Category Archives: Submitting to God

The Spy Club

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Everybody loves to belong, because it’s no fun being stuck outside looking in. We belong to families, clubs, student bodies, churches, small groups, neighborhoods and more. Most of us have also been excluded or eliminated from belonging, since rejection comes in all shapes and sizes.

When I was a school girl, I had the same strong desire to belong that every other girl had. Thankfully I found Carol, who turned out to be my best buddy from kindergarten through fifth grade. We were a group of two, and if we felt excluded by the other girls, we had the perfect solution: start our own club.

Margaret and Carol

In the back of my primitive journal from those days, I discovered the founding document of “The Spy Club” started in 1955 when Carol and I were 10. There were 8 important rules:

  • Never back out on any of the members.
  • Must always be ready for duty.
  • Must be brave at all times.
  • When on pleasure trips, must not spy.
  • Never get too close when spying.
  • When spying on one person, never take to another until finished with the first one.
  • Must wear pin at all times, and you will be checked at every meeting and at school.
  • Must be at all meetings unless of a good excuse.

Beneath this list was a description of the initiation process: to go on a brave spying trip.

At the bottom of the legal-sized sheet are the signatures of the club leaders: Margaret Johnson and Carol Miller. (We were also the only club members.) No doubt our finest missions were spent spying on the girls from whom we felt excluded.

All are welcomeThere’s only one club I know of that’s open to any and all people, and that’s God’s Club. The one qualification needed is a sincere desire to submit to him as personal Lord. Anyone willing to do that can join the Club by going through the initiation: repenting of personal sin.

There are no club dues, because one Donor paid them all, and that was Jesus. His death covered the cost of being in the Club for all of us, and once we’re “in”, God will never turn us out. We might choose to quit, but he won’t ever quit on us.

When we join this Club, benefits abound! Every scriptural promise becomes ours, and we can look forward to One-on-one time with our Leader, any time of day or night. Best of all, our Club will never end. Every other club will eventually dissolve just as the Spy Club did, but God’s Club will continue into eternity with the assurance that every member will be included forever.

Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die’.” (John 11:25-26)

Praising and Praying with Mary

  1. I’m exceedingly thankful my feeding tube feels so much better! The antibiotics are working.
  2. Though my veins are suffering from so many infusions, I’m praising God the medical staff found a good vein on Monday for #12.
  3. I’m thankful next week is my “off” week, allowing my veins to rest.

Happy Birthday, Nate.

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Dear Nate…

IMG_1744Today was the 5th year in a row you weren’t here to celebrate your birthday with us, and the 5th year I’ve written you a letter on your special day. All of your children checked in with your wife during the day, and we reminisced about the years we had with you. Your family loves you.

Even as I write that, though, I realize you have a new extended family where you are now, each one a heavenly relative, most you hadn’t even met till you got to heaven. You probably don’t miss us like we miss you, but that’s ok. Someday we’ll all understand, when we’re there, too.

In the mean time, here’s a sampling of comments from a few of your children today. Birgitta said, “When I think of Papa, I feel overwhelmed with thankfulness for the man he was! He will always be missed.”

Linnea said, “Being on vacation right now reminds me of all the fun vacations Papa took us on as kids.”

Nelson commented about the 5 years that have passed since you died. He concluded with this: “Time on earth really is short. It’s challenging to think about how we spend our time and what’s important.”

???????????????????????????????Today I’ve been thinking about the 25 Augusts we spent in the North Woods of Wisconsin, always celebrating our birthdays together there with the family. It struck me that when we started going to Afterglow Lake Resort, we were both 32. When we ended that tradition, we were 57 – having gone from “kids” to middle-age adults as we birthday-partied through those years. Yes, indeed, time is short.

I often wonder if you’re aware of our lives on earth. Do you know your sister-in-law Mary has the same cancer you had? We’re grateful it was caught early and that she did well through radical surgery to remove the tumor.

Now she’s enduring the miseries of chemotherapy, without complaint. Maybe you already knew that. Today, as she was making her way to her 12th infusion, she took time to write a tribute to you. And I thought you’d appreciate it as much as I did. She wrote:

???????????????????????????????I’m thinking of Nate today and all the happy memories we have. Your blog also reminded me of how magnificently he did as he soldiered on through all that God called him to endure, all the way to the end.

He is a good example for me and continues to inspire, even though he’s no longer with us. I often wondered why the Lord facilitated or allowed my being present for much of Nate’s last weeks, and now I know. I needed to see firsthand how a person dies well. Nate did that, and I pray I might do as well when my time comes. He was a good, trustworthy, and faithful man who ran the race marked out for him with grace and perseverance. We miss him.

*                  *                      *                      *                      *                     *

Amen to that.

I love you, Nate.

I thank my God every time I remember you. (Philippians 1:3)

God’s Alarm Clock

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For whatever reason, my bedtime has become later and later. Although I was a keen critic of my teenagers staying up till the wee hours, the past few months have seen me following suit. I’ve had to eat my words that “nothing good happens after midnight,” since God often gives me blog-insights well after that.

At first I tried to camouflage my new habit: “Last night was just a fluke, kids. I’m still a morning person.” But as the weeks passed, my lark-ness morphed into owl-y-ness. Even Jack complied, dragging around all morning like a record at 33 1/3 speed, but zipping up to 78 at midnight.

Last night I crawled into bed after 3:00 AM. My final words to the Lord were, “I know. This is ridiculous.”

SpiderThis morning God announced a new program for me. Just as he provided a worm to eat Jonah’s biblical vine to get him up and going, he provided a tiny critter to nibble me awake. I never saw it, but my best guess about the sharp jab in my forearm was a spider. Although we’ve seen daddy-long-legs in our basement, I’ve always told skitterish kids spiders aren’t interested in climbing two flights to the bedrooms. But when God says go, animals do.

Nate was right when he repeatedly said our battle against woodland critters would be ongoing, since we lived on the edge of a forest. We agreed it would be pointless to call pest control, sort of like trying to keep the bottom of a boat from getting wet.

After God’s wake-up this morning, I noticed the clock said 8:00 and knew I needed more than five hours of sleep before tackling the day. But while drifting off again, a second “ouch” woke me. Finally I got the message. My thought had been more sleep; his was more hours in my day.

One of the magnificent things about God is how creative he is in achieving his goals. That’s good news for those of us who hunger for his participation in our lives. Oftentimes he allows painful circumstances, but being the recipient of God’s personal attention always includes a positive undercard. If we’re willing to submit, we’ll eventually experience the good stuff.

This morning’s unique wake-up call left two welts that have coaxed me to set my alarm tonight. If I don’t, God may direct his assistant to climb the stairs again. In the mean time, where’s that number for pest control?

“The Lord God provided a vine… to ease [Jonah’s] discomfort. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered.” (Jonah 4:6-7)

Praising and Praying with Mary

  1. Thank you for praying about my painful feeding tube, which is still with me as per the GI doctor’s recommendation today: “Removal is easy. Re-establishing is difficult.”
  2. Pray that new, powerful antibiotics will eliminate infection and ease pain.
  3. Praise for minimal nausea this week, always a concern.