Sunday School... A Lesson

It was a golden Sunday morning. My family and I were up early and off we went to the park.
As we strolled along, we took in the scenes of the morning and the sound of the river flowing quickly beside us.

This must have been one of those days that brings " the exerciser" out in folks. The trail was teeming with bikers, walkers and runners. Some people walked with quick, energized steps. Runners flew by at record speed. Still others huffed and puffed looking as if they were hardly going to make it.

As we got deeper into the trail, less people were seen. The trail was getting more and more scarce. Funny, isn't it? (But that's not my point.)

After some time, coming down the trail toward us was a little girl walking a little dog. She was all alone. No seeming guardian was in sight. Hmm... that's strange. I wonder where her parents are?
As we got closer, I saw her face. It wore a scrunched up, pained expression. I sure hope she's okay, I thought, and we passed her by.

{ I've lost my mom and I can't find her!}

"Hold on, let me make sure she is alright." My mom did a 180° and went over to her.
" Is everything okay?" my mom asked.
" I've lost my mom and I can't find her!" the poor little girl moaned.

Lost. This 8 year old  girl was lost, left alone in a wide- open and unprotected place.
And what had I done? Passed right by her just thinking, "I sure hope she's okay."

I learned my lesson. We walked with her and helped her search for her family until they were found.
                                                                  ~

How many people do we pass by who are lost and searching?  They are looking for some caring person who will direct them to our Heavenly Father by being the hands and feet of Jesus.
Will you pass right by or offer them help?

Fastened

As you already may know, I live on a lake. On this lake there is a dock. Lately, there has been  a tremendous amount of rain.  I mean, its been raining for days!  ( Not normal August weather...)  I customarily look out the window every morning when I first wake up to "check out" the lake. I do this to observe the character of the water or maybe even catch a glorious sunrise over the lake.   Yesterday morning I did the same thing but... there was no dock.  Only a chair.  As a result of the rain, the water had risen and completely covered the dock. 

Good thing that chair is screwed to the dock. I thought. Or else it would have floated away!\

Even with the water running over the dock and coming up around the chair, the chair could not move. 

                                    ~ 

How about when the rains of life pound on us? When temptations, issues, and the difficulties of life just don't seem to let up? Will you be run over and float away?
We need exactly what that chair in the middle of our little lake possesses. 

A dock.  A solid, unmovable foundation. Something on which we can fasten ourselves in the middle of the relentless rains of life, so that we cannot float away.

We need Jesus.

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.
 ... The foundation of God stands sure. When the storms of life come, the wicked are whirled away,
but the those who follow God have a lasting foundation. **

Jesus told a story long ago...
“Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: “He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 
“But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:47-49)

Will you make Jesus your foundation?


~Written by guest contributor Jade M










* 1 Cor. 3:11; Proverbs 10:25

Don't Look Back

I'm sure I'm not the only one who sometimes gets tempted to think that following Christ isn't really worth it.   I mean, is it really worth the time, effort, and sacrifice? Life appeared easier when I did whatever I wanted, said whatever came to my mind, acted anyway I felt. You know how thoughts can go, if life was only as it used to be... 

Often in life, when things aren't going as we might like, isn't it tempting to look back? Ah, peeking back at the past when things seemed easier...

~

Hungry, tired and wondering what they had gotten themselves into.  Israel was following God who was leading them from being slaves to... where again?

The Tempter comes and whispers,
" Remember how life was before you decided to  follow God? Life was great!  Where do you think you are going anyway? Why trust God and waste time thinking He is going to care for you? Imagine how much easier things would be if you just went back home..."

They fall for the temptation and now long for the life they left behind. They complain, they regret. They become sick and dissatisfied of following God in faith. They cry for what they were used to, earthly sustenance.  Looking back, they lose trust.

~

Satan has extreme pleasure when he can get us to look back to our old ways of living before we knew God. Yes, life may have seemed easier. Satan always wants to make it seem that following God is tedious, sad and worthless compared to his deception that his own ways are bright, happy and easy.  It may even appear this way at first glance. But following God is worth it! He is always beside His followers, giving us real happiness, strength to not fall to temptations, love for Him and for others. There are sometimes challenges, but He is right beside us to give strength. He really does change lives.

Don't look back.


Image from Freefoto.com

Saved

Good morning world.


I tumble out of bed on this beautiful Sunday morning- ready to get started for the day. I greet my family good morning.

And a good morning to our unexpected guest as well... 
Just outside the front door sits a snake underneath the netting of our blueberry bush, (put there to keep critters out)  eating our blueberries for breakfast.

