God's Protection at the OBX

God protects.

Earlier in June, my family and I traveled to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We logged more than 2,700 interstate miles on worn tires that we replaced within two weeks of our return. (Smart of us to push it that far, true.)

We played in the ocean, safely avoiding areas with an undertow. We navigated restaurants, convenience stores and tourist spots full of strangers with our precious children.

How many times on our trip did God send His angels in regard to our ways? How many times did He enfold each of us in His divine blanket of security? In what ways was He our strong tower? We do not know how many times, and in how many ways in the span of nine days of vacation He protected us. Praise my God and Rock!

But I do know the children and I drove safely from Des Moines to Chicago to meet up with their dad where he had been at a company meeting, and we arrived happy and healthy. I know my son experienced no breathing problems, even though he swam in chlorinated water a few times. Often, chlorinated pool water causes reactive airway issues for him. We drove through busy cities with inattentive and risk-taking drivers, and over high, curvy mountain passes. Our teenage daughter drove shifts on the unfamiliar interstate, safely.

In the ocean, I safely swirled my tween daughter out of the way of a little jellyfish, and my son out of the way of a little red octopus. Just call me Mama Bear. But that’s only because God showed me the jellyfish and octopus, and gave me the instinct and bravery. I confess, the red octopus, I learned from an OBX resident, was likely a plastic deep-sea fishing lure. Funny.

God alone is the mighty rock that keeps me safe,

And he is the fortress where I feel secure.

God saves me and honors me.

He is that mighty rock where I find safety.

Trust God, my friends,

And always tell him each one of your concerns.

God is our place of safety.

Psalm 62:6-8 CEV

Bad things happen, though. I know. It’s not easy to sort out. We offer up many why questions to God. He can handle our honest, even angry, questions.

Sometimes God allows the hard days, and the mean in people to come our way to realign our priorities, to strengthen us for a new purpose, or to show those around you how He carries people through hard times. God must have a myriad of reasons for not swooping down like a helicopter parent every time the world throws us a curve ball.

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

James 1:2-4 NLT

Maybe that sounds like an excuse or a platitude. But I still can’t shake the truth of His divine protection.

Back to driving concerns. After our departure from the coastline, we headed inland to Fayetteville, N.C., to enjoy a barbecue with family we hadn’t seen in several years. On the journey, my husband looked over at me because a Bible passage I was reading touched my heart, and I cried a little (happy tears).

I tried to hide my emotions, unsuccessfully, while I was watching the road ahead. He looked up in the rear view mirror to give an approving look at our teen daughter for a sweet gesture she had made toward me. In that moment, the traffic in front of us came to a halt. Cars that were going 70 mph or so, came to a complete stop in a few yards, or at least what seemed like it. Oh, dear.

Well, my husband looked back ahead at the road, in time to see the danger, but not in enough time to stop. Praise God that the left lane stayed clear as my husband maneuvered the car into it. He avoided smacking the dark blue Honda Accord in front of us by about four inches. God made that possible.

How kind the Lord is! How good he is!

So merciful, this God of ours!

The Lord protects those of childlike faith;

I was facing death and he saved me.

Let my soul rest again,

For the Lord has been good to me.

Psalm 116:5-7 NLT

How often am I under God’s shield of protection, though, unaware of my need for Him, and His authority to heal, block evil and divert danger?

Most of these incidents just didn’t seem like a big issue at the time, but realistically, some of them could have morphed into huge problems. I’m glad God brought to mind how He guards my family.

While we enjoyed everything from Kitty Hawk and the Elizabethan Gardens to wild horses and the Atlantic Ocean, I know God was our shield.

*This post is part two in a three-part series about how I experienced God during our family vacation to the Outer Banks.

Seeing God at the OBX

Sounds of the surf. Soft ocean sand. Wild horses. Magnolia and Live Oak trees. Southern Accents. Vacation.

God gave my family and me a special gift last week, seeing His handiwork at the Outer Banks, N.C., which are barrier islands off our Atlantic Coast. What a blessing. What a way to see God in a fresh way.

I have always understood God made this world, and everything in it. I know it. I believe it, and I feel passionate about the topic. But seeing God as Creator with this change in geography bolstered that understanding.

On these islands, the sand dunes shift and change in the ocean winds and storms, so the appearance and topography adjust themselves through the years, visibly through decades and less, not just through centuries or millennia.

