Sunday Reflections

I absolutely love a hot cup of tea in the evening. While living in Colorado, we were close enough to the Celestial Seasonings plant in Boulder for it to become a great location for our family to shop at to stock up on our favorite teas, as well as to take out-of-town family members when they came to see us for a lengthy visit.

My senior pastor referred in a recent sermon series that difficult, sometimes surprising situations are "Hot Water Experiences." If you put a tea bag into some hot water what you'll get is hot tea that is perfectly matched to the flavored tea bag it was steeped from. The same is true with life experiences. How we react to situations is a direct link to what we've been "steeped" in. (and there have been a few types of tea I wouldn't want to taste again...as well as tasteless reactions and responses I would rather forget!)

This morning I had many lovely smiles and hugs from several preschoolers, dirty diapers, chocolate pudding stained on 2-year olds clothes, new flooring in one room that made using it impossible, excellent dependable volunteers, but a few surprises, some not so fun, as well. I ALWAYS come home from church and relive the morning in my mind; analyzing what I could have done better...or how I'll handle a similar situation the next time around. I ask myself - what was the result of this hot water experience? Was it pleasant?

I pray that I stay steeped in God's Word each and every day, so that when the hot water comes on, the result will be a pleasant, not bitter, hot cup of tea for those around me to enjoy. There are going to be surprises each and every day. It's how I handle those surprises that will leave a lasting taste in our mouths.

36 Hours in Paris

I was speaking with a coworker today about an upcoming trip she and her husband have to The Big Apple in December. Her husband has always wanted to go to New York, and with one free plane ticket and some usable points at a Hilton hotel, his dreams are about to come true. They have booked the trip to New York City, and they only have to pay for the wife's plane ticket. The time they'll have to tour New York: 36 hours.

Greg and I had 36 hours once to tour a city I had always dreamed of visiting - Paris, France. It started back in the early 80's when I was in high school French class. I was in my 2nd year of French language and was desperate to run away from home. I had many desperate thoughts during that time of my life and running away where nobody from home could ever find me was the easiest and less fatal option. Common sense won, however, and I never did leave home, but it was in my heart that one day I'd make it there.

Fast forward to the late 90's. Greg and I and the boys are living in Boeblingen, Germany for what was supposed to be a 1-year assignment. One year turned into a possible two year assignment, which after 5 months into our foreign assignment were told we would only be in Germany for one more month. YIKES! I had decided and had the support of my husband NOT to leave Germany without seeing Paris so we had to get b-u-s-y! We found accomodations for the three boys and with the help of a travel agency, booked two beds on the midnight sleeper train, as well as one night hotel stay downtown Paris. We literally had 36 hours in Paris. The adventure began!

If words could adequately express the time Greg and I had in Paris, I would use them here; but words do not tell the complete story. It truly was magical - the trip of a lifetime. The sleeper car was very interesting. Six beds in a cabin smaller than my bathroom. Greg and I got the last two beds available in our cabin, the two top bunks, and once we laid down our noses literally were inches from the ceiling. Good thing it was dark in there!

We arrived at the Paris train station at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning. We made our way to the hotel (can't remember how we found it) and surprisingly were let into our room! After a quick change of clothes, we were out the door to see all we could possibly see. Fortunately, we had done our homework so we had maps, subway plans, and a definite agenda. Nothing would stop us, and nothing did!

The trip was all I had hoped it would be and so much more. Observations: There really is love in the air. We breathed it and experienced it. DO NOT eat the sheep kidney. It looks like a piece of poo on a plate! Enjoy a sidewalk cafe' in the drizzling rain. Arrive at the Louvre before it opens and RUN to the Mona Lisa before anybody else has an opportunity to step in front of your camera. Check out the cross walk signs - a check mark to move forward and cross the street, then a man with his hands on his hips with his legs spread apart to discourage you from crossing the street. Don't restaurant hop - we had appetizers at one restaurant and dinner at another and were given the "stink eye" at the first restaurant. Wear very sensible shoes! OUCH! Buy an umbrella there so you have something practical to bring back to the states. And don't take pictures of the police officers in the subway. They carry BIG guns and don't like their picture taken.

I'm excited for my friend who is accompanying her husband to New York City. They'll have approximately 36 hours to play and I know they'll accomplish a lot. What's so beautiful here is that my friend is excited FOR her husband. This has been his dream and it is now becoming a reality for the both of them. My dream was to visit Paris, France. When the dream was originally formed, I was a miserable teenager who was just trying to find an escape from reality. What God gave me, however, was 36 hours in Paris with a lovely man to share it with.

