Happy Halloween (this blessed my socks off)

This year, Ben decided he wanted to pull our little fire ring to the front driveway and have hot cider, brownies, and candy out front so we could connect with neighbors on Halloween.

As we were bustling around getting ready, Victor came up to me.

"Mom, I wrote a little history of Halloween with the gospel in it. Do you want to print some off and we could attach it to candy for trick-or-treaters?"

Here's what he wrote:

The origin of Halloween:

 

Halloween is considered a time when kids go around in creepy costumes and collect candy from different houses. But that is not how it originated! Halloween began as a Celtic tradition, the festival of Samhain where they would light bonfires and wear crazy costumes to ward off ghosts. It then turned into a Holiday called “All Saints Day” that happened on November 1 In honor of the dead saints. The evening before was called “All Hallows Eve,” or what we now call ,“Halloween.” The two traditions eventually combined to create a crazy day of carving pumpkins, wearing costumes, and collecting candy. Although we know ghosts are not real, it is a fun holiday. We do not need costumes to scare away ghosts, though. There is someone who is much greater than any costume or saint. He came to Earth to save us. Even if you want to think you are good, no one could ever come close to becoming perfect except for Jesus. Jesus is God’s son and he is the only one who could do what he did. God, the maker of everything, saw that no one was good and that we needed help. So God sent his son into the world as a baby whose name was Jesus. God sent Jesus to bear the punishment we deserved. His son, Jesus, the only perfect person, Died a painful death on a tree so that we would be able to live with God forever. But his death wasn’t the end of the story. He was dead. But on the third day, when all seemed lost, He was resurrected! This is not a theory. People actually saw him after his death! Although Jesus died to save our sins, we cannot be saved unless we believe in him. Believe that he died for you. If you believe in him, God will look at you and instead of seeing your sin, he will see the perfection of his son on you and He will be pleased. And you will go to Heaven with him forever.

Victor Katterson age 12

And that pretty well blessed my socks right off. So Happy Halloween, and may the grace of Jesus cover you (and many others) tonight!

Story from Pop Pop

 Here is a childhood memory from Pop Pop:

My childhood was one that I would not share most memories with anyone other than my siblings. They alone would understand the brutality and horror that filled so many days and nights of our innocent lives. Our father was the source of all our pain.

That said, I do recall one of the rare occasions that I think of often and fondly.

    Late one cold wintry night, my dad came into my bedroom. He woke me and told me to dress in my warmest outdoor clothes. With yawns and stretches, I came downstairs to find my two sisters dressed and waiting for me. When he wanted, my dad was very good at raising suspense. He took us to the door and flung it open.

The moonless night was very dark but the few street lights illuminated thick falling snow. I was a wee lad then and it looked to my large eyes that the snow was at least three feet deep. I now suppose that it was about a foot or so. Grabbing one sled and our ‘saucers’, (those concave aluminum dishes with handles on the sides) my dad led us out, down from our apartment, across a ravine, and up a hill to a bare section of the hill that had many gullies. These were formed from years of flowing water.

We crawled to the top of a ridge and watched as my dad took a saucer and slowly made his way slowly over the fresh loose snow. Now it was packed down perfectly. I don’t know how long we went up and down the hill, but, my little mind says ‘for hours’.

All too soon, my dad called a halt to this and thinking that we were going home, I was shocked when he said that we were going for a long walk. Next, to my amazement, he told “me” to sit on the sled. Now we lived way up on the hills that ran along the Ohio river.

In a wonderland of falling snow that twinkled in the lights of the town, my dad pulled me all the way into town to his brothers house, which was dark and no-one answered the door.

From there my dad pulled me, through all the twinkling snow, back through the town and up the hill to our tenement apartment. I have no specific memories regarding my sisters, but I’m sure that they were tired by the time we go home. My memory ends before we got home but I’m sure someone carried me into the apartment, got me into my “PJ’s” and put me to bed.

This memory contains no yelling, hitting or pain. It remains pure sweetness in this old man’s ‘little boy’s mind’. The snow, the saucers, the sled and the winter wonderland of twinkling snow is my Currier and Ives memory.

