IN THE BEGINNING, GOD...

Danna Shirley
"In the beginning God created..."  (Genesis 1:1)

When God “created” in Genesis 1:1, He formed, fashioned, produced, and created out of nothingness. He sculpted the universe and saw that it was good! Just two short chapters later, man was tempted by the serpent and all of mankind has suffered since. But God has always had His "new beginnings" ...with Noah, with Abraham, with Christ, and with us.  

I know we all tend to look at January 1^st as a magical date to start the year off right, so to speak. We might even vow, much to our dismay, that we will succeed …THIS TIME! We will not fall back into our old routines and patterns that have disillusioned and dissatisfied us.

January is a "new beginning"...beginning a new month and a new year. It offers us the chance to start again, with the opportunity to put our failures and muddled messes in the past. We have a new slate! Isn't God awesome as He prepares and stretches our clean white canvas and provides the paints and brushes to produce another glorious twelve-month creation? 

Have you ever watched an artist create a painting? He uses light and dark shadows to create depth, mistakes are quickly corrected with a new color, and direction is easily changed with one stroke of the brush. Our lives are not the paint by number kit with set boundaries and having to always stay within the lines. Our lives are bright or pastel, bold or modest, with shadows and highlights, in the hands of the Master Painter. 

He creates the masterpiece as He sees fit and when all of the colors reach the edge of our life's frame; God has accomplished another masterpiece. All we had to do was just be there.  Whatever we are, whatever contribution we make, it is by God's brush strokes.

Every day is a new beginning with God and He can create a new you every day!!!

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday--January 22nd 2019

by Danna Shirley

Here we are, faced with another year of legal abortions. Which brings me to address the issue again in 2019. When abortion became legal in 1973, I was 25, married, and had already given birth to my first child in 1971. The issue of abortion didn't affect me and I knew it would NOT affect me...ever...so I was like the proverbial ostrich with my head in the sand. HOWEVER, in 1980, I became a Christian and God exploded this tragedy in my spirit. 

In speaking with my pro-choice mother about the issue a few years later, she informed me (her 3rd daughter) that if abortion had been legal in 1948 (my birth year), I wouldn’t be here today. I was shocked she could share that bit of information but I eventually realized it was the best argument against abortion I could ever present. If I had been aborted, I wouldn't have my three wonderful children or my three beautiful granddaughters. Lives mean something; your descendants are vital and valuable not only to your family but to humanity. 

Abortion could be ending the life of another Abraham Lincoln or a Winston Churchill or a Beethoven...a Jonas Salk (developed polio vaccine), a George Washington Carver (botanist/inventor), or a Billy Graham (evangelist), or the next person who would cure cancer. I could go on and on!

As a Christian, this scripture should scream out to all believers:  

"There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community." (Prov 6:16-19 NIV)

James Robison, host of LIFE Outreach International, helps build fresh water wells, feeds the poor and hungry in Africa and supports local missionaries. Mission Feeding is another outreach that has saved seven million starving children. James is a product of rape and tells his story here: https://stream.org/james-robison-unwanted-and-nearly-aborted-but-god-takes-him-beyond-his-dreams/

I would like to assure anyone who has had an abortion or counseled someone to have an abortion or thought there was no other way, that GOD FORGIVES. You don't have to continue to live with regret or guilt or even believing in the false ideas promulgated by the abortion industry. The truth will set you free!

If you are reading this, aren’t you glad your mother was PRO-LIFE?

WORD PICTURES

One thing that really brings a person's understanding into focus is the description of an issue through word pictures. I was reading Jude this morning and in verses 12 and 13, the following word pictures emerged:

SOME PEOPLE...
are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you...
are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves...
are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain...
are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots...
are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their shameful deeds...
are like wandering stars, doomed forever to blackest darkness...

I gave a Bible study once in Japan on forgiveness versus unforgiveness. I used these illustrations to define each position:

FORGIVENESS                              UNFORGIVENESS
Crescent roll                                      Moldy bread   
Cherry tomato                                   Rotten tomato
Beautiful bouquet                              Dead flowers
Cold refreshing milk                         Curdled milk
Cotton Ball (light, fluffy)                  Boulder (cold, hard, heavy)
Gentle breeze                                    Hurricane
Lush green lawn                                Field of weeds

Get the picture????

If one is trying to convey an accurate description of one's feelings, thoughts, or attitude, use a word picture. It gets the point across every time.

