In his book “Irresistible” Andy Stanley writes: “Jesus made love a verb and then used the imperative form of the verb. This was, in fact, a command. As in, go over there and love that guy.” The verse Mr. Stanley is referring to is John 13:34: “A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” The guys sitting around the table that night, did not have the cross to see an example of Jesus’ love. They did have three years experiencing and watching. Think about that…

“My dad is bigger than your dad!” I wrote that in my Bible next to Psalm 18. I remember that being a playground taunt kids would say to remind everyone else “I’m not alone and you’d better watch out”. Psalm 18 is a great reminder just how big our God is and how He fights for us.

“Love, love, love, love.” Those were the words spoken over and over again by my sister, Judy, as she was breathing her last breaths. She was so full of love, that is what she wanted to leave reverberating in our ears as she left this world. She didn’t lose her 3-year battle with cancer, as she is now healed and whole with the One she loved above all else. You see, Judy’s passion was Jesus and her joy was to share His hope and love with others. May 26th is her birthday, so around this time I find myself especially remembering her and reflecting on her life.

I woke up with a deep sadness, I didn’t have a specific reason, it just hung on me like a cloak. Dean is working back at the office, but I shouldn’t be that sad. I put worship music on while getting ready, trying to shake off the funk I was in. I started to cry and that broke the damn. I mean it was ugly, ugly crying. It lasted a couple of songs and while I felt silly, I also felt lighter.

Under pressure? If you’re like me and hear those words, you immediately hear the distinct beat of a song that is the opening soundtrack of the movie “Step Mom.” I live life by songs and movie quotes. I don’t know who the actual singer of the song is, but it’s upbeat sound is deceiving of its message. Being under pressure is neither fun nor upbeat, but pressure is a required process in many of life’s great changes.

“Chippie the Parakeet never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage. The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over. The problems began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner

Happy May!

I’m feeling compelled to lean into this crazy time and learn what I need to let go of, as well as what I need to do to reset my life. What a unique and fabulous gift we have been given.

With next week being Mother’s Day, I have been thinking about moms and women. I’ve had a complex relationship with women, which is weird because I am one. You’d think it’d be easier. Our relationships with other women can undermine or elevate us.

Do you remember that scene in Aladdin, when he holds out his hand to Jasmine and says, “Do you trust me?”…and she then grabs his hand?

With all the sickness & death, financial loss, forced homeschooling, work from home, face mask mandates, church online, isolation and continued unknowns that we are facing, I can picture God reaching out His hand to us and saying, “Do you trust me?”

This not getting together with my kids for Sunday lunch is getting on my nerves! I’ve been thinking about family all week. Family for some is wonderful and a huge lifeline; for others, family is a source of pain and feeling disconnected. I think, for most of us it is a mixture of the two.

Hey you guys! How are you doing with being inside and creating a new normal for life? It’s crazy and I have all the emotions that come with it: coping, so not coping, bored, happy I got a project done or tried a new recipe, lonely. I miss my family and friends. One thing I have been doing to keep busy and keep screen time down is coloring. I got a coloring book a few years ago for Mother’s Day (thank you Crosspoint). I was coloring this picture and memorizing the scripture, I thought how perfect it was for Easter week.

Do you feel like we’re living a movie right now? One that we wish we could shut off and walk away from? We see the entertainment industry halted; sports paused (I miss baseball!); and the stock market is taking big hits (don’t look at your 401K right now).

We made it through another week of this crazy time! Yay us! Wouldn’t it be great if it was more of a “gone away for vacation and when we come back things are still the same” kind of deal? I think life will never be anything like what it was before, for most of us.

So many people we know are going through such hard, dark times which is only heightened because of COVID-19. We had a family thing happen this week that is devastating. Let me tell you social distancing went out the window! Just try to keep this momma away (elbows out, I’m going in)!

Hope. Frantic. These two words best described me this week. Same coin, different sides. It’s not hard being frantic with all that is happening and changing daily. I felt like I was running around, but not accomplishing much.

I found hope by listening to worship songs, hearing laughter, connecting to my people, playing with the kiddos and being outside. It’s grounding seeing the normalcy of nature. As I walked around the pond and saw these guys, I realized that they’re not freaked out. Matthew 6:26 says: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

Panic. Fear. Empty grocery store racks. Cancelled events. The threat is real and the fear is real. We have never seen this before and we don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t need alarmists, we need reason. Being prepared is good, being driven by fear is not helpful.

There are so many things in life that we face for the first time and have no clue how to deal with it.

Kintsugi is Japanese art that takes broken pottery and puts the pieces back together with gold around the broken pieces. The cracks aren’t hidden, they’re emphasized. Something that was once broken and unusable is now a work of art, not because of perfection but because of the brokenness being transformed.

To start, I want to say how proud that I am of Jodi. She’s an amazing woman that refuses to be defined by disease, life, fears, or the grief I have caused her through the years.

I’m honored to write the first guest blog of jodibethcross.com. It’s my first blog ever, so go easy on me.

As a teenager I hiked Mount Washington in New Hampshire, along with a couple of my brothers. At times we could only see a short distance of the trail. Until…WOW! What.A.View from 6,288 feet!

I was sitting on the couch one night and I thought of what to do in an avalanche. Weird? I know, but whatever, I just roll with it. If you’re ever buried in snow, do you know the first thing you need to do is make an air pocket? As big as you can.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Dean and I ran away last weekend to Lake Tahoe!! I was so overwhelmed with the majesty and beauty, it didn’t matter where you looked, it was breathtaking.

Since it’s the month of love, that got me thinking about relationships and what love looks like. When Dean and I were first married we would go to a store and pick out Valentine cards, and just read them to each other (we were young missionaries and had no money).

Happy New Year! Can you believe that the first month is already over? This is my first blog this year because we have been working on getting the new, amazing and totally scary-putting-myself-out-there website up. I hope you like it.