Heaven – a BIG kitchen?

Do you ever wonder what heaven will be like?  If heaven is like what I want it to be … I’ll be able to play basketball like Larry Bird, there will be Skyline Chili open 24/7, and I  will have a bright red Honda Goldwing with lots of tree-lined, smooth, roads to cruise down… well you get my drift.  Naturally it will be chocked full of all the stuff I like.

But yesterday after church, the Smith’s and the Smoot’s had a party brunch for some of our Community Group peeps and perspective peeps.  The party was held at Paul & Ali Smoots, former TPCC members and vital cogs at The Pursuit CC. 

   While the Smoots have a large home, everyone wanted to gather ‘in’ and ‘around’ the kitchen.  Some like those in the picture were preparing a wonderful meal and others like myself were testing each dish as it was set out.  The lady’s name next to Linda is Jennifer. This was only her and her family’s third week living in Florida but their second Sunday attending The Pursuit, YEAH!

As we enjoyed hours of wonderful fellowship, I began to get this crazy notion that just maybe Heaven would be like one great big, easy bake, easy cook kitchen! Good food, good fun, good fellowship

What a ride!

I love roller coasters!  I’m not sure why – probably it is the sudden drop from those dizzying heights at at high rate of speed.  But I rarely ride any one coaster more than once.  Once I’ve ridden it, it’s not exciting anymore because I know what’s going to happen.  For me… the thrill is gone.

Church planting might be best described as, "A wild roller coaster ride full of ups and downs with many sudden twists and turns."

This week Linda and I’ve had some ‘ups’- a church is sending us $1,000 support and putting us in their 2009 budget.  Also we had several ‘divine appointments’ starting with our new friend Bill (see previous blog) who plays poker with us on Thurs. nights, followed by touching base with our new friend Tony (see previous blog) who cheerfully serves us at our favorite restaurant, followed by an impromptu Spanish lesson with our church friend Jaharris over lunch one day and finally getting a chance to share our vision for a church in CV with sweet Pearle who has faithfully led the Friday night Bible study in Century Village for the past three years.  Add to that Linda announcing plans to start a "Summer Ladies Bible Study"(several ladies expressed interest, please pray for it), a mighty praise that the folks leasing our house at Shady Hills have expressed an interest in buying it and a surprise praise… Linda has FINALLY submitted a query letter to a publisher for the book she’s been tinkering with for the last 5 years!

This week we’ve had some ‘downs’ – A major contact for us here at CV suffered a mild stroke and couldn’t meet with us just when we thought we were making a major step forward.  A Charitable group we’d hoped would help us financially told us they were sending this year’s allotment of funds to help the tornado victims in southern Indiana (no complaints…there but for the grace of God, though we haven’t experienced a hurricane yet!) but we are blessed to be on their list for consideration in August. But the most bruising down was the 10 bucks I lost so Linda and I could try our hand at Monday night BINGO (BORING!).

This week we’ve also had some sudden "twists and turns"’ – The Condo Board in Indy where we’d planned to lease our condo in anticipation of returning to it in perhaps 3-5 years, informed us we’d violated the by-laws by leasing it and therefore must evict our tenant (and friend) by July 20th. This has forced us to put it on the market and leave it in God’s hands to settle it out.

What a wild ride! Each day NEVER LOSES IT’S THRILL!

B-I-N-G-O!

OK- so you just moved into the area and you want to get to know some folks.  What do you do?  You find out what everyone else is doing and join them.  So we did!

I know this a a bad picture but hundreds of Century Village (CV) residents gather on Monday evenings to play Bingo.  So Linda and I purchased our cards, got plastic chips to cover the numbers, and ink stamps to stamp the numbers ( I don’t know why they don’t use the plastic pieces all the time.)  Obviously, it was our first time.  We didn’t bring snacks…or zip lock bags for the plastic tokens…or tape to tape the cards together so they don’t slide….and didn’t realize that during the 10 minute break that hundreds of people would be using the one set of bathrooms.   We’ll know better next time.  Not wanting to draw attention to ourselves and trying to be Christians and put others before ourselves – we didn’t win anything.

