Jim and Marlee's Hints for Cooling Off in GNW Marine Climate

We've been paying close attention to twitters, texts, emails and every kind of communication concerning the heat wave that has come over our GNW in the last few days. No sense shopping around for an AC, no store has them. It's like trying to hunt down a generator in the middle of a blizzard. Our way of dealing with some things we can't control is to laugh. It makes us feel better and I hope these hints will help you along the next melt-down. My skin was in shock today! There are a number of things you might try, to cool down but if you reject all of them that's ok, just laugh!
*move to Barrow, Alaska and ignore the mosquitoes, but if that's not an option...
*give heed to Tamara M's suggestion to freeze wet washcloths til stiff as a board. Fold the
cloth and place under the chin and hold. Your mouth is wide open at this point but both
hands are free to wave paper fans
*change your thermometer to celsius. 37.5C sounds a lot better than 108F. (today)
*ignore the calorie count and slurp down a grande java chip frappachino
*run through the sprinkler with your grandchildren
*turn sprinkler on!!
*visit husband in air conditioned office for eight hours
*keep praying the thunderhead clouds move west
*count how many days til Christmas!
*sing Christmas carols
There you have it. Feel free to to comment and add your own to the list. Funny how these things come out to be ten in the list, just like Tony Morgan's lists.
God is good no matter what the weather is.

Mentors 2

Helen Carlquist was the kind of Jesus follower you knew had been a Christian for a long, long time. Her face spoke the fruit of the Spirit and the joy of the Lord. She was 82 years old when we first met her, silvery white hair without a blue streak in it! She had a twinkle in her eye and this smile on her face that could disarm any grouchy soul.
Helen did not make a way for herself. By that I mean, she never blew her own horn. She was content to live out the gifts God had given to her and she always freely gave!! Her life on this earth was to bless people with her wisdom and joy. We were priveleged to have her attend our home fellowship from 1977-1980. I loved her quiet ways, but her ministry to the Church spoke loudly! When our home fellowship got too big and we ran out of chairs, without any fan fare she handed us a check for folding chairs, PADDED folding chairs!
Thing about Christians in this modern time, we have to be adventurers and willing to take a risk when God says it's time. Helen was this kind of woman. On her own at 16 years old, she moved all the way to Alaska without knowing a soul. It was exactly what God had ordained. She was saved in Alaska and her life was forever changed. She told me one time of a snow shoeing mission trip she took with with other Christians. No small trip, from Anchorage to Fairbanks. She was an adventurer for the Lord!
Helen was a woman of vision. I see her life in the Proverbs 31 woman. She wanted to borrow a certain amount of money from a banker because she had this vision of buying land in a certain area outside of Anchorage at the time. It was so far out, it was considered "the bush." She kept getting a no every time she talked with him. Helen kept going back. You didn't expect she would give up with the first no or the twentieth? She kept going back until she got what she asked for. She was very convincing. She reminds me of the woman in the Bible who kept going back to the judge for what she wanted until he gave up and said yes, just to get rid of her. A few decades later, that piece of property became a huge portion of downtown Anchorage. Thank you Jesus! Her future husband Carl (the Swede) built a building on Helen's property and opened a jewelery store, Carlquist Jewelers. Helen probably had her choice of engagement rings!
Couple things I loved about Helen, was her consistent, abiding love for God's people and for Him; but also the uncomplicated way she believed God's word. Helen was a prayer warrior, she fully believed the scripture when Jesus said "enter your closet to pray". She always prayed in her closet. Wonder if Carl knew what she was doing in there? God knew.
I wasn't sad when I heard that Helen had died. She was with Jesus whom her heart desired.

Dude in Plaid Shorts

What made us think plaid shorts for men and boys had disappeared from the fashion scene?!! First young dudes wear them thinking they are the newest thing in cool, but we "olders" of the fifties know it's another comeback along with the pink and aqua fashion of a couple years ago.

