Category Archives: My 3 Sons

Wisdom…From Old People??

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In honor of my middle riddle’s birthday I am sharing this post he wrote about his grandmother.  He has his own blog, is still single and available. Kris is my middle son, and if you have followed my blog for very long, you know him as the adventurous and daring of My Three Sons. There are not too many things he won’t do from trespassing on the greens at St. Andrews prestigious golf club in Scotland,

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to jumping out of airplanes,

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competing in the crazy Spartan obstacle races…

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or bicycling across the Golden Gate Bridge,

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Kristopher is anything but boring. I love him dearly. In all of that craziness lies a heart of compassion that is hard to beat. I hope you enjoy his post today.

 

“Senior citizens, although slow and dangerous behind the wheel, can still serve a purpose.” -Lloyd Christmas

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Just last week I had the opportunity to spend the weekend with my parents in Bloomington. I had just returned from a dentist appointment (no cavities FYI) so I decided to spend some time with my grandmother, or as she is better known as just “Mamaw”. We chatted, or I talked and she pretended to listen… She may have a slight hearing disability and could benefit from the technology of hearing aids.

If anyone reading this ever shares the whole concept of blogging, in particular this blog post, then I will kill you. If she doesn’t kill me first.

While we were talking, I was admiring some of the pictures on her wall. I don’t think I need to tell you, but my picture displays the LEAST on this wall. I am okay with it. Some people just aren’t fully appreciated until they are dead (meaning myself, not my Mamaw). However,  I digress… In the entryway in my Mamaw’s house she has about 30 framed pictures that detail the aging process of our family. It is rather daunting, while impressive.

I was admiring the pictures and talking to her (she pretended to hear what I was saying) and then she brought another ten pictures that she wanted hung up on the wall. I grabbed a ladder and started nailing studs and frames. When we were finished we both stepped back to admire my work. It was at that point when she said something that I hope will stay with me for many years…

“Whenever I feel down and depressed, that there is nothing worth living for, I look at these pictures and realize all of God’s blessings in my life.”

Now this is a lady who has lost her siblings, husband, is a cancer survivor, has multiple disabilities and now practically deaf. She knows pain, heartache and disappointment. Yet in all of these things, she is able to look to the good in her life and be thankful for the blessings in the little things. Whether those blessings include a new day to be alive, family, friends, the birds and the bees, and her favorite grandson, myself, she is thankful.

Little did I know, that just a few days later, my employer would wipe out almost 300 full-time positions.

As I watched co-workers receive this horrible news, I couldn’t help but fear for my own future while grieving alongside them. Yet in that exact moment I had to be thankful for all of the blessings and opportunities that present themselves on a daily basis.

So I made a short list of things that I am thankful for.
  • The best family and friends that a man could ask for.
  • Real stability and community.
  • Long runs on a hot day.
  • Woods and natural wildlife.
  • Home. Heat. Unlimited supplies of beverages and food.
  • Education.
  • Fishing.
  • Daily opportunities to invest in others.
  • Pretty women who can also carry on an intelligent conversation.
  • Mexican food.
  • Passion.
  • Farmer’s Markets.
  • Live music.
  • Spotify.
  • Books.

This list is not extensive by any means. But my Mamaw, no matter how old she is, was able to put things into perspective. You know, sometimes we can get so bent out of shape about our car not working, a higher heating bill, your spouse showing up twenty minutes late, or the other inconveniences in life but it’s not worth it to let those things consume us. There is way too much good and positive things out there to focus on.

I challenge you, as I will daily challenge myself to try and focus on the blessings of life. Find something you are passionate about, that makes you happy and knock that sucker out of the park!

My Mamaw may not be perceived as cool as the likes of Betty White or Doris Roberts, but she’s my Mamaw and I wouldn’t change a thing.

(Note from Nannette: Mamaw Tava is currently in the hospital and needs your prayers!)

 

Kris3Kris Elkins is a 28 year-old Christ follower. Always looking to make headlines, he is constantly looking for ways to bring laughter into lives as well as those “hand to face” moments, in which the audience sits stunned in disbelief. When not caring for patients as a RN, or helping to create hospitalized computer programs and saving hospitals millions of dollars, he can be found running, cycling, or even refurnishing antique furniture. He states that he can’t take all of the credit for being absolutely awesome, crediting his parents and brothers for some of these awesome qualities. He blogs at mereKristianity, when he feels like it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be a Voice, Not an Echo!

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31 days of HopeDay 4 of the #31dbc!

Have you ever heard the phrase “Children are to be seen and not heard”?

I always thought that was kind of sad. Even when My Three Sons were little, it was certainly a difficult task to tell them that they could be with us when we were entertaining guests but they could not be “heard”.

Telling that to my middle son was absolutely futile. I might as well walk up to a concrete wall and speak the words; it would have had the same effect! He could not help himself, he just had so much to share with the world…and at 27 years old today, he still does.

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John the Baptist started out that same way. He had a crazy way with fashion, wearing camel hair for clothing, lived in the desert and ate locusts and wild honey for nourishment! He preached a strange message about someone coming after him whose shoes he wouldn’t even be worthy to unloose.

