ChristianMilitaryWives

Sunday in our house is really a very enjoyable day. We start out the morning by attending church and in grand family tradition come home to take a NAP. You may laugh at this but I remember every Sunday at my grandparents being exactly the same. My grandad, who was the Pastor of our church, would hit his recliner shortly after eating lunch and in short time be snoozing away. He would stay in the chair for the entire afternoon until it was time to get up and go back to church on Sunday night. So, today after lunch Katie and I headed to my bedroom to take a nice afternoon siesta. Katie is the youngest in our family, and even though she is five, she still enjoys being sung to sleep. I was humming to myself as I straightened the covers on my bed and she said "Mommy, sing me a lullaby." So I laid down next to her and as she snuggled up against me I started to sing . I always resort to Disney tunes when I can't think of anything right away. I began to hum one of my favorites from Snow White. It's the one where Snow White is still living in the castle, dressed like a poor servant girl , doing chores, all the while dreaming of the day when Prince Charming will come to her to take her away. As I hummed this song to Kate this thought hit me: I am Snow White. I am the Princess, living in a world that I wasn't destined to be in. I wasn't meant to be the servant girl dressed in rags. I was meant to be a bride, of a Prince nonetheless! And who might that Prince be you ask? Well He is the Prince of Peace, the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, and better yet he's coming for me someday to. All of this dawned on me as I sang to Katie. Most women think of that someday when they will marry their Prince Charming as being the happiest moment of their life. I didn't marry a Prince, but I did marry my best friend. James is by far one of the best things that ever happened to me, and although I love him more than even I understand sometimes, he will never be my Prince. My Prince came to this earth and did the most noble thing anyone could ever do. He gave his life for me. He battled the very nature of evil and won, and best of all he went to prepare a place for me where I will live with him forever. Just like it says in the song " and away to his castle will go, to be happy forever I know, and the birds will sing, and wedding bells will ring, someday when my dreams come true" I'm so glad that Jesus has made my dream a reality and one day it will come true.

I've been a Christian for a long time.  Since I was a little girl, as a matter of fact.  I believe I was about 10 years old when I asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart.  I attended a small church in Flint, Michigan called Eastside Unity Missionary Baptist Church when Mrs. Verna Hemmingway lead me to the Lord while I was at a GMA meeting.  GMA stands for Girls Missionary Association.  I suppose, being a part of a group that used an acronym - I should have known then I would someday marry a fine military man. 

Through my life I have had my ups and downs when it comes to living a Godly life.  My teen years were quite challenging.  I've bumped my head a few times, but have dusted myself off - bit the bullet and continued trucking on for Christ.

I have experienced Gods love, wisdom and strength and at times and still pushed God away during certain trials in my life.  I know, I am not alone on this.  It's not easy to write and say I've messed up several times in my life.  I'm not proud of the fact that I have sinned in my life - but I am proud to say I am a sinner, saved by Gods grace.  If I had to save myself from going to Hell, it would be impossible. 

Is there something in your life that you need to work with? Is your relationship with God strained? I've been there.  Ever get angry? Cuss? Smoke? Hurt someone? You are not alone.

I'm sure you can think of a few things in your life that you've done wrong.  If you are like me, you may have a list of things to work on in your life.

While people may not forgive our sins all the time, our Lord is Holy.  He loves you no matter what.  Don't give up on trying to walk the Christian walk.  Hang in there... keep on going!

Here are a few verses to help you remember that the Lord forgives us as we are. 

Colossians 2:13-14  "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross."

1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

Psalm 51:1 "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions."

Hebrews 10:17  "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."

Daniel 9:9 says, "The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him."

Colossians 1:13-14  "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

Psalm 103:12  "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."

Don't let feelings of, "I'm not perfect..." hold you back from asking God for forgiveness and moving forward with your relationship with Christ.  God always loves us, forgives us and wants us to dust ourselves off, GET UP and keep on keeping on!

