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November 21, 2021

The Day After Thanksgiving (or Get Back to Work)

I prefer to eat in the break room.

***After writing several Thanksgiving blogs, here is a repost honoring the day after. And giving thanks for Work!

“The test of the life of a saint is not success, but faithfulness in human life as it actually is. We will set up success in Christian work as the aim; the aim is to manifest the glory of God in human life, to live the life hid with Christ in God in human conditions. Our human relationships are the actual conditions in which the ideal life of God is to be exhibited.” Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

My husband and I will often read Oswald Chambers to each other in the morning, as we are making our lunches, pulling on work clothes and adjusting to a new day. “Ozzie,” as we affectionately call him, has a way of jump-starting, or butt-kicking you into reality. After a wonderful Sunday spent in worship, fellowship and rest, Mondays mean coming down off the mountaintop, into my scrubs and punching into work or “human life as it actually is.”

It’s still dark this time of year as I head out, but the payoff is watching the sun rise over the cranberry bog where I park and pray. Over time I’ve watched deer, coyotes, fox and rabbits wake up too, along with an array of birds, and I feel like God is right there with us, with all the possibilities of a brand new day.

I read recently that the problem with America is we are not a woven fabric anymore, each life an intricate thread in the tapestry of life. Instead we are a bunch of small worlds, separated by our imagined or reinvented selves on Facebook/You Tube/Instagram islands. Social media has de-socialized us, breeding all of the psychosocial sicknesses that accompany loneliness and isolation. The deadliest new variants are depression, fear, addiction and suicide.

I like my job because when you are so sick that you are in a hospital bed with one of those ridiculous hospital johnnies on, you don’t care how you look. You have been derailed into a place of uncertainty. Suddenly, the playing field is level, and there is nothing to separate us from each other. Most people are scared and exhausted; sometimes mad or just sad. And I try to find a place beside them.

Much of what I do is not glamorous at all. Some of it is indescribably gross, and sometimes it is boring, like watching screens and numbers and responding to no less than a dozen different alarms going off all day. But sometimes there is a patient to remember.

Margaret was my patient a few weeks ago, 95 years old and as I got report, I was amazed this little lady had survived an incredible ordeal, including being resuscitated, shocked four times then internal bleeding – all with a really lousy heart. Her outlook was poor. When I entered the room, I found a very exhausted and frail elderly woman. She eyed me shrewdly, then asked where her nurse from the day before was.
“We really clicked,” she said, then looked away. A little deflated, I explained that she was off. Then after an awkward silence I added, “I hope we can click.”
“Of course we can,” she said dismissively. “I wouldn’t have said that otherwise.” Her voice had an edge.
After listening to her lungs and assessing her poor bruised body, I took a safe path and asked about the grandkids, kids and learned about a great-grandchild on the way.
Then she propped herself up in bed and said, “I was a career woman you know.”

I watched her face transform as she talked about her work with handicapped people, helping them transition from institutions to homes, and how she had been a part of a historic movement in the seventies. Her whole being shifted, as if new life had been infused within her and I could see a big part of who Margaret was. Then I dismissed myself from her room as she thanked me for listening.
“Well, it’s nice to talk about things that have nothing to do with being here” I said cheerfully. And as I turned towards the door I heard her reply, “Oh but it does!”
I looked back at her and she had shut her eyes, but I waited.
“It’s what gives you the will to live,” she added softly.

Eklesia – Greek for “the church” means “called out ones.” I think “calling” is one of those overworked Christian terms. We waste time fretting over some grand design and God is simply waiting for us, each morning in fact, to get up and go out. Yes, He is calling us out, whether it is in a hospital, a construction site, Wall Street or Sesame Street. Jesus worked and even got yelled at for working on Sunday. David was a shepherd, Paul made tents. The Proverbs woman got up earlier than I do. Work is hard, but if it is offered to God not as something to be worshipped, but as part of our worship to Him, it can bring joy. And a paycheck helps too.

Ancient Greeks venerated leisure time, equating it with wealth and prestige, and that culture has leaked into ours over time, pulling millions into lottery sales, and breaking the back of a welfare system that pays able bodied men and women to stay home. Unemployment is linked with depression, addiction and obesity. God created us to create. I love vacations, but if it never ended I would get bored, and I would really get on my kid’s nerves. I’m made to work.

