Saturday, September 29, 2007

Taking A Break.

The other morning in my devotions I read Psalm 26:2:



"Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart."


Since that day, I've been asking the Lord to examine me and my heart. Tomorrow morning starts Revival Meetings at my church, so I will be taking this next week off from blogging. In years past, my pastor has encouraged my church to turn off the TV during the week. I don't have a TV, but I don't need any other distractions, so that's why I'm taking a break. If you come back and check here during this week, would you please take a moment and pray for the revival meetings???


"Lord, send revival,
And let it start in me."

News Stories.

Some news stories from over the past week. Read through them if you have time:o).

American Missionaries Targeted For Deportation

Concentration Camps Hold A Million People?

562 Baptized In Parking Lot (All I can say to this story is wow. Tailgating at a baptism???)

Creationists Meet, Settle Differences

Friday, September 28, 2007

Thanks-living.

I started my day off in the dentist's office so that should tip you off right away as to how my day went:o). I thought for sure my dentist would be impressed with the fact that my wisdom teeth finally got removed this past summer in Thailand (he's been after me for at least 7 years), but he only said, "Why didn't they take out the fourth one???"

After that lovely visit (thankfully I won't be back for another 6 months... I do not like the dentist's office at ALL), I raced over to school where I was met by a person who was frowning at me... "uh oh" pretty much sums it up.

By 11 AM I was ready to crawl into bed for good, but the day was just beginning! Even though my volleyball team was playing a game today, I just wasn't looking forward to it at all and it didn't help that the team we were playing was one of the best (Fairless Hills for those of you who remember them!). The other team came early and the rain that was supposed to come earlier actually came later so it was bad timing. Every time we were planning to start the game (we play outside), the wind would kick up and the raindrops would begin to fall. We finally played but that's another story.

After the game I took two students home. I was so ready to finish at the day and just be at home for the evening. I dropped the kids off and waited. And waited some more. I finally called the babysitter three times, to no avail. I then called their dad, who told me the babysitter left for her sister's house about 1/2 hour before I called. Figures! So he asked if I would run over to the restaurant where he works and grab the keys to unlock the door. I did run over and back, hoping the little ordeal would soon be over.

Fat chance.

The key went into the lock but wouldn't budge. I tried several times and then the boy tried too. He was finally able to turn the key in the lock, but was unable to unlock it (you know, that part is always nice!). So I went back to try it again and the next thing I knew, I was holding half a key in my hand... the other half was stuck in the lock.

(Right about now my sense of humor kicked in and I began to smile and think, "Haha. Now what am I going to do?")

After double-checking the fact that the key really was broke (yup, it wasn't a figment of my very poor imagination), the boy suggested he crawl through the window that was open. (I thought about Maria from the Sound of Music when she said, "When God closes a door, somewhere He opens a window." Maybe not totally accurate, but it sure did fit the situation!). So his sister and I hoisted him up the side of the wall, and he went through the window that was open wide enough for him to fit.

I finally came home, two hours after the game was over and I was only 15 minutes away from home the whole time. I came in and noticed our kitchen wall clock was crooked so I went to fix it and it fell down. Wow!

As I thought about my day, the Lord reminded me of the chapel message a missionary to Thailand (Bro. Lange) preached the other day regarding the ten lepers that were healed. All the lepers were healed, and yet only one returned to Jesus to give thanks. Bro. Lange challenged the young people to have an attitude of "thanks-living" and be thankful in everything.

So I am thankful... thankful this day is over:o). Seriously though, if this is the worst thing that's going to happen to me, then I think I'm doing ok!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Something Upon Which To Think.

My pastor's wife sent this out in an e-mail to my church and I thought it was a good reminder of how a Christian should be living.



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“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

The eagle is a symbol used many times in Scripture. In fact, it is mentioned 38 times throughout the Bible. We can learn some important lessons from this majestic creation of God. Eagles have a wing span of 2 meters and are around 90 cm. tall. The eagle mates for life and use the same nest for life. This nest is built in a safe place, often on the edge of a sharp cliff. It is built to last and the largest nest reported is 9 ½ feet wide and 20 feet deep.

When the babies are born, both parents assume responsibility for their care. They are gentle parents, sitting on the eggs for one month. The parents bring food up to the nest and feed them small pieces of meat. Within 45 days they can weigh nearly 40 times their birth weight. At three months they get special feathers for flying and a new learning experience begins. The mother eagle flies into the nest and begins to thrash around causing a great commotion. Eventually one of the babies will fall out of the nest and begin heading for the earth below. Never having used his wings before, he's not really sure what to do, but does do lots of flapping while heading straight down! Just before the baby hits the ground, the mother eagle flies underneath in order to 'catch' the baby on her powerful wings and she flies him safely back to the nest. This continues on day after day until all the babies learn to fly.

