O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.
Psalm 95:1-6
ORIGINAL ART & POETRY BY PAUL & KATHY BOECHER©
The end of summer will soon draw near,
Plans are made for a new school year.
Crops are ready for the harvest,
Tons of colors for the artist,
Bounty ready for collection,
Birds begin a new direction,
Animals gorge on their last meals,
Winter is right behind their heels,
Autumn is just a month away,
Go and enjoy this summer day.
We are living in terrifying times. The possibilities of nuclear disaster has become a political chess game. The rhetoric of our government and the lives of our citizens are being threatened by a health care plan that has turned into a nightmare. Our ability to think for ourselves is slowly being taken over by electronics. It’s enough to make one want to crawl in a hole and hide.
We could relinquish our free will. We could let go of all control of our freedoms. We could give up, give in and give way, but until God decides to wipe this world out of existence, I will continue to look forward.
Martin Luther said it beautifully, “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
We cannot be bullied into negative thinking. We can’t stop living even though our lives are being threatened by a media that seems to be our greatest enemy today. Things that are tweeted are taken as truth. Words spewed in the heat of anger, frustration and even concern, are translated into hatred. Maybe if everyone peppered Twitter with words of scripture, people might start finding hope again.
Yesterday my husband and I decided to take a drive in the country. Some might call this escape, but I considered it a chance to free my mind and enjoy God’s beautiful creation. We had no destination. We thought maybe we’d stop at a garage sale or two, but God had other plans.
The heavens were filled with majestic clouds, interspersed with azure blue sky. The green meadows were beginning to show a hint of color as the first signs of autumn reminded us of the shortness of summer. We viewed a prairie filled with brilliant, yellow, black eyed Susans and purple larkspur. It was a kaleidoscope of color and majesty. It was just what we needed in the midst of a world gone amok.
We can’t hide from the news of the day. It affects all of us in one way or another, but we can divert our attention, even if it’s for a little while. Our lives cannot be put on hold, while the world struggles.
“I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown” Revelation 3:11
CRITICAL THINKING – disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence.
We hear this term being tossed around a lot lately. For some reason, we have succumbed to the exact opposite of critical thinking. At times we are being led by the nose to accept untruth as truth. We may kick and scream a bit as we take the journey, but slowly and surely we have been led away from using our own sense of conscience.
We have been endowed with a brain that can sort through these things and yet we are deterred by public opinion or the tweet of the day. How did we become so wishy washy? Is it the result of having all our intelligence placed into a communal box upon which we all draw?
The human mind is capable of so much more than we give it credit for. We’ve become a bit lazy in using it lately, because all our thinking has been done for us in the form of the internet. This amazing technology is great in one respect, because everything is at our fingertips at an instant. However, if we become so intent upon getting our information this way, we numb our brains and become complacent. We forget how to think for ourselves.
Two thousand years ago, the One who put this world of ours together; the One who holds all knowledge and wisdom in His little finger; who is the only truth we can count on, sent His own Son to undo all the ugliness which untruth had created in this sin sick world. That Son, Jesus put it all into perspective. He washed away our sin with His blood. He promised eternal life to those who believe in Him. He gives His gift of grace willingly because He loves us.
That is the truth. Maybe our critical thinking should include that which is complete truth – the Bible.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John1:14
The dapper, young man had finished his basic training, twenty pounds heavier than when he went in. All twenty pounds were muscle. He had always been handsome in my eyes, but there was a difference – a confidence and assurance I hadn’t seen before. The first things he did when he got home, was buy a gun and begin to grow a beard. The gun probably saved his father’s life. The beard was attractive and made home look very artist savvy.
Off he went to Chicago to become a trained artist. He studied art history, delved into modernism, drew mountains and mountains of nudes. His mother and I decided they didn’t fit into his portfolio at the time. so we got rid of them. He was furious at first, but eventually forgave me. He studied hard and absorbed as much as his mind could hold. He hadn’t realized just how much he didn’t yet know about his chosen career.
Artists were always starving, I thought. They went through tough times all the time. Those were the beatnik days, when art was cool, poetry likewise and the arts in general had a strong place in society. Today artists are still starving. The way of computer technology has taken over much of the creativity of the past and a true artist really works hard to make a living at it alone. Eventually he decided that his career would take him into the advertising business, which provided a good living for us for a while.
Getting an education in one of the finest art schools in the country wasn’t what his parents had planned for him, but they agreed to fund him in his quest. He lived at the YMCA in a Chicago suburb and took the El to school each day. At night he would teach archery classes at the Y.
