Rainy Season

Fortunately, before the rain that has been ever present returned, I was able to dash out and kayak yesterday afternoon. The river was enormously high. The trees along the bank were all partially submerged. Many, with their rain soaked roots had keeled over completely into the water, their leaves still green, twigs still sticking up like fingers grasping for help as they drowned. Some trunks leaned over precariously, and I stayed away from the bank when I drew near to them. I figured at any moment they could lose their fight with gravity and I didn't want to be the object that softened their blow as they came down. They were toppled all along the bank, huge root-balls ripped from their soil anchor and raised like giant wheels of mud and shoots, the trunk attached to them broken and shattered across the ground.

With the deluge and volume of water lately, the river was very fast. I headed upstream against the current. When I would pause to take a sip of water, my kayak would be swept swiftly back downstream. I decided not to drink any water till I was ready to head back downstream and home. It took me fifty minutes to get as far upstream as my arms could manage, but only half that time to race back downstream to the dock.

This is normally a period of drought for Charlotte. By July most years, lawns are charred remains, water is sometimes rationed, and rivers run dry. Not this year.  For whatever reason, the season is not what it usually is, and kayaking is not on a lazy low river where the current is almost imperceptible. It is hard work out there kayaking right now, and I almost decided it wasn't worth the effort.

Until I turned around and the current carried me as though I were on a motor boat!

Then I was very glad that I had not given up! The banks with their fallen trees zoomed by. I took that long awaited drink of water, and lay my paddle across my lap, watching the effortless flight of the osprey above me while the powerful arms of the river carried me safely and swiftly back to my dock.

Great effort and great struggle often precede great reward. God reminds me of that time and again. Do not grow weary in the upstream battles - seasons change, and the currents you fought going out might be preparing you for the currents you will ride going home.

Galatians 6:9

English Standard Version (ESV)

9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Giving All - Sacred Honor

Happy 4th of July! It IS happy but it didn't look like it would be happy on the 3rd of July. On the 3rd of July, my brand new temporary crown fell off at dinner time. All the dentists all over the USA were out of the office, starting the holiday celebration while I stared at the temporary crown in my hand which I fortunately didn't swallow. My highly sensitive tooth throbbed. My faithful dog Honeybun kept coming over to me, and licking my knee. She never licks, but she must have sensed my fear and pain, and she was trying to comfort me as best she knew how.

While waiting that painful hour for my dentist to call me back, my friend Danielle called me to tell me that she had the plaque my dog club had made for all the agility dogs who had earned titles over the year. Honeybun, before her sudden lameness and collapse six months ago, had finally earned her last leg of the "open" level in agility, and officially advanced to "excellent." The diagnosis of her spinal problem meant that she must retire from any more agility trials, and we knew the plaque my friend was bringing over would be the last one Honeybun would ever earn.

But I had to leave the house before Danielle showed up with Honeybun's final award. The dentist called and told me he had cut short his dinner so he could put my tooth back on. He was waiting for me at the office. While he was restoring my tooth and my faith in heroic dentists, my phone ding-donged. It ding-dongs like a doorbell when I have a text message. Fools my dogs every time, who bark like maniacs at the door when my phone ding-dongs. With my dentist's fingers in my mouth, I was unable to respond, but ten minutes later, when my tooth was back where it belonged, I checked the message. Danielle, with the plaque, was lost; couldn't remember my house address.

I quickly texted her, but she didn't answer. So I drove home, and as I rounded the corner, I saw her driving past my house. She stopped her car.
"Where do you live!?" she asked.
"Right there!" I pointed.
She handed me Honeybun's final agility award and I hugged the plaque to my heart. It meant a lot to me to have it. Danielle and I talked about how in the last year of Honeybun running agility, she had slowed down, seemed hesitant, missed jumps. We had thought she was just getting old, or maybe nonchalant, or maybe lazy. We realized now, knowing what we knew about the deformed vertebrae she was just diagnosed with, that she had probably been in pain. But she had wanted so desperately to please us that she never let on. She gave everything she had because she loved us, and wanted to show how grateful she was that we had saved her. She loved us more than her own ease and comfort.

