God Thinks Bigger Than We Do

God’s plan is often bigger than our own, and he proves that to us daily when we decide to represent him. Recently, we traveled to Xcaret, Mexico for vacation. I looked forward to some down time. At home, everyone knows that I work for the Lord. At home, I am constantly in view to others, questioned, and requested to pray. I don’t mind that I need to be an example of my faith because that is what I do for a living – write Christian fiction. When we went on vacation to Xcaret, I had hoped to remain anonymous and relax, but that didn’t happen.

The first day there, Don and I spent the day to ourselves, and enjoyed the largest swimming pool in the world at the Grand Mayan. It is one-fifth of one mile long and triple-decked, an unbelievable construction to behold. At home, I exercise two to three hours a day or more. I don’t always feel like doing that on vacation, so I thought that the least that I could do was to walk up and down in the swimming pool, something that a physical therapist said was fantastic exercise for the alignment of the spine and the balanced workout of muscles. I walked the length of the pool up and back fifteen to twenty times a day.

In the publishing world, I am known as the “turquoise cowgirl” because that color looks best on me in photographs, since my hair turned white. (There’s still a vestige of blonde hair, but it is mostly white even though people think it’s still blonde when they look at me.) In my turquoise cowboy hat and turquoise bathing suit, I walked the length of the pool repeatedly. Occasionally, I’d walk up to the swimming pool bar and order a water, or soda, or glass of wine. I love to habla con el gente local, and so I spoke to the men operating the bar. Invariably, their favorite question is, “What do you do for a living?” They are curious about Americans in that way. Maybe they wonder how we manage to have enough money to afford a place like the Grand Mayan – one of Mexico’s most extravagant resorts. In our case, the trip was a perquisite.

When I told them that I write Christian fiction, they honored me in a way that I don’t deserve. One young man’s eyes filled with tears. He told me his name, Jesus Gebril, and asked me never to forget who he was. Everyone requested more information, and so I started to pass out my business cards. The service poolside became better than I ever expected after that. They all wanted to talk about their faith. It was so refreshing!

The next day, we had a difficult time finding a place to sit. A wonderful couple, Mary and Richard from Pennsylvania, shared a table with us. We started talking and they, too, were curious about what we do. I gave them a business card. A couple next to them requested one, too. I was so proud of them, Marilyn and Tom from Michigan, because they had come to Mexico with business-size cards written in Spanish that led a person down the path to believe. After that, these two impressive couples had our chairs staked out for us each day before we even arrived at the pool!

That was just the beginning. In my walks in the pool, several people confronted me, a couple from San Diego, a couple from Washington D.C., a couple from Virginia, a couple from our home town, Calabasas, California, and countless others. They all asked the same question, “What do you do?” I handed out business cards to all of them. Many of them started to walk with me in the pool and talked about their faith, or lack of faith. I listened and tried to be a good example of my faith. Faith is such a highly personal topic, and yet they wanted to discuss it. That same day, we had the photo shoot on the beach with a professional photographer from the area. He took most of the shots on and under the famous pier on the gulf, where several beer commercials had been made. A crowd gathered for that event, which brought more people to my lounge chair to ask for business cards.

My plan to relax and remain anonymous was not God’s plan for me. Each day the number of people that I met escalated. I collected e-mail addresses and business cards from them to add them to my mailing list. We talked and talked and talked about God and faith as we walked in the swimming pool. Poor Don kept wondering if I was ever going to sit by the pool and relax. It never happened. I stayed on my toes and remained thoughtful and alert for the entire trip. When people prepared to leave, they asked for pictures. Many of these people I will never see again, but they still wanted pictures of us together. It was very touching.

I could have been stubborn and insisted on my privacy, but it was not part of God’s plan for me on that trip. It made me realize that I need to be prepared every time we travel. I need to carry business cards and my Bible to maintain my meditative demeanor. The number of people that God placed in my path made me look around in wonder at his plan. I think that people innately seek purity, whether they are aware of it or not. They are drawn to people who also seek purity. Whatever it is, it staggered me. Now, as we plan to leave for Kauai, I’m curious as to what will happen on this trip, but it isn’t for me to say. I place my life in God’s hands and follow as he leads the way.

From Goo to Zoo to You?

He took a snapshot of his wife at the beach. It was a perfect moment in time with the late afternoon lighting the gulf waters and the tide rolling in on cue. The snapshot is of less than a second of the woman’s life, and yet when one views it, you see the coordination of an ongoing time continuum that maintains the light and the dark, and the planets in alignment so that the sun and moon can rise and set, and incoming and outgoing tides arrive on schedule.

