"No, I don't think so...what do you mean, 'Why not?' I just told you...he's a charmer...you know, the type that takes you out to a nice restaurant, engages you in a conversation that makes you think he cares who you really are, then all of a sudden it's, 'You want to come back to my place?' Once, just once, I'd like to go on a date with a guy who wants to know what I like, where I've been, what my goals are..."
Pregnant pause.
"I never thought of that...be interested in his likes and dislikes? Maybe next time..."
This is my submission for the 100 Word Challenge from www.velvetverbosity.com for this week. The prompt is "ENGAGES."
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
OLD 1910
Lara shyly entered the cheerfully decorated new barn, her hair billowing into soft pillows of yellow corn silk on her shoulders. When she first heard about the dance, she had wondered if Jim would be there. She didn't really know him but his glance toward her at the general store a month ago made her wonder if he had really noticed her. Maybe she was just dreaming. Wishing. Hoping.
Standing near the tables loaded with lemonade, cookies, cakes, pies, sandwiches, and fried chicken, her heart leaped at the voice behind her asking, "May I have the honor of this dance?"
This is my response to the 100 Word Challenge from http://www.velvetverbosity.com/ This week's challenge is to write 100 words...and ONLY 100 words...using the word "honor." I wonder if this could be the way my grandparents met.
Standing near the tables loaded with lemonade, cookies, cakes, pies, sandwiches, and fried chicken, her heart leaped at the voice behind her asking, "May I have the honor of this dance?"
This is my response to the 100 Word Challenge from http://www.velvetverbosity.com/ This week's challenge is to write 100 words...and ONLY 100 words...using the word "honor." I wonder if this could be the way my grandparents met.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Gertie and Bertie
Gertrude screamed, both fists banging on her neighbor's front door. Recognizing her voice Bertram snatched the door open. "What's wrong, Gertrude?"
"Help me!" she wailed, turning and running toward her house. Bertram loped behind her, his royal blue robe flopping wildly and shaving cream flying off his face in the breeze.
Approaching her front door she cautiously entered, ran and jumped onto a dining room chair.
Bertram stood agape as he looked from her to the trembling creature behind the trash can.
"A harmless mouse?" he marveled.
"Harmless?!" she panted. "Nothing is harmless that can give you a heart attack!"
This is my submission to this week's 100 word challenge at www.velvetverbosity.com
"Help me!" she wailed, turning and running toward her house. Bertram loped behind her, his royal blue robe flopping wildly and shaving cream flying off his face in the breeze.
Approaching her front door she cautiously entered, ran and jumped onto a dining room chair.
Bertram stood agape as he looked from her to the trembling creature behind the trash can.
"A harmless mouse?" he marveled.
"Harmless?!" she panted. "Nothing is harmless that can give you a heart attack!"
This is my submission to this week's 100 word challenge at www.velvetverbosity.com
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Confused
As a writer of Christian fiction, occasionally I am invited to speak on the subject. As part of my presentation I include my testimony, how I became a Christian. After all, if a gal is going to write Christian books, she should provide her credentials, right? Wouldn't you want to know that? I recently explained this to an inviter from a local church, and she was perplexed and asked that I just speak on myself and my writing for fear of confusing some of the people. Then I was confused. If this was a Christian-type church, what was the fear?
This is my submission to www.velvetverbosity.com Their challenge this week is to write 100 words...no more, no less...on the word "credentials." This happened to me just recently. The story is longer, this submission is not.
This is my submission to www.velvetverbosity.com Their challenge this week is to write 100 words...no more, no less...on the word "credentials." This happened to me just recently. The story is longer, this submission is not.
Friday, January 14, 2011
He Lived, Though
The perpetually robust gentleman laying in the hospital bed murmured thoughtfully, "You know...I guess...I thought I was invincible." A blood clot to the lung will make the strongest of folks take a step or two back and look hard at life, though. For over forty years he had escaped serious illness, and this was quite a shock to him...and her. "Get a pen and paper," he said with trembling lips and moist eyes.
"Oh, honey..."
"Please...just do it, okay?" His wife bit her lip and scrounged in her purse for his request. "My life insurance policy is in the safe..."
"Oh, honey..."
"Please...just do it, okay?" His wife bit her lip and scrounged in her purse for his request. "My life insurance policy is in the safe..."
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Pointy Things
Sharp objects bring out the squeamish in me. I'm probably alone when I say that as a child of the '50's and '60's watching a western with my family, my peepers slammed shut when some unsuspecting cowboy received an arrow to the chest! And when Elizabeth Turner plunged a knife into the undead chest of Captain Barbossa I was a goner. Heck, I wasn't too thrilled last week when the guy next to me at Outback stabbed his steak knife into a rare t-bone. And don't get me started on tetanus shots. Anyone got any smelling salts? I'm feeling green.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
APPEARANCES
The topic of how to dress for church comes up now and again, and I felt like addressing it in a blog today, so here goes.
I am one of those who feels like God loves us and accepts our worship no matter what we look like or how we're dressed as long as our worship is sincere and from the heart. With God, everything is all about the heart anyway. If you want to show up for church in jeans and a red plaid flannel shirt, go for it. Male or female. However, there is another way of looking at church dress that is also not wrong. You may want to think about this. Even pray about it.
