Blessing upon blessing! Happy Mother's Day.

It was, indeed a happy Mother's Day for me this year. I still have memories from our brief visit to Watervale, just south of Frankfort, MI. Such wonderful moments--and a bit of a scare. Here's a bit of advice from lessons learned on that trip:

• If you ever find yourself at the bottom of a ginormous dune that your 15 y.o. son has begun to climb, you may foolishly think, "That can't be so bad." It will be bad, trust me. But if you begin the ascent and actually make it to the top, you will feel GREAT. That how our first hike along Lake Michigan began.
• When having conversations with your 90 y.o. father, be sure to have a notepad handy. He may mention things that you never knew before, like the fact that your paternal grandmother's family changed their surname to something completely unrelated to the name you were always sure you knew as your heritage. There were other little tidbits that Dad passed along to me on Saturday afternoon, and I didn't have a notepad. Bummer. Guess I'll have to ask him about those stories again soon.
• When your 15 y.o. son decides to wander along the dunes & woods, there are two options:
• give him a cell phone or at least have a plan of action (e.g. If you don't see your brother in 20 minutes, COME BACK!) Or...
• believe Grandpa when he says that your son is having a great time & knows exactly what he's doing. 
• What you shouldn't do is wander into the woods yourself, potentially getting lost and letting your mind play tricks on you, imagining that some weirdos have kidnapped your son, thus causing some loud hound dogs to bark in the distance.

• When you aren't sure where to go for dinner in Grand Rapids on Mother's Day, feel free to try the random Mexican restaurant on the corner (the name escapes me)--especially if you hear the lively sounds of a mariachi band playing from within! Good times with Amanda and Andrew.

And beyond this advice is everything I am thankful for as I recall that weekend...

• Melody & Natalie whom I could trust to leave at home while we took this short trip--and who both prettied up the house while we were gone!
• Amanda, who made a lovely card with great sentiments (and who took us to the above mentioned fun-times restaurant)
• Sarah, who came home to help Natalie get ready for her formal in my stead and who put together a very sweet photo book for my Mother's Day gift!
• Tyler, who mowed the lawn for me
• Peter, who made be a tasty breakfast and Mother's Day
• Christie, who made yummy poppy seed muffins (my fave) and who let me spend ample time with my adorable little grandson!
• My super-supportive husband, without whom I could neither have had these children nor raise them so well.
• And most of all, THANK YOU JESUS for being the glue that holds us all together.

He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. ~Colossians 1:17

An Introduction

Blogs that I have read in the past have pricked my thoughts and helped me recognize that this world is composed of a diverse population of human beings who come from various backgrounds. We are all at different places in life. Through this blog, I hope to share a bit of where I'm at...

Following Jesus

The title of this blog, "To Whom Would We Go?" stems from the words of the apostle Peter in John chapter 6.  At this point of Jesus' story, many other followers have left him after he gave some hard teachings, so Jesus questions the Twelve, "Are you also going to leave?" Peter answers, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God." This passage has been the gist of my faith journey. No matter how many times I run across hard teachings, I still find myself in pursuit of Jesus. After all, other places/teachers to whom we go may satisfy in this life, but Jesus is forever.

Hard Teaching

Sometimes the difficulty of any given biblical teaching lies in its interpretation. When we begin our walk of faith in Christ, we are all given one Spirit. It has perplexed me for years that the followers of Christ have extremely diverse perspectives on several passages of scripture. However, I was recently learning about the nature of God as seen in creation; the lesson stated that creation shows God's love of both unity and diversity. Could it be that God also wants us, as his followers, to have diverse ideas--even when it comes to our perspective on scripture? Are there only a number of truths on which Christians should firmly agree upon with others being flexible? Or should we agree about the interpretation of every single teaching? These are my questions.

An Inconclusive Conclusion

The older I get the more I find myself quoting Socrates: "As for me, all I know is that I know nothing." The Hebrew prophet Isaiah also reminds us “'My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,' says the Lord. 'And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts'" (55:8-9). How can any person really figure out the thoughts or ways of God? Maybe instead of spending time trying to figure out our Creator, we should spend more time simply in awe of the Lord Almighty. 
Here is a great picture a friend of mine re-posted on Google+ recently:

'Nuff said.