The Rain, Rain, Rain came Down, Down, Down

My precious granddaughter in the rain

"For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do." (Isa. 55:10-11 HCS)


       Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain! This morning, I found myself singing, "The rain rain rain came down down down in rushing, rising rivlets" from Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. The wettest Alabama summer that I can ever remember has made every tree, herb, and lawn as green, green, green, green, green as a rain forest! 
       For just as the water-saturated earth yields abundant vegetation, so a life saturated with the word of God yields abundant fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace,  patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control.
      Today and every day, saturate your mind, heart, and spirit with God's Word and "you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands" (Isa. 55:12 NASB). 

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Keep Listening!

Illustration by Donny Finley from
my soon-to-be-released storybook:
 Secrets of Shiloh

"...your eyes will behold your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you saying, 'This is the way, walk in it...'" (Isa. 30:20-21)


       After joining Church of the Highlands, I believe the Lord told me that He would soon do something new. Later, during a season of prayer and fasting, I believe He showed me a compass with 12 pointers in all directions. Since I'm a Bible teacher, in my finite thinking, I wondered if God planned for me to teach 12 Bible studies! Now that would be new! 
      WRONG! Instead, God opened a new door for writing storybooks and this blog, and He continues to open doors in all directions for these stories to go. 
     In Gen. 22:2, God told Abraham, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you." However, in Gen. 22:11-12, an angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham! Do NOT stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me!"
    The wisdom of Abraham's story and mine? - when God speaks, NEVER ASSUME, KEEP LISTENING, TRUST Him, and OBEY!

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Pretty in Pink

My pretty, little Rebecca, 1986

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." (Prov. 31:30)

           I remember hurrying to have this portrait made before Rebecca lost her first loose tooth. The sands of time have truly slipped quickly through the hourglass, and my little girl is now the mother of three - who, by the way, are the smartest, cutest, grandest (is that a word?) kids in the whole wide world - according to their memaw! Rebecca is a charming and very beautiful woman, but her most attractive feature, by far, is her love for Jesus.
           A lawyer once asked Jesus, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" And Jesus said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and foremost commandment" (Matt. 22:35-38).
          Can others watch your life and clearly see that you love Jesus?

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There, There Baby

My precious, little Dan consoling the "baby", 1986.

      "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." (2 Cor. 1:3-4)


       (Shhhhhhhhhh!!! Don't tell my strong, former-US Marine son that I posted this picture of him. hee-hee-hee) When Dan was a toddler, his sister had a baby doll that cried and cried and cried and cried until you put her pacifier in her mouth. When that dolly called for help, it was Dan to the rescue! But because a one-year-old's eye/hand coordination is awkward, he had to work frantically - struggling to get the paci into those crying lips! (Just look at the furrowed brow and expression of concern on his sweet, little face.)
       One cry, however, from a child of God, and the Lord Almighty is quick to the rescue with infinite wisdom and great power! For "the Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth...He will also hear their cry and will save them" (Psalm 145:18-19)."So we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my Helper, I will not be afraid'" (Heb. 13:6).
       Are you distressed today? Cry out to Father God in the name of Jesus! "The Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him" (Isa. 30:18)!
       Let Him comfort you, so you'll be able to comfort others!

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Champ

My sweet, little Ben and his Champ, 1980s

                    "There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."
                                               (Prov. 18:24)


          From tiny tot through elementary school, my Ben's favorite "buddy" was Champ - a too cute, stuffed monkey in a little, red jogging suit. Everywhere our family went, Champ went, too.
          In John chapter 15, Jesus told His disciples that they did not choose Him but He choose them and called them friends. He promised to never leave nor forsake His own. Jesus is the friend that sticks closer than a brother.
         Today, Jesus invites you to be His friend. Believe on the name of Jesus, and you'll have a faithful, friend FOREVER!

What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised
Thou wilt all our burdens bear;
May we ever, Lord, be bringing
All to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright, unclouded,
There will be no need for prayer—
Rapture, praise, and endless worship
Will be our sweet portion there. 1

1 WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS, Words, Joseph Scriven, 1855. Tune CONVERSE, Charles C. Converse, 1868.

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11,000 Pencils

"We are all pencils in the hand of a writing God, who is sending love letters to the world."  Mother Teresa

Last Saturday, over 11,000 servants of Jesus Christ dressed in red, Church of the Highlands T-shirts hit the streets of Birmingham, Montgomery, Auburn, Tuscaloosa, and other communities in Alabama, across the United States, and around the world...

Jesus said, "For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in...Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, 

you did it to Me." (Matt. 25:35,40)

"For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." (Gal. 5:13)

What if everyday became SERVE day?

