Today we went to Disneyland and met my mom and sister.  It was a very fun day.  The highlight was seeing Rapunzel in her tower in Fantasyland.  We left right before Flynn Rider showed up…but Clayton imitated him well.

After that we ate at Ruby’s and now I am getting ready to have a cup of tea and watch the season finale of my favorite new show Once Upon a Time!  Overall an excellent day!

I know the pithy saying says that one’s man’s trash is another man’s treasure, but sometimes it is just trash!

Over one billion people on the planet live on a dollar a day and over two billion live on two dollars a day and some people spend an obscene amount of money to buy houses big enough to store stuff! I am not trying to imply that the family members I love have too much stuff (that would be the pot calling the kettle black), but I am trying to figure out how to let some stuff go and travel more lightly.  This is tough stuff to process and I am just going to ramble along for a bit…

Recently I had the privilege of helping a friend clean out some of her parent’s things since they were going to move to a care facility.  And again the past 2 weekends have been similar experiences since some life changes have faced members of my own family extended.  BUT, After spending last weekend working on sorting and cleaning and packing some of my aunt’s stuff, cleaning the science projects out of the fridge, the bug collection and antique crackers out of the pantry, followed by this weekend helping my brother in law sort though his storage unit and gather his treasures, I am feeling guilty about all my stuff yet too exhausted to do anything about it!

I know we are to store up treasures in heaven and this is a very visual reminder to me of how things can be rotted, stolen,  or destroyed.  And, that is not even chasing the rabbit trail of how stuff can “steal” our joy, waste our time, and distract our money from the work of the kingdom.

I am reminded of the joke that circulated the internet a few years ago:

There once was a rich man who was near death. He was very grieved because he had worked so hard for his money and wanted to be able to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray that he might be able to take some of his wealth with him.An angel heard his plea and appeared to him. “Sorry, but you can’t take your wealth with you.” 
The man begged the angel to speak to God to see if He might bend the rules. The man continued to pray that his wealth could follow him. The angel reappeared and informed the man that God had decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathered his largest suitcase and filled it with pure gold bars and placed it beside his bed.Soon afterward, he died and showed up at the gates of heaven to greet St. Peter. 
St. Peter, seeing the suitcase, said, “Hold on, you can’t bring that in here!”
The man explained to St. Peter that he had permission and asked him to verify his story with the Lord. 
Sure enough, St. Peter checked it out, came back and said, “You’re right. You are allowed one carry-on bag, but I’m supposed to check its contents before letting it through.”
St. Peter opened the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that the man found too precious to leave behind and exclaimed, “You brought pavement?”

So I ponder the question, Where is my treasure?  What do I value the most?  Would anyone know it by my lifestyle?  Because Jesus said that where your treasure is that is where your heart will be.  I know God is generous and gives good gifts to his children.  I believe He is not against us having stuff, but he is concerned, as with everything, about our attitude, our character development, about what we have.

A pastor friend tells a story of a little boy swimming in a river, flailing around and splashing his arms, splattering the water. On the shore immediately in front of the little boy is a sign, “No Swimming”. And the man walks along and he looks into the river and he says, “Hey kid,  can’t you  read the sign? It says no swimming.”  The boy replies, “please sir, I’m not swimming! I’m drowning!”  Sometimes swimming and drowning look a lot alike, don’t they? And I think sometimes that people I love, myself included, think we are swimming but are really drowning.  If I am going to drown, I want it to be under the cleansing blood of grace.

There was a time in my life when I felt nothing but discarded; buried and covered in a pile of sin and despair. But God sought me out and found me, lifted me out of the pile, lovingly washed and cleansed me, took me home with Him to be His very own, and gave me a new, wonderful purpose; all through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Once the world’s trash …now God’s Treasure.

….May the Fourth be with you!

Tomorrow my best friend and mentor, my life partner, JIM, will have been in his new home for eighteen months earth time.  A thousand years is like a day to the Lord and so I would imaging it would be for Jim as well since he is experiencing eternity from a different perspective.  But for me, each day without Jim and waiting here on this side of eternity, is like a thousand years!  Oh I miss him so much!

This is posted on Biola’s Website .  There is also a short video link below.  If I knew how to upload it here I would!

Emily

Art
Fullerton, California

This weekend I went to the LA festival of books.  It seems to have become a tradition for Emily and I, along with my brother Jonathan and his family.  That’s nice.  A tradition!  Since moving to California and since Jim left earth, it seems like our traditions, our celebrations,  and our family has gone on hiatus, or even worse  - been cancelled!  But every year we look forward to the book festival with all the new releases, the unique and fun related items,  and meeting authors.  I love that so many people still love books.  In this technological age, it often seems that books are nearly extinct ( or are about to be cancelled), especially when places like Borders died.  But then we go to the festival and hope is restored and we bring home a new “friend” or two.

