Sweet Fruit

Have you ever wondered if you had been in the Garden of Eden, would you have been stronger than Eve, stronger than Adam? Would you have chopped the snake's head off for even suggesting that you eat of the fruit? Do you really think you could have not been led into temptation at the moment when the snake said, "...your eyes will be opened and you will be like God". Genesis 3:5

Adam and Eve wanted to be 'like God', not 'A God'. Don't we fall into this temptation on a regular basis? Don't we want to be like someone else?

We see someone and we want to get to know them, we may be drawn to them because of the way they dress, because we assume they have money, or the way they talk and present themselves. We want to become like them. We feel if we can just be near them, maybe even become their friend, our eyes will be opened and we'll become just like them.

We feel that if we become them our lives will be less stressful, less chaotic. We will be happy, we will become financially healthy, our relationships will be better. Everything will be better!

Just like Adam and Eve we too have misguided desires. We still have the snake coiled around our necks. He is there whispering lies into our ears.

In Nicole Nordeman's book "Love Story", she writes, "It's hard to be exactly who you were made to be and not want more. It's hard not to confuse bettering yourself with betraying yourself." 

We need to remember that God created us. He made us uniquely different. Did He make a mistake by creating us that way? We have to remind ourselves, sometimes on a daily basis, that the answer to that question is NO! He made each of us just the way He wanted us to be. What we do with our lives is up to us. 

Do we succumb to our misguided desires or do we long to walk with Him and to hear Him tell us just how much He loves us. We then in turn tell Him just how much we love Him.

That conversation will be sweeter than any 'fruit' the snake could ever offer.

Love from the Preacher and I

A Pinterest Project

The Preacher and I have had a very emotionally rough month. April has certainly been a big roller coaster ride, and because of that it has been very hard to even think about sitting down at the computer and writing something profound or lofty, that means something. Maybe, at a later date, I will post more about some of the emotions that we have been going through.

So today I thought I would post something a little light-hearted, a Pinterest Project. 

Before

The Preacher and I have been working very hard at cleaning our house, deep cleaning the house. While cleaning the upstairs loft, I discovered that our cat has left scratch marks in some of the post on the railings. She enjoys getting as far up in the air as she can and on the railing post in the loft she can look down on us. She loves it up there.

Well, I knew I couldn't leave it like that, so I turned to Pinterest. I searched for a DIY product that would hide the scratches and here is the recipe that I found: 3/4 cup oil, 1/4 cup vinegar, mix well and apply with a rag. (To see the actual pinterest post just click on the recipe.)

The only oil I had was olive oil, and that worked just fine.

After

I rubbed it on all of the scratch marks and although it didn't magically remove them, it did soften the appearance of the marks. I am very pleased with the results. Here are the before and after pictures.

I hope you have enjoyed this little Pinterest tip. 

I did try one other Pinterest project while cleaning the house, maybe I'll post that on another day.

Well I hope you have a blessed weekend!

Love from the Preacher and I

A Mother's Love

Several years ago the Preacher and I went to the movie theater, along with several people from our congregation, to see the movie, The Passion of Christ.
It was a great movie but was really hard to watch, especially when the Roman Soldiers began beating Jesus and then nailed him to the cross.

As hard as those scenes were to watch, there was another scene that was just as hard, if not harder, for me to watch. 

In this scene you can feel her heart aching for her son. The scene that I am referring to is when Jesus falls from carrying the cross and Mary, Jesus' mother, sees him fall and she is transported back to a time when Jesus was young and he had fallen down stairs. She rushed to him then and told him "I'm here." Her mother instinct takes over and she rushes to him again and tells him the same thing, "I'm here." 

Jesus is the Savior of the world, but during his 33 years here on this earth, he was her child. How hard was that for her? To see her son being beaten and killed upon that cross. Did she know he would resurrect from the dead in just 3 days? Even if she did that didn't stop the pain that she as his mother would have seeing her son being hurt so badly. I'm thinking that maybe she felt in her heart that she would have taken his place just to stop his pain.

While sitting in the theater and watching this I too felt her pain, her overwhelming need to stop this.

Do you remember when your son fell and scrapped his knee? I do. I remember him coming to me crying, showing me his 'ouchy'. I would give him a hug and then kiss his scrapped knee and almost instantly the crying would stop.

