One Word Challenge from Journey to Heaven

All of the answers must be just one word. 

Everyone wants to be known.


1. Where is your cell phone? Lost


2. Your significant other? Ken


3. Your hair? brown


4. Your mother? smiling


5. Your father? heaven


6. Your favorite thing? Dallas


7. Your dream last night? none



8. Your favorite drink? Dr. Pepper


9. Your dream/goal? finish


10. The room you’re in? bedroom


11. Your church? decimated


12. Your fear? disqualified


13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? serving


14. Where were you last night? fishing


15. What you’re not? gregarious


16. Muffins? dry


17. One of your wish list items? europe


18. Where you grew up? Dallas


19. The last thing you did? cards


20. What are you wearing? p.j.s


21. Your TV? gone


22. Your pets? special


23. Your computer? Mac


24. Your life? sunny


25. Your mood? sleepy



26. Missing someone? Karen

27. Your car? white


28. Something you’re not wearing? socks


29. Favorite store? target


30. Your summer? busy


31. Like(love) someone? Ken


32. Your favorite color? green


33. Last time you laughed? seconds


34. Last time you cried? ?


35. Who will re post this? B

Games of Blogging

I was not aware that bloggers had games.  I think it would be hard to play duck, duck, blog, or ring around the blogger through the magical waves of the internet, but I have just today learned that there are games that one plays while blogging.  One of them, presumably there might be more, is "tagging."  You ask people questions, and then you have them tag the next person.  Interesting.  Maybe some one out there could invent more games for the internet.  It seems that some of us do not really have much of a life.  

Here goes, ready or not here I come.  

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago I was taking care of a two year old, a seven year old, an eight year old, a ten year old, and a twelve year old.  Enough said.
2. Five Items on Your To Do List Today.

a.  go fishing again with my husband, Margaret, and Bekah

b.  go to the doctor in Augusta, GA.

c.  call my sister in Atlanta

d.  call my mother in NC

e.  post a blog

3. Snacks I enjoy.
This is too easy.
a. popcorn
b. chips and salsa at Chili's
c. nuts
d. potato chips, the hard crackly kind
e. cheese!

4. What would you do if you were a billionaire?
Not tell anyone!

5. Places you would live.

Georgia, anywhere by a lake,  or the Philippines

6. Bloggers I am tagging.

This is the hard part, all the bloggers I know have already been tagged.  

Sunday Sabbath-vol. #4

Questioning why is not a bad thing.  Questioning with a rebellious heart is.  God is a mysterious being, His ways are definitely not our ways.  As a Father who tells His children no, so He tells us no for good reasons.  When we tell our children no many times they do not get it.  You can see the look in their eyes as they look at us with wondering eyes, sometimes eyes that have contempt and malice, because they do not get it.  He would not be God if He in his wisdom, holiness, and omniscience did not tell us the truth.  We can trust Him.  

This world is a lost and dying place.  He is the only redemption that we have.  Someday when we sit around His throne the redemption of all the trials, death, confusion, hurt, and anger will be completely redeemed.  We will finally see our redemption in all of God's glory.  Right now this world seems harsh, but we will see our Redeemer in all of His splendor.

We went fishing last night.  There was a breeze blowing our bobbers as they were swept by the current in front our dock.  The clouds looked very threatening above.  The frogs were croaking their songs, oblivious of the weather or the wind.  The turtles were playing around with our lines, but we would not let them get near.  It would have caused them great pain.  It was a beautiful evening.  We caught some fish, but let them go for another time.  Then we just sat there taking in the beauty of the lake, the summer breeze, and the sunset.  Thank God for those blissful moments.  I am sure that the turtles this morning are not really thankful that we did not give them what they wanted, but so often neither am I thankful for the things that God with holds from me His child.  

Sit Down Saturdays; vol. #3-Rest

Father,

Some of my friends are at the beach this weekend.  They have gone down to work on one of the couples homes.  I wish I was with all of them. I wish I could have gone. I wish I could have gone and played with them for the weekend. I wish I could break bread with them as neighbors and friends again.  I miss them all.  There are so many things that I wish, long, and miss right now.  It's not that I am fighting God's will, or am not content doing what I am doing.  It isn't even that I am resentful of any of life's circumstances.  I just wish.........My mother had a saying when I was growing up; "if wishes were horses, beggars would ride."  I can just imagine one of us children wishing for ice cream, candy, a friend, a circumstance that we or she could not give us, and about that time is when she would insert her saying into the fray.  My response to her saying is, BUT I AM A BEGGAR.  I have to beg for everything, don't I?  Steve Brown, a pastor and speaker, has a saying about beggars also.  He says, "I am just one beggar showing other beggars where to find bread."  How do these two sayings go together, or do they?  Just pondering all of this.  

