A Watchman's Hut in a Cucumber Field

"The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard,
Like a watchman's hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city."

I've read many commentaries on this verse. There's not much explanation of Isaiah 1:8, but my first thought was... a watchman's hut in a cucumber field...isn't that silly? Cucumbers are melons...they lie on the ground...why would you need a watchman's hut?

Such a shelter protected a look-out for the crops. After the harvest, people would leave the shelter to fall into pieces.

Abraham ben Meīr Ibn Ezra wrote: And the daughter of Zion is left, etc. The fortified cities of Judah will be taken and only Zion will be left. fDlD The hut.TM The place for the watchman ; that is, the temple built in honour of the Almighty. fWD A lodge, where the watchman stays through the night. In the garden of cucumbers. Ruined36 (comp. lxv. 4).

And it made me sad. Because this is what is happening today. God is no longer on a throne. He's a 'good buddy' 'the man upstairs'...he's 'the homeboy'.

God is ALMIGHTY, EL, ELOHIM, EL SHADDAI, ADONAI, JEHOVAH, ABHIR, KADOSH, KANNA, EL ROI, YESHUA, PALET, GAOL, EYALUTH, TSADDIQ, THE FIRST AND LAST, EMMANUEL, THEOTES, FATHER, JESUS, ALMIGHTY GOD.

and we are allowing his temple...our hearts ... to be hardened into ruins.

I repeat Isaiah: "Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."

2009 my prayer was that God would change my character.

My goal in 2010 is... that I would let Him.

Christmas 2009

So many things have changed...so many have stayed the same.
My three children's lives have had 'face lifts' and life is looking good for them.

I got to spend some time with my Michigan family at Thanksgiving. My two grandsons are past the "Nana" cuddling stage... and I had forgotten how children can become 'boneless' if they don't want you to hold them. All three children have distinct personalities, likes & dislikes and it does make me smile. My son and daughter in law are doing a good job raising these children...Kudos to them...it isn't easy...I know!

I've not met Geoff's fiancee Christina...she seems to be very good for and to my son. I'm happy that his life is good. Geoff and I have spent some good times on the phone. I miss him. Haven't seen him since 2003. He and Christina are getting married next year... it'll be a good time to see him in Wisconsin.

My daughter Melissa has succeeded in business and started really focusing on getting healthy this year. Under a medically supervised plan, she has now lost 56 pounds and counting. She looks GREAT, and is slowly realizing her success story. I'll keep pinching her so she'll know it's real!

My friends...those of you who post comments and those who just read... thank you for allowing me to be part of your lives.

God has been good to me this year. I among all women, am extremely blessed.
Merry CHRISTmas.
Ouida

A fun Christmas

When I was 15 years old, my mother wrote poems and hung them on the Christmas tree. Instead of leaving our presents under the tree, "Santa" had mom write these poems. They were hints of where our Christmas gifts were hidden around the house.

That was fun.

Colds and coal

I'm battling a scratchy throat, stuffy nose, Lauren Bacall voice cold right now. I know it's from being in a plane for 1 1/2 hours with sick little kids and their parents just wanting to get home. Something about recycled air does that to us.

Feeling like yuck, the scheduled trip to Operation Christmas Child came on December 1. I drove a van full of mature adult volunteers who were just ready to serve.

I had never been to the OCC center before. Let me tell you it's a very well-oiled machine. I know it took them years to get to this point...but with hundreds of thousands of boxes coming through just the center in Charlotte, hundreds of volunteers coming daily...they had to get it working properly and quick!

We were told that the shoe boxes we were going through were going to Muslim nations. It's the first time the Muslim nations have allowed OCC to send toys, games, etc to their children. We had to be sure NO pigs, no mention of God and no American flags were in any of the boxes.

Who knew there would be so many PIGS????

I was the taper. After the individual boxes were inspected I got to tape them. Realizing that my hands were the last to touch the box before the child opened it was more emotional than I could stand.

Some child in a country that is being taught to HATE Christians was going to open this box. What is that child going to feel about "Americans" when he or she opens it and hugs the little stuffed dog... colors in the coloring book...combs his or her hair with a brand new brush... brushes his or her teeth with a new toothbrush and toothpaste? What emotions will that bring.

