Category Archives: My 3 Sons

So, there was that time I was STUCK

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So, there was that time I was STUCK….It’s #FiveMinuteFriday and today’s word prompt is, you guessed it….STUCK!

Years and years ago, my mother, grandmother, youngest brother and first of My Three Sons and I took a trip to Florida. The Sweetheart was working and my inlaws owned a place in the Ocala area. Free vacay!

Everything was great, the weather, the place, the company, until we decided to go to the beach.

Now, in my defense, I have been to the ocean many, many times. As a young girl growing up, my family vacationed in St. Petersburg for many years and even if we weren’t in that city, the ocean was our destination of choice.

But…as an adult…the designated driver and sort of Leader-of-the-Pack, I had never driven to the beach.

Again, in my defense, everyone else was doing it. Parking their car in the sand on the beach. This was the early 80’s, maybe things were different then, maybe it was a secluded area, I can’t remember particulars. All I remember is that I was following The Crowd. Until I didn’t notice that The Crowd had all moved their vehicles OUT of the sand and onto the parking lot.

There was no notice. No text message. No Guy-in-Charge-of-the-Ocean that came around and said it was TIME.

Time for what you ask?

Tide. Not the kind you wash with or eat either. The kind that comes in every evening and causes the ocean to envelop everything in its path. If that happens to be a vehicle? Too bad.

I was kindly alerted to this impending disaster when a group of young people come running to me saying I needed to move that car and NOW. I jumped in the driver’s seat but it was already STUCK. It wasn’t that waves were lapping at the car but the sand was already wet and those tires were digging in fast.

Intent on saving the day and impressing all the teenage girls, this group of guys began to push and push until they had successfully gotten my new Buick out of the sand. Yes, I said NEW BUICK because it hadn’t been too long since I had totaled The Sweetheart’s beloved little truck, hit head on by a little old lady in a tank. (You can read that hilarious story here!) So, we had a nice new car that was about to be carried out to sea.

Have you ever been STUCK? So much so that it seemed as if all of life and the world around you was about to suck you in and drag you into oblivion? That might seem a little extreme and even a stretch for a spiritual analogy but it happens. Every single day.

We become STUCK in routines, STUCK in relationships, STUCK in financial hardships, STUCK in so-called friendships that are sucking the life right out of us.

Sometimes, we just need a push.

Jesus came to save, to deliver, to give us that PUSH that will help us become un-STUCK and encourage us to make the right decisions. To leave unhealthy relationships, to manage our finances better by putting Him first and to even help us to realize that our routines are time-wasters and show us a better way to manage that time!

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10 ESV

If STUCK describes you today, turn it over to jesus and let Him give you life abundant!

For the kingdom

 

Who will turn on the light?

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Who will turn on the light?

i have not written for Five Minute Friday in forever! As many of you know, I just had lumbar spinal fusion surgery of my L4, L5 and S1 two weeks ago. Somehow, I also picked up the shingles virus before I left the hospital (I am writing about that and hope to be done in a couple of days!) I am just now feeling like conversing, writing or just existing. So, my five minute post is a little long! I hope it is a blessing.

Twenty plus years ago, we had just returned from a trip, late at night, and I had put two of My Three Sons that I had at the time to bed. Kyle was just about seven and Kristopher was not quite two. Now, my neighbors knew we had been gone and that my husband was away for three months with his job and they were not expecting us for another day.

Enter Kristopher, The Mischievous One. I did not know he had taken the garage door opener to bed with him, sneaking it out of the diaper bag. I assumed he was asleep, you should never assume anything with Kristopher! He was not the least bit sleepy. He was busy standing in his baby bed, flipping the bedroom light on and off, on and off and pushing the button on the garage door, up and down, up and down until it stopped midway and just flashed its emergency button on and off.

Naturally, the neighbor called he police and you can imagine the rest or you can read it here. A pint-sized, blonde-haired and not quite two year old had created havoc with a turn of a light switch.

Had it been in the middle of the day, no one would have even noticed…except for the fact the garage door might have been stuck halfway. But at night?

That small TURN made way for light to pierce the darkness!

Light makes others stand up and take notice in the dark. People are drawn to the light, they respond to the light, even bugs flock to the light! (Except for cockroaches, who RUN from the light, but that could be an entirely different thought and post…)

Even Genesis tells us there was chaos until God spoke the light into darkness.

What is The Church if it is not Light in darkness?

What is the duty of The Church, at this dark point in history, if it’s not to turn on the Light?

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Let us not be surprised at the events that we see taking place around us. The Bible tells us that all of these things must come to pass before He returns! It would be easy, as Christians, to get so caught up in the chaos that is happening in our world that we forget that those who do not have Light, who do not know Jesus, are waiting on us to help them. They are looking for hope, for an answer and they won’t find it if we are just harping and jumping on every bandwagon that comes around on social media. Of course we can’t just sit back and pretend nothing is wrong but our enemy is not of this world!!

Our fight is for the souls of men and women that we come into contact every single day.

