Full Tank of Gas and Living in a Free Country

     When somebody asks my husband Cliff how he is, he typically says, "I've got a full tank of gas and I'm living in a free country," and in a way, that says it all. I think most Americans have some anxiety over this election, the negativity of it and the feeling that things are spiraling out of control. So I thought it might be time to refocus our attention, even if it's just for a moment, on what's so great about our nation and our people. I did my own survey of people around me, and here are some of their comments to the question, "What's the best thing about living in America?"

Mary Jo Steidler: Feeling free.

Curt Olson: That I can get up in the morning and do a job that I love, and not be forced to do something else.

Kevin Stanfield: The fact that we can worship whatever god we choose.

Kelly Feigitsch: The music. When I went to Ireland, London and Paris they played American music. That and the food.

Kristin Opheim (born in Norway): Opportunity. Think about it. We are so unexcited about all the resources we have around us. It's like a giant playground. Everybody else in the world gets excited about what we have here, but if you're born here you don't appreciate it.

Jordan Ziegler: Women's freedom, because in a lot of Third World countries that doesn't happen.

Rachel Chumley: Our freedom of speech.

Mandy Schaff: The ability to choose. Where we live, what we eat, who we vote for.

Darrell Olsen: That with hard work, determination and a plan, there's opportunity for all of us. We're not told in advance what we have to be.

J.R. Havens: We invented the hamburger....and the Second Amendment.

Renita Brannan: The freedom to be Christian, to be an entrepreneur, freedom of speech. God bless America!

Henry Blakes: Our access to education, because it gives you the chance to get wherever you want to go.

Alan Miller: Not having to worry about anything. You feel safe, secure and you can do whatever you want to do.

And me: I love life in this country, and while we are facing some challenges, I believe we are blessed to have been born here and privileged to live here.

Where I'm Interviewed on KNDR-FM Radio

Here's my interview on KNDR radio. My thanks to Brad Bales.
http://picosong.com/aKWa/

Dream Angels

I ran across something interesting the other day while reading about St. Augustine. He was a fascinating guy. In this particular account he talked about an angel who came to a friend in a dream. In the dream the angel convinced the man of the existence of life after death by discussing the various ways in which we see -- with our eyes, with our minds and in our dreams. The angel used this information to convince the man of the existence of life after death. It made perfect sense to me. Here's an excerpt:

As while you are asleep and lying on your bed these eyes of your body are now unemployed and doing nothing, and yet you have eyes with which you behold me, and enjoy this vision, so, after your death, while your bodily eyes shall be wholly inactive, there shall be in you a life by which you shall still live, and a faculty of perception by which you shall still perceive. Beware, therefore, after this of harbouring doubts as to whether the life of man shall continue after death. This believer says that by this means all doubts as to this matter were removed from him.--St. Augustine

Great point!

In Search of the Burning Bush

 

 

"For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible." -- Stuart Chase 

 

 

Why do some people hear God, or see visions, or receive revelations and others don't? I have a friend who longs for such an experience. "I always hear, 'I've had this dream,' or 'God spoke to me,'" he says, "so I wonder what's wrong with me? I've prayed for that, too, but it hasn't happened." He thinks there is a God, but he wants a burning bush in order to be sure. "I have faith that there's something bigger than me that cares about what's going on," he adds, "but because I have no direct experience I'm not totally sure."

 

He, like most of us, is terrified at the thought of non-existence, so he wishes for assurance beyond a doubt. I don't know if there is such a thing.

  

Saint Teresa of Kolkata received a revelation from God, on a train of all places, and that vision or inner voice was profound enough and overwhelming enough to convince her to devote her life entirely to the destitute and forgotten. And yet, from her own writings we know that she spent most of the rest of her life searching to find that experience again. She got close only one more time, and after that, had to live on faith that the Jesus who revealed Himself to her on the train was still there and still loved her with a totality that only God can manage.

 

How many of us get even one "burning bush" experience? Most of us are asked to believe on faith. I like to think of life itself as a miracle. Leaves are miracles. A molecule of water is certainly a miracle. The human eye is a marvel of engineering, architecture and beauty. All are irrefutable evidence of intelligent design.

 

But when you get right down to it, how many miracles are enough? A sermon I heard recently drove this point home. The Apostles actually watched Jesus perform one miracle after another, and yet, when He was taken away by Roman soldiers, they all ran away in fear. They also had their doubts. But in their saner moments, they chose to dedicate their lives to their belief.

Faith itself is a gift from God, but I believe he'll bestow that gift if we ask him to. In the meantime, if you have those odd moments of doubt, don't be too hard on yourself. You, too, are human.

Riding the Wave!

