Our little Easter Celebration

Lauren was home for Good Friday through Easter. Despite having a 15 page English paper to write, there was good, teachable conversation for all three of us. It was sweet to have her with her pile of books parked in whatever room we were in. So overall there actually was a lot of quality time.

Danny's knock-put roses exploded just in time. The weather was in the 90's (whew!! HOT!) We attempted grill lamb chops, spinach and au gratin potatoes for Easter dinner. Danny commented that: "Worthy is this lamb to be eaten!"

Danny also wore his new bow tie as promised. Yes, I picked it out and called him Professor Dulin all day :) Hope your Easter was filled with blessings too!

He is Risen

Easter celebrates the empty tomb, the day our Lord was resurrected from the dead. But you know this. And you've probably celebrated it many times before.

Many Christians like to emphasize how much God loves us. And He does. But in fact, the resurrection is about who God is; He is more than a Savior and more than a ticket into heaven. It is about His glory.

For me, this is the first Easter I realized His resurrection wasn't just for me.

Indeed, I benefit from His resurrection.

It turns out that I'm not the center of the universe.

Christ is.

He is risen.

He is risen indeed.

Getting Kicked In the Face [ Pt 2 ]

I'm not even going to try and paraphrase these thoughts/quotes. But let me add, the chiseling away at the filthiness of my heart continues. Are my toes also getting stepped on?
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Excerpt from FamilyLife Today with Dennis Rainy.
Hear/download full broadcast entitled "Surrender" HERE



"....what does it mean to surrender to Jesus Christ? ..... 

• Jesus Christ didn’t come to take sides; he came to take over.
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come to be a spare tire; he came to be the owner and driver of your life.
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come to have your attention for two hours a week on Sunday. He came to be the center of your affection and attention and focus of your existence. 
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come to have your half-hearted partial love.  Instead he came to command us to love him with all our hearts.
• Jesus Christ didn’t come just to be our Savior from God’s wrath, judgment and hell.  No, he came also to be our Lord and master, so you can taste heaven now
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come just to be your buddy or a pal; he came to be feared, to be reverenced, to stand in his awe and to be worshipped and then obeyed.
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come to satisfy all your needs and wants; he came to enlist you in his army and do his work here on this planet. 
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come to just give you life.  Listen to this:  He came to live in you and through you and love others and impact their lives through you.
  
• And finally, Jesus Christ didn’t come just to give you a happy marriage and a holy huddle as a family.  He came to use your marriage; he came and redeemed your marriage and your family to use you to change the world. 

A.W. Tozer:

“In the early days,” he said, “when Christianity exercised a dominant influence over American thinking, men conceived the world to be a battleground.  Our fathers believed in sin and the devil and hell as constituting one force, and they believed in God and righteousness and heaven as the other.  Man, so our fathers held, had to choose sides. He could not be neutral.  

“For him it must be life or death, heaven or hell, and if he chose to come out on God’s side, he could expect open war with God’s enemies.  The fight would be real and deadly and would last as long as life continued here below.  The Christian soldier never forgot” –listen to this – “The Christian soldier never forgot what kind of world he lived in. It was a battleground, and many were the wounded and the slain."

 “But I’ll tell you something.  It’s a delightful thing when you know you’re close enough to the adversary that you can hear him roar. Too many Christians never get into lion country at all.”

You ever heard him roar? Have you been on the battlefield? Are you on a war footing? Are you going into battle armored up?

Are you on a mission for the King?  If not, what is your mission? Why are you here? What’s God got you here for? ......"
  

Untouched

Despite being 1/4 of mile away from the destructive path of a tornado that hit Raleigh this past Saturday, PRAISE GOD, we are safe and uneffected. We lost power for less than 24 hours and there are no signs in our immediate neighborhood that a tornado passed through. Unbelievable!

HOWEVER, the damage that did occur near us is pretty bad. One of the main roads (right around the corner) into the heart of the city is still blocked off and there are many businesses that got demolished.

Who knew NC could be a place of almost 90+ tornadoes in one day. We are not in Kansas anymore.

Below is a video of the area.

Getting Kicked In the Face [ Pt 1 ]

If you do not want to get "kicked in the face", then I suggest you not read my posts with the same title.

