Overwhelmed By God's Love

On Sunday morning our Choir and Orchestra are singing and playing a wonderful arrangement of the hymn, O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus. Samuel Trevor Francis wrote the hymn in 1890 after experiencing God's love in a very compelling way. On a cold, winter night, Francis found himself walking across London's Hungerford Bridge. He was at a point in his life where his faith was wavering, and he was mulling over his sadness and loneliness. As he walked, and contemplated his life, he heard a whisper tempting him to end his misery and jump into the churning waters below.

Fortunately, Francis didn't pay attention to the dark voice. Instead, he heard God's reassuring words speaking to him that night. On that bridge, he reaffirmed his faith in Jesus Christ, and put complete trust in him as his Savior.

As you read the words of his hymn, you hear echoes of this transformational experience. I love the thought of the first verse;
     O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free.
     Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me.
     Underneath me, all around me is the current of Thy love.
     Leading onward, leading homeward, to my glorious rest above.

There are days when I desperately need the love of God to roll as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me. How about you? Are you hearing a dark voice whispering that you are not worthy? Or that God doesn't love you? Have people hurt you or disappointed you? Cry out to Christ, ask Him to allow his love to roll as a mighty ocean over you. He loves you, and He'll honor your heart's desire.

How Will You Be Remembered

I was straightening my office today and paused to look at a photograph I have on my wall next to my bookshelf wall. I had put some things away and looked up to see the photo of the church I was raised in. It was one of those "everyone in the front of the church" pictures, taken outside, probably at the end of the morning service. I was about 5 years old in the picture, so I don't remember the event. My grandfather was right in front. He was the founding pastor of the church and pastored it until he passed away in 1966. He was just 65 years old and died of cancer. In the years just prior to his passing, he had purchased a 10 acre plot of land and had built a barn, utility room and pump house on the land. He bought a house from a military base and had it moved onto the property. For all of my growing up years I was his shadow. I suspect I didn't help much, and probably got in the way some, but I was always with him. Sadly, he never got to retire on that land. Whenever I think about him I have instant recall of his face. It is as vivid today as it was any day I was with him. Sometimes the grief I feel, even now, is so intense that I can hardly stand it. I have broken down more than once, telling about experiences with my grandfather. One of the biggest regrets I have is that he never got to see me become a minister, receive my ordination credentials and hear me preach or lead a choir. I never got to "pick his minister's brain" or ask him professional advice.

Once a wave of grief passed, today, I sat at my desk and did something I had never done before. I Googled my grandfather's name. Nemias Ruybalid. The first two items that came up were blogs that I had written about him. There were several items that had either his first name or his last name, and none were related to him. The last one on the page was a Social Security website that listed dates of birth and dates of death. I clicked on it and scrolled down to his name. Interestingly enough, my grandmother's record was just above his, even though she lived to be 92. All the record showed was my grandfather's birth date and the month and year of his death.

I thought to myself, "maybe I should write a Wiki page for him. There is so much to tell about this wonderful man who left much too early." How will you and I be remembered? Will someone Google your name 45 years after your death? One thing I remember about my grandpa was that I could see Christ in him. That's how I want to be remembered, that someone could say that they saw Christ in me.

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross

On February 13 1915, the New York Times carried this headline: "Fanny Crosby, Blind Hymn Writer, Dies." The article said in part: Franny Crosby, the blind hymn writer, died at her home at 4:30 AM. She had been growing feeble for the last six months and of late was very weak. She would have been ninety five years old if she had lived until March 24.

Fanny Crosby wrote more than 8,000 hymns which have been sung in Protestant churches throughout the world. Her lyrics were so numerous that at the peak of her career, hymnal publishers gave her nearly 200 pen names in order for her hymns and name not dominate every hymnal. She had a tremendous gift of recall and composed many lyrics at a time, committing them to memory before they were written down. One of the hymnal publishers, Phillips Brooks, once gave her seventy five topics and asked her to write verses based on them. She composed every one of the hymns before a line of any of them was placed on paper.

The newspaper article went on to list Fanny Crosby's most well known hymns, including, Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross.

Jesus, keep me near the cross, There a precious fountain.
Free to all, a healing stream, Flows from Calvary's mountain.

In the cross, in the cross, Be my glory ever.
Till my raptured soul shall find, Rest beyond the river.

