Palm leaf cross

I admire this man.  As he stood in our food line across from the bus station, my eyes latched onto something he carried.  “Welcome.  Happy to see you today,” I greeted.  “I’m hoping you’ll tell me something.  I’m curious about what you’re holding.  How do you use them?”  Explaining that he rises early in the morning to climb the palm trees and claim these leaves, he then designs crosses and sells them during the day to earn $40 to pay his rent.  All the while he’s talking, I’m trying to imagine his final product that these slivers of palm leaves become.  “I won’t lie,” he says, “I was locked up.  But I don’t do drugs anymore.  I make these crosses.”  Honestly I wanted to continue talking, but our food line required moving along, so our team gladly bundled his dinner and added a nice bottle of cold water.  But then about 20 minutes later, here he comes.  We’re folding tables and cleaning up, and he wants to give me something.  Suddenly I realize, “This is one of your crosses, isn’t it?”  “Yes,” he replied, “it’s for you, and I’m not asking you to pay.”  So honored I felt that he would share with me, and my heart brimmed full of joy for his discovery of Christ.  What a huge hurdle he had stared down in the course of changing his life.  Reminding me of how God often blesses any single situation in multiple ways, the whole scene was humbling.  Having trekked downtown to serve hot dogs and snow cones to others, in turn I was fed a most nourishing meal of inspiration.  Romans 5:17 tells us, “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”  Thank you, Lord, for making Your righteousness available to us all.

Beyond jams & jellies at Central Market

Last month my husband and I shopped at Central Market.  There’s only one of its kind in San Antonio, and I hoped to finally find unsweetened carob as a noncaffeine substitute for chocolate.  Glad to say, we found it.  Even better, we approached their tasting area for jams and jellies, and lo and behold, I heard a familiar voice.  It’s a friend we hadn’t seen in many months, and how I loved the surprise of seeing him today!  He lives not too far, and the bus delivers him right in front of the market.  Such fun to talk, but then after probably 20 minutes we parted ways, and I gave him our phone number again, just in case.  Days passed, and weeks passed, and then he called me about something totally different, inquiring as to whether I’d be interested in helping him teach English classes.  He planned for lessons to begin with Bible study in Spanish, then we’d choose particular words from the verses to translate into English, and then we’d add vocabulary to build sentences and practice pronunciation all along the way.  He had recently received requests for English classes, and the whole idea sounded so exciting that I almost forgot to ask the Lord.  So I paused and prayed, not wanting to jump into a new endeavor on my own, and in a few days I called our friend to accept his invitation.  He asked about my husband bringing his guitar for some coritos, and the very next Sunday evening, we loaded our Bibles, the guitar, and our bilingual songsheets, and we’ve been blessed ever since.  Our students have become our new friends.  And how I’m humbled to realize I had nothing to do with creating these sweet circumstances.  All we did was walk into a store, presuming our only purpose was to find unsweetened carob.  Jesus says in John 3:21, “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”  Thank you, Lord, for enlightening me this day.

Grocery store message

Last month we set out on a leisurely trip that turned out not so leisurely.  Stopping by the grocery store, we traipsed the aisles for milk and vegetables and ventured toward the cashier, only to realize a new idea pressing my heart.  As our items tallied from the conveyor belt, I saw the boy bagging groceries and felt compelled to ask him something.  Silently I prayed, “Lord, lead me.”  Suddenly this wage of war took place within.  Temptation NOT to ask versus compulsion TO ask.  And beginning to feel this spiritual battle’s heat, I examined my own priority, “Whom do I aim to please?  Man, or God?”  And then it happened.  The boy opened our conversation, saying “How has your weekend been?”  I shook my head, “Today we visited our nephew who’s very sick.”  He reassured, “I bet your nephew was happy to see you.”  I added, “We were glad to see him.  I prayed with him.  The good part is that he knows Jesus.”  And then came what had pressed on my heart.  I asked the boy, “Do you know Jesus?”  Aware this question tends to bring strong responses, I waited to see.  My point was simply to follow the prompting in my heart, which I trusted was the Lord’s.  The boy smiled to answer, “Yes, I do.  I go to church every Sunday.”  And while I was happy for the boy, I was also puzzled.  Why might the Lord prompt me to ask this question to someone who already knows Him?  There seemed no invitation for me to offer anyone.  Why the intense internal battle?  Perhaps this boy had his own spiritual battle waging.  Maybe the Lord connected us because our roles in battle served to encourage each other.  Or could my question have sparked the curiosity of someone else listening in the store?  All I know is that in following the Lord this day, my heart felt such pleasure.  To lay personal worries aside, to gauge the worst possible outcome against the best possible, to choose God’s purpose above mine, it’s all blessing.  It's as if the Lord is traffic cop of our thoughts, allowing one thought to pass through but not the next, as if holding up His white glove to let one lane prevail over the other, in the end letting His will win over temptation.  Seeking Him blesses us as well as our world.  Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “ ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.  ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’ ”  What joy we find in trusting Him.

