Mama Always ~ L.A. Brown, Author

I've been thinking, I need to take more pictures. I mean, landscapes, sunsets/sunrises, fun things, they're all awesome, but what about the mean streets, so to speak? Thinking back, I remember seeing many, many pictures chronicling my Grandmother's lives. Most are reflecting happy times, but there are a few that aren't so happy...weddings, funerals, births, times of prosperity and times of want. My Grandmother on my Mom's side had more of these than the other...Grandma on Dad's side were pretty much good times, even though some of the people in her pictures were ones that she wasn't quite cordial with afterwards. And that got me to reflect on my chronicling. Most of my pictures show happy times, fun times; sunsets, landscapes and animals. But, I have noticed I have a few that show more than I am comfortable with. One picture shows me noticeably thin, dark circles, but a smile nonetheless. I tried to look happy, but the camera captured what I was trying t...

Have you ever walked a straight line? I'm talking about walking on a painted on the pavement type straight line here. Unless your balance is tip-top, you waver every once in a while, if you're me, you look like a professional drunk. My internal gyroscope just can't stay centered. Every day we as Christians walk a fine line. Some days we can walk that puppy with no problems, other days, we have toe-dips here, foot faults there, and ultimately we look back and give a sigh of relief that the line you were walking has more than a few scuff marks, and maybe a stray fingernail or two that you bit off, but it is thankfully, part of our past. But consider this. In this world, we walk a fine line every day. Whether it is listening to music that isn't encouraging or uplifting, having a bit of road rage as you are blocked in on all sides, behind someone who is doing ten miles an hour below the speed limit...in the left lane. When you finally get up beside them, you find it was...

Yesterday, a collaboration project that has taken five years finally hit the market. Evelyn is a survivor/abuse victim fictional story, but there's a twist to it. Evelyn, DB, and Sarge are all fictional, created by a woman with an uncanny way of painting a picture for you. The other individuals are all real people, with real abuse backgrounds, and stories of survival. All of their names have been changed, the stories altered for their protection, and you want to know what frustrated me the most? They can't be credited in any way for their contribution. They deserve to have the world know that they are survivors, and have risen above and gone beyond anything they ever thought they could have once upon a time,  but because there is someone out there who put them there in the first place, they can never be revealed, at least by me. The woman who is the main collaborator with me, the one who created the three fictional characters, had to prioritize things because of family...

Whenever I see those words, "Mission Impossible,*" I remember Peter Graves and his weekly mission. "If you should accept it," well, that was always a given because he always did. Jim Phelps was always the best at what he did. Which brings me to another mission, impossible...or so it looks on the outside. The Bible is rife with examples of impossible missions, starting with Noah. So...tell me just how impossible it is for a vintner to build a boat? The interesting thing is, up until that time, the earth didn't have rain, so boats weren't needed, much less known. Now, if this isn't impossible enough, Noah was right about 500 years old when God told him to build the Ark, then told him to gather all the animals of the earth...two by two, except the 'clean' animals, of which he was to gather by sevens. He endured the ridicule of the people around him, but he also did what God told him to do. At the end of his work creating the Ark, the animals we...

Who are  you? No, really, who do you think you are? Who do people say you are? Are you a parent, grandparent? Blue collar, pink collar, white collar worker? Are you a daughter, a son? Who are you? Better yet, what is your identity? Are you straight, curved, gay, not gay, black, white, republican, democrat, independent, Christian, atheist, deist, Buddhist? Just who are you? Everyone identifies with something, believing that this is who they are, but for those of you who identify as a conservative, a good person, a Christian, just what makes you so? Last month, I attended a funeral. At this funeral I spoke with a couple regarding the person we just said goodbye to, and something they said hit me wrong. I probably should have said something, but I was still so raw with emotion that I didn't trust my words or attitude, so I chose to smile and say nothing. What they said was this: "So and so was a good person , we're sure (this person) is in Heaven now." While I did...

Today was choir practice, as is every Wednesday night. After we practice in the music suite, our Choir Leader shares a Bible verse or passage, and shows how to apply it to our lives. Generally, it is something that touches some of us, sometimes all of us, but rarely none of us. Today, I don't know if it touched anyone else but me, but this is what I got tonight. Technically, no specific verse was shared...if there was, I missed it because I was in awe of the message I got during the whole I'd say 5-10 minutes. What triggered it was two words: broken pieces. I found those words so profound, and then one word came to mind. Kaleidoscope. See, we all have broken pieces in our lives, whether it's family, friendships, work. There can be broken pieces that involve finances, health, and faith. The thing is, God sees and knows them all. In my mind's eye, I saw Him collecting them in His hand and then forming them into something amazing. Most of us are familiar with the chil...

Not quite two weeks ago, I got an epic rant going. I am not quite sure exactly what started it, but part of it was about our Freshman Congresswoman who said, 'Some people did something.' As I was ranting about it, the person I was blowing off steam to asked me a couple of questions. "How is their religion different than yours? How is where they go to worship different than where you go? How is what they believe, who they put their faith in, different than yours?" Let's just say, the rant was abruptly stopped. It took me this long to figure out the answers to these questions. See, the person who asked these things is on the fence, faith wise...not so much a follower of Jesus, but not exactly a dissenter. The questions threw me for a loop, and in my opinion, they shouldn't have. The Bible says that we should study the Word of God so that we have answers to those who question our faith. I had an answer, but it was pretty lame. Don't remember what it was...