even in sorrow, it is Good

Yesterday a story unfolded.  The main characters were Christy, Peter and their children.  I serve as the narrator, a fly on the wall watching and telling.

Setting:  Cornerstone congregation

Context: Every year on Memorial Day Sunday, Pastor honors high school graduates and those who have died.  In 2005, my family went up twice to light two candles: One for Mother and one for Robert.

Yesterday was Memorial Day Sunday, 2010.  Christy told Lindsay, Jordan and Allison to be ready to go up as a family to light Grandma Ruth's candle.  Christy's mother, Ruth Ainsworth, left this life for the next a few months ago.  But today she would be remembered among the gathered.

At the end of the service Pastor Roger began calling the families forward to light their candles.  "We thank God for the life of..."  One by one they were called forward.  Then I looked and there were no more unlit candles.  And shouldn't Grandma Ruth have been first with her "A" last name or are we proceeding chronologically as their deaths occurred during the calendar year?

Ruth Ainsworth was never named.  Her life was not remembered in the sanctuary.  Her candle remained unlit.

Christy, who had been crying throughout the service, was inconsolable.  Trying hard not to sob, her shoulders shook with disappointment and hurt.  "Hope deferred makes the heart sick."

Throughout, Peter was whispering to his Bride.  Then his arm came around her shoulders, firm and true.  Did Peter understand fully the sadness?  Would he have responded the same had his Mother been forgotten?  Was his empathy complete?  It does not matter.  His Bride was hurting.  That was enough.

I missed Robert.  Sundays found us on the third pew holding hands during the prayers.  Robert  encircled me in hard times and good, sickness and health until death parted.  

Peter's name means "Rock."  Indeed he is.  Robert means "One of much worth."  He was and he is.
Good men are alive and well among us.  I am grateful 

Jesus as therapist

It's an informative exercise to count how many times "me" and "I" appear in contemporary praise tunes.  Often they are simple songs that focus on Jesus meeting my needs.  Jesus as therapist.

The ancient hymns, on the other hand, made God and His Son the centerpiece.  Hymn writers of long-gone era knew that God in His almighty majesty, all-knowing pre-eminence and bedrock unwavering goodness were the focal points of worship.  God.  Not what He can do for me.  Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, Prince of Peace.

What God does for me is a byproduct of His immutable character of Love.  God is love, so He rescues me from certain destruction.  Like a treasure salvaged from a ship wreck, I am plucked.  And when He is finished, my value is all the more precious because of the ship wreck.  An ineffable mystery.

Let us worship

1. 
   
2. My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
   For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;
   My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
   If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
3. I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,
   And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree;
   I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
   If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
4. I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
   And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
   And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
   If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
5. In mansions of glory and endless delight,
   I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
   I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,
   If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

great thundering herds of Happiness

"If you knew what God knows about death," wrote George MacDonald, "you would clap your listless hands." 

Those who see in the dark

We must have them.  Those who see the unSeen.  The Invisible.  The ones who feel tears spilling when someone speaks of The Good.  The Right.  The True.  The Eternal.  The Invisible.  The Immutable.

SamWise Gamgee spoke of this in his "Lord of the Rings" soliloquy to Frodo:

Frodo: I can't do this, Sam.

Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?

Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.

There is something - or SomeOne - good at the core.  Goodness is worth salvaging.  In the midst of the murk, there is Goodness and  Truth and Virtue and Righteousness.  It is worth fighting for. It is worth crying for.  We need those who say, "Look!  Do you see?  'tis God in the midst."

Those near and Dear

Morgan J and Isaiah Robert warming the heart across the state.  Beautiful!

DAaron were at a wedding in Annapolis, MD recently.  The pre-nuptial festivities included a sailboat excursion the night before.  All hands on deck!

Celebration dinner

Noy's friends gathered at John Alexander's in Moorhead for drinks and dessert.  Gala affair

FarGO Marathon 2010

Joy ran the 1/2 - 13 miles - this weekend.  Terrific!!!  Her time was 2:09 which computes to 10 minute miles.  Thir-stinkin-teen of 'em, for cryin' outloud!
The Marathon winner's time was 2:21 which is 26 miles of running at a pace of almost 12 mph.  That's faster than I ride my bike on long distances.  Great balls a' lightning!

The hoopla event was a blast!  There was even a Scottish Pipe band.  Are you kiddin' me?  20,000 joggers accompanied by bagpipes.  Have we died and gone to Glory?!

May tradition

When the lilacs sprout, Good Neighbor sends me a photo.  This year he surprised me with my biking mug in the middle of the bloomin' bush.  Beautiful!  The flowers not the mug.  Thank you Larry!!!

Where are the Bros, Nathaniel?  Gabriel and Aaron?  Smokin' the stogy alone ~ unfortunate.

No worries, I'll be there next week for Joy's 1/2 marathon and we'll have a celebrative smoke after her run.  My preference is asparagus, so I'll bring my own.  Smokin' Green, I call it!!!

Kristi for Congress

Kristi Noem is a long-standing family friend and daughter of my ol' bud, Corinne Arnold.  Kristi's Uncle Ron cut her name "NOEM" into the lawn on his rider today.  I was at Corinney's on a bike pit stop during the picture-taking festivities.

Kristi's website is:  http://www.kristiforcongress.com/

Book Club

I just joined!  


http://www.lamplighterpublishing.com/

in my dreams Destination

Mohonk Mountain House and Preserve, New Paltz, NY


"If there was a place that was close to what the Garden of Eden was like, it is Mohonk!"
Mark Hamby, Lamplighter Publisher

Quote of the week ~ to make the heart ache with longing

All men and women hunger for God.  The hunger is masked and misinterpreted in many ways, but it is always there.  Everyone is on the verge of crying out "My Lord and my God!"

Eugene H. Peterson, Subversive Spirituality

Little man

Happy Mother's Day ~ every day

To Elissa, Mother of Morgan and Isaiah

To Grandma Marge ~ Robert's Mother

Danielley with HS friend, Beth, at Kristi K's wedding in Dallas.






Allison McKinney with her prom date, Jaren.  Yes, Allie created the lovely necklace.  The next generation of creative Domestics stepping up to the plate.

Three generations

the mom, the son and the grandson, Isaiah Robert

Quote of the week

"Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed."   G.K. Chesterton


With Gabriel and Elissa's parental permission, I'm going to read Fairy Tales to Morgan and Isaiah this weekend.  Don't try and stop me!  Pleeeeeeeease