As I think about 2009 for me I believe I will call it The Year of the Hermit. I don't think that I've ever spent so much time by myself in my apartment as I did in 2009. I know that those of you who have rugrats pulling at your feet long for alone time and are probably jealous of me. I would say don't be, mostly because as I reflect on it, a good deal of it was time misspent.
It started with being in radiation treatments and being jobless. Both of those things tended to keep me to myself. Then came the hours and hours of job hunting. Job hunting has changed dramatically since I did it last, it's all done via the internet and you're lucky if you even have an e-mail exchange with a real person. But, it makes it just as easy to spend time playing mindless computer games as it does seriously look for work. I'd say the job hunting time was about a fifty-fifty split of time well spent and time misspent. Finally in May, a job emerged, but it only contributed to the hermitude (I think I made up a word).
I have a job now where I work from home. So, as I pay down bills and am able to contribute to the family who has so graciously opened up their home to me, I can't say that those hours were not time misspent. I am thankful for my job, even though it is not the desire of my heart. The prospect of being paid for every hour I work brings out any greed I might have in me. It was definitely easier to work at work than work at friendships. It became easy to work tons of hours and drive myself further into hermitdom.
Then there was not quite knowing what to do with myself when it came to church. It's really, really hard to go from being there 24-7 and being in the know, to just being another church member. I chose to remove myself as far as possible. I still went to Women's Bible Study and to services, but I did neither every week. I'm glad that God is faithful regardless of how many times we make it through the door, but it definitely contributed to the Year of the Hermit.
Thank goodness I chose to teach guitar lessons! I think I might have started to look like a hermit, if it weren't for seeing those kids on a weekly basis.
All of this wouldn't have been so bad if I had used my time better. I can't tell you the number of hours I wasted playing computer games or watching re-runs of TV shows that I've seen a million times or Facebook stalking. When I think of how much better I could have used those hours this year, it makes me sad; the songs that could have been written, the blogs that could have been posted, the books I could have read, the exercise I could have done, the time with friends that I could have intentionally spent and most importantly the intentional time in the Word and prayer I denied myself.
So here's to 2010 being the Year of Living. It is a reality of my life that I spend a lot of time alone, but I hereby resolve to use that time better this year. I hope to use it to grow myself, express myself and mostly to love God and those around me.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Little Girls
So today is a very exciting day here in Stafford, at least in my circle of friends. Chloe Noel Griffitts was born this morning at 10:50 AM. She's beautiful and pink and swaddled securely in her basinette at the hospital. She weighed in at eight pounds and an ounce and is nineteen inches long. The happy parents are Becca and Ben Griffitts and her big brother is Noah. She has great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins galore, who are all very excited to see her finally. On top of that, she has a church family that can't wait to hold her and oo and ah over her (myself included). Her number one fan outside the family has to be Molly who texted me and said she was crying like a idiot over her. What a little gift from God. This little girl will no doubt be well loved, spoiled even. I was at the shower, I saw all the pink and soft and beautiful things that were lavished on her, and she wasn't even born yet. That is how it should be for all little girls.
Today, officials in North Carolina announced that yesterday they found the body of a child near a road near Fayetteville; they believe is 5-year old Shaniya Davis. This is NOT how it should be for any little girl. Last week, her mother reported her missing from her home. That same day, Shaniya was seen on a local motel's video surviellance tape with Mario Andretti McNeill, but had not been seen since. Police arrest McNeill and charged him with kidnapping. A couple days later, Shaniya's mother was charged with human trafficking. I can't help but think back to when Shaniya was born. Was she met with the same love and excitement that Chloe was met with today? I hope so, from the pictures I've seen of her, she looked like a well-cared for, happy little girl. So, what happened? What would drive a mother to sell her child? What would drive you to put her into the hands of someone who would discard her along the side of a road like an empty McDonald's bag? Why didn't someone, anyone see what might happen? Surely, this was a choice her mother was teetering on the edge of for some time. Why do we all live with our eyes closed?
So today, just as my heart bursts for the joy of Chloe's advent into the world, it cries for the loss of a little girl I don't know, but hope I don't forget. God help me live with my eyes (and my heart) wide open.
