trust – Page 2 – Home's Cool!

S.O.S.

Posted on January 31, 2014September 29, 2018 by Katharine

He glistened.

Before he got into the water.

His gray hair and receding hairline, seemed out of place with his rippling muscles as he eased himself into the lounge chair he’d erected in the sand. His arms, legs, and chest bore the tawny hue and slick sheen of a professional tanner. His swim trunks were probably silk.

As he settled, facing the water and the scorching afternoon sun, eyes shut, the rest of us minced our way into the water. Spring-fed, it felt exactly like iced tea. I wondered if ice cubes would even melt in this lake.

I finally advanced to waist-deep and noticed another woman inching along, steeling herself against frigid wavelets from splashers nearby. She and I shared small talk about her husband betting her she could not submerge herself. So far, he was winning.

About 25 yards out, a tall rock formation provided a fun diving area. Occasionally, I could hear exactly what some child out there might holler at another. The acoustics around us, so surreal, could give goose bumps, even if the water did not, and even if the day was hotter than the lake was cold.

I worried about the elderly tanner. Was he hydrated? He had no drink container with him. He certainly was dripping with perspiration, and seemed asleep. What a shame if he blistered that expensive tan. Or overheated.

I decided to keep an occasional eye on him. The elderly sometimes have no clue about health things.

I’d just turned back to my resolve of getting completely wet, when the old guy sprang from his nap and flung himself into the water, in a perfect emergency dive. Flat, but no belly flop.

Into ice water.

On a 100-degree day.

And kept going. One powerful front-crawl stroke after another, he reached the base of that rock platform in about ten seconds.

And fished a floundering boy from the water, holding him up and safe, while the child coughed and gagged and sputtered and cried. The old man rinsed scant blood off the child’s chest, examining him closely. They mumbled conversation, the old man forcing eye contact, the child impatiently nodding his head, trying to swim free from the firm grip on his arm.

Answering the SOS As the child climbed back up the rock, his savior watched, and called to him, “You stay away from the edge, there, you hear me?”

And then swam back, all 25 yards, almost as fast.

And walked out onto the burning sand, hardly winded.

And muttered to the astonished ones around him, “That was my grandson.”

___________

True story.

How about you? Ever save someone? Don’t be shy.

Believe it or not!, Guest Post, Inspiring

What is your phobia?

Posted on October 22, 2013May 17, 2015 by Katharine

I write on Arkansas Women Bloggers’ Website, today, about what used to be my phobia, and once you read it, you will know why it was my fear and how I got rid of it.

For more excitement you can read some of my posts about fear:

And finally, before you skip on over to Arkansas Women Bloggers, allow me to tell you a story about a daughter of a friend of mine. I’ll call her Emily.

Emily was a newly wed and at first, she and her husband lived in her parents’ hunting cabin, in the form of an old trailer house, near a river around here, while they worked to build up savings and tried to find the perfect house. They also needed to buy the furniture for their new life and had just purchased a brand new hide-a-bed couch and had placed in the living room of that trailer house. On a whim, one night, they decided to try out the mattress inside that new couch.

That night, unbeknownst to them, a tornado approached and tried to take their lives. However, since they were asleep in the hide-a-bed when it hit and lifted and rolled the trailer house, their “bed” folded up upon them and enclosed them in that brand new mattress while all the jumble of being in a tornado was going on.

They escaped unharmed except for bruises.

After examining the damage they realized the rest of the miraculous protection they had received that night: In their bedroom, where they might have been except for the “random” decision to try out the new mattress in the living room, they found the dresser had landed on the mattress of their bed and had cut it into two pieces.

They would have been dead except…

Before very long they bought a beautiful, old. two-story house in the graceful section of town and another tornado hit, toppling an old oak tree directly into their upstairs bedroom. They were not at home, another “random” decision, this time to accept an impromptu dinner invitation.

After that, Emily was convinced she was the safe one during tornadoes.

