Rainy Day Reading

Hello Dear Churchwomen,

(Your name is coming soon.) 

Today it is pouring rain. It’s a good day to stay inside and read. I know that many of you consider these inside days good opportunities to clean out the pantry, but give me a blanket and a book every time. It is a well-proven fact in this house that the empty cereal boxes will wait as long as you have. Even longer than the dishes in the sink. 

In case you can’t tolerate long periods of reading--or books of any kind--here’s a nice thought for spring from Annie Dillard. I printed it really big and added some pictures, which is what my husband, the ultimate nonreader, has told me to do. 

Look at an overwhelming ball of buzzing bees, or a turtle under ice breathing through its pumping cloaca. Look at the fruit of the Osage orange tree, big as a grapefruit, green, convoluted as any human brain ... Look, in short, at practically anything--the coot’s feet, the mantis’s face, a banana, the human ear--and see that not only did the creator create everything, but that he is apt to create anything. He’ll stop at nothing.

If you're in need of some creative power in your life I hope this encourages you. It did me. He hasn't forgotten. He is not sleeping. He will stop at nothing to create what we've been hanging on for. Whether we know what it is or not. 

Interview with Jamie Thorn

This week I had a quick phone conversation with Jamie Thorn who is busy planning the Women's Retreat next weekend. I caught her while she was picking up her kids, and she was kind enough to answer my questions.

Ginger Myers: Do you have a title? 

Jamie Thorn: “The Chair” is what they said. I’m heading it up, but I’m not doing near the work that everybody else is. 

GM: So who do you have on your team? 

JT: Amy Minchin, Publications

Kirsten Wert, Registration

Miley Gowing

Jeanna Lankford

(Long pause and the sound of a baby making noise. You know how they do when their mommy is on the phone.)

Pat Ford is programming, making sure that everything that the speaker is not doing gets done. From music to drama

Christy Roth is doing decorations

Karen Brantley is doing the food.

Karen Shell is prayer.

Linda Hinson is the overseer. Is that ten?

GM: Yes it’s ten, including you.

JT: Yes, that’s it.

GM: Tell me how it has been working with the Hampton Inn on Pensacola Beach.

JT: The really nice thing about doing it local is we have the flexibility for everyone to come to this, from the ladies who don't drive anymore to the new mom nursing a baby. It is a lot easier to get there. Anybody can come.   

GM: So, I am hearing a lot about this year’s speaker. Have you read her book? 

JT: I have not read it, but many of the team members have, and everyone that I have spoken to has said that they could not put it down. 

GM: How did you decide on this year’s theme?

JT: Just a minute ...

(Pause while Jamie tries sweetly to quiet the baby. He’s not buying it, and continues to make noise.) 

JT: We really felt like most of the previous retreats were based on how to be a good friend, and how to be a good mom, and more enrichment for ourselves. This one is we feel more like stepping beyond ourselves and doing the work that the Lord has for us to do.  

GM: Jamie, thanks for your time. Sounds like you need to go.

JT: Have you got what you need? 

GM: Yep! 

JT: Okay, thank you! 

Friends, think for a minute that ten of your sister churchwomen, despite the regular course of their usual responsibilities, have also made the sacrifice of time and effort to plan a place for you to get before the Lord. Do you feel blessed? I do. Were you planning your own time before the Lord? I wasn’t. They have enhanced our lives this day, and I am so grateful. 

Quick Cold-Weather Tip

Hello, Friends! 


I just got back from the grocery store. Walking into the building in the freezing cold with the wind whipping my hair into my mouth, yuck, reminded me of a cold-weather tip I can share with you. 


Did you know I used to live in Michigan? I sure did. We spent two long years in the grayest, coldest place on earth where mammals still survive. Perhaps the ice caps are melting now, but in 2002 and 2003 Michigan was still frozen solid. They have no preschool in Michigan. Did you know that? It's just one of the reasons that no one there is friendly. My attitude gave new definition to the words "bitter cold." However, I learned something during that time that gave me great encouragement in my day-to-day that I thought we might all be able to use in the current cold snap. 


Here's the tip: You can leave your groceries in your car while you run other errands!!! Isn't that exciting? Haven't we all had a list of things to accomplish before winding up at the grocery store? Because you can't keep your milk and frozen pizza in the hot car while you return things at Dillard's and mail a package to your nephew for his birthday. But then you get stuck in the drive-through line at the bank or the roll of paper in the cash register runs out, and there you are. Standing still. The clock ticks, and the paper won't roll like it's supposed to, and your mental grocery list gets shorter and shorter. Poof! It's gone. No time for grocery shopping. Time to whip a meal out of thin air using your last half-apple and that stupid box of teeny Saltines that you can't remember why you bought. 


