Back in Sayre

Sayre, Oklahoma

We arrived back in Western Oklahoma Wednesday afternoon and after some difficulty backing our 5th wheel into our place we settled in to our second or is it third home?  Thanks to all of you who commented or sent emails about my homesickness for Washington.  I know, things change, nothing ever stays the same, you have to move on, you have to know when to fold them and all the other true statements of life but no matter where we roam there will always be a tug on my heart for the place and the people in the place called Mason County, Washington.

One of the things that being in Sayre allows me to do is write.  I have some current responsibilities here and hope to have more, but putting some of my time into writing for the Juniper Tree is part of my calling that is affirmed by those who I serve here.

After more than 260 individual posts to this blog over a 14 month period, finding topics to write about is not the biggest problem, the problem is to keep them readable, interesting and helpful to the 200 or so regular readers of the blog.  I not only value your input I need it to keep my end fresh and worthy of the time you give to it.  The only real disappointment I have related to the Juniper Tree is that there are so many consistent readers but few consistent commentators.  My friend Doug wrote recently “write interesting stuff and you will get comments”.  Doug has never been shy in telling me how things really are!

But comments or not I will forge on because blogging at it’s core is about the blogger.  This is not a commercial enterprise, in fact the blogs that make the blogger an income tend, it seems to me, to become more about what people will read than what the writer wanted to say, this is, however a place for me to write what is on my mind and in my heart and the invitation is there every time I post for you to read what I write.  I am always pleased that what I write gets read, but at the same time if I am going to do this right, it have to do it because value flows back to me when I do.

I will be writing more on the Kingdom as I am convinced it is Everything the person of Biblical faith is to be about.  I want to critique the church and church people.  I have some political things to rant about and I want to bring some thoughts to bare on the culture both Christian and secular, among other things.  There will continue to be Monday Morning Meanderings and my friend Leslee is pushing a Friday Funny.  Will have to see about that one.  Just being in Sayre is always good for a post or two as well. 

Blessings to all of you and thanks for reading and when it is interesting in whatever way, bring your comments to the table.  I might even respond to them and make the journey even more interesting.

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.33

Chanute, Kansas

It isn’t Monday morning but it is still Monday so that is better than last week. The wind is howling, it is supposed to snow tonight and this free RV park has no water in the winter.  Fun times.  We are here to have some service work done on our 5th wheel before the warranty runs out next month.  Not the time to be in Kansas.  (link here)

These meanderings will focus on where we have been the last week.

Item one.  Read Vol. 32 of M3 to find out about the first few days of our trip from Arizona to Kansas. (who does that in the winter?)

Item two.  Since we had to go east at some point we decided to do it as far south as we could, for as long as we could, in order to stay as warm as possible, for as long as possible.  After our night in New Mexico we started across the huge state of Texas.  Second only to Alaska in size, Texas is about 270,000 square miles, and second only to California in population, Texas is just plain big (about 30 million Texans).  773 miles wide and nearly 800 miles from top to bottom it has an amazing amount of diversity.  Deserts, gulf coast, mountains (the highest point is nearly 9K ‘) pine and oak forests, prairie and grass land not to mention some of the largest lakes in the country.  While it is sometimes considered a part of the southern region of the US it is also very much a part of what we think of as the southwest, but really Texas is it’s own region because of it’s size and diversity.  One could spend months in the state and never see it all.  Really Don’t mess with Texas it’s just too big.

Item three. Lordsburg (NM), Van Horn, Big Spring, and Abilene, TX and Ardmore, OK.  These are the stops we made a long the way.  We try to stay in state parks whenever possible but the Lordsburg and Van Horn stops were at KOAs.  Here are links to the two state parks we stayed in while making our way to Kansas. Abilene State Park and Lake Murray State Park.  Both were great places and if we had time we would have stayed multiple nights at both parks.

I really wanted to ask a couple of the women we met in Abilene if it was true that “the women there don’t treat you mean” but I chickened out.  Can’t say Abilene is the “prettiest town that I’ve ever seen” but it was nice.

While we were in the Abilene area we saw one of the big B1 bombers, based at nearby Dyess Air Force Base, fly over.  I had never seen one in the air before and it was a cool treat. 

