Xapa to the World

Category: Reflections

  • Fresh Friday – Devotions

    Last year, I decided to make the commitment to read through the Bible within the calendar year. I found out how many chapters there were and divided them by the number of days in a year. The number came out to just under 4/day, so I rounded up to read 4 chapters each day (with Psalm 119 taking up the spot for 2 chapters). I marked them off and plotted it out for the calendar year. With that set-up, it landed me at finishing the Bible just before Halloween. That would give me a whole lot of wiggle room if I missed days throughout the year…which I did. In fact, towards the end, I would frequently skip my readings on Sundays.

    I enjoyed my reading times. I fit them in to the 1st half hour of my day – plopped down in the corner of my couch with a cup of coffee and read away. I found some amazing chapters that I hadn’t read before, relived some of my favorite Bible stories, found fodder for research throughout the day, particularly through parts of the Old Testament. Some of it was monotonous -genealogies and the rigid Mosaic laws – but some surprised me as being way more interesting than I gave credit for.  I’m really glad that I did this for the first time. I will probably read through the Bible again at some point in the future. I’ve been trying to break it down a little better so that certain days wouldn’t be so overwhelming and the reading pack would be more equal and spread more evenly throughout the year.  It could be fun to read the Bible in chronological order and not just in the Canon. I’ve even joked about reading through alphabetically! Could be fun.

    I used an ESV Global Study Bible and I pretty much used it just for my daily reading, but there are some amazing gems of information in there. I love having a historical context for events and traditions. There are so many things that I don’t understand from the Bible just because I live in a 21st Century developed nation.

    Now, I have this allotted time each morning which I could easily fritter away with either more sleep or just mindless perusal on the internet before getting ready for the day.  I started looking for devotionals that I could find online to do each day. It is tough! Crosswalk.com has some devotionals, but as I’ve found over the last week, they are not always updated by the time I have my quiet time. In some cases, they are too story-ish and fluffy for my taste. I want Scripture. I want depth. I want substance, not frills and feel-good.

    On instagram, I kept seeing some of my favorite grammers posting screenshots from shereadstruth.com. I went through their “O Come, Let Us Adore Him” plan throughout the Christmas season. I LOVED it! On the mobile app (available on both platforms), they have a great layout. Each day has three pages. The first, Scripture. The second, commentary by one of their contributing writers and a cool square graphic with a key line or verse featured which is easy to share on social media. The third, and probably the coolest, are comments from other women readers from all over! It makes this online devotional accessible, real, and so utterly encouraging as you hear tidbits and gems gleaned by other women who are really not so different from us (no matter what we might believe).

    Starting January 1st, they began a study on the Book of John. I’ve only done two days of it now, but I’m already pretty pumped to get through it.  Another AWESOME thing they just unveiled, though, is a 365-day Scripture reading plan! It’s right there on the app and, while some of the studies they offer cost a small fee, this one is FREE and allows comments just like the others. I’m all for more organization, especially when it comes to getting more Bible-reading in your daily life.

    How about you?!? Do you have a favorite devotional? What do your quiet times look like? Are you a crazy, earlybird (I know for those who have kids, it might be the only down-time you have) or do you just cram it in whenever you have an opening? I would love to hear how YOU get your daily dose of God and His Word.

    And if you are struggling with getting this to happen, I would highly recommend adding She Reads Truth to your daily activities. Also, feel free to check over on the Bible Verse Calendar tab at the top of the page. I am humbled that it has been getting a steady stream of hits each day. It includes free printables for a daily Bible verse calendar – each month represented. Heads up that is is US-based in any reference to holidays in the graphics. I’m not very skilled at design, so please be gracious when you see them. 🙂

    Happy New Year!!!

  • Storytelling – My Grandpa

    Storytelling is one of my favorite things. I grew up in a storytelling family, well at least on one side. On my mother’s side, we are Italians, and it seems like Italians are top-notch for storytelling – with our hands, especially. Mom has always been a storyteller. She got it honestly from her parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents and passed it on liberally to me and my sisters. Growing up, my sisters told me so many stories of their own memories that sometimes I don’t even know which was a true story, something I experienced myself, or something completely made up. Maybe sometime I’ll share stories on here and have you guess if it was true or not.

    On my father’s side, storytelling has never been a strong suit, unless it was related to Bible stories. I have never known much of my family history on that side besides what I or my mother experienced herself. I know some of the high points of my dad’s grandparents. During the war, while Henry was over fighting, my great-grandmother worked with other wives of factory-workers in the jobs they left vacant. Leona, along with the other wartime women workers, were honored for their services eventually. That is most of what I know about them. For a long time, I thought that Henry had been hit by a train (not really sure where that even came from) but actually, he died from emphysema developed from years of factory work. Leona lived to be 97, but suffered from Alzheimer’s.

    My grandmother, Ann, passed away just before my husband and I started dating. He never got to meet her, but we have spent some time with my grandfather Ed. Like I said, I never heard stories from their past, not really. I think it subtly led to a disconnect between me and that side of the family because we never had those connections. I seldom ever saw them as anything younger than my parents. I seldom saw pictures of them from before they looked like grandparents. It was bizarre, but I can see now how essential storytelling is for connecting across generations. I always felt closer to my grandparents who lived a whole state away from us than the ones who lived in the same town.

    Formals031

    On a recent visit with my grandpa Ed, we got him talking about life before my dad came around. Life before and during the war, when everything changed for that generation. He grew up in the city and grandma grew up on a farm. He was 17 when he decided to enlist. He went downtown and had himself the biggest, fattiest meal he could and then went to the recruiter’s office. He took his shoes off to be weighed just like the rest of the guys. The recruiter squinted, told him to put his shoes back on and then said he was within weight. Hah!

