I Love a Front-Row Seat, Part 2

The previous post found me ready to head to the airport and pick up my missionary friend Toya.  If you haven't read Part 1, you really should.  I'm attempting to create a collage of snapshots which, when all put together, will show you a complete landscape.  You don't want to find yourself missing a mountain or a waterfall or anything. Go ahead and flip back.  The rest of us will wait.

Ready to move on?

Well...while I was at home babysitting the Delta flight status page...and watching Toya's arrival time grow later and later and later, Toya was sitting in the airport in Atlanta, doing the same thing.  Finally, she realized that, if she was going to be sitting for a while, she might as well be productive and creative.  (Just one more reason she is a woman after my own heart!)

Much of the rest of this installment of the story is a note Toya posted on Facebook:

I'm in the airport waiting for a plane that has been delayed for "mechanical reasons." This is a frequent term used by the airlines, and I always wonder what it really means. I'm sure it means, "We're late and we don't know what else to tell you." 

Mechanical Reasons always seems to make people feel like airline personnel are doing all they can to keep us safe. I'm not complaining; I'm just saying. :-)

As I heard the announcement for the umpteenth time, it reminded me of the first time I was flying to meet my Rozetta family. 

[That's us!  Woo hoo!] 

The same thing happened. For some reason, when I am going back and forth to see them, I am delayed coming and going. This is the 2nd time I have been upgraded to First Class for my inconvenience, though! 

And sitting here gives me lots of time to reflect. I have been asked why I'm going to Illinois. 


[It's not like Toya isn't already meeting herself coming and going at the baggage claim!]


Well, almost two years ago I led an inner-city trip to Atlanta. We had two phenomenal churches to work with: Christ Church from D.C. and Rozetta Baptist from Illinois. One never knows how mixing teenagers is going to pan out, but the Lord gave us a marvelous gift in those two teams. We had some rocky moments, but overall, this trip still ranks in my top five as a trip leader, and I have led a BUNCH of trips.

I bonded with the girls on this trip in a way that I never have bonded before or since with a group of girls on a trip. We spent many hours togther doing ministry and then having "girl time" at night. Girl time started when I went in to say good-night to the kids, and one of the girls asked a question about something that had happened that day and wondered what the Bible had to say about it. I'm not sure how many hours we were talking, but it was long enough that the boys complained the next day.  (They had lights-out while we were chatting!)

It was also during this time that a child from Cameroon was having a surgery for which I had helped raise money. The girls from Rozetta and their leader Diane got up with me in the middle of the night to pray for God's hand to be on the surgeons and everyone in the hospital. 


Lydia came through the surgery with flying colors, and I was able to see her run for the first time in January when I visited Cameroon.

At the end of the trip, Pastor Jim [better known to regular blog readers as Sweet Jimmy B] invited me to come visit Rozetta. When I came home from a 3 month stint in Hawaii, I did visit...and my life hasn't been the same. I gained a new family and a host of wonderful friends.

I was thinking about that trip the other day, remembering how I had been arguing with the Lord about loving people and then losing them. This is one group that He has allowed me to keep, and they have touched my life in so many ways.

Here are Alexis, Rachael, and Kara, on the inner-city trip to Atlanta, 

basically being themselves.

We never know who we will meet and how they will impact our lives. The people of Rozetta continue to impact my life on a daily basis, and I love them. 

Those same girls who got up with me in the middle of the night--to pray for a child they never met--graduate from High School tomorrow and move into the next phases of their lives...and I am so privileged to be able to share that with them.  


Who could have known? 


Only God. 

The same three girls, showing off their African graduation gifts from Toya.

Blessings!
Missy

And all the believers met together in one place 

and shared everything they had. 

They sold their property and possessions 

and shared the money with those in need. 

They worshiped together at the Temple each day, 

met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, 

and shared their meals with great joy and generosity 

all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. 

And each day the Lord added to their fellowship 

those who were being saved.

Acts 2:44-47

I Love a Front-Row Seat, Part 1

I'm going to endeavor to do something in my next few posts that really 

can't be done apart from the guiding hand of God.  Over the last several days, I have had the opportunity--the blessing--of watching Him work all over the world from the safety of my own comfort zone.

It has been a reminder of His ever-present provision in the lives of His children, and I'm worried that I can't articulate it as clearly as it deserves.  It is a series of stories that runs both concurrently and chronologically...that takes place in three countries and many US cities.  In my mind, I can picture it as a web...but one that I don't know if I have the skill to create for you with as much clarity.

