Friends, my apologies for not posting recently. The last couple of weeks I’ve been “living” in Cally and Charlie’s world, completing the manuscript for Book 2 of the series, Treasure Hunt 1904, which is due to my publisher a month from now. This week I’m on vacation and taking a much-needed break from the internet. I’ll be back home–and back in touch–next week.
Meanwhile, I hope you’re enjoying Horse Thief 1898!
Love to each of you!!
I’ll share with you, my “But God” family, what I wrote yesterday to my extended family, with my apologies to those who are hearing this more than once.
I’m pleased to announce the “birth” of a new “child” in our family: Horse Thief 1898 isnow available on Amazon. [My nephew] Joel Griswell designed the beautiful image for the cover, and other family members have helped along the way. Thank you!
I’ve scheduled the official launch for August 15, to give me breathing room after launching the Karis book in Brazil. Before then, I hope to have at least 50 reviews on Amazon. You can help me!
1. Buy and read the book.
2. Post your review on Amazon before Aug. 15.
3. If you enjoy the story, share it with friends.
The story began on a day in August 2018 when I was staying at Uncle Gerry and Aunt Virginia’s home in Kansas City on a book tour for Karis: All I See Is Grace. On an early morning walk, I stumbled across a historic monument, the New Santa Fe Cemetery. Wandering through the old stones, I saw a grave marked simply, “Horse Thief 1898.” Later that day, driving across Kansas with our cousin Barb Jones through a pounding rainstorm, we entertained ourselves speculating on who the horse thief might have been. The story grew from there. I hope you will enjoy tracking Cally and her little brother Teddy Donnelly and Charlie Malcomson from Ireland to New York and finally, Kansas City.
While the Donnelly family is fictitious, the Malcomson family is still alive and well in Ireland. I was delighted one day to receive out of the blue an email from William Malcomson VI!! Will had somehow discovered HorseThief1898.blog and wrote to tell me the historical information on the site had helped him connect the dots back to his great-great-great-great-grandfather William Malcomson I, who is a character in Horse Thief 1898 and even more central to Book 2 of the Cally and Charlie series, Treasure Hunt 1904, which I hope to have out in time for Christmas. Will agreed to let me mention this fun connection on the cover of Horse Thief 1898. He was intrigued to learn that one of my Malcomson characters, Charlie’s brother Thomas, was a student at Oxford, because Will graduated from Oxford a few months ago.
The experience of writing this historical fiction novel has been delightful for me, and I hope you will enjoy it.
But God promises justice and fairness
2 Peter 1:1, 4-5; 3:9-10 I [Peter] am writing to you who share the same precious faith we have. This faith was given to you because of the justice and fairness of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior. … He has given us great and precious promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. … The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. … But the day of the Lord will come.
“It’s not fair!”
Six-year-old Karis banged the front door and stomped into the kitchen. “It’s not fair that the English language is so hard to spell! It’s okay for me because I already know how to read. But it’s ridiculously hard for the kids who are just learning. Who decided the f sound should be written with a gh?!”
Ten-year-old Karis wept into her pillow. “It’s not fair that so much money is being spent on me, just to keep me alive! What about the children who starve not because they can’t eat, like me, but because they don’t have food? Can’t we ask the insurance company to buy food for them instead of paying my hospital bill?”
Twelve-year-old Karis, once she was stabilized from her immediate crisis, greeted me from her hospital bed with tears running down her cheeks. “It’s not fair that you canceled our family vacation! Take the other kids and go! I’ll be fine here. I can’t bear causing them disappointment AGAIN!”
Sixteen-year-old Karis, after passing out at school from dehydration, glared at me defiantly. “I refuse to return to Hospital Einstein. It’s not fair to pay for a five-star hospital when my Brazilian friends have to go to Hospital Grajaú! Take me to Hospital Grajaú!” (This story is in Karis: All I See Is Grace.)
It’s not fair … true. The world is not fair. We have a zillion blessings others don’t have. But our Lord Jesus will return and set everything right. It’s a promise as dependable as God’s immutable integrity. It’s the solid hope we have as we mourn the corruption around us. (Whoa, Peter—are you sure you didn’t visit 2022 when you wrote chapter two?)
