Casio wk-3800: My User Guide and Help Blog

I recently bought a Casio wk-3800 and started a blog to try to get some community thoughts going: http://casio3800.wordpress.com/called Casio 3800: An Unofficial Blog.  Especially if you play the wk-3800, check it out and say “Hi”.

Spiritual Lessons from Super Maryo Brothers???

I think there are spiritual principles I’m having reinforced from my goal to beat my boys at all the levels of SuperMaryo (the online free download based on the game from the 80s, Super Mario Brothers, thus, the spelling change).  It’s very well done.  Level nine is HARD.  Programmers had all volunteered their time to makes the levels.  Level 9 is crazy-hard! 

“What can you possibly be learning on a spiritual level from Super Maryo?”, you ask.  Well, I’m glad you asked!   

Enemies:  (I’m sure you’ll find this entirely fascinating)

• NOT all enemies (sins) are not worth obliterating, though you get a few points for knocking them out.  Messing with those too much steals your attention and energy so that you lose steam before the play level is over.  ***Fatigue is not good.*** 
• ALL enemies can kill you.  ALL.  Big or small, are worthy of caution.  Don’t get hung up on all of them, but don’t ignore them.  They are all deadly.
• SIZE:  the larger the enemy, the bigger the chances of you getting touched (killed).  Two options:  ”flee” or obliterate them before they touch you  or you touch them.  Jump on them, shoot them, hit one with another…be sure, ’cause in a tight spot, you just get crowded out by them with little room to move.  Move fast, move decisively…there is no time for second guessing, just MOVE and deal with it quickly.
• METHOD:  not all enemies are obliterated in the same way.  The shooter may work on one, pouncing works on another.  If you decide to not deal with the enemy, those little devils are still free-floating — they can quickly kill you in a fall from higher levels.  If you know you are going to be in vulnerable and risky spots, get rid of the enemy first.  You really don’t want to free fall onto those traps later.
• WARNING:  some enemies give you warning, you hear them coming’  hide THEN.  No time to wait!  (Giant kinky squid will cover you in their toxin)!
• EXPERIENCE:  (you get hit)  Some enemies hide and you run into them.  The only way to avoid them is to learn where they hide, remember, and avoid them the next time, or have someone who has played before warn you!  Yuck happens–experience and friends help keep you alive.  Try again.  Remember!
• DEATHS:  If you die, hopefully you “saved” your best point and can start again from there.  Go back to where you stared with all your “shooters” enabled, and start again.  Try again, try again, try again, and save ALL your ”good spots”.  Don’ t lose what you’ve gained! (Journaling helps with this, staying involved in small groups, personal study, notes, and goals) 

ON SPIRITUAL GIFTS/EXPERIENCE:

• sometimes a new “power” is fun, neat, exciting, and cool.  But, it can distract mental energy (eg:  blue mushrooms that make you able to “freeze” stuff), and throw off your concentration.  Decide if you can handle the distraction, and be prepared to practice using it a LOT.  In time, the fun tools with no longer be a distraction.  You can live without them, my son keeps telling me.  He’s right!
• “Freezing” makes the enemy stay in it’s place, but unless you finish him off, he thaws and comes back to haunt you!  Finish it off!  Don’t leave things undone! 
• You learn a little more your way around every time you try.  What made your stomach drop yesterday as you fell, only makes you respond in a new way today, correcting your course, even as you fall to land on solid ground instead of falling into those bottomless pits.  You learn your limits and where you can safely fall.
• To finish a level is only the introduction of a new world!  New challenges.  New enemies.  New traffic patterns.  New tools.  Keep walking and there are always tools to help you get the job done.  The Creator of the level wants you to win, He has given you use all the tools.  Master the lessons, one at a time.  Keep trying.  The tools will be there every time around…for as long as you need them!
• TAKE BREAKS!   Learn your levels and stop when you start feeling frustrated and rush…you just play sloppy and get yourself killed.
• Some similar problems occur on each level.  Some of the guess-work disappears the further you go.
• SETTINGS:  Using the controller.  Sometimes default settings need to be changed.  My son disabled “DOWN” to keep me from getting killed morphing through a landing plank.  Later, I could not proceed until he re-enabled it for me.  Sometimes, you have to adjust your controls!   

