Archive by Author

Just. One. Book. Thoughts from the Airport

22 Jun

On the Porch 

Onisha Ellis

Last week I shared a blog post about a town that had no Library for their students. Well the call for Just One Book has been answered. I am sharing a small part of the post, be sure to read the rest. It will be worth it. With so much discord going on, this is heartening.

The 2016 Silver Buckle Rodeo Queen, Hannah Lambach, stopped by for me to interview her for the local paper. She’s 16 and a Greenville High School student. Her words, “You mean we will finally be able to check out a book?!” She stood there amazed. Then went and got her truck to back up to the building and haul the recycling to Evergreen Market which employs students. The store owners Centella and Ken Tucker are volunteering to pick up boxes while I’m gone and bring them to the library. Ken told Hannah to have the students who work for him help unload the recycling. Hannah promised to come back and tell others to come help.

IMG_7821  These were the bags from Saturday’s UPS haul. That’s not counting the Fed Ex afternoon bags, or the post office which had 5 rolling carts of boxes.

IMG_7824Sue (on the left there) instructed Jazmin how to orderly open and sort. Jazmin was sort of dazed for the first few minutes. “These books are for us?!” As I was unloading the UPS bags Jazmin opened a box and stared at the book inside. You could tell she wanted to pick it up and go to a corner and start reading.

“It’s impossible to open the boxes and not want to read everything,” I said. “Oh yes,” she said.

Then more students started to arrive to help as I was leaving. I was nervous about my trip to Wisconsin for a few days, but one of the things I love about Greenville is that when there’s a project, everyone is all in–doesn’t matter whose idea it was, or what your affiliation is. If there’s something that needs to be done, someone is there to help. Weber wants the students active in this. There’s a whole lot of thank you cards to write.

This attitude is why I like this little hamlet of a town. Despite it sometimes not quite being in the 21st century, despite the Internet going out in the middle of the day, despite the crumbling sidewalks rolling up at 5 pm (hey they have a grant from the state to fix our potholes and highway and sidewalks!), it’s a great place to teach kindness and breathe fresh air. It’s a place where there is always something that needs to be done and there are people willing to show others how to do those things.

 

Don’t miss out on the rest of this story.

Source: Just. One. Book. Thoughts from the Airport – Throwing Chanclas

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How to be set free from sin.

18 Jun

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

His Way

 

 

luggageThere I was last week, holding on to the escort’s arm, pulling my luggage behind. With quick steps, we made our way through the airport.

“This way to immigration,” he said.

Immigration? I had forgotten I was coming in on an international flight and of course immigration and customs were part of the process

“I need to call my husband and let him know,” I said. “He’s waiting for me outside the airport.”

We stepped in the immigration area, and I pulled my cell phone out. And as soon as I gave Siri a command, I felt a tap on my shoulder. “Ma’am, this is security,” a man said, “cell phone use is prohibited in this area.”

Gulp. I gave a silly smile. “So sorry…”

What was I thinking? I remembered the announcement made loud and clear earlier detailing the regulations and Homeland Security laws. But, busy with my own agenda, I dismissed them.

But what’s new? While navigating through the airport of life, we do the same thing. Pulling behind past sin, current sin and on-going sins. Sometimes we hide them; we ignore them, or even live drowning in shame because of them.

Know why we do all that? Because we dismissed this important announcement God made in Isaiah 43:25, “I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”

Did you know that in the area of God’s grace it’s prohibited to recall past sins? If once on our knees we repent, freedom comes. And in His grace we can let go of the suitcase of sin, release the shame, and leave guilt behind.

If God remembers your sin no more, why do you?

Source: How to be set free from sin. | Janet Perez Eckles

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Lord, We Need to Fly

17 Jun

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

Louise Gibson

 

 

The tragedy brought to light this week

has saddened hearts everywhere.

Solace for the wounded and grieving

is at the heart of our fervent prayer.

We mourn the loss of our fellow man.

We digest the news as best we can.

The mass shooting, like 9-11,

has raised our voice to God in Heaven.

Tragic things happen,

We try to reason why.

Something good must come from this-

Lord. we need to fly.

We must rise above the chaos.

the negativity and fear.

Lord. we can be overcomers

as long as You are near.

 

small bird over water with clouds

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Just. One. Book.

15 Jun

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I am reblogging  this post and asking if you can help. This school library has almost NO BOOKS. I know that several of our followers are poets and this school would love some poetry books. If you click the link to the original post, you will find information about sending books.

JUST. ONE. BOOK.

By Margaret Garcia

June 7, 2016

Just. One. Book.

I live in a town of 1200 people in the Northern Sierra Nevada –where it meets the Cascade Range near Mt. Lassen National Park and about two hours drive northwest of Reno, NV.  Two hundred of that population is students. Over the years as the population dwindled after mines closed, then mills–nothing except tourism and retirement have emerged as ‘industries.’ Many businesses have closed down and with it many things we take for granted—like libraries.

