Kay and I wish you a very blessed and merry Christmas. We are in Mesquite, Texas (Dallas area). We woke up this morning to a white Christmas. We were sure surprised. Click here to see some photos…

So, have a great day celebrating Emmanuel: God with us.

I’m going in to eat breakfast with the family!

Lawn mowing is the ultimate introvert exercise. No one interrupts you (they might be asked to take a few rounds). No talking to anyone.

As I mowed today and philosophized this new realization, I grew in my understanding. I realized that lawn mowing is the ultimate exercise for Myers-Briggs INTJs. Not only am I totally alone in my I-ness, lawn mowing doesn’t take much thought. That leaves an NT with a free mind to soar with other ideas. I do some really good thinking while mowing the lawn.

Then there is the J-judging. I’ve never really understood that, but I read this today:

Key words for judging: structured • decided • organized • scheduled

People who have a preference for judging use their preferred judging function (whether it is thinking or feeling) in their outer life. What this often looks like is that they prefer a planned or orderly way of life, like to have things settled and organized, feel more comfortable when decisions are made, and like to bring life under control to the degree that it is possible.
(http://www.knowyourtype.com/judging.html)

Now I get it. I just thought everybody was this way. Who doesn’t want a planned life, an orderly life, having things settled, feeling more comfortable when decisions are made? It’s the only way to live!

And lawn mowing is a great time to get things settled, planning out next steps, deciding.

Ahh, what a great INTJ experience. I think I’ll mow my neighbor’s lawn today also!

I got the idea from Lifehacker. It’s a good idea. For $8.50 and about 15 minutes, I moved from clutter to unclutter.

Here’s where we have been charging our cellphones and other stuff.

Original clutter

I bought a plastic box at Target for $1.00 and a surge-protected power strip for $7.50. I wanted the type with the sockets horizontal to accomodate charging bricks better.

A box and a power strip

I used simple tools from my garage: a drill and a large bit for the power cord and a smaller bit for the charging cables along with a sharp knife to trip the holes after drilling.

Drill, drill bits, and a sharp knife

Drill the large hole for the power strip cable. The Lifehacker article uses a slightly different approach for drilling the power strip hole. I have these wood auger bits that worked well for the hole. The velcro tie-wraps are not necessary. I travel with these some of these chargers so I already had the velcro wraps attached. But they do help keep the box orderly!

Inserting the power strip and charging bricks

Drill holes in the lid for the charger connectors. All of mine would fit comfortably through a 1/2 inch hole. The Lifehacker article has a creative way of drilling for longer connectors that will not easily fit through a round hole.

Charging station at work

And there it is. A tidy charging station.

Quicken no-convert warning screen

OK. I’m not happy. This is a not-so-happy post about my favorite money manager, Quicken. I did the buy-TurboTax+Quicken-and-get-$30-rebate thing. As I installed Quicken, I was informed that the Starter edition “can’t convert a data file from a previous version of Quicken”!!!

This is enough of a change that Quicken felt the need to alert me before installing itself. That’s a good move. It would have been even better if I had been alerted before I purchased the product!

I grabbed the original box and checked to see if I’d missed some fine print. Well, I kind of did, maybe. In the really fine print, the box says “Quicken Started Edition 2009 imports data from Quicken 2008 only.” I have Quicken 2002 on my computer. I’m on the road and have Quicken 2008 at home but never upgraded. So, I don’t know which is correct yet — the inside of the box or the warning dialog box. The dialog box did not say my version was too old, it said none, nada, zippo conversions from previous versions.

So, now I don’t know what to do. Do I pay for the upgrade to another Quicken version so I can use it while on the road? Or do I wait until I get home, install Quicken 2008 to see if Quicken 2009 can convert data files from Quicken 2008?

Any of you have ideas?

Update: I’ve spent about 2 hours researching this “can’t convert a data file from a previous version of Quicken” problem. It’s real. The Quicken Community forums have some unhappy long-time users of Quicken. (Read here…) I found this statement in the forums: “The Starter Edition is for new users only. You cannot open a Quicken file from a previous version with the Starter Edition. You will need to upgrade to Quicken Deluxe or higher to convert and open your Quicken data file.”

Looks like the marketing folks went overboard in segmenting the market.

Our first date

Forty years ago on Valentine’s Day weekend, two nervous teenagers had our first date together. We even have a photo of that first date. Mesquite High School All-Stars Drill Team banquet, Royal Coach Inn, Dallas, Texas. February 15, 1969. Remember the all polyester days?

Several years ago, I had the bright idea of taking Kay back to the Royal Coach Inn to celebrate. I drove back and forth along Northwest Highway but couldn’t find the hotel. It had been destroyed to make room for apartments.

