Forty Years!     9/09/18 

Little River Casino Resort and RV Park, Manistee, Michigan

 

 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Philippians 2:3-4

 

On this day in 1978, a most incredibly wonderful thing happened!

Blaine and I were married!

I’m proud to say that it was without a doubt the best decision either of us have ever made.  Would that all marriages be as wonderful as ours has been!  Have we had bad times?  Of course!  But we handled them together.  Have there been arguments?  Of course!  But they’ve been few and far between and never last long.

Before we took our love on the road, we had attended a talk by full-time RVers.  One of the most memorable and best advice we heard was that in order to full-time, “You can’t just love each other to do this successfully, you have to like each other.”  We love, and we like.  And we’re doing it successfully.  😊

The secret to our success?  We both put God first, each other second, children third, family fourth, and the rest follow.  God first – with Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and the Holy Spirit to guide us.  Spouse second – never do or say anything without thinking of them and how it may affect them, and put them and their wants and needs ahead of yourself.  Children third – love them with all your heart, train them in God’s ways, teach them independence, teach them respect and consideration for all, and let them go.  That’s what we did, and it’s worked for us for forty years.

I wish I had access to a wedding picture or two to share, but I don’t.  They’re all in Blaine’s parent’s basement.

(This is Blaine now, ditto to what Terri said above. It really has been an incredible 40 years. Can you imagine how happy I am each morning, waking up the luckiest man the world!)

 

I wore the same dress to church three weeks in a row.

I can hear the sharp intake of breath as you slap your hands across your cheeks.  But this is one of the perks of living on the road.  No one knows!  And I really like this dress, and it’s a summer dress, so I only get to wear it for a couple of weeks out of the year, and being on the road, sometimes it’s a little too dressy for where we’re attending so that cuts down on the opportunities.  And this will most likely be the final time until next summer.

 

This morning we attended the First Baptist Church, where the pastor was only a week or two into his Job series, and today covered Chapter 2.  Preaching sermon series is evidently the trend.  😊

The people here form a small congregation of perfectly imperfect people.  Which is a wonderful thing.  Although, I have a confession to make.  From the moment I left the Jeep, I found myself being critical – – “The yard needs some major attention, what a first impression that makes to new people – they don’t care enough to even keep the grass and weeds mowed.”  “The worship team needs to rehearse once in a while.” “Boy, does that woman sing off-key.”  Suddenly, the Lord smacked me up side the head and showed me the error of my ways!  And I felt shame envelope me.  I don’t know these people.

I don’t know why the bass player has Psalm 98:4 – shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music – painted on his instrument of worship is the total opposite of ‘jubilant’ this morning (maybe his wife was just diagnosed with cancer).  I don’t know why the drummer is difficult for me to understand (maybe he had a stroke).  Or why their yard is unkempt (maybe the person who normally has a love/calling for yard work is ill).

What I do know, is that once I changed my attitude, I could see how much they all loved the Lord.  And then, and only then, was I truly ready to worship.

 

How appropriate then, that the message this morning is on perspective.

The pastor began with a story.  A father told his little girl that they were going to spend time with kids, but when they arrived at their destination, the little girl was not particular happy.  “Where are the kids?”  She asked expectantly.  The father is now confused and said to her, “Well, they’re all around us!”  To which the girl replied, “Those aren’t kids!  Those are babysitters!”

Teenagers are “Kids” to the father, “Babysitters” – a far cry from “Kids” – to the little girl.  It’s a matter of perspective.

There was a brief recap on chapter one before he began on chapter 2.  A retelling on what’s going on between God and Satan.  A perspective that Job is unaware of.  God is omniscient.  Satan is not.  Satan presents himself before God and God asks what he’s been up to and Satan says the equivalent of “Oh.  Nothing really.  Just hanging out around earth. He doesn’t tell God, “seeking whom I can devour”, but of course God knows what he’s been up to.  God then asks Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?  There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”  And Satan says, “Of course he is!  You put a hedge around him and everything he has!  I guarantee that if You remove that hedge of protection, he’ll crumble and curse You just like everyone else.”  And God says, “OK.  Do your worst.  Just don’t kill him.”

Wow!  I hope God and Satan never have that conversation about me!  Or maybe, just maybe I do.  Wouldn’t it be nice to live a life that God can be that confident in?  That He knows that no matter what, I’ll still praise Him?  That I’ll sing His praises to everyone?  No matter what?

People wonder about this God.  Why should they worship a God who allows such pain?  But think of it this way, the sun shines on wet clay and it hardens.  The same sun shines on wax and it melts.  God is much like this.  He works and moves the same, but people either harden or soften to Him.

