Morning Thoughts

It’s Monday and I’m still sick. Worse actually. I decided that I need a substitute for days like today. Here’s the verse I’m clinging to. “Is anyone crying for help? GOD is listening, ready to rescue you. If your heart is broken, you’ll find GOD right there; if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath. Disciples so often get into trouble; still, GOD is there every time.” ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭34:17-19‬ ‭MSG‬‬ Thats what I’m praying for today-to catch my breath. I hope you are doing well.  And here’s a little devotion from my substitute teacher, Alister Begg on prayer.  “Our Father who art in heaven” This prayer begins where all true prayer must start, with the spirit of adoption: "Our Father." There is no acceptable prayer until we can say, "I will arise and go to my Father."1 This childlike spirit soon perceives the grandeur of the Father "in heaven" and ascends to devout adoration, "hallowed be your name." The child lisping, "Abba, F...

Happy Sunday! I hope you are ready to praise the Lord in fullness and truth today. Last night someone near me was shooting off fireworks—I presume in celebration of this Lord’s Day!  Well, I’ve had a miserable cold now for a couple of days and this morning a sore throat decided to join the party. I hate being sick. Running just enough fever to make me achy and feel like yuck! But...it has made me think more about Romans 12:11 and how we should work on our internal fire for God. And, since we’ve had this cold front come through, we’re all building fires. Have you noticed that if you ignore your fire that it doesn’t roar? It doesn’t even burn for long. You have to pay attention to your fire to keep it going. Just like our internal spiritual fire—it has to be fed.  After thinking about it for a while, I read the next verse and realized it’s impossible for verse 11 to happen without fulfilling verse 12! It’s almost like they should be in reverse order.  “Rejoice in hope, be p...

Good Saturday to you! I hope you have a good weekend planned. If you know me very well, you know I tend to get a bit excited from time to time. Bob used to say “Calm down” a couple of times a week when it would be a bit over whelming for his laid back self, but I like getting excited. I like to show it when I’m on fire when my team is winning (or behind) or when I’m telling you about my God and what a difference He can make in your life because it’s for real.   I spent some time yesterday driving back from OKC thinking about and listening to some podcasts on Romans. One thing I learned was the use of the word fervor or fervent.  When Paul speaks about not lacking your zeal in chapter 12, but be fervent in spirit, he’s pretty much repeating himself—once in the negative and once in the positive, so it’s obviously really important—except that when he says it the second time, he gets much stronger. The word fervor actually means boiling, intensely passionate.  “Never be lacki...

Happy Friday and welcome to week’s ending! I happen you’ve had a productive week and have been able to share the love of the Savior with someone who needed a special touch in the last few days...Someone who was in need of compassion and needed to hear of God’s redeeming grace and mercy.  Yesterday, I spoke on the fact that I believe God has called us all. Now, obviously not everyone answers that call, but I believe that if you listen, God calls you to some purpose far greater than your own.  One of my friends and I were talking about this very idea the other day and she asked me “Can you ignore the call and still go to Heaven?” I had to think about it a minute, but my response was “Probably so, but what would you want ignore that call? I realize that most people probably do ignore it, but if the great God of heaven, the King of Glory, El Elyon is calling me...I want to answer!”  And when people answer, great things can happen. People who other wise never would have heard...

Happy Thursday! I find it funny that I’m speaking this morning on Throwback Thursday—well not funny haha, but ironic funny. Especially since I’m speaking at the institution where I first dated my husband, where I got an F in Chapel, where I later taught several classes, and even later served on the Board of Trustees. Almost like throwing a boomerang. Yesterday driving to Oklahoma City I was just tired. Have you ever just been just bone tired? To the point you simply wanted to go home and go to bed? So much so that you wanted to say “I know I said I would be there and do all that, but you know what? I’m just too tired!” That’s how I felt yesterday. Tired.  Sometimes we just want to lay down and forget it all, don’t we? It may not even be physically worn out, but we can be just as emotionally or spiritually worn out. Our fight can just leave us.  ““Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to tak...

