GROWING SEEDS: Happy "Thinks-Giving"...

November 23, 2017

Happy "Thinks-Giving"

Did you know that the words "Think" and "Thank" are derived from the same meaning?  Ya, me either.  Someone mentioned this fun-fact to a group of us this past weekend.....which got me "think"ing:

A few years ago, a good friend named Pam introduced a book called One Thousand Gifts by Ann VosKamp to a bunch of us women.  It was the year Mom had passed away, my husband had fallen and broken his hip two weeks later and a dear friend passed away the day after the hip break.  It had been a long and difficult year.

This little book, One Thousand Gifts, came along and taught me how to count my blessings.  Write them down.  Number them.  Strive to find 1000 things you were thankful for.  It caused me to "think" about all the little things I was thankful for and had never acknowledged.   So I started counting.....

1) Music....because it calms me, energizes me, creates me.

12) The bruises on my legs and hips from roller skating...as they serve to remind me 

of the fun time I had with the granddaughters.

Every evening, I would pull that journal out and "think" about the day behind me.....seeing how many things I could find to be "thank"ful for.

138) The promise of Heaven.

258). For difficult women in my life that make me roll my eyes and go "Huh?".  

I'm not really feeling thankful for this right now, Lord, 

but hoping if I write it down, I will be.

It turned into a challenge to find more things than the day before.  It changed my way of thinking from one of concentrating on the problems of the day to one of counting the blessings of that day.  And I began to change.  And I kept counting......

260) My friend Sandee Casey who said to me, 

"My mom used to tell me that watching a sunset will make you cry 

because in the perfection that God displays, you long for home with God. 

Perfection is the evidence that God exists and your soul yearns for that."

This beautiful friend, Sandee, passed away suddenly two months ago.  She no longer yearns for home with God.  She has arrived home.  

So, as we sit around the table with family or friends or maybe even alone this Thanksgiving Day, close your eyes...."Think" and then "Thank" God for being God.  How often do we thank Him for just being Him?  He didn't have to make the sunrise go from black to orange to yellow.  He didn't have to make the leaves go from green to red to brown.....He chose to...as a gift to you because He's counting His blessings as well....and you're at the top of His list.  

Happy Thanksgiving, my Friend, I'm so thankful for you.

GROWING SEEDS: How To Hear The Voice of God

When I was in my mid-20's, I taught a Sunday School class full of 5-year-olds.  It was the Kindergarten class at our church and I felt with my limited knowledge of Bible stories, it was the perfect place for me to be.

However, I found out that 5-year-olds don't sit still...and they aren't quiet....and they have an attention span of about 3 seconds.   Having never had children and being the youngest in my family, this was shocking news to me!  I found myself each week frustrated and wondering how to either talk fast enough to get my point in the 3 seconds before their attention moved elsewhere, or increase the volume of my voice to where they could hear nothing but me. Unfortunately, this dog-and-pony show went on for better than a year and didn't work.

So I decided to have a special guest speaker come in and tell the kids a story.  I needed the break, but so did the Kindergartners.  As the kids were busy taking their shoes and socks off, messing up the kids' hair next to them, thumping their foreheads repeatedly, the storyteller, a petite woman named Sammie, started telling her story.  Actually, she whispered her story.  I found myself in the back of the room leaning in....desperate to hear what she was saying...and so did the kids.  The room for the first time ever was quiet.  They were still.  They were leaning in to hear what Sammie had to say.  She had taught us all the SECRET to listening.

“Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, 

but the Lord was not in the wind. 

After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 

After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. 

And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” 

(NIV) 1 Kings 19:11-12

In the words of the great writer Mark Batterson, "When someone speaks in a whisper, you have to get very close to hear.  We lean toward a whisper, and that’s what God wants.  The goal of hearing the Heavenly Father’s voice isn’t just hearing His voice; it’s intimacy with Him.  That’s why He speaks in a whisper."

Awwww...there it is!  God could intimidate us with His outside voice, but He woos us with a whisper.  And His whisper is the very breath of life.

GROWING SEEDS: Dessert or Meat & Potatoes?

 

 

 

Dessert or Meat & Potatoes?

