The Snake In The Backyard

The Snake In The Backyard

By China Anne McClain

The “Snake Analogy” is a story between two best friends who are painting in the house. When one of them becomes exhausted and needs some fresh air, she grabs her dog and goes outside to the backyard. As soon as she opens the door and exits, she discovers a gigantic snake in the grass. Without saying a word to her best friend, she hurriedly grabs the puppy and runs back inside. When she returns, her best friend suggests, “Oh, you’re back. Let me go out to the backyard for some fresh air as well.”

She says nothing, and the snake bites her best friend when she walks into the yard. “A snake has bitten me, help please,” her friend yells and limps back into the house. She approaches her and says, “Oh, I saw the snake, sorry I didn’t warn you!” The one who has been bitten by the snake looks at the other in disbelief, saying, “Are you really my friend, do you even love me?!?”

“Why Spread The Gospel?”

After telling the story, China compared it to why followers of Jesus are passionate about sharing the Gospel.

“It’s because we love you. I am not forcing you and forcing it down your throat. I’m just warning you of the dangers,” she said.

She further talked about how it didn’t make sense if she didn’t warn people about the snake in the backyard. She “loves and cares for people “that’s why she spreads the Gospel.

“I know God is real, whether people believe it or not,” China added.

Don’t worry, China. We believe you!

https://www.tiktok.com/@brandonbrown22/video/6983795302146903301?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7250077455939372590

By Liz Etheridge Sekerke

This is the best analogy I've ever heard on why it's hard for us, as Christians, to not warn others about that dang snake in our backyard.

I killed many snakes while living at the lake. Was I scared? Yep. But I was MORE afraid of not seeing them.....not recognizing them as they blended in with my landscape....and worrying about my family accidentally stepping on one because they weren't looking for it. I would never think of not warning those that visited of the possibility of clever lethal snakes in our backyard. They were there. They were ALWAYS there.

Satan is that snake, friends. He is clever....he blends in with your life....and he wants nothing more than to bite you, hurt you and eventually kill you. He is the most dangerous thing you could get bit by.

Be aware he exists everywhere....in your school.....in your job.....in your family....and in your friends.....and his only job is to kill you.

And that's why I warn you....not because I want to preach to you....but because I love you.

Tuesdays With Pappo: "Helping Me Celebrate 63 Years"

#tuesdayswithpappo

 Tuesdays With Pappo on Wednesday!!!

Helping me celebrate almost 63 years…..

THURSDAYS WITH PAPPO

TUESDAYS WITH PAPPO

#tuesdayswithpappo

LizEtheridgeSekerke

As is true with most every Thursday with Pappo, yesterday was interesting and tons of FUN.

This handsome 95 year-old and his youngest 60-something daughter headed to their main hangout.....Braums Ice Cream in Cleburne.

The handcuffs I brought him last month are still dangling from his walker handle and his neighbor ladies are still using them on him every chance they get. Who knew $5 handcuffs would be such a hit!

And you'll be happy to know he has been learning how to embroidery, yes....embroidering his initials on everything...thanks to his granddaughter, Jacque. She has him all set up with his own sewing kit, hoops and thread. The Sewing Group at his Independent Living Center tell him he's the ONE and ONLY man ever to join the sewing group. That got a smile on his face.....

Oh ya, he's also trying to learn how to play the piano! He has received his first Piano By Pictures books and has his very own account set up online to learn how to play "hymns" via iPad. No Moonlight Sonata for this man....nope....he wants Amazing Grace!

And as we walked back into his new home, who do I run into but a girlfriend from high school....VGA.....Donna Durichek! Goodness!! I won't even tell you how many years ago high school was, but it's over 40 and under 50. Turns out, her Dad lives three doors down from Pappo!! Geez....what a small world we live in!

As we said goodbye till next week, he kissed my hand, lovingly looked into my eyes and said, "Can you bring me a short extension cord next week?"

P.S.

They canceled Bingo last week.....

#Tuesdayswithpappo

The Gift Of A Mom - Mothers Day 2023

 MOTHERS DAY

LizEtheridgeSekerke

Mary stood at the foot of the cross her young Son was dying on……

Jesus saw His mother and the disciple He loved standing near her.

So He said to His mother,

“Woman, here is your son."

Then He said to the disciple,

“Here is your mother."

From that moment, the disciple accepted her as his own MOTHER."

John 19:25-27

I love that even in His darkest moment, Jesus made sure His Mom was taken care of after He was gone. He knew that an arrow was piercing her own soul as much as it was His side, so He gifted His Mom to John, the disciple He loved and trusted.

