Tag Archives: Christian bloggers

What fills your heart today—confidence or fear?

14 Sep

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

Fear

Admit it. We all do crazy things. Bizarre things, really.

I’m sharing mine. A while back, I attended a conference. A friend jokingly asked, “Do you want to drive?

“Yes,” I said with a grin.

“Are you sure?”

“No,” I said, “the question is: are YOU sure you want me to drive your car?”

“Why not,”.

I slipped behind the wheel. “Okay, here we go.” I turned the key to the ignition, and changed gears as she gave me verbal instructions.

Being completely blind, driving a car had remained but a dream. But not anymore.

There I was, gripping  the steering wheel, feeling a bit in control, I listened to my friend. “Keep it straight now, a little to the left, now to the

Right just a bit, not much.”

Oh what Fun! Maybe you’re thinking, “How foolish.”  Perhaps I agree or perhaps not.

The reason I was able to drive her car was because she was with me sitting on the passenger’s seat. I trusted in her ability to give me instructions. I trusted in her direction and her wisdom to tell me what to do, where to turn and when to slow down.

Sometimes we’re all blind in one way or another. We take the steering wheel of life and head forward. Thinking we’re in control, bumps of adversity  catch us off guard. Then when the road gets really rough, fear  robs our confidence.

Conversely, we have the confidence to do anything at all if we know God is by our side.  We’re certain He’s guiding us,  pointing to the next spot in His plans. Reminding of His purpose for our lives. Repeating that He goes before us. Whispering He will guide us over bumps. Talking us through the dangerous curves and reassuring that He will not let us crash.

How about you? Instead of taking the wheel and pressing the gas of human wisdom, are you  listening to His divine directions? He might be asking you to slow down, to keep it straight, to take a detour. To make a sharp U-turn. Or even stop and pause to breathe in His Word.

Breathe in because “…God has said, “never will I leave you…never will I forsake you. So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.”(Hebrews 13:5-6).

What fills your heart today—confidence or fear?

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The Cat Who Charmed the Dickens Out of Dickens

13 Sep

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

MASTER’S CAT

It is no secret that I love cats-

They make a most loyal friend.

So, needles to say

When I read a story that touches my heart.

My enthusiasm has no end.

English novelist, Charles Dickens

Was a great fan of dogs and birds,

But cats were banned from his home.

Much to his chagrin, all that changed

When his daughter was given a kitten as a gift

That had free rein to roam.

The cat was christened William,

Which was a source of mirth-

William became “Williamina”

Shortly after giving birth!

The feline family was to “stay in the kitchen”

“In a box (can you BELIEVE?)”

Well, needless to say, THAT didn’t happen-

Williamina had other plans “up her sleeve”

One by one she carried her kittens into the study-

But naturally they couldn’t stay!

They were ordered “back to the kitchen”-

Determined, Williamina would have her way.

After two attempts to hide them in the study

She vowed “not to go down in defeat.”

This time she boldly walked up to Dickens

And dropped the kittens at his feet!

Then she looked up at him imploringly

And “begged to stay” with her eyes.

Permission was finally granted-

Much to everyone’s surprise.

The kittens enjoyed the privilege of climbing up the curtains

And scampering across the desk in great fun.

When old enough, all were found good homes,

But Dickens couldn’t find it in his heart to part with one.

Because it was deaf and could not hear its name,

He left it go at that.

Instead, he was known throughout the house

Simply as “The Master’s Cat”.

Indeed he was, he followed Dickens

Like a dog around the house-

And would sit quietly by him as he wrote,

As quiet as a mouse.

Not that The Master’s Cat didn’t demand attention,

After all, he had an ego that had to be fed.

One night Dickens sat in his study,

Completely engrossed as he read.

Suddenly the candle flickered out-

Dickens didn’t notice the cause.

He relit the candle and began to read-

Again, the cat put out the flame with his paws.

A minute ore two later, the candle flickered again.

Dickens looked up just in time- what he saw made him grin!

The author set his book aside

And played with the cat.

He would share the story with his family the next day.

“What do you think of THAT!”

.

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You’re In The Navy Now~Part 7

11 Sep

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Navy

Then it was north again to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, WA and back into our winter blues.  That shipyard and what went on there was absolutely amazing!  The ship had hardly been tied off to the dock, before the “yard birds” started clambering aboard.  There was a brief decommissioning ceremony, after which the ship’s company was informed of their light duty tasks, and told to stay out of the way of the shipyard workers.  It took over a month for the Navy to process transfers for all of the 1500 sailors who had brought the ship from the east coast around to the west coast.  In the mean time, we had lots of time to watch what was going on with the ship, and as much liberty as our paychecks would allow.

