A Football Game Gives Hope

Matthew 25:31-46 (New King James Version)   

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy^[a] angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. ³³And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ 
³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? ³⁸ When did we see You a stranger and take Youin, or naked and clothe You? ³⁹ Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴² for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ 
⁴⁴ “Then they also will answer Him,^[b] saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ ⁴⁵ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Sheep or Goat? Right or Left?

Also notice, The need was met. Feed the hungry, give clothes to the naked, water to the thirsty, welcome strangers, visit the sick, visit the prisoner. 

No money given. No healing attempted. No house built. No pardon given. No change forced upon. The need was met.

Sheep or Goat? Right or Left?

Christmas, something for nothing.

Just last weekend we had a Christmas Open House. We hosted an open house like this a few years ago when we were in our house in town.  Both parties were great, in that we had many friends come. This last party though was in this home, this home that we remember every day is a gift, built by God.


Keith and I discussed the pure joy of having our friends come and share their time with us. We were overwhelmed by their kindness and their compliments on our home.  I am so humbled when people come  and compliment my home.  Many seem in awe of it, funny thing, we are too. I am truly amazed that I have all of this, I do not think I respond correctly, I know full well this house and all that we have is straight from God.  I want to give God credit for all of this. Yet when I say things like "Couldn't have done it with out God." Or "We did work, but God gave us everything to get it done." I feel like I am either freakin people out like I am some kind of 'Holy Roller'.  Or I am being ungracious to the praiser for not accepting the full responsibility of the praise OR the worst,...What if my saying "God blessed us with this, all of this, the work, the time, the funds, the energy..", causes someone to think 'Well he didn't do that for me.' I want to let everyone know how grateful we are, yet I don't want to seem proud, in the haughty way. .  .  Keith and I both want so to always give God credit for all of this, because we KNOW with out God, this would not exist.  In worldly reality it should not.


So many miracles, yes, miracles are involved in the building of our house.  God incidences.
The market rising so that we made an almost double profit on our house that we only lived in for 4 years.
This land we found, after many other 'that's it' acres being 'lost'.  The man we bought from, died just a month after we found him and purchased from him. Each person we hired to do a job, seemed a God appointment. Our marriage surviving  building our home, daily for 1 year and living in a very small travel trailer. The rock, the water, the deals on furniture, the price of steel, the trusses, it goes on and on.


We know that more wonderful than the house are our friends.  In crisis and celebration we have had our friends to share with, some would bring a meal or give a shoulder to cry on or a laugh and a good time.  We would reciprocate in the same way, because we are good people, too. When we built this house, our friends went beyond what we expected from anyone.  We had people here to hook up electric and put our roof on. We would have someone ask how is it going, we would explain something we were working on and a day later people would show up to help. And they got NOTHING from it, except  blisters.  We can never ever repay those that showed up and climbed up on the roof, on Sunday afternoons. Having the work done ends up being an added bonus to our finding out the true meaning of friendship. Seriously, why would anyone desire to come and do something for someone else without expecting anything in return?


In the light of this season, I think of  the reason for, Jesus' birth in this world. Jesus too, is a something for nothing.  Jesus, God, received absolutely nothing for coming to us, except pain. Oh yeah, and those that believe in the miracle of Jesus, God 'gets' us.
 Like he really NEEDS us.
We can do absolutely nothing for God, he does not need us to survive. He will live forever with or without us.  We on the other hand received everything.  We have been forgiven for every horrendous, stupid sin we will ever commit AND we get to live eternally in a perfect world with God as our Light. Why? So God can have us near him? Because God needs us? God desires us? I don't think so.  There is truly not one thing we can fulfill for God, yet he desired to die for us.  God desired to come to this world and take up residence in a tiny frail human body. A body that was not super natural, not super strong, not super good looking. Just a plain ol body, subject to pain and illness. The body of a child whose parents were not very 'well off'.   God desired to be raised by human parents, who were not of royalty, they were very common. God desired to live in this world not as a wealthy man, having all the comforts of this world, but as a poor man, he did not have a real home of his own. God had no wife, no children. God had no person to love him 'for who he was'.  Actually, God was hated for who he was. God did not give into temptation of power, and riches. God did not protect his human body from harm. He did not, does not, make others love him and accept him.


What did God 'get' by coming as Jesus one cold winters night? What did that being born 'get' him?
Rejection, persecution, a painful agonizing death of body and then all of our sins dumped on him and then complete separation from the only good that ever exists, God, himself. Being born got him our death. Seriously, why would anyone desire to come and do something for someone else without expecting anything in return? Not because we deserved anything. Not because he needs anything from us, in return. JUST because he loves us.






So here I am this year, blessed with my undeserved home, husband, children, grandchildren, family friends, life here and eternally. Humbled by his grace and love.  I am small and insignificant and completely undeserving, yet God the creator of all things, came and died and took my sins just so I could live eternally with him....
Merry Christmas and thanks, God.

