MY BOOKSHELF

On my bookshelf, I have a replica of two boats. One is a small, clean cut, blue and white boat, from Kelly's past Bible study called "If You Want To Walk On The Water You Have To Get Out Of The Boat", and the other is an old, old ship, that my Uncle Harry constructed for me when I was about 8 years old.
It is a small, faded red and white ship with a split mast, and a torn sail. In fact, the sail is almost gone! I can still see "Becky" painted on the side of the ship though, so in my eyes, it's still a complete ship!
In the eyes of God, whether we are a nice and clean person, or whether we are weathered from the years, it doesn't matter! It doesn't matter to Him, whether there is anything left to tell Him who and what we are, because He already knows~~~~
Before one day was formed on the earth, we were fashioned in our Mother's womb, and He knows the plans He has for us, and they are for good, and to prosper us, and He knows who we are and what we look like. He has called us by name!
That little ship, Becky, means a lot to me, and this little girl, Becky, means a lot to God!
Becky

AND GOD SAYS SO

When I see people in public, that are walking down the sidewalk and spitting on them, it just makes me sick! It is shameful and so disrespectful. It shows a lack of respect for that property too.
When the Israelites didn't obey God's word, and started doing what was right in their own eyes, it was just as if they were spitting in God's face! When we don't do what He requires of us, that's exactly what we're doing too!
I don't know about you, but I'm not a very good spitter, so I think I'd just as soon do what He says to do!
Becky

PRAISING HIM

I got my first pair of glasses in 1955, when I was five, and received my first pair of contacts in 1964, when I was sixteen, from Dr. David Sloan, who was one of those doctor's that would have prayer with me, when I came into his office, and then when I would leave. When David jr. died I was down in Mount Dora, so called to tell him about it, and his wife told me that he had died, and I was so saddened, but I remembered this wonderful picture he had on his wall of the Lord holding a lamb, so I asked his wife if I could have it, or a copy of it, because I knew it meant so much to him, and it would be a dear reminder to me of this wonderful man! When she mailed the picture to me in November of 1995, she told me that the only thing that made her feel any contentment about his dying, was that he was now where he so longed to be~~~~at the feet of Jesus, praising his Savior, all the day long!
Infact, as I cleaned my boxes out today, I found her letter, and in it she had written that he will probably be praising Jesus for 10,000 years atleast!
Guess he'll be praising Him, when I get there then, and we can praise Him for another 10,000 years! (lol)
Becky

SIGNS!

Signs! Don't you just hate those speed signs that make you slow down, but aren't you glad you obeyed them when you see the patrolman down the road a little bit later on?
When I look at all the earthquakes;tornadoes;fires;oil spills, and cataclysmic things going on today~~~~just in our own country, I'm reminded of scripture,where it tells us that these things will happen with more frequency in the latter days, before our Lord comes to take us Home!
It's kinda nice to be given these signs that will warn us of these things in the future~~~
if we don't ignore them! The signs that are all around us aren't pleasant to witness, but when you know what they are leading up to,it makes it that much easier to bear.
It's a shame that the Israelites chose to ignore so many of God's signs, and when they did, God hardened their hearts. I surely hope our hearts won't be hardened!
Becky

THE PYRAMID

When I taught Physical Education, one of my favorite areas of teaching was teaching tumbling and gymnastics. When I taught my students at Mead Hall to stand on their heads, I would tell them to make a pyramid with their head being the base, and their hands out to the sides.I gave them a mental picture of this with the Father;The Son, and The Holy Ghost making up a triangle! The Father represented the head or the base of the triangle.The hands are placed out to the sides for support, and stability and represent the "Son", and the "Holy Ghost" . Your first stronghold was your right arm, and that was the "Son", and your second was your left arm, which was your helper, or "Holy Ghost". As you propped yourself up on your knees, and drew yourself closer to the head, in a tucked position, you would find yourself able to extend your legs straight up!
It's the same way on our daily walk~~~~
I would tell my students, when we rely on the Son and the Holy Spirit to draw us to the Father, we will see that He is our stable and firm foundation. We will see that He enables us to grow straight up into strong and faithful believers in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Becky

