Ready, Set, Launching

 I love these boys. They're very much the same and yet very much different. The one on the right is working towards a choral music education degree at UGA and couldn't take my call this week because he was teaching a voice lesson.

Hearing him say that was almost as surreal as watching him sing in church last Sunday. I've missed many of his calls due to teaching my own voice and piano lessons.

The similarities just about had me believing I'd been reincarnated. But then I remembered I'm still breathing and recalled the events in my kitchen last night. Differences do exist.

First, Nathan cooked fish and I've NEVER cooked fish. Never even purchased fish till I bought Tilapia at Publix last night. Second, I've NEVER succeeded in getting Sam to cook with me - let alone cook fish with me. The duo made Coconut Almond Crusted Tilapia with a Strawberry Kiwi Topping.

In these photos, they dip the fish in flour, then egg, and then in a bowl filled with coconut, chopped almonds, and Japanese Style Panko bread crumbs.

While the fish baked at 350 degrees for 12 minutes (turn them over half way), Nathan sauteed thick slices of strawberries and kiwi. Here's the end result. Yum!! And I don't really like to  eat fish.

Sam left this morning for a week in Florida to help at a camp for families with kids who are battling cancer. When he walked out the door, I looked at Don and said, "Launching, stage one." He comes home next Saturday for about three days and leaves again with my dad for an Amtrak ride through Glacier Park, Montana and will be gone another week, "Launching, stage two." Once home, he'll reside here for about a six days before moving into a dorm at Tech, "Launching, stage 3: Blast Off!"

Change is upon us.

But after spending two days at Georgia Tech orientation followed by a night in Athens with UGA boy last week, and then watching both cook fish in my kitchen, I think I'm ready for the launch.

I found out earlier this week that two stories of mine will be included in an anthology due out in October titled, Falling in Love with You. It will be available through www.oaktara.com and several other online retailers. Seems I'm launching as well.

I love my boys. Have loved being their mom full time. The coming weeks pose such a huge change. But change is good. Launching is good. And we're all in this for a plan and purpose far bigger than our own.

"Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!  The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limits." (Ps. 147: 1-5)

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Divine Chemotherapy

I have a theory. It's only a theory. But sometimes I think God doles out divine chemotherapy. If I'm right, then I feel confident I can count myself a recent recipient.

It works like this: God allows an unusual amount of life lessons to flow at one time. They fire in rapid succession to where there's little time for recovery in between. You gasp for breath, cry some tears, and wonder what you did wrong. You may even feel numb when things calm as if you're not even sure what you're supposed to feel anymore.

I've had this happen a few times in my life. And in the end, something good evolves.

When someone receives chemotherapy, the medicine destroys good and bad cells with the intention of destroying all the bad. The destruction of good ones is just collateral damage. In time, the good cells multiply again, essentially bringing the patient back to life - sometimes from the brink of death.

While God loves us completely as we are, life is a daily opportunity for growth, change, and a surrender to His likeness. Since we all battle habits, thought patterns, and destructive parts of who we are that don't need to exist, our loving Father allows circumstances to weed them out for our good. But that process of surrender is neither easy nor fun.

As I write, Fox News headlines flash through my brain. People have done outrageous things in the name of cleansing the soul and stomping out the devil. I'm not talking extremes here.

I'm just talking life.

"Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12 : 10-11)

While that sums up my thoughts well, the next verse amuses me, especially since I'm about to see a podiatrist because a neurologist doesn't like the look of my right foot and ankle. It's not doing well. But read on...

"Therefore strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 'Make level paths for your feet', so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed." (Heb. 12: 12 - 13)

Even though it's painful, I'm grateful He keeps calling me to Him, pulling me close, digging deep in my soul, so that I "may not be disabled, but rather healed."

As my heart regenerates I'll hold to that promise. It all leads to healing, here and beyond.

PS: Sam just showed me this link. What a story. A fitting end to my post.

Jim Munroe - I Am Second

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