Heart Hope by Olga

Grandmother was a godly woman who helped to shape and mold who I am today. Unfortunately her life was short though impactful. She was first diagnosed in her early fifties with breast cancer in the days before chemo therapy, partial mastectomies and reconstructive surgeries. Her first response was, "I will not comment or make any decisions until I have been to Gethsemane and spoken to God about it; then I'll be ready to face whatever He asks." Her option was a radical mastectomy and radiation treatment, quite different from the options of today with the high rates of survival. Although she survived 10 years before a recurrence that ended up metastasizing in her lungs. If you don't know about Gethsemane, it is the place where Christ prayed to His Father on the night before His crucifixion. He asked God to take the assignment away from Him because He knew the pain and suffering He would have to endure, but He ended His time of prayer with the phrase "Not...

How quickly we forget the total dependence that a newborn baby has on its parents. The helpless child can do nothing without the assistance of someone else. Unlike the horse which can stand just moments after it birth, and the duck that can swim hours after arriving in this world, a baby is helpless. Yes, each baby is born with the instinct to suck and can move basic parts of its body, but the infant would quickly die without someone to meet its every need. As Christians when we first come to know Jesus as our Savior, we feel completely dependent on Him. We don't know exactly what we should do, or how we should act or what to say, so we rely heavily on Him to show us through His word or a sermon or another person. As we grown in our faith, we become more comfortable and confident in that relationship and begin to spread our wings a bit. Sometimes we even become self-reliant and lose that former dependence. At that point God may allow certain things in our life to ...

The memories are the only thing left of the 2015 World Alpine Championships. During the 2 weeks of the competition our community was invaded by the world with over 70 different countries from the typical ski nations of Austria, Norway, and Sweden to the unusual such as Haiti and Israel. The buzz in the air with languages from many different countries and the festivities that took over 5 years to plan were exciting. Free concerts both in Vail and Avon, with enhanced transportation throughout the Valley and daily races made the events accessible to all. The weather cooperated and was beautiful with mainly blue sky days and milder temperatures. With all of the hoopla around town, my favorite part was of course the people. The very young to the very old and everyone in between were my targets. From the child with ice cream coated face, to the young kid who purposely came up and thanked me for volunteering, to the man who had been around since the beginning of Vail all ...

It had been cold, gray and snowy all week. That’s the reason the homeless man had been sleeping on either the bench or the sofa in the lobby of my office building for the past 3 nights. It is a rare occasion due to the harsh winter elements in our small mountain community that we encounter anyone who is really homeless. Oh yes, we might see an occasional person who is just passing through, but not someone who lives here. That’s why my co-worker and true humanitarian, Wendy, was terribly disturbed when she discovered his situation. When she came to me to see what kind of input I might have to rectify the situation, I was reminded of the Bible study lesson earlier in the week, where the leader asked us where we might be able to serve Jesus in an illogical way. Was this my opportunity? If so, I didn’t want to miss it. A quick call was made to church to see if our office manager might be able to give us some suggestions. Her advice was to find out if he had any plans ...