I've Read the Last Page

Most of you know I have just finished reading the Harry Potter books.  (I am a slow starter.)  I don’t mean casually reading them at intervals and waiting for the next one to come out.  Because they are already published, I had all of them at my disposal.  And I am retired.  So I dove into them completely – nonstop.  

 

Readers will understand that reading even one book immerses you into that world.  If the book is good, you live it for as long as you are reading.  So for a while now, I have been seeing my whole world through vivid Harry Potter glasses.  And now I’m watching the videos.

 

I’m about to read another imaginative, dark story called “Hollow City”, a follow-on to “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.”  These books are weird, wonderful and completely creepy.  And this is not really like me.  I will not watch scary movies.  (My children will tell you that Beetlejuice scared the wits out of me.)  For a while now, my hard-drawn line was “I will not read scary books or watch scary movies.”  I’m still holding part of it – I do not enjoy scary movies, except in the case of the Potter series because I’m simply curious to see what they’ve done with the books.

 

But a few days ago, a friend of mine shared a link to an article, “The Dark-Tinted, Truth-Filled Reading List We Owe Our Kids” [i] about the value of darkness and evil properly represented in books.  The timing was perfect considering my current reading list.

 

So today as I drove into town and looked into the woods with my Harry Potter eyes, I realized that I need this reminder that there is, indeed, a very real battle being fought against me and my faith and also on my behalf.  I need not be obsessed with the idea.  But I relish the comfort that comes in the understanding, the very real assurance that I have a Hero and He has already won.  He will slay the dragon in the end.

 

Ephesians 6:12; Romans 8:38-39

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms… For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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[i] http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/january-february/dark-tinted-truth-filled-reading-list-our-kids-need.html?paging=off

Can I Get an E-Intervention?

Going through old email today.  I’m not what you’d call a pack rat.  I’m pretty willing to part with old papers, ticket stubs, receipts and paper hats.  I will donate old clothes (except for those two or three sets of smaller-sized ones in my closet waiting for the new me).  I can part with dishes, furniture, baskets and knickknacks.

But someone needs to take charge of my email.  And my digital pictures.  And my Word documents.  Someone needs to explain to me that even if I have them all neatly tucked away into an efficient (and  pretty massive, actually) filing system, several hundred emails is simply…well, hoarding.  

I have an inspirational folder; one for family and friend pictures (and these are just the email ones!); cute, fuzzy animals; family emails; friend emails, in which folder are several more friend folders.  You want to know whether you are important to me?  Don’t look at my speed dial.  Check for your friend folder in my email.

Detritus.  I have always loved the word and have tried to find an opportunity to work it into my everyday language.  One of the definitions listed was “flotsam and jetsam.”  Just under that was “Penny Jo Horn’s email.”  

I am working diligently to clean this mess out.  I am deleting with abandon; answering old emails; and filing those I just can’t let go.  The only way I feel like I can honestly let some of these go is to print them out and put them in notebooks.

And today an awful thought occurred.  So I went into my “Sent” folder to peer through my fingers.  3,341 emails.

It occurs to me that we are the first generation that will not only be leaving “stuff” for our kids to go through when we die.  We will be leaving thousands of emails, pictures, voice mails and texts and tweets.  Not to mention Facebook pages and posts.

So kids, I’ll make a deal with you.  I will make an effort to go through my stuff and keep it cleaned out if you will sneak into my house every couple of months or so and delete my email – all of it.  Otherwise, I’ll just be printing it off and you’ll have to go through several hundred notebooks.

What If the Ground Only LOOKS Dry?

Something Noah didn’t do caught my eye this morning.  I am reading about the flood and Noah’s ark.  I’m discovering much I missed before, even though I’ve read it time and again.

I’m a bad one to watch for “signs” from God.  I do pray and ask for guidance.  But like a child that goes rushing out the door before he gets his jacket on – or, it’s playoff season, like a football player that jumps offsides – I often ask and then sit nervously, one knee jumping up and down, waiting for His answer so I can move!  As soon as I see any activity remotely associated with my issue, I leap up and charge forward.  Waiting is not a concept that works well for me.

Noah followed God’s instructions to the letter, and they were not easy ones!  Having loaded his family and all the animals and the food for them all onto the ark, Noah waited through the rain.  (I must say, if I have to wait, I do love doing it in the rain – just not that much.)  Let’s look at the timeline.  The rains began in the 600^th year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the 17^th day (Genesis 7:11).  It rained for forty days.  But that's not the end of the water!  Verse 24, “And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.”  And the waters began to recede and the ark rested on Ararat.

On the first day of the 10^th month, the tops of the mountains became visible (8:5).  Noah waited…  Forty days later, he sent out the raven.  Seven days later, he sent out the dove.  There was still no resting place.  And at this point, I’m doing pretty well with understanding the waiting.  What else was Noah going to do?  A week later, he sent the dove out and it returned with an olive leaf in its beak.  So Noah knew that the waters had pretty well receded.  (It’s at this point that I’m beginning to get a little antsy to move.)

The next week he sent out the dove and it did not return.  So he knew there was dry land.  And yet, he waited!  For another whole month, he waited.  Finally in the 601^st year of his life, on the first day of the first month, he removed the covering of the ark and looked and the surface of the ground was dry.  It’s at this point, I’m pulling on my flipflops and running down the gangplank shouting for joy.  I have had my fill of rain!

But Noah still waits.  He doesn’t move until the 27^th day of the second month (8:14)!  What on earth?  Had he developed some crazy, strange attachment to the ark?  Why did he wait so long?  Verse 15, “THEN God spoke to Noah….”  He waited until he heard from the Lord before he moved.  

If I pray, why not believe all the way and just let God handle the situation on His own, in His way?  He doesn’t need my help.  How many times have I just gotten in the way or muddled the issue?  If I wait, He will answer.  If I ask, He will let me know when to move.  

Psalm 38:15; 33:18-22
I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God…But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.  We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.