If My People...

Are you like me – completely torn up by all the things happening in our world today?  Even I, the Pollyanna that I typically am, must work to stay positive during these troubling times.  Still, I think about one of God’s Promises to us and what it means: 

“If my people, who are called by my name (Who me?  Yes, that’s us - Christians - believers and followers in the one, true God and His Son who is our redeemer), will humble themselves (that means to “show a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance” – to not think more of oneself than we should) and pray and seek my face (Pray?  You know, talk to God, and spend time in his word to find his guidance in all things) and turn from their wicked ways (Whoa – that means to stop doing the things He tells us in his word NOT to do – it’s as simple as that) then I will hear (our prayers) from heaven, and I will forgive their sin (In heaven’s court – which is the one that counts - he won’t hold our bad acts against us and punish us or condemn us for the things we have done) and will heal their land (make it better, right what’s wrong – and Lord, we need your healing upon America).  2 Chronicles 7:14. 

Now I realize in the prior verse (13), he was referring to if he had sent a drought or sent locusts to devour the land or a pestilence of some sort, but I believe we have the equivalent of that going on in America right now.  I haven’t seen a swarm of locusts but I am seeing an army of evil-doers coming at us from all directions.  All this civil unrest, police killings, terrorism, governmental corruption we’re seeing is definitely a PESTILENCE.  Our “drought” may not be a lack of rain but we are right in the middle of a spiritual drought! We are dried up people!  The Pestilence is none other than SIN, in every despicable form that you can think of.  The founding principles of our country were based on freedoms of religion, speech and the freedom to govern ourselves as “we the people” saw fit.  Americans had been blessed for so many years.  We elected good, moral leaders to high governmental positions and most of us were careful about doing what is “right”.  But over the last 50-60 years we’ve decided we don’t need God anymore and there’s certainly no place for Him in our government or in the public square (sigh).  So, since we are free, moral agents, God has not forced himself on us.  He rather has allowed us, through that freedom we all hold so dear, to make our own bad choices.  Unfortunately, those choices have brought us to the sad state of affairs we have today.  I hate to say it, but we are victims of what we ourselves have created.  Yes, we’ve brought these things upon ourselves, folks!  If you look at the history of America and the rise and fall of other nations peppered throughout history, their decline and eventual demise came when the people turned from God and started thinking that their ways were far better than God’s ways and the pattern for successful living he so vividly outlined for us in scripture. 

I honestly don’t see how He could have made it any more plain to us in His word – are we so dense that we don’t get it?  (Why yes, yes, we are!)  We read a passage of scripture that is so simple a kindergartner could understand it but in our ‘infinite wisdom’ we reason like this - “Oh, he didn’t mean it like that,” or “Surely a loving God wouldn’t do this or that,” and my favorite “Well, our church believes that (fill in the blank) blah, blah, blah.”  The question should be, what does the Bible say?  Have you studied for yourself what is true?  

There was a time when we could have considered the USA a “Christian nation”, but no more.  Oh how quickly we have declined into immorality, hatred, and evil intents.  Oh, and it’s not just the lost folks!  No, no.  Even as Christians we believe that we can talk the talk of being a believer, play church and sit on a pious pew of judgment for others, but the way we live says Christ is NOT in us.  We don't belong to him when we do that.  I've been guilty of that so many times and have had to ask for forgiveness.  

We have people calling evil - good and good - evil like I’ve never seen, or even dreamed I would see in my lifetime!  Well y’all, looks like it’s time for us to put up or shut up.  Either we’re on one side of the fence or we’ve done jumped the fence and standing on the other.  There are no shaded areas of gray with God.  Remember what Jesus told his disciples?  “If you love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) We can’t claim to love God and do all the things He hates and warns us to abstain from, can we?  I know, so many questions!  Which brings me to my wonderings…..

• Is there such a thing as a liberal Christian in God’s eyes?  Can we follow part of what the New Testament says and disregard the rest of it?  
• Can we believe and support that it’s a woman’s choice to abort her child and still cling to a cross on which Christ died to save not only that child but every, single child ever conceived?  Hmmm…..
• Can we stand in our worship services on Sunday and sing “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” and never talk to him, read his words or act like we even know Him any other day of the week?  Hmmm…..and how about this rather timely question - 
• Do we teach our children that “Jesus loves the little children, red and yellow, black and white”, but harbor feelings of hatred towards other humans whose skin may be a different color than ours?  I’m sorry but where is CHRIST being honored in that?  Good grief! 

Friends, it is high time we take our country back.  Not from the liberals or from Isis or from CHYYNA (spoken in my best Donald Trump accent), No.  We need to take it back from Satan himself!  He's holding us hostage!!!  That nasty liar is the ultimate responsible party for what is happening to our nation. We’re in chains, in bondage under his tricks and traps of sin.  He wants nothing more than to see us destroyed and knows our only hope is for our nation to turn back to God.  Sadly, if we don’t - Satan is very near to achieving his destructive plan for our beautiful, wonderful homeland of America.  

