Story Time

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

If you hang out on Facebook, you know there are memes and challenges and such that make the rounds...and every once in awhile, someone tags me in one.

Some I skip....because, well, it's just not something I have anything worthwhile to say on the subject..  Some I do when there's a more convenient time frame.

I got tagged in one last week that I decided to participate in.

The idea was that you post a picture of a book you love once a day for seven days...and challenge one other person each day to do the same.

Foster the love of reading!  Find out who loves the same books!  Maybe find another great read that you hadn't met yet!

Of the 7 people I tagged, only one actually did it.  Four gave it a pass...not the right time for them, or they just don't do those things.  Two appeared to be confused by the instructions.

But those things should come with a warning...because I sat down and re-read 5 of the books post haste...as in, I sat up past midnight every night re-reading one of the books I loved.  Here are the 5 I re-read last week:

Granted, most of them are very short.  I didn't re-read the first two that I posted ...Silverlock, by John Meyers Meyers and  C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy (yeah, I know, that was three books but it's one story, lol)...mostly because I knew it would take more than just a couple of hours to read those, so I resisted the siren call.  But by the third night I failed at resisting and jumped in and read.

I slept really late this morning, making up for lost sleep.

I didn't chose the obvious favorites...I tried to pick books that likely weren't going to show up on someone else's list.  But all of them were books that I have loved for years...although Ender's Shadow is a newcomer to the list that I found within the past 10 - 12 ish years.

But today, thinking about the books, I realized something.  If you asked me what my top favorite books are, the ones I read over and over...the list would be overwhelmingly fiction.  Not completely...some of Madeleine L'Engles non-fiction would be on the list...but generally speaking, my old friends are...stories.  And even the favorite non-fiction are autobiographical.  Which is, of course, story that is factual.

Stories have shaped my world view in a way that non-fiction,  however good, doesn't often do. I have read many really, really good topical books, but...I rarely quote them, and even though I remember that they were good and I learned from them, I can't really articulate what it was.  I can't think of many that I have read more than once

It's no wonder at all why Jesus used story so much.  Story tells truth in a way that we can remember it.  The illustrations of story make the lessons stick.

Something to keep in mind when the creative urge comes...

Some time with an old friend

I have several books that I have started over the last few months that I want to try and finish reading during the fast...non-fiction books to get me to look at things in my life...and as I have thoughts on those I'll no doubt be posting them.

And I also have some pretty substantial Bible work to do...more on that on another day, too.

But the last few days I have been savoring a bit of time with an old friend of mine that has suddenly come back to mind, Hannah Hurnard's classic Hinds' Feet in High Place 

I can't really remember how long ago it was that a friend loaned me her copy and said I must read it...but I read it, gave it back, immediately ran out and bought my own copy and read it again.  I have no idea how many times I've read it since...and I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before on the blog.

If I had to move to some small dwelling and could only take a half dozen books with me, this would be one. (Oy, sudden thought....I don't know if I COULD just take half a dozen books...)

This time, though, I'm doing something I've not done before...I'm actually underlining some passages.  Here is one from chapter 4 that particularly encouraged me:

All the fairest beauties in the human soul, its greatest victories, and its most splendid achievements are always those which no one else knows anything about

But, you know the Good Shepherd knows...

I struggle with feeling invisible.  When we first started attending our church, I very clearly heard 'You are to be invisible.'

Just coming from a very small congregation in which we were most certainly visible participants, my weary self relished that word.

But I had so very little concept of what it really meant.  Many times in the past 10 years I've come back to that, when my flesh wanted to be offended over some oversight, and reminded myself that He said I was to be invisible.

If He has put a cloak of invisibility on me, I can't be offended by people who don't see through it.

I'll tell you this...invisibility is a wonderful test of motives.  It has really made me inspect my actions ...why, really, did I do something?  Was it to serve the kingdom...or get grateful kudos for my service?

