Our daughter Dayna introduced me to a series of books a few years ago that have captured my imagination and tickled my funny bone. The books are literate but not stuffy, Christian but slightly irreverent. They are written from the perspective of a motherless little girl, harassed by her older sisters, fascinated with chemistry (poisons are her specialty), who regularly chooses to wedge her way into murder mysteries. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is the first in a series of ten novels following eleven-year-old sleuth Flavia de Luce in post-war England. 

The Canadian author Alan Bradley began writing this, his first novel, in 2007 when he was 69. In 1994 Alan Bradley took an early retirement as director of television engineering for a university to begin his writing career. He wrote short stories and articles for magazines and published a couple of non-fiction books. His success came after a little girl he later named Flavia “took over” a story he was trying to write one spring day in 2007. Born in 1938, Mr. Bradley published the tenth book in his series in 2019. According to Variety Magazine, the movie version of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie starring British actors Martin Freeman (Sherlock) and young Isle Gie (The Sandman) went into production last spring.

“There are choices in life which you are aware, even as you make them, cannot be undone; choices after which, once made, things will never be the same. There is that moment when you can still walk away, but if you do, you will never know what might have been.” –Alan Bradley, The Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust, 2015.

Advertisers want us to choose their products. Our families, friends and co-workers want us to go along with their choices. Politicians want us to choose them. We are faced with choices about everything, in every area of our lives, every day. Some choices are bigger than others. How do you choose? Day by day we decide, or we let someone else decide for us, how we will live today. Proverbs 3:6 declares: In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. Invite God into your decisions. 

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Choose wisely. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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Penguins are fascinating. They are all from the southern hemisphere—all 18 different kinds of penguins. Most live in Antarctica, South America, Southern Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. One group lives up in the Galapagos Islands. Most of us remember the award-winning film, The March of the Penguins, narrated by Morgan Freeman. Those were Emperor Penguins, but the life cycles and dangers are universal to all. The important thing to remember about penguins is not that they do not live anywhere near the Arctic Circle, but that they know how to walk on snow, ice, glaciers, and icebergs. We do not. They also know how to hop out of water onto said iceberg with bare feet. We should not even try. On my trip to Antarctica, we observed Adalie, Gentoo, and Chinstrap penguin colonies from a respectful distance of a few yards, although a few crossed the path right in front of me while hiking one day.  It amazed me to see how agile and skilled they are in and out of the ocean. 

One lesson that I learned from the penguins was how to walk on frozen water. Even with their short legs, penguins can slip and slide, but they mostly do that for fun—sliding headfirst, like a small missile into the sea. We, with our longer legs, are top heavy. (I’m speaking for myself, of course.) This means our slips and slides are not as much fun, especially that first bounce. Penguins teach us to keep our center of gravity low and beneath us. This means taking small steps, shifting your weight slightly side to side as you walk. Humans tend to walk shifting our weight forward, while waiting for the other leg to catch up with us and go forward even further. It does not take much to get ahead of ourselves. Add a little ice or mud, and we fall. Walking like a penguin might keep you safer in this frigid weather.

When it comes to walking through life, walk in the ways of Jesus. May I suggest a little spiritual exercise to help stretch us for our Christian walk today? First Corinthians 13 is known to us as the Love Chapter in the Bible. (There are other love chapters in the Bible, by the way.) Read chapter 13, substituting the name of Jesus every time the word love or it is used. This is how we live the Christian walk each day.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Walk like a Christian. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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When were you last hungry?  It has been observed that some people will get up from their holiday meal with the announcement, I am so full I could burst. Yet not ten minutes later they are spotted rummaging through the turkey carcass or picking up another bite of dessert. Then there are teenagers who periodically emerge from their caves growling for something else to eat. Imagine being the single parent of three children, working one or two minimum wage jobs, trying to keep everyone clothed and fed, plus cover rent and utilities; or a disabled vet living on the street; or a senior couple trying to make it until the end of the month. These are some of our church neighbors. 

