My Home Is A Castle

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good. Psalm 100:4-5

During a trip to England, my husband and I planned to tour Windsor Castle. Imagine that! I was excited about the opportunity to see the splendid home of the royal family.

Outside the castle, we waited in line, the chill of damp, gray gloom seeping into our bones. Then we heard something. A jet? It passed right over us. We moved up slightly in line. Five minutes later, another jet. I turned to my husband and said, “You know, honey, we’re not the richest people in the world. Our house is a fraction of the size of this place, but I wouldn’t trade it.”

He laughed and asked me why not. “Because as beautiful as this place is, it’s still under the flight path of hundreds of roaring jets.”

We had a good laugh together. But then I realized that our home truly is our castle—a blessing most of us regularly take for granted.

Beatitude Check: Be thankful for the home God has given you. It may or may not be a castle, but God chose the home you live in just for you. Celebrate your hearth and home with a bouquet of flowers or a prayer of thanksgiving.


From: Babes with a Beatitude Devotions for Smart, Savvy Women of Faith
Published by: Howard Books, a division of Simon & Shuster, Inc. 2009
Written by: MY DEAR FRIENDS, Linda Kozar and Dannelle Woody, my favorite babes with beatitudes! www.babeswithabeatitude.com

God Will Make A Way

“…and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.” Exodus 14:21-22

God has a thing about making ‘a way’ for His people when the situation seems impossible. He’s been doing it since He first freed the Israelites from Egyptian captivity and He’s still doing it today. Ever received an unexpected insurance reimbursement check in the mail at just the time you seriously needed the money? That was Him.

No, He might not part the Gulf of Mexico for you, (even though we have proof He could) but He will miraculously stop a two-ton SUV before hitting the sub-compact who’s slammed to a stop in front of you. Yes, that was Him too.

What is your Red Sea? Is it a lost job? Is it an illness? Is it coming up on April 15th? Only He knows how to part your Red Sea. Turn it over to Him and He will allow you to cross over on dry ground.

God WILL make a way even when there seems to be no way…

Photo courtesy of Connie Morgan/Flickr.com

iFever

It seems of late that technology is exploding like an atom bomb. I’m reminded of my first cell phone purchased about 18, 19 years ago. It was about as big as a size 6 tennis shoe with a screen the size of a postage stamp. It took phone calls…that’s all it did.

Over the years my phones have shrunk in size and grown in the amount of technology they utilize. But it’s not just cell phones that have evolved; portable music listening devices have changed immensely over the years. I’m dating myself by admitting this, but I was once the proud owner of not only a record player, but also a Dynamite-8, eight-track tape player. It was bright yellow and shaped like that box thingy in movies that set off dynamite, complete with a plunger handle you pushed to change tracks. Did I listen to my Carpenters tape on the player? Yes…yes I did!

The eight-track gave way to the cassette tape. Anyone have a Walkman? And then we were introduced to the CD and the portable CD player and eventually the MP3 and MP4 player. Okay, I don’t want any techies harshing my blog because I’m not very tech savvy. I’m just hitting the highlights here.

Last weekend my husband bought me the famous Apple iPhone. What an awesome piece of technology it is! Now my phone not only takes phone calls, I can text, update my Facebook, surf the web, watch a movie and play an awesome App…all while driving my SUV! JUST KIDDING!

The real reason for this blog entry stems from stumbling onto an online video touting the wonders of the (heralding trumpets) Apple iPad! Gotta have it! This thing is amazing with its 9.7 inch LED backlit display, websites, e-mail, photos, movies, books, 150,000 apps and all for $499.

What’s drawing me to this product you ask? I just got the iPhone after all. It’s because my friend, who I’ll call Sam, because that’s his name, sat in church last Sunday morning and whipped out his Bible…on Kindle! Who does he think he is, reading God’s Holy Word digitally in the Baptist church? And that, my friends is why I MUST have the iPad. Come on April 3rd…well, maybe I’ll wait until the iPad comes down to four hundred fifty bucks.

Everybody Must Get Stoned

Bob Dylan said it and I’m here to attest that his words are true. They are in my case anyway.

A couple weeks ago as I lay alone in my bed resting a pain developed in my side. I didn’t think much about, after all, I often have side pain with my Crohns Disease. The pain didn’t dissipate as I had planned. Instead it got worse.

It was a different kind of pain, like a contraction. Now I’ve given birth on three separate occasions—I know what contractions are like. The difference with this pain and a contraction is that with childbirth, you get a small break in between.

I’m a very patient woman. That’s the only reason I can determine why I lay in my bed writhing in pain for two hours. My husband at work, my two younger children at school, I decided to call my eldest son, home from college. He was down the hall asleep in his bedroom.

