She's mean.
She doesn't like me.
She's on the warpath.

WELL!! Yes, all those statements are true if you consider that I was trying to get some grown people to do what they're paid to do. Can you spell W.O.R.K. ?? I can laugh about it now, but it's very frustrating when one or two new people can stir up so much trouble. As you might guess, last week was a bully-wooger. Am I getting too old for this? At any rate, it's been good to have a long weekend to regroup and chill. (Yes, I said chill.)

Last night's phone call really put my priorities in order. Katey called as she & Andy were enroute to the hospital to be w/ friends. Kylie Grace (5 months old) was born w/ numerous health problems and has undergone a lengthy, complicated surgery. Her road to good health will be lifelong. In a fluke accident last night her mom fell while carrying her in the yard. Now Kylie Grace is in LeBonheur w/ a bruise on her brain and a fractured skull. Please pray for this precious baby and her parents. They've been through so much. Their faith is still strong and the family/friends support around them is great. Pray for God's healing power to work in Kylie Grace; for His peace to pour over Casey & Phillip; for His knowledge to be found in the doctors & other caregivers; for His arms to wrap around this family as they go through this newest trial.

Molly's going for an interview tomorrow at a DeSoto county school. She & Kevin spent Saturday looking for a house near Memphis. Kevin starts his new job June 18th and they don't have a place to live, yet. They're not worried and neither am I. God has a plan. Laurie & family are going to the Ozarks for a vacation this week. Can you imagine traveling with 4 younguns, 5 years & under?!? Katey is getting ready for VBS, then her mission trip to Ecuador (while they build a house).

I love standing on the sidelines and watching their lives unfold. We are so rich and blessed.

Occasionally I assign homework to my Sunday school class. (They grumble.) Our assignment for this week was to read Psalm 119 and pick out any verses that did not refer specifically to God's Word. Yesterday I read through all 176 verses and underlined every time David used words (interchangeably) to mean Law. In the NASB he used word, way, law, judgments, ordinances, precepts, testimonies, commandments and statutes. In a couple of cases I felt David's use of word conveyed more of the meaning of future promises rather than being a synonym for law. I could find only 4 verses that didn't specifically mention the law. That's right - 4 out of 176.

What does this teach me? God's Word was important to David. God's Word should be important to me. In two verses David tells us he hates false ways. How did he recognize false ways? He thought about, meditated on and prayed over God's Word. We have to remember that He didn't have the 4 Gospels or Paul's letters or John's or Peter's. He had the Law handed down at Mt. Sinai, and he loved it. What, to some, is a dry, obsolete, useless document was, to David, alive, fruitful, worthy of his total attention, meant for his instruction. By constantly reading the Truth, he was able to easily recognize a lie.

Our defense against false teachings and spiritual errors today is to immerse ourselves in God's Word. Don't even handle the counterfeit stuff; it begets a dangerous temptation. Some will say we live in a different culture and we must move with the times. To them I would say that God does not change. The Creator of all things is the same yesterday, today and forever. His Word, from Genesis through The Revelation, is relevant for us today - necessary to our total spiritual health. In the Bible we find the answers to all the questions that we have about life and living.

Think about God's Word; meditate on it; pray over it. Soak up the Love Letter from your Father, and depend on the Holy Spirit to lead you to God's Truth.

It was such a nice weekend. Saturday was quiet and uneventful – just the way I like it. Then, in an unplanned moment everything fell in place for all the kids & kidlettes to be at the house Saturday night. The kidlettes were in a good mood and played while all the grownups actually got to eat at the same table and carry on some (semi)-adult conversation. Did I just refer to my daughters and sons-in-law as grownups? Where does the time go!

In case I’ve never said it before Terry & I have super-terrific daughters who married super-terrific young men and have given us six super-terrific grandchildren. (More to come, I’m sure.) Makes Mother’s Day a really special time.

You’d have laughed to see the dining room table. I really wish I’d taken a picture. Since I don’t cook much (ever?), we ordered from Malone’s Fish & Steak. The table was awash with Styrofoam take-out plates. There was hardly room to sneeze with 8 adults juggling plates, salad containers, glasses, butter, salt…..you get the picture. But it was so much fun.

