Dressed, Stuffed, Baked and Served

No this is not going to be a recipe.  It was actually ME that got dressed, stuffed...

Melanie Clark and her mother Anne took me out on my day off for what I thought was going to be another walk at a state park.  Melanie has been taking me at least once a month for an adventure at one of the many state parks in the area.  It is always a MUCH welcomed break from routine and the city.

But today I was surprised.  They took me to a mall parking lot and told me I could not say no - we were going on a shopping spree at JC Penny’s.  And they pushed a $100 gift card and $40 cash into my hands insisting that I would spend it all today...

They found a pair of black jeans that would fit (with Anne’s expertise sewing skills to make the waist smaller), and some knee length khaki shorts, a capped sleeve blue plaid Arizona Co. shirt, a cute pinstripe blouse (that matches the pants), and three T-shirts.  I have never spent that much money on clothes at one time in my life!  They dressed me up and then...

Next stop was a Ryan’s buffet.  And I was definitely stuffed before we left!

When we got back into the car Melanie commented that she should have cracked the windows: “We’re going to bake you in here.”  Texas is plenty warm this time of year; I was baked.

Then we went to a bicycle/walking trail that ran along the edge of town and took a long walk through the woods.  After all that shopping and all that food it was probably the last thing they felt like doing, but they knew I would enjoy it.  They served me all day as if I was the queen.

And so Toni was dressed, stuffed, baked, and served.

(Thank you Melanie and Anne for such a memorable day.  I appreciate your love!)

A Music Video

This song is from a CD called "The Narrow Way"

I didn't ask permission to use it on a blog (hope that it's OK!).

Here is the info if you would like to buy his CD.  It's beautiful!

Christian Berdahl

Shepherd's Call Ministries

PO Box 339

Edgewood, NM  87015

#505-286-5522

www.shepherdscall.com

words and music by Gregory Nelson, Phil McHugh, and Bob Farrell (arranged by Dan Thornton) 1991 Dayspring Music Inc.

Windshield Joyride

Then this face pops up over the steering wheel.   I nearly forgot I was driving!  How in the world did he get there?!  How is he staying there?!!  Toni, pull over!!!

Thankfully I was on the highway with a wide shoulder, because I pulled off the road before slowing down, in case he fell off.  I didn’t want the car behind me to run him over.  After surviving nearly a mile of 55 mph, hanging on for dear life, and somehow climbing up high enough for me to see him, it would be a shame for him to get run over!

I think only one long toe was still clinging to the windshield wiper as I screeched to a stop.  The bright green skin on his neck quit flapping in the wind.  And he slipped down and grabbed the windshield wiper with all four feet in a death grip.

His smile stayed frozen on his face, but if a lizard can look traumatized he certainly did!  He didn’t even move until I tried to pet him.  Then he ran across the windshield and clung to the side mirror.  I pulled his tail and tried to get him to jump off the car, but probably his legs were too shaky to jump.  : )

He was the biggest anole I’ve ever seen, so I didn’t try to pick him up.  (I remember the lady at the pet store in Iowa wearing the anoles on her ears like earrings - once they bite onto something they don’t like to let go.)  So I found a stick and tried to push him off into the grass.  He ran down the length of the car, and I finally got him flicked off onto the ground.  But he was eyeing the underside of the car as if he was going to jump on board again!  So I ran around and jumped in the car and peeled out, hoping that he stayed on the roadside.

Laughter couldn’t be pushed aside any longer.  And just thinking of his face looking in the windshield right at me with skin flapping like a skydiver’s makes me hysterical still!  I’ve had the same experience with grasshoppers in Iowa and a spider in Michigan, but never with a seven inch lizard.  Only in Texas!

Just a Pile of Dirt

I took some time off the other morning to roam the church yard with my camera.  It seemed like it would rain, so there was no point in going to a park...  But there was a whole "park" right in my backyard!  There was a lot of life, beauty, and lessons for me.  And here I thought it was just a pile of dirt grown up in weeds...

