Keep Reading!

For heaven's sake, just keep reading. Taking a verse or two by itself is the equivelant of the spiritual "sound bite". It gets taken out of context more often than not. The real meaning is missed.

Philippians 2:12 is a good example. The last portion of it reads, "...work out your salvation with fear and trembling."

First of all, read evvvvvverything that comes before (Paul declaring the utter awesomeness of Jesus, "Christ Alone". Then, Paul speaks to the fact that these Philippians had eagerly received Paul's gospel of Christ Alone, while in his presence, and he hopes all the more in his absence... )

and now, for heaven's sake, keep reading.

"For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure."

Could it be that to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" means that you dare not touch the Glory? That you enter more and more and more and more into the realization that it is all Him, nothing of yourself?

Um, the correct answer here would be "Yes".

Keep reading. Always, keep reading. Resist the siren song of the Spiritual Sound Bite. Legalists tend to read whole passages of the Old Testament, and then they sound bite the New Testament. Just a heads up.

Books I Want

I've decided to start a new blog post category: "Books I Want"

Because there are so many. So many books, so little time. Which means this topic will supply me with an endless variety of blog posts.

This one is available on Kindle, but...ahem...I've already bought one Kindle book this week, a Seth Godin classic, and that is all I allow myself. Oh wait. Make that two, but one was only $2, so it doesn't count, really, in the budget.

"Letting Go of the Try Hard Life". Me, too, Emily. Me too. You might be the BFF I haven't met yet. I let go too...and the funny thing is, I am accomplishing more than ever.

A quote from this book, as supplied by the lovely Ann Voskamp, who made me aware of this book on her blog...

“It was important for me to get to a place where I saw myself as a prodigal, because the weak recognize their need so much more quickly than the strong….

We already have the love and acceptance of our Father, so why do we try so hard to earn it?”

Oh. If ever a sentence or two succinctly expresses the grace journey that evolved in my life, about three years ago, the above words express it. I was brought so gloriously, painfully to the end of myself. Some, very dear to me, didn't understand. At all. Why?

This is a place most women are afraid to linger, this "end of myself". When you get to that place, aren't you supposed to pull yourself out?

Well...I lingered. I lingered with tenacity. Tears. Developing a passion for Christ Alone.

And was forever changed.

This author sounds like a kindred spirit.

Happy Fall

Ministry That Mends - Angelic Ministries of Knoxville Tennessee

It started out a rainy, dreary Wednesday today. I awoke to a crick in my neck, and a steady drizzle outside my window, and got my day started as best I could under such trying circumstances. At about 9 o'clock, I picked up my cell phone for the first time. (I turn my cell phone off at night, and don't turn it on the next day until I am good and ready...if I remember to at all. Don't judge. It's how I roll.)

I saw I had a message waiting for me from my friend Lynne B, so I listened. She was proposing that we meet up in...uh...thirty minutes.


Actually, she left the message last night, but my phone was already off by then. Don't judge her either...it's how she rolls. Do you sense a theme here? Let folks roll how they roll.

My rainy Wednesday was about to get a major infusion of Spiritual Sunshine. The planets must be lining up today, because all systems were actually "go" for me to run right out my front door and drive to Angelic Ministries of Knoxville, to help do some volunteer work. I couldn't believe it. I'm usually never that available on that short a notice...we're talkin' less than half an hour.

About twenty minutes and twelve seconds later, I was there. And I even had time to ingest a steaming hot cup of legal stimulant on the way. I know, right? You have one plan for your morning, and BOOM, you find yourself driving through a bad part of town, to a worse part of town, before you can even say "What The Heck?"


Well. If you're me.

So. I spent some time helping to mend broken people today...it wasn't hard to do. Two or three hours of my time was all it took, going to the building that houses Angelic Ministries of Knoxville, shadowing and assisting my friend Lynne B, who volunteers there regularly.

As I drove up to the building - again I tell you - in a part of town that isn't exactly upscale, I passed a man who was...ah..."relieving himself", right there in a little nook area of the outer brick wall, his back turned towards the highway.

Somehow, I knew right away that if helping people who actually need it is good for the soul, I was about to get a really happy soul today.

I parked my car, hid my purse, locked up, and headed inside. I was introduced briefly, and within five minutes, I had my first "client". That is what Angelic calls the people they minister to. Actually, Lynne ended up with two clients, sisters who came together, and I pretended one client was hers, and one was mine.

I was there to look and learn and help wherever needed...and bring all of you with me, via pictures. (Please do pour yourself a tall cuppa something - there's more than one or two pictures here...)


Angelic takes people in crisis situations, people who have been referred to them by other reputable agencies or churches, not off the street, and volunteers take them with a shopping buggy through the huge warehouse of donated items, and help them pick out what they need to get re-established. And I do mean whatever they need.


