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Show and Tell and a decorating question for you

Posted on August 15, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home hosts “Show and Tell Friday” asking “Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, an antique find. Your show and tell can be old or new. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there’s a story behind your special something, that’s even better! If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your “Show and Tell” on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky. Guidelines are here.

I wanted to show this cute little shelf set actually on the wall…and I was going to hang them up myself, but the places that are supposed to catch on the nail were in odd places (different heights on the back), and I thought I’d better wait for my husband.

These were on sale at My Rose Retreat in connection with Pink Friday a couple of weeks ago. I can’t wait to get them up!

I also wanted to show the progress on my cross stitch piece:

The area that comprises the shine in the window was 1 thread in only a half cross stitch. That certainly goes a lot faster! But I have never done that and wasn’t sure I’d like it –but I do.

I also wanted to ask for some opinions. I found fabric for my family room curtains months ago, but I’ve been held up starting them because I couldn’t find any trim here in town. Then just a few weeks ago I got some at a place going out of business, but I am not quite sure about it and haven’t had a chance yet to go to another town and explore. I am almost of a mind to skip the trim altogether.

Here are the two fabrics:

The pattern has long straight curtains panels topped by a valance which is done in such a way that you see a little bit of the lining. I was going to use the checked fabric as the main fabric for the curtains and valance and the toile as the lining of the valance that will show in places. But I thought it was too pretty to have so much of it hidden. But I don’t like using it as the main fabric for the valance (I am positioning these according to what I am trying to describe, though of course it would be gathered and cut to a pattern):

I thought about making a double valance instead, one with the toile, and a shorter one with the checked fabric over the checked panels, so that more of the toile could be seen all the way across:

And then I have thought about just using the checked fabric for the valance and panels and saving the toile for pillows. The place I bought the toile from had just enough for the valance and I was going to need more for the pillows anyway: this would solve that problem.

The trim shown is what I bought at the going-out-of-business place. It’s about the color of the couches in that room. If I don’t use it on the valance I can use it on pillows.

So — if any of my descriptions have made sense — what do you think? Trim, no trim, a different trim? Toile lining, toile valance, no toile?

And thanks for sharing. It is these kinds of (in)decisions that hold me up in getting projects done.

Booking Through Thursday: Gold Medal Reading

Posted on August 14, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I haven’t done a Booking Through Thursday for a while, but today’s question intrigued me:

First:

Do you or have you ever read books about the Olympics? About sports in general?
Fictional ones? Or non-fiction? Or both?

And, Second:

Do you consider yourself a sports fan?
Because, of course, if you’re a rabid fan and read about sports constantly, there’s a logic there; if you hate sports and never read anything sports-related, that, too … but you don’t have to love sports to enjoy a good sports story.
(Or a good sports movie, for that matter. Feel free to expand this into a discussion about “Friday Night Lights” or “The Natural” or whatever…)

To answer the second question first, I am not a sports fan in general. In fact, I have had to wrestle through some negative feelings about sports. I don’t have an athletic bone in my body and P.E. was always my valley of humiliation in school. Even in friendly church games I didn’t miss the rolling of eyes, sighs of exasperation, or the nearly knocking over of people (myself and others) by the more competitive who were trying to get the shot they were sure we’d miss (and then they’d wonder why I decided to just sit on the sidelines and watch…) And in small schools, sometimes the athletes and their fans form the “in crowd” and everyone else is just “out.” And any involvement in sports these days just seems to take over a family’s time and life.

But I did come to see that there could be many benefits to sports. There are the obvious physical benefits, of course, and the learning to work together in team dynamics, learning to win or lose with grace, learning to stretch yourself in various ways. My oldest son’s very first baseball coach was a teddy bear of a man with an encouraging style who always brought home spiritual illustrations: I can remember his giving out team trophies and reminding them that, as special as those trophies were now, someday they would gather dust in the attic, and encouraging them to “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

And there is just something about the Olympics that draws me, particularly the gymnastics and swimming at the summer games and the ice skating at the winter ones.

And, as the question indicated, I can enjoy a good sports story even though I am not generally a sports fan. One of the first I specifically sought out was the story of Pete Maravich after seeing clips of an interview with him on 20/20 that were being replayed after his death. I had heard several celebrities who professed to some kind of faith but whose lives didn’t reflect it, and my first impression of Pete was that he seemed thoroughly genuine. I found his auto-biography, Heir to a Dream, published about a year before he died. It told how he was groomed to be a basketball player (with a basketball tucked into his childhood bed at night rather than a teddy bear), his rise to fame, the realization that sports and glory don’t satisfy, and how he came to know the Lord.

