Noah-- Not the Russell Crowe Movie

Ray Comfort interviews people about Noah's story in the Bible.  In this 30 minute presentation he answers questions like, "How did Noah get all of those animals in the ark?"  Worth your time to watch.

Please Lord Send Me To Africa Don't Make Me A Housewife

Wayne many years after he got back from Africa.

Our prayer group has been praying to know God’s heart for the lostness in our community and the world.  Sometimes a movie will be used by God to show what that would be like.  Today I watched a movie called “33 Postcards.” It had a happy ending but it could have been much happier throughout the movie if someone had called out to God for help.  No one ever did.  I could see the protagonist's need for Jesus so clearly.  She didn’t have anyone to help her.  As an orphan no one understood her need to locate the man who had been her sponsor and pen pal for years, and who she thought of as her father.   She had help in the end but God did not receive any credit for His care.

Then there was another movie; I can’t remember the name for it, which I watched several years ago.  The plot showed the evilness of a godless society imprisoned by communism.  There was a chance for freedom for the protagonist but he chose to stay captive.  He was much like a bird that will not fly out of a confined space because it knows nothing but its cage.

So this may or may not relate, but when I was young, I told the Lord I’d rather go to Africa than become a housewife.  Maybe it was a selfish wish.  I really didn’t have that much of a heart for the lost. When I was a teen I thought bringing boys to youth group and singing in the choir was a good attempt at evangelism. 

You probably won’t share my sentiment because 80% of women and probably 50% of men want to get married, own a house, and have children.  Unfortunately, I was in the 20% of women who didn’t want to get married, or have a house.  I especially didn’t want to be a housewife.

 I don’t know when it began but I never had any interest in playing house or having dolls as a child.  If I was given a present it must be something that a boy would like.  I received a Hopalong Cassidy wristwatch from my parents one Christmas when I was in 4^th or 5^th grade. It is the one present I never forgot and I have it to this day.

I was the self-centered type who thought children were too much work.  As the oldest girl of 5 siblings the babysitting always seemed to be left to me.  Maybe that is because my older brother tended to fight with the second to the youngest brother, while I let him do whatever he wanted.  When this brother was 6 he asked me to read him the World Book Encyclopedia.  I think we got to volume B or C before I went off to college.

So in the end it was my youngest brother, Wayne, who went to Africa as a missionary.  I became a housewife.  Through the pain and joy of having a husband, and children, I have developed a heart for the lost.  I weep when no one will tell a man or woman or child, who are God’s beloved,  about Jesus, and how much He loves him or her. 

Count It All Joy!

 

  Frank Luntz, the word master, is depressed.  He can’t believe that Barack Obama was elected again in spite of the poor economy, lack of jobs, weak foreign policy, moral degradation in the United States, class warfare, etc. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/the-agony-of-frank-luntz/282766/

What Frank needs is Jesus.  What we need is Jesus.  If we talk about Jesus to everyone and let go of our arguments for saving babies lives in the womb (It’s my baby and I’ll kill it if I want to,) for marriage between a man and a woman, (people must be tolerant if men lust after men and women lust after women,) we will keep focused on the Lord and not on our circumstances.  God wants us to grow in the knowledge of Him.  If Frank Luntz crafted arguments, slogans, and words to convince us of our need to know God, he would be doing something that needs to be done.  He would know that he is on the winning side-- that is God’s side.  And he wouldn’t be depressed.

We may be galloping toward the goal of Communism in this country but God can, with one mighty shout, stop it in its tracks.  This is nothing in the sight of God:

Psalm 29: 3 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters ; The God of glory thunders, The LORD is over many waters. 4 The voice of the LORD is powerful, The voice of the LORD is majestic. 5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars ; Yes, the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, And Sirion like a young wild ox. 7 The voice of the LORD hews out flames of fire. 8 The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness ; The LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the LORD makes the deer to calve And strips the forests bare ; And in His temple everything says, "Glory !" 10 The LORD sat as King at the flood ; Yes, the LORD sits as King forever. 11 The LORD will give strength to His people ; The LORD will bless His people with peace.

