Lynna Clark

By Lynna Clark

I’ve never been one to decorate for Christmas early. In fact, for many years Christmas reminded me of the year my mom died during that holiday. Our family barely functioned as we went through the season like zombies. However just lately, I thought about getting a new tree while there’s still plenty of time. Then someone posted on Facebook that anyone thinking about Christmas this early should just stop that crazy because “Joseph don’t even know Mary’s pregnant yet.”
Made me laugh.

Then my thoughts went to Mary. Bless her sweet heart. Apparently she was highly favored and yet even she asked, “How can this be?” I love that Scripture includes that.

Another favorite woman of mine in the Bible is Rahab. Bless her not so innocent heart. Her name is always tagged with “the harlot.” As if somebody missed that about her. Shesh. Not that I would presume to correct Scripture, but holy cow. Could we not at least include, “the woman formerly known as…”? Again, bless her heart. I guess it wouldn’t matter. She’ll always be THAT woman…

Except that the Lord fixed it.

Have you heard the story of Ruth and Naomi? It’s about a faithful gentile widow Ruth, who was so devoted to her husband’s Jewish mother, Naomi, that she followed her into a foreign land so that she could take care of her. Naomi herself admitted to being less than easy to live with. She called herself “bitter.” Soooo… not a peach. Anyway, God provided for Ruth and her bitter old mother-in-law by sending a faithful man to marry Ruth. Here’s where it gets fun.

Guess who Ruth’s new mother-in-law was? Yep. Good ol’ worldly, pagan, been around the block Rahab. Oy vey. I bet that made for some interesting Sunday lunches.

Personally I find myself between faithful, godly, innocent Mary the mother of Jesus and Rahab been-around-the-block-harlot. Not near as good as Mary, but not all that bad either. Therefore I think it’s wise to remember. If God can use the best of the best, and the worst of the worst, can He not use me, Lynna the Whinybutt? Even in my weakness He sees me as the one He created to serve a purpose. For His glory I was made for good things. How amazing is His grace. I would love to sit with Mary and hear the story of how things worked out in her life. But I really think Rahab had some stories to tell! Maybe that’s why she’s listed as “the harlot.” Perhaps God wanted to let us identify with a less than model citizen.

As for us regular Joes and Janes, “We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.” -Ephesians 2:10

Sidenote: For more about how Rahab saved her family, read Joshua chapter 2. To see her place in the lineage of the Messiah, see Matthew 1:5.

Now let’s go order a Christmas tree before it is eternally too late.

By Lynna Clark

Do you have a mud room? Praise God we do. It’s not real highfalutin with matching baskets and labels for where everything goes. It’s just an old closed in back porch where coats, garden gloves and muddy shoes go. Another good part is that it has a door which can close all that clutter away.

I heard the best song the other morning. Chris Tomlin along with Florida Georgia Line has a song called Forever Home. It speaks of how things will be in heaven. A line from it connected with my soul. Get ready. I’m gonna sing it for you:

“We’ll leave all of our worries just like work boots on the porch…”

What a picture! A place where all the cares of life can be dropped and forgotten as we look forward to a home cooked meal and a sweet time of rest; laughter and conversation around the table with the ones we love. No one brings up the junk of the day or the worries for tomorrow because the time together is just too sweet.

What if we could start that now?
Just as I heard that song, I “happened” to be reading in the last chapter of 1 Peter. Listen to this preview of what things could be like now.
“Casting all your cares on Him for He cares for you.” -1 Peter 5:7

Oh! What a picture of trust in the Savior! So many burdens pile on us at times. Grief and pain seem to have no end.

I can’t handle it!

But He can.

Bless the Lord!

“There ain’t no tellin’ what He’s got in store…”

By Lynna Clark

We love watching the Atlanta Braves. During their alumni week we got to visit with some old friends. Even though we were only catching up with our baseball heroes by way of television, it was fun to hear how they were doing. Some participated in a homerun derby, some had their kids or grandkids with them, and some joined the broadcast booth for a few innings. One of our all time favorite players Dale Murphy was there and it was fun to hear him interact with the regular announcers. Such a great personality. The man has always been so athletic and is part of the Braves Hall of Fame.* Watching his outstanding fielding in the early seventies is when I became a baseball fan. Those were lean years for the Braves. When we finally acquired some decent pitching it was way more fun. Notice my humble usage of “we.” That’s because I am right there with them in my mind. While Murph was in the booth, the producers showed an embarrassing video of him trying to take a selfie with a group of former players. In order to get a better shot he stood on a chair. When he lost his balance and nearly fell backwards, the group of guys behind him ran up to catch him. “That could’ve been bad,” they teased. He laughed as he commented, “Who would’ve ever thought I couldn’t stand on a chair?” Seeing Murph nearly fall helped me relate since we are about the same age. I don’t dare even stand on a stool to fetch a mixing bowl anymore. It’s down right dangerous to be tottering twelve extra inches above the ground. As the series continued former pitcher Tom Glavine commented that a certain injured player is considered “day to day.” He followed that up by saying, “But aren’t we all.” Once again I can relate. What used to be easy to navigate gets harder with age. At sixty- eight, it’s a bit scary out there. Actually I think it’s scary for everyone. We’re all just a bit “day to day.” Perhaps if we use a drop of common sense and pray for wisdom, the Lord will guide us every step of the way. So far it’s working in this brave new world.