You may be like me and ask questions like "Can we take our country back or is it too late?"  "Is this the end of our “one nation under God” or is there a clear hope for the generations coming after us?"  The book of Jeremiah in chapter 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Will we allow God’s plans to be the pattern for our lives or will we try to follow our own foolish plans?  After all, many times we think our ways are more suitable for the times and make more sense than that “outdated” Bible, don't we?  Really?  How foolish of us to think we know better than the creator of the universe!   We’ve seen where following our own way has gotten mankind time after time.  It just doesn’t work! 

So here’s my plea.  Get on your knees Christians (and I’m talking first to myself here – the girl who some days forgets to pray at all other than bedtime).  Read your Bibles to learn what God expects of us (same thing here – I’m guilty of not reading mine near enough).  Most importantly, if you’re not already baptized for the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38) and trying your best to live a Christian life – I would suggest you make that commitment!  You see, when all else fails and even when the world crumbles in around us, God himself stands beside us as our fortress.  We are never alone in the safety of Christ.  Deuteronomy 31:8 says “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”   We’ve got a lot of people in our world today who are afraid and discouraged, without a lot of HOPE.  But we, my dear brothers and sisters, we have hope.  “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  Romans 15:13

Until next time,

Melissa

An Unwanted House Guest

A coworker friend and I were discussing a topic recently that I feel I just had to share with my friends and others on my blog space.  As Christians, we would never invite Satan over to our house for a visit would we?  But one night, not too long ago, that's what my husband and I did.  Oh, we didn't realize we had sent out that invitation at the time, but looking back, that's exactly what happened.

It started one week night after supper time.  The hubs and I enjoy a little time to rest and relax after a long, hard days work.  Usually, our two cats crawl up in our laps for some cuddle time and we kick back in the recliners to watch some television.  I remember it was the beginning of a new TV season and we had been lured in by a preview of a new show called "The Following".  It looked like it would be a show filled with drama, intrigue and it just so happened to star one of my favorite actors, Kevin Bacon.   The season premiere really grabbed us and drew us in.  We loved it!  It had it all - a handsome leading man, good guys, a bad guy serial killer who had been captured and put in prison, great acting and an intriguing plot - all the right criteria for an entertaining hour of television at the Tinker house.  We couldn't wait until the next week's episode rolled around.  Second week and the program didn't disappoint.  I do recall, however, feeling a little bit uneasy at one or two points in the show, but I quickly dismissed that when a climactic scene reeled me back in.  By week three, we were fans. We quickly got the evening's chores done and settled into our recliners to view our new addiction.  This week, however, would be different.

By the end of episode three my conscience began to get a little bit convicted.  I believe Darrell and I even discussed turning the channel at one creepy point during the show, but wait!  It was so intense, we needed to see what would happen next!  After all, "It's not real life, it's just a TV show."  (How many times have you heard that or said that yourself?)  Week four rolls around and the plot had taken a sickening turn.  The serial killer had escaped from prison and his "followers" who had been committing horrible crimes in his name had gathered together in a beautiful mansion to welcome their sicko leader and attend to his 'needs'.  As this episode progressed, I felt an eerie feeling come over me, a knot in the pit of my stomach.  About that same time, the last scene we would ever see from this show unfolded. One of this serial killers followers had decided he wanted to sacrifice himself to the killer as a form of 'worship' to him. Plastic was laid out on the carpet (since they were tidy killers), candles were lit and the other followers gathered around.  A long bladed knife was given to the serial killer and after pulling the sacrificial follower  in close for a final embrace, the killer plunged the knife into the willing follower.  The scene was portrayed as a sensual display of almost sexual-like gratification for both the killer and the poor foolish man who had offered himself as a sacrifice.  Suddenly, at the very same moment, Darrell and I both jumped up and lunged for the remote control to get that show off our television set.  We could not turn it off fast enough!  I told Darrell it was as if we had allowed the devil to come into our home, snuggle up on our couch and put his feet up on our coffee table!  (I don't allow ANYONE to do that, old Luce is no exception!)  I'm telling you, I felt his presence in my home....my Christian home!

After all, we did everything to make him feel welcome didn't we? You see, we both felt a little convicted early on in the season but had ignored the gentle tug on our Christian conscience.  Why??? How often do we, as followers of Christ, allow this type of ungodly influence to come into our Christian homes?  Aren't we able to recognize the gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit trying to guide us into the light and away from the rocky cliffs of sin?  He's telling us to watch out, yet we ignore it!  Why do we?  What, are we stupid?  I sure felt that way at this time.