I do feel like I am a beggar.  I think that I begged and have prayed for everything that I hold, and held dear.  Those things that I am wishing for were begged for too.  Friends, a family (in the form of the church), a ministry.  In some ways I feel like You have taken them all away. Were they idols in my heart to be torn away so that they would not be forever challenging Your preeminence in my life?  Was it just not Your will, Your perfect will that tore those things from me?  The Bible is full of instances where You hold all the above mentioned things high.  You want us to pray for the gift of teaching in order to teach, I did.  You want us to prefer being with the Body of Christ, which is Your Bride, in order to give us a family, a place where acceptance is held dear, where everyone "knows your name."  You hold up friendship between brothers and sisters as a good, noble, and honorable thing to be sought after, nourished and cultivated as a gardener would a beautiful watered garden.  I did all those things.  I prayed for years that You would make me a Bible teacher, You did.  I prayed for years to have a close knit church family, You gave me one.  

I am seeking You as a child who has put down their toys, climbed  up into their parent's lap and just rest.  Nuzzling my head between Your arm and chest I am holding on to You.  I don't have the answers.  Maybe I never will. 

Resting.........Lynn

PS   Ken just sent this via email.  Thought it was good and pertinent.  

The “A-to-Z” of the Christian Life

“The gospel shows us that our spiritual problem lies not only in failing to obey God, but also in relying on our obedience to make us fully acceptable to God, ourselves and others.

Every kind of character flaw comes from this natural impulse to be our own savior through our performance and achievement. On the one hand, proud and disdainful personalities come from basing your identity on your performance and thinking you are succeeding. But on the other hand, discouraged and self-loathing personalities also come from basing your identity on your performance and thinking you are failing.

Belief in the gospel is not just the way to enter the kingdom of God; it is the way to address every obstacle and grow in every aspect. The gospel is not just the “ABCs” but the “A-to-Z” of the Christian life.

The gospel is the way that anything is renewed and transformed by Christ — whether a heart, a relationship, a church, or a community. All our problems come from a lack of orientation to the gospel. Put positively, the gospel transforms our hearts, our thinking and our approach to absolutely everything.”

- Timothy Keller, Paul’s Letter to the Galatians: Living in Line with the Truth of the Gospel (Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2003), 2.

Breezes/A bit of Fiction on a lazy afternoon

            Lying down on my hammock amongst the groves of apple trees, I have been reliving much better times.  Once again I was daddy’s little angel sitting on his lap distracting him from reading the afternoon paper.  He never really minded, he just pretended to be perturbed, as he would tease me about something or other.  The smell of his after shave, the touch and feel of his “salt and pepper” face, and the softness of the look in his eyes have been with me all of my life. 

            He was assigned to be with the van that led the charge right into enemy territory.  The look of his eyes have never been the same again.  Now a days he sits and stares regardless of what is going on around him.  Mother wheels him through the dinning room of the old farm house and onto the back porch in order to listen to the sweet melody of my brothers guitar as he plays it in the summer breeze.   The notes drift by trying to capture and captivate the memory of the man that was once the center of our world.  

            Having the chance to reflect on the past has helped me to change my future.  The apples have never looked more juicy, ripe, and delicious.  The wind is blowing in a direction that I thought that it never would.  Father is staring not really knowing any of us, but we owe him the life that he gave us to continually love like he did.  As newness of the breeze makes me feel like life could somehow go on, so I will take this as a sign that even my father may come back to us again. 

           

Worldview Wednesday; vol. #4

OK, OK, so it isn't Wednesday, but I am bound and determined to follow the schedule that upsidedownbee and I came up with for my blog, after all she is the princess.  

Freedom!

“Freedom!”  Every time I hear freedom shouted out, it conjures up the image of William Wallace running across a field yelling at the top of his lungs.  Mel Gibson played Wallace in the movie Braveheart.  He was fighting to loose the bondage of his fellow Scots from the oppression of England.  Since I have come back from two trips to the Philippines, I have pondered over and over why I don’t see America as my mission field.  In the Philippines I saw the opportunity of missions everywhere.  I continually come back to this scene in Braveheart.  “Freedom,” is the illusive nature of this beast, not to be open, honest, compassionate, and carried along by the Spirit to those lost ones around me.

