"Apologize now. . ."

Last night our grandchildren spent the night with us, but their father forgot to bring their suitcase when he came.  Fortunately, we have some spare clothes we keep here for them, so at bathtime, I brought out the pajamas from "their" drawer.

I was helping my six-year-old grandson as he put on his pajamas.  As I held up his shirt, I realized it wasn't his shirt.  It was a shirt I had searched the house for earlier this fall.  I loved wearing it to our local  football games because of its red color and short sleeves, but it had mysteriously disappeared.

Actually, I had believed my youngest daughter had borrowed it and perhaps misplaced it somewhere in her room.  I had asked her about it and she told me she hadn't taken my shirt, but I still held the suspicion she had it and I shared this with my grandson.

"Jack, I was sure Emmie had taken my shirt!"  As I went out of the bathroom to show the shirt to my husband, who knew I thought my daughter had borrowed it, my daughter Emmie heard our discussion.

"I told you I didn't take your shirt!"

Jack motioned for me to lean over.  Then he held his hand next to my ear and whispered softly, "Apologize now."

"Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength. . ." (Psalm 8:2).  Little Jack, with his sweet little boy voice spoke so much wisdom and truth in those two words.  And yes, I did apologize.  How much like the Holy Spirit he was beside me.  Small and unassuming, yet he spoke the truth softly and clearly, just as the Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts.

As Christians, we all have "a little Jack" inside of us to tell us the right thing to do at the perfect time.  It is up to us to follow that "still, small voice."

 "And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. 

And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, 

and brake in pieces the rocks before the LO

but the LORD was not in the earthquake:   

And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: 

and after the fire a still small voice."  

1 Kings 19:11,12

If You Can Speak, You're OK. . .

In the operating room patients having a Cesarean Section sometimes experience the muscles which "feel" breathing become numb from the anesthetic.  This gives the woman the feeling that she is no longer able to breathe sufficiently.  We have learned to tell the patient before hand that this might occur and that to reassure herself, as long as she can speak, she will be breathing OK.

We tend to take our own breath for granted until we are afraid we don't have it, or we think we can't feel it, as is the case with these women.  I was discussing this with my grandchildren the other day.  Since we were beginning the Christmas season, we were quite naturally discussing gifts.  I was telling them how many wonderful gifts the Lord has given to us.  Equating gifts with something wrapped under the tree, I tried to give them an example.

"Did you know even your breath is a gift from God?" I asked them.  My grandson gave me his usual bright eyed, shocked look.  "The Bible tells us that He gives us each breath."  I went on to tell them that the Lord even made it so that we didn't have to think about breathing, it just happened naturally.

"Just think what would happen if you got busy playing and forgot to breathe?" I put much more emphasis on the "forgot to breathe" and immediately I had their attention.  If nothing else, Grannie Frannie can be a great story-teller.

I grasped my neck with both hands as if I was choking, "Oh no," I said in a frantic, pretend voice, "I was so busy, I almost didn't breathe!  I almost died!" Cackles of laughter ensued.  "What if we got sleepy?  How would we ever sleep?  We'd have to wake up every few seconds to breathe!"  I reminded them of just how thoughtful it was of God to make it so we didn't have to think about breathing. 

From a physiological standpoint, it is really neat how the body makes sure that breath continues, as the carbon dioxide levels rise in the body.  Which is why no one can "hold their breath until they die."  I told the children when they were older I'd explain all that to them.  Although, by the time they are ready to understand it, I'm sure I will have forgotten it.

The point is, every gift we have or will ever receive is somehow from the Lord.  Even things we don't realize as gifts, such as our breath, are gifts from Him.


"God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;" (Acts 17:24.)


 Once our sight begins to wane, we realize what a gift that is.  Or our hearing.  Every aspect of these amazing bodies He has created is a gift and each one so unique and special.  When we think we have nothing else to be thankful for, we can just start at the top of our head and go down to our tiniest toe and thank away.  We are "fearfully and wonderfully made" and even our bodies are a great gift.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17

"Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift." 2 Corinthians 9:15

Eating Red Dirt

(I have to confess I stole the inspiration for this one from my husband's teaching of our Sunday School class on Sunday morning.  Thanks, honey!)

