Screen Printers

lyricoc@yahoo.com

My sister, Carol and I decided to start our own business, screen printing T-shirts.  We both have some artistic talent, so screen printing seemed like a good way to use that talent.  

We started by making a very unprofessional looking flyer.  It was 1983, and neither of us had a computer, so you can imagine how awful this flyer was.  We mailed out about a dozen flyers to local businesses and surprisingly, one of the businesses called and placed an order.  

We were excited, we could hardly wait to get started.  At the art supply store, we bought a screen printing kit and an instruction booklet.  When I think back, I’m amazed at how confident we were considering we had absolutely no idea as to what were about to do.  We took the kit to my house and started by studying the instruction booklet.  After reading and re-reading the entire booklet, we thought we had a good understanding of how to make the screen, which was the biggest part of it.  

We estimated the it would take about an hour from start to finish.  We followed each step, just as the instruction booklet had said and everything seemed to be going just right.  There were many steps, mixing ingredients, coating a screen, putting it under a light for a certain amount of time, washing the screen and letting it dry.  The screen was finished and we were ready to print our first T-shirt.  We carefully lined the screen up on the shirt, added the ink and slowly dragged the squeegee across the screen.  As we lifted the screen, to see our first printed shirt, we were both disappointed and discouraged to see that it hadn’t worked, not a drop of ink was on the shirt.  Feeling very frustrated, we made screen after screen changing the process a little each time, finally after eight hours we had a screen that we could use. 
     
We mailed out additional flyers, orders came in, and we had to make more screens.  Knowing how hard it had been the first time, left us feeling anxious.  But after many mistakes, we learned exactly what we needed to know to make a perfect screen every time.  We found that we didn’t get a perfect screen by doing just one thing right, it was a very complicated process, and just reading the directions wasn’t enough to get it right the first time, or the second, or third, or the forth.
     
At the end of a year, we had mastered the complicated process of screen printing.  We hadn’t done it by just reading the directions, but more so by hands on experience.  We could have had those directions memorized, word for word and it wouldn’t have helped us to make a screen.  Experience was the best teacher.  
     
A month or so after we had gotten into the business, I remember meeting a lady who was also in the screen printing profession.  I told her about all the problems we had making the first screen, and she told me that she had been making screens so long that she could probably make one in her sleep.  I remember thinking, “Wow, I wonder if I’ll ever be like her?”  At the end of two years, I felt as though I too could make a screen in my sleep!
     
Repetition, trial and error is what taught us what we needed to do each step of the way.  Learning that way turned something very complicated into something easily done.
     
I have read the New Testament, a few times.  I have read most of the Old Testament, and heard pastors talk about the Bible most of my life.  The Bible is Gods direction booklet for our life.  Reading, studying and memorizing is important.  The next step is trying to follow those instructions for a Christian life.  We may have a hard time at first, just like Carol and I did when we tried putting the knowledge from reading into practice.  But unlike Carol and I we have a teacher, a counselor the Holy Spirit, and with the Spirit’s help, I believe we can succeed.  John 14:26, “But the counselor, the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and remind you of everything I have said to you.” 
       
So read, study and learn the Bible, but also be hands on and you will triumph.

Dedication

lyricoc@yahoo.com

My mom was born and raised in Germany.  Over the years, she has told me many wonderful stories.  Some of her stories were happy and some times she talked about the war, and those weren’t so happy.  The story that she loves the best is how she met my father, an American soldier, stationed in Germany after the war.  But the story I’m going to tell is about Christmas Eve when she was eighteen years old.
     
How I understand it, in Germany at the time of world war two, if the military wanted you, they took you and that was that.  They took my mom to be in the German Army at the age of eighteen.  
     
My Mom loves the Lord and going to Church means a lot to her, So when she found out that she wasn’t allowed to attend a Church service for Christmas Eve, she wasn’t happy about it.  My mom and a friend left the base in secret and skied down a mountain to a Church in town.  After the service, they walked in the cold dark night back up the mountain, as she tells it, she could hear animal sounds in the woods, so they sang to keep their minds off the noises.  
     
It was discovered that they had left and when they got back to base they got disciplined.  They had to clean all the bathrooms on Christmas Day.
     
To me this shows a real love for God.  I’m so happy to have had a mother that was a good example. 

It's Time

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I know the time is 
  Almost here
When all re-born
  Will disappear
Into the Heavens
  We will meet
With Jesus Christ;
  Good news complete

Quakes round the world
  Are the signs
Of birth pains for
  A dire time
Storms that devastate 
  Good lives
Will kill, destroy
  And divide 

Seas uproar
  Mountains abate
God only, knows
  Your coming fate
Sickness, pests are
  Running wild
Can be acute
  Can be mild

Infants born
  To evil men
Surrounded by all kinds
  Of sin
Growing up uncertain
  Measure
But for us
  Heaven stores treasure

The book is open
  God will proclaim
The names he’s stored
  The burning flame
The Trinity
  The coming wrath
The death the life
  The narrow path

We are the Christians
  We behold
We did the things
  That we were told
Lift up your prayers
  Down on your knees
Open heart and eyes
  And you will see

Making Cheese

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Jesus said that we can have what ever we want, if we have enough faith.  And it doesn’t take a whole lot, just faith the size of a mustard seed is enough to move a mountain.  How do we get that faith?
     
Romans 10:17, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”
     
The word of Christ is the Bible.  We read the bible and we will receive, and build faith.
     
When I first became a believer, I was on fire for God!  I read the Bible every day, watched Christian shows, rented Christian movies, listened to Christian music and read all the books I could get my hands on.  One day, our van broke down.  Now we needed that van to get to our sign jobs and we relied on that van for our income.  We weren’t making a lot of money so the van not running was a very bad thing.  
     
The first thing we did after trying to start the van was to pray.  My husband and I said a long strong prayer.  The next thing we did was walk around the van seven times, still praying, like Joshua did around the walls of Jericho.  We must have looked silly out in the back alley of our apartment complex, walking around our van, hands in the air, but we didn’t care.  But to our dismay, the van didn’t start.  
     
The van eventually did get fixed but not in the supernatural way we had been hoping for.  I’m still not sure what we did wrong, or should I say, what we didn’t do right.
     
A couple of months ago, Mark and I studied some articles on how to make Mozzarella cheese.  It sounded a bit complicated but we were up for the challenge.  We got the items that we needed to make the cheese over a period of a week.  Then we got a couple gallons of milk the day we were going to make our cheese.  We mixed everything together, just as the recipe said to do, we brought the milk to the right temperature, we had bought a thermometer just for this occasion.  We used the right kind of pot, the right kind of milk the right ingredients, we followed the instructions, every one of them.  We waited we checked the milk and it still wasn’t cheese, we failed!  We never did find out what we did wrong but we haven’t given up.  We are planning to try again after doing more studying.  
     