All I know is that I have to try.

The stories I am about to share have originated with a variety of people, creating a cast of characters which I hope I'm able to keep straight for you.  The common link in every story is a dear friend of mine named Toya...but she would be the first to tell you that the real central thread running throughout is the love and power of God.

The story is His...Toya is simply one of His faithful servants, and the main character in the chapter I want to share with you...

There isn't another soul I know in real life who spends more time flying all over the world than Toya does.  Last Saturday morning, my alarm was set so I could leave home a little before 8:00 and pick her up at the airport so she could spend a few days with us.  

At 6:30 in the morning, my phone rang, and it was Toya, asking if it would totally mess up my day if she hit the airport at noon instead of 9:30.  As it turned out, that was more than fine with me!  She was flying into a town where actual shopping could be done!  Hooray for me!

But, much more important than the visions of thrift stores dancing in my head was the answer to the question I asked Toya next:

So...are you getting a free flight out of this bump?

She laughed and told me that it may not be enough for a free flight, but she was getting a $300 voucher...and a seat in first class for her flight into the Moline airport.

Here's me with Toya on our short mission trip in Chicago last fall.

Now, for a hillbilly such as myself, who last flew anywhere on any airline in the winter of '92, this would not be a very excellent deal (except for the first-class part...I wouldn't mind that!), because there is probably a time limit on those flight vouchers.  And it's probably less than 19 years.  I'm just guessing.

But for Toya, one of the most hard-working servants of the Lord I have ever had the pleasure to know and love...for Toya, who has even now already left here for Haiti and will be back with us to do local, rural missions next month and then take off to Cameroon...for Toya, this is an obvious financial blessing from the Lord!

And that first class seat?  In my humble opinion, Toya got to start her day with a kiss from her King!

Blessings!

Missy

Give, and it will be given to you. 

A good measure, pressed down, shaken together 

and running over, 

will be poured into your lap. 

For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Luke 6:38

How do you lose a whole person?! (Random ramblings and bariatric surgery, part 2)

I was an English major...you do the math!  ;-)


Unless you're in even worse mathematical shape than I am, you probably don't need to have it pointed out to you that this is part 2 of a 2-part blog post.  Just in case you missed part 1, you should probably check it out first so you aren't totally lost...and so you don't miss out on a few cute pictures of my kids and grandkids!  You would NOT want to miss those!  


OK...here are a couple pictures of some of my cuties just for fun:

 Here are Jayla and Asher, enjoying Sammi Jo's baby seats.  

Who has adorable grandkids?  Me!

And here are Jamie, Daniel, Sam, Mercy, and Mary on Mother's Day at my mom's house.  

Why are they mostly dressed in costume?  Because the costumes are there.  

Perhaps a flair for the dramatic is genetic?

Those pictures don't have anything to do with my bariatric surgery in the least!  I just like to show off the brood at every opportunity!


But, anyway...I have been thinking lately about how it has affected me to essentially lose an entire person (if you would be willing to concede that a lot of entire people weigh about 145 pounds).

Hannah and Sam together are approximately 145 pounds of kid.  

No WAY I could carry the two of them around all day every day!

I have a dear friend whose oldest daughter, Rachel, just got married.  Rachel is the oldest of 9 children, and she lived under her daddy's roof until the day he gave her away to her husband.  

Beautiful!  

Her momma has to be so proud of her little girl for a million reasons...but right now, momma is hurting...because she has sent Rachel off to North Carolina from Minnesota.  

Ouch.

With eight kids in the house who still make noise and make messes and require Mom's attention, it would seem that having just one go missing would barely make a ripple...but you don't watch a whole person vanish without feeling it.

Can you kind of see where I'm going here?  Almost...but not quite?

I have lost people to death, but losing 145 pounds doesn't really feel like that at all.  It's not like part of me has died...except, perhaps the fat person's wardrobe limitations.  And good riddance to that!

I guess I have a pretty good handle on who I thought I would lose.  Now...I don't mean to toot my own horn, but the Lord has chosen to give me some fun gifts to use for His purposes:

• I can read the minds of most children in the 2-7 year old age bracket.
• I know my way around the piano fairly reliably without a road map.
• I feel like a fish in water when I'm talking about the Word with my youth groupies or the women in my Bible study.
• I can type really, really fast...with a respectable level of accuracy.
• I can read really, really fast...with a respectable level of comprehension.
• I have the power to create a taco soup that will make you forget your own name!