There are two verses in scripture that actually mention this routine of the eagle. In Deuteronomy 32:10-11 Moses reminds the children of Israel how God cared for them and guarded them just “as an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings.” Again in Exodus 19:4 God says that He will carry the children of Israel on eagles' wings. We can get very comfortable in our 'nest'. Perhaps that could be our way of doing things, our way of thinking, our opinions, our way of living life. Then when God comes and 'stirs up our nest' we get upset. We don't always identify this as a growing experience. Sometimes if we were really honest, we really don't want to grow. We get very complacent and satisfied with where we are and any interruptions are viewed as negative. But God wants us to fly - to become all that He intends us to become. He never stirs up our nest without good reason!

The eagle can see a rabbit two miles away. It can soar up to two miles above the ground and can fly at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour. They have a separate eyelid which slides across the eye sideways in order to keep the eye clean and free from dust as they fly. Their bones are hollow and therefore light of frame. Their frame has cross ribs like steel bars in sky scrapers. The eagle has 7000 feathers. The back feathers are as long as the head feathers. Their beak is black until age of 3 years and then turns golden.

When eagles are about 30 years old they go through a renewal process. They find a secret place high in the mountains and begin to claw at their face and tear out the feathers that have been damaged over the years. As a result, it bleeds badly. But this is necessary for the eagle in order to renew its strength. If it did not do this it would not be able to live to its normal 60 years of age. Psalms 103:5 says, "Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles.” A time of renewal is necessary for every child of God. A time when we get rid of what is weighing us down, holding us back spiritually. A time to give up the sinful habits, to give in to the Holy Spirit in whatever way He is convicting us. We need to do this even to the point of renewal with pain! Some things we hold on to so tightly that to let go, actually causes us pain. But in order to have the long, powerful, useful spiritual life that God plans for us, we need to do that. It will renew our spiritual youthfulness.

When the eagle is free to soar in God's creation, they are the cleanest of birds. They were created to be free and to soar to great heights. They were not meant to remain close to the earth in the lowlands. They were created to soar. When eagles are held in captivity, they become none of the dirtiest birds. God has created us to remain pure and holy and conformed to his image. Don't allow the freedom we are to experience in Him, to be compromised by spending too much time in worldly thinking, activities, mindsets. Remain clean!

Eagles do not fly like other birds; they don't flap their wings but rather soar. Flapping their wings would use incredible amounts of their own strength and endurance and they would require so much more food as fuel if they didn't soar. Instead they sit on a high ledge and wait for the right wind currents to come. When the time is right, they take off and soar upward. Effortlessly, because they have waited for the right time. There is a special 'up going' wind, that they ride as it circles higher and higher toward the sky.

What a lesson for God's children to learn. How often do we waste strength by jumping out too soon and 'flapping our wings', instead of waiting for God's timing. Waiting is not a popular concept in these days of instant everything! But when we wait on the Lord - wait for His timing - wait for His answers - wait for His direction, then we can soar to new heights and fly to new places.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Interesting Article.

I've been trying to avoid Wal-Mart even since I've come back from Thailand. I stopped in one time to pick up knee pads for one of my volleyball players, but I'm purposely looking for other stores where I can shop (IF I shop! A good way to save money is to stay out of stores:o)). There was also a "letter to the Editor" in the paper a few weeks ago from a lady in a nearby town which houses a popular community college. Her point was the little town of S____________ didn't need a Wal-Mart to destroy other businesses. So I read this article ("What Wal-Mart Knows About You") this morning and was intrigued by it. Any thoughts on the matter???

Sunday, September 23, 2007

The SOLID Rock.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand!





His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.


When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.


Refrain:

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand!




(Story behind the song here)

Saturday, September 22, 2007

My Big Brother.

I talked to my brother Tom last night for a little bit and for those of you who know him in "real life", you'll know he works for Mr. N doing roofing, basements, and stuff along those lines. Tom moved out of our house about 2 1/2 years ago, about a couple of months before he got married. So because he doesn't live at home anymore, I've missed hearing his daily "stories" about co-workers, funny sightings and .... injuries.

It's not like he does it intentionally, but I do believe he's injured every major part of his body. (There's also the time I dropped a car hood on his head, causing his nose to be slammed into the car with a hood sitting on top of his head, but we won't go into that!) So it would never be a surprise to my mom and I to hear, "Well I went to the Emergicenter today" or see a mark on his arm or a bandage on a finger. So last night Tom was telling me the "latest" and he prefaced it by saying that before everything happened, he mentioned that it had been quite a while since he had gotten hurt:o).

