How much do we Love?

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Have you ever loved someone so deeply that you would do anything for them? You would give them anything? In fact if it came right down to it, you would willingly give up your life in order to spare theirs. 

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

By the same token is there someone in your life who irks you to no end? They just really get under your skin? And, honestly, you wouldn’t walk across the street for them. 

What if it came right down to it and one or the other of you had to die. Would you give up your life in order for them to live? It would be human nature to answer with an emphatic, “no.”

Well, I have good news. Jesus loves each of us so much that he willingly laid down his life for us — even though we have disappointed him, said terrible things to him and about him, blasphemed against him and ignored him. 

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
‭‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This should be a sobering thought. That he would do this for us when we really didn’t deserve it. 

But he did. And in Godlike fashion, he had the ability to think about each of us by name as his life drained away. And no matter how awful we have been, he died to cleanse us from our ugliness and to present us as righteous before the Father. 

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
‭‭1 John‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This is a very important step toward becoming a Christian. Admitting our transgressions before the Lord and asking him for forgiveness. 

LORD, Your love is higher and wider and longer and deeper than we can fathom. Thank you for going to the cross on our behalf. May we forward your love to others around us today. 

Know the Truth

In light of yesterday’s post, I’d like to tell a bit of a story involving my mother. 

Back in the early seventies, mother managed a bookstore where she learned the ins and outs of handling money. Counterfeit bills were circulating and several consultants offered advice on identifying them. Some illegal tenure could be identified by pattern irregularities or color discrepancies, etc. Mother came up with her own method: learn to recognize the real thing. 

She took this a step further into a spiritual application. It isn’t necessary to be able to recognized other religions or how they compare to Christianity. It is imperative, however, to become personally familiar with our Lord so as to recognize the imposters  as counterfeit.  

Which one is fake and which one is real?

Only a genuine $20 bill will buy something. 

Only Jesus has bought you. 

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭6 NIV

No matter how you look at it, Jesus is the only way to heaven. He is The Truth and no falsehood can be found in him. And because of his blood atonement, we can stand blameless before the Father. 

Satan is a “liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). He wants to deceive us with all his counterfeit ways and lies. We must learn all about the real Lord and have a personal relationship with him in order to recognize all the other stuff as diversions. 

LORD, you are our Savior. Help us to hunger and thirst for you and your ways so that we will not be distracted by falsehoods. Thank you for preparing the way for us.

Where Did the Weeds Come From?

Monday, July 28, 2025

The owner’s servants came to him and said, “Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭13‬:‭27‬ ‭NIV

Whenever I walk around my house and look at my flower beds, I wonder this same thing. “Where did the weeds come from?”

This morning I tackled the interlopers under my sunroom windows. 

I don’t pretend to be a horticulturist. I don’t think these plants are weeds per se — I have no idea what they are. I just know they aren’t supposed to be there. I can’t really get rid of them because their roots are intertwined with the shrubbery. So they always come back.  They sneak up on me and before I know it they are huge again and are trying to take over the place.

Isn’t that what Satan does to us? He sows some sort of dastardly thing in our lives and then watches as it tries to take over. And it doesn’t even have to be a “weed” — like sin. It can be any ol’ thing that just doesn’t belong there — like insecurity or self-doubt or mistrust or fear. These things suck the life out of us. 

So how do we manage these parasites? 

(1) One thing we can do is to talk to the Lord about them. Describe them to him and ask him to remove them. Sometimes when I identify something that I don’t want to take root in my mind, I ask God to help divert my attention. Then I make the conscious effort to concentrate on something wholesome. 

(2) Philippians 4:8 says that we are to think about things that are “true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable.” If we do that, then the weedy stuff diminishes.

(3) And remember, God doesn’t want ugliness in our lives. He wants us to let the Holy Spirit shine through in the form of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:20

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭‭25‬ ‭NIV‬‬

LORD, whenever weeds creep into our lives, help us remember that you don’t want them there. Help us depend on you, our Master Gardener, to keep them in check. And remind us of the things you prefer to have growing in our lives so that we can pursue them 

How Did They Get Their Names?

Sunday, July 27, 2025

Have you ever wondered where some of the rock bands got their names? I guess “Chicago” and “Alabama” might be self explanatory. But what about “Lynyrd Skynyrd,” “Marshall Tucker Band” or even the “Beatles?” Last night on our way to Dayton, I did a little research.

LYNYRD SKYNYRD

Does the name, “My Back Yard” ring a bell? This group of guys from a high school in Jacksonville, FL decided to rename their group after their gym teacher, Leonard Skinner. Apparently Mr. Skinner was not keen on long hair so they sort of thought they would “show him” by using a rendition of his name. 

MARSHALL TUCKER BAND

While practicing in an old warehouse in Spartanburg, South Carolina the band started brainstorming about potential band names. Someone found a key in the warehouse with the name, “Marshall Tucker,” inscribed on it. They had no idea that Marshall Tucker was the name of a local piano tuner who, by the way, was blind and had tuned a piano in the warehouse. They just liked the sound of it. And Mr. Tucker said as long as the boys behaved and made good music, he didn’t mind their using his name. 

BACHMAN TURNER OVERDRIVE

So… with three Bachmans and one Turner, it’s easy to see where that part of their name came from. But actually this Canadian band first came on the scene as “Brave Belt” in the early seventies. For various reasons they decided to change their name to incorporate their last names. It was in a diner in Canada that they noticed a trucker magazine called, “Overdrive” and the rest is history. They have several songs about the highway and they used gears in many of their videos and in their logo. And did you know that their avid followers call themselves “gearheads?”

