No!! Don't put the snake in with the baby!

My grandson Micah is a voracious reader.  He loves books!  Reading at a level well beyond his 7 years, he has a rather eclectic interest in reading material.  He came to mind the other day when I saw that someone had recommended that his folks get him the "children's" book series that is so popular these days, books filled with wizards, magic and violence.  "No!",  I thought, "not MY grandchildren!"

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Not long after, I had a dream.  A vivid, heavy dream that left me on the alert.  In it, I was sitting on a bed, and someone's little boy was laying down under the covers.  There was a very long green snake in the area, and suddenly it was on the bed beside me.  In order to confine it and keep it under control until someone came to deal with it, I stuffed it under the blankets.

In the dream, I continued talking and reading...until I suddenly realized what I had done:  I had put the snake under the covers...where the baby was!  I tore the blankets away, and my heart froze.  The snake was just finishing up swallowing the little boy.  All I could see was the top of his head.  I frantically searched for ideas of what to do...couldn't find any...then I woke up.
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One of the first things that came to mind then was the series that had been suggested for Micah. In it, the "heroes" are those who know magic, and they lie, steal and murder.  There is torture, drinking of animal blood, spells and incantations, revenge, humans beings possessed and controlled by spirit beings, necromancy...

Unfortunately, it's NOT all fantasy! I read a letter from an ex-witch who said that all the spells and incantations are exactly the ones used in the occult. She called the series "orientational and instructional manuals of witchcraft woven into the format of entertainment."  A real wizard wrote that he loved the books because the spells described were exactly the same occult formulae he used! 

I'm horrified that there is action being taken to make this series a part of public (gov't) education. If that happens, then I say, "Blessed are those whose children are NOT in the public school system."  I also read some comments from young children who say they'd love to learn to handle magic so they could get even with others, and be able to do all those things.  And you know kids...when they read something, they usually want to know if it works in the "real world".  They are researching all this stuff on the Internet, trying to learn all they can, craving the magic, craving the power.

No, it's not all harmless fantasy. It's dangerous.  Many Christian parents won't let their kids read these books. (Bravo!)  Sadly, there are some who think the books are great fun!  But I also learned in my research that even some NON-Christian parents have become concerned about the fear they see in their kids after reading these books.  Now the author has said that in future books the protagonist will be "doing things with girls".  Great...just what our kids need.
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What we let our children read and see is what feeds into their minds. If we let them read inappropriate and dangerous material, that's what stays in their heads...and hearts.  Why pollute them?..at any age...but especially so young!  (Our beloved Micah is only seven!!)  It's like putting the snake in with the baby!  Let's not give our Enemy the opportunity to plant these seeds in our precious children's lives. If we're not careful, the day will come when we realize what we've done and find that The Snake has already begun to swallow them!
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You may wonder if I'm against fantasy.  Not at all!  I love fantasy.  But not when it involves such insidiously-introduced emphases on the occult, with skewed morality. I grew up in an area where there were real witchdoctors.  I have had personal experience with, and heard first-hand reports of, the powers and activities of Satan and his evil spirits.  They're not a joke.  They are very real...and nothing to play around with.  But we must fight them with the power of God, NOT with occult magic.  God's power can protect us and destroy them...ONLY God's power.  Now, THAT's what we should make sure our kids grow up learning...protection and freedom from the Enemy comes only from the mightiest Source of Power there is!
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I was thrilled when Dan told me that he and KC feel uncomfortable about letting our smart, perceptive, active Micah read this particular series of books.  Good for them!  I'm sure Debbie and Steve feel the same way about what they let their girls read, what movies and programs they let them watch.  I pray that more and more parents will come to similar conclusions and decisions.

Have a wonderful week, full of God's peace, nestled in His arms of freedom and protection...and very, very great love! 

What do you think...does he look like his father?

First of all, you need to know who this little boy is, right? He's definitely a Rhon...but is he Dan (our son) or Micah or Eli (grandsons)?  And who's his little friend?  Does the background tell you anything? (Probably not...sorry!  Looks like they just escaped from behind bars, eh?)

Here's a picture of Dan with KC and the kids.  Micah is between his parents and Eli is on this end.  Which of the three looks like the boy in the top photo?  ("All three?")

  But you had to choose one, so...see if you were right!  The top picture was taken in Dan's birthplace, Australia, when Dan and his friend Ingrid were around three-and-a-half years old. (Is that about right, Nélida?)   (Ingrid's folks were good friends, from Argentina, and co-workers in the Spanish-speaking church.) I think this was taken in our back yard, in front of the fence the owner of the property put in so that he could keep a sheep back there.  (The lot was very large.)  We named the sheep Charlie.  After that, every time Dan saw another sheep he'd say, "There's a Charlie!"  (Although he said it in Spanish, the only language he spoke til he was five.) 

