Answers to Flip's Tag...Thanks for asking.

Three screen names I've had: Bernadette, Puff, ME
Three things you like about yourself: I'm fiesty, I'm a good friend, I'm a great teacher!
Three things I don't like about myself: I'm fat, I watch too much TV, I say mean things to my husband.
Three parts of my heritage: Italian, German, Cree
Three things that scare me: That Calvinists might be right, That I might have a stroke (heart attacks don't scare me, but stokes do), Making telephone calls.
Three of your everyday essentials: caffine, writing, quiet time with the Lord.
Three things you are wearing right now: A "Passion Play" tee shirt, Sweatpants, beaded earings.
Three of my favorite songs: Don Fransico's "He's Alive", Beatles, Hey Jude, Rock With Wings, NO MORE!
Things I want in a relationship: Honesty, Respect, Hugs
Two truths and a lie: (not necessarily in that order?) I am a compulsive gambler, I used to be a Magicians Assistant, I wanted to be a nun when I was a little girl.
Three things I can't do without: My grandson, Television, Coffee (let me go pour another cup)
Three places you want to go on vacation: Tibet, Israel, Alaska
Three things you just can't do: Sew, Knit, Jog (couldn't even jog when I was in shape, I thought it was boring)
Three kids names: Johanna Dawn, Arthur, Jeremiah
Things you want to do before you die: Own a cabin in the woods. Minister to the mothers of felons, Write a book.
Three celeb crushes: Jeff Goldblum, Jackie Chan, Paul McCartney
Three people you want to know these things about: the only ones i can think of are too intellectual to answer these "silly" questions, or else they aren't blogged in.

Healings

I don’t believe I am writing these things. Is it a sort of therapy? Will it do any good? So far, the first two entries have seemed to make my mood darker. The TV preacher in the back ground is talking about healing, saying that it is a sure thing. If you have faith, you will be healed. He’s not the first one today that has declared this. How dare they? My dear friend says that every verse in the Bible means what it says. These guys are quoting scripture, emotionally, to an enthusiastic audience. He just said that this was going to be a “Spirit filled, anointed teaching, straight from the Bible.”
I can read it for myself. James 5:14-16. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him…the Lord will raise him up…so that you may be healed. What about Joni Erickson Tada?
What about Sandy, Teresa, and Celeste?
Sandy was a twin. Her sister Erica was in my first grade class at a Christian School. Sandy was in a wheel chair. She was blind, had no language, a severe case of CP caused by doctor error. I only saw her a few times. It was the era of the Toronto Blessing, and the church that sponsored the school brought down an evangelist to share the blessing with the locals. A three night event turned into an eight day affaire with holy laughter, holy barking, and healings. I did not attend. I was a United Methodist at the time. Sandy’s family went every night. Each morning in school, Erica seemed tired and sad. About midweek she came up to my desk and put her head on my shoulder. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that they had gone to church again, and the whole family went forward for prayer. She said that her dad fell down, and her mom fell down, and her 3rd grade brother fell down, so, as she put it “I had to fall down too.” But Sandy still wasn’t healed. What do you say to a six year old, who is learning that God is Love, and God answers prayer?
Teresa was a normal three year old, until her father, in a drunken rage, threw her against a wall and caused severe spinal cord damage. She was adopted by a loving and faithful Christian family. I met her when she was in High School. She is a beautiful young woman, but her body, from the waist down is dead. She had been prayed over several times. She and her adopted mother had received a word of prophecy that she would walk down the aisle at her graduation and someday she would dance at her own wedding. She gets around remarkably well. She drives a big ol’ pick up truck outfitted with hand controls. She’s taking courses at the local college, but she is still in the chair. Where is her healing?
Celeste. Some day I will dance on the streets that are golden with this sweet young lady. Every week at Church, I whisper in her ear, “Some day Celeste, we will dance together. And she acknowledges our little secret with a great big smile. Her father is a widower, a great man of faith. When he is worshiping the LORD you can see the glory of God shining through him. And when he carries Celeste from the van to the church you can see the compassion of Jesus. Celeste has no language, and is fed by a feeding tube.
Last summer we were at a camp meeting. Our church was leading worship, and it was outstanding, prophetic, and dynamic. The speaker was one of those Charismatic types, pacing, shouting, sweating…and he spoke of healing. Celeste was sleeping in the van. The evangelist invited people who needed healing to come forward. He laid hands on them and prayed, many of them were slain in the Spirit. Celeste’s dad seemed to hesitate, but as the frenzy built he went to get Celeste, put her in her chair and pushed her up front. The evangelist didn’t even seem to see her. He did not come over to them, he did not lay his hands on her or anoint her with oil, she was not healed.
What do we say? Maybe if their faith was stronger. Maybe there is a problem of secret sin. Maybe they aren’t good enough. Maybe healing is only for the very few select, elect, and predestined. Early in my walk with the Lord I had a friend, younger in the LORD than I was, call me in tears.
Her little girl was sick. Actually it was just a cold. But she was miserable and kept her mom up all night. The mom had prayed for her, but it hadn’t seemed to help any. My friend sobbed to me, “I must not really be saved.
The guy on the radio says that if you are saved, and if you believe, God will answer every prayer and heal the sick.” What do we say? And mustn’t we be very careful about what we do say?

