Red Bottom Shoes-Traditionally Trendy
Yes, these are mine. And NO, I didn’t pay a fortune for them.
Several months ago I saw two television shows in which the main characters were wearing Red Bottom Shoes. Now, I LOVE RED, so I started to investigate. I Googled and started my online search. What I found was (gasp) $800+ for a pair of black pumps with red on the soles. Unthinkable for one on such a budget as mine. I mean really. Every time I would see these shoes on the shows, I would wonder, can I find a pair, online, ebay, thrift store, discount store…where oh where can those red soled shoes be?
Then, because I am a bit creative, and because I looked at my phone I realized, “yes, I CAN have black pumps with red on the soles.” AKA, “Red Bottom Shoes”. I have ‘marked’ my ipod, my former Treo phone, my battery charger; anything that we have more than one of in our house, if it’s mine it has a Red “mark” on it. Red nail polish has done the trick for me for years. I ALWAYS have a bottle in my bag and it has always served me well. So, this being my own trademark, I decided it would serve me well with this too.
I went out, got me a new pair of black pumps (because I may not always want to wear ‘red’). They were on sale for $15. Hooray!!!! And when I got home I got out my trusted red nail polish and went to work.
As you can see, it’s not a perfect job (it is my first after all) but it will serve it’s purpose. A splash of red in an otherwise dark setting.
Now what’s the point of all this you may ask. I will tell you.
I am always a bit ‘different’ than those around me. (Aren’t you?) I had a friend tell me a while back, “Miss Kim, I love the way you accessorize. You are traditional but trendy at the same time.” Therefore, I coined the phrase, “Traditionally Trendy.” It seems to fit.
I love the traditional values of style: The pencil skirt, the pearl necklace and earrings, the pump, the clutch purse.
I also love trends: skirt lengths that vary with the season and occasion, pearl and chain jewelry, the ‘new black’, lace and denim.
Putting them together is a way to individualize and personalize our own style. I love it!
SO when I saw these shoes, I had an “aha” moment. I want to express my style as I walk past people. And may I say, women, let’s face it, we girls DO notice the shoes!! And these Red Bottom Shoes are the proof. (When I posted this picture on my wall so many of you already knew the designer’s name of the originals.)
I’ve seen it in action. I do a bit of speaking. I speak to women in all sorts of places, from small country churches to one on Broadway in NYC. From a tent revival in Opelika, Alabama to a Tent in Kilkee, Ireland. I’ve been in Bombay, India and I’ve been in Little Texas, Alabama. And all over the world, women notice shoes.
The Bible tells us, “How lovely on the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who announces peace
And brings good news of happiness,
Who announces salvation,
And says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7)
I want lovely feet. I want to bring good news, announce Peace, happiness and salvation. I want to say to the people of God, Our God reigns!”
Do these shoes make me a better woman, speaker, wife, friend, mother, sister, daughter, Christian??? No, of course not. BUT these shoes do remind me to be fruitful, faithful, cheerful, frugal, creative, and yes, just a bit spunky. These “traditional” pumps, combined with the “trendy” red soles, remind me, that we sometimes have the joy of combining the tradition of our spiritual forefathers and the trend of ‘just loving Jesus’ with all we’ve got and all we are. I pray, combining the two will make us a generation that reaches the lost with the Truth. It doesn’t matter if we wear traditional black suits to church or spike up up with a splash of trendy red, the message is the same: Jesus IS THE answer, for the world today. Above Him there’s NO OTHER. Jesus is The Way!”
I didn’t creatively spice up my wardrobe for any spiritual cause. I simply loved their look.
BUT, it has reminded me of my journey. To be myself in a world of “look alikes” and to share the truth in a way that matters. Lovely feet, Red and all.
