On This Day...

On this day, July 24, 1866, Tennessee became the first state to be readmitted to the Union after the U.S. Civil War.


There are many things I love about my state. I love that we are known as "The Volunteer State" because of the record number of Tennessee men volunteering their "lives and...sacred honor" during the war of 1812. These same men were also noted for an uncommon bravery serving under General Andrew Jackson ("Old Hickory", also a Tennesseean) in the Battle of New Orleans - a strategic US victory in the war of 1812.

But the thing I love the most is that my state was the last to leave the Union, during the Civil War, and was the first to return to it, after the war was over. Say what you will about the War of Northern Aggression, about revisionist history, about the "real reasons" for the Civil War. I have heard both sides of the whole thing. My point is, unity is vital to the success of any endeavor.

It is true that to make a lasting peace, you sometimes have to fight a temporary war. I've seen this played out on the level of personal relationships, as well as the affairs of nations. But it is always the job of the strong and wise to be the last to break relationship, and the first to restore it, when the conditions for peace are met.

Last in leaving. First in putting the country back together. I so love Tennessee.

A Couple Hours of "Margin"

If you have not yet read Richard Swenson's book Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, please make some time to read it this summer. It could be the most important book you read this year.


Tim and I are hard workers, who often blur the lines between work and home. Ministry can tend to cross boundaries, and take over your life in places it shouldn't. There is an art to knowing which situations, people, and issues can be tended, or in fact should be tended, when we are trying to play checkers with our kids, or are out on a date, or even trying to finally go to bed at midnight. We do know how to say "no". We say no without guilt. And yet sometimes, the answer must be "yes." Since Tim can often be found legitimately working at the church building, or ministering during what should be considered our "down time", we snatch time for relaxation at what would be considered odd hours. Say, from 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock in the evening.


We terribly tempted fate yesterday. A big storm was brewing in our area, but we wanted to get out in the "Spam Can" - my name for the tiny Geo Tracker convertible we keep on hand for our jaunts to the mountains. After a long morning-into-afternoon spent tending to all the "must do's", Tim came home and peeled the vinyl top off of our little red car. We knew if the impending storm cut loose a moment too soon, we would be drenched. Somehow, that made it even more fun.


It was just two or three hours, not a minute more. But it was one of those brief interludes where time takes on an elastic quality - it had the effect of a whole day. Come with us, and see what "margin" can do for you!




The Spam Can!


Waiting for our Diet Cokes...


Crazy Convertible Hair...


Soup, Salad, Chips n' Salsa


Now Where To?


Ah yes, the lake...


See the storm coming? Time to head home!

It Is Everything, or Nothing At All

"He (God) never talked vague, idealistic gas. When He said, 'Be perfect,' He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder - in fact, it is impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad."


~C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, (1952)

Pastor Tim

Isn't he the CUTEST???

Holy Spirit, Shower Upon Me...

At the beginning of the growing season, I splurged on a handy-dandy, six-setting nozzle for my water hose. Pardon me, as I must breathlessly, with flushed cheek, exclaim that it has changed my gardening life forever! I'll never again be without this fantastic accessory.

I have found that every setting is important. Each satisfying "click" of the end of the nozzle, with its descriptive label, has a distinct use in the garden.

Isa 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden...

We are in a drought here in East Tennessee. And having thriving, well-watered gardens means a whole lot more than turning on a water hose, hooking your thumb on the opening for pressure-control, and "having at it". Various parts of the garden need various watering applications. Different plants need different watering technique. Sometimes the way a garden needs watering can be unique to the time of day. You don't want to throw water on everything in the heat of the afternoon sun.

And thus He waters me. Carefully. Thoughtfully. Thoroughly. Not too much (it runs off, not soaking my roots), not too little (I wither). Differently, each day. Sometimes a long drink. Other times, a quick, freshening mist. After all, He is the master-gardener, and I am His garden.

The other day, just for fun, I spun the dial on my handy-dandy, gidget-gadget water-nozzle-tool, and imagined each setting as a God-thing. What if....oh, what if....the Holy Spirit visited me, according to my need, and imparted to me:

a mist - ..."there went up a mist from the earth, refreshing the whole face of the ground..."

a shower - ...and there shall be showers of blessing....

a soaking - (in answer to prayer, ) "Gideon rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water."

a rinse - "wash me throughly from mine iniquity...

a bucket filler - "and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began speaking in tongues..."

a power wash (!) - "That he might sanctify and cleanse (the church) with the washing of water by the word..."

I went as far as my imagination dared, and still be within the boundaries of Biblical exegesis. I confess, watering my garden has never been a dull chore since!

A Reason-able God

Jas 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity.