*MLB has not yet recognized Murphy’s worth for their Hall of Fame. And I’m not bitter about that at all.]

By Lynna Clark

One of our favorite TV personalities made a remark that caused us to laugh. As the show continued David tipped his head and asked. “What’s goin’ on with her eyebrows?” I looked at him and wondered when he started noticing such things. Turning back to the pretty lady I realized he was right. Her brows were perfectly matched and a bit wider than normal. “Why would she do that?” he asked again. It was almost as if they’d been carefully colored in. The fact that I engaged in this conversation gives you a glimpse into our exciting life.

“Well… when I lost my hair during chemo, I was told there was a stencil I could get to draw in perfect eyebrows. Maybe she got hold of something like that. Although I could never quite get mine to look right. I always came off looking angry. Or shocked.”

He pushed his hair back and raised his eyebrows looking surprised. “Like this?” he asked.

“Yep. Just like that only not as bushy.” I smiled at the man. “I guess I should have splurged on the stencil. I kept thinking I could do it myself. But at the time, eyebrows were the least of my problems. It’s funny how they never grew back.” He leaned forward between our matching* recliners and looked at me closer.

“Hmm. They’re there. They are just very light. I guess you could draw them on. Just remember, ‘Less is more.’ You don’t want to look like the TV lady. That’s just weird.” A small part of me was pleased that he liked what he saw when he looked at me and didn’t want me resembling a celebrity. At least that’s what I heard.

I pulled up a phone picture our youngest daughter had taken of us the day before. As I held it up for him to see, again he considered the eyebrow situation. “Maybe our eldest daughter could draw some on the picture. She’s techno-savvy.”
I looked at the photo we hoped to use later for a family thing. “Yep. She could do that. Back when she was in high school she had big eyebrows, like Brooke Shields. So pretty. If anyone has a good appreciation of eyebrows it would be Stephanie.”
He nodded and I wondered if we should be watching the Braves game instead. Surely none of those guys have stenciled eyebrows. If so they’d be melted off in the Georgia heat. A bit later I dug through my make-up for an eyebrow pencil. As I looked in the mirror I envisioned looking like Sela Ward or that gal that plays in Ant Man. Remembering David’s words I tried to use a light hand. Suddenly I recognized the image in the mirror. It was Mr. Potato Head… using his angry eyes. Sela Ward was nowhere. But I did look expressive. So there was that.

A hot washcloth and a few scrubs later I came to a conclusion. Maybe I’ll be just fine without eyebrows. No more surprised looks or angry eyes. This way I can do what comes natural. Maybe keep people guessing with my blank look. I plan to hold onto my eyebrow pencil though. Considering our life, my confused look will surely come in handy in the future.

*Disclaimer: The mentioning of matching recliners is not intended to sound highfalutin. They DO match because his is brown and mine is orange and blue and brown paisley. However, they were not bought as a set. We are not that sophisticated.
Obviously.

By Lynna Clark

My daddy turns ninety this year. To say he’s been through some things is quite the understatement. I love it when he talks about growing up. Today when we visited by phone he mentioned that he had loved playing football in school. This was news to me and I could not imagine. As an adult he’s always been a short wiry fellow; strong as an ox and as smart as anyone I’ve ever met. But football? I guess he heard my doubts as he went on to explain. “I’m small now and was probably shorter then, but I could run. Everybody said I was fast. Of course all us Pittman boys were fast.” I laughed and said, “You were probably trying to stay two steps ahead of grandpaw.” He paused at the thought and added. ” Yep, some other people too.” I wondered what he meant. I know he and some of his brothers had been caught swimming in the old Cannon Mills cement pond at night on several occasions. I think they received a free escort home by the cops at some point. Since both his parents worked in the cotton mill, that probably ended those late night shenanigans. But who knows? I do know daddy has always loved to swim. However he did not get to play football because it fell to him to milk the family cow. With a family having twelve kids it was a necessity. Apparently the milking could not wait til after football practice. Daddy went on to say that growing up back then was not the same as how kids grow up today. I smiled at another giant understatement.