1As we watched, one of the first things the “yard birds” did, was to cut openings in the bulkheads, below decks, down both sides of the ship from the bow, all the way to the stern, to provide access to the anti-torpedo armor plate attach studs and nuts.  The armor plates ran the length of the ship, and were about 20’x 20’ and 7½ inches thick.  It looked like, under normal conditions at sea, that at least  half or more of the plate would extend below the water line.  It took days for them to cut the welds off each plate, and install lifting pad eyes.  While that was going on outside, inside the ship, another group was cutting off the watertight closures over the studs and nuts, and removing the nuts.  Once all was in readiness for plate removal, a huge crane on a barge would attempt to lift the plate, while workers inside were pounding on the studs coming through the ship’s hull with air driven jack hammers, trying to push the plate away from the ship’s side.

2  Between each plate and the hull was a layer of black gooey preservative that caused tremendous surface tension when trying to remove the plate.  I was amazed to see the removal of each plate cause this huge ship to list one degree.  And then, when the plate was stacked on 12”x12” beams on another barge, its edges almost cut the beams in half.

I spent hours exploring the many parts of the ship I had never had the opportunity to see during the six months I had been on board.  One of the most memorable finds was, when I discovered the hatch to one of the ship’s fresh water tanks.  Since the ship was using shore supplied water and electricity now, the water tank had been drained, and was dry.  It was located on the side of the ship and must have been 20’ wide by 100’ long, by 40’ high, with a ladder running down to the bottom from the hatch.  When I looked inside, there was a giant ball float arrangement, used to indicate the water level, just like what is used in a toilet tank.  What a sight that was!3

 

 

                                   

 

 

 

                                                            —–To Be Continued—–

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6 Sep

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

author of Window Wonders

For everyone anticipating one of Louise delightful poems , I am sorry to say you will have to wait until next week. She is working on what I know will be a jewel, the title is delicious- “The Cat Who Charmed the Dickens out of Dickens”.

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You’re In The Navy Now~Part 6

4 Sep

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Navy

Our first stop was in Santos, Brazil where, at that time, the people had never seen an American warship in their harbor before.  Because many of our crew would have to return to the east coast after we left the Coral Sea in its west coast shipyard, those crew members had been allowed to take their private cars aboard the ship for their return trip.  It caused quite a 

1stir when the people in Santos saw all those cars on the ship.  No telling what they must have thought we were doing with them, especially since there were no American cars in Santos at that time.  Moreover, because they exported most of their country’s coffee, the coffee they served there was very strong and served in tiny cups.  I had to fill the cup half full with cream in order to drink it, and then, of course, all the locals laughed at me.

                                   

2Because the ship was too wide to pass through the Panama Canal locks, we had to sail completely around the tip of South America.  As we traveled south, we were forced to change back into our winter blues as we neared and rounded Cape Horn.  The winds and waves in that area were constantly pounding the ship, and I was glad to be able to stay inside, out of the gale force winds and the freezing sea spray.

As we headed north, up the western side of South America, our next stop 3was Valparaiso, Chile, where we enjoyed experiencing much of South America’s ancient culture up close.  Nicknamed “The Jewel of the Pacific”, the city of Valparaíso is a vibrant center of Chilean culture.  We didn’t get to stay long there, but much of what we saw was breathtaking.

 4UntitledContinuing north, it was back into our summer whites, as we crossed the Equator again, and stopped at Balboa, Canal Zone in Panama.  It was there that we learned all about the history of the canal, it’s locks, and how they are used to move ships from one ocean  to the other, and how many days and miles of travel we would have saved, not having to go around Cape Horn, if only the Coral Sea had not been too wide to fit through those huge locks.

After leaving Panama, our next stop was at the Alameda Naval Air Station, in San Francisco, where I enjoyed some of the best fried oysters I have ever eaten.  As it turned out, this would not be the last time I was to visit San Francisco with the Navy.  More than a year later I would end my two-year active duty time with the Navy, and be processed back into Naval Reserve status at the Treasure Island Naval Station, there in San Francisco.  Yummm! More delicious fried oysters and other seafood delights

5

 

                       

                                             —–To Be Continued—–

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Choices

2 Sep

My Take

DiVoran Lites

DiVoran Lites

Doesn’t it drive you nuts when you decide to do something and you get so many choices you can’t make up your mind? For instance we recently changed cable systems and it seems the new one has even more choices of channels than the old one. They are up into the thousands now. I hear you can delete some of the channels and someday I may do so if I ever care enough to bother. I have found, “The Waltons,” and, “Little House on the Prairie,” and those should last me a while.

