Brainworm/Earworm/Songworm

Brainworm. Earworm. Songworm. By any such name, all are equally irritating.

Repetitive. Stuck. 

Unwanted. 

Catchy in a negative way.

Unlike the urban dictionary definition, my brainworms can be words only w/o melody---I can get a brainworm, usually between 2 am and 4 am ---pithy disturbing phrases like "if only".....or "what if." Then my brain begins to fill in the blank over and over again. Thought after thought.

Trying to capture & replace those "brainy earworms" of thoughts (2 Corinthians 10:5) can lead to a musical interlude earworm melody to full blown songworm---not something like "Come Thou Fount" but more like zumba songs. Songs that I can't even understand the words to----I only know the first few repetitive words----haven't a clue what the song is really about---I just know those pounding, too upbeat for the middle of the night, phrases. Think "bang, bang da, da, da, da, bang, bang....." or "I'm all about that bass, 'Bout that bass, no treble" over and over and over again. There is no rest with those vibrating words in my head.

"Earworm" Used by permission of the artist, Owen

I need more pithy scripture lyrics with a slowbeat replacement melody---esp. this morning when the earworm went from 2:30 til sometime after 5.














Be gone Brainworm/Earworm/Songworm...whatever you are.

Just because.....

you wanted to do it.

Have you ever bought anything for lots of reasons but none in particular? As a "frugal Fanny," I rarely buy a grocery store item for no particular reason, unless it's on sale.

But I did today---though there was an underlying feeling of nostalgia that prompted the purchase.

Do you recognize it?

I have probably eaten papaya before in a mixed "tropical" fruit salad, but I've never bought one. This one was already cut in half so I could see it looked ripe. So....in to my Fresh Market bitty basket it went.

Prior to that, I spent several minutes recalling Lynda Lou Graham Cross. Lynda Lou my Pi Phi little sis in 1965. Lynda Lou, a "campus cutie" and Derby Day queen." Originally from Madison, TN, she left MSU after her sophomore year, married and moved to Lepanto, AR and on to Jamaica, where she and her family lived on a "papaya plantation." Eventually Lynda Lou returned to the Mid-South, in MS Delta area. Then I lost track of her. Standing there in the produce department, my heart hurt thinking about that loss. (Psalm 14:18)

All of those memories prompted by a papaya plant. So....naturally, I had to buy it....just because!

"Spot On"

Sometimes a devotional entry will be "spot on"----a full spotlight shining on me and my shortcomings, needs, frustrations, desires, etc. 

Last Wednesday (7/31) on a patio in Texas, my on-line entry of Jesus Calling---with words used by Sarah Young---got my attention.

Frustrated.

Frazzled.

Upset with self. 

People know me to say, "It's so hard being me." How that must sadden God's heart----my low opinion of myself. My self-deprecating humanness.

Since then, I have been meditating a good bit on one of the the scripture passages for that day, John 20:19. I've practiced being still enough to hear the resurrection blessing, "Peace be with you." 
Peace from God, available to me through Christ----I just need to appropriate it into my life.

Then, yesterday's sermon gave me more points to ponder. I recognized the one who destroys my peace and the One who not only grants me peace but assures it as He calls me by my name.

Satan knows my name but calls me by my struggle. (Oh how I fall into that "shame" so easily.) But God knows my struggle, yet He calls me by my name. (John 10:13)

"Spot on" devotional followed up by a "spot on" quote!

BLUE MOON......

Blue Moon.....coming tonight!
Sometime early in 1984 I read aloud Walk When the Moon is Full to Buddy, (13)  Josh (8) & Molly. (4)
The book inspired us to take walks at midnight when the moon was full.

The journal entry from that time showed monthly walks---neighborhood walks around the block and in the back alley of 2211 in my Kentucky hometown (Hopkinsville), a walk around deck of an overnight cruise ship to the Bahamas and a walk to the banks of the Wolf River to play touch football in the sand by the bright light of the moon.

Sometimes we would wake them at midnight (at least we told them it was 12:00) and rush to the car in our PJs for a midnight jaunt to get a slurpee.

What we discovered in the summer of 1985 was there were 13 full moons that year----with 2 of them in July. We had our own "once in a blue moon" moment just as that idiom was catching on with the rest of America.

Our (Liles) kids are now adults. I wonder if they remember those moonlight walks at midnight and experiencing 13 full moons in 1985.

"In the Boat"

I have just started reading, The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown., even though I had said that I was going to ease up on "war" books because no matter how well written, there was an element of horror that saddens me. At least this one is pre WWII.
Brown had me in the prologue. To Joe, "the boat" was something  mysterious and almost beyond definition.It was a shared experience--a singular thing that had occurred in a golden sliver of time long gone, when nine good-hearted young menstrove together, pulled together as one, gave everythng they had for one another, bound together forever by pride, and respect and love."(p.2)
If the rest of the book grabs me like the prologue, I'm in for a "goodread."

