Christians Start Your Engines

I was driving to work the other morning and I passed the firehouse near my apartment. The fire truck was out in the driveway with all it’s doors and compartments open and it looked like the fireman might be getting ready to wash it. I thought to myself he must be keeping himself busy, how messy can the truck get when it’s not used all the time? (Thank God)
The Holy Spirit reminded me that the firemen have to make sure the truck is always ready to go. He can’t wait until there’s a call to make sure all the equipment is ready. If a house is burning it’s not a good time to make sure the battery is still charged or the tires have air in them. It needs to be ready to move out and put out a fire on a moments notice. The engine of that truck needs to be checked constantly to make sure it can do the job it’s made for, saving lives.
The Lord reminded me that’s how we as Christians are supposed to be.
He brought to mind 1 Peter 3:15 Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
We need to be ready to share about Jesus when we meet people that need to hear about Him. If you meet someone at school and they start asking you about your faith and you can’t answer them what does that say about your relationship with God? If you bring them a CD from your church service that’s good but what will it say about your personal relationship?
It amazes me how many Christians don’t know how to share their testimony. If this makes you feel uncomfortable maybe this is an area you need to spend more time in.
The verse in 1 Peter says be ready to give the reason you have hope.
If ever we lived in a time where people need hope it’s now.
I was watching TV tonight which is something I don’t usually do and here’s why. As I was clicking the channels my choices were stupid shows about celebrities and what time they went to the bathroom or what they had for dinner, nonsense, or the news. The news had one murder after another. I had to shut it off and remembered why I don’t turn it on.
I gotta tell you in those few minutes I became completely overwhelmed with the amount of evil in this world.
I had to remind myself there was a reason I still had hope and that reason was Jesus.
At work yesterday a man came into my office to get a policy and I could tell he was in emotional pain. I started asking him questions to see if he wanted to talk and he did. He told me about his children, 2 in prison and one just got out. He was recently divorced and starting over here in Florida. A few times his eyes filled with tears as he spoke. He was so distraught over the decisions he and his children had made.
I could have just listened to him and told him I felt bad but would he have left with any hope?
Probably not.
I told him I knew from experience what it was like to have a prodigal son and then I shared the reason I didn’t lose hope. I shared the power of prayer with him and the power of God’s love for not just his kids but him too.
I invited him to church and told him about the care groups my church offers on Monday nights. I told him about the large mens group that meets on Tuesday nights and not only would he get a great meal he would have support from other men.
I was ready to share the hope I have.
I’m not patting myself on the back I’m just giving you an example of why you need to keep your engine ready to rescue someone whose burning.
If your not ALWAYS ready then you may need a tune up. What I mean is say something in obedience and give the Holy Spirit something to work with. For example;
A long time ago my oldest daughter was on a plane and there was a man in the seat next to her. She said she knew she was supposed to say something to him but she had no idea what it was so she said the first thing that came out. Can you tell she’s my kid.
She looked at the man and said “The worship leader at my church could be a radio announcer because he has a really deep voice.”
He looked at her like oh great I’m sitting next to a nut job.
This amazing piece of information was in no way going to save a life nor would it give hope for anything, however, she was obedient at putting herself out there and today she is always ready to give a reason for the hope she has in Christ. We have no idea what the Holy Spirit did with that but I'm sure He did something :)
The funny thing is if someone asked you about something you were passionate about like sports or shopping you would have no problem talking to a complete stranger.
So Gems let’s take the verse in 1 Peter seriously. Christians start your engines and let’s give some hope to a world that's so desperate to hear it!

Without Fear

Well Gems it has been another crazy couple of weeks. I was at my parent’s house for my weekly twilight zone experience and my father was freaking out because the clicker (TV remote) was missing again…. He was yelling at me to find it and to look in the front yard or the refrigerator because he knows my mother put it somewhere. She of course is yelling at the same time that she never touched it and that she doesn’t touch anything. Funny thing is I put my car keys on the table and went to check the laundry and when I came back they were gone. Someone, I’m not mentioning any names, had moved them to her purse. Mail, money and other objects have also been missing.
My father has a suspended drivers license, he can’t’ see, but continues to drive. I had to take my mom’s car from her as she too continued to drive after the doctor told her not to. That was way harder emotionally than I thought it would be for both of us.
It’s not natural to be making decisions for your parents and making them do things they don’t want to do.
My father called the sheriff to have me arrested for stealing the car. When the sheriff said he couldn’t arrest me for stealing the car my father changed the charges to trespassing. He then demanded I pick him up another prescription of puffers (inhalers)and bring them over as soon as possible. How he expected me to do this from jail I don’t know…

