Ask and You Shall Receive
by Michele Wheeler

Written in 2011

Ask, and You Shall Receive.

If ever there was a verse in the Bible that almost turned me into an atheist, it was this one.

Matthew 7:7 - Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you

So it says, yet who among us has not had prayers go unanswered?  Prayers for a job, a house, the health of our family, the life of a loved one.  Certainly we have all asked for things and not had them given unto us.  So how come it is promised?

Several years ago our teen aged neighbor had two grandfathers in the hospital.  They both had the exact same condition. One had known about it, and was undergoing surgery to correct the issue.  The other suffered a heart-attack while out to lunch, and was rushed to the hospital.  The boy and his family prayed fervently for both men.  The grandfather who had the heart-attack survived and came home.  The other grandfather died.  

Did my neighbor receive?

To answer this I suggest that you consider three things.  First, I will tell you about a time when I was eighteen years old.  I wanted to purchase a motorcycle from a friend who was selling it.  I had the money, so I went home and asked my dad.  He said, "OK. Yes."  Then he added, "but we need to go to the mall to get you some thick blue jeans, because otherwise you will burn and scratch your legs when you are learning.  And of course you can't ride without a helmet."  Now this was 1987.  Thick BLUE JEANS were not in style.  I wore my hair with bangs hair-sprayed three inches above my head like Madonna. (Not Jesus' mom- the other one.)  I was not about to be seen in bluejeans and have my hair crushed by a helmet.  So I said to my dad, "I think I won't buy the motorcycle, but can we still go to the mall?!"  And so the first lesson about Ask and You Shall Receive is that sometimes our Father says yes, but the answer is really no.  This is also sometimes summed up as, "be careful what you wish for."

The next story I want to tell you also took place in the 80's.  It was 1986 and I was sitting in Physics class watching the Challenger space ship take off.  In front of our dazed and confused eyes, it blew up in the sky and all on board were killed.  I glanced at my teacher, and tears were streaming down his face.  I had never really seen a man cry, so I was inclined to giggle a bit.  But then he started talking.  He told us that everything he had achieved in his life, he had gotten by not getting something he wanted.  He said he had not gotten into his first choice of college, but that then he had met his wife at the school he did attend.  He said his job at our high school was his second choice, but that he had loved it for several years.  And he told us that he had been a runner-up for Christa McCauliff's place on the the Challenger.  He had, therefore, his very life to thank for not getting what he wanted.  So the second lesson about Ask and You Shall Receive is that sometimes No means Yes.

The last story I have on this matter is from a few summers ago.  I was cooking dinner, and my husband was setting the table and chatting with me.  Charlotte was inside reading, and Nathan was outside playing with his friends.  When dinner was ready, Kurt told me to call the kids to the table.  Nathan asked, "I am being so good and having so much fun, may I keep playing and eat later?"  Kurt replied, "No, I set the table, and I want you to come eat with the family."  So the last lesson about Ask and You Shall Receive is that sometimes it has absolutely nothing to do with anything we are doing on earth.  Sometimes it is just that your Father has set a place for you at the table, and wants you home.

I hope that as you go along life, that you will get most of what you need, a lot of what you want, and that when it doesn't go your way you will remember that Sometimes Yes is No, Sometimes No is Yes, and Sometimes the Lord has his own Plan for you.

Never mind an atheist, could I be a Christian in a foxhole?

Mar 2015  

This is a devotion I wrote in January of 2013.  It is about finding faith in the darkest of places.

I have grown in my faith over the years.  But this past winter I had a true challenge to my faith, and that is what I am going to talk to you about today.

When I came to Road Church I believed in … a “higher power.”  Not the God of Abraham, just a “spirit”.  I thought people who spoke of Jesus were all Bible Thumpers, and people who believed in Satan must be planning to drown their babies in the bathtub.  But I was driving my Grandpa to church, so I kept coming back, and after a while I started reading the Bible.  There were so many wonderful people who influenced me then.  I became a Christian at Road Church on a regular Sunday morning. Until then I had thought Being Saved was something that only happened to Southern Baptists.  But as the tears rolled down my face singing the lyrics, “Oh what a wonder that Jesus loves me, Jesus loves even me,” I truly was saved.  After that I was pretty happy.  I was becoming more and more familiar with the Bible.  I even started studying the lay ministry.  I spoke here a few times.  I joined committees, I homeschooled, I did everything right.  Right?  So I was completely shaken last February when the Lord challenged me in a new way.

