I Dedicate This Blog To Justin...

Justin, lover of cheese.



I ran across a quote in my art book/slash/ calendar. The quote yanked a huge grin out of me, which was a necessary and medicinal thing, seeing as my youngest son and I had a bit of a row over his grammar lessons this morning.



This lovely book is entitled The Year in Art, and each day features a painting to the right of the two page spread, and a quote to the left. Today's painting is Breakfast Piece, by Floris Van Dyck:



The quote is GK Chesterton (wouldn't you know it?) :


"The poets are mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese."



My friend Justin (my daughter Hannah's long-time boyfriend, Godly man, high achiever, and - Tim and I speculate - her future spouse...no pressure, Justin...) has the soul of a warrior-poet, and is also an avid cheese lover. I trust he shall remedy this situation forthwith.

Please see Justin's blog, "Equipped For Battle", when you have time to go lolly-blogging. You'll find his link under "My Favorite Blogs".

We're the Jet Set...

Tim and I are part of the "jet set", but it's not what you think. I truly believe that those who reach their forties and fifties, who have nearly-grown children living at home, and who still manage to have a vibrant love life - those people are the elite. They belong to a band and a brand of married couple nearly vanished from this planet.

It is rather like being a member of the "Mile High Club".

And if you don't know what that means....just nevermind. Or go ask your mom.

To claim a happy, healthy love life in this stage of the game is a stunning admission. But I have to raise my hand and confess to it - and it is no less rare than belonging to that fabled "Mile High Club".

So yeah, I'm part of the "jet set". It takes the same amount of bold, same amount of brass, same amount of stealth, same amount of sneaky to pull it off. Those of you with more than one teenager (or twenty-something) living at home...you know it.

Timothy, my love, I raise my glass and propose a toast....

"To us!"

(zoom, zoom)

PS. Yes, I am a Christian. Yes, I am referring to sex. God thought of it first.

In the Red Zone

Are you in the "Red Zone"? You need know it, if you are. You need to learn how to play through the pressure. You are "this close" to your objective. The opposition becomes close and personal. This season of life has come down to these few yards - some single decision or diagnosis or dilemma, or simply a series of final months or days between you and your outcome. You either play it all the way through, or quit and exit the field. There is no room left for your enemies - always more than one - to put any distance between them and you, so you can now see the very whites of their eyes. Every play counts, every down counts, every breath you draw counts.

Yeah...I'm a football fan. I see a lot of metaphors in the game.

I heard something today that gave me pause. A well-known commentator, and a former football player himself, said, "When you get to the Red Zone, it becomes all about attitude. The Red Zone is a mindset. The best plays, the cleverest plans, won't do a thing for you. You need a play. You need a plan. But more often than not, you end up having to trash it, because the Red Zone is an emergency. You have to be determined to break through, by any means. Any team without this determination will fail in the Red Zone."

Where, in life, are you "this close"? Are you about to graduate from college? Very close to graduating your last child from high school? Is the wedding a mere week away? Is the chemo almost over? The project near completion? Is your job about to take a turn for the better? Is your career one achievement away from taking off? Is that prodigal just one year away from coming home? (I can smell the BBQ already...and you'd better invite me to the party!)

Don't stop praying. Don't stop believing God. By any means, just don't stop what you are doing.

Life in the Red Zone is no longer so much about well-laid plans, as it is about being determined to break through and finish what was begun. It is the most physical, most draining, yet also the most exhilarating and exciting part. Dig in. Set your face like a flint. Move forward, no matter what.

The only thing worse than quitting in the Red Zone, would be to not know you are in it.

"Yet...!"

Everyone has read the quote by Mother Theresa, "The Lord has not called me to be successful, He has called me to be faithful."

And we nod our head in agreement...until we are seemingly unsuccessful. Then, we wonder what went wrong, what did we do wrong, and where is God in all this? Dark discouragement threatens our spiritual health, as we examine every aspect of our existence, searching for solutions to this problem - for an explanation for this unexpected turn of events.

After all, if we do our part, isn't God obligated to do His? Underneath all the Christian-speak about trusting in God, isn't life a pretty predictable series of acts of obedience, followed by the goal of good results? Sure, we may encounter temporary set-backs, even a catastrophe here and there, but shouldn't the end result turn out to be the one for which we aim? What is trusting in God for, if not to grant success to us when we are obedient to Him?

To put it succinctly: no. Trusting in the Lord pleases Him. That is the goal. The goal, ultimately, is simply to one day hear, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

It is hard to stare perceived failure in the eye. It can be devastating to look back on years of work, even decades of obedience to God, with little to show for it, to the eyes of watching men.

But I have a word for you, wherever you are. Whether you have been faithful in the ministry, only to see hardship - or worked your heart out for years in your own business, only to see it go under - whether you have been honest and upright in a relationship, only to be mistreated, or circumspect with your finances, only to see hard times; whether you have been obedient to raise your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, only for them to demand all you had to give, and leave you and your God - whether you have diligently poured out your best years to your local church, only to be betrayed....what if I told you that your obedience-for-the-sake-of-obedience is beautiful in the eyes of the Lord? What if God Himself told you that?

He has already told you, when He told Isaiah. Listen to Isaiah's broken heart:

Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain... (Is. 49:4)

"All this work, for nothing. I've exhausted myself to no avail. Decades of faithfully prophesying the word of the Lord - and no revival. No results."

..yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my reward with my God.

Here comes the best part, the healing part ~

And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant...Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.

And thus saith the Lord to you. "Yet." Oh, yet! Not just "yet", but "yet surely." Yet surely as He knows your name, you are beautiful in the eyes of your Father, and He promises to strengthen you.

Life is not a predictable series of acts of obedience followed by sure and immediate and perfect results. Sometimes, we do all we know to do, and "Israel is not gathered". Cry your tears, beloved, and then dry them, because outward success was never to be your goal.