Item four. Maybe it is my reflecting on the old song Abilene I just mentioned that got me thinking about and singing in my head the song Detroit City.  Somebody out there has got to remember it.  The simple chorus goes like this: I wanna go home, I wanna go home, Oh, how I wanna go home.

It doesn’t happen a lot but there are times, like tonight when I get this overwhelming desire to just go home, to go back to Washington, to Mason County, to Shelton, to Webb Hill Road, to the place I lived longer than any other place in my life.  There is so much sadness, loss, disappointment, shame, anger, and other strong emotions attached to those places yet there is also a strong, at least tonight, a pull to go back, to go back home.  Before coming to Washington, I never lived any where longer than 5 years and Mason County was my home for more than 18 years, so like no other place it is my home.  I miss my job, I miss the people I worked with (hard to believe, given how I came to find out, they felt about me) I miss our house and property, I miss my little Whaler, I can’t even put into words how much I miss the kids and grandkids and having us all together, I miss a whole lot of people who are too numerous to mention but most of all I just miss the life I had there that was a mixture of all those people and places.

Don’t get me wrong, this life we have is a good one.  How many people in their 50′s get the chance to do what we are doing.  To meet new people, to see new things, to travel and to minister the grace of a Loving Father to a whole lot of people.  I love Trinity and the people there, I love the people in Arizona that we just spent nearly 2 months with and I am mostly happy with life as it is, but for tonight…

Oh, how I wanna go home.

Monday Morning Meanderings. Vol. 32 (Wednesday edition)

Lordsburg, New Mexico (info here)

We left Arizona a day later than planned and then several hours later on Tuesday arriving here in western New Mexico on I-10 later in the afternoon.  It was an easy drive and good weather.  We will leave sometime soon headed to El Paso, Texas and on into Midland or Odessa for the night.

Item one.  It was a great time in Arizona.  I never would have thought I would like the desert as much as we did.  After years of mountains, trees and green the contrast was dramatic but it really grew on us.  We took daily walks out into the desert, among the huge Saguaro cactus (pronounced swaro) and the many other smaller cactus.  Over the months we have been gone we have learned to really enjoy bird watching and are actually getting pretty good at identification.  There has been a lot of rain in Arizona, this year, so the place is very green (in it’s own way) and just as we were leaving the wild flowers were beginning to come out.  All in all the desert was great.

Item two.  We really enjoyed our time with the people we met here in Arizona.  The park we stayed in had a lot of good people and we enjoyed that interaction more than we have before.  One man was an excellent guitar player and another a really fine classical piano player.  So we enjoyed their music.

What brought us to AZ was to try and be an encouragement to three families that have a relationship with Trinity.  Spending time with Destry and Terri, Clay and Amy and Chuck and Nancy was the highlight of our time here.  They are really great people, all doing what they have been called to do in building Kingdom right where they are.  All of them are different and are approaching what they are doing in different ways, so it was fun to make our weekly trips to help them with their fledgling ministries.  We will be back.  A part of us is now invested here and we love seeing what the Father does with what we are able and willing to invest.

Item three.  We are on our way back to Sayre, though we will not be there until the 28th.  The warranty on our trailer expires shortly and there are a number of things that need fixing so we are on our way to Chanute, Kansas to the factory for service.  Yes there are dealers who could do the work but they don’t seem interested nor timely in their approach so we will just take it to the factory where we have had such good treatment in the past.  We are scheduled there on the 26th.  We are looking forward to seeing all the great people there and getting back into the “flow” there.

Item four. Our son Brad is leading a mission trip to Mexico this week.  He has over 100 students and staff with him so it is a big project.  Please pray for them and especially for Brad’s health.  This is his first trip out of the country with diabetes and getting sick is not fun when you have diabetes.  Also pray for his leadership and for safety and good results building houses.  There is a little info here.

Our daughter, Traci has some more posts and pictures about her family and the ongoing assimilation of Eyob into their life.  They are entertaining reading.  Find them here.

Item five.  Here is Henri Nouwen for today: To be able to enjoy fully the many good things the world has to offer, we must be detached from them. To be detached does not mean to be indifferent or uninterested. It means to be nonpossessive. Life is a gift to be grateful for and not a property to cling to. A nonpossessive life is a free life. But such freedom is only possible when we have a deep sense of belonging. To whom then do we belong? We belong to God, and the God to whom we belong has sent us into the world to proclaim in his Name that all of creation is created in and by love and calls us to gratitude and joy. That is what the “detached” life is all about. It is a life in which we are free to offer praise and thanksgiving.