Happy Wednesday and I trust this finds you doing well today. I’m headed to Oklahoma City today. I’m speaking in the morning at Randall University’s chapel service as part of their mission’s conference. I drug out my old 1975 Harvester yearbook yesterday and looked at the pictures of the preachers from that year’s conference and thought “oh dear! So that’s my generation now.” I just hope with better hair.  Yesterday, Ozzie was sick so he spent most of the day with me. At Nina’s if you are sick you get fluffy pillows and blankets and the remote. His day wasn’t awful but when Georgia came home, she found a message on her mirror that Mia had left for her. “Mom and Dad, Ozzie’s not sick. Ozzie’s fine. Can we read a book?” I guess she had her fill of her brother getting the royal treatment and her getting the leftovers.  Do you ever feel like that? Like maybe God is giving someone else the royal treatment and you get the left overs? Do you ever just want to say “They are fine! They...

It’s Tuesday! And let’s determine to have a great day and turn it over to the Almighty and let Him direct it and lead us in the way that He would have us to go today.  I don’t know what the weather is like where you are but in northwest Oklahoma, fall has finally arrived and we have had to turn off the air conditioners and turn on some heat in the cool mornings. Tonight, we are supposed to get close to freezing. All I can say is “Yeah.” (That was not said with any enthusiasm.) Our weather is transforming. In some areas of the US and Mexico, the weather doesn’t change much, but in Oklahoma we get very transformative seasons.  Much like Oklahoma’s weather though, the Word of God is transformative. In fact, it is so comprehensive that it’s able to totally transform the inner person. Psalm 19:7 says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul” (NKJV). Isn’t that a great phrase “the law of the Lord?” I love that. The word law here means the Torah that God gave to Moses f...

Happy Monday! Are you ready to begin this week wrapped in the love and grace that Jesus has for you? It’s going to be a busy one for me!  I’ve been in several homes lately that were up dressed for fall. So very cute. I mean every knock and cranny had a little pumpkin or fall leaves or corn or something adorable. It made me feel like I’d really been neglectful of my own house. I did hang a wreath on the porch and I tried to get my bed made and the laundry done.  Some folks are really talented when it comes to making sure the decor is perfect. Some can turn out the perfect pie. A select few can put together a tamale that will make the angels sing! My sister is nearly perfect. And then...there’s me, the relish dish queen. I think my gift is pretty much one of talking to and loving people. My dad said I could talk to a fence post and mom said only if I though I could get me out of the kitchen work. But the truth is, God has given all of us something with which we are really good...

Happy Sabbath to you! And what a wonderful day to worship the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  I have to admit that I watched a little football yesterday. I do love some college football. And I’ll watch just about anyone play just because I love it. One of my pet peeves with the game is when the other team takes the field, the crowd boos. I just hate that. You wouldn’t have a game if they didn’t come. It just doesn’t seem very hospitable or like you have good manners.  I saw a couple of commercials yesterday that i liked. If you watched any on ESPN or ABC, you may have seen Herbstreit and Desmond Howard doing a spot to advertise a contest where you can enter by tweeting something nice about your rival and #sweet-talk. In this day where we continually hear people saying horrible things about each other, it’s a really nice idea. And chick-fil-a had one where people were all dressed up in one team’s gear on the way to the game —the Alabama and Florida State game I think. The...

Happy Saturday to you! I sure hope you remembered today that the love and mercy of Jesus were new this very morning and that today will be a great day spent with Him.  “GOD ’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I’m sticking with GOD (I say it over and over).”  ‭‭Lamentations‬ ‭3:22-24‬ ‭MSG‬‬ Aren’t you glad it’s created new? When we mess up badly, it can just be made new. I have a friend (who is going to kill me for saying this) but got her hair a bit darker than she intended. But, it will grow and it will be created new (she will just have to wait more than one morning!) But like our hair we cut too short or crooked, it will in time be fixed. And our sins can be made clean and fixed as well—without waiting for it to grow! Christ came that we can be fixed and fixed completely. That we could be justified...”just as if I’d never” as Bob Hudson would say.   You know, I d...

