Jean Stockdale...

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

 

Several weeks ago I was contacted by Ron Banton from Johnson City, Tn. His wife, Rebekah, attends my Bible study on James ("Mirror, Mirror on the Wall") at Amber Stewart's home along with about 20 other moms. This was their 3rd study to do together. Ron and Amber's husband, Greg, wanted to fly me to Johnson City and surprise their wives and the moms group!! Seriously. How fun is that? I jumped at the chance to be involved in such a special time. Arrangements were made. Secrets were kept!

Tuesday night at 10:00 pm I arrived in Johnson City. Ron picked me up at the airport. In his line of work he often has to pick up parcels at the airport, so it was not unusual for him to be there. He told me that his wife had been profoundly affected by the Bible studies and she often read the lessons to him! On the day of the big reveal, their child had an eye dr. appt. that would prevent his wife from coming to the Bible study. Not wanting to ruin the surprise, Ron went into overload mode trying to work around this glitch in his plan. Ron could not figure out how to get around this one, so we went to the dr. office and asked them to go along with his surprise and call his wife and insist on rescheduling the appt! Now that is commitment to a surprise! He and Greg had arranged for me to stay at a lovely hotel and encouraged me to sleep late. I am loving this! The room was so beautiful that I send Craig a picture of it with my phone. I was so excited to be a part of the big surprise that I could hardly sleep!

 

Ron finally decided he needed "a mole" in the group. He confidently in one of the moms and told her the nature of the surprise. He asked her to call the moms that had attended before but were not able to join in the James study and encourage them to be there. They thought it must be Amber's birthday so they came expecting cake and ice cream!! How kind of Ron to think about including those moms and how sweet of Mrs. Mole to make phone calls and be ready with the camera!!

At 10:00 on Wed.morning, the men picked me up and took me on a short tour of the mountains so I could see the view. The leaves were at their peak and, as you can imagine, it was breathtaking. A stop at a darling cafe got us brunch to go, and then it was TIME! I am getting so excited I could hardly stand it. We arrived at the Stewart's house. Greg went in first. The moms had just started the video. Greg snapped open the DVD player and said, "Well you won't be watching this today. We brought you the real thing!" Screaming, much screaming, and crying, much crying, ensued! Screaming and crying. Crying and Screaming. Oh what fun! Hugs and introductions were exchanged. Pictures were taken. Big fun. I taught the Bible study and we had time to discuss mothering issues and encourage one another in the Lord. After lunch it was time to return to the airport and back home. Mission accomplished.

Thanks to Ron and Greg for arranging a wonderful surprise and allowing me to be a part of it! Thanks to Amber for opening her home each week to host and lead the James Bible study for moms. Thanks to those precious mommies in Johnson City who are faithfully raising up the next generation for Christ. And a special thanks to one of their sweet ladies who attends faithfully as she deals with the issue of infertility and is waiting on God's perfect plan to unfold. Our God is a good God. He delights to manifest Himself and startle us into silence as He witness His glory. His glory touched down in a cozy den in Johnson City on Wed. when a group of women, who love God, welcomed His presence. To God be the glory!!

Surprise!

It's Safe to Tell:   Jean asked me to update you on a very special trip that she is on. About a month ago, Jean was contacted by a gentleman from East Tennessee. His wife and several others are doing Jean's Bible study, "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall". This is the 3rd of Jean's studies this group has done. The husbands got together and thought it would be a great treat for the group if they could arrange to fly Jean in as a surprise guest.   Now girls, you gotta admit, this was going to be a win-win for the hubbies either way. If Jean's schedule would not allow her to make the trip to East Tennessee; it would make for a great story when the hubbies told the wives what they had wanted to do for them. If Jean arrived to surprise the group..... well, as the commercial says, "Priceless".   The in-charge hubby worked out all of the travel details - you could tell he was just loving pulling this surprise together. The men thought it was in their best interest to recruit a 'mole' from within the group to help them. Mrs. Mole doesn't know Jean is the surprise but she does know that something very special is being planned for today's Bible study. In-charge hubby must know about Jean's affinity for the camera because one of Mrs. Mole's responsibility is to keep the camera close at hand. 

In-charge hubby encountered a surprise of his own when he found out his wife wasn't going to attend the group's Bible study today. Don't ya just love it! His wife had a doctor's appointment scheduled. Hubby went to the doctor's office, told them the plans and asked them to call his wife to reschedule the appointment. What a guy!

