This, That, This Again

When we first bought the 5th wheel, (I wrote about it here) we had so many plans and dreams. We were ready to go places!

Sometimes life throws a curve ball when you least expect it. 

We sold the 5th wheel (you can read about that here) and settled into our new normal taking care of Dad.

Yes, he's still with us. Still under hospice care. And between Dad and his eighteen-hundred-and-something house, it's a race to the finish. Yes, the house is living its last days too.

But we're starting to dream again . . .

We're toying with the idea of buying a small class-C motorhome. Not the one pictured here, but similar. Not one we would live in for six months while building a new house, but one we could easily park in a driveway of someone we love. And miss. Easily one we could travel in for short trips of two or three weeks. Maybe a month. One we could easily drive to Ohio to visit our grandkids.

It's not on our agenda for this month. But it's on our radar. Who knows what the future holds!

Have you ever done a do-over? What did you change the second time around?

Living a Life on Hold

     

As we continue as caretakers for my dad, my husband and I try to find time to be together making memories in our new home on the river. Since Dad has improved enough to be alone at night (and he goes to bed around 7), we often spend our little chunk of time relaxing on our screened porch or on the clubhouse deck overlooking the river. Last night, we took a little ride on the golf cart around the corner to the public boat ramp. 

The moon was bright, giving a hue of violet above the treetops, and the lights from the marina restaurant shown across the river to the wild lands on the other side. The Spanish moss dripping from the cypress tree added a perfect frame to the view.

As much as I loved our views on the farm, I love this one more. I've always been drawn to the water and have loved this river since I first water-skied on it as a kid in the early seventies.

Now that I can share this amazing river with the love of my life, I have a whole new appreciation for the peace and beauty here. 

Our life is in a holding pattern as we fulfill our caretaker rolls. But someday soon, we will spend our days exploring the river by boat, making new memories as we memorize the shoreline of our own paradise.

Have you ever had to put your life “on hold” for a situation? What was it? How did it affect your relationships?

There’s Always Tomorrow for Dreams to Come True . . .

When Ray and I bought the RV, we planned on traveling the states in our portable home. After settling into our new permanent home (which caused us to not travel in 2017), we planned on heading out on a long trip through the western states this spring. Fate had other plans.

My dad's cancer progressed to where we needed to be with him 24/7. We made the decision to sell the truck and 5^th wheel and put off our plans for extended travel until Dad no longer needed us. We sold the rig to a young couple who plan to live in it full-time, as many people do down here.

Dad was days away from death, spending his days in a hospital bed, hospice in daily, when he suddenly got better! The doctors and nurses are amazed! But even though he cheated death this time, he’s still near the end of his run. Ray and I take turns sitting with him at his kitchen table, preparing his meals, laundering his clothes, and doing anything else that needs done.

Some days are difficult. Dad and I never had a close relationship. He’s a very negative man—always complaining, always got the raw end of the deal. But I’m doing my part of the whole “honor thy father” thing. And you know what? It brings me joy.

Even though it’s hard to please my father, it’s easy to please my Father. He tells me what to do, and then guess what? He helps me do it! His grace is amazing. 

FaceBook friends, what have you become?

Unfollowing more and more friends due to their hate speech. Btw...when I say hate speech, I am not speaking of voicing your opinion. I am not speaking of a disagreement on issues. Anyone that knows me, knows that I very much appreciate your right to be heard.

I am speaking of lumping people together in groups to bash. Be they democrats, republicans, liberals, conservatives, atheists, gays, blacks, Mexicans, Christians, Jews, Muslims... What breaks my heart the most? My friends who are "inclusive" and "loving everybody", daily (hourly) posting hate messages. Does it accomplish anything? How do you reconcile this with your peace-loving hearts? Do you not see what you are becoming? How will we ever be united again?

While I'm venting, is what "The Donald" said any different than your "Walmart People" posts? I see so many memes making fun of others. Y'all laugh and share. But let a shallow celebrity murmur anything similar, and you're all up in arms! Get real!

And speaking of celebrities, how does a woman who gets rich by acting like a slut on stage become a voice for respecting women? Really? And who among us doesn't think that some women would allow rich and powerful men to degrade them? Isn't this the same generation that threw their underwear at rock stars? The same nation that sent 50 Shades of Gray to the best-seller list?

And when you're bashing those rich politicians, include the Dems. Yep, even Bernie is way above my budget. But you buy into it and allow it to divide your families and your friendships.

At least it doesn't take as long to scroll.

Too Close to Home, but Still I Have Peace

 

When we spot any similar image on a TV screen, we tend to briefly stop what we're doing. We look to see if it's something important to us, or just some random item from across the country. Sometimes we shake our heads, and sometimes we are stunned. 

Today, I was stunned.

But I didn't hear about it from the television news team. My phone rang.