This July 4th, I think it is very important to remember how many people who loved their country fought for freedom. They gave everything they had because they loved something greater than their own ease and comfort. It is hard to imagine that kind of sacrifice. I thought about freedom and how incredible it is to be a people who live in freedom. And I thought about how so many are still enslaved, not only by evil leaders, but by sin that prowls like a hungry lion. I thought of another Sacrifice that set us free, and was grateful for the love that compelled Him to give everything He had because He loved us. Jesus loved us more than His own ease and comfort.

Honeybun licked the plaque when my daughter Asherel showed it to her. She sniffed my face as I leaned over to hug her, and assured that all was well with my tooth, she curled up nearby and wrapped her tail around her nose.

************************************************
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:31-36 NIV)

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1, 2 NIV)

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness ...

...And for the support of this Declaration,with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our Sacred Honor.
(Declaration of Independence)

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Sent at just the Right Moment

Crown preparation #2 was yesterday morning. The dentist is really gentle and it barely hurt, but dentist visits are still not fun. However, it was not totally unenjoyable as the dentist and his assistant kept a constant friendly banter going as they drilled through China to clean out the old filling and prep for the crown. And then as the assistant was placing the temporary crown on, still chattering away, she told me she had been married 33 years.
"So have I," I said.
"It is not easy," said the assistant.
"No, it is not," I agreed, "Marriage is constant work. We would not have made it without God. Frankly, I don't know how anyone does."
"Amen," said the assistant, "We wouldn't have either."
But somehow, even when things look bleak, God seems to come to the rescue at just the right moment.

After my dentist appointment, with anesthetized lips and face, I went to pick up the drugs that the second vet had prescribed for my beloved dog, Honeybun. The second vet, who we went to in dismay when the diagnosis of the first vet just didn't seem to fit the symptoms, had immediately asked to do back x-rays of our Honeybun. I had prayed in desperation that God would guide us to the person who might be able to help solve the perplexing problem of why our dog suddenly went lame. She had been limping and collapsing for 6 months, and was being treated for hip problems, with a few good days, but many bad days. The second vet looked at the back x-rays, and said the evidence was conclusive - a deformed vertebrae was pressing on the nerves to her legs. She put her on a nerve specific pain killer and anti-inflammatory medicine. I hurried home, gave her her pills, and within hours, Honeybun was walking again, following me around, prowling for food, and licking my hands as though she were content again. God seems to come to the rescue at just the right moment, I thought, cradling her dear face and scratching her behind her ears.

Later, I went on a run to speed up my metabolism and accelerate the dentist's numbing drug's exit from my system so I could eat lunch without biting off a quarter of my tongue. As I chugged around one corner, I saw an elderly woman, quite wobbly and frail, taking one ponderous step after another. In one hand, she dragged a heavy garbage can filled with sticks and yard waste. In the other, she pushed a walker with a big black bag of yard waste attached to it. She looked like she would keel over with each slow and agonizing step forward.

"I hope I don't insult her," I thought to myself as I dashed over.
"May I help you?" I asked.
"Oh I am almost there," she laughed.
"Well I am right here so I'll put those where you want them."
I dragged the heavy bags and can to the edge of the curb and wondered why she had attempted such a task.
"Well, thank you," she said, "I am glad you came along."
"God sent me around the corner at just the right moment," I said.
"Amen to that," she said, "He usually does."

And Amen to that. It's true. At just the right moment, He usually does.

*******************************************
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8 NIV)


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One Step Forward in Faith

I brought my little Honeybun in for her back X-rays yesterday, hopeful that with this new vet, this second opinion, we might be able to find out why she is having bouts of lameness and collapse. She is so sweet, so uncomplaining, so precious...if I can help her, I so want to.

The vet called at the end of the day and said the X-rays were quite clear and now, at last, we have a diagnosis. Her last lumbar vertebrae is almost completely collapsed on the nerves. It is a deformity, not an injury, so with inflammation, the nerves are pinched and she collapses. The treatment is not a cure, but management of inflammation and pain. The vet feels confident we can do so. The problem is not her hips, was never her hips. All that money on laser treatment of her hips was money down the drain.