Nuggets of wisdom—literally

How does a tray of chicken nuggets make anyone so happy?  Here’s what happened.  December is a different kind of month for our family.  As jobs have varying pay rates, December tends to bring us a more plentiful paycheck.  And while more money can be a good thing, it can also set up a struggle.  What is the right way to handle this extra money?  It’s the age-old man-versus-God tug-of-war.  Man's selfishness.  God's selflessness.  Malachi 3 tells of the same predicament centuries ago.  God explained that when people don't tithe, they're stealing.  When they don't return 10 percent to the Lord, they're robbing Him, and consequently a curse came upon the nation.  Yet if they would change their ways and bring the whole tithe to the storehouse, He would bestow blessing so immense they wouldn’t have room to hold it.  And that’s why I write today—to tell of the Lord’s faithfulness in not letting us wallow.  Pressing us through our battle, He put a pen in my hand and etched out a check, and our tithe for the extra income came to fruition. And very quickly He bestowed another blessing. My husband told me about an email we received from Chick-fil-A offering a free tray of chicken nuggets.  Now the word tray implies a large quantity, so we were prepared it might be a misprint.  Either way, big tray or small box, we decided to go.  Soon the cashier hands me a tray of yummy chicken nuggets large enough to feed 8 people, and our eyes must have ogled and our feet must have frolicked in blessing.  That’s $24 of chicken that cost us nothing but the tenacity to press through temptation.  And why would the Lord use Chick-fil-A?  Maybe because it’s one of my favorites.  A tangible illustration of His faithfulness to provide when we follow His word.  God’s grace fed us that day.  More scrumptious than ever, those nuggets warmed my heart.

A little horseradish, please

Exciting.  Mundane.  The 2 words aren’t often in the same sentence.  But on a particular day in March, they were.  My friend shopped for horseradish at her nearby grocery store.  She put her items on the conveyor belt and prepared to pay the cashier, but not everybody buys 3 bottles of horseradish, so the cashier inquired, “What’s happening with all the horseradish?”  And there in that one little question sat a whole conversation.  My friend explained about celebrating Passover and how the strong taste of horseradish serves as bitter herb, or maror in Hebrew, signifying the bitterness of slavery.  A solid dose of horseradish brings a tear to the eye and offers in the ceremony a reminder of the bitterness of slavery of the Israelites unto Egypt.  As Christians who celebrate Passover, we recognize the bitterness of our slavery to sin.  First Corinthians 5:7 says, “…For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”  We celebrate the forgiveness offered us through Jesus’ sacrifice and the sweetness of our redemption through Him.  What a thrilling opportunity for my friend.  What pure delight to see the cashier listen so attentively.  And how hopeful I was for her to attend our Passover.  It was a routine shopping trip illustrating the Lord’s love of people that He would inspire a question over some simple bottles of horseradish.  A testament of His power to reach so personally into our world to make certain we all hear of His love.  For you, for me, for my friend, for the cashier and all—please know that Jesus saves those who confess He is Lord and who believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9).  May you experience the joy of knowing Him as Savior.

Inspired at Smashburger

Quilting is about quilts, right?  Right.  Yet with God, there’s always more.  For 8 months now, I’ve loved the friends, the Bible study, and the prayer.  The Heirloom Project sparked my interest in the sewing, but the nuts and bolts of threading the machine still make me cringe.  Crooked seams make me sigh because that means ripping and re-sewing.  The thought of calculating and cutting new sizes and shapes of fabric makes my brain hurt till this day.  One afternoon last fall our group took a lunch break and found a table at Smashburger.  Lo and behold, we meet someone new.  One of our ladies offers the invitation, and our new friend scoots down the bench to join us.  She tells about 2 quilts she’s sewing herself, and then as if my heart had a huge dose of warmth infused into it, I realized the Lord connecting our dots with intricate detail.  We learn about her son and her jewelry work and the fact of her cancer, and how thankful was our group for the Lord introducing us all.  How tenderly we sensed His touch.  Last month she and I and her mom enjoyed a return trip to our same Smashburger, and suddenly my cringes and sighs at the sewing machine didn’t matter anymore.  The Lord loves people, and He creates endless circumstances to encourage and inspire them.  I’m hoping to help my new friend in the future when she needs a ride to one of her cancer treatments, and our group is blessed to continue to pray on her behalf.  The last verses of Psalm 23 say, “You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”  On this day I experienced that overflowing cup.  What a wonderful contentment to witness the Lord loving His children.

