What A Mess!

What A Mess!

In my neighborhood there’s this house with a yard that is truly impossible to describe. They have used busted up concrete and rubble to line their driveway and make borders for flower beds. On one side of the yard, they’ve planted an old, broken, plastic rocking horse as some sort of yard art, and on the other side is a large dead bush….I know it is dead because in the middle of summer it still has no leaves. On this dead bush they have placed giant red Christmas bows, and in the center of the bush….a stuffed santa toy that is now droopy and soggy from the rain. There are random piles of rubble all over the yard, a forest of dead plants sitting in planters and a Christmas teddy bear strapped to the top of the mailbox…also soggy wet. To top it all off, the centerpiece of the yard is a large pile of concrete rubble with a big, white, plastic planter sitting on top. Inside the planter they have placed every kind of ugly plastic, red and green flower bouquet imaginable, interspersed with garland. It looks like the Grinch threw up everything he stole from the Whos. I’m not kidding….I couldn’t make this up if I tried! You should see it at Valentine’s Day and Easter!!

Today as I drove past that horrible mess it made me think. No matter how hard you try to dress it up, no matter how many brightly colored flowers, ornaments or sparkly things, no matter how “cuddly” we try to make it look….you can’t cover up sin. It is ugly, plain and simple. No matter what you try, you can’t make it look better and you can’t hide it from God. It is what it is, plain and simple. The good news is, we don’t have to leave it that way. No matter how big or ugly our sin is, Jesus can wipe it all away. All we have to do is accept His love, His sacrifice and His forgiveness. Once we do that, we are beautiful in God’s eyes and all the ugliness is gone forever! If you haven’t accepted God’s free gift of salvation, what better time than Christmas to do so! All you have to do it ask. It really is that simple.

(Wish it was that simple for that yard!)



John 3:16 – “For God loved us so much, that He gave up His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him, will not perish, but will have everlasting life.”

What Are You Known For?

Reading the opening statement of my son’s paper he wrote about himself in English class, made my jaw drop a little, and a tear come to my eye. “I want to be known as a devout Christian”, he wrote. He went on to mention several other qualities he wanted to be known for…being honest, kind and helpful, someone who’s willing to share, a good sense of humor, and good musicianship. He really blew me away. It was all the things I have taught my boys rolled up into one awesome paper. And he didn’t write those things because I told him to…he wrote them because that is what was in his heart, that is what he truly wants to be known for. It’s moments like these that you realize you actually did something right. He’s an awesome kid, and has never given me trouble, but with boys you just never really know what they are thinking. They don’t just spontaneously share their thoughts and feelings with you! So I knew I had tried to teach them good things, but not if it had all really sunk in yet. I cannot say enough about how important it is for parents to be involved together in a church. And, not just be involved, but have a real relationship with Jesus Christ. You want the best for your children. You want to keep them safe from every harm. If you’ve got a heart full of Jesus, there’s not room for the bad stuff. I am so thankful that I was raised in a Christian family. Recently, at my Grandmother’s funeral, as the family gathered to go out to the Chapel, the Funeral Director gathered us together. He is an old family friend and knows us very well. He said he’d like to pray for us because he knew we were a Christian family and that we had something many other’s don’t….we have hope and the knowledge that one day we will see her again in heaven. Not everyone has that assurance. That thought overwhelmed me standing there with all my family. I am so blessed to have been born into a family like that. Not everyone has that kind of family. Even in my family it had to start somewhere. What if my Grandparents hadn’t been faithful Christians? There’s a very good chance then that my parent’s would not have been Christians, and an even greater change that I would not be now. Where would that leave my boys? LOST. What I do today, what I teach my kids now, will carry on into the future to my grandchildren, my great grandchildren, and on and on. I want to be known as someone who is kind, generous, merciful, fun-loving, and perhaps slightly mischievous (in a good way), but most of all a devout Christian with a real, life-long relationship with my Savior…so that when my Grandchildren look back and remember me, and look around at their family, they will also be overwhelmed at how blessed they were to be born into this family. What about you….what do YOU want to be known for??


