Ruminations on Advent

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Contrary to my intentions, I'm not doing an Advent series this year ....there are several reasons why I just couldn't get it done this trip around the sun.  I've done what I consider to be some pretty good ones in years past...they're linked up on the sidebar if you're feeling in need of some Advent tradition.  I'm kinda reading through them again myself, because, well, I need to read them again.

But I did have a thought hit me this morning as I pondered on how we, as a society, have pretty much given up Advent as a distinct season.  Oh, I know, there are still some liturgical leaning churches who do the Advent liturgy and such, but ask any passing Joe on the street what holiday season we're in and they're most likely to say 'Christmas'.  Unless, of course, they're Jewish and say 'Hannukah'.

I think it's kind of interesting that both Advent and Hannukah use candles to mark the time.  Not that that actually has anything to do with what I've been pondering, but it is a nice little side note.

No, what hit me this morning has to do with the eschatological  nature of Advent...that we are not just looking for the birth of the baby but the return of the King.  We use the approaching celebration of His birth to also prepare for the day when he comes again.

And suddenly, I wondered...have we as a culture given up the observation of Advent precisely because we can't tolerate the idea of that return?  That it's ok to focus on Christmas and the sweet baby but...thinking about the King returning is...well, too much?   That the season of preparation is much easier to handle if it's not so much for the returning King but the return of Santa Claus?

Because we would, like, have to live as though what we did matters.   Not just the kids, who are hoping to be on the nice list, but the adults. The Scripture has a repeating theme about servants called in to give an account of how they conducted the king's business in his absence.

Oh, I know, I'm probably overthinking the whole thing, but...maybe...we each do need to consider what account  he or she will present on that day.  With no self-deception to hide behind, none of us will be able to claim we didn't know the truth we were shown.

O Come, Thou Wisdom from on high
And order all things far and nigh
To us the path of knowledge show
And cause us in her ways to go.   ("Oh Come, Oh, Come Emmanuel, verse 3)

And he that testifies to these things  says, "Surely, I am coming soon."  Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus! - Rev. 22:20, ESV.

Is [Fill in the Blank] Sin?

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Ok, I know it wasn't an apple.  Work with me.

 My social media feeds are abuzz with controversy.  Who decides what's sinful and what isn't?  How can anyone possibly expect another human being to pronounce, 'Yes, [whatever] is sinful.'  It doesn't matter how many Bible verses spell out the certainty that [whatever] is clearly offensive to God and specifically named as not to be practiced by God's people, the public reaction is that '[Christian person] has declared that [whatever] is sinful!  How narrow minded and judgemental [Christian person] is!   Why, I know many people who [whatever] and they are fine, loving people!  Obviously, God won't condemn someone just because they [whatever]!'  On the other hand, if [Christian person] values relationship with folks who do [whatever] and wants to maintain that relationship with the possibility of having a positive influence on them and hedges around the question, the 'Christian public' responds just as negatively.  '[Christian person] missed a chance to Speak Up for Truth!  How could anyone who claims to be a Christian not know that [whatever] is clearly offensive to God! (lists Bible verses)'

To quote Admiral Ackbar, 'It's a trap!'

Stop expecting other people to make God-like pronouncements.  They are going to fail. Period.

Somebody could have asked Eve, 'Is it wrong to eat fruit?'

Oh, wait, someone did.  

And the answer, of course, was, 'No, it's not wrong to eat fruit. But it is wrong to eat  that fruit.'

Why was it wrong to eat that fruit?  How was it different than other fruit, which could be enjoyed freely?

That fruit, my friends, was poisonous.  It was forbidden because it was deadly. Hazardous.  Harmful.

Oh, it wasn't presented that way, no no no.  There was an agenda that resulted in it being presented as appetizing, aromatic, desirable. As something that would allow the partaker to become fully who they were meant to be.  

Which implied that God was trying to keep them from being fully who they were meant to be.  