Tamale treasure

Timing.  Sometimes it’s everything.  We invited some friends for dinner one weekend, and their text said maybe Saturday would work best.  Days passed, and we didn’t hear again.  Saturday arrived, and I assumed something disallowed them to come, so I asked the Lord to show us how to spend the day.  My husband suggested driving to La Vernia, which is a little town less than an hour outside San Antonio, just to get away from the city.  The idea seemed good for our beautiful sunny day, though I still lamented not seeing our friends.  Suddenly my husband’s eyes lit up, “Hey! You know what we’re going to drive by, don’t you?  Ruben’s!”  This was huge.  Actually it was almost earth-shattering because Ruben’s is our all-time favorite tamale place.  But a glance at the clock showed it was already after 2:00, and the likelihood of us arriving Ruben’s before they closed was almost nil.  But we opted to try.  Amazingly we arrived at 2:50, they close at 3:00, and here comes my smiling husband returning to the car with 4 dozen of those delectable tamales.  But 4 dozen, really?  That’s a lot for just 2 people, but thank you, Lord, for the availability.  The rest of the way to La Vernia, we had a hefty tamale aroma wafting from the back seat to the front.  Constant salivating led me to wonder if we should grab some plastic forks and stop at a picnic table to take care of that first dozen.  Turns out we ate at Mr. Tim’s Country Kitchen, and we were grateful to rest our eyes on the cows grazing in the backyard pasture to give us that slow-down respite we had hoped for.  Walking back to the car, I noticed a text from our friends asking what time they should come for dinner.  Uh-oh.  What happened?  Whatever the mix-up, we'd still love to see them, but how could this work?  How could I cook them dinner when we were still out of town?  Then that tamale smell wafted to the front seat again, and suddenly I knew why the Lord gave us 4 dozen tamales.  Better than any meal I could cook, we’d now be serving straight from Ruben’s!  And how thrilling to recount our steps and see the Lord having orchestrated the day.  Not only would we get to see our friends, not only did we get to enjoy a scenic drive, but we also had been handed a very generous portion of one of the tastiest batches of tamales this earth has ever beheld, which was especially amazing, given it was holiday time when people wait in line for hours and hours, even sometimes learning too late that Ruben’s already sold out.  We had enough to give extra tamales for take-home too.  From sad to happy to giddily thrilled, a whole party was happening in my heart—confetti, those pointy party hats, and even the silly honking horns!  How I love the Lord.  His impeccable timing often lets me know He’s there.

