Prey Without Ceasing?

That's not a misprint.

Do you plan to attend church tomorrow? If not, why not?

Tomorrow is the Sunday following the the one designated on the calendar as Easter. You know, those of us who regularly attend church to worship the risen Savior do so in celebration of the resurrection each week and not just on one Sunday. For us, it's Easter every week when we gather to acknowledge the God-man who died to pay the penalty we owe for our sin and give thanks for His resurrection.

You really should go to church tomorrow and the next week, too.

Some might say, "I'll stay home and worship privately." Okay, I won't argue with you about your sincerity. But I must warn you that it's hunting season and you're fair game.

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

1 Peter 5:8-9 (KJV)

I've watched enough nature programs to know that the ploy of the hunting lion is to separate one member of the flock from the others. It usually chooses one of the weak as its victim. Get the picture?

Is it any wonder that support groups follow the Biblical leading found in the Book of Hebrews? They know that those recovering from any form of trial or addictive behavior don't stand a chance of successful acceptance of critical circumstances or will receive healing if they try to make it alone. As my friend said in her comment in my last post, there are many times that she has felt so alone. That's exactly when we're the most vulnerable to Satan's attacks. There's relative safety in numbers.

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Heb 10:24-25 (KJV)

But we're not meant to be alone. We're meant to be part of a herd. We'll stop being "prey" without ceasing if we'll get together and "pray without ceasing" (I Thessalonians 5:17) as the Bible exhorts us to do.

We're all being hunted. Some of us just don't want to admit it so we wander off and try to make it on our own. Take a friendly word of advice and get back into the safety of the flock.

Secret No Longer

One of the sweet young mothers that I've been privileged to meet over the Internet is Stephanie Hanes. We haven't met in person but I read her blog, I've broken bread with her (well, I've broken the delicious home made bread that I won through her blog and that's the same thing as far as I'm concerned), and I've bought items from her Etsy shop.

Last year her beloved grandpa died on the anniversary of my grandpa's death. We shared several private emails about our losses that shall remain private. (Private conversations are not the kind of secret that I'll reveal. Ever.)

And her youngest child was born on my 50th birthday. I joked that Little "A" and I could schedule a mutual party for my 100th and his 50th birthday. Well, that might be a little hard to do. He lives in Wisconsin and I live in Ohio. :)

Okay, I feel like I know a bit about Stephanie. And she knows a bit about me, too, including my real name. That would be necessary for mailing me the Etsy purchase and the bread.

Anyway, there was something that drew me to this gal. I believe it is the Holy Spirit. I heard Him say a couple of years ago, "You need to be friendly to her." As mentioned, there are many reasons why I think this is so. But today another reason came to light.

Today Stephanie revealed that she suffers from depression. She shared her story on her blog. (Read it here.) As I told her, I think it is time for the stigma of depression to go away. I have no clue why anyone would think that another person would want to feel this way (to get sympathy?) or why they don't just "snap out of it." Oh, if only it were that easy. People with depression are not misbehaving children. There are very real physical and spiritual reasons behind it.

Like Stephanie, I talked to my doctor about depression. That was several years ago. And we found a physical cause ("female problem," and I won't elaborate). Once it was corrected, my life got a whole lot cheerier. Oh, I still had some spiritual causes to deal with (like feelings of inadequacy and perfectionistic tendencies) but correcting the physical and spiritual triggers restored my emotional health significantly. (This was totally unrelated to the Horrible Spring of 1989 for which I should've at least gotten a survivor's t-shirt. Understandably, grief is also a very real source of depression.) I know that seeking proper treatment will restore Stephanie's health also.

Thanks for sharing your story, Stephanie. I'm praying for you and for all of us who think that if we could just be "a better person" we could rid ourselves of this "problem."

The Great Physician often uses a human physician to restore us to health. But we can't be restored if we don't ask for help.

(I'd like to thank our friend, Travis, for the enlightening sermon on Psalm 42 last summer.  You have no idea how encouraging it was for me to learn that the psalmist, David, suffered in like manner.  In fact, I keep the notes I took that night on my desk next to this computer.  "Where's your God?" is the taunt.  "My hope is in God!" is the answer.)

Early Warning Systems

Nothing is a greater object lesson of the need for early warning systems than the events of recent weeks. Just look at the horrendous destruction in Japan due to earthquakes and tsunamis. Here in southern and mid-America we've been hit by floods several times over the past three months due to tremendous storms. Cars and houses have been damaged by water or tornados or lightening strikes.

We are safe on this High Hill but we are also being effected by the storms. I'm not sure when the last time was that we had a full night's sleep. We have two weather alerts and one or both of them have sounded an alert every night recently. The first is an alarm hooked up to NOAA radio. The second is a terrified dog afraid of thunder storms. She alerts us to their approach long before we can actually hear anything.

We can ignore these alarms or we can take precautions accordingly. It's our choice. I, for one, tend to take both alerts, including the dog, seriously. She might be only a cowardly canine or she might have God-given instincts that could save our lives. I'm not willing to chance that her senses are false alarms.

We could also turn off the weather alert beside the bed and go back to sleep. We've been tempted to do that a few times, but that would kind of defeat the whole purpose of having one, wouldn't it?

Where am I going with this?

