Is it all in the right place???

I cannot get away from this thought!! It is 2am here on Saturday morning! I am NEVER awake at this time! We had a busy day, preparing our fellowship hall for the 80th birthday party of our dear friend, Sis. Bonnie Keyes! She is Bro. Rick Keyes' and Bro. Randy Keyes' mother. The Keyes family is putting together a fabulous celebration of which we are so honored to host at our church since Kerman is the town that she raised her two sons in and in our church. In fact there are pictures of the building that the celebration is to be in, which is now our fellowship hall, being built and the Keyes boys are in the pictures as small children!

The celebration is not why I am awake! I helped her granddaughter, Sis. Kim Johnson, with some of the decorating, etc. until 11:00pm. Cherish was exhausted and starving so my husband and I came home, ate a quick burger, and got to bed at 12pm. A call came that Stephen had to go to the hospital!

So this is where we find me now!! Stephen has gone, Cherish is long ago gone to slumber land, and I find myself in a very quiet house! I am spoiled rotten, I want my husband home! I guess that is pretty natural, isn't it!! To the thought that I cannot get away from, it is the thought I that I posted a couple of days ago about standing against the flow!

You know, Sis. Bonnie Keyes, along with her wonderful husband who has gone to be with the Lord, Bro. Isaac Keyes, raised two mighty men of God! We all know that Bro. Randy Keyes is highly respected among our fellowship around the world. We love his family dearly and highly honor them! Anyone who knows us, knows that Bro. Rick and Sis. Pat Keyes, are some of the dearest people to our hearts! God truly knew what he was doing when he put Bro. Rick Keyes and Stephen Hill together and molded their hearts! I have heard the deepest and most tender conversations between those two men. Even though, Papa Keyes, as my Cherish calls him, is old enough to be Stephen's father, those two men are amazing when they share spiritual insights!

Why am I mentioning those two? Because I am trying to see what was different in that home, in this church at that time, in this city..................that not only raised one young manto do a great work for God, but two? I've heard the stories of those boys riding their bike each day after school to the church to pray for hours, but you know, I have put a lot of stories together to see a lifestyle! I heard about them filling their car with people to drive with no air conditioning to church! Dedicated? One of the stories is the fact that EVERY time the Keyes household had fellowship with another dear family of that time, the Johns family, they would not ever leave each other's home without first getting in a circle and having a time of prayer and devotion. How many of us can say that we do that on a regular basis? We keep our prayer time personal, or of course as pastors we pray with our people when in need, but just if we go to our friends for dinner? Hmmmm.....!

One of our teenage girls left a comment on my post about standing against the flow, that this has been on her mind so strong for a few weeks. Yes, Katrina, mine, too! I worry about our girls! I know that there is such a pull from the world to look and act a certain way, but in the end, is it worth it? I have always had a strong bond with young girls, wanting to somehow make their way easier for them. The only way that I can do that is to lead them to God and let Him make the way easier!

I think that the bottom line is, getting back to the basics! Have we brought too much into our lives? We are so busy with programs, getting our music just right, higher education, wardrobes to perfection, the perfect of all possessions, and the list goes on (you see that this is in our churches and in our personal lives!) All of these things are good, they are right in each of their own categories! But when they are our single focus, do we need to re-adjust something? We need to strive to better ourselves, but in doing so, are we leaving out what really matters?

About 12 or 13 years ago, (I'll make this story short) we were evangelizing and our travel trailer, which was our only home at that time, held ALL of our earthly possessions. It vandalized and we literally lost everything we owned. Until that point, I had carefully taken each thing down when we moved our trailer and painstakingly put each china tea cup back in it's precise place after our tedious travel. After we lost it all and God so graciously saw fit to trust us with new things, I no longer cringed every time we went over a horrendous pothole in the freeway in Louisiana!! I figured that it could all be replaced again! That what really mattered at that time was the safety of my husband and little Misti! (she's all we had then!)

Maybe that is where I am finding myself again, looking to the only thing that really matters! My relationship with God first, am I EVERYTHING that I can possibly be for Him? What do I need more of and what do I need to cut out? He is the most important! Second, my relationship with my family, am I fulfilling all of my responsibilities there? What more can I do for my husband, my little Cherish, my Misti & Adam? Then of course, my church family!

What I have just said in this book is, "Have I searched my heart and life? Is everything in it's right perspective?"

If so, I don't think I will find it as hard as it has been in the past to travel against that strong tide!! (Hmmm....travel, wouldn't that be moving in a very certain direction?)

OK, it is now 2:53am and my eyes are barely open!! Goodnight all!!