Of bannisters and gloves...

Two events in life will always bring a sense of wonderment and awe to how fearfully and wonderfully we are made. The first was experienced several years ago when my brother, Monte, and I decided to rent the house we were raised in for a family reunion in South Dakota. It is now a Hunting Lodge. All of us cousins went throughout the house together, remembering the laughter, the sorrow (my uncle died there of aortic cancer, I found him as he cried for help bleeding to death), the games of hide and seek, and the bedrooms so cold we could see our breath at night as we huddled beneath our flannel covers. Then it happened. I touched the bannister of the stairs as I was about to descend them...and it felt like yesterday. The touch in my fingers and brain were not at all aware it had been 35 years since I had touched the smooth wood...they knew the banister. They had been inseparable over the years, forever etched in my nerves and memory. And I was filled with awe...and still am.

The second happened on our way to Lookout Mountain. It was a cool morning and I asked Jonathan to grab my driving gloves from out of my purse. I had pulled them off of the closet shelf a couple of weeks ago, just in case I would want them in the cooler weather of Oklahoma. Jonathan dug around and pulled them out and said, eyes bright and dancing, "Grammie,... they smell like Grammie!" Sure enough, he put them up to my nose and we both smiled and laughed. It has been 7 years since we said good-bye to Grammie as she went home to the Lord, and our sense of smell remembered her on this small article of clothing. At Covenant, we made Katie close her eyes, and putting the gloves under her nose (she was apprehensive :0)!) she immediately said, "Grammie!" Grammie's aroma brought joy to our hearts and smiles to our lips. How marvelously our smell and brain worked to remember and recall our love for her just with a whiff of her aroma...her perfume.

I can't help to first praise God for how wonderfully He has made us...senses, memories, and emotions. And as I sit here, Bible open, I pray that my life will be one that is lived in such a way that when He touches me, He remembers my strong, quick response to His touch...just as my fingers remembered the faithful strength of the bannister. I pray that as I live my life here, I will live it in such a way that the aroma causes His eyes to brighten, His heart to dance and rejoice at the memories of how I lived life with Him.

May I be an aroma to the only Great God.

"To God our Savior, Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power
Both now and forever.
Amen!"

Good morning....

I'm eating my breakfast in the bright sunshine of Lookout Mountain, GA while Jonathan is surrounded in a "fishbowl" of professors at Covenant College, grilling the students in the middle circle in an effort to see who they want to reward with top scholarship opportunities in the fall's Freshman class. I sit in the calm, wooded home of Jane and Henry who so graciously host me when I am here, and pray for my son's ability and character in an intimidating atmosphere... and can't help but ask... how many more times in life will I have the privilege to pray for him in such a manner? Even as I sit here, I feel some tension of nervousness... in sympathy. The funny thing is, he is probably not at all nervous!! Yesterday when I asked him if he was at all anxious he said, "No....I trust that God will be true to give the scholarship to those who need and deserve it." Just as we have always said our desire is, to not stand in the way of someone's education who without the scholarship money would not be able to attend Covenant, Jonathan states his heart is there as well. But just the process is such good experience for life. The understanding that others will and do challenge your abilities, whether by their natural giftedness, or their perseverance and hard work. And one day, he will be praying for someone, maybe a son or friend, who is in a fishbowl of life...and he will know how to pray.

His time is up! Wonder how it went! I thank God for the many diverse experiences, tough and fun, that we have the privilege to savor...and may we savor them, not just live them !

(Phone rings) Oh, it's him! And guess what. He wasn't nervous... said it was "very different". Now is that an answer to my prayer, or just an easy going kid... which is also an answer to prayer (Sometimes!!! You moms know what I mean!).

Well, guess it is conclusive... an answer to prayer...and a forshadowing of God's faithfulness in the next two interviews, the tough ones to come!

Let me introduce to you...

...Pascaline!

Pascaline is my "French daughter"! She has come to live with us for 9 months. She arrived in August. She is doing an internship for her university at Voice of the Martyrs. It has been a delight to have her here. The only places in the US she had previously seen were Oklahoma and Houston, therefore, we decided we needed to get her to Denver for Christmas to see the Rockies. She liked what she saw! ;0) Here she and Katie are enjoying snowy Colorado!