Do you think Jesus felt just a tiny bit better knowing his mother was there? Did she kiss the wounds on his face?

We'll never know that intricate part of the walk to the cross, but what I do know is that a mother's love is the same today as it was when Mary loved Jesus.

Love from the Preacher and I

You can watch this powerful scene here.

R.I.P. Roger / Getting Old

I learned this week that a high school friend, Roger Slifer, passed away. He had been living in California. He had worked for Marvel Comics and for DC Comics. In 2012 he was seriously injured by a hit-and-run driver. He was recuperating in a nursing home, but on March 30 he was having trouble breathing and passed away while the ambulance was en-route to the hospital.

I had not been in touch with him since high school, but my mother kept me informed of how he was doing because his sister attends the same church as my mother.  

On the day that I read of his passing on a friend's Facebook page, I was going to a diagnostic center to have a few test ran. Nothing serious, just wellness checks. My doctor wanted me to have one of these test done "due to my age". Don't you just love it when they say that?!

The Preacher was asking me questions about my high school friend since he had never met him. I began reminiscing about high school and the friends that I had. Then I began getting a little teary eyed because life all of a sudden felt very short. I was crying for Roger and I was crying for all of the lost friendships, and I was crying because I began to feel very old.

That last reason might seem silly to some, but it just it me hard how short our lives are. No matter how hard you try to live right, eat right, exercise, old age will catch up to you. This last month the Preacher and I have been seeing different doctors, having blood drawn, having test ran, due to our new insurance. It just catches up to you, this old age. 

I remember in grade school, our teacher asked us to calculate how old we would be in the year 2000. When I subtracted my birth year from the year 2000 I couldn't believe that I would be that old and I remember thinking to myself that I would probably not be around when the year 2000 came. I just knew that I could not possibly live that long because to me I would be soooo old!

And yet here I am, still alive, thank God. I pray that the Lord will let me stay around for a long time. I've got a son whom I would like to see get married and have children. The Preacher and I have so many places that we would like to go and see. 

Rest in peace Roger. I send my prayers and sympathies to his family. I also hope that everyone who is reading this post will remember to love deeply, to be kind, to teach your children well, and to love the Lord with all of your heart and soul. Life is short, we never know when our last day will be, we don't know if we'll go to be with our Lord by a natural death or an accident, but what we do know is that one day will be our last day and we will meet our Lord in heaven.

Love from the Preacher and I

Will You Give This To My Daddy and R.E.D. Fridays

My aunt sent this story to me in an email. I did some searching to try to find the original story and I found where another blogger had posted it onto his blog. (To read Jason's blog click here.) I'm not sure if you can actually verify the original story but as you read in my last post, I know that people do want to honor our soldiers so I really am not doubting that these events didn't take place.

I have to warn you that you should grab a tissue, or two, before reading because you will need it by the time you are finished.

________________________________

                       

 "Will You Give This To My Daddy?" 

                 by John Parker

Last week I was in Atlanta, Georgia attending a conference. While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately turned around and witnessed one of the greatest acts of patriotism I have ever seen. 

                        
Moving through the terminal was a group of soldiers in their camos. As they began heading to their gate, everyone (well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering. 
                         
 When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and cheered for, it hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the only red-blooded American who still loves this country and supports our troops and their families. 
                        
Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us so we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal. 
                         
Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our service men and women, a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old, ran up to one of the male soldiers. He knelled down and said 'hi.' 

The little girl then asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her. 

The young soldier, who didn't look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what did she want to give to her Daddy. Then suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek. 
                        
The mother of the little girl, who said her daughter's name was Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Marine and had been in Iraq for 11 months now. As the mom was explaining how much her daughter Courtney missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up. 
                        
When this temporarily single mom was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second. Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a military-looking walkie-talkie. They started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it.. 
                        
After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, 'I spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you.' He then hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying 'your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and he is coming home very soon.'
                        
The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young soldier stood to his feet, he saluted Courtney and her mom. I was standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire event. 
                        
As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed their applause. As I stood there applauding and looked around, there were very few dry eyes, including my own. That young soldier in one last act of selflessness, turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a tear rolling down his cheek. 
                        
