Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt: Ruin(ed)

Posted on November 15, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Theme: Ruin(ed)| Become a Photo Hunter

I didn’t have to think too long about what kind of ruins I could find for this photo hunt. 🙂 These have appeared on my blog before.

This was supposed to be for a ladies’ meeting at church — but fell apart when I tried to get it out of the pan. It is some kind of spice cake — I’ve never made it before or since. I did scrape out the rest of the cake and made the glaze for it and poured it on, and we ate it! It tasted great! But I did have to come up with something else for the meeting — I don’t remember what now.

These are from several years ago — they were supposed to look like little muppets. I had seen the idea in a magazine. I think the idea was to bake cupcakes, put one upside down on top of another one (and probably glue it with frosting), cut out a little wedge for the mouth, then put little dollops of white with a mini chocolate chip in the middle for eyes. It looked so cute and easy in the magazine. How could it go wrong? Somehow it did, and they ended up looking like swamp monster babies left out in the rain. Unfortunately this was for Jeremy’s second birthday, and though he didn’t care, we had invited friends over. There was no back-up plan, so I served this spectacle. They were very kind about it.

Cake-baking and decorating are not my specialties, as you can tell.

You can find more ruins at TN Chick‘s, the creator and hostess of Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt.

I haven’t told you…

Posted on November 14, 2008 by Barbara Harper

…that my husband has been in China for the last eight days.

I didn’t want any cyber-stalkers to get any ideas. But he is in US airspace even now on his way home.

He is on a board that has to do with textile fiber standards, along with people from several other companies, and they had a conference there. He works with the color aspects and gave a presentation on that — a 2-hour presentation because it had to be translated as he spoke. He said it went well, but we haven’t had much chance to talk about it all. Thankfully he has been able to call almost every day. His cell phone worked to call here, but a couple of times I tried to call him and couldn’t get through.

To give you a little window into his world, here is the description of his presentation:

The session will focus on color communication and the SAE standards that govern automotive color measurement and observation for automotive interiors. [He] will review the practical application of how color is approved at North American OEMs. The future of color computer-aided design and world-wide communication will also be discussed.

We’ve gotten kind of used to him coming and going through the week, but to be gone that long, that far away, and over a weekend has been a little tougher. We’ll be glad to have him home.

I had plans for a really productive week, but with having a bad cold the first part of the week and some kind of stomach bug the last two days, expect for missions conference and laundry I haven’t done much.

I have had about eight crackers and a few bites of applesauce over the last two days and have had to stay within a few steps from the bathroom, even after taking the maximum amount of Pepto Bismol caplets yesterday. I switched to Immodium, and whether that kicked in or whatever this is has run its course or the Lord answered prayer — likely a combination of all of the above — God can answer prayer through those other things as well as directly healing — I seem to be over the worst of it. I hope. No one else in the family has it, thankfully, and I hope they don’t get it. We did eat out Wed. night at a pizza place — I had a salad and no one else did, so I am wondering if something I ate there had an effect or if it is just a bug.

I know Jeremy is due to leave the nest soon, and I am not looking forward to that, but I have been so thankful this week he has been here to take Jesse to school and run a few errands for me.

Daytime television is a vast wasteland. I’ve tried to veg out with the TV a little, but there is not much worth watching in the daytime! I have gotten some reading done and slept a good bit this morning and feel a little fresher now. So hopefully all is on the mend.

Paper-Crafting Thursday

Posted on November 13, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home hosts Paper-Crafting Thursday where we can show cards, bookmarks, etc. that we have made — or, I would guess, that others have made and given us.

Our ladies had another session of making cards to give to our missionaries for their use. This first one was made by someone else with what one lady calls “cheater cards” — cards that you buy with a background design already there, and all you have to do is add your embellishments. I thought this was really simple and really cute.

The rest here are mine. This is another one that was simple, but I like its simplicity. I was also trying to make some that weren’t quite so feminine-looking so they could be sent to or from a man. I printed out several phrases like this from the computer that we cut out to use on the cards.

This is one of my favorites — I think it looks so cheery. The saying came from the same stamp I mentioned last time. I stamped it out in several colors on a sheet of cardstock so we could cut them out and use them on different cards.

And this is, I think, my favorite of the night. The papers came from a small pad from Michael’s, so they all coordinated well. Then the ink pad was in “plum” and matched so perfectly. I didn’t have these papers in mind at all when I bought the ink pad, so I was delighted that they all worked so well together.

Sorry for the bit of glare at the bottoms of the pictures. It’s an overcast day, so I had the lights on, but it was hard getting enough light to see but not too much.

Stop by Kelli’s today to see some other great examples. Kelli usually includes instructions for how she makes hers as well.

