A woman at a Dallas foreclosure auction purchased a complete stranger's foreclosed home, and then gave it back to her: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THzi7O-W2AI

Study session part 2

If you went to Sojourn Sunday night, this theme sounds familiar. Here are the highlights. Confronting fear, facing it, fighting against it and not running from fear and uncertainty as the Israelites did - 1 Samuel 17: 24; or like Saul hid among the luggage, still being the tallest among all of them - and did not want to be king. Not pointing a finger, because realizing that "whoa, Nellie" that was me and could be me. Rick talked about reframing the problem. We do this in hospice all of time. Basically, what he said ... that it depends on what we see.

• Do we see the problem? or
  
• Do we see that God is way bigger than our problem or circumstances?

God is more concerned about our long term potential than our short term comfort. Ever talk to yourself ... that is what we should say to ourselves everytime we complain about nothing. Long term potential or short term comfort. Which one do we need more? Which one will be more beneficial to ourselves and our family? Which one will allow us to die with integrity? Most important, which one allows us to live life faithfully and with fullness? To requote a movie mentioned at Sojourn ... Die Hard: John McLain was scared and did not want to be there, talked to Carl Winslow from Family Matters, and felt like he had no choice - but do what was right no matter what the cost. He could have found some place in that building to hide but he did not ... he fought not sure of the outcome of his own life. Lesson needed to learn to fight the fear, instead of running from it.

Study session part 1

Chris and Samantha were studying history tonight and Chris asked her this question: "Why did the Pilgrims have a thankful spirit and determine to continue on even during the hard times that first winter?" Her first answer was ... the pilgrims were willing to do anything for their religious freedom. In other words, they were determined that no matter what ... nothing would stand in their way of experiencing freedom, worshiping God not mandated by some state church - worshiping God mandated by God, according to his scriptures. Here is the quote from her book, "Many of the Pilgrims became sick that winter. At one time, only seven were strong enough to take care of the sick. By spring, half of the Pilgrims had died. Yet there was no thought of giving up or complaining about being sick and cold and hungry." They did not give up. They did not want to give up because their faith determined how they would respond to their environment. They did not want to return to "their Egypt" under captivity of the king. They were determined to have freedom to worship God, wow! Can you imagine what that would be like? Fighting the government, elemental forces, fighting fear, uncertainty ... fight against it and not running away from it because you carve, want, yearn to worship God. That faith, community, worshiping God meant more than life itself. I want that. I want IT. We should all want IT.

National Anthem

Read my buddy's blog ... http://cardtrox.blogspot.com/ about the National Anthem and Fireproof. Good stuff!

Dream

Sorry, that it has been a while, very long time as a matter of fact. I had a fever ... a Phillies phever. Recently, I visited a 90 something female; she wanted me to analyze one of her dreams. Understand that I do not know much about dreams or their significance. However, this one was particularly interesting. Her dream was gray, vague, familiar but unfamiliar. There were people but she did not recognize them. She never said that she felt alone. She reported that she was in a strange place and could not figure out why she was there. Strangest of all, she realized that she did not have any shoes on her feet. This wonderful lady saw this as a clear as day. Then she gave me the order ... "I want you to figure it out." Well, I thought that I would share a few thoughts and decided to return another day.

When I returned, she asked, "well, what are your thoughts on my dream?" I thought that she would let it go. Here is what I shared: she was in the place of "inbetween" - inbetween this life and the next, heaven. That this of course is unfamiliar, because you are inbetween now and the future. Of course, this dream was preparing her for what was slowly happening; she was dying and she needed to share what she needed to share with family.

It was not until her funeral that her daughter reminded me ... her mom was not wearing any shoes in her dream. "No shoes ..." then I realized that this inbetween place is a sacred moment, holy place. Please, realize that any place that is inbetween is sacred and holy.