Not a Trivial Pursuit

I know. I’ve been gone from here for almost two months. Life is good, don’t worry, but as usual, God is teaching me things, and I’ve been writing them down. This is one of them………

Remember the game Trivial Pursuit?

You pursued knowing trivia; unimportant mindless trivia, and you actually won for knowing it.

I am finding that my life, our world, is full of trivia.

I have spent a week off the internet. I felt compelled to fast and pray for some folks last week, and as I was having more folks over to eat than usual, I knew fasting from food was not going to be logical, yet I knew I was supposed to pray and sacrifice for these folks. I figured that the internet is something I spend a good amount of time on, so I decided to cut it…………..out.

I’m back on now, but in a very limited quantity.

I sat down and checked my e-mail on Sunday afternoon. Out of 94 emails, 5 were pertinent, and the information in those, I actually already knew. Trivia filled my in box. I deleted most or all of it without looking at it. If you forwarded me something you thought I’d enjoy reading, sorry, I didn’t read it.

I went to facebook. There were wonderful pictures of my new great nephew who is still in the NICU and thriving, those were a lift and a wonder, and some fun pictures of friends new babies, but the rest…………you guessed it… Trivia.

I did not read my favorite blogs on Sun. I waited and relished those on Mon. morning while Sam slept. Those WERE NOT trivia. They were like letters from friends telling me what they are learning as they walk with Jesus on this earth. They were encouraging, and inspiring, and uplifting. I’ll continue to check those every day.

I found that reading the word, praying the Psalms for those I was praying for and doing so many other things that are not trivial made a HUGE difference in my week.

Over the past couple of days as I’ve checked in with those I’ve been praying for, things are improving or at least they are learning new coping mechanisms for the storms that are raging in their lives.

So I ask myself; Trivia……….do I really want to pursue that?

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.”—Matt 6:33

In God's defense

I take a devotional magazine called Table Talk, from Ligonier Ministries. Dr. Sprole is an apologist of amazing qualifications and has the list of literary accomplishments to prove it. I appreciate him and his writing, and the work and study that it takes to defend the faith of millions of Christians against the onslaught of philosophies out there that would attempt to undermine it.

Reading his books, articles, and the devotional magazine put out by his organization simply reiterates and establishes in my mind what I already know. God IS God. That the things written about Him, and by Him, and for Him are true and I can believe it with my whole heart.

But as I read Dr. Sprole's books, and those by Ravi Zacharius, one of my favorite speakers and apologist’s, I am constantly reminded that there are millions of others out there that make these men’s job of “defending the gospel” necessary. These men like Paul who have studied and shown themselves approved defend the gospel and our faith on the world stage in debates and discussions to remind the rest of mankind that Jesus DID walk on this earth, we are not some accident of a cosmic explosion, and that there is an absolutely phenomenally well planned, and intricately detailed plan in place for what their counterparts want to call “all this chaos”.

Does God need to be defended, absolutely not, but Paul does exhort us in scripture to be prepared to defend our faith and the hope we have in Jesus Christ. I just realize that my level of defense needs to be strengthened.

I remember reading one time where one of the great current apologists was being interviewed and was asked if he ever struggled in his faith. His response was surprising to me. He said that because they spend so much time proving the scriptures, defending the faith that it can become easy to forget that it IS our faith which is the determining factor in our relationship with Almighty God.

Faith to keep going in any and all circumstances.
Faith to believe when all around you doubt.
Faith to suffer.
Faith to give your life for another.

It isn’t the facts and figures, it is Faith. That is where it starts. Faith.

You know in 2 Cor. 13 Faith is listed as one of the gifts of the Spirit. It is a gift. From God.

Many times in the gospel accounts Jesus marveled at the faith, not of the Jews, but of the unbelievers; the centurion with the sick servant, the woman with the sick child, a small boy with five loaves and two fish. It makes me think and ask myself. How is my faith?

“For it is by grace that you are saved through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” –Eph. 2:8-9

Focal Points

I had forgotten to give Thanks.

Life is speeding up and I’m losing sight in the blur of time to “see” what I am thankful for.

The faster Sam moves, the faster time speeds by, and I’m losing my focus—it’s easy to do….

I’ve been here before, the haste and hurry of days as children grow and begin to motor toward life, faster and faster till in the spinning it all begins to blur. But I’ve learned some lessons about finding a focal point, keeping your eye on it, and you won’t have such a hard time seeing..

So as he sleeps, and I hear his steady breathing in the monitor after he hummed and cooed himself to sleep, I am sitting here giving thanks for:

--That little sing-song voice I hear in the monitor that slowly fades into rhythmic steady breathing.

--The beautiful spring day with the Lilies of the Valley’s just on the verge of blooming.

--Clean warm laundry fresh from the dryer.

--Remembrances of the Palm Sunday when I was baptized at 12 years of age and understanding when the pastor placed his wet hand on my head and told me that Jesus had washed away my sins.

--Easter is coming

--Sunshine

--The mowing is done…….for another week.

--It’s time to start planting flowers and getting the deck ready for sitting out and lolling away warm spring days and hot summer evenings with a tall glass of iced tea.

--The sounds of the mockingbird……yes he is back and chattering up a storm.