PLEASANT SURPRISE

I had the neatest surprise happen to me, while in Aiken this last time. When I lived there, I owned a shop called "Lock Stock and Barrel", as well as teaching school. This was a shop where I hand painted on clothing, and other items, as well. There was another lady, Donna, who did monogramming that worked in the store with me, whose son I taught at Mead Hall. After David Jr. died she got a divorce, and for one reason or another, we drifted apart, and didn't have much to do with each other. This broke my heart, but I never could get back in touch with her again. While in Aiken, this time, I was asked to write an article for Project Graduation, concerning the June event, and the chair person told me that Donna was now working with Project Graduation! I gave her a call, and took lunch over to her, and we visited for over an hour! When I arrived at her house, she was standing by the road, crying with her arms out. She was so happy to see me.....What a blessing for me to catch up and heal some wounds from over fourteen years ago! She said it must have been a God thing, because she has never taken a day off from work, and that day was her first one!I was so grateful for God giving me this special day, and I know there will be many more,~~~~ either down here, or up there!
Becky

LIGHT OF THE WORLD

If I'm cleaning up at night, I may give the counter tops a lick and a promise, and since it's late in the evening, I won't spend a lot of time on it.
Besides, it looks pretty good~~~~
However, in the morning sunlight, or when I turn some real light on it, I can always tell where the dirty spots are, that I've missed. Dirt always shows up in the light!
It's the same way with ourselves too! When we walk in the dark, we don't notice how dirty we are, but when we come out in the light~~~~
Whoowee! Watch out! It's a whole new ball game isn't it?
There is an eternal light that shine's forever that will show us our dirt, and amazingly eliminate that dirt forever! That light is Jesus Christ, and He is the Light of the world!
He's the only light I know who is also the Bread of Life; The Living
Water, and the Alpha and Omega, rolled up into the Light of the World!
It's no wonder He gets the dirt out!
Becky

IMPRISONED FOR THE GOSPEL

I am constantly amazed, when I think of those people that God uses who have been in difficult situations, or how many circumstances He takes through a long process before He's finished with them! I think about how "Amazing Grace" was truly amazing for Fanny Crosby, after having penned those words when she was blind! Or perhaps, for John Bunyan to have written "Pilgrim's Progress" while in prison! Then, there's the fact, that God takes 6,000 pounds of pressure on a piece of coal to turn it into a diamond,(and we complain about pressure!) while the first golf ball was created completely round, but traveled way too fast, so small dents were placed into it before the game of Golf could be created! (Even golf had to be under pressure before it could begin!)
God's higher purposes for us, may sometimes take us onto bumpy roads, but never fear, for He is holding onto us and will never, ever let us go. We just have to keep holding onto His hand and trusting in Him, even when the way isn't clear! "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths."
And He will!
Becky

DORMANCY

When I plant my okra seeds, they have to go through several days of just sitting there, doing nothing!Atleast that's what it seems like to me. They are going through a dormancy stage, that if I moved them, or tried to speed the process along, I would completely ruin them. They must go through the entire process to finally grow into my delicious Longhorn Okra, that I so love!
It's the same way as Christians. Sometimes we feel as if God has left us under the furnace of affliction for longer than necessary, or perhaps we have moved away from loved ones, and are all alone for much too longer than we like~~~
For whatever the reason, God is trying to speak to us, and draw us closer to Him. He wants to refine us! He wants us to spend time with Him, and to call Him our friend! When we are alone, He is always there, and He is closer than a brother. The next time you go though a dormant stage in your life, smile and know that God is working all things together for good, to those who are called according to His purpose, and know that this is for your good~~~~Everything Jesus does is for your good!
It may take a little time, but then, what else do we have on this earth, but time? Goodness knows, we have it now, and we surely have it in the next life!
Becky

AND GOD SAYS SO

When I see people in public who spit on the sidewalks, it makes me sick!
To me it is a shameful act to spit in public like that,(except for emergency reasons),for it shows a lack of respect for the property and the place!When the Israelites didn't obey God, it was as if they were "spitting" in the face of Almighty God too! Obedience is that important to Him! When we don't do what He wants us to do, that's exactly what we are doing too!We are spitting in God's face and saying we don't care or respect Him!~~~~~~Wow!
I don't know about you, but I'm not a very good spitter, and I think I'd just as soon do what my God says to do!
Becky

