News knows?

I am not a news junky.  I usually get the headlines on Good Morning America, but I don't spend a lot of additional time reading or studying the details. I am no expert.  But when I see all of the conflicting positions on issues, it does make me ask myself, "what do I think?".  Take the border war with Mexico for instance.   Some say "all we need to do is build a wall".  Others say "families are being busted apart, and we need to take care of them better".  I think I see a tremendously complex problem that no silver bullet will correct.  I think people deserve a safe place to live.  I think we need to know about people that are coming into our country.  I think people attempting to enter the country should be treated humanely.  I think the people who live in our country need to share the tax burden.  I think people who break the law should be prosecuted.   I think bad laws should be changed.  I care about the solution, but I am not qualified to dictate the solution.  It would seem to me that the ones who are charged with determining the solution would make progress more quickly if they could just agree that any solution will be tremendously complex and that our best chance at that solution would be to listen and attempt to understand others, as opposed to tearing them down.

Pirates Sighted

I am a routine person.  If I can get something good in my daily routine, I am pretty good about keeping it there.  Regrettably, the same thing holds true for bad things in my routine.  It's hard to get rid of them.   There is nothing routine about having 5 kids for 3 days at our annual Pirate Camp at Lake Hartwell.  This is our fourth year, and the number of kids grows as the grandkids age in (4 years old).  For these three days, I am almost completely out of my routine, which is hard for me in a way.   But yesterday, while on the pirate ship, on our way to locate the hidden treasure that Captain Hook stole, Levi looked at me and said, "today is the best day of my life".  Routine smashed.

Search Results

I have known about Francis Chan for some time.  Francis is an author and speaker who loves to write and talk about Jesus.  I find myself searching for people like him who know more about Jesus than me, so I can learn from them.  Nothing wrong with that - but it is Francis himself who implores us in this short video not to search for someone who can help, but spend more time seeking Him.  I want to do that more.Francis Chan Meets Some Jehovah's Witnesses

How He loves

I was looking for some inspiration for today's post and came across this recent video of a song that has been around for a while.  The first time I heard it, I was attending Veritas Church.  My good friend, David Slagle, faithfully started that church over a decade ago and still serves there today.  I met David at the church he served at prior to starting Veritas and went with him to start Veritas.   I believed in his calling, and David believed in me as a child of God.  I love how David loves me, and I love how He loves.

Girl Power

Last week in this blog, I honored a family in our church where the husband/father was currently serving our country overseas.  I have never served in the military, but admire with deep respect those that do.  For our family, Memorial Day is the kick-off to summer and both of my children and our six grandchildren were at Lake Hartwell together.  The weekend is filled with time on the dock, fun on the boat and too much food.  As you can imagine, we are running wide open keeping up with the six.  Some of my favorite moments, however, are the quiet times with these girls.  The older girls are known for their magic hugs and the younger ones still love to snuggle.  Caroline and I are so fortunate to have them close enough to us that we can see them regularly.  I can't wait to see what God has in store for them in the years to come.

Single Moms

One of the most important things our ConnectGroup at church does is pray.  While our group is not meeting over the summer, the habit of prayer will hopefully continue for us until we reassemble in the fall.  We have been praying for a mom in our church who is raising her small kids on her own.  Her husband left suddenly several months ago.  Her needs are pretty basic - food, sleep, time and good health allowing her the strength to manage a family on her own.  I really can't imagine the stress and fatigue she must be experiencing.  Our group has provided some meals for them hoping the small gesture will make that day a little easier.  As for the dad, there are a lot of things that I would like to say to him if I have the chance, but I will probably just leave it at "thank you for your service."

Spoken like a champ

Our spoken words can be powerful, inspiring, informative, boring or cutting.  We use our voices every day to communicate something.  I came across this short video which has contains some solid advice on what we can do to make the world a better place by what we say and how we say it.   I didn't find anything revolutionary here, but I think if I were able to follow these guidelines more closely, it would be revolutionary for me and the people I am speaking with.