TAKING A CUE FROM TRIG

“A little child shall lead them….”

Sarah Palin's youngest child, Down Syndrome boy Trig, is 4 years old. I heard that every morning when he wakes he pulls himself up in his crib, rubs the sleep out of his eyes, grins, and then welcomes the day by clapping his hands and laughing. He looks around at God’s creation and his own world and although he can’t speak intelligibly, the precious little guy applauds as if to say, “Okay, world, what do you have for me today?”

Isn’t that a better example than dragging ourselves out of bed grumbling and complaining with dread to face another day of either boredom or a rat race of activity? Let’s applaud the immense blessing of having enough strength to swing our feet out of bed, put them on the floor, and walk!

To greet the day by applauding God—what a great idea no matter what our chronological age or circumstances! God gives us each fresh new day of life and invites us to live for Him whatever our limitations, and then He gives us the strength and wisdom to do it.

I decided to make applauding the Lord a part of my morning offering—and I started today! First, as is my lifelong habit, I present (offer, surrender) myself to the Lord according to Romans 12:1, 2. I ask, “What do you have for me today, Heavenly Father? I want to be Your obedient child.” Then I anticipate the serendipities He has planned for me and applaud His goodness and mercy which He promised would follow me all the days of my life, if I follow Him!

Is applauding the Lord a foolish and childish gesture at my age of 87? No, but it’s childlike, since I will always be Jesus’ little child. He told us in the Scriptures that that’s the way He wants us to approach Him if we are to receive the Kingdom of God. I just might sing that classic children’s song for His pleasure too! "Jesus loves me, this I know…Little ones to Him belong; they (yes, me too, Lord!) are weak but He is strong.” 

When I head out the door to experience the freshness and uniqueness of every season and notice what spectacular things God continues to do in nature through the ages, I have the urge to applaud Him again.

        So let’s CELEBRATE/APPLAUD each day as a gift from our loving Lord!

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

(Continuing the Sub-section of this Series dealing with his prep
 for First Communion

CONVERSATIONS WITH JEFFREY  #28

“Grandma, where did those ten things we are not supposed to do come from?

“Jeffrey, those are called The Ten Commandments. The ten instructions from God are not laws or regulations to keep you from having fun. They are God’s loving rules for our happiness.”

“How do we know they came from God?”

“The story is in the Bible in the book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament. That records the history of the Jewish people from when they started to become a nation. God chose a certain people-group to reveal His will for all mankind, to teach them His ways of truth.”

“Did God actually write them down?

“In a manner of speaking, yes. God designated Moses to be their leader to guide them out of Egypt where they were slaves. He told Moses to go to the top of a mountain where He would reveal the principles for their daily lives.”

“Why did they need laws?”

“There were millions of Jewish people coming out of Egypt and they were not used to being a free nation. They needed good laws to help them respect authority and get along together in an orderly way.”

“Where were they going when they left Egypt?”

“It was God who had planned it all and promised the people to lead them to a good land where they could live peacefully and prosper as a nation. By giving them these basic laws they would have the principles on which their lives and their nation could be successful. We call those happy rules ‘The Ten Commandments.’”

“If those commandments were meant for the Jewish people, why do we have to follow them?”

“God intended them for all mankind because they are the foundation of a good society based on God’s love for all people and people’s respect for each other and what belongs to each person privately. They are what we call ‘universal principles.’”

“Did Jesus obey the Ten Commandments and does He want us to do so too?”

“Yes, since Jesus was Jewish and grew up in a Jewish culture, He learned those rules and obeyed them from childhood. When He grew to manhood He told His followers that His Father God didn’t send Him into the world to discard those commandments, but that He would fulfill them.”

“What does that mean?”

“That Jesus kept them perfectly because He was the Son of God. No human person is able to keep them perfectly, but we try to do so with God’s help because we know God wants us to live by those principles. We want to please God. When we fail, that is what we call ‘sin’. But when we are truly sorry and confess our sins, God is willing to forgive us.”

“Aren’t these commandments mostly for grown ups?”

“They are for all of us at every age, but the Holy Spirit and the Church shows us how to apply them to whatever period of our lives we are in. Remember, they are principles that guide us to know how we should live however young or old we are.”

“Are there more commandments than these ten that God wants us to keep?”

“Jesus didn’t really add more commandments, but He taught us many ways to apply these ten basic principles. He said that if we love God, we will want to keep His commandments. In fact, someone asked Jesus which are the greatest of the commandments and He said the ten could be summarized into two—love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love others. If we do that, we will be keeping all the commandments.”

