A Comedy of Errors....

I dedicate this post to Sam...as he not only lived his own comedy of errors at the Atlanta airport, but because he was unknowingly pulled into mine.

Yesterday, Danielle had her follow-up visit with the dentist after having her wisdom teeth removed last week. After the appointment, she and some friends were going to the library for the afternoon. So, around 2:15 yesterday afternoon, we were travelling down I-185 when I drove over a piece of white wire metal shelving laying in the highway. I knew we were doomed. I tried, to no avail, to pull of the interstate, but only made it to the top of the exit ramp on Macon road. At this point we were driving on the rim. I asked the girls for a moment of silence while I prayed and gathered my thoughts. I called the church for help.

Sam and Dan Liedtke were just leaving the library. They drove to a near-by McDonalds close to the off ramp and picked up Dani and twins and took them to the library. Then I realized that Sam and Dan could probably help me with the flat and the were unwittingly sucked into the fiasco. Let's see...it went something like this (and please remember it is 97 degrees and probably 90% humidity):

- Sam and Dan park at the McDonalds and run up the off-ramp. The van is sitting against a guard rail with cars whizzing by at 60 mph. The police, who had promised to send someone right over, never did. They read the directions and very adeptly got the tire changed to the spare.
- They lower the van off the jack only to find the spare is flat. We see if there is enough air to at least get us off the off-ramp. No luck.
- Sam remembers they have an air-compressor in their van, so now we pull Mrs. Liedtke (Brenda) into it and she drives over with the air compressor.
- Sam runs down the off-ramp and back up with the air compressor, but it doesn't seem to be working.
- Sam runs back down the off-ramp and Brenda takes him to Firestone (about a block 1/2 away) to get some assitance. They send Sam back with an air compressor.
- Sam and Brenda drive back around to my car (which involves circling around another interstate exit about a mile away) and we try Firestone's compressor. It doesn't appear to be working.
- We decide to try the donut (spare tire) off the Liedtke's van. Alas, it is flat. We try the air compressors. No luck. We decide to take the Liedtke's spare tire to Firestone for them to fill it up. Brenda drives Sam and the tire back to Firestone.
- Brenda again drives back around to my car, but as they are coming, Sam realizes the spare tire they just filled is leaking air. It's not looking good.
- Sam arrives with the leading spare, but then realizes it will not fit my van. It is now about 5:30 in the afternoon (3 hours later), so Brenda takes me, my flat tire, my flat spare, Danielle and the Acrees to Firestone. Sam's ordeal, at least is now over.
- The Firstone guy looks at the flat tire and repairs it in 20 minutes. (Just think. If this had been plan A, we would have been out of there in about an hour). But, they will not drive me back to my van. My brother-in-law can come and pick us up after work. That will not be until 6:30. He arrives and we leave the twins as their Dad is coming to get them at this point.
- Rene, Dani and I arrive at the van and Rene puts on the good tire. I get in. Turn the key. Nothing....battery is dead from the flashers going for 4 hours. (And don't forget we have had to circle the exits to get back to my car). I have a small electric battery charger which is not long enough to reach into Rene's truck. Rene has removed his jumper cables out of his pick-up. (It should be noted that at this time, approx. 7 p.m., a man stops to ask if we need help. First person who stopped. Said he works on cars. We said "no" and he drove off just as we realized we had no working jumber cables).
- Rene drives us to KMart. Where I buy jumper cables and large bottle of drinking water.
- We jump start the car (and this took quite a while...it was deader than a doornail). The car sputters. It is out of gas or at least can't get any as the van is sitting on a hill.
- Rene is now off to get gas. I let the car coast down the off-ramp, around the corner into the McDonalds parking lot so at least we don't have to drive around. Rene goes to Spectrum. No tanks. He drives to KMart. Buys a tank. Goes to Spectrum gets gas and brings it to McDonalds.
- We put gas in the tank and have to jump start it again as it did not run long enough to charge the battery (again this takes several minutes). Now it is 8 p.m. and we are finally on the road again.

Whew....I know there is a sermon illustration in this somewhere, but I can not for the life of me figure out what it is. I can say that 13 years ago, I would have been having a fit of rage (which would have, no doubt, included throwing things and language unfit for the truck stop). I was perfectly calm and accepting through the whole thing. I just kept thinking about what Pastor said about God knowing ahead of time, what our "trials" are going to be. I'm thankful for a church, friends and family that are willing to join in the fray. Thanks to everyone that helped.

Don't Be a Jacob...

We had a wonderful Sunday at Grace this weekend. Not that every Sunday there isn't wonderful. But with the 60th Anniversary celebration...all the remembrances and recognitions, awesome choir music and fanstastic preaching, it was all very overwhelming. I have also been studying the life of Jacob and I have been learning some very interesting things about myself.

I am a Jacob. No I haven't stolen anyone's blessing. But Jacob was a schemer. Jacob had visions from God, he wrestled with God and prevailed, and was assured time and time again of God's desire to bless him, protect him and provide for him, and yet, Jacob continued to scheme. In Genesis 31, God changed Jacob's name to Isreal. But throughout the book of Genesis, he is still referred to as Jacob. Israel means "one who fights victoriously with God" or "prince of God". Jacob was not referred to as Israel very often for one simple reason...he did not live up to his new name.

This reminds me of the children's song.."I sing a new song, since Jesus came, serve a new master, WEAR A NEW NAME...." As an adopted child of God, I wear a new name. But I wonder if I live up to it.

I am a schemer. I always have plan A, B, and C in my pocket just in case. I tend to develop plans and expectations and then pray as though I am seeking God's stamp of approval on my plans as opposed to being still and quiet long enough for God to reveal his plans to me. What Jacob found, and what I have found, it that God already has everything worked out. Normally in ways we can never imagine. That the time, effort, worry and lost sleep that we put into it are so FUTILE. The same God that wanted to supply the power and provision to Jacob wants to do the same for me.

