5 Minute Vacation

I do trust that you will be able to take a few days off while the days are warm and opportune for relaxing. 

Whether you travel or have a staycation.....

Reflect. Savor the moment. Breath in the blessings.

Below are a few images from my family's recent vacation. 

I am one grateful woman.

My granddaughter Layna is kayaking for the first time

 My granddaughter Elyse with her "Gpop" at the ocean for the first time

 The first sunset of our vacation

There's something magical about sand, water, and a small child

Sea cactuses in the ebbing sunlight

My three daughters with their daddy and our youngest granddaughter

In the natural muted colors of the ocean decor springs a pop of color that mesmerizes

A bird estuary very close to our rented beach house

My mother, my daughters, my granddaughters with me. What else?

Billowing storm clouds make wonderful backdrops

My husband spent many an hour in his kayak fishing & retreating 

My 81 year old father-in-law feeding the seagulls with the sunset behind him

Our newest son-in-law Ben with my husband on a afternoon trip to Southport

My first son-in-law with his incredibly beautiful daughters

Situated at the top of our rented beach house was a crow's nest.

Perfect for enjoying this view each evening.

What beauty is in your life today? 

Take the Higher Road: Love At All Times

In light of my most recent post on the Amendment One vote in North Carolina at the beginning of May, God has been delving deeply into my soul and finding me lacking in the very thing I want more than anything. More of His love that comes from deep within me and illuminates everything I do, say, or think.


Though I can write words eloquently and persuasively...and do not have love as the root of those words, I have nothing. That is my simple interpretation of I Corinthians 13:1. Thankfully, I no longer rant and rave when I am upset (I had my moments acting in those way when I was younger, believe me), does that mean that I have arrived? That I am truly loving as Christ loves? Love starts deep within the soul, and it is a choice to nurture and enhance the emotions and actions compelled by love.


The Word of God is so contemporary, so all-consuming, so timely and powerful to what we need in our lives. I am thankful for its convicting potency in my life (well, most of the time). Here's my lesson for today.


"Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful...."(vs 5).

I may not show my irritation as quickly as I used to, but I still find myself feeling irritated toward other Christians who should know better how to live before a lost world, but yet choose not to do so. 

Here's the deal. The people in our lives may not always deserve the fruits of our love. The people in our lives are human - just as we are. For that very reason, the people in our lives deserve to see Jesus' love through us - no matter what they have done or not done. True love for others is not dependent on what they do or say. True love does not matter that someone else is not doing as I would do. True love just loves.....regardless. 


It seems that we have gotten so caught up in doing for others, becoming involved in charities, giving money to causes, taking mission trips, fighting for the underprivileged - so much so, that we have convinced ourselves all those things must equal LOVE. Though all those things can be done out of hearts of love, it is often not the case. Consider your motives. If you are replacing the very concept of love found deeply in your heart with the outward manifestations, then you are still truly bankrupt in the love bank. 


Husbands and wives, children and parents, co-workers, fellow Christians, church members, or just those you meet in passing. Love them because it is the higher road to take, the higher calling of a God who demonstrated it well when He walked on this earth, being born in the likeness of men. 


Take time to read Philippians 2:1-11 today. Read it subjectively. Keep yourself in the picture. Let those words be your only measuring cup today. 

The Proof of Your Love sung by For King & Country

The Vice & Virtue of "Being Salt"

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. 

(Col. 4:6)

I find it hard to concentrate today except on the angry retorts flying carelessly and blatantly around on cyber and social mediums. You see, I am from North Carolina. If you read that but don't have a clue why that is proportional right now - consider yourself the blessed one.


Yesterday, about 37% of registered voters in North Carolina participated in our 2012 primary election. At the top of the pile was a controversial Amendment concerning constitutionally banning of same-sex marriage within the state. Approved by a rather wide margin, the Amendment is now to be inserted into the NC constitution. After reading and listening and trying to comprehend the protest of some of those on the "Against the Amendment" side, I felt somewhat compromised. 


