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Potential

This was written by another but I wanted to share it!

“Ponder the potential of an egg. Ideally, under the proper circumstances of fertilization, the egg could become a baby chick. But just as most eggs do not become chicks – their highest fulfillment – so we, a humans, do not usually attain our highest dreams and ideals. Yet, all is not lost, for an egg that does not become a chick is still very useful!

Before this egg is useful, however, it must first go through various treatments. Initially, and egg just be candled and graded. In the candling process, a tube light shines through it to detect imperfections or cracks. It must have a healthy life cell. Just so, the searching light of the Holy Spirit must penetrate our inner life cell to be sure there is a new life cell in Christ and then to expose our imperfections.

Then this egg must be graded for size; some are small, others- medium, large and even jumbo. These are actually equally valuable in that there are occasions when a small egg is more desirable than a larger one and vice versa. Just so, each of us has varying capacities and gifts, but we are equally important and needful in the plans of God.

After the candling and grading process, the egg is boxed and then distributed warehouses and stores. The eggs have no say-so, but must go where they are sent. We, too, have assignments in life. Perhaps at times we feel all “boxed in”because of our circumstance in life. We may even be tempted to break out of the box – that confinement – but f we are to be useful, we must be patient and trusting.

After all this preliminary treatment, finally the egg is recognized for its importance; it is now taken off the shelf and purchased by a shopper. If only the egg new what lies ahead, it would undoubtably prefer staying right there on the shelf in the grocer’s cooler. Without any warning the egg is mercilessly plunged into a pan of cold water. And if that is not ruthless enough, it soon feels the flame beneath the pan. Gradually the water becomes hotter and hotter until it reaches the boiling point. The egg must wonder how it can possibly endure any more treatment – the fact is, some cannot…they crack in the intense heat!

By now, the egg must be asking apprehensively, “What next?” Suddenly it becomes aware of a cracking of its shell. And not only breaking, but then follows peeling – how humiliating! But that is the part of the process for our becoming useful – our outer shell must be broken. The self-protective facade must be cared so that the Christ life can be released from within.

The peeling is more distasteful than the breaking because of the humiliating exposure of our naked selves. How we resent others gazing upon our losses and failures.

“Surely, matters can’t get much worse for me than this!” the egg must be thinking hopefully. But it suddenly feels the sharp cuttings of a knife across its already peeled body. “Perhaps the chef is cutting me into attractive wedges so I might be used to garnish a salad…ah!…useful at last. But no…they are chopping me into small pieces.” the egg moans. And the eggs is mashed into nothingness.

Until we are aware of our nothingness – without God – we are not useful to God. So He supervises our candling, grading, distribution and then allows the fiery trials, the braking, peeling, cutting and mashing that we might become useful.

Now that the egg has been mashed into nothingness, the chef mixes mayonnaise, pickle, mustard, a little salt and pepper with it, and it becomes a delicious egg salad with which they prepare egg salad sandwiches to feed others! So as the processed oil of joy of the Holy Spirit blends our mashed nothingness with the life of Christ within, we become food and nourishment for hungry souls.”

 

By Ruth Shank Shira in her book, God Recycles Broken Dreams, 2013 ANM Publishers,Charlottesville, VA.22905

Scriptural references: Psalm 139:23-24; Romans 12:4-5; Micah 2:5; Psalm 37:23; Psalm 37:34; Isaiah 43:1-3; Psalm 34:18; I Peter 2:24;  John 3:30; Isaiah 61:1-3.

 

 

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Learn from our Mistakes

This is by a “contributing editor”, Noelle D., my daughter.
In sharing her story and mistakes she wants to help others avoid the pitfalls. She has been remarkable through this and a testament of grace.

So You Want to Remodel….
(read this first)

I was awakened at 5:15 on a Friday morning by my son saying, “Mom, there is water coming in my room.” He was right, it was raining outside and water was coming in through the window but not only in his room, but every window in the rear of the house. Before long, water was pouring through the master bedroom ceiling fan. By then, I had a bucket and was dumping it every five minutes as the water continued to pour in. By the time the rain stopped outside, all but three rooms in the house had water seeping in them. Water even trickled down the basement walls.

