God Continues to Teach Me Archives - Page 10 of 15

Do It NOW!! Striving to Live Without Regrets.

10/27/2017 By: CCPearson4 Comments

I saw this poignant post on Facebook recently from one of my friends talking about her best friend. It grabbed my heart.

Have you ever thought about what you didn’t say to or do with a dear friend? You thought you’d get around to having her over for coffee on your back porch, sitting on the new furniture she helped you pick out. You thought you’d tell her that you would be honored to help her with her daughter’s wedding when that day comes. You thought you’d get a chance to go eat Mexican food together at a new place in town. And you thought you’d be going to Alaska with her next year. And you also thought she knew how special she was in your life-but did you ever come right out and tell her often enough?
My dearest friend on earth passed away yesterday before we got to live out the rest of our lives together. I won’t get to do any of those things mentioned above, with her as we had planned.
Please tell your dear friends OFTEN how much they mean to you. Eat lunch with them and have coffee with them NOW, don’t put it off another day. Because tomorrow may not come.
I have a hole in my heart that will never go away. I miss her and so many things have been left unsaid and undone. Don’t take your time on this earth for granted, Please!

The friend who died went in for a fairly routine heart surgery — as if ANY heart surgery can be considered routine — but then she had a reaction to the anesthesia, and the doctors couldn’t bring her back.

I, too, had a friend who died leaving me with profound regrets. Patsy Gore Wright was several years older than I was. Her daddy actually baptized me at FBC Athens when I was 8 years old. For a time, she and her husband Jerry lived in Hartselle with their 3 children who were very close in age to my own 3. She could sing “Sweet Little Jesus Boy” with the most passion I have ever heard. She played the organ at FBC, and I played the piano. We LOVED the times when we played duets during the offertory. We both taught private piano lessons. When our son Matt was born prematurely and I had students getting ready for various festivals and competitions, she graciously fit them into her schedule so that they could go right on without missing a beat. She and Steve were also great buddies because she loved her pets so much, and Patsy trusted Steve to take care of them. I’ll never forget one hot day in particular when I went to Patsy’s house, and she served the most delicious strawberry lemonade I’d ever had. “Just a little something I threw together,” I remember her saying. After a few years, Patsy, Jerry and the kids moved away from Hartselle to be houseparents at the Big Oak Boys Ranch near Gadsden. We chatted by phone a few times, but mostly busyness got in the way and we drifted apart. Then, she was at her parents’ house one day and saw mine and Steve’s pictures on the front of The Alabama Baptist when we were appointed as missionaries. She called all excited and pledged to stay in touch and pray for us while we were gone.

She was SO faithful to email and to send materials that we could use in our ministry. Amazingly, she seemed to have a sense about when we needed encouragement. We would open up our email that day and without fail, we’d find Bible verses and positive words from Patsy.

When we returned to the States, I made plans to visit “as soon as I could.” I rushed back into a teaching job, building a house, watching grandbabies join the family, etc. etc. In other words, busyness and LIFE once again got in the way. Finally, the tentative plan was to visit during Spring Break of 2008. However, Patsy suddenly got sick and was gone. I missed my chance. I didn’t make seeing her a priority. And I have felt the regrets for the past 9 years.

Actress Jennifer Aniston has said: “There are no regrets in life, just lessons.” I know my own regrets have produced a lot of lessons. What about you? Is it possible to live a life with NO REGRETS? Probably not, but it’s a worthy goal.

Here are some verses to encourage us and spur us on to action:

1 John 3:18 – “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

Colossians 3:23-24 – “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

Hebrews 13:16 – “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

Galatians 6:10 – “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

The Queen of Questions Recognizes THE Perfect Role Model

10/20/2017 By: CCPearson3 Comments

My title as the Queen of Questions was given to me during my children’s teenage years. Believe me, I asked a LOT of questions. Those teenagers didn’t always answer me truthfully, and there were times when I didn’t ask nearly ENOUGH questions. But, I, at least, demonstrated my interest and my concern about where they were going, who they would be with, what they would be doing, and when could I expect them back home, etc. etc. etc. Any parent reading this can relate.

In my present role as a travel writer, my questioning skills come in very handy. My husband smiles every time he’s with me and a tourism representative, a chef or a B & B owner says, in response to one of my questions: “I’ve never been asked that before.” I hope I’m not annoying. I just want to know the details. I want to know what lies beneath the surface. I want to know a person’s motivation or inspiration.

