Sandy and I just returned from Minnesota where we attended the Desiring God 2010 National Conference. We left the kids with grandma and grandpa and had a phenomenal time in the big city listening to speakers like John Piper, Al Mohler, Frances Chan, R.C. Sproul, Randy Alcorn and quite a few others.
In fact, Sandy almost got famous.
Click here to see pictures from the conference. If you go to the 3rd to the last picture, you can see Randy Alcorn to the left and some nice family talking with him at the table. But if you look very closely at the right side of the picture, you can see half of someone...no, not me - Sandy!
We had a great time, and I'll blog more about the fun stuff later. But I had a bit of an A-ha! spiritual moment. God was so good and kind to bless me with some spiritual illumination. On the first day of the conference, I listened to Tullian Tchividjian, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. He was speaking about Gospel math - Jesus + nothing = everything.
He talked about how Gospel math addresses the issue of identity. Our identity is in Christ so we don't need any person's approval or affection because God already approves and loves us through Christ. Because of the Gospel, I have nothing to prove or to protect. I can lose my reputation, my prestige, and/or my standing in human eyes because I already am established before God. My identity is secure in Christ, and I don't have to worry about losing anything because I already have everything I could ever need or want.
I've definitely known that my identity is in Christ for many years. But I didn't realize that I hadn't truly understood the implications of that. I have been searching for many, many years for the affection and approval of others. I have been searching to belong to a group, to be accepted by others. Tullian said that living your life trying to gain favor or acceptance = slavery.
God opened my eyes this weekend to realize that I have been trying to do that. I have been trying more hardest and best to please people. To gain others' acceptance and approval for my ministry. And doing this, has been killing my soul. I have been trying to be something I can't. I've been trying to be someone I'm not.
That was another theme in this conference. Many of the pastors who spoke exhorted us to be ourselves as pastors. Don't try and be John Piper. Don't try and be someone you're not. Use the gifts and personality that God has given you to do the best you can in Christ, but be yourself.
What freedom this brings! God has already approved and accepted me as I am so that I can serve Him in love. I can be the pastor He has gifted me to be. And by His grace, I can turn from the idol of seeking others' praise and acceptance. Because of the Gospel, I can receive criticism and disapproval of others because I am secure in Christ.
Jesus + nothing = EVERYTHING...amen!
There were lots of wild animals roaming around and a ballerina.
The girls were decked out with plenty of frills and fluff.
There was also a Dorothy, Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion sighting. I think they lost the yellow brick road though. Are we in Kansas or what?
She had 5 children, 16 grand children and I don't know how many great grand children. Some of my family is in Korea, and I haven't seen them in almost 30 years. This picture was taken about 5 years ago with about half of the family.
She was the last of my grandparents, the end of a generation in our family. It's a somber time in the Lee household. Psalm 90 comes to mind:
Actually, we did get a piano earlier this year. However, it was not quite our style...
Some friends from church were moving and giving it away. I didn't realize what I was getting into when I thought I could re-finish it.
Thankfully, I won't have to worry about that project because some other friends had a piano that was ready to play! So now we're ready to go. The boys and girl have been "playing" it non-stop. Let's see if they still like it once piano lessons really begin!
4 pumpkins starting to grow. They won't be ready in time for fall decorating but we should have plenty of pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving!
A few stats:
This is what the kids and I were doing while Peter was running his heart out in the early morning hours. Sleeping and eating away!
It was a bit hard to find him in this crowd of thousands. Thankfully we had pre planned a meeting place in the event that we weren't able to find each other at the finish line.
The kids are proud of their daddy and so am I! Not only do I appreciate the fact that I am married to a man that is disciplined enough to fit this into his already very busy schedule but that he did it while maintaining his priorities as a husband, father, and pastor. He would often go to train in the evenings after he had put the kids down to bed at night so as to not sacrifice his time with the kids. I know he was already very tired by that time, yet he pushed on. It takes a special kind of man to do that. And you must know that he does not have any sort of love for running. In fact, Andrew asked him today if he could run with Peter at the track and Peter said, "I'm not running again for some time!" haha! I love you honey!
Started out fine, even in the intense heat of our hot and dry summer.
I got lots and lots of beautiful flowers but no squash. I'm guessing it's because I didn't have both male and female flowers. I initially had 2 more vines but they were destroyed by squash bugs. I'm guessing if they had survived, I might've fulfilled my dream of having pumpkins galore. Oh well, there's always next year!
We got all dolled up for a night on the town on Sandy's birthday...ha! It was crazy hair night at Awana.
We had fun with it.
As usual, I had the kids make a birthday card for mom. Every year, the artistry and creativity improves. This is Andrew's page. Mom is cooking on the left, and she has a few gadgets and a dozen little helpers doing all sorts of things such as throwing butter and filling up her syrup pitcher. The other helpers are welding, guarding, painting, and placing gold onto the star with a rocket powered crane. This is a small window into the mind of Andrew. I think that's why he can't remember to do anything! There's too much going on!
Somehow Emery has grown up. How did that happen?
We retired her toddler bed and gave her a regular twin. 
She was very excited about it. Can you tell?
Here's the shed. And below is the metamorphosis of our house in 2 1/2 years:
This is April 2008 when we saw it for the first time.
Oct 2008 - new roof, no shrubs and removed a tree.
July 2009 - 2 construction vehicles, 2 tons of gravel and lots of digging.
The end result? A waterproof basement but we lost any curb appeal we may have had.
Oct 2010 - It's amazing what some paint, a new screen door, some shutters, a new lawn, a little castleblock border and some new shrubs can do for a place! It feels like we live in a whole new house. I just realized that it pretty much is a whole new house.
Here's the side view. Praise God we're finished! For now...
The kids LOVED having them around and miss them already.
We spent one day seeing some of the sights in the Kansas City area including Overland Park Botanical Gardens, the Nelson Atkins Museum, and we grabbed dinner at Country Club Plaza. Thank you for visiting us! We look forward to having you here again at Christmas time!
This was a tasty Cuban hash with perfectly cooked plantains, one of Peter's favorite things.
One of the very fun surprises was running into old friends Brett and Vaness Craycraft, from our church in CA, and catching up with their lives and vice versa. Since we've moved, they also moved to Chicago, so there was much to catch up on.
We had a great time, and I'll blog more about the fun stuff later. But I had a bit of an A-ha! spiritual moment. God was so good and kind to bless me with some spiritual illumination. On the first day of the conference, I listened to Tullian Tchividjian, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. He was speaking about Gospel math - Jesus + nothing = everything.