Be Careful What You Let In

Image found here

Last night, I was attempting to figure out how to do something in Microsoft Word that I didn't yet know how to do.  In the process, I found an online tutorial to help me. Unfortunately, my computer lacked a particular file that would allow me to fully use the tutorial.

I attempted to download the file. I failed to notice that I also gave permission for the computer to download a number of other programs -- malware that wreaked havoc on my system. 

I spent hours tonight undoing the damage. I deleted the programs that I had inadvertently downloaded last night. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and HitmanPro went to work to seek out and destroy all the little files that those unwanted programs had spread through the system.

Thankfully, I seem to have succeeded. I hope I have succeeded.

Here's the thing. I was careless with my computer, and I allowed things in that didn't belong. I wasn't vigilant, and I ended up with a mess.

How like life. How easy it is to get so involved with our plans and goals that we allow things in that shouldn't be there. Perhaps we focus so closely on a particular goal that we compromise. We do or say things that we know we shouldn't.

In the process, we create messes in our own lives, in our relationships with others, and in our relationship with God. How delighted our Enemy is when we fall for these tactics.

Thankfully, God has provided a way to get us back up and running. When we confess whatever it was that got us into the mess to begin with, we "delete" those files. Then God's "Malwarebytes" and "HitmanPro" goes to work as the Holy Spirit leads us through the process of forgiveness and restoration. By the time He is finished, our hearts are right with Him again, and there is hope of restoration of relationships with others.

What is our job after that? Be more vigilant next time, and don't let the malware in.

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 

1 Peter 5:8

Mother's Love - Expressed Without Words

After nearly two years in the process, when Rachel was two years old, her adoption was finally completed. With a grateful heart, I brought my precious girl home to Ohio to meet the family.

You can find
"Child of My Heart" here.

While shopping one day with my mother, I saw a collection of Willow Tree statues. I took some time to browse through the collection. Suddenly, one of them caught my eye. It was called "Child of My Heart".

As you can see, the baby in the mother's arms is a bit darker in skin color than the mother, perfect for a mother who has adopted a child who doesn't look like her. More importantly, the way the mother so tenderly holds her child made me immediately identify this statue with the way I often held my daughter in my arms.

Mom gave me "Child of My Heart" for Christmas that year, and it was displayed in a special place of honor in our home for a number of years. Then, sadly, the bookcase where it was displayed got jostled a bit too hard. The figurine toppled off its shelf and broke into several pieces. I did my best to glue it back together, but it just isn't the same.

Thankfully, the sentiment behind the figurine hasn't been broken. It has changed over time. It has grown, even as Rachel has grown. 

You can find
"With My Grandmother" here.

A couple weeks ago, I browsed the Willow Tree website for an appropriate gift for my mother for mother's Day. I found a sweet figurine called "With My Grandmother". 

This one was especially appropriate as a gift from Rachel to her grandmother as they often cuddle together just like this on the couch as they watch game shows or a movie together.

My daughter and my mother share a very precious bond. I trust they will for many years to come.

In the process of looking for this gift for Mom, I ran across another figurine that spoke to me, even as "Child of My Heart" did over six years ago.

You can find
"Close To Me" here.

As I said before, Rachel has grown, and my love for her has grown stronger over time. Rachel is now a tall, beautiful, bright and energetic eight-year-old. Although she is far too tall for me to pick up and cuddle, I love it when she comes to me for a hug. 

We wrap our arms around each other. I rest my cheek on the top of her head, and I reflect on the marvelous blessing God gave to me when He brought this precious child into my life.  

As we left my parents' house this evening, I mentioned to Mom that this was the first Mother's Day in twenty years that we have been together.That makes today extra special.

There is one more figurine from the Willow Tree collection that caught my eye, but it wasn't available to order online. Maybe this one is for another year. It is called "Generations". I think the picture says it all.

You can find "Generations" here.

 Thank you, Father, for Your precious gifts.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, 

coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, 

who does not change like shifting shadows. 

 James 1:17

* (I am not in any way compensated by Willow Tree for this post.)

Do You Really Think I'm That Stupid?

Today, I was a substitute teacher for a music teacher / intervention teacher. Most of the morning was spent with small groups of second graders, a half hour at a time, doing a lesson on comparing and contrasting two different things. 

