When a goat won't be a goat. . .

We have a goat - her name is Charlotte Goat #1 (long story).  She has become very dear to us.  And perhaps we have babied her too much.  She came to us to be a supply of milk.  Well just like all mammals, she must first have a baby to produce milk.  This process has proven quite tricky.  After coming to us "with goat", and miscarrying.  Our only option was to find her a companion.  Jehoshaphat Goat #2 came to live on the homestead.  Charlotte was ticked, what was an old goat doing in her pen.  She had no idea she was a goat!  Well here we are two months later and still no baby in process.  Charlotte is completely put out at the idea of living with an old goat.  Jehoshaphat is tired of Charlotte not wanting to be a goat (if you know what I mean).  So, here we are . . . still no milk, but a couple of hilarious old goats.

Did you ever think that maybe we loose perspective of who we are?  God intended us to be a working part of the body of Christ, producing lots of fruit.  Yet somehow, we got it all of whack.  We spend our days scuffling with the very people we were intended to produce fruit with.  And here we are inside the four walls of our church chasing each other; mad because the other is not acting like we think they should.   So busy trying to be something we were not intended to be that no fruit is ever produced.  What would happen if each of us let God take control and we became the part of the body of Christ He intended us to be?  We would have so much fruit, the walls could hold them.  Wait isn't that how it is supposed be . . .

When it rains it pours. . .

Garden should have had it's final plow and potatoes should be in the ground.  But here I sit blogging, because . . . well, when it rains it pours.  

That statement has often been used to explain why we are stuck in a bad situation - life keeps overwhelming us with rain after rain.  We have so many good intentions; yet we find that we are inside huddled up waiting for the rain to stop.  God never intended for the rain, to bring doom and gloom.  It is meant to refresh, quench, and heal a dry and thirsty life.  How have we gotten it so out of whack?  Why do we dread the rain?  Why can we not see that God intended it for our good.  So we could huddle up inside his presence and pause while everything around us covered or even flooded with "healing rain".

Healing rain is coming down
It's coming nearer to this old town
Rich and poor, weak and strong
It's bringing mercy, it won't be long

Healing rain is coming down
It's coming closer to the lost and found
Tears of joy, and tears of shame
Are washed forever in Jesus' name

Healing rain, it comes with fire
So let it fall and take us higher
Healing rain, I'm not afraid
To be washed in Heaven's rain

Lift your heads, let us return
To the mercy seat where time began
And in your eyes, I see the pain
Come soak this dry heart with healing rain

And only You, the Son of man
Can take a leper and let him stand
So lift your hands, they can be held
By someone greater, the great I Am

Healing rain, it comes with fire
So let it fall and take us higher
Healing rain, I'm not afraid
To be washed in Heaven's rain

To be washed in Heaven's rain...

Healing rain is falling down
Healing rain is falling down
I'm not afraid
I'm not afraid...

words by Michael W. Smith

Homesteading Medlin Style

New Homestead = New Blog Address

Over a year ago, God put our priorities in check and rearranged our lives.  We sold our big house in the city and moved to a smaller house in the country.  We left our church of 450 in the city and moved to church of 75 a bit farther out.  We took a step back from the electronic age we all live in and can not avoid (here i am blogging about it) and got rid of cable tv and our kids became unplugged on school days.  We purged and purged and purged some more through all our material possessions.  And found that we really didn't need that much after all.  But most of all we decided that this little family of five (+God) was the most important thing happening right now.  Our God, our marriage, our kids nothing else mattered.  When we lined all that up the rest of this stuff just fell into place.  Why?  God told us too.  How?  Only with His help, it wasn't easy.

So the "Little House in Tomball" becomes the "Little Homestead in Hockley" . . . let's see if I can keep blogging through all this :).