Archive by Author

Jesus Talks to Children

16 Mar

My Take

 DiVoran Lites 

 Jesus Talks to Children

 

Sunday, we had two princesses, a prince, and a beloved handmaiden in Sunday School. Before we even started singing one of the princesses was pouting because she wanted to go home. It was daddy’s day, but daddy had chosen to bring her to church. All I could offer was for her to go sit with him and his wife (whom she loves). She passed on sitting still and listening to the sermon for adults. I explained how a bad mood affects everyone and asked her to see if she could find a way to become happy about where she was.

For the lesson, I gave each child a sponge on a paper plate. I then explained they could slowly pour their drinking water into it pretending the sponge was their heart, and they were soaking up God’s love. We talked about how we can ask God to love people through us even if we didn’t like them very much. Teacher got to be the unlikeable one, and they squeezed some of the love-water into my sponge. After refilling theirs, they sat quietly and waited for God to say something to them.

We decorated our journal pages, then wrote what God had said to us. Each message was short, but you could tell the children treasured them. I was particularly impressed with one which said, “You will fulfill your goals in 2015.” I happen to know the child’s goal is to get an A in every subject this semester. She can do it too, especially now that she knows God is supporting her in it.

I felt a bit funny about my message, thinking it sounded like a cliche. “Jesus is the greatest.” I read. The children seemed surprised. We’ve discussed cartoon characters, Santa Claus, and Whitney Houston, so I suppose, “Jesus is the greatest,” was news to them. Good news.

Oh, yes, the sad little princess – when we drew titles of songs near the beginning of the class she got, “If You’re Happy and You Know it.” She started laughing even before she told us what her song was.

When the guardian of the other princess came for her, I gave her the sponge and said her child could wash dishes with it. The guardian was thrilled because just before the end of the service the preacher had said that children need to be taught to work. I’m sure this particular woman is already teaching the eight-year-old to work, and many other good things, but she liked the idea that the sponge fit the sermon so well. I did too.

God does talk to us. He talks to children, too. I’ve read that they don’t get a half-pint serving of the Holy Spirit, they get the whole bucketful, just as we adults do.

Jesus called them to himself and said, “Let the children come to me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven.”

Luke 18:16

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Inaugural Patrick D. Smith Award for Literary Excellence

9 Mar

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Beck and Ned Keller Award

Patrick D. Smith was one of my favorite authors. When I was a younger writer, I read his books and went to hear him speak. The first time he described lush Florida as it was when he came here as a boy I was hooked on his powers of observation and description.

I enjoyed the movie they made of his book, “Angel City,” which was about migrant workers in Florida. Patrick Smith actually lived as a migrant worker in a camp and risked his life to document the cruelty and rough conditions there.

“Patrick D. Smith’s sixth book was the best-selling, A Land Remembered. This novel depicts “three generations of the Maclveys, a Florida family who battles the hardships of the frontier to rise from a dirt-poor Cracker life to the wealth and standing of real estate tycoons.”*The last generation in the book realizes that the family has over-used the land and makes plans to rectify their mistakes. It has also been made into a movie. (Amazon blurb)

“Patrick Smith is a 1999 inductee into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, which is the highest and most prestigious cultural honor that can be bestowed upon an individual by the state of Florida. Smith is the author of seven novels and has been nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize. His lifetime work was nominated for the 1985 Nobel Prize for Literature.”

Patrick D Smith

Rebekah Lyn’s book, , is a perfect continuation of . It moves into the next stage of Florida’s history with the story of a young man whose family members are ordered to leave their home on North Merritt Island because the country needs the land for a center from which to launch rockets into space.http://patricksmithonline.com/patricksmith.html

Rebekah Lyn’s book, Jessie, is a perfect continuation of A Land Remembered. It moves into the next stage of Florida’s history with the story of a young man whose family members are ordered to leave their home on North Merritt Island because the country needs the land for a center from which to launch rockets into space.

Most of the people we know here in Brevard County have been, or are currently, involved with the Space Program. It has been our town’s main industry since the late fifties, and Rebekah Lyn got first hand accounts from many of them. Her research is impeccable as are her characterizations.

