February - A month of Love

A Month for Love
by Charles R. Swindoll

1 Corinthians 13

It is February. Overcast, chilly, bleak-and-barren February. If you're not into skiing the slopes, skating on ice, or singin' in the rain, there's not a lot outside to excite you. Sure was gracious of God to make it last only twenty-eight days . . . well, sometimes twenty-nine. No wonder bears hibernate at this time of year---there's not even Monday Night Football!

But wait. There is something extra special about February. Valentine's Day. Hearts 'n flowers. Sweetheart banquets. A fresh and needed reminder that there is still a heart-shaped vacuum in the human breast that only the three most wonderful words in the English language can fill.

To love and to be loved is the bedrock of our existence. But love must also flex and adapt. Rigid love is not true love. It is veiled manipulation, a conditional time bomb that explodes when frustrated. Genuine love willingly waits! It isn't pushy or demanding. While it has its limits, its boundaries are far-reaching. It neither clutches nor clings. Real love is not short-sighted, selfish, or insensitive. It detects needs and does what is best for the other person without being told.

As we read in that greatest treatise ever written on the subject: "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears . . . believes . . . hopes . . . endures all things" (1 Cor. 13:4-7).

"I LOVE YOU." Simple, single-syllable words, yet they cannot be improved upon. Nothing even comes close. And because we don't have any guarantee we'll have each other forever, it's a good idea to say them as often as possible.

Tell each one of your kids you love 'em. Don't just say, "Love ya." Say, "I love you." There's a difference. If you don't have any kids, tell your mate. If you're single, call up a close friend and say those three powerful words with feeling.

God's Financial Provision - Ask Him for Help

God's Financial Provision-Ask Him for Help
Wednesday January 27 2010 12:00 AM
Posted by Rick Warren

You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Philippians 4:19 (MSG) There is an amazing, incredible and all-encompassing promise in Philippians 4:19 (NIV) regarding provision: "... God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

Note the first two words: "God will ...." It doesn't say, "He might meet your needs," it says, "He will meet your needs." It's written as a fact; God is staking his character and his reputation on it.
Then the Bible says, "God will meet all. ..." It doesn't say, "I'll meet some of your needs." It says all.

Now, understand that it doesn't say, "I'll meet all your greeds." There's a big difference between needs and wants. As a parent, do you give your kids everything they want? I hope you don't. You don't do that because you love them. And your heavenly Father loves you. He's not going to give you everything you want because if he did, you'd be spoiled to death.

He won't give us everything we want, but he will give us what we need. Then why do you have financial needs? Did God fail? Did he lie? Exaggerate?

No! With every promise, there is a premise; there are conditions and requirements. When God makes a promise, he says, "I'll do my part and you do your part." God's wisdom, his financial principles are clearly laid out for us in his Word. Although the Bible discusses many aspects of financial health, including principles of saving, spending, giving, investing and stewardship, over the next few days we're going to look at five specific conditions for financial stability.

First, ask for his help - Jesus says, "Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy." (John 16:24, NLT) Here's a good rule: Before you pay for it, pray for it. Give God a chance to provide before you go out and charge it. You probably depend more on your charge card than you do Jesus Christ.

Why does God want me to ask? So he can give.
Why does he want to give? So I can receive.
Why does he want me to receive? So I'll be full of joy.
Why does he want me to be full of joy? It's a great advertisement for Jesus Christ. Joyful Christians are a positive testimony.

2009 Out with a Bang

November and December were really just a blur.

Into November and December continued to be a time of raking and picking up leaves as they fell in our yard. Unfortunately the night of November 4th as Tim was at work on his way out to leave the department manager stopped him, and he was let go from his job due to reduction of employees company wide. He was late getting home and I wondered where he was. I called and he said he had been detained. Shortly after he got home when I was switching out the laundry he sprung the bad news to me.

The first few weeks of unemployment were optimistic until Tim really began to understand that there aren't many jobs out there due to the ecnomic shape our country is currently in. Now the only optimism we have is that we do have a little money in the 401 K, I will be able to find a job, the Food Stamps and WIC are coming. Other than that its day by day.

Thanksgiving we drove down to my brother's house to eat with my family. My parents drove up and we all (Maw Maw, Paw Paw, Joe, Geni, Christy & Todd, Carrie & Donny, Jayme, Tim & Ben) and sat at their large formal dinning room table for a delicious meal prepared by my sisterinlaw. Ben and I spent a few days with them, resting and relaxing and meditating on what the future might have for us.

We had counted down the days and it was time to fly out of the Memphis Airport to Orlando December 4th. Ben and I met my parents, brother and sisterinalw for some R & R at Disney World. I think it was more like ER for me, keeping up with a 3 year old wasn't easy for 5 days at the world's largest attraction. It was worth it and I was glad I really didn't visit the ER. Ben and I rode such things as Splash Mountain, Test Track, Buzzlightyear and Buzzlightyear and Buzzlightyear. He was able to see where Mini Mouse and Mickey Mouse live..... and he even gave both of them a hug.

We made it back home in time to get up all the Christmas Decorations, we even took Ben to the 'live tree' lot to choose a live tree. That night, Ben and I decorated the tree all blue. No not that we were blue after Tim lost his job, but I just like the color blue, I had seen one of these trees decorated all blue at the Pink Palace. So last year when the decorations were 60% off at Hobby Lobby I invested in some of the blue lights and ornaments.

