Getting Ready

For the last three or four months I have been scouring the internet, researching the cities in Ireland that we will be visiting, readying myself for the kinds of activities we'll participate in.

Grand Circle offers lots of information on their website. It's just a matter of digging deep into the menu and clicking on various buttons. Their topics range from regional temperatures (50's & 60's) to popular eateries. They show several lists of travel and packing tips plus many "must-see" suggestions from Tour Directors. If you have the time, you can uncover a world of helpful insight there.

Then I investigated all the hotels we'll be staying in and find each of them to be first class in every respect. We'll have two and three night stays throughout our journey. One very appealing factor in this trip is the more leisurely pace of the tour. We can choose to go out every day, or perhaps stay back in a city and explore it on our own. I'm looking forward to that.

The internet has been very helpful in uncovering things to do in every town.

Today we received our "Final Document Booklet" with name and luggage tags, final air itinerary, passenger/traveler list, and hotel information. We are less than three weeks from departure and now I'm starting to feel the urgency of getting prepared. I need to pull out the clothes I plan to wear, make sure everything is clean and will be adequately warm, get all my travel-size toiletries together and packed, charge my camera batteries... and on and on.

Anyone with eyes and ears knows about the swine-flu frenzy in the global media!
I vacillate from sensing some seriousness about it to being irritated with the over-reaction that we're bombarded with. But I have enough sense to be cautious and pay closer attention to sanitation and cleanliness that is so taken for granted in the U.S. So these are the items I picked to have on the airplane to try to keep us virus-free.
We'll be abuzz with activity over the next couple weeks as we plan our packing strategies and go through several changes until we come to just the right configuration or run out of time!
Now, I just need to keep Treasure from guessing what we're up to!

Defiance!!

Does this look like the face of "Defiance?"

Well, it's hard for my sweet Westie to look defiant,

but she continues to defy the odds with her cancer.

At her appointment today, Dr. Earl came back from doing her ultrasound exam and said the cancer appears to be "encapsulating." Normally this type of tumor undulates with tentacle-like matter and can be especially troubling in the bladder where a blockage would be lethal. But today he said he can actually see an encasement and that the tumor appears to be smaller than before. We were all feeling rather jubilant!

It had occurred to me before her appointment this morning that back in August we didn't expect her to live more than two months. So heartworm prevention had been pushed out of my consciousness. Then today, seven months later, I realized she has not taken her heartguard in all that time, so Dr. Earl agreed to quickly test her and get her back on those meds too. It seems we had fallen prey to the tyranny of the urgent and forgot to deal with the everyday.

So I think we're back on track. Let's see, Heartguard once a month, Previcox once a day, Doxycycline five days a month. And let's not forget the flea preventive! Long live that defiant "Westitude!"

King William Parade

Today I went to the King William Parade and Fair with Meredith and Adrian. Well, our intention was to go to the Fair after the parade, but the morning became a little long and hot and we thought it best to cut out after the parade. Here are some of the pictures I took - I think there were over a hundred! My favorite pic is the disclaimer right at the beginning of the parade, "Our parade does not necessarily reflect the views of the King William Association" - AMEN to that! Most of the participants were in good, clean fun, but there were a few that I found a little over the edge. All in all, though, it was a fun morning. Enjoy!

This is How I Deal with Stress

Ruthie, this is for you!

Somebody must have told me when I was little that "idol hands are the devil's workshop," because I just can't sit somewhere with absolutely nothing to do! Give me a book, a Bible study lesson, or preferably some cross stitch and I"ll be content.

I remember waiting for word that Meredith's husband had obtained his visa so they could travel from Romania to the United States for an American wedding. This was all happening during the time that a sniper was randomly shooting people in the Washington D.C. area and apparently every FBI agent in the country was focused on getting that bad guy. Cristian's background check was on hold. So I stitched! It kept my mind off what was out of my control and when I finished my piece I was astonished to see that the verse I had stitched was Psalm 27:14 ~ "Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart." Ironically, the bad guy was caught and the visa was granted at the same time!

So here I am, listening to all the bad news on the Fox News channel, and I found a pattern to stitch from one of my many leaflets. It reminds me of our vacation in Pennsylvania and the quiet, serene Amish home we visited. And I sit and stitch and somehow I don't dwell on the news so much. So, after receiving a magazine from my stitching friend, Ruthie, I thought I would "show" her what I'm doing via the blog. And as I uploaded the picture, I looked at the Scripture I will finish this project with. It's from Hebrews 4:9 ~ "There remains therefore a rest for the people of God." Gosh, I needed that!

