Picket Fences

That’s what Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished.” And then he died. If we could only grasp that to its fullness. He IS the final sacrifice for sins. There is not one thing you can do to add to the payment needed for your sins. Not. One. Nope. Not that. And not that either. The price is paid. When we paid off our car. There was absolutely no reason to give the bank any more of our money. Our car was paid for and legally all ours. We paid all we needed to pay for the car. There is a zero balance. We could keep paying for the car, but it is completely paid off. Just like we can do things to try to pay for the price of our sin to God. Are there consequences to sin? Yes. Sometimes. You can do things that will send your little self to jail, or break up a relationship, or make you suffer physically. But between you and God, Jesus death on the cross paid the price for our sins. Can you believe that? Will you believe that? I ...

My husband and I are back at school. Our brains are being used in a way they haven’t been in a very long time. The teaching is fast and it takes a bit more of an effort to store the knowledge in our brain’s files and not let it float in and fly right out again. Sometimes it was like a very windy day in my head. I would go over and over and over a formula before the information actually took. I did a LOT of note taking, while it seems most of the younger students were actively participating. The teacher for my first class had a gift of teaching. He and a few of the students actually enjoyed figuring out different problems. Did I forget to tell you I took a Pre-Algebra class? And they seemed to be having fun working out all of the formulas. I am so glad I took the Pre-Algebra class to get my brain warmed up again. I had to go down into the cellar and pull out the drawers of some rusty file cabinets to draw out information that had been stored for ages. I was quite...

  “There is no such thing as monsters or ghosts,” I said those words many times to comfort my daughter at night, but still I checked in the closet and under her bed to prove it.  She didn’t always trust me and believe she was okay enough to close her beautiful eyes and go to sleep. There were many times; I ended up lying beside her bed until she fell asleep, to protect her from the fears that come from the shadows of the night. I got it. Are there really no monsters or ghosts? (I know in the real sense of the word, there are  not .) As an adult the monsters that keep me awake and peeking out from under my sheets at night are different. Some of them are real. I just watched a forensic show yesterday that had a criminal who was very close to my worst night fear. (Do not ask me why I watched it. My curiosity got the best of me.) Monsters really are out there! You can read about them and hear about them. And then there are the type of monsters that wake...