Some thoughts

It's been another busy day for the Elson household, and it is only 1:30! The day is only half over.

I spent the morning at my young mum's Bible study. Our group is so amazing. It is great to just relate to other mums, but I find that they are becoming such close friends of mine. I dont know what I would do without them. It is hard getting both the kids ready to go, and today, I had to wake Dave up from his nap, but man...it's worth it! I am so thankful for their prayers. It is just great to be able to share openly with them about how God is moving in my life.

I just put Noah down for his nap. You know...he is such a funny kid. He is actually taking his first nap without his bed rail on. I will let you know if he rolls off! Ha! I'm washing his sheets, and I just dont have the energy to put the bed rail on twice in one day. I will just see how he goes. Anyways, I gave him his mickey, books to read, and some water. As I started to walk out of the room. He kept yelling Mom...Mom. So I walked back into his room. He wanted the covers on him. So I covered him up, and then he decided that he needed to hold everything at once. So he is trying to hold a cup of water, his mickey, and 3 books all at once as he lays down. I kept saying to him, "Noah, you cant hold it all. You need to only hold a few things." But his little mind couldnt comprehend that he didnt have enough hands to hold everything!

This whole thing just got me thinking. There must be so many time in our life when we are trying to just "hold" onto everything all at once. God must look at us just as I looked at Noah...knowing that there is no way he can do it. He just had to let go of something so that he could go to sleep. God must see us struggle with this all the time. I dont mean only physical struggles...could be anything that we are holding "too tight" too.

I was holding Dave the other day as well, and I think I just took a moment to look at him. I was like, "Gosh...God must really love him." I dont know why that popped into my head. Maybe because I struggled so much with giving my kids to Him while we were in Vietnam. I know how much I love my kids, but God loves them more than I could ever imagine. What a nice thought and comfort that brought me.

I dont think I will make anymore posts today. Shane informed me that we are having a few "short-term" missos over for tea tonight. They spent a few weeks in Cambodia awhile back. And since that was our part of the world for sometime...Shane thinks it might be good to have a chat to them about what all they experienced over there. It can be a bit hard for short termers. They often come home, and people are still going about their lives as normal, and they have experienced something no one will ever understand. It will be good...although, I have no idea what I will make for tea (dinner).

Last but not least...some words from John Piper......

There is a war going on in the world between Christ and Satan, truth and falsehood, belief and unbelief. It tells me that there are weapons to be funded and used, but that these weapons are not swords or guns or bombs but the Gospel and prayer and self-sacrificing love. And it tells me that the stakes of this conflict are higher than any other war in history; they are eternal and infinite; heaven or hell, eternal joy or eternal torment.

I need to hear this message again and again, because I drift into a peacetime mind-set as certainly as rain falls down and flames go up. I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth "home." Before you know it, I am calling luxuries "needs" and using my money just the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I dont think much about people perishing. Missions and unreached peoples drop out of my mind. I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace. I sink into a secular mind-set that looks first to what man can do, not what God can do. It is a terrible sickness. And I thank God for those who have forced me again and again toward a wartime mind-set.

Oh yeah...This weekend...Dave didnt sleep so great. BUT he made up for it last night. He slept from 7-7!!! And yesterday afternoon, BOTH boys took at 2 1/2 hour nap AT THE SAME TIME! Just Wonderful!