Prophecy

I was raised a Roman Catholic. When my first marriage broke up I got mad at God. The priest who tried to comfort me by assuring me that I could get an annulment through the church only made me madder. I believed in “til death do us part” and I didn’t want out of the marriage, no matter how abusive it was, I wanted God to change my husband and restore my marriage…ask and you shall receive and all that.
For the next 5 years I was lost in the dark, looking for truth in all the wrong places. Then I was born again. I said yes to a personal relationship with Jesus. I read the Bible with earnest, listened to such greats as Chuck Swindoll, Chuck Smith, James MacArthur, Keith Green and Don Fransisco.
And I married Art.
It took my husband (also a baby Christian) and I a while to figure out that we needed to be part of a church, and even longer to find the right church for our family. We started fellowshipping and serving at Grace United Methodist Church in 1981. Our pastor was an old time preacher who had gone to a “Good News Conference” after over 20 years of service to God, and got saved. When we became part of the church, the Spirit was really moving there. I’ll challenge anyone who says that the Holy Spirit can’t or won’t move through a UMC.
That was where Art was called into the ministry. The call was confirmed by the church and as a family we began the long process to ordination. During this time, the United Methodist denomination was becoming more and more liberal in its teachings, but in our Church Jesus was still LORD and sin was still sin. We were attending a Free Methodist college, Free Methodism is more fundamental and Bible based than is United Methodism, but it is Armenian, as opposed to Calvinistic. Periodically Art had to meet with the ordination board, to go over his progress and his plans. In 1989 he was assistant to the pastor of a small church in a small town, and we were making plans to move down to Kentucky in a year or so to go to seminary.
The board insisted that Art should go to a more liberal seminary, that he needed his convictions stretched. They were opposed to the stand that he took against Abortion and Homosexuality. Calling sin sin was being intolerant and unloving, and we all know that God is love! It came to the point where Art had to compromise or quit. Quitting would mean totally rethinking our future. The United Methodist Denomination takes good care of its own. The salary and benefits can’t be beat. We were looking forward to a secure future, but now, if we were to stay true to our Faith and Convictions we would have to walk away from that promise.
Did I call this piece “Prophecy” ? I just took a break and thought no one is going to read this. It’s too long, but like I said, it’s a sort of therapy for me I think…anyway, on to the prophesy.
So, there we were, 2 young sons, having to move out of our home because Art had to resign from his job, we hadn’t had time to save up much money, and we didn’t even know where to go to church on Sunday. Well, I was working at a Christian school and the Church that sponsored the school wasn’t very far from where we were saving, so we decided to visit there one Sunday. They asked for visitors to stand up at the beginning of the service, and I was welcomed by many co-workers and the parents of some of my students. Then the service began. They had a guess speaker that week, a missionary, and I sat back expecting to hear a typical “mission life” talk.
But after introductions, as the speaker began, he motioned to Art and I and asked us to stand up. He explained that he usually didn’t do this sort of thing, but that he has a very strong feeling that the LORD would have him tell us something. He spoke about how we were going through a hard time that seemed to be caused by religious leaders; that we had made the right decision, but that didn’t make the resulting refiners fire any easier to take. He told us that God was allowing this to happen to us for a reason and that we shouldn’t doubt the calling on our lives. He went back to his planned message, but interrupted it 2 more times, to clarify the message to us, to be sure we understood the message. He said Art was called into the ministry, and that he’d be a prophet evangelist, but that his ministry wouldn’t be one of those big time deals, it would be more of a one on one evangelism. And worse of all, he said, this wouldn’t be the last time we went through this. We would be rejected by other churches, people who we fellowshipped with would turn their backs on us. People who we submitted to as Spiritual Leaders would say and do things that would hurt and discourage. He was right. I mentioned my catholic and our United Methodist back ground to show that this kind of “word of knowledge” was not familiar to us. Where as some of the people in the church knew our situation, it was unknown to the speaker. It was very real and very exciting, and it is one of those things I remember, I muse over, when things seem to be getting darker and darker with no sign of relief in sight. Four years ago, when the Free Methodist Denomination closed down their church in Farmington, we were in that place again. And in my prayer journal I wrote, how many times do we have to go through this? Then I found Psalm 12:6 “the words of the LORD are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven time”
SEVEN TIMES! Lets see, 1. The United Methodist 2. The Free Methodist in Rochester 3. A nondenominational church in Rochester. 4. Our Church in Colorado. 5. The American Indian Bible Ministries in Farmington, 6. The Free Methodist Church in Farmington. 7. This crisis with Ardy, my son who is currently in prison as a Sex Offender, and the resulting rejection that our family experienced by several local churches as well as nonbelievers…that fire has been burning for 3 years…and I am tempted to say, our life has been a big joke, we have failed in ministry, and I can not…Abba, this is too hard.
I keep thinking, Art will be home soon, and it won’t be for 5 days. He should be in a cabin by one of the many lakes in Minnesota. I wish I could have gone too.

