When Laughter Works Better Than Tears

          Sometimes, you just gotta laugh. Things aren't going well, so you get frustrated or even angry. But whatever is going on, you just have to make the best of it and laugh when you can.

          I maybe shouldn't be sharing this for the world to read, but my brother's forgetfulness has turned into full-blown dementia. Hubby and I are doing our best, but I'm not gonna cry about it, so I'm gonna have to laugh instead.

          A couple of months ago, my brother called one morning to say his record player wasn't working, and he couldn't figure out why because it was working fine the day before. He asked if we could run out and buy him a new one, even though we had just bought it for him a few months before.

          I told him we'd come over to see what was wrong and if we could fix it. We got there, and it's not plugged in.

          We asked, "Where's the cord to plug it in?"

          Tom: "It's never been plugged in. It must be on a battery."

          Us: "No, there was a cord for it when we bought it for you three months ago. We plugged it in when we set it up for you. So, where is the cord?"

          Tom: "There never was one."

          And there was none. We looked around his house as much as we felt safe (not going in his drawers for any reason), but nowhere in his house could we find it. No clue what he could have done with it. He had two razors with similar plugs, and we tried both of them, but neither fit.

          After ten more minutes of conversations that continued to go in circles ("but it has never been plugged in"), we told him we would take it home and see what we could do. We were sure that somewhere in our bags full of misfit electronics, we had a plug that would fit.

          So, we brought the record player home and dug through our stuff. I found three likely candidates.

          The first one fit but didn't bring the turn table to life.

          The second one fit, and as soon as we plugged it in, the device made a little sighing noise. Yeah! Success.

          Before I could get the record on the turn table and check for music, I smelled smoke. Sure enough, smoke was rolling out of a tiny hole in the back of the device.

          I pulled the plug from the wall, and Hubby pulled the cord from the record player. 

          Hubby: "I guess we'll have to buy him a whole new record player."

          Me: "I could try the third cord."

          Hubby: "NOOOO!"

(The picture above is the box the new record player came in. I thought we should save it for awhile in case we had to take it back to the store when my brother couldn't figure out how to work it. I think it's time for the box to go, before I am listed off my rocker as well. Also, I keep reading "Big Bass" like the fish and rhymes with another name for donkey, instead of bass as in bass, tenor, soprano.)

Pure Joy

 

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

          “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

          Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

          Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

          She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

          Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

          Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20:11-18, New International Version)

Joy, pure joy. How else could anyone describe how Mary felt in that moment. If you are a believer, you can feel that joy right now. And some day hold onto Jesus when you meet Him in heaven. 

(The picture here is from my trip to Kenya in 2013, when my daughter and I visited the IDP camp at Maai Mahu. I love the smile on this precious one’s face. She doesn’t have much, just enough food to survive each day, dirty clothes, a canvas shelter to live in with her family, but she was filled with pure joy when she met us.)

Surely, this was the Son of God

 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

          The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

          But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

          Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

          Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

          It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. (Luke 23:32-45, NIV) 

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54, NIV)

(The picture is from Ayacucho, Peru, when I was there in 2009. I'm sure I've shared this picture before. Ayacucho is known as the city of churches, so not too hard to find lots of crosses.)

What Weight are you Carrying?

 

I was going to share the entire first twenty-six verses of Luke chapter 23 with you today. Tomorrow, Good Friday, you will get the rest of the story. But I had too much to share from my personal life, and – well – there was one verse that said enough.

You know how the story goes. Jesus had been arrested. The church leaders turned Him over to Pontious Pilate, the Roman governor, for questioning. 

There was a tradition during Passover each year to release one prisoner. Pilate asked the crowd if they wanted Jesus or a murderer, Barabbas, to be released. They shouted, “Release Barabbas! Crucify Jesus!”

Jesus was taken away. The Roman soldiers mocked Him and beat Him, then took Him off to be crucified. After all that He had endured, carrying the wooden cross along the road to Golgotha got the best of His physical body. His spiritual body could hold the weight of the world, but He was an earthly man too.

