Snow, Snow Glorious Snow!

By Liz Cowen Furman –

We live in the mountains above Denver, Colorado. We often have big snows, especially in March. One year, we had the daddy of all storms, one of those historic six and a half foot heavy wet snow storms.

Our three boys were in elementary school and the school was closed for a whole week. In Colorado that almost never happens!

The storm was so big, the weather guys saw it coming and predicted its arrival way in advance. We, being very scout like, went to the grocery store to stock up on provisions. Even shopping was fun as there was an air of excitement of the coming blizzard. Everyone was shopping for supplies. Many of the shelves were empty. We bought lots of food we could cook on the wood burning stove and eat without cooking just in case. And of course baking supplies.

Then it hit.

Unshoveled decks and roofs were collapsing all over town under the incredible weight of the heavy spring snow. Trees snapped and power lines were down.

Miraculously, we lost power for only a few hours the first day. Others went without for more than seven.

That glorious week holds some of my fondest memories of my children’s early years. We made snow ice cream (several times). We took clothes baskets outside and used them to make snow blocks, then stacked the blocks into an igloo. Our entire family, dogs and all crawled in to play cards by lantern light. We went sledding (of course), skiing, snow shoeing and even jumped off the wall into the snow drifts then crawled out. We made snow men (and women) that looked like us. Even a snow ball fight or two ensued battled behind snow walls.

We trudged to neighbors houses to offer our freshly baked cookies then sat by wood burning stoves drinking hot chocolate and eating s’mores while we warmed up. We watched movies and played Dominoes and Parcheesi. Bliss beyond words. Then we dug out!

Several of us able bodied neighbors and our kids went digging driveways and shaping paths from houses to garages, especially for our elderly neighbors. It really felt like a community.

There were so many times during the storm when neighbors helped each other out. A dear friend, just weeks before the storm, had given me a little plaque that read: Sometimes He calms the storm; sometimes he lets the storm rage and calms His child.

The new plaque, which I loved, sat right above my kitchen sink and almost every day I would read it and be reminded of something. One morning I thought, as I looked out the window at the group of snow shovel toting residents, how great it is that He uses His kids in each other’s lives to bring comfort and help.

Another day, as I watched the snow swirl and drift with the incredible force of the wind I was reminded that every storm we encounter in our lives whether emotional, physical or actual weather related, He controls. He can calm or let rage as He determines necessary. But the best thought of all came to me one morning as I was reading in the book of John. He can calm His child no matter what is happening around her, I found great comfort in that one.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27

Termite Ridden Heart

By Liz Cowen Furman –

My Mom lives in southern Colorado. She bought an old house that in the 1920s served as the corner grocery store. We were so happy for her. Her new home featured large front display windows with seats, an old fashioned cellar that once stored canned goods, lots of built in cabinets, and old seasoned hard wood floors throughout. However, in the first year after she purchased her home she realized it had been “flipped.”

A realtor purchased it in foreclosure, did a few cosmetic fix-ups and purposely hid some dire flaws. He then paid off the inspector and sold it to my Mom.

Half way through the winter, my husband had to re-plumb the entire house because the pipes froze. When we finally dug a way into the crawl space we discovered the realtor had boarded up and carpeted over the real basement entrance to hide that he had plumbed it with plastic irrigation pipes. He set a space heater near them turned on “high” to keep the pipes from freezing the first winter. We wondered why that first summer and fall was so hot in Mom’s living room. Once the space heater burned out and winter hit—frozen pipes. What was worse to discover in her crawl space than the frozen pipes, was the termite ridden foundation.

My sister, who lives near my Mom, tried to hire a local attorney. She discovered that the good ‘ol boy system was in full swing as no one would touch a case against this well-connected realtor.

So, we hired an attorney in Denver to write a threatening letter requesting he fix the problems. We promised to go public if they refused. Long story short, he fixed the foundation and other things. My Dave had already done the plumbing.

You can imagine the conversations in our home during that time. Many were in front of little ears we didn’t even realize were listening.

