Not a good day today - up before crack of dawn to drive an hour to school - teaching 6 Latin classes - started home with list of PO stop, bank, grocery, library, etc. First stop: PO. Last stop: PO! Mailed bill pay envelopes but car didn't even yawn when I decided to proceed down my list. Call AAA ONLY my cell phone was also out of juice SO - good thing the PO person likes me because I had to "borrow" the PO phone to call AAA and dial a friend to pick me up.
Didn't know they start dead batteries these days with a neat little portable gizmo that zaps the battery and starts it right up! That's a good thing as it shows my inexperience with dead batteries!
AND so it goes .........
Feeling like I might want to trade lives with someone ONLY then I read an email from two friends: one has two special needs kids (one with hemophilia) and that child is in crisis right now; the other is expecting a child with Trisomy 13 - a more than difficult path!
Suddenly dead phones and batteries don't seem so big! Nothing like shining the light of perspective on any problem!
Helps me to see this world through different eyes AND, hopefully, with a different heart!
Let me see this world, dear Lord, as though I were looking through Your eyes.
A world of men who don't want You Lord, but a world for which You died.
Let me kneel with You in the garden, Blur my eyes with tears of agony;
For if once I could see this world the way You see, I just know I'd serve You more faithfully.
Let me see this world, dear Lord, through Your eyes when men mock Your holy name.
When they beat You and spat upon You, Lord, let me love them
as You loved them just the same.
Let me stand high above my petty problems, and grieve for men, hell bound eternally;
For if once I could see this world the way You see, I just know I'd serve You more faithfully.
"Looking Through His Eyes" - Words and music by Mike Otto arranged by David T. Clydesdale;
copyright 1979 by John T. Benson Publishing Company
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Special Needs Parenting and "Heart Trouble"
Parents of children with special needs seem to endlessly be walking into
trouble. Whether it's the crisis of a hospital stay, troubles with treatments
or challenges with school, the stress never seems to end. Even daily life can
be a trial that most others will never understand. We are sleep deprived,
financially stretched, socially outcast, verbally assaulted, harassed by doctors
and insurance companies. Most days, merely by getting out of bed, we're heading
into some sort of unique situation that requires creative problem-solving or
teamwork. As we reflect this week on the One who gives us hope, will we set our
face like flint and walk holding His hand through our troubles? He has more
than proven Himself more than worthy of our full trust!With every trial
we face, we can ask ourselves, Will I let it be wasted or will I let this
heartache serve an eternal purpose? Granted, we are imperfect, sinful humans.
But will we, in the final analysis, be able to look back at our challenges and
say, I let the One who calmed the wind and the waves get me through them! What
a blessing it is when we can know for certain that our suffering was not in
vain! And each difficulty we come through with God's help allows us to set our
face like flint for the next one. If He's seen us through before, He will
again.It's a lighthearted stress-release to roll our eyes and wish
ourselves to be on a beach eating bonbons while enjoying tropical breezes. As
long as it's a humorous coping mechanism and not a permanent detour to an
attitude of bitter entitlement, it's okay. Venting to a trusted friend or being
comforted by loved ones is a healthy way to deal with things. But our goal
should be to become like Jesus in ever-increasing measure, knowing that we can
do everything through Him because He gives us the strength. (See 2 Corinthians
3:18 & Philippians 4:13)As you go through these final days before
Easter, quiet yourself and notice how Jesus faced His certain death head-on.
Sit in admiration of His unmatched courage. Soak in the overwhelming gratitude
that rolls over you as you consider what He did for you. And renew your
commitment to follow the Savior who was undaunted by even the most horrendous
adversity. With what He faced, is there anything that He cannot help you to
face?
