Random Dozen Meme

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Linda at 2nd cup of coffee created and hosts the Random Dozen meme every Wednesday. You can answer the questions on your blog and link up to Linda’s plus find more participants there.

1. How old is the oldest pair of shoes in your closet?

One pair of tennis shoes is at least 12 years old because I had them when we moved here, and I had them a long while before that. They may be even 20 or more years old. I don’t wear them often.

2. Did you buy Girl Scout cookies this year? If so, what variety?

Yes! I forget their names, but the ones with peanut butter inside and chocolate outside, the peanut butter ones, and the thin mints (I’m not a mint fan, but others in the family like them.)

3. Do you know how to ballroom dance? If not, would you like to?

No. I like to watch the flowy, elegant ballroom variety (waltz, foxtrot), but I am beyond learning it. I have balance problems, and I would only want to dance with my husband, so I don’t know if we could be taught without dancing with other people. 🙂

4. Were you a responsible child/teenager?

Yes. As the oldest of six and designated baby-sitter, I kind of had to be.

5. How many of this year’s Oscar-nominated movies did you see?

I have no idea beyond a couple which ones were nominated, and I have not seen those.

6. If you’re going to have a medical procedure done, such as having blood drawn, is it easier for you to watch someone else having the procedure done or have it done yourself?

I don’t think I could watch medical procedures being done on anyone. I can’t watch blood being drawn on myself, either, but it doesn’t bother me if I don’t look at it.

7. What is your favorite day of the week and why?

Oh, I don’t know. I like them all. Maybe Saturday because I don’t usually have to set the alarm clock then.

8. Do you miss anyone right now?

My mom.

9. Do hospitals make you queasy?

I don’t know if queasy is the right word. Nervous, unsettled, uncomfortable…all of those.

10. At which store would you like to max-out your credit card. Not that you ever would, you responsible person, you.

A hard choice! Probably first choice would be a  furniture store if I could find living room furniture I liked, but if not that then Hobby Lobby.

11. Are you true to the brand names of products/items?

For some items, yes, for others it doesn’t matter. I did a whole post on this topic once.

12. Which is more difficult: looking into someone’s eyes when you are telling someone how you feel, or looking into someone’s eyes when he/she is telling you how he/she feels?

Probably the former. Actually, it’s usually hard for me to tell someone how I feel in person even without looking in their eyes. With my dad it usually wasn’t accepted or understood and usually made things worse, so I rarely did…and old habits die hard, I guess. But a lot depends on what exactly the situation and feelings are.

Dr. Sa’eed of Iran

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Some months back I wrote about Dr. John Dreisbach, a modern-day missionary who recently went Home to heaven. I was listening to his memorial service online when I heard the following poem read:

Christ is my Life, and Christ is my light;
Christ is my guide in the darkness of night;
Priest and strong Advocate Christ is for me;
Christ is my Master, to truth he’s the key.

Christ is my Leader, he peace to me brought;
Christ is my Savior, Christ righteousness wrought;
Christ is my Prophet, my Priest, and my King;
My Way, and the Truth to which I firmly cling.

Christ is my Glory, and Christ is my Crown;
Christ shares my troubles when woe strikes me down;
Christ is my treasure in heaven above:
In every deep sorrow he soothes me with love.

Christ is my Savior, my Portion, my Lord;
All honor and homage to Him I accord.
Christ is my Peace, and Christ my Repast;
Christ is my Rapture forever to last.

In joy and in sorrow Christ satisfies me;
‘Tis Christ who from bondage of sin set me free.
In all times of sickness Christ is my Health;
In want and in poverty Christ is my Wealth.

Afterward I searched online to find out who wrote this poem and discovered it was titled “Dr. Sa’eed’s Hymn” and was contained in the book  Dr. Sa’eed of Iran: Kurdish Physician to Princes and Peasants Nobles and Nomads by Jay M. Rasooli and Cady Hews Allen. It is no longer in print, but Amazon.com has inexpensive used copies, so I ordered one. (If you don’t mind reading books on the computer, the text is online through Google books.)