As I read Peter’s brief second letter, I keep remembering that these are his last recorded words. I sense his urgency, after years and years of walking with Jesus, to communicate with us, warn us, encourage us, remind us what really matters. Jesus could come back any moment! How do you want to be found when he does?
We are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. So, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight (2 Peter 3:13-14).
But Christ gives us peace
1 Peter 5:13-14 My son Mark sends you greetings. Greet each other with Christian love. Peace be with all of you who are in Christ.
Not many responded to my question about what Peter is saying to us about suffering. I hope that means you’ve been spending your time watching the January 6 hearings. I found yesterday’s particularly riveting, a great example of people in real time who have stood firm in their convictions to honor their oaths of service and preserve their integrity despite overwhelming pressure to give in to the mad claims of one person bent on his own glory, not God’s. May the Lord grant them his peace in the midst of their suffering.
But with her permission, here is part of what one friend wrote after a review of some of the suffering she has experienced or known about:
“… There are many other instances where one is left in awe at how people find ways to transfigure their suffering into something that benefits others. So, I see grace in at least these things:
* God suffers with us
* people’s faith, love and courage in trouble remain beautiful
* rescues/survival allow the stories to be told to encourage others
* the goods of beauty, love, creativity, and those who serve to alleviate suffering exist amid suffering
* people transform their pain into service
* people find God in suffering.
“Not comfortable or easy. But “survivors” move into a different period of life where there is much ordinary delight, appreciation of God having been present, more wisdom, and a determination to enjoy and be grateful for each day of life as a great gift. Peter seems to say, ‘the suffering is temporary and good times are coming!’”
Thank you, my friend.
Peter frames his letter with the desire for his readers to experience God’s grace and peace (1:2 and 5:14). In between his main focus is their suffering. Let’s do our own quick review of what he says. I encourage you not to just skim through this, but to take enough time to let it soak in and hearten you in whatever you are facing:
1:6 Be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.
1:7 These trials will show that you faith is genuine … your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.
1:13-14 So think clearly and exercise self-control. … Live as God’s obedient children … holy in everything you do.
2:19 God is pleased with you when you do what you know is right and patiently endure unfair treatment … For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. … He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. … By his wounds you are healed.
3:8-9, 14 … Sympathize with each other. … Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it. … Don’t worry or be afraid of people’s threats. Instead, worship Christ as Lord of your life.
3:18 Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God.
4:1 Since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. … Remember that those who slander you will have to face God, who will judge everyone, both the living and the dead.
4:12-14 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering … So be happy when you are insulted for being a Christian, for then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you.
4:17, 19 Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good than to suffer for doing wrong! … So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.
5:6-7 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
5:9 Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.
5:10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. … What you are experiencing is truly part of God’s grace for you.
There is evil in the world. There are people who care nothing about the suffering they cause others, as in the examples I cited in the last post. But God sees, cares, encourages us, walks through our suffering with us, bears our burdens, restores, supports, and strengthens us. And one day he will make everything right.
Some things Karis wrote in her journal as a teenager “stuck” in the hospital come to mind. I’ll close this post (though certainly not this topic) with this:
May 12, 1999 Oh, Lord! Sometimes I am so afraid. The doctors don’t know what to do with me, and it hurts so much! I feel like I’m running on energy not my own, like I’m walking on such thin ice. Lord—is it to be like this forever? I am not strong enough to bear it.
Sometimes, inside I am rejoicing. But it is not a smiley affair, not always. Sometimes joy can be very grave or even be there bittersweet in the midst of terrible pain.
May 19, 1999 What now? What can I do to glorify you in this prison of mine? So strange, my body: at the same time a part of me and my enemy.
Jun 1, 1999 I’ve been poked with needles until my arms are black and blue and red. I thought last night as they poked me again, “What must it have been like for Jesus, not to be pierced by loving nurses and these tiny sharp needles, but rather the soldiers, the nails…” I remember Christ and find not the strength not to complain but rather there is nothing to complain about.
