Merry Christmas!

A Love Story

Originally written for Grace & Honor, February 2010
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Just a poor, beggar girl I am, deserving of nothing. He is so great and so far above me, like a Grand Prince over all - fine, educated, rich, handsome, kind. So far above me - wretched, dirty, stubborn, ugly, stupid me. "What about your self-image?" you might say. And this is my self-image - that I am a dog, that I am a sinner, and that I was incurable.

It's the ultimate love story because he reached down for me. Here is how it all came about, and then you will see what I mean.

I cried out for his pity, not his love, but still I know the only reason I was compelled to cry out was because he first caught my gaze, with his eyes burning into my very soul. I was vile and would have never dared to try, except his look gave me hope.

"Crumbs, my lord! I only ask for crumbs!" I cried out in such fear, for crumbs were too much for me. I deserved nothing at the least, cruel punishment at the fairest, and crumbs from his table were certainly far too good for me.

He didn't give me the crumbs I asked for. He gave me so much more. He loved me, and it seems he was waiting the whole time for me to cry out, just so he could do something to help.

He picked me up from my slump on the ground, brought me home, washed me, and clothed me with robes - robes of righteousness which are his own. He took away my filthy rags, which though a grossly unfair exchange, he was rejoicing to do.

I sit right up at the table with the rest of the family, faring on delights innumerous. The family is like me - all loved by him and brought here without their own merit. A motly crew we may seem, but one thing can be said - we love him dearly.

"A princess!" you may say when you see me - a yes, I am. The daughter of this King, all glorious within, beloved and cherished.

But what you see is all because of him. I am simply a testament to his grace. Anything noteworthy you see of me is evidence that he has changed me. I am the receiver of his goodness, transformed by his power, washed in his blood - all because I asked him for crumbs, and gained his love.

Learning from the Past

Originally written for Grace & Honor, April 2010
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With a quick look around and a sharp intake of breath, Joan slipped into the shadows of the passageway and bent over. Pulling up the hem of her skirt, she loosened the bounds of a cord tied around her ankle. With one swift motion, she picked up the little parcel that had fallen and straightened, flashing a smile around in case anyone caught sight of her strange action.

Clutching the small parcel to her chest, she scurried down the passageway past guards and councilmen, and entered a small room. There several ladies sat near the fire, chatting and amusing themselves before dinner was served. She saw the one she was searching for, a small, grayish woman sitting alone and talking to no one. Recently widowed, with children fighting for her fortune, the shrewd old woman was very lonely. "I brought you a present," Joan whispered as she sat next to the small widow.

The year was 1538, and Joan of Kent was a woman of influential opinions. A cultured and well-educated lady, she was also an avid reader of Tyndale’s English translation of the Bible and used to carry it around with her and give to people at the king’s court. Persecutions against her began, for it was greatly frowned upon for anyone other than clergy to read the Bible for themselves, much less try to understand it and talk about it to others. Due to this persecution, she soon found it necessary to conceal the Bibles. This she did by tying them underneath her clothing, so as to have them out of sight, but still within reach to secretly pass to those she felt would benefit from studying it.

It did not take long for her to be found out. Imagine for a moment what she must have been feeling. She was obviously quite wealthy and quite important. She was educated and reasonable, so why did she find it so necessary to 'push' her ideas of religion on others? I can tell you why. It is because she had met Someone who changed her life. She read the Bible as if it had been written to her and for her, not for the priests to have to explain everything away. Her persistence in giving Bibles away (which cost her much since Bibles were scarce and expensive) showed that she wanted to share with others the greatest gift she had ever found.

As is often the case, while most were tolerable of Joan's acts of Bible-giving and Bible-reading, there were a few who were not, and they were rather vocal in their complaints. She was accused and imprisoned, and the commissioners had many conferences with her to change her mind. They pleaded with her, tried to persuade her, yet she remained steadfast in her beliefs. These beliefs were declared blasphemous and from the devil. What beliefs, you might ask? One of these 'blasphemes' was that Joan declared that Jesus did not obtain any of Mary's fleshly nature in His birth, and she used Scripture to back her claims.

