the Reason for the Season ... and beyond!

Rejoice evermore.

Pray without ceasing.

In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1Thessalonians 5:16-18

There's a song I remember from a record that Mom and Dad had when I was small. It is just a short childrens' somg, but the tune is so catchy that I hum it to myself every time I read these verses.

It's the Holiday season again. Thanksgiving Day was this last Thursday and Christmas will be here in four short, short weeks. This year as we sat down to Thanksgiving dinner, smiling around the table at the faces of family, neighbors, and friends old and new, there was so much to be thankful for! Here we are all together, healthy, growing (a new sister in the family this year!). We have warm homes, reliable (mostly) cars, and jobs that provide enough for what we need. God is very good. Life is very blessed. As David says, "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places". It is so easy to give thanks in these times.

But what about when it isn't?

As Christians, we are supposed to be a people who give thanks in every circumstance. By definition "every circumstance" means not just in the good times, but when things are hard. That is God's will for us. Seems like a tall order, right? But step back a moment and look again. Look with Forever Eyes. Look with an eternal perspective. Look rightly.

"thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ" - 2
Corinthians 2:14

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be
slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him
who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor
demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor
depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 8:35-39

What can separate us from God? Nothing. Once we're His, He never lets us go. He is with us through everything that life throws at us and through Him we are victorious! That is how strong God's love is! Nothing can stand in His way. Hunger? Nope. Danger? Nope. Hardship? Nuh-uh. The government? No. Death?? Not a chance! This is seriously strong stuff. And this is something to be truly thankful for.

So here's something. I've heard it said before that "the only thing that can separate you from God is you." Hmm. But it seems to me that "you" falls under the subset of "anything else in all creation". So that rules "you" out doesn't it?

It is true that sometimes we choose to focus on problems instead of God. I've found it true in my own life that when I only look at my problems, the more I look at them, the bigger they seem until they look absolutely overwhelming. It's like I have blinders on or I'm looking through a pipe and the problem fills up the whole field of vision. But that doesn't mean you're separated from God. In fact, the moment you step back and look up at God, you realize how big He is and that He is more than able to take care of you. Usually you see that He is taking care of you and has been all along. You just didn't notice because you were so focused on trying to fix it yourself. This is where the pray without ceasing comes in.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which
transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus." ~Philippians 4:6-7

We can bring any trouble to God in prayer and we can be confident that He can take care of it. Praying constantly doesn't mean we have to be always on our knees - that wouldn't be very practical! They don't have to be long or eloquent either, just real. In The Practice Of The Presence Of God, Brother Lawrence puts it this way:

Let him think of Him as much as he can, especially in time of great danger.
A little lifting up of the heart and a remembrance of God suffices. One act
of inward worship, though upon a march with sword in hand, are prayers which,
however short, are nevertheless very acceptable to God. And, far from lessening
a soldier's courage in occasions of danger, they actually serve to fortify it.
Let him think of God as often as possible. Let him accustom himself, by
degrees, to this small but holy exercise. No one sees it, and nothing is easier
than to repeat these little adorations all through the day.

Focus on Him. Talk to Him. Cast all your cares on Him for He cares for you. That's where real peace comes from. That is where real Joy comes from, too. Deep joy. Joy that endures even through the bad times.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he
has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or
fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until
the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In
this you greatly rejoice" - 1 Peter 1:3-6

This is why we can rejoice. We have an eternal inheritance in Christ. Because Jesus came ad died for us and was raised from the dead, our sins can be forgiven (are forgiven if we are Christians!). And that means we have eternal life. This is real Joy.

So as we make our way through the Holidays this year, as Christmas Day finally comes with all it's cheer and then goes again leaving us with our normal routines, bear in mind that there is a reality beyond just what wee see and touch and hear and smell. While everyone is talking about Love, Thankfulness, Joy to the World, and Peace on Earth, just remember where you find the real things.

Let's keep our focus on the One who gives them.

The War On Germs: A Brief History

A few years ago the World Health Organization published this anonymous bit of doggerel titled “The History of Medicine.”

• 2000 B.C. – Here, eat this root.
• A.D. 1000 – That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.
• A.D. 1850 – That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.
• A.D. 1920 – That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.
• A.D. 1945 – That pill is ineffective. Here, take this penicillin.
• A.D. 1955 – Oops . . . bugs mutated. Here, take this tetracycline.
• 1960-1999 – 39 more “oops.” Here, take this more powerful antibiotic.
• A.D. 2000 – The bugs have won! Here, eat this root.

From: Drug Resistance Explained

Matt Says

Hark!

A Crow flies unevenly towards the moon. The moon is made of Cheese and so the Crow with it's large nose - called a beak - smells the smelly eastern european Cheese.

The crow's name is Matilda.

