Hi friends, You might want to scroll down to the Red text to a related Simey Story if you find my observations from Job a little tedious. 
 


 Study of Job Section 2--------------------------------------------1-14-14 and 1-15-14
Dear fellow students of the Word,
Hi,
I was thinking that unless you know that I totally believe this scripture from II Timothy, you may find my interest and fascination with Gods' Word a bit off the wall.  Actually you may find it so anyway.  But I am OK with that.

This is the basis of all I believe.

II Tim.3:15-17

  "…15and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work..."


 

Continuing on with the first chapter of Job....

     I find myself not able to just quickly read through this. I think because here we have a picture of God Almighty in conversation with Satan.

    Although I struggled to finish the book ‘The Shack’ by William P. Young,  and cannot imagine Jehovah in so small a form as depicted there, the imagery has somehow enabled me to imagine the following scene more comprehensibly than I might have otherwise.

I try to read this thoughtfully as though I had not heard it before....

Job 1:6-11

      6Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, 
and Satan also came among them.

 7The LORD said to Satan,

“From where do you come?”

 Then Satan answered the LORD and said,

 “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.”

 8The LORD said to Satan,

“Have you considered My servant Job?

For there is no one like him on the earth,

a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.

” 9Then Satan answered the LORD,

 “Does Job fear God for nothing?

 10“Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side?

You have blessed the work of his hands,

and his possessions have increased in the land.

11“But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has;

 he will surely curse You to Your face.”

12Then the LORD said to Satan,

 “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.”

So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD.

This is an amazing moment in the Universe, that encompasses all time, and all people and answers in a few sentences several of the questions we ponder as we search for our own understanding of doctrines.

I don’t want to be sacrilegious or in any way take from the Glory of God by my words, but I am imagining that God set the scene here, using the ego and pride of Satan to trick him into admitting several things for all creation to hear, which Satan might not have wanted us to know.

Maybe God called a press conference. He, Our God, The creator, He who So Loved the world…could do that...

 I am going to take some liberties here and present my musings of what this might have looked like.

       Were these ‘sons’ good?
       I assume they were. In other translations they are referred to as angels.
       Perhaps when presenting themselves they spoke to God of their frustrations in watching over creation and mentioned that it seemed apparent to them that people on earth did not know about the plan of Satan to hurt God by destroying the bond between God and man. 

       Of course God knew this, but to remind all of heaven of His Omnipotence, he winked at them and said   "Fear not, watch this!"
       Then leaning over the podium he starts the conversation with Satan.
        And Satan, his ego stoked by the attention, lets escape from his own mouth statements that declare the greatness, love, protection, and power, that God holds over wee Man, and the constraining power God holds over Satan himself.
       This amazes me.
        I never realized this before.  

And I used to think that the book of Job was about the patience of Job.!

I imagine the sons of God are sitting there smiling….the Word is getting out, the cameras are rolling and here we have it. I never realized the wealth of information that these few verses hold...
What was revealed in this conversation?

1. Satan is real
2. He is cunning as we are warned, but not too cunning for God
3. He is walking around among us
4. He is considering us….and not for good….He is trying to get us to curse God. See vs.11
5. He understands our financial standing,
6. He knows our family circumstances
7. He understands our influence in society
8. He knows about the hedge…ahhhh the hedge. Had we heard of that before? Hmmm

OK, what else?

(I am thinking God gave the sons a big thumbs up about now.)

We also learn from this interview that

1. God knew about Job
2. Knew his commitment
3. His financial standing,
4. His family circumstances
5. We learn what it is that impressed God. That is amazing too. (we are not talking about salvation here, we’re talking about what God thought of what Job thought of God.) That’s how I see it.
6. We hear  that being perfect and upright impresses God,
7. that fearing God and turning away from evil impresses God. ( Perhaps that is the meaning of ‘fear God’, acknowledging that He is everything that is good and loving, and  in response choosing good over all that isn’t good.) More about that later….
8. We learn that God blesses…puts His blessing on a person, their finances, all that they put their hand to
9. We learn about the hedge…. when I hear that word and think of that concept, picturing the reality of it in my mind, I am inclined to sit back and smile. I first heard of the Hedge when I was in Bible School at Fairwood. I am getting off track again….
10. We see that Satan is not in ultimate control at all.

