My Affect on the Weather

Mary Engelbreit 

Last week’s warm weather spurred me to switch out the warm duds with lighter weight apparel. Within 36 hours, the weather took toke note of the change, and temperatures plunged 20+ degrees – in fact, a freeze is forecast for points north of Dallas. It’s never my intention to bring cold weather back, yet seemingly without fail, when I fiddle about in the closets – the temperatures plummet or rise, depending on the season.

Am I a woman of influence or what?

Hardly.

The influence I wielded was not chilling the hopes of those longing for spring – but bringing order and comfort into my own life – and a visual reminder I still am the princess of quite a lot.

So, what am I doing today with so much?  First, remembering that the moments of this day though dressed in chilly gray are mine to spend – many folks do not have this freedom. Second, forbearance and compassion that I offer may be that cup of cold water somebody close to me needs. And third, what I have is only on loan.   

·      The time will come when winter will ask you what you were doing all summer. 

     ~Henry Clay

·      What is right is often forgotten by what is convenient.  

    ~Bodie Thoene, Warsaw Requiem

It’s Holy Week – a big celebration on the church calendar, remembering God’s unique gift.  It’s a good time to make the spiritual truth of new life concrete* – People close by and far away may need just a little help –along with cold water. Maybe it’s time to give: gently used clothing, household goods, children’s games, our time, or our time and money. 

Here a few links that might revive our passion for giving and our determination to manage our resources wisely:

·      WORLD VISION

·      Samaritan’s Purse  

·      The Salvation Army

*Energizing Our Easter Baskets

Winter Grace – Try Harder, OK?

The cold weather blew in the last night of the session – dropping the comfortable Texas temperatures to the low teens. Stepping out into the bracing breezes, I wondered about all that I had heard in the worship services – what am I supposed to do next?  Their theme was Deep into the Heart -- Wide into the World. Dr. Tim Keller and Fernando Ortega guided three worship services that addressed who we are – that is the church; how Christians integrate our faith and our work; and, what do our words look like in action.   (Link to the three sessions)

What I took away was, quit whining about how hard, scary, or unfair life is and make myself useful – be a part of the church, and lavish my time, talents, and resources on the poor.  The message to me, as part of the body of Christ, was: Give, not just to relieve the sufferings of the poor – but to empower them to rise above their circumstances. (Deuteronomy 4:5-8, 15:1-15) We have the position – a royal priesthood; the wherewithal – all kinds of jobs in which we may serve others while earning our keep; and we have a mandate that transcends Bible times.

Seriously?

Whew -- This is a tough message to hear in the times in which we live – my fear of running out of money, health, wisdom, or even time itself,  frequently sidelines me. That, and plain old, garden-variety selfishness. (Luke 12:15-21)

Dr. Keller wasn’t waging a new war on poverty. The church can’t change the world, Dr. Keller said, carefully; we will have the poor among us.  But, we can make disciples who can do some changing, and who will serve the poor, do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God.  (Micah 6:8) Our giving -- time, resources, love and prayers -- must be abundant, for who of us can say we pulled ourselves out of our problems by our bootstraps? 

Suddenly, Dr. Keller’s decidedly low-key confrontation of the self-absorption that can consume me, made me think of a question the pastor asked the previous Sunday. If my faith sounded forth as a song, how would my kids describe the song of my life? 

Hmmmmmm.  I am not sure astonishing generosity to the poor would be its title or refrain.   

Walking out into the cold, reflecting on what I have withheld more often than given, Bible passages, exhortations, gently unyielding, and music blew around my brain:    

  

Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? . . . Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands? (James 2, The Message)

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

I think I’ll take hold of the gift that time is – remembering I really can’t out give God. But I could sure try harder.  

This good day – it is a gift for me! Once more, Sing with me!

If rainclouds come, or cold winds blow –

You’re the one that goes before me,

                  and in my heart I know -- 

This good day, it is a gift from You;

The world is turning in its place because You made it to . . .