 

40 years of grace

It is impossible to quantify exactly how much grace has been crammed into the last 40 years of life.

2 amazing parents, 3 fabulous sisters

2 sweet parents-in-law, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, 4 brothers-in-law, 1 dear sister-in-law

2 "home churches," where I have been loved, prayed for, encouraged, taught, pointed to Jesus, and found true family from the day I was born to now. 

Friends down the street. Friends I grew up with. Friends from college days until now. Friends whom I lived with. Friends I have studied God's word and prayed with. Friends who have brought refreshment, wisdom, encouragement, correcting perspective, and joy in incalculable ways.

4 m 2 d with Jemima 

4 y 1 mo pregnant (5 precious babies who came into our home, 2 who went to Jesus)

9 y 8 m 5 d of parenting my sweet kids (uncertain number of sticky kisses, snuggles, and smiles that have brightened every day)

12 y 10 m  24 d of marriage to my kind, sacrificial, funny, Christ-seeking Ben

17 y 3 mo working at a church I love, serving with people I enjoy, admire, have learned from and been blessed by, at all 3 campuses

20 birthdays before 9/11, always showered with love, thoughtfulness, and special gifts

20 birthdays since 9/11, even more aware of how much each year is an undeserved gift

35 years since cancer diagnosis, surgery, chemo, and many, many hospital stays and doctor visits. 1 belly scar. 1 fully functioning kidney. Full head of hair. Clean bill of health.

40 full years of heart beating, lungs filling, eyes seeing, ears hearing, scents to savor, fingers that obey the command to move, legs that can stretch and bend and run, a voice, a mind. 

40 years of sunrises, breakfasts, stories, laughter, bruises that heal, water to drink, a whole astounding world to explore.

And all of this doesn't scratch the surface. Because I haven't just lived 40 years. I have been given life. These days didn't just unfold. They were written in a book before one of them came to pass. 

If all those gifts were taken away, I would still be wealthy beyond comprehension, because I was chosen before the creation of the world. Granted forgiveness and salvation at the cost of God's one and only Son. I have been brought into the family of the eternal King of glory. I have read the Book given by the Word that spoke all things into being and holds them together moment by moment. I have a future and inheritance that will not perish, spoil, or fade.

Oh, what grace! 

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24-25)

Memories of Grandma Vaupel

 

My memories of Grandma Vaupel are like a patchwork quilt. So many different colors and textures fill the shape and substance of her 98 years of life.

Pot holders, Christmas stockings, doilies, and tea towels. To look around my house is to see little evidences of her love woven into countless hand-made gifts. Each of our children has cherished (almost to pieces) the soft, warm blankets that Grandma crocheted. I don’t go a day without using a towel she embroidered. And it’s not just my house. Children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, neighbors, and friends have been recipients of her gifts. Military laboring overseas have received her hand-knit little Christmas stockings. Countless homes have been brightened by her personal touch of love. 

Gardening, canning, picking raspberries, freezing corn. Such warm childhood memories of Grandma’s industrious efforts to gather, prepare, and provide. I remember her rubber-banded bread bags, shielding her shoes from ankle-deep mud, as she ventured into the woods to hunt for morel mushrooms. When I got a little bigger, I gained my own spot at her basement tables with a knife and huge bowl of corn on the cob to trim and scrape and bag, for winter enjoyment.

Grandma was the epitome of a fit helper for Grandpa on the farm. Up before dawn, helping with chores, fixing a hearty breakfast, cleaning the kitchen to get it ready for a full spread at lunch. Always with a cheerful smile, a worn apron, capable hands. 

Grandma could feed chickens, calves, and all the people who could cram into her cozy kitchen. And who overflowed into the living room. Of all the memories I have of Grandma, the majority involve large quantities of delicious, comforting food. It’s not just that Grandma made the world’s best chocolate chip cookies, butterhorn rolls, and pies. It’s more that every dish and pan, every bowl and pot that stacked in never-ending piles at the end of a meal held the stamp of her love. I think that’s a legacy that she passed on to her daughters, and probably has trickled down to many of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas, Easter, and birthday celebrations were made special because love flavored the abundant and delicious spread of food.