PHOTOREAL

I was explaining to Nellah and Charlie how to go about drawing a Photoreal.If you have never done one, it is quite an experience in detail and patience! Basically, it's creating a drawing from an enlarged gridded photograph!A photo is taken of a subject, such as a pencil, and then you make a measured grid of that pencil, and draw each one individually and completely, until you have finished the entire drawing. It takes a long time, and is very thorough and exhausting~~~but well worth the effort!You are drawing every inch of that pencil, complete with writing; shadows, and teeth marks, if there are any!
God has done the very same thing with our lives! He has taken each one of us, and painstakingly detailed every little grid in our lives, to where it matches His picture for us. Not until He is pleased with what He has drawn will He go on to the next facet of our personality. When every facet of the grid in our portrait is finished, He will hand deliver us to the parents to whom we were so ordained, before one day was ever formed on the earth!
God doesn't have to worry about drawing Photoreal's,because He is the Master at creating a "real photo"!
Becky

TRUE FRIENDSHIP

**This was written prior to Miss Emery's arrival.

Every now and then, God will give me a blessing that simply blesses my socks off! This has simply blown me away, folks! One of my long time and dearest friends in Aiken, was celebrating her twentieth wedding anniversary with me, over lunch, this past Wednesday, and since this was her second marriage, she and Tony were going on a cruise on Saturday morning to celebrate! As if Angela didn't have enough to do, to get ready to leave, she offered to have me follow her over to University Hospital in Augusta on Friday morning! She knows I don't do mornings well, and she's going to stay with me until Miss Emmy arrives!
Is that not true friendship in the body of Christ personified to the fullest?
And she's leaving to go on her cruise tomorrow morning!
God takes care of me every step of the way!
Becky

THE FINISHED MEAL

If you are a bordedrline Diabetic, and are trying to control it by what you eat, you will try and have a balance diet,and a complete meal, with good proportions on your plate.You will have the correct amounts of veggies;fdruits;starches and proteins that will be greeat together, but by themselves that won't be able to do a thing, muchless help your blood count!
It's the same way with the concept of Justice and Grace~~~~~
For you to have a complete meal in life,you must have the finished meal at the cross, before Justice and Grace can ever be served up together!
Becky

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

In the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack's mother has to sell their family cow, in order to make ends meet,and it is Jack's duty to sell it, only on the way into town,he meets a man who persuades him to sell his cow for 5 magical beans! Jacks mother is furious over his decision and throws the beans out the window, where they sprout up into a beanstalk overnight, and grow up into the clouds!Jack climbs up the beanstalk the next day, where he finds a cottage that houses a little lady and a mean giant, that would delight in doing nothing more than killing Jack.As the giant comes into his house to count his gold, he says: "Fee Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman;
Be he alive, or be he dead, I'll have his bones to grind my bread."
As soon as the giant fell asleep, Jack would silently sneak in the house and take back his bag of gold, and run to the beanstalk.He would quickly climb back down to his home where he would give his mother the riches !He repeated this process the next day,where he waited until the giant fell asleep and took a hen that laid golden eggs. He climbed back down the beanstalk with the hen, and he and his mother were once again able to live comfortably .Jack went up one last time, and took the singing harp, but the harp cried out
"Master! Master!" as he was being taken, and the giant woke up and gave chase to Jack. Jack ran to the beanstalk with the giant in pursuit. As Jack hit the ground, he felled that beanstalk with an axe and killed the giant!Jack and his mother enjoyed their treasures without fear of the giant returning!
In real life, we have our very own strong living vine that will reach towards Heaven, for us.~~~~~ He is Jesus Christ!He is the True Vine and His Father is The Vinedresser.
We don't have to climb up to Him, but we have straight access through Him through His Son,~~~ Jesus Christ. When satan tries to steal away all our treasures, the Word of God is sharper than any two edged sword,and we can cut him off at the stalk before he even gets started!
Becky