Since both of us had our early education in Christian schools, coming into this environment led to a huge wake up call as to what the world was really like. We’d been sheltered in the comfort of our homes and church and things like homosexuality, drug addiction, prostitution and willful killing, were unknown to us. But this was Chicago. Murders occurred on a daily basis. There was corruption on every corner as women sold their bodies for a few dollars.
My eyes were opened to this lifestyle when we attended a masquerade ball that first year. I went to the ladies’ room and discovered several men dressed as women, powdering their noses in front of the mirror. I immediately left the room. Even at my young age, being confronted with this situation embarrassed me.
Paul was protected by God’s sheltering wings on many occasions. Having gone through a rather safe life, he was well aware of the results of sins. His father was a mortician, after all. He knew what happened when a body had been riveted with bullets. He was witness to drug and alcohol addiction, as needle pierced arms and legs were cleansed for burial. It wasn’t new to him, but still living in such a different environment causes us to totally rely on our Savior’s protection.
One day an elderly, well dressed, gentleman approached him on the steps of the Art Institute and handed him an envelope. He didn’t say a word, but walked away. In the envelope was a sum of money and a note indicating that he had watched Paul enter that building each day with an eagerness to learn. This gift was to encourage Paul’s passion and continuation of his studies. He never saw the man again so wasn’t able to thank him, but that simple act of kindness remains a fond memory of man’s humanity to his fellow man.
It was a lesson for him to always pay it forward. He’s always been generous with his employees, with business associates, family, those in need and those who simply want a friend. It isn’t always a monetary generosity either. In fact most of the time, we are on the receiving end of someone else’s generosity, but Paul never fails to give of himself – the greatest gift one can give to another.
ORIGINAL ART & POETRY BY PAUL & KATHY BOECHER©
When troubles come and crush us deep,
They torture us so we can’t sleep,
Our voices close, our lips are sealed,
The words don’t come from hearts revealed.
Why is it when we come in prayer,
We just don’t have the words to share?
The struggles still continue on,
Our hopes diminish and are gone.
We lift our voices, but we fear,
That God’s too far away to hear.
We grow impatient and cannot wait,
We think our problems aren’t that great.
Our ego soon gets in the way.
We think that we don’t have to pray,
But God knows all our needs and cares;
He wants to hear our inmost prayers.
He sends His spirit to our side,
To speak in words we cannot hide.
He goes to God to intercede,
In royal language does He plead.
So take your troubles to the Lord,
Don’t struggle over the right word,
He loves to hear from you each day,
Don’t feel inadequate – just pray!
There seems to be a holiday for just about everything these days. This is one you can really sink your teeth into. Trouble is, if you wear dentures, your teeth may come out with the first bite.
The entrepreneur Alec Barnum is credited for the origin of this yummy treat. I really don’t know how one person can be responsible for something like this. In fact, the Girl Scouts also take credit for coming up with this tasty confection as reported in the 1927 publication of Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts. Who knew the Girl Scouts were once tramps? I suspect it could’ve come into being by using what you had in your arsenal of snacks, to hold the attention of those sitting around a campfire.
Over time, S’Mores have evolved. The original consisted of a roasted marshmallow atop a chunk of a Hershey’s chocolate bar, sandwiched between two graham crackers. Now you can choose to use fudge dipped cookies and replace Hershey with a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, or simply spreading the crackers with peanut butter. The possibilities are endless. Gummy Bear S’Mores, Nutella S’Mores and so on.
The invention of S’Mores didn’t take a brain surgeon. It was brought on by necessity whereby one could survive camping. I’ve never been a good camper, but I love chocolate. I don’t like marshmallows much and am not particularly fond of graham crackers either. Just give me a giant chocolate bar!
HAPPY S’MORES DAY!
My mother always said, there was nothing more handsome than a man in uniform. I find that amusing, since her husband never served in the military and never wore any kind of uniform. When my man decided to fill his obligation to serve his country, he chose to enter the Air National Guard. He went through all the yuck of basic training, became an aircraft mechanic on C-47 Gooney Birds – the military transport planes.
He learned some important life lessons during his time in the service. The breaking of these young men to prepare them for the difficulties ahead, at times seemed ridiculous yet necessary. Many of them didn’t have a clue about discipline, respect, hard work, honesty or integrity. Going through basic, soon took care of that.
They soon discovered how to spit shine their boots, have a spare pair on hand for inspection, clean toilets, cower to intimidating drill sergeants and follow orders. When one fellow had his underwear on backwards, the sergeant took full advantage of the situation. First he asked the kid where he was from. “Georgia, Sir,” he replied. The officer then asked if they made boys different in Georgia.
Being subjected to humiliation seemed to be the order of the day, but in the end it made for a unit which was bonded, united and a force to be reckoned with.
