Can You Count the Stars?

December 5

God likes to do great things through unlikely people. To start a great nation, he chose an old man with no children. He showed the whole night sky to Abram and promised that his descendants would be more than all the stars in the sky. Abram believed God and God called him righteous.

Today’s Ornament – Field of Stars

Today’s Bible Verse – Genesis 15:5-6

He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

A Sign of the Promise

December 4

Just as predicted, man turned to wickedness. Only Noah stood righteous before God. God could have destroyed all of mankind, but he decided to give them another chance. On God’s instructions, Noah and his sons built an ark to hold all kinds of animals during a world-wide flood. The destruction of the world and all the people in it made God sad. He made a promise to Noah that he would never destroy the world with a flood again. He set a rainbow in the sky as a reminder of his promise.

Today’s Symbol – The Rainbow

Today’s Bible Verse – Genesis 9:14-15

Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

The Knowledge of Good and Evil

December 3

When God made the first two people, Adam and Eve, he loved them very much. He walked in the garden with them in the cool of the evening. He only gave them one rule – do not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But Adam and Eve, being human, could not resist the fruit, especially after Satan the serpent told them how tasty it must be. They ate it and, by doing so, incurred the punishment of death. In his mercy, God allowed them to live, but he put in motion the plan that would save Adam and Eve and their children and their children’s children from the death they all deserved.

He promised that through Eve's offspring, Satan would be crushed.

Today’s Ornament – The Apple

Today’s Bible Verse – Gen. 3 :13-15

Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." So the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

In the Beginning, God.

December 2

Before creation, God is. And with him, and part of him, is Jesus, God who would be flesh already prepared to take on the burden of the people he has not yet made.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth. And he looked at all he made and declared that it was good.

Today’s Ornament – The Earth

Today’s Bible Verse – John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God.

From the Root of Jesse

Coupon Flyers, Christmas lights, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It's easy to lose the truth of Christmas in the frantic pace of December. The truth is that God came to earth.

Did you get that? God, who opens his mouth and breathes out galaxies, became a helpless embryo, the child of an unwed teenage mother. But don't worry. It was all part of his plan.

In our family, we find it helpful to take some time each day to remember the enormity and purpose of God's plan. We do this by putting up a Jesse Tree. In our house, it's a small pine tree, but you could use a branch or a paper tree. Each day, we tell a story of God's plan, leading up to his incarnation, his taking on human flesh. Most Jesse Tree sites start 28 before Christmas in order to celebrate for 4 full weeks before the big celebration. I find it works better for our family to start on December 1, so that's what we're going to do.

Walk with me through the Bible this month. I'll post a blog every day with the following day's thoughts.

December 1 - The Jesse Tree

God made a promise to his people that they would not always have to live in fear and bondage. He promised a deliverer, someone who would bring peace to the earth, who would save through the power of the Spirit of God. He would come from the line of Jesse, the father of David. The people didn't know when this Savior would come, but they looked forward to him delivering them from generations of suffering. They watched the signs, they prayed for the Messiah to come quickly, and they kept their eyes on the family line of Jesse.

Today's symbol - the tree

Today's verse - Isaiah 11:1-7

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him-- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord--and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.

Another Fight Lost

My husband's uncle died last night at the way too young age of 54 after a short, intense battle with cancer. He was a voice of sanity in a loud, crazy family, a steady man who loved his girls and loved his football. Say a prayer for his family tonight, would you?

Cancer Stinks

Cancer claimed the life of my husband's aunt this month. It's ravaging the body of his uncle right now. And it has returned to the body of a dear family friend.

A sign of the fall?

A sign of the times?

A reminder of the fragility of life?

Maybe. I don't know. But I know cancer stinks. An unseen enemy fighting the body from within.

It seems the invisible foe is the hardest to fight. It's true with cancer, but it's true with other things too - dissention, discontent, discord - When the body is attacked and weakened by its own members, it cannot thrive.

The first big lawsuit over rights for Christian music included the song "They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love." Ironic, huh? Like cancer in the body of Christ, bent on destroying itself from within. Only in this case, we already know the cure.

Reports of My Birth Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

I got a bill today. It seems I had a c-section in September. Funny, I don't remember anything about it and I haven't seen any extra babies laying around anywhere.

When I told my youngest I'd been billed for having a baby, she said, "Mom, that was so 7 years ago."

Resolutions

When we moved back to America, we made two resolutions as a family.

1) We promised ourselves we wouldn't get involved in too many activities, especially at night.

2) We determined not to let discussions of how the church should or should not be, or how Christians should or should not act, overshadow talking about Jesus.

Time to assess our success or failure...

1) It's hard to live in America with kids and not get involved in some evening activities. All in all, though, we're home about as many nights as we're out. Now I need to re-resolve to make sure our time at home is used wisely, but I can't make that resolution until this round of the Amazing Race and Survivor are over.

