Anne LeGare

This book was a joy to read! It was like reading an “Idiots Guide to the Brain.” My mother has a rare brain disease, and now I understand which parts of the brain are controlling (or not controlling in her case) different parts of her.

I loved how Henslin incorporated the spiritual with the physical, without excuse, and with great enthusiasm. He has a way of making the hard-to-understand simple, yet not simplistic.

I can now read my mom’s MRIs and understand what I’m seeing, and I feel I can help her with some dietary changes and my own new awareness of how she “ticks.”

Henslin’s writing style is not condescending, and comes across as friendly and helpful. I have never read a book like this from cover to cover and understood what I’ve read. Now I have.

Here is a somewhat true, mostly allegorical novel, in which author Andy Andrews describes how his life got a rough start: both parents were dead by the time he was 23, and he found himself living in a roughed-out sand cave under a pier. He was barely surviving until he had a strange, almost supernatural encounter with an old man named “Jones.” Jones told him to get a new perspective on life, and introduced him to biographies of famous people. As Andrews absorbed the biographies, his life started to change.

Through a series of similar “chance” encounters with people in a small beach town, Jones introduces how gaining a new perspective on life and using different communication principles can change someone from the inside out.

The author effectively uses Jones to show how one person can make a difference in the lives of others. One story in the book, however, was the internet tale of a man being buried with his fork – awaiting the “dessert” of heaven – which somehow became attributed to Jones. The inclusion of an urban legend in the book made it a bit smarmy.

Another tale involved Jones giving a married couple a lesson on effective communication. The five “dialects” he laid out were strikingly similar to Dr. Gary Chapman’s “Five Love Languages.” Nothing new here.

Who is Jones? He’s a shape-shifter, and the author said it happened right before his eyes. Is he an angel? The reader is left pondering that question, as the townspeople and Andrews sort it out.

I applaud Andrews’s desire and exhortation to bless each other and pursue lives of good character with honorable perspective. But this book was produced by a major Christian publishing house. I expect a stronger Christian message. If our “perspective” isn’t on Jesus first, we will quickly lose focus. What saves us from our sinful minds and deceptive motives is a changed life through faith in Jesus Christ. Transforming truth and hope can be found in Him alone.

Andrews’s focus was the man/angel, Jones – and our own righteousness. Our focus should be on Christ, his life, death, and resurrection. Without Him, we have no righteousness of our own. When we trust Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit to help give us a heavenly perspective – the only one that can sustain lasting change.

John 12:12-13 On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel.”

On Palm Sunday, our pastor conducted a mini-sermon for the children about this event. He told the children that when people laid out the palm branches for Jesus, it was like rolling out the red carpet to the man they wanted to crown king.

But we know what happened the rest of that week. The people quickly rolled up the red carpet when Jesus didn’t meet their expectations. Toward the end of the week, associating with Jesus was something even his closest friends found difficult.

Jesus knew all this, and still chose the pain, the suffering, and the cross. We were difficult, yet He didn’t forsake us, and will never forsake us. His sacrifice demands our attention and vigilance, however. The book of Hebrews has much to say about our responsibility to grip tightly to our salvation.

Hebrews 4:14-16 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 13:12-16 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come. Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Heb 12:2 …fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

In case we didn’t get the message, Hebrews reminds us over and over who Jesus is and what He did for us. When He died on the cross, Jesus rolled out the red carpet for us, so that we could be joint heirs with Him. We are now His chosen people, a royal priesthood of believers.

I’m reflecting on His passion for me this week. Let’s celebrate Easter with hearts ready to roll out the red carpet to Him, full of worship for the One who died and rose again so we could live!

After a drive to Houston last weekend, our family van was covered in bug guts. So after picking up all three children from school, we headed over to our local gas station to buy slushy drinks and a car wash.

This is our favorite car wash, as it’s “touchless,” and does a great job, even on the tires. I punched my purchase code into the machine, but had to wait for a truck in front of me before I could proceed. While we watched the truck being washed, we were laughing, because every time the strong water jets made a pass around the truck, everything in the bed of the truck would fly into the air, (to include a large box and styrofoam inserts) and then settle back into the bed or around the car wash bay.

When the wash portion of the cycle was finished, a very sheepish soldier stepped out of the truck and started picking up all the things that were strewn about the bay. He tossed them back into the bed of his truck and drove toward the powerful dryer, which was already working. Once the dryer hit the bed of the truck, all the stuff flew out again. The soldier drove off, oblivious to everything he’d left behind.

