A couple weeks ago, in honor of Fire Prevention Week, our family developed and practiced our fire escape plan. Afterwards I had a blog message burning in my heart, but I didn’t tend to it and after much neglect it fizzled out. That’s ture of most things that burn in my heart; prayer, Bible study, writing, exercise… (Lesson One: an effective fire needs tending.)

Today I received an email from Todd Wilson (The Family Man. www.familymanweb.com) Okay, so if you know who Todd is, then you have already concluded that the email was for my husband. Todd sends out a weekly email to encourages dads and husbands. He has great stuff to say though and often it applies in my own life, so I signed my hubby up at work and I get it at home. Anyway…I digress…Today he shared the following message. He introduced it by saying that he had a man share a struggle with him, who felt like his friends had let him down. (Check out Todd’s website for the whole story.) Here’s the part that struck me:
It reminds me of a story about a man who happened to be driving by his buddy’s house late one night and noticed a flame flickering in an upstairs window.
Alarmed, he pulled into the driveway and pounded on the door to wake up his friend…but no one answered. Knowing that time was of the essence, the man got a good running start and hurled himself through the large plate glass window near the front door.
Cut and bleeding, he struggled up the stairs and kicked open his friend’s bedroom door only to find his friend and wife embraced in bed with a lit candle near the window.
Sadly…the story is made up, but the point is that this is the kind of friend I want to be…one that would pick embarrassment and possible error in order to save his friend from possible death.
That’s the kind of person my friend needed…we all need…and we all need to be.

I couldn’t agree with Todd more! (Lesson Two: When you see a flame, take action. Don’t wait!)

When I speak to groups about evangelism, I share the example that if we saw a burning building and knew it was empty, we wouldn’t think of running into that building. However, if we knew for certain that a small child was in that burning building, we’d most likely not think twice before running in. Friends and family who don’t know Jesus as their Savior are balancing precariously on the edge of eternity in Hell. Hot! HOt! HOT! (Lesson Three: Don’t think twice about telling your loved ones about Jesus!)

So, here’s the final analogy that’s burned in my heart since our family fire drill. After running our three children through the drill and quizzing them on all the “what-ifs,” we had them safely tucked in their beds for the night. I moved to the couch with “Writing The Breakout Novel” in tow. (That’s another blog. ) That’s when I discovered my 10-year-old’s handwritten fire plan laying on the couch. Here’s what it said:
1. Meeting Place: basketball hoop
2. House we use Phone: Hanson’s or Handlogten’s
3. One thing to quickly grab (if time): Kadi: Ta-ta Mommy: Bible
4. Things to consider: Make sure boys are safe
Stay calm
Stop, drop, and role (Note to Me: add homonyms to spelling list)
Feel door
Put blankets in cracks
Use anything to break window
TRUST GOD

Kadi had a great point #5, but I didn’t get that far. TRUST GOD really got me. Of course, I spent a few minutes chastising myself for not thinking to include that tip in my own fire plan. Then it occurred to my that TRUST GOD is the most important point in any fire escape plan. Of course, in a physical fire we need to TRUST GOD. Additionally, many people refer to accepting Christ as a type of eternal fire insurance…and when we accept Christ’s gift of salvation we must surely …(Lesson Four: Trust God).

How much time have you spent on your fire plan? It’s kind of like flying…you have to save yourself from the fire before you can help anyone else. Then, if you’ve taken the sprititual steps to insure your safety, you need to leap in and take action in the lives of those you love. And finally, when God sparks a passion in your heart for Him, don’t let it die of neglect.

May any BURNING we do…be for Christ!

Have you ever greeted someone enthusiastically, only to discover they weren’t who you thought they were? We had a bit of an adventure at the Tiede house today that looked a bit like that kind of scenario.

This afternoon I was chatting on the phone with a friend when I noticed a woman with long blonde hair running across my front lawn. Strange. I paid little attention to her, as I assumed she was on a mission of some sort and didn’t seem to be stopping at my house.