Because there is so much content I am still processing, these next couple of posts will be a series.

These posts are not about my commentary on you and your lifestyle and your choices. But there will times as you read, it may feel like it. These posts are about the journey the Dulins are on. And this is not about a vacation....

God began communicating a general theme in the lives of the Dulins about a year ago. This theme has over the last year been refined and become more and more clear. God is kind that way. He is patient knowing we are slow in the areas we need to be quick or we are quick in the areas of our lives we need to be slow.

"God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." How many times have you heard this? And if you're from my generation, you probably used this line more times than you can count. It IS true that God loves you. And yes, I'd say its even true that God has a wonderful plan for your life. The sticking point would be who's definition of "wonderful" are we using -- yours? or God's?

But the American Christian has edited even that tag line to be: "God loves me. And I have a wonderful plan for my life!" Me..... I ...... my.....

The "general" theme I mentioned earlier that God seems to be communicating to the Dulins is this: You are called --- you are commanded --- to live out the gospel in its entirety AND in the entirety of every area of your life.

Actually, the Dulins are not special that God has started to suddenly communicate this to us, He has been communicating this through His Word long before the Dulins showed up on the scene. This message is not specifically for the Dulins, its in this season that the Dulins are being challenged (and accountable) to living this message to its fullest.

I have been frustrated for the past several years by my experience of the American Christian woman. My frustration is not that I can't find any, but what she looks like. My frustration is she is a fixture in modern day American society and I can't always tell the difference between her and any American woman.

She nice. She is pleasant. She loves children. She loves her husband (he's probably her 2nd). She loves her home that she has carefully decorated within the budget. She struggles with her weight, but continues to pursue the gym. She is often tired from all the activities she must take her multiple children to. She will make you a meal in a heartbeat if you're sick.

She is in touch with pop-culture just enough, but it doesn't rule her lifestyle. She is educated, but not pretentious. She has a grasp on world events, but her world rarely makes the news. She is culturally aware of the arts, but has been forced to more so for her children.

She is never too flashy, but never too shabby. She faithfully attends church. She makes sure her children attend church and church activities. She supports programs at and missions through the church. She is a pleasant conversationalist. She is a good neighbor. She struggles with managing her time. She struggles with having time for herself. She has a master calendar -- whether literally or in her head. She is doing the best she can to provide a loving home for her children and husband.

In many, many ways, she is wonderful. She is wonderful in her various talents and strengths. She is wonderful in her pursuit to give to her children. She is good at making us feel wonderful too.

Does the American Christian woman look like an American or does she look like a Christian?
Despite my frustrations with her, I like her. And in many aspects, I look like her.

But Scripture calls me to look like Christ.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . .

As Danny and I have been challenged as "empty nesters" with our lives/time, we are coming to grips with how much of our lives overlook the application of the gospel. Even though this has been ongoing, there are three things that have really refocused and brought us back to the baseline in our relationship with Christ:

1. We have given up on finding sold out for Jesus Christians who are our contemporaries/peers. We have given up on wondering where peers in our generation are to spur us on; to challenge us as Timothys while they were our Pauls.

2. We are reading "Radical" by David Platt. We had our own copy and had not started it when Catrina brought us a copy and that jump started us to read it. I've been hard pressed to not devour it.

3. Recent sermon at church by our pastor in James that examines how the American body of Christ proclaims Christ but really live like "practicing atheist."
To listen to this sermon, click the link below and select "Sunday Morning Sermons" and then "4/10/11 Vanishing Life"

http://www.colonial.org/mediaplayer/CBCmediaplayer.html

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Dulins are being kicked in the face, spiritually. It hurts. Its embarassing. Its not pretty. But hopefully, we won't ever look the same afterwards.

Quick Catrina Visit

One of my dearest friends Catrina made a quick visit this week. She arrived Thursday afternoon and we talked non-stop until she left Saturday morning! What a treat! The last time I saw her was about three years ago at our wedding and the last time we had just us time was 4 years ago. She is a busy mom of 4 and home schools. We managed a good walk, pedicure, and a quick trip for frozen yogurt.