     As they led Jesus away, a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, happened to be coming in from the countryside. The soldiers seized him and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. (Luke 23:26, New Living Translation)

I’ve had a rough week. I feel like I’ve had a burden thrown on my shoulders that I just can’t deal with. I lay on the couch yesterday afternoon and prayed to God, “Please lift this burden from me.”

As I mentioned, I’d already planned on including the above verse today. But in that moment of prayer, it struck me.

Simon from Cyrene only carried that cross for a little while, and I only have to handle my problems for a little while as well. Jesus will carry all of my burdens for all of my life if I only turn my probems over to Him. Or as in the words of Matthew 11:28-30 in the New International Version:

     "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

(Today’s picture is one I took when I was in Kenya in 2015.)

Denied

Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will abandon me tonight. Scripture says, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep in the flock will be scattered.’ But after I am brought back to life, I will go to Galilee ahead of you.”

Peter said to him, “Even if everyone else abandons you, I never will.”

Jesus replied to Peter, “I can guarantee this truth: Before a rooster crows tonight, you will say three times that you don’t know me.”

Peter told him, “Even if I have to die with you, I’ll never say that I don’t know you!” All the other disciples said the same thing. (Matthew 26, verses 31 – 35)

Shortly after this, Jesus went to the Garden to pray. When He had finished and had rejoined His disciples, a crowd arrived, led by Judas Iscariot. Jesus was arrested and dragged off.

And His closest followers?  Then all the disciples abandoned him and ran away. (verse 56)

Even Peter? Peter followed at a distance until he came to the chief priest’s courtyard. He went inside and sat with the guards to see how this would turn out. (verse 58)

While Peter silently watched, the crowd demanded death penalty for Jesus. And then he must have walked out.

Peter was sitting in the courtyard. A female servant came to him and said, “You, too, were with Jesus the Galilean.”

But Peter denied it in front of them all by saying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

As he went to the entrance, another female servant saw him. She told those who were there, “This man was with Jesus from Nazareth.”

Again Peter denied it and swore with an oath, “I don’t know the man!”

After a little while the men standing there approached Peter and said, “It’s obvious you’re also one of them. Your accent gives you away!”

Then Peter began to curse and swear with an oath, “I don’t know the man!” Just then a rooster crowed. Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before a rooster crows, you will say three times that you don’t know me.” Then Peter went outside and cried bitterly. (Matthew 26, verses 69-75)

Jesus is being led away to be handed over to the governor, Pontius Pilate, to be beaten, tortured, ultimately crucified. I picture Jesus turning His head for a moment to find Peter in the crowd. Their eyes lock for a second.

Bitterly. Desperately. Intensely. With great anguish. I can’t imagine the pain Peter experienced at that instant. Just as his Teacher, Leader, and Friend predicted, Peter denied that he even knew Him.   

Would you deny that you know Jesus? Have you already denied Him? And if Jesus was right in front of you now, how would that make you feel?

(Today’s picture is one which my daughter took when she was in Kenya for six months in 2010.)

1984? 2025? 1933? 1962?

Over the weekend, I finished reading the novel “1984” by George Orwell. I read it the first time probably a few years before 1984, because I had to for a class and I was young and thought it was crazy to read a book with that title when I was staring down that particular year.

I don’t remember much from that first reading, except how terrifying it was. And yet thinking that none of that could ever happen. That was way before the Hunger Games series and other recent dystopian books and movies. We were still living in the Cold War, and maybe we had been desensitized by it after the Cuban Missile Crisis. I’ve lived through a lot, but that doesn’t mean I knew what was going on. I was a dumb kid, not a jaded near-senior citizen with an over-active imagination and internet access.

Anyway, I’m sure you’ve heard of the book I’m talking about, but if you still don’t know anything about it, check it out on Google. I wish I could recommend you read it for yourself, but I don’t want that liability.

Whether you know the premise of the book or nor, here are some quotes. They may chill you to the bone.

     “I hate purity, I hate goodness! I don't want virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones.”

     “Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.”

     “Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.”

     “It was possible, no doubt, to imagine a society in which wealth, in the sense of personal possessions and luxuries, should be evenly distributed, while power remained in the hands of a small privileged caste. But in practice such a society could not long remain stable. For if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realize that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away. In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance.”

