"Patience, Young Grasshoppah"
I made tea in my kitchen today. I rinsed out my tea cup in the sink and made tea in my kitchen today. No, no, no. You don't understand --i made tea in my KITCHEN today. You see, we haven't had a kitchen for over two months and for the first time in a loooong time, i've been able to run water in a kitchen sink, fill a tea pot with water from that sink, and make tea ---all while standing in the same room! It's been a long haul; even the simple task of making tea has meant multiple steps (literally, and figuratively!) and some days it just got old. Sometimes it was a struggle to actually make myself get vitamins, find a cup, fill it with water, and take the vitamins myself, let alone get those same things ready for The Bud, make tea for both his thermos and my cup, and then make our Spinach/Carrot/Apple juice in our NutriBlast. All those simple tasks could wind up taking close to an hour, all because of the various places to find, process, and clean up.
It was a daunting task and some days I needed more patience than others just to make it through that morning routine.
So, as I stood in my kitchen this morning and surveyed the work of The Bud and all that he was able to accomplish (and being very thankful, I might add!), I reviewed all the times I struggled over the past two months with pushing myself to not fall apart, to push myself to go through the motions and make that juice and take those vitamins, to push myself not to run away --wait, did i say that out loud? And with a sigh of relief, I realized that all that endurance took patience, and that I must have had it all along.
And that was only for two months.
I say "only two months" because then the thought flew into my head --think about the boy, Jesus. As we think about Baby Jesus this time of year, also think about the fact that this baby grew up. As He grew into a young boy, there is that one account of where he got separated from his mom and dad while traveling. They found Him teaching in the temple --"I must be about my Father's business"-- and He was still years away from "officially" starting His ministry (post-baptism by John). And I got to thinking how MUCH patience Jesus must have had! I mean, once He had the cognizant ability to grasp the faith needed to step into WHO He actually was for all mankind, wouldn't He have just wanted to RUN into all that The Father had for Him and get it all done quickly? How much patience He must have had to take the time that He did --YEARS!--to grow in wisdom, favor and stature with God and men, when all all during that time, "inside Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col 2:9). Amazing!
Then, as I was thinking on that, the next thought was so encouraging. I am in Christ. And because I am in Christ, "His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3). I already have His Holy Spirit, and I have the fruit of that Spirit, which includes patience. I don't need to "pray for patience" as some say --i ALREADY have it! I have the fullness of the Godhead dwelling on the inside of me, the Spirit of the Living God, and I can do all things through Christ who lives in me.
So, I can do this. I have patience to wait two months to make a cup of tea in a kitchen. I have patience for any and all things life throws at me.
I already have it.
Jesus had it. He didn't run ahead of The Father's plan. He listened, waited, and moved according to that plan. "In the fullness of time"........
When The Lovelies were little, I gave them an understandable definition of the word "patience" --"Patience is learning to wait with a happy heart" --this definition just popped into my head one day, and I dare say it has stayed with me all these years and has meant maybe even more to me than to any of them. I have the same patience Jesus had. I have learned to "let patience have her perfect work so I can be complete and lack nothing" (James 1:4) --a lifelong pursuit to be sure.
What about you? And would you like a cup of tea while you ponder? Come over, I'll make you some in my kitchen.
Saturday, December 12, 2015
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Words on The Word
Reading the book of James this morning and something struck me....one of the differences in the writers of the New Testament as compared to the writers in the Old Testament is the amount of times the word "Word" is used in place of the phrase"The Law". Yeah, I know, you've probably already noticed that, but I'm a ponderer and sometimes it takes me a while to stumble upon things because I spend inordinate amounts of time pouring over particular words and phrases and thinking about them.
The Word of Truth
Hearers of The Word
Doers of The Word
The Word
The Word
The Word
.....but, what IS this thing, "The Word"? I mean, it's easy to see what The Law is because it was written down thousands of years ago, both on stone tablets and then on paper. Men could read it (or have it read to them) and turn, go, and do (or NOT do!).
Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.
But, The Word is a little more difficult to nail down because at the time the New Testament was being lived out, gospel accounts being jotted down, and the letters in it being written --and thereby the admonition to be a doer of The Word was being declared-- what else was there EXCEPT FOR The Law? These apostles, these followers of The Way, this Jesus....they were all talking about The Word, the "faultless law, the law of liberty" as it is called in James 1:25. People were supposed to live by The Word now, walk in The Word, look in The Word as one looks in a mirror (James 1:23). But many of them had been living by The Law their entire lives, and those outside The Law were at the very least citizens who followed laws of their countries.
....but, The Word??? It's a singular term, for crying out loud. It's not even "The WordZZZ" plural.
So, sitting here this morning, drinking my tea, I started thinking. Okay God, if I lived in the very beginning of the New Testament age, how would I know what "The Word" could possibly mean?
And the answer came.
..."In the beginning was The Word, and The Word was with God, and The Word was God." --John 1:1
...."And The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us." --John 1:14
Boom.
It's Jesus. The life of Jesus. The words of Jesus. The actions of Jesus.
Love.
Mercy.
Grace.
Truth.
Selflessness.
Wanna know how to live? TRULY live? Live the eternal life that God has provided a way for, beginning right now?
Live it through Jesus. Live it by Jesus. Live it because of Jesus.
Read about Jesus in the New Testament. But, you can also read about Jesus in the Old Testament as well, because the O.T. was a type a a shadow of the things to come during the life of Jesus (Colossians 2:17)
And Jesus is the expressed image --the perfect and full representation-- of the Father (Hebrews 1:3 and Colossians 1:15). So, you wanna see a true representation of who God is? Read the life of Jesus.
The Law was good because it showed us how we could never measure up and jump through all the hoops needed, BUT Jesus gave us a better covenant (Hebrews 7:22 and Hebrews 8:6) because He does measure up! And we can trust Him ---The Word--- and his sacrifice for us, instead of trying to trust ourselves and our abilities (and most of the time, our inabilities) in The Law.
Makes life so much easier that way, thanks be to God.
Really.....thanks be to God.
Reading the book of James this morning and something struck me....one of the differences in the writers of the New Testament as compared to the writers in the Old Testament is the amount of times the word "Word" is used in place of the phrase"The Law". Yeah, I know, you've probably already noticed that, but I'm a ponderer and sometimes it takes me a while to stumble upon things because I spend inordinate amounts of time pouring over particular words and phrases and thinking about them.
The Word of Truth
Hearers of The Word
Doers of The Word
The Word
The Word
The Word
.....but, what IS this thing, "The Word"? I mean, it's easy to see what The Law is because it was written down thousands of years ago, both on stone tablets and then on paper. Men could read it (or have it read to them) and turn, go, and do (or NOT do!).
Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.
But, The Word is a little more difficult to nail down because at the time the New Testament was being lived out, gospel accounts being jotted down, and the letters in it being written --and thereby the admonition to be a doer of The Word was being declared-- what else was there EXCEPT FOR The Law? These apostles, these followers of The Way, this Jesus....they were all talking about The Word, the "faultless law, the law of liberty" as it is called in James 1:25. People were supposed to live by The Word now, walk in The Word, look in The Word as one looks in a mirror (James 1:23). But many of them had been living by The Law their entire lives, and those outside The Law were at the very least citizens who followed laws of their countries.
....but, The Word??? It's a singular term, for crying out loud. It's not even "The WordZZZ" plural.
So, sitting here this morning, drinking my tea, I started thinking. Okay God, if I lived in the very beginning of the New Testament age, how would I know what "The Word" could possibly mean?
And the answer came.
..."In the beginning was The Word, and The Word was with God, and The Word was God." --John 1:1
...."And The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us." --John 1:14
Boom.
It's Jesus. The life of Jesus. The words of Jesus. The actions of Jesus.
