On The Hunt

Rod and I are not speaking to each other. Probably because he has already left for his day long Horse Packing and Camping seminar and doesn't have his cell phone. Can you even believe I didn't go?

Me, neither.

Nope, I'm just gonna hang around here, clean stalls, feed horses, make cupcakes for church tonight and shop because Nordstrom's Half Yearly Sale is still in progress.

We really are different from each other, I ponder, as I slather on my Crabtree and Evelyn "La Source" relaxing body lotion, which I first tried when Amy and I stayed on the 17th floor at the Hilton downtown last August.

When I first told Rod we wanted to stay downtown, he squinted his eyes and turned his head sideways like I was speaking in tongues to him. And there was no one around to interpret.

"Really? Downtown?" He pushed Ruby the goat away from the grain bucket.Again

"Why don't you just stay somewhere around here?"

I shook my head sadly, but affectionately at his naivete. I gestured at the Douglass fir covered mountain behind me, and the bubbling waterfall on the other side of the serene pond.

As if!! Amy and I craved concrete and car fumes, not the scent of warm horses and sunshine. We wanted air-conditioning,big city and bright lights. And concierge service.

So we went and had a marvelous time which we have vowed to make a yearly party for two.

So today, when Rod happily headed out in the Dodge to learn how to pack his wall tent onto Polly and Drifter (really?) it does make me think about our differences. But I need to consider our similarities, not focus on our differences so much.

For instance, we both like to hunt.

Rod heads out in chilly November, usually with his brothers, nephews and Dad to set up camp outside up in the mountains. (You have no idea how hard it was for me to not type that last sentence in ALL CAPS. But as you can see, I resisted.)

They prepare for months in advance, determine exactly where they will go and how they will stalk their prey.They use maps,GPS's and other gear that I have never heard of, but I know that they sell at Cabela's.

They bring along all manner of weaponry, both to protect themselves and to bring the big game down. (It is so stinking hard not to laugh!)

They drink tepid Gounde coffee (use your imagination), gnaw on jerky and sleep on the grounde,too, unless they brought a cot. Sounds comfy-cozy. And they don't shower until they come home. Whew, doggie!

I head out in chilly November, too. I jump into my Trailblazer, turn on my seat-heater, listen to some Jesus Culture as I plan my hunt. It is Nordstrom's Half Yearly Sale, after all, so it is serious business. I WILL come home with my prey.

I stop at the Bux to fortify myself with a nonfat Chai. I need to stay in top fighting form. You never know what kind of deranged, credit- card flailing, french-manicured, Euro-shopper I'll encounter on the treacherous escalator ride between Shoes and Savvy.

I need to be alert and focused.It is quiet here in the pre-dawn deep in the racks between the Winter Sweaters and the upcoming Spring Collection. I breathe in deeply and smell the warmth of the cashmere, the smooth luxury of leather and I believe a hint of floral and citrus wafting up from down in the make-up department. I take a deep, energizing breath and straighten my purse straps. I am ready to hunt.

But wait! What's that over there? Why, hello, Clinique special bonus!

You need to be ready to pounce when you see something shiny and sparkly prey slightly different than what you were going after originally. BE PREPARED. BE WATCHFUL.

When both Rod and I do come home, we both are triumphant. Our hunts were both successful. Rod with a bear his brother and nephew both shot and they all tracked for two days and then packed out. (Seriously?)

F.U.N.

I arrived home, exhausted but happy with a pair (that's TWO. Count 'em) of Steve Madden French Engineer boots in Nutmeg, which fashion permitting, should see me through at least 4-5 more hunting seasons. 33% off! SCORE!!

So, although we both do very different kinds of hunting we can still come together and compare our seasons at the end of the day. Or the beginning, like we did this morning.

And if anyone would like our expert hunting guide services for next year, just give us a call. Keep in mind that my service starts with a stop at Starbucks. With Rod's you'll be picking grounds out of your teeth with a Arkansas Toothpick for a month. Of course with me, you'll most likely be paying for your purchases for about 12 months.And your husband might want to take up hunting once he finds out.

Just sayin'.

That's all.

If God is Good...

I wasn't really planning on writing this post yet, but I feel I should. Randy Alcorn, who I am proud to call friend, brother, pal has written a book titled "If God is Good...Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil." It came out yesterday. I began reading it last week.


I'm not gonna lie. My usual fare tends to be things like "The Shopaholic Takes Manhattan" and People Magazine cookbooks (with pictures) by Paula Deene. Frivolous?Yes.
Enjoyable? Completely.


So a book about suffering (really?) and evil (seriously?) would not necessarily end up on my night stand. Well, it would. But it would get dusty. Just sayin'.


