Hall of Faith-er # 2 "Um... Not Any More..."

 

     I had another blog planned for today but things changed...:)
     Yesterday I took my memory verses and my camera outside and sat in the swing, working on Hebrews 11 and trying to capture our resident mamma bird feeding her babies in our carport, where she has chosen to nest her young.  I'm not good with a camera and when I finally captured the mom feeding the little bird-niks, as my husband calls them, I was so excited that after she flew away, I forgot to turn off the camera.  So that little clip ends with the camera angling from the nest to the fence and then to the ground where you can see part of my memory verse cards, my slacks and my shoes. (Could be worse... I've accidentally taken pictures of the inside of my purse before...Not kidding.)

    I posted the video clip on FB of the little birds getting their yummy worm but, truth be told I was slightly embarrassed by the fact that the clip ended with a lopsided view of a verse from Hebrews 11 about Rahab the harlot...  I thought, "Clearly, I need to get a life... Sitting in a swing, meditating on Scripture and filming birds... Does this not shout RETIREMENT or what???"  Honestly, I thought I could have at least been reading an exciting new novel or something.  Maybe filming the occasional drug bust in the neighborhood... Something, anything, with a little more pizzaz to it!!!
    Then last night I finally got around to listening to a radio interview that my husband heard and recommended to me, um, back in February.  It is the testimony of Dr. Margaret Nikol and as I listened to it, I searched the internet trying to find her written testimony (because she has a bit of an accent) and then I ended up adding  notes to the written testimony  as I listened to the radio program, trying to get her whole story down as best I could.
    By the time the radio program was finished, I knew she and her whole family belonged in the Hall of Faith. I was floored by the things she said.   She was born in Bulgaria and lived under communism until she was about 37 years old. But that's not even where her story begins...
   Before she was ever conceived, her parents decided to move to Bulgaria to preach the Gospel and continued to do so under a rigid, atheistic government. And I guess that's a pretty strong heritage - people who, like Moses' parents, were not afraid of the government's edict and like Moses himself, pressed on as seeing Him who is unseen. (Hebrews 11:23-27)
   After they settled in Bulgaria,  her mom started praying for a child.  For seven years, she prayed.  Not just for a child but for one who was musically gifted.  Margaret was the answer to that prayer; as a child, she developed a passion for music, especially the piano and the violin.
   Being  a child, however, she couldn't help but wonder why her mom had not prayed for a beautiful kid!! :)   When she finally asked her mom, this was the answer she got:   "Beauty comes from the heart and as long as Jesus lives in your heart, you will be beautiful!"  What a sweet answer!

   It wasn't until Margaret was older, however,  that she finally figured out  why her mom had prayed for a musical child:) Under the communists, a church could have only one pastor so her father had to preach, lead the singing, and work with the youth - he had to do it all. And he couldn't carry a note in a bucket.  She said his singing was absolutely awful!  So one day she asked her mom if her dad's terrible singing had anything to do with her praying earnestly for a musically gifted child.  Her mom said, "Yes!  Jesus has to listen to that every Sunday!  We needed someone who could lead singing.." I love that!
  After Margaret was born, her mother began to pray for a son who would grow up to be a pastor.  Honestly, I can't believe her mom had the courage to do this. Me, I've always prayed my son would be protected from harm.  To pray for a preacher son in Bulgaria back then, however,  was to pray for a son who would be tortured and possibly killed for his faith.
    Her mom and dad knew this from first hand experience as they had both spent time in prison and knew what torture meant. In fact, Margaret's  dad ended every church service with this prayer, "Lord, help us to be faithful to you, even if it means death this week."   Yet her mother prayed earnestly for a son to carry on the faith and God granted that wish.  She had a second child, he did grow up to preach, and like both his parents, he would eventually be martyred for his faith, the last Christian to be executed in Bulgaria before the Iron Curtain fell in fact.
 
