Picker Point
  • Spiritual

  • December15th

    Needing More Than Coffee?

    Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Parenthood, Spiritual, Work Life

    So, I now know that I am a grown-up because … brace yourselves … I have begun drinking coffee! Not just drinking coffee, but craving coffee, thinking about drinking coffee. I am 27 years old and have never liked coffee before. I think most people are driven to coffee in college, but not me; Coca-Cola was enough for me in college. I have now, finally, this late in the game, been driven to coffee by MY TWO-YEAR-OLD!!

    To put it mildly, the last few weeks have been kind of tough. The Terrible Twos are definitely upon us. And before you (Momma) get defensive about the two-year-olds in your life, let me say, I love my two-year-old passionately; two is adorable, hilarious, and exciting, but it is also kicking my tail! I fall in bed mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted every night, and every morning I feel about the same. Perhaps everything seems a little worse right now because my free, always-available babysitter (my momma) left town for nearly two weeks, but nonetheless two is extremely challenging.

    And I have to say that I’ve been pretty disappointed with myself lately. No one likes to see themselves yelling at their two-year-old, and every night I lay in bed with that one major meltdown of the day still weighing heavy on my heart. And I feel embarrassed. I hate for God to see that; I always want to show God my best, and I hate for Him to realize that I am a yeller, that I can, on occasion, lose my temper with a two-year-old child … my two-year-old child … the one He gave me to love and protect.

    It’s easy to want to blame the circumstances. “Well, my child is particularly difficult … It’s not really my fault; the situation was unfair … If he weren’t so heavy, so hard to carry, so difficult to manage … If I weren’t so tired … If he would just hold still …” But I’m reminded of an analogy C.S. Lewis once used. If you go in the cellar in the dark and flip the light on, you may see all of the rats and bugs scurrying away. You can’t blame the light and say, “Well, if there had been more warning, there wouldn’t have been any rats … If I hadn’t switched on the light so quickly …” The truth is that the rats were scurrying away because they were in the cellar, not because the light was switched on. And the truth is, that yes, I can behave better in easier circumstances, but the reason I lose my temper is not because Caleb has misbehaved, but because I already have that sin in my heart. Who I am in the most trying circumstances, is, perhaps, who I really am. It’s not about the yelling or the anger and frustration, it’s about the ugliness that is and has always been in my heart.

    I had breakfast with my dad this week, and something he said (I can’t remember it exactly, I had a toddler crawling on me at the time) eventually led me to this thought: God is not surprised by my sin; it never shocks Him. He, of course, already knew it was there, and perhaps, just perhaps, He allows me to lose it in these situations so that I can see what He has seen all along. And no, of course He doesn’t like my sin; He wants to get rid of it. But I have to recognize it for what it is before He can heal me. I have to see the ugly, dirtiness of my heart before He can clean it. I’ve prayed many times from Psalm 139, “Search me, O God, and know my heart!” I guess I wasn’t really prepared for what that would look like.

    But I have been so comforted by the birth of Christ this Christmas because it is such a beautiful picture of what God is willing to do for us. You see, God is not scared of dirtiness and ugliness. He embraces it. When Jesus, God Himself, God With Us, was born, He didn’t choose to be born in a beautiful hotel suite or even a modern, sterile hospital, He chose a dirty, ugly stable. A stable with cow manure and mud, a stable that was cold and dark . . . just like my heart. But Jesus moved in there, and the beautiful thing about Jesus is that when He dwells in the ugliest, dirtiest of places, He makes them holy. He shines His overpowering grace and truth on the dark places, and suddenly they are not dirty or ugly anymore, they are beautiful. He can turn a dirty, ugly stable into a Holy Temple where worshipers gather, and He can turn my dirty, ugly heart into a dwelling place for the King of Kings.

    Last night I was searching my Bible, needing something more than coffee to sustain me, and I found this verse in Philippians, already underlined and starred: “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). What a great relief that God is the one doing a good work in me, not me fixing myself, and it is a work which He intends to complete. Which reminds me of one of my favorite verses, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).

