Daily Wisdom

Faith does not look within; it looks without.

  It is not what I think, nor what I feel, nor what I have done,

      But it is what Jesus Christ is and has done.

And so we should trust in Him who is our strength, and whose strength will never fail.

~D L Moody~

Submitted by Carol Pigg

Secret Santa Sister Surprises

This year I signed up for the Secret Santa Sister program at church because, you see, I love secrets and surprises, even the ones where the home pregnancy test dot changes color. Thank you, Lord, for Rebecca!

I was so excited! I had dozens of ideas of how I might surprise my designated sister . . . crazy and creative schemes to shower her with love and encouragement. I thought about renting a skywriting airplane, putting an ad in the classified section, staging a flash mob, getting a tattoo, asking the mayor to declare a day in her honor, having a flag flown over the capitol, naming a star after her, writing a song, and you get the idea, generally broad siding her with gee-whiz moments. Well, you know what happened?! The holidays happened. There were tangled lights and cold-tingled limbs; stocking stuffers and stuffing myself into stockings; dropping needles and gaining weight; carpal tunnel Christmas card-itis; parties, lunches, teas, and cocktails, dinners, balls, desserts, and brunches; Silent Night and loud malls, angels harking and dogs barking; board games and bored games; losing the tape, finding the scissors, finding the tape, losing the scissors, losing my mind, finding Nemo. Jesus got lost in the shuffle, somewhere between aisle two and ladies’ lingerie, and so did my Secret Sister. Oh, yeah, I managed to mail a few items, write a few notes, and sneak a few packages on her front porch, but I had planned oh so much more. It was my goal to bombard her, slather her, dunk her, plaster her, impress upon her, undergird her, surround her, and astound her with the love and grace of God through Christ Jesus. Since I failed to carry out my mission the first time around, let me tell you, Secret Santa Sister, what I would give to you if I could.

I would give you peace . . . not world peace, though that would be awesome, or whirled peas, though they would be healthy, but God’s peace, the peace that passes all understanding. It has the power to penetrate and overtake every ounce of our being and to smooth out and assuage every ragged emotion that is part of our human condition. It is the balm of Gilead, not sold at Bath and Body Works, and it does, indeed, make the wounded whole. It is found in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

I would give you hope, the hope that is spelled out in Jeremiah 29:11 . . . the Lord’s plans to “prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future.” This kind of hope provides sure footing for our life journey and a spring in our step that far exceeds anything that a little pink pill can do. It opens wide our eyes to the friends who accompany us, the joys that bloom along our path, and the secure knowledge that we have a Divine purpose in our walk. Above all, hope is the assurance of eternal life in the very presence of our Creator God. It is found in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

I would give you faith -- unshakeable, rock solid, unwavering, unswerving, steadfast, Gorilla-glue-like faith. Yep, I would give you a little chunk of genuine faith, about the size of a mustard seed, because that is all you need to see you through the storms of life. I would give you the will to do faith work-outs, sorta like Zumba class and water aerobics, but not exactly. That is, I would encourage you to grow your faith muscle by regularly exercising it through the practice of the Spiritual disciplines (you’ll have to read up on those). Invite the Holy Spirit to be your faith fitness coach and boom, the faith you need to move mountains will be yours. It is found in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

I would give you grace or, as the definition says, “God’s unmerited favor.” In other words, I would give you the knowledge that you were, are, will be . . . in every tense . . . forgiven! I would also give you the mercy and goodness you need to extend that forgiveness to others – radical, extravagant, other-worldly forgiveness, because that’s what God offers us, self-centered creeps that we are. This kind of grace and forgiveness was made possible through the sacrifice of God’s only Son. It is found in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

I would give you love, in all its many forms: storge or affectionate love; philia or friendship love; eros or romantic love (We gotta keep those home fires burning!); and agape or unconditional love. Agape love is found you know where. It is found in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Oh, dear Secret Sister, on top of all that, I would also give you a diamond bracelet; a cruise to a Caribbean resort; a life-time’s worth of his and her massages; a personal chef, tailor, gardener, hairdresser, and housekeeper; a Mary Poppins babysitter at your command; every New York Times best-seller; a membership in the Chocolate of the Month Club; and a super sweet red convertible.

I would also give you good health, a bevy of wild and crazy girlfriends, and laughter, laughter, laughter. It is, without a doubt, the best medicine, unless your pelvic floor muscles are weak.

