PTing Awaaaay

I began a new medication today. Spiriva. I do pray it helps regain the energy I have lost. My pep slipped away gradually, and I really thought it was my fault... gaining weight, not active enough, yet not being able to get enough air just doing normal activities. In a way, the problem is my fault over the long run because I smoked for so many years.

I've always been a goer and a doer, and I do need exercise to stay healthy, so I am looking forward to good results with this med. They also gave me an "emergency inhaler," like I needed that?!

So, now that I am the typical Florida retiree with a little pill minder divided into daily compartments, I'm gearing up to go see my grandkids, my kids, some kin folk even older than me. And just as we finalized our travel plans, we find out we'll have company. Stephanie, who we have not seen since she returned from Afghanistan will be in Sanford Saturday night. We are full glee and plan to make complete fools of ourselves. We will be gone Sunday, so I need to find folks for my ministries. God works these things out, I've found... usually better than I ever cout

The biggest issue we've been in prayer about is the money. Taking this trip, even avoiding hotels and restaurants, is going to cost more than we will have when it's time to go. We will have some pay deposits from Disney drop into the coffers from time to time, however.

Gleefully Alive

My day started with a doctor's visit to review some test results. I am thankful for health insurance but discouraged that they will not cover the medication I need and there is no generic. I'll call tomorrow to talk with the insurance company. God will work it all out one way or another.

The true burden on my heart today is concern for my friends who are struggling with the news of five tumors invading his brain. Metastatic cancer. I have prayed most of last night and much of today but have not yet been led to fast.

My Tall Man was off work today. He has Mondays through Wednesdays off but is trying to pick up some extra hours. He is on the pick up list for tomorrow. We leave for our trip next Monday and we don't yet really have enough money. This graduation and the wedding of another grandchild in September are deeply important to us. We continue in prayer, trusting God will make a way.

My new Bank of America card came today. At first, we were hesitant to bank with such a large institution, always before having banked with small, home town banks with people we knew, but when we came to Florida a combination of circumstances led us to open an account at the B of A. Anyway, when I called to activate my new card, I spoke to a lady in Maine. We talked almost 45 minutes. I was able to share the Lord with her and, although she has not accepted Him yet, the seeds are planted and the lady is coming to Florida in July. She may look me up at the Holy Land Experience. God is so amazing!

I visited with son David, daughter-in-law Taunya and granddaughter Trudy this afternoon. What a blessing!

We had a beautiful, drenching rain this evening. We  were at the Dollar Tree and the rain came, so glorious to see and smell. I was so happy with it, I walked about in it for a bit.

I am gleefully thankful for a wonderful day of life.

Ups and Downs

Mother's Day was wonderful. Church blessed me as always. I have been praying for and with four special young men at The Vine who God has laid on my heart, showing me, I believe, a bit of His call for them and leading me to pray earnestly for their protection, development and spiritual growth.

I was so pleased with Anthony's sermon. This was his best one yet, and I see several answers to prayer exhibited in his presentation, willingness to challenge the faith of his hearers rather than seek their approval, and his overall comfort in the pulpit. 

I have been nudged by the Holy Spirit to speak with each of these four servants of God about what God is showing me. Two of them already know God awakens me at night to pray for them and discuss their lives and callings and situations. We'll see where all this leads. 

As I waited at the church to meet up with Richard and go to Athena and Brian's for dinner, a man showed up saying he had just been burned out of his house. He looked familiar but I have been unable to place him. Richard and I don't carry money, so I had none to give him but did provide some phone numbers and prayed with him. I still pray he received help.

All but one of our children called to wish me Happy Mother's Day, and I had good visits with each one. I discovered Julia had been in an auto accident and has a "mild concussion" I am praying diligently for her, since my first brain injury was also called a "mild concussion," but the next day I was in a coma and then lived the following five years in a wheelchair. Brain trauma is tricky and often misdiagnosed.

Dinner prepared by Athena and dessert created by Brian were superb, as always. They are both gifted chefs by avocation. We didn't stay late. Brian didn't feel well and Richard had been up since the wee hours and was tired. 

Today was a day of spiritual and emotional highs and lows... 

Long before we moved to Florid, during one of our visits here, I took a photo of Mr. Maynard, the man who played Moses at the Holy Land Experience, telling him I wanted to paint him and promising to bring him a copy of the finished work. I did, indeed, do the painting, but never got around to taking him a copy until recently. But Mr. Maynard was no longer Moses, no longer employed at the Holy Land Experience. 

We found Mr. Maynard, now 88, in a nursing home not far from where we live. We delivered his painting today and had a good visit with him. Tomorrow, his kin folks are coming to move him out of state, so I we were just in time! God is SO cool!!

