This past weekend Gordon and I spent three solid days doing spring cleaning at our beach rental house.We dusted, vacuumed, scrubbed, washed, painted, polished, straightened and threw things out. We were dead tired when we finished and we didn’t even get to the window washing!Oh well, that’s best left till after the pine pollen season is over down South.
During spring cleaning I learned a good life lesson from magic erasers.That’s the name of a new fangled sponge that’s supposed to clean smudges and scuffs off of woodwork with nothing but a little water.No cleanser necessary.I was enticed to buy the magic erasers after a woman at church told how good magic erasers are.So I bought two.
I was quite pleased with how the magic erasers worked.Dampen them a little, wipe the door and the icky grime around the knob is white again.Great stuff!But then I scrubbed maybe a little too hard and a chunk of the magic eraser fell off.
I realized that they’re called magic erasers for more than one reason.Yes, they certainly erase those dirty marks on the woodwork.But they also are like erasers in that when you rub with them the eraser itself loses some of its own material in the abrasion process.That’s how it works.Here’s a photo of what my magic erasers looked like after cleaning the woodwork in a whole house.They kind of remind me of angel food cake now.
During spring cleaning I learned that erasing happens in other ways in life too.I took a van load of bedspreads to the Laundromat.I was so fixated on getting my stuff into the big commercial washers that I was rude to an older couple who were trying to use them.On the way home I wasn’t proud of myself. I told God I really didn’t want to act like that.I felt ashamed that I was using up a little bit of the eraser of Grace for such a petty thing.Luckily, there’s always more Grace to go around.But unfortunately, something else had been used up that was now gone for good.I’d worn off a little piece of precious time, had used it to be selfish and self centered instead of kind and considerate.
The good news about magic erasers is that they work.The bad news is that they don’t last forever.They’re consumable.You can use them up.Just like time.
One thing I dreaded this year on my mission trip to Honduras was the rough one-and- a- half hour ride in cramped quarters in a Land Rover over very bad dirt roads from the ranch where we stayed to the remote mountain village where we were working.The previous year rain had made the roads horrendous.I literally got a headache from the pounding.It was grueling and it made me hesitate about going back.No one likes being thrown around on rough roads.
This year one afternoon on the way back to the ranch on the bumpy road I was sitting in the front seat and noticed that the driver had his water bottle on the front dashboard and the water was sloshing like crazy.I got out my camera and took a video to show you how bad the ride is.
But after looking back at the video today I realized that during that rough ride I had golden opportunities I might not have otherwise enjoyed.I had long leisurely stretches of time to get to know people more deeply.One morning our driver was a local evangelist.For one and a half hours I got to practice my Spanish and quiz him about the local religious life. Another day, our driver was the ranch director and I was able to catch a glimpse of his heart for the mission.On still another rough ride I was squashed in the back bench seats in the cargo area with five other church members and we had a hilarious time laughing about our misspoken Spanish.And one morning in the middle seat I learned reams about the lives of my fellow church members, some of whom I’d never met before the trip.
Life brings us plenty of rough rides.Rough rides shake us up.They’re hard to endure.We wish we could get to our destination for some peace and rest. Although we can’t sleep, eat or read on a rough road, we can always talk, listen, love and learn.So on the next rough ride I plan to make good use of my time by connecting in meaningful ways with those around me who are on the same bumpy life journey.
Last Saturday night while awake in bed I felt led to pray for those with problems with alcohol, maybe because our adult Sunday School class meets in the AA room in a small ranch house on the edge of our church property.AA meeting rooms are places full of hope and encouragement.There are big signs that remind you of 12 simple yet courageous principles to live by, plus signs that say such things as “Miracles Happen Here.”Who wouldn’t want to be in a place where miracles happen?
As I prayed that night I started placing before God people I know who might need some help about alcohol.I certainly don’t know what goes on with others behind closed doors so I didn’t have any true knowledge.God simply seemed to bring people to mind with whom I’ve felt a little uneasy that maybe they might need help.
I’m hesitant to write this blog because I don’t want to add to anyone’s burdens by appearing to make any sort of judgments.Yet I am writing this because it has to do with prayer.When you’re praying all alone, just you and God in the middle of the night, it’s not gossip and it’s not an act of judgment.It’s an act of love.You simply pray with and pray for blind and glorious Grace.You’re not asking God whether your intuition is right or wrong.You’re simply asking that God’s grace be sufficient to meet the person’s needs for peace and clarity on the role alcohol plays in his or her life.
On Sunday morning I took this snapshot of the empty AA meeting room.I thought it might make a good illustration for this blog.But after I downloaded it onto my computer and looked at it, my eyes were drawn to the expectancy of the empty seats.So I share this now for you as a prayer picture for someone you know who, by the grace of God, might soon have the strength and courage to sit in one of those seats.Don’t give up praying.Remember, God works miracles in rooms like this all over the country.Every day and every night.
