This Past Week

Not an original title, but that's what I'll blog about. I'm only blogging because I am tired of playing Internet Backgammon...I have already beat my husband at two games of Sequence...I have already walked the dogs...I don't feel like a Sunday afternoon nap...and in two hours I will head back to church. Nobody in particular to email, and I have spent a lot of time perusing vacation spots in the south for next winter. Do you get the idea that maybe winter is getting to me? I've done a lot of reading and watching movies and videos. I've enjoyed working extra days and hours because our office front desk person has been in Florida the past month. But what to do with my extra time???? I'll blog.

My friend Bob went home to be with Jesus this past week. I was so excited for him. I had asked him to find my Mom and Dad and give them a hug for me. When we got the call early in the week that he had passed away, I felt a sense of euphoria....that somehow in someway my parents were going to get a message from me....my love was being transported from earth to heaven by means of Bob. I don't know how that all works, but it's a very heart warming feeling...brought tears to my eyes.

We have another ILNC Resident funeral to attend in the morning...that will be three funerals in just over two weeks. In the last five years since we have been on the ILNC grounds, we have had several of our leaseholders cross over. I can only rejoice with them, and feel sorrow for the ones left behind.

Told hubby this morning that if Jesus doesn't come back for me in the next year...I am ready to head back south. My goodness...we had another 8 inches of snow last night, and it's snowing again. It's 14 degree wind chill out. At least the sun has been shining today. That always helps.

To help the residents who are stuck here in the winter to have an outlet, we started having occasional game nights over in the ILNC Dining Hall. We had 22 attend last Friday night. We built a cozy fire in the fireplace, and we ordered pizza. There were all kinds of other snacks, and we had a great time playing games. During the warmer months we like to gather around the camp fires, but for now we will gather around the fireplace at the Dining Hall.

I'm watching American Idol again this year. The two guys who have made it through thus far are both Christians. Both of them are praise team/music leaders in their churches. That's cool! I'll be anxious to see how well they compete, and what their song choices are. The itty bitty blond that made it through last week has a powerful voice, and Simon predicted her following the footsteps of Kelly Clarkson.

I'm also done registering daily for the HGTV Dream House in Sonoma, CA. I keep hoping to win the Dream House so I can help get the camp out of debt (besides myself!!). I don't want to move to Sonoma, and I don't want to clean a large house again. But I've been praying for God to help us pay off the camp debts, and if He wants to use winning a contest to do it, then that's okay with me. More than likely, that's not His plan. I will also register for the HGTV Green House in Tradition, Florida when it starts up...a possible place to retire. And I am voting now on the features of the DIY Blog Cabin. Once it is built, that's another home I will register daily to win. It's in one of my favorite locations....Asheville, North Carolina! North Carolina has been our place of choice to retire for several years now. Retirement is only ten yeas away, give or take a few years, so it's okay to dream.

Personally, I think we are closing in on the final days on earth. Too many things shaping up that way. I will not dwell on that, but I will be aware, and be ready! My goal is to be debt free and live unencumbered. I live to represent the love of Jesus to the world, and to serve others in ways pleasing to Him. No other purpose. My prayers go out daily to those whom I know that do not claim Christ as their Savior and Lord. I plan to live forever with HIM, and I want my loved ones to join me. I can hardly wait to see Mom and Dad again. I am so grateful for the Christian heritage they gave me. I was blessed to be raised in their home.

So, that's it for this blog. That's what I've been thinking!!

Living the Life

We had a good discussion in our Sunday School class last Sunday. The topic was on the passage where Paul instructed the believers of The Way to not eat meat if it offended a brother (I Corinthians 8, I believe). So, naturally the discussion quickly turned to how do we offend others with our convictions, or lack of convictions. We talked about the various rules under which we used to live or perhaps still lived. Somehow we were missing the point of the passage, until the discussion turned to God's love and acceptance. I quoted a retired minister as saying that if he had to do it all over again, he would spend less time focusing on the negative, and more time on exhorting God's grace and mercy. Sometimes we as Christians are quick to judge and condemn, and fall way short on being loving and accepting...allowing the Holy Spirit to do His work in His time.

This morning's devotional passage spoke to my heart about the crux of the matter...how we should live as Christians. I like how it is worded in the New Living Translation, from which I will quote Colossians 3:12-17:

Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony.

And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are all called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.

And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father.

People outside the church will not be attracted to a rules oriented church...why would they want to attend a place like that? But when we as Christians, the Bride of Christ, the Church, will remember that we have been called to freedom, not to please ourselves, but to lovingly serve others (Galatians 5:13), we will make love our highest goal...not obeying the rules or enforcing the rules. Love will motivate us to treat each other with respect and kindness and mercy and grace...and Love will be what attracts those outside the church to want to know more about the Christ whom we are committed to.

It is possible to have a revival of love? Another comment I made in class is that if we do offend someone by our actions...perhaps it would be best to take that person out to lunch, or invite that person into our home, and be a friend. Talk about the issues that are offensive, and work through them. Everyone wants a friend...everyone wants acceptance...everyone longs for love...agape love...un-judging love. Can we offer that? Can we be Christ to those about us? I think we can. And I think we must, if we want to affect our world for Christ's sake.

