Archive by Author

How to find triumph in tragedy

24 Dec

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

hanging-stockings

My son Joe’s empty stocking on the fireplace seared my heart. It had been twelve years since Joe’s tragic death.

Christmas no longer called for a celebration. Not anymore. Not when you have a vital part of your life missing. Festivities don’t have the joy they should.

And Christmas trees don’t emanate the usual scent.

Actually, my days needed to erase the Christmases, the birthdays, the holidays—all ushered pain rather than delight. They reminded me of what I once had and now what was gone.

The world celebrated, greetings of good wishes filled the room. But when tragedy turns your world upside down, no amount of cheer can bring clarity to the fog of sadness.

Strange, though, often, it’s the scorching pain that forces our eyes to open to a bigger picture. It did for me as I rewound memories of past Christmases.

Years ago, when our three sons, including Joe, were still young, I focused on providing a perfect Christmas; a perfect tree to wrap a perfect celebration. As a result, little things tended to roil in me such as a light strand that refused to shine because of a burned bulb. Annoyed at the glitch, I promptly set off to resolve it. I fussed, I rearranged, plugged and unplugged until frustration grew hot in me.

How foolish and silly. I focused on that one bulb, dismissing the glow of the star atop the Christmas tree.

I’ve done the same with light bulbs that burned in my life—from broken relationships to shattered plans. Exerting tons of energy trying to fix them, I missed Christ, the newborn King—the star that gave significance to my life. The star that covers shadows of gloom and sorrow.

Joe’s memories changed—his sweet smile, his tender hugs and his sense of humor now sit atop of my life, casting off that glow to bring back the joy.

To remind me that he’s not gone, not from my heart, not from my mind, nor have the images of his spunky self vanished.

When that void in our heart aches to be filled, it’s Christ’s star of comfort that makes it whole. When bitter sorrow robs the spirit of Christmas, it’s the star of His everlasting love that whispers joy. When a health diagnosis shakes our world, it’s His star of reassurance that shines the certainty of new tomorrows. When our finances rob our security, it’s the star of God’s provision that ushers the radiance of reassurance. It’s the same star that never loses the brilliance of hope. The hope that, through Christ, tragedies turn to triumph.

Source: How to find triumph in tragedy. | Janet Perez Eckles

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Joy For All

23 Dec

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

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On the final day of a Christian publishing conference in Singapore, 280 participants from 50 countries gathered in the outdoor plaza of a hotel for a group photo. From the second-floor balcony, the photographer took many shots from different angles before finally saying,”We’re through”.  A voice from the crowd shouted with relief, “Well, joy to the world!” Immediately, someone replied by singing, ‘The Lord is come.” Others began to join in. Soon the entire group was singing the familiar carol in beautiful harmony.  It was a moving display of unity and joy.

In Luke’s account of the Christmas story, an angel announced the birth of Jesus to a group of shepherds saying, “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord.” ( Luke 2:10-11)

The joy was not for a few people, but for all. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son”.(John 3:16)

As we share the life-changing message of Jesus with others, we join the worldwide chorus in proclaiming “the glories of His righteousness and wonders of His love.” “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!” David McCasland

The good news of Jesus’s birth is a source of joy for all people.

 

“Merry Christmas, dear friends. And a Happy New Year.”

Louise Gibson

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I Don’t Have a Title!

22 Dec

WordPress is being ornery.

It’s stressing me out.

I have a nasty cold

My nose has become a spout.

I refuse to give in

To woe is me.

I choose to allow

Laughter and love

To reign supreme!

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!

isaiah9-6

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Look Up and Be Amazed

20 Dec

A Life to Live

Melody Hendrix

Have you ever wondered how much a cloud weighs?
According to scientists, the weight of the average cumulus cloud is 1.1 million pounds!
Think about that for a moment. This means that at any given moment, there are millions of pounds of water floating above your head. That’s the equivalent of 100 elephants.
To start with, this weight isn’t all concentrated in one point, it’s obviously spread out over a huge space. Clouds are also made up of water droplets that are sometimes so tiny that gravity has hardly any effect on them. And because of condensation, clouds are actually buoyant.
Perhaps even more surprising is the fact that even though a cloud seems to float in air, both the air and the cloud have mass and weight. A cloud is actually less dense than dry air, so that keeps them floating yet it turns out they weigh a lot.

Cirro clouds
Are high in the air,
Alto clouds
are halfway there.
Strato clouds
Are way down low,
That is how
The cloud layers go.

Stratus clouds
Fill the air,
Nimbus clouds
Mean rain is there.
Cumulus clouds
Are bumpy and tall,
Cirrus clouds

Are thin. That’s all.

clouds

 

Why do our prayers go unanswered?

17 Dec

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

12-09-16-airplane

Am I being silly with this prayer request? I thought as I asked God for help.

“You’ll never make it,” the airline agent said on the phone as I booked my flight. “You only have 30 minutes and you have to go through the airport to change airlines. The aircraft is very small with limited seating.”

“Book me anyway,” I said.

Was that faith or foolishness on my part?