You know, the same goes with our faith.  Walking around the van seven times and praying wasn’t enough to get our van running, and I’m certain there are people that have tried to move a mountain with their faith, fail or not, I don’t know.  What I do know is that we should never stop trying.  And what I also know is there are people that make cheese every day, for them it might seem simple.  Mark and I just couldn’t do it on our first try.   Whether it is faith or cheese, or getting our van running, learning should not stop until we reach the finish line and win our prize of everlasting life with our Lord.     

Christmas Eve

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Sitting close, as I remember
In our Church for midnight mass
Again our family comes together
Another Christmas Eve is here

“Oh Holy Night” Mom is singing
With the choir, up in back
Crisp and clear, her voice is ringing
Breaking through our silent praise

With gifts and trees our minds are filled
But for more than presents we rejoice
Even though the air is chilled
The one bright star is burning 

New born baby in a manger
Grew to be our saving grace
Filling hearts of friends and strangers
Making Christmas oh so right

Lifting hands we worship our Lord
On this day, picked to remember
All our voices in one accord
Another year has come and passed

Hope and faith are in us, growing
Peace and love are spreading too
If year round we felt this, showing
We’d live as one along with Him

With These Hands

By Bary Bennett

With these hands I’ve offered comfort
With these hands I’ve given pain
With these hands I’ve helped my neighbor
With these hands I’ve eased their strain
With these hands I’ve fought your battles
With these hands I’ve fought through mine
With these hands I’ve fed the hungry
With these hands I’ve helped light shine
With these hands I’ve healed divisions
With these hands I say my grace
With these hands I reach toward heaven
With these hands I touch Gods face
With these hands I offer friendship
With these hands I draw your gaze
With these hands I keep my distance
With these hands I give God praise

Rag Doll

lyricoc@yahoo.com

When I was in my twenties, my neighbor, Tom was a Christian, I was brought up Catholic so we had many talks about Christianity. I don’t feel like I really understood the whole religion thing and Tom said something to me that truly upset me at the time.  He said that we were like filthy rags to God.

I spent the next day crying because I felt so low and worthless.  I grew up believing that we had to work our way into heaven and I thought I was doing my part, but hearing that God thinks of us as filthy rags, hurt me to the core.  

The next evening, I went to Tom and told him just what I was feeling, I told him that I thought God loved us and that I didn’t understand what he had told me the day before.  

Tom went on to explain that God loves us even though we are filthy rags to him just as a child loves her rag doll.  Being a girl, I could remember back to a time that my baby Susie meant everything to me.  I took care of that doll just as a mother would love and take care of her own child.  

In so many scriptures, Jesus tells us to be like a child.  Children believe in things that can’t be seen, that is what faith is, and it takes faith to please God.  Jesus said in Matthew 11:25, “I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.  Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”  This scripture goes on to say, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yolk upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

My daughter, Liz, has been having a hard time lately and I told her something I had just heard, “Before you can become that beautiful butterfly, you must rest in your cocoon.  

I started life as a baby, grew to be a child and then to an adult.  I became a Christian in my late twenties, then I was already an adult.  I know that was the point that God put me into this cocoon where I have been growing and changing and one day I will emerge, a beauty butterfly, ready to see God.  

Until that time comes, I will give my yoke to Jesus and I will rest in God’s cocoon.  I will eventually shed my adult skin and I will be child like in the ways of our Lord, and now I know He loves me just as I loved my baby Susie.     

Joy In My Heart For Christmas

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There is a movie, I’m not going to tell you which one, but I’ve always loved this movie.  I watched it every year growing up, at Christmas time.  I’m going to tell you a little about the movie, you may guess which one I’m talking about, but it really doesn’t matter.
     
Like in a lot of movies, there is a villain, who isn’t doing to well and a group of town folk, that have good lives.  This group of people are getting ready for Christmas, doing all the yearly decorating and wrapping of presents.  They are preparing for the big day,  cooking food and fixing up the tree.  They all seem happy and they love one another.
     
This villain has never felt love, or the happiness of Christmas.  He is sad, and he let the sadness turn into bitterness.  He comes up with a plan to ruin the town folk’s Christmas, by stealing everything that would make Christmas day special.  
     
Well, he gets away with his dirty deed, and just as the sun is rising and you think that these town people will be waking up to a ghastly day, you hear singing, instead of crying.  Yes, the town people are happy, they have joy in their hearts and they are singing.  
     
This villain is confused and he doesn’t know what has happened, then he gets it, in my story, anyway, he knows that they don’t need things to be happy, they don’t need special food, special trees, or decorations, they have all they need right there in their hearts.  The hope of everlasting life with God, with Jesus Christ!  And they are singing!
     
The villain changes his ways.  He goes to the town people and begs forgiveness, and of course they forgive him.  He gives back all that he has taken, and they all celebrate together.  They didn’t need the special food, the presents, the decorations, but they got them back and that made the day all the better.  What a glorious day!  Christmas day and a bad person saved, and all is well.
     
That’s not exactly how the movie goes but it’s how I imagined it in my mind all these years and it is the basic way to look at being a Christian. 
     
So as you go about your Christmas planning and preparing, remember what this day is really about, A baby born, in a manger so that we can give our lives to him and have our hearts filled with the Holy Spirit and joy, peace, goodness and kindness, and after this life is done, a whole new life with our Lord.  
     
Matthew 6:25 Jesus says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”  Matthew 6:33 Jesus goes on to say, “But seek first the kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

The Worst Christmas

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My son, Joe, told me something so bright and right on that I will never forget it.  He said that he used to imagine how a party, or get together was going to be for weeks before the event.  He would envision the party in great detail, what would happen and how much fun he would have.  Unfortunately his imagination was very good and reality never lived up to what he had conceived, in his head.
     
He finally learned that if he didn’t invent the day in his mind, if he just went with the flow, he would have a great time because he had no expectations.  
     
The worst Christmas that I can remember was the third year that I was married to my husband, Mark.  We had a sign business, and we just didn’t have any sign work close to Christmas.  We were so broke, but thank God, my mom called me to come over and she had a whole box of food that she gave to me, left over from the Christmas eve party that she was getting ready for.  She also gave me twenty dollars.  I took that money and went to a dollar store and bought four presents for our four kids,  I also got wrapping paper and tape.  
     
On Christmas eve, I placed a small glass Christmas tree in the middle of the living room table and put those four terrible presents beside the tree.  
     
The kids woke up expecting nothing, because Mark and I explained to them the money situation so they were happy to have a present each, until they opened them and five minutes later the presents had turned into junk.  The rubber band, balloon cars didn’t work, the gun with balls that were supposed to shoot out didn’t shoot out, the balls rolled out instead, and I don’t even remember what happened with the two girls presents, they were so cheep.  
     
