Here are the welcome messages from May 2000.

	May 1, 2000
	May 9, 2000
	May 15, 2000
	May 22, 2000
	May 30, 2000

May 1, 2000
Does anybody remember making little paper baskets in school, taking them home, filling them with flowers, and hanging them on the doorknob of a friend for May Day? Why don't we do that any more? I used to love putting those on doorknobs. Wait, come to think of it, I can't ever remember getting one myself. Hmmm.....maybe it's not such a great idea. Just kidding!! My memories of giving to people are much much stronger than my memories of receiving and much more pleasant.
My mom is coming to visit me for a couple of days next week. She is having her house fumigated and has taken me up on my offer to stay here. I'm looking forward to her visit. Since we live within an hour's drive of each other she has only stayed the night one other time I can remember. Plus, she doesn't get the opportunity to come visit very often any more so this should be good for both of us. She will be able to attend Casey's bassoon recital at the high school, too!
This is the time of year I like to spend time out in the yard. The flowers are blooming, the weather is usually fairly mild (gets in the 80's and 90's a lot, though), and my garden begins screaming for attention. The problem is the scrip fund raiser I run for the band. I have to be listening for the Fed Ex truck for my deliveries. I have to be running pick up and delivery errands, banking, and other scrip-related things most of the rest of the days of the week. The days that are free I usually have to go grocery shopping. This year I am in charge of the football booster club's golf tournament. I thought I had more help than I actually have so I am going to have to be driving around dropping off flyers and asking for ads and raffle donations. I'm not very good at asking for things. I have to psych myself up before I go out. It is mentally exhausting for me. I am going to be starting a Bible study in my home in two weeks and need to prepare for that. So, my longing to go out and work in the yard will have to be satisfied with the things that I am forced to do to keep the yard from looking unkempt. It sure would make my life easier if more parents of the kids in the band and football programs would pitch in and help!
There are times when the things the Lord has me do seem to fall flat. There are times when He shows me things that He wants me to share with others in my church or perhaps with my family. These things often fall on deaf ears. I don't despair. I don't give up. I know that I sought God's will and I know that I did my portion. God isn't going to force people to listen to what He has to say. He isn't going to force them to seek His will. He is going to allow them to do as they please. They have the opportunity to make decisions based on their own opinions as well as make decisions based on what God reveals to them IF they seek His opinions on the matter. Unfortunately, the majority of Christians do not know how to seek God's will or else they just don't bother. They use their own experiences and knowledge to form their own opinions. I can only do what the Lord tells me to do. I cannot force others to do what they should be doing. I am only responsible for seeking God's will in my own life. He has a plan for all of us. I pray that I am walking in my portion of that plan. I will not be discouraged when I don't see the expected results from what He leads me to do. I will keep my eyes focused on Him and ask, "What would you have me do now, Lord?"
Link to the 5/1/00 Bible study.

May 9, 2000
So, how is life treating you? Not so good, huh? How is God treating you? If it feels like God is not being good to you then you don't know God. When something very tragic happens you often hear people getting mad at God for allowing it to happen. They feel they have to blame somebody and so they blame God. I'm sure Satan has used that tactic with great success over and over. "God could have prevented it from happening. Why didn't He?" God made a decision before He ever created humans to allow them to have freedom to choose. He decided He was not going to force His will on them. This world would be perfect if God forced His will on everyone, you know. If I was tempted to lie He would force me to tell the truth. We would all be God's good little robots. We wouldn't even need to have a mind. He would control our thoughts, words, and actions. I thank God that He gives us free will. Because of having free will we often make bad decisions. There are times when those bad decisions end up in tragedy. When people have the freedom to choose to drink and drive then their decision can result in the death of an innocent person. I imagine God does intervene and have an angel avert an accident. However, it's obvious He doesn't do it every time. Perhaps the angel had already averted fourteen accidents and extended someone's life by 20 years before the final, fatal accident occurred. On the other hand, God could remove the urge to drink and drive from the people who will be causing accidents, but then we cross over into the area where God forces His will on us. Then there are the times when a Christian's death results in one or more people getting saved. We don't always see the end results from things that happen. However, it seems that one life in exchange for the prevention of one or more people spending eternity in hell would be something to consider. After all, the one who died is then in the presence of the Lord and feels no pain, no tears, no more of the things that are pulling us in all directions while we are in these earthly bodies! We don't know why things happen. We don't know why God allows certain things to happen. God's ways are not our ways. Yes, He is in control. He can see clear from the beginning to the end. He can see and comprehend every thing that has happened, is happening, and will happen. If something bad happens I would like to know why, but cannot insist on knowing why. I will just have to have the faith to know that God's way is best and say, "Not my will, but thine be done." It is never easy, but with God's help, it can be done.
Wow, a sermon! Who put that there? [tee hee]
My mom is here visiting with me. I had planned on getting this Bible study ready over the weekend so it would be ready to roll yesterday morning. I had a big list of things I was going to do over the weekend, as a matter of fact. One tiny thing changed all my well-laid plans. I got unexpected company staying here for the weekend! It's times like those that I wish the Lord had given me the gift of hospitality.
Link to the 5/9/00 Bible study.

