visiting nephews!

LOL Rachael has re-affirmed her determination not to have kids. LOL She and Michael are in a tizzy. Why? All because they have their nephews for the evening! Two pretty-good little boys--Tyler, who has been staying with us for the last week and Zach who is Michael’s brother's stepson, one 9 and one 8--have them stressed to the max. Keep in mind they have only been here since about 6:00 pm.

Michael decided to take the boys to the Crew’s Buck-a-Brat Night—$1 brats and activities on the field before the game, then the soccer game and home. Now how hard can that be? There should be plenty of excitement to keep them occupied and entertained for a couple hours or so.

Oh yes, the boys are ‘camping out’ on the floor of the den and Michael rented a movie for them to watch until they fall asleep. I figure that after the park this morning with Freddy (Zach’s dad and Michael’s brother) and all the excitement of the Crew game and all the junk they’ll eat and all the soccer ball chasing they’ll do, those two kids should be exhausted. They’ll fall asleep before the Care Bears finish their first adventure! Of course, they are planning to stay up “real late”—like until day break. LOL I’m thinking maybe 10:30 tops!

What is really funny is that Rachael and Michael are very well organized and have their lives all together. There really is time to fit in two little boys who really do behave themselves. They could just kind of slip into the seams and not even make many waves, but R & M are in a panic. Tyler and I played Go Fish and Pick-up Stix. To add Zach would not be such a great task. Rachael fixed Tyler three bowls (gradually decreasing in size) of Coconillas (no joke, that’s the name of them!) for breakfast. It might empty the box of cereal, but Zach would probably be happy with that, too. Tyler is a very picky eater, but for one day they could take the easy way out and give him French fries and cookies. Zach too. He’ll be gone tomorrow. Monday will be soon enough to get Tyler back on track.

I keep trying to tell them that a baby of your own just fits in with your life without any ripples. (Or at least the ripples don’t seem to be any bother.) They seem to think every day will be like having your nephews visit!

contentment

I read a devotion the other day about ‘exercising our will’ in choosing the course of our decisions each day. Whether to return the extra change the clerk gives us, whether to consider it a gift when the girl at McDonalds’ neglects to ring up our coke or to speak spitefully to the neighbor’s four year old when she picks our daffodils—those kinds of choices were the ones that the author was focusing on. And I could see her point. But as so many times happens, I continued to think on the topic and came to the conclusion that there was a much greater exercise of will that the child of God chooses to pursue.

Many times we hear sinners say that in following the Lord we are giving up the responsibility for taking care of ourselves and choosing our self direction. But in reality, we are exercising a greater amount of self direction than the person who simply goes with the flow of the world, wrapped up in Satan’s control.

It requires no self control, no exercise of will, to choose between two human courses. Either one will accomplish Satan’s end. We may waver between the two options in choosing the one which will result in the greater self-gratification, but ultimately our fleshly good is the only standard for selection. Satan offers no opposition or difficulty when we exercise this sort of ‘self-direction.’ He presents two course of action that will accomplish his purpose then sits back and allows us our ‘freedom of choice.”

We find in Deuteronomy 30:10 the ultimate choice. I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live. As ‘free moral agents” we must look beyond the particular day to day choices and first choose between ‘life and death, blessing and cursing” We must lift our eyes above the mundane to the eternal. Once this ultimate choice is made, the others become simpler. We are no longer forced to weigh options in the light of the greatest self-gratification but only in the light of the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Choosing Life initially results in greater wisdom for the lesser decisions that face to us from day to day. The day to day choices follow logically from our choice for Life. Once we have put God’s Way above our own, we simply “choose” follow Him. It is the initial choice that is of the greatest import and the one that Satan is most interested in getting us to overlook. He would rather bring it down to making the Christian life seem to be one of constant weakness “being controlled by God.”

Making this initial choice is “a deliberate calculation, not something into which we drift easily; and everything else is in abeyance until we decide.” No other choice is of any import until then. No choice Satan brings before us prior to that will have any bearing on our eternal future. But once that resolution for life is truly settled upon our course of action in all the lesser decisions becomes clearer and easier.

Of course, Satan will continue to harass us and endeavor to influence our choices for the wrong, but the greatest battle, at least for me, was that initial choice. Once that was settled my course was laid out.

This follows closely with today’s scripture. Contentment is a result of having settled in your heart that we will serve the Lord. That decision makes our life one of circumcision. Our lot in life is that which the Lord has determined for us, why should we be discontent? Our health is that which the Lord as allotted us, why must we complain? Our money, our house, our livelihood, as we follow Christ will follow naturally along.

