Lemonade

There is an old saying that goes: "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." I have no idea who said this first, though it reminds me of Erma Bombeck.

This week my family has been making a lot of lemonade. It was supposed to be my hubby's vacation. The plan was to go camping and to take the kids to a nearby space museum. So we spent most of last week cleaning, repairing and replacing the old camping gear to get ready for the trip. Clothes packed, coolers filled, van loaded, we started toward our destination. About an hour from home the transmission in the van decided to spring a huge leak. A visit to a local transmission shop did not provide good news. We turned around and attempted to make it back home but about half way there the transmission gave up for good. Of course, the spot were it died was out of cell phone range. A very nice gentleman allowed us to use his phone and we were able to get a tow truck and a ride home. He was also nice enough to let us wait on his shaded front porch until help arrived. We had a lovely visit during our wait.

We arrived back home with kids (and a hubby) who were distraught that we were not going camping. So I took the youngest on my knee and asked if he would like to camp in the yard since the van was dead. You should have seen his eyes light up. We spent the rest of the afternoon locating the perfect "camp site" and setting up camp. We cooked supper outside, even roasted marshmallows. The house was referred to as the "bath house" or the "camp store" depending on whether we needed the bathrooms or some other part of the house. Mom was still allowed to have computer access and the kids got the enjoy the great outdoors. Our second night was spent on the living room floor due to thunderstorms but we put on a movie and still had a great time. We probably had as much fun as if we had been at a real campground. We haven't laughed so much in ages.

We have used the remainder of the week to garden, get a few baby chicks to raise, read, knit, listen to music and generally goof off. Yesterday, the kids even honored us by cooking an anniversary dinner. It has been a nice time of family bonding after all.

Of course, we are still haven't made it to the space museum, we are still concerned about how to afford major repairs or replacement for our van and our only vehicle doesn't have an operational air conditioner. Gas prices and food prices are on the rise and I didn't get that job I was hoping to get. Life is full of lemons lately but we still managed to have a good time and we know we will get by. We know that God will provide our needs even if we do have to suffer some temporary inconveniences. The situation reminded me of Paul's exhortations to the church at Philippi.

"... for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me." - Philippians 4:11-13

Idols

I have been having an ongoing discussion with SmallFry about idols. I am having a hard time helping him understand what it meant when the Bible talks about the Israelites worshiping idols. Then I ran across a thread on a knitting forum about knitting being an idol. So I started thinking more about what really is and is not an idol.

When you are studying the Old Testament you tend to think of idols as a statue carved from stone or metal or wood - like the golden calf that Aaron made in Exodus 32. But was there something about that calf that made it intrinsically evil. Not really. If you look a little closer at this incident you will see that it was the attitude of the people who made the golden calf a problem. Notice verse 1 and verse 4 of Exodus 32.

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, "Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." - Exodus 32:1

And they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" - Exodus 32:4 (emphasis added)

The problem with the calf was not that it was a statue of gold but that it was becoming their substitute for God. The people of Israel had made for themselves something to replace God. There are over 100 different places in the Bible where idolatry is discussed, warned against and condemned. But we live in a civilized, intellectual society and we would certainly never bow down to an idol like they did in the Old Testament. Are you sure? In our society NFL football, NASCAR and a number of other sports hold their major events on Sunday. Children's sports leagues increasingly hold their games on Wednesday night and Sunday. The most watched television shows are more often than not on Sunday and Wednesday. Maybe, we would never bow down to a golden calf or a stone face, but there are plenty of other things in our society that are becoming our substituted for God. Perhaps, it is time for us to reread the passages in the Bible warning of the punishment for idolatry and reevaluate our own priorities.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols- I John 5:21

Design (Origins Part I)

I have been dabbling in knitting design (for evidence see here, here or here)and I have come to the conclusion that designing is actually hard work. It takes a significant amount of creativity and thought to convert an idea into a concrete item and then to put that information into a format that someone else can understand and appreciate. It is not something that happens by accident or without a bit of effort. Yet, there are those who say just the opposite about the world in which we live. There are those who think that the beauties and wonders of this universe are just happy accidents that occurred over billions and billions of years. But is that really true?

