IS WHAT YOU'RE PUTTING INTO YOUR MEMORY WORTH ANYTHING?

 By Ada Brownell

In a classic Far Side cartoon, a student with a small head puts up a hand in a classroom and says, "Mr. Osborne, may I be excused? My brain is full."

Despite what the cartoon implies, the human brain has almost limitless capacity. Our heads contain about one billion neurons, according to Paul Reber, professor of psychology at Northwestern University. Each neuron forms about 1,000 connections to other neurons, amounting to more than a trillion connections. Neurons combine so each one exponentially increases the brain’s memory to about 2.5 petabytes (or a million gigabytes).

Reber estimates if your brain worked like a television video recorder, 2.5 petabytes would hold three million hours of shows. To play all, you'd have to leave the TV running 300 years.

What are you doing with your brain's capacity?

We decide to take what we were born with and grow it into something greater. It's like making deposits into your mind to spend later.

The most important information we can deposit is God's Word. It tells us everything we need about abundant life and living forever. Paul wrote to Timothy, "The holy scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through Christ Jesus. All scripture is God-breathed" (2 Timothy 3:15-16).

The Apostle also wrote under God's anointing about the last days before Jesus returns to catch the church, saying "In the last days perilous times will come; for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy...without self control...always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." He adds, "And they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables" (Excerpted from 2 Timothy 3:1-3,7 and 4:4).

He concludes with his testimony, apparently knowing he would be martyred: "I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. Finally there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not to me only but to all who loved his appearing: (2 Timothy 4:7-8). 

What did your favorite book deposit in your brain for recall?

What have you read recently in the Bible that inspired you?

If you’d like to learn more about making healthy deposits into your brain you can spend later, read Ada Brownell’s book, Imagine the Future You. Available as a paperback or e-book 

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06 or as an audio book at www.Audible.com Join Audible and get a free book.

 ©Ada Brownell

Summer Activities for Kids: 25 free or cheap fun ideas

            

Our grandson, Tyler (bottom second photo), playing at the park with friends

25 FREE OR CHEAP FAMILY FUN IDEAS

          By Ada Brownell

We raised five children on a skinny budget, but our lives were fat with fun. All it took was time and a joyful attitude. Fun just happens.

While you’re doing all these things, don’t forget the good times offered without cost by the church: Sunday school, children’s Church, Bible and training clubs, children’s and youth choir, Bible quiz, Vacation Bible School, youth services, parties, recreation trips, retreats, youth camp and other fun and fellowship.

Also, don’t forget to entertain friends, especially Christian friends who have children your kids’ ages, and share your fun!

Try these free or inexpensive activities.

1. Kick-the-Can and Hide-and-seek. (Find Kick-the-Can rules online).

2. Puppet shows and talent night. If no puppets are available, use socks. On talent night, children can sing with or without a CD. Use pretend or play mikes.

3. Visit a music store. Children view instruments to determine what they might want to play.

4. Story Building. One person starts a story, then another person takes it up and says, “But then….” The story continues for as long as the players want to continue. This is a great game in the car.

5. Tent creations inside or out using blankets and sheets over a table. That was one of our Jeanette’s favorites. Kids love it when a parent comes inside.

6. Office. Instead of throwing away old phones and laptops set up an office. My grandchildren got so excited when they “called” me and I answered with the name of a business. Kirk “called” me so much I gave the answering machine speech and the “beep.”

7. Cooking lessons or Pretend Restaurant. The children make place cards, set the table, and become waitresses.

8. A family bicycle trip.

9. Nature hike. Children can collect insects, rocks and pick wild flowers.

10.    Road building in a sand box or open ground.

11.    A trip to the park. Swings, slides and other playthings on the park playground are great but there's more. Take picnic and games such as badminton, basketball, football, baseball, Frisbee, croquet, tennis (use old balls and they won’t go to infinity and beyond). Find outdoor toys at garage sales.

12.    Trips to a lake that has boat docks. Kids love to walk on them, but you need to supervise closely.

13.    Trips to nearby free or inexpensive sights. Admission to national parks per car range from $4 up to $20 for Yellowstone and Yosemite. Carlsbad Caverns costs $6 for adults; no charge for age 15 and under. Many museums are free or almost free, as are visits to a model train store and Bass Pro, if you have one in your town.

