What a great "twist" on book reports! We're starting this one today.
Bookmark Books by Susan Gaylord
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Dancing in the Minefields - Dorwin & Mavy Stoddard
This morning I took Tim to work in the Volvo that can handle snow a little better than the other car. There is a possibility of some weather, and didn't want Tim to have treacherous travel on the way home.
As we headed toward the office, I turned on NPR to hear the latest about the voting in Sudan and catch up on other news. In a report about the Arizona shootings, I heard about Dorwin Stoddard, one of the victims of the attack.
Mr. Stoddard was 76, and with his wife, was an active leader in the benevolence ministry at Mountain Avenue Church of Christ. His heart ached for the sick and homeless, and participated in numerous construction projects for the church and for those in need.
Dorwin and his wife Mavy were high school classmates in Tucson who moved away and married other people. When their spouses passed away, they both moved back to Tucson, got reacquainted, and were married in their sixties.
Their minister, Mike Nowak, said, "they normally go out to breakfast every Saturday." This past weekend, Mavy told her minister she had wanted to meet her congresswoman and tell Ms. Giffords she was doing a good job.
When the shooting started, Dorwin dropped to the ground and covered his wife Mavy. She was shot in the leg but survived, and talked to Dorwin for 10 minutes until he stopped breathing.
When Tim and I studied "Love and Respect" as one of Living Water Christian Church's Watering Hole small groups a couple years ago, I was struck by the understanding that Tim loved me so much he would lay down his life for me willingly, no questions asked. That kind of selfless, sacrificial love is something I can not only appreciate and honor, but deeply respect. I pray that Tim never has to make the kind of decision that Dorwin made - a decision that was unthinking and instantaneous, to protect the woman God gave him to love for the rest of his days - but I know Tim would make that decision. In a nanosecond.
Driving him to work this morning, I sobbed as I heard that story. I sobbed for Mavy and for Dorwin, but I sobbed with the understanding that God had given me the same gift of love in my husband, Tim.
Forgive me, Lord, when I take him for granted, and when I fail to respect him with the honor he is due.
"Dancing in the Minefields" by Andrew Peterson:
I was nineteen, you were twenty-one
The year we got engaged
Everyone said we were much too young
But we did it anyway
We bought our rings for forty each
From a pawn shop down the road
We made our vows and took the leap
Now fifteen years ago
We went dancing in the minefields
We went sailing in the storm
And it was harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for
"I do" are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end
But to lose your life for another I've heard
Is a good place to begin
'Cause the only way to find your life
Is to lay your own life down
And I believe it's an easy price
For the life that we have found
And we're dancing in the minefields
We're sailing in the storm
This is harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for
So when I lose my way, find me
When I loose love's chains, bind me
At the end of all my faith, till the end of all my days
When I forget my name, remind me
'Cause we bear the light of the Son of Man
So there's nothing left to fear
So I'll walk with you in the shadowlands
Till the shadows disappear
'Cause he promised not to leave us
And his promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos, baby,
I can dance with you
As we headed toward the office, I turned on NPR to hear the latest about the voting in Sudan and catch up on other news. In a report about the Arizona shootings, I heard about Dorwin Stoddard, one of the victims of the attack.
 |
| Dorwin Stoddard |
Dorwin and his wife Mavy were high school classmates in Tucson who moved away and married other people. When their spouses passed away, they both moved back to Tucson, got reacquainted, and were married in their sixties.
Their minister, Mike Nowak, said, "they normally go out to breakfast every Saturday." This past weekend, Mavy told her minister she had wanted to meet her congresswoman and tell Ms. Giffords she was doing a good job.
When the shooting started, Dorwin dropped to the ground and covered his wife Mavy. She was shot in the leg but survived, and talked to Dorwin for 10 minutes until he stopped breathing.
When Tim and I studied "Love and Respect" as one of Living Water Christian Church's Watering Hole small groups a couple years ago, I was struck by the understanding that Tim loved me so much he would lay down his life for me willingly, no questions asked. That kind of selfless, sacrificial love is something I can not only appreciate and honor, but deeply respect. I pray that Tim never has to make the kind of decision that Dorwin made - a decision that was unthinking and instantaneous, to protect the woman God gave him to love for the rest of his days - but I know Tim would make that decision. In a nanosecond.
Driving him to work this morning, I sobbed as I heard that story. I sobbed for Mavy and for Dorwin, but I sobbed with the understanding that God had given me the same gift of love in my husband, Tim.
Forgive me, Lord, when I take him for granted, and when I fail to respect him with the honor he is due.
"Dancing in the Minefields" by Andrew Peterson:
I was nineteen, you were twenty-one
The year we got engaged
Everyone said we were much too young
But we did it anyway
We bought our rings for forty each
From a pawn shop down the road
We made our vows and took the leap
Now fifteen years ago
We went dancing in the minefields
We went sailing in the storm
And it was harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for
"I do" are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end
But to lose your life for another I've heard
Is a good place to begin
'Cause the only way to find your life
Is to lay your own life down
And I believe it's an easy price
For the life that we have found
And we're dancing in the minefields
We're sailing in the storm
This is harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for
So when I lose my way, find me
When I loose love's chains, bind me
At the end of all my faith, till the end of all my days
When I forget my name, remind me
'Cause we bear the light of the Son of Man
So there's nothing left to fear
So I'll walk with you in the shadowlands
Till the shadows disappear
'Cause he promised not to leave us
And his promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos, baby,
I can dance with you
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