I sent him a text and thanked him for the gift...we text every week. He is a member of our church but he has been a part of my life since I was 14. Though over 70, he texts like a teenager. In fact, he said that the learned to text so he could talk to his grandchildren...how many grandparents would go to that trouble?
I thanked him for the gift...a magazine subscription. I also thanked him for the fish...he left them in the freezer at the church. And while I was thanking him in a text message, I was also thanking Him in my heart...for bringing him into my life when I was 14.
While my parents were divorcing, he was taking me fishing, hunting, and out to lunch. He was helping me thru a rough time by giving me the "gift" of his time...how many folks would go to that trouble?
I have been blessed by his friendship thru the years. He is still giving me the gift of his time...we went fishing the other day at his deer camp and caught bream until we were tired of pulling them in. I have often thought of what gift I have given him? Am not really sure, but the gift of is friendship for over 35 years reminds me how important it is to have people in your life that really care about you.
Give a gift today...a thank you; a call; a visit...let someone know how grateful you are to have been given the gift of having their lives intersect with yours.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The Blackberry
I was sitting at the bar at Primos Restaurant last Monday knockin back some green beans and baked squash when I looked around and saw two other guys doing the same. I don't know where they had been before they came in for lunch, but I had just attended a funeral and was trying to grab a bite before heading back to the office.
One similarity between all three of us, besides the fact that we were eating alone, was that we held our forks in one hand and our Blackberry's in the other...eating and texting; or eating and surfing; or eating and checking email...that's what I was doing...checking e-mail.
I had called a member of my SS class to join me for lunch but got his VM...and at such a late hour (1pm), I never tried to call anyone else...I figured me and the Blackberry would just belly up and enjoy a nice, "productive" meal together. And that is the way most people think today...they are just as comfortable spending time with their electronic gadgets than with other people. I was forced to do so, but the guys to my left and right seemed as if this was a regular lunchtime habit...fork in one hand and phone in the other.
Henry David Thoreau said that during his time, people, in an attempt to be distracted from their lives, would "visit the Post Office." Today, we just turn on the TV, radio, stuff our ears with buds, and what ever else we can find to occupy our time...but why do we have to "occupy our time?" Why cant we just sit...listen...engage others around us...and take a break from having to read the latest article, e-mail or send an urgent text?
Psalm 46:10 tells us to "be still and know He is God." That is best accomplished when you can put the phone down, get away from the computer or TV, and turn off that Ipod.
That Blackberry,Iphone , laptop, or Droid is not your "friend"....it is a tool. And sometimes, you need to leave your "tool" in the car or at the office so that you can slow down and see God in the daily activities of your life.
One similarity between all three of us, besides the fact that we were eating alone, was that we held our forks in one hand and our Blackberry's in the other...eating and texting; or eating and surfing; or eating and checking email...that's what I was doing...checking e-mail.
I had called a member of my SS class to join me for lunch but got his VM...and at such a late hour (1pm), I never tried to call anyone else...I figured me and the Blackberry would just belly up and enjoy a nice, "productive" meal together. And that is the way most people think today...they are just as comfortable spending time with their electronic gadgets than with other people. I was forced to do so, but the guys to my left and right seemed as if this was a regular lunchtime habit...fork in one hand and phone in the other.
Henry David Thoreau said that during his time, people, in an attempt to be distracted from their lives, would "visit the Post Office." Today, we just turn on the TV, radio, stuff our ears with buds, and what ever else we can find to occupy our time...but why do we have to "occupy our time?" Why cant we just sit...listen...engage others around us...and take a break from having to read the latest article, e-mail or send an urgent text?
Psalm 46:10 tells us to "be still and know He is God." That is best accomplished when you can put the phone down, get away from the computer or TV, and turn off that Ipod.
That Blackberry,
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Girls Night Out
We will have a Girls Night Out at The Mosaic Shop (in the same shopping center with Margaritas at the corner of Pear Orchard and County Line) on Friday, Sept 3rd from 6:30 - 8:30 pm.
They have projects from $12 - $45 (lots of super cute ones for around $20). You get to pick out whatever you want and the price includes all the materials you need to make your very own mosaic!
They will allow us to bring in food and drinks, so I thought it would be fun to have some light finger foods. We don't need everyone to bring something (and I definitely don't want anyone stressing over it)...but IF you have the desire to bring an item, let me know.
It's going to be a great Girls Night Out!!
If you have any questions, please let me know...Courtney 601-201-6745 or friedel4281@bellsouth.net
They have projects from $12 - $45 (lots of super cute ones for around $20). You get to pick out whatever you want and the price includes all the materials you need to make your very own mosaic!
They will allow us to bring in food and drinks, so I thought it would be fun to have some light finger foods. We don't need everyone to bring something (and I definitely don't want anyone stressing over it)...but IF you have the desire to bring an item, let me know.
It's going to be a great Girls Night Out!!
If you have any questions, please let me know...Courtney 601-201-6745 or friedel4281@bellsouth.net
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The Albino
Somebody sent me a picture of an albino baby deer. He was mostly white with a few patches of brown. He had pink eyes...as most albinos do.
I have never seen an albino deer, other than that picture, but I did have an albino friend in 1st grade. His dad was the principal of our school, and his son Bliss was my best friend. Bliss had snow white hair, a gangly kind of run, green lens in his coke-bottle thick glasses, and a loud, high-pitched voice...and me as a friend.