It’s Finally Friday! Even though I’m not in school (and I haven’t been for a very long time), just hearing “it’s Friday” is still kind of exciting. Just like when I was 16 and we had football games, the 51 drive-in, and St. Michael’s Alley on Friday nights.  And back in those days, at UHS we had rules. Pretty strict rules. Rules that this A.D.D. kid broke more often than not, but those rules were definitely in place. And grades were not just a suggestion and teachers didn’t care if we felt bad if our papers were marked with lots of red ink when they were not perfect. And they were never perfect because no one was perfect. Ever. And Mr. Pope explained that to us in his very kind, but firm voice.  In the same way we can never attain our righteousness by living by the law. Living by rules and regulations and being perfect. It will never happen because there was only one who was ever perfect—and guess what, it wasn’t you and it certainly wasn’t me. It takes that perfect One’s red ...

It’s Thursday! Throwback Thursday I think some folks call it challenging us to remember those in our past and other good times. Yesterday wasn’t one of those past good times for me to remember! I had a headache that started about 4:00 a.m. and just grew progressively worse as the day went on. I finally got on the good side of it about 6:00 p.m. when it calmed to just a dull ache. Not a fun day to say the least. I spent most of it just lying around. About 6:30, I took a shower and knew I should eat something, but as I stood looking at everything in the kitchen I couldn’t get hungry for anything. Nothing. Then I realized I’d done nothing all day to build an sort of appetite.  Isn’t that just like our spiritual lives? If we are not about the Father’s business, if we are not doing anything for Jesus, we are not hungry for the things of God. We are not anxious to read the Word; we are not ready at a moments notice to pray for those in need nor is it our first response in our own lives w...

Happy Wednesday and I hope this is a beautiful day in the Lord for you! Yesterday, I lived out a teen-age dream of mine. I sat in the driver’s seat of a plush, leather, shiny black Maserati. Man, o man!Since I was 17 and saw Burt Reynolds speed off in his girlfriend’s blue one in The Longest Yard, I’ve thought “That’s how you know you’ve arrived and some day, I want to have one of those!” Well, it was nice and all, but guess what...it really was just a car. And even though I didn’t drive it, my guess is that it wouldn’t get me where I wanted to go any better than the $8400 4-Runner I bought. In fact, it probably would have got me in lots more trouble and wouldn’t get me to lots of places where I need to get—namely the mountains across the border. As I sat in it I thought about trying to drive it up the mountain to Chikue and just giggled.  It’s fun to dream dreams and have wishes, but isn’t it amazing how as we grow up how those wants and wishes change? And as we grow up and matu...

Happy Tuesday to you and may the grace of God be with you this day. My uncle had surgery yesterday for his sciatic nerve. My sister’s friend who plays the piano at their church had shoulder surgery not long ago and has re-injured her shoulder will will another surgery today. I have a couple of friends with lupus who are suffering with this colder weather. A friend of mine’s grandfather died yesterday. These bodies were not made for eternity. They break, ache, tear, and decay. They are corruptible. Just like this planet. It is all temporary. Won’t you be glad when we will be able to put on the incorruptible? The eternal? I know I will.  I’ve been studying Romans lately. In the first part Paul clearly defines himself because he didn’t start the church in Rome, nor had he ever been there. As he defines himself, it’s almost a contradiction in terms. He calls himself a slave, as well as an apostle. An apostle, by its definition is an elite group that would include himself and the 12 and...