We enjoyed our Small Groups study. Our group is indeed small, but precious and we learn from one another. The fellowship is always sweet.

I just learned that our friend Stan, who is fighting stage four cancer, has five new tumors in his brain. He had been doing SO well. I am calling for prayer, for the Body of Christ to don the full armor of God and follow Him into battle. The victory is His. Even so, my heart aches, a deep wrenching pain fills my spirit and the hot flow of my tears will not be stemmed.

Just as Jesus wept over a friend He knew He would call back to life, so I grieve over my friend for whom I know the Lord has already provided healing... either by curing the cancer here or by providing a perfect body for eternity.

Immigrant's Lament?

Richard and I spent all day doing little chores. We closed our Kissimmee safe deposit box and will move the contents to our Haines City box. We scoured the second hand shops for props for our Nat'l Day of Prayer stations. We picked up NDP sign money from a generous donor. We took supplies to the church, moved chairs, found a globe, etc., etc., etc.

We knew we were too tired to cook, so we ate at Golden Corral which is quite a bargain for folks our age. Now, home, full and pleasantly tired, I share this excellent "Letter to the Editor" supposedly sent to an Orange County, California newspaper. My grandfather was an immigrant, I'm proud to say, and I can relate to much of what this lady writes, BUT I believe there are many honest, hard-working immigrants who love and honor this country every bit as much as I do. Sadly, though, there are many who do not, so have a read...

Dear Editor:
So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.

Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy, France, and Japan. None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United States of America as one people.

When we liberated France, no one in those villages was looking for the French-American or the German-American or the Irish-American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are in 2008 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges, only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags..

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.

(signed) Rosemary LaBonte

Dreaming

It's been a good day spent mostly just hanging out with Richard. We worked on a jig-saw puzzle, drove around Haines City looking at the construction, trying to visit a little coffee house we like (it was closed), reading and just enjoying being together. We were supposed to attend Small Group tonight, but children were sick at our host home, so we shopped at Sam's for books and jeans, drove around Kissimmee, grabbed cheap food at Wendy's and went to look at a cool house we like.

This house is way below what it would normally be. When we were house hunting in this area in 2007, houses were going for 400,000 and up, and they were not right on the lake. I do love a bargain! Okay, I know that we could probably not sell the house we're in for enough to pay off the mortgage now with the drop in property values, but it was fun to look. We've checked this place out several times now. I am asking the Lord to provide a way if it is His will, but to turn my eyes from this place if it isn't.

Well, it's late and I'm a bit goofy, so I'll head off to bed.

The Master's Master

God is always teaching me old truths in new lessons. Reminding me to walk in total peace of mind and spirit because he is in control and know the beginning and the end of all things. I had a new lesson this morning... and several throughout the day.

I always prepare the Weekly Prayer Focus late Saturday night so as to include everything that might come in before Sunday. This week, I also needed to prepare a flyer with The Vine's National Day of Prayer details. I print the masters at home and make copies at church before the service.

So, this morning, I decided to print the flyers first because I would need to cut them in half, they were made two to a sheet. After printing, cutting and setting them out, I went back to the copier to print out the Weekly Prayer Focus, proud that I had plenty of time to do a thorough prayer walk before meeting with Jared to pray and prepare the communion.

But the Prayer Focus master was not by the copier where I thought I had left it. Thinking, I may have absent mindedly carried it with me to the office or the foyer, I retraced every step I had made since entering the building. Not there. I prayed. I asked others to pray. And I kept retracing my steps, wasting time I could be spending in my prayer walk. Obviously, if it wasn't in a particular place when I first looked, it wouldn't be there in the second, third, fifth or any subsequent visit.

Finally, I heeded the nudge of the Holy Spirit and did my prayer walk. After all, this was the master's master and He would have to find it, I sure couldn't. God would have to work this out His way. Well, duh! I should have known that from the start!

As I was finishing up my prayer walk in the main children's church room (where the copier lives) I was prompted to look behind the copier... again. This time, however, my gaze was drawn to the thin slit between the desk and the wall. Of course, you have guessed by now. There was my master page!

All my worry and fretting were for naught, but when I placed it in God's hands and left it there, going about the business He has called me to (prayer) He led me right to what I needed... and in plenty of time to make my copies. I just love how He works in my life... and all life.

No One's laughing Now!

Their Cinderella stories are not connected, but quite alike.

She's and out of work spinster who lives a quiet, humble life in a small Scottish village. Childhood wasn't easy for Susan. She struggled with learning disabilities and endured the ridicule of her classmates. She never married, indeed has never even been kissed. Having devoted her younger years to caring for her siblings and her parents, she now lives alone with her cat Pebbles. Many have labeled her "frumpy."  

