Day 184: July 7 Relationship not Religion

July 7, 2016
Day184

Relationship not Religion

What has Jesus Christ not done that you and I still need to do? What slack must we pick up? If we have an answer then we believe in religion and not a love a relationship.

Day 183: July 6, 2016 Pictures Paint the Story

July 6, 2016

Day 183

Pictures Paint

the Story

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. What about many pictures? 

These pictures were worth the trip to celebrate Abigail's fifteenth birthday in the heartland of Philly. Her girlfriends live an hour from her home. When they are not there she has her mother, father and those they minister to. Abigail is so worth the time to show up! So worth the time. She is our treasure.

Celebrating Abby's 15th birthday will go down as one of the memorable moments of the summer of 2016.

Day 182: Happy Birthday Abigail Snider - July 5, 2016

(This video is a school project 

Abigail completed. 

You will love it. 

She sums up her life in a clip.)

To know you from when you were a little girl has been one of my privileges. Many children are "mini adults" with emotions, thoughts, and insights beyond their ability to manage at such a young age. These "mini adults" are my favorites. Many adults have trouble knowing how to handle them due to their own insecurities, their need for power and control and their misunderstanding of "mini-adults." You, dear Abby, were a "mini-adult" and were welcome in my home anytime. What an honor to have your presence.

Your authenticity will never cease to amaze me. For you allow us into your thoughts, your fears, your dreams, your wants, your insecurities and your confidences. Your childhood has been unique, in the heart of Philly. I allowed my daughter to play Club Penguin for hours, something I would have never done. But you, you! were the implicit reason. In the heart of Kensington, a fierce place for a little girl, you sat behind a computer moving a penguin while another little girl in the wilds of Berks County did the same. Technology was your playground and it served you both well. For the heart of a child strict standards are meant to be softened.

The excitement, the imagination, the energy, the desire to gather people, will always endear me to you, Abigail. I know when you are coming to town for you prepare the way with a call to a gathering, a party. What your friends take for granted, for they separated by fifteen minutes max, you never do and never will. You relish these times. You embrace everyone as you put yourself out there and never hold back. If someone would complain that you are exclusive, I would hold them in suspect. For you are the epitome of inclusion.

You are a treasure, a treat, an exceptional human being. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity I have had to know you as my daughter's dear friend, a bubbly talkative and engaging student, a beloved friend of all our family members, and a friend of mine. I so look forward to the future with you, Abby.

Thank you for the imprint you have made on the Burkholders' lives. We all love you very much. May you never cease to wonder, ponder and show 'n tell. Your art inspires me and I am thrilled to watch you grow in this area. I cheer you on dear one. I cheer you on.

Day 182: July 5, 2016 You Owe Big Time: He's Got Ya Covered

July 5, 2016
Day 182

You Owe Big Time: He's Got Ya Covered

I want you to know He sees you. He knows you are lonely. He sees your tears and He collects them. You matter to Him. He understands everything about your situation, He knows what is needed. And though your situation is laced with your implicit guilt, He accepts your plea without a coal raking. Others do, but He does not condemn.

On the cross He took the part you play in all this mess. He took the part they played in all this mess. His court of law is different from any on this planet. He is the judge and His business is judging. Everything you did or are doing wrong, everything that the other person did or is doing wrong, He judges and His judgments are just and true. He cannot lie and you both are guilty. You both are condemned to die.

He leaps over the bench and moves you both out of the way. He wants to take your place and so He stands condemned and takes the judgment. For He also came to save. Do not let any church body, any church member, tell you any different. There are many of us who forget the debt we are released from. But we must remind each other. There is a parable that describes us well, find a bible and read from Matthew 18: 22-35. Now try to remember. The judge loves us still even when we are in error. We are told in Galatians that if someone is caught in a sin, we who are spiritual, should restore him gently. Why? Because we are all in the same mess and compassion and empathy should rule our actions.

He does see you. He understands your loneliness, the emptiness, the mournful feeling. He wants you to feel it deeply for this moves you close to Him. He felt this everyday on the face of this planet. So in the pain feel Him. He is your first love. He loves you thoroughly, profoundly, deeply and with an all encompassing love. Remember....

Day 181: July 4, 2016 Independence Day

          Independence Day 

July 4, 2016
Day 181

There is a pain deep inside our soul. There is an ache we can not control. There is a want that needs fill. There is a longing that resides with us still. There is a hunger and a thirst. We are on a search and we are desperate to find.

We are human and so we will never have all we need. There will always be deep pain. The longing will remain. The hunger and thirst will be daily quests. But our needs indicate our humanity. We are not to despair but rather revel in them.

Our needs are reminders to yet go another step. There is no need for leaping and bounding, just one foot in front of the other.

Let these desires, wishes, and wants push out our hands. He fills our hands with good things. Only He can satisfy. Our needs and our longings are important to Him. For He knows they lead us. He wants to fill us with His answers, His wishes, His desires.

How will we know it is He? We will know. We will know who satisfies our deep place. For He is true, kind, loving, patient, merciful, interested, wise and most importantly desires to be known. He seeks us. He will find us.

Day 180: July 3, 2016 Project Days Over

Project Days Over

Jesse's Baseball Team (we are all on the same team)

July 3, 2016
Day 180

My projects recently ended and with an interesting twist. Reality crashed into the room. My projects were the needy, the poor, and the lost and they required my immediate help and attention. At the beginning of every one I would strategize; what do they need, what went wrong, what can they do now. I would mull them over, I might even take notes. The roles were clearly defined; I, the giver and they, the receivers.

Like city projects, looking clean, neat and tidy, at the onset, they would begin to lose their appeal after a while; straggly, unkempt and chipped. And I would lose my steam. I simply did not have that much foresight, energy, or strategizing to do what it takes to finish the job. Truth dropped into my world like a lead balloon.

The elephant bulldozed through the door, stood in the room and it became perfectly clear. I am the project. I am the poor, the needy and the lost. Those who I thought were my projects, became my helpers, my teachers, better yet, my friends.

The lead manager asked me to mind myself. Please, drop the word project and replace it with friendship. He revealed to me that He never depended on my foresight, ability to connect the dots, or strategizing efforts. He depends on me to be available, that's all. He asks me to be relational, not a clinician. He encourages me to work on my listening skills. Over and over again he says to me,"It's not just your ears, Lynne. Use your heart."

The manager calls me to a logging industry of sorts. I am to remove logs out of my eyes to clearly see the well charted path of suffering in others. The clearing allows me to see and hear hearts. With every removal light pours through and love takes on a new look. The manager specializes in helping us to see our common humanity while speaking words of encouragement to each and every one of our souls. With Him, in a crowd, no one is alone. We are locked together in a great desire to see everyone confident in who they are. Magically my projects have disappeared and instead I see friends, sojourners, better yet, family.

Day 179: July1, 2016 Heart Break

..

July 1, 2016
Day 179

My mind is distracted by broken hearts. I am disheartened when I watch a man and wife in emotional distress, distrust, disbelief and disarray. To watch a couple pull away from one another distracts my soul. I see it in the grocery store, in parking lots, in churches, at weddings, funerals, sporting events and even at the local park.

Where once they sought each other out they are now turning their hearts aways. Their secrets are now in the common area. The whispered words are now covered with sarcasm. The spark, the ember, is now full of smoke. Please God light their fire again.