Local National Honor Society Induction

Recently I had the privilege to witness the induction

of the local Fall 2014 candidates into the National Honor Society.

We were welcomed by the chapter president...

...And introduced to each of the officers.
After lighting a candle,
each officer spoke of one of the tenets of the Honor Society:
Character, Scholarship, Leadership, and Service.

The auditorium was quiet as each inductee stood in line
waiting for their turn to sign.

After the last signature...

...The candles were lit...

...And together they recited this pledge:
"I pledge to uphold the high purposes of the
National Honor Society
to which I have been selected.
I will be true to the principles for which it stands.
I will be loyal to my school
and will maintain and encourage high standards of
scholarship, leadership, service and character."

Congratulations to the inductees!

King Solomon had something to say about HONOR.

"Get wisdom! Get understanding!
    Do not forget or turn aside from the words of my mouth!

Do not abandon her, and she will protect you.
    Love her, and she will watch over you.

Wisdom is of utmost importance, therefore get wisdom,
    and with all your effort work to acquire understanding.
 Prize her and she will exalt you.
    Indeed, if you embrace her, she will honor you."

Proverbs 4:5-8

Thanks for your visit!

I'll have to admit, I've been a bit slack on posting on Rock4Today,

but hopefully I'll get "back in the groove" again soon!

Cheating a little...

I'd like to introduce you to my sis, Alice.

We had a recent trip to the farm...

...And had fun with our cameras!

Instead of writing a blog this week,

I'm just going to include a link to her blog.

She took a blogging break for awhile,

but has gotten brave and posted a couple of posts from her heart.

I hope you will take the time to check them out!

You can find them by clicking HERE!

Arkansas Fallen Heroes Memorial Display

The ARKANSAS FALLEN HEROES MEMORIAL DISPLAY

The "Field of Flags"

is at Twin Lakes Baptist Church

Mountain Home, Arkansas this week.

Arkansas Fallen Heroes Memorial is a none profit organization dedicated to raising funds to erect a permanent memorial park to honor and remember fallen heroes from Arkansas.

If you live in the area, please take the time to stop by and check it out.

To see one of my heroes, click HERE!

Eclipse on 10/23/2014

It was rather cloudy, but when I darkened the photo with the
contrast I saw a green dot...

It seemed to move depending on the angle of my cell phone camera.

And I couldn't get a good focus if I tried to zoom in too much.

The clouds moved away for a bit and I got a couple of shots.

I know I'm no expert, but I thought they were very interesting.

And I'm not really sure what I was capturing...
It didn't really look like an eclipse to me...
but it was unusual...

But I am neither astronomer or professional photographer.

...And then the clouds came back.

But it did remind me of something from the Bible!

"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven:

And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,

And they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven

With power and great glory."

Matthew 24:30

"So you also must be ready,

because the Son of Man will come at an hour

when you do not expect Him."

Matthew 24:44

Thanks for dropping by!

To see my name of God on Rocks collection,

click HERE!

"Who da Thunk It?"

In and Out of the Fog

This morning as I was driving home from my sister's place,
I couldn't help but think about how FOG and GRIEF are related.

Sometimes I would drive out of the fog into the sunshine,
thinking I had left all of it behind,
...only to enter another wall of it a few miles further.

Like grief, I often feel like I have left it behind,
when suddenly there it is again, and the tears flow.

This parallel of fog and grief
reminded me of some verses King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes.
You may remember his famous words that say,
"a time to be born and a time to die".
He is the author of this quote, too:
"All come from dust, and to dust all return".

But he also said:
"As you do not know the path of the wind,
or how the body is formed in a mother's womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,the Maker of all things."

And,
"the spirit returns to God who gave it"

But this is the verse that jumped out at me!
"None of us can hold back our spirit from departing.
None of us has the power to prevent the day of our death.
There is no escaping that obligation..."

I never expected to be comforted from the book of Ecclesiastes!

Nothing I could have said or done could have changed the outcome. 

As my brother Dave used to say when he was amazed by something,

"Who da thunk it?"

(Or in better English...

"Who would have thought of that?")

As Job said,

"The LORD gave,

and the LORD has taken away.

Blessed be the Name of the LORD!"

Later this evening I hope to have another post on Rock4Today

featuring a name for Jesus painted on a rock!

Acceptance...

...And Honesty

Death...

I've faced it before...

Lives seemingly ended too soon because of illness or tragedy...

Why would THIS death affect me so deeply?

I struggled with a title for this blog post...

"Learning to pray again"

(Well, I never really stopped praying, just not sure what to pray now.)

"Unanswered prayers"

(He answered, but it wasn't the answer I wanted...)

"Learning to trust again"

(I know God is trustworthy; His thoughts and ways are just so beyond my thinking.

The bigness of God and my inability to understand Him and His ways

have intimidated me somewhat!)

"When your faith is shaken"

(I believed God could heal. Why did He not?)

Grief...

Many of the stages of grief were not strangers to me,

...but anger?

This was a new feeling.

I didn't want to be angry at God,

but I had to admit I was.

Acceptance...

Have I truly accepted this death?

Not really, but I'm working on it.
...Or probably, God is working on me about it!

HOPE!

I think Job summarized this thought the best when he said,

"But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,

and He will stand upon the earth at last.

And after my body has decayed,

yet in my body I will see God!

I will see Him for myself.

Yes, I will see Him with my own eyes.

I am overwhelmed at the thought."

Job 19:25-27

Max Lucado, author of the new book on prayer entitled "Before Amen"

 has a short two minute video that has been helping me

in understanding God's answers to prayers.

You can watch that video by clicking HERE.

My other blog can be found on

Rock4Today

(Writing the Names of God on Rocks)

My Soapbox.... Recycling!

OLD THINGS MADE NEW

Yesterday I went with my husband to take a load of stuff to the recycling center.

Usually I am the "recycler" at our house,

and take our plastics, aluminum cans, newspapers, etc.,

to a recycling agency that offers employment to special needs people.

(Note the pen made out of recycled water bottles!)

But this time, Gary was taking items 

for a friend who was moving to California,

and his trailer was piled full of broken or unusable items.

Have you ever been to a recylcling center?

A scale is built into this narrow driveway,
and measures the weight of your "treasures".
After the items are unloaded,
the weight is calculated by driving over it again
and reweighing.

Here's a look at some of the items
 that have been brought here to recycle.

This must be the car and motorcycle division...

And maybe this is the car crusher?

Why do I have a passion for recycling?

Well, for one thing, I think God wants us to take care

of this earth that He has entrusted to us.

And for another,

why throw away something 

that could be made new and be made into something beautiful again?

(Example - the pen made out of water bottles in first picture above.)

Broken things made new.

That's what God specializes in.

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away;

the new has come."

2 Corinthian 5:17

Speaking of being "made new",

my sweet nephew now has a new body.

Although we were praying for a miracle that would heal

his earthly body, God chose to heal him in a different way.

To see a video of the celebration of his life, click on the link below:

Celebration of the life of Joel Hedlund

Thanks for dropping by!

I'm working on a post for Rock4Today...

Yes, I know... I'm running way behind...