Stumbles

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Lynn

This weekend we have the pleasure to have our two grandbabies over for “sleep-overs” when their parents go to a conference out of town.  It will be the first time I have BOTH my “babies” overnight and I’m a little excited!  That said, I also know it will be an exhausting weekend.  I’m just not as young as I used to be…I can admit that!

Last week, my grandson was over for a few hours and his three year old giggles and grins just melted my heart.  My husband thought it would be fun to throw a big float toy into our pool and tow Jaxon around so he could pretend he was a pirate on a boat.  “Again!  Again!” he yelled at my husband as my husband pulled the rope to tow him around the pool.  Jaxon would have played that game for hours but my husband petered out.  He’s not as young as he used to be, but he won’t admit that 🙂

Our house has always been a place of giggles and splashes!  We have an indoor pool that served for a time as our church’s baptistery before our church had its own building.  I often remark that the water is “Holy” water.  We’ve hosted birthday parties and youth pool parties, grad parties and my son even got tossed in the pool by his buddies at his engagement party!  It’s not really a party until someone gets tossed in the pool I guess.

Several years ago my youngest daughter, Carmen and two of her friends were doing an assignment for school that required a video camera, a pair of “magic” flip flops, and a willingness to fall into the pool.  The premise for the project was to do a commercial for a product not yet invented.  The three fourteen year old girls had at first decided to invent an “Invisi Boy”…an invisible…and so perfect…boyfriend.  They decided against the idea when they realized he was too hard to invision!  Hahahaha!

I gave a suggestion to them, knowing how my youngest child Carmen had (still has) a propensity to trip over anything and everything, that they should “invent” a pair of shoes that when they wear them they immediately become “graceful”.  That seemed to go over extremely well, especially when they started to think about how funny filming the pratfalls would be.  Of course it was my Carmen who thought about using the pool as a greatest pratfall prop.  She immediately volunteered herself to be filmed “accidentally” falling into the pool because of her extreme clumsiness.  I think they had to do at least fifty takes to get the action just right.  Poor, poor water-logged Carmen!

They chose a pair of flip flops to be the miraculous transforming shoes to give them grace whenever they put them on.  Again, their first choice was a pair of high heels but Carmen vetoed that idea immediately realizing the chances of her appearing “graceful” in heels was slim.  She stood more of a chance in flip flops!

And so for the next two hours all I heard was splashing and giggles and on occasion uproarious laughter from the three girls.  Kaylee, the videographer capturing the wild antics of Carmen and Breeana as they “acted” in the commercial.  I never did see the final edit, but no doubt it was hilarious!

I actually tripped over a pair of Carmen’s flip flops this morning in the front entranceway and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud remembering how ones like these were supposed to be the “magically transforming graceful shoes” from yesteryear.  As I picked them up and put them safely back in the front closet I was reminded of the many stumbles I have taken in life.

How many times have I tripped up?  How often have I tried to go my own way, trying to balance precariously on shaky footing only to trip and do what I call an “epic fail”?  My epic fails may not be seen on YouTube, but I am very aware that I have an audience and at times that causes me great shame.  God watches me and He sees me when I fall, mess up, and face-plant in the dirt.   Yet He does not leave me in the dust.  He kindly rebukes me for trying to walk the path of life on my own and then His Love transforms me!

So I stumbled upon this scripture this morning: “See I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”  Romans 9:33

Now if I can just prevent one of the grandbabies this weekend from pushing me into the pool!

Posted in Family Life, Inspiration & Devotion, Proverbs 16:9 - Journey Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Friday Funnies – Church Bulletin Bloopers

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Lynn

churchsignLast week I posted funny things kids say in church…well I can’t forget the adults.  Here are some great Church Bulletin Bloopers!  Enjoy!

Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.

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Bertha Belch, a missionary from Africa, will be speaking tonight at Calvary Methodist.  Come hear Bertha Belch all the way from Africa.

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Ladies, don’t forget the rummage sale.  It’s a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don’t forget your husbands.

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The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.

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Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community.  Smile at someone who is hard to love.  Say “Hell” to someone who doesn’t care much about you.

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Don’t let worry kill you off – let the Church help.

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Miss Charlene Mason sang, “I will not pass this way again,” giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

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For those of you who have children and don’t know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

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Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir.  They need all the help they can get.

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Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions.  She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Jack’s sermons.

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The Pastor will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing: “Break Forth Into Joy.”

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Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church.  So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

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A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall.  Music will follow.

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The Author of Life

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Lynn

Once upon a timeMy house is slowly but surely crumbling into disarray.  I see dust bunnies scurrying with wild abandon under my coffee table only to gather in little “burrows” in every corner of my room.  My foster pup, Samson, hasn’t been put out in hours…his little feet are pitter pattering on the floor…he’s trying to get my attention.  Does he want to play or is he desperate to relieve himself?  I haven’t put on my makeup, brushed my hair…gasp…I haven’t even brushed my teeth yet!  I haven’t washed the dishes in the sink, or thought about what to make for supper and I haven’t set foot outside in days.  Was this the life I pictured when I decided to write books?

I am buried in the plot created in my own mind.  I can’t let it go.  When I sleep I think about it, when I am awake I think about it.  I have created a world of characters that have become real to me…I’ve even thought I should see if they have profiles on Facebook.  That’s how real they seem.  I have seen the inside of their homes, I have met their parents, I know their thoughts and I know what they are feeling.  I feel like I know them better than my own children at times because I know what they will say or do before they say it or do it, and if I don’t like it I can change their actions by a simple use of a delete or backspace key.

It is the oddest feeling of supernatural power being a fiction writer.  I can make the characters be good, evil, mute, emotional, dull, irresponsible or responsible.  I have ultimate power over their actions….mwhuuuuhahaha….I feel almost…divine!!

It’s a scary thing this power!

I am so happy that I am limited to enact this “divine power” in the somewhat safety confines of the pages of a book.     What would the world be like if I had this kind of influence, if I had this kind of absolute power over real people I came into contact with every day?  If I made a mistake that destroyed their character I couldn’t just delete the words or backspace for a do over.

Today I rediscovered Psalm 139, “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.  You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways….I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

I may consider myself to be a writer but He is the Author of Life!  He leads us, He directs our steps, He loves us and He weeps for us when we go our own way.  He also never makes mistakes!  (Psalm 145:17)  God does not use delete on us, (even if sometimes our actions may deserve it), instead He picks up the storyline, exactly where we may have left it and helps us rewrite the plot, not so we get the glory but so that He does!

So while I continue to fumble for the correct words and phrases to use as I write Heal the Wounded, the sequel to Shoot the Wounded, and erase and backspace to my heart’s content until the characters and plot line are just right, I am thankful that the Lord perfected MY LIFE STORY from the beginning of time.  “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

(This post was originally published on March 9, 2010 and won a Canadian Christian Writing Award that year.)

Since that posting, I not only finished the sequel Heal the Wounded to my debut novel Shoot the Wounded, but wrote and published the final book in the Wounded Trilogy, Love the Wounded. 

Posted in Inspiration & Devotion, Proverbs 16:9 - Journey Thoughts, Scripture Study, Write On! | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment