Talking back to God, or, audacious Abram

"But Abram said, 'Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?' Abram continued, 'Look, You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.' " Genesis 15:2-3 

You know, usually it's 15:1 that gets the attention in this first paragraph: "...the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: 'Don't be afraid, Abram. I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward.'"  Spectacular, right? God speaks to a man with reassurance and divine promise of protection and blessing. Wow! 

But Abram sounds a bit whiny. And, a bit forgetting to Whom he is speaking. Take his response apart: 

"Lord GOD"--first, Abram, you've just addressed him as Almighty, Eternal, All-powerful YHWH, which should suffice to contradict your next phrase:

"what can You give me"--! What can You GIVE ME? Really, Abram? "Lord GOD, what can You give me..?"! Let's start with the breath in your lungs and work outward to, oh, sun/moon/stars, etc. I wasn't aware God had any limits to His provision for all the things that make our lives on this planet work. 

"since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?"--oh, I see now, Abram. You look around at your circumstances and think God is defined by them. We've all been there, buddy. I can be there today in less than half a heartbeat. God gave you some pretty amazing promises, but right now your life doesn't look anything like them. You don't have any kids, for one thing, and yet God comes and basically says to you, 'Hey, don't be bummed out!  It's gonna be so great!" I could tell you my circumstances that look nothing like God's promises to me, if you were hanging out on my living room couch right now. And I get it: your situation looked impossible. I've told God about how impossible my situation is alongside His promises too. 

I'm starting to track with you, my friend. 

"Look, You have given me no..."  See, as much as I want to gape my jaws at this seeming audacity (who in his right mind says to God, 'Look here now..."?!), I get this too. All you see is what God hasn't seen to give you YET. You see the absence, not the potential. You see only what God hasn't given instead of all He has (like, protection in foreign lands, wealth, and victory against four kings and their armies just a few verses ago). If He can do all that, He can give you a child, too. Just because He hasn't yet doesn't mean He won't. Have to admit, I have an unfair advantage: I know the rest of your story, so I can pretty glibly tell you not to give up; it's harder to tell myself the same. I can also look at what God hasn't given me YET. 

"offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir." Oh, Abram, we're really so much the same. We look at our lives and assume our current ingredients are all He has to work with. You thought Eliezer would have to be your heir because he was the only logical person you saw in your circle. It's like when a couple thousand years from you, Jesus will look at a little boy and a couple of disciples with fish and pita bread in their hands asking how can this feed 5,000 people? As if He has no other tricks in His bag for them...just like you think God has no other tricks in His bag for you. And (hanging my head), yep...just like me. 

What's the really cool thing about how God answered your response, Abram? Yes, exactly!  That He took you by the hand, walked you outside, showed you that sky and those stars that He'd already given you...and told you the story again of who you're gonna be--He promises. And you believed, and God counted it to you as righteousness. Believing Him that day saved your soul--and preached to Paul on the other side of the Bible from where your story is found. 

Hey, let's go over here and look at the plaque on your wall, the one you got when you and Sarah were inducted into the Hall of Faith: 

"By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the One who had promised was faithful. Therefore from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as innumerable as the grains of sand by the seashore." Hebrews 11:8-12

Abram, I kind of wanted to be upset with you when I read this passage this morning. To be honest, you sounded kind of sassy. But after sitting with you and getting inside your head a bit, I realize you're just plain folks. We all pass through seasons of this-is-all-I-can-see while we wait for what God says is coming. 

I think our answer should be the same as yours: listen to God tell the story again, and--just believe it one more time. 

Wednesday, Beatles, and no particular order

Today I loved homeschooling because:

Well, many reasons. First of all, it's Wednesday, which means we start an hour later. Tuesday night sees us at youth group, and because my one remaining student stays late to clean the church and then eat burritos with the youth pastor and several buddies, everything notches up an hour the next day. Hey, what's the use of homeschooling if you don't flex it when you can? Kid is a 15-year-old who sleeps and eats in pretty much equal timeframes. Insisting on an early start is dumb when it buys me a cranky teenager who falls asleep during history class. So, today I used that hour to walk with my neighbor, shower, and eat breakfast. Works for me.

Next, we got to take a 30-minute unplanned educational journey through the Beatles. Kid is a musician (drums, specifically) who loves documentaries and educational videos (because he is also a videographer). He asked, "That guy from the Beatles, Paul? I've been seeing him on some ads lately because he's touring. Who were all the guys in the band and when were they big?" ( I KNOW I KNOW keeping all the gasps and shrieks and horror behind my lips was a challenge!) But he was genuinely asking, and here was the perfect time for some music education. We watched their two sets from The Ed Sullivan Show and talked about why that was iconic, something that just needs to be part of my son's Great Conversation. How this was the beginning of the British Invasion and a vital milepost in the youth culture of the 60s. He identified each band member and asked about John Lennon's death, which he already knew a little about. He was particularly interested in Ringo, commenting that the drum kit he used is actually enviable because it was so solidly made. Then we segway-d over to Ringo's son Zac Starkey (who now drums for The Who, a band I could point to as also lining up in the British Invasion roll call) and watched a video of him. The drummer and inquirer in my son satisfied, we went on to school work.

Lastly, kid and I alternated between his independent work and the work we do together, which enabled me to run an errand (needed an immune-system herbal supplement for the cold that popped up IMMEDIATELY AFTER I finished the antibiotics for my strep throat *SIGH*) and even catch a 20 minute nap because of the misery of said cold. All the work got done, in no particular order. Works for me.

So, chalk this up as another day I loved the spontaneity, flexibility, and adventure of homeschooling. Thank You Jesus for it one more time!

