9 Months Since Crash - The Power of Change

Dear Friends,

I can barely sort out the kaleidoscope of emotions I have run with on this beautiful summer day. Why I wear mascara to church I’ll never know. I look like Tammy Fay Baker by the end of the service.

Tom Little, a man I have had the honor of speaking with a few times, was killed on Friday by the Taliban in Afghanistan. He was an eye doctor there for many years going to the poorest Afghan villages to literally bring light into darkness. He and a group of other compassionate medical folks were returning from a clinic in the remote mountains (where this kind of help is desperately needed) headed back to Kabul when they were gunned down as “spies and proselytizers”. Well, they were never able to speak about Jesus because of the laws of that land, but their lives were living epistles of the gospel in a place where love and mercy are sorely needed. Send up prayers for Tom’s wife Libby and their 3 girls. All of you who read here know that the Great One is supreme at turning disaster into triumph. As for Tom Little, he has his reward. He did what the Great One called him to do. All of us won’t die as martyrs. But we can live our lives, right where we are, for something bigger than we are. We can get out of our selfish cocoons and reach out to someone. You don’t have to look far for someone to love. Across the desk. Across the street. Next to you in bed…

Pastor Greg gave a sermon today on change, and I tell you the truth when I say it was like being hit by lightening. It was as if God Himself took the microphone and spoke directly to me, unsettling me and confronting me with that beautiful blanket of grace over the whole encounter. I was positively undone by the word of God. First, I was smacked with the grief of the change I am already processing. Sometimes it hits me like a ton of bricks. I go days, weeks, months thinking I have adjusted (and I have), but find there is a deeper place of acceptance and flexibility I must dive down and grasp. Then there is the prospect of the changes I think are being asked of me, and my faulty courage to actually make them. To stay in “the way it always has been” when all the signs point to moving on, is akin to moldy bread, rotting meat and spoiled fruit. What was once good and sweet has lost its flavor. It’s time to get on with it, or a part of us will die. P.G.’s wise council to be proactive in seeking God ahead of the change is being implemented by me right now. I just remembered, if you would like to hear this sermon for yourself, you can listen on the website (there’s a link right here on the blog). We need courage at the sticking point. God has it in limitless supply.

Here are a few things I’m rejoicing over today:

Pastor Dave the Humble and Sister Laurie are back from vacation! Hooray, hooray. With all the blubbering I did today I missed my chance to welcome them back with a big ole’ hug. I’ll get my chance…

Miss Beth A., (now Mrs. Beth A.) is the daughter of Judy the Good and Mark the Lion Hearted. She got married today! Mazel Tov Beth and Ray! I’m so very happy for this matchless family. I can’t wait to see the pictures of Judy (who is more of an Eddie Bauer kind of girl) in her fancy duds. The bride must steal the show. But I’m sure her momma turned a few heads too…Love you like crazy, Judy!

Precious Ryan W., an old friend of my son Joseph’s, came to visit from Florida yesterday. He’s 6 feet tall now, but I remember him in kindergarten. And I remember him selling rocks at Sacandaga Lake with Joseph as his side kick. And I remember my oldest son giving up his kindergarten graduation balloon because he felt so bad that Ryan’s floated out of reach. Joseph, that’s who you truly are! I’ll try to keep it in mind when I’m ready to lock you in the cellar…

Friends, it is 9 months today since the crash that started this blog. I am a changed woman because of it. The crash and the blog. The Great One specializes in change. Look at the seasons. Look at metamorphosis. Look at the tides. He’s with you in all the changes. So take heart. Be of good courage!

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.” ~Mark Twain

Your friend on the pilgrim road,

Loriann