“That she reverence her husband…”

Posted on November 12, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Often in books and teaching about the Biblical roles of husband and wife, we learn about husbands loving their wives and wives submitting to their husbands. We don’t hear as often about another responsibility of wives: Ephesians 5:33b says, “the wife see that she reverence her husband.”

We don’t live in an age of reverence. Husbands and fathers are often portrayed as inept buffoons on sitcoms. Humor seems to be regarded as a higher virtue than respect, and everyone from the president on down can be the subject of belittling parody (I am not against humor or even parody, but there has been a viciousness to much of it in recent years that I think goes too far). “Speaking our mind” takes precedence over balancing our words with respect for another individual. It is important for Christians to get back to treating people with grace.

What does reverence mean? Dictionary.com defines it as “a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration; the outward manifestation of this feeling: to pay reverence; to regard or treat with reverence; venerate.” One of the definitions from Strong’s Concordance of the Greek word this is translated from is “to reverence, venerate, to treat with deference or reverential obedience.” That same Greek word is translated “fear” in I Peter 3:1-2: “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.” It is also translated as “fear” in a servant’s responsibility to his master in I Peter 2:18, (also Col. 3:22 and others. Most translate this into the employer/employee relationship for our time), and as an attitude we should have towards the Lord in I Peter 1:17, and as “be afraid” in our regard to rulers in Romans 13.

Other translations use the word “respect” in Ephesians 5:33. Of the myriad definitions in Dictionary.com, the ones that seem most applicable are, “esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability, deference to a right, privilege, privileged position, or someone or something considered to have certain rights or privileges; proper acceptance or courtesy; acknowledgment: to hold in esteem or honor.”

One of the first thoughts that comes to some minds is, “Well, he doesn’t always act in a way that I can respect. How am I supposed to respect or reverence him then?”

Well, let’s look at it from another angle. Husbands are commanded to love their wives as themselves and as Christ loved the church. Do we as wives always act worthy of love? Is our husband’s love conditional on our behavior or performance? Don’t we want our husbands to love us no matter how we act? Isn’t that, in fact, exactly how Christ loves the church?

So, too, our respect of our husbands is not based on their performance or attitude or demeanor. Just as we want them to show God’s grace, forgiveness, and forbearance toward us when we are not all we’re supposed to be, so we should show the same to them.

How can we show them reverence? I think reverence would avoid nagging and scolding. We need to allow them to be human, to be imperfect, again, just as we would want them to allow the same for us. Proverbs has a lot to say about the brawling woman (21:9, 25:24) and the contentious woman (21:19, 27:15). I don’t think that means we can never express a preference, for instance, that dirty socks go into the hamper rather than next to it or in the middle of the floor. But once we make that request, it doesn’t do either of us any good to fuss about it (or to seethe in silence). We need God’s grace to exercise forbearance and the love that “covers a multitude of sins” (I Peter 4:8, Proverbs 10:12).

Reverence would also avoid talking to a husband as if he were one of the children. And I think it would also be careful about humor. We live in an age where almost anything is accepted if it is funny. But though humor “is the oil in the friction of life,” as the saying goes, it can sometimes be caustic, and some people are more sensitive to it than others. Everyone can laugh at something that is said, yet the subject of the joke can be left wondering if there was a hidden meaning. In the Quieting a Noisy Soul series, Dr. Jim Berg said the word “sarcasm” comes from two Greek words meaning “to tear flesh.” We need to be careful that we’re not “tearing,” “cutting down,” or disrespecting even in our joking and teasing.

Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” We need to be careful to apply this not only to what we say to our husbands, but also what we say about them. All the verses about talebearers and gossip apply to our conversations about our husbands, and our respect needs to shine through there as well.

I don’t think reverence means an unrealistic view of our husbands. Abigail was very frank about what kind of man her husband, Nabal, was, yet she intervened and interceded for him (I Samuel 25).

I wrote earlier about a session at one of our ladies’ meetings on how to love our husbands, and I think that respect is a part of Biblical love.

Perhaps the idea of reverence can best be captured this way: think of someone whom you would be awed to have in your home, for example, the president or a great hero of the faith like Hudson Taylor. The ways that come to mind to act (and not act) towards and treat a person like that are ways that we can show the same respect to our husbands. If I had someone like that in my home, I would be attentive, seek to anticipate and meet their needs, prepare what I think they would like. If I had to ask them to do or not do something, I would take care how I worded my request, assuming they meant well.

Do I always act that way toward my husband? No, I’m afraid not. I am instructing myself here and inviting you along through the process.

In one of those sermons that has stuck with me for years, Dr. Wayne Van Gelderen, Sr., as a guest speaker at our church, made the point that all of the instructions concerning the home in Ephesians 5 and 6 come after the command to be filled with the Spirit in 5:18. Only when we are filled with the Holy Spirit can we manifest love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.