Love.
Mercy.
Grace.
Truth.
Selflessness.
Wanna know how to live? TRULY live? Live the eternal life that God has provided a way for, beginning right now?
Live it through Jesus. Live it by Jesus. Live it because of Jesus.
Read about Jesus in the New Testament. But, you can also read about Jesus in the Old Testament as well, because the O.T. was a type a a shadow of the things to come during the life of Jesus (Colossians 2:17)
And Jesus is the expressed image --the perfect and full representation-- of the Father (Hebrews 1:3 and Colossians 1:15). So, you wanna see a true representation of who God is? Read the life of Jesus.
The Law was good because it showed us how we could never measure up and jump through all the hoops needed, BUT Jesus gave us a better covenant (Hebrews 7:22 and Hebrews 8:6) because He does measure up! And we can trust Him ---The Word--- and his sacrifice for us, instead of trying to trust ourselves and our abilities (and most of the time, our inabilities) in The Law.
Makes life so much easier that way, thanks be to God.
Really.....thanks be to God.
Friday, September 11, 2015
Pedestrian Signs
"Thus says the LORD, 'Stand by the roads and look, and ask for the eternal paths, where the good, old way is; then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.' But they said, 'We will not walk.'"
(Jeremiah 6:16)
This verse is both beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. When I first read it, I was so struck by the poetic nature of it, that it stayed with me. But over time, it has come back to me at different times for different reasons.
Today it comes back to me as I listen to Mel Torme'.
Uh-huh, you heard me right......Mel Torme'.....aka The Velvet Fog.
I have the Pandora app on my phone and my go-to station is Mel Torme because it has a LOT of old standards on there, which i love: Mel, Frank, Bing, Billie, Ella, and all the rest. There's something in those songs and those voices that just makes me say, "Ahhh.....that feels better" when my day is frantic, hectic, filled with uncertainty, or even when it's lazy, stale, and filled with boredom. There's a connecting thread to the past that this genre brings like no other.
And it's that connecting thread of the past that gives us rest for our souls.
Your soul is comprised of your mind, your will, and your emotions. Music speaks to our emotions like nothing else, and music from the past gives us a sense of stability and peace for several reasons:
It is in this journey that we need to continue walking and remind our children to do the same. We must try to keep connecting with them and reminding them of the great things of past generations, be it our own memories, or the things that were even before us. It can be music, it can be news stories, it can be God's eternal truths; what are the eternal paths you are walking on and inviting others to explore?
I do not want to be the one who fails to pass the torch and then have my children or grandchildren say, "Nah, we don't wanna walk there"
I am committed to stand by the road, ask for eternal paths, walk in them, find rest, and show the next generation how to do the same. I am committed to telling stories of glory days, telling stories of sad times, hard times, great times, and adventurous times. I am committed to sharing music of my generation and the ones before me. I am committed to sharing memories of historic events. And most of all, I am committed to showing how God's love to mankind can change one woman's path forever and how it can do the same for them.
Today, on September 11th, make sure your children and grandchildren hear your memory of what happened 14 years ago. But also be sure to share beautiful music with them. Share the love of God that has been shared with you.
Make that connecting journey.
Stand by that road.
Walk in the good, old way.
Find rest for your soul as they find rest in theirs as well.
"Thus says the LORD, 'Stand by the roads and look, and ask for the eternal paths, where the good, old way is; then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.' But they said, 'We will not walk.'"
(Jeremiah 6:16)
This verse is both beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. When I first read it, I was so struck by the poetic nature of it, that it stayed with me. But over time, it has come back to me at different times for different reasons.
Today it comes back to me as I listen to Mel Torme'.
Uh-huh, you heard me right......Mel Torme'.....aka The Velvet Fog.