Visiting with a friend the other day, we started talking about things we're afraid of. I used to be scared of everything. I lived in California but never went into the ocean, let alone learn to surf, because I was afraid of what might be in the water. I tried to learn to snow ski but couldn't force myself to just point in a downhill direction and go. Trampolines? Forget it. Tall buildings? Count me out. I didn't get my driver's license until I was 18 because I was afraid of the instructor. I made it all the way through college and graduate school without ever taking an entrance exam, (no,the schools weren't very happy when the realized it) for fear I wouldn't do well on the math portion of the test.

And then there were the other, perhaps deeper fears. When I was in high school, the only thing I wanted was to be popular. I wouldn't be myself because I feared people wouldn't like me. Instead, I tried to imitate others. The end result, of course, was that I seemed fake and nobody really knew me.

But as I grow older I find I'm less frightened, not only for my physical safety, but for my emotional safety as well. These days I really don't care all that much what people think of me. I don't know if it comes with age or with simply accepting myself for who I am. Perhaps it was finally running that 5k I always talked about. Could be my small successes at work, as a mom, or as a friend. Whatever it is that's changed me, it's been very liberating. It felt so good to lay all that angst down and just walk away.

So, the next time somebody offers me a balloon ride, I'm going up. Paddleboarding? I'm there. Hiking in bear-infested woods...pause for thought...yeah, give me a loud bell and some bear repellent and I'd even take that on. And if I ever get the chance again, I'm going surfing.Rock on!

Dreaming of Arick

Carly, Maggie and Arick

"Death is but the next great adventure." J.K. Rowling

Why is it that some of us are visited by loved ones who have passed away and others are not? I had that very discussion last night with a woman who lost her son at age 19, some 15 years ago. Arick died of a rare type of cancer just 10 months after he was diagnosed. It's hard to imagine how devastating that would be for any parent.

Two days after he died, his mom Julie had a vivid dream in which she was sitting in the living room of a farm house that she had once lived in years earlier. In the dream, she says Arick sat down beside her, picked up her hand and just patted it.

"The first thing I noticed was that he was fully grown.," Julie says. "He hadn't been when we lived in that house. And he had hair! He didn't when he died. I remember turning away to tell his dad that he was there, and when I looked back he was gone and  immediately I was wide awake," So I asked her why she had that experience when others who were also grieving did not. Turns out I'm not the first person who's asked her that.

"I think it was because I needed that experience. For comfort. And he knew it." It wasn't the only time she's felt his presence.

"Shortly after he died I was at home alone, downstairs by myself when I heard the radio coming from upstairs. It was his radio. So I went up and shut it off," she tells me. "I went back downstairs and before I could get back to what I was doing, it turned on again. I went back up there and said, 'Arick, that's enough,' and it stopped."

Arick's sister also dreamed that he came and sat beside her on the couch,when she was going through her own illness. All he said was, "It's tough, isn't it?" But Julie says Maggie felt enormously comforted by it.

And one of Arick's friends actually saw him. She was going to college at NDSU where he had been a student. She was walking home and she heard stomping behind her. She turned to look but nobody was there. She walked again and again heard the stomping. This time when she turned around, she told Julie that Arick was standing there with a big, goofy grin on his face. And she said he was wearing this weird stocking cap with long tails on either side.

"When she told us that my sister said, 'Oh my God!' That was a hat that he used to wear." It turns out that this girl had a medical problem of her own and was scared about it. Julie thinks Arick was once again comforting someone he cared about.

She says she still feels his presence every once in a while, and while she can't prove it, she believes he makes it his mission to offer comfort. And she's received another important gift from her son. She has lost her fear of death.

"Don't get me wrong," she said. "It's not that I want to die, but I'm not afraid of it like I used to be. I know who's there, waiting for me." She says it with conviction and some pretty intense love.

https://www.amazon.com/Gift-Death-Message-Comfort-Hope/dp/0692745610/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474596023&sr=8-1&keywords=gift+of+death

Looking Into the Eyes of God While Sitting in a Bookstore

We search so hard for answers to the questions of eternity, and yet, when it comes time to talk about it, we shut down. Yesterday I spent a wonderful two hours in the company of friends and family at a bookstore, signing books. As always happens, people stepped up to share their stories of death, near death and the pain of losing a loved one.

One beautiful woman knelt down beside me at the table and told me in a quiet voice about her father's recent illness. He recently came near to death and when he was coming out of anesthesia, he said something that troubled her. Basically, he said he was "broke down" and mentioned leaving. It wasn't clear to her what he meant, whether he was ready and wanted to go or whether he didn't want her to be there. Either idea brought tears to her eyes. We chatted a moment about some possibilities, but in the end I suggested she just ask him. I hope she did. Hospice workers have told me that bringing up the topic and giving people a chance to talk about their concerns can be a huge relief to all concerned.
I'm told that leaving a loved one can be the hardest part of dying. I take comfort in knowing that we're parting for a blink of an eye when you look at it in terms of eternity.
https://www.amazon.com/Gift-Death-Message-Comfort-Hope/dp/0692745610/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1474221661&sr=8-2&keywords=gift+of+death