This will be a very quick trip for Jean. She flew out last night (Tues) and will be returning to Memphis tonight. Of course, Jean will be with you moms at Bellevue on Thursday and I'm fairly certain she will be telling a little about her surprise visit.

Ya'll have a great day,

Ray-Ray

Burrito Baby

Grayson-Swaddled and Sound Asleep!

A Good Report from Tanzania!

Criag and I have been trained to teach Pioneer Evangelism. It is a very simple, yet profound plan, we teach to pastors and chruch leaders for the purpose of evangelizing their village, discipling new converts, planting chruches and growing the kingdom of God. We in the States can never train or afford to send enough foreign missionaries into foreign countries to reach nations for Christ, much less follow up with them. PE training uses laypeople to go and teach the pastors how to effectively do the work and plant chruches. Nationals teaching nationals. There is no language barrier or cultural differences to slow down the work and the chruches grow and are strengthend with mature beleivers. It is a great program.

Craig and I went with Wade and Barbara Akin (founder of the program and retired foreign missionaries) and Paul and Elesa Redmond to Tanzania. We each did 2 trainings. We got the report back from the first training from the first week. These are not even the ones from the second traiing.

Since we were there 357 people have received Christ, 54 have already been baptized, 1100 "men of peace" are currently in the Good News Studies, 336 are being discipled in Beginning a New Life, ... Read More1 new church has been founded and 5 new preaching points are up and going!!!!!! This is just the report out of Shynanga! We don't have the stats from the second training. While we take no credit for it-it is a God thing-we do rejoice in what God is doing in Tanzania. God is so good. To God be the glory.

Connecting Christian Moms Via Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter

If you are a member of FaceBook, I thought you might like to know e have made a group for each of our Bible stuides under the name of the book of the Bible such as, "Moms Bible Study on Proverbs-Jean Stockdale" and "Moms Bible Study on II Timothy-Jean Stockdale" and on James and on Elijah and on Esther and (coming to a fb near you-on Philippians-out in January). Each group pretains to one particular Bible study. The idea is to get moms who have previously done or are currently doing one of the studies to post a comment on the wall. If you are interested in joining, please click on to the studies you have done and join up. If you are willing to post a comment on a truth you learned, or an insight you gained, or a cute story, or a good word for other moms-please do so. It would be interesting is you included the year and locationwhen you did the study (example-Spring 2007-Memphis, TN.)

Currently we have our video-driven Bible studies in 22 other chruches. God is enlarging our boundaries and allowing us to reach into other churches with the ministry to mommas. We are hoping to get our out-of-town moms to join in and connect with each other. We can also use this (the group pages) as a resource for a church who is considering using our materials. They can click on each study and read the feedback to get a feel for the ministry. I beleive your comments will help them make a decision on which study would most effectively meet the needs of their moms, so please be specific with your comments.

This is a work in progress, but we are trying to make Jesus known throughout facebook, the blog, and now Twitter. I will make regualr postings, as will Craig and Renae. If any of the daddies of the moms we minister to are willing to comment, well I would be very pleased about that! But, no pressure guys.

We are continuing to post on our blog. We are constantly looking for ways to stay connected with the moms we minister to and with any woman who just needs a word of encouragement or a nugget of truth. It is my heart's desire to train up the next generation of godly mommas who in turn, will bring up their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Case in point! To God be the glory. Blessings.

Just Who is the Guilty Party!

Okay. Which one of you made my baby cry?!?!?!

Several weeks ago I taught at First Baptist Millington, and can I just say that I had a wonderful time! What a great group of women. I was blessed to be a part of the weekend. God showed up and got all over it. It was glorious to behold.

 

By the by, I am teaching at Advent Presbyterian on Germantown on Jan. 30-31. I will be posting the details soon. I hope you can gather you a gaggle of giggly friends and come spend the weekend with me in the Word of God.

 

One of the moms asked if I could share with her how I study the Bible. I thought this might make a good post. In the next few days and weeks I will be posting about how I study. It is not the only method, you understand, but it has served me well lo this many years. I am one of many that can testify that the study of the Word of God is lifechanging. Can I get a witness in the house? Lifechanging. Who does not want that! I will try to be personal and practical. If you have any questions or comments, please chime in! Watch for it. Blessings.

