Ice, Fun, Flexibilty and Generosity

Today, I received a long email where several of us moms gave an update on how our kids were weathering the winter storm in Fayetteville.

I have enjoyed hearing about how all the college kids are taking care of each other. They are calling around, seeing who does and does not have electricity. They are giving invitations and gathering into the apartments and homes that have warmth and water.
The students are sleeping on each others couches and floors, they're sharing food, watching movies and in general, having a great time in spite of the hardships of the weather.
It's like a city-wide sleepover!

I wonder if us adults acted like that during the next storm?
What if we all traveled to one house and bunked up together for the night?

Then again,..maybe not. We'd probably look like this lady. (Turn up your volume!)

Zits Is Painting His Room

I love the newspaper cartoon "Zits".

This one from Monday's edition made us all laugh out loud.

What Do You See Nurse?

This poem was written by an elderly lady in a small geriatric ward somewhere in Scotland.

It was found among her possessions after her death.

Casey

Bored with being a server at a restaurant, Casey has chosen to seek a different type of job this coming summer.
She applied online and her application was one of 12 selected to go to the next phase of the application process.

Know what that is?

A Spring break week long camping/river trip in Arizona.
This phase of the interview process is a time for them to watch her work and for her to try them out as well.
They may or may not like each other.

Her tentative plans to work for a place in Colorado called "Wilderness Aware" will give her a summer of job as a "white water river rafting guide".

Attagirl.
You go baby.
Tryin to "Live Large".

Oh joy.
Just when I thought I would get some sleep!

January Inventory

The song that has captured my attention is:
No Night There No More Night by David Phelps.
I tried to recall the words as I sat at Jae's grave tonight in the dark.
The nights don't really bother me.
But I'm looking forward to the day where there will be no more graveyards.
I guess that wouldn't make a very good song title.


The scripture on my mind is:
Isaiah 3.
My friend Daniel was talking about this chapter today.
It describes what happens when a nation loses it's leadership.

I am frustrated by:
manipulative people.

I am stressed about:
3 Cheerleaders events. There's too many emotions and worries there to even describe.

I laughed today about:
Today at work, as we were crazy busy, Daniel and Levi pick pocketed a cellphone off of one of our patients. They then asked him "Where's your cell phone?"
As he pats his pockets and begins to search for it, I try to foil their practical joke by telling the patient that I would call it for him so we could find it. (Thinking it would be in one of the boys pockets)
I dialed the number and guess where they had put it?
In MY pocket.
The whole unit howled!

I am excited about:
My new 4 poster bed. I've been married for 28 years and have never had a headboard. I have no idea why it's taken me so long to get one. The girls have all had at least two or three. Anyway.
Now I have the huge 4 poster bed I've always wanted.
Then I just HAD to buy the matching dresser and nightstand.
Of course, then I NEEDED a new bedspread/quilt.
And curtains.


******************
Last night, as I traveled my little country road here by my house, I came up behind a beautiful red Corvette.

"He's gonna leave me in his dust" I thought.

It was a road hugger.

Hello-officer Red.

Corvette.

Instead of watching him drive out of sight, I found myself having to keep from tailgating him.

He simply would not speed up!

In fact,...we were going so slow that a minivan passed us.

That's just wrong.

Beige mini-vans are not supposed to pass red corvettes.

Lukewarm

Here is some irony:
God does not need us, yet loves us deeply.
We are in desperate need of God, but fail to fully love Him.

Jesus constantly called out the Pharisees and other religious leaders for not being authentic.
He said to all who listened: If you follow me, be prepared to walk away from everything you love. (Luke 9:57--).
That was a hard teaching for those people to hear.
It's still hard.

Francis Chan was a speaker at the Nashville Youth Workers Convention that I attended last November. You know, there are some speakers who are powerful because of their communication style, and then there are some who are powerful because of their anointed message.
Francis is the latter.
His keynote sermon about becoming a true follower of Jesus had me covered flat up with conviction!

This morning I was reading his book called Crazy Love.
(sigh)
Convicted again.

Here's some of what Francis says in the chapter entitled "profile of the lukewarm":

***A lukewarm follower attends church. After all, it is an expectation.
***A lukewarm follower gives money to the church. A tenth. Sometimes.
***Lukewarm followers are moved by stories of people who do radical things for Christ, yet they do not act. They assume such action is for "extreme" Christians, not the average ones.
***They share their faith easily at Church, but rarely with neighbors, coworkers or friends.
***Lukewarm people say they love Jesus and He is, indeed, a part of their lives. Key word here,..a part. There are other sections where His "control" just wouldn't fit.
***Lukewarm followers are truly thankful for their comforts and luxuries.
***Lukewarm followers do not live by Faith, their lives are structured so they never have to.
***Lukewarm people don't really want to be saved from ALL their sin; they want to be saved from the penalty of their sin.
***Lukewarm people think about life on Earth more than they do about eternity in Heaven. Their schedule and "to-do" list is consuming.

