Just ponderin'

A good friend of mine went to be with Jesus this week. Bill Shure is that friend. This world will miss him.  His children will miss him most. I just began to PONDER!

 See-God weaves our lives in crazy ways that we just don't understand. The connections he creates are simply- amazing. I first was introduced to Bill at Faith Assembly of God in Fort Smith. Our pastor, Bernard Ridings, brought in all these HIPPIES to our church that just 'hung out at the church' and PRAYED and played music!  They wore blue jeans, had long hair and beards! Mercy! These HIPPIES were amazing. They were free spirited and loved The Lord more than they loved themselves. What memories I have of those days!  Bill was one of those hippies that stayed connected to western Arkansas. Bill wasn't real concerned for himself. Being in Bill's presence was quite possibly one of the greatest experiences one could experience. He was always positive, always uplifting, always gentle, always kind, always talking about The Lord. The kind of man that when you left his company-- YOU felt better having spent some time with him. A year ago on my blog- Bill responded to one of my posts-JUST PONDERIN',   I remember the day I read that comment of his and was so touched by his words. Today- it means even more. I love that man of God.

So many have witnessed the talent that God gifted him with on this earth. Children's and youth programs/buildings have experienced first hand- church buses painted like Noah's Ark running down the road 'hauling' children to church.  Fire trucks, whales and other amazing creatures of God's own handiwork 'coming out of the walls in youth or children's buildings.  Massive trees for children to play on while they learn about the love of Jesus. My personal favorite- plant pedestals!  PLANT STANDS??? Yes- when Mikell died- we got plants! Now this girl here -can't grow a thing! But I got plants- plants that I just couldn't part with. Plants that I suddenly got commissioned to keep alive- OH lord!! Where else better to store them than in my church!  Beautiful to say the least. So I called my friend Bill Shure! Of course he knew just how to showcase them. Pedestals made of something I surely cannot identify, but absolutely beautiful works of art. These pedestals now reside in the Kiddie Kollege/Center for Child Development building. I get to see them every day! My heart is now more proud than ever, seeing those plants sitting on beautiful stands that were crafted by my friend Bill.

Now I'm JUST PONDERIN'--when Bill had his welcoming party in Heaven this week--I'm betting Mikell met him there!  I think it might have gone like this--  "Mikell- when you came to Jesus-your family got all these beautiful plants and I made some pedestals for your parents to showcase these plants". I believe Mikell's response was- "Bill- what color are those pedestals?"  Well...... Duh...... Green and gold - of course!:).  

As you ponder life today, be like Bill. Love God! Love others! and pray for Bill's family! They are missing a wonderful father, brother, friend. I know I am.

Train up a child

Proverbs 22:6 is pretty clear about training our children in the way he should go!  It even says when he is old he won't depart from it. What we want to do is train them in the way WE want them to go. Then when they are old they won't depart from it. I wish I could say that is exactly what will happen. The problem with that thought is that it is not what God wants for us. He wants us to rear our children in the way HE wants them to go. We like that a lot until they move to Hollywood, Austin or Heaven. What the heck is that all about??  I always prayed for my children to follow The Lord  but what I meant to say was....... But stay close!  So what I find myself doing is wondering how messed up I would've gotten things if they had done what MY heart wanted instead of what God wanted for them?  It would be some kind of serious mess!  

For years, in my early childhood training classes, I've said, "don't worry about the small details in small lives".  Train them to be 23 some day!  "Teach them how to live their lives and live in this world", I have said many times. "The rest will take care of itself mostly". "Teach them how to be with all people, love all people and take care of all people."  

Watching my adult children live their lives this way, makes my day!  I see God's blessings on them. I see how God is working it all out the way He wants it to be regardless of my selfish attitudes about what I want.  I wouldn't have it any other way. I wouldn't have Mikell come back to us and leave the presence of God, taking care of the "little ones" in Heaven. I wouldn't want Matthew and Kasha to come back to us and not fulfill the destiny God has for them in Austin. I wouldn't have Mason leave Hollywood and give up God's promises to him. That would be a serious parenting problem!  

