Soul Sister 3:16

  I like minister Joel Osteen.    I used to listen to him on the way to work back when people actually used to GO to work (HA!   I can imagine Max telling his kids someday – “You know kids, Grandma used to actually have to travel to a place to work!...)   Anyway back to Joel, I liked the fact that his message was ALWAYS positive and ALWAYS inspirational.   It was a wonderful start to my morning. Each broadcast would start with a corny “Dad” joke, and when that was finished, Joel would lead a congregation (so large that they now meet in what used to be the Houston Astrodome), in a very interesting recitation that started like this: This is my Bible.  I am what it says I am; I have what it says I have; and I can do what it says I can do... That’s nice – but basically meaningless UNLESS you know what the Bible says you are, what it says you have, and what it tells you that you can do.   So – let’s explore that notion. WHAT ARE YOU – You are...

I LOVE the stories of “Random Acts of Kindness”, where people do something unusually kind, and certainly unexpected for someone they do not know. For example, in 2014 in St. Petersburg, Florida, a customer at a drive-up window at Starbucks decided to pay for their coffee, and for the order of the car behind them.   Inspired by this act of kindness, the next customer chose to do the same, paying for the order of the car behind them.   The chain reaction continued throughout the day, with each person in the drive through paying for the next person’s order.   The phenomenon continued for 11 hours with a total of 378 consecutive customers participating in the “pay it forward” act of kindness. And while that is a rather LARGE example, small ones are happening every day.   For example, there is a story of a woman named Vassi Booth who started visiting her aunt who was in memory care in Virginia.   Vassi quickly fell in love with the other residents, and now, she p...

"Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: 'Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all..'"   - Proverbs 31:28-31 Today is Mother's Day and so instead of the post I had planned, I think I need to focus on Mom. My mom was a teacher.  And as the daughter of a teacher (actually TWO teachers), I think I benefitted from some of the things that come naturally to teachers.  For example, my mom read to me all the time.  I can clearly remember her reading Wizard of Oz, Brer Rabbit stories, Lambkin Lambkin, Charlotte's Web and one about Bluebeard. She also taught spelling with word games like GHOST, and the nuances of the English language so that while I'm not as adept as she is - I'm no shlub. Mom is also a wonderful cook, and she is creative..  Though we didn't have much money as I was growing up, that woman would take hamburger, rice and tomato sauce, and turn it into something she'd call "POR...

This morning I listened to an old song from 1969 called “One Tin Soldier”, and if you’re about my age, that title might have you remembering (or even singing) the song. The lyrics told of a fictional Kingdom at the top of a mountain.   It was said that the Kingdom possessed a great treasure and that it was buried beneath a stone.   The residents of the valley below the Kingdom were jealous of what they suspected to be very valuable, and so they ended up sending a note to the people on the mountain asking for the treasure.   However, when the people of the Kingdom offered to share, rather than give, their treasure, the valley people attacked.   The refrain of the song goes like this: Go ahead and hate your neighbor, go ahead and cheat a friend.   Do it in the name of heaven, you can justify it I the end.   There won’t be any trumpets blowing come the judgement day.   On the bloody morning after…one tin soldier rides away. Well, the story...

  Since mid-April I have been receiving a daily text from someone in the (616) area code.   The text is always a Bible quote, and the texts always ends with “Have a Great Day Susan, Jesus Loves You!” Now I admit that when they first started coming, since the number was not one in my contacts, I should have apologized and said, “I’m sorry – but your name is not showing in my contacts, can you please tell me who you are.”   But I didn’t.   And now, after over a month of daily texts, it’s too late for something like that…. The fact that the texts come at different times of the day suggest they are from a real person and not an automated feature of some place that got hold of my phone number… The fact that whoever is writing me uses my name would suggest that they know me. So now, what to do with this?!?!   I have tried a white pages reverse number lookup and it says the phone number belongs to someone in Lowell Michigan outside Grand Rapids.   In one...

  You know, today I had a bit of a revelation.   I wondered if “broken people” were usually the ones who sought out, and eventually found God. I know that in my life I have experienced: Brokenness Heartache Loss, and Depression I have felt: Empty Unlovable Hopeless, and Suicidal I wondered if those types of feelings are what bring people to Christ. It’s easy to go about your day without God when everything is going well in your world.   But when you feel like life has kicked you in the teeth, and you have no where else to turn, maybe THAT’S when people look to God. In my case, I remember being in a darkened room, sitting on the floor, crying, wondering how my life had become what it was.   I felt like my world was crashing in, and the people in my life who I had looked to for hope, told me my misery was of my own making.   I felt shattered. I remember thinking, “I’ve got nowhere else to turn.   God, if you’re really there – pleas...

  Have you ever seen a shell game, either on tv, in a movie, or in person?   In a shell game, the person “running” the game places a ball under one of three cups then deftly moves the cups around a table before finally stopping them and asking the person “playing” the game to attempt to guess the location of the ball. If you look up “shell game” on the internet, the Miriam Webster dictionary definition will tell you it is a swindling trick that involves sleight of hand and distraction.   I think it is a game Satan loves to play… Recently, I learned that a business launched by one of my friends has rapidly become EXTREMELY successful.   All of a sudden, she is jet setting all over the world, being featured in magazines, hob-knobbing with celebrities, and raking in the dough.   And if I am to be honest with myself, I admit – I’m a little jealous! But why?!?   I have my health.   I have love.   I have good friends.   I have a roof over m...