One of my favorite careers was oystering. Wading out into the rising river, my rake and basket on a little homemade float while my two oldest boys played on the beach, brought me the purest sense of connected-ness to the earth that God intended for us to work. Then bringing the fruit of that labor, bushels of oysters, to market illustrated the simple cycle of God’s creation. But we don’t have to farm to see this. A stay-at-home-mom sees the fruit of her labors in her growing children, a teacher in his students, a builder, an artist, a plumber, a cop – we release our creative drive, the gifts that God put in us, and we give back to the world we are a part of. As we serve others, we honor God.

Work has meaning when we see it this way. It becomes an idol when the work dictates who we are, or we demand our value through it. Our value is hid in Christ.
Zechariah 9:16 says,
On that day the LORD their God will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land. ESV

There is our value, here is His land. The test is “faithfulness in human life as it really is.”

Wherever God has you, enjoy the blessing of family and friends this Thanksgiving, but don’t hate the alarm clock the next day. God is there, with all of the possibilities of a new day.

Thanksgiving Song by Mary Chapin Carpenter

PS I will be working Thanksgiving. I hope I don’t see you!

October 28, 2018

Unfriending Facebook in Three Not-So-Easy Steps

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24

Four clicks and done. The directions to delete a Facebook account seemed simple enough. But alas – by the third click, the plan was unraveling. Why? the Facebook folks wanted to know. A list of reasons were displayed. I quickly scanned them, then clicked on I spend too much time on it. Oh? How about we send less emails, those pesky Friend requests and reminders to post, to wish someone I haven’t seen in six years a happy birthday.

No, that’s not enough I thought. I scanned further down.

I don’t have any use for it. Yes! That’s true too!

A long detailed reply popped up suggesting I should be a better friend to my Friends. By now I was getting annoyed. This was supposed to be easy, clean.. instead it was turning into a sloppy break-up. I hovered above the Deactivate Account button and clicked. It’s over, Rover.

But…the word “Deactivate” was somehow unsettling to me, like when you tell the guy “maybe we can work things out down the road.” No, I wanted it over. I searched some more. Turns out there’s a difference between Deactivate and Delete. I wanted Delete. So I tried to sneak back onto my deactivated Facebook page and instantly a “Welcome back to Facebook!” message popped up in my email. AAARRGH!

When I was a child and we moved to a new neighborhood, I would set out to troll for friends. I’d knock on a door and ask, “Is there anyone here to play with me?” And usually, because it was the 60’s and every home had a minimum of four kids, the mom would yell,

“Susan? Cindy? Billy? There’s someone here for you! ” And an avalanche of raw energy would burst through the door, spilling out into the yard where we would play until the lightening bugs flickered on. It was pure and simple. We fought, we made up and fought again at least three times a day. We were friends.

I entered the world of FB about two months ago. I had launched a non-profit called Higher Ground Outreach and Facebook seemed like a logical platform for it. But I had to first start with a personal page, so I gingerly stepped into the world of Friends and Likes and Unfriends I’d heard so much about over the years.

“We’re Facebook friends,” someone would say to explain how they knew someone they didn’t really know.

“Oh.” It seemed a tad silly but I would be silent. I did not belong.

. But here I was now, one of them. Instantly the friend requests came tumbling in, My first thought was: Where were you guys when I was in eighth grade? And I noticed that a lot of my friend requests were from men named Mohammed. Okay I had to do some weeding. Soon I was staring at photos of people I had known and loved who had disappeared or people I didn’t know well, at all, but now befriended me – I mean Friended me. It was an odd mix of joy (reconnecting with one of my favorite girls from our Pawtucket church), wonder (I saw a side of my little sister that was clever and hysterically funny) and then downright depressing. Friends I thought I knew were far from where I thought they were. I grieved the disappointment, but I couldn’t really even grieve because every emotion on Facebook is about two inches deep. Friends who once gathered in my home or around a fire pit, giving thanks and praise to the God who rescued us now seemed to be worshipping around a strange fire – money, little league, politics and position. Not bad things, but where’s Jesus? It reminded me of those Where’s Waldo books that challenged you to find Waldo in the midst of ridiculous chaos and confusion crammed into every page.

