3 GIRLS, 3 GUYS, AND A GREMLIN

I’ll never forget the year I turned nineteen. My cousin invited me to go to church with him, so I did. I loved that church and I loved the people. I still do. They were so kind and loving and fun to be around. They didn’t condemn me because I wasn’t a Christian. They just loved me, and showed me kindness, and made me feel like part of the family.

I was raised in church and was taught that the Bible is God’s word, but when I was sixteen, I left home and left all that behind, but now, I was going to church several nights each week, and reading the Bible again. My life was much better. I was headed in a positive direction and I actually felt good about it. As I read more about Jesus and got to know him, I grew to love him. Soon, I gave my life to him and was born again.  

Some of my cousins and friends started coming to church, and we made new friends. We had a prayer meeting night, a youth night, and a choir practice night each week. We would hang out in the little town some nights after services. We did a lot of fun stuff and had many adventures and I learned that I didn’t need drugs or alcohol to enjoy life.    

Things aren’t always perfect, though, just because we are serving God. I want to tell you about a few adventures we had that weren’t pleasant at all, but I know God was with us, and when I look back on them now, I sometimes laugh.

We were taking one of our friends home one night after church when I ran into a mud puddle on the edge of the road. The wheel quickly jerked and pulled the right two wheels into the shallow ditch. I had heard people say, “If that ever happens, turn your wheels back to the road and gas it, and you’ll come back up out of the ditch.” Well, I took their advice and floored it as I turned the wheel back toward the road. It might have worked except for one small detail. The ditch didn’t remain at a consistent depth. It quickly got deeper. Really deep, in fact. Before I knew it, the car was on its side and we were all piled up on each other on the passenger’s side of the car. We had to climb up to get out the driver’s side door, then we had to walk for a few miles to get some help. We finally got the car out, and we were on our way again. God protected us from getting hurt. The side of my car was all bent and scratched up, but we weren’t. Praise the Lord for that.

We were at McDonald’s one night and saw some of our friends there. They were in another car so we were sitting alongside each other facing opposite directions. When they started driving forward, I started backing up, staying beside them, and continuing to talk to them. I glanced back at the parking lot behind me and knew there were no other cars back there. It was all clear. Then, all of a sudden, my car came to an abrupt stop. I had hit a light pole with a concrete base. We were traveling pretty slow, so nobody was hurt and neither was the car. I never did that again without looking back.

Another time, we were headed to church in that little yellow Gremlin. There were three guys and three girls. There were two guys in the back seat and I was driving. The girls all wanted to sit in the front seat together. We were packed in like sardines and one girl was sitting on the other two girls’ laps. When we reached the main highway, I stopped. Then, as I drove out and turned to the right, the girls all fell over on me and grabbed the steering wheel. It felt like it locked. I couldn’t straighten the car up. We quickly headed for the steep embankment and would have gone over if I hadn’t slammed on the brakes just in time. God was with us that day, too, and gave me the wisdom to know just what to do.

As I look back on my early days as a Christian, I’m encouraged. I remember what my life was before Jesus became part of it, and I can imagine how much worse it might have become if I hadn’t started following him. He changed my life in so many ways, and I’m so thankful.

He knew exactly what I needed and he knew the exact time I needed it. He sent me to that little church where his servants would show me his love. They loved me just like I was, and they allowed God to change me in his own time. That’s the way it should be done. We’re fishers of men, but we have to allow God to clean them. We can plant the seeds, and even water them, but it’s God who causes the trees to produce fruit (1 Corinthians 3:6).

It’s amazing how God can turn a life around and give it meaning and purpose. That’s what he did for me that night he came into my heart in that little church. When we get discouraged, and the pressures of life get us down, we need to remember where God brought us from and how he changed our lives. Many times, looking back will give us the strength and courage to keep moving forward.

———————————————–
My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2017 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback & digital format on Amazon @ https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6

GOD PROTECTS AND PROVIDES

Another memory of my early childhood took place when I was somewhere between three and five years old. My sister and I live with our grandmother in a small house in Theo, Mississippi. We didn’t have running water, but God had put a spring in the woods behind the house. I don’t remember me and my sister going there many times, though. It was a good distance from the house and down a steep hill. 

I remember a man in an old green car bringing us water in glass orange juice jugs. His name was Jimbo. We helped our grandmother carry those jugs of water, that God had provided for us, into the house, and into the kitchen, where she put them on the counter, beside the sink. 

At some point, we got a water faucet outside, by the front porch. Then we didn’t have to carry water from the spring or have someone else bring us water. We were living the life then. It reminds me of the time God made water come out of a rock, to provide for his people in the wilderness.

One day I went to get some water from the faucet and saw a spider hanging there. When it saw me it quickly climbed up its web and went inside the faucet. I had my own “Itsy, Bitsy Spider.” At least that’s what I thought at the time. I was quite a bit older before I realized that a water spout and a faucet were two different things.

I remember a lot that happened while we lived there, in that little house in Theo. I remember my Aunt and uncle, and cousins coming to visit. Our cousins were older than us, but they would always make a mess in our kitchen, and leave without cleaning it up. After they would leave, we would help our grandmother clean up, and get the place back like it was before they came. We loved our home that God had provided for us.