    And perhaps that is one of the greatest Christmas presents of all … my heart that God is continually renewing and softening and the work in me that He will complete at the day of Christ. Glory to God in the Highest and Merry Christmas!

  • October8th

    Fireproof

    Author: Casey | Posted in: Home Life & Family, Spiritual

    Last night, Mary Beth and I saw the movie Fireproof, which was filmed by the same people who did Facing the Giants. I wasn’t a huge fan of Facing the Giants (I thought the message was good, but the acting was bad), so I was a little skeptical about this movie before I saw it.

    The first 15 minutes of the movie confirmed my suspicions with bad acting and cheesy lines, but after that it started to get really good. The basic storyline is about a couple whose marriage is crumbling and they have “fallen out of love.” The husband, played by Kirk Cameron, gets advice from his father about what to do save his broken marriage. He then proceeds to follow that advice, even though the feelings of love are gone.

    I won’t spoil the movie for anyone, but I think every couple should go see this movie. Whether your marriage is struggling or maybe just a little stagnant, I really believe that every marriage can benefit from seeing this movie.

    So, husbands, take your wives out on a date this week and go see this movie. You will not be disappointed.

  • September3rd

    Big News . . .

    Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Adoption, Home Life & Family, Spiritual

    Prayer MagnetWe’ve been waiting for weeks to share our big news, and the time has finally come. After tons of prayer and thought, and sharing and praying with the people closest to us, we have decided to adopt a baby boy from Ethiopia.

    Ever since I went with my parents to adopt my little sister from Romania when I was eighteen, I have known that I wanted to adopt someday. When we visited the baby orphanage in Romania I was overwhelmed by the rooms full of babies, rocking themselves because there was no one to rock them. Many of them no longer cried, because they knew no one would answer. It breaks my heart to know that my little sister was once one of those babies. At the older orphanage, the children ran to us the moment they saw us; the littlest ones climbed into my arms, clung to my legs, and called me “Momma.” I have never forgotten this. It is staggering to realize that there are over 143 million orphans in the world just like this.

    We know that God has a heart for the fatherless; His word is full of instruction to care for the abandoned. In Deuteronomy, He continually reminds His people to provide food for the fatherless; Psalm 82 says, “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the weak and needy . . .” and James tells us that “pure and undefiled” religion is to care for the widows and orphans. We have felt God tug at our hearts, and we are finally answering.

    Since we have decided to adopt from Ethiopia, we have been overwhelmed by the incredible need we see there. In 2005, the Federal Ministry of Health reported that Ethiopia has 4.8 million orphans. These children have lost their parents because of sickness and disease and because of the terrible famine that Ethiopia has suffered for so many years. Our adoption agency estimates that in Ethiopia three out of four people do not have enough to eat. It is overwhelming to think of how easily we could change a child’s life simply by bringing him into our home and giving him three meals a day.

    Of course, we believe that we have much more to offer a child than proper nutrition. Our primary goal in raising this child, just as it is as we raise our son, Caleb, will be to share with him the love of Christ and to help him grow into a faithful man of God. We believe that one of the greatest resources we have to share with our new child will be our beautiful family and friends. Can you imagine the overwhelming love and joy that are waiting to greet this lonely child? It can only be compared to the overflowing grace and mercy that, because of Christ’s love and sacrifice, surround us, who were also once so lonely. In fact, we believe that there is no better metaphor for the gospel of Christ than adoption. When we had absolutely nothing to offer Him, Christ gave up everything to bring us into His family. As Ephesians reminds us, through Jesus Christ, God has adopted each of us as His sons.

    Please pray for us as we begin this process. We are told that it will probably take 12-18 months for us to get our baby boy, and we will be traveling to Ethiopia to get him at that time. Pray for safety and health for our little boy, who is probably not even born yet. And please pray for Ethiopia; there is so much suffering there, and our hearts have been burdened by their pain.

    We will have so much more to share as we travel this journey, so expect many more posts to come. We thank God that we have such wonderful friends to share our news with.