The lesson was fairly simple. The teacher had blank chart like the one here.

The students were to fill in in something like the one below.

 She had inserted each chart into a plastic sleeve so the kids could write on them with a dry erase marker and not waste a lot of paper.

The first two groups went very smoothly. When I picked up the third group of kids at their classroom, I could see immediately that this group was going to be a handful. The kids were a bit rambunctious as they lined up at the door. Cute...but rambunctious. One blond-haired, blue-eyed boy named Patrick took his sweet old time coming to the door and sulked all the way up to the intervention classroom.

The kids sat down and I introduced myself. I then passed out the papers. One of the girls gave the very helpful suggestion that they all write their names on the top of the plastic sheet, so I would know what their names were.

Great idea, I thought. I quickly noticed something odd as they wrote their names. They "couldn't" seem to remember what their names were. A name would be written, then erased and replaced by another name. 

One of the kids would say something like: 

"No, he's not James! He's Dalton!"

"No, he isn't! He's Dustin!"

I didn't say it, but I thought, "How stupid do you kids think I am?" The name-switching was just so blatant. The funny thing is that they thought they were being so clever.

But the funniest thing of all...the thing that kept me chuckling to myself the rest of the day...was when blond-haired, blue-eyed Patrick tried to pass himself off as Roberto. 

Yes, I know it is possible that the parents of a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy just happened to like the name Roberto. Possible, but not likely.

Well, I got control of things pretty quickly. I knew from the other classes that the kids looked forward to getting a stamp on the back of their hand if they did well in class. The solution was simple. I let them know that there would be no stamps for anyone unless all the names were straightened out immediately. It worked, and we were back on track.

Well, that's it for today. Nothing deep. Nothing profound. Just a light-hearted anecdote from real life. I hope it gave you a smile.

Listen! Listen!

One day, a little girl was in her preschool class. The other children were with their teacher at circle time. This little girl, however, always had difficulty sitting with the other children. This particular day, she was fascinated with the computer and the office chair at the

teacher's desk. The class aide stayed close by to be ensure the child's safety. (Now, before you jump to the conclusion that the aide should have just made the child sit with the others, let me say there were valid reasons why, in this case, she did not. Classroom management in a preschool classroom is not the point of this story.)

Anyway, the little girl climbed up on the chair. The aide got her down. She tried again. The aide sat down on the chair and tried to direct the child's attention to the story. After a while of doing this, the little girl took the aide's hand and began to pull her toward the other children in the circle. Thinking the little girl finally wanted to join the others, the aide went with her. 

When they neared the circle, the child dropped the aide's hand and firmly told her "Listen! Listen!" She then returned to the computer. The aide followed. No matter how much the little tyke tried to redirect the aide's attention, she still was not allowed to climb on a rolling chair or mess with the computer.

*************************

Do we sometimes do that with God? Might there be some "fascinating" things in our lives that we know are wrong? Things we do. Things we say. Ways we relate to others in an unhealthy manner. Attitudes we harbor in our hearts. Deep down inside, we know these things are wrong, but we don't want to give them up.

God speaks to us about them. He speaks through others. He speaks in His still small voice to our hearts. He speaks through His Word. But we don't want to listen. We don't like it when He tries to correct the problem area.

So what do we do? We point our fingers at others. "Just look what is going wrong over there, God! Listen! Listen! Listen to all the problems everywhere else. Go clean up that really big mess over there, God. Listen to them, and leave me alone. I want to go back to what I was doing."

Thankfully, God is not easily distracted. He doesn't give up. He cares enough about us to not leave us alone. Hear what He says to us. 

"Listen! Listen! Leave behind this thing that will harm you. I have something much better in store for you. Listen! Listen! Listen to me!"

The question is...will we listen to Him?

What a Sunday! - The Good, the Bad, and the Busy

I got up this morning...after hitting the snooze alarm twice. I went to my daughter's room to wake her up for church. She and a couple other young girls were singing a special song in church this morning, and Rachel wasn't happy with the dress we had agreed on the night before. 

Image found here.

It took awhile, but we finally were ready and headed off to church in good spirits. We stopped by a local Rite-Aid on the way to church. When we got back to the car, it wouldn't start. Try as I might, I couldn't get it to turn over. It didn't even seem to try to turn over. 

