Be the light! What would your review say about you?

  • October 20, 2020
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Your life is not an ordinary life.  You may think it is, but it is not.  You have been called to be different.  You have been called to be transformed.  You have been called to be the light. Matthew 5:14-16 says:  You are the light of the world.  A city is set on the hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all...

The Speaker of the House and our President

  • October 13, 2020
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Some time ago our President gave a speech. A man and a woman were sitting behind him. It was painful to watch. The man sat there stoically and never flinched. The woman was a bit more uncomfortable. It was obvious, she DID…NOT…WANT to be there. She fidgeted, looked away, looked up and looked down. Sitting there watching it unfold I had a thought. “How awful it must be to be her.” If she acts respectful – 1/2 the country will...

Zeal–Lessons from a Campfire

We bought a camper.   I had never “been camping,” so the thought of supplies we would need and the ins and outs were a little cumbersome.   Turns out, you can still have fun if you forget the ketchup.   You can “bake” biscuits on the stovetop if you can’t figure out how to get the oven to work.   You can buy mattress pads to help alleviate the hardness so your bones don’t crack when the sun rises.   But, if you can’t...

My Mixer for the Master

  • September 22, 2020
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I come from a long line of excellent cooks. Women who have signature recipes that always seem to be the first to disappear at a church potluck.  Women who know just the perfect meal to drop by for a new mother and are the first to make sure a funeral luncheon is properly presented.  They make picture perfect pie crusts. Perhaps you come from women like this too.  They preach their sermons of love as they prepare a good, hearty...

For all the daughters

To my granddaughters: Ana, Sullivan, Andersyn, Spencer-Kate, and Hattie; to my strong daughters: Lindsey, Kate, Erin and Julia, and all the beautiful daughters in my life that I have taught and loved in my sixty years… Cardi B, Beyonce, and Cuties do not define you. It is not empowering to become an object for people to discard. Objects are discarded; people have eternal souls. For the last hundred years or so, women have sacrificed their souls on the altar of...

Back Up with Confidence!

  • September 8, 2020
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Census taking in rural America is quite an adventure. For the past couple of weeks I’ve been one of those pesky people knocking on your door to ask for information you would prefer not to share. Some responses have been interesting, some pretty normal, some insulting and others quite bizarre. I’ve driven approximately 60-80 miles a day looking for “grey house on CR-4140” or “RR 1 – no mailbox – brick home” or my personal favorite “FM-1550 house in pasture”....

Silver Linings

  • August 24, 2020
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So, yes, I’ve done it before, but here I am sitting down to do it again. Take words from one of my favorite hymns, and write about them. Sing and be happy. Simple instructions which will ultimately help and encourage us all to live a Christ-filled life. Last time, we focused on the chorus. But here, for our part two, I would like to mention a phrase from the first verse which I have often found myself reminiscing on. It...

Eyes: The Anchor to the Soul

  • August 24, 2020
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The past couple of weeks we have been back in school after 5 months of being separated.   Things are different than they were March 13th.   A few items: Each morning we “log” any symptoms and enter with a green check.  My classroom set-up is “spread” out for us to be socially distanced. The greeting into the class is with a squirt of sanitizer. The end of class is spent cleaning so the next group can come in with germs limited.  ...

Closing Chapters…

  • August 4, 2020
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Have you ever needed to close chapters in your life?  Sometimes it’s simple.  It was a great chapter but it’s time to move on.  Another may have been painful but you learned a lot and the time was right to turn the page.  Then you have those chapters you go back and re-read because there was/is so much there.  You analyze every sentence to learn as much as you can before closing. Some chapters closed because you had no control...

God and the Waves

  • July 27, 2020
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Last week we just needed away.  A family friend graciously offered a place to stay in the panhandle of Florida and we packed up and spent a few days on the Emerald Coast with the pure white sand.  This is one of our FAVORITE PLACES.  The kids LOVE playing in the water, exploring, building sand castles and sea creatures, taking sunset walks and crab hunting at night. Oh…and the fresh seafood.   A couple of days during our stay, the ocean...