A week earlier, my husband, Maury, and I had hired our next-door neighbor (whom I will call John and his wife Sue) to do repairs. They told us they had a licensed and insured construction company and could replace our roof and gutters. We took him at his word and did not verify his business license or insurance. His estimate for replacing our roof was less than the other estimates. He justified this by stating he was giving us a break since we were neighbors. His estimate was $7500 (keep this number in mind).

Our neighbor began replacing our roof on a Monday. By Thursday, John and his crew were still taking the shingles off, and the forecast now called for rain late Thursday night into Friday morning. He tarped the front roof of the house but failed to tarp the back roof of the house which was exposed – no shingles or tar paper, just roof decking. The rain came. Water poured in everywhere – attic, master bath and bedroom, boys room, upstairs hallway, HVAC ductwork, kitchen, downstairs bath, living room, study, sun porch, even trickling down to the basement’s back wall.

John came over first thing that Friday morning. He apologized profusely and stated he and his insurance company would take care of the damage and make our house better than it was before. At this point my husband and I were dumbfounded and overwhelmed. We had four kids, ages 9, 6, 4, and 2 at the time and homeschooling one of them. Also, our house was on the market – one reason we decided to re-roff in the first place. What were we going to do?

Later that morning as I was downstairs, there was a loud “BOOM!” I rushed upstairs and attempted to get into the master bedroom. As pushed the door open, I realized the master bedroom ceiling had fallen (the ceiling was made of plaster), thankfully missing my husband and our four-poster bed by 3 feet, but damaging other furniture.

In the afternoon, John’s insurance came to assess the damage. The agent informed me that the insurance would accept this claim and our living expenses would be covered. However, I was not informed of my options: Could we use another contractor to make repairs? How long would this take? Should I call my homeowners insurance? It was my understanding after meeting with the insurance agent that my only option for a contractor was John. Therefore, the contractor that was negligent and caused the original damage was now the same contractor repairing the house. (Fox guarding the henhouse comes to mind.)

John said Maury and I needed to pack up the house. The rear of the house needed to be gutted due to the water damage – the attic, master bedroom and bath, boys’ room, back wall of the first floor which included a bathroom, living room and kitchen.

He stated it would take two weeks to put the house back together as he was pulling crews from other jobs, making our house his priority. We made living arrangements accordingly.

The next eight weeks (not two) were nothing but manipulation and deception, which included the police being called on two separate occasions because of fierce arguments between John and his crew. Crews were not pulled from other job sites, as there were no other job sites. Each day there were different workers at the house, who were not allowed to talk to Maury or me.

Replacing our roof took three additional weeks. What was supposed to cost us $7500 cost another $3500 due to “damaged roof decking.”

John stated that he had spent $20K on replacing our kitchen cabinets. A disagreement between he and the cabinet company ensued with the cabinet company threatening to put a lien on our home. Maury talked to the cabinet company directly and found out that the cabinets were builder grade cabinets and that he only spent $9000 on them. When John found out that Maury was going directly to the cabinet company himself to deal with this dispute, his wife Sue texted the cabinet company and told them to not tell Maury how much they spent on the cabinets.

Maury and I questioned whether permits needed to be pulled for the construction. John stated that he was working with the insurance company to get permits. The insurance company stated John should have been pulling them all along!

John pitted the insurance agent against Maury and me, often telling the agent one story about us and bemoaning the actions of the agent to us.

The final straw was when John stated he needed the final payment from the insurance company. He claimed his brother was sick in Florida and that he was going to be traveling for a week. Maury and I had grave concerns and stated we would not sign any release forms until the house was finished. John got his final payment directly from the insurance company.

He did not go to Florida to see his “sick brother.”

Finishing our house became a low priority as two weeks had passed after receiving the final payment and the repairs on our house were still not completed.

Finally, we had enough and fired John.

At this point Maury and I contacted the insurance agent, he shut us down and quit communicating. We asked if we could have documentation of John’s license. The insurance company said we could walk next door and get documentation directly from John. We never got documentation of John’s license from him or the insurance company. John was not a licensed contractor!