Fun is important in your day.  Give yourself little breaks and allow God to speak to you in new ways.  I don’t usually play computer games, but in doing so, I see that there are ways I can teach my kids through it if I will apply it.  I hope I can without taking the fun out of it.  Use what they enjoy!  See if God will show you some things to point out!

To get this game, search my blog for Super Maryo Brothers.  I’ll try to insert the link later, but you can find it that way.  Enjoy!  It’s one of the best games of all time!!!

Current Position:  World 2, Level 12  (Augghhhh!)

Weighing Bill Gate’s Thoughts On Sunday

Today on iGoogle, this was one of the quotes: 

Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There’s a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning.
  – Bill Gates

At first, there is the smile toward a hard-working ga-zillionairre.  “Ah-ha!  He just WORKS harder than we do.  HE is EFFICIENT!” 

I have a great respect for efficiency.  Things in my kitchen cabinets have been re-organized over and over again through themselves toward greater efficiency.  I time myself with a cup of tea heating in the microwave set for 1 minute 25 seconds to see if I can unload and reload the dishwasher in that amount of time.   Many days, for a cup of tea, all my dishes are cleaned and I have a treat in the process. 

If my husband comes home for the day and I still have not unloaded the dishwasher, I strive to unload it from the time he pulls in the garage until he plants a typical kiss on my expectant lips.  There’s a great reward!

On the tails of efficiency and productivity comes this thought, “God longs to give us rest, but we would have none of it.” (Hebrews).   Hard work does increase productivity, as does efficiency.  But there is a limit.  True success is measured by hard work balanced with true soul rest, not just recreational activities of the rich and famous.

I turned toward some men and woman I consider “great” and “balanced” in their approach to life, whether rich or poor.  I don’t know Bill Gates.  He may be perfectly rested, balanced, at peace, and content.  I’m just using his quote as a jumping board for thought to challenge myself to grow.

~~~~~~~~~ 

The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is pray.  It is not the only thing; but it is the chief thing.  The great people of the earth today are the people who pray.  I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor yet those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those people who take time to pray.
     ~ S.D. Gordon
~~~~~~~~ 

Too many women have too much leisure time for their own good.  They have time for criticism, gossip, faultfinding, and complaining.  They have time for idle games and lay too much attention to things of the flesh.  There are other women who have too little time for the enduring things of life.  They are too busy flitting about doing this and that.  They have great activity and much doing, but they lack time for building Christian characters.  Both kinds of women — the too-idle and the too-busy need to take time for meditation and quiet repose in prayer to God.  They need time to cultivate their souls that in turn they may cultivate their children’s lives.
     ~ Billy Graham
~~~~~~~~ 

An unschooled man who knows how to meditate upon the Lord has learned far more than the man with the highest education who does not know how to meditate.
     ~ Charles Stanley
~~~~~~~~ 