A granddaughter recently paid me a very high compliment without even realizing it, I suppose. She said, “Momma says that if I want to learn about the Art of Conversation, I should talk to YOU.” Wow. That made me feel warm all over. I do love a lively, give-and-take, everyone-gets-to-participate conversation. And I know that oftentimes good conversation flows as a result of good questions that lead a person to talk about his/her passions.

So, how does all of this relate to THE Perfect Role Model for a questioner such as I am?

Once again, I have to give Preacher Matt the credit for pointing me toward a book he found recently. Jesus is the Question: The 307 Questions Jesus Asked and the 3 He Answered by Martin Copenhaver. Here’s a link if you want to check it out or order one.

How many times have you heard the phrase “Jesus is the Answer”? This book goes in a different direction and proclaims that Jesus is the QUESTION. So, Jesus ASKED 307 questions, but He only answered 3. Why hadn’t I realized that before? That means He was (and IS) THE ultimate King of Questions, wouldn’t you say?

Matt went on to point out 3 questions Jesus asked that are critical for us to answer in order to have a deeper relationship with the Savior (verses are from the New King James Version).

“What are you looking for?” John 1:38-39 “Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), “where are You staying?” ³⁹He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).
“What do you want Me to do?” Mark 10:36 and Mark 10:51 “³⁶And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” ⁵¹So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.”
“Do you love Me?” John 21:15 “So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah,do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”
I think it would be a very revealing thing for all of us to do — to imagine Jesus asking us those 3 questions and pondering how we would answer Him. (Insert your own name, of course) Connie, what are you looking for? Connie, what do you want Me to do? Connie, do you love Me?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve got some thinking to do.

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Reminders from Two Little Girls

10/13/2017 By: CCPearson4 Comments

Last weekend I had the pleasure of spending the day with two little girls. On the surface, they may seem completely different. One was prayed for, planned and welcomed joyfully into the world. The other was also prayed for and planned, but spent most of the first five years of her life in an orphanage in Ethiopia before being welcomed joyfully into her forever family. One attends a public elementary school in a large metropolitan area of Tennessee. The other is homeschooled in a moderate-sized town in Georgia. One is the only brown-skinned person in her family. The other is the only extrovert in a family of introverts. But, somehow, in God’s divine plan, both of these beautiful girls are my granddaughters, legally and emotionally, with equal amounts of my love.

Birti and Megan checking out the merchandise.

Thinking about our day together, I believe I was reminded of 4 very important life lessons.

It is truly good to laugh. There’s something that lightens your heart when you hear the innocent giggles and chuckles of young children. The Bible says that “a merry heart (a laughing, joyous heart) does good, like medicine.” Proverbs 17:22 John Cleese is quoted as saying, “Laughter connects you with people. It’s almost impossible to maintain any kind of distance or any sense of social hierarchy when you’re just howling with laughter. Laughter is a force for democracy.” And Paul Lowney said, “Laughter has no foreign accent.” I just know that I observed for hours on end during that day that laughter was a great equalizer. It came so naturally to those little girls and certainly did me more good than any medicine.
It’s not that hard to get along with another person. In the case of Birti and Megan, they share an interest in soccer, electronics and mint chocolate chip ice cream, but they also have plenty of diverging activities and foods that they enjoy. Yet, they got along beautifully without a single cross word. When they saw the birthday cake I had waiting for them, they quickly swapped candle colors to make sure both were happy. When they were shopping in the stores, they eagerly pointed out treasures they saw on the shelves that they believed would be appealing to the other person. And they found the most fun out of buying the same things with just a touch of individuality thrown in for good measure, such as in Build-a-Bear when they bought the same stuffed dog but were careful to give them different names. Why don’t adults make that much effort to work together to improve relationships? Romans 12:18 “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”
Wise money management can be taught from an early age. Their granddaddy would have LOVED seeing how much time and thought these girls gave to how they would spend a portion of their birthday money. I see it as a tribute to the careful teaching and examples of their parents and also as a reflection of their personalities. Birti wanted to make sure she still had some money left, and Megan wanted to be sure the item she was buying was something she really wanted. For my part, I was just very glad to have the luxury of time to allow them to shop the way they wanted to shop. Proverbs 13:18 “Poverty and shame will come to him who disdains correction, but he who regards a rebuke will be honored.” Children watch everything we do and say. Lessons about money should be carefully taught.
A different kind of music is leading them to a knowledge of God and to an experience of worship. Both of these young granddaughters LOVE contemporary Christian music. They listen to it a LOT and have many songs memorized. It speaks their language. Their voices are pure and clear, and I had several chances to hear them singing with complete abandon when they thought no one was listening. But when we attended a very traditional worship service on Sunday morning filled with music that I had grown up with, they stood there mute and told me afterwards that they didn’t know a single one of the songs. These are girls who attend church every week, but they are worshiping in a completely different atmosphere and style. The songs they shared with me have powerful, biblically-based lyrics. In my own personal “perfect world,” a worship experience would interweave both the old and the new using lots of instruments, but very few churches have that. I would LOVE for them to cherish “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name” and “Glorious is Thy Name” as much as I do, but that is unlikely to happen. I am determined to embrace what works to teach them the truths about God and His Word. That doesn’t mean that I have to abandon my own heart language of hymns, but it does mean that I should enjoy learning THEIR music, too. Ephesians 5:19 “speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,” Psalm 105:2 “Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.”
Birti and Megan relaxing on the couch and eating nacho chips after our shopping trip.

