My Faith Summed Up In Three Words

I do not have an intellectual faith.  I have a simple faith.   It's not because I'm dumb and it's not because I'm lazy.  I believe it's because I have faith like a child. 

If you ask a ten year old what the book of Revelation is trying to tell us, or in what capacities they believe women should be allowed to serve, or why they think God allows bad things to happen to good people, you're probably going to get a blank stare.   Likewise, if you ask me how Jesus can be fully God and fully human, or what I believe about the inerrancy and infallibility of scripture, you're also going to get a blank stare and then I might literally start singing "Jesus Loves Me".   Believe me, it has happened before, Trent can testify to it.  He is opposite me in that he does have a very intellectual faith and I love that about him.   He is forever learning, teaching, wondering, doubting, believing and discussing.  There have been times when he has talked me through a recent development in his own faith studies and when asked what I think about the topic, I have responded with "Uh...Jesus loves me this I knooow, for the Bible tells me sooooo!" 

That's what my faith ultimately boils down to.  A children's song.  Jesus loves me.

Jesus loves me 
How cool is that?  He loves me! And you. And you and you and you.  He loves us so much that He died on the cross to save us.

This I know
I know in my heart that Jesus loves me.  Isn't that pretty much the foundation of being a Christian?  To believe in your heart that Jesus loves us and died for our sins?

For the Bible tells me so
It's all over.  Try John 3:16 or Psalm 136 or Psalm 13:5 or 1 John 4:19, to name a few.

Little ones to Him belong
Regardless of age, we are His children and we belong to Him.   We are His little ones.  Isn't that a comforting thought?

They are weak but He is strong
Even in our weakness, we can rest in His strong arms and know that we are loved.  His strength will see us through when our own cannot.

Maybe there are some faithful intellectuals out there who think this approach is indeed dumb or lazy.   I mean, I am an adult after all.  Shouldn't my faith have grown beyond a little children's song by now?

To those intellectuals, I would first say that I highly respect them for their knowledge, their abilities and their desire to figure out what they believe on so many tough topics, down to the minutest detail.   I know this type of faith thrives on study and learning and I would never, ever suggest that they give that up.

Then I would tell them to stop hatin' on those of us who aren't at their level and don't feel the need to be.   We're all in the same boat.  The intellectuals may be busy determining who built the boat, the chronological order in which it came into being and whether the nails holding it together are infallible, while the childlike faiths enjoy the sturdy seat, feel honored and loved for being allowed in the boat, and soak in the beautiful view...but we're still in the same boat and it's taking us to the same destination. 

Finally, I would ask the intellectuals to spend just a day or two practicing a childlike faith.  Set aside the details and the discussions and the analysis for a time.  Come back to the foundation, the bedrock of our faith.  Jesus loves you.  You know this.  You are His child and you belong to Him. 

Hi. I'm Back From PA

Hi, I'm back from Pennsylvania and back from the sprint to the finish that this week has been since I returned.  Got back Tuesday night, then work, baby shower hostess prep, youth group and cleaning Wednesday for Bible study, then work, baby shower hosting, and Bible study yesterday.  Whew.  Weekend, weekend, weekend!

My PA trip was great. 

 On the way to Grandma's house from the airport

Cousins!  Matt was the lone boy. 

The CPAs of the family, me, Jana and Aunt Darcy

Seesters 

Corncakes! Yum.

Oh ya know.  Just being ourselves... 

I love my family!

I'll be back soon with some actual posts.  You know, with words.

Staying Connected

I was reminded of something last month when Trent was gone for three weeks and this morning when I'm about to go to PA for six days:

I need this boy in my life.

I'm not going to get all mushy gushy about how much we miss each other and such.  I actually want to talk about how important it is to stay connected when you are apart from someone that you need in your life.  

What does that look like for you?  Texts, emails, letters, phone, skype?

Before Trent left for month-o-being-gone, I took a bit of initiative and told him something that would really help me during his absence: a mid-week phone call.    I think texting has taken over the world and people forget they can actually use their phones as a phone.  We have fallen into that and in the past have just texted each other mostly when we've been apart.  But I needed to hear his voice.  So I communicated that to him.  I told him I totally understand that he would be busy running a mission trip, directing a camp then counseling at a camp, but if he had any spare moment when he could give me a quick phone call, that would do wonders for me.   And he did!  I received one of his calls at the office and I could barely contain my giddiness.

What do you need in order to feel connected while you're apart?  Think about it, communicate it to each other, then act on it!  The person you need in your life needs to know how they can be in your life even when apart.

Well, I'll be in Pennsylvania for almost a week with my mom and sisters for the Hess Family Reunion 2012, so I'll probably be MIA from the ole blog but I might get online at Gram's house and check in.   The highs in Lancaster don't even reach 90 degrees while we'll be there. Oh em gee, so excited.

Lazy Days Are Important

Trent and I haven't had a truly lazy day at home since sometime in May.  It didn't help that Trent was gone for 3/4 of June for mission trip, Niners camp and Chi Rho camp.    Well today was indeed a lazy day, mostly at home.   And days like this are very important to have sometimes, for life in general but especially if you're in ministry.  It can be quite a pull on your schedule and your time together as a couple or family.  It's good to unplug sometimes and just BE together. 

Our day began at the Bosque River before 8 am where we had an appointment with our fishing poles.   I haven't caught a fish since I got my rod and reel last year and have maintained an opinion that there are NO fish in Waco.  Well, my opinion changed this morning!

As comfortable as I look in that picture, I was kind of freaking out and very quickly handed my fish over to Trent as soon as the picture was taken.  In fact, when it hit my lure, I said "Uh...babe?  I think I caught a fish...what do I do?!"  Ugh, dumb question.  "Just reel it in babe. I'm coming!"   He came to my rescue, got it off the hook and laughed at my squeaks and squeals that my little fish created.   I was grinning from ear to ear.

