Thoughts about Rain, Salvation, Dairy Queen, and Ash Wednesday

Rain.  We've been getting so much of it lately that the creeks are rising, the roads are covered with water from the ditches, and fences are covered in low-lying areas.  Coming out of my neighborhood this morning, I noticed the water flowing so rapidly down the road that it was carrying some rocks and pebbles from a dirt driveway.  Some of the rocks were stabilized enough to where the water shot up and over them.  Since I was at a stop sign, I took a moment to grab a picture of it.

There is no deep significance in this abundant flow of water.  However, I could start thinking deeper and talk about "living water". 

But, my thoughts jump to a book I read recently, Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen, by Susan Gregg Gilmore.

I read it for a monthly book club I attend.  We read all kinds of books.  Anyway, the author was able to come to our meeting and that added tremendously to our discussion.  She shared her background of how she came into writing and how her first book came to be.  It was very interesting and inspiring.  I have wanted to write since I was probably five years old.  I began writing in journals at an early age, at first taking down notes from family travels as we visited state parks and camp grounds.  So, for me to hear Susan's story and to hear how she came into writing... well, it gave this wanna-be hope.

As for the book, it is set in Ringgold, GA.  Ringgold, GA is a small town north of my hometown, Dalton, GA.  There were many things in the book I could relate to, that anyone can relate to.  How do I talk about the book without being a book spoiler?  Hmmm..... let me say that I could hear the characters speak and through them I was able to enter into their lives.  Life is all through this novel.  On one hand, you can read it as is, for pure enjoyment.  On the other hand, you can read it at a deeper level and allow the wisdom, the insight, the challenge to get under your skin and stay with you a while.  On the front cover of the novel is this statement: "Sometimes you have to return to the place where you began, to arrive at the place where you belong."

There were references to the Varsity, to Soddy Daisy, to Chattanooga, to Atlanta, to Calhoun, to Dalton, etc.  These references, along with the likeable characters, their stories, and their interactions with one another made the book come alive for me.  There are themes of life, death, forgiveness, friendship, faith, growing up, broken hearts, sin, redemption, etc.

I'll share a few of the things that I marked.  Yes, I marked/flagged the book.  I decided not to underline this time, but instead used those handy rectangle flags to place over the sections that caught my attention.  I felt slightly geekish at the book club meeting, but that's okay.

An example of something that just made me chuckle because I could visualize it was Catherine Grace talking about Gloria Jean's: "Every day she'd tease and pile her hair on the top of her head and then spray it in place.  Not even the wind blowing before a thunderstorm could knock a hair on her head loose.  She kept a small bottle of Aqua Net in her purse because a girl, she said, had to be prepared for any emergency." (35)

Here's one of the nuggets of life's truths that Catherine Grace shares: "Leaving sure makes you rethink your friends and your enemies alike." (139)

Catherine Grace has come back into town for a family emergency.  She is sitting on a picnic table in the cold eating a Dilly Bar at the local Dairy Queen.  Her thoughts about life bring her to this conclusion: "With the very last bite of my Dilly Bar in my mouth, I became more convinced that my life was about to change in a way that I had not come close to imagining.  And I had a strange, call it prophetic, feeling that I was heading into a storm of biblical proportions." (256)

Those are just a few of the nuggets that I flagged.  I could go on and talk about the moonshine, the strawberry jam, the special tea recipe (that I know and love as Russian Tea-- page 88). 

Why did this book grab me?  Is it simply because I, too, am from a small town and vowed to leave and not go back?  (Which I did, by the way.  I left for college, married, and planned to not return.  However, after my divorce and with an infant, there was a time when I needed a place to live for a few months between houses and I moved back home with my parents.)  Is it because I recognized so many places and personality types?  Or, is it something more? 

Today is Ash Wednesday.  I attend a church that celebrates the tradition of imposing ashes (from last year's palm branches from Palm Sunday) on one's forehead as an outward symbol of this lenten season of penitence, self-examination, and preparation.  I had planned to simply go and attend the service, but was called and asked to be part of the service by helping put the ashes on those in attendance.  At the risk of sounding geeky, I will say that I truly enjoy participating in services-- from reading Scripture, to serving the elements of the Lord's Supper, to praying the pastoral prayer, and now... to helping with the ashes.  (As I've had the opportunity to lay speak several times, I will also admit to enjoying that too.)

A responsive version of Psalm 51 was used from the hymnal.  Psalm 51 is a favorite of mine as the psalmist asks for a new heart to be created within and to be restored.  Keith Green, the father of Christian contemporary music, wrote a great song based on this Psalm.

The New Testament lesson Scripture was from 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2--

"We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.  For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.”  I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation." (NIV)

Those words reminded me that I am an ambassador for Christ, that I am not to receive God's grace in vain, and that now is the day of salvation.  It just sort of struck me.  I don't know really why, what, or how.... it just did.

And, then it was time to do my part along with another pastor.  Dip the thumb in the water, then in the ashes (we didn't have the ashes already mixed with the oil, which is what I am used to).  As each person came up, we made the cross on their foreheads saying: "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.  Repent and believe the gospel."

It was powerful and special to serve in this way, not unlike serving communion to the guests at our wedding on March 6, 2004.   Something happened during this time.  As my husband, friends, fellow church goers came up and allowed me to place the cross on them, something happened.  There was a moment in which there was a powerful something.  I knew it, I felt it.  I really cannot explain it though.  All I knew was that the Holy Spirit was present.  And all I could do was one, hold back tears that came from nowhere; two, do my "job" of putting on the ashes and saying (hopefully) the right words; and three, saying "thank you, Jesus."  I don't know if the person standing in front of me had any clue that any of this was going on.  Was it a God moment for me, for that person, for us both?  Who knows?  I don't have to or need to know.

There are many things I don't understand about my life right now.  I am simply attempting to faithfully take each next step.  I'm learning to live into the questions, to not try to answer them all. 

The prayer of confession included these words: "at the opening of this season of penitence, we pray for courage and honesty, that our self-examination may be searching and specific rather than safely general".

The closing hymn tonight was "Have Thine Own Way, Lord". 

How does tonight fit in with my adventurous journey?  I don't know.  I can, however, somewhat relate to what Catherine Grace said that night on the picnic table at the Dairy Queen: "I became more convinced that my life was about to change in a way that I had not come close to imagining.  And I had a strange, call it prophetic, feeling that I was heading into a storm of biblical proportions." (256)

May your journey include courage, honesty, and self-examination,

~Debra