Yokemates

Over the past several months, I have been studying and teaching a women’s Bible study on the Book of Acts. The book is a wonderful account highlighting the events surrounding the birth of the early church – Christians – following Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. The book is also a wonderful biographical account of the life of Paul. Within the book, there are all kinds of twists and turns. The Holy Spirit is made evident to many believers in a variety of ways – dramatically through tongues, with the laying on of hands, given to many, given to few, given to Gentiles and given to Jews. The story of life and drama are woven throughout its pages. People die. People are raised to life. Testimonies are shared, speeches are given. People are imprisoned and jailbreaks occur. Amazing miracles are displayed. Demons are cast out. Jesus is proclaimed as the true Messiah. People are saved – even whole households! Gentiles are saved. Jews are saved. Controversy breaks out in communities and amon...

I remember when I only used a razor to shave my legs! Now, my “razr” is my phone. Yes, I finally broke down and joined the world of smart phones. Actually, I was a bit forced into the upgrade because of the plans that are available in our area. The best thing about my new phone is the swipe option. This little ‘language style’ works great for me because the keys tend to be sensitive to the left. If I hit anywhere else on the key, I got the wrong letter – and often the wrong message. Those wrong messages can cause the recipient great laughter or great confusion! No matter what technology an individual uses or what century they lived in, the reality is that communication can easily get misinterpreted. Add in the realities of social media or any form of communication where you can’t see the person, or even hear the tone in their voice and you’re just waiting for a misunderstanding to happen – even with smiley faces galore! The switch from dial phones to touch tone phones...

Passing by a neighborhood church, I quickly read their sign. This time the message caused me to pause and absorb its truth. It said “Waiting on God is Never Wasted Time!” Wow! I needed those wise words of counsel. I don’t usually have an issue waiting in a doctor’s office, waiting in the Wal-Mart checkout line or waiting on hold for endless minutes (“You are the next in queue.”). However, there have been moments in life when the challenge I was facing seemed endless, and the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel was very dim.   Why don’t I mind waiting on the phone or at the doctor’s office. Well, for one thing I come prepared with paperwork to do. When I make a phone call that I know will require more than five minutes on hold, I’ll prepare myself by finding something to do – folding laundry, doing dishes, or organizing piles of magazines, bills and papers. When I go to a doctor’s office, I bring note cards, office work or a book to...

When I shared the 12 Days of Christmas list at our Women’s Christmas party this year at church, the hope was that some of the ladies – if not all – would be challenged to stretch themselves and spread a bit of extra Christmas joy and hope during the days leading up to Christmas. What I didn’t expect was the ripple effect of that simple challenge. Without originally intending to ‘copycat’ and reuse the 12 Days of Christ list (see December 11th's post below), I found myself incorporating it into a Sunday School lesson for my middle schoolers the following week. It was a good exercise in faith for them and brought some interesting reactions. One gal wasn’t challenged at all with the ‘pay it forward’ option (paying for someone behind you in line) as she said “We always do that!” This same gal remarked on the suggestion of gifting your mail carrier or bank teller with a token of appreciation - with the same comment. In fact, she was confused as to why these actions were even on the l...