WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???

What were you thinking to make you do that???

What was your reasoning behind the stupidness of it?

Are you an idiot? Just plain crazy?

I want to know. Explain yourself!

Okay. So those weren't the exact words that scripture used. But seriously, I so found it funny. I had my nose pressed into Genesis and got to one particular verse and burst out in laughter. I thought about it all day! It's so real. It's so what we do. I love the humor that I saw in the reality. I love the visual it gave me!

I've read it lots of times. Already knew it was there. Literally talked about and blogged about it recently. Could have told you what it said. But today, it rose up and slapped me on the cheek and seemed ridiculously funny all over again! Perhaps because of where my mind has been lately, and its closeness to home?

It's found in the 20th chapter. God had just told Abraham two chapters before then that Sarah would, indeed, bear him a son (a son from Sarah's own body)... that the promised son that He had long promised him wasn't Ishmael (his son born through Hagar) but one that would be born through her.

KNOWING that (because he'd just been told) he promptly went to Gerar to live there for a while. As was done before in several chapters prior to this one (chap 12) Abraham white-lied (half-truthed) to the king and said that Sarah was his sister... failing to mention, I might add, that Sarah was also his wife!

God didn't take kindly to Abimelech sending for Sarah and bringing her to his palace so God went and talked to Abimelech in a dream, telling him that he was as good as dead. Why? Because he's got a married woman in his harlem and he's not the man that is married to her!

Abimelech defended himself to God telling Him that he didn't know, he wasn't aware, no one had told him. God knew that he didn't and that it was done with a clear conscience, but warned him to return the woman back to her husband or he and all of his would die.

Early the next morning Abimelech did just what God said. And as he did so he asked Abraham when he saw him why he did what he did? Why did Abraham tell him that Sarah was his sister when he was married to Sarah???

Abraham's answer was this, "I said to myself, 'There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.'...."

I find it interesting that Abraham could trust God enough to leave his home, to leave his land, to leave his family and all that he knew to go to a land that he didn't...... He could trust God to give him a son even though it had been years since the promise was made and his body (and Sarah's!) was "as good as dead.".... AND YET, he didn't feel he could trust God with his life!?! (Regardless of what he thought he believed, the proof was in his actions.)

Earlier in chapter 12 when they are entering Egypt Abraham had said to Sarah concerning this very thing, "I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me, but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you."

BECAUSE OF YOU???

My life will be spared because of you???

BECAUSE OF SARAH???

Does Abram (Abraham) think Sarai (Sarah) is his savior? That Sarah is the one who saved him from death? Is his hope for protection and for safety in his wife's lie?

That's sounds a bit crazy in all of Abraham's faith. I could talk more about it, but won't. Because today, for me, that's not what hit me. That's not the funny part.

Keep reading.

When Abimelech went to question Abraham and take him his wife back he say to him, "What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that ought not to be done... What is your reasoning for doing this?"


It is the "What is your reasoning for doing this?" that grabbed me. Look at that line verbalized in another version:

• NAS - "What did you have in view, that you have done this thing?" 
• KJV - "What saweth thou, that thou hast done this thing?"
• MSG - "Whatever were you thinking of when you did this thing?"
• NLT - "Whatever possessed you to do such a thing?

Did you catch that?

"WHAT SAWEST THOU, that thou hast done this thing?"

"WHAT DID YOU HAVE IN VIEW, that you have done this thing?"

What movie (in your mind) were you watching?????????

"Whatever POSSESSED YOU to do such a thing?"

What did you visualize happening in your head that you did something so stupid????

The Hebrew literally means, "What did you SEE" that you did something so ridiculous?

Like I said, I love it! I love how black-and-white and REAL the words are that have been inscribed in Holy Writ! And, of course, if you'll remember an earlier post, you will have to remember that this reminds me of the imaginary chicken that my friend's two boys were fighting about and the made-up fox that my great-nephew became so afraid of (Imagination.... a made-up-mind).

Hating to longer a blog already too long. I'd be amiss if I failed to show another quick humor alongside this point.

Look again to how Abraham replied to King Abimelech's question. "Abraham replied, "I said to myself, 'There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife...'"

"I said to myself"!!!!!!!!

In the Hebrew it reads, "Abraham amar amar....." Meaning, Abraham said [amar] (to Abimelech), I said [amar] to myself..."

That's another part of our problem! We do way too much saying to ourselves when we really don't need to be saying! :)

But then again, I suppose it's normal to talk to yourself after watching make-believe movies in your head. If we're seeing make-believe then I guess our mouths can't help but tell what has just "possessed" our mind's to see. :)

A mother's love... Sometimes found in a basket

I was reading in Exodus this morning about Pharaoh giving the order to all of his officials to kill all of the newborn baby boys birthed from the Hebrew people. He said in Exodus 1, "Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile." Can you even imagine?

I read the story again that most of us have read too many times to count about the desperate measures that a mom went to in her meager effort to do something that might keep the child safe that was born to her, the son that she loved, the son that she found so beautiful, the son that Pharaoh so ruthlessly commanded to be drowned. I read about this mommy placing Moses in a basket and then putting him among the reeds along the bank of the Nile because she could hide him from those that sought his life no longer.

I imagined his mom and the horror of her hurt as she wrapped her babe up ever so tightly and placed him as gently and carefully as she could in a basket that she had tarred and sealed to keep from sinking. No doubt, she must have waited until he was sleeping. She probably rocked to soothe her child as tears were streaming down her face and soaking the robe she was wearing. Perhaps she sang him songs in hopes to soothe him while it simultaneously was breaking her heart. I imagine that she was already mourning for her loss and that she was fervently praying to her God asking Him to watch and take care of this child, this boy, this son that He had given to her that she was now sending away in hopes to save him.

After putting Moses into the water from her well thought out plan, she must have moaned every step that she took all the way back home as she grieved for the son that she once physically carried in her womb and now still carried him there mentally through the ache that was overtaking her. All the while the baby boy's sister (Miriam) stood at a distance to keep watch in an effort to see what would happen to him. Of course, we know then that Pharaoh's daughter found him crying there, and that Miriam runs to ask her if she needs someone to nurse him, and that Pharaoh's daughter winds up hiring Moses' mom to nurse Moses for her until he grew older.

Can you imagine the joy in his mama's heart at holding him again? Yet, it's only a little while before she has to rip herself from him again because, "When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water.""

In reading that today I thought of three other babies that I personally know that were once ‘left in a basket.’