PRINCIPLES OF LIBERTY

28 Principles of Freedom our Founding Fathers said must be understood and perpetuated by every person who desires peace, prosperity, and freedom. Adherence to these beliefs during the past 200 years has brought about more progress than was made in the previous 5,000 years. --National Center for Constitutional Studies (www.nccs.net)

1.   The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is Natural Law.
2.   A free people cannot survive under a republican constitution unless they remain virtuous and morally strong.
3.   The most promising method of securing a virtuous and morally stable people is to elect virtuous leaders.
4.   Without religion, the government of a free people cannot be maintained.
5.   All things were created by God, therefore upon Him all mankind are equally dependent, and to Him they are equally responsible.
6.   All men are created equal.
7.   The proper role of government is to protect equal rights, not provide equal things.
8.   Men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.
9.   To protect man's rights, God has revealed certain principles of divine law.
10. The God-given right to govern is vested in the sovereign authority of the whole people.
11. The majority of the people may alter or abolish a government which has become tyrannical.
12. The United States of America shall be a republic (a form of government in which a state is ruled by representatives of the citizen body).
13. A constitution should be structured to permanently protect the people from the human frailties of their rulers.
14. Life and liberty are secure only so long as the right of property is secure.
15. The highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a free market economy and a minimum of government regulations.
16. The government should be separated into three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.
17. A system of checks and balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse of power.
18. The unalienable rights of the people are most likely to be preserved if the principles of government are set forth in a written constitution (a set of basic laws or principles that describe the rights and duties in which citizens are to be governed).
19. Only limited and carefully defined powers should be delegated to government; all others being retained in the people.
20. Efficiency and dispatch require government to operate according to the will of the majority, but constitutional provisions must be made to protect the rights of the minority.
21. Strong local self-government is the keystone to preserving human freedom.
22. A free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of men.
23. A free society cannot survive as a republic without a broad program of general education.
24. A free people will not survive unless they stay strong.
25. "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations: entangling alliances with none."
26. The core unit which determines the strength of any society is the family; therefore, the government should foster and protect its integrity.
27. The burden of debt is as destructive to freedom as subjugation by conquest.
28. The United States has a manifest destiny to be an example and a blessing to the entire human race.

TUNA CASSEROLE

by Danna Shirley

           As the third and last daughter in my family, I was not the one relied upon for cooking our dinner. Mom started substitute teaching when I entered kindergarten. My oldest sister, Nan, was eleven at that time and so Mom taught her to get a few simple things prepared for dinner while she rested after a long day on her feet in front of twenty children.

            I was asked to make the salad or peel the potatoes or set the table but nothing as advanced as cooking. Of course, all three of us girls did the cleanup after dinner.

            When I moved into my first apartment, all I really knew how to cook was a tuna casserole. Just four ingredients. Cook the noodles, drain and add a can of tuna, add a can of mushroom soup, stir, sprinkle crumbled potato chips on top, and bake at 350º until golden brown. Easy peasy!

            My first roommate, Linda Autrey, a friend from school, liked to cook. My second roommate, Susan Wagner, a friend from work, liked to cook. I let them.

            When I married, however, I was called upon to cook every night. I made many tuna casseroles. Finally, my sweet husband, Ron, took over a lot of the cooking. As the oldest of four boys whose mother also worked full time, he was far more advanced in the kitchen than I. He did teach me a lot, though. Like how to fry crispy chicken; mine was always kind of soggy. He introduced me to shrimp and lobster, Yum, two dishes I never had growing up because my dad hated the smell of fish cooking.

            My own family made a habit of joking about poor Ron only getting tuna casseroles and therefore, had to take over the cooking at home. The real truth was that he liked to cook and I didn’t. He would pull all the spices out of the cabinet and bottles of dressings and marinades from the refrigerator and come up with the most flavorful meals.

            As a widow, now, I’m back to hating to cook, especially just for one. I do a lot of fast food and will sometimes even have a bowl of cereal or a bag of popcorn for dinner, much to the chagrin of my sisters. Nan still loves to cook and will even read recipe books for pleasure. Egad! I just don’t get it.

But, you know what? I think I’ll make a tuna casserole for dinner tonight. Oops, no can do! I’ll need to go grocery shopping first and I don’t like grocery shopping either. ☹ Maybe Red Lobster instead. 😊

WALTZING MATILDA

by Danna Shirley

Writing assignment: use these words in a story...

Message     Fake     Graze     Scoundrel     Authenticity

Waltz     Discombobulated     Pumpkin

The email message dinged at 2:00 a.m. As a government operative, I could not ignore anything coming in on my Top Secret computer. The email was from Agent James Polk of the FBI. I quickly scanned its contents and learned there was a breach in our system. Further search placed the origination in Brussels.