Obama over?

Had a long conversation with good friend Kasey the other day about all kinds of things.  It was one of those conversations he and I have periodically that dredge up all kinds of interesting thoughts.  Both of us remarked that we thought Barack Obama would make a great preacher and we both wished he had some kind of platform or ideas or history we could draw on so we had something to like about him other than his great sermons (oops meant speeches). 

This line after Super Tuesday is a classic: We are the change we are waiting for… almost made me stand up and cheer, but what left me in my seat was wondering just what it is this man has ever done to commend him as president.

This morning I was reading another of my favorite blogs The Scriptorium Daily, which you can find here, and came across this essay which speaks well to the thoughts Kasey and I were expressing the other afternoon.  I know I won’t get a lot of hits off this post nor will many of you take the time to read this well thought out essay but it is worth your time.  Especially if the eloquence of Barak Obama is turning your head. Find the essay HERE. 

By the way this blog features the writing of several professors from Biola University where Brad graduated.  (read it anyway Kasey)

Father God.

 Still in Fort McDowell, Arizona

I had an email from a reader who wondered why I always refer to God as Father and I thought this morning I would attempt an answer, albeit short.

First, as far as I know there is no place in the written Word that tells us to refer to the Creator as God but there is clear directive to address Him as Father.  When you pray, pray this way. Our Father, who is in heaven…  This of course from the Lord’s Prayer.  Jesus said …only God in heaven is your Father. (Matthew 23:9) Then the verse I quoted in a post on adoption last week from Romans 8:15 You should behave instead like God’s very own children, adopted into His family–calling Him Father, dear Father.  Spend some time in the story of the prodigal son and see if you don’t see the desire of a Father for His children.

It seems reasonable to me that if we are to be His children, and His family than we should address Him as our Father.  If He had wanted us to be something other than children or family, He would have asked us to call Him something other than Father.

God is a title that addresses what He is.  Father is a term of intimacy describing who He is.  God speaks of Deity, authority, power, dominion, rule and all of those descriptors are accurate and important to describe what our God is like.  God says “this is what I am as Creator and ruler”. It tells us that there is no other being that is like Him.  On the other hand Father sums up the desires of our Creator’s heart to enter into our lives and live with us and love us with unconditional and perfect love.  Father is a word of endearment that says to us “this is Who I am” for you and in you.

God is a title to study, to categorize and describe.  Theology is the fruit of knowing God.  Human beings taking the things they have learned about God and attempting with words to tell what we can know about this Awesome God.  Father, however is a term of affection, intimacy and safety.  He is our daddy, our Abba and it is not so much what we know about Him as it is what we can experience with Him.  God is knowledge while Father is experience.

Father indicates relationship while God speaks of the Wholly Other, the all knowing, all powerful, all present that is our Creator.  We enter into relationship with the Father while we stand in awe of the Almighty God.

For most of my life I only knew the Creator as God.  A Being of all beings. One who could only be known through attributes that didn’t fit any other being.  The fruit of that life long learning was fear, failed attempts at trying to please and impress so as to be noticed and accepted.  It produced a sense of failure and frustration, loneliness and often despair.  But learning to relate to this awesome Creator as Father has produced a desire for His presence, a passion to worship Him with abandonment and joy.  It has created intimacy and trust, freedom and security and most of all what I know about the God comes to life in my relationship with the Father.

There is nothing more important to one who has passed from death to life, come out of darkness into light, gone from lost to found than to come into relationship with the Father who makes all of that possible.  There is a clear and discernible difference in the people I know who are in relationship with the Father and those who know a lot about God.

Only a Father would invite us to make our home in Him as He makes His home in us. (John 14:5)

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.31

Fort McDowell, Arizona

What a beautiful weekend.  I am almost embarrassed to say how nice it was, considering the NW is having it’s usual fare and closing ski resorts because of too much snow.  Some places have gotten as much as 10 feet in less than a week.  I love to ski and love the snow but learning to really love 75 degrees and clear blue skies.

