Elisha had told the woman

     whose son he had brought back to life,

“Take your family and move

     to some other place,

     for the Lord has called

     for a famine on Israel

     that will last for seven years.”

(2 Kings 8:1)

 

The woman of Shumen followed good advice; and after the famine was over, brought her family back home and then went to see the king about reclaiming her house and land.

 

As she came in,

     the king was talking with Gehazi,

     the servant of the man of God.

The king had just said,

     “Tell me some stories

      about the great things Elisha has done.”

 

And Gehazi was telling the king about the time

     Elisha had brought a boy back to life.

At that very moment,

     the mother of the boy walked in

     to make her appeal to the king

     about her house and land.

 

“Look, my lord the king!”

     Gehazi exclaimed.

“Here is the woman now,

     and this is her son—

     the very one Elisha brought back to life!”  

(2 Kings 8:4-5)

 

“Is this true?”

     the king asked her.

     And she told him the story.

So he directed one of his officials to see that

     everything she had lost

     was restored to her,

     including the value

     of any crops that had been harvested

     during her absence.

(2 Kings 8:6)

 

Not many of our life stories could begin the way this one did, but they could all finish up the same way.

 

Restored.

 

Because the Lord God, Maker of heaven and earth, Redeemer of all people, and the One whose throne room I enter every time I pray, has said…

 

“Then I will make up to you for the years

     that the swarming locust has eaten,

     the creeping locust,

     the stripping locust

     and the gnawing locust,

     my great army which I sent among you…”

Joel 2:25

 

Our game closet shelves are stacked with games and overflowing with memories.

 

One of my favorite mental snapshots is from the first fall and winter after April and Michael married. They came over at least two evenings every week, possibly to eat supper; but also to laugh, tell stories and play games.

 

BLOKUS was our hands-down favorite game that season.

 

It was a new strategy game where each player placed one color of variously conglomerated squares on a grid board.

 

It always started with the board wide open and full of great opportunities; but that would quickly change as the other players began moving their pieces into your space.

 

The printed rules object of the game was to finish using all your pieces first, but some of us played more aggressively and strategized our moves to block out the other players. It took me almost an entire game to realize Michael was deliberately mirror-mimicking my exact moves.

 

It’s no secret that we love ice cream at our house and I kept the freezer stocked with popsicles that fall and winter; so we’d eat popsicles and wear our coats while we played BLOKUS at the kitchen table.

 

That always encouraged April to remind us, once more, that I kept the house so cold when she lived here that she had to sleep in her snowsuit to stay warm. Possible truth.  🙂 🙂 🙂

 

Fast-forward 9 years and now Faith is dragging games out of the game closet. Most of the boxed games are too advanced for her, but we examine and play with their pieces. She took out BLOKUS the other day and we sat on the floor played.

 

I told her about Mommy, Day, Mama Jan, and Papa Dan sitting at the kitchen table playing BLOKUS and eating popsicles. She doesn’t know her Papa Dan, but she’ll meet him someday; and I’d like her to have a few good stories under her belt when she does.

 

True stories have purpose and there are many many good reasons to tell them.

 

 

Hear this,

you leaders of the people.

Listen,

all who live in the land.

In all your history,

has anything like this

happened before?

Tell your children about it

in the years to come,

and let your children

tell their children.

Pass the story down

from generation to generation.

Joel 1:2-3

 

God’s war tactics are out-of-this-world. Modern day meta-materials and invisible-cloak technology have nothing on him. Everything about my thinking stretches when I read the inexplicable stories that showcase his otherness.

 

Now there were four men with leprosy

sitting at the entrance of the city gates.

 

“Why should we sit here waiting to die?”

they asked each other.

 

“We will starve if we stay here,

but with the famine in the city,

we will starve if we go back there.

 

So we might as well go out

and surrender to the Aramean army.

If they let us live,

so much the better.

But if they kill us,

we would have died anyway.” 

 

So at twilight

they set out for the camp

of the Arameans.

But when they came to the edge of the camp,

no one was there! 

 

For the Lord had caused the Aramean army

to hear the clatter of speeding chariots

and the galloping of horses

and the sounds of a great army approaching…

2 Kings 7:3-6

 

Talk about psychological warfare and mass hysteria—there were no visible chariots, horses or great army—just the approaching sounds of a mighty galloping and clattering horde.

 

Why in the world would I ever act as if I could outsmart God?

 

I love huge stories told in few words.

 

Kings of Aram and Israel were at war.

 

King of Aram privately conferred war maneuvers with his officers.

 

Elisha, man of God, immediately warned King of Israel about those privately made plans.

 

Over. And over. Again.

 

How did he do that???

 

King of Aram suspected traitors in his ranks

 

“It’s not us, my lord the king,”

     one of the officers replied.

“Elisha, the prophet in Israel,

     tells the king of Israel

     even the words you speak

     in the privacy of your bedroom!”

2 Kings 6:12

 

How did they know that???

 

King of Aram sent soldiers to seize Elisha.

 

Elisha’s servant was terrified by the great multitude of troops,     horses, and chariots.

 

“Don’t be afraid!”

     Elisha told him.

“For there are more

     on our side

     than on theirs!”

2 Kings 6:16

 

How did Elisha know that???

 

Then Elisha prayed,

     “O Lord, open his eyes

     and let him see!”

The Lord opened the young man’s eyes,

     and when he looked up,

     he saw that the hillside around Elisha

     was filled with horses and chariots of fire.

2 Kings 6:17

 

How could I forget God does this for me too???

 

I grew up drinking Southern sweet tea…the kind where you didn’t measure how much cane sugar you poured from its brown paper bag into the pitcher. You just poured until you figured you’d reached saturation level—too little and it wasn’t sweet enough…too much and you’d end up with grainy sugar at the bottom. Then you poured boiling hot, strong black tea over the sugar, stirred, and filled the pitcher with cold tap water.

 

I grimace now to even think about drinking that much sugar.

 

I love unsweetened tea; and always order mine with lots and lots of extra ice. It’s so frustrating to go through a drive through, pull out of the parking lot, take a long drink and then discover it’s sweet sweet Southern tea. I’ve thought of spitting it out, but I haven’t. Yet.

 

Sometimes I hold up the cars behind me while I taste my tea before I leave the window. There’s no other way to be sure that my order is correct because I can’t see or smell the sugar; and if I want to know for sure, I have to test it.

 

Dear friends,

     do not believe everyone

     who claims to speak by the Spirit.

You must test them

     to see if the spirit they have

     comes from God.

For there are many false prophets

     in the world.

1 John 4:1-5

 

 

Taste tests are best.