(This blog is the second in the series about “Countdowns” as I count down to Amanda’s moving out and count down to the Celebration Concert.)

Two weeks from today we get the keys to Amanda’s apartment!  As Amanda and I were driving home from a visit to my parent’s this morning, she asked, “Could we drive past my apartment on the way home?”  Did you hear that?  “Drive past MY APARTMENT?”  Of course I obliged.  We pulled into the parking lot and I pointed it out to her.  Then we sat and I kept my mouth shut.  Sometimes, it takes Amanda several minutes to really look at something.  I did not want to say anything to swerve her opinion nor did I want to hurry up her observation time.  After several minutes I heard her say to herself, “Cool.”  Things are starting to feel just right with this move.

So I have this friend who works in sales.  After speaking today to this friend, she related this story to me about how her boss questioned inventory on a particular item.  My friend is meticulous at keeping records on computer spread sheets – hello Microsoft Excel!  But her boss actually argued with her in disbelief at what was in stock and what had been shipped to the point of making phone calls to verify the information.  My friend got a bit irritated.  I asked her, “Weren’t you insulted at how your boss questioned your work?”  “Yes,” my friend replied.  I know that I would have been more than a bit miffed.

So it made me think.

I wonder if God feels insulted in that same way when we show our unbelief in Him?

One of my current favorite bible verses is this:  Mark 9:24b  I do believe.  Help me overcome my unbelief.  Love it.  Of course I believe.  We all believe – right?  But do I totally believe?

In the second song for the Nov. 18^th Celebration concert the lyrics include this phrase:

We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love,
as if ev’ry promise from Your Word is not enough.
And all the while You hear each desp’rate plea,
and long that we’d have faith to believe.

Beth Moore, in her bible study, “Beloved Disciple” caught me today on this subject where she talked about this.  She said, “Are we simply nouns – believers?  Or are we also verbs – believing?  Believing in Christ and believing Christ can be two very different things.”

The second concert song is called, “Blessings.”  It is a new song.  It is a beautiful song!  The song tells of how we are surrounded by blessings, but are blinded by our own requests and demands to see or understand God’s work in our lives.  Maybe we see little because we believe little?

The song continues:

What if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near?

I hope I can be a verb and live like a believing follower of God.  🙂

just Laurel

 

With hurricane Sandy roaring across the eastern United States, I figured I better talk today about storms.  Every one else is!

I can think of two personal storm experiences that I ‘weathered’ (haha) and from which I shall share my lessons learned.

It was the summer of 1991 and our family had traveled to Cape Cod, Massachusetts for a family wedding.  For the couple of days preceding the wedding, the weather was lovely but a hurricane named Bob was cruising up the coast.  Fortunately, the wedding took place and the newlyweds got out of there and on their way to a honeymoon before Bob hit.  We were stuck along with the other wedding guests and vacationers to weather the hurricane.  We were stuck because the only road to the Cape was closed down – no traffic allowed – so we had to stay put.  The Inn we were staying at put everything unattached to the ground away – from planters and chairs to hanging plants and all decorations.  Windows were taped up to hold the shards together should they break.  We kept walking outside down to the beach to watch the pretty impressive wave activity and a few crazy wind-surfers who were gleefully riding the huge swells.  As the worst of the storm hit, the electricity was knocked out but the Inn fired up the generators to run movies for the kids to watch and power up enough to cook us a fine lunch.  We were safe, and actually quite comfortable.  Most of the damage happened to boats that were crushed in the wicked waves and huge trees that caused damage when they fell.

My other memorable storm experience was one summer out on the lake on our sailboat.  We were having a lovely sail back from Put-in-Bay when Ted nervously started watching the clouds.  “Uh-oh, uh-oh,” he started saying.  “What?” I replied.  “I think we’re gonna be in trouble,” he said.  Now our sailboat has a main sail and a head sail.  At this time I believe we were only sailing with the main sail, a big triangle-shaped sail that goes all the way up to the top of the mast.  We weren’t using the head sail because we were moving pretty fast with just the main. When you are on the water and a storm hits, you don’t want a lot of sails up.  Think of laundry flapping on a clothes line or a flag on a flag pole with wicked strong winds blowing.  The winds blowing on a big sail would tend to overtake the boat until the sails ripped.  Not a good thing.  Ted quickly had me “reef” the sail.  We lowered the sail from its position to the top of the mast, down almost two-thirds of the way.  In essence, we took a big triangle sail and reduced it to a very small triangle and secured the extra sail fabric around the boom on the bottom.   Sure enough, Ted read the clouds right and the storm hit.  I went below with the kids while Ted stayed up top and steered.  His wise decision to reef our main sail was done just in time and gave the boat just enough sail to handle the strong winds and gave Ted control to ride out the storm.