Another favorite sports-related book was the biography of Eric Liddell, the runner made famous in the film Chariots of Fire. He was a believer and refused to run on Sunday during the 1924 Olympics in Paris. Because of that he missed the race he trained for and he was put into another — and won the gold medal and broke a world record. Just before the race, a masseur has passed to him a piece of paper on which was written 1 Samuel 2:30, “Those who honor me I will honor.” Eric later became a missionary to China. The Japanese took over the mission where he was stationed during WWII and he and other missionaries as well as children from the China Inland Mission Chefoo school were held at the Weihsien Internment Camp, where he later died of an inoperable brain tumor. The particular biography I read was not very well written, so I won’t mention it here as there are others which I am sure are better, but another book which tells of Eric in the prison camp is called A Boy’s War by David Michell, who was a child in the Chefoo school during this internment.

Other favorites were Comeback and When You Can’t Come Back by Dave Dravecky, the baseball player whose career came back but then ended after a tumor in his shoulder. I had seen an interview with him on 20/20 as well and was inspired to read more.

When it comes to sports films, one of my favorites is The Rookie with David Quaid based on the true story of pitcher Jim Morris.

When someone tells me I am doing something wrong…

Posted on August 13, 2008 by Barbara Harper

…what should my response be?

Well, my usual (inward) reaction is to think, “Who do you think YOU are?” or to think of their flaws. Not a very spiritual reaction, is it?

On the one hand we all know we are far from perfect, but on the other hand, we bristle when anyone points out an imperfection. Really, we should just be grateful it doesn’t happen as often as it could.

These days we feel that if anyone tries to reprove us about anything, they’re judging. But what does the Bible say?

As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear. Proverbs 11:12.

Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Proverbs 9:8.

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. Proverbs 12:15.

A wise son heareth his father’s instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke. Proverbs 13:1.

The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding. Proverbs 15:31-31.

A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool. Proverbs 17:10.

Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him. Proverbs 26:12.

What if the reprover isn’t very kind about it? Though there are instructions throughout Scripture about how to rebuke someone in a right way, there is also throughout Scripture the principle that I am supposed to do what’s right regardless of what the other person does. In all of the instructions in Ephesians 5 and 6 about relationships, it does not say, “You do this IF he does that.” No, each person is responsible for the instructions given to him or her whether the other person fulfills his or her responsibilities as instructed. And in this, too, just because someone doesn’t correct us in a “right” way doesn’t mean we’re off the hook and can write off whatever they’re saying.

But what if the person really is judging? We just can’t please everyone. Wherever our convictions are, someone will always be more conservative, and usually in a heartfelt rather than a Pharisaical way, even if that might be what they sound like — usually they do have some reason for the convictions they have. Romans 14:3 does say, “Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him” in regard to the disputations over eating meat, and we can extract that principle of not judging the one whose convictions are looser than ours or despising the one whose convictions are stricter than ours and apply it to other areas of difference where the Bible doesn’t give clear instructions. But Paul does go on in the rest of that chapter to make the case that sometimes we need to restrain ourselves even from something we might feel it is all right to do if it offends someone else. Paul says in I Corinthians 8:12-13, “But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.”

How unlike the spirit of many Christians in this age, in which the attitude is often, “If you’ve got a problem with something I am doing, it is YOUR problem and you’re being a judgmental hypocritical Pharisee.” And then often each side creates schisms by trying to drum up supporting opinions from others.

Christ did have harsh words for true Pharisees, but if you study out those instances in Scripture, it was a far different situation than what we have today when one earnest Christian approaches another about something in his or her conduct. The Pharisees were not true believers and were basing their acceptance before God on their excessive works, rituals, and rites that went far beyond what God outlined in the Old Testament law. It is totally uncalled for to name another Christian brother among their ranks just because he has a different view of things than we do.

So how should I respond if someone tells me I am doing something wrong? In meekness, not anger and defensiveness, I should assume they have the best intentions and examine what they say, bringing it before the Lord to see if it is something truly wrong, or if it is something that is all right, but I should refrain myself for the sake of that person’s conscience. If it is something I still free to do, I should still react kindly to the person doing the rebuking. Maybe they can accept that the issue is an honest and allowable difference of opinion; maybe not. But they are a lot more likely to if we handle the matter with grace (even though it stings) than if we react harshly.

If we’re truly in the right, we have the example of Christ to emulate in I Peter 2:

19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:

23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:

24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

What shall we do?

