A Steadfast Tongue

The finches on my bird feeder this morning

"And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? (James 3:10-11)

           This morning, I was quite the self-contradicting paradox - feeding finches on one side of my deck and shooting at woodpeckers with my Daisy BB gun on the other. (Never fear animal-lovers, I didn't hit them - just scared them away from our chimney that they're pecking full of holes!)

            

            In the New Testament, James, son of Mary and Joseph and half-brother of Jesus, addressed the problem of the paradoxical tongue, which pours forth both blessings and cursing:

"Dear brothers and sisters...If we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way...A rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go...In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches...Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God...this is not right!" 

Word check! Beloved, today, let's consistently, resolutely, steadily, unchangingly, uniformly, invariably, unfailingly, persistently,  unswervingly, whole-heartedly speak life-giving, uplifting, edifying blessings, and STOP every offensive, down-grading, angry, sarcastic, destructive, faultfinding, condemning, hurtful syllable before it spews through our lips!

"Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips." (Psalm 141:3)

              

           

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Quiet as a Church Mouse

"Barnabas Fieldmouse" from Mr. Greenleaf's Unforgettable Summer
Illustration by my friend and talented artist, Dawn Copeland

"The whole earth will acknowledge the Lord and return to Him. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him...Our children will also serve Him. Future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord. His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born. They will hear about everything He has done." (Psalm 22:27,30-31 NLT)

At the N. Avondale Bible study yesterday, our wise and valiant Miss Evelyn said, "My heart is burdened for lost people, especially the young men and women, because Christians are so quiet and the devil is so noisy!"

In the tenth chapter of Romans, the Apostle Paul wrote: "But how can they call on [Jesus] to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them?"

Open your mouth, O Christian, and talk to somebody about Jesus!

Sneak peek into soon to be released 

Mr. Greenleaf's Unforgettable Summer:

           When he awoke the following evening, Mr. Man-in-the-Moon sat in his normal star-studded sky, and the cricket choir crooned their normal merry tune; but Mr. Greenleaf's circumstance didn't resemble normal by any stretch of the imagination - waking under an ivy leaf instead of snug in his tiny cave by the goldfish pond. He moaned,

"With tear-flooded cheeks,

I weep bitterly in the night.

For no one's here to comfort me

Or help to make things right."

              Unbeknownst to Mr. Greenleaf, Barnabas Fieldmous sat nearby nibbling sunflower seeds spilled from the new bird feeder Mr. Willowkins had hung by the screen porch and heard the pitiful lamentation.

                 "Hey now," said Barnabas, "what's all this blubbering about?"1

1 MR. GREENLEAF'S UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER. Copyright Jill Glassco, 2015.

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Leap of Faith

"Orville McNutt" from Mr. Greenleaf's Unforgettable Summer
Illustration by my friend and talented artist, Dawn Copeland

"You don't have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard see, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible!" (Matt. 17:20 NLT)

        

Years ago, when the destructive affects of "devil's brew" almost killed one of our children, I prayed, fasted, and bought a pair of Corona flip-flops. No, I'm not Looney-Tunes! In a leap of faith, I stomped around in those shoes, praying fervently that my mighty God of peace would soon crush Satan [in the form of alcohol] under my feet (Romans 16:20) and away from our family. And guess what, by God's amazing grace, mercy, and power, that mountain moved!

Beloved, take a leap of faith. Lift extreme prayers to Jesus - the One who can move mountains and crush the devil under your feet!

           

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Crazy-desperate for Him

"Mrs. Willowkins" from Mr. Greenleaf's Unforgettable Summer

Illustration by my friend and talented artist, Dawn Copeland

Jesus said, "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5 NLT)

              I believe that every now and again, the Lord pulls His hand back just far enough to remind me of what I'm really like without Him: selfish, prideful, judgmental, fretful, i.e. sinful. That stark awareness makes me crazy-desperate for Him! 

             In the Old Testament, Israel, God's chosen people, confessed, "You disciplined me, and I have been disciplined like an untrained calf. Restore me, and I will return, for You, Lord, are my God." (Jer. 31:18 HCSB) 

Beloved, are you feeling like an untrained calf? May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit hold you ever so close today!

    

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Confirmation!

Our babygrand and Uncle Dan

"Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; and confirm for us the work of our hands; yes, confirm the work of our hands." (Psalm 90:17 NASB)

               With the manuscript of Mr. Greenleaf's Unforgettable Summer now in the publisher's hands, I'm working on storybook #5. After about seven tries of writing and rewriting chapter one, I pleaded, "Lord Jesus, please tell me this story."

