STEADFAST!

I love my steadfast bookmark! 

Not only for its  beauty and "steadfast reference" to its biblical context of being firm, unwavering and resolute in purpose, but for me it's the verse included that speaks to my heart. 

1 Corinthians 15:58 (NASB95)--Therefore, my beloved brethren be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your work is not in vain in the Lord.

The verse is so memorable to me because it was given to me in in 1997 in a gymnasium in Budapest, Hungary. Cots were spread out for us to sleep on until there until we could leave to travel to Kővágóörs, a village of 900 inhabitants. We would be at Cornerstone House, near Lake Balafon to teach English as a second language. 

Wide open showers were  provided in the gym but not a single shower curtain. Not to worry..... as a "just in case" gal I had packed a shower curtain. Plus, friend Pam had sent a large jar of peanut butter with me & I became everyone's friend because I had American peanut butter

A gentlemen helping us unload asked if this was a first time mission trip on a foreign field for anyone.  I raised my hand. That's when he gave me the note with the verse to encourage me to "keep on keeping on" in the work of the Lord!

That verse continues to speak to my heart.

PRAYER PLACES!

I have "plopped" for prayer in many places!

The phone table at 2211 with a party line, though I'm not sure of many prayers in those early years.

Hospital rooms as I visited others. 

Homes and porches of many friends and funerals.

Church pews, as I attended weddings.

Fireside @ Camp Loucon, Lake Junaluska, Pinecrest and the Cove.

In Hungary it was in a field of sunflowers.

In Ukraine it was by the river at Kompas Park between sessions with kids.

In Antalya, Turkey it was on a sandy beach on the Mediterranean coast between speaking times at a Biblical conference under the guise, for safety, of a business leadership event.

In the mountains of Tlapia, Mexico, a cloth was over my head.

In Costa Rica it was on a train bench in the rain forest.

In Honolulu, Hawaii it was seated on boat ride to the USS Arizona with a snarky, pushy line-breaker. I had to pray for forgiveness for my attitude.

In my "Prayer Chair," in our Tennessee home, often occupied by a grand. 

During this season, with "final" move to NC, I can plop on a large prayer chair, stretch out on a bed, kneel on a floor pillow or stand and look out an eastern view of the mountains because this home has a "prayer room"....... A PERFECT PLOPPING PLACE!

 What a view for worship..... a worthy place to plop and pray for all those devoted to prayer. (Colossians 4:2)!

July 16, 2015

Patti Lauren Johnson 

January 4, 1951-July 16, 2015

Nothing bonds the household of faith together quite like serving the Lord side by side----and in this case, on foreign soil.

A 1997 mission trip to Hungary is how I first met Patti. My first trip, her third. She was the veteran, I was the newbie. I was frantic, she was calm. I only knew a few on the team, she even knew some of the Hungarians. None of that mattered, as I discovered, because....we, as members of the household of faith, were all in it together---to share, along with English lessons, the good news of the One who was the "cornerstone of our faith." Patti did it well. I followed.
Oh, what a team we were at the Cornerstone House in Kővágóörs Hungary!

1st row l-r--Cindy E. Suzanne C. Cynthia G. Patti J. (I stood behind Patti)
2nd row l-r Jane M. Bill B. Garland T. Mike H. and Steve C, our leader

Most recently, I have spent the last month with Patti as she walked the final days of her cancer journey. I was not the only one from the "household of God," who came to minister to her and that was encouraging to both of us.
When I was asked to speak at her upcoming funeral, I wondered what I would say about the life of this quiet, gentle, beloved daughter of the Lord. And then I knew----share what she taught me about both living and dying as one who remains faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22, ESV)

For Christ was the "cornerstone" of her faith.......from the day I met her, until the day He took her home---July 16, 2015.

SABBATH SNAPSHOTS : LITEA

1/19/14 

"Litea." A Hungarian word. Teaching English as a Second language for a couple of weeks for CRM had me in Budapest the summer of 1997. That's where I first encountered the word, litea. It was a sign outside a store on the Buda side of Budapest. (Castle District area, as I recall.) 

Exterior inviting. Sign intriguing. Translation not fully understood. But...for one who loves both literature and tea, the suggestion was a "draw."

Inside, it was like a reader's den offering tea. Book browsing with cuppa in hand. Tökéletes! (Perfect)

It also had me with a "good book" in hand. A work of fiction. View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg.

Since Sundays seem to gravitate toward "tea" book reviews these days, I decided to share that YA book, that can be enjoyed & greatly appreciated by adults. It was the Newbery winner for that year, 1997.

Water color of "Litea" purchased Budapest, Hungary, 1997
Note---Litea orange sign bottom left corner.

REVIEW: Memorable, but shunned by peers, the characters become the "unlikely" sixth-grade interscholastic quiz bowl team, coached by a paraplegic teacher, Mrs. Olinski. Handicapped in not only body but also in spirit. 

It's been years since I've read it but  2 things still remembered are: their tea party, where they saw life and their own potential from a new perspective; and the metaphor Konigsburg used to highlight their new standing at school, as as they passed students in the hall who lifted their arms giving them a thumbs up---"the hallway "looked like a forest of apostrophes."  

Something else that resonated with e-me-- the final words when Mrs. O asks, "Did I choose you or did you choose me? The kids answered, Yes!" 

Sometimes I feel like that might be the Lord's answer to me when I ask Him the same question.

LITEA

2/12/11 Litea is a bookstore in Budapest and I love the Hungarian spelling because it reflects the two things I so-o-o enjoy in combination---a good book and a cup of tea---a good brisk Assam. I also loved this shop when I visited there on a mission trip in '97. There's just something universal about the smell of a good book store---it's right up there with the glorious smell of leather in an old library. Plus, this one had this small watercolor for sale that enabled me to bring this memory home with me.
I know that as Ecclesiastes 12:12 reminds me, "of making many books there is no end and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body." So, I try to do as The Preacher says, "find delightful words, and to write (and read, DAL) words of truth correctly."
A memory of the smell of good books (worthy of reading), a brisk cuppa and a small painting---a Litea experience right up my alley.