What Happened?

I am not sure what happened. I was working on my blog and all of a sudden...PuF! All of my stuff moved and went all willy-nilly. So, until I can figure out what in the world I did, my blog page will continue to look a bit off-centered!

Big Things Arrive in Small Packages

Y'all I could barely catch my breath! I came close to hyperventilating when Jean presented me with the most extravagant gift I have ever received apart from gifts my sweet husband, Roy, has given to me. 

Jean called me this past Friday to see if Roy and I could have dinner with her and Craig. She said we were going to have a celebration dinner for the ministry’s first year anniversary and for Jean being accepted by Ambassadors Speakers Bureau. Roy and I were good with the plan so on Saturday night, Jean and Craig picked us up and off we went to Flemings on Poplar Avenue.

A quick comment about Fleming's:  I’m just going to say, y’all need to start saving your pennies and treat yourself to a special occasion dinner at Fleming's. Girls, they have lots of peeps, people to park your car, different peeps to open the door of the restaurant and greet you, a host to seat you, a waiter that brings your table a complimentary appetizer and only then do you meet your server. I knew we were in for a special evening when our server asked Jean and me if we would like the black linen napkins since we both were wearing dark slacks! I don’t know about you but most of my normal eating establishments hand me a plastic ware ‘packet’ – you know the fork, knife, napkin, salt and pepper are all packaged together in one of those plastic sleeves that you have to tear open!

The four of us were chatting about all manner of topics. The type of conversation that flows easily between really good friends. As the evening was nearing the end, the manager of Flemings brings this really cute miniature piece of luggage to our table.  It was the cutest thing, black with white polka dots. Jean tells me it is a little gift to thank me for working with her in the ministry. Inside were a few of my favorite things: Dt. Pepsi, Laffy Taffy, Rolos and M&Ms. I knew immediately this was going to be my tornado-closet survival luggage. We live in a rural area that doesn’t have tornado sirens. We know that it is time to head for our designated safe place when our TV begins to pixilate and eventually the screen freezes up. Earlier this year, we had several particularly scary storms blow through that sent me to my designated safe place. I found it extremely stressful to think about being blown to who-knows-where without having consumed a significant level of caffeine and chocolate.

Jean then reached into her purse and brought out this beautifully wrapped package, handed it to me and said, “Now, this is your real present.” I couldn’t imagine what this could be. My tornado survival kit was more than enough. As I unwrapped the surprise and I realized what it was, I squealed much too loud for the high-end restaurant I was seated in. I could not believe what my boss-lady had done which must explain why my mouth can open wider than humanly possible! 

                                            

Back in July, Lisa Harper willingly gave us an afternoon to discuss the different aspects of Jean’s ministry. She gave us some great insights and words of wisdom. Lisa offered Jean tremendous words of encouragement and affirmed her to continue on in her ministry to moms.

As we were drawing our meeting time to a close, we asked Lisa about her watch. It had an elegant look about it but at the same time, it said comfy casual. She told us about it and then said she had gotten the watch from Nordstrom. We said goodbye to our new best friend and immediately started our hunt for a Nordstroms. We both loved the watch and thought it would be a good way to savor our Lisa Harper Day by buying us our very own timepiece.

Don’t you know that we could not find a Nordstrom’s in the area of Nashville we were in. We were disappointed but we knew we could always look until our heart was content via the internet. That is, until the boss-lady went all willy-nilly, lost her common sense and PURCHASED one. You could have knocked me over with a feather.

I do not have the words to adequately express my gratitude to Jean and Craig. They love the Lord with every fiber of their being. I wish that everyone could work for two awesome bosses as I have the privilege of doing. We work very hard and sometimes outside the boundaries of normal business hours. We do our best work when the deadline is right on top of us. The Lord gives us the occasion to laugh so hard until no sound comes out because we have laughed out all of the air out of our body. We celebrate when we get emails telling us someone got saved while doing one of Jean’s Bible studies. We pray for moms who share challenges and hardships in their lives. We praise Him when new churches introduce Jean’s material into their Women’s Ministry program. We brainstorm on new marketing strategy. This is what I get to be apart of because of the kindness of the Lord.

Roy and I count it all joy for the small part we are able to have in Standing Near the Cross Ministries. 

