Geronimo

“I cannot think that we are useless or God would not have created us. There is one God looking down on us all. We are all the children of one God.”

 

I just finished reading a book that had a reference to Geronimo in it. They mentioned this quote which I kind-of liked. I looked up some information about him and found that it is believed that he became a Christian while he was in captivity. He said, “Since my life as a prisoner has begun I have heard the teachings of the white man’s religion, and in many respects believe it to be better than the religion of my fathers … Believing that in a wise way it is good to go to church, and that associating with Christians would improve my character, I have adopted the Christian religion. I believe that the church has helped me much during the short time I have been a member. I am not ashamed to be a Christian, and I am glad to know that the President of the United States is a Christian, for without the help of the Almighty I do not think he could rightly judge in ruling so many people. I have advised all of my people who are not Christians, to study that religion, because it seems to me the best religion in enabling one to live right.”

Geronimo had some good thoughts. He was not one that I would really look to as an example of how to live my life … but He understood God to some degree. It sounds like once he was introduced to the “white man’s religion” that he took hold of it and saw the truth in it. 

What I really picked up on is the idea that we are not useless to God. What must it have done for Geronimo’s heart to be taught and to to see that God has a purpose for us all. We are not useless to Him and He is watching over His children.

Looking through the Bible we see so many that society saw as useless … but God saw as useful. Rather than me listing them … why don’t you make the list. Tell me about one or more folks that God used that we would have written off. Tell me about a ”life story” from the Bible (or someone you know … yourself included) that touches your heart and reminds you that God created us for good purpose and will fulfill that good purpose … sometimes in spite of us.  

 

Ice cream is good for the soul

Last week I took my children to a restaurant. My six-year-old son asked if he could say grace. As we bowed our heads he said, “God is good, God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would thank you even more if Mom gets us Ice Cream for dessert. And liberty and justice for all! Amen!”Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby, I heard a woman remark, “That’s what’s wrong with this country. Kids today don’t even know how to pray. Asking God for Ice Cream! Why, I never!”

Hearing this, my son burst into tears and asked me, “Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?”

As I held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job and God was certainly not mad at him, an elderly gentleman approached the table. He winked at my son and said, “I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer.”

“Really?” my son asked.

“Cross my heart.” Then in theatrical whisper he added (indicating the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), “too bad she never asks God for Ice Cream. A little Ice Cream is good for the soul sometimes.”

Naturally, I bought my kid Ice Cream at the end of the meal. My son stared at his for a moment and then did something I will remember the rest of my life. He picked up his Sundae and without a word walked over and placed it in front of the woman. With a big smile he told her, “Here, this is for you. Ice Cream is good for the soul sometimes and my soul is good already!”

 

I found this story and thought it had some good lessons for me on so many levels.

1. How many times have I worried so much about praying “right” that I didn’t pray at all? God wants us to talk to Him. If it matters to us then it matters to Him … so tell Him. Be specific. Tell on those that have hurt you. Don’t be afraid to ask for what may seem impossible. Remember to be thankful.

2. We want to make sure that we encourage the children (actual children and new Christian children) in their interest in God and His Word. May we never make them feel stupid for not knowing something … and may we always share their excitement over the new things they are learning.

3. It’s always good to do a good thing. Even if a person hasn’t treated you very kindly … you can still be nice to them. What a heart this little boy had … he saw a chance to offer someone something they needed (some help for her soul) and he gave what he had.

4. Ice Cream is good for the soul! I suggest we all eat some ice cream today and remember what a good God we serve. Marble Slab anyone?

 

 

 

 

The Courage of a Child

Siao-Mei

5 years old

Mainland China

During the Red Guard Era, 1966-69

Over and over, a mother spoke sooothing words to her five-year-old child as they sat in their dark, damp cell. The woman was in jail because she had protested against the arrest of her bishop; her child was in jail because the little girl had nowhere else to go.

All the prisoners were indignant at seeing the child suffer so. Even the prison director said to the mother, “Don’t you have pity on your daughter? Just declare that you give up being a Christian and will not go to church anymore. Then you and the child will be free.”

