By Faith Not By Sight by Carolyn

Sometimes when God asks us to step out of the boat, or into a boat we hesitate to get in, we are reluctant to go. Sometimes, we have no choice for God has presented us with circumstances from which there is no escape. Has this happened to you? I remember one of the evidences of my new found faith in God was agreeing to perform Bible stories with my boon companion, Judy, before many church audiences. I had never done such a thing before and I was scared to death I would forget my lines, trip and fall, get a coughing fit, or otherwise flub the event and make a huge spectacle out of myself! Before each performance I prayed mightily in anticipation. After each performance I prayed mightily in gratitude!

There are a myriad of circumstances we all face that are hard to face. Life is like that, but they can be vehicles that drive us to our knees and bring us into the very presence of God. Because we belong to Him, and if we know His promises, we can depend on Him to be with us in the deepest, darkest pit. And sometimes when we're down there with Him, He shows us unexpected, unanticipated treasures in the darkest places. This may take time, but if we allow worry to diminish His authority then worry enslaves us and causes us to lie in a lifeless condition not reflecting God's goodness and the power of His word. Our testimony, our witness can be such a huge light for others, especially "not yet" believers who are watching us cope with trials.

Since I became a volunteer for hospice and a volunteer at a nursing home I've faced rejection. My very first patient asked me to leave her room and not come back. That was hard to take. I thought I was a failure, but God wouldn't let me use that as an excuse for not returning. Back I went. That was five years ago and the blessings I've found hidden in the hearts of so many people nearing the end of their lives have been too numerous to count.

Still, a couple of weeks ago, I was dismissed again by another patient. He is a hospice patient and I introduced myself to him. After only about five minutes, he kindly told to please go away and not darken his doorway anymore. I was sad. But at the prompting of the Spirit, a week later, I went back again. This time we discovered a treasure. We have the same Father! We are brother and sister in the faith and our joy in finding this out opened a floodgate of grace for us both! We have had very different lives; he is black and I am white and our lives' stories are vastly different, but our joy in the Lord binds us together inextricably. We are family and I look forward to many more delightful conversations with him about his life and his faith, and our Father.

These little lessons prepare us for the big ones. Funny. Sometimes Jesus commands us to get in the boat as He did with His disciples in Matthew 14:22. And sometimes He commands us to get out of the boat as He did with Peter in Matthew 14:29, but in BOTH cases, He's right there with us in the boat, or on the water!

Moody Women (by Judy)

Have you ever driven up LaSalle Avenue in Chicago? I have numerous times, because my son graduated from Northwestern University. LaSalle was the street to take from downtown. Not much of note – nothing to get my attention. That was because I simply did not know the startling fact that on that nondescript strip of urban life lies holy ground. The Moody Bible Institute.

Dwight Lyman Moody was an American evangelist of the 1800s, preaching both in rural fields and villages and the great city of Chicago. He visited Union soldiers on the battlefield during the Civil War and filled tents across Europe. My favorite quote, as you can imagine if you read my summer entry about lighthouses is, “We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine.”

An unfortunate fact about D.L. is that he was born on February 5^th. I say “unfortunate” because the institution he founded, The Moody Bible Institute, celebrates his birth each year with Founders Week. All attendees to this fabulous annual event wish his birth had been April, June, September – any time except the season when blizzards prevail in the Windy City. However, the legions of supporters are undaunted and are rewarded with inspirational teaching, sublime concerts, and union in worship that is surely a foretaste of heaven.

However, the greatest blessing, the reason for saying this institution sits on holy ground, is the students – generations of committed followers of Jesus, waves of young people, who arrive as freshmen planning on some kind of fulltime ministry after graduation. Their tuition is funded from outside, an amazing generosity from faithful supporters. There are numerous D.L. quotes to guide these students today - I know the Bible is inspired because it inspires me. Faith makes all things possible... love makes all things easy. A good example is far better than a good precept. Where one man reads the Bible, a hundred read you and me.

If you can make it even once to Founders Week, you will be mightily blessed – by the city of Chicago itself; by those sitting around you warmed by anoraks, wooly hats and scarves, and the Spirit; by the words and the Word, by soaring instrumentals and hand-clapping Fanny Crosby gospel music – and above all, by the inescapable conclusion that you are watching God at work among the next generation of His saints.

Ending Well (by Judy)

I thought I knew what to write about today. Jack and I joined Carolyn and her husband at a Sunday buffet at a restaurant on the lake, before attending the theater together. I knew that the display of food would be amazing, and it was. So much fresh seafood, egg dishes, a carvery station, salads, chafing containers, and above all, the desserts, anchored on one end by a chocolate fountain and on the other, hot bread pudding with warm rum custard. I sipped my misosa, listened to the pianist, smiled at the dear ones surrounding me, and basked in the warmth.

I got up from the table to take pictures for the blog, and was drawn to the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Across the frozen expanse of Lake Erie was the skyline of Cleveland. Windswept streets, rust belt economy, foreclosed houses, even a basketball team hurtling toward the ignominious record of most straight losses. I know my role at the buffet table, but what is my role in the world?

