Can't even remember how this was brought up recently, but has really kept me thinking, questioning.
When we, speaking the Lord's Prayer, asked for our Daily Bread, we grew up assuming it meant we would simply have our daily food needs met. Believe me, when I, for a number of years, was living in very poor circumstances, personally trying to find enough "Daily Bread" for my kids, I was very frightened. And then, through God's care, huge blessings occurred when groceries were left by my front door, or a church gave me a gift for groceries.
Once, in early 1983, in Edmond, OK, Steve, my son, who was 10 years old at the time, and I were sitting at the table and eating supper. Each of us had a bowl of rice with milk and sugar. That was it. Period. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door and a lady came in with two bags of groceries. My son put her in tears. Standing next to me, looking at the sacks, big eyed, he said, "Mom. FOOD." Bev gave me a check for $75.00 made for a grocery store and had already arranged with them that I could spend it. She stayed at the house while I went shopping. THAT gift was SUPREME "Daily Bread" -- in an extremely joyous gift!
In today's present life, "Daily Bread" could, however, mean, not just food, but the common everyday needs... when and wherever we live. Even though Nebraskans have needs, I'm highly aware that most folks on the coastal sides of our nation face far more challenging financial or material basics than we do.
In our area, besides food and housing and utilities, most of us require cars... that means that we must have gas, oil changes, insurance, repairs, new tires and on and on. Sometimes buses, or other inexpensive transportation, simply isn't available -- we don't have subways, for instance. In portions of our region, jobs and shopping locations are quite distant, or the local can-walk-to ones are expensive, i.e. convenience stores. [Yes, while working at times, and not having a car, I've bussed, walked, biked, and carpooled, so that's obviously less expensive, but also not too easily accomplished.]
Even those of us who try to live as basically as possible in our society can really be struggling, day by day, and, especially, month by month, since that's the way the bills are scheduled.
So, besides just filling some of our necessary "Caesar" requirements or everyday ones, Dave and I are rarely spending more. We've hit a phase of life that requires some heavy financial attention. Don't want to be irresponsible, to God or others.
So any thoughts? This may seem a little extreme to some folks, and I'd like it if some ideas were shared and spread so we could adjust our lifestyles.
Oh, and I DON'T think most of us should require fancy washers and dryers, any dishwashers, fragrant deodorant, tooth-whitening toothpaste, wrinkle-reducing creams, etc. There ARE "Daily" options, but I don't think things such as these count. We need to think about what's reasonable to anticipate the Lord's "Daily" touch for our lives, without which we simply can't make it.
Different locations, such as Uganda, where we lived, of course, have different requirements, different needs, different daily "Breads".
Our yard fruit on our porch in Uganda.
To be honest, there won't be much "sorrow", but when life is life things can't be perfect. Been thinking about the bits and pieces in Minnesota and the drive home.
One joy I always have on these trips is seeing the two longest rivers in our nation -- or what many people consider it to be one LONG river, having given the Missouri the credit.
The Mississippi photo is about 10 miles from the source site. The following one is the source.
Had a nice time walking with a little girl around her parent's land while Susie and her Dad were talking. That little one really liked this shadowful event. Pointed at my LONG legs and giggled and giggled.
One of the challenges: churches.
One is
growing solidly... not poured with lots of folks, but very, very foundational. So that is joyful.
On the other hand, a few times during my drives up north through t
his countryside, I have seen 
country churches that are damaged -- paint stripped, roofs falling apart, weeds clamoring through the gravel parking lots, and even the grave sites not looking cared for. So sad. Life has changed in this hundreds-square-miled part of our nation, and it is sending a future message, a sorrowful one.
And NOW, my final JOY. Stopped to take photos on the Winnebago and Omaha Reservations. Mostly Missouri River, a few rolling hills, and autumn-colored trees. While taking other photos, and hearing all this racket overhead, I couldn't see anything for some seconds, nearly a minute. Then suddenly caught this.
[One of my main joys connected to living in the Plains portion of the country is something I rarely saw in the Northwest or California. Flocks and flocks and flocks of hundreds of birds. I'm overwhelmed when I'm driving and see them on the land, on the ponds and lakes, and floating through the sky.]
Know this isn't filled with lots of overly intellectual and challenging topics and spiritual kick-ups. But, except for one serious event, this trip truly was "sweetness and light."