Even though he was just a weekend warrior after basic training, he had an anxious time of it when he was called at 2 AM to report to the base and prepare to go to war. He was told to get there on the double, go through stop signs and exceed the speed limit if necessary. The Bay of Pigs was their destination.
They boarded one of the planes he’d probably worked on, donned with parachutes, sat and waited – and waited – and waited. Their waiting was probably as intense as those who approached the beaches of Normandy many years before. The anxiety of the possibility of battle and possible death was fierce. To have in the back of your mind, that this may be your last day, gives you a whole different perspective. The plane never took off, but during that time of waiting for a nineteen year old young man, it left an indelible imprint.
This experience added to the man in the making. His next step would take him to the Art Institute of Chicago, where he’d learn a whole new and different way of life. Coming from a history of attending Christian schools – a short stint in active duty – and on to a world in one of the most corrupt cities in America. Was he ready?
ORIGINAL ART & POETRY BY PAUL & KATHY BOECHER©
A solid base with bones yet strong,
A place where love and peace belong,
A fortress from the outside gives,
A buttress where time still forgives,
The inner walls are cracked and dry,
Like aging skin they’re doomed to die,
The roof is in much disrepair,
The windows need some loving care,
In time those things will pass away,
But firmly planted it will stay,
If love resumes with owners new,
They’ll make all of their dreams come true,
A house is just a place you see,
But when God’s in it, you’re set free,
To do the things that must be done,
To make it shine and add some fun,
With God a house becomes a home,
He builds His love within each room,
If He’s the rock on which we build,
Those living there with love are filled,
Turn to Him, the firm foundation,
Who gives you hope and restoration.
Neither of us was prepared for the birth of our first child. I think it takes a long time to fit into the title of parent and usually through years of challenges and exciting adventures. Who would’ve known the woman this man had married only two years prior, would now be swelling to twice her size? How could he predict she’d be feeling nauseated from early morning until late afternoon? Who would understand cracker crumbs in bed?
The woman goes through all these unusual changes to body, emotion and rationality and the husband gets very little attention during these nine months of gestation. Still he managed to put up with crazy cravings, my snoring and taking over his side of the bed. Never once did he complain. Well, maybe once.
Time passed and the active life within me grew at rapid speed. Since this baby would be born in August, I had to contend with the heat, humidity and losing complete sight of my ankles, which had by this time exploded to ten times their original size. My discomfort was secondary to the stress Paul endured. How would he support three, rather than two? His desire to have me be a stay at home mom, was daunting in one respect. My measly little salary would need to be replaced and then some. As he worked that out in his mind, I continued to grow to the size of an elephant. It seemed like forever for this firstborn to make her debut.
Since this was before the use of ultra sound to determine the sex of a baby. So we could only rely on what the doctor presumed, by the way I carried this child. He was confident that it was boy.
Finally the day arrived. I was walking home from the grocery store when my water broke. I immediately called Paul and he arrived in what seemed seconds. We rushed to the hospital and waited for quite a while for the baby to arrive.
I was fully anesthesized at the birth. Our bouncing baby girl was born into the waiting arms of my sister in law, who happened to be taking her nurses training at that hospital. As I drowsily began to wake up, all I could see was the dangling umbilical cord still attached to my baby. I assumed the doctor’s prediction was correct and that I was the mom of a baby boy. I must admit, it took quite a while to convince me that she was definitely a girl.
This little one would pave the way for two more children. With each experience we grew more and more confident in our parenting, but to tell the truth, we couldn’t have done it without the presence of God in our home. He is the foundation that glued us together as we said our marriage vows and continues to guide our footsteps now as we face the closing years of this journey.
Yesterday was a day of bringing up old memories, wounds, dirt and cobwebs. We finally began to tackle the plethora of boxes within our garage. These cartons and crates were tucked away when we moved last fall, to be gone through at a later date. With the help of our strong granddaughter, lifting and carrying those boxes out, we managed (to her chagrin) to open some of them only to put them back in a more orderly fashion.
I went through about six crates of costumes from my children’s theater company. My attachment to those hand made items, sewn with love and even some blood mixed in, has waned over the past year. When we moved, I thought I might still have need for them. I’ve had a year to rethink that whole thing and have accepted the fact that they need to go. So I weeded through things I wanted to put in a sale, donate or dispose of. I organized them so they’d be ready for a sale in September.
It got me to thinking about how our lives can change so drastically in one single year, I was going to a funeral every month for the first six months of this year. I had terminated my business. I felt relief, guilt, loss and sadness through that process. I had already eliminated much of the “stuff” in my life, which was merely clutter. I was ready to start over, but all those past memories seem to hang on in the recesses of my mind. Letting go is not easy.
