A reminder six months after the Taylor University traffic accident that claimed five lives

It has been 6 months since the dreadful traffic crash that claimed the lives of four Taylor University-Upland students and one staff member.

During Friday Chapel at the campus, Dr. Gregory Poland, a doctor at the Mayo Clinic and father of one of the campus' current students, spoke on this topic. It was so encouraging, I wanted to post the link here so you could access his message online.


http://www.taylor.edu/experience/chapel.shtml

In his message entitled "God is Here Today." Dr. Poland quoted from Brennan Manning’s book, Ruthless Trust, and other books and authors.

It was a stunning message and made us question the strength of our faith. Do we only trust in God when things are going good?

Dr. Poland also pointed us all towards the fact that no matter how much we doubt God’s love and faithfulness, He’s still going to be there for us.

Here was the clincher for me: He said, “If we can only be thankful for the good things in our life, then we aren’t truly thankful.”

I’ve had times when life is a struggle and I tell God, “You know, that didn’t have to happen to me. I was doing fairly well in my journey without that.”

But God knows “fairly well” isn’t good enough for us. He loves us and wants us to grow so, no matter what happens to us, we can get through it with Him.

Take a few minutes to listen to Dr. Poland. The passion is in his voice and truth in his words. You won’t be sorry.

Take care.

Kayleen Reusser
Kjreusser@adamswells.com
www.KayleenR.com

A Chocolatey Day

“Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.”- Psalm 37:4

I go to www.BibleGateway.com daily to see what their Bible verse is and I then send it to my children by email. Today’s verse, as is so often what happens, really applies to me! I had written the story below about my day today before looking up the verse. That goes to show God wants to give us good things!

Some days as a writer are better than others. Today was one of the better days. A friend of mine who is a food preparer invited me to sit in on a chocolate recipe contest judging for the magazine she cooks for. Of course, I had to think about it and look at my calendar to see if I was busy. Right!

I did make the out-of-town drive worth the cost of gas when I ran it past my editor and he OK’d me to interview my friend and the food stylist to write an article about what it’s like to do their jobs. It must be difficult but it didn’t look like it to me!

My friend created 10 chocolate recipes among the entries the editor had selected as sounding the best of all she received (over 100!). Then I, along with several other volunteer tasters, sampled each one and reported our four favorites. The top four entries among the taste-testers were voted the best recipes and their creators were awarded $100.

I knew without tasting the cheesecake with chocolate chips melted on top and chocolate crust that it would be one of my four favorites. Yum! Then there was a muffin that tasted more like a brownie. Wow! I also chose a shortbread cookie dipped in dark chocolate at one end and white chocolate at the other. They were so pretty!

My favorite was the gooey, messy, and oh-so-chocholaty cake-like mixture made in a crockpot. It was warm and had a deep rich flavor, reminding me of a fudge cake Mom used to make.

I left the taste testing after giving one of the judges my four favorites. My head felt a little woozy from all of the heavenly sugar and fat, so I came home and ate cheese to let my system know I still had some control.

Obviously, not every day is that much fun, but when those days do come along, I’m grateful!

Have a blessed day!

Kayleen Reusser

http://www.KayleenR.com

Waiting on God

Sometimes it is easy to understand people once you’ve been in a circumstance like theirs. When Sarai in the Bible’s Old Testament book of Genesis couldn't conceive a child with her husband, Abram, she didn’t understand it. God had promised her and Abram that his descendents would come from Abram’s body and would cover a great land (Genesis 15:4-5; 18-21). But for many years, no son was born. Check these verses out at BibleGateway.com.

So Sarai took matters into her own hands. She wasn't getting any younger and she knew she couldn't wait much longer to carry a baby. So Sarai told Abram she would send for her maid, Hagar, and give her to Abram as his wife to bear a child. I’ll have to say—I’ve never been this desperate for anything in my life!

But Sarai wanted a son more than anything. As Abram’s wife, she had been promised a son by God, and yet for many years, she never conceived. Sarai must have thought something was wrong with her and Abram’s hearing. After all, they were getting on in years when God spoke to them—Sarai near 90 and Abram almost a century in years.

So Sarai took matters into her own hands. She figured if she gave her Egyptian maid, Hagar, to Abram, and Hagar conceived, the son would belong to Sarai and she could claim him as her own. (Genesis 16:2). This arrangement was common in that day, according to long-standing custom.

When Sarai did that, what a mess ensued! The relationship between Sarai and Abram became strained because Sarai was jealous of Hagar’s ability to conceive. Hagar lorded it over her mistress, which infuriated Sarai. To make matters worse, Abram didn’t seem like much of a leader or husband through the whole incident. He just seemed to go along with whatever Sarai told him to do. Perhaps he wanted a son as much as Sarai.

I’ve been in a similar situation like Sarai’s several times in my life. I’ve wanted to see instant action and get results in a reasonable amount of time. When I don’t see results of something I think God has promised me, I want to alter the waiting time to fit my expectations. ‘I should be at a certain weight by now.’ ‘I should have written several books by now, instead of just magazine articles.’ ‘I should have risen in my career further than I am by now.’

And sometimes I have tried to push myself to where I think I should be. Unequivocably, the result is chaos. Like Sarah’s life, mine is no better off for my manipulation. In fact, like hers, it is often in worse shape when I have tried to fix something.

My favorite verse in the Bible is Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together to those who love God and those who are called according to His purpose.” I learned this as a young teen at church camp at Lake James Christian Assembly and it has stuck with me ever since.

This verse means it doesn’t take our human manipulation to “fix” something we think God has forgotten or done badly. We need to pray about the matter and ask Him to give us patience and eyes to see His will in whatever situation we’re in.

Waiting is a tough situation to be in, but God is a good one to spend the time with.
Take care.

www.KayleenR.com
Kayleen Reusser