In our present church culture, hymn singing is falling out of fashion. Many churches do not include any hymns in their church worship services anymore. When you read Fanny Crosby lyrics, you realize what a loss her writing is to the present day church. Thank you, Fanny Crosby, for sharing your amazing gift with us.

The Coming of Christ Foretold

As I began to plan a Choir-Orchestra-Drama production for this past Christmas, I wanted to use the prophecies of Christ's coming as a basis for the drama and music that we performed. After looking at many scripts and musicals, I finally determined that the product I was looking for did not exist. I gave a number of scriptures and resources to one of our choir members and he wrote a marvelous script set in modern times, using many of the scriptures that foretell the coming of Christ. We wove in appropriate music, called it Christmas Foretold, and had a wonderful production. Many people said "it was the best ever", but then again they always say that...it was very good.

One thing that struck me about the abundance of scriptures is that we only scratched the surface of the available Bible references. The other thing that amazed me is that almost from the beginning, the first chapters of Genesis, there were references to the coming Messiah. In some of the most unlikely places and stories, references to Christ and His coming popped up. This morning in my daily reading I found another one. I was reading the account of the people of Israel coming to the edge of the Promised Land. After their multi-year journey in the dessert, they are about to enter the land and begin conquering it. In Numbers, chapters 22-24, we find king Balak terrified at the prospect of the Israelites being on the edge of his kingdom, Moab. He enlists the services of a pagan prophet by the name of Balaam. King Balak figures that if he can't defeat Israel militarily, maybe he can have a well known diviner put a curse on them and they'll go away. As the story develops, God puts the words in Balaam's mouth and he winds up blessing Israel instead of cursing them. In chapter 24, his last oracle says "A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel." This is a clear foretelling of the coming of the Messiah. What an interesting place for this reference to occur. It showed me, once again, that God has a clear plan that spans the ages. He knew what needed to be accomplished and it confirmed to me once again that God's plan extends to me, and you. Today, let us rejoice that God provided a way for us to know Him, and to be known by Him. We know that Star, we know that Scepter, Christ Jesus.

What Are You Reading In 2011?

Pollsters tell us that most adults in the United States do not read a single book in a year's time. In fact, just 15 percent of people read books regularly. 80 percent have less then 10 books at home. One thing that I am grateful for is that my parents took my sisters and I to the library and purchased many books for us to read while we were growing up. That early leading and guiding has stayed with me through adulthood.

I have two distinct reading routines. The first one is first thing in the morning. This year I am reading through The Daily Bible In Chronological Order. I have used this 365 readings book several times and I am really enjoying it again this year. During my morning reading I am also reading Near To the Heart of God by Robert Morgan. This devotional uses 365 hymns as a basis for each daily reading. In addition to these two, I pick another book to read a short portion of each day. In January I read Where Angels Walk by Joan Anderson. In February I started reading Send Me Your Guardian Angel by Padre Pio. (as you can see, I'm on a theme here...)

The second part of my reading routine is reading for pleasure and to enhance my professional career. This year I have read three books in a five book series by Joel Rosenburg based on end times events. The Last Jihad, The Last Days and The Ezekiel Option. I'm looking forward to reading the other two books in this series. I'm also finishing Crazy Love by Francis Chan and I just started Cracking Your Church's Culture by Samuel Chand, two books that will help in my church work. So, are you reading? I'm always looking for good suggestions. Let me know what your book list looks like. If you are not reading, this is a great time to start. Since you can't be outside much, take some to read a book this week.

Time To Start Writing Again

If you subscribe to my blog, you may have wondered what happened to me. During the middle of the Christmas season, I decided it was time to take a break from some of the things that make my life busier than I would like it to be. While I really enjoy writing a blog, it takes a lot of thought to write about things that I think might be meaningful to other people. While many of my writings have come from my life experiences, many also come from my feelings about current events, cultural issues and just plain life. So after a 55 day break, I am going to start writing again.

Back to the issue of busyness. One of the things that prompted me to slow down during Christmas and the month after was an analysis of all the things that I do both professionally and personally. One of the difficult conclusions to come to is that some of what you do, on a regular basis, really doesn't matter. It may be necessary to fulfil a job commitment, or to insure continuity for other people, but in the end, it really doesn't matter. The realization that you are whipping a dead horse, and didn't recognize it can be disconcerting.