I’m glad our life together has outlasted the hotel building! Kay is the love of my life, God’s gift.

I was ticketed yesterday while driving in South Carolina. “Improper lane change”. The officer said I had changed lanes in an improper manner. I feel like screaming, “Did you not see my traffic indicator blinking before I changed lanes?” And “Did anyone have to swerve or stomp on their brakes to avoid a collision?” He felt that I pulled between two cars with insufficient space.

Part of me has to acknowledge that he is right. It was a little tight. The traffic was heavy and the only way to get around the 18-wheeler I was following in the right lane was to move into a pretty full left lane. I wondered why he didn’t ticket people for not using the left lane for passing-only rather than camping out there.

I also felt like pointing out his own improper driving. I mean, who is he to call my action improper when he had just committed an improper action. When we passed this officer, he was just finishing ticketing someone else. This offender was parked on the right shoulder. The officer pulled around the car on the right, on the grass, and rejoined the highway. He wasn’t chasing anyone, just rejoining. I thought policemen were supposed to stay behind the vehicle as it rejoined traffic, using their flashing lights to make sure cars safely rejoined the highway.

Self-righteousness welled up. Other cars were doing wrong things, why pick me? You, Mr. Officer, are not a paragon of proper driving so how can you pick on me?

Other thoughts swirled.

God is sovereign. Nothing happens to me by chance, it is all part of God’s shaping me into the image of Jesus Christ.

Give thanks in all things. Rejoice always. I even preached on this back in July, calling it 10 Words to Live By.

I remember what long-time friend Don Myers taught me once about the Spirit-filled life, “It only works when you work it.” It doesn’t help to only know to give thanks in all things. It is beneficial in my life when I obey, when I follow God’s principles and actually give thanks in the midst of an unpleasant circumstance.

This morning, I read some thoughts from another friend, Judy Douglass. She wrote yesterday in a private message:

I believe thanking God does many things.  Here are three:

The first is that it expresses my trust that God is God and God is good.  Even when it doesn’t feel like it or look like it.

Second it gives me a more peaceful heart–sometimes just a little, sometime a great deal.

Third, I believe my saying Thank You opens a door for God to work in amazing and unexpected ways.

So, after a long night of laying awake thinking of smart remarks to make to Mr. Officer, I am writing this post as part of my saying to God this morning, “Thank you for the ticket. Thank you for what you want to do in my life through this ticket. Thank you for Mr. Officer who is participating in your plan to mold me into the image of Jesus Christ.”

After all, it is Thanksgiving and Kay and I drove to North Carolina to participate in thanking God with Jennifer, and with Daniel and Michelle and Abby and Lucy. It’s just a part of giving thanks that I was unprepared for, but I’m now getting around this giving of thanks also.

Kay and I stood in line for 1 1/2 hours yesterday. But the weather was cool. And the company of fellow voters was good. The person in line ahead of us was knitting a maroon and white bedspread for her nephew who is attending (you guessed it!) Texas A&M. She was an Aggie also. Pretty amazing to find three displaced Ags standing in line for early voting in Florida!

Our air conditioner is leaking. Inside the house. The ceiling is wet in the downstairs bathroom because the inside air handler unit is above it on the second floor.

I’ve been talking to God about the leaky air conditioner and the exhorbitant cost of a new unit. And, I’ve been reading Job in my morning devotionals.

My prayer life has been enriched by the desperate need for several thousand dollars to fix the air conditioner. For 32 years, Kay and I have been financially supported by a team of financial partners in our faith-mission work. We’ve raised 3 children, seen all 3 graduate from college, seen 2 marry (still praying for the 3rd spouse!). We’ve seen God’s provision every step of the way. But we’ve never seen an abundance where we get to prepare ahead of time for these costly opportunities.

So I’ve been wondering where the money will come from for this current need. It’s easy to berate myself for not doing more to prepare.

This morning, God spoke to me through my friends Angie and Scott. Angie wrote “What God doesn’t say”. You really gotta read this!

Problems. Difficulties. Disappointments. Life is full of them. What are some of the various ways people comfort themselves during life’s difficulties? How do we connect God’s love to the difficult circumstances we sometimes face? How does God’s providence play out in our daily lives?

John & Lynn are good friends who have been a part of our journey through life for over 35 years, beginning when Kay, John and I were students at Texas A&M. Lynn was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. As they thought they were ending the chemo, they learned that Lynn need more chemo treatments. They said, “We began this [breast cancer] journey recognizing it as a divine disruption. This week certainly was a ‘bend in the road’ that we did not see coming, expect or want…”

John preceeded us to Africa by about a year. When Kay and I first arrived in Nigeria 31 years ago, John wrote to us:

There are some things God wants to teach you that cannot be learned quite as well anyplace else on the face of the earth.