Today, officials in North Carolina announced that yesterday they found the body of a child near a road near Fayetteville; they believe is 5-year old Shaniya Davis. This is NOT how it should be for any little girl. Last week, her mother reported her missing from her home. That same day, Shaniya was seen on a local motel's video surviellance tape with Mario Andretti McNeill, but had not been seen since. Police arrest McNeill and charged him with kidnapping. A couple days later, Shaniya's mother was charged with human trafficking. I can't help but think back to when Shaniya was born. Was she met with the same love and excitement that Chloe was met with today? I hope so, from the pictures I've seen of her, she looked like a well-cared for, happy little girl. So, what happened? What would drive a mother to sell her child? What would drive you to put her into the hands of someone who would discard her along the side of a road like an empty McDonald's bag? Why didn't someone, anyone see what might happen? Surely, this was a choice her mother was teetering on the edge of for some time. Why do we all live with our eyes closed?
So today, just as my heart bursts for the joy of Chloe's advent into the world, it cries for the loss of a little girl I don't know, but hope I don't forget. God help me live with my eyes (and my heart) wide open.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
The Power of Consquences
Okay, I generally try to stay positive in this blogosphere, but I'm going to join some angry protests about this one. Hollywood is one messed up place. Sometimes I forget that, but I got reminded in a big way this week.
Finally after evading police for over 30 years, Roman Polanski was arrested this week in Switzerland for the 1977 rape of a 13 year old girl. And some people in Hollywood are DEFENDING HIM!!! They are signing petitions asking that he not be extradited to California to face the sentence that he should have faced 30 years ago, but wasn't man enough to do. I mean, I know that the world-view in Hollywood can be pretty screwy but really, defending him. There is no doubt the man is a brilliant director and has a gift for telling a story, but that does NOT excuse the fact that he got this young girl, drunk and high and then had sex with her. I realize he lost his wife and unborn child to the Manson murders, but that does not give him free reign to steal the innocence of a young girl. On top of that he was a coward and he ran.
She was practically a baby. I don't care if he says it was consensual. He was an ADULT and she was a CHILD. Adults are supposed to protect and look out for children, not use them for their own pleasure. That's messed up enough. But the fact that some in Hollywood are defending him, using his art and his age and his philanthropy to try to make it look like the police have arrested Mother Teresa. AUGH!!!
Now, I realize I have said here before that sin is sin and it doesn't matter what it is you've done that it's all equal in the eyes of God. I still stand by that truth. And I also realize that it's perhaps somewhat hypocritical of me to have sort of defended Michael Jackson and yet vilify Roman Polanski. Difference being the Polanski confessed to his deed and then ran from his punishment. In Jackson's case, it has never been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt he did anything to children. I also understand what it is to have a friend accused of something that you cannot fathom them doing. You see, I had a good friend who was accused of being a pedophile. When I heard about the allegations I couldn't believe it, not this person I knew. If I had to testify in court I would have to say that guy I knew I never would think could do that, but it didn't make it any less true in the end. The last I heard, my friend was in prison serving time for his crime. So how can people in good conscience defend Roman Polanski when he himself has said it was true!! I don't care if it was yesterday or 70 years ago, he needs to pay for his crime. Sherrie Shepard, one of the panelists on "The View" got it right when she said on Twitter the other day, "we hunt down 75 year old Nazis. We must protect our children." We don't care how old a terrorist is when he's arrested, why should we care that Polanski is in his 70's and a French citizen. That doesn't make him unaccountable for the crime that he did on American soil when he was in his 40's.
So as you can tell, I'm a little up in arms about this. I know Hollywood is full of ridiculously liberal people who live a lifestyle in complete opposition to my life and belief system, but honestly with all the support that they give to women's rights, how can they support this? I guess it's because they don't believe in the power of consequences. Not really anyway. Facing consquences is hard. It's in consequences we learn that life isn't really all about me. When we sin (and all of us do) there are consequences, in some cases its something small in the scheme of things like learning how to manage your money better, in other cases its big like having to win back the trust of a spouse or a friend after a betrayal. If we believe in the power of consequences we use them to learn and grow and make us better. Usually it takes a lot of strength and work and even more importantly faith to do that. God can use our greatest failure to create our greatest triumph if we turn it over to him. If we don't believe the power of consquences then we run from them or pretend they have no impact. We reinforce the idea that life really is all about me. The funny thing is, that when we do that, they manage to continue to pop up in one way or another. In Polanski's case, it was the law finally catching up with him, in other cases it's broken relationships or addictions or a plethora of other things. These people who are defending Polanski are really keeping him from the power of the consequences in his life. I wonder how much greater his art would have been if he had acknowledged his sin as sin, asked to be forgiven of it and taken the consquences. If it's up to the Hollywood elite, we'll never know.
