Thanks, Trucker!

Driving to Houston at 4:30 this morning, I glanced in my rear view mirror, blinded not by the lights of the eighteen-wheeler following me, but by the lighted cross on the front of the monstrous truck, an odd reminder to me, as I was taking my sister Janie to surgery, that God's got her back. In fact, he's got all our backs! And also a reminder that there isn't a minute that he isn't part of our day. Guess I needed that reminder today.

And my thanks to the trucker who reminded me!

Her Name is Liese

Her name is Liese, and she is my youngest sister. She has brown hair (with some help!), brown eyes, and married a boy she dated in college who was a banker earlier in their marriage. They live a small-town life in a lovely town where his family has lived as long as anyone could remember. He is a genuinely nice guy and they are crazy about each other. They have two boys who are several years apart, one named John and the other Kurt. She loves her family and is grateful to God for giving them to her. She loves God, and she loves studying His Word. She also enjoys reading books, entertaining her friends, spending time at the beach, and hanging out with her family.

My name is Becky, and I’m the oldest sister. I have brown hair (with some help!), brown eyes, and married a boy I dated in college who was a banker earlier in our marriage. We live a small-town life in a lovely town where his family has lived for as long as anyone could remember. He is a genuinely nice guy and we are crazy about each other. We have two boys who are several years apart, one named John and the other Will. I love my family and am grateful to God for giving them to me. I love God, and I love studying His Word. I also enjoy reading books, entertaining my friends, spending time at the beach, and hanging out with my family. 

Liese and I essentially live the same life even though she’s in Alabama and I’m in Texas. If we were wrestlers, we’d be a tag-team because we like the same things and feel the same way about everything that is important! Well, almost. She cheers for Auburn and I cheer for A&M, which might bring out some friendly family rivalry next year for we are also both competitive. 

Our similarities are enormous; our differences are few; in fact, there’s really just one -- we did not grow up together. We didn’t even meet until I was 38 and she was 32 because we didn’t know the other existed. We spent a lifetime apart, but it was not to stay that way. 

Undoubtedly, God wanted us in each other’s lives, and now we are. Our story is the Tale of Two Sisters and it is undoubtedly The Best of Times. We both believe that with our heart, soul, and mind. God is good. We both believe that, too.

I have known my sister Liese for less than half of my life, but she has all my respect. She is a prayer warrior unsurpassed. In a short period of time, I have come to trust her with what matters most:  to pray! The other day I got up and before I could remember my name, there was a text from her that I was all prayed up! I’m blessed to have her in my life. She’s one of God’s greatest gifts and biggest blessings to me.

Today isn’t her birthday; her birthday is January 15th! But I woke up feeling grateful for my little sister. Maybe I wanted to be the first to tell her “Happy Birthday” in our competitive family! 

So even though it’s a few days early, “Happy Birthday, Sister Liese!” I love ya like crazy! I’m thankful to God for bringing you into my life, and because you are, it really is the best of all times!  

Leaning and Screaming

For years, Ian and I had tons of fun riding his Goldwing motorcycle as long as I managed to keep the two immutable rules he established at the beginning: (1) no leaning, and (2) no screaming. As long as I followed those rules, he’d always take me on a ride. We’d hop on and the last thing he’d say was, “Remember: no leanin’, no screamin’!”

We sold that motorcycle a few years ago, and we both miss it.

But life isn’t always a motorcycle ride. Not today, anyway! I’m definitely feeling the need today, not for speed, but to lean.

Today, I’m going to do a lot of leaning and maybe a little bit of screaming; and that’s okay! The leanin’ part anyway; the screaming I’ll have to deal with! And I know just where to go to do it!

"I love you, O LORD, my strength" (Psalm 18:1 NIV).

"Trust in God. Lean on your God!" (Isaiah 50:10b MSB).

Hop out of Bed!

The eyes of my seven-year-old nephew sparkle! He’s the kid people look at and then smile because they just can’t help themselves. Michael simply sparkles! One summer when he was visiting us, the older kids were learning how to shoot a gun with Uncle Ian, but Michael was napping and missed out on the activity. He missed the gun safety lesson, the gun shooting, and all the fun that went with it – all under the supervision of their Uncle Ian, of course. When he woke up he was quite upset, but we told him that Uncle Ian would still take him to shoot a gun before he went back home.

That next morning, I went upstairs to wake them, and as soon as Michael heard me and without opening his eyes, he said, “Uncle Ian said I could shoot the gun!” Then Michael shot up (no pun intended) out of that bed and was dressed before I could make it downstairs. 

Michael was beyond excited. He thought he had missed an opportunity, yet he woke up hoping that he still was going to get to do it.  And he couldn’t wait!

I’ve thought about that moment many times. And the reality is that’s how life with God can be. Every day there is something to look forward to even if we think we’ve missed out on something huge the day before. God provides new opportunities that are more than our old disappointments. And that’s reason enough to hop out of bed and look forward to beginning a new day!  
 
In Isaiah 43:16, God reminds his people that he once saved them by parting a sea; now he tells them to forget about that because He’s going to do something even greater for them, also saving them – his people in Babylonian captivity -- by providing water and streams in abundance in the desert as they make their way home. 

And just as Jesus will bring us home one day, we, God’s people, can still watch him – each day – do “something brand-new,” and not be disappointed. “Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is!”  (Isaiah 43:16 The Message). And it’s in abundance!

And that’s enough to make me hop out of bed this morning! That’s enough to give me hope today. That’s enough to make all our eyes sparkle!

Not Just in War, But in Life

She met her best friend in an underground shelter, while bombs destroyed their town above, and they’ve stayed friends for almost seventy years. She survived the threat of Hitler’s forces, which were in France only 22 miles away, and she joined the army when she was eighteen years old. She learned how to identify enemy planes, and she fell in love with an American soldier who knew he wanted to marry her from the first moment he saw her.  And when an incendiary bomb dropped through the roof of her barracks, she received a medal for keeping it from burning down their whole base.

She also remembers how it felt to be a British citizen unable to see the sky because the Americans, joining the fight against the Nazis, had so many planes in the air she couldn’t see anything else. She remembers how excited she was, how excited they all were! And she didn’t say so, but I bet she remembers the relief, too.

Now, she’s an 88-year-old American woman fighting once more, fighting to survive the difficult rehabilitation that goes with a broken pelvis. At the same time, she’s blind in one eye and living with macular degeneration in the other. But even though she can’t see, her wisdom is clear, and last night she said, “Even the war wasn’t as hard as this.”

A survivor of World War II, she had to be strong, courageous, and determined, and she still has to be, and her piercing words reminded me last night of another reason why it’s so critically important to pray for other people. And when we don’t know what to pray for, we can always pray for strength, courage, determination, and also for peace to fight in difficult times -- not just in war, but in life.