The local junior/senior high school has not been able to purchase new books since the 90s. Some of the “check outs” for old books are in the 1980s. There are no books by people of color in the library. Hardly any books by women are in the few book cases except your standard Austen and Lee. It’s an uninviting place. There hasn’t been a librarian for nearly a decade. And volunteers weren’t allowed. The last eight years students couldn’t even check out books.

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But all that is changing now.

Greenville Junior/Senior High School and Indian Valley Academy, which share the library space have new leadership which are welcoming the idea of revamping the library. Both principals want to see the area’s students supported and reading. Like most of rural America we have no budget for such things as books, film, music , and other media and arts.

We need racially diverse books. We need graphic novels. We need women’s studies. We need science. We need series. We need film. We need comics. We need music. We need biographies of important people. Looking for Young Adult. Classics. We want zines! Contemporary. Poetry. Everything that would make a difference in a young person’s life. Writers send us YOUR BOOK. We have many non-readers who we’d love to turn on to reading. We need a way to take this tiny area and bring it into the 21st century. We have a whole bunch of kids who don’t like to read because all they’ve ever been given is things that are either dull , dated, or dumbed down.

Please, please click the link and consider sending a book. You can have one sent directly from Amazon if you don’t want to mail one yourself.

Source: Just. One. Book. – Throwing Chanclas

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Family Treasures~Part 2

12 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

As I mentioned last week, sometimes, the things you grow up with, just don’t seem like anything special.   They are just “there”….part of the woodwork. I’ve found that, not until I got older – and left my girlhood home – did those “things” become important to me.

My mother and father lived in the house I grew up in for many years following my marriage. Fred and I moved to Fort Worth, Texas, for him to attend Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Following that, we went to San Jose, California for one year for Fred to study meteorology at San Jose State College, to prepare him for his meteorologist career in the U.S. Air Force. During that year, my father died.

Mother continued to live in my growing-up house. About five years after my father’s death, mother remarried. We saw them only one time in that house before they sold it and moved into an apartment. Many of the things I grew up around, were put in storage in my step-father’s sister’s garage. While on a visit one time, mother asked if we had the chalk pictures – which I didn’t. Apparently they were put in that storage. I would love to have them now, but they are gone – no one knows where.

Again, they were just part of the “decoration” of the house where I grew up. I always thought they were neat and cute, but they didn’t have any “hold” on me at that time. I don’t remember who did the chalk drawings, but one was of my brother at about two years of age, and the one of me was at about two years of age, also. They were in colored chalk, and really cute.

Here are a couple of pictures of Bill and myself beside our respective chalk pictures. Unfortunately, these pictures were in black-and-white, so you can’t really see the colors.

However, here is another one that had the pictures in color. Mother and dad had purchased a new couch, and mother had made a new picture arrangement above it.

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And here’s another one, taken in 1966, Christmas, that shows those pictures a bit closer, and in color.

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These are a family treasure to me, even if they aren’t in our possession. Something to remember and enjoy the memory.

 

 

 

 

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Five mistakes that bring on regret. 

11 Jun

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

His Way

 

 

I woke up, and while still in bed, I stretched and yawned one night during my visit to Ecuador. As I pondered about the time, I had no way to find out. My cell phone didn’t work—no connection. Unlike here in the States, there was no land line phone to use to call for time.

Most of you who are sighted, would glance toward your phone or clock and know the exact time. Not so for this blind gal.

Surely it must be morning, I thought. So, I started my morning routine. But before getting dressed, I realized it must still be the middle of the night as I heard no birds singing.

Have you done the same? We all do it, don’t’ we? We take action and begin our routine at the wrong time. Even worse, we forge on without checking God’s timing. Without consulting His will. And without seeking His guidance.

Then when we’re in the middle of the journey, things begin to fall apart. That’s when we try to hide our regret, and, with a sorrowful look, we ask God for His input, His help and rescue.

Jesus told that very story in Luke 15. He relates how a young man chose to follow the recipe for bitter regret marinated in foolishness. And often we do, too. We go through these five stages:

  1. We follow our own intuition, our wisdom and whims. “….the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living” (Luke 15:13).
  2. Later, we evaluate the situation and scratch our head, wondering how we got there. “After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need” (Luke 15:11).
  3. We scramble, looking for an answer. “So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs” (Luke 15:15).
  4. We recognize our bad timing, our mistakes and our pitiful ending. “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you’” (Luke 15:17).
  5. The glorious good news is God welcomes us back:  “The son came back home and…while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20 ).

The father delighted in the son’s return. God does the same. No matter the foolish path, the sad mistakes, the pitiful choices, we can always, always come back. God will run to meet us, throw His arms of compassion around us and give us the kiss of forgiveness.

What regret still nags at you today?

Source: Five mistakes that bring on regret. | Janet Perez Eckles

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Expiration Date

10 Jun

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

Louise Gibson

 

 

Our life is in God’s hands.
All of our days are fashioned by Him.
In His book they all are written,
not by accident or whim.