When Chuck and I first started attending First United Methodist Church several years ago, I found myself most each week leaving this sanctuary with red eyes and cheeks stained with tears as I walked out the doors of this church.  I think it was partly due to hormones but mostly due to a deeply convicted heart.  I hadn't been to church in a number of years at that time and I think the Lord was working immensely on me.  But as the years went by, my tears slowed to a trickle and then eventually stopped.  Although I was happy I wasn't Googling, "How not to cry in church" anymore, it bothered me that I wasn't as moved as I once had been. 

And I wondered why.

I discovered I had quit asking myself the hard questions.  I was seeing church as a "dessert-only" church...where I was focusing only on the easy-to-understand and "feel-good" scriptures.  I had stopped reading and studying the hard-to-read scriptures, the ones that made me squirm and reminded us our lives are going to get crazy hard in this world before they get blissfully easy upon our arrival in Heaven.  I found I had replaced my meat & potato scriptures, the protein verses, with dessert-only verses. 

And I liked it.

But friends, we need protein.  And although I am a lover of desserts and could eat pumpkin pie every day...all day, I need my protein in order to survive.  And so do you. 

We are living in a time in our country when a line is being drawn in the sand and we are quickly being forced to show our cards.  Do we choose God over our child...our spouse...our parent...our car...our house?  Now think real hard before answering this next question: 

If you were forced to make a choice between denying God to save your child from death

OR proclaiming God and knowing your child's life would end,

what would YOU do? 

Wow.  See, the hard scriptures, the meat & potatoes, tell us that God isn't a 2nd place God and the conclusion to our life story isn't pretty if the answer to the question above is anything but choosing or proclaiming Him....even in the impossibly difficult times.....especially in the impossibly difficult times.   God's dessert words are necessary....they remind us we are citizens of Heaven and we are loved deeper than we have the ability to understand.  But it's the meat & potatoes words of God that give us hope and let us truly appreciate the sweetness of God's dessert words.  

GROWING SEEDS: Nobody Trips Over Mountains

 

Nobody trips over mountains. 

It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. 

Pass all the pebbles in your path 

and you will find that you have crossed the 

mountain.

Do you ever just lay on your back in the grass looking up at the clouds watching as they pass above you….their shadows slowly shading the earth your laying on?  You reflect on your life so far……the experiences that have molded you into the person you are today….the very person laying on the grass staring up into heaven.  

Moments of whitespace.  

Breathing rest into your soul.

For me, these moments are memories of how I arrived at this juncture in my life.  My everyday life.  My everyday life that has included hearing those agonizing words "You will never have that child you always dreamed of" and a failed marriage to an alcoholic and eventual death of that alcoholic……an alcoholic who died alone…..the gruesome details of that death I will let die with him.  

The dark seasons of our lives…….

I am haunted by that time in my life….questioning whether circumstances would have been different had I only gently guided his heart to Jesus….if I had only gently guided MY own heart to Jesus.  Questions of whether he got to know God before he breathed that last breath……all alone.

There's nothing special about my story……it's the same as yours.  This infertility and deceased alcoholic was a pebble I stumbled on as I climbed this mountain….and it is one of those soul conversations I have with myself as I lay, flat out on the grass looking into the heavens.  And like the hand of a good friend, I feel God's hand resting on mine as we lay quietly on the grass together……watching the clouds go by…..and he whispers, "Be-loved….if you falter, I'll just keep whispering it, close to your ear……this is the way - beloved - walk in it."

"I look up to the mountains - does my help come from there? 

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!

He will not let you stumble, the one who watches over you will not slumber."

Psalms 121:1-2, 3

BLOG: Long Lines, A Little Volleyball and A Slice of Heaven

October 10, 2017

I skipped a blogging day somewhere this week.......it's probably cause I ran out of time standing in line at HomeGoods for 45 minutes just checking out.  Yep, after shopping for an hour, I find myself in the checkout line with 49 people ahead of me.  Not exaggerating....I had plenty of time to count each and every one of them.  Abandoning my cart and walking out wasn't an option...I needed these three items and the hour I just spent shopping would have been a waste.  So I hung in there...making new friends of the ladies around me.....seeing who could take the best picture of the long line to send when we complained to HomeGoods Corporate.  For goodness sake, it was Tuesday...middle of the day...not even near Christmas...what gives??