Daddy decides that Mr. Snake's breakfast time is over and he's got to go. It is then I realize that this snake is caught in the netting. I mean he is really stuck. 

My dad, sister and I take to releasing the tangled snake.

Scratched, torn skin, uncomfortable. All just to get to eat the forbidden fruit.
Yet, he was saved by caring hands who untangled him from what he brought upon himself.

trying to get all the netting off

he's not comfortable...

Scratched, torn, in great distress. All because of trespassing and eating forbidden fruit.*

Yet, saved by Christ's loving, caring hands who frees us from entanglement and death.

free!


* Gen 2:9,16-17
Gen. 3:1-6

Only a Crack...

"Oh no!" My sister shrieked from the basement of our home.

What in the world happened? I thought, while finishing up my evening chores before my family's scheduled "family time".

"What happened?" My mom called.

"There are ants everywhere in the corner near Joey's food!!!"

The dreaded ants- again. Would they ever leave?

We have fought this whole season, trying to keep their armies away. The exterminator has come more than once but somehow they still find some nook or cranny to wedge themselves and enter.

We soon found out, much to our frustration, that the ants were not just on the floor, walls, ceiling, and doors, but also inside a container full of almost 52 lbs. of newly purchased dog food! How did they ever get in that airtight container? My sister came to the conclusion- it was all my fault. I had not properly sealed the container forgetting to close the latch on the lid that morning after I fed our dog breakfast. Consequently, these eager, zealous ants took full advantage of this grand gormandize.

One latch left open. That was it... Or was it?

All it took was to leave a lid unsealed to result in a gross (in more ways than one) infestation of those little foul beasts. That's all they needed- one tiny opening.

What if our lives were a container? ( I, know, it sounds strange:)
But think about it, any little crack opened could be making room for infestation of things that are not good.

Little things.
Lying every once in a blue moon, of course, only when it's convenient. Knowingly talking rudely about someone for a good laugh or to be accepted and not seen as "weird".  Surely that's not so bad. 

These spaces, seemingly ever so small, open cracks in our hearts that only give room for wrong and more wrong.

Close the cracks... or else...

Outlook

"Rain, rain, go away
Come again another day..."

We all have heard this English nursery rhyme countless times.

But really, I question, when will the rain go away?

Monday began. Sunny.  Then rain.

Tuesday. Threateningly cloudy but, thankfully, no rain.

Wednesday. Heavy, blinding rain.

Torrential Thursday, once again there is rain.

Friday, rain, rain, more rain. Is the rain here to stay?

Saturday, no rain.  Yes! Maybe it has gone away for another day.

I guess not.  Sunday, rain. 

Today, rain again.

Six out of eight days- rain.

I really enjoy sunshine. The rain can be dreary. But I decided that my outlook is most important, especially when circumstances are not as I would have them. 

I can see an inconvenience or I can see a blessing. 

Outlook.  A mental attitude or view. My outlook makes all the difference.

This reminds me of story...
 
{God assured Israel that He would give them victory in conquering Canaan.}

Twelve spies were sent from the Israel, scouting out the country of Canaan to see the land and how they would conquer it. Ten of the twelve spies returned to Israel with very negative, fearful reports. " The people are too big and the cities are too strong. We can never conquer the land." They were scared.  The spies discouraged the people from even attempting to conquer, and the people listened.

Two spies return with joyous news. They saw everything that the other spies had seen, but instead they brought positive reports . They were full of faith. Their outlook focused on the promise of God. They were ready to enter into battle and clobber.

It is clear that outlook affects influence.  So instead of moping around waiting for the deluge to end, I stayed busy. My time was spent blessing others with music and ministry with a good attitude. And on days I didn't get out, I wrote this, which I hope is a blessing to you!

White Daisies in a Colorful World

In a world full of multicolored daisies;

Few were white.

Every daisy wanted to be the most colorful,

The most distinguished,

The most famed;

But few wanted to be pure white.

The Gardener had once planted white daisies,

But most daisies thought it better to have color.

Many found a way to artificially color themselves

In all types of outstanding colors.

But - 

There still were a small, singular few,

Who kept the pure white

Which the Gardener once planted.

-------

One day an almost white daisy was talking to a dazzling purple daisy

Trying to convince her of the beauty of showing white, just as the Gardener planted her.

" You should be white. The Gardener did not make us to have all these colors. He wanted us to keep the purity of white." 

The purple daisy was not convinced. 

The white daisy was not fully white
She was tinted, or was it tainted on the edges with color.

