Day 71

Scripture: Ps 50, 114, 115; Colossians 2:8-23; Luke 6:39-49


Scripture Standout: Luke 6: "⁴⁶ “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? ⁴⁷ As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. ⁴⁸ They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. ⁴⁹ But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”


Morning thoughts: I know and love many people who don't have a faith, period. That is their life, their choice, their deal. But sometimes my heart gets heavy for them when life produces "torrents" that strikes their homes. I can hardly imagine how it feels for someone to think they have to figure it out, fix it and rebuild it all on their own and without guidance, support or affection. I have one friend who has been pelted with torrents for the past couple of years. She's standing outside her collapsed house still trying to figure out exactly how it happened and what she's going to do about it. That must feel like such a lonely, frustrating place!


On another note, Jacksonville has its first black mayor. Voters across the city voted this week to send a message of progress — and to defy a good ole boy appearance that defined this town in the 1960s and 1970s. I have no idea if our new mayor is going to fix our house, our Jacksonville. But I am astounded and grateful voters are giving him a chance to try.


A third note: All Saints' first Interfaith Forum is tonight. I am very excited about this, there has been warm community support for it.


Last note: This is Ashraf's last full day with a club foot. His surgery is tomorrow morning. Please pray for this very prayerful Muslim boy who is full of joy, respect, manners and gratitude.


The Deed/The Day: All deed efforts honed in on the Interfaith Forum at church. It went really well. Almost a full church — pews lined with worshippers of all flavors. It was a blessing.

Day 70

Scripture: Ps 119:49-72; Ps 49, 53; Colossians 1:24—2:7; Luke 6:27-38


Scripture standout: Luke 6:27-38: "Love for Enemies ²⁷ “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.
   ³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.Judging Others  ³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”





Morning thoughts: I couldn't stop highlighting that passage from Luke, it's all good — and such massive, complicated and not-so-easy to execute marching orders. It could almost be a list, or a prescription, for life. Today I am going to print this out and post it somewhere so I can remember what I'm supposed to do on this planet:
1. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.
2. Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
3. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. 
4. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.
5. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.
6. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
7. Do not judge
8. Do not condemn
9. Forgive
10. Give
Bottom line: Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. 
Result: Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.


I thought this was timely, too. It is All Saints Interfaith Forum Eve. I've been helping assemble this event for a few months now, and I think it is all going to pan out beautifully. We have a pastor, a dean, a rabbi and an Imam! Never thought it would happen. The topic is "Religion in Society Today: Is Moderation a Bad Word?" Some great questions have been generated, and today's Forward Movement devotional speaks to that thought:

"The challenge for so many American Christians, in a time when the fabric of civic life seems frayed beyond repair, is to translate this sense of individual commitment to Christ into a similar and (from Jesus’ viewpoint) equivalent commitment to the well-being of their neighbor and their neighbor’s neighbor—a sense that to live in Christ is to live in and for one another. Love your God with all your heart and soul, he said,  but love your neighbor as yourself. However individual and distinctive one’s own experience of Christ might  be, it is a deep biblical conviction that no Christian  stands alone—and that to live in Christ is to live in  community with others. Or as a wise priest once put it  to me, there is no such thing as a solitary Christian."

The Deed/The Day: I could just cry! So, my deed today was to just ask. Nothing big. I just asked, through a Facebook message, if this restaurant owner would be interested in helping Chuck. He said he would be happy to put Chuck's name on any "mistake orders," deliver it and make lots of mistakes! Then, I get an email from a neighbor who is encouraging her son's Boy Scout troop to help Chuck. It is humbling and amazing to see what happens when you step out and ask. I am an introvert at heart. I do not like to sell things, ask people for money or pin people down on things. It's just not my nature. Sometimes asking feels this way — the thought seems embarrassing, daunting and aggressive. That is so not the way I roll. Then you hear successful salespeople or marketing gurus say things about how people just want to be asked, or it doesn't hurt to ask and yada yada. How true, I guess!


(And just for the record, open-mindedness DID win out over. Congratulations to Alvin Brown on becoming Jacksonville's first African-American mayor and prayers that he can unite this city and help it move forward!)

Day 69

Scripture: Ps 45, 47, 48; Colossians 1:15-23; Luke 6:12-26


Scripture standout: Colossians 1: "¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."


