Let Me Tell You

Post 224

…a little about the organization I volunteer with called Grace’s of Gurley. I started with them in the fall of 2020 when they needed people to help kids with the online schooling while schools shut down over the covid scare. At the time I mostly helped a couple of sixth grade girls. I soon realized that one of them especially, did not know her basic math facts. She’d get the concept of the math problem, but have to stop to count on her fingers to get to the answer. This would not do! How would she ever test well going that slow? I made homemade flash cards and began adding that to whatever their assignments were. I eventually tutored them after school, too.

By the end of the year I gave them time tests of all kinds of math facts and they did great. That feels like one of my greatest accomplishments in life!

These girls are now in 9th grade and I believe they are doing pretty well.

That year of tutoring led me to the Jacob’s Ladder Junior program where I met S and several other middle school aged kids with whom I became close. I’d also take some of them hiking with me on weekends and let them experience the fun and endorphins of a good hike. To this day, they are excited to go when our schedules match up.

I tell you all of this because it was this organization and these kids who are my “substitute family” here. This week there is voting going on for a pet pageant to raise funds for their program, so I entered my canine companion KK and I’m giving you the link in case you’d like to vote for her or any other animal to donate to my “substitute family.”

https://gracesofgurley.org/dogs

You have to follow the above link and this is what you’ll see.

Same for cats if you're a cat lover.

https://gracesofgurley.org/cats-1

If you have questions or problems, let me know in the comments and I’ll try to get you sorted out. Thank you for reading and for considering supporting this program. 💜

In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children? My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either. It’s the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects. God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off big-time, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.

Hebrews 12:4‭-‬11