Month: June 2007

Day 18

I’m wearing an apron that says, “Kiss the Cook”, having just completed, with my friend Julie, our first bridal shower. It was for Princess Caroline the Saved, as she is known by us, her humble maidservants. It was Julie’s idea to wear aprons – I feel very domestic at the present moment.

I was more of a help and a go-fer than anything – it was mostly Julie’s doing. She worked very hard to pull it off, and it was quite the success. A lovely time was had by all, especially the guest of honor.

I especially enjoyed the fact that each guest shared a favorite Bible verse along with their gift. My favorite from the batch:

Jeremiah 9:23-24 “Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

Amen.

Day 19

Yesterday as I was crossing the bridge between MU’s two libraries, I saw the sunset out the window. It was one of  God’s stellar paintings in the sky, the thick orange blankets of clouds contrasted by that brilliant blue that’s so hard to describe. Sillohuetted seagulls soared against the evening’s artwork.

I stopped. I caught my breath. I got teary-eyed at this sight that no artist on earth could even nearly replicate. One second, I was thinking about how tired I was and glad that it was only an hour until I got off work. The next, I couldn’t tear my eyes or my mind from the sunset.

It was another one of life’s beautiful interruptions.

I especially like the ones of those that are conversation-stoppers. You know, the ones where you’re driving along, chatting about this or that and all of the sudden, someone says, “Hey, look at the moon!” or “Wow – those clouds are awesome!” or “There’s a bald eagle on the side of the road!” And everyone gets quiet and just stares for a while. Yeah, I like that.

Moments like those are so needed – they take us out of the mundane and remind us of this spectacular world we live in, of our awesome God who created such things with great delight.

And often, all I can say is ,”Wow, Lord. That’s amazing. Thanks for doing that.”

Day 20

I just read in Newsweek that there will be about 100 million bloggers in the world by the end of the year. That’s kind of a lot. I’m quite new to this arena of expression (though after 123 – or is it 124? – straight days of posting my thoughts, it feels like I’ve been doing it forever), and am just beginning to realize what a tiny drop in the blogging bucket my corner of the internet is.

With all that out there, I’m glad you choose to come on over to “Made for Eternity” and read what I have to say – I really do have a lot of fun doing this. And since you have 100,000,000 blogs to choose from, thanks for picking this 1.

Onward.

Yesterday, I wrote about the verse in 1 Timothy regarding honoring those in authority. Then I promptly went out and (quite accidentally) did the opposite. Here’s the story:

I am finishing up a therapy summary report on one of my clients which involves a lot of emails and drafts back and forth between me and my supervisor. Last night I meant to start out an email with:

“Trying to make progress on C’s report”.

What I actually wrote:

“Try to make progress on C’s report.” (As in, “You better step on it!”, which is real honoring. Ha.)

I didn’t catch the mistake ’til this morning when I reread the email. I cringed and sent an apology. She was completely fine, and we had a good laugh at my error. I thought it especially humorous in light of what I’d been learning from Scripture.

So, I’m putting that experience in the category of “how not to fulfill this command”. Live and learn.

Day 21

This was Bonnie’s suggestion for today’s entry’s topic. So here we go.

A conversation between members of my family back in 2002, right after they had come from the dry coolness of Kijabe to the muggy summer of Pennsylvania:

Someone: “Boy, the humidity is bad today.”

Daniel: “What’s humidity?”

Noah: “It’s like water sitting in the air.”

That’s a pretty good description. And these are the days you really notice that water sitting in the air, sticking to your skin, making you sweaty again 5 minutes after your shower. Makes me grateful for a job in air-conditioned comfort, even if my mornings and nights are a bit on the soggy side.

Ah, summer.

Onward.

1 Timothy 6:1 “All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against.”

We aren’t slaves today, but the principle still applies, in school and on the job. “All honor”? That can be tough sometimes. I was very convicted when reading this verse – I’m very guilty of not always honoring those who are over me. I’ve had (as have all of us) professors or supervisors that have absolutely driven me up the wall and across the ceiling. Yet even these I am to consider worthy of honor because God has placed them over me. (I should add that currently I’m blessed with two terrific bosses.)

The point of this command is an extremely important one – that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against. In other words – that our testimony for the gospel will not be ruined by our refusal to honor our authorities.

Day 22

Thanks to those of you who posted good news in response to yesterday’s entry. It truly is a refreshing thing.