Books are like that for me.  Friends.  Some say I have way too many, and whenever I sort through and part with some of them I am always sad.  It is hard to let them go.  Just like my human friends.  Actually, it is hard to let anything go these days.   Like Jim’s trombone, which sits in the hall closet waiting to sing again.  Like some clothes which have long gone out of style and are way too small, but remind me of some happy memory.  Like the toys that my kids loved but have out grown and someone else could be loving .  Like the trinkets that we thought would be of some monetary value but will never even pay for a meal at Chick-fil-A  let alone put anyone through college!  It is a life-long struggle for me to learn what to let go of and what to hang on to, both figuratively and literally.

17 months ago Jim went to heaven, and I wish I could stop counting that anniversary, but it falls on other big days like this one.  Good Friday.  It is truly good because without it I have no hope for heaven. I am awed that God loved me so significantly.  So completely.   I am amazed by his grace – It is free.  It is sufficient.  It is transforming.  There are no words and yet all my words are not enough to declare the mercies of the Lord forever.

It is spring break in other parts of the country.  It is interesting because it was never a big deal when I was growing up in southern California.  But when I moved away I began to understand why!  In a Word – WINTER!  And that is not a season that is part of California!  We have flood, fire, smog and earthquake!

So, anyway, we have visitors!  I love that people I love want to see me and the kids (OK – well they really want to see the sun and the beach and Disneyland, but I do provide free lodging!)

Wil, Lorraine and Pip are here, who are really family to us, and we decided to go to Farrell’s, which is making a comeback in Southern California.  So, and this is not a joke, we went to the website to show the kids the menu (the Zoo, the pig trough, etc) and there were vintage photos on the website.  The first one posted is a picture of my neighborhood and me in approx. 1972.  Freaked me out!  The picture I posted here is my dessert!  It is chicken (like chic-o-sticks), mashed potatoes (ice cream and caramel sauce), and candy peas and carrots!  Too fun and the perfect thing for the holiday!

Julie and Brian came too and Catie came for her spring break (Chinese New Year).  Marianne didn’t need a spring break, but she came in January just because!

I was not sure I would go.   I didn’t want to remember because sometimes the memories are hard and overwhelming.  But when I was invited and I thought about it, I could almost hear Jim’s voice encouraging me and telling me to go for both of us.  I did go and I did remember.  It was good!   NO, it was great!

I am so fortunate that Jim and I were both called to ministry and then hired together to be a team at First Baptist of Scottsdale.  We were only there for one- tenth, or a tithe, of the church’s one hundred year history; and yet our hearts intersected with the lives and hearts of so many that will last forever.  We grew.  We had both of our children while on staff there.   I was ordained.  We were trusted with the keys to the kingdom and with the children and youth!  We worked alongside the best and listened to the Word preached each week.  We were most blessed.

Emily went with me but she never made it to the festivities.  She hung out with the amazing Alex Tuten and her family all weekend.  Clayton was playing soccer in Las Vegas.  As for me, I had lots of tea (yum), an open house with some of my favorite people on the planet reminiscing and laughing, St Paddy’s dinner with the Howards, worshipping as Mark Zeeman led from the piano, and much celebrating at church.  It was toooooo fast.  And we didn’t even open the time capsule that we put in the ground on the 75th anniversary.  I guess I will have to go back!

Happy Birthday Clayton.  March forth….  Tomorrow your dad will celebrate 16 months in heaven (or at least we will remember that he went there) and you turned 16 today!  That won’t happen again.

So I say to you my son,  March forth…you have your whole life ahead of you and the journey begins with the first step.

March forth….walk by faith, learning and leaning into Jesus every moment of every day.

March forth… keep walking  side by side with the godly young men you have chosen as friends.

March forth…. and continue to choose joy and hope as your traveling companions.

March forth….looking for those who have lost their way and need a “light” to show them how to go.

March forth ….keeping Jesus in sight and not being distracted by “bunny trails” that cause you to wander off the path.

March forth…knowing that I am standing in prayer for you and that God is behind you, before you, hemming you in and sustaining you all the days of your life.

I love you Clayton.  Happy Birthday!

Today Disneyland is open for 24 hours.  As much as I love the place I am not interested in those kinds of crowds!  Instead I went with Clayton to the Fullerton High School soccer banquet.  My boy lettered on the varsity soccer team!  Woo Hoo! but even better, for the second year, he received the Scholar athlete of the year!

I am so proud I could leap for joy!  LOL!  On our way home from the banquet we saw traffic jams everywhere…all those people trying to spend their extra day at the happiest place on earth.  I doubt they are happy yet.  Maybe they should have just gone for a happy meal, or a leap on the trampoline,or to the ballet!

As for me I was very happy to celebrate with my son!  Way to go, buddy!  I am one proud and happy mom!