Daughter of the King

While we were camping last weekend on Saturday night there was a fabulous electrical storm. I could tell that there was a storm brewing earlier in the evening so I had gotten up and put everything that couldn't get wet away. When it first started to hit, our youth and a few adults went to the top of Mt. Harrison lookout to watch the storm. Jason and I stayed behind at our campsite. We had a fire going so we did not want to leave it unattended. At first we saw a few strikes followed a few moments later by a loud crash of thunder. We oohed and awed over the fantastic light show. Then one gigantic flash of lightning happened with a thunderous boom. It was so loud and happened so sunddenly that I reached out and grabbed my husband and yelped. We decided that we had better go to the truck and watch the show from a safe location. Then came the down pour. More crashes then just as fast as it started it ended. I could see another set of clouds coming quickly. We took advantage of the brea

24 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” 26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” 28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:24-29 NIV You know, I think that Thomas gets a bum rap in the christian world. He is known as "Doubting Thomas." When I read this passage what I think is that Thomas is just human. As a matter o

This past weekend it was our turn to clean the church. There have been times when it was our turn to clean that I let out a sigh...you know the sigh...the one that says that you wished that you didn't have to clean that big building! Well, I was cleaning the kitchen, doing the dishes. I was thinking to myself about how many dishes there were to do this week and I would have to go home and clean my own mess. Then I actually listened to myself think these thoughts. I got to thinking about how I should change my attitude. I started worshipping as I was wiping the tables in the fellowship hall. I was singing my lungs out, (which for those of you who know me knows that this is not an uncommon thing for me to do), and the Lord started speaking to my heart. I repented about my attitude. I then realized what a privilege it was to clean GOD'S HOUSE. Not just a church building but the place where GOD'S PEOPLE come to worship Him! I started thinking about the Levites in the temple.

This week, behind my place of employment, I found that the apricot tree had broke in half from being so overloaded with fruit! The landlord told us that we could pick all of the fruit that we wanted because he was going to just take it and burn it. So I picked a whole box of apricots. Earlier in the day I asked the Lord to help me with a cool craft for the kids. I then had the idea of making apricot freezer jam for our craft. I would tell them the story about the tree and link it to the bible story of burning the trees that are not fruitful. We are known by our fruit. I told them how the apricot tree was not going to be able to provide fruit any longer because that part would die. The whole time we were outside cutting the fruit up and preparing it for jam. We also talked about our orphanage in Uganda. The kids have such a heart for the kids in Uganda at Cornerstone. Then one of the kids popped up and said, "Could we send our jam to Uganda to the kids?" I explained that we co

This weekend is my 30th year reunion for my highschool class. I am exicted to see old classmates and friends. Just going back to our old stomping grounds is exciting in itself. Of course I won't have enough time to do everything or see everyone but it will still be a lot of fun. In preparation for this event I have pulled out a couple of our year books trying to jog the old memory. It has been fun to be reminded of people that I haven't seen in years. But I think one of the things that I am most excited about is seeing our friends, Dan and Linda Jackson. We will be staying with them. We have a great history with Dan and Linda. When I was a little girl Linda taught me in Sunday School. Then when Jason and I grew up and we were married we taught their boys. Whenever we needed to talk to anyone safe they would be who we would think of and call. I have to smile because Dan and Linda have been such great mentors to us. I love it because whenever we do get to stay with them Linda

John 5:1-14 NIV Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” But he rep