Time Keeper

Currently Reading
Red Moon Rising: How 24-7 Prayer is Awakening a Generation
By Peter Greig, Dave Roberts



When you sit with your hand in a hot oven for two minutes, it seems like two hours. When you sit holding hands with a beautiful girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. That, gentlemen, is relativity. ~ Albert Einstein


Yesterday is a cancelled check: tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is the only cash you have - so spend it wisely. ~ Kay Lyons

My religion consists of a humble admiration of the unlimitable Superior Spirit who reveals Himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind. ~ Albert Einstein





We are at the ice rink early as usual, giving T. time to put on his equipment for the impending hockey game. 37 minutes to puck drop. These teenage warriors all converge on the locker room with their joking conversations, fun ribbing of each other. We parents take three giant steps back when they open the door - there is nothing in all sportsdome that rivals the gaseous stench of what can only be described as hockey funk. We love these manlings in our presence - they can be quite thoughtful and sweet deep down - but they are rank when they get off the ice, and it simply lingers within the locker room. I only have to transport one hockey player - his equipment, sweaty uniform and body can be unbeliveably pungent when you travel in a van which has heat. But that locker room keeps their collective vileness, and that from the team before, knocking over whoever dares to defy the Dante inscription over the door : "Abandon all hope ye who enter here."

They have spent a great deal of time with each other this year, with two to three practices a week and two games a weekend. They've been with each other against the toughest teams who practically skated circles around them, and those against whom they were evenly matched, sharing blow for blow, their shots on goal nearly identical. Some games were rife with penalties, tempers flaring and the desire to "teach a lesson to that number 81," whereas others went without a offending whistle. T. was so proud the day he took a giant check and it knocked out one of his teeth. But his pride was my horror - "What do you mean a tooth is out?" only to examine it was one of his stubborn baby teeth, a tiny molar who was destined to come out that day or the next. With relief, I relaxed knowing he wouldn't have a gaping grin with a front tooth missing, able to slurp his spaghetti with vigor. The Cyclones have been the tournament champions in each tournament they've skated - this has been an exceptional year! T. has acquired new friends on the ice and we have acquired new friends in the families in the stands.

Today, I am in the penalty box as time keeper.

This task is shared by all the parents twice during the season - some get to be the door handlers for the team during shift changes, others manage the penalty bench. And time keeper is another job which gets handed around.

I haven't done this yet, so I am getting some input from the previous mom, pointing and explaining, describing and giving examples. There are important details to keep in mind...there are three periods ("Show it like this", time stops and starts with the whistle only ("Flip switch here")some things are automatic,("You start this and the horn will sound, or the penalty will erase or the timeout will clear")and some are waiting for you to manipulate the.

Okay, ready, steady, go!

The game went smooth, with only one error from me. On this panel the time switch is exactly next to the horn switch - they are the same shape and color - and when I thought I was starting the time for an offsides start, I actually sounded the horn. T.'s shift was on the ice when it happened, and I swear I could hear his "Oh mom" strickly from his body language and posture. I'd like to die, just crawl under the counter and die.

Being the time keeper in this hockey game was fun and engaging, letting me be closer to the ice and more involved with the game than I typically am.
Being the time keeper in our home these past 14 days has been exhausting and challenging, demanding and necessary.

Dave has been in Wilmore KY these two weeks, completing the last J-term for his MDiv. and this has been the fifth year in a row he leaves us on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend and returns in February. He only needs to be on campus once a year, in January, and it is only for 2 weeks. Only for two weeks.

But those two weeks at home with our four children and ministry pass in a different perspective than his in classroom parameters. I encounter healthy children 50 weeks out of the year, only to have them getting sick during this 2 week time. Ear infections, flu, bronchitis - you name it, it has happened and it miraculously lifts right before Groundhog's day.

We have ministry and sports programs in our corps four nights of the week, having me with our children opening doors, pumping up soccer balls/basketballs, shagging pop flies. My daughter A. can make an amazing pot of coffee and my son N. can figure out all things electronic. My son T. is an exceptional baby sitter for 2 year olds and my daughter K. is a very well-spoken secretary, showing she can take an accurate and thorough message.

Our days have been very full, every hour jam-packed with obligations and responsibilities, fun and laughter, places to be and miles to travel to get there.

The pastoral calls of these weeks have required long conversations, explanations, an extra visit - extra time taken, spent, lavishly spread even though each minute has
been in short supply.

The sermons have been holiness.

My own college courses have required more than 1000 pages of reading, with several trips to the library.

