Author: marettej

Pitch black wasn’t really the description. I could easily see lights across the lake. The faint glimmer of solar lights still hanging on the dock were like tea lights. Looking up I could see the stars- like Christmas lights scattered across the sky. I stood in the silence and listened to my thoughts. Who am I? The stars so far away, the patterns they have created across the sky that I still remember from 6th grade. Orion’s Belt, the Big Dipper and many bright stars that I know now are satellites. The beauty of the dark. I stand at the dock and if it were not so cold I would have stood much longer. The dog reminded me that he is done with his ritual and we can go back in. I, however, will never get weary of the beauty of darkness and stars. I marvel at their dancing across the ceiling of heaven. I wonder how I could be so blessed as to have eyes to see them and a mind to ask how they are designed. I watch them as they dance across the sky. And for me- God puts on a show just for me. No one else seems to be out by their dock watching the sky show. Then I am reminded of a few years ago while in Africa looking up at the sky and seeing the moon. That same moon that would be visible in Minnesota later that day. What a God to give us the beauty of things so remarkable that can only be seen in the night skies. What a God!

It wasn’t me. It really wasn’t me, although it could have been. Two places I wasn’t at today. One was at a funeral in Indiana. I kind of wanted to go. I thought very highly of the gentleman: He had helped me out years ago when I needed some advice. But it wasn’t me that was at the celebration service in Indiana.

It also wasn’t me standing in the medium on Hwy 63 in handcuffs. We just happened to come up on the scene too late to witness what happened. Four squad cars and policeman, a pair of handcuffs and an officer putting a gun in a zip lock baggie. It wasn’t me, although it could have been. Either one could have been me. I could have lived my life and went on to eternity. I could have been running from the law and met my match by being cornered at the corner of Hwy 63 and Hwy 14. Either situation has its challenges. If I am in the casket, my life is over. If I am standing in handcuffs, my life as I knew it is over.

There are some things I cannot control in life. As much as I would like to think I can control life, there are some things I just don’t have any power over. Death is one. When my time here is over, I won’t have an option. I do have a choice how to live the life I have here. That decision making process is how I have so far in my life avoided being in cuffs at the corner of a busy intersection. God gives me many moments in life to redeem myself. George, the man who passed, helped me do that many many years ago. As I think back on the man standing surrounded by officers, I wondered if he had someone in his life like George to help redeem his decision making process, would he have been in a different place in time at 1 p.m. today in Rochester?

George helped many people redeem their decision making process. It wasn’t just me. Later this afternoon I listened to the celebration service, live streamed from Indiana and was thankful that for one day many years ago, I called George. A few hundred miles later, we connected for a day and talked. When the one son talked about his driving, I could agree it was a bit different than the way I was used to. When they referred to the places he liked to eat, we ate at two of them that day. I seldom had two meals when I was on the road. I had two meals within 7 hours time spent with George.

What if we, would redeem someone’s decision making process and took the time to listen, to take to lunch, to listen, to take to supper and listen some more? That’s what George did for me. Listened, reworded, is this what you meant, have you looked at it this way, and by the end of the night, two meals, Wednesday night church and a sermon later, I had been blessed because George took the time to listen and cared about where I was in my life at that moment. What if that young man had a George? Perhaps he did. Perhaps he had opportunities to change the projection of his life? Perhaps he did, but just maybe he needed two meals, and a lot of questions?

Be a George to someone. There are plenty of people who just need a friend. George could have said when I called him and asked if we could talk, he was too busy. He could have said he was a preacher and had to study. He could have, but he didn’t. I had to make the phone call. I had to make the effort, but something I had seen in him, knew that he would be willing to be there. The rest would take care of itself. George called last year. We talked a couple times. An honor and a blessing to go back in the years of memories and enjoy catching up.

The young man at the corner of Hwy 63 and Hwy 14? I hope he has a George he can call to help him walk through some decisions he may be facing.

It’s not my issue but it always seems to affect me. People in leadership who don’t know how to lead, who can’t accept others gifts and then because of their low self esteem do not allow anyone more gifted than themselves to be a part of “their church “. I love the illustration he uses about the body in chapter 12 but then again I know many who use only half their body or certain parts don’t work. I

like to think of a house. We have had issues with our roof for years. Jim tried many different ways to solve it including shingling. Finally it was tear it off and put a new one on. That solved the problem very well. In the meantime it ruined part of the floor, rotten the beams where the water made a trail through the insulation and worked its way out to drop in pails we set our. What we did to the roof was different what what we did to replace the floor. Each of the building materials met a need. The flooring will rot if left on top of the shingles. The shingles would be rough to walk on if we laid it on the floor. Sheet rock instead of windows? No go!

