This is the day...... !

OK, friends, full disclosure here:

Earlier today I posted on Facebook a picture of the Pittsburgh skyline on a cloudy day with the caption: Cloudy, rainy, cool - "This is the day the Lord has made" in Pittsburgh, PA!

Well, I now have the opportunity and challenge to live in the reality of that truth! I ran an errand this AM and came home to notice black smoke pouring out from under the hood of the car. When John raised the hood flames shot up! :o]  He quickly sprayed the engine with water to put the fire out.  Guess I won't be going anywhere today! 

This is STILL the day the Lord has made in Pittsburgh and wherever you are!

The rest of Psalm 118:24 instructs me: 

²⁴ This is the day the Lord has brought about.
We will be happy and rejoice in it.  (NET)

Batter Up!

It's spring or almost spring! That means May flowers, spring showers, and baseball among other signs of spring! That is especially true in Pittsburgh when the Pirates are really on their game!

One essential of playing baseball is the batter.  Without someone up at bat, there isn't much of a game. Actually there is NO game at all!

I'm not planning to play baseball any time soon, but I find myself up at bat all too often!  There are many variations on this theme: there are two kinds of people in this world - the batters/players and the bench warmers!  I don't care who you are or what you do; you are one or the other!

It's the people who aren't afraid to get in the game, to take their turn at bat, to play their position who make a difference in the game of life!

Once a lady in Pittsburgh (native Pittsburgher) said to me, O, I know all about you Southern girls!  You just take to your bed for three days when you get a little headache.  Now, mind you:  She hardly knew me and SHE CERTAINLY DID NOT KNOW ME!!! 

Well, after I picked my jaw up off the floor, I looked her straight in the eye and said, O, you must not know there is more than one kind of Southern gal - There's the Southern Belle and then there's the Steel Magnolia!!!

It is so interesting from a people-observation perspective and also so sad from a Christian world-and-life-view that there are actually Christians who find being a bench sitter good enough, thank you very much!  I don't think so!  The Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 3:17:  ¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.  My Jesus and His name deserve MUCH more than warming a bench!  ONLY my best will do, and that's my best in EVERYTHING!

Now, bench warming is much less risky!  Chances are that bench warming will net you FAR less criticism on a grand scale, but it also won't get you to 1st base!  It won't even get you up to bat!

I don't care where you live and walk; it's a choice: Batter Up! or warm the bench!  There isn't much wear and tear to bench warming.  Batting, pitching, catching, running the bases and the field cost: time and energy and can tug on your heart big time! BUT that's where the game of life is played - IN THE GAME - NOT on the bench!  Being a player participating in the game may be messy and challenging, but it's worth it every time!  Especially because that's the ONLY way to do EVERYTHING in the name of the Lord Jesus to hold Him up before the watching world! Just sayin'!

Two Little Stones

I saw something drop dead amazing today! 

I was driving along Liberty Avenue toward downtown Pittsburgh and came to a stoplight. It was red so I glanced over to the sidewalk where two workmen were breaking up part of the sidewalk. They caught my attention when I saw one pick up two pieces of broken concrete, walk over to the nearby fence and throw them over the fence onto the back of a truck parked in the lot. Then the other man slowly picked up two more pieces and did the same thing. I'm talking about slightly larger than palm-sized pieces.  Like I said, drop dead amazing! And, I'm just guessing but I bet they are paid pretty well - overpaid based on effort and performance!


Not that they would care but I couldn't help thinking:  Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men... (Colossians 3:23) 

And, then I have to ask myself, Self, when you pick up big rocks and carry them, who are you doing it for?

THAT's what makes all the difference!

Frightful Times in the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave!

Yesterday we had a wonderful celebration with very special friends in our home!

Part of our discussion as we were eating had to do with Obamacare. As I looked around the table with people from 20-somethings to 60-somethings and somethings all in between, I realized that every single one of us is impacted by Obamacare in a unique way. Every single one of us deals with a "hidden disability"!

Some friends sitting there discovered for the first time that Obamacare - to their great surprise - has provisions in the Obamacare bill that might well prohibit necessary medical care for some of us due to age or need or past medical history. The thought came to me that more than one of us might not be around to celebrate another Independence Day simply because the greatest medical care system in the world may be in for radical changes even in the next year!

It was a great discussion with no one getting unduly exercised and all giving respectful attention to all the views expressed!

It was a microcoism - what exists in a large sense in society represented in a much smaller sample - of our America and how we the free and the brave should celebrate this Independence Day 2012. It was a demonstration of how change to our world comes on a personal relational level emanating from the heart!