Trinity was left at the police station.

Shaylee was left on a bridge.

And Selah was left by the side of the road.

All three Chinese baby girls were left in their places so soon after their births. Left somewhere (like Moses) "when" their moms could no longer take care of them.... Or probably "because (their moms) could hide them no longer."

I wondered if they had a sister or brother that stood in the distance to "see what would happen to them"? An aunt or an uncle? Or the mother herself? To make sure that someone actually found them so that they knew that the child would be taken care of and not left to die alone?

I thought about Pharaoh's daughter being drawn in and taken by the baby's cry that soon stole her heart and moved her to claim him as her own. I thought about her naming him Moses because she "drew him out of the water." And I thought about my friends Bridget and Lindy who have adopted Trinity and Shaylee and Selah and about all of the others who have drawn babies out of the some ‘water’ to keep them from drowning and to keep them from the fate of death at the hands of the enemy that wanted to kill them.

I thought about the moms that often seem so cruel in leaving their babies in such odd places as if cast aside and thrown away because their hearts did not care... when all the while, they may have placed them with precious precision in their carefully thought out strategic places where they hoped someone would come and rescue them and save them from their fate of what would happen to them if left to them.

Thank you Mark and Bridget and John and Lindy for drawing out the three that you have. And thanks, too, to all of you others that have done the same in adopting some babe. May God shine His face and His favor upon you and all of the children you now bare!

 
James 1:27, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
 
"A Father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, He leads forth the prisoners with singing..." Ps 68:5-6

Click here to watch: When Love Takes You In

He talks to the snow? And the rain?

It wasn't the pitter-pattering sound of the splattering drops of rain falling that woke me. Instead it was the sound of the rain's pounding upon the earth and all (it seemed!) that was in it that did. Trust me. There's a difference. It was the thunder's ferocious roaring that followed the lightning bolts that took my mind instantly to these verses found in Job 37.

"God's voice thunders in marvelous ways;

He does great things beyond our understanding.

He says to the snow, "Fall on the earth,"

and to the rain shower, "Be a mighty downpour."

So that all men He has made may know His work,

He stops every man from his labor."

Job 37:5-7

My daddy is in the construction business. When it rains he basically has to shut the business down and send all of his workers home, because (being that they work outside in the dirt) they can't work in the rain. I found this verse one summer not so many summers ago and I couldn't wait to show it to my daddy ... for now we could know why that our laborers are stopped when it rains!

I absolutely love the thought of its picture. Can you just visualize it in your mind and see God's lips moving to say to the snow, "Fall on the earth"? (I have to admit, that's a bit harder for me to imagine than some, because rarely do we ever even see snow around here. But(!), we'd like to! We wish we could!)

Or even more so, God calling out and addressing the snow by its name: "Snow, " He says. Then, "Fall on the earth," He commands it. He simply says to the snow to do so - and IT DOES! It does what it's told. It does what it's commanded to do. The snow falls, because He's told it to!

He tells the snow to fall on the earth.

And He says to the rain shower, "Be a mighty downpour!"

Then we are told this (after He's said it), "SO THAT all men He has made may know His work, He stops every man from his labor."

I don't know if that does anything for you or not, but I absolutely LOVE THAT! He tells the rain to be a mighty downpour and the rain "be"s! It just does it! It begins to drop. It falls. It pounds. It pours. He evidently said that to the rain last night, because there was definitely a mighty down-pouring rain outside my door during our dark. And now that I know that, I think of that verse every time that it rains. I can't resist myself, I'll also say it to my children (when it rains) just as He's told us He says, "Be a mighty downpour," I'll say while grinning; and they'll give me that knowing smile while shaking their heads... because they know their weird mom and they know of His Scripture.

He says, "Be a mighty downpour," but then (after that statement) He then tells us that He sends the rain "so that..."

"So that," I ask?

"So that"???

"So that what," I wonder?

Yet I don't have to wonder long, because He tells us what.

"Be a mighty downpour, so that ___!"

"So that" this:

"So that: ALL men He has made

may KNOW His work,

He stops every man

from his labor!"

Our construction crews have had to stop from their labor for all these years when it rains. Like I said, now we can know why. Why must they stop from their labor? "So that - they may KNOW His work!"

Wonder how many of us realize that?

Wonder how many of us bother to notice His work when it rains?

Or rather do we curse the rain for falling instead when it wets our world and stops us from what we were doing or from what we had planned?

Soon after I had discovered that verse and had shown it to my children, Tabor (my son) had a baseball game. In the midst of his game came the rain... and soon a downpour! The game got rained out, and we all made the mad dash to our vehicles and went home. I told Tabor (with a grin spread across my face from here to there) as we ran, I said, "God says to the rain shower, Tabor, Be a mighty downpour, and so that all men that He has made may know His work He stops every man from his labor... and sometimes He even stops them from their baseball games!"

Sometimes it stops us from our shopping plans ... or from our plans for golfing. ... or our yard work... a picnic... or our beach fun maybe? ... or? or? or? or?...

Has the rain (or the snow) stopped you from anything lately? Did it stop you today? Did you realize that it was a "so that" kind-of-a-moment? "So that" you would know the work that God's done!

May I ask you that when you stopped from that thing that you were doing did you stop to take notice? Or did you fail and miss the moment and gripe about it instead? Ah, I have never looked at the rain the same again since I have discovered that Scripture!

The verse continues to tell us: "He does great things beyond our understanding"! And He REALLY DOES do enormous things beyond what we can fathom, beyond our comprehension, beyond our human reasoning,  you know? I am living proof of the fact! I've much today to be thankful for! And I bet that you do, too, in your world from all that your God has done!

His work is just worth noticing, and sometimes worth stopping to do so. Too often we don't take that time. So sometimes - He just makes us! In His "so that" kind-of-a-moment in the rain!... or if you live in the north, sometimes in the snow. If you've missed it in the past, make note not to miss it in the future. The next time you get the rain or the snow that our God has commanded to fall or to downpour mightily, then indeed, stop, and take note of His wonder!

Today we had a "so that" kind-of-a-moment... bask in HIS work if He's stopped you from yours.

Seasons come and seasons go. Or do they?

The calendar on my wall tells me it's winter in my world  (though you wouldn't find the first inkling of snow in my yard if you looked out my window and I haven't a clue what it's like to drive in it.... But it's my post. My blog. My picture of choice. I'll pretend if I want to!).

