Out of Africa

What is life like when you expand your borders, color outside the lines and live without fear? It's an amazing technicoloured world as the pictures my son took on his last mission trip to Africa show. It's hard to imagine walking among God's creatures with no boundaries in place..No fences, no wires.

Genesis 1:21
So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:24
And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.



Genesis 1:25
God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Daniel 4:22
Your Majesty, you are that tree! You have become great and strong; your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth.

Daniel 4:3
How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation.

Psalm 23:2
He makes me lie down in green pastures

he leads me beside quiet waters,

Isaiah 43:20
The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen,

Deuteronomy 33:29
Blessed are you, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you, and you will tread on their heights.”

Deuteronomy 11:15
I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be
satisfied.

Psalm 36:6
Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, LORD, preserve both people and animals.

 Psalm 65:13
The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.

Proverbs 7:15
So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you!

Let Your Ripples Sparkle and Dance All the Way to the Shore

My daughter is in the process of making a very important life choice. Will she continue with the military a few more years or will she come home and begin the business of having her life as her own again?

It sounds like it would be an easy decision, but it has caused her a lot of stress. She has had to assess where she is in life as opposed to where she wants to be. She has had to calculate the best path to take, to get where she wants to be. She has had to look at what her hearts desires are and what path to take to see them fulfilled. There are always a multitude of angles that must be considered  when making these decisions. My son is in the process of opening his own business. He has a ton of choices to make, location, promotion, long-term vs. short-term goals. These decisions will not only affect him but those who are in business with him and the future of their families years down the road. Those are not decisions that can or should be taken lightly. He's also had to make the decision to resign from his current position as volunteer coordinator at the shelter where he works. The shelter, the people he has worked with and the clients he has helped has been a big part of his life the last couple of years and although he isn't letting it go completely, he won't be as intimately involved as he has been. There's a little ache there, the pains of letting go.  Life goes on, you make choices when you are young and those choices follow you around one way or another

for the rest of your life. Some choices seem like no big deal, but will they seem that way years down the road? Our choices mold
us into the people we become and the goal is to never stop becoming.... always becoming
more. It may seem that the choices of your
youth are more difficult than the choices you make as you mature, that isn't so.
Everyday I wake up to a multitude of choices that will effect not only me, but my co-workers, family, friends and my future grandchildren.

Most choices are Black/White, Right/Wrong, and I think I'm the one who adds the gray area that tends to cause the problems. Some mornings I wake up and I am raring to make good choices, other mornings I have to make a concentrated effort to be wise, focused and thoughtful with my choices.... To pick up my cross and bear it for the cause of Christ.  I told someone the other day that when Christ said "It is finished", as he died on the cross not only was he talking about the work he came to do, but the fact that the battle against his flesh (because he did battle it) was over. I believe that Christ, being fully human, experienced the draining, exhausting battle

between the Spirit and Flesh. So when I feel like giving up and just flipping a coin for the choice of the day, I have to remember it's not all about me. Like ripples in a pond caused by one drop of water.... Those ripples sparkle and dance all the way to the shore where others are standing, watching the mesmerizing affect one drop of water can make. Not all choices are do or die choices.
Often the most difficult choice of the day is when I get up in the morning and search for the perfect pair of shoes (those are the good days). The first choice of the day can determine the

direction your day takes. Just try wearing an uncomfortable, ugly pair of shoes all day and you will know that first choice can determine the smile or the frown on your face at the end of the day. Go out there today and make the best choices you can and if you remember nothing else, remember this... If you truly want to make an impact, fashion always trumps comfort and immediate gratification can cost you a lifetime of ripples on the pond of life. How are your ripples going to sparkle and dance today? Hopefully in a very good way...

