If at first you don't succeed.......

1. ........perhaps you need to go back and do it the way your wife told you to do it.

2. ..........skydiving's not for you.

Any other witty endings to this phrase?

The Love of Greatness

The desire for greatness is not the same as the love of it -- for such a want causes us to compare ourselves with what is great in others, and from the seed of this secret contest springs conflict. But love of greatness embraces the Goodness from which it springs -- and such a love is never conflicted for having found a light that burns brighter than itself, any more than a spark in a fire contests the flame from which it is thrown.


-- Guy Finley

Spotted on a bumper sticker: "Never give the devil a ride. He will always want to drive."

Rejoice in the Lord!

Suggestion or Command?

Today, I will treat it as a command. God wants me to rejoice and be glad. He knows what is best for me. I will rejoice and be glad.

My ways are not your ways..........Trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding....... Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart, and wait for the Lord......... This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

A good friend reminded me of all of this today. I have been going through a tough time. The results of my Kobiashi Maru are still out.

Most of us have heard the story about the boy who was afraid of the dark. His mom tried to quell his fears with the reminder that God was with him. He responded, "Yeah, but I just need someone with skin."

This week, it has meant a lot to me to read passages of comfort, but it has meant even more to me to have someone in the flesh to write or read these words of comfort to me. God gives us the gift to be his ambassadors, and I truly appreciate those who have shared this gift with me.

Yesterday was the 3rd time in a little over a month that I have been a part of a crisis/grief counseling team. This time, it involved the death of an 8th grader at a nearby school district. After I returned to my office, I was inundated with parents, students and all those things that piled up while I was out dealing with this unplanned emergency.

One of my sixth graders lost his grandmother over the weekend. She was the world to him. Both she and his granddad have been the stable influence in his life. He goes over there after school in the afternoon and spends most of his weekends with them. This young man has so many things going on with him, but this grandmother could frame and reframe everything from a positive stand point with him. She had the vision to see the "gifts" in his disability. I truly loved my visits with her.

Now she is gone.......

I think about my own grandchildren who have an over abundance of interested family and friends, as well as the people of God, surrounding them. Then I think about this young man who had his grandmother, and now she is gone. He still has a granddad.

And I think about those kids who don't even have that.

Everyday, we have an opportunity to be light and salt. Everyday, we can share God's Love and Presence.

Post Snowfall (Taken by Leslie Tatum)

The snow was a good reason to dismiss school early yesterday and to start late today. It was beautiful!