Words for the Week …
Watch your thoughts; they lead to attitudes.
Watch your attitudes; they lead to words.
Watch your words; they lead to actions.
Watch your actions; they lead to habits.
Watch your habits; they form your character.
Watch your character; it determines your destiny.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. — Philippians 4:8, NIV
Hoping you and yours are staying healthy!
THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Trials keep you strong. Sorrows keep you human. Failures keep you humble. And God keeps you going.
The hand of the LORD came upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.” Then He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD.” So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. Then He said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put My Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act,” says the LORD. Ezekiel 37:1-14
Many have been together for some days in the same quarters, spending more concentrated time together than perhaps ever before; things have been done, feelings have been felt, and sometimes words have been said. This is to be expected and all is very understandable. But, be careful what you say for your words have power! Speak words that uplift and not tear down. Speak words of affirmation, not condemnation. Speak words of truth, not lies. Speak words of encouragement, not words of false hope and fear. Speak words that tell of God’s love and God’s power.
Take pieces of paper or sticky notes and write down some words of life you want to hold to, think about, and even use this week and post those words (maybe in the prayer area, on the refrigerator, or some area where you will see the words). Throughout the week, when you see them, speak them aloud or even with a whisper.
Let’s remember to approach the throne room and respond with faith and not fear, knowing the promises of God and His mighty hand will hold us through any situation! Sometimes, all it takes is just one prayer to change everything. Something extraordinary happens when two or more agree together in prayer.
There is an emergency medical situation unfolding with a terminally ill veteran Robert, 76, sheltering at his camper. Lift him up in prayer.
We come to You, Lord, because prayer is the least yet the greatest thing we can do for each other. When two or more are gathered in Your name, we confidently know You are with us. What better company can we have? You reign and we trust You! We may be broken and battered but know You heal and quiet the soul. You are the source for all that happens in our lives. We thank You for the progress being made. We thank You for the many blessings we have received this week — some we unfortunately didn’t notice. Nonetheless, those blessings are ever-present in our lives. We thank You for healing. We thank You for slowing us down. We thank You for providing us our daily needs — no more and no less. We thank You for being with us, listening to us, walking with us on this journey. We thank You for the support of our family and friends … for seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary — sunrises, sunsets, flowers, kids laughing, adventures, good news amid the bad news. We know we can come to You with our concerns and they will be heard. Through Christ all things are possible. We lift up those family members and friends who are battling various physical, emotional, financial, career or spiritual issues and ask not for Your guidance and healing (although that would be welcomed) but to keep reminding us we are not alone in our battles. Specifically we lift up Andrew, Sam, Coleen’s Mom, Robert, Anna, Sara, and all those needing Your healing and guiding touch. We pray for the families of all those You have called home. We grieve … You celebrate. We pray for obedience to Your Will so Your “Son” Light shines through us through the power of the Spirit. And we come to You through the confidence of the words taught by Your Son Jesus. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
You know the drill. We get our weekly prompt, let the spirit flow for five minutes, post, link up in the Community section at 
I don’t know who actually uttered the words first, but I do know — not only during this pandemic — we should be constantly adjusting our sails to follow the wind and keep us moving forward. Of course, in these times, the wind is the Holy Spirit who continuously keeps us on course, no matter the weather, the circumstances, or the trials of the day.
We, as Christians, have, literally, the best Coach in the universe. And we have a rock-solid play book. We know what to do, how to do it, when to do it. But while play books may have the xx’s and oo’s down pat, we still have to play the game in real time and in real conditions. If our pass is intercepted, if the ball is fumbled, if we slip on the turf, how do we react? Do we pick ourselves up, learn from the mistake, make the subtle adjustment and continue with our game plan? Or do we start to second guess ourselves, start overthinking, make the same mistake over and over, stop listening to the Coach?
