Thoughts Along the Journey

Yesterday afternoon, I saw a young man take one of his many steps toward independence and adulthood.  As the tassle was moved from one side of the mortarboard to the other, a giant leap was made.  High school was ended. Nineteen years ago, I heard the most remarkable news:  we were going to have a baby!  Our first, and the child of our prayers, David has been such an amazing blessing to our lives since that first moment when we learned of his presence in my womb. As he takes these next strides into his adult life, it is time for Mom and Dad to take some steps back.  But the prayers will always be there, son.  May God go with you, lead you, and be your ever-present Source. Love you!

Today's Scripture reading was the story of the road to Emmaus.  If you're not familiar with the story, it takes place on the day of Christ's resurrection. " That very day two of them were going to a village named Emma′us, about seven miles from Jerusalem,    and talking with each other about all these things that had happened.    While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.    But their eyes were kept from recognizing him." Two of Jesus' followers were leaving Jerusalem.  Hearts broken from seeing their Teacher crucified, they were returning home.  They were discussing it all, probably trying to sort it out.  What would they do, now that the one [they believed to be the Messiah] wad dead?  Yet, the women said He was alive.  What should they make of all this?  And then, He was there.  A man that seemed to be just another traveler.   "And he said to them...

Amazing Grace - Connie Talbot

While I was growing up, I always had a pet.  Since we lived on a farm, we tended to have several "barnyard" cats of the mixed breed variety.  I had aquarium fish and gerbils. There was seldom a time when I did not have a dog.  When I left for college, the dog I had was Buddy, a German shepherd.  (My dogs were ALL my buddies.)  Buddy died shortly before I returned home after my freshman year. I don't have any actual photos of Freddy, but this little guy looks a lot like him! A couple of weeks later, my dad brought home a scrawny, malnourished puppy.  He had found it near an irrigation system .  I immediately adopted the little guy, and named him Freddy.  He flourished, and was romping around our yard with me within days.  About three weeks before I left for college, Dad got a phone call.  The man on the line said, "I hear you found one of my puppies?"  Dad affirmed that we had been in possession of the dog since May.  The...

I want to share a very personal story with my blog readers.  I was blessed by a total stranger today.  This woman will never know how much she impacted my life. Now that I'm in the "over 45" crowd (and have been for a couple of years!), my doctor is strongly urging me to undergo some of the tests I've been avoiding because I felt I was too young.  Or, to be more honest, I just didn't want to go through them because I'm a needle-phobe and have severe white coat syndrome.  This is no joke.  The doctor (I'm seeing now) is the first who hasn't made my blood pressure go up just by walking in the room. Most recently, she made a very convincing argument for the necessity of a mammogram. I have no knowledge of a woman who enjoys this procedure.  However, there is some history of cysts in my family--no breast cancer I'm aware of--so I figured it was better to make the appointment and just get it over with.  Three to four days of pain, and I would be f...

  There is joy in the Lord!   "May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy ,  giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light."   Colossians 1:11, 12    

This past weekend, our oldest son had a role in a local stage production of "The Outsiders."  I have never read the book or seen the movie.  It was a sobering look at the lives of teens separated by social status.  The "greasers" and the "socs" (well-to-do social upper crust) were the groups created in the mind of S. E. Hinton. Yet they represent the divide between many types of kids in any decade. The climactic moment of the play is a rumble.  Our son played the part of Paul, one of the socs, who begins the fight.  As the young men began swinging their fists, suddenly, our son was being pummeled and knocked to the ground.  I knew this was coming, and it still made me slightly sick to my stomach.  I knew he was really going to be okay...yet I wanted to run to the stage, drag my eldest to safety, then head back onto the stage and straighten things out! As I was watching, though, a thought came to me:  how does God feel when we're getting beat u...