The Passover Lamb

This last week was Passover and in the school where I teach young children, several were observing the tradition. The Friday evening prior to the start of Passover a co-worker even left work early so that she could do a major cleaning and throw out any food stuffs that had yeast in them. I asked her why she cleaned so thoroughly and her response was that although she was not a strict Jew, she used the opportunity for Spring Cleaning!

On Monday when the children returned to school there were several Jewish families represented and of the ones I knew in class, only one young boy asked if there was any matzo for snack instead of the cookies offered. My Jewish co-worker had , in fact, brought some for those children who needed it and casually offered it to anyone else who was curious or just wanted it.

I found this all very interesting, as I assumed it a rather important tradition to be kept holy and sacred. Oftentimes my assumptions are way off. Further, the discussions then began in the classroom on what the matzo was even about and the children began discussing possibilities of its meaning. This went naturally into conversations on Passover and in all of the 6 and 7 year old little people present, not a single one understood the significance of their Passover. I refer any curious reader to Exodus chapter 12 where the Institution of this Feast is well explained by the First Testament writer, Moses.

In the classroom I tried to keep silent, but felt very frustrated that these young ideas of the 'why and what for' of Passover were so off the mark. I spoke of the blood of the lamb being placed on the doorposts in order for the death angel to passover the home of the Jewish families inside,and I thought my anti-gun and violence helper was going to have a heart attack!

So, this morning in preparing for my own Lord's Day of Worship I decided to see what my own responsibilities were as a believer in the passover Lamb, Jesus Christ! I decided to go to the source of Truth, God's Holy Scriptures, and found with great delight that there was a verse I had never paid attention to before! [The background comment here would be that I have been reading this book for over 40 years and find such verses regularly]

I Corinthians 12:6-8 reads, Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth!.

My daily keeping of the Passover, as an expression of great love, with thankfulness for the sacrificial Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, is simply being sincere and truthful? Simply? Completely? Totally Truthful and totally sincere? Daily? Talk about needing a Spring Cleaning of the Soul!!

Out with the malice, out with the wickedness, in with the Truth and Sincerity! Not just once a year will this cleaning take place, not because of tradition or cultural clamoring, but because I have been gifted with the greatest gift of all, the shed blood of the passover Lamb! The blood WAS placed on my doorpost by Jesus Himself, and the death angel is going to pass me by, and I will spend eternity in heaven with a very Holy God, bowing down in worship to Him always and forever.

Wow. I was ready for worship today, in spirit and in truth.

The Beauty of Community

There are 365 days in a year, 24 hours in a day and 60 minutes in an hour....and yesterday, in 240 minutes, my home was rejuvenated by community. This particular community was a small sampling of the Church in action, and I am still thanking and praising God for each of them!

There were two teen neighbors, two ladies from my local church, and eight total strangers, with two other people who I never talked to that dropped in to work for an hour.

Since 2001 when my husband left and my children had children making them very busy people, my home has had various things get old and worn. Everyone has this particular trouble because we even call it "the problem with owning your own home is....". Well, at church recently I was approached and asked if I could use some help because there was a mission team going to Russia this summer and they needed practice working together.
After assuring them I had no money to contribute to this worthy cause, they assured me that they were just trying to follow the command of Jesus Christ in helping the widows and fatherless. My husband abandoning us makes me a virtual widow and my youngest sons sound asleep in their bedrooms reminded me they were fatherless...so I accepted.

Community, a group of people gathering together to accomplish a single purposeful action, WOW. At 9:00 am they arrived bearing cups of half drunk coffee, unloaded their coolers of food(they brought lunch and snacks), and got to work. First, I snapped a picture to remind myself of God's Goodness when I am feeling lousy. This particular thankless attitude happens more often than I care to admit, and I am working on curing the beast.

Two people grabbed window washing rags, four people headed upstairs to my hall which had not been painted in eleven years of owning this home, two other lovely ladies began scraping the front porch to paint as two young men grabbed the power washer to remove something green and growing all over my deck! Suddenly two more people arrived, never said a word and started weeding the flower beds!!

God had His kind and thoughtful ways of encouraging us all too! As the day, previously threatening rain and a cold front, surprisingly became a sunny, warm, glorious experience of Spring at its finest!

Four hours later, as if by magic, but most definitely by hard labor and good attitudes of service, my HOME was renewed!! Upstairs hallway sparkling with new light green walls(we decided it was a celery color that was on sale in an unmarked can),front porch glowing in the sun, flower beds ready to plant fowers instead of growing the weeds that were there, windows able to be seen through clearly, and back deck actually made of Wood, not mold!!

I was in shock and filled with a sense of Wonder that God could throw together by Divine Design, a group of strangers, forming a Community of Help and point them in my direction for 1/6 of a day! The accomplishments were astounding and I was speechless.

The icing on this very rich cake of kindness, was the sitting down and eating of a yummy lunch prepared, shared and provided by my caring community. We talked and relaxed and they felt like friends gathering for a light lunch after a day at the beach.

Oh, and after everyone left, the house sparkled, and I had showered, I walked out to my front porch and there, sitting in place as if they had always been around, were five(5!)mysteriously appearing and blooming potted, hanging plants!!

