Thursday, May 17, 2012

The Last Word

We were on our way to church last weekend and grandchild Kate, age 4, was sitting in her car seat in the back seat.

Kate: Mimi, are you married?

Me: Yes honey, I am married to Pop.

Kate: But Pop is old.

Me: How do you know Pop is old?

Kate: Because he has little strings on his cheeks (wrinkles) …. like you!

Ah, the last word. I have to admit (vainly) that I was feeling pretty smug until the last two words. As for Kate, we may be old in her eyes and we may have “strings” all over ourselves but she loves us dearly and doesn’t seem to mind that we are ”different” . Strings to her are just a part of the picture. We have them. She doesn’t. And that is fine.

I find often that the last words are the most important, sometimes the most stinging and sometimes the very dearest and most challenging and certainly are more than just cute phrases said from the lips of a child. The last words in an argument can stay with us forever and cause immense pain whenever they are brought to mind. The last words of an adult child as they leave for service overseas will not soon be forgotten. The last words on a child’s lips before they step on the school bus can remain with us throughout the day. But probably the most important words are the ones spoken directly to us before loved ones leave this world and go into the next.

So, Christ’s last words take on new meaning when they are thought of in the context of the LAST WORDS:

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”

Within these words we see the heart of God. It is people. My neighbors, my friends, the grocery clerk, the car repair man, my family, the homeless man holding the sign that says “will work for food”, the children running down my side walk on their way home from school. It is those that I pass every day that are on His heart.

But He assures me and you that though He has left, He has not left us powerless. We have the power of the Holy Spirit within us. That is an incredible fact. And the reason He has given that power to me and to you has a lot to do with that homeless man, those children, my neighbor, and the grocery clerk. I am Christ’s witness to them. You are Christ’s witness to the people in your community. We have been chosen to share not just good news but the very best news since the third chapter of Genesis.

So if I take seriously Christ’s last words, then I can be assured that the very first words I will hear when I see Him face to face will be “well done good and faithful servant”!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A Change is Coming

Proverbs 31: 25
Strength and honor are her clothing She will laugh at the future.

We first met Mrs. Cook when we moved into the subdivision that was behind her little farm house. She soon became my mentor, inspiration, confidante, and dear friend, and we enjoyed many Southern dinners at her table with food from her garden.

She owned twelve acres that were a pasture. The land had belonged to her family for over 100 years. In 1989 she got tired of bush-hogging it; so she let it go “natural.” Within a year pine trees sprouted and three years later they had become a forest. Now many hard woods have joined the pines making delightful, deep woods.

In 2000 she sold us two acres and we built a house on the other side of the woods, close enough to still be her neighbor but far enough away for us both to feel like we lived in the country. So all these years those acres of woods have provided privacy and entertainment. It was home to a family of deer, a large variety of birds, coyotes, wild turkeys, squirrels without number, two possums that intimidated my medium-sized dogs, and for a time, a large peacock. When the grandchildren come for a visit, those woods become large forts, adventurous trails, and mysterious paths that lead to intriguing sights and sounds. And for us, it simply gives us the illusion of living in the wild.

Last year our neighbor and friend went to heaven at the age of 107, and her son who lives hundreds of miles away inherited the land. Last week the rezoning signs went up and it appears the woods will soon be sold. The proposal is for 39 houses to be built on ten acres. If you do the math you will soon see that we will no longer live in the woods but in a small village. It will be a change for sure.

It has taken a little while to adjust to this idea. I suppose in my small mind I actually thought the property would stay as it is for all eternity! I am happy for Mrs. Cook’s family who owns the land. They have a good buyer. But I don’t want anything to change. I love the trees, the animals, the fun…the isolation. I love things to stay just the way they are.

It is interesting that Jesus does not have any trouble with change. In fact He seemed to demand it while He was here on earth. Peter and John, James and Andrew were fishermen and in the instant of a call, they became disciples and their lives were never again spent watching for fish or the seas and isolated from people. They went from obscurity to the limelight…one that was not appreciated…with more enemies then they could ever imagine. And they changed the world.

