Recovery from the Storm--and Proceeding with Ordinary Work

 Today I am trying to recover from more than one kind of storm--one of which was very literal two nights ago and which left most of our area without electricity for 17 hours. Our friends the Ambroses still do not have electricity because their electric pole blew over, and neither does the church because the electric mast blew over. An electrician came today to give an estimate for the simple reason that Jonathan cannot do everything. 

There have been literal bad weather storms and also medical storms and other kinds as well. 

So a hymn Sunday evening (hours away) played by a twelve-year-old boy on the piano meant ever so much to me. 

As he sat down and his fingers began to ripple over the keys, I recognized the hymn as one of my favorites.

From every stormy wind that blows, 

From every swelling tide of woes,

There is a calm, a sure retreat;

Tis found beneath the mercy seat. 

There is a place where Jesus sheds

The oil of gladness on our heads,

A place than all besides more sweet;

It is the blood-bought mercy seat.

Ah, whither could we flee for aid, 

When tempted, desolate, dismayed? 

Or how the hosts of hell defeat, 

Had suffering saints no mercy seat?

Ah, there on eagle's wings we soar, 

Where sin and sense molest no more,

And Heav'n comes down our souls to greet,

While glory crowns the mercy seat.  

It was a hymn I had sung at a Messianic Jewish church in Kiev, Ukraine, about 32 years ago, in both English and Russian. I would never forget that experience. 

And on this last Sunday, despite not having the words handy, the spirit of the song came through amazingly as that young boy's hands glided giftedly over the ivories, playing sometimes very simply, sometimes all over the keys. 

Apparently I was not the only person who was touched by the song, for the pastor of that church requested that the congregation sing it when the boy was finished playing it, and we did. 

I find that the word I am more and more often hearing from the Lord is calling me to rest in Him--even though there are loud voices out there urging otherwise. 

It seems there are always super spiritual ways to ignore and neglect the ordinary duties and callings of  life in this world as the human beings that God created, versus the being of God or angels who have no human needs like we poor humans have. 

Ignoring our humanity so that we can be super spiritual is a type of gnosticism. And children, spouses, and young people are the worst losers when this kind of thing is going on. 

One of the main characteristics of Gnosticism is a separation between the spiritual realm and the material world (as in the world as we see it being evil). The physical and emotional needs of spouses, homes,  and children are neglected while things that are considered more "spiritual" or "ministry-related" are all-important.

And people are exhausted. I see this with my own eyes and feel it in my heart. 

Is God asking all this of us?

Is being constantly exhausted somehow more spiritual than being rested and joyful in our daily walk with God?

Is focusing fully on the need and duty at hand not enough unless we have earbuds in to listen to sermons hour after hour? 

Days ago I saved this sweet clipping because it has practically been my motto for years as a mother with children at home and a pretty ordinary spouse (definitely not the super spiritual kind)--ever since the Lord had to teach me that ordinary work--done with love for Him--is every bit as spiritual as hours spent in prayer, fasting, ministry, evangelism, and other service of that type to the Lord. 

Little of my life felt very "spiritual."

Most of my time was spent (and still is spent) trying to keep meals on the table, doing laundry, taking care of family, home, and sometimes animals--and canning in the summer and fall. 

Hymns like the one this twelve-year-old boy played Sunday,

music that flowed from his heart through his fingers,

have meant more and more to me as the stress of life's burdens floats away for just a moment as we sing and meditate on the mercy seat to which we can come in time of need.

Of course I try to pray and read God's Word and reach lost souls and "carry a burden for the people around me." But mostly I have learned that actually God wants me to let Him carry the burden and the heavy end of the load.

And when my load gets too heavy, I have learned to ask myself, "Is this God placing this load on me, or is it myself or someone else?"

As a poor human, I can actually ask in prayer simply and then leave the burden at the foot of the cross.

"There is a calm, a sure retreat, 

'Tis found beneath the mercy seat."

Terrible Storm Blows Our RV Over

"We should have sold the RV!" Danny exclaimed as he arrived back in the basement with a shop vac to slurp up water in the middle of the night last night. All five of us Lucases in our pajamas were waiting out the awful storm--a derecho, we found out later, which is like a tornado except that the wind is straight-line instead of whirling. 

"It's blown over!"

"The RV?" I gasped, staring at my son. 

