Michelle Ule's Blog, page 47
November 21, 2017
The Importance of the Arts in Crisis
We’ve just come through the Sonoma County fires and the arts helped.
How?
When you have six adults, five children, three cats and a dog evacuated from home for a week, you need anything you can get to ease the tension.
The children, in particular, needed the arts to process what had happened in their world.
What arts in crisis help?
Whichever art means the most to you.
For the little girls in our group, dancing relieved a lot of stress.
We’d managed to bring a CD player and the four girls went outside, plugged it in and danced.
Every day.
Sometimes at night, too. (We watched Sing one evening and they danced through the entire movie!)
They sang songs together every day and delighted when their grandmother joined in–singing and dancing!
They’d all been to VBS together and sang the songs of Jesus’ love–as a comfort and a shared experience.
Drawing and coloring
I purchased two drawing pads of paper, crayons and colored pencils at the local store when we finally evacuated to the beach.
The girls filled both with their drawings and pictures.
One artistic mother joined them one afternoon and they helped her draw, too.
The girls drew thank you notes for the kind visitors who brought us tasty meals–reducing one neighbor to tears of gratitude.
Art appreciation
This particular beach house had Audubon drawings on the walls and other interesting artwork.
One afternoon, I walked a little girl from picture to picture, discussing what she saw.
She had no trouble figuring out what the pictures represented.
Playacting
While the house’s owner apologized for leaving all the outdoor furniture’s cushions on the living room floor, we were happy to see them.
The children slept on the cushions.
They turned them into forts, boats, slides, and houses.
The playacting went on every single day–sometimes even drowning out the relentless fire news.
Books
While the rest of us had difficulty focusing on the books we brought or tried to read on our e-readers, the children did not.
They read Bible-related Arch books I brought from church.
Their mother/aunt read Mandie stories.
They looked at the few picture books we had and made up their own stories.
One night when everyone was tired of everyone, I unearthed a MadLibs pad.
We had to keep explaining what an adverb and adjective were, but the children happily came up with words.
Everyone belly laughed when we finally read the silly one-page stories.
The outdoors in crisis
While sending children outdoors isn’t exactly art, walking and talking with them can become art.
We stayed near the beach and the children built sandcastles, gathered shells, danced with the waves and called to passing seals.
We were fortunate to be 45 miles from the Santa Rosa fires.
The clean air, the cold water, the scratchy sand entertained and kept the children healthy.
We’re very grateful to our relatives who let us explore the arts at their beach house in our time of crisis.
Back to school
The children (and one teacher aunt/mother) returned to school after two weeks.
While all our houses survived, many homes of our friends did not.
The school districts in Santa Rosa knew children need to process the trauma–whether they lost their homes or not.
They did math, of course, but that first week returned, they focused on the arts: music, singing, dancing, drawing, coloring.
One of our neighbor boys, a stoic seven, points out his bedroom window each night at the hills still golden around our housing development.
“How will we know if there is a fire in the night?” he asks his mother each bedtime.
What would you say if your child asked you?
“How about a story?”
The purpose of art
One of the purposes of art is to provide an emotional outlet.
The kitten and dog entertained, too.
Good art may challenge, but it also can comfort.
Why do children like to read the same picture book over and over again?
Why did our children have to listen to Adventures in Odyssey every night to fall asleep?
The familiarity, the rhythm, help.
The stories, music and the dancing allow for an emotional release–particularly for a child who doesn’t have words.
Our family is so thankful for the arts and how they helped our five Adorables process the terror of fleeing home when flames bore down or the police ordered us out.
Let’s sing, girls!
Let’s dance.
Draw me a picture, tell me a story.
We love you and we’re together.
That’s how the arts, the family and love help a child survive a crisis.
Thanks be to God.
Tweetables
Why are the arts important in a crisis? Click to Tweet
How music, drawing, playacting and singing helped children in the Santa Rosa fires. Click to Tweet
Coping with a crisis for children, using the arts. Click to Tweet
The post The Importance of the Arts in Crisis appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
November 17, 2017
Widowhood Resiliency and Mrs. Oswald Chambers (Part II)
I don’t think any woman wants to learn it.
For Mrs. Oswald Chambers, widowhood came young–she was thirty-four years old when Oswald Chambers died in Egypt on November 15, 1917.
One hundred years ago this week.
Left without a pension in the middle of the desert surrounded by ANZAC
troops during a world war with a four year-old, Biddy Chambers had a choice.
She could succumb to the vapors like so many other Victorian women in literature.
Or, she could trust God had her life and that of her daughter Kathleen’s in hand. She believed God never made a mistake and so she moved forward.
