Who is in Charge?

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. ~Edmund Burke

Most of my friends are women with which I have a few things in common: different friends, differing things. The one thing I do not have in common with a majority of my friends is my rather strong interest in politics. This is something I have mentioned on my blog before, but I rarely make my politics known here. I am mindful that these things are of the world and my true home is in the Kingdom, so these things will not be of lasting value to me someday in future, however that can be said of nearly all our daily concerns and while I am here on this earth as it is now, I will continue to be politically minded, because what we do here counts not only to those who continue here after we have left, but also to my Lord.

I was talking with one of my not-politically-minded friends about voting in the primaries this month, hoping that she would consider how Common Core in our public schools is a major issue affecting her very own daughter's education and that we have the opportunity to select candidates for the governor (the governors were the push to get 44 states--was 45 but Indiana pulled back out in March--to accept Common Core with the golden carrot of federal grant money), the state school superintendent with several people running (at least half against Common Core in the conservative party), and three school board members in our county.

There is much to research about each candidate because a speech is not a politician in action once he has taken office, but that is why staying involved in our communities and seeing the effects from other points of view of laws, codes, and ordinances passed help us understand for every new rule there is a downside, not all that we think is good is good for all. We should question our leaders, make our concerns known, and protest when necessary to be heard and make others aware.

That brings me to another hotly debated issue in our county: the airport. A group of influential business people want it to become commercial with passenger flights, which we were originally promised it would never be. This airport--only six years old--well, they just cannot leave it be because they changed the name this past year. Now it is named after a 60-mile walking-bike trail running through three counties that was originally a train railway and named after a passenger train--No kidding, an airport named after a trail named after a train. This airport is located between my friend's house, which is near our church about 20 minutes away, and mine. Surrounding it now is forests, farm land, and small subdivisions out away from the cities where people cherish the quiet life...including my friend.

Still, when I discussed these things with my friend, her response was that she does not vote unless it is a big election, like the president of the U.S. (which is not determined by poplar vote anyway), because as she sees it "God is in charge."

It just did not sit well with me, although I told her I understand her viewpoint and I really do, but I have a different viewpoint about how God's being in charge works. I believe absolutely that God can do anything, that is why I get so disappointed when He does not do what I have prayed for, but the flipside is how God does what He does. Most often even the most maraculous miracles have a human element involved, someone who did not just sit back and say God is in charge, but someone who acted on his belief that God is in charge so His works could be done through that very someone. Imagine if Jesus had said God is charge instead of actively working in His ministry or saying God is in charge in place of saying with faith we could command a fig tree to wither and mountains to move as He did in Matthew 21: 21-22. To the blind and lame, did He say "God is in charge" or "be healed?"

Christains use "God is in charge" often when we feel we are not, or that we have no ability to effect change, however I also feel we use it far too often to excuse ourselves from being used by God to make the change. It is true that Jesus did not get politically involved against the Romans or to take an earthly office--How do you top the Son of God after all?--but He certainly changed politics, because He changed people. (Just imagine what kind of endorsement from the Son of God would be!)

We, who live in countries where we have the right to vote for our leaders, should not only do so to honor the freedom other people died and suffered to protect, but to honor our Lord who taught us more than anyone on earth that we can move mountains...when we go out to purposely move mountains. God most definitely is in charge, but the real question: is He in charge of you? That is where He starts.

~ My Lord, we want You to take charge of our world, but we often fail at taking charge of it for You. Help us to choose with Your wisdom when we vote for our leaders and help us to see the importance of voting so that we cannot excuse ourselves from this important duty and precious privilege. ~

Whirlwinds

To really ask is to open the door to the whirlwind. The answer may annihilate the question and the questioner. ~Anne Rice

Over a month has past and I have so much to blog about, so very much, but most of it will not be more than a mere mention because when I am doing so many things about which I could and should write, I rarely have the time or drive to do so. Blogging is an indulgence, not a necessity, but it is still work and I just have not been up to working it in between everything else of late.

My husband applied for the manager position since his manager quit and we prayed and prayed and prayed and had others pray also, but it looks as if he will not be promoted. In part because they have needed at least five more service engineers in the field, and another just quit to for the IT job he has a degree in now, so they cannot possible spare my husband. Also, the interviewer in the UK was surprised asking with all his managerial experience why he had not put in for a manager position before and the answer was that he is doing so now and previously the information about the manager position being available was not even known to the service engineers until they hired the first one from outside the company, the woman who had just quit a few months ago. So...at least now they know my husband is far more qualified to do the jobs that he was looked over for the last two positions they opened up as well as they one open now. Maybe they will keep him in mind for better positions in the future as they have more restructuring plans to implement, even though they have not shared what they might be.

