I was asking my friends what story I should
relate to you to tell you a little bit more
about myself and I'll just tell you a brief
tiny little brief version of something that
happened to me because it's very typical of
what happens to me a lot but Randy and I had
gone to New York City for a visit and we were
going to be so smart but we ended up being
outsmarting ourselves I wanted to take my purse
when I went out but I was afraid you
know someone might snatch it so I took my
billfold my checkbook and my credit card and
put them way up under the mattress you know
that place you're never supposed to put anything
but that's what I did and that was fine except
in the cab on the way to the airport I remembered
I had never gotten them out and Randy and I
were taking different flights and it still
would have been okay because I had my ticket
but my car was parked in the Dallas lot and
I was going to have to have money to get that
thing out and I had no money we pulled all
the money we had together and I had about I
think about $10 or less and so you
know just this moment of panic I didn't know
what to do you know I thought I can go back
to the hotel but I'll miss the plane you know
so we just ran in the airport and we're running
late because the taxi driver of course was in
this huge traffic jam we got and we dropped
Randy off because his plane came left first and
then we went to mine they let me off and
I went in running I went to the telephone booth
I called the hotel and this is the advantage
of staying in a small hotel they said oh well
we'll go look right now and they and they
said call me back in five minutes they called
me back they had it all and of course that
one didn't mean any good but at least I knew it
was safe and they said well we'll send
it to you express mail which they did but I had
nothing so I kept thinking now how am
I going to get that car out of that parking lot
and so I developed all these plans in
my head of how I was going to do that and so we
landed but the problem was I had taken
all of Randy's suit half of Randy's suitcases
too because he so he wouldn't have to handle
them so I had all this luggage that I was
pulling around and carrying after me and still
trying to just and I got out there and I was
trying to find out and I went through all
my plans they do not I think I did have a many
give me a credit card they do not take
credit cards they said I could I called a
friend to get her to wire me some money she
was not at home they I called to see about
somebody else wiring me money and they said
that would be fine I would just have to walk
over to the next terminal and how was I going
to do that with all this luggage I mean I went
through every plan and finally one of
my plans so I'm just going to stand here and
surely I always run into somebody I know in
this airport so I kept listening in fact one
time I thought I heard him say Paging Charles
Cybert and I thought oh Charles is here
somewhere you know I'll find him you know I
kept looking
and I ran into no one that I knew so finally I
called that to the office oh I called a
friend I knew in Dallas she wasn't at home so
finally I called Randy's office and I told
Randy's secretary tell Randy I'm fine I've
landed fine and I will get home I'm not sure
how I'm not sure when but you know I will get
home well in a little while I heard my
name over the pager so I answered the page and
I'm not making this is not a short version
I'm sorry I answered the page and it was they
were calling me from the Herald of Truth office
and this lady that works there one of the
secretaries her husband is a pilot and he
was going to be landing in a few minutes she
was going to tell him to find me he did not
know me I did not know him but he was going to
find me and give me some money so I keep
she told me you know that where to meet meet
him and she but somehow he thought I was my
daughter I don't know it was very confused and
I thought he would have on his pilot uniform
and he didn't and so he's looking for me and
I'm looking for him and I'm just you know
I'm just standing there and finally we realized
that that who we are you know he's him and
I'm me and and so he gives me the money and I
get to come home but that that is typical
of my wife lady I mean that is not a random
incident you know those kinds of things happen
all the time okay which leads us right in to
the Psalms of lament a lament has been
defined by one writer as an appeal to God's
compassion to intervene and change a desperate
situation the Bible contains a great deal of
literature of lament there's some in job
there's some in Jeremiah and surprise there's
some in lamentations but in the book of Psalms
the laments comprise more than a third of the
Psalms that was a surprise to me that
more than a third of the Psalms are laments I
would have thought there were more praise
and thanksgiving but that's not true there's
something about the laments I believe that
that speak to us because I think they speak to
us right where we are and right what we're
going through and we just kind of flow to them
I I don't think there's well this is
a broad statement but I think it's pretty true
I don't think there's anyone in this
room that wanted Dan Jansen to win more than I
did you know I made my daughter film it
because we were gone I was just I think we were
all just really pulling for Dan Jansen
and you know it's just such an exciting thing
to watch him as he won and achieved what he
had tried so hard to achieve in the last decade
but when I was reading all the newspaper accounts
and Abilene paper doesn't have very much I the
Dallas paper had this big nice spread
this full color picture and Abilene had just
this little bitty thing but anyway I was reading