Yet he had known his calling his entire life. He wasn’t about to sit in a corner properly and not be heard. He had too much to say. He was pointing the way to Jesus Christ. He was that voice crying in the wilderness.

Jesus said John the Baptist was the greatest man that had ever lived!

“I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John …” Luke 7:28. His voice still echoes today!

The parents of Jesus found their son speaking when they thought he should not even be in the company of adults, when He was just a young boy.

Their parents had made their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem because they were devout Jews. There were three festivals each year that demanded such a trip: The Feast of Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles. (Exodus 23:14-17; 34:22-23; Deuteronomy 16:16.)

But by the first century, “God-fearing Jews” made only one trip a year because of the distance, and The Passover was the one celebrated at the beginning of the Jewish year (our March or April). Only the men were actually required to make the trip, so Mary, the mother of Jesus did not have to go, but she was obviously dedicated. Jerusalem was 80 miles from Nazareth, where Jesus and his parents were living at the time, and the journey would take three days of travel.

So after the seven days of celebration, the caravan begins the journey back home. That evening they discover he is missing. They had assumed he was with other family or friends. They start back toward Jerusalem searching for Jesus. It is three days later that they find Him in the temple listening to the scholars and asking questions.

 “Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” 

But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.” Luke 2:46-50 NKJV.

It goes on to say that when they returned home, Jesus was obedient to His parents but Mary “kept all of these things stored in her heart”.

Jesus was to be seen and heard! Even at twelve years old He was listening to teaching and sharing and giving. The Bible says they were astonished at His understanding and answers!

He was a voice, not an echo!

Where is your voice today? Are you sitting in the corner being seen but afraid to be heard? Are you timid and shy? Think that what you have to say doesn’t matter? Your opinion doesn’t count? No one cares what you have to say?

You are not educated enough, smart enough, or have the right number of letters after your name?

Or maybe you have tried to be the voice before but you failed?

You tried to reach out but you didn’t seem to help anyone.

You tried to minister, tried to encourage, tried to uplift others but just never seemed to get anywhere.

You didn’t get a Bible Study, no one came to church with you, the door was slammed in your face, and you were rejected, again, and again, and again.

So you lost your voice, and decided to become an echo.

Do you know that all of those “failures” were never failures at all?

That any attempt at ministry or encouragement, done with the right spirit, is always a success?!

That more times than not, you have helped someone but just not seen the result?

Yes friend, that is true, your voice matters. You cannot afford to let it trail off into an echo!

What if John the Baptist had not prepared the way? What if the apostles had not gone and spread the Gospel that went around the world?

Now it is our turn.

He didn’t leave the apostles, the 12 disciples for these last days.

No, not John, Luke, Mark, Matthew, Peter, or even Paul, who was the greatest evangelist that ever lived!

He has you and me here for such a time as this. It is our voice He expects to hear! It is our voice that needs to be sharing the Gospel and encouraging the downtrodden, uplifting the weary, and loving the weak and poor.

Be encouraged, get out of your corner and be the voice that God intended you to be. If you are filled with the Holy Spirit and baptized in His precious name, He has given you the tools you need and the power to stand.

You are His voice, go forward in faith, one day at a time and do the will of the Lord. While there is still time.

“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” Romans 13:11.

Be a voice

Sharing with Essential Things, Friendship Friday

Faith, Hupostasis and Elegchos, Oh My!

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Who doesn’t love the Faith chapter in the Book of Hebrews?! “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 NKJV.

We want to believe. Let’s look at it a little more closely: Faith is the substance of things hoped for. The word translated substance comes from the Greek hupostasis, “a placing or setting under, a substructure or foundation”. In Hebrews 3:14 and 2 Corinthians 9:4, it appears as the word confidence.

Hupostasis is a substructure, or foundation that, although it may be hidden, exists beneath and supports what is visible!

Just as the foundation of a building is not seen, but the building above the ground is visible, the foundation, the hupostasis, is very real and is vital in supporting the building!

I became so excited when I discovered this explanation.

Our faith is that foundation, that confidence, that even though we can’t see it, we know that it’s there. It’s what holds everything together. It’s sure, it’s tested.

Now, “…the evidence of things not seen.”

And evidence? The Greek there we won’t attempt to pronounce, elegchos, which is translated “a proof or conviction”

Faith, hupostasis and elegchos, oh my!

So, Faith is the substance, foundation and confidence, of things hoped for,  the evidence, or proof and conviction, of things not seen!

The Wycliffe Bible Commentary says, “Faith is trust in the unseen. It is not trust in the unknown, for we may know by faith what we cannot see with the eye.”

Take a look at the picture below of my youngest son, Korey Ross, taken in Jurmala, Latvia, in Eastern Europe. In this world things are not always as they seem. We get caught up in the cares of this life, we want more, think bigger is better and faster is cooler.

But as the picture reveals, we can be easily deceived. This world can trap us quickly and leave us empty. Thankfully Korey wasn’t fooled and didn’t invite the young cardboard lady home for dinner…

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Where does your trust lie? Is it in the unseen? Where is your confidence? What do you hope for?“For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.” Hebrews 3:14 NASB.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus’ Name

Kingdom2Sharing with Mama Moments Monday