Thanks, Megan and Birti. Without your knowledge, you reminded your Grandmomma of things she needed to remember.

SUDDENLY!!

10/06/2017 By: CCPearson8 Comments

Our lives can change drastically in an instant.

When I got to Sunday School last Sunday, I learned that a good friend fell down a flight of stairs at her daughter’s house the night before and broke her hip. For the next weeks and months, she will deal with the aftermath of that fall. Suddenly, her plans for that night and the days ahead were painfully rearranged.

Two weeks earlier some dear friends got the phone call no parent ever wants to receive. Their daughter, after tucking two young children into bed, got overheated while exercising, collapsed and was unresponsive. Over the next days, they helped their grieving son-in-law make arrangements for a funeral, all while being devastated themselves. Their lives, on this side of heaven, are forever changed.

I got one of those life-changing phone calls in January of 1986. An unfamiliar voice on the other end of the line said that I should come as quickly as possible, because it appeared that my Mom had suffered a severe brain aneurysm. The succeeding days were a blur of tears and shock. The heart of our family was gone, the glue, the communicator, the fun-planner, the true life of every gathering.

Then, this past Monday morning I awoke to the scenes of death and chaos in Las Vegas, NV. More than 50 lives were snuffed out in the middle of attending an outdoor concert, and 500 others now had injuries, healing, recovery and rehab to face rather than just a happy drive back home.

These verses in the Bible are on my mind this morning. Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 15: 51-52:

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—

in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”

Did you get that? “In a flash,” “in the twinkling of an eye,” WE WILL ALL BE CHANGED. You may not have faced a sudden, life-altering event YET in your life, but one is coming. The Bible tells us over and over. For some, it may seem like a warning, while others see it as a promise. Either way, it’s a fact.

But, what are we supposed to do about it in the meantime? How do we live our lives after receiving one of those bad phone calls or having that sudden fall/accident? What does God want us to do while we wait for His return that will most certainly happen at an unexpected moment?

My son, Preacher Matt, often looks at what the Scripture does NOT say in certain passages. Let’s do that for a moment.

1) No place in the Bible are we told to put on sack cloth and ashes, get in a fetal position, wring our hands, gnash our teeth and become consumed with worry and dread.

2) No place in the Bible are we told to sell all of our worldly goods, gather some like-minded friends, go up on a mountain and sing “Kum-Bah-Yah” while we watch for the end to come.

3) No place in the Bible are we told to browbeat every non-Christian we know, hit them over the head with our Bibles, shame them into repentance and drag them down the aisles of our churches.

So, what ARE we supposed to do?

Hosea 10:12 says “Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with kindness; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD Until He comes to rain righteousness on you.” Look at all of the verbs suggesting that we continue to work with diligence — “sow,” “reap,” “break up your fallow ground.” In other words, keep doing the things we know we should be doing. Continue to work, live and relate to others with integrity.

Mark 13:33-37 admonishes us to be alert. “Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come. “It is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert. “Therefore, be on the alert–for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep. “What I say to you I say to all, ‘Be on the alert!'” Be ready. Be prayed up. Ask for forgiveness from those you’ve wronged. Mend relationships that have been broken. Build relationships with people who need to hear the Gospel and ask God to send the Holy Spirit to prepare their hearts and to divinely orchestrate opportunities to share with them. Say the “I love you’s” now, so there will be no regrets later. Be kinder than usual. Be gentler than usual. Enjoy your friendships and cultivate others. Laugh and smile more. Reflect the presence of Christ in your life.

