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Here is a rerun, but it was a defining moment in my life, a lesson from God concerning my propensity to focus on crisis rather than joy.

For many years my husband and I delivered brand new school buses across the nation. It was a second job, but we both longed to be a globetrotters and the added income allowed our little family to stay on the go.   We are grateful for the experiences but they were not without occasional drama. 

Also, I am afraid of everything! But I am most afraid of drowning.  This terror began in my childhood with nightmares and continues to this day. If my rubber ducky and I can’t touch bottom we don’t get in!  I avoid lakes, rivers, boats, bridges, dams, levies……  did I mention bridges?

One Friday, Keith and I picked up two new buses in Conway, Arkansas and began a long drive to Marshalltown, Iowa intending to arrive just after sunrise.  Our journey would take us up Highway 65 through the town of Waverly, Missouri, a beautiful little community along the Missouri River. The bridge there was ancient, narrow and at the end of a winding trek down a bluff carved out by old man river’s journey to the sea.  I dreaded the bridge.  Her rusting steal held a crumbling pavement. I could hug the remnants of a white line and focus on the water raging below, or fight with oncoming traffic for my share of the yellow line.  It was treacherous in a normal vehicle and I was driving a bus!

God blessed us with a beautiful night to drive. The sky was clear, the air cool and crisp but as we neared the river crossing I saw a fog bank.  I was frightened, and irritated that God would put such an unnecessary obstacle in my path.  Stopping was not an option so the miles crept by and I inched closer to my nemesis, the crumbing span across the wide Missouri. But on this night, the road remained wide and smooth.  We were on a new by-pass around town headed toward a recently completed concrete bridge! Whew! It was a miracle! But I still saw the fog and worried about the peril it threatened!

Bus number one kept on trucking, bold and brave through the night, so I followed, trembling and grumping. Suddenly the fog became white light flashing in the night, then transformed into a rainbow of dancing beams. I was witnessing the Aurora Borealis, God’s own artwork, momentarily painted upon earth’s atmosphereI We stopped our buses and stood in the chilly night, amazed at God’s magnificent handiwork.

So many times life drags me forward kicking and screaming when I could embrace God’s woven wonder, beauty and blessings. The fog I thought I was seeing was actually the beginning of God’s celestial light show. Had I stopped moving forward, I would have missed it!

I have no authority to counsel anyone on overcoming fear, but I can certainly tell you that God doesn’t tease us with His bounty.  He is not a circus clown with a lapel flower squirting water in a face bent to smell the roses.  He does not hide His gifts to us under walnut shells that are ever moving and shifting, leaving us with barely any hope of finding them. Yet we act like He does have these wicked intents.  I assure you He does NOT.  God is good, loving and kind, so just keep trucking.

Love,

Gretchen

 

And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.  I Samuel 8:7

Samual, a devout servant of God and spiritual leader of Israel, was growing old and his sons were not upright men. Israel wanted no part of weak leadership, but they lost sight of their call to  have only one ruler for all ages, God.  Instead they looked around and saw other nations of strength and gave credit to their earthly kings. Israel asked Samual to name a king before he died.

One man being totally subordinate to another, voiding all free will and civil rights, is never a healthy relationship. God did not want this for Israel and warned them of the entrapments that would follow, but He chose to give them what they asked for.

Israel’s request for a king reverberated as a rejections of Samuel’s work. God comforted Samuel with the words above. Long before Samuel, or any man, felt the pain of someone’s sin, that sin has already grieved our Heavenly Father. God has judged it and ruled with perfect justice. Pain IS very personal, as are our reactions. BUT, know that God is profoundly aware of all you suffer, in a more intimate manner than you can ever comprehend. Find power in laying your hurts before Him, as a sacrifice of faith, for He alone can unravel the mess and set things right again.

Love,

Gretchen

So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only. I Samuel 7:4 (Chapters 4-7)

The power of Israel’s God was known far and wide since the days of the Egyptian plagues, but the Israelites were suffering defeat in battle against the pagan Philistines.  In answer to their defeats, they devised a plan to carry the most sacred thing they had in front of their army as they went into battle. They degraded the Ark of the Covenant to the status of talisman. Instead of victory, Eli, his two sons, and a daughter-in-law died, along with thousands of other Israelites, and the Ark was captured. Israel was left in complete devastation.

The Philistines took the Ark as a war trophy and presented it before their own god, Dagon. God is not an inanimate object that accompanies bragging rights. Dagon is found face down (an appropriate posture of worship) before the Ark the morning after the ceremony.  On the second night, Dagon is dismembered in the manner of a subdued king. (No question about who is God and who is not!) The Ark was removed and relocated, but death and disease followed.