She was beginning to look like the rest of the colored daisies.

The purple daisy could not see that the "white" daisy was a part of the white, small, singular few.

What kind of daisy are you?

No Mendelssohn?

"I'm really sorry, but I think that we will have to call this piece off ", my conductor stated. "I've done all I can, but I can't practice this for you."

I groaned inside. Really? All this time practicing this Mendelssohn piece and... this? 

It was the day before the orchestra concert. I spent many hours practicing the given music, trying to be ready for a great performance.

This was my first year participating in a youth orchestra, and I came with high hopes. I expected to play great musical works (which we did), meet youth musicians that were passionate and focused, and work together so we could have a fantastic performance. As I went through the rehearsal season, I learned some enlightening information on what makes an orchestra or any group really good.

You might imagine that I should have already known this.  I did, in principle. Then I learned in reality.

Teamwork. [teem- wurk]  You do your part. I do my part. We work together to reach a common goal.

Our director was excellent. Our performance was good. If only all the students had worked as a tenacious and committed team, then we would have been able to play this discarded piece and maybe even done better on the other pieces chosen.

Lesson learned.

If just one single person isn't committed to practice, then they lower the performance of their whole section. Now, the performance of the whole orchestra is lowered.  Everyone must give their absolute best!

The ultimate example of teamwork is depicted in Heaven. All heaven is doing their part to save us from Satan's trap- eternal death. A favorite author of mine once wrote:

"All heaven is actively engaged in working out the plans of God... The angels, thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand are commissioned... to guard us against evil and press back the powers of darkness that are seeking our destruction."

God's love for us is so great that not just He, but all the angels of heaven are doing their part to protect us from Satan and lead us to Jesus so that we can then experience life without sin, death or destruction. Each is giving his best effort so that we can know God's amazing love for us and His plans for us to live with Him forever.

Heaven is doing all it can.

What will you do?

~Joi

They drank up all my water!

I had just finished a time consuming job of weed- whacking when looking up and to my surprise, visitors were coming to see me! It was June, a new friend whom I had met a few months before and her brother, Gus. How delightful! 

I called to my sister to come and greet them. We visited with them for a few minutes and expected them soon to leave, being that they came at a later hour in the evening. June is not normally prone to long visits, but, strangely, today they were in no mood for leaving- or hint taking either.

After some time, my sister went inside and I was left to entertain them. Southern hospitality dictated that I could never be a rude hostess and make them leave, so we continued in one another's company. Eventually, they seemed to stop paying much attention to what I was saying. They became distracted and probing with their expressions as if looking for something... I quickly realized what it was. Dear, dear I had been a rude hostess and not offered them water! Seeing that, they decided to take matters into their own -eh ehm "hands". Catching a glimpse of a nearby container with water in it, they simultaneously darted to it, and very discourteously drank it all up! 

Realizing  their desperate need of water , I quickly ran to the hose and turned it on so they could drink freely  Gus drank, and drank, and drank. He was so absorbed in drinking that he bit me and the end of the hose!

I am sure you have never experienced any of these type guests, or at least I hope not! 

While writing about this, I remembered that on a previous visit from June, she received water. She must have gone home and told her brother about the free water source she had here. Maybe this was reason she brought her brother . She wanted him to come so he too could satisfy his parched snout on their regular explorations (you can probably guess what type of visitors I had).  

This experience reminds me a lot of a story about Jesus and a woman at a well in her town in Samaria. Jesus realized that she was very thirsty too. Not thirsty for water that she could find at the town well, but a type water that satisfies thirst for life. What is this type of water? Jesus says that He is that water. He is the only one that can satisfy the drought and emptiness of our lives that we try to fill with stuff that seems to make us happy but in the end we still feel thirsty.  He will give us all the water that we need. How do we drink this water? Once again, we must spend time with Jesus. When talking to Jesus, reading about Him and asking Him to be in our hearts, He fills us with His wonderful water- water that never runs outs!

That woman did the same thing as June. Once she found out where to get this wonderful water, she ran home and told her friends and family about it!

Let's be like June and share Jesus, the true source of water.

~Joi

Press Forward and Look Up!

It was an exciting time in my neighborhood. At the tiny regional airport, not more than seven minutes from my house, our town welcomed many G5s and other size jets.  Not many planes come and go from this airport. If there are any, they are normally small training planes. So this was a rare occurrence.
Last week, in a larger city near my home, there was an event that brought many of these jets to our small airport.

