Christ-Like Citizenship

Yesterday, Matt and I had some proud parent moments. I figured I would use this space just to brag a little.

It was awards day at our girls school. Macayla just finished her 2nd grade year today and she received several awards yesterday for her academic successes. One of the awards she got was for her reading...she finished 2nd in the entire school on her reading tests. She's always done really well.

Rachel just completed kindergarten today. I cannot believe it and yes, I am a little sad at how fast my "baby" is growing up. But that is beside the point. She, too, received some academic awards...letters, sounds, numbers...the usual kindergarten stuff. But the one that we were most proud of with Rach is that she won the "citizenship award" out of her class. It brought tears to my eyes as I heard her name read. What a special little award!

Now having said that, let me switch gears just a little bit. Before the awards ceremony even started, Matt and I were sitting in the gymnasium talking to other parents and paras when all of a sudden, we look over and witness a mom being escorted out by a police officer! I won't go into details, but this mom ended up being arrested and forced to leave the school. This mom has a little girl that is in Macayla's class, so our family had to have a talk about the day's events last night. Needless to say, this was supposed to be an enjoyable day for parents to take part with their kids and it just didn't start out very well. I was sad for that little girl...

I don't know about you, but I for one, am soooooo thankful that this is not our home! My family lives in Iola, KS...but our citizenship is in Heaven! Our mission in life is to try and take as many people to Heaven with us as we possibly can. I also realize that not everyone will accept the love and grace that Jesus offers. You don't have to look very far to see people clearly doing the opposite of what God has for them and their life. It can be very depressing. What we witnessed yesterday was not something I wanted our girls to see. It's reality though. But what a shame.

In the meantime, while we live on this earth, we can be positive role models for citizenship by doing these things:

-show concern for the success and safety of others;
-use non-judgmental language that does not offend or demean;
-do the right thing, especially when it is difficult;
-do the right thing, even when no one is looking;
-take responsibility for your actions;
-reflect on how your actions affect the welfare of others.

I didn't come up with these on my own. I did a little extra research after Rachel won her award. We have a big job to do. God has called us to do it...and for me, it took my 6 year old to remind me that this is not my permanent home, but while I am here, I better make the most of it by showing "Christ-like citizenship" to all those I am around.



"But our citizenship is in Heaven." Philippians 3:20

A Song For My Mom

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Take a listen to a sampling from this song by Steven Curtis Chapman. When I hear this song, I think of the countless hours you invested in me and in my life. And now it's my turn with my girls. I just wanted you to know that on those days long ago, if you ever doubted the kind of difference you made and wondered if you should have done anything differently.....know that you changed the world "one little heartbeat at a time". Proof of that is the fact that I love Jesus and try to live my life the way he wants me to. So thanks, Mom, for all that you did and all that you continue to do for me. Job well done! Have a great day!!! I love you...your favorite daughter.

TREASURES

I.U. vs. K.U. Tennis Match...
Coach Loring, me, Rachel, Matt, Macayla and Ramiro


My beautiful Big Ten rings...
check out the diamonds!

While I was in college at Indiana University, I had the opportunity to be a student manager/assistant for the womens tennis team. I did this for 2 years and it was absolutely incredible! Not only did I learn more about tennis, which has come in handy now that I am a tennis coach for a girls high school team, but I also learned so many people skills and life lessons.

One thing that I do not talk about much with anyone is the fact that I am an official owner of two Big Ten rings...they even have my name on them. Of course my husband and my family back in Indiana know that I have them, but it's just not something that I talk about with people. Obviously, this is an area of conversation that just doesn't come up. Honestly, I would love to be able to "brag" just a little bit about it, but I don't. It's just something that I keep to myself. And people wouldn't know I have them, because I don't wear them very often. I have two daughters and two rings...they will get that "treasure" someday.

What are your "treasures"?? I have many...that is, if we are talking things here. Allow me to mention just a few. I love my camera, the pictures that I have taken with a meaning behind every one. I have an "encouragement envelope" where I keep notes and cards that different people have sent to me over the years. I treasure those. I love my tennis rings. No, I didn't play for the college team, but I was there every single day for 4 semesters helping out with the team. The coaches and players became my friends. To this day, I still keep in contact with Ramiro and Coach Loring. In fact, a year ago in January, my family went to Lawrence to watch I.U. take on K.U. There we sat, in the 1st Serve Tennis Complex in Lawrence, KS with our I.U. Tennis gear on!!! It was quite a sight!!! By the way, for those of you that care...I.U. won!!!

