Faith in the Furnace

Old North Church
Boston, MA

"Look!" Nebuchadnezzar shouted. "I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a son of the gods!" (Daniel 3:25)

I love the Old Testament book of Daniel. I love Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego's unshakable faith in the midst of a fiery furnace. I love Jesus for walking with them through the hot, blazing flames and bringing them out unscathed not even smelling of smoke. 

Lord, I sit on the sidelines today, watching dearly loved ones maneuver an excruciating fiery furnace. Give them unshakable faith, dear Jesus, and bring 'em out unharmed not even smelling of smoke!

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Rested, Refreshed, and Raring to Go

"Guardian" of the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel
Boston, MA

"Now finish the work, so that you may complete it just as eagerly as you began..." (2 Corinthians 8:11)



We're home from our 40th anniversary trip rested, refreshed, and raring to go!

Raring to see the kids and grands.

Raring to get back to God's work.

Raring to lead the fall small group for single, young women: "Refreshed in His Story."

Raring to feed little lambs and flocks with the newly released A Willowkins Christmas Story. Yep, it's out! I know it's a bit early for a Christmas story, but as our three-year-old grandboy would say, "Check it out." Online store, page 2 at deepseapublishing.com

Are you chomping at the bits and raring to go, beloved? Rest in the Lord. Refresh in His word. Then go forth in Jesus name!

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Because we're from Alabama and we don't know what we're doing.

The Freedom Trail
Boston, MA

"You will make known to me the path of life..." (Psalm 16:11a)



"Where are you going, ma'am?" 

"Terminal A," I answered.

"You're on the wrong bus. You need to get on the bus behind this one."

"Thank you!"

~

"Why are you in this line?"

"Because we're from Alabama and we don't know what we're doing," I answered.

Smile. "You need to go to the TSA pre-check line over there. It's much faster."

"Thank you!"

~

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for kind people and signs pointing the way we should go at Logan International Airport. And thank You for Your Word and the Holy Spirit making known to us the path of life!

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The Flume

The Flume trail
Franconia Notch State Park
White Mountains, New Hampshire



"As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God." Psalm 42:1

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His Name in Vain

tandem bike ride along Ocean Ave.
 (background) President George H.W. Bush Maine summer home





"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in 
vain, for the LORD will  not leave him unpunished 
who takes His name in vain." (Exodus 20:7)

The musical play, Ragtime, was an anticipated highlight of our 40th anniversary trip. Although the music and vocals were superb, a couple of expletives made us squirm and a blast of the LORD's name in vain shot us out of our seats not to return for Act 2.

Today, we're off to Maine's Smiling Hill Dairy Farm. Surely to goodness, the cows will mind their manners, guard their tongues, and honor the Lord we love.

Beloved, no entertainment trumps honoring God. Turn it off for heaven's sake and yours!!!

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Focus

Kennebunkport, Maine




"Set your mind..." (Colossians 3:2)

Celebrating 40 wondrous years as Mrs. Phillip Glassco.

Today my mind is set on him.

Got a mate, mate? Take time to focus on your honey.

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Guest writer: Wonder

Our WONDERful grands, yesteryear





"Remember the wonders He has performed, His miracles..." 
(1 Chronicles 16:12)

Never lose your wonder of God, beloved!

Guest writer: Rebecca Glassco Figert

Did you know that kindergarten, a German word, means “children’s garden”?

You see, I volunteer to help with lunch at my kids’ school on Fridays. I’ve only done it twice this year, but it’s reminded me how much I love kindergarteners! They have pure wonder. If I could, I would bottle up their wonder in a flask and study its components. A five-year old’s wonder is simply mesmerizing, beautiful, and mystifying.

And yes, this next statement is depressing, but it’s true. By the end of this year, the kindergarteners’ wonder and zeal will have changed and they will have more structure and parameters, a compartment per se, for the wonder that was once so boundless. Their awe will be a tiny bit watered down and less concentrated. And yet, that’s the process of growing up.

Granted, we need to grow into adults who know the difference between fiction and fact, fears and reality. It’s healthy. It’s natural. However, I do mourn the gradual loss of wonder. Little by little, I’ve seen my own kids grow up.  And it’s different. It’s good. But a little sad.

How do we grow children in the garden of life without tainting their natural wonder? Maybe the answer to that question has more to do with us, the parent. If we can recover our own child-like wonder, there’s hope for our children.