Veteran’s Day Parade

Posted on November 11, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I’m afraid I wasn’t really thinking about veterans as I made my way to the parade that year.

My husband’s friend was our city councilman, and he asked my husband if he could drive him in our oldest son’s convertible for the Veteran’s Day parade. As I drove the kids downtown to “see Daddy” and “see Jeremy’s car,” I was thinking of finding a parking place where there wasn’t too much traffic and where there was a restroom nearby in case any of us needed one, wondering whether I should get out the folding chairs from the back of the van and whether we’d need sweaters. I found a suitable place near the end of the parade route, and we scrambled out of the van to line up on the sidewalk.

As we listened to the marching bands and saw the waving city officials, I noticed a man in a wheelchair next to us with a woman I assume was his daughter. He was a veteran, as evidenced by his uniform jacket and VFW hat. I noticed other old men scattered here and there throughout the few attendees with at least a VFW or uniform hat, some with full uniform on, some in wheelchairs or with canes.

I knew, of course, that Veteran’s Day is observed to honor those who have fought to defend our country. But seeing those uniforms up and down the street really brought it home. They weren’t just out to spend a few minutes of time on a day off. They were out to honor and support each other and their country as they always had.

I felt like I should turn to the man in the wheelchair next to me and say, “Thank you.” I didn’t, but I wish I had.

I do now. I appreciate and thank the veterans and those currently serving as well as the families they leave behind in order to protect and defend the rest of us. They continue serving even after they come home: seven veterans who did not know my father or the rest of our family honored him as a brother with a 21-gun salute at his funeral. One of the most poignant images at my father-in-law’s funeral was the salute from his fellow veterans.

Thank you. It doesn’t seem enough just to say it, but it is heartfelt. Thank you.

Randomness

Posted on November 9, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I caught a cold a few days ago and felt really bleah Saturday. Better now. Some.

Dontcha hate it when you blow your nose and gunk comes out of your eye?

Why doesn’t someone invent a self-cleaning refrigerator?

My husband was away this weekend. We’re used to his coming and going through the week, but weekends seem a little forlorn without him.

Our church is having a missions conference this week — great stuff so far.

One of the missionaries is the patriarch of this family, and I am loving their CDs!!

On to bed — to sleep, perchance to breathe.

Actually breathing isn’t so much a problem — drippiness is — but I just liked the way that sounded. 🙂

Book Review: Stepping Into Sunlight

Posted on November 8, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Stepping Into Sunlight by Sharon Hinck is the story of Penny Sullivan, who, just after a move to a new town and just before her husband’s deployment as a Navy Chaplain, witnesses a horrific crime and a threat to her own life. Though trying to assure her near and extended family that everything is fine, she begins to suffer nightmares and panic attacks. With her husband away and no new friends or church yet, she has no support system, and she is reluctant to take it to the Lord because of the lingering question: Where was He when this happened, and why didn’t He prevent it?

She tries to put a brave face on things so that no one will worry about her and so that she can take care of the young son who depends on her, but she finds herself increasing afraid and unable to take up even the ordinary tasks of life.

Help comes in various ways: a nosy, advice-giving neighbor, a DVD she discovers of message her husband made for her, a quirky couple who run a little mission church nearby, and a support group she eventually makes herself attend. Thinking her usual planning and goal-making skills will help pull her out of the quagmire she is in, she lists several things to do, one of which is “Penny’s Project,” an attempt to do one kind thing for someone each day.

I have to admit when I first read that idea, I cringed a little. It brought up images of the Boy Scout doing his good deed for the day helping a little old lady across the street (whether she wants him to or not) rather than a lifestyle or character of kindness. But the more I got into the story, the more it made sense. Penny discovers that, with grocery store delivery, ordering things she needs online, and even online discussion forums, she can almost function from her home without interacting with others, and this project is her baby-steps attempt to extend herself beyond her four walls and her own problems. It is not a bad goal in itself: how many of us miss opportunities to exercise kindness because we’re not actively seeking them?

If you have ever suffered panic attacks, you’ll find realistic portrayals of them in this book. If you know someone who suffers them, you’ll understand a little more what they are going through in this book. Sharon always writes realistically (even in her fantasy books, the characters, feelings, and struggles are very true-to-life) and draws you into the heart of the character while providing unexpected pockets of humor throughout. I highly recommend this book.

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on November 7, 2008 by Barbara Harper

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.

1. No more political ads or calls! At least for a while.

2. This live webcam of a box of puppies brought to my attention by my son. Very cute and very relaxing to watch! The only downside is not being able to pick one up. It will likely only be up a few more weeks.

3. The weather this week has been just perfect: no rain, a little breezy, a little cool in the mornings and a little warm in the afternoon.