And made it out of there just in time to watch our oldest granddaughter, Bella, play her mid-week volleyball game.  We don't get to make many of the games, so this was a big treat for me! Oh ya....SHE WON!

October 11, 2017

 And yesterday.......we went to the beautiful Dallas Arboretum.  In all the years Chuck lived in Dallas (most all of his life), he doesn't remember ever going to this little slice of heaven called the Arboretum.  He practically could have spit to it from where he grew up....

It was the most beautiful of days.....75 degrees.....old-people-and-baby-stroller-day.......it was just awesome.

And Chuck only went off the path once with his wheelchair.  He was looking to the left when he went off the path to the right.  Stuck.  In gravel.  Along came three older ladies who immediately came up with a plan.  Two hung on to Chuck as he stood up so the other one and I could lift his chair up out of the gravel.  I overheard one lady say, "I haven't held a man since my husband died" while the one helping me whispered in my ear, "I know what you're going through....my husband was in a wheelchair too."  Precious-Precious-Precious-Precious Women....all of them.  And they showed me their muscles just before parting ways.....

We have enjoyed our stay here in our old home town.......but we're ready to move on.  Today, we are packing up the minivan and heading north......north to where?  We'll see.....but we want to see less concrete and more trees and mountains......

Hello Oklahoma and Arkansas!!!!!!

BLOG: A Couple Hicks In The Big City

 October 10, 2017

One thing hasn't changed since we moved from Dallas 12 years ago to the country (lake).  Chuck's love affair with Macy's.  The biggest smile....the brightest eyes....the happiest man came rolling out of Macy's yesterday as we took a relaxing day at the Mall....a place we don't have many of in East Texas (who am I fooling...we don't have ANY malls).

I feel like I'm in some type of Sci-Fi futuristic movie being back in Dallas for an extended stay.  "Brow-Bars" for those who want better eyebrows at Macys???  Really??

Leather reclining seats with a tray table at the movie theater (we were halfway through the movie before I realized they reclined)??!!  I'm such a hick.

And I'm starting to sound like my mother.  We excitedly went up to the box office to purchase our movie tickets and suddenly my $20 bill vanished.  I heard these words leaving my mouth as I spoke through the little hole in the window to the 16 year-old cashier, "$20?  Are you sure?  It's only $5 for matinee in our neck-of-the-woods".   Yes....I actually said this. 

But I discovered something in our adventures yesterday.  I realized this no longer felt like home to me.  I used to LOVE the mall....now I couldn't wait to get out of the mall.  A "Brow-Bar" would have excited me back in the day.....now I think its just bizarre that someone would be that attached to their eyebrows.   And $20 for a matinee?  I don't care if they do have leather-reclining-chairs-with-a-swivel-table.  These things are wayyyyy on down the list of essential components of my life.  I've changed......

I'd much prefer to see a beautiful sunrise that didn't include a high speed freeway in front of it.  I much prefer seeing a quiet lake instead.

STATE FAIR DAY

October 9, 2017

STATE FAIR DAY

It's been just under 40 years since this chick's been to the State Fair of Texas.  I was in college dating a hot guy with a hot black Trans Am at the time....

This time, I was with my hot husband with a hot burgundy Minivan and our awesome family.  And I've discovered.....eating Fletchers Corny Dogs and Fried Banana Pudding then riding some ride called "Don't Throw Up", is something left for the "younger" crowd to do.  Yep, we stopped at Walmart on the way home and grabbed some Rolaids and Advil. 

We now have a student-driver as a grandchild, so the Car Show was a must.  It's almost impossible for me to think of Bella driving as I mostly only remember her and cars having a love-hate relationship as she was growing up.  Motion-sickness was not her friend as a child.......TRUST ME.

And it was discovered that, although they lived in Dallas their whole lives, Chuck and his son Troy never went to the Fair together.  So it only took (no comment) years for Father and Son to head to the fair and share a plate of kurd cheese together.

What an awesome vacation we are having so far.  We may not be at the Ark in the middle of a hurricane, but we are somewhere better; with family.  And isn't that what the Ark was all about anyway?  

Family.