We are learning so much from her. We are being encouraged to "press on" even harder as we learn first hand from her reactions and surprise to what she sees in the American church, a thing that we have often talked about... mediocrity in passion. In France, a relationship with God and all that it brings is so counter cultural, that when found, it is a true treasure. She is saddened that our passion in worship and serving does not reflect our treasure. Maybe I will have her guest log about it someday! What encouragement for us in Christ's family to stay the course where Christianity is not at this moment counter-cultural, though on it's way, to not be mediocre in our living for the Lord. The persecuted or alone Christian cultures have much to teach us... about dying for our belief, yes, but also about living in such a way that we do not find ourselves as well in a counter-culture or oppression of our belief in Christ... a half-hearted service or worship. May passionate, service minded lovers of God come against the mediocrity of God's church... that we may be "in whom I am well-pleased."

Thanks to Pascaline for again reminding us what we have, and stand to lose...

It's been a another year...

I could have wished you a blessed Christmas... from sunny and snowy and snowing... Colorado! But, I was too slow! We spent it with Becky in Littleton, and though we missed Ryan, we had the fun of visiting with him an hour by web cam/phone! We had not seen him since August, except in a few pictures, and it was fun watching him as he peeled carrots for Christmas dinner. I just couldn't hug him! We showed him the lights on Becky's tree that Jonathan had put on... many on the bottom, few on the top... our "bottom heavy light" tree, and he his apartment living room. It was a joy! We look forward to having Christmas in July with him.

Life has gone so fast in 2007, and 2008 will bring so many changes...an empty nest, finding anew those things in which God wants me involved, having my own freedom for the first time in, ahh, 26 years. Marriage and parenthood changed my life in a drastic way and I would trade it not, but this new freedom is rather beckoning and exciting. Ah, exciting life! And this is nothing compared to my real home, heaven. Now, there will be real life! And, as you have heard before, I am looking forward to it, even longing for it, but not at the expense of frittering away the life I have been asked to live here...as a tool in a good, good God's hand.

I loved the thought given to us by Becky's pastor on Christmas Sunday...that Mary, Jesus' mother, as a member of the first church, WORSHIPPED HER SON! I'd always known she believed, but never thought of the depth, or the unnaturalness of it all! Yes, this baby grew up without sin, and that had to be life altering for a mom, but totally subordinate to a son? Worshipping him? (Sorry, Jon and Ryan, you are wonderful sons, but not worship material! The delight to my heart is you know it! Love you both!) Even as a family grows older together, Mom and Dad usually have the edge on wisdom of experience and living, let alone what they may have learned in their faith along the way! And to my great joy and humility, I have found God to be faithful to teach me from His Word, without the schooling my children have had the privilege to gain. As a matter of fact, it is a delight to my soul that what God has revealed to me in His Word... is really no different that what they are concluding in their strong education... it's just that I am more restricted to communicate it in less intellectual ways...in vocabulary and in philosophical ideas or terms. Indeed, I'm limited in terminology to communicate to you who this Jesus is to me, what He has done for me, and what He has revealed to me... and all of it is a very good thing. I don't have the potential traps set by intellect (though I love learning and listening to such conversations, and participate and learn), and I do use the simplicity of understanding what is most important... that Christ died on the cross and I am saved from my sin by simply believing He did so. That I am a daughter now of the Great King, and He will take me home someday, but in the meantime... gives me life abundantly, even amongst the junk of it all! That there are those in this world who do not believe and they too will live eternally... separated from God. Which brings me back to Mary...she realized her son was The Son... as simple as that. She watched Him die, she saw Him raised, she heard of His ascension... she believed. Therefore she worshipped.

May I worship the Son in 2008 as never before... He my husband, my companion, the protector of my gone away children! May I never be hesitant to jump into life for HIm!

Ahh... the next holiday is Easter, my favorite of all, because,

Christmas began what Easter completed!
... the salvation of our eternal soul!

Life is good! Have a blessed New Year!

Remembering....with thanks!!

This is so well said. It took me back to hearing David's diagnosis of brain cancer and later sitting by his bed as I wondered when relief would come for him in the form of our Lord taking Him home, and we here would find relief as well from watching a loved one loose his strength, mental capacity and personality...the drying up of his physical body. We found it true that those who have a personal relationship with God, receiving His gift by faith of dying on the cross, grieve differently. How grateful I am that Tony Snow has that same relationship and release. God is in control, and that frees us to LIVE...and live it exuberently and with focus... with "no regrets". What a blessing it is to rest in a loving, good God's hands...in all circumstances!!!





This is an outstanding testimony from Tony Snow, President Bush's Press Secretary, and his fight with cancer. Commentator and broadcaster Tony Snow announced that he had colon cancer in 2005. Following surgery and chemo-therapy, Snow joined the Bush Administration in April 2006 as press secretary. Unfortunately, on March 23, 2007, Snow, 51, a husband and father of three, announced the cancer had recurred, with tumors found in his abdomen, leading to surgery in April, followed by more chemotherapy. Snow went back to work in the White House Briefing Room on May 30, but has resigned since, "for economic reasons," and to pursue " other interests."

