In The Wheelbarrow

From Rob Harrison at The Spyglass:

As Chesterton wryly observed, "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried."

The bottom line here is that true Christian faith is not just intellectual assent to a series of propositions, nor is it a commitment to pursue what we consider to be good and helpful behaviors (though in some sense, both of those are involved): true Christian faith is a belief in a Person, and a commitment to follow that Person, wherever he might lead us. To borrow from the old story about the Great Blondin, it's not just a matter of agreeing that if we get in the wheelbarrow, he'll be able to push us safely across his tightrope over Niagara Falls—it's a matter of actually getting in the wheelbarrow and hanging on. It's a whole-life commitment, giving everything we have to follow Jesus.

What Started Our Remodelling Project

Some one who read yesterday's post wondered about the reference I made to a deer incident, and it is a strange enough story I thought it would be fun to post the letter I sent to family and friends back when it happened in November of '06. Here it is:

"Yep, the strange rumor you heard as church was letting out this morning is true. Our neighbor, Barb, came down to the church and found Mike to tell him that witnesses had seen a deer jump through one section of our big picture window, bungle around inside the house for a few minutes, and then jump back out through another section of the same window. She wanted to catch us before we came home to all that bloody mess and had to play CSI to figure out what had happened. Apparently, the people who saw this were driving by. They saw it go in, went down to the intersection and turned around, and saw it come out as they arrived back at our house. They went check on us, and finding us gone, called the police and began knocking on neighbor's doors. The guy two doors north of us was home, and he told them he would keep an eye on the house until we returned. Then Barb, who lives between us, came home from the store, and she said she knew exactly where we'd be. So she drove to the church.

The police never did find the deer, by the way. They received a report of a badly wounded six point buck in the courtyard of Carle Arbours (about a mile south of us), but by the time the deputy got there, it was nowhere to be seen.

Meanwhile, we rushed home. Grant and Traci followed, since our plan had been to meet for lunch at Culver's. The house was just a mess, with glass and blood-lots and lots of blood-everywhere. He apparently thought he could get out the back sliding-glass door, because there was a lot of blood and some hoof-scrapes on the glass, but he didn't break it, which is good, because he just would have been trapped in the sun porch. He knocked most of the furniture over in the dining area and pushed the table up against the wall by the garage door. When he turned around and ran back out, he must have launched himself from the piano bench, because there was a hoof mark and a lot of blood on the Sunday paper that was laying on the bench.

The Halls came by as we were inspecting the damage, and very kindly went and got us Subway sandwiches, since we really couldn't make use of the kitchen at that point. Then Robin arrived to do her laundry. So, Mike and I, Grant and Traci, and Robin, started dealing with the mess. Traci took Mike in her truck to Lowe's to get plywood; Robin scrubbed and mopped the blood up in the kitchen, Grant and I put on leather work gloves and began picking up glass. Our neighbor lent us their shop vac. We all worked full tilt for 3 solid hours. and in the end the house was livable, believe it or not.

Really, it could have been much worse. I have to admit that my first concern had been for our new leather couch that sits in front of the window, but it was only slightly scratched despite being absolutely covered in glass shards. Though there is some blood on the living room carpet, most of it was in the kitchen where the floor is tile. And the piano bench was protected by the newspaper. I was able to get the blood off the couch with the cleaner that came with it when we bought it, and the blood on the piano, walls, floor, tablecloth, sliding-glass door, etc. could all be washed off. There was some music piled by the piano that will always be blood stained, and of course the two big windows will have to be replaced ASAP, and that will be expensive. Insurance will help.

I'm glad I wasn't home when it happened! And our fierce attack-kitties were no help, cowering under Robin's bed for hours after the event. Last time I depend on them to guard the house while we're gone! Anyway, once the windows are replaced and the carpet cleaned it will all fade into a very surreal memory. Robin used to call these kinds of events "Adventures With Robin"....so here's the new chapter , Robin!"

It turned out, when all was said and done, the deer caused about $6,000 dollars in damage to the house, and the carpet had to be completely replaced, since the glass shards were never going to be completely out of it, along with an entire new picture window system. We don't live on the edge of town, so everyone is kind of amazed by the whole incident, but our insurance company was great, and we got it all covered. They even credited us with the clean up, thus eliminating the deductible.

So, that's the story.

What's On Your List?

Today was desk clean-off day. The main reason I have to clean off my desk is that I have an inordinate fondness for making lists and outlines, and then keeping them in neat little stacks and never looking at them! I subscribe to the theory that I should get things off my mind and on to paper, so I write and write and write. I think what it really does is organize my thoughts. Then I don't actually need the lists and outlines.

Anyway, there were a lot of little pieces of scratch paper with home improvement lists. Some of those were nice to see; we've done a lot of work to the house this past year and a half, since the deer came through and got us started with the insurance claim. I made little check marks by all we'd finished , consolidated what we still needed to do on to one list, and threw the remainder away. See what I mean? It's obsessive. But I love to do it anyway.

Then I found something kind of interesting. Last fall, I read the book "Garbage Land" by Elizabeth Royte. Some of you will roll your eyes and think "Yes, I knew she was weird, and this proves it! She reads books about garbage!" I do love the subject of garbage. Ask me all about it, when you have an hour or two to spare. Anyway, after reading that book I sat down and made some of my little lists.