I returned home on Monday evening after 2 weeks between here and northern Minnesota, mostly at Susie's, and a time of blessing beyond belief.
When I left home, the weather in Omaha was, of course, heading towards colder stretches, and, yes, leaves falling off trees.
However, when I reached the house, it was overwhelmingly obvious that wind had been "swiffing" through here, piles of leaves all over the neighborhood, PILES in our yard.
But, besides the leaves being overwhelming and my mind struggling with how soon I can possibly do the raking and bagging and cleaning ...
even though I'm not always a "movie" person,
this one jumped into my mind...
and made me grin.
======================================
and the
Yesterday morning I drove up to the Red Lake Reservation to take Pastor Josephine to a home about 100 miles north of her, in Baudette, MN, on the Canadian border, so we could hang out with our dear friends. They had come down to her church to minister to the folks, but she had never had a chance to go up to their house. I always look forward to visiting Dave and Ducky, who I met about 7 years ago up here, and I was also excited that I would have Josephine with me privately for some hours and we'd get to know each other better. That was the whole plan.
I've often said that if I'm not driving around the reservation carefully enough, I end up in some real trouble. It's been crazy in the past, scaring the tar out of me a few times. Yesterday, however, I wasn't concerned, partly because I would have Josephine with me and partly because I wasn't just "touristing" or "prayer driving", but was doing a "God-job" and knew it was another "Right Place, Right Time" action.
We were driving along the main highway between two of the towns that were a few miles apart. A large van-style vehicle pulled in behind me and was right on my tail, pushing and prodding. The speed limit was 50 mph and that's what I was doing. No one was in front of me.
I saw a German Shepherd-ish dog on the side of the road, a bit ahead of me, wandering in a ditch. It suddenly cut up onto the highway, not running, but moving rather quickly. I had to hit the brakes, first slowing, then stopping. The dog jig-jagged in front of my car, then cut into the other lane. As it did, the van behind me swung into the other lane, not slowing even the slightest, just missed the dog, popped back and forth a bit, and hit the road in front of me, speeding, another car headed towards it in the other lane. It could have been one big mess of vehicles, people, and a dog. Of course, this whole event was very few seconds.
As I started moving forward, the crisis past, my eyes were BIG, my breathing slow. I glanced at Josephine. She was quietly, intensely staring ahead. We knew we had been protected by the Lord.
After that, all the miles up to Baudette and back, there was not one tiny road issue. It was a total of about 250 miles from Susie's to Baudette and back.
When I arrived at Susie's, after my long 9-hour visit-and- drive day, rejoicing for my blessed time with Josephine and Dave and Ducky, I was also rejoicing that my Father had protected me and mine.
My heart has been singing "Hallelujah" ever since.
On Sunday morning, during my present visit in northern MN at Susie’s, I had the blessed opportunity to go to a fellowship meeting. About a dozen folks were in the house, mostly 60 to 70-plus years old... and when I walked in I knew I was at “home”... they were joyfully worshiping and praising the Lord.
I attended because a couple I met about a dozen years ago, from another portion of northern MN, was going to be there, the husband speaking. I always LOVE listening to him share.
Voice of the Martyrs is their present ministry. Between their involvement with VOM and other groups, he has been in China, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. He has smuggled Bibles, attended underground church meetings, baptized brand-new Christians –- once in mucky water right next to cobra-infested river banks. He's 70 now and still ready and willing to go.
When I left the house and was climbing into my car, something caught my eye. In the midst of a very gray day, bright red berries hanging in a tree.
And that is one of the principles most of us don’t quite understand. Before I was told about this word carnival today, I had already been thinking about the manner in which God drops His bright red color into our lives and the lives of others ... especially the persecuted, imprisoned, martyred in many locations of our world.
When Doug quoted pastors and others in persecution-oriented locations it caught my attention... and my heart. You see, they see persecution and imprisonment –- gray and dark in our perception -- as God’s colorful strategy to bring more and more people to Jesus. They know that at some point, just like us, they will be taken Home –- maybe far earlier than most of us will experience –- but before that occurs, whatever it costs here on earth, their focus is to draw people to Jesus.
The Blood of Jesus sprinkles and sparkles throughout our gray world. HE is the World-Wide Strategist.