If you will kindly indulge me, I would like to share with you my journey to a deeper understanding of the origins of the universe. This has been a long and often difficult process for me. One that frequently required to rethink what I had been taught. Since this was a rather lengthy process, I will not attempt to write it all in one post.

First, let me give tell you a little bit about my background. I was reared in a semi-religious home. My family was sporadic in church attendance so while I had been given a reasonable exposure to the Bible, it was not something that was deeply ingrained in me. When I went to college, I, for the most part, gave up religion. I found "churches" to be full of hypocrites and I came to doubt most of what I was taught as a child.

Throughout elementary and high school my favorite subject was always science so when I went to college, science was the natural course of study for me. Though my emphasis changed several times while I was in college (shifting from a medical to a research orientation), my major field of study was always science (biology/math major; chemistry minor). There was a precision and order to the sciences that I found very appealing. There was a beauty to the way one branch of science interacted with another that I found fascinating.

The course of study in any science field is pretty strenuous. There aren't a lot of “goof-off “ classes and most of the allowed electives are science electives. So most semesters, I took at least one biology, one chemistry and one math and usually one other science (physics, geology, etc). Biology, being the science of life, gave me more opportunity to study the how life began, how species are interrelated and how it all fits together.

The rigorousness of a biology program doesn't provide one much time to digest what is learned. Mostly, you were stuffing the information into your head as quickly as possible in order to spit it back out on the tests. There simply wasn't time to question things, because you were too busy learning a of myriad facts - phyla, genera, species, bones, muscles, tissues, organs, etc. Your head was so full of facts that there was little room for logical reasoning. It was in this environment that I learned the theory of evolution and the general theories on the origin of the universe.

I will begin by explaining in simple terms the origin of the universe from the biological standpoint. According to what I was taught, the universe began when a ball of matter inexplicably exploded causing a great release of energy and sending bits of itself spiraling outward throughout the universe. Some bits of this matter formed stars, others formed planets, still others formed asteroids or other various space rocks. As the spiraling continued, some of the bits of miscellaneous space debris began developing orbits around the various stars, giving rise to solar systems. Through a series of random occurrences, the earth developed an orbit around its star (our sun) at a location that was neither too close nor too far from its source of heat and light. That unique location allowed the formation of certain organic (carbon-based) compounds in a sort of primordial soup. That group of chemicals was then radically changed by some major dynamic event (a lightning strike, for instance) to become the first living organism. Over a period of hundreds of billions of years, this organism evolved from a single cell creature to a multi-celled organism and eventually, through a combination of random mutation and natural selection, into the thousands of species that we see today. That is the short version.

There is some biological evidence that would seem to support this theory. For example, the similarity of features between one species and another would seem to suggest that they were once related. The bone structure of the frog, for example, is remarkable like that of the human. A pig fetus develops in a manner similar to a human. Is this proof that these radically different species developed from common ancestors? Or is there another possible solution?

In my study of knitting design, I have come to realize that I can recognize certain style elements of a particular designer. I can look at a pattern and often know who the designer is based on the overall style or certain unique design elements of the item. Likewise, there is also a similarity between the different projects of architects, painters, sculptors, etc. Is it not possible then, that the reason there are so many similarities between one species of animal and another is simply that they had the same designer? Is it possible that rather than the elaborate theories of evolution, that it is possible that the earth could actually have been created exactly the way the Bible claims?

We will explore these ideas in the coming posts. I am hoping that you will enter these studies with an open mind. I admit to a certain amount of bias when I began searching for these answers. As I college student, I tended to accept the word of my professors without question. I hope that you will enter into this study with the desire to follow where the evidence leads.

Oops!

This winter was a tough one for my family. Consequently, there are several things that I should have done that I forgot to do. One of those things was regularly updating my blog and website. Another was to award contest prizes for the Winter Blossoms contest. If you entered the contest, please send me your snail address and I will send you some sort of prize - some teas and whatever other goodies I can find - I will probably skip the mug that I originally planned to send since it is a bit late for Christmas mugs. Don't know exactly what at this point but you will get a prize. Send your snail mail addresses to this email address tabitha AT tabithasheart DOT com (you know what to do with the AT and DOT). Sorry about the delay. Unfortunately, sometimes life happens.

