Yearly Archives: 2010

The Spy Club

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Everybody loves to belong, because it’s no fun being stuck outside looking in. We belong to families, clubs, student bodies, churches, small groups, neighborhoods and more. Most of us have also been excluded or eliminated from belonging. I was crushed when I didn’t make cheerleading. Nate was wounded when he didn’t get into Harvard. Rejection comes in all shapes and sizes.

When I was a school girl, I had the same strong desire to belong that every other girl had. Thankfully I found Carol, who turned out to be my best buddy from kindergarten through fifth grade. We were a group of two, and if we felt excluded by the other girls, we had the perfect solution: start our own club.

In the back of my primitive journal from those days, I discovered the founding document of “The Spy Club” started in 1955. Its list of rules dictated that the club was only for spies with flair:

  • Never back out on any of the members.
  • Must always be ready for duty.
  • Must be brave at all times.
  • When on pleasure trips, must not spy.
  • Never get too close when spying.
  • When spying on one person, never take to another until finished with the first one.
  • Must wear pin at all times, and you will be checked at every meeting and at school.
  • Must be at all meetings unless of a good excuse.

Beneath this list was a description of the initiation process: to go on a brave spying trip.

No specific spying challenges are detailed in the document, but there is a caveat at the end: Whenever any of the members are gone on trips, write letters back and forth telling what is happening.

At the bottom of the legal-sized sheet are the signatures of the club leaders: Margaret Johnson and Carol Miller. No doubt our finest missions were spent spying on the other girls, the ones from whom we probably felt excluded.

There’s only one club I know of that’s open to any and all people, and that’s God’s Club. The one qualification needed is a sincere desire to submit to him as personal Lord. Anyone willing to do that can join the Club by going through the initiation: repenting of personal sin.

There are no club dues, because one Donor paid them all, and that was Jesus. His death covered the cost of being in the Club for all of us, and once we’re “in”, God will never turn us out. We might choose to quit, but he won’t ever quit on us.

Although there were eight rules in the Spy Club, God’s Club has only one: to love the Lord with heart, soul, mind and strength. And when we strive to keep that rule, Club benefits abound! Every scriptural promise becomes ours, and we can look forward to One-on-one time with our Leader, any time of day or night.

Best of all, our Club will never end. Every other club will eventually break up or dissolve just as the Spy Club did, but God’s Club will continue into eternity with the assurance that every member will be included forever.

Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die’.” (John 11:25-26)



Home Improvement – Part X (conclusion)

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As I left our house for the last time on moving day, God let me hear him and sense his presence right next to me in a powerful way.  He aborted a meltdown and energized me to leave our home on a cheery note. Even better, he rejuvenated my faith in him.

But the good stuff didn’t end there. God gave me a “double-dip” and let me “see” him twice in relation to the house sale. During the four years of trying to sell, we’d been on a roller coaster of irritation and uncertainty, wondering when the torment would end. Had we misheard God? Had we usurped his leadership? Why wouldn’t he bring the one buyer we needed?

In 2004 when we first put our home on the market, our plan was to downsize locally by buying a small townhouse. Birgitta hadn’t started high school and wanted to attend where her siblings had gone, so we planned to stay there four years and then put the townhouse on the market. Nate didn’t have spine problems then, and of course lethal cancer hadn’t crossed our minds.

By the time the house finally sold, Birgitta had traveled through all four years of high school, and the reason for buying a town home had evaporated. It was as if God structured the delay to save us from having to sell yet another piece of real estate in order to move to Michigan. So, the same four years we viewed as major setbacks were actually stepping stones toward our heart’s desire, which was to live full-time on the other side of the lake. And in this realization, I sensed God’s active presence again.

We had longed to move to a place of peace and solitude, especially after Nate’s back began troubling him, and the cottage offered that setting. God facilitated skipping the “middle-man” house and got us settled at our Michigan address just before the cancer became known. The work of moving and unpacking had been completed, and because of the house sale, our finances had been stabilized. If there is such a thing as being prepared for a crisis, we were.

I’ll never forget a conversation Nate and I had about two weeks into his six weeks of cancer. Although the discussion was punctuated with pain, he spoke with a deep peace in his voice. “I see now why God made us wait four years to sell the house. He saw all of this [cancer] and wanted to get us to Michigan right away. I also see that when I’m gone, you’ll be living here, where you love to be.”

Although I was crying, he wasn’t. He “got it,” and all his anger and frustration over not being able to sell the house had evaporated. He was glad to be where we were then, and I’m glad to be living where I am today.

In the process of our house changing hands, I had the thrill of sensing God’s presence twice, but Nate has outdone that. In the one move he didn’t plan, from Michigan to heaven, he didn’t just sense God’s presence but relocated into his actual presence! And I know he’s really glad to be where he is today.

“You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.” (Acts 2:28)

Home Improvement – Part IX

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When I was growing up in a happy home, I always enjoyed talking with Dad. He was born in 1899 (really!) and had a unique perspective on life. One day we got to chatting about houses and moving. He said, “It’s best to move only three or four times in your adult life. A small, starter house, one or two larger homes, and another small one for retirement.”

“Really?” I said.

A common model for Dad’s day, it isn’t the standard today. Our world is more fluid, and we change addresses often. There’s even a box on every utility bill that says, “Moved?”

Relocating can be traumatic. I vividly remember when Mom and Dad left their “bigger” home on one side of Wilmette for the small retirement ranch on the other side. The rest of us were waiting at the new house with cake, ice cream and a big poster that said, “WELCOME HOME!” All of us were anxious for the work day to end as the clock approached midnight, but where was Mom? Supposedly she’d been coming right behind us after saying goodbye to her beloved home.

Much later, her car pulled in, but she was a wreck. She’d been crying and later told us she’d spent time in every room talking to God, even going flat on her face on the carpet as if she was trying to get her arms around the house in a final big hug. Walking out for the last time had been a heartbreaker, and she was sad from head to toe.

The morning of our closing, I was eager to spend my last few hours at 103 Creek Court. We’d raised seven children there and had loved the house, the neighbors and the neighborhood. Would it be hard to leave? Would the new owners have to drag me out by my heels?

 

As I walked from room to room snapping pictures, tiny tingles of sadness began wiggling deep inside. Standing at the kitchen sink where I’d spent so much time, I looked out the windows at that familiar scene and knew I needed to quickly ask God for help.

“What do you want me to think right now, Lord?”

Immediately he made his close presence known. Although I couldn’t see or touch him, that didn’t matter, because he spoke words I knew were his: “Margaret, unless I build the house, all your labor is in vain.” (Psalm 127:1)

“Don’t dwell on these walls, floors, windows. The real building is not a noun but a verb. It’s what I’ve been doing at 103 Creek Court for years. Do you think that’ll stop, just because you’re moving? I’m moving too. With you! As you leave your house, remember that the Builder of lives goes with you, so step away from that sink, and let’s go…”

Happiness wrapped around me like a ribbon around a package, and I started laughing. God’s message to me was effective, but even better was getting a glimpse of him when I needed him most.

And I couldn’t wait for the next one!

(…to be continued)

“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” (Hebrews 1:3)