Well, did you know that most in America have access to spiritual warning systems but they rarely avail themselves of them? Most have a Bible and live near a local church but do not see the need for either. They are like the individuals who ignore the warnings of a weather alert. The Bible tells us to flee from the wrath to come but most people just ignore it and spiritually go back to sleep. Or they ridicule the preacher who tells them that the storms in life (this one and the next) are coming. To them, he's like the dog whose foolish yapping disturbs them. Oh, sure, they'll attend Easter services to keep Mama happy, but they'll tune out the day's message: death is coming; seek shelter in the Savior that conquered death!

I wonder how many paid lip service to Earth Day last week by honoring the so-called "Mother Earth" while totally ignoring the Father God in Heaven who sent His Son? When it comes down to a question of which one is worthy of worship, it just makes sense to honor the one who will ultimately redeem creation rather than the creation that requires redeeming from its continual groaning and travailing (cf. Romans 8). The creation can't be redeemed no matter how many trees we plant or cardboard boxes we recycle. There's nothing wrong with recycling supplies but to think it will save the earth is a mockery in light of recent weather-related tragedies! The earth is dying. People are dying!

Heed the early warning systems. The storms are coming!Flee from the wrath to come!

Don't turn off the message of the resurrected Jesus and go back to sleep. The results promise to be disastrous.

What's In A Name?

Apparently, a lot of enjoyment!

Did you know that we all like to hear someone say our name? I've read several studies that say it's true. Somebody years ago found a way to capitalize on this. And since we're heading into "birthday month" around here (three of my four offspring were born in May; no jokes please about the August celebrations: I think we've heard them all and if not, I'm not interested in the rest) it seemed like the perfect time to give CAPTAIN ZOOM some free advertising.

Our first encounter with this birthday-greeting-singing-spaceman was when Karen was two years old. That's when a church friend gave her a copy as a gift. We've taken very good care of it these last 28 years. Um, was I allowed to say that? I guess it's safe since she's advertising on her own blog that her 30th birthday is approaching. Funny how one's kids can pass up the mother in age. :)

Well, of course, when Lisa came along a few years later (and not in May!) we just had to find one of these little personalized plastic records for her. We found a rack of them at Toys 'R Us. This was pre-Internet. Oops! Am I allowed to make my grown kids sound ancient? Sorry!

All was fine until the Princess came along several years later.  We just had to have one for her so we got in the car, drove to Nashville to the closest Toys 'R Us, and bought . . . nothing. They had stopped carrying them. Boy were we the bad guys for years to come! Try explaining to your third child that you can't buy that super-duper personalized birthday song like her older sisters have. That child just knows it is a conspiracy against her and that it is somehow your fault!

Okay, I'm kidding a little. Or maybe the Princess has gotten over it by now. Or maybe she finally realized we did the best we could and bought her a long (and boring) substitute from a mall kiosk because it was the best we could do at the time. Whatever.

Or maybe Al Gore finally invented the Internet and we discovered that the song could be bought in a new-and-improved CD-R version!

Okay, it took awhile to find this (actually, we were grandparents by the time we did) so we were able to order one for each: Princess, The Bear, and Polly. The names are covered in the picture since our two youngest kids aren't named, um, Princess and The Bear. Polly's copy is unavailable to be photographed because it is at her house.

Princess and The Bear do not have names that are totally out of the ordinary. In fact, as much as I love, love, love their names I would not say that I am exactly creative when it comes to naming my children. Their names on the CDs sound normal because they were probably covered by the original batch of recordings. Polly's real name is not "different" but it was not a popular name back in 1976, the year this song was copywritten, so the name dubbing is a bit obvious. It's okay, but obvious.

Okay, now assume . . . just assume . . . that Polly doesn't remain our only grandchild. (She didn't.) Assume, in fact, that she has three younger sisters and a cousin. (All true.) And now assume that a couple of these younger ones wonder why they don't have Captain Zoom birthday songs of their own.

As a further assumption, assume that one of the granddaughters has an unusual name. (She does.) Well, for a small fee Captain Zoom will make her a personalized song. All it takes (besides a few extra bucks) is the proper spelling and phonetic pronunciation on the order form. I did this! And just to make sure that he was pronouncing the name correctly Captain Zoom called me on the phone one morning. What a guy!!!!!

A few days later I received my order. I was very pleased with the new digitized edition of the specially ordered name!

As you can see, we're big fans of Captain Zoom and his birthday greetings. They also do personalized wedding and anniversary songs and have branched out into DVD products. If you know someone who would enjoy a personalized gift visit their on-line shop here. And tell them "Gram*" sent you!

* Speaking of names, did you notice that I changed mine again? Well, my blog name, anyway.

When I began blogging I used "Karabeth" because that is our homeschool name. Then so many people starting assuming that this was my given first name that I had to clarify it.

So I changed to the full name of "Karabeth Baptist Homeschool." The problem became that I do not limit my Internet participation to strictly homeschool blogs and posts consequently some of the blogs where I leave comments either delete them or rewrite and post my comments under the "Anonymous" heading.

Therefore, I have chosen to be called "Gram in the blogosphere. It is what my grandkids call me and is generic enough to fit any situation.

I'm sorry for the confusion. I'm really not having an identity crisis anywhere else.