"The RV is blown over," he repeated. He had looked out the window during the non-stop lightning and seen the disaster first. This was the RV that we lived in while we built this house, and we had just been thinking and talking about selling it so we'd have the money for other needs right now. 

Now it was lying on its side near the barn. 

With the sound of the wind outside it was hardly surprising.

We didn't have much time to fret. Water was literally pouring into the basement around the sliding door where the wind was pressuring the rain into any crevice or crack, seen or unseen. Jonathan started vacuuming up water with the shop vac and I ran  up to the mudroom to get the mop and bucket. I started slopping up water and wringing the mop in the wringer part of the bucket while Crystal gathered several large towels to stuff into the crevices where water was pouring in.

Lightning was flashing non-stop and wind was roaring steadily the likes of which we had never heard before. Our phones kept blaring with extreme weather warnings. Hail plinked at times on the glass. The electricity kept blinking off--until finally it blinked the very last time and went off for good. We kept working by the lights of a couple phones. Danny was sure our barn was history. 

Thankfully, it remained intact, but our neighbor's barn did not fare as well. 

In the morning we discovered the neighbor's barn was completely destroyed, with pieces of it strewn over the adjacent hayfield and thousands of pieces of pink insulation all over the place and stuck to the barbed wire fence surrounding the property. 

The entire roof for our little tool shed had disappeared, we knew not where. 

The cargo trailer that had been parked near the driveway was now sitting IN the driveway, completely straddling it, carried or pushed somehow by the wind ten or twenty or thirty feet from its original position. 

Some of our gardens were stripped or laid over, though we think most of the plants will survive. The good thing about this storm was that it brought over two inches of rain with it--so desperately needed. 

As Danny went to work, he found a huge limb fallen over the mission office/fellowship hall building in Mission. In the night there, someone's mobile home had blown over with a man inside it, and firemen had gone out in the storm to help rescue him. Back here in White River, we found later, a huge tree had fallen on a mobile home, splitting it nearly in half. Trees and limbs were down all over town. 

At our own place countless limbs were down. 

At Pastor Ambrose's home, this is what Jonathan found in their back yard--the electric pole fallen over and huge limbs filling up most of Mathel's prayer garden. A friend south of town who actually had electricity was soon to come get the food from Mathel's fridge and take it to her place. 

Another view of the tipped RV with the slideouts now on top!

"One thing about it," Jonathan said to me, "there's never a dull moment!"

Well, no. 

Right now the electricity has been off for about 17 hours. We are thankful for the generator that is keeping our fridges and freezer and water system going.

We are also thankful for God's Word. A verse from my Psalm for the day spoke to me:

"The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You."

And verses from Nahum 1:3b and 7, "The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet...The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him!"

Crystal said she read that today several interesting phenomena are occurring almost simultaneously,

the way the planets are lining up, a solar eclipse, and Jonathan thought a meteor shower was happening, too. 

It is a good day to find refuge in God and to continue to trust in Him. 

"

Following is a blogpost that I found encouraging and inspiring by a blogger and pastor's wife who resides in Washington where the forest fires are raging and the air is full of smoke.  

https://christyfitzwater.com/if-all-is-gray-on-the-outside/

Multiple Medical Issues at Once

There may be more than one meaning to the Bible verse that says, "Overcome evil with good."

When you and your husband are facing multiple serious medical and other issues at once and you are tempted to just stay in bed all morning (or at least part of it), one can overcome by getting up. 

Just getting up. 

That is the first step to having a good day even if the day is hard. 

This morning we both got up--he from the recliner in the living room where he had crept about five o'clock when he woke up with shoulders in so much pain he couldn't sleep. 

There he was, under--of all things--my fuzzy pink bathrobe which he'd discovered draped over a chair in the kitchen just when he was wishing for a blanket. 

In the dark he thought it was a blanket! 

Now he was getting up and we had our laugh for the day--despite the tiredness and pain. 

We took the usual morning vitamins and fixed our drinks and coffee before listening to the next chapter in Matthew and having prayer time together--hunkered in our room where it was my turn to pray.

Even in prayer time, when you are overwhelmed and just want to sigh and forget about praying, you can overcome evil with good.

You can just go ahead and pray--and overcome--whether you feel like it or not. 

And then, then we saw the fawn outside waiting for his morning milk. 