So what can I say that I have learned from my storm experiences?

Number one:  Expect the worst.  If you know the storm is coming – prepare for anything.  Better to get everything put away securely then to be caught with all your sails up!

Number two:  Do whatever you can.  Our Inn put everything away.  Hurricane winds could easily turn a small garden decoration into a flying projectile.

Number three:  Trust who’s in charge.  The staff at the Inn on the Cape had to have had hurricane experience before.  We really weren’t scared during hurricane Bob.  We listened to them when instructions were given.  On our boat, Ted was in charge and I admire him for how he knew bad weather was coming and had us work quickly to avoid damage.

Number four:  When the storm has passed, count your blessings!  Maybe you over-reacted in the first place but, hey, better to be safe than sorry!  Or maybe your neighbor wasn’t so lucky – so go help them out!

Now you know I’m not going to let you get away without relating this idea of surviving a storm to one’s personal life!  The same principles apply.  If you live your life prepared for the worst – you’ll be already strong enough to face whatever adversity that challenges you.  You need a good solid  foundation – good friends, strong family ties, and of course the fuel of your faith.  When challenges occur, do everything you can to ride out that storm!  Pray, and seek help.  Trust who’s in charge.  Romans 8:28 y’all!  And finally, when the storm passes, count your blessings, thank God, and offer help when you see others face the same storm you have weathered.

Storms happen.  Hurricane Sandy is charging up the coast.  Let’s all say a prayer that damage is minimal and that everyone is safe.

just Laurel

 

 

Ah, Sunday!  Sunday means church.  On the Sundays when we don’t go to church, it just feels odd.  It doesn’t feel right.

We have 2 services at our church on Sundays.  The first service is more traditional and the second is more contemporary with a praise band and praise team singers to lead the worship.  I was one of the praise team singers today.  It is kind of fun standing up front of everyone, because I get to scope out the crowd and see who as at church.  New faces.  Old faces.  Today, right across from where I was standing, was a family with three children who had recently returned to our church after visiting others in the area.  Yeah.  It was good to see them back.

Being up front during worship as a leader means you have to sit still and pay attention during the sermon.  So I really listened today.  Pastor Bush was talking about Reformation.  Basically, good ‘ole Martin Luther decided that the common person shouldn’t have to talk to God through a priest nor ‘buy’ his way into heaven with ‘indulgences.’  Yay Martin Luther!

Pastor went on to talk about how our ‘church’ was more than just a building.  The real ‘church’ is US!  We are the church.  Sure we meet together at church on Sundays to worship.  That’s a good thing.  God wants His people to gather together.  Together we can learn and grow and enjoy the fellowship of fellow believers.  Sadly, I think many people pick a church like choosing a country club.  They want to know which club will best serve their own personal needs.  Right now, I think our attendance may be down a little bit because of our building program.  Our church currently stands alone with no other facilities attached – no classrooms, nurseries, or bathrooms.  You have to take a long hike across a large parking lot to get to those other places.  For the elderly, I understand if attending is too much of a challenge right now.  But for others – well they better think of how lucky we actually have it.  We aren’t persecuted for our worship, we have heat when it is cold and air conditioning when it is hot.  Is a little walk across the parking lot that big a deal?

We are fortunate to have a huge building to gather in, and are blessed to be going through such a wonderful building program.  But when we leave ‘church’ on Sundays, keep in mind that we, the church, go to all our various places:  home, work, friends homes, and so many other places.  Pastor Bush reminded us that we are all disciple of God – that ministry happens where ever we go.  Wow!  Church is not simply a Sunday club where we make our appearance and pay our dues.  It’s a way of life; a commitment.

I remember once having someone describe to me the way a sermon works.  When a pastor preaches, his message goes out to the congregation like a large bouncing beach ball.  Some Sundays the message doesn’t hit you.  But that’s okay because maybe next Sunday it might hit you right in the noggin’.  On the Sundays when it doesn’t bounce off of you, be glad that it probably hit the person it was meant to!

Even though I pretty much knew the points that Pastor Bush was preaching about today, they were all good reminders of who we are as Christ followers and how the church as a building is important to us … even more important to remember that WE are the church as well.

You hit me today, Pastor!

just Laurel

 

 

I like Halloween.  And I am a Christian.  Oh dear – I might be butting heads with someone out there!  But c’mon!

