From the diary of Krystal:

Tonight, God revealed something BIG to me. So big that its midnight and He has yet to let me sleep. The revelation weighed so heavy on my mind and in my heart that I felt, I needed to share it with others in hopes of encouraging each of you in the everyday sacrifice and extra effort that we take to raise Godly children.

I realize some of you don’t know me that well, nor do you know my heart, but I can humbly say, that I am in no sort of way taking credit for the things that God has done. My purpose for writing is to first and foremost exalt God and to secondly, help encourage God’s people who share a common passion.

Eleven years ago, God placed a conviction on my heart. A conviction that was so strong, that mentally and physically tormented me at times. A beautiful idea, I thought..for someone else! I liked the sound of it, at times, when I juggled it around in my mind….. I could choose what we learning and how it was to be taught, everything could be centered around God, more time with my kids, more family time, more flexibility..I mean the list went on. With all that being said, the idea of it, was all so emotionally frightening and just down right physically draining….how can I do this? Educate my own kids? Prepare lesson plans? Put up with their attitudes all day? Give up a part of me that longed for a career, hobby, or just ‘me’ time? Again, the list went on. Countless, sleepless nights, I prayed for God to remove the conviction….the conviction of a word that frightened me to the core….HOMESCHOOLING!

And God, he has such a way of making himself known….and yes, the conviction grew stronger…and I, feeling overwhelmed and taken back by the idea…well, did the Godly thing..NOT! I satisfied my flesh, and I enrolled my oldest (Kyra,now 11 ½) in public school. Kindergarten passed, then first grade, and all the while God was faithful in continuing to strengthen the conviction he had years ago placed within me. I know he must have been looking down at me, shaking his head and maybe even pointing and shaking a firm finger at me saying , “Sweet child of mine, why do you run from me when I speak?” Seems I had my own game of hide and seek in motion, only to be reminded that you can’t run nor hide from God!!! Amen, ladies?

After many sleepless nights, chats with other Christian ladies, prayers and scripture readings, a supportive and encouraging husband, and a uprising second grader who was suffering from Mono, with which I was having to homeschool anyway… I stepped out in faith..no, I leaped….blindfolded and scared. But no longer could I stand to meet with God, day after day, knowing that my disobedience grieved Him so. But to be obedient meant I had to let go..and yes, you know it, Let God!

Obedience….it means doing the right thing, even when it’s the hard thing, and trusting God to take care of the rest! I was reading a book called, Jesus, The Lord, and one author put it like this, “The defining mark of being a follower of the Lord is a determination to obey.” ( John, McArthur) I had learned a great lesson, one I still remind myself of daily….If I am what I claim to be, a disciple of God, then I am to be constantly available to the Father and instantly obedient to do what he ask of me. And then trust that He would take care of the rest. There is something to be said about that hymn written so long ago, Trust and Obey, for there’s no other way..you know the rest! I was taking a leap into the most dreaded word….Homeschooling! Can you relate?

Since that leap, I have went on to homeschool all four of our beautiful children…Kyra, now 6th grade, Taylor, 4th grade, Amery 2nd grade and Brayden kindergarten. All with four completely different learning styles and personalities!  Challenging, to say the least. I wish I could say it’s been a breeze from the get-go! Not a chance! Our family is a huge fan of Tim Hawkins, a Christian comedian and one who has got us through a lot of stressful days. He said it best when he said, “You sure don’t see many atheists homeschoolers, do you? Cause after your first week of homeschooling, you’ll be crying out to God!!!” So funny but more so, sooo true!

I know ladies, that there’s time when we glance back at the decision we made, and we see God’s hand in it and then other days we question everything about it! What I am about to write is specifically for the days when you question what God has called you to do. This is my own personal testimony and only one revelation that I have witnessed from the gift of homeschooling. There are others, yet this one, the most recent. It was refreshing and I hope you find it refreshing for your soul as well.

I hurried up the stairs tonight, trying to get four busy bodies to throw themselves in bed, so I could clean up the kitchen, see my husband off to work, check my email and facebook ofcourse, then curl up in my bed and read until my eyes could no longer hold up! Taylor and Amery share a room and I was in there trying to help move them along. The whole time I was fussing, “hurry up, get your p.j’s on, pick up your dirty clothes…blah, blah, blah!” And when I get edgy, I clean! So, I went to gather a few straggling papers, books,dolls, and whatever else was there, when I noticed a neatly stacked arrangement of books tucked away near the bookshelf. I began to plunder through, not expecting to see much…and I what I found was so much more….reassurance!

