Unconditional Love

Just finished "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers. Great book that follows the idea behind the book of Hosea in the Old Testament of the Bible. It is fiction. And - there are wonderful discussion questions at the end of the book that would be interesting to talk through with a group. The concept of unconditional love is difficult when someone completely turns their back on kindness.
I find most people don't understand the concept of love. I taught a 4th and 5th grade Sunday school class about the love between Jonathan and David (in the Bible). I thought one of the young men in the class was going to get sick when I told him that loving his neighbor meant loving the people in his Sunday school class. "Oh that is so gross" was his comment. The sad thing is that many never get past the 4th and 5th grade level of emotional maturity. Sometimes I find that I regress to that level!
I frequently think, "What would love do in this situation?" I don't want to enable someone to take advantage of anyone (especially if that someone is me). There is such a fine line between letting something go and then settling the situation at a later time. I can let things go, but I am not good about bringing it up later so it can be discussed. I don't like reopening a "can of worms" if it is going to blow up. Sometimes that means there are lots of "worms" crawling around just waiting for the right moment to escape and make a big mess.
How about you? When love is difficult, how do you keep loving?
In the meantime - I still love you!

Dog on Bed

Hank the beagle got in trouble at our "pet friendly" hotel, so we are both being confined to the room. It seems although the hotel is pet friendly, some of the guests are not. Of course that could be because the pup was not happy being left in the room while his room mates went to breakfast, so he raised quite a rucus with his barking. Beagle barking can be quite irritating, so I don't blame the guests. I must say I was surprised the guests were mad at me. I had no idea the dog would go ballistic - and I didn't leave the room until 7:45, so it wasn't that early. Oh well.

Fortunately I have my Nook with me and I had downloaded "Water for Elephants". Very good book. Then, just for fun, went to look up "The Help" and read the two chapter preview.

Now I would like to go for a walk, but it is way too hot outside. So nice to have time to read just for fun.

Living History Lessons

I wish I had lived in Virginia when I was taking United States history! From the settler's at Jamestown, to the Yorktown Victory Center which talks about the Revolutionary War, to New Port News to look at Civil War battlegrounds, and the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space museum at Dulles Airport, I think I have learned more than I ever remember learning in school. And that's just 4 days of breezing through exhibits and archaeological museums.

The most fascinating information was about how the Frenchman named Rochambeau was a key adviser to George Washington and the siege at Yorktown, which lead to Cornwallis surrendering. The French helped us gain our freedom from being just another colonial outpost.

Which comes to the irony of the tension between the French and the Americans. After returning from France and revisiting Normandy, the whole western world might be speaking German if the US and Great Britain had not come to the aid of the French in WWII. Why aren't the French and Americans better friends?

Besides learning about Rochambeau, the most interesting things so far to me:

• The aircraft in WWII that Germany manufactured was fascinating.
• Learning how 5000 - 8000 soldiers were fed during the Revolutionary war AND what they ate.
• The poor women who followed the soldiers during the wars and did their laundry and mending, and how families left at home survived until their menfolk returned from war.
• Ship battles and the importance of ruining the sails.

People seemed to have worked harder for so much less. I don't think I would have made a good soldier (6 to 8 people per tent, and no running water!). Good lessons for all of us...

Book on thie trip: A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron. It's a story about a dog's many lives. Nice light entertainment!

Germany and France - Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Just returned from a quick trip with my husband's company. They had business in Germany and then we all took a side trip to France. There were 4 guys and me in the little car you see Waddy standing by (notice how full the back of the car is!). 2 of the guys had never been to Normandy or Paris.

We flew KLM to Amsterdam, and then Air France to Hamburg, Germany. I love the individual screens for movie and entertainment options. I am preaching to 5th and 6th graders for district camp in July, and the theme for district camp is "Like a Lion", all about courage, so naturally I thought of the C.S. Lewis Narnia series, and grabbed "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" to take with me to read on the plane. Imagine my surprise when looking over the entertainment options and finding Narnia 3 was one of the movies (Voyage of the Dawn Treader!). So I watched it AND read it.

Wish we could have stayed a day in Hamburg, but the meeting was in Bielefeld, Germany. I had fun shopping while the guys had their meeting.

Also read some more in the "Leader's Journey". Now watching Francis Chan and his DVD series on courage. It has some great video examples for youth.

Lost my jean jacket somewhere between the airport and the house, so today I am tracking it down. More to come!

New Books!

I received a Nook for Christmas and I have downloaded several books on it, but to me there is nothing like holding a book in my hand. Now TRAVELING with books is a whole different story because I am usually reading more than one book at a time, and that can cause me to want to drag my carry on through the airport (because my carry on does NOT have wheels). So I went to Cokesbury and spent $165 last week (don't mention this to my husband - he'll find out soon enough). Now one of those books was a new commentary on Romans that includes a CD with all kinds of images, so that was a hefty chunk of change. I am going to encourage our library at the church to start purchasing them. I may even donate mine to them. Stephanie at Cokesbury suggested I get the new controversial book by Rob Bell called "Love Wins". It is good! "Jesus talked about a reality he called the kingdom of God...He spoke of oneness with God...Jesus lived and spoke as if the whole world was a thin place for him , with endless dimensions of the divine infinitesimally close, with every moment, and every location simply another experience of the divine that is all around us, through us, under and above us all the time." (We act)"as if we're trying to play the piano wearing oven mitts. We can make a noise, sometimes even hit the notes well enough to bang out a melody, but it doesn't sound like it could or should." Nursing a sprained ankle, so will start another new book..."Unleashing the Power of Rubber Bands:Lessons in Non-Linear Leadership" by Nancy Ortberg. Will quote from it later this week. (Don't you just love that word "infinitessmally"?)