Resiliency–the ability to pick yourself up and recover from a catastrophe–helped Biddy stand straight and move forward without her husband.
Resiliency and a pragmatic woman.
As Biddy wrote a friend in early 1918, “Oswald has been released from his task; I have not.”
She never saw herself as an ornamental addition to her husband’s ministry in Egypt during WWI.
Taking down his words in shorthand, managing the Zeitoun YMCA camp’s hospitality, overseeing her child, Biddy knew her worth to the Kingdom of God.
She had a YMCA camp to run
She also understood that the many troops who daily faced death, looked to her to set the tone for mourning.
Would she fall apart, or would she stand on her belief in God‘s providence?
Biddy knew her profound grief could not be allowed to overshadow the revival Oswald had led among those soldiers preparing to take Jerusalem.
She had to remain strong–for them and all the others who looked to her in Oswald’s place.
Mourning but not weak
Fortunately, Biddy had friends who loved her and understood the depth of her shocking grief.
Local missionary Samuel Zwemer found a place for Biddy, her daughter Kathleen and friend Eva Spink to grieve–away from onlookers.
American missionaries near Luxor provided a week for Biddy to grieve in private.
Other Americans near Wasta gave her a garden for a second week.
She missed Oswald’s memorial service at Zeitoun on November 17, as well as in London in December.
Instead, Biddy watched the eternal Nile River flow past, walked in the beautiful gardens, read her Bible and prayed.
She and Eva probably cried together and young Kathleen enjoyed a trip away from the desert.
On November 30, 1917, Biddy Chambers returned to Zeitoun to pick up the reins of Oswald’s ministry.
She drew her resiliency from knowing God was with her. That morning’s Daily Light reading reminded her of two pertinent Bible verses:
“My presence shall go with thee,” and “Jesus Himself came and stood in the midst of them.”
Oswald was dead, but God remained close to Biddy Chambers.
Resiliency and work
Resiliency often comes about because there’s too much work to do. You can’t sit down and cry, or nothing would get done.
Biddy spent the rest of World War I in Egypt, ministering to the troops.
She began the work of the books, she taught classes using Oswald’s material and she led Bible studies.
With the other YMCA women, she cooked meals, prayed with soldiers, listened and directed them back to God.
She tended her daughter, and worked with Oswald’s words–always.
Biddy Chambers’ ministry to soldiers through the theaters of war helped.
London Memorial service folder
Letters came from all over the world; she knew very well her personal sacrifice was her gift to God–and thus, the world.
Widowhood may have removed her husband, but not her God nor her ministry.
Lessons for Me
Biddy paused in her ministry to deal with her grief.
Two weeks would not have been enough, but it was all that she could afford in 1917.
100 years later, in the middle of a book launch and a fire, I couldn’t really afford to take a lot of time either.
In the first few days of our emergency evacuation, I focused on what I could–though I had a radio interview the day we abandoned our home.
For me, as I imagine for Biddy, stepping out of the emergency into what I knew well–the story of her life–was a pause of normality in the midst of great uncertainty.
I could talk about the book; everything else about our life, however, felt scattered and unfocused.
In those first few days of shock, my work both helped and required me to be resilient.
I’m thankful. (13 days later we got the good news, our house did not burn).
Next time: Resiliency in a Post-War World (Part III)
Tweetables
What did Mrs. Oswald Chambers do following his death? Click to Tweet
Mrs Oswald Chambers: Resiliency in widowhood. Click to Tweet
The post Widowhood Resiliency and Mrs. Oswald Chambers (Part II) appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
November 14, 2017
Oswald Chambers’ Death: 100 Years Later
The most read blog post on this website is Why Did God Allow Oswald Chambers to Die So Young?
The question is still a good one and worth pondering on November 15, 2017–one hundred years to the day after Oswald Chambers’ death.
WWI
military situation prior to Oswald Chambers’ death.The “what happened?” facts are simple.
After two years working for the YMCA in Egypt during World War I, Oswald Chambers was tired.
In fall 1917, the Egyptian Expeditionary Forces (EEF) under the direction of General Edmund Allenby prepared to “go up the line” toward Jerusalem.
The Australian Light Horse Brigade and other Australian and New Zealand (ANZAC) troops pushed up the coast from Egypt toward Jerusalem.
The EEF command feared a bloody battle to take Jerusalem. They requested the YMCA send two YMCA chaplains for each casualty station.
The command knew the men would need all possible spiritual encouragement.
Chambers looked forward to the ministry opportunities; he loved the soldiers.
In anticipation of being called up, he prepared the Zeitoun YMCA camp hear Cairo for his absence.
His wife Biddy would lead study groups. Reserve chaplains would fill in, along with others trained for ministry.
