Outdoorsy Stuff

For sisters perhaps, who may be interested in what brothers are up to, the boys are busy and good. Besides school, this is it. Last evening Rob's comment about his new job was, "If you like operating machinery, you'd like this job. They want me to ride around on mowers and tractors and things, and pay me to do it."

There is a fair bit of landscaping at the Willow Creek Driving Range and Miniature Golf place. Once cold weather comes and he needs a new job, we may look at the ice arena. Then he'd get to do one of his favorite things - skate.

James came down this morning in a shirt and tie. This is one of the dignities imposed upon football players on games days. Today's is only a scrimmage, but they will travel a couple hours to play it. He will need to learn to play wearing a visor to protect his good eye. I hope the scouts won't mind that when they are looking for NFL players!

Peter has taken the initiative and is happily carving out a little life for himself by riding his bike wherever he wants to go. Yesterday it was several miles home from school only to change out of his uniform and ride into town to study at the library. He has joined the Bible quizzing team at the church five minutes away so he can get there too. Once winter comes he may need cross country skis for all this outdoorsy stuff. First he will be running cross country. There is a wonderful interesting track at the school.

God is steering these guys into the way they should go, and I think they are happy with it. I am, though I am nervous about it too and how I will continue to be there for them and support them in what is a busy schedule. God never promised us a rose garden. Only that he'd be there day by day. What he wants more than anything from us is that we trust him, and more than anything I am not so good at it.

Lord increase my faith. Wherefore do I doubt? Seriously, wherefore do I doubt? "Happy is the man that trusteth in Him."

Ruining the Devil's Day

At church tonight a couple people nodded knowingly, when I said I had one of those days where I listened to negative thoughts all day long. I had barely pulled myself through the day, an invisible ball and chain attached to my leg. Every discouraging notion old Slewfoot knows works with me, he used, and almost beat me to a pulp.

it wasn't until I was driving to James' practice game that I came to myself. "You stinker, devil!" I said out loud. "You ruined my day. Now I'll ruin yours," and I began to pray. I thanked God for everything I could think of and began looking for Life. I also asked Him if I could meet up with two particular ladies at the game.

So... God being the way he is, when I arrived, the two ladies were sitting in folding chairs talking to each other.

"Do you two know each other?" I asked in surprise.

"No," they answered. "We just met."

Now wouldn't you know it? God arrived there before me, and out of the 200 folks at the game fellowship, he matched those two up for me. "Here," said one. "Sit on this quilt and we'll talk."

God is so nice... Now could He please teach me football so I can congratulate James on how well he did.

Grab Life

I popped a pen and 3x5 card into my pocket, but within a minute, I pulled it back out because things started happened that fast.

I decided to watch for Life. Whenever I spotted Life I would notice it, grab hold of it, and tuck it into my heart. Then just so I could remind myself later, I would write it down on my card. As I was thinking about this, the first Life experience happened. I felt God touch my back ever so lightly, but I thought, Aha, God likes this and I smiled. Quick write it down.

Next was a happy, happy email from Stephie telling about a conference they'd attended. Write it down. Yay!

Next was a letter from Annie saying I had encouraged her. Then came Peter into the room with a goofy, sheepish grin on his face. "I am sorry," he said.

Then James tried on his new football jersey, which they are now making stretchy tight so other players can't yank on them and get that nasty finger twist-and-pull injury. We laughed to see him struggle to pull the shirt over his head and get stuck in it. Then without the pads it had puffy short sleeves. We laughed again. Write it down.

Tonight Bob and I went on our first in a long time date night, and I told him how Heather Anne had considered naming little Roly a Puritan name. One she found meant "But for the grace of God thou wouldst be d----d." For short they called the fellow D----d!

Once home, I called Susan, a new mom at school who God sent my way fresh from Kentucky two weeks ago. "I bought two packages of chocolate chip batter," I said. "So don't make any. I will bring both for us to the football kickoff, because you are still up to your neck in boxes." Boy, do I know how that feels. We talked some more, and I lost count of the times she told me of family incidents and said, "I had to laugh when ..."

My kinda girl. More to laugh at. More Life. Write it down.

God is so good....and happy too, don't you think? He made Life, so He must really enjoy this game of noticing and grabbing Life and writing it down.