When I was a youngster, just getting ready for Halloween involved much decision-making.  Who remembers (back in the 60’s) those Halloween costumes with the plastic masks?  They all came in the same size box, about twelve by eight, and they usually had a one piece jumpsuit that you put on with a tie at the neck in the back and a vacu-formed plastic mask.  The boxes of costumes in the store sat on the shelves with all the masks peering straight at you through the clear plastic window on the box cover.  A little creepy, I know.  But it was agony choosing if I wanted to be a clown … or a …  witch … or a .. bunny!  It seems like the whole idea of costume marketing has exploded over the years with so many choices available for purchase.

Now I think that people have gone a little overboard with the scary stuff to the point of gruesome.  And some innocent costumes like Little Red Riding Hood have suddenly appeared in ‘naughty’ form.  But, Halloween was all about make-believe.  It was just plan old clean fun to dress up like Raggedy Ann or a scarecrow – just to toy with pretending so be someone or something else.

Now we Greshel’s all have a sweet tooth, so going door to door to get CANDY was like a treasure hunt for my daughters.  We would get out there for the whole allowed time prescribed by the city for trick-or-treating to get as much as we could.  Too much candy never hurt any of us!  Of course, when I was a kid we also got things like a handful of pennies, or plastic wrapped homemade cookies, and even apples.  Sadly, the sicko’s out there thought that it would be a good idea to put razor blades in the apples – and that just opened up ideas for more crazy people to put needles and nails in candy bars.  I never got any like that.  Some police stations actually provided x-ray services so you could scan your candy (they may still do that?).

I personally find nothing wrong with putting on a costume and gathering candy at Halloween.  Let the kids dress up and pretend to be something fun!  Let them collect a stash of candy!  Many churches and businesses are doing ‘Trunk or Treat” events where costumed kids get to go car to car on the premises and collect goodies from other members of said church or business.  I think that’s great!   It started as fun – let’s keep it fun.

Amanda has a Halloween party to go to tonight.  She approached me about a week ago and wanted to discuss what she was going to ‘be’ for Halloween.  Her idea?

“I could attach empty food boxes and packages to my wheelchair,” she said,  “And I could go as Meals-on-Wheels.”

LOL  Funny kid.

Sometimes she comes up with the darndest things!

just Laurel

When I was a child, there were several summers that I spent a week away at church camp.  I liked camp!  It was pretty rustic:  sleeping in unheated cabins (it got cold at night!), and swimming in the lake (no chlorinated pools at this camp!).  It was the late 60’s, early 70’s, and every church camp counselor back then could play the guitar.  All the church camp songs we sang were accompanied by folksy guitar strumming.  My favorite camp song was Lord of the Dance.  The lyrics told a story and through out the song the story tells of Jesus coming to earth and dancing – and trying to get others to join him in the dance!  Through thick and thin, through death and His resurrection, Jesus kept dancing!  For those who don’t know the song – here’s a youtube video of the song.  The camp version, like I stated, was more folksy with guitars strumming and a dining hall full of campers singing, but I liked the pictures that went with this version:

If any of you have really taken a look at the ‘about me’ part of my Facebook page (or you may have seen this before on my FB page) you will see a quote:  For as long as I live, may my walk on this earth be a dance inspired by the joy He provides and the words from my mouth be always a song to His ears.  Yeah – that’s my quote; my words.  I guess it goes back to those church camp days.  Music has always made permanent indentations in my memory – perhaps Lord of the Dance inspired my quote?

I’m not much of a dancer, but sometimes the joy of the Lord makes me just want to dance!  And with Fall being my favorite season, I realized today that perhaps it is because all of nature seems to be dancing – even though it is dying or going dormant!  Really – if you take a look at Fall – it’s all about dying plants, leaves dropping, insects finishing their life cycles, and everything getting ready to hide away from the winter cold and snow.  But – Oh! how nature wants to go out with a bang!

Ted’s weed – oops – I mean flower garden is still cranking out the blooms.  I love the cornflower blue color of this flower!

I love the reds of Autumn!  From this poor lowly dying weed that boasts such vibrant red berries, to a few stray leftover red raspberries on our bushes, and finally the perky red begonias that push there way through the leaf pile-up – Gorgeous!

The squirrels in my yard are certainly enjoying themselves – and were quite cooperatively photogenic this afternoon:

I want to live my life like the season of fall – I’m going to keep dancing and show all the bright colors I can ’til the very last moment.

Ecclesiastes 3:4  A time to weep and a time to laugh,  a time to mourn and a time to dance

just Laurel

Do you ever wish sometimes that life could be simpler?  I mean – take restaurant menus for example.  Do you remember when the only choices at McDonald’s were hamburgers, fries, and shakes?  Now they have quarter pounders, fish sandwiches, chicken sandwiches and wraps, and – well – you know what I mean.  And what about phone numbers?  Everyone had ONE phone number – their house phone.  Today there are cell phones, pagers, email addresses, websites, twitter and tweet sites.    And the grocery store didn’t take you a couple of hours to get through in the old days.