Your goal is to be glorious...honourable...distinguished...important and successful in the eyes of the Lord.

And yet you shall be.

An Arrow Into Cambodia

As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. (Ps. 127: 4,5)

My daugter Sarah is an arrow in our quiver, and her father and I have "shot" her into the heart of Cambodia for the second time. The beautiful thing about this is that we do not have to go there ourselves to have an impact in Kamput, Cambodia - though it is likely Tim will be making a trip in 2009. (I will be here, "staying by the stuff", home schooling our youngest. I have clearly heard the Lord telling me to not slack on one mission, in an attempt to prematurely fulfill another. I will accompany my husband on mission trips when my season for that comes.)

How gracious of the Lord to reveal to me that, though I have clipped my own wings so my children might fly to the ends of the earth, I still have authority in the Spirit, in those far-flung places...I can speak to the enemy in the gate of Kamput, without shame. I can bind the strong man, through prayer, and declare the Word of the Lord over the whole nation.

Since my husband and I have released one of our precious arrows, our own flesh and blood, into Cambodia (and Laos, and Viet Nam) we are empowered by the Spirit of God in a special way, to intercede for that nation, speak to the enemy who dwells in the gate there, and declare "Grace and Peace" to Cambodia, in the mighty name of Jesus.

Please be praying for our daughter Sarah, and the whole team, including others of our precious Harvest Church family, Johnathan Trentham, Maria Kear, and her daughter Katherine. The spiritual darkness there is profound, and the warfare is intense.

To Be In Christ

It is a profound thing, to be "in Christ". Christ is in me, and I am in Christ Jesus. "I in you, and you in me", to use the very words of Jesus. He said, "Abide in me, and I in you...."

Swallowed up. Robed in His righteousness. Infused with His essence. Covered by His person. My former self removed and replaced. My new personality braided with His. Twined with Christ. Criss-crossed and woven, I in Him, Him in me, I in Him...

My future, integrated and assimilated into the purposes of God. No longer am I the one living. Buried with Christ, raised up in Him. My self, concealed and diminished. My life, indistinguishable from His, hidden away with Christ, in God.


I've often feared losing God's favor, as if favor were somehow obtained by human might and power. I doubt I am the only one who has ever worried that I have fallen out of Divine favor. Favor must be obtained, yes. To "obtain favor of the Lord" is Biblical. But I obtain favor from the Lord when I apprehend Christ and appropriate His righteousness.

To be in Christ is the only foundation for obtaining favor with God.

God's right hand is the only place of favor and blessing. "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." (Ps. 16:11)

Christ is forever the One seated at God's right hand. "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God..." (Heb. 10:12)

My life is hidden in Him. Thus, I too am seated at that coveted place. "(God) hath raised us up together with Christ, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus..." (Eph. 2:6)

I'm not seated "with" Christ. I am seated "in" Him. Not by works of righteousness which I have done, but only by mercy do I obtain favor. Whatever pleasures are at the Father's right hand, whatever favor there is that flows to Him in whom the Father is well pleased, whatever approval is lavished upon the Son, whatever love bestowed from the Father's heart to Jesus; it all now belongs to me as well.

I in Him, Him in me, I in Him...

Fledglings

1Jo 3:2 "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be..."

Three out of four of my children are, now, officially "fledglings". They are not quite out of the nest, but they have ventured away completely from the warmth and safety of childhood. They are out in the elements, more than they are home in the nest. They don't each one always make the wisest choices these days.

And my soul worries. Extravagantly.

As with any mother who has more than one or two children, there are one or two or three children that worry me more than the others, and at different times and seasons. It seems that just when one son or daughter is finally more stable and settled and walking closely with the Lord, another son or daughter hits a rough patch. What was I thinking, twenty-some-odd years ago, when I said I wanted a "lot" of kids??

I have not fallen asleep easily or lightly in several years now. Something deep inside my mother's heart yearns mightily to know that, in the end, each one of these four will be allright. I have cried more in the past one year alone than I have cried in ten years previously. When they were small, their issues were small. Now they are big. And their every choice affects their destiny.

There are no "do-overs".

There is no more time to say, "We're working on that."

For all apparent purposes, we're done. Any input from us as parents has to be solicited to be of any value whatsoever. Thank God, they still seek us out for guidance and friendship.

When one of my children struggles spiritually, I somehow know it. I sense it, and the weight of that discernment has threatened to take my breath away, from time to time. I find myself sighing deeply...from my spirit. Weary to the marrow of my bones.

Such was my situation one morning, not long ago. I was outside, watering my garden, heavy of heart. A couple of my children are manifesting what to me are "warning signs". Small bits of heart-ground, relinquished to the enemy of their soul...and when you give the enemy an inch, he takes ten miles when its all said and done.

As I was tending the garden, I looked up and saw something that made me laugh out loud - a fledgling male cardinal. The only indication that this was, indeed, a cardinal I was looking at, was the tell-tale beak, and the barest flush of red plumage. Otherwise, this young man was a mess of pinfeathers and gawky ugliness. He was a sight.

And once again/again, the Lord spoke clearly and sweetly to my soul:

"It doth not yet appear what (he) shall be..."

Yes, Lord. Thank You. Those young fledgling males are a work in progress, and a "piece of work" sometimes, but You are in control.

The fledgling hopped from branch to branch of our tree, where his nest is, squawking and screeching, pinfeathers askew. I think he also believed that he'd never change...that what he was on that day, would be what he was to be forever.

But I've kept my eye on him. It actually took only a few short days for him to morph into the handsomest specimen that I've ever seen.

Then again, I'm a little prejudiced. He's "my" baby bird.

linking to Ann at A Holy Experience...