Now this is not to say we will not do our best to provide for ourselves. We will take care of the bodies the Lord has given us and we will be careful of our livelihood and our finances. Should the Lord place in our pathway an opportunity to better our existence in some material way, we will take advantage of that chance within the parameters of godliness. We will provide the best things for our families as the Lord makes us able. None of these will be a subject of constant worry. Nor will we be continually longing for our neighbor’s car or his income. We will be content with the life choices the Lord has provided for us.

As Paul said we will be good stewards of that which the Lord has blessed us. And we will be content there in. Should we strive for anything, it will be a closer relationship with the Father.

What peace that way of living provides!

a good Sunday

Up early this morning and talked to Notah as he was going to work.. Always one my favorite parts of the day. When I was at his house most times I was awake when he was going to work at five o’clock. Now it wasn’t always solving-the-world’s-problems type of conversation and sometimes it was just, “mmm, aah… g’ mornin’.” But still it was a connection, which is all too rare these days. And sometimes, if he had time, he’d sit on the sofa and drink his coffee while we just talked a while about nothing important. Good time.

I had a great day yesterday too. After Rachael left for her weekend shift at Krogers, I started studying on the ten commandments… spent a long time on that.( well, hmm, maybe that was Saturday. But I was doing bible study that lasted all morning yesterday, too.) Then I posted a bit on the Christian Growth group. But the best part was in the afternoon when Donna sent me a link to her Sunday morning services! She just attended the service for the first time and wanted me to hear it. It was truly wonderful. Good preaching and singing. Sounded like good old fashioned Church of God! And get this! The sisters had on skirts and most of them had sleeves in their dresses! In this hot weather! That blessed me as much as the message.

Donna was saved by reading her bible and communicating with me and others on line and other places. When I first started talking with her she was a pretty staunch, but not practicing, Catholic. But the Lord kept dealing with her and she gave her heart to Him. She has come a long way since she was saved, but she has never had a church home. I think she may have found one. I certainly didn’t hear anything contrary in the two messages I heard. The good spirit seemed to flow over the monitor screen. The Lord certainly knew she was going to be there too because the message was just for her. She has been discouraged because the financial trials facing every one have hit her and her husband pretty hard.

Her husband was giving her a rough time because she wants to be baptized. (She has never had the opportunity before) But she stuck to her guns and ignored him. He was going around saying, “Praise the Lord and pass the biscuits,” just putting her down for going to a real church instead of the little mission style outreach meetings she has attended when she had a chance. But, thank the Lord, when she emailed me in the evening she said he was very quiet when she came home. I mentioned the verse in I Peter 3:1 to her and encouraged her to keep going to this congregation because it seems the devil doesn’t want her there.

I wish that more real church of God congregations would put in live-stream links for their messages. I can’t get to service but I would dearly love to be able to enjoy the messages (and the rest of the service too) on line. I haven’t found one yet. I think maybe the strictures against television have hindered us from utilizing a fantastic tool for reaching sinners. Some are “iffey” about watching things on the computer too.

Rachael is trucking around getting ready for Michael to come home from his grandma’s birthday celebration/family reunion. He has been gone since Friday. His grandma is about 90 and he hasn’t seen her for a couple years or more. I guess I’ll get off here for now

I want everyone to see Rachael and Michael. I've talked about them but there aren't any pictues of them. So here they are at Dean Jr.'s graduation party.

weightier issues

I just traveled across the country, lots and lots of miles, and the reality of today’s religious scene impacted on me. There is a dramatic scarcity of true church of God congregations. Oh there are many church buildings. There are many congregations, but very few true churches. In the area where Notah lives ( and he has a very long driving distance threshold ) there are at least 5 ‘Church of God” churches. He visited all of them. I believe he said that two were false tongues movements and the others were modern congregations with no difference in message than any other denomination.

Then I think of the ‘real’ church of God congregations that I’ve been associated with during my life. The lack of unity among them is appalling. Each little group has its own set of “standards” and refuses to fellowship any other that doesn’t maintain exactly the same ones. I’m not talking about abandoning immorality, impurity, indecency, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger (ill temper), selfishness, divisions (dissensions), party spirit (factions, sects with peculiar opinions, heresies), envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. And adhering to love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence.) (Galatians 5:10-24) In those areas they at least give lip service.

The deeper schism occurs over those areas that are often termed “gray” areas. How long must a woman’s hair be to distinguish her from a man? How short is short for a man’s hair? Can it be too short? Is it the length or the style that differentiates between men’s and women’s hair? Must a woman wear a scarf or ‘prayer cap’ type of covering? Can a woman deal with her long, long hair by braiding it or twisting it up? ( I Peter #:3 “plaited, broidered hair”) Or must it be loose? Or tucked inside a cap or scarf that hides it all at all times?

