You truly can love people you've never met...thanks to Jesus!

This weeks subject matter took on a little different feel than I originally intended...but I don't ever want to stand in the way of the Holy Spirit working.

First, I've been really encouraged by the number of readers this blog is drawing each week. Thank you. Comments are always welcome and help make the dialogue even better, but just the fact that you read each week is very uplifting to each of us. To God goes all the glory and honor!

As you've seen this week, your Kingdom Bloggers are an assorted bunch. I take great comfort in that fact too. God has opened my eyes to many sanctimonious misconceptions I carried around for years about my faith by using this particular time in my life and this group of writers to accomplish just that. If I had to pick a single lesson that stands above all the rest I've learned in the past few years, it would undoubtedly be...

 ¹ My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:1, 2

That's right. The sins of the whole world. We have a tendency to often live our lives in a microcosmic sense which creates a seriously skewed vision about how God works. Been there...done (maybe even still doing) that! It's just a sinful by-product of living in such a narcissistic world environment. Instead of becoming more aware and more concerned about God's entire earthly creation as information borders and boundaries opened up globally for our information hungry society thanks in large part to technology,  we have withdrawn back into our shells seemingly afraid to venture out in His name.

I'm not talking about just missionary work to foreign lands either. We are called to reach other in His name, but I personally don't have to board a plane or boat to accomplish that...I just need to walk out of my office and into a number of any other offices at my workplace. That, however, is a completely different post.

In my opinion, people living in the Bible Belt having a particularly distorted view of God's world. It's almost arrogantly ignorant enough to self-proclaim to have become the new Children of God, or Confederate Jews if you will. Don't laugh...take it from someone who lives here every day. If I succumb to this narrow way of thinking, it might look something like this:

 How could someone from the Northeast part of the country (David J) know God better than me? I grew up going to Sunday School and church every single Sunday of my life! I know the Bible!
...my brother David J's biblical knowledge far exceeds my own and rivals anyone I personal know. He is my dear friend and confidant thanks to a loving God who knows and cares about what I need to better serve Him.   

California (Tracy)?! Are there actually Christians in that pagan, liberal state?
...my sister Tracy reflects the very heart of Jesus in everything she writes in a clarity like none other. Her light for Jesus shines brightly for the whole world to see.

Women should be...nuns or something. Not pastors (Joyce)!
...soon to be Dr. Joyce Lighari is equipped educationally and through life experiences better than any pastor I know to lead a flock for Christ. If she were closer, I'd love to be one of her sheep! 

Head-bangers (Dave T) don't really worship. God doesn't like hearing that loud garbage!
...an original member of Kingdom Bloggers, Dave Tevet's worship can be seen in his daily walk with Jesus. He has been blessed with a talent for sharing the Word in a manner anyone can understand.


Our God works in a great big, complex world that He created. His Spirit works just as diligently in the South Pacific as the Southeastern United States. God's love extends to the Buddhist as well as the Baptist. The Mormon as well as the Methodist. The Pakistani Muslim and well as the Pentecostal.

All of humankind is His creation and have been called to accept and share. Through my bond with a few passionate people for Jesus on Kingdom Bloggers, I have a better understanding that it's not just my mission, my church's mission, my denominations mission...it's every one's mission to serve the Kingdom...and we need each other to accomplish this.

Last Sunday, a profound message fell on my ears courtesy of Pastor Derek Bell- Our physical bodies need rest, but our souls don't. Satan never takes a vacation.

With my brothers and sisters in Christ close at hand, I never have to worry about falling down spiritually due to exhaustion. Doesn't God think of everything?

Hallelujah!

Thank you Lord for the privilege to serve You with this special group of people. You have blessed me with their friendship and educated me with their spiritual knowledge. May we never fail to give all honor. praise and glory to your Holy name. In the name and with the love of Jesus, Amen.

Words of Love, Hope, and Power

A few words come to mind when I think about my fellows here at Kingdom Bloggers. Although I've never met any of them in person, or even talked on the phone, they each have a definite presence for me.