What's your Season? What's your calendar show?

Life is made of different seasons. Always has been. Always will be. It's how God set the whole thing up and put the whole world into motion from the very beginning. A continual cycle of seasons.

Summer......... Fall............. Winter...........  Spring..........  Summer......... Fall............. Winter...........  Spring.......... Summer...... Fall............... all over and over and over and over and over and over again until time comes to its end. And with some? Some season lasts longer than others.

One of the coolest things about this World Wide Web is how many friends you can meet all around the globe living at this very present moment in all the different seasons there are all at the very same time. And just like the earth and its weather with all of its seasons we, too, in life, have different seasons.

Today I have a question: Once our hardest season comes (the worst season of our lives, the one that hurts the most, that causes the most pain, depresses, oppresses, overwhelms into a spiraling despair of sprawling chaos) why do some so often choose to live in it and not let the season pass when it's supposed to?

Why do some quickly stop and settle there and never let it go? Whatever horrific thing came hurriedly and unexpectedly in such torrents with a horrifying fury and did all that it could to huff and puff and blow our house down leaving us with a mess of rubble with its exit..... but (for some of us) it happened years ago, it's long past our time to move on.... yet some of us never did. We're still living in it! That season was 8 years ago, or 9, or 14, or 26, or 33, or 57, for heaven sakes! And if you'll look you'll still see some in that same very old season????

Perhaps it was a season (like the winter) for things to die (when things needed to die in us!), so that there could be a replanting and a springing forth (a renewing of life)... but we never let the Spring come....... Instead, we're still found living in our yesteryear's winter!

A friend told me the other day that he ran into a man that had had a falling out with another man that he had worked with in 1989. He asked the man what the other man was up to these days. And the guy started cussing up a storm, saying that he "didn't give a #&!!#% [blankety-blankety-blank] what he was doing...That  that [blankety-blankety-blank]....." dot, dot, dot. And my friend said to me in astonishment, "That was 21 years ago, Sharon! He's still losing his head and steaming and spewing his venom over something that happened t-w-e-n-t-y  o-n-e stinking years ago!! Goodness, let it go!" he said, "It's been 21 years!!! It's dead! Bury the thing!” he said to me of him, “And for heavens’ sake, move on!"

I was impressed with his wisdom! Spellbound by his picture. And totally agreed with him wholeheartily. We might need to bury some things ourselves, do you think? Maybe write it all out if we have to, put it in a box, take it out to the cemetery, and bury that dead thing that we've been carrying around with its stink for the last 21 years for real!

Has some thing long since passed for you, yet you're still carrying it waaaay past its season?

The rains stopped, the winds ceased, the dark clouds moved on, and the sun came to shine... and everyone around us knows that.... yet we're still held in its horror, holed in its pit, blankets held tight around us, toboggan on our head, bundled in our coat, in our gloves and with ear-muffs - totally dressed in a past season, when the Spring came! We're looking like an idiot. Still dressed for winter, and it's hot outside. People are wondering, "Why is she dressed like that?" Why are you still dressed in 1989 when it's 2010 for heaven's sake? Still wearing childish fusses and we're 76! We're looking ridiculous in our git-ups, and wondering why people aren't surrounding us to support us in our sorrow. So we continue to rally, continue to wail, continue to bellow....

To tell you the truth, it just isn't working!

We'll pay to have our hair done, our roots done, our nails done, for fake tans, clothes to cover our pimples and dimples, lifts here, and enhancements there. We'll pay to be sucked and plumped and pealed and waxed and for someone else to moderate our food ---- all in an exerted effort to look good! But the look we're portraying goes deeper than our outside cover-ups. Our INsides come out to overshadow what our OUTsides are masked in. We're not fooling anyone but ourselves! Just as we're pampering our outside we're often pampering a rotting within... and it's killing us! I'm not saying that it doesn't have its season... but are we guilty of making our season a life long adventure?

Why do we want to continue to stew in our stuff? Sob in our sorrow? Bask in our bitterness? Fume in our fury? Mope in our mad? Melt in our mean? Huff at our horror? And why do we want to pull other people into our pots to stew with us? We’ll look for those who will listen to our woes. We'll wonder who will ride this horror out with us? “Well, how long's the ride,” most people are wondering? And now that they've heard it for years they’re tired of it and want to get off! You've been licking those wounds..... for how long now? Scratching that same itch to still keep it bleeding. Singing that same sad song........and it got old years ago. Oh please, won’t you let it go already!

I'm just doing a double-check on myself and asking you to do the same... wondering aloud with you and asking: What's your Season? And are you living in it? Are you living in your current Season? Or are you living in your yesteryear's one that everyone else but you has long since left calendars ago? Seasons are meant to come and to go... but do we let them? Might you be holding on to a season that you need to let go of... in order to set yourself free?... and free your family and friends from having to hear it?

Mourning may have to be endured for the night, but JOY COMETH in the morning! That’s true… yet I suppose, only true for those that let it,

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity...."

Ecclesiastes 3

This post so reminds me of another very, very favorite of mine. I have to put a plug for it here. It talks of a chair that we so often find ourselves rocking in! Click HERE to find it.

The lightning took him Home!

The Lightning Checks Back In!

My thoughts were spurred (Does that surprise you?) after a friend sent me an email the other day quoting a verse that I've often quoted myself. He wrote:

"How great is our God

- beyond our understanding!

The number of His years

is past finding out.

He draws up the drops of water, which distills as rain to the streams;

the clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind.

Who can understand how He spreads out the clouds, how He thunders from His pavilion?

See how He scatters His lightning about Him, bathing the depths of the sea.

This is the way He governs the nations and provides food in abundance.

He fills His hands with lightning, and commands it to strike its mark.

His thunder announces the coming storm;

even the cattle make known its approach."

These verses are found in Job 36, and it's the Lord Himself that is speaking. The one that grabbed and held my attention is the one that spoke of the lightning, "He fills His hands with lightning, and commands it to strike its mark."

Two chapters past that one (in 38:35, the Lord is still questioning) is a particular verse that has been another favorite of mine that goes right along with this one. God asks Job, "Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, "Here we are?""

Because of my fondness of the picture that my imagination of those verses paints I've quoted those verses often to others and even to God in my prayers. I love the thought of it. I love its picture. Can you just imagine with me the lightning sent on its way and checking back in with God after it’s hit the mark that it was commanded to?

Wonder what the voice of the lightning that speaks to God sounds like?

