Day 98: April 7, 2016 Drama Lives Strong

April 7, 2016   Drama Lives Strong
Day 98

The years past and present are full of drama memories which, no doubt, will continue to fill and nourish me for years to come. I relish these memories, these faces of young folks in my life and in my heart. The backstage, the curtains, the pulleys, the set, the painting, the props, the scene changes, the sound system, the lights, the directors, the actors, the playbill, the bios, the selling of ads, the dogged ear scripts, the crew, the audience and finally the performance - all swirl and twirl as they construct new universes year after year. I stand in awe for I am in the middle of magic and this year proves no different. One of the director's, Jana Willis, likened dramas to the Body of Christ. I love this beautiful, apt analogy. I revel and love swimming in all the theater details.

Never did I muster the courage to try out for any high school play but I wanted theater for my homeschooled children and so whatever I needed to do, I did, to make sure it was going to happen. My children are brave and every single one of them have graced the stage.



Two years ago Jesse's confidence in me was bluntly confessed.
Me -"Jesse, no, you can not do lights, your turn will come."
Jesse -"No it will not. Look at you."
Me - "What in the world do you mean by that?"
Jesse- "Mom, you are fifty, you are going to be tired by the time it is my turn."
Oh, Game on Boy, Game on! You fan that flame, bro!!

The fun part, for I am wired to love issues to solve, is that every year drama is added to the drama and every year we watch the issues solved. It is fun to watch Him work wonders. I thank him that in light of the world's very big and tragic problems He still has time to answer prayers for set pieces, weather and health issues, and on and on it goes. The answered prayer list is a testament to God's coverage of all things small and wonderful. It all matters to Him because it all matters to me. He loves his children!

Little Women gracing the Twin Valley Middle Stage April 22, and 23. 7 pm both evenings and 2 am Sat. matinee. $5 tickets. Mary Lauer is Meg, Nicole Burkholder is Jo, Abby Snider is Amy, Hayley Hopkins is Marmee, Brenna Ezard is Beth,  Aiden Stratton is Laurie, Madison Barnett is John.  Oh, please come and support local drama by local homeschoolers.

Day 97: April 6, 2016 Infant in Harm's Way

April 6, 2016   Infant in Harm's Way

Day 97

The extreme vulnerability of an infant with no well defined or well trained voice to ask or request for their needs to be met is reality. The baby will only be fed if the mother or caretaker feeds it. The baby will only be changed if someone changes the child. If the baby is cold someone has to make the child warm otherwise it will remain cold with no means to warm. This infant is dependent on every human in its small radius for all of their pressing needs to be understood and lovingly answered. If a human does not see, hear, feel or understand the needs of this baby, the baby's needs go unmet. The vulnerability of a child is desperate and extreme. You add evil to the mix and vulnerability is in harm's way.

One day, the Trinity moved into harm's way. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in existence before time began, danced beautifully as they created mesmerizing sounds of the most beautiful chords and notes ever heard, ways and means organizing complicated systems never thought of, intricate cosmic explosions orchestrating detail beyond understanding. This beautiful fellowship creating all things through the Son chose to become vulnerable and moved into harm's way.

Nurseries are designed, constructed, and painted for the expectant mother to sit and dream, ponder and wonder as she waits for her expectant one, her child. Come, child come. And yet the young mother holding within her the Savior of the world was confused, excited, misunderstood, shunned, and had no means to prepare a material environment for the infant she was to birth - her Creator.

The Trinity chose to lay down in the form of a vulnerable infant. This seems like a desperate kind of love, a pride-less love willing to go low, too low. This kind of love makes you uncomfortable. "Please get up, do you not know how this looks???!!!! YOU ARE EMBARRASSING ME! Take pride in yourself, for my sake!!" 

The Creator housed in the created? A baby? Powerless? Incapable of movement? How could Jesus help us in infant form? Why was this necessary? It makes me feel uncomfortable. 

Who could ever imagine the Creator defining love vulnerably as birth in His created? Who could ever imagine the Creator defining love vulnerably as death by His created? One day, the Trinity moved into harm's way to move us out of harm's way.