One time, while our uncle and his family were visiting, my sister ran into his open car door and cut the corner of her eye. She did the same thing with our dad’s car door. I don’t remember which one happened first, but she ended up with almost identical scars on both eyes. She was blessed that her eyes were not badly damaged.

My grandmother kept food beside the bed for us in case we woke up hungry, and I remember waking up and eating in bed. I never remember going hungry. God has always provided food for us as far back as I can remember. 

Our neighbor would get drunk some nights and would be mean to his wife, and son. I remember waking up on more than one occasion and seeing them sitting in our living room in the middle of the night. God provided a safe place for them while that man was drunk.

Another time, a man was mowing our yard, and my grandmother was outside doing something. The mower hit a wire clothes hanger and flung it right into her leg. It made a big bloody mess. She came in with the wire sticking out of her leg, and if I remember correctly, she had to get some pliers to pull it out. She bled like a stuck hog, but thankfully, it didn’t do any real damage.

A few years before that, when my sister was two years old, she had a bad accident. It was winter, and we had a wood heater. Somehow she fell over on it, and just laid there screaming, with her head touching the heater, for what seemed like forever. I don’t even think she went to the doctor, though. They just put something in a tube on it and fixed her right up. To this day, though, there is a spot on my sister’s head where no hair will grow, but thankfully, it’s only about the size of a quarter, and her other hair covers it. 

We were in the garden one day, and my aunt screamed, grabbed me, and pulled me back. She saw the snake just before I stepped on it. I could have been bitten, but thank God I wasn’t.

Another time, when I was five years old, I was on the front porch, and a hornet stung me right between the eyes. I was allergic to bee stings, and I started swelling fast. There was a house church in our neighborhood, and they happened to be having service. My grandmother, and my mother, took me there for prayer. I remember everybody praying, and all the while, my eyes were swelling tighter, and tighter, until I couldn’t see anymore. I must have passed out because that’s the last I remember about that. 

For years, I thought God didn’t answer their prayer, but he did. They were praying for me to be okay, and not die. I did tell you I was allergic to bee stings, didn’t I? As a matter of fact, I was stung several more times over the years, and now I’m barely allergic at all. I guess my body has built up an immunity to the toxin. God knows what he’s doing. We can trust him, and as we look back at our past, we can see many times when God took care of us, protected us, and even though we may have suffered pain, he often saved us from something much worse.

———————————————–
My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2016 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6

A MAN ON THE EDGE

It’s one fifteen in the morning. Chris is startled from sleep by a blood-chilling scream. By the time he gathers his senses, he realizes the scream came from his own mouth. The dream again. The same dream, over and over, for years. A better description would be a nightmare. This one is not as bad as some of the others he has, almost nightly, but this one keeps coming back. The sweat burns his eyes as he tries to catch his breath, and he wonders, “What’s going on with me?” He won’t get much sleep for the rest of the morning. Six a.m. will come, and he will be so tired he won’t be able to function properly all day.

That’s the way it’s been for several years now. The meaning of many of his nightmares is perfectly clear to Chris, but he doesn’t have a clue about this one. Maybe that’s why it haunts him. Maybe he needs to understand. He just doesn’t know. What he does know is that it’s not normal. He knows that everybody doesn’t dream the same dream over and over, again and again, year after year. He wishes to be normal. He wishes he could get some sleep.

The lack of sleep, and the pressures of work, along with a thousand other problems, have led to anxiety and depression, which have given rise to other problems, both physical and emotional. All this is having a negative effect on his relationships with his family and friends, and it’s affecting his performance at his job, as well.

Now, he lies in bed, tossing and turning, trying desperately to get back to sleep. His mind just won’t rest. It won’t even slow down. One thought jumps to another, and another, and then another until they all run together. Finally, after hours of restlessness, Chris finally falls asleep. Less than an hour later his alarm goes off. He hits the snooze to rest a few more minutes. By the time he gets awake enough to move, he realizes he has overslept.

Running late again, he fights his way through the thick rush of morning traffic. Finally, he makes it to work. The morning wears on slowly, and he is bombarded with paperwork. He has several moments where he almost walks out, never to return, but he perseveres, and lunchtime finally arrives. Exhausted from lack of sleep, and drained from the morning’s toil, the last thing on his mind is food. All he can think about is closing his eyes and never opening them again. He goes to his car, sets the alarm on his watch for one hour, and quickly falls asleep.

An hour passes, and when the alarm on Chris’ watch startles him awake, he feels as though he had only just closed his eyes a minute ago. He drags himself out of his car and back to work for two more terribly long, agonizing hours. Quitting time finally arrives, bringing with it a breath of fresh air, and a sigh of relief. Still, Chris feels overwhelmed and drained of all his energy, so he drags himself to his car, and heads home for the day.