That is the thread that runs through most every piece of the lovely patchwork quilt of memories I have of Grandma. She knew and received the love of Jesus for redeemed sinners. And she overflowed with that love. Love for family. Love for neighbors. Love for church. Love for the Lord. 

The last time I got to hold her strong, soft, wrinkled hand and look in her warm eyes, just a couple days before she finished this earthly course, I leaned close, kissed her cheek, and said, “I love you, Grandma, and the Lord loves you.” And she gave her sweet, meaningful wink, as though to say, “I know, I love you, and I’m glad to be going home to Jesus.”  

 

Thoughts on Psalm 121:7-8

Since I inadvertently wrote about the wrong passage for a Fighter Verse blog post, here are some unsolicited thoughts on Psalm 121:7-8. 😏

The Kept and the Keeper

The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.—Psalm 121:7-8

If the psalms are songs, then perhaps we may consider this to be the great crescendo and finale of Psalm 121. And the note that is struck over and over in this finale is the precious note of “keep.”

Remember the first words of this psalm? “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?” This song of ascents begins with the question of finding our help, but it closes with a rhythmic, repeated refrain of the One whose eyes are ever on us.

Shamar, “keep,” has the idea of guarding, protecting, attending to, watching over. And life in this fallen world holds many perils. What kind of keeping does God grant his own?

The LORD will keep you from all evil. No greater blanket of security could cover us in this world of fallenness, brokenness, and sin than this. “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). There is great evil in the world. But unfortunately, our trouble is not simply external to us. As Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” So this “keeping” promise hints at a most precious deliverance. In perfect faithfulness, God has purposed to deliver us not only from evil schemes of others but to provide a Redeemer who would make a way for eternal joy and deliverance from our own sin.

He will keep your life. We see another hint here at the depth of “keeping” God provides. “Life” is also translated “soul.” Our Keeper is so strong that he guards and attends to the deepest needs of our heart. Are you facing grave adversity? Are you staring down the reality of death and the grave? These verses give an unshakable anchor. The LORD is not too weak to keep our life. Even in deepest darkness, he will keep our soul. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4). When all around my soul gives way, he then is all my hope and stay (Edward Mote, “The Solid Rock”).

The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. God’s care is both cosmic and close. Recall from verse 3, he guards each step of your foot. “Even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:30). You will never go beyond the scope of his keeping gaze. “If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 139:9-10). His keeping is constant, and his keeping is eternal, “from this time forth and forevermore.”

The security of our keeping depends on the nature of our Keeper. So let’s revel and rest in the truth that the LORD is our keeper (Psalm 121:5), and by his own saving hand, we are kept this moment and forevermore.

Discussion Questions:

·       What do you find the greatest threat to your life or hope? How has God provided a “keeping” grace for you at that very point of need?

·       What is the most precious aspect of “keeping” to you today? How can you praise God for his perfect protection and attentiveness to every need of your heart?

How to Find the Time

As a follower of Jesus, you want to have regular time in the Word and prayer. That doesn't mean it’s easy to carve it out each day. But you want it. 

Let me lean in here.

Why is regular time with the Lord of crucial value? Consider just 10 reasons.

• Because our hearts are fickle and forgetful.  
• Because the world is dark and darkening.
• Because our families, our neighbors, our co-workers, our children, our friends, and the strangers who pass us in the grocery store are eternal souls.
• Because apart from Jesus we can do nothing.
• Because we have a new identity, a new calling, and we need clear vision of what our Savior and Lord wants for us today.
• Because we need wisdom.
• Because we need correction.
• Because we need God's promises.
• Because facing life is terrifying when we forget who holds all the molecules and moments in His hand.
• Because our hearts will ceaselessly crave lesser things if we miss the quenching, refreshing joy of drawing near to God.

Are you with me? This is important. 

Second, if we see the importance, why is it so hard to implement? If you've ever tried and failed to establish regular time with God, you know it surely is.

Another 10 reasons:

• Because our enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
• Because little kids wake up early.
• Because work, school, bills, housework, yardwork, sports, laundry, dishes, meal prep, shopping, driving, meetings, and church activities demand our attention.
• Because it's very hard to concentrate.
• Because it is noisy.
• Because interruptions constantly bombard us.
• Because the Bible can be hard to understand.
• Because our phones are right. there.
• Because we are very tired.
• Because we feel guilty about not doing it enough, or right, or at all.