                   The Lord answered and last week, as He "talked", I recorded the first three chapters of Chancellor Ferry's Praying Hyde: the tale of a little, brown mantis that lived along the Coosa River during the Great Depression of the 1930s. 

                  You're probably thinking, Jill, why do you believe the Lord is telling you this story?

                       Well, I'm glad you asked. On Monday, I typed:

          On a hot July day in the little town of Childersburg, Norman  Hyde climbed up the whitewashed siding onto a windowsill beside the Estey pump organ (his regular seat on any given Sunday at the Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church) and peered inside. The little, brown insect saw a middle-aged man in a worn, black suit standing in the pulpit wiping rivulets of sweat streaming down his brow. In the pews, menfolk mopped their faces with white handkerchiefs, and the womenfolk fanned red-cheeked babies. The blistering, summer heat of 1935 felt hotter than sizzling grease in a frying pan, and a breeze through the open windows was as rare as pocket change in the offering plate.

           Americans were struggling to keep their heads above water in the worldwide economic typhoon; and folks in the south - Alabamians in particular - were hit harder than a Babe Ruth home run. With men out of work and families out of food, a single egg became so valuable that a farm boy could trade it for all the candy he wanted at the local grocery store. I reckon, in some ways, the bug-kind got by easier than mankind in those days, since they could catch supper instead of having to buy it or grow it. 1

                  And then on Friday, I "just happened" to meet an older gentleman in Childersburg that grew up along the Coosa River, had ridden the Chancellor Ferry as a child, and whose daddy owned a grocery store that carried fans used in the local churches on hot summer days.

Beloved, pray today to the Lord who really does answer prayers and will indeed confirm the work of your hands!

old fan from Dunlap Grocery

back of fan

    Our God is an awesome God!
(By the way, I changed "local grocery" to Dunlap Grocery.)

1 CHANCELLOR FERRY'S PRAYING HYDE. Copyright Jill Glassco, 2015.

                    

          

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Strong!

Five-year-old "Isaac" from Mr. Greenleaf's Unforgettable Summer,
by my friend and talented artist, Dawn Copeland

"For the eyes of Yahwah roam throughout the earth 
to show Himself STRONG for those whose hearts are 
completely His..." (2 Chron. 16:9a HCSB)

The Lord said to me, "My grace is all you need. My 
power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to 
boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of 
Christ can work through me." (2 Cor. 12:9 NLT)

             A charm of finches danced happily around our 
bird feeder this morning until a bigger, stronger dove 
frightened them away. 

             Oftentimes, I feel like a frail, little finch, too 
weak to be useful to God. The truth, however, is that God 
works best through feeble vessels who recognize that, 
without Jesus, we can do nothing (John 15:5), but through 
Him who gives us strength, we can do all things 
(Phil. 4:13).

Today, beloved, may you be STRONG in the Lord and the 
power of His might (Eph. 6:10) and go share the love of 
Jesus in a hurting world.

Sneak peak into soon to be released

 Mr. Greenleaf's Unforgettable Summer:

          "Wilbur, they're here!" she called happily.

         Mr. and Mrs. Willowkins hurried outside to 
greet their children, grandchildren, and granddog, Lucy, 
already piling out of the car. After hugs and kisses and 
more hugs and kisses, Mrs. Willowkins exclaimed, "Wilbur, 
can you believe how tall Jacob has grown? Jacob, you'll 
be taller than Mamaw soon. And Elizabeth, you get prettier 
everyday, just like your mama. Isaac, let me feel those 
muscles.

              Instantly, Isaac made fists and raised both arms 
to show off his superhero muscles. "Strongest five-year-old 
I've ever seen," said Mrs. Willowkins proudly.1

1 MR. GREENLEAF'S UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER. Copyright 2015, Jill Glassco

            

  

           

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His Story

Illustration from Mr. Greenleaf's Unforgettable Summer
by my friend and talented artist, Dawn Copeland

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News of good things...Their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." (Romans 10:15,18)

            My friend, Dawn, is truly gifted by God. Isn't her pencil drawing of Mr. Greenleaf perched on the tiptop of his watering pot spout amazing! His story...

