Wild Ponies

I remember days of innocent spent
Riding wild ponies
Dancing in tall grass
Watching clouds pass by
Star filled nights
And hot summer days
Eating watermelon
And swimming in cold creeks
Looking for arrowheads
And going on treasure hunts
But like the time things change
seasons go by and Autumn turns to
Winter and Winter to Spring
Then I didn’t know
Wild ponies could kill
Tall grass hid snakes
Watching clouds was useless, and
Eating watermelon was messy
Swimming in creeks was dangerous
Arrowheads were hard to find
And there was never anything at the end of the rainbow
But somehow I wish they would have never told me

Just Me Again...

I was raised in a home where my daddy is a man of few words. He doesn’t talk very much but when he does it usually is of importance. This is probably why I feel so strongly about people saying what they mean and meaning what they say. In today’s world words mean VERY little and most of the time people say one thing and mean another. Recently, I’ve been challenging myself to speak words of encouragement and life.
Because of my upbringing I’ve been raised to say what I mean and stand behind it. So that is not a problem for me but speaking words of encouragement is. I’m not talking about empty words of praise or flattery, I'm talking about genuinely taking the time to encourage a fellow believer in their walk or encouraging an unbelieving co-worker. Words are powerful. More powerful than I think we realize sometimes.
In Proverbs 18:21 it says that “The tongue can bring life and death…” The fact that mere words have so much authority is astounding to me. Maybe they aren’t so mere after all! In Proverbs 10:11 it says that “The words of the godly are a life-giving fountain” and in Proverbs 16:24 it says that “Kind words are like honey-sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.” Therefore, our words should be different than that of unbelievers. I could ramble on about how absolutely amazing that I think it is that my words can have so much influence, but that’s not nearly as remarkable as what the Word has to say about it. Here are a few of my favorite verses on the power of words.

Proverbs 10:13, 10:19, 10:32, 11:13, 12:14, 12:19, 13:3, 15:1, 14:3, 18:20, 21:23, 26:28, 31:26
Ephesians 4:29

Let your words be words of purpose, power and life giving! :D

Lots of Love,

Jordan

Chasing Fireflies

Chasing Fireflies

The summer I met Cassie Taylor I knew very little about life. In my childhood innocence I believed that children had fun, happy lives and that they always grew up and began families. However, Cassie taught me that life was very short and that you should live everyday as if it were your last.
During the summer before I turned ten, our family traveled to Ashland, Kentucky so that my daddy could work at a electrical power plant “shut-down.” As he worked, my mama and I explored the surrounding towns and walked around the RV Park where we stayed. The park was not overly large but gravel roads intertwined throughout the land. On one of these walks I met Cassie; her Shirley Temple blond curls and outgoing personality drew people to her. From the moment she said, “What’s your name?”, I was enthralled.
From that day forward we were inseparable. If we were not swimming in the frigid creek that meandered around the RV Park, we could be found swinging on the old, rusty swing set eating ice-cream cones, playing hide-and-seek in the dark, or chasing fireflies. Cassie was just fun to be around.
Cassie was unlike anyone I had ever met. She was constantly laughing or had a smile on her face. Cassie’s laughter seemed to bubble from the depths of her soul like a thousand tiny tinkering bells blowing in the breeze. She had a joy that she could barely contain. Before I could stop myself, she had me giggling and smiling as much as she did. Cassie had a gift for drawing. She would carry a light blue spiral bound sketch pad with her almost everywhere she went. There were drawings of local birds, the creek, her family and various other people that stayed at the RV Park. One day I sat for what seemed like hours as she sketched me swinging on the RV Park’s swing set. Cassie was a talker, but she also knew when to sit and listen as if she had all the time in the world.
One night after a long day of escapades with Cassie, I went back to our Jayco travel trailer. The moment I opened the door I knew something was wrong. Mama sat very quietly on the couch with her hands clasped together in her lap. Her normally bright hazel eyes were filled with tears. With a tear strained voice mama told me that she had talked to Cassie’s mother and that Cassie had been diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia during the spring. The stages was so advanced that she had been to specialists all over the country and there were no treatments possible. She went on to say that doctors had given Cassie two to four months to live. Tears streamed down my face as I listened to how severe Cassie’s illness was. Because my mama was a nurse, I didn’t completely understand all the medical terms she used, but one thing I did know was; that my friend, Cassie, was going to die soon. She had already been granted her last wish by the Make A Wish Foundation to travel with her grandma to Hawaii to a Benny Hinn conference. Something her grandma had wanted to do for years. Cassie was a giver. She used her last wish to make someone else’s wish come true. When my mama was done telling me the details of Cassie’s illness, she hugged me and I went outside to the campground swing set and cried. It didn’t seem fair that Cassie was not going to grow up or have a family. I thought about what mama said concerning Cassie not wanting to dwell on her illness but to just have fun at her aunt and uncle’s campground her last summer. So I promised that I would never mention Cassie’s illness unless she brought it up first. It was the least I could do for my friend.
We continued to our daily adventures, but as the weeks passed by Cassie was not allowed to do as many activities as she normally did. Swimming, riding her bike and playing hide-and-seek were but a short lived adventure. The night before we left to go to West Virginia for another electrical plant shut-down, Cassie was bound to a bright pink wheel chair because she was too weak to stand. It was dark outside as I rolled her to sit beside the swing set. A Mason jar with tiny holes in the lid was clasped in her frail hands. I chased fireflies while she held them captive in the jar. The last time I saw Cassie she was sitting in her wheelchair in the middle of the gravel road that curved through the RV Park. Her body was weak and her arm was barely raised to wave good bye, but there was a bright, cheerful smile on her face.
This is how I remember Cassie, happy and full of life. We received word that eight days later Cassie passed away in her sleep. Her life was short by all means but she lived more in those eleven years than most people live in a lifetime. Cassie taught me that no one was promised tomorrow and that each day was a precious gift from God.

