Peter's Original Birthday

That is how Peter described today, as opposed to having friends over when it's not really your day. He truly did turn 15 this June 28, which is 3/4 of his way to 20. Wow!

Like Peter's life, the day began stormy and gray with no promise of sunshine, but God would not let that happen, because he likes Peter. So we ended up driving out to the town of Romeo (apple picking capital of the world) so the boys could experience shopping at the Salvation Army.

At first they said, "Mom, I am not sure about this." However, as they held goofy shirts and such up to themselves and laughed, gradually they began to see that there were some cool things in the store. They and Bob eventually ended up with a couple name brand dress shirts each and a couple ties.

Then we had lunch and went picking a ton of those wonderfully sweet Michigan cherries. It was an all-you-can-eat as you pick place, so were gorged and then came on home with bagfulls!

Three brothers the same age as our three came over and we broiled hamburgers, ate cheesecake and bounced a basketball and tossed a football in the backyard for a few hours.

God made our day, all right. This was the day the Lord had made for us. We chose to be glad and rejoice in it, even though it started out gloomy, grumpy and gray. 11 Corinthians 6:1 pleads with us not to receive God's gift of grace for nothing. So we grabbed it and ran.

And you know, when the guys gave Peter his birthday gifts, he did not sit there holding his gifts on his lap unopened. He dove in. No more do we want to receive the grace of God in vain and do nothing with it.

So today we opened the gift of grace, and had fun doing it.

Sad Faces

When I'd speak with folks by phone in Mississippi, they would call me 'Ms. Sylvia,' and we'd chat about life. In Mississippi, when I'd cross the parking lot at Wal-Mart, the men would nod, and the carry-out boys say, "Yes, ma'am."

As I'd go through the Mississippi check-out, the girls would hug me and the manager would ask, "How y'all doin'?"and sometimes even add, "Ya doing awright, darlin'?"

It makes me really sad when some of the folks here appear to be so entirely bored with life that I am seriously afraid that they will drop down dead behind the check-out counter. Or that they will fall asleep from dreariness on the other end of the telephone.

I keep waiting for them to lift their heads up, look alive, and say, "hey," and they don't.

What makes people that way? Is life that bad? Was it like that five years ago, when we lived here? Have things changed? ...Have I changed?

Will I look stupid and countrified if I don't act disinterested and never smile?

It makes me want to cry for the sad, rich people of Michigan even more than the happy, poor folks of Mississippi.

Rainbows and Icecream

Surrounded by water on Galveston Island, we discovered that various geographic locations are characterized by different cloud formations. There, majestic mountains of white, cumulus clouds would circle our island, while clear blue skies shone down overhead.

This Michigan, June summer day, the sky out my kitchen window was a constant changing scene, fast forward-ing almost like those time lapse photographs on nature programs. One minute a dark, slate gray blue, and the next it seemed, Galveston-like, billowy mounds of pure white ice cream would move into view. Enormous heaps of it above the quivering leaves of the tall poplar tree at the back of our property.

When Emily phoned for us to meet them at the ice cream store after supper, the rain was pouring down in perfectly straight arrows... but it's Michigan and if you wait just a bit, the sun will come shimmering through. Sure enough, in the few minutes it took us to drive up to TCBY Yogurt, the rain did stop, and a wonderful double rainbow showed itself stretching from the clouds across the eastern sky to the blue clear in the south.

Greeting us at the curbside were a couple of sunshiny little live-wires, bouncing up and down with sparkling eyes at the prospect of Grammy and Dan-Dan plus ice cream, all on the same evening.

This must be what it's like to be grandparents. And rainbows always promise good things to come.

Back Home

I did not remember how lovely Michigan is this time of the year. It is cool and the air clean. The woods are lush and green and very fragrant. Morning and evening the deer in their rust colored summer coats stop by. The bike trail beckons.

We are practically moved in, and it is good to be back. Emily and Chad live about 3 minutes drive up the road on an amazing piece of land with a river and hillside and woods, just beautiful. It is so comforting to be able to run up there with my slippers on and hug the children and chat with darling Em.

When the guys are not working for Bob, cleaning the gutters or cutting the grass, they bike there and watch Chad build and play with the kids. It is a happy wholesome life.

Thank you heavenly Father, for your faithfulness. You are forever kind and merciful.

The Beginning of the End

Bob and Rob will set out early tomorrow morning and God willing arrive Sunday evening. It seems odd that our lives will make an abrupt course alteration after such an intense time here in Mississippi.

