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25 things about me

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Facebook started a craze for people to list 25 random facts about themselves. I never do these lists, but caved in. I decided that I would share these things with my friends on blogspot as well. I know a lot of people aren’t on facebook. Enjoy these random facts about me.

1. I am the wife of an incredible man and the mother of 2 boys turning into incredible men
2. I use humor to deflect emotionally charged situations. Even if humor is not always the appropriate response. It is my defense mechanism
3. I love to write, plan, organize, administrate, dictate, and take charge. I love to work.
4. Lazy is not a word that would ever describe me. I can’t stand doing nothing. I love to be mentally, physically, and emotionally stimulated. Sensory overload is my norm.
5. I love to tell people my pregnancy and labor/delivery stories. I have no idea why, as this typically isn’t appropriate conversation. The whole process was so amazing and fascinating though that I love to share. I also like to prepare my friends for the realities that no one told you about.
6. The thing with labor and delivery that I’m most proud of is that I had my 2nd son with no pain medications. Completely natural. What an amazing, awful, wonderful, and memorable experience.
7. I have my Masters Degree. My husband always rails on me for not sharing this with people. I guess I don’t feel like it makes me more special than anyone else, but it is a great accomplishment.
8. I love music. Playing the piano, singing, and running worship services at church bring me more fulfillment than almost any other activity in life. I love to be part of a band and praise team.
9. I have a thirst for knowledge. I love to read anything I can get my hands on.
10. I love talk radio. Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Dave Ramsey are my favorites.
11. I love to travel, explore, and experience.
12. I have been on numerous missions trips. Short term AIM to the Caribbean for 3 months, Youth on Mission to England, and AIM program in the Czech Republic for 9 months where I got to travel all over Europe and experience some of the best cites in the world.
13. I am proud to be an American and love the USA. Even with all of its problems and issues, no other country holds a candle to its freedoms, choices, and opportunities.
14. I love ice cream
15. I enjoy watching movies and television shows when I need a brainless diversion from life
16. I am addicted to celebrity gossip
17. I love Jesus with all of my heart.
18. I secretly desire to look like anyone other than myself. I have mega issues in this department, but love my body more now than I ever have before. If it has given me such a wonderful life, allowed me to experience the world, and produced the 2 most beautiful entities that have ever lived, I will no longer despise and criticize it.
19. I crave words of affirmation and compliments. I love it when people affirm me; however, I secretly never believe the positive words and never take them to heart.
20. I enjoy obsessively cleaning. I like everything to have its place. I am coming to terms with the impossibility of this with 2 small children, but I still strive for obsessive organization.
21. My first car was a 1985 Plymouth Reliant. It was a mustardy, gold color and everyone made fun of it. I miss that car and wish I still had it. It was owned by an old lady and it only had like 25,000 miles on it.
22. I hate debt, love to budget, and am a borderline tight wad at times. I do not feel it is God’s will for his people to be bound by debt and financial stress. He wants us to live in prosperity so we can give to others. I am by no means prosperous, but I have 0 credit card debt and try to buy everything on sale.
23. My dad died when I was 24. I found out I was pregnant with my first son on the day of his funeral. Bittersweet was the emotion of the day. I am re-thinking my stance on reincarnation though because Reese acts exactly like my dad.
24. All 4 of my grandparents were dead before I was 10. I never met my mom’s parents. Her dad died when she was 5 and her mom died before she ever got married.
25. I am very outgoing and a major people person. I regularly have full conversations with complete strangers and know their life story within 30 minutes of making their acquaintance. I think this is why God called me to psychology and ministry as my career choices.

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Drought Proof your Life

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Sitting in church this past Sunday I was struck by a scripture that was shared during the adult Sunday school lesson. The lesson was on a topic that I have heard preached about numerous times and included extremely familiar passages of scripture. For some reason though, Jeremiah 17:8 hadn’t held the meaning for me in the past that it did this week. Teachings on root systems and bearing fruit are very popular in pentecostal culture. We get excited about songs like ” I shall not be moved….like a tree planted by the water”, although oftentimes we misinterpret what I feel that scripture is telling us when using trees as visual studies. Trees are not just strong, tall objects that stand still. We feel like we have accomplished a lot in our spiritual lives if we just do not budge. Oftentimes we mistake stubbornness as a spiritual virtue. We take the scriptures about not being taken by every wind of doctrine so literally that we shelter ourselves from society and hide ourselves in our church buildings.

