Driving a Stake in the Ground

Edited 06.27.15

I am saddened, but not surprised at the Supreme Court's ruling in favor of same sex "marriage."

Rudderless, the majority justices continue to sail the USA toward rocky shores.

Perhaps I am painting a target on myself, but I feel compelled to post a statement of my faith and beliefs here today.

I do not hate anyone.  Because I follow Jesus Christ, because He loves and forgives me, and because His love compels me, I love everyone, though I do so imperfectly as an imperfect human being.

"Love your neighbor.  Do good to those who do evil against you.  Overcome evil with good."

Those some are my foundational motivations and guiding commands.

Below is a more formal belief statement, the wording of which I borrowed and tweaked from an Alliance Defense Fund pdf.

"I believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female, evidenced biologically at birth. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God. (Gen 1:26-27.)  ‘Being man’ or ‘being woman’ is a reality which is good and willed by God: man and woman possess an inalienable dignity, which comes to them immediately from God their Creator. Man and woman are both with one and the same dignity ‘in the image of God.’

"I believe that the term 'marriage' has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture. (Gen 2:18-25.) I believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other. (1 Cor 6:18; 7:2-5; Heb 13:4.) I believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman.

"I believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God. (Matt 15:18-20; 1 Cor 6:9-10.)

"I believe that God freely offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. (Acts 3:19-21; Rom 10:9-10; 1 Cor 6:9-11.)

"I believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity. (Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31.) Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture or with how Jesus treated people while He walked the earth."

I understand that our government has approved and legalized relationships and actions that are in opposition to my beliefs.

I do not believe that those who have made these decisions hate me.

I am not your judge.  (Matt. 7:1, John 5: 26-27, John 12: 47-48.)

These beliefs guide my relationship with God and with man.  A desire of my heart is to grow in loving relationship with God and with all of humanity every day.

If you disagree with my beliefs, I respect you and love you anyway.  I think all of you are amazing creations of Father God who carry unique and needed gifts into our world.

Can we focus on the things we agree upon and work together to build a promising and bountiful future for us and for the generations to come?

Have mercy on us, oh God!

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Theme Song Thursday

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Theme Song Thursday

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May Madness

Madness - a state of frenzied or chaotic activity.

"Let me ‘splain…No, there is too much. Let me sum up. . ."  (Princess Bride movie fans recognize that Inigo Montoya quote).  After the injury which caused me to be Gimping Like a Boss, life around here ratcheted up into frenzied mode.  Thanks to all of you who prayed for my healing and recovery; the pain went away the next day, unless I tweaked the injury.  I can feel the improvement almost daily, and this is the start of week six of recovery.  I plan to hold off trying to run until after eight weeks while continuing to strengthen the injured area with toe raises and walking.  Then I plan to gently launch into running via my favorite, run-walk method.  More on that when the time comes.

While May was madness, -- our 2nd stage drama troupe's play and cast & crew party; a whirlwind 25th anniversary trip to Seabrook Island, SC; graduation celebrations; the last day of our homeschool 2013-14 year; paperwork and preparations for all things Camp Tecumseh; starting a new part-time job; and trying to finish planning the coming school year -- it was also joy and celebration and fun and change and growth. 

The group of Christ followers we have been meeting with locally since September has blossomed into Hope Church GL.  None of us actually wanted to start a church, but did want to hear and to follow what He is up to in our area.  We shall see what happens next.


 In one week, some of our family will start on our summer adventure: a sports camp outreach in Kentucky.  I have thoroughly enjoyed sports camp in the past and am very much looking forward to the upcoming one.  I do not feel prepared, but am trusting that I will be in a week.

What's been going on in your world?

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Change is Good and Hard

 BLEH -- Ok, now that that's out of the way, I can agree with my title.

 Love it that the weather has warmed and the snow pack is melting.  Love it that I can change the background of my blog and feel the freshness of spring.  Love it that God is always at work, doing new things, making all things new and providing us with new opportunities.

