RIPPLE EFFECT

I am buried in Revelation, my latest Scriptural intense focus, which, when the Lord drops a Book onto my plate, usually means reading the book over and over until the He moves me on ... so far it's been about 7 times this month, plus reading one Revelation-oriented commentary book. [Last time it was Luke, which I utilized for a number of posts last Spring.]

In that Revelation commentary book, someone had asked the author why the judgment for people who died didn't occur immediately upon their arrival to the Lord. [Not going to fuss about all the differences in terminology/theology re: that event.] His answer was that just because the person was now gone from the earth, the continued effects of their life could go on for quite a long time; who they loved, who they blessed, how they served the Lord.... or, in all these options, didn't.

As some of you would assume, I thought of my husband. [No, he ain't perfect, I guess... but I hardly ever see him as anything but a huge blessing.] He's a quiet man, but servant-hearted and giving-oriented who can remodel homes, refinish floors, fix electric problems, handle plumbing, interior and exterior painting, build and fix computers [and give them away], and, on top of that, he's a wonderful musician. He thoroughly enjoys teaching others [especially piano and computer]. He's done all of these tasks in our homes, neighborhoods, town, other states, and in Uganda and Costa Rica.






When he dies, which I hope won't be any time soon, his effect will linger. The youngest of his present piano students, for instance, is 7 years old. He began with her when she was 5. He has about 16 students, from young to adult, and loves working with them. To have more and more would be a huge blessing to him. [Over the years, he's had many, many students, some who are now worship leaders, on worship teams, or teaching others.] The students love him. He's patient, creative, flexible, and warm; he hasn't scared any of them. Most of them move forward quickly because they want to please him. My assessment: Dave will "ripple" for a long time.

When I think of the ripple effect our lives have, it makes me stop and take a look at where I'm headed, what I'm doing, what my attitude is, and how I need to assess and reassess the questionable points. Doesn't mean I expect the Lord to keep nailing me for errors, but that He'll touch my heart and keep me moving in the right direction.

Just as all of you, I'm sure, I want to ripple, for a long time, in a good way and bring more and more blessing to the Lord.

Make-A-Wish Foundation

My grandson, Jackson, turned 16 today. A week ago, Make-A-Wish contacted his family and said that he could go to L.A. from this Sunday to Wednesday. He and my daughter left Omaha yesterday morning. He's out there now going to Universal Studios, and meeting NCIS actors. The desire to go out there for this reason had been placed with them some years ago, and now, suddenly, it happened.

When Jack was 2-1/2, he was hit with a strange, and supposedly, non-serious kidney/immune system illness. Expected to be free of it by the age of 5 for certain sure -- all the doctors and nurses and specialists were convinced it would go that direction.

Well, over the years it increased and increased. He lived on prednisone and then meds to counteract the steroids. It was so hard. He had been a very extroverted toddler, and then, by the age of 3, was isolated to avoid any illness that would toss his body back into the horrific mix. It was that way for years.

In April, '09, after a number of ups and downs, his kidneys totally crashed. He was on dialysis 3 times a week until last Christmas Eve when he had a transplant... my daughter being the donor. His recovery was amazingly quick, and he's been doing well. He still is on a number of meds, of course, and has lab work done every week, but he's free of that constant frustration and fear that was poured into his heart over those years. [And so are we. I cried -- and screamed at God [sorry, if that seems offensive] -- so much during all that time as I watched what he was going through.]

So, for him to be out in L.A., being treated like a special kid, meeting actors, having his dreams fulfilled... has filled my heart with gratitude towards this organization, the donors, and my dear Lord.

What a treat.
==================
The photo of Jack was taken five days before the transplant.

CAN YOU IMAGINE?

Last Saturday I walked into the large apartment with my Bhutanese "nephew", Bijay, who is 18, and I met his grandparents.

They are 85 years old. "Grandpa" is a bit taller and burlier than other refugees I have met. "Grandma" has limited hearing and is very short and very, very thin. They arrived in Omaha around midnight October 31st. A couple days earlier they left the refugee camp and made it to Kathmandu. They flew from Kathmandu to New Delhi to Brussels to Newark to Chicago to Omaha. They hadn't seen TVs before and don't understand what a computer is. [Yes, the young folks over there have that info, but not all the older ones... it's just beyond them.] They, like the others, lived with very basic housing, no internal appliances, no running water, limited, if any, electric power, outhouses, of course... and on and on. And NOW? An old "mansion-style" home reformed into apartments --with ceilings at least 10 feet high, water [hot and cold and baths and showers], a gas stove, a refrigerator, nice furnishings donated to their family, a TV, and a computer -- a total of 9 family members living in this large 2-story place with 4 nice-sized bedrooms, something they could never have imagined -- and on and on. Leaving a camp they'd lived in for 18 years after being kicked out of Bhutan and placed in Nepal, in a very hot and tropical area -- and now here while we are headed for a normal Great Plains winter; ain't warm.