If Angelic Ministries has it to give. Which brings me to the first sight I was confronted with...

The toiletry shelves. Empty. Do you even know how expensive toiletries are? Very little along those lines could be given out by Angelic Ministries today, because toiletry donations are down. It just wasn't there to give.

If the next picture does not hurt your heart, not much will move you, ever...



What about this one:



The weather turned cooler recently. So for fun last weekend,I went out and got my grandbaby a new pair of shoes to keep his sweet feet warm (and to make him weep violently, but that's another story...home boy don't like shoes.)

What about the sweet feet of the babies who come here? With many, if not most, of the families that are helped through Angelic Ministries, there are babies and children involved. The sisters we helped this morning had two or three at home. Babies. They also have school aged children.

Here is a sign from God, if anyone needs a sign:

...and when they say they need men's pants...

...they really mean it. There were no men's pants at all...only shorts. If you were a man, who came to Angelic Ministries today, and you needed a pair of pants for your new job, the job that will help get you back on your feet - you better be a size 40 waist, because if you were anything less, there was nothing there.

Speaking of being back on your feet...


Almost nothing for you in that department, either. Angelic Ministries needs donations, friends!

We took our two sisters to pick out some linens. Towels, anyone?

It's a good thing there are a (very) few, (very) thin towels on these shelves. The two women we worked with were able to get some for each family member.

I'll leave you with just a few more images...

Those toiletry shelves haunt me to this moment...

Nope. Nothing on this shelf either. Such a basic, human-female need.

The school supplies.

The image that most lingers most with me, though, is that of two clients I saw who weren't even "my" clients. I saw a young Hispanic couple there with their baby, scanning those toiletry shelves. I'm a good judge of character, and the faces I saw were open. This was the sweetest, cleanest looking little family you'd ever want to see. They simply were in serious need.

And they had a baby. What growing baby couldn't use a pair of shoes this autumn?

And the man might could have used an extra pair of decent pants.

And they were standing in front of those darn toiletry shelves.

You might think that in the light of the stark needs, and those empty shelves, that I left feeling depressed. Nah. Our two sisters went home with a literal truck load of blessing - a twin bed, a queen sized bed, all bed linens, dishes, pots and pans, food for the whole family, baby clothes, baby food, a baby car seat, and I think even a small desk.

Needs are being met, and there are more needs that need to be met. (Say that ten times fast!) And I serve a God who is the Need Meeter. I'm praying that He'll use this small blog post to do something Big...a loaves and fishes kind of thing. God can take my small contribution, bless and break it, and do Amazing Things.

If you can help, and you live here in Knoxville, I have a name and number to hook you up with. If you want to help, and you live far, far away (I have tons of blog readers who live in other countries!) please email me, and let's see what creative brilliance we can come up with.

If you own or know of a business that could donate toiletries, email me right now. Don't wait.

Those empty toiletry shelves bug me.

Grandson's Nine Month Photos

You can't keep him still. Can you see how his eyes glow with interest, as he systematically pulls all my yarn out?

This is "our boy"...our grandson, saying, "GO VOLS! TOUCHDOWN, TENNESSEE!" Or, he might be saying, "Praise the Lord." He gets the two confused.

Thinking Right About People

(image from Tiffany Kirchner Dixon's blog)

I really, really want to enjoy the journey of life. For the love of chocolate and red wine, I just want to take joy.

I have a low tolerance for negativity. I have an even lower tolerance for negative talk about people. Ask my family. We aren't perfect, but on the average day, we just don't do it. We don't speak negatively of others. Once in awhile, this is because I can't take it, and after about two minutes of it I have to change the subject or interject something positive and redeeming. And I mean it. Let's not even think about picking up where we left off, and go back to criticizing. I'll get mad.

That. ain't. pretty.

This isn't because I am virtuous. I tend to push the limits of virtue in some areas of my life. I hate gossip simply because I have had a belly-full-enough of negative yah-yah to last a lifetime, and I am totally sick of it, I do not care how true it is, or how important it is that I should know this or that about so-and-so.

This might not be a virtue at all. This might be a survival mechanism I have developed. But for pity's sake, why say something bad about someone else?

Think about it. Ask yourself the same question I ask myself: What good can this possibly do? Truly. What good at all does it do to mentally or verbally criticize? Of what redeeming value is gossip?

That's all gossip is...a negative little chat about something or someone's shortcomings. Sometimes the chat takes place between your ears, between you, yourself, and you. Or it might take place between you and another person. In person or in writing. (We forget that a private Facebook message is still gossip, even though we didn't SAY it!) It might be veiled, it might be blatant, but the intention is always the same: to point out a perceived fault. Or a church's perceived faults. Or the short comings of the Adult Sunday School program, which always by implication leads to someONE'S failures, as you see it.