I lift my voice to sing a song of praise for this good day. *

*Fernando Ortega

ICE Storm – Dallas December 6, 2013

When I finished the painting --  my  first “commission” --  I wondered if  its subject matter might be prescient, given the weather forecasts. For, Dallas forecasts are not always reliable.  This time, though, the weather forecast was right!  Sleet and rain started falling early Thursday evening – resembling my modest painting. 

First Commission

So began another Texas weather adventure, from which I enjoy a reprieve as I write.

A chilly damp night seemed a perfect time to sample the chicken tomatillo tamales, and Whole Foods’ chili that I bought in anticipation of the possible coming cold weather. When its vestiges awoke me about 3:30 AM -- it was just in time to hear a piercing short “beep” erupt from the kitchen.

What in the world . . . oh no! The carbon monoxide alert! Quickly checking the gas connector to the fireplace, and then the stove – before it started shouting -- we then remembered it had a battery back up, and changed out the battery, amidst its yelps.  Could a power outage have drained it of life?

As we crawled back to bed, the lights went out, along with the furnace; finding flashlights took just enough time for the lights to recycle on and off – on, and once again all was dark, except for a weird green light we saw from the kitchen window that flashed across the sky—an exploding transformer. Quickly we headed to bed, adding a wool blanket for good measure – this could be a bummer!

Then, suddenly, Doug popped up from bed, suited up in hat, gloves, leather coat and shoes to venture out and turn off the automatic sprinkler, which was set to water next morning. Since, they predicted an accumulation of ice approximately .1 inches, we didn’t need to add to that!

We finally settled own, hoping with the morning sun, we might enjoy a reprieve.

Friday morning – no reprieve.

The cars were caked in ice, and our cedar tree was bent low, and rested on Doug’s car, limiting any chance of a quick getaway – as if driving any where would have been smart, given the thick ice coating on all the roads! 

The blessing of natural gas – a stove top and gas logs – kept us steady:  We boiled water for coffee; filing our thermos with life supporting caffeine, we assessed our options before a cheery fire. The well-charged smart phones filed in details the lifeless TV and radio could not. So, too, did the old transistor radio, I brought from Maryland. It might be a long day – and driving conditions meant having to decline kind invitations from family to bunk with them!

Reluctant to let food in the refrigerator go bad, I cooked up a few meals on our stove's gas burners, storing them in the back of my frozen car.  I just kept telling myself – keep cooking and don’t turn on the burners until you light that match!

I found several fat candles; their cheery light would seem brighter if the lights weren’t on by nightfall. And they did, because come nightfall the only lights were the neighbors’ across the street!    Odd, how power grids work . . .  

As the temperature outside the house fell from 30 to 18, the temperature inside fell too. We added more layers of clothing.  We ate dinner by the fire, eating fast, as the chilly air dissipated the stew’s warmth.  I have not done dishes as fast as I did that night, since I was kid! We played Scrabble by candlelight. That wasn’t as much fun as it sounds. (I won by five points, though.) 

By nine, there was not much else to do but hunker down in front of the fire, sleep and hope the power grid would operate soon. The power returned about 1:00 AM.  When the light and heat waked us, it surprised me – I didn’t know just how cold we had been!    

We are still in a deep freeze and housebound for the time being,but happy and warm. The prospect of more days of freezing weather has one bright spot, hopefully: those deadly West Nile mosquitoes that flourished in several recent mild winters will be gone. This adventure also is a prod, silencing any grumbling.  Some folks here may not get power on until Monday!

Get ready if you are in the path of this wintry blast!

And please remember: Some people have no home; much less, the hope of heat and light and extra layers of socks and sweaters – they and the people who serve them need our help.  

The best way to do ourselves good is to be doing good to others; the best way to gather is to scatter. ~ Thomas Brooks

 Dear brothers,  . . .

