Whatever He Says

By Belinda During the almost ten years of our lives in which we lived together with a large (by the standards of what would be thought acceptable today) group of people with developmental disabilities; their personalities, quirks, strengths, foibles and sheer uniqueness, affected my life forever. I remember each one with deep affection and respect, for each one, by virtue of the fact that they came to us having been institutionalized, had lived with emotional pain, degradation, humiliation, lack of privacy and freedom. Abe died in the nineties, some ten years after the ten years we lived together, but our lives had continued together until then, and he is one of my life teachers.  He was a Jew, a short, intense and wiry man, with a sallow skin and piercing brown eyes that were usually serious in expression. He was prone to conversations with himself and long walks during which he could be spotted rubbing the palms of his hands together in excitement over some private thought....

By Belinda Years ago, just before going to England for one of my visits to be with Mum, and Dad, prior to his death in 2003, I asked him if we could read a chapter of the book of John every day while I was there. I must have been going for 3 weeks, because John has 21 chapters. I so love God's Word--it speaks to me so profoundly; and we were kindred spirits on so many levels, that I thought, "If only he would sit with me and allow the words to speak to him, how could he not 'see?'" But Dad said, "No," politely but firmly. I was so disappointed, but of course, in hindsight, I can see that Dad would have been scared to death of that kind of pressure. This year, while I was in England I thought of how wonderful it would be to study the Bible with budding young adults the age of my older grandchildren (pre-teens,) so that they could absorb the truths of the Bible in more detail and depth than is possible during an hour in Sunday School. I longed also to ...

By Belinda When I saw the magazine at the checkout in Sainsbury's, I thought of Brenda. She is a Corrie fan and almost her last words to me as I left Canada were, "Make sure you tell me what's happening on Coronation Street." Since the episodes in Canada are several months behind England, anyone returning holds precious details on upcoming storylines. Helen Worth plays a longstanding character, Gail. This morning though, it was the "Age-defying beauty secrets" that caught my eye as the magazine lay on the coffee table. "6 easy steps to younger glowing skin." Cool! So I turned to the index and found the article. As usual, the headline overstates the information shared! I fall for it every time. I had to check to see; "Is this 'it?' Do I have the right page?";as I perused an article with no startling "secrets." I am always hopeful. :) Of course, tantalizing promises sell magazines. Who can blame the publishers? Wr...

By Belinda The light on the dishwasher beamed green, the signal that it had a clean load of dishes ready for unloading. In my morning preparations for work every minute counts, so while my cream of wheat (with chopped apricots) heated in the microwave, I opened the door and reached in towards the row of white Corelle cereal bowls. I noticed a mark on the top of a couple of them, and gave the marks a rub. Maybe I had dripped coffee on my way to the counter, I thought. But as I pulled them out I noticed tiny specks of dried on food residue here and there. Yuck! From experience I knew exactly what to do--check the filter. Sure enough, as I twisted and unlocked it, and pulled it up from the bottom of the dishwasher, I could see that the fine mesh sides of the cylinder were blocked by food residue. Double yuck! I turned on the tap and filled the sink with hot soapy water and scrubbed gently to clean away the grease and goop. A quick rinse and it was pristine,...

I read this week about the 40 days that Jesus spent out in the wild wastelands as part of the final preparation for of his three years of public teaching. "Full of the Holy Spirit," he ate nothing during that time, and the Devil stalked him, tempting him. In each of his replies to the temptations of the Devil, Jesus began with the words, "It is written," or, in another version, "The Scriptures say..." It is written: "Man does not live on bread alone." "Worship the Lord your God and serve him only." "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." It is written; but have we read it enough? In order to respond as Jesus did when we are in the maelstrom and under dire pressure; in order to discern Truth from a close imitation, we must be saturated in the truth. Since the Devil uses the strategy of counterfeit and one his titles is Father of Lies, not being familiar with the Word leaves us vulnerable to deception. What could be more imp...