2) This is a toughie. I spend a lot of my energy fretting about how to change situations and people I have no control over. I let myself fall into less challenging conversations with people I know will mostly agree with me. It's time to refocus my words on important topics. It's time to hand over the stuff I can't change and let God work his wonders without my help.

8:37

I have a thing about time warps, like the one we have to walk through to get from house to car that makes us exactly 3 minutes behind schedule everywhere we go.

Today's time warp comes from my computer's internal clock. It's the warp that occurs between 8:36 and 8:37. In the nano second it takes for the clock to switch over, my whole body goes through a sort of time travel of its own.

8:36 is my time, early morning quiet time after the husband is gone to work and before the kids are my responsibility.

8:36 is the same as 8:00 and 8:30.

8:37, though, is almost 9 o'clock. Time to kick things into gear. Time to make sure everyone's dressed and ready to start read aloud time in a few minutes.

Like the jarring feeling you get from a car with bad transmission when it shifts from 1st to 2nd, that's what 8:37 feels like to me.

Mug Shots

I'm off to the Post Office this morning to mail off our passport applications. Don't you know we'd plan our Africa trip to coincide not only with the month our passports expire, but with the expiration of our yellow fever shots, too.

Ten years since our last passport photos. It's scary how much we've changed in the last ten years. The hubby, of course, looks better than ever. He's more chiseled, less awkward. He's lost the mustache and the monstrous glasses and has trimmed his hair back to a manageable length.

I, on the other hand, am not improving. I've got the baggy eye thing going on, I've added glasses, and I've got the worse hairstyle of my life. And let's not even talk about the weight difference.

I hate getting my picture taken. Hate. It. But I've reached a point where I realize I'm not going to look any better in next year's picture or the year's after that. This is probably the best I'm ever going to look. Might as well record it now.

Close Your Eyes

I didn't bring my card adapter, so you'll have to spend a moment with me with your eyes closed (though I supposed that will put a cramp in your ability to read this post).

The weather is perfect, about 60 with a slight breeze blowing the scents of salt and fish off the ocean. A steady drone of low waves washes up against the sand and seagulls call out announcements about the latest morsel they've spotted.

A group of ladies gathers on the balcony, laughing over one funny memory or another. From the kitchen, friendly conversation spills out over flour tortillas and pulled pork, infusing our lunch with the kind of comradery that makes food taste its best.

You can open your eyes now. Wish you were here.

Africa Plans Update

So far, we've had about $1250 sent to us to help toward our trip to Africa in February. That's about enough for one person to go and stay. I hope it's me.

Fund raising is such a humbling/humiliating process. Truth be told, it's one of the things that keeps us in the states. It's hard to ask people to give money so you can do what you love to do. There's a piece of me that thinks it would be easier to make requests if we promised to be miserable when we got there.

It's a funny thing, this wanderlust that is part of my every cell. I yearn for far-off places. I love to talk to people who are not like me, to listen to what makes them tick, to puzzle out why God placed them in this time and place like he said in Acts 17. I have a lot of friends who are perfectly content living in the same town they grew up in, going to the same grocery stores, visiting the same attractions. I think they're lucky.

I'm the one (I'm blaming my dad for this) who wants to hike every trail in the book at least once before we hike the same trail twice. I'm the one who's willing to taste anything once, the one who loves that moment when the chaos of a foreign tongue resolves itself into meaningful words in my ears.

I'm kidding about wanting to stay in Africa, at least for now. I know our family is where it needs to be for the next few years, but my heart aches for a continent that is both the darkest and brightest place I've ever been.

Oh, Garbage!

I'm amazed at the attention garbage gets in this country. And I'm amazed at how much of it we produce each week.

In Africa, we ended up with perhaps a barrel full of garbage a year, less in a year than what we now produce in a week. There, food scraps went to the neighbors, the dog, or the compost heap (in that order). Tin cans, cardboard boxes and plastic containers were coveted items. I'd collect a stack of them on my porch knowing that sooner or later someone would come and carry them away. For a while, we buried our chicken bones. That was until we realized that our African friends could get a whole 'nother meal off the bones and skins and scraps we left behind.

Here, no one wants my chicken bones. Or my yogurt cups. Or my cereal boxes. I've tried reducing how much we use, but the system here is designed to produce waste. I take my own bags to the grocery store, but I still come home with all kinds of foods wrapped in plastic or mesh or cardboard. Even fresh produce has to go in a plastic bag to keep it safe from the other produce. You never know where that avocado has been, you know.

I wonder if we produce more garbage in America because a big truck comes to haul it away each week. After all, if we had to pile our trash in the street for everyone to see or bury it in our yard, I bet we'd be a lot more careful about how we shopped.