Winter Blossoms (a contest)

Sometimes God places blossoms in the most unexpected places - on the cactus in the middle of the desert, in the crack on the busy sidewalk or like here - on the scrubby, little shrub in the middle of the winter. This is winter honeysuckle but my family has always known it as Kiss-Me-At-The-Gate. It blooms, with its creamy, pearlescent blossom and heavenly aroma, in the dead of winter usually from mid-January to February. When all the plants around are dead and brown, Kiss-Me-At-The-Gate greets you with its lovely blossoms and wonderful fragrance, reminding you that even in the dreariness of winter, there is always hope for spring.

Sometimes, God provides us that tiny glimpse of hope of spring amid the winters in our lives. When we are experiencing particularly trying times and feeling the weariness of the world, God sometimes sends some person to remind us that there will be better times - just like those winter blossoms, these people point us toward spring and renewal. Recently, I have had several winter blossoms burst into my life.

In a recent post, I told you about the winter blossom that came form my little buddy "Paul". If you missed it, go to the Deluged... post and skip to the end of the post to read about it - I'll wait.

This week one of my winter blossoms was Marti, a lovely lady on one of my sock knitting groups who sent me the most encouraging email out of the blue. When you are writing a blog, sometimes you wonder if anyone actually reads it. Marti does and she took the time this week to tell me. She will never know how much she encouraged me with her kind words.

Another blossom came from Patricia who has said some very kind things about my website and blog on her own blog. I am humbled by her kindness and warmth. And I am strengthened by her encouragement.

Still another winter bloom came from my friend Jerry. I knitted Jerry a pair of socks many months ago when he was in the hospital - think of it as a prayer shawl for your feet. I was chatting with him and his wife Janice Sunday about their new granddaughter when out of the blue Jerry started telling me how much he had been enjoying those socks and hinted that he might need another pair. What a wonderful feeling to know that something you made with your hands was appreciated by the person for whom you made it. I honestly didn't know if he would ever wear them. I knitted them mainly because it was the only thing I could think of to do for him at the time. He was having major surgery, we were all very worried about him and I wanted to do something besides pray for him. Since I am a knitter, I knit while I prayed for him and when I was through praying a pair or socks in the colors of his favorite sports team popped off the needles (it wasn't quite that miraculous but the knitters out there will understand). I am happy to report that Jerry has completely recovered and apparently wears the socks all the time. Yes, there is another pair in his future.

A final winter blossom I would like to share came from my kids - affectionately known as "The Varmints". Today has been a very gloomy day with the threat of storms in the air. After breakfast this morning, they presented a play for me. It was a restaurant scene based on that classic dilemma of finding a fly in ones soup. It was quite humorous - especially considering how old the fly-in-my-soup gag is. I really needed a good laugh this morning.

So how about you? Have you experienced any Winter Blossoms lately? The January blog contest is quite simple. Share a winter blossom in the comments and your name will be entered into a drawing for a mug, an assortment of tea and cocoa and whatever other goodies I come up with by the end of the month. Add a link to your blog or website and I will include your name twice. You have until midnight January 31st to leave your comment. The winner will be chosen at random and the name will be posted here and on Tabitha's Heart & Hands. The winner will then have one week to email me their snail mail address for sending the prize.

Special

Our minister called Saturday afternoon sounding simply horrible. Seems he had come down with a nasty case of sinus/upper respiratory crud. He asked my hubby if he would preach today. I decided to steal borrow my hubby's sermon and share it with you. Okay, I won't actually steal his sermon but I will share some of the points he made with my own spin added to it. When I finish writing it in my own way, he probably won't recognize it as his sermon anyway.


You Are Special

That was his title. My first reaction to it was "Oh, you mean like Barney?" (After hearing that song 539,835,743 times, Barney never fails to pop into my mind at the sound of those words.) It is a very good sermon title though, because we ARE all special. Sometimes, in a world inundated with evolutionary thought, we forget that we are special. Unique. Made in the image of the Creator of the universe. And NOT, as many would like you to believe, some evolutionary accident.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. ...
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them."
- Genesis 1:26-27 (emphasis added)

So how do we know that we are special?
For one, look at the price that was paid for us. Things that cost us a lot are generally the things we prize the most. This is not only monetary cost, you prize your children partially because of the physical investment you have in them. You prize a job You prize a job that took a particularly large amount of work. The price paid for each of us was the blood of God's own son.