--A bluebird that comes and sits on the pillar not 5 feet from my kitchen window, so close the blue of his feathers shine iridescent in the sun—he is beautiful.

I’ve prayed for God to give me eyes to see—really see—the things of value of importance, that will “make the heart glad”, and he is......giving me sight, because He is my focal point.

What is yours?

Rubberplants & Remembrances

Don’t think I’ve dropped from the planet………..I’ve been sick.
We are talking--spend the day in bed taking narcotic cough syrup so you can finally get some rest—sick.
Never—NEVER!!—are we as thankful for good health as when we don’t have it.

The year I was going to celebrate the big "Sweet 16" my mother and I had planned to go to Manhatten where my sister Alane was attending KSU. It was parents’ weekend and I was going to get to spend my 16th birthday at college with my older sister and her college friends doing cool college girl stuff—I was ecstatic.
I had shared with all my friends at school what I was going to get to do, and a few teachers too, as several of them knew my sister and asked about her frequently. Everyone shared my excitement.

That Friday morning I got up and got dressed, finished packing my suitcase, and took it downstairs. I didn’t feel well, but went ahead and ate breakfast and got ready to go to school. I think I remember Mother questioning me as to whether I felt alright, but I wasn’t about to miss the awesome weekend ahead so I assured her I was good.

Somewhere during that Friday I remember being called to the principal’s office. Which I thought was sort of strange, but I had been in a fog all day, so I didn’t’ think much about it. There stood my mother. Apparently, everyone else could tell I was sick but me. The secretary, who had been called by one of the teachers, called my mom to come and get me. Sure enough when we arrived home and she took my temperature, the trip to K-State was cancelled. What made matters worse was that I found out later that my sister and her roommate had ordered a cake, decorated their room and were anxiously awaiting our arrival to surprise me. Needless to say, I spent the rest of the weekend feeling pretty sorry for myself, and sicker than a dog.

This birthday brought back all those memories, as I stayed home from church on Sunday in a cough syrup induced coma trying to get better.

Imagine my surprise when Rog came home with a lovely card, signed by all the folks in our Sunday School class, a beautiful rubber tree plant, and….wait for it……..CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES from The Sweet Granada!!!! Yes, those would make anyone feel better.

So as I continue to recover from this “stuff”, I’m reminded again how very important it is to let people know you care about them, love and appreciate them; especially when you are fortunate enough to be the one on the receiving end of it.

From whence comes my help??

Last month at Angel Food Distribution the pastor from the Eureka church, that drives an hour one way to pick up their food for distribution, told me that the church had voted to discontinue doing Angel Food any longer sighting several legitimate reasons; lack of volunteers, his own health issues, and orders being down. I was saddened to hear this, but understood, and wished him well.

As I went on line this week to print out our monthly paperwork, I noticed that the Eureka church had orders filed, so I called him. He immediately apologized, and stated that yes, they had orders and were going to continue Angel Food after all. A small, lay driven church, (meaning that it is so small they have no pastor, at least full time), about 12 miles from Eureka had contacted him offering to take orders, and even drive the two hour trip to pick up the food if they would allow them to use their facilities for distribution. It was an offer he couldn’t refuse. He told me that he would be bringing “a few” of their folks up on Sat. to get the lay of the land and meet us.

When Sat. rolled around, as I drove to the church at 5:45 a.m. I went over in my head all the people who had told me that they would be unable to help this month due to Childrens Quizzing, Upwards Basketball, and various other scheduling conflicts. I figured we would do well to have 4 or 5 men there to help unload the truck, with myself and one other lady. Imagine my surprise when I walked in and there was the Pastor from the Eureka church with 7 men ready to help upload the truck and learn the ropes. Needless to say we had the truck unloaded in short fashion.

Due to the scheduling conflicts for so many, I also knew that my regular helpers that help with distribution and carrying boxes out to the cars would be gone and I would more than likely be distributing all by myself. Not to worry, I had my trusty cart and felt confident I could handle it.

Shock is the only word I can use to describe the feeling I had when, as everyone was dispersing to go their separate ways, I turned and there was a young woman from Emporia State and 8 International Students standing in the hall. When I asked her if I could help her, she replied “We are here to help with Angel Food”. I checked their backs for wings.

The morning went smoothly, and the distribution was great. They caught on fast, we chatted and shared things about their native countries and they even helped put things away as time grew to a close.

When they left and I was left alone thanking and praising God for the help that He had provided, I realized something that amazed me.

These students were only here for one semester on a student exchange program. The organization that they were with, GIVE, was only started last year by the young woman who spoke to me at the beginning.

God not only provided help with the unloading, and the distribution, but part of that help came from half way around the world!!! I couldn’t have come up with that plan in my wildest dreams. Kids here studying for one semester from South Korea and China helping distribute Angel Food!!

We have been studying in both Sunday School and in Ladies Bible Study about the children of Israel when God led them into the Wilderness; the lessons he wanted them to learn. As they encountered hunger He supplied manna from heaven, and when they thirsted for water, He supplied it from a rock; I’m thinking that those too were pretty unlikely methods of feeding someone and quenching their thirst. So, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when the help I need comes from half way around the world, huh?

The Psalmist states in Chapter 121:1-2

1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.