Angels

When this whole thing began with my son; his hidden sin exposed, his life in ruins, our family shaken to the core…I had a very interesting experience with angels. We went to a conference in Durango Colorado, about an hour away from where we live. The church had brought in people from IHOP (not the pancake house, the International House of Prayer,) and they did some Harp and Bowl worship, which does not involve harps or bowls, but it’s hard to explain. Thursday night I was blessed, but not really filled up.
Friday night the message was very meaningful to me, and I knew that the LORD was using it to help me. I went forward for prayer, I stood in the front and poured out my heart with my tears. But I noticed that people on all sides of me were being prayed for. Some were lying on the floor, some where kneeling as prayer warriors were laying hands on them. No one seemed to notice me. I stood alone. And Jesus said, never mind them, this is between you and me, who do you need me to be right now? Lord, I said, I am the woman who is burying her son, I am at his grave crying, Oh Lord, my son, my son. And I need to you raise him up for me. I was assured that his life would be restored to something much better than it was before…
But Lord, I asked, why isn’t anybody praying for me? And he said, because I’ve set two big angels at your side, one to the left and one to the right, so no one will bother you, because this time is for you and me…
The next night someone came up and gave me a big hug, she said she had noticed me, and was going to come up to me, but she had a “check” in her spirit, that Jesus and I were dealing with something and she shouldn’t interfere. It would have been cooler if she had seen those big angels. Anyway, I wrote down in my Bible, to remember the angels at harp and bowl when things got too rough. To remember that they were real, that He is real, that it will be OK.
Yes, LORD, I'm trying!

