Learn how the author of Character Makeover has found a way to turn Halloween into a spiritually effective event! I've long wished for someway to redeem what continues to become a darker and more disappointing holiday.... and here it is!! See how to have fun, and make a positive impact from your own front door!
http://shelleyleith.com/3.5.html
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Who You Know....
Sometimes we hear a person say, most often after a challenging time with even the smallest bureaucracy, "Well, it's who you know that makes all the difference." The conversation will continue similar to: "The new employee didn't know me, and couldn't understand what I was trying to do, which was always simple before." The suggestion is, if you have enough "pull" or "influence", or happen to have a "friend on the inside," things can go much better for you in negotiating anything. There's a country song with lyrics: "I've got friends in low places!" Most of the time, we want friends in HIGH places.
What I discovered in the business world, and even in many settings, it's not so much "who you know," as it is "WHO knows YOU." When you visit a business where the owner knows you personally, or at least a high level manager/supervisor, things are going to go SO much better in your exchange. Just the fact that I'm aware of someone's position earns me little. But when an upper level employee or business owner knows you, often the "protocol" and "best business practices" are completely ignored as that person takes care of your need or request.
Very similar to me is our relationship with the Lord. Many claim to know Him... yet He warned in John that many would claim to know Him, but He would not know or acknowledge them in the final days. It's knowing that HE KNOWS ME that is the great comfort, and "the door opener" for us. Knowing that you are KNOWN to HIM is the greatest comfort in this world, whether we ever see any particular 'benefits' or 'favors" in the lifetime!
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Doubt and Faith - Cheryl Lauderdale
One of my favorite poems since High School... when I was not even a Christian.... but thankfully one who was being spiritually cared for by others!
Doubt and Faith
Cheryl Lauderdale
Doubt sees the obstacles. Faith sees the way.
Doubt sees the darkest night. Faith sees the day.
Doubt dreads to take a step. Faith soars on high.
Doubt asks, “Who believes?” Faith answers, “I!”
Praying Through
As I was praying for a friend registering for classes at his new University (transfer students get last and latest choice!), I thought of something I read in Mark Batterson's book, The Circle Maker. Joshua 6:1-2 "Now Jericho was TIGHTLY SHUT because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in. The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I HAVE GIVEN Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors.""
Joshua's job was to pray and circle the city. God was in charge of delivery!! Only with eyes of faith could Joshua SEE that Jericho was already defeated. Man's "Tightly Shut” is no match for the Lord's “Have Delivered!” The Circle Maker, (Praying Through)
Joshua's job was to pray and circle the city. God was in charge of delivery!! Only with eyes of faith could Joshua SEE that Jericho was already defeated. Man's "Tightly Shut” is no match for the Lord's “Have Delivered!” The Circle Maker, (Praying Through)
Caring For the Sheep
I grew up on a farm, 320 acres in a beautiful valley with a running creek, a pond, trees and greenest pastures I’ve ever seen. My father, a veteran of WW 2, was trained to do Veteran’s On the Farm training, to help train young (and older) men in new farm techniques developed in the 4 to 5 years that they had been away from their family farms.
Father was thus by nature and by training skilled in many fields…. He could give injections to the sheep (and my allergy shots to me!!), he could take apart a bulldozer and repair its internal problems, and he introduced new crops for hay that others had never used (Johnson grass). I think one of his favorite hay grasses to use was a sudan-sourgum blend, which seemed to make great hay for the winter. Before I was fully conscious, I’m told we had pigs. In the early years, we had goats and sheep. Later the high maintenance sheep were replaced by chickens and dairy cows.
The Atlanta Journal/Constitution, and the University of Georgia came to our farm for interviews, pictures of the pastures and our family, documentation of procedures, and farm life in Georgia. At one time, we had the largest sheep farm in the state. Later, my father’s chicken house was the FIRST fully automated one with temperature controls that triggered the coal-fired furnace to generate its hot water for heating. The watering troughs were automatically refilled when the water level dropped, and the grain feeding hopper and trough system (that was mostly welded together by dad) came on by timer several times a day, and moved the chickens feed through 2 large loops of troughs, at the low level the chickens needed. It was a show-place, and became at state-wide model. But you have to be careful around chickens… loud noises will frighten them, they will run together in piles, and can suffocate themselves by the thousands… that’s a horrible sight to see. Thunderstorms meant chicken house watch detail….
