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My friend Heather and her oldest son, Landon singing “Better Than a Hallelujah.”
In my opinion, hearing children singing praises to God is better than a Hallelujah!
I worked late on Wednesday night, my usual night for church.
My son had called me earlier in the day to remind me to get home before 6:30, the time the youth meets.
I knew I’d be late, so I told him to call his Daddy to make sure he got home in time for him to eat and get to church.
When I got home, my son was there. He hadn’t gone to church, so I asked him why.
As I was talking to him my husband, who was working really hard in the kitchen, kept telling me to put the broom in the closet.
I’m sure the look I gave my husband the first time was one of disbelief. I was thinking “why are you asking me to put the broom in the closet?”
I did grab the broom, but I continued talking to my son instead of putting it away.
My husband again said more forcefully, “Put the broom in the closet.”
I was thinking to myself, “Why don’t you put the broom in the closet.”
And then I heard it.
A little giggle coming from said closet.
My sweet niece was hiding in there, waiting for me to open the door to discover her. Here she is with her scheming Uncle Scott.
I don’t remember if I ever did put the broom in the closet.
Shakespeare used a vocabulary of 54,000 words.
Today, we use 3000.
Our culture has managed to combine two words to make one new word.
I guess it was just too hard to keep up with two words.
For example: ginormous — from gigantic and enormous. Will this make the two words obsolete? Thus decreasing our vocab from 3,000 to 2,999?
I don’t know, but I saw this youtube video by John Branyan posted on Rachelle Gardner’s blog the other day and thought it hilarious and brilliant– should we call it brilarious? (Did I just invent a new word? Maybe I’m brilarious).
This blog title sounds a little pompous, doesn’t it?
Yet, what I’m about to write is tongue-in-cheek, because I’m not qualified to postulate on matters such as these, but I shall proceed with my pontificating.(Fortunately for you, dear reader, I’ve depleted my big-word memory.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903999904576468224286877908.html
The above Wall Street Journal article explains that the human brain is the only animal brain that shrinks as it ages.
And I think I know why (as I said I’m not qualified, nor have I done research to validate my way of thinking).
Most animals walk on four legs. Even apes and monkeys, our closest animal relatives, walk with their front limbs down at the ground.
Why would this be of any significance to the brain deterioration, you might ask? (or you might not ask depending on your interest in the matter).
I believe that our upright posture makes blood flow to the brain inefficient.
We eat upright and do just about everything upright. The dog hangs his head over a bowl to eat, as does the cat. Their heads are not much higher than their hearts–making it more efficient.
I’m not suggesting we start to walk on all fours, nor eat in a prone position, but I do think that our brains need more of its fuel to keep it from deteriorating.
If you happen to step into the elevator after I’ve ridden on it and see me bending over touching my toes, remember I’m just trying to hydrate my brain—and yes I do have one(an MRI proves it).
Or if you see me bent over in front of the mirror in the office bathroom, you might assume I am getting blood to the brain as opposed to fluffing out my hair.
Knowing this little piece of information could help you in a time of crisis—when you can’t remember someone’s name, for instance.
“Accidentally” drop something and then take your time in picking it up. Hopefully by the time you’ve retrieved the item off the floor, you will have retrieved the name from deep within your brain filing system.
(After reading this, maybe you’ll understand why I write fiction).
Sunday before last our Sunday School lesson was based on Deuteronomy 6:4-14.
I teach the class once a month.
But on the 5th Sunday of the month, it wasn’t clear who was scheduled to teach. Not knowing whether I needed to teach or not, I thought I’d be prepared. The only problem was I did not have the teacher’s study guide because I share it with another classmate.
I had a book in my library that specifically talked about that particular scripture, so I got it out and read the first chapter.
“Shema Yisrael Adonai Elohim Adonai echad.” in English means “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
According to the book this is Judaism’s most important words.
And when Jesus was asked what the most important commandment was he quotes this verse.
Mark 12:29-30
New International Version (NIV)
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[b]
As I studied for my class I recalled the first time I read the book, The Gospel According to Moses by Athol Dickson. I wrote about it in a previous blog.
I had cried that first time–by chapter 11 I was bawling.
And as I studied for my class, I wondered why I had cried.
So I turned to chapter 11 and read it.
And guess what?
I started bawling. Again.
I cannot explain why.
It wasn’t a sad cry. Nor was it a hopeless cry. I didn’t feel despair. Yet, I was crying.
It was, in fact, one of those cries that I laughed at myself for crying. Laughing and crying. Unexplainable.
Yet, I feel it was the Holy Spirit moving in me.
David Meigs says this in his article in this month’s Christian Fiction Online Magazine:
“As inspirational fiction authors, we write to the lost.”
http://christianfictiononlinemagazine.com/blitz_life.html
Worth a read.
The Steve Laube Agency blog shared this video today and I thought it was pretty cool.
He is 102!
Put A Ruffle On It 
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