But when that extra 145-pound person was still around, I felt like--even if people saw any of these good things--they were mostly hidden by my appearance.  I wasn't an honest advertisement for who I felt like I really was...and I felt like I was a really lousy witness for Christ.  I'm not being shallow...I'm just calling 'em as I've seen 'em for way too many years.


So here's what I've finally, prayerfully realized:  Losing the equivalent of a whole person has been like having that guy sitting in front of you at the theater get up and change seats.  You know that guy...he's always just a little taller than you and just a little wider than you, and his big head is precisely between your eyes and center-stage.

Yeah...kinda like that.

When he gets up and moves, something changes.  You're still sitting in the same seat in the same theater, with the same friends...but suddenly you can see all sorts of things you couldn't see before!  


That is what I've been experiencing.  

God has, for decades, been working on me with myriad sin and lifestyle issues while simultaneously, unfailingly, unceasingly calling me out on my sinful relationship with food.  I've said before that I am a perpetual work in progress...and I've actually learned to embrace that loving discipleship from my Father.  He just wants to see me looking more and more like His Son!


And...as it has happened so many times before, just when I move to follow Him in obedience in one area, He opens my eyes to other places we need to go together.  But in this case, He got about 145 pounds' worth of disobedience out of my way...and that frees up a lot of room to work!  And, boy...has He been using that space to show me some things that need my attention!


So how do you lose a whole person?  In this case, it happens after coming to the prayerful conclusion that if I had an addiction to drugs, I would go to rehab...or if I had a problem with pornography, I would get rid of my internet and find a good Christian counselor.  Getting past the shame of needing to seek help is what ultimately led me to a life free from a bondage I have struggled against for most of my life!


And who, exactly, did I lose?  Just one more stumbling block (albeit a big one!) between where I started from and where I long to be--conformed to the image of Christ!


Blessings!
Missy 

And we know that in all things

God works for the good of those who love Him,

Who have been called according to His purpose.

For those God foreknew He also predestined

To be conformed to the image of His Son,

That He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

And those He predestined, He also called;

Those He called, He also justified;

Those He justified, He also glorified.

Romans 8:28-30

P.S.  For the record...I'm more than happy to talk to anyone who has questions about bariatric surgery or any of the other items on my blog-o-graphical resume.  Contact away!

How do you lose a whole person?! (Random ramblings and bariatric surgery, part 1)

This is no kidding...we take roll call before we go anywhere in the Big Red Bus of Love.  Some of you may find this a foreign concept.  Many of you probably can't decide whether to laugh maniacally or throw up at the thought of the necessity of it.  And a precious few of you are thinking, "Well, duh!"

True story:


On a recent activity/errand night, I had four of the kids with me.  We dropped Gracie off at the YMCA so she could go to her water aerobics class, and then I fled the parking lot...because all the Zumba-ites were arriving, and I was still on crutches, and it made me sad to watch them scampering happily into the Y.  :-(





Our next stop was Auto Zone, where I was supposed to acquire some sort of information about something involving a battery for that other car we have that isn't my big van.  (You didn't know I was so smart about car stuff, huh?)  Jamie went in with me because it seemed ill-advised to enter a man cave without bringing some testosterone along, and I figured there might be carrying required. 


Samantha opted to stay in the van with Hannah...or so I thought! 


When Jamie and I returned to the van, I looked behind me so I could back that thing up, and I didn't see Hannah.  I figured she was hiding behind one of the seats, trying to be all cute and funny and freak me out like they do sometimes.  So, I decided to play along and ask, "Where's Hannah?"


And there was silence.


Then I realized that Samantha and Jamie were both looking at me like I had lobsters crawling out my ears, and Jamie said, "She got out of the van at the YMCA, Mom."


Now, I'm pretty good at multi-tasking, so as we drove back across town to the Y, I spent my time practicing my interviewing skills:  

• Why did she get out of the van?  
• Why did you let her get out of the van?!
• She wasn't supposed to get out of the van!  
• What do you mean she saw her friend and decided she needed to go tell her hi?!  
• Why didn't you tell me this sooner?!
• What was she thinking?!  
• What is wrong with you people?!
• What in the world is her dad going to say when he finds out I lost an entire person?!

Well...we got back to the YMCA to find Hannah right where we had left her...and she had a lot of questions of her own.  And she was looking at me like I should have anticipated her unscheduled exit from the vehicle...and what in the world was wrong with me?!


