Found my glasses!

Last night I found my glasses!!! They were put away in my little bedside box. I outsmarted myself! I am so happy I don't have to strain my eyes anymore!

Today, thanks to God for the motivation, I woke up and began memorizing Rom. 1:1-6. My friend Hh and I are memorizing Romans 1 together. Praise God for fellowship of a sister in Christ! It reads: "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ"

Energized from the verse, I went for a walk around Lake Nokomis after watering the tomato plants left under my care (1st of 14 days!! I can't forget!!). When I returned from my morning walk, I ate some raisin bran cereal and watched the news. 5.4 magnitude earthquake in Ca was the top story. I thought to myself, "nothing new under the sun... earthquakes in California." I leisurely finished and walked upstairs to take a shower and get ready for the day. I stopped to check my email and read some food for thought on biblical peacemaking:

"His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither..." said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." John 9:2-3

God uses conflict to stretch and challenge you in carefully tailored ways. This process is sometimes referred to as the "ABC of spiritual growth": Adversity Builds Character. As you worry less about going through conflict and focus more on growing through conflict, you will enhance that process and experience the incomparable blessing of being conformed to the likeness of Christ."

Taken from The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflictby Ken Sande, Updated Edition (Grand Rapids, Baker Books, 2003) p. 37

It is true that He will allow pain or adversity into our lives to help us grow to become more like Him. The next email was a message from a District Superintendent, regarding the Free Church in Marshall, MN.

"A collision between a car and van that occurred mid-afternoon Sunday in SW MN has claimed the life of Andy Wiersma, interim pastor of youth & college, and injured six students from the college ministry at Marshall EFC. Three students were airlifted to hospitals in Sioux Falls, and three others are in local hospitals. Pastor Don LeClere and his family (who were called back from what was to be a week of family vacation) is requesting prayer for these dear families and for the entire congregation at MEFC. Andy was to be installed next Sunday to the role of pastor of youth and college long-term. The occupants of the passenger car were not seriously injured. You may recall that this is the congregation that lost 12 year old Reed Stevens in the Cottonwood Bus Tragedy earlier this year (his 11 year old brother, Sawyer, is still recovering from serious injuries). Please uphold the victims and families, and our fellow servant, as they prayerfully depend upon the Lord to cope with these losses."

The Lord has been teaching me on suffering and the sovereignty of God. The question is how will people in the Marshall community look at this and respond? For some, this may be difficult to swallow; but for the man born blind said, "One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." John 9:25

May I, like Job, say, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21

Trip to Cali

People have been asking about my trip to California. Here are some picture highlights. I took a late night flight and was picked up by Jen who caught me up to date on her move to Hume Lake. I enjoyed a bed and breakfast at Nicole's and a life catchup and our conversation on spiritual things. The whole week was beautiful weather, and relaxing and replenishing down time. Before Tahoe, I celebrated with Jen for her upcoming wedding with a bachelorette weekend in Calistoga. The three days were filled with time poolside, wine tasting, window shopping, and a shower gift unwraping with a hilarious gum chewing game. We enjoyed eating a lunch at the Silverado Brewing Co., dinner out at Brannans Grill, and a breakfast at the enchanting Auberge Du Soleil.

Sunday, mom met me at the storage unit for me to grab my camping gear and I joined Patty and Kristen for the drive up to Sugar Point Campgrounds, Lake Tahoe for NorthCreek's Family Camp. I enjoyed some down time in the word, walks in the forest, soaking in the sun at the lakeside, and one afternoon I rode an innertube down the Truckee river. It was fun to see old faces and surprise them with my presence and, as ususal, enjoyed making new friends. There were many bear sightings, marshmellow roasting, and bug spraying over the layer of dirt on my clothes and toes (and accidently an eyeball or two! Warning: Deet melts toe nail polish... among other things). Chris, Lisa, and family gave me a ride back to the bay area and the last 24 hrs of my trip was spent with Mom and Dad and strategically loading up the Uhaul with the rest of my belongings. I flew home red eye (trick is to have a neck pillow) and they are taking a leisurely drive then across the US and should arrive in Minneapolis Thursday night and spend a little over a week visiting before they return enroute to Montana.

The whole weekend I was in a place of reliance on others' grace and hospitality. Boy, is it humbling. I must be very proud, because it was REALLY difficult. I am so thankful for the kindness shown to me.