    As children, Margaret and her brother had  to memorize three Bible verses a day.  The parents gave them their verses in the morning and they were expected to recite them in the evening.  This turned out to be crucial because one week, the communists came through their town and confiscated all Bibles.  The next Sunday, her father stood in the pulpit and said, "This is a sad day for us because all our Bibles are gone. But we will press on because we still have the Holy Spirit."
    At that point, an older lady stood up and said she had managed to save her Bible.  When the communists came to their home, they were threatening this woman's husband and while this was going on, she hid, not herself, but  her Bible.  Somehow she and the Bible were spared and that Sunday she pulled out the only copy of the Scriptures in the entire church. Then she  tore out the pages one by one so that everyone could have at least one page.   Margaret got a page in Genesis and she held onto it for the next thirty years or so, reading over and over again God's promise to Abraham, believing that He who had worked so effectively in Abraham's life would also work in hers.
    As an adult, Margaret became a classical violinist but she also incurred the wrath of the authorities because she didn't hide her belief in God. She was arrested and tortured but because of her significant talent they let her go. However, they promised her that if she didn't renounce Jesus soon, they would break all her fingers and end her musical career forever.

     As she put it, God had other plans and people were able to smuggle her out of the country before the communists could carry out their threat.
    After she left Bulgaria, she ended up in California. One day, a neighbor told Margaret that she'd like to give her a gift.  Margaret asked if it would be possible for her to have a Bible and the woman replied, "Of course!  This is America!"  She took Margaret to  a Christian book store and when Margaret saw all the Bibles there, her knees almost gave way from the shock of it.  She was pretty much in tears; after having had only one page for all of her adult life, she could finally have the whole book!
    She wanted so badly to get a Bible to her brother, who was still in Bulgaria but it wasn't possible, she couldn't find a way to do it.   So she prayed that even though she wasn't much and only knew music, that someday God would enable her to take Bibles to her country.
   After the iron curtain fell, there were still many people who couldn't get a copy of the Bible and so she started an international ministry which distributes Bibles to Eastern Europe.
   Towards the end of her testimony, she said that she has suffered many heartaches.  Both her parents were killed when she was a teenager.  Then her brother was killed many years later. And then she lost her husband to cancer.  But the biggest heartbreak she has ever experienced was when she took a load of Bibles into Bulgaria, about a thousand of them.  And the people stood in line for a long time to get a copy.  And then, when the last Bible was handed out, the person next in line burst into tears, sobbing and asking if they didn't have  just one more, saying that she had prayed and prayed for years for a Bible.
    Then Margaret added that for 30 years she has lived in the United States and over those years, she has heard many wonderful prayers at Thanksgiving. But she has never heard an American  thanking God for the Bible in public prayer.
     After I heard Dr. Nikol's testimony, I thought long and hard about how I had been slightly embarrassed at accidentally videotaping my memory verses this morning, wondering what people might think of my tame life...

     Um... not any more.
 
     This is where I got my information about Dr. Nikol:
     A radio program called Grace Cafe did an hour long interview with her around Thanksgiving.
     I found a written account of her testimony at Manna Express Online.
     And she has a website where you can order her testimony and her recordings of her concerts:  www.intl-impact.org

Adding to the list...

     Still thinking about the Bible's Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11.
     This is the thing: I don't think the book is closed on that chapter.

