My daughter and son in law took their two daughters to an Alabama football game. They have been teaching them the traditions of Alabama Football. They are learning the cheers and the songs. They have Alabama outfits and pompoms. This week they were even decked out with stickers. They love the Elephant Walk and the Walk of Champions.

I have friends who are Auburn fans who love to show their children or grandchildren the eagle flying across the stadium. Every school has its own traditions. It is so much fun to participate in what makes your school unique.

While participating in sports is fun and watching the future generations carry on traditions, there are other traditions that are even more important. It is the responsibility of each generation to pass on our faith to the next generation. Our family currently has 3 generations attending GFBC. Our son and his family attend GFBC with us. Our daughter and her family attend in their hometown.

I have prayed for the salvation of my grandchildren since before they were born. We only have the 4-year-old to go. What a blessing it is to see faith in Jesus Christ passed on to another generation. I love seeing the grandchildren participate in choir and missions organizations. They have been involved in Sunday Bible study and worship services. One has gone to camp. Another will go to camp this summer. I am so excited that they love Jesus and love going to church to worship Him.

Proverbs 22:6 NIV. Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

I claim this verse for my grandchildren and for my niece and nephews. The next generation may mean different things to you. It may be children of friends, nieces or nephews, neighbors, children you teach in Bible groups, or other children you come in contact with. How beautiful it is to pass our salvation on to the next generations!

Every once in a while I pick up the phone to call my Mother. She has been in Heaven since 2006. Why is it that I still feel the urge to give her a call? Recently, it has been because of my grandchildren. She loved having grandchildren and would absolutely love her great-grandchildren. There are times when I think that I need to tell her about something one of them has done and I reach for the phone. She would love it. I remember how she wanted to live long enough so that her grandchildren would remember her.

What a joy it would be if she could know these precious children that I have in my life. Christian is amazing. He can sit and talk to you about the Titanic and give you all kinds of details about this amazing ship. He loves history and has all kinds of information ready to share with anyone who will listen. She would have sat for hours listening to him talk and loved every minute of it. Mother made dolls and would have loved to share them with the girls. She would have loved having tea parties with them and playing dolls.

There are so many things that I would love to tell her if I had just one more phone call. When my daughter was getting married, I had even dialed the number to ask her opinion on something. How does that continue to happen? This past week, I picked up my phone to tell her about how cute the girls were at their dance recitals. She would have loved to see them all dressed up with their hair “just so” and a little bit of make-up.

I think of my mother as my cloud of witnesses mentioned in Hebrews 12:1. She was faithful on this earth to love the Lord. She was an encourager to so many people. Even when she could no longer get out of her home, she had her phone. The Lord would put someone on her heart and she would call them. 

She loved to sing about Jesus. I miss hearing her sing. I know many songs because of hearing her sing them over and over while she was cooking or washing dishes. 

There are a lot of things I miss about her, but I think I really just miss sharing life with her. I think the love that lasted for so many years has continued to remain in my heart so that I want to continue to share life with her even in her death. I think love never really dies when we carry people with us in our heart and in our memories. We will have a lot of catching up to do when I meet up with her in heaven. What a day that will be!

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross,scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:1-2

My Grandmother’s wedding ring has been a joy for me for many years. My Grandmother died when I was 27. She had wanted to be a Great Grandmother and I was pregnant, so it was sad to me that she died before my child was born. I have enjoyed having her wedding band. It is pink gold and has been special because I am the only granddaughter.

I had a really tough couple of days and was feeling really tired. I had been wearing her ring along with my wedding bands. I sat down to work on my bible study and realized that her ring was not on my finger. My heart sunk. I had been several places and it could have come off anywhere. I looked all over my house and down in the furniture. I cleaned out my purse to see if it had fallen off there. I just knew it was gone.

