Life as an octagenarian...

Dad turned 81 on Saturday & Mom will do so in July. When I'm not in their presence, I picture them in their mid-life years. They say that they feel in their 30's inside, constantly being surprised at how limited their bodies are becoming. I praise God for the moderately good health that they have enjoyed to this point. They are slowing down, requiring some rest mid to late afternoon. Dad continues to be the hospice chaplain for Ravalli County & Marcus Daly Hospital chaplain. Such work has been so fulfilling. He & Mom, who also volunteers with hospice & goes on visits with him, are personally known by nearly everyone on the streets in Hamilton. They are universally loved. The Lord so blessed me by sovereignly placing me in their home 57 years ago!

Esther will be meeting her birth Dad, Jason, for the first time in a little over a week. She has been chatting with him by phone since early last summer. I plan to drive her to Spokane on February 7th to catch her flight to Virginia, where he is a policeman. He has a 12 year-old daughter, Sarah, who is Esther's half-sister. Esther is as eager to meet her as to see Jason. Her cell phone bill doubled this month with all the calls back & forth as this week-long visit was planned.

Madison & Jasmine need a home

Esther rescued these kittens from the animal control shelter in Missoula. They had been found half-drowned. Problem #1 : Esther's apartment lease does not allow animals. Problem #2 : Esther named the kittens Madison & Jasmine & kept the kittens in her apartment anyway until a shake-down of her triplex evicted the kittens. Problem #3 : Esther could not find anywhere to take the kittens & we told her not to bring them home. She brought them here while I was at a Bible Study & Louis,
having a soft heart for animals, could not say "NO!" Problem #4 : Is no longer Esther's but ours. Her cat, Rachel, is not accepting these kittens at all. We need to find another home. They are litter box trained & entertain each other well. I would be willing to take them back to the animal control shelter, but Louis & Esther are adamant against that move.

One of the reasons I blog...

A friend sent me this devotional quote today & I just have to send it on. It articulates well one of the reasons that I blog & love to read the blog entries of a few select friends.

Side by Side - Betsy Childs

I was recently reminded of a beautiful poem by Philip Booth. In "First Lesson," the narrator teaches his daughter how to swim. He gently instructs her that she must relax and lie back in order to float; to help her do this, he lightly holds her until she is floating and he can withdraw his hands without her noticing. The poem ends:

As you float now, where I held you
and let go, remember when fear
cramps your heart what I told you:
lie gently and wide to the light-year
stars, lie back, and the sea will hold you.

Years ago, when I first read this poem, I was struck by the resemblance the image of the sea bears to God's sustaining grace. When we are fighting to keep ourselves afloat, we cannot feel God's grace, but when we cease striving and trust God, we find that He always gives us "grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).

I still love the image of the sea in the poem, but this time the resemblance that struck me was that between the role of the one giving the lesson and the role of a Christian in friendship. Friendship is a topic that is rarely addressed in Christian teaching. That may be because we expect that it should come naturally and effortlessly. But I have found that most Christians are not exactly where they would like to be in terms of friendships; most of us either move through life independently or fall to the other extreme of being overly dependent on our friends, looking to them for fullfillment that can only ultimately come from Christ.

Consider the image of the father teaching his daughter to swim: he holds her, but the point of his holding her is to let her go. He holds her in a way so that she can feel what it is to be lifted up by the sea, and once she gets used to that feeling, she finds he is no longer supporting her.

That is one picture of what Christian friendship should be. We should be helping each other learn how to live by grace, not in our own strength, and not in the strength of our friends. If the friendship itself becomes the point of the friendship, it will sour. C.S. Lewis (one of the few great Christian writers who wrote extensively on friendship) puts it this way:

[W]e picture lovers face to face, but friends side by side; their eyes look ahead. That is why those pathetic people who simply "want friends" can never make any. The very condition of having friends is that we should want something else besides friends. Where the truthful answer to the question Do you see the same truth? would be "I see nothing and I don't care about the truth; I only want a friend," no friendship can arise - though affection of course may. There would be nothing for the friendship to be about; & friendship must be about something, even if it were only an enthusiasm for dominoes or white mice. (1)

The very best friendships are those that are about God Himself. Friends should bear one another's burdens in a way that lifts them up to God, not in a way that makes the friend indispensable. Some of you who do not feel a keen need to be needed may have no idea what I'm talking about, but if you've ever felt a yearning to know that someone couldn't get along without you, you know what I'm talking about. We must resist the temptation to hope that our friends will come to depend upon us and instead hope that knowing us will help them become more dependent upon God.