Work, work, from morning until late at night.  In fact, I have so much to do that I shall have to spend the first three hours in prayer.
     ~ Martin Luther
~~~~~~~~ 

I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord.  The first thing to be concerned about was not how I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man may be nourished….  I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation of it.
     ~ George Mueller of Bristol

Onesimus: Slave

The sermon topic last night?  Onesimus…run-away slave of Philemon.   Goes right along with my thoughts on “piercing” the last few days in relation to bond servants of the New Testament times.

After he was saved, Paul was trying to restore Onesimus to his owner, where he belonged.  It was right for him to return.

Still had the topic on my mind this morning and was looking to see if there was more information about this slave.  Wikipedia has this to say about Onesimus, “just a slave”, 

During the reign of Roman emperor Domitian and the persecution of Trajan, Onesimus was imprisoned in Rome and martyred by stoning (although some sources claim that he was beheaded[3])…He is regarded as a saint by several Christian churches, including the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, which commemorates him and Philemon on February 15.

Wow.  I had NO idea.

The Book of Philemon in our New Testament of the Holy Bible, only 25 verses long, captures just a snap-shot of a life of healing, restoration, duty, faith, impact, purpose, and sacrifice. 

The beautiful life of a “servant by choice”.  Onesimus, whose name means “helper” captures what we need to be about as “servants” of the Lord Jesus Christ.  About the business not of acclaim or acheivement, or pursuits of grandeur for it’s own sake, but to simply be a help to those who need it, whatever the Holy Spirit leads us.

Servants.  Helpers.  Lord, help make me one.

photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onesimus

Phil. 2:1-14

Imitating Christ’s Humility

 1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
 6Who, being in very nature^[a] God,
      did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
 7but made himself nothing,
      taking the very nature^[b] of a servant,
      being made in human likeness.
 8And being found in appearance as a man,
      he humbled himself
      and became obedient to death—
         even death on a cross!
 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
      and gave him the name that is above every name,
 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
      in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
      to the glory of God the Father.

Shining as Stars

 12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. 14Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16as you hold out^[c] the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. 17But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

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Parts of this passage have tickled my mind off and on for a few weeks without my having much time for prolonged times with the Lord to study.  I think it will be my key passage for meditation for 2008 until something new replaces it. 

I’ve found that one section of scripture as a focal passage for meditation keeps my mind more focused even when I hit busy or stressed seasons when I can’t take time or energy to “look for something new”. 

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Keywords:  humility; service; grace; encourage 

Thank you for your visit, friend!

Comments are closed for this post.

FIND JOY IN TODAY

I “heart” the Second Sunday of DECEMBER–  

Red everywhere,

cards flying,

cheer rolling,

warmth exuding,

rain falling,

carols singing,

pews filling,

lost returning,

family gathering,

cantatas coming!!!

I could get lost in things to do, another child with a low-grade fever and virus to tend to, and a messy house.  But, NO WAY!  Today is special…it is the 9th day of December!  REJOICE!  THE LORD HAS COME!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Rejoice in the everyday! 

Celebrate the moments. 

Smile at life!

Jesus makes the day sweet!

Jesus Had a Step-Dad

It simply just never occurred to me:  Jesus had a step-dad.  

Joseph was obscure.  We know little of him.  But, we cannot estimate his impact on the life of Jesus. 

We know that Joseph honored and helped Mary and tried to preserve her dignity. 

Joseph’s response ”How can this be?”  showed he was real and honest and needed a little time…time to work things out in his heart.  And…he needed a little help, an encounter with with God “understand” enough to obey. 

Joseph was a woodworker, skilled in his trade, a provider for his family. 

Joseph was a dreamer (unlike Mary who Gabriel spoke directly with). 

Joseph was immediately obedient to “dreams” from God.  

Scripture likely keeps Joseph obsure, likely  to keep our eyes on his heavenly Father, who we should emulate the most.  We would have it no other way. 