When the dairy barn was constructed, it was from the latest designs, to allow safest entrance and exit for the cows, most comfortable access for the vacuum milking machines, etc. My dad had a radio playing in the milking barn, because he understood that the music soothed the animals. And father could tell each cow apart, by their personality, and by the brass number tag hanging from their neck! Each cow got a different amount of feed, and there was a list in the barn of what that amount was, cow by cow… and my sister as a teenager was called by my dad, “the best helper I’ve ever had with the cows!”
We had 3 John Deere tractors… one was gas-powered, one had a diesel engine that was started by a gasoline engine (the 70A was unique… 2 fuel tanks!) And that powerful 3020, which was the first diesel design that could start its own engine with 2 tandem 12 volt batteries!! Thousands of dollars we had in equipment, Thousands of hours of training for father and from him to us children, Thousands of hours of tending….. for one purpose: to take good care of the animals on our farm.
During lambing time, my parents would get up at midnight in the winter to act as mid-wives for the sheep. Sheep have to be moved every 2 weeks to a new pasture or the parasites they are prone to will take up residence in the group, and continually plague them. Sheep had to have regular oral injections of medication with a large syringe…. 500 sheep is a lot of shots to give!! They regularly can develop foot diseases, so father built a walk-through concrete wading pool, 5” deep, so that he could put the medication in the water, and have the sheep walk through it!
When I was about 6, and my sister 8, we were full-fledged farm helpers. Sheep are interesting… I was always anxious around the large herd of 500, especially when my dad would have us move them to the south pasture. This required moving them out of one pasture, down a road, making a right turn at a Y, then making a left turn off the road into another pasture…the sheep were tracing the outline of a capital M. If cars were coming, they had to wait! What was so amazing, is that terrifying as it was to have the first of 500 sheep come running at you… if you just gently waved your arms, and turned the first 5, the rest would follow!! You could actually left your place in the open road, run ahead of the sheep to the next turn, wave gently there, and turn them again into the next leg of their journey!! Amazing!!
The dairy cows had calves, and they were kept with their moms in a separate pasture for a while. Each night I and the hired man’s son refilled the half of a half 55 gallon drum my dad had cut to make a watering trough. There was a hose run 100 feet for refilling, but it was quicker to also fill 5 gallon buckets and carry them to help fill the tank. Once I came to the trough with full water buckets, and the boy was throwing rocks at the calves, to drive them away!! “What are you doing?” “As soon as we get any water in the trough, they drink it up! We’ll never get it filled!!”
I don’t remember being kind as a 10 year old telling him: “The goal is not to fill the tank… the goal is to water the calves… and whatever time and water it takes to get them to be satisfied, and the trough THEN to be full for later, that is what we must and will do.” I was so upset with him…. I sent him home. Throwing rocks at those precious little calves, hitting them in the head, and sometimes on their tender sides, and they hadn’t done anything wrong, they were just coming for a drink because they were thirsty!! There was no place else for them to get the water they needed to survive in that particular pasture.
The stress and hours of the farm schedule finally became too much for my dad and our family, especially with my mom so sick from depression many months of the year, that he sold the farm when I was about 12. That was very painful for all of our family in many ways…. We gave up our beautiful home site, our natural recreation area of woods, creek, ponds, and rolling pastures…. I simply loved it there, though we later learned that I was allergic to every tree, grass, and animal on the farm!
So, some lessons I learned from animal husbandry…. You don’t yell and make loud threatening noises in the chicken house, NEVER, EVER…. You gently guide the sheep (dim-witted and poor-sighted as they are!)… It can all be done with a calm voice…..and you don’t EVER, EVER throw rocks at ANY of the animals. In fact, a good shepherd of animals provides food, water, medicine, medical care (animals need an onsite doctor like dad when you have hundreds of them), and preventive, protective measures. And, unfortunately, the farm doctor has to be on call 24/7….. But the farm owner, at least from my study of materials and my dad in action on the farm, is the VERY BEST FRIEND, and the VERY BEST THING, for every animal in his care.
