Bud & Me: Book Review

Why hello there!  It has been a while since I've sat down at the old typewriter.  It's actually a tad rusty.
Though I will have more intriguing content soon, today I am going to be filling you in on a fabulous book I've just finished.

"Bud & Me", by Alta Abernathy is not a New York Time's Best Seller.  It's not a widely-known book, but perhaps it should be--especially in Southwest Oklahoma.  Bud & Me is the fascinating story of two boys from Frederick, Oklahoma.  Bud and Temple are 9 and 5 when they go on their first of six adventures.  Their first adventure leads them from rural southwest Oklahoma to Santa Fe, New Mexico on horseback in the year 1909.

Their are several crazy things about this story.  First, these little boys were barely old enough to multiply numbers, much less take care of each other in the desserts of New Mexico alone.  Also, much of the U.S. was unsettled in the year 1909.  This was the times of cowboys and indians and outlaws--not the safest terrain for young boys.

Despite the odds these young men went on journey after journey all across the United States in all different forms of transportation--all in the name of adventure!

Though I am definitely not a history buff, I found this book fascinating.  The whole time I was reading it I was giggling, gasping and jumping out of my chair.  The book really captures the heart of adventure in an interesting, funny and historically accurate way.  By the time I finished the book I was ready to plan a road trip across the country with whoever was willing.

I think the theme of the book is to forget fear and go after the journey for the fun of it.

The book is a very quick read; only containing 7 chapters.  Temple tells the stories from his 5-9 year-old point of view, yet he is around 80 when he is recalling these memories.

In Frederick we have an Abernathy Boys celebration in June, and a museum exhibit in honor of these boys.  We also have a nice bronze (?) statue of the boys on our courthouse lawn.  I grew up hearing about the boys, but it was the book that really made it real to me.  These youngsters were legitimate celebrities from the 1900's--and they were more courageous than any young boys I have ever known.

Although the Abernathy Boys are a huge stake for Frederick, Oklahoma--I still feel this is a great book for anyone to read, more specifically 20-somethings.  We read BuzzFeed and EliteDaily all the time.  Articles tell us to fulfill our bucketlist and make memories while we are young and wild and free.  I thought I was doing a pretty good job of this, but Bud & Me puts the word "adventure" in a whole new category for me.  They face their fears and tough the roughest before they are old enough to obtain a driver's license.  Bud and Temple make me feel like I have a whole lot of catching up to do if I want to live the adventurous life in similar fashion.

Amazon sells the book for $20 new and the Frederick Chamber office sells it for $22.  That's not a bad price for the story you are getting out of this deal.  Take a chance on Bud & Me, you won't be disappointed!

Semester Reflections: Dorothy

At the end of every semester I like to reflect and pick at least three big themes God has helped me mature in during the previous season.  Many times this takes the form of an essay, journal entry, or blog post.  Today I journaled and now I am blog posting, hopefully you can relate and respond to my lessons as well.

Without going into much detail, the three big themes I picked out for Fall 2012 are Dorothy, Grace, and Money.  I plan to go into more detail on each theme in separate posts.  First, I shall conquer Dorothy.

Hopefully you all know the lovable character Dorothy from the movie "The Wizard of Oz."  Dorothy is a young girl searching for who knows what when she finds herself in the middle of a tornado that whisks her away to a magical city of munchkins, witches and a large yellow brick road.  After landing in this city, Dorothy's mission is finding her way back home.  Along her journey to find the Wizard of Oz, whom has all the answers, she picks up three friends who are also in search of something.  Throughout their journey together they encourage each other, laugh together and cry together.  The group of four find themselves fighting evil monkeys, begging gatekeepers to let them pass, and all sorts of other exciting things.

The reason I have titled this post "Dorothy" is because I heard a sermon once about doing discipleship "Dorothy style."  It really helped put discipleship in perspective for me, and when my roommates and I watched "The Wizard of Oz" about a month ago, it hit home to me what Dorthy-style discipleship was all about.  In fact, I realized that had been a huge theme of my semester here.

Dorothy did two things that capture the essence of discipleship.  First she entered in.  Dorothy was on a journey when she met Scarecrow.  She had one task to fulfill and she knew how to get there.  Very easily could she have dismissed Scarecrow and went on minding her own business, making the journey alone and deceivingly much faster.  I see most of us today doing just that.  We are very task-oriented individuals, and we are also very aware of the ever ticking time-bomb.  Therefore our society tends to think the "me first and me only" mentality is the fastest and easiest way to go about a job.  When in fact, this is a lie from Satan.  "Me first and me only"  leaves you lonely, confused, and destroyed by Satan.  Dorothy understood this, and so she chose to enter in.

Follow this link to see a clip from the movie:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yejtZgzB5Ik
(I apologize there was no embedded option on this video.)

Dorothy could have easily kept going, ignored the scarecrow, and  focused on her desires, but instead she chose to enter in to a relationship with Scarecrow.  As you saw in the video, first she asked him a few questions about himself, then she introduced herself, and soon she was helping him down off of the pole and inviting him to journey with her to the Emerald City.  THAT is what discipleship is about.  Entering in.

