My dad loved to golf. One of the saddest parts of the diabetes was when it robbed him of his ability to see that little white ball fly through the air.

One of my favorite memories, though, was of him teaching me to swing a club in just the perfect way to send the ball flying straight and true to the intended goal.  The lesson was fairly short and sweet....once we got through that stupid very important grip.

Here is what I know...You have to commit to the swing.  Giving it your all.  Suppose you check the swing midway?  You are going to pull the ball to the right or the left.  Think you can get away with hitting the ball and then stopping the club?  Nope.  This is going to cause you problems as well.  Somehow the science requires the beginning, ball hit, and end of the swing to be as committed and fluid as they can be.

And so it is with our daily walk.  How does it work for you to be "half in" to your commitment to Christ?  It just isn't good.  Bad things happen.  There are so many things vying for our attention and not all of them are good.

As Believers we know the beginning, the day to day living and the end.  It is vital that we are committed to the entire journey as each part has impact.

I am not talking about a list of things that we must do.  I'm talking about our heart attitude.  One that earnestly follows after Him.  A constant dedication to finishing strong. One that knows that it must keep the end goal in sight to reach it.

Swing hard, my Christian friends.  Allow your testimony to fly straight and long.  Finish well at the spot of your goal.

Never give up.  If you end up in the sand trap of life....get busy and chip out of that thing.  Don't stay there or despair.  Grab a wedge...it is designed to lift that ball up and out.  Have a few "wedge" scriptures and friends handy.    :-)

Stuck in the trees/woods?  This is tricky....but you can carefully come out with prayer and support of those who love you.

Constantly seek the advice of your Caddie....The Holy Spirit.  It is even better than having someone walk beside you with encouragement and advice....This gift is in you with all the advice and tools you need to succeed.  Be practiced at hearing and obeying that voice.

So, while this may seem a silly exercise in comparisons I hope it comes back to you from time to time when you are tempted to care a bit less than you should.  Be committed....to the end.

Becky-Good Neighbors Candle Co.

Our family lives in Southern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  Our weather in the "Southern End" is often quite different than that of the rest of the county.  This often leaves us at a loss as to know what to believe about the forecasts that are given for the county as a whole.

Yesterday I noticed a township truck putting cinders/gravel down on the streets in our small development.  It registered as a surprise since it didn't appear to be precipitating at all.  A bit later I noticed that my dogs returned from their morning trip outside kind of wet.  Ahhh....so there was something going on out there.

Still, the weather reports weren't grave.  So we headed out the door to go to church.  We go early because I make the bulletins and practice music with the worship team before most others arrive.  As I headed out the door Warren cautioned me that the driveway was very slippery.  He was right.  But even so we got in the van and headed on our way.  We are very used to our roads being less than perfect here in our development but as we passed a car headed our way from the main highway Warren kind of joked about terrified drivers....they were going about 5-10 miles per hour.  Well, it took us about 30 seconds to figure out why.  As we pulled out onto the main road we found it to be just a huge sheet of ice.  There was no grip, no patches to get a grip, no nothing but slippery ice.
The rain was coming down at a pretty good pace and every drop just became ice as soon as it hit the road.

I immediately began begging Warren to turn around at a local business.  He did....sliding all the way. We went home even as I called our Pastor to report our findings.  Pretty soon we were calling every member of the church to tell them that Sunday School, at least, would be cancelled.  With these calls came the information that some ladies had gone out of their way to make a lot of food for our scheduled fellowship meal.  They were quite concerned that this might be cancelled as well.  One of them went so far as to suggest that we meet at lunchtime to eat together and then have an afternoon service.  Gasp!  Could we do it?  You know, step outside of the routine?  Worship at an unusual time?

It would be a problem if we felt we had an appointment for church. You know, this is the acceptable time and place to have church.  God shows up at 10:30 am on Sunday mornings at churches and He is done at noon.  Off to other places to meet with others, right?

As ridiculous as this sounds it is often how we act.  There are certain things we do at certain times and in certain ways and places.  It is good to mix it up every now and then.

We met for our lunch and those who were able to come found it to be a bonding experience.  The strangest thing was, though, that our experience was unique.  Even though we live about a mile from the church, as the crow flies, those who came from other directions met with no ice...none...zero...zilch.  So...of course....some had to really brag on their ability to get there.  Haha.  We are such a family.

After lunch we began our "Morning" Worship Service.  Perhaps we were even a bit more into it for the excitement of the change.  Some families didn't make it due to bad weather where they were, or other reasons, but those of us who were there very much enjoyed worshiping God in the afternoon. No question about it...He was there!

Now...I've kind of gone out of my way to stress the point.  So often we get into ruts.  You know we do our devotions in the morning, we say our meal blessings, perhaps we whisper a prayer when we see a prayer request on Facebook.  We, in our own ways, have appointments with God.

God doesn't live in time.  He doesn't need an appointment.  Schedules help us to know when to show up corporately and that is a good thing.  But I challenge you to think outside the usual worship box and just visit with Your Heavenly Father just any time at all.  Shake it up a little.  Be intentional about it.  Routines can be helpful or they can be boring and legalistic.

There is joy in Worship....any time!