The amazing thing about this is that today I was talking to my daughter, Christina and she told me that those Christmas mornings were her favorite, because we were all together and happy.
     
What is wonderful is that we really got an opportunity to look into the hearts of our kids.  They made me proud then, and they still are making me proud.  If you take money out of the Christmas equation, our time together was warm close and happy. 
     
I have learned from Joe, not to have great expectations when the holidays come around.  I have learned from my other children to be happy in all circumstances.  With our sign business, sometimes we had money for things and sometimes we ate noodles for weeks at a time to get by.  Again, this isn’t something that came naturally, I have learned with the help of my children and the Holy Spirit, to be happy.
     
Philippians 4:12, Paul says, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in every and any situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” 

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  

Connie

The Blood

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In May of 1995, my husband, Mark went to see a doctor because he had swollen legs and headaches.  The doctor told him that his blood pressure was very high and after testing his blood, we were told that he had hepatitis C.  I was pregnant at the time, so my doctor told me to come in and have a blood test also.  All these blood tests got me thinking about how important the blood is, and about how there are so many scriptures that talk about the blood.  

There are approximately 363 verses that talk about blood in the bible: Blood of the lamb, take this blood, your brothers blood cries out to me, do not eat the fat or the blood.  Deuteronomy 12:23 and Leviticus 17:11 tells us that the life of a creature is in the blood.  Acts 3:25 tells us to have faith in His blood, and Acts 5:9 says that we are justified by the blood.
     
Blood is mans transport system of the body.  A blood test can be used to check on the health of the major organs as well as on the respiratory function, hormonal balance, the immune system and the metabolism.  Analysis of a sample of blood gives us information on its cells and proteins and if there are any chemicals or antibodies in your body.
     
DNA are the genetic instructions used in the development and function of all known living organism.  DNA is like a set of blue prints, a recipe or a code.  DNA is the principal carrier of genetic information in almost all organisms.
     
Chromosomes are an organized structure of DNA.  it’s a simple piece of DNA.  Chromosomes carry the inherited genetic information that directs the activities of cells and thus the growth of functioning of the entire body.  Chromosomes determine physical characteristics such as sex, hair color and texture.  Skin And eye color, nose shape, height and mental abilities.  Also the personality.
     
Immune serum globulin is a sterile solution of globulins derived from pooled human blood that contains antibodies that are normally present in the blood of adults.  Immune serum globulin is used to prevent and sometimes treat infections diseases,  it works by passing on antibodies to them.
     
Blood plasma is mainly water, 95%, with salt content very similar to sea water.  Also sugar, fats, vitamins and minerals.
     
Blood holds the keys to many mysteries in the body and in the bible.  We are learning new things every day.
     
Could communion just be symbolic?  The blood is important and real, and when you take the blood of Jesus into your body, remember this, Jesus was the only perfect man, that means his blood was and is perfect.  We are to take his blood in remembrance , but it is more than that.  Spiritually this is his blood and spiritually it is filled with everything that is Jesus.  All of his antibodies and every perfect thing.  
     
So when you take communion, take it to remember Jesus, and what he has done.  But also take it as you would take a vaccination, to keep you from getting sick or a shot to heal sickness that you may have.  Then thank Jesus for his perfect body and that he has shed its perfect healing blood for us. 

The Golden Calf

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In the story of Moses, the Israelites made themselves a golden calf.  Exodus 32:4 says, “He took what they handed him, and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf.  Fashioning it with a tool, then they said, these are your gods o Israel who brought you up out of Egypt.”  Were the Israelites worshiping the one true God?  If they were, they were worshipping God in an acceptable way.
   
I’ve been going through some really hard times lately, and wondering why?  I became a Christian at the age of thirty.  Soon after, we started attending a Church where we began doing everything we could think of, to help that Church.  My husband Mark and I were tithing regularly, we started a prayer line in our home and prayed with anyone from the Church that would call.  We got on the board at the Church.  I worked in the nursery, and Mark played on the worship team.  We took bible study classes, and volunteered for anything that came up.  But still, things were so bad.  After reading the story of Moses and the golden calf, I started to think that maybe we were being cursed instead of being blessed.
   
Deuteronomy 28:15 says, “If you do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today all these curses will come upon you and over take you.”  I read down the list of curses, “Confusion, diseases, being defeated before your enemies, at midday you will grope about like a blind man in the dark.  You will be unsuccessful in everything you do, day after day you will be oppressed and robbed with no one to rescue you.  The sights you see will drive you mad.  You will sow much seed in the field but will harvest little, because locusts will devour it.  The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher but you will sink lower and lower.  He will lend to you but you will not lend to him.  He will be the head but you will be the tail.  The Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing and a despairing heart.  You will live in constant suspense filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life.  This will be upon you because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity.”  These are just part of the curses listed.
   
Was I serving God the way He wanted me to serve Him, or was I serving him the way I thought I should serve him?  I started to think that maybe I wasn’t serving God at all.  Some how I had started to serve the church instead of serving God, and I made a golden calf of my own.  I didn’t even stop to ask, “God, what do you want me to do?”  Instead I just made up my mind and did what I thought I should be doing.
   
We were having financial trouble, I felt unstable, confused and I just wanted to give up trying.  My family was sick, and I felt like everything that could go wrong, pretty much was.
   
I kept thinking, “Where is God?”  I’m in so much trouble and where is God?  I felt that I was far from him.
   
I read more in Deuteronomy 30: “And when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.  Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.
   
Deuteronomy 30:19 says, “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.  Now choose life so that you your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, Listen to his voice and hold fast to him for the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
   
I know that a lot of things have changed with the coming of Jesus.  I know that there is grace, and I am righteous through him, and not because of how good I am.  I had put myself back under the law.  I knew the truth, but somehow I started to think that by doing good things I could earn God’s blessings, and I can’t.  The only way to be blessed by God is to totally submit to Him.  Pray and listen for his voice, then follow.  Only then, Jesus in me will help me to please God, Jesus through me will produce good fruit and I will be blessed.
     

Home Town Theater

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I must have been about nine years old, my sister, Carmen who is ten years older, worked in our small town theater.  Unlike most of the theaters of today, which are relatively small, this theater was huge.  It had a large stage from which the host of the show would stir up the audience, giving away prizes at the Saturday afternoon matinees.  
     
There was a balcony with plenty of room to accommodate all of the children and parents that would come to the matinee.   This theater had a gigantic screen, and a massive red velvet curtain that would slowly rise as the lights began to dim and the movie would start.
     
I had been to these matinees many times with older members of my family , but this Saturday I went with my younger brother , Bob.
     
