Puppets

In this video, the only guy that is real is the middle one. The rest are puppets completely controlled by Christopher (the guy in the middle). When I saw this for the first time, I thought of how easily we become puppets. We become the puppets of the media, politics, the economy, our bosses, and sometimes "the winds of various doctrines." We listen to someone and they seem to make sense and so we decided to continue listening and following their every move. I have even heard of Christians that will follow a preacher from church to church. I have never understood it, but I have heard of it.

Paul had the same problem in Corinth, "Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, "I am of Paul," and "I of Apollos," and "I of Cephas," and "I of Christ." The people of Corinth were arguing and bickering over who was right and who was wrong. A modern day parallel would be the arguing between denominations over points of doctrine or church government that really don't make any difference.

The only thing I am willing to "go to the wall" for is the Word of God in its entirety. I am not one to split hairs as long as we all agree that Christ is the only way to salvation. Now don't get me wrong. I am not a "name it and claim it" kind of Christian. However, only God knows if they are right or wrong and I am not going to cause division in the Body of Christ over it.

God tells the church that it must exist in unity, not uniformity. I think we should consider the impact on our Christian witness to non-believers when they see us publicly arguing with each other. I wouldn't want to be a part of that. Would you?

So be careful what you say both in public and private. You never know who is listening.

You Know You Are Old When...

Lately I have been feeling like a dinosaur that has been somehow transported into the 21st century without having been briefed on the language. I have to ask my granddaughter about text messaging shorthand like omg and thx.

I just read the blog of a friend and he used the expression "jump the shark." What shark and how am I going to jump over it? In fact, why would I want to jump over it? I looked up the meaning of the expression and it means that something has reached it's lowest point. It comes from the TV show "Happy Days" when Fonzi jumped a shark on water skis which was considered the lowest point in the show.

I don't even understand the commercials. The police department here is running a commercial about if you do the crime, you will do the time. They ask questions like "Are you slinging?" and "Are you strapped?" Again, had to go to the granddaughter to translate.

I even have trouble with some "Christian speak". You know, those words like "sanctified, righteous, justification, and Christ comeing to live in your heart." Those of us that are more mature Christians have had time to learn fully what these words mean, but I find myself having to explain to new Christians and those who wish to become Christians.

I fully realize that Isaiah 55: 11 says, "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not retun to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." But it seems to me that when we present the gospel to the world today, we should use one of the newer translations that breaks down these "church words" into something they can understand.

Did you know that most newspapers are written at a 7th grade reading level? We are no longer a society of readers and as such, communication needs to become simpler and simpler. Hebrews 4:12 states, " For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edge sword and as far as the division of soul and spirit...able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." This book was written to Jews and uses an image that they would understand so that the gospel would be clear to them. Even Jesus used familiar imagery to make sure his audience understood what He had to tell them about God's kingdom.

Who are we to hang on to our "church talk" so that the world cannot understand what we are talking about? Nowdays, I simply share my salvation story and what Christ has done with me and for me. That seems to be something everyone I have talked to seems to understand; real world experiences that happened in the world and with the language they live with every day.

I'm not saying don't use the Word of God. All I am saying is to invest in one of the modern translations and when witnessing, use it. You may be surprised how quickly the lost come to understanding and desire salvation. All we need to do is speak their language.

Bitterness or Blessing

I have two friends that I have talked to in the past week that, though their situations are similar, their attitudes are very different. Both have husbands that are out of work. Both wives are out of work. Both have children. One has a five year old and the other has one that is 20+ that are living at home. Both are struggling financially. But most of all, both are Christians. One is a new Christian and the other is a "mature" Christian. That, however, is where the likenesses stop.

The older Christian has developed the root of bitterness talked about in Hebrew 12: 15, "Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled." I have not minded letting her "vent" on me these past months, but there comes a time to count your blessings and move on. I understand her anger and some of her resentments, but Ephesians 4: 31 states," Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." For months, I have listened to this wonderful, kind Christian lady spew her anger and hateful words to me. There is no hint of forgiveness in any of them. Just resentment and anger. I love her with all my heart and she is my best friend, but honestly, I don't know how much more of this negativity I can take. At this moment, she seems to lack faith to carry her through these circumstances that the Bible says are "temporary."

