November 2010 Lower Family Newsletter

[Chad T. Lower]

So again, the monthly newsletter got out a bit later than I intended, but still before December got here, so it can't be all bad!

 

Ali's Preschool went to the pumpkin patch again this year, but a different one than they went to the last two years.  She had a great time picking out a pumpkin and enjoying the food and festivities.  Suzy helped the kiddos make designer pumpkins this year.  Instead of the traditional jack-o-lantern, we had a cat, a pirate skull, and a ghost face.

 

A local zoo called ReptileLand had a Flashlight Safari.  Many of the animals they have are nocturnal so when we visit during the day, they are just laying there sleeping.  This year, we were able to go in the evening when the animals were becoming active.  They kept the lights in the cages off and we brought flashlights to shine into the cages.  They also had a nocturnal animal show that we attended.  Although they are called ReptileLand and do have lots of reptiles, we also saw birds, insects, and mammals that fit the nocturnal category.  Of course, we saw the traditional owls and bats, but also cockroaches, tarantulas, rats, scorpions, snakes, and lizards.

 

Of course, Halloween is in October.  The Wednesday before Halloween, Penn College has a Trick-or-Treat at one of the residence halls.  Our kids dressed up and went to that.  Bella was a Manaphy (a Pokemon), Chi was a firefighter, and Ali was Strawberry Shortcake (complete with her cat, Custard).  Two days later, on Friday, our church had their annual Hallelujah Night.  Our kids dressed for that and went to play games (and win candy), eat popcorn, and play on the inflatable games.  The activity is open to all in the community and was well attended again.  Although Halloween itself was on a Sunday, our community had Trick-or-Treat on Saturday night.  Since our kids went out twice that week, this time, they stayed in, but got to hand out the candy.  It was better attended than the last two years.  We actually ran out of candy this year instead of having some left over like the last two years.  Malachi offered the candy he had collected to pass out when we ran out.  We thanked him for his offer, but told him to keep it and we turned our light out about 20 minutes early.

 

Suzy attended a one-day Writer's conference in Lewisburg, PA (about 40 minutes south of us) where she met with Diana Flegal, the agent who wants a copy of Suzy's manuscript, Forgotten Reigns.  She took several classes (workshops) and ran into a former teacher of hers from Vo-Tech when she was in high school.

 

October finished up my classes for Motorcycle Safety.  Our last class usually ends the first weekend in October and this year was no exception.  Like last year, I was able to help Coach the last class of the year.  In total, I think I Coached around 9 classes this summer and had two evaluations of my work, both coming back with primarily 7's (the highest rating possible for each category).

 

We are quickly approaching the end of our love definition.  The next part of our verse (and our definition) is "love always perseveres."  Notice that the love definition started with two things that love is, then eight things that love is NOT.  Following that is 5 more things that love is, and the last 4 of those 5 are "always" statements.  Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.  Our current month looks at the last of those always statements, but remember that always means "always."  Not "sometimes."  Not "when I feel like it."  Not "when they deserve it."  Always.

 

I loves James' statement in James 5:16b, "The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results."  Always persevere means to be persistent and to keep on praying.  If you love someone, don't give up on them; persevere!  Continue to pray for them.  Daily.  Hourly.  Every waking minute.  Be earnest and be righteous.  God will hear your prayer and wonderful results will happen as a result of your prayer.  Fortunately/unfortunately, our prayers don't always get answered the way we think they should be, but the results will be no less wonderful when they are answered.

 

Paul continues with another favorite of mine in Romans 8:31, "What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?"  When the God of the universe is on your team, it doesn't matter who or how many are on the other team opposing you!  There's an old saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."  I think I'm gonna take my lemons and make lemon meringue pie.  Lemonade just doesn't cut it when you've tasted a richer, more fulfilling dessert.

 

Peter even jumps on the wonderful promises of God and encourages us to endure and persevere in I Peter 4:6 when he says, "So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while."  You may have many trials, but in the scheme of things, they won't last long at all.  We spend but a fraction of a second here on the earth compared to the eternity we will spend in heaven!  These problems are temporary at best.  But persevere through them!

 

Love always.  Always persevere.

 

Chad T. Lower
a.k.a. Chopper
http://chadtlower.tripod.com/
 
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Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others.
Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.
Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
                               Philippians 2:3-4