      I think when the final trump sounds and we are with the Lord, that chapter will be unveiled and the list of Hall of Faith-ers is going to be loooooonnnnnnnggggg, much longer than it was when it was originally penned. And not everyone on  the list is going to be a Moses or an Abraham.
     For example, I think about Sarah, Abraham's wife.  Her walk of faith took a little jog down a side path at one point in time. And I'm pretty sure she was the one who laughed out loud (not a good time to LOL outside of FB) at something God  said.  And then denied that she had laughed in the first place.  (I used to hate it when my students would do that in the classroom.  What's so funny? If it's that funny, share it with the class....  To which the child would usually respond with, "I didn't say anything...")
    So besides sending her husband to um... sleep with another woman and, um, laughing at something God said, both things that probably didn't get her on  the roll call of Hebrews 11, why is
Sarah listed alongside faith-ers like Abraham, Noah, and Moses?  The writer of Hebrews says that  (apparently in spite of her mistakes) she considered Him faithful who had promised.  Which means that basically, she had to hang onto the bassinet, the bottles and diapers (no yard sale..) until she was about, oh, ... ninety or so...
    In other words, the Hall of Faith-ers weren't perfect and, by the same token,  they didn't all have to give up a kingship (pharaoh-ship??)  in order to make the list.  They didn't all shut the mouths of lions (or get sawn in two... ugh!!).  Their common denominator is simply that they took God at His word and acted, however imperfectly, on what He had said.
    So, for a bit, I'd like to write about people I think might be in the Hall of Faith someday.  Some I've read about, others I've heard about.  Some I may have personally known.
     The first person I'd like to highlight is probably dying, even as I write.  He started his career as an aggressive young lawyer, made it to the White House staff and then ended up in a minimum security federal prison.  His name is Chuck Colson and he was caught up in the Watergate scandal during President Nixon's time in office.  By his own admission, Mr. Colson was guilty of breaking the law, of betraying public trust.  He went from being a powerful, influential Washington insider to a jailbird.
     During his fall from grace, he met Someone who had been executed as a common criminal and that Someone, Jesus Christ, changed his life.  Even before he went to prison, Mr. Colson began to study the Bible and to follow His new master.  And even though Bible reading is not popular in prison, he persevered with his new faith while  he served his sentence.  When he had paid his debt and was ready to leave the prison, he said he would be back to visit but I think the other inmates thought, "Yeah... that's what they all say..."  But Colson truly was a changed man. He had gone from being an opportunistic, hard hitting, Machiavellian politician to a man of God, i.e. a man of his word.
    He did come back. Over and over again. To establish a thriving prison ministry that had a high success rate of reintegrating inmates back into society, this time with a will to live for God.  But he did more than that.  He reached out to the children of prisoners by establishing the Angel Tree Program.  But he did more than that. Through his books and his radio program, he helped Americans see on a daily basis, how we were slipping further and further away as a society from what our founding fathers intended.
    From living in  the rarefied air of the presidency to slumming in prison to a minister of outcastes, he had an interesting life, a life of faith, and a life that God used.

     Which makes me think:  know anyone who has taken a huge fall from a public pedestal lately?  That doesn't preclude the person from becoming a Hall of Faith -er.  As a pastor of mine used to say, "The expression 'a bird with a broken wing will never soar as high again' is really  a bunch of bunk in God's economy."  Then Dr. Vaught's voice would rise as he would exclaim, "My friend! If God is the One who restores that broken wing, you can soar higher than you ever did before!  Because He makes us stronger than ever  in the broken places of our lives... if we will only let Him!"
    I think Mr. Colson would say, "Amen and amen!"

Today...