Our God is an awesome God! Community is an awesome concept! and I am a thankful woman!

Oh Danny Boy

Twenty five years ago there was a young lady named Tracy who found herself pregnant and unable to cope.She had limited resources, both physically and emotionally. Her intention hadn't been to get pregnant, just to be loved. What better way to conceive a child than with the intention of Love as the motive?
She belonged to a church and in the church was a young family willing to show love, so they invited her to stay with them until her pregnancy was over. She decided to trust them to help her through this impossibly difficult time of her life. The man she sought love from was long gone, and she felt alone, vulnerable and scared. Tracy knew keeping the child was never an option since with her limited intellectual capabilities she could barely function on her own, let alone with another person along for the journey.The nine months passed by quickly, with relinquishing for adoption plans formulating easily. After all, even then, a healthy baby boy available at birth for adoption was a rarity.

On April 11,in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, Daniel Mark emerged from his first home, that cozy womb, and nine days later entered my world.

There were 'problems' at birth. The doctors assured Tracy she would be wisest to place him in a home for children with special needs. They weren't sure what his needs were, but were certain they were significant. She was devastated and began praying for God to intervene and save her baby from an institutional life.

On the opposite side of the state, our family received a prayer request to intervene for a young mildly retarded woman who had a baby nobody wanted. He wasn't 'normal', so his prospective adoption plans had fallen through and in the morning he was being placed in an institution until further medical testings and solutions could be found.

As if audibly spoken, God impressed upon us to adopt this child. No magic, no moment of questioning, no curiosity as to how we would include this fifth child in our already financially strapped circumstances. We just knew Daniel Mark was our son and immediately set his adoption into our lives in motion. Twenty four hours later we were arriving at Pittsburgh Hospital wondering who that screaming baby was we heard in the distance, and wasn't that silly yellow hat making him look funny? That was our first introduction to Danny.

Thinking back 25 years was difficult for me this weekend, as my memory is getting foggy and fading, filling up with current grandchildren milestones. All 10 of my grands, as I love to refer to them as, have passed the nine month milestone. After all, my youngest three children sailed by a mere 20,23 and 23 years ago, why shouldn't the grands? I am not superstitious either. I believe that God has a plan for each one of us that includes the number of our days on this earth. Simple fact of doctrinal truth, well learned from my youth and Bible readings.

A quarter of a century ago we spent more hours in the hospital with Danny than we did at home. We learned how to feed him with a tube and suction his tracheotomy. We found out some sleep is better than no sleep. We made friends with nurses and doctors and had neighbors who became friends by helping babysit. We taught our 4 children what compassion means and how to love the unusual ones in society. We assumed everyone would have adopted this lovely baby had they had the opportunity to, and were fairly smug that God allowed us that chance. We adored this little baby boy and expected to grow old with him at our sides.

However,Nine months into life with Danny Boy, we had to give him back. To God, not to Tracy. What a shock! How difficult and surprising to even live through that life event, let alone be able to look back and blog(of all things!) about it. Time does move us forward even when we think time should stand still. As the wise Solomon once said, there is indeed nothing new under the sun and I will add, there are alot of things that happen that you can live through with God's help!

Fast forward ..... yesterday at the beach on the Cape May New Jersey shore. This is a place holding many fond memories for me as it is where my husband and I met and fell in love. So sometimes I travel back there to think and remind myself of the goodness of God as I work on mentally processing life....

There was a fog rolling in, and the gulls were quite dramatically close as they swooped overhead and scared my friend Judy half to death! She hates birds no matter how beautiful the wing span! On the rocks lay a strange object that I didn't recognize, but musician Judy said immediately "oh, there are bagpipes!" We walked along slowly, me thinking about how some old memories are best replaced with newer ones in order to enjoy life, Judy collecting seashells and new memories along the way.


Suddenly I heard it- the notes of Oh Danny Boy softly floating over the foggy waves and rolling out to sea as the sun set in the distance! The melodious sound of the once silent bagpipes was balm for my weary soul. How could God be so intimately aware of my emotional needs and at the same time so able to fill those needs in His own creative ,loving way??

What a wonderful birthday present for Danny and a special gift for me! Thank you God, thank you Tracy and still after these many long years, I am so thankful we called Daniel our son for a short time.

