The Gift

“Each day of life is a glorious gift, but so few people know to live within the confines of today. Much of their energy for abundant living spills over into the timeline into tomorrows worries or past regrets. Their remaining energy is sufficient only for limping through the day, not for living it to the full.” Sarah Young, Jesus Calling.

Some mornings the devotional seems to speak directly to me. Some mornings it stops me in my tracks. Lately, my vision has become clouded by too much fear, too much worry. Too much beyond my control.

That vision problem has me forgetting the gift.

For there is a gift He leaves, one for each new day. It’s called Grace and it’s just for you and me. It’s hand delivered from God himself. He holds it out, hoping we will open it. He waits and watches in anticipation……..He can’t wait to see how we’ll like it, what we’ll do with it.

Each measure of unwrapped Grace is just right, uniquely designed for that day, because just like each day is different, each need is different. Some days I leave it sadly untouched and it saddens Him. Even though He always leaves it right where I can find it

Oh, I see my great, grand future all right. I sometimes gaze at Heaven so intently that all I can see are spots before my eyes. I have no problem seeing the big picture, it’s the years I have left I struggle with because there is only so much I can control. It’s what I can’t control that scares me to death.

I want the next few years all mapped out and boxed up like a neat package, but God never promised that. But He did promise me today. And He is showing me to look around, to gaze back at the world and know that there is Heaven here too. In those He gives me.

And while the ticker tape of yesterday was fresh in my mind. I wrote the gifts down. Because blogging and praying is one thing. Sometimes you need to write it down so you can pick it up and hold it in your hands, and remember.

With my eyes closed and tears of gratitude, I saw the gift of today. It was sitting on a wicker porch swing, which rested on a big wooden wraparound porch of white. It was a big, square pink box with a grand yellow bow. The cushion it rested on was green with flowers.

And as I approached, I saw Jesus peeking through the lace curtains, smiling.

“Go on,” He said. “Open it. I made sure it was just your size.”

It’s in the blood

I could feel it coming and I tried to catch it before it came but I wasn’t fast enough. To staunch the flow I hastily wiped my hand under my nose, and while I was trying to unravel the toilet paper that was stuck, another drop rolled out. It’s not uncommon for me to get bloody noses here in this dry desert air. As I gazed at the two indelible marks which were now on the back of each hand, I thought:

God made the physical makeup of blood such that it refuses to be totally wiped out. It always leaves a trace of itself behind.

When Cain killed Abel, God told him that it was the blood that cried from the ground that disclosed the truth even before Cain had a chance to confess. Blood is sacred to God. Due to advanced technology we can now trace crimes back years…..decades.

It’s in the blood.

As I scrubbed my hands clean in the sink I thought that if someone shined one of those special lights on my skin, or brushed on that chemical they use to trace blood, they would most likely still see it there clearly. I remember years ago when my first cat Max was hit by a car and killed close to my parents house, I always averted my eyes from the blood left behind. It took years of storms and seasons to wash it away.

Following the thread my mind seemed to go all on its own, I went to that other place, a place I don’t go very often. I thought of my husband’s blood when it was spilled there in Mexico, and all of a sudden, right there in the bathroom, I wished I could apologize to the poor people who had to clean it up, because I know his blood left something behind in their life.

Something they will never ever forget. Maybe they said a prayer. I wish I could tell them that he was already in Heaven by then.

Then I thought of that scene from “The Passion”……..and who could ever forget it? The one where Mary is trying to scrub Jesus blood off the ground where He was scourged and she ends up getting it all over herself.

And there is no way any of us will get around that Blood. Someday we will have to account for what we did with it.

The blood of our loved ones is sacred to us, but all blood is sacred to God. He knows when it’s been shed callously. No one in this life will be able to get away with murder. Oh, they might think they are getting away scott free, but it’s God holds the DNA, He hears the blood crying out. He knows their name.

I also believe that somewhere in the Bible it says something about the careless slaying of animals as well. So if you go out and kill for the joy of killing, without respect for the animal and what it provides, you will be asked to give an account for your callousness.