The meanderings:

Item one. Sedona, Arizona.  Bill and Leslee took us north of Phoenix on Friday to visit the little mountain town of Sedona.  Beautiful red rocks, green juniper trees, cacti all blend together for a beautiful setting.  Sedona describes itself as a spiritual mecca and global power spot (that)has drawn some of the most amazing healers, intuitives, artists and spiritual guides now on the planet. Lots of crystal sellers and other New Age stuff around and they make a big deal about the vortex(s) that you can find in the area.  A vortex, you may wonder, is a place where all these renowned spots of heightened spiritual and metaphysical energy can be found. Should you desire a map of these energetic spots you can find it here.

We went there with a primary plan of visiting a beautiful Catholic church built into one of the red rock facings in the area.  It was the highlight of the trip and well worth the time and the short walk to view it and worship in it.  Take a couple of minutes and look at the pictures here.  Frankly, I think it stands as a symbol of the power of the cross over any other spiritual power purported to be in the area.  Fun day with Bill and Leslee.

Item two.  Since we are not able to be with our children and grand children as much as we would like we have been trying to think of ways to connect, on regular basis with the little boys, especially.  So we came up with the idea of a blog featuring our Cairn Terrier, Jake who will interact with the boys and keep their Poppa and Nanny in their lives a little more.  We have only posted twice but it is going to be fun and will feature Jake’s view of our life, travels and the things we see.  If you want to check it out you can find it here.

Item three. Our “neighbors” here in the park are here from the Chicago area and the east coast somewhere and are very friendly people as many are in places like this.  Something about this lifestyle invites people to interact differently than in neighborhoods where there are garages and fences to block interaction.  Last Tuesday night (Super Tuesday) they invited us over for (I’m serious) a class of wine and to watch the election returns!  The intros went something like this: ”I’m Gary” and “I’m Glen and when I introduced myself with an “I’m Greg, one of the women said “oh how fun, the three “G’s“!  For those of you who know some of my history, you understand the irony of all that.  We must have had fun since they invited us to dinner last night.

Item four.  Tomorrow I am going with some of the guys from Trinity, one of the young pastor’s from here and Todd Pierce to the Pastor’s School at Phoenix First Assembly.  One of our guys, Cody Custer has a relationship with this church and Todd will be doing a demonstration tomorrow breaking a horse.  Not sure what all that will look like but somewhere during the time we will have an opportunity to present out Spiritual Life and Rodeo Mentorship School to this large group of pastors and leaders.  It should be interesting.  We have a new website for the school, as just put up over the weekend, and while it is very sparse and there is more work to do on it, it will be really helpful as we begin to market the school outside western Oklahoma.  I still find it hard to see myself doing the things I am doing.

Item five. I think of myself as a “word guy” because I like words and enjoy writing and speaking them so I found the Nouwen devotional today a good reminder of the power of words: Words, words, words. Our society is full of words: on billboards, on television screens, in newspapers and books. Words whispered, shouted, and sung. Words that move, dance, and change in size and color. Words that say, “Taste me, smell me, eat me, drink me, sleep with me,” but most of all, “buy me.” With so many words around us, we quickly say: “Well, they’re just words.” Thus, words have lost much of their power.  Still, the word has the power to create. When God speaks, God creates. When God says, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), light is. God speaks light. For God, speaking and creating are the same. It is this creative power of the word we need to reclaim. What we say is very important. When we say, “I love you,” and say it from the heart, we can give another person new life, new hope, new courage. When we say, “I hate you,” we can destroy another person. Let’s watch our words.

Thanks for reading my words and enjoy your week, wherever you are.

 

“It’s about adoption.”

Fort McDowell, Arizona

I have been wondering why it is that our daughter Traci and son in law Brandon have had to struggle so hard with the assimilation of their adopted son, Eyob into their family.  While things are going better now then they did at first, it has not been the joy Traci expected, in fact it has been very difficult.  She has been very open about her struggles in her blog, hoping that her experiences will help others.  You can read her blog here.  We have, of course, hurt for her as she goes through this tough time and have tried to give her perspective about it that isn’t just the standard though true “give it time”.

Saturday we were talking with Traci about her struggles and the victories she was experiencing and trying to understand together what it all means when I clearly heard the Father say, “it’s about adoption”.  Of course I am thinking, “of course it is”.  But I also began to think about how adoption speaks from the natural into the Spiritual and how critical this illustration is.

