I'm still here....

posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I did get to go to the retreat a couple of weekends ago; it was a beautiful day after a foggy drive over to Lake Guntersville and a marvelous time with ladies that, by and large, I'd never met before.

One other BSF buddy was there, and, of course, Suzanne.

What a treat to see them both and hear Suzanne teach again.

And, you know, she pointed out something that I had not considered when I was studying Joshua.

From a military standpoint, the reconnaissance that the spies did in chapter 2 was unnecessary.   God had the entire plan laid out for them; they didn't need to go in and look around.

But Rahab needed them to come in so she could escape the doom of the city.

I just hadn't realized that.  The whole episode was about Rahab...saving the one in the city who recognized and honored the God of the Israelites.  Oh, I'd seen that it was an incredible sequence of events that connected her to the spies, but I hadn't considered the true value of their adventure from a military standpoint.  They learned nothing that they needed to know.  But they met Rahab and cut a deal with her and as a result she and her whole family survived the fall of the city.

What lengths will God go to in order to deliver one who honors Him, even in the midst of a culture that wants nothing to do with Him?

There were stones with words etched in at each table for us to take as a remembrance.  I ended up with the stone that said 'Faith'.

The phrase that jumped out at me from the weekend...based on Rahab and her bold bid for survival... was 'Take the risk.'  I'm not sure how all of that is going to play into the expression of all that is in my heart, but I am encouraged that God is capable of sending someone on a boondoggle journey to give me the opportunity to step out into the unknown if that's what it takes.

The Book Stack

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Back in the day,  I was the one who read.  All. The. Time.

Those Summer Reading Clubs at the Library?  Encouraging kids to read six books over the summer?

Pfft.  I read six books the first week.

I got excited about a book that was really good.

To this day, I can still remember the sorrow I felt when I finished reading Heidi in second grade...not because it was a sad story but because it was over.  I remember the awe with which I finished A Wrinkle in Time in the 7th grade, the amazement at the end of Ben Hur in the tenth grade.  I remember the gratitude I felt...not to mention complete shock...when my sister handed me a copy of The Return of the King after happening to make a trip into town the afternoon after I finished The Two Towers ...she'd heard my lament at the cliffhanger ending.  Then there was the marathon reading session I did whilst down with a respiratory virus at college to finish a borrowed set of The Chronicles of Narnia and wondered where C.S. Lewis had been all my life....and prompted me to purchase the whole set of his Space Trilogy when I happened upon it in a bookstore shortly afterward.

Oh, yes, so many good books.

I remember my grandmother lamenting in her later years that she didn't have the patience to read anymore, and it made her sad.

I'll never be like that, I thought.  Reading is too rewarding.

But.  Y'all.  There are only 24 hours in a day.

And, just for grins, I took a picture of the Books Waiting to Be Read.

Sixteen books in that stack.  And there are a couple of others that I know of that were elsewhere and aren't in the stack. 

Some of them have been there for more than a year.  More than two years....And there are a couple of others that I've had for a long time and just haven't been able to get myself to get interested in them...recommendations from a friend or some such thing...and I've about decided it's to donate them to the library.

I actually have read a bit in a few of those books; the top book is the current study in our ladies' group at church and I'm probably two thirds through. But I never thought I'd have a stack of unread books.

I haven't kept track of the books I have read this year; maybe I should.  Kinda like I keep track of the yardage in/yardage out on the sewing blog.

Part of my problem is I like re-reading old favorites.  I've probably read The Lord of the Rings at least 15 times since that first agonizing trip through Middle Earth in 1977.   Brother Cadfael and I are well acquainted...and you know I've revisited Narnia over and over.  So sometimes, the reading time is spent in familiar territory.

But there is a wealth of wisdom, challenge and instruction in that stack.

I need to be more intentional about my reading.

Among other things...

Revisting Joshua

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

So, my friend Suzanne, who was my BSF Teaching Leader ages and ages ago, posted an invitation to a day retreat at which she was teaching.

It's hosted by a local church, at a camp on Lake Guntersville. I've actually been there once before..it was where our Girls Ministry Leaders had a retreat the weekend after The Princess's wedding...back in 2011.

I wrote a blog post about my experience that weekend.

And...here's the kicker: Suzanne's going to be teaching from the book of Joshua.

I saw that and thought, oh, I should go.  I mean, Joshua.  Suzanne.  Lovely venue.

But, other than Suzanne, whom I haven't really seen in years, I probably won't know a soul.

So I waffled.  My Sweet Babboo has a Royal Ranger event that day, so he's not going to be around.

Joshua.  God has had me in Joshua for a reason.  I don't think it's a coincidence.

And how many times have I written about my need to intentionally go outside of my comfort zone?  Out of what's familiar?

So....I signed up.

Kinda planning to sit in the back and just...listen.  To see what it is that I need to make sure to get.

Because the nice thing about going to something like this...I am anonymous.  I have no responsibilities.  

Just to listen and learn.

One of those days...

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Yeah, even the cat is looking skeptical at this point.