Then.

After years of such fondness, several years ago, there were several deaths within just a couple of days of each other in my state. Three different people - in three different places - at three different times - on three different days were struck and killed by lightning in Alabama not so far from where I live.

Do you remember that?

They all bothered me tremendously and hit me so hard, because I knew (and had loved) those verses for so long. Its impact hurt! But one in particular hit me harder than the other two, and I've never been able to forget it.

The child was a son of a couple that were alumni of the same college that my husband and I attended. I've never met them, and don't know them; they were several years behind us in college. We'd come and gone before they'd ever gotten there. They came and finished (I suppose) and left and married and moved further north in Alabama than we live. The father became a minister at a church there and from what I understand he hadn't been there very long when lightning struck his world and changed his life forever. To my knowledge I've never seen them, nor have I ever talked to them, and they've never even heard of me; but I've prayed for them more times than I can count since the day that I got the email reporting their horror and requesting me to. I did, and I have continued to do so over the years since that horrific day that their tragedy struck them. I've cried so many tears for them from the thought of their hurt. Their only child, a three year old little boy, was playing outside beneath a tree in their backyard... when lightning struck the tree that he stood near, then reached out its spark to strike the child close to it, and it left their only son dead in the split second that it took for the lightning to hit it.

Can you even imagine their horror?

How do you deal with that?

I had heard those verses that I quoted above long ago, and I loved them from the time that I heard them. Like I said earlier, those verses have been favorites of mine for years. I can't even tell you how many times I've said something about them to people and so many times I've quoted them to God in my prayers. And then here, on this day, I found out that that same lightning that He sends and "commands to strike its mark" and that same lightning that "checks (back) in with Him" struck someone's three year old child… and took him to his death! That "same lightning that checks (back) in with You, Lord," I'd pray, "that same lightning, Lord, left a mom and dad childless!"

How do you deal with that?

Even in the very minute that I was told what had happened and was asked to pray I had no doubt that every single bit of this could and would be used for God's Glory,... but even in knowing that I thought, "Lord, they're Yours! That couple belongs to You! They're serving and living for You. That same lightning that checks back in with You, Lord, killed their son. How do You explain that? How might I explain that? If the parents are familiar with those same verses of Yours, Lord, what do they make of that? Did it strike its mark, Lord? Is that where You sent it? What did it say when it checked backed in with You then?"

These were the questions I pondered over and over again with my Lord while asking Him to help that mom and that dad. I hurt for those parents.... obviously for their pain, but also because I knew these verses,.... and knowing what they said I ached with a hurt that wondered how do they deal with their hurt and with knowing what those verses say?

It was a long time... I can't remember how long now, but a long time. I often would go outside beneath His stars and pray to Him, thinking of them still, praying for them still, and still saying while I prayed, "that same lightning that checks back in with You, Lord! That same lightning...."

Then, like I said, after it had been a while (and now I can't remember how exactly it happened) I knew I had my answer, for I felt Him tell me this: "Sharon, that same lightning that checks back in with Me brought that child Home to Me when I told it and it was time to."

Whooosh! I had my answer!

For Acts 17:26 tells us that He determines the exact times for us to be born and the exact places where we should live. Jeremiah 29:11 lets us know that each of our lives has a purpose, God tells us that He knows the plans He has for us.... There's no doubt in my mind that that child's life had purpose! And I suppose that this child's purpose in his earthly skin was done. He came to do what God had planned for him to, and when it was done, God took Him Home.

Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us that:

"There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born,... and a time to die,

a time to plant... and a time to uproot,

a time to kill... and a time to heal,

a time to tear down... and a time to build,

a time to weep... and a time to laugh

a time to mourn... and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones... and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace... and a time to refrain,

a time to search... and a time to give up,

a time to keep... and a time to throw away,

a time to tear... and a time to mend,

a time to be silent... and a time to speak.

a time to love... and a time to hate,

a time for war... and a time for peace.

...He (God) has made everything beautiful.... in its time.

He has set eternity in the hearts of men;

yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

Whoa, I so love that Truth!

We cannot "fathom"… (Fathom - understand, work out, figure out, comprehend, grasp, think through, detect, guess.) We cannot "fathom" what God has done… (Done - deeded, worked, His undertaking, what He's pursuing, the thing that He's working, what He has made, what He's preparing, what He's producing.) We cannot "fathom" what He has done from beginning to end in this child's life. And He makes EVERYTHING beautiful in its time.

There's much life to be found in any death. I wonder how many lives that this child helped to give life to? I wonder how many were touched because of him? How many are closer to God from his death? How many lives were affected by his? How many people saw Jesus because of the affect he (his life and his death) had on those that loved him?

The next verse that follows the one above that I mentioned from Acts 17:26 says, ""He (God) determined the exact times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out to Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us."

Did you see God's reason?

"God did this SO THAT men would seek Him and perhaps reach out to Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us"?

Wonder how many sought God... because of the life and death of that dear child? Wonder how many people reached out to Him, because of that precious 3 year old? Wonder how many found God, because of their search? Wonder how many saw God's strength through the weakness of his parent's hurt? Wonder how many more lives this preacher and his wife will touch, because of where they've been? Think of how much more compassion they'll have, and how many more they'll encourage along the way, because others that are hurting will think that if they made it through their pain, well then maybe there's hope for them too?

Did this child have a purpose?

Oh my goodness, of course he did! More than we'll ever think of or be able to imagine! God tells us,

"The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me;

Your love, O Lord, endures forever -

do not abandon the works of Your hands."

Ps 138:8

"being confident of this,

that He that began a good work in you

will carry it on to completion

until the day of the Christ Jesus."

Phil 1:6

"Will fulfill" in Psalm 138:8 is gamar in the Hebrew, meaning that God will complete, end, perform, perfect. It's God Himself that completes (fulfills, performs, perfects, ends) our purpose (for after all, it's the purpose He's made us for). He takes the matter into His Own hands and carries it through to completion.

Philippians tells us that we can be confident of it! God is the One that "began the good work" in us! And God is the One that will carry it through until done.

What makes us think that our work is finished and nullified upon our deaths?... for we're told that HE will carry it through to its finish UNTIL the day of Christ Jesus. Just because the breath stopped blowing inside the case of this 3-year old's skin doesn't mean his work is done! For I believe that his work still carries on, with the Lord Himself fulfilling its purpose, carrying it on to completion. Three years................. yet still he lives in the lives of so many. Even those that never even knew him while he walked here upon this earth. It wasn't until the lightning struck and God took Him Home that I was privileged to meet him. I can testify to that myself, for though I never knew this child's name, his 'purpose' lives on and his life has affected mine! May those parents that bore him be mightily blessed for the 'purpose' that God birthed to this earth through them! And may the Lord Himself (and we KNOW that He will!) carry that work to completion!

