Beverly Joy Roberts

I work part-time at my church and part of my job is planning big events for the over 50's crowd.  The past few weeks, I spent quite a bit of time putting together a bus trip for the fall to the Ark and Creation Museum in Kentucky, and I'm pricing out a group Bible Study Cruise for February 2021.   I've been flipping the pages of my calendar ahead by the days, weeks, months and even years as I make plans for the future.  Sometimes, I’m ashamed to say, I forget what day of the week it actually is because I'm  looking ahead  to the next big event. The discussion about these future activities are exciting even though they can be months or years away, but as I review the details and make plans for these events before I know it, they have arrived.  They really aren't that far away after all.  There was a time in my life, when Believers  looked ahead  far more than we do now.  There was a time when we talked about the coming of the Lord with excitement and expe

Have you ever said this to someone? "Look What You Did!"  Depending on your voice inflection, the meaning of this statement could be either affirming or disparaging.     If I used a tone that expressed a ' shame on you' then the " Look What You Did!"  phrase would show that somebody did something that upset me.   But, if i used a tone that expresses pride in an accomplishment  the meaning would be much different even though the words remain the same. In the story of the healing at the Gate Beautiful, a similar expression is used.  When the crowd saw the healing of the crippled man, they said with awe and wonder, (paraphrasing here) "Hey, Everybody!   Look What Peter and John Did!"   Then later in  Acts 3:11-21, Peter sets the record straight by giving Christ the credit, but not before he takes a jab at the same people who crucified Christ.  Peter gave them a "Look What You Did!" with a tone of shame on you. This Easter sea

Our son tapped one of the maple trees in our yard a few weeks ago.  He was able to collect about three gallons of sap in a matter of hours. The whole process was labor intencive.  First, he collected the sap, then he boiled it for a long time on an open fire in the back yard.   (He's old school.  No indoor, electric stove cooking for him.)  Then he filtered the liquid. The longest part of the process was boiling the sap over the open fire to refine it.  After the fire process, the maple syrup was still dark and cloudy from the open fire, but once the sticky substance dripped through the filter, out came an amber colored syrup that was pure and clear. All the debris and impurities were gone.  The only thing left was pure, sweet, maple syrup. In the spring, nature tells the maple tree to release its sap.  If someone takes the time to tap the tree, and put in the labor, the return will be great.   Our life'a journey is a little bit like this. The Lord wants to refine ea

A few weeks ago, my granddaughter who is 7 yrs old was trying her best to communicate with me but we had come to an impasse. What I saw and heard was disrespectful behavior.  So, I did what any good grandma would do...I tattled on her.  I felt the behavior needed to be dealt with by a parent.  That's the beauty of being the grandma--we don't have to do the disciplining anymore! The mom stepped in and punishment was doled out for the offense. A bit later, her father sat down with her to follow up on what had happened.  Enough time had passed to give my granddaughter the ability to tell the whole story and that's when her mom and I got the missing pieces in the story. My granddaughter had been warned by her mother that there was an area in her brother's bedroom that was dangerous.  (a fireplace from 1883) When her younger brother was getting too close to the area of concern, my granddaughter attempted to protect him by repeatedly hitting him.  (It seemed logical