We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and thank God for them and their sacrifices. At the end of the day, it's good to be an American.

photo found on U.S. Army Future Soldier Center Facebook Page

          

There is one way that you can help to remember our soldiers -- Friday's are R.E.D. Friday's (Remember Everyone Deployed). If you are interested in showing your support for our guys who are putting their lives on the line for us, I ask you to remember to wear red each and every Friday. 

Love from the Preacher and I

                        

Say Thank You

Last week the Preacher and I took a trip to attend our son and our Soldier's graduation from Basic and Infantry Training. 

The graduation was wonderful and very emotional! On the first day we attended the Turning Blue Ceremony where the Preacher had the honor of attaching the blue chord to our son's dress blues, signifying that he now was an Infantryman. The second day was the actual graduation where his entire company was paraded out on the open field where soil from every battlefield that we have fought upon was laid down and where so many men before him have marched. 

After the ceremonies our son was able to spend a few days with us. We spent a few hours shopping and sight seeing and of course we ate out for each of our meals.

On two occasions we were blessed by total strangers who either paid our entire check or bought dessert for our family.  On both occasions they expressed their gratitude for our son's willingness to serve his country.

You see this sort of thing happening in the news or someone might post a YouTube video where a man walks in a restaurant and someone picks up the bill all because that man was a veteran.  You watch, a tear might come to your eye, but you don't think about this happening in your own life.

The first time it happened we were at a McDonald's, we had just finished eating and were about to leave when a little boy came up to us and asked us not to leave yet because his mom wanted to do something for us. She then came up with a sack of Apple pies, one for each of us. She explained her husband was in the military and she understood what we as a family were going through. She wanted her son to experience giving back to a fellow soldier.

The second time it happened we were at a BBQ restaurant. We had driven downtown to the old historical part of the town after attending church. The restaurant was full, people eating out after Sunday church. We ate our meal, we ordered dessert and was about to ask the waitress for our tab when she explained that a lady had seen us and then asked to pay our entire bill. The lady told our waitress to tell our son thank you for serving his country. We asked who it was that had done this wonderful thing because we wanted to thank her but she said the lady had already left. 

On both occasions I cried, not just a little tear rolling down my cheek, no, I mean I cried! It was even hard for me to stop crying. How sweet, how generous were these people, that they would pay for our meal, and that they would take the time to notice us from across the room. Our son is a little uncomfortable wearing his ACU's in public, but it is an honor and when you see a soldier it reminds you of their strength and commitment to the nation they serve.  

I'm asking you now, if you see someone in uniform or if you know that a person is or has fought for our country and for you, take the time to at least thank them. You don't have to pay for a meal if you don't want to but at least thank them. Let them know how grateful you are for their sacrifice and for the sacrifice of their families. It makes a difference.

Love from the Preacher and I

People of the High Plains

I do believe the Preacher and I are becoming people of the high plains.

Let me explain. We moved ten years ago from south Florida where there are trees everywhere. If they cut trees down to make way for a new store or housing division they replant the trees. Here in the plains the trees are few and far between. If they cut one down they don't replant one.

There are several people who were born and raised out here and they have told us that they don't like to go out east because the trees are so thick that you can't see what's on the other side. I always thought, when I heard this, how can you not like trees?

Then we traveled to Georgia to attend our son's graduation from basic training. In Georgia the trees line the highways. Trying to find what is at an exit before actually exiting is impossible. So while driving to Columbus from Atlanta, we were trying to find an exit that had some restaurants close to the exit. Not being able to see for the trees, the Preacher kept saying, "If it wasn't for all of these trees we could see something!" right then and there I knew we had become people of the high plains!

Love from the Preacher and I

how to make a house a home

 
While driving to Cheyenne Wells last Tuesday, I began to notice just how many old homesteads there are here on the plains. Old homes that are abandoned and decaying. Where did the people go? Did the people lose their house and land due to economic struggles? Did the children grow up and move leaving no one to help keep the farm going? Did the harsh winters and summers drive the family out of the plains and on to someplace more hospitable? You wonder while looking at these old homes.

I wonder about the family that once lived there. I'm sure that once upon a time that house was loved and if the walls could talk, they would tell you of all of the wonderful memories that were made there.

 I enjoy watching HGTV. I have watched this network since our cable company in Florida offered it as part of our package, back in the late '90's. Before that, my son and I would watch the all decorating shows the the Discovery Channel had to offer. 