More on Psalm 143

The enemy hath persecuted my soul;
Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me;
My heart within me is desolate;
My spirit faileth;
Bring my soul out of trouble;
Destroy all them that afflict my soul;
The enemy hunted me down,
He kicked me and stomped me with in an inch of my life
He put me in a black hole
I sat in despair, my spirit draining away
My heart heavy like lead.
I’m nearly at the end of my rope.
That is the old and new of it. Psalm 143 from the KJV and Message.
I just copied the bad verses, the sad verses, the Oh My God verses!
Know what they tell me? They tell me it’s ok to complain. It’s ok to Lament.
It’s nothing new. When I feel this way, I am in good company.
It’s God’s way of saying, “I understand, really!”
It’s also His way of showing me just who is behind these feelings of depression and despair. I may get mad at people, but I only have one enemy.
So I pray against the father of lies. I pray against the deceiving spirit whose only real weapon is fear. I pour my coffee and I go out to my front deck,
“Let me hear Thy lovingkindness in the morning…”

Be Sure to Read the Next One Too

Somewhere out there in blog land there is a heretic who says that christians are intellectually irresponsible. I only call him a heretic because that is what he calls himself. Since I've been blogging, I myself have been called by some a heretic. It bothered me at first, not any more. But it does bother me that this person thinks that christians as a rule are intellectually irresponsible. I can see where he gets this idea...can't you. I think we need to be more careful. I think we need to be more aware of who is watching us. In a way, we are using the name of our LORD in vain when as followers of Christ we present ourselves as hypocrites who can't ever get along.

Meditation

In the King James Version, the one I read when I can't find my glasses, Psalm 143:5 says: I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. Meditate? Muse?
Some groups of believers (at least they claim to be believers) are looking to the ancients, to the traditions of eastern mystics, to something other than the styles and methods of the western church to understand the mystery of meditation.
To others the very word "meditation" sets of the "new age" alarm.
The Contemporary English Version leaves out the words meditate and muse and simply says: "I remember to think about the many things you did in years gone by" In the Message, a favorite of the postmodern camp, it reads: I remembered the old days, went over all you've done, pondered the ways you've worked." What about the NIV, there has to be an NIV in here somewhere...ah yes, "I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done." Consider instead of Muse. I like the words meditate and muse. My favorite Bible teacher in college, back in the 80's, recommended the New American Standard, as being most faithful to the original languages. In this case it reads almost the same as the KJV, except it uses the word doings instead of works. And the NAS study Bible at my left hand has references to the original meanings of the words meditate and muse...according to good ol' Strongs. Meditate means to murmur in pleasure or anger, imagine, mourn, mutter...sort of like a mantra...it definatly implies speaking of some kind. Muse means to ponder, to converse with ones self, to declare, to pray. David, who I will assume wrote this particular Psalm, spent a good deal of his time out doors. Many of the psalms are pastoral in that they have to do with God's glory as reflected in creation. In Psalm 143 the author is not only remembering the mighty deeds that God had performed in the past, the great signs and wonders, the many victories against all odds, but he is pondering on the beauty, the wonder, of creation..."the works of thy hands"
Which reminds me of Romans 1:20 "for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eteranl power and Godhead..."KJV
One thing I notice here, is that meditation means to think about, speak about, may I say, focus on the works of God, and the deeds of God. It does not mean to empty ones mind, but rather to fill it with the wonderful things of God.
It seems appropriate and understandable, that one might feel closer to God outside, by a stream, in the mountains, even in the desert (Psalm 143:6 - I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirseth after thee as a thrist land)
than in a church building. What happens in most church services that I attend does not provide any time for meditation or musing. Even the time at the alter is surrounded by music and other peoples' voices. I think people who talk about meditation are looking for quiet times. And I think that in the noisy world we live in, people are seeking a way to quiet their minds and souls long enough to focus on God. It is a skill we might have to learn, since in this postmodern world that we are living in, quiet is a rare thing. And some people are asking the ancients to teach them since the moderns don't even seem to understand the concept. So, light a candle, sit by a fountain, walk along a brook, or in a garden...and remember, meditate, muse on the Glory and Goodness of our LORD God. Do not seek to be empty, but rather seek to be filled. Seek and ye shall find!

Another Day to Waste

but life goes on...