Feliz domingo. Confío en que estás listo para adorar al Rey de las todas las cosas este sábado con un cuerpo de creyentes. Canta alabanzas y busca seriamente Su rostro este día. Trabaja hacia una relación más profunda y más significativa con tu Padre. Construye una conexión más fuerte con Él. Anoche cenamos con tías y tíos. Estábamos trabajando en nuestra relacion con ellos, pasando tiempo con ellos. Incluso si somos familiares, no hay mucha conexión si nunca los vemos o pasamos tiempo juntos. Estar conectado con Dios es algo más que una simple unión; se trata de la comunión con él. Cuando Bob y yo nos casamos, no pasó mucho tiempo antes de que empecé a preguntar: "¿Quién es este tipo?" Y confía en mí, estoy seguro de que estaba preguntando: "¿Quién es esta chica?" Ambos nos dimos cuenta de que nuestro matrimonio no era una fantasia. Durante los años siguientes, a través de muchas luchas, aprendimos que las relaciones reale y duraderas toman trabajo. Aprendimos que...

Happy Sunday. I trust you are ready to worship the King of things this Sabbath with a body of believers. Sing praises and earnestly seek His face this day. Work toward a deeper and more meaningful relationship with your Father. Build a stronger connection with Him.   Last night we had dinner with aunts and uncles. We were working on relationships with them—spending time with them. Even through we are related to them, there’s not much of a connection if we never see them or spend time together. Being connected to God is about more than just a union; it’s about communion with Him. When Bob and I got married, it wasn’t long before I began asking, “Who is this guy?” And trust me, I’m sure he was asking, “Who is this girl?” We both realized our marriage was not the fantasy.  Over the next several years, through lots of struggles, we learned that real, lasting relationships take work. We learned that communication is vital. And even if it’s good or bad, we had to be honest about how...

Happy Saturday! How are things today for you? Are things good or do you feel like you are facing some tough times all alone? Trying to stand up against those who would do you wrong and here is no one who has your back? Have you ever felt like that? That’s how the Psalmist felt when he wrote this passage.   “Who stood up for me against the wicked? Who took my side against evil workers? If GOD hadn’t been there for me, I never would have made it. The minute I said, “I’m slipping, I’m falling,” your love, GOD, took hold and held me fast. When I was upset and beside myself, you calmed me down and cheered me up.” Psalm‬ ‭94:16-19‬ ‭MSG‬‬  Your love calmed me and cheered me. What an amazing thing to realize that the love of the Savior has the power to fully take control of our situations that are out of control. Those times when we are beside ourselves He can simply speak “peace be still” to the nightmares of our lives.  Do you ever feel like He is all you have? We sing “He is...

Happy Friday! I hope you are ready for the weekend and to celebrate the joy of the Lord! Isn’t He something wonderful? Something truly worthy of celebration? The Great God Jehovah, the God of the Angel Armies, the Balm of Gilead, Yahweh, Yahweh—oh how we love to sing of your name!  Today, I’m with my Uncle Buddy who just celebrated his 83rd birthday. Uncle Buddy teaches 3 Bible studies every week at assisted living centers because there is a need. He has Sciatica bad enough that he will have surgery next Monday but he continues to do these Bible studies. Today, he’ll have about 24 attending. I believe God calls all of us to a work, a work that proclaims the Message, but not all of us heed the call.  “I can’t impress this on you too strongly. God is looking over your shoulder. Christ himself is the Judge, with the final say on everyone, living and dead. He is about to break into the open with his rule, so proclaim the Message with intensity; keep on your watch. Challenge, warn,...

It’s Thursday! Can you even believe how fast this week is flying by? I’ve spent the week with my sister and we have laughed and laughed and teased each other without mercy! She likes quiet and I love music playing...she likes order and I thrive in the middle of chaos...she is methodical, I am ping-pong balls going in every direction. But somehow, we completely adore each other and believe it or not, in all of our lives we have never really fought. It’s probably because she is such a saint. But I’m not always that good with all of my Christian brothers and sisters—and the apostle Paul admonishes me for that.  “Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in yo...