Do Not Touch Makes Me Curious Like a Cat

Last night I got home from work and was hurrying upstairs to change clothes. One of my son's friends must have thought it would be a hoot to egg my cute little clown car (It's a Cube). I was going to run to the car wash before it did any damage to the paint. As I began upstairs tugging at my clothes as I went, I noticed a gadget or something on the breakfast nook table with a handwritten sign under it that said "DO NOT TOUCH!".... Now why, did he have to do that? If I wasn't suppose to touch it, there should have been no sign saying do not touch..... It just should have been. I cannot tell you how my fingers itched to touch that stupid gadget that apparently was in the process of downloading music. I came back downstairs and I walked by the note several times, looked, pondered, paced.... I had this overwhelming desire to just touch it. I really needed to go wash my car, but gosh, the temptation was torture!!! I just couldn't help but wonder what would happen if I had touched it? Would it explode? Would anyone even know I had touched it? Was there a hidden camera around somewhere waiting to see what I would really do? I went ahead and drove to the car wash still pondering why I wasn't suppose to touch. When I got home, luck has it that my son had gotten home first and was working on the gadget so all curiosity was nipped in the bud. How much fun would it be to touch with supervision, so I couldn't screw something up??? Not much I'll tell you that. I'm the one who has to touch the desserts in a resturant display to see if they are plastic or real. Occasionally I'm shocked to find whipped cream on my finger from a display of the real thing! I'm always a little embarrassed when that happens because the hostess will look at me like I've lost my mind. I can't help it, I'm just curious... curious like a cat... "That's why they call me Whiskers... Which leads me to the best skit of all times....

Patience Is a Virtue

Patience is a virtue, and something I don't presently have much of. I got home from work today and found a DSW shoes rewards coupon in the mail. My first instinct was to head out to the City (1.5 hours away), and buy a new pair of shoes..... Then I remembered A) My family expected me to fix dinner tonight B) The stupid "Dave Ramsey" envelope budget thingy C) If I got held up in the City shopping and couldn't make it back to work tomorrow my boss  SO wouldn't understand. Then I realized.... God must be trying to teach me patience and I'm think to myself "After 47 years.... Why bother?" I remember when my daughter was a wee one, scooting around the house in her walker (my gosh I don't even think those things are legal any more).  One of my vows of motherhood was that I would never put my nic nacs away. My kids were just going to learn that there were some things they could not touch.  My daughter would scoot up to a little pretty knowing she was not suppose to touch. She would sweetly look at me as she reached her hand toward the "no no".  In my sweetest mommy voice I would say..... "No, no. Don't touch" and she would quickly draw her hand back. Seconds later her sweet little arms would once again extend to the "no no" and she would glance at me and back to the "no no" again. Those little fingers would ever so slowly arch toward the "no no" and as they did her chubby little fingers would stretch as far apart as they could and she would wiggle each one in turn as each little finger longed just for one touch of the forbidden "no no". Isn't that just like us all. Whatever is just out of our reach or "forbidden" is exactly what we are craving at that second. Do I need new shoes? Ha!!! You have got to be kidding me.  I could wear a different pair of shoes every day for probably several months and still not run out. Still, that coupon is burning a hole in the pocket of my purse. I don't need shoes, but I want them so very badly. I hung my head and proceeded to the kitchen with coupon in hand. What should I fix for dinner? Then I see it!!!! The expiration date on the coupon isn't until November 14th!! That gives me almost a month to siphon money from one "Dave Ramsey probably knows best" budget envelope to my very own "Dave Ramsey doesn't know EVERYTHING" budget envelope. I have time to... ummm, Budget new shoes!!!! Yes in fact I believe the Lord may be trying to teach me something..... I'm not sure I've totally learned it yet, but I have accepted the fact that he is trying to teach me something. They say every journey begins with the first step and I plan to start my journey in cute shoes. You know... Sometime next month. For those of you who are wondering.... All 3 of my kidsn (for the most part)  never crossed the nic nac boundaries I put in place for them. Today those sweet little fingers sail the ocean blue and have occasionally been wrapped around a N240 machine gun as they protect our freedoms. So yes, eventually the lessons are learned and after the fact they are a sweet memory of life's journey.