Quick reminder: why do we want to meet with God? 

Not to gain His favor or approval. 

Not to maintain a certain level of spirituality.

Not to prevent bad things from happening or offer penance for our mistakes.

In Christ, we are beloved. The door has been flung open to commune with God, hear from Him, pour out our hearts to Him, and grow in the reflection of Christ. That’s why.

Another clarification: having a plan for your time with God is not legalism. It is the essential work of establishing a priority. Every important area of life requires purpose and planning to flourish.

For that reason, let’s get practical ...

Step 1: Ask God for help. 

Our biggest obstacles to time with God are not schedules, children, or our many responsibilities. Our biggest obstacles are in our own heart (accentuated by obstacles from the world and the devil). So ask God to knock them all over and make time with Him a daily privilege and delight. 

Step 2: Assess your daily rhythm. 

Establishing regular time with God is very challenging when life doesn’t operate in a tidy schedule. In addition, life is a series of changing seasons. Just when you find a pattern that fits one stage of life, something changes.

However, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to plan time with God. It simply may not work the same way every day, every week, or every year. 

So consider: Right now, what are the times in your day where you are freest from other demands? Where do you get to decide what you will do with a chunk of time? (This might be naptime, evenings, the first hour of the day, a block of time when kids are at school, or your lunch break.)

Step 3: Consider the competition. 

Another piece to the puzzle is identifying what absorbs spare moments right now.

For a day or two, observe your day like a careful budgeter. Assess your responsibilities but also those spare minutes here and there that are “slush time.” (“Slush time” is where you default when you catch a spare moment … maybe Facebook, grabbing a podcast or newscast, scrolling on your phone, Netflix, checking email, or cleaning a closet.)

Repurposing “slush time” may be a way of creating time with God.

Step 4: Plan the time and set a reminder.

As you seek God’s help and review your daily rhythm, choose a block of time that seems most consistently free and set it aside for time with God.

Then do what you would do if you set any other important meeting. Put it on your calendar, set a reminder on your phone, communicate with your spouse, block it on your work schedule, or so forth.

However odd it may feel, these steps are just the practical implementation of your highest priorities.

Step 5: Plan the where and what.

Next you need a simple plan for where you will be and what you will do during your time with God. 

Here are a few suggestions:

• Take advantage of the double blessing of God’s word with God’s people by joining a Bible study at your local church. 
• Follow a Bible reading plan, ideally with the fellowship of others. Here’s one such option. 
• Open and close your time with prayer, and pray in the middle. More than a mental or academic exercise, this time is for communion, renewal, and refreshment of your heart with the Lord.

Step 6: Do some troubleshooting.

What is most likely to crash your plan?

Keep a pad of paper or your phone nearby to briefly log to-do items that come to mind in the midst of your quiet time. These thoughts are not a sign of spiritual weakness! God is with you in all the details of life, but those things can likely be recorded and dealt with later.

If your children are a frequent interruption, consider some preventative measures. Set their expectations and provide helpful boundaries (Mommy is going to read and pray for 30 minutes now, and I will see you when I’m done.) Recruit help from your husband. 

Remember that you are loving your family by preserving time with the Lord. It is worth every creative effort to build this into your rhythm of life.

Step 7: Arm yourself for emergencies.

In a fallen world, even the best plan is likely to flop at times.

A new baby, the stomach flu, your husband’s travel, or a family crisis shake things up. This is not failure. And it doesn’t mean that you have lost communion with God, even if your planned time is missed.

Consider an arsenal of options for these emergency days:

• Play an audio Bible in the car, while you’re doing dishes, or as the backdrop to your regular activities.
• Let memorized Scripture feed your heart during middle-of-the-night awakenings or the briefest pauses in your day (during a bathroom break, while you sort laundry, walking to the mailbox, or while you brush your teeth).
• Pour out your heart to God, express your weakness and your desire to get time with Him, and hold fast to the promise of His unshakable love and care for you.

May every day be sweetened by time with God, no matter your schedule or season of life.