Headlines in light of Godlines

Do you read the headlines in light of God's word?
The following quotes were taken from news sources on Sunday, November 28, 2010 with quotes from ancient writings following them.

THE NEWS
“U.S. authorities on Thursday found a sophisticated tunnel used to smuggle drugs between Mexico and San Diego, the second such discovery in the region in less than a month.”


"The mighty man will become tinder
   and his work a spark;
both will burn together,
   with no one to quench the fire.” Is.1:31

“North Korea has deployed SA-2 surface-to-air missiles to its west coast near the Yellow Sea border with South Korea as U.S.-led naval drills got underway in a show of force against the North's deadly artillery attack on a South Korean island earlier last week, government sources said Sunday.”

"The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
   he is the one you are to fear,
   he is the one you are to dread." Is. 8:13

“The US and South Korea launched large-scale naval maneuvers Sunday (November 28) off the Korean Peninsula's west coast, days after North Korea bombarded an inhabited southern island.”

"In the last days
the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established
   as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
   and all nations will stream to it." Is. 2:2

“South Korea and the United States kicked off joint naval drills in the Yellow Sea on Sunday in an overt show of force against North Korea, which has readied its multiple launch rocket systems and apparently held an artillery firing exercise.”

"The LORD Almighty has a day in store
   for all the proud and lofty,
for all that is exalted
   (and they will be humbled)," Is. 2:12

“Beijing on Friday lodged its first official protest of a joint U.S.-South Korean military exercise planned for Sunday, even as the aircraft carrier USS George Washington steamed toward the region.”

 “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
   the whole earth is full of his glory.” Is.6:3

“The Japanese coast guard has spotted two Chinese vessels attempting on Sunday to enter waters near islands in the East China Sea that are disputed by the two countries, Kyodo News reported.”

"Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over everything the glory[c] will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain." Is.4:5,6

“The escalating debt crisis on the eurozone periphery is starting to contaminate the creditworthiness of Germany and the core states of monetary union.”

"Stop trusting in mere humans,
   who have but a breath in their nostrils.
   Why hold them in esteem?" Is.2:22

“Despite overnight snow storms and freezing temperatures, huge crowds have gathered in O'Connell Street to demonstrate against the cuts aimed at driving down Ireland's colossal national debt.”

  "Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds." Is.3:10

Thanksgiving Week....

The garage is a mess. The basement is a mess. The kitchen walls should be painted. The radiators look steelish, gray and ugly. The floorboards need fixing. The windows are in dire need of patching, let alone replacing. All the walls are screaming for a fresh coat of paint. Lynn and I are overwhelmed as if an army has come and invaded our home and we have no artillery to fight them. We look at each other defeated.

In a few short days we will be sitting around a table eating a meal I have yet to plan and we will attempt to talk about gratitude.

A family in Rhode Island will be doing the same with their young son home from Afghanistan seeing life differently as he suffers from a Traumatic Brain Injury. His buddy in the Humvee is dead from the explosive while this young man's skull was blown out from the impact of the explosion.

A family in the Midwest will be sitting around the table with the knowledge that their little three year old girl has cancer. This was discovered when the doctors were fetching the penny she swallowed.

A family in New York will be sitting around a table missing their mother who died of cancer.

Perspective.

Creativity.........Stupidity? You Choose!

Kathryn, Christopher and Lynn just produced this commercial for a Pepsi/Dorito Challenge. If they would be one of the three chosen, their commercial would be aired at the SuperBowl! I had no idea of all the rigging they were up to for this stint.

Lynn was on the hood of the car with Kathryn driving. If I had ever wondered about the sanity of my dear husband it would most definitely be now. I thought sitting in the passenger seat was bad enough with "kinda" new drivers!

We will keep you posted if they make it anywhere. Until then you check it out:
http://www.CrashTheSuperbowl.com/#/gallery?video=6600

Lament.............

Neighbor's Caring and Sharing use to be where you would find me every Tuesday morning at Conestoga Mennonite Church. This church has carried out this ministry to women of all ages for ages. Today there was no exception to their schedule; fellowship and snacks, welcome, worship, prayer requests, prayer, speaker. This was my balm years ago and today was no different. I am not into flassy, uptodate stateoftheart sort of stuff. I am simple.

