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Old Dogs Do Learn

September 1, 2015 By admin

Photo: Mark Barner

I wasn’t a very strict Mom. I had my rules, but if my kids played their cards right, they could often find a way around me.

I got so tired of asking my son to make his bed that I got him a sleeping bag. Somehow that didn’t seem as disorderly when it wasn’t made up. He also got out of having to take piano lessons – I couldn’t stand his whining.

I used to threaten my children that if they left their lunch or homework at home one more day that they would have to go without, but I always ended up bailing them out by delivering their books or lunch to school. And if they ran out of allowance, I was always good for a loan.

But on the topic of college, I was a rock. If it took them 10 years, they were going to finish. One of my daughter’s boyfriends described me as an over-achiever and he was probably right. I always felt like I had something to prove and blamed a lot of my insecurity on not finishing college.

At the time I was offered a M.R.S. in place of a B.S., I was thrilled. I hated school and was pretty awful at it. I think when I finished my third year at Columbia Union College, I may have had a whopping 2.0 grade point average. High school hadn’t been much better. Throughout the years since 1968, I had thought about finishing and had even taken a few college classes along the way. I loved the process of finding out more about a subject and actually retaining some of what I learned, but I didn’t finish my degree.

Then about three years ago, I got a bulk e-mail about online degrees and decided to give it a try. I found a college that would offer me something other than business and computers, a caring adviser helped get me a student loan(s), discovered I had enough credits to begin my junior year – and I was off. And I can’t describe how fantastic it felt.

My classwork consisted of a college course begun and completed every six weeks. I was considered a full-time student, all the while holding down a full-time job and taking some freelance writing jobs along the way, plus authoring a devotional with my daughter for 2006. It hasn’t been easy, but in one month, I graduate with a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in English and Psychology and a GPA of 3.7. Its been expensive, time consuming and at times exhausting. Would I do it again? You bet. My sense of accomplishment is at an all-time high.

Still Growing

Now that I’ve proved I can learn, have my insecurities vanished? Mostly yes, but that had nothing to do with GPA or degrees or the amount of my student loans, it had to do with coming to terms with what makes me worth anything. It’s God’s love and it’s always been there waiting for me to recognize its power. The following verse, with some added personalization, sums it up for me, and it didn’t take a college degree to understand it. “Nothing can ever separate me from His love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. My fears for today, my worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether I am high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate me from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus my Lord” (Romans 8:38).

So, don’t give up on your dreams. Fulfilling them can give you a lot of pleasure and don’t worry about being too old to start. At 58, I figure I’ll die before I pay off my student loans. So keep achieving, but do it because it pleases you. And if it pleases you, you know that the One who will never let you be separated from His love will also be pleased.

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Read more at the source: Old Dogs Do Learn

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Family First.

Camping Together

August 25, 2015 By admin

Photo: Ben C Beuford

Camping is an inexpensive way to vacation with your family, if you remember to keep your focus on the purpose.

I’m cold. It’s 2:00 a.m. I’m supposed to be asleep, but the blow-up mattress underneath me has lost some of its “blow-up.” My wife is huddled in a ball trying to keep warm. Squinting through the darkness I notice in our tent my other children sleeping quietly. I recall their optimism, “Daddy, camping in April will be so much fun! There will be hardly anyone at the campground and…” And it will be cold.

After crawling out from under my sleeping bag, I don a few clothes and step outside for a moment. I stop awestruck. The star-studded sky brilliantly twinkles like a billion Christmas lights overhead. A raccoon darts across the grounds. A few coals still glow silently in the fire pit.

When I slip back into our tent, I search for a few extra jackets to lay over my sleeping cherubs to make sure they stay warm. Children look so innocent when they are asleep. What are they dreaming about? Hiking around the lake? Catching frogs and turtles? Collecting pinecones? Fishing off the dock? Eating a steaming bowl of oatmeal in the cool morning sunshine at the picnic table?

Investing In Memories

I pull on a sweatshirt, toss a coat over my sleeping wife and crawl back into my sleeping bag. As I lay there, I think to myself, “Why am I so slow to learn?”

Earlier in the week I remember thinking, “Camping? In a tent? Those days are gone. I want a motor home! Besides, the kids won’t have much fun. It will probably rain or be cold.” But the excitement and thrill of surviving seemed to create a joy all by itself!

A teacher in college once told me as I sat on his old living room couch, “We’ve decided to invest in memories instead of things.” How true it is! My children don’t want my “things,” they want me. Just being together in our hectic society is a miracle for many families to accomplish.

No, camping isn’t always fun. There are still bee stings and burnt hot dogs. Sometimes it does rain. But who does it bother the most? (Me.) My kids don’t seem to mind as much as I do. They are happily sleeping on the other side of our Wal-Mart “on-sale” tent.