However.... I need a jet!   This 24 hour drive to Los Angeles wears me out!  It's nice to be back home, I miss my children terribly but it's all in God's plan for my life and theirs. Training them up to go God's way- requires years of preparation!  It also requires whole families, school teachers, church workers, friends and communities. I had NO idea what I was getting in to!:). I'd do it again though!  All FOUR of them make me proud!  Mason, Mikell, Matthew and Kasha...... Love God; Love others!  And while your living life- pray for your Dad!  I'm wearing him out!

Mikell's Heaven Day 2013 - A great filter!

It's been 5 years since Mikell left us to transition to his new life in heaven.  It's been a great experience for our family - and shall I just say - a horrible one as well.  Nothing prepares you for this part of a life.  I can say with all honesty that both Mike and I have great parents and siblings who helped make us who we are today.  That is to say we are very competitive, aggressive (well one of us - you guess which one), goal seeking, dreamers and most of all we were given a pathway of faith from our families that always lead us to the cross of Jesus.  Nothing is better than that.  What better thing can a family give it's members than to show and teach the love of Jesus and to show us how to love others.  We have both watched our families suffer loss and heart ache only to point us to the love of God and His great mercies.  Mike always says that God deals with all of us in the most merciful way He can deal with us.    That's just what HE does.  We have seen that in our families throughout our lives.  That training certainly has helped us move through this journey of burying a child; a man child at that; a large man child even more!  Who would've thought that in June of 1984 that baby boy that was born two weeks early would leave this world in January of 2008, many YEARS early too!

Don't understand; don't need to understand!  In a world where everyone gets to say anything they want to say without any accountability (Mike calls it cyber-courage!), and a world where we butt into everyone's business and we share everything about our lives thinking that everyone wants to know......... the truth is - we have so little control about anything that goes on in our lives.  We like to think we elect Presidents and Congressmen/ladies - we don't - God works all that out.  We like to think we have jobs because of our training and what we know - not hardly - God works all that out.  What I have learned over the past 8 years specifically (beginning with Skip's event as we call it) - God is in control whether we like it or not.  Now what that really means is FREEDOM.  I don't have to worry about anything because when the bad things happen - He's got that too!

I've learned to say that Mikell changing geography is both the best and the worst thing in my life.  Matthew's accident and stoke and Skip's dissection and stroke come in second and third.  You know those kinds of things you drive a stake in the ground and say....... This is something that God is going to show HIMSELF wonderful over and I have to help make that happen.  When you have a filter of burying a child and coming close to burying two children - you understand instantaneously that there is a God and it is not me.  You see - Heaven is now my goal more than ever before.  I am aggressively pursuing that pathway.  I understand that Mikell is still my son and forever will be.  He just lives further away than Texas and California.  In fact, I HATE that my boys and daughter live so far away and we cannot enjoy seeing them live their lives and be a part of that.  I do clearly understand that Austin and Los Angeles..... I can get there if I need or want to get there fairly easy.

I care deeply about people, about justice and about right living but who wins a ballgame or an election......I just don't care.  Now that's a great filter.  A filter I wish I could've had many years ago when my boys were little (without having to have one of them taken away from me).  A filter I wish my family and friends could learn without the hurt and pain.  A filter that doesn't worry about the economy or taxes or laws because I know who is really in control.  A filter that gives you such freedom it's almost hard to describe.  A filter that says - 'Don't fret or worry.  Instead of worrying, pray.  Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.  Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.  It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life'.  Philippians 4:6,7 (Message).

So the journey continues, and oh what a journey it is................. To God Be The Glory  -

Mikell, Mason, Matthew and Kasha -- Love God; Love Others and always know - Mom loves you and my filter will always include YOU!