Joan of Kent was burnt at the stake in the year 1538, but her life was not given in vain. She was one of many of our Baptist ancestors who gave their lives to fight for the Bible to be commonly read. It is because of people like Joan of Kent that we are privileged to have a Bible today.

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Lately, I've been surrounding myself with old faces - faces blurred by the past and sometimes hard to define amid the library dust. Delving into history is something that comes naturally to me. I love to hear stories about people, real people like me that lived and loved. Stories about noble conquerors and simple townspeople, fathers and sons, kings and peasants. But when you are digging these stories out of ancient volumes, it is easy to be so busy uncovering the past that you don't put it back together the right way.

It is easy to allow history to stay removed from us. We can hear a story, know about a person's life, have all our facts straight, and not really feel what happened to them. We can be so studious in the knowledge of what happened that we forget the characters in the story were real people too. They had hopes and dreams, feelings and aspirations, disappointments and despair.

Baptist history is one of those arenas of disconnectedness. It's easy to get the facts down about our Baptist forefathers through the centuries, to know mentally about the price they paid for our freedom, and yet somehow forget that they were real people. Behind every great Baptist preacher who endured ridicule and scorn stood a wife or a mother, a family that hurt and endured right along with him. Behind every instance of a martyr stood friends who wept for their dear one, delivered up to the enemy. Behind every betrayal and every intrigue stood the real lives of men and women who stood for what was right, even when it cost them.

You may not think that your life is important or significant. I can guarantee you that most of these, our forefathers in history, thought the same thing about their lives. They were living, breathing people - just like you and me. They went about living their lives, wondering if what they were doing would ever make a difference. Yet the way that they lived their lives - for good or bad - had such a profound impact on our history. We can learn much by looking at the past.

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." (Hebrews 11:13)

O Christmas Tree!

Well, after tweaking and wrestling and adding and redoing, I think the tree is done. I mean, I haven't done any major changes on it in several days now, and I like how it looks... so I guess that means it's done. :)

Some favorite ornaments this year, from 3 states to which we had very memorable trips...

 New York

 Pennsylvania

Hawaii

It's so relaxing to just sit and look at the lights!

An Hour's Drive Away

Originally written for Grace & Honor, March 2010
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I recently read a quip someone made about space not being that far away and inaccessible as we think it is. After all, it is only an hour’s drive away if your car could go straight up. An hour’s drive is no big deal…many people make that every day to go to work or go to the store. But there is still that all-determining ‘if.’

The fact is that cars can't drive straight up, therefore making what really isn’t all that far away, so completely inaccessible for the average person. To go into space, you need power behind you. You need a greater force than just a car. (You also need some sort of protective gear, oxygen supply, and plan for coming back down…but that is beside the point and not part of this article!)

God’s presence really isn’t that far away. His ear is ready to hear my prayer, if I am willing to offer it up in a way that is pleasing to Him. And there is that ‘if.’ I need a power greater than me behind my prayers if I am going to experience God’s presence and blessing in my life. God doesn’t listen to me because of who I am; He listens to me because of who I am in Christ. That all-determining ‘if.’

If you had the opportunity to go into outer space, if that ‘if’ was made a possibility for you, would you do it? Would you take advantage of that? Maybe you would and maybe you wouldn’t. More importantly, if you had the opportunity to go into the presence of God and have His complete attention, would you do it? Because the truth is that you do have that opportunity – every day! We have a moment-by-moment opportunity to be ushered right before His throne and offer up our requests and our praise. Will you take advantage of this opportunity? It all starts with that ‘if.’

Recently...

It's no secret that I love winter. And I'm not just saying that... I really, really do! Even these past few days, where I don't think we've been above zero degrees in a week, I still much prefer the cold and the snow to the heat of summer. That's just me, and I know it's unbelievable to most people, but there it is. I will say that I DON'T like the wind, of which we have plenty in this part of the country! But the past week has been beautiful - big, fluffy snowfalls, negative temperatures, and very little wind. 

Some pictures from recently...