End of part 1

Romans 3 (part 1)

I was reading Romans 3 on my lunch break today (trying to prepare a talk for LPC on Sunday) and I had one of those "I need to write this right NOW or I'll forget it" moments so I grabbed a napkin and started writing...

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Our sinfulness makes God look even more righteous. We prove Him right when we do wrong. So then why is He still angry at us??? We're making Him look good, right? He shouldn't be punishing us for making Him look good!
Nope. Sorry. He still has to be just.
This is the one argument you run up against all the time when you are talking about judgement with people. They'll tell you they "can't believe in a God who would damn someone to Hell" and "God is loving and forgiving. How can he send people to Hell?". The thing they don't understand (or choose to ignore) is that God is also just. He has to be just. If He bent or broke His rules He wouldn't be just anymore, and "he cannot disown himself" (2Tim 2:13).
And here is the beautiful mystery of the gospel. Here is what happens when God's justice and His love collide and combine in Christ's sacrifice on the cross. Here He can be perfectly just and punish all sin and yet He can love and forgive all sinners!
It is magnificent!
It is glorious!
It is so far beyond our human comprehension that it looks like foolishness!!!

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So this is what I'm digging in right now and I am loving it.
There'll prolly be more coming in the next few days.
These are just rough notes and thoughts.
Hopefully I'll get a cohesive summary up here when I'm done.
If I have time. :P

some thoughts on John

This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

1 John 5:6-12

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

The Pharisees challenged him, "Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid."

Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me."

John 8:12-18

Our friday morning bible study group has been reading through the Gospel of John at the same time that our Thursday night youth group has been going through 1 John. It's really been cool to see the connection of thought between both books. This week what has really been standing out to me is how confident we are supposed to be in the truth.

1 John talks often of the confidence we have before God.

We are to know our salvation and know the difference between light and dark, between the sons of God and the sons of the devil.

God is the truth and God's testimony is the only one that matters.

So then why am I afraid to say the truth? If I am in the Word and alligned with God's will, I should be able to see in black and white.

No matter how the world screams at me about shades of grey.

There is right. There is wrong.

And I have been shown how to tell the difference.

in which there is good news and bad news

The good news first, I suppose.
It will be evident to all that things look different around here. I updated the look of my blog!! I just love the background I found and the photo (which is not mine, but found in a Google search and shamelessly stolen). Feel free to tell me if you like the change. I probably won't pay any attention to naysayers, though. heh. :)

Tragedy has struck the veggie patch at the demo garden. 2 weeks ago it was discovered that the artichoke had an enemy. When I planted it it had four large, beautiful, silver-green leaves. It's such a dramatic plant! I was really looking forward to watching it thrive. I returned the next week to find only two leaves on the plant. Well, there had been some windy weather so I thought maybe that was the culprit and it still looked healthy, so I figured it would be fine. Not so. The next time I went to tend the patch, the other two leaves had been torn off!! And the kicker was that the culprit had not even had the decency to eat the leaves he mangled! He just left them lying there next to the plant to taunt me. Curse his hide! Audrey and Dianne and the rest of the gardeners examined the carnage and gathered other clues:

1. little holes dug here and there in the bed
2. peanut shells found near the scene of the crime
3. one of the present gahtering stated that the local squirrel population had been observed burying their stash in the garden last fall

We came to the conclusion that the guilty party must have been a squirrel. Why a squirrel would want to bother my artichoke is completely beyond me! I guess I just don't think of them as being garden pests. Bunnies, maybe - I deal with bunnies at my garden at home - but I haven't ever seen bunnies at the demo garden. Also, I would think a bunny would have, like I said before, the good decency to eat at least part of the leaf instead of being so wasteful.

The poor 'choke was well and truly shorn, but not completely beyond hope. Small new leaves were present that would quickly replace those that were lost if given half a chance. So we came up with a plan to foil further destructive attacks from our unthrify assailant. A protective cage was constructed out of wooden stakes and plastic caging held together with twine. Not beautiful, but functional. For 2 weeks there was no further damage. I stopped worrying about the artichoke and bent my efforts to eliminating slugs from the cabbages. The cage was doing it's job and the plant was thriving.

Or so I thought. Until today.

Today I went to water and found ... nothing. Nothing!! There was a hole chewed through the netting on one side of the cage and the artichoke was no more. Chewed down to a dirty nub. Gone.

So this evening we mourn the loss of a beloved vegetable. Cut down before he had a chance to really live. His passing leaves a gaping hole in our hearts matched only by the hole in the northeast corner of the vegetable patch. He will be sorely missed.

Fin.

in which war is waged

Gosh it's been a busy week! Lets see if I can remember it all...