The Word is Love
When I think of Tony C, I think of Love. This man just seems to permeate love for others. It's always there in every account he relates; it doesn't matter if he actually comes out and talks about his love for others or not, it's still always in the subtext of whatever he's saying.



The Word is Hope
When I think of Joyce, I think of Hope. Even just the brief bit of her life that I know resounds with hope; God has brought her through so much in her life - how can I hear what God has done for Joyce and not feel hopeful inside?!


The Word is Power
When I think of David, I think of Power. God's power; manifest in us through His Holy Spirit. I see David earnestly seek after God, sincerely seek to be used by God, and passionately seek after the Holy Spirit's power being manifest in his life.


Not so surprisingly, I've learned about Love from Tony, Hope from Joyce, and God's power through us from David. I'm grateful that I've been blessed to be a part of this group and look forward to learning more from each of them in the days ahead.

We Are Family

Some of you may think that I avoided writing yesterday because David was just so good and I couldn’t top it.  Actually I thought about not writing at all for that reason J!  Seriously, I was rather busy yesterday.  Today, I’m getting ready to make and can more mango salsa and mango chutney. 

When I first heard the topic, I thought the topic was what we have learned since writing as a Kingdom Blogger.  Then I read David’s blog and thought, oh, what did we learn about each other?  Now that’s a different story. 

The KB’er I know the best is David.  He is the only one I’ve met in person.  Like he said, we went to Norway on a mission trip together.  I don’t even remember the names of most of the people I went on that trip with but David stood out then and stands above now.  I think if there is one word I’d use for him, it would be faithful.  I know bits and pieces of his life through his blogs.  What I see is a man faithful to the call of God, faithful to his family – a guy that goes on lots of date nights with his wife.  He is a father devoted to his children.  He is also the glue that keeps us together on KB.  He tries at times because of busyness and life to pass the torch of leadership on KB to others.  We try to pick it up but often fail miserably. 

I don’t know Tracy or Tony that well.  I know them only through their writings and our brief exchanges by email.  But I pray for them.  I’ve shed some tears of late as I’ve stormed heaven for David.  I’d do the same for them.  I love them like family.  I hope to meet Tony since we live in the same state now.  I know they pray for me.  They both encourage me.

The thing I’ve learned since writing for KB is that I can write and I enjoy it.  But the most important thing I’ve learned from KB is that the Kingdom of God can and does operate here.  We are family.  We love each other.  We share our lives here in a way that is more intimate that most of us can or do at church on Sunday. 

Tertullian, a father of the church, quoted a pagan who spoke of Christians saying “look how they love one another.”  That’s how it is on the other side of KB – the side you the reader doesn’t see – we love one another.

We all seem to live by Romans 12:10 Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.  (The Message)

Don't be a Dunce

Living life takes a lot of strength. Living for Christ takes a lot of faith. Scott Peck said "Life is difficult." (The Road Less Traveled) But that was before he knew Christ. Because the cross is relational, connecting us vertically to God the Father and horizontally to other believers, it changes how we live life. In fact with faith in the finished work of Jesus, we are transformed "life live-ers." We are no longer of this world, but of the Kingdom of Heaven. Christ dwells within us! Life in Christ (his yoke) is easy.

This week the motley crew, better known as the Kingdom Bloggers are going to write about what we have learned from each other. You'll gain knowledge of a lot of fun facts which pertain to us. For instance Tony C. does not drink coffee ( I know), Joyce gets a little crazy in church, Tracy knows a lot about mental illness (she needs that knowledge to engage the men of this group!), and Stephanie, well she is passionate about  Jesus! So read on this week, there's a lot more nuggets of truth you can't use at the next Trivial Pursuit game.

It is no secret that even with faith, life is difficult. It is only "putting" our faith in Jesus that makes it any easier. There are certainly some Bible lessons for getting through the tough times. HERE is more on that. I have my own story this past few months as I recover from a heart attack. HERE is the latest on that if you are interested. What makes the journey even more bearable is relationship.

