Ever Talked to God in Public?

The above clip showing the prank of a lady acting like she is talking to herself and then asking people to take a polaroid picture of her and her "invisible" friend, after previously putting in a picture of someone posing with her, is one that has given lots of people laughs. The look on their faces after seeing a picture of an actual person posing with her when they thought they were just humoring a crazy lady is, as they say, priceless.

Have you ever been caught though talking to God in public? I wonder how many people would think us crazy as we pray and talk to God as we go about our grocery shopping, our work, our errands?

Probably most.

But the picture is real. Unlike the prank, we are talking to a real Being.

God says, "I will never leave you or foresake you."

He is "the Alpha and Omega."

Next time someone asks, "Are you talking to yourself?"

Offer them a snapshot of God, won't you? It is a picture worth a thousand words in their eternity.

For His Glory,
Gretchen

The Butterfly Season!

Amazing picture, isn't it? I am glad I found it because it closely resembles a memory I have carried since I was 14.

That memory came back as I biked a section of the Katy Trail with my daughter the other morning.

On the hot, dusty path we were grateful for the arching tunnel of trees and bushes. The sounds and smells of a dieing summer wrapped around us as we peddled. My daughter did not notice it, but I did.

As we rode beside swamps and the Missouri River, the tree frogs continuoulsy serenaded us. Every once and awhile a brown and even a red leaf would float down on the trail signaling the impending fall yet to come. Browns and yellows were rapidly replacing lush greens of June. Even the humid air had the musty smell of decaying leaves and grass.

With the colors of August replacing those of summer, the butterflies along the trail stood out even more. Large yellow, orange, and black and deep purple wings flew up around us.

And I remembered....

I was 14. My mom and dad had an old pontoon boat they used to take the family out on Crab Orchard Lake. There was one inlet they especially enjoyed.

In the quiet cove away from speed boats and skiiers, they could bank the boat and walk into the cool shade of tall pine trees. I can still smell the scent of those pine trees and feel the soft mattress of the cushion their needles made on the forest floor.

After school started, our last excursion of the year occurred Labor Day weekend. It was time to say good-bye to our swimming hole, our water skiing, and our pontoon boat cruises around the small lake.

Mom and Dad's little boat sputtered across Crab Orchard Lake. The tree frogs' songs echoed across the smooth, glassy surface. Green banks were turning yellow, and even the birds' silenced songs seemed to signal their resignation to the impending winter days to come.

Then we saw it. As Dad started to bank the pontoons onto the small, sandy beach, we gasped as we saw hundreds of monarch butterflies swimming through the air of the forest.

My mother, giggling with glee, jumped out of the boat,swam to the beach, and stood with her arms outstretched.

Monarchs with their deep orange-and-black-etched wings flew to still-wet skin as though she were a giant flower. They landed on her arms and head as she smiled soaking up the rare moment.

I will never forget that sight.

It was magical.

And it all came back as my daughter and I peddled along the dusty road of the Katy Trail on a hot summer day.

I returned home still pondering over that image and had to look up information about the Monarch. I always knew, as do you, about the Monarch's migration.

I did not know, however, that the Monarchs who migrated were the FOURTH GENERATION of butterflies during the year. The Monarchs who hatch during the spring and early summer months are the first, second, and third generations and only survive a few weeks. It is the fourth generation that survives the migration and lives for up to eight months.

I thought about my parents and the generations to come. My parents' generation was an amazing one. That generation survived the Great Depression and World War II. They were the CAN DO generation.

My generation, on the other hand, had peace marches, Vietnam War, birth control pills, burning bras, and drugs. Yes, my generation did do good deeds as well, yet some how I have always felt we were a spoiled lot. We have whined and griped all too often over petty things.

And I have been part of that. It is thanks to the generations before us who have fought, worked hard, and had the spirit of CAN DO, that my generation has done so well.

I wonder. What has my generation passed on for the next one? What am I leaving for my own daughter and her children?

Will the path of my life help my daughter's migration toward heaven? Will her path and images be filled with God's beauty and faith in Him?

We studied this morning the life of David. When David came close to his own death, he did not focus for his last words on all he had accomplished. He did not pray to God thanks for the sword of Goliath hanging in his palace nor for the trophies during his reign from conquering his foes. No, he thanked God for using him in writing about and singing about God's glory (Second Samuel). All that mattered in the end, was what David did for God.

