Getting ready to leave....

Some days from now, I’m taking a little trip to see my oldest son and his family.  Try as I may, there seems to be so much preparation to be gone from home.

I try to think ahead and take care of any problem that might arise from my absence, troubleshooting as best I can for the days ahead that I will not be in my normal routine.  I have perfected the packing.  I have clothing there so I don’t take much.  I can get by with just a few cosmetics.

What I think I need for the day of travel is about equal to my needs for the entire stay.  A day of travel requires a good book, a fully charged iPad, a light cover of some kind, and plenty of snacks.

As I made my preliminary list tonight, I thought about the lyrics to a song we often sing.

“Laying up my treasures in that home above
Trusting, fully trusting in the Savior's love;
Doing what I can for heaven's Holy Dove
I'm a getting ready to leave this world.”

I intend to be prepared to leave on this trip.  But more than that, my intention is to be ready to leave this world.

My leaving to see family is a few days. If nothing goes awry, I will go.

My leaving this world will be some unexpected day, maybe years ahead, maybe days, maybe moments. But I will go.  That is for certain.


“I'm getting ready to leave this world,
Getting ready for gates of pearl;
Keeping my record bright
Watching, both day and night
I'm a getting ready to leave this sinful world

Trusting in the riches of His saving grace,
In each earthly trial I His love can trace.
Sure that up in heaven I shall find a place,
I'm a getting ready to leave this world.
To prepare a mansion, Jesus said, "I'll go,
If it were not true I would have told you so,"
Just a little while to linger here below,
I'm a geting ready to leave this world.”


I’m looking forward to this visit.  I hope I leave nothing undone here that I could have done.  Yes, I’m getting ready. But, Father nudge me on, let me not leave any thing undone that You have for me to do.  I look forward to my arrival.

“…now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” (Hebrews 11:16 KJV)

Hallelujah

Unpacking....

I moved every single thing out of my closet last night.  I unpacked the whole closet, with some muscle help from my husband.  I now have clothing piled up in my living room and boxes of shoes stacked in my dining area.  Packing all that back into a same sized space seemed impossible.  I have it spread out all over the place.

I’ve heard the word ‘unpack’ used to describe Bible study.   A passage of scripture can be read thru and the words understood, but when individual words and phrases are ‘unpacked’, very often new meaning and application are realized.  Study is harder than reading.  Study requires some unpacking, and we are wise to heed the advice we are given about doing it.

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV)

I looked up the original word for study in this verse, it is ‘spoudazō’ and it means to exert one’s self, give diligent effort.

So Paul is telling us, as he is telling Timothy, that we should study, that the goal is to rightly divide the word of truth, that it is possible to be unprepared and ashamed, and that God  sees and cares whether or not we do. That is how I begin to unpack that verse.

Just as I unpack my closet, I ask myself some questions.  Who, what, where, when, why, how.

What is this, where did I get it, when will I use it, why did I keep it, who can use it, how do I dispose of it?

In unpacking scripture, those same type questions help shed light on the task of understanding and applying.

Who?
What?
When?
Where?
How?
Why?

If you want to learn better Bible study methods, I highly recommend Bible Study Fellowship.  Texarkana has a day women’s class and an evening women’s class.  I’d be happy to give you more information or point you in the right direction.   Classes start in a couple weeks and follow the school calender year.

It changed my life.

Trash or treasure.....

We have begun a remodel.  Before it’s over, everything in this house will be touched except the kitchen items, and those might be if I don’t run out of steam.  Today, I helped go thru things at my mother and daddy’s house.  Mother is in a nursing facility and Daddy spends his time going between us kids, most of that time at my middle sister’s house.  She has the advantage over the rest of us.  She has a big pond with lots of fish right out in front of her house, and my daddy does indeed like to fish.

My man and I spend two hard days at their house last year.  I went thru clothes and food and threw away several big trash bags of stuff.  Still, the small house was packed.  Today, we dug a little deeper and sifted thru drawers and closets full of all sorts of things.

