YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW

Thank you to all my blogging friends who have been such an inspiration and blessing to me this past year. May 2011 be the best year ever.

I thought this poem by Helen Steiner Rice would be a good thing to share this week for Spiritual Sundays.

YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW

Yesterday's dead,

Tomorrow's unborn,

So there's nothing to fear

And nothing to mourn

For all that is past

And all that has been

Can never return

To be lived once again⏤

And what lies ahead

Or the things that will be

Are still in God's Hands

So it is not up to me

To live in the future

That is God's great unknown,

For the past and the present

God claims for His own,

So, all I need do

is to live for Today

And trust God to show me

The Truth and the Way ⏤

For it's only the memory

Of things that have been

And expecting Tomorrow

To bring trouble again

That fills my Today,

Which God wants to bless,

With uncertain fears

And borrowed distress ⏤

For all I need live for

Is this one little minute,

For life's Here and Now

And Eternity's in it.

Click HERE to go to the Spiritual Sundays blog to share and be blessed.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I really like this poem by Martin Luther.

A BED IN MY HEART

Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,

Make Thee a bed soft, undefiled,

Within my heart, that it may be

A quiet chamber kept for Thee.

My heart for very joy doth leap,

My lips no more can silence keep.

I too must sing, with joyful tongue,

That sweetest ancient cradle song,

Glory to God in highest Heaven,

Who unto man His Son hath given,

While angels sing with pious mirth,

A glad New Year to all the earth.

A special Christmas blessing to all my blogging friends. To those of you who join us each week for Spiritual Sundays, a special Thank You. You have helped make this year a wonderful blessing for me.

Click on Animated Picture.

TINKERBELL

Latest tree decoration is this darling Christmas Tinkerbell. Carol bought it for me at Disneyland last week when she was there. She is such a thoughtful daughter.

THE STORY

This week for Spiritual Sundays I'm sharing another page from the wonderful little book entitled Everything Christmas. The Story was written by Rebecca Currington.

You know the story ⎼⎼ an infant, born in a stable, worshiped by lowly shepherds and travelers from the East. Sweet story, but does it hold any meaning for your life today?

Consider this. The entire Bible pivots on this single event in history. The Old Testament predicts it, and the New Testament confirms it. The child lying in that tiny manger was no ordinary child ⎼⎼ He was God incarnate, who came to live and die for you. The story won't be fully told until you bow your knee to Bethlehem's Babe and call Him the Lord of your life.

What Can I Give Him?

                              by Christina Rossetti 

 What can I give Him,

Poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, 

I would bring a lamb.

If I were a wise man,

I would do my part

Yet what can I give him?

I give Him my heart.

And a quote by Erma Bombeck: There's nothing sadder in this world than to wake

Christmas morning and not be a child.

❅ ❆ ❇ ❈ ❉ ❅ ❄

You will find lots of inspiring posts by clicking the links on Spiritual Sundays. You may even want to share a post on your blog with us there. Click HERE to go there where you will find instructions on how to participate.

Celine Dion - Happy Christmas

If you're not already in the Christmas spirit, this video should put you there. This has long been one of my favorite Christmas songs.

Be sure to click the music on my sidebar off before starting the video. (You can click on the little x to turn off the ads on the video.)

I hope you will drop by my other blog to read my Spiritual Sundays post.

http://char72.wordpress.com/

GOTTA LOVE THIS GUY!

They give Sheriff Joe a hard time, but he sticks with his principles. I'm proud that he's our sheriff. He still provides pink underwear for the inmates. A few years ago they were selling the pink shorts signed by Sheriff Joe at Christmas time at the mall. I gave a pair to hubby. No, he doesn't wear them. I think he is quite proud to own them, however.

This has nothing to do with Sheriff Joe, but thought I'd voice my disappointment with the people who attend the Silver Sneakers exercise group at 24 Hour Fitness. The last two times there were only two of us there besides the teacher. And - it was a different one and me each time. Maybe they're still celebrating Thanksgiving. Or maybe they have started celebrating Christmas early.

THE DAY AFTER

Thanksgiving is over. I hope you all had a great day. Wonderful day for me, but like many others did, I ate too much. Now, it's on to decorating for Christmas. Our son helped hubby set the tree up yesterday (major job). Now the fun begins. Decorate, decorate, decorate.

