Sunday Sweetness, and Lenten Log number 7

Sweet treat number one:
     My favorite (that's a joke between us, she's my only) niece sent me a message on facebook to tell me to check out this song.  She found it on Itunes, and she thought I'd like it. I do.  I have for a while.  She was right. I don't see her much, I miss her, and though she doesn't listen to Christian music, she stumbled on this one.
     God quietly at work through one of his greatest gifts--the gift of song.
     Thanks Al.

(I choose this acoustic vid to share, it just fit this early Sunday morning--worship time.)

Sweet treat number two:

     Today is our first fourth anniversary.  Four years ago today, my husband came to pick me up from school and we scurried to the county seat to get married before the office closed!  It was a Tuesday afternoon, and we were the last to be hitched in the judge's chambers that day.  He, Brad not the judge, cried.  She, the judge, was stoic.  And it was sweet and quick. I remember holding his hands and looking in his eyes.  Few people knew about it, we kept it secret for a while--this was great fun. No photos were taken though!
     Things are so good, I cried while I shopped for his anniversary card--I love and really like my husband.

  
Lent experience for this week:

     It seems like each week I'm thinking less of Lent.  I feel like I should feel horrible about this, but the World Vision challenge isn't resonating with me (perhaps it's more suited for a different age bracket).  I've had my moments, but there is simply nothing I can do in my life that compares with the suffering Christ endured for me.

     Don't misunderstand, I have talked with and spent time with Jesus this week--and it's been good.  I have prayed and read, but the scripted "program" hasn't done it for me.  What has been coming into my mind often this week?  Godspell.  Someday I should write an entire post about how the movie soundtrack of Godspell was the only God in my life for so long.  Anyway, those songs (and images from the movie) have been with me all week--on my heart and in my mind.  This week I'll throw the CD in my car so I can Praise-along on the way to work. Corny, but amazing how good chooses to work--again through song.
     Last night at church, they asked us to journey through a week's worth of specific devotionals.  I asked Brad to do this with me each evening, similar to how we spent Sunday evenings in Advent.  This is something I'm very much looking forward to.
     God, you reign...

Lenten Log, number 6

     Last week's Lenten challenge made me think.  It challenged me to live "Godless" for the week.  After reading a compelling story about a man whose government and society worked through violent means to suppress his God, our God, we were challenged to go without God.
     I thought about it for a couple hours last Sunday morning.  Then I realized to simulate living without God in my life, wanting Him but not having Him, would be foolishness.  I choose instead to celebrate God.  I did go to church, I did delve into the Bible, I did sing along with WBGL on the way to and from work, I did pray in my car every morning, and I whistled worship songs in the school hallways.
     To pretend to not have God?  To be Godless when so many others would so appreciate and value the freedoms to worship we have here in the U.S?  It seemed misguided.

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     This week we're meant to become "Speechless."  The story was told of Ka, a young woman forced into prostitution.  And while again, her story was heartbreaking, the suggestions made to simulate it are impossible in this/my life.  Thank you God.

    However, if you delve deep enough in the website's attached pdf, there are daily devotionals attached to the challenges.  So simply this week, I hope to work on those.  I pray they lead to times of great reflection and closeness to the God who has control over my life.

Lenten Log, number 5

Confession:  I didn't think of Lent all week.  Sure, I prayed some and I listened to Christian radio a bit, but since last week's challenge didn't resonate with me, to do something to ostracize myself, I didn't think of it being Lent.  By yesterday though, I did start thinking of what would be next.

Opened my email this morning to find the experience or challenge for this week is "Godless." Which, coming off my apathy of last week, is interesting in its timing.

If you go here, you'll see the story of a man from Ethiopia who accepted Christ and then was punished severely for his faith.  This story reached me more deeply than any of the previous week's stories.

Now for the challenge:

• Hide or put away all signs and symbols of religion in your room, including your
Bible
• Hand copy a page of the Bible and use only this page as your Scripture for the
entire week
• Don’t attend any religious services or meetings for the week

As always, you can adjust these experiences or come up with your own. Commit to
one, remembering that we are trying to step into what it would feel like to be unable
to have access to spiritual resources (in Shimelis’ case, it was lack of the resource
of freedom to be a Christian and worship).

Also, listen and ask God to speak to you in new ways this week as you leave behind
some of the normal means through which you might hear Him. Consider how believers
all over the world have a life-changing relationship with Christ even though they may
not have Bibles, worship bands, and public meetings. Ask God to challenge and grow
your knowledge of Him and faith in Him as He does theirs.

--Written by Sarah Brubaker

While last week I couldn't think of anything to do, this week, I don't want to do any of those.  Remove symbols?  Hide away my Bible?  Brad is unable to go to church with me this morning, but I certainly don't want to skip it--I can't imagine doing that.  Suddenly all that I took for granted last week is more precious.

This one requires some thought, some prayer.

photo borrowed from a facebook friend, it's phone wallpaper

Lenten Log, number 4

This week, I was asked to give up something that would make me feel vulnerable.

So, with that and the week before in mind I did three things:
1)  I stopped carrying my cell phone.
2)  I gave more money to a local charity for refugees than we can "afford."
3)  When I read of a water charity on my friend Anna's blog, I shared a small gift with them.

I also recognized our vulnerability and started working on two emergency "kits" in case of a tornado or earthquake.  Brad and I collected materials to store in the basement, and I did the same for my car.