It started out a busy morning.  Kurt was getting ready for work, Nathan was getting ready for school, and Charlotte and I were getting ready to head to a regional Christian Debate.  Things were hectic, but we were pretty much on time as I climbed into the car.  Then I got a text.  The text was from my neighbor asking me to pick up her son after skiing that evening.  Skiing?  OH NO, I’d forgotten it was Nathan’s day to go snowboarding.  I ran into the house and begged Kurt to help.  He calmly told me to just go, and that he would gather the stuff and drop it off at the rec center.  Several phone calls passed between us, and then he had everything and off he went. 

Thus, Kurt was about fifteen minutes later than his regular time as he headed down the highway to New Haven that day.  Suddenly, about two hundred yards ahead of him, he watched as the car traveling at about 70 mph hit a tractor trailer that was parked on the left shoulder.  The car spun around in front of Kurt and crashed into the guard rail facing him.  Kurt flipped on his emergency lights and came to a stop next to the accident.  What he saw as he pulled up was the driver’s side roof was missing from the car, and so was the driver.  Kurt got out and started looking.  He found that the man was trapped under his vehicle.  With the help of two other men who had stopped, they pulled the man out.  Remarkably, the man only had a broken knee cap.  Kurt wrapped him in a shock blanket he carries, and called the man’s wife.  He stayed with him until the ambulance arrived, and then headed to work.

Meanwhile, I had my phone on mute because I was judging debates.  So I never found out about all of this until about three in the afternoon.  What was my first reaction?  Pride.  What an amazing husband I have.  And wow, here I have been feeling so embarrassed about my absent mind, but it turned out so well.  I posted on Facebook that the Lord had used my forgetfulness to do good work.  I immediately had about 57 likes and dozens of comments about how the Lord is never late, the Lord always has perfect timing, etc., I went to bed full of pride.

When my alarm went off at the still dark hour of 5am, I heard a resounding question in my brain.  As I struggled to wake, I realized it was the Lord.  The message was clear:  Would you have still thanked me for using your absent mind if your husband had died in that accident? 

Well I just about threw up.  I sputtered practically outloud into my dark room: NO!  I would have blamed myself.  Oh it would have been awful.  The kids would have blamed me.  Our families would have blamed me.  Oh it would have been just terrible.  Thank you thank you for the way it turned out. 

Silence.

As I started my morning walk, I realized why the silence.  God was challenging me.  He was showing me my weakness in faith.  He was reminding me that I am supposed to be joyful in all circumstances.  But I can’t Lord.  I just know, I can’t.  I can’t lie and say I would still thank you for your perfect timing. I can’t pretend that I would be joyful.  I can’t imagine JOY at all in that circumstance. 

And so began a journey.  I prayed, I read The Bible, I spoke to friends.   Even as I returned to the Good Book again and again knowing I was supposed to be content in all circumstances, knowing what I was expected to promise the Lord, I kept coming up empty.  I mean truly empty.  It is said that there are no atheists in a fox hole.  But at that moment, I wondered, would I be a believer in one? I felt like I was letting down God, letting down myself, letting down everyone who knows I am a Christian.  I became sad.  I felt like a poser in church.  I felt so incapable of leading anyone spiritually.  For God was calling me, and I was not answering the call.  I was saying, no, I am too weak. 

Then one day on a regular Sunday, I observed a woman from church here.  She is someone who I consider to have been through the worst things life can deal out. She lost a daughter to cancer after a long battle. But as I sat here in my pew, she carried out a regular church duty.  I saw a beautiful smile on her face.  I saw her shoulders rise and fall and her head bob as she sang a hymn earnestly. 

And finally the silence ended, as I clearly felt God’s hand on my shoulder and heard, “Look to your examples.” 

And I took a peak around the room.  I realized what a treasure I have in my congregation, and in my fellow Chrsitian friends around the world.  You’ve already been through all my worst fears.  You have lost your parents, your siblings, your friends, your spouses, and … your children.  What I cannot comprehend you have already endured.  Oh I don’t pretend to know your hearts.  I don’t know who among you is angry with the Lord and who has made peace.  But I know that each Sunday you show up.  You pray, you sing, you serve.  And somehow that knowledge was a breath of air to my faith. 