And a great time was had by each of us in spite of 95 degree plus weather outside!

We ended the evening with a rousing game of "Take Two" - judged unanimously more fun than fireworks downtown or even more nearby!

For Shame!

every-story-has-two-sides-but.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email" name="1">every story has two sides. but.
(Posted: 26 Jan 2012 09:01 PM PST Written by my friend Shannon Dingle)
Every story has two sides.But.I’ve heard enough first-hand stories from families with special needs about churches who have rejected them.I’m not talking about stories like “well, they just weren’t sure what to do with us.”No, I’m talking about conversations like the one I had with one of our moms after respite, when she, with tears in her eyes, told me, “We love the church. My dad is a pastor. But we don’t go to church anymore, because our last church asked us to leave.”
Please take a moment to process that before you move on. Take a moment to consider how you’d feel if you were asked to leave the church because of your eye color or skin tone or height
or IQ or some other attribute you can’t control. This child wasn't aggressive or dangerous; they were asked to leave because the children's ministry leaders said his autism was too distracting. If I were writing about a church that kicked out a family because their son was black, we’d be outraged. But sometimes when I share the stories I hear from the families we serve in Access, someone responds, “well, you can't really fault the church. They probably just didn’t know how to handle it.”
Maybe it’s because I’m dosed up on enough prednisone to work me into a bit more of a ranty state than usual (and to allow my asthmatic lungs to work), but let me tell you what I think of that sort of response: it’s baloney!
When church leaders kick out kids who aren’t up to the general education expectations they are used to, they don’t need our excuses. They do need grace. And repentance. And yes, training. And prayer. When I see tweets like this one (related to this story) three prayers come to mind: Jesus, help this family.
Jesus, let this church learn from this situation, even if the facts being reported aren’t completely accurate.
Jesus, please come soon. Amen.

Read this and weep!

Denum Ellarby Refused Communion Because He Has Down Syndrome, Parents sayEllarby Re

Denum Ellarby Refused Communion Because He Has Down Syndrome,
First Posted: 1/21/12 04:10 PM ET Updated: 1/21/12 05:34 PM ET
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/21/denum-ellarby_n_1220896.html?view=print&comm_ref=false" rel="nofollow">React
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Ellarby says her child wasn't allowed to take his first Holy Communion because he has Down Syndrome. In a letter from the Diocese of Leeds, Ellarby was told that her seven-year-old Denum Ellarby lacks the "concentration" necessary to prepare for Communion, according to the BBC. The Diocese also said children can "only proceed to the sacrament of First Communion when they take part in the Church's life and understand the Church's faith"."It's just disgusting," Ellarby told the BBC. "I feel really let down by the Catholic faith."A spokesperson for the diocese told the Catholic Herald "Denum's family has not participated in the regular life of the Church or in the preparation preceding First Communion. We hope that this will change as Denum grows and we are working with him and his family to help him achieve this."The Christian Post reports that Clare and Denum's father Darren have started a petition in support of their son. "They need to have more compassion," Clare Ellarby told the Post. "What they are doing is so cruel." CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Denum Ellarby has autism.

My response:
Thanks, Shannon! This is EXACTLY why there is A Restoration Church in Pittsburgh! This very issue is a huge travesty, great shame and blight on the name of Jesus (Who spent most of His time on earth hanging with sp needs individuals and Who came to restore brokenness in every form!)!
But we must not hide behind the church as an institution clicking our tongues and shaking our heads in Phariseeical disdain unless we personally are clear that this kind of rejection even secretly and silently is NOT
God's way and is hugely destructive of a person's heart - a person Jesus values, loves and died for!

Church Planting, Disability Ministry and Icy Roads!

Last night I made a discovery about church plantiing. Church planting especially with the vision to minister to individuals and families impacted by disability and icy roads have some things in common!

Winter wonderland describes Pittsburgh's look of the last several days! The huge snowflakes chasing each other to see which can get to the ground first are beautiful. The way below freezing temps keep our white world in place.

Yesterday late afternoon I drove to take supper to a friend. Her daughter - just arrived home for winter break from college - needed a ride to get a prescription filled. So she and I set off - the "back way" - for the pharmacy. We were fine getting there even though my friend commented that she couldn't believe the roads hadn't been salted. I replied that I thought cities were trying to save money by not spreading salt "recklessly" this year - that I read in the paper or heard on the radio that Chicago spent many millions just clearing their roads in one recent snowstorm. We got to the store, discovered they wouldn't process her new insurance card and started home on the same back roads.