If you have a friend who is in need of food and clothing,  and you say to him, “Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat hearty,” and then don’t give him clothes or food, what good does that do?  . . . ~ James 2:14-26 (TLB)

A New Form of Slavery?

William Gilmore Simms was a well-respected and popular Southern author in the mid-to late 19^th century and one of many authors who wrote opposing Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. “[T]hese novels tended to feature a benign white patriarchal master and a pure wife, both of whom presided over child-like slaves in a benevolent extended-family-style plantation.”

Nobody today believes – or remembers -- Mr. Simms’ accounts, no matter how many accolades his contemporaries awarded him. Enslaving another human being is wrong – a word that barely conveys the immorality of the deed, whether perpetrated by the Africans, Portuguese, Spanish or English.

Reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin, nowadays is often disdained because Tom, who responds to his oppressors with charity and forbearance, is too passive.  (A criticism that suggests its author hasn’t really read the novel.) Unfortunately too few people today understand what Mrs. Stowe created: an accurate description of a “benign” white patriarch master, Arthur Shelby, who was willing to sell Uncle Tom down river to pay off his debts. And none of the lives of those enslaved were lives lived under benevolent care!

Slavery ruined people and families, black and white – even as valor, charity, and conscience refused to break under its yoke.  And Mrs. Stowe masterfully shoved its apologists’ noses in the stench from that “peculiar institution.” But, slavery and its wounds still remain a part of the American conscience to today.  

Our government is stumbling under another yoke – entitlements. Our [well-intentioned] programs entrap and make dependent their beneficiaries with just enough to get by, but never enough to become independent. And we have entrapped Americans from all races, classes; 53% of all Americans enjoy some type of government assistance.  We can’t live with the cost, and we [think we] can’t live without the services. 

Could we be enslaving a third and fourth generation of American citizens?    

We meant to be helpful, creating nets through which the most needy could not slip – but we have created a system that is as unfeeling and self-perpetuating as the 19^th century plantations.  We promise to care for the aged, infirm, unemployed, and the young -- all who will come into our welfare system through a variety doors – with borrowed money -- the way plantation owners borrowed to sustain their endeavors.   

Who wants to talk about debt, anyway?

Just as Mrs. Stowe knew that slavery could not care for people ripped from their homes, transported against their will, and brutalized; that eventually its masters would dispose of their chattel when pressed financially, our government is unable to honor all the promises it has made to Americans.  

So, it feels much like the times when Mr. Simms' novels were lauded for portraying a rosy picture of a noxious institution.  Arguing that our government (Ma’ser) means only help and kindness to its beneficiaries –  (we slaves )– ignores the reality there is not enough money to go around to care for our citizens and pay our debts.    

The bill will come due, and it is only a matter of time before one group or another gets sold down river to buy more time.

There was something so piquant and original in these elucidations of humanity, that Mr. Shelby could not help laughing in company. Perhaps you laugh too, dear reader; but you know humanity comes out in a variety of strange forms now-a-days, and there is no end to the odd things that humane people will say and do. (Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Chapter 1 )

(More on Harriet Beecher Stowe)

Closets, Contentment and Christmas

Warm, humid air and cloudy skies are the forecast. Having packed away my summers shirts, moved the long-sleeved tees to the forefront of the shelves, I am not surprised. The other extreme of weather always attends the bi-annual clothes closet exchange.  However, switching seasonal clothes remains a wise investment of time.

During the exchange, I inspect, sort and relinquish stuff that no longer serves its purpose: making m look presentable.   And the process reminds me I really am the princess of quite a lot! It reminds me to ask:

·      How many women today have no change of clothes or undergarments?

·      No toothbrush or fresh water or food for their children or husbands or brothers?

