Going With the Flow When It's Slow

Yesterday, Alexia and I left Austin early to beat the morning traffic. As we took to the highway, I said "At least it isn't raining.....". Famous last words, because no sooner than I said those words, it started to mist but we were still on time to make it to Waco by 8:20 am and home by 10-ish. But as we were approaching Temple, TX.....torrential rain came with snail-paced, to dead-stopped traffic. Road construction plus flooding was the culprit. There was absolutely no complaining from Alexia who was cuddled in the seat, sound asleep. Oh, how I remember, as a kid, sleeping while my dad drove through rain and storms and feeling so safe and protected and enjoying the rhythm of the windshield wipers and the rain hitting the windows.

I never became anxious about the delay, because I've learned that it's times like this that we have an option: to get all tangled up in complaining and fuming or just "go with the flow when it's slow" or when our best laid plans are interrupted or delayed or are even cancelled. There's something to be said about the rhythms of our lives. There will be slow times, upbeat times, times that are merry and other times when we experience sadness or weariness, and a mellow song best describes how we feel.

King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3 "For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace." Timing really is everything, but most importantly, God wants us to get into His timing and rhythms -- those strong, regular, repeated patterns of patience, calmness, tolerance, self-restraint, composure, perseverance, persistence, endurance, tenacity, determination, gratitude, resolve and peacefulness. In all seriousness, there are just way too many people who are OUT OF GOD'S RHYTHM and out of control. They are demanding, impatient, antagonistic, edgy, ungrateful and intolerant. They think it's okay to be nasty and hateful. That's certainly not His rhythm. I want to live on His side of the sweet music that He makes -- because when we are in tune with Him, we'll recognize all those folks, situations and circumstances that want to take us out of rhythm with Him and we'll resist that music with everything that's in us.

So, let's go with the flow when it's slow; let's go with the beat when it's sweet; let's sing a victory song when the day is long. Since God, Himself, is the source of music, He wants us to get into His rhythm that dances, sings, lives and breathes His character and His ways. .

BIG Moving Day! An EPIC Adventure Awaits Me!

So, this is my big moving day -- well, at least my "stuff's" moving day! The movers will be here in an hour or so and my earthly belongings will be headed to Texas, from whence I came from. It's time for an EPIC adventure! I'll still be hanging around here in Tulsa until after November 6th, so I've packed up my "portable office" -- printer, computer and supplies, my clothes and necessities and taking over to a friend's home just around the corner from my home. I'll be moving in stages.....first the furniture and furnishings going to Frisco in storage, and later I'll meet up with it all. Who knew my life would have this turn of events? Oh, I know. God did. He must have had this up His sovereign sleeve since the beginning of "my time". Now, I just need to get this adventure started!

It was 1971 when the little Ronald Wuerch Family aka Ron, Donna, Ryan and Staci, moved to Lake Keystone to start a Bible College. Ron's dad and his close friend, Dr. Charles Duncombe, from England, had the vision to do something really outrageous for God -- train people to be devoted, well-trained followers of Christ who desired to be used by God to spread the gospel around the world. Dad found the building (a former nightclub) and turned it into offices, class rooms, a sanctuary, prayer room, and meeting rooms. International Faith Bible College. How's that for making something beautiful out of what the enemy once used for his kingdom?

We started out living in that building -- the offices would be our bedrooms and the kids would bath in the commercial kitchen's huge sinks! Cleveland, OK was where our kids' elementary alma mater. We would eventually train and graduate many students to go into the highways and byways to share the love of Christ. Lots of stories of radical life changes during those years -- sending students to the mission fields and to other places of ministry.

Lots of water under the bridge -- from Keystone to Shawnee, OK, to Oklahoma City, to Winnipeg Canada and back to Tulsa until today. Now, full circle -- I will go back to Texas, where this girl's life began. That Canadian guy took me on many epic adventures in the 44 years we were married.

So, why stop now? Forty-five years since adventuring from Texas to Oklahoma and now from Oklahoma back to Texas. I'm turning the page in my life-book and starting a new chapter. I have no idea what the future will hold. But here's one sure thing I do know. God knows. He holds my future in the palms of His hands. I'm excited about what the future holds -- well, excitement with some trepidation. When the trepidation comes....I take a deep breath in and breathe out....."God's got this. He promised it in His Word," Jeremiah 29:11 "Oh the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future!" I'm at the starting gate....and I'm ready to run this new leg of my race with determination and with all-out great expectation! After all, I'm not running it alone. God is with me, for me, in me and already setting up divine appointments where I'll get to share His love, His light and His liberty with those who need it most. It will be an EPIC adventure! Get ready. Get set. GO!

