A profitable day, indeed!

Well, today has been an unusually profitable day!

First, we received our paychecks today, due to the fact that tomorrow (our regular payday) is a holiday. Not only did we get out paychecks today, we got them early in the day! That NEVER happens!

Second, I found a $1 bill laying loosely atop a blanket of leaves in a corner behind my building! You can tell this is a place where the leaves and other debris gather and get trapped by the wind due to the encircled nature of the design of our building. There it lay, just waiting for someone (me!) to come along!


Third, I took my little bags of aluminum cans to the recycling station. I haven't been can "hunting" in a long time, so these are mostly cans that I/we have used. It has taken me a very long time to accumulate what I *hope* will be enough to take in.

The going rate here is $.70/lb. for 10 lbs. or more. If you have any weight under 10 lbs. the price is only $.25/lb. When I arrived to the station and backed in, there was 1 man unloading a large number of very big bags full of cans. As I waited on his transaction, I began to unload my tiny bags and set them to the side. Something to note, the recycling guys like to keep things moving along, they don't have time for you to take your time. That being said, I was standing, waiting patiently and beginning to get nervous at the thought of not having enough to be at least 10 lbs. As the employee was emptying the large flat bed scale, I began to load my bags on. 3.00 lbs., 4.5 lbs., 6.50 lbs., 8.50 lbs. By this time, another gentleman had driven up and unloaded his 2 very large black plastic bags of cans. When I went to grab the last 2 bags, he said, "You might get there, you're really close!" I said, "I hope so!!" I threw on the last 2 bags and it came to.....wait for it.....9.5 lbs. This happened one other time, I was 'just' under 10 lbs. and the employee took off his gloves and threw them on the scale to bump me up! Well, that was a long time ago and I must have had a disappointed look or something because as I was waiting for the employee to come back to check the scale, the gentleman behind me said, "Here, you can take these!" and then pushed the bags towards me!

What?!? I said, "No!! You don't have to do that!!" He said, "No really, it's no big deal, you take them!" He just had this look of pride in his eye, so I said again, "Are you sure?! You don't have to do that!" He was like, it's no biggie and walked away!

After putting his 2 big bags on top of my mound of small bags, the total weight went from 9.50 lbs. to 26 lbs.! I couldn't believe it! I went from 9.50 lbs @ $.25/lb. for a total of $2.38 to 26 lbs. @ $.70/lb. for a total of $18.90! (Granted, if the employee wouldn't have given me mercy and bumped me up to 10 lbs., I would have just taken my bags back and returned later when I had more.) So the kind man basically gave me $11.90 in free recycling cans! Woo hoo!

I plan to give the $1 found earlier and the $11.90 to the Lord this week as an offering above my tithe. If you aren't doing this, try it, it's very rewarding!

Father's Day Weekend: The Good (Part 1 of 3)

"The Good"

This Father's Day I went down to the country to visit my dad, like all the other Father's Days of recent years. I always figure, since it's so far down there, I just go down the day before and spend the night, sort of stretching it out to make the most of the gas it takes to get there LOL

On Sat. I made my way down to the country and met him for a cook out at my cousin's house (see part 2 of 3, "The Bad"). Visiting with family, especially one's I've never met or haven't seen in a long time is always nice. The food was great!!! I didn't have to buy it, prepare it or clean up after it!! That rarely happens after you become an adult. So that was very good.

Saturday evening we just went back to dad's and watched tv before calling it a night. On Sunday, we got up late and ended up taking the 4 wheeler and the boat to Clearwater Lake. It's no Outer Banks but it has always been a family favorite. It took us a while to get down there because we didn't get an early start. This made dad fussy. He's also trying to quit smoking (after 50 some odd years) so he is easily fussy these days. But I commend him for trying again! I pray he has luck and the Lord will help him.

On our way to the lake, I had an opportunity to witness to my dad again, reiterating the simplicity of the gospel to him. I like to show him the faith I have in God that He will take care of my needs and dad's as well. Our fiasco last year with the boat lended a perfect opportunity to show him first hand that God knows what we need. 3 times that day we were in a crisis and all 3 times, without waiting, God provided the exact help we needed! It's a great example and I like to remind him of it. This is good, very good.