© Tom B. Bandy, 6/22/13
Father was thus by nature and by training skilled in many fields…. He could give injections to the sheep (and my allergy shots to me!!), he could take apart a bulldozer and repair its internal problems, and he introduced new crops for hay that others had never used (Johnson grass). I think one of his favorite hay grasses to use was a sudan-sourgum blend, which seemed to make great hay for the winter. Before I was fully conscious, I’m told we had pigs. In the early years, we had goats and sheep. Later the high maintenance sheep were replaced by chickens and dairy cows.
The Atlanta Journal/Constitution, and the University of Georgia came to our farm for interviews, pictures of the pastures and our family, documentation of procedures, and farm life in Georgia. At one time, we had the largest sheep farm in the state. Later, my father’s chicken house was the FIRST fully automated one with temperature controls that triggered the coal-fired furnace to generate its hot water for heating. The watering troughs were automatically refilled when the water level dropped, and the grain feeding hopper and trough system (that was mostly welded together by dad) came on by timer several times a day, and moved the chickens feed through 2 large loops of troughs, at the low level the chickens needed. It was a show-place, and became at state-wide model. But you have to be careful around chickens… loud noises will frighten them, they will run together in piles, and can suffocate themselves by the thousands… that’s a horrible sight to see. Thunderstorms meant chicken house watch detail….
When the dairy barn was constructed, it was from the latest designs, to allow safest entrance and exit for the cows, most comfortable access for the vacuum milking machines, etc. My dad had a radio playing in the milking barn, because he understood that the music soothed the animals. And father could tell each cow apart, by their personality, and by the brass number tag hanging from their neck! Each cow got a different amount of feed, and there was a list in the barn of what that amount was, cow by cow… and my sister as a teenager was called by my dad, “the best helper I’ve ever had with the cows!”
We had 3 John Deere tractors… one was gas-powered, one had a diesel engine that was started by a gasoline engine (the 70A was unique… 2 fuel tanks!) And that powerful 3020, which was the first diesel design that could start its own engine with 2 tandem 12 volt batteries!! Thousands of dollars we had in equipment, Thousands of hours of training for father and from him to us children, Thousands of hours of tending….. for one purpose: to take good care of the animals on our farm.
During lambing time, my parents would get up at midnight in the winter to act as mid-wives for the sheep. Sheep have to be moved every 2 weeks to a new pasture or the parasites they are prone to will take up residence in the group, and continually plague them. Sheep had to have regular oral injections of medication with a large syringe…. 500 sheep is a lot of shots to give!! They regularly can develop foot diseases, so father built a walk-through concrete wading pool, 5” deep, so that he could put the medication in the water, and have the sheep walk through it!
When I was about 6, and my sister 8, we were full-fledged farm helpers. Sheep are interesting… I was always anxious around the large herd of 500, especially when my dad would have us move them to the south pasture. This required moving them out of one pasture, down a road, making a right turn at a Y, then making a left turn off the road into another pasture…the sheep were tracing the outline of a capital M. If cars were coming, they had to wait! What was so amazing, is that terrifying as it was to have the first of 500 sheep come running at you… if you just gently waved your arms, and turned the first 5, the rest would follow!! You could actually left your place in the open road, run ahead of the sheep to the next turn, wave gently there, and turn them again into the next leg of their journey!! Amazing!!
The dairy cows had calves, and they were kept with their moms in a separate pasture for a while. Each night I and the hired man’s son refilled the half of a half 55 gallon drum my dad had cut to make a watering trough. There was a hose run 100 feet for refilling, but it was quicker to also fill 5 gallon buckets and carry them to help fill the tank. Once I came to the trough with full water buckets, and the boy was throwing rocks at the calves, to drive them away!! “What are you doing?” “As soon as we get any water in the trough, they drink it up! We’ll never get it filled!!”
I don’t remember being kind as a 10 year old telling him: “The goal is not to fill the tank… the goal is to water the calves… and whatever time and water it takes to get them to be satisfied, and the trough THEN to be full for later, that is what we must and will do.” I was so upset with him…. I sent him home. Throwing rocks at those precious little calves, hitting them in the head, and sometimes on their tender sides, and they hadn’t done anything wrong, they were just coming for a drink because they were thirsty!! There was no place else for them to get the water they needed to survive in that particular pasture.