The above list is just a small taste of what Francis had in his book, but I love how he fills the pages with scripture. It makes his written thoughts credible.
I'm telling ya,..this isn't a book to relax by,..it's a book to grow by.
(Sometimes I wish I could just pick up a good romance novel or something!)

Lukewarm Christians are the kind that Jesus would "spew out of His mouth".
That's the kind of harsh tone and rhetoric he reserved for the church leaders of the day.

I'm a church leader.
Most of you are too.

My prayer is that I lead by example.
Overwhelming? yep.
Possible? absolutely.
Today?

Luke 9:62 (The Message)
Jesus said: No procrastination. No backward looks. You can't put off God's Kingdom until tomorrow. Seize the day!"

Familiar Faith

I can't have you thinking that my life is often like Friday night.
Nope.
Not so.
Not anymore!
It was just a bad night and these days it's an unusual occurrence. The hard memories are, and will always be there, but I continue to learn excellent "suppression" skills for the things which will drive me crazy.
I think.
I don't know,..maybe I AM crazy!

Whatever.

Chapter 17 of Revelation was my morning study today and I think I AM crazy for thinking I could understand any of it. My grasp of the symbolism in Revelation has been hanging by my fingernails. This morning, I'm wondering why I'm even trying to study the book.

So.
I went over into Hebrews to study the Faith passages.
Aaaahhhhhh.......familiarity.
Chapter 11 is famous as the Faith chapter,..but the last part of Chapter 10 is rich as well! It reminds me to be either a "working servant" or a "waiting servant". The point is to be a servant of Christ Jesus.
How?
By being faithful in our relationships and our daily activities.
All the time.

God's Care

Friday night was hard.

Casey planned to leave for Fayetteville as soon as I got home, and she asked me to go to Kohls to pick something up for her.
No problem.
Except driving out of the parking lot I had to make a left turn onto the busy Brockington Road.
At the moment I pulled to the edge of the lot and looked left I saw an 18-wheeler heading my direction.
It was all safe,.... I was still in the parking lot,... he was on the road fixing to pass in front of me.
But seeing an 18-wheeler approach from the left and pass inches away from my car gets my mind to imagining things a mom should never have to think about.

It's like "pop-up" on the computer screen.
The horrific scenes are instantly in front of me.

Broken seats.
Deployed airbag.
Broken steering wheel.
Broken tire wheels.
Broken daughters.
Breathe....breathe......breathe........
(I probably should have never went to see Jae's car that day.)

How am I to cope with a moment like that?

Abby also had a hard weekend.
There's been some stuff which has really gotten her down, which in turn, affects me.

She and I both were deeply convicted by our pastor's sermon this morning. We discussed it as we snuggled in bed this afternoon. Bro. David reminded us that following God and living life HIS way is not optional for us.
We are to follow His ways in all situations all the time.
Period.
It's not rocket science.
Just obey.
It really takes some of the stress out of trying to figure out how to respond to people and situations.
Just act like Jesus.

Friday night, I coped by turning the radio on (I often drive in silence) to Christian radio.
Ya know,..just trying to get something "good" into my mind after it had been instantly assaulted with horror.
Trying to Think Philippians 4:8,.. "Finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are good, honorable, lovely.....Think on these things".
Quick!
Music!
God thoughts!

Well,..when I turned on the radio, the song playing was,...(I swear this is true)...'I Wish You Were Here" by Mark Harris.
The words describe Heaven from the viewpoint of someone already there. They acknowledge the separation, but from a different perspective. They describe streets of gold, storytelling time of other saints also there, reunions and most of all,..worshipping Jesus. It then ends with the heartfelt statement,.."I Wish You Were Here".

The good thoughts of Jae wishing I was there, was a gift straight from God.
Given to a quietly desperate mother in a little car on Brockington Road.
I was amazed at the knowledge that God arranged that song for me for that very moment.
My thoughts turned from one of carnage, to one of wonder.
I felt loved and protected.

I am praying that Abby gets the same feeling of God's watchful care.

Mama says.....

I've heard it said "Never post something you don't want your mother to read".

Well, my mom called me this morning to fuss at me about labeling my family "pyromaniacs".

She is concerned that if I have a documented history of starting and enjoying fires, that insurance may not pay in the event we were to have a house fire.

