Eyes That See Not

We all know how wondrous it was that Jesus made the blind eyes see. I think it is equally miraculous that He made -and continues to make- the seeing eyes blind. Remember Brother Andrew's actions as he crossed the borders of Communist eastern European countries with a car full of Bibles? He would barely hide them at times. Sometimes he would leave them exposed as a seal on his deepest conviction - that God would have to take charge of His own word. And they would routinely get through customs after praying, "Lord, you made the blind eyes see. Now make the seeing eyes blind."...

I have been reading Wylie's history of the Covenanters during the era of the Stewart kings. How they were persecuted, hounded, murdered - by tens of thousands by those "tragic Stewarts"...(!!!)...Rome and the Catholic establishment in England had taken over all almost all instruments of church and state - one of the blackest periods in English history...But what they didn't see what that many of the old English families had gone to Holland, begging William of Orange, a great Protestant leader, to come and claim the throne, liberating the country. And in spite of the comprehensive spy structures of the Roman church, his preparations were not discovered until it was too late to adequately respond...And God sent "Protestant" winds and weather conditions as another contribution to William's success in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

So many instances of this in history...Who can contend with God?

Dad is at Maryanne's for a couple of nights while he completes a landscaping job. It is ten o'clock at night and I have just tucked myself in bed with a good book. The doors are all locked. The outside light is on for maximum exposure of anyone who might try to enter the house. This neighborhood is not the kind of strong, middle-class one I am used to, and I am aware of that.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Someone is at the door...What? Who? Is it Calvert? Does he want to share something that has happened to him today? What in the world? Should I answer it....Bang! Bang! Bang! I get up, thinking, thinking. Do I answer or not? I approach the door...Bell rings...Bang! Bang!...Who is it, I shout? Woman answers...IT is....Can't catch the name...What is it?....And there come words I can't understand. Bang! Bang!

Do I answer? What if there is some man with her? And the peephole is uselessly high. I can't see through...In spite of my fears, I unlock the door. Sheerly objectively, I know this is a bedraggled neighborhood but not really a dangerous one...

There is a tall, thin black woman, reeking of smoke and substances unknown. She is talking a mile a minute. As you all know, I can not understand people with any accent, and she has a very strong inner-city one...I gather she claims to need gas money to get her babies home from her friend's house...An old story, possible true - we are aware through the trailer park of how many people live so close to nothing - but probably not. So what do I do?

Is your husband the minister? My friend used to go to this church. She is the one who told me to come here and ask for help. So do I see this as a matter of Christian witness? DO I see this as a matter of personal safety? This woman has come into my house and is probably high on something. If she is truly in need, will I touch her through giving and meeting that need? If she is simply manipulative, will I anger her through saying no? Will that have repercussions for me with her friends?

So I go into the kitchen, haul out my purse while she waits at the front door, and give her five dollars. She thanks me profusely and leaves. For where? I don't know because I can't see her through the peephole...I imagine right back to her friend's house with a contribution for something I don't want to know about...

And I go back to bed and right to sleep...

Father, give me a heart and a plan to share hope with these debauched, lost souls...Please make it meaningful for me to be in such a neighborhood...And keep me safe as I do it.

A rainy day here but I must get out and do things I haven't accomplished yet this week...banking, post office, shopping. I'm sure I will feel better for the change of locale...Every few weeks I go through the grand decision making as to whether or not I will will have my hair dyed professionally...That time has come again. My roots are a couple of inches long and I can't hide them any longer, even with my magic crayon...Julia has offered to come over and cut my hair, help me dye it - so must make a decision today...It would be SO much easier to just let it be - salt and pepper....What to do? What to do? You young'uns don't know how easy you have it...

Little Cora is coming for a sleepover tonight, then will head to Maryanne's on Sunday evening for a couple of days...

Busy and wonderful! God is good.

I seem to have caught a cold from little ones. I get them so seldom, I am always amazed how horrid colds make me feel...SO easy to expect more of others in a similar situation. Love the words I have often quoted..."It is so easy to be stoical about others' suffering!"

More Odds and Ends

A woman at Dad's work reported the results of a study she read about recently: Centenarians were studied to see what common lifestyle choices they might have made. Of the various hypotheses the researchers dealt with, only one indeed proved to be universal....What was it?....Can you guess?...They all flossed their teeth!

Emma to Mimi: I a big girl now, Mimi. Look, my hairs is all big!

Anna to her mommy, on hearing Will cry: Mommy, the crying baby of doom!...
Mommy to Anna: Are we a dramatic family?

We rented our orphan trailer today to a couple wanting to move immediately. They say their last trailer had water running down the walls and the landlord would not fix anything...I assess them to the best of my very limited ability...They drive up in a nice SUV, borrowed from Mama. ( Their car's engine block was damaged by the same extreme cold that cost us a couple of plumbing repairs.) He has longish, stringy hair, dirtyish t-shirt, but well-enough spoken. She has acne-type eruptions on her face. Meth? Could be....I check their reference with last landlord and she speaks well of them - always paid the rent, not destructive, would rent to them again... So today I arrange to meet them again to pick up their first week's rent and damage deposit...Their little girls are with them...Little waifs by appearance, indeed, though their parents seem gentle enough with them...I notice, as with almost all the little ones who come through, that their speech, and probably general development, is delayed...How will this rental situation go? Time will tell. Certainly, people who have looked much more socially acceptable have proven irresponsible...We will see!

Rick and Susanna gave Dad Gap jeans for Christmas. They didn't fit, so went to the outlet mall today and got...two pairs of jeans, one pair of khakis, one long-sleeved shirt,(all for Dad) and a birthday gift for someone with the money - 26 cents left over! Thanks, Guys!

BEAUTIFUL springish day here today...

I was reading in the Bible this morning about the Jews, after the ark was returned to them by the Philistines, wanting it taken elsewhere. God's holiness was too dangerous...The Philistines didn't want the ark of the Presence; the Jews didn't want it...There are so many places in Scripture where men order God away...The One CS Lewis says is not a "tame lion"...Remember Lewis's observation that it is ridiculous of sinful men to blame God for not taking all to Heaven. There is nothing sinners would want less than eternal up-closeness to that One they despise!

Four women aged fifty to sixty, and two aged twenty to thirty - sitting around a table for four hours talking, laughing, eating and praying...Good friends, all. How I love Christian fellowship!

In this cold weather I have been thinking of the poem by EJ Pratt that I memorized as a child:

The frost moved up the windowpane against the sun's advance
In line and pattern weaving there scenes of great romance...

And thinking how wondrous it is that God would make even frozen water vapor beautiful.

And today I opened our bathroom blind up - which I rarely do as we then lose all privacy...And there it was...

Beautiful fern patterns, surrounded by starry designs all over the lower part of the window.

How does God do that? What do the atheists say? Amazing!