Missy and Mister

My restaurant has expanded! These two have been around ever since I got here, but they were too scared of me to ever get this close. Notice Missy’s ears are back in her pictures - she doesn’t like it when I watch her eat. Even after four months of sweet talking and three weeks of meals on demand, she bopped my hand when I tried to reach out to pet her. Females! I mean, felines! : )

This was the first day Mister would get close enough to eat. Once I came home and caught him sitting under the trailer. He ran around the side of the shed. I peeked around the corner on my end to find him peeking around from the other end. We both were surprised and my outburst of laughter scared him away. But today we was brave and enjoyed vegeburger sloppy joes with Missy (his wife of course).

I’m always tempted to write only nice things. I tend to live looking at life with rose-colored glasses anyway. But to be more honest I should mention this... The third cat, the prettiest, that looked like my childhood cat, Boone, was hit by a car the night before these pictures... Thankfully, Mr. Hewes found it first and moved it off the road so I wouldn’t have to see it. He knew I’ve been feeding the cats because Missy has stood looking in the church door during the entire service for the last two weeks, begging!

The "Reality" Prayer

I haven’t been a TV watcher since I was a teenager.  I still remember the day when I left an imaginary adventure show to let the dog out and discovered a real adventure just outside my door!  From that day on I decided to live my own real adventures rather than watch someone else live their imaginary ones.

When “Reality TV” became so popular, I was curious.  People kept telling me that these shows were of real adventures, not scripted, and therefore I would enjoy them.  I watched a few and was disappointed.  Maybe the last 15 years of TV watching has numbed their brains; those shows are not any more real than the others!  They may not be scripted, but they are certainly edited.  I can clearly see that it is all “set up” and arranged to make the audience feel as though it were spontaneous.  Yet people persist in believing that it is all real.  I guess they realize that the only value of Reality TV is that it is “real,” and to strip away the veneer leaves only a low budget TV show.

But I cannot criticize people for wanting to believe in their Reality TV, because I have seen my own foolishness for wanting to believe in my Reality Prayers!

How many times I have prayed... “Father in Heaven, thank you for this beautiful day.  Please be with me today.  Thank You for all that you have been doing for me.  I’m sorry for my sins and rebellion.  Please forgive me.  I love You very much.  In Jesus’ name, Amen”... and not a bit of that was reality!

I understood that the Bible teaches us to pray to the Father in Jesus’ name, so I did.  But what does that mean?  I asked God to be with me, but I would have been scared to death if He showed up.  I knew I should be thankful for each day (was it actually a beautiful one?  had I even been outside yet to find out?).  I felt I should be thankful for all that God was doing for me - whatever that was.  Sometimes I wasn’t able to even think of any sins or rebellion I was in at the moment; and what I did think of, I wasn’t particularly sorry about.  I always wanted forgiveness, of course, because everyone knows that without forgiveness we won’t “make it to Heaven.”  I knew I should love God very much, but I often thought about the handsome guy I “loved” more than I thought about loving God...  But still, I considered my “reality prayers” to be very real.

Probably the biggest reason we pray such “reality prayers” is that we don’t think we can afford to pray a real one.  Telling God what we really think might not be so “appropriate.” I used to think that I couldn’t question God; I couldn’t tell Him exactly how upset I was; I couldn’t complain, whine, cry, “let Him have it,” or say anything else that might hurt or upset Him.  I “walked on eggshells” and prayed like I should.  After all, I couldn’t afford to upset God!

But the Bible gives us examples of people who prayed real prayers and shows us how God reacted to them.

After Moses led the people out of Egypt, received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, and came down to find the people worshipping an idol, God told Moses to move on, to lead the people toward Canaan.  Moses had a real heart-to-heart talk with God about all this.  (see Exodus 33)

Moses said, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.  Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’  Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now Your ways, that I may know You in order to find favor in Your sight.  Consider too that this nation is Your people.”

Moses says, You’ve given me this job to do and You say that You know me and I am special to You.  If I am so special to You, show me who You are - I need to know You too if I am going to be able to please You.  If you love me, You’ll take the responsibility of these people, not dump it all on me!

And God responded, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Moses basically threatened God after this, “If Your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here...”  You’d better go with me, or forget the whole thing!

