Bats in my belfry

Well, actually in my basement.

We had a very busy weekend. I was away Friday night and Saturday at a church retreat, then spent Saturday night and early (6am early) Sunday morning preparing for the very intricate Passover Seder worship service our creative team had planned. Brian took care of the kids all weekend. Around 11pm, exhausted from our weekend, we were preparing for bed. And then I spied the 2 coolers I had taken with me over the weekend (to hold foodstuffs for the Seder service) sitting in the front hall, still needing to be washed out and put away. Grff.

I yelled up the steps and asked Brian if he would please, pretty please come do it before bed (he's the only one who can get them back where they live under the basement steps). He let me know rather grumpily that he was not going to do it tonight. Not wanting the coolers to get all icky inside from sitting closed up unwashed I carried them down to the basement and turned them upside down open on the back patio. Turned the lights out and got ready to go upstairs for bed.

As I was coming up Brian was coming down muttering and grumbling about "might as well get it over with" and stomped down into the basement. And about 30 seconds later a sound issued from the basement the likes of which I have never heard my husband make before. I can only approximate it in writing as "Aaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiigggghhh!!" Suffice to say my heart nearly stopped as I couldn't imagine what had happened. While removing my heart from my throat I became even more puzzled as this strange yell was followed by hysterical laughter.

Ooooookaaaay.

Utterly perplexed, I cautiously opened the basement door and yelled down to ask if Brian was all right and what on earth had happened? He yells "Shut the door we've got a bat in here!!"

Slam the door.

Open the door a crack - "We've got a WHAT?!?"

"A bat!!"

My overtired brain tries to process this (whatwhenhowwherewhyhow?)
Brian meanwhile managed to shoo the bat back outside. He said it was simply sitting and fluttering on the basement steps and after he opened the door it silently shot out the door like, well, a bat out of youknowwhere.

However, we spent at least half an hour trying to figure out when and how our erstwhile houseguest stowed away. Came in Saturday afternoon while Brian and the kids had their (rather drizzly) cookout? Snuck in while Brian cleaned up the grill Saturday night? Pelted in unseen while I ran back up to get the other cooler? Somehow flew right past Brian as he went back outside?

We still have no idea.

The coup de grace? I'd forgotten to tell the children about it this morning, but Chris was reading this over my shoulder which reminded me. So now Charlotte is crying because we didn't save the bat for her to see.

Sheesh.

Fell off the page again

Sorry about that.

While my blog has been silent God has been doing big things in my life, my heart, my journey as a Christ follower. It's been a case of too much, not too little to share.

This weekend is our creative arts retreat - maybe after it I'll be able to wrap words around some of the things going on in my life. Just as a teaser, I'll let you know that some of the those things include:

1. Going through (another, deeper) dark night of the soul - but there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

2. Connected with another leader at church and compared notes on our journeys - they are surprisingly similar.

3. Just yesterday God reunited my husband and me with a very dear friend with whom we'd (unwillingly) lost touch.

Ok, that's it for the teaser - time for me to get packing...

If the song fits

We had an eye opening sermon this past Sunday. Many of the points our pastor made helped me in this wrestling with God thing that I've been doing lately, this trying to break through my spiritual glass ceiling.

Basically he was telling us that each person is made of 3 parts - body, soul and spirit. And that the "soul" part of us can be further broken into mind, emotions, and will. That before Jesus came, all contact with God was "top down" the law - do these things and you shall live. But after Jesus, God-within-us moves through our "soul" (mind-emotions-will) to reach through our beings toward God to bring us ever God-ward. Chris said it better, that's just a brief background so the rest of this makes sense.

Anyway, he said that if we are operating in our Christian walk missing either the God-through-mind (Scriptures), God-through-emotions (worship) or God-through-will (surrendering our will) we will have a lopsided faith. Sitting there listening I realized that my walk has been lopsided - missing the "emotions" part. So we were told that that is when we need to "offer a sacrifice of praise". In the world's terminology - do the action and the emotion will follow.

I have heard that phrase, a sacrifice of praise a lot. It's bandied about if you've spent any time at all in any church. But now I really sat and thought about it. I haven't really had any spontaneous times of worship when I've been away from church. Okay, guess I haven't got anything to lose - so Monday morning, feeling in a rather hang-dog state of mind - I tried it. Got my iPod and looked up all my favorite worship tunes and just sang for about a half hour. And, I must admit - I felt rather more peaceful and settled going about my day.

This morning, after dropping kids off at the bus stop I put on a few song tracks I'd worked up a while back - to exercise my rusty pipes (love those allergies) and see if this sacrifice of praise thing was a keeper. I did a few songs, then had to stop to take care of the baby. But a funny thing happened. I kept singing - songs that I hadn't thought about in years (from my concert choir days) just started pouring from my mouth unbidden. And a hymn - one of my favorites - kept playing over and over in my head. A lot of times I find if God drops a song in my head that the words are appropriate to my situation. I couldn't remember past the first verse, so I grabbed a hymnal and looked it up. I find it indeed appropriate - for me, and for the season of Lent. It's an old Welsh hymn and was one of my dad's favorites too. He used to joke that Welsh hymns always sounded like Welsh funeral dirges and were many times used for just that. The tune, Ebenezer (or Ton y Botel) is beautiful and haunting.

Once to Every Man and Nation
words by James Russell Lowell
music by Thomas John Williams


Once to every man and nation
Comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood,
For the good or evil side;
Some great cause, God's new messiah,
Offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever
'Twixt that darkness and that light.

By the light of burning martyrs,
Jesus' bleeding feet I track,
Toiling up new Calvaries ever
With the cross that turns not back;
New occasions teach new duties,
Time makes ancient good uncouth;
They must upward still and onward,
Who would keep abreast of truth.

Though the cause of evil prosper,
Yet 'tis truth alone is strong,
Truth forever on the scaffold,
Wrong forever on the throne.
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
And, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow
Keeping watch above his own.


Here is a beautiful rendition of the tune.

Starve a fever feed a cold?

Or something like that.

Arrgh. For anyone thinking I dropped off the planet...no. I came down sick on Sunday with this lovely cold/flu variation that seems to keep boomeranging back on me. I can't seem to sleep it off, drown it with tea/water/fruit juice, vitamin it to death - nothing. Bleah!

Just when I think I'm getting over it it comes back in new and exciting ways. So since it takes all my energy each day to just do what must be done, I may be absent a while longer. It's really hard to write anything funny or profound when my head feels like a full water balloon.

Here's hoping spring comes soon...