In the last year or so, so many people I know, whether personally or through others, have passed away. Most were not Christians, some were. It has had me thinking about so much. It has made me face my own mortality, leaving me anxious..literally! Every ache, every pain, every infection, etc. would make my mind start reeling, feeling anxious about my own death. I would start telling myself, I don't want to die and leave my children motherless before they are old enough to live on their own and have their own families. I have too much to teach them still. I don't want to leave behind my husband, crushing our dreams for our future together when our kids are grown and it's just the two of us. I don't want my sister to have another death to try to come to grips with when she still hasn't come to terms with the ones she has already had to go through. Besides, before I go, I want to see her life turn around and for her to truly find the peace you know when you find Jesus! I don't want my parents to experience the loss of a child either or my brother to feel like he should have been closer to me or something. I don't want my best friend to reach for the phone to call me, only to remember I will not be on the other end of the line. These are the thoughts that go through my head. Dealing with death this past year has been so hard on me. I am assuming it's because not all of them have been Christians. There is a different feeling when a Christian dies than when a non-christian dies. Trust me!
So, it's not only my death that has had me on the brink of a major panic attack, but thinking of the death of my husband. We are heading to Fort Hood in just 5 short weeks. After 2 and a half years of a TRADOC environment (training) he will now be a part of a real unit, back into the "real army" as he puts it. He will deploy with the 1st Cav. So there's that anxiety to deal with. Sending my husband off to war. What a scary thought. For a non-believer, all of this "stress"....all of these events would make anyone seek a psychiatrist to put them on prozac or something....for a back-sliden christian, it's no different really. You know in your mind that God has it all under control but your heart doesn't actually believe it. It's more like a saying or something you say to someone when you try to console them...you don't actually trust it. Then there are the Christians. And all though they struggle with daily life, they have peace and hope. Why? Because they know the Lord will never forsake them or leave them. When they are facing such hardships as deaths and job loss and disappointments, they turn to the Author of this life and know that His story is exactly how it should be. We just can't see all of it yet. Matthew 11:28 says: "Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest." If only I could hold on to that when I am going through a major panic attack. When my husbands arms around me, trying to talk me through an attack and get me to concentrate on deep breaths just aren't enough, I should look to the One who is enough! But I fall into that catergory of a back-sliden Christian. One who believed with all of my heart, felt peace and joy in my life no matter what the cirrcumstances..then when life was good and I met the "perfect" man and started building a life with him, I no longer allowed God to be the head of the household...I no longer turned to God for my peace and my comfort, but to my husband. A simple man who can not fill Christ's sandals. My husband is a great man. He is kind, respectful, loyal, disciplined, funny, focused...all the things that make for a great husband....but he is not Jesus. He can not calm the storms in me when I am being tossed about. He can not hold me in his arms and reassure me that he is in control and that I just need to trust in him. That is God's job. What happens when my husband is on the other side of the world in a location unknown, doing his job, a job I will not know.....in a dangerous country? Where will my comfort come from then? Who will hold me and calm me? Who will bring me peace as I go through each and every 365+ days that my husband is in this dangerous place? Without God I will go crazy.
I am reading a book called "Hope for the Homefront" by Marshele Carter Waddel, wife of a Navy Seal (for over 25 years) Now remember earlier I said I have been having severe anxiety issues about death...my death...death of another loved one? I read this last night...."Yet only His presence can guard my heart, so I rejoice that the Lord is near and remember that He said to not be anxious, fearful or worried about anything! That includes danger, pain, orders, failure, the unknown, things that go bump in the night and even death. 'Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus' (Phillipians 4:6-7)"
So all I can say to that is WOW! There is the answer I was seeking! When I would lie in bed at night, afraid to go to sleep because I was afraid I wouldn't wake up, I would pray for the Lord to help me...to keep me safe...to take away my fear. And even though I had pushed him to the back of my list of important things in life, He STILL loved me, He STILL knew what to say to me, He STILL knew how to comfort me. So am I still afraid to die? No. Because I remembered that God is the author of not only my life, but of my children's,my husband's, my siblings, my parents and my friends. If He chooses to take me home today, I know that He will do the same for these people that are in my life that He has done for me. He will bring them peace and joy in knowing I am in heaven....singing praises to Him with my Granny, Jeff, Krystal, Grandma and Grandpa Hughes, My uncle Erik, Mike Holt and all the others who have passed on to heaven that I knew or my family and friends knew. And while I am in heaven, God will be looking after my loved ones, completing their story. The only thing I have to fear is that they will not accept that simple gift that Jesus gave them. The gift of forgiveness, the gift of life. I want to be reunited with them in heaven again someday, so I pray that with each day I wake up, I can remember to trust in God and to teach my children to trust in him as well.