But God’s grace can include suffering
1 Peter 5:9-12 Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are. … So after you have suffered a little while, God will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation … What you are experiencing is truly part of God’s grace for you. Stand firm in this grace.
We’ve come to the end of 1 Peter at the same time we’re celebrating Juneteenth, an opportunity to remember and honor the hard-won end of Black enslavement in the United States.
But thinking of the horrific suffering engendered by the Civil War on both sides of the conflict, and the betrayals Black people experienced in the Jim Crow years and beyond, I find I want to argue with Peter. How can suffering be part of God’s grace?
The Civil War was an unconscionable tragedy rooted in greed, cruelty, violence, and a distorted perspective of God’s purposes and plans for his people. The war (as do all wars) engendered shattering losses of life and livelihood, families divided and decimated, resources squandered.
Today, the tragedy of war is replaying in the Ukraine. Where is the grace? What are you saying, Peter?
I read an article this morning titled “Why White Men Should Celebrate Juneteenth.” Without the Civil War, our nation would have broken into two and the double standard which fractured our nation into slave and free despite the bold statement in the Declaration of Independence of the “self-evident truth” that all men were created equal would have continued to poison our progress. As Frederick Douglass said, a healthier nation is built upon “one country, one citizenship, and one liberty for all the people.”
But did this have to come at such an immense cost? Where is the grace, Peter?
According to the UNHCR, there are over 84 million displaced people in the world. Where is the grace, Peter?
According to Safe Horizon, 24.9 million people are victims of “modern slavery” in the United States, including 3.8 million adults and 1 million children exploited by sex trafficking. Come on, Peter. You dare speak of grace?
Every year, more than ten million women and men in the United States experience domestic violence. More than 400,000 children in the US were in foster care last year. Grace??
What is Peter saying?? Please look back over 1 Peter and tell me what you think!
But God cares about us
1 Peter 5:7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
My dad was a Bible translator for the Nebaj Maya-Ixil people in Guatemala. He told us the story of translating this verse, 1 Peter 5:7, with the help of an Ixil assistant. Dad read to him his initial attempt and his assistant said, “No, no, you can’t say that.” So, Dad tried again. And again. Until he had exhausted all his vocabulary.
Then Dad had an inspiration. He went back to his original wording and asked his assistant, “If we were to say this, what would it mean to you?”
His assistant said, “Why, it would mean what matters to me, matters to God. That’s not possible!”
The god he knew was self-centered, cruel, and vindictive. He had no categories in his mind for a God of love. Eventually, he came to believe in a different God, one who knew him and thought about him with affection, who cared about him.
Today, I’m asking myself and you Dad’s question: If we were to say God cares about you, what would that mean to you?
I’m entering this day with worries and cares. You too? God invites us to give our burdens to him. He’s the only one strong, wise, and caring enough to carry them.
But God will lift you up
1 Peter 5:2-6 Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly … Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care but lead them by your own good example. … All of you, serve each other in humility, for “God opposes the proud but favors the humble” [Proverbs 3:34]. So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.
1 Corinthians 12:25-26 All the members of the body care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.
In an online group recently we were asked, “What part of the Body of Christ are you?” I found the responses fascinating. “Lungs: I help the Body breathe.” “Liver: I recognize and cleanse impurities.” “Shoulder: I offer comfort.” “Hands: I’m a fix-it person.”
Thursday I had the opportunity to speak to a group of Brazilian pastors online. The topic they had assigned me was “Living with grace through times of crisis.” Several dear friends were among the attendees. The pastor friend tasked with introducing me before my talk said, “Débora é tudo coração” (Debra is all heart). The example he gave? “She made cookies for me. She knew how much I liked them, so every time I was in her home in São Paulo, she would say to me, ‘You know where the cookie jar is. Help yourself.’”
Maybe my role in the Body of Christ is making cookies. Certainly, my grandchildren think that’s one thing I’m good for. I told Dave about this, and he said, “You haven’t made cookies for me for a long time!” So, before I left Friday for a weekend in-person retreat (this one in English), I made him cookies. With raisins, his favorite. I hoped he would feel my love while I was gone, while he led a virtual retreat in Spanish for leaders from five countries.
