Ice Out!

It's official... all the ice is off Troutfly Lake.

When we first arrived the ice was still covering most of the lake.

Every day there has been less and less ice.  The kids have taken out canoes and paddled around between the sheets to see if they could get to open water.  Yesterday evening Johnnie took the motor boat out to see how the lake looked.

Then last night the wind kicked up and we could watch the wind pushing all the ice right into our little bay.  The ice kept coming and coming until this is how it looked this morning, like blue slush.

All day the wind has blown and blown.  Mid-afternoon most of the ice was gone except close to our shoreline.

About 4:00 I took this video.  You can hear how strong the wind is.  I was hoping you could also hear the ice.  It sounds like ice tinkling in a glass.

And now it's all gone... no more ice on Troutfly Lake.  It's been amazing to watch.  Another thing I noticed yesterday was that they mark something here that we never do in Tennessee.  Yesterday was the first day we had rain (Becky said this, but Johnnie thinks there might have been a little rain a few days ago).  All the precipitation before yesterday had been frozen.

So, of course, Phil went fishing today.  Let the good times roll!

10 Things I've Learned from Phil Kiper

In honor of his birthday yesterday, I thought I’d post some of the things I’ve learned from Phil over the years.  Here’s what I’ve come up with:

1.  There is a system for doing things… his system.  From loading the dishwasher to packing for a trip, there is a method to the madness.

2.  If you have car problems, call somebody else.  Enough said.

3.  The only way you can mess up a cookie is to over bake it (via Nathanael Winget).  These cookies look like they are up to Phil's standards.  The doughier the better.

4.  When taking a picture of a person and a fish, the fish is the focal point.   Learned this after many failed photos (that I didn't see anything wrong with).  

5.  Scheming and saving to get something you want is way more fun that actually getting it (most of the time).

6.  Leading people requires making lots of tough decisions – and you don’t always get it right, even when you want the best for each situation.  

7.  Beauty in nature will nourish your soul.  I have been transformed myself from a bug-fearing, indoors kind of gal, to a nature lover and outdoor-type.

8.  You can’t go back, but sometimes you get to bring your past into your present.  That's why we're at Camp of the Woods.

9.  Good questions and open dialogue lead to deeper understanding and connection.  When I stopped being afraid of questions and let them be asked and contemplated, I grew in my own life and we grew closer as a couple.

10.  Like a diamond, a good man is transformed by time and pressure.

Happy Birthday, Diamond Man!

The Farmer, Babe and God's Love

This week I walked with Mary on Tuesday and Thursday early in the morning before school.  They were beautiful mornings, quiet and with golden light.  It was great to start the day with so much beauty around me.  I was up early enough both mornings to read my devotions and then just sit and be quiet for a while.  It made me happy...

And it made me think of this clip from the movie Babe.

When I went to school that morning I sang this for Kathryn and a couple of the other teachers.  I know... I'm weird.

I've been singing the song and thinking about this all week, and I've finally made a connection.

A while back I wrote a post called The Big Lie about how one of the big lies Satan tempts us to believe is that God doesn't love us.  When I was watching the clip from Babe I finally remembered that the reason Babe won't eat is that one of the animals has told him that the farmer eats pigs.  He is convinced it is true and is sick with sadness.  The farmer tries to feed him with the bottle to show how he cares.  Then the farmer sings, and finally he dances.  He is doing it all to show Babe how much he loves the little pig.

When I thought about it, God was doing the same thing for me.  He was "singing [me] a morning golden and true."  He was splashing light and sound and color all around me to show His love and in joy in our relationship.  What a wonderful God I serve!  How full of joy my heart is!

Spring Recap

Recently my blog has fallen victim to the busyness of my life.   I had been puzzled by how busy I have felt since I thought, “I used to do all these things and it didn’t feel this busy.”  And then I realized that the big time crunch has come from my monthly trips to Indianapolis to help my aunt and uncle.  When you take 5 or 6 days out of your month it makes a difference.

Another reason my blog has suffered is because continued writing is a struggle.  It isn’t always easy to have something worth writing about.

As I wind up the school year and look forward to heading to Canada, I know that there will be much to say, so you will once again find me here, sharing what’s going on in my life.

Let me start with a recap of some recent events…

Will got his private pilot’s license and took me up as his first passenger.  We had a fun flight to Rockwood and back on a very nice day for flying.  You’ll find more pictures of our flight on my Facebook page.  The next passenger he took up was Sharon Reno, a friend from high school.  That flight was eventful in that when they returned for landing at Middle Valley another plane had had an accident (not serious) on the runway and was blocking the runway for all other planes.  Will and Sharon had to land in Dayton and had to have Mr. Reno come and pick them up since their cars were at Middle Valley. 

We quietly celebrated three birthdays...

Phil and I each had our own lunch date with Kathryn.
It was so much fun to have some one-on-one time with her.

My dad turned 77.  I still owe him a birthday dinner!

Will with his monster chocolate cake.
He once again was unable to blow out all the candles on his cake.

Phil has finished another room in our continuing home makeover.  Paint and new flooring make a world of difference.

It's empty now but not for long.  Love the green walls!

We had a baby shower for my niece Bethany who is due in May.  So happy to share a part in preparing for this new baby's arrival into this wonderful world!