In the book, The Apostle, the story of the life of Paul is further explained.  It includes the wonderful story of Paul and Silas singing in chains: "The men had been flogged.  They were in a state of physical shock, muscles stiff, unable to rest on their torn backs, and forced to lie in their own excrement.  The possibility of more torture and death was very real.  Paul and Silas started to pray.  Their prayer turned to praise, and soon they were singing, 'At the name of Jesus, Every knee should bow, In heaven, on earth, under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.' The witnesses saw that these poor wretched men were singing for joy.  Happiness and hope flooded the prison."

This year, on the anniversary of the Newtown Shootings, Betsy Shaw, a mom of a first grade Sandy Hook shooting victim, said in a blog, “It has not been an easy journey, but I have learned so much about being patient with myself.  There have been times where I felt I had to hold on to the dark things, but Emily’s life was about color and joy, not about pain and suffering.  Evil didn’t win that day; we will carry on that love she had.  What I’ve realized through all of this is how strong and how big God’s love really is.” 

I think if Betsy Shaw, coming through such an unspeakable tragedy, can profess this, I certainly can hope.  When life’s sad heartbreaks happen to me, I might not be joyful about it as it happens.  But I can show up.  I can pray.  I can sing the hymns I love and turn my prayer to praise.   Maybe I won’t be joyful at first, but I can be thankful.  I can be thankful to the Lord for the gift of family, friends, and faith.  And I can trust in the hope that a thankful heart can feel joy again. 

Palm Sunday makes me wonder: Would I recognize Jesus if He returned today?

March 29, 2015

Welcome back friends.  It has been three years since my last (and only) post.  I am going to try to post all of the messages that I have delivered at Road.  The other blog post was my first, and this one was delivered today.  I have two or three others to find and add to this blog.Thanks for reading.  Comments welcome here or on my FB page.  Love to all.  Michele

Message for Road Church by Michele S. Wheeler

Palm Sunday, March 29, 2015

On this Palm Sunday, we remember how our Lord Jesus was received as a king when he rode into Jerusalem.  People strewing palms and their own coats onto the ground as a sort of red carpet, and hailing him as Hosanna in the Highest… it makes me wonder if Jesus were to return today, would we recognize him?

Easter never meant much to me until about a decade ago.  When I was growing up, I went to church on Christmas and Easter.  To me, though, they were all about Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny and perhaps a new outfit.  Then when I was in my late teens and twenties, I always worked on Easter.  I served brunch in restaurants or checked people in and out of hotels.  I always enjoyed the cheery nature of guests on Easter, but I did not understand their need to exclaim, “He is Risen” to one another.  Indeed I have to admit that even after I was saved here at Road Church, and became a Christian, I did not really value Easter.  After all, I was Born Again… I was no longer a sinner, right?  I didn’t NEED Jesus the way all those poor lost souls did. 

In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis writes letters between one of Satan’s close allies in Hell, and his nephew on earth who is trying to win over the soul of a human for Satan.  He tells him not to worry that the man is going to church, because church itself can cause problems for a man’s soul.  Screwtape explains to Wormwood: “At bottom, he still believes he has run up a very favourable credit-balance in the Enemy's ledger by allowing himself to be converted, and thinks that he is showing great humility and condescension in going to church with these "smug", commonplace neighbours at all. Keep him in that state of mind as long as you can.”

In order to recognize Jesus, I believe one first must realize one’s own need for Him.   When I first started studying the lay ministry seven or eight years ago, I was told not to preach about sin, because people don’t like it.  Well, first of all, I do not consider myself to be preaching about anything when I am up here.  I am delivering a message- usually just sharing a devotion I have written for my own understanding.  But really, I do not believe one can recognize Jesus if one does not recognize sin.  A friend suggested to me that there were at least half a dozen ways a preacher can sin from behind the pulpit.  Indeed, Lust, Envy, Greed, Pride, Gluttony, and Theft all come to mind.  I know this too well.  Once, I was up here as pulpit assistant, when as I sat listening to Ron open the service, I noticed that three or four ladies in church all had the same style sweater on.  They all looked fresh and new and trendy.  I began wondering if they shopped together.  This lead me to be jealous that I don’t live closer, and I have children at home, and I can’t get together to shop. I was going down a slippery slope, when suddenly it was my turn to read the Bible.  I hoped that no one guessed as I read, that just moments before I had been wallowing in envy. 