Just An Update...

Haven't blogged much...not much to yak about. I did finish my last batch of books, so I have entered a new batch over in the right hand column. Check it out in case there is a book you would like, once I am done with it.

Tonight we have a Candle Lake Dinner event going on here at Indian Lake Nazarene Camp. We have special musicians...Living Truth...for entertainment. They play a variety of instruments and sing. The ILNC Buffets are something to brag about, but I won't. We have about 100 registered for the event, many taking a package deal which gives them a motel room for tonight and the Breakfast Buffet in the morning. It's a very good deal at $70 per couple.

We also have Indianapolis First CON Youth Group for the weekend. A Fishing Tournament scheduled for this weekend is being delayed until next weekend, since we actually had temperatures up into the 60's mid-week! It's still winter though, and the cold weather has returned. Most of our snow has melted, however, and that is NICE!!

Well...that's it for now!

How To Live

From my devotional readings this morning, I have been given some things to think about and put into practice.

Acts 9:31: The believers were walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. That's how we should be living in our daily walk with God through this journey of life. Fear in this application is another way of saying "respect" or "honor". If we give our respect to God, and honor Him by our lifestyle, we have no need to "fear", or be afraid, or worry, about the economy and the things facing us as a nation.

Our sermon yesterday was about seeking the kingdom of God first, and all "these things" (the things we need) will be taken care of. There's no reason for Christians to run around like chickens in a flutter over what might come, or how we will survive. When we honor God, we receive our comfort from the Holy Spirit. He gives us peace and assurance that it is well with our souls, and God is in control. What more can we ask for? Any more than that, and perhaps we would be out of the will of God. If we truly want to go it on our own, He will allow us to do that. But why would we want to?

To receive God's best, life is not about investing our money, but rather it is about investing our very lives. We do this by:

1. Making time for family and friends - they are God's gifts to us.
2. Being grateful for God's provision and protection. He is always there for us!
3. Practicing contentment - Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:8, NLT) There are plenty of things that could get us down and discouraged, but we need not focus on the negative side of life...God has given us the ability to rise above that and choose to dwell on the beauty of life.

I'm going to visit Bob this morning. He has acute leukemia and has already outlived the number of days his doctor gave him. I can't imagine what it would be like to just wait to die, waking up each morning wondering if this was the day. Well, my last devotional reading this morning talked about "The Dying Words of Christians". Death for the Christian is just a "threshold to the palace of God" (Dr. Billy Graham's words). I can't imagine waiting in anticipation of walking across that threshold!! Especially if it is something I have believed in and waited for my whole life!

I am going to take Bob some chocolate chip/oatmeal/raisin cookies. I can't imagine what his first meal will be like in heaven! The Master Chef will far surpass the culinary skills of the finest of cruise ship chefs. And to dine with the saints of all the ages...the giants of the Bible, like Abraham, Moses, David, Apostle Paul. To have a hearty laugh with Jesus as He slips His arm across my shoulders. Death doesn't need to be a thing to dread or fear. It's like the best looking gift under the Christmas tree, all wrapped up and labeled with our name! We open the gift, and walla! We step across the threshold into eternal life. I'm going to ask Bob to give Mom and Dad a hug for me and tell them I can hardly wait to see them again!

Spending time in God's Word and on my face in His presence and in some good devotional books only inspires me to give to Him this day the best that I have. To serve Him by serving others. To love Him by loving others. To make my life count for something by investing my time and resources for Him. Wow...what an opportunity! Please join me!

Weary of Winter White

Maybe you're thinking I haven't been thinking much lately. Well...I just really don't have much to blog about. We are in Michigan. It is winter. The color we are wearing is white, and I'm weary of winter white. The newscaster said yesterday that in the last month we have only had 1% of our hours over the freezing point of 32 degrees...about six hours out of 556 hours. That tells you it's just been dog-gone cold up here. I haven't been walking the dogs or going out much at all. My car has got some engine problems, so hubby and I share his truck. We tend to make 1-2 trips off the campground per week. All of that to say, I'm tired of winter.

I've started reading a new stack of books...listed in the side bar. I also started playing games on the computer as an outlet. I'm enjoying Internet backgammon and spider solitaire, along with hearts and pinball. Does that give you a clue how desperate I am for social life? Grin. I've been trying to plan our next family trip for next fall or winter...gives me a get-away to dream about.

So now I've posted why I am not doing much blogging...just not much going on. We have had a game night on the campgrounds the last two Friday nights. That gets us out of the house and together with other people stuck here in the winter. A large percentage of our residents are snowbirds and are fortunate enough to be down south in the winter...either Florida or Arizona. Our front desk clerk in the office has gone back to Florida for six weeks, so I will be filling in for her. That will fill in some of my hours, so I am grateful. Our trip to Florida occurs in June. My husband is a delegate to the Church of the Nazarene General Assembly in Orlando. Not my favorite time of the year to go to Florida, but I do enjoy having breaks from the campground!

