Beeping Smoke Detector

Most of the night, and so far today, our smoke detector is BEEPING at us. It is not really annoying, but we hear it gently beep on a regular basis a few minutes apart. It is trying to tell us that it needs new batteries to be effective in protecting us. If we would put new batteries in, it will BEEP LOUDLY should we have a fire and it could save our lives.

I was thinking how nice it would be to design little beepers and implant them into our Bibles. Then, when we get busy and they lay unopened, they would begin to gently BEEP at us. Or when we are worrying or wondering what to do in a certain situation, it would gently BEEP at us reminding us that the answer can be found in the contents of its pages.

Well we DO have the Holy Spirit of God residing INSIDE each Believer of Jesus. Let us ask HIM to remind us to read the Bible regularly. Let us be determined to read MORE of God's Word this year.

Let us not get bogged down in guilt if we get behind. Just pick up your Bible again and read. Ask the Holy Spirit of God to help you remember to read His Word. Give HIM permission to BEEP your heart!

Holy Spirit of God, I give You permission and sincerely ask You to help me be more consistant in reading my Bible this year. Please remind me when I falter that there is LIFE in those pages, because it is YOUR WORD!.... and YOU are life!

Tire Game

Yesterday I went to one of the Dollar stores and a game caught my eye. It was only five dollars and yet it sounded so different. It is a TIRE GAME and it comes with ten rubber goodyear tires that you are suppose to stack - one horizonal and then one vertical, over and over.

The little tires are very cute and I was anxious to try this when I got home.

At first it was looking VERY EASY and I laughed at my purchase. But I had great trouble with nine and ten. Over and over it would topple. I am not a real competitive person, but this was challenging to me. It is only TEN little tires, certainly I can handle this assignment! I tried several times.

My husband came home and I told him about my "FIND"....and how cute it is and how it will be fun to use for a review game in Sunday school, etc. He tried, looking real confident until he got to number nine himself.

When I was trying again, he was LOOKING AT IT ALL. And he suggested that I turn every other one (notice the picture) 90 degrees. So I did that, and I could feel more stability in the stack. I still haven't made it to ten....but I did learn how much more fun it is to BUILD when you have a helper.

Ken's looking out for me while I built, and my cheering him on when he was building, accomplished what the goal of the game is: to have fun together.

Life is not meant to be solitaire. It is meant to be with others.

So whatever you are building in your life, share it with someone, and find out that life can be truly much more meaningful when you do it as a family, a group, as friends, or as a Church.

Do not spend this day alone. Make a phone call. Visit a friend.

BUT GET INTO SOMEONE ELSE'S LIFE, and let them into yours.

Our Christmas Cactus

For Christmas, a family in our church gave me a Christmas Cactus. Now I must tell you, anyone that you see or know is better with plants that I am. I am not a good keeper of things with leaves.

But let me tell you what this plant means to me when I look at it.

I see our Church....well it could be any Church that loves the Lord Jesus Christ. Each believer is independent of the other, but beautiful and comes together sharing the same soil and the same roots. I understand the blossoms will fall off, but the plant will not die. The more we get to know each other, the more we see each other without the bloom. We seem to stare at each other's stock instead of remembering the beauty we each have because of Christ. We share the same soil of life's hardships and challenges. Certain events like Christmas, where we have joint projects, goals and activities help us to see the BLOOM again in each of us, as we focus our hearts on CHRIST.

So I am thankful for this gift of a plant, for whether it blooms or not, it is ALIVE, giving out oxygen and having a divine purpose!

Our responsibility, in the Pastorate, is to care for our Gift, the local body of Believers, so that we can BLOOM and spread throughout the neighborhood, the city, our nation and even the world until Jesus comes again.

Rubber Bands

I love to have GOD as my Teacher! He has currently put me in a position that is rather uncomfortable for me. I am teaching Sunday school to a small group of young girls whose parents do not go to Church. Half of my class is preschool age, and I am at a loss how to teach them. I am well aware that I tend to teach "over their heads" in length of lesson, and in vocabulary - but I have a GREAT TEACHER. I seek HIS help regularly and HE is faithful to come alongside me and show me HOW to teach little ones who have very little knowledge of the Bible, or Jesus Himself.

One week in November I was teaching Zaachaeus.

The rubber bands came when I was thinking about his shortness (which caused him to climb the tree to see Jesus. I did not really want to measure them all, or draw them on paper....so GOD popped rubber bands into my head. I mean it was all HIM. I had a bag of various sized rubber bands. So I dumped them onto the table and began picking out tall ones, short ones and in between ones. Then I put four into a tiny baggie. I made up a baggie for each child, myself and my helper.