            Last year was the first, of hopefully many, “jaunts” to the Philippines.  Landing in the airport, I immediately sensed, “I’m not in Kansas anymore”.  Everyone looked the same, and they were jabbering away in a tongue that was not my own.  You would have thought that I would have known this to be a part of my experience when coming to Manila, but it was astonishing all the same.  For the most part they smiled at me, and I smiled back.  They are some of the sweetest natured and friendly people I have ever met.  That has begun a love affair with the Filipino people.  This gave me the freedom to be who I was meant to be,  and this suddenly became an attribute of my personality.  Now, if you know me at all, this is not normally my demeanor.  If anything, that has to be constantly over come.  In most situations inferiority is my game, and I play it well.  My children sensed it; my fellow “traveling buddies” sensed it.  Anyone who knew me before sensed it.  What has gotten into her?   The Bible tells the story.

         One of the first nights we were there (the Philippines) we made our way to a church fellowship.  I immediately made my way to talk to the pastor’s wife. When I began speaking to her, I felt like I had known her all my life. We bonded, as they say.  Expressing to her concerns that were also my concerns, we identified with each other despite the language barrier.  My daughter Karen, trying to be sweet, told her she liked the bracelet that she was wearing.  The woman took it off of her wrist and gave it to her to remind them of each other and to pray for her.  Karen, in turn, gave her a bracelet also.  Freely, this pastor’s wife, gave completely out of her poverty.  She had two rooms in her home, no shower, a cinder block kitchen, and she loved God.  How much do I give in that way?  Do I freely trust God to the point of giving out of my poverty?  I don’t think so! 

            Let’s get back to the topic at hand.  Which that topic is quite uncomfortable!  Matthew gives us a glimpse into this ole’ heart about why I don’t shout “Freedom” in America, and with that freedom share the Gospel readily. Thinking and meditating on this for two trips to the Philippines now, there are some conclusions I have come to. Jesus has just given His brilliant sermon on the Beatitudes and tells us line upon line, precept upon precept what the Christian life is supposed to look like.  Here in the sixth chapter He elucidates it for us even more.  In it holds the keys to freedom.  He speaks of several religious and pious acts, none of which are to be done to the praise of men.  Giving, fasting and praying are not to be governed by the freedom that we let men (people) give us.  They are to be freely given knowing that our Father in Heaven is watching and is pleased.  There is nothing wrong with looking for and pursuing the pleasure of God!  How do we do that?  By giving to people, praying for and fasting for people.   That is the heart of God, people.  Is it mine?  In order to love what God loves we must prepare.   We will abundantly overflow to the proportion that we spend time, meditating, reading etc...all the spiritual disciplines, but the aim is to be salt and light, as long as God gives us breath. 

Matthew 6:

1"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven…… 5And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others…. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

            Proverbs 29:25 says that the fear of man proves a snare.  Could this be one of the reasons that freedom is illusive?  The definition of snare is; “to ensnare, to trap, and to lay a hidden trap.”  The trap of thinking more about what people think and less of what the Father thinks.  There are many layers to this trap.  My relationship to people becomes all consuming, ending up doing the works for the praise of men, I end up bankrupt, empty, guilty and getting it all mixed in my mind.

            Matthew 6 also leads to the second reason why there is little freedom.  Jesus says you give to be seen, in other words, you are not giving sacrificially.  Then beginning in verse 19 He speaks of our treasures.  How many treasures in this life do I hold on to?  There are the obvious ones; house, Lake House, finances, books (ouch)!  How about the really more important treasures like family, children, parents, siblings, and other relationships?  Could those also be keeping the freedom from my life?  What if God were to call me to a foreign land?  In verses 25ff are the famous verses on not worrying, and it culminates with the equally stunning verse Matthew 6:33.  Seek first His kingdom making His priorities mine.

            The freedoms that God gave me in the Philippines can be yours and mine here.  Of course, I could never have known this without first going!

            Freedom comes naturally to me overseas, because the comparisons are null and void.  I can’t compare myself with the gorgeous Filipino women! The comparisons of houses, homes, furniture, dress, and lifestyles are non-existent.  The atmosphere is one that made every thing I do a part of the Great Commission.  I lived, ate, and breathed ministry.  Everyone I met was someone made in God’s image and to be treated with respect, and need of a savior. 

My cry for this coming year is, you guessed it, “Freedom.”  May we all strive to be free from those snares that damage, destroy, and hold us, to a place where God cannot use us effectively.   