1 Thessalonians 1:3 (New International Version) 3We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm still in the running on the Marathon of Biblical Proportions, but oh, I am soooo far behind. We were supposed to be through the Bible by the end of December and here we are in April and I just finished 1 Thessalonians this morning. I confess this partly to console fellow laggards if there are any out there. I laugh, but really I'm not too worried. I'm enjoying my solitary trot, even if Paul does rub in from time to time that he is leaving me in the dust as he races through for the second time. I can't help it; I am a contemplative soul at heart and God does arrest my steps sometimes, just as I start to read. He did it this morning just three verses into Thessalonians--the words danced on the page before my eyes in a pattern. I found myself pondering: ...

Philippians 3:10 (New Living Translation) 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, What we say about who God is...well, I think sometimes we take it way too lightly, and I include myself in that. We have our own opinions, and everyone is entitled to an opinion. But the only way to truly know God is by reading his Book every day and hanging out with him long enough for some of who he is to really sink in deep. Do I really want to know him? Because I have to consider that knowing him may require me to change. The likelihood is high that I have some things very wrong and that I may have some major, and maybe painful, adjusting to do, in order to line up with him. Who am I kidding "may have?" He is holy, and I am not. But I will never change, unless I press in close to him and listen. Long years ago my heart aspired To really know my Christ Divine; And through the years much has transp...

Psalm 119:9 (New International Version) 9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. Frances was thrilled. Ever a lover of a good bargain, she shared her delight with me at the brand new bible she had recently found in a thrift store. "In a sense it should be free," she said, "But on the other hand, it was in such good condition, it should cost the world." She went on, "I hated paying a quarter for a pristine bible; but as you know, I've given away all my good bibles." I smile as I think of her exuberance and of how God delights to plant such surprises in our path sometimes, but I also feel a little guilty when I think of my own record recently at reading my copy of that very same book. In January I joined The Marathon of Biblical Proportions with about 40 or so fellow congregants at our church. No excuses...I'm behind. In fact if this was a real marathon, I would be a dot in the distance behind the pack of run...

1 Peter 1:6 (New International Version) 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. John 16:33 (New International Version) 33" I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." I wonder how God feels when someone turns away from him, not because of who he is, but because of a person who said they were his follower; someone who called themselves by his name; but who was so harsh, abusive, condemning or legalistic that the person said, "If that's what Christianity is about, I want no part of it." 2 Corinthians 3:2 (New International Version) says this: 2You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. Rightly or wrongly, people judge God by his followers. This scares and sobers me. I am often such a poor representative of him. It also makes me realize how very im...

Psalm 119:103 (New International Version) How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Words on the page of an ancient book; words that are alive; that dance and resonate; his words. I've been reading the first book of Samuel, and in chapter 3, the account of the call of the young boy the book is named for, tells of a critical test. Could he be trusted with God's word for his people? God started him off in a gut wrenching way. He did not give him a comforting word of encouragement to share, but a hard word--a word of rebuke, telling of his pending judgement on the house of Samuel's mentor, Eli the priest. Eli who had turned a blind eye to the utter corruption of his sons. Ironically it was Eli who helped Samuel deliver the word from God with integrity. "May God deal with you, be it ever so severely," he said, "if you hide anything he told you." And Eli's response must have confirmed something very deeply for Samuel. Eli, in ...

Psalm 119:97 (New International Version) 97 Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. I was looking for the verse that I wanted to use for yesterday's post, about God's promises being sweeter than honey. I don't have a concordance at hand where I am staying at present, but I knew that the verse was in the book of psalms, so I decided to skim quickly through the whole book, scanning each page for key words, in order to find it. I didn't find it on the first skim through, or the second, but on the third, when I focused in more closely on Psalm 119, where I suspected rightly, that I'd find it. What I discovered as well, was an interesting method of reading the Bible for a change--a different camera setting! My scan of Psalms stunned me with beauty. The imagery from nature; the use of metaphor; the range of human passion described--the prophetic words pertaining to Jesus--all these unfolded as a richly illuminated scroll that opened before my eyes....