L. Kathleen Cline

Psalm 105:2-4 Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders. Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad. Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face continually. One of the beauties of being associated with the military is traveling throughout the world. On the flip side, one of the curses is driving in some hectic cities. I have had the privilege of driving in L.A., San Diego, Seattle, Norfolk, London, England, and the Maryland area. One thing I have learned about driving is there will always be a bob and weave personality, pull out and stop, multi-tasker, it is all about me and the dreaded road-rage. It just takes one perceived rude driver to start a chain reaction from all these personalities. A pull out and stop driver could cause a multi-tasker to swerve, causing everyone to apply brakes quickly. That may induce an impatient soul to begin to bob and weave for a better, faster lane. In turn, this could lead to extreme anger in drivers w

  "But if when you do what is right and suffer for it, you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God" 1 Peter 2:20b. I believe Christ-followers are all going to be feeling this verse in the next few years, that is, if we have that long left. Some of us may already be seeing friends or family turn on us because of our beliefs. There might even be a thought in your head, "Not me. I will just keep quiet." God has a way of engaging us. I found that out a week ago when I thought I was keeping out of the hoopla on social media because it did not concern me. Lo, and behold, I was required to send an email towards inappropriate material in my business life. It was challenging for me, and believe me when I say it was not received well at all. In fact, the company defended the behavior as not intentional. Which I find worse because, to me, that means these behaviors are engrained because perversion is not an accident. I don't know why we think we get to sit on the si

  “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” Proverbs 14:12. If you are like me, you ask God to forgive you for the obvious issues in your life. For the last two weeks, God has been challenging me on my repentance. I have become like society because propaganda works. If something is repeated over and over again, and you don’t off-set it with the truth of God’s word, it sticks in your mind. There are messages in our movies, news, social media, and then people parrot that message in their lives. I am so stunned with this revelation because I never saw myself as conforming in any way. God’s church has shifted because I believe we stopped asking God what we should repent of, and we just tell Him. God’s church has acquiesced in the name of unity or peace. We have passed the slippery-slope phase and moved to an avalanche. I think we call it “2020.” We make jokes about the over-whelming issues. We ignore them as if we will wake up and order to our life will r

 When I moved to Tennessee, I realized that part of living in a small community was mourning the loss of neighbors. Twenty-two years of my adult life was moving every two to three years following my Navy husband. What I was not prepared for, nor should anyone ever accept it as normal, is the suicide rate among children. When one of the young ladies in the Sunday school class I taught, her brother committed suicide, I had no idea how to minister to her. It did not take long before I understood that there were no words that would take away her pain. The best I could do was pray for her spiritual protection while she mourned. How do we prepare children for the topic of death? "No words To Speak" begins with three sudden deaths in Rich's small community. As you read, you can see how each child processes death differently, including asking all the why questions people tend to ask. The wise Rock walks the children through with some questions. Ultimately, Rich prays this prayer;

One of my  father's  favorite idioms that he would say often was,  "I'm  sorry is a  fool's  paradise. "  Maybe you have been at an event when a parent told a child to say  I'm  sorry, which the child proceeds to do without any regrets or remorse. My book  " It Is More Than Saying  I'm  Sorry "  deals with this issue. Even today, I did a little exercise with the ladies in class to talk about repentance. When I asked one of the students to explain why they  were  sorry  about an issue, they only spoke on what they had done wrong. Every action that we do, whether it is good or evil, affects the people around us. For true repentance to exist, the offender must understand the impact that their behavior had on the people around them. At no point can there be self-pity or bizarre penance.  My little story helps any age understand the betrayal that the victim might be feeling when trust becomes broken.  There are many twists and turns in the book, but o

It is a praiseworthy moment when you discover the fullness of God’s blessings located in your obedience. “The Lord God has opened My ear; and I was not disobedient nor did I turn back Isaiah 50:5.” Maybe that is why in the Gospels, Jesus asked us to follow Him over sixteen times. Stop the struggle today and start praising God for His directions.