More About Names

Hi there!

My Bible study lesson was about names today. All this week actually. The names of God. I think that is just so interesting because I am still pondering a name for you, the readers of our First Baptist Women's Ministries blog. But since I haven't come up with anything yet, let's talk about God's names, okay?

I think I told you already I'm doing Experiencing God on Sunday nights. Our exercise today was to think about how we experience God and give Him a name based on that experience. The example was given that when God sent a husband for a young woman, to her He became "The One Who Provides Partners." This kind of exercise is fun to me because it's tangible, and it makes me feel Biblical. How often really can you repeat the actions of Abraham? When a time comes along, I always try to take advantage. You just never know.

The very first one I thought of was "God: The Shifter of My Focus." I thought this might need explaining. I tend to get obsessive about certain thoughts, and once I get started it's hard to stop. I can remember doing this from a very early age. It's kind of like being stuck on a song. As I got older it became more controllable, but it can still be distracting. Only recently, during the last decade, did it occur to me that perhaps God has a hand in these opportunities to change the subject. And once I started thinking about it that way, I feel His presence so strongly that it gives me goosebumps sometimes. Especially when I am being terribly selfish or bitter. Sometimes, it's for all the world like He shoves me into the door frame. Seriously, I think in prayer "Ouch--you're right. Sorry!!"

It's silly, I guess, but Beth Moore does stuff like this all the time. Not to repeat myself, but when a Godly person does something, no matter how cheese-y, if you get the chance to do it too, there's just not a lot to lose by giving it a try. Here are my other names:

The One Who Calms My Fears

The Great Unexplainable

I guess those are easy enough to figure out. What are yours?

Welcome to the Net, WM!

Hey there, friends.


I am still working on your special name. You would not believe some of the things I have learned about pop culture in an effort to find a feminine nickname with no connotations. It has taught me a lot about how pervasive sin is. Calling God the Blessed Redeemer suddenly means so much more.


In other news, we are moving toward Facebook. That's right. Women's Ministries is working on citizenship in the world's third-largest community. Keep an eye out for that opportunity to friend us.


God continues to extend the depth of our ministry communications. It seems like each of our three products--The Walk, Walkin and Talkin, and now FB--offers a slightly different flavor of us. I love it, and I didn't see it coming. I don't know if there are two people more non-plussed by technology than Linda and me, but we are trusting God to fill in our blanks--our blank stares when we think about computers. You should have heard our recent conversation about how social networking works. If I wrote it down it would make a great skit. We said things like "Now, I don't know what a server is, but I think it has something to do with the server." The only server I know is the man who brings my black bean soup and half sandwich at O'Brien's, but I digress.


The two of us doing this on your behalf is a far stretch. It might not amount to much. We have certainly put it off. Most of you could probably do it better. Yet when someone cares about you they should go to great lengths to keep up with you. God does that, and your WM leaders are struggling to be like Him in that way. We care about you, but if you don't know that we do, it doesn't mean much. Be patient with us, sisters. Extend us your grace. The road is rocky, and we don't have a map, but we make up for it with effort.


Is it ridiculous for me to compare our venturing onto the Internet to going boldly while following God? Maybe. I realize it's not the war-torn wilderness. However, everything I read says He invites all people to share the joy of His kingdom. That means us downtown Palafox church people too. That's right. God cares about us. He wants us to demonstrate His care to each other. If this means something to you, would you pray this with me? 


Teach us, Lord. Teach us how to receive your love from our sister church members. Open our eyes and let us see it. Give us a taste. And then you'll probably have to teach us how to give love too. Are we ready, Lord? Only You know. Thank you. Amen. 


Keep your heart rate up, ladies-sisters-friends! (I just can't decide what to call you ... ) 

Monday on Tuesday

Hello, Friends!


I got on here to tell you "Happy Monday!" That is one of my favorite things to say to people on Monday because it takes the negative connotation that Mondays have and turns it into something slightly festive, like a birthday, and then maybe the person you say it to is a little more happy to be in it. It's just a little game I play with myself to lighten the steps on the journey a little bit. Which is great ...