I have the Pandora app on my phone and my go-to station is Mel Torme because it has a LOT of old standards on there, which i love: Mel, Frank, Bing, Billie, Ella, and all the rest. There's something in those songs and those voices that just makes me say, "Ahhh.....that feels better" when my day is frantic, hectic, filled with uncertainty, or even when it's lazy, stale, and filled with boredom. There's a connecting thread to the past that this genre brings like no other.
And it's that connecting thread of the past that gives us rest for our souls.
Your soul is comprised of your mind, your will, and your emotions. Music speaks to our emotions like nothing else, and music from the past gives us a sense of stability and peace for several reasons:
- It reminds us of happy moments of our lives, which makes us feel that things will be okay once again
- It speaks to that longing for "community" in our lives; everyone has heard this same stuff at one time or another, so it connects us to people in our past and our present, both in our personal lives and in the life of our nation and the world.
- It puts us on that "eternal path" in that it reminds us that we are just part of a generational journey.
It is in this journey that we need to continue walking and remind our children to do the same. We must try to keep connecting with them and reminding them of the great things of past generations, be it our own memories, or the things that were even before us. It can be music, it can be news stories, it can be God's eternal truths; what are the eternal paths you are walking on and inviting others to explore?
I do not want to be the one who fails to pass the torch and then have my children or grandchildren say, "Nah, we don't wanna walk there"
I am committed to stand by the road, ask for eternal paths, walk in them, find rest, and show the next generation how to do the same. I am committed to telling stories of glory days, telling stories of sad times, hard times, great times, and adventurous times. I am committed to sharing music of my generation and the ones before me. I am committed to sharing memories of historic events. And most of all, I am committed to showing how God's love to mankind can change one woman's path forever and how it can do the same for them.
Today, on September 11th, make sure your children and grandchildren hear your memory of what happened 14 years ago. But also be sure to share beautiful music with them. Share the love of God that has been shared with you.
Make that connecting journey.
Stand by that road.
Walk in the good, old way.
Find rest for your soul as they find rest in theirs as well.
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Life Goes On....
Last night, I had the evening to myself, as The Bud is off on an adventure. I got my "have to do's" out of the way and then sat down to watch a movie by myself that I don't think he would have had patience to sit still for: the more-than-three hour marathon that is "Ben-Hur."
(i highly recommend doing this by the way, if you ever get the chance-- sure, you guys are married, but there definitely are movies that I would like to see that I would never subject him to sitting through and vice versa. When I get some time to myself, i like to watch those types of movies.)
Anyhoo, I've never seen the movie in its entirety; I remember seeing parts of it when i was young --the part where the mom and sister are revealed as lepers in the dark courtyard of the family home always sticks in my mind -yikes! And I've even tried to read the book --it's very long and I was busy raising three little Lovelies.......not a good combination, and I've not gotten back to it yet.
In any case, I wanted to see what made it a "classic" from the Golden Age of Hollywood of the 50's and 60's --the time when there were huge studios, making sweeping epics of classic stories, using insane amounts of money, manpower, and time to recreate some of the greatest architectural structures in human history. Seriously. Look up how the whole chariot-race scene was constructed and be amazed. You will never see money spent like that again....not with today's CGI technology available to multiply three people into thousands or create background using a green-screen and computer. Sad, really.....but I digress.
Anyway, as I sat there watching the movie, for all it's glorious cheesiness --I mean, I was almost uncomfortable as I watched Charlton Heston reconnect with his boyhood friend, Masala....as they looked deeply into each others eyes and had tears forming, I thought, "please, dear god, do not kiss him"....that just goes to show you how trained our emotions have become from years of TV and movies in the current day. Sad, really.....oops, but I digress again!
BAaaackk to the glorious cheeze-whiz --lots of silly dialogue, classic use of beautiful foreign girls as the main romantic lead ("can't speak English very well for an English-speaking movie --but she looks good in a toga, so let's do it!"), but awesome sweeping action scenes, and good triumphing over evil. All great identifiers of this genre.
