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Showing posts from 2014

White Elephants

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I think I'll send this picture out as our Christmas photo card this year.  It's a white elephant I got at a white elephant gift exchange this last week.  I.love.it.  It was one of those gift exchanges where you can steal what someone else has (unless it's been stolen 2 times previously - in which case the gift is frozen and no longer available to steal. [Yes, sing "Let It Go" right now!]  NOTHING says Merry Christmas like a party where you get to steal a gift that you REALLY wanted that someone else has!) In this case, my friend ( Mark Swanburg ) who opened this literal white elephant was more than glad to let me have it.  I loved that someone ( Andy Frye ) brought it in the first place - plus - I really like elephants so it was a win for me!   Sometimes our anticipation of something being great turns out to be less than great.  I prayed four years for a live camel to be a part of our living nativity scene at the church.  When it finally happened

PUSH BACK

Is. 54:13 - All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace. I think that the picture of all the parents, grandparents and mentors standing in the front of the church today with kids of all ages to sing, "You Make Me Brave" and "Never Let Go", will stay in my heart for a very long time.  It opened up heaven over us in a way that will impact the eternity of someone. To hear those who have already walked farther down the journey sing, "Great is Thy Faithfulness" - with such strength - over the generations shook something in the Kingdom of darkness today. Of this I am sure. The thing that the enemy wants to steal the very most is our faith.  Young - old - he wants to steal our faith - kill our faith - destroy our faith.  Our joy?  Yep.  Our body?  Sure.  Our marriage?  Yes.  But most of all OUR FAITH. We must see his strategy and refuse to fall for it.  PUSH BACK. The scripture at the top of this blog is one of three

The joy of losing teeth.....

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Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding..... We've been losing teeth in the Webber family lately.  ( We're talking about the little Webbers right now! )  There's such joy in the baby teeth coming out - and the new, bigger, permanent teeth moving into their spaces. Change and loss doesn't always bring joy and excitement and tooth fairy feelings. But we can KNOW that His plans for us are for good and not for evil - to give us a future and a hope. Loss often makes way for what's new and more powerful .   So.... Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding...      We hand our baby teeth to the "tooth fairy" hoping to get SOMETHING tucked under our pillow in return.  The tooth fairy is a flea compared to the Magnificience of our God.  Hand God what's gripped in your hand.  There's something powerful coming.

Anybody need a haircut?

Life is like railroad tracks - challenging things running right along side of beautiful things.  I've been asking God to help me hear and see - really hear and really see in my heart - the blessing...the beautiful....more than hearing and seeing the negative ... the heartbreak ... the pain. Here's what came to mind - The last time I gave one of our sons a hair cut... I was using these big household scissors, and really watching that I was cutting straight along the back hairline.  What I wasn't watching was the tip of the scissors.  I cut his hair straight but caught the back of his ear with the tip of the scissors.  I remember blood, and the "I can't believe you'd do that to me" look in my son's eyes.  Oops. When Dennis started wearing his hair shorter I thought we could save some money if I learned to use the clippers and did it myself.  He is a very patient man - so encouraging.  He said it looked, "fine".  We tried this experience

He won't let go...

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What happens when you lose something that's important to you? A person. A dream. A thing. A relationship. An ability. A promise. You grieve.   Can I tell you something so great about God?  You will never lose Him.  He has a strong hold on you, so even if you are too weak to hold on to Him, He has a firm grip on you.  He won't let go.   My Father, You see my friend who is reading this note right now.  You love my friend who is reading this note at this very moment.  Will You please speak deeply into their heart - comfort, encouragement, destiny, restoration, healing, love and HOPE.  Thank you.                                                                            I love you a ton...                                                                                    Jeanette                                                                                                     And - just for fun - - - - -

YOU WILL NOT STEAL MY JOY

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We sang Audrey Assad's "Good to Me" song again this morning during our study time.  Here are the words... I put all my hope in the truth of Your promise And I steady my heart on the ground of Your goodness When I'm bowed down with sorrow I will lift up Your Name And the foxes in the vineyard will not steal my joy Because You are good to me, good to me You are good to me, good to me,  You are good to me I lift up my eyes to the hills where my help is found Your voice fills the night Raise my head up to hear the sound Though fires burn all around me I will praise You, my God And the foxes in the vineyard will not steal my joy (The Youtube of this song is on my last blog if you'd like to listen...) I sang this song obnoxiously loud this morning.    Not ballad-y and gentle like Audrey does -  - LOUD - YOU WILL NOT STEAL MY JOY - LOUD - ENEMY, YOU WILL NOT WIN THIS ROUND - LOUD.   Philippians 4 - "...I have  lea

Good To Me

Powerful spoken word on doubt by Joseph Solomon

Post by Joseph Solomon .