It needs little intro... it speaks for itself.

"Blessings arrive in unexpected packages, - in my case, cancer. Those
of us with potentially fatal diseases - and there are millions in
America today - find ourselves in the odd position of coping with our
mortality while trying to fathom God's will. Although it would be the
height of presumption to declare with confidence "What It All Means,"
Scripture provides powerful hints and consolations.

The first is that we shouldn't spend too much time trying to answer
the "why" questions: Why me? Why must people suffer? Why can't someone
else get sick? We can't answer such things, and the questions
themselves often are designed more to express our anguish than to
solicit an answer. I don't know why I have cancer, and I don't much care. It is what it is, a plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a
mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our
maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen. We
are imperfect. Our bodies give out.

But despite this, - or because of it, - God offers the possibility of
salvation and grace. We don't know how the narrative of our lives will
end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the
moment we meet our Creator face-to-face.

Second, we need to get past the anxiety. The mere thought of dying can
send adrenaline flooding through your system. A dizzy, unfocused panic
seizes you. Your heart thumps; your head swims. You think of
nothingness and swoon. You fear partings; you worry about the impact
on family and friends. You fidget and get nowhere.

To regain footing, remember that we were born not into death, but into
life,- and that the journey continues after we have finished our days
on this earth. We accept this on faith, but that faith is nourished by
a conviction that stirs even within many non believing hearts - an
intuition that the gift of life, once given, cannot be taken away.
Those who have been stricken enjoy the special privilege of being able
to fight with their might, main, and faith to live fully, richly,
exuberantly - no matter how their days may be numbered.

Third, we can open our eyes and hearts. God relishes surprise. We want
lives of simple, predictable ease,- smooth, even trails as far as the
eye can see, - but God likes to go off-road. He provokes us with
twists and turns. He places us in predicaments that seem to defy our
endurance; and comprehension - and yet don't. By His love and grace,
we persevere. The challenges that make our hearts leap and stomachs
churn invariably strengthen our faith and grant measures of wisdom and
joy we would not experience otherwise.

'You Have Been Called'. Picture yourself in a hospital bed. The fog
of anesthesia has begun to wear away. A doctor stands at your feet, a
loved one holds your hand at the side. "It's cancer," the healer
announces.

The natural reaction is to turn to God and ask him to serve as a
cosmic Santa. "Dear God, make it all go away. Make everything
simpler." But another voice whispers: "You have been called." Your
quandary has drawn you closer to God, closer to those you love, closer
to the issues that matter,- and has dragged into insignificance the
banal concerns that occupy our "normal time."

There's another kind of response, although usually short-lived an
inexplicable shudder of excitement, as if a clarifying moment of
calamity has swept away everything trivial and tiny, and placed before
us the challenge of important questions.

The moment you enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death, things change.
You discover that Christianity is not something doughy, passive,
pious, and soft. Faith may be the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen. But it also draws you into a world shorn
of fearful caution. The life of belief teems with thrills, boldness,
danger, shocks, reversals, triumphs, and epiphanies. Think of Paul,
traipsing through the known world and contemplating trips to what must
have seemed the antipodes ( Spain ), shaking the dust from his
sandals, worrying not about the morrow, but only about the moment.

There's nothing wilder than a life of humble virtue, - for it is
through selflessness and service that God wrings from our bodies and
spirits the most we ever could give, the most we ever could offer, and
the most we ever could do.

Finally, we can let love change everything. When Jesus was faced with
the prospect of crucifixion, he grieved not for himself, but for us.
He cried for Jerusalem before entering the holy city. From the Cross,
he took on the cumulative burden of human sin and weakness, and begged
for forgiveness on our behalf.

We get repeated chances to learn that life is not about us, that we
acquire purpose and satisfaction by sharing in God's love for others.
Sickness gets us part way there. It reminds us of our limitations and
dependence. But it also gives us a chance to serve the healthy. A
minister friend of mine observes that people suffering grave
afflictions often acquire the faith of two people, while loved ones
accept the burden of two peoples' worries and fears.

'Learning How to Live'. Most of us have watched friends as they
drifted toward God's arms, not with resignation, but with peace and
hope. In so doing, they have taught us not how to die, but how to
live. They have emulated Christ by transmitting the power and
authority of love.

