Feelin' Like Jonah?

Lately, in my quiet time, I've been reading Jonah. This morning, I was thinking about some of my friends who are in Jonah-times right now: feeling like they're in the depth of somewhere; overcome by something. This was Jonah's prayer, I hope it encourages them: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.' The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God. "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple."

My Mom by Andy Palacios

I know Mom's Day has come and gone, but today, my little Andy-man came home with this piece of paper that I've just got to share. It was a fill-in. So I bolded his responses and added my commentary in italics.

1. My mom is 10 years old. (I have no problem with this answer!)
2. My mom likes to make carrots and mac-n-cheese. (Ok, but I do know how to make other things in the microwave too you know)
3. My mom always says, "NO POTTY WORDS!" (not true! I swear I say other things to my kids)
4. My mom is funny when she says, "Ahhhh" and falls on the floor. (Thank you, Andy, for selling me out to your entire class...)
5. My mom's favorite food is spicy food.
6. My mom weighs 5 pounds. (I have no problem with this answer either)
7. Mommy's favorite thing to do is watch TV. (pray? read the bible? these would have been nice answers here...)
8. My mom smells like suntan lotion. (its called sunLESS tanning lotion...gheesh)
9. Mommy's name is Heather. (glad he didn't say another woman's name!!)

Confidance-Advice from Van Gogh

If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint,"

then by all means paint,

and that voice will be silenced.

- Vincent Van Gogh

Balancing Coconuts

If there is any correlation between balancing coconuts on one's head and balancing prioirites in one's life, then the Palacios fam is heading (pun intended) in the right direction!

"For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven."

Arms Around Us (while hunting crabs)

The boys went to hunt for crabs. But Andy was scared to go, so DJ put his arm around him & led him. As I viewed this thru my camera lens, I couldn't help but think of the bigger picture. "Life" often walks us toward (or into) something scary & we need a little more than just ourselves. It made all the difference in the world that DJ's arm was around Andy: It kept Andy from turning back, yet comforted him as he went forward. In the midst of fear, we will always need God. But sometimes it's nice when God is felt thru an arm around us.

Please Pray for My Friends

These are my best friends. They need your prayer. Please pray for them. You can read more at troyandsteph.com. We love 'em tons and we know that our prayers are not the least we can do...they are the most. Thank you.

My Fav Flower & Why

Hands-down, my favorite flower is the bougainvillea (pron: boog-en-veal-ya). Yesterday, Raul pulled over on the side of a dirt road so I could literally stick my head in them. Just look at them!!!! Aren't they beautiful?! "God, you care so much for Your creation that even in shrubs, You took time to put a rich palette of color and creativity. And when I look at these, I know that You are the Master and that everything on Your Earth is Your masterpiece, and I am grateful."

Turnabout's Fair Play, Even When It Comes to Pouting

One of my shameful claim-to-fames are my ridiculously long silent treatments. My p.'s have a Polaroid of one of my first--taken when I was four. I didn't get my way so I pouted under an apple tree for a couple hours. When I was 14, I think I broke a record for the longest-running silent treatment. I didn't speak to my p.'s for 16 days in a row 'cause they wouldn't let me go to a middle school dance. They took a picture of that one too. Today? I celebrate! 'Cause I only give Raul 4-5 days of silent treatments, so I'm practically in full recovery! Then it happened... yesterday, on the first day, in the first hour of our getaway, DJ got ticked about something and.......busted out with his FIRST silent treatment!! I don't know? I'm torn! Should I be proud or ashamed?

My Jack Johnson Plug

This is a GREAT CD to pick up. It is lyrically decent; it's by a super-musician; and the jive of the CD is fitting for alot of occasions: sleeping, studying, entertaining, hammocking, sunbathing, eating, sipping coffee & sing-a-longs with your kids. If you don't have it, sniff it out, man!

The Sound of an Apology

This morning, at 6:42 a.m., I went running. Along the way, I heard the natural sounds of: a rooster crowing, a garage opening, a car driving, an owl hooting, a sprinkler watering, a lamb baa'ing, two boys bike riding, an airplane flying, a horse naying, my lungs panting, a dog barking & the sun rising. I told myself, "These are all natural sounds. They were not forced because they wanted to be heard; not uttered because they wanted to be noticed!" My sounds should be too. The bible says, "If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." This morning, God convicted me while I was running and listening to His sounds. If I've unnaturally sounded off to you, like some clanging cymbal, I want to make it right. Please leave me an anonymous or public comment, or email me @ leadHership@gmail.com and grant me the opp. to give you the right sound of an apology.