Psalm 30:5

Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.
Psalm 126:5
Those who sow in tears will reap with joyful shouting.
Ecclesiastes 3:2,4
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to weep and a time to laugh!
Thanks to everyone for your prayers and encouragement.
Amazing to make contact with someone from 10 years+ into my past.
So, this is what I told my best friend Bobbie.
Sometimes, when my three year old grandson gets really tired and really mad, I try to get him to sit on my lap and calm down. But he just gets madder. I try to talk to him, but he just yells louder. I long to hold him, to comfort him, but he will have nothing to do with soft words or gentle touches. So I have to step back and let the tantrum ride its course.
I think that’s the way it was with me early Sunday morning. I was tired…a good kind of tired, the kind that comes from doing Kingdom work. And the enemy bit me in my weakest spot. I threw a fit.
I was the “three year old” refusing to sit on Abba’s lap and be comforted.
I’m glad that Our Father, in Heaven, is patient and loving…
His lovingkindness endures forever!

Can't Sleep

It is nearly 2:00am and I can't sleep.
This has been a busy week. On the most part, a good week. A week of ministry, worship and prayer. We helped raise funds for Passion Play Ministries International (PPMI), the dance team I am on ministered at a woman's conference, we spent all day Saturday at Window Rock, the Navajo Nation's capitol, where we joined with our brothers and sisters and friends in a 8 hour prayer service, the Navajo Nation's Day of Prayer. We enjoyed a beautiful drive to and from, Shiprock to Window Rock. Friday I even found time to bake cupcakes with my grandchildren for the Father's Day Celebration at church. Only the grandchildren won't be at church for the celebration. Their mother has decided to punish their father for having a new "girlfriend" by not letting him take them to church. It's a long story. A sad story. My son and I were on the phone for an hour as he vented. He feels helpless, I feel helpless...
He ended the call by asking me to pray for him. I'm trying. But it's hard.
Love your enemies says our LORD. But it is hard. I rather pray like the psalms that call curses down on the enemy. I cry out to the LORD to free my grandchildren from captivity. Those people are not believers. They are... No, never mind...no details, no bad mouthing...How do I pray through this?
We are broke, with no income coming until September 1. It will be a long hot summer. My son is a pizza delivery boy. He doesn't have enough money for a lawyer. My other son being in prison complicates matters. I know I need to pray. It's all I can do. But how? Peace through this storm. Mercy to triumph over justice. Protection for my grandchildren as their parents and grandparents duke it out? Not my husband and me...we are just on the side lines...praying
But my son, and his ex wife, and her parents who technically have custody of Elijah and Amadaya. This could be the end of my even being able to see the kids. And they are using church and father's day to punish my son. But how am I supposed to pray about this????
Why pray???? Either this whole thing is part of God's great plan...and I must resign myself to His will and suffer through it. Or the free will of the non believers in this story will win out because God will not interfere with anyones free will. God knows what is best, and He will do what is best, whether I pray or not...this is too hard. this is too personal.
This was a good week, and it came to a crashing, slamming halt with the phone call from my son at midnight. I was about Kingdom business all week.
See what I wrote on Psalm 37?
I do not feel like the Bride of Christ, or a beloved child of my heavenly father.
I feel condemned, guilt ridden, and hopeless.
I want to ask, seek, knock, and be answered. I want signs and wonders and miracles and yes and amen.
enough of this whining. for some reason it seems easier these days to type my thoughts then to write them out in my prayer journal. and there are only about 8 pages left in my current journal anyway. But I think that is where I will spend the rest of this night/morning. I'll go sit on my deck, wrapped in a blanket, writing in my journal. I'll pray. I'll cry please daddy please! I'll listen for the first chirps of the morning bird song.
And maybe, on Monday or Tuesday I'll just delete this

Books????