As he drives home, he thinks to himself, “There’s gotta be more to life than this. If not, why even go on living?” Just then, he looks up at the sky, and says out loud, “Why don’t you help me, God?” He spends the rest of the ride home talking to Jesus and hoping for some kind of answer, some way to feel better, some peace, some closure. “It has to get better,” he says, “It has to.”

Does that sound familiar in any way? It’s sad that, so often, we have to reach our lowest point before we call on God for help. He wants to be our friend and constant companion in all situations. In the good times as well as the bad. Many times a situation would have been resolved long before it escalated into something unbearable if we would only stay in constant communication with God, as Jesus did when he was on earth.

In today’s world, a close relationship with Jesus is what we all need to stay on the right track. We are being attacked on every side. We need his help to remain strong in the face of opposition. Christian persecution may not have affected you yet, but Christians around the world are being persecuted and killed every day. None of us can stand for God in the face of such evil acts unless we spend time, daily, in his presence.

Trust him (Psalm 9:10). Obey him (Luke 11:28). Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Give him all your burdens (1 Peter 5:7), and he will give you strength to face anything, and still be able to stand up for him and his truth. ---

———————————————–
My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2012 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

Adapted for the book “Inspiration For The Journey” by Teddy Lynn © 2012-2016 All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6

UNPROFESSIONAL PROFESSIONALS

Recently, I had to take a trip to the emergency room. In giving the diagnosis, the attending physician used some foul language. It made me cringe so, that I was sure she saw my displeasure in my expression. Several months before that, the same thing happened at another emergency room when I rushed my friend there from work after she got her hand caught in a machine. That type of language is unnecessary, uncalled for, and UNPROFESSIONAL.

I realize it has become commonplace, but there are still plenty of people out there who don’t want to hear that kind of talk. I know I don’t. I remember many years ago when there was a lot of debate over foul language in TV, movies, and music. People who couldn’t care less said, “If you don’t like it, turn it off. That’s what the buttons are for.” I agree. What we and our children see and hear in the privacy of our own homes is up to us, but we shouldn’t have to be subjected to that kind of language everywhere we go.

I understand freedom of speech, and I’m all for it. I just think when you’re a professional, and you’re dealing with the public, you should be aware that there ARE people who don’t talk that way and are raising their children not to talk that way, and they don’t want to hear bad language or have their kids exposed to it. People who are serving the public should have respect for the people who come into their business. I know you want return customers, so how many do you think may not return because you use bad language?

I’m seeing it more and more in the professional world. I see it in emails I receive from professionals. I experienced it recently in a live training session. I see it in training videos, and lately, I’m seeing and hearing it on the news, and even from our elected officials. Totally unprofessional.

Beside the fact that it’s unprofessional, God tells us in his Holy Word that this kind of thing is unacceptable. It’s sad, but I see many Christians using foul language, and I’m not talking about just when they get angry or hurt, (which is not a good excuse either) but I’m talking about just in everyday life. Like my Grandmother used to say, “they cuss like sailors,” and they don’t see anything wrong with it.

I’m certainly not claiming to be perfect. I’ve said my share of bad words in the past, and I won’t swear on my mother’s life that I won’t again. I want to please God, though, and I need positive influences in my life. Whatever we hear and see regularly, that’s what we become like. If we allow our minds to be constantly bombarded by bad words, they tend to pop out of our mouths when we least expect it. The more we allow that to happen, the more it happens, until we’re just like everybody else. I know this to be true from my own experience.

While I’m talking to you “Professionals,” let me kindly say this: Just because my skin is the same color as yours, doesn’t mean I share your racist views about others whose skin is a different color. Please, keep your opinion on that to yourself, and just give me the service I’m paying you for. That’s the professional thing to do. By the way, there’s only one race; The human race. We’re all the same in God’s eyes.

Just a quick side-note to Christians. Stop putting other denominations down, and making fun of their beliefs. Stop calling them names, and ridiculing them because you believe differently than they do. Instead, pray for them, and maybe try and find some positive way to show them the truth you think you have. If you’ll study God’s word, you’ll discover that’s what we should be doing anyway, instead of acting like a bunch of little school kids who are being raised by Adolf Hitler. If you study the Bible every day, you’ll probably see that some of the things you believe are wrong as well. That’s all part of growing in Christ. We learn as we grow and we need to humble ourselves and realize there are others who don’t have the same level of biblical knowledge as we may have, and that there are others who are far more advanced than we may be.

We don’t all have to agree on everything to be kind to each other. That includes religion and politics. We all have our differences, and we all disagree with somebody, somewhere, on something. Some people are not always nice to others they disagree with, but disagreement doesn’t always equal hate or fear, and it’s okay to calmly tell someone you disagree with them. If someone says they disagree with you, don’t lose your mind. A soft reply turns away anger, but harsh words stir up anger (Proverbs 15:1).

Professionals, you need to act professionally. Show courtesy for your customers, and speak words of encouragement, instead of words that discourage them from returning to you in the future. This will help your business, and you as well, and it will go a long way in making our world a better place to live.

If you’re interested in knowing what the Bible says about how we should and shouldn’t talk, read “What’s Wrong With Using Profanity?”

———————————————–
My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2016 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6