Joseph was obviously the right man for the job.  The perfect choice. 

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for showing me something new.  Ten years ago, this information would not have impacted me.  But, today, it does!  Something new every day in the Christmas story!

Source:  Michael Card’s, The Promise, A Christmas Devotional Book

Christmas Inspiration

Where are you, Lord Jesus?  Is seeing your face as simple as gazing down into a manger’s hay?  Is there a deserted stable somewhere, aglow with your Presence?  Might I join a band of magi and follow a star to you?  Might I keep watch with simple shepherds and bear the good news from Gabriel’s own luminous lips? 

Where are you, O Lord?  Grant me the grace to find you again.  Give me ears to hear angel words that whisper every day of you.  Give me eyes to see the dim stable lit truth of your Incarnation every night. 

Give me strength to follow, 364 days, whatever star might lead me to you on the 365th.  That some day I might behold, unsquinting, the radiance of your Glory in a season that will be forever. 

~Michael Card, from The Promise, Introduction

Filed at ” Christmas Inspiration“ 

Tuesday AM: Happenings and Thoughts

This morning: 

Boy Wonder haircut:  I gave Boy Wonder a haircut — that, or he was going to have to join the Bee Gees.  This child inherited his hair from somewhere else.  I have to cut it, then thin it.  It’s at least workable today.  Thank goodness for PopTarts.  He had like 15 minutes to get ready.  Why give a haircut at 6:30AM, you might ask?  I was asking the same question, stumbling around trying to lift my heavy eyelids.  Because the child wanted one.  My children do not “want” haircuts.  Now, I get to do “hair detox” in the bathroom. 

Christmas Trees:  I just piled my van full of Christmas trees from the barn.  I hope to have them ready for decorating this evening.    (The header pics are from last year’s decorating.  Aren’t they precious?)

Bible Restoration:  I’m working on re-covering my Bible…it was needing some work.  I know you all want to know how to do that.  People ask me all the time.  I’ll post on that later when it’s done in case you ever want to try.   Not than I’m an expert, but I’ve done it and have been pleased.

Holiday Planning Begins:  I’m also working on some ”holiday planning”.  The whole “plan your time or it will be planned for you” concept.  There is a post called Holiday Tradition List that has me inspired to the hilt.  For starters, I’m starting a little memory book for the month.  But little, I mean, tiny.  I’ll post on that later, too.  I already have several pages done…we’ve done a lot already worth remembering!   

Thoughts about Sheep:   This post at The Well had me thinking about… sheep.  In the book Master Plan of Evangelism,  Robert E. Coleman says that sheep will follow anything in front of them. They need a leader.  It’s kind of scary.  They literally cannot figure out where they are going without someone to lead them.  They aren’t picky about who that someone is, necessarily!  That is why is it crucial that we LEAD.  People will follow.  They’d rather follow than think.  It’s just the way sheep are wired.  Not that we are like sheep in EVERY way, but I think his comparison lends itself to needing to follow, needing to be cared for…needing The Sheperd.  The Bible talks a lot about leaders being referred to as shepherds.  We need to lead those around us well.  They would rather follow than lead,  until they learn to lead.  In sheep flocks, leading tends to come with age naturally.  Nobody chooses it, the sheep just follow the older.

Just for kicks, I researched this idea a bit here this morning.  The author, a sheep farmer, says he watched sheep one day, staring at it’s food, trying to nudge it’s way through the 6 inch gap between the fencing.  He wanted to say, “Um, why don’t you just use this open gate?” God compares us to that!  We can’t find our way on our own.   

It’s a great article.  He also says that sheep can be very intuitive.  For example, if their diet is lacking a nutrient, they have been known to eat dirt to fill that quota!  Owners kept trying to get them to stop, eventually realizing the young sheep had a need for minerals that had been lacking in the hay that season.  So, they put out some mineral blocks to see if that would change the behavior.  The sheep went to the mineral, and stopped eating dirt.  Get this…they even put out baking soda–,if the youngest of sheep had a stomach ache, they knew to eat some of it.  Sheep know what they need, they just don’t often know how to get it.  Wow.  We ARE like sheep.

The “Shepherd” in Ezekiel reading yesterday:  In Ezekiel, he says, ”something like a hand” came, grabbed me by the hair of the head, picked me up, and carried me to the temple in Jeruselem, and sat me down.  That’s the kind of force I need sometimes.  “Something like a hand took me by the hair of the head”.   Yup, God can take you where you need to go.   We need a shepherd!