The United States isn't mentioned in the Bible so we may be wiped off the map in some way before long.  But we don't have anything to worry about.  We are commanded not to worry so we won't.  God is soverign and His perfect will will be done.  I’m excited to see what the Lord will do!

God Will Provide

Chris with the fruit and vegetable man who came to Marina De La Paz.

Our church is going through a tough time financially.  We only have a part time pastor and administrative assistant.  We really need full time people.  The church chairman says that we will keep going until we run out of money.  It has been suggested that we borrow money from our denomination to hire a full time pastor.  But doesn’t the Lord provide what we need when we need it?

Our family’s story shows that God does provide what we need.  When our family was  going through some hard economic times I told the Lord that if He wanted us to live in our car—it was paid for—I would be willing to do that.  Chris was working in San Jose, CA, but not making enough to pay for an expensive apartment in the Bay area.  So I had it all planned out how to live in our car.  Our daughter was 11 and living with my parents and attending 6^th grade.  Our son was 4 and not in school yet.  I figured I could drive Chris to work and then use the bathrooms there to shower and clean up.  The little guy and I would eat at McDonalds and then spend the day at the library.  But we never had to do that.  Suddenly, through several coincidences, Chris was offered a job with a higher salary in Santa Rosa, CA.  We were able to move farther north where the housing wasn’t so expensive. 

But now I’m spoiled.  Would I be able to give up our life style if the Lord wanted me to?  When I go to the store to buy some shampoo I have the choice of large numbers of different brands.  When I go to the grocery store I have bins of fresh fruits, shelves of canned food, and dozens of different kinds of frozen pizza or anything frozen I want.  But recently I’ve noticed that some of the choices have been declining. 

It has happened a few times now.  I went to the area where I usually get the brand of shampoo I like.  They had every other kind for problem hair but none for normal hair.  Strange.  Then another time I wanted some Nature Made vitamins and they were all out.  I checked back several times and the product still hadn’t been restocked.  Maybe vitamin companies phase out vitamins that don’t sell well.  Or maybe the transportation of some items has been held up because of weather.  Or maybe America is turning into a third world country.  Maybe we will no longer have a choice of anything we want.  It could happen.

When we lived on our boat in La Paz, Mexico on the Baja we were amazed at the lack of products in the stores.  In the main department store downtown there were wide spaces between washers, dryers, and refrigerators on the appliance floor.  There were only about 2 or 3 different brands.   The clothing department racks were not very full and widely spaced.  (It is a lot different there now 20 years later.) One day I went shopping with a friend from church and she discovered Jockey underpants in stock.  She said, "I need to buy these now as it will be a long time before any more come in."  Then she said, “I love living in La Paz because there is nothing to buy!”  I guess that includes underwear. 

When we came back to the states I was overwhelmed at all the stuff in the stores.  It was like a land of milk and honey—a promised land of sorts.  So if the United States is devastated by some disaster or attacked in some way, will we be content with what God provides?  If the Lord asks us to give up our church building will we be willing to do that?  I hope so.  There are always “House Churches.”  Our church pianist has offered her home if this should happen! 

Apple is Retiring Snow Leopard

In the olden days one could purchase a typewriter and use it for the rest of your life!  But now, in the digital age, one can purchase a top of the line computer, and seven years later it is obsolete.   Well, folks, Snow Leopard will no longer be supported by Apple and that is what I have on my IMac.  AAARG!  Here's the story http://m.csoonline.com/article/748815/apple-retires-snow-leopard-from-support-leaves-1-in-5-macs-vulnerable-to-attacks?page=1

For Christmas of 2009, Chris, knowing that I love electronic things, and that I hate jewelry, clothes, hats, shoes, bags or anything like that,(they are necessary evils), gifted me with a 27” I Mac.  I was delighted, but he had an ulterior motive—he hoped he wouldn’t have to support my computer use as he did when I operated a PC.   He also included 2 years of Apple support.  When I threw away my key chain, because I thought it was cluttering things up, I was able to restore everything, before Chris found out, by talking to an Apple genius, and being guided through putting everything back in place.