We came to the top of the last long hill. A small deer almost darted in front of us at the same moment I realized we were driving down a skating rink road. It must have been black ice covered by a layer of snow. Fortunately we were the only car either way as we mostly slid down the hill. I knew I wasn't in control of the car. I was just trying to stay on the path. At the bottom (where the sign says opposing traffic does not stop) I had no choice but to steer carefully to the left onto her home street which is fairly flat. Fortunately there was no near on-coming traffic!

When we pulled into her drive, she said to me, "That was pretty scary!" That was the moment I processed exactly how scary it was! I guess I'm so used to living in the exciting fast lane of life that it didn't get my adrenaline flowing as much as it did hers.

My husband and I and a brave band of others are starting A Restoration Church in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. It's not our first church plant experience, but it is clearly the most exciting. A Restoration Church is unique in our vision to take the Gospel to and to bring into the Kingdom intentionally and especially individuals and families impacted by disability.

Sometimes our forward progress seems well-planned, but mostly this church plant is a lot like that icy road last night. It's a really exciting ride - even dangerously exciting at times - with Someone (that would be the King of the Kingdom) else in control. We are in forward motion with rapidly beating hearts being faithful and working hard for the King to build His Kingdom further here in Pittsburgh!

The analogy may break down at some points, I'm sure, but the essence is that church planting can be a lot like my ride in my car with my young friend down the icy hill last night! We are going where many people don't dare go. We are makinig new friends and taking them along for the ride of their lives. We are taking risks and living on the edge of our comfort zones (and even stepping outside our comfort level) - all for the sake of building God's Kingdom!

Church planting and icy roads do have some things in common!

Warm Hands and Warm Hearts!

Last night around 8:30 PM our phone rang. It was a friend who is homebound with a serious illness. Her furnace quit. The temperature last night was below freezing.

Within a little over an hour, one A Restoration Church family brought a heater over to loan her. Then my husband who can sniff a bargain at 70 paces found two heaters for $14 each after the $5 mail-in rebate. It was Sunday night so the places to shop for heaters were limited. Right on his way was a 24-hour drugstore even willing to take them back if they didn't work.

Staying warm on a really cold night is sort of a necessity of life. We need warm hands!

Even more we need warm hearts - touched by the love of God and others! It is a beautiful thing to see hearts warmed by God's love reaching out to others in need of that same warmth with God's love! That's what A Restoration Church is about doing and being in the South Hills of Pittsburgh!

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Coming from Pittsburgh I am up-close and personally familiar with all kinds of construction. The theme for the Joni and Friends Family Retreat 2008 in Murrieta, CA is "Extreme Make-Over" taking off from the popular TV show on Home and Garden Network. Only this extreme make-over has more to do with hearts than anything else!

For five wonderful days families and individuals are coming to this beautiful spot for rest and refreshment - restoration. For five great days more than sixty "short term missionaries" (one of whom is me) have the incredible privilege of coming alongside one of these families or individuals to serve them. Right now we're all busily making welcome signs for "our" family or person and others are "constructing a house" for a stage backdrop.

Jesus must be looking down from heaven with a smile. He Himself worked in a carpenter's shop when he lived on earth. He is definitely in the business of heart restoration! It will be awesome to participate in God's great work of restoration this week. I expect my own heart to be restored as I serve others. So, "Let's do it!"

Renewable Resources

The only time I watch TV is to catch the news or see the weather. I don't even watch all the Steeler games start to finish. That's akin to HERESY in Pittsburgh - big time! This morning I turned on the TV to catch the news and caught an ad for Sea World in Orlando, Florida instead. The first line of the ad was "Fun is a renewable resource."

The ad is intended to entice people to Sea World suggesting that Sea World is where great fun and other positive experiences can be had. The "renewable resource" part is geared to suggest "going green" and "taking care of our planet Earth." I'm not a "greenie" but I think we should all take care of the little patch of earth on which we live (that's another whole blog post).

What the ad started me thinking about is other "renewable resources" of far more value than a visit to Sea World. Restoration, forgiveness, grace, mercy, justice are just a few "renewable resources" that come to my mind this Monday morning.