Milwaukee’s news these days is filled with stories of a corrupt alderman, murder rates, and the Juneteenth violence. You can get discouraged really quickly hearing about that kind of stuff.

So even little bits of good news, like “Hooray – I don’t ever have to take math in college” or “school’s almost done” or “I found my ID card after I lost it and thought I’d have to pay $15 dollars to replace it” are welcome. Bigger news, like “only 22 days left until Philly airport” and “the mission team had a great trip to El Salvador and got back safely” is even better.

And the news that is best and most refreshing on this hot hazy humid afternoon is that I am truly loved with an everlasting love. Yes, I knew that already. But I always need the reminding. 

Day 23

Proverbs 25:25  “Like cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a distant land.”

How true.

So, what’s your good news? Come on – y’all have got to have something. 

‘Cause this weary soul needs some cold water.

Day 24 (Note: Day 24 is the 24th -I love symmetry.)

1. Rookie Brewers pitcher Yovani Gallardo gets a no-hitter going (of course it’s broken up in the 5th, but it feels like nail-biting time).

2. There’s one baby in your section, 213. Who gets hit by the foul ball off the bat of the Royals’ Tony Pena in the 7th? The baby. A little scary, that one. (No worries – his parents got him checked out and were bravely back in their seats by the end of the inning.)

3. Brewers pitcher Derrick Turnbow gives up  the go-ahead run in the 8th. Grrr.

4. The people in charge at Miller Park think it’s a good idea to destroy 44,000+ persons’ inner ear hair cells by encouraging y’all to “Make Noise”! (Side effect: headache for the remainder of the day)

5. Corey Hart hits a homer to tie it up in the bottom of the ninth. Hurrah! Except you think you strained something jumping up and down.

6. Brewers pitcher Jose Capellan walks in the winning run in the top of the eleventh. Brewers lose to the (not-so) Royals 4-3.

“We” lost. Still, there were a lot of twists and turns that made those 4 hours extremely entertaining. And it was a bobblehead day, so now I have bouncy-headed center fielder Bill Hall glowering out at me from the windowsill.

Good game? Yes. Relaxing? Not on your life. I’m exhausted.

Onward.

As an MK, I probably couldn’t count the number of times I’ve sung the hymn “Jesus Saves”. It’s like “We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations” – one of those good missions songs churches like to sing when the missionaries come a’visiting.

But today when we sang it, this line stood out:

Shout it brightly through the gloom, when the heart for mercy craves . . . Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

My heart is a craver of mercy. When I see my sinfulness in its sharp contrast to God’s holiness, I know I need mercy. I need to not get what I deserve. I’m thankful that Jesus saved me when I first trusted him. I’m thankful that he saves me each day in the ongoing process of sanctification.

That’s grace. That’s mercy.

Day 25

The other day after a session with my 3 year old client, I sighed and told my supervisor that I was going to miss the little guy. She smiled and said, “Oh, there’ll be replacements.”

I understand where she’s coming from. In a  lot of ways, that’s true. This fall, I’ll be busy in a speech-language classroom full of preschoolers who I’m sure will delight me, humble me, and make me want to pull my hair out at times. I’m tremendously eager to meet those kiddos. My days in the Reading Acquisition Program last fall, and my volunteer experiences with children elsewhere in Milwaukee have caused me to realize how much I love little ones.

I love their zest for life, their insatiable appetite for exploring and discovering. I love their lack of “coolness”, their lack of desire to be cool.

And I love their individuality.

Which is why I half-winced at the word “replacements”. I know I’m just at the start of my career. I’m naive. I’m idealistic. But is that the attitude some teachers (or in my case, some SLPs) have? Is that the attitude I’ll have after several years in a school (if I do indeed end up as a school SLP)? Will my clients become small seat-warmers who fill my work-days and are simply replaced each school term?

Honestly, I hope not. I hope that years down the road I will still realize that each of my kids is a precious soul Jesus died for. I hope that I will enjoy their God-given uniqueness.

I hope I will still miss them when they leave.

Day 26

I’ve been told that for me to say that I know for certain that I’m going to heaven is arrogant. This conclusion is most likely based on the misconception that to have such certainty, I must be saying that I’m so good, there’s no way I’m going to miss out.

That sentiment could be further from the truth. I’m not good. But I know I’m heaven-bound because of God’s Word:

1 John 5:13 “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. ”

I’ve believed, therefore I know. It’s a simple, logical conclusion based not on me, but entirely on Christ’s work and God’s grace.

