Flashback

Tonight, at group, Keith referred to Proverbs 31.

I opened to the verse, looked at the title for the passage, and immediately started to fight back tears.

The title:

Epilogue: The Wife of Noble Character

I read this passage (10-31) at Grandma's funeral.

I remember sitting in the pew and then seeing it was time for the scripture reading. I passed the beautiful casket, climbed two steps, slowly turned, and faced a church full of faces - the faces of family and friends. Grandpa sat in the front pew to my right with the rest of the immediate family extend on to the left. I looked down and somehow read through this passage - and was struck by how accurately it described her.

I learned a lot that day.

Together, as a team, Mom and Dad read a letter that Dad had written to Grandma. I was blown away by their obvious unity and love for one another as they supported each other through this difficult endeavour.

Before the funeral, the casket was still open for visitation. Grandma and Grandpa's Sunday school class all gathered together just before the end of the visitation time. Together, they filed past the casket - all together for one last time.

I remember the tears of a little girl who also called Grandma, Grandma.

I remember hugging Grandpa and him saying, "It is hard. Isn't it?"

So I learned a lot about love, about unity, about family, about pain.

But I also learned about comfort.

As Matthew writes, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" (5:4).

And with this comfort

comes

hope.

The Gazelle

Whew, I'm beat. Not sure what hit me today but it feels like running into a wall and ending up kind of dazed. (Been there, done that.)

On Saturday night, I missed church at Horizon because of wedding. A buddy from work got married. It was a nice evening. On Sunday, I decided to go to church at Grace UMC.

The message was quite thought-provoking. I think it ties in kind of with my last post. The pastor talked about Acts 9:36-42. This passage is about a lady named Dorcas. She dies and her friends are really sad. They hear that Peter is in nearby town and send some guys to bring him back to their town. Peter arrives and goes into the room with Dorcas. He prays and says, "Tabitha, get up." She opened her eyes and got up. On Sunday, I noticed that the only part of this passage that had previously drawn my attention was verse 40. How do I know this? Well, I had circled, "Tabitha, get up." This is because that is what I thought the story was all about - bringing someone back to life. However, Pastor Garver shed some further light into the story.

Why were her friends so upset?

She was a disciple.
She was "always doing good."
She was always "helping the poor."

She made such an influence on her friends that they sent people out bring back Peter.

Dorcas sounds like a pretty cool lady. Her name is cool enough. Okay, in all seriousness, she sounds like a lady who left a legacy when she finally did die. She made a difference. She impacted the lives of others. In fact, the pastor pointed out that her legacy continues to this day with a Tabitha school in Tel Aviv and the Dorcas Society. (Tabitha is Aramaic translation of the Greek name Dorcas.)

Both Dorcas and Tabitha mean

Gazelle.

Reflection

Gate to Huff Cemetery

Great-Great-Great-Great Grandpa Huff

Great-Great-Great Grandpa Huff

Great-Great Grandma Huff

Great-Great Grandpa Huff

Great-Grandpa Huff

Great-Grandma Huff

Grandma Huff

On Sunday night, I had a chance to take a breather. With the recent trip to New York, finishing up the econ project, closing on the house, and various other demands, I just needed some time to sit back, read, and reflect. I came across these verses from Psalms. While this entire passage is quite beautiful, I am most struck by the last three lines below. "All the days ordained ... before one of them came to be."

Psalms 139:13-16 (NIV)

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.



After my grandma died, I became pretty fascinated with the local cemeteries - specifically, the Bremen and Huff cemeteries. In fact, for several months, I regularly walked through the Bremen cemetery and looked at the stones. In a strange way, these walks gave me an incredible sense of time and place. When I started thinking about just my own ancestors, the odds of me (or any of us) living at this time in this place seem absurdly slim. Yet, as the Psalmist describes, this has all been planned out before any of us came to be. Now that just kind of blows my mind. I think it adds an incredible sense of value and purpose to our lives. No one else will ever have the chance to live in this specific location at this specific time under these specific circumstances with these specific opportunities. Kind of mind boggling.