In despair the woman agreed, and she was released. After two weeks, she was forced to shout from a stage before 10,000 people, “I am no longer a Christian.” On their return home, the child, who had stood near her when she denied her faith, said, “Mummy, today Jesus is not satisfied with you.”

The mother explained, “You wept in prison. I had to say this out of love for you.”

Siao-Mei replied, “I promise that if we go to jail again for Jesus, I will not weep.”

The mother ran to the prison director and told him, “You convinced me I should say wrong things for my daughter’s sake, but she has more courage than I.”

Both went back to prison. But Siao-Mei no longer wept.

What’s a lesson of courage that you’ve learned from a child? What’s a lesson of God’s love you’ve learned from a child? Jesus tells us to be like little children … what would this mean for your life?

Simplewins

The commercial begins with a thin colored line on the screen.

The line begins to swirl around until it looks like a tornado. As it turns into the tornado a woman speaks about the ways that diabetes makes her life difficult and makes it twist and turn a lot … ”it can feel like a tornado”. Then she begins to talk about how this breezemeter helps to make her life with diabetes easier. As she talks the tornado unravels and becomes a line again. She says that this meter helps everything in her day fall in line. She ends by saying, “Finding balance is my simplewin”.

I have really started to like these commercials. They have different people on that are describing how their lives were frantic because of diabetes but this little meter helped solve the problem and that solution is their “simplewin”.

What is your simplewin? First think about something that makes your little line of peace turn into a tornado. Then describe how you get that tornado to turn back into that line of peace. That is your simplewin.

Right now my life is pretty peaceful. When you live by yourself it seems that about 80% of your stress is removed. At least in my case this has been true. I look at the things that cause me stress today and for the most part they are tied to my past … or they are fears about the future.                 

I have been accused, more than once, of catastrophising. I actually looked up the word catastrophise and in the Urban Dictionary it says … “to describe an event in a horrific, gruesome, and tragic way.”  Okay so I guess that does fit what I do. My mind tends to jump to the worse case scenario. If I have an important meeting that I cannot miss or be late to … I will start to picture my car suffering a bout of spontaneous combustion … or the road that I need to take caving in or something. So it’s not a stretch for me to worry about my future a little bit. Each decision I make can start to feel like it will make or break my future.

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

“Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Luke 12: 22- 34)

Learning to have faith in the God that even takes care of the ravens and lilies … this is my simplewin.           

What’s yours?

A Story From My Childhood :)

Little Carol came into the kitchen where her mother was making dinner. Her birthday was coming up and she thought this was a good time to tell her mother what she wanted. ‘Mom, I want a bike for my birthday.’  Now, Little Carol was a bit of a troublemaker. She had gotten into trouble at school and at home. Carol’s mother asked her if she thought she deserved to get a bike for her birthday. Little Carol, of course, thought she did.Carol’s mother, being a Christian woman, wanted her to reflect on her behavior over the last year, and write a letter to God and tell him why she deserved a bike for her birthday. Little Carol stomped up the steps to her room and sat down to write God a letter.

LETTER 1:
Dear God:
I have been a very good girl this year and I would like a bike for my
birthday. I want a red one.

Your friend, Carol

 

Carol knew this wasn’t true. She had not been a very good girl this year, so she tore up the letter and started over.

 

LETTER 2:
Dear God:
This is your friend Carol. I have been a pretty good girl this year, and I
would like a red bike for my birthday.
Thank you,
Carol

 

Carol knew this wasn’t true either. She tore up the letter and started again.

 

LETTER 3:
Dear God:

I know I haven’t been a good girl this year. I am very sorry. I will be a
good girl if you just send me a red bike for my birthday.
Thank you,
Carol

 

Carol knew, even if it was true, this letter was not going to get her a bike. By now, she was very upset. She went downstairs and told her mother she wanted to go to church. Carol’s mother thought her plan had worked because Carol looked very sad.

 

‘Just be home in time for dinner,’ her mother said.

 

Carol walked down the street to the church and up to the altar. She looked around to see if anyone was there. She picked up a statue of the Virgin Mary, slipped it under her jacket and ran out of the church, down the street, into her house and up to her room. She shut the door and sat down and wrote her letter to God.

