Month: April 2015

They Are Precious In His Sight

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10174985_10154140497620454_5344776850501140117_n[1] “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, and in Your book they were all written, 1477939_876743832387421_1127893204140839405_n[1]the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.”  Psalm 139:16

Today is a very special day for me.  And here’s the story of why.

In July, 2012, little Bennett Coleman (picture on the left) was born to my cousin and his wife.  Bennett, whose names means “little blessed one” was welcomed into his family with great joy, joining his older sister and brother.  On April 28, 2013, Anderson Eaton (picture on right) was born to his family with great joy also, joing his older brother and sister.  Bennett is the 10th grandson of my aunt and uncle, while Anderson is my “adopted” grandson.  Both were born into loving, Christian families who are seeking to raise their children in the ways of the Lord.

And in God’s timing, and his alone, Bennett left us a year ago today – on Anderson’s 1st birthday – April 28, 2014.  Bennett was diagnosed with cancer in December, 2013, and after a great fight went to live with Jesus.  In the words of his family, he is celebrating his first HEAVEN birthday today, while Anderson is celebrating his 2nd earthly birthday.

AND YET!  This story is not about sorrow and brokenness and death.  It IS a story about God’s sovereignty, and His plan.  Bennett’s parents have suffered through a year of grief and sorrow and pain – but also, as his mother Megan wrote, a year of watching God work through a very short life.  While Anderson continues his journey here, his parents and I have great hopes for how he will grow up to be a Godly young man and impact this world through his life.  While Bennett continues his eternal journey, his parents and I are seeing hundreds of thousands of lives touched and brought to Jesus because of his legacy here.

How could two little boys been born, and impacted their worlds with joy, and yet one of them be taken back to his home with Jesus?  The verse above is part of the answer.  God, and God alone, knows the span of our lives and what He is going to do with each one of us, whether here or in Heaven.  He is the author and creator of life and this world, and He alone has all the answers.  All we can know is that, like Paul said, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6-8).  To Him be the glory forever and ever.

Brokenhearted Together

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We were a group of four yesterday when we entered the airport, and then suddenly we were once again just three.  We had been four for a solid week – Robert, me, Mom, and my sister – having a great time, laughing, catching up, and just enjoying each other.  And suddenly, a week had flown by and she had to go back to her husband and her life. It was a pretty gloomy ride back to the house, with each of us lost in our own sadness at seeing her go.

When we got home, Robert and I were supposed to go to an awesome wedding of two very special young people in our church.  We had been looking forward to it for a couple of months. And yet…we needed each other.  And Mom needed us.  We needed to be together and just hang out, to give each other the strength to face our first evening back together as “just us”.  So we did.  Frozen lemonades and ice cream, then a movie, then soup and cornbread later.  Nothing fancy, just love…and being together.

Which is exactly the way God intended life to be for all His children – together (Hebrews 10:24-25) .  Life is hard enough without the added stress and danger of doing it alone (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).  Of course the Holy Spirit is with us always (John 14:16-17) but when sadness comes and hearts are broken, we need the physical comfort of each other as those who know and love Jesus, King of Kings.

The comfort of “together” provdies courage. It gave us the courage to  leave the airport yesterday, and my sister courage to go, knowing that we would have each other. It has given two friends recently the courage to leave gravesides and keep going as their church families surrounded them.  It is giving another friend at church courage to hear the words from her doctor last week that the diagnosis was wrong and she does have cancer after all.

Together in Jesus is the only cure for broken hearts. If you aren’t experiencing “together” on some level, make that change today, and watch our Heavenly Father bless you!

Celebrating Home

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It’s been a wonderful week with my sister being here from St. Louis.  She only gets to come twice a year, and we try to make the most of every minute.  We have the best time catching up, and loving on each other, and then the time is up and she has to return to her family.  It is always bittersweet watching that plane rise in the air taking her home, while rejoicing that she got to come, and already anticipating her next trip.