• What a gift God gives us in that there is no brokenness in life that He cannot heal and restore!
• What a gift God give us and models for us in that forgiveness is always ready and available from our loving heavenly Father! He also calls us to have a ready store of forgiveness for others. We have - after all - received huge forgiveness so we should be ready and willing to forgive the much smaller offenses that come our way!
• What a gift God planned for and gives in that His grace (His favor and smile on us that we can never be good enough to earn but can receive as a free gift because of Jesus) comes in abundant supply over and over again!
• What a gift God gives us in His mercy! We deserve His anger and frown. Instead He gives us His Son to take our punishment (the death for our sin that we deserve to have to take for ourselves). Then His mercy is nenewable from moment to moment every time we stumble, every time we fall, every time we fail. We are all "screw-ups" in God's eyes, and He still loves and gives His mercy in new supply with the dawn of every day.
• What a gift God gives in his renewable justice! We all have hurts in life. We all want life to be fair. LIfe just isn't fair. That's a given. But the good news is that God extends both mercy and justice. God promises to fight our battles for us if we are part of His forever family! That's good news! He can and will do a much better job. He may be slower to work justice but, be sure, He will. It is His promise! God always keeps His promises!
• That's another "renewable resource" - God is always faithful! He does what He says He will do all the time and every time! Our hearts can take hope and comfort from knowing that God's restoration, forgiveness, grace, mercy and justice are only a prayer away and often just given even before we know our need!

If you're looking for restoration, forgiveness, grace, mercy and justice - both for your own heart and in your life as you relate to others - then the invitation (from God) is clear: "Come to Me ... I will give you rest"! (Matthew 11:28)

We Live in a Very Broken World!

How can a 7-year-old girl take a 10-month-old baby and "throw" her on the concrete floor not just once but at least twice killing the baby? What a horror! The answer in a sentence is that we live in a very, very broken world! People do dastardly things to themselves and each other. Sometimes the consequences are too terrible to contemplate.

This particular "news item" happened in my city. Pittsburgh is no more or less broken than any other place on earth. We are all broken. As some say ("Pittsburghese"), we all need fixed. Sin has broken us all. We are born broken and only get more broken as we live life unless God shows up. Only God can fix the broken places to make us stronger where we are broken.

This 7-year-old little girl might have thought in her child's mind that she would only shut the baby (Marcia Poston) up or perhaps she was angry and acted out. Whatever the reason, brokenness caused the problem and brokenness follows in grief and pain that will last for a lifetime.

A Restoration Church gathering in the South Hills of Pittsburgh wants to be a vehicle of God's restoring love, light and grace in our broken world. God is bringing us together to love Him more and to love each other more as we demonstrate to a watching world that God is all about restoration!

Korean Bananas and Jesus

My friend from China is moving to North Carolina from Pittsburgh. She is in the flurry of packing boxes galore. She told me this morning that she realized she has nine sets of china. Each piece needs to be packed with care. That's a LOT of pieces!

Then she told me about Korean bananas. She said there's a Korean saying: "Koreans always eat bad bananas." She explained that they always eat the most ripe bananas first. While they are eating over-ripe bananas, the others are also becoming over-ripe.

She applied the "Korean bananas" to her packing. She said she has been saving some of her china sets for something special rather than using them in the fear that some might be broken. She said, "I'm going to start using all my china and just enjoy it. What's the point of just leaving it on the shelf safe when life is so short?"

Jesus said something very similar and even more practical: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19 - 21)

It is a matter of perspective. Is our frame of reference here and now? OR do our eyes focus heavenward while we walk through life? Where and what do we treasure?

It becomes a matter of the heart. Simply put, "where your treasure is is where your heart is, too"!

If this world isn't our final destination, if we are just "passing through" on our way to God's Town (heaven), if we are really citizens (ultimately) of heaven - then our focus changes, our treasures change, our values are restored to where they should be! Jesus said it, "... where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Learning to treasure the right things is a process of restoration. It's not where our hearts naturally go! Our sinner hearts long to heap up treasures on this earth. When God begins His restoration in our hearts, then what we treasure changes. We can walk through life without all the "baggage" of stuff that makes us so weary and leaves us so empty. We may still have nine sets of china or whatever (tools, computer gadgets, whatever you value and stockpile) but we see those "treasures" differently.

Koreans don't have to eat bad bananas. The solution to eating bad bananas is making better choices. We don't have to hang onto all the stuff we accumulate and call treasure. We have to make better choices. In the end, it's the condition of our hearts that matters most!

REAL or "Impeccable"

"TO LIVE AN OUTSTANDING LIFE FOR JESUS CHRIST REQUIRES IMPECCABLE CHARACTER." (Jack Graham, Power Point email)

Jack Graham is the pastor of a mega-church in Dallas, Texas. His church has over 26,000 members according to his website. That's pretty impressive!