One afternoon, after his nap, our Matthew, then three years old, (now eighteen) came to me at the dining room table with his piggy bank in tow. He dumped the entire contents onto the table. There must have been twenty dollars in small change. He looked up at me with a big grin and said, “There, that sood fix Gama’s fandation”. He wasn’t old enough to say the words right, but he understood that “Gama BJ” was in trouble and thought he could fix it.

I can see why Jesus says for us to have the faith of a child. Children haven’t lived long enough to be poisoned by the world’s view. Matthew had money. “Gama BJ’s” foundation needed money to fix. Problem solved. He was willing to give all he had to help her.

We put his money in a box and sent it to her explaining that Matthew, all on his own, decided to send his piggy bank contents to fix her house. She cried.

But you know the amazing thing is that Matthew always has money. He often gives to help someone, yet he never seems to run out. I’m thinking God blesses a cheerful, helpful giver. In these tough times, when so many we know are struggling, I am often asking God to show me how to be more like His son. And, I am reminded of our son Matthew.

And, once in a while, I still pray for God to fix the termite ridden heart of a certain realtor in southern Colorado. Though I don’t know, maybe He already has.

Cop Magnet

by Liz Cowen Furman

A cop magnet. That’s me! Once those flashing lights even appeared behind me when my cruise control was set. Go figure. Recently, I whined about my plight to my Mom-in-Love’s doctor. He suggested maybe this phenomenon occurs because I am a redhead. Ha!

He went on to say, “You know what a redhead is, don’t you?”

“No, pray tell what is a redhead?” I asked.

“A redhead is a hot blonde.”

Double Ha! I told him his theory was seriously flawed. A person trying to pick someone up would not give her a speeding ticket. Giving someone a ticket would not be very conducive to romance in my book.  Besides, most of the policemen I’ve met lately are young enough to be my sons. I think maybe I am just in too big a hurry. Tote that barge, lift that bail; or in my life, pick up that kid, make that dinner. On and on it goes. What I discovered in the last few years is that I need to make a conscious effort to slow down. Not just behind the wheel, but in my life; and especially in my relationship with God.

In January many folks make New Year’s Resolutions they have every intention of keeping, until life happens. In light of this I thought I would share a great idea our pastor, Pastor Jeff Clark, gave us a few January’s ago. He proposed that in lieu of some empty resolution to lose a hundred pounds or exercise forty-five minutes every day, as good as those may be; maybe we could start a quest to know the heart of God.  He made the case that if we want to know the heart of God we need to learn about the kingdom of God. When we learn about the kingdom of God we will find it to be all about righteousness, peace, salvation and it will all point to the Glory of God. Knowing this, it occurred to me, would make it easier to trust the Savior with all that concerns us today. Pastor Clark suggested we could learn this information by reading the Bible.

His idea? Get a journal and every morning (or evening depending on your personality) search through the Bible looking for a nugget aimed at you that day. Start in the Psalms, he suggested. When you find a verse that speaks to you, write it in your book and journal what it is telling you.

Several years before his proposal, I began praying that the Holy Spirit would put a burning desire in my heart, and the hearts of those I love, to be in the Word daily. While reading the Bible regularly, honestly, often I didn’t get much out of it. Knowing I needed to be in His Word daily became a habit of hurrying to read and get that job done. Did you ever get to the end of a page and think, “What did I just read?” only to have to then go back and read it again?

Taking the good pastor up on his idea has transformed my life. Now a couple years in, I have moved past the Psalms and currently am loving Isaiah! These days, if I don’t read my Bible every day it feels like I didn’t get dressed; like walking around without my clothes on. Not a good sensation at all, feels very vulnerable. That visual image gives a whole new meaning to putting on the full armor of God doesn’t it? And strangely enough the busier the day before me, the more I need to take the time to spend some with Jesus.

I find it amazing that just changing my reason for reading the Word has transformed the way it speaks to me. Many days I just open the Book and start reading, looking for that nugget. Often I am shocked when a verse I read addresses an issue that I am dealing with that very minute. Also, some days reading a verse I’ve read hundreds of times in my life speaks to me on a whole new level.  Guess that’s why the Bible is called a living document. I have definitely slowed in my quest for growing my relationship with my best friend JESUS, and as odd as it seems that has been just the ticket for going deeper in our relationship. Wish I could say the same for my driving.

« Previous Page