Finally, I would give you the answer to your question: “Who is my Secret Santa Sister?” Your secret sister is me! I love you, Courtney, and will continue to pray that peace, hope, faith, grace, love, health, girlfriends and laughter are yours, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. As for the rest, well, you’re on your own! When do you want to do lunch?

Sue Busler

Nike's Devotional: Paws-ing to Say "Meow-y Christmas!"

Mommy made a commitment to write a devotional each month for the Ruby
Magazine.  But she has been really busy, and I want to avoid a cat-astrophe.  So I am jumping in and taking things into my own paws.  

Let me introduce myself.  I am Nike McKellar, the most affectionate cat in the world.   As you can see, I'm also pretty good at walking across the computer keyboard and using the mouse.  You should feel honored because I'm usually sleeping on my heated kitty cushion, sleeping in the sun, sleeping under the desk lamp, sleeping on Daddy's lap in the recliner, or perching expectantly on the kitchen railing.  I wake up and leap to the railing whenever I hear the refrigerator door.  I have Daddy trained pretty well, so he usually comes through with a few shreds of my favorite ... cheese!  Mommy just gives me a few pets on the head when I'm perched there, but that's okay too because I love getting attention.  My life is almost purr-fect, except that Mommy and Daddy don't spend enough time sitting around in the living room or feeding me cheese.  

Well I promised you a devotional.  So here goes.  Cats are special!  The Bible says so!  "God made ... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good" (Genesis 1:25).  He included us cats along with Noah when He sent that first rainbow: "And God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you'" (Genesis 9:12).  He loves cats and cares for us! "He gives food to every creature. His love endures furr-ever" (Psalm 136:25).  He even included cats when Jesus was born!  "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'" (Luke 2:11-12)  I'll bet that made the barn cats purr!  Yes, cats are special!  "My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise his holy name furr-ever and ever" (Psalm 145:21).

Well, I gotta go now - I need to get back to my 23 hours of sleep for the day!  But before I do, let me remind you that Santa Claws may be fun, but Christmas is really all about God's purr-fect gift to all of us ... His Son Jesus Christ!  Meow-y Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Your furry friend, 
Nike McKellar 

God's Paper Chain

 In our house, when there is some event we are looking forward to, we make a paper chain. You know, the strips of construction paper that you make links out of and join them together. For every day that passes, you tear off one of the links, counting down to an important event or date. This week in homeschool with my girls, we made a paper chain to count down the days we have left until Christmas.  After we had made the chain and hung it up above our school desks, I was cleaning up our supplies. A thought occurred to me as I looked at the chain in great anticipation of celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. "Does God have a paper chain?" I mean, not literally, I suppose. I guess what was going through my mind was "Is God counting down the days until we are all together again?"  Because truly He is the only One who knows when exactly that day will be.   "Does God look forward to being with me as much as I am looking forward to being with Him?"   We've been talking about Heaven in church the past couple of weeks, and it has me thinking a lot about it lately. What will it be like? What will we look like? Will we get to do our favorite things? Will we get to enjoy our favorite foods (without the calories)? I picture Jesus standing there waiting for me, seeing His face for the first time, thanking Him and praising Him for saving my life.  I think about all of my friends and loved ones that are there waiting for me.  I think about the baby that I lost, waiting for his Mommy to come hold him for the first time.  There is a lot of uncertainty of course, but one thing is for sure.  I'm gonna be there!  I have been saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ and I will be there!

I know that God does not have an actual paper chain, like we do at our house. But I do know one thing: Only God knows when we will be together. Only God knows how many days we have on Earth. Recently, a friend of our family was killed in a car accident. 58 years old. Fortunately, she knew and loved God and walked with Him daily. She knew that morning when she got up that if anything happened to her, she would go to be with Jesus. I pray that we all come to live in that certainty. Every beat of our heart, every breath in our lungs is given to us by Jesus.  He alone knows when our last heartbeat and breath will be, and He alone knows the exact moment He will return to Earth to gather all who believe in Him as our Savior to enter into Heaven with Him. So if the last link on God's paper chain for our lives is torn off today, are you ready? 

 Lisa Powell

Faithful Fitness with Beth Miramonti Wants YOU!