Psalm 40:1-2 ~ I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

When I chose these verses as my "life" verses, little did I know just how much they would apply daily to my life.

I am not the most patient of people. I detest waiting in lines, being on hold,  slow traffic, and most of all the phrase "Hurry up and wait". And how many times have we all heard that last one? Countless, I am sure.
As for myself, in the last 2 years since my husband enlisted, I have heard the last one every step of the way, mostly in reference to a thing called TDRL (Temporary Disabled Retirement List). My husband is currently on that list. He was placed on that list last April due to injuries he received in Basic the week before graduation the previous winter. Talk about everything coming to a screeching halt in our lives!

I was all packed up and ready to move to where his AIT would be, I was scheduled to view an apartment there the next week. In fact I was getting ready to book my airline ticket to his graduation when I got the news he was hurt. 
It was frustrating to someone like me. "What do you mean they are going to send you home for a month and then go from there? What do they mean when they say con-leave? Hurry up and wait? What is a bone scan?"  And ultimately the question that was constantly being asked internally "God where are you taking us with all of this?" 

So he was sent home on leave for 1 month, went back for 4 days and then came home for another 3 weeks over the holidays. I flew with my husband back to where he was doing Basic. It was especially hard to separate from each other because at this point we had only been married for less than 6 months. But we were sure that God had His hand in everything and that it would all turn out for His glory.
January, February, March and almost all of April went by before any progress was made on the decision to put my husband on this list. Finally I got the phone call that he would be home the next week! I was so excited! Then the questions came.  How are we going to support ourselves? Where are we going to live? (At the time I was living with my parents) How long do we need to wait till we find out what is going on? Through all of these questions God remained faithful and taught us to rely on Him. God never deserted us.

We lived 3 months with my parents, all the while praying for an affordable place to come along that would fit into our budget that was cut by 80% when he went on retirement pay. The week of our 1st anniversary we were offered a small studio that perfectly fit into our budget and needs. Praise the Lord!

Once we moved into our first place, finances became extremely tight and  my husband had been looking for a job since he had come home, but with no luck. We had been praying and begging the Lord for direction in what He wanted us to do because living on less than $600 a month was and continues to be difficult.
"God is good ALL the time." That phrase became my daily encouragement because just when we were not sure where any money would come from for groceries, gas in the car or bills, a check would show up in the mail, or a side job would make itself available for us to make some cash. Never has God failed us or let us go hungry. I learned to pray about the little things. And God is not so big that these things are insignificant to Him! The Bible even says later on in Psalm 40:17 ~ But I am poor and needy yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God. How reassuring that was for me! God thinks on me!

Since moving in almost a year ago, my husband has gone back to school to use his time wisely and to finish his degree in Math. Neither of us are working still, but God has told me to wait patiently for Him to provide and to guide my life. We have had the opportunity to visit some friends that we have not seen in awhile, and to consider the possibility of moving out of state to where affordable housing and jobs are plentiful. So no matter what I find myself or my family in, I know God has a plan and that I am to "Bloom where I am planted" in whatever circumstances that come along. Because God has placed my feet in the solid rock of His love and care.                         

by Alane Pearce

Recently in San Antonio in a neighborhood near ours, a house fire was blamed for the death of a woman and her two children. Yesterday, my husband came home from work with the very sad news that the fire was set to cover up the murder/suicide of a woman and her two children. The husband/father is in the Army. He also suffers from PTSD. A colleague of my husband just had dinner at that house during Christmas–this was family. Allegedly, the woman killed her two children and then killed herself after setting the fire.

I know military life can be a challenge, but what makes it so hard that you feel you would need to kill your children and yourself? Did this woman feel like she didn’t have anyone to talk to? Did she think she was alone in her troubles? Did anyone ever reach out to help her? I just don’t understand it. It breaks my heart.