Our People’s Pantry ministry has not missed a single week of sharing bags of groceries each Wednesday night for ten years straight—no matter the storms, Covid, the heat or the cold. Today a group of volunteers unloaded 1,792 pounds of commodities from the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. This included dozens of bags of frozen chicken thighs and drumsticks, canned goods, and bottled juices. This, combined with donations of goods, and the purchase of supplemental items will last us about a month. All of this ministry is under the direction of Lori Dryer with her husband David and Terri Qualls at her side.

Here is a summary report for 2023:

Total Families served: 393

Total Individuals served: 948

Total Grocery Meals provided: 11,376

These numbers reflect a 15 percent increase in the number of people served over 2022.   We provide good quality food, an opportunity for conversations and prayer. Diep Vo and Terri Qualls oversee our Clothes Closet ministry, which is available each week for those who have additional needs. We also provide personal hygiene kits, can openers, and other necessities. We invite our neighbors inside for a light hot meal prepared by Russell Ford, Ben Shepard, and Patty Hickman. The People’s Pantry is open each Wednesday evening from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Volunteers are needed around 4:00 p.m. to help us set up. Thank you for your on-going prayers, food and clothing contributions, and financial support.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Live faithfully. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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It’s time to put away Christmas. You know the routine: get out the boxes to re-store the decorations, undecorate the tree and the various places in the house, remove the tree, bring in the outside stuff, and finally pack it all away. I should not have been surprised to learn that there is a social media controversy over when to undecorate a Christmas Tree. Social media is the birthing room of all controversies great and small. It is the playground of brats and bullies. Apparently, there is a specific date on which to undecorate a Christmas tree. Some people disagree. Those who call themselves Christmas Traditionalists view Epiphany as the sacred date. Their reasoning lies in that the Twelve Days of Christmas concludes on January 6, the 12^th Day, Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day, the day Jesus is made known to the Gentile world. Those who are the true believers of Christmas, as the controversy seems to imply, are right because of a centuries-old tradition. Everyone else must be a pagan or heretic.  All I want to do is put away the extra stuff. 

I have known people who never took down their Christmas tree. Some moved fully decorated trees in and out of a special closet. I’ve known others who redecorated their tree every few weeks—Valentine’s, St Patrick’s, Easter, Mother’s Day…throughout the whole year. Other people have trees with lights on them year-round because it makes them feel better. I have even known some people who do not always put up a Christmas tree. Who is the troublemaker?

Jesus never had a Christmas tree. His tree was a cross. Jesus never wrapped a Christmas present. His gift was the Word made flesh. Jesus never sang a Christmas carol or wished anyone a Merry Christmas. His salutation was “follow me.” Jesus never signed a Christmas card. His love was written in red—while we were yet enemies of God, Christ died for us.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Put away the stuff and Celebrate Jesus. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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I have a blessing to pray over you for this New Year. It is a prayer that Paul prays for the church at Ephesus. It is a blessing for today to meet the challenges of tomorrow. It is a prayer for discernment. Discernment is my focus word for 2024. 

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance of the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. (Ephesians 2:17-19a)

Throughout the next few weeks, I am committing to pray this passage repeatedly with your specific name in mind, and as far as I know their names, your family members also. Instead of “you” I will substitute your name. I will be using the church directory and Evangel mailing list. There is nothing magic in this prayer. It is simply the majesty of God at work through the prayers of His people. 

So many are walking in darkness. So many are facing daily temptations to succumb to lies and fantasies. So many feel the weight of bad news, overextended schedules, and depression. So many believers also find themselves overwhelmed by health, money, and family issues, they may wonder if there is any Light at all left for them. This passage has a word for each of us—that the eyes of your heart be enlightened –discernment.

If you are so inclined, would you join me for a concert of prayer over your extended circle of friends, neighbors, and family members? What if, during the month of January, we were to blanket a great host of people across our country, even our world, with a prayer of enlightenment amid their daily living?  

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Pray for discernment. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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