Romans 12:20 says "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."

So in my small way, I was heaping burning coals on a child who is being filled with hate. Giving hot coals is not bad. Actually-many years ago, a wonderful teacher, Dr. Larry Slay, told our class what this really meant.

The worst thing that could happen to a family in the bible days, was that their fire would go out in their fireplace. They didn't have matches...so re-starting the fire was a major ordeal. When a family's fire would go out, their neighbor would carry a live-hot piece of coal on top of their head on the carrier they used and bring it to their neighbor... therefore giving them a hot coal of friendship.

I've carried that word picture with me for all these years. Whether a neighbor, friend or a stranger, we are to give hot coals to those whose fires have gone out. We are called to carry the fire to everyone.

I did a little part of that by taping shoeboxes, headed to the enemy of my faith.

God bless them everyone.

REALLY being thankful.

I'm going to a 50th wedding anniversary party Saturday. These two people are precious servants of our church. You can't outgive them, you can't outdo them, and you cannot smile more than them. They love the Lord and they love each other. I'm so privileged to be included in the huge circle of those who have been REALLY blessed by their lives.

My prayer partner is Gail Mashburn. She's six years younger than me, but has the wisdom of Solomon...and humor that matches the wisdom. I am so blessed by her family stories (she REALLY comes from a functional family!) Her grandmother is 94 years old and just keeps on going. I told Gail one day "Look at your heritage!" She exclaimed without hesitation, "Girl, I don't want to live that long!" She says she can be hired out for funerals if anyone needs a professional crier--because she can cry at the drop of a hat. And she also prays, "Thy will be done, God, on earth as it is in heaven." I'm REALLY thankful she's in my life.

My family. My sons, daughter, daughter in law... I am REALLY impressed with all of them. They've all had hardships along the way and yet, in their own way, they have done more than succeed, they've conquered.

My oldest son is a husband, dad and son. He does a good job in all of them. I am REALLY thankful that he grew up to be the man he is today despite bad parenting, poor choices and a mother who just wanted to dote on him instead of letting him go. I told him he was my prototype...I learned to be a parent because of him.

My youngest son is a friend, son and fiancee...he does a good job in all of them. I am REALLY thankful that he climbed mountains that most people refuse to climb, and once he learned the 'lay of the land' learned to live within his boundaries. He beats to a different drummer and I REALLY think that's alright. He lived on hand me downs and the ignorance of a society not quite ready for him.

My daughter is a sweet friend, excellent employee and a darling daughter...and she continues to ace the tests of life. She's independent, yet still needs her mom (which REALLY makes me thankful), she's resilient but not hardened, and she is REALLY everything I wished I could have been in a woman when I was thirty. She learned a long time ago that the motherhood genes had worn out and makes jokes about having to call me by my first name. But she loves me in spite of it all!

I REALLY love my daughter in law like she was my own. She's talented, she's funny, creative, fun-loving and she's good at the task that God has given her. She's REALLY who I wish I had been as a woman and mother.

I REALLY love my grandchildren and am excited that they have been given the freedom by their mom and dad to be who they are. Jack is studious, smart and already the protector of his sister; Thatcher has his arms wide open living and loving life (are we having fun yet?); and Margaret is just beginning to blossom into her own personality. I REALLY can't wait to hug all of them...what a Thanksgiving gift I'm REALLY looking forward to.

I am REALLY thankful that God has been such a constant in my life these last 29 years. I REALLY don't know what I would have done without Him. He has carried me most of my life, and is constantly forgiving me and allowing me to begin at the starting line over and over.

I am...among women... REALLY blessed.

Have a REALLY happy thanksgiving!

In Memory of my Dad

WE CAN REPAIR ANYTHING. (PLEASE KNOCK HARD ON THE DOOR - THE BELL DOESN'T WORK)

Norman S. "Red" Burnett
March 15, 1914 - November 8, 1996

My dad was a mechanic. He just couldn't repair anything in the house.

Dad is celebrating that there's no house repairs in heaven, I am sure!