1 Corinthians 16:13 says “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” Take courageous stands based on your faith in Christ.

Colossians 4:2 reminds us to “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving” So, we should pray more and stay thankful.

All of these verses remind me that there is much to do while I wait. What do they say to you today?

3 Ingredients for Spending a Few Hours with a Teenage Granddaughter

09/29/2017 By: CCPearsoncomment

Proverbs 17:6 – “Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.”

Psalm 128:5-6 – “May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
⁶May you live to see your children’s children— peace be on Israel.”

Deuteronomy 6:1-2 – “These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, ²so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.”

Steve and I are so very blessed to have 13 beautiful grandchildren — a Baker’s Dozen of Delight! It is a blessing beyond all we could have ever asked or imagined. Our children bring us unimaginable joy, but, oh, our children’s children. My goodness.

Their ages range for 5 days old to a granddaughter who will be 17 in about 6 weeks. We spent a fun afternoon with our oldest, teenager Allie Grace, recently, and as I planned our time together, I wanted it to include 3 ingredients. (Maybe these ingredients stem from what I would have enjoyed with my own grandparents. Their circumstances were far different, however. Even though I never doubted their love for me and their pride in my accomplishments, both physical and financial limitations prevented them from spoiling me. Grandparenting has as many different “looks” as the number of grandparents trying to fulfill the role.)

In addition to getting inside our grandchildren’s world, I believe it’s important for us to share our own passions, interests, and hobbies with them. Yes, we go to band concerts, soccer games and baptisms. We ask about schoolwork, friends and pets. We want to know their favorite colors, books, foods, sports teams, movies and TV shows, but we also want them to know some of our favorites as well. Steve, for example, is their go-to expert for all things related to fishing or animals, while I (hopefully) spring to their minds in the areas of music or food. 🙂 And, always, always, always, we want them to catch our commitment and enthusiasm for God, for the Bible and for church. We had a chance to worship with Allie at her new church in Nashville and (hopefully) affirmed to her all of its positive aspects. Later, she showed us her new school, and we loved hearing her tell all of the good things happening for her there.
GoodPasture Christian School sign.
Good food is a must! Don’t we want our grandchildren to associate us with happy times around a table with delicious tastes in their mouths?? Well, this was a perfect time for me to share my enjoyment of being a food/travel writer with Allie. I researched a restaurant with a great chef that I was pretty sure she had never tried before and made reservations for brunch. We arrived at etc. (yes, that’s the name of it — no capital letters or anything) and walked into a lively place with a sleek appearance and an intriguing menu. Allie suggested fresh croissants to begin our meal, and “her wish was our command.” 🙂 Then, since she’s both “into health” AND a teenager, she chose a breakfast quesadilla with bacon, eggs, cheese, onions, black beans, avocado, salsa, tomatillo jam and micro greens. When we made our way to nearby Green Hills Mall afterwards, I introduced all of us to a heavenly goodie known as a macaron. No, not macaroon of the coconut variety, but macaron of the many-colored, many-flavored variety. They were in a little kiosk called Woops! Again, this combined my foodie interest with my “once a teacher, always a teacher” trait. Now, she has something new to know about and mention to her friends. And, maybe I can find a recipe we can try together the next time she visits.
Breakfast quesadilla at etc. in Nashville.

Woops! – a place to buy macarons in Green Hills Mall.
A little shopping — within reason, of course. Teenage girls — and their grandmothers — love to look and sometimes buy something new, right? We found a store that was new to both of us called Charming Charlie. There is actually one at Parkway Place Mall in Huntsville for those of you who live in North Alabama. It is filled with colorful, fashionable jewelry, purses, scarves and clothes (mostly tops, it seemed), and the prices were very affordable. We both got a couple of items and spent only around $30. (Steve, I should mention, was very glad to see some nice benches outside the store for resting and watching the world go by).
Shopping bags from Green Hills Mall.

It was a nice afternoon. We didn’t spend a lot of money. We just invested some time. We learned more about Allie, and I believe she learned more about us. Allie, along with her siblings and cousins, are most certainly “a crown” for Steve and me. Thank you, God.

Selfie in front of macarons.