I am a Christian, one who has chosen to accept Jesus Christ and His death on the cross for all my sins, for I believe the Bible when it says that He is truly the only way to God the Father: the Way, the Truth, the Life (Jn 14:6). I choose to follow God's Word because I trust Him, He is worthy of my praise, and He is the Creator of all things. He designed mankind, the world, and the amazing intricacies of nature. 


He is a proactive God and cares deeply for His creation - whether or not we choose to live in His way. He loves us. He hates violence and abuse and little children are precious to Him. This is where those who do not truly comprehend the sovereignty and great love of God will accuse Him of allowing bad things to happen. But that very mindset, free thinking, which helped you to think that God is at fault for the mess this world is in is actually a gift from the God you accuse. He designed you with a nature to think and to make your choices. We have the opportunity to choose His Word, the Bible, as a compass of His own perfectly designed map for our lives. But mankind has chosen since the beginning of time to stray away from God's way, and so it is our own choices that has put our world in disarray. 


Let me be clear. Though I do not believe that same-sex unions are acceptable to God, I was not happy with Amendment One in its simplistic form. I have read the language and the original intent of the Amendment. In such a transient society and because there are a handful of states that allow same-sex marriages, it's just a matter of time before a "married" same-sex couple from somewhere like NY would move to NC and ask to be treated as married with all the rights and privileges. I see the issue here. HOWEVER, in my opinion, the Amendment is too silent on cases of abuse and the protection of children from same-sex and other unrecognized unions. Protestors of the Amendment are angry, in part, because it seems - by the overwhelming 61% vote FOR the amendment - that NC is a cold, heartless state that does not care about the rights of others. I do not believe that the majority of those 61% voted even with the knowledge that protective rights may be compromised by the passing of the Amendment. (Though I have been informed that many lawyers & politicians vouch that this will not be the case in NC.) Many of the ones that voted FOR the amendment do not agree with abuse and violence in any form - and would never want to know that there were children in our state with no protection. I don't believe that for a second. But, the ones that voted against the amendment are extremely concerned about rights being taken away. It's difficult to think that we'll ever walk on the same path again with such diverse and polarized opinions.


I can't answer for everyone, but I can answer for myself. As a campus minister for almost ten years, I have seen almost everything under the sun. I have heard all kinds of arguments. I have ministered to students with extreme and alternative lifestyles. Every one of them soundly loved by the omnipotent God who created them, and because of that, I choose to love them, too. Though I may not agree with choices made by those around me, my heart goes out to any that would be harmed - regardless. Violence is never okay. Child abuse or neglect is never okay. Just because I do not believe certain unions are right does not make me a hatemonger though. So tired of being called that by angry "friends" and acquaintances who disagree with the Amendment. It is just unfortunate that the Amendment forced us to, inadvertently, vote against the protection of some of our citizens - no matter their lifestyle.  And I am hoping that the fine state of NC will take the higher road in the days ahead on that issue.


Let me close with this. I was brought to tears today by the resounding fact that many Christians have jumped on the bandwagon of this Amendment without an inkling of what the other side is concerned about. The profanity, the hateful remarks, and careless attitudes of some Christians toward those that may be against the Amendment surely must grieve the heart of God. I am sickened by the militant and angry attitudes on both sides. The Bible tells us that we (Christians) will be reviled, persecuted, mocked. Why are you surprised at that? But we certainly are not told by God to give back what we get. Stand on what you believe, speak of your convictions, but be gracious about it. Period.


Today I was talking to a barista at a local Starbucks that I frequent. He was struggling with the outcome and it was obvious that he did not agree. He asked my opinion, so I felt this was my opportunity to tell him that I was a Christian. Using graciousness in my explanation, I told him what I personally believed, but also merited my own concerns about the possible para-issues of the Amendment. In a quick prayer, I asked God to help me place a little salt on this guy's tongue. Not into his eyes and wound him. Just a little on his tongue.


