It might be that you've never experienced an ice storm, at least one that has lasted for several days. Its Sunday and we are currently into our sixth day since all nature (in our area) was coated with the crystalline substance. The storm first began with a rain, which over a time froze on the ground, trees and buildings. Had the rain stopped or had the upper atmosphere become colder, turning the rain to snow, the results would have been less spectacular. Instead, it continued to rain off and on for at least a day and a half until everything was coated with an 1” of ice. I think this is the worst ice storm my husband and I have ever seen and that is because of the heaviness of this super thick layer of ice, but yet there is nothing more beautiful than ice covered fences and trees. The world glistens like glass, it's brilliant, stunning, but the damage it can do and the hardship it can cause is tragic.
We live right in the middle of the area hardest hit by the storm, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. Not too far from where we live, a fairly large community claims that 10,000 of its residents are without electricity. Four other smaller communities near us are totally without power.
Since ice storms are not a rare occurrence in the Midwest, many people are trying to ride it out. It's hard to imagine coming home from work to no heat or lights, no stove or microwave, no refrigerator, and no shower or bath unless you like them ice cold. By 5:00 or 5:30 in the mid of December the sun has gone down and night has settled in, so if the children happen to arrive home from school before mom and dad get home from work, it's cold, dark and spooky. A lot of people get through the outage by using kerosene or propane heaters to heat small spaces instead of an entire house. One family we know uses a propane space heater to heat their kitchen. They hang blankets over the doors to hold the warm air in. They have brought a portable TV from one of the bedrooms to the kitchen where the entire family sits around the table cozying up old time family style. In earlier times the kitchen was the central hub of the family, even more so than today. Often times the only room that was heated was the kitchen because they had to keep the cook stove going and so family, friends and neighbors alike gathered round the kitchen table for conversation and family fun.
Even today land line telephones require electricity for switching and various other things so without electricity often entire areas are without phone service unless you have a cell phone, but without electricity where are you supposed to recharge it? Generator sales have hit an all-time high since the Y2K scare and plugs, outlets and other fittings for wiring and hooking up are in short supply. Stores sell out as soon as their trucks unload and their shelves are stocked. I saw on television a few days ago that over a million people are without power from Oklahoma to Wisconsin. We've been told that in our area, all electricity should be restored by December 22nd. That's still over a week wait. Electric crews have come in from Arkansas, Colorado and other states to help with the overwhelming task of restoring power. The news announced last night that while several of these out of town crews slept in a motel after a hard days work, an organized group of "lowlifes" robbed them of their tools and copper line. Can you imagine! We also hear reports that municipal and utility companies uses generators to power some of their equipment, since the power outage effects them too. Thieves have walked off with their generators if they weren't chained down.
Still, there is a brighter side, we've heard of entire neighborhoods where power is shared. Some people have power, while others don't and so heavy electric cords run from house to house so everyone can benefit. People helping people, shoveling snow, cutting up and moving tree limbs that block entrances and driveways, caring, cooperation and looking out for your fellow man.
We are among the fortunate few because we live on a farm and many farmers, especially those with livestock have generators. Because the livestock has to be watered and fed and we benefit too. We have had heat, light and all the modern conveniences that electricity brings all provided by a tractor driven generator. Of course, that means double fuel, we pay the price of the propane the house as well as the diesel to run the tractor. The generator is large enough to run everything on our farm as well as everything in my husband's parent's house which sets adjacent to our farm. It's close enough a power cord can run from one of the farm buildings to their house. They are elderly and would not be able to stay in there home if there were no heat or electricity.
Living in the country has it's benefits but it has it's disadvantages. Being without electricity usually means you're also without water as water well pumps can't operate without power. It also means lots of extra work. Domestic animals can't take care of themselves in a storm, they need plenty of feed and water that isn't frozen and their young need a warm and dry place protected from the wind and elements. City people will usually have their power restored before rural people. One power line in the city might service several blocks of houses or businesses while one line in the country may only service a handful of families. What that means is, people who live in rural areas will most likely have to wait longer before their electricity is restored.
Whether you are getting by with the help of friends, neighbors or family, a generator, space heater or just waiting it out in the cold, storm times are good times to reflect on the mercy and goodness of God and to consider the many things there are to be thankful for. Today was such a day. We weren't able to go to church, something that seldom occurs at our house. On Sunday morning, going to church is a given, something everyone does, but this morning was different, we had problems with the water. We had turned off the generator during the night to conserve on fuel and the pressure tank or water line to one of the buildings froze. If that wasn't enough, because it was so cold, the tractor didn't want to start (it finally did), and the pressure tank for the water in the house was losing it's pressure and making the water pump cycle over and over again. That's not something you want to happen because it could burn the pump out. My husband has been doing the chores, which I am grateful for, as I'm just getting over a bout with a sinus infection and bronchitis, but this morning he got an extra work out. He has to check on his parents every morning to make sure everything is working fine at their house and then he takes care of the animals and checks all the machinery. There are lots of buildings and equipment to check as well as close to 100 animals to look after. While he is choring, often a neighbor will call or come by, needing help. This morning chores took and extra length of time. My husband operates the road grader for the township which means that he has to keep the roads graded and cleared of snow, so that was something else he had on his “to do” list today. With school being out last week for several days because of the ice storm the administration was not going to let the weekend snowfall postpone school any longer, so roads must be clear and passable for the buses to travel bright and early Monday morning. By noon today he was gone and I was alone, alas, a quiet opportunity to reflect on God and His goodness. More on my reflection next time.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
The Gap Explained
Much has happened since my last post, my computer has been down twice and is still down (I'm on our other computer which does not have MS Word to do my spell and grammer check), Thanksgiving came and went, I was ill for two weeks, and a tragic suicide occured in the family. I apologize for not writing, but, for the most part, it was definitly not one of the top ten on my priority list. There still is much on my mind but little I am ready to talk about.
