Refugees

**This post was written in March of 2016, but for some reason I never published it, but it seems I should tonight.

 What comes to mind when you here the word refugee?  Have you ever seen a refugee in real life?  I have.  They looked the part, in trouble, scared, in distress.  A man in a bind, in need of help.  In over their head and in need of someone to come to their aid.

 News outlets have conditioned us to see refugees as foreigners. The refugee I'm most familiar with is the one who looks a lot like me.   A refugee is someone in need of refuge. See what I did there?  Why would an American ever need refuge? Inside our borders we have everything we need, that's why there's a line to get in right? We both rightly and wrongly place a lot of hope in our American soil and a lot of other things. We've got so much security, jobs, the constitution, there are laws and boundaries in place, we can call 911 and out roll the cops, the firemen, the EMTs,  there are programs  in place if we fall on hard times, there's Uber if I'm stranded,  insurance companies,  literal shelters, and on top of that we've got our bank accounts and 401Ks,  our families and security measures and plans of our own in place. We call for help when our internet goes out other than this we've pretty much got it covered. Hashtag BLESSED.

God bless America! And as someone who's seen other parts of this world, I can confirm, He sure has! It's always wonderful to come HOME. America is GREAT.

What flashes in my mind when I hear the term refugee?   A family huddled in a basement bathtub as tornado sirens wail, kids with a trash bag of their belongings timidly walking into a new foster care home, the line outside the homeless shelter on Commercial at dusk each evening. I see a man pleading with the loan officer in the back corner of the bank, parents rushing a feverish, inconsolable child into the ER at 1am.  I see the family of a drug addict, the couple walking out of divorce court, the widow being handed the flag at the funeral.  The girl in the mirror. It's found in all our eyes at one time or another, desperation, vulnerability, fear, anguish, depletion, need.

Refuge isn't really in our vocabulary. Our needs are met when we run to the bank, stop at the grocery store, make a doctor's appointment. It's getting cold we better stop by the mall after school and pick up new winter coats. Do you know of a good rehab?  A good marriage counselor?  Our refuge is where we go when we see need or we  find ourselves in need, for many the first stop is home, we dip into our internal resources. What's your go to?  Mine, more often than not, is ME, my next paycheck, my incredible wealth of knowledge and wisdom, my outstanding people skills, even when I finally resort to prayer I still give the Most High ideas of how He can fix the problem at hand.

I'll bet you think all this was triggered by the news droning on in the background, nope it was  by a little verse tucked into my Bible reading this morning, Psalm 34:8:

"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in the Lord."  

Check it out and see, He says. #Blessed is the man who runs to the Lord when he finds himself in over his head, in distress, in a bind, depleted physically, emotionally, relationally, even financially. #Blessed is the guy who reaches his hands upward to His savior when he's at a loss, scared, in trouble.

Where do you take refuge? While I'm a fan of doctors, counselors, friends, savings accounts, retirement plans, a huge fan of Benedryl, Google, hard work, Merica,  tornado shelters, and Travelers insurance, all the good looking men who come when I dial 911, and good government; I challenge you to make a different first call.  When I find a refugee staring back at me in the mirror, I'm trying to make my first call, my first point of service, where I run, where I seek safety, guidance, help, and security, FIRST to be in Him. Psalm 34:8 says I'll be #BLESSED if I do. Plus, all of those other things might one day not work, might not be available, might not be able to help me so my security should be found in something that the storm can't touch, that the fire can't destroy, in something that can't be taken, squandered, or lost.

Oh and since this post was titled refugees, if my refuge is in the Lord, I don't have to be scared any fellow refugees I may encounter along the way.

Trust in Him at all times oh people; pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. (even during election season!) :)
Ps. 62:8

1995

Took this off a friend's FB wall, but wanted to put it here for the nostalgia!

The year was 1995.
1. Did you know your spouse then? Um well, I guess not, if I did he sure has waited a LOONG time to show himself.
2. Did you carpool? Yep, rode with my friend Lyndsay in her red plymouth laser.
3. What kind of car did you have? 1989 Nissan Sentra, it was popular, Jessie and Thomas had the exact same car, same color and all.
4. It's Friday night .... we're going cruising, we'll drive from the loop of the McDonald's parking lot, thru the movies, up to the pool hall and back around again and again, unless we're just standing in the movies parking lot or out in a big field somewhere around a fire and likely all end up sleeping in my living room floor.
5. What kind of job did you have? Shady Brook Cinema, unfortunately on Vince's shift and not Darryl's & Sno Biz too all the cool kids worked here!
6. Were you a party animal? Well... I wasn't exactly Missionary Mary Beth just yet.
7. Were you a jock? I donned both the soccer and softball jersey, but it's fairly safe to still answer No to this question.
8. Were you in band? Yep.
9. Were you a nerd? See the answer to question 8.
10. Did you get suspended or expelled? Nope just the reason they instituted the attendance policy.
11. Can you sing the fight song? No.
12. Where did you eat lunch? Cafeteria as it was the only place we were allowed to eat.
13. What was your school's full name? Columbia Central High School
14. What was your school mascot? Lion
15. If you could go back and do it again would you? Yeah, sure it's a rite of passage, we survived and even had a little fun along the way.
16. Planning on going to your next reunion? Yes, although FB kind of ruins the suspense.
17. Are you still in contact with people from high school? Yep! We've Christmased every year since the 7th grade. Love them!
18. What were your class colors? Purple and White