Dad would have been 82

 Yesterday was Dad's birthday, if he was alive he would have been 82.

   Yesterday Leslie Neilson died.  Dad loved his later movies the Airplanes 2 1/2 guns etc.  Dad's sense of humor 'went that way'.  About a week before Dad died one of the Airplanes was playing, he and I sat and watched it, he in his wheelchair and I beside him. He smiled and enjoyed it all the way through.

Sometimes I wondered on what Dad was comprehending those last days, this time allowed me to see he was 'getting' it all!

When I heard Leslie Neilson died on Dad's birthday I thought it a bit ironic.  I went to look up his info on the internet, thinking it would be REALLY ironic if his birthday was close to Dad's death date.  Well it wasn't BUT, it was exactly the day Mom died.  Feb 11.   What are the chances? (Some math geek needs to do the math) Of the 365 days of the year, this guy died on Dad's birthdate and was born on Moms death date.   Mom and Dad both would watch those movies, rent them, eventually added them to their VCR library. They even laughed at them! I still grown and most of the silliness, they loved it!

There are so very many things that remind me of Dad, I love those memories.
 Leslie Neilson, and his movies.  Other movies similar in style, one being Blazing Saddles, if ever that was on cable, Dad would be watching it.
Blazing Saddles was also a favorite of Kirks, so that has a double star on memory for me.

Thanksgiving is a reminder of Dad, not just because this slim trim for life guy LOVED to eat a good meal, but it always landed near his birthday.

Zippo lighters, Dad smoked all my life that I lived at home.  I remember he always had a zippo, until disposable Bics entered the picture.  I have a couple of his old Zippos, they don't work anymore, but they still have the smell of fluid and 'strike' when struck.  That smell gives me a warm fuzzy feeling all over.  Forever I smelled that  as Dad lit a cigarette.  If I smelled it, Dad was near me, or I him, probably sitting next to him, in the middle, as he drove.

Another memory smell, I get to smell every so often, a newly lit cigarette, mmmm Daddy.  Sorry all you anti smokers, to me, that is the sweetest smell.  I remember laying in the back of the station wagon as we made our late night drives either to or from Mamaw and Papaws house, covered up with a blanket or Dad's coat. Dad would roll down the window just a bit, the sound of the wind, the feel of the cold air, just on the top of my head, the flick of the lighter, smell of flint strike, then the sweetness of that first light of the cigarette.  I felt so secure, so close, Dad and Mom in the front, the darkness of the car,except the glow from the dashboard, the stars moving past, the occasional red ash bouncing off the window above me, to lull me to sleep.

Football on TV. Stadium lights in the distance. Coach Sanders, was my Daddy.

Orange crush.  Dad and I would share these when I was a little girl.

Broken beer bottles. We did not share these.  I was about 4 and Dad and I were at the local drive in burger joint, waiting on an order.  I was crawling around on the outdoor table. Someone had broken a beer bottle and shoved it up through the wood slats, I crawled over it and sliced my knee open(I still have the big scar).  Dad grabbed me up and put his handkerchief on it to stop the bleeding, and he was mad mad mad.  I thought at first at me, for getting hurt, messing up his handkerchief, and I apologized.  Dad explained he was not mad at me, but at the so and so that stuck that bottle in the table.

When we get the Christmas decorations down I will remember him. That was HIS job. He would get the boxes down from the attic, get frustrated with mom because she would always be telling him he had 'missed one'.

 Dad was everything to me, my parent, friend, protector, he loved me so unconditionally. I never questioned his love or approval of me, even at my worst, he never disapproved of me, just my actions.  I really can not think of anytime Dad did for himself first, he was always wanting for others.

So many memories.  Thank you God! 82 years ago a great man was born, just to be my Dad.

  

Sick of bein Sick

Evan came home from work, almost a week ago, and said his back hurt, he had hurt it he thought 'lifting lots of dirt'.

The next day he came home early with a really bad stomach ache, and his back hurt too.  I told him I had hurt my back once and it made my stomach hurt too, so maybe that was it.  I put him to bed with a heating pad.  He slept most of the day.  He got up about 6 not feeling well enough to eat.  He started throwing up soon after.  I was wrong this was something else.

The next day I felt a twinge in my back, that I thought might be that same muscle strain I had about a week before. Then I started getting that kind of woozy feeling you get when you drink too much coffee, and I hadn't. Was I getting 'it?  My back proceeded to AAAAAACCCCCCHHHHEEEE more and more, and my stomach followed. I had 'it'.

 Evan seemed to be coming back from  his misery, not throwing up any more, back aching but stomach not. So I thought ok, this will end quick, what ever it is.  Then the stomach cramps started. I honestly think they were worse that labor, at least with labor they had a cycle and a time nothing was happening.  These cramps defined gut wrenching. I had the TV on and in between times I could pass out and go into a writhing sleep and the times I was trying to MAKE it stop, I saw some parts of movies.  One was of a Keifer Sutherland being buried alive, my first thought "I will take buried alive anyday over this crap!" Later Uma Thurman was buried alive.  They both got out, my back still hurts.

