Paul Aldrich and Friends…ON VOX LIVE!

My husband, Paul Aldrich

We’re very excited!

Tomorrow night is the first-ever PAUL ALDRICH & FRIENDS comedy night in the Nashville area!!! I hope you can join us there in person…or on the live VOX webcast!

To watch the show from your phone or computer, just click on the link below at 7pm Central Standard Time:

PAUL ALDRICH & FRIENDS – LIVE “VOX” WEBCAST

In addition to Paul’s hilarious music and comedy (I know I’m biased, but it’s true) he’ll also have three “friends” joining him for the evening:

RAMON PRESSON: author, therapist…and gifted “beat poet” (at least that’s what we’re calling him for the evening…)

VICTORIA LAKTASH: director of Pregnancy Center of Columbia…this event is a benefit for their new PRC in Spring Hill

KIM ALDRICH: Christian writer, speaker…and proud comedian’s wife!

I’ll be debuting a hilarious new song from Paul that you won’t want to miss…and won’t be able to stop singing once you’ve heard it.

Hope to see you there in person…or “live” on the webcast!

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…VOX!!!

FRIDAY REFLECTIONS: Learning to Recycle

As I started working on this week’s blog post, I realized that Ramon Presson’s recent Williamson Herald article was resonating through my heart much more than anything else I had in mind to write. So I’m taking this week off to feature (once again) the work of one of my favorite people.

Believe me, you’re in for a treat…

Ramon is an inventive writer and a wonderfully wacky “deep thinker.” He’s also a hilarious poet. This coming Saturday night, he and I will be two of the “friends” joining my husband for his PAUL ALDRICH & FRIENDS comedy night at the WindFarm Cafe in Spring Hill, TN. If you live nearby, we’d love to have you join us. It’s a small venue, so come early to get a seat! (show starts at 7:00 pm) For those who’ve never seen Paul perform, here’s a link to his website: Paul Aldrich Comedy.

Okay, back to the article. It’s adapted from Ramon Presson’s thought-provoking book When Will My Life Not Suck? Please check it out… It’s a fresh look at the book of Philippians and is brimming over with his unique brand of humor and insight:

Going Green: Learning to Recycle My Past

FRIDAY REFLECTIONS: Tickled…Blue?

Everyone says tickled pink.

But this week, all I can muster is tickled…blue.

Blue in the sense that several lousy things have happened. Things no one in their right mind would ever be tickled about. The kind of circumstances that stretch your endurance and break your heart. A virtual “pink-free” zone. Yet repeatedly, through it all, God keeps showing up in the darndest places to let me know He’s still at work, even while I myself am feeling pretty blue.

He’s mostly shown up through His Word, and through unsuspecting friends who had no idea what was going on. Friends who have called me, cheered me, prayed for me, and loved me through some very challenging days. Their support and faith have brought unexpected and desperately needed patches of “blue” into my otherwise grey skies, and I am deeply grateful.

Some days, pink is a bit more than we can muster. But a patch of blue sky can give us the strength to hang in there and hope for better days. It can also remind us that the One who calmed the raging Sea of Galilee is able to calm our stormy circumstances too, when the time is right. So while I’m not exactly feeling  ”tickled” at the moment, I am feeling encouraged to keeping looking for God’s hand in the midst of the storm.

If you’re feeling a little grey lately, I hope these verses will help you (as they are helping me) to hang on until it’s time for the next “patch of blue.”

“It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.” LAMENTATIONS 3:26

“Jesus replied, ‘You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ ” JOHN 13:7

FRIDAY REFLECTIONS: A Fork in the Road

Some days the choice is crystal clear: Go left, and do wrong. Go right, and do right. It’s just that simple.

Other days the line is considerably blurrier: Whichever direction we choose, it seems the world will still come crashing down around our heads.

That’s the kind of week I had: The not-so-simple-fork-in-the-road.

My week started out challenging, but soon got upgraded to an all-out crisis. Suddenly a trip with my husband, which included some comedy events and a side trip to celebrate our anniversary, was threatened by a trifecta of ailments that hit me a couple of days prior to leaving town. So at the last minute, in addition to packing and preparing for my part in the events, I found myself laboring over whether or not I could make the trip at all.