Oh, how I love the LORD whose love endures forever!

I cannot imagine losing my son! But think of this. Try seeing it through the eyes of a boy, a young one at that. Going Home to God on a bolt of lightning might be an awesome thing! That sweet child feels NO PAIN! The ones that bear the hurt are the ones that are left behind. Hurting's hard. But it's often in our suffering that us (and others too) can see Jesus the loudest. It would indeed be a story to tell from the lips of a three year old though, huh? Can't you just hear him tell it? And can't you see his excitement as he one day might relate it back to his earthly mom and dad when he welcomes them there! 

Imagination.... a made-up mind

Meet Karson. He's got a lesson to teach.

Karson is a cutie. A tiny thing in a three year old body, still shroud in clothes measured for 18 month olds. He was still two when this happened. He may be young, but he has a vocabulary that is astounding.

He loves words. He loves sentences. He loves putting them together. He'll tell you something in one sentence, and then tell you the same thing again in another using different words for the things he's just told you about. He can literally carry a conversation quite impressively well with adult men. He's hilarious. And a fun little man to watch in action. 

Okay now.... now how do I tell this? How do I start to get to my point?

Keep Karson in mind. Pause his story for a minute. Let me retrack a sec and tell you about Stacy.

Stacy divorced a dozen years ago and hasn't dated since. Until just recently. She's falling quickly for this new man she's met. And with her fall, because of her uncertainty, she has new fear. Her fear in the last couple of weeks has been developing into panic.

Steve hadn't called her since Friday. It was Sunday when she called to tell me. By Tuesday she couldn't stand it any longer. She stopped by his office to see him. To ask why? What's up? What's he thinking? What's he doing? Does he not want to do this anymore?

The story's complicated. Too long to tell. But seriously, his excuse sounded excusable. I had told her earlier that it probably was. He was overwhelmed. Over burdened. Over stressed. Over everything about all sorts of things. And he was just trying to work some things out.

Evidently her stop helped refresh him, uplift him, lessen his load. By that afternoon, he was back to his normal. He called so much, in fact, that by Friday afternoon she confronted him again. Wondering how he could bounce back so quickly to normal as if nothing had happened after a whole weekend of cold? This time, without meaning to, she heavied his load.

The last three weeks have been back and forth like this. And mostly this is the problem. Her mind's imagination. Her wonder of what might be happening when she doesn't hear from him. The scenarios her mind makes up for what might be happening. Her speculation.

It's like when my son fails to text me back when I've texted him. I'll allow him the time that I think it should take... and when I don't hear in the properly time allotted, I'll text again. If I still don't hear, I'll call. If he doesn't answer?................. I start to panic. My mind quickly decides why. He's probably doing something he shouldn't. Or he's somewhere he's not supposed to be. Or he's had a wreck, and it has to have killed him, because if he were conscious he would have called. I mourn his death. Picture the family and friends that will soon be coming by. Visualize the funeral. And............................ I make myself miserable! I'm a mess when he calls. And mad, by then! Poor thing. It's really because of nothing he did, more simply it's because of where all my mind went because he didn't.

That's what Stacey is doing with Steve. And it's not healthful or joyful for either of them.

Back to Karson. He called his "Honey" (his grandmother). While on the phone he decided to tell her a story. One he made up. But not made up in advance. He was making up this story as he was talking to her. It went something like this....

"Honey, I was walking in the woods. I was walking in the woods down a trail. And as I was walking a fox came out from the woods. Then, Honey, not just one fox, but so many foxes came that they were surrounding me................ Mama! Mama! I need you, mama. Come hold me, mama. Mama! Come hold me!"

At this point my sister (his "Honey") questioned him, "Karson? Are you okay, Karson?.... Karson!" She was on the phone, so she couldn't see what was happening. 

Karson continues his urgent plea with his mom, "Mama! Come hold me! I need you to come hold me. Mama!"

Honey hears his fear and so asks him, "What's wrong, Karson....?" But before he answers and as he continues to plead with his mom she figures it out. "Karson? Are you afraid of the foxes, Karson? It's not real. It's just your made up story. There are no foxes around you really." But.... he still needed his mama. :)

How often are we like that? We make up things in our own minds to make us fearful about. It's not true. It's just a made-up place that our visual and imaginations took us off to.

That's what Abraham did. When he journeyed in the land that God had told him to go to that He had promised him. Abraham was fearful of the Pharaohs in the land. Sarah, his wife, was beautiful. Abraham was afraid that the kings would put him to death in order to take her into their kingdom. So before they even left, he made an agreement with Sarah to not tell them that she was his wife, but to tell them instead that she was his sister (she actually was his half-sister.. but yes, his wife too!) whenever they came to a new land.

I had been studying this (about Abraham) when I heard what Karson did. And after I'd talked to Stacy about what she'd imagined about Steve. I loved the parallels between the three pictures. It's amazing to me though how Abraham could believe and have faith that God would give him the son that He'd promised him... but that he was afraid that the people in the land that he was going into would kill him. His fear blinded him to see the logic. He couldn't have a son.... if they (to get him out of the way) put him to death. :)

During this same time of pondering all three of the above stories a friend of mine posted something on his Facebook status. He said that he had had to break up a wrestling match between two of his sons that morning. One a 4 year old. The other 2. After breaking up their madness he asked them what in the world had them in such a tizzy that they had to fight like that? One son said that the other son had stolen his imaginary chicken and wouldn't give it back to him!

How hilarious is that! They were fighting over something that they'd made up in their minds! I laughed when I saw it and asked if they couldn't have just made up another one so that they both could have one, therefore leaving them with nothing at all to cause such a fuss over?

All of these examples may sound so silly, but aren't we all like that? Don't our imaginations and made-up wonder give us grief and often get us into trouble? Next time your mind starts to wonder, think of the imaginary chicken and ask yourself: Is this real... or, have I just made my mind up? :) Don't fight or be frustrated or fearful over something merely imagined!

JOY despite the prison she's in!

