I have moved

I am not sure why, except that maybe I wanted a fresh start so my new site is:
sowhatsthepoint.wordpress.com
see you over there.

Walking with giants

It has been a rough few months. First Steve got the lay-off call while on a business trip, the day before Andrew's wedding. Poor form and timing.
Then we had all the decisions, emotions, frustrations and all with which to deal.
Then, the day Steve turned in his stuff and signed of Focus, his boss died suddenly. More emotions, guilt, confusion and shock.
Then a wonderful trip to Scotland, wondering about the wisdom of the trip but loving it just the same.
Then, the offer from The Billy Graham Evangelical Association, here after known as the BGEA, spoken with a slight twang.
Next came my lay-off. I am now the Women's Lay Pastor, or unpaid staff, depending on which title is settled upon.
And lastly, an incredible visit to N. Carolina while Steve was doing his training with the BGEA.
I was gripped by the presence of God right down to my core, and blessed by being able to visit with Karlene and Bev Shea. George Beverley Shea has sung with the Billy Graham Crusades since the beginning and at 101 is as gracious and wonderful a man as you could wish to meet. To hear him "talk story" was more than fun, it was ministry to the soul.
Karlene was one of my Mom's dearest friends, and one of the few who's voice she recognized as dementia set in. Steve and I were bathed in grace, and the healing has begun.
Thank you.

Straighten up

Still reading through the Bible, but this past weekend was our ladies annual fall kickoff. So early Saturday morning I drove into the woods just a few minutes from home. It was a small intimate gathering and my team had things under control, so I took a minute to head outside and take a deep breath. It was therapeutic. The crunch of the pine needles under foot, the whoosh of the wind in the trees and that deep green woodsy smell.
Then I went in to hear one of our young Moms teach. I loved her perspective.
She read us the story in Luke 13:11-13 about a crooked woman, unable to stand upright until Jesus healed her. Melissa described how the woman had slowly bent over, due to what is presumed to be arthritis, and then after 18 years ended up bent double. Then she asked us a really good question, "What do you suppose happened when she went home after Jesus healed her?"
My minds response was, "Gosh, I dunno, what?"
It is so obvious, but I had never thought about it. This woman had to go home and re-arrange her whole life so she could function upright. That truth hit many of us right in the face. We were talking about emotional healing and I am still thinking on that. How is it that healing can be so wonderful while incredibly inconvenient. We have to re-arrange our lives to accommodate walking in our newly given healing. Sometimes, for some of us, it's just too much bother.
Walking in the reality of healing can be excruciatingly difficult, and the true freedom we seek takes time, but it is so worth it. My mother-in-law is doing the work to gain physical healing and I just want you to know Mom, you're my hero! Keep walking.

The center of my heart are those I love

There may be no Bible verses in this post, but it has been ages and I wanted to write. I think that being with family is very spiritual even without quotes from the Bible. Where we are, Christ is with us and that makes it spiritual.
These little boys are as different as mine and it is fascinating to be the Grandma. I have so much less to be concerned with so I just enjoy them. I am coming to believe that we have done ourselves a huge dis-service by being so independent.
Not that I am so wise, but there is wisdom and relief in others and when they are close we can tap into that.

Needless to say, we are having a blast in Scotland with our family.

Aha

I was finishing up II Chronicles today and God let me have several  “Aha” moments with the section about Josiah. Josiah became king in Jerusalem when he was only eight years old. He was a mere boy, but “in the eighth hear of his reign, while was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David, his father.” (II Chron. 34:3)
That was my first “Aha.”  We don’t have to be old and experienced in life to be wise and worthy of leadership. We just have to seek and obey God. That puts a new light on Children’s Ministry. Maybe we should all get more involved and let the little ones teach us as we show them how to seek God.
Another “Aha” moment came later in his life. As part of Josiah’s clean up project, he declared that the temple should be restored. While that was being done The Book of the Law was discovered. It was brought to Josiah and he wept and tore his clothes in grief when he realized the evil that had been done in Israel.
The next chapter talks about how Josiah revered the Lord and restored the Passover celebration so that, “No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet.” (II Chron. 35:18)
That is all great, but then, later in chapter 35 came the surprise. Josiah really wanted to fight the King of Egypt. We aren’t told why, but we are told that Neco, the King of Egypt tried to stop the battle. God was speaking through Neco and Josiah refused to listen. Josiah was wounded in the battle and died.
The biggest “Aha” for me is this. I can’t live off of what I did yesterday, good or bad. Through repentance, God’s grace covers my bad days, days when I am disobedient wasting my time and God’s blessings. But His grace is also needed for my good days, when I am walking in the adventure of moment-by-moment obedience with expectancy and anticipation.
I ‘d love to hear some of your “Aha” moments.