Tom was working on something which required him to have a hammer in his hand when he somehow hurt his ring finger, and at the same time a wasp stung him in his arm. So now he had a hurt ring finger, a stung arm, and then he puffed up from the sting on the other arm. I do remember him saying he also hurt his thumb somehow too! So my other brother came over to him and was trying to make the swelling/hive go down, so he put on a "soothing" ointment which turned out to be NOT soothing! Now he has a hurt thumb, hurt ring finger, a stung arm, swelling on the other arm, and then non-soothing ointment poured on to the hive.

Wait! It gets better:o).

Later that day, he was working alone on the roof, which was very breeze-less, when a gust of wind came along, flapped under the ONE shingle that hadn't been nailed down, and that shingle flew into Tom's nose.

Oh, the irony!

Ever since I dropped the car hood on his nose, he thinks it got broken and was never set properly. But there IS good news in this story! He's had breathing problems since the hood incident, but since the shingle's hit him in the nose, he can breathe better:o).

After this week, he's never going to say again, "it's been a while since I've gotten hurt!" Ah yes... never a dull moment, huh?!?! Love ya, big brother!

~Tom with Andrew and Ethan at a family reunion in August~

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

WFMW.

Shannon does Works-For-Me-Wednesday (are you ready for this moment of genius??!?!) each Wednesday and I thought of something I would like to share that has helped me out on several occasions. I like to do gifts as inexpensively as possible (*Note: I'm not cheap, I'm frugal; big difference!) and that includes what the gift is wrapped in!

Every year at Christmas time when we were younger, we would take turns opening gifts and then each gift was carefully unwrapped in order to use the paper again, if possible. So over the years I've saved gift bags and wrapping paper. Within the past couple of years I've begun to save tissue paper as well. Tissue paper makes for wonderful "gift wrap" and tying some pretty ribbon around the package adds to the end product. It might sound like a very simple idea, but tissue paper is so much cheaper than gift bags or wrapping paper (the Dollar Store sells all different colors) and it's so nice to see all the gifts carrying their own personality (I lost a few of you there, I'm sure!) once everything has been wrapped!

So there you have it... that's what works for me! Go check out the rest of the ideas and see if anything helps you out:o).

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Situations And Scenarios.

I found this link (courtesy of Shannon over at Rocks In My Dryer) the other day. This could have been a bad situation, but thankfully it was not. I had this story neatly filed away in the back of my mind, but it was quickly brought to the forefront tonight. My friend and I were on Visitation, doing door-to-door in a relatively "new" subdivision. (When I say "new", I mean within the past 5-10 years it was built and is probably filled with all sorts of ethnic groups and the average family probably has two kids, three dogs, and some fish... and I just did what Rachel talks about here!)

Anyway:-).

We went from house to house, happily engaging people in conversation and left quite a few What Standard DVDs behind for people to watch later. We then came to a home that had the garage door slightly cracked opened and most of the lights in the house off. My friend and I were whispering quietly when the door slowly opened and a little girl of about 9 looked up at us. My friend asked the little girl if her parents were home and the little girl said no. She then told us that they left to go pick up her younger sister from someplace I didn't quite catch. So we left behind the DVD and a tract and as I turned away, the post written by Melanie popped into my mind and I said, "Oh, if anyone else rings the doorbell, please don't answer it."

Twice more on this street the door was answered by a child and this bothered both of us greatly.

Now thankfully my friend and I were just out on Visitation. But what if someone with less than "honorable" intentions rang the doorbell and these children answered the doors? I don't even want to think about the scenarios.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

One Last Time...

My plan of not doing too much today was pleasantly interrupted with my sister and brother calling me to say that everyone was meeting at our house and then heading to a park to play volleyball.

Ok... count me in!


"Peppering" the ball in our driveway


Of course there's always time for a picture with my nephew Andrew!

As I mentioned before, volleyball seems to run in the family's blood! And apparently we start 'em young...:o)

Not quite volleyball, but I thought it was pretty!

The last time I was at this park was for an end-of-the-year school picnic and it was so hot! Autumn is beginning to make her mark on the area with the cooler weather and shorter evenings. I haven't seen too many tree leaves change colors yet, but I'm sure it will be soon!




I'm not really "sad" to see summer end because each of the seasons last long enough here in Pennsylvania. Just when I'm ready for a change, the season switch! Now it's time for a nip in the cold air, jackets, crunchy leaves, hiking, apple cider, and Thanksgiving. Yes, I think it's time to change the seasons...