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If you haven't seen  my husband Germán (to see if son looks like father)...here he is reading to Eli, and granddaughters Liliana and Miriam. Somewhere, someone has a picture of Germán when he was two, with ringlets!!  But no one seems to know where it is or who has it.  Even without that photo, I can tell you that Dan didn't look much like his dad on the outside!  When Germán carried Dan on his shoulders, the contrast between the father's jet-black hair and the son's very light-brown (almost blond) hair was impressive.  Some people didn't believe they were father and son at first!  Micah and Eli do look  more like their dad, and in some older pictures of them, it's hard to tell who it is!

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 "What do you think...does he/she look like The Father?"  If this were asked about you...what would people say?  Jesus definitely looked like His Father! "If you really knew Me, you would know my Father as well....Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father." (John 14:7,9)  Can the same be said about us, His children?

 What one looks like inside is much more important than physical resemblance. It's fun to see baby pictures and compare, isn't it?  But more importantly, we know that Dan makes an effort to model behavior and ethics that Micah and Eli can learn from, so that they can, even in their own individuality, grow to  resemble their dad inside as they understand that he strives to resemble his Father..and we pray that they will purpose to do the same.  Jesus left us the best example of how we can "look like our Father". Studying how He lived, how He spoke...in such a way that He could say "I and the Father are one"...is enlightening.  And challenging!!  (Maybe even a little intimidating!)  None of us could ever compare to Jesus, but we can learn from Him what it means to be "one with the Father".

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Have a wonderful week!

Sometimes, it's really hard to go on...

...like now, when I've been "under the weather" for several weeks, still not feeling all that well, and  behind in SO many things, and wondering if anyone really understands, with my brain whirling around, trying to figure out how to keep half-way stable...


You've never felt like that, have you?  Oh, you have? Or you're feeling like that right now? Well, let's try to cheer each other up with the words to this song.  Our Lord invites us to give Him ours (love and life) as the best way to open ourselves to receive His.  And so we find PEACE...  
                                                                                              

                       Give Me Your Love
 
Give Me your love, and I'll fill you with mine,
til its soul-piercing heat melts your fears and your pride;
til my Peace marks your pathway before and behind.
Oh, give Me your love, Child,
and I'll fill you with mine.

Give Me your thoughts, and I'll fill you with mine,
til your words and your dreams with Eternity rhyme;
til they burn on your lips like the taste of New Wine.
Oh, give Me your thoughts, Child,
and I'll fill you with mine.

              Give Me your eyes; and now come, look through mine,
              til the way that I see things is etched on your mind;
              til your faith and your hope cross the boundaries of Time.
              Oh, give Me your eyes, Child,
              and then come, look through mine.

                       Give Me your life, and I'll fill you with mine,
                       til your soul drinks the essence of goodness divine;
                       til my Joy makes you strong, and my Light makes you shine.
                       Oh, give Me your life, Child,
                       and I'll fill you with mine!
 
                     *******************************************   (Becky Rhon)                                                                               

It helps to remember that peace is NOT the absence of pain and problems, but rather the confidence and trust we have as we go through the pain and problems, knowing that we rest in Arms of Strength... Arms of Love... Arms of Life... Arms of Joy.

                                                 Rest in His Arms this week!

A Noe sandwich? What a creative idea!

Do you know what one of the greatest gifts of being a grandmother is for me?  So often, I would tell my children than I loved them...more than they could possibly imagine.  I wished it were possible to transmit to them, somehow, the strength of my love, so they would know how immensely I cared for them.

When my first-born welcomed his first-born into the family, my wish came true.  He could now understand, first-hand, what it is to love a child unconditionally.  He could now understand what I felt for him and his sister.  Later, Debbie would also experience that love when she had her two girls.

We have five beautiful, precocious, very articulate grandchildren.  Noemí (Noe for short) (9), the oldest, is on the far left.  Micah (7) is the next oldest, and he's on the far right.  Eli, Dan and KC's youngest, (4) is in the middle, between us.  Debbie and Steve's girls are Miriam (almost 5), on my lap, and Liliana (6), on Germán's lap.

We don't live close enough to be able to take a very active part in these precious lives, but God has allowed us to see them all at least once a year, sometimes more often.  We have been able to get glimpses into their growth, watching (usually from a distance) as each one develops his/her own personality.  We have so many special memories tucked away...for example: the Noe sandwich.

When Noe was two years old, we were with our family in San Antonio, and some relatives made a visit to meet the newest arrival, Micah.  The relatives left...and when it sank in that they were gone, Noe started crying.  She was so upset, I couldn't follow what she was asking. Then I heard KC answer,  "Of course we can make a Noe sandwich!" 

