More Ohio Trip Pics

I had truly intended to get more pictures posted from our Ohio trip but my life has been a crazy blur for the past two weeks. My mom FINALLY was able to have her hip replacement surgery and since my Daddy is dead, my sister and I are her primary caregivers. Whew!! That is another post in itself.

This morning I have my wits about me enough to post a few more Ohio pics, so here goes. You should be able to click on each picture and get a larger version.

Oh by the way, I'm having some weird issues posting lately and I hope some of you can help. When I prepare a new post, instead of the picture showing up on the area where I type the post like it used to, now I get all the gobbledy-gook, computerese that describes the picture (I guess it would be the HTML description???). How do I get the picture back instead of the descriptor stuff that makes no sense?

Very close to where we camped was a 'deer farm' (for lack of a better description) where they raised the big deer for the game preserves out west. This was one of the big guys just laying around resting. I was awestruck because I hadn't seen one this big ALIVE. All the ones I see are the deadheads that hang on my wall in my basement. I loved seeing them alive and in velvet. Cool!!



I loved seeing this little one with its spots. So cute!!



Here is part of our group as we are getting ready to go to church. We attended Pleasant View Mennonite Church. Greg is the tallest guy in the group and I am standing in front of him. I know, I know you thought it was an angel because of my white legs, but really I did have some self tanner on. I am just so white that it takes a LOT of self tanner to give me any color.



Many people who camp bring along bicycles to ride. Greg and I had never had bicycles since we were kids and really never anticipated getting any. However, we did fall to the temptation while we were in Ohio. The group that we were with had purchased their bikes at a bike shop in Ohio from David Beachy and so we decided to take the plunge.

Oh, my goodness. I really thought I was going to end up in an Ohio hospital. Consider that I had not ridden a bike since I was about 15. Couple that with the fact that bicycles are not like they were 30 years ago and I was testing the bike out on an uphill gravel driveway. Well, it was not pretty. I wobbled like I was a drunk driver because the steering is ultra sensitive on this type of bicycle. I did not fall, but I did alternate between praying desperately that Jesus would come back before I got all the way up the hill and cursing myself for even being stupid enough to try the stinkin bike out in the first place. I was shaking like a leaf when I got back from the test run. Greg looked at me like, "What is wrong?". Please understand that I have an incredibly athletic husband who can pick up a tennis racket or basketball or other piece of athletic equipment that he has not had in his hands in 30 years and play a more than passable game. Me, I haven't an athletic bone in my body and riding a bike 30 years after my last seating on a bicycle banana seat was not a blessing!! Oh, did I mention that I was testing this new bike out in front of about 9 people from our group!!

Anyway, here are the bicycles that we purchased. Mine is the pretty purple one and I can ride just fine now on level pavement. Greg's is the blue one. They are Raleigh bikes.




Here is a picture of tons of Amish buggies parked in town while their drivers were at the local market/auction.



If the bicycle incident was the low point of our trip, the visit to Guggisberg Cheese factory was one of the high points. We purchased freshly made cheeses of all varieties, but the thing I was MOST excited about was this!! OHHHHH, Paula Deen would have been so proud of me! This is a 2 pound roll of fresh B-U-T-T-E-R. Let me tell you, when I tasted this, I really thought I had died and gone to heaven. I bought 2 rolls. Yes, 4 pounds of real, creamy, rich, fattening BUTTER. I sliced it up and froze it and will pull out a slice to use when I need it. This roll of heaven made the bicycle debacle worth every minute of embarrassment and humiliation.



On a couple of evenings, we had the privilege of visiting in the home of a local Amish family. They were delightful and truly, this was the highlight of our trip. We look forward to visiting with them again one day. Here are many of our group playing volleyball with the family in their back yard.



Here I am with some of our new friends.



Here is Greg with one of the girls who loved having her picture taken.




We met these two odd fellas in the campground???!!! They definitely needed some dental work done but Greg didn't have his instruments with him. (Ok, lest you think I am making fun of another person, these two goof balls were with us. They are quite the practical jokesters and we laughed so hard at them we nearly died!)



My sister has lots more pics that I will share as soon as she gets me a disc made. Have a great weekend.

The Key God Sings In

Do you have an ear for music? When you sing are you on key or off key. I love music but I cannot sing. I simply do not have the talent for it. My friend Kristin, however, has a magnificent voice and I could just sit and listen to her sing all day long. When I get to heaven, I want to be able to sing—on key and well. Come to think of it, I’m sure God wants me to be able to sing on key and well!!

Did you know that God is a musician and He plays all His songs in the same key and He desires for us to sing in that key as well. Don’t believe me? Listen to what He says in Psalm 119: 4-6:

“You have charged us to keep your commandments carefully. Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your decrees! Then I will not be ashamed when I compare my life with your commands.”

