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