Jesus woke me early this morning... oh how I needed Him to strengthen my heart and speak something ~ anything from Him. 

He did... He spoke through the Word and then through His prompting I began to read again from the book I have already quoted from in previous posts: "Shattered Dreams" by Larry Crabb. The words could not have been more appropriate, nor more perfectly timed.  And if this doesn't stir even the smallest wiggle of hope in your heart, then I don't know what will!!!

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He is referring to the night when Jesus went to pray during His hours of deepest distress ~ the Mount of Olives. 

"...Peter, James, and John, the same threesome who were invited to watch Jesus raise Jairus's daughter from the dead and to witness Jesus' transfiguration into visible glory were asked to walk on a bit further.

With these three, Jesus did something no good leader is supposed to do: He broke down.  He let them see how intensely troubled and thoroughly overwhelmed He was feeling.  He told them, 'I am beside myself with anguish.'

I cannot imagine Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower weeping in front of his staff as the invasion of Normandy began.  Afterward, perhaps, but not before.  When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  That's our view of strong leadership.

But when the battle Jesus chose to fight approached its fiercest moment, the Master seemed to collapse.  I wonder what He three closest friends felt.

Then, without waiting for a response, He issued a firm order: 'Stay here and keep watch.' Luke adds that, before He walked off to be by Himself, He also said, 'Pray that you don't give in to temptation.'

What temptation?  Jesus knew that the events yet to transpire that evening and all the next day would be enough to rattle His followers to the core.  Their Lord, the One they had given up everything to follow, was about to be led away like a helpless child, beaten by soldiers whose blows He apparently couldn't resist, then crucified as a common thief.

I think Jesus was telling His disciples to not lose hope.  Their Messiah, their Leader, their General, the One they had come to believe was their God, was about to become the plaything of a sadistic mob of soldiers.  It would be enough to make anyone wonder if He was a real man, let alone the answer to all their problems, let alone God.

Jesus faced His own temptation to quit.  His personal battle to persevere was being fought on the Mount of Olives.  He had spent every night there since Sunday, every night during the last week before He died.

Why? It was the Place of Hope.  It was the place where, after His resurrection and just before His ascension, he would speak to his disciples one last time.  On that occasion, with the authority of a man who had just conquered death, Jesus would say, 'Soon you will receive power, power to be My witnesses.'...

Note again: The place from which a few weeks later He would ascend to heaven was the same place where He now cried.

And to this same place He will one day return.  When He was crying in Gethsemane, He knew that.  He had read Zechariah's prophecy.  When He comes back, His feet will touch down on the Mount of Olives.  The impact will split the ground.  That ground where He lay violently weeping before His death will then become command headquarters for the final battle against evil.

General Jesus will not weep then.  The Lamb will roar like a lion and with irresistible might lead His troops to claim the victory already won through His chosen weakness.

The outcome is not in doubt.  When the dust settles, 'The Lord will be king over the whole earth.  On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.' (Zechariah 14:9)"

I am speechless with amazement and awe with this reminder of the final chapter.  Hope is not lost.  Our God still reigns and will forever and ever and ever and ever...

When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples...He didn't tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said. That's why it is said, "Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set him right." But it's not just Abraham; it's also us! The same thing gets said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. ~ excerpt from Romans 4:17-19 the Message 

We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek.  Hebrews 6:18

Oh boy! It’s interesting not having a man around to fix things and why is it that everything seems to break when they’re gone?!   Today was such a day…

Lightning struck the modem & phone the other night ~ no I didn’t fix that!  Fortunately Comcast sent a repairman out to replace the modem however it also fried the internet card in the computer so that will have to be replaced as well as the router which was also struck.  (Haha… on a side note… there aren’t very many people who would get this inside joke, but I wanted to say to one friend “Hi!  ~~~  Voltage!!!”    Hadn’t thought of that memory for years… long story and more hilariously told in person!)