As Albert Eistein said, how you spend your time (and with whom) can be the greatest mystery and revelation of relativity.

God gives us every minute we encounter. Today has been prepared for you like a gift, prepared in detail, protected and offered with love and grace. God has been the divine Time Keeper, opening the day with an incredible sunrise or an extreme winter storm warning. Embrace you gift of today: its minutes are fleeting, passing, ticking, perishable. Our plans, visions and advance preparations for the future, these are all important, necessary and essential - but live within the present day you have.

God knows what is in store for you today - it is not a mystery to Him. He is there with you to celebrate with you in the joy of it, or to help shoulder the entirety of the grief it bears.

Invest yourself in someone today, sharing the good news of God's love in a practical and visible way. Fill your minutes with praise to Jesus. Drive with generosity and forgiveness. Laugh with strength and joy. Call that person who has come to your mind - God has reminded you of them for a reason. Look straight into the eyes of 5 people around you and see God's beauty in them. Encourage and build up those around you.

Touch. Smile. Cry. Live.

Relish and use every minute God has entrusted to you.

"TODAY is the day that the LORD has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24

The Arms of Jesus

Currently reading
The Lost Letters of Pergamum: A Story from the New Testament World
by Bruce W. Longenecker




"Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get 8 cats to pull a sled through the snow." Jeff Valdez

"Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go. Courage is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow." Alice Swaim

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up and snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." John Ruskin

"Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams go, life is a barren field, frozen with snow." Langston Hughes
The snowflakes gather in their own flurries, blowing from the west in softball-sized bundles. The frozen, blustery day outside forces us all to pull on our winter layers, guaranteeing a sweater, matching mittens, heavy socks, resizing last year's boots, making sure they fit. They are only needed for such a short time of the year, but when needed, there is nothing to replace them. The mercury in the outside thermometer seemed to be frozen in place: -7 degrees Fahrenheit. I do not need a cup of coffee or tea this morning to wake me completely, just an intake of air forces every atom in my being to stand at attention. Each breath is so cold is feels like a caterpillar of nails is inching down to my lungs with each gulp of oxygen. It hurts, slightly, and brings energy, activity and adrenaline. "There's only one way to face this, and that's to just keep moving!" The driveway will need shoveling, and it becomes like a job that truly has no ending, only a certain beginning. As the flakes are falling and I reach the end of our driveway, there is a driveway next to mine and across the street. "Its really only another 5 minutes," I whisper to myself as I walk up and down each driveway with my magic shovel.

Yes, author Roald Dahl may have written about a magical world with an incredible chocolate factory, magic golden tickets and magic candy recipes and amazing helpers. Roald Dahl had magic in his mind: I have magic in my hand with my magic shovel. Its a giant blade, lightweight with a large U-shaped handle which permits a shoveler to conquer an 18" path. She's called "Trusty" and she's been in our possession since we lived in Maine over 15 years ago. There's only been one winter since 1993 that didn't need the help and expertise of Ol' Trusty, yet some locations have needed her touch more than others. Winter in Maine is a snow in early November that stays and becomes the winter foundation for the next layer, and then the next, and so on. Winter in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts was a steady expectation of one winter storm after another, followed by days and days of crisp and clear coldness which preserved the cleansing effect the snowfall had brought. Yet winter in PA and OH has been an experiment in how many inches could fall in one day and then melt the next. Winter in these Midwest parts is more likened to "flurry freeze, then hurry leave" than the New England regions we have lived. And through these variant snow flurries, nor'easters, ice storms, white outs, dumps and lake effects, Ol' Trusty has been given the once over inspection and used with ease. You can power up your snowblower with fuel and noise and I will still give you a run for your money. With a determined pace, one can have victory over the snow, so in less than 30 minutes, I had conquered three driveways and a sidewalk. Very nice.

With the driveways tackled, the school bus arrives to whisk young learners off to their educational nirvana of books and calculations. My van has defrosted the windshields and gotten to a cozy temperature inside. As I turn right at the stop sign I check the rearview mirror to treasure the look of this new fallen snow and its beauty - Exquisite.

The snow is not dangerous or threatening to me or my family - we are stocked up and prepared for the effects the cold, chilly winter blast can bring from the Snow Miser. Its really a fun part of the calendar - we get to throw snowballs, to see our breath when we pretend we are like a train (Chugga chugga, whoo whoo!) But as I turn into the parking lot of my corps, I can examine that there are many with us this morning who are very vulnerable to this frigid turn in the weather. Winter is dangerous to them, spending untold amount of hours exposed to the extreme weather. Pneumonia and bronchitis is an expected fact of life, and one prolonged sickness could bring drastic results. "How many needed to sleep outside last night?" resonates in my heart, "or in their car? Oh, Lord please help them."