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Heads Stuck in a Cereal Box

L-R My beloved friend, Dawn, me, and my beloved friend, Debora





"But for you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture." (Malachi 4:2)

My friends and I, along with a bajillion other Americans, had our heads stuck in a cereal box yesterday as we watched the rare solar eclipse. Even though the moon blocked 93% of the sun, our neck of the woods was amazingly bright, which goes to show that a sliver of sunlight commandingly displaces the darkness.

And so it is with the SON - a sliver of Jesus puts darkness to flight.

So rise up, beloved, and leap with joy. Jesus, the Light, shines in darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish Him! (John 1:5) For you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won the victory, because the Spirit of Jesus who lives in you is greater than the spirit of darkness who lives in the world! (1 John 4:4)

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Nothin' to Worry About

Our Ben, Gabbi, and little bit (one-year-old grandboy)





"Don't worry about anything...Tell God...and thank Him..." (Philippians 4:6)

Saturday, I climbed aboard the jet ski behind Granddaddy and three-year-old grandboy.

Three-year-old grandboy encouraged, "Now, there's nothin' to worry about, Memaw. It's just a jet ski."

~

On a wild-trouble ride and barely hangin' on, beloved? Now, there's nothing to worry about, dear heart. It's just life.

Jesus said, "Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what [glorious things] God has prepared for those who love Him!" (1 Corinthians 2:9)

"...there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain..." (Revelation 21:4)

"That's why we never give up...For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on the things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever!" (2 Corinthians 4:14-18)

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Scorched

Coosa River Farm





"And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away." (Mark 4:6)

Our summertime campfire grew a bit too hot and scorched half of  a nearby pine tree. But because deep roots connect it to the vital source of water and nutrients, my superman, forester Phillip, predicts the tree will survive and rebound. 

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus began to teach a very large crowd gathered at the seashore. 

"Listen," He said. "Behold, the sowers went out to sow; as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. Others seed fell on the rocky ground where it immediately sprang up but it had no depth of soil. And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among the thorns that came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."

As soon as Jesus was alone with His disciples, He explained, "The sower sows the word of God. When some hear the word, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown. Others hear the word and immediately receive it with joy, but because they are ungrounded and not rooted, the word withers away when scorched by affliction or persecution. Others hear the word, but the worries of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things choke the word and make it unfruitful. Yet others hear the word and accept it into good hearts and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."

Problems or worries or deceptions or desires scorching the life out of you, beloved? Survive. Rebound. Stay rooted in God's word and in God's arms, your Source for today, tomorrow, and forever.

"For if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things  [withered and] passed away; behold, [living, growing, fruitful] new things have come."  (2 Cor. 5:17)

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Lost and Found

Our Mandy and grandboy #4

"If a man has 100 sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the 99 others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?" (Luke 15:4)

Somewhere around our house or the river cabin or the park, we lost grandboy #4's little tennis shoes, so we're headed to the store to buy another pair.

In Luke 15, Jesus told three stories - the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and finally, the parable of the lost son - to make the crucial point that God dearly loves and untiringly and painstakingly goes after His lost children - people separated from Him, Father God, by unforgiven sin.

Therefore, God sent Jesus. "For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost." (Luke 19:10) "For everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved." (Romans 10:13)

So, beloved, "we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins." (Ephesians 5:6-7) "He delivered us from so great a deadly peril...and we have set our hope on Him!" (2 Corinthians 1:10)

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Blame Game

L-R my boys, Dan and Ben, 1988




The man replied, "It was the woman You gave me who 
gave me the fruit, and I ate it." (Genesis 3:12)

"Mama," cried Dan, "Ben kicked me!"

"You kicked me first," said Ben.

"Yeah, but I missed!"

~

Too often I hear God blamed for bad things.
Beloved, never confuse the consequences of
man's sin and rebellion with the actions of God!
For this is how much God loved the world and you:
He gave His one and only Son,

Jesus, 

so that everyone who believes in Him will not
perish but have eternal life!

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Seabound

Grandgirl 2015





"Commit your works to the LORD, and your plans will be established." (Proverbs 16:3)

Several years ago, God said, "Write her story."

I wrote The Schoolhouse.

Afterward, I said, "I'll keep writing, Lord, as long as you keep supplying the stories."

God is faithful.

Even before the fall release of A Willowkins Christmas Story, the framework for next year's Seabound is already sketched across the storyboard.

Put God in charge of your work, beloved. Let Him make the plans and help you complete the job.

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Teeth-changing Faith

My Ben, 1980s





Jesus asked them, "Do you believe I am able to do this?" (Matthew 9:28)

After hearing of the coming time when a wolf will dwell with the lamb and the lion with the the young calf, Ben, as a little boy, asked,"Then what will the lion and the wolf eat?"