Our boating trip on the lake was fun. We ventured way up and around to where Black River feeds into the lake. We had lunch on the boat. The outing was relatively uneventful until we were heading back to the dock. The boat motor kept dieing. He kept trying to fix it and was growing increasingly fretful and agitated. I simply said with every confidence, "The Lord knows what we need." Then the motor worked only on low gear but it was enough to get us back! Again, a perfect example of how faith pays off. I welcome these opportunities for flaws and trials. He's the kind of man who needs to learn the hard way and even then it usually takes more than once for him to learn a lesson!

We did some light fishing but of course did not get any bites due to the fact that the water level was up. We enjoyed cruising around the lake. We had dinner at the Cowgirl Cafe and I got to see my cousin Kathy who works there. After we got back to his house, we watched the movie "RV". I thought it was a nice clean family movie, a nice way to cap off the trip. It was environmentally the most tolerable trip to my dad's I've enjoyed in....well, forever since he didn't smoke while I was there. Stay tuned for "The Bad" and "The Ugly"

There's a light at the end of this Tunnel

I made a video of encouragement, for all of my brothers and sisters in Christ. The photos were all taken by myself at various altitudes and various places along my journey. The song is called 'Tunnel' by Third Day. Please, enjoy!

Growing up

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

1 Corinthians 13:11-12 (NKJV)

As you get older, you begin to realize that play time is precious! You watch your kids take their toys for granted and although you wish you could go back to a simpler time, it's just impossible to do so! Life guides you along a path that is, at times, completely unpredictable. Sometimes things make sense and sometimes you are left pondering the reasons why. FYI, the bible is God's living word, full of love, reason, hope and meaning. Why not give it a try sometime!?

Now, on rare display...

A museum in Jerusalem has decided to display the 24 ft. scroll with the text of the Bible's Book of Isaiah this week - more than four decades after it was last seen by the public. It has been in a dark, temperature-controlled room at the Israel Museum since 1967. They have decided to put the scroll back on show for three months as part of Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations.

I am very intrigued by these kinds of things. I always did marvel at all the artifacts in our museums because I just can't believe anyone would still have so much stuff from way back when! I love the testament to God's word and that it can still be proven true over and over, even to the original manuscripts of many days gone by! I'd love the chance to go see it, and although my passport may be good for 9 more years, my savings account is empty! :(

The AOL news article I read said this:

The priceless manuscript, written by a Judean scribe around 120 B.C., was in a long glass case Tuesday, its neat rows of Hebrew letters distinct and legible. President Bush, visiting Israel this week for the anniversary celebration, will be one of the first to view it.

Very interesting!!! It makes me want to go read Isaiah in my Bible!

To settle? Or to try?

I just wanted to share a blog post I wrote over on my Church's Blog, Valley Views. It's called To settle? Or to try? The Mother's Day sermon at church was interactive this week. At some point our pastor tried to convince us that there are some things we ladies are just going to have to accept because they 'can't help it!' Of course, I raised my hand and suggested that while women do understand that certain traits don't come 'naturally' to men, we would be made happier at any attempts to simply TRY!

Of course, I was quickly applauded. Hey, I just say what other people are thinking!

I've been thinking...

Lately I've been thinking more and more about how I want to go about losing weight. Remember? So anyway, I know there are lots of options available to help me along this process. Now, if I had my way, I would go to one of those places where they keep track of everything because you buy your food from them! All you have to do is be able to afford it....XXX....there goes that. Besides, at some point, you need to learn on your own how to eat and you won't be able to eat their foods forever!

Ok, so next we have varieties of pills. You have pills that expand in your tummy to make you feel full, that sounds kinda creepy to me. There are appetite suppressant pills, I had some success with these in high school. There are natural weight loss pills, have any of you used these types and can share your opinions? There are also pills you can take that block fats and the list goes on and on. Some of these are a bit pricey for me as well....something to be mindful of.

I wish I could get involved with a local Weigh Down group and meet other women like myself...I know the *right* way to do this, it's just a matter of actually doing it! Weigh Down takes the focus of dieting and puts it on Jesus! Hello, who better to get help from!?!?!?!