I sat by my best friend's bedside a few years ago as a wasting cancer
took him away. He kept at his table a worn Bible and a 1928 edition of
the Book of Common Prayer. A shattering grief disabled his family,
many of his old friends, and at least one priest. Here was an humble
and very good guy, someone who apologized when he winced with pain
because he thought it made his guest uncomfortable. He retained his
equanimity and good humor literally until his last conscious moment.
"I'm going to try to beat [this cancer]," he told me several months
before he died. "But if I don't, I'll see you on the other side."

His gift was to remind everyone around him that even though God
doesn't promise us tomorrow, he does promise us eternity, - filled
with life and love we cannot comprehend, - and that one can in the
throes of sickness point the rest of us toward timeless truths that
will help us weather future storms.

Through such trials, God bids us to choose: Do we believe, or do we
not? Will we be bold enough to love, daring enough to serve, humble
enough to submit, and strong enough to acknowledge our limitations?
Can we surrender our concern in things that don't matter so that we
might devote our remaining days to things that do?

When our faith flags, he throws reminders in our way. Think of the
prayer warriors in our midst. They change things, and those of us who
have been on the receiving end of their petitions and intercessions
know it. It is hard to describe, but there are times when suddenly the
hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and you feel a surge of the
Spirit. Somehow you just know: Others have chosen, when talking to the
Author of all creation, to lift us up, - to speak of us!

This is love of a very special order. But so is the ability to sit
back and appreciate the wonder of every created thing. The mere
thought of death somehow makes every blessing vivid, every happiness
more luminous and intense. We may not know how our contest with
sickness will end, but we have felt the ineluctable touch of God.

What is man that Thou art mindful of him? We don't know much, but we
know this: No matter where we are, no matter what we do, no matter how
bleak or frightening our prospects, each and every one of us who
believe, each and every day, lies in the same safe and impregnable
place, in the hollow of God's hand." T. Snow

Ahh, nothing like a....

...good tackle!

Friday night I watched my dear son sweat and grunt through a football game. I had struggled with driving so far alone, especially since it was threatening to rain, but I took my caffeine, tuned in my classic 60-70's rock to keep me awake and drove. I got there at half-time. The boys were ahead, but the affirmation of my efforts to support my dear Jonathan came in a gift from God wrapped as a "picture perfect" tackle right in front of me, as I strained to see everything from my chair. The tackler? No one other that my big son, Jon!! I shouted, "That's a way, Jon", and the smile I got from behind that helmet grill will forever be etched in my mind. Broad, handsome, and delighted...a communication between mom and son alone! To think I could have decided not to drive and miss one of the most special moments in life...

Have I said how much I love that guy? God, thank you for the privilege of being his biggest fan...

Ahh, there is simply nothing like a good tackle... and a knowing smile between mom and son...

Fall is coming...again!

...and I'm glad to be home for awhile!!

Kids are off to their destinations and now I can be home to get many things done that have been screaming for attention and ignored!

It's been awhile since I have felt like I have more energy to give... not so burned out. I'm enrolled in a month's long flower arrangement class and will do a holiday one in November as well. I'm doing the Bible study at church and a leadership study. Jonathan's football season is in full swing and I want to get to Denver to see Becky and Covenant to see Katie...

...How I love life!!!

Life is at high speed....

It's been an interesting spring... and summer. We have no shortage of rain. I cannot remember when it has rained everyday until the last week of July! Pictured is the flood that kept us an island for 4-5 days. it was pretty incredible.

Much traveling is getting done so that Ryan gets everywhere before he leaves. Tomorrow we leave to see my brother in Wisconsin. We so look forward to it. And, there is a trip to Denver to take Ryan up there and possible trip to Covenant to get Katie back to college. Poor Jonathan, he'll think I've forgotten to be his Mom!!

To think there is a day that none of us Believers will be separated and the wonders of this world will be uncorrupted and ready for many vacations with those we love. Ummm...

Guess I'd better hit the sack so I can drive tomorrow! I need my sleep!

Heaven...

I've been thinking about heaven lately. Lots. Many facets of my life have reminders for me that this is not my home... and that there is a goal for my living life on earth. I pray I run the race well. So, to keep my eyes on the goal that makes the hard things in life worth it, I decided to listen to Randy Alcorn's book, Heaven. I highly recommend reading it. It has been a great source of joy in support of what I have believed about our eternal dwelling, and also expands on what that could look like in greater detail. My finite mind has trouble grasping everything...I can imagine, but it falls far short of the reality of my new home.