God and I are in conversations now about some things that I would really like to do, things that really matter. We'll see how patient I am, and if He thinks these things are important enough to act on them. In the meantime, back to my blog...

My Own Personal Christmas Tradition

I have a Christmas tradition that somewhere along the line evolved to be my personal one. I think it's because no one else in our family enjoys black and white movies. Several years ago I bought the VHS version of the 1951 classic A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge. A few years later I bought the DVD version that has both the black & white and colorized versions. It is still much better in black & white.

Here's a bit of trivia; The word "humbug" is misunderstood by many people, which is a pity since the word provides a key insight into Scrooge's hatred of Christmas. The word "humbug" describes deceitful efforts to fool people by pretending to a fake loftiness or false sincerity. So when Scrooge calls Christmas a humbug, he is claiming that people only pretend to charity and kindness in an scoundrel effort to delude him, each other, and themselves. In Scrooge's eyes, he is the one man honest enough to admit that no one really cares about anyone else, so for him, every wish for a Merry Christmas is one more deceitful effort to fool him and take advantage of him. This is a man who has turned to profit because he honestly believes everyone else will someday betray him or abandon him the moment he trusts them.


I think I enjoy the movie, and the book, because of the complete transformation of a person at this wonderful time of the year. On the day after Christmas, he is so different, that he is beside himself in trying to fool poor Bob Cratchit when Bob arrives a few minutes late for work. Poor Bob is so intimidated by E. S., that he can't even begin to figure out that he has been transformed. After "playing with Bob", and then giving him a raise, E.S. says "I don't deserve to be so happy. [starts laughing uncontrollably again] I can't help it. I-I can't help it!" On Christmas morning when he discovers he is still alive, and that it is Christmas morning, he nearly frightens his maid to death. He dances around his room singing a made up song "I don't know anything!/ I never did know anything!/ But now I know that I don't know/ All on a Christmas morning!" Then he proceeds to stand on his head while his maid throws her apron over her head and runs out of the room in complete panic. She is absolutely sure that E. S. has gone mad. When Bob questions his change, E. S. says "Bob, I haven't taken leave of my senses. I've come to them."


Last night I had a few hours to relax, and I spent part of that time watching A Christmas Carol again. I really enjoy that movie. I'm not sure I deserve to be this happy, but I am...

My Christmas Miracle

Another favorite Christmas story is told by Taylor Caldwell. She was in her 20s, recently divorced, had no job and was on her way job hunting on a spring, rainy day, with no umbrella. She sat down in the streetcar and there against the seat was a beautiful silk umbrella with a silver handle inlaid with an engraved name. The usual procedure would have been to turn the umbrella in to the conductor, but on an impulse, decided to find the owner herself. She found an address for the name in the phone book and took it to the owner. The lady was surprised to see it, it had been a birthday present and had been taken from her locker (she was a teacher) more than a year earlier. Her eyes teared up and she wanted to give Taylor a reward, but to accept money would have spoiled something. Taylor writes, "I think I gave her my address, but I don't remember."

Caldwell writes that the next 6 months were wretched. She could not find a permanent job. Her last job ended the day before Christmas, her 30 dollar rent was due and she had 15 dollars to her name. She purchased some very small gifts for her daughter, a small tree and a little food.  Taylor writes, "there would be no Christmas for me. I had just about reached the lowest point in my life. Unless a miracle happened, I would be homeless in January, foodless, jobless. I had prayer steadily for weeks, and there had been no answer. God and men had forgotten me. I felt old as death, and as lonely."

She looked in her mailbox, only bills in it and two white envelopes. She went upstairs to see that her daughter, Peggy, had proudly set the kitchen table and set out the 3 cans of food that would be dinner. "I felt brokenhearted. We would have only hamburgers for our Christmas dinner tomorrow, and gelatin." She writes, "For the first time in my life, I doubted the existence of God and His mercy, and the coldness in my heart was colder than ice." Then, the doorbell rang, a delivery man was at the door. His arms were full of parcels. I could only stare at the boxes. A huge doll, gloves, candy, a beautiful leather purse. Incredible! It was the teacher, the address simply "California," where she had moved.