This is one of the basic reasons that I started Wings for Women Military Spouse Conferences–to help connect military spouses to each other and the tools and resources we need so we don’t have to feel that something like suicide is the only way to cope. We need each other for support and friendship. We need to reach out to one another to help and be helped. I am certain that our conferences will help open up conversations between spouses and with the community so tragedies like this murder/suicide don’t happen anymore.

What do you do when life gets too hard? Who do you tell? Where do you go?

I admit that sometimes I just stay in bed for a little bit longer–to put off facing another day of loneliness in a new city.

But the better thing to do is to reach out to friends and family–on the phone if there is no one near by or over coffee if we are in the same town. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes, that two are better than one; chapter 4 v. 10 reads, “If one falls down his friend can help him up, but pity the man who has no one to help him up.” Make sure you keep in touch with at least one person who knows what you are going through and who can help you up when you fall.

Proverbs 12:25 is a verse that helped me get through the loss of our son who died from a severe heart defect when he was two weeks old. (You can read more about that in my book, Notes from the Margins). One day, when I thought I would just shrivel up from the pain of losing the only thing I ever wanted in my life, my mom said, “The only way to really heal is to help others who are also hurting.” Proverbs 12:25 reinforces that idea: “The generous will prosper and he who refreshes others will be refreshed.” Can’t argue with God and Mom! It’s quite true. Sometimes the only way to get out of the darkness or the pain you feel in life is to reach out to the world and start making a difference for others. And by helping others, you are helped. What can you do to help other military spouses in your neighborhood, installation or city?

I guess the point I’m trying to make is this: Don’t go it alone–whether you feel healthy or overwhelmed–don’t go it alone! Get involved in your neighborhood, your church or your installation. And if that is too much for you, connect with someone. If you don’t have anyone to connect with, reach out to the chaplain, your commander’s wife, the first shirt or a doctor.

If you don’t want to go public, at least take advantage of online services like Give an Hour or Military OneSource. Sign up for daily encouragement from 411 God or join a group like Christian Military Wives or Wives of Faith. Read Jocelyn Green’s book, “Faith Deployed” or Sara Horn’s “God Strong” or write to me. There are so many people and organizations who want to help you!

I close this praying for you! Be blessed today and reach out to help or be helped. It’s the only way to survive our crazy military lifestyle!

About the author:
Alane Pearce is a military spouse with a heart to help women see light in the darkness of life’s trials. She is the author of Notes from the Margins: Healing Conversations with God and its companion Bible study, Comparing Notes. Alane is also the founder and executive director of Wings for Women Military Spouse Conferences to offer hope and encouragement to military spouses worldwide. She currently lives wherever the Air Force sends them.

This article first appeared at www.faithdeployed.com.

by Leeana Tankersley

Eight days after my husband and I got married, we moved to the Middle East. Steve had been living in Bahrain during our entire year-plus engagement. He flew home on leave, we married in a courtyard in Balboa Park and after a quick honeymoon we were jet bound for what might as well have been Mars.

I remember stepping off the plane into a mind-numbing whirl of new. Every single aspect of my life was unknown to me—husband, home, country, climate, culture (Middle Eastern and Navy). How was I going to spend my day? How were my new husband and I going to get along? How was I going to learn to cook? How was I going to make friends? How was I ever going to figure out the foreign language of Navy acronyms?

By Colleen Saffron

I have been thinking on this subject for a couple of weeks now. How often in life do we walk away from a person and event a subject and we never really say what we meant to. Now let me clarify I am not talking about “giving a piece of your mind” to someone or insulting them. I think we have too many people walking around being rude and unloving because it is their “right” when frankly, I agree 100% with Proverbs that says a kind word turns away wrath.

What I am talking about is a friend, a colleague, an acquaintance or someone you have run into who has done something they may not even realize that has positively touched your life. A cashier who although they have had a long day still smiles and asks how you are and maybe even chats about the local weather. Take that moment to thank them, to smile, to say have a wonderful evening… The person at church who takes an extra moment to stop come over to you and say hello, a child who does a little something sweet. These things happen all the time but we tend to focus on the person who cut us off on the highway, who jumped us in line, who doesn’t do things the way we think they should…..