Desperate to Be Free

09/22/2017 By: CCPearsoncomment

I’ve never experienced it. That overwhelming urgency to be free to the point of being willing to risk death to achieve it. The closest I can remember is during my high school days when I desperately wanted to go off to college and escape the rules and domination of my parents. And that is a pitiful excuse for a comparison. After all, my physical needs were generously met, and my parents made sacrifices to help me reach my goals and dreams. No, I’ve never known a hunger for freedom so deep that it caused me to take drastic actions and beg others to help me along my way.

I THOUGHT I knew what I’d be seeing when Steve and I visited the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati this past spring. I studied the Civil War during elementary and high school years. I had a rudimentary knowledge of what the Underground Railroad was and how it worked. But, at this amazing facility I had the chance to see some of the details more graphically. It was intense and powerful. The Ohio River Valley area was a major location when the Underground Railroad was in operation. Now, at 50 East Freedom Way, along the banks of the Ohio River is a multi-million-dollar building designed specifically to educate others about the journeys some endured to find freedom.

Moving display at the Freedom Center.

Three large pavilions make up the first and second floors of the building — The Pavilion of Perseverance, the Pavilion of Courage, and the Pavilion of Cooperation. In the Perseverance section was an authentic slave pen which housed slaves on their way to be auctioned and sold. It was found on a farm in Kentucky less than 60 miles from the Freedom Center.

Slave pen.

Two large RagGonNons created by Aminah Robinson dominated another wall. These quilt-type wall hangings took her 35 years to complete and tell the story of slavery and freedom from her own perspective. Many materials are used in these hangings, and Ms. Robinson did all of the drawing, painting, quilting and sewing by hand.

RagGonNons by Aminah Robinson

Closeup of a RagGonNon.

In another display, part of a house was used to show the places that slaves were hidden on the journey north after they escaped the plantations of the south.

House along the Underground Railroad.

A traveling exhibit on Nelson Mandela was being shown during the days we were there. Again, I have to plead ignorance. I didn’t understand what Apartheid really meant, and I’m ashamed of myself for not being better educated about it. The blacks in South Africa were treated terribly. Mandela’s raised fist had such passion and meaning. The questions he asked stirred my heart. “Lay down your rock. Lift up your fist. What will you forgive? What will you fight for?” Such a powerful message for his people.

Nelson Mandela’s raised fist.

7 Pillars of Apartheid.

If you have a chance to go to Cincinnati, I would highly recommend that you plan to spend a few hours at the Freedom Center. It is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. If you can’t go that far, then consider a drive to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Ignorance is no excuse. Freedom is a cause all Christians should champion.

John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

Galatians 5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

1 Peter 2:16 “Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.”

Three Weeks, Three Displays of God’s Omnipotence

09/15/2017 By: CCPearson5 Comments

(Written on Monday, Sept. 11, 2017, 16 years after the day none of us will ever forget)

Three weeks ago, most of the United States locked their gazes skyward, through eclipse-glasses, of course, to watch as the moon traveled across the face of the sun, blocking it from our view for a few short minutes. The earth turned an eery kind of dark, and summer insects and birds who normally only make a fuss in the late afternoon and early evening were “tricked” into thinking it was about to be nighttime. Even those of us who viewed from a tiny hole in a box realized we were seeing a prime example of the way God set our solar system into motion during that week of creation described in Genesis chapter 1.

In the days surrounding Labor Day Weekend, we watched in horror as Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas and then seemed to stand still dumping record-setting amounts of rainfall (more than 4 FEET of rain in some places) on the residents and business owners. The photos beamed into our living rooms of the flooding tore at our hearts, and we all felt compelled to “do SOMETHING” to try to help.

While that was unfolding, Hurricane Irma was churning and gaining strength in the Atlantic. And, now many Caribbean islands are wrecked and severely damaged, and over 3 million people in Florida are without power. Irma has even plotted a course that is expected to bring high winds and heavy rainfall as far as North Alabama where I live. Schools are closed all over my part of the state today because of the desire to keep buses off the roads during dangerous conditions. I saw one graphic on a weather report comparing Hurricane Andrew, a category 5 hurricane from the fall of 1992, the most powerful to ever hit the Bahamas and Florida, to Irma. Some meteorogists said Irma made Andrew look like “an afternoon thunderstorm” because it is potentially 5 times more powerful that Andrew was. Undeniably, a HUGE storm.