That lead me to mention the power outage and how hot it was in our house. “I guess I’m just spoiled. I can’t imaging how folks used to live without air conditioning.” He paused to think for a minute. “Yep, I slept with my head on the windowsill many a night, just begging for a breeze. And flies were awful. Nowadays if we get a fly in the house it’s unusual. Back in the day they were everywhere. Did you ever see those yellow strips of flypaper? Everybody had those hangin’ in the doorways. Flies were so much worse back then. They came in swarms. Of course everybody had an outhouse in their backyard.” I shuddered at the thought. “And a cow,” I added.

“Yep… that didn’t help much either.” He paused and thought for a while. I waited and hoped he’d tell me more. But I was careful not to ask because if daddy thinks you’re trying to get him to talk about the past he shuts down. Inside I knew this was a rare visit. I know the man won’t live forever. Eventually he began talking again. I listened as he recalled a time when he was around eight years old. As he walked down the dirt road past houses in his neighborhood, he kept hearing mournful crying. He had no idea what all the sadness was about. Later he found out Pearl Harbor had been bombed. My soul grieved at the thought of his little boy heart. How terribly sad to live through such a horrible time. I also knew he would grow up to join the Navy during the Korean war. In the past when we’ve asked about those years in uniform he’d just shrug and say, “Aw, I didn’t really do anything. Sailed around the world a couple times. Swam in a lot of places I weren’t supposed to. Married your mama one Labor Day weekend. The brass revoked my shore leave at the last minute and I had to go AWOL to meet up with her. Spent two weeks with your mama. Did hard time for ninety days once I got back. But it was worth it.”

I can’t imagine ninety days of hard labor in the confines of an aircraft carrier. I knew from stories past that his sentence started in September of 1953 while his ship was docked in Jacksonville, Florida. The first time he had shore leave was in January the next year. By then they were in the Philippines.

Ninety years. He and mama raised three daughters. Mama passed away at only 72; a very young 72. We miss her still. But daddy! Still here and sharp enough to talk about “back in the day.” When I start to worry about our current times it helps to recall just a few of the things my daddy lived through. In fact I feel spoiled completely rotten. Praise God my life does not include an outhouse or yellow fly paper.

Lynna Clark

Do you send greeting cards? I do. I guess because I love to get them. I remember mama saying one time that she and daddy nearly got kicked out of the Hallmark store that used to be near Marshalls. They tucked themselves over in the Maxine section and read funny stuff until they were laughing outloud. We could always count on them to find the best humor available. Like a lovely card with a photo of clouds and sunshine on the front. The sentiment said, “I wish you were Jesus.” Knowing my parents I couldn’t imagine such a sappy greeting on my birthday. The inside cleared it up by adding, “Then today would be Christmas.” Yep. Just my speed. David’s mother Nina on the other hand, always bought the sappy stuff and personally underlined the important parts. Which was everything. And even though she lived across the road from us, she would put a stamp on the envelope and send it with her outgoing mail. On my birthday one year she tucked a twenty inside with a note in her distinctive left handed script. “Go get that paint you like so you can freshen up the looks of that end table you’ve been wanting to refinish.” She knew me well and tried to think of unique gifts to make me feel loved. I used that twenty to buy a gallon of Robin’s Egg Blue paint at Lowe’s. Paint costs about twice that much now; so that tells you how long ago it’s been. Now every other piece of furniture in the house is Robin’s Egg Blue. But that’s okay. Designers have been advising for years to pick an inspiration piece and run with it. I’ve decided that’s what happened. But don’t worry. I still have a dab left in case something comes up.

So anyway, I still send greeting cards. While the savvy amongst us send texts or messages online, I’m still using paper and ink. The last time I sent a card to a granddaughter I wondered. Can she read this? It IS in cursive. Will she even get it? Since she lives in an apartment in a large city, does she even check the mail? Good thing I planned ahead. It took about four grocery trips for my beloved to remember to get stamps at the Food Lion. I was kinda proud when I remembered to tell him to pick some up. He felt rather accomplished when he remembered to do so. As I pondered my granddaughter’s circumstances or status as the youngsters say, I felt like a Navaho code talker. Actual ink on paper written in cursive and mailed to an address by way of a stamp seems a little antiquated. At least I knew enough not to put money in there. Because who in their right mind would want to buy a can of paint and color everything in the house Robin’s Egg Blue? Hopefully the espresso mugs she picked out on Amazon will land on her doorstep and make her smile. The only problem is that they will be there a week early. I’m so used to regular mail that I forgot to allow for the efficiency of Amazon. And we wonder why Amazon is taking over the world.