Dr. Sa’eed’s is a fascinating story. He was born into a Kurdish mullah’s (an Islamic teacher) family in June of 1863 in what was then Persia, now known as Iran. He was uncommonly bright and well-taught, so much so that he was given the title of mullah at the age of thirteen when his father died.

As a child he once saw a foreigner wearing a hat with a brim, uncommon because Persians then wore brimless hats. When he asked his mother why the man wore that “funny hat.”

“He is an unbeliever,” she replied, “and they do not wish him to see the sky, which is the abode of God.” By such an answer was aversion to non-Moslems instilled in the receptive mind (p. 23).

Sometimes he might be in a Christian home and “accidentally” knock something fragile off a shelf so that it broke or sit on a rug and cut holes in it with his knife. “Such misdeeds, while inspired by bigotry, were done especially to earn merit with God by causing damage to an unbeliever or even to one of a rival Moslem sect” (p 24).

But he also had a thirst for holiness that led him to fervent study and extreme rituals. After years he was still “dissatisfied and restive” (p. 29.) His first encounters with professing Christians were with Catholics who disgusted him, as they drank alcohol (forbidden in the Koran).

When he was seventeen, some Protestant missionaries came to town and engaged Sa’eed as a tutor in the Persian language. He had heard even worse things about Protestants, but he acquiesced.

He was surprised by many things: they knew something of the Koran, they prayed for their enemies, they did not drink, lie, or gossip. Their behavior matched their teaching. They used the Bible for language study, and Sa’eed heard many discussions about Christian teachings. Over time he began to speak with Kasha Yohanan about religion and read the Bible for himself. He began to see his own failings and to doubt what he had always been taught. This was agony to him, causing him to burn himself with hot coals as a vow never to speak with Christians about religion again and to tell the missionary that he was no longer available. But the words he had heard continued to burn in his heart until he finally prayed to be led in the true way. He decided to study both the Bible and the Koran. “In Mohammed’s teachings and personal life I found nothing which would satisfy the longing soul — not a drop of water to quench the thirsty spirit” (p. 38). Finally he yielded to faith in God.

His heart was now at peace, but his persecutions began in earnest. Even his own brother planned to kill him. The rest of the book details his growth, his training as a physician, and his life as a testimony to the One who saved him. Though often in danger, he never failed to treat anyone who called on him, even his enemies. His faith and godly character were a witness and a reflection of the One in Whom he believed.

(This review will be linked to Semicolon’s Saturday Review of Books.)

The Week In Words

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http://breathoflifeministries.blogspot.com/2010/01/announcing-week-in-words.html Melissa at Breath of Life hosts a weekly carnival called The Week In Words,which involves sharing something from your reading that inspires you, causes you to laugh, cry, or dream, or just resonates with you in some way. Melissa explains,

“Playing along is simple, just write a post of the quote(s) that spoke to you during the week (attributed, of course) and link back here [at Melissa‘s]. They can be from any written source, i.e. magazine, newspaper, blog, book. The only requirement is that they be words you read.”

This blog post from my friend Rita, who is a missionary in Paraguay, had me sympathizing yet smiling.

Nothing will wake you up on a Sunday Morning like being introduced to a classroom full of Hispanic ladies as the guest speaker when no one ever mentioned it to you… then , when you frantically look down at your Bible for a verse of inspiration, you discover that you are carrying your English Bible to Spanish Sunday School.

This is from the March 5 reading from Our Daily Walk by F. B, Meyer:

But what we are in the smallest details of our life, that we are really and essentially.