Finally after evading police for over 30 years, Roman Polanski was arrested this week in Switzerland for the 1977 rape of a 13 year old girl. And some people in Hollywood are DEFENDING HIM!!! They are signing petitions asking that he not be extradited to California to face the sentence that he should have faced 30 years ago, but wasn't man enough to do. I mean, I know that the world-view in Hollywood can be pretty screwy but really, defending him. There is no doubt the man is a brilliant director and has a gift for telling a story, but that does NOT excuse the fact that he got this young girl, drunk and high and then had sex with her. I realize he lost his wife and unborn child to the Manson murders, but that does not give him free reign to steal the innocence of a young girl. On top of that he was a coward and he ran.
She was practically a baby. I don't care if he says it was consensual. He was an ADULT and she was a CHILD. Adults are supposed to protect and look out for children, not use them for their own pleasure. That's messed up enough. But the fact that some in Hollywood are defending him, using his art and his age and his philanthropy to try to make it look like the police have arrested Mother Teresa. AUGH!!!
Now, I realize I have said here before that sin is sin and it doesn't matter what it is you've done that it's all equal in the eyes of God. I still stand by that truth. And I also realize that it's perhaps somewhat hypocritical of me to have sort of defended Michael Jackson and yet vilify Roman Polanski. Difference being the Polanski confessed to his deed and then ran from his punishment. In Jackson's case, it has never been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt he did anything to children. I also understand what it is to have a friend accused of something that you cannot fathom them doing. You see, I had a good friend who was accused of being a pedophile. When I heard about the allegations I couldn't believe it, not this person I knew. If I had to testify in court I would have to say that guy I knew I never would think could do that, but it didn't make it any less true in the end. The last I heard, my friend was in prison serving time for his crime. So how can people in good conscience defend Roman Polanski when he himself has said it was true!! I don't care if it was yesterday or 70 years ago, he needs to pay for his crime. Sherrie Shepard, one of the panelists on "The View" got it right when she said on Twitter the other day, "we hunt down 75 year old Nazis. We must protect our children." We don't care how old a terrorist is when he's arrested, why should we care that Polanski is in his 70's and a French citizen. That doesn't make him unaccountable for the crime that he did on American soil when he was in his 40's.
So as you can tell, I'm a little up in arms about this. I know Hollywood is full of ridiculously liberal people who live a lifestyle in complete opposition to my life and belief system, but honestly with all the support that they give to women's rights, how can they support this? I guess it's because they don't believe in the power of consequences. Not really anyway. Facing consquences is hard. It's in consequences we learn that life isn't really all about me. When we sin (and all of us do) there are consequences, in some cases its something small in the scheme of things like learning how to manage your money better, in other cases its big like having to win back the trust of a spouse or a friend after a betrayal. If we believe in the power of consequences we use them to learn and grow and make us better. Usually it takes a lot of strength and work and even more importantly faith to do that. God can use our greatest failure to create our greatest triumph if we turn it over to him. If we don't believe the power of consquences then we run from them or pretend they have no impact. We reinforce the idea that life really is all about me. The funny thing is, that when we do that, they manage to continue to pop up in one way or another. In Polanski's case, it was the law finally catching up with him, in other cases it's broken relationships or addictions or a plethora of other things. These people who are defending Polanski are really keeping him from the power of the consequences in his life. I wonder how much greater his art would have been if he had acknowledged his sin as sin, asked to be forgiven of it and taken the consquences. If it's up to the Hollywood elite, we'll never know.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Check this out...