A frosty, misty morning...before the snow

Just a little bit of a snowfall

The only thing better than chicken curry for supper is leftover chicken curry for lunch!

And the best thing about roasting your own pumpkin is the seeds you get to toast... with cardamom, of course!

We took a little trip to Pennsylvania over Thanksgiving. I'm so thankful for the way it all worked out and it was wonderful to see so many friends and family members again! It was the first time I had been back to my old church or seen any of my family since the wedding. It was a little bittersweet being there without my parents, but I'm still glad we took the opportunity to go.

We did lots of things while we were there, including attend the Pie & Praise service, celebrate Thanksgiving (one of us got the flu :( ), visit with some other out-of-state friends who were in town for the holiday, visit NYC, go hiking, and have a whole family experience of making sushi. All around, a lot of fun! Except for the flu part...

Thanks to my brother for this pic of the skyline!

 

Our first four sushi rolls... we ended up making eight, plus a large platter of sashimi!

This is what greeted us as we flew into our home state!

We got home between two storm systems. This was the beginning of the second system that started later in the day that we landed... this ended up canceling church for the night because of blizzard-like conditions!

A naked tree in my living room

Dressed in lights and red things

I love relaxing mornings all cozy by the twinkling Christmas tree, with my mug of hot coffee!

The Christmas tree is still in progress. It's been up for a week now, and every day it changes a little bit. That's because the number of ornaments that we had was somewhat limited, for two reasons: a) this is our first Christmas together as a family, and b) my husband wanted to buy the biggest tree we could possibly squeeze into our tiny living room. I love our big tree!! Slowly and surely, I'm filling it out with paper snowflakes and stars, extra shiny balls, and bows. I'll have to share a picture when it's all finished. :)

Things Happen

Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting some articles that I wrote for Grace & Honor, my former church's ladies paper. You can view the Grace & Honor online and there are lots of great articles there... both in the archives and posted new every other month! Some of these are things that I wrote a long time ago, but they are still good, so I wanted to post them here too in case you missed them. :)

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Originally written for Grace & Honor, January 2010.

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Things happen.

Things happen that I would not approve of for my life. If I was walking through a store of “Choices for Rachel’s Life,” I would not take those things off the shelf to put into my cart. I would leave them there! No, surely it is better to leave them there.

But that is not how life generally works out. There are the small things – the little frustrations, the changing of schedules, the annoyances that arise, the distractions. Then there are the big things – complete life changes, disastrous news, unexpected things that happen that change our course.

There are only two starting points for things that happen in my life. First, those things can be coming straight from my Father. He has sent them to me, a special gift of love, packaged up in a challenging situation. I can trust that He knows best, that He has a purpose and a plan for this thing, and that He already has a solution worked out. Second, those things can be coming from the devil as a temptation for me to sin. But even then, I can be assured that God has allowed this to come, and again – He knows best, He has a purpose and a plan for this thing, and He already has a solution worked out. No matter the origin of this thing, Satan wants me to fret, to do something rash, and to hurt the name of Christ, while God wants me to trust, to do the right thing, so that His will be done. Furthermore, God has promised that He will never send me more than I can bear.

So it all comes down to my response. Whether the thing be small or large, whether it be painful or boring, whether it be long or short, I need to be aware of my reaction.

Isn’t it so reassuring that He already knows about this thing? Isn’t it wonderful to know that He was not caught by surprise? Isn’t it good to remember that I can always trust Him – for the large as well as the small?

No more .com

Contrary to what my header says up there (until I change it, which I'm planning on doing shortly), I no longer have my .com address. My blog can be accessed at racheletcetera.blogspot.com until I decide what I'm going to do. The main issue is that my blog is still authorized to my old email address, so I've been thinking about whether I will start a new one or try to move this one to my new email address, and until I decide all that, I didn't want to spend the money to renew the old domain. Long story short, it's a minor adjustment for now, and maybe some big changes down the road. :)

But since I'm not the most prompt and prolific poster anymore, I suppose that any change is only slightly noticed. :)

In Which I Post Pictures (of food and other stuff)

Life is going along quite swimmingly. I look back over the pictures I've taken since I last posted, and there is a common theme: food and coffee. I just can't help myself!

