Up in Smoke by Tillie Marchaman

"Most senseless of all is the incredibly fast pace of living that robs everybody of everything but their unwanted fatigue." When I first read this sad statement describing the American lifestyle, it caused me to stop and take a good look at my life and what I was doing with my time. As a result, I made the commitment to simplify my life in any way I could, take a good look at my priorities, and to determine what was really important to me and to God.

Consequently, the daily-grind type of stress that Chuck Swindoll calls "the tyranny of the urgent," the kind that comes with overcommitment and living the hurried lifestyle, has eased considerably.

But there are other kinds of stress that come from living in a world where Jesus promised us that we would have suffering. He said, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33b).

Because we live in an imperfect world, this kind of stress can "hit us from the blind side". We may feel shocked, hurt, or sad. We may even find ourselves questioning God.

Oswald Chambers said, "The things we try to avoid and fight against – Tribulation...Suffering...Persecution...are the very things that produce abundant Joy!"

to read complete article by Tillie Marchaman..go to ...Just Between Us

The Gospel according to Jelly Beans...

by S.A. Cooke If the number of jelly beans produced each Easter were lined up end-to-end, they would circle the earth almost three times. According to the National Confectioners’ Association, Easter is the second most popular candy eating occasion. Fifteen billion jellybeans, 2 million marshmallow chicks, and 60 million chocolate Easter bunnies are produced for this holiday. What do Easter eggs and jelly beans have to do with the holiest celebration of the year? To people who don't know Jesus, they are goodies left by the Easter Bunny for children to find. For Christians, they can be not only a sweet treat, but also an effective tool for celebrating and presenting the message of salvation. to read more, go to Christian Women Today.

What went wrong?

Have you followed the news story ... minister's wife shooting her husband? I first heard about it at work - lunch room commentary. I fortunately was not asked for my thoughts on this story, just took some interesting glances. Gene read this piece on Yahoo News and asked me if he was next. I finally sat down this afternoon to read the story and view the pics of the family. I still don't know which direction to head with thoughts, emotions. I have run through being judgemental, speculative, defensive, sad, mad, curious... the only thing that I know isn't right would be to make fun of this tragedy.

I read this article, Depression Hits Some Preachers' Wives and thought about how sad the truth is at times. I glanced at some of the commentary from readers and saw headings like "Where was Jesus"... "Why didn't Jesus help her?" ...and became even more conflicted.

It seems that the people in the church respected this family, they are planting flowers in memory of their pastor so he must have been a good guy. -Why did she rent a condo on the beach? -This is a church that is facing trouble. How will they represent Jesus to their small community. How will God show His glory? Will she find peace in jail? What of the kids?

One thing I know to do is pray. It also causes me to think that us being committed to one another, bearing burdens, celebrating victories, dreaming, working, praying...together, is a very good thing. MaryAnn commented to me today that somewhere in our name it should also be said that "we live dangerous lives" - how true that is - in many ways.

Any thoughts?

Excellence in Ministry...

...is the theme for this year's retreat for Pastors and Wives. All GLBC ministry staff and other lay ministry leaders and spouses are invited. This should be a great time of fellowship, interaction, teaching, worship and celebration at the Wagon Trail Resort in Door County, WI. (For more information access the brochure on the GLBC web site.)

We can hang out and be dangerous together! April 17-19, it's not too late to plan to go.

Experiencing God at the movies...

Have you seen any good movies lately?

Recently, Gene and I rented The movie has rocked my world. This week I have been using the CRASH web site as a devotional guide. It's been fun and like I said, it's rocked my world a bit.

Our next gathering...

... we will be exploring at Devil's Lake State Park in Baraboo. We are looking at the May 11-12. Overnight housing is still needed to make that happen. If we are not able to find overnight accomodations that are feasible, we are checking our calendars for Saturday May 12.

Comment here once you have checked your calendar and know if this date is going to work...and we'll go from there...



This may be setting our hopes high... Sue, out of her expertise in geology, may be showing us the potholes found at Devil's Lake. (If you want to get really excited about this day, visit the Devil's Lake web site - many of you have been there, it looks like a fascinating place!)

Dangerous Women...

This weekend we gathered...to learn, to dream, the share our stories. We began the day by sharing a little of our spirtual journey. We saw bits of a bigger picture coming together as we listened. We acknowledged God as the Master Artist, who unveils a bigger picture piece by individual piece.

We discussed our adventure together as women who are choosing to be intentional about being connected for the good of the Kingdom. We did a bit of brainstorming about what it could look like. Our husbands follow somewhat of a format based on the acronym: LEAD: Learn-Encourage-Achieve-Dream. We agreed that was something we could commit to as well.

After a time of dreaming we moved to the dining table where we shared a wonderful meal - all "girl-food". (chicken salad, Panera bread, and salad with strawberries and mandarine oranges...mmmm) This was thanks to Diane Doty who also owns the lake house we met at. Thanks Diane! Thanks Linda for introducing us to Diane.

One way we are going to try to stay connected between gatherings is here- in BLOG WORLD. This is only for the truly dangerous! It may take a bit of time to get it working as well as it can but we're going to give it a try. If anyone has difficulty with it, email Juli. This will be fun! We can share prayer requests, answers to prayer, resources, news, lessons learned, funny stories...whatever. So, dangerous women - get blogging!

Around the table we read an excerpt from the book by Lynne Hybels, Nice Girls Don't Change the World. It was then we thought...that's what we want...to be dangerous women. Together. We prayed for one another and exchanged prayer requests for the time in between our gatherings.


"A dangerous woman delves deeply into the truth of who she is, grounds herself daily in the healing and empowering love of God, and radically engages with the needs of the world. ... Women mentoring one another aand sharpening skills. Women volunteering time. ... Thinking creatively. Taking risks. Following their God-given dreams. Dangerous women. World-changing women. All of us. Together."


May we be dangerous women.

May we be women who acknowledgy our power to change, and grow, and be radically alive for God.

May we be healers of wounds and righters of wrongs.

May we weep with those who weep and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.

May we cherish children, embrace the elderly, and empower the poor.

May we pray deeply and teach wisely.

May we be strong and gentle leaders.

May we sing songs of joy and talk down fear.

May we never hesitate to let passion push us, conviction compel us, and righteous anger energize us.

May we strike fear into all that is unjust and evil in the world.

May we dismantle abusive systems and silence lies with truth.

May we shine like stars in a darkened generation.

May we overflow with goodness in the name of God and by the power of Jesus. And in that name, and by that power, may we change the world.

Dear God, Please make us dangerous women.

Amen.

"A dangerous woman delves deeply into the truth of who she is, grounds herself daily in the healing and empowering love of God, and radically engages with the needs of the world. ... Women mentoring one another aand sharpening skills. Women volunteering time. ... Thinking creatively. Taking risks. Following their God-given dreams.
Dangerous women. World-changing women. All of us. Together." (Lynne Hybels)

the sisterhood gathers...

Sat. March 18 :: 10a.m-3p.m.
laughing...eating...praying....sharing...encouraging...discussing...

just the beginning....

Dreaming big....anyone could post here - stories....pictures... We could all contribute - lessons learned, great books read, conferences, news...
Anyone interested will be made a member and could post. I've got it started, but it's only the beginning...just to give you an idea of the potential.