The stress and hours of the farm schedule finally became too much for my dad and our family, especially with my mom so sick from depression many months of the year, that he sold the farm when I was about 12. That was very painful for all of our family in many ways…. We gave up our beautiful home site, our natural recreation area of woods, creek, ponds, and rolling pastures…. I simply loved it there, though we later learned that I was allergic to every tree, grass, and animal on the farm!
So, some lessons I learned from animal husbandry…. You don’t yell and make loud threatening noises in the chicken house, NEVER, EVER…. You gently guide the sheep (dim-witted and poor-sighted as they are!)… It can all be done with a calm voice…..and you don’t EVER, EVER throw rocks at ANY of the animals. In fact, a good shepherd of animals provides food, water, medicine, medical care (animals need an onsite doctor like dad when you have hundreds of them), and preventive, protective measures. And, unfortunately, the farm doctor has to be on call 24/7….. But the farm owner, at least from my study of materials and my dad in action on the farm, is the VERY BEST FRIEND, and the VERY BEST THING, for every animal in his care.
© Tom B. Bandy, 6/22/13
8 Ways to Spring Clean Your Marriage - Rebecca Barlow Jordan
Just as a home needs a thorough spring-cleaning, so do our marriages. As we sweep out the cobwebs in the neglected corners of our lives, we’ll discover a new sparkle and shine. Here are eight ways to freshen up your marriage:
Develop a plan for your cleaning ritual. What areas will you attack first? Personal disciplines? Attitudes? Neglected appearances? Habits? Expectations? Communication? List the goals you want to accomplish in your marriage. Be specific. Without a detailed plan, you’ll miss some hidden corners.
Sort through accumulated expectations. Most marriages begin with hidden agendas of his or her expectations. If a wife expects her husband to continue romancing her after the honeymoon and he fails, resentment may follow. A husband who secretly longs for a wife like his mother may set himself up for disappointment when his wife exhibits the opposite behavior. Be realistic with each other about meeting needs. Although God is the only one who can meet your total needs, a mutual exchange of longings and wishes will encourage give and take and help avoid unnecessary hurt.
Discard old habits. Keep a journal of old personal patterns and childish behaviors. Note negative emotions and describe your feelings. Ask yourself, “Could I be taking this situation personally? What does God want to teach me here? Did I in any way cause this?” Even housecleaning experts need extra help to destroy unwanted, moldy habits and to filter out compacted dirt.
Mend the tears of broken relationships and hurt feelings. A stitch in honesty and forgiveness will save years of unraveling. Love is eager to settle differences. Godly love is neither blind nor faultfinding. True love sees weaknesses but rallies to cover them with strength, compassion and encouragement.
Clean out forgotten closets. Family therapist Dixon Murrah says, “Secrets destroy family unity.” Though you may hesitate to reveal hidden skeletons to your mate, remember that marriage intimacy is based on honesty and trust. As you share your family background, open your heart to the negative hurts as well as to the joys of your past. It is always easier to deal with the known than the unknown. And when you understand the “whys” of your mate’s compulsive behaviors or peculiarities, you’ll find a greater capacity for gentleness and love.
Replace worn-out clothes of bitterness with new garments of praise. This will require time for personal discipline with the Lord in prayer and Bible study. Meditate on His Word daily, and you will find your marriage adorned with new beauty.
Vacuum up the spills of harsh words and thoughtless deeds. During emotional or physical stress, even the best of marriages suffer temporary dysfunction. Women can chart monthly cycles if necessary, and plan their activities accordingly. After years of premenstrual suffering (I used to call it pre-monster syndrome), I finally learned to program my schedule around high energy days. And husbands, before you explode your frustrations from work on your wife, think about the aftermath of clean-up.
Polish your marriage often with generous coats of compliments and caring behaviors. Continue this maintenance program daily, not just at once-a-year spring-cleaning time. Catch your mate doing something noteworthy, and give word gifts of praise. Exchange caring behavior lists with each other… the things you’d each like your spouse to do for you.
No matter how great your housekeeping skills, stop and spring-clean your marriage often--together. You’ll improve its value by 100 percent.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:23-24 NLT).
Develop a plan for your cleaning ritual. What areas will you attack first? Personal disciplines? Attitudes? Neglected appearances? Habits? Expectations? Communication? List the goals you want to accomplish in your marriage. Be specific. Without a detailed plan, you’ll miss some hidden corners.
