It's Only A Day Away

  

  I recently discovered author, artist and blogger,  Austin Kleon.  He’s the author of Steal Like an Artist and  Show Your Work.  His newsletter is genius.  It’s always 10 things worth sharing.  It is a quick read unless you choose to extend it by clicking on one of its plethora of links.   He shares comments of music, art, literature, food, places etc.  Warning:  Austin doesn’t write Christian content, he is occasionally controversial and/or offensive.   

  Last week, I chose to read his blog entitled Would I do it Tomorrow?  In an effort to control his schedule, he suggests moving every request and/or task to “tomorrow”.  “Tomorrow makes decisions simple…”  If you would drop everything to honor a request or do a task tomorrow,  your answer is a simple yes.  If not,  stop and consider.  

   This advice seems especially applicable to life as a believer.  In light of eternity, we should evaluate every project, plan and opportunity with eternal value in mind.  How would our schedule change?  Is that project worthy of my time tomorrow?  Would I move my plans around to accommodate that invite tomorrow?  Is it worth cancelling something else to do that tomorrow?  Can I drop everything tomorrow for this? 

  If we employed this train of thought,  applied it to every decision,  how would our priorities change? 

   Looking back over my last week,  I was shocked to find that three tasks would have been utterly abandoned.  They were prior commitments that I would have declined if I had considered doing them within twenty-four hours. When I accepted them,  May 20^th seemed a long way off.    Two time consuming errands would have been eliminated.  One task was a requirement of life on earth,  oil changes are necessary evils.  Only one item listed in my planner would have been a definitive YES.   Thought provoking to say the least. 

  Look at your calendar and/or to-do list;  past and present.  Categorize your entries. 

·       Which of these have eternal value? 

·       Which ones are worth cancelling everything else?

·       Which are required of life on earth?

 Prior commitments need to be fulfilled,  but can you put a stop to them and remind yourself not to say yes in the future?  Eliminate things you would never say yes to again.  Put “tomorrow” in place of the date or deadline you are asked to consider.  

    Comment at TonyaAnn,Writer on facebook  with your thoughts or insights!     

Teacher Appreciation/Grateful/Blessed

 

     All the media about Teacher Appreciation week  got me thinking about those 32 years I spent in education. When challenged to remember “a” teacher who impacted my life,  memories came flooding back.

    I had some teachers as a child who made a difference in my life but the teachers I worked with as an adult changed me forever.   

   I began my career in rural Missouri; Miller, Missouri to be exact. A woman with three years’ experience,  Lillian Andrade, was my first mentor. I lost track of her years ago.

    I spent three years in Sapulpa, Oklahoma as a traveling Speech/Language pathologist. Ben Hazlett and Robert Price taught me what a principal should be. I didn’t always like it at the time but looking back;  they knew what they were doing.

    I spent two years with the Early Childhood Coop of Creek and Okfuskee counties traveling through the countryside bringing resources to teachers to deal with special needs in rural Oklahoma. Every teacher in those country schools was phenomenal,  choosing to educate that population.

    In 1985, I joined the educators of  Moore, Oklahoma. I would spend thirty one years there teaching in four different schools. Here is where I would hone my skills and learn more than college could ever teach me. I won’t name names because I would forget someone and hate myself for that. Suffice to say,   I worked with far more great teachers than mediocre ones. A few incidents that solidified that:

      When teachers were hired a few hours before open house, (on more than one occasion)  we sprang into action. The room was a Pinterest worthy classroom after eight seasoned teachers attacked it. #amynickell  #kaywilliams 

     Together, we navigated two major tornadoes and a dozen minor ones. As we sheltered our students under desks and flattened ourselves on top of them,  we prayed. After the 2013 tornado, we spent the summer supporting our colleagues who lost everything in the devasted schools that were wiped off their foundations.  We cried with the teachers who buried students as a result. We shared tons of teacher-made resources to restock their scattered files.   #ginajantzen  #avawilhelm    

    Our buildings shook the morning of April 19, 1995. Numerous students were affected as our police and EMT”s and firefighters streamed to the scene of the Murrah building bombing. My forward thinking principal pressed anyone not in a classroom into the office to check every student’s record. In those days, parent employment was listed on the forms, and  we made sure no student went home to an empty house. When one of our teachers hadn’t heard from her husband by noon,  we covered her class but refused to let her go home to an empty house also!  #cherylfields  #kelleystrong  #debbiearato

