by April Terry (personal blog http://faithwarming.blogspot.com)

When you are out in nature, there is a certain time in the early morning that I find to be the most beautiful and peaceful.  It’s in the early dawn just after the sun has risen but has not yet crested over the mountains enough to warm the valleys.  During that time, a lake will be pristine and calm, ocean waves seem to break more gently, and the wind is waiting its turn to stir from its slumber. 

I sometimes wish that I could be that kind of Christian more often.  I wish that I could be calm and peaceful like that hour after dawn when the morning is still and the dew is clinging to blades of grass.  I wish I could be the gentle waves that break into shore like a whisper.  I often work at being that kind of peaceful Christian, but sometimes something inside of me builds like a whirlwind in the desert and all I end up doing is messing up someone else’s yard. 

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By April Terry (personal blog http://faithwarming.blogspot.com)

The last time I went shopping for a new car, my husband decided to do something different.  He decided to conduct all business via the internet.  He sent emails out to a bunch of car dealers with the make, model, and price that he was willing to pay and asked them not to contact him unless they could make a deal.  It was the first time that I ever felt that the experience was painless and quick and a big part of the reason is that we didn’t have to wade through the car salesmen to do it.  The truth is that last time we bought a car, but we didn’t get sold one and we didn’t feel like we were tricked into one, either.

There are a lot of slick car salesmen out there selling front seat tickets to heaven as well.  They have methods, quotes, and step-by-step ways to get the word out.  They confront us, cajole us, guilt us, and beat us down with the word of God.  The only thing those methods ever did for me was to make me angry enough to run in the opposite direction.  Lucky for me, I didn’t equate those methods with what Jesus was all about.  I knew that Jesus was different.

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By April Terry (personal blog http://faithwarming.blogspot.com)

Two years ago at the age of twelve, the biggest problem my son had was whether or not he would be able to play video games on the weekend.  That’s probably why it seems inconceivable when I think about the fact that a twelve-year-old boy who suffered a brain aneurysm was the donor for my sister-in-law’s kidney and pancreas double organ transplant.  I immediately felt tears building in my throat and struggled with the discomfort of the idea that a young boy, not yet a man, might be the life-giver for this young mother.   The cold, hard facts are that someone had to die in order for my sister-in-law to receive a double organ transplant.  Yet, at almost the same time, I feel a deep sense of gratitude to the family of that young boy.  I feel grateful that their grief gave them courage to donate organs to save others.  This week, it was my brother’s wife who was the recipient of such a gift.

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