Evan seemed to be better-ish by day 3 so I knew I too would be, I was by my day 3, but Evan went back to back pain and sick feeling, so then I did too.We have had moments we kind of crossed in being well together and then sick together.  Spent most of Sunday laying in my bed together watching movies, with Brian and Ashton's 2 chihuahuas and Liz the kitten too, that should be something for the memory bank.

This illness progression is now an issue I have, this virus or germbug, what ever it is and it's agenda.
How the heck does this thing know where to go, and how to do it?  I picture all these little germs, arriving at the body on this germ ship, they jump out and the head Germy starts shouting orders "Back pain for about 10 hours then stomach pain for approximately 5 hours then we will makes em hurl, after that we will back off and let them think we are gone, but actually we will rendezvous back in the back organ and continue our assault there." They, the germs seem to have this little plan, this schedule, who the heck made it?   Can these germs really think and logic out what they are going to do to us? They must be able too, we all know their plan; The 24 hour flu, the cold that last's a week, the 3 day stomach bug.The fact that they have a plan and can follow through with it, actually makes them more efficient than I!

Day 5, still trying to outsmart something I can't see.

Painting Project, not my house

Recently I was hired, given the opportunity, to paint the rooms of a friends daughters rooms.  I had painted their rooms in their previous house.  And with their next move, I was asked to do again.  What an honor!

This is Sammies room.  We still are hoping for a real honest to goodness swing to hand from the tree.

Sammie at first was a bit disappointed because I did not put a pig in the room.  She told me just a few days ago though that she loves the room.  Maybe I am forgiven.

This is Lauren, big sis's room. She graduated from a princess room to a High School Musical themeish room.

They have some posters they will be framing and putting up.  You can not tell from the pictures but the base paint is AWESOME!  When talking about it I suggested a greyish back ground, instead they found SILVER shiny SILVER, it is soooo cool!

Loved loved loved doing this.  I would go in in AM and work till the late evening. The family had not moved in yet, the best way to take over someone's home.

Keith was not the most patient husband for the 40 hrs it took me to do this.  It was not 40 straight, I had a couple of days and weekends that I did not paint, so he 'got ' me then.

It was 40 hours, but the time seemed to fly.  I wish it was faster, for them and me though.  Words take time and the tree leaves, and the rope and the music.... Well I guess it all does.

I have a few projects to do here at the house... I just can not get to them!  I am here everyday, yet instead I do ???? and don't get to them.  Maybe if I left the house all to me like they did I could get it done. ;-)

Again, really?

Well me and screwing up seems to be going hand in hand.

I just found that my 'email blog' button does not just tell my limited 10 that I have posted on my blog. It sends the blog to them as an email. With a little blip at the bottom saying it was sent through Pettyville.

This is not my intent of the blog. I write, inform, write my own little column, because I love to write, I want to let my friends and family I am alive. But only if they are checking, was my intent.

I don't really expect anyone to be following this blog, yet. I have not written enough, consistently. I thought just giving a heads up to my few, my handpicked few who would usually read and want to check in, or I wanted to want to read and want to check in. But nooooooo, I was forcing my thoughts and opinions on others, AGAIN!!!!

I have now removed the list, so those poor 10 will not even receive this,the disclaimer, retraction, allowing them freedom from my voice. It could have stopped after this, but the madness had to stop sometime, and I figured sooner was better than later.

My Mistake

I made a mistake, yet again.

The previous post MY RANT... .

I sent it to a few of my friends and family, in an email, thinking it would be an interesting read. That's all.

Letting my opinion known , which I do not expect anyone to agree nor disagree with, is my mistake. Someone near and dear has opinionated that mine is not necessary to share. Actually on many occasions Someone's' near and dear have opninion ated that mine is not necessary to share. I can not wrap my head, nor heart, around this. How can others share their opinion of me, so freely, and I should not share my thoughts, my convictions , my opinion, that are not directed towards anyone?

I suppose it is safe to expound my opinion here. You can NOT read here. An email I guess is just short of a phone call. And who would call anyone and tell them what they actually think or feel, just because they want to chat?

I am finding more and more that there are very few people in my life who actually want to listen to me. I don't mean 'listen' in the definition of 'Listen to me and do what I say." I mean listen as hear what I say, consider that I actually have a thought, belief in something.

What would be an absolutely amazing thing for me, is someone actually hearing what I say and considering it accurate, and worthy of acknowledgment. But that also is my mistake. To want for an understanding.

I like to think I actually do know what I am talking about. What I think does have merit. Sometimes I even have the audacity to believe God actually uses me, gave me the gift of exhortation so I could step out of my introvert comfort zone, on faith and rely on Him to give me words that edify, that teach, that minister. And maybe just maybe these times that I am being opposed are Satan trying to thwart, to discredit, to do what he does best, cause strife and turmoil.

My mistake.