Alec wasted no time in launching his goals.  A few days ago, the family stopped at McDonald’s for a snack.  While his older brother and his parents ate in the restaurant, Alec went to play in the bounce house.  The family had long since finished their meal when Alec finally emerged from the play area.  When asked why he took so long, Alec said, “Oh, I just led a boy to Jesus.”

In the bounce house, a boy tried to bully Alec.  Instead of getting angry, Alec let him go ahead of him on the slide and ignored the boy’s bad behavior.  After several such slights, the boy asked Alec, “Why aren’t you mad at me?”  Alec replied, “Because Jesus lives in my heart.”

The boy screwed up his face.  ”Huh?”  And Alec told him about how Jesus had made him a happier person.  The boy asked Alec how he could get this Jesus to live in his heart too.  And, standing in the middle of the MC Donald’s bounce house, one of God’s youngest missionaries led a hungry heart in the sinner’s prayer.

A blessing in a bounce house–who would have imagined what miracle was occurring that day?  While I’ll probably never bring someone to Jesus in the middle of a bounce house, I can apply Alec’s K*I*S*S to places I visit, like grocery stores, public libraries, etc.  Matthew 18:3 NIV  ”unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Enter his friend Myron.  Myron asked my hubby to go with him to pray for this man who was believed to be dying.  Reluctantly Richard agreed to go.  As the two prayed for Vincente’s healing, a powerful current of electricity started in Richard’s scalp, bounced to his feet and shot down his arm and into Vincente.  Healed, like the Apostle Peter’s mother-in-law, Vincente arose from his death bed.  Dramatic?  Yes, but that’s not the end of the story.  Vincente began studying the Bible with the two men.  He and his wife gave their hearts to the Lord and were baptized.

Dramatic?  Yes, but the story doesn’t end here either.  God had a plan for the Iguana Boy’s life.  This morning Richard and I ran into Vincente at Sizzler’s Mother’s Day brunch, along with his daughters (and a granddaughter).  We learned that the youngest of his three girls had just completed her R.N. training and is looking for work here in the valley.  The middle daughter is finishing her Master’s degree in social work.  And the eldest  is employed as a licensed respiratory therapist.  (Her daughter attends a Christian school in the area.)  What a legacy for the Iguana Boy!  What a blessed inheritance for the family of God!  What a revenue gain for America!

Aliens? Vincente is a first generation American from Mexico.  My husband Richard is a second generation American from Italy.  And my family came from England in the 1600′s–all immigrants in search of a better life; and all have contributed immeasurably to their adopted country.  The words of Deuteronomy 24:14 KJV apply to each generation.  ”Do not oppress …the strangers that are in thy land…”

So the next time you hear someone berating the “aliens” in the land, praise God for Vincente, the Iguana Boy and a God “who makes all things work together for good for them who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 NIV

Advice columnist Ann Landers claimed this was the most controversial issue ever in her column–15,000 letters.  The makers of TP have done multiple surveys to determine which is best and why.  (If interested, go on Wikipedia to read their results.)  Reasons given for one’s preference range from aesthetics and cleanliness to economy and socio-economic status.  Supposedly, political liberals prefer rolling theirs over the top and conservatives under.

There seem to be two choices–right and wrong.  A friend of mine came up with a third.  She says her husband never replaces an empty roll.  He’s happy leaving it on the tank, hence a third option.

Why must someone always be right and those who think differently, be wrong?  What is it in the human psyche that demands to be affirmed of our beliefs?  And why must we strive to convince others of our righteousness, even over the roll of toilet paper?  We’re in the midst of a presidential battle which promises to divide good people further.  While there are important issues such as child hunger;  sex slavery for women, young boys and little girls in the U.S.; child and spousal abuse; disposal of non-cyclable garbage; job creation; repair our info structure; heal our economy.  The list goes on and on and on.

Instead of issues we separated ourselves from one another by “tissues”–which way the roll should go.  Personal preferences!  Cultural differences which have more to do with our own backgrounds than the candidates’.   Jesus talked about a “house divided against it self cannot stand.”  (Matt. 12:23, Mark 3:24, Luke 21:11.)

What wold happen if God’s people shed their strange little peccadilloes and habits like who’s right and who’s wrong about how the toilet paper should roll, in favor of unifying the house of the Lord under one banner–love?  Roll it under or over the top, loving one another is always right.,

1. You ask, “What do I have worth saying?”  Your thoughts are precious to God and to those who love you..   While you may prefer to chat face-to-face, we live in a fast-paced world.  Blogging can be an avenue for family members to use to keep in touch.  A blog defies the clock.  You can write a blog at 6 a.m.  A person can “tune in” to your blog at 2 a.m. the next morning or 11 p.m. that night.