My mom died two weeks before Mothers Day 11 years ago. I dreaded going through that weekend without her.....I was childless and now I was motherless. But then I received a call. A call from a lady named Pam in Winnsboro, Texas.......a lady I had met over the years as I delivered Meals on Wheels to her own elderly mother......and Pam offered to share her mother with me that weekend.

And so she did.

She invited me to Sunday lunch with the whole family......to celebrate this lady she called Mom and I called Jewel. She gifted me with love.....this sweet daughter gifted me her Mom.

It was probably one of the kindest things anyone has ever done for me. She knew my heart was piercing; aching to feel the touch of a wrinkled hand touching my cheek....longing to smell the Estee Lauder perfume that always arrived moments prior to Mom entering a room. She knew my heart had a crack in it.....so she handed me her heart......and her very own Mom.

The Gift of a Mom......I think God had it right creating her from the rib of man....the rib always keeps the heart safe.

TUESDAY WITH PAPPO

Tuesdays With Pappo

#TuesdaysWithPappo

LizEtheridgeSekerke 

Thursdays With Pappo......included a handshake agreement that if I purchased him a hand drill like Wayne's, he would go to Bingo with the women. Here's that conversation:

LIZ: “Hey Pappo, why don’t you play Bingo with your neighbors & friends?”

PAPPO: "Only women go to Bingo. No men ever go to Bingo here at the Independent Living Center...aka Prison".

LIZ: "Well Pappo, like you used to always tell me, pave your own path.....be a trendsetter. If you start going to Bingo, the other men will follow."

PAPPO: "When did I ever tell you that?"

LIZ: "Well, you didn't actually ever tell me that, but I knew you wished you had."

PAPPO: "I'll make a deal with you Softie (his nickname for me). You get me a drill like Wayne's and I'll go to Bingo."

LIZ: "Really?? You promise?? (head nod by Dad). I'd feel better if we shook on it.

PAPPO: "Ok"

#Tuesdayswithpappo

Perspective-Lifters

Perspective-Lifters

LizEtheridgeSekerke

I loved the line in Jesus Calling this morning that said, “Welcome problems as perspective-lifters!" It continued.......

"The problem can be a LADDER, enabling you to climb up and see your life from My Perspective. Viewed from above, the obstacle that frustrated you is only a light and momentary trouble. Once your perspective has been heightened, you can look away from the problem altogether.”

It reminded me of the time I went to New Hampshire with my girlfriend Cheryl in 2019….it was Fall and we had enjoyed almost a full week of beautiful colors and Fall temperatures. We decided to take a skylift up a mountain as we were leaving New Hampshire headed to Boston. The beauty (Pic #1) from down below on the highway was nice and had become the norm for the week, but the beauty from high above on the top of the mountain (Pic #2) was spectacular. Perspective. That’s why I can’t wait to get to Heaven and be a drone. Seeing everything with different eyes….high above….it looks so magical from up there. But truth is, it’s no less beautiful down below…our eyes have just become so accustomed to that view that we take it for granted.

Same view…..different perspective.

My goal today is to look at the norm with a different perspective.

Couples Adventure Challenge #9

 Couples Adventure Challenge #9......

LizEtheridgeSekerke

...is in the books!

We've been doing these crazy Adventure Challenges for over a year but, unfortunately, they had been put on “HOLD” these past few months until we unpacked the last box....hung the last chandelier....and caught our breath from a whirlwind of moving....living in hotels for 3 weeks....then moving again.

We were more than ready to scratch off our next Couples Adventure Challenge and see what we would be doing this weekend!

The Challenge was:

1) Each of you write down your ultimate date idea for the night. This is your chance to make it all about what you want.

2) Select one item from you house (keep it a secret) that you will take to a pawn shop to sell.

3) Whoever sells their item for more money gets to choose the date idea for the night.

4) Combine the money you got to pay for the date.

So as Wayne went up into the attic to search for his “secret item” to sell, I went no further than my jewelry box.

As he placed his item in the trunk, I placed mine in the backpack and Googled “Pawn Shops Near Me.” Google sent us down the road to the great town of McKinney.

Wayne walked in with a vintage manual typewriter in mint condition that had been in the family for many years. It had been used many times to type high school homework assignments and college essays. A classic. I won’t lie; my heart tugged a bit at the thought of him selling this piece of history. But that typewriter had been moved 8x over the years and needed a good home.  

My “secret” item was a diamond tennis bracelet I had been given years ago that I wasn’t sure 

was even real.

