A Yawn or a Gasp

I finished reading a Lori Wick fiction book yesterday. I used to scoff at fiction thinking it was only make believe and therefore had no real lasting information or value. What's in a story? Give me a good biography...something with meat in it so I can learn something. I guess I never gave a thought to the fact that the way Jesus got his point across was with an earthly story. That is the way I used to believe. Somewhere along the line of my life, I accidentally read a Christian fiction book. I began to understand that much can be learned from the spiritual depth of an author. Jan Karon taught me so much meaty stuff in the Mitford series. I've read several other authors whom my daughter and granddaughter introduce to me. When I say I have nothing to read...they pull a couple of books out of their hat and I read them.

While reading "Cassidy", I was introduce to the pastor in the little village of Token Creek. He was young and single but deeply spiritual for a man in his early twenties. In one of the sermons related in the story, he brought up the difference between a yawn and a gasp. In physical terms they are fairly similar....especially if one covers one's mouth as it happens. His question to the congregation was this, "When you read God's word or think on Him, do you yawn or gasp?" I thought on that for awhile. I will say that I have often gasped with awe at God as He revealed Himself to me....but I must confess that often when I hear the word read or read scripture, my attitude is one of a yawn.

It all has to do with whether or not we grasp the greatness of the God we serve. Revelations 15:4 says, "Who will not fear you O Lord and glorify your name. For you are holy, all nations will come and worship before you because you are HOLY". What we need to grasp is how big our God really is. The pastor in the fiction book says, "Are you grasping it yet? Are you getting it? A gasp or a yawn? We choose. There is nothing to yawn at here. He is too big for us to be wasting our time yawning. We serve a great and awesome God and that is what we need to grasp. We can't be wasting our time yawning."

I think of that in relationship to the presidential campaign. Let's gasp at His power and trust that He will put into office the person that fits in with His will. I can get very distressed with thoughts of what direction our nation would be headed if one of the two candidates gets in. God doesn't want me distressed....He wants me to stress His power and His greatness, yes, even over the culture and direction of this great nation.

Lord, my hand goes over my mouth and I gasp as I remember that you have all the nations and those that govern them in your control. Lord forgive the sins of your people and restore to this land a respect for You and your ways.

Computer Viruses and Old Ladies

Ken's laptop, which I use most often because it sets next to my recliner in the living room, was totally filled with viruses. It got so bad we couldn't even get on Microsoft word let alone the Internet. Our son is Mr Computer so I called him. When I explained the symptoms he said, "Sounds like your embedded with them." He was busy at the time but would call that evening.......we didn't get together on it until last night for various reasons. I am amazed at the fact that he can hack my computer and take control. I spent about three hours watching the cursor which was governed by Jay move this way and that way clicking this and that icon. He finally called and said he had good news and bad news......the good news was that he had most of it out but could not identify some of them. We had to buy a program to search for the hidden enemy. We were only to glad to know how to beat the thing. When we ran the scan it found over a thousand infected sites. Amazing. It was thrilling to see the cursor click over the "remove" button and all of them disappear. I felt pretty guilty to have my adult son give up three hours on an evening he should be spending with his family. Then I came to some realistic thoughts.....I suppose I have given him at least that much time. I certainly appreciated his help, otherwise this thing would be in a shop right now.

A little old lady came into Curves this morning and asked to be weighed and measured. While weighing her the owner asked her age. She said she was eighty two. The announcement was made....she had lost two pounds. Everyone there broke out in applause and "good jobs" were coming from all over the room. One could tell it had made her day. I watched her on the machines and thought, " I want to be like that when I'm eighty ". Good for her.

I think one of the reasons I like Curves is that I see women of all ages there. There are skinny young things and one wonders why they are there and then there are ladies like I saw this morning.....eighty two and not skinny but working at it and keeping herself strong. While I am not losing weight by going to Curves I sure am getting stronger. I still hate exercising but I do see results and it spurs me on. One day a tall, very skinny girl came in to work out. After she left, I asked the owner why she was coming to Curves. She said that the girl feels very weak and wants to increase her strength and endurance. How one looks doesn't tell the whole story.

Hurrah for Palin

In my world, Sarah Palin hit a home run last night with her speech at the NRC. She proved herself worthy of her new position as candidate for VP of the USA. She also challenged her(their) opponents in this race in clever, intelligent, humorous and wise ways. There were a few formidable zingers.

The most tender part of the broadcast on CNN was when the photographer panned over to Piper, youngest daughter of Palin who was holding baby Trig. Piper stroked Trig's hair several times and when it didn't go the way she wanted it to, she licked her hand and then smoothed it down with some homemade moisture. It was priceless and soooo human. I doubt there was any one of the millions watching that weren't brought to a smile or made to respond "awe....." That nearly brought tears to my eyes as this little girl who hasn't a clue she is being watched by the world, cradles and caresses her new little Downs Syndrome brother.

When I think of the dynamics of that family's recent experiences, I must say that if it were I who four months ago had a disabled child and my precious seventeen year old daughter revealed her untimely pregnancy.......I would still be reeling in defeat and licking my wounds. This woman called Sarah Palin, has not shrunk back from either of those painful hits and has taken on the world. On top of that, she has exposed her pain for all to see that she is no different than any other woman in the nation....she has her ups and her downs and she handles them with grace and courage. She is made of thicker skin than I. God bless her and her efforts on behalf of this nation. This nation that teeters between cultural philosophies that seem to be miles apart can learn much from this woman who knows how the average person lives and thinks.