But as much as I LOVE that stuff, I know that my treasures need to be elsewhere. There's no doubt about it, I really do treasure these things I mentioned. And that's okay. We all have certain accomplishments and things that mean a lot to us. God gives us those opportunities and we need to thank Him for that. It's when these "things" get in the way of our relationship with God that is not okay.

I hate to admit it, but there are days that I'd rather be taking pictures or hitting the tennis ball around instead of reading my bible and praying. Those treasures are just more fun to me and it's less pressure. I am not a reader. Don't ever give a book to me while I am laying down...I just can't do it. But I know that my things that I love is just that...things. On any given day, someone could break into my house and steal my "treasures". I would be upset, but I would still have my real treasures...my faith and my family.

In The Message, Matthew 6:21 is translated this way..."The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being." How about you? Where are your treasures? I want to store mine up in Heaven. I want my heart be there. I admit, I struggle with that at times. Let's do inventory this week and make sure that what we are storing up can't ever be taken away by anyone. After all, God will protect the real treasure. That's the treasure that will last...

Jennifer Bycroft, M.H.D. (Motherhood Degree)

A while back, after my girls' evening baths, I noticed I needed to trim Rachel's bangs. They were getting to the point where she was having a hard time seeing out her pretty blue eyes, so I let her know that I needed to cut them.

After hearing this, our oldest daughter Macayla, asked me, "Mommy, why don't you ever cut my hair...why does Susan always do it?" I told her because she didn't have bangs and Susan (our hair dresser) does a much better job cutting her hair. I explained to her that Susan went to school for that reason. Macayla then asked, "Did you go to school to be a mommy?"

I kinda chuckled, and I can't even remember exactly how I answered her, but if it took me 3 colleges and only 1 degree to "be a mommy", then to be real honest...I'm okay with that. I'm not so sure my parents that flipped the bill for those 3 colleges would totally agree with that though! Just kidding...they adore my girls.

With both of my girls being in school nowadays, I have been asked several times by other women, "Soooo, what do you do while the girls are in school all day?" Over the years, I've been asked, "Where did you go to college?" I want to answer, "Which year?" And when I tell them I have a degree from Ozark Christian College, they then ask, "So are you a minister too...could you preach?" To that, I want to say, "We are all ministers...and yes, if you want to hear me preach, just come over to my house as I'm lecturing my kids!" (Are you kidding...no way do I want to preach...women preachers? Scary!) People have wanted to know if I've ever had the desire to go out and get a full-time job, especially now that my girls are in school. My answer, "No, not really. I have a full-time job...being a helpmate to my husband in ministry and being there for my girls."

For those of you that have "other" jobs besides being a mom, outside of the home that is, please know I am not faulting you. This is just where God has me right now. And I'm okay with that.
So to answer my daughter's question of wondering if I went to college to be a mom...........yeah, I guess I did.

Macayla and Rachel...I love you with everything that I have. You make my job enjoyable............. most days!!! :)


By the way, for those of you "stay-at-home moms", you know how L-O-N-G the days can be! If you've never heard the song by Steven Curtis Chapman called, "One Heartbeat At A Time", I recommend listening to it. It is a very encouraging song that talks about how we may not see how we are making any kind of difference right now, but we really are. Just to give you a little bit of what it's about, here's the chorus:

"That you, you are changing the world one little heartbeat at a time,
Making history with every touch and every smile,
Oh you, you may not see it now but I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world one little heartbeat at a time."

I don't know about you, but that's encouraging to me. Check it out when you get the chance!

Unashamed...

Each week, my husband Matt, writes a devotional and sends it out to a big group of friends and family. I, for one, look forward to receiving it each week...it's very encouraging. These devotionals sometimes get me right where I need it most, and then other times can be very lighthearted. Either way, Matt always does a great job. Instead of me writing something this week, I have decided to use Matt's devotional that he sent out just this past week. Above is a picture of our daughter Rachel (on the left), with her best friend, Lizzy. I hope you enjoy the devotional...maybe it will move you to be more "unashamed".

"There are many times that I think I have really dropped the ball when it comes to being a good parent. I feel like the lessons I try to teach my kids just seem to bounce off them and drop to the ground. Then there are the days they surprise me.

Several weeks ago we were sitting down to dinner. While we eat we make it a point to ask the girls how their day went. They usually tell us about whom they played with, what they did in music, how they did on a test or who got in trouble and who was sent to the office.

