Redemption Requires a Reason

     Imagine you're swimming leisurely in a lake, enjoying the sun, and a gentle breeze, all is right with the world, and you are relaxing to the quiet sounds of water lapping the shore and birds in the trees nearby, when suddenly someone is swimming toward you, grabs you by the hair, yanks you struggling and sputtering to shore, flops you onto the bank and declares: "There--you're safe now! You've been rescued." How would you feel? Astonished? Offended? Infuriated? Maybe even violent, but certainly not rescued. You would have no appreciation for your rescuer either, and in reality, no one would come along to do that because it was not necessary.

     But what if the conditions were different?

     This time imagine that night has fallen quickly and caught you off guard, you've used up your strength swimming out to the center of the lake, you are alone and now you're much further from shore than you realized. In the darkness, a thunderstorm starts to whip up around you, rain begins coming down in sheets while the wind blows savagely, sending wave after wave against your face as you struggle just to stay on the surface. You have completely lost your direction and you realize that you cannot survive this. Now a replay: suddenly someone is swimming toward you, grabs you by the hair, yanks you struggling and sputtering to shore, flops you onto the bank and declares: "There--you're safe now! You've been rescued." Now how would you feel? Astonished? Relieved? Grateful? Maybe even rescued? In this scenario you will honor and appreciate the one who pulled you from the water.

     Redemption is a church word for being rescued or saved. It is used both in the sense of salvation from eternal judgement and rescue from peril. It is a word rarely used in our comfortable culture. But in truth, we are usually much further from the safety of shore than we imagine either through sin or circumstances. It often takes the violent storms of life, exhaustion from going too far on our own, overwhelming conditions we can't control, or sometimes the cold fear of death before we recognize our helplessness and our need to be saved.

     I have been thinking about this lately from a parent's perspective, though not because of anything in our immediate family. I think that redemption in the Christian home is painful. Good parents love their children and pray that they will realize their need for Christ and live accordingly, growing in respect to salvation by relying on Him and recognizing their need. And yet parents will often do everything in their power to keep their child 'safe' from the very circumstances God would use to make them aware of their desperate state. It is counter productive. Should those circumstances wreak havoc with the child's self-righteous-esteem or rock their otherwise ambivalent outlook, then parents tend to mourn and wring their hands for what seems lost and what may come. But what seems lost is just an outward appearance and God judges the heart anyway. If we are worried about what others think then that is a sin in itself that we need to address before even considering where our children are at. As to 'what may come', it could not be worse if salvation is not certain.

     I am convinced, as one who was there in my own younger life, that sometimes the one who is furthest from shore is nearest to being rescued because they have the greatest chance of seeing their need. And I am always amazed at how far the Lord is willing to let a person swim from shore so that they will realize how truly needy they are.

     Have you been shown mercy? Then you must have deserved something terrible. Have you felt the Lord's comfort and nearness? Then you must, at some point, have been very broken. Have you tasted the goodness of God? How would you have known it's sweetness without a bitter badness to compare it to? Redemption requires a reason. A person saved from nothing has not been saved, and a person saved from very little treasures their salvation very little.

     Redemption will never be valued where it's need has not been desperately felt. Unfortunately a parent can't escape feeling it together with their child, especially as they grow up. It is ours to bear. I imagine that even as our Heavenly Father allows us to swim further and further away from shore, He longs to scoop us up and save us the pain. Fortunately He knows exactly what is needed and is willing to wait until we, or our children, know what is needed, too.

     

     

The Door Story

Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done,

And Your thoughts toward us;

There is none to compare with You.

If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count.

Psalm 40:5

Hunky and I went and picked up a trailer load of doors for the market today...and I got a surprise. And since I'm on a roll for telling some of the happenings that I have found to be divine, and frankly, astonishing confirmations to proceed with this project in relative confidence, it is now time for the door story:

I took a favorite friend and we went to scope out the competition 3 weeks ago. In truth, having never been, I wanted to go to the nearest Whole Foods Market and Trader Joes--about 40 miles from home, but only after an obligatory stop at my favorite architectural salvage and community development center in Cincinnati.

We walked through the doors of Building Value on Spring Grove and there against the wall was the most gorgeous line-up of doors I have ever seen and very unlike the usual suspects that end up there. They were maple. They were unconventional. They were unique. They were practically new! They were 3 panel hinged single doors, and full-lite glass and maple shoji-style double slide together doors, all 36x80 with hardware that I really liked and the shojis even had the tracks with them. 

They were my doors. 