So I guess there are fish in Waco.  Or at least there is one fish.

The rest of our day included a few chores around the house, grillin' burgers for lunch, some reading, some mindless tv, some laughing at our furry children, and a trip to Home Depot to daydream about home improvement projects that we can't quite afford yet and to look at grass seeds to see if we can figure out how to make grass grow in our yards.

Then it rained really well which is always, always, always a blessing in our neck of the woods.

And now we are wrapping up our lazy day by watching The Lion King.   Yes, I know, we're 25 and 26, not 5 and 6.  Hakuna matata!

When was the last time you had a lazy day at home?

Flashback - Trent The Football Player

Who says flashback posts have to just be about me?  Check out my husband his senior year of playing highschool football:

What a hunk.  No seriously, if I had been a lil highschool girl on that field I probably would have been the one doing the tackling...

Blog Remodel - A New Look And Some New Features

You may have noticed the new look that I gave my blog recently.  If you are using a Reader you probably won't see it and that is sad so click on over to the web version to give it a look. 

I didn't just turn everything various shades of my favorite color blue.  I have spent some time reworking a few things behind the scenes that will hopefully make things a lot more easy to navigate around here, find posts that interest you and give me better feedback about topics that are hot or not.   Here is a run down of the updates and a few general tips for blog readers out there.

Home tab
No matter where you end up on this blog, lost in archives or looking for a certain craft project you remember me writing about, you can always click the HOME tab:

This will take you right back to square one, the main front page of the blog that shows the most recent post and other posts in chronological order below it.

About Anna Pie tab
I have added a better "about me" section here, to explain who I am, who Trent is, who we are together, why the heck my blog is called Anna Pie and why I take the time to blog:

I know some of you that read this blog already know me really well, but take a peek at this new section anyway!

Topic tabs
These are topic sections for you to click on and browse through based on what you are interested in or want to look for.   They have been here for a while but they are cooler now.  Before, if you clicked on a topic tab, it did indeed take you to the posts in that section but you had to scroll through whole posts end to end.  Now it's much, much easier to find old posts. The weekend that Trent was at multiple regional baseball games, I was at multiple coffee shops cataloging past posts into these topic tabs.  Now each tab shows the posts in that topic by title, and when you click on each one, it will take you directly to that post.

This is also helpful for me because each of these topic tabs is a separate page now that gets its own stats from Blogger.  This way I can tell what topics get the most interest from y'all.  So click away!

Those are some new features and here are some reminders of stuff that has been here all along.

Archives
If you want to scroll through alllllll posts in chronological order, check out the Archives section on the left side of the page.

You can expand sections using the arrows on the left and click on individual posts.

Comments
Anyone and everyone can leave comments on posts.  You don't have to have a google sign-in or your own blog or anything like that.  At the bottom of each post, there is a box where you can type your comment, then click on the "Comment as" box.

You can click on Anonymous and just add your name at the end of your comment, or click on Name/URL and enter your name in the little box that pops up.  If you have your own website or blog, enter that in the URL box and your comment will include a link to your site.   I loooooove receiving comments.  What blogger doesn't?  Keep in mind that if a comment is left here instead of facebook, it will stay with the original post forever and always instead of eventually getting lost in a facebook news feed.   Here is an example of what your comment will look like. This is one that Mollie left on my Forever Newlyweds post:

I think that's it! I hope some of these features will make it easier to get around this site or are maybe a tip about things that have been here a while.   Thank you to anyone who has read my blog, clicked on a facebook link to it, commented to me in person about it, commented on my site or simply stalked from a distance.

Thoughts From The Church Van Driver's Seat

Alright, seat pulled forward, mirror adjusted, vanilla latte handy, off to get Trent and our kids!  Let's do this Whitey Bear.

Man this van is tall.  And that back window is like a mile away in the mirror.  It's ok, can't be that much bigger than our family's Excursion and I drove that just fine back in the day.

I wonder how I can get more people to call the church van Whitey Bear.  Hmm.

I get to see Trent soon.  I get to see Trent soon.  I get to see Trent soon.

My cows!

Hey car, back off of my butt, I'm a church van!

"I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number, so call me maybe..."

Man that song is catchy.


My cows.

Ew roadkill.

This gas pedal is way too close to the side of the console.  I'm driving with the edge of my foot.  Maybe if I take off my sandal that will help...

Ha, there's still sand in here from the Galveston mission trip.

I have to pee already.  Seriously?  Lame.

My cows...

I'm cold.  *turns AC down*

The van's bass kind of stinks.  Oh well, it's trying.

Hungry...

Ok, the My Cows game isn't as much fun by myself.  At least I'm winning.

I'm warm.  *turns AC up*

I feel kind of dumb in this giant van all by myself.

Oh man, Corsicana road construction.  Think skinny thoughts, Whitey Bear!

"Ain't nothin' bout it luck, there's somethin' bout a truuuuuck..."

I hope Trent had a good week.  Lucy will be so glad to see him when we get home.

I'm cold.  *turns AC down*

My cows.


I'm warm.  *turns AC up*

There's the camp entrance!  Yayayayayayayay!

I'm about to see Trent.  I'm about to see Trent.  I'm about to see Trent!

Oh this road is skinny.  And here comes a car.  Aaaaand we're off roadin' in the church van, whoo hoo.

Ok I'm gonna park, um...here.

There's the group...wow that's a big group.

Where's Trent? Where's Trent? Where's Trent?

Aha, there's his big Aussie hat.  Found him.

I love that man, Aussie hat and all.  Time to go claim my hug and kiss, load up, turn this van around and head HOME!