Christians, it's time we start heeding the warnings sent from heaven to guard our hearts and minds against the wiles of the devil.  We live in a dangerous time - a time where it's really easy to get off the path if we're not careful.  "Look out!"  "Beware!"  "Danger Will Robinson!"  (Only my baby boomer friends will understand that last one, but the rest of you can Google it.)  I must say that ever since that night, our television habits have changed drastically.  We no longer allow ourselves to become a sponge for the negative, ugly filth that Satan tries to feed us.  Listen, I have enough trouble keeping my thoughts pure without inviting that sort of garbage into my mind willingly!  I remember when I was a little girl hearing folks in the church talk about that "evil television" and how it would destroy families and homes.  I didn't get it then and thought that was silly.  I mean after all, what could be wrong with Ozzie and Harriet, Daddy Knows Best or Leave it to Beaver?  (Oh, and the only thing I found wrong with Gilligan's Island is to wonder why they had all that stuff when it was just a 3 hour tour and if the Professor could fix a busted radio to contact the mainland, why couldn't they build a boat to sail away in?)  

But now I realize the folks who were concerned about the evils of television understood something that it's taken me 30 or 40 years to discover.  Satan doesn't hit you with all he's got at first.  He doesn't come to us with blaring sirens, lights flashing, wearing a skull and cross bone t-shirt and a warning label. Instead, he appears innocent at first, playing up to our likes and weaknesses.  Once we are drawn in, he hits us with that sucker punch which many times we aren't strong enough to withstand or retreat.  Yes, sometimes he even comes in, sits down on our couch and makes himself at home. And that's one house guest that you don't want to clean up after because he can sure leave a mess! 

Friends, let's be aware of what we are putting into our minds from television.  Instead, let's fill our minds with positive things, uplifting things, and most importantly, Godly things.  There is another guest that is waiting for an invitation to come over.  That guest is at the door of every man's heart - standing there, knocking, just waiting to be invited in.  His name is Jesus and I can promise you he is a guest that you will never want to leave.  

Love you guys!

Melissa

Workplace Honey and Sole Glue

Workplace Honey and Sole Glue

I'm pretty sure you've all heard the old saying "You'll catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar."  If you haven't heard it, that tells me two things.  1) You didn't grow up in the south or 2) Neither did your grandparents.  Of course we aren't trying to attract flies to our cubicles (that would be super annoying and gross), but does anybody out there really like to work with  "vinegar" people?  Let's face it, we are all attracted to the "honey" people.  Working around people who are genuinely nice just makes our day better all the way around.  

Looking back on my 28 years as an Administrative Assistant, first in the grocery business, then healthcare and now power distribution, I can say with firm resolve that every company has their share of "vinegar and honey". Believe me, I have worked with some vinegar people.  You know the ones.  They find fault with everything and everyone.  Heaven forbid a vinegar person has to do something that "isn't their job".  For some vinegar people, if they were to crack a smile or speak to you in an elevator, I fear their face may just break apart and fall off their little head. I'm sorry, but in my book, vinegar is only good in pickle juice or mixed with oil on a salad.  

On the other hand, I have found that associates who are able to achieve a balance of professionalism that is matched with a genuinely kind spirit, are the employees who truly make a difference for everyone in the workplace.  They leave a sweet and long-lasting impression on others. These are the "honey" people.  A Physician friend of mine called these folks the "sole glue" of a company.  I like that term!  We need something that binds us together, despite our differences.  After all, no matter how good the leather is on a pair of shoes, if the sole comes loose our toes are sure to get wet.  Companies are beyond blessed who hire people like this and have them living among us and working beside us breathing life into our 40+ hour work weeks.  Sole glue people can help to keep us from coming "unglued" when times get tough at the office.  

Let me give you a real life example of a honey workplace person. Someone who really was like "sole glue".  Frank Horner was his name.   I met Frank within my first week of employment at a large hospital when he came to my office to set up my desktop computer.  Quickly and efficiently Frank took care of my computer needs.  He welcomed me to our workplace, we had a nice conversation, and he was on his way.  I remember thinking, "Wow, what a nice guy. I'm going to love it here." Frank was an IT guy who worked at the company Help Desk, but really, he was so much more than that. You see, I found Frank to be an ambassador for the company.  No, you wouldn't have seen that on his ID Badge, his resume, nor was he monetarily compensated for the work he did in that role, but he truly was ALL that and more.  

