All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth!

And now, a word from our Sponsor...

Are you stuck in a rut?
Feeling like you are hitting your head against the same brick wall day after day?
Can't seem to do what you really want to do?

Ready to have a little life in your life?
Try R & R! You will like it so much you will keep coming back for more!
R & R...good for the tough, rough, life!

....


"I'm so tired"
"My 'get up and go' got up and went"
"I just need to slow down and catch my breath, but it seems like everyone is yelling for more, More, MORE! What can I do?"

Does this sound like you?
Then go to the nearest QT for the 'pick me up' you need!
And remember: QT gets you through the rest of your day!

And now, for the REAL Word from our Sponsor...

"This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:

"In repentance and rest (R & R) is your salvation,
in quietness and trust (QT) is your strength..."

So the next time you need a lot of Life and Energy to get you through your day, just head to Isaiah 30:15 and stop at the QT and do a little R&R!

Wise Men Still Follow You Today

To Be Impressed, or Not To Be Impressed, That is the Question

I've been kinda down lately. I was just feeling like I might be recovering from my back surgery for a bad disc, only to find out I have osteoporosis in the vertebrae. Talk about no backbone! And try as I might, I just couldn't seem to get out of the heavy, binding, sadness of the changes I've gone through in the past couple of years. So this weekend I just wanted to stay in bed and let the changes go on without me. They were just too much trouble. Too painful. Too, well, old-feeling.

I shared my diagnosis with my mom. She told me to join the club. She's had a bad back for several years now. And my dad, too. I got my dad's bad discs, and my mom's bad bones, but no sympathy from that region.

My grandson asked how my back was doing. Ah! A sympathetic ear! I told him. He looked at me in a very sad way and said, "I guess that means I will have to wait on you to make cookies for a while longer..." Alas, still no sympathy.

Ok. To the Bible. I told God about my problems and requested a few answers. I opened to Isaiah..."Woe to you!!" Nope. That's not it.

I turned the TV to the Joyce Meyers program. Ahhh...SHE was talking about depression. That's where I'm at! I anticipate the comforting answer for my hurting, heavy, sad, old feeling....I should have known better.

Joyce was the one that told me to 'get over it' a long time ago. Her new catch phrase? "I'm not impressed!" It seems that whenever her husband is faced with a situation that could get him upset, he simply says 'I'm not impressed'. If you are 'impressed' with something, you can become 'oppressed' by it, which leads to being 'depressed' with it. So don't let it impress you and it can't depress you.

*sigh*

Guess I will just have to get over it.

I'm certainly not impressed with the sympathy OR the answers I'm getting!

Help for the Holidays

Dealing with Difficult Relatives
by Max Lucado

Does Jesus have anything to say about dealing with difficult relatives? Is there an example of Jesus bringing peace to a painful family? Yes, there is.

His own.

It may surprise you to know that Jesus had a difficult family. If your family doesn’t appreciate you, take heart, neither did Jesus’.

“His family … went to get him because they thought he was out of his mind” (Mark 3:21).

Jesus’ siblings thought their brother was a lunatic. They weren’t proud—they were embarrassed!

It’s worth noting that he didn’t try to control his family’s behavior, nor did he let their behavior control his. He didn’t demand that they agree with him. He didn’t sulk when they insulted him. He didn’t make it his mission to try to please them.

Each of us has a fantasy that our family will be like the Waltons, an expectation that our dearest friends will be our next of kin. Jesus didn’t have that expectation. Look how he defined his family: “My true brother and sister and mother are those who do what God wants” (Mark 3:35).

When Jesus’ brothers didn’t share his convictions, he didn’t try to force them. He recognized that his spiritual family could provide what his physical family didn’t. If Jesus himself couldn’t force his family to share his convictions, what makes you think you can force yours?

Having your family’s approval is desirable but not necessary for happiness and not always possible. Jesus did not let the difficult dynamic of his family overshadow his call from God. And because he didn’t, this chapter has a happy ending.

What happened to Jesus’ family?

Mine with me a golden nugget hidden in a vein of the Book of Acts. “Then [the disciples] went back to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.… They all continued praying together with some women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and Jesus’ brothers” (Acts 1:12, 14, emphasis added).

What a change! The ones who mocked him now worship him. The ones who pitied him now pray for him. What if Jesus had disowned them? Or worse still, what if he’d suffocated his family with his demand for change?

He didn’t. He instead gave them space, time, and grace. And because he did, they changed. How much did they change? One brother became an apostle (Gal. 1:19) and others became missionaries (1 Cor. 9:5).

So don’t lose heart. God still changes families.

From He Still Moves Stones
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 1999) Max Lucado


I truly am thankful for my family. I love each and every one of you!

