I consider that I am very blessed to have had some remarkable pastors during my Christian walk. Most of these guys use metaphors and stories from their own experience, and since Jesus was very big on such metaphors, it seems appropriate.
The pastor who teaches me now, is my dear friend, Steve. Steve loves to surf. He came here almost thirty years ago to do just that. So, lots of his metaphors and examples have a slightly surfy tone. He uses "Gnarly" and "outa control" to describe our daily trials. The senior pastor of the church we called home back in San Diego used to play football, so most of his stories have gridiron flavor. He used to challenge his congregation to be "football Christians" and not "basketball Christians". His explanation was that while basketball players need some time off for an injury such as a twisted ankle or an eyelash in their eye, football player will keep on battling while their arm is dangling by a mere thread of a tendon and their head is bouncing down the field - still inside the helmet, of course. His rather biased point? We can't give up or call a time out simply because the battle got tough. We have to play hurt.
Well, Pastor Miles, I'll see your football Christians, and Steve, your tumble-in-a-wave Christians, and raise you both some soccer Christians! I'm not talking your local AYSO adorable little keiki soccer, but the big-time, world class folks who run around a ginormous field for 80 minute halves - and if there is a time out for any reason, that time is tacked on to the end of the regulation period! Just because there is going to be soccer played during the required amount of time!! Good grief!! But these men and women are legit. They don't stop, and they keep running up and down chasing after the ball, hitting it off of every part of their body expect their hands (they hit it with their HEAD!!!), while colliding with all the other players who are running after the ball. They just keep going - kind of like if the Energizer Bunny were into MMA.
I want to be a soccer Christian. I want to keep on going despite being beaten-up and bouncing things off my head and feeling like I just can't go on. I want to be like that.
A year ago, Don and I were finishing the last of our packing, taking the last walk down to the beach (at 2 a.m.), and taking the last drive to the airport. We were in the most brutal game we had ever experienced and we just wanted to quit - but God is so faithful and would not let us. After five months, the Lord brought us back home and it felt like the game was finally going to ease up - but it was only halftime. We're still getting knocked around a bit, but God is still the same faithful Father who protected us from every harmful thing - but not every painful thing. At times when we are too tired to go on, God refreshes us through His Word, and through those around us who love Him - and us. When we get discouraged because we are not achieving the goals we wanted, we remember that few players actually get the ball in the net.
Yes, I want to be a soccer Christian. I want to battle and fight and keep going, even if I am bloodied and bruised. Because, just like all soccer games, eventually the game does end...and Jesus will take us home...
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
A Good Life
Have you ever noticed how when someone says "I have no excuse", it is often followed by "but" and then an entire litany of words that sound suspiciously like excuses. Well, I have gotten waaaay behind in my writing. No excuses. But...
It has been crazy busy around here, trying to get in a rhythm, finding room for our things, and preparing for the most exciting event since our return in September. I also spent much of the month of February sick/recovering for being sick. hmmmmm.... what else can I think of...?? At any rate, I have been very neglectful of my loyal reader.
Where were we when I interrupted myself with laziness and excuses...??? Oh, yeah - we had just gotten our master bed built, but we were still trying to squeeze in here. Our unit is actually pretty cute, but in many ways, it is like Main Street, USA in Disneyland. Did you know that Main Street buildings are about 3/4 scale!?!? That is supposed to make it more accessible for little ones, and way higher on the "awww!" scale. The same is apparently true of our home. I discovered this while trying to put our dishes and pots and pans and potholders and placemats and food into a kitchen that at first blush seems to be quite spacious, but closer examination reveals more of the dollhouse effect. Eventually, we got things in, but it isn't exactly efficient when it comes to that whole kitchen triangle thing. It works, though, and it is a place to cook food.
Eating said food is even cozier. In our place in Ka'anapali, we had a large round glass table top, courtesy of our landlords, which made the table seat 6-7 quite comfortably. Since they wanted to keep it when we moved out (sheesh!), we then just had our round table which seats 4 people comfortably - 5 if you don't mind having someone's elbows in your plate-to-mouth line. We also have a couple of bar chairs that fir perfectly at the kitchen island. This, however, puts the back of one of the bar chairs right up against the back of one of the dining chairs -when they are both pulled in as far as they will go up to their assigned surface. But, we manage quite nicely - unless we have more than two people over for dinner. In our little dining area we also have our china cabinet - which is actually a very, very cool teak linen cabinet - and our bamboo bundle base/pumice top side table. Next to that, in the corner, is our tea light candle screen. Over the bamboo table hangs our redwood branch. copper verdigris cup fountain. In the adjacent corner is our iron votive candle sconce. The effect, when looking at the whole scene in this 10'x8' space, is that of a boutique furniture store window where they cram in as many pieces and accessories as they can. No one in real life would have all this stuff in such a small space. ummmmm...yes, they would...
