Follow the Recipe

by   February 9, 2021 with No Comments

By Lynna Clark

As you probably know by now, my hubby David is a fantastic cook. He just knows stuff: Like how to combine the simplest ingredients into a one dish wonder that causes unbridled yummy noises to flow as I delicately woof down whatever he’s concocted. Plus, he never seems to need a recipe. For instance last night he made a chicken and rice dish with sautéed mushrooms and onions. Apparently he has a secret supply of angel nectar stashed somewhere with our emergency beans because the broth was heavenly. I slurped it down like it was my last meal. Of course that’s currently how I roll in every part of my life. One can’t assume too much at my age. We don’t even buy green bananas.

Unlike Chef David, I like to bake and I ALWAYS use a recipe. Never have I thrown stuff into a bowl all willy-nilly and exclaimed happily at the results. In fact, I now have a system whereby I put all the ingredients to the left of the mixer then as they are used I move them to the right of the mixer so I can remember if I’ve added them or not. It’s a good system. That way I hardly ever leave the pumpkin out of the pumpkin bread anymore.

This morning I came across a passage in Scripture that seems to combine both mine and David’s style. It’s a great recipe.

“He that would love life and see good days:

  • Keep your tongue from evil & your lips from telling lies
  • Turn away from evil
  • Do good
  • Search for peace and work to keep it”

Not only do we get a rather easy formula for loving life. We also get a promise that the Lord will answer our prayers.

  • “For the eyes of the Lord watches over those who do right, and His ears are open to their prayers.”

Then comes the warning: “But the Lord turns His face against those who do evil.” Sheesh. Ain’t nobody gonna want that!

So if you’re like David and you just know stuff, toss goodness and peace into your life, refrain from negative hurtful talk and reap wonderful results. If you’re more like me and need a recipe, refer to this list often; because who wouldn’t want to love life, see happy days, and have answered prayers. Apparently this recipe turns out so well that it’s given in both the Old and New Testaments. [See Psalm 34:12-17 and 1Peter 3:10-12]

Beloved Reader,

May the Lord bless you with many good days, where you love life and know He is attentive to your prayers. May He also give us strength against evil, deceitful speech. And may your pumpkin bread always contain pumpkin.

The Safety Net

by   February 8, 2021 with No Comments

By Ann Farabee

In a recent column, I referenced feeling as if traversing through difficult circumstances was like trying to keep my balance on a 3.9 inch wide balance beam.

I now have an update.

Lord, could I please have my balance beam back?

The news came. Not just one — but two friends — lost their lives to COVID this week. They were too young to go. It was too soon. They had families that needed them. It was hard for me to understand.

COVID continues to impact all of us daily. The struggles seem to be front and center and multiplying. In a way, it feels as though our balance beam was removed and replaced — with a tightrope.

As a young girl, I remember watching a tightrope circus act from the upper level of the coliseum. I gasped in horror as I saw the acrobat on the tightrope fall. She fell and fell and fell. The fall seemed to last forever.

Then came her landing. She fell — right into a safety net. It was so far down from where I was sitting that I had not even realized that a safety net was there. She jumped up, smiled, and waved to the cheering crowd.

I caught my breath. Whew! That was close. Or was it?

No, apparently, it was not close at all. It was part of the show.

That memory has now become a message.

A tightrope is a tensioned wire between two points that you try to keep your balance on by positioning yourself over your base of support. Some use a tool like a pole to help them balance. Others choose to balance by stretching their arms out.

Me? You? Balancing on a tightrope? Let’s see:

There will be times we will waver back and forth, feeling that we will fall. It can be scary, for there will be emotional strain — tension.

How do we keep from falling?

We position ourselves over our base of support while using these tools:

• Balancing pole — that would be God’s Word.

• Stretching our arms out — that would be prayer.

But, we are human. God knows our frame. He made us. He knows our limitations. No matter how hard we try to walk safely on our tightrope, there are times we lose our balance. We forget our balancing pole. We forget to stretch out our arms.

Those are the times we may fall.

We fall, and fall, and fall.

Then we land.

Straight into the safety net.

Our savior’s outstretched arms.

Psalm 145:14 says, “The Lord upholds all who fall.”

All means all.

We See Him Differently

by   February 6, 2021 with No Comments

By Doug Creamer

            I was out enjoying a nice walk the other day when my eye caught an interesting sight. There was some mistletoe growing in a tree. I’ve seen mistletoe before, that isn’t what was unusual about the sight. This mistletoe was growing low in the tree. I mean, I could walk up and touch it. I enjoyed seeing the green leaves in the middle of the drab winter.

            I began to walk away with a smile, when I felt the Lord drawing me back to this tree. I try to listen when I get these little tugs on my heart. I took a second look. This time I was struck by how the mistletoe was attached to the tree. Mistletoe puts its roots into the bark and actually draws its energy and life from the tree sap.

            Now my mind was whirling. Naturally, I began thinking about Jesus’ teaching of the vine and the branches. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches that have been graphed in. We draw our life, our energy, from Jesus. He uses us, the branches, to reach out to the world with His great love. He wants to see us produce the fruit in our lives that comes from intimacy with God.