Hansel and Gretel was the feature movie of the day.  Carmen bought us some candy.  Then she lead us down to some seats close to the front, where Bob and I settled in.  It was early and the theater was almost empty.  Before Carmen left us she told us not to worry, she said she would be working at the theater entrance taking tickets.
     
Bob and I were happy excited and waiting for something good to happen.  Watching the people file in was even exciting, at first, but as the crowd and the noise level started to grow, Bob and my anxiety started to grow.  I looked toward the door at the back of the theater every little while and I noticed Bob doing the same.  Our excitement turned to fear.  “Where was she?” , we asked each other .  “Why isn’t she here sitting with us?”
     
It seemed like we had been there for ever , and the longer we waited the worse we felt, until both of us in a panic, started to cry.
     
A lady sitting near us asked us if we were okay.  In tears, we told her that our sister was lost.  The lady took us by the hand and led us to the big door in the back of the theater.  She opened the door to the lobby and there was Carmen, just outside the door, working.  We ran up to her, our faces wet with tears,  “Where were you?” we asked, trembling.  “I’ve been right here the whole time.” she answered.
     
She had told us that she had to work, we knew it , but we let fear get a hold of us and take control.  She knew where we were and if we would have just stayed in our seats we would have been fine.
     
After she calmed us down, Carmen wanted to take us back into the theater, for the show, but we were still feeling fearful and upset, so we didn’t want to stay for the rest of the movie.  Carmen called our dad to pick us up and take us home.  
     
Later that day, I felt stupid.  I missed something that I would have really enjoyed, because of fear.  And there was no real reason for it, everything was under control, Carmen had been there, she told us what to expect, but because we didn’t see her, we panicked.  
     
In Hebrews 13:5, God said, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”  In the theater that Saturday afternoon my brother and I were afraid because we thought Carmen has left us.  At times, as a Christian I have had those same feelings about God.  It’s at those times fear has a chance to take control, and has kept me from the good things God has planned for me.
     
That afternoon, Carmen gave us the option to go back into the theater, and watch the movie.  We didn’t because of fear.  
     
We can’t always help feeling fearful, but we can remind ourselves that God is there with us.  And we can make the decision, not to walk away from the good things that are waiting for us.

Fruits

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Many of us have good works, Christians and non-Christians.  But do we have good fruit?  Colossians 1:10 reads, “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work.”  In other words, when I help someone, “Works,” what is my perspective, or  “fruit?”  Galatians 5:22 tells us, “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control.”  The scriptures above show us that works and fruit are two different things.  Works are the good things that I do and fruits are the evidence of the Spirit working in me.
     
John the Baptist and Jesus tell us what will happen if we don’t have good fruit.  Jesus also tells us how to tell who is a false prophet.  In Matthew 3:10 John the Baptist said, “The ax is already at the root of the trees and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”  In another passage Jesus warns us to, “Watch out for false prophets.  They come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  By their fruits you will recognize them.  Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?  Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Thus by their fruit you will recognize them.”
     
It’s important to know that I shouldn’t just be doing good deeds, but also I should have the right perspective, or fruit.  Being patient, kind and loving, having peace and joy, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control show that Jesus is working in me.
     
In John 15:1-5 Jesus tells us, “I am the true vine and my father is the gardener.  He cuts off any branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.  You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  Remain in me and I will remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself, it must remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”  This scripture points out that works, or good deeds, done outside the vine, or outside Jesus are, are fruitless.
     
Have you ever seen a branch produce a piece of fruit laying on the ground, apart from the tree, and the roots?  The branch alone doesn’t produce the fruit, the fruit is produced through the branch, just as Jesus produces fruit through us.  As this example of the branch and the tree indicates, the only way that I can produce fruit is by staying in Jesus and keeping him in me.
     
Taking the time to examine ones self is important.  If I give to someone, “works,” do I do it in love, “fruit?”  If a friend also asks me for a favor and I decide to help, “works,”  and is this favor done with kindness, and patience, “fruit?”  Am I gentle and self-controlled in a tense situation, or do I easily lose my temper?”  Am I faithful, or am I only a friend in the good times?  Am I filled with joy and peace, or am I filled with uneasiness?
     
If I want a life filled with all of the good fruits that the scriptures tell me about, then I should spend time reading and studying my Bible, and take the time to memorize scripture.  Talking to friends about what I’ve read, and letting the words become my thoughts, help to renew my mind.  I like to worship God by singing songs, and as I pray, I keep in mind that Jesus is with me, listening.  Stay in him and He will stay in you.

The Rock Tumbler

lyricoc@yahoo.com

When my dad died, in his 80’s, he and my mom had been together for 60 wonderful years, well, I can remember a few bumps along their road, but all in all, they were very happy.  

My husband, Mark and I have been together for almost 25 years, and I know there were times when we almost called it quits, but something or someone kept us together.  It seems like marriages are like fast food these days, even Christians are getting divorced on the drop of a dime.  

Somehow Mark and I have made it through some unbelievable things.  Through these things I realized this morning that I have learned patience from living with Mark and I know that he has grown patience because of his life with me.  Kind of like a rock tumbler, knocks the hard edges off of  jagged rocks.  

This morning I looked at the clock at 4:00 am, the usual time that I wake up these days.  Mark doesn’t even have to set his alarm anymore because I am his alarm.  At 6:30 I woke Mark up for the first time, “Honey, it’s time to shower.”  Mark said okay, then he was back to sleep.  I know after all of these years I need to be patient, to wait and to give him 15 more minutes before gently trying to wake him again.  

Sometimes he is right up and sometimes he waits until just before he has to leave for his dialysis, at 7:45.  The whole process used to really bother me but after 25 years I know he’s a big boy and he doesn’t need my nagging, just a bit of help, in the morning.

Our circumstances are a little different than a lot of people, Mark is very sick, and I have to be more patient with him for his health.  He also has to be patient for his heart.  

I said earlier that marriages these days are a lot like fast food, and we are all on this fast food diet, we want things quick, tasty and more than we need.  We tend to get upset when the consequences are that we have no energy and are getting fat.  

Romans, 8:22 and 23, “ We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of child birth right up to the present time.  Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  

If we all would let this patience develop in us and not have an ADHD appetite, where we eat whatever pops into our head, without restraint.  When I am talking about food here, I am talking about spiritual food.  So what we need is less of the world and more Bible to become spiritually sound in mind or soul.  So wait on the lord and let him use what ever He needs (marriage), to develop your patients.  

Also, know that if you are going through a hard time in your marriage, it could be the tumbler effect, and there are others, you are not alone in this race

Isaiah, 30:18 says that blessed are all who wait for Him.      

Giant

lyricoc@yahoo.com

Doing everything right all of the time just isn’t possible.  Being a Christian doesn’t mean, being perfect.  But what we have to be is willing to listen to, and do as God tells us, when He tells us to do it.
     