"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
"

~Ecclesiastes 3:1~

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Why?

My one question to this newsflash is why??? What do you think about it?

Monday, September 10, 2007

Remembering...

Remembering September 11th...



"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

~ II Chronicles 7:14~

Thursday, September 6, 2007

From The Court...

Today my volleyball team played their first game, and as the sets were even (we won two and the other team won two), I called a time out with the score 14-9. I was trying to break the other team's serve so that the game could be over and we all go home. I knew my girls were ready to be done and the score was oh so close. As the team huddled around, I encouraged them to do three hits and to nail the third hit into a hole on the other team's side and just end the game! As we talked and I gave pointers to the girls, one senior piped up: "You know, it would be funny if she served the ball in the net!" I laughed and replied, "Well, God has a sense of humor!"



Would you believe it, that's exactly what happened!!! After all of the planning, scheming, and plotting, in the end it had nothing to do with our team strength for that last point... the other team just had a bad serve. We ended up winning the game, but the Lord taught me a lesson, even in the midst of coaching a game. It doesn't matter how much planning I do to make things "just right"; God's plan is so much bigger and all the scheming in the world won't make up for His perfect plan. It's funny, but I don't often consider the volleyball court as a place to learn a lesson. Today I did though!



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For all of you former EBAers, I think you would be impressed that the EBA volleyball team is having a winning season!!!!

*Ahem*

Never mind the fact we've only played one game. We play Valley Forge on Monday, so we shall see if it continues on... yay Knights!

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Just Passing Along The Thought...

I may be a little biased, but I happen to think Pastor Hammett is one of the best preachers I've ever sat under... good thing since he's my pastor, huh?!? As he preached on "Personal Evangelism" in church tonight (it's a Bible Institute class but the congregation gets to get in on it too! Very practical...), one of his points was simply obedience, meaning the soul winner has to obey the Holy Spirit's leading. He then made this point....



God's leading is one step at a time. He doesn't reveal His whole plan at the very first step. As we obey Him, step by step, we can look back and say, "Ah! I can see the Lord leading me the whole way!"





Go ahead and think on it for a while...

Monday, September 3, 2007

An Enjoyable Day:o).

What a lovely weekend! LVBC had "Dinner on the Grounds" on Sunday, so that meant morning service, lunch, afternoon service, and outdoor activities all tumbled one after another:o). I have no pictures to post since I was happily play about 10 games of volleyball! I was just catching up from the volleyball-less summer;o). After we finished the last game, several of us went over to a friends' house where we ate some more and played some more games too:o). Let's just say it was a looong day.

I had plans to go to work today, but then the thought occurred to me that today is Labor Day (girl talk has a good post on that!), so I decided to go for a nice drive. Have you ever taken those polls that said, "If you have a free day, what would you do?". Without fail, I'll answer that with "take a nice long drive!":o)... so that's what I did. My first thought was to go to Gettysburg and combine a nice long drive with another one of my favorite things to do (yeah, I'm the type of person that jumps at an opportunity to do something educational on a trip... strange, I know!), but I woke up too late. Then I thought about going to Ricketts Glen State Park, but decided I just didn't want to go hiking today... that's more of a "fall" activity to do anyway! So in the end, I chose to go out to Lancaster County and enjoy the ride, the peace and quiet, and God's Creation!


The first place I stopped was a flea market... I hadn't been to this particular one in years (my dad used to take us kids to flea markets all the time when we were younger:D). Even though it was a holiday, there were still some goodies I found!

Next I stopped at a yard sale and while I didn't find anything here, I did discover a gorgeous stone house that must've been built in the 1800s! So the extra stop was worth it;o).


Right about the time I heard my stomach rumble was the same time I saw a sign for a county park! One very enjoyable lunch later, and I continued on with my day!

Tiffany and I had been out to Lancaster County last year and stopped here, and amazingly enough I found this place again! It has a petting zoo, a beautiful pond, and of course a country store:o).



A common sight in Lancaster...

An Amish house to the left and the country store to the right... isn't it pretty?!?

What a beautiful resting stop!

Two floors of country stuff! Thankfully I had a budget for the day and spent one dollar here... on homemade ice cream;o).

Another unexpected find... country stores seem to abound in this part!

I've been wanting to stop in to visit Kitchen Kettle Village for some time now and today was the day I finally did it! Personally I thought it was just one big tourist trap... I can understand people from PA visiting, but to drive there from New Jersey, Ohio, or Connecticut probably wouldn't be worth it:o).

My final stop of the day was here at Ritas! Someone had given me a gift certificate for Ritas as a welcome home gift, and today I got to use it:o). What a delightful way to end an enjoyable day!