I was also thrilled for her to get a chance to hang out and talk to Danny as well. One of the best things about my friendship with Catrina is the spiritual depth it quickly goes to. After almost 25 years of friendship, its such a blessing to know this woman is still thriving in and striving for Jesus in a serious and challenging way. Despite talking 250 miles a minute, she has a wonderful way of communicating the heart of many issues.

When we were teenagers, we were both accused of being "blunt." She still thinks she's the "nice" blunt one of the two of us, and I am the "mean" blunt one. Hmmm.....

Also, she has the SKINNIEST ARMS. They are extremely scrawny.

Thanks Cat for the girl time!!! (is that nice enough?)

Too Many Possible Titles for this Blog Post

 

"When Things are Not What They Seem"

or

"Another Heartache"

or

"Cuddly to Cujo"

These are all possible titles for this blog post. I am not sure why I ever, ever, EVER think life can be predictable as if God's will and Sovereignty occasionally suspends itself for my personal whim.

We met "Bear" Saturday afternoon in Alexandria on a cold and windy day. He was not what we expected. Undisciplined. Very strong. Short/stocky for a lab. Almost a little insane, but can you blame a dog that has been living at the vet for almost 3 weeks? But he was more handsome in person and despite the "behavioral" issues (which we knew could be trained to obedience), he was happy to be with us. And he seemed to respond to Danny as the "alpha."

We stayed in a pet friendly hotel and Michael stopped by to visit and we video chatted with the Gardners for Bear to meet Bear.  Danny gave him a much needed bath and he cooperated. He loved his new bo-bo and was happy to go for a walk. He didn't know many commands, but consistently could "sit."

It was a challenging situation trying to become attached --- probably as much for him as for us. But we were willing to give him a chance. We managed to drive him back to Raleigh and the more the hours passed the more we all seem to start to get connected. We went for a 3 mile walk and took a nap and then we thought we'd go for a ride to the pet smart.

He was, like he had been in the past 24 hours, shown enthusiasm when we said, "Go for a ride?" He immediately wagged his tail and made a little whispy bark sound as if to say, "Let's go! Let's go!"

He also did that when we would say, "Go potty?" and "Go for a walk?" He would get all happy seeing the leash. These are all good things to see in a lab.

So as we prepared to go for our ride to Pet Smart, we ran into our neighbors who have two female dogs. They all met -- both female dogs showed submission and Bear didn't seem bothered by it.

Danny opened the hatchback door of the truck and Bear immediately jumped while I got into the passenger seat. Just like an untrained dog, he went up front with me and as Danny called him toward the back area and I encouraged to go back all seemed fine. But it was not.

Without any indication, Bear jumped toward the back and went into full force vicious attack toward Danny who was waiting to help take the his leash off.

We are not sure what set Bear off but he literally went bollistic and attacked Danny more than once. Danny was able to get Bear off of him and kick him in the face which made Bear go back into the truck. Bear tried to go for Danny again but Danny was able to close the hatchback door on him.

At this time I got out of the truck in a panic and tried to climb on top of the truck on the front outside, because I knew if I didn't not get up high, and Bear was not contained I could be in trouble.

So there it was, just 30 hours later this was our situation with our new dog. It is one of the most traumatic experiences and thankfully -- PRAISE GOD -- only Danny's left thumb was really bitten. He has lots of scratched and teeth marks on his arms. We were in shock and stunned and and and and .....

Ultimately we called Animal Control. They showed up 40 minutes later and let Bear out of the car and he seemed back to "normal" and quite happy to come out. They will have him quarantined for 10 days and then put him down.

We called the Lab Rescue in VA and she was stunned and in horror as well.

So there is my heartache, small as it is. The emotions for both of us had us reeling. "What if..." or "It could have been worse if...." were constant thoughts.

I have more on this topic -- especially as it relates to who God is and not so much on what Bear wasn't.

Danny is okay. He went to the Dr.s' today and is on an anti-biotic. We'll be in touch with Animal Control to make sure there isn't a possibility of rabies despite Bear being up-to-date on his shots. Danny also thinks, and I think there's merit, that Bear is not a full breed lab because of how "stocky" he was; maybe some pit mixed in.....

I heard Danny say to Bitty, "You know, you are starting to look really good to me now."