Comments are turned off for this post…Christmas is coming!  Go wrap some gifts!

Blogging Took Up All My Words…Apparently

Well, if you think the last couple day’s post have been a change of wind, they have!

I found that I was using so many of my “words” online that I really didn’t have much to say by the time The Hub got home.  My laughs were used up, and my words were gone, and he’s been so busy this fall, it didn’t matter.  It was helpful.  Now…it matters.  It’s nice to be missed, however, I have some restructuring to attend to.

Having comments turned off has made me appreciate the conversation of my family more.  I have a broad circle of friends here!  It’s great to know you can sustain me in tough seasons, and this summer and fall were hard in a number of ways.  We continue to face challenges even now. 

Tonight, I even watched a movie mid-week with The Fam:  The Santa Claus.  I laughed my head off.  Nope, I’d never seen it before.

We started some Christmas giving tonight…my daughter bought us all presents today at the school store with her character counts money!!!  She came home steathily, wrapped them like a pro, and delivered them tonight, not able to wait!  It was so sweet.  Now, that is holiday spirit…spontaneity and love and sacrifice.  What a sweetie!  I got a Mozart tape.  I will enjoy it.  She asked if I would share it with her.    That’s my girl.  The others got Christmas ornaments, very nice ones, outdated from card store editions.  We LOVED them. 

I bought some a Christmas card stamping kit today at Rite Aid.  The delightful little fun stamps turned out to be a bout 25 cents a piece, so I just couldn’t resist the urge to make a few cards, though I generally like store bought.  We got a card making kit last year, and Golilocks and I made a few during a snow day last winter.  Thought I’d see if I could churn a few more out.  It was fun…a change of pace.   They have 2-3 more if you want to look…the stamps were nice.  $10 for the kit.  I usually don’t like wood block kits, but as they are all Christmas and fit in one tidy box, I can store them away after the season with ease. 

I ordered a few gifts online today.  Lovin’ the online gifting. 

I am staying caught up…read through Ezekiel 25 today.  Man.  Weirdness there.  I don’t guess I’ve ever read all these prophets, much less straight through.  It’s having a bit impact on me.  Mainly, in terms of my sense of what is important to God:  the poor, the needy, the orphan, the widow, and keeping him first at heart.  Those issues are repeated by the prophets like a parents talking to a teenager:  over, and over, and over, and over.  I realize that I have not kept the things most important to the heart of God close enough to my heart.

Also emphasized is the discipline of God.  He said in the last chapter I read, “I had covered your sins, but your rebellion made me remember them all”.  Isn’t that how it works with most of us?  Character breeds trust–lack of character destroys it.

Also, the huge enemy of our souls:  pride.  Pride in beauty.  Pride in wealth.  Comfort.  Plenty.  Coveting other nations, other ways, other loves.  Not caring for our children enough, and their spiritual heritage.  Oh Lord…we have much work to do. 

Well, that’s all for today.

Thanks for your blog-ship!  (Comments are dis-abled intentionally for this post.    Blessings!!!)

Slowly Getting There

I have felt so odd today.  Everything a bit out of place.  A few notes missed, out of character.  Feeling sort of pulled together.  Perhaps the lack of routine is getting to me, the change of seasons, the change of family situations, new tasks to learn, meals to cook.  Oh, yes, lots to be thankful for, but an overall lack of normalcy.   A family member in Iraq, one facing surgery this week, another with cancer.  Just a lot of “new”. 

I so needed the sermon today: the holidays are not about perfection, perfect situations and people and hot cocoa moments (I just made that up “hot cocoa moments”.  That’s a good one)…it is about our need for a Saviour–through it all.  And I’m thankful for that. 

I’ve come to realize that this whole day has been a decision for me to continue the disciplines of Thanksgiving into the Christmas season, with the priority of thanks now simply shifting to my thanks for Christ, through whom all good things flow.  Jesus makes Thanksgiving possible. 

Rather than “transitioning to the Christmas season”, I want to continue the discipline of joy, thankfulness, observation, service, celebration…these are my comfort and joy.

You know what?  At the hanging of the greens service, there were many “carolers”…people looking crisp and holiday.  But, there were many like me, watching, just showing up, enjoying in jeans and a sweatshirt.  At first, I was self conscious.  I usually find something red and festive for the occasion to take part.   Tonight, I decided to recover, and just ”be”. 