through the Dallas accounts and I came across
this little paragraph and I want to read it
to you and maybe you can kind of see where I'm
going if anyone deserves a gold medal
it must be Dan said Norwegian sprinter I don't
know how to pronounce his name Sandrell who
fell during Friday's race his victory is
important for the whole sport it's important
for the
whole sport and it's important because it shows
that the world is fair that if you try
and try if you never get up give up you can get
a gold medal the world in the sport would
be unfair if he hadn't won well I don't think
you can tell the Jews who experience the Holocaust
that the world is fair and there's some
experiences in our lives that don't come out
right and
there are things that happen to people that are
not fair I'm very thankful for Dan Jansen
that it turned out right but what if it hadn't
turned out right and what about us who in
our lives things do not turn out right and in
our family as all of you probably know
Randy has dealt with cancer two different times
and both times you know he has been
healed and we're just very very thankful for
that but there are a lot of people who were
ill at the same time that he was that did not
recover from their cancer and sometimes
that it's very difficult for a cancer survivor
sometimes because of the people that come
and even are angry because their loved one
didn't survive you know but he did so the
world is not fair and we learned that at a very
early age and we tell our children that
you know when they say it's not fair and we say
what makes you think that things are fair
they're not always fair but you know we all and
I think I really have a strong sense of
fairness and I think most of us do and so when
things aren't fair you know we just you
know our pack was just rise up and we're angry
but as I said talk to the Jews about the Holocaust
and ask them what fairness means a few weeks
ago I was privileged to go through the Holocaust
Museum in Washington, D.C. it's an awesome
museum I didn't know if I'd be able to handle going
through it or not because it's just it's such
an emotional thing for me and I know many
of you have probably already seen Schindler's
List and so all of this is kind of coming
to the forefront but as we wound down you start
at the fourth floor and you just wind
your way down through the museum and when you
get down toward the bottom there's an
absolutely chilling quote and if I'm not
mistaken it's etched into the wall it's a quote from
Elie Wiesel who's written a lot he was a
Holocaust survivor and he's written many books basically
the this is a quote from his book but it's an
in essence this is what's on that wall
it says never shall I forget those flames which
consumed my faith forever never shall
I forget those moments which murdered God and
my soul so his response to the Holocaust
was to become a total atheist a total denial of
God and some of the studies that have been
done of other Jews that went through the
Holocaust many of the ones some of them didn't turn
to atheism but they they made God into an
impersonal being that was the way that they
dealt with it and basically if you've read a
Rabbi Kushner's book when bad things happen
to good people what he did with God to make God
fit into what he was suffering is he made
God power he took away God's power God was
powerless to do anything about this so people
have different ways of coping with with their
belief system when crisis hit then you look
at Corrie Ten Boom's life she experienced the
same things in the through the Holocaust
and through the concentration camps but came
out believing stronger
than when she went in so isn't it interesting
to see people who experience the same things
but end up at different places and somehow when
I stood there and read that quotation
by Wiesel in the museum chills just ran up and
down my spine and a great sorrow just
a great sorrow but see that is why I think
we're drawn to the Psalms of lament in Psalm
10 verse 1 it says why oh Lord do you stand far
off why do you hide yourselves in times
of trouble sometimes we feel like that we feel
like God is standing far off and that
he has indeed hidden his face from us in our
trouble I think the lament Psalms speak to
us because we see people like us we see people
expressing fear and anger and doubt and it's
okay and you know we might as well express it
because if we think it or feel it God knows
it so it's much healthier to express these
feelings and that's what we see in the Psalms
is those expressions of whatever they're the
Psalmist are feeling the fear the anger the
doubt one reader one writer I was reading said
that the good thing too about reading
the laments and the thing that they show faith
it's because the people that are are singing
them or speaking them are acknowledging that
someone is listening see they are acknowledging
faith you're acknowledging that God is there
and that he does hear you there is a listening
there is a conversation partner and that
partner is God okay let's look at another one
of these
Psalms of a mint which is Psalm 22 and and
there's so many I could have picked in each
of these categories that we're looking at today
and obviously I've just picked two or
three but let's look for a minute Psalm 22
you'll recognize it very quickly from the
words of Jesus but verses one and two my God my
God why have you forsaken me why are you
so far from saving me so far from the words of
my groaning oh my God I cry out by day
but you do not answer by night and am not
silent and then as you go over in this song
you see all kinds of picturesque language that
he uses to describe the situation that
he's in and we'll look at some of these but and
