"Cuddle Up" Valentine's Day Giveaway!

Since tomorrow is February 1st, I'd say it's time to kick off a fun Valentine's Day giveaway! February can still be pretty cold in our neck of the woods so how about a giveaway designed to warm you and your honey up? How about a "Cuddle Up" Valentine's Day Giveaway?!

Here's the deal. You supply the honey and the blanket, and I'll supply the hot drink -- a $15 gift card to Starbucks. Cuddle up with your honey in your favorite spot and enjoy a yummy hot drink, compliments of yours truly. If you don't have a honey handy, how about cuddling up with a good book? Book lovers deserve some fun on Valentine's Day, too, don't they? Get it? Book lovers? Sorry, couldn't resist :)

To be eligible for the drawing, just leave a comment on this post by noon (CST) on Feb. 14th. If I don't know you personally, be sure to include your email address or link to your blog. To add to the fun, tell me what your current favorite hot drink is and/or what book you'd like to cuddle up with next.

I'll start us off. As always, my favorite hot drink is hot chocolate with mini-marshmallows, even though I've been reduced to making it with no-sugar added Nesquick and topping it with only 7 or 8 mini-marshmallows. One of the books I'd most like to cuddle up with whenever I get my hands on a copy is Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore.

Of course, the best book to get close to is the Bible, God's Holy Word. Why? David said it best in Psalm 19:

"The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward." Psalm 19:7-11

Flickr photo by sarniebill1

**Life Notes, my quarterly inspirational newsletter comes out this week. Sign up to the right to receive it free by email!

Small Touches

Sometimes one amazing story after another unfolds during a mission trip. Other times the tale is one of an encouraging pat on the shoulder, God's Word handed out in a fleeting encounter, or simply a cup of coffee offered with a smile. Such is my Beautiful Feet mission trip tale this year. It's a story of small touches.

Of course, the trip held many of the big blessings it always holds -- things like renewed relationships with other area long-time team members, new friendships with first-timers, and sweet reunions with those who minister at Beautiful Feet week in and week out. Also standard were the reminders of just exactly where we were and what life is like in the inner city. This year it was a drug deal going down in the middle of the street right in front of our vehicle as we headed out to the projects to pass out fliers for our backyard Bible club. A few minutes later, it was the bullet holes we saw in one of the front doors we knocked on. This brings us back to another big blessing -- our safety during each trip.

The biggest blessings, however, are the ministry opportunities themselves, even when they're just a series of small touches like mine were this year. I spent the first half of Saturday morning sorting clothes for the homeless before going with a team to nearby neighborhoods to personally invite children to the backyard Bible club. I helped with the 3rd-4th graders that afternoon and then rode the bus with them back to the projects so I could tell them goodbye by name as they got off the bus. Sunday morning I helped serve breakfast in the soup kitchen, and my job was to simply pour milk with a kind word and loving touch into the cups of those who wanted cream with their coffee.

I also got the chance to plant the Word of God into the lives of a few homeless women. I had taken several years worth of Journey magazines (a daily devotional magazine for women by LifeWay) for the Beautiful Feet staff to use however they wished. Mike, the pastor at the Feet, suggested I try to hand out some myself while I was there. So in between my various jobs, I dashed to my stash of Journeys every time I saw a woman I could approach. What a thrill when I saw one young woman pouring over her Journey as I ran to grab a few more to take to a woman waiting out front for me. How I pray that those magazines will make a life-changing difference in the lives of those women whom God loves so much.

I'll probably never know how God will use my brief encounters and small touches from this past weekend. But use them He will. Many times it takes many touches of His love to lead someone to faith or recommitment. Others times, God uses small touches to encourage hurting souls at just the right moment.

And the neat thing? We don't have to go on a mission trip to give these small touches. We can offer them day in and day out, right where we are. We just need to open our eyes and be alert to the opportunities He places in our paths because sometimes small touches make life-changing differences...

"...serve one another in love." Galatians 5:13b

Flickr photo by journeyscoffee

**The next issue of Life Notes, my quarterly inspirational newsletter, will go out next week. Be sure to sign up (to the right) if you haven't already. It's free!

Beautiful Feet Revisited

Since we just got back home from our weekend mission trip to Beautiful Feet, I thought I'd just share a photo and re-run the poem I wrote a few years ago about the Feet (as the locals call it). I didn't take my camera along because I didn't want to risk losing it, but someone took this shot on the trip a couple of years ago.

If you look closely, you can see members of the construction team working on the outside of the building, but on the inside you might see meals being served, clothes being sorted, worship services in progress, people praying together -- in other words, the body of Christ at work.

As you read the poem, I think you'll get an even better picture of what Beautiful Feet is like. Enjoy -- and praise God with me for this beacon of hope in inner city Ft. Worth!