While I was “being”, Boy Wonder gave me wonderful hugs and a neck massage.  I rubbed his curly mass of hair for a while as he reclined on my shoulder.  I was afraid I might make him self conscious, so I stopped.  He took me hand, twice, put it back, willing it to keep moving through his locks.   

Down the pew, my Goldilocks curled her lengthening legs up in her handsome Daddy’s lap, hugging his neck tight for a very long time, smiling up at him adoringly as only a daughter in her sweetest moments can do.  The Hub and I locked gazes,  reaching across three children to clasp fingers, if only for a few moments.  We smiled at each other, drinking it in. 

Red?  Oh, he was there…sprawled across all of us most of the time, fighting for more space, as in…the whole pew, not giving me place to land OR room to stand.  The pester-wort of the evening, he saved all his hugs for Mamaw.  I got tickled as he read “CANDY” in the program, and they grew excited together about it.  Mamaw acting as if she didn’t have a clue. 

Add The Hallelujah Chorus, Wonderful, Merciful Saviour (and a healing baby as Jesus), a quartet and various solos to chill you, Christmas carols (ending in my favorite, Silent Night), and I began to soften to the gentle, healing lull and simple joys of Christmas.  Not the work of it…but the spirit…giving: glowing lights to replace fallen leaves.  Joy to replace the cold of winter.  Smiles and cheer to soothe hurt, pain, sickness.

I might just be able to celebrate beyond Thanksgiving.  I might.

Comments have been turned off for the evening.  Thanks for the grace of your presence.

The Day Before Baking Begins

Today was a brain day.  I wanted to get caught up on reading, and had some projects I couldn’t get off my mind I wanted to explore on my last day home without the kids before Thanksgiving Break.  Tomorrow, I hope they will help me make the Banana Pudding (with both round cookies, and graham crackers…The Hub and I have had to compromise on this difference in preference!)  I also want to try a cranberry-strawberry salad I found…I love the strawberry element to tone down the cranberries.  It calls for pineapple as well.  I think everyone is making some sort of cranberry salad already, but I really want to try it.  I may make it in two dishes, now that I think of it…one to share at Mom’s this weekend.  I don’t exactly know why I thought that fit to share here, but there you go.

Tonight, as to the “slowing down to scrapbook”, I’ve found I wanted to write, not glue, not organize, not select papers.  So, what I think I’m doing is…there is this basket I’ve been putting “Mommy copies” of pictures for  “for Mom” album…someday.   Boy Wonder is now 11, and I still have those pictures waiting.  I’d bought some “slide-in” regular photo albums some times ago (about eight of them, because they all matched, back when I swore I’d never, EVER scrapbook.  I had my reasons.  Now, I have my reasons for being obsessed with it.  What can I say?)  Anyway, I decided to slide all those into the album, out of order, kids all mixed and matched as far as ages, and I’ll journal on separate slips of paper to slide into the middle section if I feel like it.  Those will come in handy later.  It’s great to look at them in a different way…out of choronological order.  I’ve almost filled one book tonight! 

I made some pork chops today in the George Foreman grill.  Over-all, I’m not sure pork is my favorite Foreman recipe.  I drenched them in marinade, and still, not as moist as I prefer.  I liked pork chops really well as my mother in law makes them, baked on top of sliced, scalloped potatoes.  Mmmm. 

Today, Jeremiah has captured my attention.  1.  God told him 3 times:  do not pray for this people.  Isn’t that interesting?  He was mad, and he knew the people needed to be punished, and he said, basically, “Don’t even try to talk me out of it…I’m sick of this.  Think of me.”  In another place, God said, basically, “Why am I mad all the time at YOUR misbehavior…it’s time to turn the tables…take your punishment.  YOU be upset for a while.”  I’ve been there with my kids…I get that!  There are all sorts of interesting literary things to note, too much for this post.  So much to take in.

The Hub is sitting over with the kids, reading the last of  a “Hardy Boys” story.  They are on the grand finale tonight.  Red is asleep on the couch, curled up under a pillow case, because it was “just the right size for the loveseat”, he said. 

Today, I’ve been inspired by these ideas for Christmas, and by this program, just for fun . I just ran into some cool, free, women’s handwriting journaling fonts here you can download).  And,  this was a neat post on Thanks inspired by the movie, Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium.   (I’ve heard mixed reviews…what do you think?)

I am thankful today that the yard people decided to tackle our leaves for us so that The Hub doesn’t have to take his time off to flare up allergies. 

