May 20th, 2009 by Kristi Stephens

A while back I made the switch to reusable shopping bags… but somehow those plastic bags still accumulate! That’s ok, because we use them as trash bags for the bathroom and fill them with *ahem* when we (no, not we – NP) clean out the litter box. But what to do with them?

I used to just put them all inside each other and have a huge ball o’ plastic, but it was irritating and took up too much space. I saw a snazzy stainless steel holder at Bed Bath and Beyond… and then I saw the price tag. Even with a 20% off coupon, that was not a justifiable price to hold trash. There’s always the sock-type holders that people sew that have the granny face on the top… maybe not.

Then I saw a great tip online somewhere that has worked GREAT. Just put your plastic bags inside an empty kleenex box!

It’s free, it keeps them all contained, and they’re easy to get back out! Perfecto!

For more great tips and ideas, check out Works for Me Wednesday over at We Are That Family! And don’t forget my giveaway going on this week! :)

May 20th, 2009 by Kristi Stephens

I have discussed the ironing pile before – several times. It’s not a pretty thing.

It was bad. Again. I think almost every shirt my husband owned was on the floor of our closet (check out all those empty hangers!)… which meant they were conspiring together to suffocate me and overwhelm me with guilt each time I opened the closet door. I had quite a few down there, as well – no wonder I had nothing to wear on Sunday!

Then if you lifted your eyes to the shelf, you might want to run away before the avalanche of sweaters and sweatshirts knocked you unconscious.

The time had come for a serious tackle.

After ironing 23 (TWENTY-THREE!!) shirts yesterday and sorting and folding and putting away winter clothes today (and putting the ironed shirts in color wheel order)…

Oooh, la, la! You like it, no? So does NP! SO DO I!
And look at that clean floor! No more ironing pile of doom!

And for you shoe hounds out there, yes, that is every pair of shoes I own. Let’s keep it simple, ladies. :) (there are a few more around the corner that you can’t see, don’t worry).

What did you tackle today?

May 19th, 2009 by Kristi Stephens

Small groups are a big deal in our family. My parents have led them for years and my dad is a lay leader in the small group ministry at their church. My sister and I therefore were bitten with the bug, and we (and our husbands, of course) are both involved in small group ministry. My husband’s brother was the associate pastor over small groups in their church for a while, also. So, we tend to talk a lot about small groups. A lot.

Oddly enough, as common as small groups are becoming, we’ve had a hard time finding curriculums that we really like. Some are too dry without enough discussion, some are too shallow and have too much discussion and not enough study, some are too intense and the group loses interest… I’m sure they all are appropriate for certain groups, but we’ve had a challenge finding ones that really hit the “sweet spot” for our particular small group.

Because of that, I was glad to have a chance to take a closer look at a new group study that was put together by Christianity today on Faith and Pop Culture.

After reading through this book, I am excited to work through it with our group! Now, I will say that no matter how good a book looks when you read through it, it can have a completely different feel once you dig into it in a group. We’ve started some great looking studies in the past that fell flat and no one liked them. But from a reader’s perspective with some small group experience, here are my thoughts.

I so appreciated what the editors attempted to do in this study. This is a primarily discussion-based study that seeks to challenge Christians to examine how we are engaging and using the predominant “languages” of our culture that are expressed through movies, books, sports, television, video games, etc. This is not an easy, cut and dry subject, and I applaud them for taking it on.

Each chapter begins with an article taken from past issues of Christianity Today that provides a jumping off point for discussion throughout the session. I found these articles to be thought provoking – all of them are written by experts in their fields who have wrestled with how their Christian faith intersects with their work and play. The articles are well written and not simplistic. That being said, it is pretty much a guarantee that they will spark discussion in any group of serious believers – some will heartily agree, some will vehemently disagree. The interesting thing about this study is that it does not seek to draw clear-cut lines on these matters of “gray area,” but rather presents a topic in order to stimulate thoughtful discussion.

After the article, each chapter then has ice-breaker type activities. I thought many of these seemed a bit too youth-group-esque for an adult group. I don’t know about yours, but our group would look at us a bit strangely if we passed out glue and scissors and announced that we were going to cut pictures out of magazines and make a collage about the culture of Hollywood. To be fair, two options are always presented, with one being more discussion oriented and one more “hands on.” I think we would normally skip both and do our own thing!

