Don’t Forget To Back Up!

By Kathy Willis

I’m not good at backing up my van. Okay, I admit it! I try to use my mirrors, and I move my head around to visualize things, but I’m still awkward at maneuvering the car in reverse. There are some parking lots and parking garages that do not allow enough wiggle room, let alone parking room. I’m a novice.

On the other hand, I’ve noticed our new puppy enjoys going in reverse as much as she enjoys moving forward. All that’s missing is the back-up horn blaring a warning: “Watch out for Jazzy, she’s backing up!” She doesn’t even look where she’s going; no mirrors to consult. She just reverses her footsteps in the same locations as when she was moving forward. It works. She’s a pro!

I’m programmed to advance, not retreat; to progress, not regress. Most of my leadership training focused on one point: moving forward. We studied goal setting, becoming a visionary, striving for success—but nothing was ever said about the need to go in reverse every once in a while.

I’ve had a life-journey reversal this week. I can see how it will be good for me. Reversals cause me to reflect and to grow. They cause me to evaluate what is really important in my life. They keep me humble and grounded. Success without trials only produces empty victory, full of shallow egotism. Real growth happens when life says, “Go back. See what you missed. Learn from it.” Backing up allows us to see things in the proper perspective.

Sometimes the object we must go back to is our “first love.” Revelation refers to the church that lost her first love. They were challenged to return; to back up and find where they lost it. When I lose something, I have to retrace my steps, and remember what I was doing when I last had “it.” I’m making a fresh commitment to remember my First Love (Jesus), and to accept reversals as they happen, knowing they will conform me into His image.

Author Quote: “Don’t forget to back up” is not just a motto for your computer, but your life!

“Thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works,” Revelation 2: 4b-5a KJV.

Today’s devotion is by Kathy Carlton Willis, wife to Russ, pastor’s wife to many, author, editor, publicist, and speaker.  Kathy Carlton Willis Communications encompasses her many passions.  Learn more about how she desires to “Shine the Light on Him and His” at: http://kcwcomm.blogspot.com/ or http://www.kathycarltonwillis.com/.

Delayed Gratification

By Cami Checketts

“The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want now.” Zig Ziglar

We live in a society of instant gratification. Need a question answered? Minutes on the internet and you’ll have more information than you could possibly use. Hungry? Wendy’s will have your dinner ready in minutes. Tired? Drink a Red Bull and you’ll feel pep immediately.

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Trading Places

By Susan Dollyhigh

The call came from New Hanover Hospital’s emergency room after the crisis with my three-year-old granddaughter had passed. “Mom, Katelyn’s okay, but we just spent four hours in the ER with her,” I heard my daughter, Emily, say on the other end of the phone line.

Even as relief flooded my mind with the words, “Katelyn’s okay,” panic rushed right in behind it as the second part of the sentence, “four hours in the ER” seeped in.

“It was just awful, Mom. We were at a self check-out at the grocery store. I was scanning our groceries and Katelyn was sitting in the cart with her baby doll. Turning my back to her for just a second, she attempted to climb out of the cart and fell face first to the floor,” Emily said.

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A Box of Chocolate & A Bubble Bath

By Jodi Whisenhunt

This fall, my oldest child, Kyle, started 9^th grade. As a homeschooler, I’m a bit anxious about it. Ok, I’m a lot anxious about it! “Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way,” according to 1 Corinthians 14:40 (NIV). Paul’s referring to regulations for speaking in tongues. (By the look on my kids’ faces, sometimes they think I’m doing just that!) However, it’s also good advice for teaching. Problem is, I struggle to do anything in a fitting and orderly way. Recently, I carried a basket of clean laundry down the hall where I found something that belonged in my bedroom. I set the basket down and carried the item to my room where, after catching my reflection in the mirror, I stopped to brush my hair. My daughter came in, so I brushed her hair too. She was still in jammies, so I led her back to her room to change. Only when I took her dirty clothes to the laundry did I remember my original chore.

I admit I’ve been a bit lax with our homeschool structure in recent years. Lax is an understatement. Let me try unorganized, panicked, disappointed, unstructured, befuddled. Like the laundry incident, distractions during class time often divert our attention. Some have become bad habits, like how, being the teenage boy that he is, Kyle must eat every ten minutes.

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Down And To The Right

By Bob Kaku

With a glint in her eyes, Gail smiled. “The contrac­tors did a great job!” At last, our two bathrooms were magical­ly transformed into new ones. Bright ivory-colored tiles with a marble design snugly enclosed a new tub in one bathroom with a new floor. A new shower with a frameless glass door enhanced the aes­thet­ics of the other bathroom, making it appear larger.

We selected some attractive chrome and gold-trim towel racks with matching toilet paper dispensers to accent the newly textured and painted walls.

I gathered my electric drill, ruler, level, and other tools from the garage to attach the decorative accessories. After carefully measuring the length of the first towel rack, I drilled the holes and installed the side brackets. Mingled scents of fresh paint and drywall dust permeated the area. When I tried to insert the towel bar, it didn’t fit. Hmm—the side brackets are too close. I angled and maneuvered the bar in vain.

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