Top Posts of 2011 Number 5 – Detours – A Guest Post by Leanne Stolpe

Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to provide links to the top Stretched posts from 2011.  This provides an excellent opportunity for me to take a small break during the holidays, and it also provides an incredible opportunity for you to catch up on things you may have missed over the past year.  I hope you’ll hop on over to the original post, so you can read the entire post and add your comments to the existing comments string.

The 5th most popular Stretched post from 2011 was a guest post written by my wife, Leanne.  Here’s an excerpt to get you going:

Detours

This week I took a day off and went to the beach. This is something I used to do a couple of times a year but recently haven’t done for quite some time. So, it was a big deal to me. I filled up my tank with gas. I packed a picnic lunch, and figured out my directions. I put my tunes in the cd player and started on my trip. I didn’t even get on the turnpike when there was a detour – right at the start of my trip!

It reminded me of how this past year seemed like a detour in many ways.

…

To read the rest of this great post, head on over to the original Detours post.  I promise it’s worth the visit.

When was the last time you took a detour?

What was one of your top posts this year?

It’s 40!

Yesterday, I shared about my Grandpa, and I mentioned that I think about him every year at this time.  The reason I think about him especially today is that we share a birthday – today!  Yep, that’s right, the Stretched blogger turns 40 today.  How did that happen?

As I consider this milestone, I’m thankful.  I’m thankful for all the life I’ve experienced so far and for the life that lies ahead for me.  I’m grateful for the people that God has placed in my life.  And I’m so thankful for a God who loves me in the ups and downs, the goods and the bads, and in my successes and failures.  Today’s Psalm applies perfectly to my thoughts for the day.

¹ I waited patiently for the LORD; 
   he turned to me and heard my cry. 
² He lifted me out of the slimy pit, 
   out of the mud and mire; 
he set my feet on a rock 
   and gave me a firm place to stand. 
³ He put a new song in my mouth, 
   a hymn of praise to our God. 
Many will see and fear the LORD 
   and put their trust in him.

 ⁴ Blessed is the one 
   who trusts in the LORD, 
who does not look to the proud, 
   to those who turn aside to false gods.
⁵ Many, LORD my God, 
   are the wonders you have done, 
   the things you planned for us. 
None can compare with you; 
   were I to speak and tell of your deeds, 
   they would be too many to declare.

 ⁶ Sacrifice and offering you did not desire— 
   but my ears you have opened— 
   burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. 
⁷ Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— 
   it is written about me in the scroll. 
⁸ I desire to do your will, my God; 
   your law is within my heart.”

 ⁹ I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly; 
   I do not seal my lips, LORD, 
   as you know. 
¹⁰ I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; 
   I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help. 
I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness 
   from the great assembly.

 ¹¹ Do not withhold your mercy from me, LORD; 
   may your love and faithfulness always protect me. 
¹² For troubles without number surround me; 
   my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. 
They are more than the hairs of my head, 
   and my heart fails within me. 
¹³ Be pleased to save me, LORD; 
   come quickly, LORD, to help me.

 ¹⁴ May all who want to take my life 
   be put to shame and confusion; 
may all who desire my ruin 
   be turned back in disgrace. 
¹⁵ May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!” 
   be appalled at their own shame. 
¹⁶ But may all who seek you 
   rejoice and be glad in you; 
may those who long for your saving help always say, 
   “The LORD is great!”

 ¹⁷ But as for me, I am poor and needy; 
   may the Lord think of me. 
You are my help and my deliverer; 
   you are my God, do not delay.

Psalm 40

How do you celebrate and process the milestones in your life?

Hope, Compassion, Love, and Faithfulness – Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!  I cannot believe that we are here at the last day of October.  (I also cannot believe that we had snow this weekend, but that’s another story.)  As I look back on the past month, I am thankful for God’s faithfulness and steadfast love.  As I recall, I started this month with feelings of anxiety and anticipation as we continued through a season of difficult memories.  Last year, Leanne came home from the hospital on October 1st and began extended care at a day program.  As we went through October last year, we were definitely trying to find a rock to stand on – some sort of normal – some type of answer that everything would be okay.

So as we started this October, things had been moving along pretty well.  We had started to hit a “normal” stride.  There was nothing to say that was going to change.  But I still carried some memories of last year.  As October has revealed itself each day, I have been relieved and renewed to see God’s faithfulness.  We’ve had a lot of things to be thankful for this month like:  a family trip to the Apple Farm/Pumpkin Patch, spectating at several of Hannah’s cross-country meets, enjoying food and friends at our 1st ever Chilifest, having the opportunity to serve at the Norristown Community House and Cradles to Crayons, and having the opportunity to share at a Group Leader Meeting.