In desperation, the Philistines return the Ark to Israel with a guilt offering and Samuel leads the nation in sacrifice, worship and repentance. Israel responds and rids themself of the Canaanite gods, returning to obedience and fear of the LORD. But the Philistines threaten Israel’s resolve. God uses the occasion to show just what He will do for those who remain faithful. The Philistines were defeated. (7:7-11)

One of my favorite events is Samuel’s raising of an altar, Ebenezer, stone of help, a place to remind the faithful of what God had done so far and affirm that He will response to their righteousness in the future.  If you’re looking for a new landscaping idea, an Ebenezer is a good one.

Love,

Gretchen

“Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by Him deeds are weighed.” I Samuel 2:3 (Chapter 1-3)

Hannah was the barren wife of Elkanah. She prayed for a child with the promise that her firstborn would be given to the LORD. Eli, the high priest blessed her and she conceived. The child, Samuel, was taken to the Tabernacle at Shiloh, while still a toddler, and there he grew to be one of Biblical history’s most noble men. Eli’s own two sons were so wicked they were killed in a single day and left the house of Eli cursed for all time. Eli was held accountable for knowing and ignoring their behavior.

Samuel came to be Israel’s last and greatest judge and the first great prophet after Moses. His story reveals, again and again, God’s divine ability to see mankind with complete transparency. There are no secrets from the One who created us. God knows each heart.

The verse above is part of Hannah’s song of praise for the gift of her blessed son.  She recounts the wonder of God’s character. Her emptiness, misery, and shame are replaced with life, joy and honor and what God can do for one woman, He can do for all men.

Love,

Gretchen

In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.  Judges 21:25 (Chapters 17-21)

These last five chapters of the era of judges tell of lawlessness and total abandonment of God’s law. Even the Levites left the service of the tabernacle and entered into a low state of religion and morality. There are no heroes mentioned.

There has now been a total breakdown of leadership and guidance among God’s people .They became a law unto themselves, setting their own standard of permissiveness and attempting to exploit the blessing of God.  God is not to be toyed with.  He will not allow the good He has given to be used against others for self glorification.

When leadership broke down, man’s desire replaced the relevance of God’s initiatives. The Israelites assimilated themselves to the people of Canaan, something God warned against, and the tribal unity of Israel disintegrated. Again and again, Israel depended on God to comply to their behavior. God is totally free from man’s demands. He hears us when we humble ourselves and acknowledge that He alone is creator of all things and alone, He is worthy of worship and praise.

Have a beautiful day,

Gretchen

Then Samson prayed to the LORD, “O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.”  Judges 16:28 (Chapters 13-16)

Samson was a maverick judge, set apart by God from the moment of his conception.  But, his story is one of dysfunctional relationships with pagan women and revenge against his enemies.  He was given great power to conquer the Philistine oppressors of Israel, but by his reckless and disrespectful behavior, he lost his power and connection to God.

This man that could slay lions barehanded and catch foxes, tie their tails together and light them on fire to avenge a wrong then kill 1,000 men with the jawbone of a donkey, was brought to total enslavement when his eyes were gouged out and he was harnessed to a prison mill like an animal. All because his carnal instincts drove him instead of God.

The Philistines were an advanced civilization along the Mediterranean Sea and were moving inland by means of infiltration rather than war. They worshiped the god Dagon. Samson was brought up from his pit as part of an entertainment in Dagon’s temple. As his last earthly act, he cried out to God to return his strength and he pushed the temple’s columns down killing himself and thousands of others.

Over and over, Israel tried to use God for their own ends, instead of being a truly covenant nation with God as their sovereign. It is only by acknowledging God and His choices and values that He acts. Trying to control the Creator of the universes is folly. It is in submission that we gain everything.

Love,

Gretchen

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Were you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Ruth 1:16

In the time of the judges, a man from Bethlehem named Elimelech relocated his family due to a famine.  While in a foreign country, his two sons married Moabite women. Over time Elimelech and both his sons died, leaving three widows, one old and two young.  The mother-in-law, Naomi, decided to return to her home, Bethlehem, and encouraged the young women to go back to their own mother’s houses.  One did, but Ruth chose Naomi and her God.

The beautiful love story is only four chapters long and I strongly encourage each of you to read it in full. Together, Naomi and Ruth forged a new life among Naomi’s kinsmen.  An upright man of integrity, Boaz, becomes Ruth kinsmen redeemer. This means that he totally freed Ruth from any earthly obligation or another’s claim to her, so that he could make her his own, his wife. 

As a bit of significant trivia, Boaz was the son of Rahab, the prostitute from Jericho, and he became the grandfather of Jesse, who was the father of King David.