But because this was written by my good friend, because I trust and look up to this man so much,and I completely know how his heart chases after Jesus, I would set aside Paula Deene and her buttery recipes for a time.


I even began to look forward to what I was going to learn. But I wasn't prepared for the cracking open of my heart as I read and absorbed and reread and cried.


How could I not have understood these important truths before? Did I just become too familiar with "common" doctrine and apathetic to God's crazy love and his willingness to suffer for us?





I have wept the last two days reading this book and when my feelings became too much I put it down and walked away to make dinner or play with the puppy. I'm telling you, the truth of this is washing over me and over me.
My eyes have been focused on myself and my (our) own "suffering" rather than Jesus.
I am so torn apart by not having seen that.
Or known it with my head, but not owned it in my heart.
I am repenting today.

Randy writes, " The cross is God's answer to the question, "Why don't you do something about evil?" Bart Ehrman writes, "I came to think that there is not a God actively involved with this world of pain and misery---if he is, why doesn't he do something about it?"

But what if God did do something about it? What if what he did was so great and unprecedented that it shook the angelic realm's foundation, and ripped in half, from the top down, not only the temple curtain, but the fabric of the universe itself?"

Randy goes on to do what the Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion" could not do; portray with words what suffering Christ went through, both in body and spirit, so he could prevent our eternal suffering.


He lays out what society's various responses are to the question of evil and suffering and then dives into the many layers of what scripture tells us. Brilliant stuff.


I so highly recommend this book. In fact, I insist you go get one. We need to understand about suffering before it happens. Because it will. But we have a God who cares .

Randy writes, " If you know Jesus, then the hand holding your bears the calluses of a carpenter who worked with wood and carried the cross for you. When he opens his hand, you see the gnarled flesh of the nail scars on his wrists. And when you think he doesn't understand your pain, realize that you don't understand the extent of his pain. Love him or not, he has proven that he loves you.

If you hate suffering, does it make sense to choose eternal suffering when God has already suffered so much to deliver you from it?

In your most troubled moments, when you cry out to God, "Why have you let this happen?" picture the outstretched hands of Christ, forever scarred...for you.

Do these look like the hands of a God who does not care?"

Now I have to go finish it.

Go get yourself one or twelve.

Lucy's First Post

This post is brought to you courtesy of my friend Nanci, who dropped what she was doing yesterday to come with me to the airport to pick up my little bundle of joy. She kept me calm and sane. Correction. She tried to keep me calm and sane while hugging and comforting Lucy. Thanks, Nanci. I couldn't have done it alone and I wouldn't have had nearly so much fun without you. :-)

So, everyone...say hello to Lucy.

Because I needed another dog like I needed.....well, another dog.

Scurvy Predators

I snapped this picture yesturday morning. I was getting our coffee (Starbux Gazebo...today's fave.) and I looked out the kitchen window in time to see this scurvy predator beautiful blue heron. The truck is like a tree stand perfect perch for the bird as he surveys his breakfast our trout pond right below.

I know Rod is not happy that the blue heron hs been making our trout pond his own personal McDonald's drive-thru, picking up his Filet 'O' Fish whenever the mood strikes him.

But to use Rod's work truck to get a better view is just adding insult to injury.

Ouch.

This morning, I was cleaning up the kitchen, when I noticed Lila sitting and staring solemnly at the counter. Once in a while , she would heave a sigh in a much put-upon manner. Finally, I looked over to see what she was staring at so intently.

Ahhh. A girl after my own heart. She just wanted a little butter with her breakfast. She is polite. She won't take it without permission.

Which makes me think of a friend, (I won't mention her name, but her initials are "LINDA")

who, as a little girl would eat butter sticks.

Yes, you heard me. Sticks of butter. I actually have dreamed of doing that.

You'd think she would be as big as an Escalade, but honestly, she is more like a Mini-Cooper.

And she can sing like a blue heron bird.

I wonder if all the butter helped?

Loud voices in my head.

Sometimes all I can hear are the voices in my head telling me what I need to fix or do or focus on now.

Right now.

They tell me all the chores that need to get done, then when I am doing those chores I am thinking about the work I need to get finished afterwards. All the while, there is the dominant voice of worry and fret, letting me know that I should be concerned about the state of our health care system, and how much we owe the IRS, the new contractor's rule changes, are the goats eating too much, the business liability insurance forms, not getting enough work, getting too much work, and did I mention the HEALTH CARE SYSTEM??

The voices in my head get louder and louder until I can't hear the quiet voice in my heart anymore.

But I can stop those voices in my head that demand my attention and listen to the voice of my Shepherd.

I choose that. I choose Him.

I need to take a walk with Jesus tonight.

He says, "Come to me, you who are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."

He says, "Peace be with you."