And sometimes you are exactly right.

Oh, yes, you might be right about precisely where the falling short line lies...and you do us all a smelly pile of good by talking about it. You rocket scientist, you! It takes a keen mind to decipher what is wrong with this world, doesn't it? You better not die, because we need you around forever and ever, amen, because all us mortals? Why, we'd never know there was a problem without your astute observations. At the very least, we'd miss out on all the petty fun of listening to you talk.

There. Now that you understand where I am coming from...


Seriously. How do we shift from negative yah-yah, to positive speech, seasoned with salt? By thinking right thoughts about others.

Because pointing out all the dings and scratches in your neighbor's car does not improve the innate quality of your car.

His car? Your car?

It is what it is, friend. Put your mind on higher things, why don't you? All this car-speak is metaphor, of course.

Do not let your mind dwell on such trivial matters as the shortcomings of others. The plans and purposes of God for your life transcend such things. Grasp this!

When you think negatively about someone, you end up speaking negatively about them. When you speak negatively about them, you diminish yourself and them. But when you speak only what is good for the use of building others up, you and they are increased.

Their faults? Your faults?

They are what they are. The real question is how much do you value relationships?

Your brain is a filing cabinet. You can't help but notice things you don't like, and you can't help but file that away.

But you don't have to pull it back out and refer to it constantly. You really can let the negative files gather dust, and choose to pull out what is good, and refer only to that.

You can, you can! Yes, you can!

And when others pull out their negative files on someone else, and hand them to you...you can do what I typically do...toss it in the circular file labeled T-R-A-S-H/C-A-N, and treat it accordingly. Mark the person who tends to pull only the negative files, and politely refuse the next one.

I understand there are instances where none of this applies. Sometimes we do have the unpleasant task of bringing to someone's attention something that is significant and of negative implication. But only...only...when this is for the greater good. The far. far. far. greater good.

And I understand that the actions of others can create a teachable moment...brief objective and private discussion is necessary, and so you try to keep it as redeeming as possible. I get that.

I understand that ideas must be examined and critiqued.

But people? Co-workers? Fellow church members? Someone you call "friend" to their face?

Come on. We are all smarter than that.

Cut the negativity. It does no good. It adds no joy to the journey.

Are You Teachable?

There is a big difference between being a woman who is eager to learn...

...and a woman willing to be taught.

You can be eager to learn, because your ears prefer customized teaching that suits your strained sensibilities. The Bible calls it "itching ears", and we usually associate itching ears with the craving for teaching that promotes sin or some sort of ungodly ease.

I'm here to tell you, that is a no brainer. I get so weary of Christian women who have a firm grasp of little other than the obvious. Of course, teaching that encourages sin or laziness is so not cool. But I find most Christians instinctively know this. Or maybe I just run in the best circles, and there is a whole world out there, eager to sin and sit around and accumulate stuff instead of reach their generation for Christ. Um...I guess that would be a world that I am not intimately associated with.

What about the teachers who promote performance-based Christianity? The itchiest ears of all are found on those who prefer teachers of law-based, Christian-ized behavior modification. The itchiest ears of all are found on those who love to perform.

Exhibit A: the shelves and shelves of self-help books in bookstores both sacred and secular.

These people heap to themselves teachers, and you can find them on their bookshelves. Every book can be tossed into one of three heaps: the "fiction" heap, or the "writings of dead moralists" heap, or the "Christianized DIY" heap. You don't find much else on the shelves of a legalist.

Itching ears.

Paul told Timothy, "Preach the Word". The whole Bible, Old Testament and New, is given by inspiration of God, to make us mature and equipped for the work we are uniquely called to do.

So I'm asking: What is the central focus of "The Word"? And why does it need to be "rightly divided"? What is the application?

Christ. Everything from Genesis to Revelation and all points between is about Christ. When you read the Pentateuch, look for Jesus. When you read the Psalms and the Wisdom Books, look for the Gospel, for it is there. The very looking for it forces you to rightly divide this Word of Truth. The very effort of looking for the Gospel in all of the Old Testament forces you into a more accurate hermeneutic. When you read prophets major and minor, look for the wisdom hidden from the ages, now revealed: Jesus. He is there.

Paul was exhorting Timothy to preach the word of Christ. You aren't persecuted for living godly. A devout Morman or Muslim can manage that. You are persecuted for living godly in Christ Jesus. When the cross is the only way to salvation, when your godly living is because of His Finished Work, when your good works flow as a direct result of the revelation of your being made righteous...well, that is just weird. And very uncool. And out of step with the current thought in much of mainstream Christianity.

Again - Exhibit A. And the shelves of itchy-eared legalistas.

Which brings me back to the question: are you willing to be taught, or just eager to learn?