Posted on August 12, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I am in the book of John for my devotions just now, and this morning I came across this passage, a conversation that took place when the people among the 5,000 who were miraculously fed came looking for Jesus the next day:

26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.

27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

That last verse is one of the most precious to me. There is no other “work,” no ritual, no hoping the good things outweigh the bad that will make me acceptable to God.

No merit of my own His anger to suppress.
My only hope is found in Jesus’ righteousness.

For me He died, For me He lives,
And everlasting life and light He freely gives.

(Words and music by Norman J. Clayton)

Children’s Classics: Chapter Books

Posted on August 12, 2008 by Barbara Harper

The 5 Minutes For Books site us starting a monthly focus on children’s classics, and this month the topic is chapter books for 8-12 year olds.

My oldest son was my only avid reader at this age, and one of his favorite series was Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective. He was analytical and enjoyed figuring things out, so detective stories fit the bill for him. As far as I can remember they were clean and wholesome: looking them up now I see they’s updated the covers: I hope they haven’t “updated” the stories, because that usually doesn’t bode well. He read them in the mid-90s: I am not familiar with any in the series after that.

He read some of the Hardy Boys when he got older, but didn’t seem to take to them as well.

The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder is good for this age as well. We read one or two of them out loud together when we were homeschooling.

Unfortunately, I don’t remember as many of these books as I do the books for younger kids, probably because at this point he branched off into reading on his own rather than our reading together. For a while I tried to read everything he read, but he had a lot more time to read than I did then. 🙂

And though I was a voracious reader as a child, I don’t remember what specific books I read then, either.

But you can find others’ recommendations here.

And although the subject is classic books, and, though what is a classic is loosely defined, these books haven’t been around long enough to be called classics, I would highly recommend the Journey Forth division published by BJU Press. They are well written, wholesome, character-building books. Our absolute favorites were the Peabody Adventure series by Jeri Massi, and we also enjoyed A Father’s Promise by Donnalynn Hess, about a boy living through WWII, Medallion by Dawn Watkins, the Bracken Series by Jeri Massi, The Treasure of Pelican Cove by Milli Howard, and These Are My People by Milli Howard, about missionary Gladys Aylward.

A new writing circle

Posted on August 11, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Peggy at The Simple Woman is trying to start an old-fashioned writing circle. I thought it sounded like a lot of fun! You can find the details here.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook

Posted on August 11, 2008 by Barbara Harper

FOR TODAY … August 11, 2008

Outside My Window… bright but not so hot — at least, not so far.

I am thinking… about some ideas for some writing projects and also about “birthday week.” Jason’s birthday was in July but he wanted to wait to celebrate til he came home. Jeremy’s is Friday but he wants to wait til Jason gets home. Mine is Thursday of next week.So we’re going to have a whole lot of celebrating going on…

I am thankful for… my husband and family,God’s love and car, and air conditioning 🙂 Honestly, I don’t know how I would live without it, I get so hot so easily..

From the kitchen…a light day since it is a busy day, but I do need to do something with ripening bananas soon.

I am wearing… a green and blue plaid seersucker dress. I love it for summertime — it’s much cooler than many of my other clothes.

I am creating… I am still working on my new cross stitch project. It will take a while. In fact, I am so tempted to go work on it now, but I have other things to do. Progress as of Friday is at the bottom of this post, though I have worked on it a little more since then.

I am going… I actually already went…to take my mil to an audiologist’s appointment Tonight we have a ladies’ meeting with one of my favorite people.

I am reading… To Kill a Mockingbird and It Happens Every Spring still. Almost done with the latter.

I am hoping… to get a nap in today — I got up earlier than usual for summer, but I am going to have to get used to that again soon when school starts.

I am hearing… Jesse absentmindedly bumping his leg against the desk.

Around the house… I have some piles of clutter I need to sort through and put away.

One of my favorite things… is hot Krispy Kreme donuts. 🙂 We passed by there on our way home from my mil’s appointment, and I introduced to to the joys of Krispy Kreme. She is now a convert.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Besides the clutter control, I need to make some appointments for Jesse (I listed that last week but didn’t get to it), get the rest of his school supplies, shop for birthdays, dust and vacuum my bedroom, clean Jason’s room in time for his return this weekend (Yay!)

Here is picture thought I am sharing…

I had noticed a lovely sunset and went out to try to get a picture of it, then on my way out to the front yard I noticed this reflection on the car that I thought was kind of neat. But by the time I got my camera, went outside, and then took this picture, the sun had gone down too much. I tried taking a couple more pictures, but I was directly facing the neighbors across the street — whom I don’t know — and felt awkward that they might be thinking I was taking pictures of them or their house, so I gave up.

