The Dinner Guest

My sweet friend, George Mensah, sent this to me...I don't think he wrote it either, but it is a sweet story.


Ruth went to her mail box and there was only one letter.
She picked it up and looked at it before opening,
but then she looked at the envelope again.

There was no stamp, no postmark, only her name and address.
She read the letter:

Dear Ruth:

I'm going to be in your neighborhood Saturday
afternoon and I'd like to stop by for a visit.

Love Always,
Jesus

Her hands were shaking as she placed the letter on
the table.

"Why would the Lord want to visit me?
I'm nobody special. I don't have anything to offer."

With that thought, Ruth remembered her empty
kitchen cabinets.

"Oh my goodness, I really don't have anything to
offer. I'll have to run down to the store and
buy something for dinner."

She reached for her purse and counted out its
contents. Five dollars and forty cents.

"Well, I can get some bread and cold cuts, at least."

She threw on her coat and hurried out the door.

A loaf of French bread, a half-pound of sliced
turkey, and a carton of milk...leaving Ruth with grand
total of twelve cents to last her until Monday.

Nonetheless, she felt good as she headed home, her
meager offerings tucked under her arm.

"Hey lady, can you help us,lady?"

Ruth had been so absorbed in her dinner plans, she
hadn't even noticed two figures huddled in the
alleyway.

A man and a woman, both of them dressed in
little more than rags.

"Look lady, I ain't got a job, ya know, and my wife
and I have been living out here on the street, and,
well, now it's getting cold and we're getting kinda
hungry and, well, if you could help us Lady, we'd
really appreciate it."

Ruth looked at them both.

They were dirty, they smelled bad and frankly, she
was certain that they could get some kind of work if
they really wanted to.

"Sir, I'd like to help you, but I'm a poor woman
myself. All I have is a few cold cuts and some bread,
and I'm having an important guest for dinner
tonight and I was planning on serving that to Him."

"Yeah, well, okay lady, I understand. Thanks anyway."

The man put his arm around the woman's shoulders,
turned and headed back into the alley.

As she watched them leave, Ruth felt a familiar
twinge in her heart.

"Sir, wait!"

The couple stopped and turned as she
ran down the alley after them.
"Look, why don't you take this food.
I'll figure out something else to serve my guest."

She handed the man her grocery bag.

"Thank you lady. Thank you very much!"

"Yes, thank you!"

It was the man's wife, and Ruth
could see now that she was shivering.

"You know, I've got another coat at home.

Here, why don't you take this one."

Ruth unbuttoned her jacket and slipped it over the
woman's shoulders.

Then smiling, she turned and walked back to the
street...without her coat and with nothing to serve
her guest.

"Thank you lady!
Thank you very much!"

Ruth was chilled by the time she reached her front
door, and worried too.

The Lord was coming to visit and she didn't
have anything to offer Him.
She fumbled through her purse for the door key. But
as she did, she noticed another envelope in her
mailbox.

"That's odd. The mailman doesn't usually come twice
in one day."

Dear Ruth:
It was so good to see you again.
Thank you for the lovely meal.
And thank you, too, for the beautiful coat.
Love Always,
Jesus

The air was still cold, but even without her coat,
Ruth no longer noticed.

Updated Sidebar

Sugarcreek site is updated (see sidebar)...really nice...you can access many sermons on the same page. Enjoy!

Faith is...

I heard this a few years ago in church and it really helped me, because I am simple and need concrete thinking...so I thought it might be something you would like to read...

Faith is not presumption, it is not walking on thin ice, going out on a limb, doing something crazy, wishful thinking, or even positive thinking. Faith is the trusting response to the revealed will of God.

Faith is demonstrated by trusting in a promise God has made to me. When I believe in a promise God has made, my faith guarantees that I will get it.

To me, this says that "faith is believing what God said in His Word" and the more we know about His Word (in context and correctly interpreted, of course:-)), the more empowered we are in our faith.

This is one of the reasons I love Scripture memorization. If you can repeat to yourself what God says in His Word, that supercedes whatever other thoughts you might have about a situation (my thoughts...)

What do you think? What do you think faith is?

Thursday Thirteen #11

Thirteen Things I Still Want/Need to do Before the Start of School (Next Wednesday)

1. Make sure there are an adequate number of clothes that fit Darth and Mango.

2. Get Mango's hair (which is down to her waist) trimmed up about 6 inches so that I can...

3. Practice French braiding her hair. I really really want to be able to do this so that I can give her hair a break from "the ponytail"...

4. Cull the toys in the playroom.

5. Label all school supplies.

6. Clean out the van. We drive about 25 minutes to school each way and it looks like I am driving a garbage truck.

7. Supervise the straightening of Mango andDarth's rooms...once school starts it is just a pipe dream to really get their rooms clean.

8. Purge the hooks where the backpacks, light jackets, etc should be...I still have winter stuff there...such a procrastinator.

9. Move the few (and it really is a few) things in the garage that are preventing me from putting the van in there. It is a billion degrees here in the afternoon and at best, the van cools to about 85 on the ride home. I need to give us a chance of cool by not having the van outside at 2:30 in the afternoon.

