Iced tea and 103.

Ah summertime. If you're not outside having fun with good friends and family, you're likely inside with the air conditioning blasting subzero temperatures or on the porch swing with a nice tall glass of iced tea.

The other day my siblings and I were at home, chatting and enjoying the cool inside amid the volcanic temperatures outside.

While Michael and I were upstairs talking, we noticed the power went out. A minute later my sister yelled upstairs and repeated what we had just recently discovered.

I walk downstairs into the basement to check the fuse box...nothing. Then the nightmare began to set in. THE POWER WAS OUT! Almost instantly the intense heat from outside made its way in, and the house began to feel like an oven!

Our first assumption was that the electric bill hadn't been paid, but upon further inquiry found that not to be the case. 

We finished off the last of the cold bottled water...we were done for.

So soon we all began whining, griping and complaining!

Amidst our grumbling and negative spirit the power was back on within about an hour. As it turns out there was a neighborhood outage.

Shortly after, I began to reflect on the recent events as I was walking in the heat towards the nearest pawn shop.

We were in the wrong for our attitude in that situation. The Bible teaches us not to act in such a manner, and I'm sure the Lord wasn't pleased.

We are told to give tsomething ALL situations: good or bad.

Where there's something complain about, there's something to give thanks for.

While it was unfathomably hot inside the house, we can be thankful that we even HAVE a home to begin with. There are people who are outside in the blazing heat ALL DAY because they are homeless.

So next time you begin to or are ready to gripe or complain about something, think instead about why you can be thankful. :)

Gone too soon

Today was a difficult one. My brother and I were Paul bearers at my cousin's funeral.

Two weeks ago my cousin Montenae (Mon-tuh-nay) passed away very suddenly, just a week after attending a funeral of someone close herself.

The terrible news shocked the entire family, she was only 16 :(

She was born December '98 just 3 months after the passing of our grandfather. She never got to meet him.

In about a week from now she was to become an auntie, her older sister is 9 months pregnant and she was able to name her nephew before she passed.

When I first heard the news in was sad, and to be honest I wasn't able to fully grasp the situation, until this morning.

As we approached her and peered into the casket, it hit me all at once. She's actually gone. And for the first time since her death, I cried almost uncontrollably.

It made me think about things, in my life and otherwise. I regret the time I couldn't spend with her, and the memories I did have of her while happy ones, still brought tears to my eyes.

People: family and friends, bless us in different ways. Whenever possible we should at one point or another make time for them, visit them, smile with them, laugh with them, joke with them, take pictures with them, make memories with them.

Because no matter how young or how old our friends and family are-ourselves included, none of us are invincible.

The title of this entry however isn't correct. In our eyes from our human perspective she's gone too soon, but only the Lord knows why she was only to be here 16 years.

There's a song by Matthew West called "Something to say" and part of the lyrics say: "Listen up I've got a question here, will anybody miss you if you disappear? For you life is the song that you sing, and the whole wide world is listening"

We're all here for a purpose, and we're to touch others lives in one way or another, even if we don't see it. In fact just last night a good friend of mine helped me to realize that myself.

There's always a reason to keep going, there is a purpose in your life.

No matter the struggle God is there with you. Your sorrow may last for a night, and that "night" that season of sadness may be more than a night, it may be weeks, months, years. God is there. "For when I am weak, your grace and your peace is perfect, completely all I need"


There's a song by Brandon Heath that I really like called wait and see, and the chorus goes: "There is hope for me yet. Because God won't forget. All the plans He's made for me. I have to wait and see. He's not finished with me yet."


"Siblings side-by-side or miles apart, we are siblings connected by the heart."
 R.I.P. 
Montenae Hicks.
We love you and miss you! ❤❤