It belonged to my second born..Taylor, age 9. To give you some history about Taylor, here goes…sweet, timid at times, beautiful, honest, perfectionist ,neat, orderly, (hence the perfect stack of belongings) and loyal. All these things, but one attribute that would do her in if she failed to give it over to God…..worrier!!!! And I mean to the point of not sleeping, throwing up at times, hives, over some of the smallest things! Tyler and I would often pray with her and for her over this very thing. We often had conversations about how we all struggle with something and that as she learned to trust God she would learn to worry less. But it grieved her…you could tell. Not only did she worry, but now she worried about worrying!! Geez..poor kid. She knew that sin separated her from God and she could not stand the fact of letting down her Heavenly Father. I knew that. I had often witnessed it and prayed with her. But she knew she needed God to help her. She really knew.

Tears swelled up in my eyes, when I unraveled her stack…scripture scattered everywhere across a loose leaf piece of notebook paper…scriptures that God had given her to keep close as a reminder.  Some of them included, 1 Peter 5:6 “ Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about what happens to you.” Scripture about how to live your life..like Micah 6:8 “ He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God,” and  numerous references from Proverbs and Hebrews.  Also, in the stack, I discovered three different devotional books, marked with torn paper that held the place of these titles, “Why Worry?” and “Real Faith.” In addition, I found notes from a study we did two years ago, as an addition to our homeschooling day ,..“Walking In Faith.” Her glittery hot pink Bible,book marked with highlighted index cards, all  contained the Word of God. Lastly, I opened up the journal..skimmed through and on the last page an outline of all the material and references I previously talked about, neatly titled, in all caps, FAITH, DON’T WORRY! And at the very end, she wrote , “Faith-is trust. When we trust in Jesus we receive eternal life in that very moment.” God gives faith to those who ask him! John 11:26, Ephesians, 2:8. Circled and marked with astros, “I don’t have to worry, cause I know God!”  I wept.

Often times, we don’t get to see the beauty that comes from being obedient! But tonight, I was reassured. Train them babies up in the ways of the Lord! Isn’t God amazing? He took a nine year old girls heart and inside it placed a passion and desire to please her Maker!

Maybe we don’t always teach some subjects well or pick a curriculum that fits our children perfectly. And maybe we grow overwhelmed from wondering if our kids will fit in socially with their peers, or if they will measure up to others academically. While I believe that God is concerned about all those things, I know that he is more concerned about their little hearts. Homeschooling has given me more of an ability to raise my kids in an environment that is Christ-focused and when I witness times as these, I have joy, that surpasses all understanding. Keep on keeping on, ladies. God is using you to build mighty soldiers for Christ.

God Bless each you on your homeschooling journey!

Love, Krystal

So as I have undertaken this journey of reading the entire Bible in 180 days (which is been very challenging and rewarding all at the same time) I have really gotten a refreshed look from the Holy Spirit into God and His desires for us as His children.  And as I do most days I read a lot of other’s blogs and make sure that I am attempting to stay current with all the things that are happening across the Church in America today.  In one of those readings I came across a profound statement that made me sit back and think for awhile about our state as a Church and some of the things that I have seen or heard happen.  I wanted to do two things then today:

1. Share the quote and the article with you (it take abouts 5 minutes to read it is very short)
2. Share a video with you that accentuates the point of this blog and of the article as well.

So here is the quote that I read that I felt was very profound and possibly a perspective changer (as a pastor I love perspective changers).

God laid aside his wants—and so can we

God’s action in the world never revolves around the immediate satisfaction of wants and needs. His action is focused on reconciliation. The amazing news is the God of the Bible incurred all the cost of reconciliation himself. He paid our debt in full to restore us to his family. And when we see the God of the heavens lay aside his wants and needs to serve us, we can make the much smaller sacrifice of laying aside our own.

Now take a second and look at this article

OK, now that you have read that…take about 2 minutes and watch this video from the Family Fued.  Now I am not condoning the topic I am simply making a point as to the order that the answers fall in the survey.  It really makes my heart grieve that we have grown so lackadaisical as believers that we have lost a lot of the impact and priority in society.

