GOD'S LOVE

 

Photo by Chris.  Tierra del Mar, Oregon 2003.  Shutterstock rejected this one for sale but I Stock accepted it.

For some reason I knew God loved me no matter what.  The majority of people do not believe this. Maybe I believed this because my mom taught me that I was perfect.  She treated each one of us like we were only children.  Maybe it was because she had to be perfect so her children had to be perfect.  After attending church camp when I was 15 I realized that I was not perfect.   Here is a CRU article I think all young people should read about God’s love.  Click on the link to open.  Do you believe that God loves you?

I Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

A FRIEND IS SOMEONE WHO KNOWS ALL ABOUT YOU AND STILL LOVES YOU

 

Mike 1993

We lost a former neighbor and great friend of over 50 years on Sunday, April 16.    Mike suddenly left us.  Donna called to let us know he had passed in his sleep. Mike and Donna were our neighbors when we were all young and living on the same street in Spokane.  There were three families with children who were not yet school age.  But then Mike and Donna moved away.  Then our other friends Jim and Carmen moved.  We were the last to move.  However we kept in touch.  Years later, when we were empty nesters, we started coming from 3 states to spend time together. We had at least 7 reunions over the last 30 years. 

It was about in 1993 when our boat was anchored in Anacortes that Mike, Donna and Jim and Carmen showed up.  The plan was to day cruise and sleep on the boat.  We were able to go sailing one day.  Here are some pictures.

Donna, Mike, and Chris

Chris, Mike, Jim

Donna, Bobbi, Carmen

As I recall Jim and Carmen, Donna and Mike arrived in Woodinville in 1994 and we all enjoyed our hot tub together. 

Jim, Carm, Mike, Donna, Bobbi, Chris

Then it was off to Ashland, Oregon in 1996.

Donna, Jim, Bobbi, Chris, Carm, Mike. We enjoyed going out to eat.

Chris, Bobbi

Donna, Chris, Carmen, Mike, Jim

Carm and Jim were moving back east so we gifted them with a rubber chicken. There is a chicken joke we share but I'm not allowed to tell it!

In July of 1997 Mike, Donna, Jim, and Carm joined us in Friday Harbor.  Donna brought hats, noses with glasses.

Chis is half there due to random stranger who took the picture. 

Roche Harbor -- Mike,Donna, Bobbi, Chris, Carm, Jim

Carmen's dream was a trip to Aruba.  Jim made all the arrangements.  When we received a package in the mail we assumed it was info on our trip.  We opened the package and it was the rubber chicken! We couldn't stop laughing. That April in 2001we all converged on an all inclusive resort. 

Mike, Carmen, and Chris took advantage of the hot tub.

Buffet and different restaurant meals were the best. Mike, Carm, Bobbi, Chris Jim, Donna.

The more physically fit went snorkeling.  The beach was wind swept but dry.  When Chris and I went back on a cruise several years later the area was flooded. 

The mall had no elevator.  

We had reunions on the Oregon Coast at Tierra del Mar.  Carm and Jim would rent a house and bring a carload of food and we would all sleep in the 2 bedrooms and on couches.  The last year we got together each couple rented their own house.  

Mike, Jim, and Chris

Another good restaurant.  Jim, Carm, Donna, Mike, Chris, Bobbi

Donna and Mike cooked and we posed with our noses and glasses.

Upon hearing the news about Mike's passing, Chris said, "We lost one of the good guys." Mike, Donna, Jim, and Carm are friends who have accepted us no matter our faults.  Mike and Donna stopped by in November of 2022.  Last time to see Mike and catch up.  We are so thankful for the years together.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:10 If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.

SPORTS DO NOT BUILD CHARACTER. THEY REVEAL IT.

 

Granddaughter Samantha. Photo by Chris 2010.

"Mom, it's only Tee-Ball."  Samantha let her mom know she didn't have to worry.  Her brother, Andrew, was involved with more professional ball, but that didn't mean her mom had to get stressed about her game.

Today most of children's sports are organized.  Many children drop out by age 11.  Maybe this is because our society has gone from teaching sportsmanship to encouraging wins at any cost.  Ted Kuck,  a 2008 Michigan Notable Book Award winner for his football memoir, Paper Tiger: One Athlete’s Journey to the Underbelly of Pro Football, says this--"The point was that like many other things in our culture, competition has grown increasingly acrimonious and joyless and broken over the last couple of decades. Blame social media or trash talking or legalized gambling or the lack of scarcity or youth sports insanity or the politicization of sports—all of which are real and bad—but sports are just less fun and more regularly blown out of proportion than they used to be."  This statement rings true.

Granddaughter Natalie. Photo by Chris 20017.

It's fun to win but at what cost? Everyone likes to win.  I didn't participate in sports in school though. I didn't enjoy competition.  Even though I ended up majoring in P.E. in college I took all individual sports.  Many kids like to play on sports teams but not with stress and anxiety.  Maybe we need to go back to fewer organized sports. 

In the Christian life the Bible tells us in I Corinthians 9:24 "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it." Matthew 10:16 says “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." 

We must run the race to win but also to be clever. This is speaking of our spiritual lives of course but we can also apply it to competition. I loved it when we played co-ed frisbee football.  Chris was a master at strategy.  We won the games. 

My prayer is that churches will start family ball teams to compete in friendly ways.  Our church invites the neighbor kids to play in our wonderful gym on Wednesday nights in the hope that they will stay for youth groups after. 

For more information about kids and schools check out this .

I like things when they are not perfect because that means there is less pressure on me.  My question is--  when is it important to be competitive and  perfectionistic? Are some people met to excel and others to just stay middle of the road? What do you think?

I Corinthians 12:4-6 4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

HAPPY EASTER!!

 

Sunday is Easter. Are you doing anything special?  Years ago we attended Easter egg hunts with our children and then our grandchildren.  Sometimes we would decide to join an Easter sunrise service.  After church we would have some type of meal--  whether it was a lamb dinner with mint jelly, a ham dinner, or brunch.  

Recently the cartoonist Johnny Hart was brought to my attention by a Breakpoint podcast.   Click on the link to listen or read the article.  He drew some thought provoking cartoons.  One of my favorite is above.  Some day Jesus will be here to judge us all.  I'm ready because Jesus has paid the price.

Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,