If one were to take that time continuum for one person and stretch it over the space of his or her lifetime, it would seem nothing short of miraculous that all the pieces held together in perfect coordination. If one were to take the time continuum and stretch it from the beginning of time to the end of time, and then multiply it by the number of people who have ever lived, and calculate the permutations and combinations, it is impossible to believe that the orchestration of that world happened randomly.

If one were to view the perfect order in which all those people existed under a predictable moon and sun, among predictable planets, it would seem so wondrous that only an entity of greater and far superior power could ever have conceived of it.

Add to the picture, the number of organs and functions in a body, and how they work so perfectly together to maintain the human in either a state of homeostasis or of adapted imbalance. Add the number of critically aligned elements that must work together to create an ongoing physical history, and the mind cannot conceive of anything so vast and universal.

The evidence is too overwhelming to ignore. God lives and watches from way out there in his third heaven. We have unending miracles for which to be thankful, even if we are just standing here and doing nothing. It isn’t that hard to believe.

He Gives and Takes Away

As a believer, the one thing that I pray for most of all is acceptance of God's will. I want to welcome the testing, and know that I won't always feel the pain of humanness, but be transcended to a better place in the future. We have something to look forward to when we die. I care whether or not I cause a change in my earthly journey, otherwise, why did I even come here? I think about everything. My mind is my nemesis and blessing. That's often the way it is with a blessing from God. It's often, too, why we love someone. We're attracted to a characteristic, which later we find to be a downfall.

Daisy Lou and Emily Lou traveled from Ireland to be a part of our animal family. They were only six weeks old when the kennel owner brought them under the front seat of the airplane to La Guardia Airport in New York. They rested for four days, visited a vet for a health check-up, and then flew to Los Angeles. These two little West Highland White Terriers were just about the cutest things to ever come into our household, aside from our beautiful Missy, whom we lost after eleven and a half years.

Of the little Westies, Emily, was clearly the leader of the pack, and her sister, Daisy, was gracious enough to let that happen. Daisy had a graciousness about her from the day we first met her. She'd always let Emily have her way, even when she knew Emily was wrong. Emily loved to float with Don on the floater in the pool. She loved to swim, which is something our vet had assured us these two dogs would never want to do, there in the name "terrier," of the earth. Once Emily received permission to go into the pool by the removal of her collar, there was no stopping her. She'd dive in repeatedly, swim the length of the pool, climb out, and dive in again. She absolutely loved the water! She could even climb up on the floater in the pool without help!

Daisy didn't like the water at all, but Emily taught her to like it. If Emily floated, Daisy would consider floating, too. It wasn't second nature to Daisy as it was with Emily. The sound of sirens was something that drove Emily to distraction. She'd launch a high, screaming howl that was enough to break your eardrums! We never witnessed such an event with Daisy while Emily was alive. Sadly, Emily was taken from us at the age of two and a half years. She had a rare kidney disease, which took her down. Her last day with us was Father's Day 2002, and she spent it floating with Don in the swimming pool.

After Emily died, Daisy remained extremely sad, and it was evident if we didn't find another Westie pronto that we risked losing her also. We rescued a male Westie with a heart defect. He took to us right away. He had heart surgery one year after we found him, and is now currrently as healthy as he can be. Daisy, who never liked floating, now floats around the pool with my husband, and is teaching Gregs to do the same. Daisy, who never liked standing on the step in the pool, loves to stand there now, and has taught Gregs to do the same. Daisy, who never howled like a siren, launches a high-pitched howl every time she hears a siren. While Emily was alive, she didn't engage in any of these behaviors. I think that Emily taught her, and so Emily's legacy still lives on through Daisy, and now through Gregs.

It's the same way with people and families. We may not realize it at the time, but we're being influenced by our family's presence and the people around us. More than that, I pray that we are influenced by God and His Word. Nothing gives me more peace than to know that God loves me despite all my flaws. It has been a while since God has tested me severely, and it happened last weekend when he threatened to take my husband from me. I know I might not be able to say this again for certain in the future, but when I thought I was going to lose my husband, I realized that I loved God more. That's something for which I have been praying for many years. I had to thank God for the testing. It gave me renewed confidence in my faith. My father is gone. He died in 2004, and yet part of him lives on in me, the "never give up" part. He taught me in life, and he taught me through his death. In the end, I'm simply a composite of all the people I chose to admire, and they have become part of me. God is at the center of all of who I am. I dwelt with Him and now he dwells in me. And, that's more reason to spend time in His Word: to gain resilience.

