I’m no painter! It should be against the law for me to paint anything, because I make such a mess. And I’m simply not qualified to paint.So don’t call me when you need something painted. That being said, I’m still the painter in the family. I just use plenty of drop cloths, tape off everything […]
It looked like a picture of true friendship to me. I got so excited, “Look, baby. You gotta take a picture of this tree.” I was already working on my next blog. It was going to be about how one tree, wrapped its trunk around a palm tree to provide strength and support. That’s what […]
I’ve been studying and posting every day on my Facebook page, maybe you’ve been joining me. I am so excited about what I am seeing in Acts. But I have also been very convicted. There’s a Fancy Word for Almost Everything When you want to talk all fancy… “Angry” becomes apoplectic.“Daily” becomes quotidian.“Unfinished” […]
The shortest route and his all too frequent business trips took Normand down the same road, past the same houses, past the same ponds and past the same trees. But one day Normand noticed a strange looking tree. He felt that there was a message in the tree, but he didn’t stop. After a […]
Wayne was driving down a long monotonous road. It had gone on and on without hardly any change or without much to see. While he is always a very alert driver, he sorta zoned out. Then he felt the Lord caution him, “Listen up. Pay attention.” Wayne sat up in his seat, put both […]
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You know about darkness, if you’ve ever been on a camping trip in the middle of a thick patch of trees on a moonless night.
You know about darkness, if you’ve ever been deep in a cave and the guide turned off the lights.
You know about darkness, if you’ve ever been through a hurricane that left your part of town without power.
You know about darkness, if you’ve ever been in the middle of a large group of people at a ball game, a parade or the county fair–spiritual darkness. You see it on their faces. You recognize it in their celebrations. You hear it in their conversations.
If you’ve ever, even once seen the news, you’ve seen the results of individuals and families crushed and robbed by the effects of darkness. You’ve seen lives destroyed because people tried to cruise through life without a light. The darkness may be normal for some folks, but the resulting carnage and devastation is heart-breaking. Isaiah 60:2 “For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people…” That darkness, that gross darkness is stripping our children of their innocence and families of their fathers. It leaves people twisting and perverting love and sex and destroying our morals and culture in the process.
But I stopped too soon when I copied that verse, there’s more. The remainder of that verse says, “but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.” God has a cure. He sent the light-Jesus into the world and He sent you to be a jar of clay or a lamp for that light to shine through.
Verse 1 says “Arise , shine ;
I am a simple person and I always try to be very simple in my approach, but I can’t tell you what it means for you to shine. I can only send you to Jesus. Will you go running to Him…yes, running. Don’t you think it’s dark enough to get passionate about illuminating the darkness? Ask Him to show you how to be a light. Commit to pursue Him with all your heart until you become a bright and shining light that reflects His glory!
In my pursuit of Him, this is how I pray:
Illuminate my darkness.
Let your light rest on me- my conversations, my actions, my home.
Help me to see and seize opportunity.
Give me the boldness to do what you tell me to do and say what you tell me to say.
Think MISSIONAL. If you know someone that would enjoy this blog, please pass it on!
The river rocks that I stopped to gather were smooth in my hand. I’m sure they started out jagged and rough. But the swift current of the cool mountain stream changed that. The strong current, relentlessly shoved the rocks downstream, pushing and tumbling them up and down, around and around, bumping and scraping them against […]
Church is important to me for so many reasons. I have friends at church that I look forward to seeing. There are people there that inspire me like Tommy McKnight, I want to tell you about him one day. He’s one of my heroes. There are people there that allow me to speak into their […]
It made the ABC news blog. And it was both good news and bad news. I’ll tell you the good news first. Deb Thompson is like me, she likes bling. Her daughter was shopping at her local Goodwill, when she ran across a pair of Capri’s that had some “bling.” Deb checked them out and […]
There have been many times that I’ve opened the drain in the bottom of the bathtub, then instructed one of my children to get out of the tub. Often I gathered them in my arms, wrapping them in a soft towel, while rubbing them dry and hugging them all at the same time. Sometimes they […]
I love salt. Now I understand it is very important not to get carried away when I‘m pouring it from the round blue box. Still I must admit, I’m a little heavy handed on the salt when it comes to French fries, sweet potato fries. That saltiness on the sweet fries is “delish”, to quote […]
I had been warned that it was cooler in the mountains, so I wore long pants and a quarter length sleeve. A light drizzle started as we approached the Blue Ridge Parkway, so we ate our picnic lunch in the car. I knew the mountains held the last of the mountain laurels and this would […]