All that matters for us as we migrate toward heaven is what we allow God to do through us.

May your migration be one of beauty...

For His Glory,
Gretchen

No Grandchildren?

Yesterday at Starbucks, I ran into a woman I had not seen for over 15 years. How she recognized me with my now bleached blond hair to cover the gray, sagging skin, and aging face, I will never know, but she did.

As we talked, she shared with me that she now has 11 grandchidren!

ELEVEN! We are close to the same age. I introduced her to my 10-year old daughter.

As I drove home, I started trying to calculate if I will be alive long enough to see my daughter's chidren. I asked God to let me have that joy of seeing them if it is His will. I know my own mother had a profound impact on my daughter in my mother's last year and a half of life. Even with Parkinson's and in her late 80's, my mother could make my adopted daughter feel special as they played dominoes and joked.

I have no doubt that had my mother been healthy she would have enjoyed spoiling my daughter immensely.

Then I heard something a bit startling to me on Family Christian Radio.

There are no grandchildren with God.

I had just never thought of it that way before, had you?

God has no grandchildren. He does not get the relief of handing one of us younger, weaker, less mature Christians over to someone else when tired of watching over us. He does not get to spoil us and let someone else worry about the repercussions of doing so.

Once we commit to His sovereignty and submit to His Lordship in our lives, we are His.

Period.

A huge commitment on His part. To love so many as first-born and never to see us as grandchidren or great-grandchildren or great-great--

We are His.

Directly in line to His grace, love, mercy...and all that goes with Him.

For His Glory,
Gretchen

A Safe Port (al)

She was nervous.

-Yet she wanted to let her husband know how much she appreciated the thought behind his gift.

The gift of a massage after a year of battling liver cancer sounded like a great idea after all.

A spa weekend getaway after all she had been through was wonderful.

But...

She still had the portal in her for the chemo-radiation treatments. Surgery would come next month to remove it. After a tormenting visit to the doctor to try to remove it as out-patient, the doctor informed her the scar tissue would not let the portal budge and surgery was required.

She was nervous. Would the masseuse react with disgust at the portal? Would she be able to administer the massage with the portal?

She was torn.

Not wanting to upset the massuese...

Not wanting to disappoint her husband who had bought this special spa package for her...

So she prayed.

Going into the spa, she anxiously explain her situation.

Smiling the massuese said she understood completely and...

showed her that she, too, had her own portal for cancer treatments!

Isn't that just like God?

He sends the right person at the right time when we need that special encouragement to know He cares and is with us.

What are the chances, the odds that a cancer patient with a portal would travel to the mountains for a spa treatment and have a massuese who also was going through cancer with a portal?

Needless to say, the massage made her feel special. With her body's strength returning, my sister-in-law, Tabby, relaxed as never before, knowing once again, she is constantly in God's hands.

Share this, won't you? Someone may need to know God is with her/him even in small things; He understands how we feel, and oh, how He loves us! He is our safe port in our daily struggles.

For His Glory,
Gretchen

Galaga and Pac Man!

What a fun memory!

Friday night, my family decided to splurge our diet and funds on pizza at a small, family-run joint near our home.

Entering the small restaurant, I noted the plastic-covered-red-check tablecloths complete with silver napkin holders. That was a bit nostalgic of our favorite college hangout, but it wasn't the grand surprise.

In the back, behind a sign posting "PLAY AT YOUR OWN RISK! NO REFUNDS! NO EXCEPTIONS!" was THE MACHINE.

Like kids opening our first Wii or IPOD or Nintendo DS, my husband and I dragged our daughter to the old-fashioned arcade machine of GALAGA.

As 23-year olds with very little money to spend on vacations, our summers were spent biking around our small town, walking to the local DQ (this was BEFORE malls and Wal-Mart and Target spread across small-town communities), and stopping by to get a BIG GULP from the local 7-11 or Hucks. Our town had no movie theatre and computers as well as video games were not for the average consumer.

In our local HUCKS store was a new fad spreading across the country. Instead of pinball, it was an arcade machine. Pac-Man and Galaga beckoned us. For a quarter, we could play for what seemed like hours as we slurped our large sodas.

I can still hear the "waah waah waaahhhhh wahhh" sound signaling the game was over and we had lost.