I just want you to see if you can tell
by his description what's going on in his life
I don't hear very many people talk like
this verse 12 many bulls surround me verse 13
roaring lions tearing their prey open their
mouth wide against me it sounds pretty
desperate doesn't it I am poured out like water and
all my bones are out of joint verse 16 dogs
have surrounded me a band of evil men has
encircled to me a lot of writers believe that
these are just enemies that he's describing
but he describes them so vividly and language
really that we don't think about using to
describe what's going on in our lives but we
could use this language and other language
describe what's tearing us apart and how we
feel and how dark the night is and all of
those things which are so graphically shown and
this and some of the other songs referring
back to our songs class the week that we did
the study of the songs of lament and for four
days we looked at various songs and answered
questions about them and on the fifth day
again we were encouraged to write our own psalm
of lament so Maria is here today and
she's going to share the psalm that she wrote
of lament
before I read my psalm of lament to you today I
need to give you some background information
so that you can better understand why I wrote
it and so that it will be a little more meaningful
to you I wrote this psalm of lament as a
petition to spare the life of a very dear and precious
friend of mine named Audrey Nash I know that
some of you knew her and so I want to tell
you just a little bit about her life today I
guess that of all the people that God has
put into my life except for my parents Audrey
is one who's had one of the greatest influences
on my faith and on my walk with the Lord she
helped my spiritual growth so much by her
beautiful example and knowing her and observing
her for several years taught me what it really
means to be a servant the true meaning of the
word servant Audrey was the wife of Bill
Nash who was one of our Highland church
ministers the Nash's have done so many
wonderful incredible
life-changing things and ministries to help
people at our church many of you may be aware
if you live in Abilene of the winter wonderland
Christmas display this is something the Nash's
began many years ago and they not only reached
out to the children and adults of our church
with this beautiful ministry but also to
thousands of people in Abilene in the
surrounding areas
as well children of all ages from every school
in town were brought in to see a Christmas
display that delighted and touched each one in
a very special way because of Bills and
Audrey's loving efforts many of the beautiful
decorations that were used in winter wonderland
Audrey made with her own hands and I remember
one year it seemed like she cut out thousands
of snowflakes out of paper that were hung from
the ceiling and they added such a beautiful
touch to the winter wonderland another thing
she did that impressed me so much is that
she would start working on this months ahead of
Christmas but she made a handmade ornament
for every child in the Highland church to give
them when they came to winter wonderland
and I just can't tell you what treasures these
ornaments are to my children and to me when
we get them out every year that Christmas time
I remember several Christmas Eve's when
my two daughters who are now 9 and 13 when they
were very little I remember that my husband
and I on Christmas Eve would be trying to get
them ready for bed which was always a
challenge to get them to bed anytime not only
Christmas Eve but they still hate to go to
bed but anyway we'd be getting them ready and
all of a sudden we'd hear jingle bells
ring on our French porch and we'd all run to
the door and we'd open the door and there
would be Bill and Audrey dressed as Mr. and Mrs.
Santa with hugs and presents for my two
little girls I just can't tell you what kind of
an impression that made on me and on my
family this was just one of the many sacrifices
of time and effort and love that they made
for us and they did this for many families in
our church with small children Bill and
Audrey also began the special needs ministry
many years ago at Highland to help meet the
needs of disabled people in our church and in
our community Audrey and her daughter Debbie
began a Bible class for people with special
needs and Debbie is still teaching this class
today the Nash's were instrumental in starting
a transportation program for disabled adults
and they did this so that they could bring them
to church bring them to doctor appointments
and take them to community events anytime there
was anything of significance going on
in Abilene Bill and Audrey were always there
with a group of disabled and handicapped adults
they would always take them to the Kiwanis fish
fries and chili suppers and pancake suppers
they always took a group of them to the West
Texas Fair and they did this out of love because
these people would not have been able to attend
those things without Bill and Audrey's help
so you can see what kind of a servant heart
Audrey had and how wonderful and vital her
ministry was she loved people so deeply and she
showed it in such beautiful ways I think
one of the things that she taught me that
probably had a more of an impact on me than
anything else was not something that she said
in words but it was just something she taught
me by her life and that assembly that if you
really want to get to know Jesus then you
should go and minister to the least of these
his brothers and sisters in Max Lucado's book
and the angels were silent he says Jesus lives
in the forgotten he has taken up residence
in the ignored he has made a mansion amidst the
ill if we want to see God we must go among
