Here is another online joke, although I don’t know the author to give a proper attribution. But, in America, today is “the day” to have in our tax returns. Oh, wouldn’t it be great if we could enjoy all the benefits of our governments without needing to support them? Despite disagreeing with many of America’s financial policies, I am grateful to live in a country where people can run for election without getting mysteriously murdered. I am deeply grieved for the moral failures enabled by our freedoms, but I’m thankful for the great freedoms of choice we have, and I believe these freedoms are God-given. Painful as it is, God created us with free wills, and most of the horrifying evils as well as the inspiring goods we see in the world around us are because we, the people, have been allowed freedom to choose. I also believe heaven will be a place where we still have freedom of choice, but we will be like Jesus and always make right choices.
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:1-3).
Not long ago, I spent a week with friends at Gitche Gumee Bible Camp in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I was participating in a senior retreat (not the high school kind). We learned about mentoring and the role of grandparents (and parents) in the generations who are the future. More recently, I attended a women’s retreat where we learned about influence and how in mentoring we invest in each other.
Today as some of my closest friends gathered to pray for each other, our families, and communities, I was thinking again about the impact of that one word “mentor.”
We learn from each other how to navigate these days that make this life what it is.
We first learned from parents, then from teachers, pastors, coaches, and for those fortunate enough to partner up with one, a mentor who articulates important life-enhancing behaviors.
We glean knowledge from listening and from watching others. The common thread in how we learn is guidance and counsel woven through every aspect.
We need guides to teach us things we may never understand without the wisdom of people willing to share from their experiences.
We need guides to pour into us from their wisdom:
To look forward and not back.
To look inward before stepping outward.
To grieve a little for what is lost but be thankful for what is still here.
To plant seeds of encouragement in the dark and heavy dirt.
To be grateful for what happened before and expect the best of life is yet to be.
To be careful with your moments because they become your memories.
Do you wonder how to get from where you are to where you want to be? I promise you, the path is not easy. But it is possible.
Find a guide who has already forged the path and found success. Find a friend who will listen at heart level and hold you up while you find your way.
Seek wisdom. Seek understanding. Don’t give up.
Anyway . . . that’s what I was thinking.
“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7).
P.S.—Quite coincidentally, Alan and I shared dinner with a couple in their 80’s last night who have been in ministry for 60 years! The outpouring of stories and wisdom was fabulous, and the similarities were almost as remarkable as the differences in our experiences, even though they’re Australians and we’re Americans! God is ever gracious, severe in his mercies, surprising, and wonderfully tender both in His training and in His everlasting love!
Are you going to watch the Super Bowl this Sunday?
I’m not a huge fan of football (too many injuries), but I’m a huge fan of true stories about overcoming great odds, and American Underdog does a thrilling job of sharing the story of Kurtis Eugene Warner, who rose from being an undrafted free agent to becoming the Super Bowl’s most valuable player in 2000.
Want to know how he did it? If so, take time to watch this 2021, PG, family friendly, highly rated (7.1 IMDb) movie. It would make a great start for a Super Bowl weekend!
Commonly considered the NFL’s greatest undrafted player, Kurt was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017. When asked how it all happened, Kurt gave thanks for each member of his team, the coach, and his wife, but he ended by saying in essence, “I want to give praise to my Savior Jesus Christ!”
(File:KurtWarnerSuperBowlXXXIV.jpg by Sean Daly. Wikimedia Commons)
Intriqued, I found that he’s still married to his wife, Brenda, and although he retired at age 38 (after 12 years of pro football), he has worked in broadcasting since and continues to be very active in Christian work. Here are a few inspiring quotes I found online to encourage us in our walks and work:
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).
Did you make any New Year’s Resolution this year? Are you still full of enthusiasm for personal progress in 2024? I notice a bit of a slump during the dark days of February and don’t feel quite so motivated to “keep on keepin’ on” when it comes to personal discipline. But, we’ll never learn to hit the bull’s eye if we don’t keep practicing with a target. Right? As Wayne Gretzky says: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Better to try and fail than fail to try. At least, that’s what I think. It also helps to set reasonable goals. Life isn’t about attaining perfection overnight; it’s about growth and positive change.
