Weekend Mystery.............

30 Books

Can you find thrity (30) books of the Bible in this paragraph?
Actually , there are 31 If you can find the variant of one Old Testament prophet’s name.

There are 30 books of the Bible in this paragraph. Can you
find them? This ia a most remarkable puzzle. It was found by
a gentleman in an airplane seat pocket, on a flight from Los
Angeles to Honolulu, keeping him occupied for hours. He enjoyed
it so much, he passed it on to some friends. One friend from
Illinois worked on this while fishing from his john boat.
Another friend studied it while playing his banjo. Elaine
Taylor, a columnist friend, was sointrigued by it she mentioned
it in her weekly newspaper column. Another friend judges the job
of solving this puzzle so involving, she brews a cup of tea to
help her nerves. There will be some names that are really easy
to spot. That’s a fact. Some people, however, will soon find
themselves in a jam, especially since the book names are not
necessarily capitalized. Truthfully, from answeres we get, we are
forced to admit it usually takes a minister or a scholar to see
some of them at the worst. Research has shown that something in
our genes is responsible for the difficulty we have in seeing
the books in this paragraph. During a recent fund raising event,
which featured this puzzle, the Alpha Delta Phi lemonade booth
set a new record. The local paper, The Chronicle, surveyed over
200 patrons who reported that this puzzle was one of the most
difficult they had ever seen. As Daniel Humana humbly puts it,
“The books are all right here in plain view hidden from sight.”
Those able to find all of them will hear great lamenations from
those who have to be shown. One revelation that may help is that
books like Timothy and Samuel may occur without their numbers.
Also, keep in mind, that punctuation and spaces in the middle
are normal. A chipper attitude will help you compete really well
against those who claim to know the answers. Remember, there is
no need for a mad exodus; there really are 30 books of the Bible
lurking somewhere in this paragraph waiting to be found. God
Bless!

Walking on Water??

God is sooooo Good! Saturday, I stood on in the bed of our truck looking out over a see of faces.... hungry faces.......I was blown away. ~~ Little history~~ About 6 months ago we had a church contact us.. Saying "we have a problem..... our congregation is too rich." My hubby being the honest man he is said "Wish we had that kind of problem!" and laughed. This outreach pastor for the "too rich" church went on to explain how his kids were hungry to really "do something". They had sheds full of tools(spiritual).. All sharp, new and ready to use.. From all the discipleship classes, the missions training... and the studies on being "Christ’s hands and feet.".... Yet it seemed that the parents in this "too rich" church....wanted the sheds full, but locked so they couldn’t really be used. He went on to explain that something was changing in that church.... and over 200 kids, Jr High and High School’ers were given permission to put all that they have learned to work!---- So a few months later after some major planning...Phase 1: "too rich" came down and became homeless for a long weekend.... They had to trade in their clothing and was given some from 2nd hand store.. They slept in cardboard boxes with blankets outside (privacy fenced in... but still it was in the heart of the city and the sounds are scary enough!) The next day they had to "find food"... On our office porch was a bag of cheetos with a note "Moms done cashed in the food stamps for crack... this is all that’s left in the cabinet for you and your baby brothers... Have a good breakfast before school" They had to "look" for a place to go to the bathroom, to find food, to stash their stuff so some other homeless person didn’t take it, or carry it with them... they went on block (Saturday~Adopt A Block)with us.. hearing the stories of each house seeing a whole different side of what some kids wake up to every morning... They were so thankful, humbled, and in LOVE with the calling God had placed in their young hearts.. That following Sunday.~~~~
Anyway.... This weekend I stood there, with our Ministry building that God gave us behind me- abandon for years, neglected, vandalized, and old..........Before me stood life... young, "too rich", fresh, on fire, eager and hungry to experience God in His most magnificent..... loving on those who are lost. The sea of over 300 faces looked up at us as my husband spoke... The crowd practically hummed in anticipation... The teams were separated.. Group leaders assigned, and ½ sent to the street to do Block and trash pickup, for the morning.... then to switch to clean out the
old Church building.... All day, I watched young and old come out... get dirty and work... we had
girls in "cute"stylish little out fits, heels, and perfect hair.... scraping gunk off the basement floor with shovels, smiling the whole time....... boys with varsity jackets on hugging little filthy kids from the streets with sadness in their eyes having never seen children who walk around in a daze while their moms yelling and drinking, their dads gone and dogs scrounging around for food just as hard as they do. A reality was found that day of hard work, of love...... Groups after groups of kids.... parents...... teachers..... came forward and said "I never knew." I saw that same fire, that same determination in them that I felt that first day I got a glimpse of what being "Gods hands and Feet" was really about... How some days I walk away and wonder... who got blessed more? Them or me?.... One girl that hit me, humbled me and showed me how I needed to grow was the girl in the wheelchair.... she was from a "well to do" family...... had the coolest wheelchair I had ever seen... great clothes, and in her eyes I saw something that was amazing... She had Christ all over her! Here she was, in the cold, hour and half away from home, and picking up trash from the street with a smile on her face. In the church she worked, scraped, carried, did everything she could possibly do and more... She served. I thought about how many times I thought, I don’t have time, I have my family to look out for, I need to do this... or that.... what can "I possibly do?"....Yet here this teenager... gave it all! Talk about coming out of their comfort zones! Gods gonna bless that! I don’t ever want it to become "Oh, I always do that– I do street ministry every week.. Feed the hungry.. Yada- yada....." Nope... I want to keep pushing.... keep stepping out of that comfort zone.. Go to the next level... Walk on water.

The Power of Faith!