He says, "So don't worry about these things, saying 'what will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?' These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your Heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the kingdom above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need."

Thank you, Lord. I needed the reminder today.

You know you're a redneck when...

You know you're a redneck when...

You take a nice Sunday afternoon nap.

With your goats.

Baloney Sandwich: Redux

***I looked back on my blog a year and a day ago and found this. I noticed that I am not feeling all thankful and grateful like I was that morning.

But I heart the Baloney Sandwich story, so I am repeating it.
I can do this.
This is my blog.
Have a good day.




This is just one of those thankful kind of days. Nothing special happened, but I am overwhelmed with gratefulness to God for everything He provides. Nice weather, jobs for our business, watermelon, the birds singing, tough lessons that He helps me learn, family, friends, DVR technology, beef on the grill.In all honesty, my list could go on and on. Couldn't yours?

Here is a very cool little devotional called "A Baloney Sandwich" from the book "Stories Bob Benson Used to Tell."

Read it. Enjoy it. Be thankful to God this morning.
Realize that I typed it up for you with my two-fingered typing skillz. Because I love you.

A Baloney Sandwich

"You have come to share in the very being of God" 2nd Peter 1:4

"Do you remember when they had old fashioned Sunday School picnics? I do. As I recall, it was back in the "Olden days", as my kids would say, back before they had air conditioning.They said, "We'll all meet at the Sycamore Lodge in Shelby Park at 4:30 on Saturday.

You bring your supper and we'll furnish the iced tea.



But if you were like me, you came home at the last minute. When you got ready to pack your picnic, all you could find in the refrigerator was one piece of dried up baloney and just enough mustard at the bottom of the jar so you got it all over your knuckles trying to get to it. And just two slices of stale bread to go with it. So you made your baloney sandwich and wrapped it in an old brown bag and went to the picnic.



When it came time to eat you sat at the end of a table and spread out your sandwich. But the folks who sat next to you brought a feast. The lady was a good cook and had worked hard all day to get ready for the picnic. And she had fried chicken and baked beans and potato salad and homemade rolls and sliced tomatoes and pickles and olives and celery.

And two big homemade chocolate pies to top it off. That's what they spread out there next to you while you sat with your baloney sandwich.

But they said to you,

"Why don't we just put it all together?""No, I couldn't do that. I couldn't even think of it," you murmured in embarrassment, with one eye on the chicken."Oh, come on, there's plenty of chicken and plenty of pie and plenty of everything. And we just love baloney sandwiches. Let's just put it all together."




And so you did and there you sat, eating like a king when you came like a pauper.








One day, it dawned on me that God has been saying just that sort of thing to me. "Why don't you take what you have and what you are, and I will take what I have and what I am, and we'll share it together?"


I began to see that when I put what I had and was and am and hope to be with what He is, I had stumbled upon the bargain of a lifetime.I get to thinking sometimes, thinking of me sharing with God. when I think of how little I bring, and how much He brings and invites me to share, I know I should be shouting from the housetops, but I am so filled with awe and wonder that I can hardly speak.



I know I don't have enough love or faith or grace or mercy or wisdom, but He does. He has all those things in abundance and He says, "Let's just put it all together."Consecration, denial,sacrifice,commitment and crosses were all kind of hard words for me, until I saw them in the light of sharing.



It isn't a case of me kicking in what I have because God is the biggest kid on the block and He wants it all for Himself. He is saying,"Everything I possess is available to you. Everything that I am and can be to a person, I will be to you."



When I think about it like that,it really amuses me to see somebody running along through life hanging on to their dumb bag with that stale baloney sandwich in it saying, "God's not going to get my sandwich! No sirree, this is mine!" Did you ever see anybody like that-so needy- just about half starved to death, yet hanging on for dear life. It's not that God wants your sandwich.

The fact is you need His chicken!

Well, go ahead-eat your baloney sandwich, as long as you can. But when you can't stand its tastelessness or drabness any longer, when you get so tired of running your own life and doing it your way and figuring out the answers with no one to help, when trying to accumulate,hold,grasp and keep everything together in your own strength gets to be too big a load, when you begin to realize that by yourself you're never going to be able to fulfill your dreams, I hope you'll remember that it doesn't have to be that way.


You have been invited to something better, you know. You have been invited to share in the very being of God.

Spiritualizing stuff

"Do you have to try to spiritualize everything?" or "Quit trying to spiritualize everything."



Both of these things have been said to me on more than a few occasions and it wouldn't bother me a bit if they were said by unbelievers.(And they have been)

But the times it has made me pause has been when it has been said by believers; people who have been Christians for a long time, usually raised in the church.


I always assumed people are kidding when they say this...until I'd heard it many times, and not always directed at me.

