Don’t Pass Me By

Today I drove back from Hastings after my nieces graduation.  It was just me and my two dogs and it was a dog day drive.  I pulled over to gas up and get some grub.  I looked over and there was a “one piece does it all” camper from the 1970′s just off the parking lot.  It was leaning severely to the side and I was wondering how it drove at all because all the tires were aired up and it still leaned.  I quickly pulled myself to task.  Gassing up my car.

I’m off in la-la land and a very disheveled man came up to me.  Long grey hair, greasy and uncombed along with a wrap around sweater and no t-shirt underneath were the major parts of his outfit.  He had a gas can and asked if he could have some as they had run out and didn’t have any money.  I gave him some gas in his empty can.  He thanked me and I walked away and I stood there wondering how they were managing the whole food thing.  Did they have something inside?

I quickly forgot his/their problems and was inside ordering some chicken strips and an extra-large pop.  I’m trying to manage my way outside and find it difficult because the door is so heavy.  The next door a man comes from behind and gets it for me.  He immediately passes me walking by and tells me he’s taking some tacos to our wayward strangers, they looked like they need it. He was excited and went right up.

It was like I hit a brick wall.  I should’ve been taking some food.  I sunk into my car.  I was supposed to be representing my Father.  The thought immediately came to me that when my Heavenly Father took car of my needs, he took care of all of them.  When we ask Him to fill us up, he does it all the way the first time.  Our cans aren’t half empty.

As I drove away onto the interstate, I was thinking, “What was I thinking?”  I knew better.  I personally knew two families who had started feeding programs.  One where I live now and one on the other side of the world.  Sriyani started with just bringing a bag of rice every time she  went to the beach.  I have helped at both of them.  I really felt convicted.  I knew better but my heart had not been right.

An opportunity for my King was missed today.  I don’t believe in guilt trips, but I do believe in learning.  I hope I learned this lesson for the last time.  Sometimes the most simple things can be glossed over easily but will mean so much for another person.

Today, I encourage everyone to look for those opportunities to serve, to witness, to care.  We pray for God to open doors.  I’m going to pray I don’t miss another door.

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Two by Two

I heard a bark at the door.  I knew it was my dachshund Matilda.  Two seconds later, my rat terrier Dilly signaled by her bark that she was ready to come in.  ”Two by two here they come,” I thought.  It reminded me of when Jesus sends them out two by two in Matthew 10:1.

I’ll paraphrase the rest.  You get all authority from God the Father and you will face many trials.  When you look at the trials, you might be dissuaded and decided not to go.  That’s why sometimes I should write that first verse on my palms in a sharpie, something that doesn’t wash off.  We have the power.

But back to my dogs.  I think God chooses to share his lessons with us in every day ways.  We don’t have to flood ourselves with doctrine.  Yes, read and pray and praise…but God will have his way.  We can relax (rest) in that.

My dogs go out together, even though they can really only tolerate each other.  They get along for this one.  They do face adversity.  There are big dogs, children not behaving, adults who don’t like them…and men.  My one has never liked men, since I got her.  They could get run over and the list goes on.  But they don’t care.  They are fearless. They bark without fear.  It’s their nature and they don’t pull back or apologize for it. They are little dogs, and act as such.  They come back together, and when they don’t, I go back and retrieve the lost soul.

They may just be dogs and I hold a special place in my heart for them.  I am their shepherd.  But I had to think, “what would happen if we even had that much courage?”  If we just followed directions and let God take care of the rest.

When I was a missionary in Sri Lanka, I read books about missionaries.  Some died.  And certainly, going out two by two can apply to your own neighborhood.  However, I was afraid I might die.  I had to ride a scooter in traffic that included cows, goats, big buses, Mercedes and rickshaws.  I decided to pray in tongues for fifteen minutes before getting on my bike and then prayed in tongues out loud the entire trip.  It served me well.  Probably a practice I could apply in my present life to something.

But God told me I wasn’t going to die.  He was coming to get me and bring me home.  It was a hard trip.  A lot of barking going on with bigger dogs.  I started signing “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” on my bike trips. (coming for to carry me home?)  God heard my bark.

If we only knew that instead of demanding the big picture, we knew God was looking through the blinds of the window as we were in the yard.  Just waiting to open the door when we come barking.  He doesn’t forget us.  He will come get us, too.  That doesn’t matter what the circumstances.

I’m glad He uses regular, every day life to teach us. It’s not complicated.  WE have been given the authority. There will be adversities, and we’ll come back to the big house and bark once at the door.  May we all be little dogs, cause the enemy may look like a big dog….but we all know every repairman is afraid of the little dog.  The big dog holds nothing on us.  The little dogs have the power.

