Chris Loehmer Kincaid's Blog, page 160

To Remember and to never forget

Our entire world had changed on September 11, 2001. Living in the relative safety of northern Wisconsin, things like terrorist attacks were a distant tragedy. I prayed for the victims and the survivors and all of the affected families. I cried that evening when I drove into our yard after work and saw that Nick and Val had lowered our flag to half-mast. I called my friend in Minnesota just to hear her voice. My brother-in-law had been in Washington that morning on his way to the Pentagon. My prayers included a tearful thank-you that God had kept my loved ones out of harm’s way.
Five years after that, I felt safe in Africa. Except for the quilt-fetching incident in the slums, I was confident nothing bad would personally happen to me or the team. While we were in Kenya, however, just days before we were to leave, fourteen suspected terrorists were arrested in the London airport. With the liquids they planned to carry onto their planes, they hoped to construct bombs. Security worldwide went on high alert. 
(Excerpt from Chapter 16, A Time of war and a time of peace, "A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven: One Woman's Trip to Africa - My Story") 
Ok, maybe I am a day late with this, but are we are ever too late to share, to remember, to look forward with hope and to pray without ceasing. 

Embarrass?

I was driving home from a writers conference this summer, taking the back roads, when I came across a sign for Hayman Falls.  I may not have been to every waterfalls in my fair state, but I thought that I had heard of every one of them. Naturally, I was intrigued and followed the signs to this small parking area. I put on my walking shoes and started up the trail.
A very picturesque river. Apparently it's the Embarrass River. Wonder where that name came from?
Still walking. Did I mention that it was close to 90 degrees out and humid?
Oh, looks like I must be getting close.
Is this it? I believe so. I could have kept walking I suppose. At one point there was a dam somewhere along here and that is probably where the falls came in. The water looked pretty calm though the further upstream I went.

Ok, I wasn't disappointed, though, but perhaps that's why it's called the Embarrass River. But this waterfalls isn't nearly embarrassing as this:
Really? Someone thinks that someone is going to steal this bench from the middle of the woods?

I looked up the Embarrass River on Wikipedia. The French word for obstruction is embarrass. So that would explain that.

Are you living on an ark?

All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another. Genesis 8:19 New International Version
Yesterday I went to the local zoo with my Kinship kid. She has been there many times and just loves seeing (and naming) all of the animals.
For myself, it wasn’t quite so much fun. Having seen these animals in the wild, in their natural habitat, it is so hard for my heart not to break seeing them behind bars, knowing that their habitat is now a fraction of what it would be in the wild.



I know that zoos serve their purpose. They are there to educate people about these magnificent creatures in a way that looking at pictures in books cannot come close to achieving. Zoos also allow some of our most endangered species to survive. Efforts in many of the world’s zoos and animal preserves are keeping these animals from becoming extinct.
It wasn’t until I looked up the story of Noah that this really dawned on me. Conditions in that ark had to be worse than nearly any of our country’s zoos. And even though it hadn’t been for the lifetime of these animals, they had to be scared and uncomfortable.
Just like those animals on the ark, sometimes we are scared and uncomfortable. Maybe our boat is different, but we are still cramped, if not physically, then often times emotionally and spiritually. We feel like we aren’t living where we should, that this isn’t the life we were meant for.
But this life here on Earth isn’t eternity. It is a short piece of all time. One day we will be set free. We will be in heaven, able to roam the vast spaces we were meant to roam, live the life that God set out for us.  


 Then I saw this zebra. Do you see a word in the stripes on his back? At first it looked like it read “Jesus”, but I can also see the word “life”. But aren’t those really the same words?

Let me help you, Mom

Mom feels bad that she totally forgot to write her blog last night, so this morning, while she was running around trying to get to a meeting at work by 7 am, I looked at her with my big brown eyes and said, "Let me do it for you." So here I am.

Mom has got a lot on her plate right now - what does that mean anyway? "A lot on your plate". Is it like having a lot of food in the food bowl? Because that never happens to my bowl. I empty it just as soon as I can.

Anyway, I should write something inspiring like Mom always does, but I kind of have food on the brain right now. Of course, when do I not have food on my brain? The only other thing I think of is sleeping on the bed all day while Mom and Dad are gone and going for a run with Mom. I am glad that Mom still takes me for a run when she can. I love going for a run. It is my favorite thing next to eating and sleeping. Oops, I guess I told you that already.

Wow, I don't know how Mom does it. I can't type much more. The puppy paws are starting to cramp.

But one more thing. You may be hearing from me more now. Mom says that she is publishing a second book and will be busy working on that every night until it comes out later this fall. I don't know what this book is about, but I don't think I am in it. I think she needs to keep writing until she comes up with a book about me. I mean, really? Is it enough to name your blog after me? I don't think so.

I gotta go nap. This wore me out. Have a good day!

There's no place like home.

There's no place like home, except maybe when it get hitched behind a tractor and driven 180 miles down the road. Even though this mobile home was Mom's home for 17 years, lucky for me, it was never my home. I think I maybe slept here three times. But it is still sad to see it be driven off. The good thing is now that this home has a new home where it can keep its owner happy and cozy for many more years. 