STAND FIRM

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped" (Psalm 28:7). Your son needs healing. "The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped" (Psalm 28:7). Your daughter in law needs healing. "The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped" (Psalm 28:7). Your son's heart needs healing. "The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped" (Psalm 28:7). Your friend's broken heart needs binding up in a huge way. "The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped" (Psalm 28:7). Your sister needs healing. "The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped" (Psalm 28:7). Your friend's one dog just died, and the other dog had a seizure yesterday.  (Only dog lovers will get this one, I know!) "The Lord is my strength and

No lawsuits, please...

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Disclaimer:  This is not intended as a restaurant review.  (I reviewed a VRBO home experience - giving it a 3 star rating - and was threatened with a lawsuit by the owner.  This is not a review, it's an observation..) DW and I went to Ashland for lunch yesterday.  Not a big deal to some, but a very big deal to me.  We don't get a lot of time alone together these days so a date day is crazy fun for me. We chose to eat at a place that has unique, fresh menu items.  We were given a "creekside table" - yay!  (The hostess even said, "creekside table" with a "you're so lucky" attitude!)  Doesn't that sound great? On the other side of my line of vision was quite a bit of activity.  Evidently, the storage/stock room was closer to me than the creek was!  Boy, was it busy.  There was a food delivery while we were there, and many items needed by the kitchen for preparation. It was time for a choice.  (I am growing to hate extremely dislik

No duct tape in sight...

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I love the Sundial Bridge in Redding, CA.  The design is unique and amazing - and it's useful!  Jack and I on the Sundial Bridge The deck of the bridge is glass.  The support cables have a beauty of their own.  It's stable.  It's beautiful...I would say it's magnificent.  (Yes, I really like this bridge.)  It's well thought out and purpose-filled. Jeremiah 1:5 tells us - " Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.  And before you were born I consecrated you..." The biggest achievement of this bridge is one that many people miss.  It's so easy to be entranced by the glass and the structure and the view that it's easy to miss it's bigger purpose.  One thing this bridge attracts is spiders.  It's even easy to be distracted by the shear volume of spiders that find housing on this bridge.  (Yuck.) THE BIGGER PURPOSE - to tell time.   Yes, the bridge is beautiful, but I've watched people walk along side the tim

PUSH.THE.PEDALS!

I had a great moment this week.  Went to work out - the gym was packed - lots of sweat in the air. The level of intimidation for me to go work out at a gym is pretty high.  The shaking that happens when I plank could start a small earthquake.  Trying to stretch - touch my fingers to my.....ankles - while someone is stretching next to me whilst doing the splits.  Ugh.  Reconfiguring weights from someone's 150 pounds to my 15 pounds.  INTIMIDATING.  But, dang it, I'm doing this. First, evidently one starts with CARDIO.  This is athlete talk for making your heart beat harder, faster for an extended period of time.  Sounds easy enough.  I've been doing the treadmill for, oh, six weeks now so I've got this cardio thing down.  Speed - incline - the whole thing. Time to add....the bike... I used one of those bikes a couple of days ago (when there were 3 people in the gym) and was successful, so I thought, I've got this - I'll do this even with a packed house.

Black Buggers (Boogers)

Yes, today I am going to be talking about buggers.  Really - someone has to!  Ha! Buggers began being a bigger part of my conversation after we started having children.  I'd look down and see a finger up a nose hole at very inconvenient times.  I'd have to answer, "what color is the stuff coming out of their nose" questions at the doctor's office.  Clear was good.  Yellow - not alarming.  Green - time to see a doc.  Red - something is lose that shouldn't be.  Brown - sign of lots of time outside…brown caused the most laughs around our house….yes, there was some comparing.  We have two sons! Yesterday, my nose hairs were stiff and my buggers were black.  The answer… Serve Grants Pass.  Dennis and I ended up with black spray paint duty - for over 3 hours.  Yes, I wore a mask indoors - but then we moved outdoors because of the fumes.  Outdoors.  90 degrees - with an occasional breeze.  Eventually the mask came off.  Black face, black arms, black hands, black

"Are you someone famous?"