The Father often uses natural illustrations to speak Spiritual truth.  For example the New Testament uses the illustration of the natural family to speak about the Spiritual Family, the church.  The marriage of a bridegroom and bride in the natural becomes a picture in the Spiritual of Jesus as the Bridegroom and His love for His Bride the church. 

The enemy hates these illustrations because they speak so clearly about the Father’s deep affection for His Family and the desires He has for each one of us to know  love in a personal and intimate way.  No wonder the enemy attacks marriages and families.  No wonder he drags our children off into gender confusion. If he can destroy the natural illustrations he obscures the Spiritual and people miss what the Father has in mind for His children.  The enemy knows he cannot change  Spiritual reality but he still has power in the natural.

So when I heard “it’s about adoption” I remembered that adoption in the natural is a huge and important illustration of a greater truth in the Spiritual.  So you should not be like cowering fearful slaves.  You should behave instead like God’s very own children, adopted into his family–calling Him Father, dear Father.  For His Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us we are God’s children.  And since we are his children, we all share his treasures-for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. (Romans 8:15-17)  When we by faith, receive the promise of eternal salvation, because of what Jesus did on the cross for us, we are adopted into the Father’s family and are given all the rights and inheritance that is Jesus’.  It doesn’t matter who you are, what you have done, how far away from the Father you are, how poor or rich you are, what color your skin is or what language you speak.  By faith you are adopted into His Family and you will never be kicked out.  His love is infinite and eternal.  You are His and He is yours.  That’s adoption.

Like the enemy’s attack against marriage and family, because they illustrate Spiritual realities, so the enemy comes hard against natural adoptions because of the Spiritual implications they teach.  We should expect it and of course prepare for it.  Traci and Brandon are living in a culture in Utah that desperately needs these pictures, so the enemy comes hard to try and blur and obscure them by stealing Traci and Brandon’s strength and courage, destroying their joy and determination and killing their vision. (John 10:10) 

The best way to communicate truth is by illustration and natural adoption is such a great picture of the most important reality in the Christian faith, our adoption as children by a Father who is the Most High God, there is no question the enemy wants to destroy that picture.

So, we amp up the prayers, we speak truth, we fight against the discouragement and fatigue and we steadfastly believe that what the Father has called Traci and Brandon and thousands of others to do is of vital importance and so must not stop.  It is extremely vital in the natural but even more so in the Spiritual.

Take a moment to read Traci’s latest post so you can see that the enemy is not winning.  Find it here.

It’s about the marriage of one man and one woman, it’s about family,  it’s about adoption!  As a friend of mine says “that’s a good word, right there”!

The Kingdom and Super Tuesday.

Fort McDowell, Arizona

Today is Super Tuesday.  No, not the day people in New England replay the Super Bowl and cry, but the day when the largest number of states will hold primary elections simultaneously.  24 states plus American Samoa are scheduled to hold either primaries or caucuses today and award more than 50% of the delegates to the respective parties nominating conventions. 

Apparently there is more interest in this election than any in recent years.  What should we as Kingdom people think about all this clamor over politics and politicians? In Matthew 6:24-34 Jesus taught us about the impossibility of serving  two masters. In His illustration of this impossibility He says we cannot serve both God and money. The illustration would have been just as good if He had said we cannot serve both God and government, because what He is teaching is not so much about any particular issue but about where we find our security.

“Therefore I tell you,” Jesus goes on to say, “do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” And a few verses later he concludes: …the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

People who do not function with a Kingdom mindset instinctively try to find their security in whatever they think will ensure that their self-interests are met (minimally, food, clothing and shelter).  While Jesus was thinking about pagans or non-believers when he said this, there are so many Christians who do not have a Kingdom way of thinking that they are virtually pagan in their thinking so that most of life is a running after these things in order to find security.  This is why so many religious people join their non-religious neighbors as they serve money and worry incessantly about keeping up and getting more stuff.

The difference between Kingdom minded people and those who run after these things is that Kingdom people are committed to running after only one thing: the rule and reign of God.  An essential part of being truly a Kingdom person is shown in our trust that God will provide for our basic needs and not worry about securing our self-interests.