14.    Gardening. Children always enjoy planting and seeing things grow.

15.    Projects around the house. Children enjoy rearranging furniture, helping to finish a basement, and painting.

16.    A trip to the library’s storytelling events, playing the library’s computer games, and checking out books and DVDs.

17.    Fishing. Children don’t need a license in most states.  All you need is a stick, string, a hook and bobbler, worms and you’re set.

18.    Water Games. Use clean spray bottles for a water fight at home, or let them run through the sprinkler.

19.    Winter games such as sledding and ice skating on well-frozen ponds.

20.    Beauty Salon. Get all the hair gadgets in the house, along with brushes and combs, and allow the children to give you a “hair-do.”

21.    Garage Sailing: A great place for children to buy a pile of stuff with their own money, even if it’s just change.

22.    Aerobics. Children stuck inside on a rainy day often need to do something with their energy. Move the furniture out of the way and lead them in exercises.

23.    Follow the Leader. This is a great game inside and out. My children always loved it, especially when I led them, backward and forward, into walking on a narrow edge, or around a curvy path where you jump things.

24.    Field trips to charities or a ministry. Invite other families to join you and make an appointment. Children never forget visiting a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen.

25.    Tour the local newspaper. Again, you’ll need to join with some friends and make an appointment. Children especially enjoy seeing the press run.

©Ada Brownell May 30, 2014

IMAGINE YOUR TOMORROWS

                               By Ada Brownell

What could I imagine I would be like when I grew up?

Here I was, a scrawny freckled-face redhead, poor, wearing my brother’s hand-me-downs. My brother’s union-alls had a button up flap in the back that had to be unbuttoned by one of the big people in the family before I could go to the outhouse. I think I had a flower sack dress or two to wear to church.

We wouldn’t have had enough to eat had we not had a cow, a huge irrigated garden and raised chickens and pigs

.                 

When I started school, Daddy gave Mama permission to buy me three new little cotton dresses from Montgomery Ward. The new pair of shoes had to last until the next school year.

I always knew my parents didn’t have an extra penny, and being the eighth child I often felt a little guilty for barging my way into the already crowded house, among four sisters and three brothers who weren’t that excited about another mouth to feed.

Yet, that wonderful family helped me to catch an eye for the future at a young age. I watched the excitement in the house when my oldest sister, Marjorie, went to church with a high school friend and became a Christian. One by one all the older siblings, and finally my parents, accepted Jesus as Savior and I soon learned Jesus loved me, too, and God had a plan for my life.

God's love was a little secret I held close to my heart even while being ridiculed by other children because of my freckles and my red hair. The pretty little girls in frilly dresses never wanted to be my friend.

But all this time something wonderful grew inside me: an intense desire to learn in school, to know how to sing and play the piano (all my siblings were musicians), and tell the world the message of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world he gave his only Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Our family squeezed every drop of joy from each day, but we always thought about tomorrow in the backs of our minds. My siblings were all achievers. I saw myself playing the piano for church someday and singing in gospel groups like my sisters did.

I had no grandiose ideas about what else I would do, except someday I would meet my Savior and live forever because He died and rose again. I wanted to tell everybody.

I studied the Bible, listened to our pastor’s sermons and teachings, and found myself in my early teens teaching children, and then leading youth. I hadn’t expected  those opportunities. I prepared. God opened doors.

My writing career started like that. I had no idea I would become a writer, but I had something to say I thought needed sharing and discovered editors thought it was worth reading.

Working as a newspaper reporter showed me there still was much to share. In gathering news a journalist touches almost every aspect of society. We report on the achievers, reveal life’s disasterous complications, and what happens when wickedness grips the heart and threatens to blow apart the hope of the eternal soul.

My burden is for the youth of America. So much potential! So much opportunity! But Satan lurks everywhere seeking whom he may devour. 

How can I not show them the path to wonderful tomorrows? How can I not show them how to prepare for the exciting journey of abundant life? How can I not show them how to avoid those who would steal their faith, rob them of their health and talents, and destroy their loved ones and eternal future?

So, I have a book filled with practical helps on developing your talents, being and looking your best, making the right connections, guarding your name’s fame, and much more, with many inspiring examples and illustrations.