We see these things happen. They stun us and cause us to marvel. We think briefly about Who the Creator is and how powerful He must be, then the crisis passes, and life returns to normal. But, truthfully, we’re not very different from the Israelites who roamed in the wilderness with Moses for 40 years. God parted the Red Sea, He sent manna from heaven, He caused fresh water to gush out of a rock, He defeated their enemies, He gave Moses the Ten Commandments, etc. etc. and, like us, they were momentarily grateful . . . or amazed . . . or in awe, and then they went to bed, got up the next morning, and life went on.

Is it possible that God wants us to think longer about His power and more deeply about what that means for us as we live our lives on earth? Here are some verses to ponder from the New International Version of the Bible:

Romans 1:20 – “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

Hebrews 1:3a – “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.”

Nehemiah 9:6 – “You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.”

Revelation 19:6 – “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.’ “

Going one step further, the true “wonder of it all” is to realize that perhaps God’s greatest power is turning sinners into saints through His Son Jesus Christ who died on Calvary to redeem our lives and give us eternal life. Hallelujah!

An Unfinished Tale of Two Sisters

09/08/2017 By: CCPearson5 Comments

Two pairs of sisters come immediately to mind when I look in the Bible for examples: Leah and Rachel in the Old Testament and Mary and Martha in the New Testament. In both cases, one of the sisters appears to be more highly favored than the other.

The story of Leah and Rachel plays out in Genesis chapters 29-35. Two very poignant verses (to me) in those chapters are about Leah. Genesis 29:17 “And Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful of form and face.” The Message paraphrase says it like this in verses 16-18:^“Now Laban had two daughters; Leah was the older and Rachel the younger. Leah had nice eyes, but Rachel was stunningly beautiful. And it was Rachel that Jacob loved.” And further in the chapter, we read in verse 31 “Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.”

It’s easy to feel sorry for Leah, but she ended up bearing six strapping sons and a daughter for Jacob, and Rachel died in childbirth with her second son. Leah lived much longer and was buried in the cave of Machpelah, along with Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah.

In Luke 10:38-42, Jesus comes to have dinner with sisters Martha and Mary. Martha is busy making all the preparations for the meal while Mary sits at Jesus’ feet. Martha wants Jesus to get Mary to help her in the kitchen, but Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Ouch! I believe I would have taken that as a reproof if I had been Martha. But, she doesn’t appear to hold any ill feelings toward Jesus. In John 12:1-8 we see Martha serving Jesus once again while Mary anoints His feet with costly perfume. With Leah and Rachel, we learn that Rachel is “the pretty sister,” and with Martha and Mary, it appears that Mary is “the most spiritual.” Hmmmm.

I have two daughters. They were born 4 years and 50 weeks apart. Both of these sisters are beautiful, and both are deeply spiritual. Both were identified as gifted when they were in the second grade. Both have bachelor’s and master’s degrees from college. Both are dearly loved by their husbands and children. Both have made a commitment to homeschool their children. Both are musically talented and have wonderful writing and communication skills. Both are continuing to evolve into the women God designed them to be. It thrills my heart to watch this happen.

Their differences surprise me and make me laugh. In a lot of ways, I wonder how two daughters reared in the same home with the same parents could be so different??

Laura Katherine Pearson Baggett lives in a neighborhood in Rome, GA with her husband David and their two children, Nathan and Megan. The kids enjoy soccer, basketball, swimming, Auburn football and their iPads. Laura teaches college math courses on-line, leads a women’s Bible study at her church, substitutes on the keyboard at their church’s contemporary worship service and has written a book called Making Room for Jesus (available on Amazon – hint, hint) along with a companion Bible study. She is a declutterer-extraordinaire and makes me want to be one myself. For her 40th birthday, she decided to go a little wild with her hair color and has continued to experiment with pinks, purples, reds and blues. She loves makeup and especially bright lipstick. She has become a distributor for Senegence makeup and Lipsense. This reclusive woman now regularly posts videos of herself applying makeup and lipstick and amazes all who think they know her with her wit and personality AND her various hair colors. Her favorite holiday to host is Thanksgiving, and her crockpot dressing is to-die-for. She is a speaker/presenter at homeschool conventions, and I recently watched and listened in-person as she gave a wonderful motivational speech about “Freedom in Christ.” I see parts of myself in her, but she has gone way beyond me. I am blessed to be her Momma.

Laura and David with children Nathan and Megan.