Sarah Pilan

Sarah Palin

It's Sarah Palin's Night...Shut Up and Listen

Tonight Sarah Palin will reveal herself to the nation. I can't imagine the apprehension in her heart today. Every talk show on the sound waves has been sharing opinions about her experience or lack there of, her mothering abilities or lack thereof. The black mark on her mothering is her seventeen year old daughter's untimely pregnancy. This morning I watched the view. Whoppi Goldberg, Joy, Elizabeth and Barbara Walters. Poor Elizabeth is a lone conservative voice on the show. It seems the producers could find someone to make the philosophies more balanced. It was interesting to me that the three who are asking the most questions as to how Sarah Palin will pull off the tremendous responsibility of her possible office along side the family responsibilities are the three that each have one child, each have had more than one marriage and each has been a working woman all their lives. Each of them is a "women's libber" if you will. Suddenly, their hearts have been turned to the family and they are wondering about the wisdom of Sarah Palin leaving five children in the care of their father while she goes off to serve her country. The three women in question are all older than Sarah Palin and their children are now mature adults. Perhaps there is some regret leaking out....I don't know....just thought the whole conversation was extremely interesting.

I think Elizabeth made a good point when she brought out that other presidents and candidates were parents of children that made unwise choices. Somehow, the Kennedy's have survived enumerable run ins with the law and other fax pauxs by their offspring.....yet they continue to be revered by many in our country as being an upstanding family.

I agree that Sarah Palin's family responsibilities are huge. Five children is not an hour a day job. I also know that the people that need to be making the judgments here are Sarah and her husband. I, too, wonder how that family will function without the presence of their mother. But, I believe that the family has made the adjustments necessary already in terms of the fact that she has been a governor for two years and has had a pregnancy in the middle of it. Quite a feat.....

With what we know about Sarah Palin now, she is an incredible woman. I still say, I like her belief system......I see her as wholesome.....not perfect.....but striving. I look forward to knowing more about her. Hopefully, we will know more about her tonight. My advice to The View and others that know little more than I do about this person, "Shut up and listen".

May God be in control over her speech tonight, grant her the words to say and protect her from the monsters that would want to undo her on many counts.

Does a Virus Mean I'm Sick??

Late....but not forgotten....I had a busy morning. First of all, I had an interview with the assistant superintendent of schools for substitute teaching. That went well and I just hope I'm not busier than I want to be. As we said our goodbyes, the A S said, "hang on to your hat, Debbie will try to keep you busy." Ugh....not really what I wanted to hear. Two or three days a week is plenty. We will see.

Then I had a doctor's appointment. On Saturday night, I felt unsettled....extreme fatigue. Sleeping in the car during a trip is one of my favorite things to do and one of the most restful times of my life. On our trip home from Lafayette, I couldn't find rest. When I woke at three in the morning, I still felt horrible and wondered what was going on. I dragged to church and took care of my responsibility there. When we got home, I crawled into bed and stayed there the entire day. That night I slept fairly well. I don't recall exactly when I noticed it but a lesion appeared on my chest. Then I began to ache in the general vicinity. I knew what that was...I'd had them before. The dreaded shingles. I made it through yesterday in fine style but had trouble sleeping again last night. I decided to bite the bullet and go see my cute young Irish physician. He and his wife had their first girl, third child twelve days ago so he is now very busy (they are in a partnered practice together). I was told I couldn't get an appointment until next week. I told the receptionist my plight and she acquiesced. She could squeeze me in at 11:30.

My self diagnosis was correct. I also showed him a spot on my nose that has been an on again off again problem for some time. He froze that spot and hopes that will take care of it. So I killed two birds with one stone and am glad for it. The anti viral drug for the shingles is supposed to prevent further outbreak so I will hope it does its job. I'm to call him with any further problem. He is the sweetest young man and always makes me feel good when I go there.

Gustav?????

Gustav......threatening big time. It seems to me that there are so many more natural disasters lately. If it isn't a hurricane, a cyclone, tornado, fire, flood, earthquake.......it is something else. One hears talk about the warnings these are that the end times are near. When I add the lawlessness we see in our culture and the other cultures in the world....I must say I'm quite convinced we are in the end times.....but then....Jesus and Paul also spoke as if the end time was near when they were alive. We do know from the Word that all of creation groans for Christ to return and redeem it......we, too, groan for the Son of Man to come upon the clouds of heaven and take us away from all the pain and destruction we see all around us. One interesting blog I read regarding the end time question was worthy of note;


"There are connections between the judgment of God and natural disasters, but we may not know for sure how God might be working through any given event with our limited knowledge, and there's no reason to think that a particular concentration of natural disasters is anything special even if it were true that there is a greater concentration of natural disasters rather than just an overworked media network that now simply reports on these things far more than it did. Given the cyclic nature of hurricanes, with low cycles and high cycles, we have no reason to conclude anything special is going on at all."

Matthew 24 and Luke 21 report what Jesus had to say about all these things. As I read those passages this morning, it jumped out at me again that Jesus tells us that NO ONE knows the time or the hour....not even the Son Himself...only the Father knows. The important thing is to be alert and ready....to warn those that are not interested.

Is it not true that the media hypes all these things up....of course they are crucial and emergency situations. It makes one very unsettled to think the same people that endured Katrina and the devastation of that terrible storm could be standing as sitting ducks for yet another strong hurricane. But, really, CNN.....what can be the purpose of reporting all night long when the evacuation is as complete as it is going to be and the storm is still a long way off?

My prayer is that God will protect lives and yes, even properties for the sake of the people in the region. If there is something we need to learn from another big storm.....God gives us the eyes to see it. Our comfort is in the following verse from Luke 21....

27-28"And then—then!—they'll see the Son of Man welcomed in grand style—a glorious welcome! When all this starts to happen, up on your feet. Stand tall with your heads high. Help is on the way!"