I Have a Dream

Nov4

I keep having this recurring dream. No, it’s not the one where I show up at a college class I never even knew I had to find out there’s an exam I’ve never studied for. I haven’t had that one in awhile. In this one, I’m driving a car and coming up to a stop, and as hard as I push on that brake pedal, I cannot get the car to stop. It’s a very out-of-control feeling.

Out of control. Yep, that’s what it is alright. I’m a mother, watching my son become a man, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Not that I’m supposed to do anything about it. This is the way it’s supposed to be. But, take yesterday for example. We sent him off at 4:00 in the morning with about 100 people that I don’t know to a place we’ve never been to do something he’s never done before. Granted, the rest of the family would be meeting him there a few hours later, but still, the dream came.

Yesterday’s event was an Air Force Junior ROTC drill competition. Justin’s goal in life is to be an Air Force fighter pilot. It’s been my habit to thank active duty or retired military personnel for their service when I see them. Now, I do it with a bit of a tear in my eye as I think that someday in the not-too-distant future, that could be my son.

I’m having to release control, cut the ol’ apron strings, as they say. It started when he entered high school. Before that, he’d been under my watchful eye at our parent-involved private Christian school. When he started public high school, I felt like I was sending him into the lion’s den. He survived–even thrived–so this year wasn’t as tough. But I know that, in less than three short years, he’ll be leaving my little nest and I won’t have any control whatsoever.

Thank God that He’s still in control. And I can pray.

I know all my friends who have gone through this before are laughing at me–or maybe they’re nodding their heads in sympathy. That dream might come more and more often. And I’ve got two more kids to go after this one. *sigh* Those baby days were a lot easier than this. They are maybe not as physically exhausting, but emotionally, well, let’s just say I’m earning my gray hair.

I’m proud of the man he’s becoming. I pray that he seeks to stay close to God his entire life. That will make this letting go thing a lot easier on me, if I know he’s making good choices hand-in-hand with his Lord.

And it would be nice to hear “M’am, yes m’am!” around the house sometimes.

Thankful today for:

630. an extra hour’s sleep

631. sunshine with no sweating

632. pictures of fall in other places, because we have no color here

633. food when my stomach rumbles

634. the approaching holiday season

635. open doors

Once Upon a Time

Oct27

Last night, Morgan and I started watching the first season of the television show “Once Upon a Time.” The basic premise is that a black curse was cast upon all the inhabitants off a fairytale land wherein lived all the characters about which we grew up reading: Cinderella, Rumplestiltskin, Gepetto. Jiminy Cricket, etc. The main characters are Snow White and Prince Charming, who were the impetus for the curse from the evil queen in the first place. This curse threw everyone into this alternate, horrible world (ours), into a little town in Maine, where no one knows who they really are or remembers their past. If you ask them, it’s all kind of a blur.

There is one boy there, Henry, who knows that there is a curse, and he’s figured out who most everyone is. He was adopted as a newborn by the mayor of “Storybrooke,” who is actually the Evil Queen. It seems as though she knows who she is, but not entirely. In the fairytale world, Henry is the grandson of Snow White and Prince Charming, because their daughter–Henry’s birth mother, Emma–was saved from the curse by being hidden in an enchanted tree. But I don’t think his adoptive mother knows that. It was foretold by the evil Rumplestiltskin that Emma would be the only one to break the curse. She would, on her 28th birthday, come back and save them.

Which is what is happening in the series.

What struck me about this show is the spiritual parallels it draws. Whether these are intentional by the creators and writers of the show, I don’t know; but they are obvious to me.

We live in a world under a curse

We have no hope here; our only hope lies in the place we were meant to be

The evil one is constantly trying to thwart our efforts to break his stronghold

We don’t really know who we are until we find our identity in Christ

As followers of Jesus, our job is to help people discover their true identities–children of the King

Figuring out what is true and what is not can be difficult sometimes

We can change the world and lift the curse

Good always wins

We haven’t yet learned why the Evil Queen (Regina, in the town of Storybrooke) hated Snow White so much. She said she took something from her that was very important, but they haven’t yet–as of episode 5 of the first season–revealed what that something is. Unless I missed it, which is entirely possible.

Hope is very important. Henry, when asked by his psychologist (the Jiminy Cricket character, whom he sees because Regina wants this whole “town under a curse and she’s the evil queen” thing to be counseled out of his brain) why it’s so important that his theory about the curse is true, said “because this can’t be all there is.”

You’re right, Henry: This isn’t all there is.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going” (John 14:1-3, New International Version.)

Thankful today for:

624. a retreat for the men in my  household

625. girl time

626. just the outer bands of a hurricane affecting us

627. sleeping in

628. a day with no agenda

629. pumpkin puree

What Modern Technology Does For Prayers

Oct21

I have had the privilege more in the past couple of years, it seems, to pray for people I don’t know. I’m not just talking about general prayers for all the unsaved people in Asia or Africa, or all the people who were affected by the latest hurricane, tornado, earthquake, etc. I’m talking about specific prayers for individuals who have names and stories, but whom I’ve never met.

One of these people is a man named Greg. He and his wife are on staff, as we are, with Cru. I’ve never met them, but their story caught my attention. Nearly two years ago, Greg was the recipient of a new heart. I began praying for him after reading his story on our Campus Crusade for Christ women’s resource web page. Now, I receive email updates whenever there is something to report. Two years later, he’s had a couple of setbacks with his transplant, but he and his wife–and I who have been praying for him–are praising God for his new lease on life.

