Boojoyful

January 30-31 Invasion is defined as:the incoming or spread of something usually harmful; or the act of invading. Invade is defined:to enter for conquest. A blustery snow storm has invaded our part of the country and presently the snow is invading our lovely screen porch and piling up outside our bedroom door like I have never seen! I love it though! Praise God for gas logs and a warm house and please pray for this area to not loose power. The prepositional phrase "of something usually harmful" really caught my eye in the invasion definition. I just got off the phone with a dear, dear friend of thirty-three years. Infection had invaded his father's health and took his life last night. Yesterday, I was able to spend a wonderful afternoon with another "old" group of friends, two of whom are battling the invasion of cancer in their bodies. They now endure chemo treatments in hopes that drug will invade and conquer the cancer cells.Another email came telling of a y...

January 29 My middle school students are reading The Secret Garden . In yesterday's discussion one of the poignant questions was... Does Mary like herself? The thought provoking answer..."No." Immediately a couple students piped in they that didn't like themselves. The beauty of being in a Christian school is being able to bring God into our discussions. "Who created you?" I inquired. A rapid choral response of, "God" resounded throughout the room. "Well, isn't it rather insulting to tell Him you do not like what he created?" Whew, you could see the brain waves running through their heads! For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 The same day our study guide had us discussing pruning and how new growth comes from this process. Ouch, snip, snip, cut, cut! I wish he'd cut some of my tummy away in the process. I kid you not, this morning I pick...

January 27-28 Sorry I was missing in action yesterday. One of our sons came home Monday night and surprised me, bring a precious new girlfriend, whom we had never met along! I tried to squeeze too much into a 24 hour period! Opportunity is a word which has been popping up in my life the past four days in various ways. You know, one of those confirmations God is speaking to you. I am rushing frantically to get to school on time, but wanted to share a taste of what I've been experiencing. Here is a definition of opportunity. Opportunity : a favorable juncture of circumstances Notes from a sermon I heard Sunday are below and there she is...good ole "opportunity". Then yesterday the mother of a student at our school sent me a wonderful card of encouragement and on the front was a quote about...yes, "opportunity" and this verse: Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galatians 6:10 ...

January 25-26th Do you remember the girl who turns as blue as a blueberry in Willy Wonka? She is the really spoiled one who blurts out the line... "I want it now!" Today I was talking to a woman who works in an OBGYN office. She was sharing about women who take birth control because they do not want to have children and then things change in their lives and they come in wanting a baby "right now". "Unfortunately," she explained, "it rarely works out that way." Later I thought about our relationship with God. For years we go along on our own, not wanting to be bothered with God or spiritual life all together. Then a crisis arises and we are calling out to God to show up right at that moment. The best part of the story is how much God wants us to find him, right now! May these words of Paul brighten whatever journey you are on today! Acts 17:22-28 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in ...

January 22-24 We are studying the various types of "love" in our Bible class. Eros, Agape, Philo Eros love is the love that is to be shared between a husband and a wife and can be emotional. The word, "erotica" comes from this word. You may think "Philo" is a pastry dough, but in the Greek this is "brotherly love". Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love. It means, "if you love me; I'll love you in return. Agape love is Christlike love. It's a love that gives without expecting anything in return. Whew, that is the best of the best and the building blocks for enduring love. Think of the three little pigs and what lasts. Eros love; it will only last as long as you have an emotional or sexual contact. Philo love requires a person to give love in return. Agape love will last forever - because it expects nothing in return and has no conditions that come with it.

January 19 With yesterday being a school holiday, today is like a Monday. Before my eyes even opened a sense of dread for the longevity of the week set in. The feeling of facing the "same ole, same ole" things which work brings hung over me like a cloud. Yesterday, I told my husband I just couldn't shake a sense of oppression. Then we looked at what had surrounded our weekend...the news reports from Haiti, a trip to the urgent care for a knee injury my husband incurred on Thursday, mounting repair expenses on household items, huge financial needs for both Christian schools we are involved in and a phone call informed us the sons of two families we know who were great friends had gotten in a fight and one killed the other. Ugh, that is a load. But praise the Lord His mercies are new every morning. Soon a gorgeous sunrise will break through the darkness and I will walk into a building and twenty-two bubbly students will enter in, full of hope for their futures. They will be...

