Let’s Talk Turkey!

By Kathi Macias –

It’s November, and I want to talk turkey. Trust me. I know a lot about the dirty birds. I’ve spent my life dreaming of soaring with the eagles, but…well, you get the picture. In fact, something tells me I’m not the only one who’s spent more time with turkeys than with eagles, am I right? Unfortunately, in my family, the chances of breaking out of that worm-pecking, bug-eating flock on the ground to join that majestic bunch in the sky are just about zero and none.

Let me explain. My late father (who was never late for anything in his life!) lived by the adage that there was “a place for everything, and everything in its place”; the “early bird catches the worm”; and “if it’s worth doing at all, it’s worth doing right.” On top of that, he was German! And since I was the firstborn (and the only girl), I caught the brunt of his “how to become self-disciplined and accept responsibility” lessons. I learned them well.

Now, as a so-called grown-up, if I don’t arrive absolutely everywhere at least fifteen minutes ahead of schedule, I think I’m late. If something goes wrong within five miles of me, it has to be my fault. If it happened beyond that five-mile limit, it was also my fault because if I’d been there, it might not have happened at all.

You get the picture: overly responsible type-A firstborn, devastated when I receive a 98 percent score on a test because all I can see are the two I missed, volunteering for everything and striving to succeed—yet never quite making the grade in my own eyes.

Why does that make me a turkey? It doesn’t. But it keeps me from soaring with the eagles because I’m always looking down at the ground, hunting and pecking to see if I’ve missed a bug or a worm, or if the dirt needs raking or the sidewalk needs sweeping. As a result, I miss a whole lot of the soaring that’s going on over my head.

My two younger brothers, on the other hand, have always been just the opposite. Bob, the typical middle child, was oblivious to such things as dirt or worms or bugs because he felt no responsibility whatsoever to clean them up. After all, he already had me to do it for him! And Jerry, the baby? Puh-leeze! All he had to do was whimper, and we all came to his rescue!

Most people think firstborns are the ones who come out on top—the eagles, so to speak. Shows how much they know! Reminds me of the cartoon of the man walking his dog. The canine is having a great time, while the owner walks obediently beside him, carrying a scooper and a little plastic bag. In the thought balloon for the dog it says, “And he thinks he’s in charge!”

Firstborns are a lot like that. We think we’re in charge. We think we’re responsible. We think we’ve got it all together, but we also think it’s all our fault—everything! We can never just relax and go with the flow—which sometimes turns out to be an updraft that carries all who are willing on eagles’ wings, far above the everyday drudgery of turkey-type living. While everyone else is soaring and swooping overhead, we’re missing out because we’re still trying to clean up and fix the mess below.

I love and appreciate all that my disciplined father taught me, traits that enabled me to be a hard worker and a respected citizen. But sometimes we turkeys need to stop trying so hard and just look up—way up!—and maybe catch a whoosh of Holy Spirit wind and let God carry us for a while. I’ve heard the view up there is something else!

And with Thanksgiving just around the corner, I’d like a slightly different perspective than that of a turkey, wouldn’t you?

Kathi Macias (www.kathimacias.com; http://kathieasywritermacias.blogspot.com) is an occasional radio host (www.blogtalkradio.com/communicatethevision) and award-winning author of more than 30 books, including the popular Extreme Devotion series from new Hope Publishers and Valeria’s Cross from Abingdon Press. She and her husband, Al, live in Southern California where they spend their spare time riding Al’s Harley—hence, Kathi’s “road name” of Easy Writer!

Scratching Where It Itches

By Rhonda Rhea –

I confess I don’t have the greenest thumb on the block. As a matter of fact, I was thinking it might be easier to just give up on all other greenery and grow a poison ivy garden instead. Except that at this point I’d have to start from scratch.

Scratch? Get it? Anyway, I decided it would probably be better not do anything that rash.

That’s because we really do have to be careful what we plant. We will reap what we sow. It’s right there in Galatians 6:7. And according to the verse that follows, not only should we be careful what we plant, but we’re told if we choose to live only to please our own sinful selves, we’ll reap a harvest of death and decay. I think I’ve grown that kind of plant before. But when we’re talking about what we’re growing spiritually, we’re talking about an especially ugly garden. Eternally worse than poison ivy. Don’t even bother with the weed-whacker. Round-Up won’t cut it either.

Take a look at the passage: “Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith” (Galatians 6:7-10 NLT).

I love how Paul rounds out his point in verse 9 with the big “so.” “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good.” He lets us know that the harvest kind of thinking and learning to live to please the Spirit instead of the flesh leads to staying energized in doing good things for the Kingdom—to not give up. And that leads to a harvest of everlasting blessing.

Our gardening time here is short. We need to stay on task. Second Timothy 4:2-5 charges us to “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry” (NIV).

Instead of catering to the poison-ivy-itchy-ears of those who simply want the easy way, and instead of letting them distract us, we’re called to keep our heads and to steadfastly keep on working in whatever ministry God has called us to. The passages in Galatians 6 and 2 Timothy 4 are the kinds of sound-the-charge verses we can put to memory. They can remind us all along the way to stay tenaciously resolute in our service. It’s then that we can become more and more the kind of Christ followers who don’t just tickle itchy ears, but truly scratch those eternal itches.

So, ready to write down those passages? First you’ll need some scratch paper.

