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Korey and Alicia: A Guide Post for your Wedding Day

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Korey and Alicia: A Guide Post for your Wedding Day

This post is too long for a #fiveminutefriday submission but today’s word prompt and the occasion is my excuse to tie in my youngest son’s wedding today and the word, Guide.

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye Psalm 32:8.

No one likes to be called a baby but the youngest in the family takes on that title role rather unwillingly, for a while unknowingly and hopefully wears it proudly, as mine likes to say, “Why have any more when you created the best?!”

Korey Ross Elkins came into our lives almost 26 years ago and has been guided and protected by his brothers from Day One. They are each a little over five years apart so there was quite a spread between the oldest and the youngest. But, it never seemed to matter, especially as they have all grown into adults, I have seen the three of them be angry, even furious with the other but you better not let anyone else do the same or you would have all three of them to tangle with!

When we first made the decision to sell all and move to Latvia, for what was initially a long-term adventure, Korey decided to go with us for the first six months and make sure there was a music team for outreach and church planting. He was 18 years old. It forever changed him and was such a great time for all three of us learning to be guided and even protected by The One True God, Jesus Christ. We have gone through things together that others may or may not understand and we will forever have those memories of the big and the little things that God did just for us…right on time…every time.

But today isn’t all about Korey, because Korey has found Alicia Melynne Hudson, who just happens to be the baby of her family too. (I didn’t look up statistics on the possible day-to-day pitfalls of that arrangement.) If you follow them at all, you have heard that they can create beautiful music together. Understatement! Alicia has the voice we all wish we were born and blessed with. She sings with passion, anointing and allows her ministry to be guided by the Holy Spirit. Walking a pathway of brokenness, she has a ministry to the hurting, the lost and the lonely, giving assurance that this great God we serve never, ever leaves us even when we are sure we can never rise above our circumstances or our past. You can see some of her writings here on her blog, So Far, So Good and her newest recorded Spoken Word here.

Together, they are allowing God to use them, however He chooses, putting Him first and their ambitions in His hands. And with them they bring a pure bundle of joy that has won our hearts from the very first day, Lark Lynnette.

 

This precious, bouncing, never-know-what-she-will-say two year old beauty is the icing on the cake. There was no doubt  from our first meeting that The Sweetheart and I would love her and spoil her rotten because that is what Nana’s and Poppy’s role is.

But we also want to be part of the influence and guide in her life, along with her other grandparents. (She is blessed with so many!) What we do and say in front of these little ones impacts them for the rest of their lives and I want her to have memories of us with her in church, hands raised to God, and even more importantly, I want us to live it out in front of her. The best teacher is LIFE and what she sees at church, and around church people had better be what she sees when she is in our home. Let it be, Lord, let it be.

So, we will be thankful today, even with happy tears, that what God has brought together, no one can put asunder. I finally looked that up after hearing it for 56 years! The common definition is to tear apart, into pieces.

The Middle English used to know the word asunder as distinguish or tell apart. And that makes today even more special, whether those words are actually spoken over them or not, that as they are united in marriage, that they will truly be one, as the Bible declares, that no one can distinguish them apart from the other, no one can tell them apart because they forever belong together. “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” Mark 10:7-9

The NKJV says it like this:

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” Mark 10:7-9 NKJV

Korey, Alicia and Lark, as you begin this journey as a family, may you always put God first and your family as the utmost second, let nothing get in the way of allowing Him to guide your every thought and purpose and then no one, absolutely no one, can tell you apart or tear you apart.

Love,

Mom

 

 

Mary Pickersgill, The Star Spangled Banner and Why Your Life Matters

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Friends, it is difficult to ignore the happenings in our country today; we are still a free nation and I intend to live that way. May we not get so caught up in the political craziness that we are distracted from our real purpose: to share the Gospel, the Good News, that Jesus died for ALL OF US and is soon to return for those that are looking for Him. So, no matter what comes our way, this is not our destination. Look up! Your redemption is even at the door!

Many people know that the 30 x 42 ft. flag that flew at the Battle of Baltimore is the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write The Star Spangled Banner. But, even though the battle was fought on September 13, 1814, the story began at least a year earlier.