19. Senior Trip:  PCB baby! Car hopping. Hurricane party. Club La Villa. Spinikers. The Beach. Montel Jordan. Total Eclipse of the Heart. 

20. Number you graduated in your class?  90 something, but I knew a National Merit Scholar and Coca Cola Scholarship recipient. :) 

2017: The Year of the "F" Word

The doorbell text notification went off on my phone, "How can I pray for you today?" I was in a mood and responded with, "F!" I got back a "What?!$@*!?" 😳😳😂😂 with some surprised and laughing so hard I'm crying emoticons. Which evidently are now available on my computer 🙌👏, so I will not have to use near as many words in my posts. (You wish!😜)

I clarified my text with, "Fitness, Fundraising, and F$@!ty, I'm struggling with them all today and they all start with "F" and are pretty much true "F" words in my book!  Since that text I've added another "F" word to the list, FEELINGS.  In my youth I had LOTS of feelings and I wore them All, no one had to question if I was happy, mad, sad, angry, disappointed, frustrated, excited, you could tell by looking and listening and you really didn't even have to be nearby.  Bless my heart! Now that I'm 29 and much more mature, I take pride in the fact that I'm no longer ruled by my Feelings, until I am. 😔

The other day I rose at 5:30am went for a run, came in and did a workout, spent quality time with Jesus, returned some emails, made some calls to pastors on the east coast and was on my way to work by 8:30am, okay it was a hair appointment, but I made it to my 10:30 meeting and felt like I had already won the day! Hashtag winning! I was OWNING Fitness, Fundraising, and F8#!ty!  But then the other "F" word crept up.  Someone was critical of something I had worked really hard on,  I got an email that my budget was not where I thought it was and I would need to ask for an extension on my Fundraising, and no one even noticed my hair!  When my final meetings ended at 3:30 I headed home to pout in my pajamas and my Netflix. I may have OWNED the morning, but was not OWNING the afternoon. "F!" Failure. 

It's been a few days and I'm back to owning most of my mornings AND afternoons, but still struggling with my personal "F" words.  As I've reflected on last year and what I want to see happen this year I've decided that I'll embrace my "F" words with a great degree of help from my Father. 

As I've walked and talked with Jesus, often times complaining about Fitness, Fundraising,  F*$%ty, and the Feelings that all of these cause, He's said to me many things. Some thru my west coast pastor Judah Smith or my east coast pastor Stephen Furtick, or highlights in my "Chase the Lion," book or my Lifeway study of "Hosea."  (It takes a LOT of work from a LOT of people to keep me from saying the "F" word evidently!) 

One thing He said was, "Focus." In the words, of Furtick, "Any IT person will tell you that you can't get anything done with too many windows open!" 

Or in the words of God, "You sow the wind and you reap the whirlwind!" Yep! That's in the Bible! 

He also told me to suck it up buttercup because there are worse "F" words than my personal ones and others are experiencing them right now!  As I've listened to my Friends this week, I realized He was right! 😏  Some of their "F" words have been Foundational, marriage falling a part, having to relocate, loss of job, Family members struggling with addiction, Funerals, Finances, Family, Fired, Failure, Faithless, Facebook, Friction, Fractures, Frustrations and they're Fed-up with these and all the Feelings that come along with them! Some of them are able to lean heavily on their Faith and their Father, others haven't Found that luxury, that Freedom, that Foundation. 

Regardless of our "F" word it will help us to Focus.  At times we don't even realize that we've taken our eyes off our Father we've just veered slightly because well, the "F" word.  And veering ever so slightly can really change our perspective, I think it's why people shout the "F" word at me when I'm behind the wheel so often. 

My first two memory verses this year were:

 Psalm 19:14, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock & my Redeemer."

 Ephesians 5:15-16, "Be very careful then how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil."  

Both are to help my Focus be on my Father and the good Future that He has promised me, along with His Faithfulness to me even when I am unfaithful, and the Freedom from all the world's "F" words that He brings. 

So yeah, 2017: The Year of the "F" Word.