Rhonda Rhea is a radio personality, conference speaker, humor columnist and author of seven books, including High Heels in High Places and her newest book, Whatsoever Things Are Lovely: Must-Have Accessories for God’s Perfect Peace. You can find out more at www.RhondaRhea.org.

Some Days the Fish, Some Days the Bait

By Jodi Whisenhunt –

My husband and brother used to fish together. Used to, that is, until one day when the bait nearly hooked the wrong fish.

The two men waded chest-deep into a small stream. My husband held his reel, flipped it back to cast, and heard, “Yeeeow!” He had smacked my brother in the cheek with a bloody chicken liver. Fortunately, the hook did not set. My brother, however, did back upstream another twenty feet.

“‘Come, follow Me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men’” (Matthew 4:19 NIV). My husband must have taken that verse literally. I have to wonder, though, if Jesus had told them they’d be the bait, would the disciples so quickly have bitten the hook? It’s easier to tell someone about Jesus with words than it is to live out faith. It’s a lot easier to stand in front of a large crowd and speak than it is to lose an infant daughter, suffer disease, watch your mother die, and proclaim your love for the Lord while maintaining your hope in Him. It’s way harder to smile through pain than to say, “Jesus died for you.”

Bait. When you can be the answer to the question of how a loving God allows bad things to happen, you are the bait.

When men cast lures into the water, they can’t see the fish. They can’t see the fish. When you are in the midst of a trial, you’re often too submerged in murky misery to see what you’re fishing for. In those times, pray God will remove the cloudy me-ness and make apparent those who are missing His message. Find them in their hiding places, like the bass among the branches. They are often hard to spot through the fog of, “I’m fine,” but they hunger for the healing that only Jesus can provide. Sometimes living out faith is the only way to catch and relieve a desperate soul.

Gently reel if you feel a tug. Offer sincerity, or you’ll break the line. Reveal God’s provision. Be the bait, meet the fish’s need, and you will demonstrate that God works all things for the benefit of those who love Him and allow His control.

May it not hurt to be the bait.

Jodi Whisenhunt is an Amy Award-winning freelance writer and editor in McKinney, Texas. You can find her at www.jodiwhisenhunt.com or www.magicalmouseschoolhouse.com, where Disney IS school.

Take 2 Tablespoons and Call Me in the Morning

By Angelia Mitchell 

When you are sick, this is exactly what God may prescribe: “Take 2 tablespoons of laughter and call Me in the morning”. 

In Proverbs 17:22 (NKJV), the Bible says, “A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.”  God gave us the Bible as a manual for our lives, our future, and our bodies.  When the Creator speaks about a merry heart, it is a heart that is stress free, worry free and filled with joy.  The definition of “merry” is cheerful and lively.  Being active and filled with laughter could describe a person with a merry heart.

Read more

Counting the Miles

By Emily Parke Chase –

“Mom, are we there yet?”

Our kids are no different from yours. Their energetic minds and bodies rebel against the inactivity of sitting in a car for hours at a time. And, as every parent soon learns, we know that idle minds become the devil’s playground.

To head mischief off at the pass, my husband and I use a sure-fire way to entertain our kids on long trips in the car. No, it does not involve OnStar movies or iPods with ear buds. We don’t even hire a professional clown or bribe our kids with stops at Walt Disney World.

Of course old standbys like the alphabet game, I Spy and collecting license plates from fifty states, not to mention the geography game and travel bingo, can help. But with the assistance of my OC husband who has a counting compulsion, we have a new way to keep the kids attention from the start of a trip all the way to the arrival at our destination.

“What shall we count today?” we ask as we settle into our seats and head for the highway.

Flags? US postal trucks? Police cars? Coca Cola signs? Each child suggests a theme. Once we agree on an item, each person in the car, including parents, estimates how many of that item we will encounter in the course of the trip. From then on, everyone joins together in seeking out objects that fit the theme. At the end of the trip, the person closest to the actual total, without going over, receives mega honor and glory.

Of course, counting American flags quickly becomes passé, especially if we plan a trip close to Memorial Day. Do you have any idea how many flags appear in each cemetery along your route? Thus our themes become more targeted. For example, one Fall season we count every orange leaf bag decorated like a pumpkin. Another time, we count houses with dangling Christmas lights. This is in July.

On one memorable trip returning from a visit to my husband’s folks, we decide to count tacky lawn ornaments. Does this sound easy? We soon have to define “tacky.” Is a birdbath, clearly a lawn ornament, tacky? We agree that it serves a useful function and therefore is not tacky. Bathtubs and pedestal sinks, though filled with flowers, are. And crystal balls in varying shades of blue or green, and the plywood cut-outs of female backsides bending over a garden scream tackiness.

Some houses offer more ornaments than we can number as we drive by at 55 miles per hour, so a new rule says that no single domicile may contribute more than six objects to the overall count. That rule saves us from digging out our pocket abacus.

The “tackiest ornament of the day” award? How can you choose between the yard decorated with five porcelain toilets (filled with flowers) and the yard that offered an oversized wagon wheel with ceramic horses attached to each wooden spoke?

We arrive at our own driveway in time for supper. “Aw, are we home already?”

“Preserve sound judgment and discernment . . . [as] an ornament to grace your neck.” (Proverbs 3:21,22 NIV)

The author is busy counting hits at her website. Visit her at emilychase.com to learn more about her books, including Help! My Family’s Messed Up! (Kregel, 2008).

Next Page »