THE PEACE THAT PASSETH UNDERSTANDING

I hope you had a great weekend. Things went well here in Georgetown. We had a really super Valentine's Day lunch with the kids and also enjoyed watching UK win their game against Arkansas. It's always good to see John Pelphrey.

I really enjoyed church on Sunday. We had one of our youth deliver the sermon as our preacher was out of town. Kyle did a great job, as he always does. He spoke to us about Job and posed the question to us "Why do bad things happen to good people?". He compared our lives to the threads within a quilt. We, within the fabric, are simply not aware of the intricacy of the beautiful work of which we are a part. The finished work can only be seen from a distance and the only one with that viewpoint is the master creator, Himself. Hopefully, when we reach the other side, we will be given a glimpse of the painstaking, glorious pattern that was our life.

Today's Upperroom reading really took me on a ride through my memory of old hymns. Philippians 4:7 reminds me of a song we used to sing when I was little. I remember singing, "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, down in my heart, down in my heart". It continues' "I've got the peace that passeth understanding, down in my heart". I didn't understand that line at all when I used to sing it, I just knew it was quite the tongue twister. Now I know that we get this wonderful peace that transcends all human understanding from Jesus Christ. We can only experience it once we accept his unsurpassing love, confess our sins and accept him as our personal savior. This is the wish that I'm wishing for your life.

I'm looking forward to a beautiful day here in Scott County. I've already enjoyed watching the deer and birds visit their feeding areas outside. You have a great day as well, luv, Susan

I SAY IT'S LOVE

RUPP ARENA, RUPP, RUPP, ARENA......RUPP ARENA, RUPP, RUPP, ARENA!!!

I'm sorry, I'm still a little carried away after last night's UK game against Florida. Two things keep running through my head, one is the above chant. It's what the high school basketball fans chant when their team is headed to the state tournament at Rupp Arena......it's a joyful chant to hear, if you get the opportunity. We love our hometown teams!!!

The second thing running over and over in my head is the song I mentioned several blogs ago by Sugarland. It was, coincidentally, performed at Rupp Arena for the video. I like coincidences. Anyway, I mentioned in the blog how I wished I remembered the Bible verse that mentions faith, hope and love. I actually thumbed through the new testament looking for it, but didn't find it. Several days later, while listening to country radio, I heard Allen Jackson's "Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning". He mentions that same verse's sentiment in the song. Well, I wondered if I had just been thinking of those lyrics, and still didn't know the actual verse.

I am always busy when I am at church. I like to greet people between Sunday School and Church, and I also get to update the attendance board up front each week. I'm often distracted, to say the least, and often miss things during that time. I was at home one afternoon and noticed the church bulletin that had been in my Bible, brought home from church the previous Sunday. I took a glance at it, then another. There it was on the front of the bulletin, as big as you please, "And now these three remain: FAITH, HOPE and LOVE. But the greatest of these is LOVE." (1 Corinthians 13:13, NIV ) Well, I glanced upward and said, "thank you".

As I was saying, Sugarland performed this song at their recent concert at Rupp Arena. I love the words. It's all about love and how we define love. Jennifer asks, "Is it the face of a child?". Christian sings," Is it a man on a cross?". I know they're both right, and the answer is Jesus, the answer, is love.

I just wanted to document my little mystery solved about 1 Corinthians 13:13. It's gonna be a windy day today. We have a lot of dangling limbs outside. I'll definitely be careful when venturing out with the doggies.

You have a great day and stay safe, luv, Susan

Iced Over in Scott County

You may have heard, we had some rough weather here in our area. We got snow, then ice, then more snow. I believe it was iced over branches that brought down electric and phone lines. We were without both for a good five days. Fortunately, Mark was able to purchase a small generator and that got us limited power for the latter part of the outage. Iced over trees are beautiful, and it was a blessing to be surrounded by such beauty, but it has been really cold. I hope everyone has managed to stay safe throughout this time of frigid temperatures and icy conditions.