The girls always like CRAFT time, so they were thrilled when I announced we were starting class at the TABLE. They ran there and I gave them each a tiny baggie. I sat with them and showed them what to do. I dumped them all out and found the tallest one, then the shortest one, and put the other two in order. They were intent and it was something the smallest ones could do.

It was an inexpensive lesson, but it worked. They understood SHORT, then I started talking about how children are shorter than adults and how children often need to on daddy's shoulders to see a parade if they are not in the front row, etc.

I cut off several branches from a neighbors bush, and had a card stock Zaachaeus for each child. We acted out the story as I shared the Bible Account, and then again as we sang the familiar Sunday school song.

By the end of class, I think the Lesson idea was clear that Zaachaeus WANTED to see Jesus and made sure that he did! We need to also WANT to see Jesus, and we can by making sure we come to Sunday school as often as we can,etc.....and also how his life was CHANGED by spending time with JESUS, and how we also CHANGE as we spend time with Jesus, in His Word, etc.

The Simple Note

Sometimes it does not take much for us to feel BLESSED and loved.
Sometimes it does not take much for ME to feel BLESSED and loved.

Yesterday I had one of those simple gifts of love, by way of a simple note.

Every week I create, type, print and fold our Church bulletins. I also type up a LARGE FONT 'order of service' for the Pastor, Deaf Interpreter, Song Leader and Pianist and tape them at their place of ministry.

Our Church has been without a Pianist for about three years. We have used Sing-Along Cds for our congregational singing. Recently the LORD brought a very talented couple to visit our Church. She is a gifted classical pianist! She LOVES to play and plays joyfully for the LORD. She has been a JOY to our congregation. We value each week they are with us. [We are joining them in prayer that GOD will lead them to the Church of HIS choice. They would be welcomed in any Church.] We will just be thankful for every week they are with us.

ANYWAY....here is the "rest of the story":

Yesterday as I was picking up the Large Print 'Order of Service' papers from the four areas of ministry, I noticed a hand written note where I had put the 'order of service' for the Pianist. The Pianist had turned over the typed Order of Service and left me a note! The note said: "Thanks for posting the large bulletin here!"

See, I told you it was simple.......but sometimes we just need to know that our labor is not in vain, and that someone truly does appreciate the extra effort we put in.

To me, it was a powerful Christmas gift. It warmed my heart like sitting curled up in a blanket before a crackling fireplace. I felt loved, and yes appreciated. No one was even around when I received this Blessing. But tears still come just to remember the pleasure of that Simple Note.

Grace Gusher

Title: Grace Gusher
During our motorcycle trip that was 4,613 miles, we did stop occasionally. One place we stopped, was at the beautiful Niagara Falls. We had stopped there for our honeymoon, so it was nice to be there again 37 years later. We rode in a boat that took us close to the Falls. Everyone on the boat wore plastic covers because we ALL got very wet from the mist coming from the falls.100,000 cubic feet of water per second flows over the falls during the tourist season. That's like pouring 83 swimming pools full of water over the falls every second. Now that's an overflow!

Of course I think of a HIGHER lesson for God showing us such beauty. God’s grace is similar to Niagara Falls. Our salvation thru the blood of Jesus streams out of God’s rich grace. God's grace doesn't trickle down like a leaky water spigot; it cascades like the Niagara Falls.
Like the immense water in the Niagara Falls, there's enough overflow of God’s grace for everyone ... from the most wretched sinner to the most honorable of leaders.
There's enough grace through Christ to cover all those times you doubt, all those times you disobey, all those times you miss God's will.

Romans 5:20
“Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.”
Hymn: Grace Greater than Our Sin


HYMN: Grace Greater than Our Sin

Lyrics: Julia H. Johnston
Music: Daniel B. Towner


Marvelous Grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.

Refrain:
Grace, Grace, God's Grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, Grace, God's Grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!

His Voice

Our Vacation Vignette
Title: “His Voice”I hesitate to share this experience with you because it is very personal and very holy. Last week I shared with you my personal fight with horrific fear the first two days of our 4, 613 mile motorcycle trip. The fear was overcome by claiming scripture over my life.
The next day was an amazing day. We started this day in Griffin, GA.. The LORD spoke to me, on the back our motorcycle, as clearly as friends speak to each other. He told me to pray for every Church along the way. I began to pray for every church we passed. As I prayed the LORD gave me more insight, having me pray for specific situations in various Churches. After a couple of hours of this, it dawned on me HOW MANY Churches God has planted all over America. It seemed I would barely get a prayer started, and another Church would appear.
Then God closed my assignment with His Word from 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”