Just for Fun

Adrian loves to make music on Ludee's piano. This time I quickly grabbed Graham's camera - the one with sound - and caught him "in the act!" If he gets this much enjoyment at this age, I hope his parents will pursue his interest and see if there's some latent talent in those hands!

San Antonio Tea Party

I don't know if you were watching Fox today. Glenn Beck was at the Alamo for his show this afternoon, prior to the San Antonio TEA party this evening. I missed out on being a hippie or an anti-war protestor when I was younger, so my heart was really longing to be downtown with this group. My good sense won out, though, and I had to be content watching on television. It was really exciting to see several thousand tax-paying Americans rallying for more common sense from our government. I think most of the frustration people are feeling comes from thinking you can't be heard by the folks who represent us. I hope this gets a message to them somehow.

I especially liked this cartoon that came in my email. We sure do live in crazy times, don't we?

Easter Treasure Update

It's been a while since I gave a report of Treasure. At the end of March I had quite a scare when she started passing blood in her urine. I took her to Dr. Earl on that Monday and he did another ultrasound that showed no further growth of the tumor. He thought perhaps the tumor might have sloughed off some cells and that caused the bleeding. We decided that it was in Treasure's best interest to find a way for her to keep down the anti-inflammatory pills that were causing her some tummy troubles.

Dr. Earl had previously suggested giving her an antacid such as Pepcid along with the pill, but that was decidedly not working for her. I had an idea (that probably came to me in the night, when I get most of my good ideas!) to try the pill without the Pepcid, and to cut in into fourths. Dr. Earl said just get some of it into her system, whether it be halves or fourths. And bingo! She took her pill with her food with no trouble at all!

When we went to Ft. Worth, Treasure stayed with our friend and pet-sitter Karen, and during that week she took her antibiotics. Now she is back on the NSAID and doing quite well. Except for two days of feeling blah and not eating, she is now her old self again! And we have enjoyed our girl for almost eight months since that dire diagnosis in August. Just thought you'd want to know!

Some Fun Pictures from GES

Here are some pictures taken at random moments from the conference. One of the reasons I enjoyed this one so much is the participation of friends and Board members who attended with us. Ministry is best achieved with good friends.

Doug and Lois making last minute adjustments to the display.

Bob Wilkin making a salient point.

Networking between sessions - (Jim Voss and Lois).

Past videos of Q & A discussions including Zane Hodges, containing

incontestable clarification of his gospel presentation, dispelling rumors of his stand.

Tuesday night banquet... our plates and our table were full!
(Lois and Doug)

Tuesday night banquet - Garza's, White's, Wilson's, Jo and Kathy.

Listening intently to Graham as he presented his paper in a workshop.

(Pat Wilson, Kathy, Jo, and Viva.)

George, Viva, LaRue and Graham appreciate the words of our speaker.

Some friends from Communion Chapel.

Ruben, Pat, Mike and Jim.

In spite of, or maybe because of, the controversy that swirls around the Free Grace community, we should all be exhorted to search the Scriptures for our truth, not depending on another man's word or interpretation. Rather than focus on "divisions" (as had occurred in 1 Cor. 1:10 ff), let's remember that "the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." If we are to glory in anything, let us glory in the Lord.

A Different Look at the Prodigal

It seems fitting today that I share some wonderful insight into the parable of the Prodigal Son that was gleaned from the GES conference. The speaker, Jody Dillow, caused us to look at this section of Scripture from the viewpoint of Middle Eastern culture.

Rather than focus on either of the sons, which is what is normally done, we began to look more closely at the father in the parable. By putting this parable into context with "The Lost Sheep" and "The Lost Coin", which occur in verses 1-10 of Luke 15, the emphasis then centers on the price of finding and restoring. What price did the father pay?

When the younger son asked for his inheritance prematurely, in the culture of that day a father would have been expected to refuse the request and perhaps drive him out of the home. This father, however, grants the request, but at great cost to his own personal wealth. He would have had to sell much of his holdings in order to give the son his due. This was the first instance in which he went against tradition and showed his love for his son.

At this point in the lecture we were told about a Middle Eastern ceremony called the "qetsatsah" in which punishment was meted out to any Jewish boy who squandered his money with Gentiles. In this case, if the boy dared to return to his home, he would be met by the villagers who would break an earthenware jar in his presence, and shun him from any association with his people. Consider this as the boy is forced to return home in hunger and humiliation, knowing he will face the villagers' scorn and shame.

