Happy Christmas & New Year to you & yours!

Alas, I have been neglectful in updating my blog! The buzz of Christmas, guests, activities, work and illness have kept me quite entertained, busy and absorbed with life as we know it.

Following is a sobering, yet hopeful entry from Charles Spurgeon's devotionals.

"Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof."
- Ecc. 7:8

From Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - Look at David’s Lord and Master; see his beginning. He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Would you see the end? He sits at his Father’s right hand, expecting until his enemies be made his footstool. "As he is, so are we also in this world." You must bear the cross, or you shall never wear the crown; you must wade through the mire, or you shall never walk the golden pavement. Cheer up, then, poor Christian. "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof." See that creeping worm, how contemptible its appearance! It is the beginning of a thing. Mark that insect with gorgeous wings, playing in the sunbeams, sipping at the flower bells, full of happiness and life; that is the end thereof. That caterpillar is yourself, until you are wrapped up in the chrysalis of death; but when Christ shall appear you shall be like him, for you shall see him as he is. Be content to be like him, a worm and no man, that like him you may be satisfied when you wake up in his likeness. That rough-looking diamond is put upon the wheel of the lapidary. He cuts it on all sides. It loses much-much that seemed costly to itself. The king is crowned; the diadem is put upon the monarch’s head with trumpet’s joyful sound. A glittering ray flashes from that coronet, and it beams from that very diamond which was just now so sorely vexed by the lapidary. You may venture to compare yourself to such a diamond, for you are one of God’s people; and this is the time of the cutting process. Let faith and patience have their perfect work, for in the day when the crown shall be set upon the head of the King, Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, one ray of glory shall stream from you. "They shall be mine," saith the Lord, "in the day when I make up my jewels." "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof."

So, will your ending be far better than the your beginning?

I found this Christmas to be quite wonderful! I do find a greater joy in the giving of gifts rather than in the receiving - though the gifts I did receive were quite wonderful, unexpected and exciting!

It is in the seemingly mundane (to others anyway) gifts I find the greatest satisfaction in receiving: an electric blanket, a HUGE cutting board, candles…membership renewal at CostCo! And yes, I DID receive a rather large telescope. It is amazing to look at the moon and almost lose your vision in one eye from the brightness! I can't wait to figure out how to use it and gaze at the planets & stars!!!

My Christmas "spark" for this year almost returned in full force! With Christmas past, I find I miss it now and look forward to next year!!! Already??? Why yes…just 361 shopping days left until Christmas 2005!

Now, with the countdown to a New Year underway, thoughts turn to getting back into shape - physically, mentally and spiritually!

Dogledanji!!

One Flock with One Shepherd

John 10:14-18
"I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,
even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father."

I had a wonderful dinner last night with a friend. We both agreed to meet for purposes of clearing up misunderstandings, addressing a few issues and giving/getting a general update on the status of things.

One wonderful result of our time together was the realization we would never have met had it not been for Jesus Christ! That statement is really amazing in and of itself, when you really ponder it. What could have been a time of hurt feelings, continued misunderstandings and selfishness, was instead, a sweet time of fellowship, sharing and caring for each other. Other than knowing we share Jesus Christ…another sweet treasure is I have a renewed friendship with a Godly woman who desires to serve the Lord.

We both agreed how great our church body could be if each of us kept our focus on Christ and sought to serve each other as unto the Lord. We agreed to keep praying for each other, our leadership and our church body. And, we agreed that it has to be God doing the work and not us.

...It has to begin with me….and with you…and you…each and every one of you. Next time you go to a church gathering, meeting, service, etc. - go with the attitude of "how may I serve my brothers and sisters in Christ?"

Hebrews 13:20-21
Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great
Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Dogeldanje!!

