Again. Mitch.

Outrageous! (Unless, you know, it’s true)
Originally posted on The Power of Story, April 11, 2019 by Mitch Teemley:

I don’t know who created the above meme, but I love its irreverent reverence. In fact I even LOL’d when I read it (something I rarely do in polite circles). I mean, I’ve been called a liar from time to time, and never once did it mean, “Dude, you’re totally deluded, but you’re still a great moral teacher.” It meant, Run! Always. So, yeah…

Jesus’ claims are truly outrageous (read what he says about himself in the Gospel of John). Unless they’re true. And then, well, OK, they’re still outrageous, but they’re also the most wonderful news we’ll ever hear. Because it means our Creator loves us so much that he chose to personally save us from the most out-of-control, destructive force ever to emerge on our planet–us.

No way? Yahweh. Totally outrageous. Here’s what C. S. Lewis concluded:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

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Devices

“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Philippians 4:19, 20 (NIV)

Shining Forth

What a blessing to be out and about! With a little help from my friends, today I’m sharing images from Southeastern Washington:

Palouse Falls

 

Saddleback Mountain

“The Mighty One, God, the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to where it sets.
From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines forth.”

Psalm 50:1, 2

 

Images courtesy of J.K.Weatherby

Hit the Brakes

Is it just me or the is it the world around me?

This week we have some major factors working against one another:

• Time change – do NOT get me started on how ridiculous it is to continue this practice.
• Files disappear and then reappear again
• I gave up coffee – Patricia, you’d be proud of me.
• The back castors fell off my mobile, stand-up work station – they simply fell off within 24 hours of one another. Enter now the 2nd week of dialogue with Houzz customer service reps.
• Intermittently soggy socks now bring to our attention the fact that last summer’s repair work hasn’t entirely prevented melting snow from trickling across my kitchen and bathroom floors

And finally, with spring 8 (count them, eight) days away,

• We have an ice storm, followed by even more snow.

Yes folks, Snowmaggedon 2019 Hoodies are selling like hotcakes at Amazon.

So, finally finished dealing with customer service reps while stepping around my desk, I realized I had skipped right over my quiet time with God – a huge faux pas. This practice reminds me I’m not God – we know this because for years I tried to be God, only to prove I suck at it. That valuable life lesson cost me some twenty years of my youth, so I’m shocked when I slip back there again.

So, late into this morning I was feeling a little frustrated, isolated and, I admit, slightly neglected when not one response to this morning’s post appeared anywhere.

I grabbed the only cell device that was not charging and saw I hadn’t received the notification advising me about my most recent scheduled post…

This, friends, is why paper calendars can be problematic. Our phone calendars simply do not mislead us. At that point I was shamefully near panic mode, sprinting around the cottage in search of a pair of good glasses. Passing a mirror I realized I really must stop.

Just stop.

“I said, ‘You are my servant’;
I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.*”

Yep. I’d scheduled today’s post for tomorrow. What would have been today’s post is now rescheduled. So now I’m going to go make a snow angel. Or maybe something else that doesn’t require keying or more puddles.

The entirely silly point to sharing all this:

My life is good. I can slow down or stop without fear of hurting or harming anyone. And the world will keep going. God has this, so I needn’t try to control it. My loved ones are all well, I have food, a warm home, a car… I’m breathing deeply.

Peace, my friends!

*Isaiah 41:9(b)-10 (NIV)

For Cryin’ Out Loud

I don’t know how I managed to do it – yet again. I somehow pasted my first draft over my final text of Friday’s Soundings post and inadvertently posted the former instead. Those who use the phone app may understand my frustration.

MY POINT HERE BEING I enjoyed getting to the final so much I couldn’t bear to deprive readers, at the very least not the old cartoon clip halfway through. Besides, it’s Saturday and I rarely, if ever post on Saturday. So, for pity’s sake I posted it again below:

Commence snarky remarks. I sure would. As always, it stays between us.

Soundings

All day today sounds of spring either startled me or repeatedly distracted me from whatever I was doing.

EARLY THIS MORNING:

LATE THIS MORNING:

Today’s experience was brought to us by weeks of averaging low 30-something high temperatures with flurries and freezing overnight, and then today – temps rose to the mid 40’s with wind! By mid-morning snow and ice began melting – very quickly.

Suddenly there was frequent, unexpected banging of snow. That’s right, snow rudely pounding. Okay, snow, ice and icicles crashing to the ground – did I mention loudly? We’re talking great weights of compressed fluffy whiteness, layered with glistening, multi-colored ice, thundering against the exterior walls.

About the third time I had to detach my claws from the ceiling, I began to get annoyed.

That got me thinking about some of my attitudes and habits – the ones I usually wouldn’t notice. God forbid we settle for less than what He wants for us just because we’re set in our ways.

I’d gotten used to sliding around on the snow and ice and layering clothes to keep from freezing. So what if I likely spent an hour a day layering the bulky, cumbersome dressings on and off? And even with excellent treads on my boots I had to step very, very carefully, avoiding that whole gravity/lost-balance thing. Still, I had it all under control.

Like the way I adore cinnamon rolls with my coffee. Despite their high carbs and starches, mine are basically heart healthy – I reasoned – so I made them every day. For months. ‘Til my clothes no longer fit…

Still, I didn’t want to give them up. God had to force me to relate the extra weight to my painful hips and knees before I surrendered.

