Reflection

Journeys……

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,” plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” Jeremiah 29:11,12

I heard trains last night…..I am presently in Barstow, California, the stopping point for this particular journey…..along with my very best friend at the wheel of what I call “the Bus” a 32 foot motor home. We are enroute, she to her brother and his family and myself to my parents house. We have made this trip many times, and there is always a new experience no matter how many times you have been down the same road.

We saw a semi-truck on its side yesterday, there were some high winds, but not terribly high. He may have fallen asleep and lost control….we whispered a prayer as we drove by. Our precious cargo includes “the garden.” We didn’t want to leave it home for the neighbors to watch, since my green-thumbed friend wants to take full responsibility. They are her babies now. Every sprout is encouraged, and exclaimed over. Now I know a little about how a farmer feels.

We passed the state-line without a hitch. I had forgotten all about the rules about bring plants over…..I can just imagine the headlines…..”Two Church going Christian women caught, accused of bringing marijuana over the border! I could hear us now trying to explain that it is our future garden, consisting only of Okra, marigolds, radishes and spinach, but no pot…..Oh my!

The little green charges are currently on the dash recieving their morning dose of sunlight. Soon she will be bent over them with a water dropper for their watering and “encouragement.”

We think our neighbor may be a Vietnam Vet, judging by the various bumper stickers which are plastered all over the back of his vehicle. He just walked by and looks like he may be related to Charles Manson’s brother….Never a dull moment. One of the bumper stickers says, “Breast inspection 20 miles ahead, please have them out.” Forgive me for that, but sometimes you have to be plunked right down in the middle of humanity like Jesus was. If we make it out of here without an incident we will be very happy. You never know what you might see in a KOA park.

What a blessing this trip….already. Everyone needs someone in their life that they can travel with so companionably. Nothing is a problem and everything is an adventure and a potential source of laughter……

This morning we read from the Bible and shared thoughts on Ephesians 6……we forge ahead today, each one of us reaching our destinations. In our hands, our hearts, we bring encouragement and blessings and love to our families who are all going through their own trials and hardships. And of course, they will do the same for us…..

Hopefully tomorrow I can post pictures of the “garden.”

A Failure to Communicate

“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can’t reach, so you get what we had here last week which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it. And I don’t like it any more than you men.” From the movie Cool Hand Luke

This week I had something interesting happen. It was a crazy day at work on Thursday. In the computer chip making business sometimes you have to be really creative and go to the next level. We had a defective chip go out so it was an “all hands on deck” kind of day. It was a twelve hour day with a small break in between. Right in the middle of it, a couple of engineering interns came in. They were new and someone had sent them in with questions. It was clear they had an agenda from somewhere else. I tried the nice approach. I tried to explain that it would be in their best interest and mine if they came back another day. They weren’t hearing me.

The phone was ringing, I was up to my ears in requests, and they still would not leave…….I kept thinking of the line from that movie. Finally, I appealed to the system that we all go by and said, “All engineering requests must go through my OM, so just shoot her an email and we will go from there.”

They finally left, but it was a frustrating experience for both of us. Was I not clear? Were they not? What could I have said differently? With any communication breakdown, we tend to evaluate ourselves. I do, anyway. A situation like that becomes a good opportunity to evaluate yourself and the situation; see if you could have done or said something differently. Try to see things from their perspective.

I did that. Then I prayed about it. I don’t like it when I feel like someone leaves unhappy. I feel like things are somehow unfinished. When I got to work today I asked my OM about it. She said, yes, they did in fact send her an email. She verified what I was thinking inside, they had no clue what they were asking of me. It was nice to get confirmation.  As usual I worried needlessly.

I got another thought this morning on the way to work. It used to be that certain things were just understood to be wrong, no argument. Now it seems that whoever has the best story wins. It used to be if someone was caught red-handed in a crime they were guilty. Now, if they can convince a lawyer to argue their case effectively, they get off. In politics it is the same way. Whoever can present the best case, tell the best story, make the most polished speech wins. Character is something that is becoming increasingly irrelevant in our society.

In God’s world it is never irrelevant and I am glad.

Draw comfort from this today. If you ever feel like you are not being heard clearly remember Jesus felt the same way.

“Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread?” Matthew 16:8-11

Imagining how it was…..

I was asked the other day if I thought Jesus sang…….like did He ever walk down the road and break into song? I said I thought He probably did. The Bible says He sang songs of worship with His disciples, and He was filled with the Spirit so, yes I believe there were times when He spontaneously burst into song. Just imagining that set my mind in motion. Can you imagine hearing Him sing, or laugh? Seeing His face light up with a smile?

I think sometimes it is hard for us to think of Jesus as fully human. But I love to imagine Jesus doing the simple things of life. Walking down the road with His friends, or maybe helping His Mom with a task around the house, sitting down to dinner with His family. It is hard for us, for me anyway, to imagine Him being silly or joking around. Did He tease His Mother? Pull a practical joke on His brothers or sisters? I like to think He did. He was after all, fully God but also fully man, and fully human. 