There were times when things would go wrong and I knew that Frank wasn't always the one I needed to call, but due to his kind mannerism and helpful attitude, I called him anyhow.  It was as if I picked up that phone and my finger just automatically dialed his number (x7624 - it's etched in my brain).  But why?  It wasn't that he was the Bruce Lee of the Help Desk with a black belt in desktop solutions, but Frank possessed such a kind spirit people were drawn to him - much like flies are drawn to honey. I knew that even if he couldn't fix my problem, he would happily help me to find the person who could.  (Disclaimer: Okay, I admit it, there was a dual purpose in my calling Frank. He would always compliment me in some way or another that simply made me feel good for the rest of the day.  Whether we want to admit it or not, we all need that from time to time, don't we?)  I quickly learned to depend on Frank not only when my computer froze up, but often times I would drop by his office for a quick dose of his wit and conversation to sweeten an otherwise sour day. Frank was super busy, all the time and looking back, I'm not sure how he was able to get any of his own work done for helping everybody else with theirs. To complicate matters in his life, he had chronic back pain, had endured multiple surgeries and was confined to a desk chair for most of his 8 to 10 hour day.  He had every reason to be a little "vinegar" from time to time, but I never saw it.  I feel a little guilty about taking so much of his time, reflecting back on those days.

Frank was my "go to guy" for eleven years.  Then, our company decided to outsource their IT operations to a firm in India.  ("Ello, dis is Peggy.")  Some folks were laid off or took other jobs internally, but Frank and several others stayed on in-house, but working for the outside vendor. Under the new IT company, we were supposed to put in a "ticket" and someone from the international help desk (Dehli, India I believe) would return our call "in the order in which it was received".  (I found it hard to believe there were 1,524 callers ahead of me, based upon how long it took them to return my call, but I digress...)  Since old habits die hard, most times I would still dial x7624, after all, Frank was my 'buddy' and always willing to help a girl out.  Come to find out, most of the Executive Assistants still called Frank for the same reasons I did.  In true Frank fashion, he never turned us away or scolded us for breaking the new rules, even though I know it must have been frustrating for him doing the work that should have been assigned to three or four people.

 A few months after leaving my employment at the hospital in 2014, on a cold December day I was notified that our sweet Frank had suddenly passed away. It seems he had a massive heart attack at the prime age of 56.  I couldn't help but wonder how that could have happened to someone with a heart as big as Frank's.  I was crushed.  So many times I had thought of dropping in and visiting my old friend and catching up or meeting him for lunch, but I just never got around to it.   When I attended the funeral home visitation for Frank I was not at all surprised to find the crowd lined up and down the hallway and nearly out the door.  A few family members and friends, but mostly co-workers had come to offer their condolences. As I talked quietly to a group of my work peers, for the first time it hit me. I truly realized what an impact Frank's kindness had made on everyone who had the opportunity to work with him.  You see, until then, I had thought of Frank as my very own, personal IT Guy and friend.  As it turns out, everyone else felt the same way about Frank. Maybe it was just his nature, but this guy went out of his way to create a workplace that "worked" for everyone.  It wasn't really his technical skills that would be missed - you can train anyone to fix what's broken.  It's much more than that.  What will be missed most was his kindness and willingness to give of himself to make things better for everyone  Maya Angelo once said "Try to be a rainbow in someone else's cloud".  Frank was definitely a rainbow, but I like to also think of him as "Workplace Honey".  

Personally and professionally, I want to be like Frank.  Not only to do a good job from 8-5, but with an attitude of "I'm here to help and to make your day a little brighter, your job a little easier and your life less stressful." Who knows, maybe at the end of my days someone will say, "She was the sole glue that held this place together." 

Frank, thank you for always lending a helping hand and thank you for the lesson I didn't know you were teaching me.  

I love celebrating people’s birthdays, don’t you?  Family, friends, even just casual acquaintances – Birthdays are just SPECIAL!  Today, I want to celebrate the birthday of a very special person.  His name is Jesse Lewis.  This is him (circa about 1985).

I want to share with you some things about what makes Jesse’s birthday so special to me.  

When I was just starting out in the secretarial field, Mr. Lewis (as we called him back then) was the Sr. Vice President of Store Operations for Red Food Stores, a Chattanooga, home grown grocery chain.  He later became Executive VP Operations and to those of us who worked under his leadership, we thought of him as the Captain of our ship.  In my opinion, Jesse was what Red Food was all about.   If you’re from Chattanooga you may remember the slogan, “No Stamps, No Limits, No Games, No Gimmicks, just everyday low prices!”  Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.  Jesse had cut his teeth on a paper grocery sack and had worked his way up the ladder, gathering a vast amount of operations experience along the way.  A man full of integrity, Jesse had genuine class and was always the perfect southern gentleman.  He gave me an opportunity at the young age of 22 to work in his busy office and to learn at the feet of his very professional Administrative Secretary, Nell.  (BTW, that’s what we were called back then….secretaries, which was perfectly fine with me.)  Anyhow, not only did we learn a lot about the grocery business from Jesse, we learned about life.  Jesse and his lovely wife Joyce would always take Nell and I, along with our husbands out for special dinners, whether it be for birthdays or secretaries day.  Special occasions were made even more special simply because he took time to think of us.  Oh and speaking of birthdays, many times through the last 30 years I’ve gotten a call from Jesse on my own birthday just to say "Happy Birthday".  It means so much just to know you haven't been forgotten.  Priceless, I’m just sayin. 