Laura speaking about Freedom in Christ.

Julie Rose Pearson Rodgers lives on a 30-acre farm in Somerville, AL with her husband Brian. She is expecting her EIGHTH child in a few weeks. Her kids enjoy going barefooted, working in the garden, creating art, experiencing nature in all its forms and BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS. They know all about goats, pigs, chickens, cows and donkeys and have their daily farm chores. They don’t have a television. Julie is a diligent teacher of the Bible to her children, she has many friends, she is a constant hostess with a gift for hospitality. She has an amazing eye for photography and posts snippets of their lives regularly on Instagram (you might enjoy following farm_momma_7). Julie is very natural. She was once a high-heel-wearing career girl in the corporate world, but now she enjoys going without makeup, being a devoted Momma and a consummate homemaker. As a young child, she loved baby dolls and real babies. Now, she has a house full of them. I am in awe of her ability to manage all of this with patience and grace. I see tiny parts of myself in her, but she has gone way beyond me. I am blessed to be her Momma.

Julie and Brian with children Silas, Samuel, Margaret, Penelope, Rosemary and Bethany.

Julie with her oldest daughter Allie sharing a collage of nature.

Anyway, God has been speaking to me a lot lately about my daughters, so I thought I’d share them with you. And, yes, they have a brother in the middle, but you’ve heard plenty about him already.

Enjoy your weekend. Enjoy the unique personalities of your children. And be sure to thank God for all the ways they are “fearfully and wonderfully made.”

A Season of Receiving

09/01/2017 By: CCPearson1 Comment

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35b

I learned those words as a child and know them to be absolutely true. We ARE very blessed when we have the privilege of giving, and I hope I will always be a giver. But, in recent days, Steve and I have been the receivers of acts of kindness that have blessed us, encouraged us and lifted our spirits.

A few days ago, a long-time friend showed up at our door with this casserole.

We learned that First Baptist of Hartselle has a Casserole Ministry. Yes, a Casserole Ministry. Several ladies in the church keep a freezer filled with a variety of casseroles in disposable pans ready to be delivered to couples with a new baby, someone who has been sick, someone who has experienced a crisis, or NEWCOMERS. Yay!!! Some do the cooking, others do the delivering, and yet others get to do the eating. What a great idea!! I was particularly grateful for this casserole because I was facing a day of writing deadlines, yet suddenly I had the main part of our supper thawing on the counter. It was comfort food in every sense of the term.

The day that all of our furniture was moved out of our house in Athens, our good friends and neighbors across the street said, “Come over for supper when everything is loaded. We’ll have something simple to eat before you leave the neighborhood.” How nice to not have to go searching for food when we were bone-tired and looking very bedraggled. It was thoughtful, helpful and extremely kind.

A few nights before that, our great Sunday School class surprised us with a barbecue and all the trimmings. We thought we were just going to our neighbors’ for a casual meal but arrived to find a dozen smiling faces. Not only did they feed us (and send us home with leftovers), they also gave us cards which we realized later contained gift cards to restaurants and to Lowe’s. A perfect gesture to help us during the stressful transition days.

My beloved fellow choir members gave me a grand piano music box as a going-away gift. It is carefully packed away in a safe place awaiting a spot of honor when the new house is finished. I know I will always look at it and smile.

Such thoughtful actions. Each one special and perfectly-timed. So many examples of God supplying the needs of our bodies and of our hearts through His servants. All of the givers in these cases, were indeed “cheerful givers.”

2 Corinthians 9:7 “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

As you might expect, these acts of kindness have caused me to think about what my response should be, and I have realized there are two take-aways:

Be (and STAY) grateful. Grateful to the person or people who carried out the kindnesses and grateful to God for putting us on their hearts and giving them the desire to minister to us.
Pay it forward. I pray that as a result of all we’ve felt and experienced in the past month, I will be more keenly aware of what others are needing. I believe the best thank-you I can give to those who have blessed us will be to bless others in the future.

Amelia Earhart said, “A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.”

Scott Adams said, “Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.”

So, thank you, friends for giving to us. We will do our best to minister to others following your examples.

Putting Down My List. Picking Up a Desire to Encounter God.

08/25/2017 By: CCPearson6 Comments

I confess. I was in big-time list-making mode.

We just moved back to Hartselle after living in other places for 15 years, and it’s time to start finding the church where God wants us at this stage of our lives.

