Quiet Encounters

 Then one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak.  I said to the one standing before me, I am overcome with anguish because of the vision, my lord, and I feel very weak.  How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord?  My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe."  Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength.   Daniel 10: 16-18 Last week, I went out to our home to meet a representative of FEMA to confirm that our home was a total loss from the March 3rd tornado.  It has been so difficult for me to return to what's left of our home.  Driving down Highway 70 I will feel a knot forming in my throat, as I pull into the driveway there is such a heaviness that sits on my shoulders. I usually start taking deep breaths and fighting tears.  It's just so much....so many memories, so much devastation , so much thankfulness that we are alive, but some much sadness  that our home is forever changed. 

      Mark Twain once said " Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't.  You cannot shirk this and be a man.  To decide against your conviction is to be an unqualified and excusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may." From an early age, Jim McWilliams had decided his path.  He did not live in a posture of defense waiting for whatever life threw his way, he choose to live marching into the unknown with full confidence, not looking back with regrets.  His simplistic, rustic Waynesboro roots of dirt roads, wading creeks and milking cows with a house full of brothers and sisters made family a deep part of his legacy.  Before loyalty to his country ever rooted in his heart, devotion to his family had seeds that ran to his core.        I have often wondered what kind of man chooses serving his country over personal fame.  He declined 4 college scholarships to

"You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing, you have taken away my cloth of mourning and clothed me with joy that I might sing praises to you and not be silent O lord my God, I will give you thanks forever."  Psalm 30:11 November 5, 2014.....a day that plays in slow motion so vividly in my mind.  I will never forget sitting beside his hospital bed listening to the The Sweet By and By   as my daddy took his last earthly breath. That day rocked me to the core, a day that no matter how much I trusted in the Lord has shaken my confidence and has made me wrestle with the Lord for hours.  I MISS MY DADDY!   This year brought so many "firsts" without my dad...but I would say my birthday was the hardest.  The hurt was deep...my heart ached to hug, smell and hear the laughter of the man that smiled over me as I took my first breath.  I listened to his messages that I have saved on my phone over and over and wept as I read his birthday card for me fro

“To grant to those who mourn in Zion – to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.” Isaiah 61:3 As I cherish these days with my precious daddy, my thoughts often lead me to his legacy and imagining mighty oak trees.  What a beautiful picture of a strong mighty outstretched tree with roots so deep that it doesn’t fear the wind and storms.  A creation that is so content with being planted where the Lord has placed him, that he is humbled to realize that his steady arms have provided a place of rest and protection to those of us that are blessed to be the fruit of his faithfulness.  My daddy is a man that has carried such a quiet strength.  He has lived rooted in peace, patience and such a spirit of steadiness.  My daddy was a glorious oak of righteousness.  Legacy is such a strong

        What a gorgeous Easter Sunday.   This day has been so precious and beautiful.   I have soaked up every minute with my precious family. I have felt the sunshine on my face and listened to birds sing their song of Spring.   I have loved the laughter and the hugs and the tears.   We sang a song at church this morning reciting “Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.”   I have pondered those words all day.   I can sing praises all morning, I can have thanks on my lips each day….but hallelujah…those words made me teary this morning.   I came home this evening and began digging into that word that has nudged me all day.   The research stated that hallelujah was in Psalms 24 times.   I pulled out my bibles and could not find it…. I checked the NIV and the ESV and ended up on Bible Gateway trying to find this word that I so desperately needed to understand.   In most versions of the Bible it has been replaced for words like praises and thanks in the book of Psalm.   T

"Fruit of righteousness will be peace, its effect will be quietness and confidence forever!" Isaiah 32:17   "When the women saw that the fruit of the tree was good and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it." Gen. 3:6 Ugh....that first bite......it is always taken because we are desiring something........ I have eaten my share of bad fruit.  Just like Eve, it looked similar to the good fruit around me, but it was subtlely different.  The enemy is truely an evil schemer.  He offers that one piece, and if you take it....your lens begin to shift ever so slightly.  Then each piece of fruit that you continue to eat, over time, continues to skew your lens of reality...It is so subtle....if it wasn't we could recognize it right from the start.  By the time we have finished the fruit, we have such a warped view of our relationships, our self worth and our relationship with God....Am I the only one that has ev