They've come for day-old baked goods, which will be ready in about 15 minutes, but also for another opportunity to be inside, to thaw, to think a thought, a single thought. It is as if they could all be a character described by Earnest Hemingway, these souls reveling in this "Clean Well-Lighted Place." I bring out the large box of gloves, hats and socks and the small barrel of children's sizes, knowing that they are needed today more than most. There's enough for everyone if they look through what is available - some will, others may not. Some will carry some for someone else, hoping they will fit or be the right color. Yesterday, someone had brought in a man's coat as a donation, extra large, and there is someone today who is wearing it, grateful that it can replace the flannel sweatshirt he had been using to fend off the cold. As I stand with one familiar face, I rub her hands gently as she describes the night - she was able to stay with a friend for a few weeks. There are no cute cliches right now, "Cold hands, warm heart"...everyone's hands are cold, and these few minutes inside waiting is a gentle respite. Another someone is brewing the coffee and additional hot water for hot chocolate or tea. The waiting time is brief it seems, merely 15 minutes, but it can be interlaced and traced with dignity- intentional, specific, compassionate dignity.

And it didn't cost any of us a single, solitary thing.

Christ reaches out to the world in many of these photos - statues, stained glass, monuments, sepulchres, sacred art, and they all speak a specific word of Christ reaching to the world and reaching to God. They are all very Scriptural, inspirational and motivational.












Even though they are all beautiful, masterful, it is this lower statue of Jesus, this one which captures the vibrance of my heart and holds me, almost unable to breathe: Jesus without his arms. It is obvious from the structure of the folds of his robes and the posture of His back and shoulders, Jesus is reaching out, possibly even reaching up and an accident has separated His arms from the structure. The striking perspective found within this statue, for the Christian believer is this : Jesus needs us to be His arms.





The divine touch of God's compassionate love and forgiveness needs to be shared with the relevant, time-bound arms of this generation. Not the saints of the past or the future, but the present compassion of a believer today. God's love getting shared with your fingerprints, your touch, your wit, your openness, your insight and perspective - this is God's holy mission! God's holy love, shared through Christ - we are His arms! Sharing God's love can be as direct as watching a single mother's children while she grocery shops, or changing the lightbulbs for an elderly man; it might show up as a chance to sit and listen to a story from a nearly forgotten war or a recent heartbreak of disappointment. Is your closet bursting with too many coats, shirts, dresses, shoes? Is there someone who will benefit from your careful generosity?

You are the arms of Christ, reaching into this world - right now - with all the resources, talents and convictions God has blessed you. You carry His touch. You make the bridge connection that crosses the chasm of brokenness, all in the name of reaching out as the arms of Christ. Don't let your actions be construed as a gentleman's obligation or a lady's thoughtfulness. Make sure you share the name of Jesus in your reaching. You carry the story of God's love.

Reaching out is evangelism at its best. Jesus reminds His believers that the most important gist of devotional faith is loving God and loving each other.

Reach out lovingly. Reach out with strength and purpose. Reach out with your whole heart, ready to give, listen, haul, move, cook, clean, advocate, sing, build up.

Reach out as the arms of Jesus.

"If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God. If we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us , because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And Christ died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Christ who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a wordly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us." 2 Corinthians 5:13-20 NIV

Compassion in a Pot

Currently Reading
The Lost Letters of Pergamum: A Story from the New Testament World
By Bruce W. Longenecker, Ben Witherington







The other day, my oldest son was asking me about helping make dinner, what he could do or choose for everyone to eat. As he was standing in the pantry, he listed a few things he saw, but he kept saying "Nope. Nope. Nope" All of his choices had been things he enjoyed, and usually our family would have on the table, except for these past three weeks. In connection with a spiritual fast and time of concentrated prayer, I have been fasting red meat. And it has not been a secret from the kids, but instead, they are essentially fasting just the same.

We fast as a family, and my children know that this one is not as difficult as it first sounded. Fasting is not a demanding list of forbidden choices, but instead it is a healthy nutritional version of achieving two goals - spiritual openness and physical sacrifice and self control.

The choices we have made included some very flavorful things, and still including fish and chicken. They began to understand we eat alot of vegetables anyway, and only have a little bit of meat. I have never felt called to be a vegan eater - oh do I love the smell of cooking meat, or eggs, or cheese! But if God called me into a vegan fasting period, I know we could do it. Sure I would be counting the days...but we could do it.