Yesterday, in church, the sermon was thought provoking. We have been going through the book of Genesis. Currently we are near the book's end, and have reached the part of Joseph's life where he is reunited with his brother's after being separated from them in Egypt for 22 years. Our pastor, Dr. Rick Goertzen, continued his morning message in his evening sermon. It was one of those messages you don't want to miss, you don't want to end and you can't wait to get back to. In the morning the point of his focus was "why bad things happened to a good Joseph" and in the evening the heart of the message was forgiveness. Here, in this blog, I have neither the time nor the space to go into everything that he said, but concept of forgiveness keeps popping up in my mind so I've chosen to write about that. Let me give you a little background.
Two years ago, I took a class on how to teach, ("Blueprint for Teaching," by John MacArthur and staff at Grace Community Church) offered by one of the pastors of our church.
At the end of the course, our assignment was to choose a passage from preselected passages and teach a ten minute lesson on that passage. Silly me, my memory is so faulty, I have to write everything down or I forget it. I looked through the passages and chose several passages I thought I would like to teach and listed them on a piece of paper. I listed more than one just in case some of the other students chose the same passage, thinking it would be rather boring to listen to all 12 students teach on the same passage. I had also written down the one passage I absolutely didn't want to do, Matthew 18:21-31, marking beside it in big, bold letters "DON'T TEACH. This passage is often called the parable of the wicked servant and I knew it would be difficult, as it is a parable and I hadn't dealt with parables much in my own personal studies. The day we were to officially announce our passages, I forgot to bring my paper with my chosen passages, so I tried to select one from memory. As it turned out, which one do you suppose I picked? You guessed it, the one I didn't want to do. I was totally dumfounded when I got home and looked at my list. The next two weeks, As I worked though the verses of Matthew 18:21-35, I realized why the paper had been left at home, the passage choice was not mine, but God's. God had much he wanted to say to me about forgiveness and he chose this passage to begin my training. I had thought I understood all I needed to know about forgiveness, but I soon became aware that there was much that I needed to learn. So I began, what now seems, to be my life-time study of forgiveness.
As I said, that was two years ago. Yesterday's message acted as an evaluator, a check on how I was doing. From the Genesis 45 passage, Dr. Goertzen, our senior pastor, made three points about forgiveness:
- Forgiveness extends full favor
- Forgiveness withholds no emotion
- Forgiveness begets forgiveness
Just so we are clear, since I cannot remember his exact words, what follows below is not an exact quote, it's only a paraphrase that I've constructed of what I remember he said. If you're interested in an exact representation, in time, this sermon will appear on the Grace Bible church's website either on the radio broadcast or in the sermons.
http:/www.gbc-hutchinson.com
Forgiveness extends full favor
Forgiveness shows no limits whatsoever on any earthly goods. This is take from verse 9 of Genesis 45. Joseph has fully forgiven them. He intends to put them in the land of Goshen which is in the northeast of the land of Egypt, near him. He pledges complete care and safety, and he promises to sustain them for five years. He is making every provision for they safety and their care. He withholds nothing.
Forgiveness withholds no emotion
When the forgiver does not withhold his love and his kindness toward the person he is forgiving, it eases the relationship and a there can then be a full and free exchange of emotion with no barriers whatsoever. In verses 9-15, Joseph is in no way pretending to forgive, keeping up airs, so that his brothers will think that he has forgiven them. He has truly forgiven them. He holds no ill will toward them. He has used the last 22 years to draw close to God. Drawing closer to God is what allowed Joseph to forgive his brothers. If you can't draw close to God, you can't forgive. If you can't forgive, you can't draw close to God. During those 22 years, God was sufficiently enriching his soul. Only a sufficiently enriched soul can forgive. Love melts the heart and Joseph's love of God melted his heart toward his brothers. In order to forgive, we must love God first. If we've chosen bitterness over forgiveness, we are withholding from God. God forgave us when we were his enemies. How dare we not forgive someone else. We must forgive them as God forgave us. We must love them as God loved us.
Forgiveness begets forgiveness
In the story, Pharoah takes his cue from Joseph and extends favor to his brothers as a direct result of his affection for Joseph and as a result of Joseph's forgiveness of his brothers. When others see you forgive, they will forgive as well. Ephesians 1:3 says we "have received every spiritual blessing." God has withheld nothing spiritually, we have every spiritual blessing there is. God has shown favor to us, not because we have a natural claim, we were his enemies but because we are in his Son. We don't have a claim on a portion of his blessing, we have a claim on every spiritual blessing.