JEFFERSON STARSHIP

This band started as “Jefferson Airplane” which has its own somewhat silly story. Back in the day, a used match splint was apparently handy to hold a marijuana joint. This little thing became known as a “Jefferson Airplane.” Simultaneously there was a jazz musician who went by the name, “Blind Lemon Jefferson.” For some reason a friend of one of the band’s guitarists developed a nickname for him incorporating these two terms — “Blind Thomas Jefferson Airplane.” Did you follow all of that? And so “Jefferson Airplane” was born. 

Later the band became known as the “Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra,” producing an album called “Blows Against the Empire.” One of the songs talks about some people who escape from planet earth on some kind of “starship” and somehow “airplane” morphed into “starship” and “Jefferson Starship” took flight in rock and roll history. 

CHICAGO

Initially named, “The Big Thing,” the group changed its name to “The Chicago Transit Authority” after the cities public transportation company. Later, in order to avoid a lawsuit, they shortened it to “Chicago.”

BEATLES

The band liked Buddy Holly and the Crickets so thought they might use a different insect for themselves. John Lennon suggested that they use the spelling “BeAtles” as a nod to musical style. But did you know that they were known as the “Silver Beatles” for a spell?

And there you have it — all the research I care to do on band names. Hope you enjoyed the various stories. Maybe tomorrow I’ll write about something a little more serious. We’ll see. 

Concert Fun

Saturday, July 26, 2025

Bill and I drove to Dayton this afternoon to see a concert. On the way up, he reminded me that today would have been his mother’s 101st birthday. She would have loved to have seen her three grandchildren grow up. And she would probably shake her head at all the concerts we go to! 

Tonight’s concert was at the “Rose Music Center at the Heights” in northern Dayton, Ohio. The seating reminded me of the covered area at “Riverbend” in Cincinnati. We could see out through the sides and a really nice breeze made the temperature quite comfortable. 

We initially thought we were only going to see Bachman Turner Overdrive. That would have been nice. But we were surprised to find out that we were also going to hear the Marshall Tucker Band and Jefferson Starship. That suited us just fine!

Three bands in one night made things stretch out a bit. But they changed out the equipment pretty quickly in between so it worked out well. 

Below is the order of songs that we heard and the relative times for each set. Everybody did a great job!

JEFFERSON STARSHIP 7:00-7:30

1. Find Your Way Back
2. If Only You Believe
3. Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now
4. White Rabbit
5. We Built This City
6. Change
7. Somebody to Love

MARSHAL TUCKER BAND 7:50-8:45

1. Hillbilly Band
2. Heard It In a Love Song
3. Searching for A Rainbow
4. A New Life
5. Take the Highway
6. My Love For You
7. Fire on the Mountain 
8. Desert Skies
9. Can’t You See

BACHMAN TURNER OVERDRIVE 9:20-10:45

1. Take It Like A Man
2. Gimme Your Money, Please
3. Rock Is My Life and This Is My Song
4. Not Fragile
5. Blue Collar
6. Four Wheel Drive
7. These Eyes (Guess Who)
8. Laughing (Guess Who)
9. Undun (Guess Who)
10. No Sugar Tonight (Guess Who)
11. No Time (Guess Who)
12. Lookin Out for Number One
13. Stayed Awake All Night
14. American Woman (Guess Who)
15. She’s So High (Tal Bachman)
16. Let It Ride
17. You Ain’t Seen Nothin Yet
18. Role on Down the Highway 
19. Takin Care Of Business

We are thankful for our hands-free driving machine. Our trusty steed comes in handy especially at night. 

Blessings upon Blessings

Thursday, July 24, 2025

When I was a little girl, we didn’t live close to my grandparents. We went to see them regularly, though. And it helped that they lived fairly close to each other so we could see everybody in one fell swoop. 

When our own children came along, Bill’s parents were 80 miles away in western Kentucky and mine were way down in Florida. Our children grew up seeing Granny and PawPaw about once a week because they came to see us. And we would drive to Florida about twice a year. My sisters lived a distance away, as well, so it was hard getting all the cousins together. 

Then our boys grew up and married Madison County girls. And our daughter married a Michigander who was willing to settle here, too. So we are blessed to have all of our children living about 15-20 minutes away. 

Now we have grandchildren — eight of them. And they all live nearby. It’s crazy. 

Today Bill and I were blessed to see six of our eight grandchildren — and four of their parents, too, although they don’t count quite as much as the younguns do!

How is it that we are so blessed? We did nothing to deserve these joys but God has seen fit to bless us with them anyway. How cool is that?!

LORD, I can’t thank you enough for giving us our children, children-in-law, and grandchildren. They are all so special. And we are blessed to be called Grammy and Poppers (except for Clara who calls me Meena for some reason. She can call me anything she wants!).

Footprints in the Sand (author unknown)

Wednesday, July 22, 2025

Today I was reminded of a poem that I first read many years ago. As I searched for it on the Internet I couldn’t help but notice that there are different renditions of this work. And, interestingly enough, no one is exactly sure who wrote it. 

So I picked a version that I liked and have pasted it here. 

Footprints in the Sand 

One night I dreamed a dream.

As I was walking along the beach with my Lord,

Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.

For each scene, 

I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,

One belonging to me and one to my Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,

I looked back at the footprints in the sand.

I noticed that at many times 

along the path of my life,

especially at the very lowest and saddest times,

there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, 

so I asked the Lord about it.

"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,

You'd walk with me all the way.

But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,

there was only one set of footprints.

I don't understand why, 

when I needed You the most, 

You would leave me."

He whispered, "My precious child, 

I love you and will never leave you.

When you saw only one set of footprints,

It was then that I carried you."

I thought this was especially fitting in light of my husband’s sermon last Sunday. I hope you will reflect on it. 

LORD, Thank you that you love us enough to carry us through our difficulties. We need your fellowship and encouragement and we need your protection and strength.