the resurrection of jackie sweeter

we Christians do not all have the exact same beliefs.  even the apostle
paul acknowledged that there are so many differences in the church,
we should just agree on Christ's resurrection and not worry about the
rest.

believe it or not, i have a resurrection story that involves our youngest
daughter's hamster, the venerable jackie sweeter.  she  loved that little
guy to death, literally.  he was stone cold dead, on his back, feet in the
air.

until he hopped back up and got back inside that maniacal wheel.
you might call it his wheel of fortune.

unfortunately, a few days later he died again, permanently, and seven
year old hailey was broken hearted.  she wrote a lovely funeral program
including a moving tribute to both his lives and deaths.

as you might imagine, she was very reluctant to let us bury him.

love,
lea

"listen, i tell you a mystery:  we will not all sleep, but we will all be
changed."  1 corinthians 15:51

"bows and flows of angel hair"

dear emily,

i love the fact that though i am frail, impetuous, and self centered, the Lord
is never disillusioned with me.  as the saying goes, "He never had any
illusions to start with."  i also know that every moment spent with Him
softens and fills in those rough edges and empty spaces.

He might not have had any illusions, but i sure did!  i thought i could be
the perfect wife and mother.  joni mitchell summed it up nicely, "i really
don't know life at all."

i wonder how many of my unrealistic expectations hindered my most
precious relationships?  what made me think i could expect 'that' of him
or her?  "many of the cruel things of life spring from the fact we suffer
from illusions." (oswald chambers)

on the other hand, susan boyle had a dream and now is singing in front
the pope.  joseph of the many colored coat saw each of his dreams
fulfilled but waited years in prison for them.

maybe we should dream our dreams and then offer them to the Lord.  i
imagine the ones that could really 'be' will get offered back.  "God is
most glorified in me when i am satisfied in Him" (john piper) . . .

whether or not all my dreams are realized.

love,
lea

"in the last days, God says, i will pour out my Spirit on all people.  your
sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your
old men will dream dreams."  acts 2:17

NC-17 for "doubt"

i think there should be an emotional rating for some movies.  take
"doubt", for instance.  that story was laced with so many disturbing
themes, it kept me up for nights.  (i slept like a baby after all the
"final destination" movies.)

here's what ate at me the most.  though we were supposed to hate
the critical sister, she was probably correct with her suspicion that
the catholic priest was a pedophile.  my anguish stemmed from the
witch hunt after his charming and sympathetic character.

the dilemma increased when he displayed some arrogant and
condescending tendencies.  "wait!  i thought i was supposed to
like him!"  the judgmental sister was harsh and conniving, on one
hand, but surprisingly perceptive and sensitive, on the other.

oh, the twists and turns.

when  the poor mother was informed that her son was probably in
an unhealthy relationship with the catholic father,  she thought that
was better than getting a beating from his own father.

aaaaaaargh!  by the end of this movie, i felt as terrible as the old,
mean sister looked.

love,
lea

"therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves."
matthew 10:16b

rain, rain everywhere, and not a cab in sight

hans was desperate to catch a cab out of new york last week.  it was
raining cats and dogs with an added tornado or two but no cabs in which
to take refuge.

google image of times square

the streets were lined with drenched people, hands raised in futility for
a dry ride.  a few others were pushing their 'cart' homes, apparently
indifferent to the downpour.

a lone cabbie inched by carefully ignoring the hoards, so hans took a
chance.  "excuse me, sir, could you take me uptown?"

google image of new york cab

"well, i'll tell you.  i'm in a mood as foul as this weather, but because
you were so polite, yes sir, hop in." he reminded me of the aesop quote,
"no act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."

what the cabbie didn't know is that hans had spent two intensive days
in denver meetings, hopped a plane to return me home, then caught
another plane to take him on to new york, arriving at one in the morning.
at seven the next morning he presented at a conference for eight hours.

exhausted and soaked to the bone, he was trying to meet his brother
who was recovering from surgery and then to catch his third plane  in
two days to bring him home to me on yet another red eye.

i could just kiss that cabbie. . . but don't tell hans.

love,
lea

"with good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men."
ephesians 6:7

terror by day

dear emily,

janette, vee, and my friend from HHL have all inspired me with their
incredibly vulnerable blogs.  why does it make us feel better when
someone else is struggling?

i think it's because our own battles are somehow validated.  one of my
conflicts is the fear of flying, something i have to do a lot.

google image

this past week we took off from the beautiful denver airport on a
glorious indian summer day.  unfortunately, the warm air combined
with the mountain updrafts created a turbulent 'sit op.'  the pilot
followed a bizarre flight pattern for 20 minutes, flying only 1,000 feet
above the ground.    did i say flying?

i meant bouncing and careening.

on top of that (no pun intended), we were piddling around at 300
miles per hour, half the normal speed.  it felt like riding a bucking
bronco in slow motion . . . endlessly.  the terror smothered me as i
imagine the hood used to stifle the victim before his hanging.

the Lord and i have been in this situation thousands of times and
He knows me so well.  His word comforted my heart, even though
my mind was still a little undone.

"fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you.  I will UPHOLD you with
my righteous right hand."  isaiah 41:10

hans encouraged me with good common sense, "it's only bumpy
air.  close your eyes and imagine an old gravel road.  the plane can
easily handle this."  but could i?

now i feel ashamed of my terror, my weakness, myself.  maybe,
though, it will make you feel a little better about yours.

love,
lea

all for nature

dear emily,

tonight hans and i hosted a fundraiser for the nature conservancy, mainly
for our tall grass prairie, the largest in the world.  hans calls it the reasonable
man's approach to conservation.  we don't throw buckets of paint on anyone.

in the pre-party panic i always experience, i hid in our quiet pantry and sent
the kids a furtive message, "your dad is about to get in a fight with the city
newspaper, because they want us to take a photo outside in the 95 degree
weather."

"mom!  are you hiding in the pantry?"

hans won, and we took the picture in our living room.  i'm pretty sure
we will look like the bison of our tall grass prairie, as the photographer
will have his revenge.

one of the most famous nature conservancy photographers gave me
permission to post some of his gorgeous tall grass prairie photos on my
humble blog!  i'll place them by our photo in a few days, and let you
judge who's the scruffiest.

in the same living room, i  happened upon a woman leaning over her
husband who was grey as an old mare and shaking with sweaty palms.
she said, "he's probably fine, but he has really high blood pressure."

after the ambulance left with him, she turned back and said, "thank you
very much for having us.  we had a lovely time."

creepy.  

"did you have to call for the firetrucks, too?"  hans was just curious.

before i could answer, the most adorable 85 year old man (think fred
astaire but imagine the largest land owner in our state) came whistling
out the door.  so cute . . . with a wine bottle hidden behind him.  he had
told me earlier that his wife, who was home with a 'bug', was feeling
much better.

"she felt well enough to go to the beauty parlor."  :)

home, home on the range . . .

love,
lea

awkward family photos

dear emily,

i'm probably going to get in trouble with someone, but desperate times
call for desperate measures.  whenever i really need to be cheered up,
 i suspect others might, too.  here are  some of my favorite photos from
"awkward family photos."

"will you marry me, alice?"

"only if we can have our bridal party photo in our favorite tree."

"or if we can use your mom's awesome draperies."

"and if you go to billy ray's barber."

love,

lea

"God has brought me laughter, and everyone who 

hears about this will laugh with me."

genesis 21:6