Later that day, I went to Publix. I was just picking up a few things for a special dinner for my husband who was celebrating 35 years in his job. His award had been delivered that week and I wanted to have a special dinner with his award sitting on the table. As I walked through Publix, I felt like something was in my shoe. It was starting to get irritating but I did not want to stop to empty my shoe. As I walked up the steps from my basement with the groceries, I realized that what was bothering me in my shoe seemed round. I thought it would not be possible for that to be my grandmother’s ring. As soon as I got upstairs, I took my shoe off. What a joy to realize that my Grandmother’s ring was in my shoe. I felt like celebrating!

I was reminded of the parable of the Woman and the lost coin in Luke 15:8-10.

“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’  Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (ESV)

Just as she called in friends and neighbors to celebrate, I now celebrate with you. I realize it is a ring. Imagine how much more the angels celebrate when a lost person repents and comes to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.

We had just enjoyed a beautiful day with extended family and my husband went out to check the mail. He came back inside and said, “This looks official.” I opened the letter to find out that I had been assigned Jury Duty. I had never served on Jury Duty. The last two times I had been called were difficult times while I was taking care of my Daddy. One time he had broken his neck and the other time, he was requiring more assistance with life. I was allowed to be dismissed from duty. This time that I was called was a perfect week for me. I had no Bible Study responsibilities and no appointments. There was no reason for me not to show up so I accepted the responsibility and went to serve.

This was new for me so I did not know exactly what to expect. I had never been sworn in for anything. The Pledge of Allegiance was as close to being sworn in as anything I had done during my life. I was selected for a jury and we proceeded to the courtroom. The courtroom was not what I expected at all. I guess I have watched too many Matlock reruns. The courtroom was smaller than I expected but it was still formidable. As we were lined up and sent into the 6courtroom, I thought that this was starting to be real. There were a group of candidates for the jury and we were asked many questions. I was not selected for this jury but I learned quite a few things. 

First, I realized that I did not remember my Civics that I studied in high school. I needed a refresher on some things. 

Second, I realized that if I ever found myself on the other side of the courtroom, I would appreciate knowing that there were some good people who gave of their time to make decisions that would be honest and just. These were just regular people. 

Third, I am thankful to live in a country that has a judicial system in place. I realized that I do not pray enough for the judges and courtroom proceedings and decided to strive to make that a matter of prayer.

Forth, I am thankful to live in a country where a person is considered to be innocent until proven guilty. I did not hear the evidence before this court since I was not on the jury, but I feel that the system was in place to give justice to the one who needed it.

Ecclesiastes 3:17 “I said to myself, “God will bring into judgement both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”

Proverbs 21:15 “When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.”

Amos 5:24 “But let justice roll on like a river, righteous like a never-failing stream!”

In the last few weeks, I have been driving on roads that I do not usually travel. I have had appointments that have taken me to different areas of the city. On one of my trips, I was driving on a new section of the interstate. My husband and I had only traveled on this new section of the road one time since it had reopened. As I was driving on this day, I was in a section where two lanes merge into one. I was behind a very large dump truck and there was a very small green car in the merging lane. As the lane ran out for the green car, it merged right into the large dump truck. The two vehicles collided with each other and then both moved to the shoulder on opposite sides of the road. I had no choice but to drive right through where they had hit each other. It was very unnerving.

Yesterday, as I was driving in the city, I was on a one-way street that had 3 lanes. I was driving in the center lane. There were red lights every few blocks so we were traveling at a very slow speed. The car in front of me had its left blinker on and was coming almost to a stop. The truck behind me must have decided we were not going fast enough, so it whipped around us in the left lane just as the car in front of me turned left. The car turned left from the middle lane of a one-way street! Needless to say, the truck from behind me ran right into the side of the car in front of me as it was turning left. 

Two wrecks in front of me in a matter of days made me feel like maybe I should stay home. I have seen wrecks before but this seemed like too many right in a row.

What causes people to have a wreck? Inattention? Not being familiar with the road? Not knowing which way is the right way?

The Bible gives us directions and instructions on which way to go. 

Psalm 32:8, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on you own understanding; in all you ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

God has a plan for us and His plan is the best. He will never leave us alone. As we travel along life’s journey, we should always ask God to be with us and protect us. A prayer before you leave one destination for another is a great way to take the Lord with you wherever you go.