In my opinion, there is no better way to learn history than from enjoyable, readable fiction.

A Land Remembered is now a two volume text book with study guide and I’d love to see the same thing happen to Jessie. Not long before Patrick Smith died, members of The Brevard County Library Foundation visited him and presented the idea of the award. He was pleased and gave the group his permission to create the award in his honor. The foundation’s president felt the award’s creation memorialized the passing of a much-loved Florida author, yet reaches out to recognize and encourage a new generation of writers.

Five of the seven judges attended the awards ceremony. All were college professors and several were Ph.Ds. When asked how tough it was to select a winner, they agreed there was no question, Jessie was it!

When asked about the award, Rebekah Lyn said having the chance to talk to the judges and hear what they enjoyed most was exciting. They only received the first 30 pages of the book, and they all said they wanted to read more. I was happy to let them know the whole book is available and that a follow-up is in the works. One of the judges complimented me on how relatable and loveable the characters were, another commented on how each of the brothers had a distinctive voice and obvious role to play in the family, and a third judge enjoyed how well I captured the wildness of the Merritt Island landscape.

The award ceremony was planned to have been an outdoor evening event on the lawn by the Indian River. Stormy weather  pushed the event inside, but it didn’t damper our joy. Along with myself, Rebekah was accompanied by her parents, and close friends Jennifer and Pam Gheen.

 

A Land Remembered

A Land Remembered

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And the Lord Said: Remember

2 Mar

My TAKE

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and Artist

My Dear Daughter, Good morning! Welcome to another happy day with all the serendipities you love each day.

The cowboys named this foal, Summer Surprise because they didn’t know she was coming.

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Don’t let the enemy of your soul send you any lies or doubts. He tries always, pitifully, to throw you off by getting you onto the negativity track. If you fall for it, he’ll do worse. In reality, he had no real power, no strength. Resist him and he will flee.

Instead, remember me, remember my word, remember my love for you, remember the songs I’ve given you to sing, remember to thank me for deeds done and for promises kept. Remember to thank me for who I am, gentle, gracious and loving.

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Writing and Painting

23 Feb

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

Author, Poet and ArtistWhen I started writing blogs for Old Things R-New and Rebekah Lyn Books, I was working on the novel, Go West and enjoying it immensely. Painting had taken a back seat and I thought I was over it. But people kept saying they liked my prints and the paintings on my walls and when I remembered how much I enjoyed splashing paint around. My fingers began to itch for a brush.

The more I painted, the more I neglected the things I thought I ought to be doing. I wrote out several long talks with the Lord asking how I could find time to paint and to keep up with my writing goals, as well and he gave me some new ideas.

Finally, my angel, and enabler Onisha and I sat at a table in the Target Starbucks and talked it over. I had also been writing paraphrases from the Bible and I wanted to illustrate them. Onisha suggested we serialize the novel and use it instead of blogs and she liked the idea of the Promise Posters too.

So now, I’m painting and writing and I’m having a wonderful time. If you see any Go West illustrations or Promise Posters you’d like to buy, they will be available as prints and note cards at www.creativeartworks.com. Come join me in my new big adventure.

“Posters and Cards of the Go West paintings will be available on Creative Artworks soon.

 

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What If I Prayed The Way a Mockingbird Sings

9 Feb

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and ArtistWhat if years of praying and studying how to pray were to culminate in putting on Jesus’ light yoke and allowing Him to do most of the praying through me?

What if prayer, even intercessory prayer became no strain but praise and worship? I could pray for a lot of people that way without being responsible for solving their problems. I’m not responsible for that I know, but still I try to figure and fix. If I were a mocking bird, singing and prayer would simply well up from my innermost being.

The mocking bird can sound like many different birds. He is a baby bird begging to be fed, a chickadee, a quail. In the days when we lived in California, the mocking birds in our yard took up whining like the dog. I must say, it drove me crazy. Mocking birds express whatever sounds enter them.