As I walked with a friend yesterday, I told her if I had known how much money this little starving dog we rescued on the roadside would end up costing us, would I have rescued her? Knowing her as I do now, of course I would. But back then, before she had entwined herself in my heart...if God had told me as I gazed upon her dying body, "Go ahead, save her, but be forewarned it will cost you thousands of dollars when all is said and done" - would I still have brought her home?

It is a magnificent blessing that God only reveals one moment at a time for us. If He laid out any further foreknowledge than that, I suspect most of us would never want to leave the womb. This is a lesson in how we should live. Our focus should never be directed much further than the next step if we can help it, or we might lose heart. And then we would also lose so much of all the blessings that walking forward not knowing exactly where we are headed might lead.
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But those who wait for the Lord ’s help find renewed strength; they rise up as if they had eagles’ wings, they run without growing weary, they walk without getting tired. (Isaiah 40:31 NET)

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. (Proverbs 27:1 NIV)

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Beating Upstream in the Wreckage

A storm was brewing, but there is little I love more than kayaking, so I decided to take a chance. I dashed out after our church class picnic. My kayak is always in the van, with all my supplies in it, so it takes less than a half hour from the moment I formulate the thought to the moment the hull touches the Catawba River. I knew I had about an hour before the blossoming thunderheads became harbingers of death and destruction to those stupid enough to be on the water in a lightning storm.

The water was strange. It was a deep muddy brown, not its usual greenish cast. And scattered throughout the river were tree trunks, twigs, and even large patches of conglomerated plant and arboreal flotsam and jetsam floating on the current. Somewhere upstream there had been a battle within nature. The wreckage tapped against my kayak then floated swiftly downstream on the current.

At our church picnic, we had been sitting with some favorite people who are well versed in politics, original thinkers, and lovers of The Lord. We discussed where our country was headed and if there was any hope of America returning to the land that is described in the song that begins, "God Bless America". Sadly, we all felt there was no turning back. We feared a turning point had been reached and the God-bathed continent we had known in our youth was not likely to ever return.

"So where is the hope?" my husband asked.
I write because I have not lost hope, and because I believe God has gifted me to write with purpose. I believe that without God our country is doomed, and it certainly seems that the current is turning, and the consensus is growing to reject God, and His people. However, I also believe that there are some trembling hearts that could be changed, that could be convinced that in following God there is a better way. It is to those people I write.

In the last ten minutes of kayaking, the wind was rising, and I heard rumbles of the approaching storm. My husband texted me, warning me that I had little time left before the storm hit, and I better get off the water.
"Ten more minutes, then I dock," I assured him, my eye on the billowing clouds. The wreckage floating on the current bumped against me as I headed upstream and thought about my country.

***************************************************************
The water would have overpowered us; the current would have overwhelmed us. Our deliverer is the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth. (Psalms 124:4, 8 NET)

I will save you that you may become a blessing. Zechariah 8:13

God Bless America- Irving Berlin

"While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer. "

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.


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Forgiveness and Consequences

Every few months, a wonderful friend invites us to her farm for Barbecue and shooting practice. We are new to the delight of blasting little tin cups to smithereens, but we all enjoy it. And we have discovered that the gun owners in this circle of friends are some of the most self-reliant, responsible, patriotic, and good people we have had the pleasure of congregating with. Many of them are in law enforcement. And all of them have decided that the bad guys won't win without a fight. So they practice shooting at tin cans, and orange target circles, but they talk about if an intruder enters their home, how they want something that they can fire without giving away their position. These folks know that a day may come when they will need to defend themselves, and they take that responsibility seriously. It was a great day, until my daughter succumbed to the vicious effects of lingering in the hot sun, and we had to whisk her into air conditioning to stave off heat stroke.

