THE NEW EWE

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'"

Luke 15:4-6

March 29, 2023

LIFE IN THE FOLD

Years ago there was a commercial for a financial company and one of the lines that people would forcefully say is, "It's my money! I need it now!!"

I found the commercial annoying, but honestly, that seems to be the attitude that many people have when they want something. They want it now! Patience and waiting seem to be an unnecessary waste of time. So they buy on credit, go into debt, and can often get themselves (and their family) into a financial mess. But sometimes waiting can be beneficial!

Jon and I recently had a good example of that in our own lives. Last summer our upstairs air conditioning unit went out and needed to be replaced. We were in the process of building a new big shed in our backyard and had used up most of our savings for that project, so didn't have the needed funds. We didn't want to borrow and go into debt. So we shut all the doors upstairs, except for our bedroom.

My sister had a portable air conditioner that she let us borrow. Each evening we would turn it on and shut the door to our bedroom to try and cool the room off enough for us to be able to sleep comfortably. There were a lot of nights when it cooled the room off enough to be comfortable, but there were a few times when it was hot and stuffy. But we would turn on fans and do what we needed to do to get through until cooler weather.

A few months ago, Jon called the heating and air company that we use and got a bid for a new air conditioning unit. We wanted to know how much we would need to save in order to get it replaced. We felt like it was a good price, but didn't have enough money at that time to go ahead and have the work done.

Last Friday, Jon called them to get an updated bid for having it replaced. The unit that they had priced for us earlier has been discontinued. The version that we are getting is only a bit more expensive and is a bigger and a slightly better model. So by waiting until we had the money, we ended up getting a better air conditioning unit for our home.

A couple weeks ago I found out that our yearly insurance for our home had gone up $1359 over last year. It's due on April 1^st and we had expected a bit of an increase, but not that much! Plus we hadn't yet called to add our new shed onto the policy, which we knew would add an additional increase. The same day that I contacted Jon about the increase, our agent's office called him to make an appointment for us to have a meeting to go over our policy. We did so, and by making three pretty minor changes, our agent was able to decrease that billing by $770. One of the things that he took off was something that we didn't even know was on our policy, so we would never have used it anyway. By being patient and taking the time to go visit with our agent, we saved several hundreds of dollars from the original bill for this year.

I've heard the advice given to someone who wants to buy something that they don't have the money for or have a bill that is higher than expected to either wait or take the time to go talk to someone about the charges. I've heard the response, "It won't make any difference!" That is generally said in frustration or impatience. Maybe it won't make a difference, but often it does!

We can have this same attitude with God, many times. We are praying about something and it seems as if He is delaying His answer. We become anxious and begin to fret about how things are going to work out, so try to come up with a plan for how we can take care of things ourself. That is often a bad idea and generally doesn't end well. Our ways and ideas are never better than waiting for what God has in store for us. He will always do things better than we can!

Isaiah 40:31 says, "Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."

When we fail to wait on the Lord, we lose our strength. We grow weary and faint. It's hard work and takes a lot of effort to try and get through life without God. We have no one to lean on or depend on. We have no one to run to for help. There is no one to carry through life's challenging moments. Depending upon ourself doesn't make us strong and independent and powerful. It makes us weary and stressed and frustrated.

Even when we are waiting on God's timing for something to come to pass, we can do so with peace and joy, when we are abiding in Christ and allowing Him to abide in us. When we trust that God always has our best interest at heart and that His ways are always best, even in moments of frustration or in times of waiting, when we want something now, we can be at rest in knowing that He will take care of us. Understanding that God's ways are always much better than ours is key. Knowing that the delays may be because God has something better for us than what we have planned. Those things that we want so desperately, God may have something even better in store for us, if we wait for His timing.

JON'S PERSPECTIVE:

I'm having to exercise that same patience now. My employer has been very good. We've been through nearly 16 years. We've had ups and downs, times when we were overloaded with work, and times we were looking for anything to bring in some income. But we've made it through all those times. Right now is about the leanest we have been in all that time. We have lost 4 employees recently, and are down to about 9 employees. If I were too impatient, I would start looking for work now.

I've had a couple of times I was laid-off. The first time, I had an interview the next day, and started about 2 days later. The other time, I took a few days off first just because I wanted some time. God had it all worked out already.

So I have a peace about it this time, too. I have good hope that our company will continue to stay in business, and grow again. But if it doesn't, I'm confident God will have something else lined up for me.

ON THE MENEWE:

Sausage Stuffed Jalapenos

Half each jalapeno lengthwise and remove seeds.

Cook sausage, drain. In a small mixing bowl combine the cream cheese and parmesan; fold in sausage.

Spoon a tablespoon of mixture into each jalapeno half. Place in an ungreased baking pan.

Bake uncovered at 425 for 15-20 minutes, until filling it light browned and bubbly.

NOTE: You can also wrap each stuffed jalapeno with a half strip of bacon. If the bacon is not as done as you'd like at the end of cooking time, broil for a couple minutes.

You can also use mini sweet peppers instead of jalapenos, if desired.

Leftovers reheat well. They are also great to chop up and mix in with eggs for breakfast.

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER:

Occasionally we have those blooper moments that are embarrassing at the time, but rather funny after the fact. I've had my share of such incidents!

Several years ago, we had a ladies' joy fellowship at our church. We had eaten and sung and had a speaker and it had been a fun evening. Afterwards, I stayed and was helping the lady in charge clean up. I didn't know her that well at the time, and we were visiting and getting to know one another better as we picked up and put things back in order. I bent over to pick something up, and very unexpectedly and with no warning I farted! Not just a tiny, silent lady-like toot.... but a full-blown one with some force behind it. What to do?!? It wasn't as if it hadn't been heard by her. So I laughed, embarrassedly, and said, "Oops!! Sorry about that!" She laughed and that was an ice-breaker that began of a very special friendship between the two of us. You never know what will begin a friendship; but beginning it with laughter is a good start!

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,

as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:

We love you!

Loretta & Jon

http://www.graysheep.org