Not My Own

 Your story started out as a testing of your faith. James 1:2-4 says..." Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." I believe this is the reason for my story too. A test of faith.  What does that mean? How do you know when you pass? What does it mean to really keep the faith? Did you consider it pure joy when your whole life went to hell?!  Did it feel like God was helping your faith mature when your own wife and friends told you to curse God and die? Job, how did it feel when one crappy thing in your life kept happening after another? Did you have times of hope during those times and then BAM another horrible thing would happen?" Did you believe you would be blessed in the end? What kept you strong? Dear Job... what was it like?! Were you surprised when a...

"One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to gooooooo!" My dad used to yell as he blasted me off his shoulders and into the water. He loved Lake George, a special place for the Ehlerts where our family cabin is. I never imagined at twenty five years old I would be dumping my dad's ashes into this same lake where so many good memories have taken place. Some of my earliest memories of my dad are being excited for him to come home from the army. I remember waiting outside on the steps of my grandparent's house and hugging him in his army uniform. One of my few memories before the divorce was my dad again in uniform sitting on the kitchen across from my mom and the both of them were arguing. My brother and I crawled back and forth on the floor switching between their laps. Since then I saw my dad every other weekend and every other Wednesday evening most of my childhood. In all honesty, we didn't have a close relationship. I had to over co...

I have been reading through the book of Joshua and Judges and I keep seeing this theme which is through out the entire Old Testament of how God is a jealous God. The first and most broken commandment in the Old Testament is "You shall have no other gods before me." The Israelites break this commandment over and over again. God rescues them again and provides for them endlessly; yet again they choose to worship other gods. While reading it I keep yelling in my mind at the Israelites, "Are you that stupid!? How could you forget that God has brought you out of slavery and performed miracle after miracle to save your butts!" I closed my Bible and took care of my breakfast dishes while laughing at how dumb the Israelites were. Call me crazy but that's when I heard this in my head... "You really think you are that different than the Israelites?" Well, I don't worship other gods. I mean how does this really apply today? I guess some people have ot...

After watching the movie "The King's Speech" I had an incredible fresh view of how our relationship with God  works - or at least how I think my relationship with God works. Some people think of God as a parent figure comforting them at every turn and putting band aids on life wounds to make everything instantly better. They treat God as if He exists to keep us pain free or someone we go to for a quick fix. Others take the "Jesus is my homeboy" approach making Jesus out to be a buddy who has got their back in all situations and decisions even if they make stupid mistakes. I suppose there are some theological truths to these views, but my relationship with God never quite fit into these views. I suppose just as there are no two people who have the exact same relationship with others, God has a different relationship with each of us.  Watch this clip first... Lionel Louge ends up being the King of England's speech therapist; however, the King has...

Here is the Wedding Message I gave during my brother's wedding Oct 22, 2011...  I have only lived with my brother for 16 years. And today Wendy you are committing the rest of your life to Jason! Now that I have been married for 3 years myself, as I reflect on the 16 years of living with my brother I realized that God had used Jason to prepare me for my own marriage. I learned 3 key important ingredients that have helped me in my own marriage and I hope will help you in yours as well. INGREDIENT # 1 -  Open Communication Thanks to Jason, I learned in my own marriage that it’s somewhat healthy to wear your emotions on your sleeve. My brother and I always spoke freely with very honest feedback about how we were feeling. Even though it could be hurtful at times I could always trust with Jason that there were no surprises since communication was so open. For example; even though we disagreed in high school and had very different lifestyles; there’s a part of me that a...

My husband and I are preparing to have a baby in November so we decided it would be a good idea to take a birthing class. We signed up for a five week class called "New Beginnings" at Vanderbilt Hospital since that is where we will be delivering. I thought the class would talk about baby facts and would offer relaxation techniques to prepare you for birth. But first they feel the need to inform you of everything you will experience before, during, and after birth. The first class our teacher showed us exactly how the baby pushes through the pelvis as she literally shoved a baby doll through a fake pelvis while stretching the pelvis wide apart. It hurt just looking at it! I kept waking up in the middle of the night picturing a baby being shoved through a fake pelvis yelling... " TMI TMI TMI!!!!!" (Too much information). The second class was titled Relaxation and Breathing Techniques . "I am really looking forward to this class now that we are past the anatom...

The sanctuary filled and everyone waited eagerly for the church bell to ring so we could start service lead by the youth. However, the church bell never rung and where was the praise band? At the traditional service folks whispered in confusion as they watched the acolyte put out the candles on the altar as he took the flame out of the sanctuary. Then the strangest thing happened... freshman, Hannah Maynard, asked everyone to rise and receive the benediction as she prayed for God to be with everyone as they left church today. There were many blank stares and puzzled looks as people were flipping through their bulletins trying to figure out what was happening. We then sang our closing worship song and some of the confusion was cleared up in the sermon by seniors Alli Dickey and Susan Crawford. Why on earth did we do the church service backwards? The message of our youth Sunday was to remind the congregation that worshiping God goes beyond a structured order of service at church. Wo...