Buildings

I've been reading through the book of Jeremiah since early June.  It's not an easy book to read & study.  One cannot simply peruse through all 52 chapters of impending promises of punishment and judgment and destruction - it's brutal.  I like Jeremiah.  I like that his greatest achievement was his courageous & faithful obedience to God.  I like that he wasn't accomplished or even a success by any means...his picture certainly would not be in a dictionary next to the word SUCCESS.  I like that he was a weeper.  Jeremiah was often mistreated and threatened and rejected by the very people God sent him to speak to because the people refused to hear what God was saying, and that grieved him very much.  

I believe God has as much to say to His people today as He did when He spoke through Jeremiah 600 years before Christ came to redeem man.  God wants people to turn back from their sin, from living life on their terms - which results in a life lived separated from Him, the Giver of all life.

I take notes and I jot down thoughts & ideas while I'm studying the Word.  One thing I noticed early on in Jeremiah was God's calling out those who worshiped idols.  God describes idols as worthless, foreign, carved from wood (man-made), detestable, helpless as scarecrows who cannot speak or walk, so-called who did not make the heavens or the earth, decaying, abominable, frauds, lifeless, powerless, ridiculous, and lies.  God has been very clear with His people when it comes to idols: "You must not have any other god but me." (Exodus 20:2 NLT)  Clear, right?  You would think so, but to many, sadly it's not.  

There are millions of people and places and things in this world which serve as idols.  The beach or the grocery store or cleaning the house or sleeping in or brunch on Sunday morning.  Loving your spouse or girl/boyfriend more than God.  Jobs which consume your time & making money, money, money.  Cars & other expensive toys & stuff.  School work & extracurriculars & books & getting into college. Television shows or movies & celebrities who are not worthy of your worship.  Food.  Exercise.  Sports - whether attending or playing. Buildings.  ...Yes, buildings.  

I do love old buildings, houses, barns, churches, whatever.  There's history to learn about from those buildings.  The people who, over the years, have crossed the thresholds of those buildings intrigue me.  What grieves me though, is that our church buildings often become idols.  The very place which should be a holy place for the believer to go to be in the presence of the Lord often becomes more important than just being in the presence of the Lord.  

How many church families have broken up because of disputes regarding their church building? Too many, I'm afraid.  The color of the walls, the color of the carpet, the color of the fabric on the pews. The height, width, shape of the stain-glass windows.  The type of pulpit.  The hymnals!   The type of music and songs!  Whether to renovate or not renovate!  All idols when all of that becomes more important than the God who provides it and who we praise through song & prayers & words and who is definitely more than worthy of our worship.  

Guess what?  Disputes over that brick & mortar building which caused so much brokenness within church families all over America is going to decay and crumble and rust away and rot. Maybe not in our lifetimes, but when this world is folded up and Christ sets up His Kingdom to come, that lovely fought-over building will be dust, like it was never even there.  The termites and beetles and water and storms and winds and rain will have their way with that building. Why? Because it's temporal.  It's not eternal.  We The Church are eternal.  The church building will hopefully not even be a memory once we're Home.  

Just something that's been on my heart and mind for a while now.

           

Finding Plateau Avenue

My knee hurts today.  Badly, actually.  I noticed it was tender as I went up & down steps over the weekend, but didn't think much about why.  Yesterday, though, it became a nuisance knee. It hurts bad enough that I debated with myself for about ten seconds in favor of not walking at all this morning, and after the bossy, know-it-all, disciplined part of me won that debate, I got up at 5:45, got myself geared up, and headed into town like I do five days a week now for the 1.35+ mile walk around Lake DeFuniak.  [aside...I had to ask the Lord to guide my feet as I walked and to keep me from stepping the wrong way so I didn't fall.  I have tripped & fallen on flat surfaces before, so there's that.  No one's ever called me "Grace."]

  

Lake DeFuniak is one of two almost perfectly & naturally round spring-fed lakes in the world. When the water isn't as high as it presently is, you can see and use the sidewalk that goes all the way around the water's edge, measuring about 9/10s of a mile.  The top of Lake DeFuniak on Circle Drive, which is where I and most others walk, has sidewalks in front of beautiful old historical homes and buildings, many dating back more than a century.  I have a point of no return on my walk everyday.  It started years ago when I began walking the route I do now and I would try to talk myself out of walking.  Anyway, my point of no return is literally the corner of Plateau Avenue and Circle Drive.  When I walked to that point I would give myself the option of turning back to where I began walking or continuing walking.  

As I walked hobbled on this hurting knee this morning I thought about turning back, seriously... Why do more damage to this cranky, old knee?  Then I thought about what giving up like that will do to me in the long-run.  I thought about wanting to give up tomorrow and the day after tomorrow and then the day after that.  I cannot do that anymore; I cannot have that mindset. We all reach a point when we must stop giving up.  A point in our lifelong song when we must refuse to listen to the enemy as he taunts us through our physical aches and pains, through others' mocking words and side-glances, through our own insecurities.  