Jesus said not to worry about tomorrow, but we’re told to prepare for what is ahead. The theme of my book is close to Solomon’s advice quoted here from The Message: “Don’t for a minute envy careless rebels; soak yourself in the Fear-of-God— That’s where your future lies. Then you won’t be left with an armload of nothing” (Proverbs 23: 17.
                                                     

©Ada Brownell May 2014

Imagine the Future You audiobook is available at www.Audible.com  Free book with new Audible membership.

 Paperbacks and Kindle versions may be purchased at http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06

WHEN SHOULD WE TEACH CHILDREN ABOUT GOD?

By Ada Brownell

Perhaps we should teach our children spiritual things before birth.

In a famous experiment by Anthony DeCasper and colleagues at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, mothers read the Dr. Seuss story, The Cat in the Hat, at regular intervals while they were pregnant. Newborns selected the reading they liked by sucking on a non-nutritive nipple. After a few trials, babies cleverly sucked at whatever speed was necessary to obtain their mother's voice reading "The Cat in the Hat."

One of my children's piano teachers told me she worked on her doctorate in music while pregnant, and she practiced hours a day. After the little girl was born, she would scream at the top of her lungs, but when her mother played the piece she practiced so much, the crying stopped.

I played the piano often after our oldest daughter was born and she had perfect pitch.

Our youngest son, plagued by colic the first four months of his life, showed his preference for different songs while I rocked and sang to him. If he liked the song, he relaxed. If he didn't like it, he started kicking and fussing. I would change back to the former tune, and he'd relax again.

According to Pregnancy.org, babies can hear in utero at three months.

DeCasper says babies are learning their native language before birth, and they recognize Mommy's and Daddy's voices.

"A mother's voice reaches the uterus with very little distortion as the sound waves pass directly through her body."

Many people around the world may wonder at the depth and devotion of Muslims. In Islam the religious education begins at birth, according to Jean Holm, author of The Study of Religions.[i]

"The newborn baby has the 'call to prayer' whispered into his right ear and then into his left ear, symbolizing the fact that there is no moment in his life when he is not aware of religious truth," she explained. "When he is about four years old, he starts to learn the read the Qua'ran and to recite long passages from memory."

After I learned about an infant's cognitive abilities, I sang "Jesus Loves Me," to my newborn grandchildren and repeated John 3:16 in their ears.

But it's never too late to tell our children about Jesus. Their minds are open to new teaching all the time. We need to be sure it's the good things that are being absorbed.

Although I did more active teaching to my children after they were in junior and senior high school, we had our five children in church at least three times a week. During revivals, we might be in church every night for two or three weeks.

Usually I tried to counteract a school's atheistic teaching when the situation arrived. But when our youngest daughter was in high school, during our family devotions I taught from Josh McDowell's book, Evidence that Demands a Verdict,[ii] and I gave her and my husband a sheet of questions to answer as the lesson unfolded.

Our children learned "Jesus Loves Me," as toddlers and the scripture, "God is love" in Sunday school. They heard the songs of rejoicing and worship in church, as well as our home. They played and sang them, and all live for the Lord today.

My latest book, Imagine the Future You, contains much of the teaching I gave my children and youth classes. The questions and answers are ready for family devotions on 13 different subjects that affect the future.

© Ada Brownell May 2014 

---

[i] 1977 Seabury Press, New York

[ii] 1979 Campus Crusade for Christ, Here's Life Publishers, San Bernardino, CA 92402

WHERE DO YOU WANT YOUR NAME TO APPEAR?

This is an excerpt from Imagine the Future You

Available in paper, for Kindle, and as an audio book

You can purchase paperback and Kindle copies at 

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06

The audiobook may be purchased at www.Audible.com 
THREE MEN: WHERE DO YOU WANT YOUR NAME TO APPEAR
By Ada Brownell

Three men. They rubbed shoulders in a palace and then in prison. Two weren’t worth mentioning by name. The other fellow’s name has been on people’s lips for centuries.

The butler and the baker had names, of course, but they were not included in the biblical account that tells us about them..

But we won’t forget Joseph. Today’s youth would have called Joseph “hot” in his youth. I despise the term myself, but you know by the way Potiphar’s wife flung herself at the young man his handsome face could put girls’ hearts in a flutter.

