Crystal's Walk-a-thon-- and Christ Walks Our Road

 Crystal took part in a 5-mile Walkathon at Penn View yesterday with Julie Poe, Tonya [Sickler] Poe's step-daughter from Iowa. I love to see my daughter making friends with so many people, especially such nice people as Poes and Sicklers! :) :)

I had written this poem only a day or two earlier after reading a few simple words in Colossians,
"Seek those things which are above, where Christ is." (Col. 3:1)
"Where Christ Is"
So, where is He? Besides in heaven and at the Father's right hand, of course.
And this poem came to me.

Christ Walks Your Road

by Anna Lucas

Christ walked the road to Bethlehem,

Past shepherds' fields and Roman base,

The Babe in womb could find no room

Except for a stable in Bethlehem.

(Timmy with newest cousin in PA a few weeks ago)

He walked the road to Egypt's sand

Escaping evil kings' intent,

While mothers wept and babies bled,

Cut down by swords the cruel king sent.

He walked the road of Nazareth,

Learning the lowly carpenter's trade,

Wielding the hammer, saw and vice. 

With village children He surely played.

Christ walked the road to Jerusalem,

Sat near the religious teachers' seat,

But home again He followed on

With obedient heart and willing feet.

He walked the road to Galilee

Where fishermen toiled and hearts were warm.

He fed the hungry fish and bread

And walked on water in the storm.

Christ walked the road to Capernaum

To a wedding running out of wine.

Plain water filling earthen pots

Was transformed by a power divine.  

(Crystal's friend Larisa Kolva and Anthony Watt, Sept. 2019)

He walked the road to Bethany,

Christ, at healing so adept,

Yet He waited long till Lazarus died,

And his broken-hearted sisters wept.

He walked the road to a lonely tomb

Where a four-day body stinking lay.

The Resurrection and the Life

Proved to the sisters a Living Way.

Christ walked the road to Calvary,

Dying so our souls might live,

Hanging bleeding He forgave

That we, too, may our foes forgive.

He walked in every phase of life,

In every need, in every place.

He walks beside you every day.

Just look, and You will see His face!

What Does Granola Have to Do with the Ends of the Earth?

Today I ate my bowl of granola three hours late. We had run out of milk, and I was waiting until Rose came home from the dairy with our weekly milk. But then I got busy cleaning up and starting the morning school. I forgot about granola until I tried to shred a bar of laundry soap for homemade soap and, after choking on the powder in the air, wore out completely after just a few minutes. That is when I remembered to eat the rest of my breakfast!

And then I thought I would get my Bible to read while I was eating and while the children were outside on break. 

I read Psalm 65, up to verse 5. And that is where I stopped. 

"By awesome deeds in righteousness You will answer us, 

O God of our salvation,

You Who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of the far-off seas."

I had written a note by that verse, "April 1, 2016, PNG."

God had given me that verse as we were making plans to go to Papua New Guinea, three and a half years ago.

And it would be a good verse for plans that Jonathan is in the process of making all over again for another Mission Helps trip to an island of the sea, this time Grand Bahama, to help with repairing roofs of a church and homes after Hurricane Dorian.

Jonathan told me a few days ago that Harold Martin had called asking for a crew for roof repairs in Grand Bahama and saying the crew would have to stay in tents.

"So you probably wouldn't want to go this time," Jonathan said, as we both envisioned a group of about eight guys trying to survive in a couple of tents next to buildings they would be repairing.

I guess I will just be staying home again this time while he and perhaps two or three of our sons go along with him to "the ends of the earth, and of the far-off seas."

I wondered, in that moment of seeing that verse and the note beside it, what "the ends of the earth" meant for me personally.

I usually thought of the "ends of the earth" as somewhere far away, like Africa or China or PNG or the Bahamas.
 

But that would mean God is only far away, too.

Just because I am living here, in my home in America, and having to stay home while others go far away, does that mean God can't be my confidence, too?

I've been struggling through teaching Timmy and Danny geometry about an hour a day.

We are learning some things about logic, Venn diagrams, and about valid and invalid conclusions based on given statements. In a day or two, we'll be learning about the inverse and converse of statements, and learning whether or not they work.

So--if the ends of the earth include Africa, China and Bahamas, does it necessarily follow that the Lucas ranch in Colorado is not included? 

Not necessarily. 

In fact, not at all.

The Lucas ranch can be and is a part of the "ends of the earth" whose confidence is in God.

So when I am facing one burden on top of another, 

I can still know that based on God's Word, I can have confidence in God. 

This morning, in weakness from forgetfulness and with my eyebrows twitching from stress, I can look up to Him and remember that even though I am the one who stays home while the others go hunting next week or off on another adventure in the Caribbean,

even though I stay home teaching subjects I can hardly figure out myself,

God can be my confidence.

"We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, of Your holy temple," the Psalmist said in the same Psalm.

In my end of the earth in Colorado, wherever and whenever I am lonely and disappointed and overwhelmed, I can find refuge in God's house--

in the secret of His presence whether that be on an island of the Caribbean or in the four walls of my very own home, surrounded by children and geometry books!

Harvesting Before the Frigid Temps

This week we pulled beets and carrots from our little gardens before the predicted below-freezing temperatures.

