Mama Always ~ L.A. Brown, Author

Did you know that the human eye is a marvelous thing? We've all seen the commercials of the woman who sees a flame in the dark from quite a distance. In fact, the human eye is able to discern, on a dark night, a flickering candle up to thirty miles away. According to scientific research, the human eye can detect between five and fourteen photons (the activation of five to fourteen rod cells). That's pretty impressive. I say this because it sort of leads into my subject at hand...sort of. Actually, I thought it was a cool bit of trivia...now when you play Trivia Crack and the subject of how far the human eye can see, you have the answer nailed. Anyway, I came across an article by Kevin DeYoung about John the Baptist. He made mention of how he was created to be the prophet fore-runner to Jesus, the Light of the World. John 1:6-8 says:  (KJV) (6) There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. (7) This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all throug...

Who am I kidding? This is Houston! Seriously, though. I don't think we've had more than twenty four hours of sun since late January. I'm beginning to understand what its like to live in Seattle...no offense to my Washington State fans, but constant rain? Ugh! I feel like I'm developing webbing between my toes and I wouldn't be surprised to see feathers growing out of odd places. There's a stretch of land just outside of the subdivision that's been cleared and leveled...it's right by a retirement apartment complex and not too far from the railroad tracks...If I start to see mass amounts of lumber hitting the ground...much more than for the complex next to it, I might be raising an eyebrow. When the animal sounds start, I'll most likely start to get my affairs in order and pack for the journey Home, because sure as shootin', the Lord will be coming on a cloud out of the Eastern Skies! I'm worried about my cats, though. They still hate wate...

Especially in Austin, Texas...well, lets put it this way. Way too much fun was had! So, I went to a writer's conference last week, my first ever. I really wanted to go to the conference, but the cost of it wasn't in my foreseeable future. Praise God for contests and scholarships. I was awarded a scholarship (does that make me an award-winning author now?? Hee, hee!), and was able to drive the couple of hours it took to get to Austin. One observation here...rush hour traffic there? Oy! Anyway, got there, checked in and because the hotel is a popular place, had to wait an hour for my room to be ready. It was worth the wait. Gorgeous room. If you're ever in the Austin, Texas area and want a room with the  most comfortable beds and nicest rooms. the Renaissance Austin is your place to stay. The fact that the conference was there was icing on that particular cake. So, looking at my conference stuff, I noticed that I kind of messed up on the dress code, so out the door I wen...

"Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' " That quote is from Matthew 25:37-40. This last week has presented me, and quite a few other Brothers and Sisters in Christ the opportunity to be who we have been called to do.  A family in Christ has fallen on an extremely difficult situation, in fact it can be considered a crisis situation. Up until last night, I have been in continuous prayer for them and the situation. About ten hours ago, a gofundme account was set up for this family and as of this writing we have collected a small amount, which is an awesome achievement considering the time it went active....

Trust me, I didn't disappoint myself! I mean, seriously...when one has eight cats, four, sometimes five dogs, two toddlers/preschoolers and the Mouse in the house at one time, well, life isn't dull. Case in point. Sunday. A bit of background first. My house is over forty years old. Its wiring has little to be desired. There has been more than one occasion that I've had issues with the outlets, not to mention sometimes the kitchen light. That, however is for another blog and another day. Needless to say, I've begun to think this house has a mind of its own and doesn't like me. That brings me to Sunday. I turn off my ringer for church. Always. Which means that anytime someone calls I usually don't get it until after church ends. Well, I've begun to take my Kindle to church because there's an app that allows me to make notes with the sermon. If you haven't seen this app, check it out, its called YouVersion and has the option to find a live sermo...

As I was getting ready to begin my day with my Granddaughters today, I was doing my morning prayers. Multitasking...something that I'm pretty adept at. Anyway, I reminded myself of an acronym for prayer, mostly because I felt that my morning prayers were getting pretty stale. If they felt stale and boring to me, I can't imagine how they must be for God. Anyway. As I said, I was reminded of an acronym; JOY. Jesus first; Others second; Yourself last. I didn't get much past the "y" because the thoughts that started to overwhelm me on the "J" took over. We celebrate Christmas to remember Jesus' birth, although we are not sure of what day He was born. We celebrate the coming of the Messiah, the One who will save the world, on Christmas, but very few of us think past that day until Easter time and the end result of Christ's ministry. As I was praying, or in my case, actually talking to  Jesus, it hit me. I couldn't have done what He did, kno...

Okay, so its been looking like Christmas since October, who are we kidding? But that hasn't stopped me from being over the top excited about two days from now. Let me explain. No, wait, let me start from the beginning of the year. To say that this year has been a strange one is an understatement. The world seems to have lost its collective mind in one way or another and all of us, whether we want to admit it or not, have been affected be it. From the shock of seeing one our own citizens beheaded by ISIS on the local news (the actual act, of course, not shown), to the deaths of two very different men in different circumstances by the hands of Law Enforcement. From the execution of our men in blue; to North Korea having temper tantrums of one degree or another; to losing one of the most beloved actors of our time taking his own life because of depression, the news has been fraught with stories that tug our heartstrings and stir anger, angst and outrage. There has been good in...