I finished a book by Anne Rice. She is well known for her many books about vampires. They made one of them into a movie with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt called, "Interview with a Vampire". I had previously seen just a few scenes from it when it was on TV. I don't recommend it at all. It actually turned my stomach, which isn't that hard to do. It just wasn't a movie I could watch. I definitely wasn't going to read any of her books. That is, until I saw that she has completely turned her life around. She had been missing something in her life, and she finally realized that was Jesus Christ. When she realized that, she devoted her talents as a researcher and writer to Him and began her life again.

I really enjoyed her first book about Jesus. She writes in first person when He is seven years old. What a challenge to try to imagine what this special child is thinking about himself and the world around him. This book ends just after the time in his life when he had been separated from his family and was found at the Temple. The second book is already available and I'll be buying it as soon as I can get to Lexington.

I continue to read my daily Upperroom devotion. Today I'm reminded of the words Jesus told Peter, "Feed my sheep", in John 21. The actual verse in the daily Upperroom reading is from Matthew 25:31-46. We familiarly refer to this as the sheep and the goats. Jesus tells us that when we don't meet the needs of others, we ultimately are not loving and serving Him. We can go to hell for ignoring the needs of others. This is a sobering message for us. With the need so great in our world, it is not at all difficult to heed the call to feed God's sheep.

I don't know about you, but watching UK last night was quite the struggle. No matter how bad a game in Rupp Arena is, I never expect to hear boos shower down on our team. These young men don't deserve that from fans, even it was a small percentage of them. I hope and pray positive things for the coach, players, and fans in future games.

Please keep warm and safe the remainder of this week. luv, Susan

Remembering Ryan and Max

I learned last week that a Louisville highschool football coach was to be endicted in the death of one of his players, Max Gilpin, who collapsed and died three days later last August. I am sad for everyone concerned in this tragic ordeal, but knew that finally, high school football's dirty little secret would finally be brought to light. Healthy young men, whose only fault is that they totally trust their football coaches, die each year, when these coaches demand too much, in too extreme conditions. They forget their job is to teach these youngsters about a game, about sportsmanship, about friendships and teamwork. Instead, they use these young athletes to win games, at any cost, so they can hold up a trophy at season's end.

I was somewhat amused that the Louisville football coach's lawyer stated that his client hadn't done anything different than any other football coach had been doing. That's actually the problem.....these coaches continue to abuse these players through rigorous practices in extreme heat and often use water breaks as incentive for them to work harder. This practice needs to be exposed, addressed and eliminated.

I will continue to pray for those involved and pray for God to use all of this for the good of His people. I will especially pray for my friends, Randy and Marla Owens and their family, as they have been engulfed in this same nightmare since July 19, 2006 when their sixteen year old son, Ryan, collapsed and died after football practice. I believe there still to be ongoing investigations and lawsuits in Henderson regarding this case. Nothing criminal was ever determined, even though Ryan was actually told to put water back when he attempted to hydrate himself during the practice. I will be paying close attention to this recent incident to say the least.

We got a lot of snow last night. I think it was at least four inches. Two of the dogs managed to run through the yard, over the now snow-covered natural barricade out front, across the road and proceeded to bark at and chase the five horses in their field. Those five horses have decided that they will camp right across the street from our house and driveway. I think they enjoy seeing these funny little furballs and just wait for the opportunity to socialize with them. Well, this morning, they were mixing and mingling up a storm. It's difficult to coax Riff and Roy home, especially when I need to nicely talk them into coming back across the road, but also need to give them a spanking for crossing said road. I was just glad to get them back across safely.

Mark was really busy this morning running one of the routes he's covering. No matter what the weather conditions, he can always get the job done. I'm still waiting to see if any deer come for their morning breakfast of corn. All the birds are enjoying the birdseed after it had run out Sunday. I made sure to stock up on corn and birdfood yesterday. I hope you are all stocked up on your necessities, if you're snowed in like me. Keep warm and have a great day, luv, Susan

An Extraordinary Day

The sun was shining earlier this morning as I looked out the window. We were getting a light, airy snowfall and as it cascaded to earth, it looked as if sparkling glitter was adorning the view. The morning sun can really make the snow appear diamond encrusted, lots and lots of them, glinting and reflecting the sun's rays.