Truthfully, there are issues that I don’t understand still, but I am so glad to be reminded again today, as I sat with His Word, of these realities.

And in my heart I am reminded that it is very naïve to blame God when bad things happen.

I wonder how far across the globe Satan had walked before he smacked his forehead in realization that once again he had been outplayed.

Did the sons of God shout for Joy?

Did God chuckle?

　
There is a little family story, generated by our Simon. 
Yes, it’s Simey again!

He was six, we were sitting outside having a snack at the table after school. Of course we were using cloth napkins, and yes, it is important that you know that.

I was wanting a little order from the bickering between the three of them and announced that it was time to pray. All the details are not so clear to me anymore, but for sure he chided me for “always talking about ‘God and stuff“. And basically asked me for my reasons and authority for doing so!

I was a bit amused for that was pretty much out of character for Simon, so I supposed something was going on in his heart.

Well anyway, I told him I “always talked about God (and ‘stuff’)” because the Devil was always trying to make us not think about God (and ‘stuff’)

“Well, what does the Devil do?” he asked

I told him briefly what I knew about that based on this passage and II Peter 5:8. I used the term ‘walking around’ in my description…that I remember clearly because Simey screwed up his face and looking over his shoulder he exclaimed “well he’s walking around here ‘cause he just walked by me!”

I have to tell you it was difficult to keep objective at this point, I may have even looked around too.
 Anyway, I feigned deafness just so I could hear it again and sure enough it was repeated verbatim. 
Holding myself together on the outside, I asked the boy why he thought that the devil had walked by him.
 He replied, “because I was just gonna put something dirty from my nose on the napkin…so he must have told me to do that…but I didn’t!”

Now do you suppose it was about the time I suggested prayer that he changed his little boy heart about defiling my table napkin? I like to think so…..

Well, I didn’t get too far in Job again tonight but that’s it for today.

Walk confidently in that which you Do Know: That Jesus Christ, in another great moment in time, laid down His life in response to the Great love of God for Humanity, he died there, but came alive, having paid forever every debt we had to the Law of Sin and death. He sits at the right hand of our Father in Heaven, He intercedes for us to the Father. He left behind a gift, the powerful Spirit of God to dwell in us and lead us and enable us to hear and follow and Live and be....complete, perfect, upright....

Well, those are a few of the things…

Sitting back smiling…

Charlene

Two feet off the ground.

Memories of Simon at Disney World

 

  For Simey, gravity is something to be scorned, ignored or conquered.  He may not think that through;  we do.
   When we cannot find him, we first look up, checking anything that could be used by him as a ladder to some higher plane that he seems drawn to. 

   When he was very little, just walking, he and his big brother developed some sort of deal....even without benefit of language.  Simey would venture bravely into dark closets, under the deck, between the trees and retrieve toys while his brother barked orders and manipulated him by stroking his ego with the title of "Simey the Brave".
  Well it was cute then.  Now that he is seven, too old to carry or tuck safely into a stroller, keeping track of him at Disney proved a stressful ordeal indeed, for Simey chooses to respond to no amount of barking. 

 

 So we arranged a plan. 

 Each adult kept a kid...

but we all three kept Simey....within arms length, within sight. 

  This actually worked pretty well. 

 We only lost him 34 times. 

   Of course to him he was not lost and always reassured us with perfectly logical explanations like "It's OK Poppy, I was just chasing that bird, or I was just trying to see if I could scale that stone wall to the top, or I wanted to feel the waterfall on the other side of the three foot gap that spans that 40 foot drop. Well, it seemed like 40 feet to us!

 

Ok, I know I should have rescued him before taking the shot...but...then I would not have the proof.  We had inadvertently left only one adult in charge during restroom break....see what I mean?

 

 or...I was following the map.....????

 

   But those occasional moments when he got tired, or was totally immersed in the magic that is Disney, we were treated to the magic that is Simey. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   We discovered that he is our hat boy. Mommy knew that, but Poppy and I didn't.