This morning when I woke up, I didn’t know that Ash Wednesday would bring me a personal challenge.Our church holds an evening service at 7:00 that I planned to attend.But in the morning a woman I was meeting later in the day who attends a neighboring church called and mentioned they were having a noon time Ash Wednesday service.Since we were meeting for tea at 1:15, I decided to go to the noon service.
At the service, I was surprised to learn the every year the minister challenges his congregation to be very serious about using Lent as a time of spiritual growth and prayer.How serious?Many of congregants were going to fast, not eating any food between 6 AM and 6 PM all 40 days!(Sundays are an exception because they’re always a celebration of joy and worship.)
I thought about the banana I had thrown into the front seat of the car that I had planned to eat to tide me over until I had a snack with our tea later.I realized that my friend was fasting.Wouldn’t it be a bit rude of me to be munching on a pastries and bananas while she sipped plain tea with no sugar or cream?
At the coffee shop and I left the uneaten banana in the car.I had plain tea without sugar or cream.I love cream in tea!I left with my stomach growling and went on my errands.
At the post office I found strangers looking at me quizzically and then acting like they were nodding a neighborly smile when their gaze fell down from the large black cross on my forehead.A big black cross on my forehead?I had completely forgotten it was there.It’s strange how we so easily forget things.
Once home I decided that I’d already made it to 3 PM so I could manage to continue my impromptu fast until 6 PM.When you don’t eat your whole body and mind takes notice.I’m not one who fasts often, but every now and then I get unexpectedly called to one.It always turns out to be a special time when I learn to rely on God and get in better touch with Him through prayer.
So many of you were supportive and helpful several weeks ago I admitted that I was nervous about trying to pray in Spanish on our mission trip to rural Honduras.I get along fairly well in Spanish when I can use hand motions and facial expressions to communicate words I don’t know how to say, but that doesn’t work when the person you’re praying with has their eyes closed in prayer.
Then I met Gladis.She doesn’t speak a word of English.Through a tangle of my Spanish words strung together with hand motions I was able to find out that Gladis is 28 years old, is waiting for a good Christian man to marry and she teaches the children Bible lessons at the tiny church in the village. She’s on the shy side, but she’s so strong that she can shovel cement with the men without missing a beat.
One afternoon Gladis and I went up to a home where our work crew was putting a cement floor over the old dirt one.I’m not very good at heavy lifting work, but I’m good with children.Who wouldn’t fall for kids like these three, so excited to get a brand new floor?
I wanted to pray a blessing over the house and the family, but the place was like a circus with kids and people and chickens and scrawny dogs and even a nosey steer who tried to eat my backpack hanging on the barbed wire fence post.
It didn’t seem like a good time or place for prayers of blessing, so I asked Gladis if we could pray together privately.We walked around the far side of the house and joined hands.I opened my mouth and said the few Spanish words I knew about God and blessings.Then Gladis prayed a beautiful and somewhat breathless prayer in Spanish. And God was there with us.
I had been so worried about praying in Spanish that I seemed to have forgotten that when you’re unsure in prayer God often sends you a prayer partner.Sometimes they know how to pray even when you’re not sure how to go about it and even when you don’t know all the right words to say.Thank you Gladis, and thanks to all of you for being my prayer partners so I could learn this beautiful lesson.
I’m a PI - a prayer investigator. I carry my camera around discovering and enjoying beautiful places of prayer – chapels, prayer gardens and prayer rooms. Eventually I hope to post my findings on a website.
In my sleuthing I’ve discovered an unusual prayer place phenomenon. These are unlikely places that become places of prayer spontaneously. They’re not intentionally designed by anyone to be a spot where we pray. Circumstances and dramatic events make these once-ordinary places into spots where people can’t help but pray. An example is Ground Zero at the site of the World Trade Center. And what about classrooms during final exam time? And then there are air planes.
Let me tell you about landing in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Even on a day with perfect flying weather, it brings out the intercessor in all of us. Tegucigalpa sits down in a bowl of high, rugged mountains. Miles before you’re anywhere near the airport you begin getting uneasy as you descend into a corridor between two mountain ranges. No one especially likes to look out both sides of an airplane and see terra firma fairly close to you on both sides.
There’s a spectacularly climatic ending to the ride. The plane descends rapidly down what feels like a narrow ravine between the mountains. It seems like you’re on a ski slope instead of an airplane. Just when you think things couldn’t get any scarier, a small stubborn half-mountain looms right at the nose of the diving plane. If there are people crazy enough to be on the hill, you imagine you can see the whites of their eyes. Then the plane takes a hard left turn while steeply dropping and aims for a small, single, very short runway that drops off with a small cliff on the end. When the plane stops the hard skidding before the end of the runway, the cabin always erupts into spontaneous applause.
