Saturday, March 27, 2010

Remembering Iwo Jima

Last night, my husband, Chuck, and I went to an event honoring Iwo Jima veterans at the Strategic Air and Space Museum near Ashland, Neb.
Six veterans from the same unit of men who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi were at the banquet and program. I interviewed area veterans for a story for Monday's paper. We also had a blurb on our Web site.
Iwo Jima - a tiny South Pacific island - is said to be the site of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. The U.S. suffered more than 26,000 casualties - more than 6,000 men died in combat. The Japanese, who were dug into the island, sustained heavy casualties, too, probably around 21,000.
As I think of these men, I'm reminded of my father, Glenn Lester Real, who was on Tinian in the Mariana Islands during the war.
He fully anticipated being part of an Allied invasion force headed to Japan.
Then the war ended.
My father might not have survived if he had been part of an invasion force. And if he hadn't survived, I wouldn't be around.
Nor would my sons.
Nor would my little grandchild who is due in September.
I'm grateful to the thousands of servicemen who gave their lives during the war to protect our country from cruel dictators bent on shaping the world to fit their evil agendas.
I'm grateful to God for protecting the lives of many other servicemen - including my father.
I'm reminded of Psalm 91 which in part reads: "If you make the Most High your dwelling - even the Lord who is my refuge - then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent."
Thank you Lord for protecting the tents of our loved ones who serve in the military!

Blessings,

Tammy M.

Monday, March 22, 2010

A beautiful day

The morning started out cold and cloudy.
My mood seemed to reflect that as the morning wore on given my circumstances.
But God always seems to know how to cheer me up.
It came, first, with a call from my husband at lunchtime, then with a call from a good pal. When I walked out of the house, the sun was shining.
The skies were blue.
Kind of reflected the mood I was in then.
It also makes me think of Psalm 13.
In the beginning of the Psalm, David seems to be having a rough time.
"How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?" he writes.
David then talks about wrestling with his thoughts and having sorrow in his heart, but by the end of the Psalm he's turned his attention from himself to God.
"But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord for he has been good to me."
Notice the verbs: "trust," "rejoice" and "sing."
Maybe those are things we should do when we're down in the dumps - when our internal weather is cold and cloudy.
And we also need to recall God's goodness.
Remember how David's Psalm began? He acted like God had forgotten him, but by the end David recalled how good God had been to him.
Which reminds me of something the Apostle Paul wrote which is in the New Testament: "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." Philippians 4:8.
Those are some words to live by.

Blessings,

Tammy

Friday, March 19, 2010

I am willing

There's a Bible story that makes me kind of sad.
It's the one where a leper comes up to Jesus, hoping to be healed.
The leper says: "Lord if you are willing you can make me clean."
Why did the man think that the Lord might not help him? Had he been refused help so many times that he'd learned not to expect very much from anyone?
I wonder. The thought makes me sad. It also makes me wonder a couple of other things:
Do people hesitate to ask us for things, because they are afraid we won't help them?
Or do we hesitate to ask God for things, because we don't think he will answer our prayers?
Both thoughts sadden me.
Dear Lord, please make me the kind of person that others will come to, knowing that I will extend your grace, hope and love.
And Lord, please always remind me that I can come boldly to your throne of grace for you are loving and merciful God - In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
I'm so glad that the Lord said: "I am willing" to the leper.
If you're hurting today, please cry out to the Lord.
He is faithful!

Here's the link to the Spiritual Spinach column I wrote about this Bible story. The link is: http://fremonttribune.com/lifestyles/article_28a2432b-0ee5-5cf8-ac99-f8937cc5d396.html
I hope you copy and paste this into your browser line at the top of your screen and hit enter. It should take you right to it.
I pray that you'll read it and be blessed.

Blessings,

Tammy

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Remembering Jughead

I lost a good friend the other day.
He was our 13-year-old beagle, Jughead. My husband, Chuck, and I got him after we moved into our new house years ago. We already had adopted a 7 1/2-year-old basset hound named, Archie, from the humane society, but that dog seemed to take to our older son, Mike.
Our younger son, Zach, felt left out.
"I want a little puppy," he said.
To make a long story a little shorter, we ended up getting a puppy from a pet store. Chuck thought we should name it Jughead - just like the best friend in the Archie comic books.
Our Archie and Jughead weren't best friends. Archie didn't like the antics of a puppy who would bite him in the tailend and then run away.
Archie didn't want to play. He wanted to nap.
So Jughead learned to stay away from his grumpy counterpart.
But throughout the years, I enjoyed Jughead's merry temperament. He also had a great set of ears. He could be sound asleep in the other room and still hear the refrigerator door open.
I know I fed him too many treats. You have to give the dog credit. He really had me trained. He knew if he went outside and barked, I'd be at the back door with a treat, trying to get him into the house so he wouldn't disturb the neighbors.
And, by golly, it had better be a good treat!
We would add other dogs to our family. Abby joined us a year after Jughead and we adopted Buzz about a year after Archie died.
As Jughead aged, I noticed that he got a little more stiff. Months ago, we got him medicine for his joints. That's when the vet said that Jughead's big belly could be the result of a heart that didn't work so efficiently.
After all, he was 13 years old.
Last week, Jughead had trouble getting up off the kitchen floor. I called the vet for an appointment. I thought that maybe we could drain some of that fluid. Just in case that wouldn't work, I spent special time with Jughead the night before. I brushed and petted him and told him I loved him. I fed him pieces of hot dog and pizza rolls. I figured if that was going to be his last supper it would be a good one.
The next day, an X-ray detected a large cancerous mass and a bad prognosis.
My husband and youngest son were at work, but our oldest son and his wife went to the vet with me. My oldest son sat in the lobby and thought I should, too, but I just couldn't leave Jughead. Not after all these years.
My daughter-in-law stayed by my side, kind of like Naomi and Ruth in the Bible. She rubbed my back while I held Jughead and sobbed.
People have argued for years about whether dogs go to heaven. I don't know how that all works. I know what I pray at night.
What I also know is that our God is the God of all comfort. He comforts the downcast and brokenhearted. He loves us and his only son lived on this earth as a human and understands what we as flesh-and-blood people deal with on a daily basis.
So I cling to him and ask him to help me deal with all of this. I honestly didn't think it would hit me so hard, but I know God will sustain me.
"Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me." Psalm 54:4.

