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My engagement ring had a four speed stick, with granny low transmission.  It was a 1974 International Scout and had recent exterior and interior work done in the Rooney Backyard Bodyshop.

Keith and I have had a nontraditional relationship from the beginning.  We never ‘dated.’ We just happened to end up in the same place at the same time…….a lot. It was an evening in the spring of 1984 when Keith made the statement, “I just always thought we’d fall in love someday and get married.” I responded, “Why don’t we.”  Even without an official proposal and acceptance, the rest is history!

We were crazy poor. However, our wedding day was nearing and the time came to purchase a wedding set, so Keith and I headed in the direction of Little Rock’s McCain Mall to find glittering tokens of our dreamy love. We were merrily on our way, me in the middle of the seat with my arm tucked under Keith’s, our fingers locked together. The motor was humming along with the radio when I asked Keith, “Do you smell something burning?” and he said, “Who’s tire is that?” Seconds later our left rear fender hit the pavement, throwing up sparks, shaking the steering wheel and the two passengers. All our questions were answered as we watched an axel, with a back left tire still attached, cross in front of us three times and finally come to a rest in a nearby lake.

The soon to be Mr. and Mrs. needed a dependable means of transportation far more than they needed dazzling diamonds, and so, we borrowed a friend’s truck and trailer, hauled our beloved four wheel drive back to the his dad’s garage and spent our meager savings on car parts.

I was disappointed. It was the season of my life when all my friends were finding their “Happily Ever Afters” complete with bended knee and sparkling stones. The object of my affection though, was a handsome young man with dancing blue eyes and a larger than life optimism and that made the absence of an engagement ring just fine.

Today, as I was cleaning our little home, I noticed a chair that had a wing nut loose and wondered why life had to be so high maintenance. After quietly laughing at such a self-absorbed thought, I reflected and grew more thankful that the world I chose is quite simple and filled with more laughter than tears.

You can probably guess the rest of this story. Many of those romantic proposals and grand weddings ended with brokenness and sorrow. But Keith and I still have a perpetual adventure guessing, waiting and watching for the excitement and blessings tomorrow will give. And yes, I have a diamond on my left hand……but it is very small, as the lovely one I received several years ago got lost…….probably somewhere out climbing mountains or flying over the deep blue sea.

Better a little with the fear of the LORD that great wealth with turmoil. Proverbs 15:16

Wishing You a Simple Sabbath,

Gretchen

When Abraham was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.” Genesis 17:1 (Chapter 17)

God’s promissory covenant with Abraham in chapter 15 verse 18 was unconditional, but the covenant of circumcision is dependent on man’s obedience. Circumcision was a physical sign to the reality of all God’s promises and obedience to God by His people. In this narrative there is the gathering of a multi-racial household into one covenant. Through circumcision, those not related to Abraham joined in kinship with him.

The blessing of all nations began with this one. In ancient times a landed family wrote precise records of offspring and lineage. This was proof of ownership, their heritage. Abraham’s blessing did not come from his earthly father.  He was called to leave his home and go into a strange place and there, God would make him the father of a new and great nation.

Humanity repeatedly sorts itself out according to physical attributes and geography.  I am not minimizing the covenant of circumcision, but the greater part of this relationship between God and man is obedience, not branches on the family tree, validated by race. To share in the Body/Family of God our Father, we must share in each other, first through obedience to God and then love for one another.

Have a Wonderful Week End,

Gretchen

The angel of the LORD also said to her, “You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery.” Genesis 16:11 (Genesis 12-16)

Abraham was born in the city, but God call him into the country of Canaan. The area was stricken with drought so Abraham, Sarai and his nephew Lot, went into Egypt, but first he asked his wife/half sister Sarai to disguise the fact that they were husband and wife, as Sarai was amazingly beautiful, thus putting Abraham’s life in jeopardy. Sure enough, Pharaoh took her into his palace and gave Abraham gifts. Immediately plagues fell on this royal house and Abraham and Sarai were sent on their way. Having grown wealthier over time, Abraham and Lot had to separate because their vast live stock made living together too difficult. Given the choice of land, Lot took his portion from along the Jordan valley, but got caught up in a war between local kings and was taken prisoner.  Abraham went and rescued him. 

Sarai, Abraham’s wife was barren.  Although God made a promise that his offspring would be like the dust on the earth, Abraham and Sarai had grown old and they were beginning to lose sight of God’s promised blessing.  Hagar was a servant that probably came into their household when Pharaoh gave Abraham servants and cattle as compensation for having taken Sarai into his harem. Sarai gave Hagar to Abraham so that he could conceive a child with her and carry on his family line.  It was a short walk to bitterness for Sarai, and dissonance and discontent fell on everyone.  Hagar ran away, but was ordered to return with God’s peace. She gave birth to Ismael who became the patriarch of the Arab people.