Nobody wanted to be friends with Bliss because he could not go out in the sun... he also acted unsociable at times, and was generally misunderstood....but I liked Bliss. He was funny, had kind of "snort" when he laughed, and made me his friend. And though I didn't have a pigment problem, I was like Bliss in that neither of us was ever too comfortable around crowds. I was a scrawny first grader and the other kids picked on me because I was small, and they picked on Bliss because he was different...we were a match made in Heaven!
It is hard to like/love people that are "different." But I remember a story in the Bible where King David befriend a young man that was different. His name was Mephibosheth and he was a cripple. He had no friends or source of income due to being crippled in both feet from a boy...the victim of an overzealous nursemaid who was fleeing for their lives when she dropped him and damaged his feet.
David befriended Mephibosheth because he was the son of his best, and now deceased friend, Jonathan. David said to Mephibosheth in 2Samuel 9:7, "I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan."
There are people around us who need to be shown friendship "for the sake of OUR Father in Heaven." People who may be unlovable, handicapped, or just seemingly always on the outside looking in.
Look for that Bliss, or that Mephibosheth today and show them kindness for the "sake of your Father in Heaven."
I have never seen an albino deer, other than that picture, but I did have an albino friend in 1st grade. His dad was the principal of our school, and his son Bliss was my best friend. Bliss had snow white hair, a gangly kind of run, green lens in his coke-bottle thick glasses, and a loud, high-pitched voice...and me as a friend.
Nobody wanted to be friends with Bliss because he could not go out in the sun... he also acted unsociable at times, and was generally misunderstood....but I liked Bliss. He was funny, had kind of "snort" when he laughed, and made me his friend. And though I didn't have a pigment problem, I was like Bliss in that neither of us was ever too comfortable around crowds. I was a scrawny first grader and the other kids picked on me because I was small, and they picked on Bliss because he was different...we were a match made in Heaven!
It is hard to like/love people that are "different." But I remember a story in the Bible where King David befriend a young man that was different. His name was Mephibosheth and he was a cripple. He had no friends or source of income due to being crippled in both feet from a boy...the victim of an overzealous nursemaid who was fleeing for their lives when she dropped him and damaged his feet.
David befriended Mephibosheth because he was the son of his best, and now deceased friend, Jonathan. David said to Mephibosheth in 2Samuel 9:7, "I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan."
There are people around us who need to be shown friendship "for the sake of OUR Father in Heaven." People who may be unlovable, handicapped, or just seemingly always on the outside looking in.
Look for that Bliss, or that Mephibosheth today and show them kindness for the "sake of your Father in Heaven."
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Owl
Owls have a reputation for being wise... and they may be (wise that is). But I saw one last week that demonstrated "coolness under pressure."
I was sitting on my patio when I heard a cacophony of sound coming from some Hawks. I walked down to the woods where I heard the commotion. I saw an owl surrounded by three young hawks and they were screeching at that owl at a decibel that ruined my meditation time.
After a few minutes, a small murder of crows arrived...they, too, crowed at the owl with unbelievable intensity. All the while, the owl just sits, stares, looks around, and bats his eyes...he eventually flew off with both crows and hawks continuing their gang behavior by smothering him in flight...but you could tell that the owl was unconcerned by their "thugish" actions and seemingly oblivious to their disdain.
How do you handle pressure? At work? At home? Within your relationships?
The Apostle Paul stated that there was a time when he was "hard-pressed on every side." (2Cor 4:8) In an earlier chapter in 2Cor, he revealed that "he was under pressure far beyond his ability to endure" and thought that he would be crushed by his circumstances and swamped by the storm of difficulty he was facing (2Cor 1:8-9) BUT, Jesus delivered him. As he puts it,
"Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." 2Cor 1:9
If you have people crowing at you today...and trying to push your buttons; or if you feel that your circumstances are a weight too heavy to bear, then do as Paul did and turn things over to Jesus and learn how to rely on Him instead of trust in yourself.
I was sitting on my patio when I heard a cacophony of sound coming from some Hawks. I walked down to the woods where I heard the commotion. I saw an owl surrounded by three young hawks and they were screeching at that owl at a decibel that ruined my meditation time.
After a few minutes, a small murder of crows arrived...they, too, crowed at the owl with unbelievable intensity. All the while, the owl just sits, stares, looks around, and bats his eyes...he eventually flew off with both crows and hawks continuing their gang behavior by smothering him in flight...but you could tell that the owl was unconcerned by their "thugish" actions and seemingly oblivious to their disdain.
How do you handle pressure? At work? At home? Within your relationships?
The Apostle Paul stated that there was a time when he was "hard-pressed on every side." (2Cor 4:8) In an earlier chapter in 2Cor, he revealed that "he was under pressure far beyond his ability to endure" and thought that he would be crushed by his circumstances and swamped by the storm of difficulty he was facing (2Cor 1:8-9) BUT, Jesus delivered him. As he puts it,
"Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." 2Cor 1:9
If you have people crowing at you today...and trying to push your buttons; or if you feel that your circumstances are a weight too heavy to bear, then do as Paul did and turn things over to Jesus and learn how to rely on Him instead of trust in yourself.
Monday, August 9, 2010
The Party!
Everyone should have received an evite by now announcing our party this Saturday night at 6pm in The Harbor (youth bldg). If you did not receive an evite, text me your email and I will make sure that you get a special invitation!!
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