I watched curiously as Dan and KC faced each other, put Noe up between them and gently pressed in on her, effectively turning her into the "filling" of the "sandwich"!  Then they began to tickle her and soon she was laughing and back to her normal vivacious self.  What a fun way to revive a little girl's spirits!

A couple of years later, Noe and Micah were eager to know if the new baby KC was carrying would be a boy or a girl.  Noe, of course, wanted a sister.  The day Dan and KC were to find out the sex of the baby, they told the little ones that they would get a cupcake...pink frosting if they were having a girl, and blue frosting if a boy.  When Noe and Micah uncovered the cupcakes and saw the blue frosting, Noe was quite upset.  "I am not at ALL happy about this!" she huffed, with a clipped, very adult-toned voice of disapproval.  I doubt she knew how amused we were to hear her 4-year-old opinion.

Our beloved Noe is now a beautiful 4th-grader, often fearless and up for anything, and very tall for her age.

In this picture she's playing tether ball with Aunt Debbie.  She's on the left.  One could believe that she's several years older!  But she's always been "older than her age" in other areas, so why not in this? 
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There's no way I could tell you everything about the grandkids,  but I'll share at least a few "bits and pieces" as I continue.  They are wonderful gifts from God and we love them with all our hearts.
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We treasured Isaiah 54:13 for our own children, and now we treasure it for our grandchildren.  "All your sons (and daughters) will be taught by the Lord, and great will be your children's peace."  Awesome!

If you're a grandparent, I'm sure you can relate.  If you're not yet, I hope you have something wonderful in store for you some day! God bless each one of you.  See you next week!

HE's the One who started the Fire!

Have you ever felt the frustration of not being able to do hardly anything? At knowing there is so much you need to get done...and there's simply no way you can manage it all?

This sickness I thought would be over in a few days is still refusing to depart, willingly or otherwise! I spent 10 days - ten days!! - in bed, and the last few days I've only been able to get up and do a few things in the morning, as long as I rest often; then in the afternoon I just crash for the rest of the day. It's been decades since it's taken so long to get over something.

Now...have you ever had a time when you felt like this in your walk with Jesus?  A time when your weakness simply won't let you do all the things you'd like to do for Him?

                           A WEE BIT OF KINDLING

                               Me:  For now, I can't gather                                    

                                       big logs for Your Fire,
                                       or pour fuel on Your flames,     
                                       so they're brighter and higher.

               In my weakness I bring You
               just some twigs...a prayer...a thought...
               such a wee bit of kindling,
               but it's all that I've got.

                     God:  Just your wee bit of kindling
                              is all that I need.
                              Does the force of My Fire
                              come from you...or from Me?

                             When the logs are too heavy
                              to be lifted or rolled,
                              when you can't bring Me wood,
                              tend My hearth - feed my coals;

                              take your wee bit of kindling
                              (it's all that I need);
                              o'er the heat of the coals
                              lay your twigs - let them bleed!

                                              Then stand back and watch
                                              what that does to My Flame.
                                              Hear the sizzling whispers
                                              that shout out My Name!

                                              'Tis a glorious blaze,
                                               leaping high, leaping free!
                                               Stay and watch it, My Child,
                                               watch My Fire, and you'll see

                            that your weakness won't limit
                            My Word or My Deed.
                           Your wee bit of kindling
                            is all that I need.
                                          **********************************(Becky Rhon)****

 He knows!  He understands.  He is not limited by our weakness. You know, He definitely wants us to contribute to his Fire...but the Fire itself depends on Him, not on us! After all, HE started it, laying on it the most important "firewood" of all:

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(I would add that "not being able to" do things for Him is NOT the same as "not wanting to"!  We can't use this as an excuse or "justification" for idleness. When we do that, God will go on without us...but WE will lose out on the blessings and growth that come from taking part of His Work on earth.)
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May each one of you have a wonderful week, full of God's peace and healing!

Eli, on John the Baptist (Wait...he ate WHAT??!!)

We were in the car after church, on our way to lunch and then to the airport for us to catch our flight back to Quito.  When asked what he had learned in Sunday School, our precocious 4-year-old grandson Eli started his brief narration about John  the Baptist, which included these "facts":
                                                                                                                                          

"John the Baptist lived in the desert and ate cockroaches and wild honey...and he bath-tized people in the Jordan River."

I don't think we were the only ones who were amused by his version.  I can just imagine God listening in with a twinkle in His eye and a grin on His face, and saying, "Close enough, buddy!  For now."

We have such a patient and understanding God!  When we try...but don't quite make it...He might say to us, "Close enough, Child!  For now."  He doesn't expect us to be perfect, so He encourages us, seeing that we sincerely strive to take steps toward the goal, and knowing that eventually we'll get it right.  On the other hand,  He DOES expect us to continue learning, and growing ever closer to "eventually getting it right".  "Close enough!" doesn't mean we've reached our eternal goal and can stop...that's why He adds, "For now".