Snow Boots

There is nothing about traveling light when it comes to snow boots. I finally traded my "performance boots" in for just "regular person" boots and it made a huge difference. I am definitely not a performer when it comes to skiing! The snow is fantastic, so I don't want to take it too easy.

A "pre-ski" weekend definitely helps when planning a full week of skiing, and we missed that this year.

Have enjoyed spending time with family.

I have two books with me. One is Missional Small Groups:Becoming a Community That Makes a Difference in the World by Scott Boren. Scott compares being in mission to learning how to play music, particularly improvisational jazz; "Most people play their life rhythms without even thinking about the music their life makes...They must learn how to work together, how to read each other, and how to complement each other's strengths and weaknesses" (pg. 9). At the end of the book is an Appendix that walks small groups through a 12 to 15 weeks of learning "missional rhythms". There are even teaching segments that can be downloaded as video files! Sounds like something that would be very exciting for small groups to challenge themselves and grow in their understanding of what it means to follow Christ out into the world.

Learning to play a musical instrument is challenging. It isn't easy. Just like snow skiing. Some have natural ability, and some have to keep working at it. Some are dare devils (like helicopter skiiers) and some prefer to float down the green slopes and enjoy the scenery (that would be me!). Either way there is preparation that must be done - just in getting dressed!

The other book I have is a fiction book. Fiction is hard for me because I want to read something with purpose. However, so many people read fiction, and I want to understand why, so I will read something if it comes highly recommended. "If I Gained the World" by Linda Nichols is what I am working on. Today I am on chapter 10 and there are a total of 57 chapters. So far it is keeping my interest!

LINGO – CHURCH WORD #8

EVIL (ee-vuhl)

Adjective: Morally wrong or bad; immoral; wicked: evil deeds; an evil life.

Noun: That which is evil; evil quality, intention, or conduct: to choose the lesser of two evils.

Adverb: In an evil manner; badly; ill: It went evil with him.

Idiom: The evil one, the devil; Satan.

On, Saturday, February 14, 1976, I called home to wish my family Happy Valentine’s Day. My mother answered and told me to meet them at the hospital because something was terribly wrong with my brother, David. The day before, my younger brother came home from being out that night, sat down on the den floor, and started listening to my Jesus Christ Superstar album. While listening to the music, he continually rocked back and forth and back and forth on the floor at my parent’s house. This was the beginning of a ten year nightmare that eventually lead to my brother’s suicide.

The doctor’s called it “paranoid schizophrenia”. To me, it was evil and diabolic.

What is evil? In the book People of the Lie by M. Scott Peck, the author states “evil is ‘live’ spelled backwards. Evil is in opposition to life…Evil is also that which kills the spirit.” Some people also believe that evil is the result of demon possession.

The New Testament is full of stories about Jesus and the disciples encountering demon possession. Matthew 9:28 talks about the Gadarene demoniacs that were so fierce that no one could pass by them. Jesus tells the demons to “Go!” and enter some nearby swine, resulting in the swine stampeding over a cliff. Matthew 17:14 tells the story about the disciples trying to cure a boy that has a demon. When they are unable to cure him, the young man’s father takes his son to Jesus. Jesus rebukes the demon and heals the boy immediately.

Do you believe demons still exist? Eric Fromm, the author of the book The Heart of Man: Its Genius for Good and Evil, says “The longer we continue to make wrong decisions, the more our heart hardens...with each step along the wrong road it becomes increasingly difficult (for them) to admit that they are on the wrong road.” Some people make wrong decisions that effect innocent people, such as sexual abuse victims. The presence of evil is then experienced by the innocent as well as the wrong doer. God doesn’t want this, what He does, however, is invite all people to choose wisely. Choose goodness.

If God created everything and everyone, why were evil and the devil created in the first place? Understanding free will helps us to understand this paradox. He gave us choices, so we either choose to allow God to shape and mold us into loving humans or we chose the opposite. God loves us and wants us to choose His loving ways. God is a life giver, and Scott Peck explains it this way, “having forsworn the use of power against us, if we refuse God’s help, God has no recourse but, weeping, to watch us punish ourselves.”

In the movies and television, we see evil. The recently realeased movie The Rite starring Anthony Hopkins is a true story based on the life of an American priest who now lives in California named Father Gary Thomas. I could barely watch the trailer (so I know I won’t be going to see the movie)! Father Thomas believes there is evil in the world, demon possessed people, and a need for more exorcists. In fact, there was an exorcism conference held in Baltimore, Maryland in October 2010 that was attended by 56 Bishops of the Catholic Church and 66 parish priests.

How do we conquer evil? With love. 1 Corinthians 13:4 -7 says “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.” Love isn’t easy, but it’s worth it.

Evil is not something we like to talk about. The book "People of the Lie" by M. Scott Peck helped me understand the evil that I experienced with what happened to my brother.

I choose to love and live with Jesus Christ as my guide, my saviour, and my Lord.

Does everyone around us know God?

That question is from the book "Unfreezing Moves" by Bill Easum. When thinking about this I wonder about the difference between doing "great" things and doing "good" things. We do a lot of good things when we do church work. What would be great things we could do? Good question. I look forward to your comments.