Jesus said that we are the SALT OF THE EARTH. Sadly, all I have seen some Christians do lately is sling their salt into the eyes and wounds of those who oppose them. That is not what Jesus meant. We are to let those around us taste the savor of Jesus through our gracious speech. The verse says ALWAYS be gracious, no exception. Even in a voting year.

If you are a Christian, has your salt lost its saltiness?

Murky Waters In A Clear Stream - Part Two

Have you ever seen answer to prayer unfolding, a masterful solution, so timely, so beautiful, that it took your breath away? Then just as quickly as it all came together, it unraveled. That perfect plan turned out to be an oasis, an optical illusion.

Those are the times that truly try our souls and force us to exercise complete faith in God whether we feel like it or not. Those are the times we lay down all our expectations and pick up His will - whether we feel like it or not.





My last blog post began the story of one of those times in my life. The rest of the story is below:

Plodding Through Muddy Waters (part two)

        Soon after my stateside arrival, my mom and I traveled to Duke Medical Center where we met with its legendary kidney transplant team. After a battery of preliminary tests, they were ready to do an ultrasound on my kidneys. It was during the ultrasound that God spoke loudly and clearly. An almost inaudible grunt from the technician was heard as he shifted his feet and sighed. The probe hovered over the same spot for another minute before he lay it down, telling me to lie still; he would be right back. He left me reclining on the white sheets with medical equipment humming softly around me. I had no understanding of what he had found that would send him to find one of the doctors.  

        Eventually, two surgeons came in, looked at the ultrasound monitor, spoke quietly to each other as they took pictures from several different angles of my left kidney. Before long, all three men exited the room; I was again left alone. After ten agonizing minutes, the door opened and an entourage of white coats took up every space in the small room. This is a teaching hospital, I kept reminding myself - to dispel the panic I felt running through my bloodstream. They spent about four minutes pointing at the screen and fielding questions from some of the other white coats in the room. Intrigued that my kidney would be getting so much attention, that quickly switched to concern when I was asked to have a CatScan performed on my left kidney. A suspicious spot had been detected on the ultrasound image, and they wanted to see it more clearly. They told me that I should not worry. At all. Yea, don’t they always say that?

        Of course, I agreed to do it, and was promptly wheeled into the CatScan area. After all the procedure, I met with two of the surgeons in a generic office as they described what they had found. My right kidney was very healthy, but on my left kidney was a slight 9 millimeter benign fatty tumor. Most likely it would never give me trouble and probably had been there for some time, nonetheless; because of it, I could not give my brother a kidney. Not understanding why, if the tumor was benign and probably harmless, they were rejecting me as a candidate to give my brother a kidney, I kept pushing for more clarification. They explained it was because of medical ethics. I honestly had quit listening to their technical explanations and could only see my sweet brother’s face. In a last ditch effort, with tears in my eyes and a tremble to my voice, I pleaded, “Well, just give my brother the kidney with the tumor! He doesn’t care! If it’s not going to bother me, then it shouldn’t bother him. Please, doctors. Don’t shut the door on this. Please.” As soundly as I was begging them for a reprieve, they did shut the door on our hopes. They gave me all the patented answers. I wanted to hurl the closest potted plant at their faces. Blame them for the disappointment. Eddie’s future looked bleak without a transplant. Could they not see that? Did they not care? 

        Walking blindly out of the office, I found a bathroom, needing some time before I would have to face my mother and tell her what they had found. I felt like a failure, like it was totally my fault for harboring the ridiculous tumor and chiding myself for not taking better care of my kidneys. Grief and loss brings all kind of emotions and irrational thoughts. Denial. Anger. Disillusionment. Bargaining. Where was God? He could take this silly fatty tumor away! He could. If it was part of His plan. Yes, He could. But He did not...and that was also part of His plan.