     “You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves.”

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Cambodia 

Jesus Prays

Then Jesus brought them to a garden grove, Gethsemane, and told them to sit down and wait while he went on ahead to pray. He took Peter with him and Zebedee’s two sons James and John, and began to be filled with anguish and despair.

Then he told them, “My soul is crushed with horror and sadness to the point of death . . . stay here . . . stay awake with me.”

He went forward a little, and fell face downward on the ground, and prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup be taken away from me. But I want your will, not mine.”

Then he returned to the three disciples and found them asleep. “Peter,” he called, “couldn’t you even stay awake with me one hour? Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For the spirit indeed is willing, but how weak the body is!”

Again he left them and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot go away until I drink it all, your will be done.”

He returned to them again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy, so he went back to prayer the third time, saying the same things again.

Then he came to the disciples and said, “Sleep on now and take your rest . . . but no! The time has come! I am betrayed into the hands of evil men! Up! Let’s be going! Look! Here comes the man who is betraying me!” (Matthew 26:36-46, Living Bible)

It’s Thursday night, and Jesus has just eaten His Last Supper and instituted Communion. In only a few hours, Judas Iscariot will turn Him over to the authorities. The next day, He will be convicted during a mock trial, beaten, and sentenced to die. He knows what is coming, and though He has brought it up several times, His disciples still don’t understand how this week will end.

Jesus takes His closest disciples to a garden to pray. They fall asleep on Him, not once, not twice, but three times!

Which is what I do most nights after I go to bed. After I turn out the lights and get all comfy, I start saying my prayers. I don’t get through the Lord’s Prayer. My mind wanders as I try to confess my sins for the day. I forget all the things I’m thankful for. I can’t remember all the needs I wanted to bring to the Lord in prayer. And as many times as I pull my brain back to the matter at hand, I can never finish that prayer. My mind keeps wandering, or I simply fall asleep.

I keep thinking I need to change my routine and say my prayers while I’m still sitting up in bed. Or maybe while I’m still in the living room, after I’ve turned off the TV and before I’ve brushed my teeth.

But there I am, no better than the men who followed Jesus when He lived among them. He forgave them, and I know He’ll forgive me. But I still need to keep trying.  

(The picture is of the rose garden at the Green Lake Christian Conference Center when I was there in 2011 for a writers’ conference.)

 

Things We Say

 

“You’re not going to like this,” Hubby announced once again as a preface to an idea he had. I don’t remember which idea it was the last time, but his brilliant plans can range from both of us taking the car in for an oil change on our way out for a fish fry to stocking up on flashlights on sale at Harbor Freight.

Okay, I don’t think he ever proposed either of those scenarios, and usually, what he comes up with are things I’m agreeable to, so I don’t know why he always uses that opening line.

But here’s the thing – that could be the name of a TV show. What do you think? “You’re not going to like this” – a comedy about a somewhat demented father who has to move in with his middle-aged daughter and son-in-law. It’s been done already, hasn’t it?  

Speaking of somewhat demented, when my brother calls once a week to check in, his opening line is usually, “I have a big problem” followed by “It’s so cold out,” “My TV isn’t working,” or something else that is earth-shattering. In his world, but not mine.

A show titled “I Have a Big Problemt” could be a reality show about a group of teen-age girls, because when do they not have a big problem? Or it could be a crime drama where after someone commits a crime, they contact this special agency to provide a cover-up.    

That reminds me of another one of Hubby’s and my favorite lines. “Did you hear who died?” is a line we probably use an equal number of times. Like just this week. He shouted from the living room on the far west end of the house to me in my office on the far east end the name of someone who had died. It wasn’t until he got home from work three hours later that I was about to ask, “Did you hear Val Kilmer died?” when I realized that was who he was talking about.

Of course, the title “Did you hear who died?” sounds like a show where Jessica Fletcher is solving crimes in Cabot Cove. But how about instead, it’s about a small-town radio station where there is no crime, just a long list of morning obituaries?

All right, so now it’s your turn. What phrases do you and your loved ones frequently use on each other, and what TV program could be titled that?