Our "canned" dinner that night was the most delicious I had ever eaten. I could only pray, "thank you, Father." I forgot I had no money for the rent and only fifteen dollars in my purse and no job. After Peggy went to bed, I opened the 2 white envelopes. One contained a check for thirty dollars from a company I had worked for briefly in the summer. It was, said a note, my "Christmas bonus." My rent! The other envelope was an offer of a permanent position with the government-to begin two days after Christmas. It was the most joyous moment of my life.

The church bells began to ring. I hurriedly looked at my child, who was sleeping blissfully, and ran down to the street. Someone began to sing, "Oh come, all ye faithful!" I joined in and sang with the strangers all about me. I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all.

And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. God is with us, Emmanuel.

Cosmic Christmas

Cosmic Christmas is a wonderful book by Max Lucado that you can read in a single sitting. It is Max's description of how Christ would come to be born from Mary. It portrays the struggle between good and evil and the attempt on Satan's part to prevent the Seed from ever arriving from Heaven. In one of the most descriptive passages, Max pits Satan against God, and the ultimate reason for Christ coming to earth is revealed.

"The two stood facing each other. God robed in light, each thread glowing. Satan canopied in evil, the very fabric of his robe seeming to crawl. The King walked over and reached for the book. He turned it toward Lucifer and commanded, "Come, Deceiver, read the name of the One who will call your bluff. Read the name of the One who will storm your gates."

Satan rose slowly off his haunches. Like a wary wolf, he walked a wide circle toward the desk until he stood before the volume and read the word: Immanuel.
   "Immanuel?" He muttered to himself. "God with us?" The hooded head turned squarely toward the face of the Father. "No. Not even you would do that. Not even you would go so far. The plan is bizarre! You don't know how dark I've made the Earth. It's putrid. It's evil. It'..."

   "It is mine," proclaimed the King. "And I will reclaim what is mine."
   "Why?" Satan asked. "Why would you do this?"
The Father's voice was deep and soft. "Because I love them."

God loves you, and cares about you, and wants to be Lord of your life. Christmas is a wonderful time to give ourselves to God, without reservation. All you need to do is to accept His gift of new life.

Trouble At the Inn

One of my all time favorite Christmas stories is Dina Donohue's Trouble At the Inn. Wally was nine years old and in the second grade, though he should have been in the fourth. Most people knew he had trouble keeping up. When it came time to pick children for the annual Christmas pageant, Wally fancied himself being a shepherd with a flute, but the plays director gave him the role of the Innkeeper. That role didn't have many lines and Wally's size would make his refusal of lodging o Joseph more forceful.

As usual, a large audience had gathered for the town's yearly extravaganza of creches, beards, crowns, halos and a whole stage of squeaky voices. No one was caught up in the magic of the night more than Wallace Purling. When Joseph appeared, slowly, tenderly guiding Mary to the door of the inn, Wally the Innkeeper was there, waiting.

   "What do you want?" demanded Wally, swinging the door open with a brusque gesture.
   "We seek lodging."
   "Seek it elsewhere.." Wally looked straight ahead but spoke vigorously. "The inn is filled."
   "Sir, we have asked everywhere in vain. We have traveled far and are very weary."
   "There is no room in this inn for you." Wally looked properly stern.
The conversation continued and Wally delivered his last line, "No! Be gone!" Joseph placed his arm around Mary and Mary laid her head upon her husband's shoulder and the two of them started to move away. Wally stood there in the doorway, watching the forlorn couple. His mouth was open, his brow creased with concern, his eye filling  unmistakable with tears.

And suddenly this Christmas pageant became different from all others.
   "Don't go, Joseph," Wally called out. "Bring Mary back." And Wallace Purling's face grew into a bright smile. "You can have my room."

Have a blessed Christmas season and take some time to read a few stories, they are gifts.

One Of the Best Gifts

The older I get, the harder it is to remember all of the Christmases I've celebrated. It is even harder to remember many of the gifts I have received. This year, I have had a hard time coming up with a list for Kathy. She is the conduit to our families for ideas. I guess I'm more focused on celebrating the season and enjoying our family here at home, as well as our son's, their wives and children, when they get here later in December. I'm also looking forward to sitting by our tree, reading and enjoying the atmosphere of this wonderful season.