A quick search of a Bible concordance yielded 205 scriptures that contain word pictures concerning trees. A deeper investigation of this shows that trees provide useful products. Trees provide shade and shelter. Trees are good for the economy. Trees clean the environment and strengthen local communities. Trees keep the ground stable and the air clean. Do our spiritual lives do these things for our communities? Are we producing fruits? Is our church known for its passion or are we just known for our disciplines and attitudes? Can we truly say that our church has altered the state of the community with the roots it has built, or does the community not even notice us?

Jeremiah 17 has a lot to say about our walk with God.

Jer 17:7-8

7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.
8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.KJV

This particular passage spoke to me because at this time in the USA, our country is in a drought. Financially, politically, economically, spiritually, and emotionally, people are dehydrated and searching for answers. The sad thing to me is that our churches have been affected by this drought and instead of changing and altering culture, we have fallen prey to societal shifts in morals and financial principals. Have we forgotten how God provided for Joseph and his family in the 7 years of lean? We get so hyped up on the politics and on the news reports, that we start to follow the principles of man, which have proven to be faulty, and not the principles of God.

In the kingdom of God there are no droughts. While there are seasons in life that leave us feeling dry, thirsty, empty, and longing for more, if our root system is deep in the word of God, the cause of Christ, and changing the culture of those around us, we will not cease from yielding fruit and having positive results in our lives during the worst possible times. Many times we think it is just personality differences that keep one person from crumbling under the weight of the stress of life and allow another person to melt away spiritually and emotionally. However, I would venture to say that personality alone doesn’t separate the conquerors from the defeated. Ask yourself, am I praying and reading the Word like I should be? Am I engaged in gossip and slander, especially against the church leadership? If you aren’t in the Word and you aren’t praying and cultivating that love relationship with Christ, chances are, you are not immune to the drought seasons of life. While the Bible says “the rain falls on the just and the unjust” and followers of Christ do not get a free pass on the sorrows of this world, how deep your roots run in the culture of Christ will separate the defeated and struggling from the powerful and overcoming. Don’t immerse yourself in church culture and secular culture, but follow after the principals of Christ. Church culture has many fallacies and errors and can breed hypocrisy and gossip, while the culture of Christ involves true relationship and passion.

Don’t let the drought season of this country and the drought season of your life be the defining moment of your biography. We know of people who have fallen flat on their face in the midst of trouble, never to recover their character, integrity,and purpose again. Be the person who was not careful and anxious in the time of drought because they had a free flow of the holy ghost water and anointing in their life. Be the person who has pursued after the things of God passionately and continued to yield fruits in their life.
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Have you ever noticed that when you have either no desire to purchase anything or no time and money that you find all kinds of stuff at the mall? Today I went shopping with the intentions of purchasing something with my Christmas money and found absolutely nothing. The same is true of the day after Christmas when I ventured into the vast landscapes of the Houston metro area malls and stores. Frustrated, I dug deep to find some spiritual application to this phenomenon. Sure there were a few cute tops and possibly some bottoms and dresses that could pass inspection. Certainly a couple purses jumped out at me and some shoes were shiny on the racks and in their boxes, however, none of these items met both the joy and financial factors. Since I am frugal both intentionally and of necessity, items have to pass inspection. They either need to bring a lot of joy to my life to justify the money spent, or they need to be really cheap and too good of a bargain to pass up. None of of the more expensive items were deemed life changing and all of the cheap clothes looked cheap and picked over.

Since I am a psychologist and follower of Jesus, I often find meaning in bizarre places. Bathroom stalls can bring forth epiphanies and sometimes a dumpster isn’t just for trash. I reached the realization in the mall today that my life can sometimes be compared to my shopping trips. I have a zest and zeal for both life and shopping. I love living and try to capture each day to the fullest, just as I love the hustle and bustle of the marketplace. How often does my life and spirituality measure up to my shopping trips? Am I lacking both joy and finances? A shopping trip for me is not complete without the marriage of the “wow” factor and price factor. Am I selling my life with Christ short because I refuse to allow my joy to be tied with my finances?