April Joy Fisher Barber; a precious friend who captivated the attention of everyone who she graced with even a small bit of her time, died February 15, 3:15pm. She ‘passed away’, she ‘crossed over’, she ‘left us’. No matter how you choose to state it, she is no longer here with her family, her friends, her community. April had cancer and she fought, she fought hard the fight against all that cancer is and she won. She has cancer no more, she will have cancer never again. She has no more pain, no more treatments, no more anxiety, no more concern for those things she cannot change. She is free and she has won!
April was a very extraordinary lady. I never saw her that she wasn’t smiling and trying to make sure that everyone around her was taken care of and happy. I have to say, when she smiled, you simply had to smile in return. She had this amazing smile and an infectious tinkling laugh. Even now, when I think of April, I hear her laugh, throwing her head back with wild abandon and letting it rip!
I attended her funeral. But it was anything but a typical funeral. It truly was a celebration of her life. There were tears, many of them. There were mourners, many of them. There were the tissues being passed around and the hugs of comfort between friends and family. Words of encouragement that will probbly all but be forgotten, but spoken all the same out of hearts that genuinely love and mourn the loss. There is a loss, for us down here, there is a giant hole that once was April. There are memories, there are photos, there are stories, but she is no longer here to touch, hear and see….there is a giant vacant spot that she filled. Now, that hole in heaven is filled with her presence. I know all of heaven rejoiced when she walked through those gates, when the Son of God spoke to her and welcomed her in saying, “Well DONE thou good and faithful servant” how full of joy He must’ve been to have her home.
While sitting there in that beautiful, worship filled service I couldn’t help but ponder all that April was, she was such an amazing ambassador of Christ. No one who met her could have a conversation with her without hearing about her relationship with her savior. She absolutely oozed the presence of the Lord, His love and graciousness permeated her being. As I sat there and heard all that was shared by her friends and family about her godliness, her virtuous manner, I was humbled and inspired. I want to be like April.
I was challenged by her life and by the Holy Spirit. To be like April is to be more like Jesus. To be more like Jesus is to love Him more and to allow Him to have more of me.
In our church service this morning, I was challenged the same way. To let His Words be mine, to love as He loves, to serve as He serves.
The legacy of every Christian should be that through our life others are drawn closer, not just to us, but to Christ. That we can say, as Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Christ.”
This is what I want my life to be, The legacy I want to leave behind, especially for my children. That I am a woman who loves God with my whole heart and that I live my life to honor Him, to love others, to be an example of His love and grace so that others would want to fall in love with Him too.
Our legacy can only be what we live. Sure, others will tell their own version of who they perceive us to be, but what their perceptions are as a whole will tell our story more honestly than we can. The seeds we plant through our life into the lives of others will be the harvest our legacy reaps.
What seeds are we planting?
If we plant seeds of anger, bitterness, fear, stress, contention, criticism, hate…that is the harvest we will reap. If we want to reap a harvest of love, hope, joy, peace, godliness, lovliness, respect, honor, then these are the seeds we must plant, NOW!
We are not promised tomorrow, the seeds we’ve planted may be forced to mature much sooner than we would want. What harvest will you reap? What harvest will I reap?
That is what I brought home with me yesterday. The celebration of April’s life convinced me, I want to make sure that I plant good seeds, faithful seeds, seeds that will reap the harvest God intended from my life. A life honoring to Him.
April, thank you for your life, for your inspiration, for being who you are; an amazing, precious woman of GOD, MY FRIEND.
I love you. I will miss you. I will see you one day and I will hear your laugh for eternity (If I listen closely I believe I can hear it being whispered in my ear even now….maybe God knows we need to hear it just a bit more).
I invite you to take a look at our ministry website:
Harvest Evangelism; Putting God’s Love In Action…Where The Action’s At!
My oldest son, took this on the street in New York. He knows his mom, I LOVE roses!!!
I know they say, “A rose by any other name would smell so sweet.” But would it really? What if they were called “Snots”? Or, “worris’s”? Or how about, “jeezelts”? Now honestly, does that sound like it would “smell so sweet”?