Jean and Craig we love you guys!

Fireproof Your Marriage with Craig Stockdale

You are invited to join Craig Stockdale for a study on building a "forever marriage."

What: A study on developing love for a lifetime

Why: Because Satan is running roughshod over families, taking captives, and causing homes to implode upon themselves

How: With practical application of the profound truth of the Word of God

Where: Bellevue Baptist Church in Room 350 (located on the EAST side-where the babies and children are in nursery) To find this room, use the bank of elevators located outside the worship center and travel to the 3rd floor. There a hostess will guide you to the room that is to your RIGHT, about 5 doors down on your LEFT.

When: Oct. 15-Nov. 19 on Wednesday night from 6:30-7:30 pm. Registration is at the door.

Who: Everyone is invited to join Craig Stockdale. Married for 34 years, he brings experience, humor, and practical advice based on the Word of God to instruct and exhort you to build a "fireproof marriage." The material is not based on the movie FIREPROOF. Seeing the movie is not a pre-requisite!

What to do with the little ones: Childcare is available. Children's workers will be in the hall on the first floor when you come in the east entrance (nursery side) through the large wooden doors with the stained glass pediment.

More information: Call Bellevue at 385-2000 and ask to speak to Debbie Stone

Credentials: 34 years of marriage so far!

 

February 15, 1974 at Bellevue Baptist Church, officiated by Dr. Adrian Rogers

Declan and JJ

We LOVE to sing and dance...

What is your favorite thing to do? What is your favorite activity to press into your memory banks?  I'll be singing and dancing while you decide!

The Gift of Christian Friendship

This is a tribute to my dear friend and fellow co-laborer in the Lord, Renae Terrell, who I affectionately refer to as "Ray-Ray". In 1992 Roy and Renae joined the SS class Craig taught in the Young Marrieds at Bellevue Baptist Church. The friendship was nearly instantaneous! We all became fast friends-serving the Lord together and enjoying many hours of sweet fellowship and sheer fun together.

In 2001 Ray come to work for Craig at Pine Grove Farm and Landscape. His office was located on the corner of our property in a metal building. Ray proved to be a huge asset to the business and a blessing to our whole family. I regularly trekked up to the office to have coffee with Craig and Renae. She become heavily invested in our family, our ministry, and our lives in general.

As the Moms Ministry began to grow and I began to write my own material, Ray often pitched in to help me meet a deadline-bringing her expertise as a graphic artist to add to the eye appeal and readability of the project. All of my early Bible studies for the Moms Ministry were proofed, printed, punched and produced with the help of Ray.

After 4 years of writing my own Bible studies for the Moms Ministry, I jumped in-"faith first"-into the world of self-publishing in order to make my resources available for other churches and small groups. Publishing my studies and producing DVDs to accompany them was both exciting and frightening! My first Bible Study "Proverbs and Principles for Parenting Practically Perfect Progeny" was picked up by 6 churches. Trying to balance teaching, writing, speaking, traveling, and publishing soon become a daunting task. I approached Craig and told him I would like to be able to have Renae work for me 1 afternoon a week-about 4 hours. Even the thought of "hiring" anyone to help in the ministry seemed like a bizarre idea. Navigating the uncharted waters of running a ministry was scary enough. Involving someone else seemed totally surreal. I called my first business meeting at my kitchen table with Ray and Craig in attendance. With a serious tone i broached the subject. "Ray," I said, "I think I need me some help with the ministry. I would like for you to come and work for me 4 hours a week." Immediately we all burst out laughing. "Isn't that what I already do. In fact, don't I work for you way more than that now!" How true.

Over the previous 4 years, Ray had been spending more and more time in my kitchen, helping me assemble Bible studies to teach the moms at Bellevue. Ray accepted my invitation and we went to work on the logistics. I thought I would make a little spot for her to work in my little attic office where I write all day. As we thought through the many aspects of what I needed, I quickly discovered I needed much more than I had supposed. Within a few weeks, it was agreed that we would turn Jason's old bedroom into her office and we would rearrange my office and outfit it with new furnishing, more suited to my needs. Planning and painting ensued. On Sept. 1, 2008 Ray officially came to work for me-not 4 hours a week but 4 days a week. Good friend.

