More Than Ordinary Lives

Recently, Kit and I traveled to the Middle East for FamilyLife. On such trips we enjoy meeting and chatting with local people. Although every culture has some bad actors, we’ve found Arabic people to be generally delightful. No culture worldwide can match Arabic people in generous hospitality

We met a group of Muslim teenagers on a school outing. They wanted to meet some Americans and practice their English. Many Americans’ perception of Arabic Muslims is negative. These girls are more typical than those who frequently draw news coverage.

Drew

My parents were quietly reading in their favorite chairs when I, their nine-year-old son, approached with a question. “May I start a vegetable garden in the backyard?” They looked at each other in wonder. Neither had any interest in gardening. “Ah … well … sure,” Dad answered. After a while, curiosity brought my parents outside. There they found me laboring manfully away with a shovel longer than myself.

Gardening has been my lifelong hobby. Cool temperatures in Washington have challenged that value. Last year I couldn’t get beans and squash seeds to germinate until June. I replanted our potatoes three times trying to get healthy growth.

Starting plants indoors under grow lights should be the solution. Pre-Washington I never had much success doing so. Over caring for them is the likely reason. Sometimes I can’t resist pulling up a chair to watch my starters grow. I once used toothpicks and sewing thread to stake forty one-inch tomato seedlings.

One thing I’ve discovered is that my plants don’t thrive until I get them out of my smothering care and into the ground. Temperatures today are predicted to approach seventy degrees for the first time this year. Yesterday I transferred sprouts germinated indoors to the garden beds. Of course, I used a flashlight in the dark to check on them. In Washington, slugs swarm at night. Maybe I’m lucky the growing season is short.

Kit and I enjoy a cold house. Our home never reaches as high as sixty degrees in winter and occasionally dips into the forties.  On one occasion, Kit’s house plants froze. But the joy of snuggling warm together under blankets makes enduring a little chill worthwhile.  I frequently whisper to Kit, “Snuggling like this has been the best part of my life.”

I believe that memories can enrich most peoples’ lives, especially as we get older. In our home, we have many photos and objects commemorating adventures. They remind us of the wonderful life God has allowed us. I recently realized that our lives have also been filled with simple activities, like snuggling in a cold house. Since capturing feelings on film is difficult, we tend to forget the simple things that have enriched our lives.

Kit enthusiastically joined me listing things—not related to travel or ministry—that have given us consistent pleasure. Our list is up to 147 line-items, so far.  We have found a treasure chest of joyful memory triggers from our 42 years together. We have resolved to not take the pleasant activities of our lives for granted.

Drew

If you watch any news, you couldn’t miss the trial of Alex Murdaugh for killing his wife and son. I didn’t follow the sordid tale. But apparently, the jury found him guilty–despite circumstantial evidence of murder–because evidence proved he lied. His habit of lying caught up with Murdaugh.

I believe we are suffering a pandemic of lying.  But, unlike Murdaugh, a lot of people are getting away with lying. Why? Because people believe what they want to believe. Liars who pander to what people want to hear can draw a large following. Last week the owner of a popular TV network, under oath, admitted that his news commentators had deliberately lied to satisfy viewers. Likewise religious leaders can garner a following by carelessly interpreting Scripture in ways that support peoples’ desires. This discredits God.

Let us, like the Murdaugh jury, look at the evidence. Please join me rejecting those who knowingly fabricate falsehoods and leaders who don’t do due diligence to ensure their words are sound.

Arguably America’s best humorist but certainly our most humorous philosopher, Will Rogers quipped, “It isn’t what we don’t know that gives us trouble, it’s what we know that ain’t so.”

More than a decade ago, I discovered some errors in my own thinking. This led me to begin seeking and correcting within myself that which isn’t true. I’ve found a lot and I’m far from finished. I now encourage others to verify their facts and be wary of inaccurate biblical interpretations.

One incorrect belief I held was, God wouldn’t allow Christians to interpret the Bible inaccurately. But interpretations by believers vary widely on many issues and always have. Everybody can’t be correct. In 2 Peter 3:15-16, the apostle acknowledges that some things are difficult to understand and had been distorted. Although I’m not certain, I think God allows truth to be distorted by His commitment to free will.

