Hi, y'all --

That's right, I said y'all - please forgive my recently acquired suthun (southern) accent - I just returned from the Land of Love Bugs. Yes, indeed. Fairhope, Alabama is inundated with these bugs that I found myself swatting around until my sister said, "Kathy, just leave them alone, they are harmless. They are called Love Bugs." Sure enough, these bugs mate constantly. So, you never see these bugs alone....always two together as they fly around! Interesting....

Not to bother you with rambling, (clue - next part is rambling - to skip the rambling, scroll immediately to the bottom of this e-mail!), but it was quite interesting to go as far as Fairhope, Alabama - never been there before. It is on the Gulf of Mexico, and so gets some hurricane activity usually during the year, although Fairhope was "lucky" in that Ike chose Galveston, TX, instead this time around. Fairhope was established in an attempt to create a Utopian environment, especially economically, with very low tax rates, and one utility payment per household (made to the City of Fairhope). The City boasts a highly educated community - the Unitarian minister there, Celeste, said that in their small congregation, there are 7 published authors and the average education is a Master's Degree. With my father there, we expressed surprise that they would allow him to bring the average down.... (that is a joke and he got it!). :) The upshot is that you can have a whole lot of knowledge and yet without a greater purpose, your knowledge leads you nowhere. I actually did think about the Truth Project and my enthusiasm for it, and asked God to temper my desire for more and more knowledge. As Pastor Bob expressed today, "graceless truth repels people from Christianity."

One thing I had completely forgotten about until this trip was the art of socialization in the south, and how the ladies of the south epitomize the art of hospitality. It truly seemed an art form to me this time around, and actually, I am a little envious of it. I feel like a bull in a china shop in comparison with my "let's bottom-line it" approach to things! Thank God for His creating us all uniquely and with different gifts.

The opening to the show of my mother's artwork was pretty small, though she really got a good writeup in the local paper. The church did wonderful little hors d'oevres for the reception, probably the most unique of which was mini-reubens. Quite good. As I said the hospitality was wonderful, and many of the ladies stopped to chat about the artwork. Their dresses, hats, sunglasses, and manners were welcome. Quite charming in a rather sophisticated way actually.

On Saturday as we were driving home from the coffee shop, I noticed a sign for a Christian Church down a pretty road, so I determined to go there on Sunday.

I got up on Sunday, and was putzing around the kitchen, and noticed "The Hallelujah Diet" book was on the island....I asked my sister Karen if that was hers and she said it was. I thought that was interesting and she said, "You know, Kathy, the Bible says you should be a vegetarian." I just grinned and said I wasn't too sure about that but I'd be interested in hearing what scriptures she thought indicated that. I did tell her I was reading Daniel, told she and her husband about Daniel, and how vegetarianism benefitted Daniel and his 3 cohorts for sure.

So, I took off for church. At least 2 ladies greeted me as I sat waiting for the service to start. This was a small, traditional church, and I was getting some attention as I observed out of the corners of my eyes. Amusing. They provide attendance numbers on their handout, and the week prior there were 89 in attendance. I would guess there were maybe 50 on this particular Sunday. What was funny to me, though, was the scripture that the Pastor had chosen to talk about - Romans 14:1-12. I won't make you look it up:

1Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

5One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

9For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. 10You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. 11It is written:
" 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord,
'every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will confess to God.' "^[a] 12So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. 14As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food^[b] is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.

Given the conversation with Karen that morning, I found the fact that this scripture was chosen very, very funny. And you better believe I shared that with her when I got home! She didn't look all that impressed, although I do think she considered it seriously when I pointed out the Bible is a pretty big book and the odds of the church I visited to pick a scripture entirely relevant to our discussion (vegetarianism vs. meat-eating) slim to none. I will say it would be far easier to be a vegetarian in Fairhope where vegetables and fruits are very, very flavourful, and far less expensive. :)

But their purpose at that church was not so funny. They have been trying to select a senior pastor and have not been able to come to agreement. I won't bore you with the rest of the details, but I do like their signature mission: "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love." The sermon certainly admonished me in some ways.

