Good question: What do you want your legacy to be?

This morning our Titus group had a rain call and we were meeting at the church gym instead of the park since the chance for rain was too great. We were running about 20 minutes late. Got a late start getting up since J didn't wake me like he has been. He was more subdued today in playing. At first he just sat quietly with some toys, then came by and wanted to sit on my lap for a while. Then he got a bit spunkier and tried to take over a couple riding toys. We had a lunch invitation but I really wanted to make it to bible study so I had to pass. I told the bible study group last week that after praying about it, I'm going to be leaving after the Ecclesiastes study and moving to the women's bible study that meets at the church in the fall. The majority of women are moms with young kids but in general there's just a greater variety of age ranges and experience. I love my group now, but everyone is in the grandmother stage of life. I will continue to visit them though. So I got J home in time to make him some lunch and then headed to the study once Dave came.

In our bible study today, we had a chance to share what we had been getting from it. One of the ladies shares that whenever she heard we need to "fear God" she wouldn't understand that. It didn't sound right until she learned through this study that it means to have a reverence for God. "Awed respect" says the dictionary. I believe this grows as we grow closer to him. Our leader Bettye shared something quick about a couple they are mentoring before they marry. The man asked them, "What would you like your legacy to be when you're gone?" Her thought is a quote from John Newton, the man who wrote Amazing Grace. He said, "I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great savior." This is really something good to think about. One of the things I took away from today is how God works in steps. We often want God to fix us or fix something right away, yet God works through step by step ministering to us, often in small ways. We'd miss out on so much of learning who God is if the situation was just fixed right away.

In my devotional time today, I continued in Luke 23; the journey to the cross. Right away my heart is struck. He was beaten so badly, tortured almost to the point of death, more than a human body is supposed to bear. Still, he shows his love, compassion and strength. Beth shares after physically being nailed to the cross and the process of asphyxiation beginning, he manages to talk saying (Luke 23:34) "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Later, Jesus again has the physical power to talk and says to the criminal who asks Jesus to remember him (Luke 23:43) "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." Can hear the love in that statement. Beth says that with every pound of the hammer God was nailing down our redemption, our salvation. Jesus' last words were (Luke 23:46) "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." He used his last breath to utter the trust upon which his entire life had rested.

J had an almost 3-hour nap this afternoon and was really slow about getting up. We were doing an informal dinner so I wasn't sure what to make him but when I opened the freezer he saw one of his Kid Cuisine's and asked for that. He kept saying "ravi-rolli", "ravi-rolli mommy". I didn't correct him even though it was breaded chicken. I just loved how he said it. Later, I was talking to L about stopping at the library and J says "I want to go to the liberry" over and over. Then he said, "It's closed. (Daddy said, "Closed?") J says, "No. It's open." It's so funny these little conversations we have now. So we stopped at the library where J does really great playing while L and I look around. As we got home J said that he was tired. Since it wasn't too far from his bedtime we started his routine early. He needs to be rested up since we have a big weekend going to Whispering Ridge in Oxford, WI. A little getaway rental home our friends from our old church invited us to for a personal retreat.