I like to imagine those simple times when He greeted His friends with a smile or put an arm around them while walking, lifting His face to Heaven while He prayed, or sang a song, swung a child around just to listen to them laugh.

I like this form of meditation, imagining Jesus and how it was….. I think that many times He probably felt very burdened when He looked out over the crowds, at the immensity of the need, the desperation. I think it made Him sad many times, when people just didn’t get the message, couldn’t grasp His love for them.

But I also think there were times when Jesus had to lighten the mood by cracking a joke.

My Prayer Cave

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-4

It was very cozy in my prayer shed/closet today. I lit the little stove in the corner as well as the lantern that sits on top of the roll around toolchest……It was windy and cold, and the windchimes sang the accompanyment to my prayer this morning. I was thankful, so thankful for this moment, these moments that come at the start of every day. He has brought me through another week.

As I end my prayer I think of going out for a walk, but as I open the door it blows in like a gust……and I sit back down. Maybe a bit more prayer instead…..

Say what???

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Genesis 3:1

It has never been hard for me to accept the Genesis account of the fall of man. I guess because I can easily see that as good and beautiful this world is, what we had before was much, much better. Why would God make something as wonderful as bearing children so very painful, if not for the fall. I have tried to grow things and I can attest to the fact that it is toil. The Bible teaches creation itself to be under a curse. This is very easy for me to believe as well. All I have to do is look around.

I can imagine that it was so much better than this, yes. Even as good as it is. I can imagine being unhindered by time and space, by death. I can imagine colors we have never dreamed of, walking through walls, and time travel.

I have always assumed that Eve was tempted by Satan but the Bible says that it was a serpent. Well, Satan working throught the serpent. It also says that he only slithered on the ground after the fall. I think he was probably a very captivating and stunning creature, and of course extremely crafty and intelligent.

What amazes me though was that Eve didn’t seem surprised that this creature talked. Can someone correct my theology here? Even if it was Satan talking through the beast, don’t you think Eve would have been just a little surprised? What if your dog or cat started talking all of a sudden? Whoa……

No, if I had been Eve, I think the conversation would have been different.

The Serpent: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

Eve: Dumbfounded that the serpent was actually talking, she ran to get Adam. “Come quick, you gotta hear this.”

So was the serpent talking all along? Did all the animals talk? Was C.S. Lewis onto something?

When I think of how it must have been in Eden, my head spins. If Hollywood can create wonderful, magical worlds like Oz, Narnia, Middle-earth, and Pandora, just think what God could do. And by the way, the Bible never said it was an apple either. I think it was probably one of the most beautiful sparkling luscious things we could ever see. I think it caught the light and danced on the limbs like prisms….

photo credit: google images

The Written Word……

“Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. “As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Revelation 1:19

There is power in the written word. When someone writes something down, in essence they are saying, “Come with me.” They want to take you to a particular place they have been or want to go. It is a journey they are on, and they want you to go too. They are expressing a feeling that just has to be let out; let out and captured all at the same time. If you ask a writer why they write, I think they would all say the same thing. “Because I have to.” Once words are written down they tend to take on a life of their own, but only after they are read.

There is a bit of magic in writing too……a bit of the turning water into wine metamorphosis. By that I mean that sometimes, just sometimes that notion that is floating around in your head is captured just the way you felt it. When this happens it is something of a miracle! If someone compliments you on it, that is icing on the cake. The fact that you captured it is the reward. The reason why you do it.

I think of the early church leaders scratching Holy words out onto the parchments. Bent over by candlelight, lamplit, light of dawn’s early morning…..light from prison cell window….. Ever feel like something just writes itself? I think of the mystery of how the Spirit of God breathed Holy words into a Spirit led people over a span of hundreds of years and yet turned out a perfectly cohesive whole, interwoven and seal-proof, a tightly woven basket that holds All Truth….It stands on its own, and it will stand forever as all truth does.

I think that when we write we do something very powerful. We let others know who we are…..That is why God wanted us to have His Book, so that we could know who He is.

I think of how the Word was always there even before the beginning of life as we know it, and I think of how it was made into flesh…..the flesh of Jesus.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

photo credit: biblicalplaces.com

On leaving 2010 behind……

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

You know those Cd’s you can buy with highlights only? I have one with Phantom of the Opera. It’s what you buy when you don’t want to hear everything in between the parts you really like. It isn’t really fair because you are getting a cut and paste version of what was supposed to be a full story. Looking back over the past year is a bit like buying one of those cut and paste versions. Highlights rise to the surface, things I want to remember so I pause and turn them over again in my mind….they are important and I don’t want to forget.
I know the old year is gone and the new one has rushed in to take its place, very fast I might add……but still I find myself wanting to pause for just a moment, still caught a bit in the afterglow of last year. So I share these treasures with you as I hold them dear, I clasp them to my heart and commit them to memory. I write some down so they will be kept safe, though I know they are etched into my heart forever and have already become part of the fabric of my soul.
Catching the dogwood in full bloom in Yosemite……a nature poetry book given to me by my brother with the inscription, “I love you more than you know….”with another note beside his favorite quotation……

Praying with my Dad in the dark of a very early morning…. Hearing my Mom say to me….”That reminds me of a day with you….” After listening to the song A Perfect Day….Cold walks in the park in the evening with my Dad watching my niece hang upside down on the bars….