I know that times have changed, customs have changed, hearts have changed...so how you answer the following questions is just going to have to come from your own stance in life. Here are the questions:
How do you dress to attend:
1. A wedding?
2. A funeral?
3. A 50th wedding anniversary celebration? Especially if it's your grandparents' or other close relatives'?
4. A professional or college ballgame?
5. A NASCAR race?
6. A tractor pull?
For my more affluent friends...yea, maybe even the snobs who may read this: (Not all affluent people are snobs, by the way.)
How would you dress to attend:
1. The opera?
2. A Broadway play?
3. A movie premier?
4. A presidential inauguration?
(As I said, times and customs have changed, so some of you would dress the same for a wedding as you would for a tractor pull; the same for the opera as you would for a NASCAR race, should someone who attends operas actually attend a NASCAR race.)
If Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, (and He is, according to The Bible) then let's see what the Bible says about dressing for church. I would think what Jesus said then would apply now, since He is unchanging. In the Old Testament of The Bible, the priests (our modern-day preachers?) were to wear some pretty specific clothing to perform their duties. Really specific. Down to colors and styles. Exodus 28 is one of the places you can read about that. Men and women both wore robe-like or tunic-like clothing with small differences in stylng for the two genders.
In the New Testament, I don't see it addressed a whole lot. However, James 2:1-4 talks about two men who come to church, one in finery and one in filthy clothes, so it appears that both styles of dress were acceptable. The passage is instructing people not to favor the more finely dressed man over the one in filthy clothes. Even saying that if you do, you've become a judge with evil thoughts! Yikes!
Now it's time to think. Who is someone that you respect a lot? Really...think of someone. Depending on who's reading this it could be one of many types of people...an old friend, a seldom-seen-but-admired relative, your favorite performer (writer/actor/singer/dancer, etc.,) the president, the king/queen of some foreign country, whomever. How would you dress to meet that person, whether for the first time or after many years? Personally, I would want to look pretty spiffy. After all, it would be a bit of a celebration for me.
Doesn't the King of Kings deserve more respect than anyone on this earth that we could possibly meet? Shouldn't we respect Him enough to show up in His presence looking like we respect Him? I know, I know...I've already said that with God it's always about the heart and not appearances...but, really, if we respect and love Him as much as we say we do, shouldn't it be obvious not only to Him but to everyone else? If we have the ability, shouldn't we put on not just the garment of praise (Isaiah 61:3) but a garment of respect for our Savior? Just a thought. I know you have your own.
June 20, 2018 - Update - I discovered today a great youtube video that I think fits this topic perfectly. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXbI_NdcBaU
I am one of those who feels like God loves us and accepts our worship no matter what we look like or how we're dressed as long as our worship is sincere and from the heart. With God, everything is all about the heart anyway. If you want to show up for church in jeans and a red plaid flannel shirt, go for it. Male or female. However, there is another way of looking at church dress that is also not wrong. You may want to think about this. Even pray about it.
I know that times have changed, customs have changed, hearts have changed...so how you answer the following questions is just going to have to come from your own stance in life. Here are the questions:
How do you dress to attend:
1. A wedding?
2. A funeral?
3. A 50th wedding anniversary celebration? Especially if it's your grandparents' or other close relatives'?
4. A professional or college ballgame?
5. A NASCAR race?
6. A tractor pull?
For my more affluent friends...yea, maybe even the snobs who may read this: (Not all affluent people are snobs, by the way.)
How would you dress to attend:
1. The opera?
2. A Broadway play?
3. A movie premier?
4. A presidential inauguration?
(As I said, times and customs have changed, so some of you would dress the same for a wedding as you would for a tractor pull; the same for the opera as you would for a NASCAR race, should someone who attends operas actually attend a NASCAR race.)
If Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, (and He is, according to The Bible) then let's see what the Bible says about dressing for church. I would think what Jesus said then would apply now, since He is unchanging. In the Old Testament of The Bible, the priests (our modern-day preachers?) were to wear some pretty specific clothing to perform their duties. Really specific. Down to colors and styles. Exodus 28 is one of the places you can read about that. Men and women both wore robe-like or tunic-like clothing with small differences in stylng for the two genders.
In the New Testament, I don't see it addressed a whole lot. However, James 2:1-4 talks about two men who come to church, one in finery and one in filthy clothes, so it appears that both styles of dress were acceptable. The passage is instructing people not to favor the more finely dressed man over the one in filthy clothes. Even saying that if you do, you've become a judge with evil thoughts! Yikes!
Now it's time to think. Who is someone that you respect a lot? Really...think of someone. Depending on who's reading this it could be one of many types of people...an old friend, a seldom-seen-but-admired relative, your favorite performer (writer/actor/singer/dancer, etc.,) the president, the king/queen of some foreign country, whomever. How would you dress to meet that person, whether for the first time or after many years? Personally, I would want to look pretty spiffy. After all, it would be a bit of a celebration for me.
Doesn't the King of Kings deserve more respect than anyone on this earth that we could possibly meet? Shouldn't we respect Him enough to show up in His presence looking like we respect Him? I know, I know...I've already said that with God it's always about the heart and not appearances...but, really, if we respect and love Him as much as we say we do, shouldn't it be obvious not only to Him but to everyone else? If we have the ability, shouldn't we put on not just the garment of praise (Isaiah 61:3) but a garment of respect for our Savior? Just a thought. I know you have your own.
June 20, 2018 - Update - I discovered today a great youtube video that I think fits this topic perfectly. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXbI_NdcBaU
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