I have been reveling in the delights of being a grandmother, with five beautiful grandchildren. They are funny, endearing, loving, bright and make my heart sing. Three are traveling in New Zealand for Chinese New Year. Two are eagerly anticipating a spring break trip to Morocco. I am excited for them and can’t wait to hear their reports of every adventure. Then today my daughter sent a blog about a sweet little boy battling life-threatening cancer. He is the son of her childhood friend, - a sweet little boy himself, now in a daddy’s body with an anguished spirit. I know my role as a grandmother, but what is my role when hearts are breaking?

A retired friend is wintering in Florida with her husband. She writes of blue skies, balmy weather, long bike rides along the water and cool beers on the beach. Jack and I dream of similar interludes – not in Florida, but somewhere away from forecasts of blizzards, ice storms and wind chill factors. I speak in a liberal democratic way of being willing to share with those less fortunate, of championing government safety nets, and sacrificing now for a stronger future. But today, my snowbird friend’s blog spoke of a shooting several blocks from her condo, and her reflections about what is going wrong. I know my role as a wife accompanying my hard-working husband on adventures, but what is my role the other 11 months of the year as a Christian woman who is almost retired?

Instead of a blog about a happy Sunday, I am caught up in the biggest conundrum of my life – how to end well. Paul wrote to his young protégé Timothy, saying, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” He challenged his followers to, “Run with endurance the race that God has set before you.” The Bible is filled with people of God who lived good lives, until the end, when they faltered. How I long to hear, “Well done” at the end of my race. But how do I find the patience, the endurance and the commitment? My only answer this afternoon is to remember where Paul looked, that he fixed his eyes on Jesus and lived as Jesus lived.

God's Holy Word by Carolyn

God's Word takes my breath away. I am in awe of how the Holy Spirit speaks to individuals through this Holy Book.

I attended four Bible studies this week. That astounds me!

One of them is quite large, very diverse and primarily for ladies who work during the day. Another is with three of my friends, one of whom is seriously ill. My boon companion, Judy and I often study together, and the fourth is with the three young girls who live next door to me.

Bible Study Fellowship is an international organization for women who study the Bible together. This year we are studying Isaiah. There are 13 women in my group and we are one of 15 groups meeting in the church on Tuesday evenings. Each week we are given Scripture to read, notes on Scripture we've already read and questions. When we are together we discuss them. "Where do you think justice has not prevailed in your life, and what ways have you witnessed God bringing justice into your life?" the leader asked. The response? "Justice has not prevailed in my life because I haven't received the punishment I deserve for my sin. God brought justice into my life when His Son died on the cross for my sin so that I may go free to live eternally with God." Wow.

Four friends learning about heaven came next. "How do we know we are going to heaven?" my ill friend asked. "We have been assured through the Scriptures" another replied. "If we confess our sin, recognize we are unable to save ourselves, and invite Jesus into our lives as our Savior and Lord, we are assured we will be 'sealed' with God's Holy Spirit. Then one of those rooms Jesus is preparing in His Father's house in heaven is reserved for us!"

Then came the "boon companions" Judy and I talking about our Tuesday night Scriptures from Isaiah 40:10. "See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and His arm rules for Him. See, his reward is with Him, and His recompense accompanies Him." We look at this alone. We think separately about what it could mean. We define reward and recompense from the dictionary. As we are doing that, we realize that the wages of our sin are satisfied by the death of Christ. We have been redeemed! We are God's reward! Our sinful natures have been ammended! We, who were lost have been found. Amazing GRACE!

Finally, three girls, ages 7 - 12 are reading about the death of Lararus. They see in John 11 that both Mary and Martha individually ask Jesus why He didn't come earlier and save their brother's life. "Why? Why?" They begin to understand that Jesus has bigger plans than that. But not before He sees the tears the sisters shed and He too weeps at their suffering, at their heartache, at their inability to see what He sees. And the girls see that Jesus understands their own sadness and sorrow, and that sometimes miracles are preceeded by great pain. We need to trust Him. We must wait upon Him. We need to believe that He has bigger plans.

John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God." "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us." The Word became Jesus and Jesus is the Word. That astounds me.

Boon Companions (by Judy)

Twelve years ago this month, I was baptized. Of course since I was raised Episcopalian, I was baptized as an infant. At that time, my family and members of the church agreed to take responsibility for my spiritual growth. I grew up loving the church that I attended - the building, the church calendar and accompanying rituals, the music, and especially the youth fellowship, which was a lot of fun for a teenager.

Then as a young adult I drifted away – a familiar story. When we had a family, I knew it was my responsibility to raise our children the way I had been raised, so they were baptized and confirmed, and we attended church on a sporadic basis, for it was so nice to stay snuggled under the covers on Sunday mornings, listening to Charles Kuralt on CBS and solving Will Short’s puzzles on NPR. There was always guilt, but not enough. There was also a hole, an inexplicable emptiness.