So last night I played the Open Mic at the Daily Grind here in Stafford. I went mostly because I wanted one of my 11 year old students to play. That all went pretty well. Boy, are my vocal and playing chops rusty.... that's all I will say about that. And I felt a little foolish being the only person over 20 who played, but that's all good. All the kids who played did well, but I got two treats. The first was a pair of sisters, Emily and Anna Weisband. Great voices, great harmonies, they write a lot of their own music. Emily is definitely comfortable on stage, Anna seems a little less so. They did a their own unique arrangement of "The Way You Look Tonight," that Anna sang lead on. I LOVED IT. These young girls may be really something someday... check them out on myspace.
http://www.myspace.com/emilyannamusic
The other was Kevin McVey, one of my former tech kids from church, brilliant kid...literally. He played some techno music using a game boy and some other kids toys that he rewired. Amazing stuff. Never seen anything like it, so unique and so Kevin. The best part was watching this kid that I knew as a pretty shy and reserved person rock out to his own music that he had written using things that he'd put together with his own hands. Pretty cool if I have to say myself.
So keep your eyes out for these kids. Check them out if you get a chance.
http://www.myspace.com/emilyannamusic
The other was Kevin McVey, one of my former tech kids from church, brilliant kid...literally. He played some techno music using a game boy and some other kids toys that he rewired. Amazing stuff. Never seen anything like it, so unique and so Kevin. The best part was watching this kid that I knew as a pretty shy and reserved person rock out to his own music that he had written using things that he'd put together with his own hands. Pretty cool if I have to say myself.
So keep your eyes out for these kids. Check them out if you get a chance.
Monday, August 31, 2009
My JAW Hurts
My Facebook friends may know that I went to the dentist a couple weeks ago to get some teeth filled. While I was there, one of the cavities he filled was really deep and the dentist was concerned that I might need to get a root canal. He said to come back and see him if started to bother me. Well, at first it was fine and then a week or so after the filling the pain was becoming a distraction. It wasn't a "I'm going to die" kind of pain, just the annoying kind. So I went back to the dentist who sent me to the root canal specialist. The root canal guy looked at it and said that there was no immediate need to deal with it and whether or not I got a root canal really was dictated by how bad the pain was for me. Well, since it wasn't killing me, I decided against the procedure right then. Since then, the pain comes and goes. Sometimes it's fine, other times it's annoying, and still others I reach for the Advil to deal with it.
Why do I tell you about my dental trials and tribulations? Well I went to the Beth Moore simulcast a couple weekends ago at a local church. She taught on Psalm 37, concentrating on Psalm 37: 4 "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." She said lots of things that were encouraging and challenging, real words from the Lord. But none were as relevant to my heart right now as what she said about the things that steal our delight. She used the acronym JAW (now you understand my rambling earlier) to point us to the things that can stand in the way of delighting in the Lord. The "J" stands for jealousy. You know, that green-eyed monster. Comparing, bemoaning why they succeed and I don't, begruding people what they have...ow...I've done them all. The "A" is for anger. I don't think I'm angry person, but I'm certainly not immune from that emotion. I've had my share of temper tantrums at others and at God. The "W" is worry. I think we all have those things we worry about: money, children, aging, the state of the world. I can be a worrier for certain: finances, insurances, what I'm going to be when I grow up, will I ever meet Mr. Right....the list goes on and and. When she got done, boy did my JAW hurt.
So as I continued to mull this over in my brain over the past week or so, I've been trying to do my own type of root canal, looking for the roots of those things that made my JAW hurt. Honestly, like a regular root canal, it's taking a lot of time and some pain for me to dig those things out. With a real root canal, it fixes the problem and the pain should not recur. I wish it was like that with my spiritual one, but I know because of my sin nature, jealous, anger and worry will come back. But what I need to do is get to them before they become an all consuming pain that takes away my focus. Whenever my JAW hurts even a little bit, I need to remember to take it to the Lord and let Him deal with my heart and the issue.