So this afternoon being the very diligent , kind and thoughtful daughter that I am I decided to mow the lawn ~ with the riding mower mind you.   I found after my last experience with the mower that we got on pretty well and that perhaps it would let me be friends with it after all.   I think it’s all in how you treat it…

Nice mower!  Thank you for starting for me… good job!  Would you like a carrot?  Maybe a nice pat on the nose…   Ohh… it’s just a mower ~ I forgot!  It seems to have an almost wild animalish sense of revenge at times!   And all that horsepower nonsense IS a bit confusing!   We are galloping errrr riding along when all of a sudden rounding a corner on the FARTHEST side of the house of course, wild colt mower decides to through a shoe, I mean a tire!   Well, almost… it was so flat that it was really nearly coming off the rim.   Sigh ~ oh dear ~ NOW what?!   I was thinking there was no way out of this predicament without someone to help me move it.

My phone rang!  It was my darling, wonderful, amazing father!   He truly seemed that as he came to the rescue from 600 miles away.   In the garage you will find a yellow jack and a red strap.  Oh I LOVE colors!  I can find colors!   Found them after searching for about 10 minutes (I think items in garages rearrange themselves after usage.) 

Just so you know ~ all you ladies who upon reading this are going to go out and try changing your own lawnmower tires ~ those car jacks are heavy!!    Don’t say I didn’t warn you!   It must have been a sight to watch me dragging all 50 pounds of this jack all the way out to the back 40 (it seemed!) to where the wretched lawnmower was sitting all smuglike ~ almost like it was daring me to just TRY fixing it!   But finally there it was and I felt like SUCH a seasoned lawnmower mechanic already!   Pump chug pump chug….  Look at me!  I lift lawnmowers!  (I just let the jack do all the work!)    

My father in mentioning the red strap did say something like "it’s a little difficult to work and mom can’t seem to figure it out so see what you can do with it."  I should have taken note of his warning… It’s one of those metal doohicky things that require you threading the strap through it and it has teeth and a spring so that it will hold securely without slipping.   After about 20 minutes of reading instructions and following the pictures however, I got it to work!!!   On red strap... tighten… check…  hahaa... you will not outsmart me little mower!

Next mission ~ get the tire pumped full of air from the air compressor.  This required attaching the extension hose.  I screwed and unscrewed that crazy metal thingy within an inch of it’s life and to no avail.  It would NOT come off!  I give up ~ there is no way I can do this! 

Phone rings… ahaaaa… dad!    Gotta love the timing!   Ohhh… so you pull down on the metal screwy thingy and pull up on the top metal thingy at the same time?!  Cool!!!  Why didn’t I think of THAT?!!    Voila!   Done!

Thankfully the cord just made it to the mower!   What?!  No air pressure?!   Duh!  Gotta turn it on…. Miss Fix It runs back to the garage and plugs in.   Run back to the mower… no air pressure?!!  Come ON!  Run back to the garage, turn the little valve thingy (Don’t you love how I know the names of all these parts of things and how they work?!  I think it just shows I must be a natural at this!) .  FINALLY!!  An hour and a half later at least… tire is now fixed and ready to roll.   And that’s how she did it folks!  With help from dad over the phone and lots of grace from the Lord. 

I’m so glad that Jesus helped me through this!  I’ve dreaded these sorts of things and I’m honestly a little afraid of what MIGHT happen.   But, it wasn’t as overwhelming as it could have been and there was help when I needed it.  And I admit to being quite highly amused at what the neighbors might think should any of them (and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if there weren’t a few) be peeking out their windows at the drama unfolding in the Alexander field. 

Unfortunately it was so late by the time that I got it fixed that I was mowing at dusk, but I have a feeling that I just MIGHT have a mowers tan by the end of the summer after all!    That is if ol’ Bessie will cooperate and jus' keep doin' her thang!  Just another day at the ranch, folks... stay tuned. I have a feeling there will be more adventures happening here soon!