In the Native American tradition, most tribes had very specific rules with respect to hunting. They had a deep appreciation and respect for the animal for exchanging its life to sustain theirs. And nothing was ever wasted. A Navaho tradition was to leave a perfect arrowhead behind as a way to honor the animal.

There seems to be very little respect for life in this world, but God hasn’t changed.

For behold, the LORD is about to come out from His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; And the earth will reveal her bloodshed And will no longer cover her slain……….Isaiah 26:21

I love the story in 2 Samuel, where the prophet Nathan turns the tables on David to get him to see how God feels about David taking Uriah’s wife for himself and then sending Uriah himself out to the front lines to fight.

This is David’s response, before he knew Nathan was referring to him.

David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” 2 Samuel 12:5,6

My earliest memories of church are hearing the sounds of our singing echoing off the walls in that little children’s church hall, singing songs about His blood.

And all these years later, I still hear it no matter where I go.

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow……

It’s in my blood.

Thank God.

Image from fanpop.com

God and the Brandenburg Concerto

This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope…….It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:21-26

Ever feel like the ground has suddenly shifted beneath your feet?

Like a great seismic shift happened somewhere and everyone got the memo but you and you feel like you’re free-falling through your own life?

Trying to walk backwards on a moving sidewalk?

You feel attacked by the “never wills…..” All of a sudden you know that some things in this life “never will” happen again……the train left and took your youth with it.

One minute you had your feet firmly planted on those sands of time and while you weren’t looking the tide came and took it out from under your feet and swept most of it out to sea.

Don’t be alarmed. This is a normal part of being human. Of living in an ever-changing culture, a time-stamped world.

When I feel that out of control falling feeling……..the one thing that helps me the most is to be reminded that God will never, ever change. When God is your anchor, you don’t have to be devastated by things that change in this life. And when He says, “I got this.” You know He really really really does.

This morning the Brandenburg Concerto came on the classical station I listen to on the way to work. I remembered a time when my Mom and I were much younger and I used to listen to this in my old room when the leaves rained yellow in the fall. She used to tell me it made her nervous, and she called it the “nervous music.” It was a sweet memory and I was smiling yet I wanted to cry too.

It comforted me to know that God and the Brandenburg concerto will never change, even if everything else does. And wouldn’t you know that God worked it out that the last note played as I coasted to a stop in the parking lot.

The best way we can honor today is by being fully present in the moment God gives us and by cherishing the people in our lives right now, we shape our memories tomorrow. We can tell time who’s boss because we don’t have to regret it when it’s gone.

The path to peace

“No one is righteous—
    not even one.
No one is truly wise;
    no one is seeking God.
All have turned away;
    all have become useless.
No one does good,
    not a single one.”
“Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.
    Their tongues are filled with lies.”
“Snake venom drips from their lips.”
“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
“They rush to commit murder.
Destruction and misery always follow them.
They don’t know where to find peace.”
“They have no fear of God at all.”

Romans 3:11-18

We watched the first installment of the new series, “The Blacklist” last night starring James Spader. Well, a few parts I watched through my fingers because I was afraid of what I’d see. “What happened to the bad guy?” I asked E. “I don’t know,” she said, “I was afraid to watch, I was sure the husband was going to get killed.” I guess we’ll never know. Needless to say, it was a scene we were not expecting and totally unprepared for.

I was almost ready for bed when I started watching it, but wide awake by the time the show was over.

All over the news, all over the world there is violence. You don’t have to look far. And cursing has become the norm, even for kids. They hear it from their parents. I compare the world now to the one I grew up in. A mistake I know. It’s something I thought I would never do and now I am. It’s hard not to, when you see such a marked difference, when you see how things have changed.

One thing I never had a moment of at any of my school campuses was real fear. All the way from Kindergarten through High School. Well, maybe I was a little afraid of BJ, she was one of the tough girls. And Steven Weigum. He was a punk. With Steven, you worked hard to be invisible. I was good at it, except for the one time I forgot to wear green on St. Patrick’s day.

