Playing Dead

My parents have a dog named Frodo. We call him the dog from "hell". He was tied up around a very big tree in the back yard one time when one of there chickens tried to play tag with him. This particular time the chicken was running around the tree and came a little to close to Frodo. With a giant leap and open jaw Frodo took one bite, the chicken went up in the air and fell several feet away from Frodo. He was one dead chicken. Or they thought.....my father came towards the chicken with an axe and right before the axe came down, you guessed it....up hopped one very anxious chicken and ran as fast as he could!!

This is a funny story, but think about it. We are like that chicken running around dangerous things in life until we get caught, whether it is our physical, mental or spiritual well being. We play with "fire" or with "frodo" then we give up, play dead, until someone comes along with the axe and wants to break our spirit or "axe our head off". We don't have to live like this. As Max Lucado's title of his book reads, "EveryDay Deserves A Chance". If you messed up in a certain area of your life today, you have tomorrow to begin again. It is when we play dead for too long that our resolve will be broken down and we will begin to believe that we are not capable of being the person that God created us to be.

Remember, don't ever give up. If you didn't exercise yesterday, do it today. Don't let anyone break your spirit. Don't let anyone leave you for dead and most importantly, don't give Satan a stronghold in your life.

His Wonderful Majesty

Hi guys....I am back from the foothills of Lost Creek Kentucky. The girls and I went on a week long mission trip with our Church group. What an awesome experience serving God at a Christian School named Riverside. We painted locker rooms, cleaned toilets, constructed a picnic table and I was blessed to help with the landscape. I wish you were all there, because normally I am good with words, but I know that I cannot explain the feeling of going on a mission trip like this and being the hands and feet of Christ. Now I know what giving Christ First Place really means. Serving others who need help is a feeling that I will never forget and I pray that I can continue to go on a trip like this for the rest of my life. I spent $20.00 on this trip!! That was for me and the girls. Our Church is very blessed to have a group of people who truly serve Christ through tithes and gifts for those who can go on mission trips. I will always be grateful to this wonderful body of believers. We have gone on several fancy trips with our family that has cost us up to $3,000. Colorado was beautiful, Tennessee was fun, and my favorite place to go, Virginia Beach, has been put on hold. (Even though I believe I can find a mission on Virginia Beach). This trip was the best I have ever been on. We worked from 9 - 5 every day. NO TV!!

In the evening we hiked, yes exercised, up the back woods of the mountains. This is truly a different kind of exercise as my legs were very sore afterwards. We hiked approx. 4 - 5 miles and didn't see one snake!! But I did get a few ticks. A teacher in the school named Sally took me to her home in the foothills and was beautiful. It was simple, but beautiful. Her house was painted white and her husband had built a bedroom overlooking a river and horse ranch. The bedroom had windows all around it. It looked like a house out of the Better Homes and Garden book.

But you know, putting all of this aside, I got closer to the 11 other people in our group and what fun they all were! I got to supervise 4 kids throughout the week but had time to work and talk to several adults. Again, I can't put this mission trip into words that justify it all, but I can encourage each one of you to take at least one trip where you serve all week. On Thursday evening we were treated to a ride high up into the mountains by a local person. We were able to see 12 elk roaming and several wild horses. I wish I would have had my four wheeler with me because riding with the wind in my face on top of a mountain is something that I would like to experience in my lifetime. I have been truly blessed this past week and am looking forward to teaching First Place to whoever would like to have a full body, heart and soul workout. I believe that God brought First Place into my life so I can share the love of Christ with others through exercising the heart, body and mind. I am looking forward to this Fall and seeing what work will be done in my life and those of you who choose to come along with me. Take care and love you all. Becki