      Five of us were subpoenaed in a custody battle and traveled together to experience our first testimony  as “expert” witnesses.  It was an unforgettable experience and one that impacted me forever. Law prevents me from sharing details but as an eight year old was led out by a CASA to testify against his biological father, the adoptive father stopped him at the door, threw his arms around him and said,  “You are my son, no court changes that.”  Not a dry eye in the room. The ex-con  bio father and his girlfriend in her lace dress with NOTHING under it  did not get custody. I am friends with the family to this day.   #amynickell  #carolyates #tammyharrison

      Our entire faculty was shaken when a former student murdered a classmate as initiation into a gang. In jail,  he requested to see two of our teachers. One of them was called to testify. She did so bolstered by the prayers of her team.  

      In 1997,  we collapsed into each other when we faced the murder of three of our students, siblings, at the hand of their father.  Nothing,  nothing, prepares you to navigate that. We were led by a principal who epitomized  courage and wisdom. Together we healed each other and our remaining students. #suziepierce  #kaywilliams  #carolanderson  #amynickell

     I was doubly blessed because I worked with the teachers who taught my children. There are no gifts, cards or mementos that can convey appreciation to these incredible human beings. I am a culmination of all they taught me and our shared experiences. I owe a debt I can never repay.

     Thank you.  Thank you, Faculty and Admins of  Briarwood,  Fisher, Kingsgate, Red Oak.

Tell a colleague how much you appreciate them today.

    

Table for 12 Revisited

 

    Three years ago I attended a program at my church on Good Friday. Journey to the Cross was an interactive stop at several stations depicting Holy Week. The last supper station sent me to research and introspection that led to a blog post turned CBN article publication turned part of my first book,  Inside Story. ( both available at tonyaann.com; blog dated 03/31/2021)

    The catalyst for that piece stemmed from my accidental seating at the Last Supper station at the place setting of Judas. This year I purposely sat at Judas’ seat,  I sought it out.  I sat at Judas’ seat to consider his thought process.

    Judas appears last in all listings of the disciples. It is widely accepted that he was among the last chosen, if not the final one. He came into the group like all the others, not from a noble background,  no religious influence,  humble beginnings. Like all the others, Judas was privy to Jesus’ private teachings,  his routines, and his deity.  Like the others, Judas saw the miracles of Jesus and preformed them himself.

    We don’t know why Judas,  after three  years with Jesus took a mite tobetray him. Some Biblical scholars believe Judas was never a believer,  some say his greed finally got the best of him,  but all agree,  he was part of God’s sovereign plan.

   As Judas sat in the most honored seat next to Jesus, was he so sure of himself that he believed Jesus didn’t know what he had done? That would have lasted only  a few minutes as Jesus pointed out a betrayer was in the room and was sharing his bowl. Did Judas squirm uncomfortably? Was he embarrassed?  How did his eyes meet Jesus’?  I suspect he kept his head down and ate fast. When Jesus washed his feet,  I imagine he couldn’t watch, and his feet prickled with heat and crawling skin.   

   I chose to sit in Judas seat so I could remember. I wanted to remember not just the body and blood. I wanted to, needed to,  be reminded that God knows what I’m going to do in each situation, but he also will allow me to change my direction. We’ve heard repeatedly that Jesus is the God of second chances,  Judas had at least three chances during that Passover meal  to change his trajectory. I believe at any point he could have made a different choice. Confessed, returned the money,  chosen to die with Jesus.

    The plan for salvation would not have changed,  Jesus would still have died for us but Judas’ part in the story could have been different.

   I sat at Judas’ seat because I’ve been studying Sovereignty. Judas’ seat at the table,  his clean feet,  his conversation with Jesus was the ultimate picture of mercy.  Jesus continually offered it to Judas,  as he does to us.  

    Sit next to Jesus for a moment today, talk to him honestly about the times you have been unfaithful to him, ask forgiveness and let him bathe you in mercy.