Lastly, I finally began Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter, compiled by Nancy Guthrie. These lines stood out to me in the preface:

Oh, what we miss out on when we rush past the cross of Christ.Oh, the richness and reward when stop to linger before it, when we take the time to “consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself” (Hebrews 12:3). In a culture where crosses have become commonplace as architecture and jewelry, how we need to truly gaze upon the cross of Christ in all its ugliness and beauty, in its death and in its healing, in the painful price paid there, and in its free gift of grace. Jesus, keep us near the cross.

May Thy cross be to me…

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May Thy cross be to me
as the tree that sweetens my bitter Marahs,
as the rod that blossoms with life and beauty,
as the brazen serpent that calls forth the look of faith.
By Thy cross crucify my every sin,
use it to increase my intimacy with thyself,
make it a ground of all my comfort,
the liveliness of all my duties,
the sum of all Thy gospel promises,
the comfort of all my afflictions,
the vigor of my love, thankfulness, graces,
the very essence of my religion,
and by it give me that rest without rest,
the rest of ceaseless praise.

From The Valley of Vision – A Collection of Puritan Prayers

Friday’s Fave Five

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Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts a “Friday Fave Five” in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Click on the button to read more of the details, and you can visit Susanne to see the list of others’ favorites or to join in.

1. A bonus! My husband received a bonus from his job and distributed a portion to all the family.

2. An excuse! I received notice this week that I am excused from jury duty! I thought for sure I’d have to get something signed from the doctor, but they didn’t ask for that. I am relieved!

3. My mother’s ring. I told about more about this here, but I found out my sister had sent my mom’s “mother’s ring” in a previous package, which I thought I had lost because I hadn’t seen it in the package, and I was looking everywhere the package had been to see if maybe it had dropped behind or under something. Then I found out my husband had taken it out to surprise me with it later and had it in his closet. I felt much like the woman who found her lost coin!

4. Seeing Jesse coach and referee. Every year our school has an elementary basketball tournament: they take the kids who want to play, divide them up into teams, and have volunteers from the JV and Varsity basketball teams coach them. Jesse volunteered, thinking he’d be helping a Varsity guy — but he was given his own team, I think mainly because of a lack of volunteers. Plus he refereed another game. It’s always neat to see your teen-ager begin to take responsibilities and leadership roles and handle them well. It’s not the first time I’ve noticed that he seems to work well with younger kids, and I wonder if the Lord might have something along those lines in his future.

5. Jeremy cooking dinner. I’ve mentioned this before — my oldest has taken an interest in cooking and occasionally will make lunch or dinner, and it’s always nice. But this week I have a lot on the schedule, especially in the next few days. I have the ladies’ newsletter due this week and wanted to get it done early. That didn’t happen, but I was able to get a great lot of it done while Jeremy made dinner last night — and he even unloaded and partially reloaded the dishwasher. So not only was it just nice to have a night almost off in the kitchen, but it was an immense help this particular time. Oh, he made jambalaya, by the way. It was good! I hadn’t had that in years.

Bonus:

Mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Just the right amount of chocolate to satisfy a little craving or to finish off dinner.

And I don’t feel I can close this post without saying this…I mentioned yesterday how neat it is when the Lord sends just the reminder or instruction or rebuke or encouragement I need, and that happened in a special way yesterday and today. I do usually get something out of every encounter with the Bible, but there are times when it is just so incredibly apt for the very particular circumstances of the day, which is even more mind-boggling considering that I am reading a devotional book or e-mail devotional that was written or compiled years ago or following a Bible reading schedule. Somehow the Lord coordinates all of that to get the right message to the right person at the right time. Amazing!

I’ll be around to visit hopefully later on today. Happy Friday!

God’s Help for God’s Assignment

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It’s amazing, thrilling, and comforting to me how the Lord sends just what I need through various means. I have a very busy few days ahead — not “crushing,” but busy, and this came yesterday in the daily e-mail devotional made up of Elisabeth Elliot‘s writings. This was originally from her book A Lamp For My Feet.