I continued to gab on the phone. Suddenly, the blonde woman’s head appeared in the window that faces my backyard. I shrieked and announced that I’d be calling my friend back later.

Apparently Blondie lost her cat…under my enclosed deck. Now, we’ve had plenty of bunnies make their home under my deck (for the record…more come out than usually go in!), but never a cat to my knowledge. Blondie and her 2 pre-teen children came well-prepared. They had three bags of Kitty Treats, and a funky furry thing on the end of a stick. (Supposedly this was “Panda’s” favorite toy.)

Long story…short…we spent a full hour trying to get Panda coaxed out from under my deck. We pulled out tuna, felt under the deck with a yardstick, squirted water through the cracks of the deck, flipped on a laser pointer for her to chase… you name it, we tried it. I even stopped the pursuit for 30 minutes to tutor. I returned to the deck, under which Panda was determined to set up permanent residency, to find Blondie missing. Her stocking-footed children (mind you…this IS Minnesota and it’s nippy out there already) were still guarding the cracks in the deck, should Panda decide to evacuate.

That’s when Blondie returned looking like the cat who swallowed the canary. She had run home to get shoes for her kids. When she stopped to answer the phone, she walked past Panda napping on the floor. Yep. We had a cat under our deck. The other family had followed him and we all saw his/her beadie little eyes. However, our resident cat is NOT Panda. Clearly a case of mistaken identity.

We’ve left the tuna for our feline friend and are hoping he’s able to get helpf or the PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) that we very likely caused. Truly, we were only trying to help.

I have come to the conclusion that blogging is like exercise for me. I do well as long as I keep up the momentum. However, if I come up with an excuse not to get it done for a few days… well…there’s no telling when I might get started again. So, this is my effort to climb back on the bike and start free-wheelin’ again.

Here’s the update on life…

1. I learned that one of my stories/devotions will be published in “A Cup of Comfort for Mothers,” which was compiled by Janette Littleton for Adams Media. I’m not certain yet when that will be released. I’ll get back to ya!

2. In the last two weeks, I’ve also written two stories (Mike’s and Mine) for a book by Charlotte Holt called “Trusting Him for Life After Divorce.” We are praying with Charlotte that this book will be picked up by a publisher.

3. Calebism: When told that Mommy (me) had lost all patience with Caleb (age 4), he calmly replied, “Oh, I wonder how many patients Daddy had today.” (Daddy is a child psychologist at Mayo clinic and every night at dinner Caleb asks how many patients he saw that day. It’s all we can get out of Daddy.)

4. I’ve been doing some serious research for the novel I wrote this summer, Small Town Sin. I’ve ravished some great Christian fiction in my genre (this weekend’s read: Straight Up by Lisa Samson. Wow!). I’ve also been plowing through Donald Maass’ book “Writing the Breakout Novel.” Oh, my…. I am dying to get my hands back on STS and start creating some new layers to it. My fingers are itching!

5. A little over a week ago I spoke for a women’s retreat. Can we say amazing?! I had a fabulous time with the women, and if they were half as charged as I was, then God was glorified by the weekend and my job was done! Can’t wait to do another one.

6. This weekend I’m teaching Baby Signs again. I do this about 6-10 times a year and am going on my 6th year. (Can that be right????) It’s a ton of fun to teach parents of hearing babies how to use sign language with their little ones. Love it!

That’s a sneak peek into my last few weeks. I’m back in gear…I think…so there should be another blog soon. Now if I can only get up with my alarm at 6:20 a.m. to exercise.

It’s been a few days since I’ve blogged, yet I’ve had several possible blog titles come to mind in the last few weeks. So here’s a Reader’s Digest version of what might have been…

Paul Bunyan
Our four year old came home from Awana and announced that his Cubbies class “studied Paul. Not Paul Bunyan. Just Paul. You know…he crash-ed (two syllables) three times and got lock-ed in jail.”
There you have it. The entire ministry of an amazing apostle, summed up by a preschooler. The kicker is, I think Caleb was a bit disappointed they didn’t discuss Paul Bunyan since that’s who he intends to dress as for Halloween this year.
Even with my best effort, I could never do what Paul. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time grasping all that God accomplished through him, during his lifetime. The Apostle Paul and Paul Bunyan actually had a lot in common. They both did BIG things.
“Here I am, God! Use me to do BIG things for You.”