I'll be honest, I haven't always liked my answers.

But slowly I am learning this lesson...that the most wonderful service is that which is done in secret.  Invisible.

Because, you know, He sees the invisible.When He is the only one who sees it, there is no mixture of personal agenda in it. So what is left is pure in motive...and beautiful.

If it needs to be seen by someone else, He's the one that will point it out to them.  I don't have to.

And yes, I needed to remind myself of that very much right now.

That's what old friends are for.

Quintessential Armor Bearer

I had a very recent reminder of how much our pastors carry with the vision of ministry...and how those of us who are part of that ministry need to come along side and 'hold up their arms', so that they can carry that vision.

And I heard in my spirit, "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you and it as well!"

If you recognize those words, maybe you'll understand the head-smacking revelation I had as I realized Sam Gamgee is the perfect example of the armor bearer. He had not a shred of ambition for himself, but was totally motivated in all his actions by concern for the one in whose service he had been placed. Frodo's mission was Sam's mission; Sam understood that the quest was not about him at all. He did what needed to be done with such complete submission to the cause that he wasn't even conscious of his own self.

There's a lot for me to learn from Sam Gamgee. His one moment of temptation to step forward and proclaim himself Lord when Frodo had been captured and Sam, by virtue of his dedication to the task, had the ring, was quickly quelled by Sam's devotion to his master, his accurate assesment of himself, and his certainty that it was only a trick of the enemy and not a real possibility at all.

I need to remember that if I'm going to be a proper armor bearer in the house. And maybe The Lord of the Rings should be required reading for everyone in a ministry support position...with particular attention given to the character of Sam Gamgee.

Beaned by a Nugget

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I debated for a while about whether or to make this a blog post or a Facebook note, but after reading Sarah's post, I decided to go ahead and put it out there for everyone.

A friend at church recommended Dr. Emerson Eggerichs' book Love & Respect, and just before Christmas My Sweet Baboo picked up a copy and began reading it. It's been sitting by his easy chair pretty much since then and on a whim I picked it up last week and began reading.

My initial reaction was that Dr. E. says the same things I have heard before, only in different words. But...y'know, those different words can make a difference. The message got in a little deeper because of his emphasis on a husband's deep need for his wife's respect. Not such a very different concept from what I've heard for ages about appreciating him, encouraging him, etc...but 'respect' seems to nail down something that the other words dance around.

And he is right...it is absolutely essential.

I think I knew that even as a teenager, when I joked that I wouldn't marry anyone who couldn't beat me at chess. My stated reason was that if I was going to be partnered with someone for life, it'd better be someone who could improve my chess game...but, y'know, deep down, the real reason was that I knew I needed someone that I could respect.

It's a rather amusing coincidence that My Sweet Baboo did indeed maneuver my king into checkmate the first time we played.

Now, there are areas in which I have slipped up and we've had our rocky moments, but overall my husband is a man that I deeply respect. To my discredit, I just don't always remember to tell him that.

But...the nugget that beaned me was a little bit about the passage in Titus 2 in which Paul directs Timothy to encourage the older women to teach the younger women how to love their husbands. I've taught this passage before, but never did I bother to look up which Greek word is translated 'love'. It was pretty obvious to me; since virtually all marriages were arranged in that day, a woman wouldn't go into a marriage in love with the man she married...she'd have to learn it. If you had asked me, my top-off-my-head guess would've been agape (sacrificial love) or maybe even the more obvious er* os (physical love, and hopefully that little asterisk and space will keep me out of internet searches...). But Dr. Eggerichs points out that the word there is based on phileo...brotherly love, friendship. Astonished, I pulled out the reference Bibles and concordances and...he's right. Suddenly, a lot of little puzzle pieces fell into place.

A wife really does need to be her hubby's best friend. Or maybe a better way of putting it would be that a man needs his wife to be his best friend.

So...I need to remind my best friend that he is someone that I deeply respect.