We have special friends from Canada coming to visit us next weekend. That will be a treat for us! It's nice to have friends you have known across the years. We met them in Cleveland, TN, while I was attending seminary. Their boys and our sons are about the same age and we just enjoyed each other's company. They have been so good to visit us about every two years, when they are down in the states. We keep moving, so they try to keep up with us. However, we have now been here for five years. That's a long time for us! I keep thinking it's time to move back south, but my husband hasn't felt that nudge from God yet. And, hey, I definitely don't want to get ahead of God!! When I do that, I just tend to mess things up.

In all of my reading lately, I really haven't had anything special jump out at me to post. I will say that The Shack was a tremendous book. I didn't want it to end. I gave it to one of our sons, and now he is finished with it and sending it to our other son. The message that comes through loud in clear is that God loves us and believes in us no matter what we do with him. We tend to box God in and think we have him figured out, but we don't have the slightest understanding of how big he is...how far reaching he is...how full of grace he is. He's amazing. His love is amazing. His grace is amazing. I hope anyone who reads this has had or will have a personal encounter with him...he's life changing. He may not change where I am living right now, but that only tells me there are things for me to do right here.

We have some sad situations here on this campground with our 100 plus residents. Last year Don's only child died and left behind three grandsons, and within two months Don's wife died. Ouch. But Don has been devoting his time to helping others. In the summer he mowed. Last fall he picked up leaves. In this winter season he is out clearing out driveways with his snow blower. We now have Bob who just found out in this last month that he has leukemia and is expected to pass away very shortly. His 22 year old granddaughter died of lupus this week. His wife has lost a grandchild and is about to lose a husband. Tough situation. But in both of these situations, we all know God is in control, and God will be there for the hours we need him most. This campground community is like a family, and we are surrounded by brothers and sisters who care, who pray, who assist in any way they can. How blessed we are to live in such a setting! (lest I sounded like I was grumbling earlier...I just don't like long winters...that's why we moved south when Paul graduated from college in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan).

Well, that's my rambling for now. Sounds like hubby and I are going to make one of those rare trips off the campground. It's 14 degrees out, with a wind-chill factor of 4 degrees. Another frigid weekend! Wherever you are, stay warm!

The Weather

Ain' no stoppin de snow! It be comin' down and comin' down, and pilin' up and pilin' up. Somebody somewhere better stop singin' da song, "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" I'm agoin' stir-crazy in the cottage!

Took an early morning ride in the snow plow truck with the hubby...took two hours just to do the first initial cleanup, before the snow started in again! He spent most of the afternoon out plowing again. Tonight, after our community supper at the ILNC Dining Hall, he'll probably be out a third time.

I have shoveled the doggie path out twice today, and it's almost filled in again. Last year the snow got so high, our little doggies couldn't be seen when they were on the back side of the path, out near the fence. We haven't gotten that much snow...yet. It's supposed to keep this up all through tomorrow, so hard telling how much we'll end up with. I just know I've been perusing the vacation sights, wishing I could escape, but knowing we are here to stay this winter. Hey...two more months and we'll get a break. It's not really all that bad! (It just seems that way in the middle of it!)

Sunday Afternoon Snippets

Whew...the "holidays" are over! Thank the Lord!! I love the music and the lights and decorations and getting together with family and friends and making holiday meals and goodies...but after a while it becomes a bit too much. We start at Thanksgiving and go non-stop until the last gathering is over. This year I've been looking forward to getting on with the new year and just getting back to normal! Only...I love change. So I am hoping that normal for 2009 brings about some changes. Don't know what I am looking for, I just want to be accepting when it comes.

These are the winter slow down days where I do much more reading, watching Hallmark movies and videos, and I'm less active. I need spring to show up early so I can get myself back out walking three miles every day with the dogs, and picking up limbs and just enjoy being outside. As it is, I got some new "spikes" for my boots so I don't have to worry so much about slipping on the ice that's hiding under the snow. Although I must say that today's mist and warmer temperature may take care of most of the snow that is still lingering...except for the piles that were plowed out of the roads. However, rest assured, it's not over yet! And it's been so cold this winter...lots of wind.

My email and my blogging has slowed way down. Can't say that I've been in a big hurry to do either. One thing that remains constant, however, is my daily devotional/meditation time that I spend praying and reading through various books to see what God has to say to me. That's a daily must do...just to keep my balance and my relationship with my Lord up to date and vibrant. So...here's few things he has said to me lately from my reading:

• Do not wear yourself out by trying to be all things to all people---quit looking for acceptance. Just honor God and live pleasing to Him, for in the end that truly is all that matters.
• Sail on...one day at a time...and you will reach your destiny!
• Make Sundays holy...not hectic. Have a plan.
• Don't quit...persevere...keep at it. Hang in there until the task is done. That's how you grow.
• Be thankful for the hard things: disappointment, loneliness, trials...for they bring you closer to God as you seek His face in the midst of turmoil.
• We all have a need to be needed. Not feeling needed leads to depression.
• Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will... Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know that I will triumph. (Isaiah 50: 4,7)