What is Faithful Fitness?
Faithful Fitness is about taking care of our whole bodies. It’s about creating the very best House in which we can best accommodate Jesus Christ, our most Honored Guest. It is a place where we can gather and share ideas, goals, challenges and successes. Where we pray for and encourage one another.

What motivated you to start the Faithful Fitness group?
I had been working out at home to a program on TV called Faithful Workouts http://www.faithfulworkouts.com/. Sharon Wood and I attended a fitness class at First Baptist Church in Maryville last year and enjoyed it so much we wanted to do something similar at our church. Having NO fitness training background, I offered to facilitate a group if people were willing to gather and work out together to a video. I won the Best of Faithful Workouts video (our very first training video) in an online contest, and Faithful Fitness was born. 

What areas have you seen improve or expand and in what areas are you still looking for that growth? What are some future plans? 
We began getting together in Jan 2012 on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for a 32 minute video led workout. My original intention was to incorporate prayer, devotion and share time into that hour we’d scheduled to gather. Honestly, timing and schedules have cut that time together to only video time, but some of the newer videos we are using incorporate prayer and devotion into the practice. Aside from the workout time at the church I also formed a Facebook Group called Faithful Fitness Friends. There we can check in daily on each other, share praises and goals. I often post devotions, humorous quotes and pictures to motivate and encourage. Several of us recently completed a 4 week Holy Yoga instructional course with Jill Fisk. There are close to thirty people currently involved in a 30 day Plank Challenge, and about 10 of us are signed up as a team called Fit & Faithful for the St. Louis Color Run coming up August 18th.  

What are the age limitations and expected fitness levels of people in the Faithful Fitness group? Do you have to be a member of TUMC to join? 
Faithful Fitness is for everyone over 12 who is interested in getting or staying physically fit. We have several types of exercise and many options to accommodate all ages and stages.  Some of the new videos we are looking at actually show you a chair option if getting to the floor or back up is a problem. Many of the routines can be "boosted" to accommodate the fittest of the bunch. The exercise bands we use allow a person to decide just how much resistance they want to use for each move. Our " TUMC regulars" include Becky Rushing, Debbie Rakers and Rebecca Ellis. One of my most Faithful Fitness Friends, is Stacey Anderson, a good friend from high school who isn't a member of the church, but is still a major part of our group.  Our daughters have joined when in town, and the workouts give those young 20-somethings a challenge as well. It's all about what you put into it. We will take you wherever you are and work from there. 

Is childcare provided for the workout times?  
A nursery is provided in the evenings and would be available upon request in the mornings. Adrian is currently running a kids fitness group that coincides with our workout time for the 3-12 yr olds. 

What is the current meeting schedule for workouts? 
We are currently meeting at 5 am on Mondays and Wednesdays and "walking" ourselves fit with Leslie Sansone's video's on loan to us from Ruth Alysworth. Originally I had named this Spiritual Stretching with a yoga/pilates focus, but we found these videos and REALLY liked them. Of the ladies who are participating, some need to head to work after so we get a brisk 2-3 mile walk in by 6am. We meet at 7am on Saturday mornings for HOLY YOGA and are using the level 1 DVD included in Brooke Boone's book, Exercise for the Christian Body and Soul, which takes about an hour. And finally, on Tuesday evening at 7 we are currently offering a 32 min Faithful Workout, total body workout. 

Tell us more about the 30 day Plank Challenge. 
The 30-Day Plank Challenge is just something I found online and wanted to do, but wanted to have the accountability to stick to it. The plank pose is one of the best workouts to strengthen your core that has one in push up position or on your forearms and keeping your back straight (like a plank) and holding that position as long as you can. This 30-Day challenge is supposed to get you up to holding that pose for 5 minutes by the end of the month. I posted it on the Faithful Fitness facebook page to see who else would be interested in joining and received quite a bit of feedback. Not only are women from my group doing it, but they are recruiting their husbands, kids, and neighbors to do it with them.

"Get Your Plank On" T shirts available now. Limited quantities for most sizes- $10 each.  All proceeds go to Faithful Fitness videos and equipment!!! Get yours while they last! 

Class times and challenges are scheduled to change in August so contact me, Beth at faithfulfitnessTUMC@gmail.com or Adrian at  Adrian@troyumc.org at Troy United Methodist Church for more information. Come join us; you will be glad you did!