If you have been on the receiving end of such a friendship, one that encourages you to lie back and rest your full weight on the sustaining love of God, you have been richly blessed. Do not forget that the purpose of the one holding you up was, ultimately, to release you. There are times when we must hold one another up, but we should do it in the hope that someday we'll be able to float side by side, gazing up at the stars.

Betsy Childs is an associate writer at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) C.S. Lewis The Four Loves (New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, 1960), 98.

Tagged - Though I usually refuse to be so...

Jeannie, I didn't know how to transfer the questions, so I copied them down & will type them in.

1. What time is it? 2100 hours

2. What are your initials & what would you like them to stand for?
CMHL...those who have read the beginning of my blog know my initials stand for my camel old nature, but I would like them to stand for "continually making HaMashiach (Messiah) Lord"

3. What are you most afraid of?
Hearing something other than, "Well done, good & faithful servant."

4. How many children do you have?
1 by adoption, many spiritual children

5. How many grandchildren? Only some spiritual ones.

6. Have you ever seen a ghost? No... I may have seen an angel or 2.

7. Where were you born? Nampa, Idaho

8. Ever been to Alaska? No, but spent the second night of my honeymoon at a quaint lodge at the Columbia Ice Fields & toured the ice fields the next day. Hope you get to do this too, Ed.

9. Ever been "toilet-papering?" No. "Ballooning" was the craze when I was in college. I helped fill friends' dorm rooms or cars with blown-up balloons. My dorm room was filled with balloons on my 21st birthday.

10. Ever loved someone so much it made you cry? I know this feeling well!

11. Ever been in a car accident? Yes, about 3 years ago on our way home from Beth Tephila.
A teen drunk in a large truck crossed into our lane heading straight toward us at full speed. Louis had angelic help to swerve in a split-second toward the lane the driver just left so that he hit our (R) rear panel & took off the back bumper on that side instead of head-on. The 2 cars behind us were less fortunate & were hit head-on & totalled. The passengers had to be cut out of their smoking cars & hospitalized. Thankfully no one died.

12. Croutons or bacon bits? Croutons rarely on a salad or in French onion soup. Bacon Bits? Why would I want tiny chopped pieces of the land garbage animal on my food?

13. Favorite day of the week? Any day I receive a hug from God...or get a glimpse of His working in the lives of those around me.

14. Favorite restaurant? The cafe part of the Missoula Good Food Store; "River Rising" across the street from the Post Office in Hamilton; best steak I've ever eaten was in a Hole in the Wall place in BeerSheva, Israel & I loved the rich camel milk ice cream too!

15. Favorite flower? Salmon colored roses for looks... lilacs, gardenias & plumeria for fragrance

16. Favorite drink? Brambleberry fruit drink from the Good Food Store, mulled apple cider, licorice or green teas.

17. Favorite ice cream? Jeannie, like you, I love Pralines & Cream @ Baskin & Robbins or Coldstone...also Wilcoxsons Mountain Huckleberry

18. Favorite fast food? In the U.S. - Turkey & veggie Subway
In Israel - falafel (with chickpea humus & veggies)

19. What color is your bedroom carpet? light blue

20. How many times have you failed your drivers test? The road test in WA. state once for "being too cautious"! I maxed all similar tests in MT, TX, Kansas, Wa. D.C. & Europe, go figure.

21. From whom did you get your last e-mail? From Carol-Ann telling me how I could contribute to Tin Roof Ventures.

22. What do you do most often when you are bored? Read, take Ari for a walk, hike, do a task I have been putting off.

23. Bedtime? 2100 to 2200 hours (9-10 pm) After so many years in the military when I had to get up by 0500 hours, my mind shuts down around 2200 hours.

24. -26 Don't care to answer.

27. Ford or Chevy? I learned to drive in a '56 Chevy & have bought Chevys ever since.

28. What are you listening to right now? A North Carolina Public Station that broadcasts classical music that we pick up on our satelite dish.

29. What are your favorite colors? salmon in sunsets & earth tones

30. How many tattoos do you have? None & I hope never to receive the type that I have seen on the arms of Holocaust survivors.