     When I first started teaching school, my rule sheet was fairly simple.  I think it went something like this:  everyone will respect the teacher and other classmates and cooperate in order to create an environment conducive to learning.
     The second year, my rule sheet included tidbits like, "Anyone throwing spitwads (and berries when in season) will automatically be sent to the principal's office."  Simply put, you can learn a lot about what kids are doing (and are not doing) by what the teacher's rule sheet prohibits, admonishes and encourages.
    We've been studying the book of James at our church, using the Beth Moore workbook and DVD series.  As we've worked through it, I have had a tendency to look at James' admonishments to his congregation in Jerusalem through the eyes of a school marm.  In other words, I think I can kind of tell what his audience was doing by what he repeatedly told them not to do.
    As Beth pointed out to us, the people in James' assembly were Messianic Jews, people who knew the Torah well and who had  followed the Ten Commandments plus  all of their lives.   They believed in Jesus as the Jewish Messiah and as the way to God the Father.  (You believe that God is one; you do well.  The demons also believe and shudder..)  So, perhaps in their minds, they had it all - the best of both worlds.
    James sees them differently however; he sees them as major lawbreakers, people who are messing up big-time and seriously standing in the need of mercy.
    He starts off on "safe ground" - didn't the same one who said don't commit adultery also tell  us not to commit murder?
    Well, yeah...I'm sure they would agree with James' argument.   I mean he's apparently not writing to a bunch of ax murderers, so they're cool with that point. Absolutely!  God gave us both commandments!  And we're keeping them! Preach on!
    But he doesn't stop there.  He goes on to ask:  well, what if you keep the whole law for a long time and then suddenly you trip up, you stumble in one point?  Doesn't that one mess-up make you a law breaker?
   Maybe his congregation is still tracking with him, still nodding their heads and thinking (perhaps a bit uneasily) that they are  on safe ground. Yet not too  sure where the pastor is going with all this.
   Where James was going with his "case" against them was to Matthew 22:37-39, two commandments that, if they are kept, will fulfill the entire law. Love God with all your heart, soul and mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.

   And that's where they were messing up.  They weren't loving the poor, the ragged, the dirty, the hungry  in the same way that they themselves would want to be loved.  They would, in a heartbeat, play up to the rich and the influential and probably for good reason - the rich had the power to throw them into jail. So naturally when a powerful person came into their assembly, they would offer that person the best.  And then, just to sound good, they would piously bless the poor people by saying, "Go in peace! Be warmed and be filled!"
   James doesn't like this. He's asking them, "How can they be warm if you don't give them clothes? How can they be filled if you don't give them food?"
   This, of course, is tough and I would imagine that James' audience is  wishing he would go back to the sins of adultery and murder...  And I'm right there with them.
   "But Lord!  My neighbor looks so ... so rough! And You should have seen the looks we got when I was standing on the corner, talking to her about her last police bust...  Oh.. You did see that?  Well, then, [imagine pouty face here] You know how embarrassing that is. And I mean I know she's trying to go straight but the truth is, she's in a bind because she's made a lot of mistakes in the past and [whiny voice here] just because she's making good choices now, well, I don't see why I should give up  my chocolate money in order to  buy eggs for her..."
    Unfortunately, James wasn't finished... Not only does he clearly label favoritism and neglect of the poor as  serious transgressions, he also hits hard on sins of the mouth. (I'm assuming gossip; hot-tempered, injudicious comments; bragging; flattery; lying and such would probably fill the bill here.).
    At this point, I'm thinking his church is probably secretly appointing a pulpit search committee and that his days as pastor are numbered.
    But the guy doesn't even  seem to care!  He goes right on, telling  them that if they have selfish ambition or bitter jealousy, envy, etc - they are not tracking with God at all!  In fact, he tells them that their wisdom is the exact opposite of God's.  While theirs is earthly, natural, and even demonic, God's is pure, peaceable, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering and without hypocrisy. And he finally ends up accusing them of the very thing they were so sure they were innocent of - he calls them adulterers!  Oh My Gosh!!!  He's telling  them that they are playing footsie with the world while  keeping the outwardly showier (and easier) mandates of God's law and that this isn't going to cut it!
    Whew....

    And in all of that, one word stands out to me like a lifeline  and I would guess to his first audience as well: mercy.  God's wisdom is full of mercy...  God's heart is full of mercy...
   Thank You, Jesus.
    By now, I don't know about James' listeners, but I know I am a law breaker of the first water, standing in dire need of mercy.  And as one who both desperately needs and  abundantly receives His mercy daily, I should be the first to offer some mercy of my own to my down-and-out  neighbor, whom I am to love in the same way that I would want others to love me.
   Okay Beth, James, and Jesus!  I think I got it.
   Mouth shut, heart set to unselfish love, and mercy radar pegging out...
   Today, I will try, by the grace of God, to imitate my Abba who has kept His mouth shut in regard to my many failings, loved me beyond measure and showered me with mercy... And today is going to be, I think, a a great day!