Granddaughters

Bella hitching a ride on Grandpa's wheelchair

Granddaughters and their Lele

FAMILY (& Big Tex, of course)

GROWING SEEDS: Pressing Towards Home

 

"Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it on my own; but this one thing I do:

Forgetting what lies behind (me) and straining forward to what lies ahead (for me),

I press on toward the goal (Home) for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 3:13-14

 

One of my favorite movies ever is The Wizard of Oz.  No matter how many times I watch it, I always cry.  Dorothy's Fear.....her Hope.....her Searching....her Travel on a treacherous road to find her way Home.  It's impossible not to see the parallel with the road we're on....that road to Home.

 

Paul said it best in his words above, "Forgetting what lies behind and straining to see (Heaven), I press on toward the goal".  Like Dorothy, we are all walking this yellow brick road called Life on this earth....following the path as it winds through the hourglass of our lives.  Each turn...each valley....each mountain, we are inching our way towards Home.  Each grain of sand that falls are moments we have completed. 

 

But so often, we let life distract us.  We turn the hourglass upside down and we look back on the road we just traveled and take our eyes off the road ahead.  We return to pick up the pieces that should be left in the past and we carefully place them on our backs, weighing ourselves down as we journey on. 

 

We wonder why this road is so hard and why we feel so weighed down.  We forget we're carrying our past on our backs....and how difficult it is to stay focused on the road ahead when we feel the weight of the road behind us.  It's hard to fight off the evil monkeys of the Wicked Witch of the West when our muscles ache from the weight we have chosen to carry. 

 

And then Glenda arrives.....the good witch....and she longs to take this weight off our backs we've been carrying.  Her constant reminder, "There's No Place Like Home" gives us the Strength and Hope we need that all it takes is a little Faith and a lot of Love for us to be free of the past and proceed on the road ahead.  She is always by our side and watching over us as we journey on.

 

And then we turn the corner and we can see it up ahead.  Home.  We long to be there.....a place where only happiness is allowed...a place where Fear and Evil have no power and Heaven's door is slammed hard in their face. 

 

But there's one more thing the Owner of Heaven wants to make sure of before we are given a key to His Home.  Are we there for Him.....or for those pieces of the past that have gone before us?  The answer to this question lies within you. 

 

When you think of Heaven, what or who is the first thing you long to see?  This, my friends, is the answer to the question.

Funny Thing Happened on the Way To the Ark

October 7, 2017

So......a funny thing happened on our way to the Ark....the Ark Encounter, that is.

It rained. (Don't think for a second I don't see the irony here.....)

We've been planning a trip to Williamsburg, Kentucky for...ohhh.....about 6 months to see the actual replica of the Ark and check out the Fall colors along the way.  This was an anniversary present from my beloved, was suppose to start today and included the promise to "not-give-you-grief-or-whine-every-time-you-stop-the-car-to-take-a-picture, Liz".  SD cards were cleaned and in position....batteries charged and every photo-op between East Texas and Northern Kentucky had been researched and written down.

We are not in Kentucky. 

Twenty-four hours prior to take-off in the minivan, we aborted Kentucky.  We simply couldn't see driving 24 hours round-trip in hopes the doors to the Ark weren't already closed and floating when we got there.  Quick change of plans.....

We considered Grand Canyon.....never been there...always wanted to....36-hour-round-trip drive.  My butt is already wide enough.....

No.

We considered Colorado Springs.....our beautiful niece and her family live there and we haven't yet seen her place.  We love Colorado....and we love Tiffany even more.  But it showed SNOW on Tuesday (plus, we hadn't exactly run this thought past Tiff yet)......so we decided to delay the trip to Colorado for another time.....

Sooooo.....here's the deal.  We decided with an odd tilt-of-the-head....to head home.  Home to Dallas.  We are going to be tourists for the first time ever in our home town.  We are going to do touristy things....taste touristy food....look like tourists.

So we loaded up the minivan yesterday, headed 1-1/2 hours west and landed north of Dallas.  Checked into a hotel, headed over to our son and daughter-in-laws house for a visit and dinner, and for the first time in a gazillion years, we aren't racing in and out of Dallas to have a colonoscopy, cystoscopy, endoscopy, MRI or mammogram.  Nope.  We are going to have some FUN time.  And an added perk is....we won't get lost.

Granddaughter Bella

So, this week will be filled with State Fairs, Arboretum, Granddaughters, Family, Museums, Shopping, maybe a Haunted House or two and.....Resting.  We are downright giddy about this upcoming week!

Want to travel with us??