 And yet, the "warmer" temperatures and melting snow pack bring severe weather and flooding.  Changing my blog's background looks great (in my opinion) with the recent posts that show on the home page, but is not as attractive on some of the older posts.  New things, renewed things and new opportunities free me from my ruts, but jolt me out of my comfort zone and cause me to have to make new decisions and take new action. 

 It's been a long, frustrating morning here in our home school; math, the usual suspect, has bruised us again.  Tears and frustrated words have flowed, and we have decisions to make that are difficult and grievous.  Yet once again I sing:

You can have it all, Lord, every part of my world.  Take this life and breathe on this heart that is now Yours!"

 What good/hard changes are happening in your world?

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Theme Song Thursday

 You can have it all, Lord, every part of my world.  Take this life and breathe on this heart that is now Yours!


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Theme Song Thursday

Come To Me

By: Jenn Johnson, John Hendrickson

I am the Lord your God, I go before you now

I stand beside you, I'm all around you

Though you feel I'm far away, I'm closer than your breath

I am with you, more than you know

I am the Lord your peace, no evil will conquer you

Steady now your heart and mind, come into My rest

Oh, let your faith arise, lift up your weary head

I am with you wherever you go

Come to Me, I'm all you need. Come to Me, I'm everything

Come to Me, I'm all you need.

I am your anchor, in the wind and the waves

I am your steadfast, so don't be afraid

Though your heart and flesh may fail you, I'm your faithful strength

I am with you wherever you go

© 2011 Bethel Music Publishing (ASCAP). All rights reserved. Used by

permission.

       

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Repeat

www.trimhealthymama.com

  Have I mentioned the above book?  Tee-hee...

Making a list and checking it twice

  Is it awkward or lame of me to reference someone else's blog as my post today?  I hope not, because this one hit me right between the eyes.  It's almost like Someone is shouting instructions to me instead of whispering them.  Wahoo!

  I know what you are thinking...Shouldn't you be doing the millions of things on your list right now, starting with the daily Pre-Calc review lesson.  Perhaps you are right, but...

  Here's the link to the blog article, which is exactly what I needed to read today:

Why I think you should set a goal by Bob Lotich

  Oh and just one other thought before I move along to that to-do list about which you were harping:  if it is true in fact that I can have it all, it is likewise true that I cannot have it all at the very same time.  Making a list and checking it twice or more should help with that, right?

  What are you focusing upon today?

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Walking out of the valley of the shadow

BLAM!  BIFF!! BOFF!!!

 That's what I'm "hearing" today, or at the least what I am imagining is happening in the unseen realm.  Why would a solid person like me be imagining such things?  Tee-hee, if that's what you thought, then you don't know me.  Imagining is a way of life for me, and the more I attend to my imagination the more I realize it is a part of who I am.

 Some things are falling away and diminishing, while I feel strengthened and supported.   In my wrestle with fear, I am learning that what I need is boldness and courage to move forward when fear shows up.  Fearlessness is not the desired quality I once thought it was.  I like that Papa has been adjusting my perspective.

 I'm alive!  I'm on fire!  And my spirit burns with desire.  You set me alight, bright eyed and with no way to hold it inside!

I am so very thankful.

Minding the Minutia

 This week is to be a week of overnight guests, shopping for summer camp needs and tying up of loose ends before the summer camping season kicks into high gear.  Son #2 and I arrived home minutes ago from procuring another work permit, picking up some much needed breakfast groceries and dropping off paperwork & empty egg cartons to camp. {I must say that I love Camp Tecumseh and very much miss my life there -- the one I had and the one I should have lived.  A friend and long-time camp director commented to me recently that hubbie and I needed to get back into camping where we belonged.  At the time, I heard him, but wasn't sure that I agreed.  Today, I feel like I would absolutely LOVE being back at Camp Tecumseh, (said with starry-eyed-adoration-colored glasses on my face).  Perhaps this is to be a season of truly mourning that loss, but perhaps it's the beginning of something new and the remaking of something old.}

 Two other thoughts are rumbling around in me today:

 1)  Without hope you cannot have faith because faith is the substance of things hoped for, (Kris Vallotton and not a direct quote).