Janelle Shantz Hertzler, author and speaker-born out of intense pain and loss, shared the story of her way through grief, not out of grief, through grief. I had no time to wail but wail I could have.

She spoke of the stories we accumulate and do not share. She told us, sharing stories is a way to get out of our bodies sadness so we can heal. We create ruts in our brains by what we say and we can always create new ruts if the old ones keep us in a bad place she relayed to us.

The Psalms of Lament are bare, honest, cries with no holding back. I discover my lack of knowledge about the differences and categories the psalms present. She invited us to consider creating safe places in all the churches we represented for lamenting. Interesting to consider.

I hugged Janelle's mother in law. I noted that she was not mentioned. The loss for her is profound. This is the baby she carried for nine months, this is the baby she cared for till he walked, this is the young boy she loved dearly, this is the young man she cherished. This is the man she prayed for as God took him to other lands. This was the missionary son who whose name was mentioned on the other side of the lifeless phone from the other side of the world telling her that her son was killed. Her worse fear realized.

You, as a mother, lose your dear son to his wife. (I know you gain a daughter in law, but you know what I mean) When he dies, you lose him again and yet many do not notice your intense loss. She did not hold back her tears during the words that spoke of her dear son, she did not hold back her tears.

Tonight's reading for her might be one of the Psalms of Lament.

As you can see Janelle's website is shown in the picture. It is worth your time.

Schedule Adujusters=Christians

Today is a new day. This week is another week. What are we planning on accomplishing? What are our goals for the week? What is on your calendar?

Are we going to let the Spirit lead? Are we going to be willing to flex? Are we willing to add something that takes time and is not on our calendar? Are we willing to be schedule adjusters?

Let's go for it! God, if you want us to do some readjusting than you are going to have to readjust everything and you know what we are talking about! ATTITUDE!

Don't sit like a bump on a bench with a frown to beat the band.

Happy Birthday, Jesse

Today, Jesse Nathaniel Lynn Burkholder turns seven years old. This morning he bounded down the stairs, hair in a curly mess, snuggy pajamas (organized his clothing so we could actually find them to wear) and beautiful blues eyes dancing with excitement. Today is his to celebrate and he knows it full well!

I will never forget the surprise, the wonder, the sense of fun, the sneaking suspicion of joy, when I realized, "Hey, I think I am pregnant!"

Lynn, not so much.

It was with my fifteen year old, Robyn, that I viewed the results of the pregnancy test. She requested this shortly after Nicole's birth was announced. She felt left out. She wanted to be present for the results of a future pregnancy test. You can always answer yes when you know the likelihood is highly unlikely!

I was forty-one with a two year old still to care for, a vibrant-high alert, six year old, and teenagers lurking in the house and I felt privileged to still be capable of housing life.

The day Jesse was born was a beautiful crisp November day.
Happy Birthday, Jesse! You have come a long way from the Elmer Fudd look!

Lynn does not know what he would do without his Jesse.
See, women know best!

Robyn Elizabeth Lynne, How Would You Have Done Home Schooling Her?

Robyn Elizabeth Lynne, this is the gal I started out home schooling. Not quite sure what I was thinking but clear thinking has not guided me as often as I would like and it certainly did not with home schooling Robyn. I have said it often, when she arrived in this world she held me up against the wall by my collar and demanded from me answers, clear ones. I have yet to be able to fill that request!

This is the bare honest truth, she is way more smarter, loaded with tons more wisdom, organizational skills from who knows where, and thinks in a logical way that makes me want to slink over to the corner to slump. When she was three I was frustrated by her procrastination in the form of questions.
"Robyn, you are the queen of questions!" I told my little three year old.
"and I wish you were the queen of answers!" she replied in an itty bitty three year old voice.

What do you do? You choke on your spit is what you do! The signs were clear from the get go that this young thing knew what she wanted and had to simply wait until she could retrieve it for herself, no one else was delivering the way she knew they should. If ever I had anticipated a speaking career leading others in the uncharted paths of parenting, she made me put that dream to death!

"Were you home schooled? Did your mom talk about homeschooling? Did your mom want to home school you?"
My answers were pitiful, no.
"Then why do you want to home school me?" Off to kindergarten she went, she made her point, it was sound and frankly she scared me and these questions were asked at age four.

