Guest Poster - My Daughter Kelli

My daughter posted this on her blog and I liked it so well, I asked her to be a guest poster on my blog.  I love what she has to say and I believe you will too.  Please read it and comment here or you can go to her blog to comment.  She'll love it.

Familiar

I remember, a few weeks ago, on a Saturday or Sunday night after I came home from work early, everyone was gone to Grandma's house, or church, or something, and I was home alone. So I went around the kitchen and fixed me a small dinner, then I sat down at our kitchen table and started to eat it. I reached into the napkin basket in the center of the table and pulled out a Taco Bell napkin. It just made me smile. Those kinds of things make me smile because it's what makes a house, a home. Different fast food napkins in the napkin basket, or the lawn chair that is sitting, out of place, right inside the back porch door. The different pieces of furniture that Grandpa made special for my mom... all the dozens of coasters sitting on all the wooden furniture so there is no way we can get any marks on them by sitting drinks right on the tables... (which we accidentally do sometimes anyway, but Mom is quick to point us to the nearest coaster available) The little creaks in the wood floors here and there that remind me when Grandpa, my uncle's Steve and Larry struggled to get the boards to go together in that one spot, and all the funny faces they were making...

The whole reason for our existence... Life. We come, and create a home. We get comfortable in it, but worry so much about perfecting it that we forget to be thankful for everything... What about the millions of families everywhere in the world that don't have to worry about getting water stains on their wood furniture, or worry about whether the lawn furniture is inside the house, or hear the creakiness of their wood floors... because they don't have any of that? They can't afford any of it, they don't have room for any of it.

So... stop and think. Look around your house or where ever you are sitting, and appreciate the little things you see that make your house yours. Tell me about them! I wanna know what your house feels like, what it looks like. No one cares about the dirt. You don't have to live on dirt floors. No one cares that there is McDonald's bags on the counter... Some don't know what a McDonald's is... I want to know the stuff that makes your home, YOURS. :)

Kelli

Guest Post by Pastor Tracy (my husband)

This is written by my husband for our Church Bulletin and I asked if I could put it here with him as my guest poster. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

A Note From the Pastor...

One dark and ominous night during World War II, a US aircraft carrier was plowing through heavy seas in the South Pacific. All lights were out because of enemy submarines. One plane was missing. Somewhere in that pitch-black sky it was circling in a seemingly futile search for the carrier--it's only landing place, its only hope of not being swallowed up by the giant ocean. The ship's captain, knowing the terrible risk involved, gave the order, "Light up the ship." Soon the plane zoomed onto the deck like a homing pigeon.

At Bethlehem, knowing the risk, God gave the command, "Light up the world." Then Jesus was born. A new and radiant light began to shine, pushing back the darkness of the world, of spiritual ignorance, and of sin and despair. Like a ship lit up in an otherwise darkened sea of sinful humanity, Christ came as "the light of the world" (John 8:12). John wrote, "The darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining" (1 John 2:8). When Jesus the Savior entered this world, it was like the sunrise breaking radiantly over the horizon of human history (Luke 1:78-79).

In fathomless grace, God allowed His Son to die on the cross to save us from eternal darkness. What a blessed message for Christmas--and every day of the year!

Pastor Tracy

Thank you dear!

It's All In the Presentation

Cathy asked if I would write a “guest post” entry for her blog. The preacher in me wants to know if there is a time limit?

One of the things we preachers tend to do is get caught up in our sermons, and we come across arrogant. We forget that we must proclaim truth, but we must do it in love. Some folks use truth to club people. But we are to speak the truth in love.

An old farmer hired a young city feller to help out on his farm. One day he sent the young man to go feed the chickens. The young fellow said, “What do I feed them?”

“Feed them corn,” the farmer shrugged. A little while later, the farmer asked the young man, “Did you feed the chickens?”

The young man replied, “I sure did, but they died.”

Alarmed the farmer asked, “Died? How did they die?”

“I took the corn on the cob and threw it at them, and it hit them on the head, and they all died.”


To apply this to our everyday life, I wonder how many times our message to others – whether it be our children, to our co-workers, or even to the annoying teenager working the counter at our favorite fast-food haunt, has been missed simply because we—the messenger—have gotten “too big for our britches” as my parents used to say.

And I’m not even necessarily talking about the Gospel message. How we speak to others oftentimes will dictate how they respond to what we say. Our tone of voice, our mannerisms, our choice of words, even the look on our face can turn folks off to what we say—no matter how true or how good or how difficult our message may be.


Believe it or not, one of the clearest illustrations of this, I saw on one of the old Bill Cosby episodes that first aired in the 80’s.

In one scene, one of the girls came home from college toting a boy, and during dinner, sort of sprang it on Dad and Mom that they were going to get married. The parents aren’t happy. Words ensued, and Mom and the daughter storm off, leaving Bill Cosby’s character alone at the dinner table with the boyfriend. The boyfriend meekly asks what went wrong.

In typical Bill Cosby fashion, he explains to the boy that he loves T-Bone steak, but you don’t just “flop” it on a plate—grease and all—and serve it. You have to dress it up with a nice baked potato, and a little sprig of garnish. He concludes by saying, “It’s all in the presentation.”

That’s kind of the way we are with some of our messages. We just “flop” it on a plate and shove it in peoples’ faces.


Have you been trying to convey a message to another person and they seem to turn you off and won’t hear you? Don’t change your message; change your method. Try a little love and kindness. “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” (Proverbs 15:1, NIV)

Remember, “it’s all in the presentation.”

Tracy
(For anyone who may not know, this guest poster is my Pastor, who just happens to be my husband!)