Well on this one night, I asked, “What did you do today? And Rachel said, “I told Lizzy about Jesus.” “That’s good,” I said, “what did you tell her?” Rachel replied, “I told her Jesus died on the cross and when you are baptized he takes your sin away.”

I am not sure what I did or said after that, maybe I passed out, or my jaw hit the ground, I am sure my eyes were the size of basketballs. That was the last thing I expected her to say. I thought maybe something like, Jesus loves all the little children. Or Jesus lives in my heart. But to share the basic message of the Gospel, never would I have thought she would say that. I sure am proud of her.

Of course that makes me think about myself. Why am I not more active about telling those around me, “Jesus died on the cross and when you are baptized he takes your sin away”? It’s not like I don’t have the opportunity. I take time out of every week to visit guests to our church. Most of them do have questions about it. I have a list of people that I pray for who I know need to make that decision. So why aren’t I more active in sharing the Good news?

I think it boils down to two reasons. The first one being fear. I am afraid I will be rejected. I am afraid I won’t know the right answers. I am afraid they may look at me as a weirdo. I am afraid they may think I am pushy or afraid it may damage a fragile friendship.

The second reason is, I believe the lie I have plenty of time. This one gets me more than the first I put off for tomorrow what I could do today. I have every intention of telling others but I seem to wait until I have “more” time or when they aren’t so “busy”. I can’t do it today but I am sure I’ll get the time next week.

As I think about this, Rachel didn’t tell Lizzy about Jesus because she had all the answers or because she knew her reputation was safe or that she wasn’t sure how much more time she would have with her. She told Lizzy about Jesus simply because Rachel cares deeply for Lizzy. They are friends. Rachel wanted to share the most important thing in her life with the most important friend in her life.

I wish I could be more like my five-year-old daughter."


Matt Bycroft

"I am not ashamed of the gospel..." Rom. 1:16

"Lonely Weirdo"

As soon as I read Matt's Valentine's card that he gave me this year, I just knew this was going to be "blog material"! I was ahead of the game this year. I bought Matt's Valentine's card at Christmas time. I saw it, liked it, so decided to save it until this February. The only problem with buying early like that is taking the chance of misplacing it. Sure enough, that happened to me. I finally found the card the day before Valentine's day, so no sweat. Hand delivered right on time!

The following is what my card said to him:

"My Husband...

the most special person in my life-

the one I can count on

to be there for me,

to believe in me,

and to care about me.

Today and always,

I want you to know

that I'm proud of the life

we've made together-

I'm proud of the wonderful man you are."

Happy Valentine's Day with All My Love

And I will spare you the mushy stuff I wrote after that! Sweet card, huh? I thought so.

Now then...the following is Matt's card to me:

"Before I met you I was a lonely weirdo...

now I'm no longer lonely!"

Happy Valentine's Day

Hmmmm, um, yeah, great card Matt! I will say that he was so excited to give me this card that he begged me to open it a day early (which I didn't). He kept telling me how much I would just LOVE this card and how it would make me laugh (which it totally did!). I laughed and I laughed and I still am laughing as I type.

I share this with you, because those of you that KNOW my husband will think this card is hysterical! Not just because of the words, but because if you know Matt even just a little bit, then you will know that the card he picked out for me truly reflects him. Don't get me wrong...I am not saying he is a weirdo...well, maybe just a little...but this really does reflect his sense of humor. A lot of people don't get him. But I do. Because I KNOW him.

How many of you really GET God? How many of you can honestly say that you KNOW him? I admit, I know of God, I know some things about him, but there are a lot of things I don't really know about him. Sure, I know that Jesus loves me because the Bible tells me so. I know that. I know that God sent his only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for me, and for you. I know that. I know that God wants us to love him, and to love our neighbors. I know that. I know that someday, those of us who have committed our lives to him, will go to Heaven. I know that. I know all of those things, but yet, sometimes I feel as though I don't really know him as intimately as I should. You can ask me a million questions about my husband and hopefully, I would get them all right. Because I know him, and I know him intimately. (On second thought, don't ever ask me what the names of all of his tools are in our garage...not a clue! He knows tho')

Have you heard of the song called "I want to know you" by Sonicflood? The chorus goes something like this:

"I want to know you

I want to hear your voice

I want to know you more

I want to touch you

I want to see your face

I want to know you more"

That's how I want to know God...I want to really know him, I want to be able to hear his voice and not mine. I wanna know him more. I want to be able to see him and do what I know he would have me do. I wanna know him more. I wanna know him more personally, like I do my husband or my best girlfriends. The way to do that? You gotta spend time with him. I am guilty of pushing him aside to do other things that I want or need to do.

