I live in California. Now before you get all excited, I am not blonde, and I do not have a tan. I feel lucky to live here though. The natural beauty in this state is astounding. I love our mountains, forests and beaches. All of those picturesque places that draw people from all around the world, are wonderful, but I have grown to love our flat, hot and dry central valley. Continue reading “Little trip down the middle”
So every year I wind up writing scenes for VBA, or Vacation Bible Adventure. I take bible stories and I adapt them to these vignettes that we do one a day during the week.
I have done this for years now, and it has been one of the best things I could have ever done. God has used this writing to do some tremendous things in my life. It has increased my love of storytelling, and even shown me that I could do it. Above all though, most of my “bible knowledge” is not from Sunday sermons, or even bible studies, but from the reading and pondering that I have done while writing these stories.
Sunday morning. It is always interesting to see what happens on a Sunday, and as soon as I got to church, it started. One of the songs we sang had something to do with the “power in His name”. I actually don’t even remember what the song was, because I immediately started thinking. I wondered, because that is what I do, if I really believed in that power? I am still trying to wrap my mind around that whole “love your neighbor as yourself” thing again. Just then it hit me. The whole problem wasn’t with the loving, but with trusting.
Sovereignty. Do I really believe that God is ruler over all? Is He sovereign?
I thought it would be a nice drive to Porterville. My son was there for work, and so we went down to have lunch with him. It was a nice leisurely drive down CA43 and a relaxing lunch getting all the info on the job he was doing.
After lunch I was not expecting much, you see we had bee bopped around the house all morning. Typically, we get up and out early, but this morning we had been moving kind of slow. So I was not expecting to head into the mountains for long drawn out ride. How naïve of me. Continue reading “My National Monument…..”
I have had a love affair with history since I was young. I have gone through different stages, where I have read everything I could about various eras. I hate to say it, but I am fascinated by war. To tell you the truth I am really not sure why?
I would say that I am a pacifist, but in the Sergeant York type of way. I believe that war is the worst way we have to solve problems, and should be avoided if at all possible. There is a realist in me though, and she knows that sometimes war is how problems are solved.
So today, in celebration of Memorial Day, I just wanted to look back and think about those who have died fighting for the ideals of our country. Specifically, those who fought in the costliest war in our history. Continue reading “Memorial Day”
So my husband was teasing me. I know that is not surprising, but he doesn’t typically get to tease me in this way. You see, I do not tend to use profanity. Actually, I don’t even use it as all, except on those rare occasions when it slips out under duress. Or sometimes to shock my children. Anyhow, he was giving me a bad time because I had used two cuss words in a small story that I had written. It was not a big deal, but I did it because it made sense for the character. That is of course, if sea otters could talk. Continue reading “Lesson 1..Keeping characters real”
What happens when in one day, you are going from the mid eighties to the mid ninties, after weeks of the mid seventies? You head to the coast. And when your hubby wants to take sunrise pictures, you get up at dark thirty so that you can make it to the coast before the sun comes up.
At 3:30 this morning, I was really not in the mood to worry about my own camera, so I just decided to use my iphone. I snapped a good amount of pictures, but not too many. It had been a long week. My brain had been on overload and I wanted to spend some time just enjoying the beauty that surrounded me. Continue reading “Brains day off….”
I feel like God has really been trying to convince me how important 
His love is. I know that seems really silly, of course His love is important. I mean really, He so loved the world. This is Jesus 101. Where the problem lies is not if I “get it” or not, but if I really choose to accept it and just do it.
Now I was really encouraged by a song I heard on Tuesday, and on Wednesday I looked a little more into it. The song? Well it is not your typical “christian” song. It is “Let My Love Open the Door” by Pete Townshend. What I find so interesting in this song, is that he writes it from God’s viewpoint. Continue reading “Only one thing gonna set you free…”
You know this writing thing is not all that it’s cracked up to be. I sit, I ponder and usually out come words. Then I am stuck. No, it’s not writers block, I just know that I am going to start deleting words. I guess it keeps me humble? So I’m gonna start where I think God wants me to, and delete those other 400 words.
“May God continue the unity of our country, as this railroad unites the two great oceans of the world.”
Cheryl Mendoza 