Ooo baby video rebuttal.

Misty has brought out a great point. I have not explained my issues with the 'Ooo baby' video on YouTube as presented by Barb over at Skittle's Place. I didn't think it was appropriate to get that deep on someone else's blog. But this being my blog, I think I'll take a couple of minutes to explain. It is with love and reverence in my heart that I write this rebuttal.

In today's existential world of everything coming from yourself, and all this 'positive thinking will do the trick' mentality, the world is so far from seeing they need Christ in their lives that they are easily impressed with a mesh of images and words giving false hope and pressure to think that they can make a change in this world if they only have enough hope and love and wish for it.

The video starts off by saying, "Every single person has wished for something more." I couldn't agree more. The problem is that most people miss the mark and look to other people or society or laws or pleasures to complete that hole inside them. Next the video asks you what is your wish? Food? Shelter? Love? Hate? Then it goes on to say that "There is always more. It's what we strive for." What? More of what? "More is not a mere word. It's an ideology." Ok, this I can agree with.

Then it goes on to show a shot of the first airplane back in the day and next a shot of a man on the moon. Followed up by saying "We have accomplished so much. In such a short time." Next it shows some images of violent crimes and a child with a gun around his neck, ground zero...all the while saying "But we seem so determined to bring it all down." Making it sound like we didn't 'wish' hard enough to keep these people from acting out in these ways.

"We have so many questions. And very few answers." I agree with the first 1/2 of that statement. I don't feel like people are asking their questions to the right resources. Consult a bible once in a while. All the answers we need are right there, in print, just waiting for us to seek it out.

"With time and love and hope..." (as it shows a photo of the earth) "We can accomplish anything." Wow!!!

Here in lies my biggest issues with this video. Are people so far removed from God that they think they are capable of anything? Since when does time *do* anything to get accomplished? Since when does love *do* anything? It's a feeling after all, am I missing something? And this idea of hope?! Unless hope is directed toward Christ, it's empty. There is only hope in Christ. 'In Christ alone, my hope is found. He is my rock my strength my song.' In whom or what are people wishing on? Where are they seeking hope? The earth isn't capable of supplying any payment of accomplishment of hope. The earth, being itself created by God, does what God tells it to do. It's foolishness to think there is hope in this earth. God doesn't have a plan B. He's still on track with plan A and it's up to us to find out what that plan is! If anyone has hope that they can make it through this life with happiness and health and wealth and good fortune all the days. I feel terribly sad for people who seek this life here with no regard for eternal destinations and retributions.

The video goes on to say "The time is ours. Right now we can make a change." Ok, I agree with that, but they aren't trying to get us to change towards Christ, but to some power we can see in ourselves. I'm afraid that is fruitless as well.

"The world is beautiful. And is capable of beautiful creations." Ok, let me just add this in right here. The world maybe be beautiful, but it, like us and everything in it and on it were created by God from His perfect will. So saying that 'the world' creates beauty is also trying to take away from the fact that God created everything.

"It shall no longer be a simple hope. It shall become our duty. A duty to ensure the safety and happiness of our children. And for future generations to come. Change can be difficult when you're comfortable. But who can say they are truly comfortable when there is so much more? Every single person, past and present has wished for something more. What was your wish?"

This video has sparked a wonder in your mind about what you want to pass on to your kids and what are you doing with your life. But it is not a call to salvation or to seek God's will for your life. God's plan for us is so much more than we could ever imagine for ourselves. This video feeds the secular ideas that we can get along great by wishing big broad beautiful loving wishes for people in bad times, but they are empty wishes if they are not routed in God's will. This fluffy video does nothing to glorify God and actually reinforces the ideas that are popular right now that say we are capable and there's no need to look to God...that we can change things and making this world a better place for ourselves and the next ones to come. If we don't seek God first, all of our efforts are empty. The best thing we can do for ourselves, our children and any future generations is to give them a firm foundation in God and seek Christ for our own lives. Look into it! See if you can find out why God chose you to be here and be brought through your particular life into this place. What future does God have in mind for you?

