Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas to All!

Just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone!

Life is very busy these days (we aren't home much) - so much for a vacation! We are very happy to announce that Lyndsey has gotten a job!

She starts training on Monday. We are thrilled for her.

We hope everyone enjoys this Christmas season.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Prayer Needed

I would ask for everyone to pray for a very dear couple in our lives.

I don't have permission to print their names here so I will just give their initials.

I was talking to L this morning. She told me that her husband, D, was diagnosed with liver cancer last Thursday. Not only does he have cancer, but he also has hepatitis C and cerosis (sp?) of the liver. D is not an alcoholic at all. He apparently inherited the hep C and cerosis from his mother at birth.

D has been put on a liver transplant list. Even if he survives the cancer, he will die if he doesn't get the transplant because his liver is 80% dead (that is according to the doctor).

He's been give a year or less to live.

Both D and L and their family are very strong Christians. They are asking for a miracle in all of this but they want God to be glorified as well.

Please pray for their emotions as well. They have been through the fire when it comes to life's experiences. So many things have happened to them in the last several years; things that most of us cannot handle. Yet, they still serve the Lord with all they have.

They are a testimony to Walter and I of God's grace in their lives. How they have endured everything and still love and serve the Lord is a tremendous work of grace. They still have a smile on their face and still see God's goodness in their lives.

We love them dearly and just ask for everyone to pray for them.

Something I Learned

As I was reading my Bible this morning, I came across some verses that perplexed me. I decided to look up a few definitions in the Webster's 1828 dictionary and also look up them up in the Greek dictionary as well.

I didn't know that these words were tied together until I looked them up.

2 Timothy 2:16 says, "But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness."

2 Timothy 3:6 says, "For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts," (To understand the whole passage you need to read starting at 2 Timothy 3:1 and reading down thru verse 7.)

I randomly looked up 'babbling' after I read chapter 2 and then after I read the word 'silly' in chapter 3 I looked that one up.

They both mean the same thing. Silly = babbling. I will even copy the definitions here so you can see it for yourself.


phluaros (this is the Greek word for babbling and silly)
Thayer Definition:

1) of persons uttering or doing silly things, garrulous, babbling


Webster's 1828 Dictionary
SIL'LY, a. [Heb. This may be radically the same word, with a prefix. Class Sl. No. 26]

1. Weak in intellect; foolish; witless; destitute of ordinary strength of mind; simple; as a silly man; a silly child.


BAB'BLE, v.i.

1. To utter words imperfectly or indistinctly, as children.

2. To talk idly or irrationally; to talk thoughtlessly.


3. To talk much; to prate; hence to tell secrets.



How many times I have been guilty of babbling and being silly! I don't want to be like that anymore. The Lord, in His mercy, will help me to overcome this. I am so thankful that the Word of God is alive, powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword. Lord, help me to apply your wisdom to my life!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

All I Can Do Is Laugh

Our church set up a time with a local nursing home/assisted living center to come in and do some Christmas caroling. We went yesterday morning.

I wasn't prepared for how many of the residents showed up. I figured that maybe 10 or so would be there, but there were almost 30. I'm not quite sure why I wasn't prepared, though.

As soon as we opened the door and started walking in they all began to clap for us. That was a weird feeling.

The reading of the Christmas story and caroling began. Oh, how the folks enjoyed it! There were so many smiles on faces. They especially enjoyed the children.

We had wrapped some gifts for them and were handing them out to each of the residents. There were only 3 or 4 men in the room and we had a lot of mens' gifts so each of the them got 2.

There was a man and a woman sitting on a couch. Tyler went up to the man and handed him his second gift. The woman sees that the man has two gifts and she only has one. She looks at Tyler and says, "Do I get two gifts, too?" Tyler, not really knowing how to react, says, "I'm not sure. I will have to ask." The woman is not too thrilled with his response (I can see the scowl on the woman's face and can imagine that she thinks it's not fair). He does get another gift for her and brings it back to her and she says, "Is that for me?!!!!"
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There is a woman in our church named Lucy.

Lucy is one of a kind. Lucy is VERY outspoken (for the most part, her outspokenness (sp?) is ok). But, she is sweet and will do anything for you to the best of her abilities. She's also very ill. To add to her illnesses, she's going blind.

Tonight, she had something to give to me.

From across 3 aisles of chairs, she says loudly, "Rhonda, I have something for you. You are Rhonda, right?" I said, "Yes, Lucy, it's me." Lucy turns and says to someone sitting close to her, "I can't see faces, but I know it's Rhonda by her hair!"

All I could do was laugh with the rest of the whole church!