Hagar, an Egyptian, came to Abraham’s household because of the lie about his kinship to Sarai and Ismael is the result of Sarai’s impatience with God’s will and timing. 

God explicitly, through the act of covenant making, laid out His promise to Abraham and Sarai and they still took matters into their own hands. It didn’t go well. But God is faithful and He will do what He promised He would do. He is worthy of our unquestioning trust, love and adoration.

Have a great Friday,

Gretchen

Then they said, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth. Genesis 11:3-4 (Genesis 9:18 through chapter 11)

These chapters are the genealogies from Noah to Abraham.  In the middle of this ancestry is the story of Babel. 

Noah’s ark settled on top of Mr. Ararat, some 500 hundred miles from its origin.  After Noah and his sons disembarked, they gradually returned to the land of Babylonia, long known as “Land of Nimrod. Nimrod was a powerful, warrior leader and built two cities, Babylon and Nineveh. 100 years after the flood, man is firmly entrenched in their rebellion once again.  Determined to worship themselves, pride was the driving force.  God said to fill the earth, but the people of Babylon want to remain in one place and become powerful.

This attempt to build a tower to the clouds was the foundation of a greater sin against God.  These men have set themselves up to go knocking at heaven’s door so that they can meet their gods on equal terms. Some say they built the pyramid like tower for worship, others believe they sought to become godlike.  God is God and this is not acceptable. He separated them, making it impossible to create a conversation, much less a megapolis. These citizens, at the center of the known world, separated according to their languages and went their merry way. The skyscraper remained forever unfinished.

Babylon is synonymous with the world’s greatest evil and wickedness, but many times God used this nation to accomplish His greater purpose.

God’s love for man perpetuates His every act. Our response should be reckless, abandoned  obedience and unrestrained worship and joy. There is judgement and consequence for sin, but it is not fate of those who choose to follow The One True God.

Have a Great Thursday,

Gretchen

Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.  Genesis 5:24 (Genesis chapters 5-9)

In five chapters we have seen ten generations of man come and go. It is an important line of decent.  Enoch was the father of Methuselah, who holds the world’s record for longevity (969 years). He was also Noah’s human connection to the Garden of Eden. Man’s image was now marred, mankind had become abominable in God’s eyes. Enoch and his son’s life times overlapped Adam and Methuselah was a contemporary of Noah. Through Enoch and Methuselah, Noah had a direct human connection to Adam. Methuselah died the year of the flood.

Even with the righteousness of Enoch and Noah, God acted in judgement against man and destruction was let loose. In his act of meticulous obedience, Noah became the source of survival for all living things.  God makes a covenant with Noah that extended to all humanity. In the rainbow we have the promise that complete annihilation by flood will never happen again. God also restates that man is created in His image and murder will not be tolerated.

Noah and Enoch are men that are remembered for following and honoring the One True God.  Their obedience was faith based and God’s response was deliverance.  Enoch did not die, but was ‘taken away’, and Noah lived while all the humanity perished.

Faith Matters!

Gretchen

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?  But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it. Genesis 4:7  (Genesis chapters 3 & 4)

The serpant, crafty as he was/is, brought into question the goodness of God.  Does God really have our best interest at heart? Or is He just being a tormenting, lying bully?  Satan was successful and brought sin, pain, toil and death to mankind. Creation was reversed, harmony disrupted. With banishment from the garden, Adam and Eve were cut off from ‘the tree of life’. Without God’s intervention, immediate separation for all eternity was man’s fate.

Cain, brought a sacrifice to God, but something about this act of worship didn’t ring true.  The sin in Cain’s heart became the sin in Cain’s action and his offering was rejected. He is reminded of God’s omnipotent knowledge and authority, and implored to resist rebellion and simply obey. 

The Bible story reveals over and over that God’s plan is Grace and Mercy and the restoration of man to the likeness of God. Sin has come, but it’s not the end of the story by any means! Man’s natural state is driven to self centered behavior, but God calls us to choose obedience. It is not impossible, but a choice, a very, very important, deliberate choice.

Love,

Gretchen

The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.  Genesis 2:7  (Genesis chapters 1& 2)

The primitive cultures that came about after man’s sin all have creation myths, attempts to explain the unexplainable.  They each involve conflict and struggle.  God’s creative act is voluntary, effortless and rational. There was nothing and then there was every thing. His proclamation that “It is good,” confirms God’s active participation in the beginning and his will to perpetuate of all living things and the home that provides for them.