The illness leading up to Oswald Chambers’ death
But before the call came for Chambers to head out, he developed gastrointestinal issues.
Such ailments were common in 1917 Egypt. With flies constantly present, disease spread easily.
Assuming it was “mummy tummy,” Chambers rested. He handed over his duties to Biddy and others.
See how tired Oswald Chambers looked in fall 2017?
But, he did not improve.
As his condition worsened his wife and friends urged him to visit the Red Cross Hospital at Giza.
Chambers resisted their pleas. He ministered at military hospitals all the time and did not want to take a bed from a soldier who needed it.
This went on for ten days.
When the pain finally became unbearable, Chambers agreed to go to the hospital. Upon arrival, a military physician conducted an emergency appendectomy.
Oswald Chambers’ death
Chambers recovered from the surgery and appeared to be doing well.
But clots formed, his health failed. Biddy remained by his side.
A week into recovery, his four year-old daughter Kathleen visited.
The meeting didn’t last long. Chambers had no strength.
While the medical personnel told Biddy her husband couldn’t recover, she maintained a confident vigil.
Biddy believed God gave her a word, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God.” She clung to that word.
Oswald Chambers died early in the morning on November 15, 1917.
One soldier’s reaction
J. Stuart Gardiner, one of Chambers’ soldier friends, wrote about “O.C. had been called Home to join the great army of God’s elect.”
“It seemed hard to understand why God had allowed the work of such an inspired teacher to cease just at the time when its influence was so powerful and uplifting a force in so many lives . . .
“As he wondered, the writer remembers gazing across the plains towards the purple slopes of the Judean Hills, and he thought of the Great Teacher Who had passed that way, and of the welcome that His loving heart would give to the O.C. as He came to greet and bless him . . .
“As they [other soldiers] prayed, their hearts thanked God for the O.C.–for his great gift of understanding–and the inspired way in which he had made the message of the Scriptures a living, vitalizing force in their lives.”
How could the sickness not be unto death if Oswald Chambers died?
How did Biddy explain the difference between the word from God she believed and what happened?
Biddy and Oswald’s final photo together.
Writing 15 years later (in Oswald Chambers: His Life and Work), Biddy provided an interesting observation.
“Through all the days of the illness and its crises, the word which held me was ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God,’ and there were times when it seemed that the promise was to have a literal fulfilment.
“But again God had a fuller meaning; and yet the sickness was not unto death, but for the glory of God, we believe.
“The readings in Daily Light and the Psalms for those days brought a gracious sense of the supernatural intimacy of God with all our ways.”
In 1933 when Biddy put together her husband’s biography, she already knew My Utmost for His Highest was a success.
What Biddy did not know is how important that devotional, published 10 years after her husband’s death, would become for generations of readers.
Comments from a WWI soldier 49 years after Oswald Chambers’ Death
Stephen “Tim” Pulford first met his God in Egypt and later learned about him through Oswald Chambers’ books.
He became a Church of England minister and wrote Biddy Chambers’ obituary.
Pulford made the final observation about Oswald Chambers’ death.
“It was during the Palestine campaign I learnt of Mr. Chambers’ death. And although from the human point of view his passing seemed an irreparable loss, it marked the beginning of a ministry which he might never have achieved had he lived to pursue it. And this is where the slow-moving miracle (as we count time) begins.”
If Oswald Chambers had not died in 1917 Egypt, Biddy would not have compiled all her notes into 30 books with Oswald Chambers listed as author.
We would not have My Utmost for His Highest, if Oswald Chambers had not given his utmost for God’s highest glory–with his life.
The argument against Oswald Chambers’ death
A writer on that aforementioned blog post, Why Did God Allow Oswald Chambers to Die So Young? argued Oswald’s death was preventable.
Why did he refuse to go to the hospital?
We’ll ask him in heaven.
I think a man so attuned to the leading of the Holy Spirit could be trusted with his decision at the time.
Did Oswald Chambers want to die?
He was tired, yes, and the work had aged him.
But Chambers adored his wife and child. He loved the soldiers and those who worked with him.
Oswald Chambers did not have a death wish.
If you read My Utmost for His Highest, you know Oswald Chambers focused on God’s glory, not his own, no matter the personal cost.
It’s an excellent point for all Christians to ponder.
Tweetables
Thoughts on Oswald Chambers’ death 100 years later. Click to Tweet
Comments on Oswald Chambers’ death, November 15, 1917. Click to Tweet
What caused Oswald Chambers to die during WWI? Click to Tweet
Sign up for the newsletter here
Every month in 2017, I’m telling the stories about God’s leading and my blessed–and astonished–reactions while writing Mrs. Oswald Chambers
The next newsletter comes out November 15: In which an important photo arrives on a poignant day
Sign up for my newsletter here.
