Be Gracious

Attitude of Gratitude

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep... you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace... you are among the top 8% of the worlds wealthy.

If you woke up this morning with good health you are more fortunate than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle unfolding all around you, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation... you are ahead 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of persecution, harassment, arrest, torture, or death... you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

If your parents are still alive and still married...you are very rare, even in the United States.

If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

Author Unknown

Merry Christmas Friends!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
To the Family and Friends of the Brown House:

Dear Two Legged Friends & Family of the Brown House,
My family seems to be doing well. They began feeding me this past March and I have managed to con the girl into letting me sleep in the house at night. I sleep in the guest bedroom where I stay warm and cozy. Recently, I have thoroughly enjoyed sleeping under the sparkling Christmas tree.

I have been given several names--the first and foremost which was given because of my propensity to show up and immediately begin demanding food with a sense of entitlement. For this reason, the largest creature in the family began calling me “Demo-cat.”

The largest creature in the house greets me first on most mornings and then conveniently pushes me outside. The girl in the house loves on me and gives me my medicine when I am sick. She took me to the Animal Clinic a couple weeks ago. She was scared of the snakes and ferrets in the waiting room. I thought it was really funny.

When I am hungry or thirsty, the smallest creature in the house makes sure my tummy is full. The loudest creature in the house scares me because he chases me and throws small footballs at me. This family is strange. All the boys in the family apparently want a girl in the family. Until recently, they would talk to me like I was a little baby girl. They treated me like a girl for a while until I was taken to the Animal Clinic. To the girl’s surprise, she discovered that I was a neutered male. I don’t think they know anything about animals.

This summer I almost starved to death because no one fed me for three different weeks. I was really sad that they didn’t take me to see Mickey & Minnie Mouse. I’d love to have gotten a hold of Minnie Mouse. The two biggest creatures had fun with their family at St. Matthews Baptist Church on their mission trips to Arizona and Costa Rica. Their road trip to Passport Camp in North Carolina proved to be winner too. The two smallest creatures wanted to take me with them to stay a couple of weeks at their grandparent’s house but that never happened. Bummer!

I don’t believe the girl in the house currently has a full-time job but she is always on the move. She still enjoys her cycling from her Ride To Victory. She also enjoyed hosting some of her high school friends this year. She walks around the house and asks herself, “Why can’t anyone in this house pick up after themselves?” It’s funny. I believe she plans to begin a CPE Chaplain Internship with Norton Hospital in January.

The boys love their sports. They enjoyed their soccer season and they are looking forward to their basketball season. The little guy also enjoys being a Cub Scout.

Do you remember me telling you about the loudest creature in the house? Yeah, he scares me even more when he practices his saxophone. He has improved greatly since August. When he first starting playing, it sounded like a car continuously honking its horn. Annoying. But now, I enjoy laying under the Christmas tree while listening to him play “Jingle Bells.”

Merry Christmas from all of us! El Gato (that’s my official name)

Character Sketch of Esther

I just finished my third week of Beth Moore's Bible Study on Esther. It is indeed tough being a woman but I wouldn't change it for anything in the world! God has blessed me with 9 other beautiful women with whom I study the book of Esther every Sunday evening for two hours. The character sketch of Esther that we created last week has stuck in my mind. Of all the characteristics Esther possessed, I am most impressed by her wisdom.

Esther was WISE.

1 Corinthians 1:30 - It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God - that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

Remember that Esther was orphaned and she was brought up by her male cousin. Can you imagine not having a mom or dad? I am sure she thought that it was tough being a woman but she relied on the wisdom God gave her to be the Queen God desired her to be. I wonder if she ever asked herself "am I being a good role model?" Or I wonder if she ever thought, "it's hard just trying to be a young lady."

I hope we as women allow God to truly be "wisdom" for us!

Peace - Celebrating the Second Sunday of Advent

Go in peace, love and care for one another in Christ's name.
And may the Prince of Peace dwell within your hearts
and bless you with the mercy that he died to give you.
May his love and resurrection power fill you
and make your lives new and whole
And May his everlasting peace shine forth from you
and bring blessings to all who are around you,
- this both now and forevermore. Amen

The Wonder of Advent

If our hope is only in our circumstances, as we define them to be good or as we want them to be to make us happy, we will always be disappointed. That is why we hope, not in circumstances, but in God. He has continually, over the span of four thousand years, revealed himself to be a God of newness, of possibility, and of redemption.

Yet, it all begins in the hope that God will come and come again into our world to reveal himself as a God of newness, of possibility, a God of new things. This time of year we contemplate that hope embodied, incarnated, in a newborn baby, the perfect example of newness, potential, and possibility. During Advent, we groan and long for that newness with the hope, the expectation, indeed the faith, that God will once again be faithful to see our circumstances, to hear our cries, to know our longings for a better world and a whole life (Ex 3:7). And we hope that as he first came as an infant, so he will come again as King!

My experience tells me that those who have suffered and still hope understand far more about God and about life than those who have not. Maybe that is what hope is about: a way to live, not just to survive, but to live authentically amidst all the problems of life with a Faith that continues to see possibility when there is no present evidence of it, just because God is God. This is the wonder of Advent.