To add some perspective to what Job was dealing with, a few years ago, I made a chart – with a lot of help from a book Chuck Swindoll wrote – for a study on Job I was teaching (the numbers are chapter and verse references):

• Inflamed, ulcerous sores (or boils) 2:7
• Persistent itching 2:8
• Degenerative changes in facial skin, disfiguration 2:12
• Loss of appetite 3:24
• Fears and depression 3:25-26
• Infected sores that burst open, scab over, crack and ooze with pus 7:5
• Worms (maggots?) that form in the sores themselves 7:5
• Nightmares 7:14
• Dark circles under the eyes from lack of sleep and excessive weeping 16:16
• Foul breath 19:17
• Weight loss 19:20
• Anxiety 21:6
• Excruciating, continual pain 30:17
• Internal churning (digestive system) 30:27
• Blackened skin (from chronic stress) 30:28
• High fever 30:30

All of this lasted for months (7:3, 29:2)

In addition, he dealt with other losses as well.

• Loss of oxen and donkeys by bandits 1:14
• Loss of sheep by ‘act of God’ 1:16
• Loss of camels by marauders 1:17
• Loss of all his children by (tornado?) 1:19
• Loss of all but 4 of his servants/employees 1:14-20
• Loss of family and friends (including enduring unkind words and criticism)      19:13
• Loss of intimacy with God 29:4
• Loss of standing in the community 29:7-25

In other words, devastating financial and personal loss.

And even without the perspective of what was happening, Job never lost his faith.  On the contrary, he confirms that despite his great loss, God is still there.  He’s still in control.  He’s still to be praised.  Job says, the Lord gives and we are grateful, and when the Lord takes back, who are we to question?

When we suffer, we have a tendency to lose our perspective.  And when we are suffering, even our family can attack.  In Job’s case, his wife.  Her perspective has taken on “Why me?” and she’s angry with Job for still praising God.  In fact, she’s so angry, she says to Job, “Just curse God and die!”  In other words, I’m tired of suffering along with you, just get it over with already!  When we talk about Job, we tend to forget about his wife and what she was going through.  The lesson with her is, “Is what I’m going to say helping or hindering the suffering person?  Am I doing Satan’s bidding?  Or am I doing God’s”

When we suffer, our faith should remain firm.  Even in suffering, even with her outrage, Job gives her a gentle rebuke.  Instead of saying, “You are a foolish woman!”  he asks her, “Why are you talking like a foolish woman?”

Despite what some TV preachers and others may say, our lives are not always going to be good.  If they were, everyone would want to be a Christian!  But it would be for the wrong reasons.  When we suffer, we grow.  Our faith grows.  Our love grows.  We should become better people.  Better Christians.

Here’s an example (I love how Pastors pull in what’s common place for their area!):  You’re walking along in the marsh and your boot gets stuck in the muck, so you yank it out.  But what happens?  Your boot remains imbedded and most likely lost.  What do you learn from the experience?  The next time, you’re more patient and careful where you put your feet, staying on firm ground.

When we are put to the test, God is involved in our suffering.  Our affliction is never meaningless, it always has something to do with God’s eternal purpose.  ~ Ray C. Stedman

 

Other than planning dinner, we didn’t really have any special plans to celebrate today, but when we returned home from church, it was a perfectly wonderful day for flying!  And Blaine should know, since before children, he was a small aircraft pilot.

The Blacker Airport offers scenic rides, so we decided this would be a great and different way to celebrate!  Another celebration we’re planning is driving a dune buggy on the Silver Lake Sand Dunes south of here, but that’s not until next week sometime.  We just wanted to do something unusual since it’s our 40^th , and that’s pretty special.

So we showed up at the airport with no reservations, but it was fine.  We just had to wait a couple of minutes for the previous flight to return.  It’s good we didn’t show up earlier, because there was just one guy out there, and being a student, he most likely would have had the co-pilot seat, with Blaine and I relegated to the rear.  Wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun!  God is good!

 

And away we go!!

 

 

IMG_2584

 

IMG_2609

 

It was a terrific 30-minute flight!

So was dinner, if I do say so myself!  Even though the grocery store didn’t have any scallops and I had to substitute chunks of salmon.

 

SHRIMP AND SCALLOP SEAFOOD PASTA

1# large shrimp – peeled and deveined

1# sea scallops

2T. olive oil

2 T. butter

5 cloves garlic – minced

¾ white wine

28 oz. diced tomatoes

1/4t. crushed red pepper

¼ C. heavy cream

12 whole fresh basil leaves

12 oz. uncooked pasta

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook pasta for just over ½ the recommended cooking time.  Drain.

Heat 1T olive oil and 1T butter in heavy skillet over medium-high heat.  Brown scallops just until they turn toasty-brown (about 45 seconds per side).  Remove and set aside.  Add additional oil and butter if necessary and brown the shrimp.  Remove and set aside.

Add more oil if necessary and add garlic all at once, cooking for about 30 seconds.  Add wine.  Cook and reduce for a minute or two.  Add tomatoes, red pepper flakes and cook the sauce over medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, tear off two large sheets of heavy duty aluminum foil.  Overlap them about 6” on a jelly roll pan (or similar).  Pour the pasta onto the foil.  Pour all the sauce over the pasta.  Pour on the seafood, including any juices that accumulated on the plate they were sitting on when you set them aside.  Gather up the foil and seal tightly.

Place the pan into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.  Open the foil and drizzle the cream and chopped basil.  Pour into a serving dish and mix gently.  Serve.