Christian Potpourri

I never thought about a bucket list when I was young. Now I find that the things I might have wanted to do in my earlier years have long been forgotten. I don’t remember what I wanted to do back then, and I realize that it doesn’t matter now; life is good and I am content. Lately, though, after observing our two daughters, I’ve been giving  a bucket list some thought, not out of any deep ‘need’, but to add some exclamation points to the declarative sentences of my life.  After watching our daughters, a bucket list seems like a good idea.

Our 27 year old daughter, Margo,  has a bucket list and has started filling it with things she’s already done… from hot air ballooning to fencing, courtesy of her job,  to her choice to jump  into  a freezing lake for the Special Olympics Polar Bear Plunge.  She stood in line for hours, along with 15,000 others for the chance at being an extra in the George Clooney movie being filmed here in St. Louis. As I write this sentence she’s in a little bitty church, dressed up for a make-believe wedding.  Out of the 15,0000, that stood in line that day, only 2,100 were chosen to be in the film. Out of that 2,100, Margo was one of the approximately 100 for the church scene. Pretty big odds, very exciting experience. Sitting in a church with George Clooney is something I could handle. The jump in the lake she can keep.

In an aside, while daughter, Margo, is sitting in the church, daughter Julie is at a screening party for a training film in which she plays two roles. One, as herself, a courtesy clerk and checker for a local grocery store. The other role she plays is the mascot for that store.  I find the irony…ironic.  I mean, what are the odds of that, one being filmed for a movie, the other sitting in a theater watching herself onscreen on the same day at the same time?

Daughter, Julie’s bucket list item at the moment is Roller Derby, but because of her working hours she can’t participate just now.  We have had some kind of fun, though, trying to come up with unusual names that aren’t already taken. (If you want a good laugh, check out the names by googling Roller Derby Names) Another biggie on Julie’s list is travel. Travel sounds good to me….but I don’t thinks skates are my thing anymore.

So yes, I’m truly enjoying our daughter’s moments, and I admire them for stretching themselves. The good Lord provides many an opportunity, and I believe we’re supposed to grab at life with both hands, and they are really setting a fun…and high…standard.

So I’ve decided that before I let my contented-ness get the best of me, I’m going to try to stretch myself a bit more.  No more basking in the reflections from the pooled water at the bottom of our girls’ bucket lists, I’m going to think  about opportunities, and begin a bucket list of my own.

I’ll keep you posted.   Until then, how about you?

I expect some more downs in the DOW Industrial Average but hopefully things are on the upswing for our economy and our country. The news appears good. We should take heart.

In an earlier BLOG I urged you to BREATHE, though it felt like all the air had been sucked out of the atmosphere along with the money in our 401-K’s and our investments.

If you took that deep breath in, maybe now you can let it out…and sigh with relief. Perhaps the worst is over.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<sigh>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Pastor Fred Winters

The shocking news came yesterday, Sunday, March 7th.  Across the Mississippi river from St. Louis, in a little town called Maryville, Illinois, a pastor was gunned down during the early service at his church. Four bullets flew into the Bible the pastor used to shield himself, and he was successful in shielding three of them. As the bullets hit, witnesses say the Bible turned into confetti. One of the four bullets didn’t stop and it entered the pastor’s heart. It was only a matter of seconds after he was struck that he ran down the church aisle, collapsed and died.

I picture it in my mind, the pastor speaking to the gunman, then shots ringing out and ripping through the Bible, God’s message showering the pastor only seconds before he got to meet the One who wrote it.

And so, in search of answers to “Why?”, I searched online for breaking news. I read a few, along with the comments. I couldn’t read very long, however, as vitriol stained an area I consider sacred and I found it painful to read how much anger and hatred people have for the Christian community. But I did read long enough to see  some responses of the Christian community and what some of the actual members of the church where the pastor was killed were saying.  I found it beautifully odd how these Christians showed more compassion toward the man who killed their pastor than some of the  people who have never even been in the state of Illinois, much less in this church. These Christians were praying for the man who killed their pastor. Amazing.

Then today we find that the man who gunned down the pastor has been a case study in the field of Lyme disease. Apparently bitten by a tick carrying Lyme, the man has suffered degenerative brain problems, which changed him into a different man. Today you could find him on the front page of a Lyme Disease website, along with the story of his illness. They may have taken it down, perhaps not. It may actually raise awareness of what Lyme disease can do. That is another story, and an interesting and tragic one at that.

Maryville, IL Church Members Mourn

This story was not what people expected it to be. It was not what I expected it to be. I expected this to be some kind of retribution killing, but it wasn’t. I even thought it might be a hate crime, but it isn’t.  And isn’t it something that the members of First Baptist Church of Maryville didn’t wait to find out WHY before they started praying for this man. Incredible.

So when I read the awful comments some people write, well, I think …WHY? And I can get angry and upset…and frustrated that they don’t understand Who Christ Is and why we love Him so.

Perhaps like those Christians at First Baptist of Maryville, I don’t need to know why. I just need to pray.

Doreen

I met Doreen at a round-table Q&A when I was in Glorieta, New Mexico, for a Christian Writer’s Conference. As we learned a little bit about each other, I discovered Doreen had a ministry for teenage girls, a Biblically based program titled “Becoming a Modern Day Princess.” This ministry was developed to guide girls (ages 13-18) in their rite-of-passage from adolescence to young womanhood.

If you have your ear to the ground you know as I do the problems facing our young women in today’s culture. They are presented with situations and attitudes foreign to most of us due to the powerful influence of the media and peer pressure, causing many to capitulate into crisis situations.

In trying to compare the peer pressure to what those of us in our thirties, forties and up, dealt with when we were young, I’ve come up with this analogy: we stuck our tongues to a AA volt battery. These young women are standing out on a golf course with a golf club held high in the middle of the worst lightening storm in history. We have GOT to get them not only out of the storm but also off the golf course.

That is precisely what Doreen is doing…and succeeding.
Here is an excerpt from an anonymous letter written by a young woman who participated in the program: The rest of the letter can be read by clicking on ‘anonymous letter’ in the right hand corner of the first page of the blog.

“I think that’s when my actual life couldn’t hide anymore, the pain of what was really going on in my soul came through and I saw how ugly my life was without Jesus, I felt all of the pain that I had brought on to myself that I had been pushing to the back of my life came rushing through. That was one of the worst nights of my life.
That’s when I KNEW something had to happen in my life, I didn’t know it was going to be my rite-of-passage, I wasn’t even going to take the program, but I did…”

Modern Day Princess'

Today this very same young woman leads an alumni Becoming a Modern Day Princess group.

The Becoming a Modern Day Princess is a ten-week study (or is also available in a weekend retreat format) that ends in a very meaningful celebration wherein her father or another man of integrity imparts his blessing upon her in front of family and friends. All celebrating her journey to womanhood.

Materials, further information, or if you’d like to become a leader for this program go to: http://www.treasuredcelebrations.org

Be watching for the new book to be titled “Raising A Modern Day Princess” that will be published by Focus on the Family/Tyndale by the 4th quarter of 2009.

Feeling a bit blue? The DOW is down, and so are you? Try taking a deep breath. Remember life here is short. We have to be real and recognize things aren’t always easy. At all. But to worry beyond what you’re able to control is not a good thing. We can’t control the DOW. We have to remember WHO is in control and remember our stint down here is short.

Also remember how when things get rough, people turn to God.  Pray for that to happen. Ask God for inner peace and strength to get through this rough time so you can reach out to others whose lives are up and down like the DOW.

Be different. Hold on to the faith you have in Jesus. Show you have something to hold onto. Help others find it, find Him.

And breathe.