Who would have thought commenting on Tony C Today a few years ago would have led to a friendship that is growing deeper in spite of the thousand miles between us? The open door was an opportunity to pray from him the night before a medical procedure. Since that time I know a lot more about being a southerner because of him - Mountain Dew, sweet tea, and really taking weekends off; the stereotypes are true! And I feel like Elvis lives every time I hear his east Tennessee twang. All kidding aside (which is hard to do with a guy like Tony), I appreciate his prayers. When the T-Man prays, you know that God is listening. I also appreciate his uplifting phone calls when he can fit me on his way from the couch to the bed. Thanks, bro. I hope I am as encouraging to others as you are to me.

I have known Joyce since we went on a mission trip to Norway in 2002. We were part of a team of about 50 Americans and Norwegians. You can read more about that HERE. The truth, I have gotten to know here much better through her blog, Sounds of Hope, and Kingdom Bloggers. She tells the unvarnished truth about real life. I appreciate that because it makes me feel more normal. She makes the simplest religious practice seem exciting; she's a great storyteller too. I wold say Joyce is the pastoral one of the group, often gathering the sheep through Facebook messages and prayer requests. You can count on her for compassion, for prayer and probably for anything else if you need it. All of that comes through in her writing. She likes to have fun too! IE: wearing lampshades in church sounds like a hoot!

Stephanie (when she actually has time to join us on Wednesdays) attended a class that I taught at my church. She gave up 7 Friday evenings (pretty amazing for a 20-something) to hear yours truly carry on about his passion for the Kingdom of God in person. What I know about her is faith, child like faith. She reads the word of God and believes it. I need to be more like that!

Tracy is the member of KB that I know the least. However; it is evident from her writing that she is a reader and doer of the Word of God. I should be more like that. She has been transparent with us about the not so joyous parts of parenting along with the triumphs of kids who make good choices. This crew has a lot of kids ranging newborn to over the hill. As a mental health professional, I have enjoyed her insight into a world that I knew little about. It has released a deeper compassion simply by knowing more about it. So, thanks Tracy.



So there you have it, one of the best life classes I have ever taken is working with these brothers and sisters. 

Do you really need any other reason?

“For flowers that bloom about our feet;
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;
For song of bird, and hum of bee;
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee!”
[Ralph Waldo Emerson]




I'm finishing up a series in the Sunday School class I teach about the major world religions. As we went through the section on Eastern religions (Taoism. Buddhism and Confucianism), a connection was being made on a regular basis concerning the shared principles between Eastern religious thought and some New Age philosophy. Bingo! Sure. With this collective epiphany, it would be easy to sit back and declare my work here is done, but I don't think Satan will scurry away so easily after a single lost battle in a much broader war.  The fight must go on...

My fellow Kingdom Bloggers have posted great stuff this week. Insightful. Inspiring. Deeply personal testimony. I'm going to take a slightly different approach to our subject matter of gratitude today. Call it more a 'James-like' position.

I posted the poem by Emerson to help make my point. Ralph seemed very thankful to God for the things he enjoyed in nature as he expressed in his popular poem. But if he truly had gratitude to our Father in heaven for the things of nature he so enjoyed, how could a founder of transcendentalism also pen the very words that later made him the intellectual father of the New Thought movement?

Let me review a little history...New Thought = New Age = we all are gods

So was Ralph thankful to himself or his Father in heaven? I remembered this piece from high school and my rather astute English teacher wrongly pointing to Ralph having a moment of  spiritual gratitude. She was right about it being spiritual, but the inference it was directed at the same God I worship was just a bit off base...as I would later learn.

I believe Emerson was torn at the moment he penned those words between his true feelings (or lack there of) in matters of God and gaining the popular sentiment of his day. So what he provided was nothing more than lip service to God in order to create a positive, popular appearance. Actually, history records that was the very fact of the matter. Ralph may have cryptically hidden his true feelings in a popularly acceptable message in order to gain notoriety, but once he made the big time...the true Emerson was revealed, and he left his fake gratitude for God out of his writings, speeches and teachings from that point forward.