The worst part was I was hoping the Sheriff would put a scare in my father to keep him from driving the problem was they sent out a rookie. Really nice kid but a kid none the less. My father asked him how long he was on the force and when he answered this was my father’s response “I’ve driven more in reverse than you have forward” he was not the least bit intimidated by this kid. I was feeling completely overwhelmed by them, maybe prison wasn’t such a bad idea.
On Monday morning Kimberly a teller from my mother’s bank called to tell me my father brought my mother into the bank and demanded all the accounts be closed. I could just picture him with a bandanna over his face waving a fake pistol in the air. My mother has alzheimer's, if she had any idea what he was saying she would have slapped him. They finally had to agree to give him a withdraw from the account to get him out of the bank. I later spoke to a woman at his bank who also had a run in with the masked man demanding money from his account. When the teller asked what he was going to do with it he told her he was taking the money out so his wife wouldn’t know where it was. This confused the teller as his wife was standing next to him.....
They too gave him what he wanted to get him out of the bank.
One of the many problems with these incidents is this is the money I use to pay their bills.
I was once again feeling overwhelmed because trying to take care of my parents from so far away is not working and I still have not found a solution to this problem.
I sent out an email to my prayer warriors to pray for me. If you don’t have people you can ask to pray for you, get some.
I felt like God wasn’t answering me so maybe He would answer them.
I told my prayer women I was feeling weak and even as I typed it on the page it ticked me off.
The Lord showed me that even though I said He was in control I was relying on my own strength and that strength of course wasn’t cutting it.
The Holy Spirit showed me it was a pride issue for me not wanting to be weak never less admitting it.
When I began to rely on myself it opened the door for fear. Once I realized that, the Lord was able to start speaking. First He spoke through my friend Vangie reminding me that when I am weak He is strong.
Tuesday morning I headed to the VA to speak with a social worker then back on the road visiting assisted living places.
Before I left I grabbed a bag for all my stuff and the writing on the bag was Psalm 34:4 I will walk in freedom not in fear.
This put a bounce in my step and I left feeling way more confident. Nothing in my circumstances had changed but I was feeling a renewed strength as this time I was reminded the outcome was not my job.
The next morning when I got to work my daily calendar said There is no room in love for fear. Well formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life-fear of death, fear of judgment-is one not yet fully formed in love.
1John 4:18
Again God was speaking to me about fear.
That night I got an email from my other prayer warrior Betty with Psalm 91, one of my favorites. If you’re feeling overwhelmed too, read it.
All in all it was God’s way of letting me know He heard me and reminding me not to fear just do what I can and leave the rest up to Him.
I don’t know about you Gems but I seem to have to keep reminding myself of that.
I have another doctor appointment next week for my father and I can only imagine what that day will be like. I don’t know the outcome but I do know I will begin and end the day without fear.
To be continued..............

Sanctity of Human Life

Wanted to recognize Sanctity of Human Life Sunday so I'm sharing a poem with you I wrote when I was the President of Life's Choices of Lake County along with a picture of the founding board members. What a great group of women I was honored to serve with. Please give to the crisis pregnancy center near you and let's all be a part of the healing.

Forgiveness for Abortion

She stands there alone and scared

Such a deep secret inside

Who can she count on, who can she trust

Who will stand by her side?


They say it’s quick and painless

Won’t take but 5 minutes to end

What they don’t tell is the trauma you’ll carry

That you don’t share not even with a friend


You thought about giving it away

But what kind of woman is she

That gives birth to a precious baby

Then sends it away for the whole world to see


We make you feel bad to give your baby away

Worse should you choose to end his life

But no one is giving the answer

To what society will say is right


So you carry your sin and your pain

Hoping no one will ever find out

Then one day Jesus reminds you

His son died for you, yes, you count


So you offer your lost baby to Jesus

And he heals your open wound

And he hopes that you’ll help others

To shut the door of abortions tomb.