Rainey Days

Many people enjoy making New Year's resolutions, but I think far fewer actually keep them. Here's some help for those of you who are really determined this year: http://www.wikihow.com/Form-a-Good-Habit This site gives some practical advice on forming good habits. http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/gallery/0,21863,1541498,00.html This is a great article on breaking bad habits, specifically 11 bad habits like nail-biting, procrastination, whining, gossiping, always running late, disorganization, and more. It's great, and I'm already using the tip for breaking my habit of slouching. http://healthymonday.org/ This site is a national non-profit health organization that offers weekly tips to make yourself more healthy. When the website opens, click on the "thumbs up" image to get into the main site. For some of us, these little tips can really make a difference. I'm thinking of a new project as my New Year's Resolution. It's called Project 365, and...

Today I recieved an email from a contact at one of the churches that hosted me sometime in the last year. I'm using it as a dicussion starter for today's blog post. I realize that some of the people who read this blog are all over the world and in almost 20 States in this country. Although some of you may not have heard my latest news, the word is spreading, as is evidenced by this email: I had heard that you have left the mission field. I am writing to ask if you had returned to Israel and your reason for leaving the mission field? If you do not wish to share this information with me, I understand. Just know that you are still in my prayers. God Bless. It's not the only feedback I've had lately. I've been messaged on facebook, called by friends, and had my immediate family approached by other people who are concerned about me. I resigned from AGWM in November. It was my choice to resign, but it was the Spirit who lead me to make that decision. While people often qu...

I know that this blog hasn't been updated in well over a week, but the holidays are keeping me busy, as I'm sure you understand. Today I'm headed to Upper Marlboro to see extended family up from Down South. The merriment of the holiday season continues . . . . Keep checking in, and I'll have something worth reading tomorrow!

Every year at Christmas, the Toys R Us marketing crew re-releases their iconic "I don't wanna grow up; I'm a Toys R Us kid" commercial, just in time for all the holiday shopping. I can remember when the original commercial came out with its catchy lyrics, and I suppose that's part of the marketing campaign. Most people my age have small children of their own now to shop for. The concept of eternal youth is one that has been around for centuries, probably even longer than that. At some point, even Adam and Eve realized they had wrinkles, gray hair, and age spots. The futile search for youth spurred explorers like Ponce De Leon to the New World, to Florida specifically (where apparently the elderly are still searching). The British author JM Barrie captured the hearts of young and old alike with his classic tale of Peter Pan who gave up the reality of love and family to remain young forever in a fantasy world. I've been thinking about this a little more i...

I'm deep into this Ministry Manual project that I'm working on for my church. I spend hours every day reading and re-reading the current policies of the church, fixing typos and eliminating redundant or poorly written sections. I delete sections that don't apply to our current situation, and I write in new sections that need to be added. After a while, my brain gets sort of fried and my eyes get tired of the computer screen, so I try to give myself breaks to get a drink or chat with Debra in the main office for a minute or two. Today I'm starting to worry about myself. I'm working on a section that I am positive I rewrote two weeks ago. I keep finding more paragraphs that I'm certain I rephrased and retitled, but there is no record in my computer of me having done it. I guess it could be a deja-vu moment, but it's startling clear in my mind--even having used the "find and replace" tool on one section. But today that whole section is the same...

You know where the Christmas season is the most obvious? The post office! In the past few weeks, I've had the occasion to visit three different post offices, in the course of my personal errands, only to find long lines at each one. I've become accustomed to using the automated "self-service" machines for packages and other quick needs. In fact, I'm so used to them that when I walked into a smaller, older post office today and found that they didn't have one, I debated whether I should just walk back out and find a better post office. There were only five people waiting, so I decided to stick it out in line, even though I only wanted holiday stamps. All of the people in front of me bore packages of varying sizes and decor. Some were Christmas wrapped; others were old boxes from amazon.com with marker scribbled over all the old bar codes and shipping labels. One man was with his pre-teen son, who was clearly bored and unable to stand in line for more than a fe...