 “Is there an easy way to remember the Ten Commandments?”

“The first three have to do with our relationship with God. The seven remaining ones have to do with how we relate to other people—and that all depends on our age.

“How would I try to keep the first commandment to have no other gods before God?

“You might ask yourself whether you’ve sometimes made other things in your life more important than God. Do you talk to Him and choose whatever God wants for you more than what you want for yourself?”

“How would I take the name of the Lord in vain?”

“Do you say the words ‘God’ or ‘Jesus’ when you really weren’t talking to Him or about Him? Like using His name for an exclamation. God’s name is holy. We shouldn’t use God’s name in words of anger or cursing to wish evil on someone. Or making fun of holy things.”

“And observing the Sabbath Day? Is that the same as Sunday?”

“Because Sunday was Jesus’ resurrection day, Christians from that time worship on Sunday. We try our best to worship God at Mass by singing, praying, and carefully listening to God’s Words. God meant it to be a day of rest and learning more about God.”

“I guess I might know how to honor my father and mother. That would mean to obey them and follow their rules, right?”

“It does mean to be respectful and not talk back. Our parents know what is best for us even when we don’t fully understand why we are supposed to do or not do something. We should try to do immediately what they tell us.”

“I don’t kill people, grandma.”

“In a positive way this means to be kind to others and not fight with people or injure people in any way. It includes not doing any harm to others or trying to get even with someone by causing an injury.”

“How about adultery?”

“Have you seen signs on property that say ‘No Trespassing’? What does that mean?”

“I guess it means that we are not to go on someone’s property or take anything that doesn’t belong to us.”

“That’s right. This commandment means that we should respect our own bodies and the bodies of others and keep our thoughts clean. Also not to watch movies or TV programs or read books or magazines that show people acting in improper ways with their bodies. Or telling or listening to dirty jokes.”

“I know stealing is taking something that belongs to someone else.”

“It also means to be honest and fair in everything and not damage the property of others. Cheating is a form of stealing too. And not so is not playing fair in sports or games.”

“Does ‘bearing false witness” mean lying?”

“Yes, and also saying something that is only partly true. Or saying things that will make other people lose their respect for someone even if it is true. It means not talking about other people’s faults or judging people.”

“The last two commandments talk about ‘covet.’ What is that?”

“That means to want something intensely that belongs to someone else. We should be happy with the things we have and not be jealous of anything that belongs to others. If we keep wanting something so strongly, we will soon be tempted to take it or do it—then that would be lying and stealing and disobeying other commandments.

“I guess that being unselfish and sharing my good things with others might be the opposite of ‘coveting,’ wouldn’t it?”

“You are right. God gave us The Ten Commandments, and the gospels, and the teachings in the Bible to show us how God wants us to live. In that way we can learn how to make good choices and avoid evil. The Holy Spirit helps us through the grace of the sacraments, the teachings of the Church, and the example of saints and fellow Christians.

MILESTONES—QE II and ME

2012 Summer In-Touch from Leona

In my birthday month I usually look back and forward at my life and then refocus on the present moment to evaluate the course of my life. “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1 Thess. 5:18) Okay, so that assures me that I’m still in the will of God…I do thank God for His goodness and mercy that He promised would “follow us all the days of our lives.”

Whew! Birthday 87 coming up. Queen Elizabeth II is celebrating her 60^th year of reign. (She and I are exactly the same age and we were married the same year—Ha! I can empathize with her cautious walking pace to maintain balance and not stumble. Does she have her smart phone in that ever-present handbag? Sorry, I’m not a HAT and GLOVES person, but I too am reigning under the Lordship of Christ in the sphere of influence He has chosen for me in life. But I haven’t mastered the Queen’s distinctive regal hand-wave yet! )

             My late husband Ted and I were serving God at the time of her coronation as evangelical missionaries in what was then still British Hong Kong. I could only listen to the extravaganza events on BBC (before TV!)  Significance of 60? Next month my third son Gary joins Rick and Cliff, two of our other sons, in attaining age 60—he was born that summer. (Gary and Cliff are grandfathers themselves already!) Son Jeff would be born 7 years later after we returned to the U.S. to minister on university campuses and plant a church for Chinese students and professionals in the Nation’s capitol.

            Because so many of you ask about my physical health and faithfully pray for me, I owe you a word. God has blessed and sustained me as a lung cancer surgery survivor for 22 years and a widow for 20. As the years increase, of course health and energy begin to decrease and the mounting number of “no-longer-fixables” is simply being “managed” with the help of God. “In everything give thanks!”