Happy Wednesday! Is your week going well? And have you remembered to thank Jesus for the blessings He’s poured out for you?  Last night my sister took me to the Parkville Women’s Clinic Banquet. The PWC is a pregnancy crisis center that offers a wide variety of services to mothers and fathers including testing, ultrasounds, parenting classes, and lots of follow-up assistance. In a world of “quick fixes” they are working diligently to help wounded and hurting people make the right choices.  During Jesus’ time in Galilee, people lived together in one big place called “my father’s house.” There were lots of rooms built around a common courtyard—Beth Ab in Hebrew. (Remember when Jesus said “In my Father’s house there are many rooms. I go to prepare a place for you?”) Resources were pooled for the common good of the whole. And in doing so, it allowed that community to help those who needed it—those who were in trouble or had been marginalized or were in times of brokenness. That w...

Happy Tuesday! I hope you have had a great start to your week. Yesterday I had the privileged getting to go to Dorothy Jean’s house to meet with a Bible Study group. Dorothy Jean is 90 and is simply what I want to be when I grow up. When you are at her house, you get peach tea, snacks, and in short, you just feel like you are home. She has a way about her that is welcoming and warm to all who come to her door. She told me that she has a hard time getting groceries, but she is so blessed by all the folks who just bring things to her. “So many people are so good to me.” And it no wonder. I’m sure they count it as a blessing to be able to do for her.  1 John 4:12, "No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us." It makes me wonder how welcoming am I? Do I show the love of Jesus that strongly to everyone I come in to contact with that his love is show in the full expression in me? Because if people are not d...

Good Monday! How was your weekend? I hope it was a great one and you found ample time to spend with the Father of Lights. I had a really good day yesterday in worship at Platt City First Baptist with my sister and brother-in-law. And a wonderful time with Berean Sunday School Gals.  Saturday my sister and I had my mom for the day. Our mom has advanced dementia and at times it’s so sad, but at times the things she comes out with are just funny. My sister needed a little something for lunch so we pulled through to get a taco. Mother decided maybe she wanted one too. So I asked for another one and them mom began digging through her purse presumably for some money. I told her it was fine, we had it, but then she pulled out a handful of Kleenex and said “no here, I’ve got it!” I tried to explain that they only took money and she just became angry and said “Let me talk to them. They’ll take this or I don’t want their taco!” Sharon and I just couldn’t even respond we were laughing so hard...

Happy Sunday! I hope you are as excited as I am about worshiping our Lord and Savior this day. The King deserves the praises of His people, does He not? Praise Jehovah, the Lord God Almighty!  I have a double reason to rejoice today. One of my very favorite people of all time was ushered out of this world and through the gates of pearl night Saturday night. Sister Wilma. This is her very first Sunday in Heaven. She’s strolling down the golden avenue, with mansions left and right and the other saints saying “How do you do Wilma! We are so glad you are here.” I’m so excited for her. And no one was more excited to see her than Bob Hudson. He loved him some Sister Wilma. The Mortuary Mothers are finally reunited (the trio that sang at who know how many funerals in Newton and Barry counties!)  Sister Wilma was 97. She laid down Friday night and went to sleep and woke up walking into heaven. She is now a part of the great cloud of witnesses! Sister Wilma was always quick to help, q...

Happy Saturday.  How was your week? Are you weary and worn from the struggles of trying to get through the trial and troubles you faced this week or was it a pretty easy one? Did the world just sling one thing after another at you and just about the time you felt like you’d deflected one arrow, here came another? Some weeks are like that...some months are like that...in fact, some times we have a year like that. And then others, we seem to just slide by. But you know, if we truly believe the word of God, we must believe that this is temporary—all this life...all temporary. The easy and the tough.  I’ve spent the last couple of weeks debating over a car. Should I upgrade my car or shouldn’t I? I’ve looked, test drove, and just to be really honest, I’ve coveted! They are nice—showing you how to back up without bumping into something or if someone is creeping up on your blind spot and they beep if you’re about to hit something. Really nice for a bad driver like me! And how ...