God’s Help for God’s Assignment

Sometimes a task we have begun takes on seemingly crushing size, and we wonder what ever gave us the notion that we could accomplish it. There is no way out, no way around it, and yet we cannot contemplate actually carrying it through. The rearing of children or the writing of a book are illustrations that come to mind. Let us recall that the task is a divinely appointed one, and divine aid is therefore to be expected. Expect it! Ask for it, wait for it, believe that God gives it. Offer to Him the job itself, along with your fears and misgivings about it. He will not fail or be discouraged. Let his courage encourage you. The day will come when the task will be finished. Trust Him for it.

“For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded, therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed” (Is 50:7 AV).

Booking Through Thursday: Grammar

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btt button The Booking Through Thursday question for this week is:

In honor of National Grammar Day … it IS “March Fourth” after all … do you have any grammar books? Punctuation? Writing guidelines? Style books?

More importantly, have you read them?

How do you feel about grammar in general? Important? Vital? Unnecessary? Fussy?

March Fourth. Ha! I don’t think I ever caught that before.

I do have my trusty Harcourt College Handbook from way back in college days. I haven’t read it through like a book, but I’ve probably referred to every part of it at some point over the years. I do have other grammar, style, writing books that I keep for reference, but these days if a question comes up while I am in the midst of writing, I usually look it up online. For instance, I can’t seem to keep straight when to use “i.e.” and “e.g.” — if I just search for “i.e. and e.g.” I get multitudes of grammar-related sites that can remind me in just seconds which is which.

I do think grammar is important for clear communication. Punctuation marks are somewhat like traffic signs. If everyone interpreted traffic signs differently, we’d have a lot of accidents and traffic snarls. I just saw somewhere recently the following example:

“Let’s eat, Dad!”

“Let’s eat Dad!”

Big difference. 🙂

I think all those elements of grammar can help the writer communicate more clearly, intelligently,  and effectively.

However, as a reader and listener, I think we have to exercise some grace. There are few things more obnoxious than for someone to correct someone else’s grammar in a social setting. Only parents, teachers, and editors should do that for people under their care. Sometimes I can get distracted by someone’s grammar mistake and miss the main point of what they’re saying. Unfortunately, grammar mistakes do have that effect, which is another reason to try to master them. But I do understand that in the heat of communication the subject matter can overtake good grammar. That’s what editors are for. There are no editors for public speaking, however, so I try to be a little for forgiving when listening.

Random Dozen Meme

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Linda at 2nd cup of coffee created and hosts the Random Dozen meme every Wednesday. You can answer the questions on your blog and link up to Linda’s plus find more participants there.

1. Do you prefer even or odd numbers? Any particular reason?

I guess it depends on what it is relating to. Numbers just for numbers’ sake — no, I don’t think there is a preference.

2. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being “not at all” and 10 being Carly Simon-worthy, how vain are you?

(What’s with asking us about our faults each week?!) I think we all have some degree of vanity in us. And I think I’ll just leave that at that. 🙂 Edited: OK, I had to come back to this one. Argh — I am too analytical for these kinds of questions! I think overall I have a healthy sense that any strength or ability I have, anything I can accomplish, is from the Lord and His grace and strength.  But I will admit there a couple of areas where I struggle with this and have to give myself a talking to and get things back in perspective. And it’s silly because those areas are some where other people are way better than me. But that’s the nature of the flesh. So I think real vanity, really thinking that in any way or any part of me is better than anyone else — I’d have to say maybe a 3. But in occasional temptations it can go higher. And I do struggle with where the line between being pleased and proud. (Told you I am too analytical….)

3. Among these Irish stereotypes, with which do you identify most closely? Talkative, Proud, Inquisitive, Love to party, Hot-tempered.

What about open and friendly? That’s how I usually think of Irish people. I can be open and friendly, but it’s not my natural bent. I can be talkative, but I’m more inclined to be quiet. If inquisitive means curious, yes, I am that. I don’t love to party. Hot-tempered — I am afraid I do have my moments, but it’s more of a simmering beneath the surface than an explosion. But I don’t think I’d call that a primary characteristic.