Mighty to Save

“The LORD your God is with you,

he is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

he will quiet you with his love,

he will rejoice over you with singing.”
Zephaniah 3:17

Sneak Peek

Just wanted to give you a heads up on who Raul and I will be this Halloween.

What's Your Strongest Part?

God exhorts us to love Him with ALL 3 parts: body, mind, soul. In my life, these parts have not ALL dominanted. The runt of the litter is my mind; the more dominating part is my soul. I'm so grateful God created us with 3 parts that have the capacity to love Him. 'Cause my mind hasn't always had my back; and I swear, at times, it has a mind of its own! But I've always been able to rely on my soul. I love God SO MUCH there, that the overflow has sustained the other parts when they were weak. Do you have a dominating part that loves God? Which part is it?

Seeing God's Love

thank you, Arturo

My Mother by DJ Palacios

My Mother by DJ Palacios
My Mother has green eyes.
My Mother has blond hair.
My Mother is pretty when she puts lipstick on.
My Mothers likes for me to help her clean up my room.
I like it best when Mother cooks mac & cheese.
I don't like it when my Mother cooks spinach.
When I'm good, she is very happy.
I always feel very special when my Mother tucks me into Bed.

LEVERAGE THE BEVERAGE

As a guest (again) at a local hospital, something dawned on me when the nurse came in to serve me water. Here I am, watching TV, typing on my laptop, SO engrossed in both, that I missed "It." ALL OUR LIVES we get served beverages at drive-thru's, restaurants, hospitals, resorts, airplanes, stadiums, Starbucks. Yet here I sat, a God-follower, missing the opportunity to serve my nurse God's love while she served me water. BUSTED! So for the rest of the day, I turned off the TV and tried to foster an environment where I could engage with the hospital staff serving me. No spiritual fireworks went off, but this felt like a step in a better direction. Tomorrow, when they send me home, I'm taking this "Leverage the Beverage" lesson with me and applying it more often!

The Banana Simile

Life's like a banana.
The banana, in its entirety, is like your life.
The peel is like your sinful skin ('cause it gets easily browned, bruised, rotted and can even attract bugs)
But the fruit inside? Oh, man, that's like Jesus!

All my life I've spent peeling away at things.
Actually, I've never reached a point where there wasn't anything to peel. But what's encouraging is that the more I peel, the more The Fruit is revealed. And the more The Fruit is revealed, the more encouraged I am to keep peelin' away! Because I KNOW He is there and He IS within my reach and I BELIEVE that the best part is yet to come. And I don't mind waiting for the best.

Sunday Worship

Man, I've got to go to bed. Here's one final thought before I do:
Yesterday, when I got home from church, I asked DJ how his children's church was. Here's what he said, coupled with what I heard: "Mommy, blah blah....worship....blah, blah, blah....we worshipped...blah blah blah blah blah..." My heart and my mind were so mezmerized on the word "worship" coming out of this 5-year old, that I didn't hear anything else. You may be asking, "Does DJ actually know what worship is?" Yes. In his 5-year old mind, in his little corner of the world, he knows what worship is. I hope we know what it is in ours. If you haven't worshipped lately, go to the dictionary and look up the definition. Then go to God and ask Him to help you do it this week. Good night!

To: YOU

Today, YOU will make a difference in the world just by being YOU. Close YOUR eyes, picture YOU in YOUR mind. The bible says God knew YOU before YOU were born. He had a plan for YOUR life. If YOU were to die today, nobody else would fill in to be YOU. And YOU are not a clone, YOU are not a carbon-copy, YOU are not a fake, YOU are not a mistake. There is nobody else like YOU, there's never been another YOU, there never will be. YOU have to be YOU to make YOUR difference in this world. Don't hope someone else will; don't think someone else can. Now stand YOUR butt up, roll YOUR shoulders back, tilt YOUR head higher, and before YOU walk away from YOUR computer to be YOU for the rest of this day, ask God to give YOU the confidence to do it. Then go out there and make YOUR difference...
YOU'RE the only one who can. : )

My Jewish Friend

Today, I went with Allen and Debby to visit Temple Beth Emet. I LOVE learning about other beliefs and cultures. Our tour guide, Zohar, offered both. She is from Israel and has only been in the States for a few years. She let me ask a bazillion questions about her faith, her country and even recent hate crimes against a couple local temples. I was so grateful for her acceptance of my inquisitiveness and to bridge something between her temple and my church. When we talked religion and politics, she was straight-up but respectful. This spoke volumes to me. Ya know...for a host of reasons like security-concerns & "I'm too busy," Zohar could have rejected our request to visit. But she didn't. And someday, I hope I can return the gesture.