GROWING SEEDS: "Prodigal Son"

"While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; 

he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him."  

Luke 15:20

I just love the story of the Prodical Son.  For the longest, my heart went out to the older brother who stayed home, worked hard and didn't cause his father any trouble......cause at one time, that was me.

When I was a teenager, my older brother who was 17, was enrolled in a church boarding school 10 hours away when he found himself in a heap of trouble.  I won't go into what he did, but suffice it to say, he got kicked out of school.  While he was driving himself the 500 miles home, my mother and father were busy making a gigantic sign to place in the yard that said "Welcome Home, Son".  When I drove up in my Chevy Vega from school that day and saw that sign, I was furious.  I couldn't understand why my parents were welcoming this good-for-nothing, troublemaker prodical son of their's, home with open arms.  They barely acknowledged me; they just continued looking out the front window for him to drive up.  I just didn't get it.

Many years later while talking to my Dad about this incident, I asked him why he welcomed my brother home without even a hint of anger and disgust.  I'll never forget how he looked up, as if his mind was rewinding back to that time, and told me that he and Mom were so afraid that James would not return home that night...they feared they might never see or hear from him again.  They wanted to make sure he knew how loved he was even with the mistakes he had made.....and he was forgiven.

It was a modern day Prodical Son story.  I admire my folks 1000x more now than I did then cause, you see, my brother turned out to be one of the most spiritual people I've ever met....no doubt because of the love and forgiveness of that day many years ago. 

And a book I'm sure we've all read to our children and grandchildren at some time, says it even better than I can and goes something like this:

RUNAWAY BUNNY

Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away.

So he said to his mother, “I am running away.”

“If you run away,” said his mother, “I will run after you.

For you are my little bunny.”

“If you run after me,” said the little bunny,

“I will become a fish in a trout stream 

and I will swim away from you.”

“If you become a fish in a trout stream,” said his mother,

“I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you.”

“If you become a fisherman,” said the little bunny,

“I will become a rock on the mountain, high above you.”

“If you become a rock on the mountain high above me,”

said his mother, “I will become a mountain climber,

and I will climb to where you are.”

“If you become a mountain climber,”

said the little bunny,

“I will be a crocus in a hidden garden.”

“If you become a crocus in a hidden garden,”

said his mother, “I will be a gardener. And I will find you.”

“If you are a gardener and find me,”

said the little bunny, “I will be a bird

and fly away from you.”

“If you become a bird and fly away from me,”

said his mother, “I will be a tree that you come home to.”

“If you become a tree,” said the little bunny,

“I will become a little sailboat,

and I will sail away from you.”

“If you become a sailboat and sail away from me,”

said his mother, “I will become the wind

and blow you where I want you to go.”

“If you become the wind and blow me,” said the little bunny,

“I will join a circus and fly away on a flying trapeze.”

“If you go flying on a flying trapeze,” said his mother,

“I will be a tightrope walker,

and I will walk across the air to you.”

“If you become a tightrope walker and walk across the air,”

said the bunny, “I will become a little boy

and run into a house.”

“If you become a little boy and run into a house,”

said the mother bunny, “I will become your mother

and catch you in my arms and hug you.”

“Shucks,” said the bunny, “I might just as well

stay where I am and be your little bunny.”

And so he did.

“Have a carrot,” said the mother bunny.

Thank God we have a Father who will go to the ends of the earth to forgive us, love us and welcome us home.

GROWING SEEDS: "Mowing"

 

 

Back when Chuck and I first moved from Dallas to the lake, we purchased our very first riding lawnmower.  It was a charming shade of army-green and we both were giddy as kids with a new toy on Christmas morning.    The "plan" was that Liz would do the mowing and Chuck would do the supervising.  He taught me what all the buttons and levers on this fine machine did and the best plan of action for attacking the mowing of the yard.  I couldn't wait to get started!

