Star-fish

     Since I live in Arizona, we get very little rain. The rain we do get, gets a lot of press. We see videos on the news of puddles and pictures of rain on car windshields. This type of rain "celebrity" has always been funny to us, since we spent much of our lives in Oregon. So the disparity between the two is significant, with Phoenix, Arizona getting around 8 inches of rain a year and where we lived in Oregon getting about 31 inches a year.      When we first moved here, my husband and I were teaching in an elementary school. I took my 5th grade class outside for recess one afternoon. The classrooms did not have windows to the outside, so when we pushed the double doors open on to the playground, many of the students exclaimed at the same time, "The clouds, look at the clouds!" There were beautiful, puffy thunderclouds filling the sky. I had to laugh, since the students I taught in Oregon would never have even noticed the clouds, since that is what they...

     April 2, 2018, I responded, in my blog, to the article, “Burned to the Waterline,” by Donovan Webster in the  The AARP Magazine  for Feb/March 2018. In the article, Webster explained how a DUI had led to him being imprisoned for 21 months and, "Virtually everything in my life burned to the waterline." He added a note of optimism by stating, "No matter what age you are, staging a comeback is only a matter of taking the rest of your life seriously and making the next smart step, and the next. Is there really any other option?”      I argued that this fatalistic approach to life left out the option of leaning on God's power and strength to step in rather than leaning on our own understanding, or that of other humans who may try to be uplifting, but do not know what God's unique plan is for each of us. Proverbs 13:12 tells us, "Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, your defenses are defenses of clay." You can write a "meme" for anyth...

     I'm back to work on my husband's family scrapbook. He has helped me dig through the plethora of old photos and put them in some semblance of order, but the actual dates and places often escape him. Being a bit of a perfectionist, I have worked on this album off and on through the years, but can't seem to stay with it. Why? It bothers me that I can't put the pictures in an actual timeline and label them correctly.      Sometimes reading the Bible feels a bit like that, I don't know the people in the story and how they actually fit into the timeline of the Bible, so I lose interest in reading about them. Why? Apparently, for the same reason I can't seem to finish the scrapbook. In reality, much of life is a bit foggy and out of order. What is important is knowing enough about the characters in the Bible or in the family scrapbook to get the essence of the story or the thread that carries the story through the generations.      Since perf...

     I can't count the number of times I have prayed, "Lord, what should I do?" Sometimes I felt like He had clearly directed me, but other times, I remained confused and concerned that I would mess up anything that He may have planned. At some point, I read an author, (sorry I don't recall whom) who wrote that we shouldn't be so full of ourselves that we think we can stand in the way of God's plans. That was funny to me, because truly, how much power did I think I wielded, that I could single-handedly mess up the Creator of the Universe's plans?      This makes me think of a pastor who once said that our actions do not stymie God. He doesn't smack his forehead and exclaim, "Oh, no, I never thought of that!" regarding our sins or stumbles. We are the created, thus He knows us better than the we know ourselves. Just as a potter, who forms a clay pot, knows where it is weak or even patched due to a broken area, God knows our weaknesses, He giv...

     As we enter into this 2019 new year, God has a plan for each one of us, but we must be intentional about discovering it. Since this earth is not our final destination and we have eternity in heaven to look forward to, there's hope. There's hope...when bad things happen, when the world seems to be falling apart, when things don't seem to come together as we had planned. God has a plan, bigger than this moment in time, bigger than any plans we could dream up.      The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 29:11-13, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." To call, come, and pray to God is intentional living. Wanting, seeking, and engaging in communication with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, then sets in motion His respons...