Mama Always ~ L.A. Brown, Author

There comes a time in everyone's life that they have to step back from the hustle and bustle and take stock of how things are going for them. For me, I seem to do this often, although in my opinion, probably not often enough. For the next few days I plan on taking a sabbatical from facebook, my blog, t.v. (although the family isn't joining me on this one), pretty much anything that takes away from quiet time with God, quite similar to a fast, I suppose. I'll be doing a lot of reading, not only my Bible, but I have some Christian counselling books that I need to get back into. There are some things that are going on, extra-familial, that those skills will be needed on some scale, and I wish to be prepared for that. I have friends that are going through events in their lives that they never in their wildest dreams thought that they would experience. I want to be prepared to pray and counsel as needed. God placed me on this path some years back, but I chose to move off of it...

In the world that we live in, it is said that there are many paths to God. I suppose for the uneducated in the Scriptures that may be true. According to www.pewforum.org , and 35,000 Americans that were polled, a full 70% of evangelicals believe that there are many paths to God; while only 68% believe that there is only one way. Looking at these numbers, one might conclude that these numbers are pretty good, but remember, we’re talking about evangelicals , that is, main-stream Christian denominations. Of the Protestant denomination, 66% believe in many paths, while 64% believe only one; Evangelicals, 57% many, 53% one; Mainline, 83% and 82%; Historically Black, 59% and 57%. Out of the religion of Mormon, 39% and 43%; Jehovah’s Witnesses, 16% and 18%.  These are troubling numbers, especially from the Protestant, Evangelicals, Mainline and Historically Black churches. Because the Mormon religion and the Jehovah’s Witnesses have their own doctrines and versions of the Bible, thei...

...and at the same time, I'm wondering why some things happen. You see, someone who I know is very angry at someone that I love. What happened, to the best of my knowledge, was a judgement call. I don't know. All I know is that one or both of the individuals involved will have to deal with the hurt, the misjudgment and the consequences to that one action. As a Christian and as one who has been on the other end of that particular judgement call at least twice in my life, I can understand both ends of the problem. It doesn't make it right, but at the same time, it doesn't make it wrong. In my honest opinion, when someone makes a judgement call that affects someone else, they are taking that chance that their actions can come back to haunt them, especially if the judgement call is faulty. Perhaps this was one of those times, I don't know, I wasn't there. Even if the call wasn't faulty, then there is the ripple effect that trickles down to those whose lives ar...

I know that is kind of a pessimistic outlook, but I'm kind of down. See, I saw something that made me want to take action on....I did and I was heartbroken in the process. The other day, on my Facebook feed, I saw a sweet face that I fell in love with. The fact that he very much reminded me of my sweet Draco, who passed away on his 11th birthday because he severed his spinal cord, only made me fall in love with him more. The object of my affections? An eight year old Australian Shepherd named Morton.  Morton had been a stray and after having gone through the requisite quarantine period was then shifted to the "old folks" section of the shelter. He had had a rough time of it, he was emaciated, malnourished and of course, eight years old. I tried throughout the afternoon to ignore the picture that kept popping up, but I just couldn't. So, I did what I knew I was going to do in the first place. I sent an email to my dear Hubby asking him if I could spring Morton and ...