Two women of non-Jewish heritage stepped out in faith. How do we offer our highest praise to the One who gives us everything? We move forward in blind faith, knowing He created us for His purpose and will use us for the Glory of His Kingdom.

Love,

Gretchen

The rolling hills we call home were once dotted with dairy farms and holstein herds. They have mostly disappeared now, but are a very pertinent part of the past, so also, an investment in today. Years ago, local farmers depended on a workforce of high school kids to manpower their industry.  As a teen, Keith would awaken in the wee hours of the morning to bring up cows for milking, feed calves and summer days were spent in fields of hay and silage. The labors of youth left happy memories of friends and their antics.

Marriage took Keith and I away from our hometown for a brief period of time, but a teaching job brought us back again. To fill in the financial gaps that occur for young couples, Keith returned to the hay fields and diary barn of a local farmer. We drove by the farm one Sunday evening after a day of sunshine and Keith noticed the cows had not been milked and the weekend crew was no where to be found. This lapse in routine spells disaster for production and the health of the cows. We turned around, went back, and I was introduced to the wide, wild world of holding pens and tractors.

From the start, I made it clear I wasn’t going near the business end of a cow, so I manned the grain and the gates. The feed bins were full, and the cows content. Things went smoothly, but the end of the milking process didn’t complete the work. Keith asked me to clean the milk room while he delivered hay to the pasture. I am one, mean, cleaning machine. Here was an opportunity to prove my worth as a country girl. He connected the sanitizer, water hoses and compressor, handed it to me and left. I began spraying the walls and stalls from ceiling to floor toward the drains. It seemed as though I was holding a mini fire hose and my arms began to cramp and tire. I thought I would rest a minute, so I bent and laid the nozzle down. Immediately the hose took a life of its own and went flying through the air. I ducked, hid and watched in chagrin as soap, water and manure rained down. I had no idea how Keith turned on the machines, so I could not turn them off, but I realized I could go to the point of origin at the wall and begin inching my way, step by step, to the the vicious spout and capture it.

Keith returned about the time I tackled my nemesis and witnessed a much bigger mess than he left, including a wife dripping in H2O and other stuff. He was shocked and I embarrassed, but soon we were both laughing at my pitiful predicament.

It was obvious I needed more knowledge than I had to competently be of help. I didn’t win Country Girl of the Year, that day. The next time I washed the barn, I turned on all the equipment myself. I also took a look at the holding pen when it wasn’t filled with cows, as I had previously stepped off of the edge of a concrete ramp and into a knee deep hole that filled my rubber boots with bovine waste matter. And! I made a mental map in the daylight so I could find my way in the dark.

How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver! Proverbs 16:16

Knowledge is the most valuable thing you will ever acquire. Wisdom is knowledge at its best. Learning is always time well spent, so relax and rejoice in the growing process, even when it stinks.

Celebrating Cleanliness and Lessons Learned,

Gretchen

Thus, God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. Judges 9:56 (Chapters 9-12)

The era of the Judges is a time of spiritual decline, but two things are obvious.  1.The stories record failures and weaknesses in brutal honesty. 2.Their presence does not condone or glorify any behavior, but shows that God never turns a deaf ear to a cry for help.

Dynasties are not what God ordains. Gideon refused a kingship, but his son Abimelech felt entitled to such status so much that he had his brothers (all 70) murdered. God did not choose him, he chose himself and through manipulation, found a following. Things didn’t end well. During a siege, a woman dropped a millstone on Abimelech’s head, but he didn’t want to die at the hands of a woman so he had his servant run him through with a sword.

For his wickedness God repaid Abimelech with shame and death. God and justice will have the last word every time!

Happy Weekend,

Gretchen

But Gideon told them “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.” Judges 8:23 (Chapters 6-8)

The Israelites were plagued by marauders.  The Midianites came at harvest time, raiding the fields and herds. The men of Israel had taken to hiding in caves and threshing their meager gatherings in hidden pits. During this time of duress, they sought God’s power. God chose Gideon to be Israel’s mighty warrior.

When called, Gideon was so sure God was mistaken, that he asked for strong signs of confirmation. Having his faith settled, God directed Gideon to reduce his amassed army and take only 300 men, so that all would know it was by God’s authority victory was won. With torches hidden in jars and carrying trumpets, Gideon’s forces attacked their enemy in the pitch black of night, creating a chaos in which the enemy self destructed. The land enjoyed peace for the next 40 years (Gideon’s generation.)

The story of Gideon is not one of charismatic leadership, but rather, the divine intervention of God on behalf of those who trust Him. Gideon was the last person Israel would have chosen for their hero, but God did the choosing. The simple secret to prosperity, aka, peace: Boldly trust God.

Love,

Gretchen