So his choice was to help make chicken noodle soup and get two loaves worth of bread dough rising. I hope he is able to really learn to make this on his own - candidly speaking, I believe chicken noodle soup has just as much healing powers as the medicine from the pharmacy. Even when it comes from the can, having someone care enough about you to prepare soup for you when you are sick brings God's compassionate caring and healing. Good for the stomach, good for the soul. Since today was a laundry/cleaning/maintenance day at our home, I decided another day of Chicken Noodle Soup and fresh bread will be a great addition to the day.

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 pound of chicken:
For white meat: 2 chicken breasts, with bone and skin (approximately 1 pound)
Or
Dark meat: 4 chicken thighs, with bone and skin (approximately 1 pound)

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 medium carrots, cut diagonally into ½ inch-thick slices
2 celery ribs, halved lengthwise, and cut into ½ -inch-thick slices
1 bay leaf
2 quarts chicken stock, homemade or canned

4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed ½ inch thick
8 ounces dried wide egg noodles
Salt and black pepper to taste
Parsley

Poaching chicken

Using a skillet which has a fitted lid, melt 1 Tbsp butter with 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat and then place in chosen chicken pieces, skin side down. Allow poultry to brown, 3-4 minutes. When golden brown, turn and cook another 3-4 minutes. Add 4 cups of hot water to this skillet, cover and reduce heat to simmer for 25 minutes.

When fully poached remove chicken from liquid and allow to cool for 15 minutes. This poaching liquid is available for addition to chicken stock for the soup, after skimming any fat from the top.

Soup

Place a soup pot over medium heat and coat with 2 Tbsp. butter and 2 Tbsp. oil. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, and bay leaf. Cook and stir for about 6 minutes, until the vegetables are softened but not browned. Pour in the chicken stock and bring the liquid to a boil. Add potatoes and cook for 15 minutes. Add the noodles and simmer for 5 minutes until tender. Fold in the chicken, and continue to simmer for another couple of minutes to heat through; season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.

Serve up some love for dinner, share it with a neighbor nearby, make it for yourself as a meal that will help you all week. Consider how the ingredients are all so separate, yet when prepared and added, given time and heat, they meld together in a brand new collection of flavor, aroma and nutrition. Compassion in a pot.

I know the fasting period I had set for this time will be over in a few days, and I have to admit I don't believe I will begin eating red meat again. We'll see, but everyone seems to really enjoy the choices we have made. There are a few things which I will try to see if the recipes come near our expectation, such as turkey meatballs. Meatballs have been a favorite meal, so I need to try to make sure its just right. I'll be experimenting with it, be assured. I love how they all really liked spinach pie, and I will make it more often.

I'm not feeling like I need to run out and get a McDonald's hamburger or a steak sandwich, and that alone has felt like a surprise. It has been an important detail to consider that eating vegetarian does not mean becoming dessertetarians.

Embrace and enjoy your day, and stop by and tell me about your pot of Chicken Noodle Soup or your experience with fasting or both. I'd love to hear from you!

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen to honor, says the LORD God Almighty: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - when you se the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and He will say: Here I AM. Isaiah 58:6-9, NIV.

Fragrance of God

Currently Reading
Bridge to Terabithia
By Katherine Paterson







"You can call me Flower, if you want to."

As I stand at the kitchen counter, my work space is compact and sublime. My hand grasps the 4 1/2 inch santoku knife carefully but with confidence - this is my all-time favorite knife. I know there are more that come with the set, and I do use the paring knife for peeling potatoes, but when I need to slice or dice something, it is almost always with my trusty santoku. It is balanced and substantial, a trusted agent of movement and precision.

The blade of the knife slides through the medium onions on the cutting board, quickly creating a cubed pile of pale yellow beauty. Three stalks of celery create a heaping pile of variant green pieces of freshness. The peeled carrots offer delectable medallions of sweetness and bright color. As the large pot has 4 tablespoons of butter and some extra virgin olive oil quickly getting very hot, ready for work. This mirepoix is dropped into the heating fat and the delicious sautee becomes enticing, amazingly fragrant. Its fragrance wafts slowly through the kitchen, like a subtle invitation through the whole first floor and up the stairs, alerting any hungry body that mom is making chicken noodle soup.

