Blogs for Christian Living

I attended a shower for a couple soon-to-be-married.  Guests enjoyed the beauty of the wrapped gifts coming in.  We talked about current day events and reminisced about that time in our lives around the various tables.  Then, it was time to watch the couple open gifts.  Lovely, practical items for setting up a new home were opened one after another.  All of a sudden, the bride-to-be had a noticeable problem.  The beautiful, perhaps even the most beautiful of all, sparkly iridescent wide white ribbon used for the bow, was sticking to her layered tulle skirt.  The more she tried to unattach it, the more places it reattached.  While I couldn’t…

Have you ever had a time when you were hearing every word that someone said but didn’t have a clue what they had said when they were finished?  You were hearing but not listening.  Sometimes, it is because we are thinking about a response to the first words they said.  We may be thinking about this, that, or the other thing and not engaged with the person that is right there in front of us.   Often, we do this when God is speaking.  We have a tendency to talk to the Lord, a lot.  Telling Him about our thoughts and what we would like Him to do in our life. …

We are all on a journey through life.  Some of us like to stick to the open paths with wide spaces and clear views.  I tend to enjoy wandering the narrow, twisty mountain trails that lead to high places.  Most of the time when I go hiking, my dog, Ginger, is my companion.  In our adventures, she has taught me a lot about journeying with God. Some of those lessons have been about learning how to “hear” God.  Rarely in life have I had the privilege of verbally hearing God speak instructions with clear sequencing of what to do and how to do it.  Most of the time I get…

I’m a planner.  I like to know what the plan is, and if there isn’t one, then I can come up with a plan.  For as long as I can remember, I always had a plan.  Some of those plans were short-term, like what I was going to do that day.  I also had long-term plans.  What I was going to study in college (engineering), what my career would look like (designing cars), how many kids I would have (four – two boys and two girls).   While I started as an engineering major in college, I ended up with a BS in Accounting and an MS in Entrepreneurial Accounting.  I…

11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. 12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. John 6:11-13 NIV Part of our ministry at Blue Fire Legacy is providing care for those who pour into others’ lives frequently.  Most often, this occurs in the spiritual and emotional realms, but it…

I’ll be content when _____________ .  All of us can probably relate to a time when we’ve said words like that.  I’ll be content when my income reaches a certain level, or my bank accounts are a predetermined amount, or when I have that house or car or relationship . . .  The list goes on and on. In my years working in public accounting, I had quite a few clients that were multi-millionaires.  They had interest and dividend income in excess of what most people in America live on each year. However, in the midst of all of their wealth, I don’t recall them being truly content with what…

When I was a teenager, I procrastinated doing the loads of laundry that my mom asked me to wash and dry.  We were preparing to leave for a youth trip, and it never occurred to me that if I didn’t do the laundry before leaving, she’d stay home to do it.  I just figured it could wait until we got back. Evidently, my mom felt otherwise. She let me go on the choir trip, but she stayed behind. I have this nagging nemesis.  Maybe you don’t struggle with it, but I do…procrastination.  It’s even easier to fall into the trap of procrastination when the task is something that I dread. …

One of the costs of love is loss.  With loss comes grief. Grief is a strange process.  There are moments of joy in the remembrance, lack of hope in not having control, despair in the loss, alternating acceptance and denial of the reality of the situation, anger in the outcome or even the process.  We can have moments of rational thoughts that quickly morph into the irrational.   Today (January 17, 2020) we are saying goodbye to Duchess, our precious Shih Tzu.  Duchess was born October 31, 2004 and came into our life on March 16, 2005. Over the past 15 years she has been a faithful snuggler, energetic encourager, and…

It has been a day! It started at about 2:00 a.m. with our aging dog requiring extra assistance for the remainder of the wee hours.  Of course, it was also our oldest daughter’s birthday, and I needed to be up hanging birthday decorations to “surprise” her when she woke.  This has become a family tradition, and therefore, has transitioned from surprise to the norm, but it is even more important because her birthday is so close to Christmas. It didn’t happen this particular morning.  I comforted myself in the fact that this year I was going to actually have the time to make and decorate her cake, even if the…

We have resumes and CVs, degrees and certifications – things that we promote to others that tell them we are qualified to do the work that they need done.  Even if you are applying for a job that says “no experience required”, they want to know what skills or abilities you have to see if you are qualified to be hired. But in God’s Kingdom, things that qualify us are different than what we would put on a resume.  The Lord regularly asks me to do things that I’m not qualified, in the earthly sense, to do.   I do numbers Dallas and I used to say that I do numbers…