For you - love your life! Do the things that you've always wanted to do, and do them with someone you love. Thank God for these wonderful experiences. Then encourage someone else to enjoy the next 36 hours!

LOST THEN FOUND

Last night we had just finished eating dinner and were enjoying a family movie in the basement family room. I touched my diamond rings on my left ring finger, and felt something unusually sharp and pointed. Dreadfully, I looked at my left hand and I saw the empty hole where my mother's diamond once sat within four white gold prongs. The diamond was gone. The prongs were extended and deformed. There was a black hole. We stopped the movie and I showed my husband. Silence penetrated the room as we all realized the hopelessness of the situation. What do we do? Where do we begin to look?

I began asking myself questions - When was the last time I looked at my left hand (yesterday). Where had I been and what I had done in the last 24 hours? The answers to these two questions were endless! I had cleaned showers and toilets, 4 of them, been at the church preparing the classrooms and gone to Worship, fixed several meals in the kitchen, organized bills, played games with friends, been to Sams Club, stripped beds and washed sheets, walked around the outside of the house showing my youngest son which weeds needed to be pulled, etc.! Maybe an easier question would have been where HADN'T I been! The options on where this 35-year old expensive diamond could have been were absolutely endless! The diamond could be anywhere!

The diamond is important to me in that it belonged to my mother. She died when she was only 34 years old, passing away in a hospital bed at home in 1977 with the ring still on her finger. When my Dad eventually gave it to my younger sister, Charlotte, she in turn gave it to me as the first born daughter. The yellowed hospital tape was still wrapped around the silver-colored rings - tape that had been wrapped on to ensure my mother's rings would stay on her ever shrinking fingers. She's gone to be with the Lord now, and the rings have been with me on my left hand next to the rings my husband gave me for many years .

What makes the rings precious to me is that they belonged to someone I seem to forget more and more as the years go by. I have vague memories of her busy-ness, as she worked and took care of family of five. She was an awesome cook - everything was homemade! She was a registered nurse. She cleaned the bathroom sink every day with Comet cleaner. She sewed Halloween costumes for all of us and hosted the neighborhood parties for families. She tolerated my love for Donny Osmond and Shaun Cassidy. I loved the way she sang at church and prayed at the table on Sunday afternoons. I even remember trying to pray at our Sunday dinner lunch exactly the same way she would pray, anticipating her every word, only to be disappointed when she prayed something else. Darn!

Through my teen years, it was VERY difficult for me to hear others speak even the fondest of memories about my mother. I would always cry. You see, I LOST my mother to a dreadful disease. It took her life. But then I FOUND someone closer than any kiss my mother could ever give me - I found a deep and abiding love and relationship with Jesus Christ!

My mother wasn't able to take the diamond with her to heaven, as I won't. But it's a precious memory of her that I am gladly able to wear today. I thank God in heaven for the things in our lives that are seemingly lost, for they cause us to pray and trust in Him. Sometimes the "lost" things in our lives are found within seconds, as this diamond was - other instances may take a lifetime.

Last night, Greg had instantly prayed we'd find the precious stone...I had been hopeless from the moment I realized I'd walked thousands of steps in many places throughout the day. Within a few seconds time I had realized the diamond to be lost, however, I found it on the carpet just below where I was standing.

Whoever may be reading this - I share a favorite scripture from Romans (15:13)- "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him; so that you may overflow with joy by the power of the Holy Spirit."

I believe that in God's economy, nothing is ever really lost. My mother isn't lost - I know exactly where she is. She's with the Lord in heaven. The diamond wasn't lost - I only had to open my eyes and look down, and there it was on the carpeted floor beneath me. I pray the same for you. May the "lost" things of this moment be "found" as you pray and trust in Him!

God's Timing is Perfect!

I am so proud of my husband! Click here to hear him preach. We have three services each weekend at church; the recording here is the 3rd of the three times that my hubby was blessed to be able to deliver the Word of God to the congregation. It will only take about 25 minutes to watch, or listen. I like to watch him. Maybe you will too. He's got a great teaching style and this sermon is packed with great stuff!

Greg and I met during my senior year at college in Anderson, Indiana - 1987. He was in the process of a divorce and his pregnant soon-to-be ex-wife had returned months earlier to her family and homeland of Germany. It was a tough time for him and everyone involved. In fact, I was a friend of Greg's younger sister, Jenny, who also attended the same college. Before meeting Greg, I remember her telling me about how sad she was that her brother was getting a divorce. I think she may have even asked me to pray for him! I felt bad for her, him, and their family. I had not experienced divorce in the family before. Although I had seen Greg in the computer lab at the college (one of his part time jobs), it was his sister Jenny who introduced us. The rest, as they say, is history.