Today I learned to appreciate that we have choices.

I went with my friend to visit her husband at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor.  (For those of you who know who I am talking about – he is doing fantastic!)  That medical center is HUGE!  There are at least 2 hospitals and tons of medical services for every specialty.  There are several parking structures – each numbered and specific to the different buildings.  There are roads running in circles around the numerous buildings that make up the center, with driveways in and out everywhere.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Michigan_Health_System
Once inside the complex, you can walk for miles and still be lost!  But I was impressed.  There is a lot of good to be said for your small town hospital – with, perhaps, more personal care given, familiar faces, and easier and more navigable surroundings.  But if you have a major medical need, I don’t think you can go wrong with a huge medical center like this one in Ann Arbor with all the specialized care there.  It’s a good thing that when it comes to medical care, there are different places and doctors to choose from.

After our visit, we went to Zingerman’s Bakehouse and Zingerman’s Creamery.  OMG!  Can you say currant rugelach?  Or burnt sugar gelato?  The breads and the cheeses – oh my!  I am so glad that Zingerman’s can produce foods that go way beyond a glazed donut, or plain vanilla ice cream!  They sell this cheese that they make there called “Detroit Street Brick” and it’s a fresh goats milk cheese with green peppercorns in it.  I love that stuff!
http://www.zingermansbakehouse.com/
http://www.zingermanscreamery.com/
Forget Wonder Bread and American cheese and give me Zingerman’s anytime!

Kudos to both U of M Medical Center and Zingerman’s for offering choices in our health care and what crosses our palates!

And now – kudos to Beth Moore and Living Proof Ministries.  If you haven’t done one of her bible studies before – you’re really missing out.  I did her study, “Believing God” through my church – and it was a life-changer for me.
http://www.lifeway.com/n/Popular-Authors/Beth-Moore?002=2138335&004=5790814677&005=127200182&006=26284079157&007=Search&008=
Right now I am working through her study, “Beloved Disciple.”  She was discussing the early disciples of God and how they tried to be pillars of the early church.  But these guys, like James, Peter, Paul, and Barnabas, all had such tainted and scarred pasts – who’d have thought they could come together to be leaders?  She described them as ‘unlikely brothers … never designed to match … each one distinct.’  She asks, “What need would cookie-cutter disciples meet?”  And then goes on to explain, “None of us were meant to match.  We were meant to fit together!  Two identical puzzle pieces don’t fit.  Oh, that we would celebrate that difference!”

What good would it have been if God had created us all the same?  Thank goodness we are all different.  Thank goodness we can enjoy our differences and choose who we fit best with!  I am sure you were wondering where I was going with this blog today – my thoughts sometimes really boomerang around in my head some days.  But it all seemed to have a common thread and theme when I looked back on my day and realized that diversity (of medical care, of foods, and of our friends and people around us) and having so many options and choices is such a gift for all of us.

I shall now go nibble some of my goat cheese with green peppercorns.

Did I mention the Fig Almond cake I bought?

Bliss.

Just Laurel

“Variety’s the very spice of life, that gives it all it’s flavour.”
―    William Cowper

Fall is my favorite season.  I love the crisp cool weather and the amazing colors of the changing leaves.  The smell of cinnamon, everything apple from cider to apple pies, raking leaves, the squash crop, and everything pumpkin all contribute to my delight in Autumn!

Ecclesiastes 3:1  There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.

Today was trash day.  I took an early morning stroll outside to roll the trash can to the street.  Oh my, what a view!  Fall in all it’s glory!  I quickly ran back inside to take these pictures for you!

Somehow, the time was right, and the two mighty oaks decided to let go of almost all of their leaves last night.  What a beautiful golden carpet that created!  I love it!

Daniel 4:12a Its leaves were beautiful.

When I turned around, my gaze fixed on the accumulation of leaves on my roof.  My first thought?  Yeah – Ted would be getting out the ladder and getting up there very soon!  He loves that roof!

1 Kings 13:13-15 So he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” “I am,” he replied. So the prophet said to him, “Come home with me and eat.”

Just so you can see the majestic oak trees I often speak of – here’s a picture of them!  They are the culprits of all my ACORN talk this year!

2 Samuel 18: 9-10 Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going.  When one of the men saw what had happened, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.” (funny!)

I strolled over to Amanda’s bedroom window where we have been watching our pet spider.  Look how big she’s gotten!
I think she is the kind of spider that will lay eggs and then die before winter.
I watch every day to see if she is still with us.  She has gotten quite large over the past weeks.