January 21 NO WAY! Have you heard the younger generation bolster out this response when they are amazed by a friend's comment? This morning I was "No waying" God. People often ask how I've come up with something to write everyday for ten years. The answer is simple...I pray and God provides. A couple days ago God had given me the title "Grumble to God" concerning a specific incident which I will share about in a bit. I set it aside not feeling led to use it yet. This morning God gave me the word "glory" and when I searched "glory" on Biblegateway, "grumble" joined in on the first verse which popped up! "No, way!" you say. "Yes, way!" Check it out! Exodus 16:6-8 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, "In the evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we...

January 20th My morning prayer began like this today.... "Father, thank You for today; I think????" Then I laughed. That is faith, thanking God for the day before it even happens! I tend to like to get right to the end result. Traditional rug hooking is a relatively new hobby for me and I find myself wanting to forgo the prep work of tediously threading the needle on the sewing machine and stitching around the canvas to keep it from unraveling. I'd much rather get right to the bold color center piece of the project than work on outlining or backgrounds. So far I have hooked six pieces and I have yet to put on the finishing touches where you add binding tape and whip stitch all the edges. Considering the terms involved with rug hooking, I began thinking about the end result of how we want to see others hooked on Jesus. There are fabulous evangelists, such as Billy Graham, who can share Christ in a minute and you are ready to accept Him as Savior. For most of us the reality...

January 18 Tonight you're mine completely. You give your love so sweetly. Tonight, the look of love is in your eyes, but will you love me tomorrow? Oldie lyrics from my past. Not sure who even sang this, but I knew exactly where God was going with this on my mind! The "Sunday Sitters" look so pretty in their pews. Pick them up and stick them into Monday's workplace and is there a match of behavior. Will singing praise, lifting the name of Jesus on high and bowing our heads in prayer carry over into our everyday life? Substituting for a middle school Sunday School class, which was a bit out of control (until they realized they were tangling with middle school pros), my husband and I appreciated the honesty in the answers to the questions...raise your hand if you here this morning because you want to be instead of being made to come. Raise your hand if you believe God is real? My husband left this group speechless with his final question..."How many of you want to ...

January 16-17 Looking across my bedroom this morning, the round white matting on a series of botanical prints caught my eye and my first thought was "bull's eye". Clueless to how that could play into a devotional I went on with my personal Bible study. The first verse I came across was Galatians 5:16, so I went to Biblegateway to look it up and there, staring me in the face on the home page was....you guessed it...bull's eye! Galatians 5:16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Just as it takes great intent and precision to hit the center of a target, it takes intentional living to live by the Spirit. He's not a pushy person, but always ready to help when approached. The preceding verses in Galatians chapter five are full of "this is how to live tips" which coincide with the life lived by the Spirit. 13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rat...

January 15 There is a mysterious exchange which takes place in the early dawning moments of each morning in our cove, just yards away from our boat house. My bathroom window gives me an excellent vantage point. Whether the creatures are muskrats or beavers, I cannot be for sure, but if I could see beneath the water I believe I would see them shaking hands (paws, excuse me)as they pass by one another. Swimming from opposite shorelines they meet in the middle of the cove, swim around together for a few moments (exchanging either pleasantries or more likely details of the project on which they are working...please Lord may it not involve eating the floaters beneath our docks). Ha! It would be most appropriate if they each wore hard hats and swam with lunch boxes! Ecclesiastes 4:9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: These critters are obviously involved in team work. They are changing shifts, so the other can get some shut eye. The International team wo...

January 14 Pondering and praying with a friend over a heart wrenching situation the phrase... "I am doing a new thing" came to mind and I shared that with her. It seemed to make such sense for her situation and I praised God for his clarity. The thrill which was lifting my soul didn't come so quickly for her. You see her view of things was from the pit and it was more difficult for the light to get down there to her. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. 1 John 2:8 Forgiveness, restoration and hope were all needed in this person's situation and the Lord kept giving me great verses in my personal quiet time which seemed so applicable to her.Flashing forward a few days from when my conversations with her were taking place...a shocking set of circumstances began to unfold in my own life. "What is going on Father? How could you let this happen?" I questione...

