Fun Stories For The Summer Months

So sorry I have been away from my "post" for a while! (Pun intended.) I have a few fun summer reads to tell you about.

If you enjoy all those sitcoms about a bunch of friends in their twenties,  then you will most likely LOVE this series. I certainly do!! Ray Blackston has created some of the most vibrant, unique, and quirky characters I've ever met, and placed them on a backdrop of southern charm, beach trips, and a singles sunday school class.

Flabbergasted

Jay has just moved from Texas to South Carolina. In hopes of making some new friends, and maybe getting a date, he attends a local church, where things are not what he expected. A tanned, poetic missionary with a great throwing arm, a lime green Cadillac, a trip to Myrtle Beach, and a multitude of food fights are only the beginning of this wonderfully crafted story about God, summer fun, and falling in love.

A Delirious Summer

Neil, a missionary on furlough, gets mixed up in the crazy bunch of friends from the first book. Will he, like Jay, find what he is looking for in South Carolina? Or will he run back to the safety of the Ecuadorian jungle? Rejoin all your favorite characters from the first book, plus some new ones, as Neil navigates through his Delirious Summer.

Lost in Rooville

The gang travels to Australia to check out the views and the marsupials, but a few of the guys may have a secret agenda. Plus, what do Americans know about surviving in the outback?! Will everyone make it out alive? Travel along with Jay and the rest of the crew as they try to find their way through the Australian bush, meet new friends, and maybe catch some frogs...

Another great book to read is Just Between You and Me. Written by Jenny B. Jones, this book tells the story of Maggie, a thrill-seeking cinematographer who, in a family emergency, goes back to her hometown, where she hasn't been in years. Thrust into meetings with estranged family members, old friends, and even more old enemies, she must decide whether to help out those who need her, or to get out while she still can. Set in a small town, where everyone knows everything about everyone, and she was the "bad girl" in high school, can she survive long enough to help out her family, and maybe help herself, too?

Easter Morning

I took this picture on Easter morning at a sunrise church service. They had three crosses set up to remind us why we celebrate. It was a beautiful morning. The sun was just coming up, and it was lightly drizzling, which didn't bother us. Especially because behind us, there was a huge and perfect rainbow. Two symbols of God's promises on one day. You can't see that and not be amazed. ♥

High Flight

This is my favorite poem. It was written by John Magee, an American who joined the Canadian Air Force during the Battle of Britain, because the United States hadn't joined in the fighting. He was inspired to write this poem as he was flying his Spitfire over England at 30,000 feet, and once he landed he finished it and sent it in a letter to his parents. He died in 1941, at age 19, only a few months after writing this.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds,

And done a hundred things you have not dreamed of -

Wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.

Hovering there, I've chased the shouting wind along,

And flung my eager craft through the footless halls of air.

Up, up the long delirious burning blue

I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or ever eagle flew.

And while with silent lifting mind

I've trod the high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand,

And touched the face of God.

Lost And Found

Have you ever searched for something for a really long time, and when you finally found it, you wanted to jump up and down and scream and dance around the room? I have.

For example, you're in a rush to go somewhere and realize you can't find your keys. It can make you late for a meeting, work, church, anything. And you can't do anything about it except keep looking and praying. And that's what makes the difference. I've seen someone search for their keys for 20 minutes and not find them. Then they decide to ask God to help them find these missing keys, and next thing you know, they're right there in plain sight.

Thinking about this reminded me of the parable of the lost coin:

Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, "Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin." (Luke 15:8-9)

After that, Jesus says:

In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. (Luke 15:10)

Wait a minute. God sees us like the woman saw her coins? YES! He is longing for us, and when we turn (or return) to Him, He is so so happy! Amazing, right? God is excited about you!

Here are two more parables to further demonstrate how much God loves us and wants us to find Him.

The parable of the lost sheep:

Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, "Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep." I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents. (Luke 15:4-7)

The parable of the lost son:

There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, "Father, give me my share of the estate." So he divided his property between them.

Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything , there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

When he came to his senses, he said, "How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men." So he got up and went to his father.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

The son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son."

But the father said to his servants, "Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." So they began to celebrate. (Luke 15:11-24)

Also, if you have the chance, listen to the song The Lost Get Found by Britt Nicole. It's really catchy, and it talks about the same thing I've been writing about.

I hope that if you've lost anything, or if you're feeling lost, you'll pray about it, and you'll find whatever it is you were looking for!

The Christ In Christmas

I love Christmas! The shopping, the fun of keeping what you bought a secret, carolers, jingle bells, dropping your change in the Salvation Army bucket, snow (depending where you live), scarves and hats and gloves and boots (oh my!), great music, concerts, parties, great food... This really is the most wonderful time of the year. But so many people forget the real meaning of Christmas. There's a reason the first part of the word is Christ. I hope you take the time between your shopping and wrapping and decorating and cooking to remember the story of the first Christmas, and to thank God for sending His son Jesus the way He did.

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her. (Luke 1:26-38)

In those days Caeser Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has told us about."

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. (Luke 2:1-20)