For example, my older brother has given me the best-yet model for how to lose weight. He lost 9 pounds from last January to June, but over the course of this year, I think he hit his ideal weight! (He didn’t have far to go.) I started last fall and have only lost 5 pounds in 6 months. I still have a looong way to go, but the beauty is, it’s something I can actually sustain, so I’m excited about it! Basically, I take (any) two days each week (when I don’t have anything special going on) where I eat only 200-300 calories for each of my 3 meals and then eat normally the rest of the week. Technically, this allows me to live a very “normal” life, but practically, the two days of semi-fasting help reduce my overall sense of needed portion size, which keeps me balanced and continuously conscious of my eating choices. So far, so good. If I lose 10 pounds and still think it’s awesome, I’ll write about it again! Oh, and when I ran this by my brother, he reminded me that we’re both exercising regularly too, which is critical both for weight loss and for good health!
Meanwhile, I really wanted to recommend the book Lead Like It Matters to God (2021), by Richard Stearns, who was the president of World Vision (Christian global relief agency) for 20 years. Stearns writes with humor and insight, so he’s easy on the ears and heart, but he also gives wonderful advice about how to be a good leader, garnered from a lifetime of serving the Lord in both secular and spiritual businesses. Even his story about growing up is inspirational and charming . . . like the day he got into Wharton Business School looking so shabby an attendant tried to stop him at the door! (I have a great nephew at Wharton right now, so I know the speel! Oldest collegiate business school in the world and still among the Ivy League’s best!)
There’s nothing boring about this book, and it’s full of all sorts of practical advice. Stearns discusses no fewer than seventeen values that honor God but also lead to practical success—so long as your definition of success is living a life of integrity, courage, honesty, wisdom, excellence, forgiveness, purpose, humility, surrender, good humor, balance, generosity, perseverance, peaceableness, encouragement, love . . . ETC!
Although the author is committed is to pleasing God by living out Christian values, his leadership principles provide a solid foundation for growth. Since Stearns took over as the president of World Vision, the organization has grown exponentially. It now employs some 33,000 people in 100 countries and grosses over USD$3 billion annually. So, using biblical principles for business enterprises is definitely not counter-productive on any level!
Just as a taste-tempter in one area, I loved what he had to say about humor, I suppose because I was built without a funny bone and had to have mine installed aftermarket, which is more costly. Here are a few things I remembered hearing (forgive any poor paraphrasing): *Humor is a gift you can give those you lead. * “A sense of humor is God’s antidote for anger and frustration” (Rick Warren). *Always laugh when you can. It’s cheap medicine. *Humor should be gentle, good-hearted, and not coarse. *Humor puts people at ease. Those who laugh together are better prepared to work together. *”Laughter is the shortest distance between two people” (Victor Borge). *Humor is therapeutic and even more so when life is hard and burdens heavy. If you don’t laugh, you might cry. *”If I am not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don’t want to go there” (Martin Luther). *Self-deprecating humor about a current crisis is the best kind. It makes the leader seem more human and approachable.
Anyway, lots of food for thought as we trudge through the dull days of February, since—as long as we’re alive—we’re going to be leading someone somewhere. May our influence be uplifting always!
“Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.” (Psalm 143:10)
As we open our new book—2024—filled with 366 blank pages, my prayer is that we grow in grace and that each page will be bright with the radiance of God’s hands upon us . . . molding us into His image of holiness, erasing ugliness and replacing it with beauty: replacing fear with faith, hatred with love, sorrow with joy, war with peace, despair with hope. We make resolutions and desire to improve ourselves, but God is truly the One who can transform us from self-centered creatures into Christ-centered works of art! Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Whether you’re on top of the world this morning or feel buried beneath waves of sorrow, this is the song my heart is singing to God for you. May our journey together through this year be one of learning to love Jesus more and more. May we walk closely beside our Great Shepherd and find fellowship and contentment as the sheep of his flock.
“O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if you will hear his voice, Harden not your heart” (Psalm 95:6-8a).