And they were priced at a reasonable $150 for the singles and $250 for the double sets. (Time out to quit hyperventilating. That really IS a good price, especially with handles and hinges, but STILL...) I took pictures. I put them on my Wise Acres Market Facebook page. All I needed was confirmation that we were nearing an agreement on the building and I would be back to take my babies home.

Cut to Monday. Having heard that we are nearing an agreement, I decide I should go get my doors before somebody else does. But I know they'll be waiting for me, because they are mine. I call just to be sure, and I am told that they can't sell them to me because they have been put onto an online auction that ends...tomorrow. (Preview time is over, there will be no picking and choosing!) I get the info, scope out the site, plan my plan, and make sure I am at a more reliable internet connection than my own as the end of the auction nears.

To say that I prefer the real, physical, raise-my-hand or nod-my-head auction where I can size up the competition, to this cold, anonymous, electronic version I endured on Tuesday is an understatement. But even so the Lord led during the bidding, and I let all the single shojis go, deciding to focus on getting half of the double sets (10 doors), all of the regular doors (8) and the two oddballs. (Including a full lite glass door with sign that says "Quiet Zone, please walk and talk quietly upon entering." For my office, of course.) I got them. 20 of them. At an average price of $80 per door. Happy, happy dance.

So today we arrive to get them, which by the way was a LOT OF WORK, and we discover the reason I liked the hardware: it is EMTEK. 

BE STILL MY BEATING HEART... 

Who knew? The God of the universe has excellent taste in door hardware.

Realizing that not everyone is the kind of architecture geek that I am, let me translate: Emtek is to hardware as Porsche is to car, grass-fed Porterhouse steak is to meat, and...um...Coach is to handbags. (I had to get help with that one.)

We ended up with one more door for $30 as it was cracked and unsold. I tried to talk her down to $25, but she said the hardware was worth $30, and I agreed because I was pretty sure it was worth $60. But actually she was wrong, and so was I. When I got home tonight I looked up the handsets online and they sell at a discounter's for $115.50 each plus shipping. 

:)

If you see me in a neck brace soon, don't panic. It will just be the result of me constantly shaking my head back and forth in wonder as I keep seeing the Lord do all this really, really cool stuff. 

Footnote: So I looked online for 3 panel maple doors, and though I could not find these exactly (I think they're from Japan!) I did come up with a reasonable comparison on sale for $370 ea (not including shipping) and with no hardware. The handsets cost at least $115, and I didn't bother to price out the hinges, b/c I already know those can't be had for under $20 a set. So basically I paid an average of $80 for a door that would have cost over $500.

Spending $1800 for doors worth more than $8000--PRICELESS. But it's still a panic...

Ka-Ching: Spiritual Deposits and Withdrawals

I am supposed to be making phone calls and sending emails about buildings and contracts and doors and architect stuff, but I am anxious and feel inclined first to jot down a couple of thoughts related to the title of this post. Perhaps thinking through them in advance and putting words to them will help when the inevitable time comes for one of those big withdrawals. I have the uncomfortable sense that it is imminent.

A little back story on this project:
In the fall of 2009 I sensed the Lord moving me to start planning a market and cafe. Part bulk and natural foods, part Amish deli, part local goods, produce and art, part laid back Pacific Northwest coffee house with really good, and good for you, stuff to eat, all dropped down into rural SE Indiana. So I spent the next two months intensely researching and accumulating information and I scoured the area for the building. I looked at what was on the market, but there was only one--ever--that was THE ONE. It was the H Auction Building and it was in use.

Nevertheless I called the number on the truck parked outside and inquired. I asked if I was speaking to the owner, and the answer sounded like a yes. I asked if the building might be available for sale or lease and was told no, no interest in that at all. But later that day I had the realization that I had not spoken to the owner, but the tenant. Looking into the county records, I found and called Mr. B. and he was very interested in both possibilities and arranged to show us the building.  Ka-Ching.




It was nightmarish, however. Floor to ceiling with stuff, junk and garbage. It was bad. The tenant was living in part of the office, and well, that's enough description. From then on when we would drive by, G would hold up a hand so I couldn't look at the building and suggest other not-THE-ONE locations. Some weeks later I sensed the Lord say

"Stop for now." So I did, more than slightly confused, but willing. Any time I thought about moving forward I would get the same image of a big metal "wheel boot" clamped on the tire of a car. The message was clear that I would be going nowhere, so I was content to wait for more instruction.