July 1st and I'm no Dodo

How would you like to be listed as the daughter of Dodo? It’s funny the things that catch my attention while I'm reading through Chronicles. I'm sure there are more spiritual things to search out, but it’s the odd things that make me stop and think.
Like the reason that Shimei’s clan was small, by comparison, was that while he had sixteen sons and six daughters, his brothers weren’t as prolific in their procreation.  Why was that nugget important? Maybe just because it would answer a question, or make someone like me sit with my Bible open while I pondered things.
I have been feeling particularly un-spiritual this past week, so as long as I am reading the Bible, and as long as the Bible causes me to stop and wonder why God put these kind of odd bits in His book, I am still growing in knowledge.
The book that is helping me grow in grace is still, What’s So Amazing About Grace. I have to stop and ponder that one a lot. It is very challenging to me and I highly recommend you grab a copy and read, but be prepared, it should make you stop and think about a thing or two. If it doesn't we need to talk
I am praying for you today. Take some time to read your Bible and let the odd bits catch your attention. Why did God put that in His book?
“Sing to him; sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works.” 1 Chronicles 16:9
Do me a favor and tell me of one of His wondrous works. I’d like to hear what He is doing in your life.

Happy Memorial Day?

It doesn't sound right to say Happy Memorial Day, but I have had several people say that to me.
I am so grateful for those who gave their lives physically, but I want to remember those who have served and lived, and never been the same because of what they have seen and experienced. I cannot even imagine what life is like, day to day, when you have been exposed to the horrors of war.
Thank you seems so trite, but I have no others words. Thank you!
I pray your Memorial Day is reverent, and your heart full of gratitude. The price of our freedom is unimaginable.

Lucy tales

Nothing spiritual today, just cuteness.
Preparing for another memorial service tomorrow I looked up from the flurry of e-mails and said, "I am so tired that I have lost the ability to think."
"Gogo, you lost your bility?" asked Lucy
"Yes, I lost it."
Jumping to her feet she said earnestly, "I find it for you Gogo. I find your bility."
After searching diligently for two minutes she emerged from my room and proudly handed me a box of kleenex. "Here Gogo. Here's your bility."

Tim VanTongeren is in glory

Psalm 43 was his Psalm today. Verses 3 and 4, "O send out Thy light and Thy truth, let them lead me; let them bring me to Thy holy hill, and to Thy dwelling places. Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And upon the lyre I shall praise Thee, O God, my God."
God did lead him to His holy hill and Tim is in God's dwelling place.
My heart breaks for his wife Jeni and their three children, and I don't get it.

The waiting room

It's interesting the way we can suddenly be equalized. I have been coming up the the hospital to sit with a friend, the one from the last blog. It doesn't matter what people look like in a waiting room. The old or the young, the big or the small, the various languages spoken, the tattoo and pierced or the conservative, the bikers, hippies and preppies are all the same.
We smile nervously or compassionately at each other, listen (while we try not to listen) to intimate phone calls and conversations meant to update loved ones who have to be far away. We are all in the same place, especially in the ICU waiting room where loved ones are in critical condition. There is fear and faith, weeping and laughter, and prayer.
In times of crisis it seems as if prayer is no longer controversial, it's comforting.
It's the National Day of Prayer, so I will be praying with a grateful heart. I don't have to hide my prayers or find a secret place. I can pray openly in the waiting room and know that my Father in heaven is listening, and if others in the waiting room hear, it's okay, they don't mind.

Friendship interuptions

I just read Ruth and got some new insights, which is good. Boaz was apparently not very handsome and significantly older than Ruth. You'll have to read it for yourself, but Ruth 3:8-10 may bring a smile to your face.
I also noticed that Ruth paid attention. She noticed which of Naomi's relatives were upstanding citizens before deciding where to glean. Boaz mentions twice for her to stay close to his women and then Naomi mentions to stay close to the women in Boaz's field because she will be safe, so it seems that there was real danger for a stranger off by herself gleaning the fields.