But what does the father do? He goes out of the village to meet his son, receiving him in love and reconciliation before the rest of the community can object. Once again he has broken the mold of Middle Eastern patriarchy and opened his heart to his boy. "As the father comes down and out to reconcile his son, he becomes a symbol of God in Christ. Father, a symbol for God, ever so quietly evolves into a symbol for Jesus." The father shows unspeakable grace toward an erring son. Not only that, his grace extends to the older son by his understanding acceptance of the son's wrath and responds to him with an equal measure of love given to the younger.

What a remarkable father! His love for his sons far outweighed his standing the community. He was wise enough to deal with both sons' behaviors and needs. Who among us is not grateful for a heavenly Father who will treat us as graciously as this father treated his sons?

Some Gems from Day 2

There were two sessions that I found particularly applicable to my circumstances of late. Both of them centered on the fact that I can trust God in any and every issue that I face. In this post I'd like to share some insight that I gleaned from John Niemela, a returning speaker who shed a lot of light on some troubling passages of Scripture.

In the Jewish culture of the day (when Jesus was on earth), when a person would write a missive to explain some point of theology, he would take an entire passage of the Old Testament and write only the prominent verse from it, knowing that his readers would know the context and content of the passage and understand the point the writer wanted to convey.

The Apostle John used this method in his gospel and Mr. Niemela pointed to two passages to show us how. First, in John 12:38, after Jesus had predicted his death in the verses just prior, John quotes Isaiah 53:1, "Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" This was to explain why, in verse 37, many did not believe in Him. The expansion of the Isaiah passage, however, reveals the prophecy of the death of the suffering servant. So, to those who did hear, the message was one of fulfillment of prophecy.

His second example was from Mark 16:34, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?" I have never been satisfied with sermons or explanations of how God could turn away from Jesus at the cross. But, looking at this passage as Mr. Niemela showed us, when Jesus uttered this statement, He was in effect proclaiming all of Psalm 22 which is prophetic, not only of His crucifixion, but also of His triumphant resurrection! From verse 22 to the end, the Psalmist is praising God, for He has not hidden His face from Him, but heard Him when He cried to Him. Jesus knew that God would be with Him through death and all the way to the resurrection.

That, my friends, was worth the price of admission! Now, here are some highlights from our group.

George & Viva, LaRue & Graham, listening intently.

Doug was getting a kick out of Kathy & Lois having a little too much fun!

Jo, LaRue & Graham appreciate the last speaker.

Graham spoke in Room 237 in the last time slot.

He's at his best when someone asks a question.

In the next post I'll try to share from one of the last messages of the conference. It was about having compassion, from Hebrews 5. I'll leave it at that, get my thoughts straight, and bring that with more pictures next time.

More from the GES Conference

As promised, today I will upload some pictures from the Grace Conference.

Here is our group (minus Kathy Crow who took the picture). We were wearing our spiffy "logo" shirts that we bought specifically for the conference (except for Graham, who felt he needed to dress up since he was one of the workshop speakers that day).

In the picture: Jo Schweizer, Viva & George Garza, Lois & Doug White, LaRue & Graham.

Lois & Doug busily put together our display so that we were ready as soon as the conference began. They are the "marketing elves" of the ministry, taking care of every imaginable detail.

Bob Wilkin (the President of GES) started the conference on Monday afternoon looking at 1 Corinthians 2:2, "What Was Paul's Message of Christ and Him Crucified?" It was a re-consideration of the question, "What must we believe about Jesus to be saved vs. What must Jesus do to be the Savior." In order to separate our belief from belief plus works, we must leave all the doing to Him.

Steve Lewis (from Rocky Mountain Bible College and Seminary in Denver) and Jody Dillow (founder of BEE Ministries) followed with sessions 2 and 3. Steve explained that much of our Church Theology is formed by "consensus" - "if all believe it, does that make it right?" This leads one to claim, "All agree, so the issue is settled." I was thinking that this is true inside and outside of church. How often have we heard that the Global Warming debate is settled?

Jody spoke on the Parable of the Ten Virgins from Matt. 25:1-13. This one cut into my exhaustion and I slipped out to take a little snooze.

After a short break, our group met with plans to venture out into Ft. Worth to eat dinner at Mimi's Cafe. Lois & Doug went back to their hotel and Jefferson, and the rest of us crashed in our rooms at the Riley Center, exhausted from an early morning (5 a.m.) start of a long day.

More on Tuesday's sessions in the next post.