Oh well. At least the greeting inside the box will not be in cursive. I think she will love it.

By Lynna Clark

If you live in certain parts of Rowan County, NC you may have recently experienced a power outage. We sure did. It might’ve been two of the longest days of my life. Well, except for that time my husband was coaching the girls’ softball team at the school where we worked. We made it to the championship tournament (yay) but had to travel to Rocky Mount. Though it is only 241 miles from here by car, we were of course in a school activity bus; which turned the three hour tour into a journey of epic porportions. Lord have mercy. Then we were privileged to play multiple back to back games in the sauna that is Eastern North Carolina. Have you ever been there? Situated in the Netherworld between our beautiful Piedmont and the pristine Coastline, this lovely area so closely resembles a swamp that we had to be careful when parking lest the bus sink up to the axles; that wondrous land where mosquitos are the size of hummingbirds. I thought the gravity was less intense but it turned out the aforementioned mosquitos were trying to carry me off. Though we cheered almost obnoxiously for our team to win (too much cowbell), I silently prayed for the joy to end. Please forgive me dear loyal parents and fans. I thought I might die and wished I’d hurry up.

Annyyywayyy…

Our recent power outage brought up memories of a similar time when there was just no escaping the heat. It did help us realize things that are good to have in an emergency. Like battery powered chargers for our electronic gadgets. My tablet died so I ended up reading an actual paper book. It was hard to turn the pages though as I kept swiping along the bottom and nothing happened. We dug out an oil lantern and used it for a while til the wick gave out. Thankfully we had a decent flashlight. David’s grill worked well and also relegated the heat of cooking to the great outdoors. He did not however appreciate the church fan I handed him when he expressed how hot it was in the house. Together we decided that a power outage in the heat of summer is much worse than one in the winter. One can always add more clothes or another blanket if it gets too cold. But in the heat with all the windows open we dared not strip any further lest the neighbors call the cops. Nobody wants to see all that.
Eventually the power came back on about 2:30am one morning. Since it had gone off during a dark storm a day or ten earlier, all the lights were on. It was a happy awakening. We shut out the lights, closed the windows (and curtains) and did the dance of joy. The next morning we ran the washer, dryer, and dishwasher. We charged up all the phones and tablets; then downloaded a cache of books so I wouldn’t have to manually turn pages. Currently we are settled into our normal lifestyle of cool.

Back in those happy days of 1999, our girls won the tournament; the bus made it home, and we all lived to tell about it. I may or may not have kissed the ground. Apparently good stories do not come cheap.

By Lynna Clark

My mom was not the nurturing sort. She tended to be a no-nonsense kind of gal. She was so smart and capable especially about practical things. Though she had great respect for the Lord, I began to notice a warmth in her relationship with Him when I was away at college. She would write long letters about important things; like how to bake a turkey for Thanksgiving; with reminders to remove the giblet bag before baking. Huh. Who knew? One of those letters in her neat flowing script included this verse. “In the multitude of my thoughts within me, Thy comforts delight my soul.” -Psalm 94:19. It was the first time I remember her quoting Scripture. But that verse became so dear to me later in life, especially regarding my mother. You see, eventually she lost the ability to reason.

As I mentioned, she was a very smart, meticulous individual… until she wasn’t. We started noticing changes in her behavior that were so opposite of her personality. Only two months after the first episode, she lost her life to a rare brain disease. I can’t tell you what that single verse in Psalm 94 meant to me, though she had shared it thirty years earlier.

“In the multitude of my thoughts within me, Thy comforts delight my soul.”

I’m so glad God’s truth never fails. His comfort and peace ushered her into His presence, where she will never be confused or frightened again. In fact, it’s good to think on those comforts every day. “For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind.” -2 Timothy 1:7

May the Lord encourage your heart as you think on Him today.

Dear Sweet Lord, sometimes it feels as if the world around me hast gone completely crazy… and therefore so have I. So many thoughts and fears pound on my heart. Only You can offer the comfort I need. Please Father, I ask that You lift my thinking even to the point of delight in You. Perhaps infuse enough joy to bring others along. Please turn the crashing waves of fear into a peaceful river flowing from Your throne. In You alone I place my trust.

Amen

By Lynna Clark

I’ve been thinking about a word I saw in Scripture, and praying it for my husband and me. You see, we’ve just let go of a lot of security and left jobs we had at the same school for the past twenty years. Yep. We are that crazy. Anyway, he was a middle school teacher [math, Bible, & culinary] and I was the school secretary. And we really loved it. But the Lord kept nudging us to step out of the boat and do a little wave walking.