You see, yesterday would have been my husbands 49th birthday. I miss him desperately at times. Three weeks ago I returned from Minnesota to see Ardith, my mother's cousin who is like an aunt to me, who is dying of pancreatic cancer. I have, in most probability, seen her for the last time on this earth. The day before I left to see her, I attended 2 memorials. One was for Benji Hawk, a student at Oklahoma Wesleyan University who loved his Lord whole-heartedly. He died a highly experienced skiier, on an intermediate slop, at a moderate rate of speed skiing with friends just before Christmas. (For a glimpse of this young man, check out the OkWU web-site and connect to the memorial link, or those of you who have facebook, try to locate his site.) The second one was for an 8 year old boy that died of an asthma attack. I have no guarantee that I will have a "safe" trip when I hop in the car to visit my kids...or go get groceries. I know that death is not a respecter of my plans. I do not fear death... though I am sometimes anxious of the process of my departing, and that I represent the One who has carried me through life, well in that process. I look forward to heaven...

In the meantime, I love here. It isn't the things I have, the place I live. It is those I love. My children... I love them desperately. The "children" they have brought me through their friendships at college and school. Those from my being "Mom away from home" for those at OWU... It is those I love who keep me here and loving it. Life is a privilege to accomplish the kingdom work. I want to live a life that will convince others that my heavenly mindedness is real. That there is a God whose Son died for their sin, and belief alone, the asking of forgiveness for that sin, is what gives each of us a personal relationship with Him. I do not want to be so heavenly minded in a self-focused way that I don't desire to see others join me in that eternal place. After all, this 70 to a 100 years of life is but a blink in time in light of eternity. It will be over very soon.

Eternity. Heaven. When the earth and heavens are made new, the beautiful creation as we know it (yes, Becky your Rockies, yes, Ryan and Katie, your Appalachians, and yes, Zippy, our South Dakota/Oklahoma/Nebraska prairie sunrises and sets) will be a pale representation of the heavenly. A new, unblemished creation without the effects of damaging weather and pollution will be ours to see. We will never run out of time to tour with our favorite tour guide... the Creator Himself... with those which we always wanted to spend more time. I expect that I will raise my arms, singing at the top of my lungs, surrounded by those I have sent on before me, tearfully expressing the joy of experiencing His eternal gift to me. And those I have loved, those grandparents or family that have gone before in faith that I did not know, will be expressing the same joy though they have been there 5-150 years... for their joy will have not faded from the day they came...ever new.

Heaven... "I can only imagine"... and will continue to do so until imagination is paled by reality.

When we ignore the red flags...

I was greatly challenged this week in thinking about David in II Samuel. I was listening to a teacher that mentioned that David made his own, devestating decisions, in spite of God's gentle, though not so subtle nudges to do what was right. One of the first of God's nudgings, though not so gentle, is through Abigail. Abigail pleads for David to not let his anger toward her husband bring stain (the murder of her husband) against one who is one day to be the king. David listened and was grateful for God's saving him from a regrettable action in anger, and for the one obedient to deliver it, Abigail. We also see David later listening to God's "red flag" through Joab. In Samuel 19, Joab confronts David in his grief over Absalom's death (the son who was trying to take over David's position as king), warning that those who have loved and served him faithfully would look upon David's grief and lack of gratefulness to them as a threat, alienating them from King David. David listened and spoke to his faithful with thanks.

However, there are other times that David didn't heed the "red flags" sent by the Lord. For instance, it is recorded that when kings went out to war, King David stayed home. As he was walking, his eyes saw a beautiful maid, Bathsheba, bathing on the rooftop. David inquired about her, asking her to be brought to him and we read, "And one said, 'Is this not the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?' " The nudge to jar his senses to not pursue sin is delivered. You know what he did. He sent for her anyway and lay with her. The results are sickening... an unwanted pregnancy, leading to an attempt to cover wrongdoing which failed, leading to premeditated murder. The punishment for his sin was almost unbeareable...he would be the King of War ( 2 Samuel 12:10), evil would rise up against him in his own household, as well as a companion laying with David's wives in broad day light (both fulfilled by his son Absalom) , and the final blow...Bathsheba's boy would die. There was not enough remorse, and David was very remorseful, to change God's discipline. I'm sure God wanted David to learn his lesson well, just as he wants me to learn my lessons when flirting with and choosing sin. One would think that we would never again see David choose other than what God says to do....

