Welcome


Thanks for stopping by, whether you got here by a link or hitting "next blog" -- I am glad you are here. I've also done some writing on homeschooling, and what I learned thinking I was teaching.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Waiting on a Summer's Day

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Yesterday was that summer day that artists see and composers hear. It would have inspired Monet or Van Goh or Vivaldi!

We are on a waiting mission with our daughter as she and her family prepare to welcome a new baby who is not ready to join her siblings.  Whenever she arrives, she will be a welcomed new dynamic in her family – whether as daughter, sister, grandchild, cousin or niece.

We go about the daily duties – but there is in my heart a hushed anticipation – similar to how the prospect of Christmas morning still thrills me – a gift is being given to me, wholly one of grace. (Psalm 113)



·      It's such a grand thing to be a mother of a mother - that's why the world calls her grandmother.  ~Author Unknown

·      One of the most powerful handclasps is that of a new grandbaby around the finger of a grandfather.  ~Joy Hargrove

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Risky Walks


Nik Wallenda crosses a tightrope over the Little Colorado River Gorge Sunday evening.
AP PHOTO RICK BOWMER
Nik Wallenda walked across the Grand Canyon – well, not really. He walked across the Colorado River. But that in itself was an amazing feat.  As was his explanation for taking such a risk:  

No, I don’t believe that God’s invisible hand is holding me up on the wire,” he wrote. “But yes, I do believe that I am strengthened by the steadiness of my faith. I do believe in a God whose steady love is unshakeable and eternal. That belief allows me to get beyond my apprehensions and ignore what otherwise might feel like my limitations.” (Article)

This got me thinking about better and worse ways to magnify God. I did not watch this event -- I am having enough trouble trying to live out my faith with both feet planted firmly on the ground – in a world cold to Christ Jesus and His word. I wanted him to stop this stunt because human life is a terrible thing to waste, especially when he is a father with children. To see a Christian deliberately risk his life in such an endeavor boggles my mind, when so many people lose theirs just going about their daily lives. Christians in hotspots around the world are getting beyond their apprehensions and ignoring what otherwise might feel like limitations just by walking out their front door!  

I am glad Mr. Wallenda did not harm himself. However, walking in Christ’s footsteps is not like walking across a two-inch wire with no tether – although living in this world may feel like it.   

I am currently reading about the effects of another man’s walk that will never get the coverage that Mr. Wallenda did. Pastor Ken Smith, from the Syracuse Reformed Church, wrote a kind and inquiring letter to an English professor, whose criticism of Promise Keepers in a local newspaper garnered all kinds of feedback.  He took a risk, gently and quietly, and he engaged a woman’s mind and heart with courageous diplomacy.
The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert
Pastor Smith and his wife offered friendship to a self-proclaimed radical feminist lesbian and so opened a window so that she might see God’s steady and unshakable love.  They took quite a risk! But, Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, in The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert describes the reward. She showed me a better way to walk in uncertain times – and I commend this book to those who wonder how relevant the Gospel is in today’s world, and how personal and persistent God is.   Her book reminds me that kindness, respect, and offering a cup of cold water are not beyond my capability.  Practicing them is a good way to stay steady in uncertain times. (Isaiah 33:6)