Everything went great.....UNTIL........I came to these green dome topped lids on the side of the house called The Septic Tanks.  Being a "City Laker" and never having seen anything like this before, I remember thinking to myself, "I can just go over those...no problem".....About halfway over the first dome lid, I could feel the lawnmower shaking violently and the blades grinding to a halt.  I tried rocking back and forth, putting it in reverse and pushing it  to loosen the blades' grip on the lid, all to no avail.  So as I explained to Chuck about my little predicament, he came up with the fine idea of him "pulling" the mower as I "pushed" behind.  Sounded like a good plan!

UNTIL......

The lid and mower came loose which caused it, and me, to lunge forward and the left half of me to fall into the septic tank.  I don't recall whether the "pain" was worse than the sheer "grossness" of the situation, but all I knew was, mowing was not my "blessing".  

So, why am I telling you this?

Cause if mowing is YOUR blessing, we need you to express that blessing by joining the church "Yard Crew".  

FUMC has 4 teams that rotate mowing during growing season and each team is in need of more help.  And there are advantages to this job: You get to ride a nice, shiny slick tractor....and the church isn't on a septic system.

So why not contact one of the four team captains below for more information and sign up to help on one of these mowing teams.  

Afterall, "A Man Reaps What He Sows" (Galatians 6:7).

TEAM CAPTAINS:

Tim Gutschlag - 903-

Jack Abbott - 903-860-35000

Billy Jordan - 903-537-4390

Hal Gibson - 903-860-3021

GROWING SEEDS: "Sharing Our Faith"

 

 

 

Do you remember who first shared their faith with you that brought you to where you are right now?  Do you remember that pivotal moment?

I certainly do.  

Mine started with Becky Arterbury and it continues because of YOU.  Each of you have shared your faith with me at different times and in many different ways.  As you sit here in church reading this article, I want you to know that YOU witnessed to me by your hug, your listening, your kindness.  Maybe it was something as simple as saying "Good Morning" to me or maybe as deep as sharing my tears on a traumatic event in my life.   And most likely, you didn't realize God placed you in that moment to witness to me.

 

See, you share yourself and your FAITH by "practicing" your faith to everyone you meet; whether you realize it or not.  It may be as simple as smiling at the cashier at Brookshires; or helping an elderly person across the busy parking lot at Wal-Mart.  Maybe its giving up that front row parking spot for someone who is in a hurry.....or giving your time to serve those in need.  Maybe its for apologizing even when you weren't wrong.  Each of these are moments God has given you to witness about Him to others.  He put those people into your life at that instant as an opportunity for you to be blessed. It's up to us whether we accept this amazing opportunity......or not.

I've come to the conclusion that God allows me to go through hard times so I can witness to others of His faithfulness and the blessing that goes with it.  Billy Graham I'm not.......and the mere thought of standing in front of a group of people causes me to break out in a cold sweat and requires a lot of water to unstick my tongue from the roof of my mouth.  But sharing your faith doesn't require you to preach to thousands of people; it can be as easy as embracing the visitor at church, like you did to me when I first visited this church, or inviting your neighbor to church, like Becky did, or to the upcoming city-wide evangelistic series being held at the high school on March 3-6.

Find "your" way of sharing your faith, and have a great time counting how many people God places in your path today....and how many times you've been blessed because of it.

"There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents

than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance."

Luke 15:7

There is no greater joy in the world than leading someone to Christ.

GROWING SEEDS; "Ash Daily"

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Ash Wednesday Daily

"ASH DAILY"

Have you ever had this driving desire to tell people about something BIG that happened to you yet when it came time to tell your story, the words just disappeared.....WHOOSH.....vanished.

That's where I'm at tonight.  So forgive me if I stumble around a bit.....

Today is Ash Wednesday.  How many of you know what that means?  I know a fair amount of you do cause I saw you tonight....at church....having the ash from the burned palm branches used in the previous year's Palm Sunday service, placed on your forehead in the shape of the cross......just as I did for the very first time in my life. 