In case I haven’t mentioned this – my girls have some super-terrific in-laws. As much as possible we all celebrate special occasions together. This year Andy’s mom hosted the celebration. It makes for a full house, but there’s some wonderful love and laughter when we get together. We’re blessed by God’s grace to have a strong Christian foundation in all our homes, which accounts for the camaraderie. And over the years, we’ve just come to love each other a lot. I’m very thankful to have all of them in my life.

So it was a nice weekend, a nice Mother’s Day, a nice celebration of family.

A Lamp Unto My Feet

Our Sunday school lesson tomorrow deals with the importance of God's Word in our lives and to our lives. Several years ago some of us were asked to give a testimony at Thanksgiving service of what we were thankful for. I'm thankful for God's word in printed form.

What if I lived in a time before Christians had access to the Bible? Would it be less important to me? more? I can only say that I love the Scriptures. There's nothing magical about leather, paper and ink, but because His word is alive and active it sometimes literally jumps up off the page. There have been times when it pierced me to the bone with conviction of sin. Other times it has reached up to wrap me in the comfort of its truth.

And it has the power to make me laugh. I smile when I read in Numbers 22:28 And the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?" It doesn't surprise me at all that God can make a donkey talk. But I have to laugh out loud when I read in verse 29 Then Balaam said to the donkey...

The importance of God's written word is found in the very first phrase of the first chapter of the first book - Genesis. "In the beginning, God..." Every word, every phrase, is filled with love. He teaches us, He reproves us, He corrects us, He trains us (2Tim 3:16) for His purposes. As Rick Warren says, "It's not about you." It's about God; it's about His work for His glory.

Jesus says in John 14:26, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. If we spend time in His Word He will press it deep within us to be our guide, our light. David said that God's word was a lamp to his feet, a light to his path. (Ps 119:105) And he said in 119:11 that he had hidden God's word in his heart so he wouldn't sin against Him.

God has given us a great gift - His word. It is our instruction book; it holds the keys to our spiritual, emotional, mental and physical well-being. It is God-breathed, infallible truth. And this world needs that truth.

Heavenly Father, thank You so much for Your word. And thank You for Your Word, who became flesh and dwelt among us. Your grace, mercy, forgiveness and love are beyond my comprehension. Press Your word deep within me as a treasure to be used for Your glory and honor. Amen

My mom is terrific. At 70 years of age, she's still trekking all over the place. When she moved to Tupelo last year, she determined to become my personal taxi as often as possible and it's been great. I don't think we spent this much time together when I was young & living at home. Of course, during those teen years I didn't appreciate her like I do now.

Yesterday we had a good time eating lunch at IHOP, going to the salon for a "do", having pictures taken for a church directory. She was slightly offended when the lady who was showing her the proofs told her they could airbrush some of the wrinkles out. She told her she'd earned every single one of her wrinkles and would keep them, thank you very much. I told her I didn't like having my picture taken 'cause they always managed to make them look too much like me. We laughed a lot yesterday, as usual.

Do I know how blessed I am to still have my mom around? You bet! And I'm going to treasure every single minute of it. I love you, MomaG.

Spiritual Vertigo

One minute he was feeling fine; the next minute he was feeling awful. What came on so suddenly? Virus? Blood pressure? Heart problems? Diagnosis: Vertigo, commonly known as inner ear problems. If you’ve ever been plagued with this malady, you know how unnerving it can be. You’re sitting in a chair and feel as if you’re falling. You’re lying in bed and feel as if it jumped out from under you. You’re walking through the kitchen and the floor moves to the ceiling. And you thought you were doing so well.

Does that ever happen to you spiritually? Satan likes to sneak up on us and zap us with inner spirit problems. The insidious attack begins to show itself when we don’t pray in a focused, Spirit-led way. Or we ‘don’t have time for’ Bible reading and meditation. Or we skip church one Sunday, then two. And what happens? The dog trips us and we ‘lose our religion’. The boss reprimands us and we tear someone’s reputation to shreds. The better half breathes hard in our space and we go ballistic.

But it happened so suddenly! No, it didn’t. That’s why we need to pay so much attention to the disciplines of prayer, Bible study and corporate worship. These disciplines lead us to godly behavior. We need to be intentional in our spiritual growth. Second Peter 1:5-9 (niv) says,

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to
goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control,
perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly
kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in
increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive
in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he
is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his
past sins.

Spiritual vertigo. Don’t let it catch you by surprise. Let’s be intentional in our walk with God so our gate will be steady, our gaze sure and our path straight.