Since it's time to decorate I thought I'd start here by decorating my blog for Christmas. It is much colder here in the desert this morning. Makes it seem more like Christmas. Now if it would just snow a little. Not much chance of that. We've seen a little snow on two different occasions here in the last 21 years we have lived here. Oh well, we'll get along fine without the snow.

JONAH

This video was e-mailed to me by an old friend. I thought it was so cute and quite amazing that this little girl could tell the story so well that I wanted to share it with you today. It definitely should put a smile on your face, as it did mine. (You may need to turn up your sound to hear it well.)

The story of Jonah from Corinth Baptist Church on Vimeo.

The Corinth Baptist Church is in Albertville, AL.

Click HERE to go to the Spiritual Sundays blog for links to more spiritual/inspirational posts.

A TRIBUTE TO ADAM

Today for my Spiritual Sundays post, I want to pay tribute to a wonderful family from my past, and who have become friends again on facebook after more than 40 years.

The lady in the picture is Valorie. She was a young girl when I knew her and her family when my husband was the minister of the South Hills Church of Christ in West Covina, CA. The handsome young man with her is her son, Adam. Valorie just changed her profile picture on facebook to this one.

I'm fighting back the tears as I write this post. Yesterday was the memorial service for Adam who was killed in a motorcycle accident a few days before. He was only 27 years old, and left behind a wife, young daughter and another baby who will be born next month. I can't even imagine the pain Valorie and her husband Kevin as well as the rest of the family, are going through right now. And, I'm asking you to join me in praying for this family in this trying time. What a reminder this is of the brevity of life.

I was wondering what God would want me to share today for Spiritual Sundays. In fact, I asked him about it before I got out of bed this morning. When I came to the computer and saw this video that Valorie had posted there in tribute to her son, I knew immediately this was what I should share.  I think this video will be a comfort to many people who have recently lost a loved one. It is a good reminder too that no matter how old or how young we are, we need to be ready to answer the call when it is our turn to meet the Creator.



I hope you will visit our Spiritual Sundays blog for links to many different posts by different people who share there each week. If you are a blogger, you may want to join us by posting something on your own blog and linking it to Spiritual Sundays. Click HERE to go to that blog.

GOD MOVES IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS

After a lengthy bout with despair, severe depression and suicide attempts, writer and poet William Cowper (1731-1800) discovered comfort in God's providence, which led him to write "Shining Out of Darkness".

God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.


Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sovereign will.


Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He  hides a smiling face.


The following video is a different tune than the one I am familiar with, but I think it is beautiful, and the video is beautiful.




I know in my own life events that seemed catastrophic at the time turned out to be a wonderful blessing. I'm sure this is true in everyone's life. Think back and remember when God worked in a mysterious way in your life.

Be sure to visit Spiritual Sundays for many links to inspirational posts.

BLIND MUSICIANS

Scott MacIntyre

Yesterday I wore a shirt with pictures of angels on it and the words of a Fanny Crosby song: "Angels descending, bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love." My husband made the comment, "You like blind singers, don't you?" Why did he make that comment? Not just because Fanny Crosby was blind and she wrote over 8000 hymns during her lifetime. That was part of it, but the other part was he was thinking about the fact that I like Scott MacIntyre, an American Idol contestant a couple of years ago. Scott is also blind. Scott and his family are members of our church. If you know anything about Scottsdale Bible Church, you know it is a huge church and we do not know Scott personally, but we knew he was a contestant. He and others in his "musical" family have sang as part of the worship service at our church. Since we never watched that show until Scott became a participant, we would never have known anything about him being a contestant if it had not been the church connection.

So, they have a contest going now for American Idol contestant of the month. 119 former contestants are being voted on. When I first discovered it, Scott was #30. He is now #7. People can vote every 20 minutes and although I haven't voted for him nearly that often, I have voted for him many times. Every time I vote again, it is "tweeted" on my facebook page. So if you are my facebook friend, you probably know about Scott. Yes, that is a picture of Scott on this post. I wish I had a picture of Fanny Crosby. I would put that here too.