Ghosts

Sober up, you drunks!

Get in touch with reality—and weep!
Your supply of booze is cut off.
You're on the wagon, like it or not.
My country's being invaded
by an army invincible, past numbering,
Teeth like those of a lion,
fangs like those of a tiger.
It has ruined my vineyards,
stripped my orchards,
And clear-cut the country.
The landscape's a moonscape.
Joel 1:5-7 The Message

Ghosts

What a beautiful day here in Fairhope, Alabama. My sister Karen, her husband Kurt, and I went down to the shores of the ocean today. Fairhope is very hot and humid right now, and the vegetation is quite lush, though the flowers have lost much of their intense lustre. We saw herons, cranes, geese, ducks and seagulls as we meandered along the shoreline. That is what y'all do in the south, hear, you meander or stroll by the seashore.

We walked on the sparsely populated beach - this is not "the" beach to be seen at since it is quite a narrow beach, but rather one just used for walking and enjoying the scenery. We chose to walk the large pier into Mobile Bay. As we walked the pier, the wind kicked up and I thanked God for the breeze that was such a relief. Men were fishing - mostly throwing out fishing nets all along the pier, and I asked one what fish he had in his net and he said "mullet". I thanked him, and he said, "Yes ma'am." The charming drawl sounded like music to my ears.

We continued on and came to a restaurant selling fried fish. Posted on one of the windows, there was an advertisement for some sailboat for sale for $150,000. Just beyond the restaurant, I heard it. It was a very creepy sound. A low moaning, groaning sound in the wind. Actually, the sound was coming from the wind whistling through the masts of several boats docked at the pier. It was a sound that will repeat itself more frequently as the economy continues to slide. Ghosts.

Lord, I pray for our country tonight. I pray for an awareness of how far away we are from real community, real purpose, real meaning. I pray for a spirit of repentance to enter the hearts of these people. That before it is too late, we are shaken out of the sleeping, drunken state to which we have adhered to for years already.

Journey to Fairhope - Leg 1

Hi! I am sitting in the Minneapolis Airport right now knowing you are already pining for my presence. LOL. I am very tired, but excited, after a very short night spent on my friend Evy’s couch! I was up at 4:15 am and I’m glad I got to the airport early, because I was able to snag emergency exit row seats for the next two legs of my flight….

I have already had a very interesting day….

The shuttle from the Westin downtown was full, but it drags a taxicab along with it, so I hopped in that with some ladies who were leaving a conference for Women’s Shelters that was held in Edmonton. I met a lady from Charleston, SC and another from San Franciso, CA. The taxi driver was from an African nation, and was not very perceptive……he asked the ladies if they learned how to “squeeze men more” at their conference. How embarrassing from an Edmontonian perspective. We picked up a young and obviously drinking young man as well, and then drive to the airport included hitting a curb, and some farting, and some other wonderful experiences. The lady from San Francisco, though, was a little pistol – she made the driver turn down the radio and garnered his respect shortly after his faux pas. At the airport, she said to me, “That was worse than some third world experiences….”. Think about that – a woman who runs a battered women’s shelter in San Francisco was saying how bad our experience was. Perspective. Mayor Mandel, clean it up if you want to be a world class city.

I arrived ½ hour before I could even check in at the airport! So, I chatted with a guy from Tyco, which was really interesting because a firm I worked for in Washington, D.C., (Dames & Moore) had a business relationship with Tyco (which was then EarthTech). That guy was a techie guru, and looked up several spots for me to visit in Fairhope from the Blackberry he was carrying. Very nice guy from Baton Rouge – beautiful accent.

I met another couple who was flying Northwest from Edmonton, to Minneapolis, to Toronto, because it was cheaper than flying Canadian airlines!!! Go figure.

