Frank, the Garbage Truck

Our two-year-old grandboy

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses..." (Acts 1:8)

Smile for the day:

Ding!

(Ben shared a video on Instagram.)

Ben: What'd you have for supper tonight?

Two-year old grandboy: Some quesadilla for supper tonight.

Ben: It was good. What'd you dip it in?

Grandboy: Don't wike the dippin' sauce, this one.

Ben: What color was the dipping sauce?

Grandboy: Gween like my shirt. It's gween, gween, gween.

Ben: What do we call the dipping sauce?

(Pause, thinking)

Grandboy: Frank, the garbage truck.

Ben laughing: No, not Frank, the garbage truck; it's guacamole.

Grandboy: Guacamole is gween and eatin' it make me powerful.

Ben laughing: And it made you powerful?

Grandboy: Um hmm

Ben: It made you powerful like Frank, the garbage truck?

Grandboy: Um hmm

Want power, beloved? Be filled with the Holy Spirit (not guacamole) and witness for Jesus. 

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Faucets

My brother, Rocky, hammering a water faucet with a rock.
1950

"May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to You, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." (Psalm 19:14)

Ding!

Text message: "I need a book or study or something on taming the tongue. Mine won't shut up."

Return text: Best book: the Bible. Best Helper: the Holy Spirit. Another good book (for ladies): Adorned by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. 

Words flow through our lips like gushing water through a faucet. What's spewing out of your faucet, beloved, a contaminated stream or words of life?

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Let Your Little Light Shine

our first grandboy and favorite son-in-law

"But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)

Thought for this exceptionally busy day: "Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Hold firmly to the word of life..." (Phil. 2:15-16a)

Gotta scoot!

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Your Part

L-R our grandgirl, Uncle Dan, Aunt Mandy, Aunt Gabbi, Uncle Ben, and grandboy
2008

"All of you together are Christ's body, and each of you is a part of it. God has put each part just where He wants it." (1 Cor. 12:27,18)

Our family has a GroupMe thingamajig for texting all four households at the same time, and this mama/memaw/author is loving the conversations between Ben (our artist son and cover designer) and grandgirl, the illustrator for my new children's Christmas book. Together, this assignment straight from the throne of God will be accomplished for His glory.

You are a vital member of the body of Christ, beloved. How's your part of the work coming along?

Latest illustration from Ruth and Frankincense, A Good News Christmas Story:

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The Perfect Form Tackle

L-R niece Debbie, my Phillip, and me
1973

"So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without His unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times..." (2 Cor. 4:16-17 The Message)

As mindless teenagers, we got the hairbrained idea that I could waterski on Phillip's shoulders. My strategy: to wing out to the far side of the boat, make a rapid approach, and then jump out of my ski onto his back.

Brilliant plan, right? 

Wrong! 

I sped toward my man like a battleship torpedo, leaped from the slalom, and made the perfect form tackle - sending Phillip head over heels across Weiss Lake. The driver, Phillip's brother-in-law, Clark, was laughing so hard that he had to stop the boat and turn off the motor.

A few years ago, my rickety old back brought my waterskiing to a halt. I really miss that fun sport. However, the simple pleasures of earth are small potatoes in comparison to the enjoyable good times ahead - for those belonging to Jesus Christ. 

For Christians, earth is as bad as it gets. It's uphill from here. For unbelievers, earth is as good as it gets. It's downhill for them.

Which way are you headed, beloved, uphill or down?

Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)

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Hell is For Real Too

"

bonfire at the Coosa River

"Whoever causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut if off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire...where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." (Mark 9:42-44,48)

When one of my Bible Study girls told me about a "convincing" article she'd read entitled Why I Don't Believe in Hell, I encouraged her to act like a noble-minded Berean - learn with great eagerness but examine the Scriptures daily to see whether things are so. (Acts 17:11)

The only unfallible measuring stick for truth, the Bible, clearly teaches that hell is real and describes it as a place of "darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 22:13). Jesus Himself warned, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt. 10:28).

Billy Graham Ministry: "Jesus didn't talk about hell to scare us. He talked about it instead because He wanted us to know that God has provided a way of escape! God doesn't want you to be separated from Him forever. He loves you, and He wants you to spend eternity with Him in heaven. Unlike hell, heaven is a place of joy and peace and freedom from all the fears and pains of this world. Don't gamble with your soul, and don't turn your back on Jesus. Instead, by faith turn to Christ and commit your life to Him. He alone gives us hope - hope for today, and hope for eternity."

Yes, beloved, I agree. Hell is indeed a solemn subject for a children's book blog, but small ones' (and tall ones')  eternal destinies depend on knowing God and His truth. Teach children the truth of heaven and hell. Repeat it again and again. Talk about Jesus, His word, and His ways at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up, for heaven's sake!

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I Gotta Idea

two-year-old grandboy





"So God gave me the idea..." (Neh. 7:5)

The other night, our two-year-old grandboy announced, "I gotta idea!"

"What's your idea?" asked his dad.

Grandboy replied, "'Quesadizzas' for supper!"

The Old Testament character, Nehemiah, was the cupbearer for King Artaxerxes when he received the heartbreaking news of torn-down walls and burnt gates in Jerusalem - his homeland. When Artaxerxes noted Nehemiah's sadness, the king granted him permission to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the city. Following the "ideas" God gave Nehemiah, the work was accomplished in 52 days.