We’ve been friends since our freshman year in college. That’s fifty-five years ago, so you know we’re not spring chickens. In fact, we’re not even laying hens anymore! Phyliss was living near Akron, Ohio, and visiting her was the last stop on our autumn trip through America’s Northeast. But first, for those of you who are following the “travelogue” aspect of this blog and may be wondering what western Pennsylvania and Ohio look like, here are a few photos of what you might expect to see in October:
Farmland in the Allegheny Foothills of Pennsylavania
Traveling through the Allegheny Mountains of Western PA
Pennsylvania is a big state! It’s the fifth most populous state and 310 miles wide, so lots of rural farmlands.
Crossing the Allegheny River in PA
I-80 is one of America’s busiest highways for trucking. It spans the entire country from California to New Jersey through 11 states and is 3,000 miles long. We saw a LOT of trucks!
Crossing the Susquehanna River
Lake Milton, Ohio
We had a wonderful evening together. Phyliss’s son Bill is a professional chef and prepared an extensive, gourmet meal with many courses and the best chicken parmesan we’d ever eaten! (Recipe to come this Saturday!) College seemed more than a lifetime ago, and Phyliss’s life overflowed with adventures, challenges, joys, and heartbreaks. After college, she served in the Marines, eventually married, had two children and an exciting career. However, when her husband died out jogging one morning 16 years ago, she found herself re-examining her life goals and ended up serving Christ and people in countries so foreign she had trouble getting visas even to do hospital work. Recently, she returned to America to retire or retool. Really both. She was still in the throes of completing a chaplaincy program the night we visited.
Phyliss isn’t “average” or “typical,” but she’s normal. Her face radiated joy as she shared all she’s been through and how the Lord has been with her every step of the way. She was content. She was fulfilled. She had purpose and drive and goals. But, she was also lonely and missed the companionship of a husband. I totally understood.
And so, I wasn’t surprised one day when I got a call from her saying she had Eric on her mind. They’d both served in the same Asian country and met at an on-line site for former workers there. Eric’s wife died two years ago. Phyliss said they started a conversation that just never ended.
But, was it too late? Can you really fall in love and have a solid marriage in the fading sunset years? Eric is in his 80s. How much time would he have? How much time would she have? Was it worth the risks? He’s Canadian. She’s American. Where would they live? How would their children respond? How would health insurance work? The list of challenges loomed like a black mountain silhouetted against a crimson sky.
I was wildly enthusiastic over the proposal, but of course I held my breath, too. They decided to take their chances because they were both lonely and loved being together. The wedding occurred over Labor Day. It. hasn’t been all blue skies and daisies, but it’s been wonderful and worth the effort. When we talked last week, she sounded so happy!
So, I’m a believer! Romance can blossom any old time, proving once more that the Bible is true: “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).
May every joy and blessing be yours this Christmas, dear friends! May you move into the future with courage and confidence despite the challenges. And especially for Phyliss and Eric—may you live to be 100+ and have many, many happy anniversaries together!
P.S.—In case you’re struggling with loss this Christmas season, Eric wrote an excellent grief memoir reflecting on his own journey toward healing after losing his wife to illness. I wrote about Eric’s book in the context of discussing anniversaries a few months ago. If you’re looking for help on the subject, here’s the link again: https://kathrynwarmstrong.wordpress.com/2023/08/31/anniversaries-celebrating-real-life/
Do you remember the Y2K scare back in 1999? The theory was that many computers used only the last 2 digits of a 4-digit year to format and store calendar data. For example: 2000 would be programmed as “00,” making it indistinguishable from “1900,” which would also have been recorded as “00.” The scare was that if computers couldn’t read dates correctly, it might cause major infrastructure crashes, causing world-wide problems with such basic life-sustaining supplies as food, water, and heat.
Being a good Chicken Little with a flock of 7 children to protect under my wings, I bought 100 pounds of rice and a hundred cans of tuna “just in case” and begged Alan to let us install a wood-burning stove in our basement. He acquiesced.
It was a big deal to make a safe, bricked area for the wood-burner, buy it, and find someone to install it, but I felt quite relieved. However, after the project was complete, the guy who installed the stove said we only had two flues in our home, one for the upstairs fireplace and one for the basement fireplace, so it would be illegal to use our wood-burning stove and would cancel out our homeowners’ insurance. I had never considered there might be an issue with using one flue for two heat sources. The guy had other bad news: “Furthermore, wood-burning stoves are dangerous and will drive up your insurance rate a lot!” For some reason, I believed him. I guess because it seemed logical. We figured in an emergency, we’d use the wood-burning stove and take our chances on what might happen if we had insurance issues. Better alive and broke than frozen to death. Right?