Five years ago, give or take, the Lord dropped me into the church on the Red Lake Reservation, about 40 miles N/NE of Susie's. I had met a pastor in northern MN on the Canadian border and he connected me to Pastor Josephine and it's been a blessing ever since.
I have gone to the church a number of times when coming to Susie's. I've always needed to have the time available on Sunday evening, and the weather to allow me to drive up there along the swampy, deer-ridden roads. I ain't that good at seeing while driving after dark, so it's just not been a consistent stretch.
I had called P. Josephine this week and told her I was at Susie's and that I'd try to be up there this Sunday evening.
After I walked into the church, a little late, P. Josephine beckoned me up to her side-seat on the platform and said, basically, "I want you to preach."
I was not prepared for that. I didn't know exactly what to do, so during the nearly hour-long worship time, I worshiped and "danced" in the back of the church and waited for the Lord to drop the right bits in. He did, I jotted them down quickly, and it came together in a blessed way.
Now, on Sunday evening, all attendants can give testimonies and share verses or tell stories. As I mentioned, "Preaching" responsibility feels differently -- a few minutes longer, if nothing else. In the times I've been there, I've always been sharing, and, knowing me, people realize it will be "good, bad, or ugly" because of my bluntness, especially if I'm talking about my young sinful lifestyle and then sharing how the Lord broke through it and turned my life around, which story goes from "ugly" to "GOOD". I've always figured that with what they've lived through, "sweetness and light" isn't going to make a lot of sense to them, and I can easily expect they would be rolling their eyes and thinking they just aren't understood. So, I can tell them just about anything about me -- sin and abuse, received and given -- and I never see eyes shut or bodies shudder or fingers plug ears. I usually see heads nod. And big grins when I talk about God's faithful victory. They truly understand.
This time, out of all 176 verses of Psalm 119 that I've been reading for a few weeks, the Lord laid vs. 19a on me: I am a stranger and a temporary resident on the earth. I shared with them my present spiritual motto -- Right Place, Right Time -- and how we need to listen to the Lord and go and come exactly as we hear His call. No matter where or how we live [most of these people are impoverished and buried in great needs], if we listen to Him, we can make a difference to those next door or just up the street -- we won't need the money for a car, for instance, and can't use that as an excuse to not "go" somewhere. If He calls us to prayer-walk an area, we may not even have to drive to that source; it could be just around the corner. In the process, He will use us to plant seed in the hearts of others so they may come to Him in time and we may be the ones who can step up and help them grow in Him.
Of course, I shared a number of personal examples. The main one is how the Lord dropped the Bhutanese refugees into my life, and how the two family members I met in May, 2010, have now grown into about 50 extended family that are a major part of my life... and it began just 2 blocks from my house.
I also said that we simply do not always know what door is going to open, what will close, what will divert... but we CAN know that if we are listening to the voice of our dear Father, and obeying, we can simply trust that the results will be exactly what is right.
That is why Psalm 119:19 is significant. When I read it, at the beginning and the end while at the pulpit, both times they firmly said, "A-men!" And why? The vast majority of us have no idea how long we will be on the earth. God does. He will fill our lives with "coming and going" because He knows where we are and how He can use us in this "temporary" time. And, these "Rez Rezidents", living in tough places at tough times, feel blessed that they are temporary residents on earth and headed for eternal joy ... and they absolutely DO understand what it feels like to be a "stranger" here. In our "usual" culture, even though everyone "knows" that we won't be on earth forever and ever, many are hoping the "temporariness" doesn't kick in too soon.
These Ojibwa tribe members and folks from the Sioux, Apache, or other tribal backgrounds on the rez, understand in ways most of us can't even imagine.
I had arrived yesterday afternoon after a good drive north and a night at the home of a pastor-couple I hadn't seen for nearly five years. We had one yammery night and morning -- me probably the yammerer, which would be no surprise to most anyone who knows me.
This morning, with workers tearing Susie's roof off, which was NOT quiet, when I got out of bed earlier than planned, I walked into the living room and the sunrise was so lovely it caught my breath. I couldn't NOT take a photo; not nearly as wonderful as it truly was, but I thought I'd share it anyway.
Even with the roof noise, which went on and on until about 3:30, it was a blessed day; ice cream, sistership, resting, sharing... not much could ever be better.
Our yard fruit on our porch in Uganda.