Jesus & cookies

Today I’m so happy to host Christina Hoehn as guest writer.  I sat in her audience a few weeks ago as she shared these words at a cookie exchange.  Since then, she granted permission for me to post here, and I’ve edited only minimally in hope of you hearing her voice just the way she spoke to us.  The highlighting of verses and ingredients is simply to ease your referencing, in case you share with your group maybe on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve.  Now please allow me to introduce my friend Christina . . . **** You ladies may not know this about me but I love themes. For example if I'm making a meal, I think whats the theme? I'll decide on a picnic theme for example and start planning out the menu, burgers of course... In my world burgers can fit into any theme, I also need fries and fries fit any theme too... at least in my world. Now If I'm planning a party, I definitely need a theme, we'll go with Hawaiian, immediately I think cute little hula skirts, blue umbrellas, tiki torches. You see where I'm going with this. So when I asked to do the devotion for the cookie exchange, I immediately thought what's the theme? Of course it's cookies!!! Cookies...Wow, how in the world do I write a devotion about Jesus and cookies? This one ladies, had me stumped, maybe I could write about manna, that's kinda like a cookie, right? Well, I decided to keep praying and thinking about it for a few more days and as the days past the verse that kept coming back into my mind was PSALM 34:8 – “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” We as Christian ladies know this verse, we memorize this verse, we can quote this verse, in fact a lot of us have this verse up in our kitchens, I know I do, it's right next to my spatulas. But the question I ask is, do we ladies live this verse? Do our lives make others want to taste God? Look at the cookies placed in front of you, how many of you looked at them and thought man that's a good looking cookie, or thought that chunky one, that's the one I wanna try, or, they smell so so good... Insert lip smack right here! Well ladies, we are like that scrumptious cookie sitting right there in that box and everyday people are looking at us and what do they see, what do they smell? Are we big and plump and smell heavenly? Or are we brittle and burnt and taste disgusting? Let's think about that while we talk about what it takes to make a cookie smell and taste so good. We all know that to make a cookie you need ingredients and guess what? Our lives need ingredients too! (1) First we need to pour in our eggs. Eggs hold everything together. COLOSSIANS 1:17 says, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” This verse tells us, God holds everything together. Do people see that in your lives? Do they see God holding you together when things get hard, when you get a bad report from the doctor, when you lose your job, when your struggling with your kids? Are people seeing you run to God or running away from God? Do they see you have your sufficiency and secure in the One who holds all things together? He makes the difference. We need to tell people and show people. It needs to be modeled in our everyday lives. Let us seek out others and tell them what God has done in us. Life will go up and down, the tide goes in and out but God remains the same forever. When we're under His care He holds EVERYTHING together. (2) After eggs, comes some sugar. With sugar you get two things, one you get the taste of sweetness and two, baking in the oven you get the aroma of sweetness. Who doesn't love that? EPHESIANS 5:1-2 says, “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” Some key words here are: be imitators of God and walk in love SO THAT we can be a sweet smelling aroma. And I'll add so we can smell like cookies... Personally I'd rather smell like a big juicy steak... But that's a whole other devotion. We need to be loving. We need to love the lost, love the broken, love the weary and love the lonely. We've all been there, we've all walked that road. We all have life lessons that we can share and relate to others with. Somewhere on that path God picked us up, dusted us off and put us back on our feet. It's time for us to help do the same for others, show them the love, someone showed us. When Wes Bentley was here he said something that struck my heart, let me share it with you. He said "take people into your lives, into your families, into your homes, take the oddballs, the ones that aren't so cute, the unloveable ones, look for the ones no one is ministering too." That quote right there sums up love. Our love to the lost world is the sweet sugar in our cookies. (3) Now it's time to add some flour. Adding flour to our mix gives our cookies substance. HEBREWS 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” How does our faith come across to others? Is our faith like that tree that's planted by the water? Strong and solid? Or is our faith like reeds that blow back and forth in the wind? Are we that wishy washy person that can't make up their mind? Our faith should not be blowing around at every thing that comes our way. Stand firm in your faith, stand firm in knowing all that Christ has done in your life. Live a life that shows others the solidity you have in Him. (4) After our flour we pour in a little baking powder, now baking powder helps lighten the dough, but for us it means we help lighten the load for others. GALATIANS 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” This verse tells us that we should be helping to carry each other's load. What exactly does that mean? Well, it means that we should be available to each other by making time to pray with someone, perhaps grabbing a coffee with a friend or even someone you don't even know, calling someone up to see how they are doing, or sit with a crying friend. It means sacrifice a little of your time to be like Aaron and Hur. Do you remember what they did? In Exodus the children of Israel went into battle against the Amelikites and God had Moses stand there for probably what seemed like an eternity but He had Moses stand there with his arms raised up. As long as his arms were up the Israelites were winning, but as his arms lowered the Amelikites would start to win the battle. Well Aaron and Hur went along side Moses and helped him by holding Moses's arms up, talk about a heavy duty task. They could of easily been like PSH, uh no, it's hot outside and there's flies everywhere and my arms and feet will get tired and I'm a little hungry. But they didn't do that. They stood right next to Moses and battled along side with him. That ladies is an incredible example of lightening each other's loads. Btw, this doesn't mean be a doormat for everybody. Pray, use discernment, and see how God wants to use you. (5) Time to add a pinch of salt. A pinch goes aloooooong way. Two things we know about salt. One its a disinfectant and two it's a preservative. MATTHEW 5:13 says, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” Plain and simple, We need to be salt that rubs up against the broken flesh of this world. We shouldn't be distancing ourselves from people that need us. Ladies we need to be the light that is shining in the dark corners of the world. I heard it once said that "what we need is separation with contact without contamination." Let me say that one more time. What we need is separation WITH contact WITHOUT contamination. What does that mean? It means Be in the world but not of it... Be Set Apart but always be leading others to Him. (6) (7) We have two more key ingredients to add to our mix, vanilla and chocolate chips. I decided to put these two together because vanilla keeps our cookies from being bland and chocolate chips make cookies fun and both point to an exciting and enticing cookie or in our case an exciting and enticing life. PROVERBS 17:22 says, “A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.” A lot of people live their lives thinking being a Christian is boring. Can you blame them? Look what they see on TV, read in magazines, see in some of our lives. But ladies being a Christian isn't bland or boring. Being a Christian is like those chocolate chips in a cookie, once you bite into it, you wish you had bit into the chocolate sooner. Show the world you CAN be a Christian and have fun, in fact it's like medicine for your body. Let the joy that's overtaken you ooze out onto them because Proverbs tells us a lost soul has dried bones. After all these ingredients have been mixed together our little dough balls get baked in the oven. Now ovens have to produce heat, in order to get beautiful cookies. It's the same for us, our lives are going to face the Refiners fire. But remember this... when the fire in your life is the hottest, stand still, for later on it produces a harvest and then we will be able to say with Job, “When he tested me, I will come forth as gold” (JOB 23:10). So ladies, as we go throughout the day, the week, the month and the year, let us remember to look at the ingredients in our lives and see where we need to add a little more to our mixture because we want to make sure that our lives are Taste and See.. worthy. ****

