divine encounter

I saw a friend as I was leaving the checkout counter of Safeway, and when I said hi I immediately knew something was wrong. I asked if she was okay, and without much thought, said "No."

Her insides were raging and twisting in reaction to a great offense done to her and her two boys. As I listened, it wasn't that I could relate personally to the injury as much as I felt an all-consuming compassion. I know what wanting to retaliate and backlash feels like. I listened to her anger, her logic, her history with this offender, and remembered well my own. She was on a hunt for this guy, and this was the third place she'd looked.

I told her, "It's no coincidence that you haven't found him. I don't think God wants you to. Right now everything you're feeling is horizontal--it's all about you and him," and I gestured back and forth with my arm. "What He wants is for you to to make it all about Him and you," and I lifted my arm up and down. "I'm not saying this is what I do or that it's easy, but that's where this needs to go."

I am not known for my counsel. I'm a listener and someone who comes alongside. No one asks me for advice, and if it is asked, doesn't get followed. (shrug) That's just the way it is. I also do not confront people. I hide or avoid or make nicey nice in public, but I don't tell people what they oughta do. So... I know this was God's word for her. He put me where she was so she could hear Him because I'm a safe place for her.

It only took one minute for her to receive that and to accept that this was a divine appointment. A church friend, an elderly man, passed us, and right away she told him, "She told me Truth, and she's keeping me accountable!" Being STP (slow to process), it wasn't until this moment that I realized Jesus had just taken place. Emmanuel--God With Us--was right here, right now, right then, inside us, in front of us, the whole thing intended to reveal Jesus, who is Truth.

It is an extremely humbling and incredible thing to be used by God. To have been a container and a medium for His communication to a hurting Child is an other-worldly experience, and I will never forget this.

Well, until senility creeps in, but that's another post.

the fam

I get rescued

When I wake up stupid and alone
there You are--Intelligence and Communion.
When I wake up needy and troubled,
there You are--Resource and Peace.
Your arms are a great, soft blankie--
they wrap completely around my whole body,
and then through me
to hug my insides.
When I feel dirty and ashamed,
You cup my chin and lift my gaze
and lock on
until Your love blasts away the smoke and sulphur
of condemnation.
Tears fall fresh and cleansing
like a first rain
and the perfume of Your ever-spring
righthereness wakes me up new,
and I am willing and ready to walk again.
My soul, a rescued P.O.W.
and my spirit, no M.I.A.
You are my Hero of the interior,
MY Hero, my Deliverer. XO

Pressing Cider

Pressing cider the first Sunday in October, it's become a yearly tradition that's made up of family and talk and apples and pulp, as well as jugs and hearts poured out and poured into until we just can't keep going. It gets refrigerated or frozen so we can drink it up, give it away, and wait for next year.

give it away - let Him out

Why don't I give myself away more? It's not like I'm a great prize to be hoarded and tucked safely away. You'd think we're all these precious, invaluable treasures the way we keep ourselves all wrapped up nice and tight. We contain not just love, but THE LOVE. We rob not only others, but ourselves of that Love moment when we keep Him inside.

"This is the miracle that happens every time to those who really love: the more they give, the more they possess of that precious nourishing love from which flowers and children have their strength and which could help all human beings if they would take it without doubting."
~Rainer Maria Rilke

I don't get it

I don't get:

• why my dog thinks I'm the person I would like to be.
• how it is that so many nonChristians have inspired me to be more Christlike.
• why it doesn't come out on the page the way I feel it in my insides.
• why I wait until the last minute to do something I could've done days ago, but now it's taken me longer than it should, cost twice as much, and turned out half as good.
• why my kids get sick at the dawn of weekend.
• why liberals blame George W for global warming, obesity, and our country's growing inability to compete with the world's most brilliant minds.
• why older people don't understand how to set microwave, answering machine, or VCR clocks.
• why people ask me if I'm okay while I'm choking.
• why idiot jerks who pass me dangerously on the highway glare at me like I did something stupid.
• how they can expect us all to believe we're all "special" the way they're teaching it in schools now.
• how my eyeballs used to work perfectly, and then one day they started shape shifting.
• how people who look perfectly healthy can have only three months to live.
• why all the really good tasting food has to kill me.
• why there are no lines until it's time for me to check out.
• why I find the rebate paperwork the day after it expires.
• how some people do not like chocolate.
• why some people go all out to exercise religiously and eat all kinds of healthy food, and then buy Almond Roca bar mix from Costco.
• why I hesitate to ask for the nice pen from the vendor who has them on display but offers me a sticker.
• why leaves aren't called "come outs" in the spring.
• how turkeys are nowhere to be seen during hunting season if they're all that dumb.
• why God wants anything to do with us, I mean, really.
• why my hair looks great when the dogs are the only ones who'll see it.
  

I'll add on to this as the conundrums roll in...

kindness

From Sheila Walsh:

Don't ever forget kindness and truth. Wear them like a necklace. Write them on your heart as if on a tablet. Then you will be respected and will please both God and people. Trust the Lord with all your heart, and don't depend on your own understanding. Remember the Lord in all you do, and he will give you success." (Proverbs 3:3-6, NCV)

I wonder how kindness and truth would impact our lives if we wore them every day as the writer commands. Kindness is really under-rated in the church in my opinion. We are impressed with giftedness, talent and success but kindness seems to have little curb appeal. I love the fact that kindness and truth are paired together.

=======================

I would love to be known for being kind. Instead, I think I'll be known for being a kind of something...

Something to strive for.

graduating already

Mine is the mantra of parents everywhere with a child graduating: How did they grow up so fast...?

I've been uploading pics to Photobucket so I can make room on my hard drive, and I came across these old pics of Ryrie and his buddy, Kyle. They were so loud and rambunctious, full of spit and vinegar. They were chummy one minute and mad at each other the next. They were so much alike.

Miles and time have separated them, and they're not the close friends they once were. But they're still congenial, and I'm glad for that. I probably remember their closeness more than they do, so I'm all the more grateful for the pics.

To Friendship!

Li'l Boy and Big Toys

Li'l Boy Outside