Faith - don't arrange your life without it.

            Sometimes my mind just glitches...
            Sometimes it happens in church...
            Like the preacher or teacher can say something and that makes me think of something else (in the Bible... usually) and before I know it, I'm on a rabbit trail, hunting down verses that are taking me basically down I-95 when the speaker is on I-30, so to speak. Like they can be in the New Testament and suddenly, I'm trying (unobtrusively) to find something in the Old Testament.  And somehow it's all connected in my mind in the same way that my grandma's green beans, mashed potatoes, pork chops and gravy were all blended together on her plate.  (Maybe not a good analogy because I found that disgusting, actually...:)

           So this past Sunday, the pastor was in Nehemiah (which is a book I really like) and I found myself flipping to Hebrews Hall of Faith, chapter 11.  I didn't plan to go there and I can't tell you right now what sent my mind spinning in that direction and it's probably just as well that I can't.  Then, somehow I added to the mix what I had been learning from James 2 and voila, I had a spiritual version of my granny's pork chops, mashed potatoes, beans, and gravy: Nehemiah, Hebrews, James and some other things thrown in there as well.

          As I skimmed through Hebrews 11, I saw these phrases:
          "... He is a rewarder of those who seek Him..."
          "... and he went out, not knowing where he was going..."
          "... But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one."
          "Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God..."
          "... for he endured as seeing Him who is unseen..."
Wow.  I could almost see these people pressing forward with Jesus standing at the end of their journey. For a few minutes there, I could see myself running to Him and I knew it would be joyful beyond words to see Him!  As I sat there in church, my heart just welled up and I thought, "I love Him! And I know He loves me!"

         Then I thought about a passage in James 2:
          "You see that faith was working with his [Abraham's] works and as a result of the works, faith was perfected."
           And suddenly I was confused.  When I first started meditating on that verse, I read it several times and thought, Ummm.... too many "w" words in the sentence; doesn't make sense.   Faith was working with his works?  What does that mean?
           To me, "works" was the envelope that I had to fill out when I was a kid in Sunday School class.  You put your love offering (i.e., a quarter) in the envelope and licked it.  (I didn't like the glue).  And then you wrote your name on the outside of it. (The blank was always too small for my awkward  cursive).  And then you checked off squares that applied to you.  They seldom applied to me.

•            Brought Bible to church.   (Um... couldn't find it this morning...)
•            Read Bible this week.     (Um... if I read it, then I would be able to find it...)
•            Staying for church.   (Um... like I have a choice???)
•            Etc....

           I never did well on that part of Sunday School.   Now when I got to the grace part, that was cool!  Saved by faith!  I got that and still am thankful for that truth lo these many years later!

           But I digress...back to church last Sunday....
           I'm sitting in the pew with the verse in James simmering in the back of my mind while looking at Hebrews 11 and listening to a sermon on Nehemiah.
           And something clicked, oddly enough:)  I realized that Hebrews 11 doesn't say: Moses, by faith, read the Tanakh 15 minutes every day and put his quarter every week in an envelope marked with boxes. (All good things but not listed in Hebrews 11).
         Instead,  the people in Hebrews 11 understood that God had a plan which involved them.  They also understood that He is a great rewarder of those who believe He exists and also seek Him.  So even though they couldn't see Him or even see any reward at all at the outset,  by faith they rearranged their lives in small ways and large ways in order to do what God wanted.  From our point of view, some came out well in their faith walk here on earth.  (Noah and his family were saved from the flood.)  Others didn't come out so well.  (Abel got murdered by his brother...Definitely a bummer...).    But they all believed God and then set their course accordingly.
        Or as James would put it, their faith was working with their works and as a result of the works, their faith was perfected.
       Or as he also likes to put it, they had a living faith, a faith that is  so strong that, even though they may have struggled with it, in the final analysis, they had to act on it to some degree.