Happy Friday! I'm so glad that you're reading this with me today and I'm praying that you've had a great week with our Lord and Savior. I had a good Bible study on Romans last night. One of the things we talked about reminded me of some verses in the first part of I Thessalonians where Paul is explaining the make up of the church. He speaks to “we”, “you” and “they.”   "We" have found our calling and are charged with living spirit-filled and spirit-led lives. "You" are charged with bearing that fruit to be an example so others can see how you have changed. "They" have the opportunity to taste the fruit and make their decision. Together (we, you, and they) make up the church.  “Do you know that all over the provinces of both Macedonia and Achaia believers look up to you? The word has gotten around. Your lives are echoing the Master’s Word, not only in the provinces but all over the place. The news of your faith in God is out. We don’t even h...

Good Thursday to you! I trust your week is going well. As I was studying last night I realized I had neglected to talk about the most common name of God. The most used name for God. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the unusual and the less known that we overlook those that are right in front of us but that doesn't mean that they are any less important. In fact, quite the opposite is probably true. Those things that bear repeating over and over are probably the most important.  That being said, the most common one in the Bible is Yahweh and it is usually translated as LORD or Jehovah. In fact, Jehovah is used about 6,800 times in the Bible. It is the personal covenant name of the God of Israel. It is derived from four Hebrew letters but since the Jews believed it blasphemy to say the name of God outloud, the correct pronunciation was lost so we don't really know for sure how to say it.  Yahweh. Jehovah. The Self-Existent One. The I Am. In the King James version of the Bible, i...

Happy Wednesday to you. I hope you are feeling well today and that you have given God praise for this day. I had a good day yesterday. I was blessed to be able to visit the Mercantile in Pawhuska, OK with a group of folks from First Baptist Church in Grove. It was quite the trip. I had been there about 3 minutes when I took a tumble and skinned both my knees and cut my hand. Just about the time I regained my senses, along came the famous Marlboro Man of the place. So I smiled for a picture and asked for a band-aid. Quite the exciting time.  But before we got to Pawhuska, we'd stopped for coffee at a shop in Claremore called She-brews. A coffee/lunch shop that is owned and ran by women who have served time in prison. These women now all love Jesus and are working to put their lives on the right track and learn how to parent and live according to God's plan. Their testimonies would make the hardest of hearts tear up. The story of how the ministry came to be is nothing short of mi...

Good Tuesday to you! I hope your week is off to a fabulous start. Did you realize this month marks a very important anniversary in our history? The 500th Anniversary of the Great Reformation. Yeah, I didn't either until I read about it the other day, which is a bit sad actually since it is really a very important date in church history--the date of revolution for our theology. The day when the church was told "Read the Bible for yourself!" In October 1517, Martin Luther published his 95 Theses which basically said that all authority should come from scripture not church tradition.  The Reformation marks the time when the the question of "how are sinful men and women justified and made right with God?" was finally answered. This question had plagued the young Martin Luther when he came to realize that it was not by works but only by the grace of the living God could man be made whole. And it was so impactful on his life he became totally passionate about spreadin...

Happy Monday! I hope you had a good weekend and are ready to start the week! October...can you even believe this year is in its final quarter? Mercy.  I heard the best sermon yesterday. It was about not hating. Sounds simple, right? But in this world of hate and violent disagreement, where we can't seem to have a difference of opinion without wanting to scream at one another or belittle or threaten, just the idea of "don't hate people" is a concept worthy of a sermon.  The pastor used an example of a FB post he had seen lately with the world largest tuna being hauled in. He said it had over 200,000 comments that he started reading and just couldn't stop. He kept trying to find just one that said something nice, something that wasn't mean to another poster but it just wasn't there. Every single thing he read was mean, hateful, slandering, and/or just hurtful. What ever became of courtesy? Of manners? Of simply be ye kind one to another?  “You should know th...