Now, I must admit, I was a little afraid to tell some of you that.....I wasn't raised to celebrate Ash Wednesday.......and I can almost feel you cringing uncomfortably, shifting in your chairs and thinking this was strictly a Catholic tradition.  It's not.  It's a strictly Christian tradition.

I found it ironic that a girl who had never celebrated Ash Wednesday before in her life had been asked to write an article about this event for her Methodist church bulletin last weekend.  I had to recite the time when I was about 20 years old and my co-worker Sandra came in late to work with a smudge on her face.  I called her over to my desk, stood up, spit on a tissue and wiped the smudge right off her forehead.  Two minutes later I heard of Ash Wednesday for the first time....from a not-so-happy co-worker.  And I have to admit, this past week I had to Google what Ash Wednesday even meant.  But as I learned more and more about it's purpose.....it's meaning.....I had to wonder why we never celebrated this in the church I grew up in.  I mean, we believed everything it stood for.

A man by the name of Brusatti said it best when he said "there's something powerful about the cross-shaped mark millions of Christians receive on their foreheads every year on Ash Wednesday.  It's a public sign of one's personal faith, a reminder of one's mortality and a pledge to repent and draw closer to God in preparation for Easter."  But I say it's so much more.   It's humbling yourself to accept God's grace.....a time of repentence.....a time of reflection....and a time of change.  

I believe the name "Ash Daily" is far more appropriate than "Ash Wednesday".  And I believe Easter this year is going to mean so much more because of what I experienced today.

Happy Ash Daily!

GROWING SEEDS: 'Ash Wednesday"

ASH WEDNESDAY

February 13

"And I set my face to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, 

with fasting and sackcloth and ashes."

Daniel 9:3

When I was 20 years old, I worked as a transcriptionist for an insurance company in Dallas.  One of my dearest friends there was an older lady named Sandra who went to the Methodist Church.  One day Sandra came into work a little late and as she walked past me, I noticed she had a smudge of "something" on her forehead.  I called her over to my desk, stood up, spit on a tissue and wiped the smudge right off her forehead.  That is when I first heard of Ash Wednesday.

And how blessed am I, an ex-Seventh-day Adventist who was never taught about Ash Wednesday, to have been asked to write about this amazing event.  I feel quite sure many of you were like me; having no idea what Ash Wednesday meant.  But what a truly sacred event this is.  According to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke; Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert before He endured temptation by Satan.  Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of this 40-day period of prayer and fasting.   But why the ashes?  The ashes, which are placed on the forehead in the sign of the cross, represent a sign of mourning and repentance to God.  Ashes, according to the Bible, were used to express mourning, and dusting oneself with ashes was a remorseful way of expressing regret for sins and faults all throughout the Bible.  Many use this day to go without all or some kinds of food or drink known as fasting as well.

So exactly what happens at the Ash Wednesday service?  Pastor Jack will apply ashes in the shape of the cross on the forehead of each person, while speaking the words, "For dust you are and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19) which are the words God spoke to Adam and Eve after they had eaten of the forbidden fruit and fallen into sin.  They remind each of us of our sinfulness and mortality and the need to get right with God before it is too late.  The cross reminds each of us of the good news that through Jesus Christ' crucifixion, there is forgiveness for all sins, all guilt and all punishment.

When we look in the mirror on Ash Wednesday and see the black smudge on our forehead, we should be reminded that, no matter what, we are still sinners in need of constant conversion.  It is to change our lives as we approach the greatest celebration in the Church.  Easter.

So don't wear your ashes proudly, but make sure you wear them.....and wear them humbly.

"You started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt." 

Genesis 3:19 (Message)

GROWING SEEDS: "Congregational Care"

 

 

Have you ever had a member of your family pass away and, as a bystander, watched their church family quietly and tenderly surround the family with hands of love?  Almost as if on cue, instantly a group of people are pulling together a meal prior to the funeral, standing quietly in the background, taking care of everyone's immediate needs.  