Back in the day, It was Jesse’s practice to spend Thursdays and Fridays out in the field, visiting stores.   He was a very hands-on type of executive and tried to know as many folks names as possible.  He loved the day to day interaction with the employees on the “front lines” and the stores (who were in good shape), loved to see him visit.  (Of course for those stores who weren’t prepared, it would turn out a little stressful to have the big boss in the store for a visit.)  Long before smart phones and Siri, Jesse would carry his mini recorder and make audio notes of things that needed attention store by store.   Nell would take that tape and type it up “memo style” to send to the District Managers for follow-up.  This follow-up would happen quickly and effectively.  I believe this is one reason I have such little patience for poor customer service today.  It CAN be done right, I’ve seen it. Anyhow, back to my story (focus Moe)….I can still see Jesse coming through the door of our office after a long hard day of visiting stores, plopping down in one of our side chairs in our office and telling us about his day.  Y’all, it was the highlight of my week when he did that!  We heard interesting stories from his early days in grocery, funny things he saw on the road or pleasant customers he had met that day.  We heard about his family, who was then and is still the most important thing to Jesse.  

I remember the morning he came in and he had been out for his morning walk.  Along the way, he saw a cat that had his head caught in a tin can.  Jesse tried to catch the cat and help it out of its predicament, but couldn’t.  In telling us the story, we could tell how upset he was that he wasn’t able to free the kitty and we just knew he would worry about it all day, which I’m sure he did.  I also remember when I got married and the gift that he and Joyce got me for my shower.  It was a super nice hand mixer.  When I opened it, Jesse said, “Now Moe, you got to stir up some good grub for Darrell with that.”  I said, “But I don’t know how”, to which he laughingly replied “Well, it’s time to learn.” Indeed it was.  

We were family at Red Food and I guess we all just assumed it would always be that way.  But as happens in life and in business, things began to change around our company.  Gradual changes at first, but then new upper management and a change with our parent company had developed a new course for us, a course that would eventually not end very well.  After a while, Jesse decided it was time for him to leave the company he loved so much and had dedicated his time and talents to build.  Let me just say, the memory of that day is still vivid in my memory.  Tears were shed, hearts were broken, not only by those who worked closely with him, but by an entire work force of dedicated employees in over 50 store locations, who believed in the same principles and philosophies that Jesse had stood for and had instilled in us.   We felt lost.  Those were some dark days for sure.  But you know what?  You just can’t keep a good man down and what we lost at Red Food, was gained by other companies who were blessed with Jesse's knowledge and expertise like we were.

  

Fast forward to 2015.  Jesse has gone on to touch many more lives and companies over the past 30 years or so and I have recently found out that they love him just as much as we do!  Who knew?But that’s okay, we’re glad to share him! 

As the Executive VP of Food City, who is now taking over the stores that used to be Red Food (now Bi-Lo), Jesse is effectively “coming home”.   I’m not going to give out his age (he can do that if he wants to), but let’s just say, most people have loooooong retired by now.  I’m thinking retirement is not in his short range goals, especially since he’s got 29 more stores to bring into Food City’s family.  

Here's a picture from the Press Conference announcing the buyout of 29 Bi-Lo Stores in Chattanooga.  Everyone in this picture worked with Jesse at Red Food.  Pictured (LtoR) Kim Moses (Accounting/Front Office), Bob Oldham (CFO), Me, Jesse, Don Haynes (VP of Real Estate) and Curtis Johnson (Human Resources/Community Involvement).  

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jesse Lewis!  I hope it’s a good one and to quote one of your favorite people (Paul Bear Bryant) “If you want to walk the heavenly streets of gold someday, you gotta know the password and it's Roll, Tide, Roll!”  (I think you’ve got that one down pat so you're good!)  

It's Getting Hot in Here!

It's been awhile since I've posted on my Blog, so I thought I'd give you a taste of what to expect in my book "Living Upright in a Downright Crazy World". Disclaimer: Please know that this is a rough draft. It has not yet been edited so keep that in mind as you read. :) - Melissa 

Soldiers of Christ, Arise! 

