A Call from Colleen

There is nothing like being with my family. It's the best! Five ways our family stays close. 1) We are planted in the house of the Lord. The Bible says, "Planted in the house of the Lord they will flourish in the house of our God." (Psalm 92:13) If you wonder why some families are falling apart, take a look at whether they are planted or not.  2) We laugh together a lot. This is a really important part of health. We love sharing funny stories and moments together. 3) We love to share meals together. (Family favorite: my recipe for roast with gravy and mashed potatoes.) 4) We apologize. Forgiveness is important. Lots of it! 5) No secrets. My desire is to see this kind of closeness extend to the church and beyond.  Love you family:)  

The anointing of God extends not just to the altar, but for business, for work, for anything surrounds our lives. We are literally, ANOINTED FOR WORK. Many people hate work. They even refer to slogans regarding the fact that…”at the end of your life, you won’t regret not working more.” I don't believe that is necessarily true, it just makes for some nice plaques! Even Michaelangelo said something at the end of his life about having so much work left to do and wanting more years to do it. There is a passage of scripture in I Chronicles 29 where David talks about the preparations his son would need to build God’s house. It records David’s challenge to the people to contribute their work and their resources. In the fifth verse, David asks a question to everyone…and God is asking us this today: “AND WHO THEN IS WILLING TO CONSECRATE HIS SERVICE THIS DAY UNTO THE LORD?” Did you know that work was created before the fall? It was a mandate from the very beginning. Genesis 1:28 God blesse...

I still believe memory verses are in style. Memorizing scripture is much easier when you're a kid. Memorizing  anything  is easier when you're a kid.  Kids just seem to retain information more easily, but that doesn't mean adults can't. I try to work on memorizing verses on a regular basis even though I'm in my 40's. This week my verse is Psalm 107:20:  "He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions."  Why is it so important that we do? Because God's Word is life and truth, not to mention it's actually medicine. Proverbs 4:20-22 says,  "My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life to those that find them and health to all their flesh." (KJV)       The Hebrew word for “health” in verse 22 is “medicine.” God’s Word is actually  medicine  to our flesh.   When...

Proverbs 11:25 The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. Our culture teaches us to be consumers. Our culture teaches us to put our needs before the needs of others, or in other words, “Me, me, me, it’s all. This scripture directly opposes that thought by stating, “Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.” Another translation puts it like this, “Generosity will be rewarded. Give a cup of water, and you will receive a cup of water in return.” Picture the Dead Sea, if you will. You have a good size body of water that has a couple of rivers and streams that pour into it. However, it lacks the one thing that brings life, and that is an outlet. Since there is no outlet, the Dead Sea lacks the ability to sustain any type of life. I believe sometimes this is a problem we all face. We have all these good streams pouring into us: Sunday worship service, our Bible reading plan, our small groups connections, etc. Sometimes w...

Values Have you ever worried about whether your children will share your values when they are adults? It's a common concern among parents. There are several ways to shape your children's values, but in this post today I'm going to share the number one way.  The  first  and the  best way  to shape your kids' values is not to  share  them, but to  live  them! That's right, LIVE  your values. Live them all the way. Live them passionately.    An ounce of living is worth more than a pound of speech.  I haven't done everything right as a parent, by far. Lots of people including me could write a blog series on all of my mistakes. However, my children know my values. Years ago I committed to some values (as spurred on by a college professor-which I took this value statement from because it was so perfect for me).  My Personal Core Values 1. I value my marriage and family Faithfulness and fidelity in marriage an...

A rightly focused life consists of fulfilling the expectations that we have formed ourselves based upon what God has spoken to us. I hear people speak of doing only what they can actually do and not worrying about what others expect them to do. I agree. But what happens once you've already agreed to something? Does character and integrity not demand that you fulfill it? We are not responsible for others expectations that we have never invited, initiated nor agreed to. We are, however, responsible to fulfill an expectation when we initiate or consent to it. For instance, part of getting married is making a covenant to fidelity. What would it be like if your spouse later said, "I didn't meet your expectations in being faithful to you but I can only do what I can do..." Let's say you apply for a job and before accepting the position they say, "this job is 40 hours a week." So you come in the first week and work for 35 hours. The following week you work 15, ...

  For everything there is a season, And a time for every matter under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; A time to seek, and a time to lose; A time to keep, and a time to throw away; A time to tear, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate, A time for war, and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8   I love the changing colors of autumn. It reminds me of the seasons that we go through in life. Each season in nature looks so different, and each season in our life can be as different as another lifetime. We all go through seasons. There are good times and ...