What exactly is modesty? A woman’s style of ‘trousers’ is very different from a man. Do they still “pertain to the man”? Are loose trousers on a woman always more ‘modest’ than a skirt? How about countries where the woman’s style of clothing mandates long trousers? How long and in what style does a woman’s skirt need to be to qualify as ‘modest’? Who determines that? It even comes down to colors of clothing! Should clothing for men and women be only pastels, grays and black or white. Is there a specific style or pattern to be adhered to in women’s dresses? How about men’s shirts and pants? How about neckties?

What exactly qualifies as ‘worldly amusement”? Why is television unacceptable and not radio? Or are both unacceptable? How about videos and DVD? Are fairs and farm shows unacceptable? How about parks, picnics and playgrounds? Are sports events worldly?

What exactly does the ‘wearing of gold” mean? Wedding rings? Watches? Hair clips? Bright buttons? Do the scriptures ( I Peter 3:3-4 and I Timothy 2: 9-10 specifically) actually prohibit these things or only recommend good works and meekness in preference to them? Do the strictures apply only to women or to men also?

These all sound like foolish issues when set out this way, but I’ve heard every single one of them hotly disputed among the churches of God. And sometimes the disputes themselves breached the limits of peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness veering dramatically into enmity, strife, jealousy, anger (ill temper, selfishness, divisions and dissensions. Why does going to a fair, wearing lipstick or watching a tv program matter when the individual is being angry and accusatory and divisive in his insistence on his own conviction? Yet I’ve heard men (and women) vehemently maintaining their own righteousness above that of someone who had a television…or whatever.

Now keep in mind that I’m not disputing holiness in any of these things. I believe that skirts are more becoming to a woman professing godliness. I believe that a woman’s adornment should be a meek spirit and good works. I believe that a woman must not endeavor to adopt any of the traits of a man or usurp her husband’s position in the home. I believe that a woman’s hair must be longer than the man’s. And I’ve lived my life that way, much to the irritation of many. I will not however shun any sister who does not see these standards the same as I do. Nor will I question or condemn her salvation.

The difficulty comes in when we put so much emphasis on these standards that we “strain at gnats” and ignore the ‘weighter issues’ that have greater impact on our following God. I‘ve found women (I’ll talk about women because I know them better. *smile*) who had nice long skirts and long hair and no make up, no wedding ring either, but who have such nasty, managing, bossy spirits that their husbands don’t dare make an I dependent decision. They will cut their neighbors and sisters in the Lord with a caustic tongue not giving it a second thought, claiming their right to speak their mind! Yet they are accepted as good Christian women, while the sister with a sleeveless dress and a wedding ring is rejected in spite of her humble, quiet, loving spirit. This false standard ought not to be.

I have a friend with whom I share with on line. We have enjoyed some good spiritual truths in the Lord. Recently she discovered that, as a memento, I will occasionally wear a piece of jewelry given me by a close relative and also that my hair is shorter than her church deems acceptable. I’m no longer addressed as “sister”. It saddens me. I will never confront her. Nor will I condemn her. I’m sure she believes she is doing the right thing. It is just a sad fact that should not be spoken of among those who call themselves the People of God.

Satan is doing a great work among those who should be standing for the Lord and reaching the world with the message of truth. We have gotten away from trying at the spirit of people to “decide” whether or not they are living for the Lord and have begun making decisions about their experience based on outward appearances—what color their clothes are, how long their skirts are, whether or not they have colored buttons or plain ones, whether a man wears a necktie or just buttons the collar band around his neck. How foolish that we allow Satan to work ill among the people of God. We destroy our witness when we put so much emphasis on these things that sinners cannot hear the message of Salvation and Joy in the Lord for the static of fleshly quibbling.

As Christ told the Pharisees, these we ought to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Matthew 23:23 We ought to live out the convictions that the Lord has laid upon us as individuals, not spend valuable time impressing it upon others. Instead we ought to be teaching the story of salvation and portraying the joy of God. As Christ said, the first is not unimportant, but the greater things are getting left undone. We must do both.

sigh...

I’m tired tonight. Seems like I’ve been that way for about two weeks. The trip home took a lot out of me. Yesterday and today, though, I think I have a good reason. My chair broke! Tuesday night I had to move to the den to sleep in the recliner there, so my night was disturbed. Wednesday I spent most of the day sitting in there. Last night Rachael and Michael moved the recliner to my room so things were better, but it still isn’t ‘my’ chair. I thought we might have to trash it, but Michael says he believes he can fix it. He really is a miracle worker in a lot of things.