Now, I have said all this as an introduction to a comment Fanny Crosby made when asked about her blindness. (I found this information in Randy Alcorn's excellent book If God is Good.)

Fanny Crosby, blinded by an incompetent doctor at the age of six weeks, penned more than eight thousand hymns. She expressed delight that Jesus' face would be the first she would ever see. If she'd thought, "Ill never be able to see," she would have been profoundly sad. Instead, she could say with Job, "After my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God... I, and not another" (Job 19:26-27).

Concerning her blindness, Fanny said, "It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation... If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it... I verily believe it was His intention that I should live my days in physical darkness, so as to be better prepared to sing His praises and incite others so to do."

When you see God at work, you don't look to blame someone; you look to credit him. Now, I don't know about you, but I have always thought that being blind would be one of the worst handicaps imaginable. To see how God is blessing so many with handicaps so that their handicaps become blessings to them and to others, it increases my faith so much.

Everyone who shares with us on Spiritual Sundays is a blessing to me. Please click on the picture at the left to go to that blog and prepare to be blessed by what others have shared. If you have never shared there before, we hope you will consider doing so. Everyone is welcome. When you get to the Spiritual Sundays blog, click on Linking Info under the header picture for more information.

If you twitter, and would like to vote for Scott, go to this link: http://tweeter.faxo.com/ and click on I ❤Idol and you can add your vote.

IT'S OUR CHOICE

I have a "tweet" program that causes the tweets of everyone I'm following to pop up on the right side of my computer screen whenever one of them tweets a new tweet. Is that the way to say that? Doesn't sound quite right, but I don't know how else to say it. So, whenever Max Lucado tweets a new tweet, I see it. This morning this tweet popped up. "We can't choose whether or not we are born with a big nose or blue eyes or a lot of hair … but we can choose where we spend eternity. Max Lucado." As soon as I saw it, I thought about Spiritual Sundays and the fact that I didn't know what I was going to share this time. Thanks, Max, for giving me this idea. I had never thought about it exactly this way. I love the way Max Lucado has a unique way of saying things.

So, after I read this quote, I thought about the fact that we can choose where we spend eternity. Then the thought occurred to me that not many people give that reality much, if any, thought. I think most people just "stumble" through this life and if asked whether they think they will go to heaven when they die, they usually say, "I hope so." It is quite amazing how we prepare for everything we do in this life but too often make no preparation for the next life at all. The thought came to my mind of all the preparation I made before I went on the cruise last week. What if I had just said I wanted to go on the cruise, but did not sign up, did not pay the price, did not make sure airline and hotel reservations were made, and did not even pack my suitcase. Could I have gone on that cruise? If someone had asked me if I was going, would I have said, "I hope so." Now that cruise was a lot of fun, but compared to where I will spend eternity? Well - you get the idea.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but by me." John 14:6. Jesus died that we might have life. It is a free gift. There is nothing we can do to earn it, but we must accept it. Since Jesus is the only way to the father, doesn't it follow, that Jesus is the only way to heaven? No one can get there by just "being good." There is no way we can be that good. Thankfully we have the Bible as a guide to tell us how to be sure that we will spend eternity in heaven. We need to be sure that we choose to go there and not just "hope" that it will happen.

I missed visiting everyone who linked to Spiritual Sundays last weekend because I was on the Girl's Get-A-Way cruise. I wrote about it on my other blog so if you are interested, you can go there and check it out. http://char72.wordpress.com/ 

If you are new to Spiritual Sundays, I hope you will click on Linking Info under the header picture on that blog and share a post on your blog. If you don't have a blog or do not have a post to share, just click on the different links to read many inspirational posts that others have shared.

Girl's Get-A-Way Cruise 2010

Kathy, Kathy's daughter Julie, Me, my daughter Carol

What a wonderful time we had on our cruise. I did a post on Charlotte's Weblog telling all about it with lots of pictures. If you're interested in hearing all about it, you can click HERE to go there.

GRANDEUR OF THE SEAS

This will be my "home away from home" for a few days next week. Daughter Carol is going with me. Hubby Clif is staying home. It's a cruise just for girls.