Here’s an illustration I heard in a message recently: A person is saved from drowning. Upon reaching shore with his rescuer, he joyfully tells anyone who will listen, “I’ve just been saved from drowning!” Is that prideful? Of course not. For someone to say, “Wow, you’re arrogant!” would be ridiculous. The glory would go to the savior. Obviously, the same is true the spiritual realm.

So . . .

I’m no-doubt-about-it saved – all glory to my Savior!

Day 27

I love running. I haven’t run in a long time because of certain muscles like a hip flexor that still nags me for mangling it back when I ran cross country in college (very very very slowly, mind you), and certain joints like my right knee which doesn’t like the pounding pain it feels after I pound the sidewalk a little too hard. These days, walking is my modus exercisi.

Still, deep down, and sometimes bubbling up to the surface, I love running. Many people don’t. Some think running, just running, is boring. I’ve never been bored on a run. I’ve felt like I was going to die on a run. I’ve felt like I wanted to die on a run. Running has challenged me, enthralled me, hurt me, but it’s certainly never bored me. I’m far more apt to be bored walking.

When I run, I feel fast and graceful. I know I’m not. I’m pretty clumsy and probably look more polar bear-ish than cheetah-like. But I love the breeze on my face and the steady smack of my sneakers on the ground. A few weeks ago when it was still spring, I threw caution to the wind on a grassy field back behind MU. I sprinted. Arms flung wide, I ran that for all I was worth.

It was delicious.

So, I’m thinking someday soon I’ll get to that point where I say, “Forget my knees, forget my muscles.I’m gonna go running.” No doubt, that sentiment will come back to bite me.

But when you wake up every morning to the strains of the theme from Chariots of Fire, as I do, eventually resistance becomes futile.

Onward.

Psalm 119:32 “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.”

There’s no truer freedom – from sin, guilt, fear, death – then when one walks (or runs!) on God’s path.

Day 28

I, like most MKs, have lived a lot of places and have always had a hard time with the “where’s home?” question. Hey, forget “where’s home”. . . I have enough trouble with “what’s home”, as in what does the word even mean anymore?

So . . .

Katie’s Inexhaustive Dictionary of the English Language strikes again.

home (n.) – 1.) Heaven (the truest definition) 2.) the place where I am currently living  3.) a place (not so much these days) or a time (more likely) where I am content, comfortable, I love those around me, and I am loved by them in return (i.e. where I belong).

And an expansion:

Home is where I write when I send emails to my family. They all start with “Dear home . . . ” Home is an evening in a brown styrofoam and chicken-wire house on the edge of the Rift Valley, eating homemade baked ziti and having non-sequiter conversations. Home is a sun-splashed afternoon in Room 904 of Houghton Hall in downtown Chicago, reading O. Henry to my knitting friends. Home is surprising my siblings by coming back to PA for spring break the last time they were on furlough. Home is a Wednesday night after church, going to a coffee shop with friends, teasing and talking theology and figuring out wedding countdowns.

“I hold home inside, close to my heart, so it’s a place I can always be. And wherever I go, it’s a new start, with more home to add to me.” – a bit from my book that seemed fitting at this juncture.

Here on earth, that’s what home means to me.

Day 29 

“Those who forget the pasta are condemned to reheat it.”  ~Unknown

This quote works especially well with certain accents (e.g. Italian) – and you can get very close to the original that way. 

Onward.

Proverbs 18:10 “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe.”

I’ve always liked that image of the strong tower. In my mind I see a storm swirling, dark clouds, lightning, and then little me running into a huge stone fortress.

I feel very safe.

Day 30

It’s fun running into someone on accident. There’s no planning, no deciding, no pre-deliberation on your part or mine. You  get up in the morning and go about your ordinary. You go to school or work or the bank or the post office or to Jimmy John’s for a vegetarian sub, and you turn the corner and there I am. Of course, I’ve been going about my business, too. Then I come out of the library, and there you are.

A happy “Hey!” and “What are you doing here?” and a pleasant conversation may be all that ensues. Still, it just made my day a little brighter, bumping into you.

Onward.

This is our family song. We sang it yesterday in church, and I felt that old familiar lump, especially around the words “What he says we will do, where he sends we will go, Never fear, only trust and obey.”

I love this song because the order of things is so right: trust Jesus first, then obey. Obedience for a Christian not a blind thing. When you know the Lord and his character and his love, and you completely rest in him, it just makes sense to obey him. 