However, I think his premise is flawed. He draws his conclusion from the story of the first Christian martyr Stephen (Acts 6 - 7). It is true that in the process of sanctification (becoming more and more like Jesus as you and I walk with Him) that our character should become more and more like that of our Savior whose character was impeccable/flawless/perfect. It is also true from the account we have of Stephen in Acts that he was a man whose heart had been radically restored by Jesus Christ. He is described in Acts 6:5 & 8 as "full of faith and of the Holy Spirit" and "full of God's grace and power." It wasn't Stephen's character that was "impeccable." It was Stephen's Savior whose character was "impeccable." It was Jesus in Stephen that gave Stephen the courage to risk his life to proclaim God's truth (Acts 7:55 - 56)!

I believe the most compelling witness to God's restoration isn't "impeccable." It is the humble fellow-sinner who is willing to be honest and open about his or her own need for a Savior bigger than "all my (or your) sin." "Impeccable" is scary and beyond my reach! Living in the reality of God's restoring grace isn't either scary or beyond my reach - mostly because it's not about me and what I can do. It's all about Jesus and what He did on the cross and coming back from the dead! It's all about what Jesus can be and do with and through me!

What the world needs now is not more people trying to be "impeccable." What the world desperately needs now is people willing to step out and risk being real! It is a risk that may feel like dying. It's a risk that may involve sacrifice and pain. Being real hurts! But being real is what draws people to our Savior!

When we appear "impeccable," we are wearing a mask that needs to be ripped off for the sake of God's Kingdom. Only God can give us the courage to live real rather than trying to live "impeccable."

One of the most compelling examples of this kind of real living I have ever seen is Dr. Jack Miller. Jack is in heaven now. Jack learned over the process of his own heart restoration that it's risky to be real but worth the cost. God used Jack in incredible ways, but Jack wasn't impressive like most people count impressive. Jack was humble and simple. He wasn't a great speaker, but he led many people down the path to deeper faith just by being real. Jack boldly talked about his own flaws, and - in doing so - gave others the challenge to step out to boldly do the same for the sake of God's Kingdom.

This kind of real living flies in the face of all that our culture counts as significant. This kind of real living brings heart restoration for me (and you) and challenges others to come along on the journey.

I hope "living an outstanding life for Jesus Christ" doesn't require "impeccable character" because that leaves me in the dust of failure.

Being REAL is best described by the children's book The Velveteen Rabbit (written by Margery Williams):

"There was once a Velveteen Rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid. He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be; his coat was spotted brown and white, he had real thread whiskers, and his ears were lined with pink sateen. On Christmas morning, when he sat wedged in the top of the Boy's stocking, with a sprig of holly between his paws, the effect was charming.
There were other things in the stocking, nuts and oranges and a toy engine, and chocolate almonds and a clockwork mouse, but the Rabbit was quite the best of all. For at least two hours the Boy loved him, and then Aunts and Uncles came to dinner, and there was a great rustling of tissue paper and unwrapping of parcels, and in the excitement of looking at all the new presents the Velveteen Rabbit was forgotten.

For a long time he lived in the toy cupboard or on the nursery floor, and no one thought very much about him. He was naturally shy, and being only made of velveteen, some of the more expensive toys quite snubbed him. The mechanical toys were very superior, and looked down upon every one else; they were full of modern ideas, and pretended they were real. The model boat, who had lived through two seasons and lost most of his paint, caught the tone from them and never missed an opportunity of referring to his rigging in technical terms. The Rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn't know that real rabbits existed; he thought they were all stuffed with sawdust like himself, and he understood that sawdust was quite out-of-date and should never be mentioned in modern circles. Even Timothy, the jointed wooden lion, who was made by the disabled soldiers, and should have had broader views, put on airs and pretended he was connected with Government. Between them all the poor little Rabbit was made to feel himself very insignificant and commonplace, and the only person who was kind to him at all was the Skin Horse.

The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.""Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit. "Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt." "Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?" "It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become real. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.""I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled. "The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."

The Rabbit sighed. He thought it would be a long time before this magic called Real happened to him. He longed to become Real, to know what it felt like; and yet the idea of growing shabby and losing his eyes and whiskers was rather sad. He wished that he could become it without these uncomfortable things happening to him."


Jesus described this process of becoming real in slightly different terms: "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels - a plentiful harvest of new lives." (John 12:24, NLT) That's the way to having a "restoration heart" - being in the dirt, dying, risking while following Jesus! In the end, He's the only one who loves us enough to make us REAL! Just don't make the mistake of confusing REAL with impeccable! AND that's the reason A Restoration Church is gathering in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. We aren't "impeccable" but we want to be REAL!