The green light went on for me to “Drive Forward,” but I was afraid the big box left in the middle of the bay would get hung up under my van. So I told my 13-year-old son, Daniel, to hop out and go move the box for me. Daniel willingly complied, and ran into the bay.

Whoops! As soon as he entered the bay, the tire wash sensors triggered, and powerful jets of water hit Daniel from both sides, knocking off his hat and giving him a thorough soaking!

The look on Daniel’s face was priceless! He must have jumped three feet in the air when those jets hit him. The girls and I laughed so hard we couldn’t catch our breath. Daniel got back into the car, soaking wet, with teeth chattering from the cold water.

Now I understand what a “touchless” car wash is! No car required.

Where are the video cameras when we need them? That would have made it onto America’s Funniest Home Videos for sure!

Have you ever pulled nursery duty and prayed you could avoid changing a diaper? How come other kids’ poopy diapers smell so much worse than the ones our angels produce? Or have you ever had to clean a public bathroom area to make it nice for the next occupants of a cabin, time-share, or youth camp? Gross. Give me heavy rubber gloves, lots of Lysol, and a clothespin for my nose.

Another difficult ministry for me is food preparation and delivery. For starters, I’m not much of a cook. Then there’s the problem of getting the meal to the person. Sometimes I’ve just wanted to leave the meal on the doorstep, ring the doorbell and run away. The actual ministry part of the meal delivery was difficult for me. I didn’t want to go inside the house and engage with the people, because occasionally the houses were stinky and depressing. Sometimes the people were a bit too needy. A clean escape was always utmost in my mind.

Later, when I got to thinking about my bad attitude in this regard, I started calling it “ministry on a stick.” Like a jailer, I wanted to deliver a meal on the end of a long pole, so I’d never have to touch the person. What kind of ministry is that?

Ministry isn’t always pleasant – but somehow in God’s economy it produces treasure. I think I’ve finally cracked the code. It’s in the book of James. When I first became a Christian, my mentor used to tell me to be thankful for the particularly offensive “opportunities.” She consistently referred me to James, asking me to pay close attention to the first four verses. The passage always struck me as containing non sequitur logic: in other words, an end state that isn’t easily connectable to the premises. See if you agree with me after reading this:

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

How in the wide world of poopy diapers am I supposed to find joy in trials? What’s so fulfilling and life perfecting about delivering a dinner to someone in a house that smells like propane and sausages? The secret is hidden in the first six words. Go back to verse one and see what James calls himself. Yup – a bond-servant. Here’s what scripture has to say about that:

Exodus 21:5-6 But if the slave plainly says, “I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,” then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

Well, there it is. If I want to be a bond-servant to the Lord Jesus Christ, I willingly place my ear against that doorpost, nail it in, and surrender to His leading, no matter what. My attitude is supposed to be in line with and conformed to the attitude and likeness of Christ. Here are His words on the subject:

Matt 20:25-28 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

While I’m still not the greatest cook or baby changer, I am being transformed through service. I’m starting to consider it joy to serve my Savior and His people, and to face trials along the way. Are you?

My friend, fellow blogger, and walking buddy, Renae Brumbaugh, just published her first book, and it’s available for pre-order at Amazon.com.

It’s a compilation of her devotionals about the book of James, and if it’s anything like her current blog about the life of Jesus, I can’t wait to read it! Click HERE to link to Amazon.

It would be a blessing to Renae if you pre-ordered her book!  She’s a fellow Copperas Cov-ite, and a pastor’s wife.  See her blog in my blogroll to the right.

Two weeks ago on Saturday, I was entering the home stretch of an incredibly hard mom-week.  The typical mom-weeks usually start the moment dad leaves town on a business trip. This time, it started the moment dad left the continent on a business trip!

In the week leading up to this particular Saturday, one of the kids got really sick, requiring several doctor and hospital visits. His sick-storm passed the day before he was to represent his junior high at the Central Texas History Day competition in Austin. We patched him up just in time for the event.

We got up at 6:00 Saturday morning and were setting up the exhibit in Austin two hours later. After a long day in the big city, we were finally headed home as the sun was setting.

The problem was I had no idea how to get home. I programmed my onboard GPS and listened to the turn-by-turn directions. For some reason, I was re-routed for traffic conditions, and ended up on a new toll road I knew nothing about. What’s worse, my GPS knew nothing about it either, and kept telling me to take turns that don’t exist. It was dark, and I had no idea where I was.  

So I did what was natural for me to do when I’m scared and panicked. I started yelling at the closest target. In this case, it was the GPS lady. I told her what an idiot she was. Then I got off the toll road, pulled over and asked for help.   After getting the help I needed and getting back in the car, a particularly annoying woman walked by. I thought a bad thought, and almost said it out loud, but stopped myself.

I said to the kids “I almost said a bad word back there.” They started laughing and said “Mom, you owe us like 28 dollars, because you’ve been saying lots of bad words!” (In our family we have to pay the swearword jar $1 per bad word uttered)  I was incredulous. I knew I’d said a couple of foul things, but 28 of them? Even though I knew they were exaggerating, I was disappointed with myself for the bad example I’d set.

The next morning I apologized to the kids for the things I’d said when I was scared and angry. Then I gave them lecture and spiritual lesson number 6,952, which I entitled “default settings.”

Default settings, I explained, are the behaviors we revert to naturally when we’re tired, stressed, anxious, panicked, or just plain angry. For me, 30 years of cultivating rough edges in my life made foul language my default setting in this instance. For others, a default setting could be looking for love in the wrong places.  Some might revert to using drugs or alcohol.

Default settings can be good, however. Right now, I’m typing a Word document in Times New Roman, font size 12, which is the default setting for my computer. I just sat down and started typing — no thought required. These programmed settings make life easier, and make operating our many appliances, vehicles and other contraptions effortless.

As Christians, we have been given an entirely new nature. Our old is gone. But we still live in our flesh-encased bodies. My mind has a lot of default settings that I programmed into it for many years before I became a Christian. But I have the power to adjust those settings.  I can make living for God in all areas of my life more and more effortless with each setting I choose to change.

By using God’s Word as the owner’s manual for our lives, we can change our default settings!

Luke 23:26-31: When they led Him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus. And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him. But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. “For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ “Then they will begin TO SAY TO THE MOUNTAINS, ‘FALL ON US,’ AND TO THE HILLS, ‘COVER US.’ “For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

I was pretty familiar with the story about Simon, the Cyrene, who helped Jesus carry His cross. But what about the daughters of Jerusalem, and what was Jesus saying to them?

These “daughters,” were women of Jerusalem who may have been spectators, mixed in with former disciples, who followed Him on His journey to Golgotha. They were weeping to see Jesus suffer so severely. They might have been filled with fear, guilt for their nation, and a sense of dread concerning what they were witnessing. I never realized they were the recipients of Jesus’ last public teaching, and it was both a warning and a prophecy.

His admonishment was dire. Their people and the Romans had just sentenced the Messiah, the sinless lamb, to death. If such a thing was possible, how could they and their children escape the trials to come for Jerusalem, and the ultimate wrath of God for what had happened to the Holy One of Israel? If these evil people could destroy a live, green tree, imagine what God would do to their dry, dead wood? Who would want to have children and raise them among such evil people and in a place destined for such horror?

Jesus’ strong words are tinged with the same pain we hear in Isaiah’s proclamations about the iniquities of Israel: “Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.” (Isaiah 1:4)

How is this scripture relevant to us today, as we sit in our comfortable homes two millennia later? As a mother, I have to admit, Jesus’ utterance to the women of Jerusalem resonates with me. I am raising children in a society that is just as sinful and has rejected Him.

I read about it almost daily – here’s one frightening example from a recent Fox News report: President Barack Obama topped a new Harris poll that asked 2,634 Americans who they admire enough to call a hero. Jesus came in second.

I’m living among people who have rejected Jesus. Are we weeping for Him? How long until the dead wood is set on fire?

Daughters of the King, pray the words of the prophet Joel with me for our country: Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. (Joel 2:13)

Proverbs 6:6-8 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

God loves ants. He mentions them in His Word in several places as wise creatures. He even asks us to observe them and learn from them. For the life of me, I never knew why God loved ants until recently.

The Texas state insect is the Monarch Butterfly! Can you believe that? I’m here to tell you fire ants got short-shrift for the insect title.

When we first moved to Texas, we were baptized by fire ants! When our three toddlers played in the backyard, one would inevitably start screaming and hopping around after stepping in an ant hill.  I’ve pinched little ants to death trying to get them to remove their pincers from baby flesh. The telltale two-pincer mark on chubby baby toes – soon to be followed by a pustule – never made me very fond of the critters.

In fact, I became a professional ant hit-woman. I learned that AMDRO is the best weapon, and I’ve sprinkled it gleefully and judiciously around many anthills.