Eleven-Year-Old Best Friends: Singing in the Rain

“Hi, Lilia, this is Mele. Are we still on for tonight? You heard that it’s going to rain, didn’t you?” Mele asked excitedly.



“Yes, we’ll do it tonight!” Lilia exclaimed with pleasure.


“Mom’s bringing me over at five-thirty. Will that be okay?” Mele inquired politely, as she always did.


“That’s great, Mele! Invite your mom and dad to come over after dinner. I’ll put out the invitation here. See you then!” Lilia scurried back to her bedroom to ensure that her white shorts and white t-shirt were available for use.


After dinner, Lilia's parents, Jacob and Francine, and Mele's parents, David and Ioka, and Lilia's grandpa, Apelehama, settled themselves on the covered veranda of the ranch house with their coffee cups. They wondered what the girls had planned for them. Mele and Lilia appeared in white shorts and white t-shirts. They held their bodies upright with perfect posture, as if they were about to dance a ballet. It was a lovely rainy evening, what the girls had been waiting for. Lilia had arranged a medley of songs for them to sing and dance for their parents.


They walked past their parents very gracefully. They pointed their toes and let their weight rest on the balls of their feet, like dancers would do. They glided down the veranda steps and out to the muddy circular driveway into the rain. Lilia cued her dad to press "start" on her boom box. When the music began, Lilia and Mele took off singing and dancing: “Si-i-i-ing-in in the rain, I’m si-i-i-ing-in in the rain…” Their feet plop-plopped in the mud puddles and quick little steps swished-swished. They crooked their knees and feet, hooked their thumbs in their front pockets, and performed a cowboy hoe-down.

Next, they did the Hokey-Pokey for the interlude, which included all the motions in the song itself, “Put your right foot in, put your right foot out, put your right foot in, and shake it all about. Do the hokey pokey, and turn yourself around. That’s what it’s all about!” They shook jazz hands all about in a circle as they splashed each other more furiously. God in His heaven sent down more rain to bless the dirty dancers, and mud flew from here to there and everywhere.


They returned to “Si-i-i-ing-in in the rain, I’m si-i-i-ing-in in the rain. What a glorious feeling I’m ha-a-a-appy again!” The finale included a splash-off between the two girls. Frenzied feet kicked mud at each other and swooshed the crazed mud, up, out, everywhere, into desperate motion.


For the ending, Lilia and Mele sang, “Doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo” as they skipped to the steps to take their bows. The adults viewed two little faces with eyes, but that was about it. Mud drip, dripped down their hair and off the ends of their noses. Mud hung on kneecaps and in between toes. Muddy particles of dirt stuck to every inch of them. Eyelashes blink, blinked in their new camouflage.

“It’s nice when God gives us the props that we need!” Lilia and Mele guffawed together. They took their bows. Francine and Jacob, and Ioka and David sat in nonplussed and stunned silence. Lilia's grandpa burbled with laughter, and then he threw his head back and roared with the hilarity of the dance idea. The two girls threw them a very innocent expression and blink-blinked at them in their muddy attire. Their parents chuckled and then broke forth with uproaorious laughter as the rain sent streams of mud down their faces. Lilia turned to Mele and cried, "That's what I was going for, a sense of utter abandonment!"

Mele slapped Lilia on the back, and hollered, "You goofus!"


Jacob whooped with laughter as he slapped his thighs, and then said, “Okay, you two little piglets, out to the barn, we’ll hose you off before you take your showers.” Jacob never knew what was going to happen next. Lilia and Mele always kept them on their toes. He liked it that way, though. It made life on their little ranch a lot more interesting.

Dog Training Man: Arrow the Pharaoh Service Dog

I first noticed the Pharaoh service dog in the red vest as he and his owner walked through the airport in Atlanta. He was a magnificent creature. He had a long torso, a lean conformation, and a sleek head. He looked a lot like the dogs pictured at the pyramids in Egypt. In fact, they were his ancestors.

I didn't expect to ever see the man and his beautiful dog again. My husband and I boarded the airplane to Los Angeles. As the plane roared down the runway for takeoff, my husband said, "Did you notice the dog under the seat next to you?"

There he was, the lithe, royal-looking Pharaoh dog. He rested under his owner's legs and spread out under the legs of the man in the center seat as well. The man mentioned to me that Arrow was new at flying.

I petted the exquisite dog's head. Arrow became nervous and started to shake due to the airplane floor vibrations in takeoff. He scooted over to my side of the aisle and leaned up against my legs. The dog felt comforted when I slowly stroked his back and cooed to him that everything would be all right. Eventually, he stopped shaking and the owner encouraged Arrow to climb back under his legs, Arrow's assigned resting place.