My wonderful and amazing friend who made my “prayer closet” like home with laminate floors she toiled and installed herself……Helping my Mom get her decorations out for Christmas one more time….surprising my Mom and Dad with a sign on the downtown marquee celebrating their 60th Anniversary.

A full five minute conversation with my very excited niece of 8, words and phrases all jumbled together, but I heard the love loud and clear and I couldn’t stop smiling because I have hoped and prayed for it for so long….I still hear it even now.
Conversations and good times with neighbors who have become friends…….a restored special friendship I thought lost.

Evenings by the fire and learning the hard way that you can’t re-light fake logs without creating much black smoke! Being caught in the rain on first evening in Monterey during sabbatical and running into a cozy pub for a bite knowing I had two months off work ahead of me….with pay….oh the joy, where did the time go?
Well, there are a few of them….I am grateful to God for each and every one of these moments, knowing that He holds them all together and binds us all together in love. I can’t imagine experiencing even one of them without Him in my life……Now make your own list, and see if you don’t smile in the remembering…..

Oh it’s such a perfect day,
I’m glad I spent it with you.
Oh such a perfect day,
You just keep me hanging on….Lou Reed
May your own 2011 be filled with many of those perfect days and God’s comfort and strength when they aren’t……I treasure each and every one of you my blogging friends and readers.
photo from my iphone, Pacific Coast Highway 1

He is near……

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:13

This evening I wish to draw our hearts together in prayer for the victims of the tragic shooting that happened here in our Arizona. I pray for the families of the 6 who were killed and the 14 wounded 2 of whom are still critical. Words can’t express the suffering they and their families are going through now, and I pray that God will bring His comfort and healing to all involved.

One man was a church leader who covered his wife as the shooting started, she survived, he did not. A little girl born on 9-11 was also killed, each and every one were equally important to God and will be grieved by family members and friends.
Nothing escapes His notice…….Thank you for praying as I join with churches across our state and country in vigils tonight for the victims and all involved.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

And it was Very Good…….

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Genesis 1:31

I  like to think of that first day after creation, when God paused and called it very good. The Bible says He rested, but we all know that God neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:4) so it wasn’t that He needed a rest. He did it for us. To show us the pattern we needed to live successfully on this earth. So today, I pause as the Trinity did on that day. I like to imagine that day and when I do, I imagine all three members of the Holy family in a circle with Adam and Eve, the animals looking on curiously from the fringe……

I imagine them dancing in the sunlight, and yes a bit of resting too, as they sat back to enjoy the fruits of their labor. That was the first Church service for Adam and Eve as they reveled in everything they saw around them. As they praised and thanked their Creators for giving them life, lavishing on them, loving them…….It was a perfect day.

So today, I pause and thank Him for all of the same. Bringing me to the end of yet another week in good health…..able to enjoy some time off and remember where all this comes from. To praise Him, to thank Him yet again. To remember that He could have created all this in a nanosecond, but instead He did it in seven days just for me and all of us. For us to remember that this day is different from all the rest……
 

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2:1-3

photo credits: google images

Christmas behind, Christ Ahead…….



As I begin to pack away the decorations, I am aware of the deeper reality that lies all around me. It was in the service yesterday, as we lifted our hands in worship. The power that cuts through time and eternity. The reality that the Christ whose birth we just celebrated is very much alive. That is the true nature of Christmas. The other is just “stuff.” I was aware of it as I heard the reality of an answered prayer just yesterday as I talked with my Mom on the phone. That is what we can celebrate……and keep celebrating, all year long. Immanuel, God is with us.

This living Christ, who was born, lived a perfect life, died a perfect death, and rose from the grave so that we might find redemption, this living Christ is working in my life. He is the reason we can look to the coming year with joy and hope. No matter what the economy does, no matter what the government does, no matter what happens in the life of each and every one who confesses Him as Lord.

Halleluiah. I can put everything away, knowing it is anything but over.

What do you put your trust in today? I pray that it is Him.

“Either this man was, and is, the Son of God or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit on Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us, He did not intend to.” C.S. Lewis

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” Mark 8:29 

I am continuing the count today with a vast community of others who know the reality of Him who lives within us today and always……this list of thankfulness for the blessings of this Christmas: Unexpected answer to prayer when we needed it most, the kindness and hospitality of good neighbors and friends, a little excited voice on the phone telling me all about her Christmas, fellowship of other believers, joy despite having to work part of Christmas, freedom to worship in His house, good food, my family who though we are apart, we know we are knit together in His love which keeps us close, His Holy Spirit who helps us and guides us in His truth, being able to bless others with what He has given me……….#574-584

holy experience