How High Do You Count?

An excerpt from "Count to Eight" by Max Lucado:

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“We have here only five loaves and two fish.” (Matt. 14:17)

How do you suppose Jesus felt about the basket inventory? Any chance he might have wanted them to include the rest of the possibilities? Involve all the options? Do you think he was hoping someone might count to eight?

“Well, let’s see. We have five loaves, two fish…and Jesus!” Jesus Christ. The same Jesus who told us:

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (Luke 11:19 NIV)

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. (John 15:7 NIV)

What ever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. (Mark 11:24 NIV)

Standing next to the disciples was the solution to their problems…but they didn’t go to him. They stopped their count at seven and worried.

What about you? Are you counting to seven, or to eight?

Hallmark Can't Beat This

When it comes to words of love, I don't think anything a Hallmark writer will ever put to paper can top what Paul wrote nearly 2,000 years ago.

Love is patient,
Love is kind.
It does not envy,
It does not boast,
It is not proud.
It is not rude,
It is not self-seeking,
It is not easily angered,
It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil
But rejoices with the truth.
It always protects,
Always trusts,
Always hopes,
Always perseveres.
Love never fails.


~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

What's an Appetiz'n?

As we walked across the parking lot towards the tent, Charlotte asked, "What's an appetiz'n?"

"Well, darlin', an appetiz'n is a baptiz'n......"

For those who don't know, Mike made a decision to be baptized Sunday! How amazing it is to see the changes God has brought about in his life! I pray that God would continue to work in and through Mike's life in a powerful way.

The Woman at the Well

If you're going to start a blog, you need a name. After some consideration, I decided that since I relate so well to a particular story in the Bible, I would use that as my inspiration. I think a lot of us can relate to the Samaritan woman who Jesus spoke to at the well.

(Just a little history here, the Samaritans are a mixed race from the Old Testament days. When Israel was conquered and the enemy moved in, they married Jews and the result was the Samaritans. The Samaritans were despised by the Jewish people. Rather than walk through their region, Jewish people would take the long, difficult way around. To interact with them was to become unclean. So when Jesus, a Jew, not only chose to walk straight through Samaria, but to also talk to a Samaritan WOMAN, this was seriously frowned upon.)

When we read about this Samaritan woman in John 4, we find out that she was married and divorced 5 times, and was currently living with a man who she was not married to. After some conversation together, she comes to believe that Jesus is the Messiah they've heard about.

What speaks to me so deeply about this story is that Jesus doesn't ignore or scorn this woman "livin' in sin"; he doesn't even tell her to go get her life straightened out first or kick the Significant Other to the curb. There is no laundry list of requirements I need to complete to have Jesus accept my trust and faith. He accepts the Samaritan woman's faith in him as the Messiah and sends her on her way to tell others in her village, so why not me too?

So, there are no prerequisites to believing in and accepting the one and only true God. He accepts me right where I'm at. I found this quite liberating.....you mean I don't have to get my life all polished up first?? It was one of those right-here-right-now deals. The beautiful thing is that over time, I began to change and move in positive directions as I allowed the Spirit of God to work in me.

And that's the story that inspired the naming of my blog.