The tree is up. The cards are on hold..waiting for the family to arrive for a picture. The college son is asleep on the couch. The darling husband is paying bills while watching football. The daughters and their husbands are coming tomorrow. Worship this week has brought us to the wonder of the manger. The music, the smells, the lights…..the Light. How silently, how silently…the wonderous Gift is given.
Christmas Blessings from the Ridley Family!
A BIG thank you to Rick and Susan Lewis at Logos Book Store in Dallas for hosting my very first book signing event! Yummy cookies from JD’s Chippery…my dearest friends dropping by… signing “Simple Truths”…it was a wonderful afternoon!
Yesterday a friend of mine and I were discussing the Tiger Woods tragedy…and since every other blogger in the world has chimed in about it, I thought I would, too!
My friend reminded me that Tiger’s dad, Earl Woods, wrote a book called, “Training a Tiger…a Father’s Guide to Raising a Winner”. Neither of us has read the book, but we both guessed that there is NOT a chapter in it about the guidance Earl gave Tiger about sex.
So Tiger was probably never told about the beauty and wonder that God designed sex to be. That sex is meant for husbands and wives for oneness and for children. Maybe he was never warned about pornography and where that leads. Left to his own devices, Tiger bought the lie that our culture is selling, and lived a secret life that he is now ashamed of.
He is a great example of how to be a golfer, and how NOT to be a husband and a father. He took the great gift of a beautiful family, and he trashed it. And this whole episode should be a reminder to all parents, not to leave out the chapter about sex for our kids….
I hope that Tiger can fess up. Get help. And work as hard on the things that really matter as he obviously does on the things that are merely sport. I hope that in this sad story of darkness and secrets, the light of the reality of this kind of life can be seen.
Hollywood promotes this behavior in movies and TV and rarely shows us the consequences, but there is no script writer in Hollywood who can make Tiger’s story have a happy ending. However I know Someone who can, and I hope they meet.
Tomorrow afternoon, Friday December 18, I’ll be at Logos Bookstore here in Dallas from 2-4 for a book signing event! Bring your friends, and I’ll bring the sharpie!
We’re back from Nicaragua, and it was amazing. It is a depressingly poor country, but we met saints who were truly rich in Spirit! What a joy to see Tony, and his big smile, and to have some pretty important discussions with him about his future…thanks to Mario our translator/driver/ newest friend.
I am now a firm believer in Divine appointments. It seemed that at every turn, Dave and I encountered people who could give us help, or direction for Tony. Most of these were strangers to us before we got to Nicaragua, and many times we met them in the strangest ways. Never the less, we had an instant rapport with them, and now have a peace that God will continue to use them in Tony’s life.
Going to see Tony in December makes my schedule of Christmas shopping days nutty. Did I just say that? Visiting a poor orphan at Christmas has interfered with my shopping? Yikes!
It may have interfered with my shopping, but it did wonders for my heart…and I’m so grateful for that.
Just wanted to thank everyone for their prayers…and to tell you we made it home safely!
Ten years ago our daughter Meg went with a group of her friends from the University of Virgina to Managua, Nicaragua to work at an orphanage over Spring Break. It was a life changing experience for her, and the next year our whole family went along to see what it was all about.
Meg had made friends with one of the boys there…. Antonio Soto (Tony). He was 9 at the time, with a great big smile and a quick mind. Every time we took a step…Tony was close by. We could tell he liked us, and he seemed to understand our broken Spanish.
One night we took some of the orphans out to dinner. As we were entering the restaurant, Tony noticed some boys begging across the street. I saw him glance their way. We had a great dinner…it was someone’s birthday and there was a huge cake. His eyes opened wide as we gave him a piece, but oddly enough he only ate half of it. I thought he might be saving the rest for later (because that’s what I would have done), but as we walked out of the restaurant, Tony took the other half of his cake to those street boys. He won our hearts!
Even though Tony was in the orphanage, he actually has parents who are living, so it complicated any thoughts we might have had of adoption. We considered it, prayed about it, but ultimately didn’t have a peace about it. I don’t know if we did the right thing or not, but during the past 10 years he has been able to come and stay with us a few times, and we have made some trips to Nicaragua to visit him. We’ve tried to give him some help with English lessons, driving lessons, etc…to boost his chances of work in Nicaragua. We email and he calls occasionally, and we pray for Tony…he still has a big piece of our heart.
Right now we’re packing to make another trip to Nicaragua, and Dave and I can hardly wait. We don’t know what those few days will look like, but we hope to encourage Tony in his walk with the Lord, and to understand what his current needs are.
It’s interesting how you pack for a trip like this…not the good clothes, no jewelry, not even makeup…and it makes me wonder why we don’t live like this??
??
OK…I NEED THE MAKEUP!
Here we are 2 Christmases ago in Nicaragua…
Sooner than you Think! 