And finally, this little old lady in a wheelchair and her attendant who were flying to New York to take a cruise. The lady was 87 years old, I believe, and planning on living a lot longer so she could take more trips!!! They had trouble with their travel agent, so I gave them my travel agent’s name…..always good to drum up more business for your travel agent. J

I have to say that when I arrived here in Minneapolis, I felt a little heart tug of home….more in terms of cleanliness of the facilities than anything else. I LOVE toilet seat covers!!! Really, I do!

But the perspective is way off – the mall here at the airport has hired a harpist to play in one of the aisles…..a piano playing some lovely classical music is playing on its own in another…..I feel like I have traveled to a land in the height of decadence in that regard. Interesting, for sure.

So, I may very well get bored in Memphis, too, and may e-mail you from there! Who knows what can happen….hopefully, I haven’t bored you with my e-mail!

See you soon!

Golden Bears

It is going to be a fun football season for me. I went to the opening Golden Bears game yesterday, and though the start was a bit shaky, the Golden Bears found their form I think. I'm no football expert, but I think their quarterback threw confident and sharp passes. He found the ones who were open and nailed the passes quite a bit better than last year. And in layman's terms, I thought his offensive line protected him well - quite well - and in addition, the receivers were fast off the mark. I was totally impressed.

My friend Jean-Marc plays defense for the Bears and he did a great job yesterday. I particularly remember 3 tackles that were awesome. Whoever #45 was did an awesome job as did #44. I thought the defense looked very strong.

I think that if the Golden Bears play like they did in Quarters 2, 3 and 4, for the rest of this year, they will be tough to beat. I am so excited to be able to be here for this year of great football!

Prayer

Oh Lord, my heart cries out tonight
To join a mother in her fight

A child of yours, a friend of mine
Needs, my Lord, your touch divine

For cancer wracks her body, Lord,
And pain so fierce – that’s cancer’s sword

I pray You take her pain away
And begin the healing yet today

Please strengthen her for what’s to come
For she is one of Your kingdom

Here on this earth and up above
We trust Tina to the One we love

Our God so great, who gives us hope
Whose very words help us to cope

With circumstances beyond compare
We read and dwell on Jesus’ prayer

“…Father, if thou be willing,
Remove this cup from me.

Nevertheless not my will,
But thine, be done...” prayed He.

How does your garden grow?

Well, it was a great day yesterday. I cleaned and I cooked. I found a great recipe for banana bread that uses brown sugar (most use white sugar, but I had bought a bunch of brown sugar so I wanted to use it).

So, I had invited my friend Evy over for dinner and to sit out on the lovely deck here. The banana bread was done just as she arrived. And then I began cooking salmon (simply with lemon and a mixture of Paul Prudhomme's Seafood Magic and Blackened Redfish Magic spices), some rice pilaf from a box (good stuff, though), and brussell sprouts. It was all quite yummy for the tummy and pretty healthy, too.

I started making some Chai Latte to have with our banana bread, and Evy proceeded to attempt to rescue the flowers I have nearly killed here. I am just not very good with gardening. I've always disliked gardening, probably because of the slugs, worms and bugs it requires dealing with, and so I have not developed a "touch" for it. About 1/2 hour later, after 7 or so jugs of water were disbursed among the flowers, we sat down with our tea and banana bread and then went out on the deck.

Such beauty. Honestly, it is quite beautiful here at the Wine's home. We were chit chatting on the deck when I happened to glance toward the vegetable garden. "What is that in the garden?" I pondered. Evy looked, too. I thought maybe it was a dead animal or something in the zucchini patch. Then it hit me - it was a HUGE zucchini. I went down there, and sure enough, it was a biggie. Evy came and picked it - I weighed it this morning and it is a 6-pound zucchini! Wow!

So, I'm going to be busy this weekend making chocolate chip zucchini loaves. Anyone have a good recipe??