The next year I became ill and stayed that way for 9 months. But when spring came this year, so did the sense that we should look again into the market. Mostly it came from G who quit holding his hand up when we drove by the building and started sending me links to local organic distributors and other items of interest. Then came the day he said, "I think you should plan to open in the fall." So we asked our church family to pray with us for wisdom on something big and we waited. After a month or so we felt compelled again to move forward and I emailed Mr. B. to check on the status of the building--Did he still own it? If so was he still interested in selling, etc? Two days later he responded, surprised, but very glad to hear from us, and informed us in a short reply that the tenant had died unexpectedly 10 days earlier, the man's family would be cleaning out the building, and it would be ready soon, so when did we hope to open and when would we like to meet?  Ka-Ching,  Ka-Ching. It was confirmation enough, and it was also the first of many noteworthy deposits into a spiritual bank account of faith and provision for this task, from which I draw a daily stipend.

I don't think I will never cease to be blessed and stunned by the circumstances surrounding yesterday's post (The Foreknowledge of God in a Box), but even before the day was out my natural bent toward anticipating the worst was beginning to wring its hands about what must be coming down the road. It is the wrong response, I know, and soon I hope to alleviate some of the anxiety with some time of putting those hands up to the Rock that is higher than I.

In the meantime, though, there is a spiritual law at work here. Maybe a better statement would be that in my experience, whether I like it or not, I have found the following to be true:

God does not make big spiritual faith deposits where big spiritual faith withdrawals will not eventually be needed. He needs no fanfare to meet our needs, but we, weak as we are, do seem to need them from time to time to better endure the next set of trials, especially large ones. Perhaps it is that today is dark and rainy or perhaps it is prophetic, or maybe both, but when I see the line-up of amazing deposits in the last couple of months, the weak, fearful, faithless part of my soul starts to tremble...

........................................INTERRUPTION........................................

...Enter the ever-faithful, ever-trustworthy Lover and Keeper of my soul. The One Who will NEVER leave me nor forsake me, the One who knows my every need and sometimes provides immediately.
I am amazed yet again.
After writing those words above "my soul starts to tremble...." the phone rang. A dear friend called whom I have prayed with regularly this month over a big and daunting task in her life and she told me how the Lord is answering in amazing and almost impossible ways. Ka-Ching. Even today He sends encouragement to me when I need it! And this time she prayed for me--another encouragement. We agreed together that leaving everything up to the Lord and carrying as little possible ourselves is the best and most astonishing way to live in light of life's overwhelming and uncontrollable circumstances. Ka-ching. Ka-Ching. Ka-Ching. Ka-ching. Ka-Ching....

The Foreknowledge of God in a Box

Today I was reminded of the unfathomable plans of God and how He delights to bring us into them. Today I stood speechless outside my corncrib and quite literally remained glued to one place for minutes with my mouth hanging wide open in awe. Today I stood, stunned, and worshiped a God who includes me, nothing, nobody me, in His fascinating plans for this world. 

Then I got my camera...

We moved to Aurora, Indiana a little over 6 years ago and sometime during that first year I picked up an old, over-sized mailbox for $3 at a garage sale. I didn't need it, didn't use it, don't collect memorabilia, and even when I tried to find a function for it could not. Then I thought to sell it, but didn't do that either, and so it sat in the corn crib untended ever since. I have a vague recollection of looking for the address once or twice as I passed by the location painted on the box, and another vague recollection of never figuring out precisely where it came from, but that was long ago and of little importance at the time.

 I am not blogging much these days because I am consumed. I am pursuing opening a natural foods market and cafe in our town, and to say I have been astonished by God's divine 'push', counsel, guidance and provision thus far as I have tried to obey this commission does not begin to tell the story. 

And it will not be a short story either, when I am finally able to tell it, because God, His plans and His dealings with His children are complex and worth hearing in fine detail. 

But here is a tiny anecdote along the lines of an ever-growing list of similar "tiny" anecdotes all covered in very large, very loving, very amazing fingerprints:

We are buying a big, old, 1950's warehouse, in need of a lot of work, on Highway 50. It is the main thoroughfare through Aurora, though not part of "Old Aurora" proper. The building used to be part of concrete monument and vault plant that included three buildings, but has since been divided with two buildings on one side and the warehouse on the other. We are purchasing the warehouse, which was most recently an auction building of sorts. The funny thing about highway 50 in our area is that as you travel through each of the small towns it passes through here--Greendale, Lawrenceburg, and Aurora-- Highway 50 is sometimes called E Eades Parkway, W Eades Parkway or Green Boulevard. (A fact you might never know unless you were mailing a letter to one of the businesses there or happened to see it on a map.)

So last month I asked the owner of the warehouse what the specific address is there, as no numbers grace any of the buildings. He told me that originally the plant all had the same address, but after the lot was divided some time ago, the warehouse, which was the local Coca-Cola plant for a time, was designated 718 Green Blvd. 

:)

I may not own building yet, but I've owned the mailbox for over 5 years.