Tipton Home Homecoming 2013

This past weekend, Tipton Home celebrated its 89th year of helping children.  In fact, Tipton Home has helped over 3,000 children since it first opened it doors!

Mrs. Davis chose "Building Character" as the theme for this year - with a special emphasis on the three years Tipton has won the state championship in football.

Those who attended Saturday's festivities could get an embroidered hat or one of these duffle bags.

Pictures were on display of each of the football teams from the winning years - 1952,  1997, and 2012.

In addition to the football displays, other extra-curricular activities were shown on the other side of the room.

My daughter and I decorated these lattice boards with pictures from present and past in the areas of FFA, FHA, 4-H basketball, more football, volleyball, softball, baseball, golf, and cheerleading.

Everyone enjoys looking at all of the old pictures, as well as the more recent pictures.

It was fun seeing how the uniforms have changed through the years!

A group of children, who call Tipton Home their home, sang several devotional songs. They did a great job!

Mrs. McCormack sang a beautiful song from her high school days.  She is also a former resident of Tipton Home and enjoys coming back to visit each year.

This former Tipton Home resident played on the 1952 state championship team. He shared memories of  that year.  It was an exciting time for he and his team back then!

And for the perspective of the 2012 winning team, assistant football coach, T. White told of special things about the present state champions.

A great day reminiscing with old friends and new friends - celebrating the accomplishments of students and athletes from the past and present.  A place that has changed lives and has been building character for 89 years.

May all glory be given to God for making all of this possible! And may He grant Tipton Home many more years of helping children.

Celebrating!

Yesterday was my birthday.  Because I was going to be helping at an academic meet all day and we would be at Bible study and worship last night, my husband decided to take me out the night before.  We ate at my all-time favorite place - a place where my husband I ate for several dates before marriage and several lunch dates since, but a place we don't have time to go to much any more.

We had several items to get at Walmart (a place I try to avoid, but actually enjoyed shopping all together on this rare occasion!)before heading home.  My husband said he wanted he and the kids to each buy me cards.  I told them to save the money (I'm cheap!) and just show me the cards! Ha ha!  (That's an inside joke my husband and I have, too!).  I read them and took this picture, but the kids said it would be wrong to take a picture of the cards individually.  (I was proud of them for realizing that it would be since we weren't paying for them!)

My husband bought me tulips, too!  And gave me a gift card for something I had been saving for each month!

And last night after we got home from worship and Bible study, they "surprised" me with this 'cupcake cake'!!!  They did the same last year and said it's a new tradition!  So sweet!  However, I must say, that next year I'm thankful that the Hostess recipe should be back on the market.  In my opinion this Little Debbie knock off doesn't compare!!  Several other family members agreed!

After that I sat down to reply to all of the wonderful Facebook messages and texts wishing me a happy birthday. I had HUNDREDS of messages from simple 'Happy birthday', to heartwarming, to funny, and one that made me cry!  By the end of the night it was no longer my birthday, but today.  I was soooooo wound up by the sweet messages that I could not sleep!  Finally, at 4:30, when my husband was starting to get up, he encouraged me to try to sleep.  I did....a few hours!  What a wonderful day!  I am truly blessed and humbled.  Thank you, God, for the blessing of family and friends!

....NO ONE WILL SEE THE LORD

As I was preparing my lesson for my Wednesday night ladies class about 'PEACE", I came across this verse.  

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 

Hebrews 12:14

I had read it many times before, but the last part really stuck out to me:  Without holiness no one will see the Lord.  I believe this verse is talking about a Christians' own holiness....that without holiness WE won't see the Lord, but also that without our holiness we can't help bring others to Christ and THEY won't see the Lord through us.

WITHOUT HOLINESS NO ONE WILL SEE THE LORD! 

It reminded me of a quote I had seen earlier in the day:  May your life preach more loudly than your lips. (by William Ellery Channing).  

Now let's turn that phrase around and make it say:  WITH HOLINESS ONE WILL SEE THE LORD.  I like that, don't you?!  What a wonderful thought that ONE WILL SEE THE LORD - perhaps by seeing holiness within you.  Perhaps many 'someones' will see the Lord because of seeing holiness in you. Not that your example saves anyone, of course, but that your example might lead someone to salvation - only through Jesus Christ. Your life's example could ultimately affect where someone will spend eternity!