When I left the apartment and started towards home, the title is what came through my head. Can you imagine? Can I imagine it? What it would be like to be at that elderly age, never having gone anywhere -- ever, ever -- except as absolutely necessary, no trains, few roads. Now traveling all the way across the world... in a plane, over oceans, passing through enormous, over-flowing airports, given food they've never seen before, weather they could hardly imagine -- a whole different life.

What a blessing to be able to contribute in small ways to help them adjust... warm clothing, toiletries, familiar foods [a lot of theirs is similar to the Hispanic choices and we have large grocery stores with those products], and simply being welcoming and friendly. [Of course, churches, immigrant organizations, and other groups are providing 99.9999% of their needs -- but Dave and I are able to pop some small bits into the mix -- Saturday, Dave gave them the computer; yesterday, I, the anti-bug person took some BUG KILLER products-- yes!]

And MY blessings? Every time I'm in one of the several apartments I'm connected to, "my" Bhutanese bless me with juice or sweet Nepali spiced tea, and sweet rolls. And the biggest blessing? They laugh and laugh "at" me while I'm trying to explain English words and phrases to them in an animated manner -- my usual hand-active way -- or taking a shoe off and chasing down a roach to kill it. I'm so welcome around them. For the first time since I lived in Uganda I really feel "at home" -- welcome, loved for my facial expressions, appreciated for the smallest possible contributions to their lives.

However, even I, a fairly adventurous lady, when I'm 85, IF I'm ever 85, I sure don't think I could take the amazingly brave and challenging steps that were forced on "Grandma" and "Grandpa".

I can hardly imagine.

My Testimony

When I lived in the world in my sin and my shame,
You came to me often, You whispered my name.
You said, "You're a princess, not the orphan you feel".
I didn't believe You; the shame was too real.

So You sent some to tell me, "Life's more than this pain."
And my heart filled with longing to break those strong chains.
A teacher, a friend, a man on the street,
Passed by just to tell me life could be complete.

How I wished to believe them, I sought to be free,
For the freedom I'd found didn't satisfy me.
I lived in the '60's, a child of rebellion
Churning forward and back in a black, fire-hot caldron.

But You wove the web tighter, this Love-web You'd spun,
And You tightened Your grip so that I couldn't run.
And I couldn't resist You--I had to be saved.
From the curses of Sin, Death, Hell and the Grave.

I still wasn't happy although You'd received me.
The patterns of sin and abuse had deceived me.
For You were a Father, and Fathers are cruel,
With promises broken and strong hands to rule.

I learned to obey You, to yield to Your Way,
But lived in deep heart-pain, as day followed day.
As month followed month, and year followed year.
With no hope that the sunshine would ever appear.

And when a dear friend died, I mourned and I wept,
But You chose then to touch me; a promise You kept.
In the night hours of sorrow, You said, "You'll be free.
You learned to trust this man; You'll learn to trust me."

And in time that's what happened, and I'll never know how.
But I learned to walk with You like a small, trusting child.
My life wasn't easy; day by day chaos reigned.
But I knew that You loved me, so endured life's sharp pain.

Through more years of darkness, oppression and sorrow,
I grew to trust for today, and to hope for tomorrow,
For I knew since You loved me it brought You no joy
To watch as I suffered, while I saw sin employed.

And one day it happened. My bonds dropped away.
And grateful and joy-filled, I faced a Bright day.
But – without the constraints of life's darkness and pain,
In freedom, I stumbled, tripped up by those chains.

And the torment endured was new every day.
I thought Your mercies had fled, so I withered away.
Winter's ice-blasted fingers encircled our town
And, my soul, like the grasses, turned lifeless and brown.

I forgot there's a truth, in the soul and the earth:
Winter is fleeting; with Spring comes rebirth.
And You said, "Child, Watch! As Spring comes to your door,
Like the robins and lilacs, your soul I'll restore.”

You spoke the word "Queenly" to my heart every day
And reminded this waif of a much nobler Way,
And gently restoring your Fatherhood cover,
Enhanced it, with grace, as my Soul's Holy Lover.

Now with Savior and Father and Lover and Friend,
My soul knows no darkness when shadows descend.
In Your love and Your kindness my heart safely rests,
And I am, among women, most wonderfully blest.
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I wrote this some time ago, based on Song of Solomon, but even today, I know that without His faithful and forceful and never-ending reconciliation, there would be no hope, no true life. I'm one grateful God-child.

JOHN 10, SHEPHERD

In the spring of 1978, Susie's family suggested I read a new book, All Creatures Great and Small. I was told that I would laugh. On Mother's Day after church, I buried myself in my bedroom with a bag of Heath candy bars and the paperback... and read for a few hours... and laughed a lot.