So why do leaders in the church put people in places they don’t fit or keep others from working in their areas of expertise? I think it’s because they have made an idol of themselves, or as one pastor told me “ you won’t serve in my church- you are too organized “. “ no women’s ministry allowed where I preach.” One church I was in the women’s ministry ran the church.”

That’s like saying I won’t put shingles on my house because the roof leaked and it must have been the shingles. 1 Cor 12 reminds us that there are diversities. There has to be. They can unite or they can divide. A knife can carve or a knife can cut. Carving is intentional and then cutting happens when we aren’t careful or have an accident and the knife slips. Does that mean we throw all knives away? Nope! Even with the many stitches I have had when the knife slipped, I need to use knives in life. “ that God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it.” Part of that honor, or recognition is knowing who has a need around you and helping them be honorable. I see someone who needs encouraging, I encourage- that’s my gift. Someone sees me struggling to lift something above my head, please help me out- my torn rotator cuff doesn’t work anymore. We honor those we walk along side and they honor us by their strengths which means Gods church is made to look good because of the unity in diversity. I am different than you and you add strength to my weakness WHEN we do it together. Sometimes that together is sitting around a campfire. Other times it’s delivering fun things to others. And then, there are times when you will give me greater honor by praying for me. So go about your day being you! If you are a nail, a 2×4, a beam a piece of flooring or a rug and be who you are. Don’t let someone tell you that you don’t belong in their building! You belong in Gods so be what God made you to be. And be the best nail or rug you are. And when you see someone being the best they can be, do it together!!! Be different together!

Pictures- I love them. I take them. I put them on my wall on canvas. I send them to people in the mail. I copy them. I have them on my phone. Pictures are just special. It’s not so much the picture but what I represents. I have an album on my phone that says friends. In that album are pictures of people. In our culture today we have what we call , “selfie’s”. That’s when you take a picture or yourself and often it’s because you want a picture or two people together and you don’t have anyone else to take the picture. There is something about a picture together with a friend that is special. We were somewhere one day, okay we were getting a pedicure and it wasn’t Jim as a part of the “we” and a family came over and asked if we would take their picture. They wanted to remember the moment they did something special together. I was glad to oblige. I had asked many people to do that for me.

What is there about a picture? It’s a reminder. It brings back memories. It’s a point in time that is etched in the heart. I wonder if Jesus and the disciples would have done a selfie, what those pictures would have looked like. Peter probably making a face, John close to Jesus, Andrew laying across the front on the group, Philip standing tall in the back and Thomas seemingly never looking at the camera at the right time. Pictures reveal a bit about ourselves. Sometimes we are okay with it and other times we beg people not to show that picture to anyone. Life won’t change- we will just discover other ways to do selfie’s. And as we look back at the picture we have taken we remember. Make sure you live life that’s worthy of the selfie’s that find their way to your camera. And when people look at it , let them have memories of the sweetest kind. And if you could take a selfie with Jesus where would it be? Curious minds want to know.

It was one of the many we saw on our recent trip. I have a hankering for a windmill at the farm but haven’t gotten the farmer to believe in my dream. Last year, however, I found a piece of iron sticking out of the ground. It wasn’t unusual for us to find interesting things sticking out of the ground, but then comes the remove it moment. It wouldn’t budge. That’s when the farmer looked at the surroundings, the well, and said, “here is a piece of the old windmill.” After digging down several inches trying to get it to move, and it firmly planted in place, it was decided to cut it off, with a blow torch kind of thingee, and replace the dirt and the sod. I really didn’t want to hit it with the lawnmower, and the farmer definitely didn’t want me hitting it with the lawn mower. It, the heavy piece of steel would have won. So, windmills: I think they are beautiful. They reflect the sun, they bring beauty to a forsaken landscape and they bring water up to the surface. It’s a visual of the past, a reminder that wind is energy and a challenge to find a windmill to put up at the farm. Windmills remind me of what God does. Wind can be damaging and wind can be calming. A cool breeze on a hot day is refreshing. The wind during a blizzard in Minnesota stops the world from it’s normal schedule. And yet, the wind catches the paddles of a windmill and turns them which in turn rotates gears and shafts and brings up water from the earth. Windmills are high in the breeze and bring those needing water from afar. Cattle figure out pretty quick the windmills aren’t there just to look cute in a picture. Cattle find their way to the water.

I look at the windmills and wonder how many stories could it tell, it it were able to? It doesn’t do much but go with the wind. The wind though harmful can be, is needed to draw water. I sometimes feel the wind on my face in life and deny it’s valuable assets to my heart. I want the water, but don’t want the wind to blow. I want the cool breeze, but I don’t want the gusts that shake the trees. I can’t have it one way or the other. I will take what God gives and enjoy for the moment the breeze or the shutters flapping. For in each, I can learn to be content and see what God is doing in my life. Drawing water or shaking out dead branches!