Our finances were bad.  Rent was over due and we didn’t have any of it.  We had bills that we weren’t able to pay.  My three kids and Mark’s son were all coming over for the next six days.  We were painting signs at the time but there was no work in sight.  Mark was tired all the time and having terrible headaches, that was the first giant, in the land.  
     
Elijah was a baby and he had just gotten over a cold.  My mom and Dad would baby sit when we had work so my mom got the cold from Elijah while babysitting.  Because of her age and because she had contracted mono, before, and it hurt her immune system, she asked me not to bring Elijah over any more when he was sick.  That was the second giant in the land
     
Mark’s daughter, Melody, called and asked to stay with us for the weekend, because she had just moved into a new place and they didn’t have any gas for heat.  That wouldn’t have been bad but she said that her kids were also sick, and I was afraid that Elijah would get sick again and then we wouldn’t be able to leave him with my parents if we got some work.  That was giant number three.
     
We were up against a lot, just like the Israelites were up against a lot when they were in the desert, before they were to enter into the land of milk and honey,  
     
God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, He led them through the desert with fire at night and clouds during the day.  He gave them everything that they needed.  God led them up to the land that he was to give them,  God gave the land of milk and honey to the Israelites, but the Israelites grumbled against God saying, “The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us.  Where can we go?  Our brothers have made us lose heart they say, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are;  the cities are large with walls up to the sky.  We even saw the Anakites there.”   The Anakites were compared to giants, or Nephilim. The Amorites were a very wicked people and their cities were fortified, and the Israelites were very afraid of these people.  
     
God said that he would carry the Israelites as a Father carries a son but they were still afraid, they did not trust God.  So, God said that only the children and a few others would make it into the land.  The Israelites, then decided that they were going to fight their way in, God told them not to try, God knew they would not succeed, but they did it anyway, and without God’s help, the people failed.
     
I’m no better, God has promised me so many things but all I see are giants.  Not enough money for my bills, or food for my kids.  Sickness and threats of sickness.  If I want that promised land then I’m really going to have to trust God and that doesn’t mean giving up, or complaining!  God also showed the Israelites that they have to do things His way or they will not succeed.  I need to trust God but I also need to do things when He wants them done and the way He wants things done then and only then can I, enter and face those giants!    

He Walked Away

lyricoc@yahoo.com

Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Sin is wicked and in 1 Corinthians 6:9 the Bible says, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”
     
In Matthew 19:16, a rich young man came to Jesus and asked how to receive eternal life.  Jesus told him to follow the ten commandments.  The rich young man said that he did that, and asked what else he had to do to receive eternal life.  Jesus said, “If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven.  Then come, follow me.”  The man walked away sad, because he had great wealth.
     
Jesus didn’t send the rich man away or say that he couldn’t come with Him, The man walked away.  
     
God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, in Genesis 22.  Abraham bound Isaac and put him on an alter, He was ready and willing to do what God told him to do.  He completely trusted God.  Abraham knew that what ever happened, it would be the best thing.  An Angel of God stopped Abraham at the last second and God provided a ram for the sacrifice, instead.  
     
Have you ever shut your eyes and let yourself fall back into someone’s arms?  It is a hard thing to do.  You really have to trust the person that will be catching you.  God wanted Abraham to do just that, and he did.  Jesus wanted the rich young man to do just that. But he walked away.  He wasn’t sent away, he made up his own mind, he made his choice and that choice was for his money.  
     
Romans 2:9 says, “God will give each person according to what he has done.  To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.  But for those who are self seeking and reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.”  Abraham had faith in God and because of his faith he did not walk away when God told him what to do, and so he did not sin.  The rich young man could have followed Jesus but instead chose his money, and in doing so, sinned.  
     
Sin is addictive and given a choice, some will pick sin.  Money isn’t evil, but the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.  The choice you have to make is, you can obey the Lord, trust Him, believe in Him, put Him first in your life, and receive eternal life or you can choose your sin, what ever that may be, and walk away.
     
Jesus told the rich young man to get rid of his sin; love for money, then to follow Him.  So just laying our sin down isn’t enough, we also have to have the faith to follow Jesus or take him as your Lord.  Romans 10:9, says,  “Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved.”  It may sound complicated but it’s simple; listen to God, lay down your sin, take Jesus as your Lord and be saved.

Halloween Costumes

Halloween, named “All Hallows Eve,”  Was first celebrated by the ancient Celts in Ireland in the fifth century B.C. on the night of October 31, then the official end of summer.  All would gather outside the village around a huge bon fire to honor the sun god for the past summers harvest and to frighten away furtive spirits.  The Celts believed that on October 31 all persons who died in the previous year came to choose a body of a person or animal to inhabit for the next year.  So families dressed up to frighten roving souls away.  Families were as loud and destructive as possible.
     
Irish immigrants fleeing their countries potato famine in the 1840s brought Halloween customs to America with them. 
     
Halloween these days are thought of as a demonic thing.  It really is what you make of it.  If you think it’s a bad thing and you participate in it, it is a bad thing.  But I believe that if you are out to just have a little fun, no problem, so much is what you believe.    
      

Kidney Infection

e-mail me at lyricoc@yahoo.com

In April of 1990, I got a kidney infection.  I had a fever of 104, and my back hurt so bad that my husband, Mark took me to the emergency room.  They prescribed antibiotics.  For two days, it was a struggle just getting out of bed, and I wasn’t able to work for a full week. 
     
I was saved in April of 1992.  I felt full of faith and I totally believed Jesus healed.  Shortly after that, I got another kidney infection.  As before, Mark wanted to take me in to the emergency room.  I said, “No.”  I asked him to pray for me.  We agreed that if he prayed and I wasn’t better in two hours, I would let him take me to the emergency room.  I had a 104 fever and I could hardly walk.  I felt totally desperate for God to heal me, and I had no doubt that He would.  
     
Two hours later, Mark took my temperature.  It had gone down and the pain was subsiding.  The next morning, the pain was all gone.  I was completely healed!  In fact, I never felt better.  I felt so good, Mark and I went to work, sign painting.  We worked more than eight hours that day, up and down ladders, painting windows and I felt great.
     
That was a real miracle, but soon after, I did something totally dumb, I started to doubt.  I started to think maybe it was the garlic, I took and the cranberry juice that I drank, thinking that way was a big mistake. 
     
Wouldn’t you know it, April of 1994 I got another kidney infection.  I was pregnant at the time.  Mark said a prayer for me, but I didn’t feel as desperate as before, because I was taking garlic and drinking cranberry juice.  I was putting my faith in that cranberry juice and garlic instead of God.  Over the next week, I got worse until I had a fever of 104, and I was now desperate for God to heal me.  I asked God to forgive me and I knew that If I was going to get better I was going to be because of Jesus and what he did on the cross.  
     
