Well, at least there’s that...

Just imagine. You’re driving down the road one day to check on a rental property. The divorce is over and you’re trying to getting up and go on with your life.   You wouldn’t even have to be on this road except your last tenant left the water on after they turned off the electricity. Ok. Hands raised. How many of you know that if it’s January and you’re moving out you should let the landlord know the day the heat is being turned off? Plus it’s probably a good idea to have the water turned off first. Yeah, I thought so.  Well, obviously this renter lacked the education or common sense or... just did not care. Either way I had to meet the plumber at the property to have the water turned off.  It had been a very long day and I was pretty tired. But grateful that this tenant had vacated the property. She didn’t seem to be respectful of me or the property and there were plenty of other people willing to take care of this home.  I laid down to take a nap until the plumber

Living in the Midwest has taught me a very valuable lesson. How to manage time. Now, I don't mean how to manage my life, although I am working on that. But I mean time...as in clocks. Digital clocks are pretty much worthless here in Oklahoma. People joke about hating the time change. I have grown to hate setting the time...over and over and over...did I mention over again?  I get all the clocks to agree on the same time, then comes a thunder storm. Suddenly all the digital clocks decide it is 12:00. Why is 12:00 the default time? And is it the middle of the night (12:00), or the middle of the day (12:00)? I go to bed at night and all the clocks agree on the time. I get up and the digital ones are blinking in confusion even though the battery operated clocks have kept the time. Do you ever feel like that? Maybe you go to bed knowing who  you are, what your purpose is and what you need to do the next day, then in the middle of the night something changes and the world is stuc

Well , at least  there 's that Everyone has a story to tell; welcome to mine. Barjeana...who would have thought up that name? That name alone should give you pause, it gives me pause... I never know how people are going to pronounce it. They'll wonder if I'm male or female, they'll make reference to a long lost language, they might even say it's a hillbilly name. Oh and they'll also wonder about my ethnicity. My favorite is when they ask how I got such a name? I reply with my best made up answer. "Back when they used to highly drug women during the birthing process my mother woke up, mumbled this word and someone wrote it down." My mother isn't too keen on that one. So, let's explain this mystery. How do you pronounce it? Surely those letters don't go together. I've heard it all. I was born in the 60's which was a time famous for "self expression."  My mother wanted to name me Barbara, my dad wasn't

All of my children are extremely talented. My son is an excellent musician. I went to one of his concerts and he had written out his own drum part on unlined paper. Wow! We were all impressed. He can pick up many instruments and just play them. Makes me sick! Lol. When my first daughter picked up the trumpet and started playing it I was like;  no way! My youngest daughter picked up the clarinet and then the alto sax and I was blown away. All of these instruments have one thing in common, they are loud!  Xman didn’t really appreciate the volume as they were learning their instruments, it was hard, but I was impressed that they were trying. So, the answer was to have them practice in the garage. I could still hear them but it wasn’t aimed at my ears.  Talent takes practice and I’m sure there were many times they wished I could move the piano into the garage...😊 As my first daughter got better she moved her instrument into the house. She put a mute on her horn and all was ri

There is a story in the Bible that is an awesome illustration of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The Hebrews had been slaves for 400 years. They didn’t start out that way. Joseph was the second highest ruler in all of Egypt when the children of Israel moved there. However, as they grew in number, the Egyptians became afraid of the them as a people. The blessings of the Lord were overtaking the children of Israel and the Jews were seen as a threat. This scenario has  replayed itself over and over again throughout history. But for now let’s look at the “great escape” as I like to call it. Pharaoh had released the people, then changed his mind. The children of Israel saw pharaoh coming and were afraid. After all they’d been slaves for such a long time. They probably had a very difficult time thinking of themselves as free. So, as I said, pharaoh and his full army were approaching a nation of slaves. I wonder if they were afraid that pharaoh would just kill them instead of takin

