Friday, October 15, 2010

Happy Friday! (Unless you are a Ranger fan!) This writing comes just after the sad Ranger loss tonight. We’ll get ‘em next time!

Praise! Geni is Arlington’s newest barista! The schedule is full for the next week and she should begin in about a week or so. Congrats to Geni!

Prayer alert! I have an interview with the head of the candidacy committee in the morning in Dallas. The interview is at 10:00. I ask your prayers for peace for me and discernment of the Holy Spirit as I continue down the path of candidacy.

Psalm 50: 10, 12 “For every beast of the forest is mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills…If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine and the fullness thereof.”

I think I really needed this passage tonight. When I began to think about this passage I began to think of how much God loves His creation and claims it as His own. God created and filled the world with all of its fullness.

God created the forest, the cattle and the land forms of the earth and then God created us. And even though we often times royally mess up and fall short of His expectations and glory, God never falls out of His love for us. God’s grace is always present and overflowing for us no matter how far away we try to walk away from our creator and Lord. The storehouse of God’s love never runs low and will fill us beyond the feeling of satisfaction.

God’s love, grace and forgiveness fills us to overflowing. When we are in need of the contents of the storehouse of the Father, we need only to ask and it will be granted because we must see ourselves as children of the King and there is plenty.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes, count your blessings and say your prayers. Let us continue to lift each other up in prayer each day. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Happy Thursday!

Okay, last night the computer ate my writing. I had one sentence left to write and my computer decided it was the time to install updates. When my computer restarted the writing was gone. Serious bummer!

John 1:29 “Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.”

Isaiah 53: 4,5 “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities…and with His stripes we are healed.”

Two years ago today we woke up a family of five and went to bed a family of four. For all of us there was a great sense of emptiness and being incomplete. After we came home that night (around 2:00 am), Bruce, Geni and Travis went to bed and I stayed up for several hours straightening up the house for the visitors who would be there in just a few hours. I covered Casey’s hospital bed with the quilt the quilters from the church had given him. I then put as many pictures and memories that would fit on the bed as a memorial to him. As I placed those memories on the bed I realized almost every memory I ever had contained the face, the laughter, the maturing, the fun, the heartbreaks, the successes, and the extraordinary faith of one so young in years and so mature in His faith.

It is hard to fill a hole in this mother’s heart as large as my child. There is a part of me that I don’t think will ever quite complete again, but God in His tender mercies and His suffering death on the cross promises that I will be complete once again.

God promises in His Word that we will not only be complete again, but we have companionship and complete healing. In the part of the verse that says “by His stripes we are healed”, healing simply means wholeness. Casey, who resides as a citizen of heaven, is absolutely whole again. We who are on this side of heaven are given the same assurance here on earth. God, through the suffering death of Jesus provides healing for each of us. God offers completeness and a return of joy as we live each day guided by the Holy Spirit that dwells and abides within us.

We will always miss Casey. But our family walks the road to healing and wholeness each day. We take joy in knowing that even though Casey will never return to us, we will go to him someday and be reunited once again, but until then God walks with us and completes us by His stripes.

Take joy in the journey of healing. Wear comfortable shoes, count your blessings and say your prayers. Love you all so very much, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.

Prayer alert: Geni has a job interview with Starbucks tomorrow. Please keep her in your prayers. gc

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Happy Tuesday!

Matthew 25:21 Well done, you good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things; enter into the joy of the Lord.”

We give thanks to God for Jesus. Did you ever think that Jesus stands before the Father and gives thanks for us? There were those on that awful Friday so long ago as Jesus was being crucified that were going about following the Word and finding ways to help others whether through comforting, listening or praying to God for Jesus or His family. They expected nothing in return and did simple tasks out of their love for Christ and service to Him.

I remember a night just about two years ago when there were those who went about doing seemingly small tasks so that we could spend the last hours of Casey’s life with him. There were those who mowed our lawn, decorated our porch, brought meals to the hospital, washed the dishes in our sink and gave up sick leave days so that I did not have days counted against me. I am sure there were far more things done that I never knew of or even noticed. These simple acts of love bring joy to the heart of Jesus and He in turn gives thanks to the Father for those who give themselves in loving and joyful service.

We can all bring joy to the heart of Christ by doing simple tasks in loving service. We are not being asked to move mountains, hang the moon or perform phenomenal acts of God. We are simply asked to be aware of when others are in need of something like prayer, a listening ear, some time away or a simple word of encouragement and a sign of hope for a better tomorrow. God will then call us “good and faithful servants.”

