We are familiar with the hot weather in Oklahoma. It seems this year is exceptionally hot and I’ve been hearing and reading plenty of comments about how hot it is. So for your amusement I thought I would share these one liners on just how hot it really is!

 Stay Cool…

• Your car overheats and you haven’t even started it
• Your braces are making blisters on your lips
• The birds have to use potholders to pull worms out of the ground.
• The cows are giving evaporated milk.
• The trees are whistling for the dogs.
• You no longer associate bridges (or rivers) with water.
• You can say 113 degrees without fainting.
• You eat hot chilies to cool your mouth off.
• You can make instant sun tea.
• You learn that a seat belt makes a pretty good branding iron.
• The temperature drops below 95, you feel a bit chilly.
• You would give anything to be able to splash cold water on your face.
• The 4 seasons are: tolerable, hot, really hot, and ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!
• You discover that in July, it takes only 2 fingers to drive your car.
• You discover that you can get a sunburn through your car window.
• You notice the best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.
• Hot water now comes out of both taps.
• Its noon in July, kids are on summer vacation, and not one person is out on the streets.
• You actually burn your hand opening the car door.
• You break a sweat the instant you step outside at 7:30 a.m. before work.
• No one would dream of putting vinyl upholstery in a car or not having air conditioning.
• You realize that asphalt has a liquid state.
• Pigs complain about sweating like humans
• You can water the yard with your own sweat
• The big craters in the land are empty ponds and lakes

 The Dog Days of Summer are here!

I remember crouching down on one knee, holding my arms out and coaxing my babies to walk toward me. My fingertips barely touching theirs as they wide-eyed looked at me with a bit of apprehension and a bit of excitement  tottering on their tiptoes. They usually trusted me enough to take at least one or two steps before plopping down on their diaper padded bottoms. I would clap my hands and say “yay” and they would wave their little arms around in the air so pleased with those first steps. It was always only a matter of days before they were walking on their own, getting more confident and bolder with each success.

I find we can be the same way. Can you remember when you first became a Christian? Many are on fire, ready to conquer the world and win over everyone they know and then some. Unlike the toddler learning to walk, the times of failure are more likely to cause us to quit instead of getting back up and trying again. Toddlers are determined to conquer walking; they seem to know there will be something new to explore with each step, some new treasure across the room to examine.

As adults we don’t like failure. We shouldn’t look at our efforts (when unsuccessful) to reach out to people as failures. Instead we should trust God just like our babies trusted us as we are coaxing them into our arms with those first few steps. We are gardeners. Like Paul and Apollos, we are only servants doing our everyday jobs. Each one of us can help germinate the same seed with our own individual talents, some planting and others watering, while remembering it is God who gives the increase.

I know it can be scary to invite our friends to church or even to have a conversation with them about Jesus. One of my fears is rejection. None of us like to be rejected. I also fear confrontations, what if they challenge me with something I can’t immediately answer. I guess those are legitimate fears, it helps to remember that it isn’t us they are rejecting, it is the opportunity to know Christ and the opportunity for a new life they are rejecting. And for the other fear; none of us will ever have all the answers, we can say, without shame, that “we don’t know” but we are willing to study to try and answer their questions. I believe in all situations where we want to bring others to Christ that God will give us the courage we need. I know for me I must put my fears away and truly desire that others have the same hope I have. The hope of spending eternity in heaven with God.

Luke 10:16 “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

I challenge all of us—-starting today, reach out to the lost. Invite your friends, your neighbors and strangers, invite them to church, to a get together with other Christians, to read the bible with you. Give all of them the same opportunity, the same grace, God has given us. Like a parent with their child, Jesus waits with outstretched arms.

Who is Apollos? Who is Paul? They are servants by whom you believed, even as the Lord has given to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. Neither is he who plants important, nor he who waters, but God, who gives the increase. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own work. We are God’s co-workers, and you are God’s garden. Also, you are God’s building, and according to God’s grace given to me as a wise builder, I have laid a foundation, and another builds upon it. But let each one be particular how he builds. No man can lay another foundation other than the one laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Cor 3:5-11

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop — a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear.” Matt 13:3-9

Are you up for the challenge?

Larry and I are celebrating our thirty-first wedding anniversary today. In a way it doesn’t seem possible and in other ways it seems like we have always been together. He is a VERY good man, a spiritual man and he has always put our family and our needs before his own. I know I have been blessed beyond measure! I never imagined I could have someone love me the way he does and I truly thank God for him.

The following poem is from Day Spring Cards. It is a beautiful poem and aptly describes our journey, and the best is yet to be…

Shared Lives

Two trees…
a white oak and a red oak…
grew side by side, so close
 that after many years,
their trunks had joined as one.

Yet each retained its
own limbs, bright leaves
and brown acorns.

Throughout the years,
these trees shared the warm
spring rains, the carefree days
of summer and the glory of
autumn. Their leaves changed
with the seasons, adding beauty
to the forest around them.

They also shared the harsh times…the bitter cold
when winter came and
iced their limbs and made them break…the springtime storms
when the wind would push and pull and twist their limbs, tearing
their leaves away.
They weathered these difficult times, relying upon their combined strength and
sure-foundation oneness.

Our lives together have been like these
trees—one in essence, separate in specialness…
each depending on the other…sharing the happy times,
lending strength in difficult times.

As we continue to grow together,
I look forward to the blossoming of our dreams…
rooted in God, united in love…
with branches reaching up to Heaven.
As wonderful as the past has been,
the best is yet to be.

The following is from one of my Daily Devotionals, Experiencing God Day-By-Day. It is a great reminder of how we let others influence how we feel and how we react. I have heard the saying and I have said it to others “Don’t let someone or some circumstance steal your joy”. It is easier said than done if we don’t remember where our joy comes from.

But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Acts 16:26

Your joy as a Christian should not depend on your circumstances. Joy comes from God, and therefore it cannot be affected by what is outside of you. Don’t be fooled by letting the actions of others determine your joy. True joy comes from knowing that God Himself lives within you and has fellowship with you, regardless of your environment. Real joy lies in the knowledge that holy God has completely forgiven you of every sin, and even now, He has a home prepared in heaven where you can spend eternity with Him (John 14:3). The circumstance of your life cannot change these truths!

Paul and Silas faced some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable. They were falsely accused, arrested, and imprisoned. They were beaten and shackled in the darkest, coldest section of the prison. But they refused to allow their horrific situation to dampen their joy! They did not blame God for allowing these things to happen to them. Instead they praised Him for His goodness! In the darkness of the night, they prayed and they sang. God brought a miracle that released them from their chains, but perhaps the greater miracle was that His Holy Spirit could so fill them that even in their painful imprisonment they could overflow with joy!

Do not allow difficult events to cancel the joy of knowing you are a child of God. Choose to allow God’s Spirit to fill you with His unquenchable joy, and your life will be a miracle to those who watch you face the trials that come.

Today’s devotional was a great reminder for me to simply focus on the joy I have in being a child of God.