Absent Husband = Vigilant Bride

My husband was out of town for a week recently on business. 

I noticed that I took a little extra care to lock things that don't usually get locked. 

I double-checked to make sure things were closed tight that I might usually leave open. 

And, of course, I had a fully loaded thing within arms reach should the need arise. 

I slept a bit more fitfully than normal. 

I knew that because my protector was away, I needed to be more vigilant than normal; but he didn't leave me defenseless. 

Reminds me of the church - the "bride" of Christ. 

He is away, but He's coming back; and He certainly hasn't left us defenseless. 

Let's be vigilant in His absence while looking forward to His return. 

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Ephesians 6:13

Results & Duty

Wikipedia

"Duty is ours; results are God's." John Quincy Adams

He said this when asked about how he could press on with the fight against slavery when it seemed so little progress was being made. Of course, he died before the Emancipation Proclamation was signed into law, but without the groundwork he laid and the fact that he and Abraham Lincoln overlapped for one year in the House of Representatives, maybe we wouldn't have had it at all. 

This quote is so encouraging to me.  Even though our kids grow and mature so quickly, in the day to day of it all, it often seems as if no real progress is being made - in us or in the children.  It can be discouraging.

Unless we remember, as John Quincy Adams did, that God is in charge of the results. 

"And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary." Galatians 6:9

Teaching an old Crochet-er a new Knit

I just finished knitting a baby blanket. I am really enjoying knitting, but it was hard for me to learn. My mom taught me to crochet when I was little, so that seemed like no big deal. And then, a few years ago, a friend showed me how to knit and then I bought a book and taught myself. 

It was weird to hold the knitting needles that way - so different from the way you hold a crochet hook. Think of going from a baseball bat to a golf club. Very similar in their differences. :)

Anyway, it was a great reminder for me that it's so much easier to learn to do something right the first time than it is to unlearn doing it the wrong way. 

My dad made a lot of money over the years "unlearning" horses the bad habits their owners taught them. 

Two lessons here:

1) Go easy on yourself and others when you (or they) are trying to unlearn bad habits or even whole ways of thinking. 

2) Teach your kids the right way the first time. 


"Train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

Follow the Leader

My Grandpa

Our church is blessed to have a multitude of talented musicians who volunteer to lead us in worship each week. They sort of rotate and share the responsibility. 

A few weeks ago, we were being blessed by the talents of a group of them, when the leader skipped a verse. . . Now, I didn't know the song well enough to tell, and I might not have even caught it, except one of the other singers flushed and looked a little embarrassed - oh and the words projected on the screen didn't match. 

However, the rest of the group just fell in behind him and FOLLOWED WHERE HE LED. 

I was impressed by those musicians - even the one who got a little flustered. They did nothing but make their leader look good. 

Can you imagine if they had gone off on their own? Not only wouldn't it have sounded very good, but it would have confused all of us in the congregation, embarrassed many of the performers, and maybe even damaged the trust they had in their leader - or his trust in them. Perhaps irreparably. 

I wonder how often I damage the trust of my leader, and confuse those around us, when I don't FOLLOW WHERE HE LEADS. 

Now, you might think, well he made a mistake, they had every right not to follow him! 

But, if you are like me, this "not following" can happen even when there are no mistakes being made. 

Thanks mostly to my Grandpa, whose own father taught him how to play, my extended family has a lot of musicians in it. I enjoy it when we all get together. Inevitably, Grandpa has learned a new song that no one else knows. He leads and they all play along. It sounds like music because they FOLLOW HIS LEAD. 

Next time I hear or feel discord, I'm gonna take a step back and remember that if I FOLLOW WHERE HE LEADS, the result will be sweet music.  

"Submit yourselves, then, to God." James 4:7

The Substitute Teacher

Cache with his favorite teacher

I have done a little substitute teaching in my day.  . . . . . I really didn't like it. 

At first, that is.  Because at first, the teachers didn't know me, and so they made me do things like watch the first hour of Remember the Titans  - six times in one day.  Really. 

But other teachers, the ones who knew me and trusted me, would turn their class over to me and let me teach the next chapter in the history book or a fun lesson on poetry, or even a health lesson. Those days seemed to fly by. 

I was filled with purpose and focus. As classes came in and out, I would try a little harder to do a better job with each period. 

It was great. I felt like I was helping the students and having fun with them at the same time. I was learning new things right along with them. 

In the first scenario, I could have easily been a remote control.  Seriously. Pushing play on the VCR player was the extent of the challenge I faced that day. (Yes, VCR - I am that old) 

I recently was asked to speak as a fill-in for someone who couldn't make it on the day they needed her to, and that got me thinking about substitute teaching again. 