Radiant at Chick-fil-A

Question:  How does the Lord’s light shine through people?  Answer:  Visit Chick-fil-A.  One Saturday afternoon, the Lord introduced me to a man.  My husband and I entered the restaurant while this man talked at the door with some ladies.  Such contagious laughter drew me to glance a second time, and instantly I noticed his smile that beamed so far and so wide.  Even more, he seemed to honestly care for these ladies in a way that intrigued me.  Minutes later I saw the man more closely when he approached our table to offer a drink refill.  My husband handed him the single cup we shared, yet the man returned with 2 cups.  “My boss says people are important,” he grinned.  In that moment, my whole body paused to recognize the wisdom in his words.  Therein lay the reason his smile radiated so brightly.  So truly joyful was he in the moment and so content in his manner that I soon realized my eyes releasing tears, and I wondered why.  His thoughtful interaction with people and the ease with which he moved about—he portrayed a genuine love of life that lifted me out of our more commonly cynical world.  I regularly ask the Lord to impart to me His love of people.  I don’t know exactly what that love always looks like, but meeting this man gave me a good glimpse.  The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”  And  I welcome His light to shine in my heart, both for my sake and for the sake of those I meet.  I sit to imagine what God’s glory looked like to shine over Bethlehem all those years ago.  A star that led people to know the purest of love.  A star that shines still now in the hearts of men.  May He shine His light upon you today.  May He shine through you.  Merry Christmas.

Hospital hassle

Oh, man!  I was 24 cents short. Now I’d have to leave my lunch tray, go to the locker room, get my wallet, and come back to pay.  On a day when I was really hungry, what a hassle!  The salad bar at the hospital cafeteria is fabulous.  Volunteers receive a lunch voucher, and I look forward to piling a high mix of greens and the works.  Usually tomatoes, egg, cheese, sunflower seeds, lots of veggies, and on special occasions, edamame.  Mine has delicate balance, so I slowly place my plate on the cashier's scale, wanting not to spill any portion.  The cashier takes my voucher and waves me through.  Except this time the lady’s eyebrows furled.  Squinting and leaning to double-check, she says, “Uh-oh.  You’re 24 cents over.”  I hadn’t brought my wallet to the lunch room in years, so I asked what to do.  “Go ahead," she tells me, "Just bring your money before I leave at 1:30."  No problem.  This was now an issue of honesty.  This was important.  I didn’t want to mess up, so I found a napkin and scratched a reminder.  Lunch proceeded with friends and laughter as usual, but I didn’t lose sight of my note on the napkin.  I walked to my locker, counted my coins, and felt joy swelling inside for this opportunity to let honesty shine.  This nuisance of an interruption had become sweet occasion for doing the right thing.  Just 2 dimes and 4 pennies.  I waited my turn in the cashier’s line and gladly presented my fee.  Proverbs 12:16-17 says, "A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.  A truthful witness gives honest testimony, but a false witness tells lies."  Thank you, Lord, for shedding light once again.

The cupcake lady

Cynicism is contagious.  It’s infectious.  The doubt and distrust become so deeply engrained that we don’t recognize the harm they cause.  But just when you’re convinced the whole world is horrible and that altruism is dead, here comes the cupcake lady.  She quietly sets up shop and exudes this wonderfully inspiring generosity.  My friend met her in the grocery store.  The cupcake lady approached the check-out lane where my friend is a cashier.  She loaded her groceries from the cart, and as my friend scanned each item, the cupcake lady planted a seed.  My friend saw the baking cups and all the cupcake ingredients and inquired as they rode the conveyor belt.  Little did she know she would ever meet the cupcake lady again.  Then came a particularly interesting bus ride.  It happened on another day that my friend and the cupcake lady rode the very same bus at the very same time.  Because cashiers at grocery stores see all kinds of people, some days are quite trying.  Too many instances of people mistreating their children, too many scenarios of people abusing welfare systems, and the list goes on and on.  So to meet the cupcake lady on the bus and realize she made some special cupcakes for a very sweet cashier was quite timely.  Her generosity hit the spot.  Why would the cupcake lady bake cupcakes for a cashier she hardly knew and make an extra trip to the store to deliver them, though she wasn’t sure the cashier would even be working then?  Here the Lord connects the 2 people on the bus, making certain the cupcake lady’s efforts don't go in vain.  How sweet is that!  I loved just hearing the story.  I'm inspired, and I’ve never personally met the cupcake lady.  And so I ask on your behalf for the Lord to send a cupcake lady to your neighborhood.  May the Lord encourage you and protect you from that cynicism to which we're all susceptible.

For nail-biters & hair-twirlers

Do you have any fingernail-biters in your house?  Any hair-twirlers?  You know anybody who opens a bag of chips at the slightest hint of stress?  This week the Lord gave me new perspective on nervousness.  It seems our hands tend to toil when we’re uneasy.  We start to fidget.  We make ourselves busy to mask the tension.  Yet there’s remedy in simply separating the hands.  Those schoolteachers who tell their students to sit on their hands aren’t altogether wrong.  And hence the posture of prayer and worship.  When I’m prostrate, my hands don’t touch.  Hands cannot twist and twirl hair.  Hands can’t pop knuckles either.  When hands raise in worship of the Lord, hands are apart.  Thumbs can’t twiddle themselves into knots.  Hands can’t open the pantry door to search out the Oreos.  To find rest is to finally quit stirring.  To find rest is to quit biting fingernails, quit trying to fix everything on our own, and quit avoiding being still with the Lord.  With hands apart, we eliminate some of those worrisome energy-wasters.  And I thank the Lord for teaching this week with simple pictures.