Thank you Lord Jesus for my children and for their real, honest love for You. Thank you for giving me the privilege of being their mom. Shower Your blessings on them, help them to grow into mighty men of God, and let them live long, honorable lives that bring many people to You. Amen.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9

“Love GOD, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got! Write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates. “

I hate storms!

All this hurricane talk made me start thinking about the storms that come our way. Have you ever been through a bad storm? I don’t like them. I’ve been through some very scary ones. I think the thing that scares me the most is the lack of control you have over a storm. There’s nothing you can do but ride it out, and pray. The storms of life are like that too. There’s nothing you can do to keep them from coming, and nothing you can do to stop them. You just have to ride it out….and pray. One of the worst life storms I’ve ever been through was when I was 37 years old. I was the happy, healthy mom of three energetic boys when I had two mini-strokes, or TIAs, which then caused me to have seizures for about 7 months. It was a very scary, trying, and exhausting time in my life. I had gone from being a very strong, independent person, to being very sick and having to depend on everyone else. I was weak, frail, scared, depressed and exhausted. I went from taking zero medications to having a new one every week trying to control seizures and deal with depression. The side effects were often unbearable. After many months of tests, Drs., medications, hospitalizations, and different diagnoses I felt like God was leading me to a more natural approach. Never underestimate the power of prayer, or the power of God’s creation. With much prayer and research and mega doses of antioxidants & nutrients, I started feeling better, and within a few months I was seizure free and feeling better than I had in a very long time. Today I am happy to report I have been seizure free since then. I have to be very careful to get the proper nutrition my body needs, but I am healed! Through God’s grace, His constant love, and His marvelous creation, I am once again strong and healthy. I often look back at that time and think about what God taught me through it. I learned that I cannot do it all on my own, I have to depend on Him. I cannot control the storms that come my way, and one day I may have to go through a storm like this again, but this one thing I know; God will always be there with me. He will never leave me, no matter how strong the storm. I am His FOREVER, no matter what the storms may hold!  :)

From miracles to murmurs

I recently read an article about murmuring and it inspired a blog entry. Having been in the ministry with my husband for over 20 years, I’ve certainly dealt with it before. To Murmur….the definition of this strange word is to grumble or complain. It can happen anywhere. It often happens at work, frequently in churches, sometimes it even happens in our homes. The Israelites fell prey to it. They had just witnessed weeks – perhaps even months – of incredible miracles. They had seen the River Nile turned to blood. They had witnessed miraculous plagues of frogs, gnats, flies, the death of Egyptian cattle, plagues of boils, hail and fire, locusts and impenetrable darkness. They had witnessed the killing of the Egyptian firstborn and the protection of those who’s door frames were sealed with the blood of a sacrificial lamb. They had seen God going before them in an immense pillar of cloud and fire. They had seen the mighty Red Sea opened before them, allowing them to cross it on dry ground, then close behind them, drowning the pursuing Egyptian army.


And what was the first thing the Israelites did after all this? Two of them – Moses and his sister Miriam – did the right thing. They sang songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.

But many of their countrymen began to murmur! They complained about not having enough water to drink, about being hungry, about being tired of eating manna, you name it, they complained about it. Talk about amnesia! They had already forgotten all that God had done for them and all that He had promised them as well.

A study of the subject of murmuring in the Bible shows that the first result of murmuring is a diminishing of the truth. Murmuring turns into rumors which are then presented as truth which causes even more murmuring. Perhaps if we spent more time praying for God’s will, and less time fussing about our wants, we’d have less time to complain about things that, in the eternal view of things, don’t really amount to anything anyway.