I've been working down in our basement for the past few days. We're painting, cleaning and scrubbing tile floors, installing new lights and generally getting ready for the holidays. As I was thinking about this blog yesterday, I noticed one of the best gifts I have ever received. The interesting thing about this gift is that it wasn't given to me at Christmas, it came to me when we moved from Manteca, California to Denver, Colorado. I worked at First Assembly in Manteca for 7 years, once in the 70s and the second time in the 80s. The second time we were there, I directed the choir every Sunday standing on a small step, in order for the last row of the choir to be able to see me. I have had to use a step in a couple of churches for this same reason. In fact, when we left First Assembly in Albany, Oregon, the choir all signed the step I used and they gave it to me as a parting gift. Apparently they didn't think that their next minister of music would be vertically challenged and would need the "box." The gift I received in Manteca was similar, but it was a small step stool built by the husband and father of two of my choir members. Here is a picture of my stool that was built by Don Graves.

I have used this stool for virtually every home project I have ever worked on. This week, in my basement, I have used it over and over again. By the way, Don's daughter Regina is one of the finest sopranos I have ever had in one of my choirs. She is a wonderful soloist. Her mom, Wanda, was very good as well. At a farewell reception, the Graves family presented this stool to me. Little did they know that 20 years later I would consider it one of the best gifts I have ever received. As you can see, it's a little beat up, painted on and a little rickety. But I suspect I'll use it until it completely falls apart.
 
This Christmas season I want to share, via this blog, some of the wonderful stories I have collected over the years. I will also share some of the remarkable gifts I have received. Regardless, I am so thankful for the wonderful gift of life that Christ gave us in His coming to earth to live, die and be resurrected to reconcile us to the Father. There is no better gift. This season is our chance to tell a desperate world about His coming, and His gift to us.

Time to put my stool away, I'm finished with it for this project. I'll keep it close by...

Ray Charles and Christmas Angel

The day after Thanksgiving is always a potpourri of activities for us. This year we shopped for some new lighting in our basement, I went to pick up a part for Nicole's car from the Toyota dealership, only to find out it was the wrong one, and Kathy and I spent time cleaning out our storage area in the basement and I installed our new lighting. We took some time to watch a Christmas movie titled Christmas Angel. It was the story of a wealthy philanthropist who found out late in life that it is better to give than receive. A multi-millionaire businessman who lost his wife and family because of his obsession with making money. In the end, he gave it all away to needy people. A little predictable, but a fun way to start the season.

The other thing I did has become a personal tradition. I watched, (I'm not sure how many times this is, but it is a lot), Ray Charles Celebrate A Gospel Christmas. In what may have been his last video taped concert, (Christmas 2003, Ray Charles died in June of 2004), Ray Charles sang Christmas songs, gospel songs and his famous arrangement of America, the Beautiful. In this concert he is joined by the 120 Voices of Jubilation from Newark, New Jersey. The wild thing about this concert is that it was performed in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It is obvious from the first song that the audience is incredibly responsive to Ray Charles and all the music. They clap as each song starts, they clap in the middle and they go wild at the end. The interesting thing is that when the cameras pan the audience, there is not a single black person in the audience, and almost everyone on the stage is black. What a wonderful inter-cultural experience for all those folks. One of the memorable performances on this video is the Voices of Jubilation's rendition of Total Praise. The director is wonderful to watch. His animation makes the song come alive. The entire concert is a lot of fun and a great way to start the Christmas season. Ray Charles and the choir singing Oh, Happy Day is great.

Now, on the the big stuff. Unwinding the outdoor lights and making sure they all work...

Thanksgiving Day 2010

This morning I was up early to help register runners and walkers for the 20th Gobble Wobble 5K at our church. Every year this race is a benefit for Teen Challenge, a faith based drug rehab program that we support. Several hundred runners braved very cold and drizzly conditions to participate. I thank God for everyone who participated and gave unselfishly on this day to help others.

Now I'm home, I helped Kathy get the turkey stuffed and into the oven and now we have a few minutes to relax. While I try and be grateful all year long for God's blessings to us, this day really helps me reflect on the things that I am so thankful for. As I drove home from the church this morning, and called Kathy to let her know I was on my way, I was weepy as I thought about how much I love her and am thankful to God for her. This hasn't been the greatest year of our lives, but the love that we share and the support we give each other has helped make it a year that we can truly say "God has been faithful." I am thankful for all our children, our married children and grandchildren who are in Springfield, Missouri, Medford, Oregon and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I am thankful for our three teenagers still at home. Even with the challenges that parenting has produced this year, our lives our enriched by our teenagers. I thank God for my parents, sisters and brother and their families, and Kathy's parents and siblings. I am thankful that our home is warm, there is food in the pantry, our bills are paid and we have a little money in the bank.