My main objection to this study, being a person who deeply desires the Church to know the Word of God, is that the Scripture passages used in each session are not the primary focus. The primary focus is the article and people’s reactions to it. I think for this study to be more complete, the leader would have to invest some time in actually studying the passage and not just reading it for a few shallow discussion questions that follow. But again, this is a discussion-based application-dense study… perhaps instead of a “Bible study” it should be called a “How-to-live-out-what-you-already-know discussion group.” :)

This would be a great launching point for discussion amongst grounded, serious believers. For “seeker” type groups or groups full of very young believers, this topic would probably be appealing but I think the treatment of Scripture is far insufficient to give them a proper Biblical base for what they are discussing together. The discussion would very easily boil down to my opinion against yours, rather than looking at how Biblical Truth intersects with our daily lives.

We’ll see how it goes in our group… I’m anticipating some good discussion. It’s a nice light topic that will work well for summer. :)

**I was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for my review from Thomas Nelson Publishers. I am an amazon affiliate and would receive a small percentage of any sales resulting from the link above. The opinions expressed in this review are my unbiased thoughts as in keeping with my disclosure policy.  

May 17th, 2009 by Kristi Stephens

Today we’re doing another flashback post – this time to God’s grace in the Garden of Eden. Hope you enjoy these little flashback/ overviews. Understanding Genesis is so critical to the rest of Scripture’s story!

Genesis 3:20-21: “‘In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.’ And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” (NKJV)

In the last post in this series, we looked at how Adam’s naming of Eve was a statement of his faith in God’s promise of a Redeemer in Genesis 3:15. Here we have the continuation of the story.

In 3:19, God tells them that the result of their sin will be death.
In 3:20, Adam shows his genuine faith in God’s promise of redemption.
In 3:21, God slays an animal to cover their sin and shame.

What is that? The first salvation experience! Never forget that people in the Old Testament were saved in exactly the same way as every person after the life of Christ – they were saved through their faith in God’s promised redemption in Christ. Adam and Eve didn’t know his name, or that it would be thousands of years before He walked the earth, but they knew Jesus Christ would come – because God said He would. He was their way back – the Seed who would crush the serpent in a fatal blow.

Ok, so they’re forgiven – everything’s ok now, right?

3:22-24 “Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’ – therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Sin, even forgiven sin, has consequences. It must, for our God is holy. Adam and Eve are forgiven and clothed, but the curse lingers on. The world will never be as it was. In this midst of this very sad couple of verses, however, is a deep evidence of God’s grace.

The thought of living forever seems very appealing to people – we love stories in literature and film about the fabled Fountain of Youth! God created us as eternal beings, and death, no matter how expected, never feels right. So why doesn’t God want them to eat from the tree of life? Is He just punishing us with death?

Let me tell you – in a world of sinful people, where evil and atrocities are reinvented in every generation in new and perverse ways, God is mercifully keeping them from the prison of living forever on earth. Believers in Jesus Christ who truly walk with the Lord understand this truth that the Apostle Paul stated most elegantly in the New Testament: “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Life on earth truly is a gift, and spiritually walking with God, enjoying the gracious gifts of love and family and fulfilling work is amazing. However, to be in the physical presence of Jesus Christ, rather than in the midst of death and suffering and evil, is most definitely far beyond what we could possibly wrap our limited human minds around. God is graciously making their experience on a cursed earth a limited time engagement.

One more thought, just for fun. This garden, tree, cherubim, and sword – these were real, literal things. How long do you think it was there? Most likely until the worldwide flood in Genesis 6! For generations, people could go back and see this literal place. They would see a literal cherubim waving a literal flaming sword to keep them from getting back into the garden.

I have no real application for that, just wanted you to get this out of a cartoon or flannel graph picture in your mind and think about a real place. Our God is real. His word is real. His redemption through Christ is real. Without it, we’re just lost, sinful people covered with shame rather than forgiveness, and there is no way back to the garden. Jesus is the only way.

**For more reflections on the Old Testament with personal application, you might want to download a free Bible study ebook!**