Okay, so warning:  I get a little ecclectic, even moreso than usual with posts around the holidays–just so much life to take in!  BTW:  I feel like I’m going to a big restaurant to eat supper, and I don’t want to eat anything heavy so that I can really enjoy it…only it’s still two days away!!!  What is for supper at your house the day before your “big meal”?

Flowers from God: Volume 2, Autumn Video 2007

Well, here it is.  I had to upload it to youtube in a smaller file to fit all the pics in, but it’s still decent.

Nobody expected this after the drought!  Creater God, Lord of all Creation, “woo-ing” us all over again.

This was the song on the radio while I was driving around looking at nature the other day.  Loved snapping photos as it played.

Photos/Video: Maggie

Music:  Phillips, Craig, and Dean “Open the Eyes of My Heart”,  Album:  “Let My Words Be Few”

How Precious to God

There continue to be many painful losses in our community in a very short amount of time.  Most folks around here are in ”coping” mode, ”helping” mode, ”supportive” mode, “grieving” mode, or “recovery” mode.   Everyone smiles and has grace for everyone else.  And we are all amazed at the grace being poured out.  There are smiles, laughing, and deep emotion.  It is exhausting to feel the extremes of emotion, but we are thankful for it all the same.

The many needs are so vast and pressing.  I encourage staying strong and stay rested.  Try not to serve outside the grace God has given you, even when you feel obligated.  God will always provide a fill for you when it’s needed if you are needing rest.  Always.  Let him let grace flow.  It does…trust me.  With a heart condition, I’ve always had to limit myself to keep from trying to do too much.  And the need is always met, and grace is always there for the needs, and God gives me rest and joy for the next thing he has for ME to do.  I’m much better at it if I only move according to the grace he has given me.  Keep serving, keep blessing, but don’t go beyond the grace you are given.  It pulls us all down.  Let God call others out.  Organize.  Teach the young to serve.  Teach the young to rest.

God puts us in this season  — and I don’t know much about it, but I do know this one thing:  even with it all seems to hit at the same time, and it just seems to keep on coming… it is His most merciful path.  We serve a merciful God.

I was thinking of this yesterday, comparing it in my own mind to getting all my kids immunizations when they were babies.  Oh!  I hated it!  Four to six immunizations combined in up to four syringes, maybe more.  Little, tender, chubby, baby legs, two nurses (if I was lucky), one Mommy.  All at the same time.  Yes, you know why we combine it all, those of you have have young.  It is more humane, though painful and terrible and nothing we’d want to wish on any baby or desire to repeat.   

He is nothing if not a merciful God.  

Here are a few scriptures that have calmed my mind lately.  There are hard to find when you need them, so I hope to write the references in the front of my Bible this time, though I keep them close at heart.  I’ve star-ed them in my Bible over time.  I hope they minister to you as much as they do me in seasons of grief.  I’ve stumbled back over most of them in the last couple weeks and they soothe somehow, though they are direct.

Ecclesiastes 7

Wisdom

 1 A good name is better than fine perfume,
       and the day of death better than the day of birth.

 2 It is better to go to a house of mourning
       than to go to a house of feasting,
       for death is the destiny of every man;
       the living should take this to heart.

 3 Sorrow is better than laughter,
       because a sad face is good for the heart.

 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
       but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.

Isn’t it a beautiful thing to read how God values times of mourning even more highly than times of celebration?  He knowsthe depth and love and learning that is there.  He knows we learn more in times of heartache than in times of celebration, though he cherishes both.  He included in his law to Moses seasons of feasting and celebration!  He loves a good party, as it is often said of Jesus (God in the flesh) as well. 

For the believer, death is better than life!   But, some believers have a hard time with mourning, feeling they are disrespecting the happiness God has given their loved one.  No, God encourages us to do our mourning, whatever it takes.  He treasures that time.  He recognizes there is much to be accomplished and learned there.  He only reminds us to remember hope–to not let despair or fear or anger take up permanent residence in us.  He wants us to deal with it well.  He says this gently: ”Do not grieve like the rest of men who have no hope.” (I Thess. 4:13)  We encourages us to grieve well.

This verse is a special one to me, one I quote often, every time I’m at the funeral of a Christian.  I can never seem to remember the reference when I quote it, and people always ask me for it.  Here it is:    Psalm 116:15 —

