Car Prayers

Posted on April 22, 2016 by Lynn

psalms-5-3As I travel into school each day I have twenty-five minutes where I can talk to God as He sits beside me in the passenger seat.  It is a wonderful time of fellowship as I have my morning conversation with Him and ask for His daily mercies and ask for His wisdom and guidance for my day in the classroom.  There are days I wish I could take a much longer drive because I want our “talk” to go on longer, and then I remember I have a twenty-five minute drive home so I can take up the conversation again then.

I’m certainly not an expert on prayer.  I have read many books on the topic but sometimes when I read books on prayer I always feel like I’m doing it wrong.  I don’t use a “formula”, I just talk to God and I know He listens.

There are days I do most of the talking.  There are other days I start the conversation but He begs me to just listen and look.  His voice is soft, I have to stop talking to hear Him.  That’s not easy for me!  Still, as I watch the sun rise as I drive to work, I am reminded that “His mercies are new every morning” and I thank Him because that is not something to be taken for granted.  I see the wheat fields and the cattle grazing on the hills and I praise Him that He provides “my daily bread”.  Most mornings I see white-tailed deer but some mornings I will catch a glimpse of a moose hiding in a thicket of trees by the side of the road and I gasp at a marvel of nature reminding me that “…the animals, they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you.  Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?  In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.” (Job 12:7-10) 

I love it when God reveals Himself to me through His Creation!

As I praise Him and pray for my family, my students, and friends, I know I don’t need to tell Him what they need, He knows.  I don’t have to go into a lot of detail about what I need, He knows, but He doesn’t mind that I talk to Him about it anyway.  Sometimes I try to tell Him what to do, but He’s gracious and patient with me and let’s me talk and then He does what’s best even though it may not be exactly what I wanted.  I’ve learned it’s not MY will to be done it’s His!

I read this quote recently: “Prayer is like the dove that Noah sent forth, which blessed him not only when it returned with an olive-leaf in its mouth, but when it never returned at all”.  I love Dove analogies for obvious reasons, but this describes my prayer life pretty well…I will keep praying, in the car, at home, anywhere and I know with every prayer I lift before Him, I am well-blessed!

 

 

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Staycation

Posted on April 14, 2016 by Lynn

LightUntoMyPath%20-%20BibleI remember having to write numerous essays on “How I spent my Summer Vacation”.  As an English teacher I told myself I would never assign that kind of tedious writing assignment to any of my students.  Still, I do enjoy asking my students what they did over the holidays and most recently what they did over the Easter Break.  I already know that many went travelling, and there will be many more who just stayed at home and had what we like to call a “Staycation”.

On April 1st my cousin’s daughter arrived for a visit from Denmark.  She has already been to New Zealand and Bali and Canada is her big stop before heading back home at the end of May.  We have spent the past week, showing her the sights near to our home and seeing the beauty of Alberta afresh through her eyes.  Scenery we’ve taken for granted, she finds breath-taking, and we gain new perspective on the beauty around us.  Truly we are blessed!  We spend time comparing her world and culture in Denmark, to our world and culture here in Canada.  She asks us questions about Canada, that I have to “Google” answers for because I honestly do not know everything about this big country of mine.  I’ve learned things about Alberta I’ve never known before as we play tour guides and we lead our enthusiastic tourist around with us.

I remember when I lived on the west coast that even though I lived near the ocean, I did not spend a lot of time by the ocean shore.  It’s interesting that when we visit the coast now, I am drawn to the ocean and can not get enough of it!  Living near the Rocky Mountains now, with a spectacular mountain view just outside of our front door, there are days I barely give it a passing glance.  Our Danish guest has taken so many pictures of our view over the last few weeks that I look upon the view with renewed interest.  Seeing the ordinary in our lives through the eyes of someone else makes it extraordinary!