Every grand idea before every great and honorable accomplishment comes from the mind of God. 

Need an idea, beloved? Ask Jesus.

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Pouring

sweet Lauren
Mississippi State Graduation Day

"As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God." (2 Timothy 4:6a)

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! came the late night text message from Lauren letting me know that she wouldn't make it to Bible study this week and thanking us for investing in a younger generation. We should thank her - a rookie schoolteacher pouring life and truth into high school students.

Like a cascading waterfall, generations pouring into the one below. Are you pouring, beloved?

"From the heights we leap and go

To the valleys down below,

Always answering to the call,

To the lowest place of all.

These are the Falls of Love."1

1 HINDS' FEET ON HIGH PLACES. Hannah Hurnard, 1955.

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BFF

L-R Betty, Verna (my mother), and Imogene (Phillip's mother)
Three heavenly friends
2002ish

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Cor. 2:9)

Last night, Verna and Imogene strolled along that beautiful shore and welcomed Betty home with Jesus - Best Friends Forever!

There's a land that is fairer than day,

And by faith we can see it afar;

For the Father waits over the way

To prepare us a dwelling place there.

In the sweet by and by,

We shall meet on that beautiful shore;

In the sweet by and by,

We shall meet on that beautiful shore. 1

1 THERE'S A LAND THAT IS FAIRER THAN DAY.  Sanford F. Bennett, 1868.

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Sound Mind Training

My girl and her girl
2011ish

"These older women must train the younger women... to live wisely [sensibly, self-controlled, sound-minded, God-honoring]." (Titus 2:4-5)

It's amazing to me how often I "just happen" upon a biblical teaching that fits perfectly into the next lesson for our young women's small group. Last week, while scanning across Christian radio programs, I "stumbled" upon Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth teaching the responsibility of older women to train younger women to  have "sophron" (Greek for sound minds). A sensible, sound mind honors God and blesses others in attitude, emotions, words, and behavior. 

Mind check, beloved! Are you operating out of a sound mind today?

Lord Jesus, please train us well in sound minds so that we may train others.

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, love, and a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7)

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Clockworks

"When our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
'Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?'
For sin is the sting that results in death...but thanks be to God! 
He gives us victory over sin and death through 
our Lord Jesus Christ!" (1 Cor. 15:54-58)

A treasured clock sits in a corner of the Coosa River cabin kitchen. That 1977 Christmas gift from my sweet brother, Mark, has hung with Phillip and me in thirteen kitchens across nearly forty years. Recently, the clockworks died, but new replacement parts have the old timepiece up and ticking again.

At almost 61, sometimes I feel like an old timepiece with winding down clockworks; yet I rejoice and do not lose heart! In Christ, we're promised that though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For we know that when this earthly tent we live in wears out and is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God Himself and not by human hands (2 Cor. 4:16, 5:1).

Losing your gittyup in your get-along, beloved? Rejoice and don't lose heart. In Christ, you're an eternal timepiece awaiting Master-crafted clockworks that never, ever wear out, wind down, or waste away. The best is yet to come!

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He Breathed and Stars Were Born

My Rebecca's breathtaking sunrise photo

"By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast." (Psalm 33:6,9)

In my latest storybook project, Mrs. Willowkins and Ruth, a little brown field mouse, tell the grands and Frankincense, a homeless tree frog (yes, another tree frog tale) the amplified Christmas story from Genesis to Jesus at the right hand of God. 

A little snippet from Ruth and Frankincense, A Good News Christmas Story:

Frankincense Froggie looked utterly perplexed. “I dare say, Miss Ruth, I’ve never heard of this Creator and consequently have no earthly notion as to what you’re squeaking about.”

“Oh. Well then. Let me explain. In the beginning…no, let me back up a bit. Before the beginning, the Creator lived. And before He made the world, the Creator made a plan – a very grand plan. And at the appointed time in His very grand plan, the Creator made the heavens and the earth, and the earth spun empty and dark – inky black and darker than a moonless night. No shiny stars bejeweled the night sky, no big oaks stood tall in the forest, no humans or field mice or little, speckled, gray tree frogs stirred over the face of the earth. But when the Creator said, ‘Let there be light,’ there was light! And the light was good because the Creator is so very, very good. When He spoke, the world began! It appeared at His command.”

“Where’d you hear this captivating story, Miss Ruth?” questioned Frankincense.

“Barnabas Fieldmouse, my distant cousin twice removed on my dear mother’s side that lives at the big house over Blue Heron Lake, introduced me to the Creator and His stories. And I hear tell that a little, green tree frog in a watering pot told him.”

“Oh, then please continue,” urged Frankincense.

    

“Certainly,” answered Ruth. “The Creator merely spoke and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born. He commanded waters to gather, and there were oceans. He charged the earth to sprout, and ferns and Indian paintbrush and grancy graybeard and trees of every species sprang forth. He spoke the sun and the moon and the stars into the galaxies, water creatures into the seas, land creatures onto solid ground, and birds into the heavens. And before He rested, the Creator formed a human creature in His own image and named him Adam.”

Beloved, do you know the stories of Jesus? Then pass them on.

the real Ruth and Frankincense

in their big oak knothole

Chancellor Ferry Farm

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