The smaller pot on the stove contains the orange peels and cinnamon from this morning's breakfast. At other times of the year, my fruit cliche is, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." And if it was my father saying it, it always has the tag, "when thrown properly!" Galas and Cameos, Braeburns and Yellow Delicious - we sure do love our apples. Fruit is the snack of choice, and that makes me very happy. But during cold and flu season, citrus, in our home, is the king of the fruit bowl and I try to keep the supply of fresh oranges available. It isn't easy with so many people who love a fresh orange. I am very pleased to know that everyone now is old enough to peel their own. I can remember that my thumbnail was permanently orange from December through March, simply from peeling one orange after another. It was never very great when I had a hangnail, that citrus bringing a zinger that doesn't go away even if you wash your hands three or four time. So now, as each of my TANK are getting their snack, they all get to hear, "Please save the peel for me."

I place them all in a pot on the stove, cover them with water, add about 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and a teaspoon of vanilla and put the fire to a simmer. I let them cook all day long, adding water periodically as the concoction reduces and evaporates. The aroma of this savory ambrosia is intoxicating. When I walk in the house from wherever I needed to go, stopping by the stove is the first thing I do. The delicious aroma eliminates the pangs of hunger, bringing such a substantial lusciousness that I feel like I have already eaten something. As it bubbles and simmers, its quiet work brings a fragrance that draws a soul close. It is as if I can see the red fox from The Little Prince standing in the corner, balancing his large cup of Earl Gray below his long pointed nose as he opines the deep wisdom, "On ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur, l'essential est invisible pour les yeux." (It is only with the heart that one can see rightly: what is essential is invisible to the eye.) Antione de Saint-Exupery.

You are the perfume of God's love, walking and talking, loving and leading. God's presence in the life of a believer brings a fragrance from heaven, a holy fragrance interlaced within a holy life. It is not achieved without God's divine work. It cannot be imitated or construed, pretended or hypothetical. A holy life, lived out by God's direction and guidance, brings a fragrance to those around you. Inviting them closer. Bringing them step by step into your inner circle, causing them to stop and breathe in deeply. Pray to God today for the spiritual stamina to remain a beautiful testimony of His love to the dark world today.

There are people around you who are far from God, unsaved, broken. They are not walking through life wearing a sandwich board sign that says "Help Me" but they needs God's help just the same. They are friends, sisters, brothers, neighbors, roommates, landlords, colleagues. Let them breathe in deep from the heavenly perfume that a holy life brings. Bring heaven's encouragement to them, personalized with your hands, your feet, your eyes of compassion, your voice of concern. God's uses believers as the ambassadors of Christ, emissaries of His compassionate mercy and forgiveness. As the bearer of His heavenly fragrance, your devoted work becomes God's work. Every step you take today can spread the heavenly fragrance of God's holiness - spread it lavishly!!! Don't keep it to yourself, bottled up, keeping its immediate fragrance contained to be yours alone. Keep sacred matters at the forefront of your conversations. Don't just assure someone you will pray for them, stop what you are doing and pray right then, right there. Reach out with a hug or a physical form of reassurance. Share your story, your love story with Jesus; let the perfume of your testimony emanate with every step. You may not even leave the house today and still be a giver of God's fragrant perfume. Breathe in deeply of God's sweet fragrance.

Be imitator's of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us a gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:2.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; and to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to the task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God. 2 Corinthians 2:15-17

Beauty is the radiance of truth and the fragrance of goodness. Vincent McNabb

Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Song of My Heart

Currently Reading
The Little Prince
By Antoine de Saint-Exupery





We have shared
so many moons in the same canoe,
navigating this river, this journey
~this life.~
20 years
accumulated, collected, preserved, embraced, loved.
You, dear heart, were not tied to count each passing week, month, season:
Instead, your love helped make each of them count.
You, my love, have listened to the song of my heart,
~remembering~
the detailed lyrics and libretto word for word, melody and harmony.
~Remembering~
~Maintaining~
this song from my heart.
Carrying its treasure, retaining its soul.
And when my own heart has lost its song,
Couldn’t remember beauty or joy
You sang it back with tenderness.
You, my love, gave the gift of
~Listening~
~Remembering~
You restored this song with love and purity
And my heart sings again.

jsi

December 1987 and Dave and I had only known each other for a few sparse weeks, yet they were full, brimming with hope, joy and love. The air smelled sweeter, all things were right with the world - I swear even the burgers at McDonald's tasted better. He waited until my shift at work was through, having less than half an hour before his shift would begin across town, to give me a Christmas gift. I had his with me, wrapped days earlier, waiting, expecting, hoping to see him. His whispered words 2 decades ago as he helped me with a new watch, they still resound deeply "Every hour is filled with thoughts of you. You hear the song in my heart."

"Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other
but in looking together in the same direction."
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux."
(It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye).
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"My lover is mine and I am his" Song of Songs 2:16 NIV