        As I found my mother flipping through a magazine in the waiting room, she looked at my face. Before I said a word, she knew that the tests had not gone well. I fell into her arms and blubbered my way through the explanations though I could not look her in the eye. I felt so ashamed for letting her and Eddie down. After gaining my composure, my mother and I walked quietly back to the car; each lost in her own thoughts about what had just happened and what it meant for Eddie’s future. God had answered. He had said NO. We called my brother, telling him everything. He honestly seemed to take it better than either of us. Eddie had given God his life many years ago and was determined to live smack dab in the middle of the faith God was teaching him to embrace. I was not feeling too spiritual at the time. Disappointed with God’s clear answer, exhausted from the surging emotions of the day, I slept most of the way back home. Within a few days, I flew back to be with my little family waiting in Jamaica. Life, though, had changed. Without a transplant, Eddie had very few years left on this earth. It took me a long time to let go and believe it was not my fault. That God was good all the time. All the time, He was good. 

Murky Waters In A Clear Stream - Part One

Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man's power ends.   

George Mueller

Organ transplantation hit a new milestone recently. A kidney which was transplanted into one young man, but after a week or so became evident the kidney was not going to "take." Instead of dumping the ill-destined kidney into biohazard wasteland as had always been done, the very sick patient and his sister (the donor of the kidney) asked if the kidney could be recycled.


Read the rest of the story HERE.




Kidney disease treatments and new developments in kidney transplantation are very intriguing to me. For you see, my baby brother was diagnosed with nephritis when he was 13 years old. Twenty-seven years later and two kidney transplants (one donated from our mother), Eddie passed away from medical complications. But he was able to live some quality years because of transplants, medicines, and dialysis.




In my second missionary memoir, In Every Place, I write about a time while we were missionaries in Jamaica when Eddie asked me to consider donating a kidney.

Read an excerpt below or visit my website to find out more about my missionary memoirs.

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Plodding Through Some Murky Waters (from In Every Place)

        
        After our second Christmas in Jamaica, I received a call from my brother, Eddie, who was physically declining quickly and would soon be in need of another kidney transplant. He had been fighting a terminal kidney disease since he was thirteen, and when he was fifteen, my mother gave him one of her kidneys. Because of the nature of the disease and how it traveled destructively through the blood stream, it was inevitable the disease would, at some point, destroy the transplanted kidney. True to its prognosis, in late 1985, just a few weeks before we were to leave for Liberia for the first time, he received a second kidney from a deceased donor. It had served Eddie well until just a couple months prior to his call to me in January, 1994. 

        Back in 1976 when we knew Eddie would need his first transplant, I had just graduated from high school and was ready to start college. The summer before my freshman year, my mother, father, and I went to Duke University Hospital to be typed as potential kidney donors for Eddie. There were several complicated tests to determine whether a person was a good match or not. I matched my brother perfectly in five out of six of the necessary prototypes. My mother matched four of them and my father less than that. Since I was not a mother at the time of the testing, I could not understand how my mother rejected my willingness to give my brother one of my kidneys. I wanted to do that for him so desperately, but my parents were adamant.


        Now, after being a parent for more than twenty-five years, I completely understand and would have done the same thing. My mother gave her son a kidney. How well I remember that long six-hour surgery at Duke Medical Center. My father and I were surrounded by our pastor and a dozen of our closest friends, but I felt so alone. So afraid. Thankfully, they both recovered beautifully. In the ensuing years, I kept telling Eddie if he ever needed another kidney, I would be there for him. Partly joking, I said that I would be old enough to sign my own papers. 

        So, in January of 1994, when Eddie called asking me if I was still serious about giving him one of my kidneys, I lunged toward the affirmative but then stopped. I now had a family of my own and could not make this decision alone. I knew I needed to talk with Jeff and to Michelle, who was ten at the time. Though we did include Stefanie (age 7) and Lauren (3), I was not sure they would completely comprehend the situation. Receiving unanimous affirmation from them, I called Eddie and told him the good news. He then booked a flight back to the States for me. When I saw him, it seemed we would need to act quickly. He looked older, sicker than when I had last seen him. There was certain criteria for being able to receive a kidney, and when a person’s health deteriorated past a determined point, no medical facility would dare do a transplant surgery because it was extremely taxing on the entire body. Many people were praying for God’s will to be done in that situation. We asked for God to make it clear whether I was to give my brother a kidney or not. 