I am thankful that as I sat and read God's Word this morning, His promises are true and apply to me, because He loves me and has a relationship with me, by His choosing. I am thankful for friends who love us, and care about us, a church family that we can share our talent and ability with, and our country that has provided the freedom that we enjoy today to worship God like we choose. I am thankful for a day of rest, and the opportunity to reflect on the reasons for the peace and contentment that I feel. Have a blessed day as you thank God for His goodness to you.

My Utmost For His Highest

Oswald Chambers was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1874, the son of a Baptist minister. As a teenager, after hearing Charles Spurgeon preach, young Oswald surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. Chambers studied for the ministry and was the first principal of the Bible Training College at Clapham Common, London. World War I exploded on Europe and the college was closed in 1915.

Chambers joined the staff of the YMCA and with his wife, Biddy, was sent to Europe to minister to the English and Australian troops stationed in Zeitoun and Ismailia. The YMCA constructed 72 by 40 foot reed huts for the soldiers to come and relax in. Within a week, Oswald Chambers had four hundred soldiers packed in each night to hear him teach the Bible. Hundreds came to Christ. He wrote in his diary, "There are so many 'saved' souls waiting instruction, and they take it with zest. There is no difficulty at all in getting men to 'decide' for Christ, they do it readily." Sadly, on November 17, 1917, Chambers died of complications from an appendix operation.

Chambers had written just one book before he died, Baffled to Fight Better, but he had kept a journal. Biddy (his wife) was a trained court stenographer and had taken down word for word many of his hundreds of messages delivered at colleges and military camps. She began editing his material into 365 daily readings and named it My Utmost for His Highest. She completed it in 1927, ten years after Oswald's death. Today the book remains among the top ten Christian titles sold annually.

What will be our legacy, yours and mine? God cannot only use our lives for His glory while we are alive and working for Him, but long after we are gone. O God, help us to keep our focus on You and what You have asked us to do. We'll leave the results to You, for Your glory.

Christmas Reading

Every year, for many years now, Kathy and I have purchased one or two Christmas books a year. Some have been collections of short stories, others are Christmas novels and some have been table top books. One of our favorite authors is Richard Paul Evans. His book, Christmas Box, is a classic. We also enjoyed The Christmas List, The Gift and others by him. This year Evans has a new book titled Promise Me. Kathy found it at Sam's Club the other day and brought it home with some other Christmas shopping. I decided to start reading it on Sunday evening and I finished it last night. Normally, I would wait until closer to Christmas, but since I am a minister of music, I have been selecting, rehearsing and planning for Christmas since July, so reading a Christmas book now fits right into where I am.

For me, part of the enjoyment of Christmas is to immerse myself in the lives of other people and their Christmas celebrations. Many of the stories I have read have been true life stories, others are fictional. All of them help me focus on the wonder of the coming of the Savior and His tremendous gift to me. Another thing I have discovered over the years is that Christmas can "blow right past" you if you let it. The busyness of the season can almost make Christmas one of the those things that you can't wait to come and go so that your schedule can slow down. I have found that if I have a Christmas book to read, even if all I have is a few minutes, those minutes can be so meaningful. Right after Thanksgiving we'll bring up a lot of our Christmas story collections books and put them on our living room coffee table. A cup of tea, a fire in the fireplace and a couple of Christmas stories helps melt away the busyness of the day. This year, in addition to all your Black Friday shopping, stop in a bookstore and look for their Christmas books display. It will be there, and there will be a lot of wonderful books there. Pick up a book of short stories, buy yourself some Constant Comment tea and that evening, read a couple of stories. It will do your soul good...

A Very Nice Visit With My Parents

Last December, my parents moved to the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina. My sister relocated for a great job in the hotel industry and my parents moved with she and my brother-in-law. They live in the small town of Youngsville in a wonderful rural setting. When I was there earlier this week, all the leaves on the hardwood trees were turning yellow and red and it was beautiful. Two weeks ago my parents celebrated birthdays, 82 and 91. It was fun to be there so close to their birthdays. This was my first visit to their new home.