Forgiveness has to begin with our release. We have to be willing to forgive and willing to release our bitterness towards the other person. We also have to trust God. We have to see him as the primary source of everything that happens in our life, even the hurt or pain inflicted by the person we have chosen not to forgive. We have to trust that it was God who has allowed it in our life for good (Rom. 8:28) to conform us to the image of Christ. As we relinquish our anger and bitterness toward those who have wronged us, we must trust that God, who loves us and allowed these circumstances in our life, will continue to work his good purpose in us until we are raised in glory.
I can't begin to relay the impact with which he deliverd this message. It was spell-binding. However poorly I conveyed it to you, I hope you gain something from it. Along side of that, I want to say, I am convinced forgiveness is a major requirement of the Christian faith. We could not be saved without God's forgiveness. It is one of his attributes and a closely connected to his love. We cannot love without forgiving. We are commanded both to love and forgive. We cannot exemplify Christ without forgiving and it is Christ's example we are to follow. Unforgiveness permeates every part of our natural self. It's closely related to selfishness and pride. It's a deceptive and an ugly foe we must fight to overcome every single day that we live on this earth.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Talkity, talkity, talk
Hello again, before I move on to other rabbit trails and loose my way back, I thought I should do just a bit more explaining about my blog.
WHAT TO EXPECT ON MY BLOG: In a way, my blog is actually my collection of what I am going to put on my website. It is the place where I record:
· my biblical observations,
· my thoughts from books and articles I’ve read,
· helpful sermons and information from other authors,
· anything else that might be useful in my future website project
Finally, it’s where I practice writing skills in the drafting of pages for my website. Right now, it’s intended mainly for my personal consumption, but I’m thrilled to share it with anyone else who might happen upon it and stick around to view it’s contents. If you do, I hope you’ll find it helpful, encouraging and that you are blessed by your visit.
HOW OFTEN WILL I POST?
My intention to write at least one page a week (you should probably focus very heavily on the word “intention”, remembering that we as flawed human beings don’t always do what we intend to do – How does the maxim go? “The best laid plans of mice and men go amiss” or something like that). In order to work on expanding my writing skills, I’ve committed to a daily reading of several other, what I consider to be , “very choice” blogs, in order to stimulate my creative juices (JOKE!) with the hope that someday I might publish more frequently. To learn which blogs I visit, go to my “Blogs I Like” section.
Oh, something else I need to say to keep you from being sadly disillusioned, just in case you haven’t figured it out already, you soon will, I’m by no means a writer, I write by necessity only in order to remember things that I read. Earlier in life I did possess a small handful of writing skills, but after 60 years of life, raising two girls as nearly a single mom, and as I mentioned in my first article, having fibromyalgia as my daily companion for many years (which has stolen any creative and organizational cognitive skills) writing does not come easy.
Knowing all that, you ask, “If it is so difficult to write, why in the world would this crazy lady want to publish a blog?” Aside for being a glutton for punishment, (my husband tells me this all the time) this whole blog idea had its beginnings about 30 to 35 years ago when I decided to put together a book for my two girls, who, at that time, were fairly well grown and close to leaving home for college. Well, at least one was, the other was six years behind. I realized that once they were gone, my job as a parent/teacher, for the most part, was fairly well over. So I needed to find a way to still pass on what I had learned if at all possible. That’s where my book came in. It was intended to be a collection truths and information which I had hoped to teach them but had been unable to because the years where just too short. So I began my endeavor by accumulating notes from sermons I heard and books I read, quotes from Christian speakers, even articles from newspapers, recipes and household tips. Anything that would help them be successful and victorious in their lives, obedient children of God and bring glory to His name. I would simple pass it on to them as a gift. Sneaky but creative wouldn’t you say. In those days I had some artistic skills, having majored in art in college, and having learned a bit of calligraphy, so my original plan was to pen these books by hand and complete them with hand drawn artwork. But finding the time to work on them early on was difficult, the girls were quite active with outside activities, and I made a lot of their clothing and to top it off, as they were older, because of financial reasons, I finally had to go to work outside the home. With life being so hectic, I foolishly laid my book aside thinking there would be days later on when I would have more time to work on it. Thanks solely to God and a husband who loves the Lord and holds His word in high esteem, I have grown in knowledge and the understanding of the Lord’s ways since I first began my endeavor many years ago, consequently here I sit, three decades later, surrounded by filing cabinets filled with incredible amounts of material to record. Complicating the matter now, I also have a brain that is rusty and filled cake frosting, while I am still every bit as busy as I was then but I’m not nearly as quick or as proficient in completing my work.
Well, to finish my story, I finally made a determination that this task was far too important to not complete, and if I ever accomplished any goal in life, this was the goal. But to make it happen, I would have stay up an extra hour or two each night to work on it and even then it would progress slowly. And it would be a juggling act with fibromyalgia, for you see, sleep is critical to feeling well and not having flare-ups. So again completion will be up to God and my dear sweet husband, but great thanks to both of them, at least my project has begun.
