Star-fish

     My husband complains that no matter where he is in the yard, the water hose will insist on getting caught on something. Then he has to stop what he's doing retrace his steps, untangle the hose, and go back to his yard work. I watched as he was watering our lush banana plant and the hose was already a jumble of plastic coils, yet the water flowed effortlessly through it.      The flexible conduit that allowed the water to stream through my husband's garden hose was nearly 30 feet long and a maze of rubber, yet the water was not deterred from reaching its destination. Now sometimes a crimp can occur in the hose, when it gets particularly pinched in a tight space or drastically turned in the wrong direction, then little or no water can pass through the hose.      My musings on the hose made me think of life. As Christians, when we accept Jesus Christ (the living water) as our Lord and Savior, He sends the Holy Spirit to enter us and guide...

     In honor of Father's Day, I did a Bible search using www.biblegateway.com  for the word "father." What was interesting was that in the Old Testament (O.T.) there were many examples of famous fathers and guidelines for the behaviors of all fathers. Only toward the very end of the Old Testament, King David and the Prophet Isaiah began to refer to the Lord, as their Father.      The New Testament (N.T.) starts right out in Matthew referring to God as Father and later as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many of the fathers of the Old Testament were flawed and even "evil" as noted in 2 Kings 24:9. Whereas the Father of the New Testament is one who shows us mercy by sending His Son, Jesus Christ as a living sacrifice for the sins of the world.      The fathers living under the laws of the O.T. could not offer their children enough grace to give them eternal life. In their flesh, they sinned too, regardless of the O.T. Laws. But kno...

     I was trying to text a picture of the boys' dad to them, but one text came back and said, "I don't have you in my contacts." At first, I thought one of my husband's sons was just messing with me. So in a return text, I asked if it was him. No response. Later in the day, I texted who I was and heard from one of my stepson's x-girlfriends. Strange, I thought, how did my text go to her?      After checking with my son's current girlfriend about his phone number, I realized I had the correct number. I checked back with his X and asked for her number. It was not in my contacts anywhere! But as I told her, the weirdest part of all, was that the day before this "wrong number" text, I came across a journal entry where I express a lament that I hadn't gotten to know her better. Also in the note, I prayed that she would come to know Jesus Christ as her Savior and Lord.      Thinking about the timing of all these "coincidences," I decid...

     I was excited that my aunt was bringing my mom to finally see our home. We went to Lowe's and bought all new seat cushions for our outdoor patio furniture and a matching umbrella. Praise God, our Arizona heat was late this spring, so we all spent a lot of time chatting and catching up on the patio.      A few weeks later, I was having lunch on the patio when a quick, strong wind came whirling down the side of our house. It headed straight for our backyard and both of our large outdoor umbrellas were open. I ran quickly to the farthest one, secured it and turned to tie up our new umbrella just as it took flight! It climbed probably 30 feet into the air, turned inside out, and flew over our brick wall to the parking lot next door.      I called my husband to go on a search and rescue mission, while I picked up and straightened errant pillows and items that had scattered all over the yard. Nearly, 15 minutes later my husband came down the...

     I've asked people how they were doing and some reply, "I can't complain, nobody would listen anyway." That's rather oxymoronic, isn't it? Because they are saying they can't complain, yet they follow that statement up with a complaint!      Recently, I've tried to make myself more cognizant of my own complaining. The Bible records the Israelite people wandering the desert for 40 years, which most of us wouldn't have enjoyed either, but God did supply manna from heaven, quail for meat, water from rocks, and no one's clothes wore out! Deuteronomy 8:4 explains it like this, "Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years."        My husband and I have talked about this 40 year trek and wondered how the Israelites, who had been led out of slavery from the Egyptians by God, could have so much to complain about. God even used a miracle to guide them as noted in Exodus 13:21, "By day the LORD ...

     One book I'm currently reading is by Billy Graham called The Holy Spirit-Activating GOD's Power in Your Life . I gave my life to Christ Jesus 32 years ago, but I still struggle with the concept of the Trinity and especially the role of the Holy Spirit in my life. As only Billy Graham can do, he has written this book in a way that makes sense and "shows" with scripture and analogies how the Holy Spirit is both "person" and "God."      On page 20, Graham writes the following: But more than this, the usual placement of the three    persons of the Trinity in the New Testament has to do with their order and function. Thus we say that we pray to the Father through the Son and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, I have already shown that functionally the Father came first, then the Son became incarnate, died and rose again. Now the Spirit does His work in this age of the Spirit. The order has nothing to do with equality, but only with func...