           Do you know that electrified, overjoyed, excited feeling you have when you wake up on your birthday or Christmas Day or the first day of summer vacation? Well, that's precisely how Mr. Greenleaf felt when he woke up later that same summer day and heard he, she, wee, and teeny-Willowkins' voices on the screen porch.

             "Mamaw, it's time for another Bible story," said Elizabeth.

          Mr. Greenleaf's teensy ears perked up as tall as a little, green tree frog's ears can perk. He wiggled down the hollow handle and perched on the watering pot spout so as not to miss a single word.

             Splendid, thought the froggy, another Bible story!1

              Do you know the greatest story ever told in the history of mankind? Well, it's His story, and it begins in the book of Genesis... 

                "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness," God said. (God said "Us" and "Our" because our God is three in One: Father, Jesus His Son, and the Holy Spirit.) So the man, Adam, was created in God's image and likeness; therefore, at first, he had the glory of God - His presence and perfect, sinless character.

                      Soon after Adam's creation, he and his wife, Eve, disobeyed God. They sinned or missed the mark by doing what God told them not to do. Since that tragic day in the Garden of Eden, "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Mankind lost God's glorious, sinless character and access to His presence. The Bible says, "Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear you" (Isaiah 59:2), and "the wages (paycheck) for sin is death" (Romans 6:23). 

                      Oh my! "Who will set me free from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24). Since in God's law (He made the world, so He makes the rules), death is the penalty for sin, then each one of us must pay the penalty of death ourselves OR SomeOne must pay the penalty for us. Indeed the wages of sin is death, but there's Good News, Romans 6:23 in its entirety says, "but, the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord!"

                      Even before Adam sinned, God had a perfect plan to save man from his sin. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus) that whoever believes in Him shall not die, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

                    God's free gift of eternal life is not deserved, and it cannot be earned. "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

                      The story of Jesus on earth is recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. God's Son came to earth as a baby, born of the virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. From age 30 to about 33, Jesus ministered to multitudes of people by teaching, loving, freeing, and healing them. Then, He allowed Roman soldiers to arrest Him, beat Him, and nail Him to a cross, where He hung in agony and pain for six hours. Moments before His death, Jesus said, "It is finished!" - Jesus who never sinned, died in the place of sinners who will choose faith in Him. God accepts His shed blood as payment for our sins when we believe and trust God.

                        Jesus was buried in a tomb; but three days later, He rose back to life, remained on earth forty more days, and appeared to over 500 witnesses. Jesus then ascended into heaven, sat down at the right hand of Father God, where today He intercedes and prays for believers. 

                One day - perhaps soon - Jesus will come back to earth; and according to the book of Revelation, He'll reign as King of kings and Lord of lords for 1,000 years. At the end of His millennium, God will create a new heaven and a new earth where believers will live with Him forever and ever and ever and ever. For believers in Jesus Christ, sin, sickness, sorrow, and death will be destroyed and gone forevermore.  Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen!

Beloved, have you received God's free gift of forgiveness and eternal life? "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved...for whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:9,13)

And that, my friends, is His story!

Is Jesus in your story?

               

1MR. GREENLEAF'S UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER. Copyright 2015, Jill Glassco

               

             

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Stoke the Fire!

A wintry night at our river cabin, Christmas 2014

"So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the
 word of God. " (Romans 10:17)

        It took an hour and a half of feeding on the word
of God this morning before my pitiful mind shifted 
from cares of life to the fruits of the Holy Spirit (love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
humility, and self-control).

        The Bible, my friend, is to faith in Jesus as fuel is 
to a fire. When the wood supply is cut off, flames dim 
to embers, which over time die and grow cold. So it is 
with faith. Without a steady supply of God's truth, faith 
in God sinks to doubt and discouragement, which over 
time falls into stone-cold unbelief.

Beloved, have you stoked your faith fire today?

From The Schoolhouse, by me:

               I curled in a rocker by the fireplace for a long 
while after the others went to bed. The oak logs 
hissed and crackled in the heat of blue and yellow 
flames. I sat mesmerized by the red glow of hot coals 
beneath the grate and jumped when a sudden pop 
launched glittering sparks up the chimney.

         Before teaching at Shady Grove, I believed 
I could accomplish anything alone. Watching 
neighbors pull together and work as a team to save 
my school, however, helped me realize the need for God 
and community.

               I opened my Bible to Ecclesiastes and in 
the dimming firelight read, "Two are better than one 
because they have a good return for their labor. For 
if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion...
a cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart."   