My curiosity was piqued, and so I asked the owner, "What function does Arrow perform for you?"

"He senses when I'm about to have a seizure," he replied.

"What does he do when that happens?" I inquired.

"He goes crazy and jumps all over me, which is to remind me to take my medicine," the owner smiled.

"That's remarkable," I replied with astonishment. "How does he know? Does your scent change?"

"Some doctors have told me that, and some have said that it's because of the increased activity in my brain waves," he explained. Now, all the people surrounding us on the plane listened to the conversation, too.

"That's very interesting," I replied with wonderment. I giggled and said, "I have a male Westie at home who goes berserk when I walk or talk in my sleep. I guess he's a service dog, too. My female Westie could not care less. How do you train your dog or find the right animal?"

"They test the dogs for certain characteristics and awareness. I train the dog myself, or I should say, he trains me, and then we can travel anywhere together." We chuckled together. The owner continued, "I was in Las Vegas a few weeks ago. Arrow and I retired to our room and turned in for the night. In the middle of the night, he barked crazily and jumped all over me. People talked loudly in the hallway outside our room. I thought perhaps that they had set him off, and so I turned over and went back to sleep. An hour later, I woke up on the floor and all the bedding had been torn off the bed. Arrow laid on the bed with his legs crossed and stared down at me with superiority. He threw me his smug "I told you so" look.

I laughed at Arrow's sense of humor and attitude. "I guess it pays to listen to your service dog," I smiled in return.

We returned home to Los Angeles, and finally crawled into bed around two o'clock in the morning. I awoke to the furious barking by my male Westie, Gregs, and realized that I was sleeping on the rug in the hallway. Every time that I venture out on my nocturnal meanderings, Gregs is the catalyst to wake me. I understood that God had given me a service dog, too, to help protect me, and that knowledge gave me peace. "Gregs, thank you for your alert demeanor and caring heart. You're a good little service dog," I cooed to him as I cuddled and petted him profusely.

Sometimes we think that we choose the animal, and sometimes we think that the animal chooses us. Maybe the truth is that God pairs us together because of our natures. In other words, he created the person and dog to have an affinity for each other. It's just another way that God looks out for his children. If in that small way, the Lord protects his sheep, how many more ways do you think there are of which we are completely unaware?

The Iguana's Breakfast

We were sitting in an open air restaurant in Xcaret, Mexico eating breakfast. I was eating a customized and freshly made omelet. I first spied the large Green Iguana as he slowly approached our table waddling back and forth. He was huge, at least three feet long to the end of his tan and black-striped tail. He slapped his feet down on the pavement right next to my feet, and looked up at me with his third eye hidden behind the light scale on the top of his head. He stuck out his tongue and inquired, "What's for breakfast?"

They are attracted to the colors yellow, orange, red, and blue, and their most favorite food is, guess what? Eggs! He flirted with my leg with his tongue and encouraged me to share some eggs with him. Some fearless Hispanic children scurried over to our table with a spoonful of eggs and started feeding him.

The rakish creature had a great big fat tail, which he fed on when he's not in the feeding mode. His feeding mode only happens six times a year or so. I think he devoured his full two-months quota on that morning.

It was clear that he thought himself to be a handsome devil with the row of spines running down his back, which made him look like a dragon. He winked at me flirtatiously, and I couldn't resist his advances. I would never eat an entire omelet anyway.

He seemed to love my customized choices of cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes, and spinach for my omelet. He gobbled it down with relish and came closer. His foot rested on my shoe. I was very surprised by the weight of it. I realized he must weigh fifty pounds or so, or more. I let him lick the plate. He offered his thanks, winked devilishly at me, and slipped back down the wall to the lagoon.

I didn't expect him to be loyal to me, his morning's conquest, but instead I waved good-bye and cried, "Have a nice life!"

Forgetful Husband or Convenient Amnesia

The seventy-six-year old Richard had been happily married to the fifty-nine-year old Maggie for twenty-eight years. They worked the Saturday of Labor Day weekend 2009, but then decided to have a little fun on Sunday.

They had a lovely day together. They attended church and went out for breakfast afterwards. They picked out a movie, "All About Steve," and laughed uproariously all the way through it. Richard drove them home after the movie, and then they jumped into their swimming pool for a little sun time. Richard floated around on his floater and snoozed while Maggie sunbathed in the privacy of their backyard.