(pictured (dad, mom, my son Geoff, my brother & sister in law and their children, Rusty, Vickie, Stephen, Jeannie, my younger brother & his wife, Randy & Sonja.)

I wonder why I read the news

I really get angry when I read about parents harming, murdering and maiming their children. I almost get to the point I cannot breathe. I cannot wrap my mind around the fact that a parent has absolutely no thoughts toward the pain they are inflicting...not only on their child, but on their family.

Has our society gotten to the point that we only look out for ourselves...and even the children we've birthed mean nothing? Oh my Lord in Heaven, I hope not!

As a single young mother of three children, I remember being over-whelmed with the tasks at hand. All three in different activities at school and at church. And then one of them would tell me they NEEDED something from the store by tomorrow and I'd have -$150 in my checking account.

There were times my temper probably murdered their spirits...my reactions caused them to feel less than who they were. But it never crossed my mind to end their lives.

Fleeting times I would think about the peace I would have if I wasn't living through the pain and hardship... and thankfully I have found that that is a normal thought for parents who are overwhelmed with the responsibilities in front of them. Never once did I think about inflicting permanent bodily harm on my children.

When does one cross that line? I read on one website: "What makes a parent harm, or even worse, kill the most precious part of them, their children? Is the rage they feel against that child so great that it must manifest itself in so horrible a thing as murder? Why, why, why, we ask? What makes a parent destroy an innocent child, destroy the future of that parent, destroy the lives of the family, and sicken the community?"

In this age of performance is everything (even movie stars' lives are page one news these days) my personal feeling is that we don't think we are fitting the 'norm' and so we become depressed. Then we don't get help and we get depressed further into a valley that seems everlasting.

I'll never forget waking one morning in 1992. Getting my children ready for school and me for work. Sitting down as a family for breakfast and I couldn't swallow. My heart started skipping beats then beating too fast. I kept thinking I was going to die, yet, in front of my children I wanted everything to appear normal. I pushed my breakfast away, because I couldn't swallow. Told the kids I wasn't hungry and went into my room and waited for them to leave for school.

I called my sister in law (thank you Vickie!) and told her I thought I was having a heart attack. She rushed over and took me to the doctor. What a fabulous man. He took time with me and asked me what had been happening in my life. Well...where do I begin?

I had raised 3 children on my own since 1981.
I had a job until I went on vacation for a week and came back and the shop had been sold and I was jobless with no skills.
I slept for 3 months after that until a friend dragged me to JobLink where I realized skills I didn't know I had...computer skills. Didn't want to stop going there, but they placed me in a job at a UMC.
I had no health insurance for me or the kids.
I had one car.
Three different schools...3 PTA meetings,
My oldest son was going to graduate in a few months.
I was 3 months behind on my house payments.
I had bounced about 20 checks just trying to keep up. (now...did that make sense?)
I had creditors calling 24/7.
And I kept going to church, smiling, pretending that life was normal.

And that day...it all caught up with me and I crashed. I crashed very hard. I was as the doctor said "a moment" from a total nervous breakdown.

And I really just wanted to give up, give in and go away. The pressure had finally taken its toll and I wanted to check out of life.

I understand how someone can get to that point. I really do. But it's one thing acting upon the 'uselessness' of it all...it's another thing to resist the urge to lose control. I resisted...and it was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.

I really wanted to die. It would have been so easy. I really wanted to hurt someone because I had been hurt so much...it would have been so easy.

And yet...here I am writing about the blackest months of my whole life.

It took 100mg of Zoloft for two years to get me out of that funky place. It took months of Christian counseling to get me to the point that I could climb out of a hole and look around.

During that two years my oldest son announced he had signed up to go into the Air Force (without even discussing it with me...I guess I wasn't hiding it as well as I thought I was-- he knew I was in that hole.)

It was beginning to get black again. But this time, I knew I didn't want to go back to the hopelessness I had felt during the darkest time of my life.

It took two years of clawing and scratching to get my head above water. When I finally admitted I had a problem to my pastor whom I was working for at the time, puzzle pieces that had been missing for so long, began to be found.

I thank God that I could turn to HIM in the middle of my darkness.

And that's what is missing in the world. What a difference it would be if they just knew Jesus.