#happyhappyhappy

There were a couple of things about today (which isn't even over yet) that have just plain and simple made me happy.

1) I've had my phone shut off much of the day and haven't missed it. Yay!

2) I rode the glass elevator at the Central Library three times. Ok, you need to let me explain this for a minute. Our new (within the past five years maybe?) Central Library is gorgeous. The design is amazing, the skyline views from the full-window walls on the upper floors are breathtaking, the reading areas are cozy, the parking is a breeze (two-hour validation, baby). I could spend the whole day here and just be in my glory. But here's one of the best parts: one of the three elevators is glass!  Something about this is just so cool to me. When I need to pick up a (homeschool) book here, my sons know that an inevitable part of the journey, even when the book is located on the first floor, is a ride on the glass elevator. Today I was by myself and rode it twice. JUST BECAUSE. I even unexpectedly rode it a third time bc I needed to use a restroom and was directed to the eighth floor by an employee. What do you know? GOD IS GOOD because both on the way up and the way down, although I was resigned to use whatever elevator opened first, the glass one was the one that opened!  It's like it knew the delight this silly middle-aged woman gets from a 20-second ride. This entire experience made me #happyhappyhappy.

Added happy moment: I had to stop by the Pacific Beach library too, which is five blocks from the ocean. Although I didn't have time to drive by this makes-me-peaceful place of mine, I could see it, and it made me smile.

3) I went to Bath and Body Works with the generous gift card given to me by my oldest son and daughter in law for Christmas and made out huge due to their January sale. I even have a balance left on the card!  I LOVE Bath and Body Works but only shop there when I have a gift card because, well, one-income budget. I am #happyhappyhappy to get in the shower before church tonight.

4) I made chickpea caesar tacos for lunch with THE most amazing sauce. Again, just #happyhappyhappy.

5) I took all the Christmas ornaments off the tree, organized them, and uncluttered the bin we keep them in. Next December we are going to open up the bin and I am going to be so pleased with myself. The tree is now outside, awaiting its decimation by my husband and eventual (because that's what rednecks do, smile) burning in the firepit. (WHY can't we just recycle it like everyone else? I don't know. I just don't know.)

There are still about six hours left before I head to bed with my book, but this day has been an incredible winner so far. And when simple things make your heart light and free and joyful, you should treasure them...and you should write them down. 

Soooooo January 1

Sooooo January One, here you are. I was pretty excited to open my eyes to you this morning. I grabbed my coffee (always my coffee) and read Matthew 1-12, which took me about an hour and a half with jotting down verses and thoughts. I'm going to do my usual 90-days-through-the-Bible to start my year. I deleted my Instagram for the Five Nights of Prayer that my church does every year, and signed out of Facebook. I have even had my phone shut off much of the day. Did some housework, went through the pile of papers on the kitchen table, put some stuffed peppers in the crockpot, and started re-reading "12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You" by Tony Reinke. And that brings me here.

I actually just finished reading this book, and while I wouldn't normally come anywhere near anything titled "___ ways to" or "___ keys to" or anything else of that nature, b/c usually those are full of secular (even within the church), look what I the author thought up that definitively defines whatever the subject matter is, limited knowledge. BUT this book was highlighted on the social media site of a Christian author/hip-hop artist/speaker who I really admire, and then followed by her 30 days of social media sabbatical, which is understandably unusual for someone who has a new book and recent album to sell. And I have found this book to be authentic, encouraging, convicting, and challenging. I read it knowing I would take its information into my new year and one of my big goals for 2019: redefining my relationship with my cell phone. So I'm slowly reading it again and taking the time to let it make a difference in me.

Here are my thoughts for the chapters I covered today:

I (we) need to completely rewire my (our) brain(s). I have become, over the past 7 years since my first iPhone, so attention-deficit. I am so distractable, so re-programmed to think in these few-minute chunks of other people's lives, that I have to re-learn how to think and work and talk through a day. I have to re-learn how to listen to people and to Jesus, to watch the day go from sunrise to sunset and call it good.

I have to "build a wall" LOL around what matters most in my life. I wouldn't let random acquaintances, or even good friends, interrupt me and my family by walking into my house for 15-second conversations throughout the day and night...but I do. I need to guard my mind, my work, my family, my rest.

I need to re-learn how to follow thoughts through to the end of them. I start hundreds of thoughts a day, thoughts God might like to journey along with me to completion, to comprehension, to insight, to revelation, to life-change....but I easily discard them for the tyranny of the urgent ("Squirrel!") when I remember I need to send a message or respond to one or check how many likes my most recent post got (did so-and-so see it yet?). 

I need to re-learn...to learn. I can read more. I can watch documentaries, go to quality movies, listen to podcasts (yes, using my phone) or audiobooks.

I need to re-learn how to be present and in person. I realized yesterday that I so resist making phone calls...but isn't that what life used to be? Conversations, spoken words, hearing others' tones of voices, making real connections. I too easily shoot off short get-it-done texts rather than in person entering into people's lives and caring and responding and exchanging feelings, knowledge, laughter.

I need to re-learn how to be alone. To sit, walk, whatever...ok with silence and aloneness. I am indeed an introvert, and I do have alone time in my days, but after a certain amount of time, I'm restless. Uncomfortable. I need to be comfortable and content with knowing who I am, what I like, and doing so alone...especially as I'm in the home stretch of this parenting thing (sniff).

There's a lot of work involved in all this re-wiring, but I know it is soooo worth it. It's reclaiming my life, back to what I referenced yesterday: feeling my days to be peaceable and pleasant.

So worth it. Ready.