But wait! I’m jumping ahead of myself again… How to begin such a large undertaking? That was an overwhelming thought you see, because by the time I had finally began to begin (sounds like a song doesn’t it? “Begin the Began” or “Began the Begin” – boy , I’m sure that dates me!) Anyway, by the time I finally began to begin, I realized I had amassed so much material, that I needed a computer to keep track of it all. When I finally got a computer in the late 90’s, I gave up the notion of penning anything by hand and decided do everything via electronic data processing. I slowly learned the computer skills I would need, first computer operation, then Microsoft Word, the Internet and other programs as well. After becoming familiar with the Internet and what others were doing, I began to think, “Why limit it to a book for my girls, why not put all this information on a website for anyone to read who might need help.” So, now comes more learning; first I learned the basics - website 101 and then I designed my site and registered it’s domain name. Now I am learning web page building skills with MS FrontPage. All the while I’m still writing and rewriting articles, and collecting, collecting, collecting. This has become my life’s goal, to leave behind sort of a legacy of biblical truths and knowledge that will benefit others. Well, that’s the story behind my blog. So just think, while you sit there reading from your home computer, wherever you live in the world, you are becoming just one more part of fulfilling my lifelong dream and goal.
Since I live in the country and with the price of gasoline currently so high, I usually don’t go into town except on Sundays and Wednesday evenings, it’s not often that I get the chance to evangelize or disciple other individuals and that saddens me. But, this is where the wonders of the electronic age come in, thanks to computers and Internet technology, all the world can now become my mission field through my blog (and later on, though my website). I count it as a privilege to have a blog for the Lord, one which I never want to take lightly - for the bible says that we will be judged by the words that we speak (Matthew 12:36,37) and it also says that “…teachers shall receive the greater judgment…” (James 3:1). Those scripture passage remind me of a quote by the Puritan author John Owen (from his book The Mortification of Sin: A Puritan’s View of How to Deal with Sin in Your Life, which I am currently reading). It was first told by David Clarkson, Owen’s former junior colleague, who quoted Owen while preaching at his funeral, and then later by J.I. Packer who told the story in the preface of Owen’s book.
That 'a man preacheth that sermon only well unto others which preacheth itself in his own soul…. I hold myself bound in conscience and in honour, not even to imagine that I have attained a proper knowledge of any one article of truth, much less to publish it, unless thorough the Holy Spirit I have had such a taste of it, in its spiritual sense, that I may be able from the heart, to say with the psalmist, “I have believed, and therefore have I spoken”.'
Teaching is a serious matter and so I want to make sure as much as I possibly can, that what ever I say is correct. But I must first live it in my own life. I’m a hypocrite if I don’t. No one can live it perfectly, that’s true. But I must make every effort to try to live out what I say. The exact same principle I held when I taught my children years ago. The saying, “Do as I say, not what I do,” was not acceptable if I was to reinforce the reality of living for Christ in their hearts. I often think that children learn more from what is caught, than taught. It’s amazing how many little sayings and quirks I have which come from my parents. They weren’t taught as such, they were caught. And there are many things I see in my children today as adults, both good and bad, that remind me of myself, things that were never taught, but were certainly caught. So I want to make sure my words are true, that they point to Christ, they are filled with grace and are edifying, they glorify God and they not just idle talk (talkity talk) but they backed up with my actions.
WHAT TO EXPECT ON MY BLOG: In a way, my blog is actually my collection of what I am going to put on my website. It is the place where I record:
· my biblical observations,
· my thoughts from books and articles I’ve read,
· helpful sermons and information from other authors,
· anything else that might be useful in my future website project
Finally, it’s where I practice writing skills in the drafting of pages for my website. Right now, it’s intended mainly for my personal consumption, but I’m thrilled to share it with anyone else who might happen upon it and stick around to view it’s contents. If you do, I hope you’ll find it helpful, encouraging and that you are blessed by your visit.
HOW OFTEN WILL I POST?
My intention to write at least one page a week (you should probably focus very heavily on the word “intention”, remembering that we as flawed human beings don’t always do what we intend to do – How does the maxim go? “The best laid plans of mice and men go amiss” or something like that). In order to work on expanding my writing skills, I’ve committed to a daily reading of several other, what I consider to be , “very choice” blogs, in order to stimulate my creative juices (JOKE!) with the hope that someday I might publish more frequently. To learn which blogs I visit, go to my “Blogs I Like” section.
Oh, something else I need to say to keep you from being sadly disillusioned, just in case you haven’t figured it out already, you soon will, I’m by no means a writer, I write by necessity only in order to remember things that I read. Earlier in life I did possess a small handful of writing skills, but after 60 years of life, raising two girls as nearly a single mom, and as I mentioned in my first article, having fibromyalgia as my daily companion for many years (which has stolen any creative and organizational cognitive skills) writing does not come easy.
