The Porch

My five-year dream project and summer venture is almost finished. The Porch is beautiful. Within a week or two the last electrical and other fine tunings should be complete and I am anxiously excited. I cannot wait for so many of you to come join me for coffee or a glass of wine. I am daydreaming of parties to hold and family dinners, football game and derby viewing festivities, naps, quiet times, Christmases and fireside concerts. I want my family to build memories and log hours of laughter here. I want you to come too. I want friendships to deepen and new relationships to form.

This weekend, my husband and some of his Crossfit friends moved all the furniture in. The minute they left, I rushed around our home, digging through the garage, attic and other cabinets looking for things I could adorn all my tables with. I jetted over to Michael’s and the Fresh Market for plants and knick-knacks, because I was so excited. I can see the finish line and it inspired me and fueled my energy. With so little time left, I felt a sense of urgency that I didn’t feel when the project was at its onset.

As I gazed out my bedroom window this morning while trying to concentrate on my Bible and prayer time, I witnessed the men, who have made my yard their place of employment, sing, whistle and construct with new energy. They know their work is coming to a close and they seem inspired to hasten. There is still work to be done, but time is running short and everyone is inspired to finish. As I continued to drift between porch dreaming and prayer, I was reminded of how urgent it is that I stay on task for what I am called to. You and I are alerted all through scripture that these are the end times. Jesus is coming again and one day soon, every knee will bow to Him and everyone on the planet will recognize His Lordship and Kingship.

I have many friends who do not know Jesus personally and I have not been driven to share the beautiful and life-saving gospel with them. I am ashamed that I have not lived with as much people passion as I have porch passion.

In all truth, I care so much more about spending eternity with my precious friends and family in a place extremely more exquisite than my porch. My small brain and limited imagination cannot fathom how wonderful heaven will be, and my heart cannot handle spending eternity without my unbelieving precious friends. Oh precious ones, Jesus is the ONLY way and the only truth and He is Life. My words are narrow-minded and not politically correct, but they are saturated in love.

Please stop the frenetic back to school pace for a minute and take time right now to put Jesus on the throne of your life.

Believing friends, get urgent! The task is almost done. The finish line is in sight. The banquet table has been set and a place has been prepared for you. Tell your friends. Love your neighbor enough that you care more about saving their life than making them feel comfortable.

We have choices to make with eternal consequences. Please ask questions and authentically love each other. Come pray with me and have some coffee on the porch. I welcome you with open arms, but the one who loves you more than you could ever imagine has bigger, stronger and more loving arms than anyone; He has them stretched open for you. Dive into His beautiful embrace. I love you. XOc

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself[a] purged our[b] sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”

Hebrews 1:1-4 (NKJV)

“For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood,[c] the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:9-14 (NKJV)