God did heal me, but it wasn’t that dramatic total I feel 200 percent better, healing .I did realize at that moment that the cranberry juice did nothing the last time, it was God in all his glory.  Soon after, I had to see an OB because I was pregnant.  She asked if I had any health problems since I became pregnant.  I told her about the kidney infection.  The doctor asked how I got rid of it.  I said, “Cranberry juice, garlic and God.”  She said that it must have been God because there is no way that cranberry juice and garlic would get rid of a kidney infection.

1 Peter 2:24, “He Himself bore our sins, in His body on a tree so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness, and by his wounds you have been healed.” 
     

Joyful Obedience

e-mail me at lyricoc@yahoo.com

My kids say, “Thank you” all of the time.  They also tell me how much they appreciate me.  I like it when they say these things, and they mean them.  They make me feel that what I am doing, as a mother, means something to them.
     
I feel that I appreciate the things that Jesus has done for me.  I try to keep my eyes open to all the answered prayers, in my life and I thank Him for everything.  I have always felt that appreciation is so important.  But I recently learned something else that is important, something that I’ve never given much thought to.
     
I was in my last month of pregnancy, with Michael.  Elijah was just a baby.  With six kids at home, I had so much to do and I was tired much of the time.  I started asking my older three kids to help me out with more than their usual chores.  They weren’t used to me asking them to do so much work, and at times I would over hear their complaints, “Why can’t someone else do it!”
     
I did know that they appreciated the things I did for them, so when they started to grumble, I realized that along with appreciation, comes joyful obedience.  They are good kids, so they did do all of the added, work, but they complained the whole time and I felt hurt.  I felt that I do so much for them, they should be happy to do something for me when I needed them to.  Joyful obedience, that is what I was hoping for from my children.
     
I knew God was talking to me when the very next Sunday at Church, the pastors sermon was on, joyful obedience, to God.  He talked about making a promise to God and keeping that promise with a joyful heart.  That message touched me and I had to examine my relationship with God.  I asked myself, “Am I joyfully obedient?”
     
Appreciating God and all that He has done for us is important, but along with that, we should wholeheartedly  be filled with joy when we have something extra to do.
     
Romans 6:16- 18, “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-weather you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?  But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you who whole heartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.  

Prayer Line

     When I was in my thirties, we were going to a Church where we were able to really get involved in things.  I felt that I was supposed to pray, so my husband Mark and I went to our pastor and asked if he would sponsor a prayer line.  He liked the idea so we got a second phone line installed in our home and the Church put an add in a local Christian magazine.  Phone calls came in, day and night.  I would listen to the caller and then pray with and for them. 
     One caller’s name was Beatriz, and she had a story and prayer request that I couldn’t forget.  Beatriz told me that she just happened to come to work early that day.  She said she saw an old friend on the way, but she could hardly recognize the woman.  Beatriz went on to tell me that she knew that the woman had full blown aids.  Beatriz didn’t acknowledge the woman she kept walking, ignoring her friend.  But she told me she had a strong feeling that to go back and talk to her old friend.  Beatriz didn’t want to go back but said that if she didn’t she would see her friends face all day.  So she said a little prayer, “ God give me the words”  
     The first thing that Beatriz asked the woman was, “Do you know about Jesus?”  This woman could barley talk anymore but she nodded, yes.  Beatriz then prayed for her friend to receive Jesus.  When they were done praying, the woman’s eyes were glowing then the woman got down on her knees and thanked God for her salvation and for God’s grace.  
     Beatriz knew this was not a chance meeting but a work of God.  Beatriz said that she knew it, because she was never early to work, so this special meeting was arranged by God.
     Another caller’s name was Michael.  He called because he was homeless and suicidal .  I talked to him for nearly two hours and ended up finding him a place to live for six months, and the best part was that I was able to pray with him to receive Jesus into his heart.  Romans 10:9-10 says “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead then you will be saved.”  
     It is for us as Christians to go out and make disciples, we know that but we should also know that being obedient also mean to stay open to Gods voice, to stay open to the lead from the Holy Spirit.  If I wouldn’t have been listening, Michael wouldn’t have been saved.  If Beatriz wasn’t listening, she might have gone to work at her normal time, or she might have passed the woman on her way to work but because of obedience, there are two more people that Jesus can call his own.  Stay open to God, be obedient.
     

Problems

I think all the newest problems started about a year ago, when we moved into this very small apartment.  Finances made it impossible to stay in the much bigger apartment that we had lived in for the last ten years. We did find a little two bedroom apartment that looked nice, and we could afford.  

The first month we were here we had three broken pipes in the walls.  The first broken pipe was in my boys, Elijah and Michaels room.  It soaked a lot of the boxes that were in their room, and the carpet.  Maintenance came over quickly and pulled up the carpet, cut a hole in the wall and fixed the problem.  So after that, we had the same problem in our room, twice.  Maintenance came quickly both times to fix each problem.  

We had several small problems, not worth talking about.  The next thing that happened was a car accident.  I crunched the front of my car up on the way home from taking my son to school.  It ran for a few weeks until the transmition mysteriously went out.  We couldn’t afford to fix either of the problems so we got rid of our car.  

No car meant a lot more problems.  I have medical issues with my back and neck, and I ended up having to walk or take the bus everywhere I had to go.  One of the good things is that walking improved my back pain.  Thank God he still works even when we think he’s not looking.

Elijah graduated, which was another good thing.  But the bad thing was that him graduating hurt our finances even worse.  I hate to admit it because some are looked down on, but because of our disabilities we are on welfare and SSI, part of our welfare was cut off for Elijah.  So we had to tighten our belts even more.  

I couldn’t make it to my pain doctor anymore, no car, no medicine for my back.  My pain doctor was 45 minutes away in the car so there was no way I could make it to him.  

I also ran out of antidepressants and my anxiety medications.  Instead I thought I would see how I fare without all the medication that I had been on for many years.  Big problem!  Withdrawal from all of those meds at the same time left me depressed anxious and in much pain.  I started spending most of my time in bed and Mark and the boys took over most of my work.  

We found a wonderful church in walking distance but we got another broken pipe, this time in the floor, on the day we were getting ready for church.  That got fixed but I slipped into a deep depression.

Mark was in and out of the hospital this year many times.  Every time he went in he came out a little worse.  He is an end stage renal patient, he has hepatitis C and he had open heart surgery in 2006 and only 35% of his heart is working at this time.

Wow, what a year!  I haven’t written much lately and I haven’t posted anything new in a long time.  But praise the Lord, I got to the doctor.  I got on some medication, I got on much less of everything though to start and after a couple of weeks I started to feel better.  Our apartment hasn’t gotten much better but I feel more equipped now to handle all the little problems, and I know it wasn’t just the meds that helped me.