Don’t be spiritually bankrupt. Don’t walk out of God’s marketplace without your bags full. The psalmist David said it best when he penned the words “my cup runneth over”. Many times the blessings of God are not in a financial form but are bagged in goodness and mercy. However, we can’t get these intangible blessings without opening first our hearts and secondly our pocketbooks to the kingdom. Luke 12:34 (For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.)
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New Years Capabilities

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I am sitting here today reflecting on 2008 with a mixture of emotions. What a crazy ride it has been! We have successfully bought and sold our first home, bought and wish to sell our first 5th wheel, bought and are hoping to eventually discard our first Ford F-350 Quad Cab Dually, resigned our first pastorate and led the pastoral search for their new pastor, and are hoping to successfully plant our first church from the ground up. 2009 will hopefully not compare to 2008 in the whirlwind of life. Our boys have grown in wisdom, favor, and stature and Jonathan and I as people have exploded in knowledge and growth. (Thus the weight loss resolution. Just kidding! Not the type of growth I’m referring to). God has been so good to us. We have been through numerous tests and trials of our faith and I think have come out proven as gold in the fire. We have endured not just attacks from the enemy, but many rounds of friendly fire from well meaning and not so well meaning people. We have endured scrutiny that ranges from justified to absurd and yet, we stand stronger, taller, prouder, and more convinced than ever of the task that God has called us to do. We have also been the recipients of endless friendship, brotherly love, charity, and Godly armor bearers. For this, I am humbled.

My life the last several years has been abundantly blessed, but not easy. My reflections of 2008 have proven to me that money, possessions, and worldly materials have no hold on me. While I am grateful of this, I really didn’t want to have to prove that point! I would consider myself an overcomer, trail blazer, comforter, and friend in 2008. These characteristics have defined me this year.

Trying to come up with a list of New Years resolutions, I have pondered things that are status quo and will fall off my list in no time. The obligatory resolution to eat less, exercise more, and achieve Goddess like health and good looks is, as always, at the top of my list. My resolution to be a patient, Godly, loving mother and wife is and always will remain my passion. Above all though, I desire 2009 to be a year of authentic Christianity. This term has become popular recently and I don’t wish to be cliche, but I’m tired of fake people going through rituals and routines. It is time for me to be authentic. I will be who I am in Christ unabashedly without shame, regret, or glances over my shoulder. Gone are the days where a tiny part of my soul desires to please people. Popularity is a fleeting thing, but authentic, real, divine impartation is forever.

Did you know that the term resolution means level of clarity, detail of image, as well as the subsiding or termination of an abnormal condition? We always think of it in terms of a formal declaration and statement at the beginning of a new year, but don’t really resonate with the term that we find in daily life. How many times have a seen the word resolution on my digital camera and not even thought of it? This year, I want my resolutions to have clarity and detail. I want my resolutions to end any abnormal conditions in my heart and life with the light of the word of God. My prayer is that I can see myself for who I am and become who I should be in Christ. I want to be divinely and truly His.
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The Boys

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Just a quick update on the family. I want the world to know that Reese Bentley Buckland is finally potty trained! Yeah….He has been wearing big boy undies for almost two weeks now and hasn’t had an accident in almost a week. He is even dry at night. This was a long time coming. Now I know how God feels when he is working on us about the same mistakes over and over again. He gives us spiritual stickers and reward blessings and yet we keep having accidents. I know that in my spiritual life I want to give God, my father, a reason to celebrate and not be frustrated everyday. If I feel this great and proud about Reese and the potty, imagine how God feels when we overcome addictions, fears, and failures.

Gentry turned 1 on December 11 and is as precious as ever. The boys are best friends and love on each other and play together all the time. I’m so thankful for my boys.

Thanks to everyone that has followed my blog this year and supported me financially, spiritually, and emotionally. I pledge in 2009 to try to be more consistent with my blog. This time of year has just been crazy, hectic.

The intersection of mind, body, and spirit