I’ve had to take a hard look at the busy-ness of my own life, the subtle nagging feeling I’ve had over the last few months that, despite doing “good” things, I am missing something so important, like the sleeping baby in the car seat. I felt justified in my good works. I even hung the Jesus sign on it. There! But I began to see the slippery slope. I was using His name to endorse my own will.

If Jesus came back and walked the earth again among us, I’m pretty sure He would pass on social media. He doesn’t need it. In fact His true friends were not many as it turned out, even though He told us, “I call you friend.” I think it’s because He wants us to follow Him, not the other way around. And He knew it would be hard, that many would walk away sad, like the rich young ruler. I wonder what that guy did next? I bet he bought something he didn’t need or maybe started a non-profit or a big charity. Yet in his heart, he must’ve known he missed it. But the scariest thing is, I think once we start to walk away, the cross gets smaller and smaller, until it’s not even on the horizon. You can still quote the Bible and bless the food, but your heart is stone again. “Come to me,” Jesus said. Not now, too busy. God help us.

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:13-1

When I deleted my FB page, I had 335 friends. Not bad for a short time. But at least 325 of those friends were gained with a click and lost with another. “Life’s more fun when you live in the moment!” Snap Chat boasts. But are you really living life or posting the parts you want all of your “friends” to see? It’s hard to be in the moment with your phone in your hand.

How deep the Father’s love for us

How vast beyond all measure

That He should give His only son

To make a wretch His treasure

Come to me, Jesus calls. Friend. Stay awhile and rest. He will even give you real friends, maybe not a lot, but what you need. Bear one another’s burdens, He tells us. And when I can’t find just one, when no one will come out to play, He is there at the door, knocking, even after the fireflies come out at night. I just have to be able to hear Him, then go and open the door.

September 18, 2018

Feeling Young Again

*** I am so pleased to once again, share a post with you from my son and favorite guest blogger, Miles Macleod. It is a beautiful and insightful take on Matthew 18:3. You can follow his family blog on macleodsonthemove.weebly.com. Enjoy!

Can you find the monkey?

So it’s been about six weeks in Malaysia and I’m feeling young again. But don’t get too jealous. I’m not talking about the grip-life-by-the-ears-and-drive-off-into-the-sunset-with-reckless-abandon type of young; it’s more like the I-can’t-read-this-menu-do-you-have-any-photos-of-your-food-so-I-can-point-to-the-pictures young.

It’s infuriating at times and good for a few laughs at others, but mostly it’s just embarrassing. Like the time I couldn’t figure out how to turn the water back on in my house and had to seek my neighbor’s help, or the time I drove down the wrong side of the road (they drive on the left here), or the time I did that again, or the times I pick up Quincy from daycare and can’t understand what his teacher is asking me to do so I just smile and nod and leave and don’t do what they ask, or the time I accidentally drank pond water from a spigot and the nearby guards laughed before showing me how to get filtered water, or how it’s taken me two weeks (and counting) to replace the only lightbulb in my bathroom (Erin showers in the dark every morning), or how I sometimes say “Good morning” (“salamat pagi”) to my neighbors when I see them walking in the evening (“salamat petang”).

Whatever confidence I had gained as a successful member of society while living in the States has quickly disappeared. Now, I’m more unsure, more unaware, and more pensive. More child-like.

There is a verse in the Bible, somewhere in Matthew, where Jesus tells a bunch of people to be more like children. It will help them, He says, get into Heaven. Whenever I’ve heard this verse mentioned, I assumed he wanted us to have more faith — child-like faith — a faith rooted in trust and untainted by the limitations of empirical evidence and the cynicism of adulthood.

Now, though, I’m thinking I had it wrong. Why would He want us to have the same type of faith that led me to put my trust and my bloody teeth and my cookies and milk into appeasing some mythological creature (see tooth fairy) or cultural apparition (see Santa)? That can’t be the same faith that He wants us to have, right? I would think He wants a more adult-like faith than that, one that has been tested and refined. So why be like children then? Well, in light of my six weeks in Malaysia, I’m thinking what Jesus likes so much about children isn’t so much their faith; it’s their helplessness.

I think about Quincy and his own helplessness too. At one years old, he relies on me for pretty much everything and because I come through more often than not, his love and his trust for me grows. I’m there to carry him on my shoulders when he tires and grab him from his crib when he wakes. To kiss his boo-boos and read his books; to teach him boundaries and open his doors. To him, I am everything. My identity — in his eyes — is defined by his own limitations.