There’s been sadness this week as well, in learning that I am losing yet another friend to cancer.  While she has been brave and courageous in her fight, unless she is given a miracle by the Lord, she will be healed in His presence in Heaven.  This is also a bittersweet parting.  Bitter for the family and friends that will have the loss, but sweet for Mary as she goes to live with Jesus with no pain or suffering.  And unlike my sister, there is no return trip for Mary – but there is the sweetness of knowing that we will see her again as we join her there one day.

Which brings me to this picture.  I took this last summer on a gorgeous afternoon, and I love everything about it – because it reminds me of our eternal home.  The brightness of that day, and the majesty of those clouds, all remind me that I am going to a place of beauty beyond description.  The shadows in those clouds remind me that there will be no shadows or darkness there, only light.  And the joy that I feel as I look at this picture is just a SMALL thing compared to what I will experience when I am there.  Best of all?  There will be no more parting!  No more separation for any reason, just an eternity to worship the Lord and praise His name together.

So, if you’re having a hard time getting through your day in this dark and dangerous world, look up, and know that one day we will celebrate being home!

I Can Serve You Here

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imageWhen customers enter our ChickFilA, they are greeted and then we add, “I can serve you here” to indicate that our register is open.  As I take orders, fill drinks,and chat the conversation is surface stuff.  In a small city like ours, it is easy to assume that our customers live and/or work in our community, have ordinary lives with ordinary circumstances, and move on.  But when I really have time to listen, it is amazing what I hear.  Just today I served a woman and her daughter on their way to see the other daughter, who was having a baby and having complications, several teenagers who were stressing about their standardized tests today, a young man who was having a big job interview, and an 8 year old who is still in 1st grade because “I got held back”.  There was also a newly single mom whose husband just walked out on her, and a new mom of a new doctor in town who is still feeling lonely and missing her family back home terribly. All of these needed food, but they also needed a human touch and a listening ear.

I came away from today SO wishing that we had at least one “register” at every church where someone was standing there saying, “I can serve you here!”  When we go to church week after week, and see so many of the same people, it is very hard to stop and really listen to what is going on with each other.  We make a lot of assumptions about other people’s lives based on what we are experiencing, and in doing that we miss a lot of opportunities to connect with each other and minister.  And that is also, unfortunately, when we are the least like Jesus. He made it a point to look beyond the surface, and to meet the deepest needs of those He met. I want to be like that.  As the quote above says, I am one – and there is a lot that I can do to help those around me.  May we all begin to make that our goal!

HE Knows My Name

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One of the best things about being back at Chick Fil A is the relationships I have with customers.  During my first employment there (2 1/2 years) I made so many friends who were regular customers.  We celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, grandchildren, graduations, and other happy occasions together.  They supported and prayed for me while I was on a mission trip to Nigeria, and when I had surgery.  And unfortunately, I have now even been to the funerals of some of them.

So as I have gotten reaquainted with old friends, I am also making new ones. However, I am 4 1/2 years older, and learning their names doesn’t come NEARLY as easy as it used to.  I had one of them finally slide up to the counter the other day and say, “by the way, my name is Melinda, not Miranda.  Just wanted you to know”.  Sigh.  At least they are patient with me and put up with my failing memory!

The other side of this is learning their particular wants/needs.  No coffee lid for this one, no pickles EVER for that one, etc.  I make a few mistakes here and there, but I am rewarded with awesome smiles and thank you’s when I get it right.  I love serving them, caring about what they want, and making it happen! And when I can’t, I try to be compassionate in saying no.

AND YET!  God, the creator of everything and owner of it all, reminded me that He loves me (John 3:16), knows my name (John 10:3), and knows my wants and needs..except!  He doesn’t have memory issues and does not make mistakes.  He rejoices when He can make my requests happen (Psalm 37:3), and He is there to comfort me when He can’t.  He delights in knowing me, and He is always there to celebrate the victories and milestones, and to walk with me through the dark valleys (Psalm 23:4).  What a blessing to know Him, and to live in the delight of having HIM know my name!