10. Getting the kids back to the "school" bedtime...

11. Getting myself back to the "school bedtime"

12. I need to get an exercise outfit for the class I signed up for (twice a week...hope I can do it:-))

13. Laundry laundry laundry...but when is that not the case?



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Back to School...(8 more days...)

Ever seen this commercial? I was disappointed that it wasn't the whole thing, but I laugh every time I see it. That dad..those kids...

hee hee hee....

The Body of Christ:-)

I had a thought about the Body of Christ the other day...

You know, when you think about a body, you think about

arms
legs
hands
feet
elbows
knees

Or maybe

eyes
ears
mouth
nose

Or maybe

lungs
heart
brain

So let's say someone elbow in the Body of Christ and someone else is a lung. An elbow can take alot of abuse...you can cut it, burn it, bang it....and it's no big deal.

But a lung....if you cut your lung, or get smoke in your lungs or something...now that is serious, or it can be.

Some things regenerate...like skin. And some, like an eyeball, do not.

Oftentimes when I hear something that differs from what I thought Scripture said, I kind of get a feeling of "I better go and look that up, because that's sure not what I thought."...Even if it is a minor point.

Or if someone says something like, "I think Noah might have said to his sons on a really hot day (insert a thought here)."

And I think, "That makes me uncomfortable that that person is adding to Scripture."

But it might not bother someone else at all...

I heard someone take a Scripture out of context the other day...not a big deal one...not one that anyone would miss salvation over...and I heard someone say that Paul did something that he didn't when he was Saul. No biggie I guess, but it hit me like a bucket of cold water.

Maybe that makes me, like, a nose hair in the Body of Christ...you know...kind of sifting out the stuff that shouldn't go in. And if it gets too long, it's kind of unsightly and ugly. :-) You wouldn't want a whole Body of nosehairs, but I guess there need to be a few.

Aren't you glad you stopped by?:-)

See you next week.

Thursday Thirteen #10

I can feel myself getting crabby...I am helping with another VBS this week...choreography for the elementary aged children. Not my best thing...And it makes me feel about 100 year old in the afternoon...I am soooooo out of shape (I guess...I didn't realize it until now.)

Anyway, in an effort to adjust my attitude (since there are two more days of this), I am focusing on the good of this week.



Thirteen Things to be Thankful for this week...(as my attitude is deteriorating...)

1 No one is sick.

2. Todder is a year older and much better able to tolerate the nursery this week than she was this time last year.

3. Greg is in town this week (I think last year as I did this VBS, he was gone...)

4. Our air conditioner is fixed in the upstairs.

5. It only cost us $150.

6. The kids enjoyed camping out in the living room (even Todder) for the 4 days that it was NOT working.

7. I have not made a fool out of myself yet with my shmokin' dance moves (as far as I know)...

8. Today is Thursday so only 2 more days (including today) of potential #7.

9. I did use this week as an excuse to eat carbs, which was kind of fun at first but now I am going to stop that.

10. No car problems.

11. So far, my mega-grocery-shopping of last week has held out and I haven't had to go back to Wally World.

12. There wasn't really anything else that demanded my attention this week, which is nice...(go to VBS, lead music, go home and fall apart)

13. This little adventure into the world of "movement" has reaffirmed to me the need to get on an exercise program...which I am starting next week with Robin Wall...I am pretty excited about that.


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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Spirtual Gifts

My friend, Kristina, sent me a link to this site.

I haven't done one of these kinds of inventories in a long time...but I have grown and matured (???:-)) and thought maybe things had changed for me. There was a little fluctuation in my previous rankings, or it may have just been my mood today, but it was kind of fun.

According to this survey my gifts are

Administration 20

Teaching 18

Prophecy 17

Exhortation 16

Shepherd 14

Serving 13

Giving 12

Showing Mercy 10

Evangelism 8

And quit laughing...it says you don't have to be organized to be administration.:-P

Took me about 15 minutes to answer the 108 questions...

If you take the survey, let me know how you came out.

Apparently, I have no mercy...;-)

Thursday Thirteen #9

Thirteen Venues of Employment

1. Montgomery Wards 1980 Christmas and 1981 Summer-I worked as a sales associate in the Shoe department, in Children's and in the Women's clothing. I can remember a few times going back to see if we had a certain size of shoe (when it was closing time or close to it) and just standing back there...then returning to say we didn't have it. I was 15/16 at the time, and didn't always have the best work ethic.

2. Sears-1984 This was a summer job, stocking for a new store opening. You could wear whatever and as long as you liked those who were stocking with you, it was pretty good...

3. Oral Roberts University on campus employment- 1984 I felt a little guilty that my parents were paying so much for college, so I thought I might get an on-campus job. I am not sure that they even know about this. I had no office skills, so the only job that was open when I looked was cleaning the bathrooms on my floor. That lasted exactly one day. Ugh and Ugh.