Except that it's not Monday. It's Tuesday. That's right. My children started back to school today which makes it Monday in my head, but the calendar says Tuesday. Four-day weeks make those of us calendar-challenged people even crazier than we already are. I realize that it seems very straightforward to just look at the calendar and then go back and look at it again. Cross off the days you have already spent and there you are. No guessing or confusion. That's what adults do, and I so want to be one. Sort of.


So my weekend dishes are still on the counter, because since it's Tuesday I can't figure out what they're still doing there. Those can't belong to me. The bills are still in the file. Shouldn't those be paid already? The laundry is done; that seems Monday-like. I'm replying to emails, but I can't write "Happy Monday!" even though I feel it in my soul. My rhythm is off.


Anyway, I got on here to share with you that Beth Moore has started her scripture memory challenge on the Living Proof Ministries blog this week. I'm not doing it, but I like to keep tabs because it is so inspiring. She has so far had 7,796 people sign up. Doesn't it thrill you to know that almost 10,000 women out there across the globe are memorizing scripture. Doesn't that just make your Monday-except-it's-Tuesday happy? While I have been typing this six more women signed up! Good stuff. Go look at it if you want to. 


Beth's blog and scripture challenge were what got me to thinking our Women's Ministries might enjoy and support something like this. I thought it might reach across all the many different groups that make up our church body. It makes a community based more on who you are in Jesus, perhaps, than what stage of life you're in. Although we need both, don't we? The encouragement is different and all necessary.


Another fun thing lots of bloggers do is give their readers a name. Beth's are "Siestas." Another girl I know lots of you read uses "Rovers." I have been thinking and thinking about what one word covers the women of First Baptist Pensacola, but it's difficult. There are so many of us, and we don't all fit into any of the same boxes. And lots of the good churchy ones don't seem to fit me. I am going for something fresh. A fresh word as it were. However, I think I have come up with one. I'm researching to see if it has any unseemly sides that I'm not aware of, and I'm going to run it by Linda. I like to stay under the authority of my leaders, just in case. Wait, I should pray about it. I'll do that. Can't you cut the excitement with a knife? I can! A butter knife.


Oooooo, toast. Gotta go. Happy Mon-Tuesday!

A New Start

Dear Friends,

Today is a new start. 

I hope you all had a blessed holiday and worshipped God in wonder at the way He works, through kings and infants and infant kings and everything in between. I read a line in a poem yesterday that applied quite well to my holidays. The poet W.H. Auden wrote that he “attempted--quite unsuccessfully--/To love all of our relatives, and in general/ Grossly overestimated our powers.” A good laugh makes a prick to your conscience so much less painful doesn’t it? 

I want to show you something. 

This is what I have been looking at this year while I have prayed for the women of our church. Then God started putting it on my heart that my family needed this prayer too. I honestly didn’t see the need (grin), but a one-sentence prayer doesn’t take that long, so I started praying it for the people inside my house, as well as for all of us here at Walkin’ and Talkin’. Thankfully I did because some challenges jumped up that I didn’t see coming. Some I think we weathered well, and some we fouled out on a couple times first. 

Oh the mercy of a new start. 

Some of us saw Beth Moore in Birmingham at the beginning of December, and she told a lovely story about seeing a fresh snow fall and accepting the promise that God has made her whiter than snow. We don’t see much snow in Pensacola, but I took a picture in my yard before it got so cold and stormy of what I think a White Christmas in Pensacola looks like. 

Those are camellias, y’all!  If you squint doesn’t it look like a light snow? No? Are you squinting? Squint more!

I grossly overestimated my powers to take pictures and post them and to encourage you with a blog. Grossly, as in the photo quality is actually gross. I thought these phones were supposed to be smart. Everyone in the free world but me, children even, can take pictures with their phones and post them on the computer. But like Paul I’m out here boasting about my weaknesses and hoping, hoping God will come and create something that will bring Him laud and bring you encouragement in 2011. 

Hurry, Lord. Have you seen these pictures?  

Talk to you next week!

Love, 

Ginger

Day of Prayer

I just ate the most delicious chicken salad sandwich for lunch. It was provided for me by the kind FBCP women who put on today's World Day of Prayer. If you didn't make it, I highly recommend it for next year.