Over the past few months a woman has become a part of my church that literally just exudes joy. I have never met anyone so lit up from inside. I know she has struggles; we all know since she has been through cancer treatments once and is facing it again within the next month. She started coming to our church with no hair but her eyes and her face positively shine. Her smile illuminates her eyes! Just being in her presence can make you stop thinking about what you face and have a moment that shares in her delight.

I don’t know her well, only casually at this time but every time I see her she blesses me. Last week, when I saw her I felt a need to tell her how her joyfulness makes my day. I did not expect it to impact her the way it did. In the moment I spoke I realized sometimes we need to stop what we are doing long enough to let the people around us know their positive impact on our life. Too often we only seem to share the negative and miss the opportunity to speak life and love to another person who is struggling to do the best they can with what life has given them.

I don’t know why THAT day I felt the need to speak except that one thing my life as a military wife has taught me is that if there is something you should say to another in love don’t let the chance pass you by. My need to speak to her was so much so I am not even sure I thought it through; I just spoke. Honestly, we need to recognize we may not get another opportunity to speak the things we feel at that time. You may forget or lose track of someone or even God forbid, they can be gone forever.

I have lost a sister, 2 grandmothers, my father and more friends than I want to think of over the years and they are gone forever. I can honestly say I wish had spoken to each of them about all they brought that was wonderful and loving and fun and special into my life. I am trying not to allow any more people pass out of my life without letting them know what good they bring me. I am convinced it can do nothing but good and really we all need some more good!

Colleens Blog: Deaf Chicks Shouldn't Sing and Other Sound Advice

My Blessed Monday

 1/11/2010

Thank you for small hands

Thank you for a wonderful family

Thank you for great books

Just in case you were wondering, no, the title of this article is not a typo.

I thought it would be apropos to write a "first of the year" article. But, the truth is that when it comes to New Year's celebrations, resolutions, and excitement, I'm kind of a “scrooge”...(If you will allow me to steal a Christmas phrase and apply it to New Years.)

While I enjoyed staying up until midnight and getting my first New-Year's kiss EVER, once I crawled in bed dead tired I wondered why I had bothered staying up so late. After all, January first is just another day.

Some people may say I am sadly unmotivated, as I haven't made a “New Year's Resolution” in probably 5-10 years. And the ones that I have made I don't think I've ever kept.

See, when you make a New Year's Resolution, this is usually what happens...LIFE! You decide to read your Bible every day, go on a diet, exercise daily, wake up on time and never sleep in, or a myriad of other tedious goals...and then you get sick, get invited to a party, your husband calls in the middle of the night, you get in a car accident. Things just inevitably happen to keep you from sticking true to all of those high goals. So after you fall asleep during your Bible reading, eat that all-too-wonderful slice of chocolate cake, and lounge on the couch watching movies all day, you feel like a failure and wonder why you ever tried. After missing a day of success you feel like it's much easier to just live your life the way you always have.

(Is anyone else relating to this?)

But life doesn't have to keep us from living successfully. Yes, it can throw a kink in our well-made goals, but it doesn't have to make us quit.

This is why I have adopted a slightly different philosophy for my life: I take things “one day at a time.” See...what is a year? 365 days is all it is. While keeping a promise or a goal every one of those days is nigh impossible, making improvements each day is much more attainable.

The time where I realized this concept the most was when my husband was deployed for a year to Afghanistan. I would wake up in the morning, look at my countdown calendar, and be filled with despair and wonder how I could possibly make it through the next “x” amount of months. But each time I would try to shake my head of all the negativity and focus on TODAY. I would say to myself, “Aprille, just try to make it through today, and don't worry about the rest of the deployment.”

I had a lot of bad days, but I probably had more good days than bad. Each time I found myself discouraged about the deployment, I would write it off as “just a bad day...tomorrow will be better.”

