Lets Give Them Something to Talk About

Today I am doing something different.  Have you ever seen anyone perform "spoken word"?  Well, this was put on my heart this morning, it is to be read in the format of spoken word, rhytmatic and fun.  I hope you enjoy it. Have you ever stopped to wonder why God made the birds to fly. He made the grass green, And the air to be unseen He made the seasons all, Winter, summer, spring and fall He created each of us unique, Some to work and some to speak He gave us all something sweet, The nails pierced His son’s hands and feet For our sins Jesus suffered and bled A crow of thorns placed upon His head.   He was crucified so I can live, His love He did so freely give. Have you stopped to wonder why, For you, He did die? He said, you don’t have to be ideal, My perfection will live through you with zeal. So, why are we not sharing God’s news? Why are we allowing so many to have the blues? Why don’t we share His promise of a grea...

The whole marital debate right now is really weighing on me.   It is something that I really feel needs to be addressed, but I feel almost too timid to address it – I don’t like confrontation very much and therefore do not want to cause a big old stink about it.   My thoughts on whether or not marriage should be “allowed” by the government is that the government shouldn’t be involved in telling me who I can and cannot “marry”.   I just think that the government is way too big, that it has been taken away from the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.   At the same time, I also think that marriage is something that is a covenant with God.   With that said, I do not support gay marriage.   I know many gay or lesbian individuals and am privileged to call some friends.   Now, just because I am friends with them, does not mean that I agree with the way that they are living their lives.   Just like I wouldn’t agree with the way that an alcoholic ...

Today, I want to share a story that is on my heart:   The room was filled to the brim with teens of every color, shape and size, about 300 in attendance.   A man, dressed in dark blue jeans with a hole on the knee stood up in front of the crowd.   He was a tall man, slender, tan skin with thinning blond hair and piercing green eyes.   He reached into his flannel shirt pocket and pulled out a shiny metallic pen.   “I want to tell you about my pen,” he began.   “This is an amazing pen, it can write in three different colors.   It writes smoothly and the ink flows well, even if you aren’t holding it up and down.   This pen is the pen astronauts’ use.   Do you want this pen?   It is a really great pen, and you can have it”.   No one in the crowded room rose.   They had been told to sit still and listen when someone was in front of you, not to approach them.   What would people think if they were to get up and move ...

Lying in bed in the middle of the afternoon, I was breathing, worried about what was actually wrong with my chest.   Was I having a heart attack for the past few days?   Was it actually heartburn?   I lied there and gave my pain to Jesus.   I asked Him to let me know if I should go to the hospital or stay at home.   As I lie there, I felt my rib cage and found a muscle that was inflamed.   About a year ago I had similar pain, not quite so intense, that was diagnosed as Pleurisy, a build up of fluid between the lungs and the rib cage.   I didn’t think it could be that again since I was unable to eat, but I took an anti-inflammatory (which usually chews up my stomach).   I fell asleep for as long as a mom actually gets to fall asleep when her kids are in “quiet time” that usually ends up being not-so-quiet.   I was woken up less than 10 minutes later.   After about an hour, I was in so much less pain it was amazing.   I was ready ...

Have you ever given up food for a few days?   Have you ever lived on less than 1000 calories a day?   This is how a lot of the world lives.   They survive on the food they get, eat it slowly and treasure every bite.   It bugs me when I throw away good food, not that I could package it up and send it anywhere, but it still bugs me.   After giving up food unintentionally for a few days, I am realizing that less than 1000 calories a day is rough.   I can still function, but my brain isn’t quite working as well, my body gets tiered really fast and I am definitely more irritable than I should be.   Yesterday I talked about the water, everlasting water.   Today, looking at the same chapter, Jesus then talks to His disciples about how he has food even when nothing has been brought to Him to eat. John 4 31  Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32  But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing ab...

I walk past the coffee maker and look at it longingly.   Missing that bitter and surprisingly sweet brew to be slipping down my throat at that minute having taken its journey past all my taste buds.   Sighing, I feel the pain in my chest caused by heartburn that I have been suffering from the past few days; I walk past almost able to smell the coffee in the air.   Trying my hardest to wrestle two kids into clothes and into the car, I forget to dress myself and drive to school, late, in my jammie top covered in a thick coat so no one will notice.   Getting home, I walk past the coffee maker again, the urge to brew a pot is so strong.   I plant myself at my computer to write this and all I can think of is coffee.   Coffee and heartburn.   The past 3 days I have had severe heartburn going on.   I don’t know why it is happening, but it is.   Waking up and being kept awake from 11pm- 5am with shooting pains stabbing your chest does not hel...

I am part of a life group.   It is pretty cool.   We meet once a week and talk about our life, we talk about the message that we heard at church on Sunday and we pray for each other and share funny stories about our lives in general.   We usually meet on Thursday nights and each bring some sort of food to share.   This week it was Asian night.   It was so good, people brought all sorts of yummies to share.   I was happy.   My husband always makes the joke about Chinese food being the stray cats and dogs, so as I was in charge of dessert this time, I made something unique.   I made a special cake, Kitty Litter Cake.   Yep, it is a cake that actually looks just like kitty litter.   I put it in a red tub that looked like a litter tray and served it with a slotted spoon.   I made homemade tootsie rolls in the shape of poo on top.   It was pretty convincing.   The “poop” was brown and sticky and mounded on top of what l...

Recently, I have been looking at the Bible in a totally different way.   While doing our family devotions the other night, we read the story of Samson.   At the end of the story, the author paralleled it to Jesus and to His story.   The story of Hosea also is a story about how God loves Israel so much.   This week, I was asked to read a section of the Bible for our Life Group.   It is a story that I am so familiar with, I can literally say, or rather sing, it in my sleep.   It is the story of Joseph.   Throughout high school, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dream Coat was by far my favorite musical, performing in it 5 shows and watching it over 30 if you include all the shows that I attended.   Needless to say, I am very familiar with this story.   At first, when I was assigned this section, I was thinking to myself, this will be easy, I can just re-tell the story and be done.   This morning, I realized that God had somethi...

I heard a story like this when i was younger, it made me think...  so here is my rendition of it ... Lets say there was this man.   Everyone liked this man.   He owned the railroad company and helped build the railroad and still worked for the railroad.   He had wanted someone to pass his legacy along to for years, finally as he was getting older, He and His wife were blessed with a son.   This man loved his son, he did everything with his son.   His son grew up playing at his daddy’s work.   Flattening pennies on the tracks.   “One day the man asked his son if he wanted to go to the crossing bridge with him and help him switch over the tracks.   This was the boy’s favorite thing to do.   The crossing bridge was over a large body of water and only one track wide.   The only way that the trains coming from either side could get over it is if the worker would change the track.   They expected the tracks to be changed an...