Another person I pray for is Anna, the adult daughter of a friend of mine. Ten months ago, Anna had her 7th baby. What they thought was going to be a routine delivery ended up being a nearly life-ending tragedy for Anna. I prayed often throughout the days for Anna and her family, that God would spare her. He saw fit to do so when every doctor attending her thought there was no chance. I rejoice with her family at her survival. She still struggles with repercussions, so  I still pray for her as her mom sends updates.

Then, just recently, I prayed for another friend of a friend whose newborn son was born without a trachea. My heart ached for this family who should have been celebrating the birth of their twin sons, but instead held vigil over their one who had little hope of survival. And though this baby outlived all expectations, God took him home just a few short months after his birth.

Currently, I am praying for the 13-year-old daughter of another family I don’t know personally, but they work at Cru headquarters, and we have mutual friends. When this young girl woke up from a routine endoscopy, she couldn’t remember anything; her mind was a total blank. What a weird and scary circumstance. I pray for her everyday, and I am thankful for daily updates that give me specifics.

What all these scenarios have in common, beside the fact that they involve committed followers of Jesus, is that I heard about these needs either via email, Facebook or an internet website. People literally all over the world could be praying for these people within minutes of a posting, whereas previous to these electronic avenues, that would not have been so immediately possible.

Take my sister’s little dog, Luna, for instance. My niece posted on Facebook that Luna had gotten lost a good distance from her home in Kirkland,Washington, and would we please pray for her? Immediately we started praying. We checked for updates and prayed every day. Finally, nearly a week later, I got a text from my niece: Luna has been found! Literally the minute Luna jumped into my sister’s arms, I knew about and could rejoice with her, tears blurring my eyes. And I hadn’t even met this dog. But she is important to my sister and her family, thus she is to me.

Is God different now that there’s an internet? No. But we have always known that prayer changes things. The ability to rally the troops all over the world to petition God for the needs of His saints is powerful. It’s a privilege to pray for these needs, and I’m thankful for the technology that allows me to know about these needs.

Thankful today for:

619. windows open all day

620. a profusion of pink roses

621. the Raiders on TV in Orlando, win or lose

622. companies that stand by their products

623. technology

Why Ants Don’t Like Humans

Oct18

Guest post by Morgan Reeves, age 10

One day, a woman was walking down the sidewalk when she dropped her fan. She didn’t feel it fall out of her hand, so she kept on walking, leaving the fan behind. The next day, a line of ants was walking down that same sidewalk and found the fan lying there. The ants wondered what it was. One of the ants decided to get a closer look.

“It’s rather pretty,” the ant said.

“And has lots of flowers!” said another. And in another minute, all the ants were talking about the beauty of the fan. Then they decided to take it home and make it a site-seeing place. All the ants in the entire area were awed over the amazing fan. Ants came from everywhere to see the fan because none of them had seen a fan or knew what it was. They called the fan “the flat garden,” which was the name that brought all the ants, because they had never in their life seen a flat garden.

One day, a little girl was alone, walking up and down the sidewalk, when she came across the fan.

“Oh, what a pretty fan!” she cried. She picked it up and looked at it. There wasn’t a single scratch or rip. She decided to take it home. An hour later, the ants found out that a human had taken their flat garden! They were angry, for they loved it very much. They all decided to spread the news that the flat garden was gone. Once they did, it spread out all over the world, and from then on, all but the black ants (who didn’t care) decided to bite every human they see. And that is why ants don’t like humans.

Thankful today for:

614. Creativity

615. open doors

616. a washing machine

617. for Morgan stepping out of her comfort zone this weekend

618. birdie toys

Never Give In

Oct11

Winston Churchill famously said, “Nevah give in, nevah, nevah, nevah. In nothing, great or small, large or petty. Nevah give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Nevah yield to force. Nevah yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

I’m a big baseball fan, (but then, you knew that already, didn’t you?). As an Oakland A’s fan, I’ve learned to never give up. During the regular season, the team had 14 walk-off wins. A walk-off is when the home team wins a game in their half of the 9th inning, or an extra inning, by way of a home run or hit that scores the winning run. The opposing pitcher then simply walks off the field, usually with head bowed, having given up the winning run. Last night, with their backs against the wall, the A’s did it again in the post season.

This team exemplifies the never-give-in attitude. Even with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning of a win-or-go-home game, facing purportedly one of the “best closers in the game,” one man got on. Then another. Then another. And finally the winning blow. We weren’t supposed to win. We were supposed to be swept in this series. We weren’t even supposed to make the playoffs, let alone win our division. But here we are, playing a decisive game 5 tonight against a Cy-Young-Award-winning pitcher who beat us in the first game.

Never give in.

Do we face opposition in daily life? When God has called us to be salt and light at work, do we face persecution?

The enemy is out there. His greatest desire is to wear us down and make us weary. It’s a long battle, but we must never give up.

The Apostle Paul said, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:9.10).

Serving others is tiring; every parent can agree with that statement. Every food service worker, every retail sales clerk, every teacher knows that doing things for others is exhausting, especially when you get no thanks in return.

Mother Teresa once said, “Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.” The trick is loving with God’s love, not out of our own strength. That will wear us down every time.

The A’s won last night on a team effort. One man couldn’t score three runs on his own: three guys had to get on before him.

We can’t win the battle against the enemy on our own–and I’m not talking about end-of-the-world battle. I’m talking about the victories we win every day when we allow God to rule in our hearts. To love like He loves, to serve like He serves. We must do it as a team. We need the encouragement of those who have gone before us, and of those battling with us now.

Let’s go, Oakland!

Let’s go, followers of Jesus!

Chris Tomlin has some encouragement on that subject. Enjoy. I Will Follow

Thankful today for:

609. fall colors in Colorado

610. music

611. walk-off wins

612. maid service

613. friends who share their breakfasts