Alaskan Adventure

Several weeks ago a friend called me and asked me to speak to a group of people about my Alaskan adventure at the retirement community where she works. I really loved Alaska and the magnificent, awesome beauty that God wrought there. It truly is beyond human description.

So, last night was the night. Had no idea how much I would enjoy doing a presentation like this.
The people were wonderful...interesting, sweet, and charming. Two men had been to Alaska on vacation cruises, but realized they had missed so much going by cruise ship and really enjoyed the DVD I had with me. I had been warned that sometimes the people go to sleep during a presentation or would just walk out so not to expect to do more than 20 minutes, maybe 30. We were there for an hour and 15 minutes or so. No one slept, no one left. It is such an amazing place and this film caught some of the best Alaska has to offer. What fun!

Musing

Been thinking (to the chorus of "oh, no, not again").....The prophet Micah spoke these words in 6:8..."He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? Seems lately everywhere I turn that verse appears and it invades my thoughts and my dreams. Sermons have been preached and devotions are repeating the cry. God is trying to tell me something. At these times, it is best to listen.
Have you ever asked yourself what is just? What does it mean to do justly? What does justice look like? God has the defining answer...the only answer that is acceptable in His sight. We may think we have it, but do we really? I am finding God's justice is not always what humans practice. There are times God's justice seems harsh to our human sensibilities, but at other times our justice is harsher than anything God would mete out in the same situation. Which brings us to mercy.
Grace is getting what we don't deserve....mercy is not getting what we do deserve. God is so awesome in this department. (Awwww, darn, I don't get to hit back?) Proverbs says love covers a multitude of sins, but we are so determined to make the sinner pay for what they did. Beloved. that is God's province, not ours. We are called to love the sinner, although not the sin.
Humility....hearing a lot about that. If we think we have it, we don't. It takes a servant's heart to really be humble...to put other's first. But, it also takes a lot of love; God's love within us to truly be humble and able to walk humbly with our God. It just isn't in us without Him.
So, I will continue meditating at my kitchen window on justice, mercy, and especially humility for a time...as God leads....

Out Of The Frying Pan; Into The Fire

Ok, here I am. I got one, too.

You will probably never see another post here, but ya never know. This may be my first AND my last!