I’m constantly impressed by the things he can make out of steel. Fortin Ironworks is known throughout the Midwest for their stylistic furniture and Michael has learned his job well. He made customized light shades for the chandeliers in our house and visitors notice them as soon as the walk in the door. He made my curtain rod for the window. The finials are shaped like a tree branch with small leaves. We have beautiful little half circle table at our front entrance. It has a marble top and twisted iron legs. Michael built it! It is the second thing visitors notice. He even built our dining room table!! Bronze legs and center braces support a chocolate granite table top. It sits under a custom chandelier with shades that match the ones hanging along the balcony and stair way. It’s beautiful. I'm proud of him.

When you combine his know-how with Rachael’s eye for color and decorating, it is a winning combination. While I was gone they re-did my room. It was already very pleasant, but when we moved in the airducts were filled with soot or smoke residue. It made the nice paint job in my room all black shaded along the corners and above the registers. It bothered them much more than it did me—read this ‘not at all’

While I was gone they re-painted in my favorite colors—gold and orange. Three walls are dusty desert gold and the other is a deep burnt orange! I love it. Michael installed my drapery rod and hung deep chocolate velvet curtains from it. The old blinds were dyed to match the orange wall. A new set of drawer pulls on my old dresser and bureau completely changed their look to something Mediterranean and exotic. The dresser sits against the burnt orange wall that has a collection of family photos grouped on it. Either end of the dresser has a beautiful lamp with candelabra bulbs shining through the metal stencil shades. They make a wrought iron flower design on the wall. It is such a cozy room. They did a great job on it.

It almost but not quite compensates for the early morning view from the window facing east in my bedroom at Notah’s house. Almost. But nothing can replace the cool tangy desert breeze the swept through the open door. Or the warm morning sunlight on the floor.

But in the night time, with the blinds closed, the dogs curled on the pillows or their beds, and the warm glow of the candelabra patterns shining on the warm orange wall my newly decoated room has to be the coziest room in the world.

My desert room is a morning room. My Ohio room is a nighttime room. My desert room is open spaces and sweeping wind and wide sky. My Ohio room is close and comforting and cozy. My desert room opens into the fragrance of juniper and sage sweeping down from the mountains. My Ohio room opens to the deep green fragrance of grass and summer flowers wafting across the lake before the house. My desert house holds my grandkids and Notah and Kerra. My Ohio house has my cats and my books and Rachael and Michael. I only wish there weren’t 2000 miles in between. Teleportation is looking better and better.

Now THIS was my "Portabello Mushroom Six Dollar Burger'!

That's what I call a sandwich! Wow. I just wanted to share it with you. I also had a side salad. Everyone else had fries with it, but in deference to Doctor Nickleson and her low carb instructions I let the fries go. The bun was certainly enough carbs!

I tested my blood glucose two hours later and it was only 114, so I didn't do real bad with it.

If you live somewhere that you can get Carl's Junior's hamburgers (seems like a mundane name for this wonderful construction!) GO GET ONE! But don't get anything else. One of these is enough.

where to start

My goodness. I noticed when I pulled up the blog page that the last time I posted was June 21! Seems like such a long, long time. So much has happened and so many miles have rolled under the wheels of our car!

In all the many years and trips to the southwest, it has always been difficult to actually leave. It just seems that we plan a time, but then something comes up and we put it off a few minutes or have to run and see about something first. This time Rachael and Michael said we were leaving on Monday morning aboaut ten or eleven, but before noon… Yeah, right.

First they decided to go with Kerra to see Tome Hill, the site of the annual Easter pilgrimage commemorating Christ’s trip up Golgotha; but also the site of many petroglyphs from ancient peoples. So they did that…

Then Notah called. He had gone to work at 430 am and hadn’t gotten to talk too much to Rachael and Michael. He thought maybe we could meet him in Albuquerque and have lunch with him. So after a frantic search for the spare key to the Rodeo, we all loaded up and drove into Albuquerque. Seth wanted very much to ride with Michael and Grandma. (He'd been having a hard time all morning, wavering between contrary and sad and grouchy. He never said the words but I know he hated for me to go as much as I hated to leave him) so Rachael, bless her heart, rode with Kerra and Keva so Seth got one last ride with Grandma.

We met him at 1:30 (uh-huh, see what happened to ‘before noon’) But we did have lunch from Carl’s Jr’s. We ate in a little local park and Seth demonstrated his skateboarding skills once more in the drainage ditch beside it. Then with another round of hugs and a real struggle with tears for Grandma and Seth, we parted.

But even still, we had one more stop! Rachael had promised a friend to buy her an Indian bracelet so we stopped at a little Native Jewelry store to get that. And finally we were moving out of Albuquerque.

It never gets any easier. After 40 years, it has never gotten easier.