TAKING MY PLACE

When I went to church tonight, someone had taken my place where I usually sit, so I had to find another place. The kids were doing a "Noah's Ark" musical, and the parents were all sitting up close, so they could take pictures of the musical.When I sat down next to another couple, they said the same thing had happened to them, but then the man told me that we should be use to it, because another man took our place a long time ago!
Becky

ANOTHER BEANIE

I have witnessed the most spectacular event that God could have created.
Her name is Emery Lynn Crouch and she is my very first grand daughter!
She doesn't really holler when she cries.It's a timy little wail, that is so dear.
(I know,just wait!) Those chocolate brown eyes, and coal black hair, just melted my heart!
She has long,slender fingers, and even let her Grandmommy sing to her.
(Matt she didn't fuss over it either!)What a thrill to have someone fall alseep in your arms while you are singing to them!
God orchestrated the creation of the world, and of mankind, but as far as this Grandmama is
concerned,when He created babies, (and mine in particular),He outdid Himself!
I know scripture tells us that we are all born with a sin nature, but I have to laughingly say that they must have it wrong,because they have never seen my grand daughter.....(LOL)
Becky

THE WELLSPRING OF THE HEART

When I held Miss Emery for the very first time,and rocked her, I read scripture to her which was "you are fearfully and wonderfully made."I sang "Jesus Loves Me", and then I quoted Genesis I: "In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void." As I was saying this, my precious Emery who was asleep in my arms, gave me the sweetest smile! It was as if she knew what I was talking about folks! I think she knew where she came from !"Out of the wellspring of the heart the mouth speaks." My heart was pretty much overflowing with love for my Lord and for this precious life
form we call Emery, so I guess my mouth is gonna be speakin' "right much"!
Becky

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

This has been a wonderful week for this Mama! God has allowed me to see my second son, George, graduate from college on Thursday night. After his brother died he only managed to get a GED, so he joined the NAVY and decided to make a career out of it. Unfortunately, he busted both shoulders while putting bombs on planes when he was in Fallon, Nevada, and had to get a medical discharge. When he married Melissa and took on the responsibility of rearing four of her children. He wanted to provide for them in the best way he could, and knew he needed to go back to USC/A to do so. He was chosen to write the school magazine for the professors, and if the grades from his first attempt at college right after David junior died, hadn't counted, He would have graduated with honors! I could never have been as proud of my son, as I was on Thursday night! He walked that stage, and this Mama wept!
We had a celebration afterwards and again on Friday night, complete with friends; family and professors! One of his friends was also a friend of my son David. He was the last person to see him alive and the first one to see him dead at the accident. His words to me were such comfort and it was almost as if I had been given a hug from David, after 15 years! Now for some even more exciting and ever faithful news!
Most of you know that Kelly's baby has been in the breach position since the very beginning. I have been fervently praying that God would turn this baby and I knew He would, but it was getting down to the wire. I went with her to her doctor's appointment on Friday, where she was scheduled for her C-section this next Friday. The doctor took one last look at the sonogram, and discovered that Emery had turned!
Only our great God could orchestrate something like this, at such a late date. He wants to make sure we know who did it! All in all, I have had a delightful week, and am going back tomorrow, because Kelly has dilated enough, and has been having hard contractions and her doctor has told her that she could deliver in twenty four hours or up to two days.
Again, only God knows, and He's not telling!
I want to be there though!
What a faithful God we serve!
Becky

THE PHOTOREAL

I was explaining to Charlie today, how you create a Photoreal.If you've never done one, it's a quite an experience in detailed drawing. Basically, it's creating a drawing from an enlarged photograph on a grid. The photo is taken of one object, such as a pencil, and you have to draw that pencil, so that you are drawing only one section at a time! Each grid is minutely detailed, so that when you finish with it, you can move on to the next one.After each grid is completed, you will have a beautifully detailed pencil! It is exhausting, but worth the effort!
God has made a Photoreal of our lives too! He has taken each one of us and painstakingly drawn a grid for each one of our lives. Not until He is pleased with what He has finished drawing in that grid, will He go on to the next facet of our personality grid. When every grid of our portrait is finished, He hand delivers us to parents that He has so ordained before one day was formed!
Talk about a Photoreal for preplanned parenthood!
Becky