I wonder sometimes, do we think we are a sweet fragrance to Heaven just because we call ourselves, “Christians”?
I know that God loves me. I know that He loves it when I love Him in return, when I love my neighbor, when I ‘put off’ the sinful nature and ‘put on’ the armor of God. I know that He delights in me and that I bring Him pleasure. But what does He really think when I tell myself how good a “Christian” I am? Do I sound proud and haughty? Do I sound humble, simply stating fact, “I AM a Christian!” Do I make Him smile or do I bring Him shame?
I have been wndering a lot lately about how does God really see us. Truly. I am not afraid that He will disown me or that He will punish me every time I disappoint Him. But I do wonder, how often DO I disappoint Him? When I don’t love my neighbor. When I don’t forgive. When I don’t find a way to bring peace again to a relationship. When I cannot find the right way to say, “I’m sorry” and make it right.
There are times when I pat myself on the back and tell myself that “I’m doing all I can to be obedient and to be becoming more like Christ.” Sometimes I even believe all the nice things people say about me and how I “must be alright with God.” Then there are the nights when I lie down to sleep and I recall the thoughts, words, actions of the day and I wonder, “How can He still love me when He sees it all?”
Then I remind myself, it’s like these roses. They aren’t called by another name. With their sweet perfume, their tightly clustered petals, their elegant beauty and their delicate charm, they are simply called, “roses”. They are enchanting in fairy tales and beloved by women all through the ages. They have been tenderly cultured and painfully pruned. They are among the most cherished of all flora, they are without competition. Yet, if we come closer we see the brown imperfections, the wrinkled petals, the thorns that pierce our flesh….their perfection is marred, but we choose not to dwell on them. We choose to marvel at the thing that is, “The Rose”.
We too are a marvel. With all our marred imperfections, we are still “Children of God.” Can you believe it? He has CHOSEN to be our Father! We are HIS! The Most High GOD, the Creator of the Universe (and all beyond it), the Great I AM, the Prince of Peace, the Lamb of God, the Savior of the World, the Righteous God, the Eternal One, the Banner Over Us, the Comforter, the Healer, the Provider…THIS GOD Chose us!!!!
And He loves us so much, that when we sinned against Him, having no way to climb back into His good graces, He came down to us. He has not only created us, chosen us, but He has kept us.
And that is where I stand. Not in my unrighteous deeds, my haughty or lowly thoughts, my unkind or unworthy words…no, I stand in Him. And when I stand there, my heart cries out, “I want to please You because You love me.” Yes, He is Holy and He tells us to “be Holy as I AM Holy.” But I WANT to be the best I can possibly be for Him.
Jesus said in John 14:23, “If you love Me, you will obey Me.”
IF I love Him, I will obey Him…
If I am a Christ-ian, I will act like one…I will act like the One I am following. That’s what “Christian” means…I will walk in His footsteps and like a little child trying to step only in the steps his daddy makes in the sand, I will try to step only where and how Jesus would.
So now I get it…It’s not that I AM perfect, it’s that I am doing everyday, what I can to be as He would want me to be
John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Matthew 22:36-40 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
It’s all about Love.
I think I can do that. Love HIM with ALL that I have, am and do. Love Others out of THAT love and love myself because He loves me.
Yes, a Rose IS a Rose, and no other name matters.
I AM a Christian, and no matter what else I am called, THAT is the TRUTH of who I am…I am HIS!
Champions…
We are the Champions, we are the Champions…of the world.
After the game last week, Auburn vs Alabama, The Iron Bowl, in which Auburn won, this song has been on the minds of a lot of fans. If we win today against South Carolina, most might even start to believe it.
