travelmonkey4christ

I am back in Seattle. It's catch up time. The result of travel...overseas for three months, off to speak at a Women's Retreat in Washington and then a 9hr drive to be with family in Boise Idaho for two weeks. I was now preparing for summer ministry. Suddenly I saw the Max Lucado flip calendar in my living room and wondered what the message was for the 26th of May - the day I lost my cousin. It was now June 1st but the calendar was still set to May 2nd, the day I flew back from Australia to the U.S. This is what May 26th said: "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and he saves those whose spirits have been crushed." Psalm 34:18 "Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us." Romans 15:4 These are not just Sunday school stories. Not romantic fables... They are historical moments in which a real God met real pain so we could answer the question, "Where is God when I hurt?"... The God who spoke still speaks... The God who cam

The weekend after Mother's Day, my cousin Jeanette passed away. She was like a big sister to me. Our families vacationed each summer together growing up. She was a vibrant bubble of joy and her laugh still echos in our hearts. I remember one winter when the youth group went tubing in the mountains (climbing up a long hill and sliding down). We didn't have enough truck inner tubes for everyone to use so we took turns. I was all bundled up in a snowmobile jumpsuit. It was the slickness of the jumpsuit that gave me the idea that maybe the suit was slick enough to slide downhill without a tube. I told Jeanette "Why don't I lay down and you can ride me down the hill?" She asked if I was sure she wouldn't be too heavy and I assured her it would be fine. I layed on my back and she sat on my stomach. We pushed off and started to slide quickly downhill. It was working great! However I forgot one thing - moguls, or as non-skiers know them, bumps. The first one we