Here comes my pseudo-James moment...true gratitude will result in sustained biblical actions. If I am genuinely appreciative to God for His many blessings, I will do the things He has commanded me to do with that same heart of gratitude. Not because I have to, but because I want to.

Let's take that to another level...

 If I believe what I claim to believe as a Christian...that God the Creator is omnipotent, omnipresent, the Alpha and Omega, the Healer and Comforter...I shouldn't need a single blessing outside of knowing and accepting who God truly is to have that same constant attitude of gratitude.

Knowing what he knows now, I'm guessing Ralph would redirect his appreciation a little differently...given the chance and new found knowledge that God is the Great I Am...and he most certainly is not.

How Gratitude Changed Me

I learned the lesson of gratitude at one of the worst times in my life.

It was in the year I turned 40 and my then-husband basically left me for a 30-year old. God provided for me because, although they knew nothing about my personal life, my work came to me and offered me $20K more per year if I'd move to a location about 90 minutes away from where we'd been living and work for them at that location. So I packed up my sons and our stuff, and moved us.

We didn't know anyone at this new location we'd moved to. I didn't know my way around. I was alone with my sons. I was grieving over the loss of a marriage, a mate, and a dream. I can remember holding it together to get everyone off to school in the morning, then crying all the way to work, then getting myself reigned in again to deal with my job, coming home and holding myself together for the boys throughout the evening, then wallowing in sadness through the night. This went on for weeks.

Then the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart that I had to start practicing gratitude if I ever wanted out of this deep pit of sorrow that was threatening to engulf me. He showed me that I was perseverating on all these hurtful things in my life, but that these sad things were not the only things in my life. That actually He was blessing me, but that I was so busy focusing on the hurtful things that I wasn't even noticing all the good. That every morning when I woke up I'd think about my broken heart and then the day would go downhill from there.

But I just couldn't seem to stop it. So I took a paper and wrote a few good things in my life on the paper; the fact that I had a job that paid the bills, that my sons are wonderful people, that we were all healthy. I taped that paper on the wall next to my bed so that the first thing in the morning when I woke up I would see that paper, read it, and thank God for those things.

Over time the list grew.

The list grew and so did the pattern of starting each day focusing on things in my life for which I could be thankful. I even began to do it throughout the entire day, whenever my spirit would be heavy, I'd start looking for what was good around me.

Eventually that heaviness was lifted and I experienced happiness, peace, and hope.

Prior to this time in my life, it would have been safe to say that I'd struggled throughout my adult life with depression and feeling really bad about myself. Whenever someone would read a list of characteristics that anyone who had 60% or more of these characteristics could be considered depressed, I'd always have ALL of the characteristics. Prior to that time in my life I'd struggled, not so much with guilt over specific actions, but just with feeling like I was a bad person.

Since then, I don't feel depressed, and I like myself.

That doesn't mean that I don't sometimes feel sad over sad events, or feel disconnected. It also certainly doesn't mean that I don't struggle with specific defects of character. But it does mean that peace, joy, and hope are pervasive in my life.

Gratitude changed my life.

Today I still seek to live in gratitude. I don't do it perfectly, but basically I'm constantly thanking God for all the good stuff He's giving me in each day. I have the freedom to just enjoy the little stuff; like beauty of the clouds in the sky, or appreciation for how my car always starts and gets me to where I need to go, or some nice little thing that someone did during my day that they did not have to do.

I like living this way.

What about you, what was a life event that helped you learn how to practice gratitude?

Thanksgiving in June

Based on the concept of Christmas in July, this week we have Thanksgiving in June.  The dictionary doesn’t make much distinction between gratitude and thankfulness.  I know, I looked it up.  However, it seems there is a bit of a difference to me.  Gratitude seems to be a characteristic that we need to cultivate.  Thankfulness seems more immediate.  At least that’s how I see it.