Blessings,

Tammy

Sunday, March 14, 2010

A good conference

I just returned from a women's retreat in Lexington, Neb., sponsored through our church.
It was really good.
We studied from the book and videos "Secrets - Transforming Your Life and Marriage" by Kerry Clarensau. Gary Smalley also was part of the videos. We didn't get through all of them. I wish we had, but there just wasn't time.
So we had to just skim the surface.
The book talks about some of our greatest needs: security, identity, acceptance and purpose. We learned some basic differences between men and women. We talked about ways to improve intimacy in marriage.
I'd recommend checking out Kerry's Web site: www.SecretsBibleStudy.com.
She's a good speaker and I think this would be a good study for just about any church - especially those with young married couples (yet even older, longer-married women could benefit).
Besides a good study, we had a great time of prayer and I really believe that God moved to heal some hurts that women probably have carried for a long time.
God is so good.
He is faithful.
"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

Blessings,

Tammy M.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Fast comments on fasting

Here I sit eating ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.
We got it for my husband's birthday in February, but it's taking a while for us to eat it - which is probably a good thing.
We don't need that much cake, but while I'm on the topic of food I do want to mention a good Bible study that our church finished not that long ago.
It's called "Fasting" by Jentezen (pronounced Gent Sen) Franklin. I guess his book was a New York Times Best Seller.
I'd never heard of him, but his study is very good. It has videos and a workbook and you can buy his book. In the study, Franklin tells how every major person we see in the Bible fasted - Jesus, Peter, Moses, Esther, Daniel ... the list goes on. He tells about the different types of fasts and why fasting isn't just going without food.
That's starving.
This is different. It's going without food for a spiritual purpose and Franklin says it brings you in a deeper, more intimate, more powerful relationship with the Lord. He writes that: "Fasting prepares the way for God to give you fresh revelation, fresh vision and a clear purpose ... Fasting keeps you sensitive to his spirit."
Now, I must admit that I've never been big on fasting, but I tried fasting a meal and just praying and reading my Bible a very few times during this series.
I was amazed.
Franklin is right when he says God will give you the grace to fast.
It took a whole lot of grace for a big-time, food-lover like me to fast, but I was able to do it for those short periods of time.
And guess what?
Two times while I was fasting a meal, I was reading my Bible when a couple of things just jumped right out at me and made for some good, powerful "Spiritual Spinach" columns. One was about Jeroboam in the Old Testament and the other was about a rich, young ruler who has a conversation with Christ.
It's been a while since I've made time to fast, but I know I want to do it again.
I realize that it's not about giving up food (and if you have health problems, you need to seek your doctor's advice). It's about putting everything else aside and seeking God.
And when we do that I really believe that he blesses us in wonderful ways - better than any ice cream cake ever made!

Blessings,

Tammy

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

The goodness of God

Wow.
It's been a month since I wrote my last blog entry.
People tell me that I should be writing one every day. That's can seem like a tall order to someone who writes for a living.
Some wonderful things have happened in the last month.
I found out today that my grandbaby-in-the-making will be the size of a lemon on Friday. (My daughter-in-law, who is a nurse, reads up on these things.)
Our oldest son, Mike, passed the written test to become a cop for the Omaha Police Department. He takes an agility test tomorrow. If he passes that, he'll have an interview. I've heard that 2,000 people applied for the OPD job (s?)
I had a book signing at Hy-Vee Food Store last Saturday. It went fine.
I go to women's retreat this weekend.
So why am I bringing all of this up?
Maybe it's because I can see God's hand in it all - the formation of a baby, the opportunity for a new job for my son and the chance to spread God's word through a book that's been a miracle from the word, "go."
So many good things have happened to me since I gave my life to the Lord years ago. It's true that I fell away for a time, but God brought me back like a lost sheep to the fold.
I can say along with the Psalmist: "Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." (Psalm 23:6).

Blessings,

Tammy