GROWING SEEDS: Take A Knee

 

"Take A Knee"

 

"Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 
Instead, He gave up His divine privileges;
He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being." 
Philippians 2:5-7

We quit watching football years ago.  Truth be told, I quit watching when Jerry Jones fired Tom Landry.  I haven't quite gotten over that grudge yet.  But even more than my grudge towards Mr. Jones, the issue of kneeling instead of standing in respect of our American flag has infiltrated the walls of our churches....the place we go to kneel before our God....and is causing bitterness and hurt among the people we sit next to each Sunday.  It has infiltrated the Pee-Wee football team down the street, the multi-cultural Sunday School Class and the friendships we thought were rock-solid.

"Are your hearts tender and compassionate?" 
Philippians 2:1b

Did you know that Philippians 2 was believed to have been written because two ladies were having a fight, or at least a strong disagreement, in the church?  We are to use the love God placed within us, be of one mind and quit fighting with each other to gain the upper hand.  Paul tells us to consider the other person BETTER than ourselves, and SERVE him by looking out for his interest:

"Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. 
Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 
Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too."
Philippians 2:3-4

Personally, I believe we should stand for our National Anthem.  Many of my family and friends sacrificed their lives for me to have the right to stand.  But would I stand in my living room if I were watching the game on TV?  Do I stand when I'm alone and hear the anthem?  Hummmm......

Jesus didn't allow the hostility of the world against Him to JUSTIFY hostility against those who were mistreating Him.  Paul taught that we are to respect each other....have tender hearts and compassion.....regardless of our differences. 

If we would consistently take a knee for the RIGHT reason, there would be no need to take it for any other reason.

GROWING SEEDS: How We Treat Others Is How We Treat Jesus

 

How - We - Treat - Others - Is - How - We - Treat
JESUS

This was the dogma my friend Sandee Casey lived every day of her short life on this earth.  I was gifted with knowing this beautiful woman who lived down the road from us for many years.....and calling her my friend for life.

It's easy to remember the first time I met her......she carried such a presence about her.  Once you moved past her external beauty; her crisp, starched blouses and colorful shoelaces, you couldn't miss how even more stunning her internal beauty was.  She had a sweet enduring way of always saying, "Well, bless her heart" that will forever make me smile when I think of her.

But the thing that set Sandee apart from most of us was her massive love of others.  How she treated everyone who crossed her path.  She actually lived Matthew 7:12:

"Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. 
This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets."

Did you catch that word "essence"?  It means, "Soul, Spirit, Nature, Core, Heart".  Sandee's essence was making sure others felt special.  Little gifts in the mailbox for the friend who had lost her "Fun".......hidden sterling silver treasures in the backyard for the new step-granddaughters to search out and find as they joined their new family.....Mardi Gras beads and glow necklaces were always on standby in her garage stash and her clown outfit wasn't far behind.  Her essence was like glitter falling down on everyone who met her.

See, Sandee knew the secret......she knew that when she loved others, she was loving Jesus Himself. 

And what about the verse right after this?  "You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate.  The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.  But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it." (Matthew 7:13-14).

Truth is, Sandee made the decision to travel on the narrow road.  She treated others as she wanted to be treated.  She knew that the narrow road was all about Jesus - loving Him, serving Him, giving Him control.  And that's the road that led to her life.

GROWING SEEDS: W-O-R-R-Y

 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or what you will drink,
or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Matthew 6:25

"One morning, Death was walking into a city when a man stopped him and asked what he was doing.  Death answered, “I’m going into the city to kill 10,000 people.” The man replied, “That’s terrible that you would kill 10,000 people.” Death responded, “Taking people when their time has come is my job. Today I have to get my 10,000.”  Later, as Death was coming out of the city, the man met him. Again, he was furious. He said, “You told me this morning that you were going to take 10,000 people, but 70,000 died today.” Death answered, “Don’t get mad at me. I only took 10,000. Worry killed all the rest.” (1)

W-O-R-R-Y.

My friend, Beatrice is a 92 year old worry-all-the-time lady on my Meals on Wheels route.  She worries she's going to have a stroke one day....she worries about who called and hung up.....she worries about when the trash truck is going to show up and she worries about her doctor firing her.  Beatrice is the most worrisome person I've ever met.