God patiently and lovingly replies, “This very thing you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name.”  Of course, it was God’s plan all along to go with Moses!  He doesn’t tell Moses how unnecessary it is to bring up this issue.  He doesn’t tell him to “Watch your mouth, boy!”  Rather, He assures Moses and tells Moses again that He knows him - his fears, his needs, his circumstances... and He loves him.

Moses is more at ease now, recognizing God’s goodness, as he humbly asks for his needs.  “Please show me your glory (character).”  Please God, reveal Yourself to me.  And God answers his request!  (see Exodus 34)

There are many other examples of people praying “real” and how God responded.  (check out Job 27-31 & 38-41; Psalm 13; Genesis 18:22-33; Genesis 15:1-6, 17:15-19, 21:1-7; Jeremiah 1:4-10; Jonah 3,4; Luke 10:40-42; Matthew 27:46)

David’s Psalms are full of real talk to God.  And despite all his rough edges, God refers to David as “a man after my own heart.”  God appreciated the open, honest relationship they had.

And David encourages us, “Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.”  Psalm 62:8

Have you been praying the “Reality Prayer”?  Why not have a real talk with God today?

My "Mexican Jumping Beings"

It's Almost that Time Again

This year has been flying by! In only seven weeks I will be headed home for a break. As usual, I will have a hard time saying goodbyes. Somehow I thought this would get easier after so much “practice.” But it is still traumatic for me, and probably always will be...

My church family here in Marshall, Texas have been very kind to me. They have done everything from bring me grapefruits every week to race over here at 11pm to try to find out why the camper-trailer’s propane gas detector was being so alarming!

Mrs. Hewes (84 yrs. old) has ridden along on numerous drop-off Bible study routes. Mr. Hewes (86 yrs. old), the acting Pastor of the church, went door-to-door with me for 2-3 hours at a time, taking time out of his busy schedule which includes mowing the 3 acres of lawn at the church! Melanie Clark (50ish going on 31) has whisked me off for several adventures in the area parks. I think I would have gone insane without these escapes to nature! Her husband, Robert, has come almost once a week to take away my empty propane bottle and bring it back refilled; he also replaced the dead refrigerator and broken shower faucet... Mr. and Mrs. Farmer (in their 80’s) have supported every endeavor they were able to, despite their struggles with health issues. Mrs. Kelly made arrangements to have her invalid husband taken care of while she helped with the cooking class, and has shared seeds and plants from her garden with me. Brother Charles Smith has been very respectful, encouraging, and even called me “baby girl” during SS class (a term of endearment around here). Anne Bessey (80ish and housebound) has been my prayer partner throughout every up and down. And Josh (10 yrs. old) has gone with me many Thursdays, after school, to places neither one of us would have gone alone! I’m really going to miss him - my sidekick and new little brother...

Of course there are people in the community that I will miss too. “Blind Mary” who drove me crazy at first because she had me driving her everywhere, is now a good friend of mine. So is Alexandria. Cindy (13 yrs. old) and I are going to miss reading the Bible stories together - the first time she’s ever read them. Sue Fancher, and her small group Bible study at the senior apartments, has been so inspiring to me - I will never forget the testimonies of God’s goodness in all their years of experience. And little Alex and Adam, (my Mexican jumping beans : ) I have studied with many Thur. evenings. Little 4 yr. old Adam knows how to get my attention; he reaches up both hands and gently puts them on my cheeks and turns my head to look at him. His eyes talk more than his mouth can. I’m really going to miss them! And lots of other people, like Janet who took me on the steam boat tour and shared her life with me...

There are some things I won’t miss a bit: the trash everywhere, the poverty, the horrible stories I heard and saw of abuse and addictions... and the humidity level! But I am sure I won’t be missing these for long. No doubt my next assignment in Topeka, Kansas will have some of them as well. : }

I wanted to take this opportunity to recount my blessings and thank God for another experience with Him. This year (in San Jose, CA and Marshall, TX) I have found God to be the Greatest of all Listeners, and the Wisest of all Givers. He has filled my life with good things and guarded me from those that would have destroyed me. And even though I have rebelled, doubted, complained, and put myself in some foolish positions, He has stuck with me. I’m so thankful to have been alive and withHim this year!