But my focus is not on this temporary mortal body and its limitations because God’s promise in Christ is for my body’s literal resurrection and move on into eternal life in a new model. I believe it!

God’s calling on my life is for a lifetime, so I keep pressing on while He gives me breath—which my diminished and compromised lungs do find in ever shorter supply now, but they are still adequate for me to keep up a brisk pace of active ministry and writing. So when will I retire? I don’t plan to retire from the Lord’s calling—what would I retire to that would be better than continuing to fulfill His will to the max as long as He gives me earth-time?

            My 35^th published book just came off the press. Because this new book is again spiritually autobiographical, my recent 3 titles as a book-cluster have unexpectedly turned out to become a TRILOGY. Full information is on my newly updated and refurbished publishing web site: www.goldenmorning.com. The 2 recent ones are already on eBooks for ease of purchase. Read about the potential of electronic books on one of my recent blog posts.

I’ve also reconfigured my blog: www.leonachoy.blogspot.com and I’m excited to be posting again when I have windows of opportunity. Since I design and handle my own blog site, it is more “Mickey Mouse” than high tech. On my blog you’ll find fresh writings from the new books I’m working on. Also excerpts from some of my published books with new tweakings and personal applications. I hope you will take a look often. Check my blog Archives for what you may have missed. Comments and dialogue always welcome.

            I’m enjoying the privilege of collaborating on a book with a retired Baptist pastor, noted author, and specialist in ministry to senior Christians. He is good friend from my college days who lives in Canada and has just written an excellent, thoughtful book titled “AGING JOYFULLY.” He is incorporating one of my recent poems at the beginning of each of his 16 chapters to introduce the content of what follows. I’m honored to be part of this project.

            My own work-in-progress on a similar theme on which I’ve been working for some time is titled “FINISHING WITH A FLOURISH.” I’ve posted the Preface on my blog. In addition, I’ve taken a few of my unfinished but still very much alive and well book manuscripts from my writing archives to work on simultaneously. We’ll see which book, if any, God might want to reach publication first.

            I’m happy to receive permission to independently mentor my 12 year old grandson Jeffrey to prep him for his First Communion and eventually on to his Confirmation at our local parish, Sacred Heart of Jesus. He lives out of town and can’t attend the normal classes. I’ve been attempting it through informal, plausible, imagined dialogues with him that I call “Conversations with Jeffrey.” I share-post those and other topics related to his youthful world on my blog. I wish my other 9 grandchildren and 7 great-grands lived nearby so we could also bond our lives more closely.

            I’m proud of two of my teen grandchildren, Andrew and Brianna, who have just returned from an evangelistic-help-mission trip to Haiti. Another granddaughter, Kristen, is excitedly planning her summer wedding. What fun to see the extended branches from the roots of our family tree, and from my late husband Ted’s and my trunk of that tree, as they plant their own unique family trees!

            Our radio station Southern Light Gospel Music Network is thriving in its new expanded location after 26 years and we expect to sign a contract shortly to obtain a second frequency for a contemporary Christian music sister station to reach to a new generation of listeners.

            Thank you for your sustaining prayers and love and concern. I reciprocate with my love and prayers each time God brings you to my mind. I’m living in my lovely spacious home in the Shenandoah Valley which my son Rick provides for me. I call it “Eagle Summit” and I invite you to visit me.

Leona

  For fun I like to sign my letters now as “Sal” – which is an a.k.a. for “God’s SALmon still swimming upstream” –but perhaps somewhat more slowly these days.

"God Rocked Her Rocking Chair!"

Leona Choy's Autobiographical Trilogy:
"God Rocked Her Rocking Chair!"

BOOK ONE: Was Her Life Story Really Finished? After writing over 30 books, Leona Choy at last published her autobiography, Czeching My Roots, when she was nearly age 80. She took for granted her adventurous and satisfying missionary, writing, and broadcasting career as a Protestant evangelical was complete. Wasn't it time to retire and coast to a finish? COULD THERE BE MORE?	BOOK TWO: SURPRISE! This book tells the story of how God unexpectedly drew her into the Catholic Church, which she calls the Land of MORE, and launched her into another fruitful, active, exciting season of her life. Now she had to write a sequel to update her story! My Journey to the LAND OF MORE: Evangelical to Catholic was published by Coming Home Network International. Be sure you read Book Two as the background for Book THREE There would be MORE to come!? YES! Still MORE!	BOOK THREE:  What were those first few years like as a new Catholic Christian? Did her advanced age keep her from enjoying the freshly revealed TREASURES of the "Land of MORE?" Did Leona find that she had to leave behind her entire evangelical faith-backpack? Were there cross-cultural adjustments as she had when she was a missionary in China? How did she relate to her evangelical friends? Did she experience "friendly fire"? What was the mother lode of TREASURE Leona discovered--and all the gold nuggets spilling out of the spiritual TREASURE CHEST of the Church? Of course now she had to write a sequel to a sequel to a sequel.

