Fawn's Journal

Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Taking Care of Business…

It was the morning of November 5th, the morning after the Tuesday elections of 2008. I knew the results before I even got out of bed and laid there wondering what the promised “change” was going to mean for the America I knew and loved. I threw on my old jeans and a sweat shirt, tired of this broken world and hopeless to do anything about it.

Over the next three days I went through the motions of my day, unsure of how to process the mandate of the political majority. While the stock market plummeted and the phones in my real estate office went strangely silent, I mourned the decline of my country and walked around half-engaged, too sad to do business.

With a strong sense that we are in the final days before Christ’s return, I wondered what to do next. Should we pull our money out of the markets and buy gold? Should we sell everything and go a foreign mission field? Maybe we should do what the disciples did in Acts 1 right after Jesus ascended—stand out on the front lawn and gaze intently into the sky waiting for him to come back!

On Thursday morning while I was making coffee, a verse came to mind from my days in Sunday school: “Occupy until I come.” I couldn’t remember where the verse was or just when Jesus had said it, so I curled up in my favorite chair with a cup of coffee and searched out the phrase.

It’s in Luke 19. And strangely enough, verse 11 tells us that Jesus’ disciples thought that the time had finally come when the kingdom of God was about to appear on earth. Jesus gave them a parable to shed some light on what was really about to happen and what they should do about it.

A nobleman, a king who was about to take a long trip had three slaves. Before he left he gave each slave some money to invest. You remember the story. One slave does a great job by making a ten-fold return for the master. The second one does an okay job by producing a five-fold profit and the last buried the money and didn’t make any return at all. Jesus had something to say to each one of them: “Well done,” for slave number one, a passing grade for slave number two, and the words, “Worthless slave,” for slave number three.

But the part of this passage that pulled me out of my doldrums was in verse 13. Sure enough, the King James Version did say, “Occupy until I come.” But in current English “occupy” sounds like the King was telling his slaves to hang-out and take up space. That’s not the real meaning of the word. It’s the Greek word for to “do business or trade.”

I closed my Bible with clear direction on what to do next. The King is on a long trip. He’s given me some assets and expects a healthy return — Bible classes to teach, a real estate practice to direct and a family to care for. With renewed joy and a sense of purpose, I got up from my chair, put on my best suit and went out to face the day.

“Do business until I come back.” –Luke 19:13

Friday, October 31, 2008
Prayer That Changed History

"Because you have prayed to Me about Senacherib King of Assyria…"
Isaiah 37:21

Things were bleak in Jerusalem. The Assyrians were coming to destroy the city and nobody could stop them. If the pollsters had been calling households, opinions would have come in a slam-dunk in favor of the Assyrian King and his advisors. Senacherib's army had already mopped up all over the region and Jerusalem was next.

The Assyrians send word to Judah's King Hezekiah in Jerusalem and ask a good question: "Who are you relying on?" Then the Assyrians went on to launch a psychological attack by adding—all your counsel in this war is just made up of "empty words". It's over. Give up.

Like all effective enemies, the Assyrians had studied their targets. In Isaiah 36:10 they reminded King Hezekiah that Israel's own prophets had already told them what was coming. Because of Israel's persistent rebellion against God, the city would be carried off into captivity. They put it in a letter and they mocked Israel saying—even your God is against you. It's over. Give up.

While Assyrians surrounded the city with a sea of armed warriors, the King of Judah, Hezekiah, grabbed the letter and entered the temple. He spread out its pages before the Lord and prayed. It was an honest prayer. It was the prayer of a man who has no place else to go.

"And now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou alone, Lord, art God."

God answered and His answer reminds me that my prayers can change history—

"Because you have prayed to Me about Senacherib King of Assyria, this is the word that the Lord has spoken against him…"

"Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the King of Assyria, 'He shall not come to this city, or shoot an arrow there; neither shall he come before it with a shield, nor throw up a mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not ome to this city, declares the Lord."

"For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David's sake."

The Scripture says, "Because you have prayed…" Our prayers can change the course of history. And today, America's history hangs in the balance.

"And He shall be the stability of your times, A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; The fear of the LORD is his treasure."
Isaiah 33:15

Monday, September 8, 2008
Dinner on the Grounds

Summer is already over. But I’m still thinking about those warm days—like that Sunday in July when we had our church picnic. I grew up going to church picnics--"dinner on the grounds" as we used to call it. While preparing food for the July get-together, I found myself humming an old hymn while I flew around the kitchen. I had this strange sense of excitement about the next day’s picnic. And in the middle of stirring up a pink fluff salad I figured out why. Some of my best memories of childhood are at potlucks "on the grounds." My parents and grandparents all attended a little Bible church in Independence, Missouri. Back in the ‘50’s my family showed up every time the doors were opened. It was a place where I felt loved—not just by my parents, but by an entire congregation. I never felt more a part of God's family than at one of those pot luck picnics.

I stopped cooking long enough to go downstairs and find a picture of me and my mother standing under the trees outside our country church. Behind us are Betty, Pansy, Mary and others arranging the tables with piles of wonderful food. My mother is young with a plaid cotton skirt. She's holding my hand. I'm a little 5-year-old girl with pigtails, a Sunday dress and a big smile. Those picnics were a safe place where a little girl could run and play within the boundaries of God's people. And that is why I still get excited about dinner on the grounds.

Memories like that, have kept me close to people like that, for over 50 years. At our church picnic in July, I took a lot of pictures of children standing with people who love them. When life gets tough, memories of a church picnic just might keep them connected to a safe place surrounded by God's people.