It has been a while since I participated in Friday Fictioneers. Time has not allowed me the pleasure but this photo stirred something deep inside me that just had to come out.
GRANDMOTHER’S PROMISE
by JE Lillie
Alliara passed in grandmother’s arms. Liquid rage followed the creases of the old woman’s face carrying the promise made down to the ocean of her heart.
Grandmother’s loyalty had been beaten away with each stroke to Alliara’s body. The elders had been deaf to every plea for mercy. Now grandmother was deaf to any reason for living.
She marched solemnly across the salt flats torch in hand. She came to the edge of the final rise, lit the torch and held it aloft signaling the tribe’s location to their enemy.
“Kill them all.” Grandmother softly prayed.
Check out stories from other author’s perspectives on this photo by going to:
“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” MA. 9:37,38
Here in New England the harvest is apparent as well as abundant. With church attendance in the six state area hovering just over 2%, just about everyone you meet on the sidewalk is part of the harvest and with a 98 to 2 ratio the Lord’s acknowledgement that the laborers are few is something of an understatement (granted the numbers are far better than when he walked the Earth… but still).
I find no lack of good ideas within the church walls as to how the church should reach the multitudes with the message of the gospel. But when it comes right down to it we don’t need more ideas we just need to take a couple of those good thoughts and perform them.
Here’s the thing; Suggesting an idea to the pastor of your church and then not being willing to participate in the carrying out of that idea is not helpful. Pastor’s do not need more ideas. Most of us are swimming in a sea of ideas which have no method of implementation. What ideas need are champions to carry them out. And if God gave you the idea then perhaps you are the champion of that idea. Yes you need pastoral support. Yes you need to be realistic about your own abilities and limitations; But in the end if God is giving you an idea about how to work in the harvest field, that idea is your responsibility to carry out; Just giving it away to someone else and shrugging your shoulders when it doesn’t get done because “those other guys have no vision” does not release you from the responsibility of the idea. God gave it you! See it through! Be the champion of your harvest idea!
Here are some champions I currently see working in our church:
Deb Maciorowski, VP Special Touch REACH New England Chapter
Amanda Lillie Buddy Barrel Coordinator kids church
Ray Parker, Cornerstone Testimonial Newsletter
What do you need to do to champion your harvest cause?
Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;
And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself
It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.Psalm 80:14 KJV
It has been a while since I wrote a Heaven post. When I started these posts back several years ago it was with the intent that I would do a word study of the word “Heaven” throughout the Scripture. It was a bigger undertaking than I thought at first and here I am three years later only having reached the Psalms. Yet we plod on… You can find previous Heaven posts at
Doesn’t it feel sometimes like God has set Himself up against us? We get into situations and wonder where God went and often we begin questioning God’s loyalty and His love. In those moments we are prone to cry out things like,
Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; (or at least I have been prone to it)
But I wonder has God really left us? If so how can He be fulfilling the promise never to leave or forsake us?
In my own life when I have ended up away from God it is not because God has moved but because I have. God may never leave us nor forsake us but our own disobedience can often put us outside His sphere of protection or help. It is us who moves not God.
This is exactly what happened to Israel. Israel stepped out from under God’s protection by continuous disobedience. The Chosen people chose another way and that way led to death and destruction.
The good news here is that because the choice to walk out on the relationship was theirs not God’s walking back in to the relationship was their choice as well. God was always faithful to His promise to Israel and God is faithful to His promises to you as well. If you find yourselves at cross-purposes with the Almighty this afternoon and you would like to change that, the choice is entirely yours. God made His choice for you at the cross. He is just waiting for you to make your choice for Him.