Rooted and Grounded

Us native-born "Texians" have a love-hate relationship with this scrubby, scrappy, throny tree called - The Mesquite. We love it in barbeque pits for the smoky flavor it gives our ribs and briskets. We love it for the knarly rustic furniture, bowls and even dominoes that craftsmen create with it.

We love that it is the last tree to sprout leaves in the spring, and a sure sign that winter is over.

Folks who are firmly rooted in this great state, but have to  move out of state have been known to carry seeds to their new homes in an effort to have a little Texas in their new landscape. It is not our officail state tree, but it covers over one third of the state - mostly in West and South Texas.

Ranchers battle the long roots that tap as far as needed ( some resources say as far as 25 feet) to find water and keep the tree drought resistant. Water needed for grass that feeds cattle. Longtime farmer friend Max, says that we may win the battle, but we will never win the war.  We burn it, spray it, cut it down, and pull it up. And it grows back with a vengence. It's thorny armor grows longer and stronger. Its roots grow deeper.

Now that we are back in Texas, my Inspector Handyman Hubby is wearing his Farmboy hat and has waged war with the mighty mesquite. The mesquites that have had a mostly peaceful life without us for the past eight or ten years while we followed the job.

He says he can tell the trees that have been shredded, or plowed over, or chopped down, by the size of their roots. The more they have been cut down, the longer and stronger and deeper the roots. And I said, "Oh, Papa. That'll PREACH!"  He kind of rolls his eyes when I say that!

But think about it. Sometimes, we feel like life has burned us out, chopped us down, and dug us up. We feel discarded and useless. BUT - if our roots are firmly established in His Word, in His Truth, in HIM - we will be like the trees spoken of in Psalm 1:1-3 and Jeremiah 17:7-8. We will be like trees whose leaves do not wither, who do not fear the heat, have no worries in years of drought, trees that bear fruit and prosper. PROSPER.

2 Corinthians 4:9, written by Paul (who as a former persecutor of Christians, was himself persecuted and imprisioned) says that we are "hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." Let's be those kind of believers. Let's put our roots down deep so that nothing can destroy us. Let's bear fruit and prosper.

With so much worldwide attention on persecuted Christians, we can only pray that those sitting in prison for preaching Jesus, have roots that keep growing deeper and stronger. Some experts believe that persecution actually makes the church (as in the body of Christ) grow stronger.

"You're blessed when your committment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom." (Matthew 5:10 The Message)

"Let your roots grow down into HIM, and let your lives be built on HIM. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. (Colossians 2:7 The Message)

"No one is established by wickedness,

 but the root of the righteous will never be moved."

(Proverbs 12:3)

Transitions

Transition

Transition is the word of the day, the week, the month, the last three months. 

Dictionary.com defines "transition" as:

1. change or passage from one state or stage to another

2. the period of time during which something changes from one state or stage to another

3. (music) a movement from one key to another: modulation by linking passage between two divisions in a composition; bridge

Some change comes almost instantly, as when hubby says, "I got a call. The company is over budget, out of money, and sending the contractor home. The next inspection job starts next year. Can I retire?" Forrest Gump was tired and ready to go home. And just like that, without transition or that musical bridge, the music of our lives changed.  

Some transition is relatively short, like driving from one state (North Dakota) to another state (Texas) with two loaded trucks and a trailer. It was a three day transition on two lane state highways driving across our great United States, almost border to border. It was our sixth and final bittersweet drive on those roads. Then we were Texicans again.

Other transitions go on and on and on. And on. For example, when people have not really lived in a house for eight or nine years, and those same people bring in  boxes of treasures from the northland, only to find that every closet, cupboard, and corner in the south is already occupied over the maximum allowed limit.

Now, three months later, we have had a few side trips, gone to a premier vintage junk market, had our own non-premier vintage market (aka garage sale), and packed the dumpster weekly. We have donated a pickup load to the local thrift store and given another to a neighbor who will meet her sister on the Rio Grande River bridge to hand off a couple of suitcases of clothes for her Mexico family.

Change (or cleaning out a closet) can cause momentary chaos. You drag all that junk out, organize it on the bedroom floor, and make those three recommended piles - throw away, give away, keep. And put it back with a little new junk from a land faraway. Then....repeat.

Psalm 51:10 says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit in me". Someone has said that repentance creates room for Jesus. Repentance cleans out what is hidden in our closed heart's closets and drawers. But, as much as my kitchen utensil drawer wanted to be clean, organized, untangled, and easy to open, she had to give up some stuff. She had to be emptied, laid out, and counted. Purged. It was all good stuff, but after a good cleaning, her heart held only the best stuff. 

Then, if you, my friend, visit me, you will likely think, "she needs to clean up this messy house." But you can't see my orderly linen closet or the coffee cups I purged, because this house in is transition. You can't see that I started with the inside and someday, you can see the change on the outside. You might think that about me and my temple, too. Sometimes it takes a while for my temple to reflect the cleanliness of my heart.

We are reconnecting, and transitioning into whatever our lives will look like back here in the sometimes harsh land of things that of sting, prick, and bite. We are dining with people friends and critter-friends while we ponder who we are back in Texas. We are missing our northern friends, too.

If you are reading this from North Dakota, you need to know that all these photographs, except the cotton field, are from my inheritance - the family farm/ranch. You have seen my daddy's junk yard, prickly pear cactus, ripe mesquite beans, my happy place - the pasture, my back yard, a jack rabbit, quail, dove, and a scissor tail with her scissors closed.

Most evenings will find us in front row sunset theater seats in our back yard. This transition hasn't been easy or smooth, but it all dims in the evening light show.

"It is the goodness of God that leads you to repentance."

Romans 2:4

Travel Update and Wait

We sit and wait at an Alabama tire store, because there's a flat on the trailer.  My phone is full of pictures of the south. I have time and a blogger app. The pictures will not be formatted exactly right, but I'm sharing anyway. And the fantastic video doesn't want to be here on this blog post.

Our destination with a purpose was north of Savannah, Georgia to finalize someone's Ebay purchase of a vintage car like the one he drove in high school. Guess who? More on that later.

Then we heard that the Concourse d'Elegance (a classy motoring festival of vintage cars) was happening on Hilton Head Island,  and of course, decided to stay a few days. We found off season rates at a lovely beach side resort. The car show was great, but the ocean was therapy for the soul.

Here's some therapy for your day too. Pull up a chair, a rocker, or a porch swing and sit awhile, my friend.

Holding On

Sometimes a blog post is months and a series of events in creation. This one started when I first heard the song "I AM" by David Crowder. I was captured by the lyrics of the chorus and their double meaning.

I am holding on to you

(me holding on to God)

in the middle of the storm,

I AM holding on to you.

I AM (God) is holding on to me.

In Exodus 3:14 Moses asked God "Who should I say sent me?" 

and God said from the burning bush, "tell them 

I AM sent you, for I AM that I AM."

Click here to hear the song on You Tube

With my cerebral background music playing, I remembered scriptures like

"Be still and know that I AM  God." Psalm 46:10

or

"I AM the light of the world" John 9:5

(red because Jesus said it)

and knew there were so many more that I wanted to find - someday when I had time.

Last week at the Names of God Bible Study, we studied 

The Great I AM.

Now the music is louder and the words are stronger.

 It is time to look it up, write it down, and send it out. 

Here is a sampling from my research.

I AM

your shield (Genesis 15:1)

God Almighty (Genesis 15:7)

with you (Genesis 27:1)

with you always (Matthew 28:20)

concerned about suffering (Exodus 3:7)

the LORD (Exodus 6:2)

the LORD your God (Exodus 6:7)

the LORD who heals you (Exodus 15:26)

able (Matthew 9:28)

willing (Mark 1:41)

compassionate (Exodus 22:27)

holy (Leviticus 11:44)

your share and inheritance (Numbers 18:20)

your salvation (Psalm 35:3

He who blots out your transgressions (Isaiah 43:25)

the first and the last (Isaiah 44:6)

the Alpha and the Omega (Revelations 1:8)

He who will sustain you (Isaiah 46:4)

bringing my righteousness near (Isaiah 46:13)

the LORD who teaches you (Isaiah 48:17)

teacher (John 13:13)

faithful (Jeremiah 3:12)

your husband (Jeremiah 3:14)

the sovereign LORD (Ezekiel 13:9)

coming and will live among you (Zechariah 3:8)

coming soon (Revelation 3:11)

the living one (Revelation 1:18)

a great king (Malachi 1:14)

a king (John 18:37)

the son of God (Matthew 27;43)

bread of life (John 6:35)

from above (John 8:23)

not of this world (John 8:23)

the gate (John 10:9)

the good shepherd (John 10:11)

the resurrection and the life (John 11:25)

the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6)

the vine (John 15:5)

in the Father and the Father is in me (John 14:10)

in you (John 14:20)

making everything new (Revelation (21:5)

going to prepare a place for you (John 14:2)

coming soon (Revelation 22:12)

When the storms in your life are raging, 

just hold on and know that HE is holding on to you.

I AM

the LORD your God

who takes hold of your right hand

and says to you,

"Do not fear. I will help you."

(Isaiah 31:14)

Everywhere

At a convenience store somewhere in the south, an old woman (about my age) stopped to ask the time, the time zone, and what state we were in. I wasn't much help because I wasn't sure myself . I think we were both mostly in the state of confusion from too much travel!

This summer (May, June, July, and August) we have logged 12,000 miles on the truck and passed through as least some part of twenty-two states - North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

We have crossed the continental divide. We have crossed time zones. We have crossed rivers, We have crossed the continent and we have crossed our eyes.

Here are some highlights from a few of the states we visited:

 

The Yellowstone River

Montana

More Montana

Pacific Ocean (through a rain forest)

Washington

Salmon River

Idaho

Pendleton Woolen Mills

Oregon

Hunting Ancestors 

South Dakota 

Duck Dynasty

Louisiana

Gulf of Mexico

Florida

Atlantic Ocean

Florida

Lunch with Paula Deen in Savannah

Georgia

 

Ohio River between

Kentucky and Illinois 

St. Louis, Bar-B-Q of course

Missouri

and
The Geographic Center of North America

Rugby,  North Dakota

Now I can sing with Johnny Cash,

I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breathed the mountain air, man
Travel I've had my share, man
I've been
E V E R Y W H E R E

but there's
No Place Like Home!