What about choices on our computers? We can do things one way or maybe we’d rather do them another way. The only trouble is, it seems to me as if sometimes one way works and at other times that way doesn’t work at all. Sound confusing? Think of the state of my poor mind.

Today I was browsing through a magazine that had pictures of several different kinds of artisan salt in it among them: Black, Red, and fleur de sel. By the way, new research is debunking the 100-year-old-idea that salt is supremely bad for everybody. Thank heavens. Anyhow, I might send away for the fleur de sel some day. Here is its description: fleur de sel is the caviar of salt (but honey, I wouldn’t eat caviar if you paid me, oh well, never mind.) It goes on: “made from the delicate crystals that blossom on the surface of crystallizing sea salts; delicate flavor; violet-like aroma: maintains integrity on wet foods. Now that sounds lovely and exotic, doesn’t it?

Don’t get me wrong, I really don’t want fewer choices in the world, I’ll muddle through the way things are. But how about religions? We have the Christic religions. That is an entirely new word for me that means what we once called Christ-centered. Or at least I assume from the context that’s what it means. Then we have Zen Buddhism, Hinduism. Humanism (yes, I do call that a religion), and a whole bunch more and within each they have denominations and branches galore. I’ve read a bit about some of them and I see some good things in some, (some really scary things, too), but the precepts that seem right and good to me are right there in the Christian Bible too. They were probably there first. To be more specific I like the Zen idea of being in the moment, but I know we have lots of scriptures that tell us the same thing. Jesus Himself did only one thing and I know he was paying attention when he did it. What did Jesus do? WDJD? He did whatever He saw His Father in Heaven doing at any given moment. And with this, I come to the crux of my rant. I keep coming back to Jesus every time I see another choice of religious precept. He is the one and only the all-in-all, the master, the bread, the salt. He is everything to me and will be everything to anybody who wants Him even a little bit. Then He and the Holy Spirit within us can help us make our choices, large and small, a very present help in trouble and in daily life. Psalm 46:1

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Wiesbaden~Part3/Frau Katie

1 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

JUDY

When we were headed to Wiesbaden, West Germany in 1967, I was seven months pregnant with our first child, Karen.  It was a long flight over, and she and I were both exhausted.

At that time, the military was assigning each incoming military family a sponsor, to help with the transition from the U.S. to an international country.  Our sponsor seemed to be very helpful through letters (e-mail had not been invented yet).  When we told him we were going to stop in Albuquerque to visit with family before departing for Germany, his comment was for us to enjoy our time there – it was his home, as well.  Hmmm…. Interesting.

He met us in Frankfurt and drove us to Wiesbaden, about an hour down the road, where we checked into our hotel.  He apologized that his wife was not with him (it was about 5:30 a.m.), but they had a small child that was still asleep, and they would meet up with us that afternoon for a trip around the town, and dinner.

After a good nap and shower, we headed out to meet them.  As we got closer to the family, the wife called out my maiden name!!  Turns out, she and I had been in Rainbow Girls together in Albuquerque.  She had even been in my installation ceremony as Worthy Advisor.  Small world.  And small world, indeed, when Fred and her husband found out they had been in some classes together at the University of New Mexico!  It certainly made us feel more at home, having some ready-made friends there.

We had initially thought that we would attend the Chapel on base, but contribute to the Baptist Church in town.  Fred’s father had been an AF Chaplain, and we thought that we would continue that tradition.  However, some of the members of the church came to visit us, and convinced us to join them.  We became quite a part of that group, and never regretted that decision.  We made some life-long friends there.

Karen on Grandma Wills’ shoulder

After Karen made her appearance, we started taking her with us to church. There was a nursery there, that was manned by a lady they called Frau Katie.  I think she really took a shine to us, since I would take Karen down to the nursery and nurse her.  That was when a lot of American women were against nursing their babies, and only using bottles.  In any case, Karen became a favorite of hers.   On one of our last trips before we rotated stateside, we asked Frau Katie to stay with Karen while we were gone.  We later discovered that she was teaching Karen to speak German!  That gave Karen a head-start on German when we returned to Germany 10 years later.

Katie came to visit us when we lived in San Antonio, and we thoroughly enjoyed her visit.  When we returned to Germany 10 years later, we went to visit her in Wiesbaden.  My mother had come to visit us, and she went with us.  Katie treated us to some home-made cheese cake at an outdoor café.  I’m sure she’s gone to be with the Lord by this time.

But we will always remember Frau Katie and Wiesbaden.

Karen and Frau Katie

Karen and Frau Katie

                                                     

 

 

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Four Keys to Stop Worrying

31 Aug

Walking by faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

Janet Perez Eckles

Hubby and I were enjoying a nice lunch at a local restaurant the other day. And as I munched on my salad, I noticed a taste of pasta.