So, whod’ve thunk I would come to love ants? What’s more, the three kids love ants too. Okay, we don’t love fire ants, but Harvester Ants are cool!

What changed us is we’ve gotten to know about 45 of them over the past year.  The kids received a Discovery Kids Ant Gel Habitat for Christmas. It came with space-age gel in a see-through Lucite container. Who knew you could buy a test tube of Harvester Ants for $5 and have them shipped to your home?

All we had to do was make four starter tunnels with a poker, and dump in our ants. That was the beginning of ant-love for us. The kit came with a little round spyglass-type magnifier we could put right up next to an ant and watch it work. We could look at his little painted-on eyes, his hairy legs, and his pincers in amazement. We were smitten. It was better than TV or a video game to watch our new pets make a home for themselves.

Within 4-5 days, those ants had tunneled an entire colony through the gel. (They not only tunneled into the stuff, but they ate it too). They were tireless, and seemed to have a system of who labored and who slept. When one of them died, they would carefully disassemble him and move him to the pile they were accumulating on the top layer.

We’ve had two of these habitats, and observed the same thing happen both times. Initially, the ants were really motivated to create their home and work hard to get everything done. But after about 10 days, they’d start to run down. They would mostly sleep in little clusters of friends, rarely building or moving around the system anymore. It was like they knew there was no more to do and nowhere else to explore. They lost heart.

It would make us so sad. We wanted to tell them they were wonderful creatures and that we loved and admired them. But they had no idea that we were out there watching, (except for being jiggled and jostled) and they certainly couldn’t understand our pep-talks.

We only found one way to encourage them. When they were all down in their tunnels, we’d take the top off the habitat, and blow into it like a big wind from God’s nostrils. That would wake them up! It was pandemonium as they would all run to the top to see where the fresh air came from. Then when they realized nothing new was happening, they’d go back to their depressed state.

Both times this happened within the ant worlds we provided, we decided we had to let our pets go. We loved them so much we couldn’t be puppet masters anymore; taking away their freedom to live in the real world. We sprinkled them into our yard and watched them take their first tentative steps to freedom, soon to abandon the habitat altogether. What a great feeling to give them a new chance at life!

Go to the ant! Consider its ways and be wise.

God loves ants.  But He loves us more! He watches over us so tenderly and provides for us so abundantly.  He has counted the very hairs on our heads, and lavished His love on us. He gave us His Son, the crown of creation, to save us from our hopeless state. He even made  His Holy Spirit available to us for the fresh breath of life daily.

But we complain about our habitat. We blame God for the mess we’ve made of our freedom. And we get depressed and give up hope. God regards our trials with great compassion. We need to look up, reach up, acknowledge His ways, and love Him back.

This is one of the most disturbing stories in the Bible. Every time I read it, I want to stand between Jesus and his betrayer. Then I feel somewhat satisfied that Judas got his comeuppance. His name has been equated with traitors ever since. What’s scary is I’ve been just like him.

In the first couple of years after I became a Christian, I was uncomfortable when my new friends would say “Praise God!” or “Praise the Lord!” They made me a bit squeamish; as I equated those phrases with people who were a little too zealous for Jesus. I observed the Jesus movement of the 1970s when I was in high school, and I certainly wasn’t going to be a “Jesus Freak!”

But in reality, I was a sellout. Outside of church services, I wasn’t willing to stand with my brothers and sisters and openly praise my King. I was content to be saved and leave it at that. The boldest thing I did in public was pray before a meal. Like Judas, I wanted it both ways: I enjoyed a relationship with Jesus when things were going well; but I sold out when things got rough.

Also like Judas, I was counted among the saved, and shared in ministry. If I had remained a lukewarm Christian, I might have continued along Judas’ path, as a guide on the broad way that leads to destruction. As I studied the scriptures, however, and started to grow in faith, I realized how praiseworthy my salvation was. When I really understood the holiness of God, I cried out with Isaiah: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a woman of unclean lips!” I asked God for forgiveness, and I vowed that I would never be ashamed to praise Him again. I would never betray Him again with a refusal to associate with Him in public.

Because of God’s great mercy, I received another chance to live a full, eyes-wide-open, and adventure-filled life with my savior, JESUS CHRIST! Now I’ve been accused of being too zealous when talking about the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Praise the Lord!

Dear God, thank you for second chances. Thank you for hearing my cry and for always leading me in triumphal processions in Christ. I love you and right now, I lift my praise as an offering to you. I give you all the glory and thank you in the precious name of Jesus Christ.