The post Oswald Chambers’ Death: 100 Years Later appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
November 10, 2017
Resilience Lessons from Mrs. Oswald Chambers Part I
Many will know my book Mrs. Oswald Chambers launched on October 17.
Many don’t know my family and I were evacuated from our home for thirteen days during that period.
The fires in Northern California during October, 2017 were aimed at our house–from four different directions.
The good news is our family’s homes all came through intact.
That was not true of many of our friends. 27 families from our church lost their homes.
For my launch party at church on Sunday, October 22, I knew there was only one important takeaway from Biddy Chambers’ life story.
Resilience
The definition for resilience is simple: “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.”
Christians will understand that resilience is most often rooted in faith.
And the definition of faith from Hebrews 11: “ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Biddy Chambers encountered reasons to exercise her faith in God‘s leading by applying it to events in her life.
Childhood
Biddy had a happy childhood in Woolwich, England until she reached her young teenage years. Bronchitis compromised her health and ultimately her education.
Forced to drop out of school at fourteen because she missed so much school, Biddy also endured the death of her father six months later.
Her mother had sought financial security her whole life. Biddy and her siblings knew they needed to be able to provide for themselves.
She couldn’t go to school, but she chose the next thing: a correspondence course in Pitman shorthand. Applying herself to the work, Gertrude Annie Hobbs eventually “took down” dictation at 250 words per minute (or twice as fast as a normal person speaks).
Rather than give into the terror of not being able to graduate from school, Biddy chose to focus on what she could do.
Or, as her daughter Kathleen pointed out,
“If my mother hadn’t had bronchitis, she probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity of learning shorthand to that extent. My father always used to talk about God’s order in the haphazard, and that was haphazard in a way. If she hadn’t had the shorthand speed like that, there wouldn’t have been any books at all. None whatever.”
I believe Biddy’s determination to not allow a physical setback to compromise her life impressed Oswald Chambers.
It enabled him to view the pretty young woman he got to know on a voyage, with eternal eyes.
World War I voyage
War is a great equalizer and often the source of fear and self-doubt.
A sister ship to the SS Herefordshire Biddy took to Egypt (from the collection of Björn Larsson)
For Biddy, World War I presented an extraordinary opportunity: she could join her husband in the theater of operations where he served.
I’ve written before about how I responded to a similar opportunity here.
But, Biddy recognized her role in her husband’s ministry required her presence.
Given an opportunity to sail through U-boat infested winter waters during a world war to a land of pestilence and illness before antibiotics with a two-year-old daughter to live in an adobe hut in the desert–what would you do?
Biddy chose to go.
She made the preparations and in the face of much danger, boarded a ship with her toddler and a friend.
Living in the Desert
Basically, Biddy and Oswald camped in the desert.
They lived in a two-room adobe bungalow, made of the same bricks the Israelites built for Pharaoh several thousand years before.
The floor was made of sand. They cooked and lived outdoors, except when ministering in the YMCA canvas tent.
(Things improved slightly when a sandstorm tore apart the tent and the “hut” was rebuilt of native reeds).
Biddy never knew how many dinner guests would show up, but her resilience (and the ability of tea and soup to be stretched), enabled her to greet them all with pleasure.
Her resilience blessed the ANZAC soldiers who lived in the nearby Zeitoun camp.
The adobe bungalow
Biddy’s ability to encourage the other YMCA workers impressed the head of the YMCA.
It stood her in good stead when her husband announced he planned to “go up the line,” with the soldiers bent on taking Jerusalem.
Biddy’s determination to do whatever God or her husband asked her to do for ministry purposes, made all the difference to Christians living today.
Her resilience, the lessons I learned to “Pull a Biddy,” served me and my family well, when we fled from fire.
Resilience Lessons from Mrs. Oswald Chambers (Part II–in mourning), will appear next Friday
Tweetables
Lessons in resilience from Mrs. Oswald Chambers Click to Tweet
How Biddy Chambers’ childhood demonstrated her resiliency. Click to Tweet
Sign up for the newsletter here
Every month in 2017, I’m telling the stories about God’s leading and my blessed–and astonished–reactions while writing Mrs. Oswald Chambers
The next newsletter comes out November 15: In which an important photo arrives on a poignant day
Sign up for my newsletter here.
The post Resilience Lessons from Mrs. Oswald Chambers Part I appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
November 7, 2017
Prepared for a Crisis? Or Not?
As a former Cub Scout leader and the mother of Eagle Scouts, I’ve always been one to be prepared—particularly for crisis
situations.