This blog post by my friend Barb Dittrich of Snappin' Ministries says what's in my heart as huge for this Easter week and always! You can read Barb's blog daily at http://comfortinthemidstofchaos.blogspot.com/2012/04/facing-trouble-head-on-lenten.html?spref=tw
trouble. Whether it's the crisis of a hospital stay, troubles with treatments
or challenges with school, the stress never seems to end. Even daily life can
be a trial that most others will never understand. We are sleep deprived,
financially stretched, socially outcast, verbally assaulted, harassed by doctors
and insurance companies. Most days, merely by getting out of bed, we're heading
into some sort of unique situation that requires creative problem-solving or
teamwork. As we reflect this week on the One who gives us hope, will we set our
face like flint and walk holding His hand through our troubles? He has more
than proven Himself more than worthy of our full trust!With every trial
we face, we can ask ourselves, Will I let it be wasted or will I let this
heartache serve an eternal purpose? Granted, we are imperfect, sinful humans.
But will we, in the final analysis, be able to look back at our challenges and
say, I let the One who calmed the wind and the waves get me through them! What
a blessing it is when we can know for certain that our suffering was not in
vain! And each difficulty we come through with God's help allows us to set our
face like flint for the next one. If He's seen us through before, He will
again.It's a lighthearted stress-release to roll our eyes and wish
ourselves to be on a beach eating bonbons while enjoying tropical breezes. As
long as it's a humorous coping mechanism and not a permanent detour to an
attitude of bitter entitlement, it's okay. Venting to a trusted friend or being
comforted by loved ones is a healthy way to deal with things. But our goal
should be to become like Jesus in ever-increasing measure, knowing that we can
do everything through Him because He gives us the strength. (See 2 Corinthians
3:18 & Philippians 4:13)As you go through these final days before
Easter, quiet yourself and notice how Jesus faced His certain death head-on.
Sit in admiration of His unmatched courage. Soak in the overwhelming gratitude
that rolls over you as you consider what He did for you. And renew your
commitment to follow the Savior who was undaunted by even the most horrendous
adversity. With what He faced, is there anything that He cannot help you to
face?
This blog post by my friend Barb Dittrich of Snappin' Ministries says what's in my heart as huge for this Easter week and always! You can read Barb's blog daily at http://comfortinthemidstofchaos.blogspot.com/2012/04/facing-trouble-head-on-lenten.html?spref=tw
Monday, April 2, 2012
Parade of Triumph in Ancient Rome
Hardly the place to find a connect with Scripture - Latin class - but the history reading for this week is on the grand parades Roman conquerors had when they came back to Rome after some stunning victory.
Reading about this Roman custom is very instructive to understanding - actually with new eyes - 2 Corinthians 2:14. Paul says, "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, ..."
In this Easter week it's way cool to reflect on some of the words in my Latin text as they are hauntingly reminiscent of the passion of Christ!
Reading about this Roman custom is very instructive to understanding - actually with new eyes - 2 Corinthians 2:14. Paul says, "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, ..."
In this Easter week it's way cool to reflect on some of the words in my Latin text as they are hauntingly reminiscent of the passion of Christ!
- One of the most sensational events ... in ancient Rome was the triumph of a victorious general. This was not an honor which could easily be won. ... He must have conquered in person ...and added new territory to the empire.
- Wow! - Isn't that exactly what Jesus did from His cross and from His tomb?!
- The conquering Roman general paraded his captives just as we also are trophies of His grace who become willing bond-servants of Jesus the King!
- Jesus' victory over sin, death and the grave were won at great cost to the Savior and to the Father who had to turn His back on His beloved Son - all because He bore our sins!
Isn't it amazing how God can use even the "foolish things of this world" to teach us heavenly truths that will sink deeply into our hearts?!
Monday, March 26, 2012
The Color Purple
Purple is My Favorite Color!
In 1982 The Color Purple was a new novel. It dealt with being a black female in the South. This is where my discussion of the novel, film and subsequent musical ends!
HOWEVER, the color purple has always been my favorite color! It was my grandmother's favorite color and perhaps that is one reason purple first caught my attention as a color of choice but I have always loved the color! In my grammar school days I even had a room with purple walls - well, lavendar, I guess! The many colors available today just weren't then.
Today I was reading on Twitter and discovered what I may have known and let pass right on through my brain - or not known at all - that purple is the color for epilepsy awareness! Apparently today is International Purple Day (with a play off the color International orange - an attempt to raise awareness about epilepsy.
