Say What?

By Steph Prichard –

Mumble, mumble, mumble.

“W-h-a-a-t?” I clicked Save and trudged from my bedroom office to the top of the stairs. “Did you say something?”

Mumble, mumble, mumble.

I trekked down the stairs, through the living room, and into my husband’s dining-room-converted-into-an-office. “What’d you say?”

He answered. I answered. Back upstairs to my computer.

Mumble, mumble, mumble.

“Wha-a-a-t?”

Mumble, mumble, mumble.

Uh-huh, you guessed it—back downstairs again. Grace ebbed with each step until, on my fourth trip, I suggested what clearly was more than a recommendation. “From now on, how about if we have the rule that we meet at the stairs to talk?”

Agreement. An hour passed, then mumble, mumble, mumble.

I stomped out of my room. What part of “meet at the stairs” did the man not understand? “Wha-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-t,” I yelled, my protracted vowel definitely not coated with shugah.

Oh my. At the bottom of the stairs, already waiting, stood my husband. My jaw dropped, and heat pinched my cheeks as he grinned up at me. “Maybe we need the rule,” he said, “that we see the whites of each other’s eyes before we talk.”

Or, face it, I needed a hearing aid.

“Why wait until you’re old and gnarled to hear better?” a friend asked. Why indeed? I was missing out on half the content of conversations directed to me. As if listening to a skipping tape recorder, I had to piece words together to catch the gist of what was said. Worse, my daughter spoke softly—I heard maybe twenty percent of what she said—and she allowed me only two whats. And then there were my friends who teased me by muttering juicy tidbits just loud enough that I couldn’t quite catch what they said. Meanies.

Why put up with this? I bought a hearing aid for each ear, and, yessssss, finally, I could hear!

Reminds me of how we need spiritual hearing aids too. Before I became a Christian, I read the Bible … and thought it horrid. I listened to sermons … and the words went in one ear and zipped out the other. Scripture by itself, whether read or listened to, is not a hearing aid to God’s Truth. First Corinthians 2:14 says, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” Yep, nailed me!

Once we are Christians, however, the Holy Spirit opens our ears to hear and our minds to understand the Truth that God reveals in Scripture. That’s when we can meet with Him at the stairs and talk. “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord.” Oh yeah, that’s an invitation I don’t want to miss out on!

Qualities vs. Symptoms

By Rhonda Rhea –

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I think I have some very unique and useful character qualities. Granted, most better psychoanalysts might not refer to them as “character qualities” as much as they refer to them as “symptoms,” but still.

I think writers acquire an exclusive symptom or two…make that a “quality” or two…that others don’t necessarily encounter. Maybe it’s the inordinate amount of rejection we’re called to deal with, but insecurity is so often the order of the day. Not to mention that when fiction writers hear new little voices in their heads, they never medicate. No, they actually encourage the little voices. And then publish them.

This week, though, I experienced a “quality” beyond voices. It’s a weird thing that happens to me now and again. I look over the writing du jour and I keep thinking I’ve misspelled words—even when I haven’t.

I think I might be a typo-chondriac.

Interestingly enough, if the psycho-professionals come up with a 12-step program for typo-chondriacs, I’m pretty sure step one will be admitting you don’t have a problem.

When it comes to successfully walking out this life for Christ, though, we have to recognize right from the get-go our complete lack of ability to make it happen ourselves. We do have a problem. And without surrendering to the leadership of God’s Holy Spirit, there’s no hope for resolving that problem. No 12-step program. No self-help book. Personally speaking, I don’t even have a horn to toot. Not a leg to stand on. Not a keyboard to type on. It’s got to be all Him and zero me.

You’d think that would cause a more intense insecurity than even a writer has to bear. But it doesn’t. As a matter of fact, it’s the exact opposite. There is great security in knowing that I don’t have to depend on my own abilities. There is even greater security in knowing that I can so completely depend on the One who is all-powerful. Paul reminds us in Philippians 3:3 that, “We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort,” (NLT).