Quiet and easily embarrassed, Paul is a 38-year old cell phone salesman with a baby face and bad teeth. They both grew up lonely, taunted by others, looked down upon, and taking secret refuge in music, for they each have an incredible, yet undiscovered voice. His appearance, like Susan's, is rather ordinary. They are not among the "beautiful people" at all and are, for most part, unappreciated on all levels.

Somehow, in spite of long histories of rejection, each found the courage to try out in the Britain's Got Talent show similar to American Idol. They were not esteemed. One look and everyone was ready for a laugh at their expense. In fact, both of these unassuming, unbeautiful people were almost ridiculed by their judges and audiences... until they opened their mouths and began to sing! 

How fulfilling it was for me to watch their vindication! It is always uplifting and somehow, at least for a small time, life-changing to see the underdog exalted. Christ said the first shall be last and the last shall be first... and even nonbelievers love it when that actually happens in a dramatic way. You'll have to see it to believe it.

I love it that God placed such fantastic (not a strong enough word) gifts in such unfantastic packages! It is a reminder that God has given every person He created a precious and special gift, and only a fool tries to judge by the sight alone.  Check this out...

I am not a big UTube fan because it draws me in and I end up on there for hours when I have other things to do, but I have been compulsively visiting these two videos that have so amazed me. Knowing, you, too, will be drawn in, I nonetheless shamelessly urge you to experience these. I promise, you will not get enough!

Here is Susan Boyle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

And now for Paul Potts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA

Crisis of Faith

Like individuals, churches don't often stride boldly away from Bible based truth. They edge away, taking barely perceptible baby steps, only to later find they have strayed so far they no longer think turning back is even needed.

A while back, some churches began the use of "forgiver and leader" instead of the traditional (and Biblical) "Savior and Lord." Words ARE important, and I find that forgiver and leader are so watered down as to render Christ's roles as Savior and Lord impotent. Our lost condition, our need of a Savior as well as Christ's absolute sovereignty are simply not conveyed in the bland wording of forgiver and leader.

When I asked why the new verbiage was coming from so many church leaders, I was truthfully told that many churches have gone to that terminology since today's people don't understand what a Lord is, and that even Rick Warren uses these more modern terms.

I agree people today don't understand Lordship any more than they comprehend their need of a Savior, and they never will unless they are taught. Also, let us not forget the role of the Holy Spirit. We don't have to help God by watering down or dumbing down His word! All we need do is what He has told us to do: pray and preach His Word (the Bible).

Whether it is a matter of important wording, or the lack of Bible teaching, or any other area where your church or its leaders are taking baby steps away from the truth of God's Holy Word, we need to pray, pray, pray. We need to make ourselves familiar with the statement of belief (tenets) of our church. Are they Biblical?  Of course, we must also speak with church leadership about any such issue. 

A word about Rick Warren. Pray for him, he needs it. Any of us could fall prey to the thrill of fame and the applause of men. I have had deep concerns about his loose play with scripture since I led 40-Days of Purpose small groups (we tested all his statements and scripture quotes using NIV, NASB and King James and found almost a fourth of his text seriously misleading).

But now, as his fame grows, his baby steps away from truth have become bold strides into outright lies and a public acceptance of homosexual life styles and agendas. These two short videos say it all:

Rick Warren in support of Proposition 8:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o4QqGbQmU0

On Larry King Live, Rick Warren denies support of Proposition 8, apologizes to gay friends:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYIWSyMrhRA

My heart is heavy that the potential of so many mega churches is lost because the focus is on numbers at any cost, rather than having people counting the costs as Jesus admonished in Luke 14:25-35. Jesus' teachings were "hard to swallow" even to the people of his day, yet He never watered them down. Neither should we. He is still Savior and Lord!

____________________________________

And my day was like this...

I had a 9:45 doctor's appointment this morning and didn't get home until after 2:00! True, I had to wait a while, and true, I spend about 20 minutes with the new nurse practitioner, but the bulk of my time was wasted on trying to electronically coordinate between doctor, pharmacy and insurance carrier about a new medication I need. Funny, long ago when I was in high school, we all believed the "computer age" would bring about a time of increased efficiency and added hours of leisure each day. Sometimes I think our advances technology has lost more time that it's worth. 

On the other side of the coin, preparing and filing income taxes is tons easier now. We e-filed our returns last night. Quick and easy and we have a receipt that the IRS has them, proof we filed.

I had planned to go to the local Tea Party on the steps of City Hall, but decided to have a scheduled lunch with my Red Hat Society group instead. I protest the insanity coming from Washington by writing, emailing and phoning my representatives and the White House often. And I pray, which is the most powerful thing I can do.