            I received His message and again began to walk away. I had only taken a few steps and was drawn back yet again. I looked at the mistletoe, and then I saw some bright green moss growing on the side of the tree. This is the kind of moss you tend to see on the ground. It was a delight to see.

            I took a closer look at the truck of the tree and discovered lots of different kinds of lichen. Even some of limbs had different varieties of lichen. It began to occur to me that this was something more than a lesson on the vine and branches.

            I asked God what He wanted me to see. I looked closely at these different lichen and moss and saw that each one was thriving in its environment. Each species found its place and interacted with the tree in its own unique way.

            If the tree did represent God, then He was interacting with each of these things in His own unique way. Then, the thoughts began to flood my mind. God was showing me that He interacts with each one of us in His own unique way. We are unique individuals and we each see God differently.

            It should be obvious. We all have unique backgrounds and experiences, and they shape our view of the world and of how we see God. If you grew up in a loving home, it might be easier for you to imagine your loving Heavenly Father. However, if you were raised by a single mother, or your father was abusive to you, then it might be difficult for you to imagine a loving Heavenly Father. Your experience doesn’t leave room for a loving father. Imagine the challenge for those who had an absent father.

            What God began showing me was that He is willing to go to great lengths to reach out and connect with people. He was also showing me that He interacts with each of us in His own unique way. I don’t see and experience God the same way as you, and vice versa. My grandmother once told me that she experienced God’s presence in absolute stillness and in singing old hymns. I need a little more upbeat music and an opportunity to express myself. God meets each of us uniquely.

            This is why it is so vital for us to be in fellowship with each other. I see God in ways you don’t and I might be able to help you when you are struggling. You have experienced God in ways I haven’t and you might be able to encourage me when I am struggling. Your experiences and understanding are different because God is so big and He interacts with you in ways that you will understand. None of us understands all His ways.

            I want to encourage you to open your hearts to the idea that God is so big that He interacts with each of us uniquely. He loves each of us way beyond what we can think and understand. I also believe that He will go to extraordinary measures to reach the lost. Any God that would allow His Son to die on a tree so that He could have a relationship with me is a God I want to know better. So let’s make room and learn from each other about the wonders of our awesome God. Contact Doug Creamer at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041or doug@dougcreamer.com

Getting Kids Outdoors

by   February 2, 2021 with No Comments

By David Freeze

The average American child between the ages of 8 and 12 spends 1,200 hours a year in front of screens, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. That’s about four hours a day of being sedentary and glassy-eyed. And while screens aren’t all bad, too much screen time can lead to less sleep, reading, physical activity and time outdoors. Screens, in other words, often rob children of the things that help them thrive and stay healthy.

Add to this the fact that even before the pandemic, youth sports participation has been declining, down from 45% to 38% since 2008. Organized sports provide the benefits of exercise and learning how to be part of a team. And according to the Aspen Institute, 30% of those kids who previously played are less interested now.

As the Zoom-classroom marathons drag on for kids amid questionable success, finding the outdoors again just as parents and grandparents did before, might be the solution to all of this.

If team sports continue to fade away, how will we get children moving again so that they can still enjoy the benefits of regular exercise? The answer, if we can capitalize on the recent promising trends, is to focus on the growing interest in outdoor activities.

Research by the Harris Poll in October found that 69% of Americans reported a heightened appreciation for outdoor spaces during the pandemic, while 65% said that they try to get outside the house as much as possible. Younger people too! A survey by Civic Science found that Gen Zers and Millennials (those between 13 and 34 years old) were the most likely to say that they planned to do more outdoor activities as a result of COVID-19 related shutdowns.

“If those numbers are right, it would be the most significant increase in people getting outside for their health and well-being that we’ve ever seen, which would be remarkable,” says Lise Aangeenbrug, executive director of the Outdoor Foundation.

Were you one of those adults who decided to buy a bike this year or who tried regular walking, running, climbing or hiking as a way to beat the mental stress or added weight from staying at home more than ever? Bike and running stores struggled to keep up. This year, bicycling became the third most popular sport for kids (up from 16th), according to the Aspen Institute. Yellowstone saw more visitors in July 2020 than it did the previous year. State parks have seen a surge, too, as more families got outdoors but stayed closer to home to do so. Some parks even ballooned past capacity and had to turn people away or issue warnings and direct visitors to lesser-known sites.

According to numbers from L.L. Bean, sales of kayaks and family tents jumped 128% and 53% this year, respectively. Nationwide sales of camping supplies saw a 31-percent increase from the year before. Snowshoe sales at L.L. Bean were up 40%, and REI expanded its inventory of winter gear in anticipation of all-time highs in consumer demand.

Groups like the Outdoor Foundation and other organizations want to sustain the momentum. Aangeenbrug said, “When you think about what makes new habits, it’s to repeat and reinforce the experiences. If you couldn’t stand to be in the house one more minute, and you kept going outside and you kept having good experiences with your family and your kids and you did it enough, the likelihood is higher that it’s something that’s going to be a part of your life.” In other words, if your kids love getting outside to hike, run, camp or climb, make sure you continue to provide those opportunities even after the pandemic has subsided.