This is called Congregational Care. 

 

FUMC has what I would consider, one of the best Congregational Care volunteer groups I've ever experienced.  With a total of four luncheon groups on-call at a moments notice, each of these four groups consists of 8-10 volunteers.  Once the church notifies the Group Chair of a death, they spring into action putting together a beautiful luncheon, complete with china, silver and linens.  All but the main dish, which is paid for by the church, is provided by these same loving volunteers.

Won't you consider volunteering a little of your time to help someone who may be helping YOU during your difficult time?

Contact Marcy Yates at (903) 860-7756 or Linda Moore at (903) 632-5997 for more information.

GROWING SEEDS: "A Blessed Day....Indeed"

January 9, 2013

A Blessed Day

Last Sunday, I was invited to share my short video "Thankful" with a sweet little church called New West Hope Methodist Church in a tiny little community just north of where we live.

"Thankful" by Liz Etheridge

Click to View

It truly is a magnificant place.....As I sat in this humble, sweet little church; the smell of the old natural gas furnace....you know, the kind you can actually see the flames in.....I was magically taken back by the smell to a time when I was a child visiting "Grandma in the Woods" in Alabama and our good friends, the "Johnsons" in Dallas.

There was a little cat that strolled from pew to pew as the sermon was preached and the potluck lunch was already set up at the front of the church, so you had to see and smell it all through the sermon......

There was an amazing mural along the entire back wall of this little 2 room church and wood floors that creaked when you walked on them.

No large screens with words of the songs or scriptures...people actually had to open their hymnals and Bibles....

Truly......a Blessed Day....

Indeed.

My East Texas Home.....This Week.

January 8, 2013

JUST ANOTHER DAY IN EAST TEXAS.....

"His cage may still be turnin’ but his squirrel’s done died"

"That sweet boy’s purtier than my new tangerine metal flake bass boat"

"You boys took one pickup load to the dump an’ come back with two"

"You ain’t lookin’ like the tallest hog at the trough no more"

"Talk you inta sellin’ your mule so you could buy a plow"

I'm sorry guys....I just had to share some of my favorite East Texas quotes and pictures......
And this was just in the past week!!

Skin Cancer Cure = Duct Tape

January 5, 2013

For some reason, my big, smart hunk of a husband thinks putting duct tape on the top of his head will cure the skin cancer growing up there.....

.......So we had no choice but to sign it.......

Crazy Man

Life Is Not An Emergency........

 January 4, 2013


Do you find yourself this time of year, racing through your days, as if life is some type of an emergency or something?  I certainly do.....and I hate that I sometimes forget to downshift my life from 4th to 2nd gear.

 This is our first Christmas without Mom.  Our first snow without her telling me to drive careful on the slick roads and to quit taking pictures while I'm driving....

I think maybe sometimes I purposely keep my engine running in 4th gear to avoid the emotion that comes from thinking about reality.

I miss her.

When we were cleaning out Mom's room shortly after she died, I picked up a little music box with a blue bird on it that she loved.  I can remember her playing it and feeling how appropriate it was for her.  This Christmas, I decided her best friend of a zillion years, Jimmie Lou, needed it.  It would remind her of Mom every time she listened to it.....I'm glad she has it.

This morning, my sister called me and my niece so that we were on a 3-way conversation.  She told us she wanted us to hear something.....and she proceeded to play a song over the phone we had played at Mom's funeral....."From Here To The Moon and Back".......

And I knew she was missing Mom too.

http://youtu.be/qzmLmsokiIE

As I start this new year, I start with no new resolutions that I never keep.  What I do plan on doing, though, is being thankful....TRULY THANKFUL....and changing how my retina looks at the things around me.

I plan on living my life in 3rd gear.....not too fast...not too slow....but just the right speed to see the beauty in everything I pass.....even the things I never saw beauty in before.

Won't you join me?

HAPPY NEW YEAR, 

MY FRIEND