“Champion”: according to Webster,
: warrior, fighter : a militant advocate or defender : one that does battle for another’s rights or honor <God will raise me up a champion — Sir Walter Scott> : a winner of first prize or first place in competition; also : one who shows marked superiorityIn the minds of many, Cam Newton is the champion of football. And he is, undeniably, good, even great. But is he THE champion? Sure he is fast, strong, accurate, gifted, but even this great football player, now don’t throw stones at me yet Auburn fans…even Cam Newton cannot win the ballgame on his own. Without his teammates, he is just another boy with a ball in his hands and a dream in his heart. What makes him so powerful is his talent, his determination, his gift, sure, but he also has a coach who believes in him and teaches him everything he can on the dynamics of the sport, he has a team that works WITH him to execute the plays and make sure the football can go where it needs to in order that the score will reveal the talent on the field. He has the hours of practice behind him and the perseverance to keep going even when it is tough. He has a football program that has determined that it will do whatever possible to ensure that he has whatever he needs to be able to play the game he loves so much and is so good at. He has people behind him who have believed in him his whole life, and he has a God who has given him the ability to run, throw, catch, think, make snap decisions and to act on those decisions precisely. Yes, he is a great football player, but he is not great alone.
That is a wonderful truth. We are each called to be champions. And we can be, but we are not able to be that strong, that tough, that courageous, that triumphant all alone. We are together in this, we, The Body of Christ, we are to stand together in this adventure we call life. And in this life, there are battles. Have you had any lately? Has your life seemed to be as jumbled together as those Christmas lights you took out of the attic the other day? Has the cares of this world weighed heavy on your heart? Sickness, finances, worry, fear, lonliness…these battles are able to defeat us, if we fight alone. BUT, God “has NOT given us a spirit of fear, but rather of POWER, of LOVE, and a sound mind.” (II Timothy 1:7)
I LOVE THIS PROMISE!!
Fear comes, not from God, so it comes from the enemy, the devil himself. (Another verse, 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment.”) And the thing is, most of the time we are afraid of things that never happen. And when they do, if we dwell in fear we are paralyzed and ineffective. We cannot live in that place. SO, God tells us where fear comes from and He gives us His gift to combat against it….HIMSELF!!!If GOD has not given us fear, what has He given instead? POWER, LOVE AND A SOUND MIND -> Power=Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.; Love=God (1 John 4:7-8 “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”)Sound Mind=Jesus(John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” and, Ephesians 5:26 “to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.”
God has given us HIMSELF, ALL of Himself, in order that we might not be found lacking anything in the heat of the battle.
The Bible says, in Psalm 18:34, “He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. InPsalm 18:39“You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me.”
God has called us into a battle that is not of this world, it is a fight that on our own, we cannot fight, we could never win. But as the Psalmist says, HE trains my hands for battle. We are not fighting of our own strength. It is HIS strength and HIS battle plan. And after HE has trained us, after HE has armed us with HIS strength, HE is the one who humbles our enemies…HE is the one they bow down to. We only have to yield to Him, to stay under His banner, His covering and we will come home as champions. Altogether, with our fellow warriors (Galatians 6:2
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”). And when the General comes home after a victory, all those who follow him are victors also.
Yes, We Are The Champions and we need not be afraid of the battle. It is after all The King of Kings we walk with, we fight with and we are victorious with. So, let’s go into the battle. Knowing we do come out as victors, as Champions!!!
(Oh yeah, and WARRRRRRRRR Eagle!!!! ) ;))
Life as it goes on…
Christmas decorations scattered all over the floor, down the stairs and all over the table. It doesn’t seem like it will ever be the organized “Welcoming” that Christmas decorating should evoke. However, give me a few more days and our house will once again “look like Cracker Barrel” as my husband says it does every Christmas.
I LOVE Christmas decorations. I guess I got that from my mom. Every year she would get all the things out of the closets and we would put stuff everywhere. Now that she is older and both me and my sister are grown, she doesn’t do as much as she used to do, so I take up the baton for both of us!!