Stock Up!

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Every job has its details that can be considered tedious, or unimportant when being done, and mine is no exception.  One of the major things front counter people do is stock…sauces, cups, lids, bags, etc, to have them at the ready at each station when the rushes come.  There is nothing necessarily glamorous or exciting about stocking 200 packets of mayonaise or jelly – and it has to be repeated frequently.  And yet!  When the customers are lined up 10 deep at breakfast with work and school deadlines looming, that stock work becomes invaluable!  The pressure of quick service is greatly relieved when I know that I have everything.I need at hand to make it happen, and I am successful.

There is a spiritual application here concerning God’s Word.  Psalm 119:11 is one of the first Bible verses a lot of us ever learned -thy Word I have hidden in my heart – and yet it is also one that a lot of us struggle with even today.  NOT that reading God’s Word is tedious (like my stocking) but memorizing it CAN seem that way.

AND YET!  When the spiritual battles rage, the trials come, and temptation knocks on our door, the ONLY thing that will keep the pressure off and make us successful is our “stock pile” of memorized verses!  And like at work, the supply needs to be replenished over and over again, to keep us going.

After all, one day our Bibles may not be in reach or available at all.  One of my favorite senior adult friends spent the last week of her life awake 24/7 in the hospital, unable to read, and yet she recited Scripture until she died.  That’s a life that was well prepared to face that week!

SO!  Let’s stock up.  We need to spend the time and effort now preparing and working to have a full supply of Scripture to face every “rush” of doubt or fear or challenge that we have!  To God be the glory!

Toast and Jam

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I am not really a toast kind of girl.  Being Southern, and having women in my family who could make mouth-watering biscuits, I much prefer those. My waistline, however, made the determination years ago that toast is my breakfast bread, and I have learned to live with it.

Eating toast at home, I stick to no butter, and only jelly/jam.  A few days ago I was dismayed to find my jelly jar almost empty, and my toast was hot and waiting.  I scraped out what I could, and smeared it on.  The result?  Awful! Toast with just enough jam to barely taste is offensive.  The hint of flavor makes you frustrated, and longing for more.  And I learned something…things spread too thin are useless.  The toast would have been better without it.

I believe God used this to remind me of something I desperately needed to hear right now.  PEOPLE spread too thin are also not doing a whole lot of good…and sometimes it can even been offensive!  There are some things that contribute to this that we have no control over – work hours, family, etc.  But in my case, and I suspect I am not alone, there are things that I CAN control.  Many times, I am guilty of overcommitting my own time, without any help from anyone else.  I love to do ministry, and saying no is hard for me even when I have no real time for anything else.  I love to write and yet I find myself not writing nearly as much as I thought I would because I am usually busy doing something else.

I have been guilty too many times of trying to do too much, and as the saying goes, not doing any of them too well. I have given people/ministries/my family the equivalent of my toast, and that’s not good. I have left them frustrated, and longing for more – of my efforts, or just more of me. My prayer is that God will “show” me a piece of toast every time I am tempted to overcommit myself, and that I will immediately stop!

Step Right Up!

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We are a society of people that know what we want – at least in the fast food world.  Here’s a couple of examples:  “I’d like a chicken biscuit, but on a bun.  Add pickles, and no butter on the bun.  Diet coke, light ice.”  Or another: ” Two sausage biscuits, sausage extra done, biscuit dark brown.  And a chicken burrito, minus peppers and onions, and oh yeah, in a bowl – don’t like the wrap”.  “Half sweet tea, half unsweet, splash of lemonade”. In other words, anything and everything is possible, within our menu, and we can cater to most people’s wishes. And most customers are not shy about asking – they are completely comfortable making their requests known, even if we can’t fulfill all of them.

I wish that I would always approach God that way in my prayer life.  There are times that I am free and confident when I pray, but…there are also times that I struggle.  When I have “regular menu” items – prayer requests for the sick, wisdom for an issue in my life, repentance of sin – I do rather well.  And I am usually assured that God is listening and will do His will concerning my petitions.

