I have been feeling a bit under the weather lately, so progress on putting the bathroom back together is on hold for now. There is still some painting to do on the mirror frames, wallpaper border (if I decide not to stencil) & pictures to hang, but, thankfully, the tp & towel bars were installed already! Since I passed so much of the time earlier today looking at so many neat blogs on xanga while I was taking it easy, I thought I should return the favor & update mine. Here’s some more good email stuff for you:
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Wishing to encourage her young son’s progress on the piano, a mother took her boy to a Paderewski concert. After they were seated, the mother spotted an old friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to greet her. Seizing the opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall, the little boy rose and eventually explored his way through a door marked “NO ADMITTANCE.”
When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother returned to her seat and discovered that the child was missing. Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlights focused on the impressive Steinway on stage. In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard, innocently picking out “Twinkle,Twinkle Little Star.”
At that moment, the great piano master made his entrance, quickly moved to the piano, and whispered in the boy’s ear, “Don’t quit. Keep playing.”  Then, leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in a bass part. Soon his right arm reached around to the other side of the child, and he added a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice transformed what could have been a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience. The audience was so mesmerized that they couldn’t recall what else the great master played. Only the classic, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”
Perhaps that’s the way it is with God. What we can accomplish on our own is hardly noteworthy. We try our best, but the results aren’t always graceful flowing music. However, with the hand of the Master, our life’s work can truly be beautiful. The next time you set out to accomplish great feats, listen carefully. You may hear the voice of the Master, whispering in your ear, “Don’t quit. Keep playing.”  May you feel His arms around you and know that His hands are there, helping you turn your feeble attempts into true masterpieces. Remember, God doesn’t  seem to call the equipped, rather, He equips  the ‘called.’
Life is more accurately measured by the lives you touch than by the things you acquire. So I thought I would try to touch someone by passing this little message along….

        May God bless all of you and be with you always!

One of my good email buddies sent me this little gem entitled, “God does exist!” and then added: This is a good explanation of why God allows pain and suffering…


A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed.

As the barber began to work, they started a conversation, talking about many things and various subjects.  When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said:

“I don’t believe that God exists.”

“Why do you say that?” asked the customer.

“Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn’t exist.  Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people?  Would there be abandoned children?  If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain.  I can’t imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things.”

The customer thought for a moment, but didn’t respond because he didn’t want to start an argument.

The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.

Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard.  He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber:  “You know what? Barbers do not exist.”

“How can you say that?” asked the surprised barber. “I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!”

“No!” the customer exclaimed. “Barbers don’t exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.”

“Ah, but barbers DO exist! That’s what happens when people do not come to me.”

“Exactly!” affirmed the customer. “That’s the point! God, too, DOES exist!  That’s what happens when people do not go to Him and don’t look to Him for help.  That’s why there’s so much pain and suffering in the world.”

I just LOVE my email buddies!

Every now & then, I like to share my e-devotional. Today just seemed like a good day to do that. Everyone enjoy it while I get busy clearing out more stuff in the way of our plumbing disaster/bathroom renovation work scheduled to commence on Monday…

A Snowflake

Suggested Bible Reading

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up–for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground–then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

-Genesis 2:4-9 (NRSV)

Today’s Scripture We are what [God] has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. -Ephesians 2:10 (NRSV)

I enjoy making handmade items for the people I care about. Over the last few years, many of these crafts have become ornaments for their Christmas trees. One of the items I enjoy creating is a snowflake. When I make snowflakes, they are supposed to be identical. But even when I create two snowflakes from the same pattern, there are always subtle differences; no two are exactly alike. When I make something “by hand,” there are always variations.

How wonderful it is to know that God creates each of us “by hand.” We are all human and are all made in God’s image. In many ways we are alike, made according to the same pattern. But we also are unique and different from one another, created for a special purpose, created to love and to be loved as no other of God’s children.

We are matchless and special to God who created us. Each of us serves an individual purpose no one else can fill. We can celebrate the journey set before us and travel it, knowing we are here to serve God.

Darlene Mosley (Florida, U.S.A.)

Prayer

Gracious God, remind us that we are created to love, praise, and serve you by loving and serving those around us. Amen.

Thought for the Day What is the good work God has created just for me to do today?

Prayer Focus

Those who feel unimportant

Lady of Avalon has this really cool Build-a snowman thingy on her site. The fireworks background is pretty neat, too.

Do you like my Christmas Donkey?

I copied my image & uploaded it to post. Don’t do what they say on the site to post it or you will just get this junk:

<img src=snow/snowman-Christmas_Donkey-Flash-1mifi.jpg><br clear=all>Title: Christmas Donkey<br><a href=http://gamescene.com>Free Online Games

This one is fun, too!

EDIT: That one is pretty cool, but this one was the one I thought I had put in there!

A friend of mine sent me this cool link that gives you all kinds on data on your ZIP code.