31. How many pets do you have? 27 (1 golden retriever, 1 cat, 1 laughing dove, 15 laying hens of several breeds, 1 ram, 5 ewes, 3 Tennessee Walking horses)

32. Which came first the chicken or the egg? chicken - created full grown, like man was

33. What would you like to accomplish before you die?
. Achieve fluency in Hebrew & Greek - am working on this.

. Visit Australia, New Zealand & Petra, Jordan

. See my daughter live up to her name & its meaning.

. Whatever God has planned for me.

Pets enrich our lives...

Have you come into the bathroom & found your pet doing this? Sadly, Ari (our golden retriever) & Rachel (Esther's cat) both do such uncouth things... even when a bowl of fresh water is in two other rooms in the house.

Lolo Peak Hike - Late Fall 2006

The Hallelujah Hikers' last Fall hike was on a nose-biting, ear-chilling day. We drove to the Lolo Peak Trailhead where there was only a skiff of snow and some Fall color left in the foliage. Once on the trail, the snow was 2-4 inches deep with questionable traction for those of us not foresighted enough to wear something other than tennis shoes for the hike. We all hiked for over 2 hours before I started to develop a severe earache & decided to

turn back. I had awakened that morning with congestion & a headache, but had not wanted to miss the hike. This was the first hike that I regretted going on with this dear group. My sneakers had turned from sloggy to ice,
my fingers & nose were numb, I nearly slid over the edge of the trail & down the steep banks when the snow deepened to almost 6 inches & I turned around.
My hike back was alone, so I was able to hear the forest sounds that our chatting had blocked out. I heard & saw several squirrels, a variety of birds & wondered if a bear was following me. I kept hearing snapping twigs behind me. At one point I heard a loud whoosh & the wing of the owl, ( not bear after all), who had been accompanying me nearly grazed my head. This owl flew from branch to branch watching my progress down the snowy trail until I was within a half mile of the trailhead. About that time I saw this neat, almost drift-woody photo opportunity. If I could have transported it back to my yard, I'm sure I could use it as a great focal point in a flowerbed arrangement.


The rest of the hikers returned to the trailhead about 30 minutes later than I did. None of them had reached the destination we had set for ourselves. We'll try again in the Spring to reach Lolo Peak.

God, Our Dwelling-Place for 2007!

The theme for 0ur 2006 Christmas card was God's dwelling-place in us & other cubes. (ie. the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle & temples & in the future in the New Jerusalem, as I blogged in August.) I've been reading Psalm 90 as I begin this New Year. This Psalm starts out with: Lord, you have been our dwelling-place, in all generations. So I am meditating today on my dwelling-place. God is my dwelling-place even as I am His. Moses, who wrote Psalm 90, also wrote in Deuteronomy 33:27: The eternal God is your dwelling-place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. The next Psalm expands on the safety of abiding in the presence of God... 91:1-2 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust." 91:9-11 Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling-place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways." What a refuge!
"Ma'on" is the Hebrew transliteration for "dwelling-place" in English. It's root also means cohabitation, to be married & conjugal rights. That's how intimate we are to be with our God in whom we live & have our being.

We think of our homes or dwelling-places as our protective shelter. We are the sheep & our Shepherd is also the sheepfold in which we can lie down safely. David understood this and wrote about it in Psalm 34:7 The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. Psalm 125:2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people from this time forth & forever. Psalm 71:3 Be my strong refuge, to which I may resort continually; You have given the commandment to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress. The Psalms are full of such images - Psalm 9:10, 17:8, 27:1 & 5, 37:39-40 and so many others. Other references: Colossians 3:3, 2 Samuel 22:2-3, Isaiah 4:5-6, Jeremiah 16:19, Joel 4:16. I could go on & on.

While facilitating the study in Habakkuk this Fall, I memorized & meditated on a dozen or more Scripture verses. At a time when a well-known Christian TV host is predicting a massive terrorist strike in the USA around or after September 2007, my mind returns to a couple of those verses. Psalm 62: 6-7 He only is my rock & my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation & my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.

God is sovereign. He is still on His throne & working behind the scenes to bring about His purposes. Everything that happens in 2007 will in the long run turn out for my best good & His glory as I rest in Him, my dwelling-place.