Philippians 2:14-17 (New International Version)

“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life…”

The Encouragement Gift

There can never be enough said about the gift of encouragement. Even if you aren’t born with it, you can learn to use it! “A gentle answer turns away wrath”…even children understand that concept. I can’t tell you how many times, when my boys were little, they would suddenly tell me they loved me…just as I was discovering the mischief they had been into. Think about it …has there been a time when someone said something nice to you that just really made you feel good, something that was completely unexpected and it made you smile when you hadn’t felt like it before? Have you ever had a nice thought about someone and then actually told them so? I don’t think those moments are accidents. I believe God is whispering in our ear. I believe those little encouragements are straight from God’s heart to ours. Of course sometimes it’s so hard to hear God whispering when we are so busy listening to the world tell us we should just look out for number one, and reach for all the glory ourselves. The secret to our own success, to our own happiness, is not grabbing all we can for ourselves…it’s in giving it away to others, for it’s in those moments when we are most like our loving Savior. You never know the impact your encouraging words can have on someone’s life. Encourage someone today… “Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.” - Mother Theresa


”Pretend you’re a star and poke a hole in someone’s darkness!”

Tightrope Over A Pigsty

"After the first blush of sin comes its indifference."
~ Henry David Thoreau

I am the proud mom to three wonderful boys. They can be a handful at times, and they don’t always make the best decisions, but I love them just the same. You see I know deep down in their hearts that they know and understand what is right. I know because we have taught them. Not just with words, but also by example, and with higher standards than perhaps some others hold. I know because it is a priority in our home to go to church. Because my boys have been in church consistently their whole lives they have been taught by some of the most dedicated, loving Christians I have ever known. They have each given their hearts to the Lord and each have a passion for serving Him. I’m not super mom. I goof up and make mistakes just like anyone else. But I do not compromise when it comes to teaching my children what is acceptable before God, and what is not. Some people will look at my boys and think that perhaps I don’t let them have enough fun, that I worry too much or that I don’t give them enough freedom, because I don’t allow them to participate in things that I consider “risky” behaviors. You can’t “play” with sin. If you walk on the edge of sin long enough, eventually you are gonna fall right into the middle of it. It’s like walking a tightrope over a pigsty. Eventually you are gonna slip up and fall right into the middle of all that nastiness, and once you do, it gets all over you! Ya know, people who work on pig farms say that eventually you get so used to the smell that you don’t even notice it anymore. It’s hard to believe when you smell it for the first time that you could ever get used to that smell! Sin is the same way. Eventually that first blush of sin fades and then you become indifferent to it. You don’t think it’s so bad after all, and before you know it you are so used to the sin that it seems normal. What I’m trying to say is this….don’t play around with sin and don’t let your kids either. Kids, don’t think you can hang out with people who drink & smoke pot and not eventually get dragged into it yourself. Don’t think you can be around people who are disrespectful, lie, steal, or curse without eventually becoming so used to it that you do it too. The true measure of a person is the company they keep. The friends that are closest to you are the ones that determine how you behave. Surround yourself with Godly friends. I’m not saying you can’t be friends with someone who has made bad decisions…but if you do then YOU have to be the stronger influence, the better example, and be anchored in your beliefs, because if you aren’t, they will eventually pull you in the wrong direction. The most important point I’m trying to make is this....you can’t play around with sin. The smallest thing, leads to something a little bigger, and little bigger until it is something huge. Like easing yourself into a hot tub of water….eventually you get used to it, and it feels good.
"Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something."
~ Henry David Thoreau

Everlasting Arms...

We watched a video at church the other day about how big our universe is. We learned about how far away, and how big some of the stars are....numbers I cannot begin wrap my mind around. The biggest one is quadrillions of light years away....I didn't even know that number existed. But to think that the God that made a universe so unfathomably large, loves ME....I don't even know what to do with that. The God that breathed out the stars knows ME, and wants ME, and loves ME....how can I ever think He cannot handle my little problems? It puts everything in a completely different perspective doesn't it? What are you griping about? What are you worrying about? What are you sad about? Give it all to the one who created the ENTIRE universe....and let Him hold YOU in His everlasting arms. Trust Him....He can handle it!