    Grandpa had had some training with repairing radios and whatnot with an after-school job. When he got on his first ship, the skipper said the radio wasn’t working on-board. He pointed to grandpa and said, “Your file says you have radio experience. Go fix it.” Grandpa didn’t have much of an idea what to do, but he went to look at it. Someone had attached a wrong part and he just twisted it a bit and got it to work. He said that after that, he was pretty much gold. Was promoted two ranks and got a raise!

    I don’t think he ever saw combat, but he did have some crazy stories to tell about being on ship.

    One night he was on deck and noticed a streak in the water coming straight for the ship. He alerted the Skipper who came over and commented that it was indeed a missile probably fired from a U-Boat. He said it would miss them. They watched it. Watched as it shot straight toward them. Watched as it passed under the ship and went off to the opposing horizon. Watched as it blew up as it came up to the surface. That would be crazy!!

    He was on the ship that landed troops on Utah Beach at the invasion of Normandy.  He showed us a picture where he and the other guardsmen were walking on the beach right with their ship. The tide had gone out and left a good 100 feet behind their ship stranded on dry land. They had to wait for a few hours for the tide to come back in before they could get back to sea.  There was a great shot of him in his uniform, leg propped up in front of him and his elbow bent towards his knee. He looked sharp! And really, that picture looked JUST like my nephew currently serving in the USAF. What a neat thing!

    These stories were new to me. I am hopeful that I can learn even more from him before he’s gone. I hope that I can glean more stories from my family history.

    ———-

    Today is Veteran’s Day. I am so grateful for those men in my life who have served in the Armed Forces. Whether they saw combat or not, their sacrifice has determined the freedoms I have in life. If YOU have served, are serving, or have a loved one who served in the military, thank you so much!

  • Fresh Friday – Thoughts Edition (Church Ceremonies)

    Coming from the Protestant Christian slant of faith, there is a general distancing from ceremonies or similar terms within the church setting. Some denominations cling to them more readily than others, but it does seem like the idea of “ceremony” has, in general, become an archaic form of worship. Sure, most churches you visit across the nation will have their Baptism and Communion ceremonies, but these are like the minimum requirement.  (I’m going to buffer this with a qualification, though. There are some churches that are making a return to a more regimented, ceremonial format to worship. It’s kind of a new thing, but more of a renewal of an old thing. Dig?)

    I’m not going to say that one is wrong and the other right. I think I would be ok with the minimal stated above, but there are some pretty sweet ceremonies that I have witnessed and been a part of over my life. One such is a foot-washing ceremony. That is mostly based on the text from John 13:1-20, and has a lot to do with encouraging humility among the brethren and servanthood and is often part of a commissioning service for those going on the mission field. It was sweet and beautiful and I loved every minute of it.

    Another ceremony is one I mentioned, the Commissioning ceremony. This is for those going on a mission trip or into missions as a career choice. There are several aspects of this type of ceremony: typically, Laying on of Hands and Collective/Individual Prayer for the commissioned. I’ve even had my head anointed with oil. This type of ceremony has the purpose of encouraging the ones going to be brave, purposeful, and to have success on their journey. It also is to encourage those sending them out to pray while they are gone and for the hearts of those they will meet. I also really love this type of ceremony. I believe the format for this ceremony and the following is based on Act 13:1-3.

    Another, which I recently witnessed and have been to a few times before, is the Ordination ceremony. The purposes of this ceremony is to ordain, order or authorize, an individual for a life-career in ministry. This can be as an elder in the church or as the actual pastor. This type of service can have many facets, but it typically involves the one chosen, a committee who did the choosing, and the congregation to act as witnesses. The committee will state why they think this person is a good candidate and, with the blessing of the congregation, they will lay on their hands in prayer.

    I was so excited to find out that a dear friend, the husband of a dear friend, was being ordained this past weekend. In my own church, we had just covered the first chapter of Titus, where Paul is speaking on the qualifications of an elder in the church, so everything was pretty fresh in my mind. Here’s the list:

    • anyone who is above reproach
    • husband of one wife
    • children are believers
    • not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination
    • not arrogant, or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain
    • hospitable, lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined
    • hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, able to give instruction in sound doctrine and rebuke those who contradict it.
      (Titus 1:6-9, ESV)

    I am proud to say that this all fits my friend to a T (aside from the third point, because his kids are both under 5 yrs old). We discussed in church the meaning of the phrase “above reproach.” This doesn’t just mean that they have a good reputation, but that if anything bad is said about them, it is immediately quelled because everyone knows him to be good. That is something special to be said about anyone. It’s not that this person is perfect, but that in every part of their life, they strive to follow God’s Word and commands. The Huz and I attended another high school friend’s ordination ceremony a year or so ago. It was such a special evening. I feel so blessed to have such friends in my life.

    As the ceremony was progressing, I was reminded of how important it is to continue praying for those who are ordained or commissioned for ministry. It seems that when someone is set apart like this, they immediately begin to face spiritual attack. Pray for those in spiritual leadership positions to withstand spiritual attack and keep their spirits up. They have an important task ahead of them – pray for sound wisdom and teaching. That’s a lot of responsibility and they need our support.

    As someone who has been on the mission field before, I greatly valued the prayers and encouragement from friends and family back home.

    Is there any ceremony in church that you particularly enjoy? It can be one mentioned above or one I missed. I’d love to hear about it!

    “Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
    Titus 3:1-7, ESV