The good-byes are extra sweet, because everyone knows it will be a short time until we all say, 'so long.' Maggie and James are teasing each other lovingly, non-stop today, and Peter and William have not had a fight in a week. We drove way out into the boonies and collected Peter's little friend, Travis, from way down a windy road. After waiting for a huge load of hay to pull out of the driveway we toted him home for a swim and fun time this afternoon. "Mah Deddy needs that hay for our cows."

He's gone now but Williams family is their way to pick him up and I know what that means. They'll stay for pizza and movie night. Gotta go.

Early B'Day

I can't wait to get my eyes on my Robbie. I talked with him today by phone or rather made small talk with him just so we could stay on the line. I miss his sweet nature and his peaceful demeanor. God has blessed us with some dear sons and I am very eager to watch how our lives will mesh together up north. And God will provide me a daughter in place of darling Maggie whom I shall cry over as we drive up I-55 North.

Maggie and James and Peter and I grabbed one more "last" chance to get together with friends before moving. Peter made a cake yesterday, and so we decided to call it his early birthday cake, put 15 candles in it, and tell Jordan and Susan and Angel and William and Mr. Michael and Ms. Ronnie.

They came, and we five females sat and laughed by the pool, while the five males swam, ate hot dogs, joked, rough housed and talked serious about one of Peter's favorite movies, The Cross and the Switchblade with David Wilkerson.

Outside a fresh wind was blowing away the humidity and heat of the day. Up in the clear star-studded black sky, the Big Dipper stood upright, dumping down joy and goodness over us. Between the tops of the tall Southern pines a new crescent moon burst its orange glow around the edges of the sphere announcing the first day of the fourth month on God's calendar.

After the last guest drove off, Peter hugged me and said, "Thank you, Mom" at least twice. And James confided in me that their friend "Mr. Michael is serious minded, you know, Mom, but he also can play bloody knuckles." Somehow I feel that must be important.

God is good. He has been good, and He will be good. He shall preserve our "...going out from this time forth and forevermore."

Shamim

The other day when I talked with Shamim, a Muslim man, about Jesus Christ, I felt that I may have offended him by my enthusiasm, so today I was just friendly, and I whispered to God, "Please let me tell him more about you."

God did and He chose His own unique way. As Shamim and I chatted, a young lady came by whose Mom works with a prison ministry. I told her about the Ministry teams that went into the jails and how so many had made a decision to ask Jesus to save them from their sins. How that after the teams go in to the jails, it is quieter for about 6 months because the inmates are busy reading their Bibles. So the guards like it.

All this time the Muslim man stood listening. He did not miss a thing. God is very innovative.

Kindest Person

God is just so nice.

Not only that, He is utterly dependable and reliable. He does not need to be, He is not required to bless me or to listen when I get down on the floor and tell him, "Father I cannot go north and leave Maggie without a decent job for the summer. Please give her one, and please do it without her filling out applications and chasing down interviews."

He didn't owe me anything, but He blessed me anyway. He wanted to prove that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He wants to demonstrate what a Friend we have in Jesus. So today Maggie heard that there was a job downtown in a ladies' boutique selling pretty dresses. She went in and got it.

Not only that, a sweet young lady whom I had wanted some time for her to get to know, was there, and they hit it off.

God is just so sweet. We don't need to worry about a thing.

Foolish Things

My Bible was open to I Corinthians 1 when our street preacher handed the mike to me. So I read it: "The preaching of the cross is to those who perish foolishness, but to us who believe it is the power of God unto salvation."

I briefly explained that if the guys only wanted breakfast, and they felt that the preaching part of church was stupid, they'd better check themselves to see if they might be perishing. To those who are saved, the cross of Christ is a very, very wise thing indeed, not foolish at all.

During the two days the team and volunteers from the Bill Glass Prison ministry visited the jails and detentions centers in the Jackson area, 1500 people had decided that the cross where Jesus hung and bled for their sins is not foolishness. They made a decision to give their lives to Him in gratitude.

Some people might question that such a despised thing as a cross, and such despised people as former drug dealers, alcoholics, and criminals walking into the jail yards and doing their song and dance to get an audience might be foolish. But if hurting, empty or hard-hearted men and women can drop their defenses long enough to receive new life, it must be rather wise.

God's foolishness is wiser than man's wisdom. Give me God's foolishness any time.

Give me the street lady named Candy who shared a peppermint candy with me, and Joseph whose eyes lit up when I waved to him. Give me a criminal who reaches out and eagerly takes my tract, and reads it, or the drunk named David who sits shaking on a bench but lowers his sad blue eyes when I ask about his family. God's foolishness says it is not foolish to waste time on him and Candy and Joseph and that maybe just maybe He will enter their lives and rescue them.

God's foolishness says He gives grace to the humble. That Christ came not to call the self righteous, but sinners like David and Candy and Joseph to repentance.