Bad Advice

L-R: Mark, me, and Rocky, 1959

"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father but is from the world" (1 John 2:16)


        After listening to me boohoo all the way home because Mama didn't stop for snow-cones, my brothers lured me into their diabolical plan.
       "Here's a dime, Jill." (Yes, snow-cones were only ten cents in 1959.) We'll let you out the window, and you can walk to town and get that cool, tasty, delightfully-delicious, grape snow-cone." (I may have exaggerated just a little bit.)
      I swallowed the bait hook, line, and sinker and down the road I went!
      After having second thoughts that sending a three-year-old (even though she was a pest) to town alone (a three-mile hike down Lookout Mountain's busy, snaking highway) may not be a good idea, those rats tattled to our mother, "Jill's run away to buy a snow-cone!" (Years later, they would confess to being accomplices in my crime.)

     What are you longing for today? Is it of God or of the world?

"Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him...The world passes away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever!" (1 John 2:15,17)

Snippet from my storybook, Secrets of Shiloh, now available 
at Amazon.com, Westbowpress.com, and Barnesandnoble.com -

“Yes, sir,” she said softly. Col. James’ serious tone made her feel uneasy – like something was wrong.

“Also, never forget that you have an enemy, the devil. He’s a liar and a deceiver, and you need to learn to recognize his lies. The Good Book tells us in First Peter that he’s a sly foe who prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour and destroy. You must resist him, firm in your faith.”