In the interim it was decided that Craig would also move his office into Dawson's old bedroom. He would work with our sons in the Pine Grove Farm and Landscape business and for me part-time as the need arose. My second manuscript was sent off to be published, just as Craig and I headed to Nepal to each Pioneer Evangelism to pastors there. When I returned "Run Well, Finish Strong" and DVDs were produced. Ray took over working with the churches ordering my materials, building a website for me, helping with the speaking ministry, running the office, formatting my books, and serving the part of the body of Christ known as "my moms" in a multitude of ways. And I wrote. I wrote and I wrote.

The 3rd book was published with DVDs, "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall." And so I wrote, and wrote. The 4th book, "Secret Source of Strength" was finished. Ray worked tirelessly to support my ministry to allow me the freedom to seat and write all day-every day. So I wrote. I wrote and I wrote. As I wrote I was teaching every Thursday at Moms at Bellevue and traveling on the weekends to speak at Women's Conference. Craig and I also made a mission trip to India for 13 days. Upon returning I wrote and wrote. Ray worked and worked. The 5th book "Live Like a Queen" was finished and published. The study of Philippians was started, interrupted by a mission trip to Africa for 17 days, completed and sent to the publisher Sept. 25, 2008 to be published by December of this year. It has been a long and wild ride!

Through it all, Craig has filled in as proofer, supporter, and lover of my soul. He is the best! I love you, Mr. Stockdale. And my friend, Ray-well, she has been the friend that sticks closer than a brother. She, along with Roy, have been all up in this thang! For the glory of the Lord, Ray has worked long and hard with a cheerful heart and a servant spirit. I am eternally grateful for your friendship and our shared vision for Standing Near the Cross Ministries.

So, imagine my delight when the Lord let me honor her. Ray and I had lunch with Lisa Harper-a well known Christian author and speaker-to gather some information on how to make a ministry work well and be productive for the Lord. At said lunch, Lisa had on a watch that Ray just loved-enough to email her about the make and model. So in love she fell with this watch, that Ray began to view the website and "visit" the watch. After the lunch with Lisa I was interviewed by a speaker's bureau called Ambassadors. I felt the Lord prompted me to buy Ray her dream watch if the agency agreed to represent me. When I got word of their commitment to take me on, I started searching for the Michelle watch that my good friend wanted. It was located on line and ordered. Craig and I took Ray and Roy to dinner at Flemings on Poplar. Yummo! Then we arranged to have a small suitcase gift box delivered to the table with a poem which reads:

 

How can I possibly express to you

My heartfelt thanks for all you do?

This simple gift my gratitude brings,

So here’s a few of your favorite things.

 

The love in my heart,

The joy in my soul,

Knowing the Lord knit our lives

For one common goal.

 

Thanks for Standing Near the Cross

And your love and support of me,

As we serve the Lord Jesus together

With abundant Joy in the Journey!

 

The box held a few of her favorite things-Diet Pepsi, Rollo candy, Laffy Taffy an M&Ms.

She loved it and was so surprised.

 

 

 

 

I then produced the gift wrapped watch. Some squealing and screaming ensued. The pictures tell the story.

To my friend, Ray-thank you for all you do to allow me to do fulfill God's call on my life.

 

 

 

 

Your love for the Lord and His kingdom work makes me want to serve Him more faithfully and love Him more fully. To God be the glory. Great things He hath done!

So, How Much is Too Much?

A mom asked me recently, "So, how much is too much? How can you keep the balance while raising children and meeting the demands of our roles as wife and mom, all the while becoming a godly woman?" I am paraphrazing here, but you get the drift. How can we keep our spiritual equlibrium in the midst of  a world gone mad? I found this handout in my files and thought it was worthy of a post. I am sure I printed it off the internet, probably from www.crosswalk.com which is a resource I reguarly use. I do not have the author and, since I do not ever want to be guilty of plagerism, if anyone knows the author of this peice please email me and I will give credit where credit is due.