Help! somebody make it stop! Is it just me or is the whole world going crazy? I mean really, just think about some of the things that have happened in our society over the last ten to fifteen years. I'm not really talking about small, insignificant things either. I'm talking about major shifts in beliefs and life philosophies. I don't know if you've noticed, but I see good, solid moral folks who are turning their belief system around to embrace all sorts of behaviors that just a half century ago would have been unthinkable to accept, much less embrace. In the early days of our country many of the things society now accepts as normal behavior would land those people committing such acts in stocks out on the town square!  Today, they're getting congratulation tweets from the President and First Lady. It seems that the proverbial 'frog in the pot' is up to his big, bulging froggie eyes in boiling water by now. What's that? You don't know the story about how our desensitization to sin and the cultural immorality that surrounds us has been likened to a frog placed into a pot of room temperature water? 

 Picture this: There's a frog. He's a nice, hard working frog. He pays his taxes and is an excellent citizen. He believes in God, attends "The Church on the Pond" on Sunday mornings, Sunday nights and sometimes even mid-week Bible study. One day he climbs into a pot of room temperature water he finds sitting on the stovetop. While he's having a good time splashing around, someone comes by and turns the stove on low heat. At first, it feels really good to Mr. Frog, almost like a nice, warm bath. It starts to get a little warmer, but Mr. Frog isn't concerned. After all, it's not that hot and he can jump out before it gets too hot to be able to stand it. As the water temperature continues to rise, our resident amphibian, having been lulled into a state of complacency finds himself all of a sudden unable to breathe. His legs are like limp noodles and try as he may, he cannot get up the strength to jump out of the water. It begins to boil. After some struggle and before very long, all is lost. Alas, the heat has overtaken him and we have ourselves a big pot of Frog soup. Mmmmm....and me with no crackers! 

Friends, I have a question for you to ponder. When are we going to feel the heat and jump out of the pot? If you're honest with yourself, you must admit that it's already past the point of a nice warm bath for most God fearing Christians. So what are we waiting for? Are we waiting until our children are lost to a world of ungodliness because we as parents neglected to teach them the full, undiluted truth of the Gospels? Are we waiting until our marriages fail due to neglect and selfishness by both parties before we stop, take a good look at our situation and make changes to correct it? Are we letting social pride and political correctness get in the way of our standing up for what is right according to God's law? Excuse me, but this water is ready to boil! It's time to jump out of the pot people! 

 I believe there is one thing that stops us from speaking out against sin, even though deep down we know that we should. It's that little four letter word spelled F-E-A-R. That's it, we're afraid. We're afraid of being different. We're afraid of losing friends. We're afraid of being accused of bigotry or hatred. Perhaps we're afraid of losing our job or our social standing. "The risk is just too great", we rationalize. "I can't change the whole world. I'm just one woman (or man)." Really? Tell that to the great Bible heroes in the Old Testament or the apostles and followers of Christ in the New Testament. Many of them did single handedly change their world, earned their place in history and more importantly, in heaven. I feel certain they must have had some fear about what might happen to them and in many instances, it did cost them their very lives. As of this writing, at least here in America, I'm not aware of Christians being killed for standing up for their beliefs.  Notice I said, "As of this writing."  If you don't hear that train whistle blowing, you simply aren't listening.  There are other countries in our world where this is happening right now. Are we really so foolish as to believe it couldn't happen here? I hope not. Already in America, churches, religious based businesses and organizations are being harassed and fined by the same government that just ten years ago, carefully protected them through our constitutional rights. Today, even law abiding citizens are being targeted and persecuted for speaking out on things like homosexuality, same sex marriage and abortion.

There is another sound I am hearing.  Shhhh.... Listen. Do you hear it too? It's loud enough that I believe you can. Right now here is a loud call going out from the portals of Heaven to all believing men and women. God Himself is calling us to Stand Up, to Speak Up, and to be a witness for Him. It's an urgent call, we must not delay.  To those who heed the call, please know that this stand will not be easy. You will lose friends. You will be hated by some, mistreated by many and possibly even lose monetarily. It's much easier just to sit on the sidelines and watch while other brave Christians fight on the battlefield. Oh, you'll cheer them on alright, "Go Team!" But, fighting the fight is much too hard. We may get dirty, or even hurt in the battle. It's much easier to just turn a blind eye to all the immorality and wickedness all around us. We tell ourselves, "It's not me doing it. I'm not part of the sin problem." But the truth is, if that is our position on the matter, we ARE a part of the problem, a huge part! Our lackadaisical, wishy-washy, lukewarm Christianity is a huge part of the overall sin problem in our world today. 

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time we strap on our armor and join our brothers and sisters in the army on the front lines. I am writing this book hoping to get some new recruits. How about you? Remember how Uncle Sam said, "I Want You"? Well, I'm here to tell you that "Jesus Wants You!" Are we willing to serve in the army of Christ?   One of my favorite hymns is "Soldiers of Christ Arise!"  I believe it is fitting for our time, don't you?