  • August24th

    Family Day: Obedience

    Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Home Life & Family, Parenthood, Spiritual

    We’ve been having a little trouble with obedience here at the Picker house, so I was inspired by Andrea and Elijah to have a special family day to learn more about obedience. I felt a little overwhelmed by the idea at first, but once I started it was really easy to plan activities that emphasized obedience. I only spent about twenty minutes brain storming the night before.

    Caleb and Daddy started the day by reading a book about cars and trucks and traffic rules. They talked about how even Mommy and Daddy have to obey rules when they drive the car. They talked about how there were rules about how fast to go and when to stop and that obeying the rules is what keeps us safe when we drive.

    Then after breakfast we played a game called “Mommy Says,” which is a lot like “Simon Says” only Mommy says it and there is no tricking. With a little help from Daddy, Caleb thought this was pretty fun. We then went on a drive to look for stop signs. We talked about how good Daddy was at obeying the rules when he drives and how it makes God happy when we obey.

    After Caleb’s nap, we tried a little obedience practice during snack time. I put three cookies on the table in front of him and said, “Caleb, Mommy wants you to eat this cookie first,” and I pointed to a cookie. Well, Caleb didn’t appreciate being told which cookie to eat, so after thinking about it for a minute he reached for that cookie and threw it on the ground! This exercise made it pretty clear that Caleb is strong-willed; he would rather not eat a cookie than eat the one that Mommy said to eat. This is something I will be praying for wisdom about.

    After the cookie incident, we moved out to the driveway. We drew with the sidewalk chalk, and Mommy and Daddy drew roads and stop signs to let Caleb practice driving his car and obeying the signs. Caleb thought this was pretty fun, but it bothered him that the stop signs were pink instead of red (we didn’t have any red chalk; do they even make that?). After driving the car for a while, we went to the back yard and played Red Light/Green Light. This was probably Caleb’s favorite game; he got all sweaty running back and forth.

    Later we read the story of the Battle of Jericho in Caleb’s Jesus Storybook Bible. We talked about how the Israelites had to obey God’s instructions exactly and how God protected them because they obeyed. We pretended to march around Jericho (the coffee table) and made as much noise as possible.

    For supper, Caleb helped Mommy make pancakes. We talked about how we had to obey the instructions in the recipe or the pancakes wouldn’t taste good. After supper, we finished our family day by watching the Veggie Tales Jonah movie. Caleb loved this so much that he cried when it was over. Veggie Tales are his new favorite, though he still loves Curious George. We talked about how sad it was that Jonah decided to disobey God and how he got in trouble for not obeying. I think Caleb understood this pretty well; this morning when I asked him about Jonah he said, “Jonah not obey.”

    We really had a fun family day. I hope we can try to do this again soon, maybe monthly. I know that Caleb really enjoyed all the special attention and games, and we felt good that we were all having fun while teaching something very important. I don’t know if this will help with Caleb’s obedience or not, but it has certainly given us more opportunities to talk about obeying.

    See more pictures from our family day.

  • August13th

    Encore

    Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Home Life & Family, Spiritual

    An encore for all of Caleb’s fans. Yep, he’s still singing.

    Watch the Video

  • April21st

    Day 4: Oxford

    Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Literature, Spiritual, Travel

    On Saturday, we took a one hour train ride from London to Oxford. The trains in England were so convenient and turned out to be a wonderful way to travel around the country. I wish we had such a good rail system back here in the U.S.

    Our day in Oxford was our favorite day of the whole trip. We met Mr. Ron Brind, of C.S. Lewis Tours, and he drove us through town showing us the places where C.S. Lewis taught and lived. I have been a fan of C.S. Lewis almost all my life. I remember when my parents gave me a copy of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe for my seventh birthday. Later, when I was sixteen, my dad gave me a copy of Mere Christianity. From that point on, I have had the greatest respect for Lewis as a Christian thinker and writer. Sometime when I was a teenager, my dad read The Great Divorce aloud to our whole family; it provided us with a lot of opportunity to think and talk about our faith. When I was a junior in college, I took an English course on C.S. Lewis. I still think it was the best course I took throughout my college career. We read most of Lewis’s works during that semester, and I also reread all of the Chronicles of Narnia as I was taking the course, so for about four months my life was saturated with C.S. Lewis. It was a great semester.