Why do I tell you about my dental trials and tribulations? Well I went to the Beth Moore simulcast a couple weekends ago at a local church. She taught on Psalm 37, concentrating on Psalm 37: 4 "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." She said lots of things that were encouraging and challenging, real words from the Lord. But none were as relevant to my heart right now as what she said about the things that steal our delight. She used the acronym JAW (now you understand my rambling earlier) to point us to the things that can stand in the way of delighting in the Lord. The "J" stands for jealousy. You know, that green-eyed monster. Comparing, bemoaning why they succeed and I don't, begruding people what they have...ow...I've done them all. The "A" is for anger. I don't think I'm angry person, but I'm certainly not immune from that emotion. I've had my share of temper tantrums at others and at God. The "W" is worry. I think we all have those things we worry about: money, children, aging, the state of the world. I can be a worrier for certain: finances, insurances, what I'm going to be when I grow up, will I ever meet Mr. Right....the list goes on and and. When she got done, boy did my JAW hurt.
So as I continued to mull this over in my brain over the past week or so, I've been trying to do my own type of root canal, looking for the roots of those things that made my JAW hurt. Honestly, like a regular root canal, it's taking a lot of time and some pain for me to dig those things out. With a real root canal, it fixes the problem and the pain should not recur. I wish it was like that with my spiritual one, but I know because of my sin nature, jealous, anger and worry will come back. But what I need to do is get to them before they become an all consuming pain that takes away my focus. Whenever my JAW hurts even a little bit, I need to remember to take it to the Lord and let Him deal with my heart and the issue.
Friday, August 28, 2009
A Little Paint Goes a Long Way
I like to help people. But I have to admit, most of the time I'm pretty lazy. And most of the time I walk around with my head down to the needs around me. So I wanted to say thank you to Steve Sokoly and the Compassion Restoration Ministry for getting me off my lazy rear and picking my head up.
Compassion Restoration is a ministry that helps those who need a helping hand. They've completed several projects and I've always thought, "oh that's so good they are doing that." Recently they took on a huge project, the residents of a trailer park in our county were being threatened with eviction if they could not get their trailers to pass an inspection. I'm not sure how many of the folks needed help, but Steve Sokoly and his team were passionate about making sure that none of these families would be asked to leave. He put the call out on Facebook and I thought about going out last weekend and helping. But I decided instead to go to the movies instead. I spent the whole day at Potomac Mills wandering around. So while many, many people were blessing others, I was spending some time with a friend (a good thing) but the majority of the day I just wandered aimlessly by myself.
Well earlier this week I got an e-mail from my friend Margy encouraging people to help. There was still much to be done and the deadline for these people to get their homes up to snuff was looming large. So yesterday afternoon when I left the house to run some errands and get a haircut, I packed some grubby clothes with the thought that I "might" go over and see what I could do. Thankfully my friend Christine was going as well, that gave me the courage to actually drive my car in that direction after I had taken care of my errands. Boy, am I glad I did.
This is a community I've driven past a number of times, off one of the country roads here in Stafford county. There's probably 40 or so trailers in this space. It brought back memories of visiting my sister when she lived in a trailer park. As I drove up a number of folks were outside painting on their homes. I found my friend helping a young woman paint out in the heat. I found out that the young woman was the mother to five children under the age of seven, including 2 year old twins that had been born 2 months premature. As I asked her about her family and her husband, hearing about how he worked two jobs in order to keep them in this simple home, it reminded me of how hard life can be. Christine gently asked her about church and Jesus and found a young woman who had been judged for her choices and her habits by church before and really was confused about what it meant to be a Christian. She was I would say a truly good person: she was kind to us and grateful for our help, she was attentive to her children, worked hard to provide the best life for them she could, taught her children to say please and thank you. Sadly I think she believes that all her "doing" will please God, and it does, but it still doesn't erase the fact that without Jesus she's still going to miss the mark. We invited her to church, and she gave us a list of reasons why she found it hard to get there. We tried to answer every objection and I hope that she will decide to go, even if it's only as a "thank you" to us. Who knows how God is working.