Several of my Twitter friends are urging everyone to wear purple March 26th to commemorate this international day to raise awareness about epilepsy. I probably will - because I usually wear purple in one shade or another just about every day! I am totally for raising awareness about epilepsy. I remember well the first time I ever witnessed a person having a seizure. It was in school. It was scary for everyone and very humiliating for the boy who had the seizure.
There are good and bad aspects to the openness of our culture in 2012. Mostly it is a good thing to talk openly,to understand better, to accept others who are different but sometimes not so much!
One summer Sunday morning in a small church in Virginia a missionary family (Mom, Dad and at least four kids) gave a presentation about their work and ministry in Africa. I have known many missionaries but their presentation was very refreshing, real and a different perspective than I had ever heard so it caught my attention. Actually it shifted my paradigm about cultural differences and many differences in general!
Each person in the family had a little memorized sentence and then the entire family quoted the "refrain" in unison. One said (something like), "In America we get hamburgers, cheeseburgers and french fries at McDonalds; In Africa we don't have McDonalds, hamburgers or french fries." Then they all said, "It's not better or worse; it's just different!" Then another person would make a comparison between life in America and life in Africa like "In America we wash our clothes in
a washing machine; in Africa we wash our clothes on the river bank." [I don't remember the specifics they gave so I'm making these up.] "It's not better or worse; It's just different!"
And THAT, my friend, is exactly how we should treat people we meet and know who are different for whatever reason or in whatever way! We should see them as not better or worse but just different! It goes a LONG way toward building bridges to connect us rather than
divide us!
The BIGGEST reason to build connecting bridges is the "two-year-old answer"! Do you know the "two-year-old answer"? It's the answer any self-respecting two-year-old gives his Sunday School teacher to any and every question asked: "Jesus!" Jesus was and is the biggest bridge builder ever! He spent all his time in ministry on earth building bridges. He built bridges between sinners and the Savior, between Jews and Gentiles through Himself and His cross. He built bridges between disability and ability and through His healing miracles actually made a way for some to walk across from disability to ability!
Because of the Gospel record we know that Jesus healed people with epilepsy. I won't go so far as to presume that Jesus would wear purple today, but I am absolutely certain that His heart of love reaches out to every person afflicted with the disease of epilepsy because He always cares about brokenness in all its forms. He came to redeem all the brokenness sin brought into our world - including epilepsy. The day when He makes all things new (still in the future) will be the day all brokenness is restored to wholeness but - in the meantime - He reaches out to all who are broken and burdened who come to Him! He even seeks all who are broken and burdened to bring His love and healing touch into their brokenness!
Part 2 of about Purple, Disability and Epilepsy tomorrow ............
In 1982 The Color Purple was a new novel. It dealt with being a black female in the South. This is where my discussion of the novel, film and subsequent musical ends!
HOWEVER, the color purple has always been my favorite color! It was my grandmother's favorite color and perhaps that is one reason purple first caught my attention as a color of choice but I have always loved the color! In my grammar school days I even had a room with purple walls - well, lavendar, I guess! The many colors available today just weren't then.
Today I was reading on Twitter and discovered what I may have known and let pass right on through my brain - or not known at all - that purple is the color for epilepsy awareness! Apparently today is International Purple Day (with a play off the color International orange - an attempt to raise awareness about epilepsy.
Several of my Twitter friends are urging everyone to wear purple March 26th to commemorate this international day to raise awareness about epilepsy. I probably will - because I usually wear purple in one shade or another just about every day! I am totally for raising awareness about epilepsy. I remember well the first time I ever witnessed a person having a seizure. It was in school. It was scary for everyone and very humiliating for the boy who had the seizure.
There are good and bad aspects to the openness of our culture in 2012. Mostly it is a good thing to talk openly,to understand better, to accept others who are different but sometimes not so much!
One summer Sunday morning in a small church in Virginia a missionary family (Mom, Dad and at least four kids) gave a presentation about their work and ministry in Africa. I have known many missionaries but their presentation was very refreshing, real and a different perspective than I had ever heard so it caught my attention. Actually it shifted my paradigm about cultural differences and many differences in general!