The Trinity, so lovingly

becomes a babe

for you

for me.

The pride laid low

and non existent

reaches down

and becomes

an infant.

Day 96: April 5, 2016 Happy Birthday to the Man

April 5, 2016     Happy Birthday to the Man
Day 96


Happy Birthday, you exceptional man, Lynn Burkholder. I am the lucky woman to not only know you but to be your wife and mother of your amazing children.

As you journey forward into fresh new and exciting days, may the Twin Valley Coffee grind become richer, full of deep nuances, more full bodied, roasted to perfection. May the flavor of your brew seep into ever nook and cranny until it lures the state of Pennsylvania to Twin Valley Coffee's door. May Excellence beyond the cup, for every sip of Twin Valley Coffee and cold brew, become more and more the truer state of affairs as you continue to roast and and develop the coffee drinks. May you find yourself in more places that desire more of what you offer. May you continue to crave more and more knowledge and understanding of the craft. May your curiosity open doors that would have been left shut. As you learn more about the roast may you ignite a passion for coffee that is new, fresh, full and overflowing full of a deep rich taste.

May the state of Pennsylvania know Twin Valley Coffee and crave Twin Valley Coffee beyond what any Starbucks lover would ever know to crave.

You are creative. The hours of reading in a small home in the wilds of Northern Ontario in a First Native Community, filled your mind with good and wonderful things. The freedom you had to tinker, to sell, to ponder, to create, to dream was as big as the land dotted with birch and evergreen and miles and miles of lakes. You are blessed with curiosity that has brought you to many a door in quest of just "one more thing." You do not stop and for that I am so grateful. You create, you create some more, and then you do more creating.

You do not fill the space with empty words but with a solid sense of what is what and what is not. I love what you believe to be true. I love your silent understanding of justice, your view of the women in your life and how you honor them. You side with what is right and true and you have no need to hammer your point. Thank you for all you have taught me. Thank you! I received more than I could have ever wanted in August of 1986, I received a trainer, a teacher, a spiritual director, a nurse, a wonderful better half.

Lynn, may your days be filled with more wonder, more purpose, more understanding, more freedom, more health to the depths of your soul beyond your muscle strength. Thank you for focusing on your family. May your finances line up with sense, with strength, with generosity and may they bless as God desires for them to bless. Thank you that your children know you and love you. Thank you for listening to your sons and daughters. Thank you for fathering many more sons and daughters who call you Dad.


I love you, Lynn, and am honored to be journeying with someone so noble as you. To be on a deserted island with you would be a fearless endeavor. May you and I experience more of each other than less. May you and I enjoy more of each other than less. May you and I serve our Father with more love than less. And may the past, present and future success of Twin Valley Coffee be understood as a gift of God beyond our wildest imaginations or abilities.

May you run freely as you share your love of coffee with the individual on the street who had no idea it could taste so good. And may all the coffee drinkers of Pennsylvania desiring a excellent cup of coffee find you!

Excellence Beyond the Cup - Go Twin Valley Coffee! Run, Lynn Burkholder, with extreme freedom, passion, eagerness and dogged pursuit of all things good and wonderful. Happy Birthday to you.

Day 95: April 4, 2016 Human Effort or Gifts

April 4, 2016  Human Effort or Gifts
Day 95

Why would the gifts of the Spirit not be in operation today? Jesus has not stopped asking us to love, has he? So,why would Jesus ask us to manufacture anything without His aid? How could we do acts of love, kindness, counsel, or rescue - without His help? We can not! We are not capable.

Why would he not equip us with the gifts of the Spirit to accomplish what He has set out for us to do? He said that we would be able to do more than He did while on the earth - but without the gifts of the Spirit? No way! Where in the gospel message does it ever make a big deal about human accomplishments? Where is there a list in the bible of seven wonders? Can you imagine the biblical rewrites if Christianity were based on human effort. Colossians would be an editor's nightmare.