And so it goes with world travel. For those who have yet to do it, I strongly encourage you to give it a try. There are numerous benefits, but perhaps none more so than the spiritual clarity that comes with it. My can-do American attitude has quickly been replaced by a please-help Malaysian posture. And through this transition and in the midst of my helplessness, my Father’s identity has been redefined by my own limitations. He is made strong in my weakness. My place in this crazy, amazing world has never been more clear. I am child-like. But for my Father, that’s okay.

Quincy in Cambodia making a new friend

December 9, 2017

Fox Hunters and Heart Keepers

Wanna party?

Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.” Song of Solomon 2:15 ESV

“It’s my fault,” my husband admitted as we scooped the garbage into a new bag. “I should’ve put a lid on it.” He says it’s squirrels but I like to think something a bit more menacing could cause such a mess, like a Gruffalo. Whatever it was had a big, bad party in the back yard and didn’t clean up. I like to picture them hiding in the trees, paws covering their dirty snouts and chuckling while we schlop their mess back into the can.

Life is full of loose ends, like a giant junk drawer. I think it should be, that a life that’s too pulled together is dangerously aseptic. It’s like the Good Bacteria/Bad Bacteria theory that explains the explosion of super-bugs. We need to be a little dirty. God ordained it. When life gets too spic-and-span, it becomes something incompatible with life on earth. Sterile and phobic, we close the glass door behind us and watch the world go by.

But the other end of that spectrum is the junk drawer that morphs into the junk house. I remember looking at hoarding pictures snapped by a rescue team that extricated a woman from the only space left in her home. Piles of papers, dishes, boxes and broken lamps covered what was once a home. You could not make out where a couch or counter was. She had been consumed by her own mess.

Somewhere in-between lies sanity.

I’ve thought along these lines lately, reflecting on some of my own near-misses, where vanity and self-interest have collided with truth, I mean Truth. Many years ago, as a new believer, I became offended by something my pastor said and decided to go out on strike. I’ll show them.

One week went by, two, three…

Then around week four, as the phone stayed eerily quiet, and the mess from my pity-party was starting to stink, the Holy Spirit spoke these words:

My kingdom goes on, with you or without you.

Ow.

And I have never missed church since. Was I “right” to be offended? Maybe. But my rights pale in the light of the cross, don’t they? God’s scorching rebuke saved me from derailing and also taught me a lot about my place in His kingdom. It’s not my right, it’s my privilege.

The little foxes will nip right at the root of our salvation. God is nurturing and training our crazy branches into something beautiful and even fruitful, then a little critter called Offense, or Jealousy or Resentment begins to gnaw at the tender vine.

Jesus said He had to go home to heaven so that He could send us all some help. He must’ve known we’d need it. And the Holy Spirit is the Helper. He wants to help us grow and learn and start to teach others. Some dirt, a seed, then water. And lots of light. But we have to be the keepers of our hearts. He will warn, even rebuke but will we hear? And obey?

It should humble any believer to see what was once a healthy, thriving and vibrant Christ-breathed life wilt and die, weeds twisting and overtaking a once powerful testimony. Or perhaps the tender vine was crushed by the newer, prettier replacement – a trophy gleaming in a cabinet, a reminder of what once was.

But all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced. Mark 4:19 NLT

Like I said, there’s balance. The critters will get in every now and then and wreak havoc. It’s the rhythm of a corruptible life. If there’s life, there’s the potential for death.

“Search my heart, O God!’ He will. Can we hear Him when He answers? Can we throw stuff away before it starts to stink and draws more rodents?

My theory is that most hoarders knew at one time they should just get rid of stuff, that the stuff they held was beginning to hold them. But they refused. “It’s just a lamp,” you say. “Besides, what if I need it someday?” And the slow death begins.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8 ESV
Or sometimes he dresses up like a cute little fox. The point is let’s be watchful, with hearts turned towards the light and ears towards heaven. I don’t want to be a trophy. I want to be just one of His beautiful crazy branches that Jesus delights in, with fruit that bears His glorious name.

C’mon, let us in! We are so cute!!!!

November 22, 2017

And Be Thankful

Got crumbs?

Grateful.