Cleaning House

Well, I was able to borrow a charger from work so am able to use my laptop again. My charger is enroute from Oswego on a CCI truck.

Tonight, I drove through snow showers on the way home from Bethel. That was kind of shock to the system!

Okay, this may come as a shock to those of you who know me best. This past weekend, I commenced on a house cleaning journey. Yes, after closing on the house, reality hit and I now have this desire to start over with a clean slate. The first step in this process is the elimination of "low hanging fruit." This is stuff that does not require much thought. Examples include old magazines, broken items, old notes and papers from work that somehow found their way into the house, and tattered clothes. The second step has been cleaning out closets and drawers in order to put in the stuff that does not currently have a home. Honestly, I kind of hover back and forth between these two steps because I have cleaning ADD. I bounce around from cleaning project to cleaning project.

The weekend ended with 4 larger trash bags out on the curb. On one hand, it was kind of embarrassing to have this much rubbish to purge. On the other hand, it was such an amazing feeling to let the bags drop... let go of all that junk. I kind of felt lighter, less burdened. This cleaning process will continue on for probably a few more weeks. Not sure what will happen after that.


Later!

Home Again

On Tuesday, I left work in Bremen and headed out to our sister facility in Oswego, New York. The journey started with a drive to O'hare and continued with a flight to Syracuse. This trip included a "first" for me. Until this point, I have always traveled with others who rented the car or had ground transportation provided upon arrival. This time, I actually rented a car and ended with this Subaru. Honestly, I actually really liked driving the car. It was quite spacious and had a lot of features not included in the Cavalier. Oh well, I think that I'll stick with the Cavalier!

I stayed at the Best Western in Oswego. It had a fitness club in the basement that was open to hotel guests so it was nice to be able to continue with some of the routine from back home in Bremen. The work at the Oswego facility included broad topics and will take extensive effort in the weeks and months to come. However, I really enjoyed spending time with several of the employees. It is not often that one has the opportunity to work with individuals so excited about change and continuous improvement. This has been a bittersweet week, though. Folks, we are in some extremely tough economic times (as if anyone needed this pointed out). Our company is not immune to this reality and the difficult decisions required in these troubled times. In the midst of these struggles, we need amabassadors of hope.

Friday night, I flew back into O'hare and headed down-town (in the dark and rain) to meet up with John, David, and Megan. I went to school with John and we shared a wall for three years. We ate at great little Italian restaurant and shared many stories and laughs. Needless to say, it ended being a late night and I rolled back into Bremen at 3:30 AM this morning.

Because I left my computer cord out in New York, I'm writing this at the farm after partaking of some phenomenal chocalate chip pancakes!

Out!

Further Reflection on the Gym Bag

I've been thinking about the whole back-pack and gym shorts thing some more since Tuesday. Okay, that may sound a bit weird, but bear with me or move onto another blog.

My back-pack is actually a decent looking back-pack. I mean it is not all torn up or soiled or anything. Just looking at it, you would never expect anything unusual about. Yet, within the back-pack was this bundle of nastiness that had fermented for awhile. Unzipping the back-pack led to the release of this odor and I had to pull out the shorts and deposit them directly into the washing machine. Things are not always the way they appear on the outside. I have been learning that first hand over the last couple days. Sometimes it is necessary to unzip or peal back a few layers to see what is really on the inside. The inside is not always very appealing. However, I have also been constantly reminded of this passage from Romans (I still haven't read past Chapter 3):

Those people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn't so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you've done. (2:1-2, MSG)

Out!

It Stinketh

Last night, I was trying to find a pair of clean gym shorts. I have several shorts but was unable to locate any clean shorts - even after rummaging through the futon supporting the clean clothes pile. Flustered, I started checking around the house. As JDM has noted, clothes have a tendency of finding rather random locations in my house. Still no shorts. Finally, I opened up my gym bag. Wow, the odor emanating forth from that bag about knocked me to the ground. It stanketh big time. That's the way it is sometimes.

Yesterday, stunketh.