Do you know it when you sin?   We all have an inner compass that we should learn to follow.  A couple of months ago, I was visiting a friend, who is ill.  It was at the time of the attack in Paris on the Charlie Hebdo publishers.  We were watching the news, and it was a captivating introduction to an interview with the editor.  But my friend was not captivated, and indeed did not pay attention to the report.  Just before the interview began, she noticed the word France on the screen and started telling me a story about when she took French in the eighth grade.  I couldn’t believe she was chattering during this interview!  I grit my teeth and tried to smile, thinking I couldn’t wait to call my best friend and complain about how this had happened to me.  Boy am I an angel sitting here not saying that I want to hear the news report.  Fortunately for me, the Lord spoke to my heart.  He reminded me of why I was there in the first place.  Cherish her story, he told me, not the one on TV.  I turned my complete attention to my friend and we laughed and enjoyed the rest of the morning before I had to leave.  But you see I was so close to neglecting her needs.  I was so close to being absorbed in a report I could easily look up later on line. I was so close to being proud of myself for the sacrifice.  Like Screwtape indicated at another point in the book, just call attention to your own sacrifice immediately turns your brain to the pride.  If you have a few hours, I can go on explaining all the times wrath, gluttony, even dishonesty have gotten the better of me … and that was just this week...  But I know it is not just me.  Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Recognizing our own propensity to sin is important to recognizing Jesus. 

Then one must acknowledge who the Lord Jesus really is.  I recently saw a debate on line between people who give things up for Lent.  One half of the people believed that since there are more than 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter, that one should take Sundays off from Lent.  The others believed that since the Lord had no break in his fast, one should not take a break either.  What caught my attention was that one person said, “Well, Jesus was God, so he could do it straight through, but I am human, so I can’t.”  To me, this completely misconstrued the meaning of Easter.  While Jesus was indeed both Wholly God and Wholly Man, he felt all of the sacrifice and pain as a human.  If not, the Lord would not have accepted it in exchange for our sins.  I actually remember being told the same thing as a child in catechism class.  I got all emotional and upset hearing about Jesus’ hands being nailed to the cross.  My teacher angrily said, Oh, Michele, he was God, it didn’t hurt. 

The Gospel of Luke, however, explains clearly that the Lord not only felt the pain, but that he was forewarned of it and chose to sacrifice for us.  He was indeed so human that in becoming aware of the torture he was about to face, he sweat blood.  One theologian, J. Lee Grady, explains, “Nobody performed an autopsy on Jesus’ mangled body after He was taken down from the cross. But doctors who have studied the Bible’s description of His death say the pain would have been beyond excruciating. In fact, the word excruciating means ‘out of the cross.’ Jesus literally defined the worst pain anyone could feel. His suffering began in Gethsemane, when God laid the sins of the world on His beloved Son. The intense stress caused what physicians call hematidrosis, a condition in which blood seeps out of sweat glands. After His arrest, Jesus was flogged so mercilessly that his skin was stripped off His back, exposing muscle and bone.”  Imagine knowing that all of this was going to happen to you, as well as crucifixion, and still choosing to take that and offer it up for all the rest of the world’s sins.

I recognize that I am a sinner, and I recognize that Jesus suffered so that I may still get into heaven. Yet, there seems to be a disconnect.  The last part of recognizing Jesus is recognizing that he is inside of you. 

When Jesus died, the curtain in the temple tore.  This removed the need for people to go through priests to speak to God.  In this moment God gave his Holy Spirit to live within all of us.  Also in the book of John, in chapter 14 verses 15-18, Jesus describes, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeith him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” 

Have you heard of the legend that a Native American is supposed to have told his grandson?  It says, “Inside each of us there are two wolves.  One lives on greed, deceit, anger, ambition, and pride… the other lives on love, joy, patience, and faith.  They are constantly battling within each of us to take over our personality.”  The boy asked, “Which one wins?”  And the grandpa answered, “The one you feed.” 