But, David makes a decision to number his soldiers and horses in chapter 24...and God has said not to... so that Israel would depend on their God and not their "resources". Joab again is used to deliver accountability to obedience , " Now may the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?" Joab, as respectfully as he could in approaching his King, his boss, is saying, "Don't do this... and embarass and bring shame on your country and kingship!" David follows his own wisdom, however, and sends Joab out to number his men, against the Lord's commands. Something different happens this time. David becomes aware of his wrongdoing without anyone having to confront him. As the numbers are coming in, he becomes remorseful and goes to God...troubled with his actions. God responds this time by giving David his choice of punishment...7 years of famine in the land, fleeing before foes for 3 months, or 3 days of pestilence throughout the nation. David chose the later...not wanting to "fall into the hands of men". It is recorded that 70,000 men from Beersheba to Dan died, and just as the angel was raising his hand toward Jerusalem, God relented. At that moment, David saw the angel and remorse seized him. From his heart he begged, "Behold it is I who have sinned and it is I who have done wrong; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let Thy hand stand against me and against my father's house." Following a command from God, David erected an altar and the Lord was moved and the plague was held back.

Where do I start? David whom God names as a man with a "whole heart for God" ignored God's loving red flags, warnings "not to go there." He followed His own way and there were consequences. The first time, he had to be cornered by the prophet Nathan...and the discipline was unbearable. But David knew he deserved it and chose to pick himself up and go on. The second time he regretted his actions right after the numbers came in, before confrontation by God or God's prophet, Gad. Therefore, God gave David the choice of punishment. We still see David's selfish heart, "but do not let me fall into the hand of man", but as word came to the king of all the dying men, 70,000, he became even more remorseful, begging the punishment to be upon himself and his father's house. David seemingly really changed... finally! From selfish to selfless. From "who me?", to "I'm the guilty." The closing of his life comes and Soloman, Bethsheba's son is given the throne.

There is one more thing. After really "blowing it" all these times, does David sit around and mope? After all, his greatest dream, building a temple to house his God, has become a lost dream... part of the consequences of his sin. NO! He then decides that he may not be able to complete his dream, but he can do the work needed to be the best of help for the one who would get to build the temple. We see that David in the later years of his reign collecting all the materials needed for his son to be able to get straight to the work of building God's house instead of being depressed or bitter with the situation.

So, how well have I learned these lessons?

Do I listen to those nudges or red flags God sends my way...His efforts to keep me in obedience and thus escape those things undesired?

Do I accept discipline and see God's loving hand in it? Do I accept my own discipline, taking ownership of sin in my life, or "push" it off on others?

Do I give thanks for those in my life that are the prophet Gad or Joab to me... pointing out when I'm about to step into sin? How about when they call me to "ownership" of those things that are displeasing when "worn" by a child of God?

I need to listen...
I need to obey...

Good thing the Lord loved and helped King David...
Good thing He loves and helps me as well...

I need it!

Autumn...

...the close of summer. Cool days and frost push out the warm embraces of spring and summer days. The young leave baby dependent days for food and shelter behind and start the survival bid on their own.

Seasons...4 a year. Then we start all over again. Seasons of a life...4... never to be repeated again. Dependency, adolescence, independence and old age...possible dependence in a different way. All in a plan. All for a divine purpose. I am approaching the fourth phase of my life... do I have the desire to be part of the Plan? Am I willing to do the work of molding and becoming more wise as the days go on? Who will I be as I enter that "old age"? I pray the answer is, "Just who He wanted me to be in representing Him and His big plan in life."

Let's get the work done while I have the energy left... OK? Winter makes me slow!!!

"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith; praying in the Holy Spirit;
keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
to eternal life." Jude 20,21

I'm back...

It's been a long time since I've posted. I'm of that generation that is the pen and paper pusher. Yet, as I do my journal each day, I've had the sense that I'm supposed to share it on this technology so part of our culture! You see, mentoring, or the sharing of my heart and the lessons I've learned in life, is something I've been told I do well. I've experienced many things in my life... divorce, miscarriages, brain cancer and early death of my children's father, my loving companion...and through it all, I've learned lessons in life.

For instance, I have come to realize I must be purposeful in acknowledging blessings. I have found it, in fact, to be very advantagous to actually write them down in a list. In the first 4 months of my husband's diagnosis of anaplastic astrocytoma of the brain (level 3 brain cancer), we kept track of the blessings that were already in place when we didn't know we needed them... a move to Houston, giving us MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2 families in our church that we'd known over the years...a ready made support system, and a move of our close friends and parenting partners to Houston as well... we lived 7 houses away from each other. I don't believe those "helps" just happened...and there were so many more. Today as a single mom, I continue to count my many blessings...and I don't intend to ever forget to do so!

There are many attitudes that I have choosen to take through the many roads in life, but one of the most important, I believe, is that I choose to count my blessings. There is so much for which to be thankful. Life may be taking place in the trenches of death and stress, but there are blessings also. So, from this point on, I wish to share with you my journey as I live life. Stuggling? Yes. Pain? Sometimes. Scared? More than you can imagine. But, thankful? Almost always... and I search for the road of thanks until I find it! I pray you will, too!

