christ to touch as many lives as possible through me. Your body is God's, and if you are not allowing him to use you, you are not in God's will. If you think that it is you that touches the lives of others, it's not. It is God that works through you. It's your choice to live for Christ, and to win souls for Christ. It's your choice as to whether or not you feed your soul with God's word and prayer. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to become spiritually mature? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to grow your church and win souls for Christ? Are you willing to help the children, make food for funerals, help people in need, set up chairs, sweep floors, do video's, take pictures? Are you willing to be a servant for Christ? You must first have a servant's heart, before God can use you to lead. Jesus was a servant, his disciples were servants, why do you think he would expect anything different from you?

What is true love?

Have you ever experienced true love? Yesterday I visited my Aunt, it has been five weeks now since she lost her true love. I can't imagine losing my soul mate, spending 42 years of my life with them, only to lose them. The words, "it's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all," comes to mind. As much as I know she hurts right now, if I were to ask her if she would do it all over again, she would most definitely say yes.
I have visited with her several times over the past five weeks. Her heart grieves so deeply, deeper than I can truly comprehend. She has had some really tough days, and I know she has more ahead of her. Saturday she received a phone call from someone who did not have knowledge of my Uncle's passing, she picked up the phone and was asked if Leon was there. I can imagine in her heart, for a brief second it probably felt so normal, picking up the phone and hearing someone ask to speak to Leon. But then, it all came crashing down on her as reality set in, she began to explain his death to the person on the other end of the phone. She spent the next few hours making phone calls, and trying to find someone to talk to. She just needed someone, anyone. Every number she dialed, it seemed no one was available, leaving her alone to think about everything she did not want to think about at that moment.
I went to visit her yesterday, we spent an hour talking to each other. She was able to spend the day with a friend and get out of the house. I was fixing to leave, and she told me to hold on a minute. I walked back to her bedroom with her, she had been going through some of his clothes and wanted me to take some of them to my dad. She had 2 shirts lying on the bed, and she picked them up and asked me to smell of them. She picked up one held it to her face and breathed in through her nose, she said this one still has the smell of his cologne. She picked up the next one and once again lifted it to her face before asking me to smell of the shirt. She said this one has been washed, but it still smells just like him. The shirts were lying on her bed because she sleeps with them at night. She wants to be able to smell him lying next to her while she sleeps.
As much as she hurts, she would never wish this hurt on him. She told me that if one of them had to go before the other, she was glad it happened the way it did. She said she would have never wished this kind of hurt on him, and feared that she did not feel it would have been something he could have handled. That is true love. Every second she grieves for him, she proves the love she has for him.
I know I have the same love in my life. My husband never misses a moment of showing his love to me and appreciating me. Sometimes I catch him just staring at me, and there is the most loving smile on his face. I know there is nothing he wouldn't do for me. He doesn't talk about how pretty women on TV are, he always lets me know how beautiful he thinks I am. He always makes me feel as though I am the only girl he wants to look at and be with. I don't feel like I have to measure up to all of the other beautiful women in the world. I love my husband with all my heart, and I know one day one of was will be grieving the same way that my Aunt grieves today. But our love is worth it all.

It's not an ordinary day

As our pastor said today, it's our choice to make this an ordinary day. It was not an ordinary day for my house. It's not even an ordinary week. Today I taught the kids that we all have choices to make. We must choose to brush our teeth everyday, if not our teeth become ugly, and they begin to hurt. We must choose to feed ourselves everyday, because if we don't our bodies become weak, and we will not survive. You may be wondering what choices my family made this week to make it an un-ordinary week for us.
First I want to say that I am so proud of my husband, because he is choosing to live a healthier lifestyle, he no longer must take blood pressure medications. We would think that little things like watching what we eat so we could be healthier would seem an easy task, but it's not. I know I have an addiction to food, i just love the taste of certain foods. My husband and I were talking, and we decided that we should not think of food as something we desire to have, yet it is fuel for our bodies. I know it has not been an easy choice for my husband to make on a daily basis, but he is starting to feel so much better.
Second, I want to say that as a parent this is one of the proudest days of my life. Matt and I have been talking to Zach and praying with Zach all week. the other night, I watched Matt as he taught Zach how to build a bird house. It became a lot more than a father and son working in the shop, that night his daddy taught him much more than how to build a bird house. That night his daddy also taught him how to accept Jesus into his life. The week went on and Matt and I continued to pray with him and teaching him that he was the only one who could make this decision in his life. Tonight I sat in the floor, with my baby boy sitting in my lap. Tears streaming down my face, I began to explain to him that I knew the day he was born that God had special plans for his life. Time and time again God has spoke to Matt and I through our son. As I began talking to him about the salvation of Jesus Christ, he began to cry. Wiping the tears from his eyes, and the tears still streaming down my face, he told me he was ready to accept Jesus into his heart. He wanted his Daddy to come and pray with him, and Matt lead him through accepting Christ into his heart.
My family will all be together in heaven some day. What a great peace and great joy for my family, knowing that we have all made that decision. It is not an ordinary day in the Duke house. Soon my daughter and son will be baptized together, and I will cherish this very un-ordinary day for the rest of my life. I am thankful for the love of Jesus Christ, my heart is so overwhelmed with joy right now that I can't even think of the right words to say. Other than I am very thankful for this most wonderful day.