A giant fork had landed in the middle of my road.

I’d like to say I took it well. But I didn’t. Having dealt with chronic illness for the better part of the past year and painstakingly working my way back to health, I was devastated to be struggling with the same old symptoms again. Seriously??? I couldn’t believe it. Surely this was some kind of cosmic joke, and God was going to pop out from behind a tree at any moment saying, “Just kidding!”  But He never did. Not only that, but my symptoms seemed to worsen as our departure date approached.

Any minute I’d have to decide whether to go or stay. Either choice was risky: if I went, I risked being miserable the whole time, or being too sick to participate once we got there. If I stayed behind, I risked missing out on everything we had planned, and regretting not having gone.

I hate choices like that, don’t you? I mean, WIN-WIN is one thing, but LOSE-LOSE???

So many thoughts kept echoing through my head. All the way from: You’d be crazy to go, feeling like you do. Remember the last time you tried that? To: If you really had faith, you’d just GO…and trust God to give you the strength. Yet the bouncing ball never quite seemed to land on either answer.

Even prayer didn’t seem to help. One minute God seemed to be saying one thing, the next minute another. I was bumfuzzled. Finally, in desperation I shot up one last prayer. As best I could, I heard His voice and made a choice. Then I sat with it for a moment…and listened. Hmm, what was that? Oh yes, I recognized it:  P e a c e.

And so I chose.

I was pretty sure that neither option would be easy to live with, humanly speaking. But the peace I felt gave me the courage to choose. And it continues to  sustain me through the ups and downs of living out the answer, even though my brain is still not 100% sure what the right choice was.

Are there any choices you’re having a hard time with this week?

I suspect that God isn’t nearly so concerned with whether we make “the perfect choice” as that we consult Him on it with sincerity of heart. He knows we’re working with faulty antennas, and that sometimes we have a hard time hearing His voice. He also knows that, for fear of putting words in His mouth, we’re sometimes reluctant to even try hearing His voice at all.

This week I learned that making the perfect choice wasn’t nearly as critical as I thought it was. After all, God’s still God, and I’m still His girl. And I trust that if I’m listening for the lessons He’s teaching in this situation, I’ll be that much more ready for the next one, whenever it comes along.

So no more second-guessing which choice I should’ve made. Mercifully, I’m finally ready to “stick a fork in it” and call it done…and move on to whatever adventure awaits me along this fork in the road.

GOOD FRIDAY REFLECTIONS

Friday regrets...

Ever given any thought to the disciples’ state of mind on Good Friday?

My guess is the word “good” never occurred to them.

Their Lord brutally killed. The movement He started demolished. Their own hearts weighed down by the shame of deserting Him just when He needed them most. Good?  There are a thousand adjectives they could have used to describe that day, but I doubt that “good” was among them.

Or was it???

If Friday was as far as it went, that would be another story. We might be calling it Bad Friday. Or worse yet, not calling it anything at all. If Jesus had merely died, but not be raised, this day in history would be a footnote at best, a sad tribute to a misguided religious leader who met a tragic fate.

But as Tony Campolo is fond of saying…it’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming.

Jesus’ victory over death made all the difference. It turned an unspeakably bad day into a setup for the most pivotal, and truly good day in history. It also completely changed the disciples’ perspective. Suddenly this was not a day which doomed them to endless shame and despair, but the springboard to the greatest joy and purpose-filled living they’d ever known.

How about you…how are you feeling as Easter approaches? 

Are you feeling like the disciples, like you’ll never ever get it right, so you may as well give up? Or are you simply having trouble connecting with the story of Easter and feeling guilty about your lack of passion or conviction?

Wherever you find yourself today, take heart. That’s exactly what Jesus died for. He died for all of our regrets and every single bit of “missing the mark” we may have done, in every single area of life we may have done it. With His own blood He purchased the pardon for all the half-heartedness, insincerity, and apathy that has ever darkened our hearts, and His resurrection from the dead gave Him the authority to set the captives free, restore sight to the blind, and proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.