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints (or ’loved ones’).”

This also speaks to the verse in Ecclesiastes.  I look it up often, and it’s hard to find, as it’s in the Amplified version only worded this way, but it says God will “harden you to difficulties”.  I think the trick here is to be hardened to difficulties, while keeping a SOFT HEART.  To do this, one thing will will all have to eventually learn, I suspect…how to grieve well.  

Fear not [there is nothing to fear], for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you; yes, I will hold you up and {yes, I will} retain you with My [victorious] right hand of rightness and justice.  (Isaiah 41:10, Amp, emph added)

You have to love how God goes ahead and answers every question we could possibly have:  “Yes, I will!”  Yes, He will strengthen you, “harden you” (I think of a hardened oak tree with deep roots, able to handle any weather).  Yes, he will help you.  Yes, He will hold you up!!!  Yes, he will keep us with victory!  Yes, he will work justice. 

Yes…He will!  Mourn.  “It is better that you mourn”.  Mourn well, “as those who have hope”.

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If you think these verses might help someone you know, right click on the title of this post “How Precious to God”, select “copy shortcut” and “paste” the link into an email document.  

Make a list of these scriptures; put them in the front of your Bible for ready reference– I plan to.

 

 

Photo:  Maggie

“Paradise Park”

11.13.07

What to Say

Wow.  Revival tonight rocked.  I don’t know what to say. 

All I know is, I went in stuck with what kind of God could blow away Job’s family, just to get in Satan’s face…and I was stuck.  I could not finish reading Job.  Every day this week, every trip, every part of my day, I’ve said, “Alright Job, here we go”.  I’ve taken my Bible with me.  I’ve had three days scheduled to read the book and I just have not been able to make myself get through it.  A chapter here, a chapter there. 

My husband said to me, “Dear, you need to read the first two chapters of Job, and the last few…the middle is just a bunch of blaming and whining.”  And maybe the man was right…he has a point.  I’ve fot 3-4 days to read Psalms, and I’m going to be SO behind. 

But, Job held me captive. 

How does a God who loves you and is proud of you…just…throw that in Satan’s face, and say, “Have you considered my servant?  Blameless!”  And He doesn’t say it once, but twice.  TWICE!  He points his servant out to Satan.  Yeah, Satan is “roaming throughout the earth, seeking whom he may devour”, I’ve read that.  But, to think that God POINTS US OUT?

Is that insane?

Yes, it’s crazy–nuts, for those of you struggling with the answer to that question.   There is nothing comforting about it…AT ALL.

And I was shaken.

And, frankly, there have been a few times when I’ve tried to reason my way out of a problem or two, and I’ve had as many words and reasonings as Job.  I surely have!  I get the “many words”.

Why? 

I found myself asking, “Why God?” 

“How could you?”

And, I was severely stuck.  Stuck with the reading, yes, but also suddenly stuck with a God I did not understand, and…I didn’t trust.

Until tonight.

I knew the information presented, and frankly, if someone told me what he talked about and his style and what-not, I would have said, “Yeah, yeah…heard it, heard preachers like that before, that’s all great.  I got it.”

But, there aren’t words to describe the problem in my heart and how it got fixed.  Words can’t wrap today in a package.  Words can’t explain how the call I got yesterday with a drug ravaged family met with a skit and a suicide today and a room full of so many situations and hearts meeting at one dot in time for one meeting where there vision of God was altered just enough to go from stuck to “unstuck”.

I may try again later this week, but for now, I just want to soak in who God is…the newness I found in him tonight.  I want to bask in a God I can trust with all that I am, and with all I have, and with all I hear about–with all that seems WAY too big for me to understand.  I’m just overwhelmed.  Totally melted.  Mowed over.  Broken.

For someone who has no words to say about it, I’ve used 518 so far according to my counter.  But, I still can’t explain it.  If you weren’t there, you ought to get a tape, but that seriously won’t do it justice as so much of it was visual and in the moment.  I’ve never been to a better revival meeting that I can remember.  It DID actually REVIVE me to the core.  I just have to say “THANK YOU, LORD!”  What a load off. 

Not to mention the fact that my kids were totally riveted the whole time, Bibles open, laughing, answering questions, and dancing in the seats the whole praise service.  Man!  Our church rocks…and we’re a pretty traditional Southern Baptist Church!  What can I say?  We just know how to have fun and we can’t seem to help it.