Some days you get out of bed and tackle the day.

And some days, you trip over your own feet and smack into the door before you can even open it.

Ice pack, please.

Some days, you look in the mirror and think, that'll do.

And some days, you look in the mirror and think, oy, I'm overdue for a haircut.

Some days,  the flu shot is over and done.

And some days, you wonder why your arm aches and then you remember...oh, yeah. Flu shot.

Some days you  whip up a  fantastic meal that the family loves.

And some days you forget about the pot on the stove with the costly beef roast and the hard-to-come-by noodles...and find yourself wondering who's burning stuff outside...guess the stove  wasn't turned down as low as I thought...

Maybe two -thirds of the pot was salvageable.  With a slightly smokey flavor.  Of course, it's for my Sweet Baboo's birthday dinner.  Need to plan some hearty sides, I think.

Gonna take me a minute to get the pan clean, though.

And then...some days you scroll down face book and see lots of fun things.

And some days, friends post links to pages that each request prayer for a different youngster in end stage cancer.

Kinda puts things in perspective.

Lord, I thank you that I had a door to run into.  That I have the opportunity to get that immunization that will hopefully ward off nastiness.  That I have a Sweet Babboo to cook dinner for, and kids who will come and sit at the table with us.  That I have pans to cook in and hot water to clean them.  That I have friends who care about folks.  That I have a real bed to sleep in tonight.  Let me never forget to thank you for all my blessings.  And be the Comforter and the Healer to those who are desperately in need of both tonight.  Amen. 

Is this my idea...or...

That bracelet was a craft project during one of our Teen Girls Sleepovers...probably 5 or 6 years ago.  'Amats' is the Hebrew word for 'Courage'.

In sitting down and trying to figure out what's holding me back...you know, you get asked that question at almost all big conferences at some point...I've had to question my courage.

And I come down to this...if I knew, absolutely knew, that I had a word and direction from God, I could go after it with everything.

But I have been wrong so many times.

See, I kinda had the idea that if something occurred to me,  from out of the blue, so to speak, not as a product of my own reasoning ( or maybe as a product of some particularly non-typically brilliant reasoning) I figured it had to be God.  And I'd go tearing off that way...only to run into a brick wall.

Now, I understand timing and all, and I know Joseph's Words all seemed in direct contrast to everything that happened in his life until Pharoah pulled him out of jail, but those times are not of that nature. 

I got it wrong.

So I'm a little gun shy now.

And when a random idea related to something I feel I have a promise on landed in my brain this morning, I didn't jump up and  do it.

Because I am tired of running into walls.  I'm tired of offering my dreams up to a chorus of crickets...or, worse yet, outright disdain.  I'm tired of sending Ishmaels out...because it seemed like a good idea. 


Gideon said to God, " If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised -- look I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor.  If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand as you have said."  And that is what happened.  Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew -- a bowl full of water.

Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me.  Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece.  This time make the fleece dray and the ground covered with dew."  That night God did so.  Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.  (Judges 6:36-40, NIV84)

Gideon gets a lot of flak for that. 'Putting out a fleece' has even entered the vernacular...and is rather disparaged.  But,  Gideon had a whole army to convince; I don't think the fleece was to convince himself; he knew he had had a word.  I think it was to convince the rest of the tribes that he had really heard a word.

If God will confirm a word to the people who need to hear it, who need to believe, I don't think it's out of line to ask Him to confirm a word that might be Him...or might be my own problem-solving  brain at work.

So, I'm asking for confirmation.  If that idea was a God- idea, I'll follow through.  If it wasn't...well, either there is another door down the road a bit...or maybe I've got the whole thing wrong and NONE of it was God...just my imagination.  God knows what I need. 

It's not a lack of faith in God...it's a lack of faith in my ability to wait for His voice and not go following my own.  I need a landmark so I know it really is Him.

I'll let you know if anything comes of it. ;-)

Between Studies

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The photo is not really related to the post, but Facebook wants a picture to post with the link, so...

I thought I'd do an update on the 3 + 1 (three chapters in the Old Testament, one in the new) reading...I'm kinda embarrassed to admit that I'm a total of at least 3 months behind.  Reading 6 days a week should have been easy, right?  Somehow, since it wasn't EVERY day, it got easy to overlook.  I'm still plugging away; I'm in 2 Samuel (David is thinking he's covered up everything with Bathsheba), just read Ps. 139...we are fearfully and wonderfully made...and grieved with the Ephesian believers as Paul told them 'you will never see my face again;' as I near the end of Acts.

It's a good plan to read through the Bible in a year.  Well less than a year, if you do it daily.  I tried backing it out to 6 days a week...which would still finish in a year...but, well, I got behind.  I thought about skipping Joshua, since I was doing the study on it, but part of the reason I am reading is to systematically mark the ESV I'm reading in...and I did the Joshua study from the NIV.  So I didn't skip it.

So, you know, it's going to take more than a year.  I'll just keep plugging away and maybe finish around Easter. Cause, you know, the important thing is to be intentional, not to finish on a schedule.  Having a goal is good...but the main thing is to keep going.