“Hmm…” I thought. I don’t remember noodles being part of the oriental salad I ordered.

I made a comment. And that’s when hubby admitted. Without me knowing (advantages of having a blind wife) he scooped a portion of his dish onto my salad. I smiled because the blend of flavors was pretty tasty.

Did that ever happen to you? You’re going through life, enjoying pleasant events. When, without you realizing it, someone has dumped something you never expected. It happens to most of us. The only thing is that often, unlike tasty pasta, what was added tastes awful.

I’m talking about stuff the world adds to our day—fear, anxiety, stress. But the most common one is worry. I can almost guarantee that as you’re reading this, in the back of your mind, worry has come in. That pesky habit of worrying about something, about someone…until you cannot enjoy the salad of life anymore. That’s when emotional indigestion sets in.

Good news: seated across the table and observing as we go through our plate of tasks, goals and dreams, Jesus sees how the enemy slips worry on our plate.

According to Him, in Matthew 6, He tells it like it is regarding distasteful worry:

• Carve out all kinds of worry, big and small: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body…”

• Consider a more sound perspective: “Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”

• Count on His provision: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.”

• Claim your value: “Are you not much more valuable than they [the birds in the air]?”

• Create a new motto—Jesus’ motto: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

Father, I confess, worry comes in as an intruder that often robs my joy. I shall embrace your instruction not to worry. It doesn’t belong in my heart where you reside, where you rule and where you placed your peace. In Jesus’ name, amen.

• What has you worried today?

• What promise in God’s Word speaks to your heart?

• How can you conquer worry?

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Listening

30 Aug

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

author of Window Wonders

People need people

To validate their dreams-

No one is independent-

We all need someone, it seems.

A speaker needs a listener

To the language of his heart-

We all need recognition-

True listening is an art!

Do you truly sense the hunger

When a person speaks to you?

Or do you struggle with impatience

To express your point of view?

Let us try to open our heart

To hear the speaker’s tone-

So that we can let them know

They don”t walk alone.

Listen very carefully

To the message they convey-

Everyone needs to express

What their heart wants to say.

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Our Grandtwins

25 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

  

                                                JUDY

 

In previous musings, I have mentioned our “grandtwins.”  I would like to think that I coined that phrase, since I’ve never heard anyone else use it.  But that’s probably rather vain of me to think so.  However, they are our grandchildren, and they are twins.

Our youngest daughter and her husband went through the very expensive InVitro process to have their children.  And we are thrilled with the results of that process.  Our grandtwins are delights to our lives.  There are 15 years between our older grandchildren and our grandtwins, so I’m afraid these cousins won’t be very close to each other, and that hurts our hearts.  However, our grandtwins were both in our oldest grandson’s wedding just a few short weeks ago, and they are all quite familiar with each other.

But the birth of the twins was quite an experience – for us all.  Our daughter (Janet) called to say that the twins would probably be born within a few days via C-section, as she had developed toxemia. The twins would be born about six weeks early.  Fred immediately called and made airplane reservations for us for a couple of weeks out, staying one week.

However, we had a call from our oldest daughter (Karen), that her husband insisted that someone from the family be there for the delivery, it should be at least her, as well as me.  So Fred called and changed my reservation to the following day.  It was to be a surprise to Janet.  Janet called Fred’s cell phone as he was driving me to the airport, and was surprised to hear my voice instead of his.  She seemed quite disappointed to learn that “we” wouldn’t be coming up for another week.  When I hung up, I rubbed my hands together and said, “Oh, this is going to be GOOD!”

Karen flew in first, rented a car, and picked me up at the airport.  We, of course, got lost trying to find the hospital, just praying we would arrive before Janet was taken up to surgery and delivery of those babies.

Our arrival was such fun.  Karen and I had planned it all out on the way.  She would walk into the room first and greet her sister.  Then she would say, “I picked something up at the airport that I thought might make you smile.”  That was my cue to walk into the room.

Well, it worked.  However, Janet hadn’t seen her sister in over a year…..Karen had let her hair grow…..Janet was in pregnancy “fog”….. and she actually didn’t recognize Karen at first.  She said to herself, “I know this person.  Who is it?”  It wasn’t until Karen was at her bedside that she recognized her and exclaimed, “It’s Karen!!”  After they hugged, Karen said her prepared speech, and I walked in.  Opened mouth – Janet was speechless!  I had anticipated hugs and laughs, but instead got hugs and tears.  It was quite an emotional time.

Later, Janet was taken into surgery, and those two beautiful babies were born.  God is good.

God is with you in everything you do.

 

Genesis 21:22

 

 

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