So whether you find yourself rejoicing over the coming Easter Sunday or shrinking back in Black Friday despair (or anywhere in between), I hope these three words will bring joy, release, and freedom to your heart:

HE…IS…RISEN!

 

FRIDAY REFLECTIONS: Silly Friends

A heartfelt tribute to "silly" friends

Don’t you love having a friend you can be yourself with?

Someone who enjoys your company, laughs at your jokes, and just naturally “gets” who you are?

Someone you can be serious, spontaneous, or downright silly with…depending on the need of the moment?

Yesterday I had a day like that with one of my favorite “silly” friends. Her name is Debbie and she’s quite a remarkable lady. From her gorgeous smile to her easygoing manner and deeply insightful heart, she’s the real deal. But yesterday I happily discovered she’s also kind of a goofball, in the very best sense of the word. Before we knew it, what started out as a simple lunch date turned into a no-holds-barred convertible ride (with Sheryl Crow playing at full blast), a last-minute decision to see a super-intense movie, and a rendezvous with friends afterwards for laughs, appetizers, and “lemon-wedge” smiles.

And while we didn’t change the world, we did experience the simple joys of friendship. What a gift.

Yet we’ve also shared the more complex side of friendship. We’ve talked for hours, listening deeply to each other’s joys and frustrations. We’ve talked about marriage, children, vocation, calling (and even theology!) from each of our own personal perspectives. Maybe that’s what made yesterday’s simply joys all the more sweet.

I hope you’ve had a wonderful week and are looking forward to a relaxing weekend. And I especially hope you have friends in your life you can laugh, cry, and truly be yourself with. If not, keep an eye out for people who are warm-hearted and authentic. I know from experience that they’re out there – as I’m honored to have several such wonderful people who are part of my life. Keep looking til you find yourself a good “silly friend.” Believe me, it’s well worth the effort…and the wait.

As C.S. Lewis once said, the very best kind of laughter is among those who take each other seriously.

Amen to that!

FRIDAY REFLECTIONS: Would you believe…???

So far I’d say my plan to transition to a Friday-only posting schedule has been a colossal bust.

Last Monday I made this big announcement that I’d no longer be posting on Mondays. Then, come Friday – or DAY 1 as we call it in the blogging world – I went completely AWOL. To be honest, I completely forgot. Apparently I’m so in the habit of the Monday/Friday posting schedule, that it threw me waaaaaaaaaaaay off to deviate from it. That and one other little thing.

I was in jail…

 

What???

Don’t worry, it was a short stint – and they let me out for good behavior. (Actually they let me out cuz my hand was stamped with glow-in-the-dark ink, but that’s another story…)

What in fact happened was that I was there to lead a chapel service that a friend of mine hosts at the Tennessee Prison for Women. True confessions, this was not my first time in the slammer – I’d actually been part of a chapel service  before, but this was my first time to go solo. Honestly, I was a little nervous, but not for the reasons you might think.

Even though some of the women are there for serious offenses (last time one lady told me she was there for 40 years), most who attend the chapel services are genuinely interested in growing in Christ. So I wasn’t afraid they’d scoff, throw things at me, or rush the stage. More than anything, I was afraid of NOT saying anything that was truly relevant to their daily lives. After all, what did I  know about prison life? Less than zilch is the less-than-encouraging phrase that kept ringing  in my head as I prepared for the big day.

But as it turned out, my fears were unfounded. It’s amazing how level the ground is at the foot of the cross. No one was better or worse. And everything was relevant. We were all girls who had somehow messed up, gone astray, and been “found” by the Lover of our souls. And we were all doing our best, in the midst of our current circumstances, to find the “growing edge” – to allow Jesus to become more central to our lives, as our troubles and sorrows took their proper place in light of His love.

I was struck by how freely they participated in the Bible study, and even more deeply touched by their prayer requests. Almost all of them asked for prayer for someone other than themselves. In the midst of probably the toughest season of their entire lives, they were far more concerned about the well-being of their families back home than they were about whatever struggles they currently faced. And then, the cherry on top. As we closed our time together, one of the women spoke up. “Now we’re gonna pray for you guys.” And she led the women in prayer for my friend and me. 