All I could think of was that this was NOT the best day to have car problems. I had several things going this morning.

• The girls were singing, and I was to accompany them on piano. One of the girls was also being baptized this morning, so a bit of juggling had to be done to the order of service so she was not wet during the special music.
• I had to teach children's church after the girls' song was done. 
• Mom and I had signed up to bring refreshments for the fellowship time after the morning service. Yet another thing to do.

Anyway, I called Dad and asked him to pick us up. He and Mom had just arrived at church. He let Mom out and came back to get us. The three of us brought the refreshments into the kitchen and went to our various Sunday School classes.

When Sunday School was over, the music minister asked me if I was ready for the dramatic monologue we had talked about doing several weeks earlier. Ummmm, yeah, I can be ready. For some reason, I had thought we were talking about doing it on Easter Sunday or Good Friday. He thought we had planned it for the Baptismal Service.

Thankfully, I have had the monologue memorized for years, and God helped me to remember the words well enough that...with a couple exceptions which I hope weren't too noticeable, I think it went pretty well.

Image found here

OK, the reading was done. The girls sang. After some praise and worship time, we celebrated three baptisms. All the kids headed down for children's church. We didn't have a lot of time, so we sang a song and dived right into the lesson.

I was perhaps three sentences into the lesson when one of the little girls asked the all-important question. 

          "When are we going to have snacks?"

          "I made cookies, sweetie. My mom made brownies. You'll have snack in the fellowship hall right after church." The prospect of brownies and cookies to come seemed to satisfy her.

With everything else going on today, I was very thankful that another lady had prepared crafts to go with our lesson. I finished the teaching, and left her and two helpers to do the crafts while I helped Mom set up the refreshments. 

When the service let out, one of the men from my dad's Sunday School class asked if I needed some help getting my car running. (Dad couldn't help me because he had to attend a training for anyone who teaches adult classes.) I gratefully accepted his help, and he and his wife took me back to Rite Aid to check things out.

Image found here

The car still wouldn't start. The oil was low...really, really low...so we filled that up. He jump-started the car, and got it going. I turned it off and started it again. Good. One more time...and it didn't start. Another quick jumpstart, and it was going again. Needless to say, I let the car run for awhile to let the battery charge up. 
 
I am so thankful for this brother and sister in Christ who were willing to go out of their way to help me. 

Later in the afternoon, I took the car to Auto Zone to have the battery tested. I am thankful that it is OK and doesn't need replaced just now. I suspect there is a wire coming loose in the jury-rigged push-button starter that is causing the problem. Needless to say, that needs to be dealt with ASAP.
I just hope and pray that the car starts in the morning so I can get to work. 

So, this has been a day full of the good, the bad, and the busy. 

Busy...for obvious reasons.
Bad...because of a car that wouldn't start.
Good...because:

• We had a good day to worship the Lord.
• Three people were baptized.
• The girls had their first experience using their singing to minister to others.
• I didn't forget the words to the monologue...at least not too badly.
• God moved His people to offer help where help was needed...the way church should be.

All-in-all, I must say that in the midst of all the busy, the good far outweighed the bad. 

What a Sunday! 

The Stone Was Rolled Away!

On this glorious Easter Day

Alleluia!

The stone was rolled away

Alleluia!

With this simple craft, this children remember
the marvelous fact that Jesus's tomb is empty.
The stone was rolled away and He is risen!

I spend a good deal of time at my church with the children's ministry. We sang the three-verse song that begins with the words above this morning in our Easter celebration service. Those simple words say so much.

Jesus had died a cruel, horrible death. He was buried. His disciples saw their hopes and dreams crushed as the One they followed breathed His last.

Jesus was taken down from the cross. He was buried in a tomb belong to a secret believer. His friends thought they would see Him no more.

An enormous stone was rolled in front of the tomb's opening. As it settled into place in front of the opening, perhaps the final thud felt like a punch in stomach of the women who stood nearby.

The religious leaders tried their best to ensure that the tomb would remain undisturbed. They sealed the tomb. They posted a guard. They wanted to be certain that Jesus's body stayed right where it was - dead and buried - so His followers would disburse. They wanted Jesus's message of love and salvation to die out, even as He had died.