Linda and I  joined Bill & Ann.  Both are widowed, go everywhere together but are just good friends.  They were a part of our Bible Study that we held in our condo and Bill sings in a choir with Linda.  They are very committed Christians.

Playing Bingo for me was a lot like watching paint dry.  I had to pay close attention to these little cards and couldn’t talk.  What a waste!  But we saw some people that we knew and got a chance to meet new folks. 

The next day Linda called one of her card playing buddies whom we’d looked for the night before but wasn’t at Bingo. However, her first comment to Linda was, "So you played Bingo last night."  Telephone, telegraph, telewomen….I can’t believe I wrote that.

Connections

  Yesterday, Linda and I joined Bill for the ‘Early Bird’ special at  his favorite Chinese Restaurant.  Bill doesn’t drive anymore (son took his car) so we traded a ride for his knowledge of the area’s eateries.  Seemed like a fair trade to me.  It was the best Chinese we’ve had in Florida.

Bill is in his eighties and has lived in Century Village since 1979.  He is Jewish but asked us about our church and how it was going.  I asked if he went to one of the synagogues and he said, "I gave up on religion when my wife died."  "Too make a long story short," he said, "She died at 42 from medical malpractice."  Bill is a nice guy with a shy smile, some infirmities, and a great big hole in his heart.

As he got out of the car, he said, "Next week, we’ll go somewhere else."  Yesterday was our first step on our journey to point him to the God who can heal his heart.

In just a few minutes we meet with Pearle, who leads the inter-faith Bible study here.  We will with her our dream for a church in Century Village and ask for her support.  I’ll let you know later how the conversation goes.

Concerned for the Lost,

NEW FRIEND!!!!!!

It seems like I’m always getting my picture taken with my arm around someone and usually it’s not Linda (because she is taking the pictures.)

Here I am at one our favorite restaurants in the area.  Let me tell you about Tony.  We were at the restaurant with some of our visiting fellow Hoosiers, Tim & Leimomi George.  As our waitress took our order, Tim noticed a tattoo on her neck.  Being the shy folks we are, we asked what the tattoo said.  She showed us that it said, "Longing for Happiness."  I quickly spoke up that she was lucky to meet us because we had found happiness and could tell her how to find it.  After considerable conversation and a generous tip, we parted on good terms.  Tony works lots of hours, including Sunday mornings, and then takes care of her invalid grandfather.  He is recovering from surgery right now.

Sunday after church, we went back to the restaurant and asked if she was working.  Well, she came to our area, hugged me and Linda and I introduced her to the Mehaffey’s and Diaz’s.  She updated us on her circumstances and promised to try and come to the church soon.  We’ll see! I’m praying for her daily.

The most important thing is that she has meet several of us and indeed we seem very happy.  Now we just need to get her to a place where she can hear about how she can be happy also. She is just one of the many that God has brought our way!

INTER-FAITH BIBLE STUDY

"Getting to know you, getting to know more about you," is the lyrics to an old song and our main goal in the Village.

There are over a hundred clubs that meet either weekly, bi-monthly or monthly.  Table Tennis, Painting Class, Bridge, Domino Club, Latin American Sing  Along, Karaoke, Writing Club, Ebony Club, Beginning Spanish, Mah Johgg, Creative Clay, Japanese Bunka Class, Israel Folk Dancing, Yiddish Sing Along, Yiddish Cooking, are just a few of our choices.

So far we have tried the Ebony Club, Midwestern Club, Karaoke, several choirs, Poker, golf and the Inter-Faith Bible Study.  There were over 25 the last couple of Friday evenings at the Bible Study.  (I think it’s interesting that we meet on the Sabbath.)  This Friday we met Pearl, who is in charge and we have volunteered to teach or lead the worship if they want us to.  They will only meet two more times and take a break for the summer. 

We hope that some of these Christians will help us get the church started this fall.  Please pray about the church starting this fall.

God is good and His people are everywhere!

When Interruptions Are Blessings

Hola mis amigos!

Can you believe it? I finally learned to put an “h” in front of “ola” when spelling it but not when saying it. Spanish 101, I know, but still it’s a step forward. Bob and I signed up for 6 weeks of beginning Spanish here in CV (Century Village) but the instructor was in a car accident, she’s okay, and so we’re waiting for the next 6 week session to begin.

