That's a Good Question!

What would happen if every time you opened your mouth today only positive words came out?

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Classic Christian

Today is my 25th birthday!! On September 3, 1983, at the tender age of fifteen, I went down to the altar at a Petra concert and prayed with Greg Volz to receive Christ, snot-crying like a little baby and dang glad I wasn't going to be empty anymore. And it has been a "saddle up my horse, what's gonna happen next?, You want me to do what?" adventure ever since! Wow!

I passed by a classic car show not long ago and was shocked to see that some of the cars on the lot were cars that my friends drove in high school. What??!! Eddie was good enough to enlighten me with the revelation knowledge that a car becomes "classic" when it reaches 25 years old. So, I guess that makes me a "classic Christian" today. When I was fifteen I would imagine what I would be like at the place I am now and I remember thinking how wise I would probably be when I got to be old and forty. Silly me. I don't feel so very wise. With each passing year I just grow more thankful that He loves me and more keenly aware of how desperately I need God. Hmmmm. I guess that is wisdom.

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Books, Beautiful Books

I must make a confession. I have an obsessive love of books. I always have and , though others have made fun of me over the years for my bookishness, the shine has not dimmed on my love of good books. When I was a little girl I would not stop reading even to walk to the car so my mom could drive me to wherever her errands were taking her. Granted, I ran into a few walls and fell down a few steps, but I was happy. And, while my siblings sat bored in the car or waiting room while my mom did what she needed to do, I was lost in a far away place and I never noticed that a moment had passed.
Someone once said that reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are. This was certainly true of me when I was growing up. So what about now? Escaping to another time or place is still a pleasure for me, but books began serving a much greater purpose when I reached adolescence. They began taking me to a better me. I love books on leadership, servanthood, business, life, classice literature, and self-improvement. I am continually amazed at the number of rational, thinking adults who make no effort at growing as a person. There is just no reason to remain the same way day in and day out, year after monotonous year when, instead, we can embark on the miraculous and exciting journey to the self we can become. The self that God desires for us to become. Certainly good books are not the only road to "becoming", but when you don't know how to get that stubborn baby to sleep through the night, or that stubborn teenager to get up in the morning, why not dive headfirst into the wealth of wisdom and experience out there? If you aren't sure how you will survive financially when your working days are over, or how to communicate with your spouse right now, then, for goodness sakes, get some help!! Grow! Change! Become! Mark Twain once said that "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them." We are without excuse in this land of education and prosperity in which we live. Let's grow up. Let's open a book and open up a whole new world of possibilities!

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Lessons from the Kennel

I have a three-year-old Yorkie who answers to the name Kramer and looks something like a feather duster. He is a five pound powerhouse of barking and charging but when he finally surrounds his helpless prey, he only licks and sniffs. Sometimes I call him a stupid little dust bunny, to his face, but I always use a nice tone so he just licks me as if I have bestowed some great honor upon him. The thing about my little mutt is that he knows me so well. He anticipates my every move and is always careful not to get in my way. As soon as he sees me sit somewhere he races to me so he can cuddle up in my lap, staking his claim as the favorite in the house. And he expects only good things from me. He sits expectantly upon returning from his dirty deed in the yard knowing that a treat awaits his obedience and, on the occasions that I must chastise him, he rolls over on his back and faces me, taking it like a man.
Would to God that I could consistently relate to my Lord in the way that my little fuzzball relates to me. Psalm 32:8 says "I will give you knowledge, teaching you the way to go; my eye will be your guide." If I keep my gaze locked in on His face, His eyes, I will know all that I need to know. If, like Kramer, I would expect only good from my Master, and sit before Him, waiting with confidence for the rewards that will come from Him, well, surely that is the essence of the "peace that passes all understanding." I know we were given dominion over the animals, but sometimes I could swear that my dog is wiser than I!

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