When Life Gives You Lemons make Limoncello

By Elaine James –

When my family and I arrived in Naples, Italy we found out our luggage was lost. We had to leave to get to Sorrento. After 24 hours, we got back from a tour and were ready to change clothes, but to our dismay our luggage was not there.

Immediately, I was freaking out inside. Trying not to yell at the front desk girl, as she was our interpreter, but it was becoming increasingly harder. She presented the only solution, which was for my husband to travel an hour to the Naples Airport. But, not only would they not bring the luggage, they refused to pay for the driver.

Still, I could not calm down. I wanted to be a good sport in front of the front desk girl and my children, but was failing. I hid in the bathroom, praying that God would help me to let this go and accept the situation.

My husband left with the driver. My kids said “Mom, stop. What is the big deal?” I yelped back “The big deal is we only have so much time and we can’t miss being together. Time is wasting.”
I was so disappointed in myself that I just couldn’t get it together, but we decided to go to dinner while my husband was gone, leaving a note for him to explain where we were.

My mood lightened as we ate delicious food. We actually started to laugh. As we finished, my husband appeared in the doorway with a huge grin and spring in his step. “What is going on?” I asked.

He told us about his adventure with an Italian driver. There were no glitches to get the luggage, they were just in and out. The driver, with his broken English, reported on the history of the town and their great produce: lemons.

What seemed like a “sour” part of our trip suddenly turned around and become quite “sweet.” The driver offered his family’s secret recipe of Limoncello. My husband was so excited, and I was filled with peace when I saw how God took care of everything.

I apologized to my family. I learned that when life gives you lemons, you can either get emotionally worked up or wait it out and accept the things you cannot change. And my husband learned when life gives you lemons, make Limoncello!

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55: 9 NIV)

Curly or Straight?

By Janet Morris Grimes –

Hair. Have you ever wondered if we put too much thought into it? Pay too much attention to it? Discuss it too often?

I have. As my daughter and I discussed how we have to yield to the power of our curly hair, especially next week while we will be at church camp for the week, away from mirrors and conquered by humidity, I decided to make a list off the top of my head, (pun intended) of terms that have to do with our hair.

An A-Z list, if you will.

Adorned. Ash. Auburn. Askew. Accessorized. Asymmetric.

Bold. Beautiful. Banded. Bandana-ed. Bushy. Broken. Banged. Bi-leveled. Bleached. Black. Buttercup. Braided. Bunned. Baby soft. Baby fine. Baby fuzz. Barreted. Bowed. Beaded. Bonded. Blonded. Balded. Blue. Bed-head. Blunt. Beveled. Blunt. Barbed. Bump-it.

Clamped. Combed. Crowned. Crispy. Conditioned. Covered. Coal black. Creamed. Curly-fried. Coiled. Curled. Crimped. Coated. Cropped. Copped. Cupped. Cowlicked.

Dangling. Dolloped. Down. Dry. Departed. Decorated. Dull. Dented. Dread-locked. Dishwater Blond. Diffused. Detangled.

Extended. Egged. Eared. Edged.

Flat. Frizzy. Flossed. Fake. Flowered. Fingered. Flowing. Fuzzy. Feathered. Fixed.

Goldi-locked. Golden. Gelled. Glossed. Glazed. Gnarled.

Highlighted. Halved. Heavy. Hung.

Inter-twined. Ironed.

Juiced. Jaded. Jeweled.

Kept. Knotted.

Long. Lotioned. Light. Layered. Luxurious. Loosed. Low-lights.

Misted. Moistured. Mayonaised. Moused. Milked Missing. Mulleted. Made over.

Neat. Not. New. Naped.

Oiled. Orange. Oval.

Pencil straight. Pinned. Permed. Pig-tailed. Penciled. Parted. Purple. Platinum. Pink. Pony-tailed. Perfumed.

Quiet. Quelled. Quilted.
.
Red. Rolled. Riced. Ribboned. Razored. Rubbed. Raven.

Sprayed. Shellacked. Surrendered. Sideways. Scissored. Stroked. Soft.. Sweated. Sweeted. Scented. Scarved. Sculpted. Silver. Salt and Peppered. Shiny. Soaked. Sprinkled. Sparkled. Shaped. Spiky. Split. Shaved. Short. Stripped. Smoked. Snow-covered. Strawberry Blond. Swept. Sectioned. Scrunched.

Teased. Tapered. Trimmed. Twisted. Thick. Thin. Tow-headed. Tousled. Toupe’d. Topped. Tossed. Tea-ed. Textured. Tucked. Tangled.

Up. Under. Uncombed. Uncovered. Undone.

Veiled. Viled. Vexed. Vined. Volume.

Wet. Waved. Worded. Wrapped. Wound around. White. Wind-blown, Wigged. Wagged. Weaved. Wild.

X – Factor.

Yellow. Yanked. Yucked.

Zoned. Zinged. Zany.

Wow! Is it really worth all of that effort? That list makes me tired just thinking about it. And personally, it makes me thankful to have a week when we won’t have to worry about it. What you see is what you get, especially at church camp.

Jesus mentions hair in two different places in the Bible, using both to remind his disciples, and us, that we were created by God, and that we are always in His care.

“And do not swear by your own head, because which of you can make your hair either white or black?” (Matthew 5:36 NIV).

“And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:30 NIV).