I wrote this for a devotion booklet for a Missions conference.  It truly was the cry of my heart.  Freedom is what God has been developing in me, it is amazing.  I don’t think I realized that until I re-read this devotion.  Freedom from men, freedom from the constraints of time, the freedom from worrying about what will happen in the future.  I can't say that I have mastered this at all, but God is answering my prayers from long ago.  If God has me on the shelf for a while or just a long while, praise Him too.  FREEDOM!!!!!!!!

       Awaiting the true freedom.....Lynn

 

 

         

Tuesday's Tomes-Vol. #3; Mere Christianity by CS Lewis

Here I am late again.  Just now posting a Tome for Tuesday.  This morning trying hard to post an amazing graphic masterpiece, I alas, could not make it work at all.  I spent time making a flyer with pictures, colors, and unbelievable text, but it would not paste into the blogger for anything.  It really makes no difference, I was late anyway, but I did want you all to know that I had tried.  Then it was off to get my car inspected, it was a month late.  Are we seeing a pattern here?  Then it was off to the beauty supply store for my hair is turning gray, because I haven't colored it in months, procrastination has caught up with me.  Then it was off to the Hallmark Shop where I bought two belated baby cards, and one card for someone that I haven't contacted in quite a while.  I was late getting home from the grocery store, and too pooped to cook.  I got Margaret, my 18 year old, to cook spaghetti, and discovered that I have waited too late to teach her how to cook.  

Maybe I will wait till tomorrow to post Tuesday's Tomes.......

In my effort this morning, I did want to recommend a book that if you haven't read, you need to.  Here we go again, another Lewis book.  He was and is the premier apologist of the last two centuries, and possibly of all time.  Rabbit trail:  Peter Kreeft wrote a book about the day that Lewis died.  It is excellent also.  Lewis, JFK, and Alduous Huxley died all on the same day.  Kreeft's book is about the conversations all three may have had on their way to their eternal homes.  Very interesting to think about.  Back to Mere Christianity, Lewis had two different premises for writing this book.  He wanted to elucidate the important parts of Christianity that all Christians had in common.  He also wanted to give an apologetic view of Christianity for the modern man (or woman).  

If you have ever heard the illustration used about whether Christ was really a liar or a lunatic, then you were hearing Lewis and his book Mere Christianity quoted.  How often do you listen to someone telling you that they are god?  Christ made this claim and did not ever back away from it.  He came telling us that He was friends with the creator of the Universe and that they were one.  If we really believe that Christ came and was a good man, how many good men have you ever met that told you they were God?  This would then bring him into the category of being a lunatic....or a liar.  

He also wrote M. C. in order to lay down the common beliefs of all of Christendom.  He wrote it as a template for defending his faith to his non-believing friends.  

While I was in college, I took more than several classes at UAB (University of Alabama in Birmingham).  I was thrilled at being surrounded by non-Christian people.  I went to a small Bible College at the time, and missed being able to witness.  While taking classes there, I was able to give everyone of my professors a copy of M. C.  I also gave it to one of the gals in my English class.  It is a wonderful tool, and recommend it highly.  

   

Great Article by Victor Davis Hanson

Great Article by Victor Davis Hanson

The Values of Classical Learning

I understand that this article is long, but it is so worth the effort.  Victor Davis Hanson is an historian of great magnitude.  This article is about the banal attempts that our university systems are trying to tout as education.  If you are at all interested in Classical Ed. it will be worth reading.  He spells out the reason why we need to teach classically.  Link to it by clicking on the words above; "Great Article."   

The Chronicles of Snobbery; vol. #4

*C. S. Lewis said that modern man did not want to learn from the past any longer.  His arrogance had led him to believe that modernity was far superior to any thing that the past had to offer.  This he coined as "chronological snobbery."  Therefore, I have taken the time on Mondays to explore some of the lessons that we can learn from men and women of the past.  For if we do not look back, we cannot truly go forward.  

Contemplating the Battle of Gettysburg and the loss of more than 50,000 Union and Confederate soldiers on the bloodiest battle ground on U.S.  soil, we can see some of  the mistakes of both sides.  Do we throw up our hands and say that all war is a mistake, all battles are to be laid aside, or do we say that standing up for what we believe in is the best that life can offer us, no matter what the cost?  Let’s not go into the philosophical arguments for war, political ramifications of who was right or who was wrong, or even the theological debate for justice.  Let us examine the lives of some of the major players in this battle and draw a few humble conclusions.  Lee, as Jackson in the previous battle, was fighting for the principles that they had lived for all their lives.  Chamberlain (a Union soldier) too was fighting for the rights of men and women no matter what their skin color.  All these men were fighting and dieing for something they believed in.  Chamberlain said he had never felt more alive than in battle.  Why would anyone say that?  The freedom that goes along with standing up for what you believe, and knowing and demonstrating that you can die for those principles, is the most freeing experience life can offer you.  First you have to be able to lay down yourself for the sake of others.  This is what Christ did, as He left Heaven, and laid down His life for those He came to save, demonstrating God’s perfect character to a lost world.  That is what He bids us to do, to join Him in the most exciting, freeing, and joyful ride of all.  In the little things, don’t wait till you are in the midst of battle to think you will exhibit life giving strength, start now, with the laying aside of self with those that God has sovereignly put into your life.    