In his second letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul writes, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful." (2 Timothy 4:7 NLT)  Like Paul, I have to fight and press on daily, run this race called life daily, and remain faithful to who & what I know to be right and true and just daily. That's why I have Plateau Avenue & Circle Drive as my point of no return.  When I make it that far I'm encouraged to continue walking...to keep on keepin' on, to use an old, worn-out cliche, to fight that voice who says "turn back, it's too hard...it's too far...it's too hot...it's too cold...it's too rainy," and to finish this early morning race.  I can honor God by being faithful in that race.  

I've found my Plateau Avenue.  Let me ask this of you, at what point in your life will you begin to refuse to give up and begin to refuse to give in to the lies of the enemy? 

  

Who/What/When/Where is your Plateau Avenue?             

So let's not get tired of doing what is good.  
At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing 
if we don't give up.
(Galatians 6:9 NLT)

I Want to Live Life Well

The group Switchfoot has a song, "Live It Well," (from their upcoming album) which plays itself over and over and over in my head...  You're singing it now aren't you? [aside...There is a reason I use the hashtag, #thereisalwaysasonginmyhead when I post song lyrics on Instagram, btw.]

Live It Well...meaning this life I've been given by the Creator Giver of all life. 

The beginning of the chorus, 

"Life is short; I wanna live it well.  One life, one story to tell," 

is the reason it plays over and over in my head...but it's the second verse which begins with 

"I wanna sing with all my heart a lifelong song; 

  Even if some notes come out right 

and some come out wrong" 

that makes me reflect on my wrong notes and how, hopefully, I've changed because I learned not to keep singing those wrong notes, and that, yes, it is okay to have belted out some wrong notes amidst the right ones.  It's those wrong notes which serve to help me learn how to sing a lifelong song that will produce a sound pleasing to those who listen for it and hear it, especially to my Father God, who is ultimately the One I desire to please and glorify through the lifelong song that is my life.    

Doing my best to Live It Well by walking the fluffy OFF

Happy Anniversary to my Old People

I can't begin to explain how much I would not enjoy getting married smack dab in the middle of summer.  Summers in Florida where I live are unbearable.  It's not just the heat; it's the humidity giving every single day from May 1 - August 31, a certain "ick" factor.  Already hot enough days that feel as though an even hotter, damp blanket is draped across your shoulders.  That's summer.  But back to getting married in summer.  My parents, or The Old People, as I often refer to them in a completely endearing way, mind you, have been married 48 years today.  July 18, 1964 saw fit to be hot, humid, icky, sticky, Saturday in the South.  How do I know that since I obviously was not there to participate in that joyful day?  Well, my mother told me, that's why.  She tells the story of one of her kinfolk who remembers Mama standing up front sometime during the ceremony and blowing her hair out of her face; she always has that image when she thinks of my mother's wedding and now I do to, thank you for that.  Sandy Creek Baptist Church, like most churches in the South, had no central air conditioning 48 years ago and people were left to rely on little paper fans to cool themselves off.  Hot, I tell you!  Anyway, they made it through that day and have made it through many, many of our summers in the South.  

My Old People are who I look up to most in this world; they've walked their Christian walk and raised three children in God's Word.  They now have three adult children who continue to walk in God's Word.  I'm thankful for that.  I'm blessed to have the best of both of them in me.  Although, I do wish I possessed a little more of my mother's graciousness.  And a little more of her humility.  And a little less of my daddy's mouth.  Sometimes things just need to be said.  

I don't know how many more days we will all have as Team Hall; the Old People are older and frailer and in poorer health than I want them to be...I'm not quite sure when they got so much older, frailer, and in poorer health.  Happy Anniversary, Mama and Daddy!  

I am the Flag

Summer time makes me think of fireworks, picnics with juicy grilled hamburgers, stars in the sky, popsicles, fresh cut watermelon, cool desserts, families together, games...  

I think it's telling that our summers kick off with a day set aside to remember & memorialize our fallen warriors - Memorial Day.  Followed soon by a day set aside to honor that great symbol of ours as Americans - Flag Day - the American Flag, Old Glory, the Stars & Stripes - what a beautiful symbol of who we are as a nation.  Then the fireworks on  Independence Day - the Fourth of July - a day songs and lyrics are written & sung about.  How wonderful a nation we live in that has all of these special days set aside to honor, to memorialize, to celebrate, to commemorate those who bled and died, those who sacrificed, those who forged the way just so we can enjoy the freedoms we do today.  I am honored and I am humbled to live in this exceptional nation.  I thank God for that.  I hope you do as well.       

I am the Flag

by Ruth Apperson Rous

I am the flag of the United States of America.

I was born on June 14, 1777, in Philadelphia.

There the Continental Congress adopted my stars and stripes as the national flag.