As adults, we should be interested in bringing even more people into the activities we tend to take for granted. By doing this, I think we not only can reverse the decline in team sports but foster more well-rounded and confident kids by building on the outdoors momentum of 2020. Youth leagues should start again soon, teaching life lessons and providing competition.

I’ve had a surge in requests on how to get kids started in running the right way. Our next beginning runners class starts on March 16. Attentive kids, 10 and up, can register for the class with a registered adult. www.salisburyrowanrunners.org . 

Just Dust

by   February 2, 2021 with No Comments

By Lynna Clark

I’m pretty good at hiding my crazy. But sometimes it’s a bit disconcerting even to me. For instance, I can’t stand to raise the blinds and leave them a bit cock-eyed. That won’t do even for a minute. I hate marking something out with an ink pen when I mess up. I just get a new piece of paper and start over; even on something as minor as a grocery list. And I really hate grammatical errors to the point that I have a hard time texting. While I’m trying to be all hip by getting used to abbreviations, I still think twice before using “lol.” Probably because for the longest time I thought folks were sending me lots of love.

Anyway…

I got a new day planner for 2021 as if my life is so busy I need to take careful notes. The only thing I have to keep up with now is all the doctor appointments. Like my mom-in-law used to say, “When you get to a certain age, there’s always somewhere to go; either the drug store, the doctor or the funeral home.” Sadly, I think I’m there. As I added the January appointment to my new calendar, I put it on the wrong stinkin’ date. My fresh clean planner is already messed up! It felt like a bad omen. As my hopes for the new year plummeted, I thought of the white-out stashed in my desk. Quickly I tried to cover up the mess. But alas. The cure was worse than the error. A crusty white blob stared back at me on my fresh new year.

Panic squeezed my chest until I realized the soiled date is also Winter Spruce Up. This magical day is celebrated throughout our small town by hauling all manner of unwanted junk to the curb. Diligent city workers will cart away discarded treasures for free. In our case, it will be the 1980s model washer and dryer that died simultaneously on black Friday. These faithful friends have been part of our lives longer than I can remember; much like the shoes of the children of Israel as they trudged through the wilderness. Those things just never went out of style. Another good thing about being crazy is that the word free covers a multitude of angst. Plus, now I have something to write over the white-out on my new calendar. Carefully, I printed “spruce up” over my former mess. It’s not perfect, but it is better.

Last year taught me many things. Probably most important is that I am not in control. Who would have ever suspected that as organized and careful as we are we’d get caught with our britches down and nothing to wipe with.

No, I am definitely not in control. No matter how much I plan, stuff happens. Appliances will give up the ghost right before Christmas. Sickness will hit no matter how healthy we eat. There’s not enough white-out in the world to cover our crazy. However, God “knows how weak we are — he remembers we are only dust. Our days on earth are like grass — like wildflowers, we bloom and die as though we had never been here. Psalm 103:14-17 says, “The love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him.”

The best way I know to deal with crazy is to give my uncertainties to the father. I function much better with him in charge anyway. As it turns out, he’s really good at making some very useful things out of dust.

The Safety Net

by   February 1, 2021 with No Comments

Ann Farabee

In a recent column, I referenced feeling as if traversing through difficult circumstances was like trying to keep my balance on a 3.9 inch wide balance beam.

I now have an update.

Lord, could I please have my balance beam back?

The news came. Not just one — but two friends — lost their lives to COVID this week. They were too young to go. It was too soon. They had families that needed them. It was hard for me to understand.

COVID continues to impact all of us daily. The struggles seem to be front and center and multiplying. In a way, it feels as though our balance beam was removed and replaced — with a tightrope.

As a young girl, I remember watching a tightrope circus act from the upper level of the coliseum. I gasped in horror as I saw the acrobat on the tightrope fall. She fell and fell and fell. The fall seemed to last forever.

Then came her landing. She fell — right into a safety net. It was so far down from where I was sitting that I had not even realized that a safety net was there. She jumped up, smiled, and waved to the cheering crowd.

I caught my breath. Whew! That was close. Or was it?

No, apparently, it was not close at all. It was part of the show.

That memory has now become a message.

A tightrope is a tensioned wire between two points that you try to keep your balance on by positioning yourself over your base of support. Some use a tool like a pole to help them balance. Others choose to balance by stretching their arms out.

Me? You? Balancing on a tightrope? Let’s see:

There will be times we will waver back and forth, feeling that we will fall. It can be scary, for there will be emotional strain — tension.

How do we keep from falling?

We position ourselves over our base of support while using these tools:

• Balancing pole — that would be God’s Word.

• Stretching our arms out — that would be prayer.

But, we are human. God knows our frame. He made us. He knows our limitations. No matter how hard we try to walk safely on our tightrope, there are times we lose our balance. We forget our balancing pole. We forget to stretch out our arms.

Those are the times we may fall.

We fall, and fall, and fall.

Then we land.

Straight into the safety net.

Our savior’s outstretched arms.

Psalm 145:14 says, “The Lord upholds all who fall.”

All means all.

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