Author: marettej

I was supposed to go do chores. It was blowing the tree swing straight out parallel to the ground. There is no use of throwing hay; the hay will be in Rochester and the horses won’t have a chance to chase it down. I also knew I had a package being delivered. I waited and the wind was still strong and no package. So, I did what we all do- live via Murphy’s law. I went to do chores. I heard the dogs bark. Sure enough, the mailman was here with my package. After chores being an adventure I went to see Grandpa at his trailer. It was as if the wind suddenly changed… and quite. When I was done doing chores and having hay fly back in my face.

It seems that if we are waiting, the wind will never change. But, if we wait long enough- we don’t want to wait.  Not that we aren’t patient, but waiting takes time. The horses were hungry. I had places to go and things to do. Waiting, well means waiting. God tells us that regardless of the timing of things in life, we will need to wait for the wind to change. And there are also times in life when we just have to walk out in the wind and make the best of it.  Hebrew 6:15 “And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.”  I wonder if Abraham got a bit itchy to get on with it. God made a promise. God made a promise saying I will surely bless you. We know the story. Abraham and Sarai weren’t really waiting without trying to help in their own way. I can relate. I have so many ideas, I can’t sleep at night. My ideas are awesome, relentless and very real in the middle of the night. That’s sometimes when we wander from God when our ideas and thoughts seem awesome and relentless and we don’t consult God. Or, perhaps we consult God and he says, well, just wait a bit.  I never liked that little phrase; “Wait a bit”. And we know that God’s bit (time) is a lot different than our bit.

I look out the window and the leaves are waving but the swing is pretty still. That’s my indication that it’s changed. Along with the sunshine it’s a pretty perfect day. Two hours ago it wasn’t that way- I was waiting for the wind to change. I have to remind myself that God will come through on his promises. I need to change my “wait a bit” attitude and just watch the leaves and the swings in life. And when God says that it’s time to go out in the wind, I just have to depend on him that he will keep me from blowing away.

It’s raining. Again. I can almost relate to Noah. We can’t get in the fields. We can’t use outdoor arenas. We can’t mow lawn. We just watch it rain and listen to sump pumps that work and put down towels and pans to catch the water coming in where the roof leaks.

However even in the rain some things are beautiful. Leaves in fall. The sound of the rain on the roof. The mist in the morning. But mostly the leaves. On my drive up north usually I stop to take pictures of the fall tree colors as they explode across the Wisconsin countryside. They are exploding… but I am not stopping. It’s raining too hard. Even with the rain, the trees are beautiful. Perhaps even a bit more because right now we need to see beauty. Rain, especially for this long and with this much, we are struggling to find the beauty in the mud. But when we look up at the trees, the beauty cannot be denied even with rain droplets on our glasses and dripping off the leaves. Perhaps it’s God reminding us that there is a beauty we miss when we don’t look up. There is a beauty that we need to reignite when we look at the simple things amidst the uncomfortable and let the beauty be more prominent. There is beauty…. even in the rain.

Eating together. We do a lot of it. It’s a culture thing for us although for some it’s survival physically, for us it’s survival emotionally…or perhaps I should say for me.

Last week I ate a lot with people. I made pot roast, mashed potatoes, fresh bread and cookies for my son and his roommate at Emmanuel seminary in Tennessee. He made me tacos. We are at a German cafe in town, at a taco place with a whole pile of friends, I ate at the counter, back-deck and cafe with my friend. Last night we had three large pizzas and a pot of green beans in the kitchen before playing games; yes we eat together.

Jesus ate with people. He gave them worth by eating with others. They were important if he ate with them. Meals also bonded people’s hearts. We live in a culture that doesn’t eat together much. They call it being busy. Personally, I think it’s easier to eat on the run that invest the time to pursue eating with more than one. I feed a lot more people than I can claim on my taxes. Our house seems to be a place for kids, friends and that’s ok. I will go grocery shopping today and plan a menu for the week and that’s ok. When I feed people, I give value to them. I took someone out for lunch yesterday…I listened to her talk. We solved none of her problems, nor changed how either one of us looked at our world, but there was a value placed on her heart by me driving an hour to sit across from her and eat cheese curds and salad.