On the other hand, my brand spanking new Christian friend at church has a whole different attitude. She sees blessings at every turn. She just got a job, but it doesn't start until August. Is she angry that it couldn't start earlier? No, she stands up in church and offers praise that God has provided a job. Is she angry with her husband because he can't find anything but minimum wage, part-time work? No, she is grateful there is food on the table. Is she angry when anyone offers her help. be it family or friend? No, she thanks God for providing for her and her family. She believes in the words of Jeremiah 29: 11ff, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an unexpected end. Then shall ye call upon Me and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." In a word, she is willing to "Let go and let God." This young lady that has been a Christian for less than a year, can find the faith to believe that God is going to take care of everything like He said in His word.

Sometimes we "mature" Christians need to take a lesson from the babes in Christ. We need to recapture the intensity of our faith instead of losing our first love or even worse, blaming Him for all that is happening.

I am in prayer for both my friends. One that she will regain her faith in God and the other that she will continue in the faith and comfort that she has found in her Heavenly Father that has said that He will hide us beneath His wings.

I understand now more than ever before that I am going to make a choice daily. Will I choose to be bitter about circumstances in my life that will soon pass away or will I begin and end each day praising God for all His blessings to me whether they are large or small? All believers make that same choice every day. I wonder what would happen to our testimony if we chose blessings? Even worse, what would happen to our testimony of Christ if we chose bitterness? It is definitely something to think about.

Enough Already!

I hope you are as tired of hearing about Nadya Suleiman as I am. The poor woman is just trying to get on with her life, take care of her children in two different places and what does she get? Her life under a microscope.

Did she show poor judgement? Who knows? Let's give the poor lady a chance to raise her children and see if she can really do it. The Bible says "I can do ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens me." Not only that but she is not the first one to have multiple births by invitro fertilization and be unemployed. Jon and Kate Gosselin already had 2 children when they decided to have six more. At that time, neither one of them was working and they didn't get hate mail or social scrutiny. They got our support and a TV show!

Will the tax payers have to support her children? Probably, for a while at least. But Nadya is not the first woman to participate in WIC. My niece is currently an participate and no one is bad-mouthing her. Yes, she has one and Nadya has eight with three already receiving SSI, but what difference does that make? We are supporting all nine babies along with 2.4 million other children according to the census bureau. Why single her out?? And as a former teacher I can tell you there are families that have four or five children and are receiving SSI for all of them due to learning disabilities the most common of which is developmental delay. So why be angry with Nadya for doing the same thing? And out of the six she already has, she only has three that are receiving SSI, one of which is autistic. She is definitely not trying to "live off the system" or she would find a way to have all six on SSI.

Then there is the insanity these poor children have already suffered through. Since all the children are under seven, you know those hundreds of strangers with cameras chasing them everywhere has to be scary, in fact, probably terrifying. Society claims that its only concern is for the safety and health of these children. THEN LEAVE THEM ALONE ALREADY! How would you like being chased with a camera 24/7? How many of us could get the good parenting award if someone had been following us with a camera day and night? She and her children are just as human as the rest of us and all this attention cannot be good for them. Just stop, okay!

I told myself I was not going to wade in on the "Octomom" issue, but yesterday when I saw the damage caused by supposedly Christian people, cameramen as well as neighbors, to her LEASED home, I was outraged. The garage door was dented outward from the people trying to crowd into her garage to get a picture. There were so many people on her lawn, the grass was destroyed and the bricks on the walk were broken loose. Who has to fix that? Her or her landlord probably. How long do you think this landlord will be willing to continue the lease when he can see his property being destroyed? Probably not long. He has an investment to protect. Personally, I think every idiot that was on that lawn and in that garage should chip in and fix all the damage themselves. I was raised that if you break it, then you fix it!

I also would like to address all the other pro-life advocates about their anger. Nadya saw all those embryos as a LIFE. She did not want them to be destroyed for stem cell research. So she did the VERY unpopular thing and had all six implanted. Now it is time to decide which is more important: our pro-life stand or our pocket book. If it is our pro-life stance, then it is up to all of us to see that all those precious children receive everything that they need to grow up healthy and happy. She saved six lives! If she had pulled six drowning children out of the water she would be a hero! But she chose to save six little embryos by having them all implanted at once. America, it's time to choose. Are we pro-life or not?

Finally, Matthew 7:1-2 states, "Do not judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves. For just as you judge and criticize and condemn others, you will be judged and criticized and condemned, and in accordance with the measure you [use to] deal out to others, it will be dealt out again to you." (Amplified Bible) Christians, we need to stop judging, condemning, and criticizing Nadya and start loving her. John says that we can identify the followers of Christ by the way we love others. Jesus is our example and He loved the "unlovable." Well, Nadya Suleiman is at the moment, "unlovable." Let's show her that we Christians have not forgotten our calling and love her.

