He would have been

He would have been 91 yesterday. Well, I guess we could still say he turned 91 except where he is, years and birthdays don't matter anymore. Many birthdays spent down here were joyful and crazy. Probably more the crazy on my side than anything. One of those birthdays was special because we totally blew it by him. Tyler, my son's, birthday is one day later than Franks birthday. We invited Frank out for a birthday party. He assumed it was for Tyler. We just never told him. He said later he wondered why there were so many old people at the birthday party. We were having fun visiting and sharing and only when I brought out the cake that said, "Happy Birthday Frank", did he get it.Many times I went to McDonalds, taking a cake or cookies. At least one time I dressed up to be an interesting looking lady, with wig and false teeth. He had no clue it was me until I took off the wig. Boy was that every hysterically fun! Now, we celebrate alone. But then again what are we celebrating? On earth we celebrate days we are alive. What do you celebrate in heaven? Does it matter that we have had birthdays on earth? I have a son who didn't live to celebrate one birthday. Does that matter? So, now that birthdays on earth are over, how do we celebrate the lives of those who made a difference in our lives? Is it as simple as a prayer thanking God for their presence? Or, do we just pretend it didn't happen? Just a question, I have no answer for but a question never the less!!! So Happy Birthday Frank; we loved the time we had with you and I know you are enjoying heaven; probably still looking for a Ford up there too.

Quiet...

It's quiet here. No more teenage son stomping up the stairs from the basement. It's quiet here. Baihley is in college, post secondary and loving every minute. It's quiet here. Addlea is teaching in Singapore and more tired than I think she thought she could be. Summed up in a couple words: growing up and working a real job is hard. It's quiet here. Jim is getting ready for the harvest. He comes in caked in grease and oil and washes himself at the kitchen sink. It's quiet here but it will be noisy again. Not too far away a family is having the same quiet, except their quiet is so loud they cannot think. Their senior daughter, Baihley's age, died when her mini-van hit a parked bus. It's quiet there; deathly quiet. I am so thankful for the hedge of protection God has given me. I am so thankful that my quiet is peace in my heart and that I don't have to worry about fighting in my back yard as they are in Syria. I'm thankful my quiet is peace in my heart because I have a relationship with Christ. I am thankful that the loud things in my heart are probably placed there because of me, not others. I am thankful the quiet is from God and I know that too will pass but for the meantime, God is allowing me to have quiet! And it's a beautiful quiet.

God is Love

I am reading out of a new devotional this year, "God calling" Journal. Today's was especially good. This is part of that devotion for April 16th.

Dwell on the thought; God is Love. Link it up with Me "I and my Father are one". Dwell on My actions on earth. See in them Love in operation. If it was God who so acted, then it was Love, Perfect Love, performed those actions, those wonders. Then you too, must put Love (God) into action in your lives. Perfect Love means perfect forgiveness. Lo, my children, you see that where God is there can be no lack of forgiveness, for that is really a lack of love.
God is Love... no judging
God is Love... no resentment
God is Love... all patience
God is Love... all power
God is Lvoe...all supply.

I hope something bothered you!

Friday night we went to a Good Friday service. We had a friend's 6 year old with us. I am obviously not in the child mode and didn't realize the child care at church only went to pre-K on this service so didn't take things to entertain a 6 year old. She did really great through the darkened song service but when the preaching started I knew it would be a long challenge. We love our worship; but we're adults. It could be a bit long and drawn out to a bored 6 year old. Tyler ripped out a couple of blank pages out of his notebook and she began to write the alphabet. Then I wrote on a piece of paper, "I love Jesus". She copied it except she made a heart instead of love. She worked really hard on the picture and then without warning held it slowly up high above her head. My first reaction was to gentle pull her hands down. She just smiled at me and went on writing. About 3 minutes later, she had added many more "I love Jesus" and once again held the picture slowly up above her head. I let it go. Partially because I thought if she had gone to all that work to make a picture she should be able to raise her hands in praise just like several people did during the singing. Then I did it; I thought about the people behind me. What will they think? Is she bothering them? Is this one of those moments pastor talks about "if your children get too exhuberant in worship, please let them express themselves in the foyer" moments? Then I thought again; I hope it bothers the people in back of me. I hope they see the pure innocence of a child expressing her love for Jesus. I hope she makes them think about what Good Friday is all about. I hope they are bothered; really bothered. I hope they think about the cost of the sacrifice of Jesus and not the inconvenience of a 6 year old holding a sign up.... telling how much she loves this Jesus... that was put to death on the cross. Several times she wrote on her paper, then slowly almost reverently lifted it high above her head. I don't know what the people behind me thought; but I hope it bothered them. I wished it would have bothered them enough to get out paper of their own and begin writing notes. It would have been so cool to have pieces of paper all over the sanctuary being held up; "I love Jesus", "Thank you Jesus", "You are my Redeemer". It would have been awesome if Pastor Paul couldn't even finish speaking because the papers would be so distracting. It would have been breathtaking if the service closed with people bringing their love notes and laying them at the front as they took communion. It would have been awesome had the stage been cluttered with papers of all kind sharing how much they loved Jesus.
It didn't happen but it would have been another picture of how the pure and innocent love of a child toward Jesus could rub off on the people who think they got it all together. So to those sitting behind us in church, if it bothered you I hope you saw the beauty. And for those of you who were at Good Friday services; I hope something bothered you enough to leave different from when you came.