WHAT IS THE TRINITY?

CONVERSATIONS WITH JEFFREY--Series #

THE TRINITY

“Grandma, our Church bulletin at Mass says that this is ‘TRINITY’ Sunday and it is a Feast. Does that mean food?”

“Well, by coincidence, this afternoon is our Parish FAIR! And we’ll be eating some really delicious food and you’ll be running around to all the games and events and having fun. But that’s not the kind of ‘Feast’ the Church means. In the whole worldwide Catholic Church, on every month on the calendar, certain days are chosen to help us remember particular historical events from the Bible or especially important holy people. Especially events in Jesus’ life. These are called ‘Holy Days.’ Some are called ‘Feasts,’ some ‘Memorials,’ some ‘Solemnities,’ depending on how significant they are.”

“Then ‘TRINITY’ must be a big one if it is called a ‘Feast’.”

“One of the most important, Jeffrey. We can read in the Bible about the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity and think about what that means.”

“I thought that we believed in one God. How come we talk about three persons?”

“Jesus talks about God, His Father. Jesus is God the Son. He also talks about God the Holy Spirit.”

“That’s getting a little hard to understand. Are there three Gods?”

“Actually, this is another mystery which none of us can really understand. Because Jesus taught us to believe that, He helps us to have faith because we believe what He said is always true. Jesus said, “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” and “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” In another place He promised, “The Holy Spirit that the Father will send in My name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”

“Is the word ‘Trinity’ in the Bible?”

“No, not the word itself, but it is demonstrated by things that took place. Like when Jesus was baptized by John at the beginning of His ministry, the voice of the Father was heard from Heaven saying that Jesus was His beloved Son and that He was pleased with Him. At the same time the Holy Spirit in the likeness of a dove came upon Jesus. So all Three Persons were there at one time! The word ‘Trinity’ is what the Church uses to describe that.”

“When I memorized ‘The Apostles’ Creed’ you showed me how it was divided up in three sections—about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. That made it easier to learn. But it’s still hard to understand that there are three separate persons but yet only one God.”

“Right.  It is hard.  One Person of the Trinity is not greater than the other and each Person of the Trinity is all-powerful, all-wise, and all-loving. In the first book in the Bible called Genesis, we read that all Three Persons were involved in the creation of the earth, the heavens, and everything.”

“In my special verse, John 3:16, God is sending His Son Jesus to earth to bring eternal life to us. That’s like two Persons right there.”

“Last Sunday was the Feast of Pentecost, remember? Trinity Sunday always is celebrated the following Sunday. Remember what exciting thing happened to the followers of Jesus?”

“That’s when Jesus kept His promise to send the Holy Spirit to give the Church and Christians power to do His work—yes, so that was the third Person!”

“All three Persons always act together ever since Jesus went to Heaven. Where there is one, all of them are present. They are one God.”

“So then when we pray, are we really talking to the whole Trinity at the same time? Even when we pray in Jesus’ Name? Who really answers our prayers then?”

“We usually talk to God as if we were Jesus asking His Father for something or thanking Him for something. That’s what it means when Jesus taught us to pray, ‘In Jesus’ Name.’ Then the Holy Spirit takes our prayers and kind of polishes them up on the way to the Father, the Bible says, so they would get there and be the right kind of prayers that God will answer. We are still communicating with Only One God—the Trinity.”

“How about when we make the sign of the Cross, Grandma?”

“Every time we do that it is really like a prayer to the whole Trinity too. Even though we can’t completely understand God, we should continue to learn as much as we can about Him. That is why we come to Mass—to worship God and to learn more how to live to please God. And why we read the Bible. And learn all the important things our Catholic Church teaches.”

“At Church we always say the ‘Glory be’ –that’s for the Trinity too, isn’t it?”

“Yes, ‘Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end. Amen.’ We are praising the entire Trinity!”

WHY eBOOKS?

