Sounds of Hope

I officially became a member of a local church this morning.  It was a decision a long time in coming.  Perhaps all my life has prepared me for this - it wasn't that big of a deal ... really... and yet for me it seems significant.  It seems like one of those moments that I'll look back on and say - hmmm, that was milestone event. I remember the first time I became a member of a local church.  I was 13.  I was actually too young by many standards.  That church had strict rules about everything.  They were Norwegian - Norwegian and rules and order often go hand in hand.  I had spent my 13th birthday in the hospital.  I knew I had committed my life to following Christ.  I had been filled with the Spirit.  I made my petition to the church elders to let me be baptized. I wasn't interested so much in becoming a member of the church but once they baptized you, you were a member.  The question for them was not so much about whether I was eligible for baptism but whether I was el

We have a sweet little dog - her name is Pebbles. She's really not my dog, she belongs to our daughter.  However, of late, she's pretty attached to me and me to her.  She may just be a sweet little chihuahua - and YES, some chihuahua's can be sweet... but she teaches me a lot. I remember reading a book one time about worship.  The author compared the dog's attention and focus on it's master to what it is to worship. It was a pretty good analogy.  I think of it often when my dog is all over me wanting attention. But there is something more about God, spiritual things, and life that Pebbles teaches me.  Today as I was walking her in the yard I was thinking about the leash.  Sometimes I'd like to just let her off the leash and let her run free.  But I can't.  It is really too dangerous for her to run free.  We have neighbor dogs and she was attacked by one before - we don't have a lot of traffic but as small as she is... and then I worry if she'd go

Saturday morning after cereal out of a box while watching Popeye, Dudley Do-Right, Yogi, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and Bugs Bunny, I’d go to the kitchen.   Under the sink were the dust clothes to be used for my weekly chore of dusting.   I must have been in the First Grade at PS94 when my mother and father told me it was time to work.   I was part of the family and my contribution was necessary.   No more free handouts of money for candy.   I had to earn my money. Every week I would move the white elephant planter, the amber vase, the candy dish with candy for company only, and the furniture scarves to complete my job of dusting.   For my labor, I received 50 ¢ .   Candy bars were only 5 ¢, for that same 5 ¢ I could get three long pretzel rods or a candy necklace, some wax lips or even a box of candy cigarettes.   If I chose the latter I’d have to consume them all before I got home.   Sugary candy cigarettes were forbidden.  I might end up smoking. I still have that white elephant plante

Okay, before you freak out and drop to your knees to pray for my soul, read on.  It’s funny this journey we are on as believers.  Sometimes, God brings you through things so you can see things more clearly.  I’ve been on that type of journey. Since the Gospel was first preached in Antioch , disciples have been called Christians.  It’s been a useful term over the centuries – however, it’s been so sullied with the acts of those who call themselves Christians that it has developed a bad reputation. I don’t ever remember a time I didn’t love Jesus.  I don’t ever remember a time I didn’t pray.  I don’t ever remember a time that I was an “unbeliever.”  Oh there was the two weeks in High School when I wondered if there really was a God.  In Biology we learned about the reproduction, and the development of a fetus – that did it for me… There had to be a God.  That couldn’t just happen by chance.  I was sure that some intelligent Creator devised that plan. Recently, I’ve been church-less.  A

My grandmother’s box has been found.  The look on my face was akin to seeing someone raised from the dead.  My grandmother’s box – a redwood rosemaling box from Norway. I don’t know for sure if it really was my grandmothers.  That’s the story I’ve always been told.  I do know that it is old.  I do know that it is from Norway.  I do know that it has been in our family forever. As a kid, it stored pictures.  It was full of all sorts of odd and assorted pictures.  I would take it down and go through each picture.  I’d annoy my mother with questions about those I couldn’t recognize.  There were the usual assortment of black and whites of children of friends, wedding pictures, pastor’s and their families – just an odd assortment.  Usually important pictures were stored in an album.  Oh how I wish I had those albums.  So many things from my past are gone.  Too many moves, a house fire, carelessness, etc., have left me with very few items from the past.  I thought my grandmother’s box wa

What's not to love about Autumn? I thank God daily. I'm especially thankful in the Fall of the year because I live in one of the most visually stunning places on the planet...the Appalachian Mountains. Having lived away from my hometown for the better part of nine years, I don't think I take for granted the annual picturesque moments when the leaves change colors. A simple Saturday afternoon drive with the windows down taking in the vibrant colors and crisp air of late October is the best therapy I know. My head becomes flooded with memories for long ago, as well as, not so long ago. Fall means football! A sport that has been a part of my life in some fashion for over forty years. I started playing the game on an organized level when I was only five years old. Today, my Thursday through Monday has an element of football involved at some point in the day from September until January. I love it! Fall means harvesting. As the growing season winds down, the bounty pour

It's been an interesting morning already... I slept late.  A load of laundry has been started.  The dog has been walked.  Sliced some of the amazing Rye Bread I made the other day, smeared it with butter, and have had some coffee - not enough, but I've had some... There is never enough coffee. Just a normal day - except.... As I turned on my iPhone this morning, I always turn it completely off at night -my husband's phone is on all night for emergencies - as the Apple disappeared I saw a picture.   Pictures!  Pictures of my grandchildren in Connecticut off to their first day of school.  I don't say much ... most people don't realize how much I wish I could see my grandchildren more often.  I get to see two of them that live in TN but the others - hardly ever :(.  When pictures come, they light up my day. They look so big.  Is it possible that the oldest girl is finishing Middle School and will be off to High School next year?  She is... I am hoping now to be