I have prayed so much, had many good talks with my boys about God, and I feel blessed to have wonderful kids and a wonderful husband that I know is there for me in the hard times.

And, today I got my hope back, hope for joy and peace.  I have also started writing again as you can see.  And I thank God for that.  I don’t know why I am going through all of this but, if you’ve ever read Footprints, that is how I see it.  One set of footprints in the sand because Jesus has carried me through this last year.  I know I could have never made it on my own.  

Just A Note

Linda, If you read this, I tried to respond to your nice comment to tell you how encouraging it was for me but I couldn't figure it out!  Anyway if anyone wants to leave a comment and can't or wants to get a hold of me write to lyricoc@yahoo.com.  Thank you so much for reading.

Pain

No one's listening 
    to the cries
No one's answering
    all the whys
A baby growing up
    in hate
Sex and violence
    Satan's bait
A father looks
    the other way
"Hey, he'll be okay
    someday"
Turn on the TV
    close the door
Turn off minds
    can't deal with more
A mother thinks
    her job is done
Out the door
    to have some fun
She screams at her son's
    violent ways
He walks away 
    in a silent daze
Looked at with
    the eyes of shame
Point the finger
    shake the blame
Cuts like a knife
    with words and looks
Carries a knife
    along with books 
        to school
A father asks what 
    he did wrong
Once again
    the same old song
"Then never mind
    I've got to go"
"I've got no time
    don't even want to know"
His child screams inside with
    pain
He should have known
    always the same
No one's listening 
    to the cries
No one's answering
    all the whys
        except
         Jesus

So Much More

If I have pride in myself, then I need to go through all of the painful things that I have been through.  I have no excuse for my way of life, it is because of my pride that I am suffering.

And when I am done suffering, I may be clean of the pride and I will be able to kneel before Christ.

And when it ends, I can say that I feel real empathy, not sympathy, but empathy for what others are going through because I have been there.  Just lately, I have seen that everyone has a story, and everyone suffers in their own way, I am not unique in my pain.

The one thing that bothers me the most about my situation is my kids.  I wanted to give them all so much more, but I have to know in my heart that all of this is for their good too.  And we will all be able to stand and not fall, we will all finish the race.

The Athlete

There was an article in the news paper about a top athlete that seemed very healthy but died at the age of twenty eight of a heart attack.  The article went on to say that research shows that a balance of exercise, diet and rest is needed to maintain a healthy body.  When we neglect one area we could become weak, or like the athlete, die.
     
Our spirit also needs a balance of things to stay healthy, and keeping a balance takes discipline.  Paul compares our lives as Christians to runners in a race.  Do you think that you could eat a diet of French fries and soda, exercise once in a while then win a marathon?  In 1 Corinthians 9:24, Paul tells us, “Everyone who competes in the game goes into strict training.”  A lot of us Christians are spiritually flabby, malnourished and tired.
     
If you eat unhealthy food and don’t exercise, you can end up flabby.  Too much rest and not enough exercise, and your muscles will become weak.  Even with a good amount of exercise and a healthy diet, and not enough rest, your body will suffer.
     
The balance of good health exists in the physical and in the spiritual.  Our spirit needs good food, exercise and rest.  When we get lax in one or more of these areas, our spiritual health could end up in danger.
     
Such a simple thing, but unless we train daily, like an athlete, it’s easy to get off balance, and not even realize it.
     
Spiritually, I thought I was doing fine, until one day I noticed that I was depressed and edgy, snapping at the kids and spouse, yelling at the dog and complaining about every little thing.  Then like a bolt of lightning, it hit me.  I said, “What is wrong with me?” I told myself, “I read my Bible once in a while, I go to church at least once a month, but it’s so hard to find the time, I have so many important things to do.”  It’s like saying, “Why do I feel so bad on this diet of potato chips and chocolate bars, I eat a carrot once in a while.”

Eat right + sleep right + exercise = Good physical Health

Reading and hearing the word + praise and worship + ministry = good spiritual health

Remember to keep your balance, and stay healthy.

Toys

I Got married for the first time when I was eighteen.  I had my first child that same year.  Two more children followed, in the next three years.  When these older three kids were small, I went through a time of learning how to be an effective parent.  I would ask them to clean up their room, allowing them plenty of time, but when I got back the room would still be a mess.  Every stuffed animal off it’s shelf, every toy out of the box and on the floor.  I tried threats like, “If you don’t clean up that mess, no dessert.”  I would come back and the room would still be a mess.  Then I would have to go through with my threat, to show them that I meant business.
     
After that day, they understood that I meant what I said, but they were just sad and angry and their room, still a mess.  I tried all kinds of things.  I couldn’t believe some of the things I would catch myself saying.  “While you are living under my roof.”  And, “Someday when you have kids of your own.”  My kids could tell I was angry with them, so they would put a few things away, but only enough effort to get mom off their backs, for a while.
     
One day I was sitting in the middle of their room, every toy on the floor around me, I was thinking, “I really hate this.”  When I thought of a question, and I tried it.  
     
I asked my daughter, Christina, “Will you put this ONE toy in the box?”  She said, “Okay.”  As soon as she did, I praised her saying, “Oh, thank you!”  She liked that, it made her feel good, I could see it on her face.  Then on her own, she picked up another and put it away, and looking at me for the same approval, I gave it to her.
     
My son, Joe, saw how happy I was with Christina and he put a toy away, then my youngest, Elizabeth joined in.  Pretty soon they were racing each other to put away as many toys as they could, and I was praising them all!  I didn’t have to get angry and they didn’t have to feel bad, it was so much easier when I began to focus on what was good instead of only the bad.
     
I think we can use this learning experience to help in any relationship.  We would do more good, strengthening and encouraging each other.  Try love and praise with your kids, try love and praise with your husband or wife.  Try it in your Church or at your work.  Make a list of every good thing you can think of about the people in your lives and let your focus be on those things.
     
Philippians 4:8, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praise worthy-think about such things.”

The Towel

I had a basket of dirty laundry in the kitchen, ready to go out to the washing machine.  I noticed a red drink spill on the kitchen floor and absent mindedly, I picked up a towel out of the pile and wiped up the wet mess.  I threw the whole pile right into the washing machine.  I washed all the towels with detergent and hot water, but the towel came out of the dryer, stained.  What could I do, I folded it and put it away with the other towels.
     
After a shower a few days later, I picked up that same towel off the shelf to dry myself.  I noticed the stain and felt uneasy using that towel, it still looked dirty to me.  I thought back, the towel had gone through the same process to get clean as all the other towels, that stain was brand new, it might lighten up in time but the towel was clean.
     