Whining about the weather and some updates

I have a friend who hates the month of March because of the weather. And I have to admit, weather in March in my part of the world is like living with a bipolar psychopath who is off their meds. Yet, here we are in April and I can’t say that elements in this month are any better. It’s like a concerned doctor is trying to adjust that bipolar psychopath’s meds and every night is a full-moon. Anyone who’s ever worked in health care, law enforcement, or pretty much dealt with the public knows what I’m talking about.

So this was our driveway last Tuesday morning, a bright sunny day after a weekend of snow.

This video is of the freezing rain on Sunday. If you turn up the volume, you can hear the gentle pitter-patter. Okay, nothing gentle about it. 

Our cat Emma and the dog Hannah preferred to stay in bed. 

Then Monday, it was back to sun glaring mockingly off of the snow.

The forecast for last night was for one to three inches of snow and up to another three inches today. Overnight, maybe an inch of snow fell, and it's only overcast now. So, we'll see what happens. I'm sure the weather forecasters find this time of year frustrating too. 

Two other things I wanted to mention. Remember two weeks ago when we had a chip in our windshield. Hubby took it in a few days later and came home with not only that same chip but a distinct large handprint on the glass where the technician took a picture of the defect for insurance purposes. Could they have wiped it off? I wished I had a crime kit; I would have tried to lift a print just for fun. The good news is that they got it in the other day already and did the glue-fix on it, and it didn’t cost us anything.

The other thing – please pray for Hannah and me this evening as we go to our first obedience class. Hoping the roads are clear, and she is not a terror on the drive there and back, and she doesn’t have any accidents while there. And that I’m not a worse student than she is.

Celebrating Passover

Now the day of the Passover celebration arrived, when the Passover lamb was killed and eaten with the unleavened bread. Jesus sent Peter and John ahead to find a place to prepare their Passover meal.

“Where do you want us to go?” they asked.

And he replied, “As soon as you enter Jerusalem, you will see a man walking along carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house he enters, and say to the man who lives there, ‘Our Teacher says for you to show us the guest room where he can eat the Passover meal with his disciples.’ He will take you upstairs to a large room all ready for us. That is the place. Go ahead and prepare the meal there.”

They went off to the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and prepared the Passover supper.

Then Jesus and the others arrived, and at the proper time all sat down together at the table; and he said, “I have looked forward to this hour with deep longing, anxious to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won’t eat it again until what it represents has occurred in the Kingdom of God.”

Then he took a glass of wine, and when he had given thanks for it, he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.”

Then he took a loaf of bread; and when he had thanked God for it, he broke it apart and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, given for you. Eat it in remembrance of me.”

After supper he gave them another glass of wine, saying, “This wine is the token of God’s new agreement to save you—an agreement sealed with the blood I shall pour out to purchase back your souls.      (Luke 22:7-20, Living Bible)

In my Wednesday morning Bible study, we are reading the book, “The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi,” by Kathie Lee Gifford and Rabbi Jason Sobel. We hadn’t planned it this way, but this week, we will learn more about the Jewish traditions surrounding Passover and the significance of Jesus instituting communion.

If you’ve watched “The Ten Commandments” with Charlton Heston, you know that Pharoah released the Israelites from slavery in Egypt after God had sent ten plagues. The final plague was that God would kill the firstborn sons throughout the land unless the blood of a lamb was spread on their doorposts. For two millennia, the Jewish people have celebrated Passover in remembrance of this “passing over” of the angel of death.

And here we are - Jesus celebrating Passover with His disciples. Jesus is the perfect lamb whose blood would soon be shed on the cross to save all mankind.

At the time, the disciples didn’t know what was going on – that happened to them a lot, poor guys. But we know, and we partake of communion in remembrance of our Lord and Savior.

(Today’s picture is from the Amsterdam airport when I was on my way to Kenya for the second time in 2013. Not quite like the bread used at Passover, but bread does seem to be a staple in most cultures.)

Interpretive Dance?

I didn’t get up until 6:30 this morning, because I was out late last night. Two friends and I went to a Christian concert and didn’t get home til after 10:30. And I spent yesterday afternoon loafing around in anticipation of that, so I didn’t get around to writing today’s blog.