I don’t know all the things that taught the apostle Paul contentment in want or plenty – but cleaning out closets, and recognizing I not only have changes of clothes, I have clothes for more than one season is a great goad!  (Philippians 4:11-13 )

James said we have fights and quarrels because we do not ask God – and when we ask our motives are wrong.  ( James 4 )     I wonder if I am slow in giving because I have not asked God to show me how I can be generous, and shower me with a generous spirit and resources – not just money to make a difference. A wise steward is a generous one – more content to manage and share than acquire to squander. (1 Timothy 6:3-10)  

Some points to ponder, from The Quote Garden:

·      Gold can no more fill the spirit of a man, than grace his purse. A man may as well fill a bag with wisdom, as the soul with the world. -- Robert Bolton

·      A little is as much as a lot, if it is enough. --Steve Brown

·      Agur said, "Give me neither poverty nor riches"; and this will ever be the prayer of the wise. Our incomes should be like our shoes: if too small, they will gall and pinch us, but if too large, they will cause us to stumble and to trip. But wealth, after all, is a relative thing, since he that has little, and wants less, is richer than he that has much, but wants more. True contentment depends not upon what we have; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander. --Caleb C. Colton (An English Cleric)

·      It is so important not to waste what is precious by spending all one's time and emotion on fretting or complaining over what one does not have. Edith Schaeffer (Co-founder of L’Abri: Fellowship International) 

·      Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition. -- Jeremiah Burroughs

·      Contentment in every condition is a great art, a spiritual mystery. It is to be learned, and to be learned as a mystery.-- Jeremiah Burroughs

·      Next to faith this is the highest art -- to be content with the calling in which God has placed you. I have not learned it yet. -- Martin Luther

God bless the hands that serve the hurting and give in Christ’s name! Our deacons, and local ministries, food pantries and shelters – thank you! God bless those who serve the refugees. Christmas is coming up – and now might be the time to salt away some money to give Christ’s name? Here a few links that might revive  our passion for giving and our determination to manage our resources wisely:

WORLD VISION

Samaritan’s Purse  

The Salvation Army

Reform Their Entitlements – Not Mine.

 Let’s define first “entitlements” from the perspective of the law:

An entitlement is a guarantee of access to benefit based on established right or by legislation  . . . Typically, entitlements are laws based on concepts of principle("rights") which are themselves based in concepts of social equality or enfranchisement.

In a casual sense, the term "entitlement" refers to a notion or belief that one (or oneself) is deserving of some particular reward or benefit —if given without deeper legal or principled cause, the term is often given with pejorative connotation (e.g. a "sense of entitlement"). (Wikipedia)

My grandfather scoffed at the idea of Social Security, saying he had five children. He died in his bed at age seventy from lung cancer, suffering for a mercifully short time. 

My father greatly benefited from a retirement program for Federal workers, not Social Security, and from Medicare that paid for much of  the routine and special medical both he and my mother enjoyed.  Neither could have afforded the care with what they had saved.

I now have my Medicare card, and have been told that some of the docs I see do not accept Medicare.  Speculating on what I might need fixing in the home stretch of my life, and waking up [finally] to the ominous debt problems all the entitlements have generated, I know rights Congress promised me with these entitlements cannot be granted necessarily. 

Applicants for their Social Security disability benefits learn this truth everyday: The government takes an increasing amount of money from some of us, and will not necessarily help those who paid their taxes. 

Alas it appears our leaders are running out of other people’s money. (Margaret Thatcher’s comment on socialism’s propensity) They will address this crisis after Labor Day, after their taxpayer-funded vacations – an entitlement that they attach to their positions.  

Mrs. Thatcher foresaw our problems when she described her own nation’s difficulties thirty-three years age:

I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it. "I have a problem, I'll get a grant." "I'm homeless, the government must house me." They're casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation. - - Margaret Thatcher"Aids, Education and the Year 2000," Woman's Own, 3 October 1987,Page 10 (Emphasis added)

  

So, to my elected representatives: Please tell us the truth about how big our debt problem really is. And ask the American citizens what we are willing to sacrifice so we can clean up the mess you made.  

