FEELING AT HOME . . . WHEN YOU'RE NOT

" Down deep you know you are not home yet.

"So be careful not to act like you are. Don't lower the duffel bag too soon. Would you hang pictures on the wall of a Greyhound bus? Do you set up a bedroom at the roadside rest stop? Do you load your king-size bed on a commercial flight?

"Would you treat this world like home? It isn't. The greatest calamity is not to feel far from home when you are, but to feel right at home when you are not. Don't quench, but rather, stir this longing for heaven."

Max Lucado
Traveling Light
W Publishing  2001
p. 153

My head knows. I wish my heart would catch up.

This earthly place, that I too often complain about, is "not" home. Max Lucado creates great mental pictures to serve as reminders. And . . . he seems to write from a place of knowing.  Not like someone who has watched others pass through the struggles; but like someone who has been there!

Who serves as the greater comforter or encourager? One who is sure he knows the reason and solution to your struggles? Or one who's been there and knows there's a way through--but knows, too, that the way through isn't the same for everyone? 

Growing Toward Home,
Lonnie

LIES! NOTHING BUT LIES!

"Before salvation, Satan tells us we're fine. We don't need a savior. But after we're saved, the accuser points his bony finger at us and tells us we're no good. We don't deserve a savior."

Joanna Weaver
Having a Mary Heart In A Martha World
Waterbrook Press  1999
p. 69

"Na Na-- Na--Na--Na -- I can't hear you Satan, nor do I choose to. Lying is your language and no one speaks it more fluently."

God's Word--a different story. Always true. Never changing. Always applicable.

Do those lies sound familiar to you? What other lies seem to plague your head and heart? What truth/ Bible verses do you replace them with?

EverGrowing,
Lonnie

WOOLWORTH: WORST MORNING OF HIS LIFE

"Without the benefit of advertising, Woolworth opened the door for the first day of business and waited for the shoppers who did not show up. He later said it was the worst morning of his life.

"What he didn't know was that the circus was coming to town that morning, and everyone in town was watching the traditional circus parade. However, when the parade was over hundreds of people found their way to the Woolworths 5 cent store and in no time bought up one third of his stock. In a matter of hours, 2,553 nickel purchases had been made . . .

Woolworth died in 1919 at age 65 and had "amassed a personal fortune estimated at $65,000.000. There were over 1,000 stores around the country . . . including the Woolworth building in Manhattan, then the tallest building in the world, for which he paid $13.5 million in cash!"

Frank H. Olsen
Inventors Who Left Their Brands on America
Bantam Books  1991
p. 57-60

I went through a season of reading about inventors. As I reread this note card, I know why. Inventors were kings and queens of perseverence. Little if anything stopped them. This story of Woolworth reminds me that if I/we can hang on just a little bit longer, we might come face to face with Pleasant Surprise.

Did any of you buy anything from Woolworth's? If so, what? I remember buying a set of 3 porcelain pans for my first apartment.

EverGrowing--Not Always Liking the "Process,"
Lonnie

GOOD THERAPIST? MAYBE NOT.

"I envision people who have given up hope of ever becoming whole experiencing a level of transformation that exceeds their wildest dreams and changing in ways that provoke observers to exclaim, 'Praise God!' rather than, 'Glad you found a good therapist.'"

Larry Crabb
Shattered Dreams: God's Unexpected Pathway to Joy
Waterbrook Press  2001
p. 6-7

I love this!

 I've been to counselors, and definitely feel they have a place in seasons of our lives. But I know this, too; we need God's discernment and His strength to do the homework. And for those hurts so deep that no one can touch . . . God can! To Him be the glory.

EverGrowing,
Lonnie

MINE!

"You are on my land, sir."

"I answered him instantly and in a way wholly unexpected to myself, 'You are breathing my air, sir."

David Grayson/Ray Stanard Baker
Great Possessions
Doubleday, Doran, and Company, Inc  1936
p. 78


Sorry. This little neighbor, trespassing spat makes me smile. I see a younger me screaming, "Mom, Paul's in my room!"

"Shut up," he might well have said, "you're breathing my air."

David Grayson, exchanged the hectic life of the city for a hard but satisfying life in the country. He offered such wisdom, fun, and relaxing gentleness. Grayson and his books were a great find . . . until . . .  

I discovered that David Grayson wasn't real. I was reading novels.  

But a little research revealed that David/Ray wrote from his heart. Even his biographer would say that David Grayson and Ray Stanard Baker morphed into one.

I wrote a children's story a long time ago, about a shy boy named Jacob. Though I wasn't intending to do so, "I" was Jacob. Writing classes often tell us to write what we know. Hmm. I guess we do.

EverGrowing,
Lonnie

YOU'VE GOT 4 MINUTES!

"According to Leonard and Natalie Zunin, co-authors of the book Contact: The First Four Minutes, the way two people communicate during the first four minutes of contact is so crucial that it will determine the way the relationship will continue. They refer to it as breaking the four-minute barrier.

. . . it is the average time it takes to decide to part or continue their encounter."

Quoted by Selwyn Hughes
Bethany House Publishers  1983
p. 67

The first person that came to mind is my supervisor. She is a GREAT 4-minuter! I still remember my first day working with her. I'm sort of shy, but introductions are necessary so I stepped up to her open office door to do so. Besides her huge brown-eyed smile, I saw shelves and shelves of nun figures. Not boxes of this, files of that -- but nuns. "Come on in," she said -- an inviting, genuine, with-hint-of-humor "Come in." She's a great supervisor--no nonsense, yes; but fun. That's a great combo, don't you think?  (And Susan, this blog has nothing to do with my review coming up in a couple weeks.)

I asked my husband, Ray, if he remembered our first "four minutes" of meeting. All he remembers is hugging everyone in the room but me. And I? Same memory; I hugged everyone in the room but him. We didn't want our "liking" to be too obvious. (Where does everyone hug every stranger or non-stranger in the place? A prayer meeting.)

I would love to hear about one of your 4-minute encounters.

Sometimes Growing is Fun,
Lonnie

REASON TO LIVE

"The more I read the Qur'an, the more I realized that the book cannot be from God . . . I am free now. Free from fear. A religion should give mankind a reason to live. Islam gives reasons to die."

Why We Left Islam: Former Muslims Speak Out
Compiled and edited by Susan Crimp and Joel Richardson
WND Books  2008