And you can be saved, you can be “in Jesus”, but unless you learn to trust and obey, you won’t have true happiness or true joy.

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

Refrain

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.

But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet.
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.

Refrain

Day 31

It’s a little round ceramic box with a little round ceramic bear on top. Wherever I move, I carry that little round ceramic box with me. It’s always one of the last things I pack (if I pack it at all), thoughtfully and carefully. If there was ever a fire, it’d be the first thing I’d grab. It is my most prized earthly possession, but not because of the box itself; because of what it contains.

Inside is a tiny rosebud. You wouldn’t know it anymore to look at it – it’s a jumble of brown shriveled petals that look like they’ve been through the washer. They have, actually. Once, I wrapped the box in a sweatshirt to protect it during a move. I forgot that it was inside it the shirt and threw it in the laundry machine. The rose came though the spin cycle surprisingly well and I managed to salvage most of it and return it to its proper place – inside the box. It’s very clean.

You’ve probably guessed by now that this is not just any rose. Oh, no. It’s a very old rose – as old as I am. This rose was the one that my father gave his little girl on the day I was born. And so whenever I open up that little round ceramic box, I don’t just see a bunch of shriveled petals.

I see my daddy’s love for me.

Day 32

The ants were at it again. Building their little castles in the sidewalk cracks, including the specific crack next to the bottom step in front of my building. For days, I’d been watching those three little hills grow into tiny ant mountains, and for days, I’d been waiting on the inevitable. Which happened Thursday.

When I came home for lunch, the hills had been flattened, complete with a sneaker print left in the middle of the dirt pancake. It must be irresistible for some people to stomp on an anthill, just as it is irresistible for some of us to take a mini-detour just so we can step on what looks to be an especially crunchy leaf.

I knew it was going to happen. I shrugged on the inside and went off to have my peanut butter and jelly.

The next afternoon, an ant hill had miraculously reappeared. Just one, but it was tall and round and very much there.

Those ants sure are diligent, persistent, hard-working little bugs. I don’t know about you, but I always think it’s fun to see Biblical principles played out in creation. There is much to consider, much to learn.

Day 33 

A high school classmate who writes a blog wrote about the “holistic” approach to evangelism, which involves caring for the whole person, not just for their spiritual needs. He asked for responses, so below is what I wrote with some expansion.

Jesus: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel . . .”(Mark 16:15)

Paul: “I am determined to know nothing among you except Christ Jesus and him crucified.”(1 Corinthians 2:2)

The believer’s role as an ambassador on this earth is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (i.e. He was God who became Man, died on the cross for our sins, and rose again, so that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life {John 3:16}.)

Compassion for people’s physical needs is indeed Christlike. That compassion can lead to a tremendous ministry. I am not at all against caring for those needs. HOWEVER, my concern is that much of today’s”holistic missions” is focused on giving people bread, or fighting for “social justice”, or giving them a vaccine, or building them a house – i.e. meeting physical needs. Let me reiterate, these things are good things, and I’m not encouraging anyone to stop doing them. But when they become the focus and the Gospel is left out, or minimized, or reduced to a mere “Jesus loves you, so here’s a bag of rice”, that is hardly holistic. It is, in truth, hardly loving. Any unsaved moral person can do that, and many do. I’m afraid that often when we aim to be “holistic”, we may end up instead becoming “unbalanced”, leaning too much in the direction of an individual’s felt needs.

We must never forget that we have something of eternal value to offer.

We need to realize that these people, for all their other needs, are on their way to hell. A lack of sharing eternal bread is a grave error that I’ve seen and heard from many (and especially) short term mission trips. To use the old illustration, you’re painting a sinking ship when you neglect the gospel – you may fill their bellies, tell them nice (even “spiritual”) stories, or protect them from the wind and rain, but have you done anything to make them aware of their greatest need? Our primary purpose, as seen in the Great Comission, is a spiritual one.

Paul was a man with deep love and compassion for others, and yet his primary focus was not ridding the world of evil and injustice. As he stated in the letter the Corinthians, his goal was to glorify Jesus by spreading his gospel. His goal was to see the lost saved from hell by God’s grace.

Day 34

Actually, it was, in fact, watching a car wreck.