Job 8:14  What they trust in is fragile ;  what they rely on is a spider’s web.

 

As I started around the house, I noticed this thing on the side of the house.  Huh??  Looks like an ugly slug.  I was tempted to go grab a salt shaker, but decided to leave the guy alone.

 

 

Then I walked to the back corner of the house where I let Teddy put in his flower garden.  (my weed garden!)  Impressive!  The flowers were all in their glory!

 

 

 

 

 

I just wanted to share with you today the spectacular Fall that is happening.  You better look quick before the snow flies.  You know – this IS Michigan!

just Laurel

There was this man who had a dog which he was attempting to train, but alas had very little success. He was on the verge of despair when he happened across a very charismatic evangelist. He unburdened his soul to him, and he promptly informed him to leave the dog with him, and he would have it trained in a jiffy.
The next day the man returns, and asks how the evangelist got on. The reply was positive, and the evangelist calls the dog to give a demonstration.  Picking up a stick, he throws it and says, “Fetch.”
Instantly the dog takes off, grabs the stick and returns. The evangelist says, “Drop” and the dog drops the stick at his feet.
“Roll over,” and the dog rolls over. By this time the dog’s owner is very excited, and asks if he can have a go.
“Sure,” replies  the evangelist.
“Heel,” says the owner and the dog lifts one paw, places it on the man and says, “I command this sickness to leave you…”
(source: http://www.jokebuddha.com/Evangelist/recent#ixzz29sNqFJNV)

I think dogs would make wonderful evangelists!

My friend was to be gone all day today, and I offered to check on her dog, Buddy.  I went over to Buddy’s house shortly before noon.  I entered through the garage door, and expected to be greeted by a yapping, tail-wagging dog.  No dog.  “Buddy!  Buddy!”  I repeatedly called out.  After a few minutes, Buddy finally emerged.  Now Buddy is old, so I don’t know if he hadn’t heard me when I first entered his house, or if he was being cautious towards me.  Buddy knew me from previous visits so I was hardly a stranger to him.  Oh well.  As I searched for and retrieved a leash for him, he started showing a little excitement at the prospect of a walk.  “Walk, Buddy?  Want to go for a  w a l k ??”  I clicked the leash onto his collar and we were out the door.

Now, I have only owned two dogs in my lifetime and they were both females.  Buddy is a male.  As we walked around the block, I was amused at how we had to stop at every vertical pole or tree or shrub so he could whiz on it.  Really Buddy?  Must you?  I just found it so funny.  “Leaving your mark, huh Buddy?”  I laughed again at his latest squirt.  And that’s when I realized what a great evangelist he would be!  He was stopping every where to leave his mark.  Sprinkle a little of himself.  Wow – if only we humans could sprinkle a little bit of Christianity where ever we stepped.  Buddy took his time and was very thorough.  If an evangelist ever thought twice about making a stop somewhere because they knew they were among people of another faith, well Buddy never wavered making his mark on a lawn that boasted another resident canine.   I started calling him “Mark”.  That was a much better name.  “Mark.  Mark.  Mark.”  I kept saying ‘cuz that’s what he kept doing.

Did you know that dogs are mentioned in the NIV version of the bible about forty times!  They aren’t always nice references – but dogs are mentioned.  I did a little search about dogs and Christianity and found this interesting article:

Dogs in Christianity
Although there are a few negative depictions of dogs in Christianity, it is the most tolerant of the major religions. A great number of Christians believe that the shepherds who once visited Jesus brought dogs with them. Because of their dogs are often depicted in nativity scenes.
Many saints are also depicted as having canine companions. Saint Patrick was said to have been guided on many occasions by a large gray dog, whose chest bore the mark of a white cross. Saint Margaret of Cortona is often depicted with a dog tugging at her skirt, this is largely due to stories of her being dragged to church by a dog. Grigio, a gray colored mutt, was the protector of Saint Giovanni Melchoir, also known as Don Bosco. Bosco was a priest who worked mostly with children in the slums of Turin, Italy. Throughout the many stories of the saints and their dogs, there is always a recurring theme, which is that the dogs are messengers of God, always leading saints to safety and testing their loyalty.
http://www.animalshelter.org/pet-tips/324/Dogs_in_Christianity.html

I had a good little walk with Buddy, er, uh, I mean with Mark.  It was fun to see him so joyously spread his good news!  You know we are all, in essence, evangelists, if we happen to mention Christ in our day-to-day activities.  I hope I can be like Buddy – I mean Mark – and spread the good news joyfully and unashamedly to everyone!

just Laurel