Thankfully, Carol Hoke rescued me. She had a one room school house teaching grades first through fifth. It met four days a week from 8-12:00 p.m.. Robyn received a stellar elementary education. At her graduation I do not remember my name in the line up of thank you's. In fact the only name I heard Robyn exclaim the night of her high school graduation was, Carol Hoke! Was I hurt? No, just real thankful that Carol was around to be subcontracted for the job! Carol and Robyn are sequential, logical and little bitty women who know how to command anyone they want to, you just do not mess with these women!

Sixth grade is when I had Robyn all to myself. She would sit on the couch with hands folded, face looking like I had nothing I could possibly give her by way of education, and an attitude that could be felt miles away. The other children would just wait for my pathetic lectures to her to be over. It was not fun. She would get me to a point where I would lose it and the yelling between the two of us was not good. We knew how to make a room go tense.

We realized at a certain point that our conversation was the same one over and over and neither of us knew how to get out of it. We had no counselor on site to wrench us from the hamster wheel of a mess.

When moms tell me that there is no way they could home school their child because they would butt heads, I just stand there thinking, "Been there done that."

But Robyn, the woman who at age sixteen knew who she was going to marry and wouldn't you know it, she did, was and is one amazing person. We had many wonderful conversations that astounded and inspired me! I loved watching her independence maneuver her education. She would read an author's complete works and then use the internet to further her studies by answering questions posed about the works?!! I do not have the attention span for that!

In eighth grade I hauled her off to a seminar. This is where she realized her education was her own. This is where ownership began. She, so responsible, always had a high school job and if the money was not decent she would request the amount desired and usually got it! When people would say to me what a good job I was doing with her, I would back out of the compliment as quick as I could. No, Robyn was the one, she was doing a good job.

This past March I was high up in the bleachers at West Chester University watching my little girl receive her degree in High School English Education. The honor of summa Cum laude was conferred on her. Robyn would tell you that she is glad she was home schooled. In fact the three older children are all appreciative. Just tonight, Kathryn said to me, "Mom, you always said that I would thank you for home schooling me, You are right! I am so glad for it."

Robyn, the first, was the hardest but what a privilege to be the mother of this young woman! Everything was worth it. We do not base our commitment to something for the ease of it, we commit to something because we know it to be what we are to do. However, honestly, if it were not for Lynn, I would not be committed to this endeavor. Glad he is around! He is the talker off the cliffer.

Theology in the Eyes of a Child

Jesse asks us a profound question as we are driving away from night church. We are silenced. Why God would ever entrust His creation to folks like us I will never understand.

"If we are to God like a speck of dust, how can He live in us?"

Good question!

"Jesse, we are almost to your grandparents house. Ask them!"

Grandpa told Jesse, God is a spirit and not restricted to size.

To see ourselves as a speck of dust is where we begin the extraordinary journey of glorifying God through the lives we live!

Weekends

What do you do? This was one full weekend! How are we to manage our day when we are exhausted from the weekend? Friday night was a celebration of the "win" at the Harvest parade. Eight boys, including my son, slept over night in the backyard. They had strict instructions to be in bed by midnight. That is almost like trying to get toothpaste back into the tube.

Saturday morning my daughters and I were off to an event called Queen for a Day. This event honors women who are caregivers twenty-four seven and find themselves with no time for themselves. This day is one in which they are prayed for and pampered.

In the evening there was a backyard twenty-first birthday party for the neighbor "boy." Geoff and I finished the night watching a movie. He was not fit for the Sunday morning message and I must be careful on Saturdays (hope I remember!). Nicole was sleeping over at someone's home.

Sunday after church we had Melissa, Chris and their two children, Stella and Eli over for homemade pizza with Antonio's dough! To die for! In the evening we hauled off to night church much to Nicole's dismay. She wanted to go trick-or-treating. She was adamant even after I read some decent pieces off of the internet sites on why it wasn't such a good idea. "Are you finished?" was her response.

Then we landed at my in-laws for our Sunday evening get together. These are treasured times with treasured in-laws. Nicole wanted to trick-or-treat in their development. I let her trick-or-treat at her grandparents house. She was satisfied as I answered the door with a voice to scare off any sane trick-or-treater. She's not sane! :)

So now the question is how are we to manage our day after a full weekend?
Do you let them rest? Do you wake them up and push and pull all morning? You would think I would have ready answers having done this a time or two!
Nope! I have none. What do you do?