Morning thoughts: Ashrafulla and his things arrived last night. Now "Grandaddy's bed" is defined by the stuffed green frog who now sits in the middle of the pillow shams and a rubber snake. He is sweet and quiet and happy — this boy who has suffered with a club foot for 13+ years. It was heartwarming to watch the Coker kids, who have considered Ashraf part of their family for the past two months, playing catch football in the backyard with our kids, Ashraf and AJ — the animated and joyful Afghan translator who will undoubtedly have an expanded presence here now that Ashraf is with us. There was just something about watching that sweet play unfold so naturally and joyfully. Perspective is everything.


Today's Forward Movement devotional is on a similar topic. Again, the scripture they selected is from that Wisdom book. I need to figure this thing out!:


"Wisdom 3:1-9. Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good.

A colleague of mine preached a sermon in which  he argued that suffering is at the heart of what it  means to be Christian. I don’t think he meant that  God plans pain for us. I disagree when someone tells  me that a painful disease or a personal loss was all for the best, all part of God’s plan.

I am uncomfortable making pronouncements about suffering because I feel that I have not suffered  as much as people struggling to survive in war-torn  and impoverished countries; I have not fought an illness like cancer or HIV/AIDS.

From my limited experience of suffering, I think  that our pain and suffering can discipline us (to use the old-fashioned sense of the word, meaning not  “to punish” but “to teach”)—it can focus our attention on what really matters and open us to the great good of God’s compassionate love for us, even when we are at our weakest.

The paradox of suffering and evil is resolved in the experience of compassion and love.

 —Nicholas Berdyaev "


The Deed/The Day: One of Marley's favorite teachers has been home ill for more than a month with an unexplained and persistent migraine. A mother much more organized than I (and with unstoppable energy in this department) has put together a meal schedule. Barton meal day was today. I can't even imagine being laid out for that long. She has two little ones and a supportive husband. Don't you know they're wondering when their mom's going to get better.


I also voted today. That is a deed and a responsibility. Our choices for mayor are not what I would have hoped for, but I voted for the one I think has the most open mind. I hope he wins.

Freedom Rider story

Did anyone read this on CNN today? It is a long story, but so incredible — worth the read.

Here's an excerpt:

"Only the night before, Zwerg had prayed for the strength to not strike back in anger. He was among the 18 white and black college students from Nashville who had decided to take the bus trip through the segregated South in 1961. They called themselves Freedom Riders. Their goal was to desegregate public transportation.

Zwerg had not planned to go, but the night before, some students had asked him to join them. To summon his courage, Zwerg stayed up late, reading Psalm 27, the scripture that the students had picked to read during a group prayer before their trip.

"The Lord is my light and my salvation, of whom shall I fear?" the Psalm began. But there was another passage at the end that touched Zwerg in a place the other students didn't know about:"Though my mother and father forsake me, the Lord will receive me."

Zwerg's parents had forsaken him for joining the civil rights movement. That same night, he had written a letter that was to be handed to them in case he was killed. It explained his decision to join the Freedom Riders.

Zwerg called his mother to tell her where he was going.

"Don't go. Don't go," she said. "You can't do this to your father."

"I have no choice. I have to," he said.

"You killed your father," his mother replied. Then she hung up.

The Greyhound bus doors hissed open. Zwerg had volunteered to go first. The mob swarmed him as he stepped off the bus, yelling, "Nigger lover! Nigger lover!"

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/16/Zwerg.freedom.rides/index.html?hpt=C1

Day 68

Scripture: Ps 41, 52, 44; Colossians 1:1-14; Wisdom 1:16—2:11, 21-24; Luke 6:1-11


Scripture standout: Ps 41: "¹ Blessed are those who have regard for the weak; the LORD delivers them in times of trouble. ² The LORD protects and preserves them— they are counted among the blessed in the land— he does not give them over to the desire of their foes."


Morning thoughts: Two things: What the heck is the book of Wisdom? My Biblegateway plug in gave me no access. I am eager to learn more about this book that I am so ignorant about!