"Soldiers of Christ, Arise!  

And put your armor on. 

Strong in the strength which God supplies. 

Strong in the strength which God supplies, 

Through his beloved son."

If You Give a Girl a Cookie.....

If you give a girl a cookie, she will eat it and it will be history.  But, if you teach a girl to bake cookies, she can eat one anytime she wants!  Other than the obvious things on my holiday "To Do" list this season, I had one objective in mind. One mountain to climb, one race to win, one hill on which to place my flag of conquest.  This is something I have wanted to do better most of my adult life.  Now, I'm not a betting woman, but I'd be willing to wager it's probably something most of you have struggled with and wished you too could be better at too.  What is it, you may be wondering?  Well, it's Christmas Cookies.  You know, those sweet little blobs of sugar, butter and flour that have accompanied the holidays since you were a little kid.

 If you were a child of the 60's like me, some of you may remember those red plastic sets of cookie cutters featuring all the heavy hitters of the major holidays.  I think Tupperware may have made them.  You know the ones....The set included, a Turkey, Santa, Easter Bunny, the American Flag, well here....this is what they looked like.

I had long since forgotten about those plastic pieces of my childhood until I found a bag filled with them at a yard sale several years ago.  Immediately, they made me think of years gone by baking with my mother and granny.  Of course, I had to have them.  They were a steal at only a buck fifty.  As soon as I removed them from the ziploc bag they were in, memories of my brothers, sisters and I covered in flour standing in the kitchen making cookies flooded my mind.  Now, if your Mom had these particular cookie cutters, you will remember how incredibly hard it was to get the dough out of the little grooves.  I mean, really? It was so frustrating.  I don't know what kind of recipe we used way back then, but whatever it was, it really stunk.  I mean, you would cut out the cookies, and if you were lucky enough to get them in one piece onto the cookie sheet, you were doing good.  Then, when you baked them, they would spread out and by the time they were finished baking, you couldn't tell the easter bunny from a snowman.  Yeah, I figure most of you reading this have experienced this same thing.  We now know that the reason the dough did that is because we were adding leaven, and come to find out, the perfect cookie for cutting doesn't contain leaven.  (Who knew???)

Enter "Google".  That's right  Google has completely changed my life in the Christmas cookie department.  That's because one day, early December I decided I would Google "How to bake the perfect cut out Christmas cookie".  Among all the blogs and recipe sites, I found this one.  http://bakingamoment.com/how-to-bake-easy-and-delicious-cutout-cookies-with-neat-edges/

Upon reading the blog, I thought I'd give it a try.  One thing that intrigued me about this blog was the bloggers claim that the edges of the cookie would bake perfectly without changing shape.  So I gathered all my ingredients and supplies and took the plunge.  After baking these up, I found the bloggers claim to be completely accurate!  YAY!  Finally, a cut out cookie recipe that was easy to work with, didn't tear up when you tried to put them in the pan and most importantly, tasted as good as they looked.  This sturdy dough even came out of those tiny little corners of my vintage cutters.  I was thrilled with my new discovery.  Now, to find a really good decorating royal icing recipe.  Here is the one I came across and decided to try.  http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/2011/04/royal-icing-101-or-all-roads-lead-to-rome/  This turned out to be a really cool blog and there are many, many great tips for cookie decorating on here.  The icing was not only tasty with it's almond flavoring, but easy to work with.  As a bonus, you could store it covered in the refrigerator for up to a month!  SCORE!

Both the cookie dough and the icing recipes were really good and I found this the easiest and most successful cookie experience from all my years making Christmas cookies.  I still had my moments where I wondered why I wasn't piled up in the recliner beside my husband watching Hallmark movies, but I got through it.  At the end of my first session, this is what I ended up with.  Not too shabby for an amatuer, eh?

I even invited my sister, niece and great niece over for an evening of cookie baking.  We had fun and the cookies were precious!  Here's a picture of this year's Cookies For Santa, thanks to my newfound recipes!

The take away from all of this is this..... If there is something you want to do that you've never done, or something you've been wanting to do better (like me and my cookies), just get online and do a little bit of research and try different methods.  There is an answer for every question and a solution to every problem.  Sometimes, all it takes is a little "Googling".  I am by no means a cookie expert now, but I am not as intimidated by all those awesome cookie pictures I see on my pinterest feed.  I plan on getting better and better at this, and by next Christmas, who knows......I could have a cookie blog of my very own!  Why not?  Er, Um, Eh.......Nah.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  Now, go eat a cookie (or just bake one)!

BE A DOLL!

You're A Doll!