I returned to my room and showered, packed, and kissed my hubby goodbye. Agent Polk met me at the airport and we were on a plane to Belgium by daylight. The investigation revealed the location of the breach was in the Castle of Groot-Bijgaarden (Bi-jerden). An invitation was highjacked to attend a ball the next evening at the castle. James and I hustled to buy evening wear and then quickly brushed up on our dance moves. I wasn’t the greatest dancer in the world but I could fake it when necessary.

Entering the castle grounds was a vision to behold. The estate was elegantly authentic with ducks and geese padding around a pond while alpacas grazed on the lawn. It seemed all the elite of Brussels were in attendance this night.

James and I arrived and blended in naturally with the other guests. We took the usual champagne glasses and nibbled on some pumpkin pastries as we explored the ballroom. Our host, Isador Van Beveren, walked around conversing with his guests. He was a pompous playboy and a well-known scoundrel of the worst kind,

A waltz began to play and saved us from an awkward greeting and explanation of our presence. We danced our way to the opposite side of the room and exited through the tall doors leading to the garden. Our contact told us the computer room was on the third floor of the castle tower. I had put slacks on under my dress for easy movement.

James and I ascended the back staircase and were in the computer room within minutes. There was no guard on the door but a computer nerd sat at a desk with his back to us. A silent approach and a tap on his shoulder had him discombobulated as to what to do next. I made quick work of getting him bound and gagged while James sat down at the keyboard and did his magic. When all was said and done, no muss—no fuss, we descended the staircase and entered the ballroom without even breathing hard. James waltzed me across the room and out the front door to our limo. We made a great team.

I slipped in beside my hubby at 2:00 a.m. and soundly fell asleep. The alarm went off at six and I heard my Sweetheart in the bathroom showering. I put on my robe and slippers and went to wake the kids. My motherly routine of pancakes and sack lunches and car pooling began. I was no waltzing Matilda. Boy, it was good to be home!

THE GOOSE GIRL

by Danna Shirley
Writing assignment: take an obscure Grimm's Fairy Tale and write your own ending...

Princess Tricity was very lovely and had all the young lads in the kingdom, both peasant and royal, charmed by her beauty. She had now reached the age of marriage and her mother said it was time to take her place beside a prince in a neighboring kingdom.

Marriage was not for her for she still loved the frivolity of riding her gentle steed through the forest. She still loved wading in the pond along the edge of the garden and feeding her beloved geese as they drank water from her cupped hand. And she loved brushing her golden locks and braiding her hair in the cool of the evening.

Tricity was not ready for marriage and certainly not ready to serve beside a King, always wearing royal robes and sitting on a throne. No, her heart was as the goose girl by the pond with her feathery friends. Her life, as such, was happy and carefree.

Her mother was not to be deterred, however, for she invited three neighboring princes to a royal feast. One way or another Tricity would marry; either by her choice of husband or her mother’s,

Tricity rebelled but it did no good, for her mother sequestered her in her room to be watched by her servant, Bekka, and readied for the royal feast. Bekka thought it quite romantic for Tricity to have her choice of handsome men. She heated and poured the royal bath, pressed and hung her gown, and combed and braided Tricity’s hair with jewels and perfume.

She was a vision descending the staircase into the main hall but there was no joy in her countenance. She greeted each prince with a curtsy and an extended hand. Prince Cecil was much older than she, a bit flabby around the middle with a fuzzy beard. She could not fathom even kissing such a face. Prince Milton seemed her age but realizing they were both too young for such a marriage, knew he was being pushed, as she was, into something they would both regret. Prince Oliver seemed exactly right but he showed no enthusiasm for this situation either.

They all retired to the feast, each one conspicuously placed around Tricity while her mother chattered on and on about how honored they were to have such handsome and royal guests. The servants entered with platters and bowls of steaming hot food and the delicious smells permeated throughout the hall. Then the cover was lifted from the main dish and there sat a roasted goose.

Tricity shrieked and ran from the table shouting, "Mother, how could you be so cruel to serve one of my dear friends as food for consumption."

She escaped to her favorite place by the pond. Her little goose friends nuzzled against her hand begging to be petted as usual. Bekka soon arrived relaying that she should return to the castle.

Tricity was so forlorn to even enter the great hall until she noticed Prince Oliver waiting for her by the gazebo. She approached hesitantly not knowing his purpose. He reached out and held her closely, kissing her braided crown.

“My dear sweet Princess Tricity. If you choose to marry me, I promise to never serve goose at our table ever again.”

She lifted her gaze and smiled. As they had their first kiss for a lifetime, her little goose friends surrounded them honking their approval.