Baleen and Gossiping

Baleen plates in Baleen whales

The 7th graders and I discussed two groups of whales one day this week, most specifically baleen whales. We also had a big 'ole talk about gossiping, and I'm very proud of a few of them who are sincerely trying to make a change in their spreading of rumors. I hope that the few things we learned and how they apply to God's Word will encourage you.

Baleen whales have a unique feature: baleen. Baleen is sometimes referred to as whalebone, but it looks like combs covering the mouth. The purpose is to siphon food from the water the whales inhale. Whales eat pretty much anything that swims in their way since they are so overwhelmingly huge. (They are already 3 tons when they are born, and will grow to 25 tons the following year!)

I don't know about you, but I'm constantly having to "filter" out the bad and consider what needs to be kept as good in my line of work as a teacher. Daily, several times a day, I beg God to seal my mouth when I need to just shut up and listen. However, that depends a LOT on what I decide to "keep" when listening. It's all relative.

The Bible tells us in Proverbs 14:7, "Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge." We are supposed to walk with God enough to have discernment when we hear someone who is not wise, and then to get out of their fellowship. But if we aren't in His Word, we won't have that discernment.

Have you ever been around someone who is constantly negative? Or maybe someone who always has unkind things to say about EVERYTHING? It can be so exhausting, can't it! Get away from them. Do the opposite--surround yourself with people who are positive and who uplift your soul instead of weighing you down. It is my job to protect what may come out of my mouth later by protecting NOW what I'm hearing. The only way to do that SUCCESSFULLY is to be immersed in God's Word.

Proverbs 16:28 says, "A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends." Gossiping and a critical spirit can damage the immediate for the hearer but also incur severe loss of a happy soul down the road, including friendships.
Ask yourself: "Do I avoid those who are critical?" I know that I want my friends to have a comrad who will keep their secrets, fill their ears with positive, encouraging words, and give them food to keep--not junk that has to be filtered.

In the last day I have had 3 friends receive very difficult news in 3 different circumstances. In each case, they are people who use the baleen in the Christian life and  choose to surround themselves with positive people, and I think that it has made all the difference in how they have handled their life-altering revelations. I really do. I'm amazed at their testimonies of endurance, and I have utmost admiration for their lives that give God all the glory no matter what. It doesn't happen by accident. We have to guard our ears from hearing things that our spirit is telling us will encumber us.
Have a blessed day!

Ms. Joanie

Meet Ms. Joanie, missionary to Puerto Rico.

When I went to Puerto Rico this past summer, I met a wonderful missionary lady named Joanie. She has been on the mission field for many years working in several BIMI churches starting schools, teaching, playing the piano, etc. My co-worker (Laura) and I noticed right away that Joanie never STOPPED. She awakened early with us, went soulwinning for hours on end with us, stayed up late with all of us and the teenagers, and never complained. She gave of herself that two weeks like she has given of herself for the past 40 years.

One day I started picking at her brain as we were trekking through one of the relatively wealthy neighborhoods to pass out tracts, and I asked her, "Ms. Joanie, what do you do when you've just 'had it' and you need a day off?" She never even looked up as she replied, "Stephanie, I just encourage myself in the Lord like David did." That was not the reply that I was hunting for, so I reworded my question. "Ms. Joanie, I know that you must get tired and just need a day for yourself every now and then. I have noticed how much you do around here."  She "harumphed" a laugh in the typical way that we had come to know her to respond and said, "I don't know. I don't take days off." I stopped my probing as I realized I was hunting for an answer that didn't exist in Ms. Joanie's mind. She was happy in the Lord. Laura and I knew firsthand that week that everything INDEED was not so happy-go-lucky for her, and that there were definite hardships and circumstances she faced. However, she was oblivious to the negative because she focused so much on the positive. I hope that this makes sense.

Sometimes in life we can focus just a little too much on the negative and it totally blinds us from seeing the positive side of anything. Ms. Joanie answered me right the first time: she encouraged herself in the Lord.

We never know who is watching us: our responses, our facial expressions, our words. They completely tell everyone what is going on inside us. When someone is real, it shows on the outside, and everyone knows it.  Thinking about Ms. Joanie today has reminded me to  

be a thankful, satisfied Christian who trusts in her Lord. I hope she encourages you too. =)

College DOES matter.

Everyone else's posts will be on love today, I suppose. Mine will be about a book!

Missionaries are amazing people to me.

The first missionary story that I remember reading was at Southside Christian School in Gainesville in the 4th grade. We were required to read Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot. This was in 1976, only 20 years after the tragedy in Ecuador---so the story was still being told.

I read this particular book about once a year because it encourages me in the Lord to be faithful, and also because it is just plain amazing. I've always been intrigued by Indians. From my sister's Indians in the Amazon with whom I got to trade some money for their artifacts on my sister's front porch, to my missionary hero Marg Jank's Indians in Venezuela, to the Mayan Indians in Guatemala that some of my students and I got to see firsthand. My mom even said that I was obsessed with studying American Indians when I was a teenager. I had forgotten about that.