A few weeks ago strolling around in that fashion-plate store, Sears, we see racks and racks of plaid shorts on sale for $15! Immediately our favorite fifties music starts going through our minds... "Earth Angel", "Little Darlin' ", "A Rose and a Baby Ruth", "A Blossom Fell", "Come Go With Me", "April Love". Now that was a fun shopping experience!

First night wearing plaid shorts was to the last night of VBS. Jim and I had a discussion of what socks to wear with his new shorts of this 85 degree night. He had brand new beautiful white socks; above the ankle kind and I suggested he ask Katy what kind of socks look good with new plaid shorts. She took one look at the above the ankle socks and said, "not those". Good thing FM is close when you are in Monroe. The fashion faux pas was easily corrected. At least the socks he wore wern't brown, just below the knee kind!

While plaid shorts coming back has been a lot of fun, just be glad that pastel colored corduroy pants have stayed back in the fifties. So far.

Mentors

Mentors in our lives are great gifts from God, especially when we are in the "infant stage!" The Lord sent three women into my life in the early phase of my walk with Him. I was 22 years old when I got saved and I needed mentors! I didn't know to call these women that, but I definitely knew they had a profound impact on my life.
I had love and respect for a woman in 1960 named Rev. Iva Berry. Yes, her title was reverend! From the early days in the Nazarene church, women were ordained. Many single women were missionaries to places around the world. Sister Berry was a prayer warrior and I knew that's the way I wanted to pray. Things happened around her, good things! Because of constraints, Sister Berry dressed in the holiness look for women, but the joy of the Lord kept bubbling out of her, even in long dresses! She was probably the most thankful person I've ever met.
Everyone in Alaska knew me by my nickname, Marlee. Sister Berry was from the state of Maine and she couldn't pronounce her r's, so my name came out "Molly." She would say, "Molly, you have to give that one to the Lord," or, "we're going to pray about this Molly." She would take me, children and all, and we would spend many afternoons praying. That's how my first three kids learned to pray. Soon, we would have our own time of prayer in our home. This is training up our children in the way they should go and they will not depart from it.
Sister Berry was a shouter in church and now I am too. We have MUCH to be thankful for! In those days and today, we have plenty to shout about. There was fire, zeal for the Lord that touched hundreds of military lives in the first three years we were in this church. Wednesdays and Sundays the altar area was full of people getting saved and comitting their lives to Jesus.
There was just something about Sister Berry that drew people to her. She wasn't the kind of
Christian that had the attitude that went along with her old-fashioned dress, she positively glowed with the love of Jesus in her face and in her life. She had a soft look about her, with a loud voice.
We didn't talk about our power and authority we had through the Holy Spirit, but Sister Berry knew exactly what she had been given by God. She was a prayer warrior alright. She prayed for deliverence for the native peoples in Alaska; many were addicted to alcohol. Her target was not the person, but the source of the problem, "get to the root of the problem, Molly!" Downtown Anchorage was famous for its bars, one after another. She would pray that God would deliver the alcoholic from sin and rid Anchorage of the blight of these bars, always reminding me to ask God to spare people. She knew God would answer that prayer one day, and she lived to hear about it in Maine. March, 1964 an 8.6 (some say higher) earthquake hit the southern part of Alaska and downtown Anchorage fell 12' into the ground. Every bar was destroyed and not one life was lost. The bars that had been there for decades have never been replaced. She came back to Alaska and when we talked, there was no arrogance in her about having this prayer answered, but she was thankful that no one was killed there.
One of Sister Berry's favorite scriptures was 1Peter 1:8 "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." We all knew when Sister Berry was in the house, she was teaching all of us to be thankful and to be people of expectations. She was teaching even when we wern't having a personal time.
Now she is experiencing that joy unspeakable for eternity, she who had not seen Jesus, now sees! Halelujah!! That's what Sister Berry would say, and I say it too. Jesus is worthy.
Two more mentors; Helen Carlquist and Helen Bolton, soon.