While I’ve been processing these thoughts these days, it was appropriate that one of my readings from this weekend came from the book of Lamentations.  In this passage, I am reminded of hope, never-ending compassion, unfailing love, and enduring faithfulness that comes from God.  This is a great way to leave the month of October!

Yet this I call to mind 
   and therefore I have hope:

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, 
   for his compassions never fail. 
They are new every morning; 
   great is your faithfulness. 
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; 
   therefore I will wait for him.”

The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, 
   to the one who seeks him; 
it is good to wait quietly 
   for the salvation of the LORD. 
It is good for a man to bear the yoke 
   while he is young.

Let him sit alone in silence, 
   for the LORD has laid it on him. 
Let him bury his face in the dust— 
   there may yet be hope. 
Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, 
   and let him be filled with disgrace.

For no one is cast off 
   by the Lord forever. 
Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, 
   so great is his unfailing love. 
For he does not willingly bring affliction 
   or grief to anyone.

Lamentations 3:21-33

How have you experienced God’s hope, never-ending compassion, unfailing love, and enduring faithfulness this month?

Be Still

“Be still, and know that I am God”

– God (Psalm 46:10)

That’s all I’ve got today.

How about you?  What’s your word for the day?

Borrowed Beauty

Later this year, I will hit a milestone birthday – the big 4-0!  Honestly, I don’t think I’ve thought about it too much.  Although maybe I’m giving myself too much credit.  After all, my blog post today is starting with this thought.

At any rate, something happened last night that made me feel old.  Many of you know my daughter, Hannah, or have an idea of who she is thanks to my blog.  Next month, she will turn 14.  This is part of my aging process.  It seems like yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital in her car seat and sweater outfit that Grammy made for her.  Well, she’s not a baby any more.  My Sweetie is turning into quite a beautiful and caring young lady.

Yesterday as part of her Columbus Day holiday, she went Halloween costume shopping with Leanne at our local Goodwill store.  She came home with this beautiful red evening gown that she purchased for $20 with her own money.  After dinner last night, she tried in on for me.  Wow!  How did we go from a baby sweater to a flowing red gown so fast?  As I hugged Hannah and commented on her beauty, I asked her not to grow up so fast.  She smiled as if to say, “I can’t help it, and I’m proud of who I’m becoming.”

I’m proud of her as well.  As Leanne and I were talking about Hannah later last night, Leanne reminded me that Hannah is really on loan from God.  God gave us Hannah and Isaac to nurture and support for a little while, but they were never fully ours from the beginning.  They belong to God.  I’m so thankful for the chance to borrow these two amazing kids.  And yes, I will cherish each moment and day I get to spend with them.

How do you look at your kids?

What’s something you are borrowing that will one day need to be returned?

A New Beginning

This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

Today is a day of new beginnings for our family.  Hannah starts her last year of middle school.  She is smart and confident and ready to go.  As I mentioned a few days ago, Isaac starts his first year of middle school.  I’m still blown away by how quickly this came up.  And today, Leanne starts a new job!  She will be helping preschool age children with special needs as she works as a behavioral therapist for Potential Discoveries.  (She’ll be great!)

God’s timing in each of these new beginnings has been amazing.  These opportunities have come at just the right time.  I rejoice today as I recognize God’s faithfulness to us despite our impatience and anxiety.

I’m excited about a couple of new beginnings for me as well.  I’ll keep you in suspense as I’m looking forward to sharing in future blog posts about what is new with me.

What’s new with you?

Less Like Scars

“It’s been a hard year, but I’m climbing out of the rubble.

These lessons are hard, healing changes are subtle.”

– Sara Groves

Recently, I’ve had several people ask how things are going…how’s Leanne?  Almost a year ago, Leanne was hospitalized.  We’ve spent the past year recovering and rediscovering new normals, new priorities, and renewed appreciation and passion for each other, for friends and family, and for life.  God is good!

As I look back on my journal and my blog from the past year I see pain, loneliness, and despair, but I also see healing, connection, and hope.  Sara Groves song, Less Like Scars, speaks so clearly to my thoughts as I look back on this past year.