It’s funny because one of the clan’s sign-off caveats when I moved to Maine was a daily, morning “I’m okay” message. It is something I’ve done faithfully — even when on the road {I did forget once and they went crazy, even called out the local police in Dover-Foxcroft and state police in Maine, Massachusetts, and New York}. The messages seem to be trending a little later than usual lately, but that’s because Angelina has treated our latest journey as a true vacation and has been sleeping in. Of course, Kentucky is in the Central time zone, which means the posts at my “normal” time are an hour later for my Eastern kids — which is all of them except Joe.
I also caution all to be careful trying to absorb all the information. If you feel you need up-to-date information on covid-19, go to the source at the 
The Organist
Wrong
I’m not. Being retired, my only job has been to get up, eat, work social media, take a nap, eat, maybe watch a movie or TV show, go to bed. I did most of that before the coronavirus brought the country to its knees. I was in Ohio when the stay at home orders first started and I’m currently in Kentucky with my single, oldest son. What I do miss is meeting and greeting people … people I know and people I would like to know better.
As a writer, you would think the lack of distractions would spur an interest to work on the three works in progress percolating on the back burner. Sadly, it hasn’t … at least not to the level it should be. I’ve opened the files, tinkered here and there, and saved and closed the files. My bad.
But this isn’t about me. Seriously, how has your life changed over the past couple of weeks? Positive stories. Horror stories. Funny stories. Sad stories. What are you reading or watching? Do you have any suggestions on teaching the home-bound kiddos, or just plain keeping them busy?
I’ve known Tommy my whole life. In all that time, he never got along with his father. Oh, I’m sure Mr. Poole was a nice enough guy, but fathers and sons don’t always see eye to eye. And when a son starts to tally up his father’s sins, that list can become very long, very quickly. For Tommy, it was all about the kind of person his father was: he was too rigid, too judgmental; he didn’t keep his promises; he was prone to a sudden, sometimes violent, anger.
Years later, Tommy called me to tell me his wife and daughter were leaving him. When I asked him why, it was like hearing something echo through the years. “She said I was always judging her. That I never keep my word. And that she thinks I have anger issues, as well.” I didn’t know what to say — but Tommy said it for me. “Have I really become my father?”
Let’s remember to approach the throne room and respond with faith and not fear, knowing the promises of God and His mighty hand will hold us through any situation! Sometimes, all it takes is just one prayer to change everything. Something extraordinary happens when two or more agree together in prayer.
Please say a prayer for Violet. A week ago, Violet was admitted to the hospital. In the very stressful and frightening days since, Violet has fought against what has been diagnosed as severe pneumonia. She tested negative for COVID-19, but remains severely ill.
We come to You, Lord, because prayer is the least yet the greatest thing we can do for each other. When two or more are gathered in Your name, we confidently know You are with us. What better company can we have? You reign and we trust You! We may be broken and battered but know You heal and quiet the soul. You are the source for all that happens in our lives. We thank You for the progress being made. We thank You for the many blessings we have received this week — some we unfortunately didn’t notice. Nonetheless, those blessings are ever-present in our lives. We thank You for healing. We thank You for slowing us down. We thank You for providing us our daily needs — no more and no less. We thank You for being with us, listening to us, walking with us on this journey. We thank You for the support of our family and friends … for seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary — sunrises, sunsets, flowers, kids laughing, adventures, good news amid the bad news. We know we can come to You with our concerns and they will be heard. Through Christ all things are possible. We lift up those family members and friends who are battling various physical, emotional, financial, career or spiritual issues and ask not for Your guidance and healing (although that would be welcomed) but to keep reminding us we are not alone in our battles. Specifically we lift up Andrew, David, Mark, Oran, Violet, Jerry, Scarlett, Madi, Jules, Dixie, Angie, and all those needing Your healing and guiding touch. We pray for the families of all those You have called home. We grieve … You celebrate. We pray for obedience to Your Will so Your “Son” Light shines through us through the power of the Spirit. And we come to You through the confidence of the words taught by Your Son Jesus. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
The Light 