    Mr. Brind is a native of Oxford and was childhood pals with Douglas Gresham, after Douglas’s mother, Joy Gresham, married C.S. Lewis. Mr. Brind is devoting his life to raising “Lewis Awareness” in Britain. He confessed to us that Lewis is much more popular in America than he is in Great Britain. Mr. Brind hopes to correct that; he is also working to see that Lewis gets the acknowledgment in Oxford that he deserves.

    We started our tour of Oxford at the Randolph Hotel. Mr. Brind told us that Lewis often met with friends at the bar in this hotel, and the “Tea Scene” from the Anthony Hopkins version of Shadowlands was filmed inside the hotel. We then drove by University College where Lewis attended as a student, Keble College where he was stationed for Army training, and Magdalen College where he taught for nearly thirty years. We also saw a house in Oxford where J.R.R. Tolkien lived and the hospital where Lewis and Joy Gresham’s marriage was blessed.

    One of our favorite parts of the tour was visiting Holy Trinity Church where Lewis and his brother Warnie, and later his wife Joy, attended. Lewis and Warnie are buried in the church graveyard. We were able to sit in Lewis’s pew, where there is a plaque acknowledging him. It was truly a wonderful experience to visit the church where Lewis worshipped for so many years.

    We then were taken to “The Kilns,” where Lewis lived. Most Americans refer to Lewis’s house as “The Kilns,” but our knowledgeable tour guide, Mr. Brind, informed us that it is actually the plot of land that Lewis’s house and the surrounding houses stand on that is called “The Kilns.” We got to wander around the woods and lake where Lewis walked and swam, and then we were able to tour the house. Currently the house is owned by the C.S. Lewis Foundation out of California; they allow students to live in the house during the school year and use it during the summer for conferences. While we were very thankful to be able to tour the house and to see the rooms that Lewis used, we were a little disappointed that the house is not more like a museum and less like a dormitory.

    We ended our tour at The Eagle and Child Pub, where Lewis met weekly with the other Inklings, a discussion group which included J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson. They met in what was then the back room of the pub, nicknamed “The Rabbit Room.” The pub has been extended since that time, but “The Rabbit Room” is still intact and there are pictures and signs commemorating its use by the Inklings. We ate a traditional English lunch in the pub, “bangers and mash,” and thoroughly enjoyed our time there. The pub was extremely crowded and there were rowdy college students surrounding us, but it felt completely appropriate that we were ending our C.S. Lewis tour in one of his favorite spots, where he was no doubt often jostled by riotous college students.

    After lunch we explored Oxford a bit, before catching our train back to London. We spent the evening at St. Martin’s Theatre, where we saw the famous play by Agatha Christie, The Mousetrap. And yes, we know who did it, but we are sworn to secrecy.

    See Pictures from Oxford

  • December18th

    Wake Up, Momma!

    Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Home Life & Family, Parenthood, Spiritual

    Caleb2I woke up the other morning to find that a toddler has moved into our house! One night I put my sweet baby to bed, and he woke up the next day a very active and very independent little boy. It really happened so fast. It seems like it was just the other day that we were teaching him to play patty cake, and now he’s climbing on the coffee table, turning on his own DVD’s, and rolling his eyes when I give him instructions (I’m not kidding)! He is still, of course, a very sweet little boy, but he has the energy of a pack of monkeys.

    So . . . I’ve been reading a lot of parenting books lately, some good, some not so good. I’m realizing that this is not easy and that it is a full-time job. I can’t just raise this kid on the side while I pursue other interests. He has made it clear that this is going to take everything I have.

