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Thursday, September 21, 2017

Fully Rely on God - F.R.O.G.

https://www.amazon.com/Gift-Death-Message-Comfort-Hope/dp/0692745610

   Mikey Hoeven has a thing for frogs. They remind her of her favorite acronym - Fully Rely on God. She does that, relies on God, but life can be hard sometimes, and it was particularly challenging earlier this year when her mother-in-law died.
   Raziye had been sick for a long time, suffering from Alzheimer's disease. She no longer remembered what happened from one moment to the next, and while she sometimes had flashes of recognition for loved ones if reminded, she usually forgot them in the next moment. There was one person she did think about - Jack, her husband of 33 years. Raziye lived for Jack and always had, but she hadn't seen him in a while. She lived in a care facility and because his health was failing, he was unable to visit her or call her on the phone as he'd done before. She never stopped asking for him, though, and one day she started saying, "Jack's dying."
    The thing is, Jack was dying. How could she know? Nobody even told her that he was sick, somehow she felt it; she stopped eating and drinking, and simply faded away.
     Jack died two days later.
      Mikey was with her mother-in-law when she passed. And though she was close by, she wasn't in the room when Jack went. Once the funerals were over, she says she felt a heaviness in her chest, a need for reassurance that they were well. She prayed to God, telling him she needed to see a frog. Then she went outside to water the plants, and lo and behold, she saw this little guy in the grass as if he was waiting for her.
     "Honestly, in the seven years we've lived in that house I've only seen a frog twice!" she tells me. She says she immediately felt better and knew that Jack and Raziye were doing just fine. It was a God thing.

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Her latest book is Gift of Death - A Message of Comfort and Hope

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Remembering St. Teresa of Calcutta



I spent the better part of the Labor Day weekend packing as Cliff and I prepare for a move. While we moved a lot in our early years, we've been in our current home for almost 20 years now, so we've accumulated a lot of stuff. For example, one drawer was filled with tennis trophies, which I dutifully wrapped and packed. And then it occurred to me, what do I need to move these for? I never look at them and I don't plan to display them. So I unpacked them and tossed them in the trash; I felt no pain in doing it. So much of what we keep is like that. It might spark a memory, or we think we might shrink back into it, or we imagine that someday we'll find a use for it. My entire basement is filled with that kind of thing.

This was brought home in a big way this past week as I've watched the residents of Houston, struggling just to get out of the way of the water flooding in as a result of Hurricane Harvey, never mind being able to save all of that accumulated "stuff" that make up a life.

By contrast, the weekend news also included pictures of Rohingya refugees crossing into Bangladesh from Myanmar, trying to escape the violence in their villages. Everything they owned they carried on their backs, and it wasn't much. They were simply getting away with their lives.

Years ago my newly-married brother and his wife lost everything when their home was destroyed in a tornado that tore through Andover, Kansas. My sister-in-law barely got out in time, leaving behind all of their as yet unopened wedding gifts. When I asked my brother what he needed he laughed and said, "Well, you can't say I'm a guy who has everything!" Except that he quickly realized he did have everything he truly needed - a good job, a wife he loved and a community ready to help.

Today, September 5, marks the date that St. Teresa of Calcutta died. She lived her life without accumulating, choosing instead to simply serve. As I pack the things that I think I need in my new home, I hope I can keep her in mind, downsizing, simplifying and instead, gathering in and giving back love.