Off-stage with the cashier

Last week I walked into a restaurant and heard some disturbing words.  “I’m going to hell,” the cashier laughed.  But I didn’t laugh.  Hell is too terrible a place, and it lasts forever.  I wanted to be sure the cashier knew she had a choice.  Did I take her comment too seriously?  I’ve met people who say “go to hell” so casually, as if the idea is harmless, as if it’s not real.  I’ve met people who don’t recognize the name of Jesus as the one who can save them from hell.  I’ve asked the Lord to give me His love for people that I may genuinely reach out.  For dinner, our waitress placed some scrumptious chicken and cornbread on the table, but nothing swayed me from hoping to talk to the cashier again, and I asked the Lord for an open door.  Time came to pay our bill, and sure enough, I see the same cashier still on duty.  I paid my tab, and lo and behold, I hear my voice aloud, “I kept thinking about what you said when we walked in tonight.  I’m so thankful Jesus saved me.  And because no one has to go to hell [meaning we all have a choice], do you know Jesus? ”  She smiled to answer, “Yes.  I know I shouldn’t be saying what I did.  It’s just that I did something bad.”  And as she spoke, my heart sighed to know that deep down she did know the Lord.  What relief.  And how blessed I always feel to speak the Lord’s name into public air.  Throughout the week the Lord set me in the middle of several similar interactions.  All happening 6 hours from home on a theater trip.  All woven amidst my usual theater nervousness and my usual lack of sleep.  All this impossible if I had chosen not to follow the Lord into this realm of theater that’s new for me.  But when the Lord orchestrates, my attention turns, and my nervousness dissipates.  I love to see Him at work.

It's Egg Day!

It's the simplest of things.  Eggs.  Who eats eggs for breakfast?  Probably the whole world does.  Having 2 fried eggs in the morning would be a huge highlight for my husband.  And for me to cook the eggs would be even more hugely a surprise!  As my sweet friend so casually talked about washing all the breakfast dishes at her house, my heart started to sink.  I asked, “How often do you cook breakfast?”  Answer:  “Every day.”  And I promptly paused.  And I paused still more.  All these years I’ve cooked breakfast such a small percentage of the time.  But now my weekday schedule is different.  Sometimes I have an out-of-town trip and leave in the morning by 4:30 or occasionally 6:00, but often I don’t have a strict timeframe anymore.  Raisin Bran, Mini-Wheats, and Lucky Charms no longer need to predominate our home menu.  And the motivation behind the change is what’s important.  It’s kindness.  In 2 Samuel 9, kindness is no small thing.  King David seeks to offer kindness to anyone in Saul's family.  Soon David meets Mephibosheth, who is Saul's grandson.  David explains he wants to restore land to Mephibosheth and offer him a lifelong invitation to eat at the family table.  David's kindness is abundant, and when considering the fact that Saul tried to kill David repeatedly, the depth of David’s kindness is all the more remarkable.  He demonstrates a kindness that's neither fluffy nor cute nor superficial.  It's kindness with real meat.  Real hearty chunks of character, all for the sake of Jonathan, who was Saul’s son and David’s covenant friend.  Here in the Old Testament, with all its many battles, we see kindness.  God's kindness.  And now in real life for me, I have nothing even close to anybody trying to kill me.  My gesture to cook 2 eggs for breakfast should be comparatively quite simple.  And I'm happy to say our kitchen now serves eggs at least once a week.  It's a slow change, yet the smile on my husband’s face beams across the room.  And I hereby testify to the Lord's ability to transform a very committed non-cook into someone now giddily happy to pull out the old skillet and fry up some eggs.  I gladly pronounce, “It’s Egg Day!”

The toil of eulogy

Recently I wrote a eulogy.  Really the point of a eulogy is to highlight the good in someone’s life, though the task of writing one always seems unpleasant.  Subconsciously our brain applies the old Transitive Property from middle school math, which says, if eulogy = death, and death = sadness, then eulogy = sadness.  And we don't like sadness because of its emotional upheaval, so suddenly nobody looks forward to writing and delivering a eulogy.  And that’s what happened to me.  My mom asked me to write this eulogy.  She said, “Well, Linda, you like to write.”  And she’s right.  I do.  Sometimes.  But not this time.  I debated between notebook paper and computer.  I love yellow No. 2 pencils and plain old paper, but somehow I opened a Word document this time.  Actually the computer proved to be a good move, as I edited for 2-3 days.  When my brain was tired, the task meant lots of thesaurus work because slight distinctions in words can ease anxiety before it ever stirs.  The nuances of words, especially when people feel fragile already, can enable a heart to be willing to consider some genuine food for thought.  And it has been within these word choices that still now, 2 weeks later, I have realized the Lord surely guided those hours and days I toiled.  For moments that could have been painful, He gave gentle yet honest wording that He veiled in love.  For this whole occasion that no one enjoyed, simply because it dealt with death and all kinds of sadness, the Lord brought blessing.  In fact, His blessings were multilevel because I had not foreseen He would grow my writing for the sake of a eulogy.  Some say a writer’s goal should be book sales and money, but here I see how great is an opportunity to write someone’s eulogy.  We slow down, we turn off the TV, we think and rethink and seek the Lord.

