Be Still and Know...Then and Now

It’s all about Halloween this week. I don't answer all the question and I did a bit of rearranging but here’s my Flashback Friday …Trick or Treat y’all! What  was Halloween like when you were growing up? We did the traditional trick or treating. When we were little my mom would walk with us but when we got a bit older we would make trick or treat plans with friends and map out our strategy to make sure were hit all the best neighborhoods to ensure the biggest bang for our Halloween buck! Halloween was a big treat that we always looked forward to. The best part was dumping out my bag and then sorting through the can at the end of the night and then seeing how long I could make the candy last. Have you ever bobbed for apples or been on a hayride? When my daughter was little she saw something on television about bobbing for apples. For several years after that she wanted to bob for apple on her birthday. Her birthday is in the spring. I am not sure why apple bobbing is traditio...

One of the television shows on Food Network I really enjoy is “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”. If you have never seen this show they have all the network chef’s sharing the best food they ever ate and what restaurant they got it at. Well I was watching one episode and they did a piece these English Muffins (Click on the link to see the video clip)  and I began to think….How Hard Could it Be? The idea of actually making an English muffin from scratch had never even crossed my mind. It is one of those things that you just never think of trying to make in your own kitchen, or at least I never thought of trying to make it from scratch anyway. Well I watched this piece on English muffins and I thought I would give it a go. I did a few minutes of internet research and found an Alton Brown recipe that I thought looked doable. I am not sure if I should label this recipe as baking or cooking. Technically I never turned on my oven so It cant be baking but since it is bread, well I’m conflict...

Waking up to a rousing thunderstorm snug in my bed is wonderful. Listening to the rain beat again my sound roof is amazing. While I sit and drink my first cup of coffee and have my prayer time I listen to the rain. Yes Lord I hear you! A thought wanders through. Why is it so amazing to sit and listen to the rain? Then another question seeps in. Why is the thought of having to go out to the grocery store in that same rain such a chore? What’s the common denominator? Is it the gift of a morning thunderstorm or is it my attitude? The rain has not changed but my thinking on how I approach the gift has. I was also reminded this morning that for as much as this gift comforts me there are others for whom thunderstorms cause great distress. Lord please bring comfort to them. For “L” from “R”   Blessings R

Well I only took pictures two day this week, yea I know kinda pathetic! I have a really good reason for my lack of photographic documentation though. A few weeks ago I started reading Francine Rivers “Mark of the Lion” series. Well I got so engrossed in these books I spent almost every spare minute with my nose stuck between the covers of these three books. I finally finished the last book on Saturday after we got back from our excursion up to the mountains. If you are looking for a great read then I would highly recommend this series. It is absolutely phenomenal. I simply could not put it down. It is all about the first generation Christians after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. It was fascinating to read about the lives of those first generation Christian's as well as get a glimpse of what life was like for all those who laid the foundation for our faith. It’s a strictly fictional book but the premise is real and a lot of real biblical characters are ...

Y’all remember that television show from back in the day called ‘One Day at a Time” about a single mom raising two daughters? I used to watch that show all the time. Looking back on it I always wondered why I tortured myself every week. I really hated that show but I still watched it. I remember thinking about how I would have loved to have been as lucky as those two girls in that show. They always had nice pretty cloths and they lived in a really cool apartment. My childish brain could not distinguish between the story line that they manufactured for purely entertainment value, all I saw was that the life that this single mom and her two daughters lived was so very different from the life I lived every day. How was your family structured when you were growing up? I don't really have any memories of before the divorce. I have very faint memories of all of us living under the same roof but they are very fleeting and they fade in and out. Basically for as long as I can remember it ...

I am extremely late to the 365 party today! I will preface my week by telling a short story. Back in 1998 myself and 11 others in our congregation began the very first training class of Stephen Ministry. If you are unfamiliar with what Stephen Ministry is you can click on the link to get more information about all this ministry entails. To sum it up it is a caring ministry set up to help those in need in the congregations well as surrounding community. Stephen Ministers are trained individuals who walk with those who are grieving, sick or suffering from the many emotional troubles people find themselves in. It is a one on one support system until they no longer require that support. One of our dear friends who trained along with the original 12 was called home to Jesus on Friday. We gather today to celebrate his life this afternoon. You can know that the end is near, you can be prepaid for the passing, you can even wish for it because you know that the suffering in the physical bod...

I almost passed on this one, but then I got down to the last couple of questions and decided to give it a go. Coming from a background of being severely financially challenge growing up I will try to refrain from whining and complaining about how much we did not have growing up. I remember things like my mom having to go to the local food pantry and getting those cans with the plain white labels and bold green type on them. We from time to time lived in subsidized apartment complexes. Money was a very difficult concept for me growing up because we never had it and it seemed that everyone else did. Isn’t it strange how children perceive things. Many people grow up in economically challenging situations but as a child in my limited vision I could only see what directly impacted me.   I am thankful as an adult I have learned to look at things with much more maturity and with a broader scope.   For reason that are obvious, being so financially challenged, I will skip to the las...

It’s that time again! Time to dive right in with all the wonderful randomness!!!!! 1. Is there a word which you initially mispronounced? Were the circumstances in which you made the faux pas embarrassing? By the way, that's not "foax pass." (I know you know that. Just jokin' with ya.) Just pick a chapter in the Old Testament, which we just happen to be wading through in Disciple I at the moment and you will quickly get over the act of mispronunciations. 5 Now Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and said, "I will be king." So he got chariots and horses [ a ] ready, with fifty men to run ahead of him. 6 (His father had never interfered with him by asking, "Why do you behave as you do?" He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom.) 7 Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they gave him their support. 8 But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, S...

Last week I had a minor tragic mishap with my cappuccino maker. One of the critical components to this machine is a small black plastic piece that is about the size of your pinky. It is the piece that makes all that wonderful frothiness, Y’all know me I like mine with extra foam! One afternoon as I was cleaning the machine and this piece broke, which of course given the HUGE importance of my afternoon latte’s, sent me directly in search of the customer service toll free number. I explained to the wonderful woman on the phone that I needed to place an order for a replacement part ASAP. I was informed that the piece I was looking for was not in stock and would probably take about 6 to 8 week for new part to arrive at the warehouse. SIX TO EIGHT WEEKS!!!!! YIKES! In what I can only describe as an act of compassion the customer service person took pity on me and after about 20 minutes she finally found a piece that she thought might solve my problem. This piece was shipped off to me t...