the broken and beaten and there we will see him
Matthew 25:40 tells us the king will reply
I tell you the truth whatever you did for one
of the least of these brothers of mine
you did for me I think that Audrey had a very
deep understanding of what this means because
she lovingly and joyfully cared for the least
of these the Handicapped and the disabled
and she was such a light and such a blessing in
their lives you could see how uplifted
and encouraged they always were when Audrey was
around in fact everyone who was ever around
Audrey was uplifted and encouraged another
thing that I want to tell you about Audrey
today is that she was a very gifted gardener
and plant grower she had one of the most amazing
collections of plants and flowers that I've
ever seen growing in the sunroom at the front
of her house she had so many different
varieties of beautiful plants some of them were really
huge and I was always so impressed when I saw
them but I remember very vividly what
she said to me one day about her plants because
I asked her Audrey where in the world did
you get all these plants where did they come
from and how can you have so many different
kinds I'll never forget what she said because
she smiled rather sheepishly and she answered
well don't tell anyone this but whenever I go
to the plant section at Walmart or Target
or when I go in Wolf's Nursery I always look
down on the ground and I look to see if there
are any small pieces or clippings that have
broken off the plants that have fallen down
on the ground that they're just going to come
and sweep up and put in the trash she said
I love to find the real small little snippings
and I'll pick them up off the ground I put
them in my pocket I take them home I put them
in a pot of dirt and that's why I have a whole
bunch of these plants that you see here and I
remember thinking that was really funny
and I laughed about it but I also remember just
being amazed at her ability to take a
little dried out clipping of a plant and put it
in a pot and grow a huge beautiful plant
from it and after she told me about that the
thought occurred to me one day that that is
exactly what Audrey did with people that is a
perfect illustration of her ministry she
looked for the little dried out clippings of
people the hurting the lonely the disabled
the down and out those that the world in a
sense would want to sweep up and put in the
trash but Audrey valued them Audrey appreciated
them Audrey saw people through God's eyes
and not through the world's eyes she saw what
people could become and not what they are
Audrey watered people she nourished them with
kindness and attention and love so that they
could grow into beautiful people in God's
kingdom who bear fruit for him she had the
gift of making people blossom and grow as well
as plants I loved her so very much she
was so precious to me so when we found out that
she had cancer in the fall of 92 it was
a very difficult time for all the people who
loved her this was of course at the time Camilla
was teaching the Psalms in our ladies class and
that's why I wrote this Psalm of lament
at the time I wrote it my heart was really
broken I was devastated as many people were
about the possibility of Audrey not being here
with us anymore I was angry and I was
frustrated at God to think about a person who
was so precious and so vital and needed
having to go through such a valley of pain and
suffering it was very hard to understand
but this Psalm of lament was my crying out to
God why am I pleading with him to spare
her oh Lord you are my God the source of life
of light and of power my heart is very heavy
today with sadness because of the plight of my
dear friend and your servant Audrey Nash
I plead with you and implore you to touch her
body with your divine hand of love and
to heal her so that she may continue to help
and love in the name of Jesus those who are
the least of these your brothers so many people
need her and depend on her Lord oh God I beseech
you to grant her some more time please oh Lord
intervene on her behalf and let her continue
to be your angel of love who helps the helpless
and encourages the lonely and the needy in
such sweet and quiet and beautiful ways I'm
sorry I was gonna try not to cry I thank you
father for sending her into my life and for all
the way she has touched me and my family
I know that she will continue to praise your
name even in the midst of suffering for she
is truly like you please hold her in your arms
of blood today dear Lord and heal her
body by your divine power I think you know that
Audrey is in Heaven today and it's a
more beautiful place because of her presence
there even though God didn't choose to heal
her physical body he did answer this prayer by
giving her ultimate healing and by taking
her home where she belongs and so even though
sometimes God's plans don't make sense to
us we have to trust him and we rejoice that
Audrey is in the presence of the one she loved
the most I miss her so much but there's a part
of her that lives on in my heart because
of the way she touched me with the love of
Jesus my life will never be the same for knowing
her and my prayer is that God will use me and
you and all of us to continue her ministry
I just praise God and give him thanks for the
way he touched my life through hers.
You know there isn't anything we can't say to
God we need to be real people because to
him we are real but we need to be real to each
other and so those psalms of lament just
really I think show the realness they show the
reality of people if those of you who
have the handouts would go ahead and hand those
out right now please when you get your
handout you'll see one of the psalms of lament
which is Psalm 13.
Go ahead.