What does this have to do with Super Tuesday?  Everything.  The reason we have governments today is because the broken human race finds it virtually impossible to trust God.  Like our ancient counterparts we want “kings” to protect our self-interests (I Sam. 8). The person with a non- Kingdom mindset must be concerned with rights, tax advantage, political positions, programs, personality, etc because so much of their self-interest is at stake! But Kingdom people are empowered to trust God to provide for them and so are free from these preoccupations.

I am not saying you should not express your opinion about political stuff if you are so inclined.  Express it by voting or by telling whomever you please how you feel about who, what and how much, but this passage definitely is saying that Kingdom people do not serve, chase after, or worry about these matters. Our total trust is in God, who views all the governments of the world as less than nothing (Isa 40:15-17).

Our King says it is impossible for us to serve two masters. If, as Kingdom people, our allegiance is to the rule and reign of God, it cannot be to anything else, including money and government.

So if you live where there is an opportunity to vote today, by all means go and vote but remember you are not like everyone else.  It really doesn’t matter to a Kingdom person what happens or doesn’t happen because we have a citizenship that trumps all others and our Ruler has taken responsibility for all our needs no matter what else is happening around us.

So keep your focus on the King.

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.30

Fort McDowell, Arizona

Another raining, windy weekend in the Valley of the Super Bowl.  This front has spilled over into Monday so today will be an inside work day.  Lots of things to get done for Convergence classes and some writing assignments.

Item one. A very super Super Pool Bowl.  I have mentioned before I am not a fan of Tom Brady or any team on the left coast so I had to pretend the Giants were not from New York so I had a team to cheer for, and what a team!  We were in Payson with our new friends Chuck and Nancy and it was a really good time.  They have a pool table so pre game, half time and post game was shooting pool and I was surprisingly adept at a game I don’t think I have played in 30 years at least.  Thanks Chuck and Nancy for a great time.

Item one-a. I am a fan of the writing of Yahoo! guy Michael Silver (not a fan of his politics but this is not politics.  Bill Belichick’s walk off before the game was over was classless and Silver captures my sentiments.  Here it is: Belichick, what happened to you? The stunt you pulled at the end of Sunday’s game, after Brady’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete with one second remaining, was comically unnecessary and regrettable. Venturing all the way across the field to shake Coughlin’s hand (and essentially ruining his rival’s moment), then essentially saying “peace out” and leaving before the Giants’ final kneel-down is something I might expect to see from an immature player – come to think of it, Randy Moss did the same thing as a member of the Minnesota Vikings in a loss to the Redskins at the end of the ’04 regular season, as he was understandably skewered as a result. So were the nine Pistons who they left the court in the final minutes of a four-game Eastern Conference Finals sweep to the Chicago Bulls in 1991. Give Belichick credit for one thing: Consistency. He is both a bad winner and a lousy loser. From the celebrated blowoffs of Eric Mangini (in ’06) and Tony Dungy (and ’07) to the running-up-the-score episodes from earlier this season, the guy shows as much disrespect for his opponents in victory as he did in Sunday’s rare defeat. Maybe he’d handle a tie better? I don’t know, but I hope Belichick takes some time to reflect on how far over the edge of reasonable behavior he has gone over the past couple of seasons, and how needless it all is. We’re talking about one of the greatest coaches of all time, and a guy who I know has great respect for the game of football. He should start acting like it again.

Item two. Many of my readers are not in church leadership but these tips from Rick Warren are appropriate for any kind of leadership or any type of long term interpersonal relationships.  Warren writes about seven errors to avoid if you want your ministry to last.  Things like not continuing to grow, care, listen, or allowing yourself to be easily distracted or fall into complacency.  These are all things that will derail any significant relationship regardless of type or location.  Read the article here and apply it to your world.

Item three. The Henri Nouwen daily reading last week was all about forgiveness.  It was especially good every day.  Forgiveness has been an “in your face” kind of experience for me, these last two years.  I had some idea of how hard it was to give forgiveness but never knew how hard it was to receive it.  If you are not getting these daily 1 minute to read devoes, subscribe here.  Here is one from last week: Forgiving does not mean forgetting. When we forgive a person, the memory of the wound might stay with us for a long time, even throughout our lives. Sometimes we carry the memory in our bodies as a visible sign. But forgiveness changes the way we remember. It converts the curse into a blessing. When we forgive our parents for their divorce, our children for their lack of attention, our friends for their unfaithfulness in crisis, our doctors for their ill advice, we no longer have to experience ourselves as the victims of events we had no control over. Forgiveness allows us to claim our own power and not let these events destroy us; it enables them to become events that deepen the wisdom of our hearts. Forgiveness indeed heals memories.