2.  You say, “If you knew what I”m going through…”  God know but He still wants you to tell Him about it.  Try writing blog letters to God.   As His children, our challenge is to find redemption in the trials we are going through.  By sharing I can help someone else get through a similar situation.  Merely reciting your complaints–whining or griping– can become a pity party which no one wants to hear, nor do you glorify God.  But if you can reveal how His grace works through your weaknesses, if you can give thanks for your experiences, that’s a Christian witness.  Check out King David’s Psalms.  He was pretty honest about his problems and his feelings.

3.  You say, “My life is boring!”  Most lives are. IF one’s blogs are nothing more than a daily activity report, the author is either bragging or bored.  Remember that the event being described is less important than the lesson learned.  Share the lesson.

4.  ”No one cares to hear about my past.”  Yes, they do.  Your memories are invaluable to your descendants even if they don’t yet realize it.  The older I get the more interested I am in my ancestry.  Just watch a few episodes of WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE and you’ll find yourself checking out Ancestry.com for information about your heritage.  (I wish I’d urged my own mother to share more stories of her life. And my dad, I hardly knew him at all.)  Scalawags or scoundrels; princes or presidents; everyone has characters in his/her past worth uncovering.  It is only as each generation shares events and thoughts that the next generation can better understand who they are.  For instance, I am related to former presidents and revolutionaries.  Richard’s grandfather owned a large chunk of Manhattan.  He dined with Thomas A. Dewey.  Interesting?  Absolutely.  And worth passing on to our grandsons.

5. Share your insights into a favorite Bible text.  No soapboxes allowed.  Don’t try to “convert” your reader to your peculiar cause.   Just share.

6. Share your bucket list… we all have ‘em, a list of things we would love to do or accomplish before we die.  Maybe something on your list will touch a reader’s heart.

Two cautionary notes:  Never give out personal data (home address, phone number, Social Security number, bank number, passwords, etc.) and KISS–Keep It Short Sweetie, somewhere between 100 and 600 words.  Much longer and you lose your audience.

As the old hymn says, “If I can help somebody as I pass along; if I can cheer somebody with a word or song…than my living will not be in vain.”  Your on-stage singing days may be over, your door-to-dor evangelism may be a thing of the past, but your witness can be stronger today than ever.  So go, grandma, go!  No more vegetating on the sofa, grandpa.  Stop excusing yourself for limited mobility.  God has a job for you to do.  Get on-line; glorify your Father!

“God–you’re my God!  I can’t get enough of You!  I’ve worked up such a hunger and thirst for God, traveling across dry and weary deserts.  So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open, drinking in Your strength and glory.  In Your generous love I am really living, living at last!  My lips brim praises like fountains.  I bless you every time I take a breath; My arms wave like banners of praise to You.”

“I eat my fill of prime rib and gravy;  I smack my lips.  It’s time to shout praises! If I’m sleepless at midnight, I spend the hours in grateful reflection.  Because You always stood up for me, I’m free to run and play.  I hold on to You for dear life, and You hold me steady as a post.”  

At night when I can’t sleep is my special time to spend with my Daddy-God in grateful reflection.  I can recall the good times when He was here for me, the bad times when I needed to learn a lesson or two, and reflect on the beautiful tomorrows we will have together.  This is really living!

Each morning when I drink in God’s strength and glory my heart overflows.  I want to celebrate the goodness of a God who cares about me and what is happening in my life.  I praise God every time I take a breath.  This is so personal as I have had pneumonia and asthma at various times in my life when breathing became almost impossible.  I know what it feels like to not to be able to breath.  So yes, for breath alone, I rejoice.  I wave my arms as banners to His glory. As an expressive individual, waving my hands in the air is as natural to me as breathing.  This is really living.

As to eating my fill of prime rib and gravy, throw in some buttered mashed potatoes and you have America’s favorite comfort food.  If you’re not a meat eater, what food makes you smack your lips?  Fresh strawberries the size of golf balls? A slice of homemade toast slathered with blackberry jam?  Does the very thought cause you to shout praises?  It should.  All those tiny, teeny tastebuds tingling on your tongue are singing praises, so why not you?

I love being free to run and play.  As a child, I remember running across fields of waist high grass;  I remember rolling in a pile of leaves on my folks lawn;  I remember playing hide-n seek in the boulevard in the moonlight on hot summer nights.  I can spend a few moments remembering and knowing one day, I will enjoy these pleasures again.