Some biblical scholars believe Joseph lived about four thousand years before Christ.[1] That’s a long time ago for his name to come up now. Even though Joseph has no last name, his name will never be forgotten. Joseph is on the minds and lips of many people even today because of who he was and what he did.

Who could forget the sound of Joseph’s weeping in the desert cistern as he heard his brothers planning to kill him and then deciding to sell him as a slave? His years in prison suffering because he wouldn’t tumble into bed with Potiphar’s wife, who then ripped her dress and accused him of rape? Or after Joseph’s promotion to governor, his heart-wrenching sobs when he recognized his brothers bowing before him asking for food in Pharaoh’s Egyptian palace?

Or can any Bible student forget how Joseph forgave those brothers and fell on their necks, weeping and kissing them?

And what Joseph said? “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”[2]

            Our tongues still speak Joseph’s name with respect because of who he was and what he did.

Joseph’s name remained on a small pyramid in Egypt, according to Bible historians and archaeologists, until Moses led the Israelites in their exodus. When Joseph knew he was dying, he prophesied God would take them from Egypt back to their own land, and when they went asked them to take his bones with them. The Bible says the Israelites took the bones back to Israel, and Joseph was reburied in Shechem. That’s where the Jews of modern times found a tomb they identified as Joseph’s in 1921. His name appeared on the tomb in the heart of Shechem (Nablus) in Samaria. But then on February 23, 2003, the carved stone over the grave was destroyed and the tomb vandalized and filled with burning garbage. In February 2008, vandals set burning tires inside the tomb. Yet, until September 2008, Jews journeyed to the tomb to pray, although Muslims have attempted to make it a holy site to Islam.[3]

Despite the damage to his tomb, Joseph’s name is remembered—not because it is so unusual, but because it belonged to an unusual man.

Where would you like your name to appear? How about the Lamb’s Book of Life? Different from some Who’s Who books, you aren’t required to pay a fee or buy that edition. An entry is no cost to you—but a huge amount already has been paid in blood for your name to be included. That’s called redemption because we were born into sin and the penalty for sin is death. But we can accept this gift with more joy than if our name appeared in lights or on a best selling book.

Jesus told his disciples to rejoice that their names were written in heaven.[4] The last book of the Bible, Revelation, has multiple references to the “Book of Life.”[5]

Revelation chapter 20 describes the vision the Apostle John saw of the Great White Throne Judgment: “I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to things written in the books.”

---

[1] You can read about Joseph and his family in Genesis 30–50. Even the creation account didn’t use this much space!

[2] Genesis 5:19–21 NKJ

[3] David M. Rohl and Dr. Thomas S. McCall, Th.D., “Pharaohs and Kings: A Biblical Quest,” Levitt Letter, June 1999.

[4] Luke 10:20

[5] Rev. 3:5; Rev. 20:12; Rev. 21:27

THE SEARCH FOR A HEALTHY DIET

This is a photo of my grandson, instead of my daughter.

By Ada Brownell

I inserted the tiny spoon filled with cereal into the baby's mouth. Her tongue squished the soft oatmeal around. She puckered and swallowed. Big brown eyes lit with interest. Then she shuddered and her face pulled into a series of disgusted, unhappy expressions.

Similar experiences occurred with our other four children the first time they tried solid food. I think it's interesting how we react to different types of food, beginning with infancy.

Most babies gag and spit out the first solid food, but soon tiny fingers pick up Cheerios and insert them into their mouths.

It's interesting to understand that our food choices, even as child, are influenced by our culture. If we were born into a poor Oriental family, we soon would like rice, whereas American children often don't eat rice until they are much older. If we lived in an African slum, we’d be grateful for slimy oatmeal gruel in a dirty bowl.

In some parts of the world, you’d think putting live bugs between two slices of bread was a special treat, even though bugs crawled around on your fingers as you ate them. In other countries you’d eat dog and monkey. In times past it was quite common for Americans to eat cow and pig brains and kidneys. They made “head cheese,” which was a jellied meat product made from the head of a calf or pig. You can still buy pickled pig’s feet. Using everything possible became popular in a economically poor society that didn’t waste anything. In hard times, people also ate squirrels and turtles.

A man who escaped from the enemy during World War II told me he ate a rat in order to survive.