I’m not generally nervous about flying, but last year when we landed in Tegucigalpa there were clouds. Suddenly the mountains on each side were gone and we were in a cotton ball of white-out. That’s when I started into prayer mode. I prayed, “Put angels under the wings.” I must have been the most ardent silent cheer leader for those unseen angels. Zing. We were down under the cloud cover and headed straight for that small stubborn half mountain. And glory be! Since our last landing a year ago it had been flattened out a little on top.
I held onto my seat for the abrupt left turn and the smoking-brakes touch-down. And as the cabin erupted into applause, it sounded a lot like “amen” to me.
As a PI, I’d recommend that you find a nice peaceful, beautiful place of prayer you can visit often. But be on the alert. You never know when circumstances will turn the very spot you happen to be at the moment into a place of communal prayer.
A member of our mission team sent us this video of a plane landing in Tegucigalpa. I don’t recommend you watch it if you’re afraid to fly or have a heart condition. But if you’re an adrenalin junkie, fasten your seat belts for the ride!
Maybe you’ve known about “scope creep” forever, but I just found out about it last week.I was talking on the phone with the volunteer Web Director for our new nonprofit Prayer Igniters about a long email I’d sent him.The email was a detailed list of new ideas and features I’d recently decided were essential for the website we were trying to build.
The volunteer Web Director had already spent hundreds of hours putting together a prototype of how our site would function.And now I wanted more!
I cheerfully told him all of my “brilliant” new ideas.He entertained them one by one, and reluctantly said, “O.K., we could probably do that...”Each time, the tone of the phrase became less and less “O.K.” with more of that trail off at the end of his voice that said, “This is getting out of hand…”
Finally he said diplomatically, “I think we’ve got to watch out for scope creep.”
“Scope creep?” I asked, “What’s that?”
“It’s when you start off a job and it’s a certain size, but as you get going on it, it gets bigger and bigger until it’s out of control.”
The only thing to do was to laugh and say, “Oh!I didn’t know there was a name for my talent.I’m good at scope creep!Guilty as charged.”
We both laughed and I had a much more sensible conversation after that.
As I thought about scope creep I realized that the same kind of thing goes on in the Kingdom of God.In fact, I think God invented scope creep.Can you name a single ministry or volunteer church job you took on that didn’t turn out to be bigger than you expected in ways you never expected?
I’m wondering if scope creep is actually God’s kindness, a way of keeping us mercifully unaware that we’re no match for the job until we’re already giving it our best shot.That’s because we forget to be praying people if we don’t need to continually rely on Him. The worst thing we can do is to try and keep the job on a small enough scale that we can easily handle it all by ourselves.Where is God’s joy in that?
I started out this new nonprofit idea more than a year ago.It sure sounded a lot smaller back then. Check with me in a year from now, and I’ll probably be overrun with the blessings of scope creep.After all, Jesus said that the Kingdom of God “is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”Luke 13:21
Suffering from scope creep today?Don’t worry.That’s how the Kingdom of Heaven gets enlarged in our lives.Just one more “teeny weeny” addition at a time.
In my last blog I told about feeling inadequate praying in Spanish and told how I’m determined to memorize the Lord’s Prayer in Spanish so I can pray more effectively with the people I’ll meet on my mission trip to Honduras.In my Bible school teaching materials I came across this photo that immortalizes one of my biggest prayer blunders – tripping over a woman’s diseased foot when I tried to sit down on a log to pray for her.The elderly woman sitting on the bed was the victim of my blunder.The photo gives a glimpse of her thin leg that’s not much wider than the bed leg.
Since I posted my blog, I have been touched not only by your comments but also by those of you who said you would be praying for me that I’d succeed in being able to pray in Spanish.How amazing that you can even pray about prayer!
Our Prayer member “emendez” shared some profound wisdom in a comment.“Karen, God's language of love is universal and because you will pray from the heart God will provide the words so, you need not worry.”
I got to thinking about that, and re-read the prayer printed in the front of my Spanish Bible that I stumbled through after I stumbled over the woman’s diseased foot.Here’s a very rough translation of the words I prayed:
Father, your Son accepted our sufferings to teach the value of patience in illness.Listen to the prayers we offer for our sick brothers and sisters, that all who suffer pain, suffering or sickness will know that our Lord has chosen them to be holy and know that they have become united with the passion of Christ for the salvation of the world, who reigns with you and the Holy Spirit forever and ever.
