To Honor You

To Honor You

To honor you, I get up everyday and take a breath.

And start another day without you in it.

To honor you, I laugh and love with those who knew your smile

And the way your eyes twinkled with mischief and secret knowledge.

To honor you, I take the time to appreciate everyone I love,

I know now there is no guarantee of days or hours spent in their presence.

To honor you, I listen to music you would have liked,

And sing at the top of my lungs, with the windows rolled down.

To honor you, I take chances, say what I feel, hold nothing back,

Risk making a fool of myself, dance every dance.

You were my light, my heart, my gift of love, from the very highest source.

So everyday, I vow to make a difference, share a smile, live, laugh and love.

Now I live for us both, so all I do, I do to honor you.

borrowed from Connie F. Kiefer Byrd hwo penned this 

In Loving Memory of her son

 Jordan Alexander Kiefer

8/24/88 – 12/13/05

You Took my Place

A few Easters ago, my family and I were joined by some bi-annual church going friends for morning service and a brunch to follow.  The parking lot at church and sanctuary were running over as they  usually are at Christmas and Easter.  Once inside, the service was incredible as the Holy Spirit seemed to fill the deepest crevice of every heart.

A bit later as our group met up at the restaurant for brunch, the following conversation took place:

"What an incredible service, the music, the worship, the message, one was better than the next"  started one Church Regular.

"And the crowd?  Good grief that was insane trying to get in and out of the church not to mention the parking lot" added Bi-Annual Number One.

"Yah, the parking was brutal. Your church members were pretty aggressive when it came to getting out of there.  I almost got hit and ran over by several anxious to get to lunch I guess", replied Bi-Annual Number Two.

"Yah" with laughter Bi-Annual Number One chimed in, "and I bet they had that little fish symbol or better yet," haaa, haaa "a whole school of little fish on their bumper".

The Bi-Annuals were having some fun now.


I asked our guest how were they so sure it was the regular church membership behaving so poorly and not some folks like themselves of the twice a year crowd? 

That led us into a conversation about Believers can't claim perfect, just salvation by God's grace and anyone claiming to be otherwise is admittedly a hypocrite.

Sadly, I had to concede, we as believers all too often set ourselves up for such criticism when we brand our bumpers, t-shirt and handbags, mistakenly believing no one should hold us to a higher level of accountability, when they really should.

Believing friends, you may have read the following story before, even so, with another high attendance Sunday upon us, take another look.

One day, a man went to visit a church. He got there early, parked his car and got out. Another car pulled up near the driver got out and said,

'I always park there! You took my place!'

The visitor went inside for Sunday school, found an empty seat and sat down. A young lady from the church approached him and stated,

'That's my seat! You took my place!'

The visitor was somewhat distressed by this rude welcome, but said nothing.

After Sunday school, the visitor went into the sanctuary and sat down. Another member walked up to him and said,

'That's where I always sit! You took my place!'

The visitor was even more troubled by this treatment, but still He said nothing.

Later as the congregation was praying for Christ to dwell among them, the visitor stood up, and his appearance began to change.

Horrible scars became visible on his hands and on his sandaled feet. Someone from the congregation noticed him and called out,

'What happened to you?'

The visitor replied, as his hat became a crown of thorns, and a tear fell from his eye, 'I took your place.'

When you read this, say a prayer.

Ask the Lord to circumcise your heart, that you may yield to the Holy Spirit's urgings as we get too centered on self and cease seeing the greater good and glory God might reveal through us in these situations.

Instead of focusing on self, focus on Him; then share a smile and give gentle answer and shine your Light that whole world all may see Him in you!

He took our place!

Hallelujah, I'm so glad He did!

            Happy Easter!

"The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live"    Deuteronomy 30:6

Oscar De La Renta and Suicidal Skunk

Not long ago I swung by a popular donut shop for a cappuccino to go. As I rolled down my window to pay, my nostrils were filled with the most amazing aroma. I whipped my head around startled at the fragrance that was most definitely filling my head.

My granddaughter in tow, I called for her to scoot up, take a whiff, and tell me what I was smelling.

Naturally, her first response was to state the obvious,

"You can't smell Maw Maw."

I assured her I was aware of that, but I was certain some scent was permeating my head, I just had no idea what it was.

The child pulled up, inhaled and said "It smells like coffee and cake, uh...donuts."

I turned my schnoz again to the window that was now closed and waited for the servers return. Once the window was opened, I took in a long deep breath, closed my eyes and concentrated hard, wanting to brand the scent on my memory.

Could this truly be what smelling is?

It was fantastic!

For the majority of you, registering the scent of glazed donuts and freshly brewed java wouldn't be that monumental and would come as no big surprise...what should it smell like....turpentine?

Weeks ago, I wouldn't have known the difference. More precisely, I could not smell anything....at all.

My nose has operated like this for as long as I can recall. I have never able to smell any kind of fragrance, good or bad.

Your question might be: "Can you taste things?"

Yes, as my full body documents, my taster functions very well.

'but' you ask, 'I always thought if you can't smell, you can't taste?'

Yes that is the general consensus, if the difficulty is physically related: If the nose has a deviated septum, polyps, was broken or had physical damage or trauma.

My nose has suffered none of those things. There is no physical reason for the defect.

After extensive examination and testing which include multiple CT's and MRI's, the results are the same: This makes no sense but has been my reality.

It appears God had another plan.

The coffee and baked goods were just the beginning. I now have a running list, I lovely refer to as my "Schnoz Journal".

In order of occurrence I have smelled the following:

Coffee

Baked Goods

Body Powder

Roast Beef

Turpentine

Cigarette smoke

Burning Firewood

Pumpkin Pie

Suicidal Skunk (twice...ew!!)

and most recently Oscar De La Renta perfume.

The perfume was just this weekend, completely marvelous and no, I don't know what flavor it was...I didn't know to ask!

You no doubt noticed a few on that list that emit a pretty wretched scent, but for me they have all been good.

The fact that I could smell their wretchedness was a gift from God.

With each odor taken in, I smile, laugh, do a happy dance and thank God all at once.

I can smell!

I must confess, lately with every fragrance revelation I have paused to ponder.

What kind of scent do I emit?

I have always tried to compensate for my deficiency by scrubbing things that much deeper, using cleaning and fragrance products others taut as the most pleasant, having no working knowledge of this particular sense I've looked to others for direction and clarity in everything I thought mattered.

But how pleasing do I smell...to God that is?

This is one scent that really should matter most to me.

In reading Philippians 4:18 I wonder , does God find my fragrance sweet, acceptable and well pleasing?

Or is it more often like that of turpentine and suicidal skunk?

I must confess, this newly restored sense has awaken me to a greater understanding of my relationship with God.

My Heavenly Father does not know me through my color, gender or denomination but my heart, soul, motives and most importantly...my obedience.

In reading 1 Samuel 15, we find King Saul totally disobeying God's instruction to completely annihilate the Amalekites and all their live stock. When confronted about usurping Gods authority, Saul justified by stating only the best were spared so they might be used as sacrifices to the Lord.

Samuel then reminded Saul that to heed God instruction, obeying Him in all things is infinitely better than sacrifice I Samuel 15: 22 , (a better smelling I suspect)

Obedience has been something I have struggled with a lot through the years. In retrospect I'm bowled over that the Lord has been so generous and allowed me so many do overs, showing such grace and mercy to this remedial child of His.

I don't want to find myself like King Saul, rationalizing that the things I do and people I help are for Gods good and glory-all the while secreting a stench to the highest parts of heaven.

Oh that He would close His eyes at each thought of me and giggle with delight at the fragrant bouquet of my obedience.