MARILYN MAYE ONLINE

Archive for June, 2010|Monthly archive page

Books that inspire me

In Inspiring books & videos on June 15, 2010 at 6:37 pm

Recently read Byron Pitts’ Step Out on Nothinghis autobiography about making it to CBS’ 60 Minutes as a correspondent, from being unable to read and speak without a stammer, all through grade school.  The subtitle is How faith and family helped me conquer life’s challenges

His mother’s refusal to accept what others said disparagingly about her obviously gifted son; her Christian faith – expressed with intensity, complete with expletives; her no-holds-barred parenting style; and, his own faith, hard work, and courage have got to lift your spirits, no matter what you’re going through.  The best part was his giving the graduation speech, at the same university where his freshman English professor had told him he was wasting the government’s money on his scholarship, since he wasn’t college material.  The same professor was retiring, and got to hear the speech on his last day there.  Who said God doesn’t have a sense of humor? 

A must for everyone, but especially for kids with learning challenges and parents of children with issues.

If you’re time challenged, try it on audiobooks, while at the gym or travelling.

Hello world!

In Faith on June 15, 2010 at 12:45 pm

Welcome to my blog – at long last! 

Thanks to my family and friends for keeping the fire lit under me. 

Part of my delay in getting started is that I have so many interests, I was having trouble zeroing in on one theme.  Today,  I was reading Michael Catt’s book on prayer, the Power of Persistence, and he referred to the Old Testament prophet Elijah (story in the book of 1st Kings).  He said that Elijah had only one ambition, and it was that people in his cynical society would know that The Lord really is God.  Catt said that single-minded people like Elijah are the ones who facilitate God showing his power on behalf of people.  I want to do what I can to cause the rain to fall on the parched ground in so many places in our society and world.

So, that was it.  There was my theme.  Everything I do – teaching math to people who think they can’t make sense of it, supporting school leaders to serve every learner well, talking about the Bible to anyone who with the least curiosity about what it says, and encouraging people (especially young people of African descent) to be all God intended them to be – all of my interests converge in faith that God can and will do what may seem impossible. 

Rainmaking is what God did in response to Elijah’s unrelenting stance.  He coaxed God into sending rain so that a famine-starved nation could survive.  The culture was starving, physically and spiritually, under a character-challenged ruler named Ahab and a first lady named Jezebel.  They worshipped a symbol of a bull – and were fixated on money, sex and power.  But, Elijah asked God to make it rain, and put everything on the line, so people would know that it was The Lord, not the bull, who is God. 

 

I hope that visitors to my blog, for whatever reason you originally come,  will leave with a broader picture of who God is.  And, not just cognitively get it, but emotionally and spiritually respond to what you experience here.  And, in turn, help cause rain to fall in the places you were made to serve …