After re-reading this prayer, I realized that it’s a very beautiful one, and it has sentiments in it that I wouldn’t have thought to pray on my own.Whenever I pray for those who are ill, I focus completely on their problems and on the need for healing never once thinking to pray for patience during suffering.Patience?I always pray for the opposite – for a full, rapid recovery.And I never think to pray about how the pain and suffering draws us closer to the heart and the redemptive work of Christ.I like to pray spontaneous words, but how could any words of prayer be better than that?
So yes “emendez,” you’re absolutely right.It’s not the words of our prayers that matter that much.It’s not whether we compose the prayers spontaneously as we speak or whether we read as best we can words that someone else has written.What matters is that we want to be a conduit of prayer so that God’s love can flow into troubled lives.
For the past few weeks I’ve been trying to memorize the Lord’s Prayer in Spanish because on Jan. 30th I’m off on my 5th mission trip to rural Honduras.This year I hope to be able to pray in Spanish with people there who need it.Praying in Spanish out loud is a very intimidating thought, and I’m not sure I can do it.
I’m far from fluent in Spanish.I took 5 years in high school and never really tried speaking Spanish until 5 years ago on our first mission trip.I had to teach Bible school in Spanish without a translator!I slaved over translating everything I wanted to teach into Spanish at home before I went using an online free translation site.I carefully typed every word out in the notebook.In Honduras I let the older students read the Bible passages and when someone asked me a question, I filled in the words I didn’t know with facial expressions and gestures.
It wasn’t until the 3rd year I tried praying out loud with someone in Spanish – an elderly woman with a diseased foot.I asked her if I could pray for her using a prayer for the sick written in front of my Spanish version of the Bible.While we were trying to sit down together on a low log in the farmyard, I actually tripped over the woman’s sore foot!I was so flustered and embarrassed she probably couldn’t understand a word of what I read.
Here’s a photo taken last year and the second woman I prayed with in Spanish.I read the same prayer for healing out of the Bible for the handicapped son she’s holding.She seemed grateful, but I didn’t feel that I was really praying what I wanted to for the woman.
So this year, I’m praying for the courage to use whatever Spanish phrases I know to pray with others and to not worry about using the present tense all the time when I meant the past tense conjugation of the verbs.I figured it won’t hurt to memorize some of the best from the Lord’s Prayer so I’ll have good phrases and thoughts to build on and personalize as I focus on God.In my own experiences here at home praying with others in English I’ve slowly discovered that it’s fine to talk about prayer and quite nice to say to someone that you’ll pray for them, but nothing replaces the power and intimacy you feel when you take the time when you’re together and touch them and say a short prayer with them.There’s nothing like it in the world.
I guess we all struggle with comfort levels when it comes to praying with others. Check my blog the week of Feb. 6 when I’m back from Honduras and I’ll let you know how I do praying in Spanish.After all, we could all use some encouragement when it comes to overcoming our own discomfort to connect with another soul in prayer.
Today is a snow day in Atlanta.School has been canceled. The sun is shining brightly at the moment and there’s probably half an inch of snow or less on the ground.
Usually by this time of day our temperature would be up above freezing, but it’s not expected to go above 30.Will anything melt?Quick and easy melting is something we rely on here in the South when a rare snow comes our way once a year.
Here’s a picture of a spot of frozen snow and ice on the road near my house on one of those suburban cul-de-sacs where few cars travel. If there was plenty of clear dry pavement with a few patches of this, what would you do?Stay home or venture out?
I thought some of you in other parts of the country might find this question amusing.But it’s a serious question here in Atlanta because we don’t have experience driving in winter conditions. I don’t even own a snow shovel.Late yesterday afternoon I went out with a broom and tried to sweep up the dusting of snow on the north side of the driveway where our cars back around so it wouldn’t freeze over.Sorry I didn’t get a picture of me sweeping snow.You’d probably find it amusing.Unfortunately, it spit a little more snow after I swept so it’s frozen over any way.I give up!
This has gotten me thinking about how good it is to sometimes be thrown something we don’t know how to handle because it highlights the grace of prayer.Those of you in colder climates wouldn’t let a little bit of snow like this keep you down.Snow is a part of your winter that you deal with all of the time.I don’t really know how to deal with snow.It’s the same snow, just different personal perspectives and differing abilities to cope.The joy of prayer is that whatever is a big deal to us, even if it isn’t a big deal to other people, is a big deal to God.Whatever we can’t easily cope with, even if others take it easily in stride, is worthy of prayer.God never has said to me, “Everybody else can handle this, why can’t you?”Instead, He always listens and always helps me find the strength to face the daily small things I’m quite sure I can’t handle.
So happy snow day!If you need me, I’ll be here in my home office with the afghan on my lap.
