EASTER 2016

March 27, 2016

It's Easter. 

And some of us are sitting in the pews of this church for the first time all year.  Our lives have been busy with our kid's volleyball games, the yard needing to be mowed or we found it hard to come back to church after having been gone so long.  We all have our reasons....I have mine....you have yours.  But we are all here.....Today.....Together.....worshipping as one.  Worshipping THE One.  When we focus on the fact that we are all family, that makes today....a Family Reunion.  A reunion that has become tradition in the Christian faith. 

I'm rebel enough to discard most church traditions that are done for the simple reason "just because its always been done". That doesn't work for me.  I told you I was a rebel.  But this tradition called Easter....well.....I LOVE this tradition.  I long to gather with You as part of My family and worship the Head of Our household......Jesus, together.

And there's another not-often-mentioned tradition of the Christian church.....the eating of figs after Palm Sunday.  I hate figs.  But many do this....because the day after Palm Sunday, Jesus, hungry for fruit, saw a fig tree.......

"He went to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only.
And He said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!"
And the fig tree withered at once."
Matthew 21:18

The irony of this story is that the first action after the fall of man, was Adam came looking for fig leaves, and the last miracle before being nailed to the tree, Jesus came looking for figs.  Please don't miss the paradox here, sweet family.

If you asked Adam today, my bet is he'd tell you, "The authentic Christian life has GOT to be more than leafage."

See.....your FAITH must have FRUIT.  It's the fig-bearers who live a faith that bears fruit.....and it's the leaf-wearers who live the lie.
ENTIRE family trees wither away without a grace that produces fruit.  Without this grace....we waste away. 

"The stone was not moved so Jesus could
GET OUT.
It was moved so We could
GET IN."
#Easter

Keeping Our Heads Above Water - Chapter 23

March 21, 2016


It's beyond belief to me that we are approaching the 3-month mark since we were flooded out of our home the end of December.....

 It's now Spring here in East Texas.....I know this cause my allergies are SCREAMING it so.....

And there is GREAT NEWS at the Etheridge Houseboat!  Floor insulation was layed this past week.....and here's a little DIY/Pinterest helpful hint for those of you who find yourselves laying floor insulation in the future:

To keep insulation from getting on you, 

pour flour all over your body.   

Is it me, or does he look like Jesus with flour and a Rebel shirt on?  Just sayin'......

Yes....this keeps the insulation from sticking to you.... my guitar-playing, Good-Times Van driving contractors who are hammering this little house of ours back together tells me. 

And friends are still coming by....pushing the concrete-block-holding-my-front-door-closed, out of the way....and writing their scriptures.....their wishes.....their prayers for Chuck and I....on the studs and walls...and heart....of this beautiful home we will once again live in soon......

They are doing the Downward Dog yoga pose as they balance vicariously on our new WATERPROOF 2x4's as they leave their mark on our home....

And as we walk through this final week before Easter.....a time of remembering an event 2000 years ago with our hearts burst wide open.....we reflect on the miracle of that time that allowed Chuck and I to be able to experience the Blessings....the Grace.....the Miracles we have experienced in the last 84 days.  Without a Savior to die and rise for us, the Blessings from our Storm would never have been realized.

Do a little "Downward Dog" and meditate on that for a while.

Oh ya......and don't forget to send this handsome husband of mine a little BIRTHDAY message today on his special day!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEETHEART.....

......YOU ARE LOVED MORE THAN YOU KNOW

Keeping Our Heads Above Water - Chapter 22 (Everyone Loves Raymond)

March 15, 2016

We - Have - Turned - A - Corner

Today marked the FINAL day of Raymond Tabor's dumpster sitting in my driveway.  Glory-Be!!

Raymond and I have become such great friends over the past 2-1/2 months since "The Flood" crossed our paths, that we tell each other "I love you" when we end our conversations.....we hug each time he pulls into 89 Eagle Cove....and we promise to get the spouses together and have dinner SOON.   I teared-up as he let me sit one final time at the controls of his truck.  I won't miss the dumpster in my driveway....but I will desperately miss Raymond......cause Everyone Loves Raymond!

But saying good-bye to Raymond and Dump #6 means we have finished Part 1 of this journey and getting ready to begin Part 2.  The days of walking on a 2-inch piece of wood to get to the other side of the house are almost over.  We will be laying sub-floor soon and you can't even begin to imagine how excited this makes me!

Finding this guy under my floor hammering will be a thing of the past....

And no more passing these broken mirrors that have been sitting on my driveway reminding me how I've aged 10 years in the past two months. 

Friends, this has been, without a doubt....hands-down.....one of the most challenging experiences Chuck and I have ever been through.  AND yet...... filled our hearts will gratitude and humility.