If God's not in it, it's worthless and fruitless and not unlike the serpent in the garden who changed one word and lead a girl's thoughts away from God's will for her life. Your decisions affect more than just you. You have a choice to believe you are capable of accomplishing change of grandeur or seeking to discover how God wants to use you to make changes that He is making.

God has no plan B.

For Skittles...

I'd like to share this video found on GodTube.com. I don't think it's the official video for the song, but someone has thoughtfully constructed images & scripture to go along with it and it's a great rendition to enjoy. This song, 'Tunnel' by ThirdDay has been very special to me since the first time I ever heard it. As you listen, let the words fill your heart. You are not alone. I, am not alone.

Hope = God, the light at the end of this tunnel-your tunnel.

Kirk Cameron is coming to my town!

I am so stinkin' excited about this!!! As you may have noticed, I sport a link in my sidebar to a website called 'The Way of the Master'. If you haven't already, please take a few minutes to go over and check it out. It's very informative and encouraging for believers and unbelievers! Click the banner to go there now or read further, then come back to it.

Today my mom comes into my office (yes we work together) showing me a bulletin from her church for upcoming events. She says, "Oh wow, sis! I almost passed right over this page, until I noticed a familiar face!" I was thrilled to find a segment advertising a conference coming next month with Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort. They have a great ministry and I can't wait to go!

Here's the back story: When I was a teen, I became absolutely obsessed with Kirk Cameron. I often used my babysitting money to feed my addiction of new photos from teen magazines. He graced the cover of many Teen Beats and I wanted them all! I'm not kidding...I had over 2.000 photos of Kirk on my walls and ceiling. Of course, only full page or centerfolds were special enough for the ceiling. I would lay on my bed and dream about him. I'd listen to the radio and dream about him.

Reading anything and everything about him went right along with it. He always seemed like a decent guy. I never read about involvement with drugs or trouble with the law. Back then, I could tell you pretty much anything that was in print about the boy! I knew I would never meet him. Who was I? Some fat poor chick living in the Mid-West! I considered writing to him but he received thousands of fan mail everyday. There was no way he would get mine. Besides, what would I say that he hadn't heard from 10 million other screaming teenage girls? What could I say to him that would make a lasting impression?

So I decided to pray. My prayers were very selfish. I didn't pray that I would meet him. I didn't pray that if we met, he would fall in love with me. I don't think I was obsessed with him in this way, exactly. It was like I just really had a burden in my heart or something for him. It was impressed upon my heart that I knew I would never meet him on this earth so I prayed that the Lord would bring *someone* into his life that would tell him about Jesus and that he would get saved and believe so he could go to heaven and then I could meet him there! I could spend eternity visiting and not have to worry about what I look like or what to say. I prayed that way a few times, I don't know how many times or for how long. I know now that although it was great to pray for him to find God for his life, it was still wrong of me to do it with such selfish intentions.

The feeling of concern for Kirk weighed this way on my heart, until one day. Kirk's face began to fade from the front pages of the magazines. He became less and less visual in the Teen Beat scene. Then one day, much to my joy, I clipped my last photo of Kirk Cameron from publication. It was a photo of him standing with his arm around Billy Graham! From the time my eyes found that photo, that weight and burden has been lifted from my heart and mind!

So now, to see him happily married with 6 beautiful children and fervently working a ministry to help others get excited about evangelism for God, I couldn't be happier! It really touches my heart in a special way and I guess you could say, Kirk Cameron was my first real answer to prayer! And WOW what a big answer it has been! God sure knows how to show us that He has a plan and it's better than we could imagine for ourselves!

I hope I get the opportunity to meet Kirk at this conference at First Baptist Church of Arnold, MO and let him know that I prayed for him back then. I'm pretty sure he would appreciate knowing that :) If not, I'll see you on the flip-side!

Crossing your bridge

This world is not my home...

Acts 17:24-25 (NKJV)
God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.

Share your prayer!

This is taken from my church blog:

Greetings one and all!

This is BeccA and you are reading my inaugural post here on the Valley View blog. I certainly hope to be contributing more in the future. Writing has always been a special treat to me. I mean really, it’s basically talking in written form and as you know, I always have *something* to say!