January 1, 2000 came and went without any electrical or power outages, and the stores continued to have food. Nothing much seemed to materialize in the way of issues over the dawn on the new millennium. Alan disconnected the pipes to the wood stove, and we never used it.
Fast forward twenty-four years to this fall. When we had our chimney cleaned, the company said we had a cracked flue which needed to be repaired. It turned out to be a BIG deal, requiring a new stainless-steel liner and a bunch of work . . . so much so that our homeowner’s insurance company got involved to help out. As a curiosity question (since we had experts right here working), I asked how much it would cost to add another flue so that we could use our wood-burning stove.
“Why would you need another flue? You already have three!”
“Are you kidding? I was told we only had two.”
“Nope. Your stove has its own flue. Looks like it was there from the time the house was built.”
“How much would it cost to have it attached properly and set up to work?”
“About an hour. All the parts are there. Less than $150.”
Then I called our insurance company and asked how much extra it would cost to insure our home if we use a wood-burning stove.
“Five bucks a month”
“Five bucks? I thought it would go up ‘a lot’!”
“No, as long as you get it professionally connected and inspected, you’re good to go.”
That was a month ago. By yesterday everything was in place, our insurance company was notified, and Alan built us a toasty fire from some of the plentiful dead ash trees in our woods.
There’s even a thermostat to help Alan regulate the temperature so the fire doesn’t get too hot.
And, there’s a mechanical fan that spins—powered by the fire—and directs the heat whichever way we want it to go. The whole core of our house was 72° last night.
Of course, our bedroom was 64° this morning, but that’s tomorrow’s problem! 🙂
I can’t believe how easily I accepted two completely untrue statements. I guess because I could imagine them being true, and because they were told by someone who was supposed to be an “expert” in the field. It brought to mind a verse I’d just read in Colossians 2:4, “I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.” How easy it is to be led astray by those who are supposed to be wise! In this time of fake news and intentional disinformation (propaganda), let’s double-check (or triple-check) our sources.
For spiritual news, I test everything against the Bible:
“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matthew 24:24)
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world” (1 John 4).
“I came across this quote while reading Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult.
“Picoult shares an insightful quote by Roxanna Robinson, also a novelist. “A writer is like a tuning fork. We respond when we are struck by something. If we’re lucky we’ll transmit a strong pure note, one that is not ours but which passes through us.”
“This quote reminded me of how I need, how I desperately crave to be struck by God in all of my interactions so that what I do and say is a pure reflection of Him and His love for us. Not from me but from Him.”
Amen, sister!! Here’s a photo of Joyce with one of her grand daughters. Joyce and I have been BFFs for 40+ years, and although she lives in California, we still love being able to keep close in heart and spirit!
“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1, NLT).
I’m not sure if there’s any place more beautiful in the autumn than a glowing forest enveloped in color, unless in the same sweep of grandeur you can view a distant sea.
That is where I left off writing last fall—amidst the cascade of colors around Lunenberg, Nova Scotia.
I stopped in order to blog about celebrating Christmas in America, but in doing so, I left many tales about my Travels with Allie through the Northeast untold. Lord willing, I want to finish sharing about our trip around Northeastern America this fall, then finish our trip to the Southwest in the first half of 2024, and finally complete tales of our Northwest adventure during the second half of 2024. Let’s see how far I get!
From Nova Scotia, Alan and I passed through New Brunswick, Canada, and returned to America in mid-October.
The Atlantic Provinces of Canada are stunningly beautiful in autumn, but so is New England!
As we traveled south through Maine, we were greeted at every turn with breathtaking skyscapes and treescapes.
Rivers shimmered under canopies of kaleidoscopic color.
Colors ran like rivers across the open grasslands.
Textured skies vied for attention.
The highways beckoned us to follow their long and winding roads.
To . . . home?
God painted the sunset with undulating movement
and a palette of almost every hue under heaven!
Heading home? Yes, I think—just beyond the sunset . . .
Home, a place of refuge as the night closed in around us.