Ah...she was probably right.  Who am I kidding?  Ending the day with everyone I started with is way high on my daily to-do list.


Near fail!

We may have well exceeded the weight limit on that elevator!

A couple summers ago, we went on our first bi-annual whole-family three-generation vacation (Bennecation 2009).  At that time, putting the entire show on the road involved 7 adults (and I use that term kind of loosely), 9 children between the ages of 17 months and 12 years old, the Big Red Bus of Love, and a mini-van borrowed from my brave, trusting mother.  

I have two things to say about that:

1. It's a good thing I was in a college band that did a bit of touring.
2. Praise God for cell phones!  (How else are you going to take roll call between multiple vehicles?!)

I love my peeps, see...and I don't want to lose anyone...but I'm also pretty sure the Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells wouldn't have been too enthused about my leaving anyone behind either!  ;-)

Do I have a point in here anywhere?

How far are you willing to stretch?


If you know me in real life (or if you've read my blog bio), you already know I had bariatric surgery in January of 2010.  


When I was born, I weighed over 9 pounds...and I proceeded to have what doctors call "a little bit of a weight problem" from that point on.  My dad--with all affection, I'm sure--once told me that I was born at breakfast time and I'd been hungry ever since.  


Guilty as charged!


Attempts at weight loss make for really, really boring blog-fodder, so let me just say that I tried it all.  All of it.


I knew about weight loss surgery, but any time the thought of it flitted through my mind, I immediately shot it down.  Too expensive...too risky...and it seemed like, well...cheating.  Taking the easy way out.


As the years marched on, I gradually ran into more and more people who had gone through the surgery and lived to tell the tale...and I finally decided there wasn't much harm in getting some information.  And then a friend of Jim's from the old neighborhood got it done...and with remarkably great results!  Finally...someone I could harass with a long list of questions!


And I did!


We talked a long time one night about her experience with the surgery...but there were two things she said that had a huge impact on me.  One was that she, too, had struggled with feeling like she was taking the easy way out by going ahead with the surgery...and her dad (a pastor) had assured her that it's not "easy" when you have to contribute as much emotional and physiological currency as bariatric surgery requires.  The second thing that stood out in our conversation was that, at that time, she had lost 160 pounds!


My response was something profound like, "Wow!  Whoa!"


And she said, "Yeah...I've lost a whole person."


It has only been very recently that I have really begun to meditate on that statement...because at this point, I have also lost the equivalent of an entire person.  Weird.


I'm still sort of in the process of sorting out my thoughts about that...wondering, really, if I can write about it in a way that will make sense to anyone besides me.  Wondering, really, if I can even get it to fully make sense to me!  :-)


Be looking for Part 2 in a few days!


Blessings!
Missy

If your hand or foot causes you to sin, 

cut it off and cast it from you. 

It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, 

rather than having two hands or two feet, 

to be cast into the everlasting fire. 

And if your eye causes you to sin, 

pluck it out and cast it from you. 

It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, 

rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.

Matthew 18:8-9

Sometimes I Need a Gratitude Adjustment

Just so you know, it has not escaped my notice that I haven't posted anything new in several days.  Do you want to hear my list of excuses?  I didn't think so.  ;-)

The simple fact of the matter is that a lot of life happened in the last couple weeks.  For starters, I have been doing physical therapy for my foot.  Confession time:  I didn't really think it was going to help me.  Worse yet, the physical therapists wanted me to go in three times a week!  Three!  I haggled them down to twice a week, which still puts a major hitch in my scheduling get-along!  And dang...it hurts!

It was finally determined (after the doctor was brought in to look at my swollen freak-foot and make sure I hadn't re-broken it!) that I had adhesions of my surgical scar tissue.  I don't even want to talk about what's involved in that sort of messy break-up, but you know what happened as a result?  I can finally do this...

And even this...

(Stock photo.  Totally not me.  

I should wish this were me!)

And before you know it, I'll be back to...

THAT will be a happy day for me!  We might have some tears.  We might have to go out for Mexican food afterward to celebrate.  That may seem a little counter-productive, but I'm not always the most rational person I know.  Not that I know a whole lot of finalists in the rational olympics.  So at least I'm on a pretty level playing-field!

Also...I have started facilitating a new Bible study:  Anne Graham Lotz's The Magnificent Obsession...and it is wonderful!  It's based on the life of Abraham, and it's a passionate (and all-too-convicting!) look at how we have to be willing to leave everything behind, let everything go, entrust everything completely, lift everything up, cast everything out, and lay everything down if we are to truly pursue God as Abraham did.  Wow!  

