This One's for You

Thank you! In the waning hours of 2015, I am writing to you.

Over the last 365 days, I have traveled to Budapest, Brazil, Istanbul, and beyond. But my longest and most challenging journey, by far, has been a very personal one. Thank you for being a traveling companion with me on this sojourn.

Regularly, I have traveled out the door of my bedroom, across the hall, and into my office. I have closed the door, hung my "Please respect my privacy; I am on the phone to Paris" needlepoint sign on the doorknob. I have sat at my antique roll top desk, and I have opened my Apple computer. Here, right here, I have traveled to a destination previously dreamed of but never dared. Last October, GPS for the Wife of a Leader became a viable functioning blog. The journey is far from over, but here is a trip report.

Background of this Blogger

Began as a nightmare
Blogging did not start out as a dream. It started more like a nightmare. I could not fathom becoming one more voice in the existing chorus of babbling bloggers. Did you know that there are 46 million bloggers in the world? One NPR report actually estimates there are 640 million! I loathed the thought of becoming just-one-more. This firewall of fear had to be faced.

Born out of failure
My real dream is to see my fully completed manuscript become a book. It is s l o w to happen. To date, I have received 12 (or is it 16) rejections to my book proposal. This is a true definition of failure. But to be honest, if the book were already published, I would never have started blogging. However, in this holding pattern of waiting, I have discovered the open runway of blogging. So, while my agent Les continues to present my book proposal to publishers, I blog.

Surrounded by the best
Dave Perlow. I am forever indebted to David Perlow of Digital Strategies with Athletes in Action. He believed in my dream. Did you read that? He believed in my dream. With cheerful expertise, he patiently guided this Baby Boomer through the maze of blogging in today's digital age.

Dave was right there with me in October in Larry’s conference room when I said, “Ok, I am ready. There is no reason to delay any longer.”

We prayed, and then I hit, for the first time, that daunting word P O S T. Oh my. I felt like I had just christened a ship on her maiden voyage into the turbulent, public, unseen waters of cyber sea. 

Blessed beyond my wildest imagination
Recently, I had a conversation with my daughter Anne Coleman regarding this new area of personal development. She said, “Mom, I really like your blog. I really do.” That compliment spoke volumes to me. With emotion, I mused, and told her, “You know, I never set out to become a blogger. I did not major in journalism, and I don’t really know what I am doing. Truth be told, I am on a very steep learning curve. But you know…I have to admit, “When I write, I feel His pleasure.”

But I would be nothing without you
You! You have read what I have written. You have commented and critiqued. You have connected, and, to my amazement, you have come back for more. So this blog post today is for you. Thank you that in October you launched with me into this whole new realm. Thank you that for 13 (!) posts you have engaged in this new adventure. 

You and I started with The Silk Corsage, and last week we ended with The Other Wise Man. Interspersed has been the series We Went Through Fire and Water. I sense that you are with me on this growth journey, and I am deeply grateful. This gratitude intervention is from my heart to let you know that you and God are the reason I blog. 

I care about you, I really do. I know that you love the Lord and you want desperately to walk with Him. I know that you live in a world that strives to strip you of every piece of confidence and worth within. Well, by God’s grace, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we are not going to let that happen. I am here to help as we march into 2016. We are a Team, you and I, and you have a deep bench. Bless you, my dear friend. And, again, thank you. 

As we squarely look toward this New Year 2016, my prayer of blessing is from Numbers 6:24-26:

“The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you peace.” Amen

The Other Wise Man

No gift under the tree could have brought more pleasure as I watched the scene unfold. The seven of us sat in a semicircle on the floor, with little ones clad in Christmas pajamas snuggled in our laps. The ambience was everything you would imagine a Christmas Eve to be, and I was desperate to absorb every blissful second.

The lights were low, tree lights sparkled, and soft music played in the background. We waited in anticipation as our son took out a book to read in his own home with his own family what we had so many Christmases read with ours…The Other Wise Man. 

Traditions are those intangibles we take with us wherever we go. They give definition and punctuation to seasons and situations. They give clarity, for me, even comfort. Traditions help make a house a home, a family a fold. As I have moved my family from country to country, traditions have helped provide for this pilgrim a much-needed thread of continuity. 

