blog is a many splendored thing

Written by Mary Carol Poggemann God has a lot to say about the people who we eat with, those that we spend time with, our associates, our co-workers, and our friends.  He cautions us to be careful and to “consider diligently” what is before us; but, that caution doesn’t apply just to the food before us, it also extends to the ideologies that are before us. Proverbs 23:1-3 (KJV) - When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.  Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat. Have you ever sat down to dinner with someone who started out friendly and cordial; someone you thought a friend; but by the end of the meal, you were sick to your stomach?  You were not sick because of the food set before you; you were heart sick because of the poison that spewed out of your friends’ mouth during the meal. Discontented people try to make others as miserable as th

Written by Carisa Stahl Recently while visiting another church the pastor showed a picture of a skimmer bird. They feed from the surface of the water. He said the picture reminded him of a quote in the front of his doctrine text book in Bible college. "The surface of the Bible is skimmed  but the depths are ignored." Too often that quote is too true, even with pastors preaching sermons. Sometimes we read our Bibles more than at other times. Sometimes we read it because reading our Bible is what a "good Christian" is supposed to do but it is not really our hearts desire.  Not only should we be reading our Bibles but we should be studying it, memorizing, and meditating on it.  I remember a big question in Bible college, "How much (quantity of verses) should we be reading? One answer has stuck in my mind, "If you don't have time to read a whole book a chapter is better than nothing. If you don't have time to read a whole chapte

Written by Carisa Stahl For several years in a row my daughter Amy has chosen a word for the year. This year her word is, "Choose". Mary chose, "Constancy". I had no intention or desire to choose a word for the year. Back in January I was online and saw a news video clip where teachers had chosen a word for the school year. Their word choice was written on their hand and held up to the camera. The word NOW popped out at me and I felt that the Lord was prompting me to choose that as my word so I looked up definitions for the word, "now", chose the chorus from a Patch The Pirate Song, and chose a Bible verse and made a poster. NOW is not necessarily my word for the year, I am thinking it may be my word for the rest of my life. Nine years ago I had health problems that put me in bed for a few months- barely able to even get up to the bathroom. Life was a struggle. Not feeling well is a good excuse for not accomplishing things. I still don't feel t

Hearts remind me of God's Love and give me an opportunity to witness Years ago, I decided I would remember Christ's love for me, and His sacrifice on the cross, each time I see someone wearing a heart .  With Valentine’s Day coming up, lots of people are wearing hearts, so I’ve had some fun with this witnessing tool the last few days.

Would God recognize the food in your grocery cart? Hi!  Glad to see you back again today!  I hope you had a wonderful, and restful, day of worship.  I am praying that God richly blessed you on Sunday as He did me. Saturday, I shared that we have had some financial issues and that we currently use an envelope system to keep our routine purchases under control.  Today, I’ll share some tips on how we stretch our grocery budget. I don’t claim that these ideas are original; I’m sure you can find these, and many other, fine budget stretching tips all over the internet and in self-help books everywhere!  But, I am a strong proponent of repetition!  The more you see something in writing, and hear the words ringing in your head as you read, the more likely some of it will stick.  Sometimes, it’s not what is being told, but rather how it’s being told, that sparks my interest and helps me retain the information. Stretching the grocery budget – Healthy food and clean drinking wat