The Opposite Effect

Can you explain to me how I spend hours cleaning my room and now I can barely get in the door much less find the bed?

Kiss of Death

On Amazing Race tonight, early on in the show one of the couples did an interview that went something like:

"We love each other so much. Nothing could every shake our love and trust in each other."

"That's right, Smookums."

"Our communication is perfect. We never, ever argue."

"Never."

Kiss of Death. When a reality show shows a clip of such a positive statement, it's a sure sign that team will not only be the next to go, but that they'll go down in a blaze of ugly, argumentative fire.

Sometimes that happens in real life, but thank goodness we don't have editors recording our every stupid, over confident claim.

From Pumpkin Seed to Potluck

3 little seeds went in the ground some time back in April. We were so excited to see them sprout into 2 little plants, then less excited when they started taking over the garden. From those little seeds came a pumpkin patch big enough to require the space I'd allotted to squash and peppers, basil and cilantro.

And from those seeds came a summer's worth of leaves for my new friends from Kenya who were craving pumpkin leaves and other greens. We ate fried pumpkin blossoms in July and during August, we watched the first little nubs of fruit grow into real pumpkins.

It's October now. Fall is upon us and the first frost will harden the grass any day. Time for harvest.

The kids each picked a pumpkin and one of them insisted that hers be converted to food. (Think pie, cake, muffins, and (of course) roasted pumpkin seeds.) As I write, the smell of 4 loaves of chocolate chip pumpkin bread is creeping out of the oven, begging me to check on the bread one more time.

Remind me to set 3 seeds aside for next year.

The Farthest I've Been...

North: Barrow, Alaska

South: Soweto, South Africa

East: Mombasa, Kenya

West: Barrow, Alaska

You?

Phone a Friend Lifeline

The other day, I heard about a man who died in his apartment. His family wondered about him, then worried about him, then checked on him and found his body a month after he died. A whole month. I hope someone would miss me before then. I know they would. (I could insert a sarcastic comment here about how they'd miss me when they ran out of underwear or clean spoons or when they got hungry, but in truth, I know I'm loved by a lot of people who look out for me.)

I feel so sad for him, someone who lived his life in a way that he wasn't connected with anyone who missed him right away. I can't imagine living that way.

I feel sad for his family who must bear not only the burden of his death but whatever guilt they will carry for not checking on him sooner. It's not like their checking in on him would have kept him alive, but it might have made his death easier on them.

I know there are a lot of people in this situation, men and women who have either been forgotten by society or who have built themselves a life in which they don't depend on anyone.

I am reminded again of how we are our best selves when we live in community with others. Hard as it may seem sometimes, people make me a better person. If you know someone who needs to get connected, please call that person and commit to do so regularly. And if you're the kind of person who tends to hole up and avoid regular contact with people who care about you, find someone you can talk to or - better yet - someone you can serve.

I'll try to do the same.

Feeling the Call

It’s true what they say, that time flows more quickly the older you get. It surprises me when I realize that we’ve now lived in the states for 8 years, the same amount of time we were overseas.

When we came back from Togo, we intended to keep the possibility of returning to the mission field alive. While we don’t have any immediate plans to return full-time to overseas mission work, we have recently felt God’s call to return to Africa for a visit. In the future, we would like to plan a trip for at least Edwin and Patty to do some follow up work in Togo. Right now, though, we are drawn to visit the other side of the continent where our former teammates are establishing a new work in Rwanda and where our church sponsors a missionary family.

The Koonces and Crowsons recently moved from Togo to Rwanda where they will be starting a new church planting work. Their whole team should join them in the next year or so. We would love the chance to see if and how we could ever fit into that work. While there, we would like to take the opportunity to check in with Andrew and Aimee Jo Martin in Fort Portal, Uganda, a couple our home church sponsors for whom we play the roll of laisons.

For the past few months, as we’ve considered this trip, we’ve been reluctant to ask anyone to help send us. We know it’s a terrible time to ask for funds, but we also know that money is like water in God’s hands. If we don’t ask anything of him, is it because we have no faith that he will provide?

And so we ask, in faith, knowing that if God intends for us to make this trip, he will provide. We would love to take the whole family, which would cost nearly $15,000. But if less than that is collected, we would still like for some of us to go, adults first and then kids. We’re aiming for a January trip, about 3 weeks long. I’ll keep you updated as plans develop.

If you are willing and able to give towards this trip, you can make checks out to Vancouver Church of Christ, earmarked for Slacks Mission Trip. Our overworked church accountant would prefer that you send the checks directly to us so that we can keep track of acknowledgments and thank you notes. Let me know if you need that address,

Thank you for your prayerful consideration and may God bless you in whatever good works you are involved in.