Restoration: A Wild Week - Part 1

This has been an amazing week so far, and it's only Friday! On Sunday I was in Florida with family for the wedding of a special nephew. The wedding was over and we were all going home.

On Sunday I spent the entire afternoon looking for an apparently "non-existent" motel where I had a reservation confirmation. It was pretty incredible! Every drop-by, every phone call ended the same: "That's not our reservation number." or "No, we don't have a reservation tonight for Holmes." I had my notes from when I made the reservation, but still we came up empty. As the day grew later, we finally gave up. Our grandson suggested (all on his own initiative) that we take his room in their rental condo and he would sleep on the couch. That's where we finally crawled under the covers in the wee hours of Monday morning!

Monday bright and early - though not quite "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed" - we roused, dressed and hurried to Disney World to spend a number of hours with our son, wife and grandchildren doing the Disney thing. Our son and daughter-in-law should go into tour planning if their day jobs ever fall through. We kept up quite a pace, rode almost every ride (some more than once) and even managed a sit-down lunch before we hurried off to the airport to return home.

Then the fun really started! We had paper tickets which I thought had been charged against our AmX "membership reward points" - more on that later. The ticket agent had apparently never seen a paper ticket and wasn't even sure they were real. She fiddled with her computer, punched keys and finally said, "Where did you get these? - pointing to the tickets." After more than an hour standing there with her and eventually her supervisor (who also arrived with an attitude, having only heard one side of the story), we were dismissed with our luggage to carry on our own to the baggage check center. Meanwhile we learned that:

• the first airline "didn't talk" to the airline for the final flight that night (It was a two-part flight.)
• that we would have to recheck our luggage in Philly (which proved incorrect info and more on that later, too)
• that we could only get boarding passes to the first flight and would have to walk to the exact extreme end of the terminal to the "other airline" to get boarding passes for the second flight.
• and that I had made a serious mistake in booking the flight on two different airline and getting paper tickets. That certainly proved true! (And it cost over $30 to get the paper tickets FedX from Arizona.)

Another interesting detail is that the agent was holding both our paper tickets and our photo ID. At one point (and then again) she walked away from her station with both our tickets and ID out of our sight with no explanation for probably at least 15 minutes the first time and maybe 10 minutes the second time. I'm not sure that's legal, but I am certain that she should not have done so without informing me what she was doing.

Then when she came back the first time from wherever she went she very officiously informed me that we better not lose those paper tickets as we would have to pay full price all over again to get on the next plane if we lost them. Never mind that she had walked away out of sight with them already! I did calmly tell her that I thought we could handle that level of responsibility!

The pressure of all the paper ticket questions, boarding passes, walking away with our tickets and ID and even getting the luggage checked could have been defused with a single sentence from the first ticket agent. She didn't need to be familiar with paper tickets to know - and I am sure she did know from all her looking at her computer screen and punching buttons - that the first leg of our return flight on her airline was already being posted at the gate as delayed for more than five hours. That's all - just a simple sentence of info!

By the time she was going to walk away a second time to "see what she could find out about these tickets" (which she implied we must have produced or procured in some unusual or possibly illegal manner even to the point of telling me that I shouldn't have booked them through AmX and only through her airline), I was frustrated enough to say, "Well, hurry up! We are going to miss our flight!"

At that point, she stopped, folded her arms across her chest and said, "Don't you disrespect me or I won't help you at all!" I was stunned to silence! Whatever happened to customer service? Why didn't she just say we had time to sort this out due to the plane delay? Well, I guess that puts it back to customer SERVICE! And this was NON-customer service or worse!

Finally, we took our luggage to the checking point to put it into the system. The same ticket agent hurried up as we were trying to get the baggage check personnel to take our bags. They didn't want the bags because they didn't have proper routing stickers on them (which I already knew). The agent had some paper bar-coded stickers for routing she slapped on the side of each bag. Then they went into the system and we hurried to the other end of the ticketing terminal and secured boarding passes with the second airline for the second plane.

Now all that remained was getting through security with our carry-on bags and selves and getting to the gate. In the interest of hurrying the security inspection along, I had stuffed everything I possibly could into the checked luggage - BIG MISTAKE!

There was over an hour wait to get through the security lines. Still no one gave out the simple but significant information that our plane was on a 5-hour delay. That one piece of info would have made all the difference. We did finally get through security and without the hassle many others around us were experiencing with having their bags opened, inspected, personal items confiscated and disposed and even some who were having their bodies carefully inspected with various electronic gadgets.