January 13 There are powerful words from within the verses of this Psalm, which speak so directly to what can happen to us in our grief and disappointment. When our hearts begin to hurt the response of our spirit, as a protective measure, can be bitterness. This passage suggests that particular response comes from a "brute beast" attitude influenced by senselessness and ignorance. Yuck. The uplifting alternative requires us to stick out our right hand and then God steps in and goes into action. The verbs used: takes me....guides me. Hooray, even in the toughest of times He is our strength and our portion! There is a way out which does not lead to destruction! Jesus is our "disappointment dumping" ground. Jesus knows how to turn the low points in life around! May he lift you up today! Love, Boo Psalm 73:21-26 21 When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered , 22 I was senseless and ignorant ; I was a brute beast before you. 23 Yet I am always with you; you hol...

January 12 Ha! The ole silent "K" can play tricks with your mind. I was in the church gym where I teach school. The walls are a beautiful "knotty pine". When I began to write this story I was calling it "nutty pine". I am the nut! Staring at the walls, each dark spot reminded me of my sin. I thought of Christ's body and what if each time we sinned another nail was driven into him. There had to be thousands of spots in that gym, but I felt if I looked back on my fifty-three years of live, I could pin a personal sin to each spot. Looking up to the rafters, I noticed four smoke alarms. I stopped and prayed and asked the Lord to sound an alarm in my life whenever I drift towards sinful behavior. The experience was a bit overwhelming. Opening the door to the unheated stairwell, a blast of cold air hit me in the face. Beginning my descent down the stairs I realized the walls were an impeccably perfect white...not a scuff mark anywhere. Then Christ w...

January 11 Raymond, the truck driver mentioned this past weekend, must have thought I was a nut. As we walked to the house with the ice maker, he commented "It's really nice here in the Waterfront." "Oh, we don't live in the Waterfront (a nice country club community nearby)," I replied, "we are not part of a subdivision." He just stared at me. Obviously, thinking I was out of my mind, when my husband arrived he told him that his wife didn't think she lived on the waterfront. Laughingly, my husband explained the name of the neighboring community. Whew, can you imagine what Raymond would have told his wife about me? Our home sits on 900 feet of shoreline with water all around us. Think of the times the disciples must have been a bit confused by what Jesus said. You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. John 14:28 But ...

January 9-10 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 1 John 2:26 Oh did I make a mess of things yesterday. My husband asked me to be certain to be home in time to meet a man bringing a replacement ice maker. The delivery man called and asked if he would be able to get an 18 wheeler down our driveway. "Oh sure." I replied, "We have 5 acres and plenty of room to turn around." NOT. Three hours later, fortunately Moses (our bulldog), my husband's arrival home, and a nice hot cup of coffee had softened driver Raymond's heart a bit as he awaited an enormous wrecker which would drag him 1/2 mile back up our driveway! I felt awful for not knowing better. I felt terrible for the people who would not get their deliveries that day and then sighed a bit of relief when I found out we were the last one on the truck. I offered Raymond any bed in the house if he wanted to spend the night instead of making the long trip back to Richmo...

January 8 We are having a nine week computer course at school and getting all the lap tops plugged in and charge each day is a feat. The proficiency with which those lap tops works depends not only on the fact they are juiced up, but also it necessitates a good wireless connection. Connected is defined: joined or linked together. Our spiritual lives are not so very different from the functioning ability of the computers. We need to be plugged into the Word...getting our "juice" or "fuel" and then we need to stay connected to the Holy Spirit to comprehend how He is leading. John chapter 8 gets pretty blunt and has Jesus speaking about "Children of the devil." I was reading an article by Anne Coulter, which my husband sent me, related to Britt Hume's suggestion that Tiger Woods try Christianity to get back on track. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=35103 This verse jumped out at me as I thought about several situations I have witness lately wher...