I know God made Jockey’s Ridge, a three-peak dune reaching 80 to 100 feet at its highest. It claims the spot as the largest dune on the Atlantic Coast, and broadens my perspective about my Lord’s creativity.

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Romans 1:20 NIV

The Atlantic Ocean, Albemarle Sound and other waterways show me the refreshment and the power in God’s creativity. The sound of the ocean is matchless. The peaceful appearance of the coastal waterways on a sunny day in the Outer Banks captivates me.

I also consider the life within the ocean, the sounds and on the shores. God’s hand made crabs, jellyfish, octopi, dolphins, fish, ospreys, and mustangs. Carefully protected, wild mustangs thrive here.

With my children, I raced the tides to scoop patterned black, gray, white, or tan shells from the sand. What a joy, even on the day the water was chilly because of the upswell, another way God made the world to work. Wind directions move deeper, colder ocean water to the top, making water play a truly cool experience.

When I think about the Outer Banks, I also remember the trees. I love the twists and turns in live oak branches. The curling petals of the four-inch wide, white blooms on the magnolia trees contrast the flowering crabapples and beloved lilac bushes my eye appreciates at home.

How can I put on a finger on God’s creativity, with Him making animals and plants out of nothing? How can I grasp His wisdom and intelligence, when He developed the tides and ocean currents? Praise Him that I cannot.

*This is the first of three in a series of blog posts showing how I experienced God during our family vacation to North Carolina’s Outer Banks in June.

God is Good

For today’s post, I adapted a prayer of praise I wrote last week. After I had written it, though it was not what I would describe as prize poetry, I was struck by the truth of it. It made me feel thankful for the time I have been able to devote to God and my relationship with Him through the years. It also renewed my gratefulness for many people in my life – from childhood through today – who have taught me much. So, I for each characteristic of God, I looked up a familiar Scripture that backed up what I said, and inserted it here.

Dear Lord,

You are good. Look at all the good things You have given me. You couldn’t or wouldn’t give me those things, unless You’re good.

James 1:17

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

And You love justice and righteousness. So, you’re good. You long for care for the poor and the oppressed. You want me and all your people to carry this care out. So You are good.

Deuteronomy 16:20

Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you.

Psalm 82:3-4

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.

Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

You take care of the widow and the orphan, so You are good.

James 1:27

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

You are perfect, without sin, wickedness, false motives, pretense or cruelty. So You are good.

Deuteronomy 32:4
He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

You take events that hurt and events that bring joy, and use both for good. How famous and loved your Name is!

Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

What a thrill to worship You. What a joy and relief that YOU would want me!

Psalm 100:2

Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

You long for every single person to find You. You don’t want to cast away anyone. But You give me, and all people the choice to follow You. You are good!

Matthew 18:10-14

"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

Thank You. Thank You, for being good. For BEING. Thank You.

Exodus 3:14 (See verses 12-14 for context.)

God said to Moses, "I am who I am . This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' "

In Jesus' Name, Amen

All the Scriptures are taken from the NIV version of the Bible, using biblegateway.com.

Ice Bound Adventure

I love the idea of adventure.

Traveling to remote places. Meeting people with entirely different backgrounds, languages and customs.

I want to learn, and hear people’s stories. I want to discover new things about myself in the process. I want to go places – about everywhere, actually – and see how different places around the globe are alike and different, and help people. But definitely places non-polar.

So last week when I picked up Ice Bound off my small-town library’s shelf, I surprised myself when I put it at the top of the pile of three books I selected for check-out. The story of a doctor looking for something new, a challenge where she could contribute intrigued me – and still intrigues me. Ice Bound, published in 2001, relays Ohio native Dr. Jerri Nielsen’s experience practicing medicine under a dome on the South Pole.

The pages share much more than that, though. In it, the doctor paints a picture of the mental and sociological aspects of living in a closed community of 41. Poetry jam sessions, theme parties, terse e-mails, and the brutality, beauty and isolation of the South Pole and Antarctica.

Stories of snowmobile rides and an outing exploring the previous South Pole station with her friends showed me how what I read wasn’t a story. These weren’t characters. They are people.

Nielsen tells of her love for her little hospital and the hands-on community medicine she practiced, and I found I loved it, too. She made medicines. She trained others for backup, and for emergencies requiring more than one set of hands.