 2) You must have time to think, to dream, to pray and to write if you are going to discover you passion in life, (read it on a blog post).  This I have been saying to myself for some time now!

 What's rumbling around inside of you today?  What are you finding time to dream about?

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Step Over the Dogs of Doom and into Faith

 "In the book of First Timothy, Paul exhorts Timothy to minister in his spiritual gift beyond his comfort zone...If you do only what is comfortable for you, you will fail to grow."  ~ Kris Vallotton, p. 185, "Spiritual Java."

She reported that she had responded, "you can never say those words again."

Much later those words echoed in my being, as he was speaking about God's greatest trust gift.

Guiltily I silently resolved to end my verbal and written wrestling.  It would not do.

Davidically I will only pour out my silent complaint to God.   

And, also...change my heart, O God.  Make it ever true.  Change my heart, O God.  May I be like You.

Sunshine is bursting upon me spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally.

Spring is full of promise.

Hope seeds are transforming into shoots, busting through the slightly parched heart sod and exploding into vibrant color.

Somehow, some way things will work together for good.

Peace river attends my soul.

Learning Curve

  This day has been FULL of computer time as a direct result of 45 gigabytes vanishing from our download allowance in less than 4 days time.  Mysteriously, no one knows how that happened, though the "when" is recorded on the Hughes Net Gen 4 web page.  Too late to track it down this time, I spent the morning and early afternoon learning how to password protect our wireless network and how to set the router to create logs of incoming and outgoing activity.  Armed with those pieces of information AND the personal IP addresses of each internet enabled device in our home, maybe a catastrophe of this nature will be avoided altogether in the near future.  Did I forget to mention that we have a mere 754 megabytes left of our download allowance, which will need to last for 4 more days?  Satellite internet is better than a dial-up connection, but not hugely better.

  Recently we decided to upgrade to the newest Hughes Net satellite package, which has been an improvement as long as our 2 collegians are not home for an extended period of time.  Despite the verbal parameters I have set for them (and all) in regard to not downloading or streaming ANYTHING, the d.a. seeps out consistently faster when THEY are in the house.  This I do not appreciate AT ALL!  I do not watch YouTube or other videos nor do I stream anything.  I take care to download updates and files larger than 70 meg during what Hughes Net calls the "bonus hours," 2 a.m. to 8 a.m.  While we are on that topic, according to my calculations, much of our downloaded bytes are happening during the bonus hours, but are being subtracted from the other hours.  Perhaps the new Gen 4 service is not fully functional as of yet.  I'd call and ask, but being on hold is annoying and wastes my time, plus the chances of talking with a non-native English speaking tech support person are more that 75%.  Getting the same unhelpful response to my specific questions after waiting on hold for said treatment FEELS like life being sucked out.

  In the midst of all of this electronic fussing, a familiar error message alerted me that my Hughes Net Status Meter had stopped working; this is a new joke I've had with Windows 7 for a couple of days now, though the meter stopped working correctly about 4 months ago.  Since that time and until after noon today, the status meter in my system tray cheerfully proclaimed that we had 100% of our download allowance for the month left.  I knew that couldn't be true, so I would check each day at the Hughes Net Gen 4 web page for the REAL amount remaining.  That's how I knew that we had 54% left on Sunday, but only 8% left today (so, I don't ALWAYS check daily; I thought with only 7 days left and more than half of our gigs left, we were in good shape).  I don't know what tipped off Windows 7 that there was a problem these past couple of days, but something did.  So I clicked and checked for a solution on-line and closed the program as suggested by the error message.  When I restarted my laptop many hours later, I discovered that my Hughes Net Status Meter is accurately reflecting the download allowance shown on the Hughes Net Gen 4 web page.  Bummer for me that it has to happen when things seem so "dire." 