My efforts to correct wrong thinking in myself have a spiritual aspect. But I also seek to get my facts right on everything possible. I recently discovered on Wikipedia a well researched and documented list of Common Misconceptions. Whoa! A lot of things I knew for certain were wrong.

The non-political link is safe. Check and see what you might wrongly know. 

Fifty years ago I was a young engineer from a small town in Alabama living in California. In 1973, I redesigned a launch pad at Cape Kennedy to accommodate a more powerful Delta Rocket. NASA used that facility to put larger and heavier satellites into earth orbit. That job led to me working on the Space Shuttle.

Fifty years ago as a new Christian I led a bus ministry. Each Sunday I brought maybe a hundred children from less affluent city families to Sunday School and church. At age twenty-three, I became like a pastor to many of those families. Observing the challenges those families faced changed my perspectives forever.

Fifty years ago I became an avid snow skier through a group of other young engineers at California’s Mammoth Mountain. I had never imagined the possibility of standing on top of high snow covered mountains in wintertime. Not long after, I also skied the most famous mountains in Colorado.

I’m old now and have no desire, nor the ability, to do these things again. But the memory of having done them gives me great joy. They have given me pleasure for a lifetime. I hope you too can draw a sense of fulfillment and gratitude from your memories.

These memories also give me a clue in understanding myself. What do these three memories have in common? In each case, I was like a fish-out-of-water and learned to enjoy that feeling. Putting our fictional characters in fish-out-of-water situations is a major theme running through every novel Kit and I write.

Kit in Africa

Another article by Kit has been published by Cru Staff Women around the world. Just click in this link Forgiveness Changes Loves.

Note: This stays on our website and is safe.

Genuine Transylvanian mythology isn’t the silly genre created for western entertainment. The folklore of the Carpathian Mountains can be more sinister and threatening, especially in a story that treats ancient beliefs and fears as reflecting demonic activity.

Missionary and the Witch is mythology reborn in the historically accurate apocalyptic setting of 1993 Romania. Years of war and generations of totalitarian communism had left the country frozen in time. Into this environment comes the naivete of American missionaries.

Early reviews indicate that this is our best writing. We treat demons as deceivers and inciters of evil. We’ve had the story checked to ensure no Scriptures are contradicted.  Religious readers of all ages will enjoy this gritty good-versus-evil tale. However, the tone of the novel is not American church-culture. Non-religious readers will enjoy a supernatural tale of retold mythology made plausible by biblical references.

We will provide a free digital copy to readers who will return comments and suggestions.

Kit and Drew

Not only do we get to write but we also sell our novels at Christmas fairs. Readers from previous fairs come up to thank us. Some pester us for sequels.

Each wholesome novel we sell carries a positive message. Our Challenge Series features a couple forced into early retirement. Dave and Katie find a mystery to solve and criminals to thwart in each adventurous destination they visit. Their fish-out-of-water situations allows readers to see the interesting locales through a newcomer’s eyes. Readers tell us, “I felt like I had visited a fascinating place myself.” In our culture of fictional super heroes, our theme of ordinary people required by circumstances to become more than ordinary has found an audience.

Our prayer for you is to find a rewarding and productive hobby. Our advice; Be bold and try something completely uncharacteristic of yourself. If an engineer can write novels, there is no limit to what God can do.

Kit and Drew

Opps! We haven’t posted a blog since August. We’ve been rather busy for FamilyLife by making a trip to Romania, leading a marriage seminar in WA, and updating seven training manuals. We also finished our 7th novel and successfully dealt with serious health threats.

We’ve had fun too. In Romania, I took an afternoon walk in a nearby village. There I found a small unrestored castle built in the 1,200s. One of our Romanian partners made a call and the castle’s caretaker showed up with a big iron key and let us in! This will be one of my favorite travel memories.

My suggestion is to work hard and trust God to provide some perks.

In Our Lord,

Drew