The Real Deal

Our Daily Bread
Today is the first big day of college football for the 2013-14 season.  How exciting!  I love college football!  There is a lot of speculation about which teams are good, which teams are great and which team might ultimately win the national championship.  There have few teams that started the season at number 1 who ended up at number 1!  Which team is the real deal as some sportscasters might say?

As Christians, we already know the real deal -- our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  How else could our faith be made complete unless Christ was who he said he was, died, rose from the dead and then ascended to heaven to the right hand of God Almighty!  Glory to you Lord Christ!  Praise God!  We have the real deal.  Let's share it like we would a great deal at the grocery store!  ha!

Lord, thank you for being the real deal!  We love you and praise you!

Simply Saturday
Remembering someone special
I am spending the day with my mother.  Today is her 75th birthday.  It is rare for someone to be remembered in writing before they pass away, so I want to do that today.

I got Mom a card that says "Mom, I looked at myself in the mirror today and all I can say is....."  <> "Great job!"  ha!  We all look at our families and wonder what our lives would have been like if we were in a different family.  I am doing that in this entry, but in a different way.  I am listing the things that I probably wouldn't have experienced if I were raised in a different family by a different mother.

1. I probably wouldn't have learned a solid work ethic.
2. I probably wouldn't have learned a compassion for those without a family or folks to spend the holidays with.
3. I probably wouldn't have had a strong sense of fairness instilled in my silly head.
4. I probably wouldn't have been encouraged to learn as much as I could about all the things I was interested in, which was a lot of things.
5. I probably wouldn't have learned my way around a kitchen or the laundry room or cleaning the house.
6. I probably wouldn't have developed the same habit as my mother -- giving folks nicknames as terms of endearment.
7. I probably wouldn't have learned to give of myself til it hurt, often going without.  
8. I probably wouldn't have learned to rise from the ashes like a phoenix.

I learned these things from my mother and her side of the family.  What better gift could a mother give?  She did the best she could to make my life work even though my body didn't cooperate some of the time with all my health issues.  Thanks, Mom.  I wish you many more birthdays.  I hope I make it to that age and look as great as you do!

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Excavating your heart will unearth the beautiful things God has planted in you. - R. Howerton