One Year with God

DAY 90: My son was a baseball pitcher.  He really loved the game. And of course, as a parent, I loved watching him do his thing.  It was also very instructive, as I got to see another side of him when he was in the game that I don't see any other time - complete focus.  When he steps onto the mound, nothing around him invades his world; he has on his game face. He doesn't see the crowd. He doesn't hear our cheers (or the jeers).  He is in the zone. I will never forgot when his college team played power house Texas A&M.  If you have ever been to an Aggie sporting event you will understand when I say they have the most obnoxious fans on the planet.  I say that affectionately - after all, our other son is an Aggie. They don't just cheer for their team - they mercilessly taunt the opponent. All around us in the stands the crowd did what they do so well - with one voice they taunted our team.  They had a cheer, or chant, or hand motion for EVERYT...

DAY 89:  A couple of times a year, the country goes crazy for one of those Mega Million that reach a potential astronomical payoff.  Not long ago the prize hit over $640 million.  People everywhere were believing "it could happen" to them.  Some of my own family were dreaming of what they would do when their winning numbers were called.  My sister outlined the principals by which she would help her family.  Basically, as long as everyone stayed employed they would get a piece of the pie. "Nothing good would come from handing my kids something they didn't have to work for," she insisted. She, on the other hand, would be employed with the full time occupation of giving money away - after she built a new house, bought a new car and took a trip.  Oh, and bought a boat.  Her goal in handling her vast fortune would be a balance between luxury and philanthropy. I had to laugh at my mom.  She strategically put her one lottery ticket in a speci...

Day 88:  Have you ever felt lost in the crowd?  Crowds are great places to go if you want to be anonymous.  Surrounded by a mass of people it's easy to just observe without any real involvement.  Not being noticed works well if you are at a concert, or a ball game, or in an airport.  It's not so ideal when you find yourself in need. As I read Luke 8 today, it seems that only a few people were willing to do what it took to get noticed when it really mattered, and that meant leaving the crowd behind.  And there were plenty of crowds. As Jesus arrived in yet another area to teach and preach about the Kingdom of God it was a crowd that welcomed Him "because they had been waiting for him. " Jesus almost always had a crowd around Him.  Some were friendly, like this crowd, but some were not.  He had just left a crowd on the other side of the lake that begged Him to leave.  En mass people often followed Him, watching and listening. Most of the ...

DAY 87: Looking at today's scripture, I couldn't decide what I was to focus on.  Did God want me to see a truth in how he calmed the storm after the disciples wake him up in a panic? Maybe there was something about the life of the naked crazy guy on the other side of the lake that relates to my life. It does feel crazy sometimes... though fully clothed. After much thought and meditation, God drew me to focus on the story of . . .  the pigs. I know a little something about pigs - one lives on my back porch. Three years ago our pet-loving daughter brought one home.  As a piglet he was adorable.  He was playful and funny and no bigger than a lap dog.  We fell in love with him.  For the first few months he was a well behaved house pig who loved the cats and loved to snuggle with my daughter.  The dogs, however, just never seemed to warm up to him.  We thought it was just that the pig was smarter than the dogs and they were bitter.  Time,...

DAY 85  While I am keeping up with my daily reading in Luke, I want to veer off for this blog to some passages in Genesis.  I have the joy of leading some college girls in a weekly bible study and together we are working our way through the first book of the Bible - and this week, I was definitely the one who learned the lessons this week. In Genesis, we have gotten to the point where Jacob, grandson of Abraham and son of Isaac, is running away from home.  Perhaps sneaking away would be a better description.  The young trickster had just fooled his father into giving him the special blessing that Isaac meant to bestow on his oldest son Esau. A family feud was definitely in the making so Mamma sends Jacob off to the kinfolk to let things cool down a bit. Jacob takes off on a road trip that will allow him to reside for a while with his Uncle Laban. On the way, Jacob has an encounter with God.   Through a dream, God passes the promises He made to Abraham on t...

DAY 83 & 84: I'm not a great sleeper.  I wake up multiple times a night, either because I am restless or because my pets are restless. Since I don't usually go to bed until after midnight, it can make for some very short nights. After one particularly fragmented night of sleep I was jarred awake at about 7:00, having only fallen asleep a couple of hours earlier.  I grabbed the phone and did that thing we do when we try to sound awake but it's obvious we were sound asleep. "Hello, Mrs. Wier?" "Yes." "This is the hospital.  Your friend was checked into the ICU and your name is on her chart.  She is hysterical and it sure would help us if you could come up here right now." "I'm on my way," I said flying out of bed. My dear friend has been in and out of the hospital almost weekly since before Christmas.  Her condition sometimes causes her to be disoriented and panicked. It calms her greatly when I am with her to assure h...

DAY 82: On the spur of the minute I decided to take a quick trip to the beach.  My husband was out of town and the kids all had other plans.  With the whole country taking Spring Break, I had the urge to see the beach, too.  Fortunately, I also had a friend who was willing to take a spontaneous trip with me when I called her at 10pm the night before I wanted to leave.  So early the next morning we were out the door and on our way.  It was less than a four-hour road trip but it was early, so we made just one stop on the way for coffee about 30 miles into the drive.  As long as we were parked, I took out my briefcase to retrieve the number to the hotel and confirm our reservation.  Since I had booked our room using points just hours before, I wanted to be sure we were set.  The best thing about the trip was that it wasn't going to cost hardly any money, just a couple of meals and gas.  With coffee in hand and that quick call made we were ...