               On that wintry night, King Solomon's proverb 
penetrated my heart as never before. I added a log 
to the fire before heading to bed and then peeked through 
the lace curtains to discover a snow-globe wonderland...

Illustration from The Schoolhouse
by talented artist, Cami Monet Webb

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Recreated

My Rebecca and our princess,
"All dressed up for girls' night out"
2010ish

"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" (2 Cor. 5:17)



              When my blog's background template mysteriously vanished last week, my Rebecca recreated the wonderful family storybooks blogspot. Thank you, Rebecca! What do you think about the new design?

              When Father God snatches a soul from the flames of judgment through faith in His Son, Jesus, He recreates them and gives them new life and new beginnings. Romans 6:4 says, "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life."

Beloved, are you walking in new life or stumbling back into old ways? 

"Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lust, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God [daily] as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God." (Romans 6:12-13)
               

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Do Not Be Afraid or Discouraged!

My I-asked-God-for-twenty-years son-in-law and my sweet grandson

"Haven't I commanded you? Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9 HCSB)



                You may be asking, "Jill, did you really ask God for your son-in-law for twenty years?"
                Yep, sure did! When our Rebecca was two, I began asking the Lord to choose her husband and to please not let her marry anyone else. She and Stephen met the first day of seventh grade; and after years of being best friends, in 2004 they became "best friends forever." Today, even though my baby girl lives five hundred miles away, I don't worry about her, because Stephen and Jesus are right beside her wherever she goes.

Beloved are you afraid or discouraged today? Be strong! Be courageous! The greater-than-best friend you'll ever have is with you everywhere you go. And His name is Jesus!

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Detailed Instructions

"Storytime"
my grandkids and me, 2009

"Above all, be strong and very courageous to carefully observe the whole instruction...Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go." (Joshua 1:7)

The Lord God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die." (Gen. 2:16-17)

And God said to [David], "It shall be when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall go out to battle..." (1 Chron. 14:14-15)

The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus." (Luke 1:30-31)

I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyratira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." (Rev. 1:10-11)

          From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible records God speaking detailed instructions to both male and female individuals; and with their obedience, came monumental blessings; however, with their disobedience, came disastrous calamities.

                   I strongly believe that God continues, even to this day, to give detailed instructions to those who will listen. (In 2011, I believe the Lord said, "Jill, it's time to write a story," and four books later, He said, "Go to schools and libraries and daycare facilities and nursing homes and wherever I send you to read these stories to children and adults, whom I love.")

Beloved, God still gives detailed instructions. Are you listening? More importantly, are you obeying?

"Take hold of My instructions; don't let them go. Guard them, for they are the key to life." (Prov. 4:13)

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Passing the Servanthood Baton

"Selfie" of my Rebecca and me,
Legoland, Chicago, 2014

After the death of Moses the Lord's servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, who had served Moses. "Moses My servant is dead. Now you...." (Joshua 1:1-2a HCSB)

           

            Recently, I've been meditating on and memorizing Joshua 1:1-9. (Don't be impressed. I read the Bible daily; but to my shame, I rarely make the effort to memorize passages of Scripture.) In these verses, God tells Joshua three times to be strong and courageous; but today, I realized I've been missing perhaps the most important message in the passage. Moses the Lord's servant was dead, and Joshua, who had served Moses, became the next servant of the Lord - the baton of servanthood passed on so that God's work continued.

            I've had the privilege of teaching the Bible for years and years and more years than maybe you've been alive. Ha! When my children were little, I taught it to kids. When they were teens I taught teenagers. And these days, I teach to whoever will listen; while in another state, praise the Lord, my Rebecca and her hubby, Stephen, teach the Bible to literally hundreds of children each week. 

            Jesus said to go and make disciples (Matt. 28:19). In other words, serve the Lord and continually pass batons of servanthood on to others - multiplying disciples of Christ.

Two questions for us this morning, beloved:

1.  What are our God-assigned places of service?

2.  Who are we passing service batons to?

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I Believe in Jesus

"For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God." (Romans 1:20 NLT)

I believe in God our Father

I believe in Christ the Son

I believe in the Holy Spirit

Our God is three in One




I believe in the resurrection



That we will rise again

For I believe in the name of Jesus!1

Do you?
There is no excuse.

1 THIS I BELIEVE (THE CREED), by Hillsong.

2 Photos by my Rebecca and me.

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