On a regular basis. ;)

[Thanks to Sarah for making this post 'A Good Thing'!]

Friday Flashback #24 - Not the End

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
Here's an entry from April 13,2005, when I was in a very discouraged spot:

I went to church hopeless, almost certain we'd missed God somewhere and were stuck in a huge mess.

IN the midst of worship -- from my will, rather than from my heart -- I suddenly thought of Hinds' Feet in High Places and the little scene in which Much-Afraid, sheltering in the cave on the last night of her journey and certain that all the Shepherd promised her was gone and empty, dumps her little bag of memorial stones, thinking they are not worth hauling around. Yet, as she looks at each one, she has to admit to herself that they are too precious to cast aside, even if it has all been a colossal waste. One by one, she picks the stones up, decides she cannot part with it and returns it to her bag - and picks up one more stone as a memorial. Of course, after her sacrifice, she is healed and restored and all the stones which she had almost discarded became jewels which the Shepherd set in her crown.

I realized the despair I felt was a close cousin to the despair Much-Afraid experienced -- and I remembered what happened after.

What looks like the end is not the end.

If you haven't read Hinds' Feet in High Places (by Hannah Hurnard) I highly recommend it...it's a fabulous allegory and has reminded me many times of the Shepherd's love and care and of the fact that I have to trust Him...and not be fooled by the way things appear.

Liturgical Learning

This started as a reply to Alana's comment on yesterday's post that just got too long for the comment box...

I spent most of my life as a Baptist, of one flavor or another, so the liturgical calendar was never part of my tradition. My Sweet Baboo grew up Methodist, with a fairly significant connection to the liturgical calendar; we collided on our first New Year's Day together when I began to dismantle the Christmas tree to the accompaniment of the Tournament of Roses parade, as my mother always did.

'What are you doing?' he inquired, just a little shocked.

'Well, I'm taking the tree down,' I replied in that 'isn't-it-obvious?' tone of voice.

'But it's still Christmas!' he protested.

'Huh?' I replied, wondering what he was talking about.

He explained to me the liturgical calendar that included the 12 days of Christmas...something I thought was just a counting song...and the significance of Epiphany.

And I realized he was right...it was still Christmas. Now, unless there is a compelling reason otherwise, the tree stays up until Jan. 6.

But my real education on the liturgical calendar came from one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors, Madeleine L'Engle. It's one of her Crosswicks Journals, The Irrational Season. I didn't realize Advent was an eschatological season until I read that book, but it makes sense...preparing for the observation of Christ's first advent should make us more keenly aware of preparing for His return.

Anyway, I've kind of grown nostalgic for a tradition that didn't include all the Christmas broo-ha during what should be the Advent season...and now, even threatens to eclipse Thanksgiving.

What would it be like to celebrate Thanksgiving, then the Advent Season, then a worship experience to celebrate God becoming man and 12 days of feasting and enjoying friends, capped by a (simple) gift exchange on Epiphany?

It'd sure be different....

Couldn't 'a' Said It Better Myself....

Y'all (ok, I'm letting my southern environment influence me just a little there. But sometimes 'y'all' works much better than the Midwestern 'Hey, you guys'... Work with me), there are some awesome women of God in the blogsphere. These ladies have voiced what I think about the week's events much better than I could. If you haven't read them yet...check them out:

Sarah at The Cleft of the Rock challenges believers to rise up to what could be our finest hour.

Lysa (a new way to spell it!) TerKeurst at Proverbs 31 Ministries issues a call to believers to really walk the talk.

Beth Moore at Living Proof Ministries invites us to join her in unified prayer and refuse to give the enemy any ground.

They are all challenging and encouraging posts. It ain't over, folks...there is still much for believers to do. This is, as Beth points out, our watch. There's too much at stake to pout.

I know I have prayed more aggressively for our country this week than I ever had before; perhaps to my shame...I should've been doing it all along.

I need to just keep it up.