Our church is going somewhere together.
On a journey.
A journey through God's Word using "40 Days in the Word" by Rick Warren of Saddleback Church.
Adults...teens...kids...
All of us.
Paul and I have joined a small group that will be meeting weekly and working through these 40 days together learning the Devotional Method of Bible study. This week we are learning to take a verse from the Bible and use the "Pronounce It" method on it, which is reading the verse over and over again emphasizing each word in the verse one at a time. After each word, we are to stop and write down our thoughts, even it it's just a word or two.
I have missed blogging, but I find it a challenge to sit down and write.
So...I thought that maybe to prime the pump, I would do my daily lesson here.
I may do it daily using my blog as my journal.
But I also may decide to handwrite my thoughts.
I will see how God leads me. I do know that I need to quiet myself and do more listening. This has been a year packed with all kinds of emotion. My mind has been swirling. It's time to quiet my heart and listen for His still small voice (1 Kings 19:12) as I meditate on His Word.
Today's verse is from Philippians 1:27a (NIV):
Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Whatever: no matter what
happens: comes into being
conduct: behave or act
yourselves: me...I'm the one being spoken to (my actions)
manner: a person's outward behavior or way of behaving toward others
worthy: deserving, honest or true to
gospel of Christ: the good news of Jesus Christ...His truth, life, teaching and the revelation of Jesus
No matter what happens...I need to behave in a way that is true to who Jesus is.
I need to act like Him.
No matter what.
Now I need to meditate on this verse. I need to roll it around in my head and my heart.
Yesterday's verse, Philippians 1:6 was "Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." When I first sat down with this verse and did the Pronounce It method with it, I was focused on God's good work in me being ongoing. By the time I had meditated on it all day, I was more focused on the words "being confident." What or who, in this world, can I be completely confident in? People will disappoint me. I will disappoint myself and others. The only One I can be confident in is God. All the time.
No matter what.
My confidence in Him and His ongoing work in my life makes me want to behave in a way that is true to who Jesus is...to conduct myself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Pretty cool.
Saturday, August 25, 2018
Saturday, January 27, 2018
A Legend Authenticated
Once there was a little girl who lived in a small cottage at the edge of the woods on the outskirts of a small village. She lived in this home with her father, her mother, and her little brother. She was a happy little girl, but her joy became increasingly greater the day that her grandfather came home from his work carrying a long-legged fawn. This baby with its tawny hide and cream-colored spots brought such laughter to this little girl. Do you know that the grandfather carried this fawn right into the house where that baby deer hid behind the sofa? Grandfather carefully picked up the frightened fawn in his arms and knelt down beside the little girl and helped her to cradle the baby. What happened next is unclear, but the little girl never saw the fawn again.
No clear "Happily Ever After" for this little fawn.
No clear "Happily Ever After" for this little fawn.
leg·end
/ˈlejənd/
noun
- 1.a traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated synonyms:
Have you ever had a memory that, as you tell it and retell it, you are a little unsure that it really happened? You have the memory...you think. But what if it was a dream that had become a memory? Or what if it really was a memory and you maybe added a couple extra details to make the story more interesting? Your story becomes its very own legend. You regard it as historical, but it has remained unauthenticated for many, many years.
Then one day, you pull out the big plastic storage container full of old family photos that you have stored in your garage and never taken the time to go through.
And the very first picture that you pull out of the stack of faded pictures is your legend. Your dream turned memory. In that picture, you find that it really was not a dream at all but a real memory! In fact, a memory that was pretty well-remembered!
I have told the kids about the baby deer that my Grandpa Bellman brought into our house late one afternoon. Right into our living room. My memory included the deer going behind the couch. I have told this memory many times, but over the years, I have wondered if it was accurate...or even real.
Today I pulled out that big plastic storage container and found that my dream...my legend...was real.
au·then·ti·cated
verb
- 1.prove or show (something, especially a claim or an artistic work) to be true or genuine: synonyms:
Here is that very first picture...
(maybe 1972?)
And here is the grandfather from the story
helping the little girl to cradle the fawn in her arms...
This is the picture that surprised me the most.
My brother and I are standing where the couch should have been.
I called my dad to see if he could authenticate this story, and I was assured that the baby did go behind the couch, so it had to be pulled out, away from the wall.
Look at the little brother.
He is so happy!
Today that little brother has a little girl who is the spittin' image of him!
I did wonder about the beginning and end of this story. You know, where did this little guy come from and where did he go when he left us? Thankfully, my dad remembered the details that I had never thought to ask.
Grandpa had gone out to the neighbor's field to cut down corn stalks. While working in the field, he saw a momma deer run across the field toward the woods. Where she had been, he saw a fawn lying very still. Grandpa decided then that he wanted to share this sweet little miracle with his grandkids, so he brought it up from the field to share it with us. After we had squealed and pet and held the baby, he took it back to the field and placed it where he had found it. He then backed away and watched. The momma deer came back to get her baby and the two of them ran off to the woods.
I am so relieved that the momma and baby were reunited. I often wondered if the baby was all alone. Then, when I found out the rest of the story, I wondered how scary that was for the momma deer. Do they feel fear? Do they panic when they lose sight of their little ones?
I am so thankful that my story now has a "Happily Ever After."
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Choose Joy!
It happened again.
Another birthday!
This time she is 22 years old.
And this 9-year-old volunteered to dot the cake.
Warning: Do not eat the dots.
They are edible but not palatable.
My favorite cake when I was a little girl was cherry chip cake with pink frosting.
Mom would make that for me and serve it with Peppermint Stick ice cream...
the kind that looked pink with red and green peppermint pieces that were chewy.
Now Carrie asks for cherry chip cake for her birthday.
With chocolate frosting.
Yeah...that's pretty good too.
We celebrated with 22 candles...most of them cake sparklers.
I think only 4 or 5 of them were lit for fear of burning down the house.
They wouldn't blow out, but Carrie made a valiant effort.
Sometimes I try to ignore the obvious. Not because I am hard-hearted and cold, but because I don't like feeling sad. When it was brought to our attention that this would be the last birthday that Carrie would celebrate living here at home, I ignored the comment. I didn't do it to be rude. I ignored it, because I want to feel complete happiness in the way that God has answered prayers and is blessing this sweet girl and her fiancé. Life is full of changes and of growing up and of letting go of the way things have been. But like one of Paul's best friends told us on the day that Carrie was born, "You will miss all those stages of your child's life that you have enjoyed, but just remember that the next stage is so much fun!" And it is. And as Carrie prepares to be the first arrow to be released from our bowstring (Psalm 127:4), we celebrate and place her in God's hands...something we have chosen to do every day of our lives. We choose joy! (Isaiah 61:3) Happy Birthday, Carrie Jane!
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