Win a Weekend at Orange Beach

Since the fall of 2014 I have been priveleged to help a precious couple in the fundraising process to adopt two boys from Ukraine!  You can imagine the expense and most people just don't have that kind of money lying around.  So the fundraising continues.

Win a weekend at a FABULOUS condo in Orange Beach, Alabama for only $10 per entry and you will be helping this family raise the funds to bring their boys home.

Here is the link:  http://michelleticedoingithisway.blogspot.com/2015/01/win-2-night-getaway-at-beautiful-orange.html

Be sure to put in the info box "Tina sent me."

I hope you win!!!  See more pics in the link above.

A Journey Worth Witnessing

Witness:  1. someone who sees an event and reports what happened.

When I think of the word witness I usually think of someone in a courtroom giving testimony about a certain event or persons because of what they have seen, heard or experienced.  Someone who testifies in court needs to be deemed a reliable source to be considered a credible witness.  They can't just be a casual bystander. A credible witness can decide a case - they are very important. 

But, have you thought about being a witness to someone's earthly life?  What would that look like?

A very dear friend passed from this life and into life eternal with Christ this morning at 6:00 AM.  He was a kind, hard working man, full of love, a noted writer, a volunteer, joker and storyteller.  He gave hugs, shoulder massages, and kisses on the cheek.  He made you feel special.  How do I know these things?  Because I was a witness to his life.  Through our friendship, I got to see it firsthand.  If I were just a bystander, I wouldn't know very much about Harold. But I am glad he took the time to get to know me and allowed me to know him.  We met through a working relationship but in my heart he became like family, even though we didn't see each other outside of that realm.  I truly wonder how much more I could have learned from him if I had explored a deeper friendship with him, or spent time with him outside of work?  How could I have been a better witness to his life's journey?

Being a witness to someone's life, a true friend, requires time and energy.  It requires talking and listening, phone calls, encouraging words, celebrating life's triumphs and mourning when someone else suffers loss.  It is much more than casual.  More than a text or an email.  It's one on one.  It's doing life together.  And as a follower of Christ, it is required.  I should be so invested in the lives of my fellow believers that I am an absolute eye witness to their life...and they to mine. 

I think most people are afraid to explore this kind of friendship.  They don't want to get their hands dirty - they don't want to bear the burden of someone else's messed up life. It's easier to be casual and be a bystander - keep people at arms length.  Who has the time to be a close friend anyway? And furthermore, people certainly don't want anyone to know about their own messy life.  It's much better to give the impression that everything is fine and dandy - you know "I'm fine/your fine" mentality.  I mean, we do claim to be Christians for crying out loud! Aren't we supposed to be perfect? The answer is NO. Friendship INCLUDES flaws and forgiveness.

Taking a leap of faith in friendship, being raw and real, open and honest about who we are takes courage.  It makes you vulnerable.  But being the body of Christ requires more than a casual hello on Sundays or Wednesdays or a "how are you doing"conversation.  Has someone offered you their gift of friendship lately?  Did you plunge in head first or did you tip toe away out of fear of rejection or commitment?

True friendships are well worth the cost.  They give you eyes to the heart of other people.  And the blessing of receiving and giving friendship is a treasured gift, never to be handled with carelessness.  People are craving this kind of friendship in the seat next to you at church and in your Bible Studies.  People want to be known - they don't want to walk this life alone. And in our faith families, of all places, we should be able to find these deep, love filled friendships and people who are willing to take the time to invest. We need each other - we were made to love each other.  Take that first step - witness the miracle of life with someone...it's well worth it.

Thank you Harold for your friendship, love, and poems.  I will never forget you.  I celebrate your life.  I celebrate because you are with Jesus resting with Him in eternal peace today.  Yours was a life worth witnessing.

A look in the rearview mirror...

Wow...2015 is here!  Seems like just yesterday I was ready to "party like it's 1999."  Haha!  But that is showing my age.  It really does seem that the older I get, the faster the clock moves, that time really does take up wings and fly instead of moving on cruise control. 

Even so, we are a people who seem to like life in the fast lane. One of the bad things about racing through life is that when you are moving at warp speed you don't have time to reflect! Looking in our "rearview mirror" is just an afterthought and because of it we cause ourselves many unnecessary collisions.

It's like traveling down the road on the interstate.  You are moving pretty fast.  You know, you are just keeping up with the traffic.  And as a last precaution, you decide to look behind you and realize that someone is in your lane that you didn't see before. If you hadn't looked, you would have hit them and caused a major accident possibly causing damage to not only you and your vehicle, but theirs as well. 

Life is much like this.  We race down the autobahn of life to make it to our next destination.  But where are we going? Why?  For me, my travels usually take me where I think I will find satisfaction, or comfort, or acceptance... it's the next thing that will bring me contentment and happiness.  Now that could change on any particular day, month or even season but it's the same most of the time.  What about you?  Do you know why you are "traveling" to the places you are going?  Do you arrive at your destination only to find that your sunny and warm "Florida" ended up rainy and windy and cold?

I would do better to take time to reflect this year and make sure my travels have purpose in the first place.  Daily.  To learn from where I have been. To explore why I traveled a particular road to begin with. If I have traveled a road of bitterness, I need to see if I corrected and merged into the lane of forgiveness.  If not, I had better make a U-turn and revisit it before I move on.  If I am on the interstate of discontentment, maybe I should think about my stops along the way and get off on the nearest exit, and read the road map to find out where I took a wrong turn.  You get the picture?  Reflect and plan purposefully - I might need to adjust the route from time to time.

If our travels are rooted in selfishness, pride, and wordly idols, we aren't likely to enjoy the scenery for very long much less the destination.  And the journey will be long forgotten bringing us little more than some temporary happiness.  But if our travels take us where God leads, we will be completely content and satisfied, no matter the destination, we will travel with joy even with roadblocks and detours.

2015 is an open road.  It's lanes, highways, and avenues have not yet been driven on.  So I can't see what is before me.  But everday that I drive it, I can look in my rearview mirror and I can learn allot about my travels.  I can learn allot about myself if I take the time to slow down and think about where I have been and the route I took to get me there.

Reflection is a good thing.  But you can hardly drive down a road while continuously looking in your rearview mirror.  You can't move forward that way.  So make sure that your rearview doesn't become your lifeview!  Once you have checked out your rear view mirror, whether it is all clear, filled with major traffic, or if your traveling baggage is strewn behind you, pick it up, clean it up, and move on (confess 1 John 1:9).  Also, get a traveling buddy (accountability) for the long journey. They can help guide you, warn you, encourage you, and help you reset your GPS to the correct address when necessary.  Make sure God is your ONLY road map.  Read His word for direction and pray daily that your travels are worthy of His Name. And when you start too veer to far off the road, let Him be your guide.

In 2015 I pray the God of hope, peace, and life will lead me daily into new journeys of faith and help me to travel where I am most satisfied in Him and bring Glory to His name. 

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the LORD and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones." Proverbs 3:5-8

Matthew 5:23-24
Philippians 3:12-16