**Siesta Celebration is January 20-21, 2012**
Hey, Darling Things!
I’m writing you from about 28,000 feet in the air, glancing out at a sunset heavy with steely thunderheads and striped in army blues. I am on my way home the long way from Columbus, Ohio. After our Living Proof Live ended and we ate lunch at the arena, we all headed to our various vans so we could make our ways to the airport. I hopped in the front seat with Rich because Ron and his darling wife Nancy had already headed home. Several of our other buddies were in the back chattering away when Rich overheard me say to my man on the phone, “Honey, I won’t be late! My fight is at 3:47 and I’ll pick back up an hour so I’ll have a nice long evening with you.” Keith was feeling poorly with a chest cold and laryngitis and I really wanted to get back to him.
(Rich) “Beth, you have a layover.”
“A what?”(Like I don’t know what that word means after nearly 30 years in thin air.)
“A layover in Denver on your way home. I think you get home kind of late.”
“But I had a nonstop flight to Columbus!”
“Well, you don’t have a nonstop flight home.”
And he was right. I hadn’t even looked at my arrival time in Houston. So, this afternoon I flew from Columbus all the way to Denver and now I’m on my Denver flight making my way to Houston. This weekend I’ve lost an hour, picked up two, then given one up again. Try to do that math.
But to say it was worth it is an understatement. We had 7000+ women in Columbus, Ohio who were in the mood to lift up some high volume praise to the God who is worthy. We knew we were going to love them within 15 seconds flat. And they were my favorite kind of group in Bible study, too, because they got involved the way a small class would. Super interactive. God so graced us in Ohio and we will remember the time we had with those believers for a long time. I knew God was up to something good when I looked at the stat sheet that K-Mac prepared for me and noticed that the six biggest groups attending the events were six different denominations. There are no words to express to you what that means to us. To God’s credit alone, that’s becoming more the rule than the exception in this season.
I’ve had a very interesting flying day. If you’re on Twitter, I tweeted that the people watching had been extraordinary. You know, I struggle a tad with eavesdropping as it is but when everyone is sharing very big feelings at a very high volume, what is a woman to do? But stare? And so, I nearly cried while a young 40 something Dad with shoulder length hair hugged his varsity baseball-type looking son goodbye as he took off for college for the first time. Both of them had tears streaming down their cheeks. It was a most moving scene and one that I had to restrain myself from joining. Of course, I don’t know if the young man was going away to college or not. I made that part up because it was the best possible scenario to fit the high EQ. The part about the long-haired dad and the varsity baseball-type son was true, however. And they were both crying. If I wouldn’t have to stop and explain when I’m making something up, my posts would go smoother. But somehow I feel an obligation toward confession.
What is indeed an absolute fact is that there was a little girl about six years old that nearly made people punch the windows out of the plane and parachute to Beulah Land while her mother chatted with a friend. Mind you, a six year-old little girl would have to work hard to push me over the edge. I love that age in the largest way. But I was nearly overwrought with the teeming desire to give that darling child a spank offering. But, of course, I wouldn’t have. Goodness knows, I have a deep commitment to all things politically correct.
Well, guess what day it is? August 15th and you know what that means! Spit out your next Scriptures, young ladies, and do it with some fervor. His words are Spirit and life to us. Let’s give them some respect and expect them to do the kinds of things He promised they would. Here’s mine:
Beth, Houston. “Therefore, get your minds ready for action by being fully sober, and set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:13 The NET Bible
A loved one and I are memorizing this together as he seeks to take the next step in a victorious life that demands sobriety. For some of us, it’s all or nothing. Jesus is the only reason some of us are not passed out in an alley with a newspaper over us. If you have struggled to stay sober and the enemy is doing everything he can to suck the life out of you and steal everybody you love, one by one, don’t stay in the shadows. Get out in the light. Own up and let some people cheer you onto sobriety and victory. YOUR GOD IS ABLE TO DELIVER YOU. Do what you have to do so that you can do what you want to do. You have a calling to fulfill.
I never want to get where we’re playing church around here. The salvation of Jesus Christ is real and it has huge practical ramifications in everyday life here on this fallen planet. Let’s not just talk it. Let’s do it.
Therefore, get your minds ready for action by being fully sober.
Brittney, Olympia:
“Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.” Galations 5:26 (NLT).
Christa, Denver, CO
“I will give you every place where you set your foot.”