Where in Jesus' ministry did He ever take full credit for the miracles? No where. Instead, He pushes us to look at them as evidence that it was the Father working through Him. This Jesus is a giver of credit if ever there was one. He pushes us to look at his acts of kindness as His way of giving glory to the Father. We see His full blown love for His Father as He is strapped to the splintered wooden cross by haters, judgers, ill reasoned men and women. They thought His message did not include enough of their well intentioned work or enough of their line of thinking.

The gifts of the Spirit confirm the gospel. We can not do anything He calls us to without His gifts. It is grace, grace, grace and more grace. The grace is Him offering us these amazing abilities without a certification or graduation process. And then freedom to use them without micromanaging.

He would have had no need to save us or give us gifts if He knew we could pull from our own resources and accomplish acts of kindness on our own merit. It just doesn't make sense. But churches all over the world operate on this faulty line of reasoning. They rely on their bulletin or bullet points lacking a bull's eye. They rely on power points devoid of power. Many in leadership fear equipping an ill trained congregation with weapons and ammunition that could cause harm. What if something goes wrong? What if they do not do it right? What if? What if? And with these tormenting "what ifs" the hunter wins again as the hunted listen to age old rationals that encourage a laying down of arms rather than taking a stand for the Savior.

Gifts for today? Yes! Thank God!

Day 94: April 3, 2016 Who?

April 3, 2016  Who?
Day 94

What keeps us in fear? Who keeps us from wanting more? Who keeps us from sharing our gifts with others? Who keeps us from desiring the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Who keep us from wanting to use our gifts? How has our mind, scrambling to figure it out and understand completely, stunted the growth of the Body of Christ? How has our need to rationalize kept us from seeing fruit in our lives and others? Who keeps us in a tentative state? Who keeps us hesitant to explore spiritual gifts? Who keeps us from following that "voice?" Who has missed out because we have pulled out? Who keeps us so protective of our space? Who keeps us from yearning? Who keeps us from asking for more?

Yeah, I know.

It's pretty obvious,  not God. 

Day 93: April 2, 2016

April 2, 2016
Day 93

Today I asked Jesus, "What is it you want me to remember?"

He answered in a whoosh, "Trust me completely, fully, wholeheartedly, lovingly, confidently, simply, peacefully, purposefully, knowingly, selfishly, joyfully, intentionally, excitedly, and expectantly."

"For I am able to pull you, catch you, carry you, help you, fill you, meet you, see you, know you, care for you, take you, lead you, teach you, train you, propel you, and move you."

"You are a joy, a beauty, a wonder, a work of art, intricate, charming, precious, lovely, creative, bright, capable of so much, full of amazing abilities."

"I have given you all things, my wisdom, my wealth, my riches, my wonder, my righteousness, my everything, my love, my discernment, my good and useful gifts, my joy, my confidence, my comfort, my calm, my peace, my strength, my creativity, my image, my precious Son, my Spirit."

"So, will you trust me, love me, worship me, serve me, obey me, listen to me, seek me, know me, desire me, yearn for me, pant for me, praise me, talk to me, dine with me, love my creation, love my people, be still with me?"

"For I will lift you up, set your feet on solid ground, guide and direct you, set you free, lead you into freedom, be with you always, teach you, and continue to give you gifts."

"Will you trust me?"

Day 92: April 1, 2016 I Wonder

April 1, 2016    I Wonder
Day 92

I wonder. I wonder why Jesus asks us what it is we want for Him to do instead of just doing what He sees is needed? I wonder why He works when we ask Him? Why would He stand outside the door and knock and not just come in? Why would He look for us when He clearly knows where we are? Why does He allow humans to assist Him?
Why does He put it in our plates to be the ones to signal for help?

Why does Jesus let us process? Why does He let us plan? Why does He want to hear our prayers? If this is how Jesus is in my life why do I want control of others? If He can let me be and allows me to make my own decisions, what purpose do I serve in other's lives by making decisions for them? How much harm have I brought by using methods that God never uses? I wonder.