There's something about guided prayer stations in a quiet room that brings a calm over me I can't describe. I swear some of the wrinkles on my face relaxed. They had set up seven or so prayer tables with simple, hand-made decorations from the area of the world that was designated. I especially enjoyed the nativity scenes from different cultures. You read a list of the countries in that area where there are Baptist women and pray over their needs. Some were what you'd expect and some were not.


Two things surprised me about the day.


1. The last station was North America, and I found that I approached it with a fresh perspective. Something about praying from "outside" all the other countries gave me the feeling that I was "outside" of our country too. It was almost like looking into the U.S. from far away.


2. I made new friends from outside my stage of life at FBCP. If you don't have any friends outside your age group I highly recommend finding some. They may not remember my name, and I may have to look them up again in the picture directory, but I think that's okay. The important thing is that God brought us there together to share a quiet moment. That is refreshing and wholly satisfying.


Much like the bliss of eating a sandwich made by someone else!

Appliance Anarchy

Here’s a quote from a sermon I heard this week by Tim Keller*. It’s based on Genesis chapter 3, which you can look up if you want, but it’s the serpent in the garden story. 

“Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; anarchy has been loosed upon the world; that’s what we have now.” 

The reason I personally know this to be true? My washing machine and dishwasher broke last week. And while broken appliances are themselves enough of an indicator of the fallen world we live in, I have found that their presence in my home unleashes all manner of sins of the heart. Anger, frustration, guilt and condemnation are just a few of the ways in which I have chosen to respond to the situation. 

After about two short days of dealing with broken machines, the monologue in my head goes something like this: “Well, if I give up washing machines and go back to beating my clothes against a rock, I would also have to give up penicillin. On the other hand, the way my family gets head colds and UTI’s, we won’t live very long without penicillin. In fact, if I don’t serve spaghetti for dinner I probably have enough clean clothes to last until the infections get us and we’re all in heaven.” You’re impressed, I’m sure, by my focus on the hereafter in difficult present times. I’m very Pauline that way. 

Thankfully, and seriously folks, the One I serve gives life. In the face of every form of death, destruction and the slow trickle of wear and tear, He stands with ice-cream scoops and sterling silver punch bowl ladles and, sure, clean plastic laundry detergent bottle caps, measuring out the life. He pours on rest and refreshment and power and solutions, where before we only stood there pushing plastic buttons that wouldn’t respond.  

The Psalms we have been studying in Sunday School are helping me tremendously by reminding me that nature doesn’t break. Trees may die and flowers fade of course, but while God has created them and gives them life, they never just stand there inexplicably refusing to work the way that machines do. You know, you never go to bed when everything is fine and then wake up the next morning and find that that nice tree you love so much that was perfectly shady yesterday just won’t give shade today. 

So anyway, you’ll find me in the word on Sunday. I need some more cooling water from the Psalms. Unless, you know, my car breaks. If your car is broken or you are otherwise stuck at home, get into Psalm 19. There are some great truths there about nature and what it says to us about God. Drink deeply and enjoy it. See you soon. 

*Tim Keller is the pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. Ross quoted him extensively from the pulpit a couple weeks ago. This quote I am using is from a sermon of his entitled "The Garden of God." I highly recommend it, but I can't give you my cd because I enjoy it too much. Anyway, they are his words, used without permission but with a grateful heart and full credit. 

Tour Notes

I have just returned from the lunch session of the Tour of Tables 2010. It was so inspiring. I can't wait to get the total numbers of how many were there. I know Baptists get a bad rap for being all about numbers, but it was a lot of people, and I want to know how many. I can't wait to find out. 


There are many great pictures from the setup yesterday and the folks today that I'll put up here in case you couldn't join us this time. I have learned one thing about the women of First Baptist. We do not want to have our pictures taken. It's true. After two days behind a camera I know it full well. 


No one wants to be that person behind the camera or in front of the camera, but just remember I'm not taking pictures just of us. I want to capture what God has done with us. In spite of us. Not just "There we are!" Something more like: "There we are, and look what He made!" 


Anyway, I'll be back later. So excited!