The Amplified version of Philippians 3:3 puts it this way: “Put no confidence or dependence on what we are in the flesh and on outward privileges and physical advantages and external appearances.” That pretty much settles it. Nothing we’ve done. Nothing we’ve said. Nothing we are. Nothing inside us. Nothing outside us. Victory in the walk of faith will only happen as we rely totally and completely in the all-powerful One. And in Him our security is sure.

So it’s not such a terrible thing to recognize that even though I’m a writer, with all the built-in insecurities and various “qualities” that come with it, I don’t have to live in insecurity. There’s freedom in recognizing I have nothing to offer in and of myself, but that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” (Philippians 4:13, NKJV).

That’s especially refreshing to dwell on when I realize that on top of my typo-chondria, I think I might be coming down with a touch of kleptomania. Gee, I hope there’s something I can take for that.

Down…Set…Hut!

By Jodi Whisenhunt –

Some say life is like a roller coaster zooming full speed through loop-de-loops, up steep hills, then down and backward with herky jerks and lilting hills. And it can be. Often is, come to think of it. But I view life more like a game of football.

If you’re the offense, you control the game. Let’s say you’re the quarterback. You call the plays. You determine who’s open and able to catch what you throw their way. Or perhaps you hand what you carry to a teammate. You entrust valuable cargo to his sturdy grasp. You depend on him to carry it through a minefield of aggressors and across the goal line. Sometimes it takes several attempts to get where you aim to go. Sometimes you need to call an audible and change the play on the fly. You need referees to moderate sticky situations. You rely heavily on your pals to protect you. Yet often you’re knocked flat on your back. Sometimes you even lose your bearings or suffer injury. Some games find you victorious; others see you fail.

If you’re the defense, your job is to stop your opponent’s forward progress because their progress means your defeat. Whether you’re a solid, stable defensive tackle or a quick, fleet-footed cornerback, your goal is to keep the other team from achieving their goals, lest you meet destruction.

If you’re the ball, now that’s most like a roller coaster. You’re constantly tossed about, unstable. You may have direction but not always go the distance. Sometimes you’re fumbled, knocked around, fought over. For a while you head downfield one direction, then you’re handed over to the other team who runs you the opposite way. You’re kicked, batted, grabbed…held close, valued, celebrated. It’s a veritable storm of upheaval.

As rough and tumble as life’s game can be, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings” (1 Peter 5:7-9).

Be strong in the Lord. Remember He is on your side: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31b). So call the audible, block the charge, catch the “hail Mary,” and run toward victory in Jesus.

In Your Anger Sin Not

By Judy Davis –

Recently my husband bought a new Nook reader. To hook this reader up to our router he needed a password. He asked, “Honey, I need the password for our router, can you pull it up on the computer?” I thought to myself, “Where is this password?” as I looked in my file of passwords and it was not there. Oops, I hated to tell him I had no idea where this password was. After searching all day on two computers, I found absolutely nothing. Needless to say he was upset.

To make matters worse, our daughter, Cindi, walked in the door. She searched diligently looking for the password to this router. She said, “Mom, dad is so mad, you need to find the password.” I told her, “Cindi, I have searched every document looking for it and cannot find it. Dad is just going to have to get over it. He needs to take the Nook back to the place he bought it and buy his books from their site.”

My husband and I celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary that same week. It was a blessing to receive so many beautiful anniversary wishes especially from our Facebook friends and family. God has blessed our marriage with three children, five grandchildren and a great granddaughter.

Later, we took Cindi out to lunch trying to forget the whole situation. We went to her favorite Japanese restaurant. When she left to go home she looked back at me, and said, “Happy Anniversary, Mom!”

On top of everything, our dog got a hold of my ballpoint pen. She got ink all over my new carpet. After trying to clean it I finally had to call a carpet cleaner costing $71.00.