Let me tell you about one of yesterday's girls. I'll call her Joy, because she's a bubbling jar of it. She's a joy to be around. She exuberates laughter. She's playful. She wants to make you glad and go the extra mile in hopes to make you feel good. Her "joy" comes from the Lord!

Another girl in our group described her yesterday as "carbonated." She said she's like a carbonated drink. She always bubbly.

Now. How's that for a desciption?

"Joy" is in prison. She's a beautiful girl. She wants to be a hair dresser when she gets out. I hope she makes it. She's good at it. I love all of her different "doo"s when she walks in. She had a variety of jobs before she committed her crime. Her last one before being incarcerated was working in a sandwich shop in a hospital. She told us that all the nurses loved her. What she told me next verified that they did.

She was pregnant when convicted, and thus lived her months of pregnancy in prison. Once she went into labor, she was taken back to the hospital where she once worked. She was handcuffed to the bed (like prisoners are) in her toil of birthing the child that she had (what a sad way to come into this world). And yet, she told me, all of those nurses that knew her before came to see her and pray with her there! (What a way for a babe to be birthed onto this earth.... bathed in prayers with nurses who care!)

"The LORD hears the needy and does not despise His captive people." (Psalm 69:33)

(Katie, THANK YOU for praying for these girls!)

Officially Confirmed."Strange-LQQking!"

Sunday was the sweetest thing! Something I needed in a zillion ways. I had confirming, but I needed more confirming! Anybody know what I mean?

Actually, the day before I'd met with a very close friend to tell her about the whirlwind of a week and a half that I'd just had. She was out of the know. And I needed to update her and fill her in. She's long traveled with me on this journey of mine, so she knows my history, what God's been doing. She sees a broader picture of my life than most.

Truthfully, it was more than just that. I needed to hear God.

Again!

For sometimes He speaks through a human's voice. I LOVE it, absolutely LOVE it, there is nothing that compares to when He speaks to you through His scripture! And He has. And He does. And He continues to. But, like I just said, for just a moment I needed more confirming through the voice of someone this time wearing skin.

I prayed on the way before meeting her. "God, please speak to me through her. So many times we're quick to speak with human speculation not knowing what we say. I don't want to know what she thinks, Lord. I want to hear what You do. I don't want to be foolish myself and my heart lead me deceitfully. Thus, Lord God, I need to know that all this is You that is walking ahead of me and opening these paths. That all these places are being opened because it's where You want me to go."

Mind you. NONE of it makes sense without God. It doesn't fold out the way it has without Divine intervention. There are years that I could tell (if only I had the space and the time) of the wow-ness of this road I've been on. It truly is obvious that the puzzle is being completed.

The reason I made such a big deal of it with God (about what my friend would say) is because of so many looks that I'd gotten and remarks that had been made in people wondering the wisdom of a woman doing anything at all inside a men's prison. I could appreciate that. I've wonder myself too. Needless to say, MY HUSBAND's wondered! Yet, surprisingly in his "I'm not too sure" mode... it seems like he really does know. He's been around a long time too! He knows the path God has been leading me on and has given me free rein. He's told me that he trusts my judgment. And will give me full support. But still, there's still a slight cringe.

My friend surprised me when we met. In a good way! In a GOD way! She didn't qualm one bit at all about what I told her. Even about going into the men's prison in addition to the girls. Especially really, going into the men's. She had a complete peace about it, she said. And said that God has been heading you there for years. Why are we surprised when we get there?

This was huge for her. Different. She's normally on the squittish side. I expected to see her antennae go up. I expected to hear her question my sanity. I expected for her to shake her head and tell me that she wasn't so sure.

She didn't. And the abnormality of her normal response spoke more volumes that normal would have. It's like she had already been given her knowing. And her knowing (which surprised her too!) confirmed and calmed mine.

Anyway, back to Sunday. We had lunch together after church. My family with hers. Mexican! My favorite! We laughed hard. Made a big mess. And ate too much. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

At one point, Tim (my husband) turned to Jeannie (my sweetest friend) and asked her what she thought of my going into the men's prisons? She told him again what she had told me. And then (this is so sweet! so precious! such a flattering compliment toward me from the man that I married 24 1/2 years ago!) he said, "Jeannie, who is the very best-looking heart-throbbing actor that you can think of? Who makes you swoon when you sit and just look at him?" Jeannie gave him her answer. And then he went on, "Well, picture putting him into a women's prison and that's where I'm coming from." :)

Wow! Honestly?

Does he still see me as that? After all the years, and ups and downs, and now sagging and bagging in places once fit? He still sees me as beautiful? And compares me to someone like that?

It was Jeannie's answer that quickly and assuredly answered any questions I might have had and gave me a completed knowing on this new venture before me.

She told him this. "Tim, it's going to take something different to capture those men's attention. Sharon, no doubt, will grab it. But once Sharon grabs it, her love for them and her love for the Lord will be obvious and obviously felt. Because of her love they'll hear what she says. They'll be attentive. They'll listen. Her love will flow and they'll be changed by it. And, to me, that's exactly how God plans for this to work. I'll tell you this, my brother was once in prison. And I'll tell you for sure that he would have listened to her. I wish someone like her had been there to talk to him."

Total confirmation!

And here's why:

You know the story of the Lord speaking to Moses through a burning bush in Exodus 3? Verses 2 through 4 of that chapter says this, "There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this sight - why the bush does not burn up." When the LORD saw that He had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!"

For years..... I mean it's riddled all through my journals starting back more than a dozen years ago.... because of those verses I would pray that God would make me strange looking (like scripture says of the bush), so strange looking, in fact, that people would turn to look (as Moses did), and that when they came over to see this strange sight that Jesus would call out their name to them there.

I've wondered if I would be a distraction? But instead, Jeannie confirmed what I'd also wondered. Their attraction (for any female gender, I'm sure) will be the thing that God uses to make them look. And then once their attention is captured, He'll speak to them calling their names wooing them through this strange looking vessel of mine.

Disclaimer: I know that's a weird picture of me. It's supposed to be. Please, don't judge a book by it's cover. ;-) Forgive the extra skin that's exposed. I was at home. I'd never go out with my tummy showing.

Don't Be Stupid! Stay out of the enemy's pasture!

Cracks and wounds and scars... makes for a great tale when the hurt heals..... Sometimes still while the hurt still pains! I've been telling my kids that for so long now that I think if you pulled their hair back you'd find it engraved somewhere upon the scalps of their heads. My son struts many a scar... and with a spiritual connotation behind each injured body part. We've seen Jesus in each wound and have learned a valuable lesson from them all. My kids think a lot like their mother (oh my! so sorry!)... we can behold Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration in every mole-hill around us. We all bleed. We've just learned not to waste the blood, and see Jesus' blood that's shed when ours does.