From Grammar school all the way to Junior High, I heard maybe one parent say the “F’ word and I was shocked. Actually I didn’t even hear them say it, the daughter said she overheard her Mom say it…….once.

I feel sad for kids today. In many ways, they live in a callous and harsh world. Images of violence fills their culture through television, movies, video games and even music. Fear is part and parcel of their everyday world at school since all the school shootings started. Even us adults have to work hard to deprogram our minds from what we see and hear all day, on the news, at work. It would be easy to lose heart, to lose hope. To despair even.

It’s why I try to spend time alone with God the very first part of my day and saturate myself with His words. Sometimes I spend an hour, sometimes it’s 20 minutes, it’s just Him and me getting back to ground zero. Giving my mind and heart over to Him gets me back on track, brings me back home. It takes all that negative the world gives out and replaces it with what’s good.

It is an awesome thing to think we can have an open session with the God of the Universe anytime we want it. In fact, He seeks it…….delights in it. May it never get old for me.

It’s easy to think I’m a pretty good person when I watch a show like we watched last night where really bad guys are plotting to wreak havoc on the world, until I realize that in the verses above, the Apostle Paul is talking about all of us without Jesus.

And when I call that person “a name” for cutting me off on the freeway? I realize there is less distance between me and those character references in the book of Romans than I thought.

He reminds me of how my pitiful little rags of righteousness looked before they were dipped in His fountain.

It’s humbling, yes it is. But it’s good.

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8,9

No theology in this post, just joy

Allow me to paraphrase a little from Song of Solomon……….For, lo, the summer is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away……..

He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me is love………

Today for the first time in a very long time…..about 5 months to be exact, it was blissfully cool. Yesterday was a wondrous day, the garden was restructured and two new tomato bushes are planted, and a few herbs are settled in their corner along with the smiling gnome holding the skateboard.

We feel born again, again.

It happens this way every year, and every year, after the relentless scorch of the long summer we all come out to play. Everyone feels like a kid again. Windows are thrown open and screen doors welcome the fresh cool breeze that rejuvenates our sealed tombs that too long have held in the regurgitated refrigerated air that we are oh-so-thankful for, otherwise we would never survive.

Now, Lowes, and Home Depot liven up……..this is our unique brand of fall, petunias right along with the Christmas displays. Ah, this is the Arizona desert, the way we do autumn.

My Autumn colors show up on the inside, around my windows in swags of orange, yellow and red.

And on the door.

Soon we will welcome all our winter visitors back from beautiful places like Canada, Michigan, and the Dakotas.

Outside, I will set around some Mums and in the front, I will plant pansies.

This rapture causes the windows of joy to be throw open in our hearts because we know that we can once again we can visit God outside in the wide open spaces, on the trails, on our patios…….we expand our boundaries once again.

We barbeque and eat outside and once the desert chill hits, we sit around the fire outside under the stars.

Today, I opened every window in the house and made muffins. The cats, catching my enthusiasm, ran through the house, not knowing how to act with open windows, they keep going from one to the other. Not being able to make up their minds, I feel the same way. I want to do everything at once.

The gaggle of quail has been coming though all morning, along with the doves and cactus wrens and brown thrashers…….and of course, the pigeons too.

And today, I am counting it all joy.

Scripture passages from Song of Solomon Chapter 2, the italicized words are mine.

A one on one with Jesus

At my workplace we have regular meetings with our OM (Operational Managers) called 1 on 1’s. Sometimes these are regarding serious issues, like disciplinary action, raises or reviews. Other times they are just informal chats. When a new manager comes into the area they are scheduled with each team member as a way of introduction. Sometimes we just shoot the breeze and talk about our last vacation, or what’s happening in the news.

I am one of God’s kids that spends a lot of time thinking about eternity and what it’ll be like.The Bible actually says to keep our minds focused on things above, so I guess I take that literally. I wasn’t one of those kids that daydreamed a lot, but I spent a fair amount of time with my nose in a book, immersed in some imaginary world that I had no problem stepping into.