If I prayed the way mocking birds sing I probably wouldn’t know what I was praying for half the time. The focus would be totally on God. How could anybody lose by that? We would participate in His life together. This reminds me of a bookmark my friend, Pam, gave me a long time ago. Though I have lost the gift, the words will remain with me forever. “Birds don’t sing because they have a melody, they sing because they have a song.” Yes, and who gives them their song?

New Living Translation

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

Isaiah 26:3

 

New Living Translation
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

Roman’s 8:26

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Reading the Bible Together

2 Feb

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and ArtistA few weeks ago our two adult Sunday School teachers sort of retired. After twenty years of teaching, it was time for something new. Our pastor’s wife said we were all saturated in the Bible, and it was true. At first we just talked, but to me it seemed we were saying the same things over and over. They were the best things you could say, full of faith and hope, but still…

Bill and I recalled a time when we were in a Bible study where we all sat in a circle and read the Bible aloud in segments – the reader might make comments. Anyone could comment. Nearly the whole church attended that study. It was a very small church; we turned on porch lights and read on porches or read in living rooms. We all loved it. One time when we were at our house it suddenly grew cold and not wanting to re-locate everybody I ran into the house and found sixteen sweaters for the men and women who had come.

The idea to read with the present group was one of those out of the blue ideas that just seemed right. When I presented it to the group, though, (there are six regulars) there didn’t seem to be much interest. I missed the following week because of a bad cold, but Bill said they wanted to discuss it after all. After quite a bit of discussion, they decided to begin with the book of Acts. Today was our first time of reading together. Most of us had read the introduction and the first chapter and were ready with comments. Bill said he’d read first, but Norma asked if she could share something first. I was astonished when she read, from the introduction, and I recognized the exact word she was reading. Here’s why: I chose to bring my J. B. Phillips New Testament translation. I have loved it since I first bought it (on Bill’s dad’s recommendation) in 1962. I had covered it several times, and although I had not thought about it for a while, I wanted to share the oh-so accessible translation with my friends. Strangely that was the same book Norma had chosen to bring as well. We have a lot of translations among us. I was so pleased that God was directing with what we sometimes think of as coincidences.

 

Anyhow, there were many such serendipities as we read and discussed. We all felt the ministrations of the Holy Spirit among us as we received new information, revelation and insight.

You probably already know this; I don’t know how I missed it all these years, but Dr. Luke, who wrote the gospel, also wrote The Acts of the Apostles. Apparently he was present for the experiences of Acts and took notes. Dr. Phillips said he might have planned a third book as well. I can’t wait to hear what else God has to share with us as we go along. The unity is so beautiful; we have no argument and no disagreement, just the sweet, sweet spirit.

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“My dear Theophilus,

In my first book, I gave you some account of all that Jesus began to do and teach until the time of his ascension…” The Acts of the Apostles, chapter 1 verse 1.

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Communicating With God

26 Jan

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

Author, Poet and ArtistMany years ago, when we attended Park Avenue Church a man came to speak. His way of doing things changed many lives – mine was one.

Mark Virkler teaches people to communicate with God, just as our Pastor Peter Lord always has and does. I’m so deeply grateful. The thing about communing with God is that He knows each of us as an individual. No one else’s knowledge of Him is ever going to be exactly the same as mine and vice-versa.

(One caveat – I must be willing to launch myself into the water and swim with my imagination. Later I can read it back, or if I’m feeling insecure, I can read it to someone I trust spiritually and see if they confirm that it was God speaking. Also, of course not all my or your communications will be about praise or music. They will be about anything you or I, or the Father wish to discuss.)

God: Beloved, I’m building a road right through the ocean and through the pounding waves so that you may walk on dry land. Forget about what has happened, don’t keep going over old history. Jesus already knows all about your weaknesses and has set them aside as healing projects for the two of you to do together.

Be alert. Be present. I’m about to do something new in you. It’s bursting out. Don’t you see it? It has to do with your learning to praise me and also with your being able to accept my praise of you and of what you do for me. Yes, what you do counts, and yes, I acknowledge it. I don’t just keep asking more and more of you. It’s like a beautiful dance, and it goes on all your life.