Drying my self with this stained towel made me think of how I feel about forgiveness. When I sin, I ask for forgiveness, and God forgives me.  But sometimes I still feel the stain of my sin that is left behind and I feel as though I‘m still dirty.  God has forgiven me but I haven’t forgiven myself, I still feel guilty.  So I have to remind my self that what God has made clean is clean indeed.  Then I need to accept the fact that I am clean.
     
Jesus is our cleaning process, and I am the towel.  And as the towel I am not responsible for the cleaning process.  So I also can’t take the credit for getting myself clean.  But if I deny that I am clean, I deny that Jesus forgives, and the sin remains because of my lack of faith.
     
Isaiah 4:30 says, “Come now let us reason together says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; they are red as crimson, they shall become like wool.”  If we ask, God will remove our sins as far as the east is from the west, all we have to do is believe and receive.
       

The New Job

Change can be exciting, it can also be difficult or frightening.  My friend, Lyn, was about to start a new job.  She was excited as she told me that the new job was going to pay more than her old job.  It was a desk job so she wouldn’t have to be on her feet all day.  She also liked the idea of dressing up instead of wearing a uniform.
     
I saw Lyn, a few weeks after she started her new job.  I asked her how it was going.  She was really down.  She said that the new job was a lot harder than she thought it would be.  She had made a few mistakes and she felt so bad about them,  she was ready to quit.  I asked her, “Didn’t you make any mistakes when you started your old job?”  “Oh yeah, lots of them.”  She replied.
     
It’s easy to get comfortable with routine things.  Even if they aren’t perfect, they are familiar.  Who knows what things will be like if we make a change.  Change can look like a wonderful thing.  But in the middle of a change, it’s easy to feel bad, inadequate and alone.
     
When I was a kid there was a popular show called, “Let’s make a deal.”  Toward the end of the show, the big winner of the day got a chance to keep the prize that they had already won earlier during the show, or to trade the prize to win something even better.  They got a choice of three doors to pick from; behind the right door could be something wonderful.  But if you picked the wrong door, you would find out that you now own a pig, or some joke prize.  picking the right door would mean winning the grand prize.
     
Lyn, took a job that sounded better than the job she already had.  Her mistakes made her feel like she picked the wrong door.  Becoming a Christian may feel like taking a hard new job at times, you may feel like you won a joke prize.  But sticking with it is like winning the grand prize.
     
In Philippians 3: 12, Paul said, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do:  Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

What Do You Want From Life?

I’ve been a Christian for 24 years and it’s just lately I’ve been feeling very different about how I pray, that is, I’ve been learning not to pray in such a self centered way.

In my church, last weekend, our pastor said that there is an, “I” in the middle of, “sin” and an, “I” in the middle of, “pride”.  This made me realize that I have been putting myself in the middle of all of my prayers.  I pray, “God help ME”.  Since then, I’ve been praying more for others and I’ve been asking God what He wants for me, instead of trying to decide what I think is best for myself and praying for that. 

Matthew 28:18 Jesus said to his disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them everything I have commanded you.”  This is called the Great Commission, and it is what we as Christians are supposed to be doing and I believe that is what I should be praying for.  I need to praying for and working toward bringing others to Christ.

Not that I believe it’s wrong to pray for our own needs but I do believe we have to put others needs next to or before ours.  And as the Great Commission shows, I am to help my family and neighbors become Christians.  Now, how is it that I should do that?  

I love most music and the other day I noticed that the few kinds of music that I don’t listen to, (rap and country) I have been liking more and more.  How did that happen?  I noticed that a lot of musician’s are using other types of music in their own music, like a rock song with some rap in it, it not only makes the music more enjoyable to listen to, but I am loving rap and even country.  Using something that others are enjoying already, and incorporating Christian principles into it so it will seem more familiar to them and they can start loving Christ.       

 One more example is, my Mom used to crush up asperin and add at to sugar.  She would add a bit of water and give it to me to help with pain, I used to get a lot of headaches and I couldn’t swallow pills very well.  She would put something I didn’t like into something that I did like so that I would take it.  That is how I believe I can get some to give their hearts to God. 

So pray for your own needs but also pray for family and friends that aren’t saved to join us in believing Jesus is the only way to everlasting life.  And after praying for others, use things you know to help friends, family, neighbors to learn about your Christian walk, and life sp that they too can be saved.    

Busted

This story is written by my son, Joe

This zip lock freezer bag weighed a good six pounds.  It was full of, “chromies.”  At least that’s what we called them.  When no one was around I would hold the bag up and shake it around a little bit and feel a sense of pride, like I had accomplished something great, like I was somehow victorious.  But I needed more.

You can find chromies on any custom car or luxury sedan, and even on select bicycles.  They’re really just air valve stem caps.  If you can pump air into it, it probably has one.  Most of them are made of black plastic.  Some of them though are chrome (hence chromies) and can have a square or rounded crown.  I’ve seen eight balls, and dice and just about everything else you can imagine.
     
And I stole every one that I saw.
     
My friends and I would go on secret missions looking for chromies.  They became collectables, like baseball cards or pogs, that we could admire and trade.  Every time we would unscrew one of these caps was a thrill.  We’d have a look out, and we were quick about it.  I felt invincible every time I walked away with one in my pocket, a rush that I have never felt before.
     
But I got cocky.  One day we targeted a black Escalade in the cul-de-sac where my friends and I lived-a little to close to home.  Just as I was pulling the last of four chriomies off the neighbors car, this angry bear of a man came storming out of his house.  We scattered.  Eventually though I had to go home.
     
When I got home it was all I could think about.  Did I get caught?  Did I get away with it?  What am I supposed to do?  My questions were answered by a knock at the door.  Nowhere to hide.  The jig was up.  My mom walked up to me minutes later to ask about the recent heist.  Natural instinct was to lie, right?  Say it wasn’t you, or blame it on your friends.  Pleading the fifth could buy you some time, say nothing at all.  What did I do?
     
“I’m so busted”  I cried.  I literally cried, I bawled.  I broke down.  I was so busted.  I didn’t cry because I thought it would get me out of trouble, I cried because I felt so ashamed.  There was nothing left to do but cry, and feel sorry.
     
My mom was calm.  She didn’t need to do anything.  She could see that I was genuinely remorseful.  This was stealing and I knew it all along, but the temtation and the thrill was so hard to resist.  I never stole another chromie again.
     
In my heart I felt sorry, my mom knew it.  She forgave me.
    
I feel the same way when it comes to my relationship with Christ.  When you are genuinely sorry for what you have done, your father knows it, and he is happy to forgive.
     
I’m glad I got caught.  I learned a very valuable lesson, and now we can all have a good laugh about it.  Twenty years later and my family still jokes with me as they sob and blubber,”Immm..sooo..buuusted.”{sniff}.