We're looking forward to being with Clif's nephew's wife and daughter on the cruise - Kathy and Julie. We have never met Julie before so are glad we can get acquainted with her, and what better place to do it.

We'll be leaving from Ft. Lauderdale, cruise to Key West and Cosumel. Of course we'll take plenty of photos and will be anxious to share them here.

My Spiritual Sundays post is on my other blog today - Charlotte's Weblog. Go check it out if you want to see some beautiful pictures from around the world. No, I didn't take them. I wish I had.

Prayers for everyone involved in the cruise would be much appreciated. Thanks. You blogging friends are the greatest.

FINDING JOY | The Finding Joy Movie

Finding Joy | The Finding Joy Movie

This is a beautiful peaceful video. I think you will enjoy watching it. Click on the blue title.

Sneakers and Bougainvillea

Went to my first Silver Sneakers exercise session this morning. I was able to go through the routine better than I thought I would since I'm so out of shape. I'm excited about going back and also about going back and using the exercise equipment and work out in the pool. I'm happy to say that Hubby will be joining me.  I joined a gym when I was a teenager and just went a few times and lost interest. I'm determined this time to carry through with it. I am a little older and a little wiser now. LOL Make that a LOT older and wiser.

Just went out in the back yard and snapped these pictures. The bougainvillea is taking over out there again. I guess if we didn't keep cutting it back it would take over the whole yard, pool and all.

You can barely see the bird bath. It's covered by the bougainvillea. I hope the birdies can find it.

PACIFIC ELECTRIC

Okay, I'm on another nostalgia trip. 

The year - 1946 and/or 47. 

Pacific Electric - sounds like a utility company. Nope, I'm talking about Pacific Electric trains. So, I got to thinking, after posting about my Girl Scout days in Artesia, CA, about how I loved to ride the PE that came by very close to our house. So, I "googled" it to see if I could find a picture. There were tons of pictures of these trains. The one in the picture looks just like I remember them. This one was headed to Long Beach. I remember my mother saying "Some day we should ride the PE all the way to Long Beach." But we never did. We did ride it to Bellflower a few times, and that was a real fun trip for a 10 year old. We rode it many times from downtown Artesia out to our neighborhood. 

I mentioned in a previous post about riding the church bus on Sundays to church. Most of the time we didn't go home on the bus. Most of the time we walked down the street a ways (the church met in the Women's Club house right in town), and catch the PE and ride that home. Many times we would stop by the drug store before going home and I would get to buy a comic book or two. Boy, don't I wish I still had those comic books.

Besides the fun of riding on these PEs, there was something else that I and other children in the neighborhood enjoyed doing. Many times we would go over to the tracks and lay pennies on them. Then after one of them went by, we would go back and find the pennies smashed flat.

Thanks for joining me on this trip down memory lane.

P.S. My Spiritual Sundays post is on my other blog this week. Charlotte's Weblog.

SILVER SNEAKERS

No, these are not my silver sneakers. Love the style though. I would like to have some like these.

I'm just using this picture to illustrate a program HealthNet has for seniors. They've been offering it for several years and I always say I should take advantage of it but then I never do. This time I'm gonna do it. They have a closer location now. I got a card in the mail advertising it. So, this old Senior lady is going to get fit, at last a little more fit than I am which is not very fit at all.

The card reads "Come in for refreshments and enroll in SilverSneakers to take advantage of basic membership including fitness classes, use of equipment and other amenities and more." So, next week at the appointed time, I plan to be there with my sneakers on even though they won't be silver ones. I'll let you know how it goes.

GIRL SCOUTS ❘ CAMP FIRE GIRLS

I'm not sure what got me to thinking about Camp Fire Girls and Girl Scouts. Oh, wait, yes I do remember now. I was thinking back over my life and how different things that seemingly "happened" to me have affected my life. More and more I'm believing things don't just "happen."

Now, back to the subject. When I was in the 5th grade at Pioneer Elementary School in Artesia, CA, someone recruiting for the Camp Fire Girls came to our classroom to sign up girls who wanted to join. I wanted to join, but I was not quite old enough at the time. I thought that was silly, but that was the way it was. Later in the year someone came around from the Girl Scouts to sign up girls. Guess what? I was old enough, so I signed up. I wasn't entirely happy about it though. I really wanted to be in Camp Fire. Why? Pretty silly reason I guess, but I liked their uniforms better - navy blue skirts, white blouses and red scarves. I wasn't attracted at all to the green girl scout uniforms. I had been a Brownie a few years before so you would think I would want to be a Girl Scout.

