How to Swim from Michigan to France

 

When I was a child I could have swum across Lake Huron all the way to France. Don't bother me with geography, my sister assured me she could see it. In my twenties I visited Bourg-Saint-Andéol. The cool breeze made it feel like Michigan. Turns out, we are at about the same latitude.

This is also where the Soviets were going to land with their parachutes at any minute. The things they told us in the 1970's. The Ice Age was upon us. We would live on the moon in the year 2000. Cars would fly. We'd have scanners at the grocery store that would know how much each item...wait a second. 

We drank sugar. We sat too close to the TV, but not as close as you are to your phone. We ate hot dogs straight out of the refridgerator! Milk was 5 cents at school, 6 if you wanted chocolate. There is no cents symbol on my keyboard. We had roller rinks. I am not even going to define that. If you know, you know.

I had a tiny red Bible given to me at school. The Gideons handed them out. 

I wonder if they still do that.

A Little Reminiscing

 

Park 1 and Park 2 were joined by this simple wooden bridge in my day. Now it is one big park and no one seems to remember it was once different worlds. The gully between them was deep. It's full of poison ivy now. There are warnings posted. It may have been then too. I seemed to catch it most summers.

Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock beamed down here often. This planet is just like Earth. If we had friends over we'd have Sulu and the Russian guy too. Sleestaks chased us, though they were from another show. I spelled Sleestak right without even looking.

Now our whole world is like this big ditch. 

One side, and another, needing someone to beam down and put things right. 

Jesus said the Shema

 

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. 

Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, 

“Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: 

‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

(Mark 12:28-31, New Testament)

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

(Deuteronomy 6:4-8)

Ice Cream Socials

 

Do you remember the ways of the past? Nowhere was heard a discouraging word. That could be read now here was heard a discouraging word. Space makes a difference. Remember when we went to ice cream socials? I don't. I have never, ever been to one, but I do recall the innocence of years gone by. Everyone meant well. We were well. There was no high fructose corn syrup and no war. Well, there was war. Do I see those days the way they were or the way I was? Today's world seems darker and when Jesus appears in the sky I won't even be surprised. Now here this. Now hear this. 

I haven't posted my own words in a long time. I have given you songs I love and the words of life, Bible verses, as they come to me. What stories would I tell anymore? Tales of spies who save the world? All their conniving hasn't saved us yet. One country is up, then another is down, then up again. On and on the brotherhood of man wastes our time here. We have one God. No other. We have one purpose. No other. Meet me at the sunrise where we will stand shoulder to shoulder and watch the sky and pray for God's mercy.

Remember

 

The Rock! His work is

perfect, For all His ways are just.

A God of faithfulness and without

injustice, righteous and upright is

He. Deuteronomy 32:4

Rest

 

Look what Jesus does...

 

Words of Jesus

 

You worship what you do not know; 

we worship what we know, 

for salvation is from the Jews.

John 4:22

1 John 5:4b-5

 

And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Amazing

 

Peace

 

Psalm 27:1

 

The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Flower

 

The grass withers,

 and the flower falls,

 but the word of the Lord remains forever.

1 Peter 1:24b-25a

Seeing Red

 

James 4:8-10

 

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. 

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 

Be wretched and mourn and weep. 

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

James 3:17-18

 

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Peace

 

I love this.

 

Hear, O Israel

The Lord Our God

The Lord is One.

Cawfee Tawk

 

Let's talk! A writing prompt in honor of Toni. Click here!

1.  What gives your life meaning or purpose? 

Why does it do that for you?

I believe there is a plan. Now this. Then that. I suppose that knowledge gives me comfort because I believe I am following the way and there is a way. I am not just wandering around. I have a purpose already. (So do you.) Life doesn't have to give us one. We were born this way.

2.  How do you define success and happiness for yourself?  

Success is a life full of love. If you love others, you're good.

3.  What lessons have your biggest challenges taught you?  

God is real and I am not Him. Funny thing to learn, right?

4.  How do you want to impact the world or those around you?

I want you to know the Lord is for you, not against you. 

You were created for a purpose. You have things to do. 

Me. You?

 

ADONAI your God, who goes before

you, He Himself will fight for you—just

as He did for you in Egypt before your

own eyes, and in the wilderness,

where you saw how ADONAI your

God carried you as a man carries his

son, everywhere you went, until you

came to this place.

Deuteronomy 1:30

What Would You Pray?

 

Pulled before the kings of the Earth, the humble soul was asked to pray. 

"Yes, open this meeting in prayer," they pleaded. Their motives were unclear. Their expectations were hidden. A room full of the powerful, the weary, and the hopeless. What would you pray for presidents and kings? What would your words be for this fallen world? What would you say?

Humbleness

 

Humbleness is a word.

Devoid of arrogance and modest. That's what it means.

This is what I long to teach my young sisters.

Quiet.

Learn.

Listen.

You don't have to rush.

You don't have to do this

Or that.

You don't have to listen to them when they say you are not enough.

In fact, you should not.