With that in mind, I thought about not adding words to these ridiculous pictures. In 2013, Hubby and I took a vacation for a few days to southeast Wisconsin. At a park near Waukesha, for some reason I was inspired to do an interpretive dance.

I share these now because last Friday I confessed to wanting to be a stand-up comedian and you already know that I’ve always want to be a writer. But when I was in kindergarten, our teacher assigned us to draw a picture of what we wanted to be when we grew up. I distinctly remember my picture. I wore a pink tutu, and my feet, properly on my toes, were as wide as my head, my arms encircling that tiny head. A prima ballerina. 

Our goals in life still pop up sometimes. 

Autumn Wandering – Where Was I Wednesday

Last December, when I finally finished blogging about my trip to Cambodia, I totally forgot about any other trips I took last fall. The only one was a quick overnight to the Dells. A few years ago, the girls I lived with in the dorm my first two years in college decided to start having reunions. The weekend of October 11, we all met up at a resort in Wisconsin Dells.

I only spent Friday night as I had so much going on and still felt jetlagged from that trip to Cambodia. I still had a good time, and it was fun to catch up with everyone. Umm, I think there were nine of us, maybe, if I remember right. I took only one picture (you’re shocked, I can tell), and I can’t even find it now.

Anyway, I left late Saturday morning, and as usual, I drove backroads on the way home. After driving less than an hour, I stopped at Roche Cri State Park for a walk around. The main road into the park was already closed for the season, so I parked at the Prairie Trailhead and hiked around the prairie. I wasn’t quite up to walking the adjacent trail into the park.

It was a beautiful fall day. Once again, I felt blessed to live where I do. 

When Will Jesus Return?

 

I’m sorry that today’s post is going to be so long, but I couldn’t find a good place to cut it off.   

Here is the scene. Jesus had arrived triumphantly in Jerusalem and the next day He had gone to the Temple. In anger, He turned over the tables of the money changers and merchants (remember last Sunday’s post?).

The day after that He told many parables to anyone and everyone who would listen. He warned His audience about a lot of things and criticized the church leaders.

Finally, when He was alone with His disciples, He told them what to look for in the future. Our future.

          The 24^th chapter of the book of Matthew, verses 1 through 44, from the New International Version.

As Jesus was leaving the Temple grounds, his disciples pointed out to him the various Temple buildings. But he responded, “Do you see all these buildings? I tell you the truth, they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!”

Later, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives. His disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will all this happen? What sign will signal your return and the end of the world?”

Jesus told them, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.

          “Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers. And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.

          “The day is coming when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about—the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing in the Holy Place. Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. A person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return even to get a coat. How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. And pray that your flight will not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For there will be greater anguish than at any time since the world began. And it will never be so great again. In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will be shortened for the sake of God’s chosen ones.

“Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah,’ or ‘There he is,’ don’t believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones. See, I have warned you about this ahead of time.

“So if someone tells you, ‘Look, the Messiah is out in the desert,’ don’t bother to go and look. Or, ‘Look, he is hiding here,’ don’t believe it! For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes. Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.

“Immediately after the anguish of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

          And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from all over the world  —from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.

          “Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all these things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene until all these things take place.  Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.

“However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.

          “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes.

“Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.

          “So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would keep watch and not permit his house to be broken into. You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.”

(The picture is of the church and convent of San Francisco in Lima, Peru, when I was there in 2009.)

Funny Friday, coz we all need to see the humor in life these days

I’ve been listening to way too many comedians’ clips on YouTube. It has caused the resurfacing of my dream to be a stand-up comedian. (I know – none of you saw that coming.) I can’t see that ever happening, though, not at this stage in my life, and here I sit in the frozen north with nary a venue to showcase my talent. The groups of ladies I meet with at Bible study and at Al-Anon are about the only available audience.

 Then I remember reading the books by Dave Barry, Bill Bryson, Erma Bombeck, and my friend Mary Pierce. Maybe writing is a more appropriate medium for me. Plus, I would be spared the awkward silence when no one gets my jokes. If anyone reads what I write, I can sit back and imagine them guffawing at my every word. (Wow, spell check is getting better; it recognized the collection of letters I threw on this page in my attempt to spell guffaw.)