Major George Armistead was the commander of Ft. McHenry and he knew that it was a target of the British army. In July, 1813, he told the commander of Baltimore defenses: “We, sir, are ready at Fort McHenry to defend Baltimore against invading by the enemy…except that we have no suitable ensign to display over the Star Fort, and it is my desire to have a flag so large that the British will have no difficulty in seeing it from a distance.”

Enter Mary Pickersgill, age 29, of Baltimore. Mary was a widow at a very young age and had to support her family. Her mother was a flag maker during the Revolutionary War who sewed flags, uniforms and blankets for the Continental Army under George Washington. Mary followed suit constructing ships’ colors and signal flags for the military and other private vessels.

Armistead hired Pickersgill to construct a flag measuring 30 by 42 feet with 15 stars and 15 stripes, each representing a state. It took Mary, her daughter, three of her nieces and a 13 year old servant girl working ten hour days to finish the flag. This massive undertaking used 300 yards of English wool bunting. Each star, made of cotton, measured two feet in diameter.

The flag, also known as The Great Garrison Flag, was finished and delivered to Fort McHenry on August 19, 1813. Mary Pickersgill was paid $574 for the extremely large flag and a smaller storm flag. This was a hefty sum at the time, likely more than most people in the area earned in an entire year.

One week before the Battle of Baltimore, Francis Scott Key, went aboard the flagship of the British fleet to secure the release of a friend who had been arrested. Agreement was made to turn the prisoner over to Key but he and those accompanying him were not allowed to leave the ship at that time since the attack on Baltimore was imminent and the British did not want them to leak information about the attack. Some accounts say that they were allowed to return to their own ship but were guarded until the next morning when it was all over. It was from there, in the Chesapeake Bay, eight miles away, that Francis Scott Key watched the bombardment against Fort McHenry.

The flag that Mary made was so huge that it took eleven men to raise it when dry. If it was waterlogged, remember it was made of wool, it could have weighed as much as 500 pounds and likely the pole could not have supported the weight. During the attack the night before, the rain poured to make things even worse. The garrison flag was taken down and the smaller, storm flag that Mary had made, 17 x 25 feet, was the one that flew over the fort during the battle. But come morning, Major Armistead had the soaked storm flag taken down and put his beloved, immense flag in its place.

When the morning broke, (by the dawn’s early light!) Key was sure he would see the British flag flying over the fort in a sign of victory. But much to his surprise, instead, he saw the enormous flag, made by Mary Picksersgill a year before, waving proudly in the wind. He was immediately inspired to pen the words to The Star Spangled Banner.

Have you read the book by Andy Andrews entitled, The Butterfly Effect? The subtitle is How Your Life Matters.  The book relates, “In 1963, Edward Lorenz made a presentation to the New York Academy of Sciences and was literally laughed out of the room. His theory, called the butterfly effect, stated that a butterfly could flap its wings and set air molecules in motion that, in turn, would move other air molecules–which would then move additional air molecules–eventually becoming able to influence weather patterns on the other side of the planet. For years this theory remained an interesting myth. In the mid 1990s, however, physics professors from several universities, working in tandem, proved that the butterfly effect was accurate, viable, and worked every time.” 

In this short, but impacting book, Andrews goes on to tell the story of a decision that one man made over 100 years ago and the ripple effect it has had on each one of us.

In other words, every single thing you do in your life has a ripple effect and it matters. Just as Major Armistead had a desire to let the enemy be made aware that they were occupying Fort McHenry, they weren’t going to run away, and his dream impacted Mary Pickersgill, whose mother had passed on a skill to her daughter who used that skill to create a colossal flag for our great country. Seeing that flag flying after battle then inspired Francis Scott Key to write a song that eventually was adopted as our national anthem. That flag still exists today for us all to see and admire at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.  It is a great symbol of freedom, stability, and strength for the United States of America.

Here is where we need to remember Major Armistead’s desire to stand with courage and pride with a flag big enough that the enemy couldn’t miss it. And his dream included Rebecca, the mother of Mary Pickersgill, who taught her daughter to sew and then Mary herself, and even the young girls that worked alongside her, maybe making as many stitches or more than Mary. Insignificant? Hardly. Their labor that they thought was just for that particular time in history, the War of 1812, still lives on today and continues to stand as a symbol of freedom for us all.