A fitting subtitle to my post would be "The Call to Prayer". I'm sure James 3:17 has been used by some Bible teacher, somewhere, as a text for prayer, but I've never heard it done. All true wisdom comes from God, because God-in-Christ is the personification of Wisdom. Wisdom is a Person. Each word that can be used to describe heavenly wisdom, is also a sure adjective for God, as sure as you could describe me as having green eyes, small hands, and no tattoos. "The Sheila that comes from Tennessee is first a brunette, green-eyed, small hands, without tattoos or an expensive car."

"But the God that comes from above is first pure..." oh, His name is Holy! The next phrase that stops me in mid-breath is "open to reason".

"Come, let us reason together says the Lord."

"Test Me in this."

"Seek, and you'll find."

The perfect wisdom of God trumps my weak human reasoning every time, but still...He has no desire for monologue with me. He wants dialogue. He wants me to come reason with Him. He is open to hear my thoughts and questions - and in fact, that is the first step towards the aligning of my mind to His. If I'll just pray. If I'll just reason with Him. If I'll just speak to him without ambiguity, or insincerity.

I've been reading (again) the book "The Kneeling Christian". This book is an old classic, written by "An Unknown Christian". You just HAVE to love that. Somebody wanted not one penny of royalties from a book that has probably sold a half million copies by now.

Choice Bits:

Much secret prayer means much public power.

If God were to answer the words we repeated on our knees this morning, should we know it? Should we recognize the answer?

Why, the wonder is not that we pray so little, but that we can ever get up from our knees if we realize our own need; the needs of our home and our loved ones; the needs of our pastor and the church; the needs of our city....

When we stand with Christ in glory, looking o'er life's finished story, the most amazing feature of that life as it is looked back upon will be its prayerlessness.

What is prayer? It is a sign of spiritual life. I should as soon expect life in a dead man, as spiritual life in a prayerless soul. Our spirituality and our fruitfulness are always in proportion to the reality of our prayers.

Life's Little (and not-so-little) Messes

As much as I'd like to believe that I am one who follows through on my every task and committment, when I read the fine print of my days, I see much left unfinished. At point of fact, I could write a book, all of it in fine print, about things I've left undone - let's don't even include things I've done! I've made messes, big and small, some as a result of my doing, others a result of leaving important things undone. All my messes require clean-up. So do all of yours.

A few weeks ago, I was patrolling the house before leaving for church. Everyone else had left, finally, so I was the last to dash out the door, and lock up. Since someone usually ends up coming home with us, I wanted to make sure, for about the third time, that various rooms were as charming and trash-free as I had left them the last time I had checked them, probably a mere half an hour before.

To my distinct displeasure, I found a plate with crumbleys all over it, a glass with a half inch of milk in the bottom, and...of all things....an empty soda bottle. Where did it all come from, and who did it, and how did it materialize so quickly? I fell upon the mess, as a warrior to the battle. "In the Zone" does not begin to describe me, when I am intent on straightening up things. I'll automatically pour out Tim's tea before he is through, and put the glass in the dishwasher. I'll sweep around the feet of my family, while I dust the coffee table with the other hand, and put a stray book away with my toes. Honestly, all this is mostly mindless, and done without the first complaint. Ask any of my kids. I do it without realizing I am "working". I am almost always "working", and since that is the case, it is rather nice that 99% of it is hard-wired into my psyche, and thus doesn't bother me. I couldn't "not do it" if I tried.

This particular morning, however, I heard myself grumbling out loud to myself. I said, "I am so tired of following behind people in this house, cleaning up their mess."

It was then I experienced one of God's "suddenlies". Suddenly, He spoke. When He speaks suddenly, it cuts through the static. It arrests my attention.

He said: "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life."

No exaggeration, I hit my knees, right by the kitchen sink, and tears flowed in an instant. (How lovely to have been alone, just then, because I think I couldn't have NOT worshipped. Such divine wisdom, such understanding and love displayed to me could not have gone unacknowleged. I was late to church that day.)

I hadn't even realized that I'd been subconsciously toting a heavy load of "undone's" and "not-done-right's". I had left what I felt to be a few messes behind, figuratively speaking. I was in desperate need of a Father who loved me so much, He was willing to allow His goodness and mercy to come behind me and clean up. What is the mercy of God for, if it is not at the point of my need, the place of My Mess?

I wanted a God who was just that good, but I almost dared not believe it. That is a God too good to be true, in my graceless mind. A God so good to me, that sometimes He would not even punish me for an inadvertent mess. Surely His goodness and mercy would follow me, and simply clean it up. Oh, how many times has that happened, and I didn't even realize it? Just as not one member of my family would have realized that I cleaned up a mess for him or her that morning.

I certainly don't want to associate the beautiful, scandalous cross of Christ with a few breakfast crumbs. But facts are, the blood of Jesus covers it ALL - the large and the small messes. The cross is the only clean-up, the only solution. A mess is a mess is a mess, and small messes become life altering if left to accumulate.

Thank you, Jesus, for your goodness and mercy, following this mess called "Me"....all the days of my life. How I need You!