I don't agree with everything she has done. I agree that all this is a little, okay, a lot, over the edge. So what? She is a child of God and in my own small way I intend to try to give her and her children their "normal" life back. What about you? C'mon. ENOUGH ALREADY!

I Had No Idea That You Were a Trash Collector

I like to play cards so I own the "Hoyle Card Games" software for my computer so that I can play to my heart's content. I play hearts, spades, euchre, rummy, and canasta. I just LOVE to play cards.

Yesterday I was playing canasta and I picked up the discard pile. Jasper, one of my computerized card playing buddies, said, "I had no idea that you were a trash collector." Hmm. That could be an idea for a blog someday, so I wrote it down. The game continued and I picked up the discard pile again and Jasper's computerized partner, Elayne, says, "You look like your used to sorting through other people's trash." Okay, God, you don't have to tell me twice...well, maybe You do.

Before I became disabled, I spent a lot of time with what our society calls "trash." I spent seven years helping abused women try to make decisions on "what comes next" and educate them in the ways of abused men. Yes, some 75% of them went back to their abuser and society said, "Well, then, they deserve what they get." Do they really? No, they just didn't have enough time, education or money to make a different choice. Most of them had children and their abuser had told them that he would kill both her and her children if she ever left. Mothers, would you make the same decision knowing that a Protective Order is not worth the paper it is printed on and that the abuser would probably only do 30 days and then be out on the street looking for you? Oh, and he would be FURIOUS because you put him in jail. God convicted me that I had to offer what little I had to try and help them and their children despite what society thought.

After that, I taught rehabilitation courses and Bible studies in a women's medium security prison. These women had been convicted of everything from forgery and fraud to assault and involuntary manslaughter. Society thought that these "people" (they were not fellow human beings because of the magnitude of their sin) were getting what they deserved and were not capable of being rehabilitated. Well, the course I taught helped stop that revolving door. Inmates returning to prison went down from 85% to 60%. All because a small group of people thought that these "throw away" people were worth saving.

In both cases, I learned more than I could have ever taught them. At the shelter, I learned to be grateful for God's constant protection of me and my children in a similar situation. At the prison, every time we prayed the inmates would thank God for getting them up that morning. They taught me what it was to be truly grateful for life and all its possibilities.

You know, Jesus was in to "throw away" people. In fact, He spent so much time with them that some of the "sanctified" took offense. In Matthew 9 Jesus calls Matthew, a tax collector, to be one of His disciples. Matthew then invited Jesus over for dinner. I think I'll let Matthew tell you the rest of the story, "Now it happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house that, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it they said to His disciples, ' Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?'" Sound familiar?

Many of us prefer our "church friends" and want nothing to do with the sinners. They are scary, particularly now days. Believe me, since I became disabled, I totally understand. I still struggle with the fear of strangers because it would take nothing to seriously injure me. But is that what we are suppose to do? Play it safe?

Jesus gives us the answer in verse 12, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." Ouch!

Since I can no longer drive, I have to find other means to find those who may need the mercy that Christ offers. That is my prayer for this blog. That someone needing Christ's comfort and mercy may read it and realize they are not alone.

So to those who might say to you, "I had no idea you were a trash collector," you can say, "Yes, that is the job that Jesus gave me and I am proud to serve Him."

The Faith of a Child

Our family has always tried to have a dog since we had boys (yes, I know the president has girls and is getting them a dog). We have always gravitated to the kind of dog that is free. Pedigreed dogs are okay but why should I pay $300-$1200 for a puppy when there are so many great dogs that are free for the asking.

When my oldest son was five, we had a Golden retriever/Brittany spaniel mix called simply "Bob" because he was the only one in the litter that had the body of a golden retriever but the stump of a tail that belongs to the Brittany spaniel. He was a great bird dog, but it was never our intention to hunt him. He was just a pet for the boys. Because of his size, he really became our oldest son's dog (he would end up pushing our youngest son down when he wanted to be petted).
My oldest boy loved that dog with all his heart. Bob was HIS dog and he took care of him.

We kept Bob in a dog run in the backyard. Since he was obviously a bird dog, we kept the gate to the run locked. Well, one night the gate was left unlocked and someone stole Bob. We were devastated because my husband and I knew that someone was going to try to hunt Bob and when they saw that he was gun shy, they would probably shoot him.