4. The Uniform Shoppe- 1986 (note the "e" at the end of "shop"...makes it almost seem fun, doesn't it?) When I knew I was getting married, I got this job. I worked it my senior year in college and the following summer. Not hard, but oh-so-boring...The shoppe :-) was in a mall, and almost nobody came in there. Of course, I had to look busy, but how many times can you clean a display?

5. Broken Arrow Assembly of God Church- 1987 I graduated in 1987 with a degree in Elementary Education. I don't remember why, but there were no jobs to be had. This was a brand new school (coming out of this church), was not accredited and the first grade class was the oldest. We did everything...stayed with them at lunch, did their PE and Music, recess...no breaks at all. Good experience and gave me something to compare all future teaching jobs to.

6. Discoveryland! Summer 1987 and 1988-This is an outdoor theater that does Oklahoma! every year. I was the Box Office Manager. This was a pretty good gig, as we just took orders during the day and money at night. By the time the show started, we were closed up and counting the money and able to leave by 9:00. Monday-Saturday.

7. Grove School 2nd grade 1988-1990-This was my first (and second) year of teaching at an accredited school. They paid me as a 2nd year teacher until it came out that I hadn't been "certified" (this was just ignorance on my part...I thought that they would know that my former teaching job was at an unaccredited school).

So while the job was great (teachers for special classes, lunch break, planning period) there was a period of time when they garnished my check so tht my salary would reflect first year teacher. That was tough since this was med school time for my husband.

At this time, I also drive a school bus in the morning and afternoon. A big bus...:-)

8. Riverfield Country Day School- Summer 1989 I was co-teaching a class of four and five year olds. This was a pretty good job, as we did alot of field trips, swim lessons, etc. There was always a theme for the week.

9. Monte Cassino Middle School- 1990-1992 5th-7th grade music. I had enough music credits in college that I could teach music if someone wanted me to, and they did.

Of course, most of my experience was performance, so that is what we did. Show after show after show...

I didn't have kids then, so I spent alot of time on my job. This was probably my favorite (pay) job of all time...and almost $7000 more than my previous job. I felt like I had hit the big time.

10. Riverfield Country Day School Summer 1991-Bus Driver and Kitchen Help. The previous summer I actually had a class, but this summer, all I did was cart kids back and forth to swim lessons, and help get snacks and lunch out...and wash the dishes. I really liked this because for the most part, it was a break from kids.

11. Baltimore Actor's Theatre and Conservatory- 1992-93 Greg was doing his internship this year, so we were in Baltimore. This was a small school for children with an emphasis on the performing arts. I taught 4th-6th grade school subjects and a drama class for 1st-3rd grade. I also did shows on the weekends with the grownups.

12. Facillitator at Harvest Fellowship-1994-95 This was kind of an artsy church...interdenominational...had 200 people when we started attending and grew to about 1000 in that year. I was in charge of all children's ministries (getting workers, materials, etc), helping the music leaders, and helping the men's ministry people. When I found out I was pregnant with Darth, I gave my notice...it was good timing.

13. Mom-1996-present This has been a great job. Kind of long hours, but good perks:-)

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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9-11

This is going to just be some rambling I am afraid...but I hate looking at my SBC Yahoo Homepage where I have an RSS feed to my blog and it says "No items in the past three days". So here is my post to get rid of that.

This week I am in a semi-panic mode because I am leading the music for another Vacation Bible School session. I love to do it, but it requires some physical coordination, and those who know me personally know that I am not:-). But I am getting better all the time...I think.

Usually I buy groceries for a week. But this week I will be buying for 2 weeks (I hope) because once VBS is over for the day, I am pretty much done.

I have been keeping meal plans (dinner only) on my sister page Bein Berean's 101 in 1001, because I am compiling a rotating menu. I think I have enough to rotate my summer menu 3 times, but if I have left out something delicious please let me know (if you go and look over there and don't feel compelled to do so...I don't even have all 101 things on there yet:-)), bearing in mind that I don't know how to use the grill and the main dish can't be really starchy.

Oh, and my husband is "allergic" to fish....

yeah...right.

I also worked on my 2996 Project today (bloggers remembering the lives of people from September 11). Timothy E Reilly is my person (see sidebar), and as I look at the comments that people have written about him (remembering times past) I have to say that it seems he was a wonderful person. I still have about 75 more notes to look through to gather my info, but I am feeling pretty good about what I have. If you would like to sign up for the 2996 project, click here. I don't think that they have enough people even yet, and if it was my relative or husband, I wouldn't want them to be left out.

Another thing I had on my list (and I still have time...my 1001 days is up April 1 2009 I think:-)) that I tried to do last weekend was learn how to solve cryptograms. My grandmother used to do that all the time. She said that it helped keep her mind sharp. I thought doing them would remind me of her, and it does, sort of. In the way that my attempting to play the piano by ear would make me think of her...It would make me think "How did she DO that????" I felt the same way with the cryptograms. But I am not giving up.

Anyway, I need to go and practice the Artic Edge school age songs some more (for those who knew that I did a VBS already, I did the 3-year-old classes...not quite the same thing:-)). And I am counting it as exercise time...two birds with one stone (and it does make me tired...whine, whine)

Have a great day.:-)