Chutes and Ladders
Last week I learned that the third publishing house said “no” to the Parenting on Your Knees Series. Apparently they had not received the “new and improved” version of the proposal, so they were working from the original that was written last October. The good news is they have agreed to take a look at the new proposal. My agent has agreed to send the proposal to a few other places as well.
I’m discovering that the publishing world is much like the children’s game Chutes and Ladders. You plod along the board, slow and steady. Then you get a lucky break and land on a ladder that sends you up the board, skipping steps in between. Unfortunately, with no warning you may also land on a chute that finds you zipping back down to square one.
Isn’t that just like life as a Christian though? You know that if you just keep playing the game, following the rules, and being a good sport, you’ll make it to the top eventually, dispite a few inevitable setbacks. Nevertheless, God is faithful and we have only to trust Him and do the next thing.

2 Corinthians 4:7-18
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Last night we had a little excitement at the Tiede Household. At 3:15 I awoke with the distinct feeling that something was amiss. I pushed myself to my elbows and spotted my husband, Mike, getting clothes on. When I asked him what was wrong, he whispered that he was sure someone was in our basement!

Hello! Let me tell you, my heart was instantly in my throat and I was out of that saggy bed so fast that records were set. Apparently, Mike woke up to the sound of pounding music, “Rock This Town” by the Stray Cats, to be exact. He meandered downstairs to the main floor of the house and was peeking out the windows to see who on earth was having a wild party on a Monday night. None of the usual suspects were guilty. Then he woke up enough to realize the music was coming from our very own basement. Under the closed door he could see that the lights were on as well. That’s when he came back upstairs to get real clothes on.

I followed him back to the main floor, checking doors and windows along the way. Everything seemed to be locked up tight and I couldn’t fathom how anyone could have gotten into our home. However, we were both very clear on the fact that when we went to bed at 11 there was NO music playing. No…playing isn’t an adequate description. We are talking about wall-shaking, floor-pounding, head-throbbing music here! The only thing louder in my ears was the ka-booming of my heart.

I armed my fierce protector with a butcher knife and we opened the door to the basement.
We’re gonna rock this town, rock it inside out (What are we doing, going down here??)
We’re gonna rock this town, make ‘m scream and shout (If we scream, no one will hear us)
Let’s rock, rock, rock man rock, rock (I think I’ll wait up here, you go ahead, Honey.)
We’re gonna rock till we pop, We’re gonna roll till we drop (My heart is gonna pop out of my chest any second now.)
We’re gonna rock this town, rock it inside out (Oh, Rock of my Soul, I hope you’re here to help!)

As soon as Mike hit the bottom step the music stopped and I nearly wet my pants. “What happened?” I hissed.

Mike had flipped off the school room light and instantly the music stopped. After a quick inspection, we figured out that the music was coming from one of the kid’s computers. The boys had been playing Ben’s “Cars” game from Pixar and left the computer on. Now, it remains a mystery how the music came on at 3 a.m. The boys hadn’t played the game in nearly 18 hours and it had been quiet since then. Hmmm…if anyone has great ideas about how this might have happened, do let us know.

Our newest computer has subwoofers attached to the speakers, which only added to the incredible…terrifying noise from the basement.

Of course, we performed a quick inspection of the basement, shut down the computer, and headed back to bed. My female readers will not be surprised that Mike went right back to sleep. EXCUSE ME?? Yes, I tossed, turned, fretted, and stewed for another hour. I heard every creak, groan, and spring squeak in the house.

As I listened to Mike’s rhythmic breathing, my heart rate eventually slowed to normal, and I let myself crawl into Jesus’ arms (not Mike’s – he was sleeping) and thank Him for keeping us safe. It was in his embrace that I eventually drifted off to sleep… “Come to Me, and I will give you rest.”