What do you do when anger sets in? And it can quickly. The key is to forgive, move on, and learn to cope with the situation. Also, after it is all over, take a few minutes to laugh at the whole thing. Have you ever had to forgive your dog?

Never did find the password. We even tried installing the CD for the router and this did not work. However, we learned a valuable lesson: Always write down any passwords. We ended up taking the Nook, laptop, router and CD to a computer shop and the problem was resolved costing us $75.00.

It has not always been an easy journey, but we know the importance of not holding on to anger. It causes bitterness, unforgiveness and illness. Later, my husband apologized for getting so upset over such a trivial matter.

Knowing the importance of beginning our day with devotional and Bible reading, we also know the importance of praying for our day.

Our marriage has been an adventure! We make sure before going to bed to not have any anger in our heart towards each other and any one who may offend us. “In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry” Ephesians 4:26.

Cop Magnet

by Liz Cowen Furman

A cop magnet. That’s me! Once those flashing lights even appeared behind me when my cruise control was set. Go figure. Recently, I whined about my plight to my Mom-in-Love’s doctor. He suggested maybe this phenomenon occurs because I am a redhead. Ha!

He went on to say, “You know what a redhead is, don’t you?”

“No, pray tell what is a redhead?” I asked.

“A redhead is a hot blonde.”

Double Ha! I told him his theory was seriously flawed. A person trying to pick someone up would not give her a speeding ticket. Giving someone a ticket would not be very conducive to romance in my book.  Besides, most of the policemen I’ve met lately are young enough to be my sons. I think maybe I am just in too big a hurry. Tote that barge, lift that bail; or in my life, pick up that kid, make that dinner. On and on it goes. What I discovered in the last few years is that I need to make a conscious effort to slow down. Not just behind the wheel, but in my life; and especially in my relationship with God.

In January many folks make New Year’s Resolutions they have every intention of keeping, until life happens. In light of this I thought I would share a great idea our pastor, Pastor Jeff Clark, gave us a few January’s ago. He proposed that in lieu of some empty resolution to lose a hundred pounds or exercise forty-five minutes every day, as good as those may be; maybe we could start a quest to know the heart of God.  He made the case that if we want to know the heart of God we need to learn about the kingdom of God. When we learn about the kingdom of God we will find it to be all about righteousness, peace, salvation and it will all point to the Glory of God. Knowing this, it occurred to me, would make it easier to trust the Savior with all that concerns us today. Pastor Clark suggested we could learn this information by reading the Bible.

His idea? Get a journal and every morning (or evening depending on your personality) search through the Bible looking for a nugget aimed at you that day. Start in the Psalms, he suggested. When you find a verse that speaks to you, write it in your book and journal what it is telling you.

Several years before his proposal, I began praying that the Holy Spirit would put a burning desire in my heart, and the hearts of those I love, to be in the Word daily. While reading the Bible regularly, honestly, often I didn’t get much out of it. Knowing I needed to be in His Word daily became a habit of hurrying to read and get that job done. Did you ever get to the end of a page and think, “What did I just read?” only to have to then go back and read it again?

Taking the good pastor up on his idea has transformed my life. Now a couple years in, I have moved past the Psalms and currently am loving Isaiah! These days, if I don’t read my Bible every day it feels like I didn’t get dressed; like walking around without my clothes on. Not a good sensation at all, feels very vulnerable. That visual image gives a whole new meaning to putting on the full armor of God doesn’t it? And strangely enough the busier the day before me, the more I need to take the time to spend some with Jesus.

I find it amazing that just changing my reason for reading the Word has transformed the way it speaks to me. Many days I just open the Book and start reading, looking for that nugget. Often I am shocked when a verse I read addresses an issue that I am dealing with that very minute. Also, some days reading a verse I’ve read hundreds of times in my life speaks to me on a whole new level.  Guess that’s why the Bible is called a living document. I have definitely slowed in my quest for growing my relationship with my best friend JESUS, and as odd as it seems that has been just the ticket for going deeper in our relationship. Wish I could say the same for my driving.

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