Philippians 2:1-11

Christ's Example of Humility

 “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” O

            Robert E. Lee Quotes:

“Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character.”

               “Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less you must study to be frank with the world: frankness is the child of honesty and courage. Say just what you mean to do on every occasion, and take it for granted that you mean to do right.”

“The education of a man is never completed until he dies.”

“We failed, but in the good providence of God apparent failure often proves a blessing.”

“Get correct views of life, and learn to see the world in its true light. It will enable you to live pleasantly, to do good, and, when summoned away, to leave without regret.” (Even Lee was concerned with world views!)

“Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or keep one.”

“You cannot be a true man until you learn to obey.”

“My trust is in the mercy and wisdom of a kind Providence, who ordereth all things for our good.”

Speaking of the endeavor of Washington College, "I shall be disappointed, sir, if I shall fail in the leading object that brought me here, unless the young men all become real Christians; and I wish you and others of your sacred profession to do all you can to accomplish this result."

  Robert E. Lee lost the Battle of Gettysburg, and of the War itself.  He very well could have given up at that point.  He could have felt such a sense of shame that it could have paralyzed him for the rest of his life.  He had a strong sense of the sovereign will of God in his life which propelled him forward to continue to invest his life in the lives of others.  He worked until he died, encouraging young men to have an impact for Christ.  He had a supernatural view of failure that I have yet to grasp.  

Sitting among the ashes......waiting.....Lynn

 

 

 

This Little Shelf of Mine

Put here on this shelf of Yours, 

my eye can only see, 

 those things that You alone, 

 want me to see.

Influence has diminished, drive no longer exists. 

Put here on this shelf of Yours where contentment is the key, 

to see what You would have me see, 

can only come from Thee. 

 

You say I can complain to You, 

the Psalms give me this clue, 

but only with certain thoughts in mind, 

that lead me back to You. 

 

You give me the grace to live upon this shelf 

learning to shed anything that takes my gaze from seeing only You. 

 

 Very possibly I will sit here quite a while, 

maybe forever learning from this trial.

But as a loving Father,

 You have given me this time,

 to peer into Your heart 

which only reveals the depravity of mine. 

 And as I do just that, 

I scrutinize the chambers, 

the interiors, the hidden rooms of those depths.

I begin to see the chattel, that takes me from Your throne. 

Then I can only bow before Your mercy

 as I trust in You alone.

As long as You would have me 

to wait here on this shelf, 

give me the grace to thank You for

 it's simplicity and delph. 

Materials made,

 by a wounded hand 

and carved for me before the world began.

  

For with You, 

even shelves are gates showing me Your love, 

as it constantly flows to your children 

waiting in repose,

And until I learn my lessons 

  which You alone have the plan,

I will await the distant drumbeat

 that You alone began.

by Me

Sunday Sabbath-vol. #3; Psalm 34

I was talking to a friend on the phone tonight feeling guilty once again for being honest with her as I was doubting the goodness of God.  Oh, I want to cry just putting it out there for anyone to read.  Once again I am wondering how God can be my loving, gentle Father in all the tough circumstances of life.  I thought I was over this, ready to move on, to minister to, not be the one who needs ministering to.  What a farce, what a false understanding of the Gospel.  

His Word is my only hope.  

Psalm 34:  

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When can I go and meet with God?

My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"

These things I remember as I pour out my soul:  how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng."

This Psalm reveals a multitude of my emotions, puts them in the light, helps me to verbalize them, and makes me know that I am not alone.  

My soul thirsts.  

Recently, I have been trying to change my lifestyle.  I have some health problems that are not going to go away unless I do.  I have worked up to walking 2 hours every day.  It has not been easy, especially when it was 100+ degrees outside.  I discovered a new phenomenon on my walks in the heat.  I take along an ice filled water bottle, and try not to consume it in the first hour.  The thing that I noticed is that when I finally would take a drink I could feel it all over my body.  My extremities would feel cooler immediately.  Am I that "thirsty" for God, or for a ministry, a friend, a place.....?  I am thirsty, but what am I really thirsty for?   I want to feel His coolness permeate my soul.   For as the writer here, my soul is downcast.  He thirsts as well.  He verbalizes it, and even writes it down.  He not only writes it down he takes it a step further and makes it his song in the night.  God has not lifted his affliction, but he sings.  Not a song of praise, but a song of lament.  He remembers the times of real worship with God's people.  The times he wept, sang, rejoiced, prayed, and lifted his hands in worship to His God with the people of God.  I remember as well.  

"Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.  My soul is downcast within me; from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon-from Mount Mizar.  

Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.  by day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me-a prayer to the God of my life."  

"All your waves and breakers have swept over me."  He attributes life for him right now as from the hand of a sovereign God.  I have been scuba diving several times and to have the waves break over your head not being able to rise above the surface even for a little while can be terrifying.  These breakers are from the hand of God.

"I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me?  Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?"  My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is your God?"  Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God."  

This day I have come to the Father just as I am, and asked these same questions. The Psalm 

stops here. He says he will yet praise God.  That is preaching the Gospel to myself.  

The circumstances are not over, fixed, not felt, and I am not in euphoria land, 

but I will YET praise God, my Savior and my God.

Once again confessing, repenting, and waiting on the Bridegroom .....Lynn

Third Leg of the Journey......

*The Bottom picture is a picture of the cousins at Mexico Beach years ago,.  Katie, Will, Will, Will, and BJ. 



We went to Bay Hill, Disney, and the third leg was to travel to Uncle Bruce and Aunt Karen's Alpaca Farm in Georgia.  What great company, what a wonderful time with family.  Of course Rebekah complained that Uncle Bruce and Daddy hogged the Wii too much.  What can you do with little boys that never grow up?  Great fun was had by all.  

Sites from Orlando

We stayed at one of the most prestigious golf clubs in Florida, The Bay Hill CC.  Beautiful boats, golf courses, and canals.  No Alligators, though.  

We saw the man, I mean we saw the MAN!  I could never explain to you how much larger in person Shaq was than just to see him on the TV.  It was amazing.  He couldn't fit in the rides, but was taking his family around, despite the crowds, the clicks of the camera, and the people wanting autographs.  We actually felt for him, that is after we took his picture.  His shoes were small countries, and his clothes could have clothed an entire family.  

We had a blast.  Bekah and I did Splash mountain, Katie and Ken were too scared.  I thank God for my family and having time with them.  

So Sorry.....

My family left for Orlando last Friday and just arrived back late last night.  We did not have internet access while we were gone, thus the reason for not posting.  Thank you for your patience.  More to come later.......

In the mean time, here are some incredible pictures that were taken at Disney.  

Worldview Wednesday; vol. #3

 

THE CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW OF READING

 

By Lynn Cross

      John 1 tells us that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  For the God of all creation to be called the Word is highly significant.  It is no accident that “the Word” means something, and that “words” mean something.  All the symbolism that is associated with the term word or words first belonged to the Lord Jesus Christ.  He was the Word that was spoken and brought all creation into being, He was the Word that dwelt among us, He was the Word of the Father, and He was the eternal Word that emanates from the Trinity from eternity past.  His Word, the Scripture, is His revelation to mankind about the Father and His plan of redemption.  When God revealed Himself to Israel it was on blocks of stone tablets, written by His very hand with words.   It is not just coincidence that all the great movements of God have always been through the written word.  The most powerful, God filled revivals have always had something to do with words.  The reformers were taught through a school movement called The Brethren of Common Life.  This type of education spurred them on to start schools in order to teach young people to read, write, and argue according to the Word.  All the reformers, without exception, were taught in one way or the other from one of these schools.  The early church also saw teaching the younger generation as a mandate.  Each of the Five Patriachates, the major church centers, built schools and seminaries so that the Word could be taught.  It is no wonder that when the communists were taking over Russia that Lenin and Trotsky saw it as a mandate to take away from Christians the written word.  Hitler knew this as well.  That’s why he burned literature.  Words, mean something, they change people, and the world. Our students need to see the relationship between the living Word of God and the Written Word of God.   

     “In reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. . . . Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do.”  These words end the book written by C. S. Lewis entitled An Experiment in Criticism.  Lewis knew this truth and knew exactly what reading good books can do for us and our children.  Reading takes us places, broadens our perspectives, takes us outside ourselves, and brings us to knowledge and the truth.  We can understand people past and present in order to carry out the great commission.  The Word, Jesus Christ, did leave us with a mandate.  That mandate was to preach the gospel to the entire world.  As we train young minds to read, and to think they will be able to bring the Word of God to light all over the world.