Returning to the Familiar

There is a saying that the familiar breeds contempt, but the familiar I'm thinking of is what gives us comfort, encouragment, wisdom and truth. This is the familiar that spurs us on when we get weary, the familiar that feeds the fire of our passion for Christ. This familiar stirs our faith, comforts us when we need comfort and reassuring. The familiar I'm blogging about is our spiritual foundation.
Before we started coming to TRC, these familiar things would pop into my mind. When praying, an old song from the red hymnal came clear as day; or something from Luther's Catechism. That one went back a few years! Just last Sunday, P. Mel led us in worship from one of those hymns that's in the red hymnal to this day! "What can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus." The familiar is with us every day because it's our Christian foundation, everything we believe about our faith in Jesus. Every doctrine, every familiar Bible story many of us grew up with, our prayer life, all the word of God is our foundation.
The danger in the human heart is to allow that familiar to be taken for granted. I know I did at one point and in doing that, I allowed my love for the familiar to become lukewarm. That's why God, in His mercy and grace, started filling my thoughts with the familiar again. I was surprised to even remember parts of Luther's Catechism that I had to learn in the early 50's. The once taken for granted now has my great love and I wanted to share some of the familiar scriptures we know very well. I'm praying it will stir up your love and faith for these blessings that God has given us.
Gen. 3:15, Ps. 23, Ps. 46, Isa. 25:1, Isa.46: 9-10, Eph. 6:10-18, Matt. 6: 9-13, Phil. 4:1, John 3: 16, Matt.11:28-30, Matt. 18: 19-20, Phil. 1:6, Col. 3:23-24, Col. 4:2, Rom. 1:16-17, Rom. 12:1-2, 1Cor. 15:56, 2Cor. 2:14-15, 2Cor. 5:7, 2Cor. 6:2, 2Cor. 9:6-8, 2Cor. 12:9-10, Phil. 4: 6-9, Phil. 4:13, Phil. 4: 19.
That list is long, so take it a little at a time. Take a scripture a day, spend time in it, pray and think about what it says. Ask God to give you understanding and help to apply it to your every day life. There might be another blog on the familiar, or make your own list of the familiar that has meant so much to you.
The familiar does great work in us!

The Long Haul

The long haul was a phrase we heard for the first time in Alaska, and I was reminded of it again this week as we made our way up to Winthrop this last Tuesday and returned home today. That was a long haul! Highway 20 is a long and sometimes very slow haul, but beautiful all the way. On the way back we saw what we thought at first was fog near the top of the mountain. We quickly realized it was a forest fire. So, the long haul can have its dangers too.
The curving road forced us to slow down and we got a very good look at the beautiful creation God has given us in the GNW. We took the time to stop at several turn-outs for rest, picture taking and talking about this great land. Riley has taken to photography and with his permission, I'll post some of the beauty he saw on this trip.
The long haul has come to mean more than just a long and arduous drive to the North Slope in Alaska. There is very special meaning to our spiritual lives too. One of the ways we would describe certain Christians was, "she/he is in it for the long haul." That meant they were serving Jesus, no matter what came their way. That long haul to the North Slope? Long, lonely, cold, dangerous. That's the way it CAN be at times in the Christians life, but all along the way we have a goal and purpose. We are connecting people to life. We are demonstrating to the lost that they too can have a purpose in life through Jesus Christ. The ones who press into this kingdom are the ones who reach their full purpose in Jesus.
Along the way in this long haul, Christians have all the help we will ever require in this life. The presence of the Holy Spirit, The Church and fellowship with other believers, the Word of God to encourage and direct, leaders who watch out for our souls. Here are some of the scriptures to direct you on this long haul called life in the Son of God: 2Cor. 12:9 (look at 2 Cor. 12: 9-10 in the Message Bible); Eph. 4:7; 1 Tim.1:14; Phil. 4:19 and many , many others.
Stir your heart up for the long haul, many others are with you. How many trillions over the centuries have been on this way before us and now rejoice with God? Don't look or go back for anything.