J.K. Rowling and Harriet Beecher Stowe

 

The final movie, drawn from the last in the Harry Potter series opened to startling numbers; it generated cash and crowds, and commentary that psychologists might need to help “muggles” (Non-wizards) come to terms with the ending of their childhood, which some have expressed over this last movie.  One fan said: "I love Harry Potter," she said. "It's been such a big part of my life. I don't know what I'll do without it." (source) Indeed on a recent Charlie Rose Show (PBS) a critic said the Harry Potter series “ . . . have become part of the canon of English literature – comparable to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. “

 

Really? 

I can spot some similarities – but which ones make Ms. Rowling’s series comparable to Mrs. Stowe’s serials?

Disclaimer: I haven’t read J.K. Rowling’s books; I have seen a few of the movies and enjoyed them thoroughly. I can’t say if or how Ms Rowling portrayed the hot topics convulsing our times, as Mrs. Stowe depicted slavery.  So, it’s my sense that the battles her heroes fight are against mythological evil  -- and are not an allegory of contemporary problems, even as the times in which Ms. Rowling wrote the series became dark. 

J.K. Rowling said her series, Harry Potter, is about death:

According to Rowling, a major theme in the series is death: "My books are largely about death. They open with the death of Harry's parents. There is Voldemort's obsession with conquering death and his quest for immortality at any price, the goal of anyone with magic. I so understand why Voldemort wants to conquer death. We're all frightened of it." (Wikipedia)

And she is reported to have said that she struggles with her Christian faith.

Mrs. Stowe wrote, wrestling with such topics as slavery and Calvinism, (The Minister’s Wooing).   And Mrs. Stowe struggled with her faith, especially when she lost two of her sons to premature deaths.  Mrs. Stowe created authentic characters who were men and women crippled by real-life horrors.  Mrs. Stowe showed a way through the horror that [any] death is. (“A Little Bit of a Woman”)  

Ms. Rowling’s books are extolled because not only are they great tales, they have generated movie jobs and wealth for many; Mrs. Stowe’s one book is said to have sparked the Civil War – a war that freed millions of African slaves.  But it made an unfortunate motion picture!

Writing about death and evil in such a way that makes readers reflect without recoiling and rejecting such a simple truth is tough.   Both Mrs. Stowe and Ms Rowling have set a high bar for aspiring writers who wish to engage readers and make them think about forces and powers that are personal, powerful and yet unseen. Whether Ms. Rowling has helped us look at the evil that afflicts us today, making us weep for the lives that are crushed – and then be willing to fight for them – as the North did, remains to be seen. 

Who today could create an engrossing series exposing the human cost of abortion,  illegal immigration  and the moral failure of our governmental, judicial, and financial institutions, the several generations of Americans we have permitted to become enslaved to handouts from a government that is spending itself onto bankruptcy? 

And what would the movie version look like?

April Winds

The wind has been unrelenting and strong this afternoon. I see it tossing leaves all about, even splitting the trunk of the Bradford pear, up the street from us. It isn’t singing; it’s moaning down our chimney periodically. I have felt its push, and seen its force today – and cannot say it is simply a stronger child than me. ("The Wind" by R.L. Stevenson)

This wind is like a young man, vigorous, and powerful – taunting the large oak tree across the street. The oak’s branches strain as their leaves ripple – smaller branches, crack and give way, littering the lawn. The wind keeps whipping through the oak overhanging our driveway also shook loose small branches, leaves, and twigs.

Yet, it hasn’t harmed me.

I enjoy the luxury of waiting in sheltered place for the wind to calm down – looking out on another outstanding April day in Texas: sunny, not too warm – if you don’t have to do yard work, or land a plane. It’s a simple mercy to have time to wait this wind out. Others have to be out and about their business and risk getting hit, or being hurt.