Knowing all that, you ask, “If it is so difficult to write, why in the world would this crazy lady want to publish a blog?” Aside for being a glutton for punishment, (my husband tells me this all the time) this whole blog idea had its beginnings about 30 to 35 years ago when I decided to put together a book for my two girls, who, at that time, were fairly well grown and close to leaving home for college. Well, at least one was, the other was six years behind. I realized that once they were gone, my job as a parent/teacher, for the most part, was fairly well over. So I needed to find a way to still pass on what I had learned if at all possible. That’s where my book came in. It was intended to be a collection truths and information which I had hoped to teach them but had been unable to because the years where just too short. So I began my endeavor by accumulating notes from sermons I heard and books I read, quotes from Christian speakers, even articles from newspapers, recipes and household tips. Anything that would help them be successful and victorious in their lives, obedient children of God and bring glory to His name. I would simple pass it on to them as a gift. Sneaky but creative wouldn’t you say. In those days I had some artistic skills, having majored in art in college, and having learned a bit of calligraphy, so my original plan was to pen these books by hand and complete them with hand drawn artwork. But finding the time to work on them early on was difficult, the girls were quite active with outside activities, and I made a lot of their clothing and to top it off, as they were older, because of financial reasons, I finally had to go to work outside the home. With life being so hectic, I foolishly laid my book aside thinking there would be days later on when I would have more time to work on it. Thanks solely to God and a husband who loves the Lord and holds His word in high esteem, I have grown in knowledge and the understanding of the Lord’s ways since I first began my endeavor many years ago, consequently here I sit, three decades later, surrounded by filing cabinets filled with incredible amounts of material to record. Complicating the matter now, I also have a brain that is rusty and filled cake frosting, while I am still every bit as busy as I was then but I’m not nearly as quick or as proficient in completing my work.
Well, to finish my story, I finally made a determination that this task was far too important to not complete, and if I ever accomplished any goal in life, this was the goal. But to make it happen, I would have stay up an extra hour or two each night to work on it and even then it would progress slowly. And it would be a juggling act with fibromyalgia, for you see, sleep is critical to feeling well and not having flare-ups. So again completion will be up to God and my dear sweet husband, but great thanks to both of them, at least my project has begun.
But wait! I’m jumping ahead of myself again… How to begin such a large undertaking? That was an overwhelming thought you see, because by the time I had finally began to begin (sounds like a song doesn’t it? “Begin the Began” or “Began the Begin” – boy , I’m sure that dates me!) Anyway, by the time I finally began to begin, I realized I had amassed so much material, that I needed a computer to keep track of it all. When I finally got a computer in the late 90’s, I gave up the notion of penning anything by hand and decided do everything via electronic data processing. I slowly learned the computer skills I would need, first computer operation, then Microsoft Word, the Internet and other programs as well. After becoming familiar with the Internet and what others were doing, I began to think, “Why limit it to a book for my girls, why not put all this information on a website for anyone to read who might need help.” So, now comes more learning; first I learned the basics - website 101 and then I designed my site and registered it’s domain name. Now I am learning web page building skills with MS FrontPage. All the while I’m still writing and rewriting articles, and collecting, collecting, collecting. This has become my life’s goal, to leave behind sort of a legacy of biblical truths and knowledge that will benefit others. Well, that’s the story behind my blog. So just think, while you sit there reading from your home computer, wherever you live in the world, you are becoming just one more part of fulfilling my lifelong dream and goal.
Since I live in the country and with the price of gasoline currently so high, I usually don’t go into town except on Sundays and Wednesday evenings, it’s not often that I get the chance to evangelize or disciple other individuals and that saddens me. But, this is where the wonders of the electronic age come in, thanks to computers and Internet technology, all the world can now become my mission field through my blog (and later on, though my website). I count it as a privilege to have a blog for the Lord, one which I never want to take lightly - for the bible says that we will be judged by the words that we speak (Matthew 12:36,37) and it also says that “…teachers shall receive the greater judgment…” (James 3:1). Those scripture passage remind me of a quote by the Puritan author John Owen (from his book The Mortification of Sin: A Puritan’s View of How to Deal with Sin in Your Life, which I am currently reading). It was first told by David Clarkson, Owen’s former junior colleague, who quoted Owen while preaching at his funeral, and then later by J.I. Packer who told the story in the preface of Owen’s book.
That 'a man preacheth that sermon only well unto others which preacheth itself in his own soul…. I hold myself bound in conscience and in honour, not even to imagine that I have attained a proper knowledge of any one article of truth, much less to publish it, unless thorough the Holy Spirit I have had such a taste of it, in its spiritual sense, that I may be able from the heart, to say with the psalmist, “I have believed, and therefore have I spoken”.'
Teaching is a serious matter and so I want to make sure as much as I possibly can, that what ever I say is correct. But I must first live it in my own life. I’m a hypocrite if I don’t. No one can live it perfectly, that’s true. But I must make every effort to try to live out what I say. The exact same principle I held when I taught my children years ago. The saying, “Do as I say, not what I do,” was not acceptable if I was to reinforce the reality of living for Christ in their hearts. I often think that children learn more from what is caught, than taught. It’s amazing how many little sayings and quirks I have which come from my parents. They weren’t taught as such, they were caught. And there are many things I see in my children today as adults, both good and bad, that remind me of myself, things that were never taught, but were certainly caught. So I want to make sure my words are true, that they point to Christ, they are filled with grace and are edifying, they glorify God and they not just idle talk (talkity talk) but they backed up with my actions.
Talkity, talkity, talk
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Hello again, before I move on to other rabbit trails and loose my way back, I thought I should do just a bit more explaining about my blog.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN MY BLOG: In a way, my blog is actually my collection of what I am going to put on my website. It is the place where I record:
· my biblical observations,
· my thoughts from books and articles I’ve read,
· helpful sermons and information from other authors,
· anything else that might be useful in my future website project
Finally, it’s where I practice writing skills in the drafting of pages for my website. Right now, it’s intended mainly for my personal consumption, but I’m thrilled to share it with anyone else who might happen upon it and stick around to view it’s contents. If you do, I hope you’ll find it helpful, encouraging and that you are blessed by your visit.