    This is the greatest responsibility that God has ever given me. I’m not just supposed to feed and clothe this child for the next eighteen years, and I’m not just supposed to teach him to be a nice guy. Somehow I have to teach this little boy to love the LORD with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, to submit his strong will to the God that created it, and to use the days of his life to serve the King of Kings. Wow, what an overwhelming task! It is something that I want to take seriously because I realize that, even now, the clock is ticking; a time is coming when I will no longer have the influence over this little soul that I have today.

    So . . . I have been and will be saying a lot of prayers. I’m asking God to bless Casey and me with wisdom, to bless our little boy with a soft, tender heart, a heart that is turned toward Him, and to give us the energy and patience to fulfill this task in a way that glorifies Him.

  • November25th

    Thanksgiving 2007

    Author: Casey | Posted in: Home Life & Family, Spiritual

    Thanksgiving TableThis year we stayed home for Thanksgiving and had dinner with Mary Beth’s family. We had such a wonderful time spending the day with family and laughing together. There was some amazing food, and even more amazing desserts!

    Mary Beth made a really neat centerpiece. She took a bare tree branch, cut out a bunch of multi-colored paper leaves, and we all wrote things we were thankful for and placed them on the tree. It was a very neat idea and I think everyone enjoyed it.

    Now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s time to start looking forward to Christmas. Our family went to go pick out our Christmas tree yesterday, and I’m sure I’ll put up the Christmas lights very soon. It’s also time to break out all of the Christmas music once again. What a wonderful time of year!

    Our family had a wonderful weekend, and we are thankful for many things. God has blessed us with so much more than we could have ever imagined. I pray that we can teach Caleb to have a thankful heart as he grows up. God loves it when we have an attitude of gratitude! I hope your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

    » See our Thanksgiving Photos

  • October18th

    Praying for Rain

    Author: Casey | Posted in: Random Thoughts, Spiritual

    This has been a hot, dry summer for those who live in the state of Georgia. My parents and sister live in the Atlanta area and have mentioned on several occasions just how little rain they have received this summer. Everyone in North Georgia has even been banned from watering their lawns since the beginning of September. Aside from being a little concerned about the health of my dad’s lawn, I haven’t worried too much about Georgia’s lack of rainfall.

    Last night on the news, Mary Beth and I saw that drastic measures are now being taken to try and conserve as much water as possible. Even after seeing this news, I wasn’t that worried about the people in Georgia. We now live in a day and age where drought doesn’t seem to affect our lives as much as in the past. We have all of the appropriate measures (reservoirs, water towers, etc) in place to store up water should a shortage occur. That’s why it never occurred to me to pray for rain.

    Mary Beth and I were talking last night and she shared with me that when she and Caleb prayed together that night, they prayed for rain in Atlanta. I thought it a little odd that of all the things to pray for, they prayed for rain. After thinking about this for a while, it struck me that for some of my ancestors, praying for rain was a daily ritual. Farmers understand this much better than the rest of us. Their livelihood depends on God to provide rain to water their crops.

    Thinking of all of this reminds me how much I depend on God for my daily existence. Whether I acknowledge it or not, God provides everything for me. Sometimes I think I shouldn’t trouble God about the little things in my life, but how wrong I am!

    Psalm 37:23
    The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.


    Just as I delight in every detail of my son, Caleb, God delights in our details. He just wants us to ask Him.

    By the way, the forecast for Atlanta today calls for rain…

  • June23rd

    Death, be not proud . . .

    Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Home Life & Family, Literature, Spiritual

    GranddadCasey’s granddad passed away this week. Some of you may remember the post that I wrote about him last year. We got to see him a few days before he died, and we are so glad that we made the trip.

    I’m reminded of John Donne’s Holy Sonnet X:

    Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
    Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so;
    For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow
    Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
    From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
    Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
    And soonest our best men with thee do go,
    Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
    Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
    And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
    And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
    And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
    One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
    And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

    -John Donne, 1633

    As our nephew said, “Don’t be sad Mommy; Granddad is in heaven.”

    “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’” Revelation 21:3-4

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