As an adult, especially a graying one, I’m fearful of running.  What if I fall and can’t get up?  What if I twist my ankle?  What if I break my leg?  Fortunately I have the next part of the verse for support.  ”I hang onto You for dear life!  You hold me steady.” As a kid I was surefooted like a mountain goat.  I could bounce from rock to rock along the North Atlantic seacoast and not be afraid.  For a moment I can remember and enjoy and know God’s promise takes me well beyond my hopping, skipping, and jumping memories of childhood.

So how about you?  Are you still living in your mid-hopping, skipping and jumping days?  Or are you like me, enjoying the experiences both in the memory and in the promises of tomorrow?  Psalm 63, like so many of God’s promises, speaks to my yesterdays, my todays and my tomorrows.  I call it REALLY LIVING!

“Yes, Lord, hold me steady–solid like a rock–from here to eternity–so I can really live every day of my life.”  Amen

As a child, I became a consummate liar to weasel out of any troubles in which I found myself.  My lies became automatic until I would lie without thinking.  Then to protect myself from my lies I would need to cover up my lies.  When God revealed this evil pattern to me, I decided I didn’t want to lie any longer.  It was a difficult habit to break, but with the Holy Spirit’s help, today I stop myself before I speak.  Sometimes I need to back up and clarify, but step by step, it’s getting easier.

Many children develop the habit of lying for self-preservation–anything to keep out of trouble.  The more intelligent they are; the more they do it and can get away with it.  Hence the better they become at it.  By the time they reach adulthood it is second nature.  We’ve all seen this scenario play out in the political world.  One lie begets the next and the next until it takes a massive cover-up to conceal the deception, thus creating a much worse problem.  Take the Watergate fiasco or the John Edwards’ tragedy.  We think, “If only he’d come clean in the first place instead of covering it up.”

I live in an era of instant communications.  Lies that could be swept under the proverbial rug, are splashed across the media in seconds.  As a result in my cynical society everyone is suspect.  In the 1950′s doctors and preachers were considered ready for sainthood.  Today they’re reputations have plummeted to the level of lawyers and used car salesmen.

Passing on that cynicism to God the Creator of the Universe is the next logical step in my thought process.  But the difference, ah, the difference, is God cannot lie!  Do you know why?  There’s a very good reason.  When God created the world, He spoke it into being.  ”And God said, ‘Let there be light!’ and there was light.”  Boom! flash!  Zap!  No hesitation.  Like Captain Picard of the Starship Enterprise who said, “Make it so!”  And it was so.

The moment God speaks, His words are transformed into reality.  He can’t lie.  The instant a hypothetical “lie” would leave His mouth it would be come the truth.  Beyond the moral law, it’s a physical and eternal law.  So the next time you read a verse like Jeremiah 31:3 NIV which says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness.” Wow!  Everlasting–where does that stop?  Tomorrow?  Next week?  The next time you tell a lie?  Everlasting is forever and ever and ever–no conditions!

In a world of charlatans and con artists, I am so glad the God of the Universe can be trusted to keep His word.  I am so thankful when politicians tumble from grace, when leaders try to cover-up their stupid mistakes; that in this world of deceit I have one Rock, one Constant which never changes, never fudges the truth, never makes political promises He cannot keep, never tries to flim-flam me in any way because He can’t.  He is Truth!  God cannot lie!

Many Americans have allowed themselves to become insulated from truths they don’t like. The only newspapers they read are the ones who report with their political slant.   They watch either FOX or MSNBC, according to their prejudices and rant against people and issues of which they know little.  As soon as anyone voices a varying opinion, the mind snaps shut, never to be opened again to that heretic.

Today an acquaintance of mine posted a message on FACEBOOK that if you celebrate Earth Day, you are also celebrating Lenin’s birthday.  And then he went on to decry the Russian premier.  Bad!  Bad!  What more reason do I need to pillage and destroy the earth’s bountiful resources than this? Does this line of reasoning follow that when I celebrate my husband’s birthday I am also celebrating the bombing of Pearl Harbor?

Them verses us!   What a comfort to surround myself with others who know the “truth” as you know it, and by avoiding the other guys are demonically wrong, who are out to deceive and destroy.  Unfortunately this mental isolation produces a brain freeze that extends to friends and family members who view life differently.  In reality, most people are living their lives as best they can with what they’ve been given.  As one frustrated American put it, “Can’t we just all get along?”  Not a bad idea from where I sit.