Back in May, our ladies at church planned and carried out our annual Saturday afternoon tea for ladies both young and old.  The theme of this year's tea was one that is near and dear to my heart - Dolls.  Like most little girls, dolls were a HUGE part of growing up at our house.  My 2 sisters and I loved our dollies and don't tell him I told you, but one of our brothers liked playing with them too.  (tee-hee)  But that's a story for another day, I guess. 

The exact theme for this special day was "All Dolled Up".  Little girls got to come in and go over to the life size doll house and make their very own paper doll to take home.  (Remember those?  We loved our Paper Dolls.  Little girls today don't know what they're missing!)

After singing a few songs led by the vocal talents of Michelle Young, our special speaker for the afternoon was the multi-talented and beautiful Joy Miller who related our lives as a christian women to the different types of dolls.  It was great!

The funny thing is, I had written a script for several of us to act out a play geared to the younger ladies in attendance.  Some of the same things I brought out in my script, Joy brought out in her talk.  It was almost as if we had gotten together and planned it that way, but trust me, we didn't.  After all, those of 'yall who know me well, know that pre-planning is NOT one of my strong suits. I find it much more thrilling to fly by the seat of my pants (or pantaloons, in this case).  As a matter of fact, the actresses for my skit didn't rehearse the skit at all until a few minutes before "showtime"!  Even so, it turned out great and we all had lots of laughs and hopefully the ladies in attendance enjoyed the skit. 



A BIG thank you to my sweet friend Tonya Lively (pictured above), Kendall Lively, Lindsey Tinker, Rebecca McBrayer and Karen McBrayer for being willing to put themselves out there like that with no rehearsal.  Now, that's what I call true commitment to a cause!  I really do appreciate it!  After the skit, Lindsey and I sang a couple of songs, which included Lindsey's version of the "cup song".  Everyone seemed to enjoy that and all I can say is that it must be nice to be that coordinated!  Lindsey gave me a class on how to do the cup part of the song the night before, but I never could get it.  Guess this old cheerleader needs to hang up her pom poms 'cause she sure ain't as good as she once was.  

After all the hoopla was over that Saturday afternoon and I was driving home with my very own seventeen year old Barbie doll Lindsey (pictured below), I began thinking about a few things that I wanted to share here, on my Born To blog.  :) 

Most Christian women can probably relate themselves to some type of doll.  For instance, we may be a Barbie doll Christian who is overly concerned about material things like our appearance and possessions, never really getting past the superficial to the "real" person underneath.  God wants us to be real and look to things above, not on earth.  (2 Corinthians 5:1-5)

Another doll many of us can relate to is that of the Rag Doll.  If we have a rag doll mentality, perhaps we are not valuing ourselves as we should.  Rag dolls generally are the ones wagged around by their owners, hair unkempt, clothes soiled, tattered and torn.  Many times life causes us to become like the rag doll and we are made to feel less beautiful, or less talented, or less precious than other women we see around us.  All I can say is "RAG DOLLS of the world UNITE!"  And know that we are precious to God!  He loves us with all our bumps, bruises, scrapes and scars.  And as for that dirty smock we're wearing, he can clean us up and cleanse us like no laundry mat or dry cleaner could ever do! 

This is me in my rag doll costume!

Hey, remember the "Chatty Cathy" Doll?  My sister Pam had one when we were little.  We sure loved that doll.  Makes me think though, I believe I know a few "Chatty Cathy" types.  You know the ones, that talk, talk, talk all the time?  You don't even have to pull their string to get a big ol' serving of their thoughts and ideas and usually, they are so much smarter and better than my own -  I just clam up.  (Sometimes I can make myself like a paper doll where I just slide up under something and disappear.)  Are you one of those Chatty Cathy's?  People who'd rather talk than listen?  I had a school teacher that told us "You learn more from listening than you ever will from hearing yourself talk."  I believe that.  

But you know, one of my favorite dolls is the baby doll.  I loved cuddling them, putting them in my toy stroller, changing their little diapers and feeding them their little magic bottles, you know the ones that the milk disappeared when you tilted the bottle up?  (I never did figure out how those silly things worked!)  But  as much as I loved my baby dolls, I don't think I want to be a grown up version of my cherished baby dolls.  I don't want to whine when things don't go my way, or constantly complain or have to be babied all the time.  I am a much stronger woman of God than that, aren't you?  

In closing, let me just say that if you are a woman reading this blog, You are a doll!  A precious, precious creation of the Almighty God, creator of the universe!  He loves you with all your imperfections and has the awesome ability to clean you up, dress you up in  his royal garments and give you a seat you at his royal table.  Not bad for a rag doll, huh?  I guess you can tell that I really enjoyed our doll themed event and I can't wait until the next one.  Hey, maybe we'll be PIRATES!  Argh Mateys!  Batten down the hatches and all that stuff!  (If it keeps rainin like it's doing now, we'll all need a ship, that's for sure!)  Bye for now!