 After watching a few shows, I would ask my son if he would like to help me rearrange our living room. He would first make a drawing of how he thought we should move the furniture and then the both of us would start moving everything around. We had so much fun working together on our home.

While watching HGTV's House Hunter's the other night, I began thinking about how some people enjoy looking for smaller homes and others feel the need to have a big home. I think the people were saying that the home they live in they have outgrown because of their family getting larger. I then began to hope that they would get the smaller of the three homes they had looked at because I knew that in just a few short years that home was going to be way to big for them.

I started thinking about the home we live in right now. It is big! We built our home 10 years ago and at the time it seemed to be just the right size. But as time goes on life changes, as it always does. My mother-in-law, who was living with us, has passed away (you can read about her here) and our son has joined the Army. Now it's just the Preacher and I (and one cat and one dog). We would love to "down-size" and get something a little smaller. 

Our log home here on the plains of Colorado

The Preacher and I have lived in many different types of houses. We have lived in everything from a tent, an apartment, a camper trailer and a house to a log cabin. In everyone of them we have made memories that we will always cherish. 

I think that that is the most important lesson to be learned here. Make memories in your house, design that house just the way you like it, paint or wallpaper the walls, move the furniture around, make family meals, and most importantly love those that live there! When you do these things you have just made that house into a home.


Update: Since this post was first published we have moved again into a smaller home that is in the city limits. And also we only have the cat. Our Max passed away and our Sarg went to live with our son. So a smaller home is better for us now. But we are still making memories and making it our home.

The Paris Wife

I have begun to read a new book, The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain.

The Preacher and I went to Las Vegas, Nevada, a few years back for vacation. We stayed in the Paris Hotel. While on our flight to Las Vegas I began reading Ernest Hemingway's book, A Movable Feast. It takes place in Paris in the early 1920's, where he and his wife Hadley live with their son Bumby. It talks about Hemingway's life and how he and his wife lived large on $5.00 a day. 

"This is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy,"                                                                                         - Ernest Hemingway

The Preacher had read the book previously but I had not. In our early days of marriage we visited book stores every chance we got. We seemed to find so many books on their 'discount' table. It was our way of finding cheap entertainment during our financial lean years. We read a lot of Hemingway's books at that time.

Between reading Hemingway and staying at a hotel called the Paris, I became a little fascinated by Paris.  I would love to see it some day. I guess it's on the "bucket list". But reading about Paris in the '20's became very romantic to me. Everyone seemed carefree with quaint sidewalk cafes and walking in beautiful parks.

Since reading A Movable Feast, I have read a biography on Scott Fitzgerald's wife Zelda, Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald. Hemingway met Fitzgerald in Paris and he talks about him in his book.

So after reading about Zelda, I had to find something on Hadley. I know the ending of their life as a married couple but I wanted to know more about her. So while visiting a book store a few weeks ago, I found this book on one of the tables that was highlighting some biography type books. I knew immediately who it was about and told the Preacher that I was going to buy it right then and there.I couldn't wait to go home, find it on Amazon, and then wait a few days for it to be shipped. 

So I have begun reading about Hadley, I only have gotten a few chapters in but I am captivated by her already. She's a timid, frail, 28 year old girl who believes love may pass her by in her life, but then she meets Ernest and life changes. 

Sometimes the best love stories are the real stories of life.

Part 2 of What A First-Time Guest Can Expect At The Church Of The Preacher And I

In my last post I explained that I had seen an article about the "Top Ten Ways Churches Drive Away First-Time Guest". I decided to answer the top ten by looking at our church located here in rural Colorado.

I began with the top five and in this post I will be looking at the final five.

6. Poor Signage. Not only are we, what some would consider, small in numbers, but our building is also small. In fact, we are looking at expanding. Therefore, it is somewhat easy to find all of our various classrooms, kitchen, etc., but we have placed signs in the various main areas to help guest find their way around the building.

7. Insider Church language. The author of the article used this example, "The WMU will meet in the CLC in the room where the GA's usually meet." I agree, this is bad. We don't have that many classrooms so they are not named other than maybe the Nursery. I think the only abbreviation we use is YCC when we refer to our name. Other than that I can not think of another one. Now maybe we can get a little Christianeze with some words but all in all I think we do try to be understanding of our guest or even new Christians.