My dad's deepest desire was for me to attend this Christian college where my mother had received her nursing degree many years before, and get married to a pastor (he told me those exact words). When I informed my Dad that I was engaged to a divorced computer operator and father of one, and would move to San Jose, California - well, let's just say it's not what he wanted for his daughter, and he told me so.

Jump many years into the future, 20 years later, and you can now see that my husband is an ordained pastor, working at Central Community Church as Executive Pastor, and was able to preach before the multitudes his heart's desire - the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Son of God.

What I'm trying to say? God knows the desire of our hearts (Psalm 37:4 ). We don't always get what we want when we want it. Sometimes it takes 20 years...possibly not even in our lifetime! (like Bible hero Moses who only got a glimpse of the Promised land from a distance, but was not able to enter it, even though it was the desire of his heart to do so. Deut. 3:27. God had chosen Joshua to take the people, not Moses.)

What I know is that God is never late...He's never early...He's always on time! Just like you can't rush a baby's growth in his mother's womb...and you can't cause the corn to grow any faster than the weather conditions allow...and you can't wish for the bird's egg to crack open in the nest before it's due time. God's timing is perfect. In these 20 years since Greg and I got married, we have had many, MANY life changes that only God can ordain, create, and enjoy. It took a long time for Greg and I both to be ready for Greg's ordination, and now pastoral position.

My Dad was blessed to get the desire of his heart, and to see it while he's still living. May we all be a little more patient - not getting anything too early, or too late. But right on time!

I Laughed Until I Cried

Has this very strange experience ever happened to you? It happened to me yet again tonight. I'm watching a movie upstairs in the den while Greg and the boys are being ever-so-serious watching 'Braveheart' downstairs in the basement. Because I CANNOT tolerate the blood and gore (it makes me cry), I watch chick-flicks instead that strangely sometimes, make me cry. Ha! Tonight was one of those nights.

I absolutely love the movie 'Sahara' with Matthew McConaughey. So I rented 'How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days', which stars Kate Hudson and (guess who) - Matthew McConaughey. At one point in the movie (scene 12 - Our Family Album, in case you really want to know), I laughed so hard I cried. In fact, I had to STOP the movie, go to the bathroom, and still I was laughing! In the bathroom! It totally cracked me up! The tears running down my cheeks were completely silly and unexpected.

I remember a distinct time when Cameron cried because he was laughing so hard, many years ago. He was very confused by the feeling, and asked us why he was crying when he actually had been laughing. Greg and I reassured him, but being that Cameron requires understandable answers to EVERY question and sorts of confusion, we talked that feeling/sensation until it was DEAD! Agreeably, it is a strange sensation - to laugh until you cry.

Tears have come unexpectedly many times for me in my life. Sometimes it's been because I've been laughing uncontrollable, but there have been other times as well...

...like when Greg has been so gentle and tender, and I experienced true love for the first time.

...like when the Lord has shown me my past sin, and I've been so sorry and then truly repentant.

...like when I hurt a friend to the soul, when I should have been unconditionally loving.

...like when my mother was lowered into the ground and I saw a family member look at me, at the age of 12, with incredible pity.

...and then visiting this grass-covered gravesite as an adult, missing many good years with my mom.

...like when I realized God had been close by me, had never left me, yet I accused Him of forgetting me.

...like when I had to get on a bus to travel to the airport, flying to Indiana to attend my beloved Grandmas funeral, leaving my husband and boys behind.

...like when my boys were very young babies and I couldn't help but look at their precious faces, lying in their crib, fully realizing their innocence and dependence.

...like when someone I sincerely trusted deeply and unfairly hurt someone I love.

...and when Greg was laid-off from Hewlett-Packard, two weeks before Christmas (and then God turning it into one of the best experiences of our married life!)

There have been many times when I've cried unexpectedly, for whatever reason, yet I know the Lord has saved each tear I have shed (Psalm 56:8). He is SO precious to me, as I am to Him. Precious enough that He would capture my every tear in a bottle. I can't thank Him enough for the tears He gives me to express my innermost feelings, especially when they come upon me...unexpectedly.

Thursdays - My Fav!

I love Thursdays. It's got to be my favorite day of the week!

I don't work at the church on Fridays, but I do work on Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings, as well as Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Wednesday night, and Thursday.

You might logically think that Friday's are my favorite day of the week, but they're not because I'm cleaning, and I'm washing, and I'm organizing, and I'm driving, and so on.