My husband and I have had the opportunity to watch our grandson Jackson play T-ball.  It is quite entertaining watching these five and six year olds attempt to hit, throw and catch the ball.  Often they are more interested in digging in the dirt and catching bugs than swinging the bat or catching the baseball.

Sometimes when attempting to run around the bases they will fall down.  You would think the natural inclination would be for them to jump up and start running again, but they often seem to like their prostrate position in the red dirt.  The coaches then yell at them and cajole them to get up and run.

Often in my own Christian life I have fallen down as I try to "run the bases." Just like the children on the baseball field, I seem to be oblivious to the obvious course of action, to get up and start going again.  Sometimes it seems like I have fallen down so often surely the Lord is tired of me falling down and He would rather I just stay face-down in the baseline.  But if I do, I will be a stumbling block to the next base-runner who might not make it to home base because I tripped him up.

Fortunately, the Lord doesn't see things the way I see the them.  His view is much different from my view along the red dirt of the base-line. When I sin, His view is of the Lord Jesus holding out His nail-scarred hands and showing His spear-pierced side where He paid the price for my sin.  The Lord Jesus doesn't have to twist the Father's arm to forgive me either.  His heart is already bursting forth with forgiveness and mercy toward me.  "He delighteth in mercy," (Micah 718.)  The Holy Spirit, already resident in our hearts as believers, then with the enthusiasm of that delightful mercy whispers to us, "Get up!" 

Over and over He tells us, "Get up and start walking again!"  He never tires of coaching His little children to walk, to run toward home base.  He wants us to run, that we may obtain, knowing that "they which run in a race run all...", "...Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible," (1 Corinthians 9:24, 25.)

So, let us not stay lingering in the dirt of the base-line, but let us avail ourselves of the forgiveness our Lord has already purchased for us.  Let us avail ourselves of His ready merciful heart and "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," (Philippians 3:14.)

"For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive;

 and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Thee." 

Psalm 86:5

"He's my friend. . ."

Yesterday as we were preparing for our Chapel services at a local nursing facility, we were moving residents from the sunroom down the hall to the Chapel.  I was pushing one of the sweet ladies there in her wheelchair and my husband passed by us in the hallway on his way back to the sunroom. He stopped to greet Mrs. Martha and as he walked away she looked back at me and said, as if to explain who he was, "He's my friend."

"I know," I told her, "he's my friend, too."

It was so sweet the way she said it as if all she needed to say about him was tied up in those three words. 

She could have said that he comes twice a week to preach at the nursing facility, but she didn't.  She could have said that he plays his guitar and sings songs, but she didn't.  She said the very best thing she could say,  "He's my friend."   To her the most important thing was to have someone that was a friend, someone who genuinely cared about her.

We all have such a friend and even more.  We have a Friend who knows everything about us, even the things we try to hide from ourselves.  We have a Friend who is always with us so that we are never, can never be, alone.  We have a Friend who is always praying for us. 

Have we entered into a difficult or painful time?  Our Friend is and has already been praying for us to His Father.   We have a Friend who has more strength than we can ever imagine, who has more patience than we could believe possible and who is the embodiment of Love itself.  If ever there was a friend to have, this is the One.


"Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you," (John 15:15.)

 Jesus! what a Friend for sinners!

by John Wilbur Chapman

Jesus! what a Friend for sinners!
Jesus! Lover of my soul;
Friends may fail me, foes assail me,
He, my Savior, makes me whole.

Hallelujah! what a Savior!
Hallelujah! what a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.

Jesus! what a Strength in weakness!
Let me hide myself in Him.
Tempted, tried, and sometimes failing,
He, my Strength, my victory wins.

Hallelujah! what a Savior!
Hallelujah! what a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.