Give me your thoughts…
~ God Bless
Pastor Tyler

So as we come into this new year I am so excited that 2011 is here and 2010 is gone.  For those of you who are close to us you know why, and for those of you who aren’t lets just say that it has been a year of change, growth, anguish, and joy.

And this year I am going to start off with a HUGE undertaking so I need your prayers.  Here at 2metalheads we are going to read the whole Bible in 180 days.  Now you say that doesn’t sound like much but it  is going to be a challenge that can really test your  fortitude.  Let me give you an example why;  there are 1189 chapters in the Bible, that means I will have to read 6.6 chapters a day to keep up.  And again that doesn’t sound like many but with anyone who is devoted to their quiet time and is a true student of the Bible you know that God can speak volumes in a verse much less 6.6 chapters. 

But, I am so excited because I know that through this process renewal will come.  Renewal of what? you ask; well of strength, of joy, of spirit.  This is what happens when we study and dwell in His Word,  the Holy Spirit will speak to our hearts and encourage us in ways we expected and ways that we did not.

But so often for us to really take on the challenge of studying His word would mean that we have to hold a mirror up to our life and go through all the areas that we want to either ignore, keep, or that are too painful to look in.  We are forced to look at ourselves and evaluate the sin that is in our hearts, our lives, and our thoughts.  This is always a humbling experience no matter how long you have been a Christian.

Stop and take a second to look at Adam and Eve, in the account of creation in Genesis we are told that once they both had eaten from the forbidden tree their eyes were opened and they knew that they were naked.  After covering their nakedness the very next thing they did is hide when they heard the presence of God in the garden. 

[8 ] And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
(Genesis 3:8 ESV)

And isn’t that what we like to do?  We like to have our little back pocket sin and try to hide that from not only our spouse but also from our friends, our Church family and most especially God.  And if we don’t spend time with Him then we don’t have to feel guilty about being “naked”.

But with anything else in life continual “maintenance” is always better then letting something go.  It is like the flowerbed in your front yard.  If you dont weed that bed for a few years and it becomes grown over with weeds, it is easier to just leave it alone.  But, before long the weeds are taking all of the nutrients and the plants, flowers, shrubs aren’t doing as well as they could be.  The flowers are just a little less dazzling or the shrubs are not as full as they could be. 

But if you pursue the bed and you constantly weed it, it becomes easier and easier to maintain and the plants, flowers, shrubs gain all of the nutrients that they need to thrive.  The shrubs are full, the flowers are blooming and it all looks magnificent.  Well it is the same with our Heart, if we are constantly examining it and allowing the Holy Spirit to weed it through Scripture then we are going to see the fullness of God and the blessing and the growth that He would desire for us.  We will have the blessing of becoming more and more Christlike.  So take the time to allow the maintenance to happen, get up 20 minutes earlier or go to bed 20 minutes later, whatever it takes to get into the Word and allow the Word to get into you!

God Bless~
Pastor Tyler

“A problem in the local church is that we are too busy fighting WITH each other and we are failing to fight FOR each other.”  ~ Scott Thomas Acts29

When I shared this statement with another believer I was asked, “how do you fight for each other”.  So I thought that I would explore this very quickly (And I mean quickly because it is possible to write 365 blogs on this one.)

1 John 3:16-18
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

The verses I selected are not but a sample of the scripture that speaks to how we are to treat our fellow believers.  In some of  todays church we have become consumed with a religious standard that has lead believers into a spirit of  judgment, pride, and one of the worst which is a spirit of apathy.  Where we have turned away or worse yet persecuted other believers who are either less mature, or have an area where they are struggling in their life, or even worse yet is that we have a self-determined “commandment” that they have violated.
And instead of doing what we were commanded to do; to “love one another”, which would mean that we would come along side of that believer and mentor them or counsel them, we would rather either do nothing, look down upon them, or try to push them out of the flock.
We often forget that there was a reason that Jesus kept being found to be in the company of tax collectors, theives, and the likes.  Because they are a people that knew they were sinners.  They understood the status of their heart.
We should spend more time focused on our own heart status and then I believe we would look at other believers with a different spirit.