But now, because of Apple ripping the rug out from under me, I have to figure out how to update my system.  First I must back everything up!  I can’t use Time Machine because I have too many gigabytes or something like that.  Then there were several other things that I could do, which I don’t remember.  We decided to order an external thingy.  So Chris will work on my machine when we receive the external gadget.   I’m now locked into Mac forever.  It would be difficult to load all this back up onto a PC.  If I ever had to revert back to a PC, I’d have to put the files next to my floppy disks, which I plan on getting the documents off of some day, and at a distant date, retrieving the archives from that contraption also.

My son’s suggestion for dealing with this problem would be to hire a digital life organizer.  It would work like this---

Organizer-- "Do you need this file?"

You--"No."

Organizer --"Do you need this file?"

You-- "No."

Organizer—"Do you need this file?"

You--"No."  

Organizer--"That'll be 200 dollars please!"

Also, I will no longer be using Safari because of this article:http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2014/02/22/stop-using-safari-and-update-ios-to-avoid-apples-critical-gotofail-security-bug/.

Unbroken--The Movie

I read “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand several years ago.   Hillenbrand, who suffers from chronic fatigue, also wrote “Seabiscuit,” which was made into a movie.  I didn’t read  “Seabiscuit” but enjoyed the movie.  Now “Unbroken” will hit theatres around Christmas 2014.  I plan to see it.

“Unbroken” is a very long book—Hillenbrand tends to be wordy, (see her story about becoming sick, and her struggle to work at her writing.  The article was published in The New Yorker magazine in 2003.  It’s titled “A Sudden Illness -- How My Life Changed.”   http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=2003-07-07#folio=056. Talk about long—nobody I sent it to could finish reading the article.)

I had heard that Louie Zamperini had become a Christian-- so through the whole book I kept thinking—“Bring on the bear!”  I wanted to hear how he came to Christ.  But Hillenbrand did do a terrific job of characterization of those in the life of Louie, as well as descriptions of the triumph at the Olympics, and then down to the pit of despair as a prisoner of war. 

I’m looking forward to seeing the movie.

So You Think You Don't Have Any Talent

Speaking of talent I always thought I didn’t have any.  About the only thing different about me was that I could do backbends and cartwheels.  My tap dancing was a little better than average, and I could do high kicks like the Rocketts.  The greatest compliment I ever had from my spouse was when he said that I was like a BMW—not outstanding on anything but above average in everything. 

The reason I value my hubby’s compliment is that compared to him I’m a dufus—you name it and he can do it, or figure out some clever way to get it done.  He can go out, earn the bacon, and then come home, and fry it up in a pan.  He is the go to guy.  If anyone wants an idea for anything, just ask him for one, and he will come up with 20 or more ideas. 

But I believe God gives talents to everyone.  Some receive more talents than others. If you work with the talents you have, God may give you more.  That’s what I’m hoping for anyway.  After coming down with fibromyalgia, and after much prayer and research, I decided I could work on my prayer life, and on becoming a writer.  

As far as opportunities to grow in my prayer life--- God put on Fern Nichols heart to start Moms in Touch, now moms in Prayer, --- and I have been praying with moms groups for over 20 years as a result. At my old church 2 of the ladies started meeting one morning a week to pray for the church and our country.  So wherever I attend church I’ll find a prayer group or start one because of the example of these ladies.

God has answered many of my prayers in wonderful and interesting ways. 

•       Chris miraculously found me an outfit to wear to our sons wedding.
•       We amazingly ran into Dale Chihuly on his way to lunch when we visited his workshop.
•       God made our church grow—not in the way we thought it would but in another good way.
•       I found a wonderful prayer partner every time we moved.
•       We have wonderful kids and grandkids. 

I could list more and more but I will stop here and tell you about running into Dale Chihuly.  Speaking of those with outstanding talents I was privileged to have a tour of Dale Chihuly boathouse in Seattle and his workshop in Ballard.  We just happened to be near the glass area when Dale walked through on his way to lunch.  Our tour guide and good neighbor took this picture of us.

So keep using those talents because you have them!  May God multiply them!