My dad has a lot trouble hearing, so our conversations were very short, but I was able to spend a lot of time with my mom, catching up on their move, all of our relatives that we do not see very often and catching her up on my family and all the things we are up to. The interesting thing was all the "spin off" conversations that a memory or an event took us on. I had several questions about the Spanish speaking church that I grew up in and that conversation brought back some neat memories. She reminded me of getting pulled over by a motorcycle policeman right in front of the the church because I pulled out in front of him without signaling or checking to see if anyone was coming. As I recall, I didn't get a ticket because I didn't have a license yet, just my permit. Another memory that I remember was a treat that happened every once in a while when we came home from our evening church service. It was usually fairly late and everyone was hungry. We stopped at a hamburger place where you could get a "bag of burgers for a buck" and a "bag of fries for a buck". For two dollars, we had a feast when we got home from church.

We reminisced about people that we had known and lost contact with, and people that have come back into our lives, largely with digital technology like Facebook. My memory of many of these folks was like I knew them many years ago. I was jarred back to reality more than once when I asked how old someone was now and my mom would say "I think they are in their eighties, or late seventies". Yikes, I remember them in their 20s and 30s. I suppose that some day in the next decade or two, I'll sit with my children and we'll do the same kind of reminiscing. I'll shock them with how old the people are that they remember, and we'll share great memories from every generation. One day, probably sooner than later, I won't be able to do this anymore with my parents. So I am very grateful for another opportunity to do that this week. We made plans to bring Kathy and our kids at home next summer to see them. I hope we can all do the same kind of reminiscing. I think it is really good for us to remember where we came from. It helps clarify where were are going.

This Was Quite An Election

I was up yesterday shortly after 4 AM to get ready to go to the election precinct where I have worked for the past several elections. We opened at 6 AM with many people in line and, except for a short lunch break, I did not sit down until our polls closed at 7 PM. I work at Gambrill Gardens, a retirement living center in West St. Louis County. A lot of our voters are elderly residents of the center. So, in addition to my normal job of helping people cast their ballots on the electronic and paper machines, many of the elderly voters need to have the ballot read to them, or they need special help with the touch screens. When I got home, I was exhausted, however, I really enjoyed the day.

In addition to the large turnout, we had close to 60%, I noticed a real determination on many people's part to "make a difference". In one form or another, many people said something like, "I want my vote to count" or "I want to help make a difference". On our ballot we had quite a few judge confirmations. It surprised me, with many of the elderly voters I assisted, how many of them voted NO on judge confirmations, almost as if there was a determination to sweep every area of government clean and start again.

I think the past 18 months have reignited a grass roots feeling in this country that the individual can make a difference. It has confirmed the idea that the will of the people cannot be ignored, and that if it is, the people will make changes. Now, Christians, it time to pray for new leaders, new direction and people in leadership who will be open to the wisdom and guidance of God. This was quite an election cycle, now let's do something with it.

I Had Hoped We'd Be Better Than This

I normally don't write two blogs in one day, but I could not let a recent quote from President Obama go without commenting on it. First, I am a patriotic American, second, I am a full blooded Latino, third, I am a Christian who prays for our elected leaders, including President Obama.

Yesterday, addressing a Latino audience, the President said; "And if Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, we're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us, if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's gonna be harder - and that's why I think it's so important that people focus on voting on November 2." When I heard a replay of this quote, I was extremely disappointed and terribly frustrated at the bottom feeding level of rhetoric that the upcoming election is generating. I believe our country has always taken pride in the fact that we could disagree politically and ideologically, but when push came to shove, we would unite again to get the job done. Our transitions of power at presidential election time have always been orderly, regardless of how heated and dividing the rhetoric might have been. I can never remember, however, anyone calling someone who didn't agree with you an enemy. In particular, using the word to describe a large class of people, who do not agree with you. Use of the word enemy takes the situation to a new level, a level that may make it impossible to unite again after the next election is over. Punish is a word that implies much more than just winning or losing an election. It implies a continuing action that goes far beyond the casting of a ballot. I have been concerned for our country as the discussion about illegal immigration, health care, the economy and other issues has become so contentious. Now, with the leader of our country talking in terms of enemies and punishing, who will be the uniter? Who can we look to? Obviously, as a Christian, my prayer focus doesn't change, but emotionally it is much harder to pray for a president that sees me as his enemy, as someone who needs to be punished. I have had to work at praying for him because I don't support his handling of the economy, or the passage of the massive health care bill, or the US government's lawsuit against Arizona, a state that is merely trying to enforce federal law already on the books. But I will continue to pray, because my Lord has asked me to.
O God, times are tough, and getting tougher. We need Your wisdom, Your grace, Your love. Help us, O God, to make a difference in these contentious times. We need You, O God. Our country needs You. We are a needy people and You must be Lord of our lives. Thank You, because we can trust You and Your word.