My daughter was crying.

She said, "I need you to..." I don't remember the words she chose…

Help me focus? No. Talk me down? Maybe. Perhaps. Doesn't matter. She was in reaction mode

and needed to hear something that would make her feel better about her world at that moment.

There had been another school shooting.

Three of her children--my grandchildren--were in lock down.

My first reaction was what is always my first reaction—
God.

He is my strength in times of trouble.

After culling all the information she had on the situation—it happened at a school next to her district; she knows some of the kids there; so far there were no fatalities being reported; two people had been care-flighted to a hospital; they have the shooter—I let God’s peace speak through me. I calmly reminded her that they don’t take dead people to the hospital by helicopter. I asked her if she remembered the school shooting where all the schools nearby got shot up, too. No. I told her she didn’t remember because it didn’t happen. Never (thank you, Jesus) has that happened. I reminded her that Satan loves it when we worry, and what the Bible says about worry. I told her that she needed to stay focused on what was real, and not what she could imagine. 

We talked until she felt a fraction of my peace. Our girls were safe. Today. I reminded her of the temporariness of this world, and that eternity is waiting and Jesus is still Lord. And I meant it.

I did cry today. Once. After I knew the injuries weren’t life-threatening, after my daughter knew her babies were safe and sound, after all was well with our world again… I began praising God with song. Alone in the room, I sang, ‘Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer…’ and the flood gates opened. Happy tears. Rejoicing in the faithfulness of our Lord. I was thankful for being able to remain calm and show that calmness to my daughter. 

It’s because I practice.

The schools have to practice for these kinds of incidents to be prepared. Our armed forces practice to be prepared. Even public speakers practice to be prepared. We also must practice to be prepared. We practice by daily allowing God to be our strength. 

If you practice something often enough,

it becomes your in-the-heat-of-the-moment gut reaction,

instead of the when-all-else-fails reaction.

No, I haven’t perfected it. I could still get caught off-guard by some extreme circumstance, and crumble to the helplessness of this human experience. But my odds are better. Odds are I will call upon the Name above all names. 

Because I have practiced.

How do I practice? In my relationship with Jesus Christ, I talk to Him daily—pray without ceasing. I study His Word. I do not forsake meeting with my sisters and brothers in Christ—especially my sisters! I don’t know what I’d do some days without my great church friends. If ever I have a time of weakness, falling away from that gut reaction to take it to the Lord, I know they will pull me back.

We practice our faith. And practice makes perfect. Perfect peace in the storm.

The Last Shall Be First

 Last week, I posted this Facebook status:

I know that's not what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 20. It's just that crazy, random thoughts pop into my head, and if they make me giggle, I tend to share them. But seriously, this is one of my favorite passages of Scripture. You see, I'm one of those workers who were hired in the ninth hour. I didn't make that journey down the aisle to the altar until my forties. February 2001. Right before I married the tall guy.

I know ladies in my church that have been devoted followers of Jesus since they were young children. They have spent their entire lives living for Christ, sharing the Gospel message, and laboring for His kingdom. The time I've spent mentoring children and teens, serving meals to homeless people, etc. is but a drop in the ocean when compared to their service. Yet, when the day comes that I stand before God, I will be their equal. I will receive a denarius. The same eternal reward as these Godly women.

I looked up the dictionary definition of salvation:

When a weather advisory tells us of an approaching storm, we protect what we care about—what we say is valuable enough. Worth saving. Worth protecting from harm. To God, we are worth saving from destruction.

All of us.

The joy in my heart from this promise is especially strong today. My friend's husband received Christ. In his eleventh hour. Short of a miracle, this man's time with us is just that—short. He is battling that dreaded disease that takes so many before their time.

I also have a favorite passage that talks about  another man short on time...

Jesus answered him,

“I tell you the truth, today you will

be with me in paradise.”

Luke 23:43

Do you know to whom Jesus was speaking? The criminal next to him on another cross. A condemned man. A sinner. A dying sinner. Why would Jesus promise the reward of paradise to this horrible man?

He asked.

Then he said, "Jesus, remember me

when you come into your kingdom."

Luke 23:42

Did Jesus ask, "Are you truly sincere?"  Did He ask, "How are you going to prove it?" Nope. That's not how it works.

It is simple. 

You ask. 

He forgives.

No matter where you are, what you've done, who you've been...

None of it matters.

If you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, it's not too late.

Don't wait. We aren't promised tomorrow.

If you have any questions about salvation

through Jesus Christ, ask me.

Please.

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard.  2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.  3 "About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.  4 He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.'  5 So they went. "He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing.  6 About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?'  7 " 'Because no one has hired us,' they answered. "He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.'  8 "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'  9 "The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius.  10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.  11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.  12 'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'  13 "But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius?  14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you.  15 Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'  16 "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."