Over the years, I have read that book several times, and all the others that came out through the amazing brain of James Harriot. Sometimes there are several years in between the reading phase, and a few months ago I started again. Slowly... very slowly. Am just starting book number 2, All Things Bright and Beautiful. I usually read a chapter when I'm grabbing a quick lunch or ready to doze off before turning out the light. [My husband happens to love these books, too, so it's fun to share bits and pieces with each other, as one or the other is reading them. Again.]

Today, something jumped out at me, and I've been thinking about it for a few hours. NO, James Herriot didn't pour scriptures into his books, but sometimes, whether he planned to or not, godly principles slid in.

This one:

It was March, freezing cold, windy, lamb-delivery time. James, the veterinarian, was out and about on hilly, hard fields, or the occasional shelter, but always either bringing forth the babies or helping the moms. One day James was standing with the farmer, Rob, before the rapidly growing flock. "Look!" Rob cried. "'There's that awd ewe with Herbert [a small previously rejected lamb]. Over there, on t'right-- in the middle of that bunch.' They all looked the same to me [James] but to Rob, like all shepherds, they were as different as people and he picked out these two effortlessly."

OF COURSE, this made me think of that wonderful portion of scripture, verses 14 and 15, when Jesus says, I am the Good Shepherd; and I know and recognize My own, and My own know and recognize Me--

Even as [truly] as the Father knows Me and I also know the Father -- and I am giving My [very own] life and laying it down on behalf of the sheep. [Amplified.] [And, as you know, a number of other verses in that chapter are fitting to this piece.]

To read the Herriot books, to see the sane and insane sides of him and his partners and customers and animals, is usually very funny-- only occasionally a serious head-shaking experience for me.

But, today, this was the wonderful, joyful story that hit my heart and soul ... and tapped my spirit... because I know that as that pushingly independent, striving, but rejected little lamb, which I resembled in years past, I now know that I know that I know that the Good Shepherd cares for me and will do all that is needed to keep me in a loving place in His flock.

Tonight? Another small portion to read... and more to go.

REVELATION 7:12

Recently, the Lord laid Revelation on me to read, probably over and over -- He's done that before. It ranks right up as a favorite book, and I enjoy it... it thoroughly excites me.

Well, in chapter 7, it has one of my favorite portions. The host comes from every nation, tribe, people, language... then the angels and four living creatures... and then they all fall prostrate before the throne and worship God and the Lamb of God... and this verse just explodes -- I have it underlined big time and read it with a loud, roaring, "hallelujah-ing" voice:

Amen! (So be it!) they cried. Blessing and glory and majesty and splendor and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and might [be ascribed] to our God to the ages and ages (forever and ever, throughout the eternities of the eternities)! Amen! (So be it!) [Amplified]

=========WOW!!!! ===========

MINNESOTA BITS AND PIECES

Last May when I visited Susie, this is what it looked like from my favorite sitting site (sight) in her house.

This time? Change, BIG TIME. [Bare feet to warm socks, if nothing else... but, of course, that doesn't count the green-to-brown outside world.]

What did I do this time? Slept and slept, rested, rested, and rested some more. So much needed... and didn't quite realize how the Lord had laid my rest up there in place, no pun intended [at least originally].

In the 4-plus days I was there, I went only into the nearby town and back... a total of 6 miles. Considering it's about 530 miles each way, from my house to hers, I usually pile another hundred or so
taking some side trips and visits... but not this time. Except for going to a local Christian community center with a great clothes-for-sale shop, it was only being "home" with Susie. [BTW, God really opened a great door: I was able to purchase, for next to nothing, approximately a dozen winter jackets and other warm items for the Bhutanese refugee family I'm involved with here, and piles of sheets, blankets, towels, comforters, and on and on. Totally stuffed my trunk and 1/2 of my back seat. Handed them out yesterday, and the their joy of receiving was thrilling to see.]

Had nice dinners and visits with her local family members who came over; had a real treat of a time with a local man born and raised in Zambia with his missionary parents [also locals]; he returned to the States after high school in '96, about the same time Dave and I returned from Uganda. How exciting to talk to someone who has been in Africa and has a true heart for it ... and has brought some of it home with him. Got my adrenalin flowing big time!


So, here're the "bits and pieces"...



I was painting Christmas tree and shelf ornaments in 1977. This was the one I made for Susie. Amazing to see it still today. What a blessing to have a friend who shows continued appreciation for the small things. [My painting ended by 1978; ain't done it since. Glad it fit into her life at just that right time.]


And then the big one, a really nice photo of the two of us. What a treat to have this. I can hardly wait to print it off and frame it.

So any deep and intensive Truth that invaded our lives while I was up there? Any insights into all that is happening in the world, both outside and around us? Nope. Hardly any at all, which is very rare with us. So, nothing to share in this post that will change lives forever. But our time was quiet and pleasant.

Guess that should be worth as much as anything else.