The rain falls straight and dense, hammering the gutters and bulkhead doors in a staccato rhythm. Stay in. It’s November, it’s the day before Thanksgiving and two days before Black Friday. Traffic is thick and edgy.

My husband and I just celebrated 20 years of marriage by spending five days in Bermuda. As we sat on a balcony overlooking a clear aqua ocean, we said, “It’s hard to believe we will be eating Thanksgiving dinner next week.” We planned to invite some folks from church, people who like us, are far from family or maybe have none. But since we were absent during the strategic pre-Thanksgiving week of planning, everyone we know has found a home, a table and the beauty of a real church – family.

Our first day in Bermuda we met some friends. A sparrow lit upon the rail of the balcony, about three feet from where I sat and looked expectantly at me.

“Hello little friend,” I said. Soon some of his family came over and I could entertain the small crowd. I was so delighted by this because here, on Cape Cod, I pour some income into three bird feeders out in my backyard, drawing mostly sparrows, but they never even say Hi. Any sound, like the gate closing, causes a sudden Whoosh! into the nearby trees, where they peek and wait for me to disappear.

The Bermudian sparrows, it turns out, are just cuter counterparts to our seagulls. They’re looking for a handout, although a large crumb goes a long way. Seagulls look like they’d scoop up your grandchildren if you weren’t watching. They’d certainly snatch the lunch out of their sticky little hands. Still, they charmed me. The longing I have for another dog is somewhat abated by my bird friends. So I was grateful for the sparrows that actually came to me in Bermuda.

This morning as I was praying in church, a young man who has been coming to church for about a year bounded into the room and fell to his knees. I love listening to him pray. He is loud.

“God, I just love you and I want to thank you for picking me up when I was all dirty! You’re still cleaning me up Lord and I love you for that!” he yelled.

Once, after several minutes of enthusiastically praising God, I heard him say, “Jesus, I just want to give you a big hug!” This man is my brother, God-given, and his grateful spirit brings me joy.

“Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” Colossians 3:15

Members of one body. Family! As I look out across my church, I see a mish-mash of colors and ages and cultures. Sometimes I hear more Spanish than English and I love that. If it were up to us we would carefully hand pick a homogenous group within our social strata. Admit it – we just want to be comfortable. But God loves to shake us up. Iron sharpens iron.

Gratitude. At the jail last night, I hesitated bringing up Thanksgiving since it was obvious all plans were off for these women this year. But something nudged me to ask about favorite foods and soon the room was vibrant with descriptions of turkey stuffing, real versus jelly cranberry sauce, apple crisp with whipped cream and an eggnog drinking contest (yes, it was a family tradition for one girl and she said she usually won). I realized that gratitude sometimes is carved out of the darkness, out of the “have-nots.” I remember a phone conversation I had years ago with a dear friend who cut my pity party short by declaring that there is ALWAYS something to be grateful for. I was silent for a moment while I scrambled to throw out some cliché like “I’m grateful I’m not dead,” or “that I don’t have scabies,” when she said,

“You can always be grateful for coffee creamers…you know the little ones.” And I still ponder that truth every time I pull one open and dump it into my coffee. I’m grateful.

On the shuttle bus to the airport we rode with another couple who stayed at the same resort. We all agreed that it was a lovely place. Incredible view, food, relaxed atmosphere.

“Except for those stupid little birds,” the woman said. “I could’ve done without those!” My husband dared not speak, and I couldn’t look at him because I knew I would laugh. He wasn’t crazy about the little feathered beggars either, but he loved how happy they made me. We have several pictures to prove it. I smiled and looked out of the bus window. They say one man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.

We still have no Thanksgiving plans but we can be creative. One year my mother made spaghetti and meatballs and we brought it to the beach. I guess she was tired of turkey and dishes. Two years ago we walked downtown and told people about Jesus. The only people on the street were lonely people. We prayed with one man who cried. And he was grateful.

So this Thanksgiving, whether you sit at a table filled with turkey and sweet potatoes with marshmallow fluff (who thought of that?), surrounded by family who will say they ate too much pie, or in a jail cell with turkey roll on a cold tray (although they do have coffee creamers – I asked them), let the peace of God rule in your hearts and then look around at the crazy people God gave you to love…

And be thankful.

Just one crumb…please!

November 2, 2017

Finished and Famous Already

Olive, promoting my book without her front teeth!