It was man that God ‘breathed’ into existence.  He spoke and created all other things, but took something of Himself and gave us life and identity.  We consider ourselves His crowning creations, but consider instead that Adam was placed in the garden as its caretaker, then God ordained the seventh day, a sabbath, to establish a specific time of Holy, single minded communion between Creator and created, with no other distractions.  God designed us to rest and restore by means of appropriate communion and worship.

Many times throughout the Story of God and His love for us, creation is referenced to show God’s authority and ability to keep order in a world turned chaotic by sin. If God can order the universe and speak things into being, then He can handle the issues that weigh us down. The world around may have the appearance of ‘coming from together,’ but God is faithful, able and willing to exert His loving authority to keep you in perfect peace.

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:26

Trust Him, it works every time.

Love,

Gretchen

Keith Rooney is known for his resistance to boundaries.  He pushes them, challenges them, constantly stretches, bends or expands them. It’s both frustrating and endearing and even as I remember staring over cliffs on narrow mountain climbs, thinking this may be my last day on earth because I chose to accompany him, I still love hearing his action packed stories of fun and adventure that began it all.

At twelve years old Keith was the proud owner of a 1975 Honda XL250 motorcycle.  He was given instructions on how, when and where he could ride.  The purchased helmet was a must at all times. Mother insisted! A little ways from the backyard was an old pond bed. It was off limits. Father insisted! The former reservoir, no matter how small, was an amazing place for an imaginative boy.  It’s bottom was muddy, and its dry, sloped banks resembled a race track.  On this particular day the sun was too hot for headgear, but the temptation was too great to resist, so Keith dared and went in. 

Riding in circles, gaining speed, kicking up dust with the wind in his hair, Keith ramped up the steep bank, caught a little air and landed in the tall, soft grass of the pasture……..right on top of an old horse drawn plow hidden in the flora. A quick inventory of mind and body was all good news, but the bike was wedged between the steel share and the plow’s handles. An effort free himself brought the farm implement along. He was stuck and in need of saving.  He could hear his dad, a field over, working away on a tractor, so he waited until the chatter of the engine shut off and his cry for help could be heard.

Alonzo and Beverly Rooney trusted their child to follow the guidelines that would protect him.  He disobeyed and compromised the wellbeing of himself and the Rooney property. The consequences of disobedience could have been so much worse than just the anger of a frightened and disappointed father.

God gives us boundaries, not to restrict us, but to preserve the image of Himself He wove in us when He first breathed life into Adam.  We disregard God’s authority with little thought of cost to ourselves and others and end up in muck and mire we never even knew existed!  And then……we cry out to Jesus……and we are saved.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord.” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13

Keith doesn’t even remember the punishment he received that day because faith in his loving dad made loss irrelevant. Parents that love their children enough to save them are a most wonderful gift, but better still is a Heavenly Father that sent His only Son so that you and I could have eternal life. 

I Hope you have a Peace Filled Sabbath!

Gretchen

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:17

Collosae’s church came under fire from cultural entanglements that wanted to blend themselves with Christianity in the name of philosophy, enlightenment and tradition. The proper name for this is phenomenon is ‘syncretism.’  It looks good on paper and in theory, but is opposition to truth.

Paul emphasizes the intimate, individual relationship Christians must have with one another and their Savior. The roots of who you are, and are growing to be, must be anchored in a risen Christ. The ‘theologians’ of Colossae wanted the church to believe that God had given them mystical, secret insight, thus granting a special authority to them only. This is a huge warning!!!!! For all who seek, find. God is a loving, personal God.

God alone provides and nurtures. If we believe this, it will become who we are in word and deed.  Our response is gratitude, because God is Good all the time.

Have a Great Weekend!

Gretchen

The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” John 4:15

In contrast to the wife of Lot, (Genesis chapter 19) who could not turn loose of the life that was destroying her, this woman at Jacob’s well had no idea the world had anything to offer other than sin, despair, misery, repeat……sin, despair, misery, repeat. Then she met Jesus. 

The road through Samaria, rather than around, was a short cut to Galilee from Jerusalem. Religious and racial prejudice made this an uncomfortable walk most would not take. It was uncommon for a Jew to venture through this land, but Jesus wasn’t intimidated, and when the woman came along, probably expecting to be treated with less respect than a stray dog, (It was normal social protocol.) she was surprised to be addressed with a request.

Jesus, being the Son of God and all, knew this woman had a horrible moral problem, but He didn’t offer her judgement. Instead, He had a foolproof solution.  Repent, sin no more and be sure to tell everyone who will listen.

Jesus did not live by the norms of the world.  He went places others were hesitant to travel. He was kind when cruelty was the order of the day. He was patient when other’s had no time to spare and He touched and healed when no one would go within a mile to help.  It’s the Gospel story over and over, LOVE BRAVELY! It really will change the world on life at a time.

Happy Friday,

Gretchen