She also told me that I should be careful. There may be a crazy person who reads my blog and might set my house on fire thinking I'd enjoy watching it.
I, of course, told her that I had no crazy readers.
(Well,....not like she means anyway.)
(Hee Hee)

So.
Let me make myself clear.
(ahem)
Other than the death and injury of those I love, there is nothing I fear more than a fire in my home. If I were to lose my photos and videos of Jae Lynn, you can sure 'nuff put me in the nuthouse. If you've read my blog for the past few months, I have a deep sympathy for those (like my parents-in-laws) who have lost their home from fire. It's so incredibly destructive. In fact, we called the fire off last Saturday because the risk was too great.
We are safe or we do not burn.
Period.

And another thing,....We only burn things that are supposed to be burned. Stuff like hay fields, leaves, twigs and dead tree limbs, brairpatches, trash, tires, stumps,..etc.

I joke about us all being pyros, but it really ain't so.
We simply enjoy, love, relish, anticipate, get high off of, get euphoric over and are addicted to fire.
(Just kidding mom!)

Unusual Family (Outing)

What does a family of Pyromaniacs do when one suggests burning something?

We have a long history of being "firebugs".

Quirky I know, but to us,...

Fire + rake = therapy.

Do you recall reading on my list of New Year's Resolutions that I was going to do something every week which scared me?

Last night, this was our hayfield (on fire).

There were 11 of us keeping it "in control".

We burned for 3 straight hours and it was wonderful!

We also worked up a blazing appetite so we all tramped our stinky sooty selves into the "Smokin Buns Bar-B-Q" restaurant right down the road. We were so proud!

In spite of three hours of fire, we only burned about a third of what we needed to do. So we all gathered back down there again this morning with our rakes, matches and adrenaline.

We lit it up and it began to spread faster than we felt like we could "control".

(I singed my new hair-cut. My new hairspray attracts fire I guess. Dang it.)

The wind was just a bit too stiff, so we stomped the fire out and slouched back to our homes all disappointed.

But the good news?

We are going to try again next Saturday.

I'm Resolute!

Here's my list.
The thing absolutely no one has been waiting for.

I am going to try to do each of these this year:
(ahem)

1. Perform one anonymous act of service each day.
Family, friend or stranger. Anyone is subject to my attention.
After all, service is the premise of WeepySeeds.

2. Do something each day week occassionally that scares me.
I've heard people say do something each day that is scary, but I just don't have that much time or energy.
I am also a weenie weenie weenie and don't really wish to be scared.
I've heard however,..that doing this makes life more fun.
Fun is good.

3. Be more spontaneous.
When the girls were small, we used to have "Yes days". Everything they asked me got a "yes!" answer. Those days ended up being pretty cool days for me too.

4. Real Estate.
Acquire more.
(Should I warn Ralph?)
(I suppose.)

5. Continue my Book-of-the-month-Bible-study.
I will be posting my monthly list in my sidebar on the left. Join me!

January study is Revelation. Here's how it works for me:

**Have a study Bible and/or a commentary.
**Begin by reading about the context and author. This is crucial to understanding the message!. Who is writing these words (for God of course) and why are they penning these words? Who is the book written for?
**Divide the book into days of the month. For instance,...Revelation has 22 chapters, therefore, I can do about a chapter a day during the month and have a couple of days to slough off. If there are 40 chapters, then I'd need to read/study two chapters on some days.
**Start at the beginning of the book and read it in order.
**Read the Bible chapter,..then read the commentary or notes about that chapter.
** This step is important,.....Write your notes and observations in the margins of your bible! I call it "preserving the learning". This will be a reminder of the things you have learned.

This entire system can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. Just depends on how deep you want to go, or how much time you have.

6. Memorize two verses of scripture a month.
This is something that Beth Moore is loosely organizing within her siestas blog following.
Join me here too! (Thanks Beth James for encouraging me to do this!).

7. Continue to keep an eye out for people who are drowning in pain.
They are everywhere, but are often camouflaged with a smile and a wave of their hand that things are fine.
I'm gonna git all up IN their business!

8. Continue to enlarge Jae Lynn's memorial educational scholarship.
I am no good, no good I tell ya, at fund-raising.
Way out of my comfort zone.
Way.

9. And of course, continue this blog journal.
It's been amazingly good for me to journal my journey in this fashion. I've got a LOT of work to do on my other pages,....I'm working on them all. I just am not posting them for viewing until they are complete. (or at least almost complete)

********
I expect #6 to be my life-changer.

I love you and am so glad to have you as a reader and follower.