Well, at least there’s that...

 This is a picture of my black lab "Daniel" swimming in a lake! So, cool. I always wanted a parrot. They are so fascinating, they talk, they laugh, they make sounds, what could be more fun than that? I found out that some people are just not "parrot people." However, our family was driving down a back street one day and the kids yelled "there's a parrot!" We stopped the car and my girls started calling to the parrot. I guess it was tired of walking, so it got in the car. They were thrilled! I was too. We decided to name that bird "Lucky" because he was lucky we found him. We found where he came from and the owner told us to "keep him". You're kidding! We were all so excited. Lucky learned how to say his name and he learned to whistle and sing and then it got night time and he didn't stop. My husband put a towel over Lucky's cage to make sure he knew it was night. That worked for a while. Unfortunately for Lucky, we didn...

I grew up thinking that the only value I had was to preach, or sing, or play the piano or to do all three at once. This thinking was not about what my parents taught me, it took me years to figure this out. I only knew that when something needed to get done, it was my job to do it. I had spiritual answers for everything. "I don't want to do that!" "But those who suffer for Jesus will partake in his glory." "Never say you'll never do something, that's what you'll end up doing." So, unlike many of my friends I did not decide what I would  not do. Missionary - great. I hope they serve hamburgers. Traveling Preacher - great I hope they have hamburgers. Worship leader - great, I hope they have hamburgers. So, I guess my never do was "go without hamburgers." Who knew? So, when I was in my teens I was invited to speak to the Sunday night church service. I had every point written out. It took me four minutes to read the whole thing. There...