HOW OFTEN WILL I POST? My intention to write at least one page a week (you should probably focus very heavily on the word “intention”, remembering that we as flawed human beings don’t always do what we intend to do – How does the maxim go? “The best laid plans of mice and men go amiss” or something like that). In order to work on expanding my writing skills, I’ve committed to a daily reading of several other, what I consider to be , “very choice” blogs, in order to stimulate my creative juices (JOKE!) with the hope that someday I might publish more frequently. To learn which blogs I visit, go to my “Blogs I Like” section.
Oh, something else I need to say to keep you from being sadly disillusioned, just in case you haven’t figured it out already, you soon will, I’m by no means a writer, I write by necessity only in order to remember things that I read. Earlier in life I did possess a small handful of writing skills, but after 60 years of life, raising two girls as nearly a single mom, and as I mentioned in my first article, having fibromyalgia as my daily companion for many years (which has stolen any creative and organizational cognitive skills) writing does not come easy.
Knowing all that, you ask, “If it is so difficult to write, why in the world would this crazy lady want to publish a blog?” Aside for being a glutton for punishment, (my husband tells me this all the time) this whole blog idea had its beginnings about 30 to 35 years ago when I decided to put together a book for my two girls, who, at that time, were fairly well grown and close to leaving home for college. Well, at least one was, the other was six years behind. I realized that once they were gone, my job as a parent/teacher, for the most part, was fairly well over. So I needed to find a way to still pass on what I had learned if at all possible. That’s where my book came in. It was intended to be a collection truths and information which I had hoped to teach them but had been unable to because the years where just too short. So I began my endeavor by accumulating notes from sermons I heard and books I read, quotes from Christian speakers, even articles from newspapers, recipes and household tips. Anything that would help them be successful and victorious in their lives, obedient children of God and bring glory to His name. I would simple pass it on to them as a gift. Sneaky but creative wouldn’t you say. In those days I had some artistic skills, having majored in art in college, and having learned a bit of calligraphy, so my original plan was to pen these books by hand and complete them with hand drawn artwork. But finding the time to work on them early on was difficult, the girls were quite active with outside activities, and I made a lot of their clothing and to top it off, as they were older, because of financial reasons, I finally had to go to work outside the home. With life being so hectic, I foolishly laid my book aside thinking there would be days later on when I would have more time to work on it. Thanks solely to God and a husband who loves the Lord and holds His word in high esteem, I have grown in knowledge and the understanding of the Lord’s ways since I first began my endeavor many years ago, consequently here I sit, three decades later, surrounded by filing cabinets filled with incredible amounts of material to record. Complicating the matter now, I also have a brain that is rusty and filled cake frosting, while I am still every bit as busy as I was then but I’m not nearly as quick or as proficient in completing my work.
Well, to finish my story, I finally made a determination that this task was far too important to not complete, and if I ever accomplished any goal in life, this was the goal. But to make it happen, I would have stay up an extra hour or two each night to work on it and even then it would progress slowly. And it would be a juggling act with fibromyalgia, for you see, sleep is critical to feeling well and not having flare-ups. So again completion will be up to God and my dear sweet husband, but great thanks to both of them, at least my project has begun.
But wait! I’m jumping ahead of myself again… How to begin such a large undertaking? That was an overwhelming thought you see, because by the time I had finally began to begin (sounds like a song doesn’t it? “Begin the Began” or “Began the Begin” – boy , I’m sure that dates me!) Anyway, by the time I finally began to begin, I realized I had amassed so much material, that I needed a computer to keep track of it all. When I finally got a computer in the late 90’s, I gave up the notion of penning anything by hand and decided do everything via electronic data processing. I slowly learned the computer skills I would need, first computer operation, then Microsoft Word, the Internet and other programs as well. After becoming familiar with the Internet and what others were doing, I began to think, “Why limit it to a book for my girls, why not put all this information on a website for anyone to read who might need help.” So, now comes more learning; first I learned the basics - website 101 and then I designed my site and registered it’s domain name. Now I am learning web page building skills with MS FrontPage. All the while I’m still writing and rewriting articles, and collecting, collecting, collecting. This has become my life’s goal, to leave behind sort of a legacy of biblical truths and knowledge that will benefit others. Well, that’s the story behind my blog. So just think, while you sit there reading from your home computer, wherever you live in the world, you are becoming just one more part of fulfilling my lifelong dream and goal.
Since I live in the country and with the price of gasoline currently so high, I usually don’t go into town except on Sundays and Wednesday evenings, it’s not often that I get the chance to evangelize or disciple other individuals and that saddens me. But, this is where the wonders of the electronic age come in, thanks to computers and Internet technology, all the world can now become my mission field through my blog (and later on, though my website). I count it as a privilege to have a blog for the Lord, one which I never want to take lightly - for the bible says that we will be judged by the words that we speak (Matthew 12:36,37) and it also says that “…teachers shall receive the greater judgment…” (James 3:1). Those scripture passage remind me of a quote by the Puritan author John Owen (from his book The Mortification of Sin: A Puritan’s View of How to Deal with Sin in Your Life, which I am currently reading). It was first told by David Clarkson, Owen’s former junior colleague, who quoted Owen while preaching at his funeral, and then later by J.I. Packer who told the story in the preface of Owen’s book. That ‘a man preacheth that sermon only well unto others which preacheth itself in his own soul…. I hold myself bound in conscience and in honour, not even to imagine that I have attained a proper knowledge of any one article of truth, much less to publish it, unless thorough the Holy Spirit I have had such a taste of it, in its spiritual sense, that I may be able from the heart, to say with the psalmist, “I have believed, and therefore have I spoken”.’