Don’t you love those Holy Spirit moments when it’s clear the Holy Spirit directed the thought and empowered the action, simple or humble as it may be? I miss opportunities all the time because I’m too focused on my own stuff and not listening very well. But those special moments when we see the Holy Spirit at work, we do feel lifted up. And very grateful.
What role do you play in the Body of Christ? And who is part of the “flock” God has entrusted to you?
But God has given each of us a gift, by David Kornfield
1 Peter 4:8-11 Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. … God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God.
I just spent two precious hours participating in a virtual retreat with beloved friends in Brazil, a wonderful gift from God to me. I felt deeply loved through their prayer for me after I shared what God had put in my heart to speak to them.
What makes the difference between doing something for someone as a job or responsibility and doing it with positive spiritual impact? I believe the difference is whether we offer our service with love mediated by the Holy Spirit. An example comes from the experience of my friend Carol. She told a group of friends Tuesday night that she believes God has put her in exactly the right place. She has started her new job at the information desk of a large hospital this week. Already a person requested a form to tell the hospital Carol’s service to him had been exceptional.
“It’s not me, it’s the Holy Spirit,” Carol told us. “I try to see each person who comes to the desk as God sees them. I’ve been amazed at what God has shown me and has filled my heart to say as encouragement to each one. Hospitals are stress-filled places. I want them to carry a sense of peace and support as they leave me.”
She then told us the story of a man who left the desk to visit his wife and returned to tell her his wife had died. “Why would a total stranger tell me that?” Carol wondered. “Only because he somehow felt the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit calming and comforting him.”
Peter’s linking of the concepts of love and gifts reminds me of Gary Chapman’s “love languages.” So I asked my husband Dave to share from a conversation he had with God about one of his growth goals, to better love the people around him. God showed him how he (God) expresses all five of Chapman’s love languages:
In my devotional life, I talk with God, and he talks with me. This calls for a sanctified imagination, but I believe it’s real. What follows is God speaking to me about His love languages.
I love you. I never get tired of telling you that. It would be tricky to try to limit my love to any given love language, but verbal love is certainly a very big part of my love! Consider how I express all five:
I am off any scale you can picture in using all five. Try finding the horizon of any of those and you will find it’s like looking at the ocean. There is a horizon, but that’s simply the limit of your vision. It doesn’t come close to reaching the end of the ocean! That’s how I am toward you in each of these five love languages.
My (Dave’s) response to God:
Hmm, why am I not surprised, Lord? I guess the only surprise is that I haven’t seen this so clearly before. I’ll find it easier now to learn and use all five languages. Looking at you, I see how to do it. This adds depth to Your words “Walk with me and work with Me – watch how I do it!” [Matthew 11:29, The Message].
Help me today, Lord, to walk in Your love and be a conduit of Your love to each person I meet virtually, by email, WhatsApp, Zoom or in any other way, including personal connection with Deb and anyone else you bring to my home today. I pray in your holy name, so be it.
A suggestion from Dave:
Ric Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life is a wonderful forty-day devotional describing how God fulfills His purposes in each of us. Days 29-35 focus on God shaping us for His service. Day 31 in particular highlights the S.H.A.P.E. he used for each of us: Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, Experience. You can learn more about that here.
What gift(s) have you received from God? Today is a great day to tell him thank you, and to ask him to make his gifts to you even more effective in sharing his love, through the Holy Spirit.
But God will both reward and judge
1 Peter 3:13-4:6, 4:14 But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. … Christ suffered … to bring you safely home to God. … Remember that they [those who slander you] will have to face God, who will judge everyone, both the living and the dead. … So be happy when you are insulted for being a Christian, for then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you.
Don’t worry. Be happy! Don’t these words evoke Timon and Pumbaa sashaying through the jungle? Hakuna matata, right? What do a meerkat and a warthog, a hornbill and hyenas have to do with suffering and judgment, rewards and courage?