I like to think that when we get to Heaven, Jesus will schedule a 1 on 1 with each of us. He spent a lot of His time in crowds here on earth, but I love that He also scheduled individual time with people. I have no problem believing that when He talked with you, He made you feel as if you were the only person on earth.

He did that with the Samaritan woman at the well. And Nicodemus and Mary and Martha, and Peter, who he had to admonish for being concerned with what would happen to the other disciples after Jesus was gone….I love Jesus answer to Peter on that one. I just know he had a loving look behind his reproof.

I like to imagine what we will talk about.

I can imagine Him saying, “I have waited a long time for this,” and He will call me by name and make me feel like I am the only person that matters right then. I can imagine how He will look into my eyes and see straight into my heart. He will tell me not to worry about all the things I didn’t do, instead He’ll put His arm around me and tell me to focus on the joy. And everything there is to come.

And I can’t wait to see His smile when He shows me around because He knows how I flip over things like flowers, and trees and animals. I imagine all the fear and longing and heartache melted away. And just……Jesus.

Just the rest of eternity to be with Him.

What do you imagine you will talk about?

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions;if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” John 14:1-4

Photo from Creative Commons, Melanie Lukesh, some rights reserved.

Our hope is in the Lord

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11

I barely watch the news anymore. And the opening MSN page that I hastily retreat from on my way to Facebook? I barely give it a glance. I don’t care about the Kardashian’s latest escapade, or what happened to Lindsey Lohan’s Mom. I scan the headlines to see if there is something I really need to know. I put my foot in the pond of world events and stay there long enough to know what is going on and then I get out. Looking around at our world today, it would be easy to cave in, to despair. To forget that there is still so much good.

I got to prayer late this morning. I allowed myself the luxury of going back to bed. Not to sleep, to read. I grabbed my cup of coffee and propped myself up on my pillows with two cats settled on either side and read all the way through to the end of “Odd Hours,” the fourth installment of the Odd Thomas book series by Dean Koontz. I felt the pressures of the week closing in and I wanted to close them out. I wanted to beat back time. I needed fiction. I needed to know that the terrible events happening in the book were just that, fiction. And that just maybe I would get a happy ending out of it.

I wasn’t disappointed. The bad guys died. Every single one. I needed that. I wanted to close the book and feel some relief that things are not nearly as bad in the world as the events in the book I just read.

Because all too often in real life the bad guys don’t die, or get caught, they thrive. They prey, they get away with murder. They steal from innocent people who are just trying to get through the day and keep what they worked so hard for. They show up at a Navy Yard and kill an innocent custodian among many others, who never failed to show up for work. He was only doing his job. Like they all were.

Soon, we will have Obama care going into effect. It is something rich people and the politicians who pushed it through will not have to worry about. They will all have their own plans. They will not be bowed down with extra taxes if they fail to commit to a government plan. It’s the working people who will. We will be punished if we don’t buy into it. None of us asked for it, but we are getting it just the same. I don’t usually comment on politics on my site, because my hope doesn’t lay in any politician or world leader. Thank God.

And today, it hit me like a thunderbolt as I was coming home. It’s like I really got it. I knew why the early persecuted church found so much comfort in each other.

Where there is more turmoil in the world, there should be more love, more strength, more unity in the church.

We need to be reminded that our hope is in Christ and there is nothing we need to dread as long as we keep our focus on Him. That’s pretty much what my devotional said today and I needed to hear it.

Here is the last paragraph:

You inhabit a fallen, disjointed world, where things are constantly unraveling around the edges. Only a vibrant relationship with Me can keep you from coming unraveled too. Jesus Calling, Sarah Young

May this give you hope today, it does me. There is so much good still in the world. As long as we keep our eyes on Him, He will bring those things into our path and we will once again be recharged, renewed, imbibed with hope.

“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. Revelation 22:12

One thousand (plus one) love letters to God

Then those whose lives honored God got together and talked it over. God saw what they were doing and listened in. A book was opened in God’s presence and minutes were taken of the meeting, with the names of the God-fearers written down, all the names of those who honored God’s name. Malachi 3:16, The Message

When I glanced up at the number of posts I thought, “It can’t be. How could I have passed 1000 posts and not have known?”