(see Robby's blog from my links)
1. Number of Books I own?
Well the number of books in our office is about 400, the number in my "classroom library" which are actually mine is about 150 (some multiple copies). The number of books that I have collected for the grand kids about 75.
If I count my great grandmother's diaries (50+ years worth)and my prayer journals (over 25), the books we haven't unpacked since our last move, and the books that my sons have left behind I'd say just under 1000.
2. Last book I bought, this was for my special education class, I bought the book set and the book on tape and the video (which stinks): A Wrinkle in Time.
I also bought this very mushy sentimental picture book for the grand kids called "Love You Forever" (find it Mo, I'll bet it brings a tear to your eye).
3. Last book I've read (not counting the story books I read to Elijah and Amadaya or the Book of James from the Bible) Freak the Mighty with my class at school.
5. Five books that mean a lot to me.
Does the Book of Isaiah count? Angel Unaware by Dale Evans about their mentally handicapped child. I think it is out of print and I've lost my copy.
Strike the Original Match by Chuck Swindoll, it saved our marriage about 20 years ago. Piercing the Darkness by Peretti. A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby Payne - must reading for teachers! The Chronicals of Narnia by CS Lewis.
Two major books when I was a kid. Honey Bunch, it was a brown "chapter book" that Nanny read to me...a chapter a night. I don't recall the story, but I remember the experience. Mr. Blue, I read it in high school, can't recall the author, but the story made me stop and think deeply about the meaning of life.

And who would I "tag" to put in their 2 cents concerning this?
Johanna and Bobbie (e-mail me your answers)
Art (he'll be more theological and acedemic than me)

right now I am reading a book called Morning Star by my son Ardy. I'm previewing and will begin preparing it for submission soon. It is a fantasy/allagory, pretty good if a mom may say so.

GRANDMA'S AGE

LITTLE ELIJAH ASKED HIS MENEE HOW OLD SHE WAS. MENEE ANSWERED, "39 AND HOLDING." ELIJAH THOUGHT FOR A MOMENT, AND THEN SAID, "AND HOW OLD WOULD YOU BE IF YOU LET GO?"

Psalm 36 - CEV

Two summers ago, I was walking through a quiet neighborhood in Farmington New Mexico, having a crisis in faith. My son's story had been in the papers again, and our landlord had notified us that he was raising our rent by $150 a month at the end of our lease and would prefer it if we moved. He didn't say it had anything to do with Ardy, but we figured it did. A Christian friend told us about a home for rent, but that rent turned out to be higher than we thought we could afford, and we didn't know how we were going to come up with security deposit and first months rent. So, I went walking and praying, but mostly I was complaining to God, how could He let this happen to us...again? I prayed for help...but I was not praying with much faith...
Then a song came to me, and I started to sing...I will lift my voice and worship you my King, I will find my strength in the shadow of your wings. I kew the song well, and I knew it was from Psalm 36. So I went home and prayed through the psalm. Last night's worship service ended with the same chorus.
And although our current land lord hasn't given the final word, it doesn't look good. We will most likely be in the same position at the end of this summer. And not only will we have to move, again, but Ardy will probably have to stay in prison, perhaps a year longer, because he won't be able to be parolled to us.
So this morning I turned again to Psalm 36. I'm reading it in the CEV because all my other Bibles are in my other son's car. I used them for children's church and left them there yesterday. The CEV isn't my favorite, but any port in a storm...
The heading of the psalm is "Human Sin and God's Goodness."
Sometimes I feel like a big sinner. I fall prey to the condemnation of the enemy and start to believe that I must be wicked in the eyes of YHWH or else my life wouldn't be so bad. After all, Proverbs says a lot of things like: "if you are wicked, God won't let you have what you want" 10:3, "but there is no future for the wicked" 10:28, "The Lord never hears the prayers of the wicked" 15:29."he frustrates the plans of the wicked" 22:12. And so on, so therefore, logically, since my life is so bad, then the Lord must consider me wicked, with out hope, with out redemption, predestined as it were, to a life of failure and hardships.
Then again, although I am far from perfect, by any measure, I'm not the kind of sinner described in Psalm 36 verses 1 - 4. Sin is not all I think about. And I do respect and honor God. I may stay awake worrying, but I don't stay awake thinking up mischief or planning my next deceit. I am not proud of my short comings, and when I do fall short of the grace of God, Ifeel remorse and pray as in Psalm 51. So back to Psalm 36, and the Love of God.
His love is faithful
His love is a treasure
His love always provides
a life giving fountain, a light in the darkest hour.
Dare I pray "don't let those proud, merciless people kick me around or chase me away." verse 11.
May I atleast pray for Mercy, Wisdom, Peace...
This will be a Good Week
A week of worship and ministry.
Today there is Worship and Dance Team practice.
Tomorrow and Wednesday Pastor Art and I are helping with the Passion Play (PPMI) phone-a-thon, and the Worship team is recording Tuesday. Thursday morning the Dance Team is opening a Woman's conference, and we're dancing there Friday night as well. Saturday Pastor Art and I will be in Window Rock Arizona, the capitol of the Navajo Nation for their National Day of Prayer. Sunday is Father's day and the women of our church are planning a traditional dinner for the dads, ummm mutton!
So, one day at a time right? And to God be the glory!
Yes and Amen