The only problem with all this sparkle and beauty is the stress it beings with it. I wish I could just decorate and that the joy of decorating would be the only feeling I had. But I have to admit, I want to get it all done, I want to have it perfect, I want it to be so fun and beautiful that I get edgy and yes, irritated…how terrible. So this year, after an embarrassing outburst in front of my children…one where I became a blubbering idiot, I decided that I would just enjoy the process. Since then, I have taken each project, the tree in the dining room (a new one for me-nativity ornaments and dried roses-my husband’s idea-borrowed from my friend Alicia…thank you sweet friend!), the snowman collection, the Nutcracker collection, all the nativity scenes (my favorites-all over the house!), the tree in the fru-fru room (the ‘pretty’ one), stockings down the banisters, Christmas Village, the front porch, the dining room table-scape, cooking dinners for our friends and family…I love all of them and when I break them down one by one…I really do enjoy the process. There are moments when I am frustrated, and I get tired, but it is all worth the final product.
I find that my “Christmas decorating” resembles my life. It is a beautiful final picture but the process is a challenge, an adventure that I wouldn’t miss, but sometimes wish I knew how to do it better. I wish I could bypass the stress, the wrong decisions, the mishaps and the bad behavior. I sure wish I could miss the tears and the wounds, but as Garth Brooks sings…then I would’ve “missed the dance”. I do love to dance (with both feet on the ground, I am, after all, still a clutz).
So, I will keep decorating, I will continue to have friends and family over for dinner and serve them with a smile.
The end results are truly worth the process.
Getting Started…
Hello there. I am new to blogging and therefore I am not sure exactly what this will look like. Please bear with me and let’s see how this goes.
I would love to be able to share with you what is happening in our lives, what God is showing me and where life is taking us…
So, here we go….
I am a wife. My husband Rick and I have been married for 30 years and that is a long time, but it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. Time does fly. Immediately after getting married we began a ministry here in Alabama; East Alabama Challenge. We had a Coffeehouse (Christian Community Center) and had a vision of reaching the youth of our area for Christ. We had a great time. We did on-site and evangelistic ministry from here in Alabama until 1985 when Rick was called to go to work with David Wilkerson in Lindale, Texas. We spent 2 wonderful years there and when Brother Dave was called to go to New York to start the Times Square Church we were asked to go along. However, we felt that our primary calling was to Alabama (and our parents were all here), so we returned (with Brother Dave’s blessing and counsel) and re-incorporated the ministry under the name; Harvest Evangelism, which is what it remains today. We have been blessed to work here, all across America and into many other countries sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.My husband is a man of vision, of compassion and of a passion to follow Christ like few other people I’ve ever known. This has led us into many different situations and many interesting relationships. I hope to share some of them with you as time goes by….
I am a mother. I have 4 beautiful children, RC(24), Winchester(20), Elliot(16) and Dreamer(13). They are the prize and joy of my life. They are each wonderful on their own and together they make this mommy so very happy. They are each strong and gifted. God has indeed blessed me.
I am a minister. I love to share with ladies the love of Christ. My passion is to reveal His passion for us and to invite you to come join me in this adventure we call Christianity. I believe that radical Christianity is not rare, but normal…anyone truly in love with anyone is radical about that relationship. I love Jesus and I intend to be radical about telling everyone I can about Him.
I am a woman. I know that there are issues that we women face that are uniquely ours. I know that there are seasons in our lives that need to be talked about, laughed about and explored. From chocolate cravings to menopause. PMS to new shoes. Whatever we go through, it needs to be brought out and lived through…the mountains of laundry don’t have to overwhelm us and leave us in a heap on the floor.
I am a friend. I wish I could say I was the perfect friend. I am not. I wish I could say I knew it all. I do not. I wish I could say I do it all. I can not. BUT I am willing to learn and desire to love more and better than ever before. I want to be the best friend I can be.
So, if you would like, come explore all this with me. Some seriously and some frivolously. I hope we’ll have a great time….