I want to live up to my new name. Pray for me.

In HIM....

One of my many favorite verses is hanging in my cube at my office.

Acts 17:28 says:
"For IN HIM, we live and move and have our being."

I love that verse. I love meditating on it and thinking about all that it means.

IN HIM...we live. Before knowing him, I was not really living. Just existing. Fumbling around for the light-switch in the dark.

IN HIM...we move. What I now do, I accomplish through HIS strength, HIS power. Not my own feeble abilities.

IN HIM...we have our being. HE has defined who I am and what I am. I am his child. He is my Father.

What a wonderful, awesome place to live, move and be....IN HIM.

Sins of the Fathers (and the Mothers)....

There are several verses in the Bible that refer to the iniquities of the fathers being visited on their descendants..even to the second or third generations. In studying out this topic, I found that the iniquity or sins of the fathers of one generation of Israelites affected the generations that followed. I don't believe that God was punishing the children for the sins of their parents, but what I do believe was happening was that the consequences of those sins were felt by the generations that followed.

This is a truth, a reality, that my children have had to live. Because of choices I made in the past, my children have had to live with the consequences of my sin...primarily my divorce from their father. As difficult a situation as it has been and although it was not a choice I would have made for how my life would be, God has used it in a wonderful way to bring me to a saving knowledge of his Son. However, there are still difficult situations to deal with. Not having a positive male influence in the home. Also, there are still choices that my ex-husband makes that are very difficult on Danielle.

Today in my Sunday School class, we talked about how God "appoints" our trials. The things that we often see as disappointments are trials that God has allowed in our lives to mold us into the people that he wants us to be....specifically, broken, powerless and completely dependent on him. We can take any negative situation in our life and choose to feel defeated, angry, or bitter...all of which are a form of self-pity. Or we can look at them as opportunities to draw close to God, to lean on him and to seek deliverance from our pain and disappointments.

Disappointment in our current situation doesn't do anything to help the situation...especially not for the person we are disappointed in. In this case, Wiley is a lost soul. He has no authority in his life except for himself. He is not to be an object of anger, but one of pity. His failings....a call to prayer...for the situation and for his soul.

Another important truth that this brings to light is that the choices we make...especially those which do not line up with the will and word of God can have long-lasting and difficult to deal with effects. And that those choices effect those that love us and depend on us....those we live with now...and those who may be our families in the future. Please remember this.

The Hip Bones Connected to the Knee Bone...

Don't you hate it when you can't physically do what you want to do when you want to do it? At 41, I am starting to recognize a lack of resiliency in my body. Goodness knows, I haven't taken care of it as well as I should, but I have never had any on-going bad side effects...until this week.

My chiropractor seems to think I have a piece of calcium floating around in my knee from an old high-school injury. Apparently scar tissue can calcify and then break off. My knee won't bend because of internal defense mechanisms which swell up the tissue to prevent further injury. Also my hips are out of wack, putting too much pressure on the knee....and....he thinks I may have FIBRO-MYALGIA...you have got to be kidding.

Anyway, I have been doing a lot of thinking about my age, my body and how far I have let things go and, in light of the frustration over the last couple of days as an invalid, I am determined to take better care of myself and see if I can't get myself back into shape....at lease enough to make sure I can keep doing what I want to do, and that is serve the Lord, for a long time to come, without too many interruptions!

An "Old" Lesson...with a "New" Perspective...

I love listening to talk radio and to preaching on the radio as I am driving and, needless to say, I had the opportunity to do a lot of both during our exodus across America. I was listening to a preacher who was discussing the tribulation and the pre- v. post-trib rapture debate.

He believed in a pre-tribulation rapture (which I do as well), but he provided a very interesting illustration from the Bible on why he thought so. He used Sodom and Gomorrah as an example. As you recall, once Abraham learned the Angel of the Lords errand, the destruction of the city, he asked if God would spare the city if 50 righteous were found. The Lord and Abraham went back and forth until the Lord stated that if 10 righteous be found he would spare the city.

As we all know, there were not 10 found. Only Lot and his family. Although his sons-in-law would not leave with him, the Lord took Lot and his family from Sodom and Gomorrah before destroying it. That God, in his love and mercy, could not destroy his own, but removed them. This is a picture of the rapture, where God will remove his children from the Earth before releasing the full force of his wrath.

This is a beautiful picture of God's love and mercy. For only 10, he would have spared the city. Don't you think our countdown has begun? I'm sure we are approaching the Lord's limit. But when he could not find even 10, he removed the few that remained.

I also find hope in this in defining Lot as a "righteous" person. We know his story and that of his wife's. They were not people that I would have thought of as "righteous"; yet, they were God's, and he spared them....warts and all.

What a kind and loving Father He is...

There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly....

...I don't know why she swallowed that fly...I guess she'll die.

An interesting thing happened to me last night. I swallowed a fly. More like a gnat, actually. I was walking the dog and looking up admiringly at the moon. Apparently my mouth was hanging open in wondrous amazement because, at that very moment, I heard/felt the offending bug fly into my mouth and hit the back of my throat.

At first I tried to cough it up, but I was experiencing a choking sensation and I knew, in that dreadful moment, that my only option was to close my mouth and swallow...which I did. Hmmmm...I did wonder..1) If this was some type of "stinging" insect, would it be able to sting me from the inside and 2) How long would it actually live once I had swallowed it? Oh well...no serious after effects. Just my own home-version of "Fear Factor". Kids...do not attempt this at home...I am a professional.