I'm not sure what the next study will be.  I'm still kinda mulling over the lessons from Joshua and letting those sink in.

I know I need to be much more intentional about 'inquiring of the LORD' before I undertake things.  I've found myself getting tripped up...again...by assuming I know what's going on and what I need to do and then finding out, well, I didn't.  My results weren't as dire as some of the results from running ahead in Joshua's day, but I'd still rather have not made those errors.  I got hurt and I hurt others.  No bueno.  

God gives us a promise, but we still have to do it His way.  Because His way really and truly is the best way in the long run.  And I generally don't figure out His way on my own.  It comes by asking.

So, yeah.  Still chewing on it...

Blogging Bible Study: Joshua 24 - Joshua's Farewell, Part 2

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Joshua 23 contains Joshua's last instructions to the leaders of the nation; chapter 24 is his farewell to the people. 

At least, that's the way it looks to me.  You could put a different spin on it and conclude that both chapters were to the entire nation, and if I dug into different translations that may bear it out.  But the NIV implies that chapter 23 is to the all the leaders of the entire nation, and chapter is to all the tribes...

[Joshua] summoned all Israel -- their elders, leaders, judges and officials -- and said to them... (23:2)

Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem.  He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel and they presented themselves before God. Joshua said to all the people.... (24: 1 - 2a)

It looks to me like he spoke first to the elders, and then addressed the whole assembly of tribes, with the leaders positioned in front.  But it could go either way.  In any case, with no jumbo trons or public address systems, the upshot was that only the leaders heard him anyway, and repeated to their tribes what he said.  And the words of chapter 24 are clearly meant for the entire nation.

Joshua first reviews the history of Israel, speaking to them the words God had laid on him to speak (notice the first person pronouns in verses 2 - 13):

I took your father Abraham...and led him...and gave him many descendants
I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau.
I assigned Esau the hill country of Seir; Jacob and his sons went to Egypt.
I sent Moses and Aaron
I afflicted the Egyptians
You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians
I brought you to the land of the Amorites...I gave them into your hands.
I destroyed them before you.
I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again.
I delivered you out of his hand.
I gave [the citizens of Jericho, the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Gigashites, Hivites and Jebusites] into your hands.
I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you.
I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant. 

God did all of that.  ALL of that.  After reminding the people of all that God did, and that they are where they are solely because of what God did, Joshua gives them a challenge that is still ringing in our ears today.

"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness.  Throw away the gods your forefathers worship beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."  (24:15)

The people, of course, responded,

'Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods!...We too will serve the LORD, because He is our God.'  (24:16, 18a)

Joshua, however, knew the fickleness of his people, and warned them,

'If you forsake the LORD and serve foreigh gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.'

And the people declared again...and again...that they would serve the Lord.

Joshua then recorded all the decrees and laws, and had a large stone set near the Tabernacle at Shechem.  The stone, he stated, was to be a witness.

'This stone will be a witness against us.  It has heard all the words the LORD has said to us.  It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God." (v. 27).

Then the people were dismissed to go to their designated inheritance.

There is an epilogue of sorts, recording the death and burial of Joshua (at age 110), the burial of Joseph's embalmed body, as he had requested (Gen. 50:25), and the death and burial of Aaron's son Eleazar.

There is also a little declaration in verse 31:

Israel served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the LORD had done for Israel.

The first two chapters of Judges overlap the narrative in Joshua somewhat and reiterates that the people who were there that day served the Lord.  The later generations, however...well, their story is related in the rest of the book of Judges, dismal as it is.

Because, of course, we are notoriously bad at remembering what God has done for us. And we humans  have a history, down through the ages, of disregarding the lessons and wisdom of our elders.  Even as individuals, we tend to forget the awe of standing in the moment and seeing God move as we go about the normal tasks of everyday life.  We forget that the freedom and ability to actually go about those tasks...and not be hiding from marauders or scraping for food or trying to find a place to shelter for the night or dealing with disease or any of the hundreds of other things that would disrupt life to the point of just trying to survive...is one of God's richest blessings.  That was the covenant:  God said to serve Him alone as God, from a heart devoted to Him, and He would keep away the wild animals and the invading armies and the devouring locusts and all the other hazards.  It sounds so simple.

But it requires being different than the people who do not serve God.  Not obnoxious about it, but different.  They serve different gods.. they have different priorities...and, remember, those pagan societies killed their own children as sacrifices to their gods.  Serve the LORD, Moses said, So that you and your children might live.

So ultimately the book of Joshua reminds us that God is the one who fights our battles, if we serve Him, and every one of us has a choice to make.  Will we obey the God who loves and cares for us...or will we be like those around us?   There's nothing magical about crossing the Jordan to the Promised Land; once arrived there, it takes an intentional choice to live by God's heart.  It's easy to think we can handle it on our own;  living in a house we didn't build and eating food we didn't plant, but the truth is...we have to continue to choose to serve the LORD.