The one remaining issue for us, once we covered all available walls with art, was assembling our Ikea white iron bed, which has also traveled with us from San Diego. In our rush to get out of the Ka'anapali house, the hardware for this bed had also been set in something other than a box marked "Guest Bdrm". One of the great things about Ikea (and there are LOTS of things I love about Ikea - I miss that store more than a few people I know) is that they have kind of the same funky hardware for many designs, and they keep the same stock for many years. I think they discontinued our bed and hardware about 10 minutes before we discovered that we didn't have the odd assortment of strange nuts and bolts that are so very Ikea. Don began a few weeks (literally) of phone calls to Ikea and visits to our local hardware store to find something, anything that might fit the bill. He finally had success with one of the many polite Ikea folks with whom he'd been chatting, and they sent us the appropriate assortment of hardware. We thought. And they thought. We were both wrong. The very heavy package arrived full of all kinds of chrome treasures - none of them right. We were to the point where we were ready to McGyver this thing with toothpicks and zip-ties when we realized that there was still one unopened box with the ubiquitous "misc kitch uten" tag on the top. We were looking for a plastic bag with all the various nuts and bolts with the shapes and sizes that could only be Swedish, but there were no plastic bags at all - just a few random plastic contain- wait a minute.... EUREKA AND PRAISE THE LORD!!! So, we were finally in business to get our guest room finished...sorta....
You know how every kitchen in America has THAT drawer that catches everything from take-out menus to golf tees to matchbox cars?? The inimitable Junk Drawer - or the politically correct term: multi-tasking-accessory-under-counter-sliding- compartment. Anyway, our guest room had become the junk drawer of this place, sacrificing itself so the remainder of our home could look tidy. We had stacks of photos (I mean many and large stacks) from my mom's prolific collection, random vases and decor looking for a home, and about 27,000 hangers left over from my clothes purging (never, EVER get rid of a good hanger!!). Add to this, all the dismembered bed parts, including iron headboard, footboard, crosspieces and braces, mattress and boxspring. Since we had put Don's chest of drawers, another 3-drawers chest, and a television on a tv stand, we had to either move them or move around them. We chose the latter, since moving all the other extraneous things from the black hole into our previously cute-and-tidy living room had not only worn us out, but had taken all available space.
Fast forward to a completed bed, replete with all the linens and pillows and all things Martha. I admired for a bit - and then we had to move all those things back into the space - but now I could put some things UNDER the bed. Still, it was done. Don's clothes and shoes are in that closet, along with all the grandkiddies' books and toys. I was now able to put all kinds of framed pictures, books, and eclectic decor on the high shelves already in the room. With the completion of this space, we finally began to breathe in the comfort of home.
A year ago, we were both in the darkest place, preparing numbly to go back to the mainland for what we prayed was only a few months - but in truth, we had no idea how long the Lord would keep us there. Now, we are here in a home that is just a bit larger than one-third the size of the home in San Diego that we moved from two-and-a-half years ago. Instead of birds and wind through the trees, we have cars on the highway behind us (RIGHT behind us) and cars in the parking lot in front of us. Our tubs are old and rusty. The carpet is not-so-nice. A couple of the lights only work if they are in the mood. But this is our home - a home God chose for us. This past Sunday was Easter, and as I sat with around six hundred other folks at our church service at Wahikuli Beach Park, I was so overwhelmed by the joy of this day of perfect reconciliation, enhanced by the knowledge that this merciful God had returned us to this beautiful island home.
Don and I have a very different life than the one we enjoyed for many years. We can't go golfing on a whim, and eating out has returned to being the luxury it once was, and always should have been. We share my rather disheveled blue jeep wrangler. But we look around and remember how faithful and true and generous our Heavenly Father has been and always will be.
Yes...it is a very good life...
It has been crazy busy around here, trying to get in a rhythm, finding room for our things, and preparing for the most exciting event since our return in September. I also spent much of the month of February sick/recovering for being sick. hmmmmm.... what else can I think of...?? At any rate, I have been very neglectful of my loyal reader.
Where were we when I interrupted myself with laziness and excuses...??? Oh, yeah - we had just gotten our master bed built, but we were still trying to squeeze in here. Our unit is actually pretty cute, but in many ways, it is like Main Street, USA in Disneyland. Did you know that Main Street buildings are about 3/4 scale!?!? That is supposed to make it more accessible for little ones, and way higher on the "awww!" scale. The same is apparently true of our home. I discovered this while trying to put our dishes and pots and pans and potholders and placemats and food into a kitchen that at first blush seems to be quite spacious, but closer examination reveals more of the dollhouse effect. Eventually, we got things in, but it isn't exactly efficient when it comes to that whole kitchen triangle thing. It works, though, and it is a place to cook food.