I nodded when I read Oswald Chambers’ words in the My Utmost for His Highest devotional on September 10:
“We imagine we would be all right if a big crisis arose; but the big crisis will only reveal the stuff we are made of, it will not put anything into us. . . . Crises always reveal character.”
As I admired California’s golden hillsides against blue skies in September 2017, I felt uneasy.
The previous winter’s heavy, and welcomed, drought-ending rain had produced hillsides covered with tall, now dried, grass.
Prepared from Navy moves
After twelve Navy moves, I knew each new home required speciation planning–particularly for an emergency.
At our last house in a high fire zone, I’d posted a card in a cupboard listing what to take in a fire, labeled in order of importance, noting where to find it.
But I’d left that paper behind when we moved.
“I really ought to post it again,” I mused that September 10, but let the idea float away in the warm summer sun.
I’d written a blog post about how to prepare for a fire.
How could I forget what I’d already researched?
Unprepared
A month later, I lugged a tub of unscanned photos down the stairs in the dark. We’d lost electricity to the wild winds roaring through the night and shaking the house.
A very scary night
The golden hillsides, dark at 3:30 in the morning, now wore a red halo of thick smoke.
I’d been filling the back of the SUV for thirty minutes. The kitten mewed from her cage on the passenger seat.
But it was no longer a question of what I could take, rather “What can I not live without?”
“Into your car. Now!” shouted my husband in his Navy voice.
That night from the safety of our son’s house, we watched the Santa Rosa fires burn down 2900 homes.
The Navy and the scouts prepare
Six adults and five children scanned the hills for fire the next day. Using his phone, my husband set up a command and control center with his two Eagle scouts.
The Commander monitored events on his computer. Son #1, with his ten year-old Cub Scout, examined topological maps of nearby Annadel State Park and analyzed wind direction.
Son #2 drove off to survey the park from a distance and talk to local officials.
The little girls danced to Disney tunes.
We women cooked, organized, and watched our men.
I exchanged texts with my brother, periodically glancing over my husband’s shoulder to see four fires headed toward our neighborhood.
My brother had a suggestion. The men thought it a good backup plan.
Prepared to execute the plan
When the police bull horns ordered us to evacuate the fires, the Cub Scout gasped. “Where will we go?”
The Commander smiled—submarine life prepares you for hours of boredom and seconds of terror. My brother had provided an answer. “To the beach. We’re going to your aunt and uncle’s house at the beach.”
Monitoring the situation
The boy’s trembling stopped. “Really?” He shouted to the panicking sisters and cousins. “We’re going to the beach!”
They stopped in surprise. “The beach?” then scrambled for shoes.
Crisis averted, their cheerful characters returned. Ultimately, our houses survived.
The Commander, the kitten and I returned home thirteen days after we left.
The immediate crisis—fire—has passed, but now the strength of our community’s character will display itself in rebuilding. We’re all talking about how to prepare for the next fire.
I, for one, am going to post that list—and finally get the photos scanned.
Tweetables
One family prepares, or not, for the Santa Rosa fires. Click to Tweet
The Navy and the boy scouts prepare for evacuation. Click to Tweet
Cool heads in crisis: a Navy commander and 3 boy scouts. Click to Tweet
The post Prepared for a Crisis? Or Not? appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
November 3, 2017
Mrs. OC: The Book Launch Party
Friends arranged for a lovely British tea, a poster announcing the party and flowers on the table–the same way Biddy liked to decorate.
I woke a cloche hat and a plain suit–which would have passed muster 90 years ago when Biddy launched My Utmost for His Highest
.
In my case, however, I’d just returned from 13 days evacuation from the Santa Rosa fires.
I felt as exhausted as I looked in the photos!
What is a book launch party?
It’s a celebration of an accomplishment–the writing and publication of a book.
In this case, some forty friends gathered to talk about Mrs. Oswald Chambers.
My husband “manned” the table and I sold copies of both Mrs. Oswald Chambers and my other October release: Utmost Ongoing: Reflections on the Legacy of Oswald Chambers.
I joyfully autographed books for my friends.
We gave away copies of My Utmost for His Highest–in either the classic or updated version.
I also included a handout about resiliency.
My community needed that handout.
You can read Bible verses about resiliency here.
Biddy Chambers and resiliency
What’s a book launch without the author reading from the book?
While my guests sipped their tea–out of china tea cups–and nibbled on cakes, cucumber sandwiches and fruit, I read aloud from the opening chapter.
Baker Books has kindly offered the initial chapters, if you’d like to get a taste for Mrs. OC.
You can find the link under resources on this page.