As some know.. I went to Georgia this past weekend– Man did I see God move! We went down to talk to the woman running a women’s home that my brother-in-law opened. He is the pastor at Living Faith Tabernacle in Atlanta Georgia .. One of those mega churches that is just amazing! Anyway.. While we were there, they took us out to eat at the Sun Dial which is a revolving restaurant on the 72nd floor that overlooks Atlanta. Driving up... I saw this huge towering building of all glass.... with this little glass tube looking thing running up the entire side... my stomach dropped. OK– first let me tell you a little secret... I am scared of heights (won’t even go on the stupid Eiffel tower at Kings Island) and am claustrophobic. I can handle both to an extent... I had prayed about the height thing when they all mentioned it... and thought.. "Ok, I can do this... no one has to know that I am about to freak out, my stomach feels like a knot and I my palms are sweaty... Just be cool Corina" The whole pep talk I gave my self and prayers about heights changed when I realized that the tubie thing was a elevator- Glass one at that! Now see....that changes things! Big time! Closed in places.. Yeah, can handle as long as I don’t think about getting stuck between floors, others breathing my air, that kind of things... but OH my goodness... the flashes of getting stuck between floors hanging out along a side of some stupid tower in a glass tube?................ Prayers changed. You know... God thankfully knows the condition of our heart and loves that child like faith because, boy was I childlike in my "OH, Daddy... please don’t make me go up in that thing!!" prayers. As we pulled closer, parked the car.... my hubby looked at me funny... I guess trying to figure out why I looked like I was about to flee. His "you ok? Gonna be alright there Gracie?"was challenge enough for me to straighten my trembling shoulders, and march in with the rest of those crazy people who thought riding up glass tubes, dangling over NOTHING was fun! I bit my lips to keep from praying out loud..
The desk said, "I am sorry Sir, this elevator seems to be acting up... It has been taking about 15 minutes. But it is on its way." I looked around at the loony people who grinned and WAITED! Don’t they know, that was NOT a good sign? A 15 minute elevator ride?
Again prayers went up.. Finally impatience won.. The didn’t want to wait any longer so we went up the middle of the building elevator... I didn’t even mind when the doors closed and the numbers grew higher and higher, I was too busy praising the Lord! The meal was wonderful.. The view breath taking (a little too breath taking for my taste).. I was afraid I would get dizzy doing the revolving, eating, trying to quetch the stupid thoughts of planes, helicopter, and tornados as we towered 72 stories above the city. Finally we were done. I was ready! The inner elevator called my name.....But no, they wanted to get the "full view" so they climbed another level of stairs .. The floor looked like some flower shape.. As it balcony off in multiple directions.......... Not only were we now 73 stories above the wonderful Earth God made us to be on, but dangling over the restaurant below on some stupid balcony! The "oohs and awes" lured me from my nice safe wall where I pretended to read some boring history thing on some war or something.... over to the balcony... looking over (about 6 inches from the glass) the side of this tower, I about fainted! Saying the "oh, nice" I bolted back over to my "interesting history wall" My eyes hungrily ate over every word, doing the whole "Oh, this is so neat.. I never knew this."
Making our way around this circle, there it was.......... the tube elevator....... a couple stood waiting. I blurted out, "Gotta go to the bathroom, Mom didn’t you say you needed to go?" I grabbed my mother-in-law by the arm and walked towards the bathroom. I thought.. Ok, she walks slow, and if I calculate it just right, the elevator will come and go as soon as I get back.. They will not be able to handle waiting 15 minutes for the crazy elevator to come back! On the way back I could not believe it.... they still waited! It never showed up yet! The doors opened just as I walked out onto the scary narrow balcony that stretched from the middle wall to the glass tube! With defeat in my shoulders, I prayed "Oh, God, please don’t let me freak out, faint, or start screaming" Once I stepped on, they pressed the ground floor button, and nothing happened... I started praying more! "Lord, please don’t let this thing work!" I prayed, and they pushed, hitting each one, then door close button. They checked the sensor, no one stood in front of it.... they couldn’t figure out what was wrong. My brother-in-law was leaning around me hitting that button over and over... I grinned and said, "Our God is good!" He just hit the close button again............. Finally everyone had enough, and our group stepped off.... directly behind us, the doors shut and elevator went down. Everyone just stared at me in disbelief, as I beamed and said, "see my God is soooooo Good!" They all pouted as we rode down the inner elevator, talking about how I prayed them out of a good view. Me, I was thrilled. Not only did He hear this one daughters pleas, but He answered them in such a way that was unmistakably all about God!

Who needs Luck?

I was trying to think of how to decorate my little office tree for this season... Figured I should take the cute little valentine look off of it by now :-)
So here is what I came up with.....

Of course I had to do some digging before putting something up.. At work I have that separation of church and state... But hey if they can use my God's name in vain.. Then I can use my God's name too!! So "a witnessing I will go!" Anyway what I found out intrigued me.... St. Patrick is revered by Catholics for establishing Christianity in Irelad during the 5th century AD. It seems he was a teenager when he was captured and sold into slavery in Ireland, 6 yrs later he escaped to France where he later became a monk. Around 432 he returned to Ireland as a missionary and succeeded in converting many of the islands tribes to Christianity. What I thought was really cool, which had me cutting little shamrock, was the folk lore that he used shamrock to teach about the holy trinity!! Too cool! I think I will write trinity on all my little cutouts... Should get some inquiry as why that word is on there as people come in and out of my office. Hmmmmmmm my holiday tree can be used as another witnessing tool....
Oh, check out my little card.... It says "Who needs luck? When you can have faith that overflows!"