Our soil must have unbalanced PH because most of the beets and carrots were small despite growing for several months. They had lush tops but hardly any roots!

Last week I had picked a few zucchini, yellow squash, and even a few green beans. But this is about half of what we harvested from the garden with the Indian corn. Not much, I'm afraid.

We were thankful to get at least a few vegetables after all the work of collecting last year's seeds,

digging, tilling,

planting,

weeding,

transplanting (I transplanted a few tomato plants but left the rest in the greenhouse in big bins).

A few months ago we heard a good message about Jesus' parable about the Sower, the Seed and the Soil. 

1. "Good soil will produce good fruit," was the first point.

   The Holy Spirit enters our Bad Soil Heart and makes it soft.

2. "Good fruit takes time."

 It took probably six months before this tomato plant started to bear in our greenhouse. We had such cool weather earlier in the year and I had to just buy starts to transplant.

 

"It's fun to put others down because it makes us look and feel better about ourselves," said the speaker. "It's easy to make snap judgments about others--'They can't be Christians because they aren't doing or growing or looking like....'"

I mean, look at this awful looking tomato plant (although it is, to our embarrassment, producing almost as much fruit as the lush green ones). 

"Tares look just like wheat until the head appears," the speaker told us. But "tares are not fruitful."

Here are wild sunflowers taking over where the pepper and tomato and beets and carrots were planted.

 I also had to fight off aphids on especially one pepper plant in the greenhouse.

There were hundreds of aphids on just one of the leaves. I would spray the aphids off with water outside, and sprinkle diatomaceous earth on the dirt and leaves.

3. "Good results will vary," the speaker let us know.

 There doesn't seem to be much here. The one day I brought in one cherry tomato, one hot pepper, and a sprig of parsley.

The beets in this area of garden did not do well at all. They didn't have as much sunshine as other parts, and perhaps not as much water, either.

"The numbers are in God's hands," we were reminded.

It is God Who sends the sunshine and rain and creates the soil.

It is He Who controls everything from the weather to natural disasters to the way people work in their gardens--or don't work much!

Let's learn from Christ's story about the seeds and the sower and the soil.

Let's be patient with ourselves and with the other guy or gal.

Let's grow the best we can.

Let's weed out the bad attitudes, the distractions, and the snap judgments.

Let's focus on growing and bringing forth fruit--

as much fruit as God can produce through us earthen vessels!

Rosie's 18th birthday

 It's been a while since I uploaded these photos! Rose turned 18 several weeks ago, and invited friends for supper.

We had enchiladas with toppings.

And a most delightful cake.

Crystal had gotten a bedcover for her--

with eagles...

and horses.

A sweet friend, Shelby Hagerty, had knitted her this shawl!

There was a backpack for traveling.

This flowerbed is one of Rose's projects.

And this little garden is another. I just picked a few handfuls of green beans and a few zucchini or yellow squash today out of this garden.

Morningglories are one of my favorite flowers.

Tree Grazes Buffalo--and other Lucas Tidbits

Usually it's the buffalo that does the grazing, but this time the tree grazed the buffalo. 

 A few weeks ago, Jonathan had to cut down a beetle-eaten spruce tree at a property where he is remodeling. One of the big reasons the owner had bought this property up near Broadmoor and the zoo is that there was this practically legless buffalo statue which he fell in love with.

None of us fell in love with it at all, but Jonathan had to try to lay that tall spruce down without crashing into the house, the neighbor's property, the retaining wall, or, most of all,

this precious stone buffalo. 

Just because it was promising to be an interesting day on the job with perhaps firewood to deal with afterward and branches the younger boys and I could help load after the tree was down, I took the younger boys in to watch and help.

Jonathan started sawing.

Here is the scene from the opposite side, down the long, steep driveway. The guys had attached a strap as high up on the tree as one of them dared to climb, and it was attached to Jonathan's truck at the other end. Sam was inching the truck forward bit by bit to keep the strap taut and the tree hopefully falling the right direction.

Long story short, after several hollers and pulls by the truck, the tree went crashing down, rolling a little as it fell, and it missed the buffalo by a hairsbreadth. I guess some twigs actually grazed the buffalo. Everyone watching agreed that it was just TOO close, but thankfully, the precious buffalo with hardly any legs was still intact.

Jonathan and Sam saw off branches while Timmy, Danny and I haul branches to the dump trailer.

****

"What's the purpose for geometry?" a son growls as we gather books and key and pencils and notebooks for geometry class.

What are you supposed to answer, when you don't know if they will use much of it in their whole life?

 I'm teaching two boys at once.

We're using Teaching Textbooks, and it is a great curriculum for home school. I've used Bob Jones geometry for three other students, but this one surpasses for simplicity and ease of teaching and learning. They are learning all they need to know plus some, though it does take us nearly an hour a day!
 I don't know if Timmy uses geometry or not when he builds a fence, but he did a good job with this rustic fence that looks sooo nice!

Jonathan and boys worked on this slab of wood for a kitchen bench. Not sure when it will be actually done and built, but it is a fun dream.

Timmy digging fence post holes.

Hannah helping to hang laundry.

Dragonfly (or damselfly?) I found on jeans one morning.
 

Couldn't resist this sweet scene of the baby clothes and shoes of the darlingest little baby girl ever that Carrie babysits sometimes.