But for the past week, my heart has been with a friend who's husband is still not fully awake after surgery. It was supposed to be a short repair to his heart, but things went wrong and he was/is sicker than they thought. So I have been praying for them from home and then driving up to hang out when I can. I wonder at her composure, as have many. I am not sure I would have the faith and gentle spirit she has. I have listened to others and it is amazing to hear the different theories for what would cause a wife to remain so calm during a time of uncertainty.
I will work on being like Ruth, which is hard for someone who likes to talk. I will watch and observe and study so I may learn from Jeni. There is a depth in her, a calm certainty, and I want to learn from her. It may not be convenient to drive an hour and a bit each way, but it is more than worth it to be blessed, and hopefully be a blessing.

We have the same roots

All of us make messes; some of them are in our own lives, and worse, some are in the lives of others. I'm reading Romans now and it is comforting and convicting to read that "all have sinned." So who am I to judge?
But, how do you respond when falsely accused? Besides the Bible I am reading a great book, "The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham." I had no idea how many people attacked him, but what I am really impressed with is how he responded.
Me, I'm Irish and I fight, not as much or as quickly as in my youth, but it is my preferred and natural reaction.
I am going to put this quote on my desk and try to remember it, "His seemingly preferred mode (of handling criticism) is to go directly to the people causing him the most pain and basically say, 'Teach me." Lon Allison on Billy Graham.

It's been a long long time

I feel like I am starting over. I've been reading through Joshua most recently and what keeps coming back to my mind is history, personal history, family history, my heritage. It saddens me that my parents were so un-forthcoming about their histories. I know very little about my heritage. I wonder how they came to be Christians. Could knowing how they battled sin, help me win a battle or two, or even protect me from having to fight now and then? How did Mom and Dad experience God's faithfulness? Who mentored them when times were tough?
Steve's family has done better and I am blessed by the rich heritage my children have, but I wish we knew more. I want to write so my grandchildren know family stories and history. There are so many stories of God's faithfulness to us that can be recounted to build their faith, that they must be recorded. If you know stories of your history, write them down, recount God's faithfulness to future generations. It is more priceless that gold, and more precious than stocks.
I am leaving out the pictures because Grandma Yola can't read through them yet, but I am looking forward to a few stories from her!

Just kill me now!

This is a picture taken at the Hubbard Glacier in Alaska, so it's not the dessert and these are not Israelites, but it is wilderness and there were a lot of people.

As I got ready to read Numbers I wasn't very excited, but I am loving the relationship between God and Moses. It reminds me of Fiddler On The Roof. They almost banter back and forth.

Reading this morning in chapter 11 the people are complaining because they have no meat and Moses goes to God and says,"Why have you dealt ill with your servant?  ... Did I conceive all these people? ...If you will treat me like this, kill me at once." I cracked up. I could just hear Moses, "Really God? Am I actually responsible for this crowd? If this is what you have in mind, just kill me now."

My favorite part comes in chapter 12:6 & 7 after Miriam and Aaron have been bad-mouthing Moses, God responds to them with this, "Hear my words; if there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord." Mouth to mouth with God. Picture that. It's close. Friends around the table, honest, real ... 

The guest of sinners

That's Jesus. Maybe it's the new version, but I hadn't seen it quite this way before. After Jesus calls Zacchaeus out of the tree, Luke 19:7 says, "And when they saw it, they all grumbled, 'He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.'"

I can hear the disgust and see the sneer. The spiritual people of the day judged both Jesus and Zacchaeus, because Jesus dared to be the guest of a sinner, not just a guest even, but a self invited guest.

I'm glad, because he could come to my house.

Jonah and Nineveh and me

This picture isn't Nineveh, but I figure Las Vegas fits.
I'm in Luke now and playing catch up this week. I am still sick and tired of being sick, but finally feeling some brain power returning, which is surprising as I am on three different forms of steroids, (I promised Steve he need not fear roid rage, as my energy is still lacking), a new antibiotic, (the Mercedes of antibiotics was a total disappointment) and some sort of narcotic that is meant to suppress my cough, (I wonder what it would be like without this).
I was reading one of Paul's letters yesterday, hence the run-on sentence, he inspired me.
Back to Luke. In chapter 11 Jesus brings up Jonah and Nineveh and I was struck by the contrast between the mercy of God and the judgement of Jonah.
In Jonah's eyes the people of Nineveh weren't worthy of mercy, in God's eyes they were.
Earlier, in Luke chapter 7 a sinful woman comes to anoint Jesus, weeping with every drop of scented oil, cleaning the dirt of the road with her tears and wiping it away with her hair. The comment of the host is, "Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, 'If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.'" Luke 7:39.
Jesus knew exactly who and what sort of woman was touching him. He saw past her circumstance, her failings and right into her heart. She was a sinner, a repentant sinner, seeking mercy and forgiveness and receiving it.
I want to be like Jesus, but I still struggle with the Jonah in me.