She revealed how she looked forward to, and experienced, the dark night that stretched for months. Nielsen somehow coaxed me into sharing her mixed feelings when the sun rose again, bringing days with no night at all. Another surprise, considering I am confident I would suffer from seasonal affect disorder if I lived in Seattle, let alone on the South Pole.

But she also expressed her fear and questions and explained her limited medical options when a lump she found in her breast turned out to be cancerous. The discovery came after the dome station was closed to outside flights for the winter. Her courage, her friends’ and co-workers’ ability to help her, and the way the Polies teamed up and took advantage of 1999 technology to help her impressed me, and touched my heart.

What a remarkable group of people. To get through such an experience, I’d have to be like King Hezekiah. Shoot, to get through day-to-day, I need to cling to my Maker.

Hezekiah put his whole trust in the God of Israel. There was no king quite like him, either before or after. He held fast to God—never loosened his grip—and obeyed to the letter everything God had commanded Moses. And God, for his part, held fast to him through all his adventures. 2 Kings 18:5, The Message

Even as summer invites us from around the corner, this true story set on the South Pole, promises to be a great beach read. The 90 degree F temperatures outside might not seem so oppressive, when you read about a setting of -90 degree F. Enjoy.

Sixth Grade Camp

I dare you to throw 92 sixth graders on two buses, and take them to camp for two days.

Think twice before you say, ‘No sweat.’ This includes (but is not limited to) cabins without bathrooms inside, some bugs and girls who are scared of them, fishing (including baiting the hook), climbing up a telephone pole to whirl across a zipline, the logic puzzles of high and low ropes, making plaster of Paris masks, a muddy hike and just a little personality thrown in for good measure.

Our sixth grade teachers plan and pull off this outing each year, and this year brought my middle daughter’s turn. It’s such a coveted trip, I guess the teachers put the chaperoning volunteer names in a hat, and draw to see which parents get to go to camp with the kids.

Yes, I got to don waterproofed tennis shoes, jeans and jackets to head to camp with my girl. And I was impressed.

Archery, wagon rides, and bonfires, oh my. How much adventure and laughter can you pack into two days?

This event entails an enormous amount of work, and I applaud our teachers for giving the kids such a special memory, a camp experience, which is not all that common these days.

The way they go about this camp experience reminds me of two wonderful Bible verses.

Do your work willingly, as though you were serving the Lord himself, and not just your earthly master. Colossians 3:23 CEV

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 NIV

I don’t know the spiritual status of all the teachers. But I know God put something in this team of teachers, a go-for-it mentality and heart that He is using to do good things in these kids. So, hats off to North Polk’s sixth grade teaching team, including the band teacher who brought her toddler out to see the kids.

The camp adventure makes me think, too. It sparks introspection. What challenges am I accepting? Do I really push myself? What am I part of that’s bigger than me, that I could never accomplish on my own? Am I touching lives?

What an honor to experience two days of camp with such a great team of chaperones, camp staff, teachers – and kids.

I would live it again in a heartbeat. Next time, even though I’m petrified of heights, maybe I’d get a chance at the zipline. Yep. Right after I scale the telephone pole.

Red Letter Life (Give with Power)

So many injustices. So little time.

And so little money. Nope. That actually is untrue. But in the church and the world today, we act like it is true. We spend gobs of money eating out, buying new cars, clothing ourselves in name-brand this and that, while on the continent of Africa, entire generations are wiped out of villages by AIDS.

In Africa, older women called go-go’s, or grandmother figures, care for dozens of orphaned children suffering from AIDS, in many cases. Children who were orphaned by AIDS. What are we thinking? What am I thinking just standing by?

My shiny red KIA keeps me safe driving my kids around, but it is doing jack –that’s nothing – for people far, far worse off than I am. Where’s that rooting-for-the-underdog mentality of mine?

I partly blame ignorance. Until I read the Tom Davis book, Red Letters, Living a Faith that Bleeds, the word go-go went with boots. I learned a great deal reading this book, and I urge and beg you to read it. Have you experienced a book you could not set aside? The story ending you wanted to know as much as you crave the taste of chips n’ salsa or a brownie? This book is like that – except it lies in your hands and mine to write the ending.

Davis points out that at no other time in history have we had such power to fix something so big – AIDS in Africa. Yet, the alarm clock goes off. Maybe we sing a praise song. Maybe a pop song. But to help others, are we really sacrificing as American Christians? Am I? Look at the rest of the world before answering.

So what is this “faith that bleeds”? Yes, it’s a faith that requires sacrifice. But more than that, it’s a faith that brings life.

