For Such A Worm As I

 “I wan’ you ta hol’ me!”     My little student’s nasally words were hard to refuse.  “We’re fixing to say the pledges, so I need to you stand up here by me, okay?” I whispered into his ear, my cheek brushing his smooth brown hair.   Not even a minute passed before it came again: “I wan’ you ta hol’ me!” His big, brown eyes below distressed eyebrows made my heart melt.   “I want to, too, but we can’t right now.  We’re fixing to sing.”   Briefly, in the bedlam that constitutes my church’s Awana song time, little Claude forgot his desire.  But seconds later as I stood there facing the big screen, singing and clapping, he came to stand in front of me with the plea again.  His desire was one I would have gladly granted had it not hindered his need to learn discipline, patience, and maturity--and mine to employ it.      There’s a time and place for everything, but after I’d gotten home from church, I wondered i...

  It wasn't very long ago that I first "met" Roger Flournoy Jr. via a short documentary of sorts produced by the Austin Stone Community Church.     Mr. Flournoy has cerebral palsy, but despite the challenges that this presents, he is a passionate and convicting example of choosing to have faith and be joyful in the Lord.     Today as I was reading some of his tweets, I found this excellent quote :   "My goal for this year is only to love people the way that Jesus loves them."   Mr. Flournoy's goal challenges me.     In a world that knows "love" primarily as "showing affection (or doing whatever it takes) to gain whatever I want", the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ is completely baffling.     If I were to passionately, honestly pursue this goal, what a drastic change would take place!  Of course, it is necessary to find out what the love of Jesus Christ really looks like; therefore, a continual taking in ...

  Finally rejoining my fellow-writers at Kate Motaung's mighty-Friday link-up!  Today's word, forget, is just right for sharing some great thoughts I caught at Desiring God today!  So, without further ado, here we go!     Why is it so easy to forget something that is so vital to life?  In his article, "Rest in the Prince of Peace," Jon Bloom talks about the power and blessing of prayer when we come to the Lord with all that is on our mind and let Him take the weight for us.     Bloom indicates that prayer is like a natural exhalation for the faith-filled believer and further says that "prayer is the native language of faith" a quote which I fell in love with.  Maybe the reason I relate to it so much is due to the topics that are on my mind of late.     Namely: missionaries who are ministering to tribes in their own "heart language", the issue of worry that at least three of my friends have noticed in me (a fault that sne...

Today joining Five Minute Friday after long last!  The word is Focus.  (Why don't you come along with me and see what my fellow FMF writers have to say about focus ing?)  Start.    "I have trouble focusing sometimes," he said.  I smiled; I had noticed.  But then, I had trouble with getting distracted easily myself, so who was I to judge?  Still though, inside I thought, "Just focus."    In life, besides getting distracted with irrelevant movement and noise, we're bombarded with irrelevant information, even faulty news that can have a damaging affect on our lives if we're not careful.     Recently I got a jolt to realize that, spiritually, I was looking pretty bankrupt.  I began to take in large chunks of Scripture, trying to focus again on Christ, trying to get back into alignment with my Lord.      Mercifully, it is working.  The Lord has worked (and is working) to " regain my full face " th...

  I'm not the biggest fan of contemporary Christian music, yet there are some songs I hear from time to time that stir something within me beyond what I can put into cognitive phrases.  "The Proof of Your Love" is one of those songs.    Performed by the band For King and Country, it is the song-form of the well-known "love passage" of 1 Corinthians 13.  It impacted me when I first heard it, but days and years have a way of making me forgetful.  I find that that song has taken its place among hundreds of beloved songs I wish I could remember all the time, but which sadly are waiting for me to unearth them from the complicated filing system of my brain.      Today, something or Someone (my Lord, Who does best at reminding me of important things), made me think of this song, so I looked it up on youtube to see what I could find.    King and Country's official video of the song dramatically portrays the power of love.  I pulle...

   "I'll get all the ingredients together and then when Kyrie gets in, we can stir it up together."    My Mother began rummaging in her deep chest freezer for the candied fruit stored there.  Even though I can barely make heads or tails of it sometimes, she usually has the deep freeze all figured out in her mind. She has a system, she knows where things are in her realms, not just in her food storage, but in her desk and dresser drawers, her closet, and the under-bed storage containers.  "A place for everything and everything in its place" my Grandfather used to say.  I guess she got it from him.  It was passed down to Kyrie, too.  If I ask to borrow anything from her, be it shirt or stapler, she can tell me exactly where whatever it is should be.  "Top right-hand drawer in my desk on the left-hand side at the back" she might say and there it will be.  She has the gift of organization, definitely.  I guess that's why she's such...

{Start.} It was almost raining as I headed down my driveway.  I say almost, it actually had been raining off and on all day, but now the rain had paused again and I was heading out into the grayness for a lovely walk down our gravel lane.  I used to dislike rain, but due to Kyrie's love of it, I have grown to like it as well.     The sky was overcast and wonderful and I watched a new calf scampering in the windiness across the pasture.  It stopped in surprise as a flash of lightning snaked down the sky a few miles away.     I didn't know how long I had before the clouds would open up again, but I was enjoying the walk.  I turned around at my grandparent's house.  I had to get something from inside and when I was ready to leave I could hear a downpour.  I debated whether to stay inside 'til it slacked up a little, but I decided since it was so warm to just enjoy it and run home.  Besides, I had my umbrella.    I c...