The same process is repeated when she meets Lion and The Tinman.  Dorothy is quick to invite others along for the journey, despite the fact that she herself has not much clue of what to expect or what to do.  That's where her second inspiring action takes place, she journeys with.  Discipleship isn't about knowing everything then pouring out to others when you think you know enough, it's more about journeying with others and finding out TOGETHER what it takes to achieve the dreams and goals God has put before each of you.  You don't have to know everything and you definitely don't have to lead...you need only to lay everything before God and take each day one step at a time--you and your teammates.

The biggest blessing of this fall has been living with two of my sheep.  I've seen and lived discipleship on a deeper level than I've ever seen.  It's been extremely hard, it's been very humbling. and its been very encouraging.  The growth and beauty I've seen come from these two girls has been more of a lesson for me than anything else I've experienced.  I've seen first hand how one person can't go in the journey alone, and the value that close Christian community brings to a family.  This was how the church was designed to live.  This is how the Acts Christians did life.  Discipleship was life.  Life was discipleship.  Today we separate the two, when in fact it was meant to be one sanctity.

At times during the semester I tried to hard to focus on my outward ministry, and it was during those times that our household was rocky and tense.  It took a great roommate and friend talking frankly with me to pull me back in.  The truth is, God blessed us all with the community of each other, and first and foremost that is our focus..."to build one another up in love."  It may have took several months for me to understand the opportunity at hand, but living and breathing discipleship daily gives believers the perfect opportunity to serve God by "not giving up meeting together...encouraging one another daily..etc." (Hebrews 10:23-25)

What a huge blessing this Dorothy Discipleship semester has been.  God has really humbled me and taught me throughout it all, but I am forever grateful for the opportunity and praise my God for his goodness.

If you have a chance over this break, I'd like to encourage you to watch "The Wizard of Oz."  Study Dorothy and how kind and gentle she is while she invites others to join her on her journey.  However, she realizes the journey isn't about her at all.  It's about helping others find what they are looking for too.

Discipleship.

Breaking the Cycle of a Broken Mother

As mentioned in my last post, "Born to Break the Chains," God has opened my eyes to the world of cycle-breaking in our spiritual lives.  I'm still wrapping my mind around the idea, so explaining this to others might be a challenge--but here we go.

All around me I see men and women rising up.  They are standing out from a family of secrecy, lies, and bitterness.  I have no idea how or why, but these beings were the chosen few (Ephesians 1:11-12.)  They were hand-picked by God to break the sinful patterns Satan placed in their families.

Of these friends, (like I said, there are many,)  there is one special woman of God who has seen the pain and unrest that feeds from her mother's prideful spirit.  Her mother is undoubtedly a product of the fall, just like the rest of us, she, however, has chosen to stay that way--despite the Lord's numerous attempts to redeem her.  You may not think growing up in a house with a self-centered mother is no big deal, but look at the deeper level here.

Proverbs 11:22
"Like a gold ring in a pig's snout 
is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion."

Proverbs 12:4

"A wife of noble character is her husbands crown,

but a disgraceful wife is decay in his bones."

Proverbs 12:25

"An anxious heart weighs a man down,

but a kind word cheers him up."

Proverbs 18:8

"The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;

they go down to a man's inmost parts."

Proverbs 18:12

"Before his downfall a man's heart is proud,

but humility comes before honor."

Proverbs 19:13

"...a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping."

Now, I am certainly not saying that I have these proverbs mastered in my own life.  Nor am I saying that I know any women who do, I am however saying that I know women who strive to be life and love to their husbands and families, and I know women who strive to be life and love to themselves.  There is a big difference.

When you look at the facts it should be rather obvious.  I mean, do you really want to come across as a "constant dripping?"  How about a "gold ring in a pig's snout?"  Didn't think so.  

No one grows up saying, "I can't wait to be married so I can walk all over my husband with my anxious heart and disrespectful attitude!  That will be the day I achieve true happiness."  Therefore, we don't purposely choose this kind of fragrance for our own lives.  It is simply the result of Adam and Eve's fall, our sinful nature.

Women are naturally anxious, controlling, over-talkative about their neighbor, and proud.  We naturally want to "encourage" the men in our life by telling them what they should do.  The problem is, this doesn't come across the way we think it does.  To them we are cutting them down, telling them they aren't good enough, and trampling on anything in the way of our personal satisfaction.  Yeah, this is natural.

But here's where we get a say-so.  We have the opportunity to choose what type of woman we want to be.  

Most of us float through life mimicking the habits, actions, and behaviors of our mothers.  It's called imprinting.  Ducks do it too.  Fortunately, the difference between us and ducks is that we are intelligent, free-will creatures who can change this pattern at any given time through a series of choices.

The young woman I told you about has stopped imprinting her mothers sinful nature.  When she was sixteen she made the first choice to step out of her family norm.  She became a believer of Jesus Christ.  Shortly after she gave him control of her entire life, and she has been sprinting  through the race of life ever since.  

I have joyfully watched her go through bible study after bible study, learning the ways of the Lord and what he expects of young women.  She has recently learned the secret to financial freedom apart from her family's debt, and she puts her whole heart into giving God the "first fruits" of her paycheck (Proverbs 3:9.)  Every area of her life has been washed of sinful nature and consumed with the love and grace of God.  She will always be walking in this process of giving him more control, but she chooses daily to take the road less traveled by in her family (Luke 9:23, Philippians 3:8,12.)

Matthew 10:37

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me;

anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."

Rise up Cycle Breakers.

How will you choose?








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