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This weekend the best church family in the world ( Parkway ) did something for our family ( the Webbers ) that we will never forget.  They celebrated with us (our 20th anniversary of being lead pastors here at Parkway).  They enjoyed our family.  They enjoyed our friends that aren't usually in the building (either physically or by video) - people they didn't know but loved anyway because we love them.  Thank you for every thought, every prayer, every word, every well-kept secret plan and preparation.   Thank you for filling our adult sons with your love - and letting our little Webbers be little (they LOVED the streamers shot out of the cannon).  Thank you! Monday, four generations of Webbers did the jet boat trip down the Rogue River - a first with little Webbers.  We did the shorter trip and had a blast (although I was counting on great-grandpa getting a little wetter than he did…)! After the trip, there was a gentleman who seemed to always be where I was.  Final

A Piece of My Heart

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There will be very few words in this blog….because I still have very few words…. Where language is a barrier, you need to find some other way to communicate… ….our mutual love of Ann and her family…. ….enjoying someone's child…. …even having a mutual love of hats... …all open doors in our hearts… Where we spent most of our time, we heard VERY little english.  Ann translated when appropriate or needed.  It makes you pray that heaven shines out of your eyes, and Jesus smiles through your smile. I don't want that deep desire to go away.             "Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words." St. Francis of Assisi

Embracing obedience….

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First - time in DC with a group of crazy great students... Then - on to Turkey to honor a deeply loved brother…. and love those that he deeply loved... "I know who goes before me I know who stands behind The God of angel armies is always by my side The One who reigns forever He is a friend of mine The God of angel armies is always by my side" So grateful for all of you who are praying over this adventure that we are about to embrace.  I FEEL your prayers as we prepare.  We are grateful.  We cannot do this without your prayer - opening the heavens. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Just call me…..SHANIQUA!

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I love this picture! I tend to be like the girl in the front seat.   You can call me Shaniqua from now on.  Really, I'm laughing out loud right now because I soooooo get this girl. Second row - that's kind of like Dennis.  Smiling - laughing - talking through the biggest dip on the ride - maybe even trying to decide where we'll eat lunch when the ride is over. Back rows - "THIS IS THE BEST RIDE EVERRRRRRR!"  (That was Dennis in younger years.  His dream vacation for us was to hit the top 7 roller coaster rides in America.  Ya…..not happening!  Fortunately, sun and sand and scuba diving won over the dream roller coaster vacation!) Evidently life is a roller coaster.  The ups and downs and corkscrews - hoping to shake loose anything that is loose - all a part of the ride.    Today… and the last couple of days …. okay - the last couple of years ….. I have had a deep need and desire for peace.  I don't pray for the roller coaster to stop a

I Shall Not Want - Audrey Assad

I Shall Not Want Audrey Assad From the love of my own comfort From the fear of having nothing From a life of worldly passions Deliver me Oh God From the need to be understood From the need to be accepted From the fear of being lonely Deliver me Oh God Deliver me Oh God Chorus... I shall not want, I shall not want when I taste Your goodness I shall not want when I taste Your goodness I shall not want From the fear of serving others From the fear of death or trial From the fear of humility Deliver me Oh God Deliver me Oh God I love when someone paints a word picture of the very thing your heart is longing for.  I want to be led by His love....not driven by fear or need.  The difference in being led and being driven is huge. This is not a song I lead from the platform, it’s a song that sings over me as I lay - face down - in my living room.   Psalm 27:13 I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. http

White 57 year old Webber Woman really can't jump...

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You have to laugh, cry or swear…might as well laugh Cooking the ham in the plastic.  No, I haven't cooked ham very often - I'm a HoneyBaked Ham girl.  This was a Costco spiral cut - in foil - with no warming instructions.  I just put it in the oven and said, "that was easy".  Then came the unveiling moment….take the foil off….find that it's incased in plastic.  Kept the juices in - but……I didn't learn that on Iron Chef. Stress pushing hair right out of my chin - 1/2 inch in one day.  I had a day of visual clarity.  I've figured out that God MEANT that we lose the ability to see up close for a reason when we get older.  It would scare us if we could see the details of our face clearly!  But, for one insane moment I could SEE.  And I saw a - - - - hair - - - sticking out of my chin.  I'm sure it wasn't there the week before Christmas, so it had to be stress that pushed that hummer right out into the open.  I'm lucky one of the grandkids di