But before the heat prostration, while munching turkey barbecue, one of the fellow gun aficionados asked me if I knew of the NC law that allows convicted murderers to go home on weekend furloughs. I was sure he was kidding, or misinformed. He was not. As soon as I got home I researched his claim. It is true. I was so dismayed by this revelation that I immediately wrote an article about it.
(http://northcarolinaconservative.net/murderers-on-home-weekend-leave-for-good-behavior-in-nc/)

I am a Christian. I believe in mercy and grace. But I also believe that here on earth, we bear the consequences of our actions, and I believe that if someone takes the life of another, he or she should pay heavily for that act. I think stiff penalties not only deter the likelihood of others choosing such a horrific path, but also protect future acts of violence from the offender. I am increasingly disturbed by the notion that when the law is broken, we should forgive the lawbreaker often to the detriment of the law abiding. I see it in the discussion of amnesty for illegal immigration, and I see it in a system that rewards convicted murderers with weekend furloughs for good behavior.

When David committed adultery with Bathsheba, God forgave David. But he did not remove the consequence of his action- the child of that illicit union died, and David's kingdom was bathed in violence. David would not be the man to build God's temple despite his desire to do so, because David was a man of blood, having engineered the death of Bathsheba's husband. Our actions on Earth have consequences. David would ultimately be in Heaven with God, but on earth, he would suffer consequences for the sins he had committed.

I praise God that my sins are forgiven, and that I will stand beside my Lord one day. But I tremble at the harm I have done here on earth when I have veered from righteousness. Forgiveness does not mean there are not consequences of the choices I wish I had not made. To remove consequences makes a mockery of righteousness, and trivializes sin.

As my daughter discovered, when you sit too long in the sun, you fry. That's how we learn not to sit too long in the sun.

*************************************************
“Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. (Isaiah 58:1-4 NIV)

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The Source of Our Problem

The vet we went to for a second opinion got the xrays from the first vet, and says my dogs' hips look fine! The first vet was convinced she had "loose hips" and treated her accordingly. But Honeybun was still having bouts of lameness. The second vet wants us in to get back xrays for Honeybun, as she strongly suspects a neurological reason for the lameness, e.g. slipped disc, pinched nerve, embolism in her back/spine - not bad hips! This fits much better with my observations of the sudden collapse, sudden onset of lameness, and I feel a little disgruntled by all the time, treatment, and expense for hips that were perhaps not the problem. However, I feel encouraged that this new vet seems to be on the right track.

It seems that veterinary science is a bit of a guessing game. An expensive guessing game. Oh well. Easy come, easy go. It's only money....Maybe there is a section in Obamacare that covers people's dogs. No one really knows what is in there, and the health of my dog directly affects my mental health. I think I could make a good a case for the rest of the country going into debt to pay for my dog so that I don't have to.

Anyway about it, the hidden source of her troubles needs to be ascertained. There may be an easy solution, but it is hard to solve a problem when you don't know what the problem is. You can spend a lot of time and money trying to heal the symptoms, but if the root cause remains, true return to health will never come. As we discovered, you may throw away a lot of money towards the wrong solution.

I think we as a country are experiencing a similar issue. We are crippled and we keep pouring money into symptoms, thinking that will heal us. But the root cause of our decay seems to be growing. We are sinking further into debt, violence, disregard for life on either end of the birth to death spectrum, lauding immorality, disrespect and disdain for our own foundations, crumbling families, skyrocketing divorce, impossible costs of college, increasing loss of freedom and self reliance, corruption and fear, increasing division and acrimony between political groups and their followers, irreverence for God's people, a moral compass based on convenience... The list goes on and on and on. So we spend more money, pass more laws limiting more behavior, and founder from one squishy stance to another in the name of tolerance, and still, we hobble on legs that we know cannot remain standing long.

All we are as people depends upon the presence of a Creator who endowed us with unalienable rights and the yearning not only for freedom, but for Him. Those desires at times clash - our free will challenged by the duality of selfish desire, and the desire to please God. When self wins over God, society suffers. I believe that our actions as a country are moving us further and further from the source that made our country great in the first place. We have stopped our ears to the call of God, and He will not pry our hands away against our will.

Monday we go for Honeybun's back xrays. We just can't figure out how to help her by looking at the external symptoms. We have to look deep inside her, instead, because I want her to be healed if at all possible, and the only way to do that is to find the source of her problem.

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Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people? (Jeremiah 8:22 NIV)


“Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. (Hosea 6:1 NIV)


Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. (Isaiah 58:8-12 NIV)




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