One day, something changed. Again, something inexplicable – but rather than emptiness, warmth and a closeness. "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." I discovered that the Bible was filled with wonder, beauty, conviction, illumination, and clear, direct words for me. It no longer gathered dust on the shelf. A church in a neighboring town became such an special place that Sunday morning was the pinnacle of my week. Words to hymns that I had repeated over and over for decades took on the nature of sermons, revealing towering theology and personal relationships with Jesus. The saints in the mists of the past felt closer than casual friends in the workplace.

And finally, someone else joined me as I walked this new path – a boon companion. We discovered that pouring ourselves cups of coffee and opening the Bible together, planning and producing a monthly TV program called “I Love to Tell the Story,” going on the road with presentations to women’s groups in small rural churches, facilitating summer Bible studies, and simply talking about our faith in odd locations like local bars strengthened us way beyond what we could have done alone. As Proverbs says, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.”

Twelve years ago, we were both baptized again in front of our church, friends and family – this time in full knowledge of what such a public acknowledgement means. Though we don’t know what the future holds, and our service may go in different directions, the horizontal bar of the Cross of Jesus holds us together, while the vertical bar points our gaze always upward. Proof of such a bond is that this boon companion, dear Carolyn, has agreed at our age to begin a study of GREEK, and she gave me the salt and pepper shakers in the photo above, so that my Jack will know that he is #1, at least here on earth!
Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together. Psalm 34:3

"Give us a watchword for the hour,

A thrilling word, a word of power

A battle cry, a flaming breath,

A call to conquest or to death:

A word to rouse the church from rest,

To heed the Master's high behest.

The call is given, ye hosts arise,

The Watchword is EVANGELIZE!

To fallen men, a dying race,

Make known the gift of gospel grace.

The world that now in darkness lies,

O Church of Christ, EVANGELIZE!

The call of Christ is unmistakeable. It is all over the Bible. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" Matthew 28:18-20.

"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:8

"O, son of man, I have set thee a watchman...therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me...if thou dost NOT speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand." Ezekiel 33:7-8

"Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matthew 5:13-16

We have our marching orders. The price for an immortal soul cannot be fixed. Think about it. Is there any trouble too great, any humiliation so deep, any suffering too severe, any love too strong, any labor too hard, any expense too great, to spend on an effort to win a soul?

God loves His people more than anything He has created. He created us in His image. God has bought every soul back. We are "twice bought." Once at creation and once again from the "desires of the flesh." Satan uses the flesh to snare the people God created in His image. He will stop at nothing. He uses all his energy, his utmost cuning, he will employ any means for the single purpose of ruining a soul.

As God's people, we must recommit ourselves in 2011 to this mission. We must dedicate our lives to lost souls. We must commit ourselves to seeing unbelievers become committed followers of Jesus Christ. We have no choice. It is Christ's call.

"O where is that mysterious line

That may by men be crossed,

Beyond which God Himself hath sworn,

That he who goes is lost?

An answer from the skies repeats,

'Ye who from God depart,'

TODAY, O hear His voice,

TODAY repent and harden not your heart.'

Joseph Addison Alexander

True Grit (by Judy)

As I sit at the computer on January 1st, 2011, there are so many things to write about that I hardly know where to begin. My plate has been full, literally and figuratively as we have entertained friends and family, enjoying the blessings of each one. In the end though, I am turning away from the end-of-year events, and toward a movie we recently saw – True Grit.

This film moved me in ways that were completely unexpected, from the sometimes lilting, sometimes chilling thread of music – “Leaning on His Everlasting Arms” -often sung in church, but never with such haunting intensity, to the clarity of purpose modeled by a slender 14 year old girl from Arkansas. I should have known from the opening screen with a verse from Proverbs, but it was only as the film progressed that I understood the deep reflection of Christian values – a reliance on God’s providence, remorse and confession from a condemned man about to hang, a sense of justice and redemption, and a beautiful line spoken by the heroine - “You pay for everything in this world. There is nothing free, except the grace of God.”

Since I saw the movie, I have been reflecting on the word “grit.” It is doubly on my mind, for I received a yearlong subscription to magazine called GRIT from a co-worker – a reflection of my final job at school of farm manager. I have seen grit a lot recently – not the granules of sand that is the first definition, but rather the more heroic meaning, an indomitable spirit, or pluck.

I have seen it in the 24 piglets who share a cold, dark, snow-covered century-old barn with 11 sheep; in the brave, and stoic acceptance of chronic pain in a family member; in a sister-in-law who finds humor while living among the infirm and hard of hearing; and in the Bible, especially in my hero Joshua – he who saw mere men instead of giants, who led a raggle-taggle band to make walls come tumbling down; and who at the end of his life declared, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Where does grit come from? For awhile, it may come from within. But ultimately, when we humans realize that we can’t manage a situation on our own, it must come from reliance on One Stronger. In the movie, for awhile young Mattie could rely on Rooster, but her true grit came from Leaning on His Everlasting Arms!