Well, while the weather is this cold, fear not! Get your groceries and then go run all those errands! Your milk stays cold. Your chicken nuggets stay hard (not that it matters with all their preservatives anyway). Park your car in the garage with the groceries in it, and go put that baby down for his nap. Check your email. You've got lots of time. 


So there you go! I hope I have saved you some time and groceries today. Or perhaps you are encouraged just knowing that you were never so pathetic as to be excited about something like this. Either way I hope your weekend goes smoothly, that you stay warm, and that your meals are satisfying no matter where they come from. Give thanks for them. And I do for you. 


See you Sunday!
Ginger

More About Names

Hi there!

My Bible study lesson was about names today. All this week actually. The names of God. I think that is just so interesting because I am still pondering a name for you, the readers of our First Baptist Women's Ministries blog. But since I haven't come up with anything yet, let's talk about God's names, okay?

I think I told you already I'm doing Experiencing God on Sunday nights. Our exercise today was to think about how we experience God and give Him a name based on that experience. The example was given that when God sent a husband for a young woman, to her He became "The One Who Provides Partners." This kind of exercise is fun to me because it's tangible, and it makes me feel Biblical. How often really can you repeat the actions of Abraham? When a time comes along, I always try to take advantage. You just never know.

The very first one I thought of was "God: The Shifter of My Focus." I thought this might need explaining. I tend to get obsessive about certain thoughts, and once I get started it's hard to stop. I can remember doing this from a very early age. It's kind of like being stuck on a song. As I got older it became more controllable, but it can still be distracting. Only recently, during the last decade, did it occur to me that perhaps God has a hand in these opportunities to change the subject. And once I started thinking about it that way, I feel His presence so strongly that it gives me goosebumps sometimes. Especially when I am being terribly selfish or bitter. Sometimes, it's for all the world like He shoves me into the door frame. Seriously, I think in prayer "Ouch--you're right. Sorry!!"

It's silly, I guess, but Beth Moore does stuff like this all the time. Not to repeat myself, but when a Godly person does something, no matter how cheese-y, if you get the chance to do it too, there's just not a lot to lose by giving it a try. Here are my other names:

The One Who Calms My Fears

The Great Unexplainable

I guess those are easy enough to figure out. What are yours?

Welcome to the Net, WM!

Hey there, friends.


I am still working on your special name. You would not believe some of the things I have learned about pop culture in an effort to find a feminine nickname with no connotations. It has taught me a lot about how pervasive sin is. Calling God the Blessed Redeemer suddenly means so much more.


In other news, we are moving toward Facebook. That's right. Women's Ministries is working on citizenship in the world's third-largest community. Keep an eye out for that opportunity to friend us.


God continues to extend the depth of our ministry communications. It seems like each of our three products--The Walk, Walkin and Talkin, and now FB--offers a slightly different flavor of us. I love it, and I didn't see it coming. I don't know if there are two people more non-plussed by technology than Linda and me, but we are trusting God to fill in our blanks--our blank stares when we think about computers. You should have heard our recent conversation about how social networking works. If I wrote it down it would make a great skit. We said things like "Now, I don't know what a server is, but I think it has something to do with the server." The only server I know is the man who brings my black bean soup and half sandwich at O'Brien's, but I digress.


The two of us doing this on your behalf is a far stretch. It might not amount to much. We have certainly put it off. Most of you could probably do it better. Yet when someone cares about you they should go to great lengths to keep up with you. God does that, and your WM leaders are struggling to be like Him in that way. We care about you, but if you don't know that we do, it doesn't mean much. Be patient with us, sisters. Extend us your grace. The road is rocky, and we don't have a map, but we make up for it with effort.


Is it ridiculous for me to compare our venturing onto the Internet to going boldly while following God? Maybe. I realize it's not the war-torn wilderness. However, everything I read says He invites all people to share the joy of His kingdom. That means us downtown Palafox church people too. That's right. God cares about us. He wants us to demonstrate His care to each other. If this means something to you, would you pray this with me? 


Teach us, Lord. Teach us how to receive your love from our sister church members. Open our eyes and let us see it. Give us a taste. And then you'll probably have to teach us how to give love too. Are we ready, Lord? Only You know. Thank you. Amen. 