Take joy in the continuing journey. Wear comfortable shoes, count your blessings and say your prayers. Let us continue to pray for each other each day. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.

PS I am scheduled for an interview with a member of the candidacy committee this Saturday. I ask for your prayers as I continue this journey into the professional ministry and candidacy process. Thank you, friends. gc

Monday, October 11, 2010

Happy Monday!

We have had a bit of a setback tonight in that when the registration papers for Travis to compete in the National Strongman competition arrived there was no provision for teens. This took all of us by surprise and Travis is really disappointed. But in true Travis Chrystie style he said, “I will just train really hard for the next year and kick everyone’s butt at next year’s competition.” Then he went for a walk with his sister. The hotel is refunding our money, but we are having a bit of difficulty with the airlines. Please say your prayers for Travis and pray that we can recover the cost of the tickets.

Psalm 34: 1, 4, 5 “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. (1)

“I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”(2)

“They looked unto Him, and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed.” (5)

Okay, Lord, I get it! Tonight when we have been a part of a huge disappointment my meditation tells me that even in times of distress the first step is Praise. Before I cry out in distress and get mad at the airlines I need to bless the Lord and give thanks. In the divine Order of things praise should always come first. I first need to find cause for thankfulness. So here goes. The first cause is that Travis is healthy and not injured. Next, the hotel is refunding our money. Third the airlines will hold the cost of the tickets and we can take another trip somewhere. And last the insurance I bought just might take care of this. So the bottom line is that even though we could absolutely use the cost of the tickets, it is not gone and we are simply a bit inconvenienced. We have faced far, far greater challenges than this. So in the grand scheme of things this is relatively minor.

I believe in God’s faithfulness. I know God will make all things right and a spirit of gladness and joy will replace disappointment and inconvenience. The first thing we each need to do when experiencing a big disappointment is to take it to God first and give Him praise and glory for His faithfulness and love for each of us and then let Him work out the details.

Psalm 26: 6,7 “So will I wash my hands to declare my innocence. I come to your altar, O Lord, singing a song of thanksgiving and telling of all your wonders.”

Take joy in the journey wherever it leads you. Wear comfortable shoes, count your blessings and say your payers. Give thanks to God for all things. Let us continue to lift each other up in prayer each day. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Blessed Sunday!

It was inspiring this morning to see three pastors being honored for just short of 100 years of ordained pastorship. Two of the pastors have been serving for 30 years and one has been serving for 35 years. There were other pastors in the congregation on hand to support and share in this celebration. Pastor Joel is our current pastor. Assistant to the Bishop, Pastor Stan Meyer, is an attending member of Advent and Bishop Kevin Kanouse is a former pastor of 17 years for Advent Lutheran church. All three of these pastors will be involved in the candidacy process as I progress through. As I looked on these men I thought “I just want to get through the candidacy process, seminary and become ordained.” That seems like a long way away. But, but by the grace of God and lots of prayers I will be on my way to a journey in ministry.

John 14: 26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit,…shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you.”

Tonight my meditation begins like this, “I am your Helper. At the end of your present path lie all these blessings. So trust and know that I am leading you.” God Calling October 10.

I am a planner. I have been a teacher and a Mom for as long as those pastors have been pastors. And as I begin to think about changing course in my life, each day will be somewhat of an unknown. I will no longer be planning lessons, I will be finding study time, time for writing, time for reading and experiencing and participating in the activities of the seminary. My double life will end, but it will not have any spare time! What I must remember is that above all else I am called to be God’s servant whether I am a teacher, seminary student or wife and mother.

God calls each of us to be His servants. We must take each interruption, each task and opportunity as direction from God to share in the gladness of the gospel. We are His servants so we must serve. I have told my children when they do not want to perform a task (dishes, cleaning a bathroom, etc…) “You may not do this with gladness, but you will do it.” God’s expectation is a bit different. God expects us to do each task cheerfully and readily as the same way we would expect someone to do something for us. I think I need to change some attitudes! Let us try for tomorrow to be aware of how we each approach a task that needs to be done. Maybe just for a day we could do what we need to do with the attitude “It would be my joy!” (I really needed to think about this tonight because tomorrow is district wide inservice. Not my favorite thing!)

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes, count your blessings and say your prayers. Let us continue to pray for each other each day and ask for an attitude of joy in all we do (even cleaning toilets and going to inservice!) Love you all so very much, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.