by Sharon O | Feb 5, 2014 | Uncategorized
Our Pastor was doing a teaching on Sunday and I was taking notes as I always do.
He was sharing the story about Ananias and Saul in the book of Acts in the New Testament.
Saul had been arresting and persecuting the new believers and in the effort of getting his attention God blinded him.
It was powerful and shall we say it was a ‘life altering’ moment to not be able to see?
Saul was on his way to find believers to persecute and arrest them.
vs 3. As he was approaching Damascus on this mission a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him.
He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him,
“Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
“Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.
And the voice replied,
“I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
Chapter 9: vs 8 – 10
Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind.
So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus.
He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink.
In a split second and a moment in time he was dependent on others.
I found it significant that he was blind for three days the same amount of time Jesus was in the tomb before his resurrection.
I also thought of the trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Three is not an accidental number.
In complete shock and helplessness he had a lesson to learn.
What a change that was for him as he was a man of power and authority and now he was blind and in the dark taken down to a level of dependence and fear.
(kind of like God giving him a time out in the dark to do some thinking)
vs 7. The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someones voice but saw no one!
In the background God is already setting the scene up for Ananias to go find Saul.
Now we already know the history of Saul.
He was a bad man and he was feared by many.
vs 10. There was a believer in Damascus named Ananias.
The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!”
“Yes Lord!” he replied. (I found that fascinating because the only way he would know that it was the Lord is if they had a relationship and he was used to hearing the ‘voice of the Lord’ or maybe it was just a knowing in his spirit.)
God told him to go find Saul.
“He is praying to me right now. And I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”
(He was praying most likely for his eyesight to come back to him)
Ananias argued with God and told him how bad Saul was.
He knew that to get close enough to touch him would be taking a risk.
God said GO and he did.
He was obedient and trusting even with his fear alongside him.
He found Saul in vs 17-19. He prayed over him and the scales on his eyes fell off and Saul was able to see again.
The whole point of this story is layered.
It is about obedience. It about trusting. It is about letting go.
It is about listening. It is about the restoration of hearts and health.
It is about transformation.
It is about God doing a work in our lives without our knowledge to bring us to a place where he wants us to be.
It is about God using others to help change and transform us.
It is about how God will do what he has to do in order to stop our bad behavior.
I am sure Saul never forgot this lesson on the road to Damascus.
To be transformed from light to dark then to light again is life changing.
He is a God who transforms and changes us so we can become better people.
He is a God who doesn’t give up and who will get our attention and rescue us because of his deep love.
So the question for us is this:
Has there ever been a time when God pursued you towards a place of healing?
Did you know in the end it was God who directed your ‘change of heart?’
This is definitely something for us to think about.
by Sharon O | Jan 31, 2014 | Uncategorized
Last Sunday we skipped out on church and drove up north to see the Mt St Helen’s area is the state of Washington.
Since the time it blew in 1980 the US Forest Service have been building beautiful scenic spots with information and video’s portraying the monumental force of that volcano.
We drove up there with the intention of seeing the mountain, having a picnic lunch then finding someplace for dinner on the way home.
If the weather was good we might get to do a small hike in the day sometime too.
It was really quite amazing.
The day was sunny and on the warmer side for January.
The wind was calm and the time away was exactly what our ‘spirits’ needed.
From our house the drive is about 2 hours long so we made it to be a lot of fun and in the process of coming home we even stopped for some wine tasting at a cute little tasting room.
On the way up to the mountain we drove by a small building which wasn’t open but the sign near it had the map of the destruction zone.
The whole entire area surrounding the mountain shifted hundreds of feet and the many buildings buried were never founds along with those who lost their lives.
They were just ‘gone’ buried under a powerful force of nature.
The trees were laid down like small tooth picks and these are some of the ones who have grown back since that massive day of destruction.
Another part of our journey was driving over a deep bridge that seemed to go down for miles.
You didn’t realize when driving over it how far down the bottom level of the ground was and the best advise is to not look down.
The hillsides still show some of the damage done by this tremendous force of volcanic activity.
This is part of a visitors center showing the landscaping while heading to the mountain.
The visitor centers were incredibly beautiful and filled with video’s and pictures.
The forestry service has done a wonderful job of showing the mountain and it’s story. 
Normally for this time of year there would be a lot more snow in this area making it not open for scenic viewing.
This picture shows the side of the mountain that blew and the deep crater left from the destruction of all the hot air.
The mountain really is beautiful I just cannot even begin to imagine the magnitude of power.
We have always wanted to go see this mountain after the destruction and it was a beautiful day to go do that.
Would I recommend it to anyone, absolutely.
It is not a waste of time.
It is very interesting and very beautiful.
Part of living now is seeing what we have always wanted to see.
This one can be scratched off of our ‘want to see or need to see list’.
The journey continues and we wonder what will be the next adventure for us as we continue to work on our personal bucket lists. The things to do while we have time and health to do them.
Can you see the face in the sky? it was an amazing and beautiful day.
by Sharon O | Jan 29, 2014 | Uncategorized
Yesterday while doing the laundry, watering plants and just putzing around I turned on the movie ‘The Bucket List’.
I didn’t realize it was just starting and rarely do I allow myself time to watch something like that during the day especially since I had seen it before.
During the ‘watching’ I had forgotten how good the story line was.
The main actors Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson seem to be an unlikely duo yet they end up becoming very special friends.
The whole purpose of the movie is to challenge the thought process about dying.
Just because someone has a diagnosis of ‘pending death’ it does not have to mean stop living right now.
The concept of making a bucket list is a wonderful one.
The question to ask yourself or those around you.
What would you want to do in your life at some point in time before you die?
What would you want to see or experience?
In the movie the men made a list of what they wanted to do.
Some were pretty amazing and even perhaps dangerous but when some one has a terminal illness how dangerous could life be?
The choice to live it…was a profound and good choice.
I think it was positive and the concept showed a great way of adapting.
I like the challenge.
So often someone will get a bad ‘phone call’ from the doctor and then all the ‘protocol’ takes place to ‘heal’ the person and sometimes the attempted cure is worse than the initial illness.
I am not putting down chemotherapy or radiation or any other ‘ways’ to manage a serious illness.
I have seen people in my life do both and they gained time by doing them.
The question is what kind of quality time?
It just seems like the ‘reality is’ we need to begin to live fully in the best way we can right where we are… today.
Live more fully. Love more intensely.
Write letters of closure if one needs to do that.
Write letters deep from your heart.
Perhaps for the first time say what you really feel and share it with someone.
A bucket list is a wonderful concept perhaps even if no one is terminal.
We each have a life and how we choose to live it is our challenge.
Let’s not wait until we have a ‘reason’ to create a bucket list.
Let’s begin to live now.
by Sharon O | Jan 24, 2014 | Uncategorized
Little boys…
dreaming of the water and the waves and oh the sand castles they could make.
Little boys…
full of countless hours of energy and creativity and oh the fun to run and play.
Little boys…
God’s gift to us… three little boys.
Grandson’s to carry on the family name.
To become young men willing to work hard and do good.
To love justice and to show mercy and to walk humbly with their God.
Little boys…
run and play and tumble and wrestle and create worlds of lego’s and super heros.
They watch daddy work hard as a leader and they want to become ‘just like him’.
Go play little boys.
Run with great abandon and free spirit and fun and excitement.
Feel the wind in your hair and the sand in your feet.
Run and play and get tired and hungry and then run some more.
Childhood is so short.
Be free from heavy hearts.
Remember you are loved.
He has shown you, oh man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6: 8
Childhood a world of play and make believe and then some day in a blink of an eye you will be grown men and leaders just like your dad.
