Run, Run, Fast as You Can!

I love it when Jesus describes Himself as a Shepherd. I can feel Him lifting me in His arms and gently carrying me away from danger. Prayerfully, I don't continue to rebel to the point He has to break my leg!

As I was reading about the Shepherd in John 10, I was compelled to contemplate about verses 4-5:

When He has brought His own sheep outside, He walks on before them, and the sheep follow Him because they know His voice. They will never [on any account] follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they do not know the voice of strangers or recognize their call. (Amplified)

It saddened me to know that many times I have listened to the "stranger," the very enemy of my soul and the enemy of all who are God's own sheep. However, I do rejoice that the longer I serve the Shepherd, the more I recognize His voice and direction.

But the part that struck me was "...will run away from him..." Do I really "run" when I hear the enemy's voice, direction, lies, etc. or do I take a few moments to contemplate, debate.... Wow! You know it brings to mind that other scripture, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:7 NIV)

So... I should be running from the stranger, submitting to God, then the stranger will run from me - WOO HOO!! I'm putting on my running shoes because...

The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). John 10:10, AMP

Lord Jesus,
Thank You that You are indeed the wise, compassionate Shepherd. Thank You that I can trust You to act only for my good. Please forgive me for listening to the stranger, the enemy of my soul, who only works for my defeat. May I rejoice in, love and cling to Your voice in every situation remembering that there is NO darkness in You, ever.

I Don't Understand!

There are times I just don't understand God, DUH! Times I just don't see His hand moving...like when some Godly men I've known are taken from this life so early...the most recent was Mike Blaylock, a friend of ours who worked for the University of Mobile. He was dearly loved by his family, work associates and students. He had such a ministry of encouragement. He was the former chaplain for the Kansas City Royals and author of The Right Way to Win. After several years of battling cancer, Mike recently went home to be with the LORD. Same with my beloved pastor, Dr. Ivo Livingston, my children's principal and coach, Tandy Gerald, our wonderful friend, D.L. Crain, and our dear friend and fellow pastor, Bill Trapp. I just don't understand when I think they needed to touch so many more lives....

The Disciples were faced with some difficult decisions, too...like trying to trust Jesus when He was talking about eating His flesh and drinking His blood (John 6:56). Of course, we realize He was speaking symbolically now, but then, many just could not understand this bloody talking. In fact, the scriptures record later in this passage that many fell away from following Him. At that point the Master asked the Disciples, "Will you also go away?" Then comes mouthy Peter (I can SO identify with that man!) declaring, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." But it is the next statement that spoke to me today...

And we have learned to believe and trust, and [more] we have come to know [surely] that You are the Holy One of God, the Christ (the Anointed One), the Son of the living God. John 6:69 Amplified Version

The Disciples did not understand this talk of Jesus' but as Peter stated, they had learned to trust and believe in Him...so I take comfort in that. If they walked with Jesus day by day and still had areas in which they had to just trust, then I can learn to trust even when I don't understand...some things are just too hard for me...

Thank You, LORD, that You are higher and nobler and righter and wiser and more than anything I am...thank You that You are so worthy of my worship and adoration. Thank You for allowing these men to touch me and the lives of those I love; I pray their witness and influence will continue throughout the ages. When I don't understand, LORD, I will choose to leave that with You and just trust.

Waste Away

The LORD has been impressing upon me lately about waste...of time, resources, energy, food, money, love, etc. Remember the feeding of the 5000+ in John 6...after everyone was full, this is what Jesus had to say...

When they had all had enough, He said to His disciples, "Gather up now the fragments (the broken pieces that are left over), so that nothing may be lost or wasted." John 6:12 (AMP)

Well, I've heard a few sermons on this - there were 12 small baskets of leftovers, maybe one for each disciple - talk about your "hands on" lesson that the LORD is truly sufficient.

But what Jesus said about nothing being lost or wasted has prompted me to take an account of how much I waste each day...

• time, like continuing to lie in the bed when I am really awake or staying on the Internet too long or watching lots of cooking shows when I don't really cook that much...


• resources, like letting the water run while I brush my teeth


• food, like by simply eating more than I need (Ouch, Lord!) or letting food spoil in the frig instead of making a diligent effort to use it


• money, like eating out too much or not making my trips to town be efficient


• energy, um maybe I don't waste energy since I don't exert much :(


• love b/c I don't remember that people are more important than things

You get the idea. Now, I don't want to become obsessed with not wasting but I do want to get the message. Maybe we in America have simply wasted too much for too long. Maybe we need to take an account of how much we can save instead of "wasting away."

Parental Behavior

My hubby of 29 years and I recently took a little shopping trip to Atlanta for our anniversary. We both love to bargain shop, me for about anything, him for tennis racquets. We found some great bargains, mostly Plus Size clothing for ladies and tennis racquets. You'll find them soon in my eBay store, Mimi's Discount Boutique.

Being an educator, I guess it is second nature to want to "educate." Today I have a shout out to a parent in the Marietta area. We had been to a lot of Goodwill stores and various other consignment shops and thrift stores. Unfortunately, we saw a lot of "bad parent behavior," not bad child behavior. In an attempt at control, parents (and sadly, some grandparents!) yelled at their children, threatened to call the police, yanked, pulled, or just generally ignored child behavior that did need correcting. But this one dad needs applauding. He was coming from a store and was holding his child's hand. The child evidently wanted Mom (who was back in the store.) But Dad did not yell, he used a calm voice and continued to tell the child that, "We are going to the car; we are not going back in the store," as he gently pulled the child along. The child was probably around 3-4 yrs. old. But I just loved that Dad stayed in control of himself and his child. It was wonderful!! No need for yelling and useless threats (and by the way, just an editorial comment - PLEASE, PLEASE do not threaten your child with the police, fireman, teacher, nurse, doctor, etc. - they may actually have to depend on these people for their lives one day and I would hate for them to be scared witless because of threats from their parents!!)

So here's my cudos to an in control parent - it can be done!!!

And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4

Am I My Brother's Keeper?

Nothing special tonight but Brotherly Love...

I am a member of an eclectic group of entrepreneurs called OSI Rock Stars. The amount of love and compassion they show for one another is simply phenomenal. Recently one of our own, Janieruth, experienced an awful accident at eBay Live in Chicago. She was visiting an art museum and fell 10 feet from a banister. Since then, she has been hospitalized with a serious head injury. OSI Rock Stars have shown an outpouring of love, prayers, concern and even developed a fund to help with her expenses. And most of this comes from folks who have never even met each other. Amazing.

Another one of our own, Rina, recently lost her sister unexpectedly. Again, OSI members showered her with love, support, and prayers. In a response to this, Rina reminded us...If you have a relationship "fence" in your life that needs some mending, please don't delay ... act today! I know how hard it can be to take that first step, but "too hard" can turn into "too late" faster than you can possibly imagine. Wow.

I took that to heart tonight and called my only brother. I had not spoken to him in over 6 months. There were really no hard words between us. Lack of communication was mostly from lack of effort, I suppose. At times I thought, "Well, the phone works both ways." And it does. So what?

It felt really good to hear him answer that phone, to hear his voice. Just to chat. Nothing special except "brotherly love." Yeah, really good.

Thanks, Janieruth & Rina, for reminding me how special family really is.


But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. I Corinthians 13:13