Why resiliency?
6900 homes burned to the ground in my community during October, 2017.
A fair number belonged to my friends. (27 families from our church lost their homes).
When I thought about what I wanted to say, I came back to what my friends needed to hear.
Biddy Chambers understood about the need to stand firm in your faith when everything around you falls apart.
She experienced devastation when a fire destroyed all her life work during the London Blitz.
Biddy’s life demonstrated resiliency many times. (See next Friday’s post for more details)
Biddy Chambers and the writing of My Utmost for His Highest
Writers generally have only one talk at a book launch but because of the timing of my party (right after second service, but needing to go longer for people from other churches), I gave two talks.
The first, of course, was about resiliency.
Five writers attended my second talk. Since some heard the first talk as well, I altered my topic to include the writing of My Utmost for His Highest.
Two of those writers wrote devotionals and I knew they’d enjoy hearing the clever way Biddy inserted her emotions into five key readings in the devotional.
The most significant one, of course, is for November 15, the day Oswald Chambers died.
I’ve written a blog post about it here: Why Did God Let Oswald Chambers Die So Young?
Thank yous to the guests
A book launch party traditionally celebrates a book, and mine did so.
But so many people cheered me on or helped me in the course of writing Mrs. Oswald Chambers, I wanted to thank them as well.
It takes a lot of people to keep a writer going.
This party was a celebration for them as well!
Tweetables
Celebrating Mrs. Oswald Chambers at a book launch party. Click to Tweet
High tea, cucumbers sandwiches and Mrs. Oswald Chambers at her launch party. Click to Tweet
The post Mrs. OC: The Book Launch Party appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
October 31, 2017
Happy Reformation Day!
(Of which I am a member).
October 31, 2017 marks the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther hammering his 95 Theses on the Wittenberg Church door.
It’s important to note that Luther was not attempting to overturn the Roman Catholic Church
of which he was a monk.
Luther saw issues in the church that he wanted to be reformed, for the good of the believers.
I’m not going to attempt to explain all that, but just want to note October 31 marked a turn in how people viewed God.
That’s what Reformation Day means to me.
We’re all sinners
No matter our religion, we’re all sinners. Romans 3:23 reminds us “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
That includes members of the Lutheran church. Not to mention me, daily.
For me, Luther’s insistence on translating the Bible into the common tongue means I can read it myself. In reading it, I often am confronted by my sin nature.
It helps me recognize how to and where I need to confess sin.
Law and Grace (Cranach through Wikipedia Commons)
(Lutherans are big on the balance between Law and Grace. It’s important and sometimes feels like a seesaw.)
Meanwhile, I don’t need someone else to interpret Scripture to me as a result of the Reformation. (Though, I read those notes at the bottom of the Bible all the time).
I can see for myself what God wants me to know. And since the Bible changes with each reading–not because the Bible changes but because I approach it each day with fresh eyes and experiences–I can read it and apply the truth to myself.
God is open to me
When Jesus died on the cross, the enormous rug-like curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from everyone except the High Priest, split from the top down.
That “curtain” extremely thick and mounted high above, tore from the TOP, not the bottom.
Torn in two, it signifed God was now accessible to men and women personally.
I can come to God/Jesus/the Holy Spirit in prayer and ask Him to show me my sins.
From there, I can confess those sins to God–no matter where I am.
He becomes personally knowable for that reason.
Reformation Day allowed me to recognize that truth.
Great fellowship
Okay, I attend a Lutheran church. No one goes away hungry! 
October 27, 2017
My Utmost: A Century of Devotion
My invitation came from The Oswald Chambers Publication Association, Ltd. (OCPAL), Wheaton College and Discovery House Publishers.
The invitation came months ago, my husband and I bought our plane tickets and looked forward to the event.
It became even more important when we flew to Chicago as Sonoma fire evacuees.
Fortunately, our mandatory evacuation order released about the time we landed.
That made the conference far more enjoyable!
Dedicated to Oswald Chambers
The conference focused on Oswald Chambers and My Utmost for His Highest, as it should.
Everyone, however, recognized Biddy Chambers’ contributions to the books and to her husband’s ministry.
Here I am with Macy Halford, author of My Utmost: A Devotional Memoir
That’s where I came in!
I enjoyed meeting people with whom I’d only corresponded in the past, along with others I’d read about.
I felt very honored to attend.
A Century of Devotion
The Century of Devotion event took place from one to six in the afternoon and featured speakers, a music group, and a performance group.
Discovery House livestreamed A Century of Devotion, and made three 90-minute videos watchable at their My Utmost for His Highest Facebook Page.
The program began with a welcome from Nicholas Gray and Rob Wykes, members of the OCPAL.