"The Eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." Deut. 33:27

Holy Ground

Have you ever noticed at most churches, there is a room that seperates the outside from the sanctuary. Some folks call it a vestibule, or an atrium, or a lobby. Whatever you call it, its the room you enter before you enter the sanctuary. Have you ever wondered what that room was for? I had not thought much about it until I started thinking about a song I am going to sing soon. The song is Holy Ground, and the words start out....as I walked thru the door I sensed His presence....and it made me stop and think once again about just what a Sanctuary really is. It is defined as a sacred or holy place, the holy of holies, a place of refuge for the weary. Makes ya think...do I treat the sancuary as such? Or do I treat it as just another room in just another building? If it is the holy of holies....should we bring in our sin with us...riding proudly on our backs, as we walk thru those doors? Or do we continue to act the same way we did in the parking lot? Don't get me wrong, God doesn't care about how you look.  He's not worried about what you're wearing.  God is looking at the condition of your soul.  He wants to know, are you there to worship, or there to make a list of your complaints? Are you there to praise God, or are you there to be entertained, to gossip, to stir up mischief or just to be seen? What are you thinking about during the music or the sermon. Are you thinking...this song it too long and I'm tired of standing, or I don't even like this song, or he just pronounced that word wrong, or how long is he going to preach, etc. Are you paying attention...or texting your best friend, passing notes, making other people laugh, and goofing off? When you walk into that little room before the Sanctuary I want you to think about it very hard before you walk through those doors. Take off all the sinful nature, put away from you the wordly things, the things that would distract you from what God is going to say to you. Stop worrying that you have to stand up too long, you don't like all the songs, or the message goes a little over. WHY ARE YOU THERE?? You are stepping into the Holy of Holies because Jesus made it possible for YOU to approach the throne of God! You are entering God's house, and even though you cannot actually, physically see Him...He is there. Now...how are you going to act? What are you going to do? What are you going to be thinking about in the presence of God? "As I walked through the door, I sensed His presence, and I knew this was a place where love abounds. For this is the Temple, Jehova God abides here, and we are standing in HIS presence on Holy Ground!"

What's down in the well...comes UP in the bucket!

I feel a blog entry coming on….it’s weird how it happens. One minute I am clueless, staring at a blank page wondering if there is anything intelligent I can write, and the next minute something happens that sets it all in motion. Sometimes it’s a good "happening"…sometimes it’s not. I’ll first say the “happening” that just happened was not a pleasant one, although not unexpected. Here’s the dilemma, trying to be kind, understanding, and good at what I do, I often ask if there is anything I CAN do, or anything I may have overlooked. I mean, with three schools to take care of, often I do forget something. Who wouldn’t? I certainly don’t claim to be perfect, but I do strive with all that I am to be consistent, understanding, patient and kind. These traits after all, do make things move along a lot smoother when dealing with people. That is why I simply cannot understand the meanness in some people…the downright ugly, rudeness that some people seem to be born to spread. It especially upsets me when I know I have done everything I can to be kind and patient with that person. I have heard that it takes seven compliments to make up for one negative comment. Sometimes, I think it might take twenty. At any rate, getting down to the main thing I am trying to say…what kind of person are you? Are you the kind of person that can be nice to mean people? There are not a lot of those kinds of people out there ya know? I try really hard to be that kind of person, but I admit there are times that I am simply not capable. My humanness creeps out all over the place and I just want to clobber them! I am having a moment like that right now. I am thanking God that they are in another school building, and I will not have to run into them in the hallway today. Because, I am certain if I did run into them it would not be a pleasant scene for either of us! Aren’t you glad that God loves us, even when we are angry? He loves us even when WE are the mean ones. He loves us NO MATTER WHAT!! And as I type that I realize that, even though I am fairly certain from my dealings with this person they are not a Christian, God loves her too!! So I am going to stomp my feet a few times to make ME feel a little better (wish I had a punching bag!), and then I am going to sincerely pray for her and also pray that I can show her what a real Christian is…and that I can love her with Christ’s love, even if I don’t “like” her very much!!
“What’s down in the well….comes UP in the bucket!!”