I have difficulty with gratitude.  Life has beaten me up a lot.  I’ve lived long enough to understand that you can never judge the level of another person’s pain.  You know, someone tells you how bad things are for them and you think.  What???  Is that all that’s wrong with you?  You think wow, that’s not that bad.  But it is to them.  And if you are a good friend you keep your thoughts to yourself.  We all have our own levels of tolerance when it comes to life’s losses.

My husband has gratitude.  I’ve never met anyone so appreciative and so willing to say Thank God for every little thing.  For example, I work hard in school.  It is very important to me.  I get good grades.  When I do, I’m quick to share it.  My husband’s response?  Thank God.  I’m like Thank God???  I did that.  Okay, maybe I’m being too candid for some of you, but no one ever accused me of not being honest.

When our children accomplish something and thankfully they are a pretty accomplished bunch.  They’ve worked hard.  They’ve succeeded.  My husband’s response? Thank God… Last night, supper was a bit off schedule.  I had a phone call and talked too long so it wasn’t ready when he walked in the door.  Usually it’s ready and I’m waiting on him.  We often pray over the food, but again, in all honesty, I have to tell you that we don’t always.  As I brought my plate to the table, he was sitting there staring at the food.  We had grilled salmon with an amazing homemade mango chutney I had made over some rice with peppers, onions, zucchini, etc.  The rice has no name as I made it up J.  I asked him, why didn’t you start?  He said this is so good looking and so wonderful we have to pray and thank God for it.  As we bowed our heads and I prayed thanking God for the food, I realized that even though I had cut all those mangoes, roasted the peppers, spent hours on my feet, etc., without God, none of it was possible.  Everything comes from God.

That’s gratitude.  Looking at every situation regardless of whose physical hands or mind produced it, and saying “thank God.” We need to express our gratitude not just when the the big stuff happens like when someone gets unexpected money at the last minute, or those things that we call miracles.  I believe it is what Paul meant when he wrote in Colossians 3:16:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

Grape Food?

I was sitting in a Alateen meeting in the spring of 1978. It was customary to go around the room and share problems & accomplishments. Me, I was there because I had a lot of problems, and my life had really gone off track. Let's just say my mother was kidding when she said "get help, or get out."

After a few meetings I decided to share a problem with the group. I don't remember what it was, but one of the girls there said quietly, "you need and attitude of gratitude."

It didn't compute, so I asked here. "What's grape food?" As gracious as most of the kids were, they still snickered. "Gratitude!" she replied. I felt embarrassed, but I didn't ask what that meant either, for fear of sounding even dumber.

Well, I have learned a lot about gratitude since that time. And this week, the faithful will be sharing their own experiences with the mood changing drug, gratitude.


I have to admit it, some days I am a glass half empty, and other days I am glass half full person. I know that part of that comes from my temperament mix, and part of it comes from some really poor choices that really did end me up in some stinky and depressing circumstances. I also noticed that I am a lot more positive when I can see my way out of a situation, even if it requires a monumental effort on my part.

I have heard lot of "positive confession" teaching over the years at church. Some of it is very good, and some of it was presumption and denial of situations and character defects that really needed to be dealt with.

If things aren't going well, I want to give you permission to say, "I don't feel good today." It is good to go to our Christian friends and ask for prayer. In those prayers God is able to show us: faithfulness, give us wisdom, peace and comfort. They are essential in us bearing one another's burdens. That's the good side of crying out.

The Bible also says that our words have power. If we can prophesy, then we can curse. Let's face it, if we can pray and believe that God will move on our behalf, then we have same power to be negative in the spiritual realm.

James 3:9a With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse.

It is very important to stay away from cursing ourselves and others. I am not thrilled with my job situation. So I am simply praying for a better job situation that is minus the hours of commuting. I ask for pray for the new situation while being attentive to the lessons I am supposed to be learning from this one.