I don't know what we'd do right now without this fawn to cheer us with his innocence, need, and antics. 

He will stand on his hind legs for his morning bottle that Jonathan enjoys feeding him sometimes--when he's not away, that is. 

Tuesday he worked in Mission and then traveled to Wounded Knee for some electrical work in the afternoon, staying overnight since he planned to go on to Rapid City the next day for medical appointments and Wounded Knee is already two hours from home, with Rapid City another couple hours beyond that. 

He sent pictures of horses that he said came to visit! 

When I asked how his night had been sleeping on a cot, it hadn't been the greatest. The temperature had cooled a lot, and while he had taken a jacket and pillow, he'd forgotten a blanket! 

Remembering that the parsonage garage had been warmer than the house, he moved out there in the middle of the night--only to have to listen to mice skittering everywhere, including inside the trash can!

So he had a very interesting night. 

He decided to get up early enough to watch the sunrise in the Badlands on his way to Rapid City. 

And he kept sending pictures to family. It's a way to overcome. 

He stopped for a while to have his devotions at the edge of town at a greenhouse that had these petunia trees nearby. It was another way to overcome.

The story of his truck not starting after that stop is another story. He fought it all day and finally left it at the mechanic shop, calling and asking if one of us could drive all the way to Rapid City to pick him up. 

Which one of us did. 

And yesterday morning the mechanics had time to check the truck--only to have it start up just fine. 

We shake our heads.

We know something is the matter, but the problem resolves long enough to baffle the mechanic and us. 

And on top of everything, Jonathan's phone's motherboard suddenly crashed,

burnt up,

went to pot,

however you want to describe it.

He has spent days researching how to resurrect it long enough to transfer data to a new phone--including stowing the old one in the freezer a while.

That trick actually worked for a little bit at least. 

It was a way to overcome. 

One Fire and Tragedy After Another

 It's a relief that this last week, especially today, has not been so full of fires, accidents, and tragedies as last week, especially last Saturday.

Danny received calls early in the morning about fires at Sunrise Apartments, an area of Mission, SD, that is considered the "ghetto of Mission." 

One fire after another there, and Saturday was no exception. 

Meanwhile, just eight miles up our road, a young woman was hit by a semi and killed. Rumor had it that she jumped in front of the semi, but that hasn't been verified. Only a few hours later, Danny rushed off just before lunch to another accident near Mission. It took him about twenty minutes to arrive, and by then, the fire chief had managed to cut the driver out of his severely mashed car (the chief cutting himself badly enough in the process that he ended up self-transporting to the hospital in Winner for stitches). A semi truck with a very heavy load on behind had turned onto Rt. 83 from Rt. 18--right in front of the car which had the right of way. The car's driver was being laid on a stretcher and transported to an ambulance just as Danny arrived. The fire chief let Danny know some of the gory details, and Danny helped with cleanup, tossing fluid-soaked sand right into the middle of the mashed car since it was totalled anyway and there wasn't anywhere else to put it--until another call arrived about another fire. 

This time the fire was big. (Danny is, I think, the fireman on the right in the picture above.) 

He found the sun shining through the smoke to be most interesting. 

Also the rainbow created from the water spraying in the sunlight. 

By late afternoon or evening, Danny was exhausted from the hard work and having eaten next to nothing at lunchtime, besides being hot and sweaty from having to be dressed in his fire suit. Thankfully someone provided pizza for the firefighters, and Danny was sitting somewhere near the top of the hook and ladder eating three pieces at once (as pictured!)

At church Sunday we prayed for the tragic situations around us, as well as the ones in Iran and other places. We also prayed for a rancher friend who is usually at church but was missing Sunday. He had just finished haying and had 180 large bales for winter feeding when the lightning storm came the Monday before and set his hay on fire. He lost 120 of the 180 bales that he had only just baled. 

Thank God for the comfort of gathering on Sunday and bringing hard things to the Lord in prayer and then worshipping Him despite everything.

Garden Delights--A Cheerful Reality

 Working in the garden and enjoying its harvest is not just an escape from reality--it is, in fact, a cheerful part of the reality of life. I created a dish of zucchini, carrots, and garbanzo beans for supper one day. 

"To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." – Audrey Hepburn 

"Gardens are not made by singing 'Oh, how beautiful,' and sitting in the shade. – Rudyard Kipling

Marcus Tullius Cicero: If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

Francis Bacon: God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.