And yet, she has a great and deep love for the Lord.  This - I - know. 
She just has a problem with trusting Him. 

And don't we all!  We've all been Beatrices at some point in our lives.  Being a recovering worrier myself, I'm learning how to replace that space within me that's been reserved for Worry....with Trust.  It's like when my granddaughter Brie was little.  She would stand on her bed, arms stretched out wide, and say, "Lele, I'm going to jump into your arms and you're going to catch me, right, Lele?"  She showed her trust in me by taking that leap off the bed and into my arms.  And I never dropped her.....not once.

It's the same with God.  He simply asks us to trust Him.....to catch us when we jump off the cliff of sorrow, anxiety, and worry.  And when we do....He catches us.  Those great big strong nail-scarred arms are outstretched as if to say, "I love you THISSSSS much" and He catches us as we trustingly fly through the air to His waiting arms.  And He never drops us....no, not once.

¹ Haddon W. Robinson

GROWING SEEDS: "Walter"

 

"I am the resurrection and the life. 
Those who believe in Me, even though they die like everyone else,
WILL LIVE AGAIN." 
John 11:25 NLT

I called him Walter.  He called me Veronica.

Neither of us could ever remember why.......such random pet names we gave each other so many years before.  To everyone else, he was Troy Arterbury.....but he was always Walter to me.

We first met 17 years ago......neighbors living three doors down from each other.  He had this infectious laugh that made everyone around him laugh.....and when this Arkansas Razorback cupped his hands to his mouth and did his "hog-call"......Goodness, I'd get the hiccups laughing so hard. 

I find myself waffling between extreme sadness for me and extreme happiness for my friend Walter who passed away a week ago.  The tears flow easily and the memories flood back quicker than I can process them.  And I remember reading about a time when Jesus felt these same emotions.  It was for His friend Lazarus....and the Bible shows Jesus' heart spilling out His eyes. 

 "Jesus wept". 

"His tears give you permission to shed your own.  Grief does not mean you don't trust; it simply means you can't stand the thought of another day without the Jacob or Lazarus or Walter of your life.  If Jesus gave the love, He understands the tears.  So grieve, but don't grieve like those who don't know the rest of the story." (Max Lucado)

My friend Walter kissed his sweet wife good-night last week, closed his eyes, drifted off to sleep, and awoke in heaven.  What a glorious beginning to the rest of his journey.....

Goodbye my friend......I know I'll see you again.  

"He will wipe away every tears from their eyes, and death shall be no more,
neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore,
for the former things have passed away."
Revelation 21:4

Let's Get Acquainted: "Stan and Peggy Silva"

 

What does German square dancing, Parents Without Partners, a girl named Josie and the title "Ditty Bopper" all have in common?

The Silva's.

Stan and Peg Silva moved to Mt. Vernon about two years ago after a life in the army and a long stay in Albuquerque.  They met while in a group called Parents Without Partners.  Stan was dating Peg's best friend, Josie at the time, but it was Peg that Stan instantly had eyes for.  She refused his repeated requests for a date while he was dating Josie, so Stan did what any man would do: he asked Josie would she mind if he asked her best friend out.  Without even a slap on the face, she agreed and the rest is history.  They were soon married, moved every 18-24 months all around the world while in the Army, raised their three kids and finally found themselves "in the friendliest" community they've ever lived in....Mt. Vernon.

After getting settled into their beautiful Mt. Vernon home just down the road from the square, they decided to check out First United Methodist Church.  Like many of us, they immediately felt that ever-present "Spirit" the minute they walked through the double doors.  It felt like home.....and between new friends Harry & Joanna Earl as well as Pastor Jack Wallace, they knew FUMC was where God was wanting them to call home.

Their love for square dancing was put on hold these past two years while Stan had double hernia surgery and Peg healed from a stroke and broken shoulder.  Each time, their church family rallied around them bringing food and making sure they had a way to their doctor appointments.

Oh.....and what does Ditty Bopper have to do with the Silvas?  That was Stan's occupation in the Army.  Google it.....I think you'll find it quite interesting!

GROWING SEEDS: The One Thing You Can't Win Without

 

 

 As I sat in the high school auditorium last weekend, next to three newby Pageant attendees I coaxed there with the promise of pure entertainment, my face couldn't help but have a Julia-Roberts-coat-hanger-type-smile plastered all over it.  If I elbowed them once I elbowed them fifty times, "Isn't this just the greatest??" I said repeatedly.  They hesitantly agreed.