Secondly, I couldn't sleep last night. During the day, I am confident about getting it all done. At night, particularly when change is looming, I worry and wonder and wince and wiggle. This time it's about Ashrafulla moving in and his surgery Friday. I am not carrying this challenge alone — there are many other families who are right there on the front lines with Ashraf ready to take him through a life-changing club foot surgery and recovery. But somehow at night, it all seems unmanageable and cumbersome — too big for me to handle even a part of. I lump in Thursday's interfaith forum at our church, which I have helped plan, into that bundle of worry — and heap the kids' camp and David and my getting away on top, and finish it off with the shiny red cherry of a worry of work. To make it an even more sour experience, I like to drizzle angry feelings I have toward a few people all over the whole mess.


I begged God to take my load and to help slumbering me remember that this is all his work — not one bit of it mine.


And he did — for like five minutes before 4:30. It was just enough time to get in a good dream.


Now that I'm awake, it all seems manageable again. When I look at this verse I wonder if Ashraf is the weak — or if it is me. Is Chuck the weak? Or am I the person without strength? (By the way, the first bag of "Chuck goodies" appeared on the front porch this weekend. So many angels in our midst!)


The Deed/The Day: Some generous friends and neighbors dropped off various food items over the weekend for Chuck. Like me, these wonderful neighbors probably danced through the supermarket aisles and tossed a few boxed meals and frozen dinners in the cart. Today I had the opportunity to meet the gal from the Epilepsy Foundation and hand over the food from Chuck's neighbors. She was en route to meet him. Something she glossed over quickly spoke volumes to me. I'm still thinking about to it. In sharing how much she wants to help him she said, "I'm on food stamps and if I could give him mine I would." She had $20 in her pocket to give him along with the food. I told her what an angel she is to this man. She said she didn't know what it is, but she can't stop thinking bout it. She's on food stamps. She has a young daughter. Yet, she's thinking about Chuck. How humbling. We're dancing through the aisles or trolling our own full freezers while a woman on food stamps — struggling to support her own family — is worried about the needs of another.

Day 67

Scripture: Ps 23; Acts 2:42-47; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10


Scripture standout: 1 Peter 2: "¹⁹ For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. ²⁰ But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. ²¹ To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps."


Morning thoughts: This morning I sat a few rows behind a dad who was really in pain this morning during church. I know because I've been there. I too have sat through church — tortured — because my kids were  fussing, or fighting or yelling how bad they had to go poo-poo, or worse yet talking back. I have pinched little bodies while trying desperately to pray. I've been on the verge of standing up during quiet time for a punctuated public spanking. I've left church early in tears. And there was this dad today. He was so entrenched in his desire to escape the insanity of his personal pew area that he deliberately ignored it. He was bearing up under the pain of unjust suffering for sure.


The Deed/The Day: I prayed for that guy in church as annoyed as I was by  his urchins' misdeeds. Been there, and hope others had similar sentiments for me.

Day 66

Scripture: Ps 30, 32, 42, 43; Daniel 6:16-28; 3 John 1-15; Luke 5:27-39


Scripture standout: Daniel 6: "The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”


Morning thoughts: Who doesn't feel like they're in the lion's den some days? I do — a lot. Sometimes I wonder how I'm going to get out, or how things are going to resolve themselves. The next few weeks are crazy around our house between birthdays, Ashraf moving in and having surgery, getting the kids' school year wrapped up, preparing for summer camp (especially for one who feels like it isn't fair that she's going!), organizing the interfaith forum at church, getting out two newspapers and the list goes on and on and on. Sometimes, the only thing I feel like I can do is just sit and stare. Or sleep. Help! Rescue me!


These crazy, busy times are like a complicated stitch pattern in embroidery. I don't embroider, but I remember my grandmother doing it. There might be an area with raised stitches or knots or different colors in one section. It looked very complicated when she was doing it. But at the end, that section was one of the most beautiful of the whole project. Maybe these crazy times are also like a roller coaster ride: they're scary. And while they look long and twisty and high and sickening, the ride only lasts for a few minutes. And if you close your eyes and scream bloody murder, like I enjoy doing, you'll stay in your seat and stay the course. And then it's over. And when you're walking away from it, you can look back at the giant mess of twists and turns and think — I rode that. I'm still alive. And it was fun.


The Deed/The Day: Yuck. Winn-Dixie had a pitiful selection of bananas this afternoon. You could get bright green, or dark yellow-brown mushy. I went for a bag, and noticed the guy next to me (who made similar comments about the banana options) was waiting for one, too. I gave him my bag. To wrap things up, I brought my cart back from the parking lot along with another woman's.