Earlier I spoke of an inner compass.  That inner compass is the voice of Lord.  It is not two wolves battling within, but it is a battle nonetheless.  Everywhere around us there are temptations.  Each day there are dozens of small ways and also some big ways that Satan would love for us to sin.  And often we do.  Yet we must remember that also within us is the Holy Spirit.  The still small voice that is always ready to show us the right path if we will only listen to Him.  Just as the Native American grandfather says, the one who wins is the one you feed.  The way to feed and nurture the Holy Spirit within you is to feast on the Word.  Make Bible reading part of every day.  If you pray before you read that the Lord will add his blessing to your understanding, you will find time and again that you are more fortified to face the temptations of life.

In order to recognize Jesus when he returns, we must prepare ourselves.  This means recognizing our need for Him, recognizing the full magnitude of his sacrifice for us, and recognizing his voice when he calls to us. 

Let’s Pray:

Dear Lord, sometimes we are so into the daily business of our lives… so swept up in current news or politics, financial or health woes, even just the daily grind that we forget to listen to you.  We are so grateful that you have chosen to come into our hearts and offer us courage against temptation. Help us to listen to your voice, to feast on your word, and to recognize you when you come again.  AMEN

A great hymn to follow this message is: It is Well (When Peace Like a River).

Patience

Hello Friends!

I am starting this blog on the advice of a friend.  I am a frequent FB user, and recently created a very long post.  My girlfriend suggested blogging things like that, so that they are saved like a journal.  So here goes my jump into the blogging world!

This first blog is kind of an essay I wrote a few years ago about The Fruits of the Spirit.  Particularly about Patience.

 
"The fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Against such there is no law."  Galatians 5:20-24

The fruits of the spirits read like the poster, "All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten."  At first glance, it is quite easy sounding.  Be kind.  Be good.  Love.  Who wouldn't want to aspire to these things?  Though we are forgiven our sins, we are clearly called to follow this verse and grow the spirit.  But sometimes there are challenges.  For instance, it is more difficult to be kind when you are in a hurry.  You think, "Oh my neighbor could probably use something at the store, but if I stop and ask she will want to chat."  So you don't stop.  Or you think, I am in such a hurry that it's OK that I pretended I didn't see that tired looking Dad heading for this line."  Life gets in the way, sometimes, of nurturing the fruits of the spirit.

I have vivid memories of being a child and saying, "Mom, mom, mom!"  And my mom would say, "Michele, you only have to say it once!  Patience is a virtue you know."  I didn't even really know what a virtue was, I just knew I didn't have it.  So I would try, but I grew up being told by everyone that I didn't have patience.

So when I headed into parenthood, it was with much trepidation.  I knew I wasn't equipped.  I had been in the freckle line when they were handing out patience.  And indeed, Charlotte was just six days old the first time it was confirmed for me.  It was one o'clock in the morning, and Charlotte had been crying for hours.  Well, actually she would stop crying as long as I kept walking her about.  But as soon as I stopped moving, she would cry again.  Exhausted, I looked at that sweet little newborn baby, grit my teeth, and sputtered angrily, "Can't you please just go to sleep?!"  Then of course I stared crying and apologizing.  "Oh little Baby I am so sorry you were born to a mama with no patience!  God, why did you let me have this baby?"  I was filled with remorse and fear. 

So then came all of the books:  What to Expect the First Year, Raising the Spirited Child, Dare to Discipline ...  I read them all.  And all of them said the same thing.  Be Patient. 

Thanks!

Then, when Charlotte was six months old Road Church came into my life.  I suddenly had lots of wonderful role models.  They accepted me with all my faults, and Charlotte in all her stages of development and treated us with kindness.  I began to understand this acceptance - even though I hadn't grown it in myself yet - so I felt comfortable having ... another child.

And then I found out I hadn't been in the freckle line when they gave out patience.  I had been in the Voice-box Volume line.  And so I began praying daily for patience.  My Catholic friends said, "Don't pray for patience, God will give you tests!"  And they were right.  And I failed the tests.  And I would look at other moms.  They appeared so calm no matter what their kids were doing.  Nothing seemed to get in the way of these moms enjoying their kids.  And I couldn't stand it!

Finally I ended up with a book called,  She's Gonna Blow.  It was about ... anger management.  I don't really remember much about the book, but I do remember the key phrase that planted the seed for this essay.  It said, "God did not give you a broken child." 

"God did not give you a broken child."