An Open Heart

Today was my early day for work. (Did I mention I'm thankful I have a job? I am truly thankful!) As I was pulling out of my driveway, by chance, I glanced over at the neighbor's driveway and saw a half-asleep teen worshiping the garage door. It was quite the sight to behold. I called out, "good morning sunshine!" To which, I received some garbled reply. Morning is truly the cruelest joke upon teens. Perhaps they would do far better having night school rather than school in the daytime.
Normally, I am not met with much traffic on my early Wednesday morning commute. Today, however, was quite different. There was a parking lot of traffic awaiting me as I merged onto the 57 freeway. I espied several details one doesn't normally observe when traversing the highways and byways of the California mass transit corridors. The most pronounced of which was there be verdant green grasses growing on the freeway! Well, not actually ON the freeway…but IN the crack barely an inch or two wide, the length of a mile or more. At first, I thought it was just a few seedlings here and there, but as far as I can tell, the whole cracked pavement is teeming with green grass. Isn't that amazing? So many Biblical parallels come to mind! And, even a quote from Jurassic Park, "Life finds a way…" jumped into my ruminations.
Mostly, I was in wonder and awe of Who God is and how He achieves His plans. If the pavement was perfect and non-cracked, it would still serve its purpose of providing a smooth drive from one destination to another, but it would miss out on the opportunity to have life! And having a crack, no bigger than the one I saw, did not impede the ability of the pavement to still do as it was intended, but something altogether NOT intended happened. Life. Growth. An object lesson for me.
No matter how much I try, I don't have a perfect heart nor life. All the cracks, crevices and fissures opened in my heart are an opportunity for growth. Do I embrace growth in Christ? Or, do I look for ways to cover the imperfections and present a false-perfect life to my family, friends, co-workers, brothers and sisters in Christ? Probably this pondering allowed me to really enjoy the following devotional from Spurgeon's Morning & Evening:

"Whose heart the Lord opened." - Acts 16:14

In Lydia’s conversion there are many points of interest. It was brought about by providential circumstances. She was a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, but just at the right time for hearing Paul we find her at Philippi; providence, which is the handmaid of grace, led her to the right spot. Again, grace was preparing her soul for the blessing-grace preparing for grace. She did not know the Saviour, but as a Jewess, she knew many truths which were excellent stepping-stones to a knowledge of Jesus. Her conversion took place in the use of the means. On the Sabbath she went when prayer was wont to be made, and there prayer was heard. Never neglect the means of grace; God may bless us when we are not in his house, but we have the greater reason to hope that he will when we are in communion with his saints. Observe the words, "Whose heart the Lord opened." She did not open her own heart. Her prayers did not do it; Paul did not do it. The Lord himself must open the heart, to receive the things which make for our peace. He alone can put the key into the hole of the door and open it, and get admittance for himself. He is the heart’s master as he is the heart’s maker. The first outward evidence of the opened heart was obedience. As soon as Lydia had believed in Jesus, she was baptized. It is a sweet sign of a humble and broken heart, when the child of God is willing to obey a command which is not essential to his salvation, which is not forced upon him by a selfish fear of condemnation, but is a simple act of obedience and of communion with his Master. The next evidence was love, manifesting itself in acts of grateful kindness to the apostles. Love to the saints has ever been a mark of the true convert. Those who do nothing for Christ or his church, give but sorry evidence of an "opened" heart. Lord, evermore give me an opened heart.

Oh, Amen!
Me too! Me too!!!
dogledanje!!

Geometry (oh, no!)

Tis true…Frank may be-coming an "Emotional Girl" (which is a CW song by Terry Clark, right?). Or, maybe not.

I think I ShOuLD wIn ThE pRiZe FoR bEiNg An EmOtIoNaL gIrL. Or something. Honestly, I do not know how Frank puts up with me some time. It MUST be love. Daily, I thank God for blessing me with Frank. Based upon my poor performance last night (I EVEN scared Frank with my driving - now you KNOW things were bad!!!), I may be moved to the naughty list in Santa's book of Naughty and Nice people.

I am reliving the agony of Geometry through Jameson right now. So he would truly understand that I FEEL HIS PAIN and realize just HOW MUCH I struggled with Geometry, I shared my worst high school class moment with him. Ye want to hear it? Ga'head, feast yer eyes upon me most loathesome classroom trauma. Snicker if ye can, giggle if ye must…but know, yer mirth be at the expense of a fragile teenage lass who had yet to meet with failure to this point in her wee life.

I was blessed with loving school and doing well in high school. My parents NEVER had to remind me to do my homework, study for a test nor finish my quarterly reports or projects. I had an incredible ability to retain lectures and most random points of trivia. I had to work a tad harder on remembering important things read in the textbooks (especially when the teacher tested off the footnotes - tricksey teacher, that one!). But, all in all, I munched up lecture notes, textbooks and breathed out mostly A's and a rare B+. In fact, until my Junior year in High School, I had achieved a four-point-oh average! Then came Mrs. Mary Gallagher and the much needed Geometry class. My first mistake was scheduling Geometry for 5th period - which was right after lunch. My second mistake was, well, taking Geometry.