The Guidelines for the Daybook are here at The Simple Woman, who created and hosts this weekly meme.

Green Leaf in Drought

Posted on August 10, 2008 by Barbara Harper

In 1950, Arthur and Wilda Mathews and their 13 month old baby, Lilah, traveled to Hwangyuan, China. China had fallen to Communism, and other missionaries were leaving, yet the Chinese church had invited them to come, with the approval of the Communist government. They felt this was a miraculously opened door God would have them go through.. Yet, when they arrived, they could sense that all was not well. The Christians pastors who met them were strained, and they discerned that between the time of their invitation and arrival, the Chinese learned that association with the white people would be a liability under Communism, not a asset. The Mathews thought perhaps then that, if they could not be a help to the church, they could endeavor to evangelize the unreached Mongols in the area and nearby. They had a few weeks in which to minister, but soon found that they were restricted in ways they could help. They endeavored to set up an inn with which to reach the Mongols, but Chinese troops took it over the day before it was to open. Arthur protested, but soon found it would have been wiser to have said nothing. In two days a policeman came to the mission compound to announce that no one there could do village work without permission, and the white people were forbidden everything: they could not have meetings outside the compound, they could not give out tracts or dispense medicine. They were restricted to the mission compound.

They finally decided that since they were more of a hindrance than a help, they would apply for exit visas. They thought, since the government did not want them, they would be allowed to leave quickly, and so gave away or sold dishes, curtains, etc., keeping just the bare minimum to function until they could leave. Arthur was summoned to the police station and asked to sign a statement that he was for world peace. He had heard of another missionary having to sign some document before leaving, so he signed without thinking much of it. The government official then asked what contribution Arthur was then willing to make toward world peace, outlining a plan in which Arthur would go to India and essentially be a Communist spy. Arthur realized that the Communist definition of world peace was a world dominated by communism, and of course could not consent.

A government official called Arthur in and promised his exit visas if he would do something for them, like write a report of five other missionaries. At first Arthur did write glowing reports of the missionaries in question, but someone told him he dare not turn that in: the Communists would change what he had written but keep his signature. So Arthur threw his report in the fire and told the official he could not be a Judas. The official then told him that he could have given him a pass, if he had cooperated, but now a charge had been laid against him which must be investigated, and “investigations take a long time.”

Thus began a two and a half year ordeal. Their provisions from their mission were frozen by the government, which made Arthur submit a report of what he would need, and then they doled out to him much less than what the report said he needed. Every victory they mentioned in a letter seemed to be immediately challenged by the enemy of their souls: once when they wrote what a blessing Lilah was, she then came down with scarlet fever, and they almost lost her. All of them had turns being ill. Eventually they were told that no one could speak to them, and they could only leave home to draw water from the creek and get food.

They wrestled with the “what-ifs” and the frustration of what they called “second causes,” finally coming to the conclusion that they had to trust that the Lord was in control and had them there for a reason, though it was hard to discern that reason when they were so restricted. Yet the Lord did use them even when they could not speak to the people. The few weeks they had had to minister before restrictions set in, people knew their hearts and saw their love. When the Mathews could no longer speak openly, the people saw them in tattered clothes, persecuted, attacked by illness without much medical aid, laughed at, jeered, humiliated, doing menial, degrading work just to survive, tantalized by the government offering release and then not giving it or doling out money that was theirs in the first place. They saw the Lord provide miraculously for them in many ways. Yet more than that, they saw them endure graciously and joyfully until, finally, the Mathews became the last CIM missionaries to leave China.

How the Lord provided for them and ministered through them in unexpected ways are some of the most exciting parts of the book Isobel Kuhn wrote of their story titled Green Leaf in Drought. She says,

But most amazing of all was their spiritual vigour. Whence came it? Not from themselves: no human being could go through such sufferings and come out so sweet and cheerful. As I was in a small prayer meeting… one prayed thus: ‘O Lord, keep their leaf green in times of drought!’ I knew in a moment that this was the answer. Jeremiah 17:8: “He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” That was it! There was an unseen Source of secret nourishment, which the Communists could not find and from which they could not cut them off…That is needed by all of us. Your drought may not be caused by Communism, but the cause of the drying up of life’s joys is incidental. When they dry up — is there, can we find, a secret Source of nourishment that the deadly drought cannot reach?…Is it possible for a Christian to put forth green leaves when all he enjoys in this life is drying up around him?

The answer, by God’s grace, is yes!