Most of this week has been spent at work. Blegh! Normally I love going to work, but since the weather has warmed up I have gotten really very sick with garden fever. I pine all day at work looking out the window at the sunshine and thinking of all the things I could be doing. Wondering if my little baby pea plants are needing water or if the cursed slugs have been continuing their feast of cabbage and broccoli.
I work a really lousy shift for gardening. 10 hours, either 10:30-9:00 or 9:30-8:00. This is killing me because it is too dark to do anything when I get home and, no matter how good my intentions are I am just not an early bird. I putter around with my best friend Joe for quite awhile in the mornings before I am actually awake enough to be useful and by then it is time to shower and get ready for work.
But I did have a couple of days off to be productive in. Friday was the last frost date, so Saturday my bush beans went in the ground. The peas, onions, and carrots are showing their little green faces and the lettuce I started in peat pots went into their wheelbarrow. This is a new strategy for this year. The thought process behind it is that I will be able to keep the lettuces out of the direct sun during the heat of the day, thus staying a little sweeter. It may be silly, but they look so cute in their little red home! And it frees up space in the main garden for extra rows of other things.
The other Very Important Thing I got done this week was declaring war on the hornets and wasps. I swear there are more of them at my house than any where else! And where do they like to hang out? On my deck. They buzz around and crawl over everything until you are afraid to even go out the back door. Well I have finally had enough! I refuse to concede territory to the little devils. I want to be able to enjoy my back yard thank you very much. So on Monday morning, while it was still cold and drippying from the thunderstorm on Sunday night, I launched an all out chemical attack. I took out 7 nests, 2 on the Southeast corner of the house, 2 in the grill (knew to look there because I found one there last year when I went to use it for the first time), and the great big one in the bathroom window frame - the one they watch me from every time I go out to water the garden. I also sprayed a bunch of the knot-holes and cracks in the siding where I've seen them crawling in and out. I haven't been home to see if this has been a successful battle, but I can't imagine it didn't help a bit. I need to have Henry crawl under the porch and look for nests there as well, but not until there's another cool morning.
I am really looking forward to next week when I have 12 days off to get all my spring cleaning and yardwork done.

Happier Thoughts

"Happier thoughts lead to essentially a happier biochemistry
and a happier, healthier body.
Negative thoughts and stress have been shown
to seriously degrade the body and the functioning of the brain,
because it's our thoughts and emotions that are continuously
reassembling, reoganising, re-creating our body."
Dr. John Hagelin (a teacher featured in "The Secret")


This was written by someone (I don't recognise the handwriting) on the whiteboard in our break-room this week.

It's a very thought provoking quote, actually. It begs several questions:

Happier thoughts? Happier than what? Where do these happier thoughts come from? How do I get them? Especially when I am going through hell. My life is falling to pieces around me and there is no hope that it will get better anytime soon, if ever. I want happier thoughts. I want health and peace. Where do I go to get it? Do I fake it? I smile hard enough so I won't cry. I create the illusion of peace and happiness to the outside observer, willing it to seep through to the chaos beneath. That only creates more stress in my life!

I know the answer, of course. This Joy (happinessthat lasts and is independant of my situation) and Peace I am looking for is only found in one Person: Jesus Christ.

The Psalms are full of this truth about God. A few of my favorite examples are:

Psalm 16:8-11
I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Psalm 46:1-3
God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Selah

The New Testament also. Manytimes God is refered to as the God of Peace. Paul sandwiches his letters with Grace and Peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. In Philippians he tells us that God's peace transcends all understanding and guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Peace that is beyond your comprehension. Peace that is a safeguard against fear and worry. Peace even when the "mountains" in your life are crumbling and falling. Peace and Joy.

I have it. Do you?

in which a second season is begun

Well, it's garden-planting time again. I am really trying to get better at growing my own food. A useful skill. I am learning that it takes a lot more than I thought to get a garden off the ground. Last year I had to build the bed and I thought that this year, without that added task, the going would be easier.

ha. ha. ha.

Well, part of that is the weather. It is still darn cold here in N. Idaho. We had snow coming down yesterday (wet snow that didn't last til noon, but snow nevertheless). But mostly it is my lack of knowledge and lack of the appropriate amounts of time! Mom has been a wealth of knowledge and very patient; it has been really really nice knowing that I can call her and ask questionswithout feeling like a complete idiot. She's amazing. I swear she knows everything. She has some really genius ideas for this year. Last year I helped her take care of the vegetable plot at the demo garden and this year she talked the garden club into letting me take care of it on my own(under her guidance, of course). They must have been pretty desperate for workers! :)
So that right there has doubled the space I have to play around in - and doubled the workload, too, but I don't mind. If I am ever to have a green thumb it's going to take lots of practice.

I started some flower seeds inside for the first time this year. I have little tiny zinnias growing merrily in my windowsill. It amazes me how quickly they spring up! I think it took them two and a half days. There are lettuce and kale and chard growing in little plugs on the lower sill. I finally have a few days together off from work, so I will be able to get some peas and carrots in the ground this week. I can't wait!