When we earnestly seek to follow Him, He looks at us the way we look at Eli. Eli gave it his best...didn't quite get it all straight...but we've seen his potential and know that it won't be long before he tells us that "John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey and baptized people in the Jordan River."  He's growing and learning...he'll get there. God knows our potential, our sincerity, so He can look at us with a smile and say, "You'll get there!  You'll make it!"
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On a completely different note...I've been really sick!  In my last post, I mentioned that I was getting over whatever I had in San Antonio.  Then, after 2 or 3 days of feeling fairly well, I went downhill again. Maybe God gave me a special grace to be able to get through the days of traveling, and then do laundry and put stuff away...before ending up back in bed! (So, was it a continuation of what I had?)  Or maybe it's all the fault of the guy on the airplane!  I was in a window seat, and the man in the seat directly behind me coughed quite lustily...right up the space between our seats and the wall of the plane.  From what it sounded like, he didn't even cover his mouth.  So his germs came streaming their merry way up to me and I thought, "I hope we don't come down with something."  Well, I did.

Anyway, my chest was still congested, but my sparse coughing bouts didn't produce very much, so the junk just stayed there.  What with fever, weakness and feeling rotten (and having lost about 9 lbs. in 5 days), I finally went to the hospital emergency room.  We were actually attended right away! What I have is "tracheitis"; the congestion is clustered around my trachea - something I'd never heard of before. Thank God my lungs themselves were pretty clear.  So now, with an antibiotic and decongestant, and doing some nebulizer** sessions, I should be back to my normal pace in a few days.
                                                                                                                           

(**You know, that mask apparatus you put on your face that makes you look like someone from another planet, and you can just imagine someone yelling, "Alien!   Call the Men in Black!")

I know some of you  have been praying for me, and I thank you!!   
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During this next week, may we all continue our journey with our Lord uplifted by His encouraging voice telling us, "You'll get there!  You'll make it!"

"When people get old, THAT gets squishy." (Eli's Anatomy)

That's what grandson Eli told me the other week as he pointed to my throat, so I  assume that's the part of us old ladies that gets "squishy". Of course, I'm not that old, but then he's only 4!  To him, I'm OLD!

It's true that since I lost weight, my throat looks a little more like a scrawny-old-lady-chicken-neck, now that there's not as much "padding" to fill it out...but I had never thought of it as squishy.  Now, thanks to Eli, every time I look at an older person's throat, I'll be tempted to subtly check out its squishiness!  (And maybe subtly cover up my own?)

Hmmmm.  After writing those last two sentences, I realized there's a lesson there.  We have a tendency to check out other people's defects and cover up our own, don't we?** I guess a true sign of humility would be to do the opposite: look for other people's good points and not seek recognition for our own.  (Not as easy!)
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We just got back from a wonderful almost-two-weeks with Eli and his siblings and cousins, plus his mom and dad, aunt and uncle:  our son Dan, gracious wife KC, and their Noe (9), Micah (7) and Eli...plus our daughter Debbie, much- appreciated husband Steve, and their Liliana (6) and Miriam (4...but almost 5).  Debbie's kids are Dan's kids' only cousins, so it's always special when they get together.  And Eli loved having someone around who was also 4!

The only difficult part of our time together was having, first Dan, and then me, come down with the flu...or some other sort of spoil-sport virus. He got sick only a couple of days after we arrived, and I went down only a day or two later.  Though he spent a day or so in bed, Dan's the kind that toughs it out when he needs to...so he did just that.  I tried to follow his example! There was no way I was going to miss out on interaction with our children and grandchildren, The hoarseness and rattle-y chest and cough made it a challenge, to say the least!  I think Dan was sicker...but also tougher!

Those of you who follow my blog know I never miss a week!  But that Wednesday I felt so very sick that I simply couldn't think, much less try to organize my thoughts enough to write something halfway intelligible!  So, for the first time, I let it slide.  (And the world didn't come to an end!)
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As I continue our story, remembering God's kindness and grace to us, I'll be telling you (among other things) about how He worked and blessed and taught through the circumstances surrounding the arrival of our five grandchildren.  At times, it seemed like He really outdid Himself...if that's even possible!

My chest still sounds awful when I cough, but the other symptoms have pretty much cleared up, and now we start getting back into our home routine, buoyed up by the memories of these days God allowed us to spend with our dear ones.  I'll try to include some photos in the next post.

I hope that each one of you had a wonderful start to the new year!  May you remember to write "2015" instead of "2014" on checks, letters, etc.!  I'll see you next week.  God bless you!
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**(I didn't mean to imply that having a squishy neck was a defect!  I was just making an analogy about human nature.)