 

Every jug of milk or can of tuna
has an expiration date.
Well, so have we.
God’s timing is best,
but it is not for us to see.

 

Psalm 139, Verse 16

Thine eyes did see my substance
yet being unformed, and
in Thy book all my members
were written, which in continuance
were fashioned, when as yet
there was none of them.

 

When asked, “What is the greatest surprise
you have found about life?”
Your response will be, “The brevity of it”.
Yes, life is but a minute,
but eternity is in it.
Keep looking up, dear friend.
Jesus is waiting at the Cross for you.
His dearest desire is to communicate with you.
Life on earth is not the end.

 

clouds meet sea

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What to do when our world shakes.

4 Jun

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

His Way

 

06-03-16 earthquakeI was alone, seated at the dining room table in the house who hosted me during my trip to Quito, Ecuador. The chair moved a bit. I thought it was my imagination. Then the table moved from side to side. I jumped to my feet and my heart beat fast.

What flashed through my mind was another earthquake, similar to the one that happened only eight hours prior. The magnitude was nearly 7, the same magnitude as the one that destroyed the coast a month earlier.

As the table shook, and the floor underneath me moved, I called out the name of Jesus.

Perhaps I faced an army of fear, anxiety, uncertainty and those weapons of panic were about to attack.

You might have too. Maybe right now, life has your world shaking with an unexpected emotional earthquake. Perhaps you received painful news and what was once steady is now moving out of control. And without warning, the uncertainty of the next moment is about to bring you down.

But God is not surprised and has the answer. He’s saying to you, to me, the same as he declared to King Jehoshaphat who faced an overwhelming army:

  1. The battle is not ours. Thus, we need not know how to fight on our own because God said, “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.” 2 Chronicles 20:15
  2. When all is shaking and the earth is moving underneath us, our soul is steady while we stand firm, wait and trust. “You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 20:17a
  3. We can face any tremor, confront any quakes, yet our heart is calm because God is with us. “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.” 2 Chronicles 20:17b

If your world is shaking right now, what is God whispering to you?

 

Source: What to do when our world shakes. | Janet Perez Eckles

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The Power of Words

3 Jun

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

Louise Gibson

 

 

Choose your words carefully
for they are powerful, you’ll agree.
They can encourage one’s heart
and turn sadness into glee.

 

How does one express love?
How do you define it?
It stems from the heart-
There is hope and promise in it.

 

“Colors fade, temples crumble,
empires fall, but wise words endure.”
Edward Thorndike

 

Words of love
“Therefore comfort one another with these words”
1 Thesalonians 4:18

 

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.
Have you used one to say “Thank you”?

 

Words copy

 

 

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Watching Grass Grow

2 Jun

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

  You know how people joke about watching grass grow, indicating boredom? Well, watching grass grow at our house has been pretty darn exciting. In the past we adopted the haphazard method of dealing with our grass in North Carolina. This method involved a lot of head scratching as each of our efforts failed. This year, due to our slide area, we spoke with the Soil and Water folks and took their advice.

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In Florida, we didn’t sow grass seeds. We bought slabs of St. Augustine grass  and voila, we had grass. Of course, if we didn’t water it frequently we had dead grass.

My husband changed his method of dealing with our apple tree that had not produced a single apple in five years. In the fall he gave it a stern lecture, threatening to turn it into applewood lumber if it didn’t quit stalling. It seems the tree took it to heart.

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We do have still have some gardening questions and your input is appreciated.  Why are our blue hydrangea now blue and white and is this pretty flower a weed or a plant that I can buy more of? It looks like Foxglove, but is more delicate and spindly.

It hasn’t been all gardening the past two weeks. We finally figured out how to get our sidewalk poured. My husband had been dreading hauling the concrete laden wheelbarrow. as he has painful shoulders, but we received an unexpected blessing in the form of the concrete truck driver. I call him our angel of mercy. He didn’t allow my husband to push even one wheelbarrow load. He and the handyman we hired went way above our expectations, hauling the excess concrete around the house and bucketing it up on a hill where we plan to build a water feature. They even smoothed the concrete!

Do you see our “porch dog” Gus supervising the men? My job was to make sure Gus didn’t make paw prints on the walkway. He only jumped on it once and it was easy to smooth out.

We were especially pleased to get our walkway finished as our aunt was visiting and we wanted a nice surface for her walker to roll on. We spent several days out and about with my aunt and my cousin. Lots of fun! We visited Black Rock Mountain State Park in Georgia. What a beautiful park it is!

Beautiful overlook
Husband goofing around.

I’m not a big garage sale fan, but my visiting family are and they always find great deals. I even found some myself. The best part of “garage selling” was discovering new communities in the area, The mountains sure have an abundance of nature and beauty. Here are two photos I took at one yard sale. I was warned a black snake was sighted heading for the old door. No worries. Black snakes are our friends.

It is quiet here now that our family returned to their home. I am back to watching the grass grow and the flowers bloom and I am enjoying every minute of it!

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