There truly is a time for all things.

 There is a right time for everything, and everything on earth will happen at the right time.There is a time to be born and a time to die. There is a time to plant and a time to pull up plants. There is a time to kill and a time to heal.There is a time to destroy and a time to build.There is a time to cry and a time to laugh.There is a time to be sad and a time to dance with joy. There is a time to throw weapons down and a time to pick them up.There is a time to hug someone and a time to stop holding so tightly. There is a time to look for something and a time to consider it lost.There is a time to keep things and a time to throw things away. There is a time to tear cloth and a time to sew it.There is a time to be silent and a time to speak. There is a time to love and a time to hate.There is a time for war and a time for peace.Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (Easy-to-Read Version)
Out of this whole list, the hardest for us to fathom is why God would ever declare there is a time for war. But throughout the Old Testament, it seems those Israelites were doing nothing but making war. It was all part of God’s plan for the great nation of Israel. His chosen people were supposed to dominate their part of the world, so with God as the divine commander, they conquered many nations. In the end, though, because they were a sinful people, it didn’t turn out so well for them.
In our modern times, we ask ourselves what the purpose for war is. Thankfully there hasn’t been a world war in my lifetime, yet it seems we are always on the cusp of one. As various nations go after each other, we have to wonder which one of these events will lead to the “big one”. It’s so scary, isn’t it?
On days like this, when I don’t want to listen to the news, don’t want to know what is going on in the world or in our nation’s capital, I turn my fears over to God. All these things will happen in His time, He is the ultimate Commander in Chief.

Lord, God, Heavenly Father, let us put our trust in You. Let us lay our fears at Your feet. Guide those making decisions which will affect us all. And send Your Holy Spirit into the hearts of non-believers so that they can know Your peace. Amen

A Three for One Special

Have you read any good books this summer? Looking for something a little lighter to read as we head into the busy autumn season? I started writing reviews on the following three books, but I continue to struggle with that particular assignment so felt that I wasn't saying anything of merit. I decided to clump all three of these books together. Then, imagine that, by the grace of God, I was able to find the common thread in these books. Maybe it is just what I am drawn to reading.  

“His Grace is Sufficient: Decaf is Not (A Devo for Women on the Go)” by SandraD. Bricker, Loree Lough, Trish Perry, and Cynthia Ruchti
Just like its sister devotion, "Be Still and Let Your Nail Polish Dry", "His Grace is Sufficient" speaks to women everywhere. Women who are not perfect, women who may have messed up big-time, but as we learn, God forgives us for all of our messes. His grace will smooth over all our wrinkles and settle all our crinkles. All we need to do is keep plowing through life, with as much caffeine as we need, and God will take care of the rest.


“TheRepurposed & Upcycled Life: When God Turns Trash to Treasure” by MichelleRayburn

 Michelle takes the messes we have made in our lives and shows us how they can be turned around for the good. Not only things like discarded objects we pull from the garbage, but mistakes we have made in our lives. She shares stories from her own experiences and shows us how to recycle and repurpose even the sorriest incidents.







“AllThat You Can't Leave Behind: A Rookie Missionary's Life In Africa” by Ryan J.Murphy
I can relate to so much about this book, because I have been there, not only physically been to Kenya, but emotionally and spiritually been to a place where I knew I was called but woke up some mornings wondering what was going on. I loved Ryan's honesty and sincerity in his memoir. Things aren't perfect, he has problems with things that an outsider wouldn't imagine should be a problem. Yet, Ryan perseveres.  Whether you're considering short-term or long-term missions or just wonder what life is like in a third world country, you have to read this book.




So see, in all three books, we are handed messes or we make messes of our own, but God is the ultimate janitor. He cleans them all up for us.

Take the first step.

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."Martin Luther King, Jr.
With so much in the news the other day about the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr., I thought I would post some of his quotes you may not have heard. 
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."


"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Life goes on

Remember this blog post from the end of July? The meaning of friendship.

I'm kind of scared to even write about this.
When I posted this picture last month, I mentioned that between these four high school friends and myself, only one had a dad still living. I'm so sorry, Sal.  I knew your dad had been sick, but I sure didn't think his time was going to be up so quickly. 
On the upside, I now have Kathy's email address and we have been sending messages back and forth. Also this week, out of the blue, another friend from high school found me on Facebook and we have been catching up. 
I guess that even when life ends, life goes on. And Sal, we will get together soon. 

Be Still

Sometimes I don't get poetry. I like the word pictures that poems can paint and the stories that can be shared. But some poetry is just too deep for me. I don't understand the deeper meaning; I only understand what the words mean to me on the surface.

At the Green Lake Writers Conference last week, one of the speakers was poet Michael Belongie. Some of the poems he recited were very moving, other times, I didn't know what he was talking about.

He shared the following (the pictures of course are mine), and as near as I can tell, Father Richard Rohr should get credit for this beautiful rendition of a common Bible verse. This would be the kind of poetry that doesn't need explaining, it just needs to be taken in slowly, in the stillness of the word.

Be still and know that I am God. 
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still. 
Be.  I hope that didn't ruin the somber mood for you. I can only be still for so long. God is OK with that; that's how He made me to be.