I am currently teaching a series of lesson plans on the Miracles of Jesus.  I am having my Grade Six students retell the stories creatively through art, video or PowerPoint and I am sure that I will gain a whole new appreciation for the familiar stories that have read so many times.  Just like the beauty of nature that surrounds us daily, taking time to appreciate creation around us, I pray that I will always take time to appreciate the beauty that is also found in Scripture.  I pray I will not take the precious Bible stories for granted, but see each story with fresh perspective and enjoy a “Staycation” at home in the Word!

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”  Psalm 119:105

 

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I’m No April Fool!

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Lynn

It is no secret that I am NOT a fan of April Fools’ Day.  In fact, I don’t really care for practical jokes at any time of the year.  I suppose it 1459274939738stems from the first time I was pranked, bullied was a more accurate description in high school, when older girls thought it funny to pick me up and throw me into a large garbage can on April Fools’ Day.  They may have thought it hilarious…I did not!  Then, my first year teaching in a public junior high school a boy, who for approximately 10 seconds lost all sense of rational thought about the consequences of his actions on April Fools’ Day, decided to drop a raw egg on my head when he walked by me.  Although he towered over me, he cowered as I “explained” the seriousness of what he had just done and the principal backed me up later.  Let’s just say no one was laughing then.

Today I received an email sent to me from someone claiming to be from the Apple iTunes Store.  It was a copy of a receipt for close to $150.00 claiming I had purchased movie rentals from Apple and they were confirming my purchase.  “Issues with this transaction?” it read,”Click the link below to get a full refund.”  Well, obviously I had all kinds of problems with that kind of purchase but I refused to click on the link and immediately called the good folks at Apple Support.  Sure enough this is considered a “phishing” scam.  Ne’er-do-wells who get people panicked about a large charge on a credit card and then when an unwary person reacts by clicking the link, they have ways to access your personal information.  Luckily, I’ve just taught an intensive course on online safety to my Grade Sixes over the past few months so I consider myself pretty savvy about this type of stuff.  Still, it got my heart racing.  I despise online hoaxes and people who nefariously look for “easy” targets online.  I may not have fallen for their trickery, but there are bound to be others who will fall for the ruse.

So on this April Fools’ Day, I just want to impart a bit of wisdom to those who spend time online but may be vulnerable when it comes to online safety.  Here are some online safety tips so you won’t be played the fool today or ANY day!

  1. Ensure you have the latest security software for your computer.
  2. Secure your accounts by having long passwords with a combination of capital and lowercase letters , numbers and symbols.  (I know it’s a pain to remember passwords, so if you’re like me and constantly forgetting passwords, write them down on a piece of paper and file it away from your computer.)
  3. Unique accounts need unique passwords.  (Don’t use the same password for every one of your online accounts!)  Change them all periodically as well.
  4. Ensure that your online presence is also secure especially on social networking.  Set your privacy settings so that you control who sees what about you on Facebook, Instagram etc.  Remember that everything you share online has the potential to be seen by anyone if you don’t control your privacy settings.
  5. Links in email, tweets, posts and online advertising are often the ways cybercriminals compromise your computer. If it looks suspicious, even if you know the source, it’s best to delete it.  If in doubt, throw it out!
  6. When banking and shopping, check to be sure the sites is security-enabled. Look for web addresses with “https://,” which means the site takes extra measures to help secure your information. “Http://” is not secure.
  7. Be a smart shopper online.  Be wary of communications that implores you to act immediately, offers something that sounds too good to be true or asks for personal information.  NEVER give out personal information or send money to a company or someone online without verifying the legitimacy of the source.  Remember: “the enemy prowls around like a hungry lion, waiting to devour.”  (1 Peter 5:8)
  8. Cyberbullying is a crime!  Do not post anything online about someone that you would not want posted online about you!  It’s the “Golden Rule” of the Internet!
  9. Back up your computer regularly and if your computer “dies”, as they all do within a few years of purchase, right :), remove your hard drive before recycling your old computer.  (We dismantle the hard drive ourselves after we’ve backed up any content we want to save and scrap the metal.)
  10. I can’t help but think of Matthew 10:16 whenever I am online: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”  Be wise, and stay safe!
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