A radio blessing

Have you ever hosted a guest who stirred up some tension?  I don’t mean something negative necessarily, but just as conversation progresses, suddenly it’s time to address an issue.  Recently I invited a friend to stay at our house for a few days, hoping to offer her a respite from her heavy family situation.  My husband consented to the idea, and truly we were delighted to help.  We had fun cooking dinner together.  We talked; we laughed.  In this case, our guest didn’t say anything hurtful or keep us up too late at night.  Neither did she offend any neighbor or pester our cat.  In fact, she was quite respectful, and we love her dearly to this day.  But tension arose in realizing how she lives at her house.  As the tension grew, I sensed the Lord drawing me to address the issue.  I asked Him, “Lord, how do I handle this?”  My friend’s family was not my family.  I had no ground of exact circumstances.  I didn’t want any words to appear uncaring or even possibly construed as a reprimand.  The next morning I awoke and read through my inbox of emails.  There sat the day’s program listing for KSLR, which is a local Christian radio station.  Joni Eareckson Tada would be talking today about not letting circumstances rule daily life.  My heart fluttered to realize that this could be the Lord’s answer to my plea.  Joni speaks from circumstances similar to my friend’s, and certainly if the Lord was leading me to share this radio program, He knows it’s the perfect thing to do.  But would my friend be awake in time to hear this message on the radio?  I prayed again, “Lord, if this is You leading me, I’m asking You to set the timing here.”  And soon my friend walked into the living room, and the Lord guided our conversation so we could listen to Joni on KSLR.  The tension had been uncomfortable, and I had hoped for more of a carefree pajama party than any kind of instructional time, but that’s not what the Lord called into play.  His plan brought greater depth to this respite for my sweet friend, and I love Him for that.  In John 16:13, Jesus says, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.  He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”

A Luke 14 pizza feast

Put the Food Network and HGTV together, and you’ve got a pretty good set of ideas for your home.  They talk about meals and events I’ve never thought of before, and they make DIY tasks look possible and even fun.  But I’m unaware of them ever telling how to host a feast quite like Luke 14 does.  In this chapter, verses 12-14 in particular, Jesus says, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed...”  In verse 13 where the NIV says banquet, the KJV says feast, which is how I first read it last week.  The verses rang in my ear for several days, and I figured the Lord had a feast in mind for me.  But how do I do this?  Whom do I invite?  On Sunday, I sat in church with these verses still floating in my head, and the idea hit me to invite a guy who was sitting across the aisle.  I explained to my husband about Luke 14 this week and ran the lunch idea by him.  I offered the invitation to our church-mate on the aisle and was so happy for him to accept, but then I wondered, “Lord, is this a feast for just the 3 of us?”  I walked into the hallway and found my husband talking to someone, whom he promptly told me he had invited to lunch as well.  Now our feast was for 4.  And so we agreed upon pizza and proceeded in our separate cars to the nearby Pizza Hut.  My husband drove, and my heart danced the whole way to recount how this occasion was developing.  It was a case of literally living out the Bible.  Blessings poured amidst our afternoon conversation, and we learned about some business concerns for our first guest.  Time to pray with him fit wonderfully atop our empty Meat Lover’s Pizza tray.  We had the added blessing too of looking forward to seeing our new friends again the next week.  It was as if watching each separate link, each separate event, adding one by one into God's perfect chain of events.  Almost effortless on my part it seemed, having simply begun one ordinary day while sitting on an ordinary couch to open the pages of the Bible, which is forever extraordinary. 

