Trusts & Living Will

Today was the day to let it be known, and notarized, how we want to be cared for in the event we cannot care for ourselves. The power of the Health Care Agent can be broad. The specifics of responsibility can be cumbersome and overwhelming.

One simple directive I can impose is the requirement to ride in the ambulance with me. The other directives carry much more weight. My agent should also remember the conversations we’ve had over the years. They should think about my beliefs, values, my personality, and how I handled medical and other important issues in the past.

Then there’s the decision I must make at this time. When does this agent actually have the power. Immediately or when the doctor declares I am unable to make an informed decision. Then there’s the dilemma that comes with actually making the decision to choose living or dying. If the doctors certify that my death is imminent; what do I want?

Well, I am still pondering that thought. After months of research on spiritual neurology, near death experiences, and the recent observation from fMRI that there is a region for spiritual awareness in the brain, I may have some doubt in the doctors idea of imminent death.

The scientific evidence of the human soul is trending in the world of neuroscience. Science has caught up to Biblical guidance that tells us this place is not our home and our soul is immortal.

The wisdom and knowledge of the Bible has been trending far longer than the use of the fMRI. The discoveries through brain scans is far less telling than walking with the Lord through the Holy Spirit.

When you know, you know. The Lord’s word has guided me in peace and it is his words that light up the brain images with heightened blood flow. It is his word that the science is now recognizing as all powerful. It is his word that gives me strength, it is his word that takes away anxiety, guided by the Holy Spirit.

May I continue to light up my brain with the joy of the Lord, and may the scientist continue to believe they have discovered whats been there all along… we are spiritual beings encased in the human body to love others as God loved us.

As we prepare our Trusts and Living Will, May I continue to trust in the Lord above and do his will for eternity.

Always grateful,

My Life is Football!!! (repost)

Sad to say, the Commanders are not looking as sweet as they did this time last year. But, you are still here! May you continue to press on through every season of life.

With great anticipation, I sat with my husband to watch the Commanders play. Will it be a win or will it be a week of looking back with frustration. It is definitely a WIN!!!

The quarters of life is like football. First quarter childhood– all the experience that determine who I am and the foundation of who I will become. The nurturing, the care, the bonding that takes place, and determining who that go-to person is for me. The 2nd quarter, puberty, is a beast. All the flags, some red and some yellow but all leading to lessons learned and what not to do. The 3rd quarter, life, is about pressing on through all the obstacles. It’s not always the touchdown and scoring big. It’s the field goals along the way that keep me in the game. The 4th quarter, eternity, is when it seems like its all over, time has run out. The clock is at 00.00 and boom- touchdown!!! The winning play that will be in the books and film over eternity.

I hope your life is like football. It’s the fourth quarter that matters. Take a look back at your game of life through all the quarters. You are still here!!!

What ever childhood experiences, be they good or bad- you are still in the game. The warning flags of puberty, some lessons that you dare not share. You are still in the game!!! The life experiences that you may wish were different. You are still in the game!!!

And when the 4th quarter comes and the clock is at 00.00 you are still in the game!!! There’s a line in the movie, Deep Impact, uttered by Morgan Freeman to Téa Leoni, the reporter that thinks she has a big story to expose. “It might seem that we have each other over the same barrel, Ms. Lerner, but it just seems that way.”

The 4th quarter of life may seem like we’re over a barrel and time has run out. But Christ demonstrated, it just seems like it. There is eternity with Christ. Press on- You are still in the game for eternity!

Always grateful,

Bird-in-Hand and The Ventriloquist

Fall is the season for long country drives. Last weekend we took an impromptu drive that landed us in Bird-in-Hand, PA. A small town filled with Amish persuasion of plentiful meals, beautiful craftsmanship, quiet peace; all with crowds of tourist.

We spent the three hours waiting for the ventriloquist show walking through the markets, watching a hot air balloon take off, and talking to Pam, a lovely women making her way back home. The chance meeting with Pam highlights the peace of Bird-in-Hand as we sat at the counter sipping coffee and eating fudge we purchased from Uncle Leroy.

Ryan & Friends: Lifetime of Laughter was the last show of the season. This was a laugh out loud performance of one man and his cast of friends. Jeffrey, the witty 8 year old that exemplifies his quick wit in his response to being called a dummy by stating he prefers to be called a “wooden American”. During this show, I also learned all those horse droppings on the road has the euphemism known as road apples.

The biggest take-away was the art and skill known by ventriloquist as throwing your voice. Its the illusion that makes a voice seem to come from another location. The skill plays well when we get lost in the voice of the puppet as a very real person.