I thought it was going to warm up this week, I guess it has, but I about froze my fingers off trying to fill all the birdfeeders out back. We are still in a deep freeze for now, I guess. It's hard for me to believe that it is also frigid in Washington D.C. To see the throngs of individuals that have made the trek to the nation's capital is mind boggling, to say the least.

I remember watching an amazing young man speak at the Democratic National convention over four years ago. I was impressed by him and what he said and also by how he said it. He was charismatic, passionate and energetic. I had a feeling that I'd be seeing him again. Today, I'll be watching this young man be sworn in as our 44th president of these United States of America.

I've always watched this ceremony, but I'm paying particular attention today, as, I believe, is the rest of the country. I'm comforted knowing that the day begins in church. Even yesterday, at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, President-elect Obama heard the senior pastor's words to him, "God has prepared you and placed you. God will not forsake you. Go forward in prayerfulness and faithfulness." I, with a God fearing nation, will continue to pray for this young man and his family. I will pray for his wisdom and discernment, for his safety and his spirit. I will continue to ask God to bless him and this nation.

I hope you have a wonderful day. Stay warm, luv, Susan

Brrrrrrrrr........

Need I say more? We have descended into a deep freeze here in Kentucky. From the national weather reports, I see that it is not nearly as cold as many states farther north, but, we, in the south, don't care for this frigid weather. As summer is my favorite time of year, you know that I am not thrilled to look at my calendar and see, at least, another six weeks of January and February. Please, March, hurry up.

The sun did make a brief appearance yesterday afternoon, I think it was about six to eight minutes worth. This morning, it peeked through the grey sky momentarily. It's nice to have those briefest hints of what we will eventually see more and more of with the coming months. It is encouraging to have daylight hours stretching a bit into evening. It would be nicer still if the temps were above the teens.

As a Kentucky resident, and UK fan, I was also pleased to see the sun shining, so to speak, on our lead scorer, Jodie Meeks, last night in Knoxville. He was amazing, to say the least. That certainly warmed our collective hearts in this otherwise freezing time of year. We look forward to more of that in the days and weeks to come as well.

The snow that fell yesterday makes deer watching all the more enjoyable. Whereas the deer are always camoflauged in the woods that go down, then uphill behind our house, now the are easily seen as they make their way through the trees. After watching nine doe and little ones compete for the corn yesterday; it was entertaining to see them run uphill and downhill as they playfully charged through the snowy woods. I see bear hunting is being arranged in three Kentucky counties....so far I haven't seen any bear. I'll let you know if I do.

I hope you are staying warm and safe this week. My reunion planning has been put on hold due to the weather and phone /computer problems. But, that's still on my list of things to get accomplished soon. Have a great day, luv, Susan

LOVE, ABOVE ALL

It's already almost a full week into the new year of 2009. I hope your first days are going well. I can't complain, things are good here in Georgetown. I'm always thankful for our health, our families, our families' health and Mark's job.

I would like warmer weather and sunshine, but I know that will be coming and I'll appreciate it all the more because of the days we don't have it.

I'm also thankful to have the promise of God's great love for us, renewed each and every morning.(Lamentations 3:22-23) This morning I'm reminded in the Upperroom reading that life is not fair. Two stories illustrate this, the prodigal son and the parable of the workers in the vineyard. This is a difficult concept for most of us. We want life to be fair, doggonnit!! If we have lived our lives righteously and according to God's laws, we should get what we deserve from Him, and that should surely be more than someone who lives a sinful, selfconsumed life enjoying the worldy rewards year after year. Don't we get more for our faithfulness? Sorry, we are promised eternal life with our Father in heaven, as are they, when they repent and accept Jesus as their savior. If we don't rejoice over their salvation, something is wrong in our understanding of God and his unsurpassing love for His children, all of us.

I wish I knew my Bible better. There's a wonderful verse that states that the three most important things are love, faith and hope, and the greatest of these is love. How wonderful to hear and see that in a music video by the country duo of the year, Sugarland. They actually performed it at Rupp Arena just mere months ago and turned it into a music video. It's awesome!! If you get the chance, listen to the words closely, as well as the on stage special effects.

I hope you are enjoying the new year as well as having a great day. luv, Susan