After the first week or two, I knew I was in deep trouble. I did not understand anything Mrs. Gallagher was teaching. Immediately, I went up to her after 5th period ended and asked to be moved to the front of the class. I knew if I was sitting in the front, I would HAVE to stay awake and not doze off with a full tummy, just after lunch. Mrs. Gallagher complied. A few day's later, our first test was returned. I had to recheck the name on the test Mrs. Gallagher handed me. I was in deep shock when I realized the red-circled "F" on my test really belonged to me. I had never failed anything in my life, up to this point. I squealed with dismay and Mrs. Gallagher said, "don't worry Mary, keep doing the homework and the problems in the chapter I don't assign, pay attention in class, ask questions and you'll be turning in passing grades in no time."

Oh, I believed! I was a true believer.

Faithfully, I did all the problems. I copied and recopied my notes. I went in early and stayed after school to listen to the Geometry Oracle: Mrs. Mary Gallagher. Mind you, Mrs. Gallagher was an excellent teacher! She had wit, charm and an ability to make you WANT to learn Geometry. She would always give us "real life" examples where we might apply our Geometry proofs, theorums and miscellaneous recipes of the arithmetic persuasion. She was the maven…the siren…the soothing voice of reason wooing me on to try, try and try again!

It began to dawn on me that I might be mentally retarded. Logic reasoned this could not be true as I had no problem with Algebra I, Biology, Chemistry, Honors English, etc. However, logic failed me and departed the moment I stepped across the threshold of Mrs. Gallagher's classroom.

One day, I believe I had something akin to a mental meltdown. Adrift upon the sea of proofs and geometrical verbiage, I was floundering and mentally drowning. Mrs. Gallagher finished her opening joke of the hour and launched into yet another block of proofs upon which we had to build to accurately record within our 52 reasons why this particular angle was EXACTLY like another angle and shared the same midline….or something or other. My eyes glazed over, began to fill and a high-pitched whimper escaped my mouth. Just then, Mrs. Gallagher gazed in my direction and the EXACTLY duplicate rivers of tears began to stream silently down my cheeks (I could certainly give her over 1,000 reasons proving why my tears were symmetrical). Mrs. Gallagher calmly approached me, rested her warm hand upon my quivering shoulder, instructed the class to do a set of problems on page such and such, and then squatted down beside me and assured me I was going to get this and not to worry. Not to worry? Like a blubbering child, I told Mrs. Gallagher, in-between sobs, that I was NOT understanding a word she was saying. I pretty much worked myself up into quite the scene of blinding tears, snot-dripping nose and purplish-red face. Mrs. Gallagher excused me to the nurse and asked me to come see her after school. I fled.

I don't think I've ever duplicated that scene again in my life to date. I've been through some fairly traumatic things…but apparently, they pale in comparison to my lack of understanding of Geometry and the subsequently first semester failing grade. Pretty amazing, huh?

I don't recall that my parents ever got upset.

Well, Mrs. Gallagher agreed to tutor me every day after class and all through the Winter Break. She was an angel. Geometry was the devil incarnate. In fact, I would go so far as to imagine the fallen angel must truly be all sharp angles and proof-ridden obtuse triangles.

Mrs. Gallagher agreed to average my entire Geometry grade and report it for both semesters. You see, I received an "F" for the 1st semester of Geometry. However, I did receive an "A" for the 2nd semester. So, I passed Geometry with a "C" (a C flat, if you must know!).

Jameson gets all of my compassion, sympathy and "attaboys" for taking Geometry his freshman year. I only pray he can do better than I.

God help him. Indeed.

In actual fact, I do believe Geometry should NOT be a requirement for those wanting to pursue college. I think there should be an offering of "Geometry-lite" for those not EVER needing Geometry ever again (like say, 99.9% of the Earth's population!).

Hm, sounds like a solid political platform, eh?

dogledanje!!!

Do you dream???

Mar 6:30-32 The apostles *gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. And He *said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while." (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

I have a dream…

I want to permanently relocate to clean air, peaceful landscapes, rolling verdant green hills dotted with the obligatory milk cow or fainting goat and a house with a wrap-around porch.

That's how it started out...but the "dream" has expanded (oh yes).

