Betty, this one's for you...

May 14, 2011
Summa Cum Laude
Cincinnati Christian University

God answered your prayers. Thank you Betty, for never giving up.

A Tale of Two Dogs, and God's Lesson

Meet Shelby, great dog, the ultimate in obedience. Tell her to “come” and she does…everytime. She does anything I tell her to do. I can go for a walk with her without a leash, and I feel confident that she would “come” when I called her. I have the utmost confidence in her and can depend on her to do as I say.

Now, meet Gracie, great dog, but the word “come”? Not in her vocabulary…..totally clueless about it. If I had her out without a leash she would just wander away. If I called her, she might look at me, but certainly not obey. I can’t even bribe her to come, cheese, peanut butter, nothing works.

We are about the head out on vacation, and it makes me sad to think that Gracie (since there is no fenced in yard where we stay) will never be off a leash outside of the house.

Picture this we are walking along the ocean. There are these little birds there with little feet that are just too funny to watch. As you get closer to them their feet move quicker and quicker until they just take flight and leave anyone or anything chasing them totally abandoned.

Chasing these little birds is great fun for a dog, especially herder dog. Shelby will stalk them and try to herd them. Then in a flash they are gone, gliding effortlessly over the ocean and landing back on the beach about 100 feet away. It appears that they are taunting her, but she loves it. And she will give chase again and again. By the end of the day, she is totally exhausted but so happy. At times like this, she is living life to the fullest.

Then there is Gracie, she may try to chase once or twice and quickly realize she is on a leash. No such freedom or fun for her. I can’t trust her to come back when I call. You can take that scenario and find the potential consequences. (Not to mention a dog off a leash is technically illegal.)

If she would only understand that if she obeyed, she would be granted more freedom...if she had more freedom she would have much more fun...if she had more fun she could experience so many new wonders that are out there for her. But no, she will do things her way until….well who knows how long.

But I love them both, and would never give up on either of them.

I know is sounds like an oxymoron, but it is true. The same thing can be said for our walk with God. The more we seek His heart and His will and obey, the more free we are to experience all of the wonders that are out there, just waiting for us.

In His Name!

Our executive pastor spoke today, and something finally hit home with me. Thanks, Garry.

When you are an executor of someone's will, you are expected to do things according to their wishes. That means it is your responsibility to find out what that person has in their will, and then carry it out to the best of your ability. You will be honoring and obeying their request by doing so.

They gave you that authority over their will. They did so, not because you attained any kind of status, they just chose you...over everyone else they knew. They trust that you will abide by their desires on their behalf...in their name. (Maybe they just liked you!)

I never related that to the ending of a prayer when someone says "in the name of Jesus...."

Jesus is giving me authority to execute His will. Me! Not because I work at a church, not because I volunteer a lot of hours, but because He loves me, no other reason. I have been given the authority to execute His will.

Wow, all that finally sinks in! (I always said I was a slow learner!)

Now comes the hard part....now I have to be still, ask, and listen to what His will really is. No one said this would be easy! The question is, am I up to the challenge?

Those Google Tricksters!

Wow, every try to change your email address on Blogger? Geez, it was easier to change it at my bank! Let me back up a bit.

We are moving into the age of fiber here in Fairfield (stepping right into the 21st century - no more RoadRunner here!) and I need to change my email address. In other words, we are moving from Tim Warner' coax cable to Cincinnati Bell's fiber optics. My choice for a new email address was a Gmail email address in hopes that I will not have to change it again.

It is a strange thing changing your email, especially if you have had the same one for 16 years! Yea, when I think about that it makes me shutter. 16 years!! Who does that?

So I come here to Blogger and try to change my email address. And I got the absolute strangest message on my attempt, "You cannot use a gmail address on Blogger" (or something along those line). Ok, let me be sure I understand this, I have Gmail now, and that is part of Google (so far so good). I want to use that Gmail address on my Blogger account - also a part of Google. And I am told that I can't do that. Things that make you go ummmmm.

So what do I do about that? I search Google for the answer!! Obvious, right? Sure enough, there I found my answer. So do ya love Google or hate it?

Happy Birthday Ed

Your mama would be so proud of you! I am so glad she had you, she did good! I know she prayed a lot for you, and I am reaping the rewards of those prayers today.

She was a very special lady I wish I could have known her longer. But I bet she is watching over you and then turning to Jesus and thanking him for all He has done in your life.

I love you and could not imagine my life without you. Thanks Betty, and thank you Jesus for giving me the best blessing I could ever imagine.

Happy birthday, honey!

Ok, I Confess...I had App Envy!

A friend I used to work with at VCC stopped in a week or so ago and we got caught up on all our happenings. She was a tech in our IT department, so having cool toys just goes with the (her) territory. Everything was going along great, then she did it to me! She showed me an app that made me drool (pun intended, you'll see why when I explain the app).

I didn't forget about it. And not to be outdone by an iPhone, I set out to find an app to do the same thing for my Droid X. Anything and iPhone can do a Droid can do better, right? And it had to be free (so cheap I am!)

Well, I found it! Allow me to explain what this really cool app does, because I know the suspense is about killing you now. You download this piece of software on your laptop, set it up anywhere and execute it. It launches the webcam, and I can fire up my app on my phone, and see what is going on...live!

Sorry, to me it was just the coolest thing! I don't use my laptop during the day and my girls just NEED to be checked on, right? Oh it was so fun (I know it is the geek coming out in me).

I no longer have app envy. Technology can be so fun! - Thanks Kim!

(P.S. Let that also be a warning if you had planned on breaking in my house....I will see you!!!)

Good things and bad things going on

Why do we have to get sick and have things go wrong? Seems I have recently been surrounded by sad news of people's health issues. It sometimes scares me. If I had my way I would just die and skip all the doctors and hospitals and cures. And hey, who knows, maybe I will.

I have been extremely lucky in my life and been pretty healthy. My mom fell recently and cracked a hip bone, her husband has started getting visits from Hospice in their home, my dad had a pacemaker put in his heart, my brother is about to undergo a major surgery to fix an old accident, and a very dear friend of mine is being checked into Hospice after years of battling cancer. There is other sadness around in my small group too. I love them all and hate to see all this weariness.

But my faith is not wavering. For I know that there is a reason for all this, and I am ok with it, even knowing I may never completely understand it all in this lifetime.

However, I have to see the other side too. My boss is going to a grandma for the first time, two girls on staff are having babies within a month of each other (in the same department too), one of the directors that reports to Ed is pregnant, another on staff may be having twins.

There is good as well as bad in our world. It is something that needs to be accepted and something that continues to build my faith, for I know that whatever happens to me, I am loved by the ultimate! I love my God!