And fishing, there’s been a lot of fishing and eating of fish in our home this spring. 

Phil with an unusual catch for around here... big crappie
and a walleye.  He loves fishing so much.

The Discipline of Prayer

I have long struggled with the discipline of prayer, and continue to do so.  Finding a quiet place, designating a time, being still...these are all difficult things in my life.  I know that I have grown over the years in the practice of prayer, but I still have a long way to go.  Here are some great thoughts from Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster.

*  Prayer catapults us onto the frontier of the spiritual life.

*It is the discipline of prayer that brings us into the deepest and highest work of the human spirit.

*Real prayer is life creating and life changing.  Prayer--secret, fervent, believing prayer-- lies at the root of all personal godliness.  (William Carey)

*To pray is to change.  Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us.  If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives.

*All who have walked with God have viewed prayer as the main business of their lives.

*The bible pray-ers prayed as if their prayers could and would make an objective difference.  The apostle Paul gladly announces that we are "co-laborers with God"; that is, we are working with God to determine the outcome of events.

*Moses prayed boldly because he believed his prayers could change things, even God's mind.

Deep and Wide

I just finished reading another amazing book.  It is Deep and Wide by Andy Stanley.  This book is an explanation of the ministry he has developed at Northpoint Church, which is located in the Atlanta area.  In this book he gives insight into how this ministry started and the model they developed.  He also gives us understanding of how they decided what they would include in their ministry and how they would filter all the decisions that would have to be made in the future.

Basically it’s a book about leadership, and oh, how it has made me thirsty for this kind of leadership.  And I’ll tell you why.

The past few weeks I have been teaching a series of lessons in Kids’ Club leading up to Easter.  They were based on some great lessons my friend Adam taught at camp this past summer.  Wednesday night I was able to finish up with a lesson on how Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was better than the animal sacrifices that had been used up to that point.  And then I was able to invite the boys and girls to step out if they wanted to accept His sacrifice for them.  We had a great response and several kids gave their life to Christ.  It was great to have several adults there ready to talk to them about their decision.  What a privilege it is to be a part of what God is accomplishing in their lives!

Although I was very happy for the response, there was a part of me that was sad.  I was sad because as I look back over all the years of working with youth and working with kids, I look around and see very few of them still even attending church, let alone engaging in the ministry of the church or stepping up into leadership.  It makes me feel like a failure.  It makes me realize that I am part of a church culture that is failing the young adults that are dropping out of church.

And that’s where I come back to Andy Stanley’s book.  He is calling us to create a church that unchurched people will want to attend and serve in.  He calls us to rethink how we do church, and think about why we are losing the young adults in our culture.  It all comes down to being willing to let go of a lot of the things we’ve always done and embracing a whole new model.

I am part of this problem every time I continue the status quo without really evaluating whether it is effective or not.  I am part of the problem every time I don’t call for change in what we are doing.  I am part of the problem every time I don’t challenge the leadership that is in place to consider every action we take, every dollar we spend, every minute we have to engage those in our sphere of influence.

I am finished being part of the problem.  I am ready to be part of the solution.

Blessed are the Poor? No Way!

I have been teaching in Kids' Club from the Sermon on the Mount and talking about the beatitudes.  They seem like simple statements, but when you take time to really think about what Jesus is saying you realize that these are hard things.

When I told the kids Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor," they looked at me like I was crazy.  People probably looked at Jesus the same way.  Poor people are blessed?  Really?

I recently read Philip Yancey's The Jesus I Never Knew, and he had some interesting things to say about Jesus' teachings.  Here is the passage about this beatitude:

"Catholic scholars coined the phrase 'God's preferential option for the poor' to describe a phenomenon they found throughout both the Old and New Testaments:  God's partiality toward the poor and the disadvantaged.  Why would God single out the poor for special attention over any other group?  I used to wonder.  What makes the poor deserving of God's concern?  I received help on this issue from a writer named Monika Hellwig, who lists the following 'advantages' to being poor:

          1.  The poor know they are in urgent need of redemption.
          2.  The poor know not only their dependence on God and on powerful people but also their
               interdependence with one another.                  
          3.  The poor rest their security not on things but on people.
          4.  The poor have no exaggerated sense of their own importance, and no exaggerated
               need of privacy.
          5.  The poor expect little from competition and much from cooperation.
          6.  The poor can distinguish between necessities and luxuries. (I am adding...except in the US.)
          7.  The poor can wait because they have acquired a kind of dogged patience born of
               acknowledged dependence.
          8.  The fears of the poor are more realistic and less exaggerated because they already
               know that one can survive great suffering and want.
          9.  When the poor have the Gospel preached to them, it sounds like good news and
               not like a threat or a scolding.
          10.  The poor can respond to the call of the Gospel with a certain abandonment and
               uncomplicated totality because they have so little to lose and are ready for anything."

Yancey also suggests turning these around like this...
           1.  The rich DO NOT KNOW that they are in urgent need of redemption.

And so forth.

This will give you something to think about.  I am wrestling with what I think I am supposed to do with all these ideas.  How should I live in the light of what I'm reading?  How do I set an example of how to live for the kids in Kids' Club?