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“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:12

These things will happen but the fight is with the rulers of the darkness of this world…against the enemy of our souls, Satan himself. He would do anything to cause confusion, even among the people of God, especially among the people of God! Because we are human, we all have differing opinions, and he will purposely divide The Church, in the time when the world needs us the most, and get our focus off of spreading the Light, keeping us consumed with who is right and who is wrong.

John 8:12 tells us, “…I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” If we have that Light of life, HIS Light, we should automatically shine it everywhere we go and those that are in darkness will be overcome by the Light, they will be drawn into it because the Light consumes the darkness!

Do you not think that your co-worker, neighbor, family member or friend, who doesn’t know Christ, is worried, possibly dreadful at the events that are unfolding in our country and our world? Hopelessness is everywhere!! Maybe they aren’t sleeping at night, maybe they are concerned for their soul but don’t know where to turn. Maybe there is true conviction in their heart and they are just waiting for someone to turn on the light for them, to point them in The Way.

Who will turn on the light?

Can we bring hope into hopelessness? Yes, I believe we can and I believe we should in these last days. We are The Church, it is our one mission to share the Gospel, the Good News that Jesus died for everyone and that they can have eternal life, eternal HOPE, through His name.

Take in these scriptures about being Light in darkness today and then let’s just do it. Before we go about our day, let us ask the Lord to help our Light to shine, to not get distracted and lose our focus, what Jesus has commissioned us to do, to turn on the Light!

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

“Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” Romans 13:11, 12 NASB.

“…for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.” Ephesians 5:8 NASB.

“For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I HAVE PLACED YOU AS A LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES, THAT YOU MAY BRING SALVATION TO THE END OF THE EARTH.'” Acts

Until the last rose fades

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Until the last rose fades

It’s either that happy day we look forward to in February or the most dreaded day of the year. Whether we love it or hate it, it shows up regardless.

Valentine’s Day is many things to many people. Some have terrific memories of elementary school and spending several nights in a row around the kitchen table, filling out little paper Valentines. Don’t forget to add a few candy hearts inside the little envelope! That was always the most difficult. You had to choose wisely or Tommy, Joey or Michael might think you actually liked them. EEEWWWWW!

I happen to love Valentine’s Day. I was engaged on February 14, 1979 and have great memories of dinners, flowers and chocolates. When My Three Sons were of school age, once again I found myself helping them fill out their Valentine’s. Not much had changed in the way things were done since I had been in school. They still worried over what to give to the opposite sex. So much fun with the school parties and cupcakes and games.

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Since I don’t have a hilarious true story to  share of a disastrous Valentine’s Day in the Elkins household, I thought I would share some senseless facts. There was that Valentine’s Day that The Sweetheart sent me this in a text message:

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, lived a wife that never nagged, whined or complained.

But it was a long, long time ago.  And it was just that one day.

Yeah. But I love him anyway. This one day a year.

  • Valentine’s Day’s most popular theory originates with Emperor Claudius II.  Supposedly, he didn’t want Roman men to marry during times of war but Bishop Valentine didn’t honor his wishes and performed secret weddings for those who were in love. Unfortunately, Valentine was jailed and then executed. But before he died he wrote a note to the jailor’s daughter and signed it “from your Valentine”.

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  • Some believe that the X symbol became associated with the KISS way back in medieval times. If you couldn’t write your name you would sign in front of a witness with just an X which was then kissed to show commitment and sincerity!

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  • Another one from the Middle Ages tells us that young men and women would draw names from a bowl to see who would be their Valentine. Yeah, that would happen today. They would wear the name pinned to their sleeves for one week for everyone to see. From this comes the expression, “To wear your heart on your sleeve”!

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  • Did you know that 15% of women in the United States send themselves flowers on February 14?

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  • Approximately 8 billion (that’s with a B) candy hearts are made each year for Valentine’s Day. That is enough candy to be stretched 20 times from Italy to Arizona back and forth!

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I will leave you with this true story from someone I met this week. One year he gave his wife a dozen of the most beautiful roses that looked as normal as any other bouquet. But tucked in the middle was a single, artificial rose that blended in with the rest. His note?

I will love you til the last rose in the bouquet fades completely away and dies.

Which reminds me of the year that The Sweetheart left me with a forever memory. Our wedding colors were yellow so every single year for 37 years he has never failed to send me a dozen yellow roses, even when we were overseas! One year we were ministering in Chattanooga over the Valentine weekend and he left our hotel early that morning to “go get breakfast”. He was gone over an hour and finally came back looking quite sad. He had been all over town looking for yellow roses and couldn’t find any. As a last resort, he went to Wal Mart where he bought an artificial bouquet of yellow roses. Yeah. Teary eyed, I have treasured those more than any I ever received and of course they are the only ones I still have that look as good as the day I received them.

However you celebrate today, tell someone you love them, hug your kids, your pets, your parents and your sweethearts. Everyone can benefit from sharing love!

For the kingdom