LETTER 4:
I GOT YOUR MAMA.
IF YOU WANT TO SEE HER AGAIN, SEND THE BIKE.

Signed,
YOU KNOW WHO  

     When I read this I couldn’t believe how much it sounded like something I would have done as a child. Then after a little more thought, I realized, it’s actually something I’ve wanted to do recently.                                                                                         

     There are some folks close to me that have been experiencing some very serious events. Divorce, sick children, fighting soldiers, deteriorating health, betrayal, and marital struggles are just some of those events.

     When praying for them, I sometimes feel like Carol. One part is that I don’t feel like I’m in any position to ask God for anything … and another part is I want my way so bad that if kidnapping His momma would get it done … then okay.

    

     I know there are some of you that know where I’m coming from. We want God to fix things (like we want, and when we want) so badly that we’re almost at the point of desperation.

    

     Recently some of us have been blessed to see a bit of God’s answer to our prayers. He didn’t do it how we wanted or when we wanted. He did it the way He wanted and it was amazing. He is such an amazing Father to us.

    

      I’m grateful that God hears our prayers … always. I’m also grateful that He does what is best for us even when we don’t see it at first.

 

     Can you tell me about an answer that you are grateful for? Maybe an answer that wasn’t what you would have chosen, but it sure turned out to be what was best.

Top 10 “YETS”

As we have read through the Old Testament so far I’ve really come to like the word “YET”. I notice it catching my eye … usually telling me that God is doing something different than I might expect. Not only is it not what I expect, but it’s always better than what I would have expected.

 

Here are my top 10 favorite “YETS” so far:

 

1.  And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” ( Genesis 21:7 )

 

2. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” ( Genesis 32:30 )

 

3. No one could see anyone else or leave his place for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived. ( Exodus 10:23 )

 

4. For this is what the LORD says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. ( 2 Kings 3:17 )

 

5. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen ? Yet when you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand. ( 2 Chronicles 16:8 )

 

6. What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins have deserved and have given us a remnant like this. ( Ezra 9:13 )

 

7. Yet if there is an angel on his side as a mediator, one out of a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him, to be gracious to him and say,  ‘Spare him from going down to the pit ;  I have found a ransom for him’- ( Job 33:23-24 )

8. In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from your sight!” Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help. ( Psalm 31:22 )

 

9. When our fathers were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, to make his mighty power known. ( Psalm 106: 7-8 )

 

10. Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! ( Isaiah 30:18 )

 

What’s your favorite “yet”? It can be one of these or a different one, but please only go from Genesis to Isaiah 30.

Random Acts

A few days ago I was going out to check the mail. When I returned from the street I noticed that there was a white box leaning against my front porch. It was a white box wrapped with a purple ribbon. On the gift tag it said: “To: Our Neighbor … From: Grace”.

When I saw it, I immediately started looking around for who had left it … I don’t know anyone named Grace. I had seen a little girl outside earlier in the day and thought maybe her mom had her make something for all the neighbors. Then I thought maybe it was someone thanking me for something I didn’t realize I had done. Anyone that knows me very well at all knows that I just could not let it go.

Rather than open it I stood outside with this huge smile on my face looking around like I was on candid camera or something. I can’t believe how good it made my heart feel to have gotten some random gift.

Finally, I decided to go inside and open it … hoping that it would reveal who in the world Grace was. I opened it and I couldn’t believe what I saw. I almost fell on the floor laughing at myself. It was some kind-of advertising package from Grace Clinic. It contained a little dry erase board and marker for my refrigerator and a service guide.  

I started thinking that if an impersonal gift from Grace Clinic could give me at least 30 minutes of joy then what could I do to pass on that same joy to someone else.

Many years ago there was a book written about “Random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty”. It had stories of people doing random things for each other trying to pass on some kindess.