The soul-killing sinful decision is hidden there.  And it is, really, at the core, completely a different issue than 'Is [whatever] sinful?' as if the action/attitude/ lifestyle, etc were the crux of the issue.  No, the crux of the issue is this...Who has the authority to determine what is right and what is wrong?  

If God is the authority, then it doesn't matter what the fruit is, what it does, how it smells or looks or tastes or anything else.  He said 'No', so we leave it alone.

If the individual is the authority for him/herself, then forbidding one fruit out of the whole orchard doesn't make sense.  If we can eat that one and that one and that one, why not that one?  If I think it's good for me,  well, isn't it?  It's not fair! Why should anyone...even God...tell me what is best for me?

And that, dear reader, is what is sinful.  Setting myself above God in the 'who knows best'  category.   EVERYONE has a [whatever] in his/her life.  Some are more visible than others, but we all have them.  And we all falter at them...sin is ubiquitous.  The question is...do we embrace the [whatever] as our identity and then get mad at God when He says [whatever] will keep us eternally separated from Him...and even more angry at the folks around us who are trying to point out that [whatever] is not good?  Or do we renounce [whatever] and believe that God has a better plan, even if we don't know what it looks like?

In the end, it's not about what you do...it's about who you embrace as God and the results of that decision. 

Embracing God does mean that you will leave that fruit...the [whatever] in your life...alone.  Because He really does know what's best.

For further reading, I suggest the first 3 chapters of Genesis, the Gospel of John and the book of Romans.

A Little Time Away

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Craziest thing in the world...head out of town between Thanksgiving and Christmas for a little 'Down Time'.

But sometimes, well, you take it when you can get it.  Our 38th wedding anniversary was in August, and, well, that was an exceptionally busy month,  followed by more busy months... around the middle of November I looked at the calendar and looked at My Sweet Babboo and said, 'If we're going to get away, we're gonna have to do it the week after Thanksgiving.  The next break after that will be February."

So he got online and began looking to see what was available.  He found a cabin on Lake Chewalca, a state park about 4 hours south of us.     We didn't know anything at all about the park, but it said the cabin had a lake view and, being a state park, it was affordable.  So he booked it, and last Thursday we headed out of town, with a rather rainy forecast.  But that was ok.  I was just ready to do nothing.

We had phone reception, but no WIFI.  Which was just fine.

The cabin was built in the 1930's.  The whole park, from the building of the dam for the lake to the cabins and other buildings, was a CCC project.

As it turned out, our lake view looked straight across the lake to the dam...which is barely discernible  in the gap in the trees.  We did a bit of hiking before the rain moved in, and discovered that the dam was actually at the top of a pretty little gorge, just above where a grist mill had been in the late 1800's.  We clambered over way more rocks than I probably should have, given that I'm on PT for Achilles tendonitis, going up and down some pretty steep inclines.  But it was surprisingly picturesque.

The gorge continued to drop at least twice as much again...the sound of the water rushing over the rocks was lovely.

We hung out in the cabin whilst it rained on Saturday.  It was, like, 70 degrees despite the rain, but the compressed fire logs add more ambiance than heat and we went through almost a whole box over the weekend.

Despite predictions of more rain, it was a gorgeous day on Sunday. After attending a church in the area pastored by some friends and having a lovely chat with them over lunch, we did a teeny bit more hiking, mostly to find evidence of how much the lake level had risen and dropped with Saturday's precip.  Looked to be about  6 - 8 inches...and it knocked a LOT of the color out of the trees.

Chewalca State Park is apparently a mountain bike racing venue;  there were  strange hazardous-looking features scattered throughout the trails, and I watched a couple of college guys go barreling down a trail that I couldn't have navigated on foot without a sturdy stick to help.  Amazing.

We really enjoyed our weekend and, despite some slight issues with the cabin, hope to go back sometime in the future.  When I'm not on walking restrictions for my ankles.

Now to shift focus to holiday happenings.  But at least I had a chance to destress and catch my breath a bit with my favorite guy.

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.