So I now have to ponder if what was said wrong, or wonder if intentions were misconstrued or I was so out of line that someone would feel they need to gently or jokingly correct me with a wink and a laugh.


I honestly can't see it.



If I were attempting to shove the Good News down some one's throat with a pitchfork or Bible-verse hurling with intent to injure I can see anyone getting annoyed. (including me)



But seeing God revealed in every situation or circumstance is not really a bad thing, in my opinion. In fact, its a good thing.

The way I see it, I don't put God in situations; He is already there.

I just see Him there and say something about it. I am not "trying" to make Him there...He just IS.

He encompasses everything, all the time.

"It is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega-the Beginning and the End." (Rev.21:6)

God is not at all confined to church-flavored situations like Sunday School or communion or bible study, although He is there, too.

But He can be found in every detail, every action, every corner of creation.

He is the God of grapes and goats and galaxies. I want to see Him everywhere. Shouldn't we be asking Him to reveal His awesome presence to us...everywhere and in everything?

Aren't we admonished from the pulpit that we should not restrict our worship to Sundays while singing a Chris Tomlin worship song , but be aware of Him during conversations with family and friends, shopping at Safeway in the middle of the week,walking the goats or cleaning the kitchen after dinner?

So I would encourage you not to muffle or discourage the voices that see God everywhere. They are praising God when they recognize Him in the magnificent as well as the minuscule and mundane.

I would question whether some brothers and sisters are trying to impose limits on when and where God may be seen by His children, instead of inviting Him to make Himself known in everyday life.

I will continue find great joy in seeing Him everywhere, like a cosmic Where's Waldo. And speak up about it.

I am not spiritualizing everything.

He already did.

Right at the crest, where Mount Olives begins its descent, the whole crowd of disciples burst into enthusiastic praise over all the mighty works they had witnessed: Blessed is he who comes, the king in God's name! All's well in heaven! Glory in the high places!

Some Pharisees from the crowd told him, "Teacher, get your disciples under control!"

But he said, "If they kept quiet, the stones would do it for them, shouting praise." (Luke 19:38-40)

Psalm 148
Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord from the heavens! Praise him from the skies! Praise him, all his angels! Praise him, all the armies of heaven! Praise him, sun and moon! Praise him, all you twinkling stars!

Praise him, skies above! Praise him, vapors high above the clouds! Let every created thing give praise to the Lord, for he issued his command, and they came into being. He set them in place forever and ever. His decree will never be revoked.

Praise the Lord from the earth, you creatures of the ocean depths, fire and hail, snow and clouds, wind and weather that obey him, mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all livestock, small scurrying animals and birds, kings of the earth and all people, rulers and judges of the earth, young men and young women, old men and children.

Let them all praise the name of the Lord. For his name is very great; his glory towers over the earth and heaven! 14 He has made his people strong, honoring his faithful ones— the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the Lord!

A hypothetical, slightly inappropriate situation

***You were warned once. I'm not gonna do it again. Proceed at your own risk.***

I was pondering things this morning as I jogged. About how I didn't feel like running. At all. About how excited I am that the new Glory Revealed CD is going to drop any minute now. About how happy I am that no goats are with me. About how that last insect I inhaled almost choked me to death.

Also about this following, completely hypothetical situation.



Picture this.



Say a wife is making dinner and folding laundry at the same time. Multi-tasking like a hurricane. She is on a mission to get things done. It is a Monday and things will get accomplished.



Suddenly, she realizes she has to go to the bathroom, but because she was like a woman on fire getting chores done, she may have waited a moment or two longer than she should have.

She rushes into the bathroom.



IF her husband had left the seat in the DOWN position, like he usually does, everything would be hunky-dory. Left with the seat in the upright position the humble toilet becomes a veritable Porcelain Death Trap for women, with it's gaping jaws and rushing waters.



So, for the sake of our story, let's just say that the husband left the seat up. Then the poor, unsuspecting wife would probably almost fall into the toilet and wheel her arms around like a big, clumsy ostrich trying to take flight. She may or may not have screamed.

Loudly.

She probably even pulled every muscle in her back, shoulder and neck.



But her injury would obviously be more than physical. It would be mental, too, because hell0-ooo.

She almost drowned in a toilet.



She would probably be justifiably miffed. I assume that she would not have the best attitude as she slapped said husband's Honey Mustard Roast Pork, steamed green beans and Garlic Parmesan red potatoes on a plate at dinner time.



You can't blame this pretend woman for getting upset. She most likely wouldn't even feel like running the next day.

Because of the pain, you know.

But she is a determined sort, (anger is an excellent motivator) and would probably go on her run anyway .

She would probably try to distract herself from the discomfort in her back by thinking about the new Glory Revealed CD that is going to drop any minute....