Yesterday, a little before one p.m., I’m crossing  in the middle of 16th St. (Jaywalking, yes. Bad Katie. Bad, bad Katie.) and I hear that awful screech of tires. Not close to me, so don’t be worrying. Down the road about 150 feet at the intersection of 16th and Clybourn. I turn my head just in time to see a red car plow into a blue car and the two cars go spinning and sliding to a rest right at the sidewalk corner. I automatically start running down the sidewalk toward the accident, but stop, realizing that A.) I don’t know CPR, B.) I don’t have my cell phone, C.) There are a dozen people closer to the scene than I am, including a public safety officer barking into his walkie-talkie.

So I save my heroics (ha) for another day. I talk to the officer a little later, and he said everyone is ok. The cars are totalled – the bumper from Red Car is still out on the sidewalk at 10:30 pm when we drive home from church.

One time when I was at college in Chicago, I saw a smaller accident from the rooftop of my dorm overlooking LaSalle. Me and my friends were hanging out, arms slung over the old chain-link fence, watching the traffic, enjoying our skyline, shootin’ the breeze, when we saw a moving car smack into a parked car (as opposed to seeing the parked car smack into the moving car). This being Chicago (I suppose), the driver of Moving Car appeared to take a moment, regain control, and then kept on a-moving down the boulevard.

I’m not entirely certain that this is the way these things are supposed to go. I am pretty sure, however that the owner of Parked Car was none too happy with the whole episode.

Onward.

I’ve just started “reading” a book called A Meaningful World by Benjamin Wiker and Jonathan Witt. I say “reading” because it is one of those esoteric books that I find intimidating and difficult to follow, yet at the same time fascinating and irresistable. The arguments are hard to be understood, but they are worthwhile.

As it’s title suggests, this book is out to show that the world is not just a jumble of meaningless particles that were produced randomly in the primordial stew. It explores everything from Shakespeare to chemistry and shows the meaningfulness of the natural world. An early quote:

“Against the materialist attempts to reduce biology to chemistry, we find instead that the latest science is uncovering more a more evidence that the elements are strangely fit for biology, the lifeless fashioned for the living.” (p.27) That’s a pretty amazing thought. Hey, could this be because there is a Creator?

Indeed!

P.S. Happy Flag Day. Or as they say in my part of the country, “Flayg Day”.

 Day 35

‘Cause no one else will do it for you:

Gotta love true resourcefulness:

No comment needed:

Sigh. I do miss that place.

Onward.

John 9:25b “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

The man who spoke these words was physically born blind. Jesus healed him. We who have believed in Jesus Christ were born spiritually blind (and separated from God). By his grace, he has healed us spiritually. And only those of us who have experienced this regeneration can truly understand the song “Amazing Grace”.

“I was once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”

Day 36

On Sunday, the 3-5 year old Sunday School class was learning about Day 3 of creation, the day that God made seed-bearing plants. As an object lesson, the teacher (I was the “helper”) brought in several kinds of fruit and cut them open to show the kids the variety of seeds God created. We had them touch the different fruits and guess how many seeds were in each.

Now, I can’t remember when I learned that cantaloupe and apples had lots of seeds, that cherries and peaches only have one, and that the banana’s seeds are those little brown flecks in its center. That knowledge is dry to me now. It has simply become part of What I Have Learned Since 1980. It has ceased to be amazing.

But on Sunday, I was surrounded by 7 kids for whom seeds were New. They crowded, their eyes widened as the knife sliced, revealing juicy insides, they guessed that peaches had 5 seeds and stated with assurance that bananas had no seeds. They made mistakes with carefree abandon. They asked for seconds (and thirds) of cantaloupe and peanuts.

They learned. And thanks to their enthusiasm in doing so, I was once again instilled with amazement at our Creator and his creativity.

Day 37

This morning, I was waiting . . . just waiting. The clinic room was set up, the internet cued to the page I needed, and my lesson plan and client file were on a chair in the observation room for my supervisor to peruse. All was in readiness.

But my client was late. And I was stuck in that strange limbo of suddenly having a bit of time on my hands, but not really sure what I could do with it. I couldn’t really go and start anything, because of course the moment I did, she would show up. Yet pacing the hallway empty-handed and looking out at the sidewalk felt odd. It was almost like I was in a moving paralysis, able to wander around a little but bound by uncertainty and an undefined amount of time.

Just waiting.

Onward.

Psalm 27:14 “Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.”

Unlike my just waiting today, the wait for the Lord is not paralyzed, uncertain, or uncomfortable. When believers wait on him, when we rest in his will, his plan, his purpose, and his timing,  there is peace and joy. We can be strong and courageous when our waiting is on such a Shepherd.