Funny Father

The pictures really don't have anything to do with anything except that I think they are funny. These are part of the artwork that makes an average bridge in Perth, Scotland whimsical.
I have moved beyond Exodus in my reading now, but I keep thinking about a couple of verses in chapter 32. Moses is on the mountain with God and he has been up there a while. The people at the bottom of the mountain are apparently feeling deserted so they start building an idol. It's starts in verse 7, "And the Lord said to Moses, 'Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.'" That struck me as an odd statement, and then I actually laughed when I got to verse 11. Please don't judge me, because the circumstances were anything but humorous, but really, don't you at least have to smile?
"But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, 'O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?'"

The next time I hear one parent accuse the other with, "Look what your child did!" I will think of Moses and God on a mountain.

Curiosity

I have always asked, "Why?" or "Why not?" It can be annoying. My Mandarin teacher in Taiwan used to say, "Tchrin Un, (my Chinese name) there is no 'Why' there is only do!"  But I really like to know why.
Charlie and Caroline love to climb trees to see what they can see. Curiosity I think must be a godly trait. It drives us to explore and discover and press in to find answers.
What a surprise to find that my assumption is Biblical. While reading Exodus 3 this morning I found this passage (3:3-4) when Moses sees the burning bush. Somehow I always thought God sort of drew him to the bush, but it says, "And Moses said, 'I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.' When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush."
Moses was curious and God called to him after he took the time to explore the mystery.
When Steve was in Israel last fall he asked Ray VanderLaan about questioning the Rabbi. Ray's answer was that questions were and are fine, but first you follow. It's while you are following the Rabbi that you ask your questions, but you don't wait to get your answers before you follow. The answers come while you are walking in obedience.
So, in my interpretation; Curiosity which provokes obedience ,followed by questions as we walk and talk with God, promotes greater faith, which increases our courage to pursue the next curiosity, which ....

Moses had lots of questions, but he started his adventure with God because he was curious, he wanted to know what was going on with that bush, and then God spoke.

Those amazing logs

This is my son-in-law Richie last year, standing next to a tree stump in the Redwood forest in California. I thought of it when I was reading Matthew 7:3 "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?"
I love the drive up the coast from San Francisco heading north. Stopping for a stretch and standing next to one of these huge trees creates a sense of awe and wonder. They are huge, beautiful and amazing, and the reason I thought of them is this; they block out most of the sun.
It is dark in the Redwood forest. It's hard to see until you adjust to the little bit of light that finds it's way through the canopy of green above you.
It's like that when we try to see the faults in the life of another person. The lush canopy of our own faults, severely hampers our ability to see in order to do surgery on the target of our judgement. So, I think I will keep this picture in the back of my mind next time I rush to judgement. What, in my life, creates the shadows that make it hard to see? Maybe I need to take a few steps out into the light to look up and see what I need to work on myself first. I certainly need more light if I am going to, lovingly, remove the speck in the eye of another.

Happy 2010!

Christmas was a blast with a baby in the house. It started with Papa teaching Lucy one of the best parts of morning, the wonderful aroma of coffee.
Now the new year is already begun and I have begun again with Genesis, as promised. I noticed something a little disquieting. We have been looking forward to retiring some day, but as I read Genesis 2, two things caught my attention.
First was the comforting part. Adam and Eve didn't just wander into the garden, and it wasn't necessarily where they were when God hand crafted them. God intentionally put them in the garden and with a purpose. He planned that they would work. Work didn't come after sin was introduced; it got harder, but it was apparently always God's plan that man (and woman) work. So where did we come up with the concept of retirement? I wonder. Maybe I will keep my eyes focused to see the answer to that question as I go on this time through.
Just a heads up. Our church is switching to a new version of the Bible this year, so when I quote scripture it will be from the English Standard Version. I am learning to be compliant. We shall see how long that lasts.