I think of many folks today who can’t hide from the relentless gusts in their lives. Many Japanese and Haitian people have to keep struggling, as do people caught up in wars and uprisings that abound in today’s world. They haven’t the luxury of waiting out the winds that have swept into their lives. Instead they have to clear and sweep up the debris – bury their dead – while getting hit and hurt.

It’s not only overseas. Many Americans saw this week what a tornado can do. Children were murdered today – and their families have no place to hide. Life is hard: people are dying for a drink; men and women lost their jobs; girls saw pregnancy tests that came back positive; children ran away from their parents; and parents couldn't or wouldn't care for their children – these folks don’t have the shelter or time to remark on the force of a spring wind.

They need help – and helping involves risk. It’s not always safe, or easy to help these folks get going again in the midst of their storms. Hearing sirens in the distance while I writing reminds me someone is speeding to help another person – taking a risk.

But, they are trained and equipped . . .

How much preparation did the good Samaritan have? What did he have that I lack? He saw a need, and used what he had, and took a risk that would cost him more. (Luke 10:30-37)

If I still hesitate to take risks, Dwight L. Moody, a voice from the nineteenth century, sounds like he knew the twenty-first century’s traps: “True will power and courage is not on the battlefield, but in everyday conquests over our inertia, laziness, boredom.”

And Robert Louis Stevenson, no stranger to suffering had an answer for those of us who are risk averse:

The world has no room for cowards. We must all be ready somehow to toil, to suffer, to die. And yours is not the less noble because no drum beats before you when you go out into your daily battle fields, and no crowds shout about your coming when you return from your daily victory or defeat.

Where can I go? What can I do? I can’t go halfway around the world – nor can I roar off to the inner city or restore downed power lines. I can, however, move out of my comfort zone – even few feet into a world that is crazier and crazier – and more treacherous. The good Samaritan let go of a little time, and some money and cared for a wounded man, in a dangerous part of his world. He took a risk.

Social Justice

Tonight we had dinner with some interesting folks – about 500! WORLD Magazine held a  dinner honoring Christians who are offering hope and compassion to hurting hearts without government help. They spotlighted three groups, from among many:

Crossover Ministry (www.crossoverministry.org) – Clinics offering healthcare, education and medicine to poor people in Richmond Virginia.
   
Snappin’ Ministries (www.snappin.org) – ministering to families with special needs children.
   

Forgiven Ministry (www.forgivenministry.org) helping reconcile children with their parents who are incarcerated.

Prior to the dinner we attended one of three seminars: Offering Hope to the Poor through Social Justice, with Marvin Olasky (editor of WORLD) and Stephen Tavani (Founder of WOW International – http://www.wowjam.com ). Both men are deeply committed to social justice – but not the way contemporary politicians and social engineers promote it.

The political left thinks social justice must needs not simply level all playing fields – they want  "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his need." The political right too often stumbles into social Darwinism – let the poor die off. The Bible teaches that justice separate the guilty from the innocent; (social) justice is always accompanied with righteousness – these are the foundation of God’s throne – and must be the core of how we serve the poor and hopeless.

Mr. Tavani believes if the Gospel is true and works in the worst places, it is true and works anywhere. To that end, he and enormous corps of volunteers go into tough communities with everything from free cold water, bicycle repair, hair cuts, manicures, food, family photographs, games and shoes. He and his volunteers escort a small number of folk at a time into a tent, and fit each with  free name-brand athletic shoes – after bathing the feet of those they serve.  Is it any wonder they draw crowds?   And to those crowds, he offers the Gospel of salvation, as he and his volunteers meet real needs. They believe doing is more important than saying. 

Mr. Olasky believes this as well, citing the difference between the ancient Romans and Christians hospitality. The Romans were hospitable to those who could do them some good; the Christians entertained those who could never repay. (Luke 14:12-14) He speculated that one reason Christianity may have caught on was not so much the teaching, but the practice by which Christians shared and risked their lives to serve.

It was quite an evening!