HOWEVER, there was one thing added in this film that was so quietly understated, it screamed out at me --I'm sure this was William Wyler's intention all along as director --it was the fact that all the while Judah Ben-Hur was going through his trials of losing his social status, being drafted as a galley slave, then being shipwrecked and eventually being adopted into highly influential Roman family, all the while this was going on, another Man was living His life too, in the same region. This Man was not out for revenge or his own gain, as was Ben-Hur, but was teaching another way to see the world and your place in it. This Man was teaching forgiveness, to love your enemies, and to enter into the rest God offers mankind because of one man's sacrifice.
Jesus was not the main character in the film.....but then again He was. That's the point --it cannot be helped; whenever God is involved in a life, His grace and mercy permeate the scene whether you realize it at the moment or not.
Eventually in the movie, Judah and many of the people around him receive this new way of thinking and the movie ends very gently and very open-ended. It allows for the viewer to leave the theater (or in my case, turning off the TV) to ponder their own life and where God fits into it.
For me personally, I also suddenly realized that as I go about my daily life with Christ and having His grace and mercy flowing all around me constantly, that there are many people around me who simultaneously do not have that same inward peace. They are living here around me, but aren't as involved with the teachings of Jesus and His love, grace, and mercy as I am. They are constantly bombarded with thoughts of defeat, fear, hopelessness. Situations arise in their lives daily where they struggle to figure out what to do and how to solve the latest dilemma.
They may not be wrongfully accused of trying to kill a Roman governor, they may not be thrown into a dungeon for years and develop leprosy, they may not have to be chained to the galley of a ship to row and row until they die from exhaustion......but, their 21st century problems can feel all the same.
Am I aware of that as I go into Walmart? Am I aware that when I walk into the bank, the teller is worrying about how she will pay her mortgage next month? Am I aware that the mom who just passed me in the aisle of Kwik Trip (--for all my east coast friends, that's like a Wawa here in the Midwest!) is worrying about why her daughter doesn't seem to talk to her anymore and why she seems scared or nervous when she comes home from school all the time? What about the family whose son just got another bad medical report and they don't know what to do now?
These are the Judah Ben-Hur's, the Tirzah's, the Miriam's of our time. And I am the woman who follows Jesus as He goes around the region teaching and extending love and grace. When do the two groups collide?
At
The
Cross
Literally. In the movie, you see Judah's wife bringing him and his family to Jesus, not knowing that Jesus is, at that moment, being tried and then executed. Pivotal moment in the movie.
I need to remember that many people around me know nothing of the peace that the cross has brought to the world. Peace that passes all comprehension, peace that can become part of their reality as they go through what they are going through.
May we try to remember that as we go about our lives, there is life going on around us, but that we can bring REAL life into the situation.
......yeah....all that from a cheesy old movie.
(i highly recommend doing this by the way, if you ever get the chance-- sure, you guys are married, but there definitely are movies that I would like to see that I would never subject him to sitting through and vice versa. When I get some time to myself, i like to watch those types of movies.)
Anyhoo, I've never seen the movie in its entirety; I remember seeing parts of it when i was young --the part where the mom and sister are revealed as lepers in the dark courtyard of the family home always sticks in my mind -yikes! And I've even tried to read the book --it's very long and I was busy raising three little Lovelies.......not a good combination, and I've not gotten back to it yet.
In any case, I wanted to see what made it a "classic" from the Golden Age of Hollywood of the 50's and 60's --the time when there were huge studios, making sweeping epics of classic stories, using insane amounts of money, manpower, and time to recreate some of the greatest architectural structures in human history. Seriously. Look up how the whole chariot-race scene was constructed and be amazed. You will never see money spent like that again....not with today's CGI technology available to multiply three people into thousands or create background using a green-screen and computer. Sad, really.....but I digress.
Anyway, as I sat there watching the movie, for all it's glorious cheesiness --I mean, I was almost uncomfortable as I watched Charlton Heston reconnect with his boyhood friend, Masala....as they looked deeply into each others eyes and had tears forming, I thought, "please, dear god, do not kiss him"....that just goes to show you how trained our emotions have become from years of TV and movies in the current day. Sad, really.....oops, but I digress again!