Then when Christine left, Cindy showed up and we started to work on another trailer. That was when I got the joy of meeting Juanita. Juanita, it seems, is the lady who got this whole project started. She went to the doctor shortly after been given this laundry list of things she had to accomplish in order to not be evicted and simply fell apart in the waiting room. It "just so happened" that a woman whose husband is involved with the Compassion Restoration Ministry was a nurse in this office (coincidence...I think not) and heard about the plight of Juanita and so many others in this community. She told Juanita, "I want to help you." Juanita told me that she was shocked. They exchanged information and that's how the whole project got started. Juanita's a scrappy lady, she's probably in her fifties and reminded me of the lady who would be your favorite person working at the school cafeteria. She cares a lot about her neighbors and can barely talk about how grateful she is for the help without tearing up. She told me that they used to go to church all the time, that they were from Lynchburg and had at one time been a part of Thomas Road. But, she said it's easy to fall out of going and I agreed with her. She talked about trying to come to MABC one Sunday.
When Cindy and I set to work on the trailer we were painting, Juanita's daughter and the girl across the street came over to help us. The girl (who had painted her trailer purple!) said, "You know, you all have done so much for me, let me help you do this. I have to help you do this." That gave Cindy a wonderful chance to chat with the girls as I listened and prayed from the other end of the trailer. Cindy got to share about our church, tell them service times, and to invite them to the women's ministry event in September.
As the dusk turned to night, they bought us popsicles and we got to chat a little more as we cleaned up. As I walked back to my car, paint spattered and weary from working out in the heat, I couldn't help but smile from the inside out and say "thank you" to God. A little paint does go a long way. It opened a door to encourage a hard-working and weary young mother, confused about how to please God. It reminded a middle-aged lady that there are still people out there that care about others and that maybe, just maybe it's time to return to the church of her younger days. It showed two young women that church is full of real people who care about other people. It reminded me that it's too easy to turn into myself and spend time aimlessly, that there is a purpose that we're all called to -- LOVE. And that love can look like paint on a trailer.
So Saturday afternoon instead of going back to the place I'm housesitting and sitting by their gorgeous pool all afternoon, I'm going to pull on those grubbies and head back out to see Juanita and the people of Hidden Lane. Hope to see you there.
Compassion Restoration is a ministry that helps those who need a helping hand. They've completed several projects and I've always thought, "oh that's so good they are doing that." Recently they took on a huge project, the residents of a trailer park in our county were being threatened with eviction if they could not get their trailers to pass an inspection. I'm not sure how many of the folks needed help, but Steve Sokoly and his team were passionate about making sure that none of these families would be asked to leave. He put the call out on Facebook and I thought about going out last weekend and helping. But I decided instead to go to the movies instead. I spent the whole day at Potomac Mills wandering around. So while many, many people were blessing others, I was spending some time with a friend (a good thing) but the majority of the day I just wandered aimlessly by myself.
Well earlier this week I got an e-mail from my friend Margy encouraging people to help. There was still much to be done and the deadline for these people to get their homes up to snuff was looming large. So yesterday afternoon when I left the house to run some errands and get a haircut, I packed some grubby clothes with the thought that I "might" go over and see what I could do. Thankfully my friend Christine was going as well, that gave me the courage to actually drive my car in that direction after I had taken care of my errands. Boy, am I glad I did.
This is a community I've driven past a number of times, off one of the country roads here in Stafford county. There's probably 40 or so trailers in this space. It brought back memories of visiting my sister when she lived in a trailer park. As I drove up a number of folks were outside painting on their homes. I found my friend helping a young woman paint out in the heat. I found out that the young woman was the mother to five children under the age of seven, including 2 year old twins that had been born 2 months premature. As I asked her about her family and her husband, hearing about how he worked two jobs in order to keep them in this simple home, it reminded me of how hard life can be. Christine gently asked her about church and Jesus and found a young woman who had been judged for her choices and her habits by church before and really was confused about what it meant to be a Christian. She was I would say a truly good person: she was kind to us and grateful for our help, she was attentive to her children, worked hard to provide the best life for them she could, taught her children to say please and thank you. Sadly I think she believes that all her "doing" will please God, and it does, but it still doesn't erase the fact that without Jesus she's still going to miss the mark. We invited her to church, and she gave us a list of reasons why she found it hard to get there. We tried to answer every objection and I hope that she will decide to go, even if it's only as a "thank you" to us. Who knows how God is working.