Keep your heart rate up, ladies-sisters-friends! (I just can't decide what to call you ... ) 

Monday on Tuesday

Hello, Friends!


I got on here to tell you "Happy Monday!" That is one of my favorite things to say to people on Monday because it takes the negative connotation that Mondays have and turns it into something slightly festive, like a birthday, and then maybe the person you say it to is a little more happy to be in it. It's just a little game I play with myself to lighten the steps on the journey a little bit. Which is great ...


Except that it's not Monday. It's Tuesday. That's right. My children started back to school today which makes it Monday in my head, but the calendar says Tuesday. Four-day weeks make those of us calendar-challenged people even crazier than we already are. I realize that it seems very straightforward to just look at the calendar and then go back and look at it again. Cross off the days you have already spent and there you are. No guessing or confusion. That's what adults do, and I so want to be one. Sort of.


So my weekend dishes are still on the counter, because since it's Tuesday I can't figure out what they're still doing there. Those can't belong to me. The bills are still in the file. Shouldn't those be paid already? The laundry is done; that seems Monday-like. I'm replying to emails, but I can't write "Happy Monday!" even though I feel it in my soul. My rhythm is off.


Anyway, I got on here to share with you that Beth Moore has started her scripture memory challenge on the Living Proof Ministries blog this week. I'm not doing it, but I like to keep tabs because it is so inspiring. She has so far had 7,796 people sign up. Doesn't it thrill you to know that almost 10,000 women out there across the globe are memorizing scripture. Doesn't that just make your Monday-except-it's-Tuesday happy? While I have been typing this six more women signed up! Good stuff. Go look at it if you want to. 


Beth's blog and scripture challenge were what got me to thinking our Women's Ministries might enjoy and support something like this. I thought it might reach across all the many different groups that make up our church body. It makes a community based more on who you are in Jesus, perhaps, than what stage of life you're in. Although we need both, don't we? The encouragement is different and all necessary.


Another fun thing lots of bloggers do is give their readers a name. Beth's are "Siestas." Another girl I know lots of you read uses "Rovers." I have been thinking and thinking about what one word covers the women of First Baptist Pensacola, but it's difficult. There are so many of us, and we don't all fit into any of the same boxes. And lots of the good churchy ones don't seem to fit me. I am going for something fresh. A fresh word as it were. However, I think I have come up with one. I'm researching to see if it has any unseemly sides that I'm not aware of, and I'm going to run it by Linda. I like to stay under the authority of my leaders, just in case. Wait, I should pray about it. I'll do that. Can't you cut the excitement with a knife? I can! A butter knife.


Oooooo, toast. Gotta go. Happy Mon-Tuesday!

A New Start

Dear Friends,

Today is a new start. 

I hope you all had a blessed holiday and worshipped God in wonder at the way He works, through kings and infants and infant kings and everything in between. I read a line in a poem yesterday that applied quite well to my holidays. The poet W.H. Auden wrote that he “attempted--quite unsuccessfully--/To love all of our relatives, and in general/ Grossly overestimated our powers.” A good laugh makes a prick to your conscience so much less painful doesn’t it? 

I want to show you something. 

This is what I have been looking at this year while I have prayed for the women of our church. Then God started putting it on my heart that my family needed this prayer too. I honestly didn’t see the need (grin), but a one-sentence prayer doesn’t take that long, so I started praying it for the people inside my house, as well as for all of us here at Walkin’ and Talkin’. Thankfully I did because some challenges jumped up that I didn’t see coming. Some I think we weathered well, and some we fouled out on a couple times first. 

Oh the mercy of a new start. 

Some of us saw Beth Moore in Birmingham at the beginning of December, and she told a lovely story about seeing a fresh snow fall and accepting the promise that God has made her whiter than snow. We don’t see much snow in Pensacola, but I took a picture in my yard before it got so cold and stormy of what I think a White Christmas in Pensacola looks like. 

Those are camellias, y’all!  If you squint doesn’t it look like a light snow? No? Are you squinting? Squint more!

I grossly overestimated my powers to take pictures and post them and to encourage you with a blog. Grossly, as in the photo quality is actually gross. I thought these phones were supposed to be smart. Everyone in the free world but me, children even, can take pictures with their phones and post them on the computer. But like Paul I’m out here boasting about my weaknesses and hoping, hoping God will come and create something that will bring Him laud and bring you encouragement in 2011. 

Hurry, Lord. Have you seen these pictures?  

Talk to you next week!

Love, 

Ginger