BAaaackk to the glorious cheeze-whiz --lots of silly dialogue, classic use of beautiful foreign girls as the main romantic lead ("can't speak English very well for an English-speaking movie --but she looks good in a toga, so let's do it!"), but awesome sweeping action scenes, and good triumphing over evil. All great identifiers of this genre.
HOWEVER, there was one thing added in this film that was so quietly understated, it screamed out at me --I'm sure this was William Wyler's intention all along as director --it was the fact that all the while Judah Ben-Hur was going through his trials of losing his social status, being drafted as a galley slave, then being shipwrecked and eventually being adopted into highly influential Roman family, all the while this was going on, another Man was living His life too, in the same region. This Man was not out for revenge or his own gain, as was Ben-Hur, but was teaching another way to see the world and your place in it. This Man was teaching forgiveness, to love your enemies, and to enter into the rest God offers mankind because of one man's sacrifice.
Jesus was not the main character in the film.....but then again He was. That's the point --it cannot be helped; whenever God is involved in a life, His grace and mercy permeate the scene whether you realize it at the moment or not.
Eventually in the movie, Judah and many of the people around him receive this new way of thinking and the movie ends very gently and very open-ended. It allows for the viewer to leave the theater (or in my case, turning off the TV) to ponder their own life and where God fits into it.
For me personally, I also suddenly realized that as I go about my daily life with Christ and having His grace and mercy flowing all around me constantly, that there are many people around me who simultaneously do not have that same inward peace. They are living here around me, but aren't as involved with the teachings of Jesus and His love, grace, and mercy as I am. They are constantly bombarded with thoughts of defeat, fear, hopelessness. Situations arise in their lives daily where they struggle to figure out what to do and how to solve the latest dilemma.
They may not be wrongfully accused of trying to kill a Roman governor, they may not be thrown into a dungeon for years and develop leprosy, they may not have to be chained to the galley of a ship to row and row until they die from exhaustion......but, their 21st century problems can feel all the same.
Am I aware of that as I go into Walmart? Am I aware that when I walk into the bank, the teller is worrying about how she will pay her mortgage next month? Am I aware that the mom who just passed me in the aisle of Kwik Trip (--for all my east coast friends, that's like a Wawa here in the Midwest!) is worrying about why her daughter doesn't seem to talk to her anymore and why she seems scared or nervous when she comes home from school all the time? What about the family whose son just got another bad medical report and they don't know what to do now?
These are the Judah Ben-Hur's, the Tirzah's, the Miriam's of our time. And I am the woman who follows Jesus as He goes around the region teaching and extending love and grace. When do the two groups collide?
At
The
Cross
Literally. In the movie, you see Judah's wife bringing him and his family to Jesus, not knowing that Jesus is, at that moment, being tried and then executed. Pivotal moment in the movie.
I need to remember that many people around me know nothing of the peace that the cross has brought to the world. Peace that passes all comprehension, peace that can become part of their reality as they go through what they are going through.
May we try to remember that as we go about our lives, there is life going on around us, but that we can bring REAL life into the situation.
......yeah....all that from a cheesy old movie.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Omni...presents?
Have you ever pondered about the omnipresence of God? I mean, thinking, like, what does it actually mean? God is the God of the past, present and future --yeah, I get that. But, I think it's actually a little bit cooler than that.
For the past two years, I've had to learn how to communicate through time zones. Now, maybe some of you have had to do this for a while, but I never have. My whole life had always been East Coast of the Good Ol' US of A. Well, except for that summer when I was around 11 and had a pen-pal in Washington State; we wrote a few times, wondered about each others lives, pledged our undying friendship...and then started back to school in the fall and forgot all about each other ;)
But, over the last two years, two Lovelies moved to the Midwest, crossing into another time zone. Mom and Dad followed later, and one Lovely stayed back on the East Coast.