  Much of this pricks at my justice wiring, because it feels unfair and unresolvable.  Surrendering at just the right moment, when it stops being my responsibility, has been easy today with this particular problem.  I hope that this revelation and application will travel from my head to my heart and bring about transformation.  


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Noble November

 November is definitely one of my favorite months for many reasons.  I love that the weather is

On earth as it is in Heaven?

What can I do in 10 minutes?  Inspired by two of my daughters who recently participated in a NaNoWriMo Write-In, I decided to write.

"I am on vacation" is heard around our house on days like today; being translated, it means that all of my school work is finished, and I am officially in non-school mode.  At present I believe that I am on vacation, though I have one student still working.  After lunch I will bake pies, knead up a batch of 100% whole wheat dinner roll dough, and make cranberry sauce in preparation for tomorrow.  In the betweens, I am pressing into rest and mentally transitioning to non-school mode.

What appeared to be an "empty" month, according to our over-sized dry erasable wall calendar, is almost at its close.  Because I love this time of year so very much, the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays, I have peace in regard to where we are in the 2012 year.  We have much on our "to do" lists for the Thanksgiving vacation, including decorating the tree and inside of the house for Christmas, drawing names for gift exchange, scoring an acceptable family picture for our Christmas cards and spending time together as a family being thankful for each other and for our enumerable blessings.

Resting and loving authentically are two themes which Holy Spirit is highlighting in this season.  Both are challenging for me due in large part, in my opinion, to the day-to-day demands of this life I've been blessed to live.  And it is exactly in the day-to-day where I long to wear rest and love as naturally and as effortlessly as my skin.  I wonder if that day will ever arrive here on the earth?

Yes, there will be joy in this journey!

Trying to remember to seek first the unseen Kingdom...



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09.18.12

http://www.starbucksstore.com/starbucks-via-pumpkin-spice/011020599,default,pd.html?cm_mmc=Google-_-Brand-+New+Holiday+Promotions+%28Exact%29-_-VIA+Pumpkin+Spice-_-VIA+Pumpkin+Spice

I am enjoying a Starbucks Via Pumpkin Spice "latte" in my own kitchen this morning.

08.08.12, Wednesday

This day earned renown among us as “the day that was two days.”  

D.C. Trip 08.04.12

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=1300+good+hope+rd.+se&hnear=1300+Good+Hope+Rd+SE,+Washington,+District+of+Columbia,+20020&gl=us&t=m&z=16

 

Original plan:  Meet at Gateway church in northern Indiana at 6:30 p.m. CST for Heart Prep and for planning. 

Wrecked

While out doing the weekly shopping trip, I was wrecked by the "Sermon of the Week," (S.O.W.) from 04.29.12, which you can download at:   http://www.ibethel.org/podcast/2012/05/02/one-of-those-days .  Danny Silk is an anointed communicator.

Danny Silk

 I highly advise all of you to listen and be wrecked yourself, but I will share some of my notes with you.

knee-jerk

:  reacting in a readily predictable way

     I'm beginning to recognize my knee-jerk thoughts in certain seasons, and while they still swirl around in my head, I find that I do battle with my sword of truth more readily and more steadily each time said season arrives.  God's peace eventually arrives, after we have together conquered the "jerks."  I often have questions that linger without answers, but choose to trust and to wait patiently for those.  Quite honestly, I am usually so worn out from the battle, that resting is not difficult.  I am so thankful for God's en-courage-ment; He puts courage in me!

What do you do to combat the "jerks"?

And on a random note, I love Microsoft's OneNote program, and use it daily to keep track of multitudes of information.  

If you use OneNote, what are your favorite uses for it?

 

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