Fuge Day 1

After an early start and a long, somewhat uneventful, ride, we made it to North Greenville University just before the end of check-in.  

We were quickly shooed over to the field where we got t-shirts, a group picture, and a run through our church sign.

The M-Fuge campers went to a meeting while the Center-Fugers played some games.

Later, we unpacked the vans, ate dinner, and moved between all kinds of meetings and activities, including filling out track forms, worship, Bible Study groups, etc.

We finished out the evening with a meeting for our church group where we shared our track assignments and highs and lows of the day.  Most lows included surprising track choices and camp food, while many of the highs were about meeting new people.  We did a fun group activity and then headed off to air conditioned dorms for a quick night's sleep.

Old Habits

About a month ago, I decided to reorganize our bathroom.  The medicine cabinet has three doors, and for some reason, I moved the toothpaste from one side to the middle of the cabinet.  For seven years, I have been opening the door on the left to reach for the toothpaste and I don't seem to be able to break that habit.  Every time I brush my teeth I open the door on the left, only to remember that it is not there.  I know where the toothpaste is - I moved it!

Habits are like that.  We develop particular actions and attitudes over time and they are very difficult to change.  The way we react to certain things, the way we think, the choices we make, these are all habits.  Over time we conform to those habits simply because we have doing them for so long.

God tells us not to conform to the patterns of the world but to renew our minds.  (Romans 12:2). Easier said than done.  Paul discusses the difficulty of changing our ways in Romans 7:15. "For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate."  Paul understood the laws of human nature and habits.  But he also knew the path to that change - renewal of the mind.

What we think determines our actions.  If we can change our minds, we will change our actions.  The only way to renew our minds so that we think and act in a godly way is to spend time reading and meditating on God's word and then practice what we read.  The more we fill our minds with God's love and truth, and the more we actually do what it says, the more natural it will become.

It may take me a while to remember to reach to the middle for the toothpaste, but in the meantime, I am still brushing my teeth.  I won't give up just because I forget at first.  I just hope it doesn't take me seven years to remember!

Asking for Help

This is Curious the rooster.  Our mama hen, Road Runner, hatched him a couple of years ago and we gave him and the other chicks from that clutch to our young friend, Betz.  Curious had a pretty special home, with special attention from Betz and her Dad, who even fed him by hand.  Unfortunately, Curious has a bit of an aggressive streak in him, so he was brought back to the funny farm for the safety and peace of mind of his young owner.  

Curious started out in a separate coop so he could get used to his surroundings.  We planned to let him mix with the other chickens once he got his bearings, but Curious had his own way of doing things. He did, indeed, mix with the other chickens during the day, but even now, months later, Curious still likes to sleep alone in his own coop.

We let our chickens free range during the day, but we shut the chickens in their coops after dark to keep them safe from predators.  As each evening turns to dusk, the rest of the chickens go into their coop and Curious continues around to his own bachelor pad.  We simply go out at dark and close the doors.  Tonight, though, we were later getting home.  Assuming everyone was tucked in tight, I sent Carter out to close the coops.

After a bit, while we were watching a movie, Carter and I heard an awful noise right outside the screen door.  We paused the movie and peeked out the door to see what was making the screeching we'd heard.  It was Curious!  Standing in between our very perplexed dogs, he was standing tall and crowing at the top of his voice.  He had been locked out of his coop and he was not happy, but he knew just what to do.  That rooster knew that the people who could help him were inside that door and he was going to do whatever it took to get him home!

Carter and I tried to shoo him back towards his coop, a little afraid that he might attack us, but he was not about to venture into the dark.  Instead he stood taller and allowed Carter to pick him right up.  With no fuss at all, Carter was able to carry him back to his coop and put him safely to bed.  

Curious is the independent type.  He knows how to take care of himself and he is rather proud, but he also knows when he needs help.  He is not afraid to ask for it and he sure is grateful when he receives it!  As a matter of fact, we were so delighted that Curious asked for our help and that he accepted that help, it actually made us love him more - go figure!

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Matthew 7:7

New Beginning

One of the things I love most about teaching is that there is an end and a new beginning with every school year.  Right now, I am at the end.  I have said goodbye to my students. My room is neat and organized.  The grades are all turned in and the papers are all passed back.  It is done.  But I am already thinking about the new beginning.

I love that God, in His infinite wisdom, gave us an end and a new beginning to each day.  I love the rest that He gives me and the energy He gives me to start over again the next morning.  Tonight, I am glad it is the end of the day.  I am tired and I love to sleep!  But I am already thinking of the new day tomorrow will bring.