 I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I absolutely LOVE flying and would like to be a pilot. With jets landing and taking off so close, I was ecstatic! The sound of them flying low over the house is quite thrilling. The excitement, surprisingly, even made someone (like my mom), who hates flying want to get in a jet and fly (that's an achievement)!

Last week, my eyes were constantly in the air scanning for the next jet overhead. I was continually running outdoors to see the next jet. I went to the airport many times to watch the jets land, get fueled and take off again. I was determined to see as many as I could. It was a spine-tingling, eye- popping, and literally an ear -popping experience.

 I was up-close and personal.

While keeping my eye on the sky, I knew there are things I must to do here on the ground before I can fly with a license. It is important to know the basics of flying. Without these basics, there would be a huge problem! I am currently taking online ground school flight lessons. The process is a bit tiresome and sometimes hard to understand. I just want to get in the air!

After a week-long of seeing many jets I realized that if I ever want to fly, I have to really buckle down, and get to work. All the watching encourages me, but I need to complete the training or else...
So I keep pressing forward with my studies so I can be up there too. The end goal is not that far off.

I am reminded that I am looking to the sky for something else- something a gazillion times as exciting...  I am looking forward to Jesus' coming and am expecting Him to come very soon. God has given us our ground school training book, the Bible, so that we can be ready to fly when He comes. If I don't study His book I can't still expect to fly with Him to His home in Heaven! I must daily study and learn what is in His book so that I can fly.  He said that His book tells us who He is.  Not only must I study His book but I must have interaction with the trainer.  More on that when I'm airborne.:)

Let's  press forward with our ground school training and keep looking to the sky!

~Joi

Watching the jets at the regional airport

Photo Courtesy of Jade 

Photo Courtesy of Sarah A.

Freedom

One golden fall day, my mom and my dog, Joey went out to take a nice walk. Before I go any further to tell you about their walk,  I must first  tell you about my dog. Joey is a cute, energetic dog who is filled with much dog, and sometimes I think, with people personality. Though he is a great dog, unfortunately, just like people, he too has some faults. One of the greatest being that he chases chipmunks and squirrels.  Joey just hates to see them in our yard, or in anyone else's yard for that matter. And though he hates these menacing creatures and chases them with utmost furor, in his seven years of life, he has never succeeded in catching one.

Now back to the story. On this beautiful day Joey was on his leash, held by my mom when he saw... a squirrel! When he saw it, with anticipation in his eyes, he set himself to pull away from my mother who reminded Joey walk nicely. In response, his next expression seemed to say,

 " Why should I go and chase this squirrel? I know I'll get in trouble and it really doesn't matter. It's not even in my yard. I'm perfectly content and happy in "mom's care and nothing else compares to this happiness".

 So Joey continued to walk happily and obediently with my mom.

A few minutes later, while still enjoying his walk, Joey saw another hateful little creature! Once again, the same battle seemed to go on in his head. " I must go and get rid of that squirrel! I just must! " Then again, he was reminded of the safe, contented walk he was having with "mom". Why should he want to do or be anywhere else?  Why should he chase something he was never going to catch, cause himself disappointment, and ultimately be punished? With great dog wisdom he decided to continue walking obediently with "mom".  

What a lovely walk! And now he was home in his own yard. When they neared the yard my mom took him off of his leash. What doggie delight! Run, run ! Sniff, sniff! Jump, jump! Through the forest and in the holes! Simple and happy freedom was his reward in the safety of our yard.

There is an amazing lesson in this story that can apply to each of our lives. We, like Joey are walking through life with a loving Father as our guide, who reminds us to be obedient to Him so we may have eternal freedom from temptation and sin. As long we are obedient to Him, we will be rewarded with joy, freedom and safety.

reflections

Situated on a quiet lake, hedged by rolling pasture land and woods, is where I like to call home. 


Since my family and I recently moved to this area, I  take keen interest in what is around me. I've noticed that the lake looks different every day. Some days it looks clear and other days dark and murky. I began to think about what makes it look different. It dawned on me that the lake was just a reflection of the sky.

When the sky is cloudy and dull, so is the lake.

 And when the sky is clear and sunny, then the lake is clear and beautiful.

 This reminds me of a Scripture that  talks about reflecting Christ's character. It says:

But we all...beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image ...

If by looking at Jesus, we are changed to reflect His image, then isn't it the same with anything else? If I am constantly looking at things of the world that show greed, selfishness, sexual inappropriateness, impatience and unkindness , I will be changed to act in these ways. But if I want to be a reflection of Christ than I must keep myself focused on Christ, who is pure, caring, patient, unselfish and loving. 

Photo Courtesy of Sarah A.