Sounds to me like God sings in the key of ‘C’, which stands for commands or laws AND He expects us to sing in that same key. The Psalmist is asking God to help him keep the commands of God all the days of his life so that he will not have regrets or be ashamed.

In Dr. David Cooper’s devotional book, Timeless Truths in Changing Times (p189-190), he relates a story that illustrates this point beautifully. Dr. Cooper says that he once had the privilege of hearing Dr. Condoleeza Rice share her testimony at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC.

“She grew up in church. Her father was a pastor. As a young adult, she got out of the habit of going to church. One Sunday morning she was shopping at the Lucky Grocery Store, when she said, “I should have been in church.” She ran into a man in the aisle. He told her he was shopping for a church picnic that afternoon. He asked if she played the piano because they needed a pianist at their church. She said, “Yes.”

“She shared at the breakfast that she was shocked at just how far God’s hand could reach---all the way into the Lucky Grocery Store. So she started playing piano for this Baptist church, but she had a hard time with their music, having been raised Presbyterian. She was trained in classical, but they were singing gospel music. The pastor would start singing in a key that didn’t exist, and the musicians had to follow along.”

“She called her mother, who also played in church, and asked, ‘What should I do to keep up with them when I can’t find the key they are singing in?’ Her mother gave her great advice: ‘Just play in the key of C, and they’ll come back to you.’ Dr. Rice added, ‘God always plays in C, and even though we may drift from Him, we will always find our way back.’”

The Psalmist knew that God never wavers from the key of ‘C’, even though you and I may. God knows that the key of ‘C’ is where He has blessing upon blessing awaiting us and so He just keeps singing in the same key and waits for us to join Him. Are you singing in the same key as God? Are you following hard after Him in every part of your life? If not, why not start today?

Self Promotion

For anyone in ministry, there is a huge temptation to promote yourself and your ministry, especially in those seasons when ministry is slow and the invitations to speak or sing or serve have slowed to a trickle or perhaps stopped. There is the tendancy to send out brochures or flyers, post more on the blog, drop hints to friends and acquaintances about the ministry you are doing, hand out brochures on the street corners or find other ways of promoting our ministry.

What I believe we forget when we get in this mode is that the ministry the Lord has entrusted to us is not really OUR ministry. Nope, it isn't. It is HIS ministry. We are just a tool that He uses...and an expendable tool at that.

This is something that the Lord and I have been discussing frequently over the past year and He led me to a quote by Charles Swindoll from his book "Great Days with the Great Lives", that has been like a subtle punch in the gut to me. I shared this in my message when I spoke at the A Woman Inspired Conference in June and so some of you have heard this previously. I don't know His reason, but the Lord is prompting me to share it here at The Point. Perhaps He just wants to remind me once again that The Point Ministry is HIS, not mine. It is about bringing Him glory, not me.

Anyhooo, here is the quote:

“Humble yourself. Rather than racing into the limelight, we need to accept our role in the shadows. I’m serious here. Don’t promote yourself. Don’t push yourself to the front. Don’t drop hints. Let someone else do that. Better yet, let God do that. If you’re great, trust me, the word will get out. You’ll be found…in God’s time. If you’re necessary for the plan, God will put you in the right place at just the precise time. God’s work is not about us; it’s His production, start to finish. So back off. Let Him pull the curtains and turn on the stage lights.”

Is God Good?

This week my meditation Psalm has been Psalm 118 and it has prompted me to examine my heart with regard to what I really believe about the Lord. It is a Psalm comprised of 29 verses, but I did not get past the first verse before I was knee deep in conviction.

Psalm 118: 1 (NKJV) says:
"Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever."

The question that the Holy Spirit introduced into the midst of my meditation was this: "Do you really believe, deep down where the rubber meets the road, that God is good?" Of course, the 'Christian' answer that immediately came to mind is 'Yes, I do'. Then I began to place myself in situations where the circumstances do not seem to be good and I wondered if I would still answer the question concerning the goodness of God in the affirmative.

I had the opportunity to very much personalize these ponderings as my Mother FINALLY was able to have her hip replacement surgery on Tuesday. She has suffered a great deal over the past months awaiting the healing of a venous ulcer on her leg so that she could have the hip surgery. She has not walked, except with the aid of a walker, for 4 plus months. This was extremely difficult for a woman who was accustomed to exercising daily and being very active with her grandchildren. Her health, physically, mentally, and emotionally, has declined during this time of waiting. I truly feared that should the surgery be delayed yet again, she would not be able to bounce back to her former self.

As I stayed with her the night after surgery, she kept saying over and over, "Thank you, Lord, for letting me have this surgery. God is so good to me." Believe me, I agreed with her 100%. But the thought came to my mind as she proclaimed her praise for the goodness of God, "What if she had not been able to have the surgery. Would we still proclaim that God is good?"

