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If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. John 1:9-10

One of my boys (and I'll never tell which one, so don't even ask) often gets into these confessional moods. He slips into the laundry room while I'm folding clothes, or he comes and stands quietly over my arm while I'm at the computer. He gently places his hand on me, then he starts:

"Mom, I have something I need to tell you." …  ( Click for more )

He will always give you all you need from day to day if you will make the Kingdom of God your primary concern." Luke 12:31, The Living Bible

I couldn't believe I had fallen for it yet again!!!

Several years ago, I spent a week at an environmental education program with my oldest son Max. In other words, we went to camp. Thin mattress, long hikes, bugs, tall trees- the usual. We had a great time. Any week where someone else cooks and washes the dishes is a great week.

One of the best days was the day we did the high challenge course- where you get to do all those…  ( Click for more )

"On through the hours the quiet words ring, Like a low inspiration: "Do the next thing!" Old Saxon legend--

The New Year was rapidly approaching (several years ago), so I thought "hey, let's look at my goals for the year, and see how I did." Melissa's Plan for Life was the over-zealous, geek-ish name I had given the file saved conveniently on the desktop of my computer. I opened it, and began the excruciating scan down the page. Ugh. I had accomplished so little of what…  ( Click for more )

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. John 1:14 NIV

On Wednesday this week, Scott picked me up from school, and we went on one of our mini-dates to Starbucks. Three dollars for a cup of coffee is pretty expensive, but when that's all you're paying for a date, it sounds pretty cheap.

We were just in time to get front row parking. As Scott carefully maneuvered our big, green Suburban into the tiny parking space, a dark-headed woman wearing no makeup came out of the store and snaked her way past our car. She looked vaguely familiar, but it took both of us 30…  ( Click for more )

Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds. William Shakespeare "God's strategy in a nutshell: He builds into you and me the beauty of his own character and then puts us on display." Joseph Aldrich

Several years ago, the little Mathews brothers and I went to "Holiday Craft Night" at Natomas Park Elementary school. It was crowded, unfamiliar, but fun. The favorite table, of course, was decorating Christmas cookies. Jack had to wash his hands two times before he finished one cookie. The table that I steered my boys away from was the potato-stamping-too-messy-paint…  ( Click for more )

"Aunt Lisee, can I have a gwape?" It was the fifteenth time sweet William, my 3-year-old nephew, had asked the question.

"Pweessseee, can I have a gwape?!"

And fifteen times I had explained that the grapes weren't real. The red beans and rice we were having for dinner weren't quite done yet, and Will had been eyeing the fake grapes that sit in a wooden bowl on my kitchen counter. He thought they were just what he needed to fill the ache in his stomach.

"Aunt Lisee, Aunt Lisee, caaaan I pwese have a gwaaape?" Since I hadn't been able to…  ( Click for more )

If you don’t have family that lives in Southern California, I send you my deepest sympathies because there is nothing more relaxing than a day of vacation at the beach when you have free housing (thank you, Uncle Don). And it’s even more relaxing when one’s children are old enough to occupy themselves independent of adult interaction.

Last week on our vacation in So Cal (as the locals call it), I was relaxing on the beach with a book, and my children were engaged in building sand “things.” Two days previous, they had built a sand couch (because…  ( Click for more )

Last weekend the Mathews family was lying around on the couch having an impromptu family-meeting-bible-reading-prayer-time. These summits don’t happen nearly as often as they ought since our schedule is just as crammed as yours. We were all six slouched and comfortable on the couch—a big tan sectional that has room to fit feet and all of the first three people who sit down, plus the hind ends of the three unfortunate souls who valued their previous engagement more than a stretched out position on the couch.

After reading a few pieces from the Bible, Scott, the four…  ( Click for more )

The UK Mail Online called it an “act of skullduggery that cast a shadow over the 1975 [Rugby] World Cup and ended the careers of two men.” From the looks of it, I would call it meanness. The New Zealand Kiwis were playing Wales for the World Cup. A player from New Zealand, John Greengrass, scored, bringing the New Zealand team only one point away from winning the game. “Big Jim” Mills, a player for Wales, didn’t like that so much, so he expressed that opinion on Greengrass’ face, stomping his foot into his head-- in plain view of the referee. (If…  ( Click for more )

It’s the one basket in my house I hate. With a passion. Seriously. Most mothers already know the one I’m talking about before I say anything else. This basket keeps company with other baskets that are almost as despised—baskets filled with laundry often unidentifiable as clean or dirty.

There is no basket of laundry in my home that I ever approach with total adoration, but the sock basket full of its mismatched, sundry socks seems intolerable to me. There are dark socks, tan socks, socks with a million possible matches, and socks that have only one match (but…  ( Click for more )

As Beth shuffled past me at the ice cream shop, she leaned down to mess with her socks. They were cute socks from what I could see—white with some kind of dark design on them, maybe bows or flowers; I don’t quite remember. But I do remember thinking “cool socks. Why don’t I have any cute socks?”

“I can’t stand these socks,” she said. “They always bunch up. I don’t know why I don’t throw them away.”

But Beth and I both knew why she didn’t throw them away. They were cute. And if you leave cute…  ( Click for more )

"Every assignment is measured and controlled for my eternal good." Elizabeth Elliot

Fox News hasn't reported it. CNN hasn't reported it. Rush Limbaugh hasn't reported it. But it has happened. A great football dynasty has fallen. A team that remained undefeated for over 6 months has finally seen its demise. I saw it myself. I was there to witness Jackson dodging past older brother Max and stepping over the goal line for the winning touchdown.