We live where large-scale farmers grow tomatoes for market. Emily’s job was humble, working in the tomato fields alongside migrant workers, picking tomatoes.

It pays.

One day, as they all were working, a tornado approached, visibly, and, of course, all the workers were terrified.

Except for Emily..

She firmly commanded all the migrant workers–who all were men–to gather around her, as she claimed God would not let a tornado harm her. They believed her, and like a mother hen, Emily enclosed all those men very close to her, wrapping her arms around them, and they all prayed, not all in English.

The tornado lifted.

She was right.

And I aim to be like her, someday.

Okay, NOW go on over to Arkansas Women Bloggers and learn more about my old phobia!

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,
Your very great reward.”

But Abram said, “O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Genesis 15:1-5

And here we are.

And we still cannot count them.

Sunday Scriptures – Infinity

Quote• Posted on October 13, 2013October 13, 2013 by Katharine

Joseph recognized by his brothers, by Léon Pie...

It works, no matter what.

Image• Posted on October 8, 2013October 8, 2013 by Katharine

Let’s Recycle Our Money!

Go here to learn how!

Shredded Money (Photo credit: Jim Larson)

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia lobby... — The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia lobby featuring a 25-foot tower of shredded money. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Fed Shreds at the Money Museum at the Federal ... — Fed Shreds at the Money Museum at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (Photo credit: Steve Rhodes)

The money house (Photo credit: dougward) [insulated with shredded money…]

A Fair College Fair!

Friends, I just found some exciting news about a new overview of US colleges. You might want to check this out:

Unlike U.S. News and World Report and similar guides, this one asks not what colleges can do for you, but what colleges are doing for the country. Are they just catering to the affluent? Are they improving the quality of their teaching, or ducking accountability for it? Are they trying to become more productive—and if so, why is average tuition rising faster than health care costs? Every year we lavish billions of tax dollars and other public benefits on institutions of higher learning. This guide asks: Are we getting the most for our money?

You can read the report for FREE, here.

Home School, Inspiring, Wisdom

Click “Undo” – 2

Posted on June 25, 2013November 28, 2015 by Katharine

Yesterday we began a series about how to begin home educating a child who is acclimatized to the collective school situation and may be reluctant about this big change in his life. You may want to catch up, here.

The second step is somehow to teach your child also to care more.

Unless your child has begged for rescue from the collective system, he may not see what you see or care about what you care about (his welfare).

He may not be comfortable with the idea that his education or his life is worth caring about.

He may not realize that it is now safe for him to care about life.

Affirmations of thankfulness and celebration about his new presence in your daily affairs will help him see a glimpse of it. As your actions follow your words, he will begin to believe it, and to feel some of the same, himself.

The third step is to help your child understand what is happening in his life.

Even if he begged to home school, he is accustomed to a regime of bells jangling and other buffeting noises, dependent upon someone else telling him every move to make, and missing his old friends.

Now someone (you) must deal with this regimented, buffeted, dependent, and friendless soul who is moping at your kitchen table.

How do you explain? You start with God. If you have not had much time to minister God to your child, take it easy—you do not want to overwhelm him and you cannot force him.

You will have a long time to get your whole school right, but you have only now to get now right. Proceed humbly. Pray without ceasing.

If he does understand the concept of knowing God’s will, you can tell him that you are obeying God, and that sometimes that means changes that do not feel comfortable. There always is some other way that seems right to us. (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25)

Confess that you could not or would not hear God, before, which is how you both got to where you are now. Yes, confess. Apologize and ask for forgiveness. You, dear parent, have wasted a portion of the life of this child, who was at your mercy, leading him to learn to enjoy the world’s ways; you have seen the coming consequences; and you have repented. Now you must woo a child of the world to see the light of God’s glorious way for His people. Your humble, repeated apology will help him see that the old way was wrong and that when he longs for it, he too is wrong. Do not expect him to see it at first, but do tell him, often, how sorry you are and do not merely tell him. Show him. Make amends, somehow. Often.

More tomorrow.