The next six months became an arduous process of seeking legal counsel, going to the Better Business Bureau and State Insurance Commission, documenting all the damage and repairs that had yet to be done and then getting the repairs done correctly by another contractor. Almost everything John had repaired had to be re-done — permits had to be pulled, a structural engineer had to be called, hardwood floors had to be refinished, gutters had to be replaced, kitchen cabinets reset, electrical outlets that were once grounded were no longer, kitchen plumbing that had been to code was no longer and was leaking, and the list continued on and on. It was not until the beginning of January 2014 that we finished repairs on the house.

Where were we living during all of this? Since we were told repairing the house would take two weeks, we made temporary living arrangements. Since the process was prolonged, we ended up jumping from place to place. One week at my mother’s, two and a half weeks in North Carolina (while Maury stayed behind for work), ten days in a cabin at a campground, and then another three weeks at my mother’s house. This past fall we lived in the house while the repairs were going on.

There was a period of 10 days in which we did not have a working kitchen.

Then we had to move all our furniture in the rooms that did not have wood floors so we could refinish the ones that did. We were out of the house for another week. It was not until the beginning of January 2014, almost nine months from the original water damage that the repairs to the house were completed.

In this process, Maury and I tried to keep a sense of normalcy for the children.

They did not feel secure, were anxious, and had nightmares (which just recently stopped). It did not help that during all this upheaval that our cat died. She was an older cat and the stress of the construction process proved too much!

We had to seek professional counseling for one of our sons due to his anxiety.

Others losses we incurred: We lost the Spring season for the Real Estate market as the house had to be taken off. Maury lost work days in order to help deal with the mess. Homeschooling was interrupted. We had huge financial losses – thousands of dollars in legal fees not to mention getting the house to repaired correctly.

No doubt, we learned a lot from this whole experience, and that’s what we wanted to share with you. So, if you’re thinking about remodeling your home or having any sort of major repairs done, ask yourself several questions and follow some simple rules:

1) Get 2-3 quotes for the work to be done.
2) Get references on all the contractors who gave you quotes, but pay special attention to and check those that make the ‘final cut’ and will be doing the work.
3) Ensure that your contractor is pulling the appropriate permits for any work being done on your home.
4) Ask for the contractor’s license and insurance documentation and then check on the State’s DPOR website to ensure that the license is still in force.
5) In the state of Virginia, if a dispute arises between entities in a contract, each one is responsible for their own legal fees. Therefore when writing a contract, specify that if dispute should arise, the losing party pays for the legal costs of both parties.
6) If you have damages, especially those caused by a contractor working for you, be sure to immediately contact your own insurance company and report the incident.

I hope this helps…

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He Knew What Was Coming

Jesus rode into Jerusalem amid adoring throngs hailing Him as “one who comes in the name of the Lord; blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David…” He was riding a crest of popularity. He went to the temple and looked around. What did He see? People busy, weary of their busyness. People trying hard to obey all the religious laws. People wanting to please God. People trying to stay out of the religious leaders’ watchful, critical eyes. Women being put upon. The sick, lame, blind being pushed out of the way. The poor were ignored.

He knew what was coming.

He saw a fig tree that was not bearing fruit and cursed it so that it withered. A fig tree puts out leaves and fruit at the same time. To find one with leaves only was unusual. Perhaps an illustration of so many – those that have the leaves of religiosity but no fruit. Those that have all the trappings but no life. He cursed the fig tree. It reminds me of the story Jesus told of those on the Judgment Day who say, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons and in Your name perform many miracles?” But He will say, “I never knew you, depart from me.”

He knew what was coming.

He challenged the temple practices of the money changers. He violently turned their tables over and cast them out – not even allowing people to carry products through the temple. He called for he temple to be a house of prayer. This angered the religious leaders so much that they began to seek a way to kill Him. They challenged Him with trick questions which He met by confronting them with themselves. Angering them further.

He knew what was coming.