Weeks later, I boarded the flight from Orlando to St. Louis. Holding on to the airline agent’s arm, she helped me to my seat inside the airplane. I settled down, folded my white cane and stuck it in the front pocket of the seat.

I buckled in. “Okay, Lord, I need a miracle,” I began my silent prayer, “place beside me a young man who can walk fast, and who’s nice enough to offer to help me to the gate to catch my next flight.”

But as rare as it was, no one sat beside me, I mean no one. Lord, what’s up with that! I can’t afford to miss my next flight.

We were descending and the announcement came through, “Ladies and gentlemen, seems like the air current was in our favor; we’ll be arriving in St. Louis 20 minutes early.”

I grinned. God is so good! That would make it very possible to reach the next flight. So I thought…

“Can you run?” I asked the airline escort waiting for me at the exit of the airplane.

“Sure can,” he said.

And we did. We zipped past passengers, up the elevator and dashed to the gate. I handed my ID to the agent behind the counter.

“I’m so sorry, ma’am,” the gate agent said. “The flight is completely full.”

I took a deep breath. “No you don’t understand. God made it so I could get here on time. Please, please look again, there has got to be one more seat left,” I pleaded.

“It’s a seven-seater aircraft,” he said, “how much do you weigh?”

“How much do you want me to weigh,” I chuckled. “One hundred thirteen.

“Hmmm…seems like one passenger didn’t show up,” he said. “I’ll get your boarding pass.”

I nearly reached over the counter and hugged him.

That lesson taught me a lot. So often God tests our faith, our trust and our commitment to remain calm.

He probably did that for you, too. When you so badly want to get on the flight that takes you to the answer, you ask and beg. And just when you are specific in your prayer request, He seems silent. He seems distant, ignoring your request.

But if hope seems to vanish and doubt knocks at the door, He’s whispering: “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD” (Isaiah 55:8).

In the desperation of your request, will you trust He’s working on the answer…not in your way but His?

Source: Why do our prayers go unanswered? | Janet Perez Eckles

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“Help! There’s A Kidnapper in my Apartment!”

16 Dec

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

 

 

Well, not really.
But my cat is acting like one.
I set up a miniature village under my tree,
the source of a lot of fun!

There are houses, a church, commercial buildings,
and a ski slope brings a smile.
Skiers actually go up and down,
so watching them is worth your while.

Corky, my little feline friend, watched patiently-
His eyes moving from north to south.
But curiosity got the best of him.
A little man walking down the street
wound up in Corky’s mouth!

Corky didn’t know what to do.
His captive put up no fight.
He dropped him when he looked at me.
Ha! He had to make it right!

Christmas brings out the kid in me.
My heart is filled with play
as I look to our Savior,
a God of wisdom, with us everyday.

I wish you a “Merry Christmas”
Keep looking up, dear friend.
And don’t forget to look around you,
The need for love has no end!

 

christmas-village-copy

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Christmas Dinner “Take Out”

15 Dec

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

The Christmas dinner I wrote about last week, gave me an unexpected “take out.” I didn’t ask for it and would have gladly left it there, but alas, it was somehow sent home with me and for the next twelve days I found myself changed into a cough factory. To complicate matters, I decided to bring out my stubborn panties and refused to see a doctor. After nine days, I waved the tissue of surrender and visited a walk in clinic. And voila, three days later I am on the mend.

As I am writing this, the sweet Holy Spirit tapped me on my heart, reminding me that the nasty cough is a learning opportunity. The next time I get my panties in a wad, don’t wait until I am miserable before taking the problem to the ultimate physician.

Ok, moving on… At our home in the North Carolina mountains, I like to celebrate the seasons and my favorite way is with an entryway display. I am not a crafty sort of person. Well, I can be devious, but I am talking about being crafty in an artsy sort of way, so this is a stretch for me. Over Thanksgiving I asked Rebekah to help me do something special for Christmas. I have an old Windsor chair that is the central piece. ( I think my mother rescued it from a trash heap)

Usually, I add a woven basket and fill it with shiny Christmas ball and pinecones, but this year I wanted to change it up. Our town in Florida recently was blessed with a Hobby Lobby store and the abundance of Christmas stems had me itching to use them.

I wanted the items in the display to have a story and as my mind make a mental inventory of items I could repurpose, I remembered a butter churn that came from my grandparents farm. It was old and dull and the paddle was broken. It lived at my parents home. One year my mother and husband worked together to give it a fresh coat of paint and fashion a new paddle. They gave it to me as a Christmas gift, a labor of love and I have treasured it. I decided it would make a perfect “vase”.

Rebekah helped me choose white, glittery poinsettia to go with the rather dashing red and green spray-ish  stem I had chosen to give it height. In some leftover Christmas supplies I found  red mesh ribbon and we tied it around the churn and attached a glittery bow ornament. ( Can you tell I am in a glittery phase) Now the poor paddle looked naked and lonely, so I rummaged through discarded tree decorations and found some tightly wound tinsel. We wrapped it around the paddle handle and it looked good, but was missing something. Rebekah pulled out a tree topper that was too heavy for our current tree. It is made of beaten metal and the lights gleam through Mickey Mouse ear shaped holes. Perfect!