If we belittle someone, or do any sort of name calling, we are cursing God's beloved. Look, I have kids who don't make the best choices all the time, but I always look for places to say, "You must be proud of yourself." or " You did a great job!" It is the focus on what is done right that creates and opportunity for them to do something else well.

My little one is ENERGETIC and runs in the house. Last week she took me out with two cups of hot coffee as I rounded the corner for the dining room table. It was very stupid of her. As upset as I was, I said "No more running in the house!"

And finally there are things we don't say, but run in our minds as an internal dialog. this in the one that i have the most trouble with. And it spills over to the tongue sometimes.

Proverbs 23:7 (ASV) 7 For as he thinketh within himself, so is he.

It is very truthful: I am what I think I am. Some days it is hard not say "I am a failure as a ________. or to not feel shame for something I should have said, or handled differently.

Thank God Jesus loves just the way I am.

How about you, what's your internal dialog like?

Give me warm weather and Attie Gene's lemonade anytime...

What's not to love about Summer! If I sat down and made a list of my Top 10 best memories from my youth, I'm sure at least 6 would come from the summer months. Like Tracy, Vacation Bible School was a big part of the break from regular school. The adults always made sure each year was memorable and exciting...and I greatly appreciate that fact to this day.

As a teenager, I was always looking for ways to make money in the summers. Opportunity usually came in either a hay or tobacco field. Growing up in East Tennessee, both types were in abundance. It wasn't unusual to gain a day of work by word of mouth. My dad would say 'so and so' needs help with hay on Saturday or 'so and so' needs to top his tobacco tomorrow...and there you go. The going rate was usually $20 for an entire day which was a fortune for a teenager back then. Once you got the rep for being a good worker, you'd stay busy most all season.

Putting up hay was hard labor in those days because everyone 'square-baled' back then. For you urban types and kids born after the Reagan Administration, a square bale of hay is a near extinct commodity that was neither light nor square.


These days, square bales are usually limited to Fall decorative displays...well...and erosion controlling devices in some of the poorer counties. Farmers got away from baling this way because it was labor intensive...and labor for such task has gotten both scarce and expensive.

The process involved a tractor, trailer/wagon and a dozen or so workers. The weak link usually drove the tractor. Stacking the bales on the trailer required the most skill, so the process wasn't a perpetual repeat of throwing bales on the wagon, stacking, bales falling off the wagon, throwing bales on the wagon...

Everyone else was a thrower, and I was usually in that group. We would work, share stories, and laugh at people who picked up a bale with an unfortunate tortoise or unusually slow rabbit who got in the way of the baler and ended up mauled. It was hard work, but at the end of the day, the $20 was very real to me. I wasn't about to run out and spend it frivolously on something that would be a distant memory by the next weekend.

Later in college, I worked  in the warmer season as the gardener for Judge Thomas A. Shriver, a former member of the Tennessee Court of Appeals in Nashville. Judge Shriver liked to help local college students where he could, and through a stroke of totally blind luck, I got the gig to work at his home when he needed things done around the grounds. Now it was my responsibility to contact the Judge or his wife, Attie Gene, to see if they needed me for work. I would check in a couple of times a week with each call always resulting in a few moments of encouragement from both of them on my school efforts.

But working at the Shriver's became much more than just a paying job for me. The day would start with meeting the near 90 year old judge 'out back', where he would be in his yard hat and boots. There I would get my marching orders for the task at hand with each list always ending 'and turn the compost pile.' Often Judge Shriver would point at a tree or bush he wanted trimmed, but the shaking of his hand would leave me wondering which of the 3 or 4 plants he was referring. So not to embarrass him, I would walk over to the area and placing my hand ask, 'This one Judge Shriver?'