I give the mattress a few puffs of air to keep us from hitting bottom and then wander into dreamland myself thinking, “It takes so little to be happy.”

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Read more at the source: Camping Together

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Family First.

Being Robbed Twice

August 25, 2015 By admin

Photo: Gaston Thauvin

Nancy cried as we unpacked our household goods. I seethed with anger. We’d just moved across the country, and when we unpacked we found dozens of broken items scattered through the boxes: the ornate ceramic cross a friend gave us several Easters before, the framed painting of Jesus, a wooden crèche, a copper jewelry box that held a miniature Bible. We also discovered our gold coin collection was missing along with more than two hundred CDs.

The damage looked deliberate. None of the broken items had been wrapped in protective paper. The movers simply tossed them among other unwrapped items, such as books and metal pans—almost as if they wanted them to break.

“It isn’t fair,” Nancy said later that evening as we ate our supper. I knew what she meant. We’re a military family, and we’ve crossed the country seven times in seventeen years. We’ve left family and said goodbye to church friends, knowing it might be years—if ever—before we would see them again. But we make these sacrifices because we love our country and want to do all we can to protect it. That’s why it hurts all the more when people we serve do what they did.

Two months later, while I stood at a CD rack in a local music store, I spotted a title we’d owned before the move. As I read the cover, a sudden lust for vengeance washed over me. Maybe I could contact the right people and cause the moving company to lose its contract with the military because they hired scoundrels.

Double Jeopardy

But just as suddenly as my anger had flared, it froze, for a new thought crossed my mind: The men robbed you once. Why let them rob you again?

I knew exactly who asked the question, and what He meant by it. A subtle, nearly imperceptible change had occurred in me during those weeks after our move. The pleasure I once received while reading the Bible had nearly dried up. My prayers had become superficial and rote and I had difficulty concentrating on the pastor’s sermons at church. My anger was robbing me of something far more valuable than what we’d lost to the movers.

This was one of those “A-ha!” moments. Light exploded in my mind, breaking through the confusion. God was telling me that in just a few weeks I’d become example number one of His warning about roots of bitterness

Forgiveness has never been easy for me. But at that moment I realized that my willingness to forgive was crucial to my continued spiritual growth. If Jesus forgave those who crucified Him, can I do less when someone steals from me?

Forgiveness frees me to be at peace with God. It frees me to hear from Him, move with Him, to imitate Him. Yet even as I write this, I’m not sure I have forgiven the movers. Perhaps I’ve only fooled myself into thinking I’ve forgiven them, when in reality I’ve simply chosen not to hold a grudge.

I admit that’s not the same as forgiveness, but it’s a step in the right direction. And I can only pray that my ability to really forgive is the next step in my journey toward becoming more like Christ.

Being robbed once is bad enough. I won’t be robbed twice.

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Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Family First.

An Unlikely Answer

August 25, 2015 By admin

Photo: iStock

A Mother’s prayer is answered with jail!

Cheryl told me the story of her oldest son, Brian.

He had grown up a great kid, in fact he had urged the family to go to church when he was twelve. They did. And they didn’t stop, but somewhere along the way he made the wrong friends and got into drugs. Innocent at first, a little pot, but eventually it turned into a hard habit of meth.

Cheryl prayed: “God I need your help. Save my son.”

The answer came. Brian was picked up for possession and ended up in jail. It was so hard for this mother to have her son be in jail. This had to be the worst experience of his life and it was embarrassing to her as a parent, but perhaps God was working.

Imprisoned Yet Free!

He was. Brian came to his bottom. He cried out to God and demanded that He show His face to him that night in jail or he’d give up on Him forever. That night God showed up. Brian said He showed His face to him. He hasn’t been able to explain it, but ever since, Brian has been committed to God. He has continually worn the simple wooden cross around his neck that he was wearing that night. It is a visible reminder that God heard his prayer and He answered.

Jesus did tell us: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Luke 11:9,10).

He’s telling us that for things to happen we need to ask. Cheryl did. Brian did. Do we when we face the impossible? Do we when we face the possible?Today Brian is doing much better. He continues to struggle at times with poor choices and bad habits, but he is always talking about God and to Him. They are close. He’s been seen at church throwing a kiss to God for His love for him. What else can a mother ask for?

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Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Family First.

2014 Forever Faithful Camporee theme song lyrics

July 17, 2014 By admin

Here's the official theme song for the 2014 Forever Faithful International Pathfinder Camporee. Lyrics below: This article continues. Keep reading »

Read more at the source: 2014 Forever Faithful Camporee theme song lyrics

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from A Sabbath Blog.

Old Dogs Do Learn

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Camping Together

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Being Robbed Twice

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An Unlikely Answer

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2014 Forever Faithful Camporee theme song lyrics

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