Gateway of the Rock

Someday, when I am really energetic and focused, I will write a summary of the ministry that my hubby Pastor Art and I have been involved in. I hesitate because it isn't much of a success story. We are still very much about doing Kingdom work, but at present our "ministry" is little more than a blog site...
Gateway of the Rock on my links...
But the grandkids will be here soon. If you've read me at all, you know how much I look forward to that!
Blessings!

Sometimes you just have to laugh (LOL)

A priest, a Pentecostal preacher and a rabbi all served as chaplains to the students of Northern Michigan University in Marquette. They would get together two or three times a week for coffee and to talk shop.One day, someone made the comment that preaching to people isn't really that hard. A real challenge would be to preach to a bear. One thing led to another, and they decided to do a seven-day experiment. They would all go out into the woods, find a bear and preach to it.Seven days later, they're all together to discuss the experience. Father O'Flannery, who has his arm in a sling, is on crutches, and has various bandages, goes first."Wellll," he says, in a fine Irish brouge, "Ey wint oot into th' wooods to fynd me a bearr. Oond when Ey fund him Ey began to rread to him from the Baltimorre Catechism. Welll, thet bearr wanted naught to do wi' me und begun to slap me aboot. So I quick grrabbed me holy water and, THE SAINTS BE PRAISED, he became as gentle as a lamb. The bishop is cooming oot next wik to give him fierst communion und confierrmation."Reverend Billy Bob spoke next. He was in a wheelchair, with an arm and both legs in casts, and an IV drip. In his best fire and brimstone oratory he proclaimed, "WELL, brothers, you KNOW that we don't sprinkle...WE DUNK! I went out and I FOUND me a bear. And then I began to read to him from God's HOOOOLY WORD! But that bear wanted nothing to do with me. I SAY NO! He wanted NOTHING to do with me. So I took HOOOLD of him and we began to rassle. We rassled down one hill, UP another and DOWN another until we come to a crick. So I quick DUNK him and BAPTIZE his hairy soul. An' jus like you sez, he wuz gentle as a lamb. We spent the rest of the week in fellowship, feasting on God's HOOOOLY word."They both look down at the rabbi, who was lying in a hospital bed. He was in a body cast and traction with IV's and monitors running in and out of him.The rabbi looks up and says, "Oy! You don't know what tough is until you try to circumcise one of those creatures."

Ecclesiastes

Meaningless, meaningless, says the teacher, Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless. (Chapter 1 verse 2). Anybody else ever feel like this?
Oh Solomon, you were so wise, we honor you for your wisdom. How could you have fallen so hard? Then again, look at your own father. A real hero of faith, and look what he fell into. The first verse was from the NIV, here is the way the book concludes in the KJV: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His comandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good of whether it be evil. Chapter 12: 13,14.
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven...
but I've been wasting alot of time lately!
Today it is time for me to read and write...
blog on my friends...

Why Pray?

I wrote this one before, in April, and I'm right back there again, emotionally and spiritually. Ouch! Life hurts so bad some times.
Again, my Heavenly Father says to me, "I love you child, but..."
Instead of "yes and amen", I got yet another, "Sorry, no!"
And I am so afraid that my landlady is going to make us move, now that I have informed her that my son, who will be getting out of prison, will be living with us for a while. We will have no place to live and he will have no place to be parolled to so he will have to stay in longer...
I saw Star Wars yesterday, and I really sympathized with Darth Vader...