Proper egg placement

There’s just something fun about seeing kids hunt for their Easter eggs.  Of course, you sometimes have to separate the different age groups, since the two-year-olds need their eggs right where they can see them easily, and the eight-year-olds need them hidden with somewhat more ingenuity—like in places Mom finds a week later…but not with her eyes.

I remember doing the coloring egg thing with my kids, although I’m not sure how often that still goes on.  There’s so much fake stuff out there which makes it quite bit easier, plastic eggs and such.  If you trip and drop them, they don’t tend to break as easily, (and they don’t smell if they go unclaimed, a definite plus.)

Big Stick Faith

William Allen Rogers’s 1904 cartoon (Wikipedia)

Former U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt is famous for the phrase, “walk softly, and carry a big stick”.  It’s that idea of unarguable authority, and conveys the message that it would be in the opposing party’s best interest to rethink their own intentions before proceeding further. 

Which is something I see clearly in Judah’s good King Hezekiah and his encounter with the big political enemy of his day, Assyria.  It’s important to note that, in the middle of a longstanding family history of spiritual genocide, Hezekiah opts to follow God instead.  This decision, however, doesn’t exclude him (and his people) from the problems of the day, one of the biggest being the bully, King Sennacherib.

Seatbelt sign on

I’m writing this on the way out to California to visit our eldest and her family.  One thing about typing on a computer in a jet flying through turbulent weather is that I will at least be able to read this later.  Not quite so easy were I writing this longhand.  (Although, that challenge sometimes applies to my handwriting with my feet on terre firma also…)

We’re kinda intermittently bouncing around up here, which reminds me of the time I flew to the Big Apple by myself to see our youngest daughter’s first art show.  At that time, closing in on the airport brought us directly into the path of a thunder and lightning storm, reminiscent of the Midwest I had just left.  It was something out of the beginning of a Steven Spielberg movie; foreboding

More than tomatoes

I was interested in canning a long time ago.  I saw what one of my friends was doing to “put up” fresh tomatoes; talk about a LOT of work!  The boiling and peeling and grinding and washing and timing…

I’m not so much interested in doing it anymore.

But I’m still mightily impressed with the process and commitment of those who do their own food storage.  Back before the days of Walmart Superstores, if you wanted to feed your family, you either canned, or you didn’t eat very well after harvest season was over.  But, oh! what a feast you could provide for your family in the dead of winter with fruit preserves, canned vegetables, dried homemade noodles, and the potatoes snuggled in the nice, cool cellar.

Kind of makes me think of what Paul is trying to get at here with the people in Galatia.  When the apostle was writing this, these folks were under a serious attack in the form of (once again) legalism.  Let’s eat only these things and celebrate these certain days and keep these special regulations to get in good with God, and oh yeah, then there’s the Cross, let’s not forget that…

…except that Paul knew there was no such thing as a Cross-plus gospel.  The Cross plus not wearing makeup.  The Cross plus which day of the week you assemble for church.  The Cross plus not stepping inside a bar or a theatre or listening to that “devil rock music”.

“ But we refused to give in to them for a single moment. We wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you.”

The Truth of the Gospel.  THE Gospel.  The only good news that God provides for our acceptance by Him, and purely good new it is: the Cross and Resurrection…period. 

It’s not that I throw behavioral decisions to the wind of culture and narcissistic whims, far from it.  Rather, only in the preserving of (and subsequent feasting on) the true good news of God’s acceptance only through Christ can I have the wisdom to know HOW to behave in the ways that honestly please Him.

Whew!  What a relief.

But here’s the kicker—how crucial (pardon the wordplay) it is that I preserve this truth, not merely for myself, but for those around me!  Like my friend and her tomatoes, it takes skill, knowledge, passion, and persistence.  Thankfully, Paul had plenty of all four, not just for the Galatians, but for me as well.

And, oh, what a feast it provides.

Galatians 2:5  Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Feminism at its BEST! (or…makin’ dad proud,… again.)

I remember a brief conversation with my mother, probably back in the late 60’s; I was around 9 or 10.  She said to me, “Dawn, you can be ANYTHING you want to be, and you don’t even have to be just one thing—you can do more than that!”  I could grow up to be an engineer (like my dad) or a doctor, start my own business, wow. I was never really aware of any gender barriers, not in my family’s culture.  My orientation from youth was “the sky’s the limit!”  So what did I choose as my profession?

Nursing. (Duh.)

The word “feminism” carries different connotations for different individuals.  For example, there are some that get genuinely

Fit Bit, for your soul

Here’s another kudos and hats-off to Hollywood (yes, I actually do like some of their stuff).  I’m remembering the movie that came out many years ago called Mr. Holland’s Opus, and if you haven’t seen it, do.  Without spoilers, the storyline chronicles the young would-be professional musician who opts to teach high school band class while he works away on his dream job.

And, akin to most of us, life happens.

But surprisingly, something else transpires in the midst those life events.  Through his decisions to put first things first, purposefully setting his priorities on other than himself, his life and career are enriched in ways he never imagined. 

There.  I’ll leave it at that, since it’s enough to get where I want to go next—

There has been a push in our recent culture telling us

LESSON FROM THE ROSE

Once again, my friend, Oneta Hayes of Sweet Aroma, put out a beaute!  Lessons of quiet and profound simplicity come from her pen (keyboard??), and rather than any uninspired commentary on my part, I give you…

by Oneta Hayes

 

A rose grew by the garden path,

A child took a sniff, ran away with a laugh.

A short time later, a man walked by,

Smelled the rose and made a pleasant sigh.

 

Now, I’ll ask a question, if I may.

If the rose were sniffed by a hundred noses,

Would the rose lose its fragrance by the end of the day?

 

So, what is my lesson from the rose?

Jesus’ love suffers no loss,

No matter the number who partake at the cross.

In other words….

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

This FABULOUS photo was captured by Julie at I Sing Because I’m Free.  It reminds me that, low-tech or high-tech, ancient or “sophisticated” 21st century, we all must meet at the foot of the Cross.

 

Hebrews 13:8 Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Just sayin’…

Beware of Old ladies with B-I-G Bibles

Anger is not usually very pretty, but let’s face it, it can sometimes be quite entertaining.  Case in point:

…or maybe it’s just my skewed sense of humor….

It would be obvious to even the casual celestial alien observer that human anger frequently takes us by surprise.  And usually causes damage.  Sometimes irreparably so.   God says this about our wrath:

^“…for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

With that in mind, I’m disappointed in how God’s wrath takes such a bum rap in the Old Testament. His is seen through our very self-serving and self-centered interpretation, based on our own emotional responses.  This is likewise dangerous, because God’s anger is not