When God Sends You a Gift

It is July in Kansas, and for anyone who is familiar with that it means it is hot and humid, and yet no lasting rains if any at all.  

We have suffered with a drought in this part of the country for the past few years. Things are somewhat better this year, but we are still way under the needed rainfall.  It has been a long time since we have had a series of rainy drizzly days in a row, where everything received a good soaking. Anytime anyone talks about praying for anything, rain is always one of the first things mentioned; we are dry. 

So the other night when Roger and I were watching a movie where one of the characters had the wall in her cubicle covered with post cards from countries and places where she wanted to go I said out loud, “You know where I want to go?”  Without waiting for a response from Roger, I continued, “Somewhere where it is raining.” 

Rogers’s response was a reminder of a couple of years ago when he and Audrey and I took a trip to Wisconsin. It was after the tourist season, toward the end of Sept. but the entire time we were there, it rained. The first day we stayed in our cabin, while it rained a steady rain All. Day. Long.  We took naps, put a puzzle together and watched old movies on tv.  The rest of the time, it rained just about everywhere we went. Many people would have considered their vacations ruined by such weather, but we thought it was wonderful, and we didn’t complain. Audrey is from the desert and we were in the midst of a drought. We loved the rain, the sound of it, the smell of it, and the feel of it on our faces.  So my comment immediately brought that time to mind for both Roger and I. 

We sat and continued to watch our movie, and after just a few minutes we noticed a sound at the window. I looked at Roger and asked, “What is that noise?” He muted the TV and we listened. He smiled and said, “It’s raining.” 

We both got up and opened the door. Off to the west it was clear as a bell, blue sky and the setting sun, but over our house it was pouring rain. That’s right, pouring! It was even thundering! I stepped out into it. I felt it on my face, I could smell it, and I could hear it and see it. I looked up and laughed right out loud and thanked God for the rain…without me having to leave home. 

Roger commented that I was going to get wet, and I smiled at him and stepped out further as I said, “Sure, but when God sends you a gift, you HAVE to open it!” 

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.”  James 1:17

Learning to Appreciate

“I believe it’s shingles.”

“What?” I replied, with what I’m sure was a ‘you’re off your rocker, lady’, look on my face.

“You do know what shingles are,”  Her eye’s getting larger, “don’t you?”

“Yes, I know what shingles are.” I replied

 I wanted to tell her, “sure I know what shingles are, my husband is a builder, you put them on the roofs of houses, you DON’T get them on your body!!”

“Well I’ll write you some prescriptions, and ……………….”

I looked at her and raised my voice just a tad interrupting…  “Are you SURE it’s shingles? Not just a bug bite or a rash or something!?”

She stopped talking, cleared her throat, and smiled, “I’m sure that is what it is.” All the while thinking, ‘yep, this gal knows more about denial than the fact it is a river in Africa.’

As she continued on about prescriptions, and treatment, and duration, and symptoms, I can’t imagine the expression on my face. She was kind, spoke slowly and made sure that I knew what I had ahead of me.

Thanks for the heads up…..

So as I gingerly sit here at home, experiencing pain that is right up there close to 10 on that scale they always ask you about, I’m trying to keep my sense of humor about the location and limitations this has brought into my life. 

The down side, (no pun intended), I can’t sit in a chair for very long, I am most comfortable lying in bed, and the whole thing is just the pits.

The up side, I get to lie around A LOT, (UGH!!) and the pain pills make me sleep more than I think I have during my entire life; “catching up on sleep” has taken on a whole new meaning. I’m beginning to feel like Rip Van Winkle.

You know the saying…….. “We never appreciate good health until we don’t have it.”

I’m learning to be appreciative.   

Easter and Rights

Jesus never addressed the issue of homosexuality specifically in the gospels. Perhaps that is because He, being God, had a way of keeping things in perspective that the rest of us seem to struggle with. 

Sin is Sin.  

Jesus was big on rights though. The story of the woman caught in adultery comes to mind. Nobody was screaming about her rights, and when Jesus stepped into the midst of the scene, no one’s rights were addressed. He didn’t condone her lifestyle, behavior, or choices. He could see firsthand she was living with the consequences of all of it. But he did address her treatment by mankind…..that before they go “casting stones” they would do a self check of their own hearts and see if any of them were worthy to judge and punish. They were not. 

The entire Bible is the word of God, and Jesus is referred to over and over in that word as “The Word”, he also quoted it many times and referred to the prophets throughout the gospel accounts. Let’s just say, He knew what the Bible said. 

He never addressed the issue of drunkenness either, yet he hung out with drunks. Obviously his feelings about their lifestyle of "winebibbing" didn’t affect his relationships with them.  