If you read The Pursuit blog you got the update on what’s been a huge interruption in Bob’s and my life here in SoFlo (South Florida). Health issues! For the first time in my life, I had issues that I consider age related. Problems that, for someone who has had relatively good health except for things I do to myself like sports injuries etc, are reminding me that my body isn’t as youthful as it once was. High blood pressure? Red flags on mammograms? Allergies when I never had allergies before? Aches, pains, muscle cramps?

I know these things can happen at any age, but for me…not until this magic age of 59 and not until we just made, as a couple, one of the biggest moves in our lives. What’s going on God? But I must tell you what a blessing came from those 16 days back in Indy.

Of course, I’d intended to fly into Indy under cover, deal with the medical side of things and fly back to Florida asap. You know how it is… you want to pray for everyone else but not involve others to pray for you (how hard-headed we get sometimes). But Bob blabbed to everyone! Pursuit peeps Matt, Janie, Erin, Alex, Paul and Ali, began praying as I left (support blessing!). Bob let Sheri E. know at TPCC and right away their prayers were added (more blessings!). My Indy small group began praying (blessings mounting). My friend Tina S. picked me up at the airport and drove me to Alan and Debbie H. house to stay. Alan and Debbie were in Panama doing their own missions work for the next 3 weeks and the house just happened to be available along with the use of their car(huge blessing!).

I was immediately slotted in to see my extremely busy primary care doctor, Dr. Greg S.(incredible blessing!) and tests began that afternoon. I had 11 tests, including two out-patient surgeries, and 6 consultations in a 2 week period none of which would’ve been possible without my medical advocates (also Dr. Mary B. & Dr. Alan H.) who opened the doors and untangled the schedules of some very busy specialists, tops in their field (amazing blessing!).

The day I found out about the need for the first surgery, God provided my friend Leimomi G. to be there and her presence and prayers were just the calming assurance I needed (another blessing!). The second time I received a bit of alarming news via a phone call, my friend Tina S. happened to be with me and she immediately offered to change her Memorial Day weekend plans to be with me as I had to repeat a second difficult test (a wow blessing!). Dr. Greg called Bob in Florida and said there was something disturbing on a test and it could be either nothing or something quite serious and they needed to redo that test.

Within a few hours, Bob was on a flight to Indy even as I was undergoing a second MRI. He arrived after midnight and Neil T.(on just a few hours notice) agreed to pick him up at the airport and drive him to me (a servant’s blessing!). Barb H., one of our dearest friends called and insisted she be the one to drive me to the 7 p.m. do-over test and stay with me until Bob showed up (a love blessing).

For two Sundays in a row we worshipped with our old TPCC family and were lifted by their commitment to continuing prayer as long as it took (heart warming blessings!). The Pursuit church family also began praying as if I was a member of their very own families (another wow blessing!).

Into the second week, more tests. Bob was able to finally make contact with churches and individuals he’d hoped to talk to on his previous visit to Indy in regards to raising salary support for our work in Florida (a Kingdom blessing!). He met with many more churches to present our work and request money. Several responded positively for next year though we’d hoped for more immediate contributions but still….a “needs” blessing (we opened two surprise insurance and escrow rebate checks waiting in the mailbox when we returned home totaling almost $1000! How often does that happen?)

I could go on but you get the picture.

I also had time to finish curriculum for a women’s bible study I hope to start this summer and next fall in CV (a productive blessing!)

Bottom line, I’m fine. Minor surgery, no cancer, no really “serious” stuff, yes on the high blood pressure but I have meds now to help. But the blessings! Oh my gosh! Godly friends, Godly people, Godly servants, the body of Christ pulled us into its arms and never stopped hugging!

We thank God over and over again for every last one of you! We could quote scripture of course, but the moral is… when life hands you lemons, you can count on God, through His people, to make satisfying, thirst quenching lemonade. Go God!

Forever blessed,

Linda and Bob

p.s Next week we’ll share about the latest happenings with our Condo in Indy (had to put it on the market) and about our neighbors here at Century Village. Hopefully it will be a LOT shorter, but can’t promise!