Out of the Dust, singers from Murfreesboro, Tennessee (whom I met there 18 months ago through their relatives), punctuated the afternoon with music.
The hip-hop performance group Streetlights added a unique and modern interpretation of My Utmost for His Highest.
We saw a biographical video about Oswald from OCPAL and one with Joni Eareckson Tada discussing what My Utmost for His Highest meant to her.
Here’s a copy of the program:
Different Perspectives on My Utmost for His Highest
Oswald’s biographer, David McCasland, spoke on “The Mind of Oswald Chambers” to help us understand Oswald’s unique way of seeing life.
While the program featured insightful talks about Oswald Chambers, it also included timely interpretations of his life and writings.
Out of the Dust sang a song prompted by an Utmost reading.
Streetlights performed a unique interpretation of the July 13 reading (which happens to be Biddy birthday).
Writer Patricia Raybon spoke on “Race, Grace, and Oswald Chambers: What the White Bible Teacher Would Say to All Believers Today.”
Pat’s presentation included photos from both the past as well as the present racial tensions in the US.
One photo in particular shocked me–a close up of the final picture taken of Oswald, calling us to pray.
What does Oswald have to say to us about racial tensions today?
Pat had three points:
1. Get on our knees. (Prayer is the greater work!)
2. Read your Bible.
3. Stay at the Table. (Get to know others, especially if they disagree with you)
I came away from her talk with a list of books to read and much to think about.
A Century of Devotion panel discussion
The day ended with a panel discussion with biographer David McCasland, memoirist Macy Halford, Christianity Today editor emeritus Harold Myra and me, Biddy Chambers’ biographer.
Daniel Ryan Day asked insightful questions and we had a lovely time.
In preparation for the panel, he read my book, Mrs. Oswald Chambers, right after he finished McCasland’s book Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God, and noted the two biographies presented both a female and male perspective on their lives.
True.
It was fun to talk with people who knew the story and My Utmost for His Highest well.
Daniel Ryan Day, me, David McCasland, Macy Halford, Harold Myra (photo by Miranda Gardner)
Videos of the afternoon
You can view the three videos made from the October 22 A Century of Devotion live streaming at the My Utmost for His Highest facebook page here.
Use the program to gauge where to find each talk.
If you’re an Oswald Chambers fan, you’ll enjoy them.
Tweetables
My Utmost: A Century of Devotion–the program. Click to Tweet
A day devoted to Oswald Chambers and My Utmost for His Highest. Click to Tweet
Here are the winners for the Rafflecopter contest we ran last week.
Grand Prize winner: Tammy Cuevas (who will get a selection of Oswald Chambers-related material)
Five other winners– a copy of Mrs. Oswald Chambers: Lisa Harness, Nellie Beatty, Mikki Monkki, Crystal Warren Miller and Linda Livingstone.
Check your email boxes!
Thanks to all who entered!
The post My Utmost: A Century of Devotion appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
October 24, 2017
A Star Wars Birthday
“We’re going to see Star Wars! Come on!”I lay on the couch, exhausted from my last Shakespeare final, and peered at my roommate. “What’s that?”
“A movie I’ve been waiting for months to see it. You’ll love it!”
I’d never heard of it before but I went with Joanne, Julie, Steve and Jack.
We stood in line three hours–through at least one showing–at Grauman’s Chinese Theater.
When the words began to crawl across the screen for what became A New Hope, my life entered a new era.
Where it’s been ever since.
Had I realized how Star Wars would play throughout my life, I would have paid more attention.
(Maybe I did pay attention. I saw it five times the first year . . . )
The water came from a galaxy not too far away this time.
What about the Star Wars Birthday?
40 years later, I didn’t bat an eye when we received an invitation to a Star Wars 30th birthday party.
(Note: none of our children, true fans, were there).
We had a splendid time admiring both the clever punny titles for food and the games.
I know some of you want some of these ideas.
So the rest of this post is photos with some commentary.
May the force be with you . . . always!
Food
The birthday boy’s wife, sister, and two friends made the clever and delicious food.
Delicious and not deadly.
They labeled the meat, “Hoth dogs and Han burgers.”
An eight year-old asked, “What is this creepy thing holding the sign?”
We loved this salad.
Don’t you love the character touches? That’s him holding the sign.
Unusual flavor; the red is watermelon. Tomatoes might have been tastier for Boba
Even the “buns” were tasty.
Almost too much artistry displayed to eat!
The BB-8 cake pops took the cook a long time to create, but were fun to eat.
Games
One game listed all the movie titles on separate cards. The aim was to put them in the correct order.
Some of the younger people figured the order out effortlessly.