In mid April, my daughter went on the Science Expedition with about 200 other kids. She and my husband, who was chaperoning a group of boys, got up at 3:30 in the morning on Monday to be sure to get there by 5:00 as it is an hour drive in low traffic. I did not see them until Friday night at around 7:30 pm. The Princess had a blast, of course, and only called me once after her father reminded her a few times--the few times he saw her, that is. (That child never really had separation anxiety.) It was a success even though schedules for outdoor activities had to be rearranged due to rain and--believe it or not--another late hard freeze! Spring certainly was full of surprises this year.

The Princess turned thirteen at the end of April. She is now officially the teenager she has been practicing to be of the last year. Her attitude had not improved much after the science expedition, which is also much like a Christian youth camp or retreat. However, she was rather tired for a few days afterward. We were hoping she would want to emulate the attitude of being helpful, friendly, and generally happy that the upper classmen Servant Leaders are trained to be as they were there to be help with the middle school students. However, just this week, we have seen a long and strong glimpse of the child we have always known her to be, so she is still in there, peeking out past the teenage fog now and then, at least that is our continued hope.

We were all to go to a Rush Ministries Christian concert for the first weekend of May along with another family, but I again came down with a stay-in-bed kind of cold-flu type of thing--so odd for me to get them at all, let alone two in the span of a few months apart. Anyway, I was home trying to rest in between coughing while the Princess and my husband enjoyed Jesus Culture, Hillsong and others! They left on Friday evening and returned on Sunday afternoon.

So, I was kind of in a funk about...well, life in general. I decided that because we could not plant earlier in the spring, due to the hard freezes that I would either not really have enough time to work my gardens much this spring with homeschooling, or I could do something I have always wanted to do but never have: I would take off two weeks of formal homeschooling and the Princess would learn about horticulture. When I began homeschooling and planned to do so year around, it was my plan to also take breaks in the fall and spring, besides the long Christmas break we usually take, but I just never did it unless we had to go somewhere or do something away from home. I have enjoyed working outside in the sunshine after being stuck inside due to illness. We discussed the importance of breaking up and enriching Georgia's red clay naturally, how our compost pile of bunny berries with live worms not only make the red clay a dark brown, but add the nutrients for the plants, and how to use diatomaceous earth responsibly to kill off pests while trying not to harm honey bees. She was given the assignment of doing a two-page report on the Dust Bowl and the importance of top soil, which is due tomorrow.

I was feeling pretty good about how much we were accomplishing clearing, transplanting, and seeding in the gardens, until...I saw the little tube of mud going up the foundation on the south side: termites. The Princess told me later on she had seen something on the ceiling in the back corner of the craft room that had "been there for weeks." (We immediately had a little discussion about informing the homeowners, namely her father and I, when she sees something that should not be there like that. I mean really, mud-cicles, as she called them stuck to the ceiling...? And let's not tell Mama for a few weeks...?) I found out these are called drop tubes: yeah, definitely termites. I convinced myself by that time that we would be spending at least $2,500 to get rid of them and repair the damage...maybe even more. I did not sleep that night and had to take several Valerian capsules in the morning to get through our Wednesday with driving the Princess to science class and piano plus do all my shopping calmly. And, I finally got real in that it was a good thing to get rid of the wood eating pests and that the damage was on the south side of the house as that the worse of the siding damage and would be replaced first if we cannot do the entire house at once as we would like to do.

We rushed home Wednesday night because the phone company was coming to check on wires that used to be buried but were exposed due to some erosion and most likely not being buried deep enough to begin with when the house was built. The wires in the front yard were the TV cable wires which mostly were orange but spliced with black apparently so I thought they were the phone wires. The orange cables were not really buried at all, probably just had the sod laid over them because they were cut while mowing several times even once right after we moved here. There was another thicker black wire that was the phone line and that is also our internet exposed in the backyard. We decided the placement of it could be covered over and protected in a flower bed for now, but if we see another area of exposure, we would put in an order to rewire, which will cost us nothing, but every service with a line in the ground (water, electricity, gas) has to come out and mark the yard before they can bury the new phone wire.

Today, Thursday, the termite salesman did the inspection and I braced myself for the fee. It turns out that it was not going to cost us as much as I feared. Although the termites have been there "quite a while" which translates as a few years, the damage they might have done would probably not be worth tearing our basement ceiling apart to find. When we begin the process of replacing the siding, we will take a good look at the area then, but most likely the damage is not threatening to the integrity of the house. So, we will now just pay for the spot treatment and then a yearly fee for the baiting system. Whew! I will now sleep better, even without Valerian.

Why I have not been and might not be blogging much is because this year I am focusing strongly on the house, outside and inside...in between homeschooling, of course.

~ My Lord, thank you for the blessings You give us that we cannot see, that are even disappointing at one time, but open us to better ones in the future. Thank you, my Lord, for being my Lord and comforting me through the whirlwinds of this life. ~