Golf

I played Golf today for the first time in years. I really like this pic of our 4-person golf team. From left to right - Frank, me, Michelle and Thuy. Frank and Thuy were mercy players today and are incredible golfers! Thanks to them, and a Texas Scramble format, we were able to make 18 holes today.....otherwise, I would have needed a nap and some aspirin at the 9-hole mark!

A great time was had by all, and we raised funds for the Village of Hope in Zimbabwe.

Galilee

Oh Lord, we’ll see
If you’ll meet me
On the pristine shores of the Galilee

As one of Three
You walked the sea
‘Twas there you found your ministry

Above that sea
By an olive tree?
You taught of true humility

Your guarantee
Has set me free
You are my hope and heaven’s key

Oh Lord, my plea
Is you’ll meet me
On the pristine shores of the Galilee

And there will be a jubilee

Jimi Varner's Blog

Jimi Varner's Blog

Good Morning

I did not think I would wake up as early as I did this morning, but in the past days, I've started opening my window shade in the bedroom before I go to sleep. The result is I wake up nearly as early as the sun. Today it is well worth it.

As I sit here at my computer, before the rest of the world wakes up, I am enjoying the cool fresh air created by an early morning rain. My skin welcomes the humidity. My ears welcome the sound of a few different songbirds and a sound that brings back memories of younger days. If I am not mistaken, it is the sound of cicadas.

And as I sit here, sipping my cup of steaming hot coffee and watching the grass turn green before my very eyes, I think perhaps this is nature's morning worship service for its creator.

Perhaps they feel as I have lately.

O God, you are my God;
I earnestly search for you.
My soul thirsts for you;
my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land
where there is no water.
Psalm 63:1

The Dying Season

It's the dying season.

This time of year seems to me to be about the toughest for those who are wavering in terms of health. Pneumonia is more common, the flu rages rampant among us, the sniffles, sneezes, coughs, etc., create a cacophany of sound that is barely even heard since it is constant. It becomes like white noise in the background almost. Many friends go on antibiotics, houses become quarantined, visiting is perhaps at a low as we wait for various bugs to remove themselves from our environments.

Last year, my Aunt Ellie (one of my father's sisters), 69 years old, died right around this time of a massive stroke, and my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer. Mom passed away in April. About a week ago, my Aunt Joyce (my father's oldest sister) passed away from pneumonia at the age of 78 years. I went to a funeral yesterday of a 92 year old woman named Sybil Bunting.

It's the dying season.

Sybil had a wonderfully attended celebration and the speakers and tributes and music were all wonderful to me. Walking in, I was pretty confident that I would not cry. As soon as I began looking at pictures, though, I got teary-eyed. And after the very first tribute, the tears poured out. I felt ridiculous, like I looked like a fool. Hardly anyone there even knew me, and I was using up tissue already. But, it touches my heart when I hear about the impact someone has made on another's life. We go through our days, touching hearts, touching lives, touching people, and yet, I don't think we always have a sense of our own impact. And with the love of Jesus Christ in us, we can have an impact beyond our own comprehension even. Sybil had that love of Jesus Christ. I met her only once, but I knew I would never forget her or her husband Ken.

My Aunt Joyce is not having a celebration or memorial or funeral until sometime in the Spring. I'm not positive where my aunt stood with the Lord, but I pray she was right with Him upon passing away. Joyce made some very tough choices in her early years, and it often seemed like her consequences were never finished. I think she was married possibly 3 times, and I don't believe she was ever treated as a woman should be treated. She lead a very hard life at times. She worked pretty much full-time up until this last year, with the past decade of work being done in a shelter or home or agency to help battered women. I am sure she touched many women's lives in a very positive way and I thank God for her presence in my life.

As each of these impactful women leave my physical world, I reflect on this season of dying and hope and pray that my life is impacting someone in as positive a way as these wonderful women of a past generation.

Close to the Sun

It was a beautiful, but quite cold day. It was about -24F when I went to start my car, according to one of my online weather sources. That is simply cold.