……………But the word not read nullifies all of these objectives.

Pit Bull Attacks Golden Retrievers near Lake Tillery

A pit bull broke loose today and attacked a woman walking her dogs today in Albemarle near Lake Tillery Road.  The woman was quoted as saying, " I walk down this road almost every day and have seen this particular dog and knew someday it was going to either work itself off or the rope lead was going to give way.  I told my husband the second time we passed by the dog that it had a very thick collar on, probably because it has gotten loose before.  I have always been very wary of the dog.  Today when it took a hold of my puppy's neck I really thought that my dog was going to end up dead.  My older dog, Dallas, jumped right in there to save Bama and that is what saved her life.  The pit bull was going to go for the weakest first.  Dallas was big enough where he was not going to allow the dog to get a hold of his neck, so the dog went after Dallas's hind legs and tail.  That's when I picked up that 4" round stick/log over there on the ground and just started beating the pit bull as hard as I could.  I was also yelling at the top of my lungs.  After what seemed to be an eternity, the dog backed off, but continued to follow us up the trail.  I held on to the stick until we got home."  

One of the neighbors of the owners of the pit bull said that she had often been scared of the dog, and worried about it getting off of it's lead.  She has only lived at her residence for a month, but her uncle said that something needed to be done about the dog.  

The owner of Dallas and Bama, Mrs. Lynn Cross, immediately called the Animal Control Office of Stanly County, and talked to Officer "Gary T. Cooper", name has been changed to protect the innocent.  He said that their office would take care of the animal.  When he arrived on the scene the animal in question was running loose and began attacking another dog as the officer was trying to apprehend the dog.  Officer Cooper called Mrs. Cross after apprehending the suspect to let her know that the animal was in custody, and that in order for the owners to once again gain custody of their animal they must pay a fine, and meet state regulations for the containment of the pit bull.  He reassured Mrs. Cross that Stanly County was handling the situation.  He also informed her that if there were any vet bills for the owners to pay, that would have to be taken to Small Claims Court.  

"Thank heavens that my dogs were OK.  I just hope that it doesn't happen to anyone else.  It was very traumatic to see that dog try to get it's jaws on my dog.  It really shook up the rest of the day.  What if it had been a child?  Just a few minutes before I had seen some of the neighborhood children walking their dog at the same place.  I am so thankful this animal did not come after them."

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That was my day, what about yours?

The Chronicles of Snobbery; vol. #3

*The Chronicles of Snobbery, a writing about history as His-story.

Joshua 1

God Commissions Joshua

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             1After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, 2"Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and this entire people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. 3Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. 4From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. 5No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. 6Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 7Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

   

            What gives a person courage in the face of insurmountable odds?  What kind of person can look at the possibility of death and know it is a big possibility, and could even be imminent, yet… follows his call, his commitment, his duty, and his responsibility towards his call? 

            On July 18, 1861 a brigade under the command of General Thomas Jonathon Jackson headed toward the little sleepy town of Manassas Junction.  While his troops slept in a field just east of Ashby’s Gap, General Jackson stood guard while events led him to quite a fateful date with destiny, July 19, 1861. 

            Jackson, at a very young age, had come to grips with suffering.  His father passed away before he was yet two years old, and his mother, an impoverished widow, clung to the only way she could see her family survive by marrying a man that despised her children.  When the young Thomas was just seven years old his mother died also, sending Thomas to live with his Uncle and Aunt.  The relatives that now surrounded Jackson were hard working and treated the young Jackson well.  Not having many opportunities for academic rigor led him at the age of seventeen to be a local law enforcement officer.  Jackson was known for his pluck, determination, and superhuman work ethic.  Congressman Samuel L. Hays recognized this hidden potential in Jackson and recommended him to West Point.  Studying with the resolve to do anything in his power to make his way to the Academy, he waited for the results of an entrance exam, and when the list was read for new recruits, his name was the last on the list, but he had done it!  Eventually, he became the professor of physics at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), from his background of poverty, loneliness, orphan hood, and many other difficulties, one would not have imagined that General Thomas Jackson would have ever come to that place in life.