Wikepedia actually says, “ A random act of kindness is a purportedly selfless act performed by a person or persons wishing to either assist or cheer up an individual or in some cases even an animal. There will generally be no reason other than to make people smile, or be happier. Either spontaneous or planned in advance, random acts of kindness are encouraged by various communities. An oft-cited example of a random act of kindness is, when paying the toll at a toll booth on a highway, to pay the toll for the vehicle behind you as well.”

I wanted to ask everyone to do something random over the next week and then tell us about it. I don’t know that anyone would really comfortable doing that … I think that kind-of thing makes us feel like we are bragging. Well it’s not bragging and I think it would be good for us to say some nice things. If you are comfortable then accept the challenge and do something random this week and share it. If you are not comfortable with that then tell about something you’d like to do or something someone did for you.

Faith

I am claustrophobic. I suffer from this in various ways. I’m admitting this now with trust that these statements will not be used against me. I have normal claustrophobia … I don’t like to be in a closed up space where I can’t get out. But I also have what I think could be considered abnormal claustrophobia. If my shoes or socks are uncomfortable I can get claustrophobic. I have been known to get claustrophobic in gloves and jackets as well.

The most interesting claustrophobic experiences I have had have been in conversations. If someone is talking on and on and I don’t feel like I can stop them … I can begin to panic.

When I begin to get claustrophobic I have to start talking to myself … telling myself to look at the reality around me … “I’m not in imminent danger and I WILL get out of these gloves alive”. J

Last week I had a claustrophobic experience and it has been hard for me to shake. It was the first time in a long time that I felt the sweating, shortness of breath, skin crawling and fear. I tried self talk, prayer, and deep-breathing. They got me through, but barely. A few minutes longer and you might have been reading about me on the news. Throughout the day I had some flashbacks of how I felt and it would make me nauseous all over again. I really had to get inside my own head and try to calm down. I was praying … almost chanting at some points that it was going to be fine. I knew I would be fine, but still felt the anxiety. Is this where faith steps in? When we live based on what we know … not on what we feel?

Throughout our day we do things without thinking. I turn on a light knowing it will come on. I sit in a chair knowing it will not crumble under me. I drive my car to work knowing that the drivers are not going to cross that yellow line and hit me head on. Aren’t these all acts of faith? Once in a while the light doesn’t come on … the chair creaks … the texting driver crosses that yellow line. Does the possibility of this happening alter my faith? Can it still be called “faith” if I doubt it sometimes?

I have had friends that have made crazy decisions saying that they were stepping out on faith. They had faith that God was going to work it out. Sometimes I wonder how do you know when it is faithful … and when it is … “I’m really wanting to do something people will think is crazy so I’ll call it faith and then they can’t argue”?

Sometimes I think we label something has “faithful” after the fact. If I do something that I would consider “taking a chance” and it works out … then I might say, “Well, I had faith that it would work out.” If it doesn’t work out, then what? When I do something out of “faith” does that automatically mean it’s going to work out the way I wanted?

I looked up definitions of faith and almost all of them said that it was a “belief in an idea that is unsupported, or contradicted, by evidence”. Hmm … this bothered me. This is not the definition of faith that I had. I had to understand that the worlds’ definition of faith and God’s definition are not the same. Our faith in God is based on evidence. I see His fingerprints and know He is there.

Hebrews 11:1 says … “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”. I can be sure … He is real. There is evidence. God is not an unsupported idea.

As far as my claustrophobia stuff … I have lots to deal with in that area. I’m learning that it’s not the feeling trapped that bothers me … it’s the embarrassment that comes with really being afraid in what seems like a “silly” situation. God doesn’t think it’s silly. If it scares me then He wants to help calm my fear. Whatever troubles my heart is important to Him. Too many times I don’t trust Him with those kinds of things … I need to have faith that He cares.

I want to know what you think … what you know. I’ve rambled, jumping from thought to thought, but I’m interested in hearing how you explain “faith”. What do you consider a “faithful” thing you have done? What is the criterion for doing something “by faith”? Go anywhere with this topic that you want … I’m mainly interested in hearing you explain, either by definition or example, what faith is to you.