After reading the card that Matt gave to me, I thought to myself, "It's just like Matt to get a card like this"...and I mean that in a very good way. It's just him. I get him. That's the humor and personality that God blessed him with. The card was so funny to me because I know Matt. I want to get to the point with God so that I can say, "It's just like God to do something like that". That only comes with truly knowing him.

FYI: Those of you that have already accepted Jesus as your Lord and Leader of your life, I'm excited for you. You may still be a "weirdo"...but at least you're not lonely because you have God on your side!!! :)

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better." Ephesians 1:17

"Can't she just do it for me?"

Last night we took our oldest daughter, Macayla, to the emergency room. For some reason, our girls have been sick a lot this year and seem to just get over whatever they have, only to turn around again and catch something else. She had come home from school complaining of a stomach ache and was very hot to the touch, so I took her temp. At that time it was 103.6 but spiked to 104.2 later that evening (even with ibuprofen!). Needless to say, the high temperature concerned us, so we were out the door within minutes. So the 4 of us loaded up and headed off to the hospital. My friend and neighbor, Nicki, came a little later and took Rachel home with her.

But before Rachel left, the 4 of us were sitting in the room waiting on the doctor to come in and take a look at Macayla. After checking her out, the dr. mentioned that we needed to check for strep throat and go ahead and draw some blood. I immediately looked at Macayla because I knew what reaction she would have. She instantly had a look of fear and concern on her extremely flushed face. She had already been through this same thing last fall, so the idea of drawing more blood didn't thrill her too much. The dr. told us that the guy would be in shortly. I moved over by Macayla to console her and let her know "it will all be okay and we need to do this so we know what is going on with you". Do you think that helped? No way! Macayla said two things at that point....1) "Can't we just leave right now?" and 2) "Since sissy and I look a lot alike, can she just do it for me?"

I know what you are thinking....you're thinking how rude and unloving on Macayla's part to want her sister to go through all that pain for her! I did tell her that she wouldn't really want Rachel going through that, but hey, if I would've had a temperature that high, I just might have thought the same thing! After all, if you've ever had kids, then you know that "labor" isn't exactly a picnic. It would be great if "someone else could do it for me", knowing full well that no one else can and I have to go through that pain myself if I want to see my little miracle bundle. Her dad explained that if Rachel would do it for her, then it would be her blood and the doctors wouldn't know what was going on with Macayla. Do you think that helped? Negative!

Matt held Macayla the whole time she had to endure the pain, while Rachel sat on my lap. Immediately, Rachel turned her head, pulled her coat over her eyes, and put her hands over her ears because she didn't want to see the blood or hear the possible cries that would come from her sister. I don't blame her. I don't like to watch either. All I could do was just pray for Macayla while she had to endure that little bit of pain.

Hmmm....the events of last night got me thinking. Aren't you thankful that Jesus didn't say, "hey, can't someone ELSE just do this for me?"..."I mean, hey, can't we just leave right now?" Of course He didn't say these things. He shed HIS blood for you and for me. He went through that pain and suffering and died on the cross for all of mankind. Amazing! It needed to be done and only He could do it...for us. God in His wisdom knew that...amazing love, how could this be!!!

As Rachel sat there eyes closed and hands over ears not wanting to see any blood or hear any pain coming from her sister, the thought that came to me was this.....I wonder how Jesus' mother, Mary, felt seeing the cruelty done to her son. The afflicted pain and agony would've been too much for her. I imagine her wailing out. I imagine tears beyond comprehension. I imagine levels of hurt that I have never been through in my entire life. I imagine her covering her eyes and ears not wanting to see the pain on her son's face or hear the screams that would come from each nail....the nails meant for you and for me. I imagine those things, yet, I cannot truly imagine ever experiencing something like that.

I don't know about you, but I'm guilty of thinking that the hurt and pain I go through in life is so bad. I mean people just don't understand. After all, my hurt is worse than yours. And I hate to admit it, but sometimes when people hurt me, I want them to go through some of that pain as well. And when I'm going through it, I just want to pull my covers over my head, close my eyes and cover my ears so I don't have to think about all the pain going on around me. Good news...Jesus says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28.

The next time the pain of trials come your way, consider it joy. Yes, you heard me right. These words are just as much for me as they are for you. Instead of wanting someone else to go through it for you, consider this as a way that you can struggle through it and be better on the other side of it. Jesus did it for us. Let's be thankful for that.