Last but not Least

 

  One of the most significant women in my history is a woman whose name I did not know for over forty years.  She was speaking at an Assemblies of God kids camp when I was ten years old.    

 “Sister Wise” placed a 24x36 flannel board on an easel behind six hay bales. She used flannel pictures to depict a straight and narrow road leading to a place of light in a beautiful blue sky. Another picture showed a  winding, rocky path leading to a circle of flames. They both originated from a church positioned at the bottom of the board.  I had no problem choosing the straight and narrow.  At a hay bale altar with women I thought were “old”  (probably late thirties), I trusted in Jesus as my Savior.

  Years later in a book called Like A Prairie Fire by Bob Burke (https://www.amazon.com/Like-Prairie-Fire-Assemblies-Oklahoma/dp/0964132508) I learned that a woman named Katie Wise had been a missionary in China in 1936.  During WWII, she was interned in a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines for three years.  She came back to the states and ministered in churches and camps.  In 1962, she spoke at an Oklahoma youth camp. I had always known the woman with the flannel board was named “Sister Wise”.    

      It would be surprising if any of my  readers had ever heard of Katie Wise. I never saw her again.  She never knew me.  She didn’t know who or what I became. The number of souls saved through her ministry probably number in the hundreds.  She doesn’t remember me, but I remember her.   She holds a place of honor in my history. 

   Was a woman instrumental in your salvation?  Comment about her on this post.

Women in Tonya's History

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     Angeline Tucker is not a name most of you will recognize.  I never knew her well although I did meet her in my early twenties. Her daughter and I taught together my first year of teaching. I knew her story, but  we spoke of it only once.

In the early 60’s, Sister Tucker, her husband and her two children were missionaries to the Congo.  In 1965,  Angeline Tucker’s book called He is in Heaven  was passed among my mom and her friends. It garnered much discussion. I was thirteen. I read the book later while in high school.

     The Tucker family was ministering in the Congo when a revolt took place.  Reverend Tucker was taken prisoner. The insurgents took over a convent several miles away for the prison. The nuns were  also captive but allowed to give minimal care to the prisoners.  Sister Tucker knew one of the nuns and the two of them were able to talk by phone briefly each day. Sister Tucker would start the conversation with “How is my husband?”  After many mornings of “fine, okay,”  the morning came when the nun answered, “He is in Heaven.” 

    Within a few days, Sister Tucker and her children were running across a field to a hovering US Army helicopter to be evacuated. Her daughter shared with me that she was nine years old .  She knew the helicopter occupants were friendly and there to rescue her family. However,  she ran across the field with AK 47’s pointing at her.

    Angeline Tucker and her family returned to the United States where she worked at the National Assemblies of God headquarters. She wrote and developed the first girl’s ministry curriculum known as Missionettes. The program that would become a passion for me. I would spend 25+ years serving the local church and my district as sponsor, teacher  and leadership trainer. It would be my privilege to plan many  events for our entire state, city, and local church.  Over 100 girls would cross my path during this ministry.  Most of them are counted today among my friends.

   Angeline Tucker was the catalyst for my understanding of missionaries. In her story,  I saw the sacrifice of these extraordinary women. As an adult, missionary women would command my respect and gifts. Dee McNeil, Peggy Sims, Loretta Wideman, Joni Middleton,  Linda Stamps Dissmore, and Tina Morrow to name a few. 

  Angeline Tucker  will never be in a history book, but God knows her name. He knows how   her impact on a thirteen year old girl made a difference  in Tonya’s world.  

Tonya's Women's History Month

 

     March is National Women’s History Month. Talk shows and news reports will feature women whom society considers worth of remembrance. They will feature artists who have produced great works of all kinds of arts. They will report on the “first women”,  first woman in congress, on supreme court, attend ivy league colleges,  and so forth. Social media influencers will share about  the “politically correct” women of history.

     I am not a news reporter, not a social media influencer, not a talk show host. I invite you to join me during March for Tonya Ann’s  Women’s History Month. I want to share stories of women most people never have nor ever will hear about. These are women from my history who made me who I am today.

    Opal Ruth McLaughlin Claxton was born in 1910,  she married my mom’s older brother in 1926. My grandmother passed away when my mom was twelve  years old and three years later,  she moved to the “city” with her brother and Ruth. Virgil and Ruth were pastors, so my mother’s spiritual heritage began and grew in their home. Ruth already had a twelve  year old daughter but she took on a teenager who’d been living on a farm with the boys.