Now, why do I think I was meant to be in Girl Scouts? I have no idea where the other group met, but our Girl Scout troop met in the Methodist Church building across the street from our school. Up until this time I knew nothing about churches and had never attended any church although my mother told me she took me to Sunday School when I was very young - too young to remember anything at all about it. The church building the Girl Scouts met in got me interested in church and when I found out they had a church bus and I could ride it and go to church there I asked my mother if I could do that. She told me that if I wanted to go to church, she would take me to the Church of Christ. She was a member of that church and although she hadn't gone in years, that's where she wanted to take me, so we found out the C of C had a bus also and we both, my mother and I plus a neighbor friend, started riding the bus to the C of C. Now, to make a long story short, I became a believer in that little church in Artesia, and when we moved to Norwalk, just a few miles away, we started going to the church there. That was back in the 1940s. I have missed very few Sundays attending church from that time till this.

How about you? Were you a Girl Scout or a Camp Fire Girl? I would like to hear your story.

ANGEL TAG

I want to take this means to publicly thank Cindy Adkins for the lovely angel tag she made for Clif and me. It arrived in today's mail. Cindy is an artist and a writer. She has a beautiful blog. If you are not familiar with it, I hope you will go there and pay her a visit. She is a lovely lady. I Owe It All To Him is the name of her blog. You can click on that name to go there.

THANK YOU KELEE

I posted about the beautiful gift I received yesterday from Kelee Katillac on my other blog ~ Charlotte's Weblog. 

So if you have not read the post on my other blog, here is what that beautiful package contained. Wow, it's a Waterford crystal angel.

Now to find the perfect place to display her.

For right now she is sitting on a shelf on the hutch in our dinette/kitchen/family room (maybe it would be called a great room. I'm not sure what to call it.) I kind of like the effect of the glass cubes behind her. I'm always changing things though so I may find a more perfect place for my beautiful angel.

This was a thank you gift from Kelee for my participation as co-host of Spiritual Sundays for her Miracle Makeover for Colette. If you don't know about this event, and I'd be surprised if you don't, please go visit the Katillac Shack and read all about it and see the beautiful pictures of the makeover room.

MEMORIES OF 9/11

I found this on the Guidepost website and wanted to share it. I think I would like to read the book. You will need to scroll down and turn off the music on my sidebar before viewing the video.

AMERICA WILL NEVER FORGET

KIDS IN CHURCH

3-year-old Reese:
'Our Father who does art in heaven,

Harold is his name..
Amen'

~~~~~

A little boy was overheard praying:

'Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it,

I'm having a real good time like I am.'

~~~~~~

After the christening of his baby brother in church,

Jason sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car.

His father asked him three times what was wrong.

Finally, the boy replied,

'That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home

and I wanted to stay with you guys.'

~~~~~

One particular four-year-old prayed,

'And forgive us our trash baskets

as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets.'

~~~~~

A Sunday school teacher asked her children as they

were on the way to church service,

'And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?'

One bright little girl replied,

'Because people are sleeping.'

~~~~~

A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin 5, and Ryan 3,

The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake.

Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson.

'If Jesus were sitting here, He would say,

'Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.'

Kevin turned to his younger brother and said,

'Ryan, you be Jesus!'

~~~~~

A father was at the beach with his children

when the four-year-old son ran up to him,

grabbed his hand, and led him to the shore

where a seagull lay dead in the sand.

'Daddy, what happened to him?' the son asked.

'He died and went to Heaven,' the Dad replied.

The boy thought a moment and then said,

'Did God throw him back down?'

~~~~~

A wife invited some people to dinner.

At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and said,

'Would you like to say the blessing?'

'I wouldn't know what to say,' the girl replied.

'Just say what you hear Mommy say,' the wife answered.

The daughter bowed her head and said,

'Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A little light-heartedness in the middle of the week. LOL