I wondered if I was asked to substitute teach for Jesus, how I would do. Don't get me wrong, I have no delusions of grandeur here.

Isn't that what the Church is, in a way? The substitute for Jesus here on earth while he's away? Thanks to the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we are His body. 

  "And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way." Ephesians 1:22-23

So, if my experiences as a substitute are any indication, here's a test to find out if you are the kind of substitute who just watches movies all day, or the one He has trusted to teach others. 

Are you bored and under utilized? Or do you have focus and purpose? 
Are you having fun, being challenged and helping others while you learn more? 

Just checking. 

The A21 Campaign

A21 Card

A21 Card

The other day, Kelly Minter challenged me to find something that breaks my heart and do something about it. 

Ok, just to clarify here, I'm currently doing her study on the book of Nehemiah,  through which she challenged me to find something that breaks my heart and do something about it. 

So . . . a few days after reading that challenge, I came across this post by Anne Voskamp, on her blog A Holy Experience .

One of the things that breaks my heart is that young men and women around the globe are being sold into slavery, or forced into slavery.  They often end up in the sex trade. If you think slavery was abolished back in the 1800's, you are sadly mistaken. 

The A21 Campaign, (established by the firebrand for Jesus Christine Caine), exists to abolish injustice in the 21st century. 

They have a four pronged approach, as outlined on their website here.  They prevent trafficking through awareness and education, they protect those who have been trafficked by providing transition homes, they prosecute traffickers and they partner to meet the needs of those rescued as well as work to abolish trafficking altogether. 

I love that they are in the business of mercy for victims AND justice for the perpetrators. 

"He has told you O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8

There are a list of 21 ways to get involved on their website here. 

I chose #1 - Write a Letter. 

I shared this idea with a friend of mine, and she not only designed two different cards for us to make, but graciously offered to host a card making party at her house. We invited some friends and fellow Bible studiers -  and the rest is history. 

I left her home that night with a pile of cards filled with love for the rescued. 


It seems like a small thing, but I hope that to each one of the women who receives one of the cards, it will be a big thing. 

Robert Louis Stevenson's defense of Father Damien

Father Damien

This is a two part post. You can read the first part here.

Last time, I mentioned that God had addressed two of my ugliest sins through the book Damien the Leper.  The first was self-pity, which I discussed in part one.  

He also taught me to hate the sin of being critical of other people. 

After his death, Father Damien's story spread worldwide. He was something of a sensation in the newspapers. A clergyman in Sydney, Australia wrote to his clergyman friend in Honolulu to ask about  the suddenly famous Father Damien. The clergyman in Honolulu had known Father Damien and answered the letter. 

His answer was short, but not sweet. It was bitingly critical and slanderous. 

Robert Louis Stevenson

Luckily for us, unluckily for him, his clergyman friend had the letter he wrote criticizing the dead priest published in the Sydney Presbyterian.  Robert Louis Stevenson, who was visiting Sydney at the time, read it and was so maddened by it that he beat his head upon the wall - to the shock of his wife. 

He then proceeded to write, and have published widely, a response.  He had visited the island where Father Damien lived, shortly after his death, and spent 8 days there. He had also met with the man who wrote the scathing letter. Those experiences gave him personal insight into the matter. And the voice to write a passioned response. 

You can read the letter, in its entirety here. Or you can download a copy to your e-reader here. And I highly recommend it. 

I became more and more disgusted with the critical clergyman as I read the letter from Mr. Stevenson. 

"How could he?" I demanded. 
"Yay for Mr. Stevenson!" I proclaimed. 
"Yes! That's telling him!" I thought.

And then I thought. "Wow, what if someone widely published a letter in response to every time I was critical of someone?" Ouch. 

Now, I'll admit, I don't go around criticizing the canonized often, (Father Damien was canonized by the Catholic church February 21, 2009) my targets are seemingly more fallible.  But I am not less critical for having easier targets than the clergyman.  

It really is so ugly. Stevenson says,"I conceive you as a man quite beyond and below the reticences of civility: with what measure you mete, with that shall it be measured you again;"

What I realized is that my criticism of others never says as much about them as it does about me.  And what it says is ugly. 

Think twice before you criticize. In fact, just be quiet instead. Every person you have a critical remark for also has a defender. And HIS pen is much more powerful than the pen of Robert Louis Stevenson. 

I do not wish to insult the memory of Father Damien, or the expertly written defense of Robert Louis Stevenson by making it all about me. But if we are not to learn from such men as these, and to allow ourselves to be shaped for the better by having known them - even just through their stories - then what is reading for? 

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
Ephesians 4:29