Sabbath

I sometimes think of going to Messianic services as a little, happy taste of the future Millennial reign when Israel's Messiah Yeshua will take up His throne in Jerusalem. On Saturday morning at Shema Ysrael I felt that usual sweet surge of joy.

Except for "Shema Israel, Adonai, Elohenu," the readings were mostly in English - beautiful scriptures and declarations. We were on our feet for a long time just as the people of Israel used to stand in the presence of the reading of Torah. And the music was, well, Messianic. When you sing, "O, Lord God of Israel," and you are standing among Jews, you become very aware of how Jewish the Lord God of Israel and His Son are!

Mercy

I just heard this and thought it was good. When we are inclined to beat ourselves for things we did wrong in the past, do this:

Leave the past to God's mercy,
Leave the future to His providence and
Leave the present to His love.

Good, eh?

Lakes and Forests, Friends and Loved Ones

It was so wonderful being with all the Cameron cousins at the lake. So many teenagers for our boys to be with. So thoughtful and convenient of my first cousins to supply second cousins for our kids at just the right age group.

The boys zipped from tennis to football to baseball to bridge jumping to swimming to volleyball and back to tennis and occasionally to just sitting and talking. This year there was a little more mingling of the guys and girls, which was nice.

The girls mostly resembled a "bookseller's convention." They read and talked and read and talked and read some more. It was a unique and curious experience seeing maybe 15 members of the "book" family all in a big circle outside the cottage, noses in their library books!

One of the beautiful things besides talking with my dearest cousins and auntie was to be able to share the Lord Jesus with some guests on the grounds, who did not appear to know why Jesus Christ came to this earth. How God loved the world so much, despite our sinful hearts, that he send a perfect Substitute who took all the blame for every wrong doing and died upon a cross, and rose again to rescue us from ourselves and dark despair. And so we could go to heaven.

Several Russian guests I met fairly hung on every faltering word I said about Jesus. They apologetically explained that in Russia the government did not allow them to learn these things and would I please write and tell them more. I got their email addresses.

Once at a loss how to explain the concept of sin and forgiveness in Russian and sign language I grabbed a little girl I'd met, who willingly translated John 3:16 as I gave it to her to an elderly Jewish babushka. The precious woman's eyed widened with every word as if it was her last hope. It may have been.

The little girl asked if I had a picture of Jesus, so I took her to the camp lobby and showed her the wonderful painting hanging there and explained that the Son of God lived here so long ago that no one knows for sure what he looks like, but that he loved children and had kind eyes like the painting. She especially wondered if it was true, like they told her in school, that people came from animals. I was happy to tell her that that was just a fairy tale, and that God really made us just as she suspected he had.

Another couple Jacob and Rina thought it was quite all right to be Jewish and believe in the Messiah. They liked to know his name as Yeshua. Rina clasped her hands and said, "Oh I wish you didn't have to leave so you could tell us more!"

All this was a truly an amazing experience for me, especially after so recently moving north from deep in the Bible Belt where nearly everyone "knows the Lord."

After leaving Jackson's Point on Lake Simcoe, we traveled north ito the Great Canadian Shield to Dad and Magdalene's cottage on Lake Shebeshekong near Perry Sound. Oh, the peace and quiet! I cannot forget the golden sun setting over the lake, the water becoming calm as if on signal, and a restful stillness settling over the whole landscape. Once the sun had slipped between the trees and hills, the loons which owned the lake, began their evening calls back and forth, the male's long lonely call to his female on her nest with her young, and the female warbling back to him across the dark waters.

The first night the boys slept out in the camper. The next night Peter moved indoors to the couch where he could not hear the loon which he had taken to be a coyote!

In their thank you note the guys mentioned how relaxing their time with Oma and Grandpa was. It was a lovely winding down time for them after the activity at the Salvation Army Camp. Also it was a great blessing for me to hear Oma joke and laugh and tease, and for Bob to sit and chat with Dad.

Back home Bob is recovering nicely from the Crestor and finding his peace as he moves from full time at work to part time. Today he filled out forms for that and we contemplated the possibility of his being involved in plans for an upcoming medical school in our area.

Tomorrow morning we have been invited to the Messianic congregation in town by a family at the boys' school, who are on the welcoming committee at school.

God is good and he is to be praised.