2008 is well under way and we have lots of fun and exciting things going on in our little church at the top of the hill. Next Monday night is our Family Bowling night and I am really looking forward to it. It’s a great opportunity to have some fun times with our church family! We are all relational beings by divine design and a lot can be gained by fellowshipping with those who share a common bond. So bring the kiddos and come on out to Imperial Bowl @ 6:30 on Monday Jan. 14, 2008. I hope to see you there!

I was thinking about what I could contribute to this blog in my signature creative and fun way. From time to time I have different ideas and think this would be a good platform to share them! God has really moved in my life over the past 2-3 years. This has coincided with joining Valley View and that in and of itself, I feel, was guided by His will as well. I’ve grown in ways I didn’t know I could. There has been much healing of hurts as well as an uncountable measure of knowledge gained through sermons, studies, classes and time spent with other members! I am not saying there isn’t still plenty to discover along the long road in my quest to draw closer to God but I do feel like I am on a good path and heading in the right direction. With God’s grace I will continue to grow!

In today’s busy world, it’s growing increasingly harder to keep up with all of the going ons of our friends and family. We have good intentions of remembering them in our prayers but from time to time we find ourselves remembering too late or after the fact. I feel frustrated that I didn’t remember something important happening to someone I care about! After all, if it were me having surgery or something, I’d want them to remember me in prayer! In an effort to rectify this frustration, for me, I’ve learned that I should just do something right when I think about it, even if it’s before said event.

Let’s take that up to another level, which brings me to the idea behind this post. ‘Share your prayer!’ In today’s high tech world, you can certainly find some form of written communication via email, texting or instant messaging. I decided to put my prayer into this form. “What do you mean, God doesn’t have a cell phone!?” What I’m saying is this: at the same time you are praying to God, go the extra step and type, text or journal it out. Then send it to your friend! It’s actually a very personal way to let them see that you are praying for them and what you are actually praying on their behalf. Our prayers are important not only for those we are lifting up but they mean alot to God as well. Even so that the bible tells us in Revelation 8:3-4, the prayers of the saints are burned with incense up to God!

So the next time you have these things on your mind, take a moment to share your prayer with the individuals themselves. I’m sure they will appreciate your words of faith and love and praises that you’ve expressed to God with their need or situation in mind, I know I would! Just stick to the subject at hand and try not to expound on outside issues or your prayers for other people. It’s not a show and tell people!

Until next time…thanks for reading! Feel free to leave comments, maybe you have ideas you’d like to share too!

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(For the Proverbs 31 investigators, as stated above, this post is written by me and also posted over at my church's website in the 'Blog it' section found here. I retain all the rights to the post and this is me giving you permission to use it. I realize it will need to be edited to exclude the bowling and such :) Also, I could expound the topic a bit if need be. The meat of it is only about 350 words or so.)

Here is an example of a recent prayer email to a friend:

I just wanted to come to you right now and lift up my friend 'T'. As you know she's going to have a very important surgery tomorrow morning on her back. Lord, I just pray that you are with the doctors and nurses who will be taking care of her and altering her body in an effort to correct some of the damage from this illness. I know you are gracious and loving and you have all the power to make sure the outcome is successful for her. Her recovery will be long but sometimes we have to go through the pain to get to the reward!

You are perfect and holy and worthy of all praises and we thank you for sharing your love with us even when we don't deserve it! "Who is like you, o Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" Thank you so much for sharing your Son with us and His offering on the cross to make atonement for our transgressions. He is the only way to you and how blessed we are to see the path!

You are the Great Physician and that's why I'm praying for your will to be done for 'T's back situation from here on out! Thank you for bringing special people in our lives who look past the filth of our mistakes to see that you are here in us and worth caring about. I ask all these things in Jesus' name, Amen!

Heads or Tails - Mark

This week on Heads or Tails, Barb @ Skittles Place suggested the topic of 'Mark'. Then she changed her mind, noticing the acronym for Heads or Tails to be the letters H O T. Well, I like the original topic, so I'm going with 'mark'.

I want to share some verses out of the Bible from the book of Mark with you.

Mark 4:36-41
³⁶And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.
³⁷And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
³⁸And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
³⁹And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
⁴⁰And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
⁴¹And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Or another good one I found in Mark is:

Mark 10:45
⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.