 

Building Margin into Your Life

Burnout to Balance: Overcoming Overload

"I have no peace! I have no quiet! I have no rest! And trouble keeps coming!" Job 3:26 (GW)

Margins-The Space Between

My Load and My Limits
1. The Life without Margin
Constant clutter~Continual rushing~Multi-tasking~Persistent exhaustion~Superficiality~Relationship fatigue~Spiritual emptiness

Why Do We Keep Saying Yes?
Because We Want People to Love us
"Come to Me, all who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28 (GW)

II. Steps Toward Building Margin in your Life
1. Accept My Human Limitations
"I have learned that everything has limits..." Psalm 119:06 (GN)

"Our time is limited. You (God) have given us only so many months to live and have set limits we cannot go beyond." Job 14:5 (NCV)

2. Expect Problems
Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble." John 16:33 (NIV)

“A prudent person foresees difficulties ahead and takes precautions: the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers consequences." Prov. 22:3 (LB)

3. Prune Activities Periodically
"Everything is permissible for me-but not everything is beneficial." 1 Cor. 6:12 (NIV)

4. Do Less and Trust God More
"We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure...As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally." 2 Cor. 1:8-9 (NIV/MES)

I did not write this material-I copied it without adding my own comments, but I wish I had written it! This rings true to me. We need margins in our lives. We need time to be quiet so we can hear the deafening sound of the still, small voice of the Lord. He is not in the wind. He is not in the earthquake. He is not in the fire He is in the quiet. (1 Kings 19:11-12).

Satan, as the prince of the power of the world, has filled the airwaves with noise-some benign, some worldly, some seductive, some distracting and some demonic-to ensure that as a society we are never alone in the quiet. We must make time to make time for God-alone and quiet before His throne of grace and mercy-to hear from the Most High. Consider making some margins in your life and in the life of your family.

Blessings. From one mom to another~jean

 

Thank you, Jesus!

Praise the Lord that Daws and Kathryn and Grayson are safe after a wreck on Highway 64. Their good friend Wes Persell was in the passenger seat. Grayson and Kathryn were in the backseat (of course he was in his car seat in the back). They were stopped at a light and a truck behind them did not realize he was stopped and hit them. They had a moment of hearing brakes and tires squeal before getting hit, but did not have time to anticipate it. Dawson said the police were there before they had gotten out of the car. They were in the area and they called the paramedics since a baby was involved. Everyone is okay but sore.

Kat and Daws both have sore necks. Wes hit the dash with his knees. I cannot even tell you how grateful we are. Every time I think about it I feel my heart ache. Craig and I were in a terrible accident over 15 years ago. We were stopped and hit from behind. When I even think about them involved in an accident, it takes my breath away. We are blessed. Thank you, Jesus!

A Tangent! Seriously. A Tangent!

Yesterday I was teaching the Moms Ministry at Bellevue. And I was ginning. Yes I was. Although some have assumed I am hyped up on Starbucks and caffeine, I am not. I am not oppsed to it and I love me some Starbucks, but I have been wound up "like a $.20 cent alarm clock" for years and words-lots of words- spills out when I teach. Anyhoo-I was all cranked up when I got a signal from my sweet camera guy. We do a live video feed on my lectures in Moms each week and it runs like a well-oiled machine. And I thank the sweet menfolk that are willing to serve in our estrogen ladened ministry. But I started seeing my camera guy wave at and tell me we needed to stop. Some technical problem had to be corrected. 

I stopped my lesson and waited for more direction. I said I did not have a problem stopping-all moms are used to distractions-but I was worried about starting up again. I asked the girls to help m remember where I was when we started up again. My sweet sound guy came back from checking out the problem. After about a 6 minute interruption, he said, "Okay we are ready to start back. I need you to go back to your first point and start again." I said, "Great, I had just taught on first point, so where do you want me to begin. He said, "Well, you were off on a tangent...!" At that point we all burst out laughing!! Of course I talk in tangents! Seriously. I am a tangent-talker! And proud of it. Tangents. Its a good thing. I asked him, "So which tangent you want to hear!!" Give me a subject. I can go off on a tangent on any subject. 

It was a priceless moment and made for a good laugh. Both our young camera guys are such good sports to be a part of our ministry. They both like to fly under the radar and not draw attention to themselves. Until yesterday when both guys had to come down front and fix the feed. And tell me where to start. And tell me just to go back to my tangent!! As soon as he said it, and everyone laughed, he blushed brillant red-like he had said something terrible to me. I asked him, "Do you think I don't know I talk in tangents! I have build a ministry on tangents!!"

At lunch one of my moms, Karen Ozemba said, "In stead of speaking in tongues, you are talking in tangents." This is why I love and enjoy being in the midst of the family of God. Study the Word of God and laugh until your face hurts!