It came time to walk and feed the dogs, which Richard graciously offered to do for Maggie. In the meantime, she drove to the grocery store to buy chicken and steaks for an evening barbeque. When she arrived at home, Richard had finished feeding the dogs. She said cheerily, "I have the meat for the barbeque, Honey," and smiled sweetly at him. She took out the pan and placed all the chicken and steaks in it, and handed it to Richard, the master barbeque expert at their home.

Richard gazed quizzically at the pan filled with chicken and steaks, and asked, "What am I supposed to do with this?"

Maggie thought perhaps she had assumed a little too much, and answered patiently, "Do you mind getting the barbeque started?"

"Where is it?" he asked her.

She stared at him and realized that he was completely serious. She kept calm and suggested, "Let's sit down at the breakfast table, sweetheart." He complied and sat down. She asked him, "Richard, what year is it?"

He answered with conviction and a frown, "2004, of course."

She frowned now, too. "Who is the President of the United States?"

He replied quickly, "Bush."

Her heart started to race, "Who am I, Richard?"

"You're Marilyn Monroe," he answered with a smile. Indeed Maggie had been Marilyn Monroe for a costume party many years earlier.

She took the pan filled with meat, covered it, and deposited it in the refrigerator. She collected her keys, purse, and sunglasses, and said quietly, "We're going to the hospital." She took his hand and led him to her truck. He complied, climbed in, and buckled his seat belt.

For those of you who have seen the movie, "Fifty First Dates," you'll remember a character that they named "Ten Second Tom." Tom's memory only lasted ten seconds, and then it was gone. Richard had become "Thirty Second Richard."

Richard asked Maggie seriously, "Where are we going?"

She replied calmly and nicely, "We're going to the hospital?"

"Why?" he asked.

"Because you don't remember, and there might be something wrong," she replied and patted his hand.

He sat quietly, and then asked thirty seconds later, "Where are we going?"

She answered each time with patience and aplomb, but internally became quite concerned. They arrived at the Emergency Room, and she held his hand and walked him to check in. She said, "He's lost around the last five years. He doesn't remember." Maggie hadn't even checked him in when she was allowed access to the doctors. They went to work on him immediately. They changed him to wear a gown, took blood, put him on oxygen, took a Cat scan, arranged for an MRI, and captured a chest X-ray.

Richard inquired of Maggie, "Why am I here?"

She explained patiently, "Because you don't remember."

The doctors asked him each time they entered the room, "What year is it?"

Richard answered that it was "2005" one time, "2008" another time, and "2010" yet another time. Maggie realized that he was just guessing. His mind moved so quickly to adapt to his circumstances that he processed everything that was said to him in the hopes of finding a way out of the hospital. He insisted that he was okay and wanted them to release him.

He was so insistent that Maggie finally questioned him with a big question, "Did you know that your friend, John, died?"

"John died?" he said in horrific shock. "When did he die?" he asked with emotional upset.

"Last May," she replied gently. "You see, honey, you don't remember."

That line of questioning from Richard continued for several hours, and then he started fidgeting with everything around him in the hospital room. He asked the same questions repeatedly, "Where's my phone? Where's my wallet? Where' my handy knife?"

"I took them home for you, Richard, when I went to get fresh clothes for you," she answered.

"What happened to the clothes I had on?" he asked with a puzzled look.

"You had a little accident, honey," she replied and felt embarrassed for him.

"I peed in my pants?" He asked her incredulously.

"I'm afraid so, dear," she replied thoughtfully.

The night commenced with that particular line of questioning, and then morning arrived. The doctors ruled out transient ischemic attacks or mini-strokes, a heart attack, any chemical imbalances, or other aberrations. They concluded that her husband was in excellent physical condition, and there was no strong reason to keep him in the hospital. The couple prepared to go home. The internist greeted them before he left, and said, "It is transient global amnesia. There is a one in a hundred thousand chance that it will happen again in his lifetime. It almost never happens twice, so don't worry about it. It only lasts six to twenty-four hours."

The couple doesn't know what caused it, and probably never will, but thanked God for the testing of their faith and the blessing of restored health. Richard doesn't remember most of the twenty-four hours that he was in the hospital, or any of his Sunday. Those hours are gone from his memory forever.

Maggie commented to Richard later that afternoon, "Don't you think that it's odd that you didn't just lose little bits of randomly selected times in your life, but instead you lost one specific chronological time frame? God designed us so perfectly that even memory loss can be managed mercifully."

"Yes, Marilyn Monroe, dear, I agree." He winked at her and smiled. She'd never know if he really thought she was Marilyn Monroe or not, but it pleased her that he thought of her in that way.

"Thank you, dear Father, for the blessing of Richard," she whispered to her Maker.