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

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Poison

Jerry and I like to sleep with the windows open.  We don't have air conditioning in our part of the house, and the breeze keeps us cool at night.  We have become used to the temperatures, but we also like being able to hear the animals at night.  Last night, one of the goats, whose pasture is very close to our corner of the house, started making a horrible sound.  Knowing it was a distress call, Jerry shined a light out of the window and thought he saw one of the goats with its horns caught in the fence.  He got up, reluctantly, and went out to help her.  Once he reached the fence, he could see that no one was trapped, but several of the goats were vomiting profusely.  

A sick goat is a very alarming thing.  Goats do not generally throw up and they have difficulty recovering from dehydration.  Suddenly, we remembered that I had thrown our shrub clippings into the goat pasture earlier that afternoon.  Frantically, I checked the internet and, as I feared, I found that Azaleas are highly poisonous to goats.  They could have actually died from the toxins I had fed them!  I knew I should have checked before I threw them in, but I hadn't, and my goats were paying for my mistake.

Thank goodness, there was a remedy online, listed by a veterinarian, and we were able to administer it right away.  After several trips outside through the night, treating the goats and checking on them, the morning sun brought tired, but healthy animals.  My carelessness had poisoned them, but our urgency and attentiveness, along with prayer had saved them.  I hadn't meant to hurt the goats, but the plain truth was - it was my fault.

How many times have I poisoned my relationships in the same way?  A careless word or action, neglect or apathy, blame or bitterness.  Intentional or not, poison kills.  If I am in the wrong, I must correct it! Much like our urgency with the goats, God wants us to be urgent about restoring relationships and righting our wrongs with people.  He is so adamant about this issue that he tells us to put down our offerings with Him and go to the person we have offended first.  Once we are reconciled, then we can present our gifts to Him. (Matthew 5:23-24)

I am not perfect (no surprise to those who know me well!)  I make mistakes.  Sometimes my mistakes hurt those I love.  Thank God for his loving mercy.  I can only pray that those I unintentially wound will be merciful as well.

Bearing With One Another

I think the animals got the best of us today.  It all started last night with our neighborhood dog, Jessie, barking and keeping us awake.  After a bit, we decided she must have been reminding us that we forgot to shut the chickens in.  Jerry got up and went outside to close them safely up for the night.  She did stop barking after that.

This morning, Jerry was awakened by the sound of the goats.  When he pulled the curtain back, he discovered that the goats had gotten out and were munching on my, soon to bloom, Black Eyed Susans.  Someone had forgotten to latch the gate last night.

This afternoon, I was checking out my vegetable garden, only to discover that the little chicks had found their way under the fence.  They had scratched up a lettuce, destroyed a sweet banana pepper plant, and kicked the mulch off of several other plants!  Ugh!  I was ready to get rid of them all!

A friend reminded me tonight that we can have those kinds of days with people too.  Even the ones we love can escape our boundaries and invade off limits areas of our lives.  They can dig up things they shouldn't and uncover parts of us that we simply don't want uncovered.  Truly, it sometimes seems that life would be much simpler without them!

But God did not intend for us to be alone.  He gave us each other for relationship.  It takes a lot of work to love people in my life that are difficult, but then again, I must remember that I am probably just as difficult to love at times!  I think I will keep the people - and the animals!

• Ephesians 4:2-3

  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
  
  

Beauty In the Eye of the Beholder

At the end of each school year, the Art Department at our high school holds an Art Show to exhibit the talent and hard work of our students.  Each artist also has the option of putting a price on their artwork with the intention of selling it.  This year, I was amazed at the fact that many of our patrons were children.  Several parents brought their kids and allowed them to choose a piece of artwork they would like to purchase.

One boy, Scott, whom I taught while I was long term sub in in second grade a few years ago, combed the show and settled on the one piece he would like to have.  It was a sculpture, a plaster casting of a hand nailed through the palm, face up, to a plain pine board.  The artist had used bright red paint, in stark contrast to the pure white of the plaster, to depict blood oozing out from the wound caused by the nail. It was simple and grotesque, but I could tell, from the pleased look on Scott's face, that to him it represented something beautiful.  He mother did not question his purchase, and I smiled - because I understood.

I saw the artist, a boy I taught in Art 1 last year, the next week and I told him that a 10 year old boy had bought his artwork.  He was incredulous.  "He must be sick!" He exclaimed, not understanding what Scott saw in the piece.  

"I believe, to him, it had religious significance." I explained.

The light bulb went on, and he shook his head.  "I didn't mean it like that though."

What a picture!  The world doesn't see things like God sees them.  To the world, a God who sacrifices his son in such a vulgar, common way is grotesque and foolish.  To God, and those who love Him, it is the most beautiful thing we can imagine!  It is all in the point of view.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.

2 Corinthians 5:16