The splendor of Pharaoh

Moses as a shepherd

      Or as Katie Davis put it, in her book, Kisses from Katie:  she followed God into the impossible, did the little that she could, and then He performed miracles.

Back to the Future...

 
    My day got off to a great start this morning.
    Actually, I think the day started last night, not to put too fine a point on it.  I picked up a book about 1l p.m., one that has been less-than-riveting before and yet somehow, this time I really got into the story.  It's about how Open Doors unofficially delivered (smuggled) 1 million Bibles to China  in 1980/81.  It was a mammoth undertaking that they put together in about the same time it took me to produce our son - just  9 months or so.   The people involved in this were  Chinese Christians inside the country, who obviously took a huge risk.  And Chinese expatriates who lived  in Hong Kong plus a few Open Doors missionaries/coordinators from the Western world.  And how hard would that have been to put together???

 
    I mean:  one ... million.. Bibles?  Delivered clandestinely by sea???    Through the coordination of Western and Asian nationals?  I mean, truly, East had to meet West on that one and anyone who has worked cross-culturally knows that it's never easy to get anything done in a multi-cultural group.
    Except for God...  I guess I should add that, shouldn't I??
    Definitely, the whole project was impressive.
    But I wasn't thinking about the logistics of the  project as I fell asleep.
    Instead, I was thinking about how desperate the Chinese were to first of all, ask for such a huge amount of Bibles and second of all,  to risk their lives to pick them up at an assigned drop point (a remote beach),  store them, and then carry  them across China, handing them out along the way.
    They had to convince foreigners to bring these Bibles to them and then they had to get the books into the hands of the right people, hoping that along the way they would not be caught and imprisoned.  But knowing that some of them probably would be. (Which they were).
    I went to sleep thinking about that and  woke up thinking about that.
    As part of the Beth Moore James Workbook study, I just finished memorizing a portion of the book. (We are encouraged to memorize all 5 chapters but I'm pretty sure that ain't gonna happen... I would like for it to  happen but have my doubts...  Um, notwithstanding what James has to say about the topic of doubting...:)   At any rate, I had reached a milestone of sorts and so as I got out of bed, I began to go over the memory passages one more time, to make sure I had them down.  And then, I had someone else check me as I said them - just a few glitches.. not too bad.  And then I practiced them some more as I backed over a curb on the library parking lot... (Well, I thought it was safe to rehearse them on a parking lot for Pete's sake!  At any rate, it  was mostly  empty! I promise! And I didn't hit anybody...)
   At any rate, I  found my heart singing as I went through the morning (even in spite of the curb thing which was a bit embarrassing), meditating on words that are a lot more than just words.  (In college, we had to memorize poetry for lit class and it was a good mental exercise.  But  it didn't make the heart sing and there really is a difference.)
   And then it suddenly hit me why the Chinese risked their lives, risked everything,  to get Bibles for themselves and for about a million others over 30 decades ago.
    The human heart needs a song and God is the One who gives it.
     Even under the most adverse circumstances.
     Which leads  back to James, God's word to the oppressed, the tempted, the tried, and the persevering...
    James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad, greetings. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials...

Ten on the Tenth... Advice from Botswana...

     I missed Ten on the Tenth so here are ten things I've learned from Mma Ramotswe, the Number 1 Lady Detective of Botswana.  (She has to be the number 1 lady detective because she is the only lady detective in all of Botswana. Also she is the reason I missed Ten on the Tenth yesterday -  because I was busy working hard (see point # 7 below), trying to analyze her case studies...)

1. Inside every bully, there is a frightened and unhappy person.  When you have to confront a bully, it is best to first show that you aren't intimidated and then address the rest of your remarks to the  person inside and not to the one on the outside.