How we live our lives from day to day matters.  How we conduct ourselves, how we speak, how we deal with others all matter.  Choices we make matter. Yes, at some point we must open our mouths (or type on our laptops/etc. and write a blog post!) and tell others about Jesus.  We must tell others about salvation....about God's plan.....about His Word and His church.  But, our words won't matter if we're not living what we say we believe.  No one will care about our words, if they don't see our words evident in our own lives.  It's just that simple.

We must strive to live holy lives. That is how the world will see Jesus - by Him living in us.  We are lights of the world.  The moment we became a Christian, we became a light.  That is our job.  The problem is that sometimes we don't want to be a light....or we don't want to shine too brightly.  But we must.  Living a holy life means we must shine brightly.  The world needs our light!

Our motivation for shining brightly shouldn't be from duty or obligation, but because we love Him so much, we want to live holy lives because we want to be like Him.  We want to imitate Him in all ways.  And we want to share His love with others.  

Someone you know is looking for Jesus.  They may not realize it, but they're craving a close relationship with Him and their Father in heaven.  God may be trying to use you to reach that person.  Maybe no one else could.  Without holiness no one will see the Lord.  Perhaps that person is seeing the Lord in you.  What a wonderful thought!  

We're All Different

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. 

Romans 12:4-6a

I've been thinking about how different we all are.  I was actually thinking of my own family in regards to our recent bout with sickness - and how some bounced back in a day, while others didn't.  

This morning another child felt yucky again and didn't go to school. (I knew it was 'real' when my threat of, "You have to stay on the love seat all day long, can't get up and play, can't go out and play after the others get home from school, and can't watch anything on TV", didn't phase him!)  He doesn't have many symptoms, but I know from experience how that "yucky" feeling feels.  I sympathized with him.  He's still sleeping, almost two hours later.  Maybe that's what he needed.

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by^[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 1 Corinthians 12:12-14a

This illustration of my family and the differences in how we handle sickness makes me think of the church - and how we are each a part of the church.  The same body, but different parts.  There are stronger parts and weaker parts.  There are working parts and hard working parts.  There are some that do things that are seen, and others who do things quietly and unknown.  All different. All unique.  All needed. All useful parts in the kingdom of God.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 1 Corinthians 12:27

No one part is more special than the other part.  All are a part of the whole - the body of Christ.  But just as my family has had to help each other out during our 'sickness', we, as members of the body of Christ, must help each other at times of need.  Within the church, there is ALWAYS someone else in need.  Maybe someone is sick.  Maybe someone is struggling in some way.  Maybe someone is grieving, or lonely, or worried.  Maybe their faith is wavering.  Something isn't right.

Our job, as sisters in Christ, is to reach out to those who need us.  They're most likely not going to ask us for help. They're not going to call us and say they need something, but it's our job to LOOK for those who are needy.  We must be willing to turn our focus away from ourselves and look for ways to help others.  There is something we can do each and every day to help someone else.  We just have to be willing to look.  We probably won't have to look very far.

And, at times, maybe we will be the ones who need the help.  Perhaps someone will look around and see that we are the one in need.  That's what is so great about the Lord's church!  He knew we needed each other so He provided us with a unique and special way to connect with each other - by making us His children.  We're sisters in Christ!

Yes, we're all different.  But we're all the same, too, if we are members of His body.  So today, let's see what we can do to help those other body-members.  Most likely someone is needing your help today.

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. 

Galatians 6:10

When Sharing Isn't Nice

After teaching children for years and years that it's nice to share, over spring break we learned in a BIG way why sharing ISN'T nice!  It's not nice to share viruses!  It's not nice to share stomach viruses!  Which is exactly what our family has been doing for the past six days..... YUCK!  They shared it with me twice....with a good day in-between.  

What else isn't good to share?  Sickness is obvious.  But there are other things:  Gossip, rumors, dirty jokes/stories, bad habits, bad attitudes, bad advice.  The list could go on and on.

However, though there a many, many bad things we shouldn't share, we have plenty of good things we can share with others - most importantly the GOOD NEWS of JESUS!  Share it freely and openly with others!  In fact, we're commanded to do so.

So, what are you sharing today?

But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits^[a] to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. ¹⁴ He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 2:13-14