I wonder what the disciples were thinking the next day. They probably were saying to themselves, “It’s about time! He is going to set up His kingdom and we’ll have a place in it! I wonder who will sit at His right hand. Oh, boy, we can’t wait to prove to all the naysayers that He was right all along. This is going to be great!”

They did not know what was coming.

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Vanished!

I have been so taken with the reports of the Malaysian Airline plane that is missing. Since I first noticed the story on the news “crawl” at the bottom of the screen on Friday. At first I thought it was unbelievable and not a real news story. Planes don’t just disappear! But as the hours passed and the reports grew stronger, I was deeply saddened and intrigued. Secondly, I began to wonder if I knew any missionaries, acquaintances or family that might be traveling such a route. I didn’t.

How can a large jet, in good repair, with good weather just vanish with all 239 passengers on board and not one distress signal or amount of debris? Just vanish. We don’t know yet. There are far more questions than answers. No terror group has claimed responsibility…

I know there are teams of experts headed out to the South China Sea to investigate and eventually we will get an answer.

But there are so many family members grieving…shock, disbelief and the reality has yet to set in that life has been forever altered for them and there is no explanation. No body. No casket. No grave. No closure. Just gone. How does one adjust?

It made me think of the time when many of us will vanish in the Rapture when Jesus comes to claim His own. St. Paul describes it this way: “For the Lord HImself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord i the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (I Thessalonians 4:16-17)

Part of me wondered for a minute if that had happened to that airplane! But too many saints I know are still on earth!

When the time comes will non believers hear the trumpet? Will they have a last-minute opportunity? Or will they just wake up to the reality that all the believers are gone? They will have lots of questions, no doubt. (Sort of like the books and movie of the Left Behind series.)

I don’t want to get into an eschatological theology discussion. That’s way above me. But I do know Jesus is going to return and He will call His own to join Him. I am one of His so if I am alive, I’ll hear that trumpet and my name called and I’ll be out of here! How exciting!

If, however, I am dead and buried I’ll be in that group to rise first!

Either way, I get to spend eternity with the Lord!

How ’bout you? Are you sure of eternity? Don’t be left out. Make Jesus your Lord today!

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Survivalist

I happened to listen to an interesting conversation between two men over New Year’s. They used a word I was not familiar with: “prepper”, as in someone who is prepared for hard times – be it war, natural disaster or terrorism attack – a survivalist. The conversation was sparked by the book, One Second After, by William Forstchen. I have not read it yet but apparently it is about the United States being brought to its knees by electronic terrorists. The plot is quite plausible.

These two discussed the need to have guns with plenty of ammunition, foodstuffs to carry you through…being self-sufficient. I listened and asked a few questions. Neither of these men is on the “fringe” of society. They are believers. They said we’d have to have a car built before 1975 because that’s when the electronics were first introduced in cars.

I am not unfamiliar with the idea of being prepared for disaster…Years go when I lived in Texas, there was the same kind of discussion. There were programs where you could buy food that lasted for many years for a certain price. The Mormon Church sells food products that can be stored for long periods of time. I know I stored water, cans of tuna and rice during the Y2K non-event. I hear on the radio that we need gold and silver coins “just in case” – to be safe.

Later, I looked on the Internet to see what was being said about food storage and preparedness! Whoa! There is a lot! Lots of survival guides. Hundreds of blogs on the subject. Which ones are trustworthy?

King Solomon said, “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.”” (Proverbs 6:6-10) So…

Do we build a theology on one passage? Where does trusting God come in? If I store food but my neighbor does not, do I shoot him if he comes after mine? If I have a car that doesn’t have electronics, where will I buy gas – the pumps won’t work. Think about it – everything has electronics.

Do I huddle in the mountains with other survivalists somewhere to band together, pooling our resources? There is a whole “prepper” community in Central Florida. Is that living in fear or is that being wise like the ant? I am far from an alarmist but I do want to be wise.

Living alone as I do, it is hard for me to think how I could prepare myself.

Where do you go with all of this? I’d appreciate some feedback on this. Do you think about this issue? How do you think about it? It might be a valuable discussion to have.