Here is an old wound of mine and the lesson I learned from it:

I was 6. A show-off. And we had company. I had an audience! So, show-off I planned to do... and show-off I did.

Our company's name was Pat. A college age girl. She had come to spend the day with us. We had a farm with horses, cows, ducks, two ponds (filled with Bass, Brim and Catfish) and a creek on 276 acres of land. I assumed that it was my job every day to investigate every square inch of it. I had a pony named Buck, and he was the back that I rode on to trek the fields and woods and waters that belonged to us. We were a team, Buck and I. I rode him bare-back; "because saddles were for sissies." And I could ride him with a bridle or without one... either way, it didn't much matter to me.... one was just as easy as the other.

We had a stallion named Poco that we kept penned in a different pasture. He hated the ponies! And all the taunting that we did, it did nothing but grow his hatred for them. We (my cousin and I) would get on our ponies, back them up to Poco's fence, then whistle as loud as we could to get Poco's attention. Poco would look up from the grass he’d been eating with ears perked up and eyes held wide with wonder... until he saw the ponies! Then his ears would automatically fly back and downward and he'd take off toward us in a run filled with fury. We wouldn't move until he was almost on us; then we'd smack the backs of our ponies with the switches that we'd picked, and take off running as fast as their little legs would carry them. Looking back on it now, it was a mean game that we played. It wasn't fair. We felt safe, because of the fence that kept him barred on his side of it. It wasn't smart. I've seen him almost kill more than one horse, after he had bared his teeth into their necks and slung them back and forth and back and forth until finally someone was able to stop him. I watched him kill a colt that way. He latched his teeth in his neck and furiously shook him to death. He was mean when it came to other horses. He wasn't one to be messed with!

We took Pat (our company) to the "the back pasture." She was scared of horses, so she walked as we rode along beside her on ours. After a long day of showing her the creek and all kinds of things that we thought would impress her, we headed back home. I'm not sure what made me do it... but no, that's not really true; actually I know exactly what did. Like I've already stated, I was a show-off, and here was prime opportunity.

NEVER were we allowed to have the ponies and Poco in the same pasture. (Ah, for obvious reasons!) But when I looked to see where he was on that particular day he was all the way on the other side of the pond. A long way from us... and surely there was no way that he could catch us. So, I did what I ought not to ever have done, I proudly stepped foot into Poco's pasture. I figured that between me and Buck that we could out run him anyway. We took off running as fast as we could, running through Poco's pasture headed home. Poco saw us almost immediately. He had legs rippled with muscles that ran like lightning, and he took off putting them into action. We hadn't gotten very far at all before he caught up with us. His eyes and ears were mean... and without even looking you could just feel his face of fury! Once he caught up to us Poco lunged his neck with his furious look to take a bite out of Buck's hind-end. Only he missed. And bit into mine! His teeth were clenched so tightly that he literally snatched me up off of Buck's back and was running with me slinging in his mouth. I'm sure it would have been a winner on "America's Funniest Videos" - a six-year-old show-off held by her fanny between the clenched teeth of a stallion as I was being carried from his mouth at furied speeds in his race... while still chasing after the ponies. He didn't carry me too far before he turned his head (I'd call it God's grace!) and dropped me off to the side to keep from running over me. To top it all off, he landed me square in the middle of a pile of cow manure. I'm assuming exactly where I deserved to have landed.

Pat scooped me up with a horrified look (after she found herself brave enough to come out of her hiding place behind her tree), and picked me up to carry me home to my mama. We both were crying by the time that we got there. My showing-off proved to show more than I meant for it to! And "Owwww! That hurt!" I was a little thing, and Poco's bite was massive! I still have the scar that proves it. Kind of like discipline scars from the paddle on the hinny, you know? Whoopings that hurt - and that definitely left their impressions! One of those lessons that you'll never forget! I learned a hard one on that day on Buck's back in Poco's pasture.

But you know, I had no business taunting Poco over and over at the edge of his fence for all those times that I did it. I had no business ever even getting as close to his fence as I did. Ever! And I definitely had no business opening the gate and placing my foot inside his pasture! I knew better, but did it anyway. Of course, I'd get caught! What was I thinking?

I've thought a lot about that incident over the years. Because woe, at the picture it's shown me! For one, Don't be stupid! The enemy is not one to be messed with! Yet often we'll back our hinnies up to the enemy's fence to see just how close we can get to it. We'll whistle to get the enemy's attention. And then run like mad when the enemy comes after us. When we have no business playing that close to the fence of fire in the first place. Play with fire long enough, and you're pretty much guaranteed to get burned by it. Then often after we do, we'll whine from the scars left from its burning... when we have no one to fault but our own.

Satan is creative in his scheming. And on another day years past that one, I taunted the enemy at a fence of another kind. No doubt, all the while that I was playing the enemy, the enemy was baiting me without my even realizing it. The enemy knew that I liked the game I played.... and I'm sure that he knew that it was only a matter of time before he had me. Once I stepped into his pasture, he came flying with mouth wide open, and once clutched between his jaws he ran miles and years with me before God finally forced him to let go. And a "Pat" in this world helped carry me Home to Him at the foot of His cross and at the throne of His Grace until all my wounds could heal. And though the wounds don't hurt now like they did then, I still have the scars as a reminder of where I've been, because of all the wheres that I let my sin take me.

Where (or What) is the fence that you've been getting too close to? And you know better! Flirting and whistling for the enemy? Thinking that you won't get bit when he gets close? Or perhaps you've already stepped into his pasture, and you're dangling now from the grip of his bite? It can be a whole manner of sins, for the enemy comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes and colors and flavors... fitted perfectly to your individualized taste and interest. We feel safe in our flirt with the thing..... yet the enemy grins and knows that it's only a matter of time till he has us!

First Peter 5:8 tells us to, "Be self-controlled and alert, your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." There was nothing "self-controlled" or "alert" in either thing that I did... and I knew the enemy was prowling and couldn't wait to devour me.