Lunch was always educational and more adventurous than the yard work. Mrs. Shriver would call us in by literally ringing a bell. The Judge would change footwear and put his hat up for lunch. We would wash up in the basement and proceed upstairs where lunch was served on the Shriver's silver settings. Not to paint a wrong picture here because the Shrivers were obviously well off financially, but their home was modest and seasoned. Judge Shriver would eat his lunch in front of the television from a TV tray after his wife got him situated and served. She would then join me at the table where the lunch spread was both diverse and plentiful. I experienced my first crumpet at that table and hot tea poured from a silver pot. It all seemed so...surreal.

Mrs. Shriver: So you found a snake in the yard? Was it the poisonous kind?

Young Tony C: No ma'am, just a black snake. I took care of it.

Mrs. Shriver: More blackberry preserves? Could they get into the main house?

Young Tony C: No thank you. I don't think so. We've got the doors around back sealed pretty good.

Mrs. Shriver: Thank heavens. I would just die if one got in the house. God made the woman and the snake mortal enemies in the Garden of Eden...you remember.

Young Tony C: Yes ma'am I do. But don't worry. That one will never bother you. That I'm sure.


By the end of lunch, Judge Shriver would be well into his afternoon nap in his reclining chair. I would go back to the yard to finish my list and any other task I could see needed to be done that day. By the time the turning of the compost pile got around, the Judge would be awake and back in the yard with me. Then came my favorite part of the entire job. Getting paid? No, not quite. Judge Shriver and I would clean up and go to the front porch where Attie Gene's famous lemonade would be waiting. No matter how busy I was or what I needed to get back to at school, we would always sit and talk over at least one glass of lemonade. He would share with me a story from his past that was actual living Tennessee history or a favorite story from the Bible.

Don't ask me how I knew the magnitude of those stories as a naive, brash college student in Nashville looking more for the fun side of carpe diem than the philosophical significance...I just knew. I needed the money, and that's why I took the job. But no matter how hard I worked, the payout I received in time spent with the Shrivers combined with the actual wage always outweighed my efforts. It was an experience in my education that I consider invaluable.

I've never been on any court that didn't involve a ball. I'm pretty sure there are no silver serving trays in my house...well...at least to my knowledge. My home is modest at best. But I truly hope to share the same experience with some young person at some point in my life.  I have a ton of stories, know a bit about biblical life application, and Mrs. Tony C makes a pretty decent pitcher of lemonade too...

What do you think of when you think of summer?

When David suggested the topic of summer and Jesus I was a bit stumped. (OK, David, I DID go to VBS all my elementary school years and loved it.) But then I remembered an event that totally rocked my world when it happened.

I attended public school. When I was in high school I was blessed with lots of friends and involved in many extra curricular activities (not to mention that I actually liked most classes and learning); I just didn't know very many Christians. Especially not any that were super into God, His Word, and who wanted Him first in their lives. At church it seemed like the kids in the high school Sunday school class weren't into God or the Bible either. They were interested in the same things as the kids at school; the opposite gender, clothes, movies, music, cars - everything except the Word. I was interested in all those things too, but I was more interested in God. I kind of felt like a dork because I really wanted to get into the lesson the Sunday school teacher (a college girl who attended the local denominational college) presented, yet I didn't want to be the only student who ever answered questions or got engaged; it felt so awkward.

Then one day during summer school this older girl that I vaguely knew, who was in the same class as my boyfriend (who believed but was a super new Christian), invited him to a Bible study at a guy who went to another high school's house. The study was sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ. We went and I'll never forget the pure joy that event stirred up inside of me that hot, summer, night.

There was a room filled with people my age and most of them were every bit as excited about Christ as me. I remember that afterward by boyfriend wanted to leave but that I couldn't tear myself away until only the last few people remained. It was so incredible to talk to other teens about things that really mattered to me. To realize that I was not alone in my faith. I couldn't get enough.

That summer I learned the importance of spending time with people of like faith. I experienced the meaning of fellowship.

Since then it's always seemed to me that summer presents a special time for relationships. Everything can be fun, casual, and outside. There's even time after work, since it doesn't get dark until later, to do things with people. Summer just seems to represent hanging out.

What about you, what does summer represent for you?