For two weeks we spent every afternoon looking for Bob. We looked everywhere. Even up and down the river bottoms near our subdivision, but there was no sign of Bob. My husband and I were positive Bob was not coming back.

One night, after two weeks of checking to see if Bob might have come home on his own, I was putting my son to bed. We said our prayers and he turned that sweet face full of hope toward me and told me, "Mommy, I prayed and God is going to bring Bob home." My mother's heart broke as I tried to explain to a five-year-old that sometimes God doesn't answer our prayers the way we want Him to. But he was determined, "No mommy, God told me that He would bring Bob home."

After several minutes of argument, I just told him, "Well, we'll see" and left his room to cry at the heart break that I just knew was inevitable. After two weeks Bob had either been picked up by a good samaritan or was dead. The odds of him coming back were slim and none.

We quit searching for Bob and calling the animal shelter. But every day when we would get home from work/school, my son would run to the backyard looking for Bob in the still empty dog run. This went on for three days and my heart broke for my young son and the disappointment that was most surely coming. On the third night when I put him to bed, I was a little teary-eyed during our prayers because I had no idea how I was going to explain to my faith-filled son that Bob wasn't coming back. Seeing my tears, he patted my hand and said, "It will be okay, Mommy, God told me that Bob is coming back and I believe Him." I raced out of the room, squatted in the hallway with my back to the wall, crying my eyes out and chastising God for hurting my son." I stayed there a long time, I don't even how long it was, but when I got up, I purposed in my heart that I would make my son believe that there was no possibility that Bob was coming back.

The next morning was rushed so there was no time to talk to my son. My mind was divided between work and my son as I worried about what I would say to him when we got home and he found the dog run empty again. I tried many different approaches in my head as I worked because I didn't want him to be angry with God or think he wasn't important enough for God to listen to.

As we pulled into the driveway and I saw him start to look toward the dog run, I started with,"You know baby that God......." From the back seat I hear this squeal, "Mommy, Mommy, Bob is back! Bob is back!"

Before the car even came to a complete stop, my son was out of the car and racing to the backyard. I was in shock as I rounded the corner and, sure enough, Bob was back. In fact, he was back in the dog run with the gate closed and the lock locked! My son was jumping up and down screaming, *"See, mommy! See, mommy! I told you God would bring Bob back!"

I stood there with tears streaming down my face, tears of joy, relief, and shame. Shame because I, with my "mature" faith, could not believe that God could do something as simple as bring back a lost dog.

Jesus says in Mark 10:15 in the Amplified Bible, "Truly I tell you,whoever does not receive and accept and welcome the kingdom of God like a little child [does] positively shall not enter it at all." Isaiah 11:6 states, "And a child shall lead them."

I am still working on my jaded faith sprinkled with "reality." I sit here humbly crying because there are so many times that I pray about something, not believing God will really answer me and I am shocked and excited when He actually does. And when I lose the faith to believe, God reminds me of my five-year-old son who had the faith to believe that God cared enough about him to bring back his lost dog.



*For those of you who are wondering, we never found out how Bob got back. We do know that his coat was full of burrs so our assumption is that someone tried to hunt him and when the gun went off, Bob high-tailed it back home and a neighbor put him in the pen, although the neighbors all denied it. Or maybe the person who stole him brought him back. All I know is that God saw to it that he came home just to reward the faith of a five-year-old boy and teach his mother a lesson about faith.

Warning, Warning, Warning

In this age of litigation, warning labels have gotten a bit ridiculous. After a woman wins a million dollar lawsuit against McDonalds because her cup of coffee was not properly marked as hot, we have felt the need to warn against EVERYTHING.

For example, on a bottle of dog shampoo we find the warning, "Contents should not be fed to fish." On a baking pan, "Ovenware will get hot when used in oven (duh)." Or on a blanket, "Not to be used as protection from a tornado." I have been in a tornado and I'm here to tell you that anyone with any sense would know a blanket won't protect you if the whole HOUSE won't protect you. Another of my favorites is found on a three-pronged fishing hook, "Harmful if swallowed" (just ask any fish, he'll tell you). Or on a carpenter's drill, "Not intended for use as a dental drill." But the most ridiculous of all warning labels is found on a paint remover that heats up to 1,ooo degrees, "Do no use heat gun as a hair dryer." Now THAT would be some hairdo, I'm telling you what!