Another skillet for supper... this one with cardamom, my favorite!

A cozy evening at home... a couple months ago. We don't have our door open very often anymore, as you might imagine after seeing the frost picture a little bit later. :)

An apple peeler thingy that was a Christmas gift last year was put to good use during this year's apple harvest!

A walk one evening with some of the beautiful fall colors against the blue sky

I made chapstick.... so addicted to it!

More fall colors...this time as seen in Itasca, MN. 

The first significant frost that made me find my windshield scraper. It was so pretty, I hated to scrape it away!

I'm working on my green thumb... don't worry, I consult with my mother often. So far, I have 1 dead plant and 4 living ones, so it's going in my favor.

There have been 3 symphony concerts so far this year... one more for Christmas, and then Ethan gets a break until Spring!

I love quiet mornings with soft music, a cup of coffee, my Bible & my journal... just waiting for the sun to come up!

 Last, but certainly not least, Sarah came for a visit!!! It was so much fun to just hang out with her and we did all sorts of fun stuff, and all sorts of everyday stuff too! Friends who have been there through thick and thin and just 'get you' are certainly well worth keeping!

We have already gotten our first snow, although it didn't stick around for very  long (less than two hours, I think!). Since then, I've seen flurries quite often, but nothing significant. In all, the weather has really been very nice for this time of year! But you won't find me complaining when the snow does come. :) 

Ethan & I are looking forward to going to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving, and other than that, we're just staying busy with normal work/school/symphony/church stuff going on! 

I am SO EXCITED for Christmas this year. After spending 3 Christmases in Africa, last year's Christmas was rather sad as I was apart from my love. This year is going to be so much fun - I'm living in a winter wonderland, after all! And it will be our first Christmas together, so I'm anticipating the good memories. 

The Lord is at Hand

This morning, I read some verses in Philippians 4. I noticed that there was a line of commands, followed by a promise, and sandwiched right in the middle of there was a 'random' statement. Here they are, so you can see what I mean:

-Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
-Let your moderation be known unto all men.
-The Lord is at hand.
-Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
-And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Maybe they could have been split up into more 'commands', but I let the periods be the breaking points. So the three commands are: Rejoice, be moderate (or more specifically, let your moderation be known), be careful for nothing (but let your requests... etc).

The promise if we do this is: The peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds.

And that statement: The Lord is at hand.

I don't know that I really know WHY this command is significant, but it seemed almost out of place to me. Obviously, it gives weight to these commands, it gives a reason for them. Our time here is short; the Lord is returning any day, therefore... But I don't know that I have a great understanding about it. It's just something that stuck out to me as I was reading, so I wrote it down in my journal and went on with my day thinking about it in the back of my mind.

Later, on my lunch break, I pulled out a book I've been reading, called What's It Like to be Married to Me? by Linda Dillow. It's a great book (I love reading marriage books... even though we haven't been married a year yet and our marriage isn't on the rocks or anything, it's still so encouraging to read books specifically written to wives and see ways that I can correct my attitude and be a better wife!)

But this is something that Linda wrote that caught my attention, especially in light of the verses I read this morning: "Your brain is a fabulous computer, capable of recording eight hundred memories per second for seventy-five years without ever getting tired. Amazing! God's Word says that what you feed into your mind will come out in your life (Prov. 23:7). So, if you go to a Sophisticated Venting Club and train your mind to think negative thoughts about your husband, if you meditate on all you don't like about him, if you fill your mind and heart with garbage about your man, garbage will be printed out - gripe, grumble, murmur, and vent will fill the pages of your life."

Isn't that kind of the whole point of these verses? Maybe not in the exact marriage application, but in the "you are what you think" application? For me to rejoice, for me to be moderate, for me to be careful for nothing but bring my requests to God with thanksgiving, it all starts with what I am thinking about. It all starts with my perspective (The Lord is at hand) and letting that permeate into my thoughts. That will effect these actions in my life (a natural by-product, you might say) and bring about the promise that God gives: peace that passes all understanding.