God, there's rocks in my stream!

In Elkmont Campground, in the Great Smoky Mountains is the Little Pigeon River. It's simply beautiful and one of my most favorite places on earth. It's full of boulders and rocks, and my mom and I love to go rock hunting down by its edge, hunting for that perfect smooth rock to paint something on. My boys used to love to search for little, flat, round rocks that look like coins. They called it "river money" and we always came home with ziplock bags full of it. Because of all those rocks, the sound of the river fills up the campground with its song...there are no words to describe how it calms your soul. My whole family goes back there every summer for a week. I wish I was there right now. I'll admit it, something has perturbed me. It's dumb really, and I know better than to let it bug me considering the source. Sometimes I wonder, why does God allow those things to get in our way? But then I realize...if life was always smooth sailing we'd be really bored and never learn anything at all. I've had some giant sized boulders fall in front of me before and I've overcome them by depending on God and believing His promises....this is more like a pebble in my shoe really. So I'm just gonna pray for that pitiful little pebble and shake it out of my shoe and move on! The brooke would lose its song if God removed the rocks!

It Blows Me Away...

Maybe I'm just getting older, having a "hormonal moment" a little more often, I don't know...but driving in to work this morning I saw the most beautiful sight. It was like an award- winning National Geographic photo...but it was real, and it made me cry. God just blows me away and at the most unexpected times. I cross the Brunswick and Cape Fear Rivers every morning on the way to work, usually just as the sun is coming up over the horizon. It is always beautiful, but this morning was simply glorious! There's no other word for it! Just as I rounded the corner to cross the Brunswick River, the sun peeped over the horizon, sitting there on the river which was as smooth as glass. The reflection of the sun on the river was just like a mirror. Beautiful pink and amber clouds surrounded it as a flock of birds flew across it's face. At that very moment I was singing along with the radio, just as I looked up and saw this awesome sight..."How Great Is Our God!" The timing could not have been more perfect. I felt in my soul God saying "Good Morning! I love you THIS much!" It was awesome!! As I crossed the bridge into town and rounded the corner, I was met with stopped traffic and a train. GREAT! I thought, now I'm gonna be late. I was starting to feel a bit agitated, and then I looked out the window. I was sitting right next to Greenfield Lake and just ask I looked up a beautiful crane flew gently across the lake and the spanish moss in the trees swayed gently in the breeze as the sun peeped through the branches. Wow...twice in one morning! It was gorgeous! I was delayed by the train at least 5 minutes and I just sat and stared at the lake, watching the mist rise into the sun. You know that saying, "Stop and smell the roses"? Make a point today to stop and see God's creation around you....watch & listen to that "still, small voice"...it's all around you!!

What if they've never been told?

Raising kids is tough. One of the toughest jobs you'll ever do. And sometimes, even though you think you've done everything right they still grow up and run away from all they've been taught. In a way, we all do it at some point in our lives. Some just run a little farther than others. But one of the most important things you can ever teach your children is about God's immeasurable love for them. They need to be taught that only God can fill up that emptiness in their soul, not money, not boyfriends or girlfriends, not work, not friends, not alcohol, not drugs. Teach them who to turn to in trouble.
Teach them who to praise in good times. Teach them about His unconditional love, about His forgiveness and mercy, His longing to have a relationship with them and to bless them, so that when they reach the end of who they are, when they fall on their faces and realize they are standing in a pigpen eating slop like the prodigal son, they will know WHO to run back to and they will know God is there watching for them, waiting to run to them and take them in His arms! To whom or to what will they run if they've never been told? Even when it seems hopeless, keep leading by example, keep praying, keep showing them the way home. What is impossible for God? Nothing!!