Of course the picture above is not a picture of Poco nor of our moment on that day. But that face could of been Poco's, it’s exactly as I remember him. What would make a 6 year old on a less than half-sized pony feel safe enough to step foot into such a mean-spirited stallion's pasture? What makes us feel as if we're the one that'll be able to handle the giant? That we won't become addicted? That we won't get caught by the thing? That we won't get hurt? It won't happen to us? It just a flirt. It won’t become more. !!@!!????

An alcoholic never plans to become one. A drug-addict didn't figure that he'd ever be addicted. The adulterer would have told you that he never would. The one addicted to pornography was only taking a peek. The thief wasn't planning on doing it again. The gambler thought he'd stop with his win. The murderer hated the man, but never planned to really kill him. The embittered was falsely wronged, why should he have to forgive the one that hurt him? The liar started with the little "white ones." The imprisoned................................

And the list goes on...............

I don't know, perhaps the lesson here is to be careful where you put your hinny and where you step your foot? Or maybe it's "Don't be stupid!" Because we have no business playing with the enemy! The enemy we're messing with is prowling around looking for us.... and he wants to devour and eat us up.

Second Corinthians 2:11 lets us know that Satan tries to outwit us and tells us that we are NOT unaware of his schemes. We know the enemy we're flirting with and often we think it's fun or it's funny, and we're enjoying our play with it. In 11:3 of that same book we're warned that the serpent's cunning way schemes to deceive us as he did Eve in the Garden, so that we'll be led astray from our "sincere and pure devotion" to Christ. Why would we mess with something that might take our devotion from our Savior?? There is nothing that the enemy is not willing to use to do it. We're told in Second Timothy 2:26 that the devil has a trap set for us in order that he might take us captive to do his will. Just as God has a "will" for us... so does Satan. Why do we play with the trap that is planned to captivate us to do it?

Woe, at the trap! Maybe sometimes we're fooled by the bait that is used to lure us, but I think most times we're just entranced by the game. For some weird reason, we like the danger of it.

Swinging helpless from the jaws of a furied stallion is no fun. It's no way to live! And it's excruciatingly painful! Landing in a pile of manure is no better! And then, the time it takes to heal.. and the scar that it leaves ISN'T WORTH the stupidity of it!

Hmmm??? Shall I leave you with what I learned from my experience in Poco's pasture? "Don't be stupid! Stay far away and from and out of the enemy's pasture! The enemy's after you. And that's a stupid one to fall for!"

Already????????

A new month already????????????

You're kidding me, right! Less than eleven more months like these and we'll be celebrating Christmas again! Count the days (in a mere month), there aren't that many!

Oh my goodness, it'll be here again in a minute!

In ten more (months), we'll be taking the decorations back down from their shelves, the closets or attics and decking our newly erected trees and the halls with lights and all their adornments. We'll be rushing around finding just the right presents and wrapping with paper the gifts we've hidden in boxes. We'll be cooking the turkey and all the fixins to go with it and working hard to make our tables look pretty. No wonder it's surprising when Christmas comes. Though it seems that it should be, there's not much time at all in-between them!

Several go arounds of Christmas years..... and we'll be gone. IT'S NOT LONG!!! Are we wasting the time we've been given?

Do we waste it in mad and mean, fury at our brother, hate toward another? Looking back with regret, shrouded in shame, riddled with bitterness or racked with refusal of forgiveness? Do we live our minutes in vain with no concern over the minutes we've lost , not realizing that those minutes are adding up quickly to hours and weeks and days and years... and soon decades are gone!

Life is but a vapor.... might we want to live like it is so that we won't hate how we've lived it after it's over.

I was riding with my oldest daughter the other day, thinking. I told her if someone asked us to draw our lives out in a timeline, wonder how long people would draw theirs to be... having no idea really, and no guarantee, that they'll live the long life that they're visualizing. But... even if they did, the longest line isn't really that long.

And then.

If we all took the lines that we've drawn, and then were told to, "Mark out how much time (or how many years?) on this line that you're planning on wasting." How much time do you think most would mark? Yet, when seeing it that way, maybe we'll want to waste less and we won't waste so much?

So many people live so much of their lives  in vain. Accomplishing nothing. Focusing mostly on frivolous. Partying hard but going home pitifully unsatisfied. Drinking years away drizzling them away in a drunken stupor. Living under the influence of this or of that, intoxicated with toxins that rob them of life. Waking up old, before they know it. And what have they now got to show from it?

James 4:13 reminded us of this before I did. He said, "Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a city and spend a year there and carry on our business and make money. Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? You are [really] but a wisp of vapor (a puff of smoke, a mist) that is visible for a little while and then disappears [into thin air]."

What do you do with the vapor you've been given?

Here is a poem that a precious lady from church wrote that was played at our yesterday's service. Beautiful! You'll see that when you watch it. May it impact you as much as it did me when I did.

Destinations: Barbara Bice from Landmark Church on Vimeo.


Destinations
By: Barbara Bice

I woke up today and I was old
And I thought about the seeds I'd sowed
And I wondered if along the way
If I'd share His hope and His amazing grace?

I woke up today and I was old
And I thought about the words untold
Like, "I love you," "forgive me,"
And "I'm sorry."

I woke up today and I was old
And I thought about how life unfolds
And how time just slips away
And how a year seems like a day.

I woke up today and I was old
And I wondered what the future holds
For in a heartbeat life can change
Oh, thank You, God, that You're in control.

I woke up today and I was old
And I journaled in my book of prayer
And in those pages I could see
All the times that God was there for me.

I woke up today and I was old
And I looked at my hand, at the ring of gold
And I thanked Him for all the years with you
A man of God whose light shines through.

I woke up today and I was old
Did I do God's will as I was told
Was I faithful? Was I kind? Did I share?
Had I entertained angels unaware?

I woke up today and I was old
And though I had no fame or gold
I was truly blessed just the same
But did I give a cup of cool water in Jesus' name?

I woke up today and I was old
And so grateful for His mercy shown
Yet looking back I had to ask
"Was it ever I that cast the first stone?"

I woke up today and I was old
And I wondered when God looked at me
Did He see someone He'd hoped I'd be
Did I do all the things that He said to do
Then I heard Him whisper, "It's not about you."

I woke up today and I was old
And I thought about the stories told
Of how His Son died for me
While still a sinner on the cross at Calvary

I woke up today and I was old
And so thankful that He bore my load
For in Jesus Christ, I believe...
Yes, it's all about Him
and His forgiveness of me.

One day I'll awake and not be old
And I'll walk upon the streets of gold
I'll meet my Savior face to face
And I'll thank Him for His amazing grace.