According to the Washington Post, “’The Lion King’ is not just a great story—it’s a true story,” the story of Sundiata Keita, the Lion of Mali, founder of the Malian Empire, the largest kingdom in West Africa in the 13th century.
“In some ways, this history makes for a better story than what Disney concocted. It’s a story of a mother who protected her family by fleeing to exile. It’s the story of a disabled man who overcame tremendous physical and political challenges and triumphed by building alliances. It’s about a kingdom in West Africa that eventually became the biggest and richest empire in history, as Sundiata’s reign witnessed dominance in agriculture, gold and trade, and introduced cotton and weaving.”
Each of us is living out a story. What story are you part of? If it were cast on the big screen, what role would you play? Most importantly, do you know who is in charge and how your story will end?
Writing novels has been an amazing experience for me. I sit down to write with an overall idea of the arc of the story and of what will happen at the end. But my characters themselves tell me what happens along the way. I often tell Dave at the end of a writing session, “I was so surprised to find out that Cally … and Charlie …” Dave always wants reassurance that no matter what, the book will end well.
It occurs to me that our life is like that. We don’t know what will happen along the way. But we do know who is in charge. We know he is good. We know he loves us and is on our side. We know we can trust him. We know he has the power to bring everything around to a wonderful conclusion. Even when things get tough, even when we suffer injustice and losses, that’s not the end of the story. The end of the story looks like this:
God himself will be with his people. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever (Revelation 21:4).
So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you (1 Peter 4:19).
But Jesus’ example applies to all of us
1 Peter 2:21, 3:1, 3:7-15 For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. … In the same way, you wives … In the same way, you husbands … Finally, all of you should
… be of one mind.
… sympathize with each other.
… love each other as brothers and sisters.
… be tender-hearted and keep a humble attitude.
… not repay evil for evil.
… not retaliate with insults when people insult you.
… instead, pay them back with blessing.
That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it. For the Scriptures [Psalm 34:12-16] say, “… Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace and work to maintain it …”
In the early years of our marriage, Dave believed a good husband should fix things in his home. So, when our washing machine broke, he spent days trying to figure out what was wrong and how to repair it.
Dave is nothing if not determined, when he gets an idea in his mind. Fortunately for me, he travelled. I promptly called a repairman, and by the next day was able to tackle the mounds of accumulated dirty laundry. To my relief, Dave eventually acknowledged he was neither called nor equipped to repair washing machines, and the cost of his efforts, both to him and to me, was greater than the expense of paying for someone who knew what he or she was doing.
A delightful image makes me smile when I remember this incident. I happened to be in the basement and watched Dave climb the steps expressing his frustration with his lack of prowess with solving physical and mechanical problems by saying “Fiddlesticks! Fiddlesticks!” Behind him climbed our small son, saying “Fiddlesticks! Fiddlesticks,” his head bowed in exact imitation of his father.
When Dave and I got married, we rented space at a camp and had a three-day retreat. Friends and family members were coming in from several countries and from across the US for the wedding, and we wanted to spend time with them and provide a context for them to spend time with each other. Our parents’ generation slept in cabins, and the rest of us slept in tents.
As part of the program, we asked my dad to lead a Bible study on marriage. Dad emphasized that as part of God’s family, Dave and I were brother and sister first, and marriage partners only second. He showed us the “one anothers” in the New Testament, including in this passage. Most marriage problems, Dad said, would not even arise if we followed the Scriptural injunctions directed to every Christ-follower, male and female, husbands and wives and everyone else.
Dad’s teaching made sense. It sounded simple.
It wasn’t.
Dave and I had a lot of growing up to do. We needed healing from past traumas. We lacked basic relational skills. We caused each other (and sadly, our kids) a great deal of pain.
Now though, coming up on our 45th wedding anniversary, we look back with profound gratitude on the teaching that undergirded our marriage, and the many circumstances, challenges, and friends God used to teach us to care for one another more like Jesus cared for us. Looking at Christ’s modeling of love, we can course-correct more quickly and easily than we could in those early years. Thank you, Lord!
Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. … Speak the truth in love, growing more and more like Christ. … Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you (Eph 3:17; 4:31-32).
Debra Kornfield 