But this time while reading Through Gates of Splendor, I realized that Jim obtained his burden for WHEREVER God was going to send him---in college. College matters. He was busy working in the ministry in college when God directed him to his calling and to the people who would help him get there.

How sad that we send our young people off to "find themselves" instead of directing them to a place where they can hear God's voice speak His Will to them. I have a renewed burden for this. I think the RIGHT Christian college matters. For if the young adult is not busy working and learning how to prepare in the ministry, how can he be properly trained?

I'm proud of my roots, Hyles-Anderson College. I am so thankful for every minute that they taught us to love to go door-knocking, bus calling, and working in a Sunday School class while we studied to become pastors and teachers. We were taught to work hard and to love God while doing His work to last for the long haul no matter where we served.

College definitely matters.

Smokey's Offering

Yesterday morning I stepped out my front door to a present left on my doorstep from my cat: a baby squirrel. Smokey often leaves me presents...lizards and birds usually....never totally dead, but definitely grasping for that last breath. My dad says that my cats used to do that when I was a little girl too. I asked him why....he says that the cat thinks she is bringing me something special.

Smokey is the only living cat in my neighborhood currently. I live in an area where coyotes have frequented, and they have eaten all the small dogs, cats, and other random animals that inhabited the woods behind my house. Smokey is fast though, and can outrun all the dogs as well as the coyotes. Her hunter instinct takes over when she leaves the confines of the house and enters the night scene going on in the front yard.  She always gets what she goes after--eventually; never completely killing the critter but instead disabling the critter's ability to fight back.

We just finished REVIVAL at our church, and so many people were saved and lives renewed for Jesus Christ. It's a great, unified feeling when church people all get on one page. However, the Devil can't stand it.

Something I've learned about the Devil: he is no respector of persons. He often goes after the "newbies"----the weak, brand-new Christian as well as the seasoned children of God. He preys on their new decision to accept Christ as their way to Heaven and offers hundreds of reasons why they will never make it. He also attacks and tries to disable the Christian who WANTS to do what is right, who steps out on faith to make a right choice to stand for Christ. Like Smokey, he bites for the "thrill of the kill" and throws us---his presents---off to die in humiliation and grief, he hopes.

Sometimes he sinks his teeth into an adult's desire to serve the Lord by tossing something discouraging and evil into his path. We've all been there. So, we have to be ready for it. We have to dig down inside and find that killer instinct--the Holy Spirit-- and use His power to triumph. There is no reason to be afraid of someone who is NO MATCH for our Holy God. Stay prayed up and well-read. We don't have to be constantly looking around the corner for doom and gloom to hit us, but we sure can make sure we are prepared for the fight with God's help. There is no time like the present to make your life count for eternity. No battle in history was ever won without a plan, so prepare. But don't waste another second worrying about the "yuck" that Satan throws in our paths to discourage us. After all, we are on the WINNING SIDE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Di28PzsYWc

Maddie's Still Missing... and Revival at our Place!

We are still missing a hamster in the JH Science Lab. THIS one is not my fault, but alas, one of my students admits to not closing the cage. We are hoping that, like Charlie, she is able to survive a full 7 days.
Charlie used to bite and was cantankerous. He is solid white with glowing red eyes, so I refer to him as the Vampire Hamster. However, since he went missing and was later found after 7 days with no food or water, he really seems to have had a change of heart. He no longer flinches when the kids reach into the cage for him. He enjoys the hamster wheel on the edge of one student's desk while I teach, and every 5 minutes gets to enjoy another kiddo. He is almost docile, and I wonder if the experience didn't traumatize him.
We are in a very happening and spiritual Revival at our church and school with Dr. Tom Farrell and his evangelistic team. Last night I listened to him thoroughly explain WHY we cannot reap blessings from works that we do if we are not filled with the Holy Spirit. Simply put, our hard work of living for the Lord, going soulwinning, trying to live right, being a good testimony, making right choices.......ALL of it.... there is no special reaping if we are not filled with the Holy Spirit when we do it. God CAN and DOES bless His Word when it is given out, but there is no blessing for us personally. I literally melted in my seat after I thought about how many times.....many, many times I have passed through a day without asking for the Holy Spirit's filling and power in my life. I wonder how many extras I've missed because I treated each day like a regular day and let happen what may happen.
Sometimes, like Charlie the hamster, we have to "starve" for a while and realize what a Magnificent and Holy God we have the opportunity to serve and walk with every day. Then our lives will be different. People will know when they are in our presence that we truly walk with God. We won't snap and bite at people; we repair and fix. Instead of getting offended at every other word, we respond with understanding and forgiveness.

Sounds silly, but pray that we can find Maddie before she passes behind some wall in my Science lab. :) The smell could be horrific!
Have a blessed day!