Jesus faced the phenomenon of people who thought they were healthy and didn’t need His brand of medicine,  He even stated that He didn’t come for the healthy. He came for the broken. He came for the woman at the well,(John 4:4-26) he came for the 10 lepers,(Luke 17:11-19) he came for the woman caught in adultery,(John 8:1-11) he came for 12 broken men that He called disciples. He interupted their brokenness and brought healing. When Jesus recognized the brokenness of people they had a choice. Each of the people I mentioned recognized their brokenness and chose to receive from Him the thing they needed: Him. We have the same choice everyday. The Pharisees refused to believe there was anything broken about them. They were well in their point of view. They didn’t need Him. There is no condemnation in Christ. If we don’t believe we are broken Jesus will not cross our boundaries and force His medicine upon us. He is a gentleman. He respects our wills. He gave us the ability to choos

Have you heard the song, "Oceans" by Hillsong?  https://youtu.be/dy9nwe9_xzw Right  before I moved from where I lived to where I would attend Mount Olive University I heard Oceans" (see link above) I was so excited! I had a theme song! Some of the lyrics include these words..."Keep my eyes above the waves..."  It also says, "Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders, let me walk upon the waters wherever you would call me." I thought, "Wow! That's what I need." I was endeavoring to finish my Bachelors degree in music and I was in a place where I was pretty much isolated. I was struggling physically, but I was determined to complete what I believed I was destined to do. It was hard. The song also says, "My faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior." I thought that enduring the hardships of school at my ...um..age... and completing a lifelong dream had to be where testing the waters would present the most

Most of my life I've relied on other people to tell me who I was. According to them I was a victim, I was tiring, I was complicated, I wasn't good enough, I was wrong, I was depressed, and nothing good would ever happen for me. Sounds pretty hopeless doesn't it? Well it was... But "Not today!"(Hillsong United). The song tells the devil that he isn't going to win today. I, however, am telling all the voices that have been programmed in my mind through repetition, "NOT TODAY!" I made a list of who I am. Man, we have some verb confusion going on....please bear with me. Someone asked me last week who I was (am)? I said, with all the confidence in the world and all the tears of a broken heart.... "I am a victim." I believed it. I was a victim of anyone who disagreed with me. I was a victim of anyone who didn't appreciate me. I was a victim of people not telling me what I did wrong and holding it over my head. I was a victim of abuse

Relationships are funny creatures. They usually start off well, or they don’t. You like each other, or you don’t. You fall in love, unless...you don’t! Yep. Relationships are an Oxymoron.  There are three phases that most good relationships go through and two key ingredients that make a successful relationship.. They are related to each other. If you dont have the two ingredients you won’t survive the three phases. Phase 1) The Honeymoon phase We use phrases like, “ we talked for hours,” “ it’s like we’ve known each other our entire lives,” etc...  We become inseparable, until we aren’t. I mean, for a while we want to do everything together. “Ler’s be spontaneous!” “ I can’t wait for her/him to call!” I say, give it a year. Yep...365 days. If you can still be in each other’s presence without throwing up, there may be hope. Gross, but true. You see during those 365 days things change. You might find out that Mr. Wonderful doesn’t like to brush his teeth everyday. Or, maybe Ms, W

I was chaplain of the choir in college for a semester. I really enjoyed that. I think outside of the box... No way! 😁. So one day I decided that we all needed a little shock factor. I wanted to get their attention and encourage them at the same time. So, I cane up with this question? We all have it..." are you ever afraid to fail?" Most people said they were. I had to agree, fear of failure is a very real thing. I paused and said very frankly , well stop worrying about it because you will fail. You could have heard a pin drop, except that the room was carpeted. Then I gave them a list of the greatest failures in history. My list included Einstein, Dr, Seuss, President Lincoln and even Oprah Winfrey. Yep, everyone of them failed miserably. Not just once, but many times. For example, Dr Seuss tried to get his books published 26 times. He got 26 rejections. I’m sure that publishers looked at it and said, well that’s just nonsense. Yep, nonsense that would go down in history a