2. Pointed shoes are pretty but no one has feet shaped like that. It's best to be realistic about traditionally shaped feet (and bodies) and even patriotic (in Botswana) to preserve the old ways, which include well-fed females.  This is probably the main reason I love Mma Ramotswe!!

3.  If your assistant ignores your advice about buying pointed shoes (see point # 2 above), it is best just to comment on how pretty the shoes are and ignore the way your assistant hobbles around until she can no longer walk.

4. If shoes that hurt your feet (see points 2 and 3 above) also give you happiness when you look at them (even if for only 1 day) then you didn't make a bad deal in the final analysis. Everyone needs a day of happiness now and then.

5. When people come to the agency and ask the detective to find out if their spouse is cheating on them, they already know.  They just need someone to confirm it so they can accept it.

6.  When the detective finishes their investigation into the case of unfaithful spouses (see point number 5 above), they have an obligation to tell the client the truth. But their main obligation is to the children, if any,  who may be affected by the investigation. The adults can handle things but children should not be made to suffer because their nose looks like the mailman's and not like their legal father's.  So the client must get some of the truth but maybe not all of it.  (When the child grows up and has finished college, he can figure out where his nose came from...)

7.  There are no problems that a cup of Bush Tea and the Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency cannot solve.  And if a detective sits at her desk for a couple of hours without reading or writing anything, she is not wasting time.  Thinking is the most critical part of being a detective and it is hard work, requiring not 1 but several cups of Bush Tea.

8.  Trumpeters do not make good husbands. Mechanics do.  :)

9.  One more day without rain simply means the rainy season, which is literally the difference between life and death in Botswana, is one day closer, that is all.

10.  Women who "graduate" from the Botswana Secretarial School with 42% and who wear short skirts may get the best jobs right after graduation. However, women like the secretary of The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Mma Makutsi, with her 97% at the Botswana Secretarial School, her long skirts, and her huge glasses will eventually be the envy of the short-skirted 42 percenters who have disgraced themselves in heaven only knows what way under the desk with their bosses and who  will someday not be able to face themselves in the mirror...:)

11.  Ummm... math was never my forte...  At any rate, if you want to experience the Full Cupboard of Life,  and enjoy a pleasant afternoon In The Company of Cheerful Ladies, then get a cup of Red Bush Tea* (thanks, Susan!) and settle in for a visit with Mma Ramotswe, and Mma Makutsi at The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

You are not alone...