Here’s a quick short. Give it a try-you may find it fun.

I have tried throwing my voice. At times it works well and at times my voice falls short. I have tried to throw my voice with those close to me and it comes back as an reverberating echo. I have learned sometimes it best to be the close up ventriloquist where I am up close, honest, and vulnerable.

I am grateful for a God that acts as my ventriloquist through the Holy Spirit. He is close up and throws his voice to speak for me when I can not muster the words to say. The book of Jude was a great study that has convicted me to hold my tongue when needed and allow the Lord to speak for me. I rest in the promise of Jude 24-26, ” Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen”

May I be called, not a dummy, not a puppet, not a wooden American, but a child of the almighty. A bird in the hand of God who throws his voice to me, close up and in the distant.

Always grateful,

Have you cleaned your screens lately?

It’s a very relaxing two weeks on stay-cation.

Week one was filled with the sounds of children visiting us grandparents. It was filled with drive time to and from camp. It included game time playing, Flip 7, Scrabble, & Monopoly Cards. It included sitting around the fire pit roasting hotdogs and playing childhood memory games. It included a relay race in the yard, a game of catch, and a few minutes on the rotating swing hanging from a tree. It included the gracious gift of a daughter-in-love weeding my garden and digging up plants and moving them to create beautiful symmetry as you walk to the front door.

Week two returned to a quiet home with a mind battling the idea of rest. There is this true resistance to rest. Throughout the day the thought would return, you should post something, you should write something, you should check messages, you should… But I resisted and retreated to read a book, listen to a sermon, enjoy the music of birds singing, and the sound of rain hitting the roof during a major storm.

Then came Thursday. It was a day in the community of others that gathered to celebrate the life of a dear friend. A man that lived his life to the fullest, a man as others would say, sprinted through life and touched everyone in a meaningful way.

Then came Friday, July 4, Independence day for the US. Rest time was over. It was a day to get back in the groove of life, to get back to the tasks at hand, to get back to reflecting on the must dos on the assignment and the opportunities put before me.

One of the task on that list of things to do was clean the windows. As I was cleaning the windows, a rare thought popped into my head- you should clean the screens too. The idea that screens should also be cleaned entered my mind years ago from the movie, My Cousin Vinny.

I pulled the reusable paper towels I purchased from the Walmart clearance isle and a scrub brush and cleaned the screens. There was more dirt on that reusable paper towel than I wish to capture with a picture but it was nowhere near the filth pictured on the photos from the scene in My Cousin Vinny.

It felt good to be back on task! It was fun and relaxing for me to walk through the house and look through the windows beyond the very clean screens and see all there is just outside my doors. Although the fingerprints of children are no longer on the windows, the memory of time spent lingers on.

Just outside my window, I can see clearly all the things the Lord has created. I can see all the life that exist just outside my door. I can see all the Lord is calling me to do. There are many assignments I have been given in this life- daughter, wife, mother, grandparent, friend, confidant, and disciple. While competing in a Bobsled race is not one of my assignments, I am willing to go where the Lord sends me to do his will.

I end this week referencing a song I sang as a child. The movie clips from Cool Runnings exemplifies removing the dirt of the screens I put on throughout my life so I can see clearly all the obstacles ( as a child I would sing all the ice sickles) in my way.

As Paul testifies in Philippians 3:13-14, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Pressing on…

Always grateful,

Compromise?

Have you been compromised lately?

In the last post, An Inventory of Things, I came to realize all the things from the past are recorded in the books or stored somewhere on this earth.

These past two weeks have brought me very fond memories. Some experiences brought joy and others that resonate as sadness. We received wonderful news of a friend receiving a new heart and we received news of a friend who no longer walks on this earth.

These two life events is a realization that we all sit in the middle of life and death. How I walk and live my life can be a compromising journey of living by my values or living to please others. Both have their moments of finding peace in a given situation.

In the last post, I also shared the how the book Ezra opened my mind to the realization that there is a record of all my thoughts, my actions, and my deeds.

As I finished the reading of Ezra this week, I again realize that I can easily compromise my values to make someone else feel comfortable. It may show up as a simple favor or sitting quietly to words that need a rebuke.

It is my continued hope and prayer, like Ezra, that I do not grieve God or the Holy Spirit by being too timid when I should be bold, or too quiet when I should speak out against a wrong. In all these situations, I am always grateful for a God that does not change, for a God that loves me unconditionally, and for a God that waits patiently for repentance.

Glory to a God that does not compromise in his truth, in his ways, or in his love.

To all those that have been given the opportunity for new life and to those that have passed on, let it be said we serve an awesome God.

Always grateful,