Focus on Eternity

     I met with a friend this week who asked me to teach her how to create a friendship bracelet.  Once we picked a pattern and selected the thread colors, I began to teach the order of steps to tie the bracelet she planned to give away.  Explaining how to read a pattern, keep track of where she was, and how to pull out stitches if she got lost in the process kept our conversations pretty focused.  I’ve been making bracelets for a while.  But am a novice when it comes to teaching what I’ve learned by trial and error.  One thing I knew for sure, if we began to partake in idle chit-chat, it would be challenging to concentrate on the task at hand and be successful in the endeavor.  Possibly it was this experience that caused me to read a familiar passage of Scripture differently this morning.        I cannot count the number of times that I’ve read the parable of the four soils in Luke 8. At first mention, you probably have a complete recall of this farming metaphor that Jesus used to

             I love the fall.   It reminds me of many things I love about this season, the crisp cool mornings, sweatshirt weather, and my fondest memories of participating in the high school marching band.     I now enjoy sitting in the bleachers to watch our daughters perform their marching routines.    As a family, we also love searching to find college half-time shows posted on the Internet.   If you’ve never done this, I would highly recommend it.   Last evening before turning off the lights,   we found ourselves on Youtube watching a beautiful expression of complexity through the illuminating performance by Texas A and M marching band.   I have included a link for your viewing enjoyment.   Click here .        In their first formation, they create an arrow that points in a forward direction that one would consider downfield. Next, many band sections move from left to right to form the arrow’s tip, but the primary motivation is to move the entire marching team from one end of the

          My husband and I took a short vacation to northern Michigan and stayed at a resort called Boyne Highlands.  It is under new management, and many renovations were taking place. The lodge had been covered with useless vines for decades.  As we lounged poolside, we could see one of the buildings was covered entirely with a thick gray plastic wrap.  We believed it was in an attempt to kill the vines attached to the building.  If not, possibly it was covering the damage caused by the previous removal of dead vines to prevent interior damage while renovations were taking place.  Either way, it was unsightly.  We talked about coming back at a later date and seeing how the restoration project was going.  It was very easy to see that it was a costly endeavor.  Just last evening, we walked along a bike path near our home.  We noticed how wild grapevines were covering the trees of the forest next to the trail.  We called them an evasive species.  We noted how easy it is for this type of