Do we really know?

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When I woke up, honestly my first thought was that Jesus was coming back.  I slept in the top bunk in the staff dormitory at Forest Home Family Camp in the San Bernardino mountains that summer.  It was the middle of the night and my bed was jolting forward and backward so severely that all I could do was grip the sides of the bed and look over to see my roommates standing in the middle of the room clutching each other and screaming while bottles and brushes slid off the bathroom counter.   It was my first earthquake experience and was quite the eye-opener!  The rest of the night we all huddled together on sleeping bags on the floor, stiffening a little each time an aftershock rumbled under the floor.  More than any other time before then, I felt very small. Continue reading →

Do I have something in my teeth?

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Obey God’s message! Don’t fool yourselves by just listening to it. 23If you hear the message and don’t obey it, you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror 24and forget what they look like as soon as they leave. 25But you must never stop looking at the perfect law that sets you free. God will bless you in everything you do, if you listen and obey, and don’t just hear and forget.  James 1:22-25  CEV

God has given this verse to me several times this week (from different sources) so I think I should ponder it more closely.  Obviously He’s got something for me to learn. Continue reading →

Waaaaaa

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I’m reading several books at once and that probably isn’t the best idea for my scatterbrain to retain something valuable from each one.  I started reading “The Me I Want to Be” by John Ortberg (discussing as I progress through with a good friend of mine) and am still reading it.  Then another good friend recommended “Shattered Dreams” by Larry Crabb which is also a really good book.    Toss in my daily Bible reading and, slightly embarrassed to admit, another read through of Eclipse and there are lots of words tumbling around in my head.

I haven’t written for a few days, oddly enough because I felt at a loss for words.  If I could just grab a hold of a few of the ones churning in my mind and put them into some kind of meaningful order to share with you.  Continue reading →

What’s a baby worth these days?

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A California couple has been arrested for trying to sell their 6-month-old baby outside a Wal-Mart store for $25.   Evidently their need for narcotics outweighed their love for their child.  How desperate they must be to try trading the little one for drug money.  It seems they’ve sunk to the lowest of lows.  I feel sorry for them – what kind of existence is that?  The baby was removed by social services so it’s safe, even though it was born to and nursed by a woman hooked on meth.  You can read an article about it here.

When I read this I was appalled, baffled.  I’m sure the women the father approached in that parking lot were so taken off guard.  “Is this guy kidding?  $25??”  Surely a life is worth more than that.  Continue reading →

New Every Morning

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mer • cy [mur see] noun
1.  compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one’s power
2.  the discretionary power of a judge to pardon someone or to mitigate punishment

Do you ever feel like you’ve really grown, reached some new milestones in your faith and become stronger, only to look in the mirror one day to see a shallow, doubting, pouting, childish disciple looking back? Continue reading →

True Beauty

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I have to admit, some reality TV fascinates me…or at least captures my attention for a while.  Last night my youngest daughter and I watched part the show “True Beauty” in which several models are in competition to see who is the most beautiful, who can become the “face of Vegas.”  What they don’t know is that judges are watching what happens behind the scenes and deciding the winner based on inner beauty: their character and not their looks.  Continue reading →

Pops

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On Father’s Day, more than other days, I think of my dad and all He is and has been to me.  I know there are many who don’t have dads at all or have dads that are detached from their lives or dads that hurt them in various ways.  This makes me especially thankful for my daddy.  I call Him Pops. Continue reading →

I think God likes going to the zoo

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Years ago during one of my brother’s visits we bought some modeling clay and, on the back porch, sitting at the fisher-price plastic picnic table, made little animals and creatures with my girls.  It was a lot of fun.  One reason being that the girls, who were really young at the time, were tickled with each little thing we made.  My brother especially enjoyed making his little animals and dinosaurs detailed using toothpicks to draw smiles, poke pupils in eyes, add finishing touches.  We must have played that way for a couple of hours, enjoying giggles and squishing the gooey colorful clay together.  Continue reading →

Fighter

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I’ve talked so much about Zumba class and how much I love it that my friends and family are probably tired of hearing it.  Let me just say that God brought it to me when I needed an outlet, some fun, some community, and of course some exercise.

Right now one of the songs we dance/exercise to is Christina Aguilera’s song “Fighter.”  We do some kickboxing during the chorus:

It makes me that much stronger
Makes me work a little bit harder
It makes me that much wiser
So thanks for making me a fighter
Made me learn a little bit faster
Made my skin a little bit thicker
Makes me that much smarter
So thanks for making me a fighter

Christina Aguilera “Fighter” ©2003

She’s singing about someone who cheated on her and did her wrong, but I when I hear those words I usually think of something I’m struggling with (or friends and family are facing) like temptation, feeling down, disappointment, challenges, etc.  Yesterday I was thinking about cancer.  Continue reading →

So…

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There have been lots of thoughts churning in my head the last few days – of course when are there NOT lots of thoughts churning in there?  Anyway, here is a window into my crowded head if you’re so inclined to read on:

I think part of my feeling distant from God lately is that I’ve been angry with Him – angry that He hasn’t answered prayers the way I thought.  I mean, did he even take into consideration the five point argument I shared with Him about why my way was good?  And how about that time-table of His?  Why do I think that if something doesn’t happen in a few weeks or even months that it means God isn’t there or doesn’t care?  That is pretty silly.  As much as I thought I was resisting the enemy, I had fallen prey again to his ploy of self-pity and forgetfulness.

Forgetfulness?  About all God has done in my life and in the lives of those around me.  What other proof do I need that He is there and active in our lives?  That He really does care about each of us in love.   There are a number of Bible verses that tell God’s people to recall the things God has done throughout their lives so they won’t lose hope, so they will stay on track, so they will be thankful.  I’ve been forgetting to remember. Continue reading →