It’s been a hard year
But I’m climbing out of the rubble
These lessons are hard
Healing changes are subtle
But every day it’s

Less like tearing, more like building
Less like captive, more like willing
Less like breakdown, more like surrender
Less like haunting, more like remember

And I feel you here
And you’re picking up the pieces
Forever faithful
It seemed out of my hands, a bad situation
But you are able
And in your hands the pain and hurt
Look less like scars and more like
Character

Less like a prison, more like my room
It’s less like a casket, more like a womb
Less like dying, more like transcending
Less like fear, less like an ending

And I feel you here
And you’re picking up the pieces
Forever faithful
It seemed out of my hands, a bad situation
But you are able
And in your hands the pain and hurt
Look less like scars

Just a little while ago
I couldn’t feel the power or the hope
I couldn’t cope, I couldn’t feel a thing
Just a little while back
I was desperate, broken, laid out, hoping
You would come

And I need you
And I want you here
And I feel you

And I know you’re here
And you’re picking up the pieces
Forever faithful
It seemed out of my hands, a bad, bad situation
But you are able

And in your hands the pain and hurt
Look less like scars

And more like
Character

Today, I rejoice.  I praise God for significant milestones achieved in the healing process.  I’m thankful for a new compassion for families faced with the challenges of mental illness and other health problems.  And I smile as I realize the promise of a bright future with hope for tomorrow.  God is good!

(And by the way, Leanne is doing well – and so am I.  Thanks for asking.)

How are you?  How have you seen your scars transformed?

Googling God

 

As a little kid, I can remember having lots of questions about God, heaven, and life.  I asked questions like, “Who created God?” and “Where did God come from?”  I asked, “What was there before God created the heavens and the earth?”  As I was driving home from work yesterday, I was reminded of my child-like curiousity.  For some reason I questioned to myself, “What language will we speak in heaven?” and “How will we understand each other?  Will we have decoders built in to our heavenly bodies?”  I know these questions sound somewhat humorous, but it’s the jumping off point for many other questions that race around my head.

Last year at this time, I found my self asking God more questions as I stood by my wife as she battled the challenges of bipolar disorder.  At one point, I asked “Why?”  “Why would God allow us to go through this?”  “Why is there bipolar disorder?”  “Why doesn’t anyone talk about mental illness and the challenges that come to families as a result of these illnesses?”  These questions still race around my head.

I think we all have questions for God that range across a wide spectrum from humorous to curiosity to doubt.  Last night, I asked my men’s group what questions they have for God, and it was amusing and interesting to hear their responses.

How was God always there?

Where was God born?

Will I be able to fly in heaven?

If God is all knowing and all powerful, why would He need or desire our love?

Why do I ask why questions?

Will Jesus out trash-talk me?

Will I get full at the banquet table?

Are there bathrooms in heaven?

Do we eat in heaven?

Will all our questions be answered in heaven?

What it there to do in heaven?

Will I really be singing all day?

Do I have free will in heaven?

These were just a few of the questions that were brought up as we sat around the table.  I think it can be healthy to ask questions.  But there’s also a trust factor.  I know that God is in control.  I know that He knows what is best.  I know that I’m not God.  But I still have questions from time to time.

How about you?  What questions do you have for God?

My Good Versus God’s Good

I have the privilege today of presenting guest blogger, Jeff Whitebread.  Jeff (or Pumpernickel as I like to call him) is a good friend and sincere brother.  Jeff is just starting his own blog (see the link below), and he has so generously volunteered to share his current STRETCHING story here.

(If you’re interested in guest posting on my blog, please drop me a comment.  I’d love to connect with you.)

It certainly is a pleasure to be a guest contributor on my good friend’s blog.  In sticking with the theme of being stretched, it is always helpful when I consider God’s purpose in stretching my life.  For when I focus on life’s circumstances, I can often feel overwhelmed and find myself being swept away in moments of despair.  For in the midst of life’s turmoil, I can feel as if I am being pulled apart from the inside, as if a part of me is dying.  I am left with these nagging thoughts.  Why does God make life so hard?  If life is this hard, am I doing something wrong?

Romans 8:28-29 says,

 (28) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (29) For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

As I read this passage, an obvious truth jumps out from V28.  God works all things for the good of those who love him, not some things or most things.  God is working every single thing in my life out for my good.  If I love God, then I can take this truth to the bank.  I can believe this truth and live according to this truth.  But wait, not everything that happens to me appears to be good, and here my story of being stretched begins.