The Dreaded Check Engine Light

I hate it when warning lights start showing up on my dashboard. If the car manufacturer's were really honest, when the Check Engine graphic on the dash goes on, it should read, "Plan on spending anywhere from $125 to $500 to get this light to go off. You will probably have to go back 2 or 3 times to the repair shop, and then for weeks after you spend the money, you will glance down at your dash every 30 seconds because you think it will go back on. Just as you finally decide that it really is fixed, it will go back on, normally the week before you have to have a safety check in order to license your car for another year." On Saturday I was able to get a warning light to go off that indicated that I had a tail light, brake light, or other light out. I checked and checked and none of the lights were out. Then, after I pulled my car into the garage to see the lights better in the dark, I noticed that one of the brake lights was dimmer than the other one. Being a devoted DIYer, (do it yourself) I took both sets of lights apart and tried to figure out what the problem was. After an hour or so, I finally noticed that one of the wires going to the affected light socket didn't look like the other one. I took it apart and actually fixed it. Another DIY victory. I can't imagine how much that would have cost at a repair shop. Since this is a safety item, it needed to be fixed in order to license my car by the end of October.

This morning I took my car in for the safety inspection, paid my $12 and smugly awaited a positive outcome. Alas, it wasn't to be. I have a right front axle that needs to be replaced, Grrr. Since I take my vehicles to the same mechanic, they let it slide and passed my car anyway, with my pledge that I would get if fixed, soon. I sense another DIY project... Then it was on to the Check Engine light. 3 hours and $257 later, my check engine light was off. I learned all about EGRs and compression modulators and still felt taken.  

On the way home I noticed I was looking at the dash every few seconds. Maybe if I stop looking at it, the check engine light will just go on and I can start the "taking it back to the mechanic" routine. I love my car, I hate my car. :)

The 99ers

One of the stories on 60 Minutes tonight was about people in the Silicon Valley (the high tech area in the San Francisco Bay Area of California) who have lost their jobs to the current recession. Most of the story revolved around a type of town hall meeting for people who were unemployed. It was part support group, part 12 Step type meeting and part revival meeting. They called themselves the 99ers. (Unemployment benefits were extended by Congress to 99 weeks. Because of the huge cost, Congress will probably not extend the benefits again.) The 60 Minutes commentator interviewed several people. Most of them were high level professionals who made everywhere from $70,000 a year to well over $200,000. In many cases they had exhausted their unemployment insurance, cashed out their retirement accounts and gone through all of their savings. These were single and married people in their 40s, 50s and 60s.

The comments were almost nearly the same. Most people said something like "I can't believe this has happened to me", or "I never believed it would take 2 years, 3 years to find another job". One single lady who had exhausted all of her resources finally moved into an attic space in a friend of a friends house in exchange for cooking and cleaning. This single lady in her 50s was virtually at the end of the financial line. Another family had used all of their savings, they had used their children's college savings accounts and were trying to sell their home. The man, who lost his $200,000 a year job, had exhausted his unemployment insurance and had taken all of his 401K account to buy a franchise business that cleans home heating and AC vents. Sadly, because of the recession there wasn't enough work to make any money. They were at the end of their financial rope.

The story ended without any answers, just an overall sense of hopelessness. You wonder how people in this situation cope? Many Christians are in this same situation. Without the promises of God, and the family of God that these people belong to, it would be hopeless. If this recession continues to improve at the very slow pace it is, I think we as the family of God will need to stretch ourselves as we help fellow believers who are caught in this almost unbelievable situation. We may need to figure out ways to give major help; financial, spiritual and practical. We also need to find ways to reach out to people who don't know the Lord, who are panicked and have no where to turn. God help us make a difference. Help us to be so thankful for what you have blessed us with and be willing to give a lot of your blessings away.