4. How lucky do you consider yourself?

I don’t believe in luck: I believe in Providence and prayer.

5. What is the subject of your favorite post that you’ve written?

I have a few of my favorite posts in my sidebar, but the subject would be something the Lord has taught me or done in my life.

6. Describe March weather where you live in three words.

Changeable. Cold. Wet.

7. How apt are you at detecting blarney when you hear it? (Smooth talk, flattery).

I can detect flattery pretty well, but I used to be prone to smooth-talking sakes pitches. I’m more wary now.

8. How “green” are you, environmentally speaking?

I think there is a lot about “the movement” that is hype, which tends to make me discount a lot of it, but I could probably work on it more.

9. What is your favorite song this week?

I don’t know is I would say it is a favorite, but the one that has come to mind most often is “Going Home” which I posed a video of here earlier this week.

10. You are walking along and see a coin on the ground. What denomination does it have to be before you will stop to pick it up?

I am more concerned with how dirty it is that how much it is. Probably a quarter, though I don’t think I am likely to pick up coins anywhere but my own house unless I just dropped them myself.

11. Complete the sentence: “Every time I look outside my window ….”

I long for spring.

12. What was the #1 song on the day you were born? See this site to find out.

“Tammy” by Debby Reynolds.

Odds and ends

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THE sun is bright,—the air is clear,
The darting swallows soar and sing,
And from the stately elms I hear
The blue-bird prophesying Spring.

From “It Is Not Always May” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
  • The calendar says that spring is coming in a couple of weeks, but there are no bright skies, clear air, or blue-birds prophesying Spring here today. It’s snowing. In March. In South Carolina. We’re supposed to get 2-4 inches today. Thankfully it is expected to be gone by tomorrow and the weekend is supposed to be nice.
  • I was at W-Mart this morning and saw these cute sandwich cutters. I never liked the idea of cutting sandwiches into cute shapes because of the waste of what’s left over, but this looks like it would create little waste. Unfortunately, my guys are beyond the cute sandwich stage — though it would be fun to see how they would react to little dino-sandwiches. 🙂
  • One of my sisters in Texas and I had e-mails going back and forth about a Christmas package she had sent. We were talking about the contents and the fact that I still have some of the things in it that were for two of my other sisters about 45 minutes away (even though it is two months past Christmas….we have conflicting schedules and a hard time getting together.) She was all right with that, but then she asked, “Did you like the ring?” “Ring? What ring?” She had sent one my my mom’s “mother’s rings” — years ago it was popular to have a ring made with all your children’s birthstones. I had not seen it at all and didn’t know it was in there. I went back and searched thoroughly the box and the two different areas where it had been, but saw nothing. If it was mixed up in the packaging material, it’s long gone. I was hoping maybe it fell out of the box near the wall or between different items nearby…but found nothing so far. I am so heartsick over it. My mother’s taste in jewelry was much gaudier than mine, so I would never have worn it, but I would have liked to have it because it was hers. I’m praying that if it is still anywhere here, we’ll find it.
  • Update: FOUND! Okay, between e-mails and phone calls, here is what happened: My husband had gone to Houston for a business trip last fall and couldn’t get by to see my sister but had called. They talked about the ring, and decided she would send it to him in a Christmas box before our anniversary, and he was going to give to to me then. But it didn’t arrive in time, so when we got back from our anniversary trip, he opened the box and took out the ring and put it on a shelf in his closet, thinking he would get it cleaned and give it to me another time. So when I e-mail my sister back that I searched everywhere and couldn’t find the ring, she e-mailed back and said, “Oh no, I ruined the surprise!” and told me what was supposed to have happened. I called my husband, and he told me where it was — and I found it! I am sooo relieved!! Whew — talking about hitting the heights and depths in one morning!!!