When I was told, I was losing my job several weeks ago my first reaction was not, “thank you God this is so good.”  It was a shock. I had to pick my jaw up off the table.  Now, you must understand, I knew my job was going to end.  I have been working for an insurance company that has been going out of business since 2001.  When I started working for this company, it had 6,000 employees, and now it has only 150.  During this 11 year process, I have seen God reawaken my heart and set a desire to serve him in the full-time ministry.  I have viewed these last several years as a time of transition, as a time of preparation to leave the IT field and serve God where He calls.

As God began to open and close doors in my life, I developed a plan for how things were going to work out.  I began thinking about how I was going to transition from working as an IT geek to being a missionary to our elected officials in Harrisburg.  It was a smooth transition, it was neat and clean and in truth it required little risk and even less faith.  After all, I will be serving the Lord; He would certainly bless such pure intentions.  What I failed to see and what God is teaching me and stretching me to understand is this truth. God has a different purpose in mind.  While I am focused on the destination, God’s laser beam focus is on me as an individual.

Let’s take a step back and ask ourselves, how does God define the word “good” in v28?  We quickly realize through life’s circumstances that God is not working in our lives the way we might desire Him to work.  He is doing something strange to us; He is taking us places we have no interest going.  Our hearts cry out as we try to make sense of the situations we face.  You see V29 tells us the goal, the good thing God is doing in our lives.  What God desires for us, what He is working to accomplish through every situation and circumstance we face is to become like Jesus.  This is what He wants; this is what He is doing.  When we face the hard times in life we can hold onto this truth – this difficult and challenging situation is in my life because God is doing something good.  His purpose for me is to be conformed to the image of His Son.  He is working in my life and taking me through the hard time because his desire is that Christ may be formed in my life.

As I face the realities of my life and think of how God is at work, my plan no longer makes sense.  I cannot connect the dots.  I did not expect to be out of a job for another 2-3 years, I thought I would be one of the last people employed in my company.  Obviously, God had a different plan from mine.  Now I face the fact of raising my support, of trusting God with opening people’s hearts toward this ministry.  As I look for God to validate my call through the financial commitment of others, it is humbling, it is scary, and yet it is where God has placed me in my journey to follow Him.  I can say through the eyes of faith it is good.  Whether I end up in this ministry or serve God in some other area, no matter what happens to my family and the things we place our security on, God is working to create in me the image of His Son.

The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death (Heb 2:9).  The path our Lord went down was one of sacrifice and suffering, if this was required of our Lord, should we expect that to become like Him would require anything less for our lives.  The worldly part of our heart cries out, “No!  Please give us another way.”  Yet the cross stands and proclaims that there is no other way in which we can serve our great and glorious King, Jesus the Christ.  Is it easy?  Never! Is it worth it? Every single moment, for God is actively working for the “good” of our lives.

Through the encouragement of Jon, I am being stretched in another area, I have decided to start blogging about this journey.  If you would like to read my attempt to write about this journey, please check out On The Narrow Road.

All for the glory of God!

Jeff

Where do you see Christ being formed in your life?  How have you seen hard times actually used for good?

For Such A Time As This

I like my job.  I get the opportunity to help other people succeed.  I get the chance to support other people.  And I have the privilege of setting a tone and example for others to follow.  I confess that I don’t always get it right.  But I do pride myself on living with integrity and making decisions that represent Godly values and character.

Being in a management role, I have the honor of walking alongside team members as they celebrate the joys of life, but I sometimes have to provide support through their tough times as well.  Yesterday, I received some tough news from one of my team members.  He and his family are facing a very challenging time.  My heart was heavy yesterday when I got the news.  My thoughts and prayers have been with this family yesterday and today.

I don’t know what role I will have in the whole process.  But I do know that I will have a chance to provide workplace support to this individual as he focuses on what really matters at home right now.  Perhaps, I was put in my position a few years ago for just this time.  I pray that for them, and I also pray that I can lead in a way that draws others close to God.

As I’ve been processing this news over the past twenty-four hours, I was reminded of the story of Esther.  Esther was given a chance to be queen at a time when her people (the Jews) were facing persecution.  As a Jew herself, Esther had the opportunity to speak to the king and to sway him to protect the Jewish people.  The story is much more detailed than my explanation, but the gist of the story is that Esther was made queen at just the right time.  This verse from Esther 4:14 echoes this thought:

“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

Obviously, my position in management at my company is not quite the same as Esther’s position of queen, but I’m reminded that God can use us where we are at home, at work, in school, in the community.  Are we open to being used by God for His glory?

Where does God have you right now?  How do you sense that God may be using your current position in life to bring Him glory?