After pondering and meditating on this verse, I have come to the conclusion that, yes, God is indeed good, but that goodness often must be viewed in light of eternity.

Psalm 118: 18 (NLT) placed this in perspective for me. "The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not let me die."

This temporal life is not all there is, dear friends, and God's purposes in allowing certain situations to occur that may seem like punishment to us, may not be understood this side of eternity. My musings and ponderings on this verse left me with a desire to come to the point where if my salvation was all I had left, if God allowed every other earthly blessing to be taken from me, my salvation and eternal security would be enough AND God would still be good.

More Ohio Amish Country pics

Here are a few more pictures from our trip. Again, you should be able to click on each picture and enlarge it for better viewing. I probably will not get much posted here that is very deep this week. My mom is having hip replacement surgery on Tuesday the 7th and I'll be busy with her most of the week but I'll hopefully get back to writing next week. Enjoy the pictures.


Here are Greg and I at the Ohio state line welcome center.



Mt. Eaton is the town in Holmes County that we stayed in. We were all over Holmes County, which is quite beautiful.



The campground we stayed at was called Evergreen RV Resort and it was incredibly nice. The bath house was unbelievable as were the laundry facilities. Definitely a two thumbs up.




My man and me in front of our camper



This horse and buggy was hitched up outside the local market in Mt. Eaton. This was the first of literally hundreds of buggies that we saw. There is something so serene and peaceful about the sight of a horse and buggy to me.



A couple of pics of the beautiful Ohio countryside. These were taken in Walnut Creek when we stopped and ate at Der Dutchman. They have the yummiest peanut butter spread to go on your rolls. It tasted a lot like the peanut butter and honey sandwiches we had in the lunchroom when I was a kid.






More later on in the week! Off to work.

Ohio Amish Country Trip

I am excited to show you pictures of our trip to Ohio and tell you some of the experiences that we had. My sister took even more pix than I did and I'll have her pictures to share with you later in the week or first part of the next week. For now I'll share with you what I have. You should be able to click on each picture to enlarge it.

This first picture was taken of me and my two nephews as we crossed from Virginia into West Virginia. One thing about traveling with me---I find most every bathroom along the way and this was a bathroom break!! God was faithful!!




Here are Parker and Coleson at our first night's stopping place in Romance, West Virginia. We stayed at Rippling Waters Church of God Campground. The boys and I were trying to stay out of the way while the guys set up the campers.



There were 8 families traveling together and this picture is of a few of the campers set up at Rippling Waters Campground. We were only there for 1 night and then we traveled on to Ohio. Our camper is the 2nd from the right.



This picture is of a beautiful, small chapel on the grounds of Rippling Waters Campground. I loved how I was able to catch the reflection of the chapel in the water of the lake. Had I had more time, I would have spent hours with the Lord in the chapel or sitting along the lakeside. It was a beautiful place that invited one's spirit to just sit and visit with the Lord.



Here we are inside the beautiful little chapel. I was standing at the back of the chapel when I took the picture so you can see how small the building was.



This picture, taken from the front steps of the chapel shows the lake that was in front of the chapel. There were two white swans swimming in the lake. It was a very peaceful and serene place.



More later!! Gotta get ready for church.

A Different Way of Life

What an amazing time we have had here in the heart of the Ohio Amish country!! One of the couples traveling with us has been coming here for about 20 years and they have made friends with two Amish families. One of the families is Old Order Amish while the other is from the strictest of the Amish traditions. Because of the Jackson's previous relationship with both families we have had the rare opportunity of being hosted in the homes of these two families.

On Sunday evening we went over to visit with the Keim's, who are a lovely family with beautiful children--about 6 children. All the children and some of the adults played volleyball, while the rest of us sat and relaxed and visited with the family. The hospitality they showed us was unequaled. Mr. Keim took those of us who had never ridden in an Amish buggy for a ride and it was truly a thrill. I'll be posting pictures of all this when I return home. We plan to spend another evening with this family before we leave as we all fell in love with them.

The second family are of the strictest order of Amish and typically do not allow visitors into their home. We went to their home planning to only purchase some of the lovely baskets they make to support the family. Imagine our surprise when they invited us to come into their home. What a treat!!

As I sit here in my fifth wheel camper which is pulled by a Ford F350 truck, I enjoy ample electricity, electrical appliances, air conditioning, television, and many other modern conveniences, I am struck by how simple the lifestyle is of the Amish and how the family is the bedrock of their society. Although I would not want to give up the conveniences that I have grown accustomed to, I have to wonder if we would not be better off as a society if we took some lessons from these dear Amish folk and returned to the days when the family and our devotion to God was the centerpiece of life. There is a certain peace about these Amish people--a peacefulness that most of us lack because we are too busy chasing the American dream--or perhaps it is the American nightmare!!