I was tempted not to go out today at all. But I had made arrangements with a young lady, Michelle, who has graciously married my friend Adam, to get together and run some errands and have lunch. So, I dressed warmly: flannel pajama bottoms under my jeans, then a turtleneck shirt, a turtleneck sweater over that, two pairs of socks, a jacket, scarf, gloves and light boots. Once I managed to get all of that on, I went out and started the car. It took 3 tries, but I finally got it started. I let it warm up for 15 minutes, and then began my journey from St. Albert into Edmonton at about 10:45 a.m.

I decided I needed a Timmy's coffee with double cream, so I stopped at the one on Hebert Road in St. Albert. But there were probably 10 cars in the drive-through lineup and seemingly dozens of people in line inside. I returned to my car without a coffee and proceeded down "the Trail". Two or three miles south of Hebert, there is another Timmy's, and no lineup, so I got my coffee after all and continued on my trip to pick up Michelle.

About half an hour later, Michelle and I made our way to "Best Buds" flower shop in Oliver Square at 116 Street and 104 Avenue. My friend Kim owns the store, and some of my other friends (Lillian and Laura were there today) help her out. Kim was supposed to get 4,000 roses today and she had quite a bit of help in to de-thorn the roses and make bouquets. My idea was that Michelle and I could learn a few tricks for an hour or two. But Kim had lots of help and so we chatted for a few minutes, then left to go to lunch at Red Robins. A Whiskey Burger and a few fries warmed us up for the rest of our travels.

Michelle is a very interesting young lady as she is Australian and the first Australian I've known. So, as we lunched, then shopped at Walmart and Superstore, we compared notes about what it is like to move away from your native country, as well as all the different products and groceries we miss! At about 4:30, I dropped her off at Totem, where her hubby works, and made my way home.

It was a beautiful evening with lovely pastel wintry sky. It was slightly darkening as I drove home, but still in the sky was the beautiful pale yellow sun. And against one edge of the sun there was a cloud that looked almost like another sun as it reflected the same intense yellow light as the sun, and across the sky, the cloud trailed a long line of "cloud" that twisted and turned for some distance. As my eyes followed the trail, it struck me that the further away from the sun, the paler the color of the cloud. So, the long trail of cloud seemed bright yellow just like the sun where it was close, but at the tail end was practically white.

I guess the closer we are to the Son, the more we appear to be like Him.

Wrong Way?

It was just a couple of weeks ago when it happened for the first time.

I'd been riding the St. Albert commuter buses to my place of employment in Edmonton - NorQuest College - since June of last year. So, at that point, it had been about 8 months of commuter busing. And the route never really varied. The route numbers did, but not the route. So, every morning, I walk 1.5 blocks from my apartment to the bus stop, hop on a bus that takes me to St. Albert Centre. I transfer to another bus that takes me all the way to within one block of NorQuest. On the way home, it is simply the reverse of that.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I did my transfer at St. Albert Centre on the way home, but as the bus pulled out of the station, it went a completely different route. It had been a long and tiring day, and to think I had hopped on the wrong bus really brought me down. I mentioned to a lady sitting near me that I must have gotten on the wrong bus. She said, "No, this is the way they are supposed to go." I was totally confused and did not get it at all. I questioned her, and finally she said, "You're on the right bus. The bus is supposed to go exit the station this way -- even though they never do!"

Wow. You can go the wrong way without even knowing it for a very long time. Lucky for me, there was someone to explain it to me.

It reminds me of the 40 or so years of my life spent walking down the wrong road -- resisting God and denying Jesus as my Savior. Lucky for me, there was someone to explain that to me as well.

Thank you!

Bitterly Cold on Sunday

Bitterly cold on Sunday.