                             Together, we could rock our world!!!

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Happy 100th Birthday, Mr. Glassco!

Ernest L. Glassco holding Phillip, 1955

          Today, July 14, 2013, my father-in-law would have been 100 years old. Micah 6:8 reads: "O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" 
       To the end of your days on this ol' earth, you lived that Scripture, Mr. Glassco. Well done, sir. You finished your course and kept the faith. Our world needs a lot more hardworking, God-fearing, faithful family men like you. God bless you and happy 100th birthday!!! 

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Whispers in the Rain

Our backyard

"For I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring and My blessing on your descendants and they will spring up among the grass like poplars by streams of water." (Isa. 44:3-4)

          This summer's unusually high numbers of heavy rains have transformed our backyard into a lush green, watered garden. Because the Lord God is continually at work around us, when something out of the ordinary happens, I've learned to ask Him what He's up to.
          As many countries (including my own) in this old world are spiritually dry and thirsty lands, let us hear the Spirit's whisper through the rain: "Sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness on you" (Hosea 10:12)!

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SERVE Day

SERVE day, Woodlawn Campus of Church of the Highlands

"For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown in His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints." (Heb. 6:10 NASB)

            Every July at the end of our small group semester, Church of the Highlands has SERVE day. Literally thousands of us across the state of Alabama put on our little red T-shirts and go serve our communities by feeding, painting, repairing, building, mowing, trimming, picking up trash, etc. for kids, widows, single moms (or dads), the elderly, etc. in neighborhoods, schools, government housing, nursing homes, other churches, prisons, etc.  It's a BLAST!

           If you live in Birmingham, Montgomery, Auburn, or Tuscaloosa, come join the FUN this Saturday, July 13th!!! 

For a listing of projects and locations go to:

              www.churchofthehighlands.com/serve/

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My Favorite Kid

Rebecca - 7th grade

Ben - 6th grade 

Dan - 4th grade

Today, I've decided to announce to the world the name of my favorite kid.

Candidate #1 - Rebecca Jill, my first born. 
Qualification for favorite: beautiful, gorgeous blue eyes, talented, creative, athletic, gentle quiet spirit, loves God, caring, and strong leadership qualities.

Candidate #2 - Benjamin Phillip, my eldest son. 
Qualifications for favorite: handsome, gorgeous blue eyes, extremely talented, athletic, amazing imagination, smart, very outgoing, compassionate, and loves to have fun.

Candidate #3 - Daniel Lee, my baby boy. 
Qualifications for favorite: handsome, gorgeous blue eyes, physically strong, extremely disciplined, wise, discerning, intense protective instincts, insightful, and courageous.

And the winner is.....

Rebecca, Ben, and Dan - they are all my favorite!

              And YOU are God's favorite kid, too!

"Now I really understand that God doesn't show favoritism, but in every nation the person who fears Him and does righteousness is acceptable to Him." (Acts 10:34-35 HCS)

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High Apple Pie, in the Sky HOPES!

Illustration by, award winning artist, Donny Finley
 from the soon-to-be-released, Secrets of Shiloh,
A Christian Storybook for families

“HOPE deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is the tree of life.” Prob. 13:12

            In the 60s, my brother and I had a stack of 45-records and a little player concealed behind our living room love seat. One of the songs we listened to in our little “hide out” was Frank Sinatra’s “High Hopes”:

Once there was a silly old ram

Thought he'd punch a hole in a dam

No one could make that ram, scram

He kept buttin that dam

Cause he had high hopes, he had high hopes

He had high apple pie, in the sky hopes

So any time your feelin bad

Stead of feelin sad

Just remember that ram

Oops there goes a billion kilowatt dam

All problems just a toy balloon

They'll be bursted soon

They're just bound to go pop

Oops there goes another problem kerplop

            Considering my storybooks, some days I feel a bit like that silly old ram butting my head against an impenetrable dam between success and me. But today, I have HIGH APPLE PIE, IN THE SKY HOPES!

            Is confidence in my own abilities the grounds for HIGH HOPES? NO WAY!!! Quite the contrary in fact!!! HIGH HOPES for successful storybooks comes only from great confidence in the One who commissioned me to write, BECAUSE…

“Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass” (1 Thess. 5:24), 

                                                         and 

He “is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us” (Eph. 3:20).

What has God commissioned you to do? PRESS ON, my friend, with HIGH HOPES in HIM.

“I’m sure now I’ll see God’s goodness in the exuberant earth. Stay with God! Take heart. Don’t quit. I’ll say it again: Stay with God!” Psalm 27:13-14, The Message

Azalea Blossom, by Donny Finley

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