Eating said food is even cozier. In our place in Ka'anapali, we had a large round glass table top, courtesy of our landlords, which made the table seat 6-7 quite comfortably. Since they wanted to keep it when we moved out (sheesh!), we then just had our round table which seats 4 people comfortably - 5 if you don't mind having someone's elbows in your plate-to-mouth line. We also have a couple of bar chairs that fir perfectly at the kitchen island. This, however, puts the back of one of the bar chairs right up against the back of one of the dining chairs -when they are both pulled in as far as they will go up to their assigned surface. But, we manage quite nicely - unless we have more than two people over for dinner. In our little dining area we also have our china cabinet - which is actually a very, very cool teak linen cabinet - and our bamboo bundle base/pumice top side table. Next to that, in the corner, is our tea light candle screen. Over the bamboo table hangs our redwood branch. copper verdigris cup fountain. In the adjacent corner is our iron votive candle sconce. The effect, when looking at the whole scene in this 10'x8' space, is that of a boutique furniture store window where they cram in as many pieces and accessories as they can. No one in real life would have all this stuff in such a small space. ummmmm...yes, they would...
The one remaining issue for us, once we covered all available walls with art, was assembling our Ikea white iron bed, which has also traveled with us from San Diego. In our rush to get out of the Ka'anapali house, the hardware for this bed had also been set in something other than a box marked "Guest Bdrm". One of the great things about Ikea (and there are LOTS of things I love about Ikea - I miss that store more than a few people I know) is that they have kind of the same funky hardware for many designs, and they keep the same stock for many years. I think they discontinued our bed and hardware about 10 minutes before we discovered that we didn't have the odd assortment of strange nuts and bolts that are so very Ikea. Don began a few weeks (literally) of phone calls to Ikea and visits to our local hardware store to find something, anything that might fit the bill. He finally had success with one of the many polite Ikea folks with whom he'd been chatting, and they sent us the appropriate assortment of hardware. We thought. And they thought. We were both wrong. The very heavy package arrived full of all kinds of chrome treasures - none of them right. We were to the point where we were ready to McGyver this thing with toothpicks and zip-ties when we realized that there was still one unopened box with the ubiquitous "misc kitch uten" tag on the top. We were looking for a plastic bag with all the various nuts and bolts with the shapes and sizes that could only be Swedish, but there were no plastic bags at all - just a few random plastic contain- wait a minute.... EUREKA AND PRAISE THE LORD!!! So, we were finally in business to get our guest room finished...sorta....
You know how every kitchen in America has THAT drawer that catches everything from take-out menus to golf tees to matchbox cars?? The inimitable Junk Drawer - or the politically correct term: multi-tasking-accessory-under-counter-sliding- compartment. Anyway, our guest room had become the junk drawer of this place, sacrificing itself so the remainder of our home could look tidy. We had stacks of photos (I mean many and large stacks) from my mom's prolific collection, random vases and decor looking for a home, and about 27,000 hangers left over from my clothes purging (never, EVER get rid of a good hanger!!). Add to this, all the dismembered bed parts, including iron headboard, footboard, crosspieces and braces, mattress and boxspring. Since we had put Don's chest of drawers, another 3-drawers chest, and a television on a tv stand, we had to either move them or move around them. We chose the latter, since moving all the other extraneous things from the black hole into our previously cute-and-tidy living room had not only worn us out, but had taken all available space.
Fast forward to a completed bed, replete with all the linens and pillows and all things Martha. I admired for a bit - and then we had to move all those things back into the space - but now I could put some things UNDER the bed. Still, it was done. Don's clothes and shoes are in that closet, along with all the grandkiddies' books and toys. I was now able to put all kinds of framed pictures, books, and eclectic decor on the high shelves already in the room. With the completion of this space, we finally began to breathe in the comfort of home.
A year ago, we were both in the darkest place, preparing numbly to go back to the mainland for what we prayed was only a few months - but in truth, we had no idea how long the Lord would keep us there. Now, we are here in a home that is just a bit larger than one-third the size of the home in San Diego that we moved from two-and-a-half years ago. Instead of birds and wind through the trees, we have cars on the highway behind us (RIGHT behind us) and cars in the parking lot in front of us. Our tubs are old and rusty. The carpet is not-so-nice. A couple of the lights only work if they are in the mood. But this is our home - a home God chose for us. This past Sunday was Easter, and as I sat with around six hundred other folks at our church service at Wahikuli Beach Park, I was so overwhelmed by the joy of this day of perfect reconciliation, enhanced by the knowledge that this merciful God had returned us to this beautiful island home.
Don and I have a very different life than the one we enjoyed for many years. We can't go golfing on a whim, and eating out has returned to being the luxury it once was, and always should have been. We share my rather disheveled blue jeep wrangler. But we look around and remember how faithful and true and generous our Heavenly Father has been and always will be.
Yes...it is a very good life...
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