Before you groan too much, give me a chance to explain.  I too am tired of Christmas in July.  Goodness it was 100 degrees last week in east Texas, I do not want to watch movies with Christmas trees and I do not want to purchase Christmas decorations.  I don’t even want to think about purchasing Christmas gifts.  I like to think about all of that when the weather is much cooler.  But if you are a lover of Christmas in July, don’t let me rain on your parade.

Picking up our granddaughter at VBS she came running to me shaking a piece of paper yelling ‘Look Mimi, It’s all about Jesus!!’. I glanced at the piece of paper nodding my head in agreement of what was causing all her excitement. … Drawn in seven small squares on the piece of paper was the story ‘All about Jesus’, it truly was something to get excited about. At 5 years old, or any age, what powerful truth to learn.

For the last three years, I’ve been trying to lose weight, but I’m only partially successful. Although I’ve lost about 20 pounds from my weight when I started, I can’t seem to lose any more. I have not been on a particular “diet,” just trying to eat healthier and be more aware of what I’m eating and when. That made me think. Our spiritual life may need to be on a “diet” as well. Just as our bodies must have certain nutrients to be healthy, so does our spiritual life.

What is TRUTH? In today’s world TRUTH is widely taught to be whatever seems right to a person at any given time. Think about that. Could that thinking be any more deadly?

I’m God’s favorite. Every time I would make the proclamation to my friend she would scoff, “God doesn’t have favorites.”  

But there it is in scripture – Luke 1:28 “And he (Gabriel) came to her (Mary) and said, Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

We live in a very small rural community in east Texas.  It is about 20 minutes from the metropolis of Jacksonville (haha) and I have been blessed to live here most of my life.  For the first two years of marriage, Greg and I lived in an apartment in town.  It was a great apartment and a good experience, but these two country kids moved back to the woods as soon as we could afford to. For the first three decades of my life, I attended Friendship Baptist Church, just down the road from our house.

On our spiritual journey, God gives us a beautiful life to live. It is full of adventure, learning, serving, crying, climbing to new heights, struggling, sharing, building, falling, climbing again, etc. While our soul resides in our skin, bones, organ systems, tendons, and muscles, our flesh can lead us to develop a big case of nearsightedness.

Often, we plan and think that things either go according to plan or get messed up. However, we fail to remember that everything is in God’s hands and He makes sure things happen for His plan. Check out Proverbs 16:9, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” Many times we decide we want to do something or go to a certain place, but things happen at the last minute to make those plans change. Have you ever thought about what a difference that makes in life?

What comes to your mind when I say hospitality? Is it cooking a big, impressive meal for folks you personally invite into your home at a particular time and date? Perhaps a party with a theme where you go all out with decorations and food, and maybe even costumes?

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13 NIV). Shortly after Jesus gave these instructions to His disciples He laid down His life for those He loved. His heart was broken by the effects of sin. In the aftermath of Jesus’s death and resurrection, and the gifting of the Holy Spirit, the gospel took off like wild fire. Jesus’s disciples wanted the world to know about His great love.

I took a short road trip today.  Just me and Jesus headed west to visit a person I love dearly.  A person I pray for often.  A person who is heartsick and unsure of the next move.  I listened to a Bible study then I turned the radio on.  Seemed like a good way to spend Good Friday, but I kept finding myself looking to Saturday.

Where do you worship? Hopefully, you worship at church regularly. After all, the Bible tells us to meet together (Hebrews 10:25). However, that is not the only way that we can worship. We can worship with just a small group at home or somewhere else, possibly in a Bible study group or just in an everyday conversation. You can even worship all alone—except for the presence of God with you. After all, He is the purpose of worship.

Do you remember that commercial on TV from a few years ago?  The guy was in different places asking “Can you hear me now?””  I find myself saying that sometimes on phone calls when the connection is bad. 

Over the past few years, I have been convicted about really listening to people when they talk.  I’ve watched videos about things not to do in a conversation with someone.

3139, her number, 2262, my number. Can you go? Will you come? What are you doing? Where are we going? When will you be here? What time does it start? Who’s driving? How long can you stay? Can you go? Who can we tell? My best friend and I knew each other’s number by heart. The plans made, and questions asked, were in the thousands. Fourth grade we met. Twelfth grade we graduated. If our phone minutes were crossties, we could likely lay train track across central Arkansas.

We recently got a new puppy, an indoor dog named Copper. He’s the sweetest little dachshund, but he can also be a pain to our much older dog, Bud. I’d forgotten how long it takes to housebreak a puppy. He’s done fairly well, but I’m ready for him to learn that he can go through the doggy door without me and take care of his business outside whenever he needs to. This is also the first time I’ve had two dogs trying to get along, especially one so young and the other so old.

Why should we go and tell others about Jesus and His amazing grace? Why is it important that we each do our part of the great commission found in Matthew 28:19-20?  “Go and tell” is a commandment, the last one Jesus gave us before His return to His throne in heaven.  Aren’t pastors and missionaries paid to do this for us?  No, we are all included in that command as Jesus followers.

When I was a teenager, my friends and I took quizzes in magazines that  measured our love aptitude.  I am not sure if we put much value in them, who can remember that far back, but now it makes me chuckle to think of us piled up in a bed giggling and checking boxes.

If we are really going to learn about love, we have to go to the source of love…God. 

Riding in the back of a pickup truck was a frequented event in our town. Being raised in the 1970’s and early 80’s, we knew nothing about seatbelt requirements, or considered it dangerous riding in the back of a truck. On many occasions we rode to and from a local lake to go swimming. Happily seated on the wheel wells or on the flat bottom of the bed, we were off. The thought never entered our mind to jump over the sides of the truck while it was moving.

When I taught math in school, one of the things that bothered me the most was when students did not retain the information or the ability to do problems with processes they had previously “learned.” Thanks to one veteran teacher and others who did an in-service, I learned how to correct that problem (at least with some students!). As the teacher and the other group pointed out, we humans tend to forget something that we don’t continue to use on a regular basis.

“To adjust or correct in accordance with an exact or precise instrument.”

The lovely voice on my vehicle’s GPS does her best to keep me on the straight and narrow road that is set to my desired destination. She takes me around traffic problems which is nice, but she gets rather huffy if I try to take off and get gas or pull in to a Cracker Barrel! Although she has never used the term ‘recalibrate,’ she is very insistent that I make a U-turn or turn right or left at the next street to point me back in the right direction.