One thousand thoughts, one thousand meanderings, one thousand words I have set free to see what God would do. One thousand dreams, one thousand hopes, one thousand love letters to God.

One thousand ways I can share my faith, as well as my victories, things God and I and you did together……….One thousand times I have failed to love, and one thousand fears set free. It’s amazing really, what He has done with these words. Like bread cast upon the waters, He has carried them further than I ever thought possible.

I stare at the shore and wonder at my own words that have washed up from somewhere I never suspected. Only God can do that. When God stirs words they have a way of coming back full circle. I think of how they’ve come back from people I never dreamed would read them. I think of the ones who sowed the Word into me when I was young in all those Sunday school classes and sermons. To those that first sparked life and hope into my heart I would say this:

“It was the seeds of your own kindness and love for God that caused these words to grow.”

One thousand mornings of entering prayer like a sealed jar, my hope flickering like the candle, I sit back down and wait on Him to find He has already been there. It’s always Him who waits for me. Sometimes I’m not even sure where to start so I don’t. And it’s okay, for the waiting itself is Holy.

Once the words start tumbling out I experience a resurrection that I can no longer keep to myself. I find that God is not scared of what tumbles or flies out of this jar, whether black unnamed thing or brightly colored butterfly, and it seems that neither are you, dear reader. Many of you are still here.

The most important thing I have learned is how much He loves me, and that is what I want you to know.

And what He has taught me through all of you. I have learned that when I harness my words to prayer, miracles happen and when we join our words together it feels much like communion. I could never repay the friendships, the community of love I have found through writing. Your comments never fail to humble me.

Every now and then I think I might just seal this jar and keep the lid screwed on tight, who wants to see this mess anyway? But I thank God that never lasts, that feeling. The love I feel for God is so strong this flesh cannot contain it.

So here’s to 1000 more love letters to God.

And you…..

I thank you for hanging in with me this far.

A Provision Story

First there was the leak in the line that ran from the water heater to the wall. It was a river in the backyard, and now there is a soggy floor that will probably have to be replaced (maybe).

Then there was the car that wouldn’t shift into third.

And my blinker went out. Again.

And the phone lines seems to have gotten wet from all the rain we had. All you can hear is crackling. The computer goes in and out. But I am not complaining about the rain, that was wonderful.

The leak was fixed temporarily but the day before yesterday it burst again. Another river.

With fifteen minutes left on the clock before she had to return to work options were limited. CALL…..PLUMBER……NOW.

But then something made her think of John. That nice man in the park that fixes everything. And I mean, everything. She hurriedly knocked on his door and he was just finishing up lunch. She was desperate, and no sooner had she gotten the words out of her mouth, he said two magic words.

Let’s Go.

He went down and proceeded to appraise the damage to the pipe. Then said, “I can do this while you are at work, don’t give it another thought, I will put a whole new pipe in and all I will charge is forty for labor and forty for the part.” A steal.

When she got home, it was all done, the way Home Depot should have done it in the first place. I think of how he could have been anywhere else that day, but he was home right then. And he made himself available.

Thank you God, and thank you John.

We were so thankful. It made me think of how God takes care of us through sending just the right people. I thought of all the wonderful things my friend does for others all the time expecting nothing in return. How she never hesitates to go the extra mile for anyone. She’s the one who Jesus must have meant when he said:

And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. Matthew 5:41,42

When she gave him his pay, she also presented him with a gift, a beautiful new pair of socks in a Superman bag. When she went to his house the first time she noticed he had holes in his socks and she teased him about it.

It’s nice to see someone rewarded. To be treated with the same kindness they give back to others. It doesn’t always happen.

Our God provides.

Always.

When I moved away from my home town years ago, that safe cocoon I had lived in all my life, there were times I doubted that. But it seems everywhere I went, God kept placing wonderful people in my path.

There was Willa, who prayed for me when my sister in law’s cancer came back. And then later Ruby and Ron, who became wonderful friends when I knocked on her door one day when I ran out of Mary Kay. Many wonderful home-cooked meals were enjoyed in their home. She was my Mom away from Mom.