I thought the author had looked into my soul and seen the truth.  That is how I was treating Charlotte.  You see, she was too much like me.  As soon as she would roll her eyes, my mom would say, "Oh I know where she got that!"  If she argued and fussed my dad would say, "Pay back is a b*^<h!"  She was a mini me ... and I didn't want that for her.  So I was trying to fix her.  Well, the book opened my eyes, so I went back to Raising the Spirited Child where I remembered there had been a list of positive ways to look at your children's traits.  So if you have a child who is nosy, you think of them as curious.  If you have a child who is a whiner, you think of them as persistent.

For a while I tried to adopt this attitude.  If someone said, "wow, Nathan is kind of hyper!"  I'd say, "don't you wish you had his energy?!"  If someone said, "gee, Charlotte is argumentative," I'd say, "She's going to make a great lawyer someday!"  And I really tried to look at things in this new way.  Except, well, I still didn't have any patience so eventually when Charlotte was arguing I said right out loud, "She isn't going to make a great lawyer, she is just a brat!"  Good old remorse right back on my door step.  Me still wishing I had patience.

Fortunately at about that time I began doing Bible Study with some members of Road Church.  One day we were studying Galations.  So I sat down at home with my New King James Version on my couch at home.  I looked at the Fruits of the Spirit, and I read, "The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."  And I noticed the words Long Suffering, and I thought, that doesn't make much sense. Why would God require Long Suffering? What are you supposed to do, throw yourself under a bus so that you can grow this virtue?  I was puzzled, as I had heard this verse many times but had never noticed Long Suffering.  So I went to the plaque I had in my kitchen of the Fruits of the Spirit. It turns out my plaque was from a different version of the Bible. The list said, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfullness, gentleness, and self-control."  Hmmm.  Love, love, joy, joy, peace, peace, patience - long suffering. What? Patience-Long Suffering?  So off to the dictionary I went.  And imagine that.  What is patience?  The ability to suffer and annoyance without losing your temper.

That was an eye popping minute.  For, up until that moment, I thought patience meant, Not Annoyed.  I thought it meant just feeling calm.  I thought all these other women were born with patience that made them think all was great all the time.  I thought I was lacking.  But as I read the definition, I realized that the only difference between me and them was that they got annoyed, and thought, "I Can.  I Can stand this."  Where I got annoyed, and thought, "I Can't."  This was a faith enriching moment for me, for in realizing that I realized, I am equipped.  I can do this.  As I was realizing this, God put His hand on my shoulder and reminded me that I do have what I need. In Genesis we learn, "God looked at all he had made, and it was good."  In Psalm 139 we learn "I am fearfully and wonderfully made."  And that meant:

God did not give my mother a broken child either.  

And not yours either.

Maybe you have some fruits of the spirit you struggle with.  Maybe someone in your church, or your family, has an annoying trait and you think you just can't stand it.  Try remembering that if you think that person is broken, you are telling God you think he did a slapshot job putting that person together.  Instead, we are called to look at the gifts in one another.  Remember, God made us all on purpose.  He gave people their traits for a reason.  Maybe the annoying trait you can't stand in someone is just how they get through the day.  Maybe it helps them survive.

My annoying lack of self-control once saved me from great trauma.  I was a camper at the YMCA camp of Maine when I was eleven years old.  I was very close to a person named Richard Sparks, or Sparkie, who was the drama director.  I was in every play, and used to go to Sparky for comfort when I was homesick.  Then when I was sixteen, it came out in the newspaper that Richard Sparks had been convicted of over 1000 cases of Child Molestation.  Why hadn't he abused me?  I am confident that it is because he knew I wouldn't stand for it and moreover that I would shout it out to the world.  My reputation for being a big mouth had indeed saved me from a traumatic experience.

Maybe the annoying quality you don't like in yourself or someone you know was given to you as a gift.  And maybe you have fruits you haven't discovered.  You need to find out why, and help them grow.  Our job is to help each other, and train our children in the way they should go.  We must nurture the fruits of the spirit, that certainly were planted.  For all of us are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Dear God, thank you for making each of us fearfully and wonderfully.  Thank you for knowing exactly how many hairs are on our heads, and for giving us exactly the temperaments you did.  Help us to nurture the seeds you planted.  Help us to grow the fruits of the spirit, that our lives will glorify You, and we will become all you mean for us to be.  

A terrific Hymn to follow these thoughts is "Open My Eyes that I May See."