If you cry in your soup, it adds just the right amount of salt.

Stephen Ministry Leader Training

I was in Orlando January 11 - 17th at the Stephen Ministry Leader Training. I was 1 of 4 from the First Reformed Church in Sioux Falls. It was a very intensive training, but what was even more powerful for me was the presence of the Lord.  I never imagined what it was going to be like to share a week with close to 400 people from many different congregations and even a few from Europe. They all loved the Lord and wanted to provide leadership in their churches, training others to become spiritual care givers. One of the first activities we were asked to do, was to introduce yourself to someone you didn't know.  Not to tough when I only knew 3 others. I met Joe who was the only one from his church of 4000 to bring this ministry back to his church.  We were told that this person was to be our prayer partner for the rest of the week.  Joe received the Lord 5 years ago and has a wonderful enthusiasm for others to find the same joy and peace that he has. Now out of all those people, who would dare say it was just by chance that we would uncover a plan the Lord had prepared for us.  Right away I found out that he owned a business that rented canoes and gave tours in a huge State park close to Tampa. Joe found out that I have led many canoe camps in Minnesota and that I was going to be spending the next week on the beach at Treasure Island.  Guess what? Last Tuesday I drove up to Joe's "Canoeescape" and we spent several hours on a river through a swamp being amazed at God's creation and alligators, turtles, and beautiful birds.  I really like God's plans. I really enjoyed getting to know Joe's heart and to hear his prayers.

I was at the Falls again this morning and discovered that someone had built a sort of monument.

Jeremiah 31:21 says, "Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, the road that you take."

Monuments like this remind me of our need to physically mark a spot that holds great meaning for us. Sometimes it is initials carved in a tree, maybe you have buried a time capsule next to a large rock, or maybe it is going back to the home where you were born.  These spots, these monuments remind us of a place where we have been on our journey of life. Jeremiah wanted the Israelites to put these along their way so they wouldn't continue wandering aimlessly.  So they are pivotal markers that remind us of where we have been and help us to keep going on our way.  I haven't been able to go back to my house in Dell Rapids, but it is one of those markers.  It has just been a year since I sold the house, had my auction, moved twice, travelled many miles, even to Jamaica, met many people, had powerful experiences, and have learned a whole new world called retirement.  But looking back to my house I am reminded that for everything that happened this year, the Lord has been the one making it happen.  Often I felt like I was going down this water fall with all its turbulence and then I get to the place where the water is almost calm. The Lord is amazing and he keeps me headed on my journey as I can look back and find that marker.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

1. O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

2. O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

3. O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

4. O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

©1997 Christopher Miner Music.

The Falls

I was out at the Falls this morning and remembered my camera!! I took some pictures and tried to capture just a little of the beauty of all the cascading waterfalls, some big and some small. When I got back the Argus had a front page article on the two people who lost their lives at the falls a few weeks ago saving a little boy who fell into the foaming icy waters.  I started thinking that maybe the falls weren't so beautiful, but then isn't there always some sort of danger in beauty?  Wow! You could take that thought in a lot of ways!  I was thinking of the beauty found in the life of another person. The danger is thinking that we will always be able to enjoy that beauty, tomorrow and the next day, and many days and years in the future. Yet, we don't know from one day to the next. My thought is to enjoy the beauty and the beautiful lives around us today, soak it all in, and let it give us a great sense of joy.

At Church last Sunday the Lord gave me a vision of my head resting on the "bosom" of Jesus.  It took me until yesterday to share it with my counselor.  It was such a powerful vision that I could no longer sing and had difficulty keeping my tears to a minimum so I wasn't causing a scene. It was saying to me, on a very intimite level that the Lord loved me and understood my sorrow and pain, that when he speaks to me it comes from his heart. 

So when I think of Maundy Thursday Lord's Supper celebration, it will never be the same.

As I am going through my second week of therapy here at Quiet Waters, I started thinking about the conversation beween the Velveteen Rabbit and Skin Horse. I am anxious to get home, but I am more anxious to be "Real".  Here is a the conversation:

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

"The Velveteen Rabbit, By Margery Williams , Illustrated by William Nicholson: HarperCollins Children's Books