May 15, 2000
>I had a nice Mother's Day yesterday. My husband took me to breakfast. He also bought me a greeting card program. The best part was the program was $24.95 and it came with a $20.00 rebate!!! Not too shabby! My oldest son had sent me flowers since he lives out of state. My other two sons bought me nice cards. My youngest son made dinner. He barbecued some fish he had caught on a fishing trip last year and made baked potatoes. He even came up with the menu! Now that's a Mother's Day!
I've been working on a web page for the band. I told the band director that I didn't have time to maintain a web page, but that I would place a "doorway" page online until he found someone else that would do the maintenance. I had collected a ton of music graphics a while back thinking there was a chance I would put together a web site for the band. I put all those graphics onto a page and uploaded them so whoever becomes the webmaster can use them. It has taken me days and I'm still not done! I've spent way more time than I ever wanted to or intended! I don't have a good program to create web pages. I have a very simple program and have to do a lot of the HTML myself. So, the moral is, everything you see here has a lot of time and love invested in it!
Tonight is the first night of my new Bible study class. I have no idea how many people will attend. I had submitted my offer for this class to my church almost a year ago. My church was in the midst of some turmoil and some shutting down of the moving of the Holy Spirit. The class got shelved and then it basically got rejected. I believe the reason it got rejected is because it is too radical. My beliefs in what God can and will do go outside the walls of the typical Baptist box. They go beyond the comfort zone of knowing what to expect from God. So, I had been praying about the class and about where the Lord would use me. The things He has told me and the direction He has led me have resulted in my having this class in my home. I sent out invitations to those He laid on my heart. I will not really be teaching the class. I will be the hostess. The Holy Spirit will be teaching the class. Each person attending will be encouraged to explore his place in the Body of Christ. Each person will be shown that he does not need to rely on other people to teach him and he can rely on the Holy Spirit to be his teacher. Each person will be encouraged to seek God's will, to study the Word, and to share the things the Lord reveals to him. It will be a time of growing in the Spirit. We can never learn everything there is to know about God and about what He has for us and, unfortunately, most people don't go exploring God. Most people are content to take the information they have been taught by pastors and teachers and be satisfied. They never develop a personal relationship with their Heavenly Father. This class/Bible study will result in changed lives. It will be glorious! Would you like to come? It's at 7:00PM on Mondays.
Link to the 5/15/00 Bible study.

May 22, 2000
If you want to know how our first Bible study went I have to tell you, "You should have been there." That is what my husband and I agreed we would tell people if they asked. After all, if you heard that nobody came wouldn't you think twice before you came the next week? Yes, you heard me right. Nobody came. I waited half and hour and then made my hubby take me out to dinner. Does that mean that there is something wrong with the format of this Bible study? No, not at all. It means that Satan was afraid of it. It is just the same as when the women quit coming to the women's prayer group that my old church had. It wasn't that we weren't receiving answers to prayers. It was more along the lines of other things coming up. Then it became too much effort. The sad thing was that the women who had been coming ended up with some huge problems in their lives. They needed the prayer big time, but lost sight of the necessity and focused on the problems. I will still be available on Monday nights in case anyone listens to the urging of the Holy Spirit to come to the Bible study. People can mess up what God desires for them, you know. We have that choice. There is nothing I can do about forcing someone else to do what God wants them to do. I can only be obedient and do what He tells me to do. I want to hear Him say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."
I didn't get this online this morning. It was 104 degrees here yesterday and I needed to get a few things done outside before the heat got too bad. As it was, I was melting because the humidity was so high. Then I had to run some errands and I just plain ran out of morning.
Are you coming to the Bible study class tonight? I didn't clean house as well as I did last week. Maybe that means I will get some people to come. I like to call that the bathtub principle. If you want the phone to ring you get in the bathtub. If you want someone to come visit you then you make sure you don't clean the house. If you wash your car it rains. They are all related.
Link to the 5/22/00 Bible study.

May 30, 2000
I got so busy working around the house yesterday that I didn't have the opportunity to sit down and do this page. Well, I did have the time to sit down and do the page, but I didn't have the scripture yet. I don't want to put any scripture here except what the Lord directs. After all, if it doesn't touch anyone then I've not been obedient!
I did get a lot of things done yesterday that have been needing doing for a long time. Yes, I'm home each day during the week, but a three day weekend helps me, too. There are some things I cannot get done when I am taking my son to school, doing grocery shopping, driving around on my booster club errands, and other things that take place during the week. The extra weekend day gave me an opportunity to spend the entire day on a project and also to throw in a few extra projects that resulted from the first. It feels good to be able to walk all over in my garage without having to step over or around things that need to be put away!
I tried something different for Bible study last night. I didn't clean my house. (Well, I did go so far as to catch a couple ankle-biting dust bunnies.) I didn't make any coffee or get out any glasses for cold drinks. I didn't clean the cat box. I started making dinner before 7:00. Strange, isn't it? Still nobody showed up!
I had a whole bunch of people sign my guestbook in the last week. It sure gives me a boost! When I wonder if anyone really reads this God gives me the confirmation I need. Praise His HOLY name!!!
Link to the 5/30/00 Bible study.