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21 NIV

Yesterday was a big day, according to my granddaughter Olive. Two events made it so: Number One, she lost another tooth. Number Two, her Ama (me) became “famous.” Her word. A text came through from my son Miles, showing Olive pointing to the space in her mouth with one hand and holding up my book with the other. Something inside of me settled when I saw it. I was at once humbled and set free.

So I wrote a book, I published the book and now I am telling you that you can buy the book here:

The Greater Weight of Glory

I started to write this book eight years ago. I knew God wanted me to write it because it is really His story. But He decided to use my son Spencer and me as the main characters. Try describing one of your children in a book! So I went to a Christian writers conference to learn some things and meet some other writers. Here’s how it went:

Lunch time. You grab your tray and move through the line, making small talk with others. Hey, we’re all Christians here, so the ambience is kind and non-competitive. Nice. I turn and look for a place to sit, inhaling and holding my breath as the room begins to spin a bit and my hands start to sweat. I remind myself this is not ballroom dancing class in sixth grade. There I stood pinned against a gymnasium wall while a wave of really short boys fanned out in front of me, picking all the short girls around me for the next waltz. I pick a table of middle-age ladies who are laughing.

“Sure! Come join us!” They scoot around the table to make room for me.

“Where are you from?” The conversation is light and fluffy.

“What are you writing?” The question makes its way around the table.

Amish romance, one woman reveals with a wink and a naughty glance around the table. Every head nods in approval as we dish more pasta salad into our mouths.

Nutrition and fitness according to the Old Testament, another woman pipes up. Did you know honey has healing properties? No, I smile. That’s so interesting. Heads bob up and down. Mmmm, yes!

What about you? All eyes are now turned to me. I inhale again.

I’m writing a memoir. Exhale. Oh! Although it’s more drawn out, like Ooooooohhhhh….then here it comes, my shoulders hunch up waiting, while I play with the noodles on my plate.

What’s it about?

Deep breath. It’s about my son’s murder. It’s about all of the amazing things God has done through my son’s life and death. It’s about forgiveness and how faithful God is, it’s about…

But I lost them, right after “my son’s murder.” I feel the air disappear, the forks resting on the plates, chairs squeaking. I look up but no one will look at me.

Oh, well that’s very interesting, someone will say, a brave person, and then the topic will switch to wondering what they have for dessert, although I really don’t need any! Laugh.

And exhale.

I came home and put the book high up on a metaphorical shelf for four years and blogged instead. And it was good. But I knew it was there, calling me. The voice was soft at first, like hearing a baby talking to himself, but then it got louder. Come pick me up! It was time to finish.

At the end of the book I acknowledge my brother Bob who humored me with pretend Writer’s Group (just Bob and me with our lap tops in a coffee shop, trying to look like writers do) and my sons, who reminded me of why I write. Jake, for being my best and most faithful blog fan. And it was Miles, last winter, during the peak of my anxiety over finally finishing the book and then what? suggested that maybe I’m writing for a great – great grandson who will need to hear the Story someday. I pictured an exasperated Brooklynn, my 9-year-old granddaughter, as a mother, or maybe grandmother, taking an old dog-eared paperback off her shelf and handing it to a scowling teenager. Here – this is God’s story, it is our story of deliverance and legacy.

What could matter more?

In Embracing Obscurity, the anonymous author makes this point: God intentionally calls us Nobodies, you and me, to be His vessels of honor, so that no one can boast in ourselves. That’s refreshing to me. This book is His gift to you that was poured out through me. For that, I won’t ever despise it. It is my offering, like your gift or work or motherhood, or straightening chairs in the sanctuary, or the time it takes to have coffee with someone who is struggling. Whatever gift He has chosen to place within you. It’s all pretty lame until God says, “Yep, I can use that.” The goods are His. Our purpose here, dear brothers and sisters, is to simply show others the way with whatever we have.

So, no press release or balloons. And if you want the book, you just click three times and it activates probably another three clicks somewhere in a huge warehouse on the west coast. A paperback book is spit out with my name on it. Enjoy!

As for me, I’m famous already – in the heart of a 7-year-old girl who carries her tooth in her pocket. I think Jesus would really love that. And if it’s good enough for Him, it’s surely good enough for me.

*** special thanks to Robert Lyon for the cover illustration and Paraclete Multi Media for the design. Well done!