Weekly e-news April 24, 2020

Hey, everyone!

So….how’s it going?

I know that for some loooooots of time at home is proving to be a unique experience. 

And lots of us are learning (as Gandalf said) how “to make the most of the time that is given”.

I personally think everyone’s yard is looking great!

I read an article about how to cut your own hair. Women (or guys!) with long hair just have to pull it all up to the top of their heads, give it a twist, and whack it off right there! 

Done!

I mean…how hard was that?

And it looks great!

(Oh. It doesn’t? Sorry!)

I personally have never been to the barber in my whole life. 

My dad cut my hair when I was a kid and then I started cutting my own. 

Always have.

That habit set me up well for these days!

Kind of like Sonic. 

I personally feel Sonic is the perfect fast food place for our unique time! 

You’ve never gone in; they always come out to you. 

No reason to change that now!

How about learning a new language? I’ve been working on my Dutch and just wanted to say “We weten dat God alles ten goede zal gebruiken voor de mensen die van Hem houden en die Hij volgens zijn plan geroepen heeft om bij Hem te horen!”

Right?!  Amen!

In Saratoga County, NY the King Bros. Dairy has been responding to requests for home delivery and someone realized, “I remember something like this when I was a kid!” 

Welcome back, Milkman! We’ve missed you!

Lots of amazing things happen when folks are obligated to stay in one place!

Maybe it’s about the quiet…

Maybe it’s about learning to be more still…

Maybe it’s about changing speeds in the heart…

Maybe it’s about drawing closer to God when you feel stuck…

But…

Some of the most wonderful works and words were done, said, and written by those who were made to stay put! 

The Apostle Paul wrote his astonishing letters to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, to the Colossians, and to his friend Philemon while he was “sheltering-in-place”! In prison!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer never wrote anything as warm, beautiful and moving as his “Letters From Prison”, written in the time of his incarceration by the Nazis.

There was once a “tinker” (a traveling kitchen utensil and pot repair person) who had never really been to school. He invited Jesus into his conflicted, profane heart after a long struggle and discovered that he was a wonderful preacher!

He was invited to share his thoughts, talks and messages in non-government sponsored churches around the countryside.

But when Charles II came back on the throne, John Bunyan was arrested for preaching in places other than the official Church of England and was thrown in the Bedfordshire County prison! 

He could have been released at any moment if he just promised he wouldn’t preach anymore (which he couldn’t and wouldn’t do!) and so spent the years from 1660 to 1672 locked away!

So he decided to write stuff!

He wrote a book about a fellow who had a dream…

Some think that his book, “Pilgrim’s Progress” is the first true English novel! 

It’s been translated into 200 languages…

It’s sold millions(!) of copies…

It’s never been out of print…

And it’s still awesome!

There is a place where the main character, “Christian”, who was escaping from his city and trying to find the Celestial City wasn’t making super good progress because he had a huge pack on his back of all his spiritual burdens and debts.

“He ran thus till he came at a place…and upon that place stood a cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a sepulchre. So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more!

Wow! As soon as he looked at the cross, the load fell right off his back!!

“Then was Christian glad and lightsome!… 

Then he stood still a while, to look and wonder; for it was very surprising to him that the sight of the cross should thus ease him of his burden…

Then Christian gave three leaps for joy, and went on singing!”

“Glad and lightsome”! 

“Lightsome!”

I love that word!

I want to have a lightsome heart!

Especially these days!

So….

Looking for a goal while sheltering at home?

Write a novel!

A classic!

No pressure.