Sources of Paper/how to deal w/it:
1.newspaper-recycle; use for mulch
2.magazines-cancel those not read; share at work; recycle
3.junk mail-get off lists; recycle; re-use blank stuff; scratch paper
4.packaging-refuse as much as possible; reuse; recycle
5.office paper-receive and store records electronically; compost shredded material; recycle
6.kitchen paper-use cloth napkins; rags; ceramic plates only

See, I told you it was obsessive! But the cool thing is, we've done all of it. In fact, we've cut back on our trash output so much that we can go three weeks without putting anything at the curb, and then it's just one container for trash, and two recycling tubs.

There was also a list for plastic:
1.milk and soy milk jugs-buy in glass returnables, recycle
2.cottage cheese, sour cream, yogurt tubs-make my own yogurt; recycle
3.bubble packaging-?? reuse
4.grocery bags-use cloth

Again, we've done it.

Glass and Cans:
beverage cans and bottles-stop drinking it!
food cans-use more home-made foods

Done, and done.

So, as you can see, my life is full of action and excitement. Please excuse me while I line my pencils up in a nice neat row.

Sunday Stroll

The irises are at their peak, now. Their season is so short, I try to enjoy them thoroughly while we have them.

Memorial Day is tomorrow, and I hope these peonies will be blooming by then to put out in the cemetery.

This bed is not blooming yet, but contains roses, chrysanthemum, Moonshine coreopsis, daylillies, and sundrops, plus a sedum that must be on steroids!

The sun came out just as I took this shot of the nice wine-colored penstemon, washing out it's color, but I love it's contrasting foliage against the peonies and lamb's ears. All of these plants are pass-along plants; the lamb's ears have come down in the family from my great grandmother.

1,2,3, BLOOM!!

They've Got It Under Control

"We'd rather be doorkeepers in the house of our God than dwell in the dirty retension pond of the wicked." Ps. 85:10 (Revised Canada Goose Version )

Uncomfortable Worship

"The church is to be aware of the world in its worship, not to seek to match its style or to attempt to be relevant to the world on its own terms, but in order to offer its true relevance: to show and tell the world those things with which it is not comfortable, because it has forgotten them. Rather than being a public echo of the world’s familiar business, we’re called to be “the public forum of the world’s radical business,” the place where the world is called back to the root of every matter, the source of every existence, to confront the God who made it; our worship, insofar as it meets needs, should be meeting needs which the culture does not see. Insofar as it’s about us at all, which is only secondarily, it should be building us up as the people of God to go out to serve him in the human city as agents of the city of God, and not for any other purpose."


Rob Harrison, The Spyglass

Decisions, Decisions.....

I've done a pretty good job of eliminating junk mail coming into my house, but I'll have to admit I'm still getting two clothing catalogs, just because I like to drool over their clothes. L.L. Bean satisfies the outdoorsy side of my personality; Coldwater Creek makes me think I might someday make a fashion statement as a "professional" woman (for the two hours a week that I need to look professional!). I should just get off their lists, since I can't afford most of what they offer. I look at them for a couple of days, and then chuck them out, which is really a waste.

Today I have two catalogs in the house. The Coldwater Creek one came today, and I started to indulge my fantasies as I ate my lunch.

But, also on the table was a catalog I had brought home from church on Sunday, put out by World Vision. I had salivated over that one for several days, too.

So, what do you think? Should it be the tropical blue print dress for $79.50? Or the flock of chickens for the starving family for $50.00?

Book Review: Saving God's Green Earth by Tri Robinson with Jason Chatraw

I had signed on for Green Beans's Bookworm Challenge. I chose my book: "Living Downstream". Then, Pastor Randy handed me a book that he had received in a mailing from the Willow Creek Association, and wondered of I would like to read it, since he himself did not have time at the moment. The book looked intriguing, and, in what seems to be my new habit of jumping from thing to thing, I decided to read it and review it instead of my original choice.

"Saving God's Green Earth" was written as an outgrowth of Pastor Tri Robinson's experience of teaching his Vineyard Church of Boisie, Idaho, how they could involve themselves in environmental stewardship. When he first felt lead to start teaching his congregation about creation care, he was somewhat concerned about the reaction he would get from them. He needn't have worried; his sermon received a standing ovation. He found that there is profound concern for the environment among evangelicals, but their leaders have been reluctant to approach the subject because the environmental movement has so often also been associated with the New Age movement, as well as with liberal social causes that cannot be embraced by many Christians. He has navigated this minefield very successfully, and his congregation has embraced a role in the community as leaders in creation care.

Pastor Robinson's approach resonated for me with things that I had already thought through in my own life. Premise #1: The way we treat creation says something about our respect (or lack thereof) for the Creator, and relates to the commandment to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Premise #2: In loving our neighbors as ourselves, we need to keep in mind that they live downstream, downwind, and beyond us into the future. We have an obligation to share the environment with them as loving neighbors. Premise #3: Hopelessness is not part of Christian faith. We can do all things through Christ, including tackling a monumental challenge like restoring and maintaining the creation. Every individual's lifestyle choices, no matter how small, can be multiplied for the good of others when they are dedicated to God.

This is a short and easily read book, and provides an excellent Biblical foundation for dealing with the issues that are so front and center in our society today. I recommend it as a starting point for Christian thought on the subject. There are some concrete suggestions in the last two chapters that can be applied in most churches. It is readable and practical. I think the Willow Creek Association should be commended for making it available to all the association pastors.