Heart Hope by Olga

A young woman enters the airplane with a new diamond ring on her finger. She had just received the engagement ring and was excited about her new position in life. She put her luggage in the overhead compartment in first class since there was no room in the economy section then took her seat in coach.  The doors had been shut and the flight attendants had been asked to prepare the cabin for takeoff when the young woman made a horrifying discovery—her ring was missing. She knew she had worn it and that it was on her finger when she boarded the aircraft. A flight attendant made an announcement for everyone to search the floor of the plane to see if we could find the missing ring. Heads were turning every direction, bodies leaning over and bags being moved to help this distressed young lady, but no ring was found. The plane had begun moving when the flight attendant thought to check and see if the ring had come off when the bag was placed in the overhead compartment. Cheers and clapp...

"Pretty" Pothole Hitting the brakes…Cars swerving to the left or to the right…car tires plummeting into the abyss… it must be pothole season. They are quite common along the roads in the mountainous area of Colorado this time of year. The harsh winter weather with water, ice, gravel and extreme temperatures takes its toll on the pavement. What might start with only a little crack ends up being a huge hazard in our path.  Potholes, no one likes them, but we must learn how to deal with them. They seem to pop up overnight, but in reality may be the result of months of wear and tear. Potholes almost always start with tiny fractures along the surface of the pavement, something you might not even notice while driving down the street. The cracks allow water to seep into the surface of the road, which can freeze, causing the surface of the road to buckle and become fragile. When cars drive over it, the surface breaks down and begins to crumble and deteriorate quickly.  Sin is a ...

While visiting my friend Beth Mason in Buena Vista, CO over the weekend for a speaking engagement, she shared this delicious healthy wrap with me. Flour tortillas 8 oz cream cheese 1/4 c chopped spinach 1-2 T pesto (to taste) Roasted red peppers sliced thin Thin pieces of fresh asparagus Deli thin sliced turkey Yellow squash cut in matchstick pieces Mix the softened cream cheese with the spinach and pesto to taste. Spread mixture onto flour tortillas with a thin layer to the edge of the tortilla. Place several pieces of red pepper, asparagus stems, squash and turkey on approximately half of the tortilla. Roll up tightly from the filled side edge to the empty edge. The cream cheese will act as the glue to hold it together. If not using immediately these may be stored with the rolled edge down in the refrigerator overnight, then when ready to use, slice and serve. www.hearthope.org

My mother is one of the servants in God’s kingdom that uses her gifts that often times go unnoticed. She loves people and has a way of making them feel special. At 85 years of age, she still works at the food pantry, sacking groceries for the needy in Jackson, MS. She has worked with a prison ministry as a mentor for women who have been incarcerated, but have been released to a halfway house. She has assisted them with finding jobs, buying clothes and even taught them about meal planning and cooking.  Mother’s ongoing job for her church is to visit the shut-ins. At one time they were all much older than she was, but now many of them are her peers. Mother will load up her arms with devotional books and special holiday treats to disperse to the ladies and sometimes men in assisted living or nursing homes. Recently while Mother was visiting an old college friend, the mother of a childhood friend of mine who has Alzheimer’s walked over to insist that mother call her daughter to come ...

It is my opinion that every child should have swimming lessons, so that there would be no reason to have needless deaths in our country from a child drowning just because they don’t know how to swim. Therefore I was excited on a recent trip to Houston to discover that 3 year old Molly was in swim lessons.  In the past Molly has enjoyed the water only when she has had some type of mechanism to keep her afloat—a parent's arms, floaties or an inner tube. She tried swimming lessons last year and was traumatized by the method—sink or swim. I happened to be there for her first few lessons and to an outsider just listening they would have thought for sure a case of child abuse was in process. Molly yelled and screamed from the moment she saw the teacher until she realized that we were not going to rescue her.  The teacher has an unusual method of teaching the children. There is no preliminary preparation, such as keep you mouth closed, make bubbles by blowing through your nose; i...

Frozen Sweet Potato Fries (I used the crinkle cut) Bake until crispy Sour Cream Dipping Sauce: ¾ cup sour cream 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice 1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro or parsley ¼ teaspoon minced garlic ¼ teaspoon ground cumin ¼ teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon lime zest Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir well to mix through. Yield: ¾ cup www.hearthope.org

Overheard in the office last week was: “She’s not speaking to me…I don’t know why she is mad at me.” Both women are church attendees, which makes it even worse in my opinion. How does it look to the outside world if Christians can’t get along with one another? I have never understood why two people would stop talking to each other. If you have a problem with someone, can’t you just work it out?  If someone were to stop talking to me, I would at least make an effort to see if I had done something to cause them harm or to upset them and then try to make amends. And I don’t think I have ever gotten mad enough at someone to keep me silent for more than a few minutes.  Maybe it comes from my grandfather teaching his granddaughters that we were not to let the sun go down on our anger (Ephesians 4:26). While walking down the office corridor after hearing the comment, I began wondering what it would be like if God acted that way towards us.   It might look something like th...