BUT...

On that glorious Easter morning the stone was rolled away! 

     Why?

          Why is it significant that the stone was rolled away?

     Did Jesus need the stone to be rolled away so He could get out of the tomb? 
          Certainly not!

     The stone was rolled away not to let Jesus out, but to let His followers in. 

          The stone was rolled away so all would know that the tomb was empty. 
          The stone was rolled away so we could have hope.
"He is not here!" the angel said. "He is risen!"

Alleluia!

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The lyrics above, sung to the tune of "Michael Row the Boat Ashore", are found in a children's Easter pageant called “He Is Risen” presented byTeachSundaySchool.com. You can find the full text here. 

Another Chapter is Ending

I grew up in this home.

When I was two years old, my family, then consisting of Dad, Mom, my brother Rick, and me moved from Indiana to Findlay, Ohio. We moved into a little three bedroom house on West Front Street. By the time I was ten years old, we had added four more siblings. I was the only one of the six kids who did not take my first steps in our first home in Findlay. Many years later, after I had graduated from college, my family moved to another house. And so ended one chapter in our lives.

That move happened half of my lifetime ago. Over the years, we have seen our old home change hands a couple times. It's current owner is City Mission, an organization that aids homeless people. I'm not certain exactly what their plans are for the lot, but it doesn't include maintaining an old house that has become quite run-down over the last few decades since we moved away. Sometime soon, probably this next week, the house on West Front Street will be torn down. 

This grate allowed warm air to rise to the upstairs bedrooms.
I brought this keepsake home.

 

Over the last few years, City Mission has graciously allowed various members of my family to go back inside the house. Mom, Dad, and I went there this past Friday for one last visit. We took lots of pictures...and salvaged a few items as keepsakes. There wasn't much to take with us, but I am glad we got the things we did.

Mom brought this keepsake home.
She had never noticed the eagle was
upside down.

And so...another chapter is coming to an end. As with everyone who ever lived, I am sure, our life in the house on West Front Street held a mixture of sadness, happiness, pain and pleasure. As I walked through the empty rooms for the last time, I did not reflect on the sadness and pain. Instead, I recalled the happy, silly, funny times we shared in that home.

• Tickle fights where all six kids pinned Dad down on the living room floor to tickle him...until someone called "Everybody on ......!" and the person called was the next tickle-ee".
• Watching the first moon walk on the little black and white TV

• 

  Six PJ-clad kids gathered on these stairs
  every Christmas morning for a photo.

  
  

  Coming downstairs in our PJ's on Christmas morning to see what was in our stockings.
• Dad making pancakes for breakfast when Mom was in the hospital after giving birth to one of the youngest kids. He mistakenly put pancake syrup in the skillet. (I think he assumed pancakes were to be fried in vegetable oil rather than butter, and he picked up the wrong bottle. What a mess!)
• Mom's pleasure over opening Dad's Christmas gift of a sewing machine cabinet...and the laughter over the silly gift Mom received of a Snuffleupagus stuffed animal. (Remember that character from Sesame Street?)
• Watching Rick literally fall off his chair with laughter. I have no idea now what he was laughing about.

  

  Steve wasn't allowed in the house
  after the Swale Park episode
  until he had shed his smelly
  outer clothes outside.

• Janet eating blueberry pie and finding the fruit stained her teeth blue.
• Beth at age three or so eagerly offering her services to erase mistakes in the homework of her older siblings.
• Steve coming home covered head to toe in stuff much stinkier than mud after taking a forbidden shortcut through Swale Park. (I didn't witness that event, but it is part of family legend.)
• Doug trimming the eyebrows off of Mom's Snuffleupagus stuffed animal because Mom had commented jokingly that his eyebrows were too shaggy. (By the way, Mom still has Snuffy.)

As for me...so many memories. I especially remember my reading corner where I would mentally disappear into a good book and be completely unaware of what was going on around me. I also remember Rick and I sitting on the swing set in the back yard making up travel adventures. In our imaginations, we traveled to so many places. Hmmm...I guess we started our world-traveling even then.

So, one chapter is ending. There are many more to come. I look forward to seeing what future chapters have in store.