Joshua 1:3
Stacey- new orleans
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 91:1 niv
Elisabeth
Modesto, CA
As for you, be calm and cool and steady, accept and suffer unflinchingly every hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fully perform all the duties of your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:5 AMP)
Natalie Christopher, Olympia WA
But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
Jeremiah 17:7 NIV
Matthew 22:37-39 NIV
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’…”
I’m stealing your verse, I’ve been sober a little over two years, and was thinking to myself today that maybe I can handle social drinking again, even though I’ve tried too many different times in the past and failed.
Laura, Inglewood
“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” ESV
Lisa S.
Kinston,North Carolina
1Peter4:10 NASB
As each one of you has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Lisa Waikelele, HI 2 Timothy 2:16a Shun profane and idle babble (NKJV)
Lisa, Olympia WA
“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NIV)
Jody, Mission Viejo, CA
My husband of 23 years unexpectedly passed away this past week so I’m clinging to this verse:
We are of good courage, I say, and prefer to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
II Corinthians 5:8 (NASB)
Jeanne Honolulu, HI
Psalm 4:8
New Living Translation (NLT)
8 In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.
Elysa, Raleigh
2 Corinthians 4:15 NIV
15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
Beckie, Florence, SC
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 NIV
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul”
Psalm 143:8 NIV
Joy, Cairo, Ga.
Keri
Washington, GA
Hebrews 4:12(KJV)
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Cindy,Apex,NC
“Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Christ Jesus is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:13 NIV
Debbie, New Delhi, India: Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Eph 4:2 NIV
Jessica~Jacksonville, Florida
“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?”
Psalm 139:7 NIV
Susan, Meredith, NH: “Is not My Word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”—Jeremiah 23:29, ESV
Suni – Roanoke, VA “Therefore, get your minds ready for action by being fully sober, and set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:13 The NET Bible
Lori – Syracuse-“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18, 19
I am one of those parents saying goodbye as her children go off to college. This Scripture was a good reminder for me.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Cor 12:9
If any one has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:17-18 NIV
Tamela Ward, Piedmont, SC: “You go before me and You follow me. You place Your hand of blessing on my head.” Psalm 139:5 NLT
Jane, Kokomo, IN
“‘For My hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being,’ declares the LORD. ‘But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.'” Isaiah 66:2 (NAS)
DeeDee Houston, Texas
Stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Matt 26:41
HSB
Gwen, Kennesaw, GA.
“You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.” Matthew 6:24 The Message
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance (patience), character; and character hope. And hope does not put us to shame (disappoint), because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Romand 5:3-5 NIV
Evanston, IL
“He will be a sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.”
Isaiah 33:6
“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?”
Isaiah 43:19
The Message
Judy, Virginia
Hebrews 13:20-21 NASB
Now, may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the Great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ to whom be the glory forever and ever Amen.
Jayne- Frisco, TX
Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife. Proverbs 25:24 NIV
Jamye, Greenbrier, AR
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be reavealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3-5 KJV
Jami
Shelby, NC
“Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; ad He shall bring it to pass.”
Psalm 35:5
Pam in Texas using the Everyday Bible
May he give you
the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.
Psalm 20:4
Tracey, Bear Creek, “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. ”
Luke 6:37-39 NLT
charlotte carty
lexington, ky 40505
1 Cor. 15:3-4 (NIV)
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance; That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.
Lyn
Littleton, NH
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13 NASB
Kathy, Corinth, TX
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my rock and Redeemer. Psalm 19:14 NASB
Cherry, Conway, AR
Thugh you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1: 8-9 NIV
Janice, Arcanum, OH
Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
I Peter 1:13-16 NASB
Helen, Broxton, Georgia The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17 NIV)
Prover 12:16 NIV
“A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult”
Shirleen, Greenville,SC…..I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint. Jeremiah 31:25, NIV
“Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.”
James 3:1-2 NIV
Beth, Dyersburg TN
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” Psalm 32:8 NIV
Melissa, Scarborough, ME: “He is your constant source of stability.” Isaiah 23:6 NET
marrissa, Orlando
Proverbs 14:26
The Fear-of-God builds up confidence, and makes a world safe for your children.
“Keep me safe, O God, I’ve run for dear life to You. I say to God, ‘Be my Lord!’ Without You, nothing makes sense.”–Psalm 16:1-2, The Message
Sarah, Dallas, TX