I personally found the whole game stressful because I knew what was at stake. Older brother Max and baby Grant had…  ( Click for more )

The Winning-est Coach

"Every assignment is measured and controlled for my eternal good." Elizabeth Elliot

Fox News hasn't reported it. CNN hasn't reported it. Rush Limbaugh hasn't reported it. But it has happened. A great football dynasty has fallen. A team that remained undefeated for over 6 months has finally seen its demise. I saw it myself. I was there to witness Jackson dodging past older brother Max and stepping over the goal line for the winning touchdown.

I personally found the whole game stressful because of what was at stake. Older brother…  ( Click for more )

I was beginning to get a hair annoyed. My arms were full of music and a CD and speakers that I was trying to unplug from the computer to take into my bedroom. I still had one more song to learn for worship practice and mere minutes left to do it. Of course, I wasn’t dressed to leave the house either, so my plan was to take the speakers to my room to learn the music while I did what little getting ready I was going to do.

So with overloaded arms, I was leaning down in between my desk and the wall trying to unplug the speaker cords. I’m sure the wires coming out…  ( Click for more )

There’s something about the end that makes one look forward to the beginning-- maybe because the end, even a good end, is often difficult.

As I sat at my desk Friday afternoon, the Friday before Christmas and the last day of the semester, I stared at my computer screen hoping to get all my grades entered by the 3:30 deadline. I was at the end of a mental marathon: I had collected a stack of research papers, spent a week studying for a test, spent a whole Saturday taking the test, spent 30 hours (outside of class time) grading the research papers, handed back the research…  ( Click for more )

There’s something about the end that makes one look forward to the beginning-- maybe because the end, even a good end, is often difficult.

As I sat at my desk Friday afternoon, the Friday before Christmas and the last day of the semester, I stared at my computer screen hoping to get all my grades entered by the 3:30 deadline. I was at the end of a mental marathon: I had collected a stack of research papers, spent a week studying for a test, spent a whole Saturday taking the test, spent 30 hours (outside of class time) grading the research papers, handed back the research…  ( Click for more )

Although I must have Martha's hands, I have a Mary mind. And when my children's shoes I tie, thy sandals, Lord, I find. –Minette Allmoslecher

I wonder if Martha Stewart, with all her intricate Christmas preparations, knows she is much akin to her name sake, a woman named Martha in the Bible? The original Martha had this same need to be busy and overdo. Once, Jesus and his disciples came to her house. She started working hard to make dinner for these people. Here's what Luke 10:38-42 says:

"Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman…  ( Click for more )

"Thanksgiving is the day we give thanks for the cornucopia of blessing and feed Aunt Bertha's asparagus Jell-O mold to Fido under the table." Comedian Jerry Seinfield "My goal is God Himself...At any cost, dear Lord, by any road." Oswald Chambers

One of my favorite holiday recipes is from Mamaw Bell--Cranberry Fruit Salad. I don't know if that's what she called it—I'm not sure if it even had a name. But it has become one of those recipes that my sister and I must have at Thanksgiving, or else it wouldn't be Thanksgiving at all.

It's a…  ( Click for more )

"Thanksgiving is the day we give thanks for the cornucopia of blessing and feed Aunt Bertha's asparagus Jell-O mold to Fido under the table." Comedian Jerry Seinfield "My goal is God Himself...At any cost, dear Lord, by any road." Oswald Chambers

One of my favorite holiday recipes is from Mamaw Bell--Cranberry Fruit Salad. I don't know if that's what she called it--I'm not sure if it even had a name. But it has become one of those recipes that my sister and I must have at Thanksgiving, or else it wouldn't be Thanksgiving at all.

It's a very…  ( Click for more )

The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power… and you will be changed into a different person." 1 Samuel 10:6

I'm staring out the window of a plane, and still can't believe my eyes. I've done this many times before, but it still seems physically impossible. How does something that weighs this much get up in the air. Who thought of this? (It's a rhetorical question. I do know who thought of it.) There is something oddly surreal about sitting in a comfortable chair and looking down at bright, puffy clouds and tiny, little houses with swimming pools.…  ( Click for more )

"Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave. -- Martin Luther

I have four great boys. And being the wise woman that I am, I am training them to adore me. They have a mantra that I require of them at least once a day:

"I love my Mother very much. She is my favorite Mother In the whole, wide world. I cannot live without her."

You might think that I'm kidding. But I'm not. I love to hear it. They can never say it too many times. And when they hug me close, and say that to me, I'm liable to give…  ( Click for more )

“We put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 9:12

I was visiting with a new believer in Jesus this morning. She’s a precious girl who has already read the whole New Testament, and follows Jesus at a great sacrifice because she was raised in a different religion. She was a bit confused about all the different kinds of churches in the Christian faith. I gave her a 30-second-turned-30-minute church history lesson, and then she told me a sad story.

She has a friend, a rather good friend, who understands the Christian…  ( Click for more )

“We put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 9:12

I was visiting with a new believer in Jesus this morning. She’s a precious girl who has already read the whole New Testament, and follows Jesus at a great sacrifice because she was raised in a different religion. She was a bit confused about all the different kinds of churches in the Christian faith. I gave her a 30-second-turned-30-minute church history lesson, and then she told me a sad story.

She has a friend, a rather good friend, who understands the Christian…  ( Click for more )

“Pick up the candy and run!” our youngest son Grant screamed at the T.V.

“Don’t leave the chocolate. Take the chocolate you stupid idiot!”

Though a bit harsh, this was the advice that Grant offered to little Charlie in the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton’s 2005 movie version of Roald Dahl’s book).

It was day two of our trip home from Missouri to California-- the day we drove 15 hours. The bouncing and bickering in the backseat had called for a movie- a movie of my choosing lest they pick Rocky III and the…  ( Click for more )