Pizza & the man alone

Pizza is good.  The buffet at Double Dave’s is craaaaaazy good!  The particular location near us seems to flourish, and it must have something to do with the guy who bakes the cinnamon sticks.  His mix of cinnamon, sugar, and butter ranks way high in my book.  Put that next to Dave’s salad bar, and anytime my husband consents to going, I’m fast into the car.  The salad bar has sunflower seeds, boiled eggs, ham, green peppers, and lots more, and we have all those ingredients at home, but it tastes different at Dave’s and it’s fun.  The cashier asks if we want a certain type of pizza, and with great glee I request the barbecue chicken that quickly appears on the buffet line.  And to top it all off, they post a 2-for-1 coupon where you can buy 2 buffets and 2 drinks for $11 total.  For San Antonio prices, that’s pretty good.  Yet as fabulous as Dave’s is, something I witnessed there a couple of weeks ago bears greater praise than all their good food.  Dave’s hosts lots of baseball parties and all kinds of team events, and on this Saturday a young girls’ team entered.  One of the dads chose an empty table next to ours while most of the girls stayed to themselves.  For maybe 5 minutes, this dad sat alone and quiet until another dad asked, “May I join you here?”  The first dad looked up, seeming refreshed and quite open to the idea of company.  I'd seen the second dad change his mind on where to sit after noticing the first dad sitting solo.  It was a simple gesture yielding the grandest effect, and suddenly a memory triggered for me.  I’ve sat in that same seat of loneliness.  I remember how it can creep in and exhaust and debilitate without warning.  Even today as my husband and I sat at the kitchen table to sort through some papers, we saw an ad for an ice cream social and entertained the idea of attending until we realized we might not know anyone there.  Yet I thought of the dads at Double Dave's and have asked the Lord to lead us as to whether we should go after all to this event and share some ice cream and some conversation.  Perhaps He will connect us with someone in need, just as He has rescued me in my loneliness and desperation many times.  According to 2 Corinthians 1:4, the Lord is the one “who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."

Detoured in Target

Roadblocks and detours often frustrate the day.  Last week, actually, I met up with a detour that was amazingly fun.  The meeting place was Target, in particular a Target store situated between my friend’s house and mine.  We live across town from each other, and on this morning we chose to meet in the middle, as she knew this Target had a quaint little cove behind the coffee counter.  And it was wonderful.  Sitting near the big windows, we enjoyed the coziness inside while watching the rain pouring outside.  We sat there for hours, and in the course of lots of topics, we laughed and cried, and the Lord bestowed many blessings.  We opened our Bibles, and we listened and talked, and I didn’t even realize some of the blessings until about 1:30, when I had to leave for the doctor.  Little did I know that my dermatologist would end up biopsying 2 spots, yet I felt no anxiety in the process.  I credit the calmness to all our laughing and crying having cleansed me earlier, leaving no ground for anxiety to build.  But then came another chapter in the story.  That night by phone, my friend told me she stayed at our coffee cove for another hour after I left.  All that morning, there had been a lady sitting near us, and she glanced toward our table occasionally.  In that hour after I left, she came to ask my friend about the Lord and about studying the Bible.  Man, I wanted to jump out of my skin!  My heart leaped into a dance even as I had to stand still to talk on the phone!  That whole morning, the Lord had been guiding our conversation down a wonderful road we didn’t even realize.  The longer I pondered, the better I understood what had happened in the parking lot.  I remember saying goodbye and pointing to my friend at the table and telling her that we would talk soon.  Putting the key in the car, I wondered why I had assumed my friend would stay at the table.  Why didn’t she just walk out with me?  Yet now I knew the Lord held her feet.  Essentially He roadblocked her feet and detoured her to stay and talk to the lady.  The whole scenario showed again how the Lord orchestrates our movements and conversations.  And still today I smile to think how He steered us onto those second and third roads of blessing so effortlessly.  All we knew was joy in the process.

Silenced at an Italian eatery

I love hidden treasures.  A couple of weeks ago, I loved finding this quaint little Italian restaurant here in San Antonio.  It’s a place now high on our list of favorites, due in part to its beef lasagna and scrumptious chicken parmigiana.  The initial draw for us was the dinner theater they host there once a month.  Once we arrived and realized their family-style placement of tables in long rows, we very much enjoyed sharing the company of our assigned table-mates for the evening.  Our immediate group bridged an age span of probably 40 years, and quite remarkably we loved the conversation.  All kinds of discussions of jobs, schools, family, and hobbies, yet interestingly there was one particular point that caused our table to fall silent.  One of the men asked me how I came to work in theater, and I answered, “God called me there.” And suddenly everything halted.  No more words spoken, no more smiles, no more laughter.   I don’t know why exactly, but our section of the table sat motionless at that point.  I’ve wondered about it since then and have thought of several possible reasons, though I’ll never know for certain.  I imagine I could’ve answered the man's question by saying my husband suggested theater to me or that my friend called me about a theater job opening, and maybe the reaction of the table wouldn’t have brought silence.  But somehow the 3 words God called me threw a hiccup into the conversation.  Yet the idea of the Lord speaking to us is a very real thing.  I read again this morning in John 10 about Jesus our Shepherd calling to us.  We are His sheep, and our relationship with Him through listening and speaking certainly runs two-way.  In the days following that Friday night, I continued to pray for the Lord to bless our table companions.  For whatever reason the silence came, may He stir their curiosity, may He give them understanding, and may they know the depths of His love.