My thirteen stripes alternating red and white, with a union of thirteen white stars in a field of blue, represented a new constellation, 

a new nation dedicated to the personal and religious liberty of mankind.

Today fifty stars signal from my union, one for each of the fifty sovereign states in the 

greatest constitutional republic the world has ever known.

My colors symbolize the patriotic ideals and spiritual qualities of the citizens of my country.

My red stripes proclaim the fearless courage and integrity of American men and boys and 

the self-sacrifice and devotion of American mothers and daughters.

My white stripes stand for liberty and equality for all.

My blue is the blue of heaven, loyalty, and faith.

I represent these eternal principles: liberty, justice, and humanity.

I embody American freedom: freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the press, 

and the sanctity of the home.

I typify that indomitable spirit of determination brought to my land by Christopher Columbus and 

by all my forefathers - the Pilgrims, Puritans, settlers at James town and Plymouth.

I am as old as my nation.

I am a living symbol of my nation's law: the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights.

I voice Abraham Lincoln's philosophy: "A government of the people, by the people,for the people."

I stand guard over my nation's schools, the seedbed of good citizenship and true patriotism.

I am displayed in every schoolroom throughout my nation; 

every schoolyard has a flag pole for my display.

Daily thousands upon thousands of boys and girls pledge their allegiance to me and my country.

I have my own law—Public Law 829, "The Flag Code" - which definitely states my correct use 

and display for all occasions and situations.

I have my special day, Flag Day. June 14 is set aside to honor my birth.

Americans, I am the sacred emblem of your country. 

I symbolize your birthright, your heritage of liberty purchased with blood and sorrow.

I am your title deed of freedom, which is yours to enjoy and hold in trust for posterity.

If you fail to keep this sacred trust inviolate, if I am nullified and destroyed, 

you and your children will become slaves to dictators and despots.

Eternal vigilance is your price of freedom.

As you see me silhouetted against the peaceful skies of my country, remind yourself that 

I am the flag of your country, that I stand for what you are - no more, no less.

Guard me well, lest your freedom perish from the earth.

Dedicate your lives to those principles for which I stand: 

"One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

I was created in freedom. I made my first appearance in a battle for human liberty.

God grant that I may spend eternity in my "land of the free and the home of the brave" 

and that I shall ever be known as "Old Glory," the flag of the United States of America.

2 Corinthians 5:1-5 (MSG)

For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we'll never have to relocate our "tents" again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what's coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we're tired of it! We've been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less.

My profile & cover photo on Facebook have been up in memory of our beloved Aunt Trishie.  Two years ago today her cancer-ravaged body was replaced by her resurrection body in heaven.  I know that I will see her again and very much look forward to that reunion.

Seems like yesterday we were keeping vigil at the hospital during that last week.  Waiting on our miracle.  Waiting on any improvement.  The miracle was that we had that last week - she was dying and we had that entire week to tell her how much she was loved for simply being Aunt Trishie.  

Several things come to mind that made Aunt Trishie special: 1. She was one of my greatest encouragers - she went unmarried for many years and always encouraged me in my decision to wait to be married.   2. She had high expectations for us but never took us to task for not living up to those expectations.  3.  She loved us like she was our mother.  Upon arriving at the hospital the day after she was admitted, my cousin Michael said, "your children are here, now," referring to her sisters' children.  4.  She always had time for us when we called or stopped by to see her.  5.  I was her pet.  I can't help it, I was the only girl out of all the sisters' children and she petted and spoiled me all my life.  Most small children want to sleep in the bed with their parents, not me.  I slept in the bed with Aunt Trishie.  Until she got married, that is...but that's a whole other blog entry.  

Losing her broke my heart.  And it hurts every single day.  Seems like yesterday...  

Ah, Monday Morning...-

SOAPBOX warning.  Woke up this morning and of course the first thing I did after smacking the alarm was to check email, Facebook, and twitter on my blackberry...found this interesting tidbit on Facebook --> Feds considering adding poisonous rattlesnake to endangered species list - HUMAN EVENTS.  What's so interesting, you ask?  This:  I have lived in the Florida panhandle most of my life and eastern diamondback rattlesnakes are par for the course around here.  This area is part of their natural habitat and yes, we as human beings have encroached on that natural habitat.  But, what this article doesn't tell us is that they aren't scarce around here - not by a long shot.  I have to question whether these people have ever actually come into this area to see for themselves...  It's nothing to see one crossing the highway in any part of the county or to hear that awful buzzing from their rattles somewhere out in the brush.  SO, when these enviro-nazis, as I like to affectionately call them, blather on and on about these snakes being persecuted, yes, persecuted! (their words), I have to wonder what's next on their hit parade...  Enough is enough.  Time to let these people know that they can't have any more of our liberties, and if it's between me and the snake, tough luck for the snake.  Time to get back to worshiping the CREATOR and not the created.