Not surprised... shocked!!!

This weekend was all planned out... or so I thought! Dad came to see us and we were so excited. We had a great time! Saturday night he took us to Katie's choice of restaurant in Tulsa for her 18th.... and also celebrated my birthday! Little did I realize that while we left my home was being converted by Becky and friends for a 50th birthday celebration... mine!!!
I was shocked... to put it mildly. My mind couldn't take all the new information in... like I saw Becky... it took time to compute! Then I saw others, and finallly noticed my brother, Monte and Ryan... they said I had looked at them and didn't comprehend!!! The Weichbrodt's were here too!! Paige, Zippy, Corgans.. what can I say? It was a huge spread of wonderful food, great friends and lots of love poured out to me... especially by my dear daughters, Becky and Katie, who did so much planning and work. Girls, what a great job you did... and what memories you made for me!!!
Dearest to my heart are the people... my friends and family.... who make life wonderful. God has, in His wonderful plan given each of them to me... and I delight in His gift to me through each one. I cannot imagine life without those relationships that go beyond superficiality... and loves and cares as Christ. There is no other more significant understanding in life than to understand that those around me are blessings... put there by the Almighty God himself to show me His love for me. In all this I give great thanks... 50 years worth!!
Love you all... especially my Becky, Ryan, Katie and Jonathan. You are all incredible...He deems it so!!!

Exerpts from "Ideas Matter", Everett Piper Ph.D., Pres. of Oklahoma Wesleyan University

Humm...



"For years, I, along with most all of my peers in higher education assumed that the human deveolpment theory was simply and purely an empirical fact. We believed that students came to college with ... minds where everything was black and white, right or wrong. We claimed that these students came to us with authority as the basis of all moral judgement. If the pastor said it was true, it was true. If mom said it was right it was right. If dad said it was wrong it was wrong. Accordingly, we in the ivory tower believed it was our obligation to challenge these students to grow beyound the dualism of a Judeao-Christian ethic, take off the blinders, and embrace the multiple and various facets of "truth". Surely our young people needed to step away from the comforts of home and churches and become more nuanced and "mature" in their morality and in their thinking.

I no longer believe this. In his recnet book, Educating Post-Modern America, Generation X Goes to College, Peter Sax contends that one of the basic characteristics of today's college students (and perhaps culture as a whole) is the pervasive and oxymoronic belief in absolute relativism. Sax argues that opinions are all that matter in the classrooms, boardrooms and bedrooms of contemporary life. It isn't that everything is black and white, right or wrong, but to the contrary, today nothing is black or white and nothing is right or wrong. ..... To the contrary, personal opinion rather that objective standards has become the final measure of all truth. The relative value of any action or belief is the only basis for judgment. ...one value or another is simply a matter of personal choice and personal preference. It's all relative..."Who are we to judge...?"

...Is Peter Sax referring to young people other than those in our schools, our shurches, and our neighborhoods? Is this a critique of a culture elsewhere--somebody else's but not ours? All I know is this: ... (I) am awakened to the sobering limitations of prevailing academic fads. Human development theory has its place but it falls far short of providing the "liberal" environment and consequent learning that it claims as its highest good. You see, the word liberal implies liberation. And implicit in the word "liberation" is the presupposition that there are bad things from which we should be liberatied. It is not bad because we think so. It is bad simply because it is. The holocaust was evil not just in the minds of those who disagreed with it. It was explicitly and absolutely bad because it violated an immutable and transcendent moral standard. It was, is and always will be simply wrong to incinerate people in furnaces because you have more political power than they do. But here is the sobering reality-- our young people today (and I have had tons of them in under my tutelage) do not have the intellectual training and moral confidence to defend the logic of the previous several sentences.

Ideas matter. Ideas that disparage the time-tested truths of an earlier day while fawning over the newest intellectual fads may lead us down a very dangerous path..."

Food for thought!!!

Long time no read.... from me!!!

Did you think I'd left for good? I had a long post written the other day and I had to leave for an appointment...hit a wrong key and... you got it... it disappeared. It will be interesting if any of you are looking anymore... or have given up on me!!!

Lots has happened...to Lookout Mountain, GA to see Ryan and take Katie to Covenant... I love that college... because of the kids that go there!!! I've started speaking with Christian Women's Clubs... and will be speaking here on the 9th. I've gotten through a 5th Valentine's Day and anniversary (it would have been our 25th) without David, and I am currently in the throes of following and supporting Katie and Jonathan in debate tournaments...which I love!!! What else can a mother do? It's not always clean house, let me tell you!!! And it can drive me nuts!!!