A while back I heard a teaching series through the book of Nehemiah. The pastor said. “Don’t allow fear to be bigger than your God.” It was at that point that I had real confirmation that God wanted us to do something more. That was in January. So in March, when it was time to sign contracts for the next year, God gave us both peace and assurance that we needed to be done there. And we let go.

One day I was reading and came across the word equip. It’s contained in a prayer at the end of Hebrews. Chapter 13:20 says, “And now, may the God of peace, Who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, equip you with all you need for doing His will.” Since we are definitely old dogs in need of new tricks, equipping by God sounds like a great request. So this has become my prayer for us. Today, I saw an interesting commentary on that word. The writer, Dennis Fisher, says it is the same word used in several contexts. Stay with me, this is pretty cool. Ephesians 4:12 uses it to describe what pastors and teachers do for us as they bring us God’s Word. Galatians 6:1 speaks of restoring [equipping] a fallen brother. And my favorite is in Matthew 4:21. Mending [nets] is the same word.

God is so practical. He never asks us to do anything without equipping us to do it. And if we fall, and odds are pretty good we will, He reaches out His hand for us. And when we need mending, He’ll do that too. People may think we are not worth the effort, but God never gives up on us. And the coolest part of all is that the power He uses to equip us is the same power He used to RAISE CHRIST FROM THE DEAD! Ephesians 1:19-“I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of His power for us who believe Him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead!” Strong stuff! Makes me think we can do anything He asks!

So the prayer for today is for equipping. Lord, strengthen us with the tools we need to build Your church. Put in our hearts what You want us to do. Then give us the knowhow, stamina, and understanding to do the things You want done. Help us remember that we cannot rely on ourselves. Then strengthen us to stay so close to You, that when the waves get big, we instantly call to you like Peter did when he stepped out on the water. Hold us by Your strong and mighty right hand! Equip us to do great things we’ve never done before!

More: Psalm 18:16-20; Matthew 14:22-33; Isaiah 43:2; 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Isaiah 48:17- “The LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says, I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good and leads you along the paths you should follow. Oh that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling like waves.”

By Lynna Clark

We love riding our motorcycle through the country. Unchartered territory! Exploration at its finest! One day we passed a huge ceramic owl in a birdbath. I wondered if we were supposed to be tricked into thinking it was real. Who would put an owl in a birdbath? Was that to scare off the other birds? Then why have a birdbath in the first place if you don’t want birds? A house down the road had the entire dwarf clan plus a gnome, snow white, and Santa thrown in for good measure. It was redneck utopia.

On another ride we passed a country church with a sign out front that said, “Be a fountain, not a drain.” Was this meant to be spiritual insight? Perhaps a reprimand to an unruly church member… Usually church signs just get on my nerves trying to be all spiritual, but this one cracked me up. So one day when one of my afore-mentioned godly daughters was griping, [notice in this story she only gets a small “g” in godly], I said to her, “Be a fountain, not a drain.” She replied with an Aretha Franklin head wag, “I’ll have you know that drains are necessary too. Without drains all kinds of stuff gets backed up!”
Had to agree.

Some guys in Nehemiah 4 were being drains, and not in a good way. There was mocking and rage involved. Have you ever been the victim of gossip and anger? Hurts doesn’t it. If only people would give you a chance to explain. Have you ever been the one making fun of a work or a plan? Have you ever given your opinion at the expense of a ministry? I am very sorry to say that I have. The results were very displeasing to the Lord. I have been a part of the naysayers in ministries past. But with great conviction I am asking the Lord to strengthen me to never take part in negative speech regarding ministry again. It takes effort. There is always a better way to do things. But why tear a wall down when you can build one up?

Hebrews 10:24 says, “Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds.” I like how the King James phrases this verse. “Encourage one another while it is yet today.” Sounds more urgent. It is not an accident that the next verse says, “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do…” God knows we need encouragement. And so do all the people around us. Today, “while it is yet today,” encourage someone. Refrain from negative speech. Build someone up. Take notice of something praiseworthy and point it out in front of the person you are building. Do that for your children. Say to a parent so their child can hear, “I saw Jesse being kind to his little sister today. He must be growing stronger in the Lord.” Watch their response. It’s catching.

With all that said, today’s prayer is for positive speech, and intentional building up of those around us. Encourage one another while it is yet today. And watch out for all those owls splashing around in a birdbath near you.

More Proverbs 6:16-19 Proverbs 14:1