Big Man, Big Problem, Simple Solution

Once upon a time,
there was a commander of the army of the king of Syria.
He was a really great guy and a honorable man and very important.
He had one problem.
He was a leper.

The Syrians had gone out on a raid
and brought back a captive from Israel.
She was a young girl and she waited on Naaman's wife
hand and foot.

One day, she said to Naaman's wife,-let's call her Lindsay,
just for the fun of it-
"Lindsay. Where I come from, there is a great man of God.
He could heal your husband."

So, Naaman went and told the king of Syria about it
and being his friend, the king sent a letter to the king of Israel.
"Here is my servant Naaman. Heal him or else."
Something like that.

The king of Israel freaked out and said,
"Good grief! Am I God?
Who am I to heal?
He must want to start a fight with me."

And he tore his clothes in the agony of frustration
and probably very real fear.

Elisha heard about it and said,
"What's wrong? Why are you tearing your clothes.
Send him to me and he'll know that there is a prophet in Israel."

So, Naaman went to Elisha's house by way of his horse and chariot.

Elisha stayed in the house, perhaps drinking his tea and reading a book.

He sent a messenger to the door.
The messenger said, "Go to the Jordan river
and wash in it seven times,
and then you will have flesh that is clean."

Naaman was not happy with this bit of instruction.

He said, "I told myself that Elisha would come out to me
and call aloud to the Lord his God,
and wave his hand over the place,
and the leprosy would be gone!
I could have washed in other rivers closer to me
and they are better than the waters of Israel!"

And he was enraged.

But his servants talked some sense into him
saying, "If he asked you to do something great or complicated
you would have had no problem in doing it.
This is simple.
Why not do as he says?"

So, Naaman humbled himself and said, "Okay. I'll go."

And he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan
and just as Elisha said,
his flesh was completely restored.
It looked as smooth and as clean as a child's skin.

And he returned to Elisha with all of his aides
and said to him,
"Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel,..."
which is actually an interesting perspective if you take the time to think about it.

The story goes on.
Greed complicates the beautiful ending.
And leprosy follows the descendants of Gehazi forever.
Read about it in 2 Kings, Chapter Five.
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Sometimes,
we have a great need.
It can be emotional, spiritual, physical, financial-
you name it.
We go to the Source of All Help
and we have in our minds how He will help us.

We think,
"If our child can just hang out with this group of people,
they will influence him for good, and he'll be okay."
Or, "When the new pastor comes, maybe he'll have the gift of healing,
or his wife will speak a word over me,
and I'll be delivered from this problem."
Or,"Maybe I'll win a sweepstakes and be set for life."

And all that may be true.

But what if we came to God and asked for help and healing
and didn't lose sight of Him during the healing process.

What if we stopped putting our trust in the dramatic
calling out to God and the waving of the hand?

What if we waited for His help,
keeping our eyes on Him,
and obeying Him in the simple things,
like "washing in the Jordan seven times"
or forgiving our enemies,
or eating healthy foods
or anything else He may tell us to do
that seems too simple.

I told Phil about this story on the phone
and he told me a story also.
He had just met a man named Dave.
Dave is the picture of health
and is a body builder.

He had a brain tumor
and to take it out,
they peeled back his face,
cut out the tumor,
and cauterized the arteries/veins,
and sewed his face back down again
using hundreds of stitches.

Then he was able to come home to recuperate.

One day he sneezed.

And the cauterized veins burst open.

He began bleeding from his wounds,
his nose, and around his jawline where his stitches were.

He called his neighbor who was a Baptist minister.
And then the ambulance came and took him to the hospital.

They couldn't stop the bleeding.
They shoved gauze up his nose and on his face,
breaking open the hundreds of stitches.
The doctor was on his way but it would be another 30 minutes until he arrived.

The Baptist minister came into his room
and called out to God.

"God! If you can do anything for this man,
do it now!"

("If you can" is supposedly not the world's greatest faith prayer.)

And, the bleeding stopped immediately.

When the doctor arrived,
the crisis was over.
He stitched him back up again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We want to put God in a box.
We want to have a formula.

But God is God
and we are not.

God does not have to do things in a complicated dramatic way.
He can.
But He doesn't have to.

We could learn a thing or two from God.

Hertzler Doings~May 27-June 2, 2013

Mon.-Memorial Day. Made juice for a few hours. Cleaned out the inside fridge and freezer. Homeschool ball in eve. Visited Katherine M. in hospital between games. I thought she looked great.

Tues.-Worked in old house for several hours. Cleaned metal cabinet. Susan on her final week or two of school. Reading 'Marching Through Culpepper.' Julie came over later in the afternoon. Had supper with us. Michael and Roger worked on the garage. Looks great with cedar siding on the outside.

Wed.-Got so much done today. Finished the 'have to organize before the pig roast' section of the old house. Been putting in an hour or two a day and I can feel it in my lungs. I'm going back to 15 min. a day before it gets hot and hopefully, by the end of the summer, things will look a lot better in there and maybe we can have a guest room set up. Also cleaned out several cabinets and cupboards in the kitchen. Threw out at least 5 bags of junk! Worked in the garden, canned nuts, cleaned up back porch a bit, cooked old Abbey meat to cut up for Lucy tomorrow, (Susan's project), and caught up with Sara. I am so thankful to have this kind of energy. Being diligent about drinking a gallon of water and taking my vitamins. Susan is working hard on finishing up history and getting a tan in the process. Oh, the bonuses of homeschooling.
Johnny Fisher is in the hospital with congestive heart failure. Pictures on face book are making me cry. His grand kids were all around him. He's looking pretty good.