Turns out, the pawn shop doesn’t buy vintage typewriters and my diamond tennis bracelet was, indeed, real. SCORE!!  

Liz won!!!

So we walked out with a cool $380 to go on our Adventure Date with!

And where had I chosen as my ultimate date?? None other than.......Putt Putt Golf and Dinner. We’re simple people, folks....it doesn’t take much to have a good time with this guy.

We headed to an indoor Putt Putt called Puttery at Grandscape not far from our house and let the fun begin!

We discovered our level of expertise at Putt Putt was exactly the same.....sketchy at best.

Wayne found he golfed better when putting backwards.....

And we took the ski lift from hole to hole.....

And ended the date with a nice dinner on a rooftop cafe and a free concert in the park.

Life with this guy just keeps getting better and better....

Each Moment Is From God

 YESTERDAY......we saw the future.

And we smiled.

 

We visited Lowe’s yesterday....and as we drove into the parking lot, we passed this sweet couple leaning on each other....each with their own uniquely sized cane....holding hands....smiling....ready to purchase plants for their yard to.....Keep-Life-Going.

It was a precious site as I took a picture out the passenger window. It reminded me of us. It reminded me that we’re all going to be this couple some day. 

 

Or are we?

Will we resent getting older....or needing a cane....or moving slower....or having aching knees? Or will we remember to thank God for having a cane to help us....or legs that have knees to ache? Will we remember that getting older simply means, if you know God, you are simply closer to the JOY of seeing Him face to face than you were yesterday? 

I don’t know this couple.....but they radiated God to me....and I want to be like them when I grow up.

And my prayer this morning was this:

“God, I love You.....help me to always see You in the moment we are living in. Good or Bad....Easy or Hard...Smiling or Crying....may we be trained to see YOU in each moment....because each moment is from You.”

 

 

Go......and have a great day today! BTW, we did another Couples Adventure Challenge yesterday I can’t wait to tell you about later! Last picture is a hint....

THURSDAYS WITH PAPPO

INCARCERATED (Or So He Thinks)

LizEtheridgeSekerke

When your Dad keeps telling everyone he was handcuffed and dragged to the independent living apartment (& he wasn’t), we had no option but to make him walk-the-walk if he’s going to talk-the-talk.  

Just sayin’……
#Tuesdayswithpappo

My Dad

 

 It's March 26th.....and in the Calloway family, this means only one thing: It's Pappo's Birthday, aka Dad. He's a whopping 95 today!

Wanted to give you a few snippets about who the Man of Steel has been as we three bratty kids grew into senior citizens ourselves: 

 

My Dad - Jim JC Calloway Calloway

LizCallowaySekerke

Growing up, my dad loved Tennessee Ernie Ford, watching Saturday night wrestling and listening to Paul Harvey on the radio.

He loves old people and breakfast for dinner.

He believes in being early and always keeping your gas tank half full.

My Pappo is a thinker...an entrepreneur....always thinking about what business to start next or how to learn to sew or make rubber stamps.

His hair is always cut in a bur and anything sweet is always a treat to him.

He was a Ham Radio operator in his early years and his call name was W5FWK (and why do I still remember that??)

His favorite place in our house was in his recliner in the living room; newspaper in his hands spread open wide. His favorite place is still with a Dallas Morning News in his hands.... fortunately, in a different recliner.

Pappo always prays before meals and did the dishes on Saturday mornings before the family loaded into the Buick and went to church.

He taught me how to ride a bike, learn to drive a stick shift car at the cemetery (He always said "You can't kill anyone there, Softie") and dared me to get my first job. The next day I showed him and got a job at Wendy's! His reverse psychology always worked like a charm!

He carried blank computer cards, a pen and a pocket-protector in his front pocket at all times in case he needed to “take notes”. But now, he carries 3x5 cards and an Amazing Grace track in that front shirt pocket.

He told us kids that Coke had bat-doopy in it to keep us from drinking it, yet now, Diet Coke is his favorite drink.

He gave great big bear hugs and knew intimately how to use his belt.

Dad always woke us three kids up every Saturday morning with the annoying "Let me hear the pitter patter of those feet getting up" and brought me thick Dairy Queen malts when I was sick.

He has a truly genuine smile and has learned to cry now that he's older. As long as I can remember, he has always carried a handkerchief in his pants pocket ready to wipe our tears or nose. Dad never fails to tell me he loves me and he's happiest when he wins a controversial discussion.

We three kids are so very blessed to have Jim (JC) Calloway as our Dad and wanted to share him with you today, his 95th trip around the sun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPPO,

Love, Your Softie