Me: Father, is there anything you want to tell me about your new plans for me?

God: Stand by. Whenever you begin to feel your weaknesses as you did yesterday, just remember that I have already forgiven you, and you need to forgive yourself for all imperfect acts and thoughts. The best way to do that is to praise me. I need and want your praise as much as you need and want water to drink. You need my praise, too.

Me: Please will you give me motivation and inspiration to please you – perhaps a small routine – something to trigger my memory and get me going.

God: You may play the Gaither sites on your Pandora stations more. That will be a big help to you. Those singers and musicians are part of my praise team, and they have spent their entire lives praising me in the very best ways possible. They are my modern-day beacons and examples of what I want and what I want you to do. Do you recall the times I have asked you to sing the songs I’ve given you?

(Reader, remember, this is my message, yours will be different. He wouldn’t expect you to follow music in your private life that doesn’t resonate with you.)

Me: Yes, knowing you want me to sing thrills me.

God: All right now, my dear, just put on any praise stations you like and sing along. It will be good for your breath – your inspiration and fine for your muscles and energy tone – your motivation.

Me: It’s strange, Lord, but I think I got away from praise songs because they seemed to jazz me up too much.

God: They can do that. I don’t mean for you to stay over-stimulated all the time. There is a time for action and a time for rest. Don’ worry you won’t lose control.

Me: Oh, ha, ha, Lord, I see what you mean. I’m always afraid that if I get excited and too happy, I’ll make a fool of myself or disgust somebody. You know that, don’t you?

God: Of course. I know everything about you. I’m not the one who got after you about being, “a lady.” The world did that to you. You are well-disciplined – don’t worry. Don’t worry about your singing voice, either. Don’t worry about being thought, “loud.” Wouldn’t you enjoy singing with the Gaither’s?

Me: Yes, indeed, I would. I’m looking forward to the new plan. Thank you, Lord.

God: You’re welcome. Thank you, too.

If you’d like to know more about communing with God check out http://www.cwgministries.org/

 

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Off the Track

19 Jan

My Take

DiVoran  Lites

Author, Poet and ArtistAre you a seeker? I am. I have found what I was seeking for when it came to spiritual sustenance, and that was Jesus and the Holy Bible. Still I like to think of myself as open to new ways of thinking about prayer, living the Christian life, faith, and healing.

I also like to study about natural, or as it is sometimes called, holistic healing. I regularly go to an extraordinary healer who is a chiropractor and keeps me in good shape, and a homeopath from whom I order custom remedies for various things that might be ailing me. She uses a Zyto which is a computer program that maps a person’s individual body and tells what’s going on there. The biggest differences in these two kinds of healing and regular pharmaceutical treatments are that they heal instead of holding symptoms at bay. For instance, one can be permanently de-sensitized to allergies instead of simply getting shots for the rest of one’s life. .

I like to read good books about natural healing too. Apparently cancer can often be healed by natural means. I want to know about that, don’t you? These two books have recently come to my attention.

Outsmart your Cancer, by Tanya Harter Pierce, M.A., MFCC and Cancer – Free, Your Guide to Gentle, Non-toxic Healing, by Bill Henderson & Carlos M. Garcia, MD.

I’ve recently finished Dr. Gallagher’s Guide to 21st Century Medicine, by Martin P. Gallagher, M. S., D. C., which tells exactly how to stay healthy without drugs.

We want to thank our Lord for showing us these wonderful ways of healing as well as for the times when we needed regular medical intervention and it was available to us.

Large Yellow Hand

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My Dreams for 2015

12 Jan

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and Artist

 

It’s all right to have dreams; plans, hopes, God gives them to us. We’d be lost without them.

I always like to have something to look forward to, don’t you? Sometimes in life we may have big events to go for and sometimes we let our expectations settle into the daily round. Something about the year coming to an end and a new one beginning made me jot down the things I’m looking forward to this year.