Authors to be at Local Business Expo

Article from the DCI county newspaper for the week of March 26,2012

Marette Jorgenson will be at the Dodge County Home and Business Expo to share her books. Jorgenson wrote her first book in 1983 for a friend. "It's called Overcomer," she explained. "But I never really expected to write another book." That was until the late 90's when she began writing more stories than music. "I worked as an editor through college," she said.

"Writing has always been something that I enjoy but I had stayed with writing music up until that point."

Jorgenson has since published a devotional series "Cold Pop, Frozen Rolls and Honey", "But I'm not done with my sins", "There's a grasshopper in my shoe," "Talking to God on Tip Toes," "Dancing with the Washing Machine" and "Bumps on a Pickle."

Prayer Time

So we were sitting at the Waffle brunch yesterday and Josiah was told by his mom to pray. He bowed his head and said, "Dear God, help me not to hurt my friends, Amen". At first I did all I could to suppress the giggle but as I thought about it, there is more truth to his simple prayer than just the fact that he totally forgot to pray for the food. Prayer is talking to God. God knows our hearts. He knows what's important to our hearts and what needs to be focused on. For Josiah, God had provided the food and he was ready to dig in with both hands but what was more important in his mind was that he needed to make sure he was under control with his actions.
So,,, if we all prayed more like Josiah and less like Pastor Jenson we would probably be better off. We pray a nice, descriptive, lofty prayer when really what we need to say is, "Dear God, help me keep my mouth shut". or "Dear God, help me remember to Honor you." or perhaps "Dear God, remind me whose I am." Now I'm not condoning not praying for the food at lunch, but what I am saying is sometimes just asking God to remind us of the things we forget most often is more important than empty words and recited sentences. So, if you were really going to pray, talk to God and tell him what's going on beyond the plate of food in front of you, what would it be?

The beauty of the moment

We live for tomorrow. We want to grow up. We want to be 9 when we are 7. We want to be in 5th grade when we are in 3rd. We seem to think that when we turn 13 life will suddenly become incredible. Then we can't wait until we are 16 and get our drivers license. We impatiently tap our toe until we turn 18. Then it's that magic number 21. We want to be where we are not. We can't wait until vacation. We can't wait until vacation is over. We want it to be the end of the quarter. We want it to be something it's not. Our culture helps us fail at being content in the moment. Right now it's February and what do we see in the stores? Swimsuits and Easter candy. Why can't we just enjoy Valentines Day for more than 24 hours? Why do we have to have a swimming suit when we can't wear it until June; except with this year the way it's been no one will be surprised if we are swimming in May.
We need to enjoy the beauty of the moment. Today we went to the zoo; the Peoria Zoo. We watched the animals, we took pictures, we ran, we fell down, we played with the cousins and we gave piggy back rides. We totally enjoyed the moment. We came home and made orgami horses, swans and roses to put by the name cards for supper. We laughed at everyone playing on the i-pads, i-pods and laptops not to mention the Wii. We are only here for two days, we are enjoying the moment.
God wants us to enjoy the moment. God wants us to walk the path he gave us and to find contentment in each moment. Our family is moving to Singapore in May. That means we will take the time to just enjoy the beauty of the moment because there will be a time when we can't just throw some clothes in the duffel bag and head for Peoria. There will come a time when to get to see them will be a 18 hour plane ride; let me rephrase that... 18 hours of riding in a plane and several thousand dollars to boot. We are totally enjoying the moment of three little girls and their folks.
Why do we have a problem living in the moment? Probably because we are not thankful for the simple things God gives us. Nothing exciting happened in our life today. I am thankful. There are plenty of people in cancer wards and children's hospitals who would have loved to have had a day where nothing major happened. To appreciate the moment and what God has given is to appreciate God and love what he's done. We will worship tomorrow, we will eat lunch, we will find a suit for Tyler and we will play games and watch a movie. We will enjoy the beauty of the moment. Go ahead; I dare you!!!