God

SHARE YOUR WORLD FROM JULY 15, 2024

/ joseph elon lillie / 4 Comments

It is July 16th. I am only one day off this week in my sharing post!

I am sitting at my dining table writing this at 8 A.M. because I want to make sure not to miss another week of SHARE YOUR WORLD. This is the challenge where we answer four questions and give an affirmation at the end. By doing so we the contributors all share bits of our worlds.

HERE ARE THE QUESTIONS AND MY ANSWERS:

  1. Do you have a bestie (ie. best friend) YES! Jody Clapp has been my friend since 6th grade. We met in Mrs. Lapointe’s math class. We were in marching band together and concert band. He was Snoopy. I was Charlie Brown in the school musical. We went to church together and were best men at each other’s wedding. He is the worship director at the church I pastor, the head of building and grounds and one of the church deacons. My kids all call him “Uncle Jody” and his wife “Aunt Paula”. He is one of my most precious friends
  2.   Do you have a lot of friends? I do have a lot of friends. I have a whole church that I call extended family. We do life together.
    3.  Has a friend ever let you down to the extent that the friendship has died? Yes. Although dead things can be resurrected.
    4.  Are you more likely to confide in a friend rather than family? My family are my closest friends.

GRATITUDE:

SO THANKFUL MY DAUGHTER SENT ME THIS SONG YESTERDAY.

AND SO THANKFUL FOR THE YOUNG MAN FRPOM OUR CHURCH WHO WROTE THIS SONG.

A KICKSTART ON BREATHING

/ joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

There is a lot going on here at The Vicarage. There has been a lot going on for months. I am OK just fighting the battle against getting rattled. God has told me that one of the things I need to do to to make it through this season is to just keep going with as normal a pace as possible. That requires a boat load of prayer and breathing.

My sister runs a ministry called, The Bridge Artistic Network, out of The Netherlands. One of the things she does as part of the ministry is a weekly “Creative Connection Video” called “Monday Morning Kickstart”. This week’s video is on breathing and focus.

WELL, THAT DIDN’T GO TO PLAN!

/ joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

Last time I wrote, I said that I planned for my Fourth of July to be filled with grilling and gardening. We at the Vicarage were about as far from that idyllic form of celebration as we could be on the Fourth of July holiday.

It all started with a call from my daughter at 6:30 A.M. Melanie was having a gall bladder attack and was heading to the emergency room. She asked if I could watch Daniella and Abigail for the day.

The girls arrived around 7 A.M. and Melanie and James headed off into the uncertain wait that is our American medical system today. That’s not a criticism of the doctors and nurses who work so diligently in our hospitals, just a commentary about the state of our system. You never know what is going to happen when you head out to the hospital these days. It turns out this time around they would keep Melanie over until surgery could be scheduled. The girls would be at The Vicarage for the day.

At this point, I still thought we could rescue the holiday from the ashes of the fire pit. My nephew , Tyler, was still coming over. James was planning to pop by and check in on the girls if Melanie was in a place where she could be left for a bit. Kristine was willing to bake the cookies and make the Jello salad that Melanie was going to bring originally. I got the meats marinating and the barbecue started.

It was all going according to plan B and then our family cat, Picasso, had a stroke while my daughter Amanda was holding him. A few hours later, my daughter’s dear little companion for the last 13 years would pass.

It was not lost on any of us that this is the second family celebration in less than a month that has been effectively cancelled by illness and trauma. A week ago my daughter, Melanie, had sent me a word she felt was from God for our family. It read, “The garrison attacks are a distraction from the true objective of the enemy.”

Well we can now see what the garrison attacks are. What, I wonder is the true objective of our enemy, the Devil.”

LORD DO NOT LET ME BE DISTRACTED. LET MY EYES SEE AND MY HEART PERCEIVE THE TRUTH THAT IS BEING HIDDEN BEHIND THE HORRIFIC DISTRACTIONS.