I’m not looking for changes in my life. I’m deeply satisfied with what’s going on now. This minute I see Bill in the backyard spotlighted by sunshine as he moves the garden hose.

Bill in yard

 

 

The foliage he’s tending to grows to at least twelve feet tall and he has planted a long hedge of them. They’ll yield large, bright-yellow, daisy-like flowers next spring.

One of our cats just braced herself on the chair to ask me to feed her. I’ve just been around Facebook and caught up on people I care about. Our food is good, and our health is remarkable for our ages.

This year will hold a lot of good books for me to read. I’m looking forward to two I ordered from Communion with God. One is about teaching children to hear from God, and one is a journal where a man hears from God. This is an organization for which I have always held the highest regard and from which I have continued to learn and experience satisfaction in hearing from God for myself. I plan to read health books, too, and I believe we will stay healthy for a long time to come.

Of course, I most look forward to times with the people in my life. I’m not taking classes or joining any new organizations, but I do like my church and the activities there, especially the two Sunday Schools we’re involved in, adult and children’s. I love special times with family members, and I meet new people frequently and have little chats with them.

If unexpected things happen, if they are unsavory and unlovely, I know God will see us through, but God is likely to bring happy challenges into our lives no matter what. Whatever happens, He will see us through. How dull life must be without Him.

Let the New Year begin.

 

 

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Christmas Walk

5 Jan

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and ArtistHi, I feel as if I haven’t talked with anyone for quite a while. I’ve been sick, you know. I’m such a baby about that. I want to be treated like a princess and my prince indulges me. It’s the season for colds and I had the one that was going around. It started about the time we got home from our family Christmas celebration. I was so thankful that I felt good all that glorious, wondrous day.

We drove over to Orange City in the middle of the state where our son and his family live. The house was beautifully decorated for Christmas. Granddaughter, Lacey, grandson, Jacob, and his friend, Tiffany, from Missouri were waiting for company, along with mother and ad. Jacob and Tiffany met in Japan in their Japanese language class. She’s a lovely, quietly unassuming redhead, who loves Jacob’s puns. Our daughter, Renie and her husband, Ron, arrived soon after we did.

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There was more food than any nine people could eat in a day, though we did our best. It wasn’t exactly traditional Christmas fare, but started out as brunch and was enough to feed all of us throughout the day, including take-home.

Of course we enjoyed the chat as we seemed to ebb and flow around various conversational areas. It’s grand how pleasantly the time passes when you’re with people you love and enjoy.The best part was when we decided to go for a walk. We have always walked as a family. I have walked as a pastime for my whole life. I walked my children, and then the grandchildren.

We got in two cars and drove over to Blue Springs which is only five minutes from the house. It’s so charming the way a group of people can take a walk together. I don’t know how it evolves, but somehow a person will be walking and then, for a while, there’s someone coming alongside and they talk sweetly together about the things that matter. The next thing you know you’re walking with, or perhaps standing next to someone else looking over a rail into the water.

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We went to Blue Springs which is only about five minutes away from where Billy and Lisa live. As soon as we got to the head of the stream, up by the boil, we got to see some manatees. Those usually only come up into the spring on very cold days to stay warm, so I was really surprised to see them.

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Tiffany asked Bill about where the swamp was and Bill turned the question over to our son, Billy, the environmentalist, because she’d get a fuller, better answer from him. He pointed down at a pool of apparently standing water (it’s never really sill, though) and said, that’s a swamp. Then he explained a bit about what that meant. The water was clean, but tinted brown from the tannic acid from fallen leaves. Tiffany listened avidly as seems to be her way and then we all went on.

Tiffany is studying languages. She and Jacob met in Japan in their Japanese language class. They ended up climbing Mt. Fuji together. It was grueling, but they were together, so what did they care?

We who live close to the east coast left at about three-thirty in the afternoon. By the time we got home, I was hurting all over and yet thanking God that we’d had such a grand day. I rejoiced that I’d made it all the way through without even knowing I was sick.

For the next picture, we laid five phones on a big stump and asked some passing young men to take pictures. We had several volunteers and a lot of pictures.

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