Beautiful Feet

There’s a place in Ft. Worth called Beautiful Feet
A place known by all who live on the street,
A hot lunch for free can be found there each day
After food for the soul is served up some way.
You see it’s not just a place, instead it’s a church
Where many find themselves beginning their search
For some shred of hope, a way out of their pain,
For love and acceptance instead of disdain.
Beautiful Feet is a light in a dark lonely world
A beacon of hope like a flag unfurled
For God’s people show love to one and all,
For Jesus is the One upon whom they call.
There are those who serve faithfully day after day,
And those who come yearly to work, share, and pray.
Each one sees God’s power heal and redeem,
The lost and the hurting become part of the team.
Each year Kansas comes the talk is who is blessed more
Those in Ft. Worth or the Kansans galore.
They truly feel like family, the bond is oh so sweet
For God is the Father at Beautiful Feet.

"As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'" Romans 10:15b

Sanctuary and Shelter

With life on a more even keel for us this January than the last, Don and I will be joining others from our region this Friday on a weekend mission trip to Beautiful Feet, a church that ministers to the homeless and inner city population in Ft. Worth, TX. For nearly 30 years, Beautiful Feet has offered a welcoming and safe haven to many needy and desperate souls. We feel blessed to be a part of their ministry every now and then.

Even though Beautiful Feet is a church and not a homeless shelter, it provides sanctuary and shelter in both physical and spiritual ways. Years before I became acquainted with Beautiful Feet, I wrote the following poem one winter as I thought about the plight of the homeless. As you read it today, please pray for the homeless -- and for those who serve among them. And pray for our team this weekend, please!

Sanctuary and Shelter

Cold winter night
And I’m in my home,
Warm sanctuary and shelter.
Snow slashes through biting winds
While darkness drives the temperature down,
I look outside and shiver.
Oh God, thank You for my home.
My thoughts then fly to those
Who have no home,
Those living in the streets.
Real people, real suffering,
Real needs too many to number.
Lord God, help me to know
What I can do,
How I can give,
Where I can be Your servant.
And in Your faithful servants, Lord,
May they see You
And find
True sanctuary and shelter.

"You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat." Isaiah 25:4a

**The next issue of Life Notes, my quarterly inspirational newsletter, will come out in early February. Sign-up is on the sidebar.

Flickr photo by RodneyRamsey

Looking Back...and Thanking God

My last post found me looking ahead, but today I want to spend a moment looking back. Some of you may remember that this time last year we were in the midst of a season of increased demand.

Don's mom lay in the hospital with renal failure, and the doctor didn't expect her to live. He forgot, though, that she's a gal who doesn't go down without a fight. Yes, she beat the odds. She's alive today, and even though she has to have infusions five days a week at the hospital, she's in a fairly stable spot now. (I'm almost afraid to say that out loud -- don't want to jinx it!)

I thank God that He's allowed her to enjoy more of life. More time to see her kids. More outings to Pizza Hut. A chance to see our daughter Kelli's engagement ring... I'm beyond grateful that God made it possible for her to continue to live in her assisted living apartment. I'm thankful that my current season of increased demand has more to do with weddings and joy than with sickness and sorrow. For all of this and more, today I'm looking back... and thanking God.

I invite you to do some looking back of your own. What mighty thing(s) has God done for you this past year? Please share -- let's praise and thank Him together!

"It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me." Daniel 4:2

**The next issue of Life Notes, my quarterly inspirational newsletter, will come out in early February. Sign-up is on the right sidebar.

Flickr photo by RichardO

Looking Ahead

Once again, I'm thinking months ahead. That's the life of a writer for you.

Writers are always looking ahead, writing seasonal material months in advance. During the heat of summer, we're doing our best to slip into a holiday frame of mind, trying to conjure up all kinds of Christmasy feelings and capture them on paper. Right now I'm thinking May as I work on Mother's Day submissions for Blue Mountain Arts.

Each editor, publication, and project has its own editorial calendar with its own deadlines. As writers, we have to look ahead and stay on top of the ones we're interested in, or we lose the opportunity to have our work considered. We've got to keep future dates in mind and work to be prepared.

It helps to look ahead and be prepared in our personal lives, too, doesn't it? Each season of life has its own deadlines, so to speak. We go to college to be prepared to enter the work force and provide for our families. When our kids are born, we start college funds so we can be ready to put them through school. We try to prepare for the empty nest by investing in our marriages and pursuing personal interests. We save and plan for retirement so our kids won't be forced to support us one day. We look ahead. We prepare. If we don't, someone suffers the consequences.

What about in our walk with the Lord? What can we do to be spiritually prepared for life's changes and challenges? I've found no better preparation than being in the Word of God day in and day out. In Colossians 3:16, Paul said, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly...", and we can do that by reading and studying our Bibles, by memorizing and meditating on scripture, and then by living it out in our daily lives.

If we prepare by planting the Word of God in our hearts, the Holy Spirit will faithfully bring to mind the truths, wisdom, and encouragement we need as situations arise. Jesus said, "'But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.'" (John 14:26)

So let's look ahead. Let's not only be prepared in our work and personal lives. Let's be ready in our spiritual lives as well. If we don't, we'll surely suffer the consequences.