We are still friends to this day, and that was 20 years ago.

And then, when we moved back to Arizona the second time, at a pivotal and scary time in my career, there was Will, who came from nowhere but really I do know where. We prayed together each Saturday at work and he reignited my love for the Word. Then we met his wife and now when we all go to dinner together, the fellowship is sweet. Usually we end up laughing all night.

Will retired from Intel and is now a Pastor of a wonderful church in Chandler. And then there is Abel, another local Pastor who works three computers away. It is a blessed thing to look around and see believers sprinkled here and there. It is wonderful to know that at any moment, I could ask for prayer and they would stop what they were doing and pray.

Yes, our God provides, in people, in provision and in grace.

Sometimes I still get fearful and forget that. But I am doing that less and less as the years go on.

Needed: Good men, and not just a few

Do not rebuke an older man sharply, but appeal to him as you would to a father; treat younger men like brothers, older women like mothers and younger women like sisters, with absolute purity. 1 Timothy 5:1,2

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Ephesians 5: 1,2

The other night a memory came to me as I had just settled myself on the couch to watch some TV. I was trying to arrange my head on the square, hard couch pillow which was obviously meant for decoration and not for comfort. I remembered how my Dad would arrange beds for us on the floor by the fire. He loved doing that for us and it always bothered him to see me laying on the floor without a pillow.

I can’t count the times I would feel his hands under my head…..”Here, I brought you a pillow, he’d say.” The thought almost brought me to tears. I don’t think anyone ever did that for him, but he did it for me. And my brother. And I have seen him do it still even at 85. Some things never change.

I was thinking about how our whole society would benefit from good men. We need you, guys. So much more than you know. There’s a vast ocean of kids that are being raised without Dad’s. And a vast ocean of grown-ups who never had the benefit of being protected, feeling safe, being loved by a Dad.

Men, we need you. The church needs you too.

We need you to be strong and lead your families, not with an iron fist of authority, but with an open hand ready to give……..to show love. A hand that is not afraid to grasp the hand of his child and lead with affection, with kindness, with the leadership and example of our Father in Heaven.

We need you to get up on Sundays and lead your family into church.

We need you to not be afraid to show emotion and to be quick to apologize when you are wrong……..to talk about nothing in particular, just talk.

To spend time with your kids doing the little things that are important to them and make an effort to find out what those little things are. Find out what they like, what interests them. And don’t think you must have a big grand plan. Just be willing to do nothing with them. Jump into the middle of their life.

Wear a tiara if you have to. Jump rope. Help with a science experiment. And don’t worry if you aren’t any good at the activity, they don’t care. They just want you to do it with them. In fact, they might like it if you aren’t any good. That way they can feel good about teaching you something.

Be humble, men. Be kind. Be strong enough to answer with a soft voice.

And you men of faith? You have an even bigger responsibility, because your real Dad is God. And He is watching how you treat children, women, other men, boys. What a wonderful opportunity you have. To be a kind man…….there seem to be so few now. But I know you’re out there. You never know who you might reach.

There is a child out there, a woman out there, a boy out there who never had a Dad. Maybe never had a man in their life they could trust.

Be that man to them.

Be a representative to them of Your Abba, Father.

Don’t you know that your love can send a much more powerful message than telling them what they need to hear?

You have a unique opportunity and it’s up to you to show the love of God by demonstration, not by words.

There are a few men I work with whom I really respect. Those men would never let a door slam in my face. Those men, always hold a hand out and let me go down the stairs first. Those men let me enter a door first, because they know that God is watching what they do.

Don’t be afraid if women look at you funny. I think inside they really respect that, I know I do. Do the right thing no matter what someone else says.

Teachers, Bus drivers, Uncles, Fathers, Cousins, Brothers, Sunday School teachers, Bosses, Garbage collectors. Step up.

Because we all need you, good men and not just a few.

We appreciate you!

photo taken by me: My brother and his girl, Lauryn

Lori's Prayer Closet

"And when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done is secret, will reward you……"Matthew 6:6