It's payback. Literally.

We've all been there. With a group of friends, talking, laughing, telling funny stories and getting a kick out of each other's lives......when all of the sudden *duhduhduhhhhhhhhh* the focus is on you and your closest friends are publicly telling everyone you know about that time you started drooling at the hardware store because the cashier was so dreamy you couldn't focus on typing in your debit card pin number. ***

Three words:

UNDER. THE. BUS.

It's not that we're malicious people. Or that we don't care about our friend's feelings. It's just that sometimes, the stories we know about our closest friends are so funny we can't keep them to ourselves. These stories are simply told out of a mutual desire to laugh out loud and draw closer together in friendship and fellowship.

You shouldn't be able to get away with it at no personal cost, though. Thus, the idea of the 'under the bus' jar was born. It's payback. Literally.

Rules, disclaimers, and the importance of Proverbs 17:17:

• Person thrown under the bus shall decide amount of money owed (within reason and limited college student budget). Probably anywhere from $00.01 - $5.00.
• Bus thrower underer shall have approximately 24 hours to place cash amount owed into jar.
• If the story is NOT funny or, more importantly, if the person the story is about doesn't find it the least bit funny, you should definitely NOT throw them under the bus.
• Bus thrower underer shall not be liable for the possible chain reaction of friends that embellish, exaggerate, or pass on information expressed in the original story
• Remember, "a friend loves at all times". If you get thrown, or you're the one throwing, know that all is said out of "love and friendship". In other words, if you're willing to throw someone else under the bus, don't throw a hissy fit when they call you out or throw you under an equally embarrassing/funny bus. Love and friendship, love and friendship, love and friendship.

When this jar is full of money ------ we'll probably use it to pay our electric bill? I really don't know. If you have any suggestions, we would love to hear 'em. Other possible options we've thought of include: chocolate, board games, or new shoes.

under the bus jar - for when your friends throw you under the bus

In other news, this awesome looking jar was created using a technique found on Pinterest! Take clean glass vase or jar, mix acrylic paint with a tidge of water and pour in glass vase! Roll it around inside until inside surface is completely covered. Voilà! Beautifully custom colored vase!

***not based on true events AT ALL.

Those who say cleanliness is next to Godliness....

have obviously never lived in our house.

When our house is at it's messiest - dishes overflowing from the sink, stuff ALL over the living room floor, cups and empty food packaging strewn all over the end tables, etc. - it's *usually because we just had people over.

This is a blog about hospitality. 

It's good. 

It's Biblical. 

It can also be messy.

The most basic definition of hospitality is to simply be friendly to guests. I think it's fair to say that when anyone invites friends over, they're most likely going to be friendly to them. The challenge of hospitality, or the greater task at hand, is being friendly to everyone..... those you know AND those you don't. Martha Stewart has endless suggestions on how to entertain, feed, prepare for, clean for, and decorate for guests at parties or gatherings of any kind. Seriously, this woman (or the people who work for her) have tons of ideas. Throwing the perfect baby shower? Want to grow a garden and eat it too? Martha knows how, and I'm sure she is a wonderful hostess.......but Biblical hospitality is way more than successfully hosting an event.

There are families and homes I have visited that remain vivid in my memory even years later. Homes that make me feel like I never want to leave. People who make you the center of their attention, but not at the expense of your comfort. Families that seem to care about you even though they know nothing about you. Godly hospitality doesn't end with a cushiony chair and an icy glass of lemonade. Hospitality means showing love, deeply and truly, without expectations or assumptions. When I leave the presence of these hospitable people, I think to myself, "they didn't even know me, but it seems like they genuinely cared about me." How awesome is that?! And I say 'genuinely', because we all know the feeling of an insincere, polite welcoming. I've experienced it. And I'm guilty of it too.....not so awesome.

"Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality." Romans 12:9-13

God's word says that this is how people will know we are Christ's disciples! By our love! By how we treat one another, stranger or longtime friend (John 13:34-35). We should love just as He has loved us. Our hospitality should be the overflowing of God's hand in our lives into the lives of others. Even when our house is a mess, at the end of the day, we should be able to look back and know that we presented pure hearts before the Lord, seeking His will, and speaking His love into the lives of those we meet.

My prayer is that when we invite people into our home, they would feel at peace, cared for, loved, accepted. My hope is that when people leave, they would notice something different. That there would be a physical and spiritual reality within our home that guests can recognize as the presence of the Lord.  I pray that my roommates and I would strive to seek how God wants to work in and through us with every person who enters into our home. Even if the kitchen's a disaster, spilled millk, etc...........may our eyes be Kingdom focused, no matter how big the mess gets.