Other examples are found on the inside of a six-inch plastic bag, "Do not climb inside this bag and zip it up. Doing so will cause injury or death." Now no one I know could get more than a foot inside a six-inch bag. And finally, the award goes to a can of pepper spray that says, "May irritate eyes." Isn't that's what it is suppose to do??

I could go on forever about our silly notions about what others need to be warned about. We demand warnings that our coffee is hot, our ice is cold, our bags are plastic and could suffocate us (ever wonder if any of these people ever went to school?). It has gotten so totally ridiculous that many of us, me included, don't even look at the warnings that come with the things we buy. We flip past that page to the "some assembly required" pages not caring that whatever it is could hurt us. I mean, how many of us read all that paperwork on side effects and drug interactions that come with our prescriptions? I know I don't. I figure the doctor knows what else I am taking and he knows best. But we see in the news all the time people who have died from drug interactions. And still we don't want to know.

As God's people, He has also given us many warnings which, unlike some of the obvious things we warn each other about, need to be paid significant attention. For example, I Peter 5:8, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about , seeking whom he may devour. Also Hosea 9:10, "I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baal-peor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved. Or Matthew 6:23, "But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness." The Psalmist says in chapter 66 verse 18, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Having the Lord not hear me when I pray, that would be a tough one. But not as tough as Exodus 20:5, "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." We are living the results of that warning today. One of the biggest warnings comes in Revelation 3:3, "If therfore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." We need to be doing God's work as if tomorrow Christ will return because all these people who think they have figured out when the end of the earth as we know it will be are in for a rude awakening. No one on earth knows when He is coming...no one knows when the last opportunity to come to know Christ will be gone. Nobody.

I am as bad as anyone not to read the warning labels on things I buy or on prescriptions. But I better not find myself lacking when it comes to the many warnings God has given me in His Word. I have bearly scratched the surface of what God has warned us against.

Everything I need to know to live on this earth is in God's word. All I need to do is listen, Let's not make Him use another wilderness or a another donkey to warn us to stay away from sin.

We Never Did It That Way Before

Any pastor can tell you those are the seven deadliest words in any church. I, personally, feel like they are a death sentence not only in church, but in any endeavor of your life.

What if Noah had told God,"No one's ever built a boat before." Or Moses, "No one's ever parted a sea before." or Joshua, "No one's ever won a battle by just walking around before." Even in the New Testament you see places where great acts of faith would have never happened if they accepted this attitude. What if Mary and Martha told Jesus, "Well, you know, nobody has ever risen anyone from the dead before. Don't embarrass yourself trying." Or if Peter had said, "No- body's ever walked on water before. I think I'll stay in the boat like the other eleven."

The list goes on and on. David once he saw Goliath saying, "Oops, I never fought anyone that large before. Think I'll go back home." Or Esther saying, "No queen has ever approached the king unbidden without dying, I'm sorry all those Jews have to die, but I think I'll keep my Jewishness a secret and stay in the harem."

Off the top of my head, I only remember one time God allowed someone to say, "We've never done that before." That was the ten spies who said, "We've never fought giants before. We are as grasshoppers in their eyes. Let's just stay here where we know it is safe." That one cost the Israelites forty years in the wilderness.

God gives us many promises that should drive the "We-never-did-it-that-way-befores" away.
In 2 Kings 6:16 He says, "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them." In Philippians 4: 13 He says, "I can do all thing through Christ which strengtheneth me." Finally, in Psalms 27: 14 God says, "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord."

That last passage gives us the key to great and might things, "wait on the Lord." Whether or not we have ever done it before, if we wait on the Lord instead of running ahead of Him, making plans, then asking Him to bless them, we will be successful even though "We have never done it that way before." God is full of blessings and surprises just waiting for us to wait on Him.

If you still aren't sure, just ask Balaam. When was the last time a donkey spoke to you and saved your life? I bet that never happened before!

Make a Joyful Noise

I have been doing a lot of thinking about my Dad lately. Even though he passed away in 1992 he is still with me in lots of different ways. For example, I have his voice and his laugh. When Daddy laughed, you could hear it all over the church. His voice and his laughter just carried for miles. I have the same voice. When I was teaching, the teachers around me would make me shut my door because I was "disturbing" their class. You know, now that I mention it, I don't think I ever closed MY door. I hate closed doors. They are just so.....closed. I do remember a lot of door slamming all around me. Oh well, I knew MY kids could hear me if the whole hall could hear me.