Check it out:

http://zipskinny.com/

Who knew????

Today, I worked at what will probably be the last Christmas celebration with our “Tudesday” morning food pantry group. By this time next year, our operation will be consolidated with the efforts of several other area churches & things will most likely be done a different way than the way we have been doing them for a while now….

After we finished distributing food, drinks & Christmas cheer to another record-breaking crowd (I stopped counting at 80 families when it was more than an hour after we normally are finished) & we ran completely out of “goodie bags,” one of our most dedicated volunteers plopped herself down in one of the parlor chairs & asked if it was time to cry yet. I thought it was such an odd thing to say at the time–my own “reaction” didn’t occur until I got myself out of the parking garage & was heading back out of town….

All in all, I believe that the changes to be made will help us serve “the least of these” even better than we can now, but I am going to miss the chances that we have had with our smaller scaled operation to really share with the people who have come to us for help. For the most part, I will also be glad to give up the greater & greater responsibilities that I have been entrusted with for the last several years, but then there is that awful “out of the loop” feeling you get when you are not in the thick of things….

See what I mean?

Maybe you've seen it already, but it made me smile just a little & I always like to share those:

Dear Santa~ 

 I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor and sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several  Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:
I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze, but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.

I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music, a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals, and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who won't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother," because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is calling and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry  off so you don't catch cold.

Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.

….from Celene Dion’s These are the Special Times CD

The Prayer

I pray you’ll be our eyes, and watch us where we go
And help us to be wise in times when we don’t know
Let this be our prayer, when we lose our way
Lead us to the place, guide us with your grace
To a place where we’ll be safe

I pray we’ll find your light, and hold it in our hearts
When stars go out each night,
remind us where you are
Let this be our prayer, when shadows fill our day
Help us find a place, guide us with your grace
To a place where we’ll be safe

A world where pain and sorrow will be ended
And every heart that’s broken will be mended
And we’ll remember we are all God’s children
Reaching out to touch you
Reaching to the sky

We ask that life be kind, and watch us from above
We hope each soul will find another soul to love
Let this be our prayer, just like every child

Who needs to find a place, guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we’ll be safe
Needs to find a place, guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we’ll be safe

Here is a link to a YouTube version!

Why Go To Church
 
(a must read)
 
If you’re spiritually alive, you’re going to love this! If you’re spiritually dead, you won’t want to read it. If you’re spiritually curious, there is still hope!
 
A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. “I’ve gone for 30 years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons.  But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.”
 
This started a real controversy in the “Letters to the Editor” column.  Much to the delight of the editor, it went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
 
“I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this… They all nourished me and gave me the  strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had  not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!”
 
When you are DOWN to nothing….God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!
 
All right, now that you’re done reading, send it on!!! I  think everyone should read this!!
 
When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say, “Jesus,  could you get that for me…… while I forward this email to your children??”

Author Unknown…

Don’t I have a really smart sister?

Thanksgiving has left me in a very greatful state of mind, even after many of the leftovers have been finished off. (Sorry, Pirate, the pies were the first things to go!) I read my e-devotional for today & thought of all of my xanga friends.

“Just to set the stage,” as one of our pastors likes to say: The apostle Paul was writing this letter from his cell to the members of the church he established at Philippi before he was sent to prison…

WHAT MATTERS

_________________________

Philippians 1:3-19 (NRSV)

I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ; and most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear.

Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. These proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defense of the gospel; the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true; and in that I rejoice.

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance.

_________________________

Paul wrote, “When I came to Troas to proclaim the good news of Christ, a door was opened for me in the Lord; but my mind could not rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said farewell to them and went on to Macedonia.”

- 2 Corinthians 2:12-13 (NRSV)

_________________________

WHAT was Paul’s problem in Troas? He came, he saw, and he left. Motivation could not have been the problem. He was the passionate apostle to the Gentiles, called by Christ himself. And the way was clear. God had opened the door at Troas, and all Paul had to do was walk through it. The people welcomed him and his message. But Paul’s mind couldn’t rest. He couldn’t focus; he was anxious. Why? Because Titus wasn’t there. Without the companionship and support of his friend, the great apostle apparently couldn’t function.

Western culture tells us to stand on our own two feet, to get on with it, and to go it alone if need be. But Paul needed his friend. I need my friends too! My Christian friends affirm me and help me think things through; they call out the best in me and help me believe in myself. And moreover, they are just good to be with. May God fill me with such love and gratitude that I may value my friends as Paul valued Titus! At the end of the day, what will matter is the love that we have shared.

Prayer: Loving and faithful God, we thank you for the goodness you send us through our friends. May we daily make room for you as you come to us in them and honor you by faithfully befriending others. Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

Faithful friends remind us of God’s love.

– John Franklin (Palmerston North, New Zealand)

PRAYER FOCUS: Friends

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Thank you, one & all!