Everywhere I look.....I see this.  Friends like Maaike.....writing their words of encouragement....their favorite scriptures.....their blessings on this house of ours that will once again be a home to us some day.  Many of them come in and out throughout the day, past the contractors...past the mess, to find their favorite places to write their words.  And every day....at the end of the day, I come by to find new ones written in the walls and studs and beams and sheetrock of 89 Eagle Cove.  And it blesses me.  Oh.....how it blesses me.

And when the rains threatened to invade this house of ours once again last week, those same friends didn't just write the words.....they SPOKE the words.

They prayed prayers with our names on them....day and night....and the rains continued for 4 days and 4 nights solid....but the rising water stopped when it came to the foundation of 89 Eagle Cove.....and my only used twice, bubble-wrapped-in-case-it-flooded-again, washing machine never got a drop on it!   Not-A-Drop.

And in the words of my dear friend Ellen Louro's favorite scripture,

"He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire; 

He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along." 

Psalms 40:2

Oh ya......we're walking on solid ground, friends....we have been lifted out of the mud.

Keeping Our Heads Above Water - Chapter 21

 March 7, 2016

"The challenges you face are far too great for you to handle alone.  

You are keenly aware of your helplessness in the scheme of events you face.  

This awareness opens up a choice: 

to doggedly go it alone or to walk with Me in humble steps of dependence.  

So, consider it all joy whenever you are enveloped in various trials.

(I must admit; this line makes me scratch my head every time I read it) 

These are gifts from Me, reminding you to rely on Me alone."  

Jesus Calling, March 7 (James 1:2-3)

The trees are budding....the daffodils are blooming.....and I have tiny blooms on my azaleas that struggled to keep their heads above water for a week in December.

And I've got to be honest with you.......I want to start this new week like I want a Root Canal. 

RAIN.

We have more rain headed our way.  Lots and Lots and Lots more rain.  Like 10-12 inches of rain possible......All week....

"And the rain fell and the floods came....and the winds blew and beat on this house.  

But it did not fall, because it had been founded on the Rock."  

Matthew 7:25

And I waffle between "Faith" and "Fear"....... I see the dark clouds coming....like a bruise on your leg that you know will get worse before it gets better....

So I reread the scriptures covering my beams and studs and sheetrock.....left there by friends who genuinely want me to tattoo them into my heart and brain so I won't forget them during these anxious moments....and I feel my shoulders relax a bit....

I tell myself that any storm that comes this week can't do any more damage than has already been done.....we are still rebuilding the foundation....we still don't have floors or sheetrock or furniture....this storm can't do us any more damage.....

But I think about the other 50 people on this lake who have just moved back into their newly repaired homes......new floors, new walls, new paint, new furniture.....and how anxious they must be feeling as they watch the dark clouds covering their homes and docks.....

I pray their hearts will find Peace in the storm....find Comfort in the only One who can bring comfort....and pray the heavy rains miss us.

This little town we live in has witnessed miracles before.  A few years ago, right before Christmas, we had a big ice storm coming our way.  We were straight-up in the middle of its angry path.  It was a big weekend for this little town of ours.....Christmas programs at every church....the town Christmas Parade...celebrations everywhere.  If they had to be canceled due to ice, they couldn't be rescheduled.


This town got on their knees and prayed protection from this looming storm....and wouldn't you know it.....the storm turned north when it got to the county line.  Made a solid left turn on the interstate...at the "Welcome To Franklin County" sign.....and missed us.  The trees on the west side of the sign were covered in ice.....the trees on the east side of the sign had no ice.  No lie....this happened.  There is something special about Mt. Vernon.......

I'm just sayin'.....

So if I could be so bold as to ask you to whisper a prayer for those of us in the path of this looming week of storms......for Courage....for Faith.....for Peace.

Thank you, friends.......

GROWING SEEDS: I Was Blind But Now I See

 

 

I was in second grade when the school-appointed optometrist came and tested each set of eyes in our little private school in downtown Dallas.  He set up his examination area in the corner of the classroom, turned the lights off and, one by one, tested each of our eyes. 

Turns out, there was a problem with one of my eyes.  I had a condition called Amblyopia....my brain favored one eye over the other causing the least favored eye to become "lazy".   Treatment was a pirate's patch over the "good" eye for a year forcing my lazy eye to pick up the pace and start seeing clearly again. 

As I read over today's scripture about the blind man whom Jesus healed in John 9, my mind went back to that time when I, too, was blind.  Not the physical blindness of Amblyopia....but the spiritual blindness I had for most of my life...the inherited blindness which caused me to assume there were no lessons left for me to learn.   The lukewarmness of thinking I knew God.....enough.

And much like my brain favoring one eye over the other causing the least favored eye to become blurry, our spiritual life can become blurry from favoring the world around us.  We get "lazy" in our time with God and focus on things other than Him....trust me, I do it daily.....and it's only when we put a patch over the dominant things of this world, that our spiritual vision becomes clear and in-focus with God. 
 

Lord, give us eyes to see Your means,
A Heart to see Your methods,
And faith to wait Your answers.....