I was bitter all the way to church about "having" to go to church in this nightmarish weather. I mentally told off a few people who did not appear to have gone through the same driver's training I did in terms of how to drive on ice as I traveled. Driving in this stuff really pretty much brings me to tears. And I was bitter when I got there as I watched wives getting dropped off at the door by their husbands. "Figures!" is what I say to myself in these situations and what I said to myself today. So I was in a fine snit as I walked through the door and one of my friends, Evy (76 years old) greeted me. She said, "So, are you having a good day??" I half thought she was being funny-cheery at the undoubtedly sour expression on my face. So, to be funny-crabby back, I barely grunted her a reply, something like "uh huh....", as I made a beeline for the coffee bar. Luckily, Chuck was there - he makes the best Chai Lattes of anyone in the church currently, so I ordered one, and it was perhaps the best one I have ever had.

Worship began, and frankly, it was one of the best worship services I have experienced in a while. Honestly, the songs were melodic, the range was perfect, and it was a bane to my soul today. I was immediately grateful for that. In retrospect, I wonder how much like Saul I might be given the amount of comfort I received from the worship offering today. I'm sure Cindy will be grateful to be thought of like David instead!!! :)

The service that followed spoke to us of our not really being able to fully understand God. I'm paraphrasing here, but that we can understand some, but not all of God and not all of what he is about. It was excellent. And we had a testimony from one of my recently made friends who is about 55 years old and has never been sick. He was just diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer in the liver and bowel and been given 9 months to 2 years to live. He is in my bible study, and I would not have missed this for the world. It was hard for him to do it, but gratifying to hear his heart on the platform.

Then I hung out with the young adult girls -- say 21 - 31 year olds. Had a great conversation, and they invited me to lunch. Women like these young ladies are so inspiring to me. I wish I had been half as lovely, inside and out, at their respective ages. I am very appreciative of even getting to spend a little time with them.

So, I went to lunch, had a fabulous time, then came home. But there was still bible study to go to. So, I began to get bitter again about going out. Do you think that by this stage of my life and with evidence received just earlier today, that I could have predicted the outcome enough to be cheery????? Well, I still have things to work on!!!

Ask Her What She Thinks

Sometimes encouragement from the bible comes in unexpected ways, and this time it was very unexpected in Genesis 24. My church, North Pointe, is reading the bible through in a year chronologically. So we read a few chapters in Genesis, we read Job, and now we are back in Genesis, reading things through as they occurred long, long ago.

Well, as you may know, the church doesn't always have a good reputation in its treatment of women. This is historically as well as currently true. I won't comment here about the rightness or wrongness of how the church has perceived, portrayed and treated women. But I will talk a little bit about how women have been perceived, portrayed and treated by the church in my very, very limited experience - most of that experience is as a non-Christian.

My own belief, and the belief of those non-Christians who influenced me, was that the church is not kind nor fair towards women. My first memories of actually experiencing/seeing this were of an uncle of mine. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Saviour when he was a young adult and was run over by his own tractor. That was before I was born and he and my aunt (devoutly Catholic from a very young age) became Christians and joined the Baptist church.

As a child, I was fascinated by uncle's ability to speak very fast Pig Latin. But I felt uncomfortable with how he spoke to my aunt. It seemed to me he thought of her as a possession and would sometimes refer to her as if her desires, her needs, her feelings were of little or no consequence. Sometimes the things he said and the jokes he made did not seem funny to me at all. My aunt's sisters and brothers never had much regard for my uncle and often spoke of his being "a very difficult man".

Nevertheless, my aunt and uncles had three beautiful children of their own and adopted a beautiful child they had fostered for years. As my uncle got older, he seemed to mellow quite a bit and in hindsight perhaps much of his manner towards women was more common in that generation. Regardless, though, I think he might be mortified to think that these things I heard and observed caused me to form a very negative view of the church, the Bible, and people who referred to themselves as Christians.

This world view of the church that I developed as a child was further reinforced when I went to his daughter's wedding in my early 20's. The ceremony was downright offensive to women in my view. I don't remember details, I simply remember that the "submitting" seemed to be very one-sided.