So, whatever God has called you to do, or even if you haven’t had a particular calling but are fulfilling a need, do it with all of your heart! Give it all that you have and realize that just as the wings of the butterfly can influence weather patterns on the other side of the world, you, too, can be a world changer, just by doing what needs to be done.

Until God moves you elsewhere, toil on!

Here is the full version, with all four verses:

The Star-Spangled Banner

O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
’Tis the star-spangled banner – O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Happy Independence Day, America!

God never said the weapons wouldn’t form.

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Weapons. They are a hot topic today. They are used against us and they are used to protect us. They are necessary and they can be detrimental. I am not here to debate gun control except to say I would be happy to have a weapon to defend myself and my family if it came down to it. I pray that right is never taken from us!

Last November, in the three simultaneous terrorist attacks in Paris, one occurred in a cafe. Absolute chaos had taken over as people scrambled to escape. Some were hiding under tables, chairs, under the counter, wherever they could find a place of escape. One woman was hiding by the front door when one of the terrorists approached her with aAK-47 and he put it to her head and pulled the trigger.

It did not fire.

In stunned disbelief, he lifts the weapon away from her, instead of firing again, and walks away as she runs out the door.

At the end of that day of carnage, 129 people had perished.

No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, says the LORD. Isaiah 54:17

Just reading this scripture, we could surmise that what that woman in Paris experienced that day is what every Christian would experience and benefit from every day of their life.

The verse doesn’t say the weapon won’t form, it doesn’t say it won’t be put to the test, or that the enemy won’t come after us with his fiery darts. No, it says the weapon will not prosper.

Let’s look at that as well. If we took that at face value, we would say or assume that a Christian would never be killed by the enemy or a terrorist or anyone else. That God would intervene and jam the chamber on every weapon. But we know that doesn’t happen. We know bad things happen to good people, the righteous have been crucified, the disciples all gave their very lives, and many thousands of Christ-followers since then have perished.

So, what does it mean?

I think we have to look at the verse before this one to break it down.

See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc…

Who is in control here? The One who created the blacksmith that forges the weapon for the work! And that craftsman is under the Lord’s control. He ultimately decides if and when a child of God is taken out of this world and no matter the weapon, if it is not God’s time, it won’t happen.

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible, says it well:

Behold, I have created the smith – The sense of this verse is, “Everything that can effect your welfare is under my control. The smith who manufactures the instruments of war or of torture is under me. His life, his strength, his skill, are all in my hands, and he can do nothing which I shall not deem it best to permit him to do. So with the enemy of the church himself – the waster who destroys. I bare made him, and he is wholly under my control and at my disposal.” The smith who bloweth the coals, denotes the man who is engaged in forging instruments for war, or for any other purpose. Here it refers to him who should be engaged in forging instruments of battle to attack the church; and why should it not refer also to him who should be engaged in making instruments of torture – such as are used in times of persecution?

I have created the waster to destroy – I have formed every man who is engaged in spreading desolation by wars, and I have every such man under my control (see the notes at Isaiah 10:5-7; Isaiah 37:26-27; Isaiah 46:1-6). The sense here is, that as God had all such conquerors under his control, they could accomplish no more than he permitted them to do.

So what is it in your life that has you in turmoil? Are you facing persecution? Is your job on the line? How about your health or that of a loved one? Relationships? Children away from God? Anxiety? Insomnia? Worry about the future? The state of the world?

It may seem as if the enemy is having a field day, so to speak. But he can only do what God gives him time and space for and just like Job, he cannot take our lives, only God has the power to do that. Does that mean we are completely out of danger because we walk with God?

Christians die too. We are all appointed to leave this life at one point in time but the good news is that we don’t check out until He says so! He is ultimately in control! He not only decides whether the weapon is used against us, He decides who forges the weapon! And that enemy, that weapon, can do nothing unless God says so.

If that doesn’t bring comfort to you, I don’t know what will. Our God is sovereign and yes, even though we live in a broken and sin-filled world, and we will until Jesus comes, that is the hope…that He will come again, we will have a way of escape whether it is here in this life or in the catching away…we win because He won.