My son, rushed to my side. We came to the conclusion that I must be having an attack of appendicitis. I’d just gone through that only a couple months earlier with my husband.

The pain continued to worsen to the point that I began throwing up. The only good thing about this turn of events is that the pain seemed to abate for a few minutes after throwing up. I threw up four more times before I saw the emergency room doctor.

My husband met me and my son at the ER. I could tell he was frightened. He’d seen me give birth to our three children. He knew how I reacted to that pain. This was worse. He would later tease that he was sure an alien was going to explode out of my torso.

Thank God the emergency room was fairly empty and I was quickly taken back. After seeing the ER physician I was hooked up to an IV, given some fluids and a very strong pain killer before being rolled down for a CT scan.

The CT came back shortly with a diagnosis—kidney stones.

The following evening I survived the passing of my first stone. It wasn’t nearly as painful as the day before. I investigated kidney stones on the internet and was surprised (well sort of) to find that people with inflammatory bowel disease are prone to kidney stones. This disease just keeps getting better and better.

From my blog posts I must sound like I’m sick all the time…but I’m not. I’m living a happy, productive life despite my illness. In fact I praise God for the trials I’ve gone through. I even searched for a Bible verse to describe this current situation. Here’s what I came up with.

Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"
"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." Luke 19:38-40

I’d like to think that when I was laying there unable to do anything but groan in pain that my “stones” cried out with praise to God!

But don’t get me wrong…I do not feel so all alone, because everybody must get stoned…

Snow Time Like The Present

He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.' Job 37:6

The Good Lord is certainly generous in Southeast Texas with rain showers, but snow…well not so much. On December 4, 2009, however, Houston, Texas delighted in a smattering of snowfall. Most school children were already deep into class or school would surely have been cancelled. Thankfully for my kids the snow lasted well into the evening so they had their chance to play in the soggy white drifts. Keep in mind the drifts are what accumulated on car hoods.

A Houston snow is about as common as a flock of Blue Footed Boobies migrating to Galveston Island. Speaking of Galveston, a blanket of snow covered Galveston Island on Christmas Eve 2004. The amazing pictures of the Galveston Seawall, coated in snow were all over the news and internet. There was even a coffee-table book released commemorating the “miraculous” event.



We’ve been blessed with a layer of the white stuff only four times in the past fifteen years including the December 4th snow. There doesn’t seem to be much accurate information on the history of Houston snowfall, but here is what I’ve learned from the internet and from having lived here over forty years myself. Apparently it has only snowed in Houston thirty-three times since 1895 when the heavens opened up and dropped twenty plus inches of snow on downtown Houston. Believe me when I say it has NEVER snowed that much in the one-hundred-and-fifteen years since. The December 4th snow marked two records; first it’s the only time it snowed two years in a row, 2008 and 2009 and it beat the previous record for earliest recorded snow of December 10th set in 1944 and 2008.

I’ll never forget my first snow memory. The year was 1973. I would have been nine or ten years old. Schools were closed at the first mention of snow. My brothers and I watched the news reports warning about icy roads and covering the tender vegetation as we snuck peeks out the window waiting patiently for that first bit of fluff to fall from the sky. When it finally came, we rushed outside wearing three pair of pants, four shirts, winter coats and rain boots. (My mom doesn’t like cold). I remember a snow man of about two foot tall and my face stinging from being pummeled by snowballs. I also remember my mom making snow ice cream and saving one final snowball in a plastic baggy in the freezer. Yes, these are memories that stick with you.

Another memorable snow happened in 1989. It was special to me because it was the first snow I could remember since my first snow in 1973. My husband and I played in the snow in the backyard of our first home. We made a six inch snowman complete with match stick arms and cat food eyes. Ahh memories.

It seems strange that my youngest child has seen snow three times already in his short life. And we’re looking at freezing temperatures at the end of this week. Do you think it might snow in Houston yet again? That’s global warming for you!

Is There A Doctor In The House?

When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. John 11:4

I’ve been sick since Pearl Harbor Day. I’m not the sort of person that complains much. Probably the reason why I waited twenty-two days before going BACK to the doctor for more medication. Unfortunately I feel as though I missed the entire month of December in my Codeine-induced stupor. I was diagnosed on my second trip to the doctor (on my birthday) with asthmatic bronchitis. I pray you never get this! Especially if you suffer from a compromised immune system like I do.