After reading the news and seeing the news the following day about the guy they arrested in the same airport with all the necessary parts to make a bomb including full instructions - IN THE SAME AIRPORT, I have to wonder if that was part of all this picture as well. He hadn't shown up yet, but perhaps they were tipped off to his attempt to elude security. I'm just glad we were well back in PA by the time the "bomb guy" tried to get through security!

Of course, once we saw the posted 5-hour delay at the gate, the pace slowed considerably - slowed to stop and wait.

Finally we boarded the plane, took off and landed in another city. We went to the second gate in another terminal and waited again before boarding the second plane on the "other airline the first airline doesn't talk to"! All appeared normal as we pulled away from the gate and slowly moved back and began to taxi into take-off position. All of a sudden, the plane came to a complete stop on the tarmac. Finally the pilot spoke over the speaker system: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Pilot XYZ. We have not been cleared for take-off by air traffic control. Apparently the baggage people went home early today and failed to enter the weight of the baggage into our computer. We are attempting to get a weight for our on-board baggage so we can be cleared for take-off." We waited some more and then without explanation, the plane took off and landed in the second city.

Eventually we boarded the second plane (on the airline the first airline doesn't "talk to"), took off and finally landed back in Pittsburgh. The trip was over. ALL we needed to do was retrieve our checked luggage from the baggage carousel and meet the friend who was picking us up.

Only one small problem: the light and buzzer came on and the carousel revolved but only four pieces of luggage for an entire planeload of passengers came down the shute. NOW we understood: there was no baggage weight because there was no baggage! So now we got to stand in another line to get a claim file reference number so we could go home a see what would happen next!

The end of the story is that we did eventually receive our luggage intact. AND I certainly learned some VERY valuable lessons. I'm still sorting out exactly what they are but I can tell you they include more careful packing of checked luggage, more calculated travel plans including choosing airlines and connecting flights and even contemplation of never flying again! Of course, that punishes me as it precludes any overseas travel - at least until they build tunnels under the oceans which I don't expect in my lifetime.

Now today I get the "final" surprise: the American Express bill came and the tickets weren't charged against my "membership reward points" at all. They were charged to my AmX card for full price! That battle remains to be fought another day as this is Friday, but never fear - it will be fought! Amazing!

Where was God during all this? Where was my own heart? God was there: present and at work though clearly unseen and sometimes unfelt. My heart is another matter. I went from confident to frustrated to scared then harried and rushed to relieved to land at home only to discover we had no luggage. Because of all the "stuff" I chose to put in the checked luggage, I asked God to please find our luggage. I asked all my praying family and friends to pray with me.

God knew all along where the luggage was! No matter where it was, it was never out of His sight! God saw what happened at the first ticket agent's station, and He knew the rest of the story, too! Our tickets and photo ID's were never out of His sight! God knows what the result of the snafu with the tickets being charged in dollars rather than "AmX membership reward points" and He knows how it will all resolve. The problem is not with God! The problem is with my own heart: Can I trust him with things like suitcases and tickets and flight itineraries and even rude, difficult ticket agents? Can I trust Him with long lines and frustrations? In the end, it's a heart issue! I need Jesus every day to work in restoring ways in my heart because without His help I end up trying to muddle through on my own and then I get scared, frustrated, angry, more tired and all the rest.

So it's about restoration here in the South Hills. It's about restoration when we travel. It's about restoration when we are fearful, frustrated and whatever else AND God is still in the business of restoration. Jesus came to make us new from the inside out. It's a process. It may take longer and harder work for some than others - I happen to be a particular hard-core challenge apparently, but the promise is the same: "Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making His home with men and women! They're His people, He's their God. ... [Then God speaks:] Look! I'm making everything new!" (Rev. 21:4-5, The Message) It's God's sure promise, and He always keeps His word! Restoration is sure for all who give Him their hearts for Him to work at restoring!

Winter or Spring?

Yesterday I spent several hours in the frigid cold shoveling snow. I shoveled and the snow continued to come so before long, there was more snow to shovel. I started the day shoveling snow, and I ended the day shoveling snow.

I thought about spring. I saw my poor frozen daffodils who stuck their heads out too early this year.

C.S. Lewis wrote a story with a setting much like my garden at the moment. There is snow and ice everywhere. My daffodils who woke up too soon are frozen as they stand. The land where Lewis’ story is set is Narnia. Narnia is the land where it is “always winter but never Christmas.” The point is that Narnia is frozen in all that is hard and cold about winter with none of the celebration and joy.