8. Boring and bad service. If you ever come to one of our services, I don't think you'll classify it as boring. On the contrary! Our worship leader does an amazing job at leading us into a worship time through music that just makes you feel God's grace. And then the Preacher, well he can get so excited sometimes while preaching that you want to be sure to not miss a thing. I have always told him that he can explain the scriptures better than anyone I know. He has a way of making them more real and so much more relevant for your life at the place that you are right now.

9. Members telling guest that they were in their seat or pew. This is terrible if this truly has happened! Granted we have members who gravitate to the same seat/row every Sunday morning, but if they are late and someone has gotten there before them, never have I seen anyone in our church tell someone that they have to move! No, they just find another seat/row to sit in and are very content where they are sitting that day. Every seat in the house is a good seat. You're not going to miss anything.

10. Dirty facilities. Our building is an old building and at first glance you may think that it will not be a comfortable place to worship. We try hard to make sure our church is clean and ready to go before every service or any activity that is taking place here. We have a lady who takes pride in cleaning the church and she is very careful to come early on the days there may be an activity that evening. But, one of the complaints in this survey was the cleanliness of the pews and how there were stains on them. Yes, we do have some chairs that have stains and we have discussed having someone come in to clean them. There will always be spills and accidents made either by children or adults (especially when we invite you to bring your coffee back in to the worship area). I think when the members help with some of the clean up, either after a service or an activity, it goes a long way in showing our guest that we do take pride in our facilities and we treat it as if it were our own home.

Have you been a guest at one of our services? If so, I would love to hear what you thought. Good or bad, it will help us to strive to be better. We do want our church to be a comfortable, loving, safe place to be.

Love from the Preacher and I

What A First-Time Guest Can Expect At The Church Of The Preacher and I

Recently I have seen an article that is going around on Facebook titled " Top Ten Ways Churches Drive Away First-Time Guests". 

Some would classify our church as a small church, but when you're looking at rural America, I think our church would be classified as a medium attended church. We run around 75-100 people any given Sunday. So I read it from the perspective of a church of our size.

I thought I'd talk about each one and give an answer to each as if it were our church here in rural Colorado.  

1. Having a stand up and greet one another time in the worship service. Rarely do we ask people to stand up and greet each other. Juan, our Worship Leader, may ask people to do this but like I said it is not our norm. I fully understand how this could make people very uncomfortable. I too, have been in churches where this is practiced and it makes me very nervous, but the Preacher, he doesn't mind at all. We have a HeBrews station where we offer coffee, water and pastries and at "half time", the time between the worship service and the message, we break for 5-10 minutes and everyone is invited to go back get some drinks and food and in the process people stop and greet one another. It is such a beautiful time for the people that sometimes it is hard for the Preacher to get everyone back in their seats for his message, but he sees it as a sacred time as well.

2. Unfriendly church members. I have to tell you, in my opinion, our church is the friendliest church I know. This is one of the things that we have been complimented on, that we are a very friendly church. I feel like our people really do want to get to know our guest. When they greet them there is more conversation going on than just a "Hi, how are you." They ask questions and really try to make them feel welcome.

3. Unsafe and unclean children's area. This is something that we are always working on. We do want to have a place for the parent's to take their children that is safe and clean. Our Nursery and Children's Church Ministry Leaders make every effort to have the best facilities that we can possibly have.

4. No place to get information. In the back of our worship area, back by the HeBrews station, is where we keep our brochures. Every week we have a bulletin that is handed out to each person by our greeters and it list all of the week's activities and the information that someone would need to know about each one. I believe we could possibly do better, but I'm not sure how at this point. We are constantly trying to get the most up to date information out there.

5. Bad church website. I think our website, yumachristianchurch.com, is a good website. Being that we have a low budget, we did not opt to have a 'professional' web builder. Someone in our church volunteered to build it for us. I think it is bright and colorful, it list our Ministry Leaders, our Ministers, the times of our services and the address. About once a month we try to visit it and make sure it is being updated. If you haven't visited our website, please do.

Well I guess I will stop here and I'll list the next five in my next post. If you have been a guest in our church, please let me know what you think.

Love from the Preacher and I