Sunday was a blessed day for me. I am currently attending an all ladies' Bible class.

About 22 jr hi girls with 8 adults women as sponsors are leaving on an inner city mission trip Wednesday. They are going to Ft. Worth and will be spending time in a homeless women and children's shelter among other things.

They were one excited bunch of girls.

We invited them to our ladies' class, got one-on-one in order to meet them and introduce them to the rest of the group, prayed for them and with them, and took those little hospital bracelets, writing one name per bracelet for all of the ladies in the class to wear so it would remind us to pray for that particular girl by name.

Our ladies class also bought and put together little survival kits with travel size products enclosed (q tips, shampoo, tootpaste and brush, etc.) for the girls to pass out at the shelter.

Next, I went to a potluck meeting with my IATW mission team. It is exciting to see it come together and to get to know these dear brothers and sisters who are all part of the team.

Around 5 pm, I went to Highland's prayer room and spent the next 2 1/2 hours praying with several other people about a host of concerns. It was truly a blessed time.

After that, Jim and I enjoyed a late supper with Rick and Dianne Bennett who are childless this week while their kids are occupied with camps, etc.

Jim has always been good to take out the trash for my mom, so that was our next stop.

But the day wasn't over for us, because we still had a two-hour drive back to Post from Abilene.

And I thanked God for a glorious day, full of His abundance.

This has been a tough day for me. My office has been piled high for a long time with stacks and stacks of papers and documents that need to be sorted and filed. I have worked on it most of the day and it doens't look any better. It is times like these that I need something to brighten my mood. Maybe a joke? Well here is one my daughter shared with me recently:

There was a man of some wealth whom God told was going to die. The man asked God if he could take some of his possessions to heaven with him. God told him that it was against the rules.

The man pleaded and finally God relented and told him he could take one suitcase with him. The man was rather fond of his gold, so he filled a suitcase with bullion and then prepared to die.

Peter met the man at the gate, noticed his suitcase and told the man he could not bring it past the entrance. The man told Peter he had special permission, so Peter went to check it out. Coming back, Peter said that as unusual as it was, it had been cleared, but first he would have to inspect the bag. Opening it up, Peter fell back and started laughing. He finally exclaimed, "You brought.....PAVEMENT?"

Nearly 25 years ago, I submitted the following poem to be published by Teenage Christian. I will first print it exactly as it was submitted and then give the edited version which was actually printed and has appeared in bullitens and on some church websites:

My Witness

"Lead me to some soul today" we sang
And all week long that message rang.

Inside my head and heart, I prayed
"Lord who can I reach for you today?"

Just at that moment my neighbor walked by
And I said to myself, "Okay, I'll try.

But, first I need time to study and rehearse,
To make sure I know book, chapter and verse."

Then armed with my proof texts and Bible outlines,
I approached her to study and she said, "That's fine."

The verses poured out in a steady stream,
'Doctrinal Purity' was my theme.

Besides, many claim to follow Christ
But they do it man's way, thinking that will suffice.

Well, after the session was nearly through,
I said, "Have you questions?" She said, "Just a few.

It's obvious you know your Bible quite well,
You've talked about Heaven and touched on Hell.

You've even shown proofs that the Bible is true,
But you've not yet told me what Christ means to you.

How is your life different? How do you cope?
Is there any real joy or any real hope?"

I stared at my outlines, then put them away.
I gazed at her gently and just shared my faith.

The simple message touched her heart, and the light began to shine through.

And my friend was won to Christ -- not by what I knew, but Who.

By Serena Voss

...and now the edited version:

Sharing Christ

"Lead me to some soul today" we sang
And all week long that message rang.

Inside my head and heart, I prayed
"Lord who can I reach for you today?"

Just at that moment my neighbor walked by
And I said to myself, "Okay, I'll try.

But, first I need time to study and rehearse,
To make sure I know book, chapter and verse."

Then armed with my proof texts and Bible outlines,
I approached her to study and she said, "That's fine."

The verses poured out in a steady stream,
'Doctrinal Purity' was my theme.

Besides, many claim to follow Christ
But they do it man's way, thinking that will suffice.

Well, after the session was nearly through,
I said, "Have you questions?" She said, "Just a few.

It's obvious you know your Bible quite well,
You've talked about Heaven and touched on Hell.

You've even shown proofs that the Bible is true,
But you've not yet told me what Christ means to you.

How is your life different? How do you cope?
Is there any real joy or any real hope?"

I stared at my outlines, then put them away.
And I changed and shared gently the Man called 'The Way.'

As that simple old story began to shine through,
My friend came to Jesus, not the what, but the
Who.

By Serena Voss


I wrote this poem as the result of an actual encounter in high school between a dear friend and myself that resulted in conversion. Until our study, I had never actually thought about the significance of sharing Christ as opposed to focusing mainly on building a case for Restoration principles. Years later, I heard a sermon about how a century or more ago, people knew God and wanted to know how to please him; whereas today, people are not asking, "How do I please God," but rather "Who is God?" When people are hurting, they want to see and hear about the difference God makes in our lives.

Last night, I was watching a rerun of "Touched by an Angel". One statement really grabbed my attention in reference to a fallen angel that appeared in this episode: "She traded the power of love for the love of power."

That thought is so profound to me that I could spend the rest my life contemplating it and never exhaust its impact. I know there are many ways that concept could be verbalized and many ways I have heard it expressed, but somehow it grabbed my attention in a fresh way. The power of love or the love of power: Which camp will my thoughts and actions put me in today?

"So you just got back from Alaska," I said to my friend. Of course I had a dozen questions. And I was intrigued with my friends account of her trip. There were photographs, explanations and anticdotes. "I want to go!"

And I can go, if I want. I have travel guides and a friend who has been there and back. In fact, she will go with me and show me around if I want her to. She is that kind of a friend.

Regardless of the journey, it is always good to travel with a friend or at least someone who has been there before, or at least someone is willing to travel the same road for the first time. I know some people go it alone, but I am not one of them, or at least, I don't wanna be.

My thoughts on this post will reflect my journey through life -- destination: Eternity. I hope you will join me from time to time. Perhaps, we can travel some of this road together.