I get it, albeit in less dramatic experiences. In my Christian walk, I have found a depth to relationship shared with believers on the same side of the struggle, whether it be grief, worry, or cancer.

Growing up, I knew what it meant when someone said, "we are all in the same boat." But I like Joe Rantz's positive meaning better.

Surprise!

Surprise Scenario

Church pastor, who happens to be my son, is injured playing “adult” league soccer. (That part wasn’t surprising at all.)

Possible bone bruise. Pain continues. Conscientious, somewhat perfectionist, ortho doc orders MRI. 

MRI completed. Tear in ACL “clearly” shown. Surgery recommended. Surgery to repair ACL scheduled for July 24, tho time changes occurred up until the day before the procedure.

Warriors praying before, during and after the surgery ---double digit in number.

God’s best. Diminished pain. Quick & complete recovery.

Surgery Day--Required scope ensued as part of ACL pre-surgery protocol when harvesting tissue from a cadaver.

Unexpected twist occurred---no tear in ACL was found.

Doc cleaned out, sewed up, bandaged up and sent home with crutches. Doc said, "ACL tear shadow seemed apparent MRI but.....scope showed NO tear.

Unexpected twists. Shock. Astonishment. How about just a good old-fashioned prayer answering miracle?

So why do we act surprised when things turn out better than expected?

Just like saints praying for the release of imprisoned Peter in the book of Acts---we’re often astonished at the outcome!

The whole “church” is praying for Peter’s release. The angel of the Lord (12:7) comes and releases his chains. Peter realizes the Lord sent the angel and he went to Mary’s home .(John Mark’s mother) Peter had an encounter at the gate with a girl who saw him but the thinking of the pray-ers was, “That can’t be Peter – he’s in jail. It must be an angel.”

“We’re here praying for his freedom, so he can’t be free” seemed the mentality.

“But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.” (Acts 12:16)

Is it because our prayers sometimes seem to go unanswered, that we find ourselves expecting God to do little or nothing when we pray?

Too often, we’re even hesitant to see answered prayers for what they are----God’s best surprise!

WATER BUDDIES

Neighborhood pool provides a refreshing respite for John Parker and Andrew from those TEXAS TEMPS! (Which locals think aren't as HOT as some years) 

The 3 older boys were all at different Performance Course conditioning workouts. 

To me, that's brutal in this heat, but....that's what "sports" folks do in Texas. 

So.....tomorrow I'll once again choose to accompany my water buddies to the "cool" pool.

7/21/1944

71 years ago Mommar and Grandaddy eloped. Of course, they didn't have their affectionate grandparent names at that time----they were just Mary (18 for 9 days) and Robert (17). 

Young love.

Looking for a "young" picture to post.

Roller Coaster Week

The week began with (7/13/15) birthday prayers for dear, dear friend Ashley Bryan, one of my "young at heart" friends, who celebrated 92 years of vibrant life this past Monday. Ashley says he celebrates everyday the good Lord gives him as a new "birth" day and he is grateful. I was grateful for hubby and I to have been able to celebrate his 90th with him at Isleford, ME.

Ashley's 90th w/ Larry 2013

Monday ended with reading the Jesus Calling reminder of " "fix your gaze on ME, the Lover of your soul" coupled with hospice prayers with sweet sister in Christ, Patti J., who could barley speak. 

She uttered "A-men" as I  concluded. It was the last word I would ever hear her say.

Jégkrém in Kővágóörs Hungary with Patti, who always chose frozen yogurt when available.

....the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. (Job 1:21)

Ashley celebrated with friends all week. Patti went home to be with the Lord early Thursday morning---and I share at her funeral in a matter of hours---a roller coaster ride orchestrated in heaven.

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants. (Psalm 116:15)

July 16, 2015

Patti Lauren Johnson 

January 4, 1951-July 16, 2015

Nothing bonds the household of faith together quite like serving the Lord side by side----and in this case, on foreign soil.

A 1997 mission trip to Hungary is how I first met Patti. My first trip, her third. She was the veteran, I was the newbie. I was frantic, she was calm. I only knew a few on the team, she even knew some of the Hungarians. None of that mattered, as I discovered, because....we, as members of the household of faith, were all in it together---to share, along with English lessons, the good news of the One who was the "cornerstone of our faith." Patti did it well. I followed.
Oh, what a team we were at the Cornerstone House in Kővágóörs Hungary!

1st row l-r--Cindy E. Suzanne C. Cynthia G. Patti J. (I stood behind Patti)
2nd row l-r Jane M. Bill B. Garland T. Mike H. and Steve C, our leader

Most recently, I have spent the last month with Patti as she walked the final days of her cancer journey. I was not the only one from the "household of God," who came to minister to her and that was encouraging to both of us.
When I was asked to speak at her upcoming funeral, I wondered what I would say about the life of this quiet, gentle, beloved daughter of the Lord. And then I knew----share what she taught me about both living and dying as one who remains faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22, ESV)

For Christ was the "cornerstone" of her faith.......from the day I met her, until the day He took her home---July 16, 2015.