January 7 Tonight I am keeping a couple students overnight. One's mother has an out of state medical appointment and we offered to keep him. I hated for him to be alone, so I invited another student to keep him company. Can you imagine if you had to stay with at the "old teacher's" house? The students love to play hide and seek when they are here, so I had that on my mind and started thinking about how God wants us to find Christ. So run along now and look for Him! You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13 I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. Proverbs 8:17 For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the LORD. Proverbs 8:35

January 6 Saying my good mornings to my husband I inquired, "What do you have on for today?" His reply, "SOS. Same ole stuff." It rarely works that way. Something new, something unexpected pops up on most days. That is why we were given this verses! Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:13 In my prayer time this morning I asked the Lord to clean me up, to reveal any areas in my life which needed tweaking or an all out overhaul. He impressed upon my heart to look past the ordinary, the SOS, today in class and look deeply into the hearts of each of my students. To see more than their academic needs, but their emotional and spiritual needs as well. Thinking of the dental tool which scrapes away plaque, I asked God to scrape away anything which might cause my heart to harden and not be attuned to Him. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, ...

January 5th I am laughing at the quote which just came out of my husband's mouth this chilly January morning. "Corduroy works." His office at one of the schools where he is Head Master is in an old building with lots of windows and very little heat! He has to layer up in t-shirts, cashmere, a scarf and his corduroy pants! The second he exclaimed his profound quote I thought of my own... "Jesus works!" He worked a miracle to provide an eternal home for us and He works constantly on our hearts to get us to where we need to be! God is always up to good, he just has to take us on unique routes at times to get us to where he wants us! The word He put on my heart this morning to share was plumage. "Now what are you going to do with that one Father." Whew, am I ever thankful I followed His lead willingly! Plumage wasn't the word at all, but my inquisitiveness over "plumage" is what took me to the online dictionary and for the first time ever I n...

January 3-4 School is delayed this AM because the wind chill has the temperature at a whopping 9 degrees! Why in the world did God think that was a good idea? Yesterday our pastor said instead of a New Year's resolution he would forget to keep, he was challenging himself to answer the question "Why?" concerning every choice he makes. Powerful concept. Considering "why" in relationship to the choices God makes came the most soothing response...all God's decisions are made out of love! THEY'RE BACK! The second I typed those words, my three white birds flew past my window!!!! The other day, I commented on the fact the birds weren't here this year! Wow, it is as if once I exclaimed the power of God's love they flew by to say...."You got it!" Within seconds from their fly by...a huge black crow zoomed past even closer to the house than they were. Ah, the presence of evil always looms as well! ( Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Rom...

January 2 Trophy- something gained or given in victory or conquest. Growing up, whatever the season, my husband and I were involved in a sport! Both of our families had four children and both had basement rooms with shelves full of trophies! I remember, after I was a mom with a basement full of my children's trophies, receiving a call from my father saying he had a box of trophies for me. I'm not sure where they went, but they were never displayed at my house! When it came time for us to move we had boxes and boxes of trophies from our six. What a waste I thought. I think I finally gave them to the local Parks and Rec department to recycle! Last night at the end of the Sugar Bowl, the University of Florida coach, Urban Meyer, held up the winning trophy. Then Tim Tebow, the MVP, recived his trophy. The true trophy of his life could be seen on his "eye black strips" which radiated the scripture reference...Ephesians 2:8-9. For it is by grace you have been saved, throug...

January 1 The lyrics were a no brainer as I awakened and thought about the new year ahead. Onward Christian Soldiers rang out in my mind. A bit of history from Wikepedia reads: "The lyric was written as a processional hymn for children at Horbury Bridge, near Wakefield, Yorkshire. It was originally entitled, "Hymn for Procession with Cross and Banners." According to the Center for Church Music, Baring-Gould reportedly wrote "Onward, Christian Soldiers" in about 15 minutes, later apologizing, 'It was written in great haste, and I am afraid that some of the lines are faulty.' He later allowed hymn-book compilers to alter the lyrics." Onward, Christian soldiers, Marching as to war. With the cross of Jesus Going on before! Christ, the royal Master, Leads against the foe; Forward into battle, See His banner go! Onward, Christian soldiers, Marching as to war. With the cross of Jesus Going on before! At the sign of triumph Satan's host dost flee; On,...