I love this time of year. One of the best parts is the music. In every store and in many homes, there is Christmas music playing in the background. There are silly songs about getting "Nuttin for Christmas" and grandparents being run over by reindeer; there are songs of breath-taking beauty like "O Holy Night" and "The Carol of the Bells." There are local favorites about eating crabs at Christmas, and there are the classic party favorites like "Jingle Bell Rock." There are pretty religious songs and rowdy secular songs. What's your favorite Christmas song?

In the Bible, people gave praise to the Lord by dancing, clapping, raising their hands, shouting, and making sacrifices. In today's modern, techological era, I'm praising God by blogging and Facebook twitter. I'm thanking God that my father is recovering from his kidney failure. We'll probably get further news tomorrow at the dialysis report, but today my father saw his doctor and found his kidney numbers had decreased drastically! He's been feeling more and more healthy, a sign we felt sure indicated that he was healing. He's had more strength lately and even looks healthy again. I know that God is at work in his body, and I give God the praise now for the final report I believe is coming soon!

December 4 – When I was a child, my mother always bought us advent calendars, which covered the traditional 25 days of “advent.” In most children’s advent calendars, little windows open with cute pictures hidden behind, and something there is a little piece of chocolate or treats of that nature. Obviously, a calendar like that would build any child’s excitement and anticipation of the Christmas season. A friend of mine from France recently sent me an email including a link to an online advent calendar –something that could be bookmarked as “favorite” site. The advent calendar online is not for children; it is based on a theme of ecology and wise stewardship of our earth that God has given us. It is scripture based and extremely practical.I realize that not everyone has jumped on the bandwagon of ecological conscience, but it is growing in popularity in our culture. For those of you who are interested in 25 practical ways to protect our environment, I’m adding the link here.

I'm reading a great book called Anonymous: Jesus' hidden years and yours by Alicia Britt Chole (soon to be reviewed on my book review page), but I'm swept away by her writing. She makes utterly profound statements in a simple way. Today, I contemplating this: "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:17) ". . . the first time Jesus heard these words thundered from the heavens, God spoke them before Jesus had ever done anything for which we call him Savior. God sounded his affirmation from above over Jesus' life before Jesus ever preached one sermon or enlightened one mind, before Jesus ever healed one body or saved one soul. These loving words were spoken over Jesus before the timeless teachings, the dramatic deliverances, and the many miracles. They were spoken over his hidden years. God declared his full acceptance and pride over what Jesus had become through his anonymous season. In unseen places, over underestima...

For the past few days, I've been singing, "All Who Are Thirsty," from my Wow Worship cd. I looked it up online and found it here Now you can have it in your head, too. Great song!

I have oftened marveled at people who do not know or trust Christ. I wonder how they live, how they handle stress and difficulty; mostly I wonder where they place their trust. I made a list the other day of all the possible areas in which someone might stake their confidence: in their job or career in their marriage in their family members in their bank account in their home in their political party It came to me very dramatically that part of the "crisis" that our nation is facing is not just the collapse of the stock market or the downtrend of our economy, but it is the crumbling away of what people thought was rock solid. Part of the misery of people all around us is that they placed their trust in things that failed. Just look at the divorce rates that continue to rise each year; in our society, love is not even trustworthy. We often use the word "lost" to describe those who haven't found the peace of Jesus Christ. and it's true: they are "lost...

My niece Olivia loves to sing "Old McDonald had a Farm" with unending verses of animals and all the energetic sounds they make. Today I was looking at my schedule for the week and it's full of meetings. I've had one already this morning and more to come throughout the week. I like the productive feeling I have at the end of the meetings. I like the progress I see in each step of the project I'm doing for the church, and it seems that the ministries of the church will benefit from the profound analysis we're doing in these meetings.