However, when it comes to “special request” items, I don’t have the same boldness that my customers do.  I believe there are times that God wants to use me in the BIG things, or times that He has laid a BIG idea or dream in my heart, and then I stutter and stammer trying to pray about those!  I mull it over, think of all the reasons that it might be silly, or me and not God, or reasons that He will probably say no.  I believe I do this at times out of fear – fear of what the request will require of me if He says yes!  Or fear of how a “yes” will cause me to move out of a comfort zone, and into the unknown.  Sometimes it’s a lack of faith in my own abilities and talents – like God would certainly choose someone else for that dream.

Whatever the cause, I want to stop.  I want to become more like those that I wait on every day, and step right up to the counter (throne) of grace and my Heavenly Father, and ask!  My prayer is that you would follow and watch Him change our world for His glory!

Love Makes Me Dance!

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VBS11VBS12VBS13I was so fortunate to capture this moment last year during our Vacation Bible School.  Robert and I kept the toddlers, and Ruthie had just been adopted from an Asian country by a family in our church.

Adopting a child from overseas is a grueling process, at best! We saw her family go through tons of paperwork, hundreds of visits, thousands of questions, and that was just to get started!  We prayed with them through the interviews, the waiting, the red tape, more waiting, and finally – a trip to Ruthie’s country.  Even then, it took many days to get her, go before government agencies, formally adopt her, and then get to take that wonderful trip home.

Although very shy at first, Ruthie quickly warmed up to her new family, her new home, and her new church family.  We were playing and singing to music and she just broke out in this dance!  And why not!  She had gone, in a very short time, from being completely alone in a cold, overcroweded orphanage where her basic needs were barely met, to a wonderful world of love, care, beauty and happiness.  She was WANTED.  And she was ADOPTED!

This is such a beautiful picture of God’s love for us!  He has gone through the ultimate to adopt us – the death of His only Son, Jesus, on the cross.  He has brought us from a VERY far away country, the land where sin and the devil reign.  He also had to wait – longer on some of us than others – for us to come to Him.  And just like Ruthie’s family took her before the ruler of her country and said “yes, we want her”, Jesus has brought each of His children before the King of Kings, and said, “yes, Father, I want them, because I died for them”,  What love!  I am wanted, and I have been adopted..I believe I need to dance!

Which Ingredient Are You?

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We still subscribe to cable at our house, and for all the nerdiest reasons.  I can live without a lot that cable has to offer, but…NOT the History Channel, ESPN in all forms, National Geographic, Animal Planet…and our personal favorite, the FOOD Channel!  We love just about every reality show they come up with, and one of the best is Chopped.

For those of you not in the know, each round of Chopped features a basket with 4 mystery ingredients that each chef has to use in their dish in some form.  They don’t have to use a lot of it, but it has to be represented.  No matter how much of any ingredient they use, they don’t dare leave it as is – they have to “transform” or “repurpose” it.  If they are given a can of green beans, woe to those who just serve them with butter and salt…they had better be pureed, spiced, pickled…something that will make them stand out and not look anything like what they started out as.  If the chef doesn’t, the judges will be sure to point it out and their score will be lowered.

After spending today in church, worshipping and praising the Lord, and being challenged in my walk with Jesus, it occurred to me that Christianity works in a similar fashion.  God is so much more than a master chef on a TV show…but He does transform “ingredients” (us)!  He doesn’t come in and repair the old (add butter and salt) but He totally remakes us so that we no longer resemble the person we used to be- just like those pureed green beans.  We are transformed by His grace and mercy, and His plan (recipe) for winning the world to Himself includes using freshly created new people to do it!

So as we approach a new week, where we go back out into a bland, old and tired world, maybe we need to check our freshness and see what we are contributing to the recipe.  After all – the world is a very harsh judge, and they don’t miss an “unrenewed” ingredient either!  To God be the glory as He uses each one of us!