PRAYER: Thank You, God, for creating us as individuals. Curly or straight, we are your craftsmanship and long to represent You in all that we do. Forgive us when we try to bring glory to ourselves, instead.

Goin’ Fishing

By Susan Dollyhigh –

“I’m going fishin’, Nana,” KK, my three-year-old granddaughter said.

I smiled to myself as KK walked out of the kitchen where I stood washing dishes. How cute. I imagined KK casting out an imaginary fishing line and reeling in her plastic fish. Suddenly, my smile vanished as I recalled some of KK’s previous escapades. With sudsy water dripping from my hands, I dashed down the hall to the bathroom, all the while envisioning the tub overflowing with water and plastic fish.

Instead, I saw KK slowly emerging into the hallway – from the den. As she walked toward me, she cautiously placed one small foot down and then the other. In one hand she held a paper cup while her other hand covered the top. Upon reaching me, KK removed her hand from the cup and said, “Look Nana, I caught a fish.”

Peering into the cup of sloshing water, I recognized a fish that had been kidnapped, or fishnapped, from its home in the aquarium. KK was serious about her fishing. She never intended to use a make-believe fishing pole to catch plastic fish.

KK was determined to catch real fish.

Simon and Andrew were fishermen casting their nets into the lake when Jesus came along. These two men were serious about their fishing. They were using nets and catching “real fish.” Yet Jesus told them he had a more important fishing assignment for them – to be fishers of men. What did they do? They immediately dropped their nets and followed Jesus.

Even today, Jesus calls us to do the same. Do we hear His voice saying, “Come, and follow me.”? Are we willing to leave behind our busyness as Simon and Andrew did? Are we willing to share the good news of Jesus Christ with a lost and hurting world? Are we willing to be serious fishers of men?

PRAYER: Father in Heaven, please open our ears to hear Your voice. Please open our eyes to see the lost and hurting in our world. Please help us to be obedient and lay aside our busyness so we can be fishers of men.

“As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him” (Mark 1:16-18 NIV).

Weebles Wobble

By Elaine James –

“…but they won’t fall down.” My friend pointed that out to me as I was describing to her my full calendar. I was upright with regular routines, but quite wobbly with new obligations and commitments. After her comment, I Googled the ‘Weebles’ to realize I was, indeed, looking like the Wobblin’ mom these days. I looked at the schedule and couldn’t imagine getting everything done and keeping my family sane.

Am I the only person in the world to have this problem?

Thankfully, God reminded me of the days when I spent lots of time with Him learning how important to put Him first. He trained me to put family next and to take one day at a time, being careful to say “no” to things that would distract me. I had to stop meddling in other people’s business and stop worrying about how they did things. Each day I prayerfully stay focused making sure not to neglect my time with the author and perfecter of my faith.

We can start a Weebler club. You may find the club members to have financial troubles, lack of job security, troubled friendships, schedule changes or an illness. Our mission would be to acknowledge God’s presence and His willingness to be faithful. He wants to be there for you. Do you believe it?

Even if an earthquake comes; our gravitational force (God) brings us Weeblers back into an upright position. Join with me and make are club motto “We know we will wobble, but with Christ we won’t fall down.”

PRAYER: Be my ever present guide. When I think I will fall help me to be reminded You designed me to not fall. You are there for me.

‘Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the LORD, who has compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:10 NIV).

“I Pity the Fool”

By Janet Morris Grimes –

“I pity the fool who _______.” These words were made famous by Mr. ‘T,’ the daunting, Mohawk-topped figure of the one of the television series The A-Team a couple of decades ago. For those that did not see things his way, he considered them ‘fools,’ and had the strength, ammunition, and where-with-all to convert them into submission.

He taught quite a few lessons with this method.

God, however, does not handle things in this way. Sometimes, on my hard-headed days, I wish that He would. I would love for Him to blast me with a fireball to redirect my path. I need it to be that obvious, because there are times when I borderline on being foolish.

God has harsh, but loving, words for fools. The book of Proverbs is full of them. “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in his own opinion” (Proverbs 18:2 ESV). My favorite is this: “Like the lame man’s legs, which hang useless, is a proverb in the mouth of fools” (Proverbs 26:7 ESV).

God knew we needed guidance long before we did. He offers wisdom and points the way, but is our choice to accept it. It must break His heart when we repeatedly learn the hard way.

There are times that He seems to pull back, like a teacher during a test, to see what we’ve learned. Still, He always comes to the rescue when we call, even if our pain is a result of our own poor choices.

In recent months, life has taught me two great lessons about being a fool. First, God is not afraid to make a fool out of me, in the eyes of the world, if I pursue something that does not fall within His will, or if the timing is not yet right. This is a sign of love, correction, and telling me ‘no.’ It’s required of any loving father.

Satan also seeks ways to make a fool out of me. He stays on the prowl to find me at my most vulnerable state; alone and doubting. He longs for my story to story to end in defeat, for my words to become meaningless.

He would love nothing more than to make a fool out of me on a daily basis.

But He forgets that I belong to Jesus now, and am no longer available to him. Jesus now fights my battles for me, and sometimes, in triumph, I can almost hear him saying, “I pity the fool….”

PRAYER: Dear God, Your ways are not my ways. Thank You for that. Though I fail to understand, at times, where you lead me and for what purpose, I trust You. Guide my steps and protect me when I am at my worst.

« Previous Page — Next Page »