We found the answer in Isaiah 11:7: "The cow and the bear will graze...the lion will eat straw like the ox."

Without a blink of doubt, Ben said, "Cool. Then God will have to change their teeth." 

In the back of my journal, I've jotted an "impossible" prayer list - impossible for man and me, but absolutely, completely doable for my Almighty God. 

O Lord, give us childlike, unblinking, teeth-changing faith to fervently pray, totally trust, and patiently wait on You - the only One who is able!

"Look! I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert." (Isaiah 43:19)

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Valley of New

Whisper, the adolescent Cooper Hawk




"...He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley..." (Psalm 23:2-3)

Across the summer, the kids and grands watched a devoted pair of Cooper hawks faithfully care for their young until the day came to lovingly push them from the nest and into the frightening, unfamiliar Valley of New. For days, one female named Whisper flittered from branch to branch crying and crying and crying. Song birds that should have been her dinner swarmed and pecked and tormented the I-wanna-go-back-to-the-nest adolescent.

Life is an unfolding range of Valleys of New. Womb to new world. Home to new school. High school to new college. College to new work place. Single to newly married. Couples to new parents. Families to empty nests to flying solo to (if you belong to Jesus) the new heaven and new earth.

Weeping in a Valley of New, beloved? There, there now. You're gonna be alright. Jesus is right beside you, and surely His goodness and mercy will follow you through each and every Valley of New all the days of your life!

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Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

the grands march down "Manatee Forest"
once upon a yesterday

"So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today." ~Jesus Christ~

I'm writing this post today, which now is yesterday, because I'm helping with grandboys tomorrow, which is now today, and that's my point exactly. Smile. 

Beloved...

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow."

~Albert Einstein~

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the PRESENT." 

~Bill Keane~

"There are two days in the week about which and upon which I never worry...yesterday and tomorrow." 

~Robert Jones Burdette~

"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin." 

~Mother Teresa~

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Back to School

Our "happy" little grands on their first day of
L-R 5th grade, 2nd grade, 6th grade

"...make sure they are well versed in every branch of learning..." (Daniel 1:4)

Yesterday, the carefree days of good ol' summertime closed. Today, back-to-school days opened, and our school-age grands (and their parents) teeter on the

                             sad...

                                                      

                                                           glad...

                            apprehensive... 

                                                           excited... 

seesaw of emotions. (And Memaw's praying somethin' fierce for them all.)

As His life on earth drew to a close, Jesus Christ, in the Gospel of John, gave His disciple-friends important last words of instruction and then fervently prayed as would a parent for his children:

 "Father, the hour has come. Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to You. Holy Father, You have given Me Your name; now protect them by the power of the Name. I told them many things while I was with them in this world. I'm not asking You to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. Make them holy by Your truth; teach them Your word, which is true. Just as You sent Me into the world, I am sending them into the world. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that You sent Me and that You love them."

Lift up your hands in prayer, beloved, for the lives of your little ones.

21 Days of Prayer

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Daddy Date

My favorite son-in-law 
and my favorite grandgirl (illustrator of A Willowkins Christmas Story)

"Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear My voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends." (Revelation 3:20)

O heavenly Father, I love you! Thank You for giving my grandgirl an awesome dad who loves You and works diligently to bring up his children in the good way they should go. Thank You that our ten-year-old's first "date" is with Stephen. May she measure every future (far in the future) wanna-be boyfriend against the honorable, God-fearing man she calls daddy. 

I pray that You, Lord Jesus, will forever be her first love and that the two of you will spend hours and hours and hours together.  May she enjoy the fleeting season of childhood, and in Your perfect timing, please lead her to Your chosen "ana duo" - her husband and companion in the work of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In Jesus' name I pray,

Amen and amen.


21 Days of Prayer: www.churchofthehighlands.com

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BFF

Vacation Bible School
Frist United Methodist Church, 1962





"As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend." 
(Proverbs 27:17)

From birth to 1958...

Mary and me

to 1962...

to 1974....

to 2017...

Best Friends Forever!

But, there is a Friend, beloved, who sticks closer than a brother (Prov. 18:24) or sister or BFF, and His name is Jesus!

What a Friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God is prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit,

O what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer. 1

1 WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS. Joseph Scriven, 1855.

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A Visit with Nonie Webb

L-R My dear friends: Mary and 91-years-young Nonie Webb

"Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?" (Job 12:12)

How do you describe a visit with Nonie Webb in one word? Mind-blowing!!!

Mind-blowing beauty - 91-year-old cheeks with no wrinkles  and 91-year-old arms with no age spots.

