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Three scenarios women never refer to as gossip..

I am the daughter of Dave and Joyce Hoke...the Granddaughter of Pearl and Bud...the sister of Cindy and Judy...and more aunts and uncles and cousins than I can name. That is the family I was born into by birth. And I thank God for every single part of them...the good and bad. But in my lifetime I have been blessed to be born into another family...the family of God. What has that meant in my life? Let me break it down in practical ways.

James 3:10 My brother out of the same mouth pour blessing and cursing. This should not be so.

A few weeks ago, God graced me with the honor of baptizing an 80+ year old mother and saint of King Jesus. Ms. Mildred, as we affectionately know her, cooks one of the best breakfasts I've ever had. It was during one of those breakfasts that she had prepared for me and my family that she asked to speak to me about something.

We have a Wii and we have a program called Wii fit. It is an exercise dealie . . . how in the world exercise could ever be thought of as fun is beyond me, but, anyway, one of the goals of this program is to create good posture and balance. Anyone who knows me knows that balance and me are, well, not well acquainted. I am the reason weebles wobble and do fall down. So, it is a hoot for my family to watch me "balance" on the Wii. There is one game in particular called soccer head. In soccer head you are supposed to stand on the Wii board and move your upper body to hit the soccer balls with your head. Now, this is a hard enough challenge but you also have to miss the stinking panda bears and dirty tennis shoes they throw at you. Well, I have consistently scored under 10. I see one coming to the left and jerk all the way left to get it, then to the right and jerk all the way to get it and then they throw one through the middle. I inevitably cannot get my body back to the middle. I cannot get it to stop swinging from one side to the other. The ones in the middle always get away, and the pandas and tennis shoes on the outside always kill me. No balance whatsoever!

This week a couple of things have reminded me that waiting is truly against our sinful nature, but absolutely necessary in the big plan of salvation and sanctification. The Bible refers to waiting in several different places.

As I type this, I am sitting at a desk in my brother's home in Richmond, KY. The window beside me reveals the rolling bluegrass countryside and several horses are feeding nearby. A light drizzle is falling from the sky. A warm cup of coffee spews its steamy aroma towards my nose. I have a belly full of food from yesterday, as well as my bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats this morning. I do not hear any bombs going off, no small arms fire, no artillery,no warplanes overhead. My wife and children are safe and sound enjoying cousins and sisters and nephews and nieces. Later today we will all link up to eat lunch with my mom, sister, brother-in-law and their children.

On Friday night I had the great pleasure and privilege of attending a play at LHCC. I was able to see the Crone kids and Julia Griffin shine on stage in amazing ways and I loved every minute of it...I was as proud as a peacock of them all. :))) The play was about the Velveteen Rabbit and his desire to be real...what was the only thing that could work to make him real....sacrificially loving his owner. At the end of the play, I heard a beautiful voice flowing over the audience from the back singing, "Love, Love, Love,". I could not believe that voice was coming from Miss Julia Griffin...i wanted to stand up and say, "That is my niece." I was so proud of her. She continued to stage where she finished her song and explained to the rabbit that he was real because he had truly loved another. She then waved her wand and the rabbit grew legs and feet and was real...all because of love. During Pastor Keith's sermon this past Sunday, I found myself thinking of her little song (which she wrote herself) and wondering if we really understand love the way Jesus lived it and taught it and expects us too. I wondered that about myself and have been in prayer since I left service Sunday. I heard Pastor Keith say that we need to smash our own self Kingdoms and care about others' lives during the week. This caused me to see things about myself that I was sad about. I started with thinking about how I love my family...so many times when I could be with my husband...I find myself on my cell phone or my computer. Many times even if sitting with him, i am a thousand miles away in my thoughts and not loving him at all. I thought about my girls and my new son. How many times have I wished and cried for "me time" and allowed the wonder of being a momma go far away from me. How many times have i had opportunity to serve my girls and griped from the inside out because my life was so boring and mundane. And then I thought of my church family...do I smash my little kingdoms each week and reach outside of myself to serve them? Can I honestly say that I do that with joy and expectation of blessing? Do I hurt when they hurt and laugh when they laugh? Do I even know when they hurt? Are the only sorrows and tribulations and hardships that I know of connected to my little kingdom---my life, my family, my bills?? Do I rush at the opportunity to clean bathrooms for those who are in need or is there more important ministry for a person like me? Do I care if the shut-ins ever get visited or do I expect those lesser than me to do that duty? And then I thought of the world outside of that? How many times a week do I offer Jesus to a world that is dying or do I just think somebody else can deal with that mess? Do I look for hungry people with intent to help or accuse them or misspending food stamp money and consider them less than worthy of help? Do I care that single mommas are exhausted and tired and need help or do I just figure they made their bed and they can sleep in it? You can imagine that these questions have caused me some pain in myself. I am wrestling with them and wrestling with some of the answers. I have found that in many areas, I have no conviction. I can answer resounding yeses to them...in other areas, I am sadly, brokenly lacking. But Romans 8 offers me hope;; "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." He saved me and his grace changes me. This message has caused me to think about my love for others...it has caused me sorrow and pain but it has worked to sanctify me and to say to me that it IS love that makes me real. It is love that marks me as a Christian...it is love that says to the world I am a disciple of Jesus. It is love that moves outside of me and my little kingdoms and reaches to a sad, broken, lonely world around me. I am praying for God to change me and to create in me his heart for people...his heart for others...to MAKE ME REAL IN THE AREA OF LOVE TO OTHERS. Praise God for change that is driven by grace and love from a very real, very personal Savior. Dear Jesus, I yearn to be real.

Our Sister Lori Beard is currently traveling. Received this "blog entry" from her which she obviously did on a phone and probably after only mildly recovering from this incident she describes. Enjoy!