Freedom is an amazing thing. It’s far less dependent on our external circumstances, and far more a result of our internal state of heart and mind than we tend to think. And this past Friday, I witnessed a little piece of freedom…at a  state prison.

I pray you are experiencing freedom in Christ this week. If you’re not, I hope you’ll take a moment right now to surrender to Him whatever’s holding you captive. As Jesus said in Luke 4:18-19:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

See you Friday…Lord willing, and my brain works properly!

MONDAY MUSINGS: Fond Farewell

Goodbye, Monday Musings!!!

After over two months of blogging twice weekly on Mondays & Fridays, I’ve come to a profound, yet startlingly obvious  conclusion:

Fridays and Mondays are REEEEEEALLY close together!

Though one’s at the beginning of the week and the other’s at the end (which was why I originally chose them), the reality is: Monday only falls 2 short weekend days after Friday!!! Which can make for a pretty rough turnaround time for certain bloggers I could mention, and a fair amount of redundancy (I’m guessing) for blog readers as well.

So, as much as I like the MONDAY MUSINGS title – and as nostalgic as I am about retiring it – for the foreseeable future, you’ll only be receiving ONE post a week from yours truly: FRIDAY REFLECTIONS. 

Hopefully the “less is more” principle is alive and well,  and this change will leave us all feeling  more uplifted and less weighed down by cyber overload in the long run.

Bless you, dear readers! See you on Friday…

FRIDAY REFLECTIONS: Hindsight (and Foresight)

Wish I had 20/20 hindsight . . . yesterday!

Do you ever wish you knew what you know now…10 years ago?

Or how about 10 weeks…10 hours…or 10 minutes ago?

Wouldn’t it be lovely to avoid those messy mistakes, big and small, that leave us cringing with regret?

Sometimes in the hubbub of life, I lose focus. Even though I’m trying as hard as I can to read “the eye chart of life” accurately, now and then I’ll inadvertently skip a couple lines ahead…or accidentally blur the lines between what’s helpful and harmful…or in a thousand other ways slip up and make mistakes. And not only that, sometimes it goes even deeper. Sometimes I know exactly what the chart says, but in a moment of weakness or hurry or flat-out selfishness, I momentarily choose to stray from what I know is best. I let my heart fool me into believing a distorted version of  the truth.  We’ve all done it.  And regretted it.

Yet today as I was pondering this tendency, I got to thinking…

I wish there was a way to bring that 20/20 hindsight into the blurred-around-the-edges intensity of everyday life. Because in the pressure of the moment, I tend to lose sight of the big picture. Or what I think is the big picture turns out to be only a slice of the pie, and not the whole. I hate that.

It seems to me that leaving some margin around the edges of daily life is one way to minimize the blurring. Taking time to thoughtfully plan beforehand, not rush quite as much in the doing, and then pausing afterwards to reflect on what  worked and what didn’t. To listen and reflect, so that maybe next time around hindsight will give way to foresight, and heading mistakes off at the pass before they lead to regrets.

Ironically, regular readers of this blog may remember that this is the very practice I’m attempting to build into my morning and evening routine between now and Easter. Ever-so-imperfectly, I’ve been pausing, planning, reflecting…and leaving more white space around the edges of the day to hear God’s voice.

Yet more often than I’d like to admit, I still lose sight of the big picture and end up doing second, third, and even fourth things first. Can anyone else relate? It’s very humbling. Especially when this very week has included  some incredibly sweet times with the Lord where everything was clear and life was sweet. Yet at some point I after that, I still took my eye off the ball and lost track of my main priorities for the week. It’s not pretty, but there the truth is staring me in the face, like a glaring black-and-white eye chart. Yep, I missed the mark.

I guess one lesson to be learned is that as long as we’re here on earth wearing “tents of skin” we’re going to experience limitations. None of us will achieve perfection this side of heaven. We are in the process of transformation, which will only be fully complete once we see Him face to face. The other thought that stands out to me is this renewing your mind thing is a lifestyle of growth to be inhabited, not a 6-week plan to be implemented.

And then I faintly remember hearing God gently whisper that He’s not nearly as frustrated with my halting steps forward as I am. Like a parent watching their child learn to walk, He’s delighted with each attempt, even if it comes with stumbles and tumbles, and dusting off and beginning again. As C.S. Lewis once said, “God is easy to please, but impossible to satisfy.”