Teaching is a serious matter and so I want to make sure as much as I possibly can, that what ever I say is correct. But I must first live it in my own life. I’m a hypocrite if I don’t. No one can live it perfectly, that’s true. But I must make every effort to try to live out what I say. The exact same principle I held when I taught my children years ago. The saying, “Do as I say, not what I do,” was not acceptable if I was to reinforce the reality of living for Christ in their hearts. I often think that children learn more from what is caught, than taught. It’s amazing how many little sayings and quirks I have which come from my parents. They weren’t taught as such, they were caught. And there are many things I see in my children today as adults, both good and bad, that remind me of myself, things that were never taught, but were certainly caught. So I want to make sure my words are true, that they point to Christ, they are filled with grace and are edifying, they glorify God and they not just idle talk (talkity talk) but they backed up with my actions.
Hello again, before I move on to other rabbit trails and loose my way back, I thought I should do just a bit more explaining about my blog.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN MY BLOG: In a way, my blog is actually my collection of what I am going to put on my website. It is the place where I record:
· my biblical observations,
· my thoughts from books and articles I’ve read,
· helpful sermons and information from other authors,
· anything else that might be useful in my future website project
Finally, it’s where I practice writing skills in the drafting of pages for my website. Right now, it’s intended mainly for my personal consumption, but I’m thrilled to share it with anyone else who might happen upon it and stick around to view it’s contents. If you do, I hope you’ll find it helpful, encouraging and that you are blessed by your visit.
HOW OFTEN WILL I POST? My intention to write at least one page a week (you should probably focus very heavily on the word “intention”, remembering that we as flawed human beings don’t always do what we intend to do – How does the maxim go? “The best laid plans of mice and men go amiss” or something like that). In order to work on expanding my writing skills, I’ve committed to a daily reading of several other, what I consider to be , “very choice” blogs, in order to stimulate my creative juices (JOKE!) with the hope that someday I might publish more frequently. To learn which blogs I visit, go to my “Blogs I Like” section.
Oh, something else I need to say to keep you from being sadly disillusioned, just in case you haven’t figured it out already, you soon will, I’m by no means a writer, I write by necessity only in order to remember things that I read. Earlier in life I did possess a small handful of writing skills, but after 60 years of life, raising two girls as nearly a single mom, and as I mentioned in my first article, having fibromyalgia as my daily companion for many years (which has stolen any creative and organizational cognitive skills) writing does not come easy.
Knowing all that, you ask, “If it is so difficult to write, why in the world would this crazy lady want to publish a blog?” Aside for being a glutton for punishment, (my husband tells me this all the time) this whole blog idea had its beginnings about 30 to 35 years ago when I decided to put together a book for my two girls, who, at that time, were fairly well grown and close to leaving home for college. Well, at least one was, the other was six years behind. I realized that once they were gone, my job as a parent/teacher, for the most part, was fairly well over. So I needed to find a way to still pass on what I had learned if at all possible. That’s where my book came in. It was intended to be a collection truths and information which I had hoped to teach them but had been unable to because the years where just too short. So I began my endeavor by accumulating notes from sermons I heard and books I read, quotes from Christian speakers, even articles from newspapers, recipes and household tips. Anything that would help them be successful and victorious in their lives, obedient children of God and bring glory to His name. I would simple pass it on to them as a gift. Sneaky but creative wouldn’t you say. In those days I had some artistic skills, having majored in art in college, and having learned a bit of calligraphy, so my original plan was to pen these books by hand and complete them with hand drawn artwork. But finding the time to work on them early on was difficult, the girls were quite active with outside activities, and I made a lot of their clothing and to top it off, as they were older, because of financial reasons, I finally had to go to work outside the home. With life being so hectic, I foolishly laid my book aside thinking there would be days later on when I would have more time to work on it. Thanks solely to God and a husband who loves the Lord and holds His word in high esteem, I have grown in knowledge and the understanding of the Lord’s ways since I first began my endeavor many years ago, consequently here I sit, three decades later, surrounded by filing cabinets filled with incredible amounts of material to record. Complicating the matter now, I also have a brain that is rusty and filled cake frosting, while I am still every bit as busy as I was then but I’m not nearly as quick or as proficient in completing my work.
Well, to finish my story, I finally made a determination that this task was far too important to not complete, and if I ever accomplished any goal in life, this was the goal. But to make it happen, I would have stay up an extra hour or two each night to work on it and even then it would progress slowly. And it would be a juggling act with fibromyalgia, for you see, sleep is critical to feeling well and not having flare-ups. So again completion will be up to God and my dear sweet husband, but great thanks to both of them, at least my project has begun.