Today is Thursday. Today was a great day! I LOVED today! Why?

1. I got my church classroom bins ready for Sunday morning - ACCOMPLISHMENT!

2. I laughed with my boss, a lot - JOY!

3. I had ice cream with all the toppings at 1:30 this afternoon in the office break room because the office fridge will be cleaned out tomorrow - Friday - and we needed to eat the ice cream before it got tossed - A SPECIAL TREAT!

4. I cooked frozen pizza for dinner and my boys LOVED the self-rising crust - CHEAP, EASY, AND IMPRESSIVE!

5. I ate the most DELICIOUS bagel sandwich for lunch. (Good thing I went to the grocery store yesterday, Wednesday.) - SATISFACTION FROM MY LABOR!

6. I got my outdoor potted plants watered and fed with some extra plant nutrients - BEAUTY!

7. I now know what tasks I plan on completing tomorrow, Friday, my day off - ORGANIZED!

8. I'm getting ready to watch a movie with my boys and Lewis wants me to select it - CONTENTMENT!

9. Two people have looked at my blog today. (I was probably one of them!) :) - ok, PITIFUL!

and #10. My husband came home a little bit early to see me since he had worship team practice tonight. He is SO precious to me! I was laying on the couch watching HGTV when he got home and he actually came into the den and watched with me - TRUE UNASSUMING LOVE!

Today was a great day. I thank God for today!

FARDING vs. FARTING

Went out to eat lunch with three great ladies today. As we were leaving the restaurant and heading back to the church to work, we somehow got on the very serious and hysterical subject of farts. How the dialogue digressed so far I'll never (try to) remember, but it was SO "dead dog" funny!!!

Rush Limbaugh, on his Friday, August 1, 2008 radio show, shared that many years ago he was pulled off the Chicago WLS airwaves for 45 minutes because he said, "One of the things we can do to really clean up highway safety is to get women to stop farding in their cars. If you get that stopped, we'll be safer. You can see it every time it happens. If you get that stopped, get women to stop farding in their cars, then they'll be paying attention to driving, and it will be a lot safer out on the roads." The word "farding" is actually defined as "to apply makeup" (French), but it sounded like Rush was saying "farting". Many listeners were incredibly shocked.

Apologies if this subject is a bit too personal for anybody reading - but isn't truth even a little refreshing? Did you know that belching after a meal in some foreign country somewhere (or so I've heard) is a compliment to the cook? Might farting be a compliment to someone in someway somewhere? (We do have rules in our house for flatulence. If you're brave enough and want to shock my boys, just ask one of them about "doorknob".)

To keep up appearances, though (I AM a pastor's wife), I think I'll stick with farding.

The Choice

Today is the day that Lewis was again planning on leaving home to drive back to Fort Collins, an 8.5 hour drive, to spend time with friends for the week. His last full week of the summer before school starts, and the 2nd attempt to get back to Colorado, driving solo. So why did he not leave today as planned, seeing Kansas in his rearview mirror? He made a choice. Lewis had the cash saved to make the trip - just enough money to pay for fuel there and back, with a few bucks to use with friends while "hanging out". But something happened this past Thursday that caused him to make a choice yesterday, a difficult one, that changed his plans for the week.

While out on the lake this past week, Lewis jumped into the water with his cell phone still in his pocket. It is now ruined despite the great efforts he made to get it cleaned up and working again. One reason Greg and I had agreed to let Lewis drive to Colorado for the week was not only is he a good and trusted driver, but he has a cell phone and is able to call for help at any time. No phone - No trip.

The cheap (free) alternative was to transfer Lewis' cell phone number to his old and not-too-glamorous cell phone. Voila! The trip would continue as planned. But since Lewis had lost his i-Pod last month by leaving it out on the back deck he was restaining, and a thunderstorm hit that evening, he had his eye on a new phone that also was an i-Pod - the DARE. Cost? $350.00 - the same amount he had saved to drive to Fort Collins and back. What's a 17-year old boy to do?

Lewis had to make a choice. He investigated his options. Got smart about the past (Fort Collins) vs. the here and now (Wichita, Kansas). What choice did he make? He bought the DARE and is completely satisfied with his decision. His money is gone and there will be no trip - BUT, he's got his phone and i-Pod.

Life is full of difficult decisions. Either decision may satisfy. What will you choose?

P.S. In momma's eyes, I couldn't be happier! I wanted to make the decision for him, but had to leave it up to him so he has nobody else to blame. Also, he now realizes the cost and appreciates the value of these teen toys. YEA!