When I became a Christian, I went to church and had the most amazing experience of overhearing a young man thanking an older man for something, and just thinking about their conversation now brings tears to my eyes. I had not realized that men could be so loving in their conversation or in their hearts. I was incredibly moved and am still whenever I meet a man who is not wussy, but instead manly yet meek. Do you know what I mean?

Anyway, I began reading the bible, and I prepared myself to become like my aunt. I knew I was a Christian, and they were the only Christian examples I knew of in my life, so I thought this would have to be. And indeed, the Old Testament is filled with horrific stories of how women were treated and rules that came from God that just did not seem at all fair or with favour towards women. Honestly, coming to grips with some of the stuff I read was pretty tough.

The New Testament did not seemed at best to marginally improve things much at first reading. Popping out at me were Paul's instructions to the new church about women remaining silent and not holding any position such as elder or deacon, and certainly not a teacher of men (forgive me and correct me if my paraphrasing here is incorrect). Women still seemed to be held in low regard all the way around. And frankly, you may find that many Christian churches follow many of these instructions to this day.

So, I was born again, but born into "the church" that did not yet seem female friendly to me. Certainly my world view of the church at the time played into that.

It is now 4.5 years later, and my church is reading through the Bible in a year chronologically. Each time I start at the beginning of the Old Testament, I mentally sigh at the thought of reading yet again of many ways in which women were not treated well.

But this time, I got a little treat in Genesis 24. The setting is this. Abraham sent one of his servant's to find a wife for his son Isaac. The Lord, through the servant, selects Rebekah by a series of conditions she meets by giving water to the servant and water to his camels at a well near Abraham's brother's home. The servant is invited into Rebekah's parents' home, and he tells the family of his mission to find a wife for Isaac, and how clear it was that the Lord had chosen Rebekah. The family acknowledged that the Lord had sent him and so gave Rebekah to Isaac. The next morning, however, the servant wanted to take off right away to get Isaac's bride back to him. But when he requested to be sent back, Rebekah's family protested, and the following conversation occurred:

"Then they had supper, and the servant and the men with him stayed there overnight. But early the next morning, he said, 'Send me back to my master.' 'But we want Rebekah to stay at least ten days,' her brother and mother said. 'Then she can go.' But he said, 'Don't hinder my return. The Lord has made my mission successful, and I want to report back to my master.' 'Well,' they said, 'we'll call Rebekah and ask her what she thinks.' So they called Rebekah. 'Are you willing to go with this man?' they asked her.
Genesis 24:54-57

Well, I have to tell you that I find it very encouraging to have finally "seen" this passage. In this day and age there are still many who don't care to ask what women think. I am not sure, however, that God endorses that. I look forward to a year of discovery in the Bible once again.

Ask Her What She Thinks

Sometimes encouragement from the bible comes in unexpected ways, and this time it was very unexpected in Genesis 24. My church, North Pointe, is reading the bible through in a year chronologically. So we read a few chapters in Genesis, we read Job, and now we are back in Genesis, reading things through as they occurred long, long ago.

Well, as you may know, the church doesn't always have a good reputation in its treatment of women. This is historically as well as currently true. I won't comment here about the rightness or wrongness of how the church has perceived, portrayed and treated women. But I will talk a little bit about how women have been perceived, portrayed and treated by the church in my very, very limited experience.

But since it is late, I'll have to do this tomorrow.

Authority

I think I have a problem with authority. Oh, I don't have a problem with authority when the authority agrees with my way of thinking, but I have a big problem when I disagree with their way of thinking. And I think that simply boils down to a problem with authority.

When people in positions of authority or power or control or influence - whatever you want to call it - do things that are not right (i.e., misrepresenting the truth, white lies to achieve an outcome, chauvinism, etc.), every fiber of my being begins to resist that authority. Problem is, we are all flawed (me, you, and whoever is the authority), and so alot of those with authority do wrong things either from time to time or habitually. Time to time is one thing, but if it is habitual, well, let's just say for me to even be around that person feels like hearing nails on a chalk board.