Un-godly?

Earlier today, I heard someone say “Don’t do that, it’s un-godly!” it wasn’t directed toward me but it disgusted me just the same. Why? you ask. What is un-godly? Hmm…I’m still pondering that.
When will we stop settling for a moral religion with a holier-than-thou attitude and seek the reason we’re here? I fully believe that we are TOTALLY missing the point. Living a moral life is great but how does that make us any different than Muslims, Jehovah Witness, or any other religion. Believe it or not, most religions promote morality. The definition of morality is… accepted moral standards or a virtuous behavior. (virtuous- with moral integrity: having or showing moral goodness)
I’m not against morality. I have lived it my entire life; I’m against the bondage associated with it. Morality is having a form of godliness but denying the power that could make you holy. (2 Timothy 3:5) We have deceived ourselves in believing that morality is Christianity. Instead we(Christians) preach a powerless god, who in effect seems like an old forgetful grandpa. Not a passionate Savior who laid down His life.(1 Timothy 2:6) We have settled for morality instead of the life-changing power and presence of God. Remember when Adam heard God walking in Eden? (Can you imagine the closeness of their relationship?) What a precious picture of what we have lost in our religious system.
When did we lose sight of our relationship with the Redeemer? When did we replace Jesus, best friend, with a stiff necked moral code of behavior? Where did we adopt this belief? I challenge you and myself to look past the “system” and seek His presence. I know more than most how hard it is to let go of that secure, little comfort box. But I also know that His presence is worth it! You will NEVER be the same. Lots of Love, Jordan

The Last Rain...

Have you ever started a movie or book and for some reason or another you couldn't finish it? That sick feeling of not knowing what happened? The possibilities are endless and it could end in any way. Well, that is what The Last Rain is to me the beginning of a story that never got finished. It's one of a few that I have attempted in first person, something that is totally NOT my writing style.

The Last Rain...

By Jordan

I know what your thinking…you wonder if my story’s worth reading, you don’t know me and I can’t see you. But my story’s not one you’ve heard before… it starts off as calm as a wading brook but then the storm strikes and the water becomes consuming much like it does to a drowning man. Filling his lungs, waiting for him to take that first breath knowing it will kill him…Here is my story.

CHAPTER ONE
The summer heat in South Alabama is like the steam that swells out of a pot of Wally’s spicy gumbo, and it’s shoot near sweltering. I rubbed my upper lip as I surveyed the lazy Main Street of Jessup. Today was no different than any other
I needed to be focusing on the article I was writing for the Jessup Times. It was an article over view of the county dance last Friday night at the park. But every time I thought about it I turned the shade of a ripe tomato, It was plum embarrassing. But we’ll talk about that L-A-T-E-R. Mrs. Ferguson and her committee planned the event to boost morale since the 155th was leaving in two weeks. I’m going to miss those boys, I grew up with most of them. Jason Fulton, Greg Rawls, and Chevy Mason all graduated with me. They’re like my brothers, well to be honest they are. We are all really close especially after Mandy Goff got hit and killed by the train, we were on the yearbook staff together in highschool. I still don’t think Jason will ever be the same…He loved her, he was too shy to ask her out, but we all knew. He’s never dated anybody since…
Greg is your all-American second-base man and can hit a ball outta the park but don’t tell him I told you that. Why his head would be so big he wouldn’t fit in his store, Rawls Hardware and Supply, where a cup of ‘ole Mack’s black coffee is free and your guaranteed a good tread, maybe two. Chevy Mason was born in a 1956 bright red Chevrolet, no kidding his mama went into labor and had him right there in the cab. I guess that’s why he’s such a good mechanic........

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I know it's sad and pitiful. It was written over two years ago. LOL Definitely the shortest thing I've ever written.

Wise Words

Quotes by Abraham Lincoln

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

"I’m a slow walker, but I never walk back."

"You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was."

"Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

"I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go."

"Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?"