Living the Red Letters life is living a transformed life – a life where the needs of the poor and the diseased rank high on your “what’s important” list.

Tom Davis, Red Letters

Is your heart in it? If not, try helping out through one of the organizations below anyway. Your heart will catch up. Mine, too. God will see to that.

Maybe AIDS in Africa (or Asia, the continent battered second most by HIV infections) ranks lower on your list of issues that pull at you. For you, perhaps human trafficking moves you to action. Or child soldiers. You have the power to help.

Check out this passage:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2025:31-45&version=NLT

Routes to helping AIDS in Africa and other Global Issues:

Children’s HopeChest

www.hopechest.org

Compassion International

https://www.compassion.com/contribution/giving/childvictimsofhiv.htm

Hope for Orphans, a ministry of Family Life

www.hopefororphans.org

World Vision

www.worldvision.org

Buy the Red Letters book:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_20?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=red+letters+tom+davis&x=0&y=0&sprefix=Red+Letters+Tom+Davi

P.S.

Those unfamiliar with the Bible may wonder why the Tom Davis book is called Red Letters. In many versions of the Bible, the words of Jesus are in red letters. He calls on His followers to reach out to the poor, oppressed, sick and more.

Anticipation, surprise bring growth

Anticipation. While we were enduring snowstorms and below-zero temps in greater quantity through the winter, I was anticipating spring. Grass greening. Phlox showing its lavender color as it would spill out of the pot by our front door.

Our crab apple tree blooming. The fragrance of lilacs filling the air. What I anticipated has arrived. Spring. Yes.

In fact, our crab apple tree’s deep pink blooms have already fallen. But what a sweet gift while it bloomed.

I love it when reality lives up to expectations. Maybe these blessings in nature are so satisfying to me, because my mental image of what will happen is accurate. My expectation is realistic, because I’ve experienced this before. And in many cases, it’s good to be realistic.

But, what if it had been a bad year for lilacs, and they didn’t smell as fragrant?

Another example, includes the times we’ve been to our metropolitan area’s Civic Center productions, excellent ones. However, they’re always just a little too long for my taste – Riverdance, Cats, Kenny G., STOMP, to name a few. Great productions and performers. I would see them all again. But they’re about 10 to 15 minutes too long for me.

Does that mean I didn’t enjoy them? No. I loved them.

I can accept what I see as the imperfect length. (Though I’m sure I’m alone in that length critique.) The shows more than lived up to my anticipation. What about life? I think God knows we need some routines we can count on.

"As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night will never cease."
Genesis 8:22 NIV

But that doesn’t mean it always looks the same. This winter didn’t, and what a storied winter we had. Now that I’m through it, I’m thankful for it. I lived through a record-breaking winter, God protected me despite my foolishness of driving 30 miles home in a blizzard, and we enjoyed many snowy days baking, stoking the fireplace, sledding and perhaps secretly (not anymore) enjoying the buzz of all the weather talk.

We don’t know exactly what will happen through our summer. But we can anticipate certain things. Heat. Rain. Lawn mowing. The orange of tiger lilies blooming, the many colors of peonies. Crops popping out of the Midwestern fields. Some days the news may spotlight areas in the U.S. where people are worrying about drought, and praying for rain.

For me, whether my anticipation involves weather or career, His use of me in the church, family plans or daily chores, errands or down time, I need to allow my anticipation to be bent toward God’s plans. He’s in control.

"Listen to this, Job;
stop and consider God's wonders.
15 Do you know how God controls the clouds
and makes his lightning flash?
16 Do you know how the clouds hang poised,
those wonders of him who is perfect in knowledge?
Job 37:14-16 NIV

Job’s strength and faithfulness amaze and inspire me. I would not want to experience Job’s losses and trials firsthand. I have my own, and He still uses even trials long finished to shape me, and my choices. I actually get it right, trust, listen and obey sometimes.

It’s good that God doesn’t let us in on all the mysteries, the surprises we like and those we would pass up. I’ll be the first to confess that I often prefer my plans for my day, my family and my career to His. Or that I am simply too dense to see He is really the One redirecting me.

But I do love following my God. What an honor to be His, and that he would give me experiences to look forward to with a realistic view, and ones that perplex or amaze me.

Anticipation is a gift. The surprise of reality holds blessings and lessons, too.

Phlox photo at top courtesy USDA, and in public domain.