 

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Why Amazing Grace is my favorite song

Amazing Grace became my favorite song in a single moment of time that passed quickly and was forever cemented in my mind.  I was at my great-grandmother’s funeral in a tiny town in Nebraska.  My family, on both sides, strongly believes in the power of blood and God the Father, including the trinity.  Grandma Blanche had over nine children, and they in turn had their own.  She passed that on.  It wasn’t a tiny church, but not large enough to hold all that came.  It was strictly family only.

I came and knew all of them.  I was about fourteen.  I also remembered playing Rook at family reunions in her house every year.  It was a loud event.  The Palser’s are notorious for their voices being over boisterous.  Every bedroom had a card table with people around and they let me play single cards as I sat on someone’s lap.  They all rode Harley’s, too.  Godly people who played cards and rode motorcycle.  That might be a miracle right there.

She had gone to a nursing home about two years prior.  It was a tough time.  They cut her hair and she had always worn it long.  She followed the belief that many hold that a woman’s hair was their crown.

However, I was distracted and brought back to reality as the Pastor said one of the Palser’s was going to sing Amazing Grace.  I secretly wondered how they had chosen who was going to do that.  We all think we can sing.  Most of us can.  Then I wondered if the Pastor even knew her and all that she was.

Then Jamie began to sing.  He sang the first verse and we all listened in somber silence.  Then when he began the second verse his voice quivered and he began to cry, unable to finish the song.

The Palser’s did not miss a beat.  They opened their lungs and stood up with their arms raised high in praise to the Father.  They were singing it, no hymnals.  They knew every single word.  There were big tears released.  No shame seen at all.

It was quite a sight coupled with the loudness and unstrained singing going to the top of the rafters.  It filled the church that day in Big Springs and was almost a relief.  It was a better way to grieve.  It was thanking the Father and giving Him praise.

I knew instantly that this here was her true legacy.  They were singing and praising.  It was her children and grand-children and great grand-children.  I have tears now as I think of what our legacy is in the Lord.

We all walk our own paths and God works out His timing with us.  Among that crowd no one is less a sinner.  I would go to other funerals in that church that were no less amazing.  And I should mention that the other side of my family were founding charter members of that small church.  I am doubly blessed.   I am thankful for those that told me of the Amazing Grace of God.  Maybe someday I’ll talk about the funeral where Dale told me he thought I’d be married to a preacher and playing the piano by now.  God, grant me a legacy and may I be faithful.  I still love to hear that song, in every form.

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French Braids by the Master’s Hands

The Side Braid....Ruby

The Side Braid...Ruby

I’ve noticed a new trend among little girls.  They are all wearing french braids.  Some of these are elaborate around the head and beneath the pony tail concoctions.  I am well aware of how these happen.  It is all determined by the length of the bangs.  They are long, for sure.  But not long enough to stay in the pinned back.  They want to swing around in her little face so she can brush them back 100 times and mess up the rest of her hair.

Mothers see these things, and they won’t be deterred.  They’ve been messing with their hair for thirty years.  A two year old’s hair, albeit slick, has nothing against her arsenal.  Not only is she going to make it obey and stay out of the face, but it’s going to look good while doing it.

Double it up braid...Anna, Jude (no braid) and Sophie

It made me think.  Discipline and train you in the ways you should go and you get to look good at the same time.   Only God would do that.  He can help you stay together, french braided all around, and then you get to look beautiful, as He sees you.  What a wonderful combination.  He loves us.  He uses a gentle hand, but it still must be done.  Just like those bangs, we must follow Him.

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Lemon People

People come and go in our lives quicker than the weather changes in Nebraska.  I knowthere are some that I would’ve never been able to predict the outcome of our relationship.  I am someone that meets a person and quickly forms an opinion.  Sometimes that’s really good.  It can be a protective mechanism.  But other times, it can be dangerous and unfair.

Everyone has potential and people change.  And unfortunately, I am sometimes wrong.  As I age, I think there comes wisdom.  That’s a maybe possibility.  It is there for me to learn and to use, but not always done.

It’s like buying a car.  You can read the reviews, talk to other owners, get a CARfax history, drive it ten times and you still may not know if that car is a lemon or if you are going to love it…for more than a year.  You may see your neighbor driving the car you almost bought for five years and think back to when you bought the “other” one.  Judgement gone bad.

Thankfully, people are not cars.  We don’t have a loan, insurance, or maintenance.  Although, I think some people wish we did.  I think my sister is probably thankful that I can’t trade her in.

People change.  It’s often for the better.  I don’t know many people who purposefully set out to make things worse by their attitude.  But it happens, and that’s another story.  I think most work on bettering themselves and becoming more for society.  Maybe I’m naive and it’s just the people I surround myself with.  I struggle to keep up.

I’m glad people change.  There’s no lemon law for us.  Because the people I met more than ten years ago, and some less, changed, despite my determined opinion.  The things they do everyday warm my heart and encourage me to be better and more forgiving.

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