Each person in the family had a little memorized sentence and then the entire family quoted the "refrain" in unison. One said (something like), "In America we get hamburgers, cheeseburgers and french fries at McDonalds; In Africa we don't have McDonalds, hamburgers or french fries." Then they all said, "It's not better or worse; it's just different!" Then another person would make a comparison between life in America and life in Africa like "In America we wash our clothes in
a washing machine; in Africa we wash our clothes on the river bank." [I don't remember the specifics they gave so I'm making these up.] "It's not better or worse; It's just different!"
And THAT, my friend, is exactly how we should treat people we meet and know who are different for whatever reason or in whatever way! We should see them as not better or worse but just different! It goes a LONG way toward building bridges to connect us rather than
divide us!
The BIGGEST reason to build connecting bridges is the "two-year-old answer"! Do you know the "two-year-old answer"? It's the answer any self-respecting two-year-old gives his Sunday School teacher to any and every question asked: "Jesus!" Jesus was and is the biggest bridge builder ever! He spent all his time in ministry on earth building bridges. He built bridges between sinners and the Savior, between Jews and Gentiles through Himself and His cross. He built bridges between disability and ability and through His healing miracles actually made a way for some to walk across from disability to ability!
Because of the Gospel record we know that Jesus healed people with epilepsy. I won't go so far as to presume that Jesus would wear purple today, but I am absolutely certain that His heart of love reaches out to every person afflicted with the disease of epilepsy because He always cares about brokenness in all its forms. He came to redeem all the brokenness sin brought into our world - including epilepsy. The day when He makes all things new (still in the future) will be the day all brokenness is restored to wholeness but - in the meantime - He reaches out to all who are broken and burdened who come to Him! He even seeks all who are broken and burdened to bring His love and healing touch into their brokenness!
Part 2 of about Purple, Disability and Epilepsy tomorrow ............
Friday, March 23, 2012
Broken Can Be a Good Thing!
“Christ is building His kingdom with earth's broken things. Men want only the strong, the successful, the victorious, the unbroken, in building their kingdoms; but God is the God of the unsuccessful, of those who have failed. Heaven is filling with earth's broken lives, and there is no bruised reed that Christ cannot take and restore to glorious blessedness and beauty. He can take the life crushed by pain or sorrow and make it into a harp whose music shall be all praise. He can lift earth's saddest failure up to heaven's glory.” --J.R. Miller
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Celebrate Vania!
March 21st is World Down Syndrome Day. It's one thing to acknowledge a special day for special people! BUT it's quite another thing to celebrate a particular person who is in your heart!
Here's to our Vania! We love you!
Here's to our Vania! We love you!
Saturday, March 17, 2012
St. Patrick and Ministry and Faithfulness
"I am Patrick, yes - a sinner and indeed untaught; yet I am established here in Ireland where I profess myself bishop. I am certain in my heart that "all that I am," I have received from God. So I live among barbarous tribes, a stranger and exile for the love of God." --St. Patrick
He doesn't stand alone in the long line of saints stretching through the ages of history since time began. Others too have lived among barbarous tribes, a stranger and exile FOR the love of God! The honor roll of the faithful in Hebrews 11 concludes with a description that includes many unnamed saints:
And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell ... who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received bck their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. they went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated - the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. --Hebrews 11:32-40
AND ALL will stand in a great throng before the throne and before the risen Lamb of God - all of these (and some of we) who have also been exiles and strangers for the love of God! It is quite a calling - not always easy, often misunderstood but with benefits that are both out-of-this-world and priceless!
He doesn't stand alone in the long line of saints stretching through the ages of history since time began. Others too have lived among barbarous tribes, a stranger and exile FOR the love of God! The honor roll of the faithful in Hebrews 11 concludes with a description that includes many unnamed saints:
And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell ... who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received bck their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. they went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated - the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. --Hebrews 11:32-40
AND ALL will stand in a great throng before the throne and before the risen Lamb of God - all of these (and some of we) who have also been exiles and strangers for the love of God! It is quite a calling - not always easy, often misunderstood but with benefits that are both out-of-this-world and priceless!
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