 

 

 This kid voluntarily laid out 78'9% of his total discretionary  spending money on a hat.  

 He looked at it

, wanted it,

 agreed to wait till later to see if he really wanted it,

 decided an hour later that he did,

and

after several financial sessions with Poppy,

 he bought it,

 wore it proudly all day.

 

As far as I know, he never doubted his hat purchase.

  That is cool to me. 

 At seven, he has a signature style.

 

 

.

   There were other hats

 

 

 

He just wanted a picture of himself in them though. 
 I would see him looking at them and remind him that Thursday was shopping day.

 

 "OK, he'd say, just take a picture of me wearing it then Nana."

 

 So I did 

 

     We discovered just how uniquely manipulative he is though.

and now...

 His adorable smile will never so completely fool me again.

 

(maybe) 

 

When we returned to our rooms, he started to make us think he was deceived by us and that we were guilty of grave financial injustice and therefore owed him hat money.

 

 He has the makings of a lawyer, I  tell you...sorry to all you attorney friends...for he almost convinced each adult, at different times and in different ways...to pay for his hat, therefore freeing up his 78.9% for the shopping on Thursday.  

(Almost I said.) 

 We put our adult heads together, heads that were by then swimming in confusion, instead of the nice pool 13 floors below,

and 

we took a united stand.

    I love the little smile that crossed his face when he realized he had been discovered.

 

  He admitted defeat very graciously.

 I think he was proud that he had engaged us and had been rewarded with our attention. 

He had been listened to. 

 I really think that is all he wanted.

 

.  It is only when he is ignored or misunderstood that he becomes rebellious and falls into a heap.

    I loved his random dancing whenever a tune distinguished itself from the general cacophony around us.
    We saw this at his brothers football games too.  Simey was supposed to be the water boy...a privilege given to him by a hopeful coach.  But his job should have been entertainer because when the victory music was played after a touchdown and the time was right for the water boy to dash out to rescue the parched players on the field with water,

 Simey would be seen Dancing.

  Totally unaware of his responsibilities

just dancing to the music. 

 And so he did at Disney. 

 

 

 And this I will remember, for I am overjoyed when my offspring exhibit freedom of expression...that expression I so sorely lacked as a young person.

 

He was the first of the three to engage the juggler,

                                and after his turn with him, continued to enjoy the act to the end.

 

How I loved the expressions on their faces as they became lost in the imagination of Walt Disney that was present around every corner

 

I watched their Mommy about thirty years ago as she too was exposed to this happy place.  The expressions were the same.

 

 

 

After hours of taking this little distracted bundle of joy by the shoulders and guiding him off railings, and fences, stonewalls and flower beds, I gave him a chance to sit independently on the ride.  I told him it was OK if he sat quietly and proved what a big responsible boy he was.

  He was delighted. 

 

He turned to me and said proudly, "Nana, am I proving myself?"

Wayne and I nudged each other in amusement and I replied "yes Simon, you certainly are proving yourself. 

 We are so proud of you."

Simon  beamed

 

 

And Simey likes tradition

 

The morning coffee or orange juice on the balcony was not missed by him.

 

 

 

 

 

He initiated the cheers, so smiling over this re-discovered treasure of 7 years, we joined in...coffee cups engulfing his innocent juice glass.

 

 

    Two feet off the ground is not a bad thing. 

 

Dancing "like no one is watching" is exhilarating for those watching,

and smilingly acceptingly when caught in the act of selfishness is childish maturity. 

 

I will cherish these memories.

  Simey knows how to live,

 how to chill,

 how to love.

  When we listen to him, he listens to us. 

 I love the lessons this boy teaches me.
 

Charlene...proud Nana

A Pirates Life...not for me either!

So, here we were at Disney World two weeks ago.  Wayne and I, our daughter Laura and her three children. 

 

I am going to talk about the oldest grandchild...Percy Lee III

He turned 9 just a few days ago.

 

 

 

We took the ride on a boat through the caves of the pirates.  Of course the ride was spectacular like all Disney attractions. 