I did not, however, inherit my daddy's singing voice. I have a fairly decent, though untrained, second soprano voice that is actually good enough to be allowed into a VOLUNTEER choir, though once when I was 15 and my voice was changing, I was actually asked to leave a "volunteer" choir, but that's another story for another time.

Daddy, on the other hand, had only two notes and both of them were wrong. That never stopped him though. When there was Men's Choir Sunday, Daddy was up there with the best of them. The best part was that you could hear him above all the other singers because Daddy was not afraid to sing as loud as he talked and laughed, much to my chagrin when I became a teenager. He would sing to the Lord just as loud as he yelled at the television while watching his favorite teams, the Cleveland Browns and anyone who played against the 49'ers.

Daddy used to say that God says ,"to make a joyful noise and he could make as much noise as anybody." You know, he was right. I look around on Sunday and I see so many people not singing. They just stand there instead of praising God with all their heart. It doesn't matter whether or not you can carry a tune in a bucket. What matters is that you SING.

Daddy proved to me that EVERYONE can sing. It may not be pretty, but we can sing and in doing so, we offer up praise to God for all He has given us.

You know, I think I could sing the praises of someone who sacrificed His only Son, His only Child, for me. And I wouldn't care if it was pretty, because it was necessary.

This Sunday let's try to "make a joyful noise" when we sing the choruses and hymns. I know it would make Daddy and all like him proud.

Snow Days

For once the weatherman got it right! Well, almost. He predicted the snow Saturday and Sunday, he just thought we were going to get 4-6 inches. Well.........we got 11 inches. Because of that swing and a miss, the schools and churches have been closed since Sunday and the community is suffering from cabin fever. Even the granddaughter that I home school got snow days because once you hit our county, the roads were covered with ice and it was too dangerous to bring her up from Memphis.

You know, snow is a funny thing (not funny ha,ha, but funny peculiar). It is beautiful to look at as the early morning sun hits the surface and you can see the pattern and drifts form by the wind. Truthfully, I had seen snow drifts before, but I had never seen the wind pattern on the top of the snow. City dwellers don't get to see much of that because the other houses block most of the wind. Out here Saturday afternoon through Sunday, it was every man for himself with white out conditions most of the night.

Snow is also great fun. We don't have much snow in these parts but I can remember back in the sixties when Memphis had 18 inches of snow. I remember snowball fights with my brothers and making a huge snowman with my mom and dad (okay, it probably wasn't huge, but it looked huge to me since I had never seen one). I even remember a 10 inch snow fall in the 80's when my boys and I went outside and built a snow man and had snow ball fights. I used to love to be out playing in the snow.

Now, since my bones have become fragile and I cost possibly $140,000 - $160,000 to fix if I mess up these artificial hips, I am actually afraid of the snow. One slip could land me in a wheelchair so now I have to content myself with watching my crazy yellow lab rolling snowballs down the hill and relishing in this new substance that actually changes depths. One time she was running and ended up up to her chest in snow. You should have seen her face! Undaunted, she just turned around and went back to sticking her nose in the snow until she made a snowball and then pushing it so she could watch it roll down the hill. What fun!

I realized as I watched her in the snow that snow is somewhat like Satan in my new perspective. It is beautiful, just like sin and Satan are. 2 Colossians 1:4 states, "for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Ezekiel 28: 12 calls him perfect in beauty. He is beautiful to look at. After all, we wouldn't be tempted if he came up in a red union suit with horns, a pointed tail and pitchfork. We'd know who he was and run the other way!

But Satan is a beautiful temptation. He is an angel of light and perfect in beauty, kind of like the snow. But under that light and sparkle and beauty, is hidden danger. There is ice beneath that snow and drifts that we can get into that we can't get out of. For example, the big snow I told you about when I was a kid. My youngest brother was just a toddler and literally got into a snow drift and could not get out. So the other four of us made this "chain of life" from shortest to tallest, and had to pull him out because he could not get out by himself. He had gotten in too deep.

There are many who have been deceived by the beauty, felt the danger beneath, and gotten in too deep in this world. It is the duty of the church to pull them out just like we did my little brother. We can't just freeze them out with "Well, he should have known better." If he knew better, he would have done better. He was tempted by the beauty of the temptation and then began to slide on the ice underneath. Just like the rest of us do every day. We may not get in over our heads, but we sure love to play in it.

Why not form a "chain of life" this week and present the gospel to some unbeliever you come in contact with. You never know who you might pull out of the snow.