My preference list included such items as: 1) Dynamic worship with a great choir, skilled instrumentalists and a blend of hymns and contemporary praise and worship music. Up-tempo when appropriate, of course. 2) Evidence of growth in the congregation, such as young families and plenty of youth. 3) An expository preacher who would teach me something new from God’s Word every week. 4) A great Sunday School class for further spiritual growth and more intimate fellowship. 5) Comfortable, attractive facilities. 6) Convenience to our home. You get the idea. It was all about MY wants, MY personal preferences, MY comfort level.

THEN, God used my preacher son, Matt, and the powerful passage in His Word found in Isaiah 6:1-8 to turn my thinking in a completely different direction. If you have 28 minutes, you can hear all of Matt’s message here. But, if you’re in a hurry and need the bullet points from my perspective, I’d like to share them.

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord” — Matt spent several minutes rehashing the background of Uzziah and his significance. Uzziah reigned as king over Judah for 52 years. During the early years of his reign, he “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord,” and the Lord greatly blessed him. He was smart and innovative. He built up the armies and the land, and other nations noticed and admired him. But then his pride caused him to make a grave mistake. He went into the temple and burned incense, which was something only the priests were allowed to do. God struck him with leprosy, and he was not allowed to enter the temple for the rest of his life. When he died, the whole nation was holding its breath, so to speak, to see what would happen next. Isaiah sincerely wanted to hear from God. He had no agenda of his own. He went into the temple that day desiring to encounter God. Matt asked his congregation, “Why are you here today? In your mind, is it “all about you” or did you come to have an encounter with God?” Uh oh. A little unease came into my heart.
“I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

⁴At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

Isaiah saw an amazing spectacle when he went into the temple that day. The Lord himself with his immense train, flying seraphim with six wings proclaiming “Holy, holy, holy,” shaking doorposts and thresholds and smoke. Yet, his thoughts (unlike mine have often been) were not focused on the great “show” happening in church. Nor was his mind on criticizing the Lord’s apparel or the atmosphere/special effects inside the temple. But isn’t that what I’ve done WAY too many times? “Why did the music have to be so loud?” “Surely the preacher has something better than that to wear in the pulpit on Sunday mornings?” “I’m not a big fan of angels or long robes or smoke machines.” No. Isaiah went into the temple to find God. And Matt asked again, “Why did YOU come to church this morning?” Okay. Now I’m really having to rethink some things. I have spent far too much time focusing on the “trappings” of worship rather than on the preparation of my heart for worship.
“⁵Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Isaiah’s immediate reaction to the display of God’s grandeur and power was complete humility and a feeling of unworthiness. He knew that in comparison to God, he was ruined without help from God Almighty. He recognized that his own mouth was wicked and so were the mouths of the people he lived around. Matt asked, “Is that why so many people stay home on Sunday? Isn’t it easier to try to prevent God or anyone else from seeing inside our hearts and souls? Do we avoid a chance to encounter God because we don’t want to be made aware of our sin?” I couldn’t help but think of the number of times when my heart was full of sin, and I did not want to be in a place or a situation where I knew I’d be convicted about that sinfulness. But, wasn’t that the very place I most needed to be so that I could ask for forgiveness and receive it?
^“6Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” “Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” What awesome words! We have to remember that in these verses, Isaiah did nothing but stand there. God did it all. The passage does not mention that the live coal caused Isaiah excruciating pain. We know that Jesus is the one who took on the pain of our sins and became the atonement for each of us. We don’t work for atonement/forgiveness. We can’t earn atonement/forgiveness. God provided a way for Isaiah before He sent Jesus, and He has provided a way for us. So, what is Isaiah’s response?
“⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah did NOT say, “Here I am. Send him. . . or her . . . or them.” Matt’s conclusion was that “when it hits you that God loves you to your core, you’ll eagerly want to tell others about that kind of God.” In this passage, in Ephesians 2 and throughout the Book of Romans, the theme is the same: God is holy. We are broken. God provides a way to fix our brokenness. Thank you, Jesus!

So, what about my list of preferences? I believe God wants me to lay those aside and desire with all my heart to have an encounter with Him. I know that can happen even with an out-of-tune guitar, uneducated preaching, hard benches, flies buzzing and perspiration rolling down my back. I can picture a room in Cojitambo, Ecuador with that exact scene where I had a very clear and profound time with the Father. It’s not about me. It’s not about me. It’s not about me. It’s ALL about HIM.

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