   
    This morning I got to take my niece to school which is  a bright spot in my week, even though it comes early in the morning and I'm normally allergic to mornings. On this particular Monday, I was somewhat "hung over" from the past two days, which were stressful  to say the least.  But still, my heart was  lifted by Charity's droll  insight into the drama of teen life. Plus, it was a gorgeous morning, as if to say the tension of the weekend, like its rain, is gone now and things are looking up. Which, indeed, they are.
      Still, being encouraged and being rescued from slow-wittedness are not one and the same thing:)   My brain, to say the least, was still sluggish after our somewhat traumatic weekend.
      Being slow-witted, I noticed things I normally don't as I made the drive home, like my brain was in unfamiliar territory and trying to decipher any and all clues...  Right off the bat I noticed a sign that didn't say exactly what it meant. I'm sure I have driven past it a hundred times but this morning I noticed that it had the word Jesus   on the top line in big letters. And then, underneath it were the words, "Thou shalt not steal!!!" And underneath that was a  verse reference from the book of Exodus.
     I'm pretty sure they meant that Jesus doesn't want us to steal... And I'm guessing their store got robbed recently (it's in a high crime area with lots of barred windows and doors).  But what I saw, in my somewhat stupefied post-stress state was this:  Jesus... Thou shalt not steal!!!  
    And not being the sharpest crayon in the box this morning, I thought, "That doesn't look right..." And still it took a while to figure out that  a little punctuation would help out a whole lot, that if the sign said, "Thou shalt not steal!"  and then had "-Jesus" underneath, it would change the entire meaning.
    Shortly after noticing the sign,  I looked up only to find   Smokey the Bear - somewhat faded but still recognizable -  pointing his finger straight at me and saying, "Only you can prevent forest fires!!"
   Well, Smokey's billboard is situated in a dilapidated commercial district with a few bars, a few hole-in-the-wall businesses, and a factory or two.  Um... no forests that I could see.  So I found my mental processor churning out random phrases such as, "Smokey needs a face lift... and a new address...  Whoever put that billboard there is, um, pretty clueless..."  Like putting a sign in the heart of New York city with a picture of the Surgeon General (if we still have one) pointing a finger at all and sundry saying, "Warning!!  The Surgeon General has determined that fried chicken, fried Twinkies, grits, an' bis-kits-smothered-in- gravy are bad fer your health!! Only you kin prevent heart disease!!"
    And then I thought about how I freaked out the night before and burst into tears after my husband called  at 7:30 to tell me he was lost, had no clue where he was, and needed help. He was exhausted, stressed, and in a place that seemed to be all freeway, super highways, access roads, multiple  exits and people who are so untalkative (to a Su-than-uh) that they seemed downright unfriendly.  (Nobody here says please or thank-you or gives you the   time of day!!! They don't help you with anything!!! If I ever get back home, I'll never come back to this place again, no matter what my company says!!!)
    It was a case of  South meets North and would have been funny to me, had not icy fingers clutched my heart at the words, "I am lost.... I need your help..."    How could I help him?  He was three hours away by plane.  The most I could do was pull up map quest and I'm not good with street maps and directions. Plus it would take time and I could literally hear the exhaustion in his voice.  I knew he was beyond tired and I was beyond scared.
   All I can say is that God watched out for him.  As we talked, I realized he had turned onto the parking lot of a Marriott Hotel in Connecticut.  That was not good because he was supposed to be in New York but at the same time, his NY hotel was near the Connecticut border - I remembered that from looking at the map with him the day before - so he wasn't as far off track as it seemed.  But the main thing was that since he was booked into a Marriott, I felt sure the Connecticut staff would bend over backwards to help him.
   He hadn't gone in to ask directions at that point (not because he's a man:)  but because he had stopped at other places already and no one had been helpful so he had pretty much given up on that option.  I convinced him to try one more time and this time, it worked.  He got what he needed and was able to make it to the hotel in NY.
   This world, frankly, gives a lot of mixed-up, sometimes idiotic signals.  Like Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires when there are no forests in sight.  Or multiple exits when you only need one and everyone around you  is driving like they are on the Indiana speedway bearing down on the finish line, oblivious to the people around them.
   Really, it seems to me that we are bombarded with unclear, sometimes humorous, occasionally  worthless, and sometimes downright scary misdirections    everywhere we turn in this life.  Like we are in a maze, thinking we have it all together and then suddenly, stress hits and nothing makes sense, nothing is helpful.
   Except Jesus.
   You will never convince me that He didn't somehow guide my husband to that Marriott in Connecticut and then to the hotel in New York.  You will never convince me that when I fell to my knees after his first phone call,  tears running down my face, begging for His help, that He didn't hear me.
    You will never convince me that when I sent out frantic messages on FB asking friends to pray, that He didn't hear their heart-felt prayers as well. (And what encouragement it gave me to receive messages back, assuring me that they were praying right along with me and that God had a purpose in even this!)
    Truly, above all the garbled messages the world throws at us, day-in and day-out, He stands alone, guiding, helping, leading.   When everything seems so chaotic and the tears flow and the mind is struggling to process info, He cuts to the heart of the matter and gets us where we need to be, whether that is a physical place like New York (or even Heaven) or whether it is a spiritual/emotional place such as repentance or faith, He speaks truth. He speaks plainly. He speaks lovingly.

   And you will never convince me that my husband was both lost and alone last night.
   I know he wasn't.