Oh Lord, we beg You to give us what Lewis calls the “full treatment.” How we hate it when we make mistakes or disobey, when deep down our spirits want only to please You!  Train our hearts and minds to be thoroughly Yours, to “see” as You see, and to live in quiet confidence that our lives are  truly focused on Your priorities for us. Please stop at nothing less than making us completely like Your Son Jesus!

Thank you for Your endless patience and insatiable desire to never give up until we are fully Yours. And thank you for Your precious blood that cleanses our hearts and minds, giving us ample room to learn and grow. We look forward with joy to the day when “we with unveiled face” will see You face to face…with no regrets!

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” CORINTHIANS 3:18

MONDAY MUSINGS: Cut Flowers

ROOTS LIVE: cut flowers don’t

As Week 3 of Lent begins, I got to thinking. It seems to me that this pre-Easter season is far less about “doing it perfectly” than it is about drawing closer to Christ in the process. So today I thought I’d reprint an article I wrote a couple years back about abiding. I hope it helps you to drink in His Presence in the midst of whatever circumstances you find yourself today. 

 The other day as I sat in my kitchen, one of my pastor’s recent sermons came to mind. I found myself chuckling, remembering the kids reading “expiration dates” on various food items he’d brought in from home, including the Twinkie, which was so full of preservatives it would apparently last forever! Then I sobered up as I remembered the serious analogy the pastor had drawn from this lighthearted game of show and tell: that we all have an expiration date because of sin – and unless we deal with that terminal condition, nothing we value, including our very lives, will truly “keep.”

As I sat there thinking, my mind began to wander to the beautiful flowers on the dining room table in front of me. A Valentine gift from my husband, they were really starting to come into their own now. Over the past few days the arrangement had almost doubled in size because some of the buds that had originally been closed were now opening up in full splendor. A bouquet that had started out with only small red and purple flowers now boasted extravagant lavender and ivory blossoms as well. It was truly breathtaking!

But in an instant, a new realization changed my whole perspective. These are cut flowers, I thought. They’re going to die. Even though the new buds had blossomed and were behaving for all the world like a “live” plant, every single one of these flowers was, in fact, already dead. The truth then struck with double force as I suddenly pictured a pruned rose bush standing next to the cut flowers. The rose bush looked ugly, and quite honestly, dead as a doornail, while the bouquet looked fresh and alive and full of promise. But the reverse was actually true! At most, the cut flowers would last only a few days, while the rose bush would, all things being equal, probably live for years and years to come, possibly even producing fuller and more beautiful roses as a result of its barren season of pruning. I felt a strange mixture of sadness and excitement.

My mind then wandered back to my beautiful Valentine bouquet sitting in front of me. No woman, when her husband or boyfriend brings her flowers, thinks to herself, “Hey buddy, what’s the idea of bringing me a bunch of dead plants?” But unromantic as it sounds, that’s the reality! And no one who looks at a worldly person who seems “to have it all” thinks, “Oh, that poor person is dead in their sins.” But they are. They may blossom and grow intellectually, creatively, financially, even relationally; but spiritually speaking, unless they’ve been made alive in Christ, according to the Bible they’re already dead. And when they reach their “expiration date” this side of heaven, they will suffer loss – regardless of the lush foliage or breathtaking blooms they may seem to have sprouted. They’re rootless, and cannot sustain life.

Depressing as this sounds, especially just after Valentine’s Day, there is still good news. VERY good news. Because the exact opposite of this scenario is also true. Those whose lives are truly grounded in God, who have had their sins forgiven and been made “alive in Christ,” really, truly will live forever. Even if, during times of pruning, their branches happen to look barren and dead. Because what’s most important is their roots. ROOTS LIVE: cut flowers don’t. It’s as simple as that.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” JOHN 15:5-6 

 In all honesty, I will probably still be delighted the next time my husband brings me flowers. After all, it’s a beautiful gesture, and very romantic. But from now on, cut flowers will also be a “fresh” reminder to cry out with all my heart, “Oh Lord, plant my roots DEEP in You!”