We love it so much here that we are planning to return for fall break in October. I cannot wait to show you some of our pictures. Have a blessed day friends.

Who Are You Following?

As we headed to Ohio on vacation we had 6 motor homes and fifth wheel trailers traveling the interstate together. I could almost hear Jerry Reed saying over the CB to Burt Reynolds and Sally Field, "Boys, we got ourselves a convoy!" I always loved "Smokey and the Bandit"!!

As we came into Asheville, North Carolina, the person leading the convoy missed the exit and off we went in the wrong direction for several miles before we could find an exit that would be easy enough for six 40+ foot rigs to turn around on. Eventually we got back on the interstate and found the correct exit and off we went toward Virginia.

It occured to me as we sought a way to get back on the right road that so often in our lives we follow the wrong things or people and end up on a path that we never intended to go down. It is so easy to take our eyes off the Lord, placing them on the surrounding scenery and suddenly we are walking a path that, while it is beautiful and seems good, is far less than the one God would choose for us to walk.

God says to us in Isaiah 30: 21,"This is the way, walk in it." God's road is the best one for us walk, if we will simply humble ourselves and walk it. As long as we keep our eyes focused on the road ahead and our ears tuned to the frequency of the Holy Spirit, we will travel on the road that God knows will bring us safely home.

Choices

As long as we are on this side of heaven, there will be things in our lives that we can worry about and stress over and be anxious about. That is a given. We have to make a choice: do we focus on those things, dwell in anxiety and fear and worry OR do we focus on God and His perfect care and protection and dwell in peace?

I want to focus on God and dwell in peace. For me, it is a moment by moment choice. Right now, anxiety is eating my lunch and I constantly have to remind myself that NOTHING takes God by surprise. Psalm 121 says that He is my keeper, my protector, my helper. He is that for you, too. Rest in it, abide in it. Feel His arm around you.

We are going away on vacation to the Ohio Amish country. I've got a ton of writing to do for an upcoming retreat at which I am speaking, so I am not sure how much I'll be posting for the next couple of weeks. I'll try to get a few highlights of the trip posted while we are away. Have a great week, dear friends.

Lord, Are You The One?

People who are cut from a different mold, people who dance to a different tune, people who just seem to not fit in usually intrigue me. John the Baptist was one of those people who definitely danced to a whole different tune than the people of his day. Listen to how the Word describes him in Matthew 3: 4: “Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.” In addition to all that, he lived in the desert of Judea. I could understand eating honey, but locusts---NO WAY!! Can you imagine what this dude looked like? He was dusty and grimy from living in the desert. The camel hair tunic was not a pretty site and it likely smelled pretty badly. He probably had a wild and untamed mane of hair that was also full of dust. He stood on the road shouting “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” I’m telling you he was not Forbes magazine’s “Man of the Year” material.

John was different, yet he was born for a distinct purpose. His life’s only purpose was to announce the arrival of the Messiah. For all the ways that John was unique and different, there was at least one way that he was very much like you and me. Let’s take a look inside the man for a moment and see fear and discouragement and disappointment. Let’s see ourselves in John!

In Matthew 11 we find John imprisoned for doing exactly what he was born to do—preaching repentance and the impending kingdom of God. From our perspective on this side of the cross, we know that John would soon be beheaded for doing what he was sent to do. Yet in Matthew 11: 2-15, we find John the Wild Man becoming John the Discouraged and Confused. Jesus was out among the people doing what John had been doing up until his imprisonment. This was a strange turn of events, to say the least. Perhaps John thought that the Messiah should be taking over the world and destroying evil, yet here was the man whom he had lauded as the Messiah going about preaching and teaching, while John was sitting in a Roman prison awaiting execution.

John sends two disciples to Jesus to ask, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” You see, John couldn’t see the forest for the trees; he was neck deep in trouble and couldn’t see how God’s plan would work out. All He could think of was, “Did I misunderstand? Did I miss my calling? Was I confused about who Messiah was? If you are truly Messiah, why am I rotting in this Roman prison? Would you please do something about my situation because I am the one who was responsible for all those people knowing that you were coming?

Do you find yourself identifying with John? Have you ever been confused about what Jesus wanted from you? Have you ever found yourself doubting your calling? Have you ever experienced disappointment with Jesus and the things He allows in your life? When things don’t work out the way YOU had planned, do you find yourself bitter toward the Lord? Are there times that you would just like to shout, “Why don’t you do something about this, Lord?

I very much can identify with John the Baptist at times. Perhaps even right now as my Mother is dealing with many significant medical problems, I sense an underlying “Why, Lord?” in my spirit. Then I remember what Charles Spurgeon said and I am comforted and my faith in God is renewed. Perhaps you need to hear these words as well:

God is too good to be unkind,
He is too wise to be mistaken;
When you cannot trace His Hand,
You can always trust His heart!