And admidst all that...I'm also going to start practicing what I teach... slow down and sit before God... so I can hear Him. I have found myself so busy with so many things that I have not given to Him enough time for listening to Him. My goal is to start keeping 2 hours in the am for me... to study the Word and pray. I want to let Him open any closets that I might be hiding from Him... or even hiding from me. How we cleverly do that! We don't want to "go there"... we often have to wade through pain to get to the high ground of peace, or face our ugly flaws to achieve the beauty we so desire. Oh, if we only would realize the fullness of being His daughter or son...then we could see our beauty and value through the flaws and pain here on this earth. That closet wouldn't hold the "monsters" we don't want to see or slay. Indeed, we would face them squarely... with the one beside us that grants us protection and purpose, beauty and peace....

...and that is what I'm going to do. He loves me enough to make me whole!!! (Right, Ryan?) So, though my schedule seems clogged as ever...my closets are going to be hunted down... and cleaned.

I'd appreciate your prayers....

Alright...

... I will write later. I had a long blog to post, hit a wrong key, and Pooffff... it was gone. Now I don't have time to write what I had down... ba humbug!

Technology doesn't like me....

Hugs do....

Mom of many....to you.

Denver... we have arrived!!!

We drove 12 hours yesterday to get to Becky's condo in Denver. We have the blessing of spending Christmas with her... she has this week off and we are going to ski for the first time in any of our lives!! I'll try to give you a day by day report of how things are going!!

In the meantime, some of you have asked for my Chocolate Mousse Cake recipe... so here it is!!

Chocolate Mousse Celebration Cake

Bake a Devil's Food cake according to the instructions on the box...cool.
In the meantime, prepare the mousse.

Chocolate Mousse

1 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips- partially melt in microwave.

Bring to boiling:
1/3 c. whipping cream
3 Tbsp. sugar
Pour over the chips and stir until well blended and chips melted.
Add:
1/4 c. coffee liquor
2 Tbsp. oil
1 Tbsp. vanilla
Beat until creamy. Cool to room temp.
Fold into mixture:
4-5 cups Cool-Whip... I use fat-free
Refridgerate for 20-30 minutes.

Cut the 2 cake layers in 2 and layer between each section the choclolate
mousse. Prepare the frosting.

Frosting

1 1/2 c. whipping cream
1 1/4 c. powdered sugar
1/3c. cocoa
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Place in bowl and whip to consistency of firm whipped cream. Frost the
cake.

Chocolate leaves for garnishing:

Melt:
1/2 c. semi-sweet chips
1 tsp. shortening
Take washed and dried leaves of choice, rose or holly .and paint chocolate onto the back of the leaf. Cool and peel leaves off of the chocolate. Use to decorate.

ENJOY!!

This is one of our family's favorites...but oh, so rich!

See you soon.

HE IS BORN!!

It's just days away...

... that we stop to give thanks for the many things we've been given. I am most humbled that I have been given so much... rich in relationships and full in love with life. Days are not always easy, nor "fair", life throws curve balls, but how thankful I am that I serve a God in control of it all. He never twiddles His thumbs wondering what to do next, and He pursues what is best for me... so that I may become more like Him. How grateful I am, that He pursues in my life the right plan to make me...better...like the daughter of God I am called, adopted and destined to be. He will not relent, cause there is much work to do and He loves me so much that He will persevere with me!!! Can you believe that?

"Give thanks, with a grateful heart,
Give thanks, to the HOLY ONE,
Give thanks, because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son..."

... there and there alone is the place of goodness...the heart of thankfulness. No matter what life brings, nothing changes the goodness and love that flowed down that tree...for you... for me.

Don't do Thanksgiving without Him...the Pilgrim's didn't!!!

Only days away... is Thanksgiving!

Helloooo.....

Just before I head to bed to catch up on the many hours of sleep I am behind on, I want to let you know how thankful I am for all of you. Life is busy, and too many times we do not slow down enough to reflect to each other how we would miss them or see and compliment each other for the strengths He has given us. So, I so appreciate your own uniques gifts and watching you grow into them and use them to His glory.

Am headed to bed... am trying to fall asleep at this key board....

Mama C

Up I go, into the wild blue yonder...

... to see Becky!!! Yeah!!! I haven't seen her since July! Oh, my! So, the next time you hear from me I will have been to the Mile-High City and had coffee and fun with my dear daughter. Just remember, ency is a sin!!!! :0)

Love you all, Mama C.