So, I find reading Genesis 16 very interesting. Abram's wife, Sarai, has her servant sleep with Abram to bear him a child that Sarai was sure she never would. Once the servant, Hagar, became pregnant, she treated Sarai with contempt and Sarai's response to that was to treat Hagar harshly. So, Hagar ran away.

Looking at the circumstances here, I'm thinking it is better for Hagar to be gone from the situation, and better in general for these women to be apart. But the Lord often does things differently than I would expect. He told Hagar to go back and submit to Sarai's authority.

Interesting, eh? I bet He tells me that, too, when I am bucking authority. Hmmm......

Prosperity

So, I have some questions about this topic. Today we finished reading Job. At the end of the book of Job, ..."The Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning....." In context, God allowed Satan to test Job for a bit. And Satan certainly did a pretty good job -- took Job's possessions, family, health, and frankly, even his closest friends. Job withstood the test fairly well, and humbled himself when he realized he had not tested so well. And so, the Lord blessed Job even more -- more possessions, more family, better health, etc.

And so I wonder how many of us expect this outcome? And when I say this outcome, please note that I mean the outcome of further blessings in this lifetime, on this earth. And I also wonder if we should expect it? And from that, I wonder what assumptions we would make if we expected these results and did not get blessed like Job got blessed. Would we be able to withstand an entire lifetime without thinking we'd messed up somehow -- like Job's friends assumed?? Frankly, I suspect that in general, we would not be able to do that.

Oh, it is easy to think that we might be able to do it. But really, sit and imagine for a while that you lost your home. So, instead of sitting at home and imagining this, why not go outside, sit on a curb, and imagine what it would be like to think you have nowhere to go. While you are out there, imagine that you have welts all over your body -- the very sight of you disturbs everyone you meet. You've lost your job, let's say for some unforeseen reason, but your former co-workers see you in the street with these new welts all over your body. Your wife leaves you, your children die, and your friends come to try and help you figure out what you did wrong. No job, no money, no family, no car, no home, no nothing. Just "friends" trying to help you figure it all out.

There is quite a bit of teaching going around that suggests if we do all the right things, we will prosper in the same way Job prospered once his test was over.

Hmmm....I don't THINK so. There is enough evidence in the Bible to suggest otherwise.

But, when I read Job 42, I understand how easy it is to believe this. And so, I will be pondering this for a while to glean what God would have me understand from the book of Job.

A Year Of Loving God

That is my church's theme for 2008 -- A Year Of Loving God. Ever since I heard it, the phrase has been rolling around in my head. I've thought, ruminated, prayed, spoken, dwelled on it. What will this look like for me?

I've already failed in a way, I guess. We had a prayer meeting at the church this past Sunday. The intent was for our pastoral staff to pray with and bless families - it was called "Blessing Night". Frankly, I'm just sick at heart of going to family events as one. Downright exhausted from the effort of going to these things. Seriously, despite the fact that I have a wealth of friends that would have been there, I just simply could not even bear the idea of walking in there alone. And I'm tired of pretending almost to be a member of someone else's family - or at least that is what it seems like at times.

This is clearly not the way to being a year of loving God. It is His family I profess to belong to and surely that should be enough. Most times it is. Sometimes, though, like last night, it's not.

Lately, I've heard how important it is to finish well. I hope to finish this year much better than I started it.

When I Dwell On You

When I dwell on you, Oh Lord,
I know you are here with me,
Though it doesn't always seem to be,
I know it's true
When I dwell on you.

When I seek you with my heart,
I know you will answer me,
Though it doesn't always seem to be,
I know it's true
When I seek you.

When I give my life to you,
I know you will care for me,
Though it doesn't always seem to be,
I know it's true,
When I give it all to you.

When you come for me, Jesus,
I will gladly go with you,
Though it doesn't always seem to be,
I know it's true,
I'll go with you.

I'll go with you.


By Kathy Brown
Just words that came into my head today.