"When you seek My face in response to My love, both of us are blessed. 
This is a deep mystery, designed more for your enjoyment than for your understanding."*

Its no secret I love the Ms. Mt. Vernon Pageant......because, crazy as it may sound, God is sitting smack-dab in every row, every clap, every click of every camera snapping memories.  It's a Polaroid of this blessed little town we have been chosen to live in, friends.

Many of us come from a large city....a place where the cost of your dress, the maker of your shoes, the size of your waist....matters.  But not here in Mt. Vernon.  We live in a place where it is not just okay, but necessary to begin the pageant with heartfelt prayer and our hands over our hearts as we sing along to God Bless America. A place where most every girl thanked God FIRST and the local Dodge dealership SECOND that provided her a truck to ride in the Christmas Parade because her PaPa's truck broke down.  A place where it didn't matter whether your dress cost $200 or $20....it was the confidence and the joy that radiated out of that dress that mattered.  A place where the color of your skin, the style of your hair or the size of your waist had no bearing on the outcome at all.....and you were most grateful for Dairy Queen and Blizzards.....but always God first.

"I am not a grim God who discourages pleasure,
I delight in your enjoyment of everything that is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable. 
Think on these things and My Light in you will shine brighter day by day."*

And I pray each contestant, each parent, each audience member like me, never forgets the one thing we can't win without.......God.  He's the real reason we were placed in this precious town.....whether sitting next to one another at the Ms. Mt. Vernon Pageant or in the pews of this beautiful church...a place where, if we open our eyes wide, we can see Him in everything we do and everyone we meet.

"I have awakened in your heart a strong desire to know Me."

*Sarah Young

GROWING SEEDS: "COME....Let Me Walk Through Life With You"

 

"The biggest thing God is doing in your life is teaching you to trust Him.
And faith in Him usually leads you through difficulty, not around it."

Many years ago, I found myself in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico on a small fishing boat for an 8-hour deep sea fishing excursion.  A storm was brewing ahead of us and about 45 minutes into the eight hour day, most everyone was hanging off the side of the railing giving up their breakfast.  Somewhere between throwing up the eggs and the toast, I remember thinking, "I'd give everything I own for a helicopter rescue right now."  I was desperate...I was scared....and I wanted off that boat!

It's interesting that most times God doesn't detour us around life's difficulties.  He leads us right through the big fat middle of the storm....where we get hit in the face with the blinding rain, the hurricane-force winds and we become intimate friends with the railing on the boat.  Where this life's journeys take us through cancer, through train wrecks, through miscarriages, through heart attacks and yes, even through death. 

We tend to say, "Father, show me how to go AROUND the storm....how to pass OVER the fire.....how to AVOID the waves altogether."  But He smiles that loving smile of His, looks us straight in the eye and says, "No, I want you to understand I'm deeper than the water, My presence is more mighty than the wind.  And I want you to be able to trust Me in any situation, and the only way you're going to learn that is by going through the storm, not around it."

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, Liz." 
Isaiah 43:2

And then He holds out His strong and scarred hand to us and says, "COME....let Me walk through it with you."  

"LET'S GET ACQUAINTED".....Robert & Christy Jones

 

"LET'S GET ACQUAINTED....."      Robert and Christy Jones

MT. VERNON OPTIC HERALD:  "A train collided with a Pilgrim’s Feed truck at a RR crossing in Franklin County on Tuesday, October 28, 2014.  The impact separated the trailer’s cab from the frame......The cab came to rest against a tree and fence row....The driver was Robert Jones.....his condition is unknown at this time."

It was a Fall Tuesday afternoon when Robert Jones was busy at work making deliveries in his 18-wheeler.  The last thing he remembers is his front wheels being on the train tracks.  The next thing he remembers is its Winter....February to be exact....and he is broken and in pain at the hospital.  He has a massive head injury, broken back, broken tailbone and the bone in his knee straight down to his foot has been replaced with metal. 

He is told by a co-worker that there were 11 semi-truck accidents that year with trains....

10 didn't make it.  

Robert was the 11th.