Place value on someone’s life and eat. Be Jesus’s and eat with someone who may be different than you. It’s amazing how good you feel being Jesus and getting fed at the same time…..

As many times as I have flown, it never gets old and I always clap.

I grew up having a father as a pilot. We thought everyone had a Cessna airplane tied by grandmas house. We thought everyone taxi’d across the highway to the landing strip and took off. For us that was normal. And somehow along the way we clapped when daddy landed each time. Somehow that always stayed with me. I might be the only one on the plane clapping but I always do. One time after a rather rough flight in bad weather when I started most of the plane joined in. We were thankful to be on the ground safe.

Does it matter that the pilots have no clue I clapped? No, but it matters to me. It never gets old that thrill of feeling the wheels hit, watching the flaps go up and feeling the power engines thrust backwards to slow the plane. And I always clap to show respect and appreciation for someone more knowledgeable than I being willing to take my life in a tin can and move at amazing speeds through space…. and safely put the wheels down thousands of miles away….

It was a bumpy flight. In fact, They didn’t push around the food cart that’s how bumpy it was. They came around and asked if we wanted something but there was what they called turbulence. Turbulence is another word for let’s shake around in a tin can at 30,000 feet and see if we can scare people. It works. It’s a very expensive adventure park ride that doesn’t get off the same place you got on.

The beauty of flying is right outside the window. I marvel that one can get in a can, so to speak that’s what an airplane is, and get off hours away in one piece, still breathing and hug loved ones. That amazes me. The beauty is watching the world go by. There have been times when I could see the ground and follow where we were flying down to knowing that towns we were passing over. There have been times at sunrise or sunset that I marvel at the intense beauty that I can’t explain, in a tin can I can’t figure out and marvel all this to a God I don’t see but feel his presence. Those are a lot of intangible things in one sentence but so very real. Then there are clouds. Yesterday we rode in clouds most of the way. What is a cloud? It is a visible mass of condensed water vapor floating in the air. Yup- that’s Webster definition. Mine would be more like, whitish, cleanish, floaty stuff that resembles cotton balls but are transparent and when you are looking at them they look so cool and when you are flying through them you just go “ahhh”.

God takes a moment in life to wow me with clouds. He does that with babies, snowstorms, Flowers, puppies and the moment a friend calls me. God wows me with things that cannot be explained. I want to understand clouds. I want to touch a cloud. I can’t. God doesn’t seem to think I need to figure things out nearly as much as I do.

I walked on board a tin can. They shut the door held together by screws made by men, I sat in a seat and buckled a seatbelt. Thats probably the second thing I find silly about flying. I am putting my faith in a tin can and yet think the seatbelt will be my safety latch. The other thing I think is foolish is the instructions they give if the plane has an emergency. I struggle to remember my shopping list on a good day on the ground. On a bad day 30,000 feet, when the emergency happens, I will not remember what they told me because I may be slightly freaking out in my tin can with my seat belt on. And in case of a water landing, don’t think I will remember my seat can be used as a flotation device. But I got on the plane made of tin, and got off in a small town and a mountain man picked me up in another tin can with four tired and we drove off into the sunset, or rather the rain. Where is my faith? I trust tin and screws but question the inventor of the clouds and atmosphere? I buckle the seat belt that will do so little to protect me and question my creator if he actually thinks the road he has me walking down is a good idea? I put my faith In Such goofy things,,,and think I am ok. When we pulled out of the clouds I could see Bristol/Johnson city so clearly. It was always there, I just couldn’t see through the condensed vapor. I need to realign my faith in the cloud maker. The creator of condensed vapor knows a lot more about my life then I want to accept some days. I would rather trust in a tin can out together with bolts. How foolish we are….