Prime Time by the Shoreline
By Karen Friday
Sometimes I’m too emotionally exhausted to put on my armor—much less fight the battle. The battle belongs to the Lord. It’s not my battle.
In Exodus 14, we read about a battle. The people of Israel are being led by Moses out of slavery in Egypt. A place of physical and emotional bondage. “Exodus” in the Greek is “a going out.” Traveling through the wilderness, the Israelites discover the Egyptian ruler, Pharaoh, and his army are in pursuit of them. It’s a battle they are too exhausted to fight.
“And they said to Moses,…are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you treated us this way and brought us out of Egypt?…it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” Exodus 14:11-12
“It would have been better” attitude usually comes on the heels of the enemies pursuit—when we are up against unbelievable barriers—with no foreseeable way to escape or win the battle.
August 21, 2014 at 8:31 am | Uncategorized
Honest to Goodness!
© 2014 by Karen Friday
Honestly, it’s hard to be honest about honesty!
Honesty is a hard commodity to find these days. Maybe that’s the problem, we are looking for a commodity—a product of sorts. Honesty is a character trait. Something we consumers can’t buy no matter what the price. People can be bought—but that isn’t honest—is it?
It seems honesty isn’t important anymore. In our world at large. In society. In the communities where we live, work, worship, and play.
Trying to find honesty as if something has been hidden from us—truth and sincerity. We are looking and calling, “Come out, come out wherever you are!” We look underneath—the dotted line. On top—to those in positions of leadership. Behind—the doors of opportunity and relationship. Honesty can only be found in—in people.
“Honest to God.” That’s the truth. Honesty is from the very character of God. It’s the only reason honesty can be found in us. The goodness of God, found in Christ, then imparted to us and in us.
August 14, 2014 at 11:34 am | Uncategorized
Fairy Tale Wishes
By Karen Friday
A princess. A handsome prince. A maiden lovely in form and beauty. A knight in shining armor. Fairy dust. A magical land—where wishes really do come true.
I’m a dreamer—dreaming that started long, long ago as a child—the dream of fairy tale wishes. Little girl wishes became big girl wishes.
A girl with insecurities magnifying the need for dream-wishing. In school. In social circles. In life. I wish I looked like her…I wish he would pick me…I wish I had that talent…I wish things were different…I wish…
A wish for the sprinkling of fairy dust—magically transforming me into the fairest in the land.
Once upon a time, in the land of fourth grade, a little girl made a wish. The wish for a magic wand to change her to princess status.
August 6, 2014 at 10:07 am | Uncategorized
Big Heads and Spiritual Arthritis—A Diagnosis
© 2014 by Karen Friday
“I hope the baby grows into his head!”
I’ve seen newborn babies with large heads. Heads that outdo the body. The percentage of head size to body size is a little off. As they grow, their bodies normally catch up with their head.
Full grown people can have a big-head. The head that declares, “I am in control, I can do it by myself, I know what’s best for me…for you…in this situation.”
We all fall prey to having a big, fat head! Swollen with pride and “me” thoughts and “I know” thoughts.
Prideful thoughts convincing us how we can make it on our own, we don’t need anyone else. Big-headed thoughts persuading—we deserve to go to the top and to be served.
It’s the same big-headedness first seen—in one of the first scenes of the Bible. Adam and Eve in the Garden. The big-headedness of the desire to be wise—like God—and on their own. The boastful pride of life (Genesis 3, I John 2:16).
July 31, 2014 at 8:56 am | Uncategorized
America’s Driveway in the Foothills of Virginia
My family heritage has roots in “small town America.”
America Maxfield, my maternal grandmother, lived in a small town in the foothills of Virginia. When my twin sister and I were seven, we lived with our grandparents for a few years along with our mother. Moving from our birthplace of El Paso, Texas, to a small town in the southwest mountains of Virginia, Big Stone Gap. Our mother grew up in Big Stone Gap—and so would we—and a younger sister who came along a few years later.
My grandfather bought and sold scrap metal at a junk yard he owned—visible from their house and nestled at the bottom of the hill. A long, curvy, uphill driveway lead to their home.
Childhood memories are filled with the trek up and down the driveway by foot or bicycle—building calf muscles on the uphill trips. Catching the school bus or going to the junk yard to see my grandfather. My grandmother always seemed to be doing something in the kitchen and had snacks ready when we came in from playing.
Memories—in small town America.