He and his wife Christy have found themselves these past three years painfully walking a path that has taken them over boulders and mountains to climb, yet...they keep walking.  They don't give up and they keep believing God is in charge and leading them down this road for a reason.  They wish they knew what that reason was......so they patiently wait to see what God has planned for them.

Christy, already suffering from seizures and now Robert, learning to walk again with the assistance of his homemade cane, started attending the First United Methodist Church in Mt. Vernon a few months ago.  Their friend and neighbor, Joy Stone, kept inviting them until one day, they walked through our double doors for the first time. 

"I walked into this church and I immediately felt His Spirit", Robert said.  "These are the nicest people here at First United Methodist in Mt. Vernon", Christy added. 

We may never know the reason this happened to Robert and Christy.  But maybe God needed them sitting in the late service, middle section pews of this blessed church of ours.  And maybe God is working mighty miracles with, and through, this couple who are growing stronger with each new day. 

So, go...shake their hands..give them a gentle hug...and welcome them into our family.  It's what we do when the love of Jesus runs rampant through the aisles of this church.

GROWING SEEDS: The Parable of.....THINGS

 

The Parable Of........THINGS

The Parable of....the mustard seed.

The Parable of....the yeast.

The Parable of....the wheat and weeds.

The Parable of....the hidden treasure and the pearl.

The Parable of....the fishing net.

Same story......different examples.....all within 20 simple verses.  I find the critical thing in each of these parables is not what the man gives up, but his reason for doing so.  His REASON for doing so. 

Jesus wanted you to know that when you find Him, all else seems valueless. 

I love my things, which is quite evident when you shop in my attic.  A girl of "Things".  But something interesting has been happening over the past few years.  These beloved things I used to cherish, have become less and less beloved...less cherished.  That's why they seem to be finding their way into our attic and not into my living room anymore.  In reality, they should be finding their way onto the Mt. Vernon Online Garage Sale site or the Tabor trash can out front.  I have discovered that as I let go of my vice-grip on these beloved "things" of this world, my grip on God seems tighter...stronger for some reason. 

See, it's not the removal of these "things" that has brought me closer to God.....it's the reason for doing so.

Oh, I still love a beautiful necklace and a nice dining table.  Yes.  Oh yes.  But now, I'm not invested in those things.  If the house burned down tomorrow....or flooded....I wouldn't cry over them.  I probably wouldn't even miss them.  But if I lost God....if I didn't have this Man who loves me more than all the stars in the sky and asks only that I allow Him to become more important in my life than these "things"....these things that weigh us down and block our view of Him.....well, if I lost Him, I would have no reason to enjoy that beautiful necklace or sit at the dining table.

He IS my beloved.....He IS my hidden treasure.

Pinch Me, Ant Ellie.....Pinch Me

My sweet Ant Ellie died in her sleep a week ago.  She hadn't been sick a day in her life, had just moved from Florida to the one place on this earth she loved and always longed to return to; the piney woods and red-clay of Alabama.  She loved this place with every inch of her robust body.   

And this was the place she wanted to die....someday......but not last Friday.

Ellie never had children of her own, so she borrowed her siblings' kids.  She was the kind of aunt every niece dreams of...the FUN aunt....the one that will squeeze-her-3x-sized-rear-into-the-roller-coaster-seat-next-to-you kind of aunt.  Who at 79 was about to purchase her first 4-wheeler to cruise around her 60 acres of land she lived on...alone.  

And she and God met up in these Alabama woods.  As she sat drinking coffee on her front porch last year in this place she loved so, God sat with her.  Quietly and expectantly.....He waited.  He would soon be calling her Home, but she didn't know that.

And then she heard Him.  Like a wind whispering to her, she heard His Spirit speaking to her heart. And she picked up that old dusty Bible sitting in her bookshelf and opened it for the first time in years.  His love leaped off the pages and straight into her heart.  And she made the decision to be baptized this year at the mighty-but-not-too-late age of 79.

"And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! 

We go through exactly what Christ goes through. 

If we go through the hard times with Him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with Him!" Romans 8:25 (MSG)

And so we blow her a kiss and say "Goodbye for now, sweet Ant Ellie.  And warm up the 4-wheeler....we expect a tour of Heaven soon." 
 

https://youtu.be/mmG9lftvHOg

(click on link above)