A Complete Mystery

Life is filled with mysteries.  Big one's like the mystery of God and all His glory.  And little one's, like the one we are experiencing in our garage.  Yes, garage.  I am completely baffled and I think I'm going to share it with you so you can be baffled along with me.

Here is a picture of the feed bags in our garage.  And what you see between them is a pile of feed.  Now, when I walked into the garage and saw all that feed on the floor of the garage I know my eyebrows scrunched up and I probably had a very puzzled look on my face.  HOW did all the feed escape its bag?

Trick or Treat....

In all honestly I've always thought of Halloween as a harmless "holiday" where my kids could be silly and have fun.  It's something I've celebrated as a child and then with all my kids from the time they were itty-bitty's.  I think I have a post from last year where I was struggling with the concept.  While I still think it can be harmless,  I have gained a new perspective on the "holiday"from views shared with me by my pastor.  And I must admit that I do feel a bit of a tug at this time of year to avoid the holiday.  At the same time though, I can honestly say I have never thought about evil or worshipped evil on Halloween.

Putting all reservations aside, I tossed Caleb's costume (new and in the bag from last year), into the car.  Okay, so that's another story in and of itself.  Why did we still have a costume new and in the bag?  Short story version - Caleb has never wanted to dress up. He gets embarrassed easily and for him I guess the thought of putting on the costume means everyone will look at him.

Judgement House 2011

A small group from our church attended Judgement House at Annaville Baptist Church on the Saturday before Halloween.  At first glance and thought, one might assume this is a Haunted House or some other similar type event.  Especially since it was presented the weekend of Halloween.  In actuality, it was far from that.  Judgement House was the telling of a story.  A story about four individuals whose life choices lead them into either heaven or hell.  As you walked through Judgement House, you watched their stories unfold.

The world is filled with good people and bad people.  Lots of good people and lots of bad people.  I know TONS of the good ones.  The sad thing is that not all good people are going to go to heaven.  For those of us who have accepted the Lord as our Savior, we are truly saved from the fires of hell.  But, if you have not made that decision, for whatever reason, you are taking a huge risk.  A risk that could have you spending the rest of eternity with the devil himself.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."  Ephesians 2:8-9

Sinton WOF Group

What is the chance that three women, two of which traveled together, and the third who happened to be in the same place at the same time as the first two women, would find each other at a WOF Conference weekend?  There are so many women there.  Woman, after woman, after woman...The chance seems pretty small, but in reality it did happen.

Remember from my previous post that going into this years' WOF I wasn't as, um, excited as I had been before?  Well, I had already made a few jokes about "quitting" as group leader for next year before this weekends' event.  But then, as I sat next to my new friend, Jody....I listened to her excitement and heard her say several times, "....next year....".  That excitement was contagious.  It reminds me of Women of Faith a few years ago when the theme WAS "Contagious Joy."

Jody encouraged me to attend a Group Leader meeting with her.  She insisted on several occasions, "we can do this!"  So we went.  And who did we meet?  A lady from our small town, from a nearby church, Carol M.  She was there as well, wanting to get some tickets for Women of Faith 2012, but feeling hesitant at the same time as this is a big commitment.  And unless you remember that God is in control, you can quickly find yourself overwhelmed with the process.

We decided together we could do this. We could bring to WOF in San Antonio 2012, at least 25 women.  We exchanged phone numbers and email addresses in order to keep in touch.

What a God-Moment.  First, Jody to lift me up and bring back the excitement I knew I had, then to meet Carol, who was unsure about doing this group leader thing on her own.  Together, we're a team, and I can't wait to see the blessings that come from this.

Walking with the King,

Women of Faith 2011

What can I say?  Leading up to this years' WOF conference I wasn't as excited as in years past.  So much had gone on prior to make life crazy.  I felt like I did such a poor job organizing this year and that had me in the "Debbie-Owner" mode before we left.  As always though, I only needed to be in the presence of what had to be 15,000 women, singing praise songs, laughing and crying for about 15 minutes when my mind shifted and I couldn't wait discover each and every blessing.

Coming with an open mind and heart is a must.  You never know in what way Jesus is going to touch you and ask you to make a change.  Here's a visual of one of the best moments from the weekend left to right; Sandi Patty, Mandesa, blonde head in back is Lisa Welchel, Marilyn Meberg, Patsy Clairmont, Amy Grant, her guitarist, and Brenda Warner, (green shirted man in the back was Amy's drummer):

Packs for Pups

It was a blessing and a pleasure to fill in for my brother and his wife last week while they were out of town.  Their small church has a sweet ministry that is just getting going called Pack's for Pup's...I think I spoke about it recently in my blog, but in case you missed it - - backpacks are filled with easy to serve food items for children whose parents are not around on the weekends to provide for them.  Or maybe just down on their luck and can use some help.

Right now they are serving 4 kiddo's from the Elementary school.  It was 5, but one child was moving without explanation and apparently in such a rush that the backpack will not be returned.  A sad story for sure.

Here's Caleb as he helped me sort and stack food to go into the backpacks.  Notice the very excited look on his face?  Just kidding.  This is what I now call the "blog-o-phobia-pose."  Can't you just see his wheels turning?  "Mom.  Come on.  Really?  Again?"

And On the Fourth Day...

God created the sun, the moon, and the stars in the sky.

Check out this amazing picture I took on Friday night.....I wish I knew what settings I had used.  I was standing out at the end of my drive-way taking pictures.  After each picture, I'd turn the dial on my camera to another setting.   Ultimately, I have no idea what one I used to take this.  Matter-of-fact, it wasn't until I downloaded them that I saw one had actually turned out this good...I even captured a bit of what looks like a crater near the top-right of the moon.

God's creations are so wide and vast....

Walking with the King,