This all started when I was just a kid. My family decided I was so goofy that they nicknamed me Knutt (pronounced “nut,” and I don’t know who spelled it like that the first time, but it stuck). They even got a T-shirt with that on it. Of course, they also bought me a T-shirt about being lazy, so I’m not sure what kind of message my parents were trying to send. (But they also bought me the purple Smiley in the picture above.)

I don’t recall anyone outside the family thinking I was funny, even though others laughed at me, but that was just because I was so awkward. Back in my day, we weren’t bullied; we were picked on. I don’t blame my low self-esteem on any of those kids, though. Remember those T-shirts my family bought me? But enough about that.

The goofiest thing I remember single-handedly doing at home was drinking a glass of water. Mom was always harping on us that we weren’t drinking enough water. Water came from the tap then, not from a bottle you bought at the store. So, one night, while everyone was in the living room watching TV, I walked into the room during the commercials. I pointed to the glass of water in my hand and announced, “Note, a glass of water.” Then I drank the glass dry.

I didn’t get any reaction out of my parents, but my sister Pat buried her head in a pillow. Not sure if that was coz she was laughing or she was feeling humiliated for me. Whatever the case, I still laugh when I think about it. What a goof I was! What a Knutt!

Most of the other comedic scenes in our house revolved around things Pat and I did. Trouble we got into. Like the time we were wrestling on one of our beds on top of someone’s homework. A pencil got jabbed into her leg, and she wore that piece of lead for the rest of her life. And never let me forget it.

But I did the research, and what we call pencil lead has always been graphite. I guess pencil graphite doesn’t have the same ring to it. But graphite reminds me of an incident in freshman English class.

Mrs. Hanson assigned us to bring in an interesting article to read in front of the class. Most of the girls found what I call “squished puppy” stories – the ones where everyone cries when the puppy gets hit by the car, or maybe he’s an old dog now and has to be put to sleep. But Kenny found an article about graphite fishing rods in an outdoor magazine.

I still can hear Mrs. Hanson’s sweet voice saying, after he had read a page, “Oh, Kenny, that was so nice, but maybe you can stop reading now and give someone else a chance to share their story.”

And I guess you want to stop reading now too.

I want to close by wishing my husband and biggest fan a very happy birthday. Taking him out for a fish fry tonight.  

More on Anger

 

          Hubby and I were driving home the other day when the car in front of us kicked up a rock which hit our vehicle. A beautiful, though quite distressing, star appeared on our windshield.

          Hubby spewed out a profanity to describe the other driver, blaming them entirely for something that wasn't their fault.

          As far as myself, I had a moment of anger which quickly turned to worry. How much is this going to cost us? When is it going to get fixed? Can they use that glue stuff to stop it from spreading? Where are we going to take it?

          In my Sunday blog post, I wrote about Jesus becoming angry and even destructive when He entered the Temple. But His anger was not a sin.

          So what about my husband and I in the car that day?

          Clearly, Hubby's loss of control was a sin. He didn't use the Lord's name in vain, but surely God would frown on his language. Hubby also berated another person. Okay, it was far from breaking the fifth commandment – though shall not kill – but we aren't to even wish bad things on others. And according to the eighth commandment, we aren't to speak badly of them either.

          And me? I felt no anger towards the other driver; I blamed it all on the rock and being at the wrong place at the wrong time. But then what happened in my head? Worry.

          But certainly, worry isn't a sin. Is it?

          The very first commandment says that we are to have no other gods, and Martin Luther's take on that is that we should fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Every time we worry about something, we are telling God that we don't trust Him, that we aren't sure He is going to take care of things for us.

          Or as Matthew wrote: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? (Matthew 6:25-27, New International Version)

          But if even worrying is a sin, what are we to do? We can never be good enough to be children of God or make it to heaven. That is what this time of year is all about - following Jesus to the cross and waking up on Easter morning knowing that He has overcome all of our sins.

After taking 2 dozen pictures, inside and out, this was the best I could get of that crack in my windshield. In real life, it really is a cute and annoying little star. 

