Alone in the pool?

It finally happened. 

 We have been members of the YMCA in Athens, TN and Chattanooga, TN for over a year now.  

  Howard walks the treadmill for 450 to 500 calories and then lifts some weights.




I swim and participate in the Activtrax program they offer
 (it's been fun to learn how to use all those intimidating machines).



  Every other day is swim day and when I arrive a little before 7 am, I usually have to wait for the the really committed Masters Swimming class to finish, and then I can have a lane for laps, although lately I have had to share a lane most days. Not a problem.

  Thirty minutes of laps - freestyle one direction, backstroke on the way back.  Fourteen strokes of freestyle - 18 strokes of backstroke.  It can get monotonous, but I have gotten praying while swimming down to a science.  The time flies by now.

  So today as I was about done with my 30 minutes, I happened to stop for a breather and looked around the pool - I had started my morning with sharing a lane with another person, now there was NO ONE in the whole pool except for me.

It was eerie, just me       -        and the life guard.

My own personal life guard for 5 minutes!!

Cool.

Which got me to thinking while I finished up my laps:

Was I really alone - of course not - the life guard was there.

Hey, I always have a personal life guard.   Jesus!  

I am never alone as I swim through the waters of life.

  What a nice thought to start my day and to think on for the rest of the week. And it will probably come to mind every time I swim.

Such are the musings of a morning spent in the pool.

New Year - New Calendar!!

  The first weekend of the New Year has passed.  I actually had to go and purchase a new calendar - no freebies came in the mail from anyone this year.

  I started entering birthdays and appointments and started thinking about the many things I HAVE TO DO today and tomorrow and next week and next month....

  I heard a great program on the radio on the 2nd day of January. It was a repeat on Moody Radio by Chris Fabry: an interview with Bill Hybels. (Bill Hybels interview)

  It was a good program to listen to as I was sewing on my machine. I was finishing a quilt I had started 30 years ago.  I had never scheduled it into my year and so never found time to finish the quilt and told myself that this would be the year it got done! 

(btw:This quilt has many memories as it contains fabrics from Nigeria, West Africa. It represents friendships from many years ago - finished photo and more story on that will come later.)

  Then some things Bill Hybels said got me to thinking. I started writing down what he said to meditate on later:
 

 "I want to order my life, I want to schedule stuff in, plan for activities and stuff to do. And all those things can push the important to the side."

"What if I plan for WHO I want to BECOME 

instead of WHAT I have to do?"

What if I plan a God first schedule instead of "good stuff"?

"How will I plan my schedule differently if I plan my life around the destiny of my family before God our maker and Savior?"

"How will I plan my schedule differently if I plan my WHOLE LIFE instead of just my work life?"

"If I simplify my life and unclutter my soul how will my calendar change?"

So, as I fill out my calendar I plan to keep these in mind as I start 2015, how about you?

   One of the suggestions given by Bill Hybels was to make sure you have a life passage from the Bible and set the course of your life around those verses.  

  Here is mine - I embraced it when I was 16 years old for the "Rejoice in the Lord Always" portion, but the rest of the passage has lifted me up through the years, and encouraged me, and challenged me.

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 

5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 

7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4-7

2015! The 15 Challenge

I don't make New Year resolutions - 

but I would like to challenge you to make one!

We are about half way to the monthly support we need to get to Lethbridge.

In light of that fact we want to give you:

THE 15 CHALLENGE !

We are looking for people to support us for the next 3 years 

in the one of the following "15" ways:

.15 ¢ a day - $54.75 a year

$1.50 a day - $547.50 a year

$150.00 a quarter $50.00 a month, $600.00 a year

$1500.00 a quarter $500.00 a month, $6,000.00 a year

                                                  

$1500.00 a year $125.00 a month

$15.00 a day $5475.00 a year

Get creative - you can do it - we can help!!

If you are already a supporter - thank you.
  
Do you know someone you could 
recommend to us as a possible supporter?

What are you Giving for Christmas?

So - I started this post before Christmas, but then everything got in the way - but not really in the way - I just decided that it was more important to spend time with kids and family than the computer. 

But here is what I was thinking before Christmas....



It was official – the last shopping weekend before Christmas – quick, 

get to the mall, or Target, or Walmart (or maybe not).

I can officially say that I had done all my shopping – except for the sewing part, I was done.  

(That means Howard is done too since I’m the official shopper in the family)

But there was only one gift under the tree at that point, from someone else to us.  

Our wrapping was still coming.

But wait…

…What am I giving Jesus?

One of my favorite children’s sermons from years past was when we brought all the kids forward at the Christmas Eve service 
and sat around the manger, right under the Christmas tree.  

I asked them if they were excited…you could feel that they were.  

Excitement was in the air for everyone.

Until I asked them if they were sure they had gotten everyone on their list a gift.

“What did you get Jesus this Christmas?”

I could see the looks of puzzlement and thought on their faces.

Long before God the Son came to earth as a baby, everything was his. 
The glory and joy of heaven were his. 
In heaven he was rich in his relationship with his Father and the Spirit.

“You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, 
so that by his poverty he could make you rich.” 
2 Corinthians 8:9

What do you give the person who has everything?

“What can I give him, give him my heart”

Have you given him your heart today? 

...and so, on the back end of the Christmas celebrations, 

staring the next year in the face, 

I can say that I did give Jesus my heart, 

and my time, and my family, and my hands.  

And

I plan to give Him those in the New Year also!

Blown Away!!

  The last week before December 25th! The busy-ness can be overwhelming but we have it mostly under control.

  Sandy got the yearly traditional cookies done yesterday just in time to take out for Caroling at church last night.

We picked up our grand-daughter Mary Kate and joined a few dozen other people at our church to visit members of the church family who don't get out of their homes often.

It was a blessing to the Carolers and the Carolees - we asked the people we went to visit what their favorite carol was so that we could sing that for them and the answer was always:

"I love them all!"

(although one gentleman at a retirement home really wanted us to sing "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer")

What a great answer, 

we love all of the songs that celebrate our Saviors birth.

- - - - - - - 

As we were reading our Christmas devotional this morning we came across this quote:

"The reason we celebrate Christmas is that 

we are still blown away

by the incredible news that 

God became a baby that night in Bethlehem."

In the midst of cookies, shopping, wrapping, caroling, we read a message like that and we stop and think and the wonder of it all 

BLOWS

US

AWAY!

"When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father's commandments and remain in his love. 

I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. 

Yes, your joy will overflow!"

John 15:10-11

God, who said, "let there be light in the darkness," 

has made this light shine in our hearts 

so we could know the glory of God 

that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ."

2 Corinthians 4:6

STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING

AND TAKE A MOMENT

TO BE 

BLOWN AWAY!