Thurs.-Errand day. Dr. F., haircut for Susan, greenhouse for tomato plants, Food Lion, Walmart, Homeschool Ball.

Fri.-Canned nuts. 1 hour in open mason jar at 200 degrees. Wipe edge with a wet paper towel when you take it out, put on lids, and let it go pop. Making room in freezers by getting out rice, nuts, corn meal, etc. and canning it. Rosalee had surgery to remove her stent and it went well! Praise the Lord! Mom and Dad are down. They are coming over for supper as is Freeman and Alli. We are having sausage, apple, sweet potato bake and homemade cole slaw, salad, and some leftover peanut butter eggs for dessert. Here they are! Had a wonderful time and laughed ourselves silly over Philip's renditions of 'Scaring Ray.'

Sat.-Great Day. Got a lot of work done around here and then went to Bethany's graduation ceremony. Very deep and touching service. Stayed around and visited with others for awhile. Came home and changed and went over to Tom's for a most delicious supper of grilled steak, grilled chicken, ziti lasagna, rolls, seven layer salad, potato salad, olives, grilled veggies, and fresh strawberry pie. Amazing. Sat around and visited until 10 with everyone including John and Sandy. It's always nice to be with them. Got to hug nieces and nephews several times today. And got to almost snuggle with Dad on the sofa while we talked about different Old Testament prophets. My heart is full.

Sun.-Pastor Josh preached today after 8 years and was it 17 days of not preaching to an adult group. We'd like to have him  preach more often. He preached about the lies we believe. 1-we need to be self-sufficient. 2-God's heart is set and things will be as they will be. 3.-I deserve this. I had it coming to me. 4. I am not truly a child of God. After each lie was presented, the truth was shared. Came home and rested for a brief moment and then went over to the other Hertzler family to celebrate Bethany's birthday some more with a good hundred people I'm sure. There was plenty of food, fun, and fellowship. Some of the young men were playing songs and getting ready for the pig roast music fest. Came home after 5 and soon Mom and Dad came over for supper. Michael and Sarah made sausage biscuits and gravy. Some of us watched some Dundee while Mom, Dad, and Phil, looked up Hertzler genealogy on line. Great day.

Sleepover-May 24-25, 2013 with Abby, Serena, and Micah

I am here with Abby, Serena, and Micah.
Abby is 13, Serena is 11, and Micah is 9.

Last night, we watched The Road to El Dorado, Yogi Bear, and Surf's Up.
We ate pizza, popcorn, ice cream, and drank grape Fanta soda.
They slept on a big homemade bed on the floor.
Abby slept on the sofa.

For breakfast, we had pancakes and vanilla ice cream and watched
The Lorax and Princess Diaries.

Now it's time for Stories and Jokes!

Abby:
What is white, black, and blue all over?
A frozen penguin.

There are three blondes walking on a beach.
Suddenly a genie appears,
and granted them each one wish.
The first one said,
"I hate being dumb.
I want to be 50% smarter."
So she turned into a strawberry blonde.

The next one said,
"I hate being dumb.
I want to be 100% smarter."
And she turned into a brunette.

The last one said,
"I LOVE being dumb.
I want to be 100% dumber."

And she turned into a man.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(At this punch line,
I gasped, and she said,
"If you don't like it,
I can tell you another one."
Abby has great respect for the men in her life-
just so you know.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Serena's jokes:

How many blondes does it take to shoot a gun?
Three.
One to hold it.
One to pull the trigger.
And one to make sure the bullet is coming out the other end.

(Another gasp from Auntie Annette.)

There was this blonde and she went to the store
and she asked the store clerk,
"How much is that TV over there?"
And he said,
"Sorry, we don't sell to blondes."
So she went home and dyed her hair brown.

And she came the next day and asked the store clerk,
"How much is that TV over there?"
To which he replied,
"Sorry, we don't sell to blondes."
So she went home and dyed her hair red.

And came back the next day.
"How much is that TV over there?"
she asked.
And again he said,
"Sorry, we don't sell to blondes."
So she went back to her house and dyed her hair
green with purple and pink high lights,
and went back to the store.

And she asked,
"How much is that TV over there?"
And the store clerk said,
"Sorry, we don't sell to blondes."
And then she gasped,
"How did you know I was a blonde?"
He leaned over the counter
and said,
"My dear lady, it's not a TV.
It's a microwave."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There were three guys who escaped from jail.
One was a red head, one was a brunette, and one was a blonde.
A genie came from no where and said,
"Whatever you want to land in when you jump off a cliff,
I will grant you."
The red head said,
"What's better than money?
I'll just land in money."
So he ran and jumped off the cliff and landed in money.
The brunette said,
"I want to land in something soft like mattresses and pillows."
So he jumped off the cliff and landed on mattresses and pillows.
And the blonde said to himself,
"As I'm thinking,
I'll just get a running head start."
So he was running as fast as he could
and tripped on a rock and said,
"Oh, poop!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Micah's stories-last but not least.

There were these three guys.
One was named 'Shut up',
one was named 'Stupid'
and one was named 'Poop.'
And they went on a camping trip.

Poop was riding on top of their jeep and fell off
so they stopped and Stupid went to help him.
A police officer showed up and went to talk to the driver, Shut Up.
"What is your name?" he asked the driver.
"Shut Up," Shut Up said.
"What is your name?!" he asked again.
"SHUT UP!"
"Tell me. What is your name!!!"
"SHUT UP!"
"Fine. So what's happening here."
"Oh don't worry. Stupid's just picking up Poop."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Abby has another one.

How do you kill a blonde?
Put a scratch and sniff sticker in the bottom of a pool.
(Another gasp from AA.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think it's time to go outside and play a yard game or two.
Farewell until next time.