Jesus at the Temple

When Jesus returned to Jerusalem, he went into the Temple and began to throw out those who were buying and selling there. He turned over the tables of those who were exchanging different kinds of money, and he upset the benches of those who were selling doves. Jesus refused to allow anyone to carry goods through the Temple courts. Then he taught the people, saying, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘My Temple will be called a house for prayer for people from all nations.’ But you are changing God’s house into a ‘hideout for robbers.’”

The leading priests and the teachers of the law heard all this and began trying to find a way to kill Jesus. They were afraid of him, because all the people were amazed at his teaching. (Mark 11:15-18, New Century Version)

Jesus and His disciples had just returned to Jerusalem amid the fanfare of what we now call Palm Sunday. The first place He wanted to go was to the Temple. But when He got there, He was not happy.

Because the Jewish visitors to the Temple were expected to make a sacrifice, merchants and livestock salesmen set up shop in the outer areas of the Temple. Also, many of the worshipers had traveled from afar, so they needed to have their money changed into the local currency. All of these transactions created a noisy, chaotic atmosphere in a place that should have evoked peace. And many of these transactions were ripping off honest, hard-working people who couldn’t afford the high prices or didn’t know the exchange rate in Jerusalem.    

I lose my temper fairly easily and usually regret it. But then I tell myself, “It’s not a sin to get angry if Jesus got angry in the temple.”

Wrong. My anger is way different. I usually get impatient when something isn’t working for me – something stupid like a knot in my shoelace. The next thing you know, I’m ready to throw that shoe across the room.

Jesus had a totally different and justifiable reason for His anger. He was mad because people had disrespected His father’s house and turned it into a den of thieves. 

I get mad when things happen to me that I don’t like. Jesus only got mad when things happened that went against God.

(Today’s picture was taken at a market place in Mombasa, Kenya, when my daughter was there in 2010.)

Hannah Update

          In case you were wondering, our little Hannah is doing well. She goes in her crate on her own at bedtime and sleeps quietly through the night. Well, unless I wake up and hear her snoring. She’s been alone loose in the house for up to three hours at a time and causes no chaos. I’m sure all she does is sleep. She’s only gotten into the garbage one time, and that was retrieving a granola bar wrapper that might have had a trace of something edible on it. Does her business outside like a champ, no matter the weather, and usually chooses a far corner of our yard to go number 2.

          I’m not happy she has taken over this chair, but she is just too cute lying on her perch. I’ve heard some Corgis think they are cats, so this makes sense. And she still gets along with our cat Emma fine.

          Oh, but the things she needs to work on!

          We quickly trained our last three dogs to stay in the yard with the shock collar. For many years, we’ve had a unit in the basement that sets up a perimeter about fifty feet away. Two shocks, tops, and a few reminder beeps and they all had it.

          We’ve been walking Hannah on the leash around the yard on the trails through the snow that were already there. But now that the snow is melting, I’ve been trying out the shock collar and walking her closer to where the boundary would be.

          The first few times, I carried the collar, and when she heard that beep, she knew something was up and returned to me. However, nothing made sense to her when I put the collar on her. 

          As soon as she hears the beep, before even getting zapped, she starts digging. She seems to think the beeping is underground, probably because she is so low to the ground. She’s frantic about trying to get to it.

          When I try pulling her away, she fights the leash and is even more obsessed with digging faster.

          So, I reach down and take the collar off of her. Once she hears that beep coming from my hand, she comes right to me and tries to get the collar.

          As long as I have her on the leash and stay close enough to her for her to hear the collar beep in my hand, she won’t cross the invisible line. But how can I let her off leash so she can roam far enough away from me and the collar so that she won’t hear the beep?

          We’ll figure it out. At least she mostly comes when she’s called, whether a collar is beeping in my hand or not. 

          She won’t sit for us either. She gets angry if we try to push her little butt down, so we wonder if she had been spanked on her butt in her previous home. That’s all we can figure. And lastly, she is horrible in the car, struggling the whole trip to sit in the driver's lap. Not happening, Hannah, let it go! The joys of getting a rescue baby. 

          We start obedience training the first of April. We’ll see how that goes. But in the meantime, she still has my heart.