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:8

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16

knowing that you were ransomed ..., not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, - I Peter 1:18-19

Another way we know we are special is that we are loved. This is demonstrated not only with the price paid for us but also in the fact that God desires to adopt us as his children!

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. - I John 3:1

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. - Galatians 4:4-7 (emphasis added)

So not only are we redeemed (bought) by the blood of Christ, we are also adopted as children in God's family. This means that you have a new family besides your physical family. Your spiritual family is the church - your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Another reason that we are special is that no one else can do exactly the things you do. (I know this is really sounding like Barney now but there is still a great deal of truth to that statement). No other person on the planet has exactly the same family, friends, coworkers and associates so no one else is in the ideal position to reach those family members, friends, coworkers and associates for Christ. Furthermore, no one else has your exact combination of talents and opportunities. Take advantage of these talents and opportunities and use them to further the cause of Christ.

Sometimes, we don't do what we can because we have let hurt feelings get in the way. Find a way to heal those hurt feelings. Forgive, forget, move on. Never let a hurt feeling separate you from God. Think of the suffering Christ endured for you and don't let a little bruised ego cause you to stumble and fall away from God or prevent you from doing the work that God has for you to do.

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." - James 4:17

Other times, the fear of failure cripples us. But we have no reason to be afraid. If someone rejects the message of truth, it is not really us but God that they have rejected. I read an anecdote recently about a little girl in the hospital waiting room who was sharing a story with a gentleman sitting there. When the time came for the young man to leave, he told the little girl that he had to go. She replied, "Oh, OK, I'll just go tell my story to someone else. Bye!" That is the exact attitude we should have about sharing the gospel. If one person won't listen any longer, we should go and tell our story to someone else. No hurt feelings, no sense of failure. Just go enthusiastically tell your story to someone else. Eventually, someone will want to listen. God expects us to plant the seed. But He gives the increase. If you are concerned with your knowledge of the scriptures, then dedicate some time to learning more about what the Bible says. But use the abilities you have, because you are in a unique position to reach someone that others cannot reach.

Remember that someone

• looks up to you


• sees you as an example, whether you realize it or not


• can be taught by you - and possibly by no one else


• can be helped by you- and possibly by no one else


• can be encouraged by you- and possibly by no one else

Take advantage of these situations and teach someone about Christ. Do whatever you can. Remember what was said about the woman who anointed Jesus with the costly perfume in Mark 14:3-9. Jesus said "She had done what she could." Let's strive to make sure the same can be said for each of us.


Bloom Where you are Planted

If you don't know about Christ and would like to learn, email me at tabitha (at) tabithasheart (dot) com (replacing the stuff in parentheses with the appropriate symbols) and I will be glad to send you some Bible study material. Or you can visit Tabitha's Heart and Hands for Bible study resources.

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Note: All scriptures are quoted from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.

Deluged and Deloused but not Defeated

December was a difficult month for my family. It was one of those months were you took two steps backward for every step forward -definite proof of Murphy's Law. I spent most of the month feeling overwhelmed, totally stressed and generally crabby.

First of all, the shorter days mean there is less sunshine. When you add cold and wet weather to that lack of sunshine, you have the perfect formula for bad moods for me and the kids. I am sure you are familiar with that band of famous dwarves - Grumpy, Grouchy, Crabby, Cranky, Nasty, Snappy and Doc. They have all been residing at my house this month.

This is also the time of year when the financial strains really get to you. Gasoline prices always get higher just in time for the required family travel. Gifts have to be purchased but utility companies all increase their rates to help your budget. Then the insurance company decides to recoup its Hurricane Katrina losses by doubling your premium. All the makings of a jolly holiday.

To add to the stress, I have tons of holiday knitting to do and a birthday to plan for SmallFry. And in the middle of all this madness, my dear little Preteena contacted head lice. If you have never experienced the joy of head lice, let me tell you that you are missing more fun than you can possibly imagine. If you have experienced it, I feel your pain.