Mind-blowing mobility - no shuffle to her 91-year-old feet, but flitting about her yard and home like a hummingbird from blossom to blossom.

Mind-blowing stories!

The story of the gorgeous, young Nonie...

purposely falling at the feet of a handsome, blond-headed, blue-eyed sailor on a roller-skating dance floor...

and sweeping Ken Webb off his feet. Nonie said, "I got him before the other girls could."

The unheard of story of a 1950s Nonie winning the "Oscar of Salesmanship" in Oakland, California and becoming the only female top director of a large corporation.

The heart-warming story of  a  highly successful, driven career woman recognizing the distance from her beloved, Ken, that climbing the corporate ladder had created and deciding to resign and move from California to rural Tennessee where she poured her endless energies into uncovering the history of the place her husband loved most: Marion County.

  
Some forty years later, Nonie's home is a mind-blowing Marion County historical museum of information and photos dating back as far as the days of the early Native Americans. 

In her office, she took Mary's hand and mine and said, "Let's pray. Jill, you pray."

I said, "Okay, what are we praying about?"

Nonie said, "To thank God for today!"

And I'm still thanking Him!

21 Days of Prayer, August 6-26:

 www.churchofthehighlands.com

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Carpe Diem: Seize the Day

L-R Grands #3, #1, #2

"But encourage one another...as long as it is called 'today'..." (Hebrew 3:13)

Yesterday, I pulled into the slow lane of Birmingham's infamous Highway 280 just to practice living "in the moment." Like Mrs. Willowkins in Mr. Greenleaf's Unforgettable Summer, I'm a rather odd sort of she-human that seems to always be in a hurry even when there's no place to hurry to or no reason to hurry for.

So...

I, Jill Watson Glassco, resolve this Thursday, August 3, 2017, to live in the moment today....

love today...

laugh today...

give thanks today...

listen today...

pay attention today...

enjoy today...

and seize today!

Open the gates and seize the day

Don't be afraid and don't delay...

Friends of the friendless seize the day

Raise up the torch and light the way...

[Beloved] Let us seize the day. 1

1 SEIZE THE DAY. From Disney's 1992 Newsies.

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Where the Good Way Is

my grandmother: Elsie Gertrude Thomas (Brazelle)
1916 Marion County Tennessee High School Annual

Thus says the LORD: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest of your souls..." (Jeremiah 6:16)

I'm feverishly digging through old family records preparing for Friday's visit with my 91-year-old, Tennessee historian friend.  (So don't expect a wonderful-family-storybooks post Friday morning, beloved, but watch for a full report ASAP!)   

Nonie Webb's latest book, Hale's Bar Lock and Dam: The World's First Multipurpose Hydrolectric Lock and Dam, was released earlier this spring, and in my search down old roads once traveled, I've found that Grandmother was a teacher at a Hale's Bar School in 1917, met my grandfather, Oscar Franklin Brazelle, there, and married him that same year. My great-grandfather, Wyley Woodville Brazelle, worked at the Hale's Bar Lock and Dam and built a home there. Granddaddy's sister, Bula, and her husband, Burless Monroe Blevins, lived in that home near Hale's Bar until the late 1970s. I remember visiting the quaint house as a child and playing on the wrap-around porch with my brother, Mark. 

What I can't find is the exact location of the old home place. I'd love to try to find it, but everyone who knew how to get there has moved on to heaven.

In the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, the LORD beckons His people to look for the ancient paths, the good way, and walk in it. 

But the people said, "We will not walk in it!"

The LORD set a watchman over them heralding, "Pay attention to the warning of the trumpet!"

But the people said, "We will not pay attention!" 

The LORD said, "Then hear, O nations, what will  happen to you. Behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people, because they have not paid attention to My words; and as for My law, they have rejected it."

O United States of America, stand by the old roads and ask God for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it and find rest for your souls before it's too late and we reap the fruit of our evil devices!

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Hitting the Mark

my favorite son-in-law and eight-year-old grandboy #2

"But [My children] did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward." (Jeremiah 7:24)

It's both heartwarming and heart-wrenching watching the kids we trained up through prayers, sweat, and tears now laboring to train their own to hit the mark of the way they should go - an impossible task for mankind in solo, but altogether doable in duet with the all time expert parenting Consultant of consultants with more experience transforming stubborn, rebellious children than a library has books. His name? Father God.

Need parenting help, beloved? Consult Father God, look to His ways, and read His expert-parenting Manual - the Holy Bible.

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth." (Ephesians 6:1-3)

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