We floated among the caves, dwellings and stomping grounds of various pirates.  It was cool and damp, the scenery lighted by campfires and smoldering buildings and dingy lamps.  Pirates lounged in filthy tattered clothing occasionally raising a booze bottle in a drunken cheer.  Some sprawled happily in pigpens, some against trees, all incessantly singing

 "Ho, Ho Ho, Ho, a pirates life for me!..." 

 

The music made me feel a strange sensation of romance and exhilaration and I found myself anticipating joyous grand dancing halls,  luxurious gowns and black shiny buckled shoes gliding across polished marble floors.

But in reality, the words of the song, which I just now read...and will not post here, speak of looting and pillaging, ravaging and squander.

That is what we saw depicted there in the caves.

In spite of the seemingly joyous promise of the catchy familiar tune, the intelligible message was deceptive.

Even when we turned a corner and saw  the Captain with tables piled high with gold and every manner of trinkets and baubles, the deplorable scene remained.

 We emerged from the attraction, squinting into the sunshine of the real day, Wayne and Percy Lee and I, and chatted about the amazing artistry and creativity of it all.

Then Wayne expressed what we all had been thinking when he said

 "It doesn't look like such a fine life to me though."

 

And that is when we discovered something wonderful about this little big boy of ours;  He surprised us by saying

 'Yes Poppy, I do not understand why they think the gold is enough!"

 

He is growing up, he is wise and perceptive for a 9 year old I think.

 

How often we grand parents worry about the future and how these little ones will cope with the world they are growing up in.

How can we teach them all they need to know and warn them against all the evils and the "second-bests?"

 

 

 I think we should stop worrying.

  God has put in their minds and hearts the ability to figure some things out.  As they grow and mature and move into discipleship with Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God will be faithful to teach and guide. 

 

I was worried a little about the influence of the pirates, but I need not. 

 Percy saw the truth. 

 Perhaps it is the influence of family values repeated continually;   the life of satisfaction with daily frugality and the joy of extravagance on vacation and special days. 

His Poppy is a good example of that.

  He lives in freedom and pleasure of spending with the family, in the brightness of  a special day that which he earned honestly on the other days.

Yes Percy Lee, you are right;

 the gold is not enough.

 

 

by Charlene...proud Nana

 

 

Grace and Beauty

 

This week marks a year since a wonderful woman left this family.  Waynes Mom died last year.  This morning I found this letter I had written to her I think a year before that.  I post it today as a memorial to her,  to comfort myself, and her kids and to keep her memory and example alive in all of us who knew her, and also to spark interest in and an example of,  living in Strength and Beauty and Grace.

To my mom-in-law
I guess this is as good a time as any, maybe better, to share with you something I experienced when we were with you at the hospital;
First of all, I was surprised to learn that you are in pain with your back most of the time.  I didn't know that and I don't know how you could be silent on that point.  I usually feel the need to express my pain, I guess to provide an excuse for my shortcomings as a housekeeper or something like that.  I also learned that you had dealt with this abdominal pain in silence for almost too long.  I admire this about you, your strength and solidness.  (But please don't do it again :)  As you lay there in that hospital bed, never once did you complain about the bed.  I have lain in them myself and know that I would have been trying to get a better position; knees up, knees down, head up, feet up, fix the pillow, no fix it again.
But you just bore whatever discomfort with grace.  And that is what I want to say to you the most if I just knew how.  In your frailty, with all the years lived, the hardships and disappointments endured, the sadness's experienced, at this time in your life I saw beauty on your face.  I saw grace.  I saw the love and concern of your friends and family for you.  That is a result of a life lived well, unselfishly.  I just wanted to tell you that you are an inspiration to me to remember that when I look in the mirror and see age and wrinkles and gray, that those things do not matter.  I want to live life so that others will see in me what I saw in you as you lay there in the hospital bed; grace and beauty.

    OLD HEDGEHOGS ARE BEAUTIFUL 　
　

　


So, little Emily was sitting on my knee yesterday and we were sharing a tender moment that included I love you, smiles and kisses.

She took my face in her little 4 year old hands and said "Nana I love you but I do not like your hair cut short."

I was a bit surprised, but amused.