Not my home, but Susan’s home—warm, inviting, historic. We’ve been friends for over 50 years. She and Bob owned a dairy farm that looked like a Rockwell painting. In fact, everything about their life seemed idyllic.
Until Bob took off with a guy after more than 25 years of marriage. I was dumbfounded and incredulous. How could he do that? Really, his betrayal of my dear friend was also a big part of what kept me from writing more last year, and I’m still not sure what to say. Susan has given me permission to say whatever I feel led to say, and Bob has since died of lung cancer, but the ache in all our hearts may never heal.
Bob and I were actually friends first, and I didn’t meet Susan until after they married. Bob and I had been confidants in college . . . I thought. He told me all about his hopes and dreams and aspirations. I could tell him my woes over trying to figure out what to do with Alan during his rebel years, and Bob could tell me about the girls who were chasing him. It seemed like we really understood each other—or so I thought. He was the heir to a millionaire, which (unfortunately) made him especially attractive to other young women. I didn’t care about money, but I did genuinely care about Bob. He invited me home to meet his family. Not everybody has a landing strip in their front yard, do they? He took me to meet his grandparents. Their mansion looked like straight out of The Happiest Millionaire (although his family was gracious, not nutty). He was sweet, kind, and always a gentleman.
Yet there was something not quite right. When Alan and I broke up “for good,” Bob called to let me know he’d bought a farm and wondered if I’d be interested in marrying him. I thought to myself, “I may live to regret this, but I just can’t.” I said, “Thank you, but no.” I loved Bob, but I wasn’t “in love” with Bob, and I knew the difference.
We always remained friends. I married Alan, and he married Susan. We exchanged Christmas cards every year, and Susan’s letters always made me happy. Full life; beautiful kids; always doing a zillion good things for everybody.
When Susan told me Bob left her for a man, I contacted Bob and begged him to go home. As if it explained everything, he told me he’d been abused as a kid and had always struggled with homosexual desires. Personally, I think few people live through a marriage without at some point thinking they made the wrong choice, but I also believe we are better off toughing it out with our partner than quitting regardless of our secret struggles or how we change over time. Doesn’t our promise of “for better or worse” cover that?
Anyway, his mind was made up. We still kept in occasional contact, but not to any avail for positive change that I could tell. His life concluded with a series of shipwrecks and sorrows. A terrifying end, although his daughters attended him as he died, and he is buried back at home on their farm, close to Susan (as he wished).
I do not understand homosexuality. I do know the Bible is clear that God’s design for marriage is to pursue life as a heterosexual couple.
I’ve struggled for years to make sense of dystopic relationships and come up blank every time. But, I’ve also pored over the Scriptures enough to know that God challenges us to love everyone, including those we believe are wrong and making harmful choices. Jesus even tells us to love and forgive our enemies. He taught, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Which commandments? Well, for starters, to love God above all else and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
As we journey through life to our heavenly home, let’s remember to love everyone—not just those with whom we agree or those we admire. Love “does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians 13:5-7). Can we love and pray for those around us, no matter who they are?
“This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you.” (John 15:12).
“And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” (1 John 2:3).
“Daring greatly” is certainly one attribute. Last week I shared about Teddy Roosevelt National Park—the only national park in our country dedicated to a single person.
True—he was a great conservationist and responsible for much of our national park heritage. But, he was more than that.
He was an inspiring idealist who caught the imagination of Americans and led our nation by example.
He truly advocated for liberty and justice for all.
He was a man of action and not just words.
And, he was full of wise and witty sayings!
Today, I want to share some of my favorites from literally hundreds:
“Knowing what’s right doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.” “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” “I am a part of everything that I have read.” “Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.” “When you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.” “The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.” “Let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out.” “The men and women who have the right ideals… are those who have the courage to strive for the happiness which comes only with labor and effort and self-sacrifice, and those whose joy in life springs in part from power of work and sense of duty.” “Peace is normally a great good, and normally it coincides with righteousness, but it is righteousness and not peace which should bind the conscience of a nation as it should bind the conscience of an individual; and neither a nation nor an individual can surrender conscience to another’s keeping.” “If I must choose between peace and righteousness, I choose righteousness.”
“I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.” —Philippians 4:13 EHV, spoken by one of the world’s greatest leaders inspired by the world’s greatest leader!
Summer Setting 