But today there were sounds of water steadily trickling onto hard surfaces and splattering against the walls. And bright sunshine!

Soon little stream-like waterways trickled along the slopes of the hundreds of yards of pea gravel that Cole had just begun to level as the snow began to fall.

Finally, droplets of water from the roof caught the mid-afternoon sun, creating a cascade of minuscule rainbows. At least the droplets appeared on camera, even if the rainbows didn’t.

Me being fifteen pounds lighter now, I couldn’t resist the sunshine any longer. For the sheer pleasure of it I stepped outside in my short shirt sleeves to take it all in and shoot the excitement around me.

Now, this is my kind of winter. Finally!

*

“Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.”

Romans 12:12 (NLT)

*Image and featured image courtesy ABSFreePic.com

Soundings

All day today sounds of spring either startled me or repeatedly distracted me from whatever I was doing.

EARLY THIS MORNING:

LATE THIS MORNING:

Today’s experience was brought to us by weeks of averaging low 30-something high temperatures with flurries and freezing overnight, and then today – temps rose to the mid 40’s with wind! By mid-morning snow and ice began melting – very quickly.

Suddenly there was frequent, unexpected banging of snow. That’s right, snow rudely pounding. Okay, snow, ice and icicles crashing to the ground – did I mention loudly? We’re talking great weights of compressed fluffy whiteness, layered with glistening, multi-colored ice, thundering against the exterior walls.

About the third time I had to detach my claws from the ceiling, I began to get annoyed.

That got me thinking about some of my attitudes and habits – the ones I usually wouldn’t notice. God forbid we settle for less than what He wants for us just because we’re set in our ways.

I’d gotten used to sliding around on the snow and ice and layering clothes to keep from freezing. So what if I likely spent an hour a day layering the bulky, cumbersome dressings on and off? And even with excellent treads on my boots I had to step very, very carefully, avoiding that whole gravity/lost-balance thing. Still, I had it all under control.

Like the way I adore cinnamon rolls with my coffee. Despite their high carbs and starches, mine are basically heart healthy – I reasoned – so I made them every day. For months. ‘Til my clothes no longer fit…

Still, I didn’t want to give them up. God had to force me to relate the extra weight to my painful hips and knees before I surrendered.

But today there were sounds of water steadily trickling onto hard surfaces and splattering against the walls. And bright sunshine!

Soon little stream-like waterways trickled along the slopes of the hundreds of yards of pea gravel that Cole had just begun to level as the snow began to fall.

Finally, droplets of water from the roof caught the mid-afternoon sun, creating a cascade of minuscule rainbows. At least the droplets appeared on camera, even if the rainbows didn’t.

Me being fifteen pounds lighter now, I couldn’t resist the sunshine any longer. For the sheer pleasure of it I stepped outside in my short shirt sleeves to take it all in and shoot the excitement around me.

Now, this is my kind of winter. Finally!

*

“Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.”

Romans 12:12 (NLT)

*Image courtesy ABSFreePic.com

Shout Out

More than anything else I want to live so that people see God’s hand all over my life, not just that I’ve survived this long.

So when somebody recently said to me (again), “You wouldn’t know anything about suffering (hardship, pain, fill-in-the-blank…),” I simply replied, “Maybe not. You tell me about it.”

The fact is my history includes so many tragic situations and hardships some might doubt my story’s validity. So much happening to one person in one lifetime… I needn’t exaggerate for dramatic affect. Neither do my siblings. Bottom line, we actually do know about suffering.

And we know about overcoming.

More important, we not only survived, but God worked it all for good. My life doesn’t compare to Paul’s. But I learned early on in my Christian walk, by studying the apostle, to cry out with prayer and praise during the worst situations.

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.”*

Somehow my situations always got better too. Sometimes they got worse first, but God always turned it all around for good.

Multiply that times infinite numbers of people crying out every day.

Horrifying events are happening in our nation and in our global community. Still, I thank God for my experience. I learned when things seem to be at their worst, when there’s no way for things to be good, God is a way maker.

“Do not be overcome by evil,

but overcome evil with good.”

Romans 12:21 (NIV)

Image courtesy Pixabay

*For the whole story see BibleGateway Book of Acts 16:16-40

More Than a Walk

Stepping out from my warm cottage the temperature changes were exhilarating. Looking up at the buildings as I passed, I shivered, but not from the cold.

When the weather warmed up and then cooled again large, ominous icicles formed. After it warmed again the snow cover began sliding down and some of the frozen daggers began randomly dropping.

As I walked I imagined cold, heartless creatures silently creeping after me.

Then I realized the frozen bars were a covert plot to imprison me within the darkness indoors.

I felt the cold and gloom pursuing me. My plans, hopes and aspirations began to appear insignificant, worthless. Even the sunshine seemed like a distant memory.

But looking up on my mid-morning stroll God’s beautiful heavens assured me the malefactors were only in my mind.

I am a child of the Light. God rescued me from the shadows long ago.

Together we banished the mood.

As we returned to my comfy home, above the crashes I heard His voice stirring a breeze, whispering, “Hear it? Spring is coming…”

“Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.”

Psalm 139:7-12 (NKJV)

On Love

 

I believe in living by example; doing everything in such a way that what I believe is clear to all. Even when people misconstrue or they just don’t get it, God does.

I believe Jesus said it best:

“So now I am giving you a new commandment. Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.” John 13:34 (NLT)

Trust

As winter drags on:

 

Image (c) 2018 RapturePractice! Publications