Then when Christine left, Cindy showed up and we started to work on another trailer. That was when I got the joy of meeting Juanita. Juanita, it seems, is the lady who got this whole project started. She went to the doctor shortly after been given this laundry list of things she had to accomplish in order to not be evicted and simply fell apart in the waiting room. It "just so happened" that a woman whose husband is involved with the Compassion Restoration Ministry was a nurse in this office (coincidence...I think not) and heard about the plight of Juanita and so many others in this community. She told Juanita, "I want to help you." Juanita told me that she was shocked. They exchanged information and that's how the whole project got started. Juanita's a scrappy lady, she's probably in her fifties and reminded me of the lady who would be your favorite person working at the school cafeteria. She cares a lot about her neighbors and can barely talk about how grateful she is for the help without tearing up. She told me that they used to go to church all the time, that they were from Lynchburg and had at one time been a part of Thomas Road. But, she said it's easy to fall out of going and I agreed with her. She talked about trying to come to MABC one Sunday.
When Cindy and I set to work on the trailer we were painting, Juanita's daughter and the girl across the street came over to help us. The girl (who had painted her trailer purple!) said, "You know, you all have done so much for me, let me help you do this. I have to help you do this." That gave Cindy a wonderful chance to chat with the girls as I listened and prayed from the other end of the trailer. Cindy got to share about our church, tell them service times, and to invite them to the women's ministry event in September.
As the dusk turned to night, they bought us popsicles and we got to chat a little more as we cleaned up. As I walked back to my car, paint spattered and weary from working out in the heat, I couldn't help but smile from the inside out and say "thank you" to God. A little paint does go a long way. It opened a door to encourage a hard-working and weary young mother, confused about how to please God. It reminded a middle-aged lady that there are still people out there that care about others and that maybe, just maybe it's time to return to the church of her younger days. It showed two young women that church is full of real people who care about other people. It reminded me that it's too easy to turn into myself and spend time aimlessly, that there is a purpose that we're all called to -- LOVE. And that love can look like paint on a trailer.
So Saturday afternoon instead of going back to the place I'm housesitting and sitting by their gorgeous pool all afternoon, I'm going to pull on those grubbies and head back out to see Juanita and the people of Hidden Lane. Hope to see you there.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Prayers from Africa
You know, I've been a part of a church for most of my life. All have, in some way, been evangelical. At the very least we were encouraged to pray for missions in dark and scary places like Central America or China or Africa. You know, the people in Africa, they need Jesus or at the very least the pity of us wealthy Americans.
Some years ago, long after I accepted Christ and really understood the importance of missions for real, I went to some Christian concert and signed up to sponsor a child from Africa. Her name is Maureen and she is from Uganda. She's 14 now I think. I'm glad to say that I've been able to faithful to that commitment financially over the past few years. (Let's remember that money and I have a love/hate relationship...I used to love to spend what wasn't mine and hated the bills. I'm working on righting that, thanks to a lot of grace.) But, I have to say that I'm not the best at writing letters to her. I just didn't know what to say to her a lot of the time. You can't exactly talk about the latest movie to a child who lives in a village in Africa. Worse yet, I probably didn't pray for her nearly as much as I should. Her picture is on my refrigerator and I try to remember to pray for her when I look at it, but it's one of those things that has been there so long, that I rarely actually look at it.
About two weeks ago now, I got a letter from her. In one of my more recent letters I told her that I had cancer and was undergoing treatment. This is what she said to me:
"I want to inform you that one night I dreamt that you were completely cured from cancer and above all I realised that you were walking with me. There and then I woke up and prayed to God to heal you. And I believe that God's divine healing is still taking a gradual process."
Wow. That's really the only word for that letter. Wow, that this girl who hardly ever hears from me had me so on her heart that she dreamt about me. Wow, that she was so obedient to the heart of God that she didn't roll over or think "what a weird dream," but she got up out of the bed to pray for me in that moment. Wow, that I have a God who loves me so much that he spoke in a dream to a girl in that "dark, scary place" Africa about me.
Ow. That's the other word for that letter. Ow, that I don't take the time to write her like I should. Ow, that I sometimes I only think about her when it's time to write the check to Compassion International. Ow, that I pretty sure I've never been immediately that obedient to a call of God. Ow, that I can arrogantly think that THEY need MY prayers. Talk about a humbling experience.
So the next time you pray for Africa or Central America or China or the Middle East, maybe someone there is praying for you.
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