In all this issue of “gay rights” this week our family has been hit by some sad news. A friend of ours, a gay friend, who is a recovering drug addict is probably going to lose their job due to a positive drug test, and has been diagnosed with HIV.  

Sort of puts things in perspective huh? 

All the “rights” in the world won’t change the fact that this person is now dealing with consequences of their choices; choices that I personally had no part in. But will we, as a family, help them deal with those consequences? You bet we will.  

You see our friendship and love doesn’t have anything to do with “rights”. And I know that as our friend shared this news their “rights” were the last thing on their mind. Abandonment, shame, sorrow and fear were the paramount issues that came up.  Who wants to experience those? 

They know our beliefs on homosexuality, but more importantly, they know we believe in a Savior who has called us to love unconditionally. They have seen our family in action enough to know that they could come to us, fall on us, share with us, and open themselves up because our love of Jesus and them would affect our behavior and response. They are counting on our love; God’s love that comes through us. Our rights, their rights aren’t really gonna matter in the midst of this fallout from the consequences of choices, but our love for Jesus will; and they know that. Isn’t that what we want them to know?

This is Holy Week, Good Friday has come and gone. The hopelessness that the disciples felt that Friday is surrounding our friend right now. I want them to know that “Sunday is coming”, both literally and figuratively. Jesus died for them as much as He did for me. He makes no distinction. He died for us all. And He rose from the dead for ALL of us too. Jesus death and resurrection is for everyone. The big question for me here is; how can I help our friend know THAT Jesus, that the peace I have, they will have too? Even in the midst of the coming storm? Isn’t that the ultimate help and healing, which I would and should want for everyone?

As I pray for our friend, I ask you to join me. There are dark and hard days ahead for them. I will pray for them as I would anyone else and minister as I can. Only Jesus really knows the condition of their heart. I will keep this in mind, and ask for Jesus to help me with the condition of mine, and perhaps He will heal and restore all of us to the people He desires us to be.

A Snapshot of Heaven

I have pictures of family up all over my house; little collages of familiar faces in almost every room. 

If not a collage, a large predominate picture; I even have a picture frame that shows a slide show of those faces. 

People I have known all my life, or have known me all of theirs.  

Many or most of the pictures evoke memories of favorite times together; others are faces that we love to see on a regular basis, so there they are.  

I love my family. I realized yesterday, filling out a survey, that yes, my life does and has revolved around my family for most of my life. These people are important to me. Some might say too important. That I haven’t lived the life I could or might have if I hadn’t been so involved and wrapped up in my family. 

 

But looking at it from the perspective that I look at most things—an eternal one—they are the only thing from this world that I get to take with me to the next one. 

I won’t take what is in my bank account, my house, or what is in it, my car or my clothes, shoot, I’m hoping for a new body that cooperates and works a little better than the one I have here. 

That is why it is important to me that my family—yes all of them—know what the next step is in this life we live. It doesn’t end here…..it goes on, like stepping from one room to another. 

I know the "here" is important, the laughter, the trips, the “family bonding”, as my kids love to call it, but I also know that this is all just a prelude to the actual living that we will all be doing together when we get to heaven. We have had some family moments that have been so wonderful, that right in the midst of them, I have known without a shadow of a doubt that I am getting a glimpse of heaven.  

With the holidays approaching, where we are going to be spending time with our families, and we capture faces for the galleries on our walls, take a minute to stop and breathe it in. Freeze frame it in your mind and give thanks to God for those glimpses into paradise. And remember that the most important family member, Jesus Christ, must be featured prominently in each and every picture, for he will be there in the final portrait. 

Thanksgiving......over?

We hold dessert in high regard, especially pie. :)

It is the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving. 

The house is quiet. 

Candles are blown out. The tables that were decorated and laden with food are all cleared off, folded down and pushed back up against the wall. The leftovers are tucked away in the fridge. The piles of dirty dishes are washed and put away.

It’s over. Or is it? 

Thanksgiving should never be over. 

I realized that as I read people’s thankfulness posts, we seem to be thankful for things in the present or in the past, but are we thankful for the unknown future? 

Are we thankful as we walk forward from this day into an unknown where small children battle cancer, the economy is shaky, thousands have just lost their jobs, the world is in turmoil? 

As I face tomorrow, I realize I can be thankful of one very specific thing.

God is there, waiting on me. Everyday when I get out of bed, He is and will be there. HE is the reason I can be thankful. He is the reason I have a future. 

^{11 "}For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. –Jeremiah 29:11 

I may not be “prosperous” or even “safe”, but God’s hopes and the future for me are something I am, and can always be Thankful for.