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:8-11

LOVE DEEPLY
Use our gifts to serve - our mouths to speak the very word of God.
As we serve, may we do it with the strength God has provided, so that HE may be praised and glorified.

Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! Hebrews 13:1-2

*I say "usually" as a much needed disclaimer. Sometimes our house is just a mess. When you have 4 women going to school / working 2 jobs each / participating in a thousand different activities / and maintaining a social life............well, messes happen.

The night we flew kites...

and couldn't get them out of the sky.

Flying a kite in Kansas can be difficult thing to master. We don't generally have light breezes in Kansas, just 60 mph winds. On the chance you do have a still day, or a light breeze flowing over the plains, you're probably going to be running that kite up and down the field all day to keep it in the air. Some say I'm a 'negative Nancy', 'sensible Suzy', you name it. I'm not a believer in kite flying success.

Until now.

extreme kite flying

I arrived home one Sunday evening, from an exhausting weekend of driving all over the great state of Kansas, to find my roommates blowing bubbles in the driveway. I'd just driven 200 miles in the craziest wind ever, working the entire time just to keep my little Vibe on the road, and the first thing the girls were yelling in my face when I got out of my car? "We're going to go fly kites! AHHHHHH!"

After telling Allie, Katherine, and Jed that the venture would ultimately be a complete failure, they convinced me to join them and we all piled in the car, picked up Weston on the way, and drove over to the park. They'd purchased several $3 kites from the dollar store, and after about 25 seconds of putting them together, we threw them up in the sky. Instantly, the kites took flight and we began to see how high they would go........which ended up being almost as high as the string was long.

And it wasn't just that the kites flew really well, it was that they flew SO well we had to hang on tightly just so we wouldn't lose them! We didn't even have to run with them to keep them in the air. Basically, if you held the kite above your head, the wind would catch it up into the sky. I have NEVER had a better kite flying experience in my life. I don't know if it was the style of the kites, the extreme levels of wind speed, or some miraculously divine act of God, but when you can't get the kites to come down out of the sky, you know you've reached a higher level of kite flying.

I remember the moment, after the sun set and we were all just standing there in the dark trying to pick our kites out of the night sky by dim street lamps and moonlight, when we couldn't see them at all, but we could feel them tugging in our hands. It was such a crazy feeling, surreal almost, to be pulling a thin little string as hard as you could, knowing it was attached to a kite somewhere in the sky, trusting the string wouldn't break or come loose from the flimsy plastic and stick contraption called a kite.

I try really hard not to be a pessimistic person. Oftentimes my 'sensible Suzy' nature shines through, but I refuse to say that's a bad thing. Believe me, the ability to think things through is a gift from GOD. At the same time, it's always when I realize I'm not in control that God chooses to reveal Himself in the biggest ways to me. Like, there's no way kite flying would be a success on the windiest day of my life --- annnnnnnd it turns out to be perfect kite flying weather. Or I can't get a job and I'm wondering how I'll pay rent next month --- annnnnnd God blesses me with the perfect job, better than I could have asked for. Or how can God possibly think that this heartbreaking event will help my friend see how amazing God is --- annnnnnd it's exactly what that person needed to walk through to grow closer to the Lord. Or (any experience in my life) --- annnnnnd (how much more perfect God's idea about life is than my own).

It can be difficult to trust Him. The way the world makes sense of things can seem much more rational (when you live in the world) than believing that God can make all things work together. The Bible speaks of God's character, beginning with creation, and throughout all of history we read of who He is. His big picture story. If we trust His word to be true, and we can look at our personal pasts and see how He has been faithful, how can we not look at our own futures through the same lens.

I don't want to live a past tense, hindsight focused, life of faith. I want to live a life of faith in what God IS doing, what He WILL do, what He promises to ALWAYS do. I want to ask in faith for healings, salvations, miracles, and abundant provision. To give God glory for his eternal faithfulness, not just for what he has already done and what my blind eyes and human mind have seen and comprehended. Don't get me wrong, it is a very right thing to look back at situations, recognize what God has done, and glorify Him for it. Never stop doing that! But personally, I want to live a life that looks for what God is doing along the way, and to expect and experience it in its fullness.

We serve a God who can make kites fly. He can reunite families. He can bring peace to the most troubled hearts. He can gather the nations of the world in the palm of His hand and bless His people who face persecution and heartache. He can heal wounds buried deep inside of you, when nothing else of this world could ever cure your pain.

May you come to expect Him to work in your life. May you learn to lift everything up to Him, and allow His Holy Spirit to guide, correct, and form your life to His perfect and holy will.