Seems like an odd way to pass the time, yet...

when we saw the machine glowing in the back of the pizza parlor, we quickly introduced the game to my daughter.

It was contagious. She could not get enough and $5.00 later, she was begging for more quarters.

No Wii game matched our fun that night, not even Just Dance or Wii Resort....

We just like battling the little fuzzy insect-like aliens, with their stun rays and all.

I realized how I had so easily introduced my daughter to something from my past. I had done so with enthusiasm even, and she was quickly caught up in it.

I wonder what other things from my past I have introduced to her so easily, without thinking?

Last night, as she came in to snuggle with me (she calls it "snuggle-buggle" as she holds her favorite stuffed toy, special blanket, and curls inside my arm while I read), I looked at her peaceful face. While she slept, I thanked God for allowing her to be in my life once more, and I vowed to be a better Mother, one worthy of such an amazing gift of life next to me.

I knew as I prayed that I would never deserve this gift. It was pure grace that brought us together: her, from China, needing parents; I, from Missouri, needing a daughter. God's grace....

-And I did reflect on what "things" I have so easily introduced to her, shared with her, that will be passed on to her own children some day.

Some are good, I am sure.
Love of God.
Love for His Word.
Reliance on God.
Need for Christian fellowship/friends.
Love of reading, math, education...

Some are not so good, I am sure.
Panic when things go wrong, like losing my credit card, cell phone, keys for the upteenth time.
Having home repairs that take away vacation monies and griping about it...
Battling depression....

I pray God will help my precious gift to remember the good things, and seek His will.
I pray God helps her overcome the bad influence I have had as well.

What about you? What "things" have you passed on so easily to your friends, your children, your loved ones, your neighbors?

Join me in being a bit more aware today of that influence and how easily we share our likes and loves, good and bad, with those around us.

In the meantime, my daughter just bought a used version of Galaga Remix for the Wii and is playing it now. It is fun to listen to her responses as the "wahh, waahhh, wa wa" signals the game's end.

For His Glory,
Gretchen

Change is Inevitable, Except from Vending Machines! Paraprosdokians...

Today's tidbit comes from my husband who forwarded the following to me because he knew I needed a smile.

PARAPROSDOKIANS … unusual wisdom
I had to look up "paraprosdokian". Here is the definition:
"Figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently used in a humorous situation."
"Where there's a will, I want to be in it!" is a type of paraprosdokian.

1. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on my list.

2. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

3. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.

4. We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

5. War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

6. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

7. Evening news is where they begin with 'Good Evening,' and then proceed to tell you why it isn't.

8. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

9. A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

10. I thought I wanted a career. Turns out I just wanted paychecks.

11. Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says, 'In case of emergency, notify:' I put 'DOCTOR.'

12. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

13. Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

14. A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.

15. I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness. Do not use this one!

I hope these Paraprosdokians gave you a smile today. I know I needed one. For some odd reason, the last two weeks in July are my toughest part of the year. It seems to be a very unpleasant INBETWEEN part of the summer season. MidWest humidity builds; heat rises; grass turns brown; watering plants seems futile; pool water reaches 90; and finding ways to entertain my 10-year old increases in its challenge.

Today, though, I was lifted up not only by the paraprosdokians sent me but by reading the last chapter of Revelation.

Spoiler Alert! If you always wondered how the earth would end (Some say with fire, some say ice for Robert Frost poem fans), Revelation spells it all out.

It is a happy ending. Evil is defeated. God rules. Believers live forever with Jesus.

There is a lot of hurt and drama before the end though, isn't there? Satan does not want to go down alone. He tempts, entices, then accuses us when we fall.

Jesus does just the opposite. He loves, asks, provides, and forgives.

It is really a form of a paraprosdokian, isn't it? It is not expected that a ruler, all-powerful, who gives so much still provides and loves us when we fail to meet expectaitons. It is not human nature.

Thank goodness, or thank God, though, it IS God's nature.

May your day be filled smiles as you rest in the knowledge that the ending of this world is unexpected for Satan, but known for us as believers.

Good wins. Evil fails.

For His Glory,
Gretchen

School Supplies: The Real Test is Finding What is on The Teachers' Lists!

Aaaaaaugh!

I just spend two hours in Target and Walmart searching for the dreaded school supplies from the teachers' lists!