Special Day in Garcia History

Attention all you History buffs(and why are they called 'buffs' may I insert here?), this is an extraordinary day in the Garcia Family History line. Please bear with me, as our line is diminishing as we move forward,and I really want there to be a legacy to claim.
On this day, year 1956, there was a birth of a beautiful baby girl to Paul and Marjorie Garcia, residing in Ithaca, NY. She was special in her own rite, but there were other factors making her special too. She was six years behind this blogger's birth, and in between had been born 2 other sisters. The fourth sister in any family has a real disadvantage as she claims the place of "Baby'. First dilemma, she is never quite old enough. Secondly, she always wears all graciously received hand-me-downs. The bane of every large family existence are these hand- me- downs. Mothers rejoice as they are piled into the back of the car, sisters moan under their breath while all the time being forced to say "thank you so much! Mrs. 'feel sorry for my large family church lady!' " Thirdly, baby sister Cindy always has to play the role of whomever the older sisters are imagining during playtime. TSK. TSK. The little one hasn't a chance at a normal life!
On this same day, in 1960, I was rudely awakened from a deep sleep in my upper bunkbed, to my Grandmother whipering softly, "you finally have a baby brother Susie!" I do not remember another thing about Timmy's birth except I was supposed to be thrilled beyond words that he was a he and not another she. And really, couldn't that news have waited until morning to be shared with this mature, wise beyond her years, 10 year old oldest sister?? As an aside, that was not the only time over the past 48 years that I lost sleep over this baby boy!
Unfortunately for Timmy, following 4 years behind the last baby sister has had it's disadvantages. For instance, Timmy was always told at the joint birthday parties that he was his sister's birthday gift! Now I am not sure why this didn't make Cindy more delighted to open her gifts each year, knowing that her biggest present shared the date with her in person! Truly, often to this day, I think to myself as searching for the perfect gift: " well, who can top that? so why bother sending anything?" So I don't.
Another observed disadvantage is that the 'man' in the family can never quite reach the top of the pile as far as all of us listening to his sage advice, or going to him for his opinion or his wisdom. We women have already concluded what the best course of action should be,(after all, we are the older, smarter and more spiritual ones)so asking Timmy anything beyond,"How's the weather?" is a total waste of energy.[to be clarified...this is tongue in cheek]
Clearly my intentions today are to remember my baby sister and baby brother in a loving manner. I have been privileged to be called the big sister for many years and I am fully aware of the brevity of our time here on earth. As the years roll by, God has not given us any guarantees for the amounts of time we are to be here, but He has given us the guarantee of an eternal existence. I am so thankful to Him that my baby sister and baby brother both know Him and we will spend the rest of all eternity, timeless and permanently the same age, worshipping the Lord of the Sabbath.

I love you both sincerely and forever.

Psalm 94:18, 19

If I say, "My foot slips," Your mercy, oh Lord, will hold me up. In the multitude of anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul.

There is a little chorus we used to sing at church exclaiming that if people didn't sing praises to the Lord, the stones would cry out!(or maybe it was rocks, I forget). I was shouting out in such relief and utter thankfulness to God Himself last night, that I awoke this morning still wondering how I could keep the evidence of His personal love for me all to myself?! I even think I heard some little rocks in my garden starting to chatter among themselves....

One of my spiritual milestones this year of 2008 was my declared personal Year of Jubilee. My children all know of its occurence and celebrated early with me at Christmas by presenting me with a BEAUTIFUL scrapbook. This scrapbook, so personal and special, had entries by each of the 7 'originals' and the 4 married members.It was a celebration of ME (amazing, yet true)and how I am special and unique alone, no husband,no marriage, nobody else, just ME. They actually helped me even think about how I was unique and specially created by God as I am, not who I thought I was dependent on.

In my Year of Jubilee I have shed the fetters of fear and sadness, and taken on a positive, faith- filled approach to daily happenings. Now happenings is not quite the right word, but does one write the word CRAP in a blog? Hmmm, not very refined.

If you recall, I flew on the first of the year to initiate my new attitude and New Year. The previously held flying phobia had consumed 25 years of my life and the spell was broken! I am free of that hindrance.

When my husband left our home, family and country 7 years ago, my foot slipped, and albeit a long 6 years of crying and tears, God has held me up and comforted me quite wonderfully, as the Psalmist declares. Feet slipping is not equal to falling into the abyss, it is just a temporary condition until the footing is re-established.

Back to my story of last night and God loving me. I had done my taxes on the computer ...grrrr... and the mess 'we' created, this 'tax expert for free' and I , was silly, avoidable and frustrating. All because I hate thinking about taxes, another reminder of my husband's abandonment. Well, I was told I owed money, and since I hardly make any money, this was impossible. So I prayed and stewed and my foot began slipping with fear and negativity.Where would I get money to pay taxes, how would I last through the summer and until my new full time job began?(Oh now that is another great story for another day!!)

Then I saw an ad for free tax help in my local community center. I left work at
5:30 pm DETERMINED to fix this mess, be bold and not crumble in tears. I sat, alone and nervous with God as my only companion. He and I chatted. I laid out to Him in no uncertain terms that I could not possibly handle this crisis, hadn't I already handled enough? We waited until 8 pm.and I was called into a room filled with exhausted volunteers, ready to go home, computers humming and tempers short.I was terrrifed. I was also scolded, lectured and basically humbled even more. I am not a tax expert and I am not brave. I am dependent on God's mercy and man's help when I am stuck.

DONE! COMPLETED! Copies printed out, instructions in hand for next year, refund coming, nothing due, last customer out the door was ME, and I was exhausted, relieved and mercifully comforted.

God delighted my soul. Has your SOUL ever been delighted? If it has, you know of what I am speaking. If it has not been, or perhaps you have not recently experienced the feeling, then I assure you- when it is, the ROCKS will indeed cry out if you do not.

Our God is an awesome God.