POC

"Kenneth passed away October 14,2009. This image is one of many that I will remember him in his last days."

This picture and caption is from a very very dear friend of mine. His brother Kenneth Maynard is the subject of this photo. Through his great talent my friend captured not only the last moments of his dying brother, but a glimpse of Heaven in the sky.

I love you Jack...What you do and how you do it...I see Jesus in you and your family.

Bible Study

Bible Study.

Those two word conjure up a myriad of thoughts and emotions in me. Going back to the beginning ('it's a very good place to start'...sorry, Julie Andrews popped up), I can remember when I took home a chart with my name on it, from my 3rd grade Bible Class. I was to write what scriptures I read, and if I read my Bible every day. Then when I brought it back, filled to the brim of scriptures I had 'read', I received great praise (and sometimes candy) on my 'Bible Study habits'. Proud of what I had done, I would do it again the next week and UNDERLINE all the scripture I read in my Bible. That way, during our class time, when the teacher asked us to open up our Bible to a certain verse, I could pause at the underlined verses and hope that the person next to me would notice how much of my Bible was underlined and think I was really spiritual.

The next phase I remember was the debate phase. In junior high and high school, I would actually STUDY a topic that was being discussed in class so I could interject my opinion about it. And, of course, support my opinion with my underlined scriptures that I hoped others would notice.

Then there was the 'fix-it' stage that came when I got married and had children. I would search the scriptures to 'fix' whatever problem I had with spouse or kid. The 'children obey your parents' scripture was not only underlined but highlighted, as was the 'husbands love your wife'. I had scriptures about who you should play with, your language (which was quoted with my hands on my hips), your attitude (a BIG one with teens), and, of course, the 'do nots'...steal, cheat, murder, or poke your sister with your pen.

Thank goodness this morphed into a real study. But the drawback was the comparison of what I was reading to what the church was doing. The legalism I had grown to love was shattered with the grace and mercy I read about. I was suddenly thrust onto the unstable ground of 'not having the answer for everything'. I had my checklist, and it didn't include giving grace to those that didn't deserve it! (I studied many other issues: prayer, worship, etc. that I won't go into detail. But trust me, there were ALOT!) My (legalistic) pride in my 'Bible Study' was, to say the least, angry. How could the church get it all WRONG? It took almost all of God's patience, I imagine, to get me to the point of realizing that all people, me included, have sinned, and fallen, and need His son's righteousness. That forgiveness on my part, is not an option, but a requirement.

Finally (for now), my Bible Study has led me to a place that excludes my over-abundant pride. As I sat this morning, reading some of my underlined verses :), I was reading with an overwhelming desire to know God better. Every verse was alive with His presence. His love was plastered on each page. His grace and mercy flowing through each sentence. When I learned something new I was excited, because I knew He was speaking life to me. His book is full of every study a university could offer: history, science, civics, government, psychology, sociology, literature...and I get a lifetime of study to have a deeper relationship with the God of the universe. It's all about Him...and me becoming more like Him: loving, grace-filled, and merciful.

Wow! What a Bible Study!

Relatively Speaking...

Christ became one of us. He took the biggest pay cut in history. Gave up servants, power, and prestige. Chose to watch the people He loved die. Accepted the fact that every friend and family member He had would hurt Him, and not just a little bit but enough to kill Him. Decided he would love anyway. Chose to live in joy. Decided He would forgive everything. Decided He would die. Why? He choose this life to relate deeply with our lives, all of our lives, whether is was in joy, triumph, suffering, or dying.

He made a choice.

We make a choice to follow Him.

Even if we have pay cuts. Demotions. Betrayals. Sickness. Love. Joy. To forgive. Death. In these we become Him to others.

Our experiences in life should relate Jesus' choice to someone else. If we have lost our income we can relate to those who have lost incomes. Just like Jesus. If we have been betrayed by those we love we can relate to others who have been lied to. Like Jesus. If we hurt we can come along side with those that hurt. Like Jesus. If we love we can triumph with others that love. Like Jesus. Rejoicing? Throw a party for others who rejoice! (You get the idea.) Through great sickness we relate (in a way no well person can) to those who are sick. Like Jesus. And ultimately, through dying, we who are in Christ show Him more clearly to others who will join us in that physical death someday.

"For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."

Now, as Paul Harvey says, 'for the rest of the story':

"Therefore God exalted (Jesus) to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."...

"Whatever was to my profit I consider loss..for Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ...having His righteousness...by faith. I (choose) to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,...to attain to the resurrection from the dead."

And on the way...

Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

We are here to relate to Jesus, and like Jesus, to others. To the glory of God.

Who do you relate to in your walk of life?
Rejoice! Jesus is near.