Paul was adored as the Pharisee of Pharisees and in the moment of a call became the hated one among the Jews, brutally treated and at last beheaded, only to have an eternal impact through his writings, changing the lives of millions.

So I have changed my mind. I came to see it was not about ME but about God who will bring good from this land deal. He has a purpose and I am to be a tool in His hand for that good. How do I look at my lovely woods that will soon be a small village? It is good.

I will miss the wild animals but they will be replaced by civilized people. (Hopefully!) Some will be true sisters and brothers, and some will become sisters and brothers …. some day. It is simply an opportunity to expand the family.

And we will miss the trails and forts and mystery paths, but they will be replaced with children who are even more exciting playmates, with imaginations that can capture greater adventures than the woods.

I will miss the isolation, but in its place I may find a deep, deep friendship that will bring a certain joy and peace that I could never find in the forest. And perhaps because I live here, God will bring those to whom I can be a tool to bring about change in their lives.

Change? It is good. ____________________________________________________________________

Next week we will meet as a board to pray and talk through the future of Big Dream Ministries. Simply the word FUTURE implies that things will not remain the same. There will and must be changes. Perhaps a new direction, perhaps new studies, perhaps new people involved. But with one look at God’s Word we do see that He is into change, and from change He always brings forth good. That is what He does and so, like the Proverbs 31 woman, we laugh at the future because through Him it will be good.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Are You Prepared?

When we lived in Maine our home was over one hundred years old. It had been built as a summer house near the ocean. It did not have insulation. It did not have storm windows. But it did have an old oil burning furnace. We had never had an oil burning furnace before so were naïve to say the least.

One February we had one of the coldest spells in history. The furnace ran continually. But one afternoon during that cold snap I found the house was getting colder. I put our two little ones in heavy sweaters to keep them warm. I put on a sweatshirt. But still to my dismay, by evening the house was freezing.

Beloved came home around seven from work and was shocked to see his family all bundled in jackets (I had advanced to my down parka, and the babies in their sleepers with sweaters underneath.) He went into the cellar and checked the furnace. It was not running. He checked the oil level. There was none. Like NONE! We were totally out of fuel!

We immediately called the fuel company and were told they would get there as soon as possible but they were backed up with calls. By now a full fledged blizzard had gathered. The wind roared through our not- so- tight windows. The snow pelted the glass and the doors and the outer walls. And then the lights went out. A gale force wind had taken down a pole a block away.

We lit a fire in the fireplace. We dragged out every blanket we had. We put the children between us and sat as close to the fire as we could without actually burning ourselves up. And as the bitter cold reached our bones and we could not get warm I realized then that we could literally freeze to death in our own home. We were not prepared.

Several years later we were now living in Georgia. One winter night (again record low temperatures) we had an ice storm and lost all electricity and with that heat, lights and the ability to cook. But this time we were prepared. We had plenty of wood for the fireplace. We had a kerosene heater that we dragged up from the basement. I had sleeping bags and a good supply of candles and matches. So we closed the doors to the family room, lit the kerosene heater, slept on the floor and were as snug as we could be.

The next day proved that no one in Atlanta was going to the grocery store because of the ice. But that was not a problem because we had a basement pantry full of food and water so we invited the neighbors over for spaghetti dinner fixed over the gas grill. We were prepared.

Recently Eleanor did a fabulous job of teaching The Amazing Woman class on being able to take care of our families in the face of crisis. She ended it by asking two powerful questions:

1. Are you prepared for a crisis? But the second one was more riveting:

2. “Are you prepared spiritually to meet Christ should He return in our lifetime?” It is a good question. Am I? Are you? I learned a good lesson one freezing night in Maine. Preparation makes all the difference in the world ….and sometimes that difference is life or death.