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." Psalm 119:105

**What suggestions do you have for being spiritually prepared for life's challenges?

Holed Up

One of the joys of working from home is not being forced to leave my cozy house to brave deep freeze temps like we've been experiencing lately. If I want to stay put I can -- and that's exactly what I've done this past week. Until this morning, the only times I've ventured out is when it's been absolutely necessary.

The arctic weather isn't the only reason I've been holed up, though. After December's demands and two out-of-town trips over the holidays, I needed some catch-up time and a bit of a slower pace. I needed to be at home.

Don't get me wrong. I haven't been lounging on the couch eating bon-bons -- though that sounds pretty good :) No, I've faithfully worked on some writing projects this week, but I've also spent time taking care of the stuff of life that needed my attention and haven't pushed myself to do extra things. And I've got to admit it's been a welcome change after the past several weeks.

Have any of you been holed up this week, too? I've found that whether we're forced to stay put due to weather or we choose to sequester ourselves for some regrouping or restoration, we usually feel ready to break out after a time and experience life in the greater world again. We get rested, recharged, and... a little stir crazy :)

It's not so different in our spiritual lives. There are times when we need to slow down and catch up a bit. Times when we need to hole up and be "at home" with the Lord. If we'll take that time, I bet we'll find ourselves feeling rested, recharged, and...yes, a little stir crazy. Ready to do the work God calls us to do with fresh energy.

So where are you right now? Feeling a little stir crazy or are you needing some time to hole up? Wherever you are, whatever you do, do it with the Lord. He faithfully offers a welcome change!

"he said to them, 'Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.'" Mark 6:31b

Flickr photo by Muffet

Our Guide

Our kids have a way of surprising us on Christmas. This year after we had opened all the gifts, they pulled out one last one from behind the tree. Something from all of them to both me and Don. We couldn't imagine what it was and never would have guessed it in a million years. It was a TomTom! A GPS system for little ole us, their travel-challenged parents :)

We had our first chance to use it on our way home from Kristin and Shawn's this past weekend. Since they've just moved to a new city, we don't have the route home mastered yet so the TomTom was just what we needed. As we waved goodbye and headed out, we hung on our new guide's every word, giggling and murmuring amazement at the cool map and all the info now at our fingertips. The true test would be if we could actually follow her directions :)

When we reached a long stretch of interstate driving, our TomTom companion quieted down, and so did we. Don drove in silence as I worked on my journal of wedding planning notes. Now that the holidays had officially ended, it was once again time to try to wrap my mind around wedding details.

Engrossed in our respective tasks, we forgot about the TomTom -- until much later, that is, when our new traveling companion spoke up and nearly scared us to death. We both jumped like we had been grabbed from behind and then followed that with a good laugh at ourselves.

When we reached Kelli's town, we veered from the TomTom's route to meet Kelli, Jake, and his family for a late lunch. We wondered if little Miss TomTom would try to correct us, and she immediately began giving faithful direction based on our wayward location. Of course, we were in familiar territory now and didn't need directions, but we LOVED knowing that we would have help from now on when we take wrong turns or miss an exit.

As children of God, we have another Guide who stands ready to help us when we take wrong turns and have no idea what to do next. The Holy Spirit resides in every believer and faithfully speaks words of direction if we'll only listen and heed the instruction and nudges He gives.

Like me and Don hanging on every word of our new TomTom, God wants us to listen for Him each step of the way. He longs to be our Guide. He wants us to turn to Him for wisdom long before we take wrong turns and find ourselves in desperate need of course correction. The true test will once again be if we actually follow the directions given. Anyone else up for the challenge? Anyone else ready for all the cool info He has in store for us?

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.' Isaiah 30:21

Dream Sharing

With the arrival of the New Year, have you allowed yourself a few minutes yet to think about your dreams for the coming months? Most folks consider what their goals may be, but I think dreams have an added dimension, a depth of emotion, that business-like goals may lack. Dreams hold a piece of our hearts.

One of my dreams this year is to give our daughter Kelli and our son-in-law-to-be Jake a wonderful wedding celebration -- and memory -- they will treasure for the rest of their lives. I can think of several specific goals I need to work towards in order to bring that about, but the overarching dream, the desire of my heart, is to bless them. Yes, my heart is stamped all over this dream.

I have other dreams, too, and though not all can be shared publicly, I can share them with God. And so can you. He knows us, and He knows our dreams. The psalmist David said, "O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar... Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord." (Psalm 139:1-2, 4)

I can think of no one better than God with whom to share our dreams. Have you talked to Him about yours lately? If not, take a few minutes for a dream sharing session with our Heavenly Father -- and if you have time, leave a comment and share a dream that your heart is stamped all over. Let's give the phrase "Dream Team" a whole new meaning!

"...pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge." Psalm 62:8b

Flickr photo by Patrick Doheny