For the chair, I decided to use a precious quilt a friend had made for me out of pieces of my mother’s favorite clothes.  We spread it over the chair, then placed a white stuffed bear, a discard from a grandchild, on the seat. I thought he looked a bit bare, so I went through drawers and found a pair of Sponge Bob Square Pants Christmas boxers. They were used one Christmas when the whole family wore Christmas PJs.  I slid them on and although they are too big and droopy, I like them. Memories are better than making a fashion statement. We added a Christmas pillow and a couple of small stuffed friends and the display was complete. It certainly is not elegant but the glow I feel when I pass it, makes it beautiful to me.

christmas-churn-copy

If you look closely you can see the star lights on the paddle top, peeping through the shiny stem.

Ten days until Christmas!

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A Very Special Bridge

13 Dec

A Time to Live

Melody Hendrix

I would like to share with you just one of many wonderful features of where I live in Brevard County Florida. This is our beautiful  –    A. MAX BREWER BRIDGE  –  gateway to paradise …Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.
a-max-brewer-bridge
The A. Max Brewer Bridge in Titusville has won the nationwide People’s Choice Award presented by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
A. Max Brewer Bridge is a concrete bridge costing  $44.8 million to build.
Length of bridge: 3,207 feet
Height of bridge: 65 feet
Date constructed: May 15, 2009 through Jan 31, 2010
Next to the bridge is the Titusville Veterans Memorial Fishing Pier is known locally as the “World’s Longest Free Fishing Pier.” The Titusville Veterans Memorial Fishing Pier (recently renovated) dates back to the original bridge that spanned the Indian River Lagoon in the early 1900’s. The early structure was known as the “Walker Bridge,” named in honor of Mr. John R. Walker, a former postmaster who helped make construction of the bridge possible.
After crossing the bridge, The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is located due east of Titusville on Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida, and occupies 140,000 acres, overlaid with the Kennedy Space Center. To the north, it borders on the Canaveral National Seashore; to the south it encompasses non-public portions of the Kennedy Space Center. Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River run through the refuge. Since public access to all these areas is controlled in various ways, the refuge is part of a very substantial area of relatively undisturbed wildlife habitat.
The refuge provides a range of habitats, from saltwater estuaries and freshwater impoundments and marshes, to dunes, hardwood hammocks, and scrub. It contains over 1000 species of plants, 117 species of fish, 68 amphibians and reptiles, 330 birds, and 31 mammal species. Of these species, 21 are listed as endangered either by the state of Florida or by the US federal government.
I am so fortunate to live close by.

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Love is Eternal

9 Dec

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

cardinal-pair-copy

 

 

 

How do you describe it?
It is being comfortable with someone.
You don’t have to impress them.
Their heart you have already won.

 

Allow them to see your weaknesses-
they love too much to condemn.
“Oh, Lord, I am me, no other can I be.
Thank you for loving me as I am.”

 

“Just as I am, without one plea,
but that Thy blood was shed for me.
And that Thou bidest me come to Thee,
Oh, Lamb of God, I come! I come!

Amen!

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Let the Christmas Fun Begin.

8 Dec

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

 Whew!  The Christmas season is upon us and I feel as if I am five steps behind.  We are going to a Christmas performance tonight, put on by our local theatre company, but I wanted to tell you about our ladies Christmas dinner at our church, last Friday night.

Since moving to the mountains (well part-time moving) I have been blessed to attend my churches Christmas ladies dinner. It is an outreach to the women in the community and is totally free. We fund raise for it all year.  It is a fun affair and men in the church volunteer to serve and clean up. However, the women of the kitchen staff do the cooking ahead of time.

Della and Betsy
Ginger. She decorated a table too.
Betsy our fearless leader

This year I volunteered to help. My job was to put tomato sauce and cheese on top of 180 servings of cream cheese pasta.  The servings go into individual dishes to make it easy for the men to serve. Once they were filled  we tucked them into a large warmer oven. It took me most of the day and I was tired!

dishes-copy

Other ladies of the church volunteered to decorate tables, using their personal Christmas dishes and decorations. They were so pretty!

Ginger’s table
Beautiful fresh flowers.
Lenox ornaments to take home.
My favorite color scheme

During the dinner, my husband worked in the kitchen getting the food to the servers. He said it was chaos! Imagine a group of men all scrambling to get hot food out to the ladies. We had four courses, French onion soup, cranberry salad, main course with roll and dessert. It was a challenge and I think the men did a fabulous job.

Once everyone was served, the men brought out coffee and Russian tea for us to sip while we listened to an inspiring speaker.

As you can imagine in a room full of ladies, there was a lot of cheerful noise. I loved every minute and look forward to next year.

I would enjoy reading your story too. What kind of fun activities are you enjoying?

UPDATE: In the beginning of this story, I mentioned husband and I were going to a Christmas performance. We arrived in PLENTY of time to get a good parking space. As in 24 hours early! Yes, I had the date wrong.  Can I blame it on the cold meds I am taking?

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