The house has been uninhabited most of the last year.  Mice had packed away acorns in all sorts of places leaving behind little pellets of nastiness. It made me think of the warning we are given about what happens to an uninhabited place.

 “….it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then the evil spirit goes and takes seven other spirits more evil than itself. They go in and live there. That man is worse off than before." (Luke 11:25-26 NIrV)

We worked hard a year ago cleaning that house, but we left it empty and today, I found it in worse shape than the first go around.

I found a lot of trash again today.  Out of date food and medicines.  Melted vitamin capsules.  Dry rotted clothing.

Then I found two boxes of envelopes that would almost crumble when touched.  The box was littered with acorns and little black pellets too, but this box was not trash.  This box was treasure.  Letters.

My dad was in the army for a short while and stationed in Ft. Lewis, Washington when I was born.  The letters began before my parents were married.  One box from Mother to Daddy, another box from Daddy to Mother.  I only scanned one.  I felt like I was intruding so I folded it away.

In another drawer full of paper, acorns, and little black pellets, I almost threw away a stack of school work.  My school work.  Crayon marked paper, crooked letters on Big Chief notebook paper.  I would never have expected to find anything like that.

Trash or treasure?  I suppose it depends…..

During this 60th season of my life, I am filtering thru the trash and treasure of both my childhood and my married, child-rearing life.  I see and touch so many things that have memories attached and I have to decide, is it trash or treasure?   Sometimes there’s a smile, laughter, other times a tear and great sadness.  But at the bottom of it all, is a realization of what a blessed life I have had.  Thank You Father.

“You've kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, Each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.” (Psalm 56:8 The Message)

Singing a new song....

My husband was invited to share in a special service of a nearby black church.  The meeting was begun some years ago  and is held every year to honor a lady and the ‘old time religion’ she strived to preserve.  I wish now I had asked more questions.  We went because we were invited to sing, but as the service proceeded I found myself completely unfamiliar with the way things were done.

I know a lot of songs, but I found myself trying to sing along to a completely new song.  There was not a hymn book.  They was a piano, but it wasn’t used but a couple times.  There were some young girls that danced to songs that were new to me.  I purposed myself to remember the lyrics to one of them, ‘Take Me To The King’.  I was blessed to have been there but I left unsettled.  Uncomfortable.  NOT because of my black brethren but because of my own ignorance.  I had no idea how different my worship style is from theirs.  Not right or wrong.  Just different.

A few hours later, my phone lit up to remind me of the daily devotional.  God has such perfect timing and such purpose in every single thing….

“Hallelujah! Sing to GOD a brand-new song, praise him in the company of all who love him.  Let all Israel celebrate their Sovereign Creator, Zion's children exult in their King.  Let them praise his name in dance; strike up the band and make great music!
And why? Because GOD delights in his people, festoons plain folk with salvation garlands!  Let true lovers break out in praise, sing out from wherever they're sitting,
Shout the high praises of God, brandish their swords in the wild sword-dance--
A portent of vengeance on the God-defying nations, a signal that punishment's coming,
Their kings chained and hauled off to jail, their leaders behind bars for good,
The judgment on them carried out to the letter --and all who love God in the seat of honor! Hallelujah!” (Psalm 149 The Message)

The name of the church was Mt. Zion, there were songs new to me, there were children exulting their King, there was praising Jesus in dance., and there were plain folks breaking out in praise, singing out from where they were sitting, shouting praises.

The man who brought the sermon remarked that there won’t be special heavens for Methodist, Baptist, black, or white.  Amen.  And one day we will all gather again, not at Mt. Zion church, but ON Mt. Zion, where we will join in together, singing a new song….

“I saw--it took my breath away!--the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, One Hundred and Forty-four Thousand standing there with him, his Name and the Name of his Father inscribed on their foreheads.  And I heard a voice out of Heaven, the sound like a cataract, like the crash of thunder. And then I heard music, harp music and the harpists.....

....singing a new song before the Throne…”
(Revelation 14:1-3 The Message)


Hallelujah.