            Jackson had the courage of Joshua.  “Be strong and courageous… be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”  Moses had died, Jackson’s family had died, and instead of either Joshua or Jackson feeling sorry for themselves, or calling themselves victims, they saw a calling that was greater than they were.  God called both of these men to lead the way.  According to the Bible’s definition of success, He led them to live a blameless, godly life.  These are the attributes of leaders.  Joshua was scared, or God would not have reminded him to be courageous.  Jackson was scared.  Before he had headed toward Manassas Junction on that fateful day, July 19^th, 1861, he had not only lost his parents, his first wife, and two children, but he thought for a time that success was in having a family.  God took this man, used the suffering in his life to fill him with courage, and change his definition of success.  God became the strength of his life and his portion forever.  That is the only way we can have real courage and strength in life.  When we know that God is our strength, and that our success is following Him wherever He leads, then we become godly men and women that follow Christ wherever He leads. That is true courage. 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Sabbath-vol. #2

Ken is filling in for a church in Clemmons, NC while they look for a new shepherd.  It takes us at least an hour and a half to get there.  The drive has proved to be a wonderful family time.  Teenagers never stop, and for an hour and a half we have them corralled in the car with nothing to do but talk.  Mo's friend Alex came with us, and we enjoyed teasing him right along with the others.

  

Ken's sermon was on God's Will.  He told the folks that he was preaching to himself, and they could listen if they wanted to.  It spoke to me as we have many great opportunities for ministry at this time.  How hard it will be to choose.  I am confident that God will show us in which direction we are to go.    You can listen to Ken by going to  http://www.newhopepca.org/sermons_new.asp  Ken also has a new blog at crossrevilo.blogspot.com  

We spent the rest of the day with new friends, precious children, and good food.  The lake, the food, the boat, the water, the people, and the fellowship were refreshing and a balm to my soul.  We worship a Triune God who is relationship.  He has always been in relationship, and always will.  That is why He wants us to be in good relationship with Him, and with other believers.  It is His nature, and we cannot get around it.  

Thank you God for old, and new friends.  

Sit Down Saturdays Vol. #2

Saturdays are for random thoughts, and today was no exception.  Multitudinous thoughts have been traveling through my brain today at the speed of light.  The day started with writing in my journal and reading my Bible.  Ken, Rebekah, and the three dogs (we are puppy sitting Katie's puppy), started out in 100 degree weather for my usual walking route.  Ken got distracted at the Marina.  They were having a fishing tournament and he was very curious as to what the poundage would be when all the anglers pulled up to the dock.  Dallas and Bama, our golden retrievers would not leave the water, they stayed with "alpha man."  They were the first casualties.  Rebekah made it back to our street and decided that Katie's puppy looked too hot and tired to continue on.  I was left abandoned for the next hour of my walk.  Not that I blamed them, it was 100 degrees outside.  My water bottle ran out in the first ten minutes of the abandonment phase, and the last 45 minutes found my mouth dry, my head hot, and my legs wobbling.  I got to thinking about Moses walking in the desert after he escaped from Egypt.  I started seeing lemonade stands on the side of the road and wondered what Moses pictured as he was traveling along.  I am sure he was much more adapt than I was at desert life, being brought up living by the Nile, but still I wasn't that far from Lake Tillery either.  

Thinking about Moses, deserts, and water made me concentrate on the fact that I was thirsty.  It consumed my thoughts, mind, and throat.  I wondered how thirsty I am for the Lord. Do I thirst so greatly that my thoughts are consumed by Him?  

My golden retrievers the day before, after we had walked two hours, showed me a spiritual snippet.  We were almost home.  At the end of my street is a wonderfully shady house.  Bama, the puppy, got to the shade and plopped herself down and did not want to move.  Dallas picked up speed and raced for the shade in his own yard, where he knew water was waiting.  He sat down in the shade and waited for us to catch up.  Bama tried to sit down under every tree until she caught site of Dallas and ran to meet him in the shade of her own yard.  How many times do I plop right down in the heat of things;  trials, hurts, or pain and plop right down where I do not really belong?  I try so hard to let other springs of water quench the thirst of my soul, or I try to gain strength from other shady spots, but they are not the source of where my soul will find the true well spring of living water, or "living shade."  

My heart tends to wander into shady spots where it will never be satisfied.  

On the way home from Wal-Mart, I listened to the song "I Can Only Imagine." and cried.  My thoughts were racing to a time when the sin, hurt and devastation of this life will really be over.  My sin especially.  Sin in its various forms will be a thing of the past.  No more betrayals, lies, and selfish motives to weep over.  No more cries in the middle of the night that keep you from sleeping.  My tears were ones of looking forward to the time when we will be surrounded by God's love, His forgiveness, His mercy, and it will be palpable.  

Saturdays are times of random thoughts, spiritual insights, and gaining refreshment.  Today was no exception.  

Awaiting the only one to ever quench my thirst or to give me shade under His wings......Lynn