• "A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself." – May Sarton
• 
• "The kiss of the sun for pardon, the song of the birds for mirth, one is nearer God's heart in a garden than anywhere else on earth." – Dorothy Frances Gurney

Peppers, carrots, onion, venison--all from our garden or nearby fields!

"A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all, it teaches entire trust. – Gertrude Jekyll

In the Morning--I Will Look Up! and Mike's Testimony

 I can't stop being grateful for these warm, sunny South Dakota mornings. 

A couple mornings ago, I woke with the verse of a Psalm (KJV) on my mind:

"My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, O Lord; 

in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up."

That morning l joined the flowers in looking up.

It just seemed that everything was beautiful in the flower garden that morning as the blossoms wanted to tilt toward the light. 

I especially liked the drops of dew on this one--which reminds me of the words of one of my favorite old Quaker poets, John Greenleaf Whittier. 

"Drop Thy still dews of quietness till all our strivings cease;

Take from our souls the strain and stress

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy peace."

Sometimes peace seems to be a bit distant for the moment, and we wonder if what we are doing here in South Dakota is worth the strain and stress. 

Then someone posts a clip of a testimony shared today near us in Parmalee at a tent meeting related to the Christian rehab center in Minneapolis. They tag our friend Mike, the mechanic who had helped us some on our vehicles several months ago. After struggling with addictions for 20 years, he came to Hope Family Chapel and worked just a bit for Jonathan before heading to Minneapolis. 

I sat down and typed what Mike said as I listened to the clip more than once. 

His testimony began, "About a year ago, I'd never been to church, never read the Bible, I had no job, nowhere to live.  I was homeless with an addiction to meth and alcohol. 

One morning I woke up mulling over a dream asking, "Isn't there more to life?" That night I went to Hope Family Chapel, where Keith Lavery was who I'd known for years. He always tried to help me but I always had excuses.  A few months fast forward, I found myself in a packed van on a

15 hour trip to Indiana, to Men Arise. I had no idea what was going on. I started asking  about God..

 Going forward with questions, when I got back, I was offered a job with Jonathan Lucas. The first few times I didn't show up, I made excuses, but it was due to alcohol and drugs. The third time I  made it. I want to thank Father God for giving Keith Lavery and Jonathan Lucas patience. Later I volunteered to go to treatment in Metro in Minneapolis where I am learning a lot about the Word and my Savior Jesus Christ. 

While at Men Arise in Rapid City, I experienced the love of Jesus, a feeling I cannot put into words. After completing the classes at Metro (in Minneapolis), people tell me they are proud of me, which inspires me to know there is more to life. I will help spread the word of Jesus to others who like me wanted to give up on life and think we don't have a purpose. It doesn't hurt to ask for help and make a change!"

God Keeps Making Our Fawn a Blessing

A day or two ago, I got a call from our pastor's wife who thought I'd like to know that our fawn is bringing joy not just to us and the people who visit and get to feed him, but even beyond. 

Her twin sister Rathel had called from Illinois to tell her that she had gone to visit a lady in a nursing home and showed her the video she'd taken of herself feeding our fawn from a bottle the day Mathel and Rathel came to visit us. The lady in the nursing home absolutely loved that video. The fawn made her day--all the way over there in Illinois!

Nearly everyone who comes to visit gets a turn feeding the fawn. Above, a friend from Arizona tries his hand. Every morning and evening, Fawn still shows up for bottles of milk, so if someone is here at that time, they are in on the fun! 

With the hot weather, we add water to the bottle, though he is learning to drink water elsewhere, too, as well as graze on dewy grass. 

Friday morning when Jonathan asked if I'd like to go for a walk with him, the fawn followed us all the way to the top of the driveway. 

He trusts us as if we were his mother.

And we are. 

A sort of surrogate mother. 

He comes through the garage and climbs the steps to our door, or climbs the steps to the deck if one of us is up there like I was yesterday morning when he wasn't getting his bottle soon enough. 

I was sitting there reading my Bible, and Fawn trotted up the steps. 

He came straight to me and touched my forehead with his wet black nose--

like a kiss. 

For a little lady sitting on a deck step with her Bible, trying to gain strength and nourishment for days that have become harder and harder, 

it was like a kiss from God.