I, however, ordered the titles by the year I saw the movie . . . but the clone titles confused me–weren’t they all sort-of cloned from the original?
The children giggled playing the Ewok toss.
The rules–video depicts actual game play
The lightsaber game, however, took more skill than most of us had!
Note: This house was located in the Coffey Park area of Santa Rosa and burned to the ground on October 9, 2017.
Tweetables
Star Wars memories, food and party games! Click to Tweet
A Star Wars theme birthday party–for adults and kids alike! Click to Tweet
Luke Skywater, Obi Wan Corn-obi salad and other punny Star Wars food. Click to Tweet
The post A Star Wars Birthday appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
October 20, 2017
Wheaton College and Oswald Chambers
I’m attending an event Wheaton’s Buswell Library is hosting on October 20 called My Utmost a Century of Devotions: The Life and Legacy of Oswald Chambers.
Why is Oswald Chambers, a British citizen born in Scotland, being honored at Wheaton College outside of the Chicago–which is in the United States?
Wheaton is the site of the Oswald Chambers Papers, an archive housed in the Special Collections section of the Buswell Library.
Letters, papers, photos and a host of other ephemera that once belonged to Oswald, Biddy or Kathleen reside there.
Chambers expert David McCasland cached his research papers there, and others added to the collection, most notably Oswald’s student Eva Spink Pulford.
It’s the place to go if you want to study or research Oswald Chambers.
What is a special collections library?
The WWI prayer list from Zeitoun
It’s a moderate sized room with shelves and filling cabinets. I’ve spent seven days there examining the papers, taking photos and notes.
(Materials are housed elsewhere and brought to you to examine).
I’m very grateful for the Special Collections Library and its able archivists.
I could not have written Mrs. Oswald Chambers without the papers found in and the help provided by the Special Collections Library.
The material is accessible
When I began my research, I feared I would need to spend time in England hunting down people and material.
But McCasland left his research at Wheaton and the special library had a large amount of material I needed.
I didn’t find everything I used at Wheaton (see all my blog posts about Ancestry.com and research, for example), but the primary resource material was there.
Of most importance was the transcript of McCasland’s interview with Kathleen Chambers in 1991.
It’s not just papers
During my first visit, I explored Oswald and Biddy’s Bibles.
OC liked to cut up Bibles
I examined all the photos we thought existed.
I even got to run my fingers over the keys of Biddy’s typewriter.
The archivists are helpful
I didn’t know any of that material existed before I arrived.
Archivist Keith Call and his colleagues listened to my description of my projects.
They brought out things I didn’t know to ask for–like the typewriter and Bibles.
They helped me interpret some of the material I looked at–what it meant.
I even got a shocking surprise when Keith handed me a letter I wrote Madeleine L’Engle 40 years ago.
The library is conducive for work
Three rows of tables in a silent room made for an excellent study spot.
I probably made the most noise–especially when I found something exciting.
The three other scholars focused on their own work–they were from Japan, Germany and Boston.
But after two days my scanner died and I had to buy and start up another one.
The nice German man came over to help me when I tried hard not to cry.
Voila, however, it worked.
(A miracle this technophobe was able to install and load the software).
Needed?
In the age of the Internet–where I did a lot of my research–do we need special libraries like this one?
Biddy’s worn out Bible
History is important. Understanding in their own words why someone did something, is important.
Holding Bibles and papers my subjects wrote–thrilled me, yes.
But I also needed those primary resources to make my manuscript come alive with the Chambers’ words.
Examining Biddy’s purse and imagining her carrying it, helped make her more real to me.
I loved working at Wheaton’s special collections library–and I’ll be visiting them once more while I’m in Wheaton.
I owe them a book.
My Utmost a Century of Devotions: The Life and Legacy of Oswald Chambers
We’re honoring the 100th anniversary of Oswald Chambers’ death on November 15, 1917.
The afternoon will feature discussions, music, memories and a four-member panel.
I’m one of the panel members.
I’ll report on what happened with photos next Friday, sharing about the things I learned, information that surprised me, and perhaps getting a chance to admire some of the memorabilia housed at the library.
I’ve been looking forward to this event for a long time.
If you can’t come to Wheaton, you might enjoy this hour long interview with biographer Eric Metaxas.
Note: The rafflecopter drawing for one of five free copies of my biography, Mrs. Oswald Chambers or a grand prize of My Utmost for His Highest-related material, continues until Monday, October 23.
Sign up here, if you’re interested.
I’ll announce the winners on my Tuesday, October 24 blog post.
The post Wheaton College and Oswald Chambers appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
![[image error]](http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wheatonbgc.jpg){kind=link}