One of the foundational lessons we’ve learned during our life journey is summarized by the Apostle Paul.
Writing to the Thessalonians, Paul gives us 10 words to live by.

Rejoice always. [2 words]
Praywithout ceasing. [3 words]
Give thanks in all circumstances [5 words]
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

I remember this as the 2-3-5 plan to joy in life. There is an active command, and a clearly defined scope.

Gordon MacDonald writes:

Discipline is the act of inducing pain and stress in order to grow into greater toughness, capacity, endurance or strength. So spiritual discipline is that effort of pressing the soul so that it will enlarge its capacity to hear God speak and, as a result, to generate inner force that will guide and empower one’s mind and outer life.

God presses my soul so that it will enlarge it’s capacity to hear God speak. God presses my soul so that my soul will have a strong inner force that will guide and empower me, both in the inner mind and in my outer life. God desires tough children, children with capacity, children who can endure, children who are strong.

Heidelberg Catechism eloquently identifies God’s providence in our lives:

What do you mean by the providence of God? (Question 27)

The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by his fatherly hand.

What advantage is it to us to know that God has created, and by his providence does still uphold all things? (Question 28)

That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things, which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from his love; since all creatures are so in his hand, that without his will they cannot so much as move.

All things come, not by chance, but by his fatherly hand. Our response: patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, placing our firm trust in our faithful God and Father.

Paul takes it a step further. We are to be thankful in all circumstances. We are rejoice in everything. We are to have a rich, never-ceasing inner conversation with God.

A couple of weeks ago, we were waiting to hear from our children Jonathan and Meredith about the birth of grandson Luke Andrew. At about that same time, Molly Ann Mutz was born. She is the granddaughter of Dennis and Barbara Rainey. The Rainey’s give leadership to FamilyLife, the family ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. You may have heard Dennis on the radio or read one of the many books they have authored..

Molly was born a few days before Luke. She was born with congestive heart failure. She didn’t cry for the first 4 minutes of her life. Then additional testing revealed a very rare and very destructive abnormality of blood vessels in her brain. Over 50% of her brain was permanently damaged. They learned that after 15-20 surgeries, she might have a few brain functions. The families spent days hoping and praying for a miracle. After 3 days of testing, this young couple has to make a very difficult choice. They decide to not pursue the several very dangerous and complex brain surgeries and remove life support later in the week.

You have to read Dennis’ story and Barbara’s story of that week. I still weep my way through it although I’ve read it many times. I weep because it’s sad. I weep because it’s full of joy. I weep because God is so gentle and loving. I weep because evil is so everpresent, but God is so overpowering.

About a year ago, Kay and I were in India. We got word that our granddaughter Lucy had meningitis. The bacterial kind. The bad kind. The kind that can leave permanent effects like loss of hearing. Kay and I struggled with feelings of being half a world away. But we had God’s words. We had His promises.

During that time, I remembered what Christian author John Eldredge wrote in Chapter 1 of Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive:

[We] were born into a world at war, and [we] will live all [our] days in the midst of a great battle, involving all the forces of heaven and hell played out here on earth. … Until we come to terms with war as the context of our days, we will not understand life. We will misinterpret 90 percent of what is happening around us and to us. It will be hard to believe that God’s intentions toward us are life abundant.

Have you come to terms with war as the context of our days?

10 words to live by. The 2-3-5 plan. They have served me well for many years.

Rejoice always. [2 words]
Praywithout ceasing. [3 words]
Give thanks in all circumstances [5 words]
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Thanks, John, for your advice long ago. I’ve learned that they don’t apply just to geographic places. They also apply to circumstancial places. There are some things God wants to teach you that cannot be learned quite as well anyplace else on the face of the earth.

Luke Andrew Seabourn was born yesterday evening in Dallas, Texas, all 9 pounds 6 ounces and 21.5 inches of him. Jonathan and Meredith are the proud parents. Kay and I will be traveling to Dallas on Saturday to meet grandchild #3. We’ve already fallen in love with him.

Father of all miracles, thank you for Luke. He started life as “peanut”. He grew into Luke Andrew. For 9 months you have knit him together in Meredith’s womb. You have ordained all his days. He is your workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, and you have prepared good works for him to do all the days of his life. Every day of his life is recorded in your book. Every moment is laid out. He is fearfully and wonderfully made. Thank you for making him so wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvelous. Your fame, O Lord, is known to every generation. I look forward, Father, to helping Luke know you – your greatness, your mercy, your compassion, your love for him and for everyone.

You can read more at Jonathan & Meredith’s blog.