(Part Two of this story will be published on Friday, May 4)

       

And Our Excuse Is.....

I was so moved by this young Korean girl's determination and the tenacious love of her mother. After watching Lee Hee-Ah's story, it was evident there wasn't much that was impossible for her despite physical limitations. To her, they were just physical limitations, never an excuse to not make her life count. 


And her mother's outlook on life with a physically challenged daughter? Simply incredible...





Be inspired. Be an inspiration. Be anything but a quitter. 

Follow your dreams. 

Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. 

- Les Brown

View a longer, more detailed video about Lee Hee-Ah HERE

4 Minutes of Refreshment: Take It

Life can be as brutal as it can beautiful. I have lived a full cup of both beautiful and brutal moments in the past week. Forgive my absence. As part of my apology, I have created this short video from pictures that I took from a recent two-day retreat in Lake Lure, NC.

When was your last retreat? A retreat can be any amount of time, so don't think it has to be some fancy, elaborately planned escapade. A few moments turning off all electronics, unlocking your heart, letting the tears flow or the laughter bubble over. Being so mindful of God that you begin to smell like Him. That is a retreat worth taking...

Enjoy, my friends! 

But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ,

the Son of God,

and that by believing

you may have LIFE in His name.

(John 20:31)

Want more retreat? Visit Teri Metts enchanting town of D'Lo, Mississippi HERE

Little Foxes Versus The Big Bad Wolf

"Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that are ruining the vineyards, while our vineyards are in blossom." 

(Song of Solomon 2:15)

Most of us are very familiar with the story of the The Three Pigs. 


Only one little pig felt it was worth his time to fortify his home with brick. True, it took more work, more expense, more time, but in the end - the "wolf" was unable to touch him (and his brothers). This very smart pig had heard about the BIG BAD WOLF and was prepared to protect himself (and his family) from his wiles.



We most likely are aware of the obvious and oversized dangers to ourselves, our marriages, our families, our relationships, our lives in general. We know about the BIG things that can take us down, harm us, discourage us, destroy us or those closest to us.


But what about the little things that creep in through the cracks of our walls or fences? The bride in the passionate book of Song of Solomon asks her man to be on the look out for the little foxes that were destroying their vineyard. A vineyard ripe with fruit. Lush. Succulent. Abundant. 


What a powerful request from this young woman so in love. It seemed that their relationship was at its peak, but even then, they both realized that this was the time to be aware of the small things that could eventually destroy what they had. Satan delights in catching us off guard. He knows how to be subtle when he needs to be. True, he can be the obvious roaring lion, but he also knows when to come in sheep's clothing. Don't underestimate him when things seem to be going well in your life. 


I could expound on all the small "foxes" that could destroy or weaken us from the inside out. But, I am thinking that you already know what they are in your own life, your own relationships.


So, I encourage you today. Ask God to show you the small things that have crept into the vineyard of your heart or your home. I am asking God to do that with me this week and am surprised at what little things have been eating away at the beautiful vineyard God has entrusted to me. Things that I did not even see as destructive or sinful. Little foxes of pride, impatience, selfishness, unhealthy thought patterns. All those added together can bring destruction to me.

We must deal with the little things that have crept into our lives in order to keep what God has given us strong and healthy and productive for His glory. For His honor.

Don't wait until the wolf comes huffing and puffing. By then, it may be too late.

"Why then have you broken down its walls,

 so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?"

                                                                                                                                          Psalms 80:12

Lighthouse Network is a great resource for those struggling with addictions of any kind or perhaps you are a family member who needs more guidance on how to handle a loved one who is bound by certain strongholds. Read the article about Going on a Foxhunt HERE

And yet another comprehensive and thought provoking article from the Biblical Examiner (1999) HERE.