 

 

 

 

Theme Songs

Today we were reading Psalm 119 and I ran across this verse: Your decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge. Psalm 119:54

I have always loved songs. They speak to my emotional side with a strength that scares me sometimes. My entire mood can change because of a song that I hear. They can be that powerful. There is something about the music and the words together that stirs something in me. I have to be careful because I can become very subjective and forget what’s real.

When I was going through the roughest time in my life, I would put on the saddest music I could find and drive around the loop and cry. Even if I wasn’t sad enough to cry when I started driving … one or two songs later I would be bawling.

Recently I have started listening to mostly Christian music. I thought it would be better for my heart. The sadness I get from some of those songs is a different kind than I get from a depressing country song. I still mourn over my past with God, but know that I’m forgiven and restored … I’m grateful to be able to look back and see that as my past not my present.

For a while I lived with two other girls. Our theme song was “Poor Poor Pitiful Me”. This line gives a little insight into how we were feeling at that time:

Well, I lay my head on the railroad track
Waitin’ on the “double e”
But the train don’t run through here no more
Poor, poor pitiful me!

When I lived in Portugal I was fond of this depressing song by R.E.M. called “Everybody Hurts”.

When the day is long and the night, the night is yours alone,
When you’re sure you’ve had enough of this life, well hang on.
Don’t let yourself go, everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes.

It goes on to say that you’re not alone. Which is a good message, but I would always focus on the part that talked about being alone and having had enough. I good get a good cry going on that one.

After I moved to Illinois I fell in love with this song by Kenny Chesney … “That’s Why I’m Here”.

This ole boy stood up in the aisle
Said he’d been living a life of denial
And he cried as he talked about wasted years
I couldn’t believe what I heard
It was my life word for word
And all of the sudden it was clear

It’s the simple things in life
Like the kids at home and a loving wife
That you miss the most, when you lose control
And everything you love starts to disappear
The devil takes your hand and says no fear
Have another shot, just one more beer
Yah, I’ve been there, that’s why I’m here

 

I started going back to church and trying to do things God’s way … not the way I wanted God’s way to be. At that time this song became very important to me. It’s “You Are so Good to Me” by Waterdeep.

You are so good to me
You heal my broken heart
You are my Father in heaven
You ride upon the clouds
You lead me to the truth
You are the Spirit inside me
You poured out all your blood
You died upon the cross
You are my Jesus who loves me
You are beautiful my sweet, sweet, song
I will sing again
Bridge:
You are my strong melody
You are my dancing rhythm
You are my perfect rhyme
And I want to sing forever

I still really like this one and I guess I kinda think of it as my “theme song”. I’m trying to learn His song. He already is the sweetest song ever written, but I don’t feel like I know that song … I’ve heard it and recognize it when I hear it, but I do not know it by heart. I want Him to be the melody, rhythm and rhyme of my life.

I would love to hear about any “theme songs” you’ve had in your life.

 

 

 

But For the Grace of God

I was looking through some different blogs earlier today and noticed that someone had one of those “tag” blogs going around. This one was different though … you were supposed to write your own 6 word memoir and then post a picture to show it visually.

I did not get tagged and I won’t be tagging anyone, but it made me start thinking. What would my memoir be? Immediately one stuck out in my mind … “But for the grace of God”. I’ve said that phrase many times. I’ve heard people say, as they looked at someone who is usually pretty messed up, “But for the grace of God there go I.”

I have to remember that without God’s grace … I’m dead, worthless, guilty, apart from Him, hell bound, lost, and without hope. It is only because of His grace that I have the invitation to be alive, valuable, innocent, with Him, Heaven bound, found, and hopeful.

Paul wrote in I Corinthians 15:9-11: For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

He reminds me of how far down He was when God sought Him out. God gave him a chance to turn around and he took it. Then He worked hard to make sure that others knew about it … but even then it was God’s grace in Him that made the work possible.

The life I have now would not be possible without the grace of God. May I never take that grace and abuse it. May I never look at someone and say, “But for the grace of God there go I”, without at least saying a prayer for them. What could God do if I actually walked over and offered them a chance to learn about that grace? He changed my life … who am I to say He can’t change theirs.