2 times zones + 4 females + 1 dad = LOTS of communication via phone, text, Skype, Fb, etc
The nice thing is that the time difference was only one hour --nothing TOO much to be concerned about except when coordinating a Skype call:
texting to coordinate:
-"6pm MY time tomorrow night, which is 7pm YOUR time?"
-"Sure!"
-Ka-beeba-boop.....Ka-beeba-boop....(that's the Skype ring, in case you didn't know)
-no answer --texting to follow:
-"oops, sorry, i got mixed up and am not home right now....can we try tomorrow?"
-"same time?"
-"which time?"
yeah, that. And that would have been any of the five of us...at any given time.....each and every time.
And now, we've added one more time zone to our little party. Lovely #1 is currently serving as a missionary in Scotland, which is a SIX hour time difference from us here in Minnesota (six hours ahead of us), which also makes it a five hour time difference with the East Coast.
I was making myself some tea today and got to thinking about all the texting that has been going on between my Three Lovelies, The Bud, and myself over the last few days, evenings, and nights, since we've begun this new way of life with three time zones...then, my thoughts turned to God and where He was fitting in, in all these times, and it hit me --the same God who was with me at that very moment of 12 noon at the stove while I was making tea, is the same God who was with Lovelies 2 & 3 at their jobs at that exact same moment, even though it was 1pm there, and He is the self-same God who was with Lovely #1 at her 6pm dinner table at the exact same moment in time. Same moment in time, same God, same present tense everywhere. Even though 1pm and 6pm were still to come at my house, and therefore was my future, it was also the present.
And God was there.
In each place.
Exactly at the same time
Everywhere.
Omni
Present
He truly is the great I Am.
For the past two years, I've had to learn how to communicate through time zones. Now, maybe some of you have had to do this for a while, but I never have. My whole life had always been East Coast of the Good Ol' US of A. Well, except for that summer when I was around 11 and had a pen-pal in Washington State; we wrote a few times, wondered about each others lives, pledged our undying friendship...and then started back to school in the fall and forgot all about each other ;)
But, over the last two years, two Lovelies moved to the Midwest, crossing into another time zone. Mom and Dad followed later, and one Lovely stayed back on the East Coast.
2 times zones + 4 females + 1 dad = LOTS of communication via phone, text, Skype, Fb, etc
The nice thing is that the time difference was only one hour --nothing TOO much to be concerned about except when coordinating a Skype call:
texting to coordinate:
-"6pm MY time tomorrow night, which is 7pm YOUR time?"
-"Sure!"
-Ka-beeba-boop.....Ka-beeba-boop....(that's the Skype ring, in case you didn't know)
-no answer --texting to follow:
-"oops, sorry, i got mixed up and am not home right now....can we try tomorrow?"
-"same time?"
-"which time?"
yeah, that. And that would have been any of the five of us...at any given time.....each and every time.
And now, we've added one more time zone to our little party. Lovely #1 is currently serving as a missionary in Scotland, which is a SIX hour time difference from us here in Minnesota (six hours ahead of us), which also makes it a five hour time difference with the East Coast.
I was making myself some tea today and got to thinking about all the texting that has been going on between my Three Lovelies, The Bud, and myself over the last few days, evenings, and nights, since we've begun this new way of life with three time zones...then, my thoughts turned to God and where He was fitting in, in all these times, and it hit me --the same God who was with me at that very moment of 12 noon at the stove while I was making tea, is the same God who was with Lovelies 2 & 3 at their jobs at that exact same moment, even though it was 1pm there, and He is the self-same God who was with Lovely #1 at her 6pm dinner table at the exact same moment in time. Same moment in time, same God, same present tense everywhere. Even though 1pm and 6pm were still to come at my house, and therefore was my future, it was also the present.
And God was there.
In each place.
Exactly at the same time
Everywhere.
Omni
Present
He truly is the great I Am.
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