So, if you have made some grand New Year's resolutions, I admire you for your courage and dedication. But let me encourage you by saying this: Don't let one day of life, failure, or fatigue keep you from reaching your goals. If you find yourself faltering, go to bed, sleep it off, and try again tomorrow. Take this year one day at a time, and I think you will find that at the end of 2010 you will be a better person because of all you have gone through.

“Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it.” (Anne Shirley)

Most nights, Alfred Green still cries. He keeps a single lantern lit to provide a dim glow and finds a certain comfort in the creaking patterns that persist from the old wooden rocking chair; sounds which he once despised just yesterday, it would seem.

With a frail hand he, once again, grasps tightly the neatly folded quilt draped over the arm of the chair, careful to avoid the needle woven once through the unfinished blanket. Conflicting feelings of both warmth and guilt seem to resonate from this one reminder of his dear Anna. This particular quilt was meant for little Sarah, but due to the unexpected death of this dear quilt maker, Sarah's quilt remains unfinished.

To a certain group of heavy hearted children, Anna Green was affectionately known as the "quilt lady", a title she certainly owned with joy. It was a delightful endeavor and not a burden at all, to sew a quilt for every new child at the Hansen Orphanage. Alfred, too, has fond memories of children, though broken inside, beaming with great happiness at the satisfied anticipation built by the other children telling of the great day when the quilt lady would arrive.

"Every quilt is unique, just like you" she would tell each child. There were so many different patterns in each quilt. "There is no other exactly like it in the world", she would continue, "except for this one square", pointing to a single green square, always stitched into the corner of each quilt. "Do you know what it says?" she would ask, about the embroidered words on the green square.

"God loves me", they would respond. Anna loved to hear the children say those words. For her, it was more important that the child remember those words than her kindness.

"That's right, and He will never leave you. Be comforted, child. Be warm. God loves you."

But for 8 year old Sarah, her anticipation was met with sadness, as she learned that the quilt lady had become very ill and passed on. For her, there would be no knock on the door, no children gathering at the feet of the quilt lady as she shared of God's love, no bright smiles as she read the embroidered green square. For this little girl, there would be no quilt.

For many days, Sarah could be found staring out the window, occasionally wiping her damp cheeks as she hoped that her quilt, with the special green square, would somehow arrive.

Alfred had watched Anna stitch squares into quilts so many times, he often considered an attempt to finish Sarah's quilt. But the sadness of her passing and the comfort of the unfinished quilt, especially on the eve of the 10 years since her death, kept him from so much as unfolding it. He missed her kindness; he missed her love of God, though he always felt that God must not love a man whom he takes from. Tonight, with moist eyes and a sad heart, he will sleep in Anna's chair.

As the morning light dissolved shadows cast across the old floor timbers, Alfred was awakened by a knock on the door. Using his cane, he slowly made his way to the door. "Who is it?" he said, in an uninviting tone.

"Mr. Green?" a woman's voice inquired.

"Yes. Who is it I said?", he responded with greater irritation.

"Mr. Green, my name is Sarah". The ensuing silence seemed endless. Alfred slowly unlatched the door and pulled it open. "Mr. Green, you may not remember me, but I was 8 years old when I was brought to the orphanage. The quilt lady, sorry, Mrs. Green made lovely quilts for all of the children", she continued, "I was very sad when she passed, and was not fortunate to receive one".

Having softened his tone, Alfred replied, "Yes child, I'm very sorry. She was...,"

"Oh no, Mr. Green, it's fine!" Sarah eagerly interjected, "I just - I brought a gift for you. You see, while I was sad, the other children each unstitched their green squares and sewed them together to make a quilt for me". A tear fell from Alfred's eyes. "I wanted to give it to you, now" she said softly. "Do you recall what the green squares say?" she inquired.

"Yes," he answered with a quivering voice and tears filling his eyes, "God loves me."

Sarah handed the folded green quilt to Alfred; "Be comforted sir. Be warm. God loves you."
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This story was written by Bill Johnson.  When I read it, I loved it so much I wanted to share it with you.  I wrote Bill and let him know I would be sharing it with you all.  His website is pretty neat and filled with Christian stories.  I have not had time to read all of Bills stories, but the stories I have read, I like.  Here's a link to Bills site: http://www.billjonline.com