Forgetting What is Behind and Pressing on Toward the Goal

Sometimes the anticipation of something is not at all like the actual event. I'm afraid I got myself all worked up over the anticipation of attending an old order Mennonite funeral. Memories that were long past came bubbling up to the surface, reminding me of some painful issues that I thought I had dealt with. But even with the discomfort, it was an interesting event, and I was even able to enjoy it to some extent.

We left our house at 7:30 Tuesday morning to make the drive to Lancaster County. Ricky's parents attend an old order Mennonite church that has a fair number of deaf in that church community. So they feel comfortable worshiping there and have many friends. The service was well attended. We arrived at the church before the hearse and the family. I was glad Christian and Christy had also decided to attend the funeral since then we had some moral support. Amy had warned me ahead of time that men and women don't sit together in this church, so I was glad that Andy could sit with Christian. I don't know how he would have done on his own. I suppose somehow we would have managed.

Men and women not only sit on separate sides inside the church for the service, they also have separate entrances into the church. (I did not take this picture myself, but it is a good representation of what the church looked like.)

  
Christy and I went into the women's entrance and weren't sure what to do from there. But two ladies graciously greeted us, then entered into conversation with us. They were twins in their 70's (just guessing on how old they were) with a great sense of humor. They told us they came into the world together, and they've lived life together ever since. We asked them if they were married and we were told, "No, we're SS - single and satisfied." It was gracious of the Lord to allow us to meet these dear ladies as our first contact in this church. 

When the hearse and family arrived, we filed by the coffin for the viewing, then walked down to the cemetery for the graveside service. A preacher preached a sermon before the coffin was lowered into the grave.

After that, we all went into the church for the memorial service. Two preachers preached full length sermons which were interesting and sounded like what we would hear in our own church. Christy and I sat in the back row and the view in front of us looked something like this:
 

I was tempted to take out my phone to snap a picture but I resisted that temptation! 

After the service was over, a lady sitting in front of us, turned around to talk to us. This woman was very different from the twin ladies we met before the service. She was much more critical and started in on us with the "Mennonite Inquisition." Having grown up as a child in the Mennonite culture, I am fully aware of what they consider important: Christian heritage, church affiliation, keeping the rules, who were your parents, to name a few. So she started asking me:

"Where are you from?" (I obviously wasn't from Lancaster County!)
"I'll bet this church is a lot different that what you're used to."

At that point, I told her that I had actually grown up in a church just like this. When I was young, men and women did not sit together. 

Next question: "What conference was your church?"

I don't know, I was only a kid.

And then, I guess to try to identify with her and convince her I knew what she was talking about and just how conservative my church was, I told her: "When I was a teen, I cut my hair and my dad was really upset with me."

Oops...wrong thing to say! And that was the end of the conversation. Christy told me later, that when I said that, the lady looked horrified like I had just said I murdered someone! Yup - raised eyebrows and pursed lips!

It was good of the Lord to allow the first experience in the church to be positive with the twin ladies. It was also very helpful to be there with Christy who wisely observed that every church has their gracious, friendly people who welcome visitors, as well as those who are critical, judgmental and legalistic. 

All in all, I was thankful for the experience because it reminded me of the grace of God. I will never measure up but I don't have to because Jesus fulfilled the law and with his death in my place, not only saved me from my sins, but credits his own righteousness to my account. Hallelujah, what a Savior.

I was also glad we could attend the funeral for Amy's sake. She loved her father-in-law, and he was easy to love. He was a friendly guy, always with a ready smile, and accepting of us "outsiders."

We've been enjoying warmer weather...not exactly warm, but warm-er. I had off on Friday (Good Friday) and we sat on the deck to drink our afternoon coffee. The sky was gorgeously blue.

Andy has been taking the opportunity to clean up the back deck and yard. The magnolia petals have been falling and blanketing the ground. I think it's pretty - a pink carpet. But they do need to be cleaned up before it rains and then they stick to the deck and make a mess. He's always a good sport when I want to take his picture.




Yesterday, everyone came down for an Easter meal together. We had 20 at our table, including all 3 daughters with their families and Andy's mom and dad. I had organized the menu and the girls chipped in to bring dishes to add to the meal. There was a lot of food and everyone was happy.

Little Cole is almost 8 weeks old. He is very attentive toward anyone who holds him. Here he is getting to know his Grammy. What a sweet baby.

Today is Easter, and we're celebrating the resurrection of our Lord.

Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He's coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

One day they led Him up Calvary's mountain
One day they nailed Him to die on a tree
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He
Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree
And took the nails for me

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer
One day the stone rolled away from the door
Then He arose, over death He had conquered
Now He's ascended, my Lord evermore
Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him
From rising again

Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He's coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day
  

Songwriters HALL, JOHN MARK / BLEECKER, MICHAEL

Published by Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

After church and lunch, it seemed like a good idea to go to the woods. It was somewhat cloudy, with occasional patches of blue sky. We hiked around Pakim Pond which was a challenge in several spots because the trail was under water.

 

The trail around the pond is only about half a mile, and we felt like we could go a little further. We went off into the woods on the Batona Trail for another half mile before turning around and hiking back. 

Pakim Pond

The Batona Trail in the Brendan T. Byrne State Forest

Andy was very interested in Randy Alcorn's book, Happiness, when I was reading it. He picked it up and is making the effort to get through it. He is making progress and marking it up, making notes and highlighting significant sentences. He shared with me a quote that Alcorn made of A.W. Tozer that "The people of God ought to be the happiest people in all the world!" Then offered this explanation:

"Goodness is that in God which desires the happiness of His creatures and that irresistible urge in God to bestow blessedness [happiness]. The goodness of God takes pleasure in the pleasure of His people...for a long time it has been drummed into us that if we are happy, God is worried about us. We believe He's never quite pleased if we are happy. But the strict, true teaching of the Word is that God takes pleasure in the pleasure of His people, provided His people take pleasure in God."

And truth be told, we have a lot to be happy about. We are blessed beyond measure, pressed down and overflowing. Even in our "light and momentary troubles," we are blessed, because Jesus is with us, giving us the strength to endure cheerfully, knowing that it will all be worth it when this life is over and we are with him forever and ever.

It's hard to remember every moment of every day just what a blessing our trials are. That's why I have to constantly bring my thoughts around to His thoughts. I do that by reading His Word as well as books that challenge me to think right thoughts. I finished reading Desiring God by John Piper. What a man of God he is. I so appreciate his emphasis that we glorify God most when we are most satisfied in him.

Just a couple of quotes that I wrote down in my journal from Desiring God:

"All suffering (persecution, sickness or accident) has this in common: they all threaten our faith in the goodness of God and the preciousness of Christ. They all tempt us to leave the path of obedience." (page 216)

"Suffering is clearly designed by God not only to wean Christians off self and onto grace, but also to spotlight that grace and make it shine. That is precisely what faith does, it magnifies Christ's future grace." (page 223-223) And he referenced 2 Corinthians 12:9-10..."The power of Christ may dwell in me...when I am weak, then I am strong."

"The deep things of life in God are discovered in suffering. So it was with Jesus himself. Hebrews 5:8: 'Although he was a Son, Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered.' Learning obedience does not mean switching from disobedience to obedience. It means growing deeper and deeper with God in the experience of obedience. It means experiencing depths of yieldedness to God that would not have been otherwise demanded." (page 223)

So through the experiences of my childhold and with what I'm learning about suffering, Philippians 3:12-14 seems a fitting conclusion.

"Not that I have already obtained all this (knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings - verse 10), or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."