And I have the best group of women joining me for the study every Wednesday night, so it's awesome all around!  

Of course, these things are very important...but they do take time.  I mean...thanks to the time I've sacrificed to physical therapy, I am able to walk around my house and do little things like laundry and cooking!  Pain-free!  And I have been able to start exercising again!  And while the old me would have embraced the sweat-hiatus, the new, improved me is delighted to be able to ride the exercise bike (well...sort of) and take short-but-gradually-increasing walks.  Score!

And, without a doubt, leading the Bible study is a time expenditure that has the potential of bearing fruit for eternity!  Talk about your smart investments!

However...can we speak freely?  I suffer from a crippling case of list-itis.  Call me type-A; call me an oldest child; call me pathologically freaky...but I feel my best when I have a nice, concrete, well-organized to-do list that I can check off as I get things accomplished.  

I hope we can we still be friends in spite of my borderline personality disorder!

Now, I do want to make it clear that I'm not a complete nut.  Truly, an ideal day for me--a day of absolute, unspeakable perfection--would involve sitting pool-side on a cruise ship or wandering around my favorite neighborhoods in Chicago or exploring quaint European villages (though, sadly, two-thirds of those are purely theoretical).  I love days spent treasure-hunting at thrift shops or deciding to call a homeschool snow-day as a show of solidarity with our public-school friends.

But...in my general, day-to-day life, I almost always have a plan, and, I have to confess, I get kinda stressy and out-of-sorts when something throws off my groove!  So, OK...in for a penny; in for a pound!  Here is a working list of things I need to fit into my week on top of the usual homeschooling, extra-curricular activities, and miscellaneous other standing obligations:

I know.  I know.

I'm not looking to make excuses for myself, but all this information, blended into a big Missy-smoothie, is why it drives me crazy when the phone rings during school time...or when a kid gets sick and obviously needs to go to the doctor on the one day in the week that I was going to get to stay home and catch up on stuff...or when one room starts falling apart (one room...HA!) because I have been focusing my attention of getting another room organized.

But you know what happened last week?  Last week, the Lord had words with me about "interruptions."  

Have you spent any time looking at Jesus' DayPlanner?  Please.  I'm humiliated that I even showed you a page from my pitiful to-do list.  He relinquished the glory of Heaven to come deal with the misery of Earth so that we could be saved!  

#1 item on His list:  preach the Word and save the world!

But in the meantime, He was constantly, constantly stopped by people (some of them real whiners!) asking Him to heal this disease or cast out that demon.  Even when He tried to get a little time to spend with His Father and re-group, He found Himself surrounded by the throngs of seekers who all wanted a little piece of Him.  

And certainly His traveling companions were a big help--I mean, who doesn't appreciate the company of people who are perpetually jockeying for position and generally missing the clue bus!  

And just when He got the chance to sit down and rest His weary feet beside a well, He ended up embroiled in a long conversation with a woman who was probably not all that thrilled at first to have her secret sins brought into the light.

But then I got it.  

All those interruptions...all the things he had to stop and do as He was trying to get from point A to point B...all the questions He had to answer for people who still weren't going to understand...

That was His ministry.

Those speed bumps weren't slowing Him down or preventing Him from taking care of His Father's business; those things were His Father's business.

Now...I'm afraid that I know me well enough to know that I will always struggle with the unexpected detours in my days.  But I have resolved to try to see those "interruptions" as God's real assignments for my life.  

The phone calls I have received recently (always during school time!) from moms who are considering pulling their kids out of public school to homeschool them weren't accidents.  God used His people to send those moms and all their concerns to me!  

The days last week that I spent struggling in prayer and time-consuming labor over a loved one weren't an impediment to my other work--it was the work God had for me to do during those days.  

The messy little people in my house...the people, big and little, who rack up my frequent-flyer miles to the doctor's office...the ten hungry, hungry mouths that live under my roof...they aren't preventing me from doing a great work for the Lord.

The ARE my great work for the Lord.

Today I choose to be grateful for every little thing that keeps me from my to-do list...because I want to know the joy of living off God's to-do list.

Blessings!

Missy

Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
   but it is the LORD’s purpose 

that prevails.

Proverbs 19:21

If you'd like to read more about having an attitude of gratitude, toddle on over to one of my favorite blogs:  Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!