Such things make me nauseous. But lately I've thought more about my spiritual food. Should I only read the Word that encourages me—sort of dessert sweet to the taste? Is it O.K. to look over the Lord's table and pick and choose the parts of the Bible I like and refuse the sections that give spiritual growth and health?

Untasty words abound among the spiritual bread we're provided. For instance, in Revelation 21,  the sweet morsels are mixed with the bitter: "To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the water of life… but the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolators and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death" (Revelation 21:7-8).

I go through times where I partake of the Word, studying subjects or books of the Bible learning and growing, but then comes a time when I only read a scripture or two or a devotion.

The Apostle Paul told the Corinthian church, "I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready" (1 Corinthians 3:2). Another version talks about spiritual "meat" instead of milk. Interesting that three ounces of lean beef has 23 grams of  protein, 243 calories (food energy, and numerous other important vitamins and minerals). Eight ounces of whole milk has 9 grams of protein 160 calories.

A child who drinks only milk will be anemic.

So I need to get into the Word and eat heartily, and pray for spiritual health.

The Psalmist said, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you" (Psalm 119:11).

In the natural, food storage is wise. My parents, who went through the Great Depression, always had about enough canned goods to last two years. I know I also should stock God's Word away in my mind for future use.

©Copyright Ada Brownell 2014

Win Tumbleweed Weddings: Is Waiting a God Thing?

Donna Reimel Robinson is a member of JOY Writers, a local critique group, as well as ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers). As a pastor’s wife, she plays the piano for their church

and teaches a Jr. High Sunday School class. In her spare time, Donna enjoys sewing and working jigsaw puzzles. She and her husband have four grown children and ten grandchildren (with another on the way!) They live in Denver, Colorado. Visit Donna’s website at DonnaRobinsonBooks.com.

God’s Ways

One of the many ways God works is to make His children wait. Human beings tend to be impatient, but God is very patient. A couple years or more is nothing to the Lord.

In the Bible, Abraham had to wait twenty-five years before his promised son was born. The Psalmist David was anointed as the future king of Israel, and yet he had to wait, hiding from King Saul, before he could sit on the throne. An old Israelite named Simeon waited all his life for the Messiah to be born.

I first felt the tug to write novels back in 1986, but my first book was not published until 2009. That was a long time to wait! (You can read about my writing journey at my website. Here’s the link: http://www.donnarobinsonbooks.com/about-donna/)

But waiting was good for me. The Lord is more interested in people’s character than their success. Waiting all those years gave me time to hone the craft of writing, as well as taking care of my husband and children. It also made me learn to trust God, knowing His plan for me was best.

Are you going through something right now, and you wish the Lord would hurry up? Don’t be discouraged. God has a plan for you.

Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.” (KJV)

Book Giveaway!

For a chance to win my book, Tumbleweed Weddings, please leave a comment below along with your e-mail address. God bless you!

  Donna Reimel Robinson is a member of JOY Writers, a local critique group, as well as ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers). As a pastor’s wife, she plays the piano for their church and teaches a Jr. High Sunday School class. In her spare time, Donna enjoys sewing and working jigsaw puzzles. She and her husband have four grown children and ten grandchildren (with another on the way!) They live in Denver, Colorado. Visit Donna’s website at DonnaRobinsonBooks.com.

God’s Ways

One of the many ways God works is to make His children wait. Human beings tend to be impatient, but God is very patient. A couple years or more is nothing to the Lord.

In the Bible, Abraham had to wait twenty-five years before his promised son was born. The Psalmist David was anointed as the future king of Israel, and yet he had to wait, hiding from King Saul, before he could sit on the throne. An old Israelite named Simeon waited all his life for the Messiah to be born.

I first felt the tug to write novels back in 1986, but my first book was not published until 2009. That was a long time to wait! (You can read about my writing journey at my website. Here’s the link: http://www.donnarobinsonbooks.com/about-donna/)

But waiting was good for me. The Lord is more interested in people’s character than their success. Waiting all those years gave me time to hone the craft of writing, as well as taking care of my husband and children. It also made me learn to trust God, knowing His plan for me was best.

Are you going through something right now, and you wish the Lord would hurry up? Don’t be discouraged. God has a plan for you.

Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.” (KJV)

Book Giveaway!

For a chance to win my book, Tumbleweed Weddings, please leave a comment below along with your e-mail address. God bless you!