July 24, 2014 at 8:36 am | Uncategorized
From the Sides of My Heart!
By Karen ‘Girl’ Friday
“Thank you so much from the sides of my heart!” “I am sorry from the top of my heart.” Ever wonder why we say, “…from the bottom of my heart?”
The thought conveys the heart as the center of emotions and feelings. Saying “from the bottom of my heart,” relays we are sincere in our promise, apology, or gratefulness.
“I love you…from the bottom of my heart.” This is how I feel, from the core of my emotions, for someone. Someone I have poured my life into the last seven years. What I believe Christ meant when he admonished us to make disciples. To come along side of others in life with love and authentic relationship. Through the good places and the rough places. Encouraging, praying, and speaking the truth in love.
Jesus led by example in the authenticity of discipleship.
July 17, 2014 at 10:53 am | Uncategorized
Jane’s Story: Steadfast Love in Tragedy
This is Jane’s story. And this is a story about love.
You see, even in the midst of tragic events and dark moments, some things will never happen in this life.
Never.
“You’re going to have to explain this to me. I don’t understand why this happened.”
One of the many pleas spoken to me following the death of a young woman in our church.
Jane’s Story
Jane was only twenty-eight, leaving behind a husband and three small children including an infant boy born only days before.
Explain it? How? I mourned and grieved myself. And I struggled to make sense of it. So many people loved Jane.
Earlier that day my husband, Mike, pastor of our church, sent a troubling text to my phone. “Pray! Doing chest compressions on Jane.” I went numb.
In ICU and on a ventilator, Jane’s Bilateral Pneumonia and weak heart made her critical.
A sick feeling came over me. And I paced in my home office, praying out loud. Tearful. Calling out again to the Lord to spare Jane’s life.
Also, I quickly forwarded the text to many friends and people in our church family who had been praying, visiting the hospital, and sitting with Jane’s husband, Trey.
The News Came
July 11, 2014 at 8:29 am | Uncategorized
Formula for Living Water—H20
“Water, water, everywhere…”
There were days and nights,
water was the only thing in sight.
When the ship was out to sea,
as far as our eyes could see.
A family cruise to the Bahamas was the perfect way to celebrate our daughter graduating from college and son graduating high school the same spring. While I enjoyed cruising the ocean, I was glad to get my feet firmly planted back on land—at our ports of call and when the cruise was over.
“Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.” Lines from “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The sailor is out to sea, surrounded by water on every side, none suited for drinking.
Water. We need a daily supply. Take it for granted until we don’t have it. We can’t live without it—literally. Life cannot be sustained without water—living water. The earth cannot support living plants or vegetation without water.
July 7, 2014 at 10:57 am | Uncategorized
A Hostage Situation—The King’s Ransom
A Hostage Situation
By Karen Friday
My emotions have kidnapped my mind. My thoughts have been taken captive and are being held hostage. The demands are high. The only hope for release is The King’s ransom—pure, undefiled, full truth of the mind of Christ.
The words played over in my mind…I found myself in the same place again—obsessing.
“Obsess,” defined by Google dictionary, means to “preoccupy or fill the mind continually, intrusively and to a troubling extent. It takes control of, has a hold on, and is fixated on; to be consumed by.”
Obsessing fits well with my personality—perfectionist, overly organized, detail driven, and often self-critical. Recently I was obsessing…about ministry areas…about my physical appearance. My thoughts held hostage…
July 1, 2014 at 2:38 pm | Uncategorized
Head for the Hills!
Puffs of smoke billow out of the train’s smoke stack—forming silhouettes against the horizon. The wheels and mechanics are strained to the highest level as it rolls up the railway tracks. Sparks flying from the exertion of metal-to-metal—causing a fundamental force of friction.
A job meant for larger. Bigger. Stronger. A little train engine trying to make it up a high mountain.
The Little Engine Who Could, by Watty Piper is a children’s story that has been around since 1930. Against great odds, a small train heads for the hills in trying to make it up a high mountain. On a mission. A motivational phrase ensues, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.”
A story of reaching for greater things. Motivating us as kids to believe in ourselves—we can do it—if “we think we can.” To reach for our dreams, aspire to do great things in life, help a worthy cause, and work hard at reaching our full potential.
While this is a wonderful storyline and true inspiration to many of us in our own childhood; as Christ followers, we believe in God—in His ability.
June 28, 2014 at 1:56 pm | Uncategorized