Somehow I managed to feel my way through the holiday season. Admittedly I stumbled through much of it. I narrated our church’s Christmas musical. I attended my son’s Christmas concert. I performed a reading from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. I also attended my daughter’s Christmas band concert, my son’s school party and an AWANA Christmas party. I welcomed my eldest home from college, sent three kids to dental and medical appointments and attended a professional basketball game. I shopped, decorated, shopped again. I’m not mentioning all the things I had to skip due to excessive weakness. December is a tough month to be ill!

An illness of this degree will make you closer to the Lord. I found myself asking if this was going to be a sickness unto death. I had to ask because at times, the coughing, wheezing, night sweats and hours of daytime sleeping made me wonder if I was going to make it. Thankfully it was not a sickness unto death and I’m here to write about it. Thank you Father for sparing me that through my sickness You might be glorified.

A Christmas Carol Revisited

My interest has been piqued this year concerning the real story behind the Charles Dickens classic novel, A Christmas Carol. I conducted a bit of research and found that the “ghost story of Christmas” was born out of Dickens humiliating stint as a child factory-worker following his father’s imprisonment for unpaid debt. Dickens was from a higher class than the other workers and became the recipient of their degrading jeers. This period allowed Dickens to see first hand the horrible conditions the people of London faced on a daily basis but the part that caused him to suffer the most emotional damage was the plight of the children of the poor. He decided to publish a political pamphlet about the difficulties of the poor man’s child, but decided against it. This pamphlet would become, A Christmas Carol.

Over the years I’ve seen numerous cinematic depictions of A few of my favorites have been:

1979 An American Christmas Carol. Dickens’ Victorian London becomes America’s Great Depression. Mr Benjamin Slade (Scrooge) as played by Henry Winkler is the remaining owner of S&L Finance, after the death of his partner Jack Latham, (Marley). On Christmas Even Slade and his assistant, Thatcher make rounds repossessing goods from people unable to make their payments. After firing Thatcher, Slade is confronted by his dead partner and three spirits; all those he has repossessed from that day. As in the original story, the ‘Scrooge figure’ is confronted with the reaction to his future death and finally sees the true meaning of life, love and the Christmas spirit.

1983 Mickey’s Christmas Carol. Scrooge McDuck of course plays the part of Scrooge. Mickey Mouse plays the part of Bob Cratchit, and Goofy is the ghost of Jacob Marley. The ghosts respectively were: Past, Jiminy Cricket, Present, Willie the Giant, and Future, Pete the dog?

1988 Scrooged. This hilarious depiction of A Christmas Carol introduces Francis “Frank” Xavier Cross, a ruthless television executive, played by veteran actor, Bill Murray whose corporate climb has lost him the love of his life played by Karen Allen and his only brother James, played by Murray’s real brother John Murray. Bob Forsyth plays the part of Frank’s dead and decaying mentor who of course represents Jacob Marley. The ghosts are played by; Past, David Johansen/Buster Poindexter, Present, Carol Kane and the Ghost of Christmas Future was a television faced apparition with a body made of ghouls. One of the best parts of this film has to be the character of “Cratchit” played by Alfre Woodard as Frank’s assistant, Grace.

1992 The Muppet Christmas Carol. Michael Caine plays Scrooge in this Muppet depiction of the classic tale. Kermit and Miss Piggy play the parts of the Cratchit parents with their tiny frog son playing the part of Tiny Tim. The best part about this version is the delightful music that seems to stick with you long after the film is over.

Which brings me to my final pick and the sole reason for writing this blog in the first place…

2009 Disney’s A Christmas Carol. This animated, 3-D version stars the voices of Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman and Bob Hoskins to name a few. Carrey steals the show with his portrayal of Scrooge, young and old and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. As you can see, I’ve seen my fare share of depictions of the story, not withholding the BORING ones starring George C. Scott and Patrick Stewart. (Please forgive me if these are your favorites.) But this version knocked my socks off. I’ve read several reviews from the “professionals,” some good, some bad. I’ll stick with the opinions of the four critics who saw the movie with me, a seventeen year old boy and girl, a nine year old boy and girl, and of course me, a woman of a certain age, tee hee. It was one of those movies where people clapped loudly at the ending, where tears were shed and hearts were touched. It stuck true to the original text…yes I checked. Sure someone had some fun with a bit of unnecessary cinematic magic in the form of a couple races through the streets and skies of London, but hey, you have to please the kids too. I would not, however, recommend this film for very young children as the scenes with the ghost of Jacob Marley were extremely frightening—even for me.

So in closing I will say, Disney’s animated portrayal of this classic novel has given me a forever appreciation of the genius of Charles Dickens. And I will add this comment; if you, or someone you know needs a touch of Christmas Spirit this year, take them to see this video and be blessed. And heed the words of Tiny Tim, “To remember upon Christmas Day, the One who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see. And God bless us, everyone!”