        We are living in incredibly exciting tech times: eBooks (electronic or digital books) are not only the wave of the future in education and pleasure reading, but already prominent on the literary landscape.  The invention of the printing press catapulted the world, not really very long ago as far as history is concerned, into a new era of literacy and the explosion of knowledge. Today publishing even without the medium of paper and ink and printing presses has rocketed us from a new launching pad.
        From small fry to senior citizens, eager eyes are reading books on their KINDLES, nooks, eReaders, copia, eBookPie, kobo, and iPads, iPhones, personal computer screens, and other dedicated electronic eReader capable devices. Academia is on the verge of being transformed; electronic college text books can already be rented. Soon, they say, many children and teen students may not be carrying heavy school books in their backpacks anymore either. They will be studying online from eBooks. Sounds futuristic?
        It is no longer accurate to say that an eBook is an electronic version of a printed book. Now an eBook can be "born digital" and exist without any printed equivalent. From an author's viewpoint, therefore, the publishing scene is changing rapidly. Self publishing is on the increase--easy and economical and no longer considered a second class way to publish. It is possible to skip the print version of a book entirely and go directly to being published in the eBook format. Since I want to keep up with the times, and given time, I expect to venture in that direction as well before long.
        Among the many major advantages of an eBook is that it will never go "out of print." I will mention only a few as follows. The time it takes to get a book published is minimal when submitting a manuscript into the system for digital formatting. Moreover, the one who reads can easily enlarge the font to reformat the existing eBook into a large type font book for the visually challenged. The book can readily be heard read aloud with the text-to-speech capability in either a man's or woman's voice and at different speeds. One can use the highlighting feature and the built in dictionary to see the definition of any word in the text. Economy is hard to beat when you can download in a minute free sample chapters of every book that is available before you decide whether to buy. And more money saving features: classics of the past and any book published before 1900 is in public domain and therefore can be downloaded free of charge! The cost of reading a book through eBooks is always unbelievably much lower than the print version from the bookstore. And you don't have to go personally to a bookstore for your book. A simple click on the title and within a few minutes it has come to your HOME PAGE to wait for you to start reading! There are also ways to borrow books and read them in a limited stated period of time without buying them. Once you have purchased an eBook title it is yours to keep forever in your archives.
        The changes of been unbelievably rapid and recent since the general availability of the Internet in the 1990s. It seems incredible that physical printed books were first offered to the public on the Internet by Amazon.com only since 1995. They launched KINDLE as recently as 2007 and from that point it is history. New and improved versions of KINDLE and other eReaders are coming out rapidly with many more advanced features and touch operation. The price of such readers is going down rather than increasing.
        Several of my published books are already available on eBooks. You are invited to do an eBook search by my name and then access whichever titles I have available in that electronic format. When I submit my titles to eBooks they are available simultaneously on all of the above eReaders. Check my web site: www.goldenmorning.com for the details and ordering.

HAPPY READING!

DOES GOD FORGET?

THE UNACCLAIMED BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

Why do two obscure early Christians who died in 304 have their own feast day in the calendar of the Church when almost nothing is known about them? Saints Marcellinus and Peter (not the Apostle) were beheaded as martyrs in 304 during the persecution of Diocletian. One was a priest, the other was authorized by the Church to deal with cases of demonic possession. That’s about it. No biography. No resume. No obituary.

The Scripture declares, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” That is, saints in the biblical sense of those pressing on to be holy and righteous, not only those with heroic virtue whom the Church respects with its collective memory to give honor where it is due. Forgotten by secular history, nevertheless these men once sent an impulse of encouragement through the whole early Church with their ultimate step of faith.

Even those of us who have lived a common and relatively hidden life, perhaps unknown and unacclaimed by the world, will never have lived and died in vain. The “Unknown Soldier” who is honored in our National Cemetery is not unknown to God by name and life deeds. Nor is anyone to whom God has given breath. With that initial breath of life He gave us, we received the gift of a unique eternal soul that lives on after our final breath.

As God never overlooks the fall of a single sparrow, so He never forgets the passing from this life to life eternal of any of those in friendship with Him. No obscure or unknown believer slips through the cracks to be forgotten by Almighty God. In our doctrine of the Communion of Saints, we are all forever bound together with one another—those still on earth, those being purified on their way to Heaven, and those already rejoicing in God’s presence there.  We are all living in the “eternal now” and Jesus assured us that those who believe in Him “shall never die.” Is it then not inaccurate to say that we “lose” our loved ones who died in Christ?

“Do you believe this?” Jesus asked Martha at the grave of her brother. He asks us as well. He expects us to accept that sure promise straight from his own lips as our Savior—and then act like it. We all know folks whose friends, loved ones or relatives have passed or are even now passing from this life—and each of us will do so too. No exceptions. Let us encourage each other to live according to what God has said is true and rejoice in that blessed hope and assurance.