Well, the house would actually be more like a bed-n-breakfast/ranch-type, can accommodate 50+ living suites, have a theater size/style conference room, a ball room, a dining hall, a library with floor to ceiling bookshelves (did I mention two-story in height?) with gliding ladders from which to perch and retrieve books, a kitchen to rival the one at Hearst Castle, nooks and crannies artfully filled with overstuffed loveseats and leather arm chairs (wing-backed ones too), plush carpets, hard-wood floors, huge double-paned picture windows, breakfast-nook/gazebo type day room, plantation shutters that open to a sweeping patio/veranda with an outdoor fire pit, an herb garden/greenhouse just outside the kitchen door, fireplaces in all the lived-in rooms, crown-molding, wainscoting, warm/jewel tone colored walls and lavishly appointed oakwood finish work and treatments.

I suppose there would have to be guest cottages dotted around the compound for the private-minded. And, there would have to be living quarters for all the staff which would need to permanently live there (cooks, housekeeping, decorators, artists, biblical counselors, accountants, office staff type people, event coordinators, transportation experts, marketing types, theme and recreation coordinators, etc.). Oh, and I guess there would have to be a barn with stables for the hayrides in the Autumn, sleigh rides in the Winter, twilight rides in the Summer and Sunday-go-to-meeting rides in the Spring. And, that would mean we'd also have to employ rancher-type/cowboys and animal husbandry-peoples. Sheesh! I almost forgot the techno-savy computer types who would keep us up to date on the Information Highway, wired for sound, lights and cameras (er, or LCD projectors) and all the other electric/technical/ computerish type necessities of a conference center. While we're putting in our wish list, there would have to be a fully operational "Starbucks" with cheerful baristas who remember our names and instantly know what we want to order for that particular hour.

Definitely have to have a paddock for the fainting goats….a carrot/lettuce patch for the wabbits…and several well padded window seats for the cats: 2 Ragdolls, 2 Maine coons and a calico of any breed named "Brandy" or "Candy" or "Pippin". As for dogs….if we must, well, mutts of Ranger's personality and nature would work best…and only 2 (one would need to be named "Jack" and the other one "Succotash" - Sash for short). Nope, no drooling, burping, "windy" type purebreeds or finicky fairbreed types. No fish (I'm so done with fish). A military macaw named "Ralphy" would be kinda cute. Or a brilliantly white cockatoo named "Mr. Cockatiel" would be silly fun. We'd need ducks for the pond (mallards). A peacock or two to make those annoying
"caw-caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw" sounds may be considered.

I think it would be fun, hard work, enormously satisfying and a great idea to own and operate a "pastoral conference-type center". A place for those in leadership to "steal away to" for relaxation, refreshment and spiritual renewal. A place for small groups of teens, tweens, women and men, families to vacation, retreat (advance) or regroup. Montana would be a great place to do that. Cows, big sky and stressed out clergy & their wives, unwinding, renewing and resting. Yep. We could call it "the Run-a-way to Refreshment Center". Or, RRC Ranch for short.
Any and all other accoutrements that go along with a 5-star, classy resting place would be included, of course.

Sign me up. I'm ready. Most definitely. And, only people who are normal and in-love with God could work there. No freaks allowed.

Well, if you know of anyone who owns billions of dollars and wants to fund my dream…please do get them in touch with me. This dream just gets better and better each time I dwell upon it.

To get an idea of the kind of place I'd like, go rent "Christmas in Connecticut", "Holiday Inn", or "White Christmas". But the scale would have to be on the same grandeur as the hotel in "Somewhere in Time" or even the spooky haunt in "The Shining".

To quote a friend (Bill to be precise), "That would give you the peaceful environment that we all seek, especially when we are forgetting that peace comes from within, from God, and not from our circumstances."

Isa 26:4 Trust in the LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.

Not much to ask, eh?

I can dream…and pray!

Happy dreams to you!

Dogledanje!!

18 Kislev (but what year????)...sheesh!

Happy 18th day of Kislev! On the Jewish Calendar, today is the 18th day of the month of Kislev. I never knew! Well, you can check this out here.

And, if we were still using the Julian Calendar, we'd still be in November (like a week before Thanksgiving). I vote we go back to the Julian Calendar format.

Only 24 shopping days left.
Pressure, oh the pressure!

Happy December 1st!

P.S. Anyone else enjoy waiting for their windshields to de-ice this morning? Brrrrrilliantly ccccccooold ttthhhhis mmmmorning! Appears to be time for some more hot apple cider or cocoa!