Sort through accumulated expectations. Most marriages begin with hidden agendas of his or her expectations. If a wife expects her husband to continue romancing her after the honeymoon and he fails, resentment may follow. A husband who secretly longs for a wife like his mother may set himself up for disappointment when his wife exhibits the opposite behavior. Be realistic with each other about meeting needs. Although God is the only one who can meet your total needs, a mutual exchange of longings and wishes will encourage give and take and help avoid unnecessary hurt.
Discard old habits. Keep a journal of old personal patterns and childish behaviors. Note negative emotions and describe your feelings. Ask yourself, “Could I be taking this situation personally? What does God want to teach me here? Did I in any way cause this?” Even housecleaning experts need extra help to destroy unwanted, moldy habits and to filter out compacted dirt.
Mend the tears of broken relationships and hurt feelings. A stitch in honesty and forgiveness will save years of unraveling. Love is eager to settle differences. Godly love is neither blind nor faultfinding. True love sees weaknesses but rallies to cover them with strength, compassion and encouragement.
Clean out forgotten closets. Family therapist Dixon Murrah says, “Secrets destroy family unity.” Though you may hesitate to reveal hidden skeletons to your mate, remember that marriage intimacy is based on honesty and trust. As you share your family background, open your heart to the negative hurts as well as to the joys of your past. It is always easier to deal with the known than the unknown. And when you understand the “whys” of your mate’s compulsive behaviors or peculiarities, you’ll find a greater capacity for gentleness and love.
Replace worn-out clothes of bitterness with new garments of praise. This will require time for personal discipline with the Lord in prayer and Bible study. Meditate on His Word daily, and you will find your marriage adorned with new beauty.
Vacuum up the spills of harsh words and thoughtless deeds. During emotional or physical stress, even the best of marriages suffer temporary dysfunction. Women can chart monthly cycles if necessary, and plan their activities accordingly. After years of premenstrual suffering (I used to call it pre-monster syndrome), I finally learned to program my schedule around high energy days. And husbands, before you explode your frustrations from work on your wife, think about the aftermath of clean-up.
Polish your marriage often with generous coats of compliments and caring behaviors. Continue this maintenance program daily, not just at once-a-year spring-cleaning time. Catch your mate doing something noteworthy, and give word gifts of praise. Exchange caring behavior lists with each other… the things you’d each like your spouse to do for you.
No matter how great your housekeeping skills, stop and spring-clean your marriage often--together. You’ll improve its value by 100 percent.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:23-24 NLT).
Note to a Friend Who's Parent is in Hospice Care
Was thinking of you and family this morning…. And with the passing of our mutual friend's dad last night, remembered some things we learned with the decline of Lisa’s mom years ago. The closest I think I’ve ever come to experiencing angels is when one’s loved patient is in distress, and the hospice nurses come in, just quietly talking, soothing, taking care of them. Quiet crepe-soled shoes making no sound as they quickly move around, maybe a low song being hummed that fills the whole house with peace. That memory is still so clear, thinking: “this is what they are doing, all the time, ministering to the saints.”
Also learned the pain of somewhat going through what one’s patient is experiencing…. As they have a difficulty, or challenge, or “reduction”, there is a stress for you, with little you can do. It helped me so much when the picture came of an old time skeleton key hole (you wouldn’t know unless you’d seen one in North GA)… but it seems that as that as your patient is reduced in this life, you get crushed, too….. it’s like you’re being pulled through that old-time keyhole… and just when you think the “crushing” must be complete, there’s another event, prediction, prognosis… and there’s the pain of “reduction” again, squeezing you to nothing as you get pulled further through that tiny hole.
The third thing I remember, and saw this being at our friend's home last night as the phone call about her dad came…. There are always “graces” along the way. Some special comfort, word, event, touch, realization…. That just as the Lord told Moses from the burning bush: “I will be with you”, He demonstrates His presence. Nothing too big for His power, Nothing too small for His notice. Our friend had quietly mentioned after the Africa team departed for Zambia, “It’s hard not going with them….knowing the Lord’s going to do some amazing and surprising things, and not be there.” And by text last night, after leaving their home, we realized we’d been reminded at the same time: “This is why he isn’t in Africa tonight.” “Graces” (I call them) all along the way…. Like from Psalm 105:4 “Keep your eyes open for God, watch for His works, be alert for signs of His presence.”
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