Hugs, Becky (Good Neighbors Candle)

Letters of Love Designs

I attend a Ladies Bible Study on Wednesday mornings.  It is pretty large.  I think we have more than 70 women for this study and that is down from the 120 that participated in the Fall Semester.  We are studying Gideon, using a video series by Priscilla Shirer.  It is amazing to me how little I know about Gideon and what can be learned from three short chapters in the Bible.

 When we arrive, we have a time of singing and then split up into small groups to discuss our homework.  It is here that it gets personal and we share lessons learned from this study.  Last week's homework was good and I got a lot out of it.
I would like to talk about this particular section from Judges 6....


We discussed what it must have felt like for Gideon to tear down the idols that his father and family friends had built.  These were not small.  Baal worship was huge in Gideon's family and community.  In fact, Gideon's father was responsible for monitoring this worship.  He likely oversaw or built the very alter that Gideon tore down.  However, God didn't send Gideon one town over or to another country to do this work. He instead was instructed to work at home.  Tearing down the idols.

This weekend an event happened in our home which pointed out some "idols" one in our family is holding onto.  Now, I am very sure that if I was to peer into my own life I would find that I am not immune to this either.  However, for this family member things came to a crisis.  My husband and I dealt with it, imperfectly, but we confronted the issue.  I was so broken for the outcome of our discussion.

Soon after we had our talk we headed out to breakfast.  The family member we had spoken with was not with us.  All of a sudden this passage and our discussion about it came to me!  We were tearing down idols...and we were beginning at home!!  We experienced the wrath of a family member who didn't like his "gods" attacked.  What an encouragement because I knew that if God had called us to that moment, He would get us through.

It was a rough 24 plus hours but I am so happy to report that all is restored in our household.  We have reconciled with this family member who we so offended.  It is never easy or never fun to deal with those things which bring our sin to the forefront and deal with it.  But the peace and joy on the other side is beautiful.  I watched the change in this son and I even commented last evening on how handsome he looked.  His entire face had moved from anger and hurt to a peaceful calm.  I would ask you to continue praying for him.  This stronghold in his life is deep.  But, God is able and He is definitely at work in this young man's life.

I don't really want the job of tearing down idols...but I do know that when God calls us to do it, He will carry us through.  I especially don't want to encourage people to go hunting for other people's idols.  Ha.  But if we start in our own hearts and root out those things that are more important to us than our walk with our Savior it will bring about change and joy.  That in itself, will likely result in those around us seeking the source of our peace and joy.  They in return will have an opportunity to hear your experience and may tear down idols in their own lives.  I'm challenging myself to it today.  So if you hear sounds of breaking rock and crashing alters...it might just be me....cleaning house.

Becky - Good Neighbors Candle

"My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you— I whom you have delivered."  Psalm 71:23 NIV

It is kind of amazing how often the words joy and praise are found in the same verse.  I wonder if it is the joy which leads to praise or if the praise brings joy?  I suspect that sometimes it works one way ...and others the reverse.  There have been days that I have not felt joyful until I gave Him praise and then it flooded my heart until I thought I might burst.

Music has always been a powerful force in my life.   I remember even as a child that a song could move me to tears when I would be able to stiffen myself against the feelings when the words were spoken.  I have to wonder why that is?  But, it is just one of those things to remind us to be careful what we allow ourselves to listen to as it seems to carry its message deeply inside of us.

Joy.  Sometimes it feels like an overwhelmingly happy feeling.  Our eyes dance.  

"The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes."  Psalm 19:8 NIV

The stupid grin on our face says it all.  

"Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” Psalm 126:2 NIV

However, sometimes joy is more subtle.  Sometimes it is so deep and satisfying that it looks more like contentment during hard times.  

"When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy." Psalm 94:19 NIV



"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him." Psalm 28:7 NIV

True joy comes from a knowledge of the Lord.  Knowing that He is our all in all.  Understanding that without Him we would not be here, we would have nothing and we would have no hope.  

"Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God."  Psalm 43:3-5 NIV

My instrument of choice is the piano.  I go to the piano, open a hymnal and just play in praise.  But I think of King David with his harp.  I think of him as a young boy in the fields with his lyre. Those dark nights as he watched over the sheep and plucked the strings in song.  So often his songs were joy filled, I am sure, as he observed the stars in the sky and as he learned the things of God.  This verse says that God is the joy.  If this is true in our lives then there is nothing better.  That means that our joy is not dependent on our happiness.  It is bigger, it is better, it is constant.

I think this is one of the things that the world notices about Believers.  They see the underlying joy.  That inner bubble that cannot be taken away.  Since it is of Him, for Him, through Him and to Him.  It is an infusion.  

Anyone can be happy from time to time.  However, I am not convinced that anyone can be truly joyful even when things are hard.  It takes that extra knowledge and trust for joy to be present in those moments.

But as I did my brief study on Joy for this post it was overwhelmingly obvious that most times joy is loud, joy is shouted out, joy is fun.  For these reasons I really love joy.  It is contagious.  So...pass it on!  Share the joy of the Lord as you go about your week.  Be intentional.  Reread scripture verses that remind us of our reason to have JOY in our hearts.  
For the JOY of the LORD is our STRENGTH!  Be strong as you walk with Him and in Him.

Becky - Good Neighbors Candle Co.