     Ruth Claxton,  by all accounts was the quintessential pastor’s wife: played the piano, served the congregation,  opened her home to any and all and was a woman of God. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1964. This was early in the discovery and treatment of breast cancer and  Ruth readily volunteered to subject herself to experimental treatments. Her selfless actions made a difference for countless cancer survivors. She went to Heaven when I was eleven. Ruth Claxton left a legacy thru every woman whose life she touched in her fifty-six years on earth. She may not have changed the world,  but she changed my world.

    How about you? I challenge you to make a list of  “women of history”  who impacted your life? Comment on my website or Facebook page!

How Do you Eat an Elephant? One bite at a time.

Personal Note:   This is my February newsletter.  Please subscribe to my monthly newsletter at TonyaAnn.com  

 LEARNING TO LOVE IT!

    The Bible is God's Word,  authoratative, infallible, completely trustworthy and the only Truth.  It is how God speaks to his people today.   Moses had a burning bush because he didn't have the written word of God.  We do.  Every Christian feels the need to read this Word and every Christian wants it to be more than a commandment.  It's just so long, and all those lists of names.   You read the Bible the same way you eat an elephant.  Take these ten bites to help you learn to love it!

   
1.   Timing can help or hinder.   Most christians are told to read the Bible first thing in the morning. This gives it priority in our daily schedule.  However, not all of us are morning people,  some have obligations first thing in the morning.   When are you most likely to enjoy the reading?  If reading the Word of God is a 'to-do' that you dread,  you won't grow in the Word or enjoy it.  Schedule a time that works for you, and stick to it! 

2. Location, Location, Location. Where do you sit when you read the Bible?    Find a comfortable place where your Bible is close and you won't be distracted by dirty dishes or laundry.   Frankly, I do well in my bed propped up with pillows after I've had my coffee and am fully awake.  It's a date with my Bible and I look forward to it.  I have a friend who lays in the floor.  Find your place.

3.  Pray before you read.  Thank the Lord that he loved you enough to speak to you.  Ask Him to let you see something new even in a familiar passage of scripture.  Anne Graham Lotz says to remember that the God of the Universe is speaking in his Word.  We are blessed that He wants to speak to us.  

4.  Enjoy the story.    Read the scripture like you would a novel.  Think of it as a story and see it in your mind as you read.  Imagine the real people you are reading about.  

5.  See Jesus in every book,  even the Old Testament.  Check out this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?=HmfFW0gPuyE  Tony Evans tells you who Jesus is in every book of the Bible.  Refer back to it as you read a specific book.  

6.  Motivation.   Why are you reading the Word? Be honest.  Are you checking off a to do list, reading out of guilt or a false sense of getting something from God (works based)  or to impress someone?   Ask God to give you a sincere love for His word.

7.  Habit Forming Let your reading become a habit.  And forget everything you think you know about establishing a habit.   James Clear (https://jamesclear.com/goals-systems)  says the way to reach a goal is to establish a system that will help you reach any goal,  not just this one.  Bites 1-6 are establishing a system.  

8.  Translations. Choose the right translation for YOU.  Not the most popular, the most downloaded,  the one your grandmother's pastor suggested.   They are different depending on your motivation for reading.  (March's newsletter will address translations with several expert quotes and notes)  

9.  Until then,  check out the resources on my website  TonyaAnn.com,  Gordon Fee's book How to Read the Bible for all It's Worth.   Which Translation should You Use? by Rick Hamlin  at  Guideposts.org    Ask some trusted friends which translation they read from in their personal devotions.  Confession,  I read from several depending on the book,  this year I'm reading the prophecies in The Message.

10.   Grace Give yourself grace. If you get behind, catch up when you can.  It's not about reading the Word on a timeline,  it's about hearing from God.  It's about learning to communicate with the King of Kings.   It's about loving hearing from Him.  He may be slowing down to hear a word just for you.   

            Learning to love it takes committment, practice and an open heart.   Are you ready to try?   Drop me an email. Or comment at TonyaAnn, Writer on facebook.