But wait! I’m jumping ahead of myself again… How to begin such a large undertaking? That was an overwhelming thought you see, because by the time I had finally began to begin (sounds like a song doesn’t it? “Begin the Began” or “Began the Begin” – boy , I’m sure that dates me!) Anyway, by the time I finally began to begin, I realized I had amassed so much material, that I needed a computer to keep track of it all. When I finally got a computer in the late 90’s, I gave up the notion of penning anything by hand and decided do everything via electronic data processing. I slowly learned the computer skills I would need, first computer operation, then Microsoft Word, the Internet and other programs as well. After becoming familiar with the Internet and what others were doing, I began to think, “Why limit it to a book for my girls, why not put all this information on a website for anyone to read who might need help.” So, now comes more learning; first I learned the basics - website 101 and then I designed my site and registered it’s domain name. Now I am learning web page building skills with MS FrontPage. All the while I’m still writing and rewriting articles, and collecting, collecting, collecting. This has become my life’s goal, to leave behind sort of a legacy of biblical truths and knowledge that will benefit others. Well, that’s the story behind my blog. So just think, while you sit there reading from your home computer, wherever you live in the world, you are becoming just one more part of fulfilling my lifelong dream and goal.
Since I live in the country and with the price of gasoline currently so high, I usually don’t go into town except on Sundays and Wednesday evenings, it’s not often that I get the chance to evangelize or disciple other individuals and that saddens me. But, this is where the wonders of the electronic age come in, thanks to computers and Internet technology, all the world can now become my mission field through my blog (and later on, though my website). I count it as a privilege to have a blog for the Lord, one which I never want to take lightly - for the bible says that we will be judged by the words that we speak (Matthew 12:36,37) and it also says that “…teachers shall receive the greater judgment…” (James 3:1). Those scripture passage remind me of a quote by the Puritan author John Owen (from his book The Mortification of Sin: A Puritan’s View of How to Deal with Sin in Your Life, which I am currently reading). It was first told by David Clarkson, Owen’s former junior colleague, who quoted Owen while preaching at his funeral, and then later by J.I. Packer who told the story in the preface of Owen’s book. That ‘a man preacheth that sermon only well unto others which preacheth itself in his own soul…. I hold myself bound in conscience and in honour, not even to imagine that I have attained a proper knowledge of any one article of truth, much less to publish it, unless thorough the Holy Spirit I have had such a taste of it, in its spiritual sense, that I may be able from the heart, to say with the psalmist, “I have believed, and therefore have I spoken”.’
Teaching is a serious matter and so I want to make sure as much as I possibly can, that what ever I say is correct. But I must first live it in my own life. I’m a hypocrite if I don’t. No one can live it perfectly, that’s true. But I must make every effort to try to live out what I say. The exact same principle I held when I taught my children years ago. The saying, “Do as I say, not what I do,” was not acceptable if I was to reinforce the reality of living for Christ in their hearts. I often think that children learn more from what is caught, than taught. It’s amazing how many little sayings and quirks I have which come from my parents. They weren’t taught as such, they were caught. And there are many things I see in my children today as adults, both good and bad, that remind me of myself, things that were never taught, but were certainly caught. So I want to make sure my words are true, that they point to Christ, they are filled with grace and are edifying, they glorify God and they not just idle talk (talkity talk) but they backed up with my actions.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
I BEGIN
Actually this blog has more to do with being brain dead than it will ever have to do with being a brainiac. So if you are looking for quick and witty conversation perhaps you should look elsewhere, I can guarantee you definitely won’t find it here. After thirty years with fibromyalgia, the fog has become so thick some days you could spread it like icing on a cake. Blogging is simply my way of fighting back against the limitations this illness has imposed on me.
Writing requires a stretching of myself… almost beyond what few abilities I have left. Those of you who have fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, or Lyme disease (just to name a few) know what I mean. Through the years, I seem to have lost some of the skills necessary for writing, skills such as planning, outlining, expressing myself, as well as possessing a speaking vocabulary of words beyond a 3rd or 4th grade level. Seven or eight years ago, I had no idea that the simple act of putting my thoughts on paper could become such an arduous undertaking. Yet, here I am…
So with that short explanation out of the way, I hope we can move off the subject of fibromyalgia and the other silent illnesses and onto other topics which are much more worthy of our time and definitely more beneficial to talk about. From time to time, I will have comments to make about illness and maybe I’ll dedicate a page or two to the subject, but in the mean time, let me just say that my greatest goal here is to keep the focal point on subjects that glorify God and hopefully edify others.
Writing requires a stretching of myself… almost beyond what few abilities I have left. Those of you who have fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, or Lyme disease (just to name a few) know what I mean. Through the years, I seem to have lost some of the skills necessary for writing, skills such as planning, outlining, expressing myself, as well as possessing a speaking vocabulary of words beyond a 3rd or 4th grade level. Seven or eight years ago, I had no idea that the simple act of putting my thoughts on paper could become such an arduous undertaking. Yet, here I am…
So with that short explanation out of the way, I hope we can move off the subject of fibromyalgia and the other silent illnesses and onto other topics which are much more worthy of our time and definitely more beneficial to talk about. From time to time, I will have comments to make about illness and maybe I’ll dedicate a page or two to the subject, but in the mean time, let me just say that my greatest goal here is to keep the focal point on subjects that glorify God and hopefully edify others.
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