A current topic on TV news is the Trayvon Martin case.   Forget politics for the moment.  A small, apparently insignificant  choice started a firestorm that destroyed the lives of the victim’s family and the family of Mr. Zimmerman.  No one connected to the event will ever be the same again.  Little choices matter.

Recently Richard and I were talking about the seemingly insignificant choices we’ve made over the years and the way those decision have impacted our lives, our daughters’ lives, our grandsons’ lives–the list goes on.  Choosing to take a teaching position at Milo Academy instead of at a Michigan academy; leaving Milo for Portland; rejecting the offer to recruit for a leading university because of Sabbath responsibilities; writing my first short story for Junior Guide–the list goes on.  All these choices are now a part of our family’s history.

They say one out of every six choices a human makes is wrong.  Sometimes I think my average is more like one out of every four.  Recently I chose to buy a pair of brown Sketchers instead of black–bad choice since I don’t wear brown very often.  (Maybe I’l have to change that.)

I’ve learned (sometimes the hard way!) when I ask God to direct in my life, I can better my odds for success.  My Savior is faithful to keep His word.  I can trust His promises.  But I must ask.  I must admit sometimes God leads me to places I’d rather not go;  He urges me to pop out of my little bubble of comfort to share His love with another.  And sometimes things go badly, just because.  That comes from living in a world of sin.  But when this happens He can turn my bad choices into blessings if I allow Him to.

The Wisest man gave a formula for success.  In Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV he wrote, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not to thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”  A great promise to claim in both the little and big choices in my life.  Yours too.

And then I walked to my “prayer” swing, sat down, leaned back and closed my eyes to pray.  ”Father God, I am so hopeless.  Today I really don’t like me.  And I surely can’t understand why You continue to put up with me…”  I was on a roll, about to enumerate all the faults, foibles and foolish choices I’d made since my conception, when God interrupted.  ”Kay, the joy of the Lord is your strength.” He followed with, “Rejoice in Me always…;  Give thanks to Me with a grateful heart; My grace is sufficient for you; Cast all your cares on Me for I care for you and My strength is made perfect in your weakness.”*

Wow!  If there were ever any question about the importance of setting scripture to memory, I was reminded again of the treasure chest of promises God gave me for such a time as that stormy gray morning.  That was the moment where God’s glory met my suffering; when my humanity was overcome by His majesty;  when the hurt in my heart collided with the Heavenly Healer.  That was when my burdens–real or imagined–became blessings in disguise, as one contemporary Christian song writer puts it.

Yeah, I again needed to learn the lesson that in and of myself I will never be strong enough, wise enough, pure enough to go it alone.  On this earth I will build up perpetual scabs on my elbows and knees from all of the literal and figurative tumbles I take chugging around Murphy’s barn.  But God’s love and mercy will always allow me to run dance and sing again in His grace.  And how quickly relief comes is up to me.

*Texts are paraphrases taken from my memory bank.

However  I think it’s safe to speculate that Paul, an avid scholar, would have desperately missed being able to delve into the truths of scripture and philosophy of his time.  We know he begging and pleaded three times to be healed.  (Only three times?  That’s remarkable in and of itself.)  I can almost hear him bargaining with God–”Please Father, remove this thorn from my flesh.  I could do so much more for You if I could see more clearly!”

Read Paul’s so human response as paraphrased in the Message Bible.  II Corinthians 12:8+ “…so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations… no danger of then walking around high and mighty. At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it.  Three times I did that, and then He told me, ‘My grace is enough;  it’s all you need.’ (And this is the exciting part) ‘My strength comes into it’s own in your weakness!’”

Wow!  As the KJV puts it, “My (God’s) strength is made perfect in (your) weakness.”  That my weakness has any effect on God’s strength blows my mind. Paul goes on to write, “Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen.  I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift.  It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness.  Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer…and the WEAKER I GET, THE STRONGER I BECOME.”

So, what’s your handicap? What holds you back from being the powerhouse God intended you to be?  The only change made was in Paul’s attitude.  (See I Thessalonians 5:18 KJV.)

God didn’t scold him or tell him to stop praying about his eyesight.  Instead God opened Paul’s eyes to an exquisite gift made possible only through his limitations–the privilege of possessing God’s strength instead of his own efforts.  Sometimes I forget that that’s what serving God is all about–His strength, not mine; His will, not mine; His glory, not mine.  ”Father, teach me to deal with Your gifts–larger or small–as they affect my day by day witness.  Teach me to give thanks in all things.”