For the basement we're taking down jugs of water, blankets, a radio with batteries, replacement batteries, a flashlight, a bucket (for a toilet) and old tennis shoes.  We will be adding more--things like energy bars, Kleenex, toilet paper, etc.

For my car, I threw some old tennis shoes in the back seat, some water bottles and a blanket in the trunk, and I'll be adding some energy bars.

There are many ways God keeps us vulnerable, even with all the blessings He bestows on me.  My prayer, that I continue to turn to Him in times of need.

This week's message encourages us to do something that causes us to feel ostracized.  None of the suggestions feel right to me.  Yet...

Lenten Log, number 2

Suffering.

I used to think that Lent was about Christ's suffering, giving up something to be reminded of His suffering on the cross.

That always seemed sophomoric to me--as if I could give anything up that would even touch on Jesus' gift to us through His death on the cross.

This morning I woke and read the World Vision email I'd been sent.

The links weren't quite functional, but I got the gist.

There is suffering in this world, and I have it so easy compared to most.

This isn't about comparing myself to Jesus at all.

I've been asked to go without something physical.

Any one thing I could think of seemed so namby-pamby.

Instead, I've made a list.

For this week, I give up convenience:

I am taking a facebook fast.

I am sleeping without pillows.

I am not drinking soda.

My lunches will be scrounged from what we have in the pantry.

I will not eat anything I haven't brought to school myself.

I will not cool or heat my lunch, carrying it in a paper bag, no ice blocks, no thermos.

I will not turn on the TV unless Brad does.

I will not warm up water to shower.

I will park far from my destinations.

Wussy list?  Maybe so.  But I'm thinking each time I reach for a diet Dew,  reach to click the mouse to see what my friends are up to and have to hold back--isolation, eat a sandwich on the white bread Mac left behind instead of drinking warm soup, wake in the night, chill in the shower, feel the pain in my high heeled feet as I walk to my car, I'll be reminded of the blessings I have.

Because I do have a blessed life.

Lenten Log, number 1

I am decidedly undisciplined.  I'm certainly not crowing about that.

I spent some time researching what Lent might mean to me, what it could bring to me.  I decided I'd give the World Vision Lent plan a try.  I'm already behind in opening the daily emails and working through, praying through what I thought I took on to do.

On Thursday, I was given this directive:
Choose one of the following topics and hand-write a list of how you are privileged in that area. Be as specific as possible and aim for at least 20-40 items. Keep this list in a place where you will see it at least once a day for the duration of Lent. Suggested locations include your desk, your daily planner or your bathroom mirror.

•    Money
•    Health
•    Disease
•    Faith
•    Freedom
•    Education


My first thought was, "Twenty to forty?"  So I didn't do it.


Time to play a little catch-up.

The Blessings of Education (as they came to mind):

1.  My parents had the choice of a parochial school or a GOOD public school system.  My siblings and I each choose different routes.
2.  I learned to read as a kindergartener.
3.  I've been reading ever since.
4.  My schools all had art, music, physical education and many humanities offerings.
5.  I learned to type in school--this, obviously, continues to serve me well.
6.  I learned about freedoms in history classes and journalism classes.
7.  I have an eighth grade degree.
8.  I have a high school degree.
9.  I have an A.A. degree from a wonderful local junior college.
10.  I had the pick of where to attend college, even with my mediocre grades, and actually attended four schools before earning an undergraduate degree.
11. I earned a masters in education.
12. I have the right and privilege of just considering the earning of another.  Perhaps one day I will.
13.  I had some government assistance, as a single mom, that helped me pay for my undergraduate degree once I knew what I wanted to "be."
14.  I live in a country whose leadership truly does value education.
15.  I was blessed to be enrolled in an Old Testament class the quarter my mom suddenly died.  The part-time prof carried me through one of my deepest hours of mourning as the class spoke of Job, someone I had not met before.
16. I was allowed to learn of the worlds' religions in comparative religion classes.
17.  I was allowed to choose the topics of almost every research project and paper I have ever taken on.
18. I had many teachers who made it clear they cared about me as a person.
19.  I was blessed with all different class sizes--small co-horts to large lecture halls.
20.  I majored in journalism, sociology, and education, finally sticking with education.  All were MY choice.
21.  My nation allows me the freedom to pursue a biblical education through attending church services without fear and opting to participate in bible study.
22.  I can go into book stores and peruse the shelves to find books about anything I'd like to learn about.
23.  I can do the same in libraries.
24.  I do both, and taking advantage of those gifts is a blessing.
25.  I have a marriage, grounded in faith, with a man who holds many degrees, one in ministry, and his education blesses me.
26.  I watch my son pursue his graduate degree, and I am blessed by his experiences and learning.
27. I spend my days as a teacher.
28.  I wrestle with the challenges placed in front of me at my job with the strength bestowed on me through my own schooling.
29.  I am capable.
30.  I endeavor to let my children know they are cared for, and it is my hope they hold firmly to this.

Thank you Lord, for finally making me stop and count only a minute portion of the blessings you have laid in front of me.

This is my prayer of gratitude for this day.

Amen

For Lent...check it out...

   

     I'm giving this a go...which seems like a lighthearted phrase for something that just may touch me deeply.  My hope is that it does, and that it stays with me beyond the celebration of Christ's resurrection on April 24th.  The comments left here and on facebook on my Lenten question the past two days gave me much to think and pray about.
     Thank you all for sharing from your hearts.
     Thank you Lisa for this.