First, you have to put chemicals on the child's head. Then you get the joy of "nip picking". After rinsing the chemicals off your child's head, you must comb through the hair from scalp to end with a tiny, fine-toothed comb. Every inch of it. Preteena begged me not to cut her hair. The process of nip picking takes nearly two hours in waist length, tangle-prone hair. Fun, fun, fun.

Then, you get the pleasure of washing, vacuuming, spraying and cleaning everything with which the child's head might have come in contact - beds, brushes, combs, couches, chairs, pillows, hats, scarves, floors, you name it. The process takes the entire day. That's the end of it, right? Wrong!!! The pediatrician's office made it all sound so simple but the reality of it is not so much. The nip picking process must be repeated daily for 7 days. The chemicals that claim to kill the adults as well as the eggs are very expensive and do not work - this smart little lice have developed a resistance to the stuff. The eggs are really difficult to see on blond hair and thereby easy to miss. The plastic combs that come with the chemicals don't remove the eggs effectively. Re-infestation is inevitable. And did I mention the maddening itching? To further complicate matters, the chemicals dry the scalp bringing on dandruff and making the itching worse.

I finally found a home remedy on the internet using olive oil and tea tree oil that actually killed the little buggers. But in the mean time I lost about week of knitting time, and we missed SmallFry's birthday with his favorite uncle a well as Christmas with Gran due to fear of spreading the little beasties. We were fortunate in that Dad and SmallFry did not get them. I, on the other hand, was not so fortunate. It took over two weeks to finally rid ourselves of the little blighters. I am absolutely amazed how much trouble a tiny, little insect can cause.

To round out December, we had utility repairs to enjoy. One of the neighbors swerved to miss a dog that was standing in the street but unfortunately, did not miss the electrical pole that was in our yard. The pole was completely shattered and had to be replaced that night. The wrecker couldn't even remove the truck until the power company trucks arrived. No electricity for the rest of the evening. The street was completely blocked for hours and a poor state trooper had to spend a very cold evening sitting in his car watching it all. I am so glad that I had supper prepared early. Luckily, the driver was not hurt even though his new truck was ruined.

But the story doesn't end there. In the process of replacing the power pole, one of the half-dozen electric company trucks we had in the yard parked on top of the water meter. This broke the pipe that connected my house to the meter. This break wasn't noticed for a week until we were out of town. Apparently, the fact that the ground was exceptionally dry meant that it took a while for the leak to be noticed on the surface. My next-door neighbor saw the water shooting up in the air and called the water department. The water department discovered that the break was on our side of the meter rather than on the water department's side - meaning we would be responsible for paying for all the wasted water but they did at least turn off the water. So after spending a miserable weekend traveling through three states to visit the in-laws, we got home to a house with no water and a flooded yard. We were luckily able to find a plumber on short notice and he didn't charge us an exorbitant fee (though plumbers are never cheap) but we really didn't need another unexpected bill in December.

I, for one, am glad that December is finally over. There were so many things that were left undone because of the strains on budget and time. But there were some bright spots in the month too. I did finish most of my holiday knitting on time. And the recipients of the unfinished gifts were incredibly understanding. My family got to share Christmas together. Though the gifts were small, we enjoyed each others company. We watched movies, played games and drank hot cocoa. My husband's company gave him a turkey so we had a wonderful Christmas dinner (the kids called it a feast). The turkey was delicious (even though I cooked it upside down) and my gravy was the best ever. The kids especially liked the fact that it was served on the good china.

But the brightest spot happened at the very end of this trying month. My favorite little Bible class menace "Paul" became a Christian on the last Friday in December. I only got the wonderful news last night as I was out of town when it happened. I cannot tell you how proud I am of this young man. I hugged him many times and cried on him last night. I think it weirded him out a little bit. Even if he did enjoy the hugs. This is the fourth new Christian in our congregation this month. But I am most proud of my little Paul because I have taught him so I feel that he is one of "my kids".

Isn't it amazing that these wonderful blessings are sprinkled in the midst of some of our worst times? God is indeed an awesome God.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, "I believed, and so I spoke," we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
- II Corinthians 4:8-18 (ESV)