Rose Gardens Need a Little Rain

Yesterday, I was sitting at my desk in the morning and the sun was so bright coming through my office window from the East, that I had to move my computer. Then in the afternoon, the dark clouds were looming in the East. Rain was on its way. This has been an unusual summer. Though we have had some blistering temperatures, we have also had more rain than usual. I've learned not to complain about the heat, the cold or rain, because, here in Oklahoma, it's subject to change daily. We might as well.....go with the flow!

Isn't that like our personal "climates", too? One day we are bright with a sunny disposition. Things are going our way -- even the lights are turning green before we get to them. And, another day, it's cloudy, rainy with thunderstorms overtaking us. The thrills of that "shout-hallelujah" victory can be overtaken by that "woe is me"
agony of defeat.

It's inevitable that there will be ups and downs in our lives. Country Music singer, Lynn Anderson, made the song "Rose Garden" famous. The lyrics were: “I beg your pardon. I never promised you a rose garden. Along with the sunshine, there’s got to be a little rain sometime.”

When we read the writings of the Apostle Paul, we might think that he and Lynn Anderson were singing the same song. Paul talked a lot about suffering, but he also talked a lot about the peace of God. He was talking about a calm that comes because of God's love for us. The calm that comes even when the storm clouds gather. Paul even had the audacity to tell us to "rejoice in our sufferings"! He said in Romans 3:3-5 "We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

Are you kidding me? We're supposed to rejoice in our sufferings -- from being hospitalized because of an illness, to going through a divorce, to be faced with a bankruptcy, to dealing with the death of a loved one, to losing a job -- we are supposed to rejoice in those sufferings? He didn't mean for us to go "Hip hip hooray! I've lost my job; my husband passed away; the creditors are taking my car!" No, no, no. Instead, he meant that suffering is a part of life. No matter how many times we complain that life is not fair, Paul wants us to know that suffering (a little rain) is the part of our lives that helps us grow to those hope-filled people of character and determination.

What Lynn Anderson's song doesn't tell us, and what Paul wanted so desperately for us to know, is that our God loves us so much that He promised never to leave us alone. Yes, the rain comes AND suffering comes, but with God, we'll receive patient endurance. And patience leads to character. And character leads to hope. And hope will not disappoint us. That's a mighty fine recipe for pulling us from the darkest of times, to the sunshiniest times EVER. That's when we'll be singing "I'm walking on sunshine (whoa oh)! And don't it feel good!"

Go With the Flow

Go With the Flow
The notion of being like a bottle that just floats aimlessly with the water’s current can have both a negative and positive connotation. If we were like those who “go with the flow” of following the crowd, we could end up in quite precarious situations. For example, the young person who yields to peer pressure and follows the crowd that takes them to less than acceptable places and friendships. In that instance, “going with the flow” could lead to all kinds of difficulties.

Over the last few days, however, I’ve found myself using the term “going with the flow” in a positive, faith-filled way. There have been many things "on my plate" and weariness had set in. I was shouldering some big-deal responsibilities and I wanted to make the best decisions and I wanted to prove my abilities and strengths in them. I became somewhat anxious and unsettled. That’s when I heard those words “Go with the flow!” I remembered seeing the illustration of that plastic bottle just floating along, going where the current took it. The bottle didn’t resist. The bottle didn’t say “NO, not that way. This way is better.” The bottle was just “being” – doing what a bottle should do if placed in a current. It goes with the flow.

And it was amazing. God met me with this illustration. He is such a personal and specific God. He knows the hearts of those who love Him. And though we don't always need a word from God to get us moving -- most days we just must “trust AND obey”, relying on His Word. We don’t have to be so set in our ways, that we can’t make adjustments and “go with the flow”. I like to think of it as abandoning my way of hurdles to climb, speed bumps to cross over, and detours that take me the opposite direction. When I simply rest in the fact that His way will take me to my destination in short, fast and safe order, then going with His flow, is the way to go.

My husband was a “do it by the book” kind-of-guy. He left little room for spontaneity. He wanted an itinerary and all the specifics laid out way before we’d venture out. Then there was the day, when he won an 8-day, all expenses paid trip to Sweden. No time for planning. While we were there, spontaneously, we bought backpacks and ventured to Denmark and Germany. We rode on trains, took cabs, ferries, and bicycle carts – all without making a big deal about anything. We went with the flow, and we enjoyed adventures of our lifetime. We literally had no plans – just casting caution to the wind and free-styled through Europe.

All we did was show up and obey. God did the rest. And that, my friend, is all we have to do. Mentally, physically and spiritually, we just need to become that bottle that is at the mercy of the flow of the river. Being at the mercy of God’s best plans instead of our own, causes us to relax and enjoy the journey. We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we do know WHO holds our tomorrows and He is the Master of the waterways.

Psalm 66:12 “You made men ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water, Yet You brought us out into a place of abundance.”