Over the course of a lifetime, some family traditions wither, fizzle and fade. That’s just fine. Others fall by the wayside, outgrown in a growing family. 

Then… there are those traditions that become classics. Like antiques, they grow more precious with the passing of time, as they are treasured and passed down from generation to generation. For our family, the reading of The Other Wise Man is such a classic.

As David opened the cover, I thought back over the life of Artaban, the story’s main character. In Henry Van Dyke’s fictional account, Artaban is the Fourth Magi who also saw the star. “The King is coming, and I will go to meet Him.” Central to the narrative are three gems that Artaban possessed: a sapphire, a ruby, and a pearl. He urgently set out to follow the guidance of heaven’s light, but was deterred and thus denied, or so it seemed, the completion of his journey.

Artaban has traveled with us from The Black Forest of Germany, through Hungary, and now to the U.S. He has crisscrossed national borders, resided in multiple homes, and withstood transatlantic voyages. We can’t imagine Christmas without him; he always has something to teach us.

In January, he is packed away with ornaments, nativity scenes, Christmas china, and a growing collection of stockings. He is stored away in some random box in the basement where he is almost forgotten. 

When Advent returns and the decorations reappear, so does Artaban. With him comes our time-honored tradition, reading our treasured copy of The Other Wise Man. Year after year, children and adults alike are captivated by the significance of a life devoted to Christ. In his humanness we see holiness.

Understandably you may ask, “What does it mean?” The author himself has said, “If the meaning could be put into a sentence there would be no need of telling the story.” Besides being a beautiful piece of literature, it is literature with a lesson.

The true joy of the story is for you to discover. If your audience is young, the shortened and edited version retold by Pamela Kennedy is outstanding. I suggest you treat yourself and those you love to a new tradition, and read The Other Wise Man. 

Ah, it is almost Christmas. May Our Lord Jesus Himself thoroughly bless you and yours as you make memories and celebrate the wonder of His birth. 

All Roads Lead to Rome

No they don’t. 

Turn with me to Matthew 2:9-11 and read the Ancient Anointed Words:
“And the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the Child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.”

Each year at Christmas, I am gripped by the power of these words. I have this insatiable longing to mine deep down into their teaching to glean the wonder of all that rests within their reality. Annually, I take another penetrating look into what they have to say. I just can’t help myself. 

I ask, “What am I missing? What can I learn? What is here still waiting to be discovered?” I fear I will miss the fresh message. I fear I will turn elsewhere; I fear, lest I let my roads lead to Rome.When I stop the noise of the holidays, the chaos of our world, the confusion of materialism, the concern for our future, I am left with a stunning sense that this is what Christmas is about.

The Wise Men and their following the star teach us so much.

 They were relentless in their pursuit. They pushed and pressed. But when they arrived, they stopped! They did not keep searching. The star stopped, because the search was over.  They recognized Him when they found Him - "who was and is and is to come.” (Rev.4:8)

Two thousand years later, you and I are so tempted to search the Internet, to text the tribe, to turn on the TV. We are tempted to let our roads to lead to Rome. Yet, what the star showed them, it still shows us. Stop. The search is over.

All roads lead to Rome. No. No they don’t, not at all.  

All roads lead to Jesus. 

Ask the martyr on the beach: “My Lord Jesus.”

Ask the man who lost his wife: “I did not sleep for 4 months after her death, but the Lord’s grace has been with me.”

Ask the mother whose prodigal has returned: “I always had hope.”

Ask the missionary whose brother is finally released from an unjust prison sentence: “You know how painful the situation has been…we really appreciate what God has done.”

Ask the mortal who is facing a fearful disease: “As we look back over the past 10 weeks when our story took this unexpected turn, we can't thank God enough that His mercies are new every morning and in His mercy and grace He is providing the strength that we need for every day!”  

And if you will, … ask me: “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe.” I am so thankful years ago, my star stopped. This Christmas, I humbly celebrate the day my search ended:

“His name is Jesus, Jesus,
Sad hearts weep no more.
He has healed the broken hearted;
Opened wide the prison doors.
He is able to deliver evermore.”

Question: How are you celebrating the joy The Star Stopped?