The Melheimian Sabbatiblog

Death, Peace & Tornados

I  had to bolt down to check on our cabin early Saturday to see if the tornado hit it. Friday night’s news reports where showing completely smashed homes and farms south of Cleveland, MN, near German Lake where we had built the log get-away with my youth group 19 years ago.

One death. Many injuries.

I woke in the 5 am dark morning with crickets chirping. It was still and beautiful. Since I was wide-awake, I decided to take the two hour drive. Hadn’t seen a sun rise for a while, so it seemed like a good way to contemplate and meditate and do my morning devotions on the drive.

I arrived at German Lake as the sun was rising over the fog. Approaching the north shore, there were some farms and homes that looked like a country-side version of Lebanon.
Corn fields flattened on one side of the road and just fine on the other. Silos in the middle of fields. Lots of powerlines down. Cows wandering where they shouldn’t be.

The strange thing was how peaceful everything seemed after the storm. Still. Beautiful, really.

The other strange thing I experienced was a personal peace as I continued down the road. God whispered, “It’s only a cabin. Peace, be still.  If it’s gone, it’s gone. Peace, be still. It doesn’t really matter. It’s only stuff. It can be rebuilt. Peace, be still.”

It was a profound blessing moment. I don’t know if I could have had such a calm 20 years ago.

I turned past the old saw mill on the south side of the lake and the world changed. The whole south end was untouched as if nothing had happened. Not a branch down. Not a leaf out of place. Everything on our lot and around our cabin was fine. Just fine.

I sat out on the dock for a while, thinking about life.

How can one life be devastated by the storms, and another calm? How can one person be destroyed by the winds, and another right next to them be at peace? What’s the difference? Who is the difference?

Maybe the “difference” has to do with a realization that Christ is asleep within your boat, and that nothing on the outside can destroy what you have inside. Maybe it has to do with getting older and realizing that “stuff” is just “stuff” – it can all be replaced and it all is eventually going to go away anyway.

So, the question for the morning is this:

How can we help others to see the difference? How can we help them know Christ’s powerful peace? What can we give to our children today that will come back to them tomorrow, and the tomorrow after tomorrow, and the thousands of challenge, storms and hits that they will inevitably face in a thousand tomorrows of their lives?

A role model of a trusting Christian parent who is not blown away by the fear of storms?

A role model of a prayerful Christian parent who turns to Jesus – not some vague “higher power” – when the storms actually hit?

A role model of a loving Christian friend who is actively working to pick up the pieces after the storms, giving glory to God and help to their neighbor in need.

All of the above and then some?

 

 

Little Miss Sunshine

She's a chubby, plain, cute little girl who wants to win the beauty contest.

Her brother is a Goth-wanna be who hates everyone, wears a "Jesus was wrong" t-shirt and has taken a vow of silence.

Grandpa's doing cocaine.

Her gay uncle has just attempted suicide because his young lover ran away with his arch-nemesis.

Dad's a struggling self-help speaker who can't seem to make it into the big time.

Mom's just holding everything together and trying to stay sane and married.

Together they make the film "Little Miss Sunshine" a strange, foul-mouthed, sometimes gut-busting ride through the most dysfunctional yet endearing study of families who somehow hold together through hell that I've seen.

If you can stand the profanity (and it's absolutley saturated), you might find this movie enlightening. My feelings as I left were similar to the feelings I had leaving "Rent".

The message from theis preacher/critic/social commentary guy:

Life without Jesus is rather sad and hopeless, and the best you can hope for before you die is someone who loves you through the suffering.

We al

Church in China

A very interesting piece on the Christian church in China fromTime /CNN today. There are thousands of new converts every day and the government is getting a bit nervous.

Speaking of China, our friend Dr. He Qi is back in the states and just purchased a house. We'll be moving him in in a week. It is a townhouse with room for his wife, Yu Hua, to do her music lessons, his son, Song Yang (my Godson), to study his college books, and the artist to create new works.

Send him a "congratulations on your new house" from a friend of Rich if you get a chance.

Lazy Dog Blog

I haven't exactly been blogging lately. I just didn't get around to it.

Of course, my intentions were good.

Why have I been a lazy blogger. No excuses, really. I just have.  My friend Dana Hanson was ordered by his mentor Dallas Willard to take a three week blog break and see what life was like. I don't know... maybe something in the back of my mind clicked in with Dana's break. Of course, he announced it to the world. Me, I just didn't show up.

Who was it that said "half of life is just showing up?"

I guess I must have missed half of life.

Anyway, I'm back now from doing a month of 14-16 hour days getting our curriculum together for Bible Song and our confirmation Living Journals. They're not so bad. (Norwegian complement.)

In fact,they're actually okay. (That's as good as a Norwegian will tell it. In other words, fantastic.)

We put He Qi art and my cartoons and all the new music and sign language together to create brain-based resources that go home.

Now the challenge will be to find ways to convince parents that they actually WANT to talk to their kids every night.

Any ideas? I'm all ears.

Of course, if you're lazy you can just keep the ideas to yourself and send them my way when you get around to it.

As long as your intentions were good.

Long Ride

I grew up in North Dakota.

That's the state that wears the "We're for Global Warming" t-shirts.

I can remember winters where the car wouldn't start five days in a row because the oil turned to sludge.

This weekend I drove up to Fargo to visit my dad and drop our two kids off for a bus to Camp Metigoshe. Metigoshe ("many oaks" in Ojibwa) is the camp where Arlyce and I met thirty-one summers ago. We were college student counselors back then. I was a long-haired barefoot guitar player. She was cute as a bug (as we say in North Dakota) and played the flute. We counseled together, sang together, lived through a tornado together, saw each other through a few break-ups and eventually became best of friends over the next four summers before I kissed her in the Ranger Tower and took her home to meet the folks.

My 17 year old daughter is spending her second week as a Councelor in Training, and my 13 year old Joseph is a camper.

The ride across the rolling prairie on Saturday afternoon/evening was surprizingly and unexpectedly one of the best four hours of parenting I can remember. For some odd reason neither of the kids retreated into their iPods. We actually talked for four hours straight. About college, dreams, hopes, work, money, music, movies, our favorite memories of grandma - and a whole lot about boyfriends and girlfriends. (Whether kissing or hugging is more serious, whether dating multiple people at the same time is "cheating", whether the boy should ask the girl out, whether adultery is really adultery if neither of the people are married, whether sex is okay if you are already engaged, and even a discussion about nudist colonies!)

I was just planning to drive across the rolling prairie and spit sunflower seeds. The main event was going to occur after we arrived to visit grandpa. Surprise, surprise.

It may sound strange, but those four unplanned, unscheduled, uneventful hours from Stillwater to Fargo may just go down in my mental memory journal as my favorite four hours of parenting.

PS - I'm praying for them every day this week. It's such a pivotal time in their lives, and I'm asking God to water the flowers of faith and fertilize them in a special way there. Join me?