COUSINS )

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE: JOHN 20:29

Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

COUSINS

Last Saturday, my cousin Linda and I helped the oil companies. We went on an adventure. Another cousin came in from Texas, so we met him at his sister's home and picked up where we left off some 40 plus years ago. We have crossed paths at funerals, but we have not had time to talk, laugh and remember. Saturday, we took time.

It took about an hour to catch up on - Where do you work? How are your kids? Are you healthy? Been on any trips? Can you believe the price of gas?

Then the remembering started. Remember the feather bed? Remember the door that bent in the middle? Remember the sugar cookies? Remember? Remember? And all of this remembering centered on our Grandma. Grandpa had died when I was two, so I don't have memories of him. Although Doris had a few memories of Grandpa, we all remembered Grandma.

We laughed as Doris said Grandma had told her she should stay home while she was pregnant. We each could close our eyes and see Grandma's home. Picturing each room as if it was yesterday. There was a sawmill behind Grandma's and we remembered the fresh wood smell drifting up the hill. Jim was corrected about the out-house. It was a three-holer, not two. Three holes of various sizes to accommodate various size behinds.

After talking, we went on a scavenger hunt, of sorts. Let's call it a grave hunt. First, we found Grandma and Grandpa. We all knew where they were. Buried right behind them was Great-Grandpa and Grandma. That was as far as I had ever gotten. Then Doris and Jim got silly grins and said, "Let's go."

The next stop was Great-Great Grandpa and Grandma. What a find! But Jim and Doris were not done with their fun. You see, Jim is way into genealogy and Doris and her husband have started taking pictures of tombstones in old, forgotten cemeteries. Guess whom they found.

I met my GREAT-GREAT-GREAT GRANDPARENTS. Now is that a WOW or what? Okay, so I didn't exactly meet them, but in a way, I did. Seeing those stones made them real.

Sometimes we have to meet people to remember them. Sometimes we meet them through stories. Sometimes we meet them in cemeteries.

How do you know God is real? Have you met Him when a gentle breeze blew? Have you met Him as you watched a sunset? Have you met His Son Jesus? Have you met Jesus as you heard the stories? Have you met Jesus at an empty grave?

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

What family stories do you enjoy telling? Have you gotten together with adult cousins and sisters/brothers?

How did you meet God?

Please use this as a beginning of your prayer. Finish in your own words, words from your heart.

LET US PRAY

Hello God, How wonderful to share memories with others. To remember the past. I know those memories are not always good and I ask you to give comfort to your children that cannot look back with joy. I thank you for the memory of ______ (think about a person who has been a positive influence in your life) ____________. I thank you for my faith memories too. Memories of when I felt you beside me. Memories of when I felt your love. Memories of …… Amen

WHERE ARE THOSE FILE FOLDERS?

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE: PSALM 143:8

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

WHERE ARE THOSE FILE FOLDERS?

My knee is better. It is getting less colorful everyday. I am thankful for healing!!!!!

Our office is all set up but everything is backwards. Our previous office was in half of a chicken coop. (I am not sure how to describe this for those unfamiliar with this type of building. Its original use was to house chickens, but the chickens heard we were moving in and found new accommodations. Their old home made us a great office. We did modernize with carpet, paneling, electricity, heat and air-conditioning. Added desks, chairs, file cabinets and we were in business.) Returning to my original thought: Half of a chicken coop is much bigger than the room we designated as an office. That means we had to reconfigure our desk arrangement.

Bill can no longer lay work from his desk onto mine. I can no longer slide emails, mail, letters and questions onto his desk. Our desks no longer face each other. The copier had to be in a different place. Bill cannot find file folders and I had to look for stamps. His new desk does not have a center drawer and that means all his pens and "stuff" he puts in there had to find a new location. I had to put my trays opposite than where they had been for 23 years. Everything seems backwards and difficult to find.

Oh my. My growing faith is like getting a new office. I have to change. I have to learn where to put all the "stuff" I have accumulated in my center drawer (The bad habits. The attitudes I put in there to deal with later. The pictures of my past. The dreams of my future.). My growing faith means I have to look for file folders (Look for answers to my questions. Ways to help others.).

Growing faith means that as I read. As I study. As I learn. As I understand. I have to be willing to turn everything upside down and backwards. I have to be willing to walk in His way.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Are you willing to turn your life upside down and backwards to live the life God has planned for you?

Please use this as a beginning of your prayer. Finish in your own words, words from your heart.

LET US PRAY

My Lord, I do seek your word and I do wrap myself in your love. I do put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go and I will walk in Your way. I lift up my soul and am ready. Ready to …… Amen

MOVING DAY

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 12:1, 4-5, 7

The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

So Abram left, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

…….. So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

MOVING DAY

We have moved. We are in our new home and I can tell you a couple of things. One, the old saying about working your butt off is not true. I have worked packing boxes. I have cleaned the house. I have unpacked boxes. I have put all the pots and pans away. Most of the boxes are unpacked. Know what? My butt is still there!

The other thing I can tell you is that when you step over a box, you want to make sure that your hind leg is going to make it over too. I was unpacking and the phone rang. Of course, I got up to answer it. Stepped the left leg over a box just fine and then forgot about the right leg. The right leg decided to make contact with the box, which means I went flat. Hit my knee and I now have the most colorful knee and calf you can imagine. It is better and more green now than purple.

The move has gone pretty smooth. The opening for the stove was 1/4 inch too small. Got that fixed. Verizon cancelled my internet order without telling me. Got that fixed. And Two Men and a Truck did an excellent job of moving our furniture.

The Lord told Abram to move. Go to Canaan. Pack all your stuff and leave. Poor Abram could not go to the local grocery store for boxes and he could not call Two Men and a Truck. I cannot image moving without boxes, duct tape and a moving van. How did they pack the dishes? Food? (No local restaurants to eat at while their kitchen was out of commission.) The bed? The laundry? The lamp oil? The animals?

We worked on the planning of our move a long time. Where? When? How? Abram was just told to go. And he did! And then he built an altar.

As Bill and I left our home of 23 years, we thanked God for the memories and the blessings. We thanked Him for being beside us in the good times and the rough ones. We then invited Him to go with us.

When we arrived at our new home, we invited God in and said a prayer for the future. For a new adventure. We are not exactly sure what tomorrow will hold, but we are ready.

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

Have you ever moved? Was it an adventure or a chore? Did you work your butt off? Would it be easy for you just to pack up and move to another town or state?

Please use this as a beginning of your prayer. Finish in your own words, words from your heart.

LET US PRAY

Gracious Lord, Thank you for my home. Thank you for walls to keep me safe. Thank you for a roof to keep me dry. Thank you for your love that fills every room. Thank you for a place to rest my head at night. Thank you for …… Amen