Yes, it is already that time!

Can anyone tell me, though, why teachers (and yes, I was a former teacher, but thankfully never did this to parents) have things on their lists no one supplies?

Here are a few examples:
1) Five packets of 200-count wide-ruled paper.
They are only sold in packets of 150 count. College-ruled paper comes in counts of 200, of course.

2) Solid-color pocket folders in SPECIFIC colors.
Have you seen the 60's psychedelic covers? The 60's and 70's covers abound along with Hello Kitty, Monkey, ICarley....

3) Solid-color pocket folders with clips, three-holes- AND pockets in SPECIFIC COLORS!

4) 2-Subject notebooks.
They come in single subject, 3-subject, and 5 subject. Good luck finding a 2-subject notebook.

5) Red pens, ERASABLE ONLY.
Are you kidding me?

6) Red pens, non erasable.
OK I can relate to that one.

7) Pencil boxes: only 1" high and 2" wide, please.

8) Magazine holders no wider than 2.5 inches.

Need I say more?

...and the list continues.

It was humorous to watch me in the aisle cheering over each "found" item on the lists. Last year, I had waited until the second week in August to buy the supplies, and I ended up running from Office Max, Target, WalMart, Home Depot, Lowes, and raiding our home for anything resembling what was on the list. This year, I was determined to get there while supplies were plentiful.

I entered the SCHOOL SUPPLY section just as they were unboxing the wide-ruled paper.

I felt ecstatic thinking I was finding "treasures" I had missed out on last year for my daughter's first day of school. I would grab the required GREEN subject notebook, only to find when checking my list that it had to be a TWO-SUBJECT NOTEBOOK. Of course, no such thing existed at Target or WalMart. I settled for a yellowish, THREE-subject notebook hoping it would suffice.

I have sorted and labeled according to directions and have both of my daughters ready for 4th and 6th grade (other than the new shoes and clothes, of course).

I feel I passed some kind of annual rite of passage as a parent. Did I follow the directions so my daughter would not be embarrassed? Did I get the 160 count Kleenex box and not the 130-count supply required? Did I get the 32-count color pencils, self-sharpening crayons, super-glue-stick, enough pencil erasers, right-shaped backpack that is not too flashy but not too plain and heaven-forbid, not too "childish" as well?

And I have to tell you, part of me resented standing in the store aisle, sweating over this list of "required" supplies for school. I just don't like being told not only do I have to buy this stuff, but WHAT COLOR, SIZE, SHAPE, and STYLE to buy.

I know; it is silly to feel that way.

Then I return home to my Bible study time. As I near the end of my summer goal in studying Revelation, I read with joy chapter 20.

The Millineum! 1000 years of God's rule on earth.

I am surprised though that at the end of this chapter, Satan is allowed to be free one last time.

More surprising, people actually FOLLOW SATAN after experiencing God's rule of peace on earth! People actually join up with Satan to fight God.

I remember something my Dad told me. He told me, as people who are used to democracy, we need to prepare for serving under a KING when we are finally with God. God will RULE. He will not take a vote on what to do about Satan or evil. He already has HIS plan.

The difference, of course, is that God will rule out of love and care for what is best for us, unlike earthly kings and rulers.

Yet, it will be, as my Dad said, RULING. God will be IN CHARGE. In fact, He has been in charge all along. His plan has been played out throughout the centuries, not man's.

I guess not everyone can take that reality: being told what to do even when it is good for you. We like to be in control, or at least think we are.

So I guess during that 1000 years of no war, no terrible diseases, there will be people who resent being told how things are going to be. They resist anything on God's list, and then they will rebel, revealing their true hearts and attitudes.

When the Millineum is over and Satan is bound forever, no more to tempt, lie, murder, accuse, then we receive a new earth.

The book of judgment is open, and rewards are given. Those of us who believe in Jesus have the joy of living with Him forever. Those who believe and have served Him so well, sacrificing all, receive even greater rewards on top of eternal life with Him.

That part of Revelation has made me check my own list once more. It is not a school supply list this time. It is a spiritual list.

What have I done for Jesus lately?

Not so I can gain reward, but so I can show Him my thanks.

I find I come up short on that list.

It is time to get busy.

Join me, won't you?

For His Glory,
Gretchen