Item four.  Brad and Summer were on TV over the weekend.  Find out how and why here.

Item five.  Didn’t really think the Super Bowl ads were that great this year thought I did like the ones with the baby talking about stocks in the voice of a grown man.  Maybe the one with the Dalmatian training the Clydesdale based on the movie Rocky, oh yeah, the fedex carrier pigeons, that was good.  Which one was your favorite?  If you can’t remember you can review them all here. 

Item six.   Prayer of the week, month, year, life time?  God, grant me the peace to accept the things I cannot change. Grant me the courage to change the things I can. And give me the wisdom to know the difference.

Topics for this week?  The Kingdom and Super Tuesday, Why the enemy attacks the Illustrations,  If you could start over…  Hope you will stop by the juniper view this week.

Enjoy your week!

Remembering…Mabel Goodwin

We received word yesterday of the passing of our friend Mabel Goodwin.  Mabel was 97 years old.  It is amazing for me to think that when I first met Mabel, more than 19 years ago, she was nearly 80 years old and still working everyday as the custodian in the church I began pastoring in 1989.  How long she had been in her place before we came to the church I don’t recall, but if there was an individual who typified all that was good about that 100 year old church, it was Mabel.

For those of you who are not pastors you might not understand this comment but I will write it anyway.  Mabel was one of those people whose memorial service I looked forward to leading.  Certainly not because I wanted her to pass on, but because there are those whose lives and experience with their Father is so rich, full and blessed you enjoy sharing their story with those who come to celebrate their lives.  It would have been a joy to eulogize Mabel but since that isn’t going to happen, I speak well of her here.

She lived across the street from the church, so she not only cleaned the building she locked and unlocked it before and after nearly every gathering, no matter the weather or the time of day.  She seemed to have some sixth sense, that told her when meetings were concluded, so that she would just appear when it was time to close up.  I don’t imagine I had to lock or unlock a door more than a handful of times in all the years she was on the job.

I still remember the day we began to talk about her retirement.  Our facilities had expanded by several thousand square feet during her tenure and she no longer could keep up with everything.  I told her she could have a job as long as she wanted it, but we were going to get her some help.  She was so thankful and gracious about it all.  She continued to work for a couple more years and then for several years after that the leadership of the church graciously continued to pay her as a form of retirement pay.  I suppose at that point I had seen her and visited with her most every day for nearly 10 years.  She was an important part of church life and very much a part of my life.

Mabel was a positive, hopeful and strong woman.  She had to have been nearly 90 when she was struck by a motor home while crossing the street in downtown Shelton.  She was injured badly and I wondered if she would make it but make it she did and did very well for many more years.

After that accident she moved from her home across the street from the church into an apartment in a senior complex a mile or so away.  But she never missed church, always sitting in the pew across the aisle from where I sat with my family.  During the greeting time we never failed to give her a hug and tell her how glad we were to see her. 

Toward the end of my pastorate I stopped wearing ties on many Sundays.  Mabel never said anything about the missing tie but when I would wear one she would always tell me how handsome I looked in a tie.  Almost made me want to go back to wearing one every Sunday!

Linda, our kids and I, really enjoyed hearing her sing along during our worship time, even though the songs we sang were not hymns and were not songs she knew, she would sing out and raise her hands in worship and never seemed to get caught up in the arguments and rhetoric about music or worship that many of her contemporaries did. 

Perhaps the greatest blessing Mabel gave me came after my abrupt and difficult exit from the church.  I was not given the opportunity to say good bye to her or anyone else when I left, but one night several months later I received a phone call from a woman whose relationship to Mabel was never clear to me, but this person was going through some very hard times and needed some Spiritual guidance.  When the woman told me who she was, she said something like this: “Mabel Goodwin told me to call you because she thinks so much of you and knew you would be able to help me.”  She went on to say Mabel told her:  “You call Pastor Greg because he will know how to help you.”

You cannot imagine how that referral blessed me.  For Mabel, blessing others was not difficult.

The poem writer David wrote: Blessed in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints…  Still true.