4. Our ladies’ meeting Monday night where we watched a DVD titled Peace Child from the book by the same name, reviewed here. It’s just amazing how God opened the hearts of headhunters and cannibals who thought Judas was the hero of the story because they valued treachery and caused them to understand the gospel. A scene at the end with a native hut filled with former headhunters singing hymns is just thrilling. And the missionaries, I am sure, do not want to be thought of as extraordinary Christians, but rather just faithful Christians who took Him at His word and trusted Him not only for their personal safety but for wisdom to know how to reach these people with His love, yet their example is still inspiring.

Plus the fellowship at the meetings is always a blessing. And the hostess made loaded potato soup, which I love, and even sent some of the leftovers home with us!

Then some of the same ladies plus a couple more met again last night to have another session to make cards for our missionaries for Christmas. I so appreciated their willingness to come out another night in the same week( had to meet this week because next week is missions conference), and once again enjoyed the fellowship and the creativity. It is so much fun to do that kind of thing in a group and get inspired by other people’s ideas.

5. Homemade banana bread! Though it doesn’t last long around here.

I enjoy this opportunity to look back over the good things from the week! It extends the enjoyment of and thankfulness for them a little longer.

Poetry Friday: Dirge for Two Veterans

Posted on November 7, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I don’t remember now how I discovered “Dirge for Two Veterans” by Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass, but when I did a few weeks ago I knew I wanted to save it for the Poetry Friday before Veteran’s Day. Poetry Friday is hosted this week by Check It Out.

The last sunbeam
Lightly falls from the finish’d Sabbath,
On the pavement here, and there beyond it is looking,
Down a new-made double grave.

Lo, the moon ascending,
Up from the east the silvery round moon,
Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, phantom moon,
Immense and silent moon.

I see a sad procession,
And I hear the sound of coming full-key’d bugles,
All the channels of the city streets they’re flooding,
As with voices and with tears.

I hear the great drums pounding,
And the small drums steady whirring,
And every blow of the great convulsive drums,
Strikes me through and through.

For the son is brought with the father,
(In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they fell,
Two veterans son and father dropt together,
And the double grave awaits them.)

Now nearer blow the bugles,
And the drums strike more convulsive,
And the daylight o’er the pavement quite has faded,
And the strong dead-march enwraps me.

In the eastern sky up-buoying,
The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumin’d,
(‘Tis some mother’s large transparent face,
In heaven brighter growing.)

O strong dead-march you please me!
O moon immense with your silvery face you soothe me!
O my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to burial!
What I have I also give you.

The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music,
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love.

Blogging for peace…

Posted on November 6, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I have been tagged by several bloggers to participate in a “Blog Blast for Peace.” I am afraid they might be a little disappointed, though, because I can’t do it exactly like what they have in mind.

There are two reasons. One, I don’t think world peace will come because bloggers or others write about how much we want it. And two, the conflicts between nations stem from the same conflicts in individual human hearts.

James 4:1-3 (NKJV) says,

1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Wars come, ultimately, because nations lust, primarily for power or property. Of course, sometimes nations go to war to defend against that lust of other nations as Great Britain and the USA did against the Nazi regime. I think in some cases like that war is justified though every diplomatic means should be employed first.

But the point is, wars occur for the same reason individual human conflicts occur, and they won’t cease until individual human conflict ceases. And human conflict will not cease until human hearts are changed.

Ephesians 2: 13-18 says:

13But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

14For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

15Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

16And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

17And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

18For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Isaiah 9:6 says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” In John 16:33 He says, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

In studying Bible prophecy, it is only when Christ comes to reign that there will be peace on earth. In fact the passage that says “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” is in a prophetic section talking about the reign of Christ. As it gets closer to that time, He said, in Matthew 24:

5For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

6And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

Until that time, though, individual believers can have peace with Him, first, and then peace with others. As the Ephesians 2 passage mentioned above, Christ Jesus made peace for those who will believe on Him by offering Himself, shedding His blood to suffer the punishment for those sins and redeem us.

Psalm 85:10 says, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” If a judge set free a guilty man out of mercy, we would say that wasn’t just — especially if we were the ones sinned against by the guilty man. But because Jesus took those sins on Himself and paid the penalty for them, He satisfied the demands for justice, and God is now able to grant mercy, and thereby peace, to those who believe on Christ as Lord and Savior.

Colossians 1 says,

19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

20And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

21And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

22In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

And then once we believe on Him, we have His peace in our hearts. Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”

Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

And once we have His peace in our hearts, we can have peace with others. Galatians 5:22-23a says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance.” Colossians 3:14-15 says, “And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” “Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (II Timothy 2:22). “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:6 says, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

Certainly we do need to speak up against unjust wars, and it is good to be a peacemaker, but total peace won’t come until the Prince of Peace reigns, in individual hearts and in nations.

“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” Romans 15:13.

“Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” II Peter 3:14.