"So I should let my hair grow long again?" I asked the diva.

She smiled at me and said as she looked right into my eyes "yes, let it grow Nana, because you look like a ....a….ahhh, a hedgehog!"

Well this conversation has taken a turn now hasn't it!

I am looking at her because she is so cute and I am somehow so proud of her for being straight forward and talking so plainly to Nana.

For a moment I think this is good practice for us both as I see her standing before me at 11 with that hand on her hip that will likely be barely covered by a neon pink and purple mini shirt, flashy boots and hoop earrings just daring a Nana critique session.

I was brought back to reality by the tiny nose pressing on mine and the big brown eyes questioning my reaction to her constructive criticism.

I laughed and squeezed her to my heart and said "OK, Lady Jane,...I will let it grow some because I know you don't want your Nana looking like a hedgehog!"

Then, with the curly brown sea of hidden tangles tickling my face I whispered in her ear "Do you know what you look like?"

She giggled, not a bit worried.

I said "a pretty little Emily!"

She whispered "I know!" and hopped down and the moment had past into time, but not before I had determined that I will never cut my own hair again!!!

Later when Wayne came home, I was standing before the mirror trying to make my hair as nice as I could. He came in and we began to share our days incidents. We try to share the 'Kid" things of the day with each other so I quickly told him of the incident of Emily and the hedgehog.

I had not completed my dissertation before he interrupted me and said (and I am not kidding!)

"Well, isn't she smart to come up with that description because that is..."

His voice trailed off as he slowly stood upright from where he had been lounging on the door post.

Apparently He didn't like the expression on my face as I had whirled around to face him, still holding the hair spray, my mouth open in shocked surprise

  

"Well, ...Hon!...hedge hogs are cute, I mean it is cool that she would compare your hair to a hedgehog....I mean, ...ahhhh...I LIKE Hedgehogs!

I think they are Cute!!!..

Come on Char!”….he begged, fearing I know not what.

                 

He left the room, poor guy, but not before I assured him he was not in trouble.


I took another look in the mirror, looking for the animal I had heard so much about that day.

The musings of that time before the mirror went something like this…..

“So, its a little spiky..”

."Why did I cut my beautiful long hair?"

I recalled the incident.

Tuesday was very hot and humid. I was tired. I had come in from working in the yard and saw this old sweaty lady with long straggly hair looking back at me from the mirror, and I just had to do something.

I saw the scissors, (which I have since taken out of the bathroom and hidden in a safe place) and I cut my hair.

Simple...well, not really.

I cut, then had to trim for that to match that. Then trim again because that didn‘t match that.

Well, that's how it was.

But now as I stood looking for the hedgehog, I see an old lady with a cute spiky haircut.

More than that...I see myself, amused at the work of God in my heart that is allowing me to stand there, my feelings not a bit hurt, my sense of humor aroused, still in love with and loving my husband who agrees with a 4 year old about my hair.

How could this transformation have taken place? What had happened to the woman who was so insecure for so many years that she would have at this point, believed she really did look like a hedgehog, Why wasn’t I in tears and on the downward spiral to a depressive session?

I suddenly realized; the difference is Grace.

I am seeing Grace.
 An acceptance for who I am.
  Thankfulness for life.
  In living long I am aging into Grace.
 It comes from knowing I am loved unconditionally. It comes from knowing I am formed and created in love.

I smiled in amusement.

I had absolutely until this time hated the aging process.

Youth is recommended by its strength and beauty.
I know I squandered my youth, not accepting that I had beauty.

Old age is recommended by its humility and Grace.
Last night I began to give up hating the aging process.

Right there, looking into that mirror, I choose not to squander these years as well.
  I am what I am. I look like I look.

Why should I dishonor the Creator by complaining about, and spending time bemoaning His choice of packaging for me.

I felt a peace come over my heart.

I pushed back a swatch of hair that the spray missed, and in doing so I saw things I never saw before…the curve of my cheek bone… and it was beautiful, the glint of happy tears in my green eyes and that too was beautiful.

And I decided ………………..

Old hedgehogs are beautiful.

Charlene Eagles Richmond