Somehow, we missed all the Christmas parties and hoopla... or either we are so non-social we weren't invited, which is what I think it was. We did get to see the Puppet Christmas Special at church one Sunday night. Ben did well sitting in church on the back pew, but it got difficult toward the end so we left when the pastor was making closing comments. The next time we sat in the back was Christmas Eve service, just like Hee Haw.. but with a Christian Twist to it. Hee Hee. We will be back on the last pew on Sunday nights from here on out. Ben turned 4 December 30th and the doors on the nursery have been closed. I guess Sunday Mornings he will be in the Extended Session I've always heard about.

We spent the week before Christmas here, not much to it. I did not use the Christmas wrapping paper this year, due to our financial situation we did not have the money to buy anything to wrap. We did make it special for Ben but we scaled down as much as we could. Santa came by on the 24th and all day on the 25th Ben played non-stop, I had to make him stop to eat three times, and before bed he had to take one more ride on his 'Smart Cycle'. They 'Smart Cycle' came from I'll have to call her Santa Jesus for now. Too hard for me to summarize how I know Santa Jesus or even how our paths crossed, but she is the one who gifted the Smart Cycle to Ben. Her son broke it in, but when the Wii came along the 'Smart Cycle' was history.

The day after Christmas we drove down to Gulfport where we spent some time with my parents who helped us celebrate my birthday on the 27th and Ben's on the 30th. I can't think of any better way to celebrate my 25th birthday. It feels so good to be so young. My reunion with my friend Mary helped me remember what it was like. She was one of my best friends if not it, in junior high, high school (do they still call it that?) through early years of college. We took turns visiting with both our families at each of their homes, her mother even made a sign welcoming us home. Lunch time we met two of our guy friends - Jon, Ron, Diane and their children at Cicis for pizza. There has been some accusations on Facebook that we look old in the photo I posted there. I still think its 25 and holding and not 41 for me. Where did all the time go?

Ben had a great time the night before we left Gulfport, he opened up some gifts for his birthday and we sang happy birthday to him while he blew some candles out. He made a wish for each candle, and one wish was that I not have to go to jail and not be bad. That was just one example of something that has come back to haunt me, and a reminder that I should be careful of what I say. We haven't talked about jail and being bad in about a month, but he had not forgotten it. It was then that I was just making sure he understood that if he was bad he would have to go to jail. I had no idea he would be worried about me being thrown in 'slammer' when he was making wishes at his 4th birthday?

How great it is to have some wonderful friends no matter where we go! After driving 7 hours, Ben's girlfriend Ella came over and her mother a very dear friend. They had prepared several choc cup cakes with Ben's name and sprinkles on them. We traveled on Ben's actual birthday and they had called us earlier in the day that they wanted to bring them to us when we got home. They came into a house that looked like a Tornado had been hit. Good thing I was able to use a forklift to clear the table for the cupcakes. LOL We had a little birthday party, a little gift opening and play time. Real friends.

Its been good to sit down today and reflect. I have hope that 2010 will Rock!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours....

Tinker Toys for a Tinker Type Boy

Enjoy....

A Random Dozen

A Random Dozen

1. If you could master one sport, what would it be? Golf

2. When you make a major purchase, do you go with your gut instinct, or do you do research to make an informed decision? I research. I ask friends and family what they think of this or that, I search on the internet and always end up on-line at Consumer Reports.

3. There is an old kids' game that says you can find out what your movie star name would be by using your middle name as your first name and the name of the street you grew up on as your last. What is your movie star name? Lynn Forty-Fourth

4. Would you rather give up your favorite music or your favorite food? Favorite music. Food is very important to me. Sad but true.

5. There are two types of banana preferences. One is pristine yellow, almost to the point of being green; the other is spotty and more ripe. Which is your preference? It can only be slightly spotted with more yellow than spots.

6. Your favorite tree is? Magnolia

7. On a scale of 1-10, how tech savvy are you? About a 5

8. Has H1N1 touched your family? No and we are grateful.

9. Are you an analytical person, or do you just accept things the way they are without questioning or scrutinizing? I mostly accept things the way they are only because it has become a trained habit and necessity at times. I do think about things at times too much, have mistakenly taken some things way too personal, or thought things were about me and they weren't.

10. Is your personality more like that of a dog, cat, or Koala? A cat-love to nap, choose my friends carefully, don't like anyone to ruffle my fur.

11. Do you keep in touch with friends you made years ago? Does it count that I'd like to?

12. You are checking out at a grocery store. In the express lane, there are more people than the regular lanes, but of course, their load is less than those in the regular lanes. Which lane do you choose (assuming you qualify for the express lane) and why? I am a perpetual wrong line chooser. But I usually go with the shortest line, but something always goes wrong-they change shifts, the register tape breaks . . .

Leaves and More Leaves....

Two weekends of leaves... two trees are completely leaf free....

but there are more trees to shed their leaves....

its like things in the yard are pretty, you've got everything perfect, things are going well, then bump......its like things go bump in the night...

you wake up and its not perfect any longer.....

... things look different, its a mess, but you can see much more because there are no leaves on the trees, you can even hear more of what might be happening around you.

but things are a mess until you get it all cleaned up.

Cleaning up comes after messes, its then that you might have to make changes to get that done, sometimes it doesn't fit into your schedule, or you time table, but somehow it all works out the way it is supposed to, God's plan is always much better than our own.

Before you know it, the mess is cleaned up, winter even sets in and its actually pretty with ice on the bare limbs, but in time, usually just long enough... the color green comes back and life begins again for the trees, not the same, but they are living.