Narnia is an imaginary land where we can learn many spiritual lessons. Narnia is a world frozen in the spell of evil (cast by the White Witch). The land and the creatures who live there are all under the Witch’s spell. Her grip is strong, and there is only one power who can break her spell.

Lewis describes what is needed to break the spell of evil over Narnia:

“Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.”

We don’t live in Narnia. We live in the real world where sin has left such a mark and evil has such a terrible choke-hold that wrongs seem right, winter seems forever, hearts are cold and sorrows last on and on.

But spring will come bursting from beneath the cold and snow even in Pittsburgh!

Spring can also come to my heart and yours long before the seasons change. Jesus comes to push back the evil in my own heart. Jesus comes to make wrongs right. Jesus breaks the choke-hold of sin on my heart. Jesus brings warming love and grace to my cold heart. Jesus is the Lord of restoration, and He is on the move!

Death in Baghdad Marketplaces - Death by Disability

On February 3, 2008 two women strolled through two different markets in Baghdad, Iraq. Many more people other than the two women were in these two markets that day, but these two were distinctive for several reasons. Postmortem examination of their bodies reveals that both had Down syndrome. Both also had bombs strapped to their bodies: one in a vest, the other in a backpack. They passed by security and evaded inspection because they were known to be local beggars. Also, because they were woman male security forces were reluctant to search them due to the restrictions of Islamic law.

Apparently people with disabilities often beg in Baghdad's markets so there was nothing particularly unusual about these two women except for the small but significant detail that they were both walking bombs. Apparently the bombs strapped to their bodies were detonated by remote control.

The women probbly didn't even know they were walking bombs. Like most Down syndrome people, they were most likely very compliant and sweet-natured so would be unlikely to process the danger both to themselves and others.

The markets targeted are interesting. One was a "pet market" and the other was a "pigeon market." Neither would logically cross the radar as targets for terrorists. That's the nature of this terrorist enemy - there is no value of life and the rules of engagement constantly change. The only thing that counts is accomplishing their terrorism goals. They strike in totally unexpected places and ways.

The total killed in the two bombings was close to 100 people with many more wounded. In the process, shops, stalls and wares were also destroyed. One commander on the ground reported that these particular bombings are a new "low" for al-Qaeda.

The devastating aftermath of these blasts stands in stark contrast to what God calls us to do and be in our own marketplaces. Rather than walking death, God calls us to be walking life (restoration) in a world gone mad. That only happens as God's restoring grace invades one heart at a time! Then restored hearts "stroll" through the marketplaces of our world spreading light and life rather than death and destruction. And that's precisely why there is a Restoration Church starting in the South Hills of Pittsburgh!

Hanging Out With Jesus!

Recently I heard someone "dropping names." The person was naming people he genuinely knew, but they were rich and famous and it grated on my ears to hear. That started me thinking: how did Jesus spend His time and who did He spend it with?
We know Jesus knew some pretty "rich and famous" people: Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea and even Jarius (ruler of the synagogue whose daughter died). Yet the only record we have of Jesus' contact with them is at night in the dark for Nicodemus, after Jesus died for Joseph and in a dire crisis for Jarius.
The rest of the time Jesus spent His days and nights with very ordinary people in a fairly local area. We know he grew up in the small hill town of Nazareth and worked as a common laborer in a carpenter's shop. From the Gospel accounts, we know he spent a lot of time in northern Galilee around Capernaum. He spent some time east of Jerusalem at Bethany with his friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus.
Think about it. Where did Jesus spend most of His time? What was He doing? Who did He hang around with? He hung around with the dirty (like lepers), the outcast (like a tax collector who was regarded as a traitor and a mad man who lived in a cemetery), the shunned (like the woman who had been bleeding for many years). His critics charged that He was a friend to sinners. Indeed He was!
I guess that's how I know there's hope for me! No matter what - Jesus is willing to hang out with me!
AND that's also how I know He can use me to build His kingdom. But I have to go where the dirty, outcast and shunned are because they will never come to me.
Those dirty outcasts who are shunned by society can spot a fake a mile off so I need to take my "being restored heart" with me so I can love them with the same love Jesus has for them.
Jesus put it very plainly, "When you give a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed ... " (Luke 14:12 - 14)
And that's exactly why there's a Restoration Church gathering in the South Hills of Pittsburgh - because that's exactly what Jesus would do and who He would invite!