Everything went back into the garage. The buckets my granddaughter had labeled, “garage sale” – “donate” – “save” – “garbage” were almost empty. We will have to address this same process again some day soon.
Sometimes we hang on to our past sins in much the same way. It’s hard to imagine the bad things we’ve done have been paid for by our God. It doesn’t always make sense.
The devil loves that opportunity when we weaken in our faith,
When we cling to things of the past,
When we can’t let go.
Because of our loving God, we don’t have to feel abandoned by God. He has forgiven us once and for all. The boxes of garbage that once cluttered our hearts and minds have been washed away. The cobwebs that cloud our thinking have been cleaned up. Jesus died and rose again so that we would never have to re-do the mess we’ve created in our lives.
In my years of living, I’ve not seen so much change as I have within the last 20 years. Could it be that we’ve been duped? Americans used to have a dream of a better life, a strong work ethic, good morals and a chance to be all they could be. Somewhere in the mix, we’ve allowed tolerance and political correctness to turn our country upside down.
Now our national dream is to have more than our neighbor and to get it by any means – live without religion or morality – work as little as possible – become apathetic about our government. What happened?
It’s been a slow, systematic plan by the forces of evil to turn us away from the One who controls the universe. We, in fact, have become victims of a sort of brainwashing. Truth has been glossed over and transformed into falsehood. The things we used to believe as true are no longer so. When you hear something over and over, you tend to accept it, or be considered intolerable, racist or stubborn.
We have, with this apathetic behavior, let our government decide what’s right and wrong. We’ve allowed the media to convolute our thinking. We don’t want to make waves so we simply accept what we know is not true.
How sad that we’ve given control over to a few self-serving individuals. Last fall, many Americans resisted that thinking by electing a president who wasn’t part of the establishment. He’s been shaking things up ever since and those pontificators in the Senate and House are scared. So they resort to the same tactics which have caused us to abandon our values and our beliefs – a sad commentary on what our nation has become.
As we see bad behavior becoming the norm, we numb ourselves and let it happen. How soon we forget why and how our president was elected. It was the voice of a nation that was fed up with politics as usual. And yet, we are now be inundated with false news perpetrated by a group which wants control over our country.
I believe that in our short history as a country, we have overcome some tremendous odds and become greater than anyone expected. The devil is in every nook and cranny, just waiting to capture our minds and souls. We need to be vigilant and strong and stand up for what is right and true. If we don’t, we aren’t living. We are merely existing.
“The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.” A. A. Milne
We say we’re Christians, but still we often stand in judgment of others. I don’t think we’ll ever achieve perfection on this side of eternity. Even though Jesus died for every sin – past, present and future – our walk on this earth still confronts sin every day.
Being a Christian doesn’t mean our lives won’t be without detours or bumps in the road. We’re told that we’ll have crosses to carry. We’re not guaranteed a life free from anxious moments, fear or even death.
The Bible is our connection with our Creator. It was given to us as a guide for living the Christian life. Unfortunately many stray from the truth of the Word and go in their own direction. For some it might bend towards doing good deeds. Some may say that not every word is true or accurate. Some believe only one translation is the truth. Many discount the miraculous deeds of the Old Testament as myths and story telling. Some will even bend the scriptures to fit their own interpretation.
When human reason gets in the way of God’s truth, there will be division. His message to us is less complicated than we make it. By the disobedience of God’s first people, we’ve inherited sin and in order to be made right with God, there needs to be restitution; a perfect, sinless offering which comes only from God Himself. Nothing we do – good works, self-deprivation, money or giving up everything for Christ’s work will save us. It’s only by the precious blood shed by God’s own Son, that redeems us. His resurrection secures our future in eternity. Because He lives, we’ll continue to live after death.
Sounds too simple, doesn’t it. We can’t help wondering – what’s the catch – what do we need to do? There is no catch. All God wants from us is our complete trust and dependence. Our faith is the only requirement and, by the way, even that is a gift from the Holy Spirit.
Because of this marvelous thing He’s done for us, we can’t help but be grateful for the gift He’s given us. Thus our lives change. We learn to live as Jesus did by being a servant to